Quest for the King (35 page)

Again Ish turned to Mehta, and they nodded at each other. Then
the woman smiled at Alleophaz, saying, "Please enter our hiding place
and greet our little one."

Mehta led the way inside the cave. Before closing the heavy oak door,
Ish waited until everyone had passed him on the way in. It closed with
a resonating bang, which seemed to echo from somewhere deep inside the hill. They crowded along a narrow passage only to discover
that it opened to form a large chamber where the air was fresh and
dry. Smoke curled from a peat fire, drawn upward to escape somewhere far above them. The mother bent to touch the child before
seating herself on a crude bench.

Mary, who had been frowning and glancing round, reached suddenly for Lady Roelane's hand, gripping it tightly. Her heart was
beating hard, and a moment later she found why. She looked into the
eyes of the two-year-old child. As she did so, her grip on Lady Roelane's hand tightened even more.

"Oh, no! No, it can't be! Oh, Roly-it's him, it's Gaal. It's those same
eyes! Whatever shall I do? He's looking right at me."

Lady Roelane drew her to herself. "Do you not know he loves you?"
she murmured.

Lisa said, rather breathily, "It really is Gaal! I just know it!"

Trembling had taken possession of Mary's body. She slowly sank
to her knees, clutching Lady Roelane's hand now with both of her
own and ignoring the roughness of the rocky surface that dug into
her knees. Soon sobs began to shake her frame. She heard a child's
voice saying, "She hurt, Mummy! She hurt-ing."

"Yes, Gaal."

"I pray Co' big girl, Mummy?"

"If you like."

The captain and the three Glasonites were already on their knees,
their foreheads touching the ground. The rest remained standing,
strangely awkward, awed, yet uncertain how to behave. Mary was unaware that the child had approached her.

"She nice, Mummy. She nice!"

At the sound of his voice, so close to her, Mary glanced up, but
immediately withdrew her hands from Lady Roelane's and buried her
face in them, while a further storm of sobs seized and shook her. It
seemed to her that a myriad of bewildering yet strangely comforting
thoughts and emotions swirled around her. She sobbed without knowing why, and without caring.

Did the little boy really know? Did he understand who she was, what
she had done? How could he if he was only a child?

Then he was addressing her. A moment later she felt the gentle
pressure of his hands on her head. "I like! Gaal like big girl. Don'
cry-mustn't cry. Not no mo'." But Mary began again to sob, wailing
helplessly with a wondrous sorrow too deep for words, wailing as
though she were likely to go on doing so for the rest of her days.

Meanwhile Lisa, Wesley and Kurt stared wide-eyed at the small boy,
who so effortlessly drew all eyes to him. Wesley's lips had parted, but
no words came to them. He breathed deep sighs from time to time.
Kurt whispered, "He's just like just like any other child. But no. He's
different-I mean-something's different."

Lisa shook her head. Her lips were trembling, but she managed to
breathe out, "What did you ex-I mean, what did we expect him to
be like?"

"That's what I mean," Kurt whispered. "I'd never thought about it.
Yet it's-it's obvious, really. Except it's-wonderful!"

Gaal had left Mary and was touching the Glasonites one by one. "They nice too, Dad-dy! Why they kneel?"

The parents glanced at each other. Mehta drew in a breath. "People-er, people do that sometimes, Gaal. They-they feel the Emperor must be here."

"Emp'or my daddy! My uzzer daddy!" he said, smiling.

Then, "They black, Mummy. They black!"

"Not really black, Gaal, just dark brown."

"Dark b'own, Mummy?"

"That is right!"

Little Gaal thrust one of his feet forward. "I got new sandows!" the
child said, pointing down at his sandaled feet and addressing everybody in general.

Lisa began to giggle, but she did so openly, realizing giggling was
appropriate and looking all the while at the child.

"You like my sandows?" He pulled his one foot back and pointed
to both feet.

Kurt opened his mouth, then closed it and swallowed. Finally he
said, "They're great, Gaal! They're terrific! Don't you think so, Wes?"

Suddenly, it seemed all wrong to be standing in the presence of the
child, and the three children and Lord Nasa and Lady Roelane sank
to their knees before him.

Wes said, "He's my King!"

"And mine!"

"He sure is!"

A strange stillness had fallen on the group. Awe had become a
Presence they could feel, charging the cave with an impenetrable
quiet.

The Glasonites offered their packages.

The mother said, "See, Gaal, these kind men have brought presents
for you!"

"P'esents? Fo' me, Mummy?"

"What do you say, Gaal?"

"What they bring, Mummy?"

"We will look at them later, Gaal. So, what do you say to the men?"

"They good men!"

For what seemed a great while they stayed like that. There was no
need of words or any movement. The child was content, now resting
against his mother's robe. Moments slipped by one after another, but
nothing disturbed the stillness. Time had ceased, and rush and hurry
were no more. Every face registered untroubled calm. Mary's wailing
had been stilled. She was half sitting, looking now at the child, marveling at what had happened, at what was still happening and seemed
unlikely ever to end. She looked as though she would be content for
it to continue forever.

Rudely shattering the stillness, a sudden hammering at the oak
door echoed harshly through the cave, awakening strident echoes
from its depths. A muffled shout reached their ears. "Open! Open,
I say, in the name of his majesty, King Tobah Khukah!"

Hastily they scrambled to their feet, looking in uncertain fear at one
another. What now? Had they been followed? Too late for speculation. But where could they go? Into the depths of the cave? How long
before the door burst open? And how long before they were found?

Pounding and the shouts continued as men hurled themselves
against the door to break it open. Several of the company cried out,
for the very floor suddenly became wildly unstable. Waves were passing through what had a moment ago been solid rock. There was a
rushing and roaring sound, and above it the ringing laugh of a delighted child.

The rushing turbulence ceased as suddenly as it had begun. Had
you been watching everyone (say, on a television screen) you might
have been puzzled by the still calm and quiet that prevailed immediately again. Were they stunned by events their minds refused to cope with? Or had a vast blanket of quiet settled on them all? All
movement had ceased again, as though they all were willing to accept
the most dramatic events placidly. The momentary fears that had
registered on their faces seconds before, to which they would have
clung if they had been able, had left no trace. Kurt was the sole
exception. He cried, "Wherever are we?"

He might well ask. The rocky ground where they stood was much
more uneven than that of the cave. They were in a sort of hollow
surrounded by rocky mounds about twice the height of their heads.
Above the nearest of these rose a sheer cliff wall stretching far above
them, so that they craned their necks in a futile attempt to see the top.

They were not under an open sky, even though unimaginably vast
spaces were about them. Any ceiling that might arch overhead was far
too distant to be seen, the space stretching above them into infinitely
distant shadow. A dim, reddish flicker-not unlike firelight-could be
seen, but they could not perceive its source. In addition, a strange blue
light pervaded their immediate surroundings.

Mary found the tiny hand of a child inside her own. She glanced
calmly down to see that it was Gaal's hand she was holding. She
smiled and softly said, "Oh, it's you!" For some time she looked down
at him, a serene smile on her face.

He looked back at her, grinning merrily, not at all serene. "I like!
I like dis!" Apparently he was talking about their adventure. Once
again the little king broke into peal upon peal of laughter.

" 'I-sa-no!" he cried gleefully. "You did it, 'Isano! You did it!" He
released Mary's hand to run to the tall creature-the source of the soft
blue light-standing now a few yards away. If Mary, Lord Nasa and
Lady Roelane recognized him, they gave no sign of surprise. The
three philosophers sank to the ground in awe.

"No, no, no!" the spirit of light cried, laughing as merrily as Gaal
had laughed a moment before. "Bow down to the child, by all means,
but not to me, your fellow creature and fellow servant. I may look
impressive, especially when I shine, but my status is not too different
from your own! In fact, yours has even greater honor!"

They stared at him, immobile. Alleophaz murmured something
softly, but nobody heard him. He closed his eyes drowsily.

"Where are we?" Kurt addressed his question to Risano. Only Gaal,
Risano and, strangely, Kurt were immune from the strange stillness
that affected the rest.

"Where are we? In the cave still! You are exactly where you were
a moment ago, before the king's soldiers pounded on the door-and,
incidentally, there were nearly thirty of them."

"Oh, come off it!" Kurt called. He was uncertain whether he ought
to take such liberties with the laughing giant of a creature before him,
but he sensed that his words would be taken in good part. "What
about that cliff above us?" he continued. "Where was that a few seconds ago?"

"Oh, that!" Risano said, his eyes twinkling merrily. "I will give you
three guesses, young man!"

"Guesses? As for the cliff-why, it's a cliff-isn't it? What else could
it be?"

"I agree that it certainly looks like a cliff. At least it does so from
our present vantage point. But suppose I were to give you a hint, and
tell you that the cliff you think you are looking at is made of leather."
"You're fooling me!"

"Not at all!"

By now Kurt's eyes were on the sheer vertical rise that frowned
grimly down at them, awing them by its majestic size.

Wesley said, "How could it be of leather? Where would one find
that much leather in the whole universe?"

Risano's smile never wavered. "It does seem a lot, does it not? But
again, everything depends on your exact vantage point."

No one spoke. They seemed to have no urgent need to know where
they were. Placid faces, apparently undisturbed by any concerns, the
danger that seconds before had shattered their peace seemed no
longer to have power to disturb.

"But leather!" Kurt persisted.

Risano laughed again, a deep and rolling laughter that, spilling from him, caused others to smile. But their smiles were "Mona Lisa"
smiles, serene and gentle.

Once his laughter settled, Risano said, "Imagine that you are a
microbe examining the side of someone's leather boot. Not the whole
boot, mind you, but just the edge of the sole. You would not be able
to see the soft part of the leather surrounding the foot. It would be
much too distant from the little microbe. All the microbe would be
able to see would be the edge of the sole. In fact, even the edge of
the sole would stretch above it like a cliff, very much as the edge of
the sole of the officer's boot stretches above you now!"