"Great-Aunt Bria," and other relatives whose names meant nothing to Jorian.
Then the garrulous ghost got off on the revolution in Xylar, several generations back, which had deprived the nobility of its feudal privileges. "A monstrous folly!" said the ghost. The baron spent the next hour fulminating against the injustice done his fellow lords and against the iniquities of the Regency Council, the true ruler of the nation ever since.
Jorian found the baron a nice enough fellow but a terrible bore. It took simultaneous yawns by the three travelers to remind the baron that, unlike him, mortals did from time to time require sleep.
Chapter Nine THE PROXENARY CLERK
ADDRESS ROYALTY IN MULVANIAN," SAID KARADUR to Margalit, "one uses the politest form. Sentences whereof the ruler is subject or object are put in the third person singular subjunctive. For another member of the royal family, or a priest in his official capacity, one uses instead the third person singular indicative with the honorific suffix -ye—"
"Doctor," said Jorian, "we need not waste Margalit's time on these distinctions. Imprimus, we shan't perform before royalty; secundus, nobody in Xylar would know the difference anyway. Teach her the form used between equals and let it go at that."
"But, my son, if she is to impersonate a Mulvanian, she must not speak my beautiful mother tongue brokenly!"
"Jorian is right," said Margalit. "I find these lessons hard enough without more complications than are absolutely needed."
Karadur sighed. "Very well. Lady Margalit, suffer me to explain the significance of nasal vowels…"
"You had better compress your lessons," said Jorian. 'Tomorrow we shall raise Xylar City. Meseems she already knows the sentences she will most need, such as 'I do not understand Novarian' and 'No thank you; my body is not for sale.'"
"Where are we stopping?" asked Margalit.
"Kerin and I have arranged to meet at the Fox and Rabbit."
The taverner, Sovar, looked suspiciously at the three exotic foreigners, but a deposit of a golden Xylarian lion quieted his fears. He gave them two rooms, a single for Margalit and a larger one for the two men. As they settled in, Jorian said to Karadur: "Doctor, pray ask our host if Synelius the Apothecary is still in business."
"Why me?"
"Because I am fain to keep out of sight. I patronized Synelius when I was king. If I ask after him and go to his shop, someone may put two and two together despite the costume and the bogus accent."
"What would you with this Synelius?"
"I wish some salve for this cut. My arm is still sore, and I want you to make the purchase."
"Ah, my old bones!" sighed Karadur, but he went. Later, when Jorian was applying the salve, Sovar knocked, saying: "A gentleman below asks after a party of Mulvanians. Be you they?"
"I will see," said Jorian. Below, he found his brother Kerin. Resisting an impulse to throw himself into a bear hug with his brother, Jorian clasped his hands in the Mulvanian manner and bowed low, murmuring: "Sutru of Mulvan, at your service. What can this unworthy one do for noble sir?" In a whisper he added: "Keep your voice down!"
Kerin, taking in his brother's costume and manner, compressed his lips in an effort not to burst into laughter. He said: "Ah, I understand. How about supper?"
"Nay; a Mulvanian cannot eat with a foreigner without pollution."
"I thought you told me," murmured Kerin, "you attended a party given by the Mulvanian emperor?"
"I did; but that was a dance, not a banquet. All they served was fruit juice, and I suppose that counts not." Raising his voice and resuming his accent, Jorian continued: "But do you chew by noble self, and then we will forgather in my humble quarters."
So Kerin ate by himself, while the pretended Mulvanians, eating their own supper, ostentatiously ignored him. Later, when only a few remained in the common room and those absorbed in their own affairs, Jorian caught Kerin's eye, winked, and gave a slight jerk of his head. After Jorian had disappeared into his room, Kerin rose and followed him up the stairs. In the room, they hugged and pounded each other's backs, grinning.
"Well?" said Jorian. "Can Thevatas deliver her?"
"So he claims. Have you it?"
"Aye; 'tis in yon bag atop my soiled garments. You can feel it through the cloth. When could he fetch her?"
Kerin shrugged. "Belike tomorrow even?"
"Make it earlier, at least an hour ere sunset. I am not lief to try to talk my way out of the city after the gates are closed for the night When the palace finds she is gone, they'll swarm out like hornets."
As the sun approached the horizon, an increasingly nervous Jorian repeatedly stepped out of the Fox and Rabbit to look at the sky, or to walk down the street to glance at the water clock in the window of Vortiper the Jeweller.
At last, a worried-looking Kerin hastened up, murmuring: "Thevatas said he would be delayed."
"Why?"
"I'll tell you. Let us go inside. I'll wait in the common room, drinking beer; you shall return to your chamber. We would not make a public scene of this reunion."
"That's sense," said Jorian. "When did he say he'd be late?"
"I was to meet him in the Square of Psaan and guide him hither, since I had not told him where you were staying. When he appeared not, I cast about the nearby streets, thinking there might have been a misunderstanding. I met him coming out of the apothecary's shop. When I asked about this, he said she had a headache and besought him to fetch her one of Synelius's simples. Hence they would be late."
Heart pounding, Jorian returned to his room, where he found Karadur and Margalit looking questions. "There's been a delay," he said shortly.
"But, my son," said Karadur, "darkness falls without, and the gates will close. How then shall we issue forth?"
"I wish I knew, too. Belike I can persuade or bribe the officer of the gate watch to open for us."
"Could we climb down the Doctor's magical rope from the city wall, as they do in romances?" asked Margalit.
"We could, but that would mean leaving the cart and the animals. Afoot, we should soon be run to earth."
"Were i£ not wiser to remain the night?" said Karadur. "In the morn, those who pass through the gates are not questioned."
"It would be, could we count upon Estrildis's disappearance to remain undiscovered. But someone is sure to sound the alarum. Then every guard, soldier, spy, and flunkey in Xylar will be out searching. They'll poke into every dog kennel and henhouse."
Karadur muttered, "We had better pray that this proxenary clerk and your Queen are stopped from leaving the palace. An they come hither, we are undone."
Jorian asked: "Could you send us to the afterworld, as you did me three years since?"
"Nay. That spell was one of the mightiest whereof I have command. It required extraordinary preparations, which took months. Ah well, they say beheading is one of the least painful forms of execution."
"Perhaps; but I have never heard a beheadee's side of the story."
"Anyway," said Karadur, "if they come seeking us, I will see what my illusion spells can accomplish."
"I can return to the palace, saying you snatched me thence, and I have only now escaped your captivity and made my way back to Xylar," Margalit suggested.
"That would not do," said Jorian. "Judge Grallon knows that you and I were on friendly terms in Othomae, not captor and captive. Mark you, if I must lose my head, it does not follow that you should lose yours. I can give the twain of you the names of other inns, not of the highest repute, where you will be taken in without questions. If men from the government question you, say you had no idea of who I really was."