by A J Dalton
In a half bow, rubbing his hands together rapidly and taking long, overly-articulated steps, the Chamberlain was at Saltar’s right hand in the blink of an eye. Saltar leaned back in his chair, uncomfortable with the proximity of this black-garbed creature who was all limbs and beady eyes. He was for all the world like some sort of human spider, at once familiar in form but entirely alien in intelligence. The creature even had incisor teeth slightly longer and more pointed than the average. Saltar knew that he would hate to be trapped in the web of one such as this. Then, he shook his head. Where did he get such notions?
‘And what else does my lord Balthagar remember, hmm?’
‘You were there at the end, I know that. You and I came to some arrangement about you keeping your place in the palace, didn’t we?’
Young Strap couldn’t hide his distaste for the flunky. ‘We must have been desperate to make a deal with one who was a servant to Voltar.’
The Chamberlain twitched and hissed at the Guardian. ‘And I helped you when you were desssperate, hmm? All was desssperate! And at the end I did not choose to aid Voltar. I was faithful to our deal, hmm? Are you faithful, you who came to kill a King?’
‘Enough of your games,’ Kate said with the same wrinkle of the nose she’d used when they were at the edge of the Soup of Plenty. ‘Why are you here? Why this feast when there are still starving outdwellers below us? We cannot eat all this!’
The Chamberlain smiled at her, but it was the sort of smile a lean and hungry man would give an animal he was trying not to frighten. ‘Guests are coming, sweet Guardian, from the battlefield. They will need sustenance, yes? It’s only right they share in the spoils of war, hmm?’
As if on cue, there was the sound of many heavy footsteps in the corridor. There was the jingle of chainmail and the screech of plate mail. Servants quickly opened the doors and Memnosians and Accritanians walked in side by side.
The Chamberlain was suddenly dancing through them and guiding the higher ranked soldiers to chairs.
General Constantus lowered himself into a chair next to Saltar and allowed himself an expansive sigh. He smiled at Saltar and then nodded to Kate, Mordius, Young Strap and Lucius. Gradually, silence descended and everyone gazed at Saltar. The food was ignored.
‘What is it you’re waiting for?’ Saltar asked uncertainly.
No one answered him.
Finally, the Chamberlain cleared his throat delicately. ‘My lord Balthagar, you are the victor, the King-Slayer. You are the Battle-leader of Dur Memnos. You command here. They look to you and wait upon your will.’
Saltar looked around desperately at his friends, but they could not help him with this. All he got was an encouraging nod from Mordius. ‘Well… I… you see, I’m having to feel my way with this. I think we’ll all have to be feeling our way for a bit. I know I’m Battle-leader and all that, but that’s just about commanding in battle and killing as many people as possible. Now you’re asking me to rule and help people live as well as possible. That’s a very different thing and I’m not sure how to go about that really.’
There was silence. They seemed to be listening, so he decided to press on.
‘Okay, then. Well, this role requires me to be a different person, doesn’t it? I am no longer the person you knew as Balthagar. In fact, I don’t even remember him that well, and what I do remember, I’d rather not. I would take it as a personal favour if you would all address me as Saltar from now on. Is that alright?’
There was an embarrassed cough or two but that was all. They obviously did not feel he needed their permission.
‘It’s my feeling that the army now needs to help the people settle as quickly as possible and help them start producing crops and increasing herds. I think it’s wrong that the outdwellers should live in the dark and feed on human flesh. I want them out of the catacombs as soon as possible. Start building houses and farms for them. Can you do that?’
Constantus and a moustachioed, open-faced Memnosian officer nodded compliantly.
‘General Constantus, I know you will be eager to get back to your own kingdom, but if you could help us for a short while to secure things here, then I think that’ll do wonders for relations between our two kingdoms. There will be problems at first and we will need armed but principled men to work with Trajan and maintain order. I can’t think of much else right now, so is that enough? We could plan in more detail now if you’d like?’
By way of answer, General Constantus motioned everyone to stand, and without much commotion everyone had soon joined him on their feet, all except for Saltar. ‘Speaking on behalf of the kingdom of Accritania, may I say that was a fine first speech from the leader of Dur Memnos. I now declare peace between our two kingdoms and give you, ladies and gentlemen, Saltar the first of Dur Memnos! Long live Saltar!’
The noise if their shouting almost deafened him and they seemed to go on forever. It was only when their voices eventually began to give out that Constantus was able to make himself heard again. ‘Right, what are you all waiting for? We can’t let this food go to waste and it’s no doubt treasonous to decline that hospitality of the royal palace, isn’t it? Is that Stangeld brandy I can smell?’
There were more cheers and they all set to with a vengeance. Saltar grabbed a drumstick of chicken and almost fainted at the taste of it. He had genuinely forgotten how good food tasted. Kate beamed at him with pride and love. He returned the smile as grease dribbled down his chin. He wiped it away self-consciously and she laughed affectionately.
‘We won! I can’t believe it and I don’t know how we did it, but we won!’ she shouted over the people around him.
He nodded, relearning the feeling of contentment, a feeling he had not known his entire time as an animee. ‘I pray it lasts!’ he shouted back. ‘General, what will you do when you return to your kingdom?’
The Accritanian finished another slug of brandy and gave the question a few moments of thought. ‘We will have a state funeral for Orastes. I cannot believe that thing on our throne will still be alive when I get back. He had no family left alive and there are few nobles left to take the throne. I think we will have a military government for a while, much like our Neighbours Dur Memnos.’
Saltar nodded. ‘Better that than chaos. But what of yourself, General? Will you settle?’
‘Maybe I’ll find a young and comely widow who can tolerate my ways for at least one night a week, but I doubt I'll ever find anyone to replace my dear Mattrela.’ There was a moment’s old sadness on the warrior’s face, but then it was gone.
‘I wish you luck, General. Would you like me to put in a good word with the god Wim for you? I get the feeling the gods are in a benevolent mood right now. They might even agree they owe us a favour or two. And as the leader of Dur Memnos, I can always offer Wim’s priests a temple in Corinus.’
‘Saltar, my lad, I would appreciate anything that made my life with women easier. Do you think Shakri might even persuade some poor soul to fall in love with me? After all, she managed to find a necrophiliac for you when you were still an animee.’
‘What did you say?’ Kate asked dangerously.
‘See what I mean?’ the General moaned. ‘I just can’t seem to say the right thing around women.’
Saltar laughed and clapped the large man on the back. ‘If it were an exact science, my friend, then all brandies would taste like Stangeld brandy, now wouldn’t they?’
‘I’ll drink to that!’ roared the General, raising his glass in a salute to Kate, who could not maintain her glare for long.
***
He had also forgotten what a hangover felt like. Perhaps being an animee hadn’t been all bad. Why did having a good time have to hurt so much afterwards? Was it some sort of lesson or payback the gods insisted upon to ensure humanity always knew its place? It was almost enough to make a man never want to have a good time again.
Saltar realised he couldn’t feel his left arm and looked across at it. Kate’s sleeping head lay in the crook
of his elbow, and he remembered the night of passion just gone. Being alive was certainly better than being dead, he decided once and for all. Despite the pain in his arm, he didn’t have the heart to disturb her rest. She looked more at peace now, breathing gently here, than she ever did awake.
Her naked body was draped along the length of his, her right breast pressed against his chest. He was aware of her life and physicality like never before. Shakri be praised, he was aware of his own life and physicality like never before.
He ran his eye along the edges of her, past the prominence of her bosom – lingered a moment on the excitement of her reddened nipple – along the pristine curve of her left hip and down to the soft darkness of her pubic hair. He felt his loins stir at the sight of her and she moaned gently in an instinctive response. Her eyes feathered open and she smiled at him drowsily.
‘My King!’ she murmured.
He smiled back. ‘I don’t want to be King, you know.’
‘Probably why you’re exactly the right person, then.’
‘I’ll act as a leader for a while, at least until things are right, but then I’ll step down. It’s only temporary.’
She chuckled in her throat. ‘Things are never right. They never run properly. You’ll never find the moment to step down. The people need someone strong to look to… so let them have it… just so long as you find time for me!’
‘Maybe I should set up a republic.’
‘Even a republic needs a lead figure. King, leader, it doesn’t matter what title you use.’
‘I suppose not. Okay, you win on that point. As to the other, you’ll get the rest of my time, just so long as the kids will let you go.’
‘What kids?’
His eyes sparkled with mischief. ‘The ones we’ll have once we’re married, settled and living happily ever after.’
‘Hmm, maybe,’ she said with a frown.
‘What do you mean, maybe?’ he squawked.
‘Well, you haven’t asked me properly and I’m not sure how persuasive you can be.’
Clumsily, because of his dead arm, he rolled on top of her. She laughed out loud at his awkwardness. ‘Well, let’s see how persuasive I can be now, shall we?’ he shouted over her mirth and kissed her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down to her.
***
Far from things settling down, there was always more and more to be done. No matter how early he arose or late he went to his rest beside Kate, he never seemed to get on top of it. He knew there was a part of him that perversely enjoyed the constant physical and intellectual exhaustion – it was part and parcel of being alive – but there was another part of him that knew he couldn’t keep going like this forever. At this rate, he wouldn’t even have time to marry Kate. They saw too little of each other as it was, what with either one of them always being called away to attend to some crisis or other.
Knowing he needed help, he’d finally called a meeting with the one person he hadn’t got round to speaking to on a one-to-one basis since the vanquishing of Voltar. Saltar wondered idly if he’d unconsciously been avoiding the fellow, the man who reminded him so much of his previous, hated existence.
Taking a deep breath, Saltar nodded to the guard to open the door to the throne room. ‘He is within?’
‘Yes, m’lord.’
‘Okay. Please ensure that no one disturbs us, not even the Chamberlain. Understood?’
The guard blanched but nodded. Taking pity on him, Saltar added, ‘Too many of my conversations are left unfinished, you see. This one is important. I need to give it as long as is required. The Chamberlain will have to be satisfied with that.’
A mixture of embarrassment and sympathy flickered across the guard’s eyes before he came to attention, bowed his lord into the chamber beyond, and then sealed the door behind him.
Mordius was sat waiting for him, looking into space absently, a half-smile on his lips. Saltar took the opportunity of his former animateur’s distraction to observe him. His face still had that beatific look it had worn on that day they had awakened to a new world. The nervous, beleaguered man he had known what seemed like a lifetime before was now replaced with this relaxed, self-content individual who was comfortable in his own skin. The near-permanent bags and shadows around his eyes were completely gone. He no longer struck the watcher as haunted or troubled. He had found peace. For a second, Saltar found himself jealous of his friend, but then suppressed the feeling as unworthy of the sort of person he now wanted to be.
Mordius finally became aware of Saltar’s presence and moved to rise. Saltar stilled him with a gesture and a half-smile of his own. He dropped into a chair at the same table as his friend – having had Voltar’s throne removed from the room and destroyed long since – and offered to pour them drinks.
‘That would be nice, thank you,’ Mordius said pleasantly. ‘It is good to know you in such circumstances, Saltar, good to know the real you.’
‘Likewise, Mordius. Your health!’ They clinked goblets and sipped. Saltar allowed himself to relax for the first time that day and enjoyed the companionable silence for a few moments. ‘You know, there were times when I thought we’d never get here.’
‘Indeed,’ Mordius nodded. ‘There were times when I’d completely lost sight of where it was I was trying to get to in the first place. I have a hazy memory of something about a Great Project and using you to get the Heart. But the project was never really mine, you know, it was my master’s, Dualor’s. I think he’d hoped I would resurrect him some day and hand the Heart over to him.’
‘I’m sorry, but now the Heart’s gone, that will never really be possible,’ Saltar said with a degree of genuine feeling.
‘No, no, don’t apologise. Dualor lived many years beyond the normal span. He was happy. Besides, with the Heart gone and the project done with, I feel… free! Yes, that’s it: free, for the first time in my life. It’s an amazing feeling, truly amazing. To get up in the morning when I want to, never to have to fight and grub around for food… it’s like I see the world and myself for the first time. And the world is beautiful. Am I making any sense, Saltar? Listen to me rattle on, when it’s you who wanted to talk to me. Forgive me.’
Saltar smiled tolerantly. ‘Do not apologise, my friend. You have found a measure of wisdom that some spend whole lifetimes seeking and never find. Don’t let go of it.’
‘Listen to us! We sound like two old men!’ Mordius laughed.
‘Well, I am an old man, Mordius, probably the oldest man in the world. And I certainly feel every year of the centuries of my age, what with all the work that’s involved in ruling Dur Memnos. But you, Mordius, you are still young, are you not? Have you given any thought to what you will do with all the time you now have on your hands? You do know that I can never allow you to practise necromancy in this realm, don’t you?’
‘But of course!’ Mordius hurried. ‘I would never… no, I am done with such magic. It now seems such a violation of nature that I cannot conscience it. It’s all but anathema to me, if I do not overstate myself. I know that must be difficult to believe when it comes from someone like me.’
‘No, Mordius. I believe you,’ Saltar reassured him. ‘I can see you speak the truth. So, what will you do with your time then? You could return to your cottage, where this all began, but there’s nothing there for you except a few forbidden books.’
‘True enough, I suppose, and Tula at the local inn was never that interested in me.’
A memory of the red-headed woman with the ridiculously large chest flashed through Saltar’s mind. He hoped she had survived Voltar’s tyranny, where so many had not.’
‘In truth, I hadn’t really given much thought to what I’d do in the future…’
‘Good,’ Saltar pressed, ‘for the realm has need of your skills and knowledge. I would like to offer you the position of magical advisor here at the palace. You would be in charge of the Guardians, though their first loyalty would be to me. There are forces out there th
at we still know too little about, Mordius, and I do not think they are all well disposed towards humankind. We need to have someone who can help defend us against such a threat. Know thine enemy, Mordius. What do you say?’
Mordius pursed his lips as he considered the offer. He looked Saltar in the eye, hesitated a second and then nodded with a grin. ‘I was never really the one in charge when it came down to the two of us, was I? Even when it was my magic sustaining you, you were the one who gave us direction. I don’t think that’s changed, Saltar. I am content to continue to be ruled by you.’
‘I am glad, Mordius, really. And more than that, I account you a friend.’
‘Likewise, likewise. And thank you for the job. I’m grateful.’
‘Don’t thank me too soon. You’ll have to work with the Chamberlain on occasion, and no one seems to enjoy that much. Then there are going to be the temples, each one jostling for power in Corinus, each one with its own brand of magic for you to keep a close eye on. Your job will not be an easy one… and there may even be danger involved from time to time.’
Where in the past Mordius would have blanched or dithered at mention of the word danger, now he was the picture of unconcern. ‘Well, if it were too easy, I’d only go and get bored, wouldn’t I? I think I’ll get started with the temple of Cognis. They no doubt have some knowledge of non-human forces that could threaten the realm in the future.’
‘Cognis is not known for giving up his secrets too easily. Knowledge is power, after all. But the gods may still owe us a favour or two. If you have to pay them, so be it, but not too much. The royal treasury is already half gone, what with the cost of establishing new farms and providing homes for the outdwellers.’
‘Don’t worry, Saltar. I’ll suggest that it’s in their best interests to show their support of our new leader. I’ll mention that we’re re-establishing the temple of Shakri in Corinus, but that we’re still undecided as to how big it should be.’
Saltar could not contain his laughter. Soon, he was forced to wipe tears from his eyes. Mordius hadn’t said anything that funny, but he’d said enough to help Saltar release the tension that had been building in him for weeks now. That, with the effects of the wine they’d been sharing, persuaded him that perhaps everything would be alright after all and might work out for the best in the end. ‘Oh, dear! Thank you, Mordius, thank you. I doubt Shakri would appreciate us using her temple in such a way, but then again it might amuse her if we get one over on Cognis. Besides, the Scourge is keeping her distracted for the moment, from what I hear.’