His expression was direct. Crispin thought of a young queen in a candlelit room, and wondered. He said nothing. Zoticus crossed to the table, took a sheet of parchment and wrote upon it. He folded the parchment twice and handed it to Crispin.
‘Be careful around the last of this month and the first day of the next. I It would be wise not to travel those days, if you can arrange to be staying at an Imperial Inn. Sauradia will be a … changed place.’ Crispin looked his inquiry.
‘The Day of the Dead. Not a prudent time for strangers to be abroad in that province. Once you are in Trakesia you’ll be safer. Until you get to the City itself and have to explain why you aren’t Martinian. That ought to be amusing.’
‘Oh, very,’ said Crispin. He had been avoiding thinking about that. Time enough. It was a long journey by land. He unfolded the paper, read the names.
The first is a doctor,’ said Zoticus. ‘Always useful. The second is my daughter.’
‘Your what?’ Crispin blinked.
‘Daughter. Seed of my loins. Girl child.’ Zoticus laughed. ‘One of them. I told you: I did travel a fair bit in my youth.’
They heard a barking from the yard. From farther within the house a long-faced, slope-shouldered servant appeared and made his unhurried way to the door and out. He silenced the dogs. They heard voices outside. A moment later he reappeared, carrying two jars.
‘Silavin came, master. He says his swine is recovered. He brought honey. Promises a ham.’
‘Splendid!’ said Zoticus. ‘Store the honey in the cellar.’
‘We have thirty jars there, master,’ said the servant lugubriously.
‘Thirty? So many? Oh dear. Well… our friend here will take two back for Carissa and Martinian.’
That still leaves twenty-six,’ said the glum-faced servant.
‘At least,’ agreed Zoticus. ‘We shall have a sweet winter. The fire is all right, Clovis, you may go.’
Clovis withdrew through the inner doorway-Crispin caught a glimpse of a hallway and a kitchen at the end before the door closed again.
‘Your daughter lives in Sarantium?’ he asked.
‘One of them. Yes. She’s a prostitute.’
Crispin blinked again.
Zoticus looked wry. ‘Well. Not quite. A dancer. Much the same, if I understand the theatre there. I don’t really know. I’ve never seen her. She writes me, at times. Knows her letters.’
Crispin looked at the name on the paper again. Shirin. There was a street name, as well. He glanced up. Trakesian?’
‘Her mother was. I was travelling, as I say. Some of my children write to me.’
‘Some?’
‘Many are indifferent to their poor father, struggling in his aged loneliness among the barbarians.’
The eyes were amused, the tone a long way from what the words implied. Crispin, out of habit, resisted an impulse to laugh, then stopped fighting it.
‘You had an adventurous past.’
‘Middling so. In truth, I find more excitement now in my studies. Women were a great distraction. I am mostly freed of that now, thank the high gods. I actually believe I have a proper understanding of some of the philosophers now, and that is an adventure of the spirit. You will take one of the birds? As my gift to you?’
Crispin put his drink down abruptly, spilling some on the table. He snatched at the map to keep it dry. ‘What? Why would you-?’
‘Martinian is a dear friend. You are his colleague, his almost-son. You are going a long way to a dangerous place. If you are careful to keep it private, one of the birds will be of assistance. They can see, and hear. And offer companionship, if nothing else.’The alchemist hesitated.’It… pleases me to think one of my creations will go with you to Sarantium, after all.’
‘Oh, splendid. I am to walk the arcades of the City conversing with a companionable jewelled falcon? You want me blinded in your stead?’
Zoticus smiled faintly. ‘Not a choice gift, were that so. No. Discretion will be called for, but there are other ways of speaking with them. With whichever of them you can hear inwardly. You have no training. It is not certain, Caius Crispus. Nothing is in my art, I fear. But if you can hear one of the birds, it may become yours. In the act of hearing, a transference can be achieved. We will know soon enough.’ His voice changed. ‘All of you, shape a thought for our guest.’