Mayer Alan Brenner - Spell of Intrigue

Favored frowned at Haddo. “ This is the one latched by the trap of Pod Dall?” he said, pointing incredulously at Karlini.

“Correct are you,” Haddo said. “Karlini it was.”

“Who’s Pod Dall?” Karlini asked.

“Remember you of castle the trap? Remember you your vision, of Death the god, of by ring the capture? Pod Dall that god was. Castle of Pod Dall was it where trapped were you. Owns Pod Dall castle that moves.”

“Now, you wait a minute, Haddo. I thought nobody knew who that god was,” said Karlini. “It’s nice of you to mention it now, but I don’t understand why it had to wait all this time. Why didn’t you bring this up before, when we were all busting our necks trying to figure it out? It’s important information, and -”

“You just watch your tone of voice, you big clodhopper,” snapped Favored. “Where the hell you come off talking to Haddo that way? You better give him some more respect, you hear me?”

“What are you talking about?” Karlini said. “I thought Haddo was working for me. It’s starting to look like I was wrong, isn’t it, Haddo?”

“You didn’t think a guy of Haddo’s stature would waste his time hanging around with the likes of you if there wasn’t a very good reason, did you?” Favored said.

“Uh,” said the Great Karlini. “As a matter of fact –”

“Ego has he,” Haddo said to Karlini, patting him reassuringly on the hand. “Attention pay not.”

“He damn well better -” said Favored.

“Touchy always Favored acts,” Haddo said, chopping him off as he was just getting underway again. “Habit is. When short you are, difficult can you become.”

Karlini fought against a rising attack of apoplexy. “What is this guy, Haddo, your agent? A labor lawyer? What is this, he’s going to sue me for treating you wrong? And what ‘stature’ is he talking about, anyway? When did you turn into a sorcerer?”

“This guy’s nothing but a hedge wizard.” Favored muttered “Nostrums and love potions and no more science than you can -”

“Now just a -”

“Quiet!” hissed Haddo. “Of you, both!” He glared at the creature perched on the hatch of the machine. “Of you ashamed am I. Always pick you fights, must?”

“He’s a human, goddamit,” Favored said sulkily. “You know better than to expect me to roll out manners for a hulk like him.”

“For purpose are we here,” Haddo said slowly, enunciating each word with a deliberate slap, still keeping his gaze on Favored. The eye-sparks under the hood of his cloak seemed to grow sharper, brighter, hotter, until they were visibly lighting Favored’s face with an angry yellow smear. Karlini could see Favored’s pupils contracting along their vertical slit edges. A wisp of steam started from Favored’s left eyebrow. “Is greater curiosity of Karlini than of Karlini his manners, but does not in Karlini rudeness imply. If manners keep will he, manners keep will you? Shall meet in middle, we?”

Favored kept on trying to stare Haddo down for another second. Then he abruptly closed his eyes and swung his face away. “All right, all right,” he said, “but it’s only because you’re insisting so much. I still say you’ve been spending too much time with big idiots like him; you shouldn’t be away from your own people so much.”

“For absence reasons are; news to you is not.” The searchlight glare from Haddo’s hood faded. Afterimages of Favored’s face danced in Karlini’s own eyes; he was glad he hadn’t been on the receiving end of that bit of stagecraft. Haddo glanced over at Karlini, who was happy to see he was able to keep himself from flinching. “Excuse of Favored behavior,” Haddo said. “Walks he tightrope. Difficult is world.”

“That’s for sure,” Karlini said appeasingly. Walking a tightrope was probably a fair description of Favored-of-the-Gods’ life, even if he had been floating rather than walking, per se. Karlini couldn’t get over the amount of machinery Favored was moving around with. “You really must be favored by the gods,” he said to Favored. “Anybody I know who’d try to put together that much technology would find themselves catapulted into the nearest lava pit, or they’d come home to find their house gone and no one in the neighborhood admitting to having ever seen them before, or they’d look down while they’re out in the street to find a bottomless pit had just opened up under their shoes, all of which I guess really amounts to pretty much to same thing all around.”

“Hmph,” said Favored.

“Appears that here must do talking I,” Haddo said, glowering at Favored. “Help give you whenever urge you feel. Random is not name of Favored,” he continued, turning toward Karlini. “Description is of job.”

“You mean you work for the gods?” Karlini asked Favored.

“Yeah, yeah, I do some jobs for the big guys,” Favored said reluctantly. “One of them in particular, really. They been keeping me on the hook.”

Karlini drummed his fingers on the table top and wished he had a drink. “You’re a technologist?”

“A Fabricator, I like to call it.”

“But the gods prohibit -”

“Oh, all right,” Favored-of-the-Gods said with a note of resignation. “You’ll never understand anything if Haddo tries to explain it, anyway, and even if you could figure out what he’s saying he always gets it wrong. This is the deal. Sometimes the gods need mechanicals, and some of them just plain like the stuff, for recreation. You know, like some of them collect art or buildings or jewels or stuff, or some of them collect people; most of ‘em have got what they call their aesthetical amusements. You’re about to say they mash down technology out in the world, right? Well, they do, but that doesn’t mean they make themselves play by the same rules. Haddo says you’re not an idiot so I guess you’ve gotta know the gods don’t play fair.”

“I won’t tell you it’s news,” Karlini said.

“Right,” said Favored. “They like a mortal population they can control. I don’t know if they really think the fruits of engineering can upset their can, but they like to play it safe and anyway they’re in charge. So like I said, some of them go for mechanicals on their own time. As far as they’re concerned, for themselves, mechanicals aren’t taboo, they’re not what you’d call appalling, but they’re sort of risqué for those who swing that way.”

“Technology is a guilty pleasure?”

“Yeah, that’s right, you could say that. It’s frowned on in your polite company, if you can say there is polite company with the gods, Most of them turn up their noses at this stuff, call it lowbrow, quaint, that kind of thing. Those gods who do go for that kind of kink don’t really know much of anything about how to actually build the things, though, so they’ve got to farm out the work.”

“No god’s ever contacted Max about doing work,” Karlini said to Haddo. “He must be one of the best technologists alive. He wouldn’t do anything about it, I’m sure, but no one’s ever asked him. For that matter, I’ve never heard of anyone who’s been on retainer to the gods. Maybe it isn’t the sort of thing you’re allowed to talk about.”

“Your pal Max is a different kettle of fish altogether,” Favored said, “although I don’t know why you’re so certain no one’s ever come after him. You want to kick in anything here, Haddo?”

“With exposition continue,” Haddo said.

“Have it your way,” said Favored. He adjusted his perch on the edge of his hatch. “Your name’s Karlini? Okay, Karlini, you can’t be too surprised you’ve never heard of this stuff before. The gods aren’t fools. They don’t like using humans if there’s any way to help it; humans are too much trouble. They’re too much like the gods themselves, sneaky and nasty and you can’t trust them worth a damn, if you ask me. You can drive yourself crazy trying to reason with a human, too., and they’re all goddamned busybodies, they won’t just do a job and leave it at that. On top of it all they talk too much. Even when they’re not out broadcasting to the world, they’ve got a hellish gift for thinking up new ways to cause problems. You hear what I’m saying?”