"Issa let Salmissra kill Gorek, didn't he?"
"No, he didn't. He's hibernating, so he had no idea of what Salmissra was doing. Be very careful, Radek. Issa's the Serpent God. If you offend him, you might come back and find all of Drasnia infested with poisonous snakes. Now get your pike men together and start south. I've got to go talk with Cho-Ram."
I started toward the door.
"You can tell the girl to come out now, Radek," I threw back over my shoulder.
"She'll smother if she stays under there too long." I stopped.
"Don't you think it's about time for you to stop all this playing?" I asked him.
"There's no real harm in it, Belgarath."
"Not unless it gets out of hand. I think it's time for you to get married and settle down."
"I can do that later," he replied.
"Right now I've got business to take care of in Nyissa."
I flew south to Algaria and it only took me two days to find Cho-Ram.
The chief of the Clan-Chiefs of Algaria was fairly old, and his hair and beard were almost as white as mine. Old or not, though, you wouldn't have wanted to fight him. Age hadn't slowed his saber-hand in the slightest.
I honestly believe he could have cut off both a man's ears so quickly that the man wouldn't notice that they were gone for a day or so.
We met in one of those rolling houses Fleet-foot had designed, so I was fairly sure we'd have some privacy. Cho-Ram and I were neighbors and old friends, so I didn't have to bully him the way I had Valcor and Radek. He listened carefully as I told him about the assassination of Gorek and of what we were going to do about it.
When I finished, he leaned back, his black horsehide jacket creaking.
"We'll be violating Tolnedran territory, you know," he pointed out.
"That can't be helped," I said.
"Somebody put Salmissra up to this, and I want to find out who he is before he gets too much of a running head start on me."
"Ctuchik, maybe?"
"It's possible. Let's see what Salmissra has to say before we lay siege to Rak Cthol, though. Radek should be along soon. Join forces with him when he gets here. I'm going down to the Vale. If Beldin's made it back from Mallorea, I'll send him along with you. If he hasn't, I'll send the twins. If Ctuchik was behind this and he's still in Nyissa, you'll need someone along to counter anything he throws at you. I think I'd better go with Valcor and Brand. The Rivans are enraged, and you know how the Chereks are."
He smiled.
"Oh, yes," he agreed.
"The whole world knows how the Chereks are."
"Gather your clans, Cho-Ram. Radek should be along in a bit. If you have to, go on ahead of his infantry. I want to be in Sthiss Tor before the rainy season sets in."
"I appreciate that, Ancient One. Wading through swamps in the rain is very hard on the horses."
Then I left for the Vale.
My luck was holding up, because Beldin had made it back from Mallorea two days earlier. I love the twins, but they're too gentle for the plans I had for Nyissa. Beldin can be appropriately ungentle when the occasion arises.
Let me set something straight here. There's no denying the fact that I was very angry about the murder of Gorek and his family. They were relatives, after all, but the campaign I'd mapped out had very little to do with vengeance and a great deal to do with deliberate terrorism. Things in the world were already complicated enough without the Nyissans dabbling in international politics. They had access to too many poisons and narcotics for my taste, so the Alorn invasion of that swamp was designed almost entirely to persuade the Serpent People to stay home and mind their own business. I suppose that says a few uncomplimentary things about me, but that can't be helped.
"What are you going to do if the Murgos decide to play, too?" Beldin asked me after I'd laid out my plan for him.
"I don't think we need to worry about that," I replied with more confidence than I really felt.
"Ctuchik controls Cthol Murgos, no matter who's sitting on the throne in Rak Goska, and Ctuchik knows that it's not time for a confrontation with the Alorns yet. A lot more has to happen before we get to that." I scowled at the floor of Beldin's tower for a moment.
"You'd better stay clear of Murgo territory, though, just to be on the safe side."
"You've got a peculiar idea of "safe," Belgarath. If I can't go through Cthol Murgos, I'll have to go through Tolnedra, and the legions won't like that very much."
"I'll swing over to Tol Honeth before I go back to Val Alorn. The Vorduvians are back in power again, but Ran Vordue the First has been on the throne only for about a year. I'll talk with him."
"Inexperienced people make mistakes, Belgarath."
"I know, but they usually hesitate before they make them. We'll be finished in Nyissa before he makes up his mind."
Beldin shrugged.
"It's your war. I'll see you in Sthiss Tor."
I flew to Tol Honeth then and went to the Imperial Compound. Some forged documents identified me as a special emissary of the Alorn kings, and I got in to see the emperor immediately.
Emperor Ran Vordue I of the Third Vorduvian Dynasty was a youngish man with deep-sunk eyes and a gaunt face. He was seated on a marble throne, and he was wearing the traditional gold-colored mantle.
"Welcome to Tol Honeth, Ancient One," he greeted me. He knew in a general sort of way who I was, but like most Tolnedrans, he thought my name was some kind of hereditary title.
"Let's skip the pleasantries and get to the point, Ran Vordue," I told him.
"The Nyissans have assassinated the Rivan King, and the Alorns are mounting a punitive expedition."
"What? Why wasn't I told?"
"You just were. There's going to be a technical violation of your borders. I strongly advise you just to let it slide. The Alorns are feeling belligerent just now. Their business is with the Nyissans, but if your legions get in their way, they'll plow them under. The Algars and Drasnians are going to march south through the Tolnedran Mountains. Pretend you don't see them."
"Can't this be settled without war?" he asked me rather plaintively.
"I have some very good negotiators at my disposal. They could persuade Salmissra to pay reparations or something."
"I'm afraid not, your Majesty. You know how Alorns are. Halfway measures won't satisfy them. Just stay out of it."
"Couldn't your Alorns go through Murgo territory instead? I'm new on the throne, Belgarath. If I don't take some kind of action, I'll be viewed as a weakling."
"Send letters of protest to the Alorn kings. I'll make them apologize after it's all over." Then an idea came to me.
"Here's a thought," I told him.
"If you want to do something muscular to impress the Honeths and the Horbites, send your legions down to your southern border and seal it off. Don't let anybody come across."
He squinted at me.
"Very clever, Belgarath," he said.
"You're using me, aren't you? If I seal that border, you won't have to."
I grinned at him.
"You're going to have to do something, Ran Vordue.
The politics of the situation almost demands it. The Honeths will start calling you Ran Vordue the Chicken-Livered if you don't march your legions off in some direction. I guarantee that the Alorns won't cross that border, and the other great families might accept the notion that it was your show of force that kept them out. We'll both get something we want that way."
"You've got me over a barrel, Old Man."
"I know," I replied.
"It's up to you, though. You know what's coming, and you know what you'd probably better do about it. Oh, one other thing. Who's the most deeply involved in the Nyissan trade?"
"The Honeths," he replied shortly.
"They're in it up to their ears.
They've got millions invested down there." Then a slow, evil smile came over his gaunt face.
"A disruption of the Nyissan economy would push the Honeths
to the verge of bankruptcy, you realize."
"Wouldn't that be a shame? You see, Ran Vordue? Every cloud has its silver lining. All you have to do is look for it. Well, we've both got things to do, so I won't bother you any more. Think it over. I'm sure you'll come to the right decision." Then I bowed perfunctorily and left him to his amusements.
Another one of those early summer storms swept in out of the Great Western Sea to batter the coast, so it took me almost a week to get back to Val Alorn. By the time I got there, Valcor had assembled his fleet and gathered his army. I contacted Beldin, and he advised me that the Algars and Drasnians had joined forces at the Algarian stronghold and were marching south. Everything seemed to be on schedule, so I unleashed Valcor and his berserkers.
The storm had finally passed, and we sailed from Val Alorn under a bright blue sky. I had a few tense moments when we went through the Cherek Bore, but otherwise the voyage to the Isle of the Winds was uneventful.
The meeting between Valcor and Brand there on the wharf was emotional. Brand had lost his king, and Valcor had lost a brother Alorn monarch. Valcor suggested a few memorial tankards, but I headed that off immediately.
"We're running behind, gentlemen," I told them crisply.
"Radek and Cho-Ram are already in the Tolnedran Mountains, and it's a long way to the mouth of the River of the Serpent. We can do our drinking after the war. Let's get the Rivans on board and get started."
We sailed southward past Arendia and Tolnedra and anchored just off the mouth of the River of the Woods. For any number of reasons. Ran Vordue had followed my suggestion, and his legions were patrolling the north bank of the river.
We waited there for a couple of days. It was only a short run on down to the delta of the River of the Serpent, but I didn't want to alert the Nyissans by dropping anchor in their coastal waters while we waited for Radek and Cho-Ram to get into position.
I'd just come up on deck on the morning of the third day when Beldin's voice came banging on the side of my head.
"Belgarath! Are you awake?"
"Don't shout. I can hear you."
"We're in place, but let's give the Drasnian pike men a day or so to catch their breath. We ran them pretty hard coming down through the mountains."
"It'll take us a few days to get to the mouth of the River of the Serpent anyway. Stay clear of the Tolnedran border. Ran Vordue has it sealed off, and we don't want any incidents with the legions."
"How did you get him to do that?"
"I pointed out certain advantages to him. Send a strike force south to block off any escape routes going in that direction. I'll do the same from this side, and when those two columns meet, we can get started with this."
"Right."
And that was more or less the way we did it. I'll be the first to concede that the Tolnedran Legions were very useful, although they didn't really do anything except stand there.
The Nyissans have always believed that their jungles would protect them. This time they were wrong. We'd run Radek's pike men to the verge of exhaustion, but we'd reached Nyissa before the rains set in. The swamps had nearly dried up, and the trees were parched. The Nyissans took to the woods, and we simply burned the woods out from under them.
I'm told that the vast clouds of smoke drifting northward bothered the Honethites a great deal. They could almost smell their money burning.
The Vorduvians, Borunes, and Horbites were able to view the matter philosophically, however.
Wars are never pretty, but the Alorn campaign in Nyissa was particularly ugly. The Algar cavalry drove the Nyissans ahead of them like a herd of terrified cows, and when the Nyissans tried to climb trees to escape them, the Drasnian pike men came along and speared them out of the branches. The Chereks and Rivans set fires, and when the panic-stricken Nyissans tried to flee, Valcor's berserkers simply drove them back into the flames. Frankly, the whole business sickened me, but we pushed on anyway.
It was a short, nasty war, and it left Nyissa a smoking wasteland. It accomplished its purpose, however. Centuries passed before the Nyissans came out of their hiding places, and that effectively kept them from meddling in international affairs.
Eventually we encircled Sthiss Tor, and after a couple of days we captured the city.
Beldin and I ran on ahead and reached Salmissra's gaudy palace about three jumps ahead of the vengeful Rivans. We definitely didn't want anybody to kill the Serpent Queen--at least not until we'd had a chance to ask her some questions. We sprinted down the corridor that led to her throne room, burst into that huge, dimly lighted hall, and closed and barred the door behind us.
Salmissra was alone and unguarded. The palace eunuchs were sworn to protect her, but evidently a eunuch's oath doesn't mean all that much to him if it's going to involve bleeding. The Serpent Queen was in her usual place, lounging on her throne and admiring her reflection in the mirror as if nothing untoward were happening. She looked very vulnerable somehow.
"Welcome to Sthiss Tor, gentlemen," she said in a dreamy sort of voice.
"Don't come too close," she warned, pointing negligently at the small green snakes nervously clustered around her throne.
"My servants have all deserted me, but my little pets are still faithful." Her words were slurred, and her eyes seemed unfocused.
"We're not going to have much luck here, Belgarath," Beldin muttered to me.
"She's so drugged that she's almost comatose."
"We'll see," I replied shortly. I stepped a little closer to the throne, and the little green snakes hissed warningly.
"Things haven't turned out too well here, have they, Salmissra?" I said to her.
"You should have known what the Alorns would do, though. What possessed you to have Gorek murdered?"
"It seemed like a good idea at the time," she murmured.
There was a heavy pounding on the barred door.
"Keep those enthusiasts off my back," I told Beldin.
"All right," he replied, "but don't be all day at this." I could feel his Will building.
"Do you know who I am?" I asked the dreamy queen.
"Of course. There's a whole body of literature in my library devoted to you and your exploits."
"Good. Then we won't have to go through all those tiresome introductions.
I spoke with a couple of your assassins at Riva. One of them told me that this stupid business wasn't entirely your idea. Would you care to elaborate on that for me?"
"Why not?" Her indifference chilled me for some reason.
"About a year ago a man came to Sthiss Tor, and he had a little proposition for me.
His offer was very attractive, so I took him up on it. That's really about all there was to it, Belgarath."
"What could he possibly have offered you to lure you into exposing yourself to the vengeance of the Alorns?"
"Immortality, Ancient One, immortality."
"No man can offer that, Salmissra."
"The offer didn't come from a man--or so I was led to believe."
"Who was this fellow who made you such a ridiculous proposal?"
"Does the name Zedar ring any bells for you, Belgarath?" She actually looked a bit amused.
A number of things fell into place for me--including the reason for my instructions not to kill Zedar.
"Why don't you start at the beginning?"
I suggested.
She sighed.
"That would be a long and tedious story, Old Man." Her eyelids drooped shut.
I started to have some suspicions at that point.
"Why don't you summarize it, then?" I suggested.
She sighed again.
"Oh, very well," she replied. Then she looked around.
"Does it seem to be getting chilly in here?" she asked with a slight shudder.
"Will you get on with it, Belgarath?" Beldin demanded irritably.
"I
can't keep those Alorns out much longer without hurting them."
"I don't think we've got too m
uch longer," I told him. Then I looked at the Serpent Queen.
"You've taken poison, haven't you, Salmissra?" I asked her.
"Naturally," she replied.
"It's the Nyissan sort of thing to do, isn't it?
Convey my apologies to your Alorns. I know they'll be terribly disappointed."
"Exactly what did Zedar say to you?"
"You're a tiresome old man, Belgarath. All right, listen carefully. I don't think I'll have time to repeat this. Zedar came to me and said that he was speaking for Torak. He said that the Rivan King was the only thing standing between Torak and something he wanted, and that he'd give anything to the person who removed him. The offer was fairly simple. If I'd kill the Rivan King, Torak would marry me, and we'd rule the world jointly--forever. Zedar also told me that Torak would protect me from your Alorns. Did you happen to see the Dragon God on your way to Sthiss Tor?"
"We must have missed him."
"I wonder what can be keeping him."
"Surely you weren't gullible enough to believe all that?"
She straightened slightly and lifted her chin. She was a remarkably beautiful woman.
"How old would you say I am?" she asked me.
"That's impossible to tell, Salmissra. You take drugs that keep you from aging."
"It may look that way, but it's not really true. Actually, I'm fifty-seven, and none of my predecessors has lived much past sixty. There are twenty little girls out in the jungle training to take my place when I die. I believed Zedar because I wanted to believe him. I suppose we never outlive our belief in fairy stories, do we? I didn't want to die, and Zedar seemed to be offering me a chance to live forever. I wanted that so much that I chose to believe what he told me. When you get right down to it, this is all your fault, you know."
"Mine? Where did you get that weird idea?"
"If it hadn't been for the fact that you're a million years old, I wouldn't have been so gullible. If one person can live forever, others can, as well. You and your brothers are the disciples of Aldur, and Aldur made you all immortal. Zedar, Ctuchik, and Urvon serve Torak, and they'll live forever, as well."
"Not if I can help it, they won't," Beldin threw back over his shoulder.
She smiled faintly, and her eyes seemed glazed.
Rivan Codex Series Page 49