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I said, "I understand"

"Twice beforetowns, though whether those were such cases as this the chronicles do not say Nevertheless, they furnish a precedent now, and an escape froo to Thrax, Severian I have prepared a letter that will introduce you to the archon and his hly skilled in our mystery For such a place, it will not be a falsehood"

I nodded, being already resigned to what I was to do Yet while I sat there,the expressionless face of a journeyman whose only will is to obey, a new shah it was not so hot as the one for the disgrace I had brought upon the guild, still it was fresher, and hurt the rown accustomed to the sickness of it as I had the other It was this: that I was glad to go - that rass, s for the new, clear air of far, unmanned places

I asked Master Palaeht be

"Down Gyoll," he said "Near the sea" Then he stopped as oldof? Up Gyoll, of course," and forwaves, and the sand, and the seabirds' crying all faded away Master Palaemon took aover it until the lens by which he saw such things nearly touched the parchin of the young river, at the lower cataracts "If you had funds you ht travel by boat As it is, you h I reiven e of whatever wealth it uild's will to cast ht be expected to possess, and for prudence's sake as well as honor's, so I limpsed the woold coin, it is more than possible I would never have carried the knife to Thecla and forfeited ht my life

Very well - I would leave my old life behind me

"Severian!" Master Palae to me You were never an inattentive pupil in our classes"

"I's"

"No doubt" For the first time he really smiled, and for an instant looked his old self, the Master Palaeood advice for your journey Now you otten everything anyway You know of the roads?"

"I know theymore"

"The Autarch Maruthas closed theed sedition, and he wished goods to enter and leave the city by the river, where they ht be easily taxed The law has remained in force since, and there is a redoubt, so I've heard, every fifty leagues Still the roads reh they are in poor repair, it is said soht"

"I see," I said Closed or not, the roadsacross the countryside as the law deainst them They are patrolled by uhlans under orders to kill anyone found upon them, and since they have permission to loot the bodies of those they slay, they are not much inclined to ask excuses"

"I understand," I told him, and in private wondered how he came to know so much of travel

"Good The day is half spent now If you like, you "

"Sleep in h I knew he could scarcely seeme

"I will leave now, then" I tried to think of what I would have to do before I turnedca "May I have a watch in which to prepare? When the tiranted But before you leave, I want you to return here - I have soive you Will you do it?"

"Of course, Master, if you want me to"

"And Severian, be careful There are uild who are your friends - ish this had never happened But there are others who feel you have betrayed our trust and deserve agony and death"

"Thank you, Master," I said "The second group is correct"

My few possessions were already in ether and found the whole bundle so s froret for what had been, I went to Thecla's cell

It was empty still Her blood had been scrubbed from the floor, but a wide, dark spot of blood-rust had etched the one, and her cosmetics The four books I had carried to her a year before remained, stacked with others on the little table I could not resist the temptation to take one; there were so le volume My hand had stretched forth before I realized I did not knohich to choose The book of heraldry was the e by far to carry about the country The book of theology was the ser In the end it was that I took, with its tales from vanished worlds

I cliun rooed in cradles of pure force Then higher still to the rooely contorted chairs, and up a slender ladder until I stood on the slippery panes themselves, where my presence scattered blackbirds across the sky like flecks of soot and our fuligin pennon streamed and snapped from the staff over my head

Below me the Old Yard seemed small and even cramped, but infinitely coreater than I had ever realized, though to either side of it the Red Tower and the Bear Tower still stood proud and strong Nearest our own, the witches' toas slender, dark, and tall; for a hter to h we of the torturers have always been on the most friendly terms with the witches, our sisters

Beyond the wall, the great necropolis rolled down the long slope toward Gyoll, whose waters I could glis on its banks Across the flood of the river the rounded dome of the khan seemed no more than a pebble, the city about it an expanse of many-colored sand trodden by the h, sharp prow and stern, and a bellying sail, ainst my will I followed it for a ti sea where that great beast Abaia, carried frolacial days, s until the moment comes for him and his kind to devour the continents Then I abandoned all thoughts of the south and her ice-choked sea and turned north to thetih the sun seeain) I looked to the north The mountains I could see withexpanse of the city with its reat silver colu spires blocked halffor them, and indeed hardly saw them North lay the House Absolute and the cataracts, and Thrax, City of Windowless Rooms North lay the wide pales at the waist of the world When I had thought on all those things until I was half ain and told him I was ready to depart

Chapter 14