Return to the Whorl

by Gene Wolfe

Page 14

 

  "Most unfortunate. "

  Again the gloomy nod. "Why you here are, mysire. This do not you wonder? Why your jailer I am?"

  I confessed that I had thought very little about it.

  "You will escape, this they hope. A hundred cards paying I am. Ruined I am. "

  "Poor man!"

  Aanvagens husband patted the bed on which he sat. "Many blankets you have. A fire you have. Good food you get. "

  "So you wont be ruined. I understand. This is certainly very unfortunate. I take it that it would be useless for you to plead with Nat to drop the charges. "

  "Me he hates. " Beroep wiped sweat-beaded face again. "Bribe him I might. I will, this I think. A greedy thief he is. Friends might help. "

  "Good. Who did you say is holding my son Hide?"

  "Strik he is. An honest trader like me he is. "

  "Might he not assist you, too?"

  "This I will discover, mysire. It may be. "

  "My son Hide is young and athletic. Headstrong, as all such young men are. Hes far more likely to escape, I would say, than I am. "

  "No go!"

  I looked up at Oreb on his perch near the chimney. "All right, I wont. Beroep, you need not worry about my escaping. That wont happen; I give you my word. I cant speak for my son, however, since I cant communicate with him. You might want to tell your friend Strik so. "

  "To him as you say I will speak, mysire. He may us help. It may be. "

  "What about the man holding Jahlee, my daughter?"

  "Wijzer at sea is. " Beroep pointed toward the floor. "That Cijfer, his wife is. But no money she gives unless Wijzer says. "

  "Do you know when he might return to Dorp?"

  Aanvagens husband shook his head, and I heard her voice from the stairs. "Beroep! A bus! A hus at our door was!"

  He rolled his eyes upward. "A shadow it is, mysire. Of this assured be. "

  My door opened, revealing Aanvagen and a slightly slimmer, slightly younger woman with the same blue eyes, fair hair, and high complexion. "A hus at our door it is. Cijfer to our door it will not allow. "

  When Aanvagens husband spoke, it was with a world of skepticism in his voice. "A hus it is?"

  "Yes!" Cijfers hands indicated a beast the size of a dray horse.

  I went to the door and called for Vadsig, then turned back to Aanvagen and her husband. "Those are steep stairs. I hope you wont mind if I ask your servant to help me instead of troubling you. "

  He said, "You my guest are, mysire. "

  Vadsigs voice floated up the stairwell. "What it is, mysire?"

  "Open the front door, please, and leave it open. Your master agrees that you are to do as I say. Its important. "

  There was a lengthy pause, then the sound of Vadsigs hurrying feet.

  "Beroep, am I correct in thinking that if a hus-a wild hus-has come into Dorp, someone will shoot it?"

  He shook his head, and both women protested, horrified.

  "They wont?"

  "Bad luck it is!" This from the women in chorus.

  "Superstition it is," Aanvagens husband explained, in the tone of one who tolerates the irrational beliefs of the ignorant. "If a beast into the town it comes, misfortune it brings. Back to the woodlands we must it drive. If killed it is, the misfortune in our town remains. "

  I had been listening for the clatter of Babbies hoofs on Aanvagens wooden floors, and had not heard it. I called, "Vadsig, did you open that door as I asked you?"

  She replied, but I could not understand what she said. "Tell her to come up here," Aanvagens husband advised.

  As loudly as I could, I shouted, "Come here, please, Vadsig!" and fell to coughing.

  Aanvagen said, "Tea with brandy in it you need, mysire. Get it you shall. See to it I will. "

  "Alone we should talk," her husband muttered. "That better would be. This hus in my house you wish. "

  I nodded. "Yes, I do. "

  "Not a wild hus it is. Not a shadow either it is. A tame hus? Yours, mysire?"

  I nodded again.

  "Like your bird it is. "

  Oreb bobbed agreement. "Good bird!"

  "Somewhat like him at least. My hus-his name is Babbie-does not speak, of course. But hes a clean, gentle animal. We were separated, and he seems to have gone back to the woman who gave him to me. Some time ago, she learned where I was and promised to return him. "

  Vadsig bustled through the doorway. "Yes, Mysire Horn?"

  I said, "I simply wanted to know whether you opened the front door as I asked, Vadsig. "

  "Oh, yes, mysire. "

  "You a big animal seeing are?" Aanvagen put in.

  "Yes, mistress. "

  "What sort of animal, Vadsig?"

  "Mules, mysire. Pulling carts they are. "

  "A hus you seeing are?" Cijfer inquired urgently.

  "A hus? Oh, no, Merfrow Cijfer. "

  "Did you leave the door open, Vadsig, when you came up?"

  "No, mysire. Cold in the street it is. "

  "How long did you leave it open?"

  "Till you up to come telling me are, mysire. "

  Oreb dropped to my shoulder, giving me a quizzical look to indicate that he would go outside and look for the hus if asked. I shook my head-unobtrusively, I hope.

  Aanvagens husband asked, "No hus you seeing are, Vadsig?"

  "No, Master. "

  He turned to Cijfer. "A hus at my door you seeing are?"

  "Yes, Beroep. Never a hus so big I see. Tusks as long as my hand they are. "

  "This your Babbie is?" he asked me.

  "Yes, Im quite sure it is. "

  "Your Babbie Vadsig hurting is?"

  "I certainly dont think so. "

  He made a gesture of dismissal. "Vadsig, to the door again go. If a hus you see, the door open leave and us you tell. If no hus you see, the door you close and your work you do. "

  She ducked in a sketchy curtsy and hurried away.

  Cijfer offered him the letter I had penned a few hours before, her hand shaking sufficiently to rattle the paper. "Finding this in the sleeping girls room I am, Beroep. It reading you are? Aanvagen, too?"

  They bent their heads over it.

  "Your daughter she is, mysire?" Her voice trembled.

  I nodded.

  "Sleeping all day she is. Sleeping all night she is not. Walking she is, talking is. " She turned to Aanvagen, her voice trembling. "My pictures from the walls breaking!"

  Downstairs, something fell with a crash. Vadsig screamed.

  Chapter 6. DARK EMPTY ROOMS

  Somethin there, bucky. " Pigs hand, groping through darkness that for Pig had no shadeup, found his arm and closed around it, pointed nails digging into his flesh. "Hoose, maybe. "

  "Do you think they might let us sleep there? I dont see any lights. "

  "Was nae lights ter Hounds, neither, yet said. "

  A short distance ahead Hound remarked, "Oil that will burn in lamps is very dear, and candles almost impossible to find at any price. " After a moment he added, "I really cant say how near the city we are, but weve come a long way. I for one am ready for a rest. What about you, Horn?"

  Pig released his arm, and the tapping of Pigs scabbard indicated that Pig was moving to his right. He said, "Pigs been walking, while Ive done nothing but sit upon the back of this wonderfully tolerant donkey of yours. I feel sure that Pig-and my donkey-must be far more fatigued than I am. "

  Wall. " Pigs voice sounded nearby. "Nae winders, nor nae doors neither. " There was a pause. "Heres ther gate. Wide hopen, ter. "

  "No gate!" Oreb informed him.

  "Theres a vacant mansion back there," Hound explained. "Ive passed it many times. We could camp in it, if everybodys willing. It should keep off the rain, and rains likely after this heat. How do you feel about it, Horn? Would you be willing to stop?"

  "Yes. " He got out the striker Tansy had given him. "Id like to see it, if it belonged to a man named Blood. Did it?"


  "I havent the least notion who it belonged to. All I can tell you is that nobodys lived in it for as long as Ive been taking this road. Its pretty remote, and there are a lot of empty houses. Most are in better shape than this one. "

  "Then I want to stop, if you and Pig are willing. " The striker flared.

  "I wouldnt use up more of that candle than you can help. "

  Pigs voice came from a greater distance. "Gang hin, bucky. Yer comin?"

  "Yes, I am. " He dismounted.

  The wall was ruinous; the tangled iron through which Maytera Marble had picked her way had vanished. "I fought in a battle here, Oreb," he whispered to the bird on his shoulder.

  "No fight!"

  "Sometimes one must. Sometimes you do yourself. "

  Oreb fidgeted, his bill clacking unhappily. "Bad place. "

  "Oh, no doubt. They were holding Silk here, and Chenille, Patera Incus, and Master Xiphias. Not so long ago, I imagined Xiphias was walking along beside me. I wish hed come back. " He led his donkey through the gate and raised his lantern, hoping for a glimpse of the villa that had been Bloods; but the feeble light of the candle scarcely revealed the distant, pale bulk of Scyllas fountain. Under his breath he added, "Or that Silk would. "

  "Bad place!"

  Behind them, Hound chuckled. "Its haunted, naturally. All these old places are supposed to be. "

  "It is indeed. " The man Hound addressed waved his knobbed staff before him, although the light from his lantern showed no obstruction. "There should be a dead talus right here. I wonder what has become of it. "

  "Well, I wonder whats become of your friend Pig. I dont see him up ahead. "

  "Youre right. Oreb, will you look for him, please? If hes in trouble, come back and tell us at once. "

  "Now thats a handy pet. " Hound caught up. "Youve been here before?"

  "Twenty years ago. I had a slug gun instead of a stick then, and a thousand friends instead of two. No doubt I should say I like this better, because no ones trying to kill me; but the truth is I dont. " He pointed back to the gate with his staff. "The Guard floaters broke through there and came in with buzz guns blazing at the same time we swarmed over the wall-volunteers like me, and Guardsmen, and even Trivigaunti pterotroopers. There were taluses in here, but between the floaters and us, they never had a chance. Others did much more, Im sure; but I got off a shot before-"

  Oreb returned, dropping onto his shoulder. "Pig come. "

  "Hes all right then?"

  Oreb croaked deep in his throat, and Hound said, "I couldnt understand him that time. "

  "He didnt say anything, just made a noise. It means he doesnt know what to say or doesnt know how to say it. So somethings the matter with Pig that Oreb cant explain, or that he doesnt know how to tell us. Is he bleeding, Oreb?"

  "No hurt. "

  "Thats good. He didnt fall, I hope?"

  "No, no. "

  The fountain was dry, its basin filled with rotting leaves and its once-white stone dirty gray. One of Scyllas arms had been broken off.

  "Do people still worship her, Hound?"

  Hound hesitated. "Sometimes. Im not religious myself, so I dont pay a lot of attention, but I dont think its like it used to be. They offer ducks now, mostly, or thats what Tansys mother told me once. "

  "What about theophanies?"

  "Im afraid I dont know that word. "

  "Girl come," Oreb explained.

  "Does Scylla appear in your Sacred Windows?"

  "Oh, that. " Hound urged his donkey forward, and jerked the rope of those he led. "Not like it used to be, I suppose. She comes to the window in the Grand Manteion two or three times a year, or the augurs say she does. "

  "It wasnt like that at all, really. No god ever visited us in all the time that I was growing up, not until just before we left for Blue. "

  "I didnt know that," Hound said.

  "What I wanted-"

  Oreb interrupted them. "Man come. Pig man. "

  "Good. " He raised his lantern. "Pig? Are you all right?"

  "Ho, aye. "

  "We were worried about you. " He hurried forward.

  The fitful light of the swinging lantern revealed the huge Pig, his dirty black trousers and dirty gray shirt, his big sword just now exploring the wide doorway of Bloods villa as Pig prepared to step out.

  "Were going to camp in there. There are fireplaces, Im sure, or there used to be. "

  "Aye, bucky. "

  He turned back to Hound. "Do you require our help with the donkeys?"

  "No," Hound called. "But you could start that fire. "

  "I will. There-Im going to blow out my candle, Pig. Hound doesnt want me to waste it, and hes right. I havent seen any firewood around here anyway, and I imagine all the furniture was stolen or burned long ago. "

  "Aye. "

  Oreb muttered, "Poor man. "

  "So would you guide me to the back of the house and help look for wood? The trees overhang the wall there, as I remember, and there must be fallen branches. "

  Pigs big hand found his arm, and although Pig did not reply, he followed Pig docilely.

  "This is where they had the sheds for Bloods floaters, and where the horned cats were penned. A talus cared for them, the one Silk killed in the tunnels. I suppose the others, the ones we killed when we stormed the house, were the Ayuntamientos. The rabbit hutches must have been back here, too, though I dont remember seeing them. "

  "Seein?" Pigs hand tightened. "Did yer say seein, bucky?"

  Oreb fidgeted on his masters shoulder uneasily, wings half extended. "Watch out. "

  "Yes, Pig, I did. "

  "Pals, haint we?"

  "Certainly I am your friend, Pig. I hope youre mine as well. "

  "Then tell me somethin, bucky. Tell me what yer see. "