Mort

somewhere?”
    “Bit of a poser, isn’t it?” agreed Cutwell. “That’s fate for you, I’m afraid. If the world can’t sense you, you don’t exist. I’m a wizard. We know—”
    “Don’t say it.”
    Keli stood up.
    Five generations ago one of her ancestors had halted his band of nomadic cutthroats a few miles from the mound of Sto Lat and had regarded the sleeping city with a peculiarly determined expression that said: This’ll do. Just because you’re born in the saddle doesn’t mean you have to die in the bloody thing.
    Strangely enough, many of his distinctive features had, by a trick of heredity, been bequeathed to his descendant * , accounting for her rather idiosyncratic attractiveness. They were never more apparent than now. Even Cutwell was impressed. When it came to determination, you could have cracked rocks on her jaw.
    In exactly the same tone of voice that her ancestor had used when he addressed his weary, sweaty followers before the attack † , she said:
    “No. No, I’m not going to accept it. I’m not going to dwindle into some sort of ghost. You’re going to help me, wizard.”
    Cutwell’s subconscious recognized that tone. It had harmonics in it that made even the woodworms in the floorboards stop what they were doing and stand to attention. It wasn’t voicing an opinion, it was saying: things will be thus.
    “Me, madam?” he quavered, “I don’t see what I can possibly—”
    He was jerked off his chair and out into the street, his robes billowing around him. Keli marched towards the palace with her shoulders set determinedly, dragging the wizard behind her like a reluctant puppy. It was with such a walk that mothers used to bear down on the local school when their little boy came home with a black eye; it was unstoppable; it was like the March of Time.
    “What is it you intend?” Cutwell stuttered, horribly aware that there was going to be nothing he could do to resist, whatever it was.
    “It’s your lucky day, wizard.”
    “Oh. Good,” he said weakly.
    “You’ve just been appointed Royal Recognizer.”
    “Oh. What does that entail, exactly?”
    “You’re going to remind everyone I’m alive. It’s very simple. There’s three square meals a day and your laundry done. Step lively, man.”
    “Royal?”
    “You’re a wizard. I think there’s something you ought to know,” said the princess.

T HERE IS ? said Death.
    (That was a cinematic trick adapted for print. Death wasn’t talking to the princess. He was actually in his study, talking to Mort. But it was quite effective, wasn’t it? It’s probably called a fast dissolve, or a crosscut/zoom. Or something. An industry where a senior technician is called a Best Boy might call it anything.)
    A ND WHAT IS THAT ? he added, winding a bit of black silk around the wicked hook in a little vice he’d clamped to his desk.
    Mort hesitated. Mostly this was because of fear and embarrassment, but it was also because the sight of a hooded specter peacefully tying dry flies was enough to make anyone pause.
    Besides, Ysabell was sitting on the other side of the room, ostensibly doing some needlework but also watching him through a cloud of sullen disapproval. He could feel her red-rimmed eyes boring into the back of his neck.
    Death inserted a few crow hackles and whistled a busy little tune through his teeth, not having anything else to whistle through. He looked up.
    H MM ?
    “They—didn’t go as smoothly as I thought,” said Mort, standing nervously on the carpet in front of the desk.
    Y OU HAD TROUBLE ? said Death, snipping off a few scraps of feather.
    “Well, you see, the witch wouldn’t come away, and the monk, well, he started out all over again.”
    T HERE’S NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT THERE, LAD —
    “—Mort—”
    —Y OU SHOULD HAVE WORKED OUT BY NOW THAT EVERYONE GETS WHAT THEY THINK IS COMING TO THEM . I T’S SO MUCH NEATER THAT WAY .
    “I know, sir. But that means bad people who think they’re going to some sort of paradise actually do get there. And good people who fear they’re going to some kind of horrible place really suffer. It doesn’t seem like justice.”
    W HAT IS IT I’ VE SAID YOU MUST REMEMBER, WHEN YOU’RE OUT ON THE DUTY ?
    “Well, you—”
    HMM?
    Mort stuttered into silence.
    T HERE’S NO JUSTICE . T HERE’S JUST YOU .
    “Well, I—”
    Y OU MUST REMEMBER THAT .
    “Yes, but—”
    I EXPECT IT ALL WORKS OUT PROPERLY IN THE END . I HAVE NEVER MET THE CREATOR, BUT I’ M TOLD