The Dragon in the Sword (17 page)

“Destiny!” My grin had no humour in it. For a moment I rebelled. I almost turned and walked from the hall, telling Sepiriz that I would have no more of it. I was sick of his mysteries and his destinies.

But then I looked into the faces of those Eldren women and I saw, hidden beneath the grace and dignity, both anguish and desperation. I paused. These were the people I had elected to serve against my own race. I could not refuse them now.

For my love of Ermizhad, not for Sepiriz and all his oratory, I would take the road to Draachenheem and there give challenge to evil.

“We shall leave in the morning,” I promised.

3

T
HERE WERE TWELVE
of us in the small boat as it entered the columns of light and was drawn back into the tunnel between the worlds. Alisaard, again in her ivory armour, steered while the rest of us clung to the sides and gaped. The other nine were all nobles of Draachenheem. Two of them were Land Princes, rulers of whole nations, who had been abducted the night Flamadin was apparently murdered. Four others were elected Sheriffs of great cities and three had been squires at Court who had seen the poison administered. “Many others are dead,” the Land Prince Ottro, an older man with heavy facial scarring, told me. “But she could not make everyone a corpse, so we were sold to the Gheestenheemers. Just think—we shall be the first to return.”

“Though sworn to secrecy,” young Federit Shaus reminded him. “We owe these Eldren women more than our lives.”

All nine agreed with this. They had taken an oath to say nothing of the true nature of the Gheestenheem.

The boat raced on through the weird rainbow light, occasionally bucking and swerving, as if it had struck resistance, but never slackening her speed. Then quite suddenly we were bobbing on blue water again, surging between two columns and then the wind had caught our sail and we were upon an ordinary salt ocean, with a clear sky overhead and a good strong breeze behind us.

Two of the Draachenheemers consulted a map with Alisaard, giving her some idea of our position. We were going straight to Valadeka, land of the Valadek, home of Sharadim and Flamadin. Some of the Draachenheemers had wanted to return to their own lands, to gather up their armies and march against Sharadim, but Sepiriz had insisted we go directly to Valadeka.

Now a coastline came in sight. We saw great black cliffs framed against the pale sky. They were almost like the cliffs in my dreams. We saw spray and rocks and very few places where a boat could land.

“It is Valadeka’s great strength,” Madvad of Drane, a blackhaired fellow with enormous eyebrows, informed me. “As an island she is virtually invulnerable to sea-attack. Her few good harbours are well guarded.”

“Must we land in one of them?” von Bek wished to know.

Madvad shook his head. “We know of a small cove where, at certain tides, it is possible to land. That’s what we seek now.”

It was almost nightfall by the time we were able to land on the cold shingle of a narrow beach surrounded by black granite crags and overlooked by the ruins of an ancient castle. The boat was dragged into a cave and one of the squires, Ruberd of Hanzo, led us through a series of secret openings and up a flight of old steps until we were standing amongst the crumbled stone of the abandoned fortress.

“One of our noblest families once lived here,” Ruberd said. “Your own ancestors, Prince Flamadin.” He paused as if in embarrassment. “Or should I say simply ‘Prince Flamadin’s ancestors’? You say you are not yourself, my lord, yet I would still swear you are our Chosen Prince…”

I had seen no point in deceiving these honest people. I had told them as much of the truth as I felt they could comprehend.

“There’s a village nearby, is there not?” asked old Ottro. “Let’s get there quickly. I could do with some victuals and a jug of beer. We plan to rest overnight, do we not, and continue on horseback in the morning?”

“The early morning.” Gently I reminded him of our plan. “We must reach Rhetalik by noon tomorrow, when you said Sharadim is to have herself crowned Empress.” Rhetalik was the capital of Valadeka.

“Certainly, young quasi-prince,” he assured me. “I’m well aware of the urgency. But one thinks and acts better if one is fed and rested.”

With myself and Alisaard swathed in cloaks so that we should not excite the villagers’ curiosity overmuch, we found a tavern large enough to accommodate our party. Indeed, the innkeeper was delighted at this unseasonal bonus. We had plenty of the local money and were generous with it. We dined and slept in great comfort and had our pick of the best horses the next morning. Then we were riding again for Rhetalik. We must have made a strange enough sight to the Valadekans with myself in the leathers of a marsh-hunter, von Bek in a shirt, jacket and trousers roughly resembling what he had worn when I first saw him (made for him by the Eldren who had also furnished him with gloves, boots and a wide-brimmed hat), two of the Draachenheemers in the full, multicoloured silks and woolens of their clans, four others in borrowed ivory armour, and three wearing a mixture of clothing selected from the store offered by the Eldren. I rode at the head of this strange little band, with von Bek on one side and Alisaard on the other. She was wearing her helm almost as a matter of habit. The Eldren rarely showed their faces to people from other realms. They had made a banner for me to carry on my lance, but this was presently furled and covered. I also took pains to pull my cloak’s cowl over my head whenever we met others on the road. I had no intention of being recognised at this stage.

Gradually the earthen track began to widen. Next we discovered that it was paved with great stone flags. Now more and more people were joining us, all heading in the same direction. They seemed in holiday mood and were drawn from all walks of life. I saw men and women evidently of a monastic disposition and others who were as plainly secular in their tastes. Men, women, children, all in their best, all in brightly mingled shades. These Draachenheemer were fond of rich plaids and patchworks and thought nothing of wearing a score of different colours. I found their taste attractive and began to feel extremely dowdy in my dull leather gear.

Soon the road began to be lined on both sides with great gilded statues, of individual men and women, of groups, of beasts of every persuasion, though with a preponderance of those large lizards I had first seen at the Great Massing. These beasts were plainly not in common use. For the most part the horse, the ox and the donkey were the ordinary beasts of burden, although here and there was a large piglike creature which people rode upon and carried goods on by means of a sturdy wooden saddle.

“See!” Land Prince Ottro said to me as he came riding up. “It is the best time to arrive unnoticed in Rhetalik, as I said.”

The city was surrounded by very high walls, of warm, reddish sandstone topped by huge spikes of rock, similar to the crenellations on a medieval castle but of an entirely different shape. Each of these spikes had a hole at the centre and I guessed a man could stand behind the spike and shoot without much chance of being hurt himself. The city had been built for war, though Ottro assured me there had been peace throughout Draachenheem for many years. Within it consisted of similarly fortified buildings, of rich palaces, market arcades, canals, temples, warehouses and all the other varied buildings of a complex trading city.

Rhetalik seemed to slope inwards, all her narrow streets leading down towards a central lake at her centre. There, upon an artificial island of some age, stood a great palace of slender marble, quartz, terracotta and limestone: a palace which glittered and shone in the sunlight, which reflected a score of exquisite colours from the tall obelisks marking the island’s perimeter. From the palace’s central turrets there flew a hundred different banners, every one of which was a work of art. A curving, slender bridge crossed the moat to the delicately carved stonework of the gateposts which were guarded by sentries in elaborately inefficient armour of the most fanciful design. The baroque effect of this armour was further increased by the hulking beasts which, in harness and trappings to rival that of their masters, stood beside the guards and were equally stiffly at attention. These were the giant riding lizards I had seen before; the dragons which had given this world its name. Ottro had explained how, in ancient times, these creatures had been plentiful and his people had to fight them for the land.

We brought our horses to a halt beside a wall which overlooked the lake and the castle. All around us the streets were filled with bunting, with scintillating banners and little mirrors, with polished shields and plates so that the entire place seemed ablaze with silver light. The people of Valadeka were celebrating the coronation of their Empress. There was music everywhere, crowds of jubilant men and women, feasting in the twittens and lanes.

“Innocent enough, this festivity,” said von Bek, leaning forward in his saddle to ease his back. It had been several years since he had ridden a horse. “Hard to believe that they celebrate the elevation of one who is supposedly the personification of evil!”

“Evil flourishes best in disguise,” said Ottro grimly. His companions nodded in assent.

“And the best disguise is simple,” said the youth, Federit Shaus. “Honest patriotism. Joyful idealism.”

“You’re a cynic, lad,” von Bek smiled at him. “But sadly my own experience would support your view. Show me a man who cries ‘My country right or wrong’, and I’ll show you one who’d cheerfully murder half his own nation in the name of patriotism.”

“I once heard someone say that a nation was merely an excuse for crime,” said Ottro. “In this case I might find myself in agreement. She has misused the love and trust of her people. They have made her Empress of this whole realm because they believe she represents all that is best in human nature. Moreover she now has their sympathy. Did not her brother try to kill her? Has it not been proven she suffered for years to try to preserve his reputation, letting people think him noble and good when all the while he was the very essence of self-indulgence and cowardice?” Ottro spoke bitterly.

“Well,” I said, “since her brother is supposedly dead and you his victims” (that had been the tale put out) “think how overjoyed she will be to discover that she was not wrong in trusting him!”

“She’ll kill us on the spot. I still say it.” Von Bek did not believe our plan could work for a second.

“I doubt if even Sepiriz, with all his plots and cunning, would have sent us to certain death,” said Alisaard. “We have to trust his judgment. It is based on more than we can know.”

“I have no relish for feeling myself a pawn in his mighty chess-game,” said von Bek.

“Nor I.” I shrugged. “Though you would think I’d grow used to it. I still believe that individual will can achieve at least as much as all these alliances of men and gods Sepiriz speaks of. It has occurred to me more than once that they have become so engrossed in their game, in their cosmic politics, that they have lost sight of any original goal.”

“You have little respect for gods and demigods, then,” said Alisaard with a quick movement of her fingers to her face, as if she had forgotten she wore her visor beneath her cowl. “I must admit we do not think much of such creatures in Gheestenheem. Too often what we hear of them sounds like the activities of little boys at play!”

“Sadly,” said von Bek, “those little boys care more for power than most of us. And when they achieve it, they can destroy all those of us who don’t wish to join in their games.”

Alverid of Prucca pushed his cloak away from his shoulders. He was more taciturn than most of the others. His principality was in the far west, where the people had a reputation for saying little and judging much. “Be that as it may,” he said. “We should get on with this business. It will soon be noon. Do we all remember the plan?”

“It is not a difficult one,” said von Bek. He jerked at his steed’s reins. “Let’s get on with it.”

Making slow progress through the happy crowds, we eventually came to the bridge. On this side it was also guarded by dismounted lizard-riders who saluted us as we approached.

“We are the invited delegation from the Six Realms,” said Alisaard. “Come to pay our respects to your new Empress.”