dgeting on his stool,
looking contemptuously at the strangers and their host. He thought
they were fools to waste time learning about people who had died long
ago. So he thought the Keeper was a fool, to guard a worthless old
piece of junk.

Raud hesitated for a moment, then said: "I have a very ancient thing,
here in this house. It was worn, long ago, by great kings. Their
names, and the name of their people, are lost, but the Crown remains.
It was left to me as a trust by my father, who was Keeper before me
and to whom it was left by his father, who was Keeper in his time.
Have you heard of it?"

Dranigo nodded. "We heard of it, first of all, on Dremna," he said.
"The Empire has a Space Navy base, and observatories and relay
stations, on this planet. Space Navy officers who had been here
brought the story back; they heard it from traders from the Warm Seas,
who must have gotten it from people like Yorn Nazvik. Would you show
it to us, Keeper? It was to see the Crown that we came here."

Raud got to his feet, and saw, as he unhooked the lumicon, that he was
trembling. "Yes, of course. It is an honor. It is an ancient and
wonderful thing, but I never thought that it was known on Dremna." He
hastened across to the crypt.

The dogs looked up as he approached. They knew that he wanted to lift
the cover, but they were comfortable and had to be coaxed to leave it.
He laid aside the deerskins. The stone slab was heavy, and he had to
strain to tilt it up. He leaned it against the wall, then picked up
the lumicon and went down the steps into the little room below,
opening the wooden chest and getting out the bundle wrapped in
bearskin. He brought it up again and carried it to the table, from
which Dranigo and Salvadro were clearing the dishes.

"Here it is," he said, untying the thongs. "I do not know how old it
is. It was old even before the Ice-Father was born."

That was too much for Vahr. "See, I told you he's crazy!" he cried.
"The Ice-Father has been here forever. Gorth Sledmaker says so," he
added, as though that settled it.

"Gorth Sledmaker's a fool. He thinks the world began in the time of
his grandfather." He had the thongs untied, and spread the bearskin,
revealing the blackened leather box, flat on the bottom and domed at
the top. "How long ago do you think it was that the Ice-Father was
born?" he asked Salvadro and Dranigo.

"Not more than two thousand years," Dranigo said. "The glaciation
hadn't starte