The Crown of the Conqueror (37 page)

  The king grinned his approval, revealing teeth like ailur fangs.

  "See the glory of Mekha restored!" Erlaan-Orlassai shouted, raising his arms into the air, the runes upon his tongue twisting his words into the guttural language of the desert people. "Feel now the strength that lies within these lands; a strength longforgotten but now recalled."

  Erlaan-Orlassai drew a curved sword almost as long as a man is tall and held it up, its gilded blade gleaming in the rising sun. Fifty thousand spears were raised in return.

  "Who shall rule again?" bellowed the Mekhani king.

  "Orlassai!" came the reply, the sands shifting at the thunderous noise.

  "Which land shall rule again?" The king's sword swept in an arc, encompassing the surrounding deserts.

  "Mekha!"

  The blade stopped, pointing to coldwards; neither at the dunes, nor the scrub, nor even at the river that glittered at the edge of the horizon, but at the lands beyond, and a city encircled by mountains.

  "Who shall fall to us?" Erlaan roared.

  The answering cry was even louder than the others, fuelled by generations of scorn and hatred, powered by fifty thousand grievances and two hundred years of subjugation.

  "Askh!"

 

Tossing the gnawed remnants of a bone into the fire, Eriekh reached for another haunch of goat from the table. He sank his teeth into the roasted meat, savouring the taste and the juices running down his chin. He chewed ferociously, enjoying the grinding of flesh between his teeth. Swallowing, he took up a small clay cup half-filled with immon, a Mekhani spirit made from the bark and leaves of various oasis bushes and flavoured with spices. He swilled the liquor around his teeth and gums with eyes closed, delighting in the burning sensation on his tongue and in his throat.

  "That is not wise," said Asirkhyr.

  Eriekh opened his eyes to see the other hierophant standing at the door of their high-sided tent. Asirkhyr wore only a loincloth, the tattoos on his flesh were barely visible against his sunburnt skin, but the scars stood out in stark relief. In contrast, Eriekh was clad in a skirt of woven grass fibres, a poncho of the same around his shoulders, his head enclosed within a hat of goat hide and feathers.

  "What is not wise?" asked Eriekh before taking another bite of goat meat.

  "Indulging in the physical pleasures of this world," said Asirkhyr, waving a hand towards his companion's clothes and the meal upon the table.

  "We must eat here if we are to live," Eriekh replied, pieces of meat tumbling from his mouth. "What is unwise about enjoying this necessary bodily function?"

  "It will be hard to forget when we return to the Temple," argued Asirkhyr as he sat on a stool beside the small fire. The hierophant looked up into the clear skies. The air was chill, but he looked to suffer no discomfort. "There is life in this world to sustain us, but you choose to partake of this crude biological process."

  "Lakhyri gave us strict instructions not to drain our new allies," said Eriekh, eyes narrowing with suspicion. "It would be unwise of you to forget that."

  "I have not leeched a single drop of their essence." Asirkhyr reached a hand out to the low flames burning in the small circle of stones in front of the tent. Runes glowed on his fingertips and the fire flickered for a moment, the flames bending towards his outstretched hand. "Simple combustion; a wasteful method for transmission of energy. And that food you eat? It is inefficient. For us, there are better ways to exist."

  "More efficient, yes, but better?" Eriekh smiled and licked a dribble of fat from his fingers. "So you soak the life from a few plants here and there, and maybe the odd reptile or goat? I would say it is a waste of the tongue and belly with which you were born."

  "Such pleasures of the flesh are not our concern," snapped Asirkhyr. "Next you will be singing and dancing, and fornicating with the females. It is not our purpose here."

  "You think that our great leader does not indulge the needs of his fleshly carcass when he is in this world? How do you think he controls them so well, these bags of instinct and desire? By sharing that world and understanding the failings of it! Do not be concerned for me; I am still focussed on our task."

  "And the imbibing of alcohol helps does it?" Asirkhyr looked meaningfully at the earthenware jug next to Eriekh's plate. "Almost a third of that ewer's contents have been consumed. You are drunk."

  "Not at all," said Eriekh. "Though I have consumed enough to intoxicate a normal man, I have left only enough alcohol in my system to attain a mood of relaxation and a small increase in confidence, no more."

  "We do not have the luxury of these fanciful distractions." Asirkhyr turned his gaze to the sea of campfires surrounding them, his eyes ending upon the huge black pavilion a short distance away, inhabited by Erlaan. "Lakhyri's last communication urged us to action. He has succeeded in persuading the usurper to reinstate the Brotherhood."

  "I know this as well as you, as you are aware," said Eriekh. "I do not need reminding of the plan."

  "And so why is it that you sit here gorging like an animal instead of discussing the strategy of the upcoming campaign with our new underling?"

  Eriekh belched and pushed back his plate.

  "The essence of life may sustain us, but it does not wholly sate our natural hunger or thirst. I find that they are more distracting here than in the Temple. Having assuaged these discomfiting sensations I am now able to think more clearly. You should try it; perhaps it would alleviate some of your tetchiness."

  "Tetchiness?" Asirkhyr sneered at his companion. "Do not confuse a rightful sense of urgency with short patience."

  "And do not confuse my attitude with complacency or indolence!" Eriekh turned on his stool to face the other hierophant directly. "The king of the Mekhani is addressing his shamans. When he is finished, he will attend to us here, as I have instructed him. All things considered, I believe this plan to be more satisfactory than Lakhyri's last attempt. The immortalisation of Askhos was an unnecessary complication. This new approach will reap quicker results."

  "I know that you held little regard for our leader's brother, but he achieved a great deal for our cause." Asirkhyr matched the other priest's stare. "When Erlaan is dead, we shall need to find another to replace him. The line of the Blood did away with such considerations."

  "Erlaan can produce a successor if needed," said Eriekh. "He is the continuation of the Blood."

  "Not while the usurper still lives. When Ullsaard is dead, the full inheritance of the Blood will become Erlaan's."

  "You think that Askhos still lingers on in the Crown? No, he is gone, lost to the voids of nothingness. He has paid the price for wanting a worldly life, but in his loss there is opportunity for us."

  "We do not know for sure whether Askhos survives or not. It is not without cause to believe his essence may yet exist in this realm."

  "It is impossible to say." Eriekh stood and went to the tent, emerging a few moments later with a blanket around his shoulders to ward away the growing cold of the night; an action that earned himself another scornful look from Asirkhyr. "That Ullsaard is himself is certain. On that basis, it is hopeful speculation and nothing more that Askhos remains with us. He may yet be tied to the Crown, but it is not Lakhyri's intent to retrieve him. He has served his purpose, but time grows short for our masters and we need a more aggressive policy."

  "You think that a youth can succeed where Askhos failed?"

  "No," said Eriekh. "But he is merely a tool, a figurehead. For too long Askhos was allowed to do things his way. With the return of Orlassai we can operate in the open. This will be the final attempt, and it will succeed. The need for secrecy is no more."

  "You are correct, this is the final attempt. It is a gamble that Lakhyri takes with all of our futures. Should it fail, there will not be time to engineer another opportunity; the eulanui will return and take what is theirs, and we know the consequences of such a catastrophe. Only by strenuous efforts have we held them at bay for so long. I feel their patience with Lakhyri wears thin indeed. Not for much longer will they believe it is best to wait for the world to be offered as a gift."

  Eriekh saw a large figure approaching through the gloom.

  "No more of these matters, Erlaan approaches," he warned.

  The warped king of the Mekhani strode into the dim light of the hierophant's fire. There was an earnest expression on his twisted face.

  "You have received fresh news from Askh?" he asked, sitting on the ground beside the table, his head still level with the priests' such was his size. "The tribes are entranced by my speeches and the shamans are ready; I fear such enthusiasm will wane if that energy is not shortly unleashed."

  "We leave tomorrow," said Asirkhyr. "All is in place. We have received confirmation from the Brotherhood that Ullsaard has positioned his legions and they await an attack on Okhar."

  "We even know the towns they garrison and the roads they march along," said Eriekh, smiling at the thought of the usurper bringing about his own downfall by the reinstatement of the Brotherhood.

  "How?" Erlaan's question caught Eriekh by surprise.

  "How do we know these things?" said the hierophant. He glanced at Asirkhyr, who nodded in agreement. "Every Brotherhood precinct contains the Chamber of Words. In that chamber are a number of wax slates inscribed with runes taught to us by the eulanui. When one Brother makes a mark upon those slates, they appear on corresponding tablets at the Grand Precinct."

  "They are the same slate in different places? Like the city you hid away in and the Temple?"

  Eriekh was again pleased with Erlaan's grasp of the multi-layered nature of reality unveiled by the works of the eulanui.

  "That is correct, and thus communication is instantaneous," said the priest. "Your grandfather's killer has laid out his battle plans and the Brotherhood move to enact them. Without even knowing of our existence, they pass on this information. Every shipment of grain, every sandal and nail that goes to the legions is remarked upon by a Brother somewhere, and so we have a clear picture of Ullsaard's movements and plans."

  "And where is the man himself?" Erlaan's question was innocently asked, but it caused the priests a moment of consternation.

  "He left Geria some time ago, but has not been seen since," admitted Asirkhyr. "Most likely his absence is explained by a return to Salphoria, where as yet there are no Brothers. Believing his hotwards border to be secured, he doubtless has returned to his army to resolve the cause of his delay in his campaign against the Salphors."

  "So we still do not yet know what has halted his advance?" Again the question was asked with no guile, but Erlaan was proving to be shrewd in strategic matters.

  "The war is beholden to the whim of the usurper," said Eriekh. "To attempt to divine the mind of such a capricious man would be difficult. For all we know, he was struck by a period of nostalgia and simply wished to return to Askh, but not trusting his subordinates in his absence ordered them to pause in their attacks."

  "Or perhaps he simply found the climate not to his liking," Asirkhyr added scornfully. "Who can read the motives of such an ill-disciplined and selfish person?"

  Runes curved upon Erlaan's brow as he frowned. He shifted his bulk and looked earnestly at the two others. He grinned in lopsided fashion, exposing pointed teeth.

  "I have known Ullsaard since I was a child, and marched to war alongside him," Erlaan told them. "Do not underestimate him. That a man of such ill temper and poor education is now ruler of Greater Askhor is evidence of his abilities and his ambition. Some of that we might attribute to the power of the Blood, but at least an equal proportion must be given as credit to the man. He was always competent, more than competent. He can be exceptional, and in overthrowing my grandfather he displayed a grasp of politics equal to his mastery of warfare."

  The king-messiah paused and looked at the small fire, his face growing serious.

  "He outmanoeuvred Lutaar and all of the governors, dissolved the Brotherhood and took the Crown. If I were you I would look to make an ally of him and not keep him as your enemy."

  Eriekh resisted the urge to glance at his fellow priest. Both knew that Lakhyri was doing just such a thing; supporting both Ullsaard and Erlaan, the high priest knew that whichever triumphed would mean victory also for the disciples of the eulanui. If Ullsaard proved himself the more capable ruler and defeated Erlaan, nothing was lost. For all of the effort that had been directed at the Mekhani resurgence, that support could be withdrawn quickly and the threat from hotwards allowed to wither and die if it served the order's interests better to do so.

  "You are the rightful heir," said Asirkhyr, filling the silence left by Eriekh. "It is you who has the right to fulfil Askhos's legacy and no other."

  Taking this assurance with a slight nod, Erlaan stood, stretching up to his full height.

  "We set out for Okhar tomorrow to bring about that day," said the Great King.

  "Not so," said Asirkhyr. He continued as Erlaan's monstrous frown returned. "We will cross the Nakuus into Okhar, as agreed, but then turn duskwards into Ersua. Ullsaard has Okhar well guarded and expects any attack to head for the Greenwater and Geria. We shall not oblige him."

  Erlaan laughed and punched one hand into the other.

  "From Ersua we can strike at Nalanor, Okhar or Anrair. Ullsaard will have to pull back his legions from Salphoria and even then he will be stretched thin protecting every approach to the Askhan Gap. He will have to either pull his forces back to the Wall to guard Askh, giving us free reign over the rest of the empire, or his legions will be spread out and easily overcome. I assume that with your information from the Brotherhood you have a route through Okhar that will keep our intent secret for as long as possible?"