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“I see.” Uni’s face was as hard as stone. He sighed, folded his hand behind his back, and started walking again, trying to look like he wasn’t dying inside. “He sounds like the perfect hero. I suppose all the girls dream of a brave young man like that saving them from a dragon…”
Siana gave a little frown. “He’s fifteen years older than I am, so he’s not exactly a young man. I’d say he’s a man in his prime. And he’s very, very smart. Just listen, I haven’t told you everything yet. Semilius told me that after we are married, he wants us to host a salon of the most intelligent people in the empire. He always says exactly what you just did: educated book-lovers shouldn’t be allowed to mingle with poor people. There needs to be a place where they can come and discuss their ideas while they drink and eat and have a good time. We are going to host elegant dinner parties like that. Just imagine: philosophers sitting around our table having heated discussions! I hope you will come and take part.”
“Me? Thank you for the invitation. I doubt I’ll come.”
“What’s wrong with you, Uni? You’re such a nice boy. You should think about your career. If you spend time with the best people in the empire, you’ll get noticed much faster. Wise men and leaders around the same table! That’s just what you were talking about, isn’t it?”
“Of course.” He paused. “Siana, you are always telling me how smart you think I am, but you’re wrong. Today, for the first time, I realized that you are the smart one. I’m a fool. That’s the truth.” Uni’s voice wavered as he stared off in the distance.
“How strange you are! How could I ever be smarter than you? You’ve read so many books, and you know more things than I could ever imagine. I may know a little bit about a lot of things, but my only chance to really learn is when I talk to people like you!”
“Will I ever see you again?” Uni asked, easing himself into the role of martyr.
“Of course! Come by during the week and tell me more about the Arincils. My father says we will be at war with them soon, but Semilius doesn’t believe it. What do you think, which of them is correct?”
For a moment, Uni said nothing, but then he gathered all of his strength and mastered the wave of despair that was drowning him. “I believe your eminently respected father is closer to the truth.”
“I think so, too,” the girl said, leaning toward him trustingly. “But please don’t tell Semilius. He doesn’t like it when I disagree with him.” She glanced at the setting sun. “It’s time for me to go. The sun is down. Time always flies when I’m with you!”
“Let me walk you home.”
“No need. There’s a palanquin waiting for me at the entrance to the gardens. Goodbye, Uni. It was so nice to spend time with you.” With an elegant wave of her wrist – encircled with a gold bracelet in the form of a grape vine – the girl left Uni standing alone in the ruins of his unfounded expectations.
* * *
“My dear boy, I can’t understand why you ever had any hopes. What were you thinking?” The heavy-set young man walking on Uni’s left was the absolute picture of sarcasm. He was only a hair taller than his tragic friend, but he made himself more noticeable with his smug bearing, brightly colored robes, and the unpleasant smirk on his well-bred face. “Did you even know who her father is? He’s Otonius Zainey, the right-hand-man to the Emperor’s tax collector! Think of it like this: you’re both birds, but she’s sitting in a much nicer tree. Does that make sense?”
The young man on Uni’s right frowned. “That’s not the problem, Sorgius,” he said with a shake of his dark curls. He was tall and well-built, a giant next to his friends. “You always think everything has to do with rank and money. What actually happened is that our little hero spent months and months dreaming about a girl who was already preparing to light a fire in her husband’s hearth.”
“Little hero? We were born in the same year, yet you keep calling me ‘little.’ With the Sun as my witness, I’ve had enough!”
Sorgius made a face. “Oh no, he’s getting upset.” He turned to Uni. “My boy, it takes more than admiring pretty girls if you want to be a man. You need brains in your head instead of book dust. Plain old common sense. And you need to get outside more often. You sit inside that archive like a child in its mother’s womb. You haven’t even been born yet. You’re a baby!”
“Perhaps I don’t know life, if you define life as these filthy drinking parties of yours, filthy whores, gluttony and licentiousness, and the stink of that weed you smoke!” Uni shook his head. “Man was created for purity and light, to attain the secrets of this world and to respond to the call of tender love. I will never be like you two. Why do you always attack me?”
“Speaking of filthy drinking parties,” his companion on the right interrupted him. “Shall we stop in at the Rabbit? What do you say? I think that’s the perfect place to drink yourself into a stupor over unrequited love.”
Uni winced. “I thought you would understand me, Vordius. I suppose you’re done with your friends now that you’ve found love. Have you forgotten how we poured beer down your throat when you were heartsick?”
“That we did,” Sorgius recalled happily. “But for some reason, I was the one who vomited. Those hotheads from the guards certainly know how to drink. We were at the Roasted Rabbit that time, so why not go back? We already know the place.”
“My report for the Emperor is due at noon. I’m not going anywhere. I’ll suffer alone.”
“Did you hear that? He’s writing for the Great Lord, but he doesn’t want to drink to him. There’s something wrong with that. How about this: I hereby use the powers vested in me to arrest you until you remedy this blasphemous situation,” said Vordius Onato. He wrapped a giant arm around Uni’s shoulders and squeezed him until he cried out in pain. Then he dragged his friend’s puny body into their favorite drinking establishment.
The Roasted Rabbit might not have been one of the best-known taverns in Enteveria, but it offered the most fun, with the highest concentration of wine-lovers anywhere in the Empire. As its name indicated, the tavern was known for roasting rabbits, pheasants, and other delicacies brought in by hunters, which made it the ideal choice for gatherings of “real men” and anyone who wanted to sit next to them at prices that were more than reasonable for the capital city.
There were no seats to be had, but Vordius solved the problem in his usual manner: he simply knocked three of the most well-oiled customers off their chairs.
He gestured at a server. “Man, over here!” The server reacted quickly when he saw the guardsman. Vordius was feeling expansive. “Bring us the best of everything: rabbit, vegetables, bread, nuts. And make sure it’s all fresh!”
“Are you drinking wine or beer?”
“Bring both.”
“What kind of wine? We have a fortified wine from Seregad that is particularly nice.”
“I said bring everything!”
“Yes, your honor!”
Uni’s eyes were round. “I can’t believe it! You’ve been a nicor for less than a week and you’re already bossing everyone around. What will you be like when they make you a commander?”
“Would you rather sit here for an hour before they notice you? The way I do it, we already have a feast on our table.”
“Lovely. But who is going to pay for it?”
“He is,” Vordius said, pointing his huge finger at Sorgius, whose eyes had rolled up in delight at the smell of the beer. “He’ll pay for each word he said against my very best friend,” and the warrior wrapped his powerful arm around Uni’s face and kissed him on the top of the head.
“Of course, you brought me along to be the wallet,” Sorgius whined. “I wish I had known when we were boys together that I would end up buying your friendship with beer.”
“You brought it on yourself, fool! How many times have I told you to stop measuring everything in money? You’re a philanderer with years of experience, but when I asked you to give Uni advice, you just brushed me off. How could you? Can’t you see your friend is dying?”
“If he’s dying, then let’s drink the first toast to our friendship. May there always be someone to take the noose from around your neck!”
“To friendship!” Each member of the small group poured a little of his wine into his neighbor’s cup and then drank his own dry.
“See, Uni,” Sorgius turned to his neighbor, whose face was already pink. “Your fatal mistake was entirely banal. That’s what makes it so tragic. Your fault is how you look at a woman.”
“How do you know how I look at a woman?”
Sorgius snorted. “Do you think you’re one-of-a-kind? Everyone goes through it. See, you look at women as if they were holy beings. Goddesses. That’s the root of your problem.”
“But how else am I supposed to look at the woman I love? That’s normal.”
“Normal?” Sorgius snorted again. “What’s normal is seeing a woman for what she is. In reality. A woman is a pretty face that hides a very pragmatic, earthy nature. She has no time for romantic nonsense, and she usually knows perfectly well what she wants from life.”
“What does she want?”
“For a man to pay attention to her and take care of her. That’s the main idea. First of all, she has to see you as a man. Then, you have to show her some attention. Nothing else matters.”
“Fine. What is a man like that supposed to do with a woman?”
“Vordius can tell you all about that.” He turned to the guardsman with a grin. “How are you and Luvia getting along?”
The guardsman looked up and frowned. “Don’t you dare speak lightly of my Luvia!” He grabbed Sorgius by the front of his robe and shook him.
“You mean you haven’t done anything yet? Liar!” Sorgius shook with laughter.
“Luvia isn’t one of those girls. We will not have relations until the wedding. That was my decision!”
“A wedding? There’s a first! No wonder you set your eyes on a nice girl like that. But wait, how many others did you have before her? Come on, share your secrets with your best friend.”
“See here, Uni…” Vordius started in, tearing rabbit meat into strips on his plate.
“Little Uni!” Sorgius reminded him with a sneer.
“That’s right, Little Uni. See here,” Vordius put down his knife and looked up at his friend. He softened when he saw the conflicting feelings of irritation and laughter that had twisted Uni’s face into a mask. Uni was actually missing their fourth friend – Dag, at whose presence, for an unknown mystical reason, the guys mocked him less. Dag has not yet returned from his trip to the country, and without him their team was not complete.
“Actually, I don’t think you have time to be thinking about girls right now.”
“Why is it that you have time and I don’t?”
“That’s not what I meant. I’m trying to say that if you want to be successful with women, you’ll have to change yourself first.”
Uni shook his head. “I know, I know. I work in a basement and I don’t know anything about life. I’ve heard that a hundred times.”
“I don’t care what building you work in. See, a man is supposed to have an iron will and make people notice him. Who cares about your archive? And who cares what kind of work you do there? Licisium Dorgoe sold bread on the street when he was a young man, and now he’s the Emperor’s most trusted advisor.”
“That’s the truth,” said Sorgius, leaning back in his chair and scratching behind his ear. “Any other man would have made a name for himself in that archive of yours.”
“How would he do that? Selling scrolls? Or charging for access to closed storerooms? Sorgius, you can be a dishonest piece of trash if you want. Just don’t get your dirt on the rest of us, alright?”
“A dishonest piece of trash? Me? Have you forgotten how you, with that chicken head of yours, lost a scroll of Erido Mortimi’s prophecies last year? I’m the one who went out and bought you a copy of the scroll for three hundred leros. And I see I was a fool to do it, if you think you can…”
“I’m sorry, Sorgius, I spoke too harshly.”
“That you did. Why don’t you sit and listen sometimes, instead of telling fairy tales about far-off lands that no one wants to hear.”
“But they aren’t fairy tales.”
“That’s enough!” roared Vordius. “We drank to our friendship already, but I see that once was not enough. Let’s try the fortified wine. Empty your cups!”
“I can’t, I’ll get drunk,” said Uni, already red-faced. He wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his best robe (which he had put on especially to impress Siana).
“Eat more and listen,” said Vordius, who was enjoying the role of teacher. “Do you know what your biggest mistake in life is? You spend too much time gathering abstract knowledge. You need a completely different kind of knowledge if you want to be successful at anything.”
“Fascinating. I suppose you’ll tell me what that knowledge is?”
“How to behave around people, you fool! You run around that archive when anyone calls your name. Why is that? Because you’re an idiot and you have no concept of your own dignity. Isn’t that true?”
“Of course not. It’s cold calculation Let me explain…”
“To the demons of darkness with your explanations. I may not be that smart, but I’ve learned a lot about people over my years of service. You think you’re smart, don’t you? You think you’ll let the fools in charge think you’re working hard, but in reality you’re doing your own thing. Am I right? Well, unfortunately the fool in the story is you! Remember this: nobody cares what you’re thinking about. All that matters is how you carry yourself. You took on the role of a humble servant, and nobody will let you forget it. They’re used to seeing you that way now. I bet you’re hoping that some miracle will happen and things will change. There are no miracles in this world, Uni, and the sooner you realize that the more time you’ll have to build your own future. For yourself. Success takes time, and here you are wasting your best years!”
“I don’t know. That’s easy for you to say – you’ve been big and strong since we were children. I’m a different person. I can’t just copy you. That would be a ridiculous piece of theater.” Uni swallowed a handful of pine nuts.
“You don’t have to be big and strong. That doesn’t matter at all. Look at Sorgius – is he as strong as I am?” Vordius turned to look at his other friend, who pulled a comically sorrowful expression. “Of course not. But if a man knows what to ask for and what to do with it, he’ll do fine in life, even if he’s shorter than all the lovely women of Enteveria!”
Sorgius rolled his eyes and stuck a cheese-filled rice bun in his friend’s mouth. While Vordius struggled to chew, Sorgius took over the role of mentor to inexperienced youth.
“See, what he’s trying to say is that it doesn’t matter what you do in life. What matters is how you do it and what you manage to achieve. If you have a strong personality, people will respect you in any line of work. That includes women, of course,” he snickered. “They love successful, independent men. I think you’ve noticed that.”
“I have,” Uni sighed. “Even a fool like me can see that perfectly well.”
“Now listen,” Sorgius went on, resting his chin on his palm and studying Uni closely. “You have a way with words, even when you’ve been drinking. You’d make a good drafter of government decrees and other important documents. Don’t you agree, Vordius? That’s where he should make a career for himself!”
“Speaking of documents,” Uni said, brightening, “I want to tell you about an enormous piece of luck that just landed in my lap. Manelius Ronko stopped by at the end of the work day. He’s an advisor to the Emperor. He waited a whole hour just to see me. No one knew what he wanted, and they were all in a panic…”
Sorgius grinned. “Waiting for you? How interesting. Is he perhaps unmarried?”
“Shut your mouth, Sorgius. Now what do you think he wanted? A secret report for the Great Lord! The Emperor needs a detailed description of Virilan and everything we have in the archive on that mysterious country!”
“I have to say I’m not surprised, especially in light of what’s been happening,” Vordius said, using his brain for the first time that evening. “Haven’t you heard? Some of our soldiers were chasing a band of nomads. They followed them farther into the Wasteland than anyone has gone before, and they discovered a Virilan camp on the plain.
“What do you mean? That’s impossible. Virilans almost never leave their own lands. I can’t imagine what they would be doing there.”
Vordius’ eyes were shining. “By all the demons of the fearsome darkness, I don’t know, either. When the men returned and told their officers, the whole thing was hushed up. I just heard some rumors.”
“Those soldiers were there for a reason,” Sorgius interrupted. “You two may have jobs that keep you near the palace, but you’re like blind chickens without me.”
Uni turned to him, “Did someone tell you about it?” He was starting to feel that he didn’t understand anything. “Tell me how you know about such secrets!”
“Maybe I don’t know anything. Vordius is right. All the warriors involved in the raid signed oaths of silence. Unfortunately, some of them thought that didn’t apply to their wives.”
“And?”
“And what? The wives have friends, the friends have lovers…”
“How could they break their oaths? It was a state secret!”
“Stop worrying, Uni. It’s all still confidential. When I was told, I was informed that this is a very big secret. The kind of secret a man could lose his head for telling.”
“You can’t be serious.”
“I am. Here’s one more truth you need to learn about life: the person who plays by the rules always comes in last. Or he doesn’t come in at all. Put that piece of free advice in your pocket for the future. And your wine today is free too. So chill. Let’s drink!”
The friends tossed back their cups of the strong Seregad wine. Uni leaned against the edge of the table and looked around the tavern as if he owned the place. It was a crowd of merchants and low-level civil servants, liberally interspersed with quite a few of the doubtful people of unknown profession who were drawn to the capital from all ends of the broad empire. In his current mood, Uni looked on them as dear friends. When he was sober, he often shuddered at the sound of a rude word or profanity spoken in the street, but now the rough atmosphere could not touch his gentle soul. “This isn’t a bad place to be,” he thought. “Not bad at all.”
Vordius leaned over and picked up where he had left off. “Be sure to use that report of yours for its intended purpose.” He belched. “As a battering ram. Show them you’re the smartest guy in the empire, the only one they can turn to.”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell the two of you for the past hour! I have an ingenious plan. And you’re absolutely right: no one but your humble servant has the faintest idea about Virilan.”
“Not true,” Sorgius pronounced with skepticism. “I know more than you about Virilan. I was just talking about it, in fact.”
“What about the language? You don’t know the language! That’s the important thing, because no outsiders have ever been there!”
Sorgius looked patronizing. “Please, Uni, do you really believe that you can learn a country’s language and its culture from a pile of four-hundred-year-old books?”
