kill the digger with them after he had dispatched the girl.
By the time he reached the shoreline, he had convinced himself that he could find the little clock and had changed his mind about Riolla. But not about Cheyne.
Far down the beach, lavin pulled himself from the swirling surf, clutching in his good hand a waxed linen-bound bundle, red ribbon still tied around it, that he had pulled from the wreckage of Riolla's sedan chair.
"What is that, Muje?" said Doulos, coughing up more of the salty seawater.
"It looks like a little clock-very old. It seems to be dry, despite its recent treatment. Sort of like us. Thank you for your help in the water-I would never have made it without you. Where did you learn to swim so well, Doulos?"
lavin sat back on his haunches and gave the chroni-clave a small shake. When he was satisfied that it had remained watertight, he tried to get it to work. "Oh. It needs a key," he said, turning it over.
"I learned to swim in the Sumifan River, Muje. During the wet months, when I was not the old king's carrier, I worked my birds on the river. When we were children, before he left, my brother Rafek and 1 had twelve cormorants, and they fished for us. The prince sold the fish for much kohli."
Doulos's eyes followed the flight of a waterbird to the far side of the Silver Sea. "I miss my birds, but my friend will care for them now," said Doulos, spotting and retrieving one of the drowned ores' spears, which had washed up a few feet away. "Muje, lost things always find their way home. If there is a key to your clock, we can find it." Doulos smiled. lavin smiled back, humoring him.