try to explain.”
“I can’t understand what happened.”
“You were instrumental in starting a brawl.”
“It was the Militia …” I said weakly.
“Yes, and you ought to know by now that you keep the Militia away from the tooks. They lost a few men some miles back, and there are a few scores to settle. Any excuse, and those stupid bastards go in and start clubbing.”
“Collings was in trouble,” I said. “Something had to be done.”
“All right, it wasn’t entirely your fault. Collings says now that he could have handled it if you hadn’t brought the Militia in … but he also admits that he told you to fetch them.”
“That’s right.”
“O.K. then, but think next time.”
“What do we do now?” I said. “We’ve no labourers.”
“There are more coming today. The work will be slow at first, because we’ll have to train them for it. But the advantage is that the resentments won’t start at once, and they’ll work harder. It’s later, when they get time to think, that the trouble begins.”
“But why do they resent us so? Surely, we pay for their services.”
“Yes, but at our price. This is a poor region. The soil’s bad, and there’s not much food. We pass by in our city, offer them what they need …
and they take it. But they get no long-term benefit, and I suppose we take more than we give.”
“We should give more.”
“Maybe.” Malchuskin looked indifferent. “That’s none of our concern. We work the track.”
We had to wait several hours for the new men to arrive. During that time Malchuskin and I went to the dormitory huts vacated by the previous men and cleaned them out. The previous occupants had been hustled away by the militiamen during the night, but they’d been given time to collect their belongings. There was a lot that was left though: mainly old and worn garments and scraps of food. Maichuskin warned me to keep an eye open for any kind of message that might have been left for the new men; neither he nor I discovered anything of this sort.
Later, we went outside and burned anything that had been left.
Around midday a man from the Barter guild came over to us and said that the new labourers would be with us shortly. We were made a formal apology about what had happened the previous evening, and told that in spite of much discussion it had been decided that the Militia guard would be strengthened for the time being. Malchuskin protested, but the Barter guildsman could only agree: the decision had been taken against his own opinion.
I was in two minds about this. On the one hand I had no great admiration for the militiamen, but if their presence could avert a repetition of the trouble then I supposed it was inevitable.
Malchuskin was beginning to fret about the delay. I presumed that this was because of the ever-present necessity to make up lost time, but when I mentioned this he was not as concerned about this as I’d thought.
“We’ll make time on the optimum on the next winching,” he said. “The delay last time was because of the ridge. That’s behind us now and the land’s fairly level ahead of us for the next few miles. I’m more concerned about the state of the track behind the city.”
“The Militia will be protecting it,” I said.
“Yes … but they can’t stop it buckling. That’s the main risk, the longer it’s left.”
“Why?”
Maichuskin looked at me sharply. “We’re a long way south of optimum. You know what that means?”
“No.”
“You haven’t been down past yet?”
“What does that mean?”
“A long way south of the city.”
“No … I haven’t.”
“Well when you go down there you’ll find out what happens. In the meantime, take my word for it. The longer we leave the track laid south of the city, the more risk there is of it becoming unusable.”
There was still no sign of the hired men, and Malchuskin left me and went over and spoke to two more Track guildsmen who had just come out of the city.
“I can’t understand what happened.”
“You were instrumental in starting a brawl.”
“It was the Militia …” I said weakly.
“Yes, and you ought to know by now that you keep the Militia away from the tooks. They lost a few men some miles back, and there are a few scores to settle. Any excuse, and those stupid bastards go in and start clubbing.”
“Collings was in trouble,” I said. “Something had to be done.”
“All right, it wasn’t entirely your fault. Collings says now that he could have handled it if you hadn’t brought the Militia in … but he also admits that he told you to fetch them.”
“That’s right.”
“O.K. then, but think next time.”
“What do we do now?” I said. “We’ve no labourers.”
“There are more coming today. The work will be slow at first, because we’ll have to train them for it. But the advantage is that the resentments won’t start at once, and they’ll work harder. It’s later, when they get time to think, that the trouble begins.”
“But why do they resent us so? Surely, we pay for their services.”
“Yes, but at our price. This is a poor region. The soil’s bad, and there’s not much food. We pass by in our city, offer them what they need …
and they take it. But they get no long-term benefit, and I suppose we take more than we give.”
“We should give more.”
“Maybe.” Malchuskin looked indifferent. “That’s none of our concern. We work the track.”
We had to wait several hours for the new men to arrive. During that time Malchuskin and I went to the dormitory huts vacated by the previous men and cleaned them out. The previous occupants had been hustled away by the militiamen during the night, but they’d been given time to collect their belongings. There was a lot that was left though: mainly old and worn garments and scraps of food. Maichuskin warned me to keep an eye open for any kind of message that might have been left for the new men; neither he nor I discovered anything of this sort.
Later, we went outside and burned anything that had been left.
Around midday a man from the Barter guild came over to us and said that the new labourers would be with us shortly. We were made a formal apology about what had happened the previous evening, and told that in spite of much discussion it had been decided that the Militia guard would be strengthened for the time being. Malchuskin protested, but the Barter guildsman could only agree: the decision had been taken against his own opinion.
I was in two minds about this. On the one hand I had no great admiration for the militiamen, but if their presence could avert a repetition of the trouble then I supposed it was inevitable.
Malchuskin was beginning to fret about the delay. I presumed that this was because of the ever-present necessity to make up lost time, but when I mentioned this he was not as concerned about this as I’d thought.
“We’ll make time on the optimum on the next winching,” he said. “The delay last time was because of the ridge. That’s behind us now and the land’s fairly level ahead of us for the next few miles. I’m more concerned about the state of the track behind the city.”
“The Militia will be protecting it,” I said.
“Yes … but they can’t stop it buckling. That’s the main risk, the longer it’s left.”
“Why?”
Maichuskin looked at me sharply. “We’re a long way south of optimum. You know what that means?”
“No.”
“You haven’t been down past yet?”
“What does that mean?”
“A long way south of the city.”
“No … I haven’t.”
“Well when you go down there you’ll find out what happens. In the meantime, take my word for it. The longer we leave the track laid south of the city, the more risk there is of it becoming unusable.”
There was still no sign of the hired men, and Malchuskin left me and went over and spoke to two more Track guildsmen who had just come out of the city.
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