The Geographer's Library

Jon Fasman
petrified appearance. A scar in the shape of the Arabic letter faa’ ran from
just above his right eyebrow almost to the dome of his bald head, and a beard
the size of an eagle’s nest ran from his nose to his belly. His eyes were milky,
indistinct.
Omar had learned his trade from Faisal, before the older man had been
caught in the home of a lesser duke’s factor and had a red-hot sword put to
his eyes. Now Faisal merely directed most of Palermo’s crime from this shack
by the docks; though Omar saw nobody else in or near the house, he knew
that his uncle kept himself at least as well guarded as the king. The large man
made an incongruously girlish trilling motion with his fingertips, and a tall,
lean, armed man appeared with a plate of dates, almonds, bread, and cheese
and set it before Omar, not looking at him. Omar ate ravenously, noisily, without
even offering any to his uncle, who kept his voided sockets fixed, as if
sighted, on his nephew.
“Why don’t you tell me what has happened, boy?”
“I have been seen. I have been seen by the king’s guards, stealing from the
house of the king’s friend, and I must leave this island immediately. Where I
go, what I do, how I go is of no importance, but if they find me . . .” He
whimpered at the thought of what might happen to him.
“No decree will ever be as effective as physical pain,” his uncle said
thoughtfully. “What were you taking, and where were you seen?”
“I have taken nothing much, nothing of consequence,” Omar began, his
voice rising. His uncle moved a hand up and down: calm. “I took these trinkets,”
he said, loosening the sack, “from a house on a hill, some two days’
quick walk from here.”
His uncle reached into the bag, examining with his hands. He pulled out
oddity after oddity—a gold flute, a painted coin, a knotted rope attached to a
copper board—and returned each to the bag. He closed the bag and handed
it back to his nephew, then sighed. “Did this house have orchards and
gardens?”
“Yes, both.”
“Was one side of the entryway the same as the other? Did you take these
from an upstairs room?”
“Yes, Uncle, but how could you—”
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