The Reign Of Istar (29 page)

Never in the history of Istar had the scroll been opened. Never had the high council
agreed to it, though it had been proposed many times. Among the nine there were always
those - notably those of the Solamnic Knighthood - who argued that the altering of free
will was an abomination. And usually there were some - generally the elves - who worried
that the gods themselves might not condone such a thing. It could, they pointed out,
destroy the very balance upon which the universe relied.

Certainly the neutral gods would be outraged, for free will was sacred to them. Even the
gods of good and light, some whispered, might consider the exercise of mind control as an
arrogance.

The keeper of portals shivered again, realizing that the scrollmaster was looking directly
at him now. In those eyes there was no touch of age, no frailty, no question of purpose.
The ancient eyes blazed with a zeal as bright as fire and as cold as ice.

“The gods of good rely upon us, Sopin,” the old one said. “They entrust us and empower us.
We MUST not fail them again. The source of evil lies in the minds of men. It is there that
we must stamp it out.”

*****

The great Highbulp Gorge III, leader of all the Aghar of This Place and Maybe Some of
Those, was stumped by Lady Drule's question. He hadn't the vaguest idea when his birthday
might be - wasn't altogether sure what a birthday was - and had far more important things
to occupy his mind ... if he could remember what they were.

One of them, of course, was the wine mine. Gorge wasn't at all certain, but he suspected
that wine was an unusual commodity for mining. Then again, the world was full of mysteries
and it was usually best not to dwell on them. He didn't even know where the mine was, exactly. The combined clans of Bulp always had a mine going somewhere (generally near the town dump),
on the off chance of finding something useful, but the mine's location shifted as often as
the location of This Place did.

This Place was portable, which served the gully dwarves' purposes. Years of abuse and
misuse by other races had built certain instincts into the Aghar, and one was to not stay
in any place long enough to be discovered. This week, This Place was here. A week or two
ago, This Place had been someplace else, and a week or two hence, This Place might be in
some other place entirely. This Place was wherever the Highbulp said This Place was.

Gorge didn't remember exactly why his tribe had left the previous This Place - past
decisions based upon past circumstances were seldom worth remembering - but he was proud
of his selection of the current This Place. A natural cavern in a limestone formation, its
outside entrance was concealed by huge mounds of rubble left by the Talls who built the
giant structures soaring above. This Place extended deep beneath the fortress parapets of
the great temple of Istar and was joined by ancient, eroded seeps to the pantries of the
great structure.

It was a fine place for This Place, and the fact that it had been discovered by accident -
several gully dwarves had fallen into it, literally - was not worth remembering. To Gorge
III, it was simply one more evidence of his personal genius as Highbulp, on a par with
other accomplishments such as ... Well, whatever they were, he knew there had been any
number of them.

Probably the only actual act of genius the leader of the Aghar of This Place had ever
managed was to proclaim himself Gorge III instead of simply Gorge. The enumeration had the
desirable effect of keeping his subjects thoroughly confused - an accomplishment that all
leaders of all nations and all races might envy. Few among the Aghar could count to two,
and none could count as high as three. Thus, there was always a certain awe among them
when they addressed their lord as Gorge III.

Simply by virtue of his name, they were never quite sure who - or what - he was. That
alone eliminated any possibility of competition for his job.

Deciding to be Gorge III had been an inspiration. Now, many years later, the Highbulp
sensed another inspiration coming on. He didn't know what it was, but its symptoms were
not quite the same as indigestion and it had something to do with the way he felt when he
put on his new elk hide with its enormous antlers. Somehow, the improbable attire made him
feel like a Highbulp of Destiny.

So, when his beloved consort - what's-her-name - suggested a celebration in honor of his
birthday, Gorge readily agreed and promptly forgot the entire matter. He was far more
interested in strutting around in his elk hide and feeling important than in planning
formalities.

Drule, on the other hand, had no such preoccupation.

“Hunch!” She summoned the grand notioner. “We celebrate Highbulp's birthday!”

“Fine,” the ancient said, starting to doze off. “Hunch!” she demanded. “Pay attention!” He
woke up, looking cranky. “To what?” “Highbulp's birthday! Celebrate!”

“Why?”

That stumped Lady Drule for a moment, then she countered, “Highbulp say so.”

Hunch sighed. “All right. When Highbulp's birthday?”

“Tomorrow,” she decided. Other than today and yesterday, it was the only day that came to
mind. And the Highbulp certainly had not been born yesterday. “Make plan.“ ”What plan?“ ”Who knows? Ask Highbulp.” The conversation was interrupted by a
clatter and a flood of oaths. The great Highbulp, trying to wear elk antlers atop his head, had fallen
on his back.

The grand notioner approached and stood over his liege, poking at him with the mop-handle
staff. “Highbulp. What you want to do tomorrow?”

“Nothing,” Gorge grunted, getting to his feet. “Go 'way.”

With his answer, the grand notioner returned to Lady Drule. “Highbulp say for celebrate, all go 'way, do nothing.”

It was not exactly what Drule had in mind, but she was busy with other matters by then.
Some of the court ladies were bickering over the new stew tureen, and it was obvious to Lady Drule that they should
have more than one tureen. An entire table setting might be nice.

Hunch frowned and repeated the Highbulp's order. “For celebrate, all go 'way, do nothing,”
he said.

Drule glanced around. “No work? Nothing?” “Nothing.” “Off day, then.” She nodded. “Tell
everybody tomorrow is Off Day.” Skitt, the miner, was one of the first to hear the news and helped to spread word of it. “Tomorrow Off Day,” he told everyone he could find.
“Highbulp's orders.”

“What is Off Day?” someone asked him. “What we supposed to do on Off Day?”

“What we do on Off Day?” someone else asked.

Skitt had no answer. He hadn't heard the details. For his own part, though, he intended to
go to work.

Among the spoils of the ladies' foray, he had found a reaver's maul and a chisel. Skitt
might have been only a gully dwarf, but he WAS a dwarf. The use of tools was strong in his
simple soul. He couldn't wait to see what he might do with a reaver's maul and chisel in a
wine mine.

Thus it was that on one fateful day, two birthdays were celebrated - one above, in the
Temple of the Kingpriest in the city of Istar, seat of clerical power and center by
proclamation of all the world, and one below.

*****

The high cleric of Taol had been under the weather, owing to a pardonable excess of elven
spirits used to counter the grueling effects of a long and arduous journey to Istar. But
when it was announced that the pious festivity of the new day would be preceded by a
petitioned meeting of the grand council, his health improved markedly. One did not send
regrets when the Kingpriest summoned the grand council.

Thus all nine of the Most Revered Sons - the high clerics of the nine realms - were in
attendance in the Hall of Audience when the panels of glowing stone were rolled back to
flood the chamber with glorious light, light that seemed to emanate from the throne
revealed there, and from the person who sat upon it.

None of them would remember afterward exactly what the Kingpriest looked like. No one ever
did. There was always only the lingering impression of immense good, flowing upon waves of
light.

In the entire great chamber, there was only one small comer where shadows lurked, a niche
among the great floral carvings that rose from the radiant floor. To one who might notice
such things - and few did, in the presence of His Radiance - it seemed only a slight
anomaly in the magnificent architecture, an inadvertent cleft where the light was blotted
out. But to Sopin, who lived daily in the sanctums of the temple, the corner was a source
of dread. He glanced that way and thought he saw movement there, among the shadows. He
could not be sure, but it seemed that the Dark One was present.

Sopin shivered and turned his eyes away, letting his troubled thoughts evaporate in the
brilliance of the light from the throne of the Kingpriest.

There were the prayers and the rituals, the lavishing of appropriate unction toward each
of the good gods of the universe, and then it began. “Revered Sons.” The voice that came
from the source of light was as warm and comforting as the light itself, as resonant as
the rays of the sun. “Our beloved brother, the master of scrolls, has petitioned for
audience, as is his right. He proposes an edict, one which has been considered before, and
one which would require your sanction.”

Sopin settled himself into his cubicle, ready for a long and learned debate. He had heard
it all before, and now he would hear it again, and he wondered if the outcome would be any
different.

Never had he seen the master of scrolls so determined, though, and he wondered if it were
possible that evil itself might provoke its own final demise.

Time would tell.

*****

Skitt had about given up on replenishing the source of the wine, which had run dry after
an hour's flow. A large part of the cavern of This Place was now waist-deep in wine, but
no more had come lately from the pay dirt vein. When he finally managed to widen the vein
enough to squeeze through - it struck him as slightly odd that the tunnel had started in stone and
ended in wood - he found beyond a sticky, reeking mass of pulp. His maul and chisel had
little effect on the mess and, in fact, he very nearly lost them.

He had almost decided that the gusher was no more than a pocket with a dry hole beyond,
when splashing sounds behind him caught his attention and he backed from the tunnel to see
what was going on. Across a small lake of spilled wine, Lady Drule and a sizable entourage
of other Aghar females had launched a makeshift raft and were poling themselves toward the
dark seeps that led to the Halls of the Talls. Many of them carried empty sacks and bits
of net.

Skitt waved at them from the mine entrance.

Some of them waved back, and Lady Drule called, “Why you here on Off Day, Skatt?”

“Skitt,” he corrected. “Skitt, then,” she said. “Why?” “Dunno,” he admitted. “Somebody
give me that name I guess. Where ladies go?“ ”Need more stew bowls,“ she called back. ”Lady Grund remember where they are. Place where Tall guards stack metal clothes.”

“Have nice day.” Skitt waved again. “Off Day.” “What?” “Skatt supposed to say, 'Have nice
Off Day.' This Off Day, remember?“ ”Oh.” Skitt waved again. The raft was past him now and approaching the ledge where the seeps began. Having nothing better to do, Skitt went
back into his tunnel, took a deep breath, and plunged into the wall of sticky stuff. It
had occurred to him that somewhere beyond there might be more wood or rock - something
that he could cut with his chisel.

*****

Gorge III was feeling grumpy. He glared around in the dimness of the central cavern,
seeing only a few of his subjects here and there, all of them ignoring him. Everybody, it
seemed, had decided to take the day off. No body was arguing, nobody was scurrying about bumping into one another, and worst of all,
nobody was paying him any attention. He was surly and miffed, but he didn't know quite
what to do about it.

“This insubor ... insub ... in ... this no fun,” he grumbled, and nobody seemed to care.

Even old Hunch was no help. The grand notioner simply had shrugged and said, “This Off
Day, Highbulp. Nobody got to do anything on Off Day. Not even put up with Highbulp. Me,
too.” And with that he had turned his back and wandered off.

For a time, the Highbulp fumed and stamped around. When that gained him no attention, he
got his elk hide, pulled it around him with the great antlers jutting upward atop his
head, and sat down to sulk.

As usual, when Gorge III set out to sulk, he went to sleep. His eyelids drooped, he
yawned, the great antlers teetered and swayed above him, then tipped forward, held upright
only by the elk hide on which he was sitting. His mind drifted off into muddy visions of
hot stew, cold lizard, stolen ale, and comfortable confusion.

*****

It seemed that Gorge III was alone in the cavern of This Place. It seemed that the cavern
had grown darker, and that there was no one anywhere except himself. Or maybe there was
someone else, but he couldn't see who it was.

“So THIS is the answer,” said a soft voice. Gorge couldn't remember the question.

“Poor Highbulp,” the voice whispered. “Gets no respect.”

“Right,” Gorge tried to say, but it didn't seem worth the effort.

The voice soothed him, weaving its slow way through drifting dreams. “Need to do something
special to get respect,” it said. “Something grand and glorious. Something great.”

“Sure,” he thought about saying. “That nothin' new. Highbulp glorious all the time.”

“But SPECIAL,” the voice purred. “Need to do something special.”

“Like what?” the Highbulp considered asking.

“Move,” the voice suggested.

“Don't want to,” Gorge might have said. “Just got here.”

“Oh, but a big move,” the voice insisted. “A migration, Highbulp, a great, grand, glorious
migration. Lead your people to the Promised Place.”

“What Promised Place?”

“Far,” the voice whispered. “Very, very far. A long journey, Highbulp. Destiny ... the
Highbulp of Destiny. What is the name?”