This Golden Land (67 page)

     She continued on until, three quarters along the crowded lane, she came upon a person of humble appearance, sitting only on a frayed mat, with no shade or booth or tent. The seer sat cross-legged in a long white robe that
had known better days, long bony hands resting on bony knees. The head was bowed, showing a crown of hair that was blacker than jet, parted in the middle and streaming over the shoulders and back. Ulrika did not know why she would choose so impoverished a soothsayer—perhaps on some level she felt this one might be more interested in truth than in money—but she came to a halt before the curious person, and waited.

     After a moment, the fortune-teller lifted her head, and Ulrika was startled by the unusual aspect of the face, which was long and narrow, all bone and yellow skin, framed by the streaming black hair. Mournful black eyes beneath highly arched brows looked up at Ulrika. The woman almost did not look human, and she was ageless. Was she twenty or eighty? A brown and black spotted cat lay curled asleep next to the fortune-teller. Ulrika recognized the breed as an Egyptian Mau, said to be the most ancient of cat breeds, possibly even the progenitor from which all cats had sprung.

     Ulrika brought her attention back to the fortune-teller's swimming black eyes filled with sadness and wisdom.

     "You have a question," the fortune-teller said in perfect Latin, eyes peering steadily from deep sockets.

     The sounds of the alley faded. Ulrika was captured by the black Egyptian eyes, while the brown cat snoozed obliviously.

     "You want to ask me about a wolf," the Egyptian said in a voice that sounded older than the Nile.

     "It was in a dream, Wise One. Was it a sign?"

     "A sign of what? Tell me your question."

     "I do not know where I belong, Wise One. My mother is Roman, my father German. I was born in Persia and have spent most of my life roaming with my mother, for she followed a quest. Everywhere we went, I felt like an outsider. I am worried, Wise One, that if I do not know where I belong, I will never know who I am. Was the wolf dream a sign that I belong in the Rhineland with my father's people? Is it time for me to leave Rome?"

     "There are signs all about you, daughter. The gods guide us everywhere, every moment."

     "You speak in riddles, Wise One. Can you at least tell me my future?"

     "There will be a man," the fortune-teller said, "who will offer you a key. Take it."

     "A key? To what?"

     "You will know when the time comes . . ."