Quest for the King (17 page)

Five of the travelers were already eating breakfast when the outside
door swung open and Gerachti entered through it. He grinned and
said, "I just said what Kurt said yesterday: `Open in the name of Gaal,'
and here I am. It worked! Mind if I join you?"'

The five stopped eating and stared at him in astonishment. After
a moment Alleophaz said, "Of course not. Sit here opposite Kurt,
Gerachti, there is a place set for you right there "

Gerachti strode across the room, a smile on his face. He did not
sit down, however, but stood behind his chair and said, "I thank I owe
you all an explanation, and an apology." He looked particularly at
Kurt and said, "I cannot tell you how sorry I am, Kurt. I hope you will
forgive me." Tears came to his eyes, and for a moment he had trouble
speaking.

Kurt wanted to say, "Of course!" but the words never came. His throat
went dry, and he could not make a sound. Everyone was very still.

Gerachn took a breath. "I tried to kill Kurt last night." Lisa gasped,
but no one else made a sound or moved. Gerachti continued. "He
came out of the tree sometime after midnight. He went up to the top
of the meadow, through the trees and into a smaller meadow beyond.
I followed and stood a few feet away with my sword ready."

For a moment a grim expression clouded his face. No one spoke.
They were like stone statues.

"Kurt was trembling, crying. He talked, but his words made no sense
to me. I thought he was pleading for his life. I now know I was quite
mistaken about that. At any rate, losing patience, I raised my sword
high above my head and stepped forward. I had every intention of
swinging it down and cleaving his head in two.

"But as I tried to swing my sword arm down, a mighty force met me.
The sword was snatched from my hand, and where it is now I have
no idea. In terror I found myself wrestling against an assailant I could
not see. He flung me to the ground, and though I struggled fiercely,
he was determined to pin me there. I felt that my end was upon me,
and I struggled with all my might for the longest time. But my strength
gave out, and in the end I had nothing to fight with. I felt his weight
pressing me down. His hands forced mine against the wet earth and
his breath was hot in my face. Kurt was saying, `Don't hurt him!' I
suppose he was pleading mercy for me.

"'Now,' he (whoever he was) said. `Now I have you where I want
you for a moment. All I want to do is to tell you that I love you.' "

"I never heard that!" Kurt said, half laughing, half crying. "I saw
you wrestling and struggling with someone, but I never heard a thing!
I was in the middle of blue light."

"Yes, Kurt, yes! The whole area was alight with blue-blue flames
coming up from the earth through me and ascending into the skies,
and blue flames descending over me from above. It was as though
kindness and goodness and holiness were washing over me. I was
weeping. I cried out again and again,'I did not know. I did not know!'
Then you left me, Kurt "

"I'm sorry, Mr. Gerachti I didn't know what to do. It seemed sort of-I dunno, well holy-like I'd no right to watch."

"Well, I am glad in a way that you did go. For when I think of what
took place after you left-I would just as soon-not even talk about
it now." His lips trembled.

Kurt reached across the table and laid his hand on Gerachti's wrist.
"It's O.K-I understand, if no one else does."

They stared at Gerachti, marveling at the vast and sudden change.
There was no arrogance, no tendency to sneer, no bitterness. He was
a different person.

"We understand to some extent, Gerachti," Alleophaz said. "We
knew the terror that had gripped you. And we all wished you well."

Suddenly everyone was talking at once, as tension gave place to
sudden and relieved joy. Lisa was saying, "Here, let me pour your
coffee, Mr. Gerachti. Stop talking, everyone, and let him eat. The poor
man must be starving."

But they didn't stop talking, and nobody minded the fact that it was
all talking and no listening to what anyone else was saying. Somehow,
Gerachti managed to eat a good breakfast, saying little himself, but
grinning constantly.

Finally, Wesley succeeded in getting everyone's attention. "I have
good news for you. I had a visit in my dreams last night from a spirit
of light-Risano, he called himself. He gave us instructions for the
next part of the journey. We are to sell the horses today and paddle
upstream toward Bamah by canoe.

"He said we'd find another road on the far side of the river toward
evening, and that almost at once we'd come upon a fairly large house
with wrought iron gates. There will be a bell-pull, and we are to ring
the bell."

"Are you sure?" Kurt asked.

"Absolutely. A man will come to the gate and ask who we are. We
are to say, `We are servants of the true and only King.' He will say,
`Who is this true and only King?' and we must reply, `He is yet a child,
he is yet a child!'

"At that he will open the gate and bid us enter. He deals in horses, and will purchase the animals for the price you originally paid, and
he will give us lodging for the night. Then in the morning, we are to
proceed by canoe to a waterfall, where we will hide until the queen's
party arrests us."

"Arrests us?"

"Yes, of course. You remember, if we are her prisoners, the king
will no longer have any claim on us."

Once breakfast was over, they packed the mules, saddled the
horses, and mounted in high spirits.

Belak spoke earnestly to Gerachti, telling him how glad he was for
what had happened. "I have missed being with you and talking with
you," he said. "Oh, Gerachti! I am so glad!"

Gerachti was smiling, his eyes alight, and unaccustomed joy all over
his dark face. "You are not nearly so glad as I!"

Then, looking up, he cried, "Now I can see the column of smoke!
May I lead?"

Alleophaz looked over at Wesley. "Would that be all right?" he
asked.

Wesley laughed, "Sure. Go ahead, Gerachti! That makes three of
us-unless-" he looked inquiringly at Lisa, who shook her head.
"Nope! Can't see a thing!" Her voice was tremulous, though cheerful,
but her face seemed tight, as though it was an effort not to look
disappointed. Alleophaz and Belak also shook their heads.

So they followed Gerachti up through the meadow and the trees to
the small meadow beyond. Gerachti showed the rest where the events
of the previous night had occurred, and pointed out where the tall
grass had been flattened where he had wrestled. He found his sword
and replaced it in the scabbard.

That day proceeded as the previous day had done, except that the
birds sang, and at one point the valley echoed with the call of a bull
moose. Once Gerachti ordered them to stillness with a motion of his
hand. There was a doe in the trail facing them, and they gazed at it
for several minutes. Gerachti talked to it gently. "You are a beautiful
creature!" He was awed and delighted. "Yes, you are very beautiful. Do you have a family?"

Alleophaz turned to Kurt and whispered, "I have never known him
to be like this. It is worth our whole journey!"

Kurt whispered, "The doe doesn't speak. Are there no talking animals here now?"

`Just in Anthropos, perhaps," Lisa murmured.

Suddenly the doe flicked her white tail up and bounded in great
flying leaps up the steep hillside through the trees on their left. Gerachti gave a great sigh, and they resumed their way. The column led
them over a bridge and down the far bank of the river. They stopped
in a meadow for a lunch that Lisa had prepared from the morning's
buns and the previous night's turkey. The day had grown very warm,
and the boys and men began to peel off their clothing. Wesley gazed
in surprise at the tremendous arms and chest that Gerachti displayed.

"Wow! Does he ever look strong!" he remarked to Alleophaz.

"Yes," Alleophaz murmured. "He used to feel that manhood consisted in strength of arm and limb, and in skill with weapons. He
devoted a lot of time to his physique. But I think that last night he
began to discover what real manhood is all about. For the first time,
he had to submit to a greater strength than his own."

That evening they reached the east Bamah Road. "I think I will go
down to make sure the road is clear," Gerachti said. "I will be back
soon." When he returned he was smiling. "The road is clear-and the
house is only a hundred yards farther."

They found it as Gerachti had said and as Wesley's dream had
foretold. Soon they were standing at a wrought iron gate on the righthand side of the road. They could see a house in the background, and
the river behind it, and a bell rope hanging from a hole in the stone
gatepost. Wesley pulled it, and a bell above the gatepost clanged
sonorously.

A man emerged from the house and came to the wrought iron gate.
He stared at them through the grillwork, gripping the bars with his
hands. "Who are you?" he asked.

As if they had rehearsed it, they replied as one, "We are the servants of the true and only King!" (Belak stumbled over the words, missing
"true and only"-but nobody noticed.)

The man's voice rang out again, "Who is this true and only King?"
and again the small chorus was heard, "He is yet a child, he is yet a
child."

Then they heard the sound of bolts sliding and the gates swung
open. "Come in, and welcome." The man smiled broadly. "I am Sir
Robert of Ashleigh."

His face was brown and his hair the color of carrots, long, curly and
shining. He wore a white shirt with a wide, open collar and huge
puffed sleeves gathered at the wrist. Tight black trousers and buckled
shoes completed his costume.

He led them to the stable and called for servants to care for the
horses. "I will buy them from you if I may. Just name your price. I
understand you are to proceed by canoe from here. You are now,
whether you know it or not, in Anthropos. You crossed the border just
before you reached the road. How you came through the forest unscathed, I will never understand."

He first showed them where the two long canoes were moored,
then led them to the house. Inside, he introduced them to his wife,
Lady Dolores, and his two teenage children. There was a meal of roast
pig in the large dining room, attended by a whole team of servants.
They drank the same Anthropos wine as on the previous two nights,
while their host drank mead. Then, after the table was cleared and
the servants dismissed, they ate fruit and cheeses and drank more
wine, listening to their host tell his story.

"Already I have told you that my name is Sir Robert of Ashleigh.
Ashleigh is the house my ancestors built, the same house in which my
servants have served your lordships, and within whose hospitable
walls your lordships will be safe." At this he bowed, his carrot-colored
hair falling about his face. He tossed it back as he straightened.

"He's a bit of an ass, but I like him," thought Kurt.

Wesley thought, "He talks like a real Anthroponian, but there's
something odd about him. What is it that's wrong?"

"I was knighted by his majesty the king," Sir Robert continued. "Not
the present king, who is no real king, but a corrupt and cowardly son
of the House of Playsion-"

"My dear, it is unwise to speak so freely," his wife interrupted. "The
walls have ears. The king could learn of your disloyalty."

"Madame, I care not! Let the king learn! I was the subject of his
late father-in-law, the father of our present queen, and it is to her that
I owe allegiance, not to this usurper to the Anthropos throne."

"My dear, he is the rightful king-"

"Never will my knee bow before him, nor will many like me in the
realm of Anthropos. I bow before the Warrior Queenl"

His wife sighed. "She is a courageous lady. But she says herself that
she prefers the prayer stool to the sword, and would gladly drop the
sword if only his majesty would learn to wield it in defense of Anthropos"

"And that he never will," Sir Robert said. "And, as I was about to
say, twenty years ago I was visited by a spirit of light-"

"Have some more fruit," said Lady Dolores, offering the silver bowl
of fruit to Alleophaz.

Sir Robert's children glanced at each other, and the girl shrugged
her shoulders. They rose as though a signal had been given. "May we
be excused, Papa?" the oldest girl asked.

"I am sure our guests must be tired," Lady Dolores continued, as
though unaware of the annoyance on her husband's face. "Perhaps
you could tell them the rest of the story tomorrow?"

It was then that Wesley thought he saw a change flicker over Sir
Robert's face, so that for a fraction of a second he seemed a different
man-quieter, less pompous, no longer foolish and annoyed, but
ruthless and calculating. He gave his wife a quick glance, and then
was himself again, wearing a foolish smile. The change had passed
in a flash, and so completely that Wesley wondered if he had imagined it.

"Of course, my dear." Sir Robert turned to his guests. "How
thoughtless of me. The perils of the forest are well known, and for you even to have survived is much."

Alleophaz smiled. "You have been most considerate. But your good
lady is right. We are weary. Would it seem discourteous if we all
followed your children's excellent example?"

"Of course not." Sir Robert himself rose to his feet and the rest did
the same. Soon they were in their rooms. Wesley and Kurt shared one
room, while the rest were lodged in individual bedrooms in one wing
of the manor house. The two boys sat on the edge of their beds,
discussing the events of the day. Soon there was a knock on the door,
and Wesley called, "Come in!" Alleophaz entered, followed by Gerachti, Belak and Lisa-all wearing their cloaks again. The boys
stared, bewildered, but Wesley reached without thinking for his own
cloak.

Alleophaz waited until they were seated, he and Gerachti on two
chairs, Belak squatting on the floor, while Lisa perched herself on the
end of Kurt's bed. For a moment or two no one spoke. Gerachti was
smiling a little, looking at Alleophaz. "So, what is on your mind?" he
asked.