Eventually, after much heavy tromping, Heden opened the door and emerged from the blackness beyond. He was wearing a large backpack with many pockets. It appeared fully packed.

He gave Vanora a look that indicated he knew she’d been listening. She smiled weakly back at him.

Heden didn’t feel like explaining what she’d heard, and she followed some instinct that overrode her curiosity, told her asking would make things more complicated.

“Ok,” Heden said. He walked to one of the many tables in the common room, unslung the backpack and dropped it on the table. “You’ll be safe while I’m gone.”

She looked at the door, which he’d left unlocked. As he said he would.

Heden opened the backpack, reached into it, and pulled out a domed glass case with a brass base. It was about six inches tall, and inside was what looked like a detailed carving of a man in some kind of dance pose.

Vanora was immediately drawn to it.

“This will help you pass the time,” Heden said as he pulled the delicate glass dome off the base, careful not to damage it.

“What is it?” Vanora whispered, getting down on one knee and resting her arms and head on the table at eye level with the statue.

“It’s a golem,” Heden said.

She looked up at him quizzically. “I thought golems were huge stone or…”

Heden shrugged. “It means anything made to look and move look like a man. Some are big stone guardians that can’t speak or do much except try and kill you. Some are…” he gestured to the little man.

It was made, she saw now, of metal and ceramic. She could see hundreds of little joints and seams. Its face was a kind of ceramic mask. It was painted to look like it was wearing a skin-tight outfit made of diamond shaped patches of cloth in bright colors. Red, yellow, blue, and white.

“This kind is called a Harlequin.”

Vanora had never seen anything like it, and would not have known what a harlequin looked like. It looked, to her eyes, like some kind of alien jester.

“Does it…does it move?” she asked out of instinct.

Heden looked at her with a raised eyebrow. She got the feeling he knew some delightful secret and enjoyed her curiosity, but the raised eyebrow was its only hint. He was otherwise stoic.

He looked at the little man and spoke a few words in a language she didn’t understand.

Nothing happened.

“Shit,” he said, and coughed. Then he spoke again, something different.

Nothing happened.

“It’s been years since I used this thing,” he muttered. “Wait, I know…”

Another short, spoken phrase she didn’t understand, and she heard in response the sound of a chime coming from the little man. There was a ticking noise as of a clock, and the little figure slowly began to move. Like someone walking through water, their movements slow and heavy. But the little figure’s motion sped up until it seemed normal speed.

It looked once at Heden and then at Vanora. Its mask was also jointed, she saw, and moved to show expression.

“Good afternoon, mistress!” the small automaton said, bowing deeply. “And master,” it took off its cap to Heden. Its voice sounded tinny and bright.

“It’s a teacher,” Heden said. “They were created to instruct the sons and daughters of nobility in things like…I don’t know, reading and writing…”

“Reading and writing and singing and dancing!” the small man said, twirling his body about while standing on one toe. It bowed again. “Plays and opera, science and mathematics. History and religion, diplomacy and war, I am well versed in all. ‘I cannot ride a horse,’ it said, placing a hand over its heart, the little holes for its eyes closing as it quoted someone. “’but I craft mighty leaders from little boys.’” It opened its eyes and peered up, smiling, at Vanora. “And little girls,” it added.

“You used this?” Vanora asked in wonder.

“I did for about three months. My friends and I had to sit in one place and wait for something and I used it to pass the time.”

“No season was e’re better spent!” The harlequin said.

“Eventually I got bored.” The harlequin looked affronted. “Actually I got bored pretty quickly, but there wasn’t anything else to do.”

“Where did you get it?” Vanora asked in awe as she reached out for it.

The little man danced away.

“Don’t touch it,” Heden said quickly. Vanora pulled her hand back.

“It’s magic,” Heden said. “But it’s also extremely…delicate. It’s got hundreds of little gears and pulleys in there and if you touch it the oils on your skin will muck everything up.” She nodded her understanding and now appeared even more fascinated.

“It’ll work for a few hours a day, then it needs to go back in its case. It’ll let you know when it needs to rest.” The little man was moving in circles around the table, alternatively doing complex balletic dance moves, and clownish cartwheels. Vanora giggled.

“Go ahead,” Heden said. “Ask it something.”

Vanora looked shyly at the little machine. “Har…harlik.”

“Harlequin” Heden pronounced.

“Harlequin,” she repeated. The little man did a backflip, landed, and saluted. “Tell me about…” she looked sideways. “Tell me about Heden,” she said smiling slyly.

“Alas milady, his story is written on pages I’ve yet to read,” the little voice piped up.

Vanora harrumphed and screwed her face up.

“It doesn’t know much about us,” Heden said. “About Vaslorians. It doesn’t know what Corwell is or where Celkirk is. It was made a long time ago by a people who live west, across the Bale Sea.

“But it can teach you to read and write and there’s a lot of good plays and music in there you’ll like. Probably better to let it teach you before you start asking questions. You can ask it anything, but a lot of common sense stuff, it doesn’t understand. You have to imagine you’re a long ago princess from a far away land.” Vanora liked the sound of this.

“It must be worth a fortune!” she whispered.

“It’s priceless,” Heden said.

Vanora looked at him sharply.

“Means its value is beyond money,” Heden explained. Vanora accepted this, though it seemed to challenge her.

“Harlequin, begin with reading and writing, please,” Heden ordered

“Your daughter will be the finest student I have ever taught!” The Harlequin exclaimed.

Heden raised his eyebrows and went “Hmmm,” and noticed that Vanora had looked away to hide some expression. He thought she might be blushing.

Heden picked up the base and put it in front of the harlequin. It dutifully stepped onto it, and when Heden replaced the glass dome, it resumed its earlier pose and stopped moving.

“There. It’ll automatically revive once you take the dome off. Make sure it can get to its base when it needs to, and then put the glass back when it does.”

Vanora nodded. She put her hands on the glass and looked down at the frozen man. She took a deep breath and turned to look up at Heden.

“A month?” she asked, pleading for any other answer.

“Less,” Heden said. He wanted to come back to her already and he hadn’t even left. “Might be as little as a week.” This gave her some hope.

Vanora desperately wanted to ask more, Heden could tell. But there was something that told her now was not the time to burden him with questions. Heden found he liked Vanora a great deal. She had an instinct for people and how to deal with them he found very neat. Precise. The product of her experience at the Rose.

“How are you going to get there? Do you have a horse?” Vanora asked.

“I did,” Heden said. “But I sold him.”

“Oh,” Vanora said, disappointed.

“Besides it would take me three weeks to get there by horse.”

“Then how are you…going to…” Vanora didn’t want to finish the question. She felt like maybe it wasn’t ok to ask.

“I have a tapestry that flies through the air,” Heden said.

Vanora’s eyes went wide and her mouth dropped open.

“You have a…are you serious?”

Heden smiled in spite of himself, and Vanora smiled back. He slung the backpack over his shoulder, walked to the front door and opened it.

“I never lie,” Heden said, standing in the doorway. Light and the noise of a crowd of people passing by spilled in. He pointed at Vanora suddenly. “Tell me you’re going to be alright.” Heden wasn’t sure why he said this.

Vanora looked at him and smiled. “I’ll be alright,” she said. It sounded like a promise. Like she was reassuring him.

Heden nodded. He looked around his inn. “See you soon.”

Heden left and Vanora laughed gaily to herself. She ran to the window to look out, but pulled back.

Heden strode back in, snatched up the sword he’d left bundled up and leaning against a chair, and turned to leave again.

“For real this time,” he said winking, making Vanora smile more widely.

And he was gone.

Vanora watched him leave, but he was quickly swallowed by the crowd. She was disappointed, hoping to catch a glimpse of his mode of travel. Probably, she thought, he leaves the city before he uses it. She imagined him standing nobly on a rich, tasseled tapestry as it sped through the air and something about it thrilled her.

She turned and looked at the large common room in the Hammer & Tongs which she already thought of as ‘home,’ and walked up to the table with the harlequin. She removed the glass dome.

The little man came to life more quickly this time. He leaped off the brass base onto the table. He bowed deeply and flourished his conical cap.

“We shall erect a mighty city of the intellect here, Mi’lady. Let us place the first brick.”

Vanora dropped herself into a chair, and regarded the figure with a mixture of curiosity and skepticism.

“Ok,” she said. “I’m game.”

On to Chapter Fourteen!

Chapter 13