Soldier of the mist l-1

by Gene Wolfe

  At once she sat up, pulling her feet from the broken coffin.

  I heard the indrawn breath of Hypereides and all the rest, and I confess I was startled too, so that I jerked back my hand. Eurykles himself was staring at her slack-jawed.

  Once standing, Thygater remained where she was, looking not at Eurykles or Pindaros or any other.

  "You've won," Hypereides whispered, his voice shaking. "Let's go."

  Eurykles threw back his head and extended his thin arms to the moon. "I triumph!" he shouted.

  "Be still," the kybernetes hissed. "Do you-"

  "I triumph!" Eurykles pointed to the ground at his feet. "Here! Stand here, Thygater! Present yourself to your master!"

  Obediently, the dead woman climbed from her grave and stood where Eurykles had pointed. Though she walked, there was nothing of life in her; a doll with jointed limbs, moved by a child, might have walked so.

  "Answer!" Eurykles ordered her. "Who disturbed your sleep?"

  "You," the dead woman said. A coin fell from her mouth as she spoke, and her breath reeked of death. "And this man"-without turning her head to look at me, she pointed-"whom my king says must go as he was sent."

  "Yes, I woke you, and this man with his torch. But who dug here and broke the coffin in which you lay?"

  "I did not lie there," the dead woman said. "I was very faraway."

  "But who dug here?" Eurykles insisted.

  "A wolf."

  "But a man must have broken your coffin."

  "A wolf."

  Pindaros said softly, "She speaks as an oracle, I think."

  Eurykles nodded, the inclination of his head so slight that I was not certain I had seen it. "What was the wolf's name? Speak!"

  "His name was Man."

  "How did he break your coffin?"

  "With a stone."

  "Held in his hands?" Eurykles demanded.

  "Yes."

  The captain who had offered to escort Phye said, "That girl was right. I'm going back." Everyone except Eurykles and me stepped away from the opened grave.

  Eurykles said, "Don't you know she can prophesy for us, you fools? Listen, and you'll hear the veil of the future torn to shreds. Thygater! Who will win the war?"

  "Wolves and ravens win all wars."

  "Will Khshayarsha, whom your people call the Great King, ever rule this country?"

  "The Great King has ruled our country."

  "That's what the oracle of Dolphins said," Pindaros told Eurykles.

  "Wait not for horse and war, But quit the land that bore you. The eastern king shall rule your shore, And yet give way before you."

  I do not think Eurykles heard him. "Thygater! How may I become rich?"

  "By becoming poor."

  Hypereides announced, "I've seen a wonder tonight, but it was something I'd sooner not have seen, and I can't believe the gods smile on such things. I'm going back to Tieup. Anybody who wants to hear more can do it and take the consequences for all I care. Eurykles, tell Kalleos I lost and went back to my ships; I'll tell her myself the next time I see her."

  "I'm coming with you," the kybernetes said, and Acetes and both captains nodded.

  "Not so fast," Pindaros put in. "Hypereides, you bet me two owls, and Kalleos isn't holding those stakes."

  Hypereides dropped them into Pindaros's outstretched palm. "If you want to come with us, you can share my room in Tieup."

  Pindaros shook his head. "Latro and I are going back to Kalleos's. Tomorrow I'll come for Hilaeira and Io."

  It was on my tongue to tell him Io was already there, but I bit it back.

  Eurykles spat on his hands and rubbed them together. "As you desert us, Thygater and I are going into the city. I've certain patrons there who'll be most gratified to behold my victory. Come, Thygater!"

  "Wait," Pindaros told me. "Our way lies with theirs, but we need not walk with the dead woman."

  I watched them go, and Hypereides and the other to the west. "Pindaros," I asked, "why am I so afraid?"

  "Who wouldn't be? I was terrified myself. So is Eurykles, I think, but ambition overrules it." He laughed nervously. "You saw through his little trick, I hope? I meant you to give Eurykles more than he bargained for, but you came over us both and gave me more than I'd bargained for as well."

  "I'm not afraid of the dead woman," I said. "But I'm afraid of something. Pindaros, look at the moon. What do you see?"

  "It's very thin," he said. "And it's setting behind the sacred hill. What about it?"

  "Do you see where some columns are still standing? The moon is tangled in them-some are before her, but others are behind her."

  "No," Pindaros said. "No, Latro, I don't see that. Shall we go now?"

  I agreed. When we had left the burial ground and were about halfway to Kalleos's, Pindaros said, "No wonder you weren't frightened by the dead girl, Latro. You're more frightening than she. The wonder is that she didn't seem afraid of you. But perhaps she was."

  The door was barred, and our knocking brought no one to open it; but it was not difficult to find a place where the wall had been thrown down and not yet rebuilt. "My room has half a roof," Pindaros told me. "Kalleos showed it to me earlier. The best in the house, she said; and except for her own it probably is. You're welcome to share it if you like."

  "No," I told him. "I have a place."

  "As you wish." He sighed and smiled. "You got a cloak out of our adventures tonight, at least. I got two owls, and I had a woman; I've gone farther and come away with less. Good night, Latro."

  I went to this room where the black man and Io are sleeping. Io woke and asked if I was all right. When I said I was, she told me Phye had come back sometime earlier, and Kalleos had beaten her terribly.

  I assured her that no one had beaten me, and we lay down side by side. She was soon asleep, but I was still frightened and could not sleep. Against all reason, the moon that had been setting when Pindaros and I were walking had climbed high in the heavens again, looking like the dead woman's eye when it opened a slit to see Eurykles.

  Dawn came through the broken roof, and I sat up and wrote all that has happened since I wrote before. This is the last, and I see that upon the outside of my scroll it is written that I am to read it each day, and so I begin. Perhaps then I will understand what the dead woman meant, and where I am to go.

  CHAPTER XVII-On the Way to Advent

  There are many inns. Though we arrived by daylight, it was too late to go to the house of the god; Pindaros has taken a room for us in this one only a few stades away. The inn is a hollow square with two stories all the way around. We have a double room-like a man's bent arm, but wider.

  The first thing I can remember from this day is eating the first meal with Kalleos and the other women. I knew her name then from some earlier time, for I called her by it when I brought out the boiled barley meal and fruit, and the wine and water, asking Kalleos whether I could carry food to Io and the black man. Kalleos said to bring them to the courtyard, where the long table stood. (I think the black man and I must have put it there, because when the time came to take it down we knew how to do it.)

  The women were talking about how happy they were to be in the city again, and of going to the market to buy jewelry and new clothes. Though the sun was at its zenith, I think most had just risen. Another man came, still yawning and rubbing his teeth with a cloth. I made room for him, and he said, "I'm Pindaros. Do you remember me, Latro?"

  I answered, "Yes. I remember our parting last night, and this morning I read my scroll. Your name is written there often. Pindaros, I must find the healer from Riverland."

  When I mentioned Riverland, the women fell quiet to listen. Pindaros said, "Who is that?"

  "The man who treated me just after the battle. He told me my name; he'd learned it from the men of my maniple. Do you see how important that is? Those men knew who I was, so they must know where I came from."

  "And you want to find out?" Pindaros asked. "You haven't talked about it much befo
re."

  "Yes!"

  He said to Kalleos, "He's been getting better all the time. This is the best yet. Latro, you must go to the Great Mother. Did you read that in your book too?"

  I told him I had read the words of the Shining God: "By the shrine of the Great Mother you fell, to a shrine of hers you must return."

  "There you are, then."

  One of the women asked, "Who's the Great Mother?" But Pindaros waved her to silence.

  "I don't trust the gods of this land," I said.

  Pindaros shrugged. "A man must trust the gods. There's nobody else."

  "If the scroll is true, I've seen many more than you," I told him. "You've only seen the Black God-"

  The black man nudged me and opened and closed his hands to show that there were twenty black gods at least.

  "I believe you," I said. "But the scroll tells only of your seeing one, and the same for Pindaros. Have you seen more?"

  He shook his head.

  Kalleos asked, "Are you saying you've actually seen a god, Latro? Like they used to appear to people in the old days?"

  "I don't know," I told her. "I've forgotten, but I wrote of many in my scroll."

  "He has," Pindaros told her. "He's seen one at least, because I was there and saw him too. So did little Io-remind me to ask how you got here, Io-and our comrade there. I think he's seen many more. He's told me about them at various times, and after seeing the King of Nysa, whom he just called the Black God, I believe him."

  "Then believe me also when I say no one should trust them. Some are better than others, no doubt: the Swift God, the Shining God, and the King of Nysa. But I think… "

  "Yes?" Pindaros bent toward me, listening.

  "I think that even the best act in some twisted way, perhaps. There's malice even in those who would be kind, I think even in Europa. In the serpent woman it burned so hot that I felt it still when I read what I had written of her."

  I do not think Kalleos had been listening to me. She said, "But you remember, Pinfeather. And you, honey. You've got to tell us about it."

  Then Pindaros and Io told of meeting the Black God. I remember thinking that it was much as it was written in this scroll, so I will not give their words here. I remember too that I was glad it was they who spoke and not I, because I was hungry and it gave me time to eat.

  They were still talking when I finished my barley porridge and bit into an apple. When there was a knock at the door, I went.

  A pretty woman with blue eyes darker than Kalleos's waited there. "Hello, Latro," she said. "Do you remember me?"

  I shook my head.

  "I'm Hilaeira, and we're old friends. May I come in?"

  I stood aside and told her I had read of her in my scroll that morning.

  She smiled and said, "I'll bet you didn't read that you're handsomer than ever, but you are. Hypereides says this house is full of women. I don't see how they can keep their hands off you. Do you remember Pindaros?"

  "Yes," I said. "He's eating the first meal. I think perhaps Kalleos will invite you to join us if you like."

  "I'd love to. I just came from Tieup, and that's no stroll."

  We went into the courtyard, where I told Kalleos, "This is Hilaeira. May she join us?"

  "Of course, of course!" Kalleos said. "Hilaeira, dear, I ought to have introduced myself on Europa, and I'm sorry I didn't. You can sit beside me-move over, Eleonore-and help yourself. Like I said, I would have offered to help you yesterday, but I thought you were Pinfeather's wife. How'd you get to the city?"

  "I walked," Hilaeira told her. "Hypereides says it's against the law here for a woman to go out alone, but Io was gone-"

  Io called, "Here I am!"

  "Why, so you are! Anyway, Hypereides wouldn't send anybody. He didn't want to spare them, and he thought Pindaros would come. Pindaros didn't, so I decided to risk it. I thought I'd probably meet him on the road, but of course I didn't. Hypereides gave me a letter for you." Hilaeira reached into the neck of her gown and drew it out. "It's a little damp, I'm afraid."

  "No matter. Read it to me, will you, dear? This sunlight would have my poor eyes weeping like Niobe."

  Hilaeira broke the seal and glanced at the writing, "Are you sure you want me to? It looks rather personal. I-"

  The women all laughed.

  "Go ahead, dear. We've no secrets in this house."

  "All right. 'My darling sweet: May I say once more how fine it was for this weary old sailor to rest his salt-rimed head upon that divine white bosom of yours-"'

  At this point Hilaeira was interrupted again by the women's laughter, and some of them beat the table with their spoons. There were more such interruptions subsequently, but I shall take no more notice of them.

  " 'When I began my voyage to the Navel and Tower Hill, I quite agreed with the Assembly's decision to send ships instead of going overland, but what a weary steed a ship is!

  " 'And yet the return paid for all. Thank you, dearest Kalleos. The second part of your payment must await my return, alas, for we are being dispatched to join the fleet. Send my slave back with the chair today.' That's underlined," Hilaeira added.

  Kalleos looked at the black man. "You have to take the chair back, understand? Then go to the sheds and find Hypereides. If you don't, he'll have the archers after you."

  The black man nodded, his face expressionless, then turned to me, pretending to write upon the palm of his hand and cocking an eyebrow as he does when he wants to ask a question. I said, "You want to know whether I read of you in my scroll. Yes, I did. You were my first friend; I know that."

  He left the table, and I have not seen him since.

  " 'Be kind to poor Latro,' " Hilaeira continued, " 'and you will find him anxious to do whatever lies in his power to help you. At least, I have always found him so.

  " 'Pindaros Pagondas of Cowland will already have told you what happened last night. I think it was the worst adventure of my life. May all the Twelve preserve me from such another! I lost, and you may pay the money I and the others left with you to Eurykles. When you have done so, I urge you never to see him again. Believe me, O sweetest Kalleos, if you had been one of us last night, you would not.

  " 'And now farewell-' "

  "Wait up!" Kalleos exclaimed. "Pinfeather hasn't told me anything. What happened, poet?"

  "In a moment," Pindaros said. "Let her finish."

  " 'And now farewell from your grateful lover Hypereides, darling Kalleos. The Rope Makers say a man who goes to war must return with his hoplon or upon it. I've tested mine and it won't float, so I mean to carry it back. Till then I remain your loving Hypereides.' "

  When the women had subsided somewhat, Pindaros asked, "Do you really want me to tell you what happened last night? In front of everyone here? I warn you, if I do I'll tell the truth. You've been a generous hostess, Kalleos, so if you'd prefer to hear it in private… "

  "Go ahead," Kalleos told him.

  "From the beginning?"

  She nodded.

  "All right, then I'll start by saying that when Eurykles made his bet it struck me that Phye's tale had been very convenient for him. When she said she'd come with us-alone out of all these women-I felt sure something was in the wind. Maybe I hadn't drunk quite as much as the others, or maybe I've got a stronger head. I don't know. How much were you supposed to get, Phye?"

  Kalleos said, "Never mind that," and Phye, through bruised lips, "An owl."

  "We found an opened grave," Pindaros continued, "and at first I thought Eurykles had done it himself; later I realized it would have been too great a risk. Phye was frightened, and she went to him for protection. That told me she knew Eurykles better than any of the rest of us, and that she was really afraid. If she'd been faking it, she would almost certainly have grabbed Hypereides, since he'd bet the most money."

  "Go on," Kalleos said grimly.

  "When we were here, Eurykles had seemed very drunk. I suppose you have to seem drunk to bet that you can raise the dead. But at
the burial ground, he was the soberest of all, except for Latro, who hadn't been drinking. Phye said she was leaving, and it seemed to me she meant it; but it also seemed that Eurykles either thought it was part of some plan or wanted her to believe he thought that, so that she'd go ahead with it when she got her nerve back."

  "She didn't," Kalleos told him grimly. "She came here."

  "I can see that. Phye, I'd put a slice of cucumber on that eye, if I were you."

  "Nothing you've talked about would have horrified Hypereides," Kalleos said. "Get on with it."

  "All right, I will. Eurykles raised the woman from the grave. She stood up and talked to us, but she was quite clearly dead. Her face was livid, and her cheeks beginning to fall in."

  Kalleos leaned toward him, her eyes narrowed to slits.

  "He did it?"

  Pindaros shrugged. "He sacrificed a cock, and she stood up and spoke. When the rest of us left, she followed him into the city." He turned to Phye. "What were you supposed to do? Supply the voice, or actually appear as the ghost?"

  She said, "You knew. Even when we were back here, you knew."

  "Because I bet with Hypereides? I knew enough to know who was going to win a strange bet proposed by a stranger. So does Hypereides, I imagine, when he's sober."

  By then the women were all talking at once. Hilaeira whispered across the table, "Latro, did you touch her? Do you remember?"

  I nodded.

  "Which brings us to Latro," Pindaros said to her. "I can't go back to our shining city until I've taken him to the shrine of the Great Mother. I won't blame you if you don't want to come, though you're welcome to if you wish."

  Hilaeira said, "My father-he's dead-had a business connection here. I thought perhaps he'd let me stay with him a while."