Sufficiently Advanced Technology (Inverse Shadows)

by Nuttall, Christopher

  Several minutes passed before Master Faye stood up, nodding to one of his servants to take the bowl and pour the hot water into the cauldron they were using to boil meat for dinner. Joshua waited until his master had finished stretching and then passed him the bag, along with the notes from the guardsmen. Money from outside visitors was always suspect; it had to be checked, carefully, before it was allowed into the city. Joshua doubted that anyone would be fool enough to try to pass off forged coins in a Pillar-ruled city, but there were no shortage of dupes out there who couldn’t test the money. Someone might bring it in without having the slightest idea that it was fake.

  “I saw nothing,” Joshua said. He hesitated, and then outlined what he’d felt when he’d reached the clearing. He’d been told, time and time again, to listen to his senses. “I don’t know if it was real or not.”

  “There could be anything out there, beyond the borderline,” Master Faye said, thoughtfully. He reached into the bag, pulled out a coin, and tested it thoughtfully. “Fake.”

  Joshua looked up, sharply. “Fake?”

  “Maybe,” Master Faye said. He sounded confused, something that bothered Joshua. What could confuse his master? A second coin was tested and then dropped on the table beside the first. “A very strange fake.”

  Joshua swallowed. “Why?”

  Master Faye eyed him as if he’d said something particularly stupid, and then relaxed slightly. “You are aware, of course, that coins are minted and then marked to prove that they were tested by the proper authorities,” he said. Joshua nodded. Turning lead to gold was difficult, but possible, at least for a few hours. Eventually, it reverted, by which time the forger would be well away. “These coins do not carry the mark of any known mint.”

  Joshua nodded, following the explanation. The marks were magic, impossible to duplicate – and bound up in the mint’s sense of honour. Once crafted and stamped into the metal, they were impossible to remove short of melting down the entire coin, which would render it useless until it was sold back to the mint. They would be a permanent guarantee of the value of the coin.

  “But I used a testing spell,” Master Faye said, a moment later. “These coins are gold. They could have been forged at any mint and then marked, but they were never marked. I don’t know what it means.”

  “They’re real gold?” Joshua repeated. Who would bother to forge gold coins out of pure gold? They could just take the gold to the mint and have it made into coins, coins that would carry the mark verifying their value. “But why?”

  “They don’t appear to be old enough to have been produced before the first mints,” Master Faye said, a moment later. He span the third coin in his hand and watched as it tipped onto its side. “In appearance, they seem to come from the Southern Mint, but they don’t carry the mark. Why not?”

  Joshua frowned. “Could they be something else, transfigured into gold?”

  “They’d have a very clear signature if they were,” Master Faye explained, absently. He was still staring at the coin. “No, these are forged gold coins made of real gold. It makes no sense.”

  He looked over at Joshua. “You saw the newcomers, didn’t you?”

  Joshua nodded. He’d been watching newly-arrived traders for so long that it had become something of a joke between them. Carefully, he outlined his impressions, trying not to give the impression that he was dwelling too much on either of the girls. Master Faye wasn’t fooled, judging from his expression, but he said nothing. A relationship with a travelling trader girl wouldn’t be as serious as one with a local girl, one who might expect marriage and children.

  “Interesting,” Master Faye said, finally. “I’ll tell you something else that didn’t happen, something that should have happened. They didn’t trigger the sensing spells at all.”

  Joshua was puzzled for a moment, and then he understood. Any trader who wanted to travel through the badlands would purchase something magical to help deter bandits from attacking his carriages. Or hire one Scion to defend them against others, if they could find one who could be bought. The absence of magicians wasn’t too surprising, but the absence of magic was inexplicable. Unless...

  “They might have been attacked along the way,” he said. “Maybe they were cursed badly enough to burn out the defences...”

  Master Faye cocked an eyebrow. “Without actually killing them? Or taking their goods? Or destroying their carriages? Or kidnapping the girls?”

  Joshua flushed. “And they reported nothing,” he added, a moment later. “They’d certainly report a bandit attack.”

  “Or drained defences,” Master Faye agreed. “And they would have to be insane to travel so far, with such valuable goods, without some form of protective magic. It makes no sense.”

  “Maybe all it did was drain magic,” Joshua suggested. “Something like that could have removed the marks from the coins...”

  Master Faye laughed, unpleasantly. “If someone had developed a technique for doing that,” he pointed out, “they would rule the world. Our wards wouldn’t be able to keep them out at all; they’d just be able to charge in, cut us apart and take the city. No, if someone had a technique for that, they would have used it by now.”

  He looked up at Joshua. “I will speak with my peers,” he added. “I suggest that you wait here and read a book. This may take some time.”

  Joshua watched him go and then stood up, heading over to the bookcase. Master Faye had a large collection of books, not all of them on magic, and he’d insisted that Joshua read his way through them. None of the collection Joshua was allowed to read were actually secret, although they were kept from the Minors. He rather doubted that there was anything in them that wouldn’t be known to a Scion or another Pillar.

  He was midway though a textbook on comparative charms for long-distance communication when Master Faye walked back into the room, looking grim. “I spoke to the Pillar of Athol and he spoke to his Keeper of Records,” he said. “There is no record of any of the traders there.”

  Joshua frowned. “But they said they came from Athol...”

  “The concept of lying is surely not unknown to you,” Master Faye said, sarcastically. He seemed more than a little on edge. “There are too many things about this that don’t make sense. If they are trying to hide where they came from, why? We wouldn’t turn anyone away, even if they came from Drumgeld. Why are they being stupid?”

  Joshua made a face. Drumgeld, four hundred kilometres away on the other side of the mountain, had once been a prosperous city to rival Warlock’s Bane, before its previous Pillar had been replaced by a madman. In two years, he’d created a nightmare so bad that Minors and Scions alike gave the place a wide berth, while imprisoning most of his population inside the walls. There were rumours of what was happening to them now, each one more horrifying than the last. Joshua had heard that several Pillars had actually considered teaming up to deal with the situation, but nothing had ever been decided. The principle that Pillars had total authority within their bailiwicks was too strong.

  “If they’re using false money, they should be arrested,” Joshua said, slowly. “And yet, might arresting them be very dangerous?”

  “If they’re connected with the person spying on us,” Master Faye said. He shook his head. “If the idea is to make an excuse for a fight, why bother? Any Scion who wanted to take the city could just walk in and challenge me. They wouldn’t need to contrive an excuse for a duel.”

  Joshua had to admit that his master was right. There was little point in anything elaborate if someone just wanted the city. They’d have to fight for it sooner or later, so why not sooner? The longer they waited, the longer Master Faye would have to prepare his ground. They should have moved the moment they realised that their spying spells had been detected.

  “I see,” he said, finally. “What do we do?”

  Master Faye said nothing, thinking hard. “We could take them into custody and interrogate them under truth spells, but that would be unpopular,” he sa
id. In theory, there was nothing anyone could do if Master Faye decided to allow it, but in practice traders would start diverting away from Warlock’s Bane and ruining the city. “And if we set out to tamper with their memories, it might be noticeable.”

  “Yes,” Joshua agreed. He’d been taught how to watch for altered memories very early on, forced to practise and practise until he got it right. A Scion would have no difficulty in spotting altered memories, at least unless it was done very carefully – and that took time, time they might not have. “Could we not arrest one of them for using forged coins and interrogate them?”

  “We might have to,” Master Faye said. He shook his head. “I hate working in the dark. I’d almost sooner watch a Scion walking down into the city to challenge me for power.”

  Joshua nodded. At least there would be a very clear threat.

  “You will keep an eye on them and see what you can learn,” Master Faye said, finally. “The girls are beautiful, so no one will be surprised if you attempt to court them. But be careful what you tell them in return. It is possible that they have come to learn secrets of magic.”

  “But a Scion would know everything you know,” Joshua said. “Wouldn’t he?”

  “It depends on the Scion,” Master Faye admitted. “There are quite a few secrets I didn’t know until I found them in Master Spark’s notes, after I killed him. This could be just another attempt at scouting Warlock’s Bane out before the Scion shows himself. Or it could be a complete coincidence...”

  He shook his head. “No, this cannot be a coincidence,” he added. “I want you to watch them closely, both through magic and through your eyes. And don’t let the girls seduce you instead. Watch them.”

  Joshua grinned, a grin that vanished when Master Faye glared at him. “This is important,” his master snapped. “Whoever takes this city will not want an apprentice so close to him. You will be killed or enslaved after I die.”

  “I understand, Master,” Joshua said, formally. And his Master was right. Joshua would be useless to any new Pillar – and a potential threat. He would be lucky if he was simply killed out of hand. “I won’t let you down.”

  “Get a bath and then get an early night,” Master Faye ordered. “I want you to be ready to leave the house as soon as they start having breakfast at the inn.”

  Joshua nodded, suddenly remembering the dull ache running through his body. Riding all day was hard enough even without the horse being intent on throwing him off every time he relaxed his guard. Maybe he could convince Master Faye to sell Filly to a stud farm if he showed his master the bruises, before realising that it wouldn’t matter. He would never be a good horseman.

  Shaking his head, he walked upstairs and undressed in the bathroom, where the maid had already filled the bathtub with cold water. Joshua had to cast a heating spell to warm the liquid, one of the first exercises that Master Faye had forced him to perform. There was nothing like burns – or cold baths – to teach someone how to be careful.

  And he would have to be very careful tomorrow.

  CHAPTER

  SIXTEEN

  “Did you have a good night?”

  “There were things in the bed, mommy,” Adana said. She had pitched her voice into that of a whiny teenage child. “And Elyria kept hogging the blankets.”

  Elyria had to smile as Gigot rounded on her and issued a public lecture about stealing her sister’s share of the blankets. It was how children, even teenagers, were disciplined on Darius and Gigot had the act down perfectly. The innkeeper’s wife tossed her an approving look as they entered the dining hall and sat down at one of the tables. A list of possible cooked breakfasts was placed in front of them, all having to be cooked from scratch. It wasn’t unknown for people to cook their own food in the Confederation, but it was considered something of a luxury. Here, everyone ate home-cooked food.

  The innkeeper’s wife wasn’t the cook herself, apparently. Instead, Elyria heard her barking orders to two more girls in the kitchen, although Elyria couldn’t tell if they were her daughters or just hired servants. They were probably her daughters; using them as labour would be cheaper than hiring servants, who would have to be paid in money. Shaking her head, Elyria concentrated on listening to the report from the AIs. Apparently, several merchants were intending to visit Adam later in the morning to bargain for his goods.

  Adam himself entered the room a moment later, having needed longer to dress, followed by a sullen-looking Dacron. The embodied AI did sullen well, Elyria decided, although he might have been overdoing it a little. Someone who didn’t know that it was an act might wonder why Adam was putting up with it. They joined the girls at table in time to be served sausages and scrambled egg. The sausages tasted faintly oily – Elyria was relieved that their enhanced bodies should have little difficulty dealing with anything that might have been poisonous – but the eggs weren’t bad at all. And then there was homemade bread, a small helping of butter and a jug of milk, which tasted fresh and creamy. The inn probably had an arrangement with the nearby farms.

  “I have received two notes from people who wish to call on me,” Adam said, self-importantly. They’d modelled his mock persona on a travelling merchant they’d seen on the other side of the world, someone who sounded as though he were bragging all the time. “We” – he shot a glance at Dacron – “will be hearing them this morning.”

  He looked over at Gigot. “And you will be joining us too,” he added. “The girls can explore the city on their own.”

  Elyria concealed her private amusement. They’d have a chance to gather information while pretending to be star-struck tourists from a very different city. Besides, no one from this culture would expect teenage girls to know anything useful. It was stupid and senseless, but it seemed to be the way things worked. Shaking her head, ignoring the odd glance the innkeeper’s wife gave her, she finished her eggs and headed back up to their room. Adana would stay behind for half an hour, enough time for Elyria to draw away any watchers – if there were watchers. The AIs hadn’t identified anyone apart from the ones peering through the peepholes, and they’d been more focused on Adam. Clearly, money talked louder than sex.

  They’d fabricated long cloaks to wear over their dresses, so Elyria donned hers and walked down the rear stairs, out into the courtyard. The sun was only just rising in the sky, but the city was already coming to life. Hundreds of workers were strolling through the streets, while carts piled high with fruit and vegetables headed to market. At least the locals knew to keep meat cold to preserve it as long as possible, including using bags of ice from icehouses, or they would have had a far worse disease problem. Angry flies buzzed around the road, attracted by the droppings horses had left as they moved through the streets. Although a handful of slaves seemed to be cleaning up the mess, there was always more. But then, back on Old Earth, horses had been a major cause of pollution until they’d been replaced by automobiles.

  And they produced pollution too, Elyria thought dryly, as she walked onwards, through the market. Her outfit made her conspicuous; the sellers called out offers, inviting her to bargain for their wares. She declined the offers, knowing that they were deliberately starting high because she was a stranger in town. Apples and oranges were cheaper than one bronze coin for five. It was interesting that they hadn’t produced anything smaller than bronze coins; the concept of paper money had never occurred to them. Or maybe they just considered it too easy to forge.

  A travelling bookseller had set up his cart at one end of the street, inviting the crowds to step into a whole new world. Elyria glanced inside and was instantly charmed by the interior, where hundreds of bookshelves were crammed into the tiny cart. It took her a long moment to realise that the cart was literally bigger on the inside than the outside, something the Confederation had always considered impossible for Fifth Age civilisations. The AIs had expanded into hyperspace, but it wasn’t quite the same thing. Elyria felt her head spinning as she realised that she could walk into the cart and p
ull books off the shelves.

  She tried to activate the transmitter, only to discover that it didn’t work. Whatever force had created the bookseller’s cart had disrupted all modern technology, even something so primitive that it shouldn’t have been affected at all. Shaking, half in shock, Elyria stepped back and shook her head. She would have to deal with it, somehow.

  “Don’t worry,” the salesman said, completely misunderstanding her shock. “The dimension won’t collapse while you’re inside.”

  “Thank you,” Elyria stammered. She forced herself to remain calm and looked down at the wizened man. “What sort of books do you sell?”

  “All sorts,” he assured her. “I have stories of exciting adventure – very popular with the young men. I have stories of romance – very popular with the young women.” He winked. “I even have a rare copy of The Perfect Marriage, banned in a dozen bailiwicks. And I have a handful of manuals for those intent on learning a skilled trade.”

  Elyria nodded. “Do you have manuals on magic?”

  “Of course not,” he said, shocked. Elyria realised that she should have known that – and would have, if she’d been born on Darius. “What do you take me for? The Pillar would have shut me down if I’d sold those to Minors.”

  He snorted, loudly. “The very idea,” he added. “I have books on craftsmanship, metalworking and farming, with a small textbook on accounting, for the boring people. And a couple of books of history. But those are expensive. Three gold coins each.”

  Elyria hesitated. Spending so much might well attract attention. “Don’t worry,” the seller said, misinterpreting again. “I can have the books shipped to you at the inn, if you wish. No one else will have to see what you read.”