Here’s one more truth you need to learn about life: the person who plays by the rules always comes in last. Or he doesn’t come in at all. Put that piece of free advice in your pocket for the future. And your wine today is free too. So chill. Let’s drink!”
The friends tossed back their cups of the strong Seregad wine. Uni leaned against the edge of the table and looked around the tavern as if he owned the place. It was a crowd of merchants and low-level civil servants, liberally interspersed with quite a few of the doubtful people of unknown profession who were drawn to the capital from all ends of the broad empire. In his current mood, Uni looked on them as dear friends. When he was sober, he often shuddered at the sound of a rude word or profanity spoken in the street, but now the rough atmosphere could not touch his gentle soul. “This isn’t a bad place to be,” he thought. “Not bad at all.”
Vordius leaned over and picked up where he had left off. “Be sure to use that report of yours for its intended purpose.” He belched. “As a battering ram. Show them you’re the smartest guy in the empire, the only one they can turn to.”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell the two of you for the past hour! I have an ingenious plan. And you’re absolutely right: no one but your humble servant has the faintest idea about Virilan.”
“Not true,” Sorgius pronounced with skepticism. “I know more than you about Virilan. I was just talking about it, in fact.”
“What about the language? You don’t know the language! That’s the important thing, because no outsiders have ever been there!”
Sorgius looked patronizing. “Please, Uni, do you really believe that you can learn a country’s language and its culture from a pile of four-hundred-year-old books?”
“Yes, I do. Virilans are an extremely conservative people. Second, we simply don’t have any other sources of knowledge. So if you don’t know the language, go back to school, little boy!”
“Back to school, Sorgius,” chimed in Vordius as he sucked the last of the meat off a rabbit bone. When he was done, he tapped the bone against his forehead. “Fill your head with something more useful than this sour swill we’re drinking.”
Sorgius banged a hand on the oaken table. When Vordius tossed his rabbit bone at him, Sorgius jokingly slid from his chair onto the floor.
“Uni, my friend, how do you say ‘death’ in Virilan? What a pity! There was so much more I wanted to do in this life!”
Vordius leaned back and laughed. “Enough of that. You paid the bill and you’re free to die.” He turned to Uni. “Well, do you know what to do? Ready to get to work?”
Uni stood up from the table resolutely. All of a sudden, he realized that his body was lagging significantly behind his mind. “I thought the main difficulty would be concentrating after several cups of wine. I was wrong. The difficulty will be getting back through the gate on my own two legs!”
Uni imagined what he would look like crawling through the palace late at night, past the fearsome guards, holding his pass in his teeth. He laughed, hiccupped, and buried his face in Vordius’ giant shoulder.
Sorgius was ecstatic. “Tell the truth! Haven’t you always dreamed of doing it?” Uni realized that he had been thinking out loud.
“Not a bad idea,” Vordius growled. “Let’s help our friend up the career ladder. He grew up without a father. Who else can show him the path to take?”
“You’ll carry him into the palace at night? I want to watch. What will your Luvia say? Aren’t you afraid to leave her alone at night?”
“Shut your mouth, peon,” Vordius laughed. Holding Uni by the shoulders, he led the friends out of the tavern.
Chapter 3. Career Down the Drain
A large, blue fly dove down and scurried along the luxurious tile mosaic under Uni’s feet. The young archivist was so afraid to stir that even the insect – sensitive to the most minute vibrations in the air – took him for an inanimate object.
“I do see what you are saying, young man, but I would still like to have a clearer explanation of what happened last night.” Archive master Margio looked up at his employee with such a sullen face that Uni’s last hopes of a positive outcome were completely dashed. “Do you have any idea what you have done?”
“I…I am very ashamed, Enel Margio. Honestly, it never entered my mind that things might end up this way. I don’t even know…”
“No, I see that you don’t.” The older man sighed. “Uni, you have had the honor of working in our august institution for four years. For four years, you have served the government and had a unique opportunity to make a modest contribution to our work of accumulating and multiplying the contents of this great storehouse of our Empire’s knowledge. It was Saptius Astoldo, if you recall, who said that the essence of knowledge is wisdom, power and wealth, but it is also a heavy burden. You, Enel Virando, it pains me to realize, were not ready for the burden that we bear as the most educated people in Dashtornis. And to think you made such an excellent start. Assistant to a department master at twenty. And not just any department, but the Foreign Manuscripts department! That is one of the most difficult and respected areas of our work. And you had such a promising future. Just last month I was speaking with Enel Barko, and he quite seriously told me that you could rise to the post of senior assistant master in just a few years. After that, in another ten years, when Enel Gerzio departs for his much-deserved retirement, you could have been a bibliographer. But no, you destroyed all of that. Leveled it to the ground. Would you be kind enough to tell me what on earth brought you to the archive last night?
“That’s what I am trying to explain. I asked Master Barko if I could work at night for a while.”
“You had his permission?”
“Well, I was going to ask him.”
“I see.”
“This isn’t the first time I’ve done it, honestly…”
“Are you saying this isn’t the first time you have broken into a closed government office inside the palace grounds while in a state of intoxication? I say nothing of your friends, who behaved like wild barbarians and used their official positions to try and cover up this awful misbehavior.”
“I apologize. I did not realize how it would look…”
“Of course, you could not see. You couldn’t even walk on your own. Your two friends carried you in. One of them displayed his imperial guard officer’s badge and physically threatened the sentries. Your other friend had no pass at all, but he threw handfuls of coins around in the most disgusting manner, which caused incredible inconvenience for the cleaners this morning. Because of this unpardonable behavior, I was forced to close down the building and crawl around on my own hands and knees to seize all of the unlawfully distributed currency. I’m sure you understand that I will be providing a most detailed report to the Emperor’s chancery today. The chancery will identify the guilty parties and send letters to their superiors. As for you, young man, I’m afraid we must part ways with you forever!”
Enel Margio leaned back on the carved back of his wide, wooden Torgendam chair and stared off into space, as if the red and white vase in the corner (which featured a pictorial description of the stages of preparing parchment) interested him much more than the pitiful young man in front of him who had violated
