Return to the Whorl (The Book of the Short Sun #3)

Return to the Whorl (The Book of the Short Sun #3) Page 10

"Yer lookin' fer a mon a' ther name a' Silk, bucky."

"Yes, I am, and that's the most urgent point I require information on. He may be called Calde Silk or Patera Silk. Can any of you tell me where to find him?"

Hound and Tansy shook their heads.

"Things are not as we'd like in New Viron, you see. The rich struggle with one another, each gathering such followers as he can and hoping to rule in a year or two. Stronger than any of them is the mob, those among us who acknowledge no rule but their own, and desire neither justice nor peace."

Hound said, "That sounds like Viron itself. Are you sure you're not talking about that?"

"No. I have not set foot in Viron in twenty years, and I am very sorry indeed to hear that things are in such a state. Since neither you nor your wife can tell me where I might find Patera Silk, I take it he no longer leads your government."

Tansy said, "That was years and years ago."

"I see." He paused, stirred his soup, and fished out a morsel of cabbage for Oreb. "We hoped that he could help us-and that he would. It's why I came."

Hound asked, "From Blue?"

"Indirectly, yes. I knew Calde Silk well in the old days."

Tansy pulled a wad of colored cloth from one of the pockets of her apron. "Napkins! I brought napkins, and forgot to give them to you."

He accepted one and wiped his eyes. "I'm sorry. It's a childish weakness, one I very much regret. I happened to think again about leaving, and the last time I saw Silk. It was snowing. One of those short winters we spoke of, and I only saw half of it. Half or less. Silk walked away into the snow, and we went down into the tunnels, Nettle and I. I was very excited, and felt that we were doing something terribly brave, and that we were doing what Silk wanted, too.

"I'm sure we were, still. I know we were. And we were going to go to a wonderful new whorl; we did that, but when I think back to the days when I lived with my mother and father, and my sisters and brothers, and all of us knew Patera Silk, I call them the good old days. That seems so sad now. How very young we were!"

"Poor Silk!"

"Not really, Oreb." He smiled through his tears. "I've had a good life, one that's not over yet. I've loved a wonderful woman and a very beautiful woman, and I have been loved. Not many men can say that."

"H'on wi' yer story, bucky."

"Very well. Nettle and I built a house on Lizard, well away from the stealing and the shootings. We were poor, if you like, yet we were happy though there were times when there wasn't enough to eat." Reminded of the necessity of eating, he spooned up soup and tasted it. "This is really excellent. I'm hungry, no doubt, and that always helps. But excellent by any measure."

Tansy made him a little seated bow, her long black hair gleaming in the candlelight.

"We lived there quite contentedly, and brought up our sons. One day five of the leading citizens called on us. They talked about conditions in town, and crop failures-the corn crop, particularly, because it had failed disastrously that year. To tell you the truth, I couldn't imagine what they were getting at. Neither could Nettle, I'm sure. They had never shown any regard for our opinions in the past; and if they wanted our advice, I at least had little to give. There was Marrow, who has been one of our leading men from the beginning, and His Cognizance Patera Remora, and three more. I could name and describe the others, but it would mean nothing to you.

"They had been given a way to return someone to this Long Sun Whorl, or thought they had. Our own lander would have made that possible and even easy, of course, if only it had not been looted of nearly everything that permitted it to fly the moment it put down; but it had been, and was beyond repair. Silk had been our leader until we went into the tunnels. I ought to have said that."

"Good Silk!"

He nodded, his face serious. "He was. He was the greatest man I've known, and the best. It is said that not many great men are good men; but Silk was, and had a way of making even bad people like and trust him that I've never seen in any other man."

After giving her husband a timid glance, Tansy ventured, "I wish we'd known him."

"I wish you had too. I knew him, as I said, and it was one of the principal matters of my life. Nettle and I even wrote a book about him." He sipped more soup. "When we left, he was calde of Viron. Can you tell me what happened?"

"Not in any detail," Hound said. "He was forced out of office. I wish my father were still alive to tell you about it. He knew more about it than Tansy and I do."

She said, "We were children then. It was-I don't know. Ten years ago? Or twelve? About that."

Hound nodded. "He wanted everyone to get on the landers and wanted to go himself, or he said he did. He kept telling people they ought to leave, and taking cards out of circulation. Nobody liked that. There were protests and riots, a lot of trouble. I know a lot of people wanted him arrested and tried, but I don't think it was ever really done. He was an augur, after all."

"He was married," Tansy objected. "Mother still talks about it. She doesn't like it."

Pig coughed and spat. "Nae gang ter Neat yer soup, bucky? Pity ter waste h'it."

He pushed his bowl over. "You may have it, if you'll give Oreb a bite or two. I'm full. Have you had any bread, Pig?"

"Nae, bucky. What h'about yer?"

"I'll cut you some. It will be delicious dipped in that excellent soup, I feel sure."

"There's more in the kitchen keeping hot," Tansy put in, "and in the big bowl should be hotter than what you have. Let me warm yours up, Pig."

Hound said, "I know we haven't really answered your question, Horn, but we've told you everything we remember."

"You don't know what became of Silk after he was deposed?"

Hound shrugged. "I don't think he was killed or thrown into the pits. My father would have talked about it."

Tansy ventured, "People tell stories, you know how it is. Somebody's seen him in the market somewhere, or they're living in the city under new names, Silk and his wife. Or he goes around in disguise helping people. A lot of people think he's gone outside. He was always talking about that, they say."

Nodding to himself, he passed two thick slices of bread to Pig, who said, "Thank yer, bucky."

Hound yawned. "I've seen him. I ought to tell you that, Horn. My father thought he was wonderful, so when he came here, my father held me up so I could have a good look at him. They used to sell pictures of him, too, and for a while we had one over the fireplace. It's probably still up in the attic."

"We're keeping you and your wife from bed, I'm afraid."

Tansy smiled. "It's almost morning anyway."

Hound seconded her. "We were asleep when you knocked. When the sun goes dark, there isn't much else we can do."

"Candles are very dear," Tansy explained, "and so is oil for the lamps. We used to sell them-"

"We still sell oil, but it's pricey these days."

"It's all gone now, dear. Palm bought the last yesterday."

"I'll try to get some more when I go into the city tomorrow. I was going to scout around for candles anyway. Are you two going there?"

"H'are we? We h'are! Ter find me een. Right, bucky?"

"Yes. To find eyes for Pig, and for my friend Maytera Marble back home. I was about to tell you about her a moment ago, as it happens. She's a chem. I suppose there are still a few chems left?"

Hound nodded. "Not many."

"Her eyes have failed her, and I'd like to find new ones, if I can. I was going to say that when those five called on Nettle and me, they did so because we had known Patera Silk better than almost anyone else on Blue. The sole exception to that is Maytera Marble, who knew him better than either of us; but she's very old now, and-and in need of eyes, as I said."

Pig swallowed soup-soaked bread. "Dinna fash me, bucky."

"Thank you. Yet I know it must be painful. Have either of you any idea where I might find new eyes for a chem? Any idea at all?"

Hound shook his head.

"Oddly enough, I do. Do you know where I might find a male chem?"

"There should be some in the city. It's been years since I've seen a chem here in Endroad, male or female."

Tansy murmured, "Except for the soldiers."

"That's right." Hound snapped his fingers. "Twenty or thirty soldiers went through here about, let's see, a couple months ago. They were male chems, naturally, so I was wrong. But they didn't stay and they haven't come back."

"Where bound ter?" Pig inquired.

"I have no idea. Why are you looking for a male chem?"

Oreb had a question too, and stopped demolishing the slice of bread Pig had given him to voice it. "Iron man?"

"Yes, we want to find an iron man. Let me know if you see one, please."

Tansy asked, "But why?"

"Because chems can reproduce, just as bios such as you and your husband can. It's a point I should have raised with Maytera Marble the last time I spoke with her."

Hound said, "A male and a female chem can get together and build a child. I've heard that."

"It's not like we do," Tansy protested. "They have to make the parts and put them together, so it's not the same thing. Our child's going to grow in me. That's what we hope and pray for."

"Exactly. You and Hound can make a son or a daughter for your selves. If I had time I'd look for a better word than make, but for the moment that will have to do. The point is that what you make is a child, not pieces that can be assembled to make up one. You don't make eyes, and afterward a nose, and then a heart or liver; so that even if-I hope you'll excuse this, Pig-even if there were a great surgeon sitting with us who could put new eyes into Pig's sockets in such a way that he could see again, you two couldn't make a pair of new eyes for him to use.

"Chems are made quite differently, of course. Each parent carries half the information necessary to make the parts and assemble them. Now follow me closely, please. When my friend Maytera Marble plucked out one of her eyes-both, as I say, had stopped functioning-she took it out quite easily, and she took it out as a unit. Am I making myself clear?"

Hound said, "Yes. Certainly."

"Both her eyes had gone blind; but they did not go blind at the same moment. If they had, she would have known, I feel sure, that the real trouble lay deeper and new eyes would not permit her to see again. What actually happened was that one failed first, and the other failed a short time afterward. I know that Maytera inherited certain new parts when Maytera Rose died; Maytera Rose was also a sibyl, and was the senior sibyl at our manteion at the time of her death. I do not believe, however, that either eye was among those parts. If I am correct, Maytera Marble had been using the eyes that failed her for more than three hundred years-presumably they simply wore out."

Pig put down his spoon. "Huh. Didn't try ter make herself no new ones, bucky?"

"You're ahead of me, clearly. No, I do not believe she did. If she had, she said nothing about that effort to me, and I feel sure she would have."

"She'd a' tried, h'anyhow. Yer can take such from me, an' lily, ter."

"I agree. Why didn't she at least attempt it? Surely it must have been because she didn't know how, and since new chems clearly require new eyes, they must be among the parts made by the male. If I can find a male chem, I'll try to persuade him to make eyes for her, and give them to me to take back to her."

Pig said slowly, "H'or yer could find a dead 'un, bucky, an' pluck his h'out."

"Yes, provided I can remove them without damaging them." He endeavored unsuccessfully to sit up straighter and square his shoulders. "I've no wish to end your conversation, friends, but I'm very tired indeed, and you say it will soon be shadeup. With your permission, I'd like to excuse myself."

Hound said, "Yes, certainly," and Tansy, "You can sleep in the house, if you'd rather do that. Or I can bring out some blankets for you to lie down on."

"I shall be quite comfortable wherever I lie down, you may be sure." He took three steps back from the table, sank to his knees, and stretched out on the coarse, dry grass.

Pig groped for his sword, found it, and rose. "Wi' yer, bucky. Guid night ter Nall."

"Horn," Hound asked, "would you and your friend like to go with me tomorrow?"

There was no reply.

"I'll be riding one of our donkeys, Pig, and leading the other two. You-now that I see you standing up..."

Pig's chuckle rumbled in his chest. "Nae donkey fer me, but thank yer kindly. Bucky can, an' he'll thank yer better'n Pig. Yer a buck an' a brathair."

Tansy touched Hound's elbow. "The shade's nearly up already, dear."

"I'll wait for them to get some rest," he told her. "We can camp, if we have to."

He turned back to Pig. "But there's something else we ought to talk about. You two haven't known each other long, have you?"

"Have we? We've nae. Met h'up h'on ther road ternight, we did. Yer need nae fash. Yer nae gang ter tittle naethin' what's news ter auld Pig."

"It's just..." Hound glanced helplessly at his wife. "We werewere all sitting there pretending. You and Tansy were, and I was, too. All of us except his bird."

"Good bird!" Oreb's tone declared that matter settled.

Tansy asked, "Do you really know what we know, Pig? You're not from around here."

"Aye."

"I do too. I think so. I-I know Hound better than anybody, and I could tell from the way he opened our house to you, and the way he talked. I think I could, I mean, I did. I really do."

Hound drew a deep breath. "He kept saying and saying he was looking for Calde Silk. But that's Calde Silk right there. That's Calde Silk himself, Pig. You never saw him, but people have told me he's living with his wife in the old manse, quite near here."