Odnośniki
|
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
an invisible platform before my eyes. Instead of tarnished silver, her skin was soft ivory and tipped with
crimson; her hair was black, her sheer gown violet. I took my finger away, and once more I was holding
a dirty, shattered figurine.
"That I have never seen or heard of," I admitted.
"Nor anyone else in these lands," Janos said. "I have consulted priests and Evocators, and none of them
know the spells necessary to make such a bauble. In fact, one fool told me it violated all of the laws of
thaumaturgy-so it must be black sorcery. He ordered me to give it to him so that he could 'purify' it. I
took it back and told him what he might well face if he mentioned the statue to anyone."
"Where did you get it?"
"My father gave it to me as a gift on my first birthing day. It was not broken then. When I was six he told
me where it came from. My mother said it had cost him three war mounts-stallions whose lineage went
back to the Horsegod himself."
"Your father said it came from the Far Kingdoms?" I guessed.
51
"Yes."
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
I was silent, thinking again of those peasant tales of the mysterious eastern lands beyond. How great
sorcerers ruled and how they could even make battle magic that could stand against the strongest
counterspells. How the streets and statues were solid gold. Here was hard evidence of some master
wizard's work; something the most adept Evocator of Orissa would herald as his lifetime achievement
and deem worthy of a king's wedding gift.
"How was it broken, if I may ask?"
Janos's face was still. "This is not the day for such a tale," he said.
I changed the subject. "Your first premise carries weight," I said, handing the maiden back to Janos. "But
just to be stubborn I must bring up the counter that no one knows of every conjurer in the world. Not
just ones from still undiscovered cities, but those whose weird it is to live in solitary haunts-in jungles or
mountains."
"True. But not that powerful a rejoinder. My second and third arguments have less substance, and I
cannot give you anything to hold in your hand. But hear them out. You've heard them call me a
Lycanthian. But I am not, even though I spent years in their service. In truth I come from another land,
across the Narrow Sea from Lycanth, in Valaroi. A land of high mountains and small glens. Kostroma."
"I have never heard of it," I confessed.
"No. You would not have." He started to elaborate, then changed his mind. "Not far from my family's
stronghold was a traders' route. They paid tribute to my father, and he provided soldiery to keep them
safe from those without law. Where they paid tribute, they held a bazaar. This would be twice,
sometimes three times a year; and for us, those fairs were as big an excitement as the Day of Sowing. My
father would sometimes invite one of the traders to our home. He would feed and guest the man lavishly.
Not just out of courtesy, but because this was the only means for our out-of-the-way land to learn of the
world beyond. Among the stories they told were of the Far Kingdoms."
"I must interrupt you here," I said. "Surely you aren't telling me you trust the word of traders? We are
renowned for swearing a yard of goods was custom-woven for a high priestess' mystery, if it means we
can knock the price up a copper or two."
"Nevertheless," Janos said, "it was most interesting listening to their tales. And not one of them ever said
he had visited the Far Kingdoms. Nor did any claim to have even seen their border
52
posts. But all who had traveled to the east had seen their trade goods. Luxury items that had passed
from hand to hand, their price increasing at each step. Sometimes they would even cautiously show such
a bauble to us, something that would be well beyond the modest profit my father's herds earned: lutes
that when strummed by a stable boy would make him seem a fine troubadour; a gown, or even a veil,
that would turn the most coarse serving wench into a dazzling seductress. And there were other
things-like my little dancing maiden-that were even more marvelous. Incantations beyond any we knew
of; and to this day they are still beyond any I have ever encountered in my travels."
I said nothing: Janos may have thought this second premise but idle gossip, but it wasn't to the son of a
merchant prince, We, too, had heard of-and sometimes seen-devices that struck wonder into our hearts,
even if none were as exotic as Janos' tiny dancer. And it would be claimed that they were from the Far
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
Kingdoms, which always produced guffaws all around. Since it was known that there were wizards of
great power hidden in the lonely places, these goods were generally ascribed to one or another of them.
But why, I suddenly wondered, was it considered more logical to believe in a sorcerer hiding in a swamp,
a conjuror in a jungle, an enchanter on another mountaintop, rather than to theorize there might be a
single source for these fineries?
I asked Janos the same question. "That's easy to answer," he said. "Since when does any man or woman
like to think that there is a person or place more gifted, more civilized, than where they come from?"
I nodded. "Yes. Certainly my father has reminded me often enough that when I go afield I should not
brag loudly on the wonders of Orissa. Boasting like that, even if it's true, gets nothing but resentment from
bumpkins, even if they pretend to be awed as you boast. Your argument is doing better than I thought it
would, Captain Greycloak. What is your third premise?"
"Perhaps we should find another wineshop before I tell it to you, since it seems to slide more easily
down the craw with lubrication. And rightly the tale should be told only when everyone is somewhat
pickled, and it is a stormy midnight outside."
"A ghost story? I'm partial to them," I said.
"Ghosts? I don't know. You can call them what you want. But this is a tale that happened to me
personally."
We found a shop with its own arbor and an agreeably smiling maid to serve the shop's fine vintage.
"There were times," Janos said, "when our aruspex would
53
dream the moment had come to sacrifice a particular animal, one that would be chosen from my family's
own herds. Mostly the entrails would reveal nothing, but on occasion the diviner would see something
terrible. At that time he would order a curfew. All men and women, girls and boys of our valley would
have to be inside from dusk to dawn. The flocks would be abandoned, the watch-towers unmanned for
as long as four nights.
"Our people would huddle at fireside, shutters or curtains drawn tight. Sometimes ... rarely ... there
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pldoc.pisz.plpdf.pisz.plblacksoulman.xlx.pl
|
