The shells remained closed. Dark water swirled over the fluted surfaces.

Cugel came a step closer, squatted on his haunches and cocked his head askew. “Or perhaps you are proud? So that you withdraw yourselves in disdain? Or is it that you lack grace?”

Still no response. Cugel remained as before, and began to whistle, trilling a tune he bad heard at the Azenomei Fair.

Presently the shell at the far edge of the rock opened a crack, and eyes peered at him. Cugel whistled another bar or two, then spoke once more. “Open your shells! Here waits a stranger, anxious to learn the road to Cil, and other matters of import!”

Another shell opened a crack; another set of eyes glistened from the dark within.

“Perhaps you are ignorant,” scoffed Cugel. “Perhaps you know nothing save the color of fish and the wetness of water.”

The shell of the farthest opened further, enough to show the indignant face within. “We are by no means ignorant!”

“Nor indolent, nor lacking in grace, nor disdainful,” shouted the second.

“Nor timorous!” added a third.

Cugel nodded sagely. “This well may be. But why do you withdraw so abruptly at my mere approach?”

“Such is our nature,” said the first shell-creature. “Certain creatures of the sea would be happy to catch us unaware, and it is wise to retreat first and investigate second.”

All four of the shells were now ajar, though none stood as fully wide as when Cugel had approached.

“Well then,” he said, “what can you tell me of Cil? Are strangers greeted with cordiality, or driven off? Are inns to be found, or must the wayfarer sleep in a ditch?”

“Such matters He beyond our specific knowledge,” said the first shell-creature. It fully opened its shell, and extruded pale arms and shoulders. “The folk of Cil, if rumor of the sea goes correctly, are withdrawn and suspicious, even to their ruler, who is a girl, no more, of the ancient House of Domber.”

“There walks old Slaye now,” said another. “He returns early to his cabin.”

Another tittered. “Slaye is old; never will he find his amulet, and thus the House of Domber will rule Cil till the sun goes out.”

“What is all this?” asked Cugel ingenuously. “Of what amulet do you speak?”

“As far as memory can return,” one of the shell-creatures explained, “old Slaye has sifted sand, and his father before him, and yet other Slayes across the years. They seek a metal band, by which they hope to regain then-ancient privileges.”

“A fascinating legend!” said Cugel with enthusiasm. “What are the powers of the amulet, and how are they activated?”

“Slaye possibly would provide this information,” said one dubiously.

“No, for he is dour and crabbed,” declared another. “Consider his petulant manner when he sieves a scoop of sand to no avail!”

“Is there no information elsewhere?” Cugel demanded anxiously. “No rumor of the sea? No ancient tablet or set of glyphs?”

The shell-creatures laughed in merriment. “You ask so earnestly that you might be Slaye himself. Such lore is unknown to us.”