The Stranger - Max Frei [246]
We spent the night in a large roadside motel. Our guide sat down at the small bar for a game of Krak. Some of the travelers were happy to join him.
“This is how to do business,” Lonli-Lokli said. “Two nights on the road to Kettari, and two nights on the return trip. This Master Caravan Leader is a very rich man, I’m willing to bet.”
“Do you think he’s a cardsharper, too?”
“No, but Kettarians are very good at card games. They have a true talent for it. So fleecing even the luckiest dwellers of the Capital comes naturally to them. I think we need a good sleep. We have a hard day ahead of us.”
“Yes, of course,” I said uncertainly, knowing I’d hardly be able to go to sleep this early, even after a hard day.
“You know, Lady Marilyn,” Lonli-Lokli said, arranging himself under a fluffy blanket. “I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to leave our room. It won’t look very plausible—pretty married women don’t usually sit in the bar until dawn after a hard day on the road. People might think things aren’t quite right between us.”
“It would never have entered my head. No nocturnal ramblings! If tipsy barflies begin making passes at Lady Marilyn, I’ll have to spit at them. And that doesn’t conform to my notions of propriety and discretion.”
“In that case, I beg your pardon. Good night, Marilyn.”
My companion dozed off. I crawled under my blanket and let my mind wander. I had quite enough to think about after our instructive conversation. At the same time, I could take advantage of the free time and snatch a few cigarettes from under my wonder-working pillow.
I only managed to fall asleep at dawn, and an hour later Sir Shurf, already impeccably groomed and alert, thrust a tray with kamra and sandwiches under my nose.
“I’m very sorry, but we’re leaving in half an hour. I think you ought to use some of your supply of Elixir of Kaxar.”
“No, it’s better if I sleep in the amobiler,” I said, lifting my heavy head from the pillow. “Thanks for your concern, Glamma. Your wife—I mean the real wife of Lonli-Lokli—must be the happiest of women.”
“I hope so,” said Shurf. “I have a strange fate, Marilyn. Real wife or no, I’m the one who serves her kamra in bed, and not the other way around.”
“Sinning Magicians, was that a joke I just heard?”
“It’s simply a statement of fact. If you wish to bathe, you’d better hurry.”
“Of course I want to!” I swallowed the kamra down in one gulp, I couldn’t even look at the food.
I settled down in the back seat of the amobiler, leaving my fellow travelers to contemplate the dreary, monotonous plains stretching to the west of Uguland. I fell asleep so soundly that Sir Lonli-Lokli’s attempts to make me come out for lunch proved futile. “Just tell them that the lady is suffering from motion sickness,” I grumbled sourly, and dove headfirst into the sweetest of sweet dreams.
I awoke not long before sundown. I was as happy, rested, and hungry, all at once, as I had been in a long time.
“I took a few sandwiches from the tavern where we had lunch,” Lonli-Lokli said. “I think it was the right thing to do.”
“You got that right,” I said gratefully. “I hope it’s not some inedible stuff again.”
“The local cuisine differs from that of the Capital, naturally,” said Sir Shurf. “But one shouldn’t underestimate the benefit of some variety in life.”
“Oh, I’m conservative in these matters,” I said with my mouth full. “Maybe it’s time for me to take over from you, Glamma? I hope you trust me behind the levers by now.”
“Of course I do. You can do as you wish, though I’m not really tired yet.”
“One shouldn’t underestimate the benefit of some variety in life. End of quote.”
“Touché.”
My Lady Marilyn made herself comfortable at the levers and daringly lit up a cigarette. I couldn’t wait to partake of the fruits of my night’s labor.
Lonli-Lokli grew visibly uneasy.
“I don’t know where these strange