Darknesses (40 page)

T
rue
to his word,
Captain Deen arrived early on Londi, pacing outside the
senior officers’ mess when Alucius came out after eating breakfast.

“Good
morning, sir.” Deen bowed as he hurried toward Alucius.

“Good
morning.” Alucius waited for Deen to join him before he turned down the wide
corridor toward the stairs up to his quarters, knowing that he had at least a
glass before he had to get ready to leave for the palace.

“I
just wanted to brief you on the formalities of an audience with the
Lord-Protector,” the captain began. “There are a few aspects…”

“Go
ahead. You might as well start now.”

“You
must be there, and present yourself to Captain-Colonel Ratyf at least half a
glass early. Captain-Colonel Ratyf is the director of appointments. You may
wear your working uniform, since there is no fully formal Northern Guard
uniform, and your sabre; it’s considered a ceremonial weapon, but no other
weapons, belt knives excepted, are permitted in the presence of the
Lord-Protector. I’m not allowed to accompany you into the audience. This is a
private audience, not a public one. There will still be guards behind the
screens, and the Lord-Protector’s secretary will write down what is said, but
you won’t even see him…really quite an honor, a private audience…only a few
granted every year…”

Alucius
continued to listen as they climbed the stairs to the third floor and turned
back westward toward his quarters, passing the duty guards.

“…the
Lord-Protector is always addressed as ‘Lord-Protector.’ Sometimes he allows his
senior ministers and marshals to call him ‘sir,’ but that is a privilege he
must grant…and he seldom does…”

As
they entered the senior officers’ quarters, Alucius turned to the captain. “If
you would just take a seat here somewhere, while I wash up and get ready?”

“Oh…yes,
sir.”

Alucius
closed the door to the sleeping chamber firmly but quietly. Alone there, he
debated, then slipped off his tunic. After washing up, he returned and slid the
nightsilk vest into place, and then the tunic. He already wore the nightsilk
undergarments. In fact, he never went anywhere in public without them, not
after all the wounds they had saved him.

The
Lord-Protector wanted something, and he didn’t want it made too public. Or was
the private audience because he didn’t want to make too much of a furor over
what could have been a disaster in the east while he was overcommitted in the
west? Or was it something else entirely? He wouldn’t find out until he met the
Lord-Protector, and, in some ways, he wasn’t certain he wanted to discover what
the Lord-Protector had in mind.

Alucius
glanced out the window toward the palace. There was also no sign of the
purpleness he had felt earlier, nor had there been anytime he had looked.

Finally,
he rejoined Captain Deen in the sitting room. “Shall we go?”

“Perhaps
we should. We might be early, but better that than to be late. Especially
today.” Deen stood quickly and turned.

Although
he wondered what Deen meant by “especially today,” Alucius let that pass for
the moment and followed the captain out and down to the courtyard. When Alucius
reached Wildebeast’s stall, he discovered that his saddle and other tack had
been thoroughly cleaned and oiled and rubbed dry and polished.

The
stallion tossed his head slightly when Alucius led him out into the
courtyard—as if he happened to be pleased to be out of the stall and into the
open air.

“There…you’ll
get a ride. Not a long one, but a ride.” Alucius mounted and waited for the
captain to join him.

Then
the two officers rode around the east side of the building. Outside the gates
of the headquarters buildings, they turned right, westward toward the river and
the Grand Piers that lay beyond the Lord-Protector’s palace.

“Why
wouldn’t it be a good idea to be late, especially today?” Alucius finally
asked.

“His
consort has been…ill.”

“Ill?”

“Well…she
was hoping for an heir…and…” Deen shrugged helplessly. “They’re young, though.”

Alucius
nodded, not in agreement, but in understanding, while hoping that the
Lord-Protector wouldn’t take any emotion he might have out on Alucius.

On
both sides of the boulevard were what appeared to be gardens. A number of
guards in cream-shaded uniforms were posted at intervals along the low stone
walls bordering the boulevard, and others walked along the stone paths, many
bordered with rows of brilliant blooms and greenery, some of it trimmed into
the shape of animals. Alucius saw one tall bush that depicted a rearing horse.
Fountains spaced irregularly sprayed into the air. Several women with small
children, and at least one older man also walked the paths.

“These
are the Lord-Protectors’ gardens. They were begun by the Lord-Protector’s
grandsire. Anyone may come here,” Captain Deen said.

“They
look well kept,” Alucius said.

“They
are. The Lord-Protector tariffs anyone who harms them or despoils the flowers
or trees.”

“If
they cannot pay?”

“Then
they must work in the gardens at the rate of a laborer until the tariff is
paid.”

“I
imagine few despoil the gardens,” Alucius suggested.

“Very
few. Many enjoy them. There are flowers from all across Corus, and some even
from the western isles. Others come from places one could never imagine, while
others…”

Beyond
both the gardens and the palace, the green towers flanking the Grand Piers were
clearly visible, spires identical to the one in Iron Stem and those in Dereka.

“What
is inside the towers?” asked Alucius.

“Nothing,
sir. The insides are empty, and so far as any know, they have been so since the
Cataclysm. There are not even steps or signs of supports for them, only a
single entrance at the base. And there are no windows.”

“There
is one in Iron Stem, and it is exactly the same.” Alucius wondered, briefly,
what function the towers had served for the Duarchy. In his travels, all that
the Duarchy had created to last, such as the eternastone high roads, had been
built for a purpose. “Does anyone know why it was built?”

“No,
sir, unless it was to mark the piers.”

The
gardens ended at a wall on the right side of the boulevard, a stone wall a good
four yards high, which marked the beginning of the palace grounds. On the left
side, the gardens—although divided by the Avenue of the Palace running
northward from the high road—continued all the way to the Grand Piers.

“We
enter here, sir.” Captain Dean gestured to the first entrance.

The
entryway to the palace was a covered portico little larger or more impressive
than that of the entry to Southern Guard headquarters, except that there was a
half squad of guards in dark blue uniforms, trimmed with silver, rather than
with the cream of the Southern Guard. There were also several stableboys,
waiting as the two officers reined up.

Another
captain waited at the top of the steps above the mounting blocks. Like Captain
Gueryl, he wore blue braid across his shoulders.

Captain
Deen did not dismount. “I leave you here, sir.”

“Thank
you, Captain. I’ll find my way back somehow.”

“Yes,
sir.”

Alucius
dismounted.

The
graying captain stepped down to meet Alucius. “Captain Alfaryl, Overcaptain.
Captain-Colonel Ratyf asked me to escort you.”

“Thank
you.” Alucius glanced up. While not quite so large as the Landarch’s palace,
the structure was still imposing, at least five floors, and stretching a good
two hundred yards from east to west. “Has anyone ever gotten lost?”

“We
try not to let that happen, sir.”

“I
can imagine.” Alucius followed the older captain through the double stone
arches and inside into a square, vaulted entry hall that rose a good ten yards
overhead and measured fifteen yards on a side. Light poured through the high
clerestory windows on the south side. The floor was polished granite, inlaid
with long strips of what appeared to be blue marble, creating a blue-edged
diamond pattern.

Captain
Alfaryl crossed the entry hall, leading Alucius through the middle of three
square arches into a corridor that stretched a good forty yards, but after
about twenty yards they turned left into a short corridor, not more than ten
yards long. At the end was a set of high double doors. In front of the doors
were four more of the guards in blue and silver. Without a word, the guard in
the center opened one of the doors, holding it as Alucius and the captain
stepped through and closing it behind them.

Alucius
found himself in a large chamber, with a number of settees and upholstered
armchairs, and with blue-and-cream hangings, and heavy carpets, in blue and
cream, laid over the granite floor. On the light-wood-paneled walls hung
several portraits, all of men, and presumably of past Lord-Protectors. Except
for Alucius, Captain Alfaryl, and the captain-colonel who walked toward them,
the chamber was empty.

“Captain-Colonel
Ratyf,” said Alfaryl, “Overcaptain Alucius.”

“Ah…yes,
sir. The Lord-Protector was wondering…Since you’re here early, I’ll check. The
Lord-Protector might wish to see you sooner…” The captain-colonel vanished
through a small doorway.

Captain
Alfaryl looked at Alucius, then around the chamber. “Most unusual…”

“The
Lord-Protector seeing someone early?”

“He
has many demands on his time, sir.”

“Usually
there are many people here?”

“Yes,
sir.”

That
didn’t help put Alucius any more at ease, not when the captain-colonel returned
and beckoned. “He’d like to see you now, sir, since you’re here.”

Alucius
turned to Alfaryl. “Thank you.”

“My
pleasure, sir.”

Alucius
followed the captain-colonel’s gesture, stepping through the larger door in the
rear of the waiting chamber.

Ratyf
held the door and announced in a deep voice, “Overcaptain Alucius of the
Northern Guard.”

Alucius
stepped into the audience hall, hearing the door click shut behind him.

The
hall itself was not that much larger than the corridor leading to the waiting
chamber, but the goldenstone walls were draped with rich blue hangings, and
light-torches were everywhere, giving the chamber an impression of airiness.
The floor was polished white marble, patterned with the blue stone Alucius had
seen in the outer entry hall, but the pattern was that of smaller oblongs, not
diamonds. He could sense neither apprehension, nor fear—but there was a vague
sense of purpleness that he had not felt before.

The
Lord-Protector stood before a white onyx throne, a slender dark-haired man in a
blue-violet tunic without decorations or ornamentation. The throne’s high stone
back rose into a spire, a good three yards high, and at the tip of the spire
was a shimmering blue crystal star. For a moment, Alucius caught his breath,
but let it out as he sensed that the jewel was merely a jewel and not a focus
of power the way the crystal of the Matrial had been.

“Overcaptain.”

“Lord-Protector.”
Alucius bowed. As he straightened, he caught sight of a figure to the right and
to the rear of the Lord-Protector—an older-looking man in silver vestments. But
the silver-garbed man did not
feel
old to Alucius,
and his lifethread was black and purple…with the tinge of evil that Alucius had
only felt with the pteridons and the Matrial.

Before
Alucius could more than perceive that, silently and quickly the man in silver
vanished through a side door half-hidden on the right side of the dais. Alucius
knew that he had missed something beyond the evil, but not what.

“Please
join me.” The Lord-Protector gestured to a simple chair set on the wide step
below the throne-chair, then seated himself on the cushion—the sole softness
within the onyx.

Alucius
took the chair, noting that he was a perfect target for the marksman who was
concealed in the left gallery, and whom he could sense but not see. His eyes
did flicker upward. He also worried about the man who had left so quickly.

“Yes,”
the Lord-Protector said with a smile, “there are guards there. It’s a pity, but
they have proved necessary in the past. I’d expected you would find them
immediately. From what I’ve heard and seen reported, you miss very little,
Overcaptain Alucius.”

“I
try not to, Lord-Protector.” Alucius grinned, hoping it was self-conscious.
“There was a minister or someone in silver, who was leaving as I entered…”

“Oh…the
Recorder of Deeds, one of my oldest advisors.”

What
the Lord-Protector said was true, but far from all that he might have said,
Alucius knew, from the combination of both acceptance and surprise felt by the
Lord-Protector.

“Is
he your secretary…I had heard…”

“No.”
The Lord-Protector laughed. “Majer Suntyl is acting as secretary today. That is
a position, not an individual.” Before Alucius could ask another question, he continued.
“You are younger than I had thought, and yet somehow much older. I suppose that
follows from all that you have been through. Tell me…what was it like to wear a
Matrite collar?”

“It
made me extremely cautious, Lord-Protector. When someone can kill you without
touching you and without an obvious weapon, you try to be very careful.”

“Cautious?”
The older man smiled. “That is scarcely a word most would apply to you. Yet it
fits. What may seem foolhardy to some may be in fact most cautious to a man prepared
for the worst. I had heard that when you discovered that you would be facing
pteridons, you immediately devised a moving target on which your men could
practice. Was that true?”

“Yes,
Lord-Protector. I fear it did not help so much as we had hoped.”