by Gene Wolfe
"I know what it's worth, and how effective a weapon it can be in a strong hand like yours. At the moment, I don't have one, though that's the least of my reasons for refusing."
Silk settled back in his chair. "I asked your daughter to sit down, and she was good enough to oblige me. I can't invite you to sit in your house, and I'm very aware that I'm occupying your former seat; but there are many others."
Blood sat.
"Thank you. Maytera-"
"Cat come!"
It did, almost before Oreb's agitated whoop, springing lightly over the windowsill to land noiselessly in the middle of the room and glare at Blood with eyes like burning amber. Maytera Marble gathered her skirts as if it were a mouse; Silk asked, "Is that Lion? I seem to remember him."
The lynx turned its glare on him and nodded.
"Patera's been making everybody sit," Maytera Marble told Mucor. "It would be nicer if you had your big kitty sit too, Darling. I wouldn't mind him so much then."
Lion lay down obediently, dividing his attention between Blood and Oreb.
"Sphigx bless you." Maytera Marble traced the sign of addition. "I-it's rather amusing now that I come to think of it, the sort of thing the children enjoy. Patera thought I wanted this window open so your Papa could come in, and I said, no, I hadn't even thought of it, which was the plain truth. I wanted it opened because you told me the first time, Darling, not to stay in rooms with the doors and windows shut, because you might have to drop in again, and that would make it harder. So I was happy when he opened this one, and now you've come in through it, and your long-legged kitty, too."
"I didn't know she could take over an animal like that." Blood had his thumb on the demon. "We didn't know she had any power left till Lemur taped the Caldé talking to Crane, but it sounds like she's been paying visits to both of you."
"Sneaking outside the window, Bloody? You shouldn't do that."
"I didn't."
"A listening device." Silk sighed. "I'm disappointed. I'd thought there might be a secret door behind one of these big paintings. When I was a sprat, boys' books were full of them, but I've never actually seen one."
"You knew I'd come?"
"I surmised you might. Do you want the entire thing?"
Maytera Marble sniffed loudly. "I do, Patera."
"I wish you wouldn't make that noise," he told her.
"Then I won't, or at least not very often. But Bloody's my son, and I meant I have a right to know."
"All right, the entire thing." Silk leaned back in his chair, eyes half closed. "On Hieraxday, I walked some distance through the city with His Cognizance, and from the East Edge to Ermine's; it was about evenly divided between Maytera Mint's insurgents and the Guard. I slept at Ermine's for a few hours, as I told you; when I woke up, half the Guard seemed to have gone over to Maytera Mint."
Maytera Marble said, "All of it but the Second, I'm told."
"Good. Before I was brought here, I was in the tunnels or in the cellar, so I didn't see much; but there were councillors here. It seemed likely they were directing their forces in person, and I didn't think they'd do that unless the situation was critical. Then too, you told me you'd walked out here with the children and mentioned a general from Trivigaunte-"
"General Saba. A very good woman at heart, from what I saw of her, though quite large and rather prone to obstinacy."
"I assume it was her airship that attacked us when His Cognizance and I were riding in Oosik's floater."
"Her airship's been over the city, certainly. It's been shooting and dropping explosives. It's huge."
"Your Doctor Crane was a spy from Trivigaunte," Silk told Blood. "You must know that by now. He told me once, joking, that if I were in need of rescue all I'd have to do was kill him. He had a device in his chest that let others find him and told them whether his heart was beating. He was shot Rieraxday morning, due to a misunderstanding. I imagine the attack on us resulted from a similar mix-up-the Trivigauntis had been told the Guard was opposing us. When they saw a Guard floater surrounded by officers on horseback, they attacked it."
"I don't see what this has to do with me," Blood grunted.
"It has everything to do with you," Silk told him, "and I was right about it, too-the only thing I've been completely right about. You were fighting in a losing cause; this house was about to be destroyed, and you might easily be wounded or killed. You knew about the tunnels, and no doubt you've been down there. So have I, as I've said-more than I like. I couldn't imagine your leaving this house in flames and trudging off underground unless there were no alternative."
"I worked shaggy hard to get this place."
"Don't swear, Bloody. It doesn't become you."
"I did! Your kind thinks it's easy. One wrong move and you're packed for Mainframe, day after day, and nobody to help me I could trust till I found Musk, nobody at all. It'd kill both of you in a week. Shag yes, it would! Twelve years I did it before I ever took my first crap in this place."
"Bloody!"
"It's only a guess," Silk admitted, "and I can't pretend an intimate familiarity with your mental processes; but I'd imagine you've been looking for an opportunity to change sides since sometime last night."
"What's the shaggy Ayuntamiento ever done for me? Worked me for payoffs and favors every month. Shut me down to make themselves look good. What the shag do I owe them?"
"I've no idea. Then-about an hour ago, perhaps-your mother entered the picture, ostensibly and no doubt principally to help me, but clearly with influence on the other side and eager to save you as well. So when I realized Maytera wanted us to stay in this room, I expected you to step from behind a picture." Silk smiled and shrugged apologetically.
Mucor surprised them all by asking, "Would you like me to see what they're doing?"
"I'd rather have you eat something," Silk told her, "but I don't suppose there's anything in here. Go ahead, if Lion will behave himself."
He waited for her reply, but none came.
"Girl go." Oreb's croak was scarcely audible. "No here." Lion stretched himself on the floor and closed his eyes.
"Actually, I was surprised you didn't come sooner," Silk told Blood conversationally, "but of course you had to fetch Mucor and get her dressed-perhaps even clean her up a bit with the help of one of your maids, and I hadn't allowed for that. The point that puzzles me is that Mucor seems to have felt it necessary to send Lion ahead of her."
"Did she?" Blood eyed his adopted daughter curiously.
"So it seems. Oreb-my bird, up there-must have glimpsed him or, more likely heard him, because he told us several times that there was a cat about."
"She probably didn't realize that the soldiers wouldn't be afraid of him," Maytera Marble suggested.
"Bad cat," Oreb muttered.
"Not too loud," Silk cautioned him, "he might hear you."
"It was nice of you to join us, Bloody." Maytera Marble smoothed her skirt. "It's to your advantage, no doubt, just as Patera says. But you're taking a big risk just the same."
Blood stood. "I know it. You don't think much of me, do you, Caldé?"
"I think a great deal of your shrewdness," Silk told him. "I'd be glad to have your cunning mind on our side. I'm aware that you have no morals."
"Colonel Oosik," Blood gestured with the azoth. "He's your man, from what I've heard. This General Saba's there for the Rani, Colonel Oosik for you."
"Generalissimo Oosik."
Blood snorted. "You trust him and you won't trust me, but I've had him in my pocket for years."
Maytera Marble said, "Sit down, Bloody. Or are you going to do something?"
"I want a drink, but since the Caldé doesn't want it, I think I'll hang onto my azoth as long as that cat's in here. Will you fix me one, Mama?"
"Certainly." She rose. "A little more gin, I imagine?"
Silk began, "If it's not too much trouble, Maytera-"
"And ice. There's ice behind the big doors underneath."
"I'll b
e happy to. Brandy, or-" she examined bottles. "Here's a nice red wine, Patera."
"Just water and ice, please. The same for Mucor, I think."
Blood shook his head. "No ice, Mama. She'll throw it. Believe me, I know."
"Poor bird!"
"A cup of plain water for Oreb, if you would, Maytera. I believe he'll come down to drink it if you leave it on top of the cabinet."
"Plain water for Oreb." Revealing two fingers' width of silvery leg as she stood on tiptoe, she put a brimming tumbler on the cabinet. "Soda water and ice for Patera, and ice, gin. and soda water for you, Bloody. Soda water without ice for my granddaughter. It's nice and cool, though." As she placed the final tumbler before Mucor, she added, "I must say she doesn't look as if you've been taking good care of her."
Blood picked up his drink. "We've got to force-feed her, mostly, and she tears off her clothes."
"Who was her mother?" Silk asked.
"She never had one." Blood sipped his drink and eyed it with disfavor. "You know about frozen embryos? You can buy them now and then if you want them, but you don't always get what you paid for."
Recalling dots of rotting flesh, Silk shuddered.
"The old Caldé, Tussah his name was, was supposed to have done it. That leaked out after he died. So I decided to give it a try. Buy myself an embryo with spooky powers. I got one of the girls to carry it."
"And you were actually able to purchase such a thing? An embryo that would develop into someone with Mucor's powers?"
Blood nodded unhappily. "Like I said, you don't always get what you pay for, but I was careful and I did. She's got the stuff, but she's crazy. Always has been."
"You engaged a specialist to operate on her brain."
"Sure, trying to cure her, only it didn't work. If it had, I'd be Caldé."
"She's been my friend," Silk told him, "a difficult one, perhaps, but helpful just the same. She likes me, I believe, and the good god knows I'd like to help her in return."
Oreb caught at the phrase. "Good god?"
"The Outsider, I ought to have said."
Mucor herself said, "They're arguing about you." Her voice sounded faint and far away; the tumbler Maytera Marble had filled for her waited untouched on the low table before her.
Silk sipped from his own, careful not to drink too much too fast. "Men and women breed children from their bodies on impulse. We augurs rail against it; but although inexcusable, it is at least understandable. They are swept away by the emotions of the moment; and if they weren't, perhaps the whole whorl would stand empty. Adoption, on the other hand, is a considered act, consummated only with the assistance of an advocate and a judge. Thus an adoptive parent cannot say, 'I didn't know what I was doing,' or 'I didn't think it would happen.' Worthless though those protestations are, he has no claim to them."
"You think I knew she'd turn out like this? She was a baby." Blood glared at his daughter. "I'm twice your age, Patera, maybe more. When you're as old as I am, maybe you'll have a few little things that you regret too."
"There are many already."
"You think there are. Women, you mean. My. Oh shag it, what's the use?" Blood set his drink aside and wiped his damp left hand on his thigh. "I don't care much for them. Neither would you, if you'd been in my business as long as I have. I started when I was seven or eight, just a dirty little sprat going up to men in the market. Anyhow, Mucor's the only child I'll ever have, probably."
Maytera Marble told him, "She's the only granddaughter I'll ever have, too, Bloody. If you won't take proper care of her, I will."
Blood looked angrier than ever. "Like you did me?"
"It would be better if we kept our voices down," Silk said. "You're not supposed to be here."
"I wish I wasn't." A smile twisted Blood's mouth. "That would be the elephant, wouldn't it? Shot for trying to pick up a couple bits down at the market. Hey, Patera, you want to meet my sister? She'll give you some hot mutton."
"Bloody, don't!"
"It's pretty late to tell me that, Mama. Or don't you think so?"
Without waiting for an answer, he turned to Silk. "I'm going to outline a deal. If you take it, I'm in, and I'll do everything I can to get you out of here in one piece."
Silk opened his mouth to speak.
"When I say you, that's you and the other augur, the old man, Mama here, and that big piece from Orchid's. Even your bird. All of you. All right?"
"Certainly."
"If you don't take it, I'm out the window, understand? No hard feelings, but no deal either."
"You could be shot going out the window, too, Bloody," Maytera Marble warned him. "I'm surprised that you weren't, you and my granddaughter, before you got back inside."
Blood shook his head. "There's a truce, remember? And I'll stick the azoth back under my tunic. They aren't going to shoot an unarmed man and a girl that never even come close to the wall."
"As good as a secret passage." Maytera Marble's eyes gleamed with amusement.
"Right, it is." Blood went to the window. "Now here's what I say, Caldé. I'll come over to you and Mint, gun, goat, and gut, and try to see to it that all of us get clear. When we do, I'll sign over your manteion to you for one card and other considerations, as we say, and you can owe me the card."
He waited for Silk to speak, but Silk said nothing.
"After we get out, I'm still your bucky. I've done plenty of favors for the Ayuntamiento, see? I can help you too, and I will, everything that I can. I've got Mucor, remember," Blood nodded toward her, "and I know what she can do now. Lemur's crowd never got anything half as good as that."
Silk sipped from his tumbler.
"More talk," Oreb muttered; it was not clear whether it was a suggestion or a complaint.
"Here's all I want from you, Caldé. No gelt, just three things. Firstly, I get to hang onto my other property. That means my real estate, my accounts at the fisc, and the rest. Number two, I stay in business. I'm not asking you to make it legal. I don't even want you to. Only you don't shut me down, see? Last, I don't have to pay anybody anything above regular taxes. I'll open my books to you, but no more payoffs on top of that. You understand what I'm telling you?"
Blood leaned against the window frame. "Look it over, and you'll see I'm making you as good a deal as anybody could ask for. I'm giving you my complete, unlimited support, plus some valuable property, and all I want from you is that you leave me alone. Let me keep what's mine and earn my living, and don't come down on me any harder than you do on anybody else. What do you say?"
For a few seconds, Silk did not say anything. The tramp of rubber-shod metal feet came faintly from the wide foyer on the other side of the carved walnut door, punctuated by Potto's strident tones; embroidered hangings stirred, whispering, in the cool wind from the window.
"I've been expecting to be tested." Silk glanced at his tumbler, surprised to find that he had drunk more than half his soda water. "Tested by the Outsider. He's been testing me physically, and I felt quite confident that he would soon take my measure morally as well. When you began, I was certain this was it. But this is so easy!"
Lion raised his head to look at him inquiringly, then rose, stretched, and padded over to rub his muscled, supple body against Silk's knees.
Maytera Marble shook her finger at her son. "What you've been doing is very wrong, Bloody. You sell rust, don't you? I thought so."
"To begin," Silk told Blood, "you must turn my manteion over to me-you're going to do that right now. If you didn't bring along the deed, you can go out that window and get it. I'll wait."
"I brought it," Blood admitted. He fished a folded paper from an inner pocket of his tunic.
"Good. My manteion, for three cards."
Blood crossed the room to an inlaid escritoire; after a time, Mucor stood as well, her mouth working silently as though she were pronouncing the labored scratchings of Blood's pen.
"I'm not much of a scholar," he said at length, "but here you are, Patera. I had to si
gn for Musk, but it should be all right. I've got his power of advocacy."
The ink was not yet dry; Silk waved the deed gently as he read. "Fine." He took three of Remora's cards from his pocket and handed them to Blood.
"You're to do everything in your power to end the fighting without further loss of life," he told Blood, "and so am I. If I'm Caldé when it's over, as you obviously expect, you will be prosecuted for any crimes you may have committed, in accordance with the law. No unfair advantage will be taken beyond that which I just took. That's a large concession, but I make it. I warn you, however, that nothing that you may have done will be overlooked, either. If you're found guilty on any charge, as I expect that you will be, I'll ask the court to take into consideration whatever assistance you've rendered our city in this time of crisis. Am I making myself clear?"
Blood glowered. "You extorted that property from me. You took it under false pretences."
"I did." Silk nodded agreement. "I committed a crime to right the wrong done to the people of our quarter by an earlier one. Why should men like you be free to do whatever you wish whenever you wish, guaranteed that you yourself will never be victimized? You may, if you choose, complain about what I've done when peace has been restored. You have a witness in the person of your mother."
He gave the lynx a last pat before pushing him away. "I wouldn't advise you to call your adopted daughter, however. She's not competent to testify, and she might tell the court about the nativity of her pets."
"You had better not ask me to testify, either, Bloody," Maytera Marble told him. "I'd have to tell the judge that you tried to bribe our Caldé."
"They're coming," Mucor announced to Silk. "Councilior Loris has finished talking to Councillor Tarsier through the glass. They've decided to kill you and send your body back with the woman that killed Musk."
Silk froze, his eyes on Blood.
Oreb squawked, "Watch out!"
Instinctively, Maytera Marble reached out to her son, a plea for forgiveness and understanding.
His grip on the azoth tightened, and the shimmering horror that was its blade divided the cosmos, leaving Maytera Marble on one side and the hand she had held out to him on the other. It dropped to the carpet as the hideous discontinuity swung up, showering them with plaster and sundered lath. Silk shouted a warning; absurdly, he tried to shield her from Blood's downward cut with Xiphias's cane.
