and for the duration of a single sunup he proved his credentials in the mausoleum called the Hall of Endless Hours. There, when at last his time was his own, he spoke to Thikkoul: a bundle of venerable rags in a niche lit by a constantly flickering candle.
And so you've come, that one's deadspeak came as a whisper in the Necroscope's mind. Well, it should not surprise me, for I remember how, before I went blind, I saw it in the stars: a visit from one who would make me see again, however briefly. Then I died and still you had not come. And I thought: so much for my astrology! And all my life's work was in doubt. Ah, how could I know that even in death there may be light!
'Did you really read men's futures in the stars?' Nathan was fascinated.
Do you doubt me?
'It seems a strange talent, this astrology.'
Oh, and is it stranger than telepathy? Stranger than this deadspeak which allows me to communicate with my myriad colleagues among the Great Majority? Stranger than your own unique talent?
'It's not that I'm without faith,' Nathan answered. 'But even the Thyre bolster their faith with fact. Show it to me.'
The other chuckled. Gladly! Only show me the stars, and I will show you the future.
Nathan nodded. 'But there are no stars in the Hall of Endless Hours, Thikkoul. I'll have to go up into the desert. Stay with me . ..'
Above, it was night. The stars were diamonds, but they shone softer here than over Starside and the barrier range. Nathan walked out over sands which were cool now, away from the oasis. And in the silence and aching loneliness of the desert, Thikkoul's thoughts came more clearly into his inner mind. Lie down, look up, gaze upon the heavens. Let me look out through your eyes upon all the times which were, are, and will be. For just as the light from the stars is our past, so is it our future. Except...
'Yes?' Nathan put down a blanket, lay upon it, and looked up at the stars. Likewise Thikkoul.
Except . .. first I should warn you: things are rarely as I see them.
'You make errors?'
Oh, I see what I see! Thikkoul answered at once. But how the things which I see shall come to pass, that is not always clear. The future is devious, Nathan. It takes a brave man to read it, and only a fool would guarantee its meaning.
'I don't understand,' Nathan frowned, shook his head.
Thikkoul looked out through Nathan's eyes at the stars - looked at them for the first time in a hundred years - and sighed. Ahh! he said. Boy and man, they fascinated me, and continue to fascinate me. I am in your debt, Nathan Kiklu of the Szgany. But repayment may be hard, for both of us.
'No, it will be easy. Read my future, that's enough.'
But that was my meaning. What if I read hard things for you? Must I tell you your fate as well as your fortune?
'Whatever you see, that will suffice.'
I shall do as best 1 can, the other told him, and for a while was silent. Then ... it came in a flood, in a flash, a river bursting its banks. So fast that Nathan could scarcely cling to the words and images as Thikkoul threw them into his mind: I see ... doors! Like the doors on a hundred Szgany caravans but liquid, drawn on water, formed of ripples. And behind each one of them, a piece of your future. A door opens. I see a man, Szgany, a so-called 'mystic'.
His name is - lo ... Jo ... lozel! And his game - is treachery! Now I see Turgosheim; the manse of a great wizard; you and he together. He would use you, learn from you, instruct and corrupt you! The door closes, but another opens...
The sun rises and sets, and sunups come and go in a blur where you wander in a great dark castle of many caves. I see your face: your hollow eyes and greying hair? Now I see ... a light to freedom, yes! But ... upon a dragon? One door closes, and another opens. I see ... a maiden; the two of you - three of you? -together. You seem happy; doors continue to open and close; and now you seem sad .. .
Some hours are long as days; others fly like seconds; long and short alike, they draw you into