Quest for the King (13 page)

As Kurt had predicted, a meal awaited them inside the dining room
that lay beyond the stables. On the table were roast beef, roast chicken
and fresh fried salmon. There were roast potatoes, boiled potatoes
and steamed wild rice, and all the condiments you can imagine. There
were hot cooked vegetables, and two or three intriguing salads. Several silver platters were piled high with fruits. A jug of wine had been
set beside each plate, and with each jug an intricately carved silver
chalice.

But it was an uncomfortable meal, eaten largely in silence, since
Gerachti's strange behavior dried conversation like an electric hot
plate sizzles a drop of water. He spoke to no one, and took no notice
of remarks addressed to him. He was not trying to be rude, but was
gripped by paralyzing terror. His eyes were glazed, zombielike, as
though he was unaware of his surroundings. His fear had begun as
he entered the strange little cabin and found it was no cabin at all.

Belak described it to Wesley. "He just stopped at the entrance,
staring. All the color drained from his face, and he looked gray. He
was sweating and trembling a little. I had a grim time getting him to
come inside, and he has not spoken since."

Kurt had asked for the roast potatoes, which were in front of Gerachti, and asked again when there was no response. "Mr. Gerachti,
sir, would you please pass the potatoes?" After receiving no response
he repeated, "Mr. Gerachti, sir..."

Alleophaz reached for them and passed them to Kurt. Everyone
else pretended not to notice, but the tension remained.

Gerachti ate nothing but poured himself chalice after chalice of
wine as Alleophaz watched him anxiously. Finally, after the fifth full
chalice had been poured, he said, "Gerachti, do you not think you had
better get something on your stomach?"

Gerachti began to drink his fifth chalice.

"It's all right, my lord," Wesley said hurriedly. "He won't get drunk
It's Anthropos wine. Playsion wine will make you drunk if you drink
enough, but you could drink gallons of Anthropos wine and nothing
would happen. It puts joy in your heart, but that's all. You don't act
crazy. You may slur your words, or stagger a bit, but there's absolutely
no hangover."

Gerachti did not look joyful. Indeed it was impossible to judge from
his masklike face whether he was feeling anything at all. Only the
slight tremor of his hands and head revealed his fear. Just then he
rose to his feet and left the room without a word, descending the steps
into the stable. Alleophaz said, "I will make sure he is all right" He
excused himself and followed Gerachti.

He returned five minutes later, saying, "He is all right for now.
Once we have finished the meal, perhaps you could come with me,
Belak, and we will try to get him to talk. I think I know what the
trouble is."

They finished the meal in silence. It was a pity, because the meal
was a glorious meal, and normally they would have eaten it as a
celebration. What could have been a party turned out to be more like a funeral supper or a wake.

After Alleophaz and Belak left, Kurt said, "Let's sit round the fire."
There was a huge open fireplace where logs crackled invitingly.
Leather chairs and settees were arranged comfortably round it.

"What about the dishes?" Wesley asked, an anxious expression on
his face.

"There's no place to wash them, and no place to store them once
they're washed," Lisa said. "I've looked, and there's just nowhere."

So they sat down around the fireplace, and did not notice (for at
least a couple of hours) that the supper table was instantly cleared of
tablecloth, utensils and food. They simply vanished, leaving only a
dark table of polished oak. (Later they puzzled over the fact that the
children had been obliged to rub the horses down, but had not had
to wash dishes. But for the present there were more immediate concerns.)

"That Gerachti is a pain in the neck," Wesley grumbled. "He
seemed so arrogant at first-arrogant, but together, at least. It turns
out that he's a neurotic wimp."

Lisa said, "Mum says arrogant people are often scared underneath.
She talks about the armor of contempt that some people wear, and
says they have spines of jelly which nobody ever sees. They're insecure, really."

"Well, Gerachti certainly is. He's a drip. I don't know how you kept
your cool this afternoon, Kurt," said Wesley.

"He didn't bother me that much," Kurt said.

Wesley frowned. "You know, Dad's pretty arrogant. I wonder if he's
scared underneath. What is there to be scared of? You know, if you
think about it, Mom's always sort of soothing and managing him.
What bothers me is that he's a bit like Gerachti."

"More than a bit. They're very alike," Lisa murmured softly.

"Oh, this is depressing talk," Wesley grumbled. "Let's talk about
something else. Kurt, why don't you tell us about the way you led us
through the forest. You did splendidly, I must say. How did you know
which way to take?"

"It was the pillar of smoke," Kurt said.

"I could see nothing," replied Wesley.

Lisa laughed. "Are you serious, Kurt?" She frowned. "Yes, you are.
You must be. I remember how sure you were when we were on the
road by the river. But I couldn't see a thing!"

"Nor I," Wesley said. "Not a thing. What did it look like?"

"Well, it varied, and once or twice I lost sight of it altogether. Sometimes it was brilliant and clear, and at other times I could hardly see
it-an' when it faded I had a feeling it was my fault-as though I
wasn't seeing it properly."

"Your fault? How could it have been your fault?"

"I don't know. It just felt that way, as though I wasn't on the right
wavelength or something. Then, late this afternoon, when the light
began to fade, it slowly turned blue, like the lighted blue fog we were
in earlier today with Gaal in that `outside of time' place. I supposed
that meant we were near shelter."

"Weren't you scared?" Lisa asked. "I mean, a column of smoke that
you can't always see clearly, and that nobody else can see at all, is
hardly a solid basis for leading someone through a notorious forest.C

"Yeah, I was scared-at first, anyway. But once I started I was stuck
with it. If it had disappeared I could never have found the way back."

"But how did you know it wasn't just your own imagination?" Wesley
asked.

"I didn't!" Kurt almost shouted. "That was my biggest worry."

"You didn't? So why did you follow it?"

"Because there was only one way to find out whether it was real or
not. And that was to act, to follow it."

"But the risk-"

"I know. I could have looked like a fraud or an idiot, and all of us
could have gotten lost. But once I'd committed myself, there I was!"

"Whew! I admire your guts," Wesley said. "How come Lisa and I
don't get wonderful experiences like that? What do you have that we
don't? I'm green with envy."

Kurt laughed. "Mebbe your turn is coming."

"But the privilege, Kurt! It looked like a brilliant performance."

"It felt awful at first, anyway. I know I put on a brave front, butI guess I can admit it now-I was terribly afraid. Mind you, I was
excited as well. Its hard to describe. That's why I ignored Gerachti,
though he might have been right, because I was so unsure. In any
case, I had other things to worry about right then. And sometimes at
those points the column would become clearer again."

There was a pause as the three found themselves staring at the
flames in the fireplace. Lisa was beginning to get a little drowsy.
Suddenly she remembered something, frowned and became excited.

"Wait a minute, Kurt. What about all those times when you would
look at the trees, especially the large, older trees, and the outcroppings
of rock? You would be puzzled for a moment, look at some huge
chunk of rock and break into a smile. You would nod to yourself and
go forward. We were all watching you, weren't we, Wes? Once or twice
you even said, `Yes, we're on the right track'!"

"Oh, yes! The rocks and the old trees! I don't know what I'd have
done without them."

"You mean," Wesley asked him, "you mean that there were signs
indicating which way to go? We looked but we had no idea what you
were seeing. What was it?"

Kurt's face changed. "No-o-oh. No, it wasn't like that at all. They
weren't pointing the way, at least not in the way you mean."

"So what was it you saw?"

Again a smile broke over Kurt's face. "It was incredible! You remember our last visit to Anthropos? Remember the two years we spent
in Nephesh Palace after we got back from Mirmah's Kingdom of Ice?
In the evenings when the women were weaving the tapestry Queen
Suneidesis would sometimes read to us-"

"Yes-from that ancient book of the laws and history of Anthropos," Wesley said.

"That's it. Parts of it were deadly dull-"

"Oh, I don't know!" Lisa interrupted. "To me it was all terribly
interesting-even the Wise Sayings!"

"I liked the history parts, the battles and so on, and all those weird
visions," Wesley said.

"Well, yes, there were parts of it that I liked too," Kurt said, "but
there was something about the whole book that got to me. I could tell
that Gaal or the Changer or someone was behind the writing of it.
It was ancient. If it was magic, it was solid magic, magic I could bet
my life on. I knew it must be true! Even the boring parts were truean' they would never change. They were fixed because they were true.
I can't really put it into words." He shook his head, unable to explain
the depth of his feelings.

"So what does that have to do with the rocks and the older trees?"

"Well, whenever I looked at an ancient rock outcropping or one of
those big old trees, a sentence from the book would come back to me.
I could sort of hear the queen reading it all over again."

"Sentences? What kind of sentences?"

"Well, one was `Follow me.' Another was 'If you follow me I will
never abandon you.' "

"I still don't quite understand," Lisa said. "Why would the rocks and
trees do that?"

"It was because they were like the book Old. Solid. Reliable. Unchangeable. Something I could be sure of. They reminded me of the
Emperor himself. I had the feeling that they came from the same
source as the book, that nothing would ever change those rocks and
that the trees would stand forever-like he would. Then, as I thought
about that same quality in the book, I would remember some sentence
or other from it."

"I think I'm beginning to understand," Wesley said. "You'd be reminded of the book, and the sentences from the book would encourage you."

"And how! I'd already guessed the column of smoke was from Gaal.
It was like he was saying, `Trust me. I'm not going to fool you. I'm not
going to leave you in the lurch!' "

"Oh, now I see," Lisa said.

"Once the sentence was 'I know the route you are taking, and when you have come through your test, you will be as tough as steel!' It was
like he was speaking to me, telling me everything was O.K. I couldn't
help smiling when that happened, so I kept on looking at the big trees
and the old rocks to see their solidness. And every time I did there
would be another sentence. Once it was a warning: `I have shown you
the right path. Do not turn aside to the right or to the left.' "

Then Wesley noticed that Alleophaz was standing and listening to
their conversation, giving the impression that he had heard a great
deal. Alleophaz said, "Belak begs you to excuse him. He is weary and
has retired"

"How is Gerachti?" Wesley asked. He had been about to say, "How
is that idiot Gerachti?" but thought better of the impulse.

Alleophaz sighed and sat down on one of the settees. "Not good.
But he is sleeping now. I gave him a powder I carry with me, and he
took it with water. But he was almost insane with terror."

"Why?" Lisa asked.

"You would have to know him to understand," Alleophaz said. "Gerachti's philosophy begins with the foundation of the universe. He
maintains that the universe was formed by a supreme god, who made
vegetation on our world, the animals and human beings. This god did
it all miraculously, but for some reason has stopped doing miracles."

"WhY?

"Gerachti is not sure. All he knows is that he has stopped."

"Then what is he scared of?"

"Magic. You see, although he did not believe you at first, he believes
now that you have tremendous, magical powers."

"But we don't!" Kurt said. "It's not us, it's Gaal-or the Changeror someone."

"I know that, but Gerachti does not. He is almost crazy with fear
of you, Kurt. He sees you as having the power of a major sorcerer.
And he sees sorcery as evil. After all, you have created a spell that has
produced a hut on the outside and a mansion on the inside."

"Oh, for crying out loud! I haven't produced this place! There's no
way I could. I don't know a thing about magic."