Shadowmarch

a fine sieve and not all that had been Chaven could pass through it into this singing fire. That tiny remainder stood and watched, helpless as though in a nightmare, but it was not strong enough to change anything yet. What must I do? he asked.

It told him, or rather it put the knowledge into him, and just as it had chided, now it praised, that kindness was like honey and silvery music and the endless, awesome light of the heavens.

You are my good and faithful servant, it told him. And in the end, you will have your reward —the thing you truly seek.

The white light began to fade, retreating like a wave that had crested and now ran backward down the sand to rejoin the sea Within moments he was alone in a deep, secret room lit only by the guttering flame of a black candle.

* * *

Pounding on the kitchen door brought Mistress Jennikin out in her nightdress and nightcap. She held the candle before her as though it were a magic talisman. Her gray hair, unbound for the night and thinning with age, hung in an untidy fringe over her shoulders.

“It is only me. I am sorry to rouse you at such an hour, but my need is great.”

“Doctor… ? What is wrong? Is someone ill?” Her eyes widened. “Oh, Zoria watch over us, there hasn’t been another murder… !”

“No, no. Rest easy. I must go on a journey, that is all, and I must leave immediately—before dawn.” She held the candle a little closer to his face—scanning for signs of madness or fever, perhaps. “But Doctor, it’s…” “Yes, the middle of the night. To be more precise, it is two hours before dawn by my chain-clock. I know that as well as anyone and better than most. And I know at least as well as anyone else what I must do, don’t you think?” “Of course, sir! But what do you want… I mean…”

“Get me bread and a little meat so that I can eat without stopping. But before you do that, rouse Harry and tell him I need my horse readied for a journey. No one else, though. I do not want everyone in the household watching me leave.”

“But… but where are you going, sir?”

“That is nothing you need to know, my good woman. I am going now to pack up what I need. I will also write a letter for you to take to Lord Nynor, the castellan. I hope to be gone only a day or two, but it might be more. If any of the royal family needs the services of a physician, I will tell Nynor how to find Brother Okros at the Academy—you may send anyone else who comes in search of me and cannot wait to Okros as well.” He rubbed his head, thinking. “I will also need my heavy travel cloak—the weather will be wet and there may even be snow.”

“But… but, Doctor, what about the queen and her baby?”

“Curses, woman,” he shouted, “do you think I do not know my own calling?” She cowered back against the doorframe and Chaven was immediately sorry. “I apologize, good Mistress Jennikin, but I have given thought to all these things already and will put what is needed in the letter to Nynor. Do not worry for the queen. She is fit, and there is a midwife with her day and night.” He took a deep breath. “Oh, please, take that candle back a little—you look like you intend setting me on fire.”

“Sorry, sir.”

“Now go and rouse Harry—he’s slow as treacle in winter and I must have that horse.” She clearly wanted to ask him something else but didn’t dare. Chaven sighed. “What is it?”

“Will you be back for Orphan’s Day? The butcher has promised me a fine pig.”

For a moment he almost shouted again, but this was the matter of her world, after all. This was what was important to her—and in ordinary times would have been to Chaven as well, who dearly loved roast pork. So what if these were not ordinary times? Perhaps there would be no more Orphan’s Day feasts after this one—a shame to ruin it. “I am as certain I will be back before Orphan’s Day—and in fact, before Wildsong Night—as anyone can be who knows the gods sometimes have ideas of their own. Do not fear for your pig, Mistress Jennikin. I am sure he will be splendid and I will enjoy him greatly.”

She looked a little less frightened as he turned—as though despite the hour, life no longer seemed quite so dangerously topsy-turvy. He was glad that was true for one of them, anyway.

* * *

The physician’s manservant did his best to turn Chert away. The old man seemed distracted, guilty, as though he had been called away from the commission of some small but important crime and was in a hurry to get back to it.

Taking a nap, Chert guessed, although it seemed early in the morning for such things. A late lie-in, then. He would not be chased off so easily. “I don’t care if he isn’t seeing anyone. I have important business with him. Will you tell him that Chert of Funderling Town is here.” If the physician was just busy and not at home to visitors, Chert thought, perhaps he could go around through the secret underground passage—surely Chaven would not dare to ignore a summons to that door —but it would take him a very long time to manage going and then making his way back, and he bitterly resented the idea of losing so much of the day. Each hour last night spent in fruitless search for the boy had been more galling than the last and was even more infuriating now, as though Flint were on some kind of wagon or ship that sped further away with each passing moment.

The manservant, despite Chert’s protests, was about to shut the door in his face when an old woman stuck her head under the tall old man’s arm and peered out at the Funderling. He had seen her before, just as he had seen the old man, although mostly from a distance as Chaven led him through the Observatory. He couldn’t remember either of their names.

“What do you want?” she asked, eyes narrowed.

“I want to see your master. I know it is inconvenient—he may even have given orders not to be disturbed. But he knows me, and I’m… I’m in great need.” She was still looking at him with distrust. Like the old man, she had faint blue shadows under her eyes and a fidgety, distracted air. No one has had much sleep in this house either, Chert thought. After his own night stumping up and down Funderling Town and even through Southmarch above-ground, he felt like an itching skin stretched over a stale emptiness. Only fear for the lost boy was keeping him upright.

“It can’t be done,” she said. “If you need physick, you must go to Brother Okros at the academy, or perhaps one of the barbers down in the town.”

“But…” He took a breath, pushed down the urge to shout at this obstinate pair. “My… my son is missing. Chaven knows him—gave me some advice about him. He is a… a special boy. I thought Chaven might have some idea…”

The woman’s face softened. “Oh, the poor wee thing! Missing, is he? And you, you poor man, you must be heartsick.”

“I am, Mistress.”

The manservant rolled his eyes and vanished back down the hallway. The woman stepped out into the courtyard, drying her hands on her apron, then looked around as though to make sure they were safe from prying eyes. “I shouldn’t tell you, but my master’s not here. He’s had to go on a sudden journey. He left this morning, before dawn.”

A sudden suspicion, fueled only by coincidence, made him ask, “Alone? Did he go alone?” She gave him a puzzled look, but it began to shade into resentment as she answered. “Yes, of course alone. We saw him off. You surely don’t think…”

“No, Mistress, or at least nothing ill. It’s just that the lad knows your master and likes him, I think. He might have tagged along with him, as boys sometimes do.”

She shook her head. “There was no one about. He left an hour before the sun was up, but I had a lamp and I would have seen. He was in a terrible hurry, too, the doctor, although I shouldn’t speak of his business to anyone. No offense to you.”

“None taken.” But his heart was even heavier now. He had hoped at the very least that Chaven’s keen wit might strike on some new idea. “I’m sure you have a great deal to do, Mistress. I’ll leave you. When he comes back, could you tell him that Chert of Funderling Town wanted urgently to speak with him?”

“I will.” Now she seemed to wish there was more she could do. “The gods send you good luck—I hope you find your little lad. I’m sure you will.”

“Thank you. You’re very kind.”