Caliban's Hour by Tad Williams

Author:Tad Williams [Williams, Tad]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: fantasy, Tempest, epic, Prospero, shakespearean, revenge, Miranda, Shakespeare
Publisher: The Beale-Williams Enterprise
Published: 2011-07-25T04:30:00+00:00

Secrets Spied

SOON AFTER I TAUGHT YOU TO swim, Prospero presented me with a gift. As with the words he taught me, it was something that both gave and took away.

He had made for me a pair of breeches.

I was delighted. I had marked the differences between my betters and myself, and although I could not yet articulate my desires, I yearned to close the gap. Clothing was one of the things I coveted – or at least the idea of it fascinated me: on the few occasions I had shyly draped myself in Prospero’s discarded robe or shirt I had actually felt quite itchy and entangled. And when he had seen me clad in imitation of human being, your father had laughed and taken back my stolen finery.

But now he had changed his mind. I was burning inside with the honor of it. I had been elevated! I pulled on my new breeches, not without a first attempt that went back-to-front, then did a triumphant dance of joy. You giggled and clapped your hands to see me, so I leaped even more energetically. Even Prospero unsheathed a full smile at my capers.

And I have another thing for you, he said. Here, little savage.

He reached into his cloak and produced an axe, passing it to me handle-first.

The blade had been in the bottom of the boat when you and your father floated out across the ocean. Old, pitted, spattered with rust it had been, but now it gleamed. He had scraped it clean and sharpened it on a rock, then fitted it into an ironwood handle and bound it with cord.

What? I asked. For… what?

So that you may cut wood for the fire, or skin and clean a carcass, or even protect yourself against monsters, little savage. And his smile returned, thin and bright as a sliver of moon.

I looked down at my new breeches, then gazed at the beautiful, heavy thing lying in my hands. I was overwhelmed. For a moment, as tears welled in my eyes, I could see only a black-and-gray smear where your father sat.

Thank you, I mumbled. Prospero, thank you.

He waved his hand as though embarrassed. Just be careful how you use it or I will take it back again.

Not more than a fortnight later, Prospero took me for a walk in the forest. You came along as well, but it was my company, my advice that he wanted. He told me so. The trees seemed to part before me as I strode along.

We must build a new house, your father said. Inland from the beach. A house where Miranda will be safe from storms and animals.

I frowned in surprise. The only animals on the island big enough to do harm never came out of the deep forest. Still, here was a man who stood as far above me as I stood above baby turtles fumbling their way across the sand. I would not have dared to dispute with your father then.

You know the island better than I, he said.

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