The Stranger (64 page)

BOOK: The Stranger

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The Transparent Gates of Jafax Castle, the Residence of the Order of the Seven-Leaf Clover, the Single and Most Beneficent, open only twice a day: at sunrise and sunset. Early in the morning they are opened for representatives of the Royal Court and other important people. And at dusk, shady characters like us make our way inside. People think that the Minor Secret Investigative Force is the most sinister organization in the Unified Kingdom, though an initiate knows this is absurd.

The Grand Magician of the Order of the Seven-Leaf Clover, Nuflin Moni Mak, was waiting for us in a dark, spacious hall. It was nearly impossible to make out his face in the thick gloom. Suddenly I realized he hadn’t had a face for a long time already. To be more precise, the old man had forgotten what his own face looked like, and therefore no one else was able to descry its features. I also understood that the Grand Magician himself had seen fit to convey this silent information to me.

“You can’t imagine what a great joy it is that I’ve been able to stay alive until your visit, gentlemen! And what do you know, stay alive I did, until this very day!”

Magician Nuflin’s voice witnessed to a venerable old age, but its jangling chords concealed such incredible power that I shrank from him. He sounded slightly mocking and thoroughly amiable. He seemed to feel no need to intimidate his guests—like anyone who truly knows his own power.

“Have you been under Juffin’s tutelage for a long time already?” Nuflin Moni Mak asked, staring at me in frank curiosity. “How do you like it, this apprenticeship? They say you’re doing quite well. No need to be shy around Old Man Nuflin, Max. You should either be terrified of me, or not fear me at all. The first alternative seems rather pointless—we’re not enemies. You don’t have to answer, just sit down and listen to what the wise old folks say. You can tell your grandchildren about it. But then again, you can’t possibly have any grandchildren at your age!”

I took the Grand Magician’s advice and sat down on a comfortable, low divan. My older colleagues followed suit.

“Juffin, you are fond of a good meal,” Nuflin remarked affably. “It’s a wonder you waited so long with this amendment. My boys are simply thrilled about it. They say the opposition will be forced to shut up for two hundred years or more. Some theoreticians they are! Kofa, you’re a wise man. Tell me honestly, have you ever seen this ‘opposition’? I don’t believe in it, myself. It’s a childish fancy. My boys think that without enemies Old Nuflin will get bored with life. Tell me, Kofa, have I got things all wrong?”

“You’re quite right,” the Master Eavesdropper affirmed. “If there is an opposition, it’s not in Echo. And if someone’s grumbling about something in some Landalanda—”

“Ooooh, we’re scared, aren’t we?” Nuflin interjected. “We don’t even know where to hide. Well, that’s enough of that. Juffin, tell me how your little plan is going to work, and let’s be done with it. By the way, your boy here hasn’t had a wink of sleep in more than twenty-four hours. Are you aware of that? You shouldn’t drive your people so hard. You always were such a mean fellow.”

“He’s driving himself, without any outside help,” the boss said with a grin. “As for the reforms, for every chef an Earring of Oxalla, the same as your novices have. And let them experiment in the kitchen with Forbidden Magic, whether black or white. Only up to the twentieth degree, of course. More than that is out of the question.”

“Oh, Juffin. Why would they need more? That’s all an honest person needs to make a great meal.”

“Yes. And at the same time we can be sure that they will never resolve to ask for more. Whatever else it may be, it’s an extra safety measure.”

“Why didn’t you say something sooner, Juffin? Were you waiting until I came up with the idea myself? They cook very well for me already. Who would have thought! Now everyone will be able to get a tasty meal, just like in the good old days! They’ll put up statues of us in front of every tavern! And young Gurig, too, so his nose won’t be out of joint.”

I followed the conversation with rapt attention, and while much of it was over my head, I was able to figure out that the Code of Krember would no longer prevent culinary masterpieces from seeing the light of day. This rather alarmed me. If I had been a terrible glutton until now, what would become of me under the new dispensation? What if I expanded to Boboota’s dimensions? Lady Melamori would fear me even more than she did already.

At a certain moment, I began to sense that there was another witness to our conversation—an invisible one. I even detected a familiar condescending chuckle. Was it possible that Maba Kalox’s curiosity extended to such pedestrian affairs? In any case, I knew only one person who was fond of being invisibly present at important events.

Magician Nuflin interrupted my musings.

“What do you think about all this, young man? Do you also like to eat well?”

“I do. True, you’ll never make a chef out of me. So my views on the subject completely coincide with those of Maba Kalox—it doesn’t matter where the food comes from, as long as it goes down well. Am I making myself clear?” I asked in a servile tone, fixing my gaze on a spot on the ceiling, from which Sir Maba seemed to be observing us.

Frankly speaking, this was a joke meant especially for Sir Juffin Hully. I thought my boss would pick up on the allusion, and that the others wouldn’t notice it at all. Instead, all three of them began staring at me like amateur botanists examining a rare carnivorous plant—in horror mixed with ecstasy.

“Oh, Juffin,” the Grand Magician exclaimed, breaking the silence. “What a nose your boy has! To sniff out the old rascal Maba—who would have thought? Where did you find him?”

“About where we buried Loiso Pondoxo in his time. A place even more remote, though.”

“What can I say Juffin—he’s worth his weight in gold!”

I instinctively sensed that the Grand Magician was staring at me again. I won’t say I was entirely happy about this, but I tolerated it patiently. Nuflin watched me intently for a time, and then began to speak again.

“Young man, ask that sly old fox Juffin when the last time was that old Nuflin was taken by surprise. Well, you don’t even have to ask him. If I don’t remember, he won’t remember either. But if someone asks you, you can tell him that old Nuflin was very surprised on the evening of the third day of the year 116 of the Code Epoch. And that would be the truth, because I was surprised today! What can I do for you, my boy? It’s better to say thank you right away for something like this, and not regret it later.”

I was completely stunned by what had just happened, but I decided that I shouldn’t explain or excuse myself. If Grand Magician Nuflin Moni Mak thought I was a genius—well, so be it! I was embarrassed, though Juffin looked pleased. And I did have a request.

“If you really want to make me happy, it’s all in your power,” I said, making an effort to be deferential, although this didn’t really seem necessary.

“Oy vey, Max, I already know that everything is in my power without you telling me so,” the old man said with a grin. “Just give it to me straight.”

“Please allow me to wear my regular clothes. Not when I’m on duty, of course, but in my free time.” I fiddled demonstratively with the hem of my black and gold Mantle of Death. “It’s crucial that I wear it at work, and it is truly very beautiful. But sometimes I just want to go unnoticed, to have a rest from people’s stares. All the more since it turns out that I don’t have to be angry or frightened to be poisonous. Experience has shown that this ability is always present in me. You needn’t be afraid of upsetting me, though. I’m very even-tempered when I keep myself in check.”

“Who would have suspected—such a good boy, and so lethal!” Nuflin exclaimed gaily.

“Thank Magician Maxlilgl Annox for that,” Juffin said, smiling. “Do you remember him?”

“How could I forget? Such a small fellow, and so serious. So he’s the one who presented you with that gift, Max? How wise of him—to do something of benefit to someone in the end. So, Juffin, does he speak the truth? Does he really have such a poisonous mouth? And is it possible to work with him even when he’s being kind?”

“Max isn’t wise enough to begin lying to you. Perhaps in about three hundred years . . .”

“Oy, Praise to the Heavens, I refuse to live that long! Here’s what I would say to you, Max. When you’re not working, dress however you please. And keep in mind that you’ll be in my debt for this favor! It’s not every day that old Nuflin changes established tradition.”

“I can’t tell you how grateful I am to you!”

I was elated. I had been granted freedom—the priceless freedom of being a person no one notices. I would be able to chat with pretty tavernkeepers, share my tobacco with nice old men, make friends with stray dogs. What else do you need to be happy?

“When you get older, you’ll understand that it’s not all these other silly people who need the Mantle of Death, but you yourself,” the Grand Magician said meaningfully. “Think about wise old Nuflin then! The Mantle of Death, like the Mantle of the Grand Magician, is a good way of saying no to the World. Other people have their own lives, and you have yours, independent of anyone else. Just don’t protest, saying you don’t want to say no to this World! Come to me again in about five hundred years, and let me hear what kind of tune you’ll be singing then.”

It seemed the old man had blithely forgotten his own recent promise not to live another three hundred years. Or did he believe he could still receive visitors after his demise? But who in the World knows what he’ll be able to do after death?

“I won’t take up any more of your valuable time, Nuflin,” Sir Juffin said, standing up. “I remember how trying you find visitors, even such worthy visitors as ourselves.”

“Now don’t sell yourself short, Juffin. For all I know, you just want to go get something to eat . . . and rake my old bones over the coals! You think I’ll try to stop you? Or invite you to dine with me? Well, then, you don’t know me very well yet! Take yourselves off to your
Glutton
. And you, get a good night’s sleep, boy. You’ll be needing it.”

Sinning Magicians, what did he mean by that?

We left Jafax via an underground passage that connected the castle to the House by the Bridge. I learned that this was a very important part of the ritual: one must enter the Residence of the Order of the Seven-Leaf Clover in plain view, but leave this sacred place in secret, through one’s own previously arranged exit. The services of a guide are not offered to guests, and they won’t even consider unlocking the gates for them.

“And who is this Loiso Pondoxo you buried who-knows-where?” I asked when we had crossed the threshold.

“Ah, Loiso, Grand Magician of that same Order of the Watery Crow—the name of which was such a source of amusement to you. Listen, go get some sleep, hero,” Juffin said with a wink. “Some Nocturnal Representative you are! You’re practically asleep on your feet. All the same, Sir Kofa and I will be working all night.”

“Working on such a sacred task is no chore,” Sir Kofa announced, nodding solemnly. “My congratulations, Juffin! It was so easy for you to push through those changes in the Code. You know how to wrap the old man around your little finger.”

“It’s a good thing I was the one to do it. Imagine what would happen to the World if someone else were able to do the same!”

“Horrors! Do as Juffin says, Max. Go to bed. You aren’t up to making any sense, anyway.”

I didn’t object. Making sense was a fairly remote prospect just now.