Thief of Time - Fifth

The man at the sink said the last word as if it was as portentous as 'castle of dread', placed another bottle on the draining board, and, still with his back to Lu-Tze, held up a hand. All the fingers were folded except for the middle digit, which was extended.

'You know what this is, monk?' he said.

'It's not a friendly gesture, friend.' The ladle felt good and heavy. Lu-Tze had used much worse weapons than this.

'Oh, a superficial interpretation. You are an old man, monk. I can see the centuries on you. Tell me what this is, and know what I am.'

The coldness in the dairy got a little colder.

'It's your middle finger,' said Lu-Tze.

'Pah!' said the man.

'Pah?'

'Yes, pah! You have a brain. Use it.'

'Look, it was good of you to-'

'You know the secret wisdoms that everyone seeks, monk.' The bottle-washer paused. 'No, I even suspect that you know the explicit wisdoms, the ones hidden in plain view, which practically no one looks for. Who am I?'

Lu-Tze stared at the solitary finger. The walls of the dairy faded. The cold grew deeper. His mind raced, and the librarian of memory took over.
This wasn't a normal place, that wasn't a normal man: A finger. One finger. One of the five digits on a-

One of five. One of Five. Faint echoes of an ancient legend signalled his attention.

One from five is four.

And one left over.

Lu-Tze very carefully hung the ladle back on its hook.

'One from Five,' he said. 'The Fifth of Four.'

'There we are. I could see you were educated.'

'You were... you were the one who left before they became famous?'

'Yes.'

'But... this is a dairy, and you're washing bottles!'

'Well? I had to do something with my time.'

'But... you were the Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse!' said Lu-Tze.

'And I bet you can't remember my name.'

Lu-Tze hesitated. 'No,' he said. 'I don't think I ever heard it.'

The Fifth Horseman turned round. His eyes were black. Completely black. Shiny, and black, and without any whites at all.

'My name,' said the Fifth Horseman, 'is...'

'Yes?'

'My name is Ronnie.’

***

The Thief of Time - p249-250