Gene Wolfe - The Wizard

The oaken door (one of five doors of various woods and sizes) opened, and Thiazi stepped into the room.

I rose. “Your pardon, My Lord. This chamber wasn’t locked, and I thought we might wait for you here.”

Thiazi went to the largest chair. “You think I leave it unlocked so that my visitors may wait in comfort.” A slight smile played about his mouth.

I shook my head. “I thought nothing of the kind, My Lord. Only that since your door wasn’t locked you wouldn’t object to my bandaging Toug here, if we did no harm.”

“I keep it unlocked as a boast. It has been my boast that there was no one in Utgard so bold as to come in without my invitation. These two slaves,” Thiazi indicated Etela and her mother, “presumably know nothing of me. Even if they knew, they can’t have known this apartment was mine unless you told them. Did you?”

“No, My Lord. If I had I would’ve had to explain why I wanted them with me when we talked, and I wanted to bandage Toug instead. That was far more urgent.”

“You have bandaged him now,” Thiazi pointed out.

“I have, My Lord. This girl is Etela.” I turned to Toug. “Is that right?”

Etela herself said, “Yes, sir.”

“And this woman is her mother. I think I know her name, but it would be better if she were to introduce herself.”

Etela’s mother seemed not to have heard.

Etela said, “She don’t talk a lot except just to me. Sometimes not even to me.” Thiazi made a steeple of his fingers and smiled above it. “An exemplary woman.”

“Too much so,” I told him. “Your art is famous. King Gilling was very near death, yet you would have saved him.”

Thiazi’s glance darkened. “I could not discern the identity of his assassin, thus I could not.”

“I didn’t mean that.”

“He’s under a spell of protection. There can be no other explanation. I safeguarded our king, but he left his bed...” The steeple vanished, and the great hands clenched. “He heard that woman, and rushed from his bed. Pah!”

“Toug thinks our situation grave. Don’t you, Toug?”

Toug lifted his head. “I guess I do. They hate us. I don’t know what we did, but they do.”

“The Angrborn are descendants of those Giants of Winter and Old Night who had to leave Skai,” I told him. “Those who forced them to go are our Overcyns.”

“Mythgarthr was made from the body and blood of Ymir,” Thiazi added. “It’s ours by right.”

Mani lifted an admonitory paw. “Gentlemen! Gentlemen! Surely you see that this quarrel is not in the best interest of either side.”

“The Giants of Winter and Old Night,” I said levelly, “take whatever they can by force and keep it. The Sons of Angr behave in precisely the same fashion.”

“You wish to quarrel with me,” Thiazi muttered.

“Why, no.” I smiled. “Toug reminded us of our ancient enmity. Can we agree to set it aside? For the present?”

Thiazi started to speak, but fell silent.

“Toug believes that thousands of Angrborn will storm Utgard, butcher everyone and burn it to the ground.”

Etela touched my arm. “It’s rocks, mostly.”

“So it is. Nothing of the sort will happen, of course. Those who would have set up a new king attacked Sir Svon and Toug, whose force consisted of themselves and seven slaves, three of them women and one a child. All fought like men from what I saw. Schildstarr and a few followers joined them, and the mob couldn’t overcome them. Hundreds against one knight, a squire, some slaves, and twelve or fourteen of their own people. Sir Garvaon arrived with a few men-at-arms, and the hundreds who would have overthrown King Gilling couldn’t keep his supporters—”

Etela’s mother said, “Fewer than fifty.”

“Right. They couldn’t keep a scant fifty from reaching the gate. Queen Idnn appealed for peace, and by then they were eager to agree. Anybody who thinks they’ll go to work tomorrow on a ramp knows nothing about war.”

“I never said I knew a lot,” Toug declared.

I nodded. “You fought to exhaustion and were wounded. Both have colored your thinking. You need to realize that.”

“It was Queen Idnn that got you to come back?”

Mani’s voice was smooth, “Indirectly, it was I. I moved my royal mistress, and she Sir Able.”

Toug nodded. “I think I see.”

I said, “Then we don’t have to talk about it.”

Thiazi shrugged. “I won’t try to plumb your secret. I can do it easily anytime I think it important. You’ve told us what won’t happen, and I agree. What will?”

“Will you seek the throne for yourself?”

He smiled bitterly. “Would you support me if I did?”

“That would depend.”

“I will not. It is a dangerous seat, and I am by no means popular.”

“Someone will. Someone popular or at least plausible. Probably not one of the those who instigated the attack.”

Toug said, “The first one got killed.”

“Then I’m right.” I spread my hands. “Somebody else. If we’re lucky, he won’t surface before His Grace arrives. If we’re not, our position will be weaker. In either case, we’ll offer our friendship and our king’s, and ask him to let us leave Jotunland in peace. Since he’ll have everything to gain and nothing to lose by that, I think he will.”

“What of me?” Thiazi asked.

“You’ll serve your new king loyally and ably, just as you served King Gilling.”

“He may have scores to settle.”

“If he does, he won’t settle them, though he may think he has. Every king requires a sorcerer, and somebody who’ll take the blame for unpopular decisions. You’re both. He’ll ask himself why he shouldn’t make use of you, at least at first, and congratulate himself on his cleverness.”

“I congratulate you on yours, Sir Able. You make your speculations sound very plausible.”

“That’s because they are. Have I earned a boon?”

Thiazi nodded. “Several, if you want them.”

“Swell. I need three. First, the division of slaves—”

“You wish to claim some for yourself? Or for our queen? You must speak to Sir Svon now.”

Toug looked up. “You’ve divided them already?”

Thiazi shrugged. “You were wounded, and we saw no need of your presence. I acted for you, in your interests.”

Toug started to speak, but Thiazi silenced him with a gesture. “First you should know that there were but six to divide, one having perished in the fighting. Another has an injured arm. Sir Svon got first choice, you’ll remember.”

Mutely, Toug nodded.

“He chose the sound man, naturally. I, acting for you, choose the other man. His name is Vil,” Etela gasped.

“A strong slave and a skilled one, from what I gather. When his arm heals, he should be a valuable possession. Sir Svon then chose one of the women—not this one. I, knowing your fondness for this child, chose her.”

“I was his already!” Etela exclaimed.

Thiazi shook his head. “You were not, but you are now. Sir Svon took the other woman—understandably, I’d say—and I was left with your mother for this squire. Thus you and your mother belong to him, together with the smith Vil.”

Toug said, “That’s good. I—I never really liked you much. I was wrong.”

“You failed to understand me,” Thiazi told him, “as you fail now. I do my duty as I see it. Will you give a slave to Sir Able? If you do, Sir Svon will surely give one of his to the queen. All of them, perhaps, but we’ll have to see.”

“I don’t want any,” I declared. “I do want boons. This woman. What’s her name, Toug?”

“I don’t know. What is it, Etela?”

“Lynnet. I say Mama, only it’s Lynnet really.”

The strange woman whispered, “Marigolds and manticores.”