Oikonde
Hardacre
teleported to the main square in Oikonde[1]; he
had been there twice before, running errands for his master. He knew its layout well enough – it was a grey
city nestling against the endless Parorian forest. It was quiet, full of
fully-fledged ‘ancient elves’, who acted and spoke far less often and thought far
more slowly than those in Kinspit or in the west. Hardacre didn’t mind this at
all; after Potentilla anything slow was good.
John had arranged that he should meet Eukalia,
their contact in the city. She was an old friend of John’s who used to be a
scholar in Kinspit, but was now some sort of town councillor. He knocked on her
door and she hurried him inside – humans were rare in Oikonde and not always welcome.
Eukalia had a small trim house. She taught
the local school children Visneorian, and for a few more advanced ones, or
those contemplating a career in business, a little of the barbarian tongue.
She led him into her living room and cleared
a space on a chair, which had been strewn with schoolbooks.
‘Sit down, Mr Hardacre’ she said, ‘it’s very
nice to see you again. It seems like you’re popping over here all the time’
The last time Hardacre had visited the city
was seven years ago. He had got used to
this sort of thing.
‘Would you like some wine, or some fruit
juice?’ she asked
‘A fruit juice would be fine’
Eukalia went and got the drinks and they sat
in companionable silence for a while. Hardacre sipped his pineapple juice and
wondered where exactly the pineapples had come from: Babalia or Helios?
After a while, Eukalia finished her glass of
wine and poured herself another one.
Hardacre stared out of the window at some beautiful blue climbing
leadworts; maybe he’d ask for a cutting – he was sure that they’d grow well in
his garden, given its mild climate nearer the coast.
‘Are you hungry, Mr Hardacre?’ she enquired.
‘A little peckish, perhaps’ he admitted.
Eukalia went into the kitchen and came out
with some flatbread and sun dried tomatoes. They sat chewing the bread very slowly while
Hardacre made appreciative noises. Only when all the food had been eaten and
all the drink had been supped did Eukalia talk to him.
‘How can I help you, Mr Hardacre?’
Now that she had come to the point Hardacre
felt slightly disappointed that the pace of life was going speed up again.
However, he did need to press on.
‘I need to have an interview with the Archon’
he said
Eukalia looked a little confused or startled,
Hardacre couldn’t quite tell which.
‘Archon – here?’ she asked
Hardacre thought carefully – was she covering
up what she knew or was she genuinely ignorant of the Helian Archon?
‘I’m looking for the ‘Archon of the Folds’ ’
he said, ‘do you know where I can find him?’
This time the silence that fell between them
was more charged, and more full of uncertainty. The minutes began to pile up
around them.
‘I’m
not sure…’ she said, eventually, ‘how do you know about him?’
‘Mr Ismay met him in Helios’
‘Oh, right’ she said, her eyes widening
slightly.
‘Do you know if I could arrange a meeting
with him?’
‘Well – that’s one of the things that it’s
really hard to judge…’
‘What do you mean, madam? Is the Archon hard
to find? Is he still trapped in Helios?’
‘No he’s here. I’m sure that I saw him in
town just a few days ago. I think he can come and go through the Folds as he
wishes’
‘So I can see him?’ asked Hardacre, ‘is that
what you’re implying?’
Eukalia nodded and looked embarrassed.
‘I’m sorry if this is a difficult subject to discuss,
Councillor’ said Hardacre, ‘are there some who are not permitted to know about
the existence of the Twin Worlds?’
Eukalia poured herself another large glass of
wine. Hardacre was guessing that she was not normally such an enthusiastic
drinker.
‘It’s not quite like that... it’s more that
we haven’t been very forthcoming about telling the Skiophoikos about Helios’
Hardacre smiled thinly but said nothing.
‘There are complicated reasons for our
reticence, Mr Hardacre’
‘I’m sure, madam. Mr Ismay has uncovered some
of them, I’m certain. Perhaps those reasons do not need to detain us for too
long today…’
‘No, I’d like to explain. I feel very bad
about having mislead a dear friend, even for a short time’
She wrinkled her nose in concentration.
‘Twenty years – is that a long time in human
chronologies?’
Hardacre’s turned this over in his mind.
Twenty years of white lies – was that what it was? Or was it twenty years of
deliberate obstruction? The intention made all the difference, but he wasn’t
here to judge.
‘It’s fairly long, councillor…’
‘Well, either way, I was one of John’s tutors
when he enrolled at the University. He was an exceptional student, as I’m sure
you know’
‘Yes, I do know – I walk past his degree
certificate hanging in the laundry room every day’
‘The laundry room?’ asked Eukalia,
wonderingly, ‘that’s an odd place to hang such a coveted document’
Hardacre shook his head and sighed.
‘If we are going to turn this conversation
into a discussion of Mr Ismay’s psychological quirks then we will be here for a
very long time, Councillor. Perhaps we could return to the main theme of our
discussion?’
Eukalia grinned and her face relaxed a
little. Hardacre hoped that now he’d finally get some useful information.
‘As I said – we haven’t told people in
Skiophos, as a general rule. When I say people I mean both humans and elves,
although I suspect that the Emperor and the Imperial aristocracy must know
something. Anyway, the truth is that I am from Helios, I was born there, and a
small number who teach at Kinspit are from there too. We have established
Oikonde and Kinspit as our bases in your world, but we have kept quiet about
our true provenance for fear of the consequences of revealing them’
‘What are those consequences, madam?’
‘I am not entirely sure, as I am no cosmologist,
but I think that this reality is made in some way that is different from the
other realities and that an excessive mixing of the worlds would be
catastrophic. I’m not really sure…’
Hardacre watched her speaking carefully. He
was fairly sure that she knew a little more than she was saying but probably
not enough to warrant making her struggle any further with her conscience.
‘That’s why I would really appreciate the
possibility of an audience with the Archon – he is sure to know what is going
on’
Eukalia nodded – it looked a little like she
was conceding a game.
‘Given what you already know’ she admitted,
‘it would seem foolish not to propose a meeting. We really have no desire to
get on the wrong side of your…umm… group’
Hardacre could see the dreadful word ‘coven’
lurking unsaid in her speech. The fear of human witches was just, to an archaic
elf, a dreadful extension of the fear of barbarians with swords, breaking and burning
their neat white cities. This wiccaphobia[2],
though, was worse, as it undermined the elven monolithic sense of superiority:
all the evidence suggested that witches were more effective than mages, at
least at anything practical or immediate.
‘We would be very grateful if you could
arrange a meeting, Councillor Eukalia, very grateful indeed’
‘And you will stay here as my guest until I
can arrange it?’
Eukalia’s look was pleading, which surprised
Hardacre. Then he realised that she was now beholden to them: she felt guilty
as a teacher and a friend and she really wanted to make up for it. The last
thing that Hardacre wanted was to stay in Oikonde as someone’s guest: he had four
people to look after at home himself.
‘Of course’ he said, smiling diplomatically,
‘I’d be delighted and honoured to be your guest’
Eukalia
looked pleased and relieved. She stood up.
‘I will prepare some lunch and then I will find
the Archon. What should I say you want to talk to him about?’
Hardacre breathed in and considered what he
had been asked to do. It did seem like a rather tricky mission.
‘Tell him that I need to go and examine the
Folds’ he said.
[1]
Oikonde is an elven city one hundred and fifty miles east of Kinspit. It has a
population of a few thousand and is one of the few places where only Archaic
Elven is spoken. It is considered to be
a bit of a ‘spooky’ place and few humans ever go there.
[2]
Wiccaphobia – fear of witches and witchcraft.
No comments:
Post a Comment