The Witch & the Cathedral - Wizard of Yurt - 4 Read Online Free PDF Page A

cathedral looming over the street made the entrance very dark, but as we stepped inside we were greeted by light. Many-paned mullion windows on the far side of the house looked out over a hillside that sloped sharply down toward the river and the tiled roofs of the artisans'
    quarter of the city.
    A servant in black livery met us. "We'll just wash up, and then we'll eat right away," Joachim told him. "Once we are served, you can leave us." The servant nodded silently and disappeared.
    A senior officer of a cathedral, I thought as I dried my hands, lived fairly well. But good living had not filled out Joachim, and his face was as gaunt as ever. I wondered briefly if I should suspect him of being behind some veiled attack on organized magic—which Brother Norbert appeared ready to join—but I dismissed this. I had known Joachim too long, and, besides, he had asked for my help.
    The servant lit the white candles on the table, served us from a large platter, and withdrew, still without a word. As we ate, the sky outside the window became gradually dim, and the candle flames seemed to grow brighter and brighter, their light reflected from the polished surface of the woodwork.
    "I climbed up the new tower after I talked to you," I said once I had finished a plateful of chicken. "How did you find those construction workers? It's terrifying being up on the scaffolding, yet they seem totally fearless. Maybe their long fingers and toes allow them to cling to a surface like tree frogs."
    "I did not hire them myself. Even though I am the elected 'head of the cathedral chapter, the provost and the chancellor are in charge of the cathedral edifice itself and of raising money to pay for its upkeep. There had already been discussion for years before I arrived about building a new cathedral. The provost had heard good things about this construction crew from the priests of another church on which they had worked."
    "They also aren't very concerned about the strange lights at night," I continued. "They come from somewhere far up north, and they seem to consider magical occurrences fairly ordinary. After all, I gather that if one went only a little further than their valley one would reach the land of dragons. And up there it's all wild magic, not organized and channeled as in the western kingdoms."
    "My colleagues do not like any kind of magic, wild or organized," said Joachim, a glint in his eye. He paused to refill my winegjass. "I'm sorry if I seemed abrupt earlier. I have a lot on my mind." Tact had never been his strong point; although he had become no more tactful over the years, at least he worried about it more. "When I told the bishop today I had sent for you, he was very unhappy about bringing a wizard into the affairs of the Church."
    "You can tell him that the wizards at the school weren't any happier about it," I said cheerfully.
    This seemed to surprise him, but he made no comment. Instead he asked, "And could you tell if the lights at night and the material being moved around on the tower were due to a magic spell?"
    "Someone's certainly been working magic up there. But I'm hoping he may have left with the Romneys." I told him about the Romney woman's eagerness to chase the children away and the abrupt departure of the entire camp that afternoon.
    "That would indeed solve the problem," said Joachim thoughtfully, twirling the stem of his glass and looking somewhere over my head. "But you say the children expected to see something spectacular, as though the last magic-worker they had seen had not been a member of their band but an outsider like yourself. They hoped for as good tricks from the new wizard they had just spotted as they had from the last."
    I ignored his implication that my scarlet illusory dragon had been less than spectacular, "If the magician or wizard is still here," I said, "the most direct approach would be to put a spell on the tower, a magical shield that would keep any further spells from working."
    "And