Gene Wolfe - The Land Across

The waiter arrived with our food. When he had gone and Volitain had drawn the curtain, I said, “How can I get my passport back? Would it help if I were to notify the American embassy?”

“I will not deceive you,” Volitain said. “I do not deceive.”

Martya sniffed.

“They may return it to you when you do nothing. That happens sometimes.”

“What if it doesn’t?”

Volitain spread his hands. “You must discover the correct official, then you must win his friendship. It is most often done with money. Martya thinks you have money, and that is good, but you do not have enough for that. Not here. In Amerika?”

“Maybe.” I thought about it. “I have some there and I might raise some more. How can I get it here?”

“Someone will have to bring it for you. Diamonds are best.” Volitain hesitated. “They will have to be well concealed. He must pass the customs, you understand. Not only ours, but other nations’.”

“Unless he flies in.”

“Let him attempt it.” Volitain’s sleepy whisper had nearly faded away. He straightened up and considered the meat rolls steaming on his plate. “I wish him well.”

I remembered the canceled flights and the flight that had gone on to Ankara without landing here. “It seems just about hopeless.”

“Fortunately”—Volitain pointed his fork at me—“there is the third way. You might grow rich here. If you wish to return to Amerika there is no difficulty. Our officials fear the rich. It is the same with you, eh?”

I said it was.

“Now let us turn the page. You may choose to remain with us. Much is here for the man of wealth. I offer a plan.”

I probably looked like I did not believe him. That was the way I felt.

“I will not deceive you, for I do not deceive. My plan will make me rich, too, if it succeeds. It may be it fails. Failure is at least as likely as success. Will you close your ears to me?”

I shook my head.

“That is well. You are Kleon’s prisoner. It is not a handicap, and may favor us.”

“We together.” Martya squeezed my hand.

“Exactly. There is a treasure, or there may be. The explanation will take some time.”

I chewed and swallowed a mouthful of fadennudeln . “Then get going. I want to hear it.”

“It require you to pay some money. Not much.”

“Yeah, I figured. And?”

Volitain cut a meat roll and studied it. “You think I take your money. I do not. I say first that if we find this treasure, together or separately, it is to be shared equally between us three. It is understood? If Martya finds it alone, she must share with us. If I find it, and nothing you know of my finding, I will share with you and Martya. If you find it, you must share with both of us.”

I said, “Okay,” and the three of us clasped hands.

“Now we are partners,” Martya said. “Tell him of the judge.”

“Hear me. The year is eighteen sixty. A young man called Eion Demarates leaves home after a quarrel with his father. Twenty years pass, and he return a rich man. His father is dead. His mother likewise. There are brothers, sisters. All want his gold, but Eion Demarates give them nothing. There are old quarrels.”

I nodded again to show I understood.

“He builds a fine house for himself. He has servants, a carriage with four horses, and many other things. We go forward. The year is eighteen eighty-eight, eh? Hear me, for this you must understand. In eighteen eighty-eight, our money was not rubbish.” Volitain got out his wallet and scattered bills over his meat rolls. “Rotting garbage, this is. My dolmades are not so bad as this. In the year of which I speak, it was not so. Our money is silver and gold.”

“Ours, too,” I said.

“You were robbed in that case, just as we were.”

Martya said, “If you don’t want those, I’d like one.”

Volitain said, “You are my guest,” and she speared a bill and a meat roll with a single thrust of her fork. He stared for a moment, then laughed.

Grinning, Martya licked a little grease from her punctured loot.

“An ancestor of mine was the judge here at that time.” Volitain was wiping the rest of his bills with his napkin. “We have half a dozen judges in Puraustays now. In that year, the city was smaller and there was little crime. We had only one, the ancestor of whom I speak. Demarates went to bed, eh? His valet helps him to undress, warms the bed, builds up the fire, does all those things. When his master is in bed the valet wishes him a good rest, puts the little cap on the candle, and goes out. Death finds his master asleep and does not wake him. A physician is brought, an inquest is held, all that. Nothing bad is found.”

I said, “And then?”

“No gold either.” Volitain smiled and licked his thin lips. “There are banks, but Eion Demarates? No accounts he has. His servants stole it, so my ancestor believes. They are questioned under torture. This one has taken a silver cup, that one the razor with which he shaves his master. A maid takes clothing for her son, fine stockings and other such things. Trivialities. The gold of Eion Demarates none ever finds.”

Martya muttered, “Or your ancestor does not think it.”

“Correct. He searches the house, with police to help. They find nothing. There is no will. The brothers, the sisters, loudly say many times everything belongs to them. My ancestor says no, taxes are owed upon the estate. He sells the horses and carriage and other things, and holds the money against these taxes. He does not wish to sell the house because he believe the hidden money will soon be found. It is under a floor, eh? Or in a wall. He will wreck the house and find it.

“Brothers and a sister journey to the capital. This judge will wreck our house, they say. You must stop him. The Prince Judicial issues an order: the house is not to be demolished.”

“It’s still standing?” I asked.

“It is. Some of the furniture has been sold. Some remains. It belongs to the state, that was decided when the taxes went unpaid. It has been rented more than once, long ago. People died there. No one will rent it.”

Martya said, “You will rent it for us. You can get it most cheap.”

“Legally,” I told her, “I’m your husband’s prisoner. I don’t want to go to jail.”

Volitain nodded. “You must sleep in Kleon’s house, but you will rent the house I have told you of that you may repair it, rendering it a fit residence. Soon, you say to those who ask, the court will see that you are an innocent traveler. Then you will be released, and you must have this place to live until your passport is returned. It will be rented to you, and you and Martya will search, reporting to me what you have done.”

My food was gone, but I sipped my wine. “Is a court looking into my case?”

Volitain shook his head. “At present? No.”

“Then I should get a lawyer. I don’t want to stay here forever.”

“I will represent you.” At long last, Volitain forked a piece of his remaining meat roll into his mouth.

“You’re a lawyer?”

“He is many things.” Martya looked sour and serious. “That is why I brought you to him.”

“An attorney, as other things,” Volitain told me. “I practice law for, oh, not quite three years. It bored me, and I did not require the money. I still represent a few friends and take cases of interest. Soon you ask why I do not search the Willows myself.”

That sounded interesting. “The Willows?”

“It is the name of the house Eion Demarates built. At the tax office, you must know it. Tell them you hear the Willows is without a tenant. You will rent, if it is cheap enough. Can you bargain?”

I nodded. “Sure.”

“Good. They will ask too much. Officials always do.”