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Authors: Darrell Schweitzer
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doubtless departed in a hurry.
When he made his way outside, the world seemed too familiar, too real to have contained such a thing. He looked out over the lower city and the road beyond it. The sun was coming up. A tradingcaravan from some remote land was approaching Ai Hanlo along the great highway that led to the River Gate.
The cool morning breeze made him shiver. His wooden-soled slippers were awkward and uncomfortable, so he took them off. The paving stones were hard and cold underfoot
He passed members of the night watch making their last rounds. He had seen them all his life, but now, for thefirst time, they frightened him. They were all his enemies. He did his best to hide any emotion, but was scarcely able to prevent himself from screaming and breaking into a blind run.
When he got back to his room he found Amaedig asleep in a chair. She had tried to wait up for him.
CHAPTER 5
The Second Vision
Hadel of Nagé, the Rat, had aged more than his years. He was now very frail, very thin, with a face like wrinkled parchment. His moustache was a white-silver brush, somewhat less copious than it had once been.
He paced back and forth on the carpeted floor of his study with his head down, his shoulders hunched, the almost iridescent blue robeof his office flapping loosely.
At any other time Ginna would have examined the study with rapt fascination. There were so many marvels in it: a large water tank containing a whole empire of half-human, half-fish creatures no larger than one’s thumbnail, stuffed specimens of curious beasts which no longer walked the earth, including the fabled glimmich which was reputed to have frighteneddragons to death, but which looked so innocuous on top of a bookcase that the boy figured that any dragon frightened by such a thing deserved to be extinct; there was a book which read itself, whispering its words and turning its pages as if alive, allegedly quite capable of driving someone mad who didn’t know the spell to close it; a stone fallen from a star; a scroll containing the names of allthe rivers of the world, with which the traveler might halt their flow or even make them go backwards if it suited his purpose; a skull that spoke; a mushroom that could never be placed in the same spot twice; and much more. It was a veritable museum of the odd, the quaint, and sometimes the terrible. The only safe tours were guided ones. Unattended visitors frequently did not leave, nor did theyremain behind in any recognizable form.
But at present the two of them paid no attention to anyone but one another.
The magician looked trapped. He constantly glanced from side to side, as if watching for spies or enemies.
“He can’t hear me,” he said. “I put a silencing spell around the room. Or he shouldn’t be able to hear me. But I have a feeling that somehow he can.”
There was a moment of silence.
“Who can hear you, Eminence?”
“Are you as stupid as you look, boy? Him. The Guardian. No one is safe from him. You know perfectly well who I mean, idiot!”
“Your pardon—” Ginna hastily made a sign.
“Oh, stop waving your hand at me! Did you know I wanted you smothered as an infant? I told Tharanodeth it would be for the best. But did he listen?Did he take me seriously at all? No, no, he did not.” At this Hadel’s anger seemed to pass, and he sounded weary, defeated. “No one listened to me until it was too late. If I am to educate you—and you know why you are here, why you are my pupil, don’t you? This morning when I went to give The Guardian his lesson, he waved me away saying, “Don’t bother me anymore, you silly old fool. Give lessonsto the pigeons on the roof, or else to that creature Ginna, which was dumped in my cradle. Waste your hot air on him.” So here you are. I think you are preferable to the pigeons.
Ginna smiled slightly.
“I fear for you, young man. I really do. I’m sure he plans to make some use of you, something so vile he won’t do it himself or
When he made his way outside, the world seemed too familiar, too real to have contained such a thing. He looked out over the lower city and the road beyond it. The sun was coming up. A tradingcaravan from some remote land was approaching Ai Hanlo along the great highway that led to the River Gate.
The cool morning breeze made him shiver. His wooden-soled slippers were awkward and uncomfortable, so he took them off. The paving stones were hard and cold underfoot
He passed members of the night watch making their last rounds. He had seen them all his life, but now, for thefirst time, they frightened him. They were all his enemies. He did his best to hide any emotion, but was scarcely able to prevent himself from screaming and breaking into a blind run.
When he got back to his room he found Amaedig asleep in a chair. She had tried to wait up for him.
CHAPTER 5
The Second Vision
Hadel of Nagé, the Rat, had aged more than his years. He was now very frail, very thin, with a face like wrinkled parchment. His moustache was a white-silver brush, somewhat less copious than it had once been.
He paced back and forth on the carpeted floor of his study with his head down, his shoulders hunched, the almost iridescent blue robeof his office flapping loosely.
At any other time Ginna would have examined the study with rapt fascination. There were so many marvels in it: a large water tank containing a whole empire of half-human, half-fish creatures no larger than one’s thumbnail, stuffed specimens of curious beasts which no longer walked the earth, including the fabled glimmich which was reputed to have frighteneddragons to death, but which looked so innocuous on top of a bookcase that the boy figured that any dragon frightened by such a thing deserved to be extinct; there was a book which read itself, whispering its words and turning its pages as if alive, allegedly quite capable of driving someone mad who didn’t know the spell to close it; a stone fallen from a star; a scroll containing the names of allthe rivers of the world, with which the traveler might halt their flow or even make them go backwards if it suited his purpose; a skull that spoke; a mushroom that could never be placed in the same spot twice; and much more. It was a veritable museum of the odd, the quaint, and sometimes the terrible. The only safe tours were guided ones. Unattended visitors frequently did not leave, nor did theyremain behind in any recognizable form.
But at present the two of them paid no attention to anyone but one another.
The magician looked trapped. He constantly glanced from side to side, as if watching for spies or enemies.
“He can’t hear me,” he said. “I put a silencing spell around the room. Or he shouldn’t be able to hear me. But I have a feeling that somehow he can.”
There was a moment of silence.
“Who can hear you, Eminence?”
“Are you as stupid as you look, boy? Him. The Guardian. No one is safe from him. You know perfectly well who I mean, idiot!”
“Your pardon—” Ginna hastily made a sign.
“Oh, stop waving your hand at me! Did you know I wanted you smothered as an infant? I told Tharanodeth it would be for the best. But did he listen?Did he take me seriously at all? No, no, he did not.” At this Hadel’s anger seemed to pass, and he sounded weary, defeated. “No one listened to me until it was too late. If I am to educate you—and you know why you are here, why you are my pupil, don’t you? This morning when I went to give The Guardian his lesson, he waved me away saying, “Don’t bother me anymore, you silly old fool. Give lessonsto the pigeons on the roof, or else to that creature Ginna, which was dumped in my cradle. Waste your hot air on him.” So here you are. I think you are preferable to the pigeons.
Ginna smiled slightly.
“I fear for you, young man. I really do. I’m sure he plans to make some use of you, something so vile he won’t do it himself or
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