Magic Casement (17 page)

The
Other Man smiled slightly in reply to the king and returned to staring at Rap.
Rap looked away.

“Well,
what reward can we offer?” the king asked. “What can we do for a
young man who performs such a miraculous act for us?”

“Nothing
is necessary, Si-your Majesty.”

The
king smiled thinly. “I insist on rewarding you.”

God
of fools!

“Then
I should like to be one of your Majesty’s men-at-arms, Sire,” Rap
said hopefully.

The
king frowned, glanced at the Other Man, and stroked his beard. “You’re
a little young yet... and I’m not sure that that would be a very good
idea anyway, Rap. You are going to find that some men resent your abilities,
you know. By forcing you to reveal them in public, Factor Foronod and I have
done you a grave disservice. Sword practice is dangerous enough without grudges
and jealousies creeping in... although you would then have the ability to
defend yourself, I suppose. Is there someone you especially want to maim?”

“No,
your Majesty!” That was a horrible thought.

“Then
why do you need to be a man-at-anus?” The king seemed puzzled.

Rap
stammered.

“Dragons,
Sire?” murmured the Other Man. “For rescuing beautiful maidens
from?”

“I
should have thought of that!”

Rap
suspected he was blushing. They were laughing at him.

The
king turned serious again. “Can you read?”

“No,
your... Sire. “

“I
think you should learn, Rap. Both for your own sake and... and for your future
queen, if you plan to remain in her service. “

Now
Rap was certain that he had blushed, from hair roots to belly button, and he
could only nod.

“Well,
that takes care of two hours a day.” The king chuckled.

“I
think I shall appoint you as assistant to Foronod-serve him right! I shall tell
him to teach you some of his cares and worries. You will learn a great deal
about the palace and the town if you do nothing but follow him around-and I am
sure that he will find more than that for you to do. “

There
was nothing to say then except “Thank you, Sire.”

Then
the royal eyes met Rap’s and seemed to drill right through.

“I
think you are an honest man, lad. A queen of Krasnegar... even a sly old
king... can always use an honest man’s loyalty, and especially so if that
man has useful knowledge, also.”

Rap
gulped and nodded. “I shall be proud to serve, sir-Sire. “ But he
wondered whether he was pleased or not. He felt that he had hoped for something
a little more manly than factoring.

“In
another month or two, we shall see again. “ The king was wandering toward
the window once more. “Now, I am sure that your mother warned you
carefully, and you are fairly safe here in Krasnegar, but remember to guard
your secret. It is common knowledge now. There can be evildoers even in
Krasnegar. “

“Sir-Sire-I
have no secret.”

The
king frowned at him and looked to the Other Man, who shrugged. The king came
back to the hearth and eased himself stiffly into a big chair. “Then how
do you perform your wonders? “

“They...
they just happen,” Rap said.

“Your
mother did not tell you a word?”

Rap
shook his head. “No, your Majesty.”

“How
long have you been able to do these things?”

“That
day I got my chance to drive a wagon,” Rap explained.

“That
day was the first time... er... Sire. “

The
king looked again at the Other Man and said, “Sagorn?”

The
old man was smiling. He had an old man’s smile, thinning the lips without
showing teeth. His lower jaw seemed to slide up between the clefts that flanked
his mouth, closing tight like a trap. Not a comforting smile-sinister. “When
Foronod asked you if you could find the trail, you asked why-or so I am told.
Why did you ask why?”

“I
don’t know, sir. It seemed important. “

Doctor
Sagorn nodded in satisfaction. “It was the importance that was important,
I think. You don’t like using your power, do you?”

“No,
sir!”

Again
the gruesome smile. “So you suppress it. You only do it, or think you can
do it, when it matters a lot?”

Rap
puzzled about that. He did not want to know that the king kept his crown in
that big chest, at the bottom, under the fur rug, and he had just about
convinced himself that there he was only guessing. The first time on the
causeway he had desperately wanted to do a good job of driving the wagon-that
had certainly been important to him. “Perhaps that is so, sir. Then you
mean I have always had it?”

“Since
it was given you, certainly,” the king said. “And it must have been
your mother who gave it to you. “

“But...
like my nose, your Majesty? Or my brown hair?” The king shook his head.

Rap
was bewildered. “I thought maybe it was something I was growing into,
like shaving.”

“Or
holding hands with pretty girls?” The king smiled--almost grinned. “Oh,
that was not fair! I am sorry, my young friend. Just a joke! Forgive me! I
think what you are growing into is responsibility-serious matters, where such
powers can be of use to you. I am told you have an uncanny knack with horses,
also. “

“That
I don’t mind, Sire.” Rap risked a smile of his own.

Sagorn
made a sniffing noise. “He can call mares away from a stallion. “

The
king looked up, startled. “You jest!”

The
old man gave him a curiously cryptic glance. “So I was informed by a
certain minstrel who, quite typically, had lost his horse in the hills. Master
Rap saved him. Then, not wanting to interrupt his lunch, he broke up a herd by
shouting.”

The
king looked from Rap to Sagorn and back again several times. “Rap,”
he said, “I am almost more impressed by that than what you did last
night! Has this minstrel returned, also, then? I should like to hear the story.
“

He
looked to Sagorn, who hesitated.

“No,
Majesty.”

The
king started angrily, then turned to Rap. “I understand that you had two
helpers. One was a stableboy?”

“Ylinyli,
Sire. He is known as Lin.”

“I
must thank him, also, then. The other was a stranger?”

“A
gentleman, Sire,” said Rap. “He told me his name was Andor. “

The
king’s jaw clamped shut and he nodded, as if he had suspected as much. He
glared again at Sagorn. “Why has he come?” The old man seemed
almost as angry, but very careful. “I could not stop him, could I?”

The
king looked furious now. “The minstrel?”

Sagorn
nodded and the king turned to Rap. “I repeat what I told you before, lad.
Guard that secret of yours-it may easily be worth more than your life!”

Rap
wondered how he could guard something he did not have, but the king had not
finished. “And in particular, watch out for that Andor man. He is as warm
as sunshine and as slippery as ice. I shall have to lock up every maiden in the
kingdom if he is around. “

Rap
was very confused now. Why could the king not simply order the man away? True,
the ships had gone and a journey by land at this time of year would be
dangerous in the extreme. But a king was a king, was he not?

This
king sank back stiffly in his big chair. He grimaced, as if in pain, and
pressed his fingers against the lump in his side. What lump? Stop prying!

“Sire?”
the Sagorn man said.

“It’s
all right,” the king muttered, although his forehead was shining wetly. “Tell
Master Rap about the words. Warn him of the dangers. He does not seem to know,
and who better to tell him than the learned Doctor Sagorn?”

There
was more to that remark than there seemed to be. The old man flushed angrily.

“With
pleasure, your Majesty! “ He turned to Rap. “Have you never heard
of the words of power?”

“No,
sir. “

Sagorn
shrugged. “All magic, all power, comes from certain words. There are a
great many of them; no one knows how many. But they are what gives sorcerers
their abilities.”

Rap’s
jaw fell open. “You are not saying I am a sorcerer, are you, sir?”
Horrible thought!

“No.
“ The old man smiled slightly and shook his head. “But you must
know at least one word-and an unusually powerful one, because to be a seer
normally requires more. It takes at least three to make a sorcerer. I think
that the words may be growing weaker. Were I to set up in public as a sorcerer,
I should want no less than four. Inisso, however, had but three.” He
glanced at the king.

“Never
mind that!” Evidently the spasm had passed, for the pain had left the
king’s face. He glowered angrily.

Sagorn
bowed slightly, ironically. “As your Majesty wishes. One word, Master
Rap, does several things, but mostly it enhances natural talents. You obviously
have inherited a knack for animals from your faun ancestors, and the word has
raised it to occult proportions. Your mother was reportedly a seer. We asked
the seneschal about her. He says that she could foretell events--when a girl
would marry, or the sex of babies. Can you do such things?”

Bewildered,
Rap shook his head.

“Can
you sing? Dance? What are you good at?”

“Horses,
sir, maybe. Good with horses. “

“You
did not know that the king would summon you today before you were actually
told?”

“No,
sir.”

“You
wanted to be a man-at-arms. Have you ever had fencing lessons? “

“The
sergeant tried me out, sir, with a wooden sword.”

“Were
you good?”

Rap’s
face grew warm again. “He didn’t seem to think so.”

Sagorn
exchanged nods with the king. “Then we must assume that you know only one
word, and the skill you displayed yesterday must be another natural talent in
you, although what it is in other people I am not sure-a sense of direction,
perhaps. Some people never get lost. Or just good guessing?” He stroked
his chin thoughtfully. “After all, foresight is just a sort of guessing. “

The
king interrupted. “The jotnar have legends of men they call farsighted, able
to pilot boats through shallows, or fight in the dark.”

“Ah!
“ Sagorn looked pleased. “I had forgotten that! So it may be that
he gained some talent for farsight from his father, and again the word has
magnified it greatly.”

He
paused, looking quizzically at Rap, who nodded, although all this sounded very
confusing. Yet his mother had told him once that his father had been a good
pilot-and he had walked home in the dark a hundred times, she had said, before
at last he fell off the dock.

“So
one word makes you a sort of genius in your own field. But even one word can do
other things, as well. It makes its owner an effective sort of person.
Successful. Lucky. Very hard to kill, they say. “ He glanced momentarily
at the king.

Lucky?
That settled it, Rap thought-he did not have a word.

“Tell
him about two words,” the king growled.

Sagorn
raised an ironic, shaggy eyebrow, then again he bowed and turned to Rap. “Not
all the books agree, you understand? Words of power are not discussed openly,
and there is much that even I have not been able to discover, in a long
lifetime of searching. But it seems that with two words you start to get
somewhere. Knowing two of the words makes an adept. Not a true sorcerer, but
someone who can do almost anything-anything human. If you knew two words, young
man, then one lesson would be enough to turn you into a swordsman, as you
desire. Or an artist, or a juggler. Normally the true occult powers like
farsight start to come only with a second word. Do you understand?”

“Not
very much, sir. Do you mean like spells? I didn’t say any spells to call
the horses or find the causeway. “

The
old man shook his head impatiently. “No, no! You do not say these words.
You only have to know them. They are passed down from generation to generation
as the most precious thing a family can own. They are usually told only on
deathbeds. “ His eyes wandered back toward the king.

The
king was gritting his teeth again. “So you see why we think you know one
of the words of power, Rap?”

“The
minstrel, Sire!” Rap said. “He asked me!”

The
king managed a twisted smile. “Any man who can sing like Jalon is
automatically suspected of knowing a word. Any supreme talent like... any
genius...” He broke off, took a deep breath, then grunted at Sagorn, “Tell
him of the dangers.”

Sagorn
kept his eyes on the king, but spoke to Rap. “The words resist
telling-they are hard to say. You truly do not remember your mother telling you
hers? “

“No,
sir. “

“Yours
is undoubtedly stronger than most,” the old man muttered, but his
attention was still on the king. “Perhaps it is making you forget that
you know it, although I have never heard... “

The
king uttered a groan and writhed suddenly. His hand was pressed to his side and
now sweat dribbled down his ashen face. “More of the cordial, Majesty?”

Holindarn
nodded without speaking. The old man turned and went to a corner table. He
returned bearing a glass and a tall vial full of some smoky green liquid. Rap
rose from his chair, feeling out of place. Sagorn caught his eye and nodded.

Rap
bowed and backed toward the door.

He
was outside before he realized that he had not been told of the dangers.

Next
morning Rap found Foronod standing with a group of other men on the shingle in
the sunshine. The snow had almost gone. He waited patiently on the outskirts
until the others had all been assigned tasks, then stepped forward in his turn.
His only greeting was a nod. Although he looked as if he had not slept since
the night of the blizzard, the factor made no comment on that affair at all,
merely rubbing his eyes and listening in silence as Rap explained the king’s
command.