The King's Last Song

by Geoff Ryman

  "You want to go on, Loak Sergeant?"

  "Sure. What, you think you can drive faster than army motorcycles?"

  William works the motorcycle around the ruts in the track. It takes him five minutes to cross the causeway.

  He parks his bike next to the pickup. “Hiya, guys,” he says to the boys.

  "The army's here,” one of them replies. “They don't look friendly."

  Map hops off the motorbike and strides forward. “Good morning, Lieutenant-Colonel! Good morning, officers.” He's laughing. William is allergic to conflict. It makes his stomach cramp. He looks at all the guns.

  Map flings his hat onto the table in front of Rith and swings onto a stool. “It's good to know that officers have time to relax. It means the rest of us can get on with our work.” He turns to Captain Prey as if reporting to him. “Saom Pich did not come home last night. No messengers came to the house. So he's out there somewhere with the Book.” He turns and grins at Sinn Rith. “Or have you managed to arrest him?"

  "No,” says Rith. “We've managed to arrest you."

  "Not yet,” Map laughs and waves a finger in Rith's face.

  William thinks: this isn't an act. He really isn't at all afraid of them. Which means he really doesn't care what happens to him.

  "Oh, something else our investigation has found out. We have a sighting of Saom Pich getting on a boat and heading south onto the lake. Someone was thumping inside the hull. I think your General may be hurt."

  Sinn Rith is glowering. Map laughs at him. “You mean nobody told you? That is because General Nhiek Kosal runs things and your team doesn't."

  "Map...,” warns Captain Prey.

  "Your own colleagues don't trust you. Maybe they think you stole the Book too."

  Map's face is doing the most extraordinary things. The squeezed spots have swollen into huge hard lumps, and grinning traps them between muscles. They rock back and forth all by themselves under his skin.

  Map leans forward. Parts of his face seems to be hammering to be let out. “I remember you, Sinn Rith. I saw you in that café in Phnom Penh where all the Tamils went. Tamil food, Tamil talk. You were a captain then, and I asked myself, why does the Captain sit there? Then I remembered. The Tamils come there to buy guns for their civil war..."

  Sinn Rith looks deadly, like a snake. “You keep talking, Map, you'll be in trouble..."

  "Your poor privates, they didn't have any guns. They saw their guns and their ammo for sale in the market. You're the one who sold it, for lots of money.” Map is chuckling. “You know, you're a very smart guy. How much money did you make selling army guns to terrorists?"

  Captain Prey cut in. “Map, let up. Sorry, Lieutenant-Colonel, Map does this to show how easy it is to make charges."

  Rith shouts over Prey, “He is the one who will be sorry!"

  Map drawls on, enjoying himself. “Some corrupt army people need a new way to make money, and there is this Book made of gold. They don't care who wrote it! And there's an old General over their heads, blocking promotion, so it's a good way to get rid of him as well."

  Sinn Rith draws his gun.

  Someone shouts, Mother-fuck!

  William jumps back, pulling some of the boys with him towards the pickup.

  From the laterite wall of the ancient temple comes a cascade of clicking sounds. Safety catches.

  "Putto!" says one of the army captains.

  All along the walls, police guns are pointed at them.

  Captain Prey stands up. “Idiots!” he shouts. “I didn't say to do that!” He turns to Rith. “I didn't order that!"

  Map sits still in his chair, with his back towards the guns. He starts to giggle. He shakes his head, enjoying himself.

  Captain Prey is furious. “What do you want, both of you? You want to start shooting? We have a truckload of kids here. Have you never heard of crossfire? Haven't there been enough children shot in Cambodia? What good would it do either of you to have a gunfight at Angkor Wat? You, Rith, what would that do for your career?"

  Rith looks at his boots. “Your men pulled guns."

  "You pulled yours first and they reacted. Look, there is a new general who runs the investigation. You don't run it, Rith. Not you, not your colonel. You just want to get at Map and get a quick result to show up the new guy. And you!” Prey points to Map. “You have the brains of a shrimp."

  Map chuckles. “That's true. But I didn't take the Book.” He flicks a hand at Rith. “I think these guys did."

  Captain Prey is beside himself. “Enough!"

  Rith's eyes go darker; his cheeks are white with rage. He cranes his neck back and around to look at the wall. There are at least fifteen policemen ranged along it, sheltering behind the crenellations. William looks at the big, beautiful bikes and thinks, Rith has more men, where are his men?

  Prey shouts at the police, “Put your guns down. Down! Now! Come out here where I can see you."

  Shuffling sounds come from behind the wall.

  "Come out!"

  One of the policeman jumps down from the top of the wall, just to show how strong he is. The others step around and over fallen blocks. They still carry guns. The army is still outnumbered.

  "So, the Patrimony Police protect murderers,” says Rith.

  Prey sighs. “They wouldn't do that if they didn't trust Map. If they didn't know that he works all night and then sometimes all day to protect the monuments. My men think Map is a good man.” He glowers at Map. “Underneath it all."

  Rith is cornered. His face closes up and he sits back down at the table. He's humiliated, William thinks. He won't be able to leave without doing something.

  Prey looks over to the boys beside the pickup. He waves them forward. He wants to use them as a distraction. “Boys. Come here and tell us what you've found out."

  William thinks: get the boys out of there! They hang back, hugging themselves as if cold.

  Map salutes them. “Patrimony Deputies. Don't be scared of Sinn Rith, he's a nice guy. It's only me he hates; isn't that right, Rith?"

  Then from out of the eastern gopura, other soldiers emerge, and William knows. They're going to have to hurt someone.

  William spins on his heel and begins to walk towards their machines. At first he only wants to get the army away from the boys. “Nice motorcycles!” he exclaims.

  There are three officers at the table, and three soldiers have just come through the gate. That means there are four others somewhere.

  One of the captains at the table calls to William, “You stay away from those."

  William sompiahs but keeps walking. “They are so beautiful!” William turns and glares at Ea. Ea understands and begins to walk towards the bikes as well.

  "Man,” Ea says, “how is it that you guys get these great machines?"

  The two officers at the table follow Ea. “They're too good for you."

  The last four soldiers come out of the gate. They see William and head straight for the motorcycles. The first three have headed him off and now put a proprietary hand on their bikes.

  William greets them. “Chumreapsooah. Just looking."

  Ea talks as well. “You guys happy? I just got out of the army but they never gave us bikes like these!"

  The two officers from the table come up behind them. William's stomach cramps with fear. He leans over and peers at the splendour of the chrome. “How many horsepower?"

  By now, only Sinn Rith sits at the table.

  "Don't touch army equipment, farm boy.” Two of the soldiers get on their bikes to protect them. The four new arrivals do the same.

  William looks up at Ea. “What a great job. I always wanted to be in the army."

  "The army only takes men."

  William laughs as if that were very funny. “I'll remember that answer!"

  Then he squats down next to the machine. “Oh, and I used to think a Honda Dream was the best bike. Look at the suspension.” He reaches out to touch it.

  The soldier swings up onto hi
s bike and kicks Williams hand away. “Ouch!” says William, looking pained, and shakes his hand.

  At the table, Sinn Rith explodes. “What is all of this!” he shouts. He jumps up and strides angrily towards his men. He moves very quickly.

  William hears him mutter, “Can't even protect our bikes from children.” William pretends to be very afraid and scuttles away. “Sorry, sir, sorry, I meant no harm!"

  By now most of Rith's men are sitting on their bikes. The most obvious thing for him to do is mount his cycle as well.

  "Come on,” growls Sinn Rith. “Let's go work with professionals."

  The last two officers finally climb onto their motos, and together, all of Rith's men start up and rev their engines. William can feel the soil throb through the soles of his track shoes.

  He glances up and sees that Captain Prey is already on the phone.

  Ea looks at William and chuckles. “Man. I thought we were in trouble for a second."

  "We were."

  In order of their status, the army men roll out along the causeway, up and over the humps in the uneven ground. William turns and walks back.

  Map has stood up and is organizing all the boys into a group. Captain Prey raises a hand as he talks on the phone. “Map, hold on."

  Map keeps talking to the boys. “How many of your families have boats? There is a particular boat on the lake that we need to find."

  Prey hangs up and jumps to his feet. “That was the General. He wants you to go to APSARA HQ."

  Map shrugs. “I'm going to the Lake."

  "Saom Pich went through a roadblock near Battambang last night."

  Map's face falls. “Battambang?"

  "He used one of the names you gave us. He said he was going to his cousin's house."

  "Well, go there! That's where the Book is."

  Prey is holding up a hand. “They did, but Pich was already gone and there was no Book."

  "So he went to Battambang by boat, saw them writing down his name, and went another way back to his boat as soon as he could. He and the Book are on the lake somewhere."

  "And you're going to come back to APSARA HQ where we can keep you away from Sinn Rith and you can get some food and sleep. Have you seen your hands? And Map. You must be polite to these people. The General's on our side. None of that stupidity we just saw. If you work well with these guys....I'll try to get you a pay raise."

  Map's gaze fixes on his boots. “We're going to get the bastard,” he says.

  Map looks up at William and finally smiles.

  * * * *

  This time they let William into APSARA HQ.

  There is a big meeting inside the villa. William is left to wander. Behind the main building, there are long, grey warehouses. Outside them on grass or pavement are Angkor artifacts, some of them larger and more phantasmagorical than anything left out in the monuments.

  There is a huge temple guardian who looks like Jayavarman except for his fine headdress and thick legs. Under the shelter of a walkway are multi-armed Hindu gods two or three times taller than a man. William is stunned to see it all. How is it that all this richness was here and I never knew it?

  Behind one of the workshops, identical temple lions and the heads of gods line up. One of the busts is neatly sawn in half, and William sees that it is made out of hollow concrete. Are APSARA replacing the real artifacts with fake ones?

  Dik Sangha comes out and shakes Williams hand and says how pleased they are with him and Map. He sends William out for pizza. Map wants pizza. They both chuckle.

  By the time William gets back, Map is sitting outside under a tree. He sees William and raises his hand high. It is wrapped in a clean bandage and someone has put bandaids on the gouges on his forehead. William gives Map his pizza and walks on into the villa, to deliver the lunch. There is one huge room with open French windows, a vast oval table, and heavy chairs. William glances at all kinds of uniforms, brown, blue, and green. He sompiahs and passes them the pizza boxes, but he is not wanted and soldiers rapidly step forward to bar his way, and walk him backwards and out.

  Map has already finished his entire pizza, and is sitting on a bench, sharing a beer with an older man. When he sees William, Map rocks himself to his feet. “There's something you should see. I told them that you are a Cambodian and trustworthy, and who else are these things for? I also gave a beer to the guardian!” Map rocks forwards.

  The old man limps with them to one of the warehouses and opens it up. It smells of mildew and is full of statues and large, polished stones with inscriptions. “This is the kind of writing the Book is in, here,” says Map. “The top is in Sanskrit, the bottom is in Old Khmer, but they say different things. The Khmer is a list of real things. We are more practical."

  William peers. He can make out some of the Khmer words and thinks: It really was us; we really did do this. Map taps one large tablet. “This one was from the Pre Rup temple. Luc told me what this part here means: ‘Oh you who are wise, may you come more and more to consider all meritorious acts as your own.’”

  That seems to mean something to Map. He stares at it for some time. “Useful if you have no merit,” he says, and smiles. He's very tired; the smile is faraway and distant.

  He flicks his fingers forward and walks to end of the warehouse. They come to a statue of what William thinks at first is the Buddha, wrapped in orange cloth and protected by a shell made of Naga heads.

  "That's Jayavarman,” says Map. “After his reign there was a Hindu revolt. They threw this statue down a well. The French found it and repaired it and put it in a Wat, until they realized what it was. People think it's still there, in the Wat by the Bayon. But this is the real one."

  He sits cross-legged on the concrete floor. “Eat your pizza."

  William sits down next to him, and thanks Map for the opportunity to see these things. He tries to find out what Map knows, and Map starts to laugh at him. “Too much to tell you in a single afternoon."

  Map starts to talk. Perhaps it's exhaustion, perhaps it's the beer. He tells William that his last woman got so mad at him, she took a hammer to his mobile phone. Another decided to brave the forest and sleep beside him there, but she was like a tourist, frightened of the bugs and the snakes. “Anyway, they only want me because all the men my age are dead.” He looks wistful, and sips a beer. “So many gone."

  He tells William some war stories about a boy who drank too much water after stepping on a tripwire; another about a comrade who was so tired he fell asleep on top of the ammunition dump. It went off. In the morning, all they saw was a huge, flat, blackened ring, and right in the middle of it, looking like he was still asleep, this guy dead. “He was smiling."

  Map's face looks as infinitely sad as the face of Jayavarman is infinitely serene. William summons courage to ask him about the scratches on his face. “The ghosts do that when I sleep,” Map says. “They're mad at me.” He sips another beer.

  He asks William his real Cambodian name. William tells him the story; Map starts to look tense. For once William unbends, in part because he wants Map to relax, to be tranquil again. “I did have a Cambodian name my mother called me. But it was a silly, grand name. You couldn't call anyone that name in the Pol Pot era."

  "What was it?"

  William doesn't usually tell people. He doesn't want people to call him by his Cambodian name when his mother can't.

  "She called me Veasna."

  Map's face looks even more tranquil than before. “I knew another Veasna once. I'm bad luck for people with that name. When this is all over, and we find the Book, you should stay away from me, young Veasna."

  But he isn't angry. He is looking at William as William always imagined his father would but does not, even in dreams. His father's spirit cannot find him, perhaps because he calls himself William.

  "You be happy, young Veasna. Marry, have children, make money, and stay away from me."

  Map starts to drift in and out of sleep.

  "Jayavarman came to me last nig
ht,” he murmurs. “He told me that we're going to get the Book back. But not in the way we think. He also said that he was sorry, but he needs Teacher Luc."

  At the foot of the statue of Jayavarman, on the concrete floor, Map finally falls asleep.

  Outside the warehouse, inside the APSARA compound, workmen are staging a rooster fight. The birds jump up and gouge each other with their huge red feet. William goes outside to laugh and to joke.

  Map has won William's loyalty for real.

  * * * *

  At sunset, William drives Map back to his forest to sleep, and then he drives on, to Army HQ.

  William sits in Operations in a plastic chair by a table. He says to a private, “Tell Lieutenant Sinn Rith that I know the truth about Tan Map."

  He waits for an hour, and finally is shown into the Colonel's office. As almost always, the Colonel is not there—that's why he has a lieutenant.

  Sinn Rith does not even look up from the desk. The room smells like the house of the man who rents cars to tourists: ozone and plastic from the TV, wood and polish from the floor and furniture. The TV's on and draws William's eyes like a magnet. Karaoke, with the sound turned off.

  "So, tell me what you know,” says Rith, still without looking up.

  William hunches where he stands as if the polished wooden floor were ice and his feet bare.

  "Mr. Tan Map is a good man. He really does not know where the Book is, or your general."

  "You waste my time with that? Get out."

  "I am just a motoboy. I drive him around, that's all. I have no reason to say anything else. He really does try to find it! He works very hard, I don't know what he did before that was wrong..."

  William knows who Sinn Rith is. His family were fishermen; he probably even has some yuon in him. His family might have been a target of the Khmers Rouges; he had been genuinely loyal to the Vietnamese. If he has done well and is a big man now, it does not change that he started out a peasant like William. He swaggers because he has won things for himself. William still knows how to talk to him.

  Rith glares at him. “You are messing with me. Don't mess me with me; I can cause you trouble, motoboy."