"all distances are great,” he heard a voice behind him.
merlin turned, and saw that, contrary to his original impression, all the other seats in front of the inn, or cathedral, were not empty.
or perhaps the individual seated at one of the tables had just slipped in behind him, although merlin liked to think he was alert to such things.
in any case, a person, or creature, was seated at a table, and beckoned to merlin to join him.
the creature had the appearance of a gargoyle, one who perhaps had adorned a niche in the facade of the cathedral, but had come down from it, either to greet merlin, or just to enjoy the day.
“welcome, stranger,” the gargoyle addressed merlin. “would you care for some refreshment?”
“i very much would,” merlin replied with his customary suavity, “but i am a stranger to this planet, perhaps to this universe, and i may not be able to offer you renumeration.”
the gargoyle brushed this aside. “this is a hospitable planet, good sir. we pride ourselves on welcoming all strangers.”
“well, in that case, i will have a glass of ale, or any other liquid you might have on hand.”
the gargoyle signaled to the dragon-headed maid. “you heard the gentleman’s preference, magdalen. bring him a foaming tankard of the inn’s very best.”
“yes, moloch,” the maid replied, and turned back into the interior of the building.
merlin took a seat across from his host. “so, this is indeed an inn,” he observed. “it has something of the appearance of a cathedral.”
“it is both, sir, and many other things besides,” the gargoyle smiled.
merlin thought it prudent not to enquire as to nature of the “other things” if his host did not offer to divulge them, and instead said - “i notice that the servant addressed you as ‘moloch.’ i have so far encountered only one other native of this world, and his name too was ‘moloch’. is it a family name of the region?”
“all natives of our planet are named either ‘moloch’ or ‘magdalen’, depending on their station.”
“ah.”
“unless -“ a frown creased the gargoyle’s brow, “they are bandits or rebels , and then they have another name - one which i do not care to pronounce.”
“i understand,” merlin replied.
this response seemed to please the gargoyle, and he asked merlin, “and what brings you to this planet, sir? ah, but here are our brews.”
the dragon maid placed two foaming tankards on the table, filled with an ale which had a slightly greenish tinge but looked familiar enough to merlin.
after taking a deep draught, merlin proceeded to give the gargoyle as concise an account as he could of his travels and of his arrival with lancelot and guinevere and robin hood, downplaying his departure from them and making it sound more amicable than it had been.
“so you are a magician, sir,” the gargoyle observed, when moloch finished his recital.
“indeed, i was, at least on my own planet. i do not know what powers i might possess on the one.”
“give it a try.” the gargoyle pointed to merlin’s tankard. “see if you can change the ale into wine.”
“very well.” merlin made a few passes over the ale. it remained ale.
merlin shrugged. “you see, it is as i feared.”
“try changing it into water.”
merlin smiled. “i do not know if i wish to do that.”
“go ahead. even if you can not change it back, there is plenty more where it came from. especially for a guest.”
merlin made another pass over the ale, but it did not change to water.
“too bad,” the gargoyle observed with a sympathetic air. “but drink up! you can’t drink all day if you don’t start in the morning.”
No comments:
Post a Comment