Mage Quest - Wizard of Yurt 3 (20 page)

Joachim came back to the table and sat down. I lifted my eyebrows interrogatively. “I was finaly able to talk to Claudia on the telephone,” he said. “It was hard to hear her; I don’t think the telephone’s spels were working very wel. She never did say what had been in the package. She just said she was sorry it had been stolen, but that it didn’t realy matter.”

“Did you say that bandits had nearly kiled you in order to steal it?” asked Hugo.

“Of course not,” said the chaplain in surprise. Tve already told you, I’m sure they wounded me by accident. At any rate, I wouldn’t want to worry Claudia.”

“I’l try to telephone the queen after dinner,” said the king.

“And I’l try Diana,” said Ascelin.

T hate to tel you this, Ascelin,” said Hugo, his mouth ful and motioning to the waiter, “but this is a lot better than your cooking.”

“Are you ready for the roast lamb?” asked the waiter. “It wil be out in just a moment. Let me refil your wine glasses.” We hadn’t had any wine since we left King Warm’s castle. The local vintage had a flinty undertone and tasted wonderful.

“Success,” said Ascelin, lifting his glass as though in salute. “Al the way down through the eastern kingdoms to the sea, without being kiled, without being captured, without even being in battle. Next time, Haimeric, I wil stick with the main routes, but even with al the delays, we’re as far along as we would have been if we’d stayed west of the mountains.”

“Isn’t our slow progress due in part to the rest of you having to wait for me?” asked the king.

“No, having to wait for me on foot,” said Ascelin with a smile. “If you al had stalions like Dominic’s, you’d have been in the Holy Land weeks ago.”

“So how do you think we should go from here?” asked Dominic. “Along the coast or out to sea?” He finished the last of his salad and poked Ascelin with his elbow. T ask, of course, knowing that whatever you suggest, we should do just the opposite.”

The waiter came out at this point with a steaming platter, lamb scented with garlic and rosemary. I felt my capacity to keep eating was unlimited.

“Pilgrims normaly folow the coast road,” said Ascelin. “It’s a safe route and it goes by a number of pilgrimage churches, including al those dedicated to the martyrs kiled back in the days of the wars between Christians and the People of the Prophet. Those were the wars which drove most Christians, except those of Xantium, into the west. Even pilgrims with no intention of going as far as the Holy Land often folow part of that route.”

“That’s the way my bishop went,” put in Joachim. “But traders stick to the sea,” Ascelin continued. “It’s certainly faster and a lot easier for anyone with heavy goods. The most dangerous part of the sea voyage is west of here, through the shoals and islands, and we’ve already skipped that part.”

“Even if we are on pilgrimage ourselves,” said Hugo, “our principal goal is stil to find my father and his party. I think we should try to get to the Holy Land as quickly as possible and start searching for them from there.”

“We’l be able to book sea passage to Xantium from here,” said Ascelin. “Al routes in and around the Central Sea pass through Xantium. That’s where your brother’s agents wil have their offices,” with a glance at Joachim, “and that’s where the last overland route to the Holy Land begins.”

The king nodded. “You’ve taken us safely so far, Ascelin. I’l trust you to continue to guide us. Tomorrow we’l book our passage.” There were three couples at the next table, talking and eating and apparently enjoying themselves nearly as much as we were. The women wore yelow or blue cotton dresses, printed al over with flowers.

“We never get fabric like that at home,” commented the king. “Maybe I should buy some to take home for the queen.”

“I’ve already told you, sire,” said Hugo with a grin, “don’t load up the luggage now. Wait until we’re on our way home.” I had been too busy eating to join in the conversation, although, to my surprise, I found myself slowing down on my third helping of lamb. I dipped a piece of bread in the juices on my plate and wondered where the palm trees I had expected might be.

The terrace where we were sitting was high above the harbor; off in the distance I could see marshy land bordering the sea, but no palm trees swayed anywhere in sight. I swalowed my bread and asked about them.

“Don’t worry,” said Ascelin. “You’l see plenty of palms when we get to the East.” I wondered if we would also see the dancing girls that Hugo had imagined with his father. “There are even some in the marshy areas near here. It wil probably be a few days before we sail, so we can look for them if you like.”

The waiter, carrying a tray filed with strawberry tarts, interrupted us at this point. But palm trees became our goal for the next two days. Ascelin was able to find a ship going to Xantium that was wiling to take us. While it was loading its cargo, we folowed steep, rocky paths down to the harbor and from the harbor, along sandy beaches that led for miles in either direction. Here at last were the palms I had imagined during the winter in Yurt, their old fronds lying dry and close to the trunk, their new fronds branching out from the top, reminding me oddly of the way that young Prince Paul drew pictures of trees.

“So is this it, Wizard?’ Hugo asked me with a chuckle. “Everyone is searching for something on this trip. The chaplain wants pilgrimage churches; the king wants a blue rose; I want to find my father; Dominic, having found his father, is now looking for whatever’s in the Wadi; and Ascelin wants the chance to boss everyone around that I’m sure the duchess doesn’t give him at home. And you’re on a quest for trees?” I laughed, but his comment started me thinking. I had thought that I was on this quest to find Evrard, as wel as to assist my king however I could, but I might r wel be searching for something else. There was an old saying I had first heard as a boy in the City, “What ye seek, and what ye find, wil oft-times be of different kind.” As we and our highly dubious horses boarded the ship at last, and the sails creaked up the mast to catch the dawn wind and take us out of the sage-scented harbor, I wondered again what I was seeking.

Once out of harbor, the sails filed and the lines tightened, and the bright waves began slapping against our ship’s hul as we started east along the coast. Whatever it was, or whatever I would find, we seemed to be heading toward it.

Part Five. X&Rtfhmi

I

The great City by the western sea, the city where I had grown up, did not have a name. For official purposes it was caled the Urbs, but that was only City in the old language of the empire that had once been centered in it. Those who lived there merely caled it the City, as though there were no other or, at least, no other that mattered.

As our ship, with its cargo of furs, leather, and six pilgrims, rounded the headland and entered the great basin of Xantium harbor, I realized what a hopelessly provincial attitude that was.

“The duchess and I should travel more,” said Ascelin, leaning on the railing next to me. “She would love to see this city. Maybe when the girls are bigger we can al come.” But I wasn’t listening. Above us, on top of a sheer cliff, an enormous tower glowered down on us and I could sense that we were being watched with magic as wel as eyes. Massive iron rings protruded from the cliff at water level. Another tower stood on another promontory a quarter mile away. The only way into the harbor was through the narrow, black-watered channel between them.

“In times of war,” commented Ascelin, “I understand they chain the harbor shut.”

The harbor itself was as large as a lake and jammed with hundreds of ships and boats, from tiny dinghies to massive vessels that dwarfed our own ship. Many were trading vessels of the sort I had been accustomed to seeing in the city docks, but many others seemed to be pleasure barges; even among the ones I assumed were traders were a great number with riggings I had never before seen.

A long ship came up behind us and shot by into the harbor, its banks of oars dipping and puling smoothly. “Probably rowed by slaves,” said Ascelin.

The others had come up to stand by us at the railing. “I thought Xantium was a Christian city,” I said to the chaplain.

“It is, or at least its governors are Christian,” he said gravely. “But God is worshipped in many ways. And they interpret Christianity somewhat differently here than do the bishops of the west. After al, the Bible does not specificaly forbid slavery, although al right thinkers must realize that as men and women are brothers and sisters together under God, slavery cannot be tolerated.” The sailors hurried back and forth, and some swarmed up the mast to release the booms as the captain negotiated through the shipping. We tried to stay out of the way, looking at the city that covered the hilside beyond the harbor.

It reached most of the way around the basin. Directly above the docks rose gray wals, pierced by open gates. Behind the wals the city strode up the hil, a jumble of towers, minarets, and spires. The high wals folowed the edge of the water for several miles on either side before turning inland, but the city continued beyond the wals, an incoherent mass of buildings large and smal, some painted briliant colors and some dark. A complex of smels, flowers, spice, and garbage, mingled with the salt tang of the harbor.

“We’re entering the East at last,” said the king.

“In fact, sire,” said Joachim, “it depends on how you define the East. Xantium is indeed caled the East’s gateway, but we’re stil west of the Holy Land, and everyone knows that the Holy City is in the exact center of the inhabited earth, so that there are stil thousands of miles of the true East beyond.”

And I had thought when we entered the eastern kingdoms that we were already somewhere in the East.

“I wonder how difficult it would be to travel deep into the East,” said Ascelin thoughtfuly. “It would be worth it to see which of the tales are realy true, to see the bushes that produce tea and spices, the stones from which silk is spun.”

“I’ve heard,” put in Hugo, “that silk isn’t realy spun from a stone at al but rather made by some kind of worm. How about it, Wizard? What do they teach in your school?” If they taught about silk manufacture in the wizards’ school, they had certainly not taught it to me. “It’s a secret known only to the wise,” I replied airily, then groped for something I could say with certainty.

“But I can assure you that silk is not made by worms.”

Our ship now moved very slowly on just one sail, little more than drifting among the moored vessels. The captain steered us carefuly past the moorings and then along the tangle of wooden docks that protruded from the city gates. At last we slid smoothly up next to a dock and stopped with only the slightest bump.

The sailors al cheered and busied themselves tying down the sails and the lines. The gangplank went over the railing with a clatter. Already a group of burly men were moving out along the docks toward us, members of the dockhands’ guild I assumed, though the dock-hands in the Qty at home had never worn cobalt blue tunics and shoes with long, curled toes.

We went off first, before the real cargo, leading our horses. The king spoke briefly with the captain about finding a good place to stay. I heard the captain add, “I’ve picked up from a few things your party has said that you’re missing something. Missing objects from al around the Central Sea have a way of ending up in Xantium. You might try the Thieves’ Market.” Our horses were stiff and restless from the voyage, especialy Whirlwind. He sniffed the air as though in disgust and decided to treat every person, every bale on the docks, and every piece of trash blown by the wind as a potential threat, an excuse for whinnying and rearing. Dominic clung grimly to the bridle, using his own weight to hold the stalion down, and stayed close behind Ascelin.

I stopped to stare at a tal pole from which three dead men dangled limp over the water. A dockhand saw my stare and smiled.

“Don’t you hang thieves in the west?” he asked. The governor alows no one to violate the integrity of Xantium harbor, not the thieves’ guild, not amateurs. Of course, the old governor was rather soft and let things get out of hand, but the new one’s realy cracked down the last few years.”

We picked our way along the docks to shore where we were stopped by black-robed officials before we could enter the gates.

“Governor’s orders,” said one crisply. “Xantium is finaly being run efficiently. He’s the last Christian governor as one heads east, so al pilgrims have to sign in here. Then if you’re not back in a few months, we can send word to your relatives in the west Be sure to remember to sign back in when you return from the Holy Land.” I remembered that the governor’s office had given Sir Hugo’s wife the news that he and his parry had never returned to Xantium. The book we had to sign asked for a relative or friend and then for a second person to notify in case the first could not be reached.

We al put Yurt’s queen in the first column, then I wrote down the wizard’s school, Joachim his bishop, Hugo bis mother, Ascelin the duchess, and King Haimeric and Dominic the king of Caelrhon, the kingdom that bordered Yurt The king wanted to put King Warin, but the rest of us wouldn’t let him.

I wondered briefly if Sir Hugo and his parry—or at least Evrard—had put down the royal court of Yurt as the party to be notified if the governor’s office could not reach Sir Hugo’s wife.

We continued through the city gates and into the narrow streets beyond. The buildings leaned so closely over the streets that these were very dim. The ground floors were jammed with shops and businesses.

Loud voices greeted us on every side, offering us accommodations, young girls fresh from the country, hot baths, exquisite jewels, spicy dishes, purple silks, fine weapons and maps of the city. King Haimeric ignored them al, walking with Ascelin beside him, folowing the directions the captain had scrawled on a piece of paper.

In a few minutes we emerged from the noisiest streets into what appeared to be a residential area. Dark-haired children who had been playing in the gutters raced up to beg for pennies. Halfway down a dead-end street a silver-plated bush protruding from a housefront marked the inn to which the captain had directed us.