“Of course,” she repeated.
A moment later Lar and Emmis were out on the street, marching back toward Arena Street. Emmis looked around, but Hagai was nowhere to be seen.
He probably got bored, Emmis thought. He had no way of knowing how long they might be in the warlock’s shop.
“I think I’d like to talk to a wizard next,” Lar said.
“I thought we’d be going home,” Emmis said.
“Wizard first,” Lar said.
Emmis looked back to see Ishta’s door close, and a moment later her window went dark.
He sighed. “Wizard Street is that way,” he said, pointing.
Chapter Eight
“We’ve passed a dozen open shops,” Emmis said. “Was there something specific you’re looking for?”
“Yes,” Lar said. “I want a wizard who answers questions.”
“You mean a seer?”
“Something like that, yes.”
Emmis looked up at the signboards above the doors ahead. “TARISSA the FAIR,” read the nearest, “Love Spells amp; Potions, Aphrodisiacs.” The next announced, “KARDIG of SOUTHGATE, Curses Cast amp; Removed.” He had to admit neither of those sounded very promising.
They were walking east on Wizard Street. It was late enough now that most of the shops were dark, the signboards unlit. “Perhaps we should come back in the morning,” Emmis suggested.
Lar shook his head. “Tonight,” he said.
“Why? Why is it that important? You said you could take as long as you needed for whatever it is you’re doing.”
“Yes, but tomorrow someone may be following us again.”
Emmis blinked. “What?”
“That Lumethan is gone — hadn’t you noticed?”
“Well, yes,” Emmis admitted.
“You told them I was interested in warlocks, and I wasn’t talking about anything very secret with Ishta in any case, so I didn’t mind him following us there. He’s welcome to anything he can learn from her. What I want to ask a wizard is a little different, and I don’t want the Lumethans to know about it, so when we left Ishta’s shop and I saw that he was gone, I knew I want to talk to a wizard tonight, before the Lumethans come back. They won’t expect me to visit two different magicians about two different things in the same night — that’s why he didn’t stay, I’m sure. He probably went to tell the others that they should talk to Ishta tomorrow.”
“Why didn’t he stay to talk to her tonight, then?” Emmis asked. “I know she put out the lamp, but he left before that. He didn’t wait around to talk to her after we left.”
“Because he doesn’t speak Ethsharitic, remember?”
“Unless he does.”
“Even if he does, he probably wants to... I don’t know the Ethsharitic word. Shichak. He wants to talk to the others before he does anything.”
“Confer?”
“Probably. That sounds reasonable.”
“So you want to talk to a wizard while we aren’t being followed. Are you sure you want me here?”
Lar turned and looked Emmis in the eye, considering. Then he said, “I may ask you to leave. We will see. And you are not to tell the Ashthasan anything about this.”
Emmis nodded. “Fair enough,” he said. “But I don’t see many shops open here. Perhaps we should try a side-street. Or must it be a wizard? Witch Alley is just over that way.” He pointed to the north.
Lar frowned. “I think a wizard would be better.”
“As you please, then.” Emmis scanned the shops ahead. “Perhaps there?” He pointed.
“What does it say?” Lar said, peering into the gloom.
“I think the name is Kolar the Sage,” Emmis said. “The one with the big blue eye?”
“Ah.” Lar nodded.
A moment later Emmis tried the Sage’s door, only to find it locked. He hesitated, and looked up at the sign again, and then at the window.
A lantern hung on the bracket beside the sign, illuminating it, and the candle within the lantern still had an inch or two of wax remaining. Black velvet curtains were drawn behind the window, but a crystal ball stood on an iron tripod between the curtains and the glass, and glowed faintly blue.
“Maybe he just forgot to dowse the lantern,” Emmis said.
“The ball is still glowing,” Lar said.
“That may be permanent, not something he can turn on and off.”
“Wouldn’t he be careful about leaving the lantern lit, then?”
“Sir, while I understand you’re impatient and want to get on with your job, and that it would be better to do it while Hagai isn’t following us, it’s getting late, and if this Kolar were really a powerful seer he would have known we were coming and would be ready and waiting for us.”
Lar turned to stare at Emmis. “Are there really wizards who do that?”
“There are magicians who do it, certainly,” Emmis said. “My mother consulted a witch once, named Sella, who did that — the minute she stepped into the shop, before she could say a word, Sella was there with her answer ready.”
“Knock again,” Lar said.
With a sigh, Emmis obliged.
This time, though, someone answered; they heard a voice call faintly, “I’m coming!”
The two men waited, and a moment later the lock rattled, the latch lifted, and the door opened.
“Come in, come in!” said the young man inside, swinging the door wide and standing aside.
Cautiously, Lar and Emmis stepped in.
“Have a seat, please!” their host said, gesturing toward a maroon-upholstered couch.
“You’re Kolar the Sage?” Emmis asked.
The wizard looked down at himself, then smiled at them. “Yes, I am,” he said. “I hope you’ll pardon my appearance; I was just helping my wife put the twins to bed.”
Emmis supposed that did explain why he was wearing an ancient homespun tunic with an impressive collection of stains on it, rather than any sort of wizardly robe, as well as why his hair was a tangled mess, and why he had been slow to answer the door. It was perfectly reasonable, really. Still, Emmis would have had far more faith in the man’s ability if he had been waiting at the door, in a proper robe — or if he were a decade older; the man wasn’t much older than Emmis himself.
“Twins?” Lar asked.
“A boy and a girl,” Kolar said with obvious pride. “A year and a half old.”
Lar nodded, and settled onto the couch.
Emmis did not sit, but took up a position beside the couch, instead.
Kolar pulled a chair up and sat down facing them across a small, dark wooden table. “Now, what can I do for you?”
“I have a question I want answered,” Lar said. “Well, several, really, but we’ll start with one.”
“Yes?”
“Can you answer it?”
“Almost certainly,” Kolar said. “At a price, of course. The exact means used, and the exact price, will depend on the nature of the question.”
Lar hesitated, then said, “This is the question: What made the hum that Vond the Warlock heard when he came to Semma, and exactly where is it?”
