Epiphany of the Long Sun

by Gene Wolfe

  "Talked my way out, hey? Eloquent. No one speaks of me like that. Dull at the ambion, eh? What they say. I know, I know. Eloquent tonight, though. Swim or sink, and I did Pa-I did. Go between. Peacemaker. End rebellion. Used their glass to talk to Councillor Loris. Harmless, ump! Let him go. Bad feeling in the ranks, hey? Augurs shot, eh? A sibyl, too. The-um-missive. Lay clothing, as you, er, wise. Fearful still. Terribly frightened. Not, er, shamed by the accusation-admission. Still afraid, sitting in there sipping. Looking over my shoulder, hey? Afraid they'd come for me. Sprang up like a rabbit when a porter dropped something in the street."

  "I suppose that every man is frightened when his life is threatened. It's very much to Your-to your credit that you are willing to admit it."

  "You will-ah-assist me? If you can?"

  Oreb looked up from his fishing. "Watch out!"

  "I'm tired and very weak," Silk said, "but yes, I will. Will we have to walk far?"

  "Won't have to walk at all." His visitor thrust his hand beneath his cream-colored tunic. "I've, ah, informed you it wasn't me they wanted, eh? After old Quetzal, actually. The Prolocutor. His Cognizance. Signed the letter, hey?"

  Silk nodded.

  "They'd have shot him, eh? Earlier. Earlier. When they-ah-constrained me. That was then, hum? This is-er-the present instant. After midnight. Nearly one, eh? Nearly one. Late when they released me. I've said it? Suppertime-after suppertime, really. They know your-um-profession. Vocation, hey? Mint's a sibyl. You take my meaning?"

  "Of course," Silk said.

  His visitor produced an elegant ostrich-skin pen case. "On the other side, old Quetzal is, hey? Unmistakable. The letter shows it. And there is that-ah, um-other matter. Vocation, eh? Brigadier thinks he and I might arrange an-urp-hiatus in hostilities. A truce, hey? His word. Been one alread, eh? So why not?"

  Silk straightened up. "There has? That's wonderful!"

  "Little thing, eh? Few hundred involved. Didn't last. But an augur-see the connection? This augur, one of our-ah-of the Chapter's own, crossed the lines. One side to the other, eh? Got them to stop shooting so he could. Colonel's son, wounded. Nearly dead. This-ah-holy augur brought him the Pardon. So far so good? Rebels-ah-tendered an extension. Both sides, um, sweep up bodies. Claim their dead, hey? They did. So why not longer? Old Quetzal might do it. Respected by both sides. Man of peace. You follow me?"

  Silk nodded to himself.

  "If your, ah, supporters learn the brigadier sent me, eh? What then? Shoot, eh? Possibly. Very possibly. So I require some, um, document from you, Pa-From, ah, you. Signed," the visitor's voice faded to a whisper, "with your-ah-as the-um-your civil title."

  "I see. Certainly."

  "Capital!" He took a sheaf of paper from the pen case. "These, um, fanciful leathers are not-ah-conducive to penmanship. But the paper should help, hey? I'll hold the ink bottle for you. Brief, ah, inconsiderable. Concise. The, um, bearer, eh? Respect his-ah-um…"

  "No shoot," Oreb suggested.

  He handed Silk a quill. "Point suit you? Not too fine, eh? My prothonotary, Pa-Incus. You know him?"

  "I met him once when I was trying to see you."

  "Ah? Hm."

  The pen case braced on both knees, Silk dipped the quill.

  "He-ah-Incus. He points them for me. Had him do it, ah, Molpsday. Too fine, though. Hairsplitters. I shall rid myself of Incus, ah, presently. Could be dead this moment. 'Mongst the gods, eh? Haven't laid eyes on him for days. Gave him a-um-errand. Never came back. All this unrest."

  Bent above the paper, Silk hardly heard him.

  To General Mint, her officers and troopers.

  The bearer, Patera Rernora, is authorized by me and by…

  Silk looked up. "To whom did you speak? Who was this brigadier who released you?"

  "Brigadier, er, Erne. Signed for me, too, eh? His side."

  Brigadier Erne to negotiate a truce. Please show him every courtesy.

  The wavering tip of the quill stopped and began to blot; there seemed to be no more to say. Silk forced it to move on.

  If the whereabouts of His Cognizance the Prolocutor are known to you, please conduct the bearer to him in order that he may assist His Cognizance in conducting negotiations.

  Oreb dropped a struggling goldfish and pinned it with one foot. "No shoot," he repeated. "Man hide."

  I hold you responsible for the safety of the bearer, and that of His Cognizance. Both are to be permitted to pass unharmed. Their movements are not to be restricted in any fashion.

  A truce made and kept in good faith is greatly to be desired.

  I am Pa. Silk, of Sun Street, Caldé

  "Capital! Yes, capital, Pa-Thank you!"

  With his beak pointed to the glass roof, Oreb gulped down a morsel of goldfish and announced loudly, "Good man!"

  "There is a-um-dispenser in here someplace." The visitor retrieved his pen case and took out a silver shaker. "If you require sand, eh?"

  Silk shuddered, added the date, blew upon the paper, then spat congealing blood into the moss at his feet.

  "I thank you. I have-ah-so expressed myself, um, previously. I, er, recognize. I am, um, in your, ah, books, eh? Your debtor."

  Silk handed him the safe-conduct.

  "I, ah, surmise that I can stand now, er, walk. All the rest. Taken a bit dizzy there, eh? For an, er, momentarily." He climbed to his feet, holding tightly to the chain from which their seat was suspended. "I shall partake of an, er, morsel of food, I believe. An, um, collation. Much as I should like-ah-may be imprudent…"

  "I had a good supper," Silk told him, "and it might be dangerous for us to be seen together. I'll stay here."

  "I, um, consider it would be best myself." His visitor released the chain and smiled. "Better, hey? Be all right with a bite to eat. Too much wine. I-ah-concede it. More than I ought. Frightened, but the wine made it worse. To think that we, ump, we pay-" He fell silent. Slowly his smile widened to a death's-head rictus. "Hello, Silk," he said. "They made me find you."

  Silk nodded wearily. "Hello, Mucor."

  "It's smoky in here. All smoky."

  For a moment he did not understand what she meant.

  "Dark, Silk. Like falling down steps."

  "The fumes of the wine, I suppose. Who made you find me?"

  "The councillors will burn me again."

  "Torture, unless you do as they say?" Silk tried to keep the anger he felt out of his voice. "Do you know their names, these councillors who threaten to burn you?"

  The visitor's grinning head bobbed. "Loris. Tarsier. Potto. My father said not, but the soldier made him go."

  "I see. His Eminence-the man you're possessing-told me he'd talked with Councillor Loris through a glass. Is that why you possessed him when you were sent to look for me?"

  "I had to. They burned me like Musk."

  "Then you were right to obey, to keep from being burned again. I don't blame you at all."

  "We're going to kill you, Silk."

  Foliage beside the pool shook, spraying crystal droplets as warm as blood; a white-haired man stepped into view. In one hand be held a silver-banded cane with which he had parted the leaves. The other poised a saber, its slender blade pointed at the visitor's heart.

  "Don't!" Silk told him.

  "No stick," Oreb added with the air of one who clarifies a difficult situation.

  "You're Silk yourself, lad! You're him!"

  "I'm afraid I am. If you left your place of concealment to protect me, I would be somewhat safer if you didn't speak quite so loudly." Silk turned his attention back to the death-mask that had supplanted his visitor's face. "Mucor, how are you supposed to kill me? This man has Musk's needler now; he followed me here to return it to me, I imagine. Do you-does the man you're possessing have a weapon?"

  "I'll tell them, and they'll come."

  "I see. And if you won't, they'll burn you."

  The visitor's head bobbed again. "It brings me back. I can't stay gone when they burn me."

  "We
must get you out of there." Silk raised the ankle he had broken jumping from Hyacinth's window and rubbed it. "I've said you're like a devil-I told Doctor Crane that, I know. I thought it, too, when I saw the dead sleepers; I forgot that devils, who torment others, are themselves tormented."

  The saber inched forward. "Shall I kill him, lad?"

  "No. He's as good a chance for peace as our city has, and I doubt that killing him would ensure Mucor's silence. You can do no good here."

  "I can protect you, lad!"

  "Before I left you, I knew that I'd meet Hierax tonight." Silk's face was somber. "But there's no reason for you to die with me. If you've tracked me through half the city to return the needler I dropped, give it to me and go."

  "This, too!" He held out the silver-banded cane. "Lame, aren't you? Lame when we fought! Take it!" He threw the cane to Silk, then drew Musk's needler and tossed it into Silk's lap as well. "You're the Caldé, lad? The one they tell about?"

  "I suppose I am."

  "Auk told me! How'd I forget that? Gave your name! I didn't know until this augur said it. Councillors! Loris? Going to kill you?"

  "And Potto and Tarsier." Silk laid Musk's needler aside, thought better of it, and put it into his waistband. "I'm glad that you brought that up. I'd lost sight of it, and it strains probability. Mucor, do you have to return to Loris right away? I'd like you to do me a favor, if you can."

  "All right."

  "Thank you. First, did Councillor Loris tell you about the man you're possessing? Did he ask you to find him?"

  "I know him, Silk. He talks to the man who's not there."

  "To Pas, you mean. Yes, he does, I'm sure. But Loris told you. Did he say why?"

  The visitor's head shook. "I have to go soon."

  "Go to Maytera Mint first-to General Mint, they're the same person." Silk's forefinger traced a circle on his cheek. "Tell her where I am, and that they'll come here to kill me. Then tell Maytera Marble-"

  "Girl go," Oreb remarked.

  The corpse-grin was indeed fading. Silk sighed again and rose. "Sheath that sword, please. We've no need of it."

  "Possession? That's what you call this, lad?"

  "Yes. He'll come to himself in a moment."

  Silk's visitor caught hold of the chain to steady himself. "You proferred a comment, Pa-? I was taken, ah, vertiginous again, I fear. Please accept my-um-unreserved apology. This-ah-gentleman is…"

  "Master Xiphias. Master Xiphias teaches the sword, Your Eminence. Master Xiphias, this is His Eminence Patera Remora, Coadjutor of the Chapter."

  "Really, ah, Patera, you might be more circumspect, hey?"

  Silk shook his head. "We're past all that, I'm afraid, Your Eminence. You're in no danger. I doubt that you ever were. My own is already so great that it wouldn't be much greater if you and Master Xiphias were to run up to the first Guardsman you could find and declare that Caldé Silk was at Ermine's awaiting arrest."

  "Really! I-ah-"

  "You spoke to Councillor Loris, so you told me, through Brigadier Erne's glass."

  "Why, er, yes."

  "For a moment-while you were dizzy, Your Eminence-I thought that Loris might have told you where to find me; that a certain person in the household he's visiting had told him that I might be here, or had confided in someone else who did. It could have come about quite innocently-but it can't be true, since Loris sent someone to you in order to locate me. Clearly the information traveled the other way: you knew that I might come here tonight. I doubt that you actually told Loris that you knew where to find me; you couldn't have been that certain I'd be here. You said something that led him to think you knew, however. In his place, I'd have ordered Brigadier Erne to have you followed. Thanks to some careless remarks of mine Tarsday, he didn't need to. Will you tell me-quickly, please-how you got your information?"

  "I swear-warrant you, Patera-"

  "We'll have to talk about it later." Silk stood up less steadily than Remora had, leaning on the silver-banded cane. "A moment ago I told Master Xiphias not to kill you; I'm not certain it would have been wrong for me to have told him to go ahead, but I don't have time for questions-we must go before the Guard gets here. You, Master Xiphias, must return home. You're a fine swordsman, but you can't possibly protect me from a squad of troopers with slug guns. You, Your Eminence, must go to Maytera Mint. Don't bother filling your belly. If-"

  "Girl come!" Oreb flew to Silk's shoulder, fluttered his wings, and added, "Come quick!"

  For a wasted second, Silk stared at Remora, searching for signs of Mucor in his face. Hyacinth was in sight before he heard the rapid pattering of her bare feet on the path of false gems and saw her, mouth open and dark eyes bright with tears above the rosy confusion of a gossamer dishabille, her hair a midnight cloud behind her as she ran.

  She stopped. It was as if the sight of him had suspended her in amber. "You're here! You're really here!"

  By Thelxiepeia's spell she was in his arms, suffocating him with kisses. "I didn't-I knew you couldn't come, but I had to. Had to, or I'd never know. I'd always think-"

  He kissed her, clumsy but unembarrassed, trying to say by his kiss that he, too, had been forced by something in himself stronger than himself.

  The pool and the miniature vale that contained it, always dark, grew darker still. Looking up after countless kisses, he saw idling fish of mottled gold and silver, black, white, and red, hanging in air above the goddess's upraised hand, and for the first time noticed light streaming from a lamp of silver filigree in the branches of a stunted tree. "Where did they go?" he asked.

  "Was-somebody-else here?" She gasped for breath and smiled, giving him sweeter pain than he had ever known.

  "His Eminence and a fencing master." Silk felt that he should look around him, but would not take his eyes from hers.

  "They must have done the polite thing," she kissed him again, "and left quietly."

  He nodded, unable to speak.

  "So should we. I've got a room here. Did I tell you?"

  He shook his head.

  "A suite, really. They're all suites, but they call them rooms. It's a game they play, being simple, pretending to be a country inn." She sank to her knees with a dancer's grace, her hand still upon his arm. "Will you kneel by the pool here with me? I want to look at myself, and I want to look at you, too, at the same time." Abruptly. the tears overflowed. "I want to look at us."

  He knelt beside her.

  "I knew you couldn't come," a tear fell. creating a tiny ripple, "so I have to see us both. See you beside me."

  As in the ball court (though perhaps only because he had experienced it there) it seemed that he stood outside time.

  And when they breathed again and turned to kiss, it seemed to him that their reflections remained as they had been in the quiet water of the pool, invisible but forever present. "We-I have to go," he told her. It had taken an enormous effort to say it. "They know I'm here, or they soon will if they don't already. They'll send troopers to kill me, and if you're with me, they'll kill you, too."

  She laughed, and her soft laughter was sweeter than any music. "Do you know what I went through to get here? What Blood will do to me if he finds out I took a floater? By the time I got onto the hill, past the checkpoints and sentries-Are you sick? You don't look at all well."

  "I'm only tired." Silk sat back on his heels. "When I thought about having to run again, I felt… It will pass." He believed it as soon as he had said it, himself persuaded by the effort he had made to compel her belief.

  She rose, and gave him her hand. "By the time I got to Ermine's, I thought I'd been abram to come at all, drowning in a glass of water. I didn't even look in here," happy again, she smiled, "because I didn't want to see there wasn't anyone waiting. I didn't want to be reminded of what a putt I'd been. I got my room and started getting ready for bed, and then I thought-I thought-"

  He embraced her; from a perch over the filigree lamp, Oreb croaked, "Poor Silk!"

  "What if he's there?
What if he's really down there, and I'm up here? I'd unpinned my hair and taken off my makeup, but I dived down the stairs and ran through the sellaria, and you were here, and it's only a dream but it's the best dream that ever was."

  He coughed. This time the blood was fresh and red. He turned aside and spat it into a bush with lavender flowers and emerald leaves and felt himself falling, unable to stop.

  He lay on moss beside the pool. She was gone; but their reflections remained in the water, fixed forever.

  When he opened his eyes again, she was back with an old man whose name he had forgotten, the waiter who had offered him wine in the sellaria, the one who had told him of Remora, the footman who had opened the door, and others. They rolled him onto something and picked him up, so that he seemed to float somewhere below the level of their waists, looking up at the belly of the vast dark thing that had come between the bright skylands and the glass roof. His hand found hers. She smiled down at him and he smiled too, so that they journeyed together, as they had on the deadcoach in his dream, in the companionable silence of two who have overcome obstacles to be together, and have no need of noisy words, but rest-each in the other.

  Chapter 8

  Peace

  Maytera Marble smiled to herself, lifting her head and cocking it to the right. Her sheets were clean at last, and so was everything else-Maytera Mint's things, a workskirt that had been badly soiled at the knees, and the smelly cottons she had dropped into the hamper before dying.

  After strenuous pumping, she rinsed them in the sink and wrung them out. Her dipper transferred most of the sink water to the wash boiler before she took out the old wooden stopper and let the rest drain away; when it had cooled, the water in the wash boiler could be given to her suffering garden.

  With her clever new fingers, she scooped the white bull's congealing fat from the saucepan. A rag served for a strainer; a chipped cup received the semiliquid grease. Wiping her hands on another rag, she considered the tasks that still confronted her: grease the folding steps first, or hang out this wash?