Emperor and Clown

by Dave Duncan

  Rap was staring at Azak also, squinting in an odd way. "I can't do anything about his curse, I'm afraid. I can sort of see it, though."

  Inos was in no immediate hurry to have Azak relieved of his curse, but to say so at the moment would not be in the best of taste. "See it? What does a curse look like?"

  Rap scratched his head. "Hard to describe. Like there's a glass cloth on him, a fuzziness. It kind of shimmers ... I can't put it into words. I wouldn't know what it did if your aunt hadn't told me, but I'd know he had a sorcery on him."

  "Rap, sit down! I want to hear all about your adventures, and how you escaped from the tower, and how you met the dragon, and —"

  "Your aunt can tell you all that. We may not have time for it right now. It wasn't easy — finding you." He glanced around; she suppressed the unnerving thought that he was looking through the walls and ceiling instead of at them. "There's a big dark blank over the palace. A silence. What I mean is, no one else's using magic in it. I don't want to give myself away to the wardens."

  "Wardens? Rap, Ythbane tried to summon them tonight, and they wouldn't come. Only the dwarf."

  Rap's eyes widened. He walked over to a chair and sat down. "Tell me, please!"

  So she told him what had happened. He listened solemnly, his face giving away nothing at all. His woodenness was beginning to unnerve her. Rap had always been so transparent!

  "Zinixo's a little horror," he muttered, when she had done. "He's terrified of the others ganging up against him. He expects everyone else to be as mean as he is."

  "You know him?" And he knew Lith'rian, of course. Truly, Rap was full of surprises now. Had she ever been asked to judge her childhood friends for the one Least Likely to Consort with Warlocks, Rap would have won hands down.

  "I haven't met Olybino," he said, "but I did meet the other three. You met Olybino, your aunt says."

  "He wasn't very chummy, either."

  Rap pulled a face. "It's what sorcery does to people. Sagorn knew. It makes them unhuman, somehow; in the end."

  She grinned. "But you're still all right? So far?"

  He shrugged. "I hope so."

  She still couldn't tell what he was thinking. Was that the start of it? Rap had always been as readable as a signpost, but he certainly wasn't readable now. She sensed a worry in him, though.

  "All right, I'll ask Kade when I get the chance. Oh, Rap! I am so madly happy you're alive! I thought the imps had killed you, and when I saw you in the desert I thought you were a wraith! I thought your ghost had come back to haunt me! You have to explain that to me, too. And then you turned up alive again, and I was so happy — then Azak told me you'd died in jail after we left. He told me a terrible story about you being beaten to death ... I'm afraid I believed him, Rap. I'm sorry. I thought it would be in character for him to have let that happen to you, so I thought he was telling the truth. But you're all right! That's wonderful, Rap! Do just tell me how you escaped and rescued Kade?"

  "Ask her."

  "Just quickly? The highlights?"

  "Ask your aunt."

  "Rap!" she said crossly.

  He got up off the chair and began to pace to and fro across the room, not speaking,

  Obviously he had come here for some reason — breaking into the Opal Palace in the middle of the night must be a dangerous thing for him to do, no matter how great his powers were. There was one obvious reason for gentlemen to sneak into ladies' chambers like this. She did not think Rap would attempt anything so crude as that.

  So why was her heart galloping? Because she was hoping he would? She knew what would happen if he did try to carry her off to his personal den of iniquity — and it would not involve Sultana Inosolan screaming and spoiling the fun. She would leave Azak a heart-warming note.

  "Rap, if you fight Kalkor tomorrow —"

  "Today. It's not far off dawn."

  "Today, then. Is it certain? I mean, can you be sure that he won't kill you? Even with the third prophecy, can you be sure of winning?"

  He was over by the window, and behind her. "No."

  Eek! So that was it.

  "Then don't! I won't risk losing you again, not just for Krasnegar. I mean, even if you do win, there's no guarantee that I'll ever be queen. We must break the chain somewhere! We mustn't let the goblins get you, the third prophecy. What did you mean when you said that magic casements don't prophesy?"

  "It'd take too long to explain."

  "Well, never mind. Just give me a minute to get some clothes on, and we can go."

  "What?" He was back by the dresser, where she could see him, and he was staring at her with a very shocked expression.

  She smiled. "I love you. Rap! Did you doubt it?"

  Now his face was as readable as it had ever been — he colored all the way to his ears. "Inos, no!"

  "Of course I do! I admit I didn't realize back in Krasnegar, but I should have! You might have dropped a hint or two, you know. Boys are supposed to make the first move."

  He frowned at her in dismay and shook his head.

  "Of course I love you!" she said crossly. "It's what the God tried to tell me, and I was too stupid to —"

  "Inos! You're a married woman! A sultana! No, listen to me ..." He sat down on the chair again and looked pigheaded. "You know how Andor used mastery on you? Well, when I got my second word of power, I found myself using mastery on him! I could make Andor believe anything I wanted! I couldn't help it. And now —"

  Twaddle! "Let's not talk about Andor. Horrible man!" She smiled at him, this grown-up, solid, solemn Rap. Very much what she would have expected — reliable, competent ... when he knew what he was doing, that is; probably still inclined to blunder without proper guidance. Still, he'd managed to get here. Maybe Sagorn had helped. But honest, trustworthy, faithful. Just what a woman needs.

  "I admit that I still didn't realize, even when you turned up in Krasnegar the night that Father died. Oh, I should have! You'd run all the way to Pondague and then back again, just for me, and I still didn't see. But I was very shaken that night, and still under Andor's spell a bit, and I wasn't thinking straight. But —"

  "You married Azak. I asked you if —"

  "Rap!" she shouted, forgetting that her husband was sleeping on the bed behind her. "You'd just turned my wedding into a circus and killed all those guards and —"

  "Inos!" he said softly, and her tongue seemed to freeze. "My ambition was always to be your sergeant-at-arms, when you became queen. You knew that! Now I know I'd never make a soldier, and I'm very happy that you've found such a fine royal husband. I know I'm just a nothing! We're not children anymore." He looked very earnest, but Rap had always sounded pompous when he tried to tell lies. Not enough practice, likely.

  She laughed and jumped up. "Turn your back, Nothing, and I'll get dressed, and we'll run —"

  "No. Sit down! Now listen. I'm trying to tell you something! I'm a mage. I can make you do anything I want. Anything at all. And, yes, I do feel very strongly about you."

  "Oo, that's it? Feel strongly? You run through the taiga, you cross the whole world to come to me, you fight dragons ... You're quite sure you feel strongly? So ..."

  "And it leaks!" he shouted.

  Azak stirred briefly. Then he rolled over and went still again.

  "Leaks?" she echoed stupidly.

  Rap nodded, looking miserable. "I can't help a little mastery leaking out. That's what you're feeling. Every time I look at you ... I'm sorry, Inos. That's all it is. When I'm not around anymore, then you'll recover. But I'm afraid I'm making you feel that way. That's all it is, really."

  More twaddle! "Oh, no it's not!"

  "Oh, yes it is!"

  They scowled at each other.

  She snorted. "Indeed! And who are you to say whether I'm in love with you or not?"

  "I'm a mage. Yes, I know you're telling the truth. I can see that."

  "Kind of you to mention it."

  "But that's not the point! You're saying what you really be
lieve, but you're believing that because I ... Because I want you. Yes, I do want you, and I'm making you feel that way."

  "Oh, is that so? Well, let's just prove a point! Come here."

  She started to unwrap her housecoat and Rap said, "Inos!" Kade herself could not have sounded more scandalized.

  She fastened the housecoat again miserably. "Rap, I really do love you! I married Azak because I didn't have any choice. Rasha was going to do terrible things to —"

  "Inos, please?"

  She fell silent.

  "I didn't come for that. I would never! And I didn't come to take you away. I just came to ask a favor."

  She stared at him, the way he slumped in the chair, the dejected way he held his head. This was not like him. He was readable now, and he was in real trouble.

  "Rap? What favor?" Anything!

  He sighed. "Kalkor's a sorcerer."

  "Oh, no!"

  "I think he is. I'm not sure. He's at least a mage, but I think he's a full, four-word sorcerer. That's why he can risk coming to Hub — the Impire can't kill him. When he wants to go, he'll just vanish." He studied her bleakly for a moment. "And if the Impire can't kill him, then I certainly can't! I can feel magic being used, Inos, and he used big power on the troll. Maybe he's just a clumsy mage, but I think he's a full sorcerer."

  "That's what Zinixo meant!"

  "Must be — he was pointing at Kalkor. See, the regent was going to forbid another Reckoning, and Kalkor changed his mind for him. I felt that one, too. And to use power on the imperor — or his regent, I suppose — is a direct breach of the Protocol."

  "And the day before, he struck down Angilki right in the Rotunda ..."

  But Rap did not know that story, so she had to explain that part also, while he stared at her solemnly with his big gray eyes. Stupid tattoos! Why didn't he magic them away? Oh, Rap, Rap! Who cared about tattoos? Wonderful to have him back ...

  "So why don't the wardens punish him?" she demanded at the end.

  "I don't know. Maybe they want me safely dead first? No, that's stupid — I'm worse than the dwarf. Seeing enemies everywhere."

  "So Kalkor's a sorcerer. And you're not?"

  He shook his head. "I'm only a mage. Three words."

  She felt a shiver of panic. If Kalkor killed Rap, then she was going to go back to Arakkaran, married to Azak, and Rap would be really dead at last. She'd thought those nightmares were all over.

  And then she understood, and relief washed over her like light through a shutter thrown back. She would make him ask, though! For even doubting. "Tell me!"

  "Would you ... would you mind ... sharing your word of power? I know it's an Evilish big thing to ask of anyone, but ..." Then he must have sensed her amusement, because he stopped, and almost seemed to smile.

  "I'm sorry to have to ask you, but I'm afraid. I mean, I'm afraid that without that, I won't be able to kill the bastard." His face went wooden again.

  "Why did you change your mind, Rap?" she asked softly. "What was it Kalkor threw at you that made you change your mind?"

  Wooden, very wooden ... "I don't want to talk about it." He shivered.

  "Where did you go when you left us?" Nosy!

  For a moment she thought he wouldn't answer. Then he said, "To a funeral, and I won't talk about that, either."

  "Well, it doesn't matter. Kalkor's a monster. If you can kill him, then you'll be doing us all a favor, and of course I'll share my word with you." And a lot more than that.

  His relief was so obvious that she almost felt hurt. "You will?"

  "Did you doubt?" She smiled pityingly at him, and she thought she saw him mask a blush.

  "Thanks, Inos, It may not matter for very long."

  What did that mean? Well, she didn't care, and there were worse problems to talk about.

  "It will weaken your power, of course," he added reluctantly.

  "Oh, no it won't! I just hope it'll do you more good than it has done me. Ever since Father told it to me, I've been waiting to see what difference it would make, and it hasn't made any. Not at all! I've never developed any special talent, nothing. Elkarath said I was using power once, when we were in Thume, but I wasn't conscious of doing anything. It must be a very weak word. Rap. Half of nothing is still nothing."

  He shook his head. "That may not be right. Sagorn thinks that the words have different properties and suit different people. Or don't. Meaning yours may just not be right for you. That could be, but I think it's something else. I think some people have a real talent for magic, and the words help those people. Others haven't got the knack, somehow. If a boy's naturally clumsy, then he'll never make a swordsman, no matter what training he may get. I was like that. Some sorcerers are naturally much stronger than others. I don't think Rasha was very powerful at all."

  "She zapped me all the way across Pandemia."

  Rap snorted. "That wouldn't be hard, with the magic casement open. It would have acted like a ... hard to explain. Anyway, even if your word hasn't done anything for you, I think I have a very good knack."

  "Yes, I think you do. You're making me feel giddy. I could absolutely swear that I'm insanely in love with you."

  He did blush at that. "Please, Inos! Be serious! If you will share your word with me, I will try to kill Kalkor."

  She laughed. Glad of the excuse, she walked over to him, where he sat uncomfortably on the chair, and she laid a hand on his shoulder. It felt surprisingly solid. She bent to his ear, remembering how she'd watched him tell a word to Rasha.

  "This is how it's done?" she whispered.

  He squirmed a little. "Yes."

  She kissed his cheek. "Like this?"

  "Inos! Please!" He wasn't moving a muscle.

  She chuckled. She could smell the damp of his hair, and he needed a shave. "What's it worth?"

  "My life," he said hoarsely.

  That sobered her. "Sorry, Rap!" She whispered the gibberish her father had told her on his deathbed.

  Then she straightened. "Well?"

  He looked up at her. "That's it?"

  "That's it. So much fuss for such a lot of nonsense!"

  He swallowed and licked his lips. "You're sure?"

  Doubt ...

  "Yes. That's what Father told me."

  Rap said nothing. He looked down at his fists, clenched tight on his knees.

  "Rap? What's wrong?"

  "Inos ... That wasn't a word of power."

  "It's what Father said!" But was she sure? Had she perhaps got the angoo bit mixed up with the engip bit?

  He shook his head and rose suddenly.

  He was much bigger than she remembered. Solemn gray eyes.

  "It's not a word of power, Inos. Hearing one of those ... You know, it's like having your head explode."

  "But ..."

  "Do you remember when he told you? Did you feel anything?"

  "No," she said. "Just surprise. I thought he was raving again."

  "Then it isn't your fault."

  "Rap! What do you mean?"

  His face was very close, and it was wooden as a three-masted schooner. She could read nothing in it.

  "I mean that sometimes words must get lost. Maybe your father was too far gone. Maybe it was his father. The chain got broken somewhere. Someone forgot, or didn't hear right."

  "No! No! No!"

  "'Fraid so. You'd have felt the power when he told you, and you didn't. That's why you've never developed a talent, Inos. You don't know a word of power!"

  It made awful sense. Horror fell on her, chilling her. "But Kalkor?"

  Rap shrugged, not looking at her. "Maybe he's only a mage, like me. Just have to hope so." He didn't sound very confident.

  "Then you'll be all right?"

  "Then it'll just be a question of which of us is stronger — and I'm pretty strong, I think. If we cancel out completely, then it goes back to muscle, and he's ... But that's not likely. Lith'rian was very shocked when he discovered I could feel magic being used, and I was only an ade
pt then. I think he was worrying about what I might become if I ever learned more words."

  "And if Kalkor knows four?" She waited. "Rap? Can a mage fight a sorcerer?"

  "Can a mouse fight a cat?"

  "Rap!"

  "Different animal, it'd be no contest. Duke Angilki's still unconscious?"

  "That's what they said tonight — still in a coma."

  Rap nodded bitterly. "No help from his word, then. Go back to bed, Inos, and I'll put you to sleep."

  He stepped away as she tried to put her arms around him.

  "Rap! Stop being idiotic! Forget Kalkor! He's not worth your life. Forget Azak! And forget Krasnegar! Let's go now! You and me. Pick anywhere you like and I'll go with you."

  "No. I'm going to go and look for another word." He had his stubborn look on.

  "You don't need to kill him for me. Rap, because —"

  "I'm not doing it for you. Nor for Krasnegar. I'm doing it because I want to. Now go to bed."

  "Idiot! Almost dawn? Sagorn's been hunting for words for a hundred years, and you expect to find one before noon today?"

  Suddenly his eyes were very big. She could see nothing but his eyes.

  "Go back to bed, Inos."

  She went, and slept, and Rap departed.

  Whispered word:

  It is the hour when from the boughs

  The nightingale's high note is heard;

  It is the hour when lovers' vows

  Seem sweet in every whispered word.

  Byron, Parisina

  EIGHT

  Fortune's fool

  1

  He ran north, knowing that what he sought would be somewhere to the north, near the White Palace. Near the lake.

  He ran through the rain, wishing he still had the legs he'd had in the taiga. First sailoring and now weeks of driving had spoiled him for running, and he was trying to hold back on magic.

  Running into rain; running into dawn, too. His time was draining away. He had not slept that night, and would not. There would be a long sleep ahead, if this last chance failed.

  This was his third day in Hub, and the inexplicable white horror must be very imminent now. It would come today, he thought. God of Justice, let me kill Kalkor first! He still had no more clue as to what it was, for he feared it too much to use his foresight at all. It might be just death. That was the logical explanation — that the Gods blocked a man from seeing beyond his own death. Yet two wardens had failed to read his future and Ishist had said it hurt to try. If this other fate saved him from dying in the goblins' lodge, then it might be a good thing, although he doubted that even the goblins could inflict more agony than he had sensed in the white glare.