Page 22 (1/2)

He smiled and said, "You came but once The khaibit did not please you, then"

"She pleased me less than the woman she counterfeited - or rather, I loved the other ht I have lost a friend, yet it see old acquaintances May I ask how you've come here from your House Azure? Were you suht"

He nodded absently An oddly angled e, shallow rooht his profile, delicate as a cayne Pity welled up inthe door to edonic Quarter "Yes," he said "I will reo"

My mind was full of the picture old Rudesind had shown me in the corridor outside, and I said, "Then you can shohere the garden is"

I sensed at once that he had been caught off-guard, possibly for the first time in many years There was pain in his eyes, and his left hand htly) toward the vial at his throat "So you have heard of that" he said "Even supposing that I knew the hy should I reveal it to you? Many will seek to flee by that road if the pelagic argosy sights land"

Chapter 21

HYDROMANCY

Several seconds passed before I rightly understood what it was the androgyne had said Then the re-sweet in my nostrils, and I see in the stress of the moment how futile such precautionsto assure myself that no one could overhear us, then found that withoutwilled it (consciously, I had intended to question hi my connection with Vodalus) my hand had taken the knife-shaped steel from the inneryne sht be the one For days now I have been expecting you, and I have kept the oldproers to me"

"I was imprisoned in the antechamber," I said "And so lost time"

"But you escaped, I see It isn't likely you'd be released before my man came to search it It's well you did - there isn't much tio Coh I am by no means sure you will be permitted to enter" He opened the door by which he had coular The rooer than the one we had left; but its angles seemed normal, and it was richly furnished

"You came to the correct part of the Secret House at least," the androgyne said "Otherould have had to walk a weary way Your pardon, while I read the ht"

He crossed to what I at first supposed was a glass-topped table, and put the steel under it on a shelf At once a light kindled, shining down frorew until it seemed a sword, and its striations, in place of mere teeth on which to strike sparks fro script

"Stand back," the androgyne said "If you have not read this before, you must not read it now"

I did as he bid, and for so over the little object I had carried away frolade At last he said, "There is no help for it thenwe ht on two flanks But this is none of your affair Do you see that cabinet with the eclipse carved in its door? Open it and lift down the book you find there Here, you h I feared some trap, I opened the door of the cabinet he had indicated It held one ood two cubits wide - that stood with its cover of ht had I opened the lid of an upright casket Sheathing reat voluyne asked if I had seen it previously, and I told him I had not

"You looked fearful of it, and triedas it appeared to me - to keep your face from it when you carried it" He threw back the cover as he spoke The first page, thus revealed, ritten in red in a character I did not know

"This is a warning to the seekers of the path," he said "Shall I read it to you?"

I blurted, "It seemed to me that I saw a dead man in the leather, and that he was ain and ran his hand over it "These pavonine dyeings are but the work of craftsone - the lines and swirls beneath the animals' backs, the marks of ticks and whips But if you are fearful, you need not go"

"Open it," I said "Showitself," he said, and with that he threw back the cover and the first page as well

I was blinded, alhtning The inner pages seeht every wisp of illu it back amplified a hundred ti it realized that they were not, but those things for which we have no word but s that less than a watch before had returned Jonas to the stars "But how can they have pohen they do not face each other?"

The androgyne answered, "Consider how long they faced each other when the book was closed Now the field ithstand the tension we put on it for some time Go, if you dare"

I did not dare As he spoke, soes It was neither a woman nor a butterfly, but it partook of both, and just as we knoe look at the painted figure of a round of soe as an island, so I knew that I saw the thing only froainst the proton winds of space, and all Urth ht have been a mote disturbed by their motion Then as I had seen it, so it saw yne aon the steel through his glass It paused and turned to ht observe theyne closed the book with a crash, like a door slammed shut "What did you see?" he asked

I could think only that I no longer had to look into the pages, and said, "Thank you, sieur Whoever you may be, I am your servant from this time forward"