City of Saints and Madmen Part 34

131 . Admittedly confined to the pages of obscure history journals and religious pamphlets.

132 . Then called the Morrow Religious Inst.i.tute.

133 . Cadimon Signal was a friend of mine and so, to avoid a conflict of interest, I shall not expound upon his many virtues-his strength of character, his fine sense of humor, the pedigree of the wines hidden in his bas.e.m.e.nt.

134 . The Kalif had had golden page numbers added for his convenience.

135 . Signal reports that the attendant "flipped through the pages at such incredible speed that we could hardly see them. When it came time for us to present the 10 page numbers, which we simply chose at random, a great ceremony was made of taking them to the attendant, who made an equally great show of finding the right page, during which we were made to wait outside, for fear we might see a forbidden page. By the time the first page was located and presented to us some 20 minutes had elapsed, and it turned out to be blank, except for the words 'see next page.' "

136 . Suitably tall, although the statue's torso and legs (and the horse itself-Manzikert never saw a horse, let alone rode on one) are not of Manzikert I, but the remains of an equestrian statue dating from the period of the Kalif's brief occupation of the city-onto which someone has rather crudely attached Manzikert's head. The original statue of Manzikert I was of an unknown height and showed Manzikert I surrounded by his beloved rats, rendered in bronze. An enterprising but none too bright bureaucrat sold the statue, sans head, for sc.r.a.p to the Arch Duke of Banfours a century before the Kalif's invasion; the Arch Duke promptly recast the statue as a cannon affectionately christened "Old Manzikert" and bombarded the stuffing out of Ambergris with it. As for the rats, they now decorate a small altar near the aqueduct, and if they look more like cats than rats, this is because the sculptor's models died half way through the commission and he had to use his tabby to complete it.

137 . Surely, after all, it is more comforting to believe that the sources on which this account is based are truthful, that this has not all, in fact, been one huge, monstrous lie? And with that pleasant thought, O Tourist, I take my leave for good.

CITY OF SAINTS AND MADMEN.

OTHER BOOKS BY THE AUTHOR.

The Book of Frog.

Lyric of the Highway Mariner.

Dradin, In Love

The Book of Lost Places.

Dradin, In Love & Other Stories (Greece)

The Hoegbotton Guide to the Early History of Ambergris.

The Exchange (with Eric Schaller)

Veniss Underground

Shriek: An Afterword

Now Entering Ambergris.

The Refraction of Light in a Prison

The Zamilon File.

Fragments from a Drowned City

The Importance of Bibliographies to Squidfiction (nonfiction).

The Drunk but Repentant Life of Cadimon Signal (nonfiction).

The Further Adventures of the Torture Squid

A Sudden Dislocation of the Spirit.

In a Strange and Distant Land.

The Fear of Unfamiliar Streets.

Red Flags at Dusk.

Do You Know Where You Are Now? (self-help/travel guide).