The Drawing of the Dark

'Good. That's when we open the casks of bock, and I don't want a riot in the place.'

'Yes, I'll have been there a good two weeks by then.'

'I'm glad to hear it.' Aurelianus poured himself a cup of the sauternes and refilled Duffy's. 'You seem familiar with western Hungary,' he observed cautiously.

The Irishman frowned into his wine for a moment, then relaxed and nodded. 'I am,' he said quietly. 'I fought with King Louis and Archbishop Tomori at Mohacs in August of 'twenty-six. I shouldn't have been there; as an Austrian at the time, Hungary was nothing to me. I guess I figured Vienna was next on the Turk's list.' No sense telling him about Epiphany, Duffy thought.

The wine was unlocking Duffy's memories. The sky had been overcast, he recalled, and both sides had simply milled about on opposite sides of the Mohacs plain until well after noon. Then the Hungarian cavalry had charged; the Turkish center gave way, and Duffy's troop of German infantry had followed the Hungarians into the trap. That was as hellish a maelstrom as I ever hope to find myself in, he thought now, sipping his wine - when those damned Turks suddenly stopped retreating, and turned on the pursuing troops.

His mouth curled down at the corners as he remembered the sharp thudding of the Turkish guns and the hiss of grapeshot whipping across the plain to rip into the Christian ranks, the whirling scimitars of the weirdly-wailing Janissaries blocking any advance, and the despairing cry that went up from the defenders of the West when it became evident that the Turks had out-flanked them.

You obviously have luck,' Aurelianus said, after a pause. 'Not many men got clear of that.'

'That's true,' Duffy said. 'I hid among the riverside thickets afterward, until John Zapolya and his troops arrived, the day after the battle. I had to explain to him that the idiot Tomori had attacked Without waiting for him and Frangipani and the other reinforcements; that nearly everyone on the Hungarian side - Louis, Tomori, thousands more - was dead, and that Suleiman and his Turks had won. Zapolya cleared out then, ran west. I ran south.'

The old man stubbed his smoking snake out in an incense bowl and reluctantly exhaled the last of the smoke. 'You've heard, I suppose, that Zapolya has gone over to the Turkish side flow?'

Duffy frowned. 'Yes. He just wants to be governor of Hungary, I guess, and will kiss the hand of whoever seems to own it. I can still hardly believe it, though; I've known him since 1515, and he was making raids against the Turks even then. Of all the things I would have sworn were impossible'

Aurelianus nodded sympathetically. 'If we could rely on impossibilities we'd all be better off.' He crossed the room and sat down at a cluttered desk. 'But excuse me -I did not mean to stir up your past. Here,' he said, lifting

a cloth bag from an opened drawer, 'is five hundred ducats.' Duffy caught the toss and slid the bag into a pocket. 'And here,' Aurelianus went On, flourishing a sheet of paper, 'I will write a letter of introduction' He dipped a pen in an- inkpot and began Scribbling.>'What in God's name are YOU doing?' Duffy gasped, half drawing his dagger.

'I beg your pardon. How rude of me. But it has been a day of.. .dire gambits, and I need the relaxation' He sat down and took a long puff at the emberheaded thing, letting aromatic smoke hiss out through his teeth a moment later. 'Don't be alarmed. It's only a kind of water-snake which, when cured with the proper - ahh -herbs and spices, produces fumes of a most.., beneficial Sort.'

'Huh!' The Irishman Shook his head and slid his dagger-back into its sheath. 'Have you got any more mundane refreshments to offer a guest?'

'I am remiss You must excuse me. Extraordinary circumstances ..but yes, there is a fair selection of Wines in the cabinet by your right hand. Cups behind you.'

Duffy Opened the cabinet and chose a bottle of sauternes, and deftly twisted the plug out of it.

'You know Your wines,' Aurelianus said, as Duffy poured the golden Wine into a cup.

The Irishman shrugged 'You don't happen to own a. boat, do you? I've got to get to San Giorgio and three clowns sank the boat I had.'

'Yes, so I heard. What's in San Giorgio?'

'My room. My things, it's where I'm currently living.

Ah. No, I don't have a boat. I have, though, a proposal'

Duffy regarded Aurelianus skeptically. 'Oh? Of what?'

'Of employment.' He smiled. 'You are not, I imagine, as wealthy as you have been at times in the past.'

'Well, no,' Duffy admitted, 'but these things come in waves. I've been rich and poor, and will doubtless be both again. But what did you have in mind?'

Aurelianus too a long puff on the popping, sizzling snake, and held the smoke in his lings for a good ten seconds before letting it out. 'Well - whoosh - by your accent I'd judge you've a good deal of time in Austria.'

The Irishman looked annoyed, then shrugged and had another sip of wine. 'That's true. I was living in Vienna until three years ago.'

'Why did you leave?'

'Why do you ask?'

'I beg your pardon; I don't mean to pry. I don't know why I have such difficulty in coming to the point.' He ran the thin fingers of one hand through his hair, and Duffy noticed he was trembling. 'Let me explain: I have become the owner of the Zimmermann Inn.'

Duffy raised his eyebrows politely. 'Where's that?'