“Oh, no! We can do no good for Latruria unless we are in it!”
“Up to our necks,” Saul griped, and Matt agreed. “If we do go back to Latruria, Rebozo will know it in a matter of minutes, and will hit us with everything he’s got.”
Saul’s smile twisted. “I just love paradoxes. So what we need is someplace inside Latruria, that’s outside Rebozo’s powers. Neat, huh?”
“Very.” Arouetto’s eyes glowed again. “But as with any paradox, Wizard Saul, one can resolve it by stepping outside its terms-and there is one hill in Latruria that has held proof against even King Maledicto’s miasma of evil, and has certainly held fast without King Boncorro’s secular skepticism.”
“Oh?” Saul looked up with foreboding. “What hill is that?”
“The Vatican.”
“How did I know that was coming?” Saul sighed and looked up at Matt. “Think St. Peter’s might be there, in this universe?”
“The largest cathedral in Europe?” asked Arouetto. “Be sure, it is!”
“Well, what the hey! I always have wanted to see the sights.” Saul came to his feet. “Of course, I expect the Sistine Chapel hasn’t been built yet, let alone decorated, but it’s worth seeing anyway.” He looked at Matt. “Who do we know in the Vatican?”
“Well,” Arouetto said slowly, “there is Brother Thomas…”
Brother Thomas, it turned out, was an acquaintance of Arouetto’s from their school days-and Matt got another shock when he found out that Arouetto was a deacon. He had attended the seminary because it was the only place devoted to any kind of learning, and the only one that had a good, though limited, library-excellent, so long as all you wanted to study was theology. When Arouetto realized how badly he wanted to study other subjects, he knew his calling was not for the priesthood.
Apparently, Brother Thomas had come to the same conclusion, though for different reasons-Arouetto said he simply felt that he was not good enough for the job. In vain did his teachers explain to him that he did not have to be a saint, only a good man trying to be better and trying to serve his fellows. Brother Thomas remained adamant. His vocation was for the clergy, he agreed, but not for the priesthood-yet. Perhaps it would be, in God’s own time. Until then, he would serve in whatever capacity his bishop wanted. What his bishop wanted of him, it transpired, was to stay at the seminary as librarian, which was ideal from Brother Thomas’ point of view, since it gave him the company of the books he dearly loved, and time to write the treatises about the problems that had been worrying him. He showed them to his teachers, and they exclaimed with delight-he had managed to come up with answers to the spiritual problems that had been perplexing them all, ever since merchants started bringing back alien ideas along with the spices of the Orient. He might not have been a priest, but he was a theologian-so the bishop transferred him to the cathedral library, where he remained happily filing and scribbling until the pope coopted him to run the Vatican library. Besides, that way the cardinals could keep a personal eye on the development of Brother Thomas’ ideas; they weren’t certain they liked the sound of some of his newer lines of thought. Saul grinned. “Sounds like my kind of hombre.”
Arouetto frowned. “ ‘Hombre’?”
“That’s Iberian,” Matt said quickly. “It means ‘man.’ ” He turned to Saul. “So what do we do with this librarian, now that we’ve found him?”
“Think about him,” Saul said simply. “Scholar Arouetto, can you show us what Brother Thomas looks like?”
The scholar closed his eyes, brow creasing in concentration, and a picture frame appeared next to him, with a canvas that gradually became clear, showing them a round face topped by a tonsure, a snub nose, small but kindly eyes, and a little mouth pursed in a smile. It was a gentle face, a tranquil face-just the kind of man who might start an intellectual earthquake. Why did Matt have the feeling Brother Thomas was never coming out of the Vatican again? “Theologian, huh?‘ Saul stared at the picture, brow knit. ”He have anything to say about magic?“
Arouetto smiled. “It is one of the notions that has aroused consternation among the cardinals. Brother Thomas maintains that what we term ‘magic’ is really just the deft handling of unseen forces that surround us, but do not come from either Heaven or Hell-they simply arise from all living things. It is the life force, if you will. But the way of manipulating and concentrating that to affect objects and people, that is learned from God and His Saints, or the Devil and his minions. It is not the force that comes from God, but the knowledge.”
Matt nodded. “Which explains why magic works in your universe but doesn’t in ours-our life-forms don’t give off that kind of energy.”
“How is this?” Arouetto lifted his head like a hound striking a scent. “You come from another universe?”
“Yes, and we’ll explain later,” Saul said quickly. “Right now, we need to get out of this universe.”
“But if that’s magic, what’s a miracle?” Matt cocked his head to the side. “Those happen in our universe, too.”
“Ah!” Arouetto raised a forefinger. “Miracles are the work of God directly, or through His Saints-so says Brother Thomas. They are not a manipulation of natural forces, but an exercise of God’s power itself.”
“Meaning the One Who made the laws can break them when He wants to,” Saul said with a sardonic smile. “Dealer wins all draws.”
“Well, at least we’re not trying for a new deal.” Matt sighed. “We’re just playing our cards better.”
“I’ll take three,” Saul said. “Let’s try to reach out to Brother Thomas, shall we? Use him as our anchor to pull ourselves out.”
Arouetto frowned. “But how can you reach out to his universe from this one?”
“Who says we can’t?” Saul countered. “Have you ever tried?”
“Why-no!” Arouetto said, startled. “I am no wizard, but only a poor scholar! Still, there are many sorcerers and wizards here-surely they have attempted it!”
Saul shrugged. “Maybe none of them had a confederate on the outside. From what I hear of sorcerers, none of them would help anybody else if he didn’t have to, and definitely wouldn’t want to increase the competition by bringing somebody back out of solitary. Wizards might not be outright people haters, but from what I’ve seen of them, they tend to be loners-lots of acquaintances, but not very many close friends.”
“A few really good ones are all you need!” Matt protested. Saul shot him one of his rare warm glances. “Hey, I know that, man-but most of the people I meet don’t. They like to travel in packs: the bigger the better.” He turned back to Arouetto. “So there’s no proof any wizard or sorcerer has tried to get out, with a pull from the outside-and they certainly haven’t ganged up trying. Here, you’ve got two experienced wizards, ready to work together, and a scholar who probably has more understanding of magic than he’s willing to admit.”
“Well… I have read the theories of Pythagoras,” Arouetto admitted. ‘Then you’ve got a book that didn’t survive in our universe.“ Now it was Saul who tensed. ”After this is all wrapped up, I want to see that text!“
“Why, surely, if my belongings have not all been vandalized. But how are we to proceed now?”
“Well, we know it’s possible to reach in here from outside,” Saul said, “because we know Rebozo did it, sending that chimera after you. In fact, he probably watches what goes on in here pretty closely, brewing up even bigger trouble, so we’d better get moving fast. If he can reach in, we can probably reach out. What would make Brother Thomas concentrate on you?”
Arouetto smiled. “Why, a picture of me with the inscription, ‘Think of me!’ ”
“Of course,” Saul said. “Pardon me while I feel dumb. Any time I’m getting too cocky, Matt, just tell me to come have a chat with this guy.”