Hadon of Ancient Opar

by Philip José Farmer

  The captain turned even paler and stammered a question. Hadon explained as best he could, and the result was that Lalila and her two companions were taken to the quarters of the dead commandant. Tadoku, Hinokly, Kebiwabes, and Hadon were locked inside a large room behind bronze bars. Tadoku protested. He was told that though he was not under official arrest, he was to be treated as a prisoner until his case was judged at Khokarsa. The scribe declared that this was illegal, but the captain merely walked away.

  And so, three weeks later, all except Kwasin were on a galley headed for the city of Khokarsa. Hadon, though chained, was allowed to walk the deck during the day. The captain and the priest were permitted to talk to him, and from them he learned much of the situation. Minruth, becoming impatient, had demanded that Awineth forget Hadon and marry him. She had refused, and her father had confined her in her apartments. The king’s troops had then seized the city. Those military and naval units loyal to Awineth had been disarmed or slain. The Temple of Kho on the slopes of the volcano had been occupied and the priestesses there put in prison.

  The men who did that must have been brave, Hadon thought. Even the most fanatical devotee of Resu would have feared the wrath of Kho. But Minruth had promised them great rewards. Power and wealth were more important than even fear of the deities to some men. Minruth had picked these to carry out this outrageous mission. He had not, however, dared to violate the oracular priestess, the Voice of Kho Herself.

  There had been, of course, a mass uprising. The poor and many of the middle and upper classes had swarmed out to avenge the blasphemy. But the undisciplined mob did not stand a chance against catapults of liquid fire. The troops of Resu cast hundreds of bundles of the incendiary composition on the people in the jammed streets and burned them alive. The residential and commercial areas around the Inner City burned to the ground, killing thousands and leaving the heart of the city, except for the Inner City, in ashes.

  The key centers of the other cities of the island had been simultaneously seized and the mobs there dealt with in a similar fashion. Only Dythbeth, always a thorn in the side of Khokarsa, had revolted successfully. Minruth’s armed forces had been massacred. But Minruth had it blockaded now, and it was said that the citizens were eating rats and dogs to stay alive. They could not hold out for more than another week.

  Part of the navy had stayed loyal to Awineth and Kho. After some strong fighting, those ships that could get away had fled to Towina, Bawaku, and Qethruth. These cities, like most in the empire, had seized the opportunity to declare independence. The empire was aflame with revolution. Minruth did not care. He would reconquer.

  “Mighty Resu will defeat the mortals who persist in placing Kho above her natural master, Resu!” the priest cried.

  Hadon felt like kicking the gaunt, blazing-eyed priest into the sea. The captain, though a follower of Resu, winced. Evidently he had not shed all fear of Kho. Nor was he accustomed to being without a priestess. A priest on a ship without a priestess was supposed to be bad luck. Piqabes, the green-eyed Our Lady of Kemu, did not favor such vessels.

  The captain told Hadon of the rumblings and shakings of the earth below the city of Khokarsa and of the clouds of smoke and the sea of burning lava that had issued from the volcano.

  “Awineth is said to have declared that Kho Herself was going to destroy the city,” the captain said. “Many of us wet down our legs when we heard that rumor. But Minruth said that that was not so. Resu was locked in combat with Kho deep within the mountain, and he would eventually overthrow Her. Then She would take the lower throne and become his slave.”

  “And Minruth was right!” the priest blared. “Otherwise, why would the lava have destroyed the sacred grove and inundated the temple, knocking it down and burning all the priestesses within it? Would Kho, if She were all-powerful, have permitted this? No, Resu did it, and She was powerless to prevent it!”

  “The grove and the temple are destroyed?” Hadon said. “Those ancient holy places?”

  “Destroyed forever!” the priest shouted. “Minruth has promised that he will build a new temple there, dedicated to Resu!”

  “And what of the oracular priestess? Was she killed by the lava?”

  The priest gaped at Hadon and then said, as if it pained him, “She seems to have escaped into the wild lands back of the volcano. But Minruth’s men are searching for her. When they find her, they will bring her back in chains! Once the populace sees her in Minruth’s power, they will know that Resu is all-powerful!”

  “If they find her,” Hadon said, “I hope that this struggle does not cause Kho to destroy all the land and those within it.”

  “Resu will triumph, and things will be as they should have been long ago!” the priest said.

  “What of Lalila?” Hadon said. “What does Minruth plan for her? After all, she is under the aegis of Sahhindar. The Gray-Eyed God said that he would avenge her if she were harmed in any way.”

  This last was not true, but Hadon did not mind lying if he could help Lalila.

  “How would I know?” the priest said. “Minruth does not confide in me. When she stands before him, then she will be dealt with as justice requires.”

  Or as Minruth requires, Hadon thought. The dispenser of the law is the interpreter of the law.

  The days and nights passed steadily but slowly. Once again Hadon, desiring to stay in shape, asked to be allowed to pull an oar. The captain was scandalized but after a brief argument gave his permission. Hadon wore handcuffs when he worked and was forbidden to speak to the other oarsmen. The captain wanted no subversive talk spread among the sailors.

  At long last the northwest coast of the island rose from the horizon. The galley followed the coastline, which was fiat farmland for many miles at first. Then a mountain range, the Saasawabeth, arose. Hadon overheard the captain and the priest talking of the guerrillas holed up in it and of the expedition against them. Apparently the seven mountain ranges of the island were the strongholds of thousands of Kho worshipers.

  The Saasawabeth became farmland again, but in a few days they were opposite the Khosaasa. The galley left those behind, though not out of sight, and after a week they were entering the mouth of the Gulf of Gahete. Even from this distance the tip of Khowot could be seen. The smoke issuing from it had, however, been visible after passing the Saasawabeth. The galley pulled steadily down the gulf, the cliffs on its right, the high farmlands on its left. Smoke rose from many of the peasants’ huts and barns, burned by the troops of Minruth.

  Then mighty Khowot rose from the sea, and after two days its base was in sight. On the fifth day, the higher part of the Tower of Resu came into view. This, the priest said, was no longer dedicated to both Resu and Kho. In fact, he had heard rumors that Minruth intended to name it after himself. It was said that the king of kings was considering making a certain theory of the College of Priests a fact. This was that the king was, in essence, Resu himself, that a piece of the spirit of Resu inhabited the king’s body and so made him holy. He would be the sun god incarnate, and hence worshiped as a god.

  “He is indeed mad,” Hadon said.

  The priest glared at Hadon and said, “That blasphemy will be reported to Minruth!”

  “That won’t make my case any harder,” Hadon said.

  The spires and the towers of the city of Khokarsa lifted, though not as soon as Hadon had expected. This was because the city no longer glittered white. Smoke from the volcano had settled on it, and to this had been added layers of smoke from the burning buildings outside the Inner City.

  “Thirty thousand people perished during the uprisings and the fires that followed,” the priest said. “The scourge of Resu is terrible indeed! Minruth is said to have wept when he heard this, but later he became joyous. He said that it was the will of Resu and so was necessary. The hardhearted must be destroyed in a ritual of purification of the land. The spirit of blasphemy must be stamped flat forever.”

  “But all those innocents, the children?” Hadon
said.

  “The sins of the parents descend upon the children, and they must pay too!”

  Hadon was too shocked by this insanity to reply.

  The galley proceeded through waters that had once been crowded with seagoing merchant vessels and river boats and barges from inland cities and the rural areas. The stench of the charred corpses beneath the ruins struck them full force, choking them. Then the galley passed between the forts of Sigady and Klydon, and then the fort on the western tip of Mohasi island. The ship bore to the southwest and turned south into the entrance of the great canal. It eased gently in between two docks while drums beat. The prisoners were marched off to a customs house. The captain sent a runner with a letter enclosed in a silver box on the end of a golden staff. This would be delivered to the king of kings, who would read therein that the hero Hadon and his party were awaiting the king’s disposal.

  Hadon looked curiously at the Great Tower, which was indeed awe-inspiring. Its base was almost half a mile in diameter, and its staggered stories rose to almost five hundred feet. Yet it was only half-built. And it might be a long time before work was resumed on it. Twice before, its building had been halted for long periods during Times of Trouble. And during periods of comparative prosperity and peace, the enormous expense of its construction had taken a large, much-resented portion of tax money.

  Two hours passed before the runner appeared at the head of a dog-trotting corps of palace guards. The prisoners were hustled out and marched off behind a blaring band to the citadel. Once again Hadon crossed over the moat and ascended the broad and steep steps to the acropolis, though this time it was from the western end. And he did not come as a conquering hero, victor of the Great Games, husband-to-be of the chief priestess and queen of queens.

  They passed through huge bronze gates into the citadel and through broad streets lined by marble temples and government buildings. Some of these were round, or nine-sided, built in ancient times. Others were square, of the style that had come into being about three hundred years ago. The palace itself, the most ancient building, of massive granite blocks overlaid with marble blocks, was nine-sided. Hadon was grieved to see that the statues of Kho and Her daughters, upholding the roof of the great porch, had been defaced. Surely the hands of those who had committed this blasphemy would be withered.

  A herald met them at the western doorway, and the prisoners were officially delivered to him. The interior palace guards replaced those who had conducted the prisoners, and two trumpeters replaced the band. They marched through broad stately halls lined with works of art from,all over the empire. Then they were in the enormous throne room, glittering with gold, silver, diamonds, emeralds, turquoises, topazes, and rubies. They walked down a long aisle formed of silent courtiers, most of them men. The herald halted before the thrones, thumped the end of his staff on the many-colored mosaic floor of marble and inset diamonds, and cried out the greeting. This time it was Minruth he addressed first.

  His final phrase, “And remember that death comes to all!” was omitted. Instead the herald shouted, “Mighty Resu, in whom our king of kings is incarnate, rules over all!”

  As if that were not shocking enough, Minruth’s throne was now on the higher dais, and the fish-eagle which had once stood on the back of Awineth’s throne was chained to Minruth’s throne. Moreover, judging from its smaller size, it was a male. Minruth, heavily bearded, sat on the throne. This was another change Hadon had noticed among the soldiers and the courtiers. All were unshaven.

  Awineth sat on her plain oak throne, clad in a garment that matrons wore after their breasts had begun to sag. From neck to foot, her superb figure was hidden in a voluminous linen robe. She seemed to have aged several years; her eyes were underscored with the blue-black of anxiety and sleepless nights. But her eyes were bright when she looked at Hadon.

  There was a long silence afterward, broken only by the coughs of courtiers. Minruth gazed long at Hadon while he chewed his lower lip. Finally he smiled.

  “I have heard much about you, Hadon of Opar, since you returned to our land! None of it good! You unlawfully conducted the exiled Kwasin into the land, and that requires the extreme penalty!”

  This was a lie, but he who sits on the throne may twist the truth to suit himself. Hadon thought it useless to protest.

  “Kwasin was, however, no longer an exile. The ban imposed by the wife of Resu no longer holds, and I would have welcomed the hero Kwasin if he had forsworn loyalty to Kho. But he broke free from arrest and murdered my soldiers while doing so! Thus, he will die after suitable torture!”

  If you can catch him, Hadon thought.

  Minruth paused, glared at Hadon, and then looked at Lalila. When he spoke, his voice was gentler.

  “I have been informed about this woman, the Witch from the Sea, I believe she is called, among other things. If she is indeed a witch, she will be burned. It does not matter that she might be a good witch! There is no such thing now. All witches are evil, and magic is to be practiced by the priests of Resu alone!”

  “Science, you mad fool,” Hinokly said, so softly that Hadon could barely hear him. “There is no such thing as magic. Science!”

  “But I have been told that her witchery consists only of her beauty, and she cannot be blamed for that! If my interrogators are convinced that she is truly not a practicer of magic, then she will be free and honored. I like what my eyes see, and what the king of kings likes, he takes to his heart. I may honor her by taking her as my wife. You may not know it, Hadon, but men may now have more than one wife.”

  Awineth stirred and said, “That is not according to our ancient law, Father. We are not barbarian Klemqaba. Nor is it lawful to have forced me to marry you.”

  “I did not ask you to speak!” Minruth said. “If you speak once more without my permission, you will be conducted to your apartments, and we will hold court without you!”

  Awineth looked angry but did not reply.

  “The ancient laws are repealed. The new laws rule the land,” Minruth said. “Now, there are also the cases of the child and of the manling to be judged. The child would be burned with her mother if she were judged a witch, but I do not think that that will be the verdict.”

  Hadon felt a new shock. He had never heard of such a horrible thing. To burn children for the crimes of the mother was one more evil that would surely bring the wrath of Kho down on Minruth’s head! The wonder was that he had not been struck down long ago. But Kho bides Her time.

  “The child is as beautiful as her mother, and when the time comes, she may also become my wife.”

  Hadon ground his teeth and thought of hurling himself at Minruth. Minruth was as mad as a buck hare during mating season. He was fifty-seven now, and though it was said that he was still as virile as a young bull, he could not seriously assume that eleven years from now he could bed Abeth. Or could he?

  “And then there is the hairy one-eyed manling. It has been reported that he is a werebeast, that he assumes at night the shape of an animal like a dog, an animal known only in the lands of the far north. Is this true, manling?”

  Paga said, “It is true that I was suckled by a four-legged bitch, O King of Kings. The two-legged bitch who bore me cast me out into the bushes to die. She had no heart, but the beast who found me had one full of motherly love, though doubtless she would have eaten me if she had not just lost her cubs. The first milk I tasted was hers. She gave me the only love I have known, excepting that of the hero Wi and of Lalila and her child, though the god Sahhindar was kind to me, and Hadon does not reject me because I am a misshapen manling. I am not a werebeast, O King of Kings, though I am half-beast and proud of it. Often the beasts are more human than the humans. But when the moon is full, I am no more affected by it than you, and perhaps not as much.”

  “Big words from a little man,” Minruth said. “I will not inquire into the meaning of that last statement, since you would lie about it anyway. And you bring up Sahhindar, the Gray-Eyed Archer God. He is a young
er brother of mighty Resu and no lover of Kho. Like you, he was abandoned by his mother and raised by the half-apes of the woods. And it was he who gave man plants and taught him how to domesticate them and the beasts, and how to calculate, and how to make bronze. Even the priestesses admit that, though they say that he committed a divine crime by giving us these gifts before Kho had decreed that they should be given.

  “It is said that the woman and her child and you have been placed under Sahhindar’s protection. Is this indeed so, Lalila?”

  “Indeed it is true,” Lalila said. “Hinokly can vouch for that.”

  “But it is also true that Sahhindar has told you that he is no god, that he is only a man, though a strange one? Is this true, Lalila?”

  “It is true,” Lalila replied.

  “Gods often lie to test mortals. But if he should come to this land, he will be interrogated. And if he is an impostor, he will suffer what all mortals must.”

  “But he is no impostor!” Paga said. “He does not claim to be a god!”

  “Strike him with the butt of a spear!” Minruth yelled. “He must learn to unloosen his tongue only when I say he may!”

  An officer took a spear from a soldier’s hand, and Paga fell to the floor beneath the blow. He groaned once, clamped his teeth, and got to his feet shaking his head.

  “The next time, it will be the point, not the butt!” Minruth said. “And now for the scribe, the bard, and Tadoku. They too accompanied Kwasin, and so share in the guilt of the murder of my soldiers. Major, take them with Hadon and the manling to the cells reserved for traitors.”

  “The queen and Kho forever!” Tadoku yelled.

  Those were his last words, brave but foolish. Minruth screamed an order, and Tadoku died with three spears through him. Hadon swore that if he ever had the opportunity, he would see to it that Tadoku was buried under a hero’s pylon with the sacrifice of the finest bulls. Then he was taken away while Awineth and Lalila wept. He was led with the others to a door that opened onto steps that wound down and down, down a long hall along which torches flared, down more winding stone steps, down another long hall, and down a final spiral staircase. The two upper halls were lined with cells packed with men and women, and sometimes with children. Hadon had heard that the rock beneath the citadel was as tunneled as an ant’s nest, that its network of corridors and shafts was equaled only by that beneath the city of Opar. But whereas Opar’s had been dug to remove gold, the citadel’s was intended for the deposit of criminals. It was also a place of refuge for the tenants of the citadel if invaders should ever take the surface buildings.