CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

 

"ARE YOU SURE she’s gone?” Catt waited as Fisher held the seashell to his ear and balanced the tip of it against the wall closest to the street.

“Gone,” Fisher said, taking the shell down and replacing it on the high shelf over the workbench.

They both of them leaned on the workbench for support and then Fisher reached underneath it and pulled out a little chest. He placed it on the bench and opened it. A gentle radiance of rosy gold filled the room as they both looked down on the Diadem of the Forinthi, which had once adorned the crown that Wall had taken from the Kinslayer. The gem in its midpoint had a similar glow to the eye of the serpent which Catt now held up towards it, but there was no mistaking the fact that the god-given blessings it was capable of were gone. Even so, its history and its possible restoration made it the most valuable object of their entire collection. As one they sighed, and then Catt lovingly wrapped it up and put it away. He set out the jewels that Tricky had left behind.

“I do believe that it may be time to dust off the Sheep Chariot,” Catt said.

“Where there’s a will there’s a relative?”

“This created woman must have had many interesting Tzarkomen relatives, probably all dead. They may have the other half of that snake. Or knowledge of its whereabouts. Finding so many pieces of it does hint at a great ability with detection I had never heretofore expected of them.”

There was a knock at the door and someone called in, “Oi! Are you available for makin’ a bill of sale? Hello?”

They ignored it.

“Do you think she gave us half deliberately?” Fisher asked, nearly hypnotised by the sway of movement inside the gemstones. These had once been part of a celestial being, maybe even the one that the Forinthi jewel had come from and there remained the chance that if they found every single part of it, they could put it together again. Minus one small segment, of course, otherwise said being may not find itself fully content with remaining in the little Cherivell shop not-on-display. One part was miraculous. But the whole thing…

The light danced over Doctor Fisher’s long, solemn features like sunlight through water and gave him the illusion of a certain underwater fluidity.

“I’m reasonably sure she did, so that’s more or less an invitation from the gods themselves, is it not?” Doctor Catt said, polishing a facet here and there with a fine cloth he drew from his pocket.

“And the labyrinth in Nydarrow?”

It was as though Catt hadn’t even heard him. “I think you must head for Tzark. I shall brave the barrows and warrens of the Wretched Darkness and any salivating serpentine sorceries within. The Book of All Things is out there too and we cannot leave such things to the vagaries of the illiterati. You must obtain it before there is a disaster. Yes. It would be a terrible thing if it fell into the wrong hands.”

Fisher looked at him in surprise. “We’re splitting up?”

“Needs must, Fishy. Think on. There are already at least three Guardians abroad with similar destinations in mind. You read the left hand side of that coffer. It was very specific that the Book is beyond the Tzarkona Gate, in the south, in the forbidden place. Imagine—” He stood back and sketched the scene out in thin air with his hands as though he could already see and hold the precious item. His face was alight. “The Book of All Things; the past, the present and the future all within its leaves. What a firenight storytime that could make, eh Fishy? And what insights, what clues to the location of so many more treasures of the ancients! There would be nothing we could not find!” He closed the imaginary book reverently and set it aside on the desk, giving it a pat. Then his tone turned business-like and sharp as though he were ready to debate against the finest scholars in open court. “Now, let’s see what I can take with me. Hand down the inventory.”

Fisher took up an actual old ledger from the shelf nearby and opened it by one of its many ribbons. “Grey, for the most powerful items.” He tapped his finger on the page where plenty of space was still left between the neatly ruled margins.

Catt surveyed the page listing their premium items with satisfaction. “Capital. No end to the ambiguity of power, is there? Let’s start with the Endless Satchel.”