September 27, 2025 • 37 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Wizard by Larry M. Harris. Although the Masquerade itself as
a necessary protection against non telepaths was not formerly formulated
until the late years of the seventeenth century, groups of
telepaths in hiding existed long before that date. Whether such
groups were the results of natural mutations, or whether they
came into being due to some other cause, has not
(00:20):
yet been fully determined, but that a group did exist
in the district of Offenburg in what is now Prussia,
we are quite sure. The activities of the group appear
to have begun approximately in the year fifteen ninety four,
but it was not until eleven years after that date
that they achieved a signal triumph, the first and perhaps
the last of its kind until the dissolution of the
Masquerade in twenty one O three. Excerpt from a Short
(00:44):
History of the Masquerade by A. Milche Crystal seven O
four five four three six eight, produced twenty four forty.
Jonas came over the hill whistling as if he had
not a care in the world, which is not even
approximately true. He reflected, happily. The state of complete and
utter quiet was both foreign and slightly repugnant to him.
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He was never more pleased than when he had a
job in hand, a job that involved a slight and
unavoidable risk. This time, of course, the risk was more
than slight, Why, he thought happily, it was even more
for him to get killed, and most painfully too. With
a great deal of pleasure. He stood for a second
at the crest of the hill, his hands on his hips,
looking down at the town of Spire as it baked
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in the May afternoon sunlight. Behold the tortoise. He maketh
no progress unless he sticketh out his neck. But he
maketh very little progress unless he picked the right time
and placed who sticketh out his neck, which can be
quite a sticky problem for a man in a medieval culture.
Jonas did not, in spite of his pose, look like
the typical hero of folk tale or scribes tomb. He
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was not even seven feet tall, for instance, nor did
he have a handsome, lovesome face with flashing blue eyes
or broad shouldered, narrow wasted marvel of a figure. He
was instead somewhat shorter than the average of men in
Europe in sixty and for some time thereafter. He had small,
almost hidden eyes that seemed to see a great deal
that failed completely to make a fuss about the fact.
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And while his figure was just a trifle dumpy, his
face completed the rhyme by being extraordinarily lumpy. The nose,
as a matter of strict truth, was hard to distinguish
from the other contusions, swellings and marks that covered the head. Nor,
of course, did he carry the sword of a great
hero or noble. Jonas had no vaughan to stick on
his name, and he had never thought it worth while
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to claim one and accept the tiny risk of disclosure.
After all, a noble was only a man like other men.
And besides, Jonas knew perfectly well that he had no
need of a sword. His adventures, too, were a little
out of the common run of tales. Jonahs had, he thought, regretfully,
few duels to look forward to, and he had even
fewer to look back on. And as a maid is
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one by face, figure and daring, and a wife by riches,
position or prospects, there was a notably paucity of lisome
ladies Jonas's career. All in all, he thought sadly he
was not a usual hero, but he refused to let
the thought spoil his enjoyment. After all, he was a hero,
though of his own unique kind. There was no denying that,
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and in his own way he had his reward. He
took one hand off his hip to scratch at the
top of his head, wondering briefly if he had managed
to pick up lice in the last town he had visited,
And he took another look at the city spires. Seemed
a lot better at first glance than some of the
other places Jonas had visited. For one thing, it had
a full town hall, built no less of honest stone
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and probably a relict of the moment times. This was
the parish church, of course, a good solid wooden structure,
and a collection of houses strung along the dirt paths
of the town. The houses of the rich were naturally wooden,
the poor built of baked mud. There were a great
many baked mud structures and only one wooden one besides
the church that Jonas could see. The paths were winding,
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but comparatively free from slop. That was pleasing, he told himself,
and the buildings themselves would mud and stone clustered in
the valley below him, as if they were afraid and
needed each other's protection, which in a way they did.
Jonas reflected on that a trifle grimly, thinking of the
Holy Inquisition, with its hierarchy of priests and lay folk,
busily working inspire, just as it worked in every other
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town throughout Offenburg and throughout the civilized world. Ordinarily, he
would not have given it a thought beyond a passing sigh,
for the ways of the world. He had other business.
But now he grinned to himself, and the grin turned
to a laugh as he started down the hill. The
grislier methods of the inquisitorial process were well known to
him by reputation, and soon he might be testing them
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out for himself. There was absolutely no way to be sure.
That thought pleased him greatly. After all, he told himself,
there was nothing like a little danger to despise the
boring business of living. By the time he reached the
bottom of the hill, he was whistling loudly. He stopped
at the first house, a mud construction with a badly
carpented wooden door and a single bare window that looked
out on the street. It smelled, but Jonas went up
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to the door bravely and knocked. There was no answer.
He went on whistling for tuna plango vulnera under his breath,
and after a time he knocked again. This time he
heard moving inside the house and nodded to himself in
a satisfied fashion. But almost a minute passed before the
head of an old woman showed itself with the window.
She was really extraordinarily ugly, he thought. She wore a
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bonnet that did nothing whatever to enhance her doubtful wrinkled charms,
or to conceal them, And besides, it was dirty. Nobody's here,
she said, in the voice of a very bononous toad.
Go away. Jonah smiled at her. It was an effort, madam,
he began politely. Nobody's home, she repeated, drawing slightly back
from the window. You go away, now, ah s Jonah said, pleasantly.
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But you're home, aren't you. The old woman frowned at
him suspiciously. Now, she said vaguely. Well, this is your house,
he said, the house where you live. Never saw you before.
The old woman said, that's right, Jonah said, equally, you
come to turn me out, she demanded. Her eyebrows, which
were almost as big and black as her ancient mustache,
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came down over glittering little eyes. I hold this house
free and proper, she said, in a determined roar, and
nobody can take it away from me. It belongs to
me and to my children, and to their children, and
to the children of those children. The catalog seemed likely
to go on forever exactly. Jonas said hastily, Well, then,
the old woman said, and started to draw back. Jonas
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gested lazily with one hand. Wait, he said, I am
not going to take your house away from you, madam.
I am only here to ask you a question. Question,
she said, you come from her knupff. I am an
old woman, but I do no wrong, and there is
no one can accuse me of heresy. I am in
church every week and more than once. I keep peace
with my neighbors, and there's none can say mystery about me.
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The woman Jonahs thought was full of the eyebrows with words, Probably,
he told himself, trying to be fair, she didn't have
anyone to talk to until a stranger came along, he
sighed briefly. I do not come from the inquisitor, he said, truthfully,
Nor is my question one that should cause you alarm.
The old woman pondered for a minute. She leaned her
elbows on the window sill, getting the muddy. But that
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Jonah's thought didn't seem to matter to this creature. Apparently,
ask she said. At last, Jonas put on his most
pleasant expression, Madam, He said, I wish to know if
there be any family in this town to give room
to a wayfarer, understanding of course, that the wayfarer would
insist on paying paying well, he added. The old woman blinked,
you looking for an inn? She said, an inn in
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this town? The idea appeared to strike her as the
very height of idiocy. She covered her face with her
hands and shook. After a second Jonahs discovered that she
was laughing. He went patiently until the fit had left her.
Not an inn, he said, There is no inn here
I know, but a family willing to take in a stranger.
Strangers are seldom here, she said. Her cnuph watches his
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flock with zeal, which meant Jonahs reflected that he was
in a fair way to get himself burned as a
heretic unless he watched his step carefully. Herknuf's fame has
reached my own country far away, he said, with some truth. Nevertheless,
a family which wait, she said, you have said that
you will pay well, yet you do not appear rich.
Jonas understood. Fishing in his own pocket, he withdrew a single,
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shiny coin. I also wish, he said, smoothly, to pay
for any help I may receive, such as the answering
of an instant question, a question in which the respected
inquisitor knuff cannot have no interest whatever. The old woman's
eyes went to the coin and stayed there well. She said.
It is said that the family called Sharp has a
house too large for them. Now that the eldest son
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is gone, there is only the man, his wife, and
a daughter. It is said that the man is in
need of money. He would accept payment, were it generous,
in return for sharing room in his house. I would
be most grateful, Yonas murdered. He passed the coin over
the old woman's hands, snatched it and closed on it.
Where might I find this family, he said, It is
now late in the afternoon. The old woman said, perhaps
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they are at home. You will see a path which
takes you to the left. Follow it until he reached
the last house. Not at the door, I shall, Yonus said,
and many thanks. The old woman, still clutching her coin, disappeared,
from the window, as if someone had yanked her back.
Yonus turned with relief and got back on the path,
but his stank quite as badly as the house had.
He endured the stench heroically. Sharp proved to be a
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barrel shaped man who was unaccountably cheerless, as if the
inside structure had been carefully removed and then replaced by sawdust.
Yoness thought. Even the offer of seven corona for a
single week's stay failed to produce the delirious joy Yonus
had expected. The money is needed, Sharp said, in a
dour bass voice, staring off past Jonas's left ear at
the darkening sky. And for the money, you will be welcome.
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I must take your word that you are not dangerous.
I can only pray that you do not betray that trust.
It was far from a warm welcome, but Yonas was
satisfied with it. I shall work to do you good,
he said, and not evil stranger. Sharp said, work for
your own good. Do nothing for me. This is an
accursed family. There is no good to be done to
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me or my wife or child. Yonus tried to look reassuring.
He thought of several things to say about the sunny
side of life, and decided on none of them. My sympathy,
he began, Your sympathy may endanger you. Sharp said, my
son is gone. I pray that there is an end
to it. Yones peered once into the mind of the
man and requilled violently. But he had enough in that
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one glimpse to tell him the reason for Sharp's misery,
and it was quite reason enough. He thought herricnuff, we
do not mention that name. Sharp said, my wife has
resigned herself to what has happened. I am not so wise.
I promise you, Yonas, said earnestly, that you will be
in no danger for me, no more, that I will
help you out of your difficulties and insure your peace.
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Then you are an angel from heaven. Sharp said bitterly.
There is no other help. While the inquisitor remains and
our sons become suspect to his rages. Yonus shook his head.
There is help, he said, and you will find it.
Your son is going on accused, questioned, confessed, and burnt,
but there will be no more. Sharp looked at him
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for a long time. Come with me, he said at last,
and led the way into his mud house. Inside there
was only one large room, but it seemed spacious enough
for four. Three pallets lay against the far white wall,
a single one against the left. Sharp went to the
back of the house, near the single bed. This will
be yours, he said, while you are with us. It
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is poor, but it is all we can offer. I
am honored, Yonus said, here we are alone. Sharp went
on his voice lowering. My wife and daughter have gone
to visit a neighbor, for they have not yet closed
us off entirely from all human contact. He grimaced. Jonnas
peered into the mind again, very gently, but the mad
roiling of pain and memory there was too strong for him,
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and he returned. If you have anything to say to me,
Sharp said, tell me now. No one can hear his
not er knofe himself to say to you. Regarded your plan,
Sharp said, surely you have a plan, and if I
may play any part in it, Yoness blinked. Plan, he said,
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of course. Sharp said, you speak of an end to troubles,
and end to the inquisition and the buildings, and end
to the question, and so you must have a plan
for ridding us of Herkunuff, one which you would tell me.
Yonu shook his head. I have no plan, he said,
it means danger, Sharp pressed him. But I do not
mind danger in such a cause. I am not vengeful.
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But my son was no wizard. Yet the inquisitor took
him and had a confession from him. You know well
the worth of such confessions, And soon there will be
others from When the curse strikes a family, it does
not stop with one member. He tightened his lips. It
is not for myself, I am afraid, he said. Yonus nodded.
Were there such a plan, he said, be assured. I
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would tell you, But there is none. Yonus said, hrcanuf
shall remain for all that I can do while the
earth remains. Sharp opened his mouth, shut it again, and
then shrugged. I see, he said, at last, you do
not trust me. Perhaps you are wise. I might talk foolishly.
I am an old man, older in this last month
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than in all my years. Believe me, Jonas began. I
let it be, Sharp said quietly, I believe you. If
that is what you want, I believe you. He shrugged again,
moving out toward the door of the hut. And in
any case, he said, the money is needed, for they
are fines to pay, and costs of the inquisition. I understand,
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Jonas said, helplessly. Sharp turn had looked at him full
in the face. In the man's big eyes, bitterness and
hopelessness glittered. I am sure you do, he said, and
turned again toward the door. The others he met only briefly,
forraw Sharp was a little woman with the face of
a walnut, who looked as if she had never really
been cheerful. Her son's death, he saw when he looked
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into her mind, had not come as a surprise to her.
It was one more on the event in a lifetime
in which she had expected nothing else. Unhappiness, she told herself,
was her portion in this life. In the life above,
things would be different. Jonas had met the type before
and was uninterested in going further. But Ilseie Sharp was
something else entirely. She did not say a word to him,
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coming into the house that evening, a piece behind her
mother like an obedient slave. She was about seventeen, and
her mind was as fresh and clean and pretty as
her face and figure. Jonas started musing on heroes again,
but he never had the chance to make a move
towards her. She had a very nice smile, and from
memories in the other's minds. He could hear the voice,
low and quiet and entirely satisfactory. Jones sighed. The job,
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he told himself sternly came first and afterward, though, come
to think of it, there wouldn't be an afterward. The
evening meal was simple. There was a single dish of
meat and some sort of beans. After it had been eaten,
and the darkness outside grew the full night, it was
time to retire. Jonas went over to his palate, removed
his jerkin and shoes, and lay down. He heard the
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others readying themselves for sleep, but he did not look
into their minds. Soon they were asleep and breathing heavily,
but Yonas stayed awake for a while. It's really too bad.
We can't work this sort of thing at a distance,
Clareton's voice said, suddenly. But then, none of us has
ever met the man, and you can't read a mind
if you haven't had some physical contact with the man
who owns it. It's too bad, Yonas agreed politely. Five
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hundred miles away, Clyton chuckled, and the linkage of minds
transmitted this amusements to Jonas. You don't think so at
any rate, the director said, you're having adventures at a
fine time. It's the sort of thing you like, after all.
Yonah shrugged mentally. I suppose so, he said. I like
to work on my own do my own job, and
it's got you into trouble before Clayton said, but you
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can't afford any mistakes this time. I know the risks
perfectly well. Yonus thought back. Clareton's thought carried a verry echo.
You know the risk to yourself, he told Yonas, And
you've accepted that, you rather like it as a matter
of fact, but you haven't thought of the risk to
the rest of us and to the town you're in.
Yonus set a thought of uncertainty. What Clareton transmitted the
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entire picture in one sudden blow. The chance that Yonis
would not be killed immediately but will be discovered. The
chance that the inquisitor would get from him the secret
of the brotherhood. That's impossible, Yonas said. Claarton sounded resigned.
Nothing's impossible, he said, And if the secret is let out,
why the brotherhood is finished, finished before it's barely started.
Because you can read a man's mind doesn't mean you
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can defeat him, yonus, But you know what he's going
to do. And if he's got you in a wooden
house and he's going to burn it down, what good
does that your knowledge do you? But you can transmit
false thoughts and confuse him, Clareton said, fine, fine, If
you've ever met the man before, and suppose you haven't,
then you can't transmit a thing to him. You're trapped
in the house, remember, and the fire started. What goods
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your telepathy? But it's a sense, Clareton said, like any
other sense. But it isn't magic any more than your
eyes are magic. There given by God. If you like,
they grow, they develop. So the ability to read minds
to transmit its thought is given up by God. No
one knows why or how. Fifteen of us have developed it,
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fifteen who are members of the Brotherhood. But there are others.
Of course, you ust thought impatiently. I know all that.
You know a great deal, Clayton said, which I sometimes
find it necessary to bring to your attention. I've done
all right, yonest thought sullenly. Clayton agreed, of course you have.
He thought. You are not the most careful of man,
and great care is needed. The brotherhood must grow. This
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new sense is of great value. Perhaps we can learn
to teach it to others in time, though we have
had little success with that. But the least we can
maintain our numbers pass the gift on to our children,
if it is possible, Yonus said, we must try. Clayton said,
and your dejob is enormously important. I know that. Uranus thought, wearily,
you have accomplished the first step. Clayton said, do nothing rash,
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of course not. You will not accept help. I will not,
Yonas thought, very well. Then Clayton thought there was the
ghost of another idea. Jonus caught it. I know perfectly
well that you wouldn't have sent me if there were
any other available member, he thought. There is no need
to remind me. I'm sorry, Clayton thought. He radiated caution, worry, patience.
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Jonas turned to the bed and cut off from the
director with a grunt. He was tired. Long distance linkages
were a drain on the body's energy, even when the
person involved was easy to visualize, but Clayton had insisted
on an intimate contact. If there was such a thing
as total contact, constant contact over a period of days,
Jonus thought, Clayton would use me for a puppet, a
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veritable punch among men. He would override me and take
me over the way a traveling entertainer rules his jointed dolls.
And that would be a fine thing for a hero,
wouldn't it, He grimaced in the darkness. Constant contact was
simply impossible, and he reaching out used energy and linking
up for a long period simply burned the body up,
like a long starvation. It was as bad as a pends.
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Yonas was thankful for that, and for the rest well,
he thought, resignedly. What was a hero without a quest,
and what was a quest without someone to set it?
But that someone had to be Clairton, with his caution
and his old woman worry, Yonus sighed and set about
the business of falling to sleep. The days passed slowly
with great boredom. Yonus made contact twice with Clayton, who
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told him over and over to wait, to do nothing.
The next move is coming soon. Do nothing to hurry it.
You could only upset the natural course of events, which
is unwise, Yonus thought, badily and risky, and very probably impious,
as well as for the piety. Clareton thought, I leave
that to the priests and the women. But wisdom and
caution on my task, Gouness, as they must be yours.
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I you are a hero out on an adventure, Clareton thought, witheringly.
But set your course with sense, travel it with caution,
you the more certainly arrive philosophy for a dull plutter.
Jonas thought, philosophy for one of the brotherhood. Clareton thought back,
we are tiny as yet we have no force. You
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can add to that force, add greatly. But you must
be wise. I must be slow. You mean, I mean
what I have told you, Clareton thought. And one more thing, Yonus, Yes,
the daughter, Clareton thought, I have seen her in your mind.
Ignore the wench. Is she worth what your task is worth?
I never did. My caution is unnecessary, Clareton thought. But
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in the unlikely case that she might tempt you to folly,
remember it. Yonus, who disliked irony, sighed and cut off.
That was the third night, during the days he had
done the things he had planned. He did no work
with the sharps, but let them find him when they
returned to the hut of an evening, reciting strange words.
Once he built a small outdoor fire and walked around
it whittershen's for several minutes. Then he put the fire
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out and went inside. He wasn't sure whether or not
anyone was watching him that time, but soon little later
it's had to happen, and it happened as jonas Is
it would. Through the wife. Missus Sharp, came back to
the hut early one day through a fighting glance at
Yonah's sitting in a corner doing nothing at all, and left.
He hardly needed to see into her mind to know
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where she was going, And twenty minutes later two men
came to the hut. They stood in the open doorway,
Missus Sharp behind them, twittering like an ancient bird, and
Yonis watched them boredly. There were giants for this part
of the world, almost six feet tall, with great hands
and jaws. One had black, coarse hair on his head
and a stubble about his face. The other was bald
as an egg. That's him, Missus Sharp said, just a
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trifle hesitantly, he's the one. He came to stay with us,
and we didn't know. The man with the black hair said, uh, girl,
her knuff said take him back. The bald one added
herr kanuff, Yonas said, entering the conversation with a light,
pleasant tone. He's that Missus Sharp tried to get the
word out, and then pushed by the two men and
came into the hut. I didn't want to, but there's
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something strange and we can't afford any suspicion, and Jonas
realized slowly that she was crying as she looked at him.
It's all right, he said, uncomfortably. You're I'll be perfectly
all right, Yonis said. He stood up. This hair krnup.
He said, he wants to see me. He said, bring
you along, The bald man told him. The black haired
man nodded very slowly. Gurr, he said. Jonas sighed and
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went forward to meet the two big men, leaving Missus
Sharp sobbing in the background. The poor woman felt terrible,
he knew, but there was nothing he could do about that.
Then let us go, he said, and marched off, feeling
that one more effect wouldn't hurt. He led the way
to the town hall. Let them figure out how he
had known just where to go. He thought their minds
were very, very boring and quite blank. Her Krup, Jonas reflected,
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might be a definite relief. First, there was the cell,
which was in the basement of the town hall. It
was damp and the air was not too good, but
there were compensations rats. For instance. Jonas told himself after
the first couple of hours that he simply wouldn't have
known what to do without the rats, trying to trap
and kill them with no weapons beyond his bare hand,
and even the eating knife he had carried and his
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jerk and had been taken away, leaving him to the
uncomfortable reflection that he was going to have to die
with his fingers was a pastime that occupied him for
several hours on the first day. On the second day,
the rats began to bore him. By that evening, they
were annoying him, and when the third day dawned bright
and warm. As near as he could tell from the
tiniest of a window at the top of his cell,
Eonas was telling himself that any move at all was
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a move in the right direction. He set up a
shout for one of the guards. The bald one had
brought his meals every day, but the black haired one
was the man who checked his cell at night. For once,
Jonas thought he was lucky the bald man appeared. After
some fifty minutes of screaming and cursing. Yonis was not
at all sure whether the black haired man understood language.
There was little trace of it in his mind, and
virtually nothing that might be called intelligence. With the bald man.
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At least he could communicate what's wanted, the guard said, sourly,
staring through the bars. Yonas smiled softly. You know why
I'm here, don't you? He said, in a voice as
close as silky as he could make it. You. The
bald man said, you're here in a cell. That's right,
Yonah said, patiently. He rubbed at his face. Do you
know why I was put here? You cast spells, You
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make things happen, That's right, Yonah said, smiling in I'm
a wizard, a warlock. That's what they say, isn't it.
You make things happen. The bald man said, but he
had the basic idea. Yonus checked that in his mind
very well. He said, Now I wish to see her Kunuff.
The inquisitor calls you when he wants you, The bald
man said, Now, Yonus said, when he wants. If I'm
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a wizard, Yonus said, I have powers, strange powers. I
could make you, he reflected for a minute. I could
make you into a beetle and squash you under for it.
As a matter of fact, I think I will. He
gazed refflctily of the bald man, who gulped and turned
a little pale. You you are in a cell, he said,
at last, locked up. Do you think that will stop me?
Yonah said. He came to the barred door, still smiling.
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You would not dare? Why not? Yonus asked? What have
I got to lose? He raised one hand, clawing the
fingers slightly. He took a deep breath, as if he
were about to spit out an incantation. His eyes glittered,
the smile broadened a long second past. I will tell
the inquisitor you wished to see him, the bald guard said.
Jonus relaxed and stepped back. I shall be most grateful,
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he said formally. The guard turned and started to walk away.
Five paces down the corridor, the walk turned into a run.
Jonus watched him go, and then sat down on his
louse and fested cot to await developments. The minutes ticked
by endlessly. He thought of trying to reach Clareton, but
decided not entirely with regret, that the contact would use
up too much energy, and he needed all the energy
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he could conserve. Now the second step had been taken.
The fact that he decided to sell that a prison
was proof of that the third step, the all important
final step, was about to begin. Geor Knup was a
tall man with skin of the color and apparent texture
of good leather. He had a face like an eagle,
and his eyes were ice blue. He moved his thin,
strong hands gently back and forth on the table that
(25:59):
held his papers, inkstand, and pen, and said, in a
voice like audible sam paper. You wanted to see me, true,
Yonus said, pleasantly. Kauf was sitting behind the table. Yonus
had not been asked to sit. He remained standing, and
he was reasonably sure that his feet were going to
hurt in a minute. He tried not to let the
thought disturb him. The man's mind was like his office
in the town hall, sparsely furnished, almost austere, but loth
(26:22):
all the necessities laid out for easy access underneath the
strength and iron of the mind. Yonus caught the spark
glowing and nearly smiled. In spite of the reports, in
spite of logic, there had been a chance the Brotherhood
to guess wrongly about this man. Now that chance was
gone and the Brotherhood was right again. Not many asked
to see me, Kruff said, in the same voice. He
(26:43):
went on looking at his hands. There was bitternesses in
his mind, bitterness that had changed to hate. There, please
tend to be exactly the opposite. I do not plead,
Yoness pointed out. It was necessary that I come to
see you. The question was, he told himself exactly what
were the inquisitor's real beliefs. His public professions were well known.
Yonus searched and found the answer. Kannuf was an honest man.
(27:05):
That of course made matters simpler necessary, Kunuf said, looking
up for the first time, his gaze stabbed like a sword.
He was uneasy. Yonus knew, with another mind probing his,
he could not help but be uneasy. But he could
not find a cause. It would never occur to him,
and he controlled his feelings superbly. You believe that I
am a wizard, Yonah said. Kunnup waited a bare a second,
(27:27):
and then nodded, I can do many things Yoness went on,
it was necessary that I bring these to your attention
and proved to you that they were not wizardly or magic.
Many have told me. Kunuf muttered that their feats were natural.
It is a common defense, so I have heard, Yonah
said easily. But I shall prove what I say. I
am under no compulsion to listen to you, Kunuf said.
(27:50):
After a pause, Yonah shrugged. His feet were beginning to hurt,
he realized. He sighed briefly, but there was no time
or attention to spare for them. I can only see
you by having myself accused of witchcraft, he said. In
that way, you will be forced to listen to me.
You may listen now or later at a full hearing
of the inquisitor's court. Am I to take my choice?
Kruff said. He smiled briefly, his face remained cold. The
(28:13):
strong hands moved on the table top. It is a
matter of indifference to me, Yonah said. But the weight
becomes boring after a time. Kruff's eyebrows went up. Boring
is hardly the word others would use. I am not
like others, Yonah said. He wished for Clareton suddenly, but
there was no way to reach him safely. He had
to make his move alone. Well, he told himself that
(28:36):
was what he had wanted. I can tell you what
is in your mind, he said. The words hung in
the air of the room for a long time. At last,
Kanuf nodded. The devil grants to many his power of
seeing the minds of men. He said, quietly, this is
not devil's work, as I shall prove, Yonah said. He
shifted his feet. But let me establish one point at
(28:56):
a time, in the most scholastic manner, if you will permit,
I permit, Kunuf said. There was interest in his mind,
overlaid with skepticism, of course, but interest all the same
that Yonus thought was a better sign than he had
ever dared hope for very well, he said, think of
a word, Think of any single word. I shall tell
it to you as any wizard might do, who had
(29:18):
the help of his lord. The devil could have muttered.
Do you expect this to prove one thing at a time,
Yonus said Kuldnuf nodded a second pass. Yonus licked his lips.
The possibilities prayed before him. On one hand, success on
the other, there was the torture and death of the inquisition.
Yonus took a deep breath. There was no way to
back out now. Heroism looked a little empty, though he
(29:41):
closed his eyes. Cabbages, he said, Kannuf neither applauded nor
looked surprised. As I have said, He murmured that which
the devil can grant. He paused and looked down at
his hands. Am I to take this as a confession?
He said? Do you wish to hurry your own death?
I am wizard, Yonah said a stranger, Knuff said, who
(30:03):
enters a small city is seen at mysterious undertakings, plucks
words out of the center of a man's mind. Why
the picture is a classic one, del Rio himself, Holzinger
or any of the others could not describe a better Yet,
all this was done to draw your attention, to fix
it on what I have to tell you, Yonah said,
shifting his feet again. I am no wizard, but a
(30:25):
man who may do certain things. And here is my
proof you may do the same yourself. The silence was
a long one, and at the end of it, Knuff rose.
He walked to the door of the room and opened it,
and the bald headed guard came in. He has tried
to tempt me to pact with Satan, the inquisitor said,
but take him away. Some day, Yonas thought back in
(30:48):
his cell, there would be a method of controlling minds
that did not require the willing cooperation of the two parties.
Some day the man who reads minds would be more
than a passive onlooker. But the talent was new, It
needed practice, it needed training. The cell grew dark as
the night came, and the daptness seemed to increase. Yonu's
heard squeaking and thought of the rats, but he couldn't
even summon up enough energy to try for them. He
(31:10):
sat cross legged in a corner of the cell and
closed his eyes. He sighed once deeply. This is what
a hero came to, and told himself this was the
end of heroics and playing alone hand. Why if he
had it to do over again, he would you would
do exactly the same thing, Clareton's voice said. Jonus grinned
suddenly and sad straighter. I should have known you'd be
(31:30):
getting into contact sooner or later, he thought. I tried
to keep track of all our men. Clareton thought, in
a case like yours. I try harder my foolishness, Yonus thought,
sometimes works to my benefit. Clainton's thoughts were dry. If
you hadn't gotten impatient and tried to hudy things, his
voice sat in Unus's mind, you wouldn't be back in
(31:51):
your cell now. There is a time and a place
for your disclosure. Another day and hear what had dred
me out of my wits, Yonus thought, better out of
your wits then dead, Clayton thought, Jonus sighed. However, Clareton
went on, there is still a way out for you.
I have read the situation in your mind, and your
next move will have to be rather more spectacular than usual.
(32:15):
So long as it works, Uonus said, I will be
satisfied it will work. Clayton said, at least I think
it will. Another day, dragged by Unus put in his
time alternately going over the new plan and feeling more
frightened than he had ever believed possible. Clayton reached him once,
but the contact was weak and fleeting. The director hadn't
enough strength to reach him again, at least not for
(32:36):
a day or so. Unus was exactly where he'd wanted
to be. On his own. He hated the IDEA time
passed somehow, When morning dawn, Unus awoke to find the
door of his cell being unlocked. The bald man and
the black headed man were both there. He looked up
with them with distaste. Then he saw what was in
their minds, and the distaste changed to fear. You have confessed.
(32:57):
The bald one said, it is necessary that you ratify
your confession. Come with us. Yonus knew what that meant.
Ratification of a free confession took place in a torture.
He wiped his face with one hand, but he hardly
thought of escaping. He had to go through with the plan.
The two guards came into the cell and gripped his arms.
Eonus allowed himself to be carried out into the corridor
(33:17):
and down it to a great wooden door. The guards
opened it and dragged him through. The torture chamber was
brightly lit, with torches and brackets along the walls that
gave off by a small fraction more light than smoke.
In one corner, the racket itself stood, and there were
other tools of the trade scattered around the room. Eonus
found that he was sweating. The guards brought him to
the center of the room. Kuldn Have was standing near him,
(33:39):
a perfectly brank of expression on his face. His voice
was the same rough grasp, but it seemed almost mechanical.
You have confessed to me, he said, your heresy. Nearly
you will be made to ratify your confession. That done,
your penalty will be exacted, and the penalty, of course,
will be death, death of the stake. He forced himself
(34:00):
to remain calm, and now was the time for his play.
He took a deep breath and felt the strength, and
he gathered to a single point and flew outward. The
two men suddenly seemed to stagger. There was a second
of confusion, and they had let him go. He stood
alone in the room. He turned and walked to the door,
but he did not open it. Instead, he leaned against it.
He forced his voice into the patterns of calmness and ease.
(34:21):
Your men cannot touch me, he said, Wizard No, Yonus said.
The confusion he was broadcasting kept the men from doing
anything they required, even a simple plan. But he couldn't
keep it up for long. A man like yourself, a
man with a particular cat talent given by God the
name of God. I can say that name, Yonus told
the inquisitor. No wizard may say it. It is a trick,
(34:44):
Kunuf said. Yonus shook his head, not at all. I
will ask you to do nothing against the faith. I
merely ask you to test for yourself what I say.
You are a heretic, Kunuf said, Suddenly, I cannot. You
can pray, Yonus said. Kannuf blinked. Pray, he said, meditate
on a prayer. Yonus said, keep your mind open, keep
(35:04):
yourself ready for the gift of God. It will descend
on you. Kanuph shook his head. It is a trick,
he began, a trick, Yonus said, But the prayers of
God and his church. And that was the unanswerable question.
For no wizard could use the name of God, no
wizard could pray. So the inquisition said, so, Kanuph said, snow,
(35:25):
Knuph had to say, and so he had to believe. Slowly,
his mind opened and came perceptive. The prayer hung in
the air of the smoky room. Yonus slipped in now,
he said quietly. His control slipped. The two guards came
towards him, overpowered and held him in a brief second wait.
The inquisitor said, heavily wait release him, and so Clayton
(35:47):
thought the job was accomplished. Naturally, Yonus thought. Clayton's thought
had an overturne of weariness. There is no need to
be smug, he told Yons. After all, you did not
do the job yourself. Unimportant, Yonus thought, the man is
convinced he can be trained further and join the brotherhood.
It will take time, Clayton said, a few years perhaps,
(36:10):
but in the meantime there will be no trials in Speya.
No trials, Yonest thought, But oh I see, of course,
Clainton thought, any man who considers himself a wizard will
have his mind seen by the inquisitor. And since there
are no wizards, at least none we have discovered, the
trials will cease. Jonas finished, and the brotherhood has gained
(36:33):
a new member, Clayton said, a member with influence and power.
It is an important step forward. Yonas, of course, Yonest thought, disinterestedly.
Yet you seem bored by the matter, Claarton thought, puzzled,
I don't see. Oh I see the woman in your mind,
the daughter. And now stop it, Yonest thought, stop it
(36:56):
cut off? After all, you finished there are times when
even here Earl wants a little privacy. PostScript. In sixteen
o five to sixteen o six in Offenburg there were
no executions. H. C. Lee Materials Towards a History of Witchcraft,
Volume three, page one one four eight. End of Wizard
(37:18):
by Larry M. Harris
Wizard by Larry M. Harris. Although the Masquerade itself as
a necessary protection against non telepaths was not formerly formulated
until the late years of the seventeenth century, groups of
telepaths in hiding existed long before that date. Whether such
groups were the results of natural mutations, or whether they
came into being due to some other cause, has not
(00:20):
yet been fully determined, but that a group did exist
in the district of Offenburg in what is now Prussia,
we are quite sure. The activities of the group appear
to have begun approximately in the year fifteen ninety four,
but it was not until eleven years after that date
that they achieved a signal triumph, the first and perhaps
the last of its kind until the dissolution of the
Masquerade in twenty one O three. Excerpt from a Short
(00:44):
History of the Masquerade by A. Milche Crystal seven O
four five four three six eight, produced twenty four forty.
Jonas came over the hill whistling as if he had
not a care in the world, which is not even
approximately true. He reflected, happily. The state of complete and
utter quiet was both foreign and slightly repugnant to him.
(01:05):
He was never more pleased than when he had a
job in hand, a job that involved a slight and
unavoidable risk. This time, of course, the risk was more
than slight, Why, he thought happily, it was even more
for him to get killed, and most painfully too. With
a great deal of pleasure. He stood for a second
at the crest of the hill, his hands on his hips,
looking down at the town of Spire as it baked
(01:26):
in the May afternoon sunlight. Behold the tortoise. He maketh
no progress unless he sticketh out his neck. But he
maketh very little progress unless he picked the right time
and placed who sticketh out his neck, which can be
quite a sticky problem for a man in a medieval culture.
Jonas did not, in spite of his pose, look like
the typical hero of folk tale or scribes tomb. He
(01:47):
was not even seven feet tall, for instance, nor did
he have a handsome, lovesome face with flashing blue eyes
or broad shouldered, narrow wasted marvel of a figure. He
was instead somewhat shorter than the average of men in
Europe in sixty and for some time thereafter. He had small,
almost hidden eyes that seemed to see a great deal
that failed completely to make a fuss about the fact.
(02:08):
And while his figure was just a trifle dumpy, his
face completed the rhyme by being extraordinarily lumpy. The nose,
as a matter of strict truth, was hard to distinguish
from the other contusions, swellings and marks that covered the head. Nor,
of course, did he carry the sword of a great
hero or noble. Jonas had no vaughan to stick on
his name, and he had never thought it worth while
(02:30):
to claim one and accept the tiny risk of disclosure.
After all, a noble was only a man like other men.
And besides, Jonas knew perfectly well that he had no
need of a sword. His adventures, too, were a little
out of the common run of tales. Jonahs had, he thought, regretfully,
few duels to look forward to, and he had even
fewer to look back on. And as a maid is
(02:52):
one by face, figure and daring, and a wife by riches,
position or prospects, there was a notably paucity of lisome
ladies Jonas's career. All in all, he thought sadly he
was not a usual hero, but he refused to let
the thought spoil his enjoyment. After all, he was a hero,
though of his own unique kind. There was no denying that,
(03:13):
and in his own way he had his reward. He
took one hand off his hip to scratch at the
top of his head, wondering briefly if he had managed
to pick up lice in the last town he had visited,
And he took another look at the city spires. Seemed
a lot better at first glance than some of the
other places Jonas had visited. For one thing, it had
a full town hall, built no less of honest stone
(03:33):
and probably a relict of the moment times. This was
the parish church, of course, a good solid wooden structure,
and a collection of houses strung along the dirt paths
of the town. The houses of the rich were naturally wooden,
the poor built of baked mud. There were a great
many baked mud structures and only one wooden one besides
the church that Jonas could see. The paths were winding,
(03:54):
but comparatively free from slop. That was pleasing, he told himself,
and the buildings themselves would mud and stone clustered in
the valley below him, as if they were afraid and
needed each other's protection, which in a way they did.
Jonas reflected on that a trifle grimly, thinking of the
Holy Inquisition, with its hierarchy of priests and lay folk,
busily working inspire, just as it worked in every other
(04:15):
town throughout Offenburg and throughout the civilized world. Ordinarily, he
would not have given it a thought beyond a passing sigh,
for the ways of the world. He had other business.
But now he grinned to himself, and the grin turned
to a laugh as he started down the hill. The
grislier methods of the inquisitorial process were well known to
him by reputation, and soon he might be testing them
(04:35):
out for himself. There was absolutely no way to be sure.
That thought pleased him greatly. After all, he told himself,
there was nothing like a little danger to despise the
boring business of living. By the time he reached the
bottom of the hill, he was whistling loudly. He stopped
at the first house, a mud construction with a badly
carpented wooden door and a single bare window that looked
out on the street. It smelled, but Jonas went up
(04:58):
to the door bravely and knocked. There was no answer.
He went on whistling for tuna plango vulnera under his breath,
and after a time he knocked again. This time he
heard moving inside the house and nodded to himself in
a satisfied fashion. But almost a minute passed before the
head of an old woman showed itself with the window.
She was really extraordinarily ugly, he thought. She wore a
(05:18):
bonnet that did nothing whatever to enhance her doubtful wrinkled charms,
or to conceal them, And besides, it was dirty. Nobody's here,
she said, in the voice of a very bononous toad.
Go away. Jonah smiled at her. It was an effort, madam,
he began politely. Nobody's home, she repeated, drawing slightly back
from the window. You go away, now, ah s Jonah said, pleasantly.
(05:41):
But you're home, aren't you. The old woman frowned at
him suspiciously. Now, she said vaguely. Well, this is your house,
he said, the house where you live. Never saw you before.
The old woman said, that's right, Jonah said, equally, you
come to turn me out, she demanded. Her eyebrows, which
were almost as big and black as her ancient mustache,
(06:01):
came down over glittering little eyes. I hold this house
free and proper, she said, in a determined roar, and
nobody can take it away from me. It belongs to
me and to my children, and to their children, and
to the children of those children. The catalog seemed likely
to go on forever exactly. Jonas said hastily, Well, then,
the old woman said, and started to draw back. Jonas
(06:22):
gested lazily with one hand. Wait, he said, I am
not going to take your house away from you, madam.
I am only here to ask you a question. Question,
she said, you come from her knupff. I am an
old woman, but I do no wrong, and there is
no one can accuse me of heresy. I am in
church every week and more than once. I keep peace
with my neighbors, and there's none can say mystery about me.
(06:43):
The woman Jonahs thought was full of the eyebrows with words, Probably,
he told himself, trying to be fair, she didn't have
anyone to talk to until a stranger came along, he
sighed briefly. I do not come from the inquisitor, he said, truthfully,
Nor is my question one that should cause you alarm.
The old woman pondered for a minute. She leaned her
elbows on the window sill, getting the muddy. But that
(07:04):
Jonah's thought didn't seem to matter to this creature. Apparently,
ask she said. At last, Jonas put on his most
pleasant expression, Madam, He said, I wish to know if
there be any family in this town to give room
to a wayfarer, understanding of course, that the wayfarer would
insist on paying paying well, he added. The old woman blinked,
you looking for an inn? She said, an inn in
(07:26):
this town? The idea appeared to strike her as the
very height of idiocy. She covered her face with her
hands and shook. After a second Jonahs discovered that she
was laughing. He went patiently until the fit had left her.
Not an inn, he said, There is no inn here
I know, but a family willing to take in a stranger.
Strangers are seldom here, she said. Her cnuph watches his
(07:47):
flock with zeal, which meant Jonahs reflected that he was
in a fair way to get himself burned as a
heretic unless he watched his step carefully. Herknuf's fame has
reached my own country far away, he said, with some truth. Nevertheless,
a family which wait, she said, you have said that
you will pay well, yet you do not appear rich.
Jonas understood. Fishing in his own pocket, he withdrew a single,
(08:10):
shiny coin. I also wish, he said, smoothly, to pay
for any help I may receive, such as the answering
of an instant question, a question in which the respected
inquisitor knuff cannot have no interest whatever. The old woman's
eyes went to the coin and stayed there well. She said.
It is said that the family called Sharp has a
house too large for them. Now that the eldest son
(08:32):
is gone, there is only the man, his wife, and
a daughter. It is said that the man is in
need of money. He would accept payment, were it generous,
in return for sharing room in his house. I would
be most grateful, Yonas murdered. He passed the coin over
the old woman's hands, snatched it and closed on it.
Where might I find this family, he said, It is
now late in the afternoon. The old woman said, perhaps
(08:53):
they are at home. You will see a path which
takes you to the left. Follow it until he reached
the last house. Not at the door, I shall, Yonus said,
and many thanks. The old woman, still clutching her coin, disappeared,
from the window, as if someone had yanked her back.
Yonus turned with relief and got back on the path,
but his stank quite as badly as the house had.
He endured the stench heroically. Sharp proved to be a
(09:16):
barrel shaped man who was unaccountably cheerless, as if the
inside structure had been carefully removed and then replaced by sawdust.
Yoness thought. Even the offer of seven corona for a
single week's stay failed to produce the delirious joy Yonus
had expected. The money is needed, Sharp said, in a
dour bass voice, staring off past Jonas's left ear at
the darkening sky. And for the money, you will be welcome.
(09:38):
I must take your word that you are not dangerous.
I can only pray that you do not betray that trust.
It was far from a warm welcome, but Yonas was
satisfied with it. I shall work to do you good,
he said, and not evil stranger. Sharp said, work for
your own good. Do nothing for me. This is an
accursed family. There is no good to be done to
(09:59):
me or my wife or child. Yonus tried to look reassuring.
He thought of several things to say about the sunny
side of life, and decided on none of them. My sympathy,
he began, Your sympathy may endanger you. Sharp said, my
son is gone. I pray that there is an end
to it. Yones peered once into the mind of the
man and requilled violently. But he had enough in that
(10:21):
one glimpse to tell him the reason for Sharp's misery,
and it was quite reason enough. He thought herricnuff, we
do not mention that name. Sharp said, my wife has
resigned herself to what has happened. I am not so wise.
I promise you, Yonas, said earnestly, that you will be
in no danger for me, no more, that I will
help you out of your difficulties and insure your peace.
(10:44):
Then you are an angel from heaven. Sharp said bitterly.
There is no other help. While the inquisitor remains and
our sons become suspect to his rages. Yonus shook his head.
There is help, he said, and you will find it.
Your son is going on accused, questioned, confessed, and burnt,
but there will be no more. Sharp looked at him
(11:05):
for a long time. Come with me, he said at last,
and led the way into his mud house. Inside there
was only one large room, but it seemed spacious enough
for four. Three pallets lay against the far white wall,
a single one against the left. Sharp went to the
back of the house, near the single bed. This will
be yours, he said, while you are with us. It
(11:27):
is poor, but it is all we can offer. I
am honored, Yonus said, here we are alone. Sharp went
on his voice lowering. My wife and daughter have gone
to visit a neighbor, for they have not yet closed
us off entirely from all human contact. He grimaced. Jonnas
peered into the mind again, very gently, but the mad
roiling of pain and memory there was too strong for him,
(11:48):
and he returned. If you have anything to say to me,
Sharp said, tell me now. No one can hear his
not er knofe himself to say to you. Regarded your plan,
Sharp said, surely you have a plan, and if I
may play any part in it, Yoness blinked. Plan, he said,
(12:08):
of course. Sharp said, you speak of an end to troubles,
and end to the inquisition and the buildings, and end
to the question, and so you must have a plan
for ridding us of Herkunuff, one which you would tell me.
Yonu shook his head. I have no plan, he said,
it means danger, Sharp pressed him. But I do not
mind danger in such a cause. I am not vengeful.
(12:31):
But my son was no wizard. Yet the inquisitor took
him and had a confession from him. You know well
the worth of such confessions, And soon there will be
others from When the curse strikes a family, it does
not stop with one member. He tightened his lips. It
is not for myself, I am afraid, he said. Yonus nodded.
Were there such a plan, he said, be assured. I
(12:53):
would tell you, But there is none. Yonus said, hrcanuf
shall remain for all that I can do while the
earth remains. Sharp opened his mouth, shut it again, and
then shrugged. I see, he said, at last, you do
not trust me. Perhaps you are wise. I might talk foolishly.
I am an old man, older in this last month
(13:13):
than in all my years. Believe me, Jonas began. I
let it be, Sharp said quietly, I believe you. If
that is what you want, I believe you. He shrugged again,
moving out toward the door of the hut. And in
any case, he said, the money is needed, for they
are fines to pay, and costs of the inquisition. I understand,
(13:34):
Jonas said, helplessly. Sharp turn had looked at him full
in the face. In the man's big eyes, bitterness and
hopelessness glittered. I am sure you do, he said, and
turned again toward the door. The others he met only briefly,
forraw Sharp was a little woman with the face of
a walnut, who looked as if she had never really
been cheerful. Her son's death, he saw when he looked
(13:56):
into her mind, had not come as a surprise to her.
It was one more on the event in a lifetime
in which she had expected nothing else. Unhappiness, she told herself,
was her portion in this life. In the life above,
things would be different. Jonas had met the type before
and was uninterested in going further. But Ilseie Sharp was
something else entirely. She did not say a word to him,
(14:16):
coming into the house that evening, a piece behind her
mother like an obedient slave. She was about seventeen, and
her mind was as fresh and clean and pretty as
her face and figure. Jonas started musing on heroes again,
but he never had the chance to make a move
towards her. She had a very nice smile, and from
memories in the other's minds. He could hear the voice,
low and quiet and entirely satisfactory. Jones sighed. The job,
(14:40):
he told himself sternly came first and afterward, though, come
to think of it, there wouldn't be an afterward. The
evening meal was simple. There was a single dish of
meat and some sort of beans. After it had been eaten,
and the darkness outside grew the full night, it was
time to retire. Jonas went over to his palate, removed
his jerkin and shoes, and lay down. He heard the
(15:00):
others readying themselves for sleep, but he did not look
into their minds. Soon they were asleep and breathing heavily,
but Yonas stayed awake for a while. It's really too bad.
We can't work this sort of thing at a distance,
Clareton's voice said, suddenly. But then, none of us has
ever met the man, and you can't read a mind
if you haven't had some physical contact with the man
who owns it. It's too bad, Yonas agreed politely. Five
(15:22):
hundred miles away, Clyton chuckled, and the linkage of minds
transmitted this amusements to Jonas. You don't think so at
any rate, the director said, you're having adventures at a
fine time. It's the sort of thing you like, after all.
Yonah shrugged mentally. I suppose so, he said. I like
to work on my own do my own job, and
it's got you into trouble before Clayton said, but you
(15:44):
can't afford any mistakes this time. I know the risks
perfectly well. Yonus thought back. Clareton's thought carried a verry echo.
You know the risk to yourself, he told Yonas, And
you've accepted that, you rather like it as a matter
of fact, but you haven't thought of the risk to
the rest of us and to the town you're in.
Yonus set a thought of uncertainty. What Clareton transmitted the
(16:05):
entire picture in one sudden blow. The chance that Yonis
would not be killed immediately but will be discovered. The
chance that the inquisitor would get from him the secret
of the brotherhood. That's impossible, Yonas said. Claarton sounded resigned.
Nothing's impossible, he said, And if the secret is let out,
why the brotherhood is finished, finished before it's barely started.
Because you can read a man's mind doesn't mean you
(16:27):
can defeat him, yonus, But you know what he's going
to do. And if he's got you in a wooden
house and he's going to burn it down, what good
does that your knowledge do you? But you can transmit
false thoughts and confuse him, Clareton said, fine, fine, If
you've ever met the man before, and suppose you haven't,
then you can't transmit a thing to him. You're trapped
in the house, remember, and the fire started. What goods
(16:50):
your telepathy? But it's a sense, Clareton said, like any
other sense. But it isn't magic any more than your
eyes are magic. There given by God. If you like,
they grow, they develop. So the ability to read minds
to transmit its thought is given up by God. No
one knows why or how. Fifteen of us have developed it,
(17:11):
fifteen who are members of the Brotherhood. But there are others.
Of course, you ust thought impatiently. I know all that.
You know a great deal, Clayton said, which I sometimes
find it necessary to bring to your attention. I've done
all right, yonest thought sullenly. Clayton agreed, of course you have.
He thought. You are not the most careful of man,
and great care is needed. The brotherhood must grow. This
(17:34):
new sense is of great value. Perhaps we can learn
to teach it to others in time, though we have
had little success with that. But the least we can
maintain our numbers pass the gift on to our children,
if it is possible, Yonus said, we must try. Clayton said,
and your dejob is enormously important. I know that. Uranus thought, wearily,
you have accomplished the first step. Clayton said, do nothing rash,
(17:58):
of course not. You will not accept help. I will not,
Yonas thought, very well. Then Clayton thought there was the
ghost of another idea. Jonus caught it. I know perfectly
well that you wouldn't have sent me if there were
any other available member, he thought. There is no need
to remind me. I'm sorry, Clayton thought. He radiated caution, worry, patience.
(18:18):
Jonas turned to the bed and cut off from the
director with a grunt. He was tired. Long distance linkages
were a drain on the body's energy, even when the
person involved was easy to visualize, but Clayton had insisted
on an intimate contact. If there was such a thing
as total contact, constant contact over a period of days,
Jonus thought, Clayton would use me for a puppet, a
(18:38):
veritable punch among men. He would override me and take
me over the way a traveling entertainer rules his jointed dolls.
And that would be a fine thing for a hero,
wouldn't it, He grimaced in the darkness. Constant contact was
simply impossible, and he reaching out used energy and linking
up for a long period simply burned the body up,
like a long starvation. It was as bad as a pends.
(19:00):
Yonas was thankful for that, and for the rest well,
he thought, resignedly. What was a hero without a quest,
and what was a quest without someone to set it?
But that someone had to be Clairton, with his caution
and his old woman worry, Yonus sighed and set about
the business of falling to sleep. The days passed slowly
with great boredom. Yonus made contact twice with Clayton, who
(19:21):
told him over and over to wait, to do nothing.
The next move is coming soon. Do nothing to hurry it.
You could only upset the natural course of events, which
is unwise, Yonus thought, badily and risky, and very probably impious,
as well as for the piety. Clareton thought, I leave
that to the priests and the women. But wisdom and
caution on my task, Gouness, as they must be yours.
(19:43):
I you are a hero out on an adventure, Clareton thought, witheringly.
But set your course with sense, travel it with caution,
you the more certainly arrive philosophy for a dull plutter.
Jonas thought, philosophy for one of the brotherhood. Clareton thought back,
we are tiny as yet we have no force. You
(20:04):
can add to that force, add greatly. But you must
be wise. I must be slow. You mean, I mean
what I have told you, Clareton thought. And one more thing, Yonus, Yes,
the daughter, Clareton thought, I have seen her in your mind.
Ignore the wench. Is she worth what your task is worth?
I never did. My caution is unnecessary, Clareton thought. But
(20:27):
in the unlikely case that she might tempt you to folly,
remember it. Yonus, who disliked irony, sighed and cut off.
That was the third night, during the days he had
done the things he had planned. He did no work
with the sharps, but let them find him when they
returned to the hut of an evening, reciting strange words.
Once he built a small outdoor fire and walked around
it whittershen's for several minutes. Then he put the fire
(20:50):
out and went inside. He wasn't sure whether or not
anyone was watching him that time, but soon little later
it's had to happen, and it happened as jonas Is
it would. Through the wife. Missus Sharp, came back to
the hut early one day through a fighting glance at
Yonah's sitting in a corner doing nothing at all, and left.
He hardly needed to see into her mind to know
(21:11):
where she was going, And twenty minutes later two men
came to the hut. They stood in the open doorway,
Missus Sharp behind them, twittering like an ancient bird, and
Yonis watched them boredly. There were giants for this part
of the world, almost six feet tall, with great hands
and jaws. One had black, coarse hair on his head
and a stubble about his face. The other was bald
as an egg. That's him, Missus Sharp said, just a
(21:34):
trifle hesitantly, he's the one. He came to stay with us,
and we didn't know. The man with the black hair said, uh, girl,
her knuff said take him back. The bald one added
herr kanuff, Yonas said, entering the conversation with a light,
pleasant tone. He's that Missus Sharp tried to get the
word out, and then pushed by the two men and
came into the hut. I didn't want to, but there's
(21:55):
something strange and we can't afford any suspicion, and Jonas
realized slowly that she was crying as she looked at him.
It's all right, he said, uncomfortably. You're I'll be perfectly
all right, Yonis said. He stood up. This hair krnup.
He said, he wants to see me. He said, bring
you along, The bald man told him. The black haired
man nodded very slowly. Gurr, he said. Jonas sighed and
(22:19):
went forward to meet the two big men, leaving Missus
Sharp sobbing in the background. The poor woman felt terrible,
he knew, but there was nothing he could do about that.
Then let us go, he said, and marched off, feeling
that one more effect wouldn't hurt. He led the way
to the town hall. Let them figure out how he
had known just where to go. He thought their minds
were very, very boring and quite blank. Her Krup, Jonas reflected,
(22:41):
might be a definite relief. First, there was the cell,
which was in the basement of the town hall. It
was damp and the air was not too good, but
there were compensations rats. For instance. Jonas told himself after
the first couple of hours that he simply wouldn't have
known what to do without the rats, trying to trap
and kill them with no weapons beyond his bare hand,
and even the eating knife he had carried and his
(23:02):
jerk and had been taken away, leaving him to the
uncomfortable reflection that he was going to have to die
with his fingers was a pastime that occupied him for
several hours on the first day. On the second day,
the rats began to bore him. By that evening, they
were annoying him, and when the third day dawned bright
and warm. As near as he could tell from the
tiniest of a window at the top of his cell,
Eonas was telling himself that any move at all was
(23:24):
a move in the right direction. He set up a
shout for one of the guards. The bald one had
brought his meals every day, but the black haired one
was the man who checked his cell at night. For once,
Jonas thought he was lucky the bald man appeared. After
some fifty minutes of screaming and cursing. Yonis was not
at all sure whether the black haired man understood language.
There was little trace of it in his mind, and
virtually nothing that might be called intelligence. With the bald man.
(23:47):
At least he could communicate what's wanted, the guard said, sourly,
staring through the bars. Yonas smiled softly. You know why
I'm here, don't you? He said, in a voice as
close as silky as he could make it. You. The
bald man said, you're here in a cell. That's right,
Yonah said, patiently. He rubbed at his face. Do you
know why I was put here? You cast spells, You
(24:08):
make things happen, That's right, Yonah said, smiling in I'm
a wizard, a warlock. That's what they say, isn't it.
You make things happen. The bald man said, but he
had the basic idea. Yonus checked that in his mind
very well. He said, Now I wish to see her Kunuff.
The inquisitor calls you when he wants you, The bald
man said, Now, Yonus said, when he wants. If I'm
(24:32):
a wizard, Yonus said, I have powers, strange powers. I
could make you, he reflected for a minute. I could
make you into a beetle and squash you under for it.
As a matter of fact, I think I will. He
gazed refflctily of the bald man, who gulped and turned
a little pale. You you are in a cell, he said,
at last, locked up. Do you think that will stop me?
Yonah said. He came to the barred door, still smiling.
(24:55):
You would not dare? Why not? Yonus asked? What have
I got to lose? He raised one hand, clawing the
fingers slightly. He took a deep breath, as if he
were about to spit out an incantation. His eyes glittered,
the smile broadened a long second past. I will tell
the inquisitor you wished to see him, the bald guard said.
Jonus relaxed and stepped back. I shall be most grateful,
(25:18):
he said formally. The guard turned and started to walk away.
Five paces down the corridor, the walk turned into a run.
Jonus watched him go, and then sat down on his
louse and fested cot to await developments. The minutes ticked
by endlessly. He thought of trying to reach Clareton, but
decided not entirely with regret, that the contact would use
up too much energy, and he needed all the energy
(25:38):
he could conserve. Now the second step had been taken.
The fact that he decided to sell that a prison
was proof of that the third step, the all important
final step, was about to begin. Geor Knup was a
tall man with skin of the color and apparent texture
of good leather. He had a face like an eagle,
and his eyes were ice blue. He moved his thin,
strong hands gently back and forth on the table that
(25:59):
held his papers, inkstand, and pen, and said, in a
voice like audible sam paper. You wanted to see me, true,
Yonus said, pleasantly. Kauf was sitting behind the table. Yonus
had not been asked to sit. He remained standing, and
he was reasonably sure that his feet were going to
hurt in a minute. He tried not to let the
thought disturb him. The man's mind was like his office
in the town hall, sparsely furnished, almost austere, but loth
(26:22):
all the necessities laid out for easy access underneath the
strength and iron of the mind. Yonus caught the spark
glowing and nearly smiled. In spite of the reports, in
spite of logic, there had been a chance the Brotherhood
to guess wrongly about this man. Now that chance was
gone and the Brotherhood was right again. Not many asked
to see me, Kruff said, in the same voice. He
(26:43):
went on looking at his hands. There was bitternesses in
his mind, bitterness that had changed to hate. There, please
tend to be exactly the opposite. I do not plead,
Yoness pointed out. It was necessary that I come to
see you. The question was, he told himself exactly what
were the inquisitor's real beliefs. His public professions were well known.
Yonus searched and found the answer. Kannuf was an honest man.
(27:05):
That of course made matters simpler necessary, Kunuf said, looking
up for the first time, his gaze stabbed like a sword.
He was uneasy. Yonus knew, with another mind probing his,
he could not help but be uneasy. But he could
not find a cause. It would never occur to him,
and he controlled his feelings superbly. You believe that I
am a wizard, Yonah said. Kunnup waited a bare a second,
(27:27):
and then nodded, I can do many things Yoness went on,
it was necessary that I bring these to your attention
and proved to you that they were not wizardly or magic.
Many have told me. Kunuf muttered that their feats were natural.
It is a common defense, so I have heard, Yonah
said easily. But I shall prove what I say. I
am under no compulsion to listen to you, Kunuf said.
(27:50):
After a pause, Yonah shrugged. His feet were beginning to hurt,
he realized. He sighed briefly, but there was no time
or attention to spare for them. I can only see
you by having myself accused of witchcraft, he said. In
that way, you will be forced to listen to me.
You may listen now or later at a full hearing
of the inquisitor's court. Am I to take my choice?
Kruff said. He smiled briefly, his face remained cold. The
(28:13):
strong hands moved on the table top. It is a
matter of indifference to me, Yonah said. But the weight
becomes boring after a time. Kruff's eyebrows went up. Boring
is hardly the word others would use. I am not
like others, Yonah said. He wished for Clareton suddenly, but
there was no way to reach him safely. He had
to make his move alone. Well, he told himself that
(28:36):
was what he had wanted. I can tell you what
is in your mind, he said. The words hung in
the air of the room for a long time. At last,
Kanuf nodded. The devil grants to many his power of
seeing the minds of men. He said, quietly, this is
not devil's work, as I shall prove, Yonah said. He
shifted his feet. But let me establish one point at
(28:56):
a time, in the most scholastic manner, if you will permit,
I permit, Kunuf said. There was interest in his mind,
overlaid with skepticism, of course, but interest all the same
that Yonus thought was a better sign than he had
ever dared hope for very well, he said, think of
a word, Think of any single word. I shall tell
it to you as any wizard might do, who had
(29:18):
the help of his lord. The devil could have muttered.
Do you expect this to prove one thing at a time,
Yonus said Kuldnuf nodded a second pass. Yonus licked his lips.
The possibilities prayed before him. On one hand, success on
the other, there was the torture and death of the inquisition.
Yonus took a deep breath. There was no way to
back out now. Heroism looked a little empty, though he
(29:41):
closed his eyes. Cabbages, he said, Kannuf neither applauded nor
looked surprised. As I have said, He murmured that which
the devil can grant. He paused and looked down at
his hands. Am I to take this as a confession?
He said? Do you wish to hurry your own death?
I am wizard, Yonah said a stranger, Knuff said, who
(30:03):
enters a small city is seen at mysterious undertakings, plucks
words out of the center of a man's mind. Why
the picture is a classic one, del Rio himself, Holzinger
or any of the others could not describe a better Yet,
all this was done to draw your attention, to fix
it on what I have to tell you, Yonah said,
shifting his feet again. I am no wizard, but a
(30:25):
man who may do certain things. And here is my
proof you may do the same yourself. The silence was
a long one, and at the end of it, Knuff rose.
He walked to the door of the room and opened it,
and the bald headed guard came in. He has tried
to tempt me to pact with Satan, the inquisitor said,
but take him away. Some day, Yonas thought back in
(30:48):
his cell, there would be a method of controlling minds
that did not require the willing cooperation of the two parties.
Some day the man who reads minds would be more
than a passive onlooker. But the talent was new, It
needed practice, it needed training. The cell grew dark as
the night came, and the daptness seemed to increase. Yonu's
heard squeaking and thought of the rats, but he couldn't
even summon up enough energy to try for them. He
(31:10):
sat cross legged in a corner of the cell and
closed his eyes. He sighed once deeply. This is what
a hero came to, and told himself this was the
end of heroics and playing alone hand. Why if he
had it to do over again, he would you would
do exactly the same thing, Clareton's voice said. Jonus grinned
suddenly and sad straighter. I should have known you'd be
(31:30):
getting into contact sooner or later, he thought. I tried
to keep track of all our men. Clareton thought, in
a case like yours. I try harder my foolishness, Yonus thought,
sometimes works to my benefit. Clainton's thoughts were dry. If
you hadn't gotten impatient and tried to hudy things, his
voice sat in Unus's mind, you wouldn't be back in
(31:51):
your cell now. There is a time and a place
for your disclosure. Another day and hear what had dred
me out of my wits, Yonus thought, better out of
your wits then dead, Clayton thought, Jonus sighed. However, Clareton
went on, there is still a way out for you.
I have read the situation in your mind, and your
next move will have to be rather more spectacular than usual.
(32:15):
So long as it works, Uonus said, I will be
satisfied it will work. Clayton said, at least I think
it will. Another day, dragged by Unus put in his
time alternately going over the new plan and feeling more
frightened than he had ever believed possible. Clayton reached him once,
but the contact was weak and fleeting. The director hadn't
enough strength to reach him again, at least not for
(32:36):
a day or so. Unus was exactly where he'd wanted
to be. On his own. He hated the IDEA time
passed somehow, When morning dawn, Unus awoke to find the
door of his cell being unlocked. The bald man and
the black headed man were both there. He looked up
with them with distaste. Then he saw what was in
their minds, and the distaste changed to fear. You have confessed.
(32:57):
The bald one said, it is necessary that you ratify
your confession. Come with us. Yonus knew what that meant.
Ratification of a free confession took place in a torture.
He wiped his face with one hand, but he hardly
thought of escaping. He had to go through with the plan.
The two guards came into the cell and gripped his arms.
Eonus allowed himself to be carried out into the corridor
(33:17):
and down it to a great wooden door. The guards
opened it and dragged him through. The torture chamber was
brightly lit, with torches and brackets along the walls that
gave off by a small fraction more light than smoke.
In one corner, the racket itself stood, and there were
other tools of the trade scattered around the room. Eonus
found that he was sweating. The guards brought him to
the center of the room. Kuldn Have was standing near him,
(33:39):
a perfectly brank of expression on his face. His voice
was the same rough grasp, but it seemed almost mechanical.
You have confessed to me, he said, your heresy. Nearly
you will be made to ratify your confession. That done,
your penalty will be exacted, and the penalty, of course,
will be death, death of the stake. He forced himself
(34:00):
to remain calm, and now was the time for his play.
He took a deep breath and felt the strength, and
he gathered to a single point and flew outward. The
two men suddenly seemed to stagger. There was a second
of confusion, and they had let him go. He stood
alone in the room. He turned and walked to the door,
but he did not open it. Instead, he leaned against it.
He forced his voice into the patterns of calmness and ease.
(34:21):
Your men cannot touch me, he said, Wizard No, Yonus said.
The confusion he was broadcasting kept the men from doing
anything they required, even a simple plan. But he couldn't
keep it up for long. A man like yourself, a
man with a particular cat talent given by God the
name of God. I can say that name, Yonus told
the inquisitor. No wizard may say it. It is a trick,
(34:44):
Kunuf said. Yonus shook his head, not at all. I
will ask you to do nothing against the faith. I
merely ask you to test for yourself what I say.
You are a heretic, Kunuf said, Suddenly, I cannot. You
can pray, Yonus said. Kannuf blinked. Pray, he said, meditate
on a prayer. Yonus said, keep your mind open, keep
(35:04):
yourself ready for the gift of God. It will descend
on you. Kanuph shook his head. It is a trick,
he began, a trick, Yonus said, But the prayers of
God and his church. And that was the unanswerable question.
For no wizard could use the name of God, no
wizard could pray. So the inquisition said, so, Kanuph said, snow,
(35:25):
Knuph had to say, and so he had to believe. Slowly,
his mind opened and came perceptive. The prayer hung in
the air of the smoky room. Yonus slipped in now,
he said quietly. His control slipped. The two guards came
towards him, overpowered and held him in a brief second wait.
The inquisitor said, heavily wait release him, and so Clayton
(35:47):
thought the job was accomplished. Naturally, Yonus thought. Clayton's thought
had an overturne of weariness. There is no need to
be smug, he told Yons. After all, you did not
do the job yourself. Unimportant, Yonus thought, the man is
convinced he can be trained further and join the brotherhood.
It will take time, Clayton said, a few years perhaps,
(36:10):
but in the meantime there will be no trials in Speya.
No trials, Yonest thought, But oh I see, of course,
Clainton thought, any man who considers himself a wizard will
have his mind seen by the inquisitor. And since there
are no wizards, at least none we have discovered, the
trials will cease. Jonas finished, and the brotherhood has gained
(36:33):
a new member, Clayton said, a member with influence and power.
It is an important step forward. Yonas, of course, Yonest thought, disinterestedly.
Yet you seem bored by the matter, Claarton thought, puzzled,
I don't see. Oh I see the woman in your mind,
the daughter. And now stop it, Yonest thought, stop it
(36:56):
cut off? After all, you finished there are times when
even here Earl wants a little privacy. PostScript. In sixteen
o five to sixteen o six in Offenburg there were
no executions. H. C. Lee Materials Towards a History of Witchcraft,
Volume three, page one one four eight. End of Wizard
(37:18):
by Larry M. Harris
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