The Stranger's Magic: The Labyrinths of Echo: Book Three

by Max Frei

  “Well, I’m still worried,” said Melifaro. “Very worried, in fact.”

  “Stuff it, mister,” I said.

  “Oh, I’d love to,” said Melifaro, “but there’s nothing in this sinning tavern to stuff it with. Would you mind if I performed this barbarian ritual some other time?”

  “Permission granted,” I said. “I’m in a very good mood today.”

  The sisters were still examining me. I thought they looked a little more relaxed now, however. I should’ve had this conversation a few dozen days sooner, I thought. I have a nasty habit of putting off forever what I should’ve done a hundred years ago.

  “Okay. Now let’s move on to the introductions,” I said to the sisters. “I’m going to try to tell you apart, if I can.”

  “I’m Xeilax,” said the girl in the bright-yellow looxi. “This is Xelvi,” she said, pointing at the giggly sister who had liked my proposition to call them nieces. Then she put her hand on the shoulder of the third sister and said, “And she’s Kenlex.”

  Kenlex was the one dressed in a strict black-and-white outfit. She gave me a sudden heavy, piercing look, sending shivers down my spine. Up until that point, I’d thought she was the harmless goodygoody, the meekest of the three. Then again, I’m such a poor judge of character.

  “Okay, let’s hope I won’t mix you up next time. Now I really must go back to work. Kurush would peck out my eyes if I stayed another minute here, and he would be absolutely right to do so.” I gulped the rest of my kamra and got up. “Good night, everyone.”

  “Take care, buddy,” said Melifaro. “Don’t get into trouble, and if you do, take my favorite looxi off first.”

  “Aw, I kind of already set my heart on rolling in the nearest puddle,” I said. “What am I supposed to do now? Change my plans because of your whining? Tough luck, mister.”

  I returned to the House by the Bridge in a superb mood. A good dinner combined with the satisfaction of my “conjugal visit” had affected me in a most invigorating manner. I brought Kurush a dozen pastries. It was clear he’d never eat that many, but in this respect, he and I adhered to the same principle: the more the better.

  It turned out I wasn’t terribly late. Kurush mumbled something about how it was typical for people to say they were going to step out for just a minute and then come back two hours later. I thought I’d been gone for much longer. It didn’t matter anyway because nothing had happened while I’d been out. Which was typical: in this wonderful World, bad things prefer to happen precisely when I’m in.

  It didn’t seem as though bad things were going to happen today, however. For about an hour and a half, Kurush and I loafed around peacefully. I browsed through yesterday’s Royal Voice, and the buriwok ate his pastry. Then I wiped the cream off his beak. Finally Kurush puffed up his feathers and fell asleep. Around midnight, one of the junior staff members of the Headquarters poked his head into the office.

  “A visitor for you, Sir Max,” he said.

  “Let me guess: short, plump, and very brazen?” I thought it must have been Anday Pu, still shocked about the loss of his grandfather’s chest. I was sure that his imagination was running wild, coming up with new hypothetical “treasures” that had once been unfairly neglected and were now suddenly gone from his life.

  “On the contrary, Sir Max. The visitor is tall, thin, and very polite. He’s dressed like an Echoer, but he has a beard down to his waist and braided hair. He also has a Tasherian accent.”

  “Heh,” I said. “When I’m wrong, I can’t be more wrong. Well, if he really has a beard that long, show him in. I can’t miss a show like that.”

  The courier nodded, embarrassed, and left. My jokes have the tendency to befuddle and confuse our junior staff, and I’m still trying to be more democratic with them.

  A tall bearded man in a dark looxi stood in the doorway.

  “Captain Giatta!” I said. “Of course! I should’ve guessed it was you.”

  This captain from Tasher had been hanging out in Echo for almost two years, and frankly, it was my fault. I had once saved his life. It was almost an accident: back then I hadn’t known what I was doing or why. Captain Giatta, however, took my actions very seriously, however: he had taken it into his head that he must pay me back with something worthy of my feat. As I had never gotten around to coming up with a task for him, he’d had to stay in Echo. He still hoped that sooner or later I’d need his help. I had almost forgotten about his “eternal debt” to me—too many things had happened since then. I’d been through numerous troubles, but they’d required the help of specialists in completely different fields.

  “Am I interrupting something, Sir Max?” said Giatta.

  “No, of course not. Has something happened?” I said.

  “If you mean to ask whether something bad has happened, then no, nothing of that sort,” he said, sitting on the edge of the armchair. “I just came to say goodbye.”

  “Good,” I said. “I told you I didn’t need anything from you. I’m sure you have been missed at home.”

  “You’ve misinterpreted my words, Sir Max,” said the captain. “I still hope to pay you back for saving my life someday. I’m not going home. I’m just going on a sea voyage.”

  “That’s excellent,” I said. “Where are you going?”

  “Frankly, I’m not quite sure myself. The captain of the karuna that hired me hasn’t yet told us where we’re going. He says, though, that the voyage shouldn’t take more than a year. I came to tell you that no later than a year from now I will be at your service again at any time.”

  “Hold that thought, Giatta,” I said. “I don’t get it. What captain? Who hired you? You’re a captain yourself. Plus, as far as I know, you have your own ship. The entire staff of the Minor Secret Investigative Force went to admire your Old Maid when you arrived in Echo. Has anything happened to it?”

  “No, the Old Maid is all right, praise be the heavens,” said the Tasherian. He looked perplexed. It seemed he’d just remembered his ship and was happy with his rediscovery.

  “Okay, I’m confused,” I said. “I think we need a large pitcher of kamra to get to the bottom of this. Or would you like something stronger, Giatta?”

  “I think I would,” he said.

  “Something stronger it is then,” I said and sent a call to the Glutton Bunba. I had been going to do it anyway.

  “Spit it out,” I said, when my desk was crowded with empty dishes. “Because I just don’t get it. Instead of going on your own ship, you’re hired by some other captain who didn’t even bother to tell you where he was going. Is he an old friend?”

  “No,” said the Tasherian, staring at the ceiling as though he were trying to read the answer there. “Until this morning, I had never heard of him.”

  “Why then? Is the pay good?”

  “Probably . . . I didn’t ask.” Captain Giatta looked like he had just woken up.

  “Well, I’ll be,” I said, shaking my head. “Now I’m beginning to understand how you ended up working for that scoundrel merchant Agon. I’m sorry, Giatta, but is this how you usually get hired?”

  “No. You probably won’t believe me, but I’m actually a very cautious man,” he said. “I understand you must have a different impression, but when Mr. Agon offered to hire me, I found out every possible detail of the journey and then spent a few days pondering it. I was actually going to decline because I thought he’d been holding something back. I think that was why he put his blasted enchanted belt on me.”

  “I’d love to believe that,” I said. “But your latest venture has surpassed all my notions of human carelessness. All my notions, mind you. Did your new acquaintance put something on you, too?”

  “No, no. Nothing of the sort. After the last time, I made a vow not to accept gifts from people I don’t know well. The odd part is that I wasn’t really looking for a job. I get a good salary at the Customs Service: I transfer large shipments of confiscated goods to warehouses outside town. My Old Maid is excellent f
or this kind of job. It’s a spacious and fairly lightweight banf. I even hired a few people to help me. You have to have other people helping you on a ship even for such short trips. I signed contracts with them until the end of this year. If I leave my job now and go on that voyage, they’ll sue me. What was I thinking?”

  Captain Giatta gulped down a glass of Jubatic Juice that I had ordered for him and drew a deep sigh. He looked like he had just woken up after an unhealthy midday nap in a poorly ventilated room.

  “I take it you’ve changed your mind about leaving now,” I said. “I’m very keen on getting into all sorts of risky ventures, but you’ve clearly outdone me here.”

  “Thank goodness I was smart enough to remember my debt and come here to say goodbye to you,” said the captain. He took a few more sips from his glass and shook his head. “What was it? It’s like a spell. I saw that captain, listened to him telling me about this upcoming ‘great voyage,’ and got as excited as a kid. I completely lost track of everything. Now I realize I was prepared to go with him to the ends of the earth as a regular sailor if he’d called me.”

  “Really?” I said. “Talk about charisma.”

  “I beg your pardon?” The Tasherian blinked.

  “Oh, I’m always talking nonsense. Sorry. I just meant that the fellow has an uncanny way of charming others and wrapping them around his little finger.”

  “I guess you’re right,” said Giatta, wiping his forehead. “You can’t imagine how strong was my sudden urge to go on that accursed voyage! I completely lost my head. I’m so thankful that you started to ask me questions and made me remember so many details. I think I should go home, sleep two dozen hours, and not stick my head out until his Tobindona weighs anchor.”

  “Tobindona?” I said. “Strange name. Is it a woman’s name?”

  “No, it’s some kind of exotic plant,” said the captain.

  “A plant you say? Oh, well, to Magicians with that plant. I just repeated the name so as not to forget it. Maybe everything’s all right, and you just met a great guy with a great gift of persuasion, and grabbed your first opportunity to get out because you’ve stayed here too long. That’s not impossible. Yet I want to make sure you weren’t the victim of some spell because spells are my specialty. I would be sad if I missed my chance to meet this guy. When did you say he was about to set off?”

  “He told us to arrive tomorrow at dusk,” said Giatta, “and I think he’s casting off an hour after that.”

  “Wait, there were other takers besides yourself, then?”

  “Of course. About two dozen more people listened to his speech, and all of them were willing to be employed on the Tobindona.”

  “All of them? Well, well. And how did you meet him?”

  “There’s a little square in the Port Quarter. It doesn’t even have a name, or perhaps it was forgotten long ago since nobody needs it—everyone knows the place. Sailors come there looking for a job, captains looking for a crew, and plain bored old geezers come there to chat with their younger colleagues. You know how it is.”

  “More or less.”

  “Well, I came because I wanted to hire help for the coming year. It’s been too much work for me to handle alone recently, so I was looking for a sailor who’d stand in for me on the Old Maid. I saw a group of people gathered around some gentleman, so I approached them to listen to what they were talking about. I ended up signing on to his crew, instead of . . .” Captain Giatta made a helpless gesture and fell silent.

  “Okay, put it out of your mind,” I said. “If you had come to your senses somewhere around Tuto Islands, despair would have been in order. What’s your brilliant orator’s name again?”

  “I don’t know. I didn’t even ask him.” Captain Giatta was no longer surprised at his own absentmindedness. I think he was beginning to get mad, although I wasn’t sure at whom. Not at me, I hoped.

  “Captain, go home and get some sleep,” I said. “All’s well that ends well. And you know what? I don’t think you should venture out tomorrow. Just to be on the safe side. What if that was a spell? Wait until the Tobindona casts off—did I get that name right?”

  “You did.”

  “Good. So you are supposed to meet tomorrow at dusk. Where exactly? The port is a large place,” I said.

  “At the end of the Main Pier of the Right Bank. That’s where the Tobindona is docked,” said Giatta.

  “Thank you, Giatta. I think I’ll find it. Well, good night, and don’t hesitate to send me a call if your plans suddenly change once again. It’s not a good idea to fight spells alone. I know this from personal experience.”

  Captain Giatta went home, and I fell into deep thought. At first I thought I should go to the port right away and get to the bottom of this Tobindona case, but soon I realized that wasn’t the best idea. I doubted I was capable of finding anything quickly in the dark alleyways and nooks of the Capital’s port. Worse, I could get lost there. I couldn’t tell a karuna from a banf, and I knew next to nothing about anything that had to do with the sea or navigation. True, I thought, that might not be necessary in this case, but . . . Exactly: but.

  If I wanted to go to the port, I needed help from Sir Kofa, or even Melifaro. Besides, I should probably discuss it first with Juffin, who had pleaded with me not to disturb him until noon. Well, at least I had time—not until noon but until breakfast time tomorrow.

  I spent the rest of my energy on a feat of a different kind: I called in a courier and demanded that he clean off my desk. To my surprise, the fellow managed this impossible task in almost no time—did he use magic?—and left the office without making a sound. I moved another armchair next to the one I was sitting in, put my legs up on it, and dozed off. Melifaro’s warm looxi, which I had forgotten to take off and change for my Mantle of Death, served as a great blanket, its horrific turquoise color notwithstanding.

  It was still dark when Sir Kofa woke me up.

  “If you like sleeping so much, you can do it at home,” he said. “I need to think, so scram.”

  Of course I didn’t have the guts to tell him about Captain Giatta: the word “later” sounds so tempting an hour before dawn. I was so sleepy that I just muttered a thank-you and dragged myself over to a company amobiler, much to the driver’s shock: he had never seen me leave Headquarters in the back seat of an amobiler. Usually I try to grab the lever myself no matter what condition I’m in. Today, though, I was really out of shape.

  On top of that, the driver unloaded me by my house on the Street of Yellow Stones. Half awake, I realized what had happened only after the amobiler had disappeared around the corner. I wasn’t going to submit to fate. Struggling to keep my eyes open, I walked to Tekki’s place. Praise be the Magicians, the Armstrong & Ella was just a few blocks away. For someone who’s half asleep, though, walking a short distance feels like traveling half the globe.

  Good grief, I thought as I opened the bedroom door, I’m being so childish. What difference does it make where I crash? But as soon as I got into bed and pulled the few remaining inches of warm blanket over myself (Tekki had grabbed the rest of the furry cover), I realized there was a difference after all.

  Once in bed, I couldn’t go to sleep. I started thinking about my most recent conversation with Tekki. She couldn’t leave Echo—this was bad news. I had been planning to ask Juffin for a vacation so I could go to Kettari and, of course, take Tekki along with me. I desperately wanted to go back and walk with Tekki through that wonderful place, whose magnificent bridges, empty gardens, and narrow embankments had once made me lose my head. I also had hoped that we’d be able to return to the small nameless town in the mountains that had once been part of my dreams and then became a real place on the edge of the newborn World, a place quite suitable for living. If the words of Mackie Ainti, the old sheriff of Kettari, were to be trusted, I had been solely responsible for that miracle. If only I knew how I’d pulled it off. Until today, I had been positive that I would invite Tekki to go on that trip with me some day,
and then—boom!

  Maybe I’ll be able to share my dream with her, I thought. Once Sir Shurf Lonli-Lokli and I had managed to stroll through my favorite dreams together just by putting our heads on the same pillow. Granted, it was Shurf who was doing the magic—I’d never tried this trick myself. On the other hand, I could sometimes pull off things that I thought I’d never be capable of pulling off. Why not try it now? What if it works? It’s an unorthodox way of asking your girlfriend out, sure, but then again, it’s me we’re talking about.

  I laid my head on Tekki’s pillow. A silver lock of her hair tickled my ear, and I gently pushed it away. I suppressed the desire to bite the sweet lobe of her ear, relaxed, yawned, and closed my eyes. I took a deep breath, smelling the honey aroma of her hair, and fell asleep.

  Sometimes it’s as easy as pie to fall into another adventure.

  I dreamed I was walking up the gentle slope of a hill. It was hot. Too hot for my taste. Short dry grass, faded in the sun, crackled under my feet. It was hard to walk. After taking a few steps, I noticed the slope wasn’t so gentle after all. And yet I kept trudging upward, not knowing how I had suddenly become so adept at mountain climbing.

  Now I was on the top of the hill. I wiped off the sweat that covered my face and looked around. From here, a magnificent view opened up onto a nondescript valley among the gentle outlines of hills. Searing heat and shades of golden yellow ruled the landscape here. Dry grass rustled in the hot wind. This was the only vegetation: there were no trees, no bushes, no water, no houses—only the motionless ocean of sunburned grass under a shimmering white sky, with no sun or suns that I could discern.

  “You like it here, Max?” The voice came from behind me.

  It this hadn’t been a dream, I definitely would have jumped three feet in the air and maybe even screamed. But in my dreams, I’m as calm as a boa constrictor. I didn’t even turn around. I couldn’t take my eyes off the enchanting golden folds of this strange landscape. I answered without bothering to learn who was talking to me. “I’m not sure. This doesn’t feel like my dream.”