Page 4

"Nobody at all?"

"Uh, yes, well, prisoners, sometimes. Those prisoners guilty of really evil crimes, those that threaten the monastery. But they never come out again, of course."

"Naturally not."

"The cells under the monastery..." Põcha Pantabhat shuddered delicately. "But nobody else goes inside who’s not a monk, or a guard."

"Not even tradespeople and the like? Surely great monks like you must have a lot of need for goods."

"They’re only allowed inside the outer gates." Põcha Pantabhat made a face. "They drop their produce in the yard there, and the novices drag it all inside afterwards."

"Who does all the physical labour in the monastery, then?" Opodartho asked. "If nobody except the monks are allowed inside, you won’t have servants or slaves?"

"It’s the novices do it all," Põcha Pantabhat replied with an involuntary shudder.

"You must have been a novice till only recently," Opodartho said. "You poor thing. It must have been awful. Did they make you stay up all night working?"

"That, and more." Põcha Pantabhat looked gratified. "You can’t imagine how awful it was. My hands were scraped to the bone." He held up his smooth, soft-skinned fingers to demonstrate. "Of course, now that I’m no longer a novice I don’t have to do that kind of job any longer."

"The monastery should allow servants," Opodartho said, nibbling at her lower lip. "Your poor hands."

"It’s not my decision, you understand. If it were up to me, we’d all have slaves. The monastery’s certainly rich enough. But it’s a tradition passed down by the High Abbots through the years."

"From what I hear," Onek Mangsho said thoughtfully, "all decisions in Thoger Tandob are made in the monastery. Is that right? The monastery actually rules the city."

"That’s right." Põcha Pantabhat positively glowed with pride. "But it’s only the top circles of monks who have power, you know, the High Abbot and those below him. Low level monks like us..." He shrugged expressively.

"You just follow their orders." My Lord nodded. "You know, Honourable Monk, we really want to have a look inside the monastery. Just to be able to tell people that we’ve done it, you know."

"But I told you –"

"Yes, I know what you said. But, excuse me for being blunt, but it’s obvious that you young monks aren’t given your full due by the top orders, am I right?" We all saw Põcha Pantabhat nod. "I’m sure you could always benefit from some additional, um, property of your own, gifts and coins and such." My Lord leaned confidentially towards the weedy monk. "We’re merchants, as I said, and you know that merchants have wealth to spare."

Põcha Pantabhat licked his lips. "But where can I keep anything you give me? There are no places I can hide things inside the monastery for any length of time."

"What a question! Isn’t this your parents’ inn? Wouldn’t they keep something of yours here, securely hidden, as long as you wanted it?"

"Ah, I don’t know..."

"Please, Põcha Pantabhat," Opodartho said, and was so shameless as to actually reach across the table to touch his hand. "It would mean so much to us if you did this."

Põcha Pantabhat smiled weakly. "Since you ask it, dear Lady Shamanyo Sheeth, I agree. I’ll take you in."

"How? You aren’t going to be able to walk us in through the gates, are you?"

Põcha Pantabhat turned back to Onek Mangsho at his words. "There are, uh, secret entrances the novices all know about, which they use when they want to go to the town."

"Fine," my Lord said. "Then we’ll see you tonight."

"Tonight?" Põcha Pantabhat squeaked. "Isn’t that a bit too quick, Lord Bhoyanok Bhumikompo?"

Onek Mangsho smiled. "No point waiting, is there? Besides, we’re planning to leave early in the morning, so if you can’t see your way to helping us tonight, then I’m afraid..."

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