Path of the Magi (Tales of Tiberius) by Richard J Stuart Read Free Book Online Page B

place a wake up call some time.  Just let me know.”  With that, the bird disappeared inside the clock, the little door closing shut tight behind him.  Was it just his imagination, or could Tiberius hear a faint snoring behind the steady tick-tock of the clock?
    A moment later, Dallen emerged from the side room and came up to greet Tiberius.  He was still wearing fashionable business attire.  This time it was green with costly embroidery on the front.
    “Well, young Master Fuller, I’m so glad you accepted my invitation.  Come in, come in, and get acquainted with everyone.”
    Dallen led him into a front room that had been set up as a sort of small classroom.  There were a half dozen medium sized desks facing one side of the room.  The walls were lined with bookshelves.  There were three other men in the room.  One was a young man like himself that Dallen introduced as Ian.  The other two were strange looking gentlemen.
    There was a bald, serious looking fellow that Dallen called Singh Greentree.  He was quite young, in spite of his baldness, and Ti guessed he wasn’t much older than himself.  Tiberius had the sense that he was vaguely foreign somehow, but he couldn’t quite say why.  A drop of Indian blood perhaps?  Maybe it was just the name; his skin was fair enough.  Singh was a man dressed mostly in some sort of apron covered with various stains.  He paid no attention to Tiberius, other than to give a half-hearted polite wave.  He was focused upon a small vial of green liquid which seem to be forming some sort of precipitate.  Singh was furiously taking notes as this occurred. 
    Messura was a huge man with broad shoulders and dark brown skin.  There weren’t many Moors, or blacks, as some of them liked to be called, living in Sherwood City, but Tiberius had met a few now and then on market day.  They were more common around the City of Walsingham and points south.   Messura had a face like a frog, but the eyes were what you noticed first.  They were quite piercing and had almost a hypnotic power to them.  Next was the voice.  Messura had a musical, lyrical voice that commanded attention.  For now he gave Tiberius a polite greeting, though his eyes gave you the sense he’d learned much in a quick glance.
    Ian was the youngest of the three.  He was about the same age as Tiberius.  He had a long but cheerful face, and he stepped up to greet Tiberius.
    “Hello!  You’re the new math student? Yes? Excellent!  Good at math are you?  You can give me a few pointers.  I’m Dallen’s apprentice.  I’m supposed to be learning math, but so far Dallen hasn’t had enough magic in him to make that possible.  Don’t mind Singh over there.  He’s not unfriendly, just busy, best not to disturb him or he’ll blow the place up again.”
    “I did not ‘blow the place up,’” Singh protested, without looking up.  “Simply an unexpected pyrotechnical display.  No harm done.”
    Ian gestured a rather larger explosion than that, but said no more.   
    Dallen started in on mathematics, and soon Ti’s wonder at clocks and birds and automata was lost to the study of calculus and trigonometry.  It was complicated stuff, but Dallen was a good teacher and able to explain things so that he could understand.  By the time lunch had rolled around, Ian and Tiberius had worked though a number of complicated problems in elementary trigonometry. 
    At twelve-thirty, there was a quiet knock on the door, and Mr. Eumaios looked in at the doorway. 
    “Pencils down, gentlemen.  An empty stomach is a poor companion.  You’ll join us for lunch, Master Fuller?” Dallen asked.
    Ti stopped midway in the act of taking out his lunch bag.  The question of lunch hadn’t really come up, as Mr. Johnson had simply told Tiberius to ride over to Mr. Dallen’s estate, rather than his regular classes.  Ti had brought his typical ham sandwich and slice of apple pie with him, not expecting to be fed.  His