Quest for the King (27 page)

"This sounds wonderful. A column of blue fire! What happened to
it?"

"Your majesty, we do not know. We have seen nothing of it since
we met her majesty the queen, who brought us here-as her prisoners."

"Ah, yes. That was unfortunate. Without understanding the issues
clearly, we were all-and quite unnecessarily-alarmed. You must
forgive us. Now that we understand the nature of the child's coming
such precautions have ended."

He smiled gently, and with apparent fondness, at the queen. Yet
Lisa could tell that his eyes were bright but cold. "I have explained
to her majesty that your incarceration is quite unnecessary, and have
suggested to her that you be released. We do see eye-to-eye on that
issue, my dear?"

The queen looked him serenely and steadily in the eye. "Of course.
As your majesty sees, they are my guests. I called them prisoners lest any misunderstanding should occur as to their status."

The duke said nothing, remaining motionless, his face inscrutable.

The king cleared his throat before continuing. "What would be
helpful to us would be to know when the birth of this child occurred.
We have traced the royal line in Anthropos, and there is no knowledge of any heir to the Anthropos throne. We might have difficulty
establishing the paternity of the claimant."

The queen interrupted. "With your majesty's permission-you
know that we have discussed the paternity of the child."

"True. And I found your views very stimulating. Most stimulating."
He paused as if musing, and no one interrupted. Then he said, "It
does raise the interesting concept that this Emperor-over-the-Sea
might be emperor over all seas, in all worlds, and all universes. Marvelous!" He paused again, and the silence in the room could be felt.
Wesley's heart hammered his ribs, as did Mary's-yet neither could
have said why.

Eventually the king continued, still as though he were thinking
aloud. "It is a pity no one has visited this emperor. I would be glad
to render homage to him myself-but it is difficult to do so if I do not
know where he dwells." He looked directly at Kurt. "Has any living
person in your world visited or even seen him?"

Kurt struggled to his feet. He felt his throat closing and was filled
with terror, though he knew that the Emperor was sovereign over all
universes. All he could say was, "I-er-I don't know, your majesty.
I don't think so." The pounding of his heart nearly robbed him of
his power to breathe. A doubt entered his mind. Was the Emperorover-the-Sea a real person?

The king smiled. "Oh, well! Perhaps we can establish who the
child's father is some other way. Just so long as it is not just another
peasant claimant to the throne!" He smiled brightly round at everybody with his cold eyes. ("Like a snake's eyes," Lisa said later.) Then
he said, "Now, where were we? Ah, yes. The matter of when the child
was born."

Alleophaz bowed once more. "Twenty-three moons have passed since my vision, your majesty. Therefore twenty-three moons have
passed since the child's birth. We set out to find him at once, but our
journey has taken long and we were shipwrecked."

"And now that the column is gone-you are sure it really has
gone?"

"None of us has seen it recently, your majesty."

For several moments the king was silent. "So the child has been
alive for almost two years. This is indeed wonderful news! But where
he was born remains a mystery. Now, my dear priests, I consulted you
yesterday, asking you to find any prediction in the ancient lore which
would tell us where to look for him."

One of the priests stepped forward. "Along with our chief, Shagah,
we have done as your majesty requested, searching all the ancient
records with care. We knew, of course, of the coming of the Glason
emissaries, mistakenly perceiving their arrival as a threat to the kingdom." He hesitated, looking directly at Alleophaz. "I trust that our
suspicions have not made your journey unnecessarily hazardous?"

Alleophaz bowed but said nothing. Inwardly he was utterly certain
that neither the king nor the sorcerer-priests were to be trusted. But
if diplomatic considerations were ensuring their safetyjust then-well
and good.

Turning again toward the king, the priest said, "There are many
references to the coming of a powerful emissary of the Emperor, but
only one was found to the place of his coming. It points to Karsch, a
hamlet a day's journey away, in the hills southeast of here."

"In Karsch, you say?"

"In Karsch, yes. The hamlet has quite a history."

"You can be sure that he is there?"

"At this point we are sure of very little, your majesty. All we know
is that an ancient prophecy predicts that when the birth occurs, it will
take place in Karsch. But who knows where the child-if he was born
earlier-would be now? We have consulted both shades and the Shadows, but there is no response from them."

The other priests appeared to be ignoring the discussion, as those who carried incense proceeded ceaselessly round the room. The children found themselves getting drowsy from the influence of the incense, and Kurt's headache continued as a dull throb.

Alleophaz spoke again. "Your majesty, it is our purpose to find the
child, for our lives are devoted to the pursuit of wisdom. We believe
the child is the key to such an understanding, not only for AnthroposPlaysion, but for all the peoples of the world. We would go to Karsch
and begin our search there, if this accords with your majesty's wishes."

The king looked long and hard at him. At last he said, "Very well.
Search for the child, and leave no stone unturned until you find him.
It is important that all of us accord him the honor such a child merits."
A gleam came to his eyes. "I personally am most interested in him.
I would be happy to have him here in the palace, or pay him my
respects in his own home. An emissary of this emperor indeed! If the
Emperor exists it would be a great honor to have such a being among
us!"

The king nodded, then rose, and everyone rose with him. The
interview ended as the king ascended the stairs and took his power
with him.

Once the royal party left the throne room, the invited group did the
same. In the corridor a buzz of murmured conversation broke out
among them. "How much can the king and Shagah be trusted?" Lord
Nasa asked.

"No further than they can be thrown," Gerachti replied. "Nor do
they trust us, I suspect."

"They seemed to be certain that we would come back and report
to them," Alleophaz mused thoughtfully, "yet we made them no promise to do so."

The Friesens and Mary were not listening but were talking among
themselves. At least, the Friesens were talking. Mary still seemed withdrawn, her eyes downcast.

"The king gives me the shivers!" Lisa said.

Kurt replied, "I know. But I was glad Shagah wasn't there."

"Yeah," said Wesley. "You actually met him, didn't you?"

"Looks like Mary may be a lost cause," Lisa whispered, shrugging
her shoulders.

Kurt disliked her casual dismissal of Mary and whispered, "Don't
talk like that, Lisa! We can't let her stay in the clutches of Shagah. He
would cheerfully have murdered both you and Wes-"

"Oh, can it, Kurt, I-"

"-not to mention Inkleth, whom he very nearly did murder. Remember the way Inkleth crawled to us over the grass? You may not
like Mary, but you can't give her up to a murderous beast like Shagah."

"Kurt, you don't understand. Mary wants that sort of stuff," Lisa
retorted.

"I know, I know-sure, Lisa, but she has never met Shagah. She doesn't
know the danger she's in." Kurt's whisper was distressed. "I thought
she was in a trance," he added.

Wesley shook his head. "I think something's happened we don't
know about. To me she looked more like she was depressed, or-or
despairing, more than anything else."

They had been walking as a group toward the queen's section of
the palace, and the adults had continued their own conversation. The
Friesens heard Alleophaz say to Lord Nasa, "No, our rooms are very
adequate, indeed luxurious. But we must get together later-perhaps
in your quarters, to discuss plans, I hope. In any case, we must become
better acquainted."

Back in the drawing room of their apartment, Lord Nasa and Lady
Roelane turned to Mary. For a moment they stared at her. Then Lady
Roelane gathered her in her arms, saying, "Oh, Mary, I am so glad
to see you are back. I grieved and feared for you last night. Where
were you?"

Lord Nasa's voice was stern. "Yes, Mary. I sought you in the temple,
but I found nothing. Were you there?"

Mary nodded miserably. She was thinking of all that happened
during the night, and of what she had learned about herself. She tried
to explain. "They hustled me right off to Shagah. There was this
stairway-it was their magic. It is pretty powerful stuff. It's a stairway you can't quite see, but you have to see it to go up it. If you don't see
it you don't even feel it. But if you do, it's solid for you an' you can
go up it."

Mary's lips trembled, and a tear trickled slowly down one cheek.
Lady Roelane released her, looking closely at her. The girl looked
forlorn, and the two words she spoke came as a groaning echo from
a deep, dark pit of despair, "Oh, oh!"

"What happened, Mary?"

"Nothing, really, well-nothing bad. I just went into these rooms,
which became real if you could see them, an' Shagah was there. They
left me with him, an' I'm afraid of him."

"So what did happen? What did he do?"

Mary shrugged. "Nothing, really. It was what he said-what he told
me. He said that I came to them because I had to. I was under a
powerful spell that came down my real mother's line."

"A spell? What do you mean? Are you talking about witchcraft
again?"

A little of the old Mary came back for a moment. "You asked me
to tell you what the matter was! I'm telling you. My great-great-great
grandmother, according to Shagah, was a well-known and powerful
witch. I never knew. An' she laid some kind of curse on our family,
so that all the women were to be born as daughters of the Shadows.
He said I couldn't escape being a witch."

Lord Nasa sat down, watching the two of them. Lady Roelane again
stroked Mary's hair. "Yes, but Mary, you belong to Gaal now."

"I wish I did, but you know that's not true. An' you also saw what
happened when the light came. I never should have said what I did. But the light faded. He went away-an' he won't come back. It feels
awful."

Lady Roelane's voice was quiet. "Mary, it is not over yet."

Mary sighed. "Two nights ago I had dreams about Gaal. Y'know, I
actually love him. I know it now. But it's too late. I'm still under this
curse, and there's more to it I haven't told you."

"Take as much time as you need, and tell us," Lady Roelane said.

Mary drew in her breath. "Shagah told me about my own mother
and dad. They weren't very nice. I don't remember anything about
them. My mother was a witch, apparently, and she was also very
brilliant, wrote a lot of books."

Lady Roelane was distressed by Mary's despair. "I'm so sorry, Mary.
You must have felt awful."

"Well, she worked as a spiritist doing seances, an' she really could
get in touch with the dead, not like a lot of them who were fakes. Apparently she was really good, an' she charged an awful lot."

She sighed, saying almost bitterly, "I guess I get my brains from her.
Anyway, my father was a dead loss-and a major beast. Shagah told
me he did things to me-things you don't do to babies."

Lord Nasa said, "And you believed him? How do you know he was
not lying?"

"Oh, Lord Nasa! It all fits. Everything fits together now. Why would
no one ever talk to me about my real mother? I only remember my
stepmother-an' she was bad enough. I always thought she was my
real mother. Oh, why does it have to be like this? I hate life an' I hate
me!"

"Do not hate, Mary, at least not any more than you can help. You
love Gaal." Mary was about to interrupt, but Lady Roelane continued. "Well, he loves you and so do I. " She put her arms round Mary to
comfort her. "I think I would like you for my own daughter."