The Urth of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe Read Free Book Online

said, "life rose from the sea. But this chamber has no more received its impression from that dim beginning than your own have received theirs from the trees where your forebears capered."
    Ossipago rumbled, "It is early to begin a quarrel." He had not removed his disguise, I suppose because it did not render him less comfortable; and in fact I have never seen him do so.
    "Barbatus, he speaks well," Famulimus sang. Then to me, "You leave your world, Severian. Like you, we three leave ours. We climb the stream of time—you are swept down that stream. This ship thus bears us both. For you the years are gone, when we will counsel you. For us they now begin. We greet you now, Autarch, with counsel we have brought. To save your race's sun, one thing is needful only: that you must serve Tzadkiel."
    "Who is that?" I asked. "And how do I serve him? I've never heard of him." Barbatus snorted. "Which is less than surprising, since Famulimus was not supposed to give you that name. We will not use it again. But he—the person Famulimus mentioned—is the judge appointed to your case. He is a Hierogrammate, as is to be expected. What do you know of them?"
    "Very little, beyond the fact that they are your masters."
    "Then you know very little indeed; even that is wrong. You call us Hierodules, and that is your word and not ours, just as Barhatus , Famulimus , and Ossipago are your words, words we have chosen because they are not common and describe us better than your other words would. Do you know what Hierodule means, this word of your own tongue?"
    "I know that you are creatures of this universe, shaped by those of the next to serve them here. And that the service they desire of you is the shaping of our race, of humanity, because we are the cognates of those who shaped them in the ages of the previous creation."
    Famulimus trilled, " Hierodule is 'holy slave.' How could Hierodules be holy, did we not serve the Increate? Our master is he, and he only."
    Barbatus added, "You've commanded armies, Severian. You're a king and a hero, or at least you were up until you left your world. Then too, you may rule again, should you fail. You must know that a soldier doesn't serve his officer, or at least, that he shouldn't. He serves his tribe, and receives instructions from his officer."
    I nodded. "The Hierogrammates are your officers, then. I understand. I possess my predecessor's memories, as you perhaps do not yet realize; so I know that he was tried as I will be and that he failed. And it's always seemed to me that what was done to him, returning him unmanned to watch our Urth grow worse and worse, to take responsibility for everything, and yet know that he had failed in the one attempt that might have set everything right, was cruel indeed."
    Famulimus's face was almost always serious; now it seemed more serious than ever.
    "His memories, Severian? Have you no more than memories?"
    For the first time in many years, I felt the blood rise in my cheeks. "I lied," I said. "I am he, just as I am Thecla. You three have been my friends when I had few, and I should not lie to you, though so often I must lie to myself."
    Famulimus sang, "Then you must know that all are scourged alike. And yet the nearer to success, the worse the pain each feels. That is a law we cannot change." Outside in the gangway, not far distant, someone screamed. I started toward the door, and the scream ended on the gurgling note that signals that the throat has filled with blood.
    Barbatus snapped, "Wait, Severian!" and Ossipago moved to block the door. Famulimus chanted urgently, "I have but one thing more to tell. Tzadkiel is just and kind. Though you may suffer much, remember so."
    I turned on her; I could not help it. "I remember this—the old Autarch never saw his judge! I didn't recall the name because he had striven so to forget it; but we recall everything now, and it was Tzadkiel . He was a kinder man than Severian, a more just person than Thecla. What chance does