by Gene Wolfe
When Cleton left at last, Hegesistratus and Elata entered the tent; Io followed, tiptoeing to escape their notice (though I doubt she did) and sitting silent in a corner for a long while before she spoke. Once I saw the tent wall move, so I knew that the black man listened, too, though doubtless Hegesistratus had spoken to him and the Amazon queen before Elata and I came back this morning.
When Hegesistratus had seated himself on the ground before me, he asked whether I were not surprised to see him alive and well, and I acknowledged that I was indeed.
"Do you understand," he asked, "that I am no ghost? Nor a phantom born of your imagination, nor any other such thing?"
I said I did, and added that I did not think myself much inclined toward either imagination or phantoms.
"But you saw a phantom this morning," the mantis told me. "And in fact you killed it, insofar as such a phantom can be killed."
When I said nothing, he continued, "Do you see me clearly now, Latro? I, having stepped in here from the bright sunshine outside, cannot see very well yet. Have your own eyes adapted to these shadows?"
I told him that I could see him perfectly, that I had been writing in this book earlier and had thought the light entirely adequate.
"Then as I entered, you will have noticed that I possess a physical peculiarity that is rather rare." He gestured toward his wooden foot.
"I saw that you're lame," I said, "but I don't consider it well mannered to speak of it."
Her face very serious, Elata told me, "Yet there are times when such things must be spoken of. Then it is inoffensive to do so. Hegesistratus has been mutilated; as I have told him, I love him all the more for that. What exactly is the nature of his mutilation, Latro?"
"He has lost his right foot," I said. "It has been cut off at the ankle. Did I do that?"
Hegesistratus shook his head. "You did not, but the person who did it is indeed present. I will speak of that in a moment. But first, what would you call this?" He tapped his peg.
"A wooden foot," I said. "A device to permit you to walk."
"Then I am a man with a wooden foot?"
"Yes," I acknowledged, "I would say so."
"You cannot tell me, of course, whether you have ever seen another foot like mine. But do you think such feet common?"
I said that I did not.
"In that case, I am the man with the wooden foot, am I not? I might be called that?"
"Certainly," I said.
"Do you hate me? On that account or any other?"
I shook my head. "Of course not, why should I?"
Hegesistratus held out his hands. "Touch me," he said, and I did. "I am real, you see. I can be felt as well as seen and heard. Now I want you to consider our situation. You are young and strong. I am twenty years your senior, and lame. You have no weapon, but you should hardly need one. By the time Elata's cries bring the others, I will be dead."
I told him that I had no desire to harm him—that I was sure he was my friend.
"Then let me tell you how I came to have this." He tapped his foot again. "I was born on the lovely Isle of Zakunthios; but my family originated in the city of Elis, on Redface Island. That is the southernmost part of the mainland of Hellas."
I nodded to show that I understood.
"Our family has always been closer than most to the unseen. For some of us it seems very close indeed; for others no nearer than for other men. Or other women, I should say as well, for the gift is given to them at least as often as to us men, though we men have gained greater fame from it. In me it has been very marked since childhood."
I nodded again.
"As my reputation grew, I was invited several times to come to Elis, our ancestral home. Year after year these invitations came, each more cordial than the last. I consulted the Fates, and each time I was warned not to go.
"After more than a decade of this, a message arrived that came not from the Assembly of Elis, as the previous letters had, but from Iamus, the head of our family. In it he said that no less a god than the Destroyer had thrust aside the veil of the years for him and shown him in such a manner as to inspire his complete confidence that I would one day succeed him, that our family would thrive with me at its head, and that I myself would be rich, and respected throughout Hellas. That being the case—and as I said, he had received such guarantees that there could be no doubt of it—Iamus urged me to visit him in Elis without delay. He is an elderly man, as I ought to have told you. His health is poor, and there were matters concerning certain family properties, and to be honest certain ingrained family quarrels, with which he was eager to acquaint me before Death came to him. He wished to give me his blessing also, and indeed the blessing of such a man is not to be despised."
Hegesistratus fell silent, as men often do when they try to speak of the decisions that have shaped their lives; and at last I asked, "Did you go?"
"No, not at first. I made a pilgrimage to the navel of the world instead, to Dolphins, where—as I told you yesterday—the Destroyer has the greatest of all his oracles. For three days I prayed and sacrificed, and at last, escorted by six priests, I entered the sanctuary of the pythia. My question was: 'If I go to Elis, as it appears that my duty demands, will I escape the danger awaiting me there?' The responses of the god are often cryptic, but this one was as straightforward as any petitioner could desire:
"Though those most feared lay hold of thee,
Thy own strong hand shall set thee free."
Hegesistratus smiled bitterly. "What would you have done in my position, Latro?"
"Gone to Elis, I suppose, and been as careful as I could."
He nodded. "That is what I did. The god's words could be interpreted in only one way, as my own good sense, as well as the priests, assured me: I would be beset by enemies of whom others were mortally afraid—in my foolish pride I supposed that these would be from some disaffected group within our family, for not a few are heartily afraid of us, although their fear is seldom warranted—but I would escape by my own efforts.
"And so this prophecy appeared fully reconcilable with the one Iamus had been given, while justifying the many warnings I had received. I went, met with the leading members of all the various branches of our family, and sensed no deadly hostility in any.
"Soon the Assembly invited me to officiate at the Italoan sacrifice, and to foretell, as the custom is, the future of the city from my scrutiny of the victims. So signal an honor could hardly be refused, and in fact I could see no reasons to refuse it, although I warned the magistrates that they might be sorry to hear all that I would tell them—this because I already had some notion of the future of that part of Hellas. They absolved me in advance from any blame and repeated their invitation.
"I performed the sacrifice, and the presages were as urgent and as unambiguous as any I have ever seen—the freedom of Elis was menaced from the south; only by the exercise of the greatest courage and prudence could it hope to preserve even a modicum of its ancient independence. I confess that in conveying this to its citizens I drew somewhat upon previous revelations that had been vouchsafed me; but the portents were so clear that I felt entirely justified in doing it. I left little doubt in anyone's mind as to whom these despots might be, for there was little in my own; and I stressed the urgency of my warning.
"If only I had listened to my own words, I would have fled Elis that night; as it was, I remained until the celebration was complete, spent the following day in thanking lamus and various other members of our family, and in saying good-bye to everyone, and went to bed resolved to depart next morning.
"And so I did. A dozen Rope Makers reached our wall before dawn, the feebleness of their force a measure of the contempt of Rope for my ancestral city. Few though they were, Elis did not dare to resist them, knowing that the finest army in the world stood behind them. Our gates were flung wide; they marched into our city, hailed me from my bed, and carried me to Rope."
Seeing my wonder, Hegesistratus said, "Oh, there was nothi
ng supernatural about it, I'm sure. Some spy had repeated my words to them, and they had acted at once, as they frequently do. Are you at all familiar with the place?"
Io spoke then for the first time. "We've been there, but I'm sure Latro's forgotten it. It's not much anyway."
Hegesistratus nodded. "There was a pretense—a very thin one— that I was merely the guest of one of their judges; thus I was detained in a private house. My legs were clamped in stocks of iron, and I was questioned for several days. The Rope Makers seemed to believe that someone had bribed me to divine as I had, and they were understandably anxious to learn the identity of my corrupter. When at last I convinced them that I had only spoken the truth, I was informed that I would be publicly disgraced, tortured, and ultimately killed, the following morning.
"That night one of my captors, feigning kindness, provided me with a dagger. Do you know that dishonorable custom of the Rope Makers?"
I shook my head; but I could see the dagger as if I held it in my hand, and I felt I knew what was coming.
"The doomed captive is permitted to take his own life, thus sparing Rope the opprobrium of having done away with some well-regarded person; afterward their judges can swear by every god on the Mountain that he died by his own hand. Some unfortunate slave is accused of having provided the weapon and duly executed—they killed one of their own kings, Cleomenes, in that fashion about ten years ago. I will never forget the sound of the door shutting and the heavy bar outside being set in place, nor the sharpness of the blade as I sat testing it with my thumb."
Io said, "But what about the oracle? Didn't you remember that the Destroyer had promised you'd be able to free yourself?"
"Oh, yes, of course." The bitter smile came again. "And I also recalled how often I had been warned against going to Elis, and how I had continued to ask, by this means and that, until I so wearied all the gods that I received a response that could be twisted into a favorable one, then hurried off. That is what we mortals do, you see; and subsequently we wonder to discover that our gods mock us. I grew up that night, child, and I hope your own maturation is a great deal easier.
"For a long time I simply sat there with the dagger in my hand, listening to the house go to bed. The Destroyer had been correct, of course, as he nearly always is: my own strong hand could free me, and in a very short time, too. All I had to do was plunge that dagger into my chest. But it is hard, terribly hard, for a man to end his own life; King Cleomenes could never strike deep, they say, though eventually he made so many shallow cuts that he bled to death.
"I thought of him sitting in stocks like mine—possibly the very same stocks, and in that very room—striking at himself and flinching, and in a few moments striking and flinching again; it started my thoughts down a fresh path, for I remembered how many animals I had sacrificed in my life, everything from small birds to bulls, always without flinching. And I recalled how slippery their blood had made the handle of my knife, particularly when I had dispatched three or four large animals at a time, as I just had at Elis. Leaning forward, I nicked both feet until my ankles were slick with my own blood; then I wrenched and pulled as hard as I could.
"In that way I was able to get my left foot out, but not my right.
Perhaps it was a little larger; or perhaps that opening was a trifle smaller—I cannot say. By now you know, of course, what I did next; I began to cut away that foot, one small slice at a time. Twice I fainted. Each time I awoke I cut away more, until at last I could draw out what had once been my right foot. So many sacrifices and the examination of so many victims have taught me something about the way an animal is put together; and despite all our boasts, man is only a featherless animal on two legs—if you have ever seen the skinned carcass of a bear, you know how like it is to a human body. I tied off the major blood vessels, trimmed away flesh I knew could not live, and bandaged the stump as well as I could with my filthy chiton."
Io asked, "Could you climb out the window then? I would've thought you'd be too weak."
Hegesistratus shook his head. "There were no windows, but the wall was only mud brick, as the walls of most houses in Rope are. With the dagger, I was able to pry out a few bricks. Rope itself has no city wall; one of its greatest boasts is that its shieldmen are its walls. Late at night, there was nothing and no one to prevent me from hobbling into the countryside, though every step was agony. In the morning I was found by a slave girl milking cows. She and a few of her fellow slaves concealed me in the cowshed until my stump was half-healed; then I made my way to Tegea, and from Tegea, home."
At this point in Hegesistratus's story, three Thracian lords galloped into our camp, all of them finely mounted, with gleaming armor and many gold ornaments on their bridles and their persons. They spoke for some time with Hegesistratus while he interpreted for Hippephode.
After they had gone, she called the Amazons together, and Elata came for Io and me. Hippephode addressed her women while Hegesistratus repeated the message the Thracians had carried to us from their king.
They had begun, he said, by affirming King Kotys's goodwill and offering various proofs of it: he had not killed us, though he had thousands of warriors at his disposal; he had permitted us to camp here close to his capital, had allowed us to buy food and firewood, and so forth. Now, they said, it was time for us to prove our own goodwill toward him and his people. We were to surrender our horses and our arms; and when we had done that, we would be taken before the king, who would listen to whatever requests we might make of him with a gracious ear.
After repeating this to Hippephode, Hegesistratus had asked for time in which to consider the matter, and had been told that if we had not turned over both our horses and all our weapons by tomorrow morning, we would be overwhelmed and killed.
When Hegesistratus had reported this, the black man spoke, and Hegesistratus translated his words for the rest of us, first in the tongue of the Amazons, then in that of the Hellenes. "If this king is indeed our friend," the black man had said, "why should he wish to take away our horses and our weapons? Every king wants his friends well equipped and his foes disarmed. So let us do this. Let us assure this king of our friendship, just as he has assured us. Let us swear to him that if there is any task he requires of us, we will do it—we will slay his enemies, and bring him anything he wishes, though it lies at the edge of the world. But he in turn must allow us to keep our horses and the weapons his service will require, tell us where Oeobazus is, let us take Oeobazus to Thought if Oeobazus is in his kingdom, and give the Amazons the horses they have come so far to get."
If I had known before why the Amazons had come to Thrace, I had forgotten it; but I do not think Io knew, because she looked as surprised as I felt.
Queen Hippephode spoke next; all the Amazons cheered her lustily when she was through, and Hegesistratus interpreted for us: "I agree with everything that Seven Lions has said, but I have one thing more to add. We Amazons are the daughters of the War God; and though we love him, he is a strict father, laying upon us laws we dare not break. One is that we never lay down our arms, lest we become as the daughters of men. We may make peace, but only with one who trusts our pledge; and if he will not trust it and demands that we break our bows, we must fight until we die. To the present day, no Amazon has ever violated this law, which was not made by women or by men, but by the god who is our father. King Kotys must be made to understand that we will not violate it either."
THIRTEEN
We Await the Attack
CLETON CAME BACK TO WARN us. This time I talked with him, as well as Hegesistratus, and I must tell about that here; if we live, it is something I may require. But first I will set down everything I had intended to write before Hegesistratus came to speak to me again.
When Hippephode had finished, he asked whether anyone else wished to be heard, and I said we need not ask King Kotys where Oeobazus was; he was in the temple of Pleistorus, the War God. I added that since this god was the father of the Amazons, they could ask him to le
t Oeobazus come with us. Hippephode promised they would, and I recounted what I had seen and heard the night before. Hegesistratus confirmed that Cleton had come as he had told me he would, and questioned him about Hypereides. Then we voted, with the result I have already recorded.
After that, Hegesistratus talked with Hippephode and the black man; that was when I wrote what stands above, laying it aside when he returned to speak with me again.
"We have been discussing tactics," he said. "When morning comes, we will send the king a fresh message, offering to give him a hostage as a guarantee of our good behavior. That should at least postpone any attack."
I agreed that seemed an excellent plan, and asked who the hostage would be.
"We will offer to let him choose—any single individual he selects."
"Then he'll choose you," I told Hegesistratus, "if he's not a complete fool. Losing you would cripple us more than losing anyone else."
Hegesistratus nodded. "That is what we hope he will do. If I can meet him face-to-face, I may be able to accomplish a great deal—which brings me to the matter I wanted to tell you about, Latro. And you, Io." She had followed him to the door of the tent, where I was sitting.
"Before the Thracians arrived, I recounted something of my history to you. If I bored you, I am sorry; but I thought that you ought to know why the Rope Makers hate me, and why I hate them."
Io said, "I can certainly understand now why you hate them. But if you were just telling those people in Elis what the gods had told you to tell them, why should they hate you?"
Hegesistratus smiled. "If only everyone were as reasonable as you, there would be fewer quarrels. Unfortunately, men hate anyone who opposes them for any reason. And not only did I warn the Eleans against the Rope Makers, but I have warned many other cities since then— warned anyone who would listen whenever I had the opportunity, in fact. Furthermore, they were humiliated by my escape, and they know that I served Mardonius to the best of my ability.