The Stranger's Woes (18 page)

And Sir Juffin rushed to the door of the
Bunba
. Lonli-Lokli was standing at the threshold in a flash, his white looxi billowing out like a sail in the summer breeze. I was at their side before I knew it. Our Venerable Head looked around, puzzled.

“Either I’m completely incompetent, or . . . Lads, something’s happening at the House by the Bridge! How curious.”

We raced off to Headquarters.

“It’s all over,” Juffin announced as we flew. “That was really something—more than the hundredth degree, judging by how I was shaking.”

“Can you feel it without a meter?” I said.

“I have to. You’re not the only one who suffers under the burden of your own talents. You can’t imagine how inconvenient it is. Especially at night.”

We walked through the corridors of the Ministry of Perfect Public Order. Sir Juffin steered us into our office. In the doorway he momentarily froze, then let out a short, explosive curse: “Sinning crap!” After a moment, he stepped aside so Lonli-Lokli and I could see.

The secret door to our detention cell stood wide open. On the threshold lay Captain Shixola. His hands were clenched. On his face was an expression of dreamy serenity.

I rushed over to him and nudged him gently, though I already knew that it was no use. He was dead.

I turned to Juffin, distraught. “Was it Jiffa?”

“Not exactly.” Juffin entered the empty cell and started to sniff something. “Someone helped him, that much is clear.”

“Who?”

“The same one who helped him return from the World of the Dead to his beloved Magaxon Forest, that’s who. Damnation!”

Juffin sat down next to the body of Captain Shixola and placed his hands carefully on his stomach. A moment later he sighed bitterly and got up to open the window.

“Well, things have gone terribly amiss. Poor Shixola was a very talented medium. How could I have overlooked him? The World knows only one like him in every dozen thousand. With those abilities, I should have stayed close by his side. I shouldn’t have let him out of my sight.”

Juffin sank into his armchair. Lonli-Lokli stood in the doorway nodding thoughtfully, then took a seat near the boss.

“Jiffa went down the Dark Path,” he told Juffin coldly. “Granted, you can move a dead man only five or six miles, but that’s enough.”

“Yes,” Juffin said. He thought a bit, then asked, “To the south?”

Lonli-Lokli shrugged and said, “You know I have no sense of direction.”

Juffin frowned and sniffed the air. “Yes, southward. That’s certain.”

I stared at my colleagues in bewilderment. Their conversation seemed to me to be the most improbable event of this whole crazy day. After hovering around the doorway a bit, I stepped inside the empty cell.

“Don’t go in there!” Juffin barked out. “If you step on Jiffa’s trace, you’ll find out the Dark Magicians are nothing to joke about.”

I went back into the office and sat down on the windowsill. I wanted very much to cry, whether from anger, or helplessness, or simply because the death of the good Captain Shixola was incompatible with my notions of how events should unfold in my one and only life.

I didn’t cry, of course, but just stared dully into space. Some kind of strange barrier had sprung up between me and the rest of the world—transparent but impenetrable. Even the boss’s voice sounded like a radio coming from behind the wall.

“It was a real Master who revived Jiffa,” Sir Juffin said. “He was the most vital of all dead men I can remember. And what a shield he had! I could easily have killed him—you too, Shurf—but no one else could have done it. But I couldn’t dissuade him, couldn’t reason with him. That’s why I planned to take him to the Seven-Leaf Clover. There are a few old-timers there who might have been able to talk some sense into him.

“Melifaro, old chap, good you were able to make it so quickly. I need all the information I can get on Pafoota Jongo, Bubuli Jola Giox, Atva Kuraisa, and Joffla Kumbaya. Maybe that’s enough for now. The others who took part in the Great Royal Hunt in the Magaxon Forest could hardly have anything to do with this, as far as I know.”

“Pafoota couldn’t either,” Lonli-Lokli said. “I see him from time to time. Once every few years in the
Fat Skeleton
. It’s a sort of tradition. I can witness to the fact that he’s not capable of it anymore. The fellow squandered his power. He has a big family and doesn’t practice anymore, obviously. He seems very happy.”

“Really? All right then, Melifaro, you can wait on Pafoota Jongo. We’ll get the other three. On the double, okay?”

“Of course.”

I raised my eyes to greet Melifaro, but he had already disappeared. I just caught a glimpse of an aloe-colored looxi at the end of the corridor. I looked at Juffin.

“Pull yourself together, Max,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us. If your grief could help Shixola, I would personally help you stay sad as long as possible. But it’s absolutely pointless.”

“Remember the breathing exercises, Max,” Lonli-Lokli said. “It’s the perfect time.”

“Right. I’m sorry, fellows.”

I tried to gather my wits about me. I have to admit, after doing Lonli-Lokli’s famous breathing exercises for less than a minute, the invisible barrier that separated me from the World dissolved. A few minutes later, I was myself again. I was by no means lighthearted, but at least I could imagine the possibility.

“This resurrector of corpses, or whatever you call him, was he actually here in the House by the Bridge?” I said. “Then it should be no problem to find him. He’s alive, and he leaves a trace.”

“As if he’d be foolish enough to show his face here,” Juffin said with mild contempt. “He doesn’t need to go through the trouble. A good magician can use a sensitive medium as his instrument. Distance presents no obstacle to him. And in our Headquarters there was one outstanding medium, to my profound regret. Shixola had to open this sinning door and set Jiffa free. Naturally, no one but myself can open the secret door and remain alive. But that suited the one who gave orders to our Captain just fine.”

“I see. Poor Melamori. She’s not in for a good night’s sleep now, is she?”

“Melamori?” Juffin frowned. “Yes, Max, she’s probably the only one who can go after Jiffa. We can lighten her load, though. It will be far easier for her to trail Jiffa’s Master than—”

“Maybe it’s even simpler than that. Jiffa is very attached to his lair, isn’t he? Maybe he just went back home again.”

“Perhaps. Then again, perhaps not. Let’s wait for Melifaro. I hope—”

“There’s no use hoping,” Melifaro said, storming back into the office like a green whirlwind. Who would have thought that fellow knew how to frown, too?

“Why is it no use?” Juffin seemed surprised. “Let’s hear it.”

“The buriwoks in the Main Archive claim that Bubuli Jola Giox, Atva Kuraisa, and Joffla Kumbaya are all dead. They died at different times, naturally, but all over the course of the past few years. Then I asked about Pafoota Jongo. Also dead, just a dozen days ago!”

“It’s easy to check. Sir Shurf, send a call to your old mate,” Juffin ordered.

“He truly is no longer among the living,” Lonli-Lokli told us a few seconds later. “I’m sure of it. Shall I contact his wife? She might tell us something.”

“Yes, go ahead.” Juffin gripped the left armrest of his chair spasmodically. There was a resounding crunch when the thick piece of wood gave way. Juffin glared angrily at the fragments of the armrest and tossed them into a corner.

“At least I learned about the other members of the Great Royal Hunt in the Magaxon Forest,” Melifaro said, looking timidly at Juffin, as if calculating how close he could approach without risk to life and limb.

“Dead?” Juffin asked indifferently.

“Yep, all of them. Isn’t that what you expected?”

“Of course. Have the causes of death been established?”

“I don’t know. Their deaths appear to have been natural. No one suspected otherwise, or they would have turned to us.”

“Perhaps they turned to the police.”

“Yikes! What a dunderhead I am.” Melifaro clutched his head in mock despair. “Hold on.” He disappeared into the corridor again.

“Have you managed to find out what happened to your former friend, Shurf?” Juffin asked, drumming his fingers on the table.

Lonli-Lokli raised the hand encased in the enormous glove, giving us to understand that his conversation in Silent Speech was not yet over. Juffin shrugged in annoyance, but a moment later his curiosity was satisfied.

“Pafoota’s widow says it was an accident,” Lonli-Lokli said. “He had had a bit too much to drink at a family celebration, went to the bathroom, fell down the stairs, and broke his back. A rather stupid way to die, I’d say.”

“An accident, was it? This could be interesting,” Juffin said, growing more animated. “Well, let’s wait for Melifaro. He’ll tell us something. But I’m already starting to figure it out, I think.” He turned sharply to me. “What about you, Max? What do you think?”

“Many actual dead bodies, the former Junior Magicians of various Orders of Magic, comrades in the Great Royal Hunt in the Magaxon Forest—and among them, one imposter. He didn’t die first, and he didn’t die last. The causes of death didn’t raise any suspicions. The family grieves. Everything is as tight as a drum. Is this what you mean?”

“Precisely,” Juffin said. “What a mind you have—unbelievable! Hold your head high. It’s your right. You’ve already improved my mood considerably. Now do something about your own. You’ll need to soon enough. I want you to finish the job you began at the request of poor Shixola.”

“I do, too.”

I have to admit, I wasn’t sure that I was up to the task. But I’m never sure of my own abilities. Right then, though, I wasn’t in the least inclined to advertise my charming modesty and fish for compliments from Sir Juffin. Anyway, he always has plenty of them at hand at such moments. Hell, I myself was sure I had to close this case. Somehow.

“It’s good to know that you want to yourself. But Sir Shurf has some objections of a metaphysical nature, doesn’t he?”

“No,” Lonli-Lokli said evenly. “If you both think everything will be all right, I have no objections.”

“Go home, Max,” Juffin said. “Wash up, pack only the most indispensable things, and dress in something comfortable and inconspicuous. Oh, and don’t forget your talisman. There’s no guarantee that you’ll be sleeping at home tonight. Come back in two hours, no later. I’ll call Melamori. I hope she had time to rest. In any case, the sooner you can start the better.”

“Okay, I’ll be back in no time.”

I thought that someone sitting in the windowsill on the first floor of a building shouldn’t have to wander through the corridors and passageways looking for doors. So I just turned around, stuck my legs through the open window, and jumped down onto the mosaic sidewalk of the Street of Copper Pots. It was only three or four feet to the ground, but for some reason the jump affected me like an electric shock. The unpleasant sensation stopped almost immediately, but I was discombobulated in the extreme. It was as though I were observing from the outside how my feet took one step after the other. Time passed unbearably slowly, as if it took an eternity for me to execute these few little steps.

“Max!”

I turned around. Juffin appeared in the window and beckoned to me. I had to go back.

“My congratulations, wonder boy!”

“Meaning?” I stared at him, uncomprehending.

“It’s just that it’s impossible to pass through this window. You can’t enter through it, either. Did you really think there would be just an ordinary window in my office? Magicians only know what would crawl in! But you did it. So please accept my congratulations.”

“Why did you tell me that? Just so I’d know, or because you wanted to congratulate me?”

“Both. But the main thing is that it’s a good sign, Max. If you were able to jump onto the street through my window, I think you can be very confident that everything else will be just fine.”

“I am confident. I have no more strength to worry. Sometimes I feel that nothing more is left of me, so there’s nothing to worry with.”

“That’s a good state of mind to be in, lad,” Juffin said, winking at me. “Just the one you’ll need.”

“Excellent.”

I squeezed the semblance of smile out of myself and went to my amobiler. The boss was still following me with his eyes. The back of my head even started burning under his powerful gaze.