Cloud Castles (42 page)

My visitor sipped his coffee and smiled. ‘Mr Fisher, you don’t need to answer it, not outright. The fact is that I’ve come here to offer you just such a venture. Our prospectus …’ He reached into his briefcase, pulled out a neat-looking morocco binder and laid it gently on my desk. ‘You’re very welcome to read it now, if you can spare the time, and while I’m here to answer any immediate questions you may have. But be warned, you may be surprised at our longer-term planning; and the fact that some of it already involves yourself.’

‘What?’

‘We have assumed that because we didn’t dare assume anything else. Before you judge us, please read to the end.’

I treated him to my most suspicious frown as I picked up the folder and opened it. My hair prickled, my heart gave that leaping extra breathless beat. There at the head of the first page, embossed on the heavy cream paper, the emblem of a dove flew above two graceful – and suddenly very familiar – towers.

I read that page, and the next, and the next, with eyes widening and astonishment building. I glared at my visitor over the top of it. ‘So this – all of this – is something you
planned?’
Astonishment vanished under growing fury. ‘Are you trying to tell me you – you sacrificed all these people in some half-baked bloody—’

‘No, no, no,’ he said, a little irritated. ‘I did ask you to read on. We knew something was stirring, yes – call it a hostile takeover bid. In a sense, it was remembered – though over a gulf you really couldn’t imagine – but only in the most general terms, so we had to evolve a general plan, a broad strategy to cover as many instances as possible. But Le Stryge’s secrets were never quite as secret as he liked to think. He was following a trail; we followed it in both directions, the way he’d come, the way he was going. Either way, at either end, there was you. It was clear that you were going to be involved, though at that time
we had no idea why; so we kept on searching, and we were both surprised and appalled when we found out, and realized the significance of your name. It required us, at so many stages, to have faith in you, in what you could do. We had no idea who Le Stryge’s master was, or Baron von Amerningen’s when he became involved – or even that it was the same power.’ He grinned briefly. ‘Or that Alison would take such a fancy to you when we prompted her to keep an eye on you, a fancy, of course, that she resented like hell because she thought you were the same sort as the late Baron. We’re not gods or tyrants – we don’t confine the human heart, or compel it. It’s a fearful handicap when dealing with adversaries who do – but, then, it’s one of the chiefest things that set us apart from them. Some of them started with the best intentions, but—’

I nodded. ‘I can guess. Means determine ends. Absolute power corrupts—’

‘Absolutely. So we couldn’t map everything out neatly; we had to narrow it down to definitions, and provide for them. It was inevitable some attempt would be made to steal the Spear, using you, and that an assault to steal the Graal would follow; we couldn’t stop that. We had several possible definitions of success in varying degrees: you never took the Spear; we got it back without you; you got it back without trouble; you got it back
with
trouble, before it got into enemy territory. Any of those, and the assault on the Heilenberg never coming. We had one ultimate failure standard – the Spear and the Graal both taken and reaching our enemy.’

‘God!’ I slumped back, feeling the blood leave my cheeks. ‘Was it that close, after all?’

The tall man’s face grew sombre. ‘It was. But it was also our ultimate standard of success – getting the source of our power into the enemy camp. Provided, that is, you were there to do the necessary, namely retrieve one or the other and let fly. If you hadn’t come through we’d have been sunk. And if we’d tried to direct you somehow we might have cramped your style, fatally. That’s why we didn’t dare say anything, one way or another, when you asked for guidance. So in the
end all we could do was try to see that if Spear or Graal did reach the enemy, so would you, with the knowledge you needed to use them. Knowledge that wouldn’t make sense till the time came, yet would stick in your mind.’ He grinned again. ‘So it kept popping up on your computers. Irritating as hell, wasn’t it?’

I bridled. ‘Too damn right! But me – why all this on
me?’

‘Because you were there. Because of your name. Because only you could do it.’

‘That’s a load of – that’s rubbish. A lot of people did it. Alison, Jyp, Mall – Katjka. Her especially. What about her? Did your plan involve compelling her?’

He looked sombre. ‘No. She chose. She knew what was coming, and she chose it, to wipe out a past that wouldn’t leave her. Remember those extra cards that seemed to deal themselves? She was warned, and she chose. True, she did a lot to aid you. But even without her you’d have managed. Differently, but you would have. The same with your friend Jyp. He played an important part, but there were other ways to get through – the pentacle at Baron von Amerningen’s, for example. And other ways of launching an assault than by recalling the Graal Knights. There was no way to know which would work. We had to trust you.’

I was rapidly getting furious with this urbane creature. ‘I wish I’d had your bloody confidence! You used me, you son of a bitch! You used my friends, you threw them away the way you throw away those Knights of yours! Okay for them, maybe, they’ve chosen to serve. But I never got the chance to choose, did I? So let’s just run that one by again.
Why me?’

‘Because you’re special.’ He sipped at his coffee, and reached for a biscuit I’d forgotten to offer him. ‘Excellent. Because Le Stryge did do something clever, in ferreting you out. His mind was blinkered by its own narrowness, of course. He only saw how you could be of use to him; but we saw in you the germ of a greater success than just restoring the
status quo ante bellum.
He told you about your ancestry, didn’t he?’

‘You mean that I’m descended from a Frankish princess’s little mistake? Yes. What’s that got to do with the price of tomatoes?’

‘Is that all he thought of it? She was one of Charlemagne’s daughters, man, the first Holy Roman Emperor, the first king to unify any part of Europe, however sketchily, since the Romans. And incidentally, the last reigning monarch who was also the Graal King.’

‘What?’

‘Oh, yes. A rather rough and rumbustious character, but a genius in his way. You have to make allowances. Late in life he even tried to learn to read. That was fearfully
progressive for those days. And you’re a direct descendant, via a line of sturdy peasantry in Germany, France and England, mostly the richer sort. There’s a good gene for making money somewhere in that line.’

I sat back. ‘I see. And – what? I’m sort of a favourite nephew, am I? That was why I could touch that bloody Spear without being incinerated?’

‘That’s right. That’s why Le Stryge thought he could use you. Actually we wouldn’t seriously hurt anyone who didn’t deserve it, but we don’t advertise that. It’s better to seem untouchable. People are people; there’s always some treason, especially when we don’t have a king to interpret for us. It’s hard to love just a cup and a spear.’

I shook my head. ‘Then why take that shape? Why not appear as you’re appearing now, a sort of smug father-figure wolfing bloody chocolate biscuits? Always good for a friendly chat, the chocolate biscuits …’

He contemplated one of them a little sadly, and bit into it again. ‘Would that we could. I told you you were exceptional. It’s a long time since we were in any shape to appear to anyone. Out by the Rim things get a little … refined, would you say?’

‘How the hell would I know? I’ve never been there.’

‘You will, one day. If you’re the right sort you gain … rather a lot. But you lose a lot of other things, too. We had bodies once, very good ones. They lasted rather longer than you might expect, and even then we kept them around for occasional use, poor old threadbare things. But they wouldn’t fit us very well any more. They’d cramp our style; and we’re not as … individual as we once were. We can only maintain the barest toehold in the material; and even that has to reflect different forces at work within us. The Cup and the Spear were convenient symbols for the first men, easy to understand; and we’ve never really improved on them. A syringe and a phial? A Kalashnikov rifle and a TV set? Hardly as compelling. And they don’t express so succinctly just what we’re capable of – in our opposing states. Think of them as poles together and poles apart, if you want. Apart, thrusting strength and deep knowledge, war and peace, defence and consolidation, wounding and
healing. Together …’ he chuckled, ‘well, let’s call it creative friction. It’s a potent symbol everyone responds to, the primitive mind and the modern, even if they don’t wholly understand. Opposites working together instead of apart; and conceiving something new.’

‘Yes, but what’s the point?’

‘The point is that it provides a simplified way of directing some of our power – power even you could never normally handle, because you can’t imagine it. Your mind literally can’t conceive of its origins or its action. But equally we who possess it don’t have a clear enough view of the more material world, so—’

I snapped my fingers. ‘So – you delegate?’

He grinned again. ‘Yes. Sound management practice, isn’t it? We choose someone we know can be trusted, and let him – or her! – direct it through the symbolic intermediary of the Graal and the Spear, and through rites which have many layers of psychological meaning. That speak directly to the inner self, as clearly to a Cro-Magnon shaman as they do to you, today.’

I looked at him, astonished. ‘To—’

‘Oh, yes. That’s why having a king makes such a difference. When the Graal has one it’s strong, and when there isn’t one it’s weakened; so much of its power it just doesn’t dare to wield. And the trouble is that these types don’t grow on trees – individuals with the leadership, the responsibility, the sense of adventure and the ability to carry it through … In short, Mr Fisher – call it corporate recruitment if you’d rather, but the fact is, I’ve come here to headhunt you.’

I almost laughed aloud at the sudden return of business jargon. ‘Away from companies that are my first loyalty and my creation?’

‘From companies that need your loyalty and creativity no longer, to one that does. Desperately, if I may say so, Mr Fisher. We believe that somebody like you is our only chance, not only of success but of survival itself. And in this present generation we can find few in any way like you, and no one person at all.’

That made me blink again. ‘I’m sure you’re overstating things.’

He steepled his fingers, which annoyed me because I was just about to. ‘I am not. Even among those who live long lifetimes on the Spiral, they’re rare; because most people do not grow as they live, but become only more intensely what they are.’

‘Like Jyp, yes – from a good navigator to something like the ultimate.’

‘Not quite that; but yes, the principle holds. Or Mall, even, who has progressed so far and will
go further, yet is a leader only when she has to be, and doesn’t enjoy it. Our chosen few must be leaders from the beginning, but other things as well. We haven’t any easy way of finding such people, even of shortlisting candidates. We can’t choose by heredity – though when we do find one there’s almost always a clear blood link of some kind. The right mix seems to be a little heredity, a dash of environment and a lot of shuffling the pack – of genes, of destiny, of whatever. But fortunately such people very often gravitate to us. And when we see them, we know them. We knew you.’

I drew a deep breath. ‘And … it seems to me that I know you.’

That grin again, only it wasn’t quite the same. For an instant he looked like somebody else altogether. ‘Ah, you do. A bit already, but you’ll get to know us better yet.’

‘If I say yes?’

‘You don’t need to.’

I exploded. ‘You arrogant SOB! What right have you got to take me for granted? To think that you know what I’m going to say?’

My visitor stood up. ‘None, and we don’t. It’s just that circumstances are rather unusual. You’ll understand.’ His eyes narrowed for a moment in an enigmatic smile I’d seen before somewhere; but not on anyone who looked like him. ‘I’m afraid we know that, too. Remember it, I should say; but the pain is, our memories are very faint, by now. Inevitable, when we have so many others; and that’s not the only complication. But I’d better be going now, before I annoy you any further.’ He glanced around. ‘I enjoyed our little talk, and just being here. It brings so much back to me. I remember you used to be – well, let’s say a bit of a cold fish. It’s good to see you’ve outgrown it already.’

‘Now wait a minute,’ I said, leaping to my feet. ‘I? What’s happened to
“we”?
I’m going to need to know a damn sight more—’

‘It’s all in the prospectus,’ he said reassuringly. ‘Set out fair and square with the minimum of jargon and even less sales talk. Just the way you like these things done. Just sit and read it, take all the time you like.’

‘Like hell!’ I barked, looking around
wildly. ‘My friends – I’ve got to get back to them!’

He shook his head. ‘No problem … really. You could take all day, and still go back to them as you left them, not a half second later.’

‘But … who are you?’ I breathed. ‘What are you? And … why?’

‘Ah,’ he said, a little glumly. ‘Hardest ones last, eh? Well, as to the last, we’re not a hundred per cent sure ourselves. And maybe not about the one before, either. Off-hand I’d say it all depends on whether you see us as a stone or as a chalice. As a power from within man, or from outside.’

‘How do you see yourselves? Which are you, really?’

He whistled softly. ‘Wow! We’ve been chewing over that one, researching it and arguing about it for time that – well, has no meaning. We’ve never found out, not for sure. All the answers we’ve ever found turned out to be just more questions, when we looked a mite closer. This I’ll say for sure, that all the powers we’ve ever met, and they’re legion, they’ve had their roots in humankind. Whatever they were, however far they’d travelled, however remote they and their concerns might seem, once they’d all of them lived and walked as you do. And they knew no more of the answer than we do. What we have found, though, is that it makes no difference.’