Gene Wolfe - Free Live Free

“He was called the wickedest man in the world,” the witch said.

“He was, Mademoiselle. In fact, I believe I had the honor of originating the phrase, though I did it only to please him. For all Aleister’s penetration, he was like a little boy in one respect: he loved to shock. Years later—at least it seems to me like years now, though perhaps it was only a year or so—in Smyrna, I was sitting with him in a cafe when we heard the major domo tell a tourist couple, giving that little movement of the head that those diasporic Greeks (if I may coin a term) use so well, that Aleister was the most evil man God permitted to remain on earth. The tourists were very impressed indeed, and I think I never saw him so happy. Certainly I was never to see him so happy again.”

“Marie hasn’t had your experience,” the King rumbled. “But she has the gift.”

Illingworth nodded politely. “Your people are famous for it, all over the world.”

“Most of us fake it—I do myself.” Suddenly the King smiled. “So does Marie, sometimes. But with her, sometimes it’s the real thing.”

“Fascinating.” For a moment, Illingworth studied the witch. “Just what is the real thing, dear? Telekinesis? Precognition?”

She shook her head, then nodded. “I do not seem to be telekinetic at all. I am strongly precognitive. A bit of telepathy, though I have met people who are much better at that than I. I am also a fairly good medium, particularly with the nonhuman spirits—elementals and so forth.”

“Demons, Mademoiselle?”

The witch hesitated, then nodded guardedly. “They have other, and better, names; but occasionally, yes.”

Illingworth smiled, showing a row of teeth as white and uniform as cups on a shelf. “I’ve been by the Free house, you know. I thought I caught a whiff of sulfur.”

“You are interested in him yourself, then.”

“Only on your King’s behalf, my dear. We’d spoken earlier—”

The King nodded confirmation.

“—and of course he gave me the address. As it happens Mr. Free and I had—ah—certain mutual friends, so I was quite concerned when I heard he was missing and perhaps deceased. I thought his home might hold some indication of his whereabouts.”

He sighed. “I found nothing. That is, nothing indicative of his present situs. A rifle that might have slain red men in its day, and a watch with a picture of a lovely lady dead, I suppose, well over a century. Beautiful old things left behind in an abandoned house, though I have taken them under my aegis now. We whose interests run beyond the marches of the visible world, beyond the fields we know, as Lord Dunsany once so finely put it while we were musing at White’s, we are prone to an itching discontent of place—”

“Regular Gypsies,” the King added helpfully.

“Precisely so, sir. Precisely. I would suppose I have myself, in a lifetime, I grant, more than notably long, slept in a hundred beds, hotels and such-like temporary accommodations excepted. At one time or another, I’ve made my abode on every continent, excepting only Australia and Antarctica; and though I’ve not relocated now for over thirty years and am as I suppose a bit long in the tooth for Antarctica, I might adventure Australia yet. Indeed, the warm, sunny, dry climate that characterizes so much of that ‘Land of the Southern Wind’ would seem more suited to my old age than our savage winters. I have sojourned upon many islands too, of which Great Britain was the largest and Capri perhaps the best. It has been spoiled now, I am given to understand, by tourists. Tiberius Caesar said much the same thing.”

“You were speaking of Benjamin Free,” the witch reminded him.

“So I was, my dear. I only meant to say that an examination of his mementos led me to suspect that he was not—I will not say an initiate, but not an initiate as I have been accustomed to using that term. I doubt that he was ever admitted by others to a knowledge of the occult mysteries, to the ceremonies and services of the Secret Masters; although he may well have been one of those persons—more common than we are wont to suppose, if I may say so—who have acquired occult power and even occult authority by developing their superphysical capacities.”

“I’m sure you are correct,” said the witch, who was happy to have this shadowy old man believe Free unimportant. “Nevertheless, I would be glad to find him, and grateful for whatever help you can give me. He was kind to me, and I would like to repay him, if he is still among the living and in difficulties; and I feel certain he had something yet to teach me.”

Illingworth gave the King a broad wink. “And what payment do you offer for my services, Mademoiselle? I will not ask for that little hand in marriage; I fear there might be royal objections, although I feel sure we should be as happy—in the words of that other Benjamin, that marvelous old Franklin who used to visit the Hell Fire Club—as two bugs in a rug. No, I won’t even request it for a son or grandson, for I have none, though they would be the luckiest boys in the world now if I did. But what about a kiss, my dear? Do you think you could bear to kiss this raddled old cheek, for such a prize?”

“You’ve found him!” the witch exclaimed.

“My dear friend,” Illingworth turned to the King. “You are the luckiest man on earth, do you know that? Your subject here is a woman of such surpassing loveliness that she is beautiful even with mouth agape. You kings have all the best of it anyway, enjoying the pleasures of the droit du seigneur , savoring the blossoming as it were, then allowing us poor devils of husbands to sweep up the petals.”

“Where is he?” The witch caught Illingworth by the sleeve.

“Well, now,” he said. “Well, now, I suppose I should tell you about it. You don’t object to my smoking?”

“Not at all; I would like one myself. I have no more of my own.”

He opened a large, old-fashioned silver cigarette case. “They’re Players, I’m afraid. One keeps up the old habits, the dear old luxuries, and they become more luxurious every year, and more dear. There’s a little tobacconist’s down on Fourth Street that stocks them for me. I warn you, they’re strong for American tastes.”

The King said, “I’m a cigar smoker, Cas. I’ll try one.”

Illingworth bent forward with the case. “An honor—ah—Your Majesty.”

“Just King. Call me King.”

“And a light. A light for you, Mademoiselle? And for myself now, if you will excuse me.”

“Is he safe?”

Illingworth puffed smoke, a smoldering old dragon. “Hmm? Oh, Mr. Free. Why, yes, so far as I know. Perfectly. I don’t really know the people who have him, you see—”

“Have him?”

“Perhaps I should explain. When your king communicated with me, mentioning the names, I might add, of certain esteemed mutual acquaintances, and informing me of Mr. Free’s disappearance and his own concern therefor, it struck me, and indeed I might say struck me almost at once, that I had heard the name. Have I mentioned, my dear, that I have the honor to be the editor and publisher of both Hidden Science and Natural Supernaturalism? ”

“I know that,” the witch said impatiently, but Illingworth was looking at a corner of the ceiling, or possibly the visage of posterity, and did not appear to hear her.

“They are small publications, if you like. Indeed their page size is but five by seven and a half, seldom does an issue have a folio in excess of one hundred—often my little staff and I are delighted to see that advertising, the support, largely, of a few stalwart friends who have clung to us through the years, permits a page count in the nineties. Each title appears but half a dozen times per year; no slick paper for us, and no covers from famous photographers, no pictures of five-hundred-dollar-an-hour trollops. On a magazine rack, beside the great periodicals of the day, ours are small and shabby enough.