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"The gift of death? Oh, no!" Dr Talos laughed "No, my dear, you've had that all your life So has he We wouldn't pretend to give you what is already yours The gift we offer is beauty, with the fame and wealth that derive froot any ? Not at all! Quite the contrary, we are offering you new ee, and these optie?"

"I thought you looked funny, the three of you"

"We stand in need of an ingenue You may claim the position, if you wish But you must come with us noe've no tiain"

"Beco an actress won't make me beautiful"

"I will make you beautiful because we require you as an actress It is one of my powers" He stood up "Now or not at all Will you co at his face "I have to go to my room"

"What do you own but dross? I lamour and teach you your lines, all in a day I will not wait"

"Give me the "

"Nonsense! As athe funds ill require for your costumes Not to mention that you ate my pastry Pay for it yourself"

For an instant she hesitated Baldanders said, "Youat the world, but he lies less than people believe"

The deep, slow voice seeo"

In a fewpast shops that were still for the one some distance, Dr Talos announced, "And now, my dear friends, we must separate I will devote my tiet our collapsing proscenium and the other properties froht - I trust that will present no difficulties Severian, ill perform, I think, at Ctesiphon's Cross Do you know the spot?"

I nodded, though I had no notion of where itthem

Now, as Dr Talos quick-stepped aith the waitress trotting behind him, I found myself alone with Baldanders on the deserted street Anxious that he leave too, I asked hi to awith a man

"There is a park near the river where one ht When it is nearly dark, I will awaken and collect our belongings"

"I' to look around the city"

"I will see you then, at Ctesiphon's Cross"

For some reason I felt he kneas in my mind "Yes," I said "Of course" His eyes were dull as an ox's as he turned away to lu steps toward Gyoll Since Baldanders's park lay east and Dr Talos had taken the waitress west, I resolved to walk north and so continue my journey toward Thrax, the City of Windowless Rooms

Meanwhile, Nessus, the City Ih I had seen so little of it), lay all aboutor caring whether it was a side street or the principal one of the quarter There were raised paths for pedestrians at either side, and a third in the center, where it served to divide the northbound traffic fros seerain too closely planted, shouldering one another for a place; and what buildings they were - nothing so large as the Great Keep and nothing so old; none, I think, alls like the h; yet the Citadel had nothing to co so novel and fantastic as each of these structures was, though each stood a a hundred others As is the fashion in sos had shops in their lower levels, though they had not been built for the shops but as guildhalls, basilicas, arenas, conservatories, treasuries, oratories, artellos, asylums, manufacturies, conventicles, hospices, lazarets, mills, refectories, deadhouses, abattoirs, and playhouses Their architecture reflected these functions, and a thousand conflicting tastes Turrets and hts of steps as steep as ladders ascended sheer walls; and balconies wrapped facades and sheltered theranates

I ondering at these hanging gardens aray, and creareen and yellow and tyrian tiles, when the sight of a lansquenet guarding the entrance to a casern reminded me of the proht before Since I had little money and ell aware that I would require the warht, the best plan seemed to be to buy a voluminous mantle of so, but those that sold clothing all appeared to sell ould not fit reater than I could afford

The idea of working at my profession before I reached Thrax had not yet occurred tothat there would be so little call for a torturer's services that it would be impractical for me to seek out those who required them I believed, in short, that the three asimis, and the orichalks and aes in my pocket would have to carry me all the way to Thrax; and I had no idea of the size of the rewards that would be proffered me Thus I stared at balmacaans and surtouts, dolmans and jerkins of paduasoy, oing into the places that displayed the to examine theoods Though I knew nothing of it at the ti theht military capes and saddle blankets, saddles with ar-shafted khetens, fans of silver foil for signaling, bows curved and recurved for use by cavalry, arrows in matched sets of ten and twenty, bow cases of boiled leather decorated with gilt studs and uards to protect the left wrist fro When I saw all these, I re about following the druh I had held the matrosses of the Citadel in so rattle of the call to parade, and the bright challenge the trumpets sent from the battlements

Just when I had been wholly distracted from my search, a slender woman of twenty or a little s She wore a pavonine brocade gown of aedness, and as I watched her, the sun touched a rent just below her waist, turning the skin there to palest gold

I cannot explain the desire I felt for her, then and afterward Of the many women I have known, she was, perhaps, the least beautiful - less graceful than her I have loved inal far than Thecla She was of average height, with a short nose, wide cheekbones, and the elongated brown eyes that often acco, and I loved her with a love that was deadly and yet not serious

Of course I went to her I could no reed of Urth if I had tumbled over a cliff I did not knohat to say to her, and I was terrified that she would recoil in horror at the sight of in cloak But she smiled and actually seemed to ad, she asked what I wanted; and I asked if she knehere I ht buy a mantle

"Are you sure you need one?" Her voice was deeper than I had expected "You've such a beautiful cloak now May I touch it?"

"Please If you wish to"

She took up the edge and rubbed the fabric gently between her palms "I've never seen such a black - so dark you can't see folds in it It h it's disappeared And that sword Is that an opal?"

"Would you like to examine that too?"

"No, no Not at all But if you really want a estured toward the , and I saw that it was filled with articles of worn clothing of every kind, jelabs, capotes, smocks, cymars, and so on "Very inexpensive Really reasonable If you'll just go in, I'ling door, but the young woman did not (as I had so much hoped she would) follow me inside

The interior was diht I understood why the woman had not been disturbed bythan any torturer His face was a skeleton's or nearly so, a face with dark pits for eyes, shrunken cheeks, and a lipless mouth If it had notman at all, but a corpse left erect behind the counter in fulfillment of the morbid wish of some past owner