'On performance of what task?' said Guest Gulkan.
'On performance of his liberation,' said Iva-Italis. 'You must quest to the Temple of Blood in the city of Obooloo. There you must liberate the Great God from the evil Stogirov. Then the Great God will reward you by making you a wizard.'
There was a pause. Ever since being sold a rotten boat by Umbilskimp of Ink, Guest had become hypercautious in examining any deal he was offered, and even in the innocence of his youth the young Weaponmaster considered that the bargain the demon was offering him was suspiciously over-attractive.
'Well?' said Iva-Italis, disconcerted by Guest's silence.
'I'm not sure whether to believe this,' said Guest, speaking slowly.
'Where lies the difficulty?' said Iva-Italis.
'Well,' said Guest, 'here you've got this island jam-packed with sword-swingers, most of whom would kill their grandmothers for a half-share of the eyeballs, so how come you pick on me to go looking for this Great God?'
'You are tutored by a wizard, are you not?' said Iva-Italis.
'That I am,' said Guest Gulkan.
'Then bring me that wizard,' said Iva-Italis, 'and I will explain to him that he may explain to you.'
Here we see why the Demon By Appointment to the Great God Jocasta had picked upon Guest Gulkan. True, Iva-Italis had slaughtermen by the dozen to choose from, but those were one and all illiterate uneducated brutes with no connections to boast of. Guest Gulkan's merits as a blood-booted venturer might be slight, but he had the unique advantage of being associated with a wizard of genius: the eminent Hostaja Torsen Sken-Pitilkin, a wizard whose sagacity was matched only by his antiquity.
But though Guest Gulkan had been honest enough to appreciate his own demerits, or some of them (a remarkable feat, considering the strength of his ego and the tenderness of his years!) he quite failed to understand his tutor's strengths.
'There's no need to bring Sken-Pitilkin in on this,' said Guest Gulkan. 'He doesn't understand about swords and heroes. Only about books.'
Few statements so far from the truth have ever been made at any time in the History of Knowledge. For Hostaja Torsen Sken-Pitilkin was mighty in war, a survivor of more bloodspill than it would take to bath an elephant. He had endured the terrors of the Long War; had survived battle, plague, riot and attempted assassination; and had once strangled a dragon with his bare hands. (True, it had been a very young dragon, perhaps only a few days out of the egg, but the feat remains remarkable regardless.)
'Bring him,' said Iva-Italis. 'Bring me the wizard Sken-Pitilkin.' Then, seeing that Guest was in a mood to argue: 'Are you going to quibble with me, boy? If so, then know the penalty for quibbling.'
With that, the green glass of the demon's square-cut flanks turned transparent, then vanished. What was left, hanging in mid- air without apparent support, was the image of a decapitated head which, with its high cheekbones and the grotesqueries of its ears, was unmistakably Guest Gulkan's own. This trophy slowly rotated, grinning lugubriously as red blood and green slime dripped from between its lips. Guest Gulkan did not blanch, nor did he vomit. No scream escaped the lips of the young Yarglat would-be warrior. But he had to admit to a slight quickening of the pulse and an undeniable weakness of the knees.
'My lord,' said Guest Gulkan, suppressing the urge to swallow. 'I hear, and I obey. I will fetch the wizard you want.'
The the boy Guest began the great labor of working his way down through the mainrock by night, all the way down to Dolce Obo – the Pillow Stratum, home of the mainrock's living quarters. A hard journey this, at least for a convalescent boy less than half-recovered from a bad bout of influenza. Guest found Sken-Pitilkin in his quarters, and found him in discourse with a diminutive Ashdan, a living antique who was introduced to Guest Gulkan as Vorlus Ulix. In their company was a low-browed fellow huddled in a grimy patchwork cloak, a fellow who was waiting as a servant waits, seated to one side on a three- legged stool. This individual was Thayer Levant, a knifeman from far-distant Chi'ash-lan. But Levant was not introduced to Guest Gulkan, and the boy did not trouble himself about the identity of one he took (and here his taking was fairly accurate) to be a no- account servitor.
Consequently, Guest did not remark upon Levant's bloodshot eyes, on the patches of green fungus clearly to be seen through his lank brown hair, on his broken brown teeth, or – for Guest was not standing close enough to smell it – on the unpleasant fetor of his breath. Instead, the Weaponmaster's attention was all on the Ashdan.
'Vorlus?' said Guest Gulkan, querying the Ashdan's name.
'That's right,' said Sken-Pitilkin, speaking in Galish.
'Vorlus Ulix, otherwise known as Ulix of the Drum.'
'Of the Drum?' said Guest, courteous enough to make use of Galish likewise in his reply. 'You mean, Sken- Pitilkin's island?'
Thus spoke the Weaponmaster, remembering that his tutor habitually dwelt on an island so named in the Penvash Strait (or, if you prefer, the Penvash Channel), and had only been displaced northward to Tameran as a consequence of some (hopefully) temporary dispute with the Confederation of Wizards.
'No,' said the stranger, the abovementioned Vorlus Ulix, speaking also in Galish. 'Not that Drum.'
'Then what Drum?' said Guest.
'That,' said the stranger, 'is a secret which may not be imparted to the uninitiated.'
'Who are they?' said Guest Gulkan.
'A great tribe,' said Vorlus Ulix. 'Yourself being one of their number.'
Seeing that his curiosity about Vorlus Ulix was not going to be gratified, Guest got down to business and retailed the story of his encounter with Iva-Italis.
'This is very interesting,' said Sken-Pitilkin, not sure whether it was not a tissue of invention.
'Very interesting indeed,' said Vorlus Ulix. 'I would like to make the acquaintance of this Icaria Scaria Iva- Italis.'
'That is not possible,' said Guest Gulkan promptly.
'What did you say?' said Vorlus Ulix, turning his gaze upon Guest Gulkan.
Now young Guest was by no means preternaturally sensitive, and this Vorlus Ulix was a complete stranger to him, his powers and provenance unknown. Nevertheless, Guest divined from his manner that he was not the kind of person to be quarreled with.
'My – my lord,' said Guest Gulkan, 'the demon of, of who, of whom we speak, that demon is closeted against prying eyes at the foot of those stairs which lead to the Inner Sanctum, the most secret of all – of all – '
'Abditories,' said Sken-Pitilkin, supplying the necessary word with a tutor's patience.
'Just so,' said Guest Gulkan. 'The place is off limits to all but the Bankers, and guards are placed to kill those who approach it in defiance of the law.'
'I have heard that the guards are mostly placed in bed,' said Vorlus Ulix. 'And most of the Bankers likewise.'
'It is true that influenza has made its inroads,' said Guest cautiously. 'Nevertheless – '
'Give me no nonsense,' said Vorlus Ulix. 'You are away from your post. Do you stand in fear of detection? No! From which I deduce that you do not expect to be checked upon. That being so, we can safely approach your green-skinned monster, at least for the moment. Come! Let us go!'Guest Gulkan wavered. In truth, he found himself unaccountably afraid of this wisp-weighted Ashdan. But:
'I refuse to permit it,' said Guest, with a finality which was a credit to his imperial breeding. 'I have been charged with the duty of guarding the time prison, and guard it I will.'
At that, Vorlus Ulix laughed, and his servitor laughed with him.
'What's so funny?' said Guest.
'You, boy,' said Ulix. 'Don't you recognize us? We came down the stairs from the – the secret place. Earlier in the evening.
Remember now?'
Belatedly, Guest did indeed remember that very same elderly Ashdan and that very same unprepossessing servitor coming down the stairs past Iva-Italis. The presumption was that Vorlus Ulix and his servitor had the free run of the Safrak Bank, though Guest Gulkan had no way of knowing why that should be so.
With this truth having been recognized, Guest Gulkan began the great labor of climbing up all those weary
