by Jack Vance
"The postern is hidden behind the bush. Who will notice me? I will take care not to be seen."
Aillas made a few more half-hearted protests, to which Ehirme paid no heed. She looked out over the meadow and across the woodland beyond. "In the forest past the village Glymwode live my old father and mother. He is a woodcutter, and their hut is solitary. When we have butter and cheese to spare, I send it to them by my son Collen and the donkey. Tomorrow morning I will bring you smocks, hats, and shoes, on my way to market. Tomorrow night, an hour after sunset, I will meet you here, at this spot, and you will sleep in the hay. At sunrise Collen will be ready, and you will travel to Glymwode. No one will know of your escape, and you may travel by day; who will connect the Princess Suldrun with three peasants and a donkey? My father and mother will keep you safe until danger is past, and then you shall travel to Troicinet, perhaps by way of Dahaut, a longer road but safer."
Aillas said humbly: "I do not know how to thank you. At least, not until I reach Troicinet, and there I will be able to make my gratitude real."
"No need for gratitude! If I can steal poor Suldrun away from the tyrant Casmir, I will have reward enough. Tomorrow night then, an hour after sunset, I will meet you here!"
Aillas returned to the garden and told Suldrun of Ehirme's arrangements. "So we do not need to skulk like thieves through the night after all."
Tears started from Suldrun's eyes. "My dear faithful Ehirme!
I never fully appreciated her kindness!"
"From Troicinet we will reward her loyalty."
"And we still need gold. I must visit my chambers in Haidion."
"The thought frightens me."
"It is no great matter. In a twinkling I can slip into the palace and out again."
Dusk came to darken the garden. "Now," said Suldrun, "I will go to Haidion."
Aillas rose to his feet. "I must go with you, if only to the palace."
"As you like."
Aillas climbed over the wall, unbarred the postern, and Suldrun passed through. For a moment they stood close to the wall. A half-dozen dim lights showed at various levels of the Pein-hador. The Urquial was vacant in the dusk.
Suldrun looked down along the arcade. "Come."
Through the arches lights twinkled up from Lyonesse Town. The night was warm; the arcades smelled of stone and occasionally a whiff of ammonia, where someone had eased his bladder. At the orangery the fragrance of flower and fruit overcame all else. Above loomed Haidion, with the glow of candles and lamps outlining its windows.
The door into the East Tower showed as a half-oval of deep shadow. Suldrun whispered: "Best that you wait here."
"But what if someone comes?"
"Go back to the orangery and wait there." Suldrun pressed the latch and pushed at the great iron and timber door. With a groan it swung open. Suldrun peered through the crack into the Octagon. She looked back to Aillas. "I'm going in—" From the top of the arcade came the sound of voices and the clatter of footsteps. Suldrun pulled Aillas into the palace. "Come with me then."
The two crossed the Octagon, which was illuminated by a single rack of heavy candles. To the left an arch opened on the the Long Gallery; stairs ahead rose to the upper levels.
The Long Gallery was vacant for its whole length. From the Respondency came the sound of voices lilting and laughing in gay conversation. Suldrun took Aillas' arm. "Come."
They ran up the stairs and in short order stood outside Suldrun's chambers. A massive lock joined a pair of hasps riveted into stone and wood.
Aillas examined the lock and the door, and gave a few halfhearted twists to the lock. "We can't get in. The door is too strong."
Suldrun took him along the hall to another door, this without a lock. "A bed-chamber, for noble maidens who might be visiting me." She opened the door, listened. No sound. The room smelled of sachet and unguents, with an unpleasant overtone of soiled garments.
Suldrun whispered: "Someone sleeps here, but she is away at her revels."
They crossed the room to the window. Suldrun eased open the casement. "You must wait here. I've come this way many times when I wanted to avoid Dame Boudetta."
Aillas looked dubiously toward the door. "I hope no one comes in."
"If so, you must hide in the clothes-press, or under the bed. I won't be long." She slid out the window, edged along the wide stone coping to her old chamber. She pushed at the casement, forced it open, then jumped down to the floor. The room smelled of dust and long days of emptiness, in sunlight and rain. A trace of perfume still hung in the air, a melancholy recollection of years gone by, and tears came to Suldrun's eyes.
She went to the chest where she had stored her possessions. Nothing had been disturbed. She found the secret drawer and pulled it open; within, so her fingers told her, were those oddments and ornaments, precious gems, gold and silver which had come into her possession: mostly gifts from visiting kindred; neither Casmir nor Sollace had showered gifts upon their daughter.
Suldrun tied the valuables into a scarf. She went to the window and bade farewell to the chamber. Never would she set foot in there again: of this she felt certain.
She returned through the window, pulled right the casement and returned to Aillas.
They crossed the dark room, Opened the door a crack, then stepped out into the dim corridor. Tonight, of all nights, the palace was busy; many notables were on hand, and up from the Octagon came the sound of voices and the two could not effect the quick departure upon which they had planned. They looked at each other with wide eyes and pounding hearts.
Aillas uttered a soft curse. "So now: we're trapped."
"No!" whispered Suldrun. "We'll go down the back stairs.
Don't worry; one way or another we'll escape! Come!" They ran light-footed along the corridor, and so began a thrilling game which dealt them a series of frights and startlements and had been no part of their expectations. Here and there they ran, gliding on soft feet along old corridors, dodging from chamber to chamber, shrinking back into shadows, peering around corners: from the Respondency into the Chamber of Mirrors, up a spiral staircase to the old observatory, across the roof into a high parlor, where young noble-folk held their trysts, then down a service stairs to a long back corridor which gave on a musicians' gallery, overlooking the Hall of Honors.
Candles in the wall sconces were alight; the hall had been made ready for a ceremonial event, perhaps later in the evening; now the hall stood empty.
Stairs led down into a closet which gave on the Mauve Parlor, so-called for the mauve silk upholstery of its chairs and couches: a splendid room with ivory and snuff-colored paneling and a vivid emerald green rug. Aillas and Suldrun ran quietly to the door, where they looked out into the Long Gallery, at this moment empty of human occupancy.
"It's not far now," said Suldrun. "First we'll make for the Hall of Honors, then, if no one appears, we'll make for the Octagon and out the door."
With a last look right and left, the two ran to the arched alcove in which hung the doors into the Hall of Honors. Suldrun looked back the way they had come, and clutched Aillas' arm. "Someone came out of the library. Quick, inside."
They slipped through the doors into the Hall of Honors. They stood wide-eyed, face to face, holding their breaths. "Who was it?" Aillas whispered.
"I think it was the priest Umphred." "Perhaps he didn't see us."
"Perhaps not... If he did he will be sure to investigate. Come; to the back room!" "I see no back room!"
"Behind the arras. Quick! He's just outside the door!" They ran the length of the hall and ducked behind the hanging. Peering through the crack, Aillas saw the far door ease open: slowly, slowly. The portly figure of Brother Umphred was a dark stencil against the lights of the Long Gallery.
For a moment Brother Umphred stood motionless, save for quick shakes of the head. He seemed to give a cluck of puzzlement and came forward into the room, looking right and left.
Suldrun went to the back wall. She found the
iron rod and pushed it into the lock-holes.
Aillas asked in astonishment: "What are you doing?"
"Umphred may very well know about this back room. He won't know this other."
The door opened, releasing a suffusion of green-purple light. Suldrun whispered: "If he comes any closer we'll hide in here."
Aillas, standing by the crack, said, "No. He's turning back... He's leaving the hall. Suldrun?"
"I'm in here. It's where the king, my father, keeps covert his private magic. Come look!"
Aillas went to the doorway, glanced gingerly right and left.
"Don't be alarmed," said Suldrun. "I've been in here before. The little imp is a skak; he's closed in his bottle. I'm sure he'd prefer freedom, but I fear his spite. The mirror is Persilian; it speaks in season. The cow's horn yields either fresh milk or hydromel, depending upon how one holds it."
Aillas came slowly forward. The skak glared in annoyance. Colored light-motes caught in tubes jerked in excitement. A gargoyle mask hanging high in the shadows turned down a dyspeptic sneer.
Aillas spoke in alarm: "Come! before we fall afoul of these things!"
Suldrun said, "Nothing has ever done me harm. The mirror knows my name and speaks to me!"
"Magic voices are things of bane! Come! We must leave the palace!"
"One moment, Aillas. The mirror has spoken kindly; perhaps it will do so again. Persilian?"
From the mirror came a melancholy voice: "Who calls ‘Persilian'?"
"It is Suldrun! You spoke to me before and called me by name. Here is my lover, Aillas!"
Persilian uttered a groan, then sang in a voice deep and plangent, very slowly so that each word was distinct.
Aillas knew a moonless tide;
Suldrun saved him death.
They joined their souls in wedlock strong
To give their son his breath.
Aillas: choose from many roads; Each veers through toil and blood. But still this night you must be wed To seal your fatherhood.
Long have I served King Casmir; He asked me questions three. Yet never will he speak the rote to break me full and free.
Aillas, you must take me now, and hide me all alone; By Suldrun's tree, there shall I dwell Beneath the sitting-stone.
Aillas, as if moving in a dream, reached his hands to Persilian's frame. He pulled it free of the metal peg which held it to the wall. Aillas held up the mirror and asked in puzzlement: "How, this very night, can we be wed?"
Persilian's voice, richly full, issued from the mirror: "You have stolen me from Casmir; I am yours. This is your first question. You may ask two more. If you ask a fourth, I am free." "Very well; as you wish it. So how will we be wed?" "Return to the garden; the way is safe. There your marriage bonds shall be forged; see to it that they are strong and true. Quick, go now; time presses! You must be gone before Haidion is bolted tight for the night!"
With no more ado Suldrun and Aillas departed the secret room, closing tight the door on the seep of green-purple light. Suldrun looked through the crack in the hangings; the Hall of Honors was empty save for the fifty-four chairs whose personalities had loomed so massively over her childhood. They seemed now shrunken and old and some of their magnificence had gone; still Suldrun felt their brooding contemplation as she and Aillas ran down the hall.
The Long Gallery was empty; the two ran to the Octagon and out into the night. They started up the arcade, then made a hurried detour into the orangery while a quartet of palace guards came stamping, clanking and cursing down from the Urquial. The steps faded into quiet. Moonlight through the arched intervals cast a succession of pale shapes, alternately silver-gray and darkest black, into the arcade. Across Lyonesse Town lamps yet flickered, but no sound reached the palace. Suldrun and Aillas slipped from the orangery, ran up under the arcade and so through the postern into the old garden. Aillas brought Persilian from under his tunic. "Mirror, I have put a question and I will be sure to put no more until need arises. Now I will not ask how I must hide you, as you directed; still, if you wished to enlarge upon your previous instructions, I will listen."
Persilian spoke: "Hide me now, Aillas, hide me now, down by the old lime tree. Under the sitting-stone is a crevice. Hide as well the gold you carry, quick as quick can be."
The two descended to the chapel. Aillas went on down the path to the old lime tree; he lifted the sitting-stone and found a crevice into which he placed Persilian and the bag of gold and gems.
Suldrun went to the door of the chapel, where she paused to wonder at the candleglow from within.
She pushed open the door. Across the room sat Brother Umphred, dozing at the table. His eyes opened; he looked at Suldrun.
"Suldrun! You have returned at last! Ah, Suldrun, sweet and wanton! You have been up to mischief! What do you do away from your little domain?"
Suldrun stood silent in dismay. Brother Umphred lifted his portly torso and came forward, smiling a winsome smile, eyelids half-closed, so that his eyes seemed a trifle askew. He took Suldrun's limp hands. "Dearest child! Tell me, where have you been?"
Suldrun tried to draw back, but Brother Umphred tightened his grip. "I went to the palace for a cloak and a gown... Let go my hands."
But Brother Umphred only pulled her closer. His breathing came faster and his face showed a rosy-pink flush. "Suldrun, prettiest of all the earth's creatures! Do you know that I saw you dancing along the corridors with one of the palace lads? I asked myself, can this be the pure Suldrun, the chaste Suldrun, so pensive and demure? I told myself: impossible! But perhaps she is ardent after all!"
"No, no," breathed Suldrun. She jerked to pull away. "Please let me go."
Brother Umphred would not release her. "Be kind, Suldrun! I am a man of noble spirit, still I am not indifferent to beauty! Long, dearest Suldrun, have I yearned to taste your sweet nectar, and remember, my passion is invested in the sanctity of the church! So now, my dearest child, whatever tonight's mischief, ‘ it will only have warmed your blood. Embrace me, my golden delight, my sweet mischief, my sly mock-purity!" Brother Umphred bore her down to the couch.
Aillas appeared in the doorway. Suldrun saw him and motioned him to stand back, out of sight. She drew up her knees, and squirmed away from Brother Umphred. "Priest, my father shall hear of your acts!"
"He cares nothing what happens to you," said Brother I Umphred thickly. "Now be easy! Or else I must enforce our congress by means of pain."
Aillas could constrain himself no longer. He stepped forward and dealt Brother Umphred a blow to the side of his head, to send him tumbling to the floor. Suldrun said in distress: "Better, Aillas, had you remained away."
"And allowed his beastly lust? First I would kill him! In fact, I will kill him now, for his audacity."
Brother Umphred dragged himself back against the wall, eyes glistening in the candlelight.
Suldrun said hesitantly, "No, Aillas, I don't want his death."
"He will report us to the king."
Brother Umphred cried out: "No, never! I hear a thousand secrets; all are sacred to me!"
Suldrun said thoughtfully. "He will witness our wedlock, he will marry us by the Christian ceremony which is as lawful as any other."
Brother Umphred struggled to his feet, blurting incoherent phrases.
Aillas told him, "Marry us, then, since you are a priest, and do it properly."
Brother Umphred took time to settle his cassock and compose himself. "Marry you? That is not possible."
"Certainly it is possible," said Suldrun. "You have made marriages among the servants."
"In the chape at Haidion."
"This is a chapel. You sanctified it yourself."
"It has now been profaned. In any case, I can bring the sacraments only to baptized Christians."
"Then baptize us and quickly!"
Brother Umphred smilingly shook his head. "First you must believe truly and become catechumens. And further, King Casmir would be rageful; he would take vengeance on us all!"
>
Aillas picked up a stout length of driftwood. "Priest, this cudgel supersedes King Casmir. Marry us now, or I will break your head."
Suldrun took his arm. "No, Aillas! We will marry in the manner of the folk, and he shall witness; then there shall be no talk of who is a Christian and who is not."
Brother Umphred again demurred. "I cannot be a party to your pagan rite."
"You must," said Aillas.
The two stood by the table and chanted the peasant litany of wedlock:
"Witness, all, how we two take the vows of marriage! By this morsel, which together we eat."
The two divided a crust of bread and ate together.
"By this water, which together we drink."
The two drank water from the same cup.
"By this fire, which warms us both."
The two passed their hands through the flame of the candle.
"By the blood which we mingle."
With a thin bodkin Aillas pricked Suldrun's finger, then his own, and joined the droplets of blood.
"By the love which binds our hearts together."
The two kissed, smiled.
"So we engage in solemn wedlock, and now declare ourselves man and wife, in accordance with the laws of man and the benevolent grace of Nature."
Aillas took up pen, ink and a sheet of parchment. "Write, priest! Tonight on this date I have witnessed the marriage of Suldrun and Aillas,' and sign your name."
With shaking hands Brother Umphred pushed away the pen. "I fear the wrath of King Casmir!"
"Priest, fear me more!"
In anguish Brother Umphred wrote as he was instructed. "Now let me go my way!"
"So that you may hurry to tell all to King Casmir?" Aillas shook his head. "No."
"Fear nothing!" cried Brother Umphred. "I am silent as the grave! I know a thousand secrets!"
"Swear!" said Suldrun. "Down on your knees. Kiss the sacred book you carry in your pouch, and swear that, by your hope of salvation and by your fear of perpetual Hell, that you will reveal nothing of what you have seen and heard and done tonight."
Brother Umphred, now swearing and ashen-faced, looked from one to the other. Slowly he went to his knees, kissed the book of gospels and swore his oath.
