Nightlord: Orb

by Garon Whited

  “That’s odd. I should have had an alarm go off.”

  “Sire?”

  “I should have noticed them coming in,” I clarified. “You were with them?”

  “Yes, Sire. I escorted them to quarters pending your attention.”

  “Hmm. I’ve probably goofed somewhere in the links to the authorization protocols. It should still alert everyone even if an authorized user is present. I’ll have to look at it.” I thought about it as we walked and changed my mind. Having a psychic alarm go off and alert everybody in the palace could become annoying in short order. Imagine a front door with an automatic doorbell going off every time it opens. Now add a dozen kids to the house.

  Yeah, maybe I accidentally set the authorization protocols up correctly. It wasn’t what I meant to do, but occasionally I do get lucky.

  Dantos shoved a pivot-door and we entered the public bath area. Small cleansing pools to the left, draining under the row of toilets. Hot pool, cold pool, and a swimming-pool-sized lounging pool. The room was much warmer than I expected, but I had only been in the place once. Maybe the mountain re-routed some heat to it when people started to occupy the space around it.

  Half a dozen men were lounging in the main social pool when we came in. Their conversation came to an abrupt halt and water splashed as they scrambled out. Moments later, I had six triathlon models kneeling before me, dripping, naked, and holding swords across their palms.

  “We beseech thee, our King,” they recited, more or less in unison, “to our petition, that you deign to bless with the might of thy hand this sword with which thy servant desires to be girded, that it may be a defense for those who cannot defend themselves, that it may be the terror and dread of all who would act against the realm, and that it may be just and right in both attack and defense.”

  I looked at Dantos. He looked back at me.

  “You know these men?” I asked.

  “I do.”

  “Would you trust them to safeguard Caris while assassins roam the halls, looking for me?”

  “I would. I know them.”

  “Then they’ll have their chance.”

  One by one, I took swords, traded oaths, and handed swords back. When I finished, they remained on one knee.

  “Now, you’re knights by the grace of the King and an inside straight. You’ve been knights to a baron. This will be a bit more difficult. You know Sir Beltar?” They did. “Good. He’s one of my knights. Go tell him what just happened here, then do whatever he says. He’s senior, and he knows what I want done. Get dressed and get going.”

  They dressed and Dantos attracted my attention.

  “Sire?”

  “Yes?”

  “Shall I go also?”

  “No, you have duties here. But you might talk to Beltar when you have a chance. He’s familiar with the training regimen for the Order of Shadow.”

  “I will do so immediately, Sire.”

  “Good man. Now, I need something to eat and a change of clothes; I’ve sweated straight through this outfit.”

  In the privacy of my own chambers, I called Beltar on the Temple’s mirror and explained what was coming to him. He promised to see to the additional training and exercises. I didn’t press him for details; he said he could handle it, therefore, he could handle it.

  I rinsed off and dressed, preparatory to getting something to eat, when Dantos pushed open the outer door of my chambers and called for me. I suppose I need a doorbell or an intercom or something. I know I used to have a bell with a pull-rope in my private quarters. Whatever became of that? Maybe it’s a drawback of having a mutable mountain. Things you thought were permanent fixtures are actually optional.

  “Yes?” I asked, emerging from the bedroom area.

  “My King, the Queen requests your attention on the magic mirror.”

  “Thank you.” I jogged to the mirror room; I didn’t want to keep her waiting. Lissette was in the mirror, in profile, obviously talking to someone else. I seated myself in front of the mirror and she gestured the unseen person to silence. We regarded each other for several moments.

  Yes, she was older. I would have guessed more than nine years older, but with nine years, several children, and the stresses of being Queen, her appearance was about right. Let’s not even get into the troubles involved with being married to the Demon King. I wondered what their private life was like. I doubted she had an easy time of it.

  “What do you want?” she asked, coldly.

  I was suddenly certain she had a hard time of it.

  “What I want,” I replied, slowly, thinking hard, “is to say I’m sorry. The Demon King is gone, thanks to Tort, T’yl, Tianna, Firebrand, Bronze, and others. I’m me again.”

  “Fine. What do you propose, now that you are yourself again? Do you plan to take the throne and rule? Will you be coming to the palace to be a father to our children? Or is there some new territory you wish to conquer?”

  “Um. This is not how I pictured this conversation going,” I admitted. Her eyebrows rose as her eyes widened.

  “Oh? How did you think it was going to go? The little wife would welcome back her husband with open arms? The Queen would bow before the King and you would have your way in everything? A few words of apology and all would be forgiven and forgotten? You wanted to talk to me. Talk!”

  I’d forgotten she was beautiful when she was angry. So many women aren’t. Lissette became colder as she grew angrier, until she could be a statue carved from marble. And yet, her whole face was somehow suffused with an almost surreal quality of vitality, as though she was even more alive.

  I didn’t say any of that. If she wanted to be all business, I could try to match her.

  “All right. Fact: I’m here. Fact: I’m in Karvalen—what they’re calling the Fortress of the East. Fact: I’ve taken up residence and intend to stay here for some time. Are you with me so far?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good. Now, I’m looking for Tort and T’yl. If you know where they are or how to find them, please tell me.”

  “I do not.”

  “Fair enough. With that out of the way, please understand I will not be coming to Carrillon unless you invite me to do so.” Lissette’s face shifted, like ice cracking in a thaw. I think I surprised her. “You’re the Queen. From what people tell me, you’re ruling the place anyway. I’m happy about it. If you like, I’ll be happy to show up, put a crown on your head, formally abdicate the position of King, and have everyone swear fealty to you under my watchful eye. Say the word and we’ll do it. Or we’ll ignore the formalities and you go on ruling exactly as you have been. Whatever you feel necessary.

  “However, if you need me for anything, you have only to ask. I’ll destroy a city or look into someone’s soul, or anything in between. But I have no plans to interfere with your rulership. I never wanted to be a king, and I’m told you do a wonderful job of being a monarch. Please continue. Any questions?”

  Lissette stared at me, obviously at a loss for what to say. I could see a little revulsion in her face, but mostly it was wonder, caution, and a moderate leavening of hope.

  “You’ll help?”

  “With anything you require.”

  “So, the Queen can call upon the King? Is that what you’re saying?”

  “No. I’m saying Lissette can ask Halar to help. The Queen has a nation to run and the King is staying out of her way. It’s your monarchy; it’s your country. Do whatever you want with it. Halar, on the other hand, has been gone a while… but remembers Lissette. I always liked you, you know.”

  “That’s…” she trailed off, then turned the mirror, rotating it to face upward. I got to look at the ceiling for a few moments. Interesting. I should rig my own mirror’s frame with a swivel like that. Handy form of hold feature. Personally, though, I’d put some sort of painting on the ceiling, kind of like visual hold music.

  She rotated the mirror down again and addressed me.

  “Do you recall the viksagi?” she aske
d, bluntly.

  “Vividly.”

  “We—that is, I have some difficulty dealing with them. They conduct small raids across the Averill by boat, and they are especially difficult in the east where they found or built a bridge. I once asked Tort to do something about the bridge, but she said it was impossible to destroy. Can you remove it? Or do something about the raids?”

  “I feel confident I can,” I admitted, “but before you tell me what you would like done, may I make a suggestion?”

  “A suggestion? About what?”

  “If you ask me to go north and annihilate the entirety of the viksagi, I probably can. It will take quite a while, though. I would rather find a way to let them live peacefully with the kingdom instead of having an ongoing state of guerilla warfare.”

  Lissette blinked at me for several seconds.

  “You would rather…?”

  “Promote peaceful coexistence, yes. Although, if you insist, I’ll kill them all.”

  “I don’t!” she declared, shocked.

  “Good. I feel better.”

  “It is… strange,” she told me. “I keep expecting you to… you really are the man I met, aren’t you?”

  “I am. But you keep seeing the guy who was the Demon King for nine years. I’ve had this pointed out to me.”

  “Yes.”

  “It must be weird.”

  “Yes.”

  We sat there in awkward silence for a bit.

  “So, about the viksagi?” I asked.

  “What did you have in mind?”

  “Rather than take down the bridge, maybe we should put up some more. Maybe one every ten miles or so.”

  “What? That’s crazy! They would be back and forth over the Averill like it wasn’t even there!”

  “Exactly.”

  “I thought you were trying to help,” she snapped.

  “I am. Do you know why the viksagi keep raiding us?”

  “They’re bloodthirsty savages who delight in killing and thieving,” she stated, positively.

  “Who told you that?”

  “Everyone knows—” she began, then shut herself up. She folded her arms and pursed her lips, thinking. “Anything ‘everyone knows’ should be questioned,” she mused, as though to herself. She glanced at me again. “They do come across the Averill. They kill people and steal their things in raids. I have reliable reports.”

  “What do they steal?”

  “Valuables, I presume.”

  “Of what sort?”

  “I don’t know,” she admitted, still thinking. “What do the viksagi find valuable?”

  “Food, mostly. They do like our steel, though, and they desperately need the weapons. They have an ongoing problem with the frost giants.”

  “Frost giants?” she asked. “Are you saying frost giants really exist?”

  “Yes. Big, nasty brutes. They eat people, livestock, and apparently anything else they can kill. They make life difficult for the viksagi. My thought is if the viksagi can… I don’t know, maybe trade with the kingdom more easily—possibly even farm some of the land south of the Averill, too far from the snowline for the frost giants, maybe they won’t be so quick to raid the neighbors.”

  “The river does keep us from readily attacking them, too,” she mused. “I would have to talk to them, see what sort of organization they have. If they could be persuaded to become part of the kingdom…” She placed one hand across her face, thumb on one side, fingertips stroking the faint scar on the other. “We could offer them help, perhaps even protection. Do frost giants use magic?”

  This sort of thing is one reason I’m perfectly content with handing the kingdom over to Lissette.

  “Not that I know of,” I told her. “The viksagi have magic-workers, but it’s a spirit-binding type of magic. I don’t know if they can persuade a fire-spirit to torch a frost giant. If we were to throw a few balls of fire at frost giants, it might go over extremely well with the viksagi chieftains.”

  “Can we open diplomatic negotiations without a bloodbath?”

  “If I can do it, anyone can. They seem pretty much unconcerned about lone riders asking to talk to the local lord. I’d recommend sending one guy—one with tact, a high tolerance for foreign customs, and a willingness to be respectful to the ‘barbarians’—instead of a battalion. They can get nasty if they feel threatened.”

  Lissette lowered her arms and leaned forward, looking at me intently. I leaned forward to make it easier. She met my eyes and held them for several seconds.

  “You’re really are in there, aren’t you?”

  “Uh… yes?”

  “All right,” she said, leaning back. “I want something.”

  “Name it.”

  “Bring Tianna to Carrillon. I want to talk to her at length. I want assurances before I agree to,” she gestured at me, head to toe, “you.”

  “I am hurt.”

  “No, you’re not.”

  “But I am,” I insisted. “I shouldn’t be, but I am. What you ask is entirely reasonable, but it still smarts a little.” I sighed. “I also think I’d do the same thing in your place. I agree to your terms. I’ll talk to Tianna and see when she’s available.”

  “Very good. Is there anything else?”

  “One thing. Well, maybe more than one. I understand my body was busy while I wasn’t operating it. This has caused, ah, some extensive family incidents.”

  “You have many children,” Lissette stated.

  “Yes. I don’t see how I can do the father-thing. In point of fact, I have no idea what to do. What do you think I should do?”

  “You’re asking my advice?”

  “Yes.”

  Lissette stared at me for several seconds. I couldn’t read her expression.

  “Here’s the problem,” I told her. “I’m lost. I know I should do something, but I haven’t a clue. As has been pointed out to me, someone else stole my body and did things with it. I’m not the one who… I’m not the one who asked for a series of women, but the results are products of my flesh. I don’t even know if I should feel as responsible for this as I do. I certainly don’t know what, if anything, I should do for all the… well, they’re not fatherless children, obviously, but they don’t have their biological father around to be a good example.” I paused for a moment. “I’m not sure I’m equipped to be a good example, anyway.”

  “Are you considering being a father to our children?” Lissette asked.

  “I’ll do anything you ask. Say the word and I’ll move into the palace. Or tell me to stay out of it and I’ll never meet them. Or any arrangement you choose. I hear you’ve had almost no control over the matter. Now you have total control. We’ll do this your way, any way you choose. You’re the one who’s had to raise them in horrible conditions. As far as I’m concerned, whatever you want, you get.”

  “I’ll pretend you mean it, and I will think about it. We may talk about it after I talk with Tianna and some others.”

  “Perfectly reasonable,” I agreed. “Please also think about what to do with and for all the other children, too. I have no idea what should be done, but I feel something should be. This isn’t a problem I’m equipped to solve.”

  “Halar?”

  “Yes, Lissette?”

  “I hope you really are you again.”

  “I am.”

  “Because, if you aren’t, I’m going to have you hunted down and destroyed.”

  We regarded each other in the mirror and I felt a little intimidated. She gestured and the mirror rippled into reflection. I certainly looked intimidated.

  Definitely a better ruler than me.

  All right, Lissette wants to talk—at least, she wants to talk to Tianna. I can kind of see why. If I’m still the Demon King, fooling Tianna is going to be impossible. So, how fast can we get to Carrillon, have the interview, and settle matters? I’ve got several things I want to do, but she’s the Queen. If she’s going to accept the idea she’s in charge and I don’t want to be,
I should really snap to and make whatever she wants happen.

  I called Tianna to schedule a visit to the capitol. She didn’t answer immediately, so I connected my main mirror to my pocket mirror and left it running; I didn’t have time to wait around. She was sure to notice the next time she looked. The inside of a pocket is much darker than a normal mirror.

  I hurried down to the sand table room and spent the next couple of hours working on my spells—power jet, sensors, orbital mechanics, the lot. Mary wandered into the sand table room and watched for a bit, then wandered back out. I admit, it’s not terribly interesting. What can I say? I’m boring. I could spend all day putting spells together, doing house maintenance, and puttering around in the barn.

  I miss that place. I miss the Four. I wonder how Mark and Gary are doing.

  The prototype orbital reconnaissance spells worked pretty well. My major breakthrough with those was the realization a spell matrix can be treated like an object. Most spells are cast on the spot to achieve an effect. Think of it like a flashlight. You put batteries in it and shine it at your target. The farther away the target it, the less light reaches it.

  But what if you throw your flashlight? If you do it right, it lands next to the target and illuminates it from close by, rather than from where you’re standing.

  I built the spell matrix I wanted, stabilized it, and built another spell to transport it to the Edge of the World. A couple of prototypes and some refinement later, I had the working models following the Edge of the World without any problems. At least, for the moment. I was about to start work on the mountain-based navigation spells when my pocket said, “Hello?” I fished out my small mirror. Tianna’s puzzled expression gave way to a smile.

  “Hang on,” I told her. “Let me get to the big mirror.”

  “I like your trick,” she declared. “If I get a small mirror, will you show me how to do it?”

  “Miss a lot of calls?” I asked, hustling down the corridor.

  “How would I know? That’s why I’d like to try it.”

  “Good point. Sure. I’ll be happy to teach it to you. Maybe we should invent voicemail, too. We could embed crystals in the frame and use them as recording mediums.”