The Return of Kavin (34 page)

“So long,” he said, softly.
“So very long.
I have done all, as the Work required.
Again, and again… from each of the Twenty-Two Signs, in turn.
Is it finished this time?”

He stared at the flickering curtain of light, and took a step forward.

“Is it finished?” he said, again. “Or is there another road, there?” He picked up the leather sack, and was about to sling it over his shoulder; then, suddenly, he put it down again, and stared at it where it lay. “There’s wisdom,” he said. “Books full of it, paid for.
Paid for, a thousand times over.
And they who gathered it, dead and less than dust, ten thousand years ago.” Abruptly, he kicked the sack, and it rolled away. He flung back his head, and the wind whipped at his white beard; he laughed, once, loudly. Then he stepped forward into the light, empty-handed, and was gone.