The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction JanuaryFebruary 2018 (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction Book 134) by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Spilogale Inc.
Published: 2018-03-03T23:00:00+00:00

* * *

The top floor of the keep was living quarters, a round room furnished by a closed cupboard, a table accompanied by a single chair, a fireplace, and a sleeping alcove behind a woolen curtain, all dimly lit by narrow vertical slits in the stone walls. Baldemar took a quick glance behind the cloth to make sure they were as alone as he expected them to be and was struck by a familiar sight: Above the bed, embedded in the ceiling, three triangles formed a triad.

He called them to the man's attention and asked if he knew what they signified. The answer was no.

"Do you know anything about a giant?" Baldemar said.

"Are there such things?"

"There's at least one," Baldemar said, "or at least there was. And he lived in a place very much like this."

As near as Baldemar could judge, after adjusting for scale, this place was indeed identical to the giant's house, except that here the walls enclosed a circle instead of a square.

The similarity must mean something , he said to himself. Aloud, he said, "What's downstairs?" Then, as he looked around, he realized the question was moot: There were no stairs leading down, and no way into the circular room other than the steps they had descended from the tower-top.

The nameless man was becoming more and more distraught as his unsought visitor put questions to him that he could not answer. He looked around the room as if seeing it for the first time and said, "What has happened to me?"

"I would say," Baldemar said, "that you have been put away, well out of sight."

"But why?"

"I'm not entirely sure," said Baldemar, "but I'm here to rescue you."

"Why?"

"To repay a debt."

The man sat on the chair. "Suddenly I feel very vulnerable."

"How do you usually feel?"

The man tried to recall but couldn't. "I don't even know that."

Like the doll-man he resembled, the prisoner could tell him nothing, although Baldemar sensed no malevolence in this version. He returned to his study of the room. But there was nothing more to be found. The walls and floor were solid, and there was no hanging tapestry to hide a secret passageway or a rug to cover a trapdoor. Then he looked again into the sleeping alcove.

In the giant's house, he had found the sword under the bed. He knelt and looked but saw nothing. Then he pulled aside the bed to examine the floor. And there, in what had been the darkest corner, he saw a black-iron key the length of his hand. Baldemar stooped and picked it up, felt it heavy and cold against his palm.

He showed it to the man and said, "Look at this."

The man took his face out of his hands. His eyes were damp. He stared at the key with a helpless expression and said, "What is it?"

"It's obvious what it is," said Baldemar. "The question is, what does it fit?"

"No," said the other, wiping his eyes and shaking his head in slow bafflement. "I know I should recognize it, that I should know its name and function, but I don't.

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