As they soon had discovered to their mutual surprise, Clerkburg was a wonder unto itself. The great stone colleges and imposing cathedrals lining The Processional hid another world behind them. This area was dotted with mazes of interconnecting buildings, small, walled parks, and other such obstructing physical features that formed a second line of defense between the world of academia and the rest of the city. Inside Clerkburg were hundreds and hundreds of students, many of them nearly as young as Gord and San. This was just the place for them.
It was an easy matter to find an out-of-the-way place to stay. Their new digs, as they later learned to call their chambers, were in an ancient inn called The Acorns, near the great wall that surrounded the New City. Their host, Calvert, an elderly, red-faced man full of good humor and jokes, told them that his family had run the inn since before the wall was extended to encompass it. A narrow stone stairway led up to the rooms above the ground floor, which contained the bar, the dining room, the kitchen, and the hosteler’s own apartment. Gord and San arranged to take the attic above the guest floor, and although it needed attention, they were delighted with it. Not only was it large and complete with several windowed gables, but a gnarled oak lifted its stout branches from the rear yard to the windows that looked over it-an unobtrusive means of egress and entry whenever they wished to go undetected. The rent was one copper common a week, four a month if they paid that way, in advance. Gord had paid a month’s price immediately, and they had stayed there at The Acorns ever since…. Could it truly be almost three years already?
Making good on their supposed reason for coming to the Clerkburg promised to be more difficult than finding quarters had been. When they first took up residence in the academic area, the college term was over, and most students were elsewhere for several weeks until the new one began. But if Gord and San were to be seen as students, they had to be students-the boys had to find someone to accept them as pupils. From his lessons in Theobald’s hall, Gord had developed fair proficiency with the pen, and he could read Common speech as well as the basics of the modern Oeridian and Suel languages. He could read maps, building plans, and some small amount of the writings used in spells. He could skillfully use the silent speech of the beggars and understood much of the patois of both the Rhennee and the Thieves’ Cant. San had about half this much skill, all told, and both initially had felt rather confident at their prospects for entering some college.
They hit upon the idea of becoming acquainted with an old sage by the name of Prosper who dwelt nearby. The fellow grew herbs and puttered in his workshop when not reading. Since Calvert had once introduced them, the boys felt free to approach the old man. Their vast ignorance in all subjects was quickly made obvious to them, as the ancient scholar deluged them with what he claimed were simple questions, and neither lad could answer one in twenty.
“What are the nine known dimensions of the multiverse?” the good doctor demanded.
San managed the three obvious ones-length, breadth, height.
“Astrality and ethereality,” Gord added proudly, but he was stuck after that.
“Time, probability, extra-conceivability, and nonconceivability,” Doctor Prosper finished, and both boys squirmed.
“From whence came the Common Tongue?”
“When was the Empire of the Aerdi overthrown?”
“What is leverage?”
“How can you explain technology?”
Gord took a shot at that one. “It is a myth of the ignorant used to fool gullible folk and frighten children!”
“Nonsense!” the elderly scholar retorted. “It is the counterpart of magic within the dimension of probability and works in inverse proportion to it.” Then he resumed firing off questions.
“What was the Invoked Devastation, and when did it occur?”
“Of what use is basilisk blood in alchemy?”
“Enumerate the Inner Planes-there are twelve. Name them.”
“Relate the major deities of Oerth to the minor ones, and explain how they relate to the forces of the Lower Planes.”
“What is the largest tree known?”
“Roanwood,” San shot back with relief.
“Good,” said Prosper. “And what vegetation and creatures are typically found in association with roanwoods?”
There was no reply forthcoming, so the sage continued his barrage.
“What are the characteristic differences between the races of men? Do they make us into different species, or merely indicate variations? Likewise, explain the racial differences of demi-humankind, and relate them to humans.”
“This is most unfair, Doctor Prosper! You are a renowned sage!” said Gord, a twinge of desperation in his tone.
“Come, come, lads,” the white-bearded chap said, shaking his head. “What authority have you that I am renowned? No, no. Quite the contrary. I am but a minor scholar now put out to pasture, seen as being too old to have anything worth teaching today’s students….” The old man paused and fixed first San, then Gord with his stern gaze. “That’s not to say you both aren’t abominably ignorant, though it is surprising that you know your letters so well.”
The boys looked at each other, but before either could think of any reply, the old man concluded the interview.
“I’d have mistaken you both for a pair of cleaned-up urchins from Old Town way, but where would you find funds to be here, and how could you be staying in that loft you’re furnishing at The Acorns? Then I supposed that you were a pair of precocious thieves, what with the funds you have and the sort of weapons you tote about, but then why would thieves be wishing to become educated?
“Therefore, I must conclude that you are a pair of bright lads from the back country sadly in need of edification and instructions. Lessons begin next Waterday, and you’ll get only Godsday free from them each week-that is, if you can afford the tuition.”
Again Gord and San looked at each other in blank surprise.
“Well, come now! Can you? It’s the standard charge-six zee per week, each, you know, and you must bring enough lunch to feed your teacher as well as yourselves.”
Studies were hard under the crotchety Doctor Prosper, but he was a mine of information. Although it was surely known to Calvert that his tenants attended no regular school, but were instead tutored by his neighbor, the good man never made mention of it. The drill continued for the whole time of the university’s sessions. The sage worked both boys hard, and they found that they had to do more than pay tuition to him and bring extra food. There were always things to buy-quill pens, parchment, blank scrolls and books, and occasionally even a scribed text of some sort, although Prosper would usually allow the boys to utilize his personal library under his keen-eyed surveillance.
Although studies, homework, and occasional carousing took most of their time, both boys had promised themselves that they would not allow their more nefarious talents to grow rusty and forgotten. Things had quieted sufficiently so that they felt comfortable outside the district. On their one day of the week free from lessons, Gord and San would walk with the stream of students drifting toward The Strip. There, and in the fringes of the River Quarter and Low Quarter as well, they worked at picking pockets, slitting purses, pilfering small items, and even the planning of mock burglaries, robberies, and executions. By these activities they didn’t profit much, but enough, and neither was detected.
One day San brought two old locks back to the loft. He’d picked them up at a locksmith’s for a small price, for both were old and in need of work. It became a game for them, first to repair such old locks, then to pick them open. Soon the place was littered with heaps of repaired and oiled locks, of all sizes and descriptions, that the two had mastered. Gord made a fair profit by peddling them back to the same locksmiths who had originally got rid of them. San was pleased, talked Gord out of the money they’d made, and went out to find the best locks that their money could buy. In this fashion-studying, practicing, carousing, and lock-picking-the boys passed nearly a year, and generally had a good time in doing so.
With the end of the instructional term came news from Doctor Prosper. He informed the boys that teaching them had grown tiresome to him-they were slow students, always asking dumb questions, and generally trying the patience of a weary old scholar. No, he didn’t deserve such punishment in his declining years. Instead, he had talked to some old associates at Grey College, and the troublesome fellows would be their charges next term.
This was incredible news! Grey College wasn’t the most fashionable institution, but it was the oldest and was renowned for its professors. Now they were true students! During the “nineweek,” the hiatus in summer that included Wealsun month, Richfest week, and Reaping month, the two celebrated continually. They also spent a lot of time at their work, so to speak. One of the first things they managed was a new wheelbarrow for Prosper, which they filled with gardening tools, a keg of Renstish schnapps, and wheels of cheese and huge sausages, and an assortment of old ale to top the load off. The Doctor never mentioned it, but Gord knew he was pleased. Before their schooling began again, Gord also located an arms instructor willing to accept two young pupils who wished to learn the use of sword and dagger, for while they had often practiced the nonviolent crafts of thievery, they were both in need of bettering themselves at weaponplay.
College was not all that they had hoped. It wasn’t just that the studies were hard; their classmates were snobbish and the dons were worse. Gord managed better than San, for he was older-though by this time the younger boy had grown taller and larger than Gord. When their first year of instruction at Grey College ended, San informed his friend that he had had enough of bookish pursuits. There was no arguing with him, and that week he went off to apply to the Thieves’ Guild as a cutpurse, even though they both knew his skills were a notch or two greater than that.
San had met a pretty young lass in the course of one of the boys’ forays on The Strip. They were soon seeing one another regularly, and she had told him that her father was a ranking member of the Guild, so San had confessed his own skills. After that, nothing would do but for him to talk with her father, and the result was foregone thereafter.
Gord and San had a farewell party, and then the latter young man left their loft at The Acorns, promising to return often. He had come a few times at first, but the visits grew less frequent, and shorter too, and then stopped altogether around Needfest break during Gord’s next academic term. Gord maintained the big apartment alone, using the empty area as an exercise and practice space.
Now his second year as a college student had come to an end, and Gord was undecided and restless. After all, how much did he need to know about politics, philosophy, natural and supernatural arts, pantheology, and the like? Sure, it was interesting to learn ancient, dead tongues and the history of Oerik and the Flanaess, but enough was enough. Gord liked action better, and he needed excitement-like the time he had tossed a light-stone into the window of the professor of mathematics and its light had revealed the don in a compromising position with the flighty son of a city official…. Gord’s fellows had been ringed round to see and had cheered!
Gord wanted adventure-not lectures, scrolls, and tomes. He thought it was high time he put his lessons in the art of swordsmanship and dagger-work to the test, too. How much better than this sheltered life!…
Four craftsmen from a nearby village entered the Roc and Oliphant and took a table nearby. Gord recognized them; they were staying at The Acorns while they attended a meeting of their chapter of the Artisans’ League. After ordering bumpers of the local brew, the four fell into conversation about their trade. Gord could not shut out this droning and endless shop-talk, even by downing all of his wine and ordering more. When more of their fellows joined them, Gord abruptly decided that, as of this minute, he had had enough of this kind of life. He got up, stalked away to his chambers, and began gathering up his necessary possessions. An hour later he bade the good ostler Calvert adieu and exited the inn forever.
Soon he was beyond the pale of Clerkburg and striding up The Processional. Since he had money to spend and wished some real action, he was going to the High Quarter to see what he could see. It was time to start at the top!
Chapter 8
“A dragon!” exclaimed Lord Dolph. “You must now beat three towers, Your Reverence!”
The Patricians’ Club, a luxurious gaming house in Greyhawk’s High Quarter, had many tables, each offering a different amusement for those rich and noble gamers who sought excitement and the thrill of wagering fortunes upon chance. Little skill was required; most of what transpired depended upon the spin of a wheel, the sum of oddly shaped dice, and similar devices where random patterns allowed long odds and dumb luck to reign supreme. At an ornately carved table in a special corner, however, a game that pitted players directly against each other was taking place.
Five wealthy participants were involved, and they had contested for several hours now, fortune smiling first upon one, then another, so that not a single player had yet been forced to quit the table for lack of funds. The most notorious of the five was Arentol, the Grand Guildmaster of Thieves, a tall, thin fellow of saturnine nature and somber dress. He always watched the eyes of his opponents with an unblinking gaze.
Next to Arentol was Sir Margus, a very young, effete-looking Velunese. His age combined with his title indicated that he was undoubtedly the son of a great noble and thus had gained his knighthood through means other than bold deeds.
Adjacent to the Velunese knight was Madame Belldray.
The widow of Degol Belldray was certainly one of the richest commoners in the city-so wealthy that she could move in noble circles without question. She was plump and soft and covered with jewels. In a pudgy, middle-aged way, Madame Belldray was attractive, so she was much sought after by men whose fortunes were in flux, so to speak. This night she was clad in brocaded silk of ivory and golden hues that nearly matched the colors of her fading blonde tresses.