“Just by the chance of the stones,” I said.
“No. Of all the answers, I know that is not the answer.”
“But I know it is, surely.”
“Then you know more than me.”
I shrugged. “But what will it mean?” I said. “I don’t know that.”
“And I don’t. It will not be well, though. I’m very sure Staehelin was not meant to win the Chair, and there will be consequences.”
“For whom?”
“For Master Johann.”
“What would threaten Master Johann? All Basel is with him.”
“If a tree is rooted deep in a field, then to uproot the tree, the whole field must be torn out. Oh, Leonhard, I fear for your Master, I fear for the University, and for Basel. And I fear for myself and for you. Basel has been its own and separate, but the world outside its Walls isn’t dormant. And cities have been brought to ruin from within.”
We were only feet from the Death Dance. “It’s been four weeks since Master Huldrych died of plague,” I said.
“That’s only dormant, too, Leonhard.”
“Staehelin won by chance, as the Election was meant to be.”
“I believe you, that he did.”
“But chance . . . I don’t know what that is. I’ve read Master Jacob’s book, and I know what the Mathematics of chance is. But I know there are laws that are even greater than Mathematics.”
“I’ve never known how it was done, but other elections have been ruled by someone stronger than chance.”
“This Election was, also.”
“I mean,” he said, “by man’s hand.”
“I know. And this Election was in God’s hand.”
“He took it?”
“I put it there.”
“That’s a bold statement, Leonhard. And it might be arrogant. How could you give this Election to God?”
“Because it had been given to me. That was why I could give it to Him.”
He frowned, and slowly understood. “It was yours?”
“Yes.”
“And you gave it up.”
“Yes.”
He was troubled by that. “I was given an Election five years ago, and I kept it for myself.”
“I think you were meant to have it.”
“That’s kind. I’ll think on it.” He smiled a moment. “But Magistrate Caiaphas considers all the elections to be his own, not to be given without his permission.”
“There are laws that are greater than him,” I said.
I crossed the city to the southwest, to the Barefoot Square, but through it without stopping or looking, through the old Wall and then by the Birsig Flow where it flowed in its canal between houses and under bridges, to the Stone Gate. I climbed the steps there up the Wall and took a place looking out, over the Birsig and the fields, the trees and hills in the distance. Very far I could see mountains still cutting the sky. The sky was enormous, limitless and immeasurable, featureless but for the sun. Then I waited.
The sun was to my right, but looking out I still had to shield my eyes with the brim of my hand. Nothing freckled that sky, as nothing had in the week since the candidates had been announced. I waited. Minutes passed, and more. An hour passed and the sun far past its height; three o’clock outside and four o’clock inside the Wall I waited more.
Watching the sky, I began to see horses crossing it, passing the sun and pulling it. I saw ships sailing in the high winds. I saw strongholds high in the blueness, which were castles and towers with pennants. I saw armies marching. They had cavalry in ranks, and phalanxes of soldiers. And as I held my arm out at length, and my fist clenched, I saw one small cloud.
I ran, as fast as I could then, down into the city toward the Barefoot Square and the Boot and Thorn.
18
THE VALUE PI, SQUARED, AND DIVIDED BY SIX
I reached the Square. The sky above was still empty but I felt a wisp of breeze.
The Common Room of the Boot and Thorn was thronged thick and boisterous. I stood in its entrance. The tree trunk pillars and branching beams were a forest, but red not green. The only faces I could see were the hundreds of steins on the walls glaring in firelight. All the men were too shrouded in smoke and dim to be seen. There was a wind blowing in the forest, of contention, argument, dispute, and anger.
Only part of the wind was from the men at the tables quarrelling over the Election. Daniel had partisans in every layer of the city, and his second rejection in two years had stirred a frenzy of resentment in the Boot and Thorn. Charon brushed against my ankles to warn me against entry, but I entered.
I pushed through to the hearth. The brightest light was there and to the side of the fireplace was the darkest shadow. Daniel was at the edge between them, and at the center of fury. His brothers and cousin were with him.