An Elegant Solution(131)
I was not alone when I woke. Two black shoes rested in the grass near me, and black parson’s stockings from them, and all the rest of a man, all in black, a generous and gentle black. I only needed the shoes to know their Master, and mine. I said, “Father!” and he considered me. His eyes, which always saw so much, were now on me and I was all that was in them. He was sitting on the top lip of the bank, his arms crossed about his knees.
“What are you doing here, Leonhard?” he asked.
“I was in the river.”
“Oh. You were in the river.”
“Yes, Father.”
“Why?”
“I jumped in.”
“You jumped. From the bridge?”
“At the Yoke Chapel.”
“You weren’t thrown in?”
“I threw myself in.”
“The river is cold,” he said.
“I’m cold from it.” I shivered.
“And why did you jump in the cold river?”
“The Watch was chasing me.”
“The Watch chases lawbreakers and criminals. And criminals are given to the river at the Yoke Chapel.”
“I did a crime, Father.”
“A crime. What was the crime?”
“I was in Master Johann’s house without his permission.”
“Why?”
“To take this.” It was still in my pocket from when I’d taken it from the cabinet. I handed it to him.
“A key.”
“Yes, Father.”
“Then you’ve done well, son.” He handed the key back to me.
“Thank you.”
“Use this properly.”
“I will. Are you walking today, Father?”
“I’m walking back to Riehen, from Basel.”
“You were in Basel?”
“I was there this morning.”
“I gave my lecture this morning.”
“I watched your lecture.”
“I didn’t see you.”
“Some things even you can’t see, Leonhard.”
I smiled. “I did. Just at the beginning. I didn’t recognize you.”
“I’m always close,” he said.
“In the chase,” I said, “there was a man in a cloak and hood. He was my enemy.”
“He was.” My father’s eyes hadn’t left me in our whole time.
“How would he be defeated?”
“Not by strength. Be on your way now, the path back is long.”
“Yes, Father, I’ll be on my way.”
“I’m always close.” He watched me as I started back to Basel. When I turned, later, I couldn’t tell if I still saw him or not.
It was long into the afternoon when I saw the city Wall over the riverside meadows. In my pocket was the extra hour any man receives when he leaves Basel, and it was now time to give it back.
With the river, the Blaise Gate faced north. I came to it just as the sun, red as dye, was coming to rest on the hills west. Its path across the planet’s far side was certain, but mine was less so. I watched it descend into the earth, redder and bloodier, firing the sky, leaving void in its wake, and the east horizon was already black. The last hot spark extinguished and the sun was gone to me. I began my own descent.
I entered the Blaise Gate. The Day Watch and the Night Watch were changing, one into the other. I wasn’t noticed; I didn’t really know if, to them, I was a fugitive or only myself. But the two men at the gate, whom I knew though not by name, didn’t even nod to me as I came in; and they were the only men I saw.
This was a first assurance that in all the chase I’d never been recognized.
The streets of Basel were always darker than their sky. I walked the main passage of Small Basel, the houses darker than the streets, and all empty. When I came to the bridge, finally there was another man besides myself, and then a second, both Watch. Beside the Night Watch just arrived, the Day Watch was still there and I heard him telling a story.
“And I saw him,” the Day man said.
“What did you see?” the Night man asked. “They say he was a monster.”
“Not him. He was only his shadow to be seen, and fast as wind.”
“All the city’s filled with stories.” I still didn’t see anyone, besides these two, and they hardly saw me. “And he vanished into the river?”
“I saw him leap. And then, nothing left of him.”
“He drowned, then. I hear they found his robe. But why would he jump? That’s better than the Watch taking him?”
“That’s the real story,” the Day man said. “It wasn’t the Watch he was fleeing.”
“Then who?”
“I saw a man in the shadow, by the Bridge Gate. A huge man, hooded, and with an axe.”
“You saw that?”