by Jake Yaniak
The three of them exerted their full theatrical skill when the prince was finally presented to them. For Leonara's part, she did so not so much for her parents' sake but for the opportunity to see her brother. And seeing him, she felt, was worth the effort.
Volthamir was let in through the main doors on the eastern side of the throne room. There were only a few torches lit, so his form was dark and featureless as he approached. He did not bow or kneel or in any other way show the king the proper respect. He simply walked straight up to them and said boldly, 'King Vulcan thos Amlaman, you have long been the guardian of Ramlos and Amlaman as well as lord of all the western frontiers, from the frozen sea to the dark jungle of the west. Titalo fears you, Dadron fears you. You have everything under your power.
'But much that you have is rightfully mine. From my hands you have taken the greater half of your Dual Crown. All of Amlaman is mine by right, you have no just claim upon it.
'You called me here to show me your dainties and your comforts. With treasures and riches you wish to court my loyalty. But what need have I of gold and silver and ancient prizes? And what right have you to bribe me with that which is mine by right?'
Here Volthamir paused, waiting for nearly a minute for King Vulcan to murmur a response. He had learned his master's art and asked no question for rhetoric's sake. But all that Vulcan could get out was a quiet, 'It is not the reason- it is not why I summoned you.' But his voice was too frail for anyone instill much confidence in his sincerity.
Volthamir continued, 'I despise your treasures, I did not want them when they were my father's and I do not want them now. What I want from you, Uncle, is the fulfillment of your pledge. In a drunken stupor I imagine it must have been, you promised me 'whatever it may be' that I desire. And now here I am; I have returned to demand it. Give me the hand of Princess Leonara, for that I desire more than any rusted heirloom of Japhrian.'
King Vulcan turned as white as a ghost. He said nothing but just sat there on his throne with his chin wagging up and down. Queen Marel's cold eyes met the eyes of the prince. 'Ingrate,' she said without emotion, 'Some believed that it was unwise for the King to spare the son of his enemy. Some even had it in their minds to slay you even after your uncle had decided that you must live. But your uncle would not have it. It was sufficient for him to put an end to your tyrant father's reign of folly and free the people of Amlaman from his pompous yoke, he had no need to spill innocent blood. Innocent blood indeed! Here you stand, showing him no courtesy, though he has shown you so much more all these years. Ingrate! He has been a father to you.'
A small and cruel grin came across the face of Volthamir. 'My queen,' he began, 'do not think that I have come here solely on account of my deceased parent. I have not come here tonight for revenge, though by your own doctrines it should be mine. King Vulcan is not my father, not in any sense of the word. He was not my father the night he spared me. I would have poked him with a dagger if Lord Havoc had not stopped me. It was he that spared me from the poisonous draught in your superstitious Cup of Trial, when I stood before your dead god and all the fools of Amlaman as a spectacle. If any man has a right to the title of father, it would be he.
'And you, my Queen, if you had been woman enough to bear your master a son, do you have any doubts about what would happen to the heir of the overthrown tyrant? You would have been the first citizen of Amlaman to call for my head. And I do not doubt whose feminine voice would have whispered the orders in the dark. For this I suppose I have mere chance to thank; and accordingly I declare pure Chance to be my father; more of a father than this old devil.'
'How dare you speak so boldly to the king!' the queen shouted, finally allowing her fear to give place to rage. 'Guards!' she called with a shriek.
The guards came rushing from behind the tall pillars on either side of the throne room. There were six altogether approaching the prince, each armed with a long spear and shielded by plate armor.
Through all of this Princess Leonara remained silent. In her heart and in her mind, hope and fear vied for the mastery, but neither came to rise above the other. She was absolutely at a loss as to what to make of this strange meeting. She could find no words to say.
'Is this the usual reward for the guardians of Amlaman?' Volthamir laughed, 'To be treated like an assassin? If I wanted to plant a dagger in your back, my king, do you think the Fell Wolf of Ramlos would come through the front gate, announced and unarmed? And you,' the prince said, now turning toward the approaching guards, 'stop this nonsense at once.'
Perhaps because of the shear strength of will that seemed to shine from Volthamir's eyes as he spoke, the guards lowered their spears and backed away. The Prince resumed his speech, 'I bowed my head low to you, to save my own skin from the same cold iron that cut my father's belly open. I have grown up in my own house as a stranger and I have been hated secretly by knights, queens and politicians who envied my birthright. I have humiliated myself in your cursed Temple, before your ash heap of a god. I have gone into exile in the north, to the kingdom that you forsook when you came to take away mine. And in Ramlos I have become a hero; taking all the glory and love away from Japhrian. But this was all the result of my labors, which were ten times greater than any other man's.
'Your own kingdom is kept safe from goblins and orcs by the sweat of my own brow. The incursion of Golbfein was stayed by my blade, and the power of Legion was broken in Ramlos by the stomping of my horse's hooves. From all of this peril, labor and humiliation I have returned to be shown all the treasures that you stole from me. And I am promised that someday they will legitimately pass to me. But I despised them. But then, as if you saw your death in my eyes you swore to me an oath. Your words were thus: "What is it that you desire? Name it my son. Simply name it and it shall be thine. On my word as king, you shall have it. Whatever it may be that you desire."
'Therefore I call you to account, my king,' Volthamir thundered, his voice almost sounding like his old master. 'Give me what I desire. Give me Leonara.'
The Queen rose from her seat in wrath. It almost seemed as though she was going to charge the prince and try to kill him right in that instant. But she felt a warm touch on the back of her hand.
King Vulcan rose from his seat and spoke softly, no sign of the liquor to be heard in his words. He said, 'You have toiled much, my son, and there is no one in this land who deserves more honor and praise than you. And you are right that I swore to give you any reward you would ask for. But this thing is more than I can bear to give to you. Forgive me, my son,' Vulcan quivered, 'I cannot give you such a thing. It is forbidden for a prince of Amlaman to marry his own sister.'
'Leonara is not my sister,' Volthamir said coldly, not allowing his uncle to dodge his demand with so equivocal an objection. Tears welled up in Leonara's eyes as she heard those words. It had not yet fully occurred to her until that moment that the prince's opinion of her was quite different from the affection she bore toward him. The words, 'not my sister,' seemed to ring in her ears again and again, until she cupped her hands over her head, hoping thereby to drive the sad thought from her mind. The thought occurred to her that the prince had come at last not to be her savior, but to be her conqueror.
'But this gift is more precious to me than any other thing. More precious than the kingdom itself.' A vague idea began to form in King Vulcan's mind, giving him a sudden burst of confidence, 'The price of such a thing is more than any king can give away.'
For nearly a full minute they all stayed perfectly still. The guards stood nearby with their spears pointed once more toward the prince, the Queen slowly lowered herself into her chair while the King stood like a statue, his gaze trying to pierce the eyes of the prince. 'Then name your price, my lord,' Volthamir said with a cold grin. 'If I have not, by all my sweat and blood, won from the king the promised reward, then let me know at least what is lacking. What further task must I fulfill?'
Vulcan paused for a long time and thought to himself in silence. Finally a
gleam of light seemed to catch his eyes from one of the torches. He lifted his head and smiled wide like a man who suddenly comes upon some object of great worth that they had long ago misplaced. King Vulcan thundered, 'Bring me the head of Legion!'
Chapter IX:
Legion's Head
Silence in Japhrian Palace
Without hesitation, Volthamir nodded his head and swore, 'It shall be done.' With those words he turned and walked out of the hall. Silence reigned over the whole palace that night. No one spoke; no one even whispered. They just went about their business (which mainly entailed preparations for sleep) without even mentioning what had transpired. King Vulcan pulled his robes off, donned his night clothes and dropped like a log into his bed, snoring almost in an instant. The Queen sat alone in the throne room for almost an hour, but exhaustion eventually took hold of her and she retired to her chambers.
Leonara slipped away as soon as Volthamir had left the hall and bolted her door behind her. She did not know at all how to feel. She was ecstatic in one instant and horrified in the next. It seemed that she would be saved from her parents after all, but she was not wholly sure that this is how she wished to be saved. Before she closed her eyes, however, she had resolved that whatever came of it, she would submit to anything if it would remove her from the conflicted and crumbling dominion of her parents.
But as it happened, she was taken from under her parents' immediate control the very next day. As I have already described, she was brought in a small carriage under the eyes of but a few guards out of Japhrian to the the Temple of Agonistes, there to live among the sacred virgins. None but the royal family, Achil and his priests, and the sacred virgins themselves were informed of this move. And when people asked, they were simply told that she had taken ill and was now recovering in some warmer region of Weldera.
Return To Nolhern
Volthamir made straight for Nolhern, stopping only once or twice to allow his horse some rest. He ate very little and spoke to no one. He expected to reach the northern fort of Nolhern by the end of the month of Leonius. On the third day from his departure from Japhrian it began to rain, but as he passed under the dark canopy of the Heyan forest, the drops grew more gentle and eventually ceased altogether as he made his way along the darker portions of the forest road.
He made good time through Heyan as well, and passed through Ferwur on the twenty-first day of the month. He stopped by old Hashias' broken down old home and left a bag of dried meat and cheese, as well as a generous quantity of gold coins. This he did in deference for his master, for whom he felt a peculiar appreciation at that moment. 'He may be no better than any of the rest of them,' Volthamir whispered to himself. 'But in the least, if he does things for his own sake he will not pretend that he is doing good for another.'
Volthamir left behind the dark shroud of Heyan on the twenty-fifth morning of Leonius. The rain still came down in heavy sheets, turning the road into a running stream of muddy water. The guards of Nolhern greeted him at the gate happily, 'Hail! The Fell Wolf returns!' He nodded to them as he passed, but he stopped to speak to no man. He rode into the center of the town and dismounted just outside the barrack where Lord Havoc had been living of late. He left his reigns in the hands of one of the servants and walked to the door, his face still dripping from the rain.
He pounded on the door seven times and waited. Finally, an old servant woman opened the door and let him in, muttering under her breath about the mud and the noise. Volthamir ignored her and walked straight into the building, with the mud splashing from his boots as he stepped.
'Lord Havoc,' he called, 'Your prince has returned. And I have for us a new task!'
The Plan
'At last,' Lord Havoc began upon hearing the prince's tale. 'This will be your most dangerous task yet. We have much to consider; and I have much to reveal. But first,' Lord Havoc sniffed, 'go have a bath. I cannot even think straight with all this mud on your face and the smell of three days of rain on your clothes!'
Volthamir obeyed and soon after he returned the two men closeted themselves away in a small room with a single candle burning in the center of a little wooden table. There were maps and scrolls scattered about the room, which they would on occasion hold up to the light of the tiny flame. For nearly two days they remained hidden in this room, only going out now and again to replenish their strength and take in some fresh air.
'Do you understand what it is we are going to do, then?' Lord Havoc asked him. 'And you understand that in this endeavor, there can be no failure, nor can I be at your side. No one can be at your side, in fact. What you must do, you must do alone.'
'I understand,' Volthamir said in a resolute voice. 'I do not like the thought, but it is the only way. It is the only way, at least, to accomplish ALL of our intentions. It is one thing to slay the Feral King, but quite another thing to do it for our own sakes.'
Their plan, as Lord Havoc explained it, was this:
'Seams have formed in Amla. There is a line between the men of Ramlos and their southern brethren in Amlaman. There is another line between the frontiers and the eastern lands. Each seam is ready to split, and the whole kingdom will then be shredded.
'But it will be our task to remove the old thread and fasten these lands together once more. This time with a true thread, sown in with skill. But many things must first come to pass. You have told me your desire. You want the girl; the Songbird of Japhrian as she is called, for her lovely and enchanting voice. But far from granting your request, your uncle has in effect sentenced you to a sure and painful death. For in all of history there have been very few men who have seen a Feral king with their own eyes and lived. And to my knowledge no mortal man has ever taken the head off of one. But the head of fell Legion shall be yours, of this I have little doubt.
'I will see to it that the anger of your half-brethren in the west breaks out and spreads rebellion throughout the frontier. In your absence I will return to Vulcan's side, the old fool probably still trusts me. And if not, he still fears me too much to disobey.
'To the west I will send Lord Vars and Lord Kellin, to kill your brothers and to be killed by them, if fortune smiles upon us. In this way the old guard of Amla will pass, and your half-rivals with them. Whatever remains in the west of your kin we will have to deal with at another time. But Lord Kellin and Lord Vars have enough strength left, I guess, to quell a petty and disorganized revolt.
'I needn't remind you of our goal: Desire, and the means thereto, which is Power. But we seek not the power to keep our own, nor do we desire power enough to merely gain what we want. We are after the power to preserve against all foes whatsoever objects we choose to take for ourselves. For this we will need the might of Dadron and the secret of their Naming Stone.
'For this reason you must not fail in your task. You must not only slay Legion. You must become Legion, that the rule of the goblins might legitimately pass to you. When the army of Legion is under our control we will turn them away from Heyan and Ramlos forever. For we have a more important use for them.
'The chief obstacle to taking Dadron is not its indubitable walls of stone, it is the support of the Woodsmen of the north. Those iron-boned men called the Norasians. The legacy of the hero Galvahir still stands guard in Falsis. The strength of his sons has daunted nearly every assailant that has tried to take the mighty fortress since the fall of the elves. And even in the day of its fall, it was the might of the Norasians alone that saved the city itself from complete destruction.
'We must break the arm of the son of Galvahir. But this we cannot do in open war; for though we might win the victory, the cost would be more than we could recoup. Only a ruse, such as I have long held in preparation, can beat these proud men of the woods into dust.
'But for this I must have command of the goblins. No army of men will be able to draw the sons of Galvahir from their log cabins and into a trap, for they are as clever as they are strong. But what we are going to do, they could never even imagine. When yo
u have made yourself a hobgoblin, and taken control of the brutes of the Daunrys, you will bring them to me at Parodann. For there I am already preparing roads and caravans to bear the goblins over the mountains to fight against the Norasians. And I have received pledges from the jealous Chieftans of Norasia that if the sons of Galvahir fall, no man of that dark wood will march to Dadron's aid.
'And what of Daevaron in the east? They will surely march to the aid of their great citadel, will they not? Nay! They will have their own troubles, for I have not been idle, nor have I neglected to consider the eastern lands. Marin will take care of them for us.'
At those words Volthamir's eyes opened wide. 'Marin? Lord Havoc, you have done a great deal of preparation already! What else have you planned? And when, in the course of our mission will you disclose it? I cannot help but feel that my own part in your scheme involves never returning from the Daunrys; lying slain and despoiled in the snow while goblins feast on my carcass. You have been betraying this land for years already!'
'And if I have, then what of it? And you are right to be concerned for your own skin. After all, we are both wolves. Both of us are too well acquainted with the utility of deception to ever trust another man again, including and especially one another.
'Yes, I have made plans with Lady Marin in Olgrost. And she will bend her full might against Daevaron, and meet us at the great citadel. What she hopes to gain from this conspiracy, I cannot pretend to know. But her envy of the mighty fortress of the elves is ancient and unbreakable.'
'What of the island? What of Kollun? Are they not on friendly terms with Daevaron and Dadron?' Volthamir asked.
'There is no such thing as friendship among nations, my prince, nor perhaps among men. We have nothing to fear from the democracy of Kollun. It is the unique privilege of such nations that they can never act fast enough to make any difference, nor can they act with undivided strength. And even when they do act, it is only a matter of time before the whims of the people whirl them about in the other direction, thereby undoing what had previously been done. No, I do not fear anything from that tiny island.