Shadow and claw by Gene Wolfe Page A

level was audible still when there was no one there to talk with her.)
    In our dormitory that night I asked if anyone knew the names of the journeymen Master Gurloes had sent in search of the House Absolute. No one did, but my question stirred an animated discussion. Although none of the boys had seen the place or so much as spoken with anyone who had, all had heard stories. Most were of fabled wealth - gold plates and silk saddle blankets and that sort of thing. More interesting were the descriptions of the Autarch, who would have had to be a kind of monster to fit them all; he was said to be tall when standing, of common size seated, aged, young, a woman dressed as a man, and so on. More fantastic still were the tales of his vizier, the famous Father Inire, who looked like a monkey and was the oldest man in the world.
    We had just begun trading wonders in good earnest when there was a knock at the door. The youngest opened it, and I saw Roche - dressed not in the fuligin breeches and cloak the regulations of the guild decree, but in common, though new and fashionable, trousers, shirt, and coat. He motioned to me, and when I came to the door to speak to him, he indicated that I was to follow him. After we had gone some way down the stair, he said, "I'm afraid I frightened the little fellow. He doesn't know who I am."
    "Not in those clothes," I told him. "He'd recall you if he saw you dressed the way you used to be."
    That pleased him and he laughed. "Do you know, it felt so strange, having to bang on that door. Today is what? The eighteenth - it's been under three weeks. How are things going for you?"
    "Well enough."
    "You seem to have the gang in hand. Eata's your second, isn't he? He won't make a journeyman for four years, so he'll be captain for three after you. It's good for him to have the experience, and I'm sorry now you didn't have more before you had to take the job on. I stood in your way, but I never thought about it at the time."
    "Roche, where are we going?"
    "Well, first we're going down to my cabin to get you dressed. Are you looking forward to becoming a journeyman yourself, Severian?" These last words were thrown over his shoulder as he clattered down the steps ahead of me, and he did not wait for an answer.
    My costume was much like his, though of different colors. There were overcoats and caps for us too. "You'll be glad for them," he said as I put mine on. "It's cold out and starting to snow." He handed me a scarf and told me to take off my worn shoes and put on a pair of boots.
    "They're journeymen's boots," I protested. "I can't wear those."
    "Go ahead. Everyone wears black boots. Nobody will notice. Do they fit?" They were too large, so he made me draw a pair of his stockings on over my own.
    "Now, I'm supposed to keep the purse, but since there's always a chance we may be separated, it would be better if you have a few asimi." He dropped coins into my palm. "Ready? Let's go. I'd like to be back in time for some sleep if we can."
    We left the tower, and muffled in our strange clothing rounded the Witches' Keep to take the covered walk leading past the Martello to the court called Broken. Roche had been right: it was starting to snow, fluffy flakes as big as the end of my thumb sifting so slowly through the air that it seemed they must have been falling for years. There was no wind, and we could hear the creaking our boots made in breaking through the familiar world's new, thin disguise.
    "You're in luck," Roche told me. "I don't know how you worked this, but thank you."
    "Worked what?"
    "A trip to the Echopraxia and a woman for each of us. I know you know - Master Gurloes told me he'd already notified you."
    "I had forgotten, and anyway I wasn't sure he meant it. Are we going to walk? It must be a long way."
    "Not as long as you probably think, but I told you we have funds. There will be fiacres at the Bitter Gate. There always are - people are continually coming and going, though you wouldn't think it