think of was the Hound taking Glasin Grocer's shoulder in its maw and tearing away at the flesh. Yet this was no such worthy sacrifice. The boy was acrawl with snakes that fondled him with their bodies and tickled him with their darting tongues, yet Orem could not turn away.
"Seen enough?" Flea asked softly.
Orem could not speak.
"We go now," said Flea, "or we don't get out of the Swamp alive, it's that short. Coming?" "In High Waterswatch," Orem said, "we wrestled and spun tops. That's how we played."
Orem followed Flea out of the Swamp, hearing the wails of the keeners behind him all the way. Only when they reached the shanties did Orem realize he was still holding the bag with the rat.
Impulsively he swung it hard against the wall of a house.
"Name of God!" cried Flea. "What are you doing?"
"Is the rat so precious to you?" Orem asked.
"Not the rat, Scant, the house. If you break a hole in their wall, you might as well have killed
them come winter, if they can't find a patch."
The house was sacred, but a boy could die for nothing in the Swamp. Orem handed Flea the bag. Flea turned it upside down and let the rat out. The animal was not dead, but the blow against the wall had left it dazed. It lurched drunkenly forward. Flea aimed a kick at it and sent it flying thirty
yards, wriggling in the air as it flew.
"What was the forfeit?" Orem asked. "For the boys who lost."
Flea shrugged. "Just a little game of plug-the-hole. Hop shouldn't have argued. He has a sister to
pay it for him."
"Do you have a sister?" asked Orem.
"No," Flea said. "But I don't lose." He grinned. "I'm a good judge of keeners."
"Why do you do it?" Orem asked. "Why do you play so close to dying?"
Flea shrugged. "It's who I am."
The Secret of the Fountain
Orem insisted he could find his own way home from Wood Road, and they parted, planning to meet in the morning to continue Orem's search for work. Orem had one errand to run before returning to the inn. He found his way through the darkening, emptying streets to the Little Temple, and a halfpriest showed him the fountain where strangers always came.
The fountain wasn't much. No one asked him to pay or even wanted a gift; he went to the fountain and poured out his flask of spring water. He wasn't sure what prayer it was they said here, so he murmured a prayer for his father, then dipped the flask again to take up the sacred water that Glasin had told him was so valuable.
Before he left, he looked into the water to see how the fountain was filled, to find the place where the water of spring came in. He looked for a little while before he realized there was no such place. It was just a pool, not a fountain at all. He poured out the water untasted. The fountain was filled by all the visitors to Inwit, who left the water of their home behind and took away nothing of Inwit at all, but just the half-evaporated gifts of the other fools. A fraud, of course, a cheat. Orem almost spat into the water, but stopped when he remembered that the next visitor did not deserve any harm from him. He could have shared his water with Flea, if he had known. That's what made him angriest, that he had been ungenerous with his water.
"But I paid last night for two nights."
"I know it. The other copper's for tomorrow."
"But that's one night. It should be a half-copper."
"Stay and use it twice." And that was all. The pass was for three days, the rooms for two and two, take it or leave it. At least they let Orem have a bowl of soup. They had consciences, too.
Chapter 14
Servants
I never knew what seeing was except coming out of the fog. So said Orem, the Little King; so he said to me when he thought he was not wise.
The Queen's Water
It hardly seemed morning when Orem came out of the inn, the fog was so thick. Buildings across the street were invisible until he was in the middle of the road. Other walkers in the early morning loomed suddenly, nearly colliding with him. He had to walk slowly and watch carefully. There were curses here and there; now and then the sound of an argument about whether someone was blind or just a fool. Orem was