The General smiled. A very wintry smile.
“Perhaps Fangwulf needs a good run. He’s been getting a little fat lately.”
Wolfgang smirked. “Fangwulf won’t chase me, General. He’s partial to lunatics. Uncle Manya’s influence, that is.”
The General glared. I might mention that the glare of the world’s greatest general is a fearsome sight to behold. Fortunately, Wolfgang came to his senses. So to speak.
“The reason Zulkeh is coming here to see Uncle Manya, General, is because he’s gotten thoroughly mixed up in Joe business.”
“To put it mildly,” interjected Hildegard.
“And as for who he is,” continued Wolfgang, “the fact is that he’s the world’s greatest sorcerer. Oh, yes! God’s Own Tooth couldn’t hold a candle to Zulkeh!”
“Then why haven’t I heard of him?” demanded the General.
“Well, that’s because it’s often been noted that he’s the least notable wizard of Grotum.” Then, forestalling the General’s looming outburst: “It’s because he’s such a goofy pedant, General. You know the old saying of the wise man? ‘Wherefore profit it a man to be learned, if he remains stupid in his mind’?”
“Everybody knows that saying.”
Wolfgang grinned. “What everybody doesn’t know is that the wise man said it after he met Zulkeh.”
The General threw up his hands with frustration. “Then what good is he? And who’s side is he on?”
“What good is he?” exclaimed Wolfgang. “General, he’s the world’s greatest sorcerer! Such a magician! Such a thaumaturge! Why, we couldn’t have stolen the Rap Sheet without him!”
The lunatic looked confused for a moment. “As for who’s side he’s on, well, that’s a bit difficult. He’s a reactionary, of course—all your great sorcerers are, you know. But the thing about Zulkeh is, that he’s such a really great sorcerer that his reaction sort of gets very strange. Leads him to do the wildest things!”
The General shook his head. “Never mind, Wolfgang. Since this Zulkeh is coming here, I’ll get to meet him anyway. In the meantime, we have lots of other things to do.”
He turned to Gwendolyn. “The warnings you’ve been spreading about the Rap Sheet will have the movement on its toes by now.”
“I’ll feel a little foolish when these latest developments come out,” said Gwendolyn ruefully.
“Don’t be stupid. We want the movement on the qui vive. All hell’s about to break loose—bigger hell than the Rap Sheet would’ve produced, actually. But we’re better able to handle this kind of action. And with the Rap Sheet in the hands of The Mysterious Q, we’ll have the best intelligence we could ask for.”
The General paused for a moment, groped for a cigar in his vest.
“Not in the house, dear,” said Madame Kutumoff. The General got that unmistakable look on his face. Some day I should capture it on canvas: Guilt and Frustration—The Thwarted Smoker.
“Sorry. Anyway, Gwendolyn, I think the first thing you should do is try to find The Roach. He’ll be at Blain by now, I imagine. Then, you’ve got to step up the Railroad’s work immediately. There’ll be a wave of pogroms coming, as sure as the sunrise, and there’s no one better than you—”
He stopped then, seeing Gwendolyn’s expression. Her face was pale. The General cast a quick, shrewd glance at me.
“But we can deal with all this tomorrow,” he said gently. “You’ll want today for other things, I imagine.”
Gwendolyn nodded faintly. She reached out and took my hand.
“Let’s go outside, Benvenuti. We need to talk.”
As we headed out the door, I heard the General speaking. “Now—lunatic! I want some straight answers.”
“Shall I take him to the kitchen, dear?” asked Madame Kutumoff. Wolfgang began howling with fear.
“No, love,” said the General. “I think it best to remain within the guidelines of the rules of war. Very loosely interpreted, of course.”
* * *
The rest of the day was unlike any other of my life. Islands of joy, in a sea of pain. Time and again, I tried to find a way out of the dilemma. But Gwendolyn had a will of steel.
“We always knew this time would come, Benvenuti. It won’t help to draw it out. There’ll just be more pain. And I have to leave soon anyway. It’s true, what the General said. The Ozarines will set Grotum on fire. My kind of fire, what I was made for.”