Quest for the King (20 page)

Captain Integredad's eyes looked hard at her. "Did you say, 'somewhere in this world'? What other world is there?"

Mary bit her lip. "I-I shouldn't have said that. I-oh, gosh!" For
a moment her pose of assurance evaporated. Then, like the little girl
she really was, she cautiously added, "You won't say anything, will
you?"

"Mary, I have heard of other worlds. Are you serious when you say
you have come from one?"

Mary, having lived for a while with Uncle John, still found it hard
to lie, and struggled to know what to say. "Look, I shouldn't have said
that I'm sorry."

"But you said it."

Mary stared at the floor, avoiding the captain's eyes. For a minute
or two she did not speak. Then, still looking at the floor, she said, "I
don't mean any harm to anybody. It's not the first time I've been here.
Though I think that last time it was-well, in a future time in Anthropos. I know it's confusing. But yes-I did come here from my own
world-and by magic. But please don't tell anyone. I really only came
to find my Uncle John. He's called the Sword Bearer."

The captain, a worried frown on his face, drew in a deep breath.
Slowly he said, "The Sword Bearer is little more than a child himself.
But it is true that he came from another world."

"I suppose he was, once-young, I mean."

The Captain of the Guard stared at her. Finally he said, "It is hard
to know where my duty lies at times. There is one person I must tell,
Mary, and that is her majesty the queen. My duty to her is clear-it
is my duty to protect her. Therefore she, at least, must know."

Mary shrugged her shoulders. She was angry with herself for letting
her origins slip out so easily. Captain Integredad's kindness had
fooled her, precisely because it was genuine kindness. And he had
been quick to follow the thread of her thoughts. Yet it could have
been worse. She wasn't being detained, but she would have to find
a way into the temple before the queen returned.

"Please-it'll be all right," she pleaded. "I know I'm only little, but
I know what I'm doing."

"That is what my daughter once told me."

"Your daughter? But she wasn't a witch. I am."

"Well, like you, she thought she was. And she went to the temple
secretly. I knew nothing about it till much too late."

"Oh? What happened?"

The Captain of the Guard turned his head away. Had his lip begun
to tremble? Finally he turned to her and said, "They offered her as
a sacrifice on the great altar outside the temple entrance. That was
three years ago. Perhaps you can understand how I feel about the
temple." Slowly he shook his head from side to side. "She is dead,
Mary. She trusted them, and now she is dead. They are a vile and evil
lot in there, and they can twist the king round their little fingers."

His gaze was steady, while Mary's mouth hung open and her throat
was dry. "But surely," she began, then stopped. She had been about
to say that such a thing could not be, but she was remembering the
dreadful experience Lisa had told her about, so that her protests died
on her lips. For Lisa had one day found herself on that same altar,
the altar outside the temple. It had taken place in another timewould take place now in the distant future. She had been chained and
manacled to the altar, Lisa had told her, and guarded by a strange
being who was by turns a cat and a snake named Ebed Ruach. Mary's
legs began to feel shaky.

"I-I think I'd like to go back," she said.

She was unexpectedly overwhelmed with a longing to be close to
the safety of the Lady Roelane. Powerful people were also dangerous
people. She wanted to hold and be held by the Lady Roelane, wanted
the comfort of bodily contact with her, wanted her as a mother, whose
comforting warmth could enfold her. "I-I really want to-to go back.
Please take me back to the Lady Roelane."

In time she might recover her courage, but for the present she
wanted comfort. She was still trembling when they found Lord Nasa
and Lady Roelane. The captain smiled politely before leaving, but said nothing of what had taken place. However, immediately there
was another knock on the door, and Duke Dukraz was admitted. Lady
Roelane, perceiving Mary's distress, turned to him. "Your wish, highness, is doubtless to talk with my husband. Perhaps you will excuse
the Lady Mary and myself." Swiftly she drew Mary into the bedroom
and closed the door, so that only the faintest murmur of conversation
came through it. Then she turned to Mary, who flung her arms
around her waist, burying her head against her. Slowly the Lady Roelane began to stroke Mary's hair with a free hand. "Why, you are
trembling more than ever."

Then wave after wave of stormy sobbing took control of Mary, and
the older woman, still standing, began to sway from side to side, gently
rocking the little girl as though she were soothing a frightened infant.

"Please be seated, your highness!" Lord Nasa said courteously. But
his thoughts were on Mary. Was she weeping? He was sure he could
hear her, but the heavy oaken door (padded on both sides with leather) made it difficult to tell what was happening. He turned his mind
to his visitor, and became aware that he was being carefully scrutinized from beneath the heavy black eyebrows. He seated himself at
the other end of the window seat, facing Duke Dukraz.

For several minutes there was silence.

Finally, drawing in a deep breath, Duke Dukraz said, "I am concerned about my sovereign, and have decided to take you into my
confidence. The king has opted to follow the gods of Playsion, and
this has me worried for two reasons."

Lord Nasa nodded but remained silent, waiting for the duke, who
had been choosing his words with care, to continue. Eventually he said,
"My first concern has to do with the priests. His majesty is willful and
lacks discernment. I do not trust the priests, whether they be of Playsion or from Anthropos. Their sole aim seems to be to achieve political
power. To them, I am sure, the institution of the crown means nothing,
and they will stop at nothing to gain their objectives. If they cannot
control his majesty, then they will not hesitate to eliminate him."

"You have expressed this to his majesty?"

"I have, but my protests are useless. His majesty is bewitched, and
is entirely under their control."

"You mean-"

"I mean that they have pronounced some kind of spell over him.
He has become a mouthpiece of some being that proclaims itself as
`Lord of Shadows.' He was weak at the best of times, but now his very
thoughts are controlled by-by this spirit. He is like a man in a dream,
a sort of channel for something greater and darker, voicing thoughts
far more complex than his majesty could conceive. Whereas formerly
I could guide his thinking, I am now utterly helpless before an intellect for which I am no match."

He sighed, placed his elbows on his knees and his head in his
hands. The strong, self-possessed man seemed to have been replaced
by a man with a great burden. After a moment he continued.

"It is not his majesty's intellect, but that of one of the great Lords
of Shadows whom the sorcerers serve. They have created a monster,
a man possessed by the gods, a man whose mind will eventually break
down into insanity as it is crushed beneath the weight of the mind
of a god. Indeed, I do not know whether his majesty still exists, or
whether this lord of shadows merely is using an animated corpse. But
this is only one of my worries. The second has me yet more deeply
concerned."

Lord Nasa drew in a deep breath. "And your second worry?"

For several more minutes the duke lapsed into silence. Eventually
he said, "Gods rule over countries and their peoples. Our priests have
begun to worship the gods from Playsion-at my sovereign's ordersgods that do not belong in Anthropos. I am ignorant of such things,
but I am dismayed to see us embark on a course which would arouse
the wrath of any of the gods. Her majesty the queen worships the
Emperor, who is not a human but a spirit being, a god, and according
to reports from the early history of Anthropos a source of infinite
power and goodness."

Lord Nasa nodded, and the duke continued.

"Battles are won and lost in the spirit realm, not here on the earth.
That being the case, the priests may have done a foolish thing in
following my king's orders and promoting the worship of the Lords
of Shadows here. The gods decide issues of this sort, not men. Your
Emperor sounds very powerful-but I have seen what these gods have
done to his majesty, and I am nervous about meddling further."

Again, Lord Nasa nodded. "That is certainly true, and your assessment of the Emperor's power is correct. But, powerful or not, he holds
his judgments back. He is patient, hoping Anthroponians will turn
back to him from the gods of Playsion."

"What I want to ask you," the duke said eagerly, "is how may this
Emperor, this god whom you serve, be appeased? Are there sacrifices
that we may offer him? Will he respond to the surrender of human
victims on altars of sacrifice? Or have we already gone too far? Is the
matter already decided, our fate already sealed?"

"I am afraid I do not know whether-" Lord Nasa began, but the
duke interrupted.

"Her majesty the queen speaks of prophecies of the total destruction of Bamah, of the sacrifice of a king, and of much more. It is
precisely something of this sort that I fear. What are we to make of
it all?" He seemed agitated, and had begun to rub his hands together
as he continued. "Moreover, it is said that a king has been born here,
a king who will stand for the Emperor and his ways. What do you
know about this king? You referred earlier to the rumor of an infant,
and declared that her majesty the queen was not inclined to palace
intrigue. I believe you. But what do you know about the rumor, and
how much substance might there be in it?"

Lord Nasa shrugged. "I have no knowledge of how much truth lies
in the rumor. A king, they say, but where is he? Anthroponians have
waited long for this king. I assure your highness that the matter seems
altogether too insubstantial for me to credit Frankly, prophecies mystify me."

The duke shook his head. `But there are certainly prophecies of
the Emperor's terrible judgments. It is these I fear. Powerful as the Lords of Shadows may be, they are no match for the Emperor. I feel
in my bones that we are approaching a crisis."

"Her majesty has a far more comprehensive knowledge of the ancient records than I have myself," Lord Nasa replied. "What is more,
she understands them-or seems to."

The duke sighed. "Then we must await her return. I suspect she
knows more than she is willing to share with me. But I fear that if
something is not done soon, his majesty's brain will give way, and we
may have a madman on our hands. Even his voice has changed-it
is his, yet not his. As for his eyes, at times they stare blankly, and at
other times I know that another being looks at me through him. My
spirit shudders when this happens, and a great fear steals over me."

Lord Nasa nodded. "You are suggesting, perhaps, that if his majesty's mind were to give way, the priests and sorcerers would seize
power?"

"Precisely. Such an eventuality must be avoided at all costs."

"So why do you allow them to continue to influence the king?"

The duke rose to his feet, his face grim. "Because I am powerless
to stop him from seeing them now. When this being that now occupies
the king's body summons them, I must give way. It is not only his
majesty but the crown itself that is threatened, and with it the very
nature of rule. Already he is a pathetic puppet in the hands of Lords
of the Dead and of the Shadows. Once the priests rule we will have
the rule of Shadow itself-"

Lord Nasa also got to his feet. "And you fear your own gods?"

"I fear them greatly. They are vicious, cruel."

"Yet you worship them."

Duke Dukraz shook his head, beginning to pace up and down. "I
never believed anything until recently, thinking priestcraft and
sorcery nothing but ceremonial mummery. But I have witnessed the
power that controls them-especially in his majesty himself-and I
am afraid. If I were to worship any god, it would be the Emperor.
However powerful and severe in his judgments, he appears to be the
defender of the poor and the weak-and it is the duty of rulers to protect those they govern. The Emperor's vengeance against his faithless priests could be terrible, for at least he is a god of justice."

He continued to pace, frowning and biting his upper lip, his hands
clenched behind his back. Then he paused and looked apologetically
at Lord Nasa. "Forgive me, but I must leave you for the present. I am
grateful for your listening ear. You have been a help."

Lord Nasa shook his head. "I fail to see in what way."

"You are an honest man, and it is always helpful to talk to one.
There is little integrity in the court of his majesty."

He bowed and left the room. After he had gone, Lord Nasa continued to stand. Finally he sighed, shook his head and said, "He is
right. I suppose we must await the queen's arrival. But the crisis may
fall upon us before that."