caravan they boarded barges and went down to Lot.
37 The Hawk pitied the slaves and oxen that pulled the barges along the
shore. At Lot they hired a ship and noticed the master of the harbor
seemed interested in his papers, and spoke to the master of his ship at
length.
38 The master of the ship showed him every courtesy as they made their
way down the lake. They arrived at the uppermost of the river Tri's
four outlets and there took a barge to the city.
39 The swamp was dismal, the bugs bloodthirsty. The Hawk and his people
stayed inside their curtains and burned smoke day and night. But
finally, just before they reached the city dock, the land opened out
into a great, black plain, and ahead of them, the towers of Tir
glistened in the sun.
40 "No wonder," commented The Hawk to his men, "this is called 'the
city of one-hundred towers!' Though there are not really half that
number, anyone approaching it would THINK there were! How The One ever
took this city, I will never understand."
41 An old boatman looked up. "The legend," he explained, "is that they
borrowed magic from your people, and in the dead of night flew over the
walls, overcame the guards on the gates, then poured into the city.
They killed every man in the city, not sparing one, then took the women
and children as their own. Any of the women who would not
accept their god they kept prisoner, and
sacrificed their next holy day."
42 "You're not a Onner?" asked The Hawk.
43 The man laughed. "No Onners on this job! They'll not work the
barges, especially when the bugs are bad. I came from Ls, out in the
lake. Our city was part of this land once, but when The One conquered
our kinsmen we sent emissaries to The King of Tr and became his
protectorate. Just as the people of Te became the protectorate of Mr.