"Very well," said Kirdy grudgingly.
"So long as it's understood that I'm not going out on that roof."
The other Bold Lions sat at a table to the side of the terrace, drinking rum punches to the light of Lorca, Sing and an array of flickering lamps. Their voices rose and fell across the night, as they allowed the other tourists to notice what fine fellows they were.
Kirdy and Glawen went quietly upstairs to the fourth floor.
Glawen asked: "Do you know which is Aries' room?"
"He's second down the hall. Why?"
"Let's look out your window."
Kirdy's room was dark except for the glimmer from a small hooded night-light. Crossing to the window, the two looked out over the roof:
a clutter of hips, jogs, gables and ridges, black and pink in the eerie light of Lorca and Sing.
Kirdy pointed.
"That would be the proper area: just about there. But, as you can see, it's quite inaccessible, and this is how we must describe it to Bodwyn Wook, without inconsistency in our reports."
"But I don't agree with you. I think we should give it a try."
"How will you get down to the roof? It's fifteen feet or better."
"As I recall, Aries came to Yipton wearing a fine cloak of stout material."
"True. Rather too fine for the occasion, if you ask me."
"The theft of this cloak from Aries' room will cause consternation but no surprise, and Aries will learn to dress more modestly in the future."
Kirdy gave a dry chuckle.
"Aries might even volunteer his cloak, were he asked."
"Possibly, but when one asks permission, one often gets no for an
answer. As it is, Aries has not specifically forbidden us the cloak, which is good enough for me."
"Surely his door is locked."
Glawen examined Kirdy's door.
"Notice: the jambs are split bamboo and not at all rigid. Are you carrying your big clasp knife?"
Kirdy wordlessly brought forth the knife. Glawen took it to the door into Aries' room. While Kirdy kept watch, Glawen inserted the heavy knife blade between door and frame. He applied gentle pressure;
the frame sprang aside, allowing the door to slide past the latch. Glawen entered the room, took up the cloak, retreated, closed the door carefully, and the two returned to Kirdy's room. H Glawen cut away the cincture of silver lace which Kirdy rolled into a fight wad and discarded.
Glawen cut the cloak into long strips, which Kirdy tied together, to produce a rope twenty feet long. Glawen tied one end to the window frame and lowered the other end to the roof below.
"Now, before my courage gives out " "Courage?" Kirdy grunted.
"I call it suicidal Clattuc recklessness."
"One last precaution. I might get lost out there. Take the night-light and hold it in the window. If you hear me whistle, move the light in a circle."
"Right. Needless to say, be careful."
"Needless to say. Well, here I go."
Glawen hesitated only long enough to look right and left along the roof, then lowered himself down the makeshift rope. Gingerly he rested his feet on the plaited thatch, putting down his full weight only when he felt solidity beneath them.
Now he must locate a rafter under the palm-frond panels, and never allow his full weight to rest anywhere else. The simplest and most "direct route would take him up to the ridge, then eastward along the ridge to the area of Bodwyn Wook's interest.
He found a convenient rafter. Moving with the utmost delicacy, to avoid making crackling or squeaking sounds, which might attract attention below, he moved up the slope.
From time to time he looked over his shoulder, thus preserving his orientation with the night-light. He arrived at a hip, which provided less precarious support, and climbed rapidly on his hands and knees.
He reached the ridge and, sitting astride, looked back to the loom of the hotel across a gulf of black shadow. So far, so good. For a moment he sat resting, surrounded by a landscape of irrational shapes colored pale pink and black.
Urgency pressed on him. He set off along the ridge, scuttling like a great rat. His fear was suspended; he felt almost exhilaration.
At last he halted, and surveying the geometry of the roof, decided that he had come far enough. Beneath him now should be the target area. What would happen to him if he were caught? His mind recoiled from the idea.
He located a rafter and slid down the slope a few feet, then set to work cutting a hole in the thatch with his knife.
The knife slid into emptiness. Glawen enlarged the hole and put down his eye. On the floor below, the light of a dozen lamps illuminated a flyer of medium size. A workbench ran down one side of the room, furnished with various items of material-shaping equipment. A dozen men worked somewhat languidly at one job or another; it seemed to Glawen that not all of them were Yips, but he could not be sure.
