The Very Best of Tad Williams (21 page)

“And is that it? She had to marry him?”

The Artist is concentrating deeply, squinting at the drawing-board. He does not reply immediately. “At least it was an honorable marriage,” he says at last. “That is something better than rape, is it not?”

“But what happened to her afterward?”

“I am not entirely sure. It is only a story, after all. But I imagine she bore the bandit king many sons, so that when he died his line lived on. The man who told me the tale said that there were kings in that place for seven hundred years. The
rhinocerus
you see in that drawing was the last of a long line of sacred beasts, a symbol to the royal family. But the kings of Cambodia have left Angkor now, so perhaps it no longer means anything to them. In any case, they gave that one to the king of Portugal, and Portugal gave its stuffed body to the Pope after it died.” The Artist shakes his head. “I am sorry I could not see it when it breathed and walked God’s earth.”

Marje stares at the picture of the Nosehorn, wondering at its strange journey. What would it think, this jungle titan whose ancestor was a heathen god, to find itself, or at least its image, propped on a chair in Antwerp?

The Artist stirs. “You may move now, Marje. I am finished.”

She thinks she hears something of her own unhappiness in his voice. What does it mean? She gets up slowly, untwisting sore muscles, and walks to his side. She must lean against him to see the drawing properly; she feels his small, swift movement, almost a twitch, as she presses against his arm.

“Oh. It’s...it’s beautiful.”

“As you are beautiful,” he says softly.

The picture is Marje, but also not Marje. The girl before her has her eyes closed and wears a look of battered innocence. The long line of her neck is lovely but fragile.

“Saint Barbara was taken onto a mountain by her father and killed,” the Artist says, gently tracing the neck of the false Marje, the more-than-Marje, with his finger. “Perhaps he was jealous of the love she had found in Jesus. She is the martyr who protects us from sudden death... and from lightning.”

“Your gift is from God, Master Dürer.” She is more than a little overwhelmed. “So are we finished now?”

Marje is still leaning against his arm, staring at the picture, her breasts touching his shoulder. When he does not reply, she glances up. The Artist is looking at her closely. From this close she can see the lines that web his face, but also the depth of his eyes, the bright, tragic eyes of a much younger man. “We must be,” he says. “I have finished the drawing and told you the tale.” His voice is carefully flat, but something moves beneath it, a kind of yearning.

For a moment she hesitates, feels herself tilting as though out of balance in a high place. Then, uncomfortable with his regard, her eyes stray to the picture of the mighty Nosehorn, which seems to watch them from its place on the chair, small eyes solemn beneath the rending horn. She takes a breath.

“Yes,” she finally says, “you have and you have. And now there are many things I must do. Mistress will be very anxious at how I have let my work go. She will think I am trying to rise above my station.”

The Artist reaches up and briefly squeezes her hand, then lifts himself from his chair and leads her toward the door.

“When I have made my print, I will send you a copy, pretty Marje.”

“I would like that very much.”

“I have enjoyed our time together. I wish there could be more.”

She drops him a curtsey, and for a moment allows herself to smile. “God gives us but one life, Sir. We must preserve what He gives us and make of it what we can.”

He nods, returning her smile, though his is more reserved, more pained.

“Very true. You are a wise girl.”

The Artist shuts the door behind her.

>Talkdotcom >Fiction

Topic Name: Fantasy Rules! SF Sux!

Topic Starter: ElmerFraud - 2:25 pm PDT - March 14, 2001

Always a good idea to get down and sling some s#@t about all thoseuppity Hard SF readers...

RoughRider- 10:21 pm PDT - Jun 28, 2002

Um, okay, so let me get this straight—the whole Frodo/Sam thing is a bondage relationship? Master-Slave? Can anyone say “stupid”?

Wiseguy- 10:22 pm PDT - Jun 28, 2002

No, can anyone say “reductio ad absurdum”?

RoughRider- 10:23 pm PDT - Jun 28, 2002

Hell I cant even spell it.

Lady White Oak- 10:23 pm PDT - Jun 28, 2002

I don’t think TinkyWinky was trying to say that there was nothing more to their relationship than that, just that there are elements.

RoughRider- 10:24 pm PDT - Jun 28, 2002

Look I didn’t make a big fuss when Stinkwinky came on an said that all of Heinleins books are some kind of stealth queer propaganda just cause Heinlein likes to write about people taking showers together and the navy and stuff like that but at some point you just have to say shut up that’s bulls@#t!

Lady White Oak- 10:24 pm PDT - Jun 28, 2002

I think you are letting TinkyWinky pull your chain and that’s just what he’s trying to do.

RoughRider- 10:25 pm PDT - Jun 28, 2002

He touches my chain he dies...

Wiseguy- 10:25 pm PDT - Jun 28, 2002

I just can’t stand this kind of thing. I don’t mean THIS kind of thing, what you guys are saying, but this idea that any piece of art can just be pulled into pieces no matter what the artist intended. Doesn’t anybody read history or anything, for God’s sake? It may not be “politically correct” but the master-servant relationship is part of the history of humanity, not to mention literature. Look at Don Quixote and Sancho Panda, for God’s sake.

Lady White Oak- 10:26 pm PDT - Jun 28, 2002

Panza. Although I like the image... ;)

BBanzai- 10:26 pm PDT - Jun 28, 2002

Tinkywinky also started the “Conan—What’s He Trying So Hard to Hide?” topic. Pretty funny, actually.

RoughRider- 10:27 pm PDT - Jun 28, 2002

So am I the only one who thinks its insulting to Tolkiens memory to say this kind of stupid crap?

RoughRider- 10:27 pm PDT - Jun 28, 2002

Missed your post wiseguy. Glad to see Im not the only one who isn’t crazy.

TinkyWinky- 10:27 pm PDT - Jun 28, 2002

Tolkien’s memory? Give me a break. What, is he Mahatma Gandhi or something? Some of you people can’t take a joke—although it’s a joke with a pretty big grain of truth in it. I mean, if there was ever anyone who could have done with a little Freudian analysis...The Two Towers, one that stays stiff to the end, one that falls down? All those elves traveling around in merry bands while the girl elves stay home? The ring that everybody wants to put their finger in...

ANAdesigner- 10:28 pm PDT - Jun 28, 2002

Wow, it is really jumping in here tonight. Did any of you hear that news report earlier, the one about the problems with AOL? Anybody using it here?

BBanzai- 10:28 pm PDT - Jun 28, 2002

I’d rather shoot myself in the foot...:P

Lady White Oak- 10:28 pm PDT - Jun 28, 2002

Hi, TinkyWinky, we’ve been talking about you. What problems, ANA? I’m on AOHell but I haven’t noticed anything.

ANAdesigner- 10:29 pm PDT - Jun 28, 2002

Just a lot of service outages. Some of the other providers too. I was just listening to the radio and they say there were some weird power problems up and down the east coast.

Darkandraw- 10:30 pm PDT - Jun 28, 2002

That’s one of the reasons it took me like five years to finish the rings books—I couldn’t stand all that “you’re so good master you’re so good”—I mean, self respect, come on!

TinkyWinky- 10:30 pm PDT - Jun 28, 2002

I’m on AOL and I couldn’t get on for an hour, but what else is new...? Oh, and RoughRider, while you’re getting so masterful and cranky and everything, what’s with your nick? Where I come from a name like that could get a boy in trouble...!

RoughRider- 10:30 pm PDT - Jun 28, 2002

We should change the name of this topic to Fantasy Rules, AOL Sux.

Lady White Oak- 10:31 pm PDT - Jun 28, 2002

Actually, it raises an interesting question—why do all the most popular fantasy novels have this anti-modernist approach or slant? Is it because that’s part of the escapism?

Wiseguy- 10:31 pm PDT - Jun 28, 2002

Sorry, dropped offline for a moment. Darkandraw, it’s a book that has the difference in classes built into it because of who Tolkien was I guess. It makes hard reading sometimes, but I don’t think it overwhelms the good parts. And there are a lot of good parts.

RoughRider- 10:32 pm PDT - Jun 28, 2002

>Where I come from a name like that could get a boy in trouble...! Don’t push your luck punk.

ANAdesigner- 10:32 pm PDT - Jun 28, 2002

Wow. I just turned the tv on and it’s bigger than just AOL. There are all kinds of weird glitches. Somebody said kennedy is closed because of a big problem with the flight control tower.

Lady White Oak- 10:32 pm PDT - Jun 28, 2002

Come on, Roughie, can’t you take a joke?

BBanzai- 10:33 pm PDT - Jun 28, 2002

Kennedy? Like the airport?

TinkyWinky- 10:33 pm PDT - Jun 28, 2002

I love it when they get butch...!

Wiseguy- 10:34 pm PDT - Jun 28, 2002

I’ve got the TV on too. Service interruptions and some other problems—a LOT of other problems. I wonder if this is another terrorist thing...

ANAdesigner- 10:34 pm PDT - Jun 28, 2002

This really scares me. What if they sabotage the communication grid or something? We’ll all be cut off I don’t know what I’d do without you guys—I live in this little town in upstate New York and most people here just think I’m crazy because I

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Wiseguy- 10:38 pm PDT - Jun 28, 2002

Jesus, did that happen to the rest of you, too? I just totally lost the whole show for a while. Didn’t get knocked offline but the whole board kind of...dissolved. Anybody still out there?

Lady White Oak- 10:39 pm PDT - Jun 28, 2002

Are you all still there? My television doesn’t work. I mean I’m only getting static.

TinkyWinky- 10:39 pm PDT - Jun 28, 2002

Mine too. And I lost the board for a couple of minutes.

BBanzai- 10:39 pm PDT - Jun 28, 2002

Hey you guys still there?

ANAdesigner- 10:40 pm PDT - Jun 28, 2002

My tv is just white noise.

TinkyWinky- 10:41 pm PDT - Jun 28, 2002

Shit, this is scary. Anybody got a radio on?

Lady White Oak- 10:43 pm PDT - Jun 28, 2002

My husband just came in with the radio on the local news station. They’re still only talking about the power outages so maybe it’s just a coincidence.

RoughRider- 10:43 pm PDT - Jun 28, 2002

If its terrorists again then I’m glad I’ve got a gun and screw the liberals.

Darkandraw- 10:44 pm PDT - Jun 28, 2002

My browser just did this really weird refresh where I had numbers and raw text and stuff

TinkyWinky- 10:45 pm PDT - Jun 28, 2002

Yeah, right, like the terrorists are going to blow up all the power stations or something and then come to your house so you can shoot them and save us all. Grow up.

ANAdesigner- 10:45 pm PDT - Jun 28, 2002

Guys I am REALLY SCARED!!! This is like that nuclear winter thing!!

Wiseguy- 10:45 pm PDT - Jun 28, 2002

Okay, let’s not go overboard. RoughRider, try not to shoot anyone until you know there’s a reason for it, huh? We had power outages from time to time even before the terrorist stuff. And everything’s so tied together these days, they probably just had a big power meltdown in New York >where a lot of this stuff is located.

Darkandraw- 10:46 pm PDT - Jun 28, 2002

I just went outside and everyones lights are still on but the tvs off in my apt and I can’t get anything on the radio. I tried to phone my mom she’s in los angeles but the phone’s busy, a bunch of ppl must be trying to call.

Lady White Oak- 10:47 pm PDT - Jun 28, 2002

It’s okay, ANAdesigner, we’re all here. Wiseguy’s probably right—it’s a communication grid failure of some kind on the east coast.

Wiseguy- 10:47 pm PDT - Jun 28, 2002

Ana, you can’t have nuclear winter without a nuclear explosion, and if someone had blown up Philadelphia or something we’d probably have heard.

TinkyWinky- 10:48 pm PDT - Jun 28, 2002 I checked on the MSN site and CNN.com and there’s definitely something big going on but nobody knows what. Here’s something I got off the CNN site:

“Early reports from the White House say that the President is aware of the problems, and that he wants the American people to understand that there is no military attack underway on the US—repeat, there is NO military attack on the US, and that the United States Government and the military have command-and-control electronic communications networks that will not be affected by any commercial outages.”

BBanzai- 10:49 pm PDT - Jun 28, 2002

Everybody assumes its terrorists, but maybe it’s something else. Maybe it’s UFOs or something like that. A big disruption—could be!

Lady White Oak- 10:50 pm PDT - Jun 28, 2002

Been checking the other news sites and at least a couple of them are offline entirely—I can’t get the fox news online site, just get a 404 error. Anybody here from Europe? Or at least anyone know a good European site for news? It would be interesting to see what they’re saying over there.

Wiseguy- 10:51 pm PDT - Jun 28, 2002

BBanzai, come on, UFOS? you’re kidding, aren’t you? And if you are, it’s not very funny when people are close to panicking.

TinkyWinky- 10:51 pm PDT - Jun 28, 2002

All I can find is the BBC America television site—stuff about tv programs, no news.

RoughRider- 10:52pm PDT - Jun 28, 2002

You guys can sit here typing all you want I’m going to make sure I’ve got batteries in all the flashlights and bullets in my guns. Its not aliens I’m afraid of its fruitcakes rioting when the power goes off and the tv stays off and people really start to panic. Tinyweeny you can yell grow up all you want—looters and raghead terrorists don’t give a shit what you say and neither do I...

BBanzai- 10:53 pm PDT - Jun 28, 2002

No I’m not @#$#ing kidding what if its true? What else do you think it would be like if a big starship suddenly landed. All the power goes off like it was a bomb but no bomb?

TinkyWinky- 10:53 pm PDT - Jun 28, 2002

Whatever the case, it looks like the gun-toting psychos like RoughRider are going to be shooting at something as soon as possible. I really hope some of this is just him being unpleasant for effect. Either that, or I’d hate to be one of his poor neighbors blundering around lost in the dark.

Lady White Oak- 10:54 pm PDT - Jun 28, 2002

Can we just be calm for a minute and stop calling each other names?

Wiseguy- 10:54 pm PDT - Jun 28, 2002

It just gets weirder, I can’t get anything except busy signals on either my reg. phone or my cellph

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Wiseguy- 11:01 pm PDT - Jun 28, 2002

Shit, it happened again. It took about five minutes before this board came back up—I had just screens and screens full of random characters. Looks like I’m the first back on. I’m amazed I’m still connected.