The Serpent

by David Drake

  The world that I’d entered two years ago no longer existed. It had never been real except in my head. It isn’t so much that I’d changed as that I was no longer deluded to the same extent. I was far better off now; but having said that, I missed some of the wonder which had lain over the world I’d been born and raised in. Everything had been possible then. I knew that wasn’t true now, and the fact that I could really accomplish much more than I could have two years ago didn’t fully repay me for the loss of my dreams.

  Sam and I entered through the tunnel under the south wing, giving access to the central courtyard. The attendant was technically a guard but he’d been retired from the army with arthritis. He could direct strangers and kept his dignity. I knew him well enough to say, “Hi, Leon,” at the mouth of the tunnel. “I’m just putting Sam up myself today and then up to report.”

  “You’re a lucky man to have Lady May,” Leon wheezed. “Tell her Old Leon sends his best!”

  “I’ll do that,” I said as I walked out into the sunlight. Everybody knew and liked May. I was indeed very lucky. But even there, having the most lovely and accomplished woman in Dun Add as my companion wasn’t entirely the stuff of romance as a teenaged kid might have imagined. The reality was better than a dream…

  But…

  It was a sunny day, so the courtyard was busy if not crowded. Probably as many people lived in the palace as there were in the whole of Beune. There was washing hung on permanent lines, and kids playing. There were two semi-organized games of football. There were no fixed lines, but everybody seemed to be staying good-humored.

  The stables were most of the north wing and I knew there was a large stockade outside the walls of the building. The practice hall had outgrown its masonry as well as Guntram and other Makers continued adding practice machines for Aspirants to work with. Practice couldn’t give a warrior genius, but it allowed somebody with modest talent to stay alive on the field against better men.

  Sam was familiar with the palace stables. He wasn’t enthusiastic about being boarded there, but he’d be fed properly and exercised even on days I didn’t get by to see him. The staff liked me and liked Sam, and they knew I tipped well. It was the best choice for him while I was in Dun Add.

  “How long this time, Lord Pal?” the hostler called from behind his counter when I entered.

  It was a moment before my eyes adjusted to the reduced light inside but I recognized his voice. “Call it three days, Henri,” I said. “But that’s a wild guess until I’ve talked to the Leader.”

  And to Guntram. And to May. And to any number of other people, but especially to May.

  “The next handler on the rota is Mildred,” the hostler said. “That okay or do you want somebody else?”

  “Mildred’s fine,” I agreed. The girl was already on the way down from an upper level. She looked about twelve—and in fact could have been that young—but she loved animals and got along particularly well with Sam.

  “Glad to see you again, Lord Pal,” Mildred said, fixing her short lead over Sam’s head. He probably didn’t need it, but it’d be foolish to take chances in the stables where there are so many dogs concentrated. “Have you seen Buck recently?”

  “Not since we last spoke,” I admitted. Buck was in retirement in Beune since he’d been injured in action. I should spend more time with him, just as I should spend more time with May—and more time in Dun Add with Guntram and with Jon, both of whom were friends who liked my presence.

  Buck was where he should be, with the man who’d bred him. But Beune was a long way from any place likely to need a Champion. Still, I needed to see him again soon.

  Guntram’s workroom was on the top floor of the north wing so it was closest to the stables of all the people I needed to see, but I crossed the courtyard on the way to the Consort’s suite. Lady Jolene liked the view down from her roof garden. I didn’t like heights especially, but nobody cared.

  The attendants and guards I met in the corridors smiled and muttered “Lord Pal,” if they recognized me or looked down with a “sir,” if they didn’t. In two years I’d risen from country bumpkin in the palace, confident and assured even in clothing worn from travel. One of the pair of guards outside the Consort’s suite tapped on the panel, called, “Lord Pal is coming,” when a triangular wicket opened in the panel.

  “Lord Pal to see Lady May,” I said to the guards, but the door opened from the inside before they could open it. May threw herself into my arms and tugged me in. As always, seeing her after a long absence was a physical blow. The reality was so much better than my dreams.

  I had intended to ask May if Lady Jolene could spare her for the rest of the day, but when I looked in to the Consort’s gathering I saw that Jon himself was present.

  “Sir?” I said in surprise. Then, because it was the Consort’s suite, I added and bowed, “Lady Jolene.”

  Jon stood up, reminding me that he’s a very big man. When I was a kid in Beune, I didn’t think about the fact that he and Lord Clain had freed Dun Add and this region of Here from the band of robbers who held it. That was the real start of the Commonwealth, though Jon’s father had created the name and the idea. The present reality behind the name was because of Jon’s drive—but because of Jon’s right arm as well.

  Though Lord Clain was probably the greatest warrior in Mankind, Clain couldn’t have created the Commonwealth as a viable entity.

  “Greetings, Lord Pal,” Jon said. His smile looked weary; it had been a very long time since I’d seen Jon and he hadn’t looked weary. “You’ve just been over the border, haven’t you? Got anything I’ll need to take a look at?”

  “Sir, I will have,” I said. “There’s a node called Allingham which just joined the Commonwealth and needs a new duke—or anyway ruler—and a transition team soonest. The treasurer’s in charge at the moment and he may be capable, but I didn’t stick around to check things out.”

  Jon frowned and said, “Then let’s you and me see Lord Clain right now.” He bent and kissed Lady Jolene on the cheek. He and the Consort really did love one another, though her love for Lord Clain made everybody’s life very difficult. It was a livable situation so long as nobody mentioned it.

  When an aggrieved Champion accused Jolene of the affair, I was forced to defend her in a trial by combat. It was the hardest thing I’d ever had to do, and only in part because Lord Baran was a great warrior whom I defeated because I was smarter than Baran and because I was very lucky. On Beune affairs like that of Clain and Jolene occurred, but people didn’t wink at them the way sophisticates on Dun Add might do. My stepmother would have been scandalized to learn that I’d been defending a woman whose morals were as loose as those of her sister.

  Who had been my birth mother.

  But Lady May had begged me to do it, Clain was visiting his own holdings and nobody was quite sure where he was. Nobody else had been willing to be Jolene’s champion. I didn’t approve of Jolene’s behavior, but I wasn’t going to sit on my hands and let Baran boil her in oil as he planned to do.

  I squeezed May firmly and looked down at her. “Love…?” I said doubtfully.

  She hopped up on tiptoe and kissed me. “Of course,” she said. “I’ll see you tonight for dinner. Lord Osbourn will be with us if you don’t mind.”

  I followed Jon out of the suite, bowing to the ladies and courtiers still inside with Jolene. Jon turned toward me as we started up the stairs to the next level where the Chancellor’s office was. “I didn’t mean to snatch you away from May,” he said. “I’m not as young as I used to be.”

  “We’ll take care of Allingham and I won’t have that on my mind,” I said.

  The Chancellor’s office was guarded by a Champion named Sorly, who’d moved his desk in front of the doorway so that nobody could bull straight through. When he saw the leader himself coming up the stairs toward him, he leaped to his feet and skidded the desk to the side himself.

  “My lord,” he called in a loud voice. “The Chancellor is
here with Lord Reaves! Would you like me to announce your presence?”

  As Sorly probably hoped, the door flew open immediately and Clain’s voice boomed from the inside, “Is that Jon there? Send him in!”

  “It’s Jon and Pal besides,” Reaves called from the doorway, then added to us, “If you two want me to make myself scarce, I can do that. Clain and I were just chatting about Midian.”

  “Stick around,” I said. “I want to see about that too, but we’ve got some other business first.” I glanced at the Leader and said what I should’ve started with, “If that’s all right with you, sir.”

  “Of course,” said Jon and slid past Reaves into the office.

  Reaves wasn’t quite as tall as his friend Morseth but he was even broader in the shoulders. The two men had taken me under their wing from my first days in Dun Add because I was a friend of Lady May’s. Neither of them had pretensions to being a saint, but they were two of the sturdiest warriors you could hope to meet; and so far as I was concerned, two of the best friends.

  “I was just telling Clain that if you want Midian in the Commonwealth, Morseth and me can take care of that with maybe a hundred from the regular army around just to keep order afterward,” Reaves said forcefully.

  Jon nodded and said, “I’m sure you could, but I don’t want to bring nodes into the Commonwealth by force.”

  “Yeah,” said Morseth. “Clain said that too.” He grinned broadly and added, “I know you got smarter folks in the hall than me, but I don’t see what difference it makes. With Midian in, the Commonwealth is stronger, right? So why not? You’ve got the result you wanted.”

  “The process matters too,” I said. “If people think the only reason to join the Commonwealth is because we’re stronger than they are, some of them will decide the answer is to get stronger themselves.”

  “I’d take my chances,” Reaves said.

  That was literally true. For Reaves the application of force was usually the best response to a problem because it was the simplest. If there were repercussions, Reaves would apply more force.

  He wasn’t a violent man, but he was always ready to be extremely violent. For somebody who was strong and skilled and absolutely fearless, it was a pretty effective lifestyle. I didn’t think it would work as well for me and I certainly didn’t think the Commonwealth should be run on that basis.

  Though you could make a case for the way I’d handled things on Allingham being exactly the same thing. I hadn’t wanted to do that, but when Duke Ronald threatened force, I hadn’t had any hesitation in countering in the same coin.

  Ronald had tried to rob me by violence because he didn’t think I was able to respond. I represented the Commonwealth, though. And the Commonwealth exists so that no citizen can be bullied into surrendering to violence. That’s what the Champions exist to take care of; I just happened to have been on hand to take care of this one.

  “I do have an idea about Midian,” I said. “I’ll chat with Guntram about it, but there may be a way to free Lord Stokes’s fiancée after all.”

  Jon chuckled and said, “Remember I wanted to send you to Midian in the first place, Pal. You convinced me to send Master Guntram instead.”

  “Guntram is truly a great Maker,” I said. “I’m at best a journeyman, so that was good advice. Only now I suspect the job doesn’t call for a Maker after all. But I’ll talk to Guntram.”

  “Clain,” Jon said, “what we really came up here for is that Pal is back from leaving the Commonwealth to the southwest. He says he’s added a node, but it needs an administration.”

  “It does indeed,” I agreed. “The former duke made a practice of robbing travelers, at least he tried to rob me, and he was killed when I resisted. His daughter is still alive, but she should not replace him. Ah, and many members of the Duke’s guard, call them the army, need to be replaced also.”

  “So Pal is the new duke?” Clain said, turning to make sure Jon didn’t disagree.

  “So far as I’m concerned,” Jon said.

  I’d been thinking about that ever since I left Allingham. It was normal for whoever added a node to the Commonwealth to become the new ruler, but it made me uncomfortable. I hadn’t killed Duke Ronald to get rich and it offended me that people would certainly think I had if I replaced him as duke.

  I had very simple needs and having Allingham’s considerable resources wouldn’t change my lifestyle. I knew May would like to cut a wider social swathe, but I’d gone as far as in that direction as I comfortably could. I was unwilling to make myself miserable just because I could afford to do so.

  On the other hand, I’d let Jon pick competent administrators—and I’d watch carefully enough to be sure they weren’t robbing people. I didn’t know anybody who’d be a better choice for Duke than I was myself.

  “How many troops is it going to take?” Clain asked me.

  “There were originally ten guards,” I said, “but I think I’d send out thirty troops at the start under somebody solid. I don’t think it requires a Champion, but it’s not going to be cut and dried right away.”

  “What would you think of me sending Deltchev with the company of his choice?” Clain said. “He hasn’t much experience in this field, but he’s a solid man and I’d like see him broaden his background under relatively controlled conditions.”

  “Brilliant!” I said. Deltchev hadn’t come to the Hall of Champions as a nobleman’s son, or even as an adventurer who hopes to parley his skill into a position in the Commonwealth (which was basically what I’d done, though I’d greatly overestimated my skills). Deltchev had joined the Army as a common soldier and worked himself into the Hall by dogged determination. He’d be perfect to take over in Allingham. “He’d be ideal as duke. I certainly don’t need the rank.”

  Jon looked at me and smiled. “You’re a modest man, Lord Pal,” he said. “I don’t think Deltchev has enough experience of the right sort to handle that rank. Maybe after a year as your vicar he’ll have gained it.”

  I nodded and said, “Sir. You’re the Leader.”

  “Anything more?” said Jon.

  “I’ll run my notes over to Mistress Toledana,” I said. “I didn’t follow her route once I was out of the Commonwealth but I took good notes. Then I’ll see Guntram.”

  “I’ll take the notes when I see her,” said Clain. “Go talk to Guntram.”

  Jon and I left together. I was headed over to the top corner of the north wing; I don’t know what Jon had in mind. Probably going to his own suite to see what business might have cropped up while he was relaxing with the Consort and her circle. My job was frequently hard and occasionally terrifying. I flashed suddenly on the way Duke Ronald’s court had suddenly exploded into violence.

  Jon and Clain had harder jobs, though. I was executing their plans, but coordinating the operations of an enterprise as big as the Commonwealth had become was far harder.

  That thought actually cheered me up as I strode down the hallway toward Guntram’s workroom.

  CHAPTER 11

  Changing Direction

  The snake-headed bird now on Guntram’s door rotated so that first the right, then the left eye focused on me. Then the broad skull vanished back through the panel, I suppose to announce me inside. It didn’t bother me the way it would have a layman, but I wished Guntram had a human doorkeeper instead.

  Because I hadn’t heard the bird’s raspy voice through the thick door I rapped on the panel and called, “Guntram? It’s Pal.”

  The door rotated open immediately so Guntram must have been reaching for the latch already. He looked good, so whatever else the trip to Midian had accomplished, it had gone some way to getting himself out of himself as I’d hoped.

  “Glad to see you, friend,” I said. “I came to hear about your trip to Midian, and I found a little toy that’s yours if we don’t decide it’d be better off that we destroy it.”

  I took the mirror out of my belt purse for the first time since I’d put it there on Allingham. In my
voice but thinner than I’m used to hearing it the mirror said, “Destroy me? Are you mad? Do you know what I’m worth?”

  There wasn’t much light at the entrance of Guntram’s workroom, but when I tilted the mirror slightly to be able to see the mirror’s face I was clearly looking out with an angry expression.

  Guntram said, “Sir, if that’s the correct term. Pal doesn’t care how much money you’re worth, nor do I. We’re Makers, however, and I’m sure we would both very much regret reducing an Ancient artifact into elemental bronze.”

  He looked at me and I nodded. “He has a nasty tongue on him,” I said, “and he seems to enjoy stirring up trouble. I think he deliberately lied to goad the Duke into attacking me.”

  “I’ve never lied!” the mirror said. “Duke Ronald was a greedy, dishonest man who chose to find in my words an excuse to rob you!”

  “That’s probably true but completely off the point,” I said. “You were trying to get Ronald killed and your words did just that.”

  “He was no loss,” the mirror said. “Neither of you would be either: an old man who couldn’t make the weapons the Commonwealth needs even when he was younger and a peasant who gives himself the airs of a noble!”

  Guntram took the mirror from my hands and laid it facedown on the little table beside the door. The table was probably meant for visiting cards, but goodness only knew what Guntram wanted it for.

  “There’s no reason to tempt ourselves,” Guntram said. “We really don’t want to destroy it.”

  “It could be useful,” I said, “but I don’t trust it even if it doesn’t lie. It misleads by what it says, and that may be worse than lying.”

  “It obviously has interesting capabilities,” said Guntram. “I want to get into it to see if I can get a sense as to whether it’s complete. It seems unlikely that the Ancients deliberately created an artifact to behave the way this one does.”

  “Was what you found on Midian Ancient work?” I said, at last getting around to the real purpose of my visit.

  Guntram laughed and led us over to places we could sit down. He offered me the end of an actual couch, mostly covered with books and artifacts. Instead I took the pair of cabinet drawers off a pillow on the couch and set it on the floor before sitting on it. Guntram actually had a chair which he must have gotten out of when I came to his door because there wasn’t anything piled on it.