The Stranger's Magic: The Labyrinths of Echo: Book Three (39 page)

“Well, gentlemen, what do you propose we should do with him?” said Sir Kofa.

“Let him go, maybe?” said Melifaro. “If Dad finds out I arrested one of his fans who was about to go on an around-the-world trip, he won’t ever speak to me again.
It’s the only surefire way to fall out with him that I know of.”

“Yes, I think that would be only fair,” I said. “Since one of the accomplices suffered such a harsh punishment, the other may get off with only a scare. The arithmetic mean
would be approximately the right sentence.”

“So you both liked him after all, huh?” said Kofa. “Now that’s what I call a charm.”

“You like him, too,” I said. “It’s written on your forehead, even though you didn’t listen to him. I wonder why our captain didn’t just ask us to leave and
forget about him forever? It should’ve worked in theory.”

“True,” said Melifaro. “He didn’t try to persuade us, yet I had the hardest time trying to ask him questions. Drat that personal charm of his!”

“The truth is that this young fellow honestly doesn’t realize the immense power of the thing he got hold of,” said Kofa. “That much is obvious.”

“That’s right, he did say he’d taken the headband ‘just for good luck,’” said Melifaro. “And only now has he begun to suspect—suspect, I
say—that the charm was helping him.”

“And he’s convinced that he was able to hire all these folks for free because Echo is full of people who dream of around-the-world trips,” I said. “I don’t know if
I should laugh or cry at such gullibility.”

“It’s definitely not worth crying over,” said Kofa.

“No, no. Please cry,” said Melifaro. “You’ll look terrific with your eyes all red and a swollen nose. All the girls are going to throw themselves at you.”

“I hope I’ve prepared some good kamra, gentlemen,” said Kao Anlox, coming in and putting down the tray with a pitcher and mugs on the table. “I’m usually pretty
good at it.”

“Judging by the aroma, you are, indeed,” said Kofa with the air of an expert. Well, he was the greatest expert in these matters.

For a while, we drank our kamra without saying a word. I even went so far as to light up a cigarette. The captain seemed to be as absentminded as our Lookfi Pence. I’d have to wave the
cigarette in front of his nose for a few minutes for him to notice I was smoking something not of this World.

“This is what I think, captain,” said Kofa. “On the one hand, you’re very lucky: neither I nor my colleagues are eager to arrest you, although that’s what we should
do. I don’t know what Zoxma Pu promised you a hundred and fifty years ago, but that’s no reason for breaking into his grandson’s house and taking things, even such things as an
old, useless chest. Where is it, by the way? And the rest of its contents? There must have been something else in it.”

“Actually, no,” said Kao Anlox. “I realize you have no reason to believe me, but I have no other proof. As for the chest itself, we burned it. Zekka said we should get rid of
the evidence, and I thought he knew better, considering his occupation.”

“Indeed,” said Kofa.

“He’s not lying,” said Melifaro. “He hasn’t once lied to us, in fact. I haven’t had occasion to meet such an honest person in a long while. Maybe you have
something stronger than kamra, captain? I’m feeling all sentimental now, and I desperately need a drink. I can’t stand being sentimental.”

“I’m awfully sorry, but I’m afraid I don’t have anything of that sort,” said Kao Anlox. “It simply didn’t occur to me that one should keep strong
liquors on a ship.”

“Unbelievable!” said Melifaro. “How, pray tell, were you going to go on your journey then? Stinking sober? The crew certainly won’t appreciate it.”

The captain sighed and stared at the floor.

“Well, my boy, your arrest, as you might have guessed by now, is not going to happen,” said Kofa. “But I have another piece of news that you might like far less. We must
confiscate this charm.” He waved the headband about. “Not because we are cruel bastards who wish to ruin your life and rob you of your luck, but because this is a truly magical thing.
It is too powerful to be in the possession of any citizen of the Unified Kingdom. Even Mr. Zoxma Pu’s heir.”

“I knew it,” said the captain. “I’m never going to go on an around-the-world journey! Not with my luck, I’m not.”

“You don’t understand how incredibly lucky you are that we’re taking this headband away from you,” said Kofa. “You still don’t understand that the people that
you hired were eager to go with you not because they were desperate romantics wanting to sail around the world but because the poor souls simply couldn’t resist the magic powers of your
charm. Now imagine this: you sail away from Echo, the charm loses its powers, and you find yourself among several dozen very angry men who demand explanations and money for their
service.”

“Are you telling me that—” Kao Anlox shook his head. “Oh, dear. Old Zoxma mentioned that this headband helps you become a more charming person and a good interlocutor,
but . . . I had no idea!”

“Zoxma himself didn’t know what his charm was capable of once it reached the Heart of the World,” said Kofa. “He probably never put it on after he moved to Echo. The
fashions were different. Your friend Zekka Moddorok, on the other hand, quickly figured out what happens to ordinary magical things in the Capital of the Unified Kingdom. It’s odd that you
didn’t get it.”

“It must be the many years of working at the Chancellory of Concerns of Worldly Affairs,” said Kao Anlox. “I was one of the junior staff for a long time there. Among us, it was
customary to look down upon all foreigners without exception. We thought they knew no magic, and their sciences were at a very low stage of development. I got so used to this notion that I learned
to take it for granted, never giving it another thought. When Zekka got so excited about our find, I thought it was pure superstition on his part. But I really believed that the charm that had
belonged to such an amazing old man would bring me good luck. Now I realize what a fool I was: to possess a magical thing and not guess the extent of its magical powers! That’s too naive,
even for me.”

“It’s the price you’ve paid for your snobbery,” said Kofa. “You’re just like the junior staff of any organization. Well, captain, all’s well that ends
well. Want a piece of advice? Buy the fellows that are coming here tonight a drink and tell them honestly what happened. Maybe they’ll laugh, maybe they’ll direct a few strong words at
you, but they won’t hold a grudge for long. In my experience, sailors are a jolly bunch.”

“Just make sure you buy a lot of booze,” said Melifaro. “In my experience, that jolly bunch have cast-iron throats and bottomless pits for stomachs.”

“Of course, I’ll do that,” said Kao Anlox.

“And after you explain yourself to your crew,” I said, “you should repeat your offer about the journey. Who knows . . .” I had no idea why I said this. My colleagues
raised their eyebrows but didn’t say anything.

“Thank you, sir,” said Kao Anlox, “but I don’t think this is going to work. If I had Zoxma Pu’s headband, even without its magical powers, I might have tried. But I
don’t have it, and without it I don’t have the luck, which old Zoxma had once wanted to share with me. And I’ve never had any luck of my own, even in much simpler
matters.”

“Oh, that I can fix for you,” I said. From the pocket of my Mantle of Death, I took out a small dagger. Until now, I had only used the small gauge that was built into its handle. I
had hoped that someday I would use its blade. I sliced the fold of my Mantle of Death, cutting out a large triangular piece of black-and-gold fabric. “Here,” I said. “There are
plenty of people in this World who say that I’m the luckiest guy in the Universe. I can afford to share some of my luck with you. I’ve got plenty left where that came from.”

Kao Anlox grabbed the piece of fabric and stared at me. My colleagues also gave me puzzled looks. Sir Kofa was the first to recover.

“Well, I’ll be!” he said. “Sir Max is set to revive the best traditions of the Epoch of Orders. He’s sharing his luck! Only the Grand Magicians used to do that, and
then only a few of them. Well, captain, now you can consider yourself really lucky, trust me. Put this thing on. One headband in exchange for another. Who knows, perhaps this charm will serve you
even better than the old one. As for us, we’ve done all we could, and then some. Let’s go, boys.”

“I’m going to cry,” said Melifaro, getting up. “I’m going to flood this karuna with my tears, and it’ll sink right here and now before it even gets a chance
to sink somewhere in the vicious Sea of Ukli at the end of the World!”

We left Kao Anlox, who was completely baffled, in his cabin. As we were walking out, he began to fold the piece of my looxi into a headband. I must admit, black suited him.

“It’s not fair that you share your luck with strangers,” said Melifaro. “You could have given me a piece of your magic rag.”

“You? What would you want with it?” said Kofa.

“Nothing. I’d just have it in my possession,” said Melifaro. “I’m a very greedy guy, like all farmers’ children.”

“Do you want to know why I did it?” I said. My colleagues stopped and stared at me. “Now I’m going to have to go home and change. I can’t keep this on until tomorrow morning.” I demonstrated the damaged fold of my Mantle of
Death. “This is my only good pretext for going straight to the Armstrong & Ella and spending an hour or two there. It’s a very long and deliberate procedure, you know, to undress
and then dress again. Not to mention all the possibilities in between.”

“You’re one passionate fellow, I must say,” said Melifaro.

“Do I detect a hint envy?” I said and tripped over a bale that lay in the middle of a passageway. I hurt myself badly, so the incident smacked a bit of retribution. I yelled,
“Are we ever going to get out of this mess!”

“This isn’t a mess. This is the port of the Capital of the Unified Kingdom,” said Kofa, his patriotism on display. “I can tell you’ve never been in the port of the
free city of Gazhin. Now, that’s a mess. Plus, we’re almost out. Do you recognize this amobiler?”

“Now I do,” I said and got in the driver’s seat. “By the way, I’m not as passionate as you think. I mean, you can come with me. We have the right to loaf for half
an hour.”

“That we do,” said Kofa. “Lady Tekki’s kamra is something to die for, which is another testimony to your incredible good luck, boy.”

“I’m really happy for both of you, but I’d better go back to work,” said Melifaro. “It’s a widely held belief that without me the House by the Bridge is going
to fall apart.”

“Are you sure that’s where you’re going?” I said.

“Where else would I be going?” said Melifaro. Then he laughed and added, “A hole in the heavens above you, Max! You could’ve pretended that you believed me. I need to
derive some pleasure from making you a cuckold.”

“No, I need to derive some pleasure from your feeble attempts at it. But fine. There’s a bunch of my amobilers parked by the Armstrong & Ella. You can steal whichever one you
like. I’ll tell Boboota, he’ll issue a warrant for your arrest, and then we’ll all sit back and have fun watching the situation unfold.”

“What a brilliant idea,” said Melifaro. “Just turn away when I’m stealing it. It’s so much more adventurous that way.”

“If you want adventures, go back and take that ship for an around-the-world trip,” said Kofa. “It’ll be for a great cause, too. The poor fellow will have at least one
volunteer.”

“You’ll see, he’ll have as many volunteers as he needs,” I said. “Not in one day, of course, but he will. I’m just not sure what kind of adventure he’s
going to get once he’s out at sea. My so-called luck is a very interesting thing.”

“In any event, we have the opportunity to test it now,” said Kofa.

I stopped the amobiler by the Armstrong & Ella. The door was still flapping in the wind—Tekki had never gotten around to having it fixed. In this regard she and I were two of a kind:
it would’ve taken me a year to get around to it, too.

“Call that a bunch? Just two poor excuses for an amobiler,” said Melifaro, getting behind the lever of one of them. “Where do you want me to leave it?”

“There’s already one by Headquarters, so leave this one at the Furry House. My amobilers should be evenly spread around the city,” I said.

Tekki greeted Sir Kofa and me with a warm smile. “I knew you’d pop up,” she said to me. “I put kamra on the burner, even though no one had ordered it. It’s not
often that I can guess when you’ll be coming.”

“It’s hereditary,” I said. “Clairvoyance has never been the strong point of your infamous ancestor—” I cut myself short because I was going in a dangerous
direction. I hastened to add, “Someone once told me that.”

“There are plenty of amateur historians in Echo who have devoted their lives to studying the life of my legendary daddy,” said Tekki. “It’s too bad he’s never going to know that. There’s something unfair about posthumous fame, don’t you think, gentlemen?”

“Certainly,” said Kofa. “You go out of your way, stick your neck out, bend over backward to get something done—and then someone else ends up having all the fun.
I’ve been meaning to ask you, Tekki, was it Loiso who taught you to make kamra, by any chance? You’re suspiciously good at it.”