Emperor and Clown (47 page)

“So
what I’m leading up to is that I do know sorcerers, and no one else can say
that. And they are not like other people!”

She
shivered. “How not like other people?”

Even
an imperor tended to drop his voice when he talked of sorcerers. “They don’t
seem to think like us.”

“Sorcery
makes people `unhuman’? That’s what Rap told me.”

The
imperor nodded. “When Master Rap wakened me from my sickness-then he seemed
quite ordinary. Melancholy, perhaps; he was brooding about something. Naive.
But a very pleasant young man, I thought; unschooled, but well above average.
Yet I was not too surprised to learn that he’d only been a sorcerer for a few
hours. Since that night, when you and he . . . Since he came back, he is sadly
changed!”

As
Inos had not met him since then, she could hardly be expected to comment on
that. But the bald statement worried her: changed? She was changed herself, of
course-she was an adept now.

Emshandar
was regarding her with an intimidating Imperial curiosity. “Will you tell me
what happened that night?”

So
in spite of all his jolly little chats with Master Sorcerer Rap, the old fox
had not managed to learn that? If Rap wouldn’t tell, why should she? Well, for
one thing, she really had nothing to tell.

“I
wish I could, Sire! It’s still not at all clear in my mind. Rap moved us both
to ... he called it the ambience. It’s another world, sort of. Beside this
world and yet not part of it.”

“You
obviously went somewhere. Can you describe it?”

She
shook her head. “No words fit. Not light nor dark. Not silent nor noisy. No up
or down. A world of mind? As hard to describe as a dream.” He did not comment,
so she forced herself to continue. “Once he’d shared two of his five words with
me, then he managed to wrest the power under control. He cured our burns,
dressed us . . . sent me back.” It should have been the greatest experience of
her life, and it was all just infuriatingly vague, and fuzzy. “I think he
blocked my memory. I can remember the fire hurting, but not what the pain was
like.”

Emshandar
nodded solemnly, studying her face as she spoke.

“That’s
odd, though!” Inos said. “I just realized ... Zinixo told Rap a fifth word,
expecting to kill him with a burnout. Then he would have got back the power he’d
given away. But Rap shared two with me, and that reduced his overload so that
he could control it. But when he killed Zinixo afterward, then he must have
received all the power of the word they both knew?”

Emshandar
took a sip of his wine, as if considering what to say, and when he did speak,
he was obviously being cautious. “I gather that he didn’t actually kill West.
He wouldn’t say precisely what he had done with him, just that the dwarf would
not be botheringany of us again.”

Inos
shuddered. One thing she did remember from those lost minutes was that Rap had
been angry as she had never suspected he could be. He had frightened her.

“One
other thing I must know,” the imperor said quietly. “Rap was a human furnace. How
did you ever find the courage to rush over and hug him like that?”

“My
aunt is always accusing me of being impetuous.”

“Impetuous?
Plague of lawyers, woman! That was more than just Impeeuouu!”

“Well,
Sire, I met a God once.”

She
expected surprise, but he said, “Yes, I’ve heard.” He heard everything,
obviously.

“And,
seeing Rap about to die like that, I suddenly remembered what They told me-to
trust in love. The warning seemed to fit. The man I loved needed help. It felt
like what I was supposed to do.”

He
shook his head wonderingly and raised his glass to her. “I admire you beyond
words for doing it. Had my legionaries a tenth your courage, I would rule the
whole world.”

Even
adepts could blush all the way to their ears. “But Rap would not explain what happened?”
Emshandar shook his bony head. The room was growing dim, the fire brighter. “No.
And whatever it was, it seems to have scared the wardens spitless. Bright Water
babbles. Lith’rian has disappeared altogether; he’s probably hiding down in
Ilrane. And Olybino won’t talk at all. He just says that what happened is
impossible. Which is not exactly helpful.”

“And
Rap? Do you know why he’s avoiding me?”

“No.
Some things he won’t discuss, and you’re one of them. But he’s changed, Inos. I
didn’t know him very well before, but he is certainly not the same as he was.”

He
stared at the coals for a moment. “If it didn’t sound so absurd, I would say he’s
in deep trouble and needs help.”

The
unseasonably fine weather continued. A couple of days after Inos’s private chat
with the imperor, an elegant brougham made a long trip southward through the
winding thickets of Hubban urban sprawl, until it came to a rattling halt on a
narrow street in a nondescript district somewhere on the prosperous side of
slum. A few spectators watched from the street, and more from behind window
drapes. Fine carriages came by often enough, but never carriages escorted by
four Praetorian Hussars, with their fine horses and shiny plumed helmets. Those
splendid young men seldom strayed so far from the palace.

Their
tall but rather chinless leader doubled over in the saddle to peer in the
brougham’s window.

“This
is the place, I think.” He pointed at a plain, weathered door at the top of a
short flight of steps. Kade had never used that door, but her bedroom window
had looked out on this street. She recognized the mismatched buildings
opposite. “Very likely.” The hussar swung a long leg and dropped nimbly to the
road. “I’ll announce you.”

“Wait!”
Kadolan said. “That would be a great honor, Tiffy, but I think I’d better come
with you.” Frowning, he opened the door to hand her down.

“Why?”

“Well,
there might not be anyone home if just you went. You are rather intimidating,
you know.” Tiffy blushed scarlet with pleasure. “Oh, I say! Do you really think
so? Intimidating?”

Beaming
proudly, he guarded her from perils unspecified as she mounted the stoop. Then
he yanked the bellrope hard enough to bring every firecart in the city,
although Kadolan had already seen a drape twitch. For a few minutes nothing
happened, then the door opened.

“Doctor
Sagorn!” she chirruped.

The
old man looked both heated and bothered. His hair was awry, his garments
disheveled. He nodded sourly to Kadolan and blinked at the shiny breastplate
beside her, the ferociously scowling boyish face above it.

“My
house is honored, your Highness.” Sagorn stepped aside to admit her, not
disguising his reluctance.

Tiffy
eyed the lintel and began removing his helmet. Kadolan laid a hand on his arm. “This
will be rather a private meeting, Tiffy.”

“Oh?”
He peered distrustfully at Sagorn. “A medical matter, Tiffy.”

“Ah!”
With a final warning pout at the discomfited physician, the hussar refastened
his chinstrap and went clattering down the steps to the street to wait.

Kadolan
did not recognize the room to which she was shown; but she had seen its like
elsewhere-a typical medico’s sanctum, dread and drear, although this one could
have been brightened considerably by cleaning its leaden-paned casements. It
came complete with chairs and desk and ominously stained table. The shelves
lining its walls bore many impressively weighty books, plus hundreds of bottles
labeled in illegibly cursive script, racks of butcher implements of all sizes,
and more complex instruments of unguessably horrible purpose. The obligatory
skeleton hung in a corner, grinning through a shroud of cobwebs. Anonymous
nasty things floated inside jars. Much less to be expected were two large
trunks, one already roped closed, the other open and half filled with books,
clothes, and more medical equipment. Kade chose the better of the two chairs.
Sagorn settled on the other. He ran a hand through his hair, smearing his
forehead with grime. He was sulking. “You are planning to leave town.” Kade
found she could not make a statement so obvious sound like a question. I

“How
did you guess?”

“May
I ask why?”

He
glared. “That should be even more obvious.” She shook her head. “It seems
illogical when the imperor himself wishes to consult you. Your prosperity will
be guaranteed for life, I should think.”

“Prosperity?
Bah!”

He
rose, tall and grim, and began pacing the office, his slippers making
unpleasant gritty noises. “You know well enough how we have guarded our secret,
and for how long! Now we are unmasked! Our curse will become common knowledge.
We shall be the laughingstock of mundanes and the prey of sorcerers! The
imperor may reveal us to the wardens. And all this disaster has befallen us
because we answered Holindarn’s plea and went to Krasnegar!”

“You
are being quite ridiculous,” Kadolan said calmly. “Nobody is revealing your
secret. The imperor merely seeks your counsel regarding the Duke of Kinvale.
Master Rap has done all he can with sorcery, but he suggested your skills would
still be valuable. As for sorcerers and wardens-if you have any trouble with
them, then I suggest you mention that you are a friend of his. From what I’ve
heard, that will stop any of them.”

Sagorn
shot her a startled glance as he shuffled by. He did not speak. Kade let out
her annoyance one more notch.

“What
is even more surprising is that you are doing your own packing. I should have
thought you would have delegated that to younger hands. Or is your decision subject
to argument?”

“God
of Pity, Kade! You know I can’t control what the others may do!”

“But
they usually accept your decisions, don’t they? Your judgment?”

The
old man snorted. “Tell me what you want of me and then go.”

“Have
you seen Master Rap?”

“Not
since Gathmor’s funeral.” He stopped his aimless pacing and stared down bleakly
at the open trunk for a moment. “Ah ... you did not know? My apologies, ma’am.”

“I
suspected,” Kade said sadly. On the journey from Arakkaran, she had developed a
curious admiration for the rough sailor. He had possessed many admirable
qualities. “Did his death have anything to do with Master Rap’s decision to
fight Kalkor?”

“Everything.”

She
sighed. She had known that the faun did not change his mind lightly. “I am
sorry. And glad that he is now avenged. And I wish you knew where Master Rap
was! Well, perhaps you, can guess why he’s avoiding Inos?”

Sagorn
stopped by the second-best chair and sat down again. “Avoiding her?” he
repeated incredulously.

“Definitely.
You know that he is now a full sorcerer? You have heard what he did, and that
the wardens acquitted him?”

“There
are more stories about the faun sorcerer running around Hub than there are rats
in the sewers, but I think I have the gist, yes. West challenged him to duel, or
vice versa. He vanished in flames and then returned victorious. He is the new
warlock of the west.”

“No,
he refused the honor.”

“Typical!”
Sagorn muttered in disgust.

“It
was Inos who saved him, but he has not spoken to her since that night. He
healed Angilki as well as he was able, and Azak’s crippled retainer, also. He
has been spending time with the prince and also with that young goblin. He
reportedly went out of town, but he’s back. Yet he does not go near Inos!”

Sagorn
leaned back without taking his eyes off Kadolan. He crossed his legs and then
smiled his sinister smile. “And when did you see him?”

“This
morning,” she admitted. “I was on my way to my room, and suddenly he came
around a corner. He spoke to me, very briefly, and then he just wasn’t there!”
She was trying not to show how upset she felt, but the old sage could read her
well enough.

“What
words did he speak very briefly?”

When
she hesitated, Sagorn said, “I can’t advise you if you withhold information!”

“He
said, `Tell her I do love her!’ That was all.” The old man frowned, very dark. “How
did he seem?”

“Upset.
Wild, even.”

“Mad
as a shampooed cat, I expect,” Rap said, clos ing the door behind him. Kadolan
started and looked accusingly at Sagorn, but he was obviously even more
surprised than she was-frightened, even.

Rap
put his hands on his hips and regarded Kadolan sourly. “Isn’t nice to repeat
private conversations !”

“It
isn’t nice to eavesdrop, either!”

He
might be a powerful sorcerer, but he looked like a stablehand. And he still had
a wild, jumpy look about him.

“Furthermore,”
she snapped, “you may say you love her, but you are being extremely unkind to
her. She is very upset.”

He
scowled.

“At
least you owe her an explanation!” Kade said. She wondered if he was ill. His
face was drawn; he seemed feverish. ,

“Well,
she isn’t going to get one.” Rap turned his gaze on Sagorn’s baggage and then
on the scholar himself. “I came to keep my promise.”

The
old man licked his thin, pale lips. His knuckles were white on the arms of his
chair.

Rap
chuckled meanly. “See? It isn’t the imperor he’s running from. Nor the wardens,
either.”

“It’s
you,” Kadolan said.

“Because
he knew I would come. He knew I would keep my word. Suddenly he can get what he’s
always wanted. And now he’s too old, aren’t you, Doctor? You’ve had a hundred
years, and you could have had another hundred-on and off.” He laughed and
turned to Kadolan. “And he dare not trust the others, because they’re all
younger than him.”

“I
think I should leave.” She began to rise.

“No,
stay and watch!” Rap said. “This should be’ entertaining. I’m ready to operate,
Doctor Sagorn.” He put his head on one side and seemed to squint for a moment. “Who
left the sorcerer’s house?”