Quest for the King (42 page)

"No, but I could order it myself, sir!" cried a soldier behind him.

"Then do so, and as soon as the flames have got a grip, sound the
retreat again-and we will run for it!"

Distressed, Lieutenant Kosti stared at the dying prophet. "There are
tears in your eyes," the prophet whispered.

Huskily the lieutenant replied, "You must not die. Do not leave us!"

"I have lived to see the burning of this temple. Another temple may
succeed it, but that is the Emperor's affair. I have seen enough to take
my departure. My mission is finished."

He feebly turned his head to watch the flames rising from all parts
of the temple. Almost as though they were alive, flames leaped six or
eight feet from the oil-soaked wood. Little points of crackling yellow
flame burst from between widening cracks that opened in pillars,
paneling and side columns. Flames ran along the floor, beginning to
leap up the central pillars and lick their way greedily up the temple
walls. The prophet took it all in, the flickering firelight reflected in his eyes. He nodded, smiling. "It is enough," he murmured. `This
temple will go. And the dark spirits will know that however long their
reign maybe, their doom is now sealed. That knowledge with its bitter
rage is their true destiny. Sooner or later, darkness enchains its own!"

He gripped Kosti's arms with the last of his strength. "Swear to me
that you will leave my body here to burn with the temple," he demanded, piercing the younger man with the power of his gaze.

"Oh, no, sir! How could you ask me such a thing?"

"Listen to me! For this moment I have stayed alive all these years!
In a few years the real king will return, and by his death he will tear
the horns from the head of the bull. Therefore let my body be consumed by the very flames that announce their coming doom to the
enemy." The old man gasped for breath. "There is something else I
would ask of you. I know that what you long for will come to pass.
You will marry Shiyrah. Swear to me now that you will care for and
protect her as long as you both shall live."

A trembling sigh escaped Lieutenant Kosti's lips. After a moment
he said, "I swear. I swear to abide by both things you ask of me." He
longed to say more, to speak of his awe and love of the prophet, whom
he had so recently come to know. But even as he looked back into
his eyes, he saw that the stare had become fixed in death. Quietly he
laid the body down on the floor of the temple.

He looked up and saw the queen standing near him, not far from
the open door in the column. She nodded her head. "I know it is hard
for you, but he is right. He must have what he has asked. You will have
enough to do comforting that remarkable granddaughter of his."
Then she left him.

Lieutenant Kosti glanced around to confirm that the fire had a firm
grip on the entire temple, and took his place by the door. The colonel,
Wesley, Kurt and one or two soldiers ran toward the column. Kosti was
illuminated by the flickering flames, while Lisa stood in shadow just
inside the column.

"Pick up the prophet, Kosti!" the colonel ordered.

"Sir, he made me swear to leave him here. It was his dying wish. The queen is a witness to it!"

Colonel Integredad stared for a moment, then shrugged. "We had
better get moving."

Lisa, ignoring the flames, waited as the rest ran by her. Then the
lieutenant helped her to enter herself, and they let the door slam
behind them.

Lisa followed Lieutenant Kosti down the steps.

Lisa stared at the blue-lit interior of the column. "Blue light: true
light," she murmured to herself. "The shadow spirits fear this light.
They never came into it last time, they just wanted to lure me into the
other light-their light."

"We had better hurry," Lieutenant Kosti said, and they hastened
down the stairs together.

"That was awful," Lisa said to Kosti. "The prophet, I mean. I'mreal sad-about his death, but for you it's much worse. And for Shiyrah . . ." She left the sentence unfinished.

The lieutenant panted, "Yes. I do not know how to break it to her."

They continued their descent without speaking. They could hear,
echoing hollowly, the voices of those who hurried ahead of them.
Mary was trying to keep up with the queen. "Just before we fled into
the temple, I heard the Qadar high up in the sky, your majesty," she
panted.

"Yes. I heard them too."

"But they didn't attack us."

"No." She sighed and said, "I had the rather silly notion that the
thing using my husband's body had only me in mind. That might have
been true. But as the evil within him left the body, I realized the spirits
of darkness were only incidentally after me. It was the little king they
really wanted."

"Oh! So, your majesty, you're saying that may be why the rest of the
Qadar didn't bother attacking."

"That is right. Somehow they sensed he was not with us. Little King
Gaal was their real goal."

Mary was quiet for a moment. "I'm so sorry, your majesty!"

"You mean about my husband?"

"Uh-huh."

The queen sighed and said, "We might as well slow down. Nobody
will pursue us, so there is no desperate hurry after all." Once they had
slowed to a walk she said, "My husband's death was less of a shock
than you might think, Mary. It was more like a relief. I realize now
that I have been grieving him for a long time."

After some time, the queen continued. "And you must not mind me
talking to you, Mary. It is a relief to have someone to talk to." She
looked down at Mary, giving her a wintry smile. "I can tell, too, that
like me, you have changed. Mary, I now see evil less as fearful or
terrifying and more as ugly, foul and disgusting. When I think of the
selfish contempt the Lord of Shadows has for the Regenskind, I have
no words disdainful enough to describe him or his cohorts."

Mary understood thoroughly. She had memories of her own. Very
soon they arrived at a jam created by the difficulty of the chasmcrossing. From behind the crowd, Colonel Integredad called, "We
need not hurry!"

The queen also called out, "Every person in Bamah will be staring
at the fire, and the army and priests will be devoting all their energies
to unsuccessfully trying to put it out. So take your time crossing!"

Once they had crossed, the colonel addressed them again. "In a moment you will mount your horses and will leave this place. As her
majesty has pointed out, this is the ideal time to do so. I doubt that
there will be any pursuit. I know how the priests think. The temple
has supernatural power that they use. Every soldier and every civilian
they can lay their hands on will be forced to try to put the fire out.
And everyone who is not fighting fire will be staring at it! But we must
remember what our real goal is. In any case, they do not know where
to look for us.

"What is our goal? It is to make sure that the little king gets safely out
of Anthropos-Playsion! And to that goal we must give all our energiesand our very lives, if necessary "

He paused a moment to let the words sink in, and then continued. "That, and that alone, is what our aim has been all along. The burning of the temple will serve to destroy the enemy's power center, but
it will not destroy the enemy, only distract him for the moment. You
have all done a superb job. Every one of you has played your part
splendidly. We might now get away freely, but you must not count on
it!"

He commended groups of them, mentioning some by name, especially Lisa. He described his admiration of Wesley's swordplay and his
amazement at Kurt's battle frenzy. Then his face became serious and
his tone solemn.

"But we must be under no illusions. We have not destroyed the
powers of darkness, only shaken them. Sooner or later they will be
onto us-and it could be sooner rather than later. We must get the
little king out of the country before that time. How this is to be
achieved is uncertain at the moment, but ..."

As he spoke those words Kurt's memory flashed back to the time
they had been "arrested" by the queen. He saw again the small meadow in which he had observed two trees. He also saw vividly the picture
beyond the trees, hills of a country he did not recognize. He remembered what it was that had gripped him about what he had seen, a
bluish light illuminating the tree trunks, as though they constituted a
gateway to a country beyond Anthropos-Playsion! He remembered Lisa and her constant admonition "Blue light is true light."

Immediately he called out, "I know how we do it! I know how he
is to leave the country!"

Quickly he described what he had seen in the meadow. The colonel
frowned uncertainly, but the queen cried, "And I could take us there.
I know just the spot you speak of." She glanced at the colonel. "You
have doubts?"

"I do not know, your majesty. I am not a man of vision, but of
action. However, we have experienced the children's visionary tendencies and their results. Certainly we must go there. However, we must
lose no more time now."

Lisa opened the stone door for them, and as they emerged they saw
the rain had ceased. Dawn had broken in the east, but .the pale sunlight was washed out by the billowing sheets of flame ascending majesocally and leisurely into the sky.

`Just look at that!" Wesley said to Kurt. "Did you ever see anything
like it!"

Kurt's only response was, "Wow!" For a moment he stared with
widening eyes.

"With your majesty's permission?" said the colonel.

"Proceed, Colonel."

"I believe we can dispense with caution, ma'am. Even if the sentries
should see us, they are hardly likely to attract the attention of their
superiors at the moment."

"Very well."

"Mount your horses, men! We must be on our way to pick up the
little king!"

The company thundered across the bridge, emptied by the sentries
lured away by the fire.

Still galloping hard, the weary troops arrived at Ashleigh late that
afternoon. The Lady Dolores of Ashleigh ran outside to meet them,
and they exchanged greetings and news.

"You have come for the little king." Lady Dolores curtsied to the queen and then to the colonel.

"Yes. But we need rest and food badly," the colonel replied. "We
have neither eaten nor slept since yesterday morning."

"Take the horses round to the back where they are less likely to be
seen," she said, "and I will open the rear entrance and meet you
there."

As they were being conducted into the rear of the house, the queen
said to Lady Ashleigh, "We may need to make a sudden getaway."

"Your majesty could use the secret passage," Lady Ashleigh replied. "Kurt discovered it last time he was here. I knew it existed, but my
husband would never tell me where it was to be found. It goes from
the room where I have put little King Gaal and his parents as far as
the woods by the river bank. I will see to it that there are enough
canoes there for the whole company."

The queen's eyes sparkled. "I know this country like the palm of
my hand. Kurt has spoken to us of a meadow on this side of the Rure.
If I am not mistaken, there is a path that comes out on the east bank
of the river leading to that meadow. From this meadow there is one
of the Emperor's doorways-a doorway to another country."

"What should I tell the young king and his parents?"

"Warn them to sleep with their clothes on, ready to depart at a
moment's notice."

"Do they know anything about the secret passage?"

"No, your majesty. But I will inform them and give them torches."

Lady Dolores curtsied, then ran inside the house to make sure the
servants opened the rear entrance. A meal was prepared for the company, and after that they found places to sleep-some on couches and
chairs, some on the floor, and others (the lucky ones) in the bedrooms.

But at midnight a sentry roused the colonel. "What is it?" Integredad asked.

"There are a couple of men on the lawn some distance from the
house," came the answer. "I do not know what they are doing, but
they have lit a fire and are spouting gibberish and drawing circles in
the air."