4 #3
I ignore him and continue speaking to the carpet. “Do you have a name? Something we can call you besides ‘Carpet?’”
“I have been called many things. Stubborn, egotistical, pretentious, long-winded, pompous—”
“All apt descriptions,” I mutter. “But you don’t have an actual name?”
“Not in the human sense, no.”
“Well, I think you deserve one. How about Severin? It’s a character from a book my father read to me. A very intelligent and interesting fellow.”
“Severin,” says the carpet.
“And Sev for short,” Vawn puts in.
“No,” the carpet replies. “Severin.”
I give Vawn a triumphant smile over my shoulder. “There you have it. His name is Severin.”
“And now, if you will lend me your ears, I will explain the manufacture and mechanics of my kind,” Severin says.
“Magic carpets can be woven by anyone with training, and they are often crafted by people without glyphs on their fingertips.
However, for a more unique carpet, glyphs may be activated occasionally during the weaving process to impart elements of speed, beauty, or durability.
“Most carpets are woven on special looms crafted from birch or linden wood.
The threads used are wool, cotton, or linen of the finest quality, but in order for the carpet to hold consciousness, move independently, and support human riders, unicorn hairs must be incorporated throughout the warp and weft of the carpet.
“Design and pattern are not particularly important to a carpet’s function. Carpet patterns typically reflect the personal style of the weaver, although certain shapes, colors, and materials tend to be distinctive of particular regions and schools of weaving.
“Once the lower edge is finished and the tassels are secured, the carpet is given a measure of consciousness. This part of the process requires a special glyph set and extensive training. The person who imbues the carpet with consciousness is typically not the one who wove it, although some say that the carpet has a more humanlike quality if their weaver and their imprinter are the same person. It is said that in such cases, an element of care and affection enters into the equation. If you believe in that sort of thing.”
Severin pauses, and for a moment—for one blessed moment—I think maybe he’s done…
but no. He continues, in a tone that makes me realize, with growing weariness, that he plans to keep talking for a very, very long time.
This is not a brief explanation—it is a full-blown lecture, like the ones I sat through in classrooms at the Academy.
I’m not sure how much of my attention I can lend him, since I need to keep watch on the sky around us, but I determine to do my best. Perhaps I’ll learn something that can help us later.
Besides, his steady way of speaking is a welcome distraction from my own thoughts, including the image of the man that I killed in the Lyre.
I was doing my job and trying to stay alive, but some part of me is still shocked at myself for being able to end his life so swiftly, so easily. Like it was nothing.
Suppressing a shudder, I refocus on Severin’s voice.
“I was woven by an entire group of scholars at the Casqaret Weaving School in Uldrayin, as their class project,” Severin continues. “They all followed a provided pattern, but each of them had a hand in crafting me and selecting the unicorn hairs that were included in my design.
“When it came time to give me consciousness, they were all involved in that phase as well, despite the fact that none of them had been properly trained. They were supposed to wait for the professor’s assistance, but one night, they were gathered in the weaving lab, and they decided to begin the infusion of consciousness on their own.
Since one of them was an artificient, she could paint the required glyph set on each of her classmates, thus giving them the chance to contribute knowledge, memories, and awareness to my being.
“The young man who contributed the most to my consciousness had a memory capable of capturing and recalling every page in every book he had ever read, and as the son of professors, he was able to gift me a vast amount of knowledge.
Another member of the group was the child of an astronomer and mapmaker.
A third person was the son of a couple from Xarsi who left their underground city and built a life in southern Belavrin, despite their sun sensitivities.
I suspect that element of boldness and adventure in his lineage contributed somewhat to my rebellious nature.
“Together, they pieced together my consciousness, giving me parts of theirs.
When memories and knowledge are delivered to an inanimate carpet, they are not stolen from their original owner, but copied.
However, I do believe that my makers allowed more of their personalities to enter my being than they were supposed to.
“Carpets are usually gifted with as much map knowledge and directional awareness as possible, as well as a rudimentary understanding of commands and rider intent.
Some are capable of limited speech, as you know, but most have a bland, dull way of speaking and do not process much higher thought.
In my case, I was gifted—or cursed—with an abundance of intelligence and an excess of personality.
“As part of their directional awareness, magic carpets are also imbued with visual and auditory perception using a specific sensory glyph.
That glyph was used on me multiple times rather than just once, as it should have been.
Each of my makers activated it. So I have better hearing, sight, tactile, and olfactory perception than most of my kind.
I am very sensitive to smells, so please keep your boots reasonably clean, and do not release any gases from your posteriors while you are seated upon me.
“The more unicorn hairs are present in a magic carpet, the greater potential the carpet has for absorbing knowledge and intelligence. The quality of the unicorn hairs is important as well. The older and more powerful a unicorn is, the stronger and more magical its hair will be. Younger unicorns have more energy and speed, which can also be important depending on the magic carpet’s intended use.
I am fortunate to have a plethora of high-quality hairs, from both old and young unicorns, woven throughout my fibers.
“Some self-styled carpet experts claim that there is a distinction to be made between the properties of the mane versus the tail when speaking of unicorn hairs and the intensity of the magic they provide.
I myself see no evidence of a material difference.
However, it has been proven that if a preponderance of hair from male unicorns is present, the voice of the carpet and its preferred identity may trend toward male, and vice versa.
Ultimately, many carpets do not choose a gender.
“I prefer a masculine identity. However, many males of the human species annoy me to no end.
“I suspect my makers were drinking the night they completed the creation of my consciousness, but I cannot be sure, since I do not remember much of it.
I do recall being unrolled and presented to the professor.
I moved as directed and flew around the room, but once I began to speak, I found it very difficult to stop.
There was so much sheer ignorance in that class, and once they found out I could answer them cleverly, they took great delight in asking me the most ridiculous and irritating questions.
Eventually, the professor intervened, and I was rolled up and tucked away.
“I do not know whether my group of students received high marks for their project or not. I was intended to be sold off, along with the rest of the carpets made by the class, with the resulting funds going to benefit the school. However, as it turned out, most people prefer a carpet who speaks very little or not at all. They are not so keen on one with a personality and a body of knowledge so much greater than theirs. You may scoff all you like, Prince. It isn’t vanity if it’s true.
“At any rate, I was eventually auctioned off to a merchant who put me up as part of a bet and lost me to one of the owners at the Lyre & Vice. He disliked riding carpets, so he put me in the aerie along with several other carpets who had been deemed unridable. Most of them aren’t worth discussing.
Two of them were positively mad, their consciousness completely fractured beyond repair.
One of them was painfully stupid. Couldn’t follow simple directions like up or down, even though it had been fitted with a sort of rein like one might use on a horse.