The Wise Man's Fear Part 128

Devi c.o.c.ked her head to the side.

I gestured at the bookshelves, the large velvet-curtained bed, at Devi herself. I'd never noticed before, but while her clothes weren't fancy, the cut and cloth were fine as any n.o.ble's.

"This doesn't have anything to do with money," I repeated. I looked at her books. Her collection had to be worth five hundred talents if it was worth a penny. "You use the money as bait. You lend it out to desperate folks who might be useful to you, then hope they can't pay you back. Your real business is favors."

Devi chuckled a bit. "Money is nice," she said, her eyes glittering. "But the world is full of things that people would never sell. Favors and obligation are worth far, far more."

I looked down at the nine talents gleaming on her desk. "You don't have a minimum loan amount, do you?" I asked, already knowing the answer. "You just told me that so I'd be forced to borrow more. You were hoping I'd dig myself a hole too deep and not be able to pay you back."

Devi smiled brightly. "Welcome to the game," she said as she began to pick up the coins. "Thanks for playing."

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED FORTY-FOUR.

Sword and Shaed WITH MY PURSE FULL to bursting and Alveron's letter of credit a.s.suring my tuition, my winter term was carefree as a walk in the garden.

It was strange not having to live like a miser. I had clothes that fit me and could afford to have them laundered. I could have coffee or chocolate whenever I wanted. I no longer needed to toil endlessly in the Fishery and could spend time tinkering simply to satisfy my curiosity or pursue projects simply for the joy of it.

After almost a year away, it took me a while to settle back into the University. It felt odd not wearing a sword after all this time. But such things were frowned on here, and I knew it would cause more trouble than it was worth.

At first I left Caesura in my rooms. But I knew better than anyone how easy it would be to break in and steal it. The drop bar would only keep away a very genteel thief. A more pragmatic one could simply break my window and be gone in less than a minute. Since the sword was quite literally irreplaceable, and I'd made promises to keep it safe, it wasn't long before I moved it to a hiding place in the Underthing.

My shaed was easier to keep at hand, as I was able to change its shape with a little work. These days it only rarely billowed on its own. More commonly it refused to move as much as the gusting wind seemed to demand. You'd think people would notice such things, but they didn't. Even Wilem and Simmon, who teased me about my fondness for it, never marked my cloak as anything more than an exceptionally versatile piece of clothing.

In fact, Elodin was the only one to notice anything out of the ordinary about it. "What's this?" he exclaimed when we crossed paths in a small courtyard outside Mains. "How did you come to be enshaedn?"

"I beg your pardon?" I asked.

"Your cloak, boy. Your turning cape. How in G.o.d's sweet grace did you tumble onto a shaed?" He mistook my surprise for ignorance. "Don't you know what you're wearing?"

"I know what it is," I said. "I'm just surprised that you do."

He gave me an insulted look. "I wouldn't be much of a namer if I couldn't spot a faerie cloak a dozen feet away." He took a corner of it between his fingers. "Oh, that's just lovely. Here's a piece of old magic man rarely lays a finger on."

"It's new magic, actually," I said.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

When it became obvious my explanation involved a long story, Elodin led us into a small, cozy pub I'd never seen before. I hesitate to call it a pub at all, actually. It wasn't full of chattering students and the smell of beer. It was dim and quiet with a low ceiling and scattered cl.u.s.ters of deep, comfortable chairs. It smelled of leather and old wine.

We sat near a warm radiator and sipped mulled cider while I told him the whole story of my unintentional trip into the Fae. It was a wonderful relief. I hadn't been able to tell anyone yet for fear of being laughed out of the University.

Elodin proved to be a surprisingly attentive audience and was especially interested in the fight Felurian and I had had when she had tried to bend me to her will. After I'd finished the story, he peppered me with questions. Could I remember what I'd said to call the wind? How had it felt? The strange wakefulness I described, was it more like being drunk, or more like going into shock?

I answered as best I could, and eventually he leaned back in his chair, nodding to himself. "It's a good sign when a student goes chasing the wind and catches it," he said approvingly. "That's twice you've called it now. It can only get easier."

"Three times, actually," I said. "I found it again when I was off in Ademre."

He laughed. "You chased it to the edge of the map!" he said, making a broad motion with his splayed left hand. Stunned, I realized it was Adem hand-talk for amazed respect amazed respect. "How did it feel? Do you think you could find its name again if you had need of it?"

I concentrated, trying to nudge my mind into Spinning Leaf. It had been a month and a thousand miles since I'd tried, and it was hard to tip my mind into that strange, tumbling emptiness.

Eventually I managed it. I looked around the small room, hoping to see the name of the wind like a familiar friend. But there was nothing there except dust motes swirling in a beam of sunlight that slanted through a window.

"Well?" Elodin asked. "Could you call it if you needed to?"

I hesitated. "Maybe."

Elodin nodded as if he understood. "But probably not if someone were to ask you to?"

I nodded, more than a little disappointed.

"Don't be discouraged. It will give us something to work toward." He grinned happily and clapped me on the back. "But I think there's more to your story than you realize. You called more than the wind. From what you've said, I believe you called Felurian's name itself."

I thought back. My memories of my time in the Fae were oddly patchy, none more than my confrontation with Felurian, which had an odd, almost dreamlike quality to it. When I tried to remember it in detail, it almost seemed as if it had happened to another person. "I suppose it's possible."

"It's more than possible," he a.s.sured me. "I doubt a creature as old and powerful as Felurian could be subdued with nothing more than wind. Not to belittle your accomplishment," he hurried to add. "Calling the wind is more than one student in a thousand ever manages. But calling the name of a living thing, let alone one of the Fae ..." He raised his eyebrows at me. "That's a horse of a different color."

"Why would a person's name be so much different?" I asked, then answered my own question. "The complexity."

"Exactly," he said. My understanding seemed to excite him. "To name a thing you must understand it entire. A stone or a piece of wind is difficult enough. A person ..." He trailed off significantly.

"I couldn't claim to understand Felurian," I said.

"Some part of you did," he insisted. "Your sleeping mind. A rare thing indeed. If you'd known how difficult it was, you never would have stood a chance of doing it."

Since poverty no longer forced me to work endless hours in the Fishery, I was free to study more broadly than ever before. I continued my usual cla.s.ses in sympathy, medicine, and artificing, then added chemistry, herbology, and comparative female anatomy.

My curiosity had been p.r.i.c.ked by my encounter with the Lockless box, and I attempted to learn something about Yllish story knots. But I quickly discovered most books on Yll were historical, not linguistic, and gave no information as to how I might actually read a knot.

So I scoured the Dead Ledgers and discovered a single shelf of disused books concerning Yll in one of the unpleasant, low-ceilinged sections of the lower bas.e.m.e.nts. Then, while looking for a place to sit and read, I discovered a small room tucked behind a piece of jutting shelving.

It wasn't a reading hole as I suspected. Inside were hundreds of large wooden spools wound about with knotted string. They weren't books, precisely, but they were the Yllish equivalent. A thin layer of dust covered everything, and I doubted anyone had been in the room for decades.

I have a vast weakness for secret things. But I quickly found that reading the knots was impossible without first understanding Yllish. There were no cla.s.ses on the subject, and asking around revealed none of Master Linguist's gillers knew more than a scattering of words.

I wasn't terribly surprised, considering Yll had been nearly ground to dust under the iron boots of the Aturan Empire. The piece that remained today was populated mostly by sheep. And if you stood in the middle of the country, you could throw a stone across the border. Still, it was a disappointing end to my search.

Then, several days later, Master Linguist summoned me to his office. He'd heard that I'd been making inquiries, and he happened to speak Yllish rather well. He offered to tutor me personally, and I gladly took him up on his offer.

Since I'd come to the University, I'd only seen Master Linguist during admissions interviews and when I was brought up on the horns for disciplinary reasons. Acting as Chancellor, he was rather grim and formal. But when he wasn't sitting in the Chancellor's chair, Master Herma was a surprisingly deft and gentle teacher. He was witty with a surprisingly irreverent sense of humor. The first time he told me a dirty joke, you could have knocked me over with a feather.

Elodin wasn't teaching a cla.s.s this term, but I began to study naming privately under his direction. It went more smoothly now that I understood there was a method to his madness.

Count Threpe was overjoyed to find me alive and threw a resurrection party where I was proudly displayed to the local n.o.bility. I had a suit of clothes tailored specifically for the event, and in a fit of nostalgia I chose to have them done in the colors my old troupe had worn: the green and grey of Lord Greyfallow's men.

After the party, over a bottle of wine in his sitting room, I told Threpe of my adventures. I left off the story of Felurian, as I knew he wouldn't believe it. And I couldn't tell him half of what I'd done in the Maer's service. Consequently, Threpe thought Alveron had been quite generous in rewarding me. I didn't argue the point.

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED FORTY-FIVE.

Stories AMBROSE HAD BEEN BLESSEDLY absent during the winter term, but when spring arrived he came back to roost like some sort of hateful, migratory bird. By no coincidence, the day after he returned, I skipped all my cla.s.ses and spent the entire day making myself a new gram.

As soon as the snow melted and the ground grew firm again, I resumed my practice of the Ketan. Remembering how odd it had looked when I'd first seen it, I did this in the privacy of the forest north of the University.

With spring term came a new round of admissions. I showed up for my interview with a profound hangover and fumbled a few questions. My tuition was set at eighteen talents and five, earning me four talents and change from the Bursar.

Sales of the Bloodless had slackened over the winter, as there were fewer merchants visiting the University. But once snows melted and roads grew dry, the handful that had acc.u.mulated in the Stocks sold quickly, bringing me another six talents.

I was unused to having so much money at my disposal, and I'll admit I went a little mad with it. I owned six suits of clothes that fit me and had all the paper I could use. I bought fine, dark ink from Arueh and purchased my own set of engraving tools. I had two pairs of shoes. Two Two.

I found an ancient, ragged Yllish dictum buried in a bookstore in Imre. Full of drawings of knots, the bookstore owner thought it was a sailor's journal and I bought it for a mere talent and a half. Not long after I bought a copy of The Heroborica, The Heroborica, then added a copy of then added a copy of Termigus Techina Termigus Techina I could use as a reference while designing schema in the privacy of my own room. I could use as a reference while designing schema in the privacy of my own room.

I bought dinner for my friends. Auri had new dresses and bright ribbons for her hair. All this and still money in my purse. How odd. How wonderful.

Toward the middle of the term I began to hear familiar stories. Stories about a certain red-haired adventurer who had spent the night with Felurian. Stories of a dashing young arcanist with all the powers of Taborlin the Great. It had taken months, but my exploits in Vintas had finally pa.s.sed their way from mouth to ear all the long miles back to the University.

It may be true that when I finally became aware of these stories I lengthened my shaed a bit and wore it more often than before. It might also be the case that I spent a shameful amount of time in alehouses over the next several span, lurking quietly, listening to stories. I might even have gone so far as to offer a suggestion or two.

I was young, after all, and it was only natural for me to delight in my notoriety. I thought it would fade in time. Why shouldn't I revel a bit in the sidelong glances my fellow students made? Why not enjoy it while it lasted?

Many of the stories centered around me hunting bandits and rescuing young girls. But none of them came terribly close to the truth. No story can move a thousand miles by word of mouth and keep its shape.

While the details differed, most of them followed a familiar thread: young women were in need of rescuing. Sometimes a n.o.bleman hired me. Sometimes it was a concerned father, a distraught mayor, or a b.u.mbling constable.

Most of the time I saved a pair of girls. Sometimes only one, sometimes there were three. They were best friends. They were mother and daughter. I heard one story where there were seven of them, all sisters, all beautiful princesses, all virgins. You know that sort of story.

There was a great deal of variety as to who exactly I was rescuing the girls from. Bandits were fairly common, but there were also wicked uncles, stepmothers, and shamble-men. One story, in an odd twist, had me rescuing them from Adem mercenaries. There was even an ogre or two.

While I did occasionally rescue the girls from a troupe of traveling players, I'm proud to say I never heard a story where they were kidnapped by the Edema Ruh.

The story generally had one of two endings. In the first I leapt to the battle like Prince Gallant and fought sword on sword until everyone was dead, fled, or appropriately repentant. The second ending was more popular. It involved me calling down fire and lightning from the sky after the fashion of Taborlin the Great.

In my favorite version of the story, I met a helpful tinker on the road. I shared my dinner, and he told me of two children stolen from a nearby farm. Before I left, he sold me an egg, three iron nails, and a shabby cloak that could render me invisible. I used the items and my considerable wit to save the children from the clutches of a cunning, hungry trow.

But while there were many versions of that tale, the story of Felurian was more popular by far. The song I'd written had made the journey west as well. And since songs hold their shape better than stories, the details about my encounter with Felurian were moderately close to the truth.

When Wil and Sim pressed me for details, I told them the whole story. It took me a while to convince them I was telling the truth. Rather, it took me a while to convince Sim. For some reason,Wil was perfectly willing to accept the existence of the Fae.

I didn't blame Sim. Until I saw her, I would have bet solid money Felurian didn't exist. It's one thing to enjoy a story, but it's quite another to take it for the truth.

"The real question," Sim said thoughtfully, "is how old you really are."

"I know that one," Wilem said with the somber pride of someone desperately pretending to not be drunk. "Seventeen."

"Ahhhh ..." Sim held up a finger dramatically. "You'd think so, wouldn't you?"

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

Sim leaned forward in his chair. "You went into the Fae, spent some time there, then came out to discover only three days had pa.s.sed," Sim said. "Does that mean you're only three days older? Or did you age while you were there?"

I was quiet for a moment. "I hadn't thought of that," I admitted.

"In stories," Wilem said, "boys go into Fae and return as men. That implies one grows older."

"If you're going to go by stories," Sim said.

"What else?" Wil asked. "Will you consult Marlock's Compendium of Fae Phenomenon? Marlock's Compendium of Fae Phenomenon? Find me such a book, and I will reference it." Find me such a book, and I will reference it."

Sim gave an agreeable shrug.

"So," Wil said, turning to me. "How long were you there?"

"That's hard to figure," I said. "There wasn't any day or night. And my memories are a bit odd." I thought for a long moment. "We talked, swam, ate dozens upon dozens of times, explored a bit. And, well ..." I paused to clear my throat meaningfully.

"Cavorted," suggested Wil.

"Thank you. And cavorted quite a bit as well." I counted the skills Felurian had taught me, and then figured she couldn't have taught me more than two or three a day... .

"It was at least a couple months," I said. "I shaved once, or was it twice? Time enough for me to grow a bit of a beard."

Wil rolled his eyes at this, running his hand over his own dark Cealdish beard.

"Nothing like your marvelous facebear," I said. "Still, mine grew out at least two or three times."

"So at least two months," Sim said. "But how long could it have been?"

"Three months?" How many stories had we shared? "Four or five months?" I thought of how slowly we'd had to move my shaed from starlight to moonlight to firelight. "A year?" I thought about the wretched time I'd spent recovering from my encounter with the Cthaeh. "I'm sure it couldn't have been more than a year... ." My voice didn't sound nearly as convincing as I would have liked.

Wilem raised an eyebrow. "Well then, happy birthday." He lifted his gla.s.s to me. "Or birthdays, depending."