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at the far end, which let into an office where a number of people were
working. So she couldn't have slipped away unnoticed, but there was no reason
to think the people in the office would try to detain her if she did decide to
leave. She'd simply been asked to stay here long enough to let the Bank of
Rienne determine whether there could be any sinister significance to the
appearance of the inquisitive strangers at the Tayun consulate that morning.
During the brief ride in the airvan, Telzey had explained that the bank felt
its investigation would be greatly simplified if it could be carried out in
complete secrecy. Pehanron College did not seem a safe place to leave Gonwil
if somebody did intend to harm her; and to avoid revealing that it was taking
a hand in the matter, the bank had called on Telzey, through her father, to
spirit Gonwil quietly away from the campus.
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Allowing for the fact, that, at the moment, everybody appeared obsessed by the
notion that Tayun vendettists were after her, it wasn't an unreasonable
explanation. The Bank of Rienne did have some grounds to consider itself
responsible for her here. "But why," Gonwil had asked, "didn't you tell me all
this before we left?"
"Would you have come along if I had?" Telzey said.
Gonwil reflected and admitted that she probably wouldn't have come along. She
didn't want to appear ungrateful; and she had now begun to feel the first
touches of apprehension. When so many people, including Telzey's eminently
practical father, were indicating concern for her safety, the possibility
couldn't be denied that there was more to the old vendettist stories than
she'd been willing to believe. Cousin Malrue, after all, was no fool; perhaps
she had done Malrue an inexcusable injustice in belittling her warnings!
Gonwil had only a vague idea of the methods a capable murderer might use to
reach his victim; but it was generally accepted that he had a frightening
array of weapons to choose from, and that every precaution must be taken in
such situations.
At any rate, she was perfectly safe here. The door to the room was locked; she
had one key to it, Gilas Amberdon another. She was to let no one but Telzey
in, and to make sure that no one else attempted to enter, Chomir was on guard
in the corridor outside. It was comfortable to remember now that if Chomir was
no shining light when it came to the standard doggy tricks, the protection of
a human being was as solidly stamped into his nature as the gory skills of the
arena. While he could move, only Gonwil or Telzey would open that door until
one of them convinced him he could stop being a watchdog again.
And now that she was alone, Gonwil thought, there was something she should
take care of promptly.
Opening the overnight bag she had taken from the college, she arranged her
study materials on a desk shelf, then brought out the miniature camouflaged
communicator which had come with the mail in the morning. She had dropped
Junior's unwanted token of affection in with the tapewriter and other items,
intending to show it to Telzey later on.
She studied the tiny instrument a moment, pensively biting her lip. There had
been no opportunity to tell Telzey about it, so no one here knew she had the
thing. The lack of communicators among the room furnishings might mean that
they'd rather she didn't send messages outside. But they hadn't said so.
And it seemed only fair to send Malrue a reassuring word through Junior now.
There would be no need to mention the Bank of Rienne's investigation. She
could tell Junior a very harmless story, one designed only to keep his mother
from becoming completely distraught when she heard from Pehanron College that
Gonwil had chosen to disappear.
Gonwil glanced back a moment at the door. Then she placed the communicator in
the palm of her left hand, and shifted the emerald arrowhead in its cover
design a quarter turn to the right. That, according to the instructions which
had come with it, made it ready for use. She placed it on the desk shelf, and
pressed down with a fingertip on the golden pinhead stud in the center of the
cover.
A slender fan of golden light sprang up and out from around the rim of the
communicator, trembled, widened, and held steady. It was perhaps three feet
across, not much over two high, slightly concave. This was the vision screen.
Now, if she turned the little arrowhead to the third notch, and Junior's
communicator was set to receive, he should hear her signal.
Some ten or twelve seconds passed. Then Rodel Parlin the Twelfth's handsome,
narrow face was suddenly there in the fan-shaped golden light screen before
her.
"Well, at last!" he exclaimed. "I've been trying to call you but & "
"I didn't switch it on until just now," Gonwil admitted.
"Busy as all that with your tests?" Junior's gaze shifted past her, went
around the room. "What's this?" he inquired. "Did Pehanron actually change
your quarters because of the vendettist scare?"
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So the Parlins hadn't been told she was gone. Gonwil smiled.
"Pehanron didn't!" she said. "I did. The fuss was getting too much for my
nerves, so I sneaked out!"
For a moment, Junior looked startled. "You've left the college?"
"Uh-huh."
"Well, I & where are you now?"
"I'm not telling anybody," she said. "I've gone underground, so to speak, and
I intend to stay out of sight until the thing blows over."
"Well, uh, Malrue & "
"I know. That's why I called the first chance I had. I don't want Malrue to
worry unnecessarily, so you tell her I'm in a perfectly safe place. Nobody
here knows me, so nobody including vendettists can find out where I've gone.
Tell Malrue I'm being very careful, and whenever you all decide there's no
more danger, I'll come out again."
Junior studied her, frowning doubtfully.
"Malrue," he observed, "isn't going to like that very much!"
"Yes, I & just a moment!" Gonwil turned towards the door. Sounds of scratching
came from it, then a deep whine. "That's Chomir! He heard us talking, and I'd
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