“Yes, indeed. It's very heavy, too.”
Finn was more than wary of this seer with the winning smile and penetrating eyes. He understood, now, why the fellow projected such an evil, frightening image when he cast his spells. For, in spite of the menace in his eyes, he could easily pass for a junior clerk or a crafter's errand boy.
Even his dress seemed designed to belittle his power and win a stranger's trust. His robe was plain, a modest shade of blue, with no adornment of any kind, not a pendant or a broach, no amulet or magic charm of any sort.
“Allow me to answer the questions I'm sure you wish to ask,” said Oberbyght the seer. “It is my job to protect the King. Someone tries to kill him every day or so. This place is full of shadowy halls and dark hidey-holes, and there's always some rogue with a blade or a bludgeon lurking about. I fear I took you for one of those. I hope you won't fault me for that.”
“I suppose it was-a mistake,” Finn said with a certain restraint, “but I'm not likely to forget it, sir.”
“Nor would I ask you to. Only that you understand that persons of the magic persuasion are imperfect like everyone else.”
“This-happens all the time, you say? Someone popping out to murder the King?”
“Oh, indeed. You have no idea.”
Finn gave some thought to this. He glanced at Julia Jessica Slagg. She hadn't moved since the seer came on the scene. The lizard, he knew, sensed the magician's power on a level he could not comprehend. She was watching, alert to any cunning move the fellow might make.
“I'd ask a question,” Finn said. “It may seem foolish to you, but it seems damned odd to me. If you possess such powers, and I can attest that you do, perhaps you'll tell me why you allow these frightening attacks on the King by this maniac band of Bowsers? I should think it would be a good idea to cast some of your spells on them. Socks and Shoes, those louts try to kill the King every other day!”
For a moment, Oberbyght looked genuinely perplexed.
“Why, I couldn't do that,” he said at last. “It wouldn't be proper at all.”
“Might I learn why not?”
“There is much confusion among the uninformed about that. The Bowsers are licensed to assault the King and the royal house. They are not allowed to kill him. That's entirely against the law. I can't interfere in a contractual act. I would be breaking the rules as well.”
“What-what contract are we talking about here? You clearly lost me somewhere.”
The seer patiently folded his arms. “The Bowsers are adjoined by a contract on the King. This gives them the right to assault, annoy, maim, injure or slay any human or Newlie folk under the aegis, or in the pay, of King Llowenkeef-Grymm.
“I strongly doubt the contract will be renewed, however, as it specifically calls for attacks on Tuesdays and Thursdays alone, and the King is quite upset about that.”
Finn shook his head. “And the King allows this sort of thing? That makes no sense at all.”
“I agree it doesn't now, since the Bowsers have broken the Tuesday-Thursday clause. But of course he allows it, Master Finn. Why, if he didn't have a sound agreement with some responsible party, everyone would be charging in here and we'd have chaos on our hands.”
“I hadn't thought of that”
“You see? This way, anyone who loathes the King can pay their part, and the Bowsers get work.”
“Some of them seem to have outside jobs,” Finn said. “When we arrived here, they were running loose in the streets.”
“Those fellows are not under contract at all. They have no right to that, and they'll be dealt with severely. It's just that we have a war on our hands with your despicable nation at the moment, and we can't spare the troops to clean up things here. No offense intended, of course. I don't, in any way, mean to imply that you yourself are despicable, Master Finn.”
“None taken, of course. Though I must tell you that in Fyxedia we feel much the same about your disgusting, odious ways as you do about ours.”
“Well said, my friend.” The seer's pudgy features colored with delight. “I was just leaving the royal grounds, by the way, for a mug at the Fractured Foot, which is not far from here. It would give me pleasure to treat you to the hospitality of Heldessia, Master Finn.”
“Any other time, I would be delighted,” Finn said. “But we have been asked to leave your country at once, and we'd be on our way now if the King hadn't thoughtfully delayed me with this weighty decoration. I hope you won't take it amiss if I get on my way.”
Seer Oberbyght looked somewhat puzzled. He placed a finger on one side of his nose, closed his eyes a moment, then gazed thoughtfully at Finn.
“The King, though well intentioned, is not always clear about things. He has a great deal on his mind.”
“Yes, I suppose. And what exactly does that have to do with me?”
“This fine decoration you've received. An award of the Ninety-Fifth degree… “
“I understand it is, but-”
“It is a very high honor, sir. You may be of foreign birth, but you are officially an esteemed citizen of Heldessia now. There can be no question of going home, I fear. You are home, Master Finn…”
THIRTY-EIGHT
Finn, Master Lizard-maker, late of Garpenny Street, Ulster-East, was stunned, stupefied, shaken to the core. Even three mugs of dark, syrupy ale at the Fractured Foot did little to ease the pain. The words that came to mind were madness, disaster, the end of the line.
“You simply mustn't let it get you down,” said Obern Oberbyght, signaling the young lad for another plate of fried kale. “One country is much like another, you know. There are kings, princes, merchants and thieves. Some folk are rich, and some are quite poor. Some are living, and many are dead. I expect every nation has a great many taverns much like the one we are drinking in now.”
“How many countries have you been to, seer, would you care to tell me that?”
“Only the one I'm in now. Why do you ask, Master Finn?”
Finn was doing the best he could to hold himself together. He simply could not let himself go to pieces, break, shatter, come apart at the seams. None of that would do. He had to find a way out of this, to stay at least partially intact for Letitia, Julia, and the future of them all. If he didn't keep his own wits together, he would be of no use to anyone else.
The answer, of course, was Bucerius. The Bullie had gotten him into Heldessia, and could surely get them all out. All he had to do was find the hefty fellow. And that, at the moment, seemed a near-hopeless task.
Finn gave an uneasy sigh and covered the action with a swallow of ale.
"You're a citizen of Heldessia now,” the seer had told him. “You're free to go anywhere you like. Come and share a mug, and I'll tell you some of the delights you'll discover in your exciting new life… “
Fine, Finn thought, and how do I get rid of them? There were two of them, sitting at a table across the narrow, timbered room. They weren't wearing long green cloaks or chain mail, but Finn had little doubt they were soldiers of the King's Third Sentient Guard, and they were there to watch him.
He could lose them, he was sure, and unless Obern Oberbyght knocked him senseless with a spell, he could outrun the stocky seer as well.
For an instant, he was sorry he'd sent Julia back to let Letitia know what had happened and what he intended to do. Once he got free, Finn was sure he'd simply get lost again in the unfamiliar streets of Heldessia Town. Julia could have likely sniffed her way back to the grocer friend of the Bullie, or at least to the proper part of town
“I know you're distressed, friend, it does not take a person of magic to see that.”
The seer took a bite of the heavily battered kale, smacked his lips and let the crumbs fall in his lap.
“What I would say, and this comes from me, by the way, and not from a loyal servant of the King-which, of course, I remain-what I would say is I strongly suggest you free your mind from any path that might lead to tragedy or bodily harm. Think, instead, of a bright new life ahead-and not the one that you cannot ever live again”