by Martin Ash
"Then there’s something else." Leth said. He fell to thinking.
"It will be better if I leave you now," said Orbelon. "You have much to dwell upon."
"No. Not yet. Orbelon, too much is at stake and I need you."
"I, whom you are ready to sacrifice to your enemy and mine?"
"That was not my intention. I was testing you. I sought to know, that’s all. The truth is, I do need you. Enchantment's Reach needs you. But with you or without you we seem doomed to fall."
"Leth, I’m here. I can say nothing more under these circumstances. But from this point on the blue casket will be open to you at all times. Learn whatever you can of this god of the Karai. Come to me whenever you need to speak. But be sure no other can find the casket and open it. Now, I think we both have much to think on."
"I saw you earlier," said Leth quickly as Orbelon stood. "That is, I thought I did. In my chamber, just for a moment."
"Ah," Orbelon seemed a little heartened by this. "That is interesting."
He began to move away, his feet and the heavy tatters of his robe dragging across the floor.
"Was it you?" called Leth. "Were you there, outside the casket?"
Orbelon's voice floated back to him through the stillness. "I don’t know."
As his diminishing figure began to merge into the blue mist, he raised his staff.
III
It was the Child!
Leth was as good as convinced of that now. It had to be! Not Orbelon that the Karai's god sought, nor necessarily the subjugation of Enchantment's Reach. It was the Legendary Child! Could it be anything else?
His excitement grew. Why would a god seek the Child? He knew too little. It was for Grey Venger to enlighten him. But if the Legendary Child was the spill of a god, then might it be that the parent was for some reason seeking its own offspring? Or was it an enemy, another of the gods, seeking to destroy it?
It was pointless to speculate. Leth knew nothing more of the Legendary Child than that it was said to be somehow the harbinger of tremendous upheaval and destruction in the world. From all indications the predictions were proving true.
He perceived his position modestly strengthened now. Grey Venger, he calculated, must also understand that the Karai god sought the Child. He must surely be desperate to discover what Leth knew.
Again Leth felt his frustration rise. For he knew nothing. It was Issul who had known. And she had vanished at the same time as the Child. Had she survived? Might the Child be with her?
That thought cast him into a renewed welter of nervous speculation. He forced himself to quell his imaginings.
Dawn was creeping from the low east. The rain had swept away and the winds had died. Leth put away the casket, then bathed and changed his clothes. Still on edge, he yet felt a vague sense of buoyancy, a glimmer of hope that had been absent earlier in the night. And a feeling of awe. His mind raced, struggling to make best use of the latest information he had gleaned from Orbelon. The knowledge that he had, all this time, been conversing with one of the god-beings of Enchantment - albeit one dispossessed and deprived of power - left him both fearful and charged with anticipation. Surely now this must be a key, a means to dealing with the crisis that loomed over his kingdom?
Leth refused to be daunted or cast down by the impossible task that faced him. Finding the Orb's Soul; vanquishing the Karai and their god. He banished these things from his mind, allowing himself to be fired by new hope.
He descended to the breakfast room, wishing to see his children, but it was early and they were still in their beds. In the nursery he sat and watched their tranquil, sleeping faces.
For you, my beautiful babies. For you I will fight to the very end if I must. For you I will overcome all that our enemies may send against us. I will not let your world be destroyed.
Jace woke. Seeing her father she stretched, yawned, then smiled and climbed from her bed to snuggle upon his lap. A few moments later Jalry also woke and joined his sister. Little Lir, oddly, was absent from her cot; Leth gave this little thought, supposing her to have been moved to her mother's apartment. With his two children warmly sleeping in his arms, Leth's head drooped. His eyes closed and he sank into irresistible sleep.
An hour later the children's nursemaid entered. Leth came blearily to wakefulness. The children were up in an instant, demanding games. Leth played with them, then dressed them and, taking their hands in his, took them to breakfast.
Immediately afterwards he found Lord Fectur waiting for him outside his office. "Sire, I must speak with you in absolute privacy."
Leth closed the door on his secretary and bade Fectur sit. "Have you carried out my instructions?"
"I have. Grey Venger states himself willing to meet with you under the conditions proposed. However, he adds stipulations of his own."
"And they are?"
"That the meeting takes place in Overlip and that he will choose the precise location. That location will be made known to you after you have entered Overlip. You may be accompanied by a bodyguard twenty strong. For your further reassurance up to forty more troops may be positioned upon the Market Way of Overlip."
"He instructs the King so? The arrogance of the man!"
"He is powerful in his domain, Sire."
"What are your feelings on this, Fectur?"
"If Venger wishes you dead, it requires but a single dagger-strike. I’m not happy, Sire. I’m not happy with this business at all."
"I take it you will have more of your own men emplaced?"
Fectur nodded.
"What are the chances of capturing Venger?"
"And getting him out of Overlip? With your presence, and under those conditions, almost nil. That is to say, I could not guarantee your safety. Sire, you are not considering--?"
"No, I’m not. I’m trying to view the situation from Venger's position. Has Emergency been made public."
"To vociferous protest."
"And Venger is aware of it?"
"Unless he and all his supporters have suddenly been struck deaf, blind and stupid." Fectur rose in sudden agitation. "Sire, I say again, I cannot counsel this undertaking. I believe you to be acting unwisely in several respects. You risk coming to grief."
Leth watched him. There was something in his manner that suggested he was not being entirely honest, that there were things he had chosen not to say. "You would prefer that I simply lead an army out to meet the Karai."
Fectur flushed faintly.
"Solutions, Fectur!" declared Leth irritably, wondering what Fectur could possibly be about. "Give me solutions, not objections. Then perhaps I might be able to consider your counsel."
"Then it is your decision to go ahead with this meeting?"
"I have little choice. When does Venger propose it?"
"This evening. After dusk."
Leth gave himself a moment of sombre reflection, then nodded. "Make whatever preparations are necessary."
Fectur stared at him stiffly, then nodded and turned to leave.
"And Fectur. . . ."
"Sire?"
"Remember, I have guaranteed Venger's safety. Do nothing to embarrass me. Too much depends upon the outcome of this meeting."
"Never doubt me, Sire."
IV
At the setting of the sun the sky low over the mountains of Enchantment showed the most brilliant turquoise light, merging nearer the horizon into pale primrose and deep apricot. The evening was cloudless, as most of the day had been. The rainstorms of the past twenty four hours were a thing of the past. A gentle breeze blew above the far forest into the city castle, chill beneath the wide clear sky, speaking persuasively of the cold that the coming weeks and months would bring.
Leth was not afraid. As he descended through the streets towards Overlip - the same streets by which Issul had come, hardly more than a week earlier, to deliver her message to Grey Venger - he felt almost sublime. So much had passed through his mind in recent hours, so much had nagged and hammered, that it wa
s now as though he had somehow, involuntarily, shrugged it all away. His mind no longer dwelt upon his problems. Instead he was able to take pleasure in the lights of the dusky city before him, the great towers, spires, domes, turrets, bartizans spiking the sky all around, the crepuscular forest beyond and so far below, the distant mysterious mountains and the vast and inexplicable firmament spread above all.
The weirdlights of Enchantment could just be discerned, a shimmering about the peaks, the vaguest sense of visible motion playing upon the air and an almost unseen aura hovering. Leth felt a quickening within him. Issul would have looked upon an almost identical scene when she came this way. For a pulsebeat the thought caused a surge of emotion in his breast. He fought it down, determined that nothing must divert him now.
He rode on horseback, ten of his bravest and most trustworthy knights surrounding him. But he and they were disguised, armoured in light chain and leather with nondescript coverings. Similarly garbed were the ten men of Lord Fectur's security cadre who marched before and behind him. Leth's helmet bore cheekguards and nasal, obscuring most of his face. Doubtless eyes watched from windows, doorways, balconies and street corners. Doubtless much of this quarter of the city would soon be aware that an important entourage had descended to Overlip. But none would know that it was the King who had passed. Nor would they know his destination, or the importance of the business he was engaged upon.
Evidence of the time was all around: the streets abnormally crowded, progress slowed and difficult at times, more militia than usual. Beggars had increased tenfold, whole families were camped in the streets and squares; taverns and bordellos were crammed to bursting.
Leth and his men dismounted at the same point at which Issul had passed, where the narrow gate let through the low wall which marked the boundary of the upper city. They passed through the gate and entered the downward-leading rock tunnel on the other side, then descended the giddying, twisting stairway, down and down further, the gulf of the far darkened forest ever before and below them. And at last they stepped out upon the street known as Market Way.
This section of Market Way was empty of its usual bustle and traffic. Palace Guards lined the way, forty strong, liveried as city militia. Sixty more were housed secretly in buildings somewhere nearby. Earlier Leth had questioned the use of so many troops. His preference had been for a minimal guard that would draw no attention to himself. But Fectur had shaken his head adamantly.
"Sire, you admonished me in no uncertain terms for acceding to the Queen's wishes to travel without adequate security. Now the Queen has gone - pray the spirits of Fate and Fortune that she will return safely to us - and I must double my attention to your safety. I cannot prevent you undertaking this mission, but you have properly charged me with security arrangements and I am carrying them out in the way I see most fit."
"The meeting is supposed to be a secret, dammit!" argued Leth. "With these many men I may as well go with full panoply and placards advertising my intent."
"Sire, you have declared Emergency. Under such a ruling no one will be greatly surprised at the sight of large groups of military about the streets. Once within the burrows of Overlip no one will know where you go. Nor will they know who it is that goes. Speculation may be high, and then it will be forgotten. I shall have spread the word that there has been a swoop by the militia upon some criminal den or an illegal temple or lodge. Most importantly, as you will not be seen to have been here, questions regarding the purpose of the exercise will not be directed to you. Rather, they will come to me. And I, as you know, am not expected to offer explanations."
Leth took note of that. It was a measure of Fectur's power and the fear he instilled that he, unlike the King, could at times operate virtually beyond the law. It could seem, at times, that the Spectre had greater powers than the Crown. Leth could not guess what schemings milled behind Fectur's bland brow, but he had little doubt that the point had been made quite deliberately.
They entered the first of the tunnels of Overlip. Somewhere ahead directions were being issued, conveyed back to the captain of Fectur's guard, so as they passed deeper into the bowels of the great scarp, twisting, winding, climbing and descending, it seemed that they travelled without aim whereas they were in fact being led to some definite but unknown destination. The air was close, thick, smoky, filled with a thousand mingled odours. Natural vents and man-made flues took stale air to the streets of the city above or out to the face of the scarp, so ensuring a flow through the myriad tunnels. Even so the air of Overlip was difficult to breathe for those unaccustomed to living here. Even among the denizens of this underworld respiratory complaints were common.
It seemed to Leth that they marched for an age. Years had passed since he had been inside Overlip, and never had he explored it in its entirety. He was staggered now at its extent. Everywhere there were recesses, shelves and tiny chambers hollowed into the rock, serving as homes for Overlip's population. Everywhere new passages led off to gloomy unknowns. The sublime mood of earlier had left him. He began to question the wisdom of entering this place. Would they find their way back? Sweat soaked his skin and clothing. He longed to remove his helmet, his head hot and unnaturally confined.
They were in an unpopulated area now. There were no taverns, no shops, no tiny homes. The passage they occupied widened but came to an abrupt halt in a face of solid rock. Two hooded men, who had guided Leth and his guards here, stood before them with torches.
"Wait here," said one, and passed his torch to one of Leth's guards. Both men then pushed past them and disappeared back along the way they had come.
Leth waited uneasily. He could be trapped now. If there was a means of sealing off this passage they could be left to suffocate or starve. Or archers, positioned behind them and on ledges overhead, could pick them off one by one with little effort. But still he held to his conviction that Grey Venger would take no rash action while believing that he, Leth, had information about the Legendary Child.
A harsh voice sounded above Leth's head. "So, the Godless King has descended into the den of the Righteous and Oppressed."
Leth looked up. Twenty feet above his head a hooded man stood arms akimbo upon a ledge.
"Say nothing more!" declared Leth. "We must speak alone!"
"Then send your men back. They can await you in the passage beyond."
Leth spoke to the captain of his guard of knights. "Do as he says. I will come to no harm."
The men marched away. The figure upon the ledge put one hand to his head and drew off his hood. Leth saw again the face he had last seen almost a year earlier. Then it had been a fanatical mask as Venger had charged at him in a crowded street, two daggers raised. Sheer fortune had saved Leth, for Venger had a clear path towards him. A stray dog had run out from the crowd somewhere to the side and had cut straight across Venger's path. Venger had veered and stumbled. The instant was enough for Leth's guards to react. They dragged the King back and formed a protective shield about him. Others fell upon Venger. But Venger himself had been well-protected. Several men in the crowd came to his defence, and in the furious affray that followed Venger had somehow managed to slip away.
Now Leth saw the same face, the same burning eyes. A crazed, mirthless grimace was stretched across Venger's features as he stared down from his ledge.
"Are we to talk like this, on separate levels?" enquired Leth. "It would seem to imply something of specious symbolic significance, but I would prefer that we stood face to face, if only to prevent a stiff neck."
Grey Venger made a scornful sound, then kicked at something upon the ledge. A ladder of rope with wooden rungs skittered down the rock face, unravelling itself to terminate close to Leth's feet.
"Ascend, King," he said with sarcasm.
Hauling himself onto the ledge, Leth was aware that at this moment, more than any other, he was vulnerable. Should the hatred that Venger harboured get the better of him - or should this meeting have been an excuse to exact revenge upon Leth all along - t
hen now was the time to strike. Leth's head was bowed. He was on hands and knees, his bare nape exposed.
But it did not happen. Leth stood, pulled off his helmet and faced his enemy.
Venger was garbed in grey, as was his custom. Grey hose and boots, a padded grey tunic with falchion and dagger at his waist. He was of wiry build, no taller than Leth, aged about forty five. Long grey hair tumbled about his shoulders, clasped tight to his skull by a slim leather band. A short, unkempt beard sprouted upon his chin. His lips were thin and compressed, given to drooping at the corners, but curled now in contempt. His eyes, above a long hooked nose, were pale blue-grey, the pupils pinpoints of gleaming black, reflecting the torchlight. They were narrowed beneath heavy lids, his gaze hard and unflinching.
"Know that I despise you, Leth. Know that I will not rest until I have avenged the deaths of my children."
"They did not have to die," replied Leth with anger. "They were criminals, like you, fanatics like you, implicated beyond doubt in a plot to kill me. But they should not have died. You had that choice, Venger."
Grey Venger shook his head, more a reflex than an emotion. His eyes blazed and prominent blue veins pulsed at his temples. He struck his chest with his fist. "I would have saved them were I other than what I am. But the leader of the True Sept has no such choice. My loyalties lie beyond."
"Then you deprive yourself of the right to justice under the common law. You deprive yourself also of your humanity."
"Humanity? Pah! You know nothing of the weight that is upon me!"
"I know that your act was that of a traitor to the Crown." Leth readied himself, for Venger's mouth twitched and his body gave a jerk as though he was about to launch himself upon him. But he stayed rooted to the spot, though the frenzy of emotion that assailed him from within remained like a storm upon his face.
Leth mentally drew back. He had not wanted to goad Venger, only to talk and agree terms in the manner of reasoning men. "You should have come to me, spoken to me of your convictions."
