“Probably in the eastern kingdoms,” said Joachim without interest. “Look. I shall be busy all afternoon, but I want to have dinner with you and we can talk more then. Do you think you could go up on the new tower to search for magical influences? Now is a good time, while the workmen take their noon break.”

Far above us, a bell began ringing. Joachim stood up and pulled a silk stole across his shoulders. “I must go; I’m performing the noon service at the high altar.” But he paused at the door to smile before he was gone. “It is good to see you.”

Being the head of the cathedral chapter, I thought, had given him an attitude of command he had never had in Yurt. I didn’t mind him ordering me around, but I wondered if he even realized he was doing so. I watched his black-clad figure hurry down the nave toward the high altar, where an acolyte was lighting the candles.

As I went back out through the heavy cathedral doors I was immediately struck again by the sounds, the smells, and the brightness of noon. Workmen were starting down from the scaffolding. I would have liked some lunch myself, but I had been told to look for magical influences.

First I found the crew foreman. “The dean’s asked me to look over your construction site. I’m a wizard, and he told me you had been having some sort of problem.”

“All right,” said the foreman. His manner was not insolent, but it was certainly not respectful either. “If you’re a wizard I guess you can fly, so I’ll let you have a look. But I wouldn’t let anyone else!”

He was short, thin and wiry, with very long fingers. I glanced down at his bare feet; his toes too were unusually long. The workmen now assembling were all built similarly. I remembered hearing that there was a valley somewhere far to the north that produced men both strong enough to move great stones and agile enough to carry them up a precipice.