Return to the Whorl tbotss-3

by Gene Wolfe

  The bearded man smiled. "I'm Calde Bison. Sorry I kept you waiting, but I had a few little arrangements to make." He offered his hand.

  Hound shook it. "These are my friends Horn and Pig, Calde. It's Horn who really has to see you."

  Bison nodded; his smile was guarded now.

  "He's come all the way from Blue. That's what he says. I mean, he has I'm sure. And he's been to Green. Pig and I… Well, I thought I'd better come too."

  He looked at his companions desperately; the smaller said, "I've been sent here by New Viron, the town our colonists have founded. I'd like to tell you about it."

  Bison shook his hand and invited them to sit down. The chairs were large and comfortable, elaborately carved, with red leather seats and tapestried backs. He edged his nearer Bison, discovering that it was so heavy he had difficulty moving it.

  "I'm here as the representative of the Ayuntamiento of New Viron," he began, "and of our town as a whole; I should explain that though it has a de facto Ayuntamiento, it has no calde."

  "Silk talk!" Oreb proclaimed.

  He smiled. "Yes, that's what we want, but I really ought to explain the situation there to the calde before we get to that. If I don't make that clear, he won't understand why we need his cooperation as badly as we do."

  "Explain away." Bison's eyes were guarded still.

  "I've been gone for some time now. I must tell you that. My information may not be current; and in fact, if a lander has arrived lately from that part of Blue-"

  Bison shook his head.

  "Very well then. Originally we saw no need of a government of any kind. We left you and General Mint behind to fight the Trivigauntis when we went down into the tunnels. You may have regarded that as a desertion, though I hope you did not."

  Bison shrugged. "I doubt that your group included a dozen fighting men. I thought you were, well, signally courageous."

  "My father remained behind to fight. I should mention that-I must. I also ought to mention that we fought Trivigauntis ourselves down in the tunnels. You spoke of fighting men. We had fighting women down there, a lot of them. And fighting boys and even a few fighting girls. Almost everyone who could hold a slug gun fought. If they hadn't, we would never have made it to the landers."

  "I can imagine."

  "We were three days in the tunnels, or about that. Then three weeks on the lander, very crowded, with sleepers mixed with us. They were confused for the most part; some very badly confused indeed, nearly insane. There was almost enough water-that was an enormous blessing-but little food. I've heard since of landers on which the situation was worse, but ours was bad enough. We didn't have an easy time of it."

  "Yer stuck h'it, bucky. 'Tis ther thing."

  "We all stuck it, Pig." He tried to put all that he felt into his voice, and could only hope he was succeeding. "There were some leaders among us, but if the rest hadn't supported them, it wouldn't have mattered; and more than half the time the people led them. So when we reached Blue, it was natural for us to govern ourselves. If there was something to be decided we met-all or most of us-and everyone who wanted to spoke before we voted on it. There were some of us, such as Marrow, who were heard with more attention than others; and if all of them spoke on the same side, the vote was largely a formality."

  Bison said, "Nevertheless, you yourselves decided it, and not your leaders."

  "Exactly. That was how we divided the land, for example. We agreed upon the farmsteads, less land for those with rich soil or a spring; and when all the parcels had been staked out, we drew lots. In time, the town grew. There were many other landers from here, particularly in the first few years."

  Bison nodded.

  "And landers from other cities-often places we'd never heard of-came down near us, and their people joined us." (It seemed best not mention that some had been forced to, and were bought and sold like cattle.) "Then too, there had been many children on the lander. I was one myself, if you like-I was only fifteen. Many more were born in the first few years."

  "Your system became unworkable."

  "Yes. There were too many people, and some farms were too far away. Some people abandoned theirs and became fishermen or traders or loggers, and often they were gone and missed the Assembly. Then too, in the beginning everyone had wanted to live near town. As it became crowded, and robberies, rapes, and riots increased, many who had once spoken wisely in the Assembly no longer wanted to live in town or even near it."

  "Bad hole!" Oreb explained.

  "We needed a calde, and everyone saw it. I cannot say how many wealthy and powerful men wanted the office. Eight or ten, perhaps. Possibly even more."

  Bison nodded, looking from Hound to Pig. "You didn't hold an election?"

  "It would've meant anarchy, a worse anarchy than we endured already-open warfare among those eight or ten factions. In the end, someone would have been calde over…"

  "Ruins," Bison completed the thought for him. "As I am, and as my wife was before me, and Patera Silk-if I may say it-was before her."

  He shook his head. "I've seen the destruction, but I've also seen that most of Viron survived its war with Trivigaunte. I doubt that a single house in New Viron would survive the war against ourselves that threatens it."

  He paused to draw breath. "I said I'd have to describe conditions in New Viron, and now I have. There is no unity and no sanity, or at least very little; but there is enough for five of our most powerful citizens to ask that you send Silk to us. The people will welcome him, and all five have sworn to support him."

  Hound coughed apologetically. "He… From what you say. The others will still be stronger than Calde Silk, won't they?"

  "No. In the first place, they could never oppose him as a block, and each would fear the others' treachery at least as much as the calde. In the second, thousands who are committed to no one at present would flock to him. His supporters will be united, and far more numerous than theirs."

  He turned back to Bison. "That is to say, they will be if you'll let us have him. That's why I'm here. I'm hoping you'll tell me where he is, and help me persuade him to go."

  "You'll want a lander, too. Or do you have one?"

  Oreb added his own inquiry. "Thing fly?"

  "That's right, the thing that flies between whorls. No, I haven't got one, and we'll have to have one. Surely-"

  Bison raised a hand. "Surely I have a dozen I'm not using at the moment. Is that what you were going to say? Well, I don't. When Silk himself was calde, he sent off everyone who could be persuaded to go. It used to be that when a man was convicted, he was thrown into the pits." Bison laughed. "I used to think it was going to happen to me eventually. But when Silk took over they were given their choice, the landers or execution. I can't remember any choosing execution."

  "If"

  Bison's hand went up again. "Just a moment. You've asked for this, and I'm not through.

  "The convicts were only a small part of what we sent. Most were manual laborers of one sort or another. Laborers and their families. Carpenters and masons, and small farmers and farm laborers. Something was said a while ago about me being calde over ruins. That's an exaggeration, but there's truth in it, and the truth is there because Silk sent out every lander he could patch up enough to fly. Not many came back, and when they they did he filled them up and sent them off again."

  Bison leaned back, red-faced and scowling, then chuckled. "Well, I've got that off my chest, and I've been wanting to for a long time."

  Hound ventured, "If there's no lander, Silk and Horn can't go to Blue, can they?"

  Bison consulted a slim gold watch. "If they go, they'll have to get one someplace else, that's all. I may be able to help with that. Or they can wait until I have one, though I don't know when that may be."

  "You'll tell me where Silk is, and help me persuade him?"

  Bison stood. "Maybe, and maybe not. I haven't decided. It's lunchtime, gentlemen, and you're invited to lunch at my palace. Will you do me the honor of dining w
ith my wife and me? We can talk about all this some more while we eat."

  Bison and Pig sat on the wide rear seat of Bison's floater, the others on jump seats facing them. "I go home for lunch just about every day," Bison told them as the floater glided forward. "Generally I tell people it's because I like my cook's food."

  He paused, fingering his beard. "That's true, I do. But that's not really why I go home to eat. It's because I want to talk to my wife about whatever has come up that morning. Now I want to talk to her about this. For one thing, she knows Silk better than I do."

  He said, "You must mean Maytera Mint. In a book we wrote, we-my wife Nettle and I-tried to imply that you and Maytera Mint might marry; but we couldn't be certain that such a marriage would actually take place."

  "Good girl!"

  Bison laughed. "Don't call her Maytera, please. She isn't a sibyl anymore and doesn't like to be reminded of it. Call her General, or just Mint. She doesn't mind either one of those."

  When no one else spoke, Pig muttered, "Bonny ride, bucky. Traveled far, aye, an' h'every way but flyin'. This's best. Feel a' h'it."

  "I had almost forgotten about these, but I rode in the calde's once or twice before we left." He was looking out at the city through the transparent dome. "Willet was the driver, and he promised to teach me to drive, too. That was the day before we went up to the airship, and I've wondered sometimes whether he-well, never mind. It doesn't matter."

  "Ter yer, bucky."

  Bison told his own driver to go slower, then spoke to Pig, first touching his knee. "Do you know about my wife?"

  "Nae had ther honor."

  "Then I should tell you. She's in a wheelchair. It's not that she can't walk. She can, but it's painful. So she uses the chair, mostly. I thought you ought to know. Horn does already, I'm sure."

  He turned from the contemplation of empty shops. "No, I didn't. What happened?"

  "Someone tried to kill her."

  Hound said, "I remember people talking about it."

  "Why?"

  "I don't know. He was killed himself a few seconds after he fired." Bison lifted his shoulders and let them fall. "If it weren't for your friend here, I wouldn't have mentioned it."

  "Poor man," Oreb muttered. It was not clear whether he intended Bison or the assassin. "Poor girl."

  Their floater, already moving slowly, slowed more, then settled to the wide, smooth paving stones before the Calde's Palace. With the whisper of one who betrays a secret, its transparent dome vanished into its gleaming sides. The driver sprang from his seat to open one side for them; from his green uniform, he was a hoppy, a member of the Calde's Guard.

  Two more Guardsmen threw back the wide front doors of the Calde's Palace.

  Pig had taken his arm. "Braw place, bucky? Feels sae."

  "Handsome? Is that what brave means? It is indeed, with a door you won't have to duck through. Mind the steps, though."

  The questing tip of Pig's sheathed sword found the first.

  "I kept you waiting outside my office," Bison explained as he went up, "because I wanted to get my wife on the glass and ask about inviting you. She doesn't always feel up to entertaining, and it seemed better to find out how she was today in private. Frankly, I was amazed. She's eager to see you."

  Hound was already wide-eyed. "I just wish Tansy were here. That's my own wife. She would be so thrilled…"

  "If you live near here-" Bison began.

  "Oh, no. It's-we live in Endroad. And she'd have to dress and everything. To tell you the truth, she probably wouldn't come, because she doesn't have a dress good enough."

  Bison's wife Mint was waiting for them in the big dining room in which Silk had once entertained Generalissimo Siyuf. Bison hurried over to her. "My dear, I would like to present Horn, a visitor from Blue, and his friends Hound and Pig."

  "Know girl!" Oreb proclaimed.

  Mint smiled at all four; and although her face was pale and drawn, her smile was bright. "Welcome. Welcome, all of you. Horn, you can't have forgotten me. You used to be my runner."

  He smiled and saluted. "Of course not, General."

  "It's good to see you again. No, it's better than good. Wonderful, in fact. Have we been feeding you here in Viron?"

  "Bountifully."

  Hound said, "We breakfasted at our inn, just down the street. There was lots of very good food, but he kept giving his to Pig."

  "Bird eat!"

  "And to Oreb, though Oreb didn't eat as much."

  "We have plenty for him here." She gestured toward the table. "For all of you. Sit down, please. I'm seated already, and we don't stand on ceremony here, or not till shadelow. My dear, would you push me?"

  Bison did.

  "There, that's better." From one end of the long table, Mint regarded the silver serving dishes with satisfaction. "I've put you all on one side because I had to. We can't pass, unless there are at least three on a side. The calde and I have to sit at a corner when we eat in here by ourselves."

  She rapped her glass three times with back of a table knife, and told the maid who appeared, "We're ready, I believe. You may-no, we're not. We ought to have an invocation. Would you do it, Horn?"

  He shook his head ruefully. "You think I've become an augur. I have not. I have no right to this robe."

  "Better a false augur than none. If you don't do it, I'll have to ask the calde. He'll send to the Prolocutor's Palace, and it will be time for dinner before we have our lunch."

  "I-"

  "Please, Horn. For me."

  He rose and made the sign of addition. "Gracious Outsider, I, who learned so many prayers at the urging of this good woman, do not know the proper one to make you on such an occasion. We offer our thanks to you-inadequate thanks, yet all we have to give-for good food and for bringing us together in hospitality and friendship."

  He sat, and Bison murmured, "Phaea bless our feast."

  Mint picked up a platter. "Here is squab salad, Pig. It's a specialty here, or so we like to think. May I give you some?"

  "Thank yer kin'ly."

  She heaped his plate. "You're the most reticent of our guests. You've hardly spoken a word since you came, so it is my duty as hostess to draw you out."

  "Pig talk!"

  "Thank you, Oreb. Hound, you're not eating. Give him some of that salmon and caper mixture, dear, before Honeysuckle brings in the hot meats.

  "Now you must help me, Pig. I'm not very good at this, so you have to pretend that I've very cleverly made you relax and babble like a brook."

  "Nae sae guid meself, mistress."

  "He's a difficult case," Mint told her husband. "These overgrown boys are often like that. It's hard to get them to contribute in class, but one must persevere."

  "Let me try. Pig, I know why Horn came to see me this morning. He wants Calde Silk, and thinks I can give him to him. I take it you're a friend of his. Of Horn's, I mean."

  "Aye."

  "Did you come with him simply to provide moral support? Or do you have some request of your own?"

  "Me een."

  Bison looked back to his wife; and Hound said hurriedly, "This is my fault, Calde. I told him I thought there might be a doctor here who could help him."

  Pig coughed, a self-conscious little sound that might have proceeded from an unusually mannerly mountain. "There's nae. Yer neednae say h'it. Auld Pig knows h'it."

  "Then I won't, and for all I know there may be someone here who can help you. I'll make inquiries."

  "Nae. Save yer pother. Yer guid wife would nae be crouchy an' sae guid a leech yer ha'." Although Pig's shaggy head did not turn, his hand brushed Mint's arm with claw-tipped fingers nearly as thick as that arm itself. "Yer sees an' Pig walks. 'Tis ther better part. A ghaist told me ter stick wi' bucky ter get me cen back. If auld Pig's ter see, yer might skelp yet."

  Mint looked to the man Pig mentioned. "Is that a ghost?"

  "I think it must be, though the woman-Mucor, you may remember her."

  Mint nodded.

/>   "She isn't dead, or at least I don't believe she is. But she can appear to people, rather like a ghost, and she appeared to Pig. I know it sounds mad to talk of someone's appearing to a blind man, but he could see her. Couldn't you, Pig?"

  "Aye, bucky."

  "He thought it wonderful, as I still do. She told him that if he remained with me he might get his sight back. Isn't that correct, Pig? That's what I understood you to say."

  "Aye." Pig shifted his huge bulk in his chair. "Yer will nae leave me mair, will yet, bucky?"

  "I won't, and that's a promise." He spoke to Mint. "When we got to the city, I wanted very much to be alone awhile in the Sun Street Quarter. You'll understand that, I believe, General; or at least I hope you will."

  "We-I've done the same thing."

  "I asked Pig to go. He did, and it wasn't until much later that I realized how cruel it had been."

  "'Tis Nall right, bucky."

  "No, it isn't, and it won't happen again. Perhaps I should say here and now, so that the calde and General Mint can hear it, that if your vision hasn't been restored by the time Silk and I leave for Blue, you're coming with us."

  Mint smiled. "That reminds me. I should tell my husband, and you, that we've been haunted again. Not just the little one this time, but by Silk as well."

  He stared in consternation. "Are you saying he's dead?"

  "No." Her smiled was impish. "In fact, I'm quite certain he's not, Patera."

  "Good Silk!" Oreb exclaimed.

  He sighed and laid down his fork. "I won't tell you again that I'm not an augur-you know it, and there's no harm in your amusing yourself. Please understand, however, that this is a serious matter to me. I must find Silk and bring him to Blue. I've pledged myself to make every effort. I've kept that pledge so far, and I intend to keep it. If I had been able to find Calde Silk, I wouldn't be troubling you like this; but I haven't. He had a house in the country, or so I'm told-"

  Hound interrupted. "A cottage. That's what they say."

  "But he's not there, and no one seems to know where he's living now. Hound and Tansy didn't, and they seemed to think it unlikely that anybody in Endroad did. But the calde does-the calde must-"

  "I don't," Bison said.