Chapter Twenty-Four.
THE army of Orogastus rode stealthily into Brandoba early in the evening, entering a few at a time through the little-used Hunters Gate at the northeastern edge of the sprawling city. Following the Star Master"s orders, the warriors and Guildsmen melted away un.o.btrusively into the crowds of festival celebrants. At a designated time they were to rendezvous with the partisans of the Archd.u.c.h.ess Naelore at the central pleasance, where-if all went well-the ma.s.sed invaders would receive the command to storm the palace.
Every follower of the Star was identically costumed in a voluminous cape of glossy black plumage and an avian hood-mask with distinctive golden eyes. The single exception among the dark flock was a rather small person riding pillion behind one of the blackbirds, who wore the modest gray and white feathers of a sea-griss over a simple woolen robe.
"Stop wriggling," Naelore said to her pa.s.senger, "or I will command my Star to sprinkle you with pain."
"If you would just unfasten the bonds on my wrists," Queen Anigel replied, "I could cling to the saddle skirts and would not constantly be in danger of losing my balance. It doesn"t help that the headpiece of this wretched bird costume keeps slipping over my eyes."
The Archd.u.c.h.ess laughed. "Release you? Not likely, witch-queen! Even deprived of your loathly Flower, you are doubtless capable of dire magic."
"I am no witch," Anigel said mildly, "and the Black Trillium you seem to fear so much only protects my life and cannot harm anyone."
"Hah! Tell that to the Guildsmen who tried to remove it from your neck while you lay senseless in Castle Conflagrant. Their fingers were scorched to the bone by magical fire when they touched that cursed amulet."
"Indeed? I did not know that my trillium-amber was capable of such a thing. I would not willingly have caused your people injury."
"I suppose," Naelore said in a scathing voice, "that you likewise intended no hurt to those you burnt alive during your escape across the basin of flaming geysers!"
"I regret the death of our pursuers," Anigel said, "but they fired upon us with an ancient weapon, endangering the lives of me and my companions. It was that selfsame weapon that ignited the flammable vapors."
"So you say," Naelore retorted. And when Anigel would have made further expostulation, the Star Woman ordered her to be silent.
Orogastus, who had entered the city gate last of all, had been riding immediately behind the Archd.u.c.h.ess and her prisoner. He now spurred his mount and came up beside them. His pale eyes glimmered beneath the black beak of his bird headpiece.
"I will go on ahead a short distance," he told Naelore, "so that I may scan the throng more readily for our enemies. It is unlikely that the Star will give me Sight of Kadiya, since she is almost certainly shielded by her talisman. But I might descry others of her party if they should stray from her immediate vicinity.
Keep alert, and beware any woman bearing a broken dark sword."
The sorcerer urged his steed forward through the growing crowd, and Naelore and Anigel followed. They were soon caught up in a great river of costumed people, some on fronialback but most afoot, making their way toward the city center in advance of the fireworks display at the pleasance. Groups of musicians, moving with the mob or ensconced on balconies overlooking the streets, labored to play above the cadenced din of birdwhistles, noisemakers, and drunken singing. From time to time roisterers would smash eggs filled with glittering confetti and fungus spores, and there would be sneezes and shrieks and good-humored curses until the airborne nuisance dissipated. Orogastus and Naelore used their Star magic to fend off the nose-tickling dust, as well as to impel obstructive festivalgoers out of the way.
At length, having come within a few blocks of the imperial palace, the two sorcerers and their prisoner turned off the packed, noisy avenue onto a much quieter side street. It was lined with stately mansions all decked with bird effigies and feathered banners. Twinkling lanterns of green and gold, the heraldic colors of Sobrania, hung in the tree branches and stood atop the high outer walls of mortared stone that enclosed most of the houses. There were numbers of costumed people loitering about, but they seemed strangely subdued in demeanor, cl.u.s.tering in silent groups beneath the trees or sitting on the curbstone side by side. Even in the uncertain light, Anigel could see that every one of them was dressed in red feathers.
Naelore rode stiffly, holding tight to the reins and never turning to look at Anigel. It was plain that she was holding back her beast in order to keep well behind Orogastus.
Suddenly, she said, "Tell me about your sister Haramis!"
The surprised Queen began to recite the duties of the Archimage of the Land, but this was not what the Star Woman wanted to know. "Is your sister beautiful? Describe her to me."
"Haramis is much taller than I," Anigel said. "She has black flowing hair and silvery-blue eyes with wide pupils, in the depths of which lie minute flecks of golden fire. She is certainly beautiful, but one is more likely to take note of her commanding aspect and the aura of preternatural power that seems to enshroud her."
"Does-does she love him, as he loves her?"
Taken aback, Anigel nonetheless knew instinctively what the other woman meant, as well as the motive behind the question. "I think Haramis wishes with all her heart and soul that she did not love Orogastus. His life-goals are utterly at odds with her own. She cannot help loving him, but she has long since renounced any hope of consummating that love."
The Star Woman"s posture softened, as though she had been relieved of some burden. When she resumed her questioning her manner was less surly. "I know that your sister Haramis possesses the third piece of the Threefold Sceptre of Power. What does this marvelous instrument look like?"
"The Three-Winged Circle is a short wand with a kind of hoop on its end. The wings themselves are tiny, perched at the top of the hoop and enclosing a piece of trillium-amber identical to my own. Haramis wears the wand on a chain around her neck."
"Is she able to make full use of this Circle"s magic-or is she only minimally competent with her talisman, as are the witch Kadiya and your prodigal son with theirs?"
Anigel paused momentarily before answering, wondering why the Star Woman had not put the query to Orogastus, then thinking that perhaps she had... Still, there seemed no good reason not to give reply.
"I doubt that anyone now alive truly understands the working of the Sceptre of Power. It is an artifact of the Vanished Ones, supposedly so formidable that those who invented it were ultimately afraid to use it. Taken apart, the three pieces of the Sceptre that are called talismans are much less powerful. Haramis is certainly more adept at wielding hers than is Kadiya, but her greatest magical skills are quite independent of the Winged Circle, deriving rather from her sacred and beneficent office."
"Beneficent? But she is a tyrant, as are the Archimages of the Sea and the Sky! The Star Master says that the three of them have manipulated both humanity and the Oddling Folk from time immemorial. They oppose all scientific and social progress because it would threaten their positions of power."
"Nonsense," said Anigel. "I cannot speak about the Dark Man in the Moon, but both my sister Haramis and Iriane, the Archimage of the Sea, are kindly guardians who would not dream of oppressing the peoples of this world. They have made solemn vows never to use magic to harm a living soul."
"And yet," Naelore said, "Haramis once a.s.sembled the Sceptre and attempted to kill the Star Master with it!"
"No," Anigel corrected her. "Haramis, Kadiya, and I used the Sceptre to turn the sorcery of Orogastus back upon him when he would have destroyed us Three and conquered our little kingdom."
"That is not what the Master says!"
"Orogastus often bends the truth to suit his purposes."
"He has never lied to me, nor to others of the Star Guild."
Anigel sighed. "And has he promised that your Guild will rule the world with him if you a.s.sist him in his vainglorious schemes? I must tell you that he once tempted Haramis with the same ridiculous proposal-"
The Sobranian woman whirled about in the saddle and regarded Anigel with blazing anger. "You silly fool!" she hissed. "What do you know of the Master"s grand and n.o.ble intentions? Rule-? So he will! But not to satisfy some overarching private ambition. Rather he seeks to save the world from the hideous cataclysm toward which it hurtles, all unknowing!"
"What cataclysm? What are you talking about?"
"Unless Orogastus saves us, we are doomed. This world of ours totters on the brink of destruction, racked by mysterious internal maladies set in motion long aeons ago. The Star Master learned details of the awful peril while he was imprisoned by the Archimage of the Sky. And only the Master knows the method by which we can be saved."
"Then why," Anigel inquired with sweet reasonableness, "doesn"t he simply get on with this exalted work of his? Instead, he has sent out secret agents to foment sedition and discord all across the continent. He kidnapped and held hostage the legitimate rulers of six countries. And, unless I miss my guess, he is here in Brandoba tonight hoping to engineer the overthrow of Emperor Denombo, so that you can seize the Sobranian throne! If the true intent of Orogastus is the salvation of the world, why is he embarking upon a war of conquest?"
"The necessary remedy for healing the world is a drastic one," Naelore said earnestly, "requiring much sacrifice from the population as well as the exertion of ineffable magic. Left to your own devices, you proud, ignorant rulers would never be able to control your people during the days of rebalancing. You are too cowardly, too undisciplined and selfish to do what must be done. It is necessary for an all-powerful leader to compel you."
Anigel would have remonstrated indignantly, but Naelore swept on, speaking like one entranced. "I myself am no more than the willing servant of the Star Master. When I become Empress of Sobrania, I will do whatever he asks in order to forward his grand strategy. Later, when the work is done and the Sky Trillium shines above our land-after the Sempiternal Ice is banished forever and the Vanished Ones walk among us again- then I will share in the Master"s triumph. And perhaps I will even win his love, if the Dark Powers will it."
Anigel was reduced to speechlessness.
The great continental ice cap somehow melted? The Vanished Ones returning? It was absurd!
But the world was out of balance in some fundamental way. Haramis had been convinced of it, citing the severe earthquakes, the widespread volcanic eruptions, and the disastrous weather that had afflicted so many parts of the continent during recent years. However, the Archimage had never hinted that these events might be portents of planetary doom.
Or had she?
Involuntarily, the Queen"s bound hands lifted to her throat, seeking the comfort of her Black Trillium amulet. But the Flower was gone, just as Haramis was gone, and there was no one to answer her questions except herself...
Orogastus now drew up his steed at a residence with a st.u.r.dy iron gate, where the odd groups of red-garbed celebrants were especially numerous. He lifted his Star and a gatekeeper unlocked the portal. Beckoning Naelore to follow, he rode his fronial inside. The two animals moved down a short gravel track flanked by gardens, coming at last to the lighted entrance of the dwelling. Nine Sobranian men in ornate armor and blood-red feathered cloaks waited at attention beneath the portico, plumed casques tucked under their arms.
Several liveried lackeys stood apart. Orogastus dismounted and gave his fronial over to one of them, then took off his hood and cape and gave them to another. The Sobranian n.o.blemen gasped at the sight of his exotic Star Guild armor. Waving off a third footman, the sorcerer himself a.s.sisted Naelore to alight, leaving Anigel perched on the pillion.
With a single movement, the Archd.u.c.h.ess removed her own dark bird disguise and let it fall to the ground. She also wore the silver-and-black war regalia of the guild of sorcerers, except for the rayed helmet, but each piece of her plate armor was adorned with golden chasing and brilliants. The Star of Nerenyi Daral hung from a jeweled chain around her neck. Her flaming tresses were partially hidden by a crown of platinum and gold in the form of a bird with downswept wings, having a single gigantic emerald for a head and studded with hundreds of sparkling white and yellow diamonds. She gave her arm to the Star Master, who bowed his head respectfully and brought her forward to the waiting men.
"My Lords," Orogastus intoned, "I present your Empress."
The nine n.o.bles whipped out their two-p.r.o.nged swords and held them high in a salute of fealty. "Naelore!" they cried. "Long life to Her Imperial Majesty the Empress Naelore!" One by one they came forward, holding up their blades for the benison of her touch. Then the two most imposing among them brought a gorgeous feather cloak, shading from vivid scarlet at the hood and shoulders to deepest garnet color at the hem, and vested Naelore in it. When the little ceremony was over, she spoke.
"Beloved va.s.sals and liegemen! We thank you for joining us on this night of destiny, which will never be forgotten so long as our nation endures. At long last it is time for the great injustice to be righted. With your help, and that of the forces you have a.s.sembled, we will pull down our usurping brother Denombo and take our rightful place upon the imperial throne of Sobrania. Later, after we have savored this first victory, we will personally lead our imperial armada into the Southern Seas, for the purpose of restoring to the empire those other lands once ruled by our ancestor, the first Naelore of glorious memory."
"Hail, victorious Empress Naelore!" The nine lords smote their steel gauntlets against their breastplates. "Hail, Naelore the Mighty! Hail, Naelore the Conqueror!"
They would have kept up the cheers and martial shouts, except that Orogastus suddenly lifted his hand, whereupon every voice was abruptly stilled. The barbarian lords were like men turned to stone, unable to move a muscle.
"The celebration can come later," said the sorcerer dryly. "Which one of you owns the great trireme lying in the harbor?"
Another gesture by Orogastus restored the Sobranians to normal mobility. They were both discomfited and frightened by the sorcerer"s casual exertion of power, but none dared to complain. Naelore herself seemed unconcerned. She rested her hand on the forearm of a man who wore a great curled mustache and armor decorated with blue enamel, one of those who had held her red-feathered cape.
"Star Master," said she, "this is the Sealord Dasinzin, our loyal ally and dear friend of our youth. It is his vessel that has brought us the materiel so vital to our great enterprise."
Dasinzin cleared his throat and glowered. His fingers strayed to the hilt of his sheathed sword. "So you are the great wizard who has promised to restore our Empress."
Orogastus only smiled.
"Will you condescend to discuss your strategy with us?" Dasinzin inquired with dangerous civility. "Or do you intend for us to follow your corps of conjurers on blind faith?"
Orogastus seemed not to have heard the insult. "Sealord, did you order your galley"s crew to bring the sealed crates ash.o.r.e?"
"We should have them here at my house within the hour. I was told by your advance men that the cargo must be unloaded and transported surrept.i.tiously, a few boxes at a time."
"And your chieftains and their lieutenants?" the sorcerer went on. "Are they also close at hand?"
"They are a.s.sembled in the back garden, awaiting their orders."
The sorcerer nodded in satisfaction. "Very well. I will confer with them anon. I have seen the warriors waiting out on the streets. How large a fighting force were you able to raise?"
"Over four thousand. All of them wear similar disguises, as Her Imperial Majesty commanded, and all are well armed. Even so, we cannot hope to overcome the Imperial Guard unless-"
"Unless powerful magic a.s.sists us," Orogastus said softly. "And it will."
Another n.o.bleman, tall and florid in countenance, spoke out. "We have done all that was asked of us, even though we knew nothing of the battle plan, because of our devotion to the Empress. But the time has now come for you to confide in us, wizard. Before we proceed further, you must outline your strategy and demonstrate to us the offensive capability of your Star Guild weapons."
Naelore herself answered him. "Do not be troubled, Lucaibo. Just as soon as the cargo from Dasinzin"s ship is delivered here, you will see with your own eyes what manner of wondrous armament we have a.s.sembled. What is more, you will wield a magic weapon yourself-and so will the rest of you lords, and as many of our troops as we can equip."
The Sobranian men all began to talk excitedly, but subsided when Naelore lifted her hand. "Friends," she said, "hold your peace for just a few moments longer. Let us go into Dasinzin"s house and the Star Master will tell you everything."
There was a rumble of approval from the n.o.bles. Dasinzin bowed to the Archd.u.c.h.ess, then offered his arm to lead the way inside.
Anigel still sat demurely on Naelore"s fronial, eyes lowered and cross-bound wrists resting on the saddle"s cantle. The lackey who held the beast addressed the sorcerer diffidently: "My Lord, what of this prisoner?"
Orogastus studied Anigel for a moment. Then he commanded that she be taken to the lady of the house and given bodily ease and refreshment. "Tell your mistress that the Star Master commands her to guard this woman as though her very life depended upon it. For in truth, it does."
As he came closer and closer to the Brandoba pleasance, Prince Tolivar discovered that invisibility was a futile ploy in a dense crowd, just as it had been out in the foggy river forest. Unable, perhaps because of the distracting pandemonium, to move people harmlessly aside by means of magic, he had to resort to pushing and shoving just like everyone else. The "empty" s.p.a.ce occupied by his unseen but substantial form was perilously conspicuous, so he climbed up into one of the decorated trees that lined the street, and when he was concealed from the surging throng below by the foliage, he became visible once again. "Talisman," he said, "I need a bird costume. Nothing fancy.
Get me one like that fellow over there is wearing." He pointed to an adolescent garbed in a simple cape and beaked hood of brown feathers, and simultaneously imagined himself wearing the outfit.
And he was. The bag containing the star-box was still tied to his back, but his talismanic coronet was hidden beneath the costume"s headpiece. Well satisfied, he climbed down from the tree and resumed his journey.
He had not expected Brandoba to be so big, or so rich. The people were barbarians, after all, having a fierce suspicion of outsiders and an invincible belief in their own superiority and self-sufficiency. Sobrania and its allied tribes had no universities, no literature, no traditions of fine art or cla.s.sical music. They kept human slaves, oppressed the local Folk, and indulged in loathsome blood sports. Only their feather crafts were unique enough to be traded abroad; the rest of their commerce with the more civilized nations to the east was based upon the sale of raw materials and certain spices. Sobranian "culture" was sneered at by their civilized neighbors as being a hodgepodge of borrowings: music and drama from Var, arts and architecture from Galanar and the republics, extravagant couture and jewelry-making from Zinora. The empire had imitated the shipbuilding technology of Raktum and Engi, and appropriated weapon-making and other military science from Labornok.
On the other hand, Prince Tolivar thought, looking at the shining buildings and the mostly well-dressed citizenry around him, the Sobranians of Brandoba, at least, hadn"t done badly for themselves at all. Neither had Orogastus, in choosing the prosperous barbarian capital for his initial exploit in the conquest of the world.
And the sorcerer had offered to share it with him...
Tolivar wondered if he had been a fool to reject it. Was there a chance that Orogastus would permit him to change his mind? He touched the hidden coronet and thought for a moment of posing the question; but then the memory of his mother flashed into his mind, standing calm and indomitable before Naelore"s sword, and he lowered his treacherous hand and pressed on toward the city center.
When he reached the pleasance at long last, it lacked only a half hour until midnight. Once again the Prince climbed up into a tall tree, this time in order to get the lay of the land. Below stretched a sea of people filling an immense rectangular s.p.a.ce dotted here and there with patches of ornamental trees. The area was encompa.s.sed on three sides by boulevards, which were kept open for the carriages and mounts of n.o.bility and other privileged citizens by cordons of imperial warriors armed with stout wooden quarterstaves. The boulevards were backed by rows of elaborately decorated public buildings and large dwellings, protected from the churning throng by walls of stone.
At the eastern end of the pleasance lay the imperial palace. It was a sprawling structure, illuminated externally by countless fire-pots, its architecture a blend of efficient fortification and eye-popping vulgarity. The main facade was of white marble and scarlet jasper, with lofty spiraled columns of green malachite. Piled around the colonnaded central structure were crenellated towers and innumerable wings, all connected by arcades and b.u.t.tresses. Every angle of the vast roof dripped with gargoyles and they, like the rooftiles, were gilded, as was the great rotunda of the inner keep. Thrusting up from the gleaming dome was a red jasper pinnacle topped by a golden bird with wings outspread. The entire confection was tricked out with multicolored enameled shields, painted friezes, fancifully carved moldings, and niches holding statues. There were hundreds of cas.e.m.e.nt windows with gilded frames, all blazing with candlelight.
The palace grounds were enclosed by a thick wall seven ells high, topped with ornamental spikes, fire-baskets, and flagpoles flying festive banners of green and gold. Gilded iron gates, locked and patrolled by warriors in handsome parade armor, fronted the grand staircase leading to the palace"s vestibule of entrance. Flanking the gate were twin stone guardhouses adorned with bunting, and before it stretched a broad forecourt hemmed by more troops.
At the pleasance"s far western end, where Tolivar perched in his tree, stood a bandsh.e.l.l (from which the Imperial Bra.s.s boomed out rousing Okamisi and Varonian pop tunes), a gla.s.s conservatory housing rare birds, and a shrine to the national G.o.ddess, Matuta. The curved section of the Western Boulevard fronting the holy building, roped off and surrounded by guards with pikes and naked swords, held the pyrotechnic materials that would soon be ignited for the fireworks display.
Tolivar touched his coronet and whispered, "Show me the Golden Griss Fountain, where I am to meet Orogastus."
A voice in his mind said: There. And at the same time his mind"s eyes perceived something glowing amidst the crowd near the far end of the vast open area, situated between two of the miniature parks. It was a tall jet of water rising from the middle of an ornamental basin. Gold-leafed statues of waterbirds spouting lesser streams of water surrounded it, and the rising wind scattered the fountain"s spray in a manner that kept most of the crowd away from its farther side, which was adjacent to the palace forecourt. Unusual numbers of those who braved the wet area wore blackbird costumes.
"That is where the sorcerer will be," the Prince said to himself. He dismissed the vision, climbed down from the tree, and began moving as quickly as he could out into the pleasance. He took advantage of his small stature to worm through the mob, ignoring cries and curses as he cleared the way with outthrust elbows, stepped ruthlessly on people"s feet, and kicked their shins.
"Ow!" an infuriated male voice sang out. "You d.a.m.ned brat! I"ll teach you!" Strong hands seized Tolivar"s shoulders and shook him until his teeth rattled. In a panic, he was about to appeal to his talisman when he chanced to get a clear look at the face of his stocky captor, who had lost his costume headpiece in the tumult.
The face was broad, supremely ugly, and had one eye bandaged and the other alight with fury. Its owner was well known to Prince Tolivar, who stopped squirming from astonishment and exclaimed, "What are you doing here?"
"Probably the same thing you are," retorted King Ledavardis.
Chapter Twenty-Five.
EARLIER, the King and Archduke Gyorgibo had found themselves trapped by the mob in one of the great commercial plazas a quarter league or so north of the