The Witch & the Cathedral - Wizard of Yurt - 4 by C. Dale Brittain Page B
Authors: C. Dale Brittain
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in a ramshackle manor house in the foothills of the mountains.
We were interrupted at this point by the arrival of dessert, raspberry pudding, my favorite. I looked over to the side table where the servants were sitting and signaled my approval to the cook. She smiled back, highly pleased. The cook was now a full-bosomed matron and had a daughter almost as old as she had been when I first met her, but we had been friends ever since she was a saucy kitchen maid.
If it had not been for the Lady Maria and her questions, I would have assumed that the whole court was as happy to see me again as I was to be here. Now I was beginning to wonder.
"Wizard!" called the queen down the table. "We missed your illusions while you were gone. Could you entertain us over dessert as you used to?"
My entertainments went over very well. I made the same scarlet dragon I had tried on the Romney children, and this time it got the appreciation it deserved. I finished by creating a pair of golden crowns, glittering with enough jewels to be worth a small kingdom by themselves if they were real, and had them whirl through the air and settle on the queen's and Paul's heads.
Thank you!" said Paul with a laugh. "Everybody else keeps trying to remind me that I still have three months to go!"
As the Illusions faded away, people began to disperse. The young chaplain startled me by touching my elbow. "Would you care for a final glass of wine in my chambers?"
For a moment I was unable to answer. Even aside from my suspicions of him, coming back to Yurt had revived long-forgotten memories of the day I first arrived here. We had eaten in the same hall, its doors and windows open to the air; I had had the Lady Maria beside me; and after dinner I had asked Joachim to have a glass of wine in my chambers.
The young chaplain seemed to take my silence as a symptom of abstemiousness. "The Apostle tells us to take 'a little wine for thy stomach's sake,' " he said with a genial chuckle, patting the organ in question, "and we shouldn't disobey the Apostle, now, should we?"
"I'm sorry," I said. "I was thinking of something else. I'd be very happy to join you."
I turned toward the stairs that led up to the small room both Joachim and his immediate successor had had, but the young chaplain turned the other way. I hurried after him, recalling some problem which had made him ask for different chambers.
"So how are you settling into your new duties?" I asked as I caught up. "You'd been here a month with the previous chaplain, but you'd only been on your own for a few weeks when I left." I wondered jealously if he now thought of Yurt as his kingdom.
"Very well, I hope. But maybe you shouldn't be asking me," he added with another chuckle, "but those I try to serve!"
He opened his door and motioned me to precede him. I observed at once that he had more space than I did. But I was also relieved to see that his chambers did not suggest an impure mind. The rooms were furnished sparsely, with nothing on the walls but his seminary diploma and the crucifix at the head of the narrow bed.
"You probably wondered why I asked you to join me," the chaplain said, opening a bottle, "especially after the Lady Maria seemed to imply that you and I ought to be fierce competitors!" He gave a broad smile and handed me a glass. Even though it had always bothered me that Joachim had a rather limited sense of humor, I would at the moment have preferred his sober intensity.
"So she's been taking her instruction in directions you hadn't intended?" I asked, taking a sip. The first night I had met Joachim, we had put away several bottles of City vintage between us. I had been determined to show him that no priest could out drink a wizard, and although I had never asked him about it, I had the impression he didn't want to let a wizard think he could out drink a priest.
"Well, her comments have put me in a delicate position," said the chaplain with well-modulated cheerfulness. "You may not
We were interrupted at this point by the arrival of dessert, raspberry pudding, my favorite. I looked over to the side table where the servants were sitting and signaled my approval to the cook. She smiled back, highly pleased. The cook was now a full-bosomed matron and had a daughter almost as old as she had been when I first met her, but we had been friends ever since she was a saucy kitchen maid.
If it had not been for the Lady Maria and her questions, I would have assumed that the whole court was as happy to see me again as I was to be here. Now I was beginning to wonder.
"Wizard!" called the queen down the table. "We missed your illusions while you were gone. Could you entertain us over dessert as you used to?"
My entertainments went over very well. I made the same scarlet dragon I had tried on the Romney children, and this time it got the appreciation it deserved. I finished by creating a pair of golden crowns, glittering with enough jewels to be worth a small kingdom by themselves if they were real, and had them whirl through the air and settle on the queen's and Paul's heads.
Thank you!" said Paul with a laugh. "Everybody else keeps trying to remind me that I still have three months to go!"
As the Illusions faded away, people began to disperse. The young chaplain startled me by touching my elbow. "Would you care for a final glass of wine in my chambers?"
For a moment I was unable to answer. Even aside from my suspicions of him, coming back to Yurt had revived long-forgotten memories of the day I first arrived here. We had eaten in the same hall, its doors and windows open to the air; I had had the Lady Maria beside me; and after dinner I had asked Joachim to have a glass of wine in my chambers.
The young chaplain seemed to take my silence as a symptom of abstemiousness. "The Apostle tells us to take 'a little wine for thy stomach's sake,' " he said with a genial chuckle, patting the organ in question, "and we shouldn't disobey the Apostle, now, should we?"
"I'm sorry," I said. "I was thinking of something else. I'd be very happy to join you."
I turned toward the stairs that led up to the small room both Joachim and his immediate successor had had, but the young chaplain turned the other way. I hurried after him, recalling some problem which had made him ask for different chambers.
"So how are you settling into your new duties?" I asked as I caught up. "You'd been here a month with the previous chaplain, but you'd only been on your own for a few weeks when I left." I wondered jealously if he now thought of Yurt as his kingdom.
"Very well, I hope. But maybe you shouldn't be asking me," he added with another chuckle, "but those I try to serve!"
He opened his door and motioned me to precede him. I observed at once that he had more space than I did. But I was also relieved to see that his chambers did not suggest an impure mind. The rooms were furnished sparsely, with nothing on the walls but his seminary diploma and the crucifix at the head of the narrow bed.
"You probably wondered why I asked you to join me," the chaplain said, opening a bottle, "especially after the Lady Maria seemed to imply that you and I ought to be fierce competitors!" He gave a broad smile and handed me a glass. Even though it had always bothered me that Joachim had a rather limited sense of humor, I would at the moment have preferred his sober intensity.
"So she's been taking her instruction in directions you hadn't intended?" I asked, taking a sip. The first night I had met Joachim, we had put away several bottles of City vintage between us. I had been determined to show him that no priest could out drink a wizard, and although I had never asked him about it, I had the impression he didn't want to let a wizard think he could out drink a priest.
"Well, her comments have put me in a delicate position," said the chaplain with well-modulated cheerfulness. "You may not
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