Diyako approached the dishes and test tubes as enthusiastically as Renas and Rozerin had long ago approached the telescope. He tried to touch things far too often, oblivious to the fact that each time he met with resistance from protective spells and an angry stare from the kammerdiener.
The local servant did not look happy about their visit. Renas was well aware that few people had access to this place, and research like this would not sit well with the government if conducted without permission.
“Leave it alone!” Rozerin pulled her little brother’s hand.
“Unfortunately, we’re not allowed to touch anything here,” Renas added. “But I’m glad you like it.”
“Do you have one of these at home?”
The kammerdiener’s eyes suddenly narrowed and he began to listen more carefully. Rozerin trembled with fear.
“No, I have a government-mandated research topic that does not require the use of such instruments. I just wanted to show you that we have more interesting things to do at Rodemhaul Castle than listening to grumbling politicians and memories of past centuries.”
“Oi, don’t use terms like that! It’s not like we’ve been walking around with him all day explaining things, so now you can sabotage everything! After all, he is going to join the government one day.”
“Sure, he could become the leader of the Fourth Serpens. He has as much chance of joining the government as hundreds of other junior dukes.”
“He’s closer than you! You’d sooner fly somewhere in space than be recognised by the party as a worthy representative!”
“You bet I would. I want to go there. And I will.”
“You’re deluding yourself,” Rozerin replied dryly, then turned and took her younger brother’s hand. “Come, Diyako, you’ve seen enough.”
“But – “
Renas grabbed his other hand.
“The library. I have to get a book.”
“How much time do you have available?”
“A lot.”
She was silent for a moment, pondering something under his sharp gaze. Finally she sighed.
“I don’t believe you, but never mind. You take him, I’ll go back.”
Renas thought he saw the same fear-based rejection in her eyes that he had seen earlier during the previsions.
They climbed the stairs. The same kammerdiener who had shown them around the lab earlier insisted on watching them all the way from the dungeons to the library tower.
“When are you going into space?” Diyako asked.
Renas smiled.
“When you become a party leader or an Assembly speaker.”
“Oh, I thought you were serious.”
Renas was more serious about questioning his dream than his sister’s warnings, even when the doubt was expressed by a child. Or perhaps especially when they were expressed by a child. He had to answer.
“I was serious. The party doesn’t like scientists, in case you haven’t noticed. And without science, you can’t fly higher than you can jump – you would have to forget about flying entirely, especially into space.”
“But you can fly! You’re the Aero, that’s what they call you, I’ve heard it!”
“Someone once sat down and invented these aeromobiles. And someone else let him do that. And one day, I’m going to get the government to let me do my thing.”
They stopped just outside the entrance to the library. As a duke, one of thousands of dukes in this country, Renas had no power here and had to sign the register like everyone else to have his library time measured by the kammerdiener. It was the kammerdiener who had the power. Not because he ruled, but because he watched and judged those who ruled.
Diyako was excited about the forbidden fruit and the fact that, lo and behold, he had just landed in a place where he normally was not allowed to be, but no one was going to throw him out.
“May I, may I – ?”
“You stay with him, I’ll take a book and go back.”
He tried to fulfil his promise as quickly as possible, not only because of the official deadlines, but also so as not to leave the child alone. He assessed the risk correctly.
“Leave it, don’t touch it!” He shouted as he saw Diyako get behind the desk and begin to check the library’s visitor register.
The kammerdiener also reacted too late. As he pushed the seven-year-old’s hand away from the book, he misjudged the strength of the grip and tore part of the page.
“Please take him away!” he growled.
Renas led his brother away, laughing more than regretting it.
“You’re in, you’re in!” Diyako shouted.
No one enforced silence in this library. What was the point of keeping silent if no one was ever allowed in?
“Yes, I know, you can read,” Renas replied, wordlessly handing the book back to the kammerdiener to write down what had been borrowed. “Who else is there?”
“Rukla, Hassan, Abilash, Ariyan…”
“Ariyan!” Renas gasped. He had not expected this name on the list. Not someone who fought with great ferocity against scientists and scholars.
The kammerdiener handed the book back to Renas with an angry face. He had overheard the whole conversation and would certainly repeat what had happened to the appropriate people.
* * *
“You said you had an aeromobile in the castle! I thought we were going to fly!”
They left through the main door, much to the displeasure of Diyako, who was clearly hoping to fly with his adult brother.
“I don’t have the magic energy for that.”
Renas looked around for the familiar shape of a vehicle. Suddenly he remembered that his sister had decided to return earlier, so she had probably used the automobile that was supposed to take them all.
And that meant waiting, and waiting meant dealing with a child who didn’t like waiting.
“But you were to charge it!”
“I left it to charge.”
“What do you mean?”
“The castle is on the accumulation point. Next time we’ll have enough mana in the canister for flight. Today we’ll take a ride in the automobile.”
“It will fill itself?”
“Exactly. That’s how it works with magic wielders, so why shouldn’t it work with machines?”
* * *
Despite its age, Rodemhaul Castle still stood proudly above the rest of the capital. Lopsided towers, such as that of the library, stood out from the dirty grey walls, in perfect harmony with the rest of the city below. In places, the dirty red of sloping roofs and jutting pilasters contrasted.
The sharp slope of the hill, which gave Rodemhaul a better vantage point than the city’s desperately rising skyscrapers, was littered with thousands of human bones. This gruesome sight surprised no one, and Renas did not even bother to blindfold the child or tell him implausible lies. Diyako had to know that he was living in a country where he could end up like the traitors, criminals and dissidents who were hanged here and there.
In the distant days of the Revolution, many more such people were killed, giving rise to the peculiar custom of ‘burying’ their bodies by dumping them en masse on the hillside below the castle. Renas once came across a forbidden book in which he read a widely debunked rumour that opponents of the new government had dumped the bodies of their comrades below the castle so that the rulers would forever be reminded of how many human lives they had on their consciences. If this was the intention of the losing side, neither the dukes nor the Kammerdinate took it seriously; on the contrary, they condoned the cultivation of the tradition, even now.
There were several bonemen wandering around the hillside, cleaning the bodies left on the ground. They were said to convert tissue into energy, but that didn’t stop people from suspecting them of necromantic practices.
Fortunately, Diyako did not nag as they drove, but remained solemn, as his father had taught him. As soon as they entered the road, wedged between the piles of earth and the skeletons, he fell silent, as if someone had cast a spell of silence on him. He stopped shouting, stopped fidgeting, stopped asking questions, even stopped talking.
They drove in silence all the way to the Duke’s residence. Once there, Renas left his brother in the care of the servants assigned to him and went to his beloved study, hoping to go through his notes once more.
* * *
Ducal estates could be found in many of the larger cities. They belonged to the state, not to specific individuals, so they passed from hand to hand as different people forged a position in the government. Renas was not attached to any of these places; he changed his study at least a dozen times during his life.
The interior of the mansion resembled the high corridors of Rodemhaul Castle, with red carpets, dark walls and the echo of the footsteps of its inhabitants. Every now and then there was a centuries-old painting or statue of one of the four Serpens; at one time each residence had only one of them, but due to the frequent changes of ownership, the dukes decided that moving statues from town to town was a pointless waste of money.
It was in one of these lizard-strewn corridors that Renas encountered Rozerin, who had apparently just returned from the drawing room. It was enough for him to see her sombre face to guess the topic of conversation.
“Are you getting engaged or not? Has Eylo done anything?” he asked.
“The longer he delays, the more I doubt I want to.”
“Did he do something wrong?”
“No, I’m just getting to know him better.”
He had already discussed the engagement with his sister; it was a very important subject for her, even if she had little to say, or perhaps especially because of that. Renas had seen her thoughts gradually change from ‘it’s normal for my parents to arrange a marriage’ to ‘how could I let this happen’. Until now, she had been brave enough to hide it, but her true thoughts were becoming more and more apparent between the words. She was still afraid to say it outright for fear of the social consequences.
“Elfesya broke off the engagement literally two days before the wedding, so I guess you still have time to think about it,” he chuckled.
“She had no choice, she lost her status, you know that!” Rozerin exclaimed more animatedly than before. “To this day, she’s still sulking in her letters about how she should have married and how all her options are now closed. I don’t want to end up like her!”
“Well, at least you got some spirit now!” he laughed.
She snorted and walked away.
* * *
Renas, too, was about to leave when he heard a voice from behind the large door: commanding, fuelled by anger and impatience.
“What’s all the fuss about? Is that you, Renas?”
Instead of opening the door and entering, he leaned his back against it.
“Yes, Father,” he said calmly.
“You’ve been spending too much time in the castle. You should concentrate on your political work in the Assembly of Junior Dukes, because if you continue to ignore it, you’ll never get out of it. And come in when I speak to you.”
He did not enter.
“I have an appointment tomorrow.”
“I know. With nobody important, completely unnecessary!”
“It’s important!”
“What is important is that you are ready to meet Bihin! In the evening, I want you all to be with me at the meeting with the Third Serpens in the Snake Tower! And you should be there to watch! Perhaps you’ll finally learn something. Now go and get ready, I haven’t got time for you!”
“Oh, how good of him to say so directly,” Renas sneered to himself. He was glad he didn’t have to go in and look his father in the eye.
