Pathspace: The Space of Paths (45 page)

“Did the Tourists have any kind of weapons?”
he asked Xander one evening. The older man did not answer
immediately, distracted by something he held cupped in his hands.
“What is that?”

Xander was about to drop it into a pocket of
his robe. He hesitated, then changed his mind and held out the
hand, palm up, and opened it.

Lying in his palm was a flat round locket
from which the chain had broken off, long ago. Framed by the old
metal was a portrait carved in stone, of a woman's face seen in
profile. The whole thing was only an inch or two across. Lester had
never seen anything like it. “It's an old art form called a cameo..
Some people still make them, from time to time.

“Where it you find it?”

“I had it made.” The old wizard seemed lost
in thought.

“So it was someone you knew? Was it your
mother, or someone special?” For some reason,.the profile reminded
him of Aria. Lester wondered if he could find someone to make a
portrait of her.

“Someone special,” said Xander.

“What happened? Did she marry another? Or
did one of the plagues take her?”

Xander snapped the locket shut and dropped
it into his pocket. “Neither,” he said, closing his eyes for a
moment. When he opened them again he looked away. “She was already
married, to an important man. I couldn't take her away from
him.”

“But
you're
an important man! You're
the only wizard in Rado!”

Xander grimaced. “You won't find many people
who agree with that,” he said. “And besides, you're wrong. You're
becoming one too, and at the rate your ability is growing, you will
be a greater wizard than I ever was.”

“I don't know about that. But what about the
girl? How could you just give up on her like that? Didn't she love
you too?” Lester brooded on it. “All right, you said she was
already married. I can see you;d respect that. But people don't
live forever. Is he still alive?”

“No. He died years ago.”

Lester let his bafflement show. “Then why
don't you go to her? Did you find someone else?”

The wizard sighed. “Maybe I should have, but
no. She's the only one.” He seemed to finally notice Lester's
questioning face. “And I never gave up on her, either. I know, it
sounds ridiculous. There used to be a saying: 'no fool like an old
fool'. One day you'll understand.”

“I'm not sure I want to.”
I hate it when
adults say that to me!
He knew that most humans go through the
same kinds of learning experiences, but he had always resented the
smugness of it, the certainty that he'd always come to the same
conclusions that they had.

Xander looked at him, seeming to read his
mind, and shook his head. “I know, you won't grow up to be the same
as me. You'll make your own mistakes.”

Lester raised an eyebrow. “So you think love
is a mistake, now?”

“Never. But it can lead to mistakes. When
you look at Aria, remember that.”

After Lester fell asleep Xander tried to
follow suit but found he could not. Old thoughts and memories had
been stirred, and would not settle. That stupid locket! He should
have thrown the damned thing away long ago. But he couldn't.

Arising, he groped for this staff and went
to the door and threw back the bar on the other side with a mental
flick of pathspace.

Karl, the guard on duty, startled, tried to
block his path. “Um,” he said, swallowing, “you're supposed to stay
here at night. Governor's orders.”

“I'm aware of that. But I need to see the
Governor.”

“Can't it wait?”

He could see the guard was nervous. Caught
between a Wizard and his Governor. But he had no time for this.
“Maybe it can,” he said. “But
I
can't. Oh, put away your
sword, Karl. You don't really want to fight me. If you like, you
can come with me.” Seeing the man hesitate, he added “Unless you
want me to knock you out with magic. Don't worry, I'll see to it
you don't get in trouble.”

Glumly, worry plain on his face, the guard
followed him to the stairwell.

After they had gone up a few floors and were
resting on a landing, Karl finally has to ask. “What is it that you
can't wait for morning to say to her? Is it a new idea for the
defenses?”

“No.” Xander didn't volunteer anything
further.

“Only it's late and she's probably asleep,
you know. She won't thank either of us for waking her. Maybe you're
not worried about that, being the court Wizard and all. But I'm
just a guard.”

Xander glanced at the man's uniform. “You're
only a private,” he said. “She can't demote you any lower.”

“She could throw me out of the Army!”

“When we're about to be invaded? I don't
think so. And like I said, I'll make sure nothing happens to you
for this. You should trust me, soldier.
She
does.”

Karl chewed on that the rest of the way up
to Kristana's floor.

There was no avoiding another “discussion”
with the guards posted outside the Governor's floor. Standing there
in the stairwell, Xander could feel himself beginning to lose
patience. “I need to see Her Excellency,” he repeated. “We both
know she'll see me if you'd just let me in.”

“Actually, I don't know that. Not this
late.” The guard did not move from in front of the door.. “And
we
both know she needs her sleep.”

“I'm tired too,” growled Xander. “But this
is important, damn it!” He could hear his voice getting louder but
was too tired and annoyed to master his irritation.”

The door behind the guard swung open and a
weary Kristana regarded both of them.

“The two of you are arguing about my rest so
loudly,” she said, “ that I can't get any. You might as well let
him in, Loyd, so we can all have some peace.”

Xander and the guard shared a rueful glance,
looking for a moment like unruly schoolboys caught by a teacher,
and then Loyd stepped aside, abashed. “You might as well stay here,
Karl,” said Xander. “I'll be back shortly “

Karl's face wore a resigned look that said
plainly that he doubted that, but Xander had no time for niceties
at the moment. It was true that he and the Governor both needed
sleep, and the sooner he finished this meeting, the better.

Kristana ambled back into down the hall to
her outer office and plopped herself down behind a desk. “So what
couldn't wait until tomorrow?”

He grabbed a chair himself and regarded her.
He could still see the beautiful woman he had met, so many years
before, now trapped behind a mask of authority and tiny wrinkles.
“The aftermath,” he said.

She raised an eyebrow, inviting him to
continue, so he did. “We've been so focused on how we're going to
repel this invasion that we haven't considered what we do
next.”

“Speak for yourself,” she yawned. “I meet
with my planners every day.”

“You know what I mean,” he said. “Simply
avoiding being conquered isn't enough. We have to have a lasting
peace, and that means forging alliances.”

“With who?” she snorted. “Wyoming? Those
communalists can barely defend themselves, let alone help us.”

“No,” he said. “With Texas.”

“Are you out of your mind? They're the ones
trying to crush us!”

“The Honcho is, sure. But he won't live
forever. From what I've seen, the Runt appears more amenable to
negotiations than his father.”

“They tried to kidnap my daughter. And
rescuing her nearly got you killed.” She crossed her arms and
lowered her eyebrows. “We don't need Texas.”

“Actually, we do.” Xander coughed and leaned
back in his chair. “There is no way to accomplish the General's
Dream without it. Unless the new Union encompasses every lost State
on the continent, we'll have enemies at our backs when we try to
reach out to the rest of the world.” He knew that invoking her
memories of the General wasn't exactly fair, but he couldn't help
it.

“If we defeat them this time, we can defeat
them again later,” she muttered.

“If we can bring them to an alliance, we
won't have to fight them again,” he countered.

“Why should they agree to anything with us?
They don't need us.”

“Actually, they do. This invasion isn't just
about neutralizing us as a potential threat. He wants to expand his
armies and territories, and we have the gold he needs to do that.”
Xander paused. “If he finds he can't take it by force, by occupying
us and our mines, then he'll realize he has to negotiate for
it.”

She studied him. “And what does he, or
rather, Texas, have that we need?”

“More farmland, for one thing. Our
population is growing, in case your planners haven't noticed. Texas
has beef and crops. We both now the old Union wasn't held together
by force. What glued the United States together was the synergy of
trade. Every region has its own peculiarities, its own produce and
trade items, and the more States we incorporate into the new Union
the better off we will be. Not just to restore the grand Union that
was lost. We will all be better off when the internal wars are over
and all the areas can trade freely again.”

She shook her head. “All right,” she said.
“I'm not crazy either. You know I'd rather have peace than worry
about invasions all the time. If we can find a way to conclude an
alliance with Texas, we will. Satisfied?”

“It's a start,” he said. “But you need to
have your people begin crafting the terms as soon as possible. And
the treaty will be a model for many others, so it needs to be
expandable when we bring other countries to the table to consider
joining. We can't give Texas a better deal than anyone else.”

She frowned but nodded. “is that it? Are we
done?”

“One other thing,” he said. “As you know, I
can make everflames, and I've been with your chief armorer cranking
them as as quickly as I can in case we need to use them to
fight.”

“So?”

“When the invasion is over, I want to start
giving them away. I'll keep making them, and eventually Lester will
be able to help me, but I want us to start distributing them to the
people, one per family.”

“Your communalist roots are showing, wizard.
Tell me why we should give them away.”

Another coughing fit delayed his answer.
“Well, for several reasons. For one thing, Winter is coming.”

Kristana rolled her eyes. “We have plenty of
firewood.”

“We have trees, true. But with a growing
population we will need all the lumber we can get for building.
Right now there are a few everflames scattered about Rado in
smithies and inns and the like. But if every family had one, our
homes would be warm without burning up our trees as firewood.”

“So you want us to just give them away? For
free?”

“Free to our citizens, yes. We can also
export them as trade goods. Think of the prestige Rado will have
when we are the only source of them. People in other countries will
envy our citizens. It could even be a way to get more countries to
join our Union. Think about it! We could give away some free
samples, and then make them pay if they want more. But they'll know
they can have all the everflames they need...for free...if they
become part of the new United States.”

She snorted at that. “You think big, I'll
give you that. But I don't want you working yourself to death to
give people free magic.”

“I won't have to do it all. I'll spend a
little part of each day making some, and Lester will help me when
he learns how.”

“The same reasoning applies to your
apprentice,” she said. “I won't have you working
him
to
death, either.”

“Once we get my School up and running, we'll
be able to train more apprentices. Right now it's just me, but
it'll grow quickly, like a snowball rolling downhill.”

“I smell a hidden agenda. What are you
really aiming at, here?”

He shrugged. “Same as I ever was. Making
more wizards. I don't know whether it's something anyone can do, or
if some people just have a natural aptitude for it, but one thing I
do
know is that developing the ability to do 'magic'
requires long-term exposure to the Gifts. We'll start with
everflames and swizzles. When he get enough of them into the hands
of the people, then we'll grow a crop of potential wizards in the
next generation. In time – “

“Swizzles too?”

“Yes. It was a swizzle back in Wyoming that
started me on my path. Your citizens can use them to bring water
out of wells and to fan the flames of forges. Your people will be
better off, and you'll eventually have more wizards to help defend
Rado and make more things.”

“But if we export them to other zones,” she
objected, “won't that destroy our advantage? If you're right,
they'll be having more wizards too.”

“It takes a long time to make an
apprentice,” he said. “We won't export at first, so our own
citizens will feel the effects before anyone else. We'll be way
ahead of them for quite a while. And Rado becoming known as a
source of wizards might make the others countries more willing to
ally with us.”

“You're forgetting something,” she said.
“The Church will oppose you. They'll tell the people not to accept
the Gifts. They'll order families not to let their children near
them if they suspect it will lead them 'astray'...into learning
magic.”

“Yes,” he sighed. “But every Winter that
comes will make their members long for the convenience of
everflames heating their homes and cooking their food without smoke
or having to chop firewood. And every summer will make them wish
they had coldboxes to help their food keep longer. We'll win in the
long run.”

Indifferent stars glittered overhead in the
cold of early Winter as she emerged onto the rooftop. “I've been
looking for you,” she said.