Triumph of the Darksword - Margaret Weis [103]
How can I make use of him …?
“Speaking of language, I am amazed that Simkin was able to speak ours so quickly,” said the Sorcerer.
“Nothing about Simkin amazes me,” growled Vanya, glaring at the red-clad figure. Reclining leisurely on a couch in the Bishop’s luxurious office, the young man had apparently dozed off during a discussion of prepositional phrases and was snoring loudly.
“Joram has a theory about him, you know,” said the Sorcerer casually, though the Bishop thought he detected a glint in the man’s eyes, the look of a card player endeavoring to calculate what his opponent holds. “He claims that Simkin is the personification of this world—magic in its purest form.”
“An ugly thought and one typical of Joram,” Vanya said sourly, not liking this sudden interest in Simkin. The Fool was a wild card in any deck, and the Bishop had been trying for well over an hour to consider how best to toss him away. “I trust that we as a people are better represented than by this undisciplined, amoral, unfeeling—”
“I say!” Simkin sat up, blinking and peering around in a dazed state. “Did I hear my name?”
Vanya snorted. “If you are bored, why don’t you leave us?”
“E’gad!” Simkin yawned, slumping back down on the couch. “Is there going to be much more vocabulary? Because, if so, I think I will go dangle my participle in more entertaining and interesting surroundings….”
“No, no,” said Menju, his teeth flashing in a charming smile. “I beg your pardon, Simkin, my good friend, for putting you to sleep. Linguistics is a hobby of mine,” he added, turning back to Bishop Vanya, “and I find this discussion of our language with one so knowledgeable as yourself a true treat. I hope that in the future we will spend many pleasant hours in such discussions, if that is agreeable to Your Eminence?” Vanya nodded coolly. “But Simkin quite properly reminds us that time is short. We must exchange these pleasant topics for others of a serious nature.”!
Menju’s handsome face grew grave. “I know you will concur with our earnest desire that this tragic and accidental war come to an end before irreparable damage is done to any relations that might be established between our two worlds, Holiness.”
“Amen!” said the Cardinal fervently.
Vanya started, having forgotten his ministers presence, and, with an icy glance, silently rebuked him for speaking out of turn. The Cardinal cringed. Simkin, with a prodigious yawn, propped his feet up on the arm of the sofa and lay there admiring the curled toes of his shoes, humming a tune on a shrill, off-key note that had the effect of instantly irritating everyone present.
“I concur in your desire for peace,” Bishop Vanya said cautiously, feeling his way ahead, his pudgy hand crawling over the desk, “but as you said there were, tragically, many lives lost. Not the least of which was the life of our beloved Emperor Xavier. The people feel his loss quite keenly—Will you stop that!” This to Simkin, who had launched into a funeral dirge.
“Beg pardon,” Simkin said meekly “Got carried away by my feelings for the deceased!” Covering his face with a sofa cushion, he began to weep loudly.
Vanya sucked in a quantity of air through his nose and shifted his great bulk in his chair, keeping his mouth tightly shut so that he would not say something he might later regret. He noticed the flutter of a knowing smile on the Sorcerer’s lips. Obviously, the magician knew Simkin. …
But why should that surprise me? Vanya thought resignedly, letting out the air with a whoosh, like a deflating bladder. Everyone knows Simkin.
“I truly understand your people’s grief,” Menju was saying, “and I am certain that, although there is nothing we can do to bring back their beloved leader, some sort of reparation can be made.”
“Perhaps, perhaps.” Vanya sighed heavily. “But much as I agree with you, sir, I fear the matter is out of my hands. Joram, that notorious criminal, has hoodwinked not only your people but ours as well. There are even rumors to the effect,” the Bishop added casually, “that it was Joram who was responsible for