Once the waterways were finished, with water in them, I set to work building the garden towers. Each one was topped with the head of a different animal. One was a deer, one was a sparrow, one was a black lizard if I remember right, one was a rabbit, and one was a parson-snail. The purpose of these decorations was to attract wild animals from all around to this garden, so it might appear a natural paradise.
Of course, the towers themselves were only miniatures, each around twenty feet high and just two feet wide, but they looked very pretty there, reflected in the water.
Another tower was hollow at the top, so when it rained, it would collect water. I designed it to function as a waterfall. The water slowly drained from the top of the tower into a raised pool which I had placed directly below it. From there, the water tumbled down to a second, larger pool, and from there it fell to the stream which wound through the garden.
I also started work nearby on a kind of pump which I planned to harness to a goat or a donkey. As the animal walked in circles, water would be lifted up to the top of the hollow tower, and then released down the waterfall, even when it was not raining. I did not manage to complete this machine, but the plans were very innovative nonetheless, and even to this day I have not seen another waterfall driven by such a method.
In the very centre of the garden, I had built a circular pool with an island in the middle. I connected the island with the rest of the garden by means of an arched bridge, covered in ruby-glass.
I built a large stone table on the island, with a flat top suitable for writing. On either side of the table, I set up two posts, with a rope mechanism slung between them. The rope and pulleys were fixed to a wooden platform upon which I had attached numerous tiles. On fine days, the platform rested on the ground near the table, but if it started to rain, I had only to pull on the ropes to lift the platform into the air, directly over the table, keeping me and my work quite dry, and allowing me to watch the gentle play of rain upon the waters.
Unfortunately, small insects and slugs would often shelter beneath the platform while it was on the ground, and when it was lifted over my head, I found the cost of protecting myself from a shower of rain was exposing myself to a shower of these crawling creatures—but this annoyance was a minor one.
Once I had built the table, I used to spend a good portion of my days there, planning and overseeing the construction of the rest of the ornamental garden, and working on other plans too.
For the next stage of the garden, I intended to beautify the land, adding many paths and bushes and flowers and trees. The paths were easy, and I built them from rocks and sand, fused together, and, like the bridge, studded with pieces of coloured glass.
The plants, though, posed more of a problem for me. You see, although I like to look at plants occasionally, I do not like to grow them. It is a slow and tedious process, and I am impatient by nature, for my mind is very alert. And anyway, plants are fickle, and often choose not to grow in my care. So I decided to find plants and trees that were already grown and to place them in my garden. In the meantime, I told the slaves to sprinkle some grass seed around, for grass grows very quickly, and it looks better than plain earth.
It was around this time a visitor came to see me. I was sitting at my table, working, when a voice said, “Are you Yreth?”
Well, I was used to being recognized by then, so I thought nothing of this and said, “Yes I am,” without even looking up.
Then the man said, “Honoured sir, I have been sent to bring you an offer of employment.”
I looked up then and saw a very strange fellow. He wore long white robes, and his hair was also long, and he wore a gold comb in his hair marked with a crest of some kind.
I said, “Who has sent you?”
He said, “I cannot say, but you will find out if you accept the offer.”
I said, “Ah, then it is some noble or other, for they often seek employees in this secretive way,” but the man neither agreed nor commented upon my speculation. Then I said, “What is the nature of the work?”
He said, “Again, I cannot say. However, you may rest assured it lies within your field of expertise.”
I said, “I have not seen you around the city. Is this work to be carried out here in Belpinian, or in some other place?”
He said, “In another place many days’ journey from here, but I cannot tell you where.”
“Very well, then, ” I said, “what is the pay?”
He said, “I cannot give precise details, but I am told to tell you it is more than you have ever received before for your work.”
Well, this pricked my curiosity, you may be sure. Still, it was all too secretive for my liking, and I feared the whole thing might be the work of my enemies, trying to trick me into an ambush. So I said, “I cannot possibly accept an offer of employment when the terms are so vague. Besides, I am busy with work at the moment. Come back to me in a month, and bring a sum of money with you representing one-tenth of my proposed fee. If the sum pleases me, I will leave with you and work for your mysterious master.”
The man agreed to my terms and left then.
Later, over dinner, I told Lophtha about my strange visitor and the offer that had been made to me. When I described what the man had been wearing, and particularly the gold comb in his hair, he gasped and said, “That is the costume of a courtier of the emperor. It sounds to me as if the emperor himself wishes to employ you.”
Lophtha’s wife agreed with this, and said that, in her home town of Pos Croythorn, which is not far from the Imperial City of Saskatoon, she had often seen courtiers dressed as I had described going to and fro on official business. She was afraid for my safety then, and said, “You should not have declined the offer so, for the emperor will be offended and may try to have you killed.”
I laughed at this, and said to her, “It is clear the emperor is very desperate for my building skills. If he kills me, my skills will be of little use to him. Besides, it is I who should be offended, for such a vague offer of employment should have had a little gold behind it in the first place—and I mean gold coins, not gold combs.”
Then Lophtha said I was right, and I was a very brave fellow to look at it so, because most people would have been so choked up with fear they would not put the facts into perspective as I had done.
Then he said, “Let us drink a toast to our intrepid and successful guest.” And Lophtha, his wife, his daughters and his son raised their glasses to me and drank in my honour.
I, for my part, resolved I would accept the emperor’s offer if the money seemed reasonable, and prepared to leave Belpinian in a month.
I knew there would not be time for me to finish my ornamental garden, but I determined to do what I could before I left the city, for I did not know if I would ever return.
In the next few days, I purchased a quantity of colourful fish and octopuses from a merchant who imported such rare things, and I had them poured into the water. Most of the fish died, unfortunately, and although the octopuses looked very elegant when they were swimming around, they had a habit of crawling out of the water onto the land, so I was finally obliged to kill them by stamping on them. Still, those fish that did survive gave a charming, natural feel to the blue waters.
I made several trips into the countryside around Belpinian, looking for attractive bushes and plants. I had the slaves dig up some of the good ones, and we brought them back to the city on a cart, then placed them at certain positions around the garden. One of the bushes was a mulberry bush. Another was a bush with blue-green leaves. Another had yellow flowers. Another had broad leaves and rounded purple flowers and attracted the butterflies and bees.
As for ground-flowers, I found that those growing in the country were too leafy for my tastes, with not enough blooms on them, so we did not dig up too many of those. Instead, I went about the town by night with a handcart, looking in people’s gardens f
or flowers of the most alluring and exquisite varieties. Whenever I saw some attractive plants, I pulled up a third of them, leaving enough so no injury was done and the missing plants would not be missed in any way. The next day, I had the slaves put the flowers in the rich beds I had set for them. They were few and far between at first, of course, but after a few weeks, my garden began to look very colourful.
I left the trees until the end, because I could not think how to dig one up. We tried digging up an oak, but we soon found the roots of an oak go very deep, and it really seemed to be more trouble than it was worth, applying all that work just to preserve a few roots that nobody would see in any case, once the tree was planted again.
Finally, as the month was drawing to a close, I had a better idea. I set out into the forest with my slaves and some axes, then I picked out some good trees and the slaves chopped them down. We brought them back to the town, laying them along two big carts I had borrowed. It was quite a sight, and all the city came out to watch.
When the trees were back at the ornamental garden, we dug holes in the ground wide enough to accommodate the trunks, and about ten feet in depth. Then, using ropes, we placed the tree trunks in the holes, padded them around with earth, and I fastened the trunks in place with several cross-bindings and a sheet binding.
I then told the slaves to pull on the ropes attached to the trees, and to try to topple them. They pulled as hard as they could, but the trees did not budge, for the bindings I had placed anchored them as firmly as any roots, and I knew they would hold the trees in place for as long as it took for new roots to grow.
We placed eight trees in all. Three were oaks, and the rest were great tall pine trees. They had been difficult to transport, but the end result was worth it, and my ornamental garden looked magnificent.
Finally, I put up a stone sign which said, “This ornamental garden is a gift from Yreth the stonemage to the generous people of Belpinian, given to them on the sole condition that I, Yreth, shall be allowed to work at the garden’s table whenever I desire, and that those in the garden will not make loud noises when I am working.”
Once the sign was in place, I ordered the slaves to remove the fence which had surrounded the garden until now. Soon afterwards, a great crowd was gathered there, staring in wonder at the beautiful wild place I had created in the heart of their city.
The next day was precisely one month after the man in the white robes had visited me. In the morning, I gave my farewells to Lophtha and his family, and I told them I would return to visit them again if I was able.
Lophtha asked me where he should send any future profits I had earned from my book. I replied he should not worry about that, and he might keep all the future profits if he wished, which was exceedingly generous of me when you think about it.
He was a gentleman, though, and he declined my offer, preferring instead to give me a sum of thirty arrans then and there, and promising, if my future profits exceeded that sum, he would search the ends of the earth in order to find me and give me my money.
Then I made my way to the ornamental garden, together with my pack, and I waited there for some hours, until, as promised, the man in the white robes returned. He laid before me a bag which looked to be full of coins. When I poured it out, though, I saw it contained not coins but jewels, and of the most delicate and valuable types. I guessed the value of this purse to be more than a thousand arrans, which meant, since this was only a tenth of the full payment, the total would be ten thousand, give or take. (You may calculate this for yourself if you use mathematics.)
I accepted the job on the spot, and within an hour I was walking along the road leading north and west from Belpinian.
A Sixth Section Of The Eleventh Part
In Which I Describe My Journey To The Imperial City Of Saskatoon And The Strange Employment I Found There
I cannot say this man in robes was good company. In fact, he was exceedingly tiresome. He did not speak as he walked, nor did he sing along with the many entertaining ditties I sang.
That evening, as we made a camp in a cave among some rocks, I grew a little tired of his silent ways. I said to him, “Talk to me, for frankly I find your hushed manner disturbing.”
He replied, “It is not my way to indulge in idle chatter.”
I said, “That may be so, but if you do not entertain me in some way, I swear I shall turn around and walk back to Belpinian, and you will then have to explain the matter to your master.”
He thought about this for a while, looking very displeased, and finally said, “Very well, then, what is it you wish me to talk about.”
I said, “If I am to tell you what to say, I might as well talk to myself. Talk about whatever you please.”
“May I tell stories?” he asked.
I said, “Yes, I like a good story.”
This man (he never told me his name and I did not ask it) started telling stories then and there. They were all stories about a holy man named Boh, who did not eat, did not fight, did not enjoy the company of women, and did not value wealth in any form. Whenever Boh was threatened by any dangerous thing, he would turn into a kind of vapour, so nothing could hurt him, and when the danger was gone he would turn back into a man again and continue his travels until the next danger.
These stories soon bored me, and when I had listened for a few hours and grasped the tiresome pattern of them, I finally told the man in the white robes that, if he wished, he could remain silent once more. He stopped telling his stories, and we did not talk further for the remainder of the journey, except for such comments as “Beware of that snake,” and “Give me that food there.”
We travelled for several days across flat, arid desert plains, and in my head I spent much time trying to imagine what sort of work the emperor wanted from me. I was certain it would be something very important, and supposed either a palace or a great tower, for this is usually what such powerful persons ask for. As you will see, though, I was far from the mark.
The desert gradually came to an end, and we entered a region of many small lakes. As we travelled over this flat terrain, the land became increasingly green and lush. In the distance, upon a low hill, I could now see a great walled city. I asked my companion if this city was our destination. He said it was.
Our road joined another, which ran along a great river, and we took this lovely riverside path towards the city. The setting was so pretty it literally filled me with hunger, and even though it was mid-morning and I had eaten a few hours earlier, I was compelled to sit down by the riverbank and eat another meal. I ate two meaty buns and drank a cup of weak wine, as I took my fill of the scenery. Of course, my miserable companion did not appreciate the delay and he paced and tutted the whole time.
When I was done my feast, we followed the road through the green lands, towards the fortified city. I saw other travellers upon the route, and, although they were far away, I could see many of them were wearing white robes, just like my dull companion. We reached the city gates half a day later, in the early evening.
I was awestruck at the tremendous height and thickness of the city walls. They towered two hundred feet above the ground, with wall towers extending that height by another hundred feet again in places. Even the gates seemed to have been built more for giants than men, for the arch of the gateway was at least eighty feet from the ground. The walls were made of strong fused stone, cast in brown and yellow. Also, there were thousands of arrow slits in the sides of the walls, and I could see myrmidons behind them.
Many other courtiers, also wearing white robes, were milling around the gate, chatting and laughing with each other. I greeted one or two of them and was surprised to receive a friendly response.
One said, “Ah, a new face! Welcome to the Imperial City of Saskatoon. You look as if you have had a tiring journey.”
I said, “It has been more dreary than tiring.”
Then he laughed a
nd said, “Don’t worry, for you will find entertainment enough in the city.”
This greeting made me happy at first, but then it made me cross at the emperor, for I realized not all of these men were of the same gloomy disposition as my guide, and I suspected the emperor had sent a mindless and slow-witted servant to fetch me, while many of the others, who might have made better travelling companions, remained here, gossiping at the gates.
In any case, I was led through the first set of gates and past a large, armoured gate house. Then we went through a second set of gates which were no less impressive than the first, and were sheeted in iron. Beyond this was an open strip, with hundreds of myrmidons standing guard on either side.
We were stopped here, and the commander of the myrmidons came to see who we were. He recognized my companion, though, and let us pass with no questions.
We crossed this area and went through a third set of gates, a little lower than the first two, but very formidable nevertheless, for the gates were studded with sharp black spikes and were set into walls that were also covered in spikes.
“One thing is certain,” I said to myself, “I have not been brought here to build fortifications, for no army in all the world could penetrate these defences.”
Within the three sets of walls stood the city itself, which, apart from its fortifications, was much like any other city you might come across, with a market and houses and people coming and going. They were not all dressed in the white robes of courtiers. In fact, most people just wore the ordinary clothes of the region, which is to say a tunic and duffs, plus sandals or pigeon boots.
We made our way to the centre of the city, where a great domed palace stood. When we entered the palace building, a long entrance hallway stretched out before us, lined with tall columns, and pilasters upon the walls. There must have been a hundred myrmidons lining the route, and at the far end were two great red doors.
The Ultimate Stonemage: A Modest Autobiography Page 24
