Lyonesse

by Jack Vance

  King Yvar Excelsus had acted in a fit of fury and drunken bravado. When he became sober he perceived the error of his strategy, which neglected an elemental fact: he was outmatched by the Troice in every category: numbers, ships, military skills and fighting spirit. He could take comfort only in his treaty with Lyonesse, and was correspondingly cheered by King Casmir's ready participation in the war.

  The marine transport of Lyonesse and Dascinet assembled at Bulmer Skeme; and there, at midnight, the armies of Lyonesse embarked and sailed for Dascinet. They discovered, first, contrary winds; then at dawn, a fleet of Troice warships.

  In the space of two hours half of the overloaded ships of Lyonesse and Dascinet were either sunk or broken on the rocks, with a loss of two thousand men. The lucky half fled back downwind to Bulmer Skeme and grounded on the beach.

  Meanwhile a miscellaneous flotilla of Troice merchant ships, coastal cogs and fishing vessels, loaded with Troice troops, put into Arquensio, where they were hailed as Lyonesse troops. By the time the mistake was discovered, the castle had been taken and King Yvar Excelsus captured.

  The war with Dascinet was over. Granice declared himself King of the Outer Islands, a realm still not so populous as either Lyonesse or Dahaut, but which held in total control the Lir and the Cantabrian Gulf.

  The war between Troicinet and Lyonesse was now an embarrassment for King Casmir. He proposed a cessation of hostilities and King Granice agreed, subject to certain terms: Lyonesse must cede the Duchy of Tremblance, at the far west of Lyonesse, beyond the Troagh, and undertake to build no warships by which it might again threaten Troicinet.

  King Casmir predictably rejected such harsh conditions, and warned of bitter consequences if King Granice persisted in his unreasonable hostility.

  King Granice responded, "Let it be remembered: I, Granice, instituted no war upon you. You, Casmir, made wanton war upon me. You were dealt a great and just defeat. Now you must suffer the consequences. You have heard my terms. Accept them or continue a war which you cannot win and which will cost you dearly in men, resources and humiliation. My terms are realistic. I require the Duchy of Tremblance to protect my ships from the Ska. I can land a great force at Cape Farewell when so I choose; be warned."

  King Casmir responded in tones of menace: "On the basis of a small and temporary success, you challenge the might of Lyonesse. You are as foolish as you are arrogant. Do you think that you can outmatch our great power? I now declare a proscription against you and all your lineage; you will be hunted as criminals and killed on sight. I have no more words for you."

  King Granice replied to the message with the force of his navy. He blockaded the coast of Lyonesse so that not so much as a fishing boat could safely navigate the Lir. Lyonesse took its subsistence from the land, and the blockade meant only nuisance and a continuing affront which King Casmir was powerless to rebuff.

  In his turn, King Granice could inflict no great damage upon Lyonesse. Harbors were few and well-defended. Additionally, Casmir maintained a vigilant shore-watch and employed spies, in both Dascinet and Troicinet. Meanwhile, Casmir assembled a council of shipwrights, and charged them to build swiftly and well a fleet of warships to defeat the Troice.

  In the estuary of the River Sime, the best natural harbor of all Lyonesse, twelve keels went on the ways, and as many more at smaller yards on the shores of Bait Bay in the Duchy of Fetz.

  One moonless night along the Sime, when the ships were framed, planked and ready for launching, six Troice galleys stealthily entered the estuary and, despite fortifications, garrisons and watches, burned the shipyards. Simultaneously Troice raiders landed in small boats along the shores of Bait Bay, burning shipyards, boats on the ways, and a great stock of timber planks. Casmir's plans for a quick armada went glimmering.

  In the Green Parlor at Haidion King Casmir breakfasted alone on pickled eel, boiled eggs and scones, then leaned back to ponder his many affairs. The defeat at Bulmer Skeme and its anguish had receded; he was able to assess the aftermath with at least a degree of dispassion.

  All in all, there seemed to be scope for cautious optimism. The blockade was a provocation and an insult which for the nonce, in the interests of dignity, he must passively accept. In due course he would inflict harsh retribution, but for the present he must proceed with his grand design: in short, the defeat of King Audry and restoration of the throne Evandig to Haidion.

  Dahaut was most vulnerable to attack from the west: so to bypass the line of forts along the Pomperol border. The avenue of such an invasion led north from Nolsby Sevan, past the castle Tintzin Fyral, then north along that road known as the Trom-pada, into Dahaut. The route was blocked by two staunch fortresses: Kaul Bocach, at the Gates of Cerberus, and Tintzin Fyral itself. A South Ulfish garrison guarded Kaul Bocach, but King Oriante of South Ulfland, in fear of Casmir's displeasure, had already granted Casmir and his armies freedom of passage.

  Tintzin Fyral alone stood athwart Casmir's ambition. Tintzin Fyral reared high above two gorges and controlled both the Trompada and the way through Vale Evander into South Ulfland. Faude Carfilhiot, who ruled Vale Evander from his impregnable eyrie, in vanity and arrogance, recognized no master, least of all his nominal sovereign King Oriante.

  An under-chamberlain entered the Green Parlor. He bowed before King Casmir. "Sir, a person waits upon your pleasure. He names himself Shimrod and is here, so he declares, at your Majesty's orders."

  Casmir straightened in his chair. "Bring him here."

  The under-chamberlain retired, to return with a tall young man of spare physique, wearing a smock and trousers of good cloth, low boots and a dark green cap which he doffed to reveal thick dust-colored hair, cut at ear-level after the fashion of the day. His features were regular, if somewhat gaunt: a thin nose, a bony jaw and chin, with a wide crooked mouth and bright gray eyes which gave him a look of droll and easy self-possession, in which there was perhaps not quite enough reverence and abnegation to please King Casmir..

  "Sir," said Shimrod, "I am here in response to your urgent request."

  Casmir surveyed Shimrod with compressed mouth and head skeptically aslant. "For a fact, you are not as I expected you to be."

  Shimrod made a polite gesture, disclaiming responsibility for King Casmir's perplexity.

  King Casmir pointed to a chair. "Be seated, if you will." He himself rose and went to stand with his back to the fire. "I am told that you are trained in magic."

  Shimrod nodded. "Tongues will wag, at every departure from the ordinary."

  Casmir smiled somewhat thinly. "Well then: are these reports accurate?"

  "Your majesty, magic is a taxing discipline. Some persons have easy and natural abilities; I am not one of them. I am a careful student of the techniques, but that is not necessarily a measure of my competence."

  "What then is your competence?"

  "Compared to that of the adepts, the ratio is, let us say, one to thirty."

  "You are acquainted with Murgen?"

  "I know him well."

  "And he has trained you?"

  "To a certain extent."

  King Casmir kept his impatience under control. Shimrod's airy mannerisms skirted safely around the far edge of insolence; still, Casmir found them irritating, and his response to questions with precise but minimal information made conversation tiresome. Casmir spoke on in an even voice.

  "As you must know, our coast is blockaded by the Troice. Can you suggest how I might break this blockade?"

  Shimrod reflected a moment. "Everything considered, the simplest way is to make peace."

  "No doubt." King Casmir pulled at his beard; magicians were odd folk. "I prefer a method, possibly more complicated, which will advance the interests of Lyonesse."

  "You would have to counter the blockade with a superior force."

  "Exactly so. That is the crux of my difficulty. I have thought to enlist the Ska as allies, and I wish you to foretell the consequences of such an act."

  Shimrod smiling
ly shook his head. "Your Majesty, few magicians can read the future. I am not one of them. Speaking as a man of ordinary common sense, I would advise you against such an act. The Ska have known ten thousand years of travail; they are a harsh folk. Like you, they intend to dominate the Elder Isles. Invite them into the Lir, give them bases, and they will never depart. So much is obvious."

  King Casmir's gaze narrowed; he was seldom dealt with so briskly. Still, so he reasoned, Shimrod's manner might well be a measure of his candor; no one attempting to dissemble would use quite so easy a tone. He asked in a carefully neutral voice: "What do you know of Tintzin Fyral the castle?"

  "This is a place I have never seen. It is said to be impregnable, as I am sure you already know."

  King Casmir gave a crisp nod. "I have also heard that magic is part of its defense."

  "As to that I can't say. It was built by a lesser magician, Ugo Golias, so that he might rule Vale Evander, secure from the syndics of Ys."

  "Then how did Carfilhiot gain the property?"

  "In this regard I can only repeat rumor."

  King Casmir, with an impassive gesture, indicated that Shimrod was to proceed.

  "Carfilhiot's own lineage is a matter of doubt," said Shimrod. "It's quite possible that he was sired by the sorcerer Tamurello upon the witch Desmei. Still, nothing is known certainly except that first Desmei disappeared, then Ugo Golias, with all of his staff, as if devils had snatched them away, and the castle was empty until Carfilhiot arrived with a troop of soldiers and took possession."

  "It would seem that he also is a magician."

  "I think not. A magician would conduct himself differently."

  "Then you are acquainted with him?"

  "Not at all. I have never seen him."

  "Still, you appear to be familiar with his background and personality."

  "Magicians are as prone to gossip as anyone else, especially when the subject is as notorious as Carfilhiot."

  King Casmir pulled a bell-cord; two footmen entered the parlor with wine, nuts and sweetmeats which they arranged upon the table. King Casmir seated himself across the table from Shimrod. He poured two goblets of wine, one of which he tendered to Shimrod.

  "My best respects to your Majesty," said Shimrod.

  King Casmir sat looking into the fire. He spoke thoughtfully. "Shimrod, my ambitions are perhaps no secret. A magician such as yourself could provide me invaluable aid. You would find my gratitude commensurate."

  Shimrod twirled the goblet of wine and watched the spin of the dark liquid. "King Audry of Dahaut has made the same approach to Tamurello. King Yvar Excelsus sought the aid of Noumique. All refused, by reason of Murgen's great edict, which applies no less to me."

  "Pah!" snapped King Casmir. "Does Murgen's authority transcend all other?"

  "In this regard—yes."

  King Casmir grunted. "Still you have spoken without any apparent restraint."

  "I have only advised you as might any reasonable man."

  King Casmir rose abruptly to his feet. He tossed a purse upon the table. "That will reimburse your service."

  Shimrod turned out the purse. Five golden crowns rolled forth. They became five golden butterflies which fluttered into the air and circled the parlor. The five became ten, twenty, fifty, a hundred. All at once they dropped to cluster upon the table, where they became a hundred gold crowns.

  Shimrod took five of the coins, returned them to the purse, which he placed in his pouch. "I thank your Majesty." He bowed and departed the chamber.

  Odo, Duke of Folize, rode with a small company north through the Troagh, a dreary land of crags and chasms, into South Ulf-land, past Kaul Bocach where opposing cliffs pressed so close together that three men could not ride abreast.

  A fan of small waterfalls fell into the defile to become the south fork of the Evander River; road and river proceeded north side by side. Ahead rose a massive crag: the Tooth of Cronus, or the Tac Tor. Down through a gorge came the north fork of the Evander. The two forks joined and passed between the Tac Tor and the crag which supported the castle Tintzin Fyral.

  Duke Odo announced himself at a gate and was conducted up a zig-zag road into the presence of Faude Carfilhiot.

  Two days later he departed and returned the way he had come to Lyonesse Town. He alighted in the Armory yard, shook the dust from his cloak and went directly to an audience with King Casmir.

  Haidion, at all times an echo chamber of rumor, immediately reverberated to the impending visit of an important grandee, the remarkable lord of a hundred mysteries: Faude Carfilhiot of Tintzin Fyral.

  Chapter 7

  SULDRUN SAT IN THE ORANGERY with her two favorite maids-in-waiting: Lia, daughter to Tandre, Duke of Sondbehar; and Tuissany, daughter to the Earl of Merce. Lia already had heard much talk of Carfilhiot. "He is tall and strong, and is proud as a demigod! His gaze is said to fascinate all who look upon him!"

  "He would seem an imposing man," said Tuissany, and both girls looked sidewise at Suldrun, who twitched her fingers.

  "Imposing men take themselves too seriously," said Suldrun. "Their talk is mostly orders and complaints."

  "There is much else!" declared Lia. "It comes from my seamstress, who heard the conversation of Lady Pedreia. It seems that Faude Carfilhiot is the most romantic of men. Each evening he sits in a high tower watching the stars rise, pining."

  "'Pining'? For what?"

  "For love."

  "And who is the haughty maiden who causes him such pain?"

  "That is the curious part. She is imaginary. He worships this maiden of his dreams."

  "I find this hard to believe," said Tuissany. "I suspect that he spends more time in bed with real maidens."

  "As to that I cannot say. After all, the reports may be exaggerated."

  "It will be interesting to discover the truth," said Tuissany. "But here is your father, the king."

  Lia rose to her feet as did Tuissany and more slowly Suldrun. All performed a formal curtsy.

  King Casmir sauntered forward. "Maidens, I wish to speak with the princess on a private affair; please allow us a few moments alone."

  Lia and Tuissany withdrew. King Casmir surveyed Suldrun a long moment. Suldrun turned half-away, a chill of apprehension at the pit of her stomach.

  King Casmir gave a small slow nod of the head, as if in corroboration of some private concept. He spoke in a portentous voice. "You must know that we are expecting the visit of an important person: Duke Carfilhiot of Vale Evander."

  "I have heard so much, yes."

  "You have come to marriageable age and should Duke Carfilhiot find you pleasing, I would look favorably upon the match, and I shall impart so much to him."

  Suldrun raised her eyes to the golden-bearded face. "Father, 1 am not ready for such an event. I have not the slightest yearning to share a man's bed."

  King Casmir nodded. "That is sentiment properly to be expected in a maiden chaste and innocent. I am not displeased. Still, such qualms must bend before affairs of state. The friendship of Duke Carfilhiot is vital to our interests. You will quickly become accustomed to the idea. Now then, your conduct toward Duke Carfilhiot must be amiable and gracious, yet neither fulsome nor exaggerated. Do not press your company upon him; a man like Carfilhiot is stimulated by reserve and reluctance. Still, be neither coy nor cold."

  Suldrun cried in distress: "Father, I will not need to feign reluctance! I am not ready for marriage! Perhaps I never shall be!"

  "Tush now." King Casmir's voice sharpened. "Modesty is all very well in moderation, even appealing. Still, when exercised to excess it becomes tiresome. Carfilhiot must not think you a prig. These are my wishes; are they quite clear?"

  "Father, I understand your wishes very well." "Good. Make certain that they influence your conduct."

  A cavalcade of twenty knights and men-at-arms came down the Sfer Arct and into Lyonesse Town. At their head rode Duke Carfilhiot, erect and easy: a man with black curling hair cropped at his ears, a fair
skin, features regular and fine, if somewhat austere, save for the mouth, which was that of a sentimental poet.

  In the Armory yard the company halted. Carfilhiot dismounted and his horse was led away by a pair of grooms in the lavender and green of Haidion. His retinue likewise dismounted and ranged themselves behind him.

  King Casmir descended from the upper terrace and crossed the yard. Duke Carfilhiot performed a bow of conventional courtesy, as did his company.

  "Welcome!" spoke King Casmir. "Welcome to Haidion!"

  "I am honored by your hospitality." Carfilhiot spoke in a voice firm, rich and well-modulated but lacking timbre.

  "I introduce to you my seneschal, Sir Mungo. He will show you to your rooms. A collation is being laid and when you are refreshed we will take an informal repast on the terrace."

  An hour later Carfilhiot stepped out on the terrace. He had changed to a robe of gray and black striped silk, with black trousers and black shoes: an unusual garment which enhanced his already dramatic presence.

  King Casmir awaited him by the balustrade. Carfilhiot approached and bowed. "King Casmir, already I am finding pleasure in my visit. The palace Haidion is the most splendid of the Elder Isles. Its prospect over city and sea is without parallel."

  King Casmir spoke with stately affability. "I hope that your visit will often be repeated. We are, after all, the closest of neighbors."

  "Precisely so!" said Carfilhiot. "Unluckily I am vexed with problems which keep me preoccupied at home; problems happily unknown to Lyonesse."

  King Casmir raised his eyebrows. "Problems? We are by no means immune! I count as many problems as there are Troice in Troicinet!"

  Carfilhiot laughed politely. "In due course we must exchange commiserations."

  "I would as lief exchange problems."

  "My robbers, footpads and renegade barons for your blockade of warships? It would seem a bad bargain for both of us."

  "As an inducement you might wish to include a thousand of your Ska."

  "Gladly, were they my Ska. For some odd reason they avoid South Ulfland, though they rampage across the North blithely enough."