The Shadow Realm

by James Galloway

  "Wise, Kerri," Dolanna said. "You made a system that allows you to listen to many different viewpoints."

  "Exactly," Keritanima nodded. "I'll have no end of suggestions about things. Some will be good, some bad. It'll be up to me to weed out the bad from the good. It also delegates alot of my authority without me actually having to give up that power, so I can control alot of what goes on without having to do things personally."

  "A job is only as good as the man you place to perform it," Rallix said sagely.

  "So I'll just have to find good people. Like you," Keritanima said with a smile, touching him on the forearm. "Where is that food?" she complained.

  The food did arrive a few moments later, and they enjoyed a good breakfast together. They mainly spent it listening to Phandebrass talk, which wasn't unusual, as he filled in the others on his progress for converting the Priest spell of learning into a Wizard spell. It came down to a half hour dissertation on the forces of Wizard magic when a simple yes or no would have answered the question. Tarrin watched Keritanima and Rallix as he ate, saw how they were acting towards one another. Keritanima was perfectly comfortable, but Rallix was still a bit scattered, and wasn't quite sure how to act or what to do. Keritanima had twisted him around her little finger. For a moment, Tarrin felt a little sorry for him. The meal was interrupted about halfway through by Binter's return, leading a huge Vendari with a notch taken out of his crest, who came in and said something to Keritanima, having to bend far over to reach that far down. Keritanima nodded and said something to him in a quiet tone, and he left.

  After the meal, Keritanima beckoned Tarrin and Allia to walk with her and Rallix, as four Royal Guardsmen moved ahead, four lurked behind, and Binter and Sisska moving along with them. "I'm sure you're waiting for me to yell at you over what happened last night, Tarrin," Keritanima told him. "Well, after getting to the bottom of things, I realized that you didn't do anything that wasn't given to you first, so I'm not that angry. At least not anymore."

  "I'm sorry I embarassed you in front of your subjects, Kerri," he apologized.

  "Eh, it's no big deal," she said with a wave of a paw. "I care more about our friendship than I do about their respect. They'd all like to stick a dagger in my back anyway, so let's forget about them."

  "Well, it was certainly, unexpected, to hear that you and Rallix have become betrothed," Allia broke the subject. "Why did you not tell me about this, deshaida? I am a little upset about it."

  "I'm sorry, but it wasn't sure it was going to work, so I didn't want to say anything until I knew or not," she said with a toothy grin. "Knowing you, if I told you I wanted to ask Rallix for marriage, you would have put a dagger to his throat and forced a promise out of him."

  "Probably," Allia admitted.

  "I asked you two out here so you could inspect him to your heart's content."

  "Inspect me?" Rallix asked in a little concern.

  "Of course. Tarrin and Allia are my brother and sister, Rallix, you know that," she told him. "They have a say in my life. They'll look you over, and if they like you, they'll let you live to see the wedding."

  Rallix shuddered visibly. "Let me live?" he asked in a nervous voice.

  "She is teasing you, Rallix," Allia told him calmly. "I would not kill you. I would mark you and drive you away from her, but I would not kill you."

  "I would," Tarrin snorted.

  "We know you would," Keritanima grinned.

  "I have heard all I need to hear from Kerri," Allia said diffidently. "There is no need for inspection. I trust the judgement of a sister."

  "Tarrin's already looked you over," Keritanima told Rallix with a grin. "He may look big and mean, but he's got quite a nose and quite a mind. I could see him figuring you out while we were eating, and it's pretty apparent he's already made his decisions about you. Haven't you, Tarrin?" she asked.

  Tarrin nodded.

  "Well?"

  "He loves you," Tarrin said bluntly, glancing down at her. "He doesn't quite understand that yet, but it will come to him in time. He'll be a good mate."

  "Just couldn't say it diplomatically, could you?" Keritanima said archly as Rallix almost missed a step.

  "If you don't understand your feelings, there's nothing wrong with someone else pointing them out to you."

  "You don't have a romantic bone in your body," Keritanima fussed.

  "You should know by now that if you ask me a question, you're going to get an answer. If you're not ready for the answer, don't ask the question."

  "I figured that out," Keritanima chuckled.

  "You do not have to go through with it, Rallix," Allia told him. "Keritanima would not force you to marry her."

  "Yes she would," Tarrin disagreed.

  "Tarrin!" Keritanima snapped. "Don't listen to him, Rallix," she said quickly. "Tarrin loves to dwell on my faults."

  "Actually, Lady Allia, I have to admit that I'm not entirely against the idea," he said quietly. "I am rather fond of her Majesty, and I can't argue the merits of the arguments she made to go through with the marriage. I must admit, I'm rather surprised that she seems to like me so much. And, well, this may seem a bit offensive to you, my Lady--"

  "You can't offend Allia, Rallix," Keritanima chuckled. "She's a Selani. They're alot more worldly than we are."

  "Yes, well," he said, clearing his throat. "Actually, her Majesty's biggest club is an obscure law dealing with Royal chastity," he said, looking very uncomfortable. "Since we--ah, since we slept together, I'm now technically guilty of high treason. She didn't reveal that until after we--ah, after it was over."

  "You mean that when she seduced you, she put a legal noose around your neck?" Tarrin asked.

  Rallix nodded, his facial fur standing on end to have to talk about such things. "Her Majesty threatened to invoke that law, should I refuse her. The penalty for deflowering a Royal Lady is quite severe," he said, clearing his throat again.

  "Kerri, you blackmailed him into marrying you?" Allia asked in surprise.

  "Well, you're the one who always talks about equal measures of sugar and the strap. I laid out the sugar before I showed him the strap," she said sheepishly.

  Tarrin stared at Keritanima, then he laughed loudly. Even Allia laughed, displaying the fact that she did indeed have a sense of humor. A Selani would find that situation to be very funny. "Sister, I knew you were cunning, but that is almost deplorable!" Allia told her, then she laughed again. "But it was an honorable trap, since you would not be forcing Rallix to do anything he is not already inclined to do."

  "Excuse me?" Rallix asked in confusion.

  "Selani adore romantic games," Tarrin told him absently. "Prospective mates will challenge each over other the silliest things to demonstrate their strength or their intelligence or their courage. Keritanima played a game with you, a game of deception, a game you lost. Since she was baiting her trap with something you wanted, it means that a Selani wouldn't consider what Kerri did to be dishonorable. She's not forcing you to do anything you really don't want to do. It would be the same as a Selani male kidnapping his love interest. The female is given an opportunity to escape, though it may not seem apparent to her. If she doesn't escape, then she obviously wanted to go in the first place."

  "Just so," Allia agreed. "You were inclined to marry her, or you would never have slept with her. As I understand Wikuni, anyway. Why is that humans and Wikuni put so much on the taking of a lover?"

  "They're just backwards, sister," Tarrin replied. "At least the Arkisians and Arakites are more progressive."

  "In other words, when I allowed her Majesty to seduce me, I sealed my own fate," Rallix mused.

  "The bait she used was herself," Tarrin chuckled. "The one thing you couldn't resist. A clever trap."

  "Thank you," Keritanima said shamelessly. "I worked quite a while to make it. Are you proud of me?"

  "Quite," Allia agreed with a smile. "If you are half of what Kerri says you are, you will be a fine husband," she told Rallix. "The
husband of a sister is my brother. It would honor me to speak of you thusly."

  "The honor is mine, Lady Allia," Rallix said with a light smile. "Acceptance by a Selani is the highest honor one like myself could hope to achieve."

  "At least he can sweet-talk," Tarrin chuckled.

  "Hush," both Allia and Keritanima told him.

  Tarrin, Allia, Keritanima, and Rallix spent the rest of the morning together in Keritanima's new apartments as Binter and Sisska stood quiet, vigilent guard over the room. They were huge, grand, and decorated in Keritanima's own style, a style of simplistic taste. There were only a few works of art, two tapestries, and three sculptures, but all of them were beautiful and powerful pieces, invoking great emotion. Keritanima did appreciate finery, so her furniture was all obvious antique, made of a dark wood that was highly polished, and was graceful and elegant in design. The motiff of her outer parlor was blue, with the upholstery of the chairs and couch a deep yet soft-seeming blue, with a tapestry depicting the night sky over Wikuna hanging from the wall. They sat in that parlor on those comfortable chairs and did nothing but talk, giving Tarrin and Allia a chance to come to know Rallix's mind. They talked of their journey and their mission, of what had happened in Suld, and even listened as Rallix voiced his reservations and opinions about the new governmental system that Keritanima was trying to institutute. Then Keritanima took her turn defending her system, explaining to Rallix how it was supposed to work in detail.

  "There, that is the problem," Rallix said as he listened to her explain the concept of Parliament as a governing body. "This is why the common man hasn't become so supportive, your Majesty."

  "We're in private, Rallix," she chided. "You can call me by my name here."

  "I'm sorry, Kerita--uh, Kerri," he said. "The system as you describe it does make sense, and I can see the potential of it. But the common man, someone without my education, he's not going to understand the system by the documents you've distributed to the Mayor and the papers. You need to explain things, not send out a sheaf of papers with new rules. If you explain things in simple terms, as you did for me, you'll gain a great deal more support from the common man."

  "Kerri sometimes believes that all can understand what she understands," Allia said mildly. "She cannot conceive of someone not being able to understand what is very simple to her."

  "I've noticed that about her," Rallix agreed, looking at her calmly. "Usually, she doesn't bother to explain. It's not going to work in this instance, Kerri. You're trying to change a fundamental cornerstone of our society, so if you want people to embrace it, you need to explain it."

  "I guess I should have at that," she admitted, tapping on her muzzle with a finger. "I did try to explain how it would improve the lot of the common man."

  "Your statement and speech wasn't very clear on that, Kerri," he told her. "I read it from the Examiner."

  "What is this examiner?" Allia asked.

  "A newspaper," Rallix told her. "A printed journal of events," he explained when he saw Allia's blank look. "They pay people to go out and find information that people would find interesting, and then they print it on paper and sell it."

  "It's a new idea that's just catching on," Keritanima told them. "Someone invented a machine that makes it very fast and easy to mass produce printed pages, and change those printed pages quickly. The Examiner was the first of these 'news-papers' to appear, about a year ago. I have to admit, they're making a killing. People actually pay to read the news."

  "What you should do is print a detailed explanation of your system and distribute it the same way they do with newspapers," Rallix told her. "The nobility is already starting to realize that if they attack you and your ideas in the press, they can lie through their teeth and have people believe them as long as they do it first. People are starting to take what they read in the newspapers as inviolate truth. It won't be long before one of the nobles gets the idea of printing a pamphlet decrying the system and handing it out all over the kingdom."

  "That's a good point. If I write this thing, how long would it take to get it printed?" she asked.

  "I know the owner of the Wikuna Herald, a new newspaper. If I bring him the article you write and the gold to cover his expenses, he'll print it and hand it out. I could have it on the streets the day after you hand me what you want printed."

  "Don't you love modern technology?" Keritanima laughed, looking at Tarrin and Allia. "I'm going to resort to using propaganda against myself. Ironic, isn't it?"

  "You just lost me, Kerri," Tarrin said.

  "I told you a while ago, what I'm doing is akin to overthrowing myself, Tarrin. Now I'm going to convince people that me overthrowing myself is actually a good idea. Using selective information to present a single view in favor of any other is called propaganda."

  "I just do not understand Wikuni politics," Allia said with a shake of her head.

  "That's a good thing," Keritanima grinned. "If you did, it would stain your honor." She clapped her hands together and rubbed them. "Well, if I'm going to do this before I leave, I'd better get started."

  "That would be a good idea," Tarrin agreed.

  "Seeing as how we're getting married later tonight, I'd like to get this out of the way," she added as she stood up. "Now, if the Ministry of Science could invent something that makes writing faster and easier," she grunted. "Binter, could you go find Miranda for me?"

  "At once, your Majesty," Binter said with a bow, marching from the room.

  "Well, you're going to be busy, so we'll leave you to it," Tarrin told her.

  "What are you going to be doing for the rest of the day?" she asked.

  "I'm not sure," he replied.

  "I wanted to go down into the city and see their wonders," Allia told him. "Would you go with me, brother?"

  "That's a good idea," Tarrin agreed. "I'd like to go see Wikuna for myself."

  "I'll send a guide--"

  "No guides," Allia said. "No guards, no fanfare. I wish to walk the streets as any other."

  "You're a Selani, sister. You're not going to just walk around unnoticed," Keritanima chuckled.

  "Perhaps, but I would prefer to go on our own rather than be escorted."

  "Well, I seriously doubt that there's a single living thing in Wikuna that could threaten either of you, so you have my blessing," she grinned. "Just be back before sunset, alright? You don't want to miss our wedding, do you?"

  Rallix fidgeted a bit. Sleeping with Keritanima was one thing, but now he had to pay for it, and the cost still hadn't settled with him quite yet.

  "Just call to us when you want us to return," Allia said, touching her amulet meaningfully.

  The mention of Sorcery reminded him that he was going to take Keritanima into the Weave. He sat back down, and Keritanima looked at him strangely as he used Sorcery to spin out two new strands, anchoring them to the same strand he'd used to anchor the new strand in his room. "I forgot," he grunted. "This is going to be our one and only chance to do this, Kerri. We'll be on the move again tomorrow."

  "Oh, right!" she said brightly. "Writing that article can wait!" She rushed over to where he had put the strands, on the floor between her chair and his, grabbing a pillow off the nearby couch, dropping it on the floor, then sitting on it.

  "What are you doing, Kerri?" Rallix asked.

  "Kerri is Tarrin's student in magic," Allia answered for her. "He is going to train her in an aspect of Sorcery that can only be done when they are stationary. While we are waiting, would you like to play a game of stones?" Allia offered.

  "What kind of Sorcery?" he asked curiously.

  "A very old kind," Tarrin said. "And no, you can't do it."

  "I'm rather sure I couldn't," he said mildly.

  "I know your type, Rallix. Trust me, you can't do it, and you can't make a spell that copies it either."

  "Make a spell?" Keritanima asked quickly.

  "How did you know that I once dabbled in Wizardry?" Rallix asked in surprise.

&
nbsp; "It leaves a mark on you," Tarrin told him. "I sensed it in you the moment I met you."

  "You learned Wizardry?" Keritanima asked in surprise. "Rallix, that's forbidden by law!"

  "I was in Sennadar at the time, your Majesty," Rallix said with a smile. "The law doesn't apply there. So long as I don't actively practice magic on Wikuni soil, it's perfectly legal."

  "When were you in Sennadar long enough to learn magic?" Keritanima asked curiously.

  "When I got out of primary school, I signed on with House Plantan as a sailor," he told her. "They saw I wasn't much of a sailor, but I had a nose for business, so when we reached our destination, Dala Zah in Yar Arak, they put me on at their trade consulate so I could learn about the merchant business. I learned magic from one of the local Wizards. He thought it a grandly funny thing that a Wikuni was willing to learn magic, but back then, I often didn't consider the consequences before jumping head first into things."

  "That sounds alot like someone we know," Tarrin told Allia with a smile.

  "Yes, it does, does it not?" she agreed.

  "I spent two years there. Long enough to learn some very simple spells, little more than cantrips, but it was enough to satisfy my curiosity. I reached the end of my contract with Plantan and didn't extend, so I was returned to Wikuna. I still have my spellbook," he said with a distant smile. "Sometimes, when I feel nostalgic, I take it out and read it."

  "You were born on the wrong continent, Rallix," Tarrin said.

  "Sometimes I have to agree with you," Rallix sighed. "I was always fascinated by magic. It's a pity the priesthoods of Wikuna managed to get the laws against other forms of magic passed."

  "I've already started undoing those laws, Rallix," Keritanima said, patting the floor beside her impatiently. "Hurry up, Tarrin! I already have a long day ahead of me, and my night will probably be even longer," she said with a look at Rallix. The badger cleared his throat and pulled at the neck of his tunic.

  "Alright," Tarrin said, sitting down beside her. "This isn't that hard. All you have to do is relax and do what you did the first time, Kerri."

  "I don't remember much about that," she warned him.