Lest Darkness Fall (15 page)

            Of course, Padway thought,
he should have known that the man hadn't meant what he'd said. "What's
your schedule of rates?"

            The usher, quite seriously,
began counting on his fingers. "Well, for twenty solidi I could give you
your audience tomorrow. For the day after tomorrow, ten solidi is my usual
rate; but that's Sunday, so I'm offering interviews on Monday at seven and a
half. For one week in advance, two solidi. For two weeks —"

            Padway interrupted to offer
a five-solidus bribe for a Monday interview, and finally got it at that price
plus a small bottle of brandy. The usher said: "You'll be expected to have
a present for the king, too, you know."

            "I know," said
Padway wearily. He showed the usher a small leather case. "I'll present it
personally."

-

            Thiudahad Tharasmund's son,
King of the Ostrogoths and Italians; Commander in Chief of the Armies of Italy,
Illyria, and Southern Gaul; Premier Prince of the Amal Clan; Count of Tuscany;
Illustrious Patrician; ex-officio President of the Circus; et cetera, et
cetera, was about Padway's height, thin to gauntness, and had a small gray
beard. He peered at his caller with watery gray eyes, and said in a reedy
voice: "Come in, come in, my good man. What's your business? Oh, yes,
Martinus Paduei. You're the publisher chap aren't you? Eh?" He spoke
upper-class Latin without a trace of accent.

            Padway bowed ceremoniously.
"I am, my lord king. Before we discuss the business, I have —"

            "Great thing, that
book-making machine of yours. I've heard of it. Great thing for scholarship.
You must see my man Cassiodorus. I'm sure he'd like you to publish his
Gothic
History
, Great work. Deserves a wide circulation."

            Padway waited patiently.
"I have a small gift for you, my lord. A rather unusual —"

            "Eh? Gift? By all
means. Let's see it."

            Padway took out the case and
opened it.

            Thiudahad piped: "Eh?
What the devil is that?"

            Padway explained the
function of a magnifying glass. He didn't dwell on Thiudahad's notorious
nearsightedness.

            Thiudahad picked up a book
and tried the glass on it. He squealed with delight. "Fine, my good
Martinus. Shall I be able to read all I want without getting headaches?"

            "I hope so, my lord. At
least it should help. Now, about my business here —"

            "Oh, yes, you want to
see me about publishing Cassiodorus. I'll fetch him for you."

            "No, my lord. It's
about something else." He went on quickly before Thiudahad could interrupt
again, telling him of his difficulty with Liuderis.

            "Eh? I never bother my
local military commanders. They know their business."

            "But, my lord —"
and Padway gave the king a little sales talk on the importance of the telegraph
company.

            "Eh? A money-making
scheme, you say? If it's as good as all that, why wasn't I let in on it at the
start?"

            That rather jarred Padway.
He said something vague about there not having been time. King Thiudahad wagged
his head. "Still, that wasn't considerate of you, Martinus. It wasn't
loyal. And if people aren't loyal to their king, where are we? If you deprive
your king of an opportunity to make a little honest profit, I don't see why I
should interfere with Liuderis on your account."

            "Well, ahem, my lord, I
did have an idea —"

            "Not considerate at
all. What were you saying? Come to the point, my good man, come to the
point."

            Padway resisted an impulse
to strangle this exasperating little man. He beckoned Fritharik, who was
standing statuesquely in the background. Fritharik produced a telescope, and
Padway explained its functions ...

            "Yes, Yes? Very
interesting, I'm sure. Thank you, Martinus. I will say that you bring your king
original presents."

            Padway gasped; he hadn't
intended giving Thiudahad his best telescope. But it was too late now. He said:
"I thought that if my lord king saw fit to ... ah ... ease matters with
your excellent Liuderis, I could insure your undying fame in the world of
scholarship."

            "Eh? What's that? What
do you know about scholarship? Oh, I forgot; you're a publisher. Something
about Cassiodorus?"

            Padway repressed a sigh.
"No, my lord. Not Cassiodorus. How would you like the credit for
revolutionizing men's idea about the solar system ?"

            "I don't believe in
interfering with my local commanders, Martinus. Liuderis is an excellent man.
Eh? What were you saying. Something about the solar system? What's that got to
do with Liuderis?"

            "Nothing, my
lord." Padway repeated what he had said.

            "Well, maybe I'd
consider it. What is this theory of yours?"

            Little by little Padway
wormed from Thiudahad a promise of a free hand for the telegraph company, in
return for bits of information about the Copernican hypothesis, instructions
for the use of the telescope to see the moons of Jupiter, and a promise to
publish a treatise on astronomy in Thiudahad's name.

            At the end of an hour he
grinned and said, "Well, my lord, we seem to be in agreement. There's just
one more thing. This telescope would be a valuable instrument of warfare. If
you wanted to equip your officers with them —"

            "Eh? Warfare? You'll
have to see Wittigis about that. He's my head general."

            "Where's he?"

            "Where? Oh, dear me, I
don't know. Somewhere up north, I think. There's been a little invasion by the Allemans
or somebody."

            "When will he be
back?"

            "How should I know, my
good Martinus? When he's driven out these Allemans or Burgunds or whoever they
are."

            "But, most excellent
lord, if you'll pardon me, the war with the Imperialists is definitely on. I
think it's important to get these telescopes into the hands of the army as soon
as possible. We'd be prepared to supply them at a reasonable —"

            "Now? Martinus,"
snapped the king peevishly, "don't try to tell me how to run my kingdom.
You're as bad as my Royal Council. Always 'Why don't you do this?', 'Why don't
you do that?' I trust my commanders; don't bother myself with details. I say
you'll have to see Wittigis, and that settles it."

            Thiudahad was obviously
prepared to be mulish, so Padway said a few polite nothings, bowed, and
withdrew.

-

            WHEN PADWAY GOT BACK to
Rome, his primary concern was to see how his paper was coming. The first issue
that had been put out since his departure was all right. About the second,
which had just been printed, Menandrus was mysteriously elated, hinting that he
had a splendid surprise for his employer. He had. Padway glanced at a proof
sheet, and his heart almost stopped. On the front page was a detailed account
of the bribe which the new Pope, Silverius, had paid King Thiudahad to secure
his election.

            "Hell's bells!"
cried Padway. "Haven't you any better sense than to print this,
George?"

            "Why?" asked
Menandrus, crestfallen. "It's true, isn't it?"

            "Of course, it's true!
But you don't want us all hanged or burned at the stake, do you? The Church is
already suspicious of us. Even if you find that a bishop is keeping twenty
concubines, you're not to print a word of it."

            Menandrus sniffled a little;
he wiped away a tear and blew his nose on his tunic. "I'm sorry, excellent
boss. I tried to please you; you have no idea how much trouble I went to get
the facts about that bribe. There is a bishop, too — not twenty concubines, but
—"

            "But we don't consider
that news, for reasons of health. Thank heaven, no copies of this issue have
gone out yet."

            "Oh, but they
have."

            "What?" Padway's
yell made a couple of workmen from the machine shop look in.

            "Why, yes, John the
Bookseller took the first hundred copies out just a minute ago."

            John the Bookseller got the
scare of his life when Padway, still dirty from days of travel, galloped down
the street after him, dove off his horse, and grabbed his arm. Somebody set up
a cry of "Thieves! Robbers! Help! Murder!" Padway found himself
trying to explain to forty truculent citizens that everything was all right.

            A Gothic soldier pushed
through the crowd and asked what was going on here. A citizen pointed at Padway
and shouted: "It's the fellow with the boots! I heard him say he'd cut the
other man's throat if he didn't hand over his money!" So the Goth arrested
Padway.

            Padway kept his clutch on
John the Bookseller, who was too frightened to speak. He went along quietly
with the Goth until they were out of earshot of the crowd. Then he asked the
soldier into a wineshop, treated him and John, and explained. The Goth was
noncommittal, despite John's corroboration, until Padway tipped him liberally.
Padway got his freedom and his precious papers. Then all he had to worry about
was the fact that somebody had stolen his horse while he was in the Goth's
custody.

            Padway trudged back to his
house with the papers under his arm. His household was properly sympathetic
about the loss of the horse. Fritharik said: "There, illustrious boss,
that piece of crow-bait wasn't worth much anyhow."

            Padway felt much better when
he learned that the first leg of the telegraph ought to be completed in a week
or ten days. He poured himself a stiff drink before dinner. After his strenuous
day it made his head swim a little. He got Fritharik to join him in one of the
latter's barbarian warsongs:

-

"The
black earth shakes

As
the heroes ride,

And
the ravens blood —

Red
sun will hide!

The
lances dip

In
a glittering wave,

And
the coward turns

His
gore to save ..."

-

            When Julia was late with the
food, Padway gave her a playful spank. He was a little surprised at himself.

            After dinner he was sleepy.
He said to hell with the accounts and went upstairs to bed, leaving Fritharik
already snoring on his mattress in front of the door. Padway would not have
laid any long bets on Fritharik's ability to wake up when a burglar entered.

            He had just started to
undress when a knock startled him. He could not imagine ...

            "Fritharik?" he
called.

            "No. It's me."

            He frowned and opened the
door. The lamplight showed Julia from Apulia. She walked in with a swaying
motion.

            "What do you want,
Julia?" asked Padway.

            The stocky, black-haired
girl looked at him in some surprise. "Why — uh — my lord wouldn't want me
to say right out loud? That wouldn't be nice!"

            "Huh?"