The Stranger's Magic: The Labyrinths of Echo: Book Three (33 page)

“Really?” I said. “Talk about charisma.”

“I beg your pardon?” The Tasherian blinked.

“Oh, I’m always talking nonsense. Sorry. I just meant that the fellow has an uncanny way of charming others and wrapping them around his little finger.”

“I guess you’re right,” said Giatta, wiping his forehead. “You can’t imagine how strong was my sudden urge to go on that accursed voyage! I completely lost my head.
I’m so thankful that you started to ask me questions and made me remember so many details. I think I should go home, sleep two dozen hours, and not stick my head out until his Tobindona
weighs anchor.”

“Tobindona?” I said. “Strange name. Is it a woman’s name?”

“No, it’s some kind of exotic plant,” said the captain.

“A plant you say? Oh, well, to Magicians with that plant. I just repeated the name so as not to forget it. Maybe everything’s all right, and you just met a great guy with a great
gift of persuasion, and grabbed your first opportunity to get out because you’ve stayed here too long. That’s not impossible. Yet I want to make sure you weren’t the victim of
some spell because spells are my specialty. I would be sad if I missed my chance to meet this guy. When did you say he was about to set off?”

“He told us to arrive tomorrow at dusk,” said Giatta, “and I think he’s casting off an hour after that.”

“Wait, there were other takers besides yourself, then?”

“Of course. About two dozen more people listened to his speech, and all of them were willing to be employed on the Tobindona.”

“All of them? Well, well. And how did you meet him?”

“There’s a little square in the Port Quarter. It doesn’t even have a name, or perhaps it was forgotten long ago since nobody needs it—everyone knows the place. Sailors
come there looking for a job, captains looking for a crew, and plain bored old geezers come there to chat with their younger colleagues. You know how it is.”

“More or less.”

“Well, I came because I wanted to hire help for the coming year. It’s been too much work for me to handle alone recently, so I was looking for a sailor who’d stand in for me on the Old Maid. I saw a group of people gathered around some gentleman, so I approached them to listen to what they were talking about. I ended
up signing on to his crew, instead of . . .” Captain Giatta made a helpless gesture and fell silent.

“Okay, put it out of your mind,” I said. “If you had come to your senses somewhere around Tuto Islands, despair would have been in order. What’s your brilliant
orator’s name again?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t even ask him.” Captain Giatta was no longer surprised at his own absentmindedness. I think he was beginning to get mad, although I wasn’t
sure at whom. Not at me, I hoped.

“Captain, go home and get some sleep,” I said. “All’s well that ends well. And you know what? I don’t think you should venture out tomorrow. Just to be on the safe
side. What if that was a spell? Wait until the Tobindona casts off—did I get that name right?”

“You did.”

“Good. So you are supposed to meet tomorrow at dusk. Where exactly? The port is a large place,” I said.

“At the end of the Main Pier of the Right Bank. That’s where the Tobindona is docked,” said Giatta.

“Thank you, Giatta. I think I’ll find it. Well, good night, and don’t hesitate to send me a call if your plans suddenly change once again. It’s not a good idea to fight
spells alone. I know this from personal experience.”

Captain Giatta went home, and I fell into deep thought. At first I thought I should go to the port right away and get to the bottom of this Tobindona case, but soon I realized that wasn’t
the best idea. I doubted I was capable of finding anything quickly in the dark alleyways and nooks of the Capital’s port. Worse, I could get lost there. I couldn’t tell a karuna from a
banf, and I knew next to nothing about anything that had to do with the sea or navigation. True, I thought, that might not be necessary in this case, but . . . Exactly: but.

If I wanted to go to the port, I needed help from Sir Kofa, or even Melifaro. Besides, I should probably discuss it first with Juffin, who had pleaded with me not to disturb him until noon.
Well, at least I had time—not until noon but until breakfast time tomorrow.

I spent the rest of my energy on a feat of a different kind: I called in a courier and demanded that he clean off my desk. To my surprise, the fellow managed this impossible task in almost no
time—did he use magic?—and left the office without making a sound. I moved another armchair next to the one I was sitting in, put my legs up on it, and dozed off. Melifaro’s warm
looxi, which I had forgotten to take off and change for my Mantle of Death, served as a great blanket, its horrific turquoise color notwithstanding.

It was still dark when Sir Kofa woke me up.

“If you like sleeping so much, you can do it at home,” he said. “I need to think, so scram.”

Of course I didn’t have the guts to tell him about Captain Giatta: the word “later” sounds so tempting an hour before dawn. I was so sleepy that I just muttered a thank-you and
dragged myself over to a company amobiler, much to the driver’s shock: he had never seen me leave Headquarters in the back seat of an amobiler. Usually I try to grab the lever myself no
matter what condition I’m in. Today, though, I was really out of shape.

On top of that, the driver unloaded me by my house on the Street of Yellow Stones. Half awake, I realized what had happened only after the amobiler had disappeared around the corner. I
wasn’t going to submit to fate. Struggling to keep my eyes open, I walked to Tekki’s place. Praise be the Magicians, the Armstrong & Ella was just a few blocks away. For someone
who’s half asleep, though, walking a short distance feels like traveling half the globe.

Good grief, I thought as I opened the bedroom door, I’m being so childish. What difference does it make where I crash? But as soon as I got into bed and pulled the few remaining inches of
warm blanket over myself (Tekki had grabbed the rest of the furry cover), I realized there was a difference after all.

Once in bed, I couldn’t go to sleep. I started thinking about my most recent conversation with Tekki. She couldn’t leave Echo—this was bad news. I had been planning to ask
Juffin for a vacation so I could go to Kettari and, of course, take Tekki along with me. I desperately wanted to go back and walk with Tekki through that wonderful place, whose magnificent bridges,
empty gardens, and narrow embankments had once made me lose my head. I also had hoped that we’d be able to return to the small nameless town in the mountains that had once been part of my
dreams and then became a real place on the edge of the newborn World, a place quite suitable for living. If the words of Mackie Ainti, the old sheriff of Kettari, were to be trusted, I had been
solely responsible for that miracle. If only I knew how I’d pulled it off. Until today, I had been positive that I would invite Tekki to go on that trip with me some day, and
then—boom!

Maybe I’ll be able to share my dream with her, I thought. Once Sir Shurf Lonli-Lokli and I had managed to stroll through my favorite dreams together just by putting our heads on the same
pillow. Granted, it was Shurf who was doing the magic—I’d never tried this trick myself. On the other hand, I could sometimes pull off things that I thought I’d never be capable
of pulling off. Why not try it now? What if it works? It’s an unorthodox way of asking your girlfriend out, sure, but then again, it’s me we’re talking about.

I laid my head on Tekki’s pillow. A silver lock of her hair tickled my ear, and I gently pushed it away. I suppressed the desire to bite the sweet lobe of her ear, relaxed, yawned, and
closed my eyes. I took a deep breath, smelling the honey aroma of her hair, and fell asleep.

Sometimes it’s as easy as pie to fall into another adventure.

I dreamed I was walking up the gentle slope of a hill. It was hot. Too hot for my taste. Short dry grass, faded in the sun, crackled under my feet. It was hard to walk. After taking a few steps,
I noticed the slope wasn’t so gentle after all. And yet I kept trudging upward, not knowing how I had suddenly become so adept at mountain climbing.

Now I was on the top of the hill. I wiped off the sweat that covered my face and looked around. From here, a magnificent view opened up onto a nondescript valley among the gentle outlines of
hills. Searing heat and shades of golden yellow ruled the landscape here. Dry grass rustled in the hot wind. This was the only vegetation: there were no trees, no bushes, no water, no
houses—only the motionless ocean of sunburned grass under a shimmering white sky, with no sun or suns that I could discern.

“You like it here, Max?” The voice came from behind me.

It this hadn’t been a dream, I definitely would have jumped three feet in the air and maybe even screamed. But in my dreams, I’m as calm as a boa constrictor. I didn’t even
turn around. I couldn’t take my eyes off the enchanting golden folds of this strange landscape. I answered without bothering to learn who was talking to me. “I’m not sure. This
doesn’t feel like my dream.”

“Of course it doesn’t,” the voice said. “It’s not my dream, either. Actually, it’s not even a dream. Just the silly fantasy of one lonely daydreamer. But
it’s livable, as I’ve had the chance to find out for myself recently. And why aren’t you turning around? I’m not the most disgusting creature in the Universe, whatever
Magician Nuflin may think of me.”

“I’m sorry. It seems this place inspires a peculiar form laziness,” I said. “I am a first-class idler, but until now I never thought one couldn’t be bothered to
simply turn around.”

While I was saying all this, I managed to break the bondage of my gaze at the golden landscape. I felt I could move now, although I didn’t feel particularly inclined to do so. Good manners
took precedence, though, and I turned to face my interlocutor.

He was sitting motionless on a small flat rock that shimmered and glistened with all shades of honey. The rock looked like a chunk of amber. The man sitting on top of it was of an indeterminate
age. He wore loose white pants and a loose collarless shirt. On his feet he wore soft orange leather Uguland boots. His long, skinny arms with their large, strong hands were folded and resting on
his knees. His appearance looked a little funny to me. I might have mistaken him for a fashionable beachgoer or a nutty dentist who had decided to open a practice in the middle of a vast desert. I
couldn’t make out his face because of his long light hair. I took one glance at it and knew it was as coarse as metal wire. His appearance, however, didn’t matter. I knew who it was I
had come face to face with in this strange place. I don’t know how I knew. I just did.

“Sir Loiso Pondoxo?” I said, my heart sinking. “The Grand Magician of the Order of the Watery Crow. Maybe you’ll be able to explain to me why your formidable Order had
such a silly name. No one I’ve asked has yet given me an answer. I knew one day you’d appear somewhere right beside me.”

“Really? What made you think that?” His surprise seemed genuine.

“Not a day goes by that someone doesn’t mention your name to me,” I said.

“Well, that doesn’t explain anything. People mention lots of names.”

I tried to explain to him honestly what I’d always found inexplicable. “I’ve always had an unusual reaction to people mentioning your name. I’d either laugh like a
lunatic or become completely despondent. I mean, it could go either way. Why else would I go from one extreme to the other if I hadn’t had this vague premonition?” I surprised myself
with my excellent explanation.

“Funny,” he said. “See, I didn’t ask because I wanted to chat. My only shortcoming is that I’m not clairvoyant. I’ve never been good at it. This makes life
more interesting and less predictable, but sometimes it’s a real obstacle. Believe it or not, I’ve never had a premonition in my entire life. I could never sense what was going to
happen or what the outcome of an event would be. I could calculate or make an educated guess, but that’s an entirely different process. It’s hard for me to imagine how it all happens. You’re
much luckier in that respect.”