Lord of Lies

by David Zindell

  Chapter 27

  On a brilliantly clear morning, with the sun pouring down like liquid gold upon my columns of knights, we passed through Tria's Varkoth Gate. Its immense, iron doors, wrought with the likeness of the great Galadin for which it was named, were flung open, and once again we looked upon the City of Light. Ahead of us rose three of Tria's seven hills, covered with fine marble houses and gardens and palaces - and the Tower of the Sun and the Tower of the Moon. These great spires were cast of living stone, which shimmered in the early sunlight like the whitest and purest of pearls. Indeed, much of the city was raimented in this glorious substance. It seemed to breathe its radiance into the very air so that Tria's thousands of buildings sent streamers of light, like invocations, toward the heavens.

  This ancient place, I thought, bespoke humanity's highest aspirations and hopes - as well as our failings. On top of Tria's greatest hill stood King Kiritan's enormous palace, with its nine golden domes gleaming above the emerald trees and lawns of the nearby Elu Gardens. But to reach this lofty abode, we first had to pass through a district of tenements and dark alleys whose rotting timbers suggested that nothing ever built on Ea could attain to the eternal. That was the way of things in Tria, splendor amid squalor, nobles living elbow to elbow with beggars, the perfume of flowering trees tainted with the reek of rubbish and ordure that people dumped into the gutters of the streets.

  I who had once beheld the rainbow hues of Alundil, the jeweled City of the Stars high in the White Mountains, knew that much more than this was possible. For I had seen the dwellings of the Star People, there and in my dreams. These, no less the Lightstone, I brought with me toward the conclave of the kings. My spirits soared like a flock of swans. Although the deaths of my five Guardians saddened me, I knew that they had died protecting the Lightstone, even as they had vowed. And now I must live to fulfill my fate.

  From the moment that our columns of horses clopped up the street leading from the Varkoth Gate, Trians in their hundreds and thousands came out of their houses and lined the way. Rich and poor dressed in silks or rags, they crowded in close to witness the astonishing sight of Sarni warriors and Valari knights in our diamond armor entering their city together. An old man shaking a tin cup cried out I that the Maitreya had come among them again, as the ancient prophecies had foretold. Well-dressed women bearing baskets of flowers cast rose petals at me and onto the street ahead of me. They clamored for a glimpse of the Lightstone as they ran up to me and laid their hands on my legs or tugged at the fabric of my surcoat.

  Liljana gave me to understand that King Kiritan had forbidden such displays. But many of our welcomers were of the houses of the Hastars, Eriades, Kirrilands and Marshans: four of the ancient Five Families who, for thousands of years, had contended with the Narmadas for the throne. And so they ignored the wishes of their king. They opened their hearts to me. And I, who had passed so hopefully through the walls of their city, finally threw open the gates in the walls surrounding my own heart. I drank in the cheering of the multitudes as a parched man might water. It seemed that I could not get enough of this wondrous sound. In the cries of those who swarmed around me was an ageless and beautiful yearning. I felt this great dream inside myself, ennobling me and washing clean all my fears. As the Trians' joy raised me up to the greatest heights, where I could almost lay my hand upon the sun, I felt myself immortal.

  For most of an hour we climbed up Hastar Hill, with its fine palaces, and then made our way through Eluli Square and up the higher Narmada Hill overlooking the whole of the city. I gazed out upon miles of gleaming buildings offset by spaces of green. The great Star Bridge, also called the Golden Band, spanned the Poru, which divided the city into east and west. Far out in the glimmering blue bay into which the river emptied loomed the skull-shaped island of Damoom. For all the Age of Law, Morjin had been imprisoned there. I knew that soon he would be thrown down and brought there again - either that, or slain. From the thousands of people crowding the streets, I heard demands for deliverance from Morjin's evil that had lain so heavily upon the world for so long. And so I promised them, and myself, that I would never rest until the Red Dragon was utterly defeated.

  At last we crested the hill and came to a gate set into the low wall surrounding the King's palace. A small army of guards dressed in the blue-and-gold livery of the House Narmada met us there, for word ot our arrival had gone ahead. Although these grim-faced guards did not cast rose petals or give voice to cheers, their eyes seemed to sparkle and shower me with hope. But they were watchful and wary, too, at the sight of so many Valari knights and Sarni warriors making their way toward the great dwelling of their king.

  Waiting with them was a herald named Jasson, who escorted us along the oak-lined road leading to the palace. This small, punctilious man informed us that we had missed most of this morning's proceedings. As we rode with him past lush lawns covered with chirping sparrows, he also warned us not to trample King Kiritan's precious grass; anyone caught hunting the King's deer in the woods of the nearby Narmada Green, he said, would be put to death. This injunction, with all the other rules and protocols that he laid upon us, provoked Sajagax's proud warriors. When we dismounted in front of the white colonnades of the palace, Baldarax and Thadrak stalked about the grail gripping their bows and threatening to shoot arrows into any of the grooms who came to take their horses. I felt their sharp, blue eyes, like daggers, chiseling off the gold veneer from the gleaming domes above us. If it hadn't been for Sajagax's fierce scowls, they might have blundered their way into a battle with the ranks of guards posted on the steps leading up to the palace.

  Sajagax looked up at the magnifient dome of King Kiritan's Throne Room that soared above us. 'The Trians have always been great builders,' Sajagax said, 'but the curve of the open sky pleases me more.'

  In truth, he hated almost everything about being locked up inside this city within a city. He was loathe to enter the palace and sit in chairs, as he put it, 'With a dungheap of stones piled up above my head.' I noticed his thick finger tracing out zagging signs in the air as if to strengthen any enchantment that kept the palace from collapsing into a pile of rubble.

  Jasson informed us that Sajagax's guard and my knights would have to remain outside. He invited our men to encamp on one of the lawns behind the palace. Ten companions only, he said, we each might take with us into King Kiritan's hall. And so Sajagax chose out Baldarax, Zekii, Orox, Thadrak and six other warriors to act as his escort. I asked Lansar Raasharu, Baltasar and Sunjay Naviru to accompany me. And Skyshan of Ki, Sar Shivathar, Sar Jarlath and Lord Noldru the Bold -Sar Juralad and Sar Kimball as well. And, of course, Lord Harsha. Maram was accounted a prince of Delu, and therefore allowed into the conclave on his own right. And so with Liljana, as a scion of one of Tria's oldest families, and Daj as her servant. Master Juwain was honored as were all of his Brotherhood. The herald reluctantly permitted Behira and Estrella, who bore no weapons, to remain with us. And as for Atara, who bore both a saber and her great bow who could think to deny entrance to King Kiritan's daughter and only legitimate child?

  And so Jasson led us into the palace and through the southern doorway of King Kiritan's throne room. This immense circular space, with its great dome glowing with sunlight high above, teemed with people, living and dead. The mighty of ages past seemed to haunt the hall like ghosts. Here, in 2736 of the Age of Law, the aged King Eluli had stood before the Council of Twenty and proposed that Katura Ashlan of Delu succeed him and so become Ea's first High Queen. Two centuries later my ancestor, King Julamesh, had brought the Lightstone here from Mesh and had delivered it into Godavanni's hands - only to see Godavanni murdered by Morjin and the Lightstone stolen. I remembered very well standing here myself with three thousand others little more than a year ago and vowing to gain it back. I could almost hear the voices of the many Questers raised up in hope and echoing from the curved, white stones of the walls. I could almost hear, as well, the cheers of the thousands who had come here today to witness
the forging of a great new alliance and fill their eyes with the golden radiance of the Lightstone.

  Jasson's high, piercing voice rang out like the whine of a saw as he announced us to the throngs of Alonians, Delians, Thalunes and others who crowded the hall. We made our way down the aisle leading to the great, jewel-encrusted throne raised up at the hall's very center, and all eyes turned upon us. In the hall's northern quadrants were gathered brightly-dressed men and women of almost every station: artisans, lordless knights, lesser merchants and even peasants, all of whom stood packed together shoulder to shoulder craning their necks. A long line of guards held back this mob with their rectangular shields locked together.

  The hall's southern quadrants were full of many long tables lined up on both sides of the aisle. The favored and the high sat at these in comfort to witness the great proceedings. To my right, at the table nearest the throne, I saw Breyonan Eriades, Ravik Kirriland, Davinan Hastar, Hanitan Marshan and other princes of the Five Families. The great lords of Alonia's domains crowded the table next to them like so many lions growling at each other over a kill: Baron Monteer of Iviendenhall, Baron Maruth of the Aquantir, Duke Ashvar, Count Muar and Old Duke Parran of Jerolin, whose cleft nose and harsh gray eyes reminded all that he was a fighting lord among lords used to battle and death. It shocked me to see Duke Malatam sitting next to him. Why had he come here, I wondered? This little man rubbed his thin face nervously and regarded me like a whipped dog begging me to forgive him for soiling a carpet.

  On my left, also near the throne, was the table of the greatest of Tria's Five Families; the Narmadas. There sat a bull-necked lord named Belur Narmada and the King's cousin, Count Dario, whose cool blue eyes peered out at me from beneath his rings of flaming red hair. There, too, Queen Daryana should have joined him taking morning tea with King Kiritan's other kinsman. But I looked across the room to see. this handsome woman sitting on the other side of the aisle, at the table behind that of the Five Families. As I soon learned, she had quarreled with King Kiritan. A queen, she had argued, when enter-taining guests, should always sit at table with her king. But on this day, at least, King Kiritan had proclaimed that he would sit only with other kings or their heirs. And so he had commanded her to sit next to Count Dario. Because she would not be commanded, she had taken a chair with the dozen chamberlains, scribes, stewards, chancellors and others of King Kiritan's household. She gazed at Atara, and at me, as we made our way down the aisle toward the largest table in the hall. This was a great wheel of white oak set just beneath King Kiritan's throne. King Kiritan had ordered it crafted and carved just for this occasion. Around it were placed massive chairs occupied by the sovereigns of Ea's Free Kingdoms. It was King Kiritan's conceit that at such a table, none could claim precedence by sitting at its head. But I noticed that King Kiritan's chair was positioned precisely in front of the throne. The sculptures of the sacred animals on the steps leading up to it, and the great golden throne itself, thus seemed to frame King Kiritan and to impart to him much of their magnificence. I noticed, too, that the kings he deemed most important were seated closest to him. On his right, next to an empty chair, were King Theodor of the Elyssu and Maram's father, King Santoval Marshayk. And on his left: King Hanniban, King Tal, and King Aryaman of Thalu, who was well-named, for in this yellow-haired giant of a man was said to live again the Aryan sea kings of old. The Valari kings, I saw, had been relegated to the table's southern half, farthest from King Kiritan. Next to King Aryaman sat King Waray. And next to him, around the wheel of the table, sat King Sandarkan, King Danashu and Prince Viromar, who had turned to bow his head to me as I walked nearer. The chair next to my cousin was conspicuously empty; next to it waited King Mohan, also turned toward me, and then King Kurshan and King Hadaru. This old bear of a man fixed his black eyes upon me as if to say, 'Well Valashu Elahad, we Valari have gathered here, as you asked us. Now what will you do?'

  At a word from King Kiritan, all the kings at the central table, and the men and women at the other tables, rose to their feet. King Kiritan invited Sajagax to sit next to him; he motioned for me to take the empty chair directly across the table from him In his strong, rich voice, he called out to me: 'You come late to our conclave, Prince Valashu. But we should all be glad that you have indeed finally come. The world might not wait upon laggards, even one who calls himself the Lord Guardian of the Lightstone. We, however, have waited. With great patience. And so, please, sit and unburden yourself.'

  As he stood staring at me with his piercing, blue eyes, someone from the mob behind him cried out, 'Maitreya! Lord of Light!'

  Two of the guards immediately drove into the mob gripping their heavy spears and using their shields to shove people aside. They closed in on a large, shaggy peasant, whose gray wool tunic was eaten with holes. I could not hear what the guards said to him. But the man suddenly bowed his head as the guards pressed him from either side and escorted him down the line of guards and out of the hall.

  King Kiritan did not deign to turn and witness this chastisement. His square, stern face was stamped with his will to order his realm and all that his prideful eyes looked upon. He stood stiffly and almost too straight; his large, well-made head seemed to push the nine points of his golden crown up toward the heavens as if in challenge. He was splendidly attired, in his white ermine mantle and his blue tunic embroidered with gold lions. In his golden hair was a little more silver than I remembered, and his red beard was shot full of gray; even so, he seemed somehow even more vital and powerful, as if the great events of the last year had ignited a fire in him and called him to greatness. I couldn't help staring at the circular scar on his cheek, where Queen Daryana had once bitten him in one of their disputes. She, at least, held no awe for Ea's foremost king.

  Following his lead, we all sat at his round table, and the others in the hall took their places. Liljana and Daj walked over to a table in the third row to my right, behind a table of King Kiritan's retainers and in front of a dozen richly dressed merchants. Maram contented himself with joining Lansar Raasharu, Baltasar and the other Guardians at a table that had been set aside for them along the aisle back toward the hall's southern doors. They were in good company though, for the knights in the retinues of the Valari kings shared the tables nearby. On the opposite side of the aisle, Master Juwain greeted others of his Brotherhood whom King Kiritan had summoned to the conclave. Atara might have shared a table with Orox and Sajagax's warriors or taken an empty seat next to Count Dario and the other Narmadas; instead, she decided to sit with her mother. Many people watched with amazement as she strode straight down the lane between the tables. And then, suddenly, her second sight seemed to fail her, and she was reduced for the last few paces to feeling her way with her unstrung bow, tapping its horn-hard end against the floorstones and the edges of the tables.

  King Kiritan glanced at his daughter without compassion, and then returned to staring straight at me. He called out, 'We have heard that you have brought the Lightstone here, as you vowed to do. Let us see it, then!'

  The hall grew quiet. And so I stood and drew it forth. I held it high above my head.

  'It is the Lightstone!' someone cried out. 'Truly it is!'

  I saw that King Aryaman was staring at me as a wolf might his prey. King Hanniban, a thickset and ruthless man renowned for his cunning in having survived Kallimun plots for most of his seventy years, regarded me as he pulled at his snowy beard. It was said that he thought about death too much, and feared it mightily. It was said, too, that he drank mothers' milk at his meals in order to forestall the ravages of old age. His greed to lay his old hands upon the Lightstone sickened me. I could almost hear him calculating how to relieve me of my burden.

  'We must congratulate you,' King Kiritan said to me, 'on stealing this from the Red Dragon's throne room. Now, deliver it to us, as you also vowed.'

  I moved not an inch as I stared right back at him. And then I told him, 'I made no such vow. None of us did who entered Argattha or undertook the Que
st.'

  'You swore to seek the Lightstone for all of Ea and not yourself!'

  'And here it is,' I said, 'brought through mountains, steppes and forests, guarded by great knights from brigands and treacheries, for Ea, and not for myself.'

  'That is not what we have heard,' King Kiritan told me. 'Even now, here in this hallowed house of Ea's High Kings, the safest of all places, you grip the golden cup as if it were an heirloom of your house that you claim by right.'

  I glanced at Baron Monteer and then Count Muar, a rapier-thin man whose deadly stare gave one the impression that he could strike as quickly as a snake. Absent from the table of these great lords was Baron Narcavage, who had been killed the year before on King Kiritan's own lawn in a plot to assassinate King Kiritan - and me. I looked farther out into the room, at the heavily armored guards lined up behind the throne and posted by the four doors. Any one of these, I thought, any one of the knights and nobles sitting at the tables or the tradesmen standing and staring at me might be the Skakaman, Noman, in disguise. How many hundreds of men and women, in their coverings of cloaks, bright tunics, armor and flesh were gathered in this great hall, the safest of all places?

  'Nothing has yet been claimed,' I said once again, turning back to King Kiritan. 'And I am the Lord Guardian of the Lightstone, and so it is upon me to see that it is placed in the hands of the Maitreya.'