Free Master and Fool by J. V. Jones Page B

his parents had deserted him, and
no amount of excuses could talk their deeds away.
    Here, in the
baker's lodge, with a score of noisy bakers busily eating themselves sick, Jack
began to wonder if there was purpose behind the pain. Did his mother's death,
his father's abandonment, and Tarissa's betrayal mean something?
    Jack's cup was
filled by an attentive pudgy hand. "Deep in thought, eh?" said
Eckles.
    Jack was annoyed
at the distraction. There had been an instant where he felt the answer was
within reach. Eckles' words had chased it away.
    "You best
come with me now, lad. Bring your cup and as much food as you can hold."
Eckles began to walk toward a side door and Jack followed him bringing only his
cup. His appetite had left him. The huge, round-faced baker led him to a small
sitting room where a fire burned brightly in the hearth. "Sit. Sit,"
he said, motioning to a bench that was pulled up to the grate.
    Jack did as he was
told. "Are you going back to the meeting?" he asked. Obviously the
Baking Master's Guild had secret matters to discuss.
    "Me?
No." Eckles shook his head firmly. "I've heard it all before, and I
already know the outcome." He didn't as much sit as land on the bench next
to Jack. "They're deciding whether to make their ancient prophecy be
known."
    Jack felt his face
grow hot. "What prophecy?"
    Eckles looked at
him carefully. "Well, lad, you're a baker, that's for sure, and as you've
already stumbled across our best-kept secret, I can't see that telling you
another will make any difference either way." He had brought in a skin of
ale from the banquet hall and filled Jack's cup for a second time. Jack was hardly
aware that he'd drunk the first cup. "The Baking Master's Guild has been
meeting in Annis since before it was even a city. When it was just a scholars'
retreat we were kneading dough for the philosophers, putting bread to rise for
the wise men." Eckles leant forward. "Contrary to popular belief,
Annis was built on bread, not brainpower."
    Jack managed a
smile: bakers were nothing if not proud.
    "Anyway,"
continued Eckles, "one day, over a century ago now, a baker baked a loaf
for a man who called himself a prophet. Only when the loaf was delivered did
the baker find out that the man had no money to pay for it. The prophet was
close to starvation and begged the baker to give him the loaf. Now, the baker
was a good man and took pity on the prophet. Of course he didn't give him the
freshly baked loaf-after all, he was a tradesman, not a fool-but he did give
the man the leftover loaves from the day before. The man thanked him for his
trouble, and from that day on the baker always sent his stale bread to the prophet."
    "The
following winter the prophet caught the tubesthinkers just don't have the
constitution of us bakers-and on his deathbed he called the baker to him. The
baker was master of the guild by now, but he came to the man's summons as if he
were just an apprentice. The prophet took the baker's hand and said, "I
have asked you here to repay my debt. As you know, I have no money, but what I
do have is insight, and so that is how I will pay you." Well, the prophet
then told the baker his prophecy, and it has been a guild secret ever since.
Passed from generation to generation, from father to son." Eckles finished
his tale with a dramatic flourish worthy of an actor.
    Whilst the story
was being told, Jack felt the palms of his hands growing damp with sweat. He
felt guilty, but wasn't sure why. "And what does this prophecy
concern?" he asked.
    "A baker, of
course."
    Jack nodded He
wasn't surprised. "Which baker is this?"
    "One who will
come from the west and bring an end to the war."
    "What
war?"
    Eckles looked him
straight in the eye. "The one that's building between the north and the
south. This one." He rubbed his hand over his mouth. "I can't
tell you the whole verse, lad, not until the guild gives the nod, but the last
two lines are:"
    "If time
turns twice, the truth will bring
Peace into the