“Obviously you have some dangerous errand you want us to run. This trial is just a charade you staged to gull us into working for short pay.”
The duke sighed. “I pass over your impertinence, for there is a slight element of truth in what you say. There is a service by which you may earn my gracious pardon. I shall hold your foster father hostage till you’ve completed your mission.”
Now Tiana was positive the duke was bluffing; that he was in fact bargaining from a position of extreme weakness. She decided to push him. “My father and I work for gold, not threats. If you harm him, I’ll take vengeance, full and bloody. I love him far too much to pay ransom.”
My lord Holonbad’s face showed his discomfort. “That makes no sense. Paying ransom is an act of love.”
“It’s an act of folly. The willingness to pay ransom is what incites kidnapping in the first place. Surely even such a lackwit as you can see that if I paid you not to harm my father, his life would forever be in danger from every greedy knave we meet.”
A section of the magnificent gold drapes parted and a slender man stepped forth. Tiana gasped and bowed before Hower, King of Ilan.
The king spoke in a mixture of anger and despair: “My orders, Holonbad, were that you should obtain Captain Tiana’s cooperation. Instead you have aroused her hatred.”
The duke groaned. “Your Majesty, as I told you before, there is no problem getting this girl to help. The only difficulty is that she is certain to demand an excessive payment.”
“I’m no slave,” blazed Tiana. “Or girl either. Why do you think I’ll be eager to do your bidding?”
“My dear,” pleaded the king, “we are prepared to reward you. In addition to your share of the treasure, I’ll elevate you to the minor nobility, in spite of the … unfortunate circumstances of your birth. You can be Lady Tiana.”
“Thank you, King, but I’d rather be a rich bastard. What’s the treasure?”
“The jewels of the wizard Ullatara. His collection included the pearls called the Tears of the Gods, a set of matched rubies known as the Blood of Astorloth, the emerald Sky Island, the Crown of Aldavar, the diamonds named The Eyes of Sarsis, the — ”
“King Hower,” Tiana interrupted, “any one of these would be a king’s ransom, but they’ve been lost for ages.”
The duke snorted. “You are behind the times, girl — uh, Captain. The jewels were found and lost anew this past month. Moreover, prices have gone up. Together the entire collection failed to ransom a single princess. Come, sit down and I’ll tell the story from the beginning.”
The lord Duke Holonbad rose and led the way to the back of the chamber where there was a number of comfortable chairs. He turned to a servant. “Bring wine and — ” Holonbad stopped. He was going to order the chains taken off the guests. Instead, the so-called Pirate Queen had produced a pick from somewhere and opened her manacles. Caranga had apparently found a weak link in his own manacle chain, for with sudden violence he pulled it asunder.
The king only sighed. “Dismiss these guards and others. This must be heard and held in strictest secrecy.”
The duke obeyed while trying to maintain a calm exterior. Inwardly he was atremble. Things were going badly. He had incurred King Hower’s displeasure, no light matter. Worse, he had begun this bargaining with threats, and must now finish it unarmed and unguarded, facing a huge and ferocious-looking black pirate whose bare hands were obviously deadly weapons. Holonbad’s distraction was such that he failed to notice the white cat that had entered the room soundless as mist. It sat quietly under a table, watching attentively. And listening.
CHAPTER THREE
The duke started to speak but King Hower raised his hand. “This is my disaster and I shall tell it.”
His thin white hair trembling, he began.
*
It all started at my daughter’s birthday party. Princess Jiltha loves puppet shows and I had arranged a very elaborate show, a complex play with dozens of characters. Since I had four skilled puppeteers, eight characters could be moving on stage at any one time. The puppets were extremely lifelike in appearance and natural in their motions. The play concerned a battle between a brave warrior and an evil wizard. I started to protest when I saw that the wizard was obviously patterned after Pyre . It is ill to mock that great and dread one, but I was ashamed to show fear before my daughter and her guests and Pyre is far to the north in his Keep called Ice. What harm could our puppet play do? At the climax of the play the warrior rescues the princess and beheads the wizard. There is a scene of dancing and rejoicing, involving eight puppets. Nevertheless a ninth puppet moved; the wizard rose and put his wooden head back on his shoulders. While I was thinking that a clever trick to frighten us, the puppet took up a sword and cut its own strings.
Freed of any control, the “puppet” walked off the stage and stood before me. Its face was still carved wood, but the eyes were alive. Tiny black dots, gleaming with anticipation, like a snake which has trapped a bird.
“Greetings, King Hower ” said the puppet, ‘I am your friend , Pyre ”
“How can we be friends?” I stammered. “We have never met.”
“We have common enemies ,” replied the puppet. “What other kind of friendship is there ?”
My terror — uh, nervousness overcame me and I shouted, “Begone, demon! I want no part of your black intrigues.”
The puppet moved its sword so that the point rested on my bare hand. I saw that the tiny blade was smeared with a green substance, poison.
It said, “Lord King, you shall be a useful ally or a dead one. Now hear my warning. In Naroka to the east dwells the wizard Ekron, a subtle man of dark learning and darker nature. Here in Reme dwells the wizard Lamarred, a monster vulnerable to no mortal weapon. Both are my enemies. Now they have formed an alliance, each to give the other certain things. It is a true wizard’s bargain; dark unnatural acts in exchange for equally evil deeds. To keep his half of the bargain Lamarred will need your cooperation. He knows you will not help willingly and will seek to enslave you. Guard yourself and your young daughter, King. When your barber trims your beard, have him burn the hair at once. Let everything which has been part of your body be destroyed with fire. Take the same precautions for the Princess Jiltha. Both of you must stay in the palace at all times. Let the sacred lamps of Theba burn brightly day and night throughout the palace. Destroy every mirror in the palace. Search every visitor. If anyone carries a mirror, slay him, wrap the mirror in black cloth and have your sailors sink it in the deepest part of the ocean. Do these things and perhaps you shall save yourself and your daughter from harm.”
[“All this the puppet said,” Tiana commented.
“Yes,” King Hower said, and continued his story.]
The puppet turned and started to walk away. I had to know more so I grabbed it to shout angry, frightened questions at it — and I found myself holding a piece of wood. People were staring at me. No one had seen anything out of the ordinary, save that their king had seized a puppet and shouted at it.
That afternoon I ordered all the precautions the puppet described. From then on, the palace lived in a state of siege against a danger of which I alone knew. Many of my most loyal subjects thought me mad. Perhaps I was. I have hosts of fighting men at my command but I lived in fear of a single man, not daring to order an attack on him. I did use my spies. The King’s Ears are an efficient service, but they could learn little about Lamarred, and what they learned made no sense. Lamarred conducted all his business in the Inn of the Smiling Skull. He was never seen elsewhere in Reme, nor was he seen to enter or leave that inn. Yet most of the time he was not to be found inside the inn. He appeared and disappeared there without trace.
Concerning the inn, again little could be learned. The food was excellent, yet few dined there, because the inn’s patrons often died, suddenly without apparent cause. I lost two of my best men that way. There was little that could be done save to keep a close watch outside the place.
That day I was drunk with relief. In my gratitude I would have given you anything. Jiltha asked permission to go shopping. At last seeing no danger, I allowed it. She left with a normal complement of guards. My daughter has not been seen since. The guards were found dead, most by sword and arrow. But three bore no wounds, though their faces were contorted in terror.
Thus my day of joy ended as the day of disaster. I cursed myself for my folly. In hindsight it was very obvious I should fear both wizards, but Ekron had seemed remote and no direct danger. Now I was trapped and must give this evil being whatever it was he so coveted.
I spent the next week in grief and mourning. Were my daughter held by men of any western nation, I should not have despaired so. But the men of Naroka are not as our folk. They claim to be the most civilized people of the world, and if civilization means subtle cruelty it is true. They do not worship the gods of the West, nor do they swear the same oaths. They do not believe the world was created by the ruminations of the great Cow, hence they do not swear by the Cud! Neither do they believe the world rests on the back of the Great Turtle, so they swear not by the Back! Instead they hold that the world was created and is sustained by the spinning of a great Spider, and make their oaths accordingly. In my youth, before I was king, I visited Naroka’s capital, Shamash. In its evil way it is a beautiful city. The buildings are complex, elaborate, ornamented with exquisite workmanship. Yet still — the city is built without regard for public safety or convenience. The streets are a maze. Their order is a false one that one may more easily become lost. Side streets and alleys often end in hundred-foot drops, with no rail or warning sign. The main streets are decorated with lovely flowering trees. There is nothing to hinder one from reaching up and picking the lush fruit these trees bear. The fruit is poisonous! Many of the buildings are decorated with sharp projections on which running children may impale themselves. They do! Indeed it is a popular game among the children to trick their comrades into such death. The Narokans in word and deed worship the Spider, who slays by cunning and deceit.
These people, subtle beyond western measure, held my daughter. I could do nothing but await their demands.
A Narokan warship sailed into Reme harbor and discharged a single passenger. He demanded immediate audience which I granted. The man was Thetoora, acolyte of Ekron. He gave me the ruby turtle ring my daughter always wore — my gift on her thirteenth birthday. My anger hid my fear. “Dog!” I roared at him; “I should hang you and declare war on Naroka!”
“True,” he replied, with maddening coolness, “but if you were the sort of king to do that, we would not have kidnapped your daughter in the first place.”
“Be warned, the mighty Pyre is my friend and ally.”
“Good, simple, King Hower! Pyre is a safe enemy and a dangerous friend. Did he not warn you concerning the bargain between my master and Lamarred?”
“Yes. That proves his friendship.”
“Pirates stole those things my master sent to Lamarred. Thus was the bargain made void. You were in no danger from Lamarred, which Pyre did not deign to tell you.”
I had neither hope nor strength and the man before me could read my face as though all my thoughts were written in large print thereon. Pretense was useless.
“What do you want of me?”
“Only a small favor … a trifle for such a lovely princess as Jiltha.”
“Stop torturing me! Whatever you ask you shall have, but name the price.”
“All my master requires is two holes in the ground.”
“You have mocked me enough! I am a king, and I think your master would still bargain with me if I sent you home minus an ear or two!”
“Perhaps. But you misunderstand, King Hower. All Ekron requires is that you provide laborers to dig two large holes. And, of course, permission to remove what shall be found there.”
“Ah, the ransom is a buried treasure?”
“True, but the cost to you is only two holes in the ground.”
“Where?”
“At places I shall point out in the Holy Groves of Syrodan.”
“But to disturb the trees of Syrodan is blasphemy; an act forbidden.”
“If Your Highness doesn’t believe his daughter is worth a little blasphemy, there are other buyers. I believe the King of Thesia expressed an interest in adding her to his harem despite her youth.”
I knew I was becoming part of something monstrous — and that I had no choice. I agreed. The acolyte designated two sites for excavation. I paid scant attention to the digging, for I had neglected the affairs of the kingdom and devoting myself to this work eased my worries slightly. I was at the digging site when the first temple was found, some forty feet beneath the earth. The workman who came up to report it told me that it was a small shrine. Its only carving or decoration was on the brazen door. The door depicted the world as a small green sphere. A great snake poised, jaws open wide, about to swallow that sphere. The workman had come to tell us these things while his comrades freed the door and opened it — and as he spoke, ghastly screams rose from the pit. I ran to its edge and stared down. It was high noon, and that pit was filled with blackness! The screams soon stopped.
Thetoora only smiled. “I see the digging goes well.” He looked at the horror on my face. “Perhaps I forgot to mention it. The treasure is guarded. No matter; there are plenty of workmen left to continue the other excavation.”
He walked to the side of the pit and started to descend. “If Your Highness or any of the King’s Own wishes to come down with me, please feel free. Of course, I shall come back up alone.”
When that mocking jackal was gone, I trembled with fear. If he did not return, how could I recover my daughter? My spies confirmed her presence in the labyrinth city, Shamash. She was alive, unharmed — and well-guarded. I had no hope of a rescue by force.
The acolyte returned after a very long hour. He carried a heavy chest as proudly as a young man carries his bride.
“Behold!” He put down the chest and opened it. The display was crystal fire. I have seen the crown jewels of many wealthy lands, but compared to this treasure, all I had seen before was a handful of broken glass. Thetoora laughed at me.
“These are not baubles to ornament foolish women, O King. They are means of power. Each is useful in one spell or another, and this” — he held up a piece of steel, shaped like an egg and as large as a man’s head — “this contains the Left Eye of Sarsis. When my master has both Eyes, he shall crush Pyre and all who oppose us.”
“But it’s a plain piece of steel without joint or seam,” I protested. “How can you open it?”
“My master will attend to that detail. Take the treasure chest back to Reme and guard it well. I shall attend to the second excavation.”
I did as I was … ordered, though it is bitter for a king to take orders from another man’s servant. To a king the greatest achievement is accurate foresight and this time I saw the disaster coming. When he returned from the first pit, Thetoora had been joyful, proud, like a warrior who has fought and easily won his first battle. Before he descended into the pit, he had insulted me. Why? Probably to salve his own fears. Perhaps he was inexperienced in these matters, and now was grown overconfident with too easy a victory. Such men often die in their second battle. I doubled the guard at the second excavation and sent my bes
t soldier to command it: Kathis.
As soon as the second temple was found, the laborers fled although they were receiving triple pay. I had to offer pardons to the scum in my prisons to obtain men willing to finish the digging. They cleared the way around an unmarked silver door, which they were most careful not to open. I cannot reconstruct the disaster accurately. All the survivors agree that Thetoora descended into the pit and opened the silver door. After that some claim that a great snake came forth and swallowed men like field mice. Others swear the sky was blackened and arctic winds froze them in the middle of summer. The only certainty is that we found many dead bodies. Some had fallen by their own hand, others at the hands of their fellows. Despite the slaughter, there was little spilled blood on the ground. Kathis was not found. Of Thetoora, little was found; some burned bits of clothing, a melted blob of gold which might once have been his ring, and his shoes with his feet still in them. Beside the pit we discovered a second chest, filled like the first with fabulous jewels. But it did not contain a steel egg. There were fragments of steel on the ground beside the chest. The egg was shattered and the Right Eye of Sarsis was gone.
I had lost half my poor daughter’s ransom! Ah, that day was a waking nightmare. I saw the things Ekron might do to my helpless Jiltha in his rage; an endless series of visions of horror. That night my courage returned and I resolved to play the cards fate had dealt me. I took up my quill and wrote the message myself.
Ekron, Arch Fiend
I, Hower, King of Ilan, hold your evil life in my hand. Know you that Pyre has stolen the Right Eye of Sarsis. Should he gain the Left Eye, he shall have power to crush you like a worm beneath his feet. You may buy the Left Eye and your life from me. The price is the safe return of my daughter. Give no thought to treachery for my spies are everywhere and your every act is known to me. I have gold as the sunshine and it buys every secret of men. If you would live, take my daughter, at once, from the Tower of Vargan where you have prisoned her and place her on board the large fishing vessel which is now in Shamash harbor. You may send a few soldiers and a trusted acolyte with her, but you must stay behind. Let no other vessel leave the harbor today or three days hereafter. The fishing vessel is to sail to a point fifty leagues due east of the Isle of Red Stone and there drop anchor. My ship will meet it and trade the Left Eye for the Princess.
The Eyes of Sarsis Page 3
