Then he asked: "Does the bull, Reg, still live?"
This was easy, as well, for I had seen the bull myself. "Yes, Reg is alive. The bullhands guard her day and night in case the bull-killer, Johnjay, should return to finish his evil deed."
No One glanced at the fire's flames, then looked up at me. "And the third question, Noodlebrain: Exactly where did the Great Waco Whacko hide the Ssendissian eggs?"
I felt my belly go sour; "No one knows that—I mean, No One, the priests do not know that."
"Then you do not get paid." He leaned forward. "Can I sell you a fortune?"
Curse the cage in which he sleeps! "No!"
He nodded once, then smiled at me. His smile was a cruel thing mounted upon that ghastly white mask.
"Your performance was of some small value to me. I shall answer the question you think the most important." His eyes studied me for a moment, then he bowed his head and laughed. He got to his feet, shouldered his pack, and motioned to Tarzaka to do the same. Then he looked down at me. "You will die copperless, Noodlebrain. Wealth is not in your future."
Tarzaka stood, then the pair walked off into the night. Shortly after, Trouble the magician bid me a good night's sleep, and then ran after the two fortune tellers, leaving me alone at the fire, as well as five coppers poorer.
Little Will placed the paper upon Turtlehead's table. "It is Johnjay. I am certain of it. The one called No One is my son."
Turtlehead looked at the sheet. "Why does he search for the eggs?"
She turned and looked into the brightly lit street. "I do not know."
No One and Tarzaka walked the road by starlight. When they were well away from the apprentice priest's camp, she spoke to her white-faced companion. "You saw your father's death?"
He shook his head. "No. I was told in a dream."
"The death of the bull?"
"That was, I fear, little more than wishful thinking, Tarzaka."
They walked in silence for a time, then Tarzaka looked at No One. "When will you again try to put pictures in my mind? It has been a week since you last tried."
"I have tried a hundred times, Tarzaka." No One shook his head. "I cannot find the threads that I must arrange to place an image into your head. Even something as small as a word."
"No One, you must try again."
"It is no use!" He switched his pack from his right shoulder to his left. "That is why we must find the eggs. If there is any chance for you, they—" He stopped and stood motionless.
"No One—"
He cut off her words by holding up his hand. "Be still," he whispered. "We are being followed."
Tarzaka held her hands to her mouth, turned and tried to look into the blackness of the road. The swamp insects gnawed at them both as they stood as statues in the dark. "I hear nothing."
"He is not walking."
"He?"
No One nodded. "It is Trouble, the magician we left at Noodlebrain's camp."
"What does he want of us?"
No One stood silent for a few heartbeats, then he laughed. "Trouble!" he shouted. "Come out, come out, wherever you are!" No One pointed down the road toward a shadow moving from the darkness. "There he is."
"What does he want?"
No One shook his head. "He wants to know how I ruined his card trick, but..."
"But?"
"I cannot read the rest, Tarzaka. There is a wall around his mind." No One looked at Tarzaka. "Be on your guard."
They watched the shadow grow until Trouble stood before them. His teeth were visible in the starlight. "Greetings, Johnjay." He nodded toward the woman. "Tarzaka."
No One studied the figure's form. "My name is No One."
Trouble shook his head. "You are Johnjay. The bull-killer from Miira. The one who has been blackballed in every town on Momus—"
"How do you know this?"
The figure stood quietly for a moment, then Trouble shook his head. "I am not certain. I just know. The news of your deed extends even into the swamp, and the questions you asked, the apprentice priest's answers, the things you did to my cards." Trouble shrugged. "They put themselves together and told me you were Johnjay—"
"By Momus's great fat pratt!" Tarzaka cut the magician short, then she turned, went to the side of the road, and began preparing a fire.
Trouble pointed toward her and spoke to No One. "What is her complaint?"
No One glanced after Tarzaka, then turned back to look at Trouble. "Of the three of us, she is the only one who apprenticed as a fortune teller. And of the three of us, she is the only one who cannot tell fortunes."
Trouble chuckled as he saw Tarzaka's head turn toward them for a moment, then turn back toward her preparations. "Again Momus's sense of humor inflicts itself upon his children."
"Will you join us in our camp? The fire is free."
Trouble studied No One. "Why would you invite me?"
"I prefer having you in the light—where I can keep an eye on you."
"I think we might be of profit to each other." Trouble nodded. "Very well, Johnjay."
"I am called No One."
"If you prefer."
"I prefer."
As they walked toward Tarzaka, she began striking her flint and steel, causing hot fat sparks to shower upon the tinder.
Trouble washed down his final mouthful of cobit with sap-wine, brushed the crumbs from his robe, and smiled at Tarzaka. "Fortune teller, your cobit grows cold."
Tarzaka tossed her bread into the fire. "I am not hungry."
No One frowned at her. "You needn't have thrown it away.."
"It was mine. I do with my own what I choose." She stood, turned her back upon the two men, and walked from the fire into the night.
Trouble laughed at her, then turned to face No One. "It certainly galls her, doesn't it?" When No One failed to answer, Trouble looked at the fire, his face growing somber. "No One?" "Yes?"
"Tell me how you ruined my trick."
No One adjusted his pack and stretched out before the fire, his head propped up upon one arm. "What profit is there for me?"
The magician's large frame shook as he again laughed. Trouble wiped imaginary tears from his eyes, sighed, and nodded at No One. "Profit." He made a slight gesture with his hand in a northeasterly direction. "You asked that idiot apprentice priest about Waco's eggs."
No One's eyes narrowed. "Do you know where they might be found?"
"No. Not yet." He shrugged. "I am not certain that they even exist—or ever did exist." He raised an eyebrow in No One's direction.
"I know that they exist, Trouble."
"We live in an age that prides itself in the art of lying."
"Nevertheless." No One's head lolled back. "But then, Trouble, how can your ignorance be of profit to me?"
Trouble looked back at the flames. "I have wandered the Great Muck for almost four years. My ignorance will be of no use, but the things I know speak differently."
No One shrugged. "Such as?"
"Did you know that toward the Upland Mountains there is one of the great swamp lizards that talks?"
No One sat up. "Talks, you say?"
Trouble nodded. "I have heard him speak myself. And there is more. There are other exiles in this swamp, and I have heard some of them speak of a strange swamp woman. It is claimed that all the creatures of the swamp serve and obey her."
No One lowered his head to his pack. "These are curious fantasies, but what do they have to do with Waco's eggs?"
The magician shrugged. "Where else would one get the power to control the monsters of the swamp?" He looked at No One. "To make them speak?" Trouble looked back at the flames. "I cannot see it all, but I see enough to know that these things need to be investigated—if one is interested in finding Waco's eggs."
"And all you want in return is to know how I ruined your trick?"