*  *  *  *

The darkening sky draped the group in shadows as they regarded the new
lazari, the first they had seen reborn in the evening rather than the
morning.

The man with the blue eyes looked around at the others.  "What am I
doing here?" he said, surprised. "This isn't where I was yesterday.
Or I don't think so.  Or maybe I died a second time, there was that
commotion in the night.  Yes, that seems likely, since I woke up under
the stones, just like those couple of people who showed up the same
way."

Benjamin smiled good-naturedly. "Greetings. My name is Benjamin.
Welcome to our Company. Perhaps you could tell us of your previous
Lives, especially in this World? How many Days in this Place have you
been? Do you remember them?" He spoke first in English, which the
blue-eyed man seemed to recognize, and then in French, to which both
of the new resurrectees responded. The conversation continued in
French, with a man called "Shaw" translating for the others in the
group.

The blue-eyed man looked his new neighbors over and smiled.  "You can
call me Ehrich," he replied. "I'm from Wisconsin.  Dabbled a bit in
odd jobs, mostly had some carny acts in side shows, but I've done some
aviation too.  Ruptured something and died in 26.  Then I ended up
here, a unexpected sort of spirit world.  Folks made do, and although
we heard stories about bandit kingdoms and czars elsewhere on the
river, we made out ok with only spots of mobs, gangs, and the
occasional politician."

Mandragola got to his feet somewhat warily, surveying the others with
an intrigued look in his eyes. After listening to the exchange between
Ehrich and Benjamin for a while, he spoke up.  "You will call me
Mandragola. All you need to know of my days on earth is that I was a
writer and politician. On this world, I found myself with bandits and
criminals. All were loathsome villains, but although forced to watch
my back, I found myself living well. How I died a second time I do not
know."

All the time, Mandragola will stay slightly apart from the group, observing
both them and his surrounding with a keen eye. He will not be openly
hostile, but neither will he be very friendly.

The dark-skinned woman stood a little on the periphery of the group,
looking over the newcomers, her gaze keen. She seemed disappointed to
see that neither of the men recognized her, and introduced herself as
Josephine.

She was disappointed to see that neither of the men recognized her.
She looked more closely at the new man, Ehrich, and he returned her
gaze. His face seemed familiar, and after a moment she placed it.
He had died when she was 20, but she remembered his face from the
posters. Harry Houdini.

She fell back and whispered to Shaw. Benjamin gave them a sidelong
glance and a short sigh.

"Shaw, that man Ehrich," she spoke quietly into his ear, "I recognize
him. He's Houdini."

Shaw nodded quietly at the information. "Perhaps he has a reason to
use a new name."

The tall black man who Benjamin named "Shaka" shifted the large
iron-bladed scythe he carried. He paused to look at the new
resurrectees and a hint of disappointment flickered past his eyes as
he saw them.  He turned to Josephine as if to say something, then
shook his head and seemed to change his mind. Instead, a short,
powerful-looking man greeted them in Latin. With Shaw's help, he named
himself Charles of Aachen.

Speaking through Shaw, the short pale woman who had been watching
Shaka introduced herself as well.  "I bid you welcome, in the name of
our Lord Jesus Christ. My name is Jeanne. You have questions for us, I
am sure?  I will be happy to answer them when you are ready."

The Asian man greeted them next, in English.  "I am Yukio Mishima,
from Japan after your time, I believe.  Welcome. I, too, have recently
been brought to this group, led more or less by those two," he
indicated Charles and Shaka, "able warriors, both."

"We seem to be being brought together for a mission here; you will
know more of it in council this evening."

Benjamin smiled. "For now, let us dine. If your Grails were not
resurrected with Food therein, I will be pleased to share mine."  No
such sacrifice was necessary, however. The newcomers' grails, like
those of the others, proved to be well-provisioned with balls of fried
grains, a rice-like pasta Shaw called "couscous", olives, and a
chick-pea dip. Some were displeased by the lack of meat in their meal,
but the excellent red wine ameliorated some of their annoyance.
Cigarettes, marijuana sticks, dreamgum, a razor, and lipstick rounded
out the grails' offerings. Jeanne and Shaw, as well as some of the
others, reserved their tobacco and dreamgum in the bottom of their
grail.

When they had eaten their fill, the council began. Benjamin explained
to the newcomers that Shaka had received a dream suggesting that they
head north to discover the source of the iron that had produced
Shaka's scythe, the only metal weapon any of them had seen on the
River. But they could travel either by foot or by boat.

Shaka began the discussion, speaking in English.  "I say there is no
other way to go but on foot.  When the lion god spoke to me, he did
not indicate we should take to the water.  It is far too dangerous
that way anyway.  One is defenseless on the water, and cannot hide.
To go that way is surely folly.

Shaw spoke up quickly. "True, your lion god did not say to go by
water, but did he say to go by land?  If we walk we would spend all
our time fighting others, and never make it to where out enemy is. On
water we would be able to sail past anyone who we do not need to
fight, and, if this ship truly did belong to our unknown foe, we could
use it to our advantage in the future. Besides, walking would take to
long. I want to find out what is going on and I want to find out
soon."

Mishima spoke up eagerly.  "We go north at the command of one of the
powers of this place.  We know not how far.  For such a journey, by
foot would seem the most fitting means." He turned to Shaw. "Shaw, how
can you want to travel by river?  How would we know where to stop, how
to react?  How would we know even if we passed our goal?

"If for no other reason, consider that this quest was laid to Shaka;
he plans to walk, and thus so do I."

"We should move soon," Jeanne said forcefully. "If there is a chance
Cleopatra lives..."  She gestured to the box of cigars.  "Then the
longer we delay the smaller that chance becomes. Let us depart before
the next firing of the grails."

Mishima laughed.  "Cleopatra was among you?  If she waits for us to
the North, then let us be on our way." He turned more serious and
looked at Jeanne. "But I do not see why you should expect this to be
so.  A picture made of a beautiful woman is its own explanation." His
voice turned unusually gentle as he added, "I understand that your
friend disappeared, and if she waits to the North so much the better,
but contain your hopes."

Shaw looked very interested in the cigar box Jeanne had found, and in
the drawing of a woman that lay within it. "May I see that?" he
asked. When Jeanne passed it to him, he examined it closely.  "Some
sort of wanted poster, with the payment included? I wonder if there is
one of these for each of us. I for one hope my head is worth more than
20 cigars." He chuckled.

"I agree that Time may be essential now," Benjamin said. "We should
depart northward as soon as possible by Land or by River.  It is clear
that our Disposition will not be improved in this Place either."

"Perhaps those who wish to travel by water might scout ahead, then,"
Jeanne suggested, "and those who wish to travel on foot can do so. We
might say we will meet in a certain number of days, unless we come to
trouble, or find a settlement to contact before then."

Charles nodded. "While I do not relish separating our company again,
it would be wise to scout ahead, and it is better to be two groups
working together than two separate. Tomorrow some will travel with
Shaw, and others with Shaka."

Shaka nodded.  "And this one," he turned and pointed to Joseph, the
man who sit bound beside Charles, "will be nothing but a liability.  I
say we kill him now.  Temuchin was not among the reborn, so I say this
one will not be either.  He is doing nothing useful for us in any
case, and he has a debt to be paid -- to me."

Shaka ran his thumb along the blade with menace in his eyes. He
address Joseph directly. "I will be swift and merciful, jackal, have
no fear."

"No, Shaka," the man called Louis interjected. "Do not kill him.  I
wish to continue to question him.  I know you desire your revenge, but
he still may prove useful--a use that might outweigh and outlast what
you wish at this ephemeral moment.  Think past your anger...."

Shaw glanced at Joseph. "Shaka and Louis are right, it is high time
that we found a use for him. Dr. Freud," Shaw said to a mild-looking
man who had been silent most of the evening, "you mentioned hypnotism
earlier?"

Freud nodded. "I have found it to be effective."

Shaw looked over at Charles and Louis "And if that does not work I'm
sure there are other ways to encourage him to talk."

Jeanne frowned at the suggestions and when Shaka grudgingly acceded
to allow Freud to work with Joseph, she excused herself and retired to
a hut in the encampment for the night. The others could hear her
praying quietly.

Before she slept, Jeanne cautiously chewed a stick of dreamgum, but
unlike her first bout with the hallucinogen, she saw no visions and
simply drifted into sleep.

Freud brought himself level with Joseph, and raised his
finger. "Joseph," he said in a soothing voice, "this will be painless
and possibly even to your benefit as well. Don't resist." He began
moving his finger before Joseph's eyes, back and forth. "Watch my
finger, and listen to my voice. Your eyelids are getting heavier."
Ehrich watched with considerable interest as Freud droned on,
"heavier...you are drifting...into a peaceful state...peaceful..."

Joseph's eyes dropped shut. "What is your name?" Freud asked.
"Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili," Joseph replied.

"When were you born?"

"December 9, 1879"

Freud nodded at the others. "Ask your questions slowly." Louis took
the lead, proceeding carefully.

"When did you meet Temuchin, the slaver with whom you mounted your
attack on us?"

"The night of the attack. He met me at the predetermined place."

"You didn't know him before that?"

"No."

"How was the place determined?"

"I don't know."

"By whom was the place determined?"

"I don't know. They promised me that Temuchin would be there and that
I would be rewarded for defeating you. But they were wrong - I killed
Shaka and he came back to life! They were wrong..."

Charles interrupted. "How did you manage to attack us without our
hearing you?"

"I found myself in position, with Temuchin, at the appointed time.
How do men's bodies reappear after their deaths?"

Freud spoke again, his words still gentle but clearly chosen with
care.

"When did They talk to you?"

"At night."

"Were you awake or dreaming?"

"I was dreaming."

"What did you dream about?"

"Men and women. Talking to me, everything was so clear and I knew that
I must join them. They were different somehow. They had no souls. They
promised power. They said you would be weakened...from...from..."

He began to shake, first slightly, and then convulsively. Freud waved
the others back and began to speak in his comforting drone again, but
the shaking did not cease, until, final, Joseph's eyelids shot open,
and he slumped down, his eyes wide but unseeing. Freud, shaken, held
his hand to the man's neck but found no pulse there. 

Shaka muttered angrily. "He was mine." The others broke up and went to
sleep around the grailstone or in the burned-down huts of what had
once been Temuchin's encampment.

			      *  *  *  *

The morning dawned over the River, clear and bright.  Before the
firing of the grailstone, Josephine moved to the edge of the river and
slipped in, swimming at first quickly, then in sporadic bursts of fast
and slow. Shaw grinned and joined her, swimming energetically and
speaking to her in Latin.  "The immersion method," she laughed, as she
splashed him. After a half hour, they left the water and placed their
grails with the others on the grailstone. Josephine made no move to
dress or dry herself.

The others acquainted Jeanne with Joseph's fate.  Freud seemed unhappy
with the events of the night before, and restlessly awaited the firing
of the grail.  If he hoped to find Joseph or another newly reborn body
beside they grailstone, he was disappointed. Only breakfast was
forthcoming, and after they ate, they stood in a group and made their
plans.