The Golden Queen (35 page)

All around him, dronon vanquishers began thrumming, and the translator in Gallen’s ear whispered, “Kill him. Finish it.”

Gallen shouted at them, “You’re a morbid mob.” And he turned, advanced on the Golden. The small white royal larvae skittered away from beneath her legs.

She raised her battle arms, crossed them in surrender, and put her head to the ground. Behind him, Gallen heard clattering, glanced back. Xim toppled to the grass.

Gallen went to the Golden Queen. She kept her battle arms crossed in token of surrender.

“Under the rules for conquest, you may choose only to maim me,” the Golden said. “If you so choose, I will not fight you.”

Gallen stopped in front of her. She raised her head to look up at him. “Why should I spare you?” Gallen asked. “So you can continue to breed? So your children can challenge me?”

Her mouthfingers clicked over her voice drum. “I have already given birth to many Lord Escorts. My children will hunt you down. You cannot escape your fate.”

Gallen stared at her distantly. He stepped forward and removed Semarritte’s mantle from her head. She really did have a nice golden color.

He slammed a fist into her face.

He discovered that his wrists must have been stronger than Veriasse’s, for instead of merely gouging her, his blow cracked her head open.

All around him, the dronon raised their battle arms and clattered them together, crying, “Behold the Golden! Behold the Lords of the Swarm!”

Gallen raised his hands for silence, looked out over the assembly. The room fell quiet. “You tell them, Maggie. You’re the queen now.”

Maggie glared at the dronon and shouted, “All of you: get off our worlds!”

Gallen turned away from the carnage, wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his left hand. Around the arena, the dronons’ carapaces scraped and rattled as they evacuated the dome.

Maggie hunched over Orick. The bear was badly cut, and he breathed shallowly. Blood soaked much of his fur from groin to chin. Yet her mantle whispered to her that the nanodocs in her pack might still save him, so she forced the seven pills down his throat and waited.

Everynne was lying in a pool of blood, too, but she already had nanodocs working on her. The tiny machines were closing her wounds, had slowed the bleeding. There was nothing more that Maggie could do.

Gallen came and threw Semarritte’s mantle down at Maggie’s feet, then sat and petted Orick’s snout. Maggie picked up the mantle, held it under her arm. All around them the room rustled as dronon fled the premises, and within five minutes, they sat alone on the grass. The sun was setting out on the horizon, and shadows lengthened. From here, she could not see the vast sea of molten glass on the omni-mind’s surface, only the other domes nearby. Overhead the stars shone more fiercely than any she had ever seen.

Gallen went to Veriasse’s pack, got some water, and gave drinks first to Everynne, then to Orick. He bandaged his own leg, and had Maggie pop his shoulder back into its socket. Then he sat beside Maggie and held her hand for a long time, neither of them speaking, except once when Gallen said, “Oh, my, look at that!”

She looked up just in time to see a falling star. A moment later, dronon ships began streaming away in a solid convoy.

After an hour, both Everynne and Orick were still breathing deeply. The nanodocs had closed their wounds, and Maggie’s mantle whispered to her that it was a good sign. Both of them would probably survive.

Maggie sat still for a long time, then began crying. Gallen held her for awhile, and said, “I’m really tired. Do you think it gets cold here at night? Should we get some blankets for these two? Build a fire?”

“Och, you’re kidding me, aren’t you Gallen?” Maggie said. “You know this place has to have heaters in it. I’m sure it won’t get cold.”

“Heaters?” Gallen asked. “What’s a heater?”

Maggie slapped him, thinking he must surely be joking, but then she looked deeper into his eyes, and she wasn’t sure. Could he have learned so much in the past week and still never have heard of a heater?

He laughed at her confusion. “So, are you going to put that mantle on, or aren’t you?”

“I don’t know, come to think of it,” Maggie said. “There’s no one here making me wear it. To tell the truth, I sort of like learning slow. I could put it on and learn everything there is to know at once, but it seems to me that that would be sort of like eating all the desserts you would ever want in your life all in one day—if you take my meaning.”

“Aye,” Gallen said. “It does sound nasty.”

“Besides,” Maggie said, “it belongs to Everynne.”

“That it does.” Gallen sighed. “Even if she doesn’t want it.”

He got up, walked away in the darkness, and Maggie thought he’d gone to get his bedroll, but a moment later she heard him digging in the dirt.

Gallen had a wavy-bladed dagger, and he used it to scrape a long, shallow hole in the ground. Then he put Veriasse in, covered him with clumps of grass and a bit of dirt. Maggie went and stood beside Gallen. He gazed down at the grave for a long time and asked, “Do you think there’s a heaven?”

Maggie sighed. “It’s damned possible.”

Gallen said, “If there’s a heaven, I think Veriasse will find himself guarding the gates. You know, keeping out the rabble.”

“Aye, he’d like that job,” Maggie agreed.

Gallen walked over to a good spot of grass, then lay on his back, his hands folded behind his head, and stared up at the stars through the dome. The last of the dronon ships had left.

Gallen looked like some country boy back in Tihrglas.

“Gallen,” Maggie said, “what are you going to do when you get home?” She didn’t ask him to include her in his plans. She didn’t intend to go back, and even though they’d spoken of finding a world together, she didn’t know what he might be thinking now. She wanted him to come with her voluntarily.

“I’ve been thinking. It’s been a long time since I’ve gone fishing, and I’ve got a craving for salmon. I think that first I’ll go fishing in Forrest’s Creek. Then I’m going to travel for a bit, see the world.”

“And when you’re done?”

“Well, I don’t know. Tihrglas is sort of a quiet place. I could grow old there, sit in a rocker …” He looked up into her eyes. “But I don’t think I could be happy for more than a day or two, lazing about like that. Besides, there’s this woman I know, and life would be … dreary without her.”

Maggie smiled, lay down beside him, felt the warmth of his chest against her breasts. He took her face in his hand, kissed her long and deeply. When he finished, he whispered, “You’ve got no family left back in Clere, but I’ve got my mother to take care of. I need to go home, say good-bye, hire someone to watch after her at the very least. And I’ll need to make trips home from time to time, to be sure she’s okay.”

“Of course, you couldn’t leave her there forever alone,” Maggie said. “You can just tell her that you’re working, guarding ships for some merchant. Then you can stop back and see her once in awhile.”

Gallen nodded, closed his eyes. Maggie lay with him for a long time, and he fell asleep. Part of her was angry with him for sleeping, but the more sensible part said, “Ah, poor boy, he needs his sleep. It’s been a long week, and he’s exhausted.”

Yet Maggie could not rest. She checked on Orick and Everynne. Both were resting peacefully, and she washed them off a bit, then sat on the grass, looked at the silver mantle. It had thousands of tiny silver disks woven together in the chain mail. They were smaller than the disks she had seen on any other mantle, and she realized that they were made using a higher technology.

At long last, she could stand the temptation no more, and she put on the mantle, felt the cool weight of the chains running down the length of her back, over her shoulders, and between her breasts.

For an endless moment, she waited, expecting the mantle to take her, ravage her with light as the Guide had. Yet at the same time, she waited in stark terror.

She tried to clear her mind, wipe away that fear, but the knowledge never came. Nothing happened.

At last, when she was ready to throw the mantle away in disgust, a woman came to her in a vision. She had long dark hair and skin as smooth as cream. Every line of her form was perfect. Maggie did not have to beg her name.

“Your brain waves do not match mine,” Semarritte said. “I can bond with you, and you will gain some use of the omni-mind, but like the dronon before you, your ability to control the device will be impaired. Still, I am loath to take you, if you fear me so. What do you want of me?”

“I want a home,” Maggie said. “You know everything about ten thousand worlds. I thought, perhaps I could learn of them.”

Semarritte reached out a finger, touched Maggie between the eyes. She felt a strange dizziness, and Semarritte pulled her finger away. Her demeanor changed. She looked at Maggie with a new understanding. “You would not be satisfied if I taught you all that I know about every world. You will only be happy if you go to each world and learn about it for yourself.”

“That’s right,” Maggie said.

“So you are not searching for a world for yourself. You are searching for a world where you can be happy with your love, Gallen. I am not sure that such a world exists.”

“But where should I start?”

“Tremonthin.” Semarritte laughed softly. “There you can learn much, and Gallen will find his abilities sorely tested.”

“Thank you,” Maggie said, and she removed the mantle. Almost immediately, the vision seemed odd to her, like a dream that is forgotten upon waking, and she wondered if she had imagined it. She went to sleep beside Gallen, and he threw his arm over her protectively.

Chapter 22

For ten days, Gallen and Maggie nursed Orick and Everynne, watching them recover. In that time, many people began to arrive from distant worlds, ambassadors and powerful lords who celebrated the end of dronon rule. The first to come were Tharrin, delegates from distant parts of three galaxies who simply appeared the next morning on the road in front of the palace. They had come through their own gates. There were dozens of them—men and women with an eerie presence, a sense of light and peace that filled the air around them.

Gallen asked several of them to help clean up Everynne and Orick and move them to beds in the palace. Several Tharrin gingerly carried the two inside, and the physicians ministered to their wounds behind closed doors, then said that both would be up and about soon.

Afterward, the Tharrin came before Gallen and Maggie, requesting audience. They retired to a quiet chamber of the palace, and a powerful man named Lord Meron spoke with Maggie soberly. He was a tall man, with a barrel for a chest, long, flowing brown hair, and penetrating green eyes. He took Maggie’s hand, looked into her face.

“You know,” he reasoned, “it is not in the best interests of your people for you to try to claim the omni-mind.”

“I know,” Maggie answered. “I never wanted the thing in the first place. Gallen and I only won it by accident.”

Meron patted her hand. “Still, you won it, and the dronon will hold you accountable.”

“Can’t I just give it away?” Maggie asked. “Give it back to Everynne?”

“The ornni-mind you can give to Everynne,” Meron said, “but the burden of ruling the dronon now belongs to you. They perceive you as their Great Queen, and they will seek counsel from you. If they do not receive guidance, their swarm will be overwhelmed by others.”

Meron did not say it, so Maggie said it for him. “Still, they’ll try to kill me, won’t they?”

Meron nodded slightly in assent. “We can set barriers between them and you, protect you. We’ve already begun moving the omni-mind from orbit, and we’ll hide it so they can’t easily regain control of it. But you, you will need to hide yourself, keep moving from world to world, as Semarritte did.”

“How am I supposed to hide from the dronon and lead them at the same time?” Maggie asked.

“You can appoint a regent, someone to rule in your stead.”

“Everynne?” Maggie asked.

Meron nodded. “She’ll do. In a way, you will be doing her a great favor. The dronon will not perceive her as a target, and she will be free to reign without fear.”

Maggie nodded thoughtfully, and Gallen saw that they had won a mixed bag of goods. Gallen patted Maggie’s shoulder, whispered, “It will be all right. We can make the best of it.”

“Och, sure,” she said. “I wanted to visit other worlds anyway. This will just keep a fire under my toes, give me a little more incentive.”

By that evening, Everynne and Orick were both able to sit up and take a bit of food, and Everynne began directing the withdrawal of dronon hives from the occupied worlds.

Over the next few days, delegates from many worlds continued to gather. The omni-mind soon began to fill with joyous people, and it became as crowded as any inn during the Autumn Fair at Baille Sean.

And in that time, Everynne grieved for Veriasse, and put on Semarritte’s mantle for the first time.

It was on the fourth evening, just after sunset. The dronon had all left, and a few hundred dignitaries had arrived on the omni-mind. But Everynne did not invite them to her investiture. She planned a public ceremony for later, but for the moment she met with Orick, Gallen, and Maggie in private. “You three battled for me across the worlds. You helped me win this moment, and I owe you my life. I want you to come with me now, to witness the death of Everynne and the rebirth of Semarritte.”

They were in the throne room in the palace. The room had no ceiling, just a vast chair covered in red cloth, where one could sit and gaze out at the stars through the clear dome. Maggie, Orick, and Gallen sat around her feet in a semicircle.

“Do you have to wear this thing?” Orick asked. “The dronon left without it.”

Everynne smiled at him. “The Tharrin are preparing another to take my place, but his training will take many years. In the meantime, there are ten thousand worlds that must be governed. I do not rejoice in this task, but yes, I must put the mantle on. In your time, Orick, I suspect that you too will have to accept responsibilities. You will go home and become a great and wise leader among bears.”

Gallen said good-bye, kissed Everynne one last time. Everynne cried and hugged him, then hugged Maggie. Last of all, she hugged Orick for a long moment and wept in his arms.

When she was ready, Everynne sat back in the chair and placed the mantle on her head. She was shaking, and Gallen took her left hand while Orick held her right.

At first, she sat regally with the silver chains cascading down her neck, and nothing seem to happen. After a moment, she got a faraway look in her eye, then stared off into eternity.

“It’s so beautiful!” she cried. Tears streamed from her eyes freely. Gallen squeezed her shaking hand, then looked up into her eyes. And in that moment, Everynne was transformed. She smiled so beatifically that she seemed to radiate light.

She breathed deeply and gave a rapid succession of sighs, crying out in wonder. At last it became too much for her, and she fainted.

Gallen watched it all and realized that part of him felt jealous. She had left him behind, traveled to a far place he could never reach.

And Gallen suddenly remembered being a child, running under the trees as his father rode away on a dark horse into the mountains. Gallen recalled how desperately he had wanted to follow. He felt the same now.

After Everynne fainted, Gallen and the others waited silently with her for nearly two hours. Orick simply held her hand, did not move from her side. But Gallen got up, walked around the dome, staring out at the stars. He wondered at them. He’d stood on worlds that orbited five of those stars. Maggie came and put her arm around his back, watched the sky with him.

A few minutes later, Orick said, “She’s waking up!”

Gallen and Maggie went back to Everynne’s side. Everynne stirred a bit and opened her eyes. She smiled at them, and she looked as if she had gained some contentment she had never before achieved. Her eyes were filled with a terrible light.

“Semarritte?” Gallen asked.

Everynne shook her head. “Semarritte is dead,” she said. “Her consciousness was stored in the omni-mind until I put it on. But she knew I feared her, so she welcomed me, and then she died.”

“How could she know that you feared her?” Orick asked.

“Maggie told her,” Everynne said. She leaned forward, patted Maggie’s hand, and did not explain herself. Gallen was left to stare at the two women, mystified.

That night, Everynne was invested publicly with the omni-mind before a multitude of Tharrin counselors and ambassadors from many worlds. And on that night, Maggie, the new Golden Queen, publicly named Everynne as her regent to the dronon, leaving her with that undesirable burden.

In a sense, that was almost the last that Gallen saw of Everynne.

Over the next few days, he tried to speak to Everynne again on several occasions, but found it difficult. In each conversation, she anticipated his words. She would answer questions without being asked, tell him more about himself than he wanted to know. And always there was that terrible light in her eyes, frightening in its intensity. In those days, he lost his desire to travel to Gort Ard and look upon the statue that Saint Kelly had carved. Gallen had only to gaze at Everynne to see the face of God.

On the morning of the ninth day, so many dignitaries began arriving that Everynne was constantly being pulled in several directions by those who sought her ear. Each night for the past five days, the lords of the worlds had thrown parties to celebrate, and Gallen saw the way that things would go. These parties would be held every night for years, and though at each party the dignitaries were eager to bestow honors upon him as Lord Escort, Gallen felt somewhat embarrassed by the whole affair, and he wanted only to get away.

So he went to Everynne and said, “I’m thinking of leaving. I can’t stand it here any longer.”

“You know you are welcome to stay as long as you like,” Everynne said. “And you are free to leave.”

“It’s my mother,” Gallen said. “She’s getting old and sickly, and I’m worried about her.”

Everynne nodded, smiled at him. “And there is something you want from me. You have more than earned any reward that I could give you. Is that what you have come for?”

“Yes,” he said. He expected her to ask what he wanted as payment for saving her life, for defeating the Lords of the Swarm. Among the things that she could offer there were many great treasures, but only one he desired. He feared that his price was excessive. He’d prepared all kinds of arguments for the occasion, but before he could ask, she said, “Yes, you may have a key to the Maze of Worlds, but only on one condition: you must put on your mantle often, and if I call for your aid, you must come.”

“Of course,” he said, grateful that she had agreed. But she touched his cheek, turned his face so that he had to look up into her eyes.

“Don’t make that promise lightly,” she warned. “You don’t know what I have in mind.”

And in her eyes he saw that terrible light, and fear struck him to the core of his soul. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a new medallion to wear in his mantle, a receiver that would let him hear her call, and she gave it to him along with the key. It appeared that she had only been waiting for him to ask for these things.

That evening, they went to a gathering in a large dome, where four thousand lords celebrated in a great throng. Gallen had seldom seen so many people in one place, and Orick stared across the crowd in wonder. All of the lords were dressed in their finery in a rainbow of colors. Hundreds of robotic servants had prepared vast sumptuous meals, and all evening long, people crowded around them, thanking and congratulating Gallen, Orick, and Maggie. Everynne was on the far side of the room, and at the end of the evening, Orick seemed worn.

Gallen escorted him out into the hall, and Orick said, “I’ve got to get out of here, Gallen. I’m feeling well enough to travel. I planned to stay for Everynne’s sake, not wanting to leave her alone. But she’s got so many of those Tharrin counselors around her now, I don’t think she needs me.”

“Perhaps,” Gallen said. “Why don’t you ask Everynne what she wants? She has many people at her ear, and all of them admire her, but you’re her friend.”

Orick grunted, went back into the great dome and pushed his way to Everynne. A moment later, the two of them got up and escaped to a side room together.

Late that night, Orick came to Gallen’s room, and the bear seemed ecstatic. “Do you know that those pills Maggie gave me will keep me alive for at least five hundred years?”

“No, I didn’t know that,” Gallen lied.

“And I talked to Everynne. She’s not going to stay here forever,” Orick said. “In ten years, another Tharrin will come take her place as regent, and she’s going to come back to Tihrglas to live for awhile. I promised to show her around.”

“Good,” Gallen said.

“So are you ready to go home?” Orick asked.

“Yes.”

“Good,” Orick said. “I’ll go tell Maggie. Everynne is going to lead us to a gate in a few minutes.”

Gallen bundled up his belongings—his outfit and weapons, along with the mantle and weapons that Veriasse had worn—and together the three went to meet Everynne one last time.

Everynne was dressed in her blue traveling robe, as if she might come with them. She said, “Next time you see me, I’ll be wearing this.” She led them down through unexplored passageways of the omni-mind, down to deep caverns that Everynne said even the dronon had never been told of. Behind a hidden door, they found an ancient gate the color of brass, covered with dust. It was marvelously decorated with images of people and creatures from many worlds, and Everynne told them, “This is the gate that leads to all worlds, all destinations. Enter, and I shall send you home.”

A pale green light shone under the arch. Gallen, Orick, and Maggie each hugged Everynne, said their last good-byes.

Then together they stepped through the cold mist between worlds.

They found themselves on a forest road, beneath large pine trees in the mountains. The morning sun was just breaking over the mountains, a radiant pink ball. Kiss-me-quick birds called from the edge of the roadside, and in the distance an owl hooted. The air tasted as sweet to Gallen as Maggie’s kisses, and he breathed in deeply.

They walked along the road for most of the day until they reached a small town called Gort Iseal and learned that they were in the north of County Obhiann, many miles away from home.

At the inn that night, people looked at them oddly, and Gallen found himself apologizing for his strange attire and hid his mantle in his pack.

Maggie and Gallen took a table near a roaring fire and had a large dinner. Afterward, they sat and talked softly. Some bears came to the door of the inn, begging for leftovers. Orick went outside to talk to one young female. Afterward, he came up to Gallen and Maggie all excited. “That young she-bear has invited me to the Salmon Fest. Can you believe it? We’ve been gone all that time, and we still didn’t miss it!”

Gallen nodded, studied Orick’s face. He was eager, that seemed sure. “So why don’t you go? What’s stopping you?”

“Well,” Orick said, “I took this vow a while back. I promised God that I’d only make jolly with one she-bear in my life.”

Gallen looked deep into Orick’s eyes for a moment, then said, “Orick, there are as many ways to serve God as there are men who serve God. In the past few days, you helped save every person on this planet, not to mention everyone on ten thousand other worlds. And now this she-bear wants you to serve her, and you’re only feeling guilty because you’ll get a little pleasure out of it in the process. Why don’t you help her out? Why don’t you make it two?”

“Yes,” Maggie said. “I’m sure you’ll be the thrill of her life.”