“Smell? I noticed none.”
“ Strange,” Carse thought, “ when it drove me nearly mad. Or perhaps I’m mad already.”
“Jaxart was right, Boghaz. There is someone hidden there, in the inner cabin.”
With some irritation Boghaz said, “Ywain’s wantoning is nothing to me.”
They labored in silence for a while. Then Carse asked abruptly, “Who are the Dhuvians?”
Boghaz stared at him. “Where do you really come from, man?”
“As I told you—from far beyond Shun.”
“It must have been from far indeed if you haven’t heard of Caer Dhu and the Serpent!”
Then Boghaz shrugged his fat shoulders as he labored. “You’re playing some deep game of your own, I suppose. All this pretended ignorance—but I don’t mind playing that game with you.”
He went on, “You know at least that since long ago there have been human peoples on our world and also the not-quite-human peoples, the Halflings. Of the humans the great Quiru, who are gone, were the greatest. They had so much science and wisdom that they’re still revered as superhuman.