by Moulton, CD
*It'll have to be explained to them so you'll have to go back to the square in the morning and be as bewildered as they are – except Z, who suspected what it was from the first. He tried to warn them!*
[ Hisla and Narum will return today. The buildings will be as functional as they ever were. The difference will be that they're not pretty marble, but common stone. After a few years they'll discover the marble beneath and make a truly beautiful city here. The idea can become truth. ]
"I see," Z said. "The city can be made into all the things they planned, but it'll take time and work. I know what to say."
They had to be very careful about the focus of the devices they were using and were barely able to finish as dawn was breaking. Flale had been in the supply room so Maita was able to modify the body to what it wanted. The scene was carefully set, the crew were back in the boarding house rooms, the ships were all again beneath the sea. The floaters released the antidote for the anesthetic.
When the light was strong enough to see Z took Thing on his shoulder and went down the steps to the main restaurant section of the inn. People were wandering around in a daze, staring at the stone walls. Few were saying anything. The proprietor saw Z and asked in a pleading voice what had happened there. Others turned to stare at the talebearer and Zonn.
"I think.... I am not sure," Z said haltingly. "The palace! I must go to the palace! The answers are all at the palace!"
He ran out of the inn, past the walls of dusty grey stone and into the square where he stopped in astonishment. Where the palace had been yesterday was a large pile of rubble and rotted stone. Hundreds of people were coming to stare at the sight. It would soon be thousands.
Tab and Kit came running up behind, crying they wanted to know what had happened!
"The chain! The chain was broken!" Z cried. "I saw it when the incantation wouldn't work on the wizard's powder on the stone! The elementals are dead! At last, there are no more of these demons to torment us!
"Lape! You are strong! Kemat! You over there! You! Come on! We must go to the center of the palace! You will see the truth!"
"You can lead us," Kit suggested. "We have nothing better to do! Can you get across, old man?"
Z scrambled across the stone. Thing dropped off and, as this was the easiest of places for it to travel with its tentacles, went quickly ahead. It stopped at one place and waved them back. Kit picked up a staff in the rubble and pushed at some stones, which fell into a cavern below. They skirted the area and soon found Zonn sitting on a large boulder, staring at something below. Two Saj climbed up before Z and Kit to peer at whatever it was. They gasped audibly and made various religious signs at something.
Z peered down onto a square piece of black marble cut into the sign of the old night god. Laying in the center of that altar was the twisted body of Flale – with Maita's modifications. It was Flale with a short beak and long, bony fingers tipped with thick claws. The teeth were now long and sharp and the ears were long and pointed where the cowl had fallen back.
"So it was true," Z said. "Come. We will not touch that thing. I think that when the light of the sun strikes it it will shrivel. Such beings can't stand light of day. That's why they stayed always so covered that nothing of them could be seen.
"We will go to the square where I'll tell one more tale. It will be the mightiest tale I've ever told and it will be of the place we called Royal City. The tale will be told after the noonmeal. Perhaps good King Narum and Queen Hisla will have returned."
"GOOD?!" a Saj cried. "THEY did this to us!"
"NO!" Z shouted. "You don't understand anything! Withhold your judgements until you hear my tale! He who seizes the right to judge accepts the right to BE judged! They've done much to save you. Don't so hastily judge and never make judgement until you have the facts. Had you stopped to think years ago you would never have come here!"
They weren't happy about it, but agreed to wait. Kit asked Nesk, one of the Saj, if he would have brought his family to a city in such a location if he'd ever stopped to think before making the decision to do so. Nesk was thoughtful all the way back to the square, then turned to say, "This is the wrong place for a city! You're right!"
They parted then and the crew went back to the inn. They spoke with several people on the way. They stayed in their rooms until noonmeal, then went to the square where the king and queen had just arrived. Z spoke with them for a short time, finding what Thing discovered about the city gates was true. He also learned why they never rebelled openly against the Jornians.
Z then called for anyone who wanted to hear the tale of the rise and fall of Royal City to gather round the speaker's stand. Hisla, with Thing in her lap and Narum at her side, was in front and very close. Then came Tab and Kit, then were thousands of people.
Z was going to have a raw throat before this was over!
He began:
The Rise and Fall Of Royal City
"Once, there was a small town of peaceful farming people, nestled like a jewel against the foothills of the Blue Mountains. For many years this town prospered and for as many the people were good and honest. The town was far from the paths of commerce so was not to be disturbed by the evils of the world around it.
"Was that the cause of it getting the attentions of the old elementals? Were they demons or were they just men, terribly warped by their own greed – men who had learned the blackest of arts?
"Perhaps that is not a thing to ever know. Perhaps the truth was buried in the ruins of a beautiful marble castle – but I get ahead of myself. Whatever the cause, this town of good people came to the attention of evil creatures.
"Oh! The arts of deception! The art of empty promises! The art of empty illusions! The art of appealing to peoples' greeds!
"There was, in that town, a chosen leader. He was very young and had taken a mate for life only a short time before these filthy beings came to the town. They came in a chariot of metal, claiming to be able to grant all things. They showed the young leader wonders and miracles.
"How could this young man and his young wife know this was trickery? They had been born and raised here in a town of good people who did not practice deceit! Treachery was a thing they knew not of! Here was the metal chariot! It was filled with wonders! Much more importantly, here was a way to give his people freedom and security for all time to come! These seemingly wonderful caring men, calling themselves scientists, could guarantee a good and full life to all future generations of the followers of the young leader!
"That young leader had never known evil. That young leader had never known deceit. What little greed was in him and his mate was a greed for all the people to have an easy life, not for their own ease.
"I will digress here to say that an easy life is seldom a good life. If one has no labor one has no purpose and all is empty, but the young leader knew nothing of that. He had toiled all his life, as had all others here. It is trite to say, but true. The stairway to ruin is planked with good intentions!
"An ambitious plan was made. The trusting young leader would be declared king and his mate queen. A city would grow from that poor town that would be the envy of all Savaraj! A gleaming city of marble!
"That city did grow, exactly as promised – but something was not right. The city was not as it appeared. From a short distance away it was a gleaming city of fine marble while from inside it was a cesspool of corruption. It was a dirty and diseased place, both literally and figuratively. What was going wrong? Diseases that were easily cured were being allowed to spread among people who came from far places. Garbage was piling up in the streets. Even the people themselves were becoming uncaring and dishonest. Everyone wanted to get the money made of paper and based on nothing but the promises of the scientists. Where before all had worked together for a common goal, each now worked for himself only. Even the small shopkeepers were becoming thieves! It wasn't safe to travel the roads outside of the city – or inside, for that matter!
"What was wrong?
; "The young king and his queen confronted these socalled scientists and was told that it was a sacrifice that must be made today so much good could come tomorrow.
The young queen confronted the scientists because the young were not being taught even simple numbers. When this place was but a poor village all the children could read and work with numbers. All children could read and write.
"What was wrong?
"There came the time the king and queen went to the scientists and decreed that the experiment was a failure and must stop. It was here that they lost their youth and their innocence forever. It was here they learned the darkest side of man and demon. It was here they had to abandon their very souls in order to try to save their people.
"There were now hundreds of thousands of people in their city. There was food for basic sustenance for those people, but the king and queen noticed there was always a great quantity wasted by these scientists and their lackeys.
"You see, this city has walls. There are four ways to leave the city. The scientists, or demons, as they were now shown to be, had made iron gates that could be closed in those four places. If those gates were closed no one could get into the city – AND NO ONE COULD LEAVE! The full import of the evil of these demons was now shown to the king and queen – and they were helpless! If they revealed anything at all the gates would be sealed. All of the fine people of the city would be trapped inside of those gates with no way out and with no way to get food or water in!
"What could they do?
"The king and queen did what they could. It was very little. The central vice of the demons was for gold. They wanted a special kind of gold. They wanted pink gold and they wanted a large amount of it.
"Each of us has a personal vice or two and the demons were no different. It is well to note that demons have a greed for the pink gold. Should ever again such evil assert itself on Savaraj, it should be made clear to all people in all places that pink gold will bait a trap for demons of this type. Never again trust anyone who exhibits an unnatural desire for that substance! Note that they also wanted green quartz. Should any being want both things the defense of the people from the greed of the demons is to see they get neither!
"Just as our vices lead to our downfalls, the greed of the demons led to theirs, for a traveler, a fisherman and a trader came to Royal City. They were ill-treated at first, this trader and this fisherman. The traveler, who I admit to being, was very suspicious when he came over the hill to see the magnificent city, but then came into the city to find the stench of evil and rot. The traveler somehow sensed that all was not as it appeared.
"I was at once reminded of another place and another time, but put such thoughts aside. We all plied our trades and were doing well until we came across something that didn't seem to make much sense in such a city.
"The king, who needed food and medical care for his people, wanted pink gold?
"How odd! Again, it came to the traveler that there was sorcery in this! No normal king would want contaminated gold when there is plenty of the pure product to be had! Something was very, very wrong!
"Now, just by chance, there was traveling with these people a little animal known as Zonn. This animal has a talent that has often been put to use by the trader: This animal can see into the soul of a being and can tell when that being is lying! This animal made known to those who it has become such a close friend of that these scientists HAD NO SOULS! Almost all they said was a lie!
"Then the scientists let it be known to the trader it was those demons themselves who wanted the pink gold, not the king. They said there was much power in pink gold and the power was in the pink part.
"Well, perhaps to demons. They believed that part, at least, according to Zonn.
"I believe Zonn also saw the city as it really was. I knew sixteen years ago it was a simple farm town and now all that marble? So much marble could not be cut in fifty years!
"Soft stones could. This was illusion and it was not merely simple things that showmen do.
"I know one little thing in magic and was able to show these demons. They showed me something in return.
"Fear!
"I was not at that time aware of it, but I had found their true nature. Magic is feared by those who believe in it, but who do not understand it – and also, more, by those who believe in it and DO understand it. These obviously understood it.
"Hisla and Narum then made known to me through various cautious statements that they were trapped by these disgusting evil beings and we set out to expose them and to save the people. The king and queen also let me know their own lives meant nothing if the people could be saved so we made bold plans: If there were demons here they had been around for centuries. They had not held any power in all those years so it was clear to me that all of them were part of the requirements to hold power. No one or two of them held the power to the extent such great illusions could be maintained. I suspected each was a part of the power and that it wasn't any good without all four parts.
"Perhaps some of you noticed the illusions that were this city were not quite so strong since the bandit reportedly killed one of the demons? (The people would put little things together in their minds and would become convinced they had, indeed, noticed some things now that it was mentioned. Those cracks in the walls, the little flaws in the tapestries, the rot in the wood.) Did not each of us begin to see little cracks and flaws where before we saw only gleaming perfection? Did not each of us smell things we knew were not clean and pure where before we knew of no such ill odors? Did not each of us hear things just the least small bit differently? A harshness to sounds that had always seemed pleasant? The tiredness of the music that had always seemed soothing? A discontent because it suddenly became too obvious that all one's labors were producing none of the things we strive toward?
"The king and queen worked with us to delude the deluders. We would get them the pink gold they wanted! Our plan was to get one shipment, which would increase their greed, then we would go for another shipment, but would make two of the demons wait to meet the boat in Dockside Station, thus halving the power the needed to control the illusions. We hoped to then cause some kind of diversion here when there were only the two present, thus making them lose control of the illusion and exposing them. With only two counterparts here we could defeat them.
"Fate, as is its wont, stepped in! One of the demons in his greed went out on the road to meet me coming back with the pink gold trinkets that were to be a thing to pique their interests. While he was waiting at the fork for me to come four bandits came instead.
"I have before told that story, but now I understand it. Before it was but a strange story told to me by a bandit. Now it is truth. Now it is the tale of the demise of an evil elemental being who was preying on the worst motives of the people! Perhaps that one, having no honor among even its own kind, meant to steal the pink gold from me before the others could receive it!
"The chain is broken! Now the remaining three demons must get as much of the gold as they can before the illusion fails!
"They began making mistakes and they began to do some of the things they had promised to cover the errors. They sent the water and were helping to rid the city of the garbage. I could see them weakening so arranged for the first shipment of gold to be brought. When the gold was here they became greatly emboldened – so I challenged them! I had shown them I knew one bit of true magic – and they were afraid!
"Still, they could not refuse the challenge or the people here would laugh them into oblivion so they arranged to demonstrate that they could call great power. They would show all people they were too strong to be resisted and they would show King Narum and Queen Hisla the futility of defying them!
"Zonn had found the sorcerer's powders in their rooms and had mixed two of them. It likes to do things like that. It has a truly uncanny ability to know what will happen later when it does a thing now. It is closer to nature than are we and it has a deep understanding of things of nature. Would that we
all had a little portion of that power! This city would not BE here! Would that the good king and queen had such powers fifteen years ago!
"Still, if they had not been afraid of magic powers – that I do not possess – their incantations would have caused it to work. Instead, I think the one called Chart used the wrong incantation. Fear makes us all stumble over words.
"I did not make a magic incantation. I merely repeated some words from a silly song of the lower southern islands. I had seen the purple smoke coming from the block and knew something would happen all by itself so I yelled it out. That increased the fear in them.
"Last night they were mixing some things for the show this morning in the fields. At the same time one of them went to the altar Nesk and several others discovered this morning to call on the old night gods for power.
"I can only guess, but I think they got the power. I think they made some evil concoction that was to make a great explosion in the field this morning and the power came to make the great explosion right there in the palace! I think they were not enough in the three remaining parts to any longer control those things which are beyond the powers of mere mortals to control. I think those evil beings found THEY no longer had power over the forces of darkness and met their doom as a result. The lesson is plain to any who would foolishly court those evil powers in their greed!
"You may ask Nesk what they were like if you want to know. I will only say here that the bandit described them well.
"That is the story of the rise and fall of Royal City. I say it is to each of you whether the city will arise again! Hisla and Narum are good leaders and have learned more than any of us the lessons of this fifteen years of nightmare. I will suggest they should now be given the chance to do those things they always wanted to do.
"There is a thing I don't think they have yet considered – well, two. Three, actually.
"First, Royal City is still very livable and, now that the demons are forever gone, there are rich fields to grow more than sufficient food if they are put to proper use. This city isn't so pretty in some ways as it was, but is far more beautiful in others. It IS solid!
