Beyond the Gate of Worlds

by Robert Silverberg

  “Ah,” Little Father said. And after a moment, again, “Ah.”

  “Mali-Songhay would favor the Czar instead of the Sultan. So the Russians like the idea. What injures the Sultan is good for the English. So they’re in on it. As for the Aztecs— * ’

  Little Father shrugged and gestured to her to stop. Already he could taste the poison in his gut, burning through his flesh. Already he could see the green-clad troops of Mali parading in the streets of Timbuctoo and Gao, where kings of Mali had been hailed as supreme monarchs once before, hundreds of years ago.

  “Look at me,” he said. “You swear that you’re practicing no deception, Selima?”

  “I swear it by—by the things we said to each other the night we lay together.”

  He considered that. Had she fallen in love with him iri the midst of all her game-playing? So it might seem. Could he trust what she was saying, therefore? He believed he could. Indeed the oath she had just proposed might have more plausibility than any sort of oath she might have sworn on the Koran.

  "Come here," he said.

  She approached him. Little Father swept her up against him, holding her tighdy, and ran his hands down her back to her buttocks. She pressed her hips forward. He covered her mouth with his and jammed down hard, not a subtle kiss but one that would put to rest forever, if that were needed, the bit of fake anthropology he had given to her earlier, about the supposed distaste of Songhayans for the act of kissing After a time he released her. Her eyes were a little glazed, her breasts were rising and falling swiftly.

  He said, ‘Tm grateful for what you’ve told me. I’ll take the appropriate steps, and thank you.”

  “I had to let you know. I was going just to sit back and let whatever happened happen. But then I saw I couldn’t conceal such a thing from you.”

  “Of course not, Selima. ”

  Her look was a soft and eager one. She was ready to run off to the bedchamber with him, or so it seemed. But not now, not on this day of all days. That would be a singularly bad idea.

  “On the other hand,” he said, “if it turns out that there’s no truth to any of this, that it’s all some private amusement of your own or some intricate deception being practiced on me by the Sultan for who knows what unfathomable reason, you can be quite certain that I’ll avenge myself in a remarkably vindictive way once the excitements of the funeral and the coronation are over. ’ ’ The softness vanished at once. The hatred that came into her eyes was extraordinary.

  “You black bastard,” she said.

  “Only partly black. There is much Moorish blood in the veins of the nobility of Songhay. ’ ’ He met her seething gaze with tranquility. “In the old days we believed in absorbing those who attempt to conquer us. These days we still do, something that the Mansa of Mali ought to keep in mind. He’s got a fine harem, I understand.” “Did you have to throw cold water on me like that? Everything I told you was the truth.”

  “I hope and believe it is. I think there was love between us that night on the porch, and I wouldn’t like to think that you'd betray someone you love. The question, I suppose, is whether the Englishman was telling you the truth. Which still remains to be seen. ” He took her hand and kissed it lightly, in the European manner. “As I said before, I’m very grateful, Selima. And hope to continue to be. If I may, now—”

  She gave him one final glare and took her leave of him. Little Father walked quickly to the edge of the porch, spun about, walked quickly back. For an instant or two he stood in the doorway like his own statue. But his mind was in motion, and moving very swiftly.

  He peered down the stairs to the courtyard below. “Ali Pasha!”

  The vizier came running.

  “What the woman wanted to tell me,” Little Father said, “is that there is a plot against my life.”

  The look that appeared on the vizier’s face was one of total shock and indignation.

  “You believe her?”

  “Unfortunately I think I do.”

  Ali Pasha began to quiver with wrath. His broad glossy cheeks grew congested, his eyes bulged. Little Father thought the man was in danger of exploding.

  “Who are the plotters, Little Father? I’ll have them rounded up within the hour.”

  “The Russian ambassador, apparently. The Aztec one. And the little Englishman, Sir Anthony.”

  “To the lions with them! They’ll be in the pit before night comes!”

  Little Father managed an approximation of a smile. “Surely you recall the concept of diplomatic immunity, Ali Pasha?”

  “But—a conspiracy against Your Majesty’s life—!” “Not yet ‘my majesty,’ Ali Pasha.”

  ‘Your pardon.’' Ali Pasha struggled with confusion. “You must take steps to protect yourself, Little Father. Did she tell you what the plan is supposed to be?” Little Father nodded. “When Serene Glory hands me the coronation cup at the funeral service, there will be poison in the drink.”

  “Poison!”

  “Yes. I fail down dead. Serene Glory turns to her miserable brother and offers him the crown on the spot. But no, the three ambassadors have other ideas. They’ll ask Mansa Suleiyman to proclaim himself king, in the name of the general safety. In that moment Songhay will come under the rule of Mali.”

  “Never! To the lions with Mansa Suleiyman too, Majesty!”

  “No one goes to the lions, Ali Pasha. And stop calling me Majesty. We’ll deal with this in a calm and civilized way, is that understood?”

  “I am completely at your command, sir. As always.” Little Father nodded. He felt his strength rising, moment by moment. His mind was wondrously clear. He asked himself if that was what it felt like to be a king. Though he had spent so much time being a prince, he had in fact given too little thought to what the actual sensations and processes of being a king might be, he realized now His royal father had held the kingdom entirely in his own hands throughout all his long reign. But something must be changing now.

  He went unhurriedly to the edge of the porch, and stared out into the distance. To his surprise, there was a dark orange cloud on the horizon, sharply defined against the sky.

  “Look there, Ali Pasha. The rains are coming!”

  “The first cloud, yes. There it is!” And he began to finger the woven charm that hung about his neck.

  It was always startling when the annual change came, after so many months of unbroken hot dry weather. Elven after a lifetime of watching the shift occur, no one in Songhay was unmoved by the approach of the first cloud, for it was a powerful omen of transition and culmination, removing a great element of uncertainty and fear from the minds of the citizens; for until the change finally arrived, there was always the chance that it might never come, that this time the summer would last forever and the world would burn to a parched crisp.

  Little Father said, “I should go to my father without any further delay. Certainly this means that his hour has come.”

  “Yes. Yes.”

  The orange cloud was sweeping toward the city with amazing rapidity. In another few minutes all Timbuctoo v/ould be enveloped in blackness as a whirling veil of fine sand whipped down over it. Little Father felt the air grow moist. There would be a brief spell of intolerable humidity, now, so heavy that breathing itself would be a vast effort. And then, abruptly, the temperature would drop, the chill rain would descend, rivers v/ould run in the sandy streets, the marketplace would become a lake.

  He raced indoors, with Ali Pasha following along helter-skelter behind him.

  “The plotters, sir—” the vizier gasped.

  Little Father smiled. “I’ll invite Serene Glory to share the cup with me. We’ll see what she does then. J ust be ready to act when I give the orders. ’ ’

  There was darkness at every window. The sandstorm was at hand. Trillions of tiny particles beat insistently at every surface, setting up a steady drumming that grew and grew and grew in intensity. The air had turned sticky, almost viscous: it was hard work to force oneself forward throu
gh it.

  Gasping for breath, Little Father moved as quickly as he was able down the subterranean passageway that linked his palace with the much greater one that shortly would be his.

  The ministers and functionaries of the royal court were wailing and weeping. The Grand Vizier of the realm, waiting formally at the head of the Stairs of Allah, glared at Little Father as though he were the Angel of Death himself.

  “There is not much more time, Little Father.”

  “So I understand.”

  He rushed out onto his father’s porch. There had been no opportunity to bring the Emir indoors. The old man lay amidst his dazzling blankets with his eyes open and one hand upraised. He was in the correct position in which a Moslem should pass from this world to the next, his head to the south, his face turned toward the east. The sky was black with sand, and it came cascading down with unremitting force. The three saintly marabouts who had attended Big Father throughout his final illness stood above him, shielding the Emir from the shower of tiny abrasive particles with an improvised canopy, an outstretched bolt of satin.

  “Father! Father!”

  The Emir tried to sit up. He looked a thousand years old. His eyes glittered like lightning bolts, and he said something, three or four congested syllables. Little Father was unable to understand a thing. The old man was already speaking the language of the dead.

  There was a clap of thunder. The Emir fell back against his pillows.

  The sky opened and the first rain of the year came down in implacable torrents, in such abundance as had not been seen in a thousand years.

  In the three days since the old Emir’s death Little Father had lived through this scene three thousand times in his imagination. But now it was actually occurring. They were in the Great Mosque; the mourners, great and simple, were clustered elbow to elbow; the corpse of Big Father, embalmed so that it could endure the slow journey downriver to the royal burial grounds, lay in splendor atop its magnificent bier. Any ordinary citizen of Songhay would have gone from his deathbed to his grave in two hours, or less; but kings were exempt from the ordinary customs.

  They were done at last with the chanting of the prayer for the dead. Now they were doing the prayer for the welfare of the kingdom. Littie Father held his body rigid, barely troubling to breathe. He saw before him the grand nobles of the realm, the kings of the adjacent countries, the envoys of the overseas lands, all staring, all maintaining a mien of the deepest solemnity, even those who could not comprehend a word of what was being said.

  And here was Serene Glory, now, coming forth bearing the cup that would make him Emir of Songhay, Great Imam, master of the nation, successor to all the great lords who had led the empire in grandeur for a thousand years.

  She looked magnificent, truly queenly, more beautiful in her simple funeral robe and unadorned hair than she could ever have looked in all her finery. The cup, a stark bowl of lustrous chalcedony, so translucent that the dark liquor that would make him king was plainly visible through its thin walls, was resting lightly on her upturned palms.

  He searched her for a sign of tremor and saw none. She was utterly calm. He felt a disturbing moment of doubt.

  She handec him the cup, and spoke the words of succession, clearly, unhesitatingly, omitting not the smallest syllable. She was in full control of herself.

  When he lifted the cup to his lips, though, he heard the sharp unmistakable sound of her suddenly indrawn breath, and all hesitation went from him.

  “Mother,” he said.

  The unexpected word reverberated through the whitewashed alcoves of the great Mosque. They must all be looking at him in bewilderment.

  “Mother, in this solemn moment of the passing of the kingship, I beg you share my ascension with me. Drink with me, Mother. Drink. Drink.”

  He held the untouched cup out toward the woman who had just handed it to him.

  Her eyes were bright with horror.

  “Drink with me, Mother,” he said again.

  “No—no— ’

  She backed a step or two away from him, making sounds like gravel in her throat.

  “Mother—lady, dear lady—”

  He held the cup out, insistently. He moved closer to her. She seemed frozen. The truth was emblazoned on her face. Rage rose like a fountain in him, and for an instant he thought he was going to hurl the drink in her face; but then he regained his poise. Her hand was pressed against her lips in terror. She moved back, back, back.

  And then she was running toward the door of the mosque; and abruptly the Grand Duke Alexander Petrovich, his face erupting with red blotches of panic, was running also, and also Prince Itzcoatl of Mexico.

  “No! Fools!" a voice cried out, and the echoes hammered at the ancient walls.

  Little Father looked toward the foreign ambassadors. Sir Anthony stood out as though in a spotlight, his cheeks blazing, his eyes popping, his fingers exploring his lips as though he could not believe they had actually uttered that outcry.

  There was complete confusion in the mosque. Everyone was rushing about, everyone was bellowing. But Little Father was quite calm. Carefully he set the cup down, untouched, at his feet. Ali Pasha came to his side at once.

  “Round them up quickly,” he told the vizier. “The three ambassadors are persona non grata. They’re to leave Songhay by the next riverboat. Escort Mansa Suleiyman back to the Embassy of Mali and put armed guards around the building—for purely protective purposes, of course. And also the embassies of Ghana, Dahomey, Benin, and the rest, for good measure—and as window dressing.”

  “It will be done, Majesty.”

  “Very good.” He indicated the chalcedony cup. “As for this stuff, give it to a dog to drink, and let’s see what happens.

  Ali Pasha nodded and touched his forehead.

  “And the Lady Serene Glory, and her brother?”

  “Take them into custody. If the dog dies, throw them both to the lions.”

  “Your Majesty—”

  “To the lions, Ali Pasha.”

  “But you said—”

  “To the lions, Ali Pasha.”

  “I hear and obey, Majesty.”

  “bu’d better.” Little Father grinned. He was Little Father no longer, he realized. “I like the way you say it: Majesty. You put just the right amount of awe into it.”

  “Yes, Majesty. Is there anything else, Majesty?”

  “I want an escort too, to take me to my palace. Say, fifty men. No, make it a hundred. Just in case there are any surprises waiting for us outside. ’ ’

  “To your old palace, Majesty?”

  The question caught him unprepared. “No,” he said after a moment’s reflection. “Of course not. To my new palace. To the palace of the Emir.”

  Selima came hesitantly forward into the throne room, which was one of the largest, most forbidding rooms she had ever entered. Not even the Sultan’s treasure-house at the Topkapi Palace had any chamber to match this one for sheer dismal mustiness, for clutter, or for the eerie hodgepodge of its contents. She found the new Emir standing beneath a stuffed giraffe, examining an ivory globe twice the size of a man’s head that was mounted on an intricately carved spiral pedestal.

  “You sent for me, Your Highness?”

  “Yes. Yes, I did. It’s all calm outside there, now, I take it? ’ ’

  “Very calm. Very calm.”

  “Good. And the weather’s still cool?”

  “Quite cool, Your Majesty.”

  “But not raining again yet?”

  “No, not raining.”

  “Good.” Idly he fondled the globe. “The whole world is here, do you know that? Right under my hand. Here’s Africa, here’s Europe, here’s Russia. This is the Empire, here.” He brushed his hand across the globe from Istanbul to Madrid. “There’s still plenty of it, eh?” He spun the ivory sphere easily on its pedestal. “And this, the New World. Such emptiness there. The Incas down here in the southern continent, the Aztecs here in the middle, and a lot of nothi
ng up here in the north. I once asked my father, do you know, if I could pay a visit to those empty lands. So cool there, I hear. So green, and almost empty. Just the red-skinned people, and not very many of them. Are they really red, do you think? I’ve never seen one.” He looked closely at her. “Have you ever thought of leaving Hirkey, I wonder, and taking up a new life for yourself in those wild lands across the ocean?”

  ‘ ‘Never, Your Majesty. ’ ’

  She was trembling a little.

  “You should think of it. We all should. Our countries are all too old. The land is tired. The air is tired. The rivers move slowly. We should go somewhere where things are fresh.” She made no reply. After a moment’s silence he said, “Do you love that tall gawky pinkfaced Englishman, Selima?”

  “Love?”

  “Love, yes. Do you have any kind of fondness for him? Do you care for him at all? If love is too strong a word for you, would you say at least that you enjoy his company, that you see a certain charm in him, that— well, surely you understand what I’m saying.”

  She seemed flustered. “I’m not sure that I do.”

  “It appears to me that you feel attracted to him. God knows he feels attracted to you. He can’t go back to England, you realize. He’s compromised himself fifty different ways. Even after we patch up this conspiracy thing, and we certainly will, one way or another, the fact still remains that he’s guilty of treason. He has to go somewhere He can’t stay here—the heat will kill him fast, if his own foolishness doesn’t. Are you starting to get my drift, Selima?”

  Her eyes rose to meet his. Some of her old self-assurance was returning to them now.

  “I think I am. And I think that I like it.”

  “Very good ” he said. “I’ll give him to you, then. For a toy, if you like.” He clapped his hands. A functionary poked his head into the room.

  “Send in the Englishman.”

  Michael entered. He walked with the precarious stride of someone who has been decapitated but thinks there might be some chance of keeping his head on his shoulders if only he moves carefully enough. The only traces of sunburn that remained now were great peeling patches on his cheeks and forehead.