Epiphany of the Long Sun

by Gene Wolfe

  He released Silk so suddenly that he fell a third time. "Has he tried to escape again, Sergeant?"

  Silk did not hear Sand's reply; he was thinking about a great many things. Among them, names.

  His own and Sand's were similar-each had four letters, each contained a single vowel, and each began with an S. They could not be related, however, because Sand was a chem and he a bio. Yet they were related by the similarity of their names. Not inconceivably (he found it a tantalizing idea). Sand was a cognate, a version of himself in some whorl of a higher order. Many things the Outsider had shown him seemed to imply that there were such whorls.

  Sand prodded him from behind with the barrel of his slug gun, and he staggered against a wall.

  Since chems were never augurs, it could not be that Sand had been meant to be an augur. Was it possible then, that he, Silk, had been meant to be a Guardsman? If he were a Guardsman instead of a failed augur, the many correspondences (already so marked) linking them would be much more perfect, and thus this inferior whorl they inhabited more perfect, too.

  But, no his mother had wanted him to enter the Juzqado, to become a clerk there like Hyacinth's father and perhaps rise to commissioner. How glowingly she had spoken of a political career, almost up until the day he left for the schola.

  "This way," Potto told him, and pushed him through a door and into a gorgeous room full of lounging soldiers and armored men. "Is that the Caldé?" one of the men asked another; the second nodded.

  He was in politics at last, as his mother had wished.

  He had pulled a chair over to her closet and stood on the seat to examine the Caldé's bust on its dark, high shelf; and she, finding him there intent upon it, had lifted it down for him, dusted it, and set it on her dressing table where he could see it better-wonder at the wide, flat cheeks, the narrow eyes, the high, rounded forehead, and the generous mouth that longed to speak. The Caldé's carved countenance rose again before his mind's eye, and it seemed to him that he had seen it someplace else only a day or two before.

  Streaming sunlight, and cheeks that were not smooth wood but blotched and lightly pocked. Was it possible he had once seen the Caldé in person, perhaps as an infant?

  "Now listen to me." Potto was standing before him, his plump, pleasant face half a head lower than Silk's own.

  …had seen the Caldé outside, because even without his lost glasses he had noticed the powder on the cheeks and the flaws that the powder tried to cover-had seen him, in that case, under the auspices of the Outsider, in a sense.

  Blood and Maytera Marble were sitting side-by-side when Potto shoved Silk into the room; he was so surprised to see her that for a moment he failed to notice Chenille, Xiphias, and a drooping augur lined up against the wall.

  A still handsome elderly man standing by the fireplace said, "I'm Councillor Loris. I take it you're Silk?"

  "Patera Silk. His Cognizance the Prolocutor has not yet accepted my resignation. May I sit down?"

  Loris ignored the last. "You're the insurgent Caldé."

  "Others have called me Caldé, but I'm not involved in an insurrection." Potto pushed him to the wall beside Chenille.

  Loris smiled, his blue eyes glinting like chips of ice; and the seduction of his craggy wisdom was so great that even a mocking smile made it almost irresistible. "You killed my Cousin Lemur, did you, Caldé?"

  Silk shook his head.

  Maytera Marble said, "I don't know these others, except Chenille. Shouldn't I introduce myself?"

  "I'll do it," Blood told her, "it's my house." With a slight start, Silk realized that Blood was in the chair he had occupied a week earlier, and that this was the same room.

  "This is Councillor Loris," Blood began unnecessarily, "the new presiding officer of the Ayuntamiento. This other councillor's Councillor Potto."

  "Caldé Silk and Councillor Potto are old acquaintances," Loris purred. "Isn't that right, Caldé?"

  "I don't know this soldier myself," Blood continued, and paused to sip his drink. "It probably doesn't matter."

  "Sergeant Sand," Silk told him. "He and Councillor Potto interrogated me Tarsday. It was very painful, and I suppose it's quite possible they're going to do it again."

  Sand came to attention and appeared about to speak, but Silk stopped him with a gesture. "You were only doing your duty. Sergeant. I understand. In justice to you, I ought to add that you had treated me well earlier."

  Potto said, "We won't need you here, Sergeant. You know what to do." Sand looked at Silk, saluted, executed an about-face, and left, shutting the door behind him.

  "A very handsome young man," Maytera Marble remarked. "I was sorry to hear that he behaved badly toward you, Patera."

  Blood indicated her with his glass. "This holy sibyl's Maytera Rose-"

  Chenille tittered nervously. Maytera Marble said, "I'm Maytera Marble, Bloody. Remember? I explained about that. Chenille and I have met, and naturally Patera knows me well."

  "Patera Silk, she means," elucidated the small augur in the corner. "I, too, am entitled to the honorific, as well as my more customary ones. Caldé, I have been appointed the new Prolocutor of Viron by Subleviating Scylla, who during that same theophany confirmed you as its Caldé. Am I, as I dare hope, the first to-"

  Silk managed to smile. "It's a pleasure to see you again, Patera."

  Chenille blurted, "Why weren't you dead? I've just been standing here… We couldn't, none of us-"

  Xiphias cackled. "He's a tough one! Student of mine, too! Truth!"

  Silk said, "Maytera, do you know Master Xiphias? Master Xiphias is teaching me to fence. Master Xiphias, this holy sibyl is Maytera Marble. She's the senior sibyl now at my- Of the manteion on Sun Street."

  Maytera Marble added softly, "I'm also the representative of our Generalissimo Oosik and the Trivigauntis' General Saba, Patera. I've come to arrange your release."

  His voice thick with mock sincerity, Loris said, "We hold the key to the crisis now, you see, the generous gods having flung the ring into our laps. How foolish are those who scorn the power of the immortal gods!"

  A black shape darted through the open window, landing with a thump on Silk's shoulder. "Bird back!"

  "Oreb!" Silk looked around at him, surprised and more pleased than he would have been willing to admit.

  "Scourging Scylla," ignoring Oreb, Incus had leveled his forefinger at Loris, "has given you nothing."

  "In that case, we have gained our present advantage by merit." Loris smiled. "We thank the undying, ever-generous gods for our talents."

  Oreb cocked an inquiring head. "Good gods?"

  "She will destroy all of you, should you harm either of the holy augurs present, or this sibyl. We are sacred."

  "We'll risk her wrath if need be. Old man, stop reaching for your sword. It's gone. Were you thinking of overpowering us?"

  Xiphias shook his head. "You think I don't know there's soldiers out there?"

  "You could not even if there were none." Loris took a bookend from the mantle; it shattered between his fingers with a sharp report and an explosion of snowy chips. The door flew open, revealing Sand and two other soldiers with leveled slug guns. Oreb whistled.

  Potto told them, "It's all right. Shut it."

  "Caldé Silk is a strong young man, but he's been severely wounded. You are an old one, unarmed, and not as strong as you suppose. Our new Prolocutor's not physically imposing. Need I continue?"

  Silk said, "I can understand how you came to be in the tunnel, Master Xiphias-both you and His Cognizance. You ran for cover just as Hyacinth and I did-"

  Blood interrupted. "You've got her? Where is she?"

  "I don't. I had her, if you like. We were separated." Turning back to Xiphias, Silk continued, "After you dug me out of the loose soil, you went down the tunnel to look for water with Chenille and Patera, leaving His Cognizance with me-with my body, as you thought. Is that right?"

  Xiphias nodded.

  "Only we didn't think your body," Chenille tol
d Silk, "We knew you were alive. His Cognizance said there was a pulse, only we didn't understand how you could be alive after getting buried like that."

  Loris rattled what remained of the bookend in his hand. "What puzzles me-excuse my interrupting your conference-is your mention of His Cognizance. I take it you don't refer to our friend, but to the actual head of the Chapter? Was he in the tunnel with you, Caldé?"

  "Yes, he was. Perhaps I shouldn't have mentioned it."

  Potto said happily, "He's an old man. One of the patrols will pick him up, Cousin."

  "A clever old man." Loris looked grim. "A troublemaker."

  Privately, Silk was trying to reconcile Quetzal's telling Chenille that he, Silk, was alive with his saying that they had thought him dead. He had lied in one or the other, but why?

  "Bad thing!" Oreb told everyone.

  Silk ventured, "A patrol headed by Sergeant Sand-one like the patrol that arrested me originally, I suppose-must have come across Master Xiphias, Patera Incus, and Chenille. I was surprised to see them here, but I believe I understand now. Sand must have sent the other man back here with them and gone on alone until he found me, perhaps because he'd heard my voice-I'd been talking to His Cognizance. Is that correct?"

  "Where is this tunnel, Patera?" Maytera Marble asked. "Are you talking about a tunnel underneath the house?"

  Potto grinned at her, displaying gleaming teeth.

  Blood put down his drink. "Yeah, we're right over it, Mama, and it hooks up with a bunch of others."

  Loris told her, "That's the first item you ought to pass on to your principals, Maytera. They think they have us like rats in a cauldron. Nothing could be further from the truth. We can leave this house, and them, whenever we wish."

  Blood added, "Only I don't want to. It's my house."

  She looked thoughtful, a finger pressed to her cheek.

  "Bad hole." Oreb ruffled his feathers apprehensively. Chenille whispered, "Your bird was down there with us. Auk had him on the boat."

  "You're sunburned!" Inwardly, Silk reproached his own stupidity. "I've been looking at you-gaping actually, I suppose. I hope you'll excuse it, but I couldn't imagine how your face had gotten so red, so close to the red-brown color of a wood-carving my mother used to have."

  "She wore nothing on the boat," Incus interposed. "Then my robe. Maytera forced them to give her that gown."

  Loris snapped, "Is this germane?"

  "Perhaps not," Silk admitted. "It's just that Chenille has reminded me of a childhood incident, Councillor."

  Loris waved aside Chenille's sunburn, tossing the largest fragment of the bookend onto the rosewood end table at Maytera Marble's elbow. "Marble? Isn't that your name, Maytera? The Caldé just reminded us of that."

  "It is."

  "That was what this knickknack was, I'd say. Real marble from the Short Sun Whorl, precisely like you." For an instant, Loris's face was no longer attractive. "I'll leave that chunk there so you don't forget it."

  "I shan't," Maytera Marble promised. "It would be wise for you to keep in mind that you're surrounded by thousands of well-armed troops, Councillor. I suppose most people in my position would be inclined to exaggerate their numbers, but I won't. I'll tell you the truth, so you won't be able to say that you were deceived, or even misled, afterward. There are two companies of Trivigaunti pterotroopers, almost the entire Third Brigade of the Civil Guard, and elements of the Fourth. I asked Generalissimo Oosik what he meant by 'elements' and he said four floaters and the heavy weapons company. Besides all those, there are about five thousand of Maytera Mint's people, with more arriving from the city all the time. They've heard that Patera Silk's in here, and they want to charge the house. When I left, General Saba and Generalissimo Oosik were afraid they might not be able to prevent them without using Guardsmen and creating more friction."

  "Fight now?" Oreb inquired.

  Smiling, Maytera Marble turned to Silk. "That's the bird I saw hopping into your kitchen when Doctor Crane was treating you, isn't? Later on my glass, and on your shoulder like that in the garden. I knew I'd seen him before.

  "No, little bird, no fighting. Not now, or not yet. But Generalissimo Oosik told me quite frankly that if there's no way to stop Maytera Mint's insurgents from attacking short of firing on them, he'll stand back and let them do it. You see, I confided to the children that your master was in here. They seem to have told a great many other people before we left the city, so the whole thing's my fault. I feel very badly indeed about that, and I'm trying to make amends."

  Blood added, "But she won't say who told her. Or have you changed your mind about that, Mama?"

  "Certainly not. I gave my word."

  Loris, who had been leaning against the mantel, left it to stand in front of Maytera Marble. "This little conference has already run too long. Allow me to tell you what we want, Maytera. Then you can go back out there and repeat it to the Trivigauntis and Mint's five thousand rioters, if there are actually that many, which I am ungentlemanly enough to doubt. Our position is not negotiable. You accept our terms or we'll kill these prisoners, Silk included, and crush the rebellion."

  Incus stood again. "You have no authority-"

  Potto's fist striking Incus's cheek sounded almost as loud as the breaking of the bookend.

  "So, we've come to that." Maytera Marble smoothed the black skirt covering her metal thighs. "It will be needlers and knives next, no doubt."

  Silk said, "I warn you, Councillor Potto, not to do that again."

  "Or you'll break my neck?" Potto's smile was that of a fat boy contemplating a stolen pie. "Beat little butcher, big butcher bark? We've had some games of strength already. If you've forgotten them, I can teach you the rules again."

  Incus spat blood. "The just gods avenge the wrongs of augurs. A doom…"

  Potto lifted his hand, and Incus fell silent.

  "No hit," Oreb suggested.

  "The gods may or may not," Silk murmured. "I don't know, and if I were forced to choose, I'd probably say that they did nothing of the sort."

  Loris applauded with a sardonic smile; a half-second too late, Potto joined him.

  Abruptly Silk's voice dominated the room. "The law does, however. Maytera told you how many troops Generalissimo Oosik has, saying-very fairly and reasonably, I thought-that she didn't want you to feel you'd been tricked when all this is over. You should have listened more carefully."

  "Tell 'em!" Xiphias put in.

  "I'm attempting to." Silk nodded, mostly (it appeared) to himself. "Because it will be over soon. There will be a trial, and you, Councillor Potto, and you, Councillor Loris, will hear Maytera, Chenille, Master Xiphias, and Patera Incus testify to what they saw and heard-and felt, as well-to a judge who will no longer be afraid of you."

  Potto giggled and glanced at Loris. "Is this what they picked to replace us?"

  Surprising everyone, Blood said, "Yeah, I didn't get it at first, but I'm starting to."

  Maytera Marble told Potto, "All human things wear out and must be replaced eventually, Councillor."

  "Not me!"

  "I'd think you'd welcome it. How long have you toiled, worrying and planning, for our ungrateful city? Fifty years? Sixty?"

  "Longer!" Potto dropped into a gilt settee.

  Silk inquired, "Councillor, do you-not the authentic Potto down in your underwater boat, but you yourself to whom I speak-recall the Short Sun Whorl? Councillor Loris implied that marble could be quarried there. I don't know anything about antiques, but I've heard that it is a stone that's never found in its natural state in our whorl."

  "I'm not that old."

  Loris snapped, "I was about to outline our demands. I'd like to get on with it."

  Maytera Marble left her chair to stand beside Silk. "Do, Councillor, please."

  "As I said, they're not negotiable. The following five conditions embody them, and we're prepared to accept nothing less." Loris fished a square of paper from an inner pocket and unfolded it with a snap.


  "First, Silk must declare publicly, without reservation, that he is not and has never been Caldé, that Viron has none, and that the Ayuntamiento alone is its sole governing body."

  To bring peace I'll be happy to, Silk told him; and only when he had completed the final word realized that he had not spoken aloud.

  "Second, there must be no new election of councillors. Vacant seats are to remain vacant, and the present members of the Ayuntamiento are to remain in office.

  "Third, the Rani of Trivigaunte must withdraw her troops from Vironese territory and furnish us with hostages-whom we will name-against further interference in our affairs.

  "Fourth, the Civil Guard must surrender its treasonous officers to us, the Ayuntamiento, for trial and punishment.

  "Fifth and last, the rioters must surrender their arms, which will be collected by the Army."

  Through bruised lips, Incus muttered, "I suggest you pray long and hard over this, my son, and sacrifice. The wisdom of the gods has not enlightened your councils."

  "We don't need it," Potto told him.

  "When Splenetic Scylla learns-"

  Maytera Marble interrupted. "What have you to offer the Rani, the rioters, as you call them, and the Guard in return?"

  "Peace and a general amnesty. The captives you see here, including Silk, will be released unharmed."

  "I see." Maytera Marble laid a hand on Silk's shoulder. "I'm very disappointed. It was I who persuaded General Saba and Generalissimo Oosik that you were reasonable men. They listened because of the courage of my sib General Mint. And because of her victories, of which we're all very proud, if I don't offend the good gods who gave them to her by saying so. Now I find that by interceding for you I've squandered all the credit she's earned us."

  Loris began, "If you think us unreasonable now-"

  "I do. You say Patera Silk isn't really Caldé. What good is his declaration then? What do you want him to tell the people? That the augur of the Sun Street manteion says that your Ayuntamiento is to continue to govern the city? You'll only make yourselves ridiculous."