"A warning. Such activity will bring you to the attention of certain persons…" "Elves?"
"Persons, Sir Cat. Persons who will take your curiosity ill. The proverbs, even in your country, tell of the results of undue curiosity.''
Dodger might be trying to hide it, but Kham guessed that the decker's "persons" were indeed elves, elves who were already hiding certain other secrets, elves who went around digging up fragging big crystals covered with carvings. Well, those elves didn't have to
know that he and the catboy were on to them until it was too late for them to do anything about it. But right now, the attention of elves, any elves, was undesirable. Knowledge about elves, however, was a valuable commodity, and the catboy was persistently pursuing that knowledge.
"Is Urdli one of these persons?" Neko asked nonchalantly.
Dodger started at the mention of the name that meant nothing to Kham. "How do you know that name?"
"Good research. Connections. A collection of coincidences that must, perforce, be more than coincidences. Let us say that I put together a glimpsed face, a certain ruthlessness, memories of such ruthlessness shown in certain operations involving an elf of color, your own connection to this matter, and your previous connections to another matter."
Head spinning, Kham was beginning to be glad the catboy was on his side.
Dodger sighed. "All this in the name of idle curiosity, Sir Cat?"
"Hardly idle."
"Yeah," Kham agreed. "We got our reasons."
" Tis likely. I hope they are good enough for the risks you run."
"Run risks before," Kham said. "It's what runners do."
" Tis true. Too true."
"How old is Urdli?" Neko asked.
Dodger stared at the catboy for a long time before deciding on his answer. " 'Twould be fair to say he is well beyond his youth."
Kham again wanted to smash the evasive elf in the face, but Neko's feather touch was back, calming him. Kham realized that the catboy was right. Violence wouldn't get a response from Dodger. The catboy knew what he was doing, Kham left him to it.
"So he is older, too. I had suspected as much. Is he older than Laverty?''
Dodger said confidently, "You shall find no records of his birth."
Neko leaned eagerly forward. "How old is he, Dodger?"
"As I have said, he is no youth. You'll get no other answer from me, for I know not the truth of the matter. Were I to lie to you in this, you would take it ill. And were I to tell the truth as I understand it, you would think me a liar.''
"Very old, then," Neko said, and the silence enveloped the three of them.
Kham didn't know who this Urdli was, but he had a suspicion. The catboy had said "an elf of color," and Kham had only encountered one of those recently- the Dark One. Like all the other elves, he looked like a kid, but here was Dodger saying that this Urdli was an old man. Kham could see now that he had been right; the elves did have a secret of youth, perhaps even of immortality. This was why Neko had set up the meeting, to prove to Kham that he had been right, to show him that they had to do something. "He has it, doesn't he?"
"Has what?" Dodger asked innocently. Kham knew better than to believe that act. "Our turn fer secrets," he said.
"You do not know where you tread." ' 'We know more dan ya tink, elf.'' "Sir Tusk, knowledge will not save you if you blunder around in your usual fashion." "Ain't gonna blunder." "Pray it be so," Dodger said solemnly. Neko smiled. "Have no fear," he told the elf. "Like my namesake, I shall tread lightly."
Dodger looked at him with sadness in his eyes. "If you must walk this path, Sir Cat, you had best tread lightly and teach your friends to do so as well. Otherwise you had best hope that having cat for a namesake endows you with as many lives."
"Where are we going?" the catboy shouted over the roar of the bikes' engines.
"Talk ta Laverty."
"How are we going to do that?"
"Ya said we could talk ta Dodger 'cause he was coming inta town wit Laverty, right?"
"Hai, for a government conference. We can't get into that. Besides, Glasgian might be there. If he saw us, he'd know we're not dead."
"Ain't gonna see Glasgian. Conference's a business deal wit da government, right? Well, da payroll boys don't do overtime, not da big boys anyway. So's it's gotta be over 'bout da time business is over. Which is 'bout now. We go wait and follow Laverty when he leaves."
"And if he leaves by air?"
Kham hadn't thought about that. "Ya got a better • idea?" he snarled angrily. 1
"I don't see any need to speak to Laverty. We got our confirmation from Dodger. Much better we retrieve the analysis on the splinter you got from the crystal's frame."
"Go if-ya want. I want ta hear what Laverty's got ta say.''
