Crossing the Threshold (30)
The knock at the door reverberated around the room. There was no more time for preparation.
Go back to the INDEX.
The knock at the door reverberated around the room. There was no more time for preparation.
“A moment!” Mother called, amiably.
I scanned the room for any evidence of our subterfuge. Everything seemed in place, as it had been last evening.
Mother awaited my nod, and pulled open the door, a wide smile spreading on her face. “Godiar!”
As if it would be anyone else.
His smile seemed wary and weary. I wasn’t at all convinced by it. He stood there, for a moment too long, a bundle of scrolls in his arms.
He needed to come in. “Godiar, let me clear the table for you. Those are maps, correct?” I nodded at his burden.
He stepped over the threshold, and brought his rolled papers over to me, letting them roll about on the empty table. I met Mother’s gaze over his shoulder, and she gave me a slight nod. It was done.
Godiar said, “I don’t think the Boundary across the doorway is necessary, although I do understand the precaution.” Of course he had sensed the lines of magic in his path. “You are in a strange city, after all, and it must give you a sense of comfort. It would not, however, stop someone who was determined to enter.”
Had he also noticed the Trace that the Boundary was supposed to hide? Mother and I had shared the working, so that the magick would respond to either of our wills.
“Oh, Godiar, we didn’t think it would prevent intrusion,” Mother said, before I had the chance. “It merely gives us a moment’s notice, during which we can raise our true defences.” She smiled prettily, exuding the innocence of youth. I fought back laughter, which would certainly have aroused suspicion. I didn’t see how anyone could believe such a display, especially given Mother’s long years and vast experience. But how much of Mother’s vast experience would Godiar suspect existed?
One of the scrolls threatened to roll off the table. “I’ll need a few sundry items as paperweights ....” Godiar said.
There were cups on the cabinet, of the right bulk and weight. I helped place them along the edges of the large map Godiar now rolled out for us.
“Agali!” he announced when he was done, like a showman.
I stood next to Godiar, taking in the main features, trying to make sense of them. The Folly was the most obvious landmark, leading off one of the edges of the map, the point of which was to show the various precincts of the city of Agali. Each magical boundary was marked in red. One area in particular seemed to have an excessive concentration of such red lines, and I pointed to it.
“The Imperial Palace,” answered Godiar, before I could even ask the question. “Naturally, extra precautions are taken for Her Imperial Majesty.”
“Naturally.” I didn’t understand why five Boundary lines offered any kind of extra disincentive, when only one would reveal one’s presence.
“We are here somewhere?” asked Mother, pointing to an area not too far from the Folly park.
“Well done!” Godiar beamed. “We are precisely ... here.” He placed a finger on the map. “We came this way from the, uh, Folly. Over here is the house Aranon died in. And here is the Citadel.”
The primary difficulty of the map was that the names were all in the Agalin script. The letters curved in intricate detail, appealing to look at, but opaque to my understanding. “Do you write Peledarri?”
“Unfortunately, no.” Godiar raised his hands apologetically.
“Is this our copy of the map? Can we annotate it?” I pressed.
“I have, uh, borrowed these maps, as we only have a short-term need for them, hopefully. You are free to make copies, of course, which you can annotate in any way you please. I shall do all I can to help.”
I nodded.
“Well, we shall need paper and ink, red, black, and blue, and charcoals with a fine tip. Do you know where to procure such things?”
Godiar nodded. “I will be but a short time.” Godiar hurried out into the precinct, and Mother called her thanks after him as he closed the door.
We took advantage of Godiar’s absence to discuss various aspects of the map. The precinct with Father’s rented house was adjacent to ours, but some distance away still, so although we would only need to cross one precinct Boundary, it would also be a considerable trek. I wanted to see the house and explore the area around it, looking for likely paths that Aranon might have taken. As of yet, I had little idea where Father might have traveled within the city in the days before his murder.
And I was still certain it was a murder. It couldn’t be anything else.
We pored over the map, murmuring our ideas and observations to each other, not out of any fear of being overheard, but from our sense of smallness against the immensity of the city and the problem facing us. Agali was more than twice the size of Peledar, and maybe as much as half of Maynar, although with fewer districts. Precincts.
There were so many people in Agali, so many footsteps to muddy the trail we needed to find, and so many chances for failure.
I felt so daunted by every aspect of what lay ahead of us.