Reave the Just and Other Tales (49 page)

Therefore I required some means by which I might preserve my usurper from the consequences of his folly.

Thus driven, I pursued him grimly along the avenues.

As before, his escorts appeared to have forgotten my existence. Although they had promised to expel me from the municipality, they spent not a glance in my direction. And again my usurper had somehow failed to gain much distance. Surely he should have passed out of sight by now—yet there he rode, no more than a loud hail ahead of me. My nag’s tail flared like a pennon from its rump.

So I limped and groaned behind him. Through a haze of weariness, I saw him nod courteously to all he passed, men of rich birth and low, women both comely and plain. Some greeted him with my stolen name. Others avoided him by veering to the far side of the avenue. Clearly opinion in Benedic was divided regarding the safety—or the wisdom—of acknowledging my acquaintance.

The Thal’s estate formed the center of the municipality, and was highly esteemed for both its luxuriance and its artistry. In my view, its grounds and furnishings were too profusely opulent to be truly tasteful. As matters stood, however, I cared nothing for aesthetic considerations. Instead I concentrated on the task of overtaking my usurper before he passed through the gates onto the estate. Once he entered there, and the gates were closed against me, my last chance to distract him would be lost. The wall which encircled the estate was high enough to prevent observation of what transpired beyond it—entirely too high for me to climb even in my dreams, still more so in my present condition. I must succeed now or accept failure.

The finest locusts in all Benedic overarched those gates, offering those who approached a swath of shade so soothing and precious that it left me giddy. I tottered as though I were in my cups as the stranger and his escort paused to gain admittance.

Unfortunately, they were allowed inward before I could reach them. And I feared to raise my voice after them—I could not bear to be struck again. With my arms outstretched in mute supplication, I lurched to the gates as the Thal’s pikemen drew them shut.

Seeing ruin before me, my eyes filled with helpless tears, and I made a forlorn sound which might have been a sob. I was exhausted beyond endurance, and lacked the dignity to bear either my frustration or my alarm.

So that I would not fall, I gripped the bars of the gate. Pressing my face there, I muttered piteously to the pikemen, “Stop him,” although I could hardly have expected them to understand me. “He must not go on. Sher Abener will destroy him.”

At first, both men flinched from me. They were resplendent in the Thal’s livery, and may have feared that my touch would sully them. But then they rallied. “Ho, fellow,” one of them snorted, “begone. This is the estate of the Thal of Benedic—no place for the likes of you. Go at once. Do not compel us to cast you away.”

My mind had been heavily battered by the sun, abused by a day without food or drink or kindness. Dirt and sweat soiled my garments. My feet were caked with blood and mud. Much of my skin had been burned to fine blisters. I could not say that I had suddenly become cunning. Rather I seemed to fall more deeply into madness. Facing the pikemen, I sobbed more elaborately. “Oh, help me, help me,” I wailed. “Take pity on me. Have mercy.” My voice rose and cracked as I pleaded. “I am ruined utterly, and only the good Thal of Benedic can succor me.”

The pikemen regarded me briefly, then consulted with each other. One of them shrugged, sneering. The other smirked darkly, handed his pike to his companion, and stepped to open the gates.

Grinning over his teeth, he informed me, “You were warned, fool. Now I will teach you to profit from such courtesies when they are offered.”

Prompted by a form of lunacy, I fluttered my hands and wailed still more loudly.

With the deliberation of great strength, the pikeman lifted a fist like a chunk of stone and swung it at my head.

Had it struck, that blow would have poleaxed me where I stood. And at any other time it would have struck, for I had willingly forgotten those manly arts which my father had required me to learn in my youth. Now, however, I remembered to duck.

Scrambling away with my back to the pikeman, I found a loose stone as large as my hand ornamentally placed among the shrubs which edged the wall. As my assailant advanced to pummel me, I lifted the stone and pitched it at the hostile expanse of his forehead.

Stunned as much by surprise as by the impact, he toppled backward.

His companion emitted a shout of indignation. Feigning unconcern, I approached the open gate.

Apparently the Thal’s pikemen were selected for their brawn rather than their wit. The remaining guard stared at me with his jaw hanging slack. His hands still gripped both pikes, their butts braced at his feet.

Before he could recollect that pikes were weapons, made for the purpose of skewering madmen and assailants, I stumbled into him as though I had consigned myself to his embrace. Doubtless he could have crushed me easily. But my arms confused his. While the pikes hampered him, I summoned my strength and jerked my knee up into his groin.

Gasping, he hunched down, dropping his weapons. Quickly I retrieved one of them and struck him a blow on the temple, which dropped him to the ground.

All this was errant folly of the most fatal sort. I had surprised both men, but done them no real harm—I had neither the skill nor the force to damage such stalwarts. When they recovered their legs, they would teach me the cost of my demented actions. Therefore I discarded the pike and hastened away, limping on my wounded feet.

The guards might have pursued me, but there was no need. If they wished, they could sound the alarm against me, alerting other pikemen to effect my capture. However, I had passed beyond such considerations. Thoughts of that ilk did not enter my head because I no longer possessed a mind capable of entertaining them. I merely ran as best I could. And when at last I glanced behind me, I saw that both men had resumed their duty at the gates, as though they, too, had forgotten me.

Apparently no one was able to recall my existence unless I stood directly before him. The stranger’s glamour effaced me entirely. He had enhanced his own substance by depriving me of mine.

In my new lunacy, I meant to demand recompense for that theft. It was too personal to be suffered.

Around me, manicured lawns defined by ornamental gardens, flagstoned walks, well-kempt stables, and gay pavilions swept gently downward to the Thal’s mansion. Widely spread rather than built high, the mansion rested in a hollow among gradual slopes—a vantage from which our Thal could look out and see nothing which he did not own.

Throngs of Benedic’s highest citizens must have trodden the grass earlier. The Thal’s racing festivals were always multitudinous occasions, attended by every man of rank and woman of beauty or birth in the municipality. And the citizens were joined by the Thal’s chosen assortment of sycophants, relatives, advisers, and theurgists, as well as by a considerable number of lesser folk, aspirants and favorites of one kind or another, who augmented a veritable army of breeders and attendants, trainers and riders, stable hands, grooms, and farriers for the horses. However, all such guests and servants had departed now, or withdrawn to duties elsewhere. The grounds were empty—with the occasional exception of a gardener or sweeper here and there—and the engraved mahogany of the mansion’s portal stood closed.

Ahead of me, the stranger still rode my nag as though he had become inseparable from the beast, approaching the portico which framed and sheltered the doors. Indeed, his escort had already hailed the pikemen standing guard, who had in turn announced “Sher Urmeny” to the doormen. As the stranger paused under the portico, the doors opened to admit him to the mansion and the Thal’s presence.

Here was a difficulty greater than the outer gates. A tradesman could not have gained the servants’ entrance in my state. At the formal portal, I would surely be refused. Furthermore, the pikemen here must have observed the manner in which I had passed the gates. These men would be forewarned against my poor cunning—and uninclined to treat with me graciously.

Beneath the portico, my usurper dismounted. His tone hinted at severity as he consigned my mount to the care of his escort. Another man might have taken a moment to brush some of the dust from his raiment before hazarding the Thal’s hospitality. But no other man would have dared to enter there clad as he was. Untouched by such concerns, he advanced on the doormen.

My extremity and weariness had become a form of frenzy. Having no other recourse, I swallowed the remnant of my pride and called him by my stolen name. “Sher Urmeny, wait but a moment!” I urged weakly. “I must speak with you.”

Doubtless his escort should have recognized me. However, their glaring eyes betrayed only hostility and incomprehension. They had forgotten me again. They said nothing to warn the men who warded the Thal.

The pikemen gave no sign that they had watched me assault their comrades at the gates. Nevertheless they interposed themselves between me and the stranger. “Stand away, fellow,” they warned. “Sher Urmeny has been summoned by the Thal, and may not be delayed by the likes of you.”

In my distress, I ignored them. “Sher Urmeny!” I cried past their obstruction. “Only a moment! Please!”

One boot upon the portal stair, the stranger turned to regard me. Although I had seen it before, the complete clarity of his gaze shocked me as though I had been doused in springwater. Infernally mild, he stated, “I am in your debt. Interfere at your peril.” Without awaiting a response, he ascended the stairs and passed between the carved doors.

Sadly, the shock of his gaze—or of his words—did not diminish my desperation. Frantic and unthinking, I attempted to force my way past the shoulders of the pikemen.

They repulsed me roundly, so that I staggered and nearly fell. Then they aimed their pikes at my hollow belly.

Since my earlier cunning would not serve me here, and every vestige of my dignity had been lost, I shrugged aside the last scraps of sanity as well. Drawing myself as erect as I could, I feigned hauteur.

“Have care, fools,” I advised the pikemen scornfully. “I serve Sher Abener the necromancer. He has commanded me to observe both Sher Urmeny and the Thal. Do not be deceived by my appearance. If you thwart me in my master’s service, you will confront consequences greater than you can either imagine or bear.”

All Benedic knew who had brought about my ruin. Certainly Sher Obalist’s manner had indicated as much. The pikemen lost their composure as swiftly as their contempt. Both retreated a step, and their weapons wavered in their hands.

Still they made some attempt to outface my threat. “A scruffion such as you?” protested one of them unsteadily. “What use has a great necromancer for
your
service?”

“My appearance suits my duties,” I retorted without hesitation. Reasonable doubts and reconsiderations were no longer of any use to me. “Stand aside while you may.”

My clarity of purpose—or perhaps my equally obvious lunacy—conveyed conviction. Shuffling their boots, the pikemen opened my way to the portal, where the doormen admitted me with uncertain courtesy to the mansion of the Thal.

I entered as though I could still claim a welcome there, in the name of my wealth, and of my father’s honor, if not of respect for my person or reputation.

At another time, the shaded cool and comfort within would have been bliss to my aggrieved flesh, balm for my abraded nerves. Now, however, I hardly noted such sensations. The urgency of my mission outweighed them.

In its furnishings and appointments, the mansion lacked only a certain restraint and subtlety to be exquisite. By any lesser standard, it was delicious to both eye and ear, soothing of scent, plush and pleasant to the touch. From the bedecked atrium where I had entered, high halls and chambers followed each other ahead of me and to either side—rooms for display or assignation, ballrooms public or intimate, galleries where musicians or charlatans might perform. Great candelabra charmed the ceilings, garlands and tapestries graced the walls, rugs of imponderable depth consoled the floors. Yet I wasted no time on admiration. I cared only to descry which way the stranger had gone.

When I caught sight of him and the servants guiding him, he was nearly beyond recall ahead of me.

By passing the Thal’s guards and breaching his sanctuary, I had already accomplished a seemingly impossible feat. However, I had so far gained nothing of significance, other than a dramatic increase in the hazards of my plight. I had entirely failed to deflect my usurper from his purpose. Worse, my enemy himself might attend this audience with the Thal, biding the outcome of his wishes. That was a threat I could not confront, no matter how profoundly it imperiled the stranger. Yet even if Sher Abener were not present the dangers of my position increased with every step.

Pikemen guarded each room and passage. They did not thwart my progress now, but they would certainly act against me if they were ordered to do so. And the audience to which the stranger strode with such impenetrable confidence would include the Thal’s counselors and theurgists, as well as Sher Abener’s malice. Any of those greedy, grasping men was more than a match for me. A counselor might denounce me at his whim. The theurgists could strike me to salt where I stood.

My task was too great for me. Bitterly, I abandoned all hope of redeeming my name by suasion or appeal. I did not call out after the stranger, or hasten to overtake him. Instead I merely followed at a distance. As best I could, I strove to project the impression that I must not be interrupted in my course. However, I had no higher intention than to await events.

Yet at the last I diverged from my aim. I was well familiar with the mansion, for I had attended fetes and celebrations without number here. And I was soon certain that I knew the chamber toward which my usurper was guided. It was a broad space, parquet of floor and gilt of wall, which the Thal called his “hall of wisdom,” perhaps because a dais to one side, and an odd concentration of light caused by the domed ceiling, gave him stature. I also knew of other, less public approaches to that chamber. Seeking to avoid peril, I drifted into a side passage, and there followed a sequence of smaller rooms connected by archways in the direction of my goal. Because they were less frequented, these rooms were unguarded.