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you now you'll turn any money 1, give you into drink'. Go
now. We'll start on the second part of this an hour after
sunset."
After more nudging, Lob said, "We thought maybe we get
paid for the one thing, and then we do the other."
"I told you that I would pay you to bring the boy here.
And I will. And there will be more money when you help
me take him to the man who has commissioned me. But
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there will be no money at all unless everything is done as
I asked."
"Maybe we only do the one thing, " Lob said, "and not
the other."
"I would suggest it is dangerous to leave something unfinished
, " Dr. Dismas said. -
"I don't know if this is right, " Lud said. "We did what
you asked-"
Dr. Dismas said sharply, "When did I ask you to begin
the second part of your work?"
"Sunset, " Lob said in a sullen mumble.
"An hour after. Remember that. You will suffer as much
as I if the work is done badly. You failed the first time.
Don't fail again."
Lud said sulkily, "We got him for you, didn't weT
Lob added, "We would hive got him the other night, if
this old culler with a stick hadn't got in the way."
Yama stared at the brothers through the mesh of the cage.
They would not meet his eyes. He said, "You should allow
me to go. I will say you rescued me from the mob. I do not
know what Dr. Dismas promised, but my father will pay
double to have we safe."
Lud and Lob grinned, nudging each other in the ribs.
"Ain't he a corker, " Lud said. "Like a proper little
gentleman."
Lob belched, and his brother sniggered.
Yama turned to Dr. Dismas. "The same applies to you,
doctor.
My dear boy, I don't think the Aedile can afford
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my
price, " Dr. Dismas said. "I was happy in my home, with
my research and my books." He put a hand on his narrow
chest and sighed. He had six fingers, with long nails filed to
points. "All gone now, thanks to you. You owe me a great
deal, Yamamanama, and I intend to have my price in full. I
don't need the Aedile's charity."
Yama felt a queer mixture of excitement and fear. He was
convinced that Dr. Dismas had found his bloodline, if not his
family. "'Iben you really have found where I came from!
You have found my family-that is, my real family-"
"0, far better than that, " Dr. Dismas said, "but this is
not the time to talk about it."
Yama said, "I would know it now, whatever it is. I deserve
to know it."
Dr. Dismas said with sudden anger, "I'm no house servant,
boy, " and his hand flashed out and pinched a nerve in
Yama's elbow. Yama's head was filled with pain as pure as
light. He fell to his knees on the mesh floor of the cage, and
Dr. Dismas came around the table and caught Yama's chin
between long, stiff, cold fingers.
You are mine now, " he said, "and don't forget it." He
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turned to the twins. "Why are you two still here? You have
your orders."
"We'll be back tonight, " Lud said. "See you pay us
then."
"Of course, of course." Once the twins had gone, Dr.
Dismas said to Yama in a confiding tone, "Frankly, I would
rather work alone, but I could hardly move amongst the
crowd while everyone thought I was in the tower." He got
his hands under Yama's anus and hauled him up. "Please,
do sit. We are civilized men. There, that's better."
Yama, perched on the edge of the flimsy metal chair, simply
breathed for a while until the pain had retreated to a
warm throb in the muscles of his shoulder. At last he said,
"You knew the Aedile was going to arrest you."
Dr. Dismas resumed his seat on the other side of the little
table. As he screwed a cigarette into his bone holder, he said,
"Your father is a man who takes his responsibilities seriously
. Very properly, he confided his intentions to the Council
for Night and Shrines. One of them owed me a favor."
"If there is any problem between you and my father, I am
sure it can be worked out, but not while you hold me captive.
Once the fire in the tower bums out, they will look for a
body. When they do not find one, they will look for you.
And this is a small city."
Dr. Dismas blew a riffle of smoke toward the mesh ceiling
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of the cage. "How well Zakiel has taught you logic. It would
be a persuasive argument, except that they will find a body."
"Then you planned to Burn your tower all along, and you
should not blame me. I expect you removed your books before
you left." Dr.
Dismas did not deny this. He said, "How did you like
the display, by the way?"
"Some are convinced that you are a magician."
"There are no such creatures. Those who claim to be magicians
delude themselves as much as their clients. My little
pyrotechnic display was simply a few judiciously mixed salts
ignited by electric detonators when the circuit was closed by
some oaf stepping on a plate I'd hidden under a rug. No
more than a jape which any apprentice apothecary worthy of
the trade could produce, although perhaps not on such a grand
scale." Dr. Dismas pointed a long forefinger at Yama, who
stifled the impulse to flinch. "All this for you. You do owe
m
e, Yamamanama. The Child of the River, yes, but which
river, I wonder. Not our own Great River, I'm certain."
"You know about my fan-fily." Yama could notkeep the
eagerness from his voice. It was rising and bubbling inside
him-he wanted to laugh, to sing, to dance. "You know
about my bloodline."
Dr. Dismas reached into a pocket of his long coat and I
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drew out a handful of plastic straws. He rattled them together
in his long pale hands and cast them on the table. He was
making a decision by appealing to their random pattern;
t Yama had heard of this habit from Ananda, who had iported I
it in scandalized tones.
Yama said, "Are you deciding whether to tell me or not,
doctor?"
"You're a brave boy to ask after forbidden knowledge, so
you deserve some sort of answer." Dr. Dismas tapped ash
from his cigarette. "Oxen and camels, nilgai, ratites and
horses-all of them work under the lash, watched by boys
no older than you, or even younger, who are armed with no
more than fresh-cut withes to restrain their charges. How is
this? Because the art in those animals which yearns for
p
freedom has been broken and replaced by habit. No more
than a twitch of a stick is required to reinforce that habit;
even if those beasts were freed of their harness and their
burden, they would be too broken to realize that they could [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]