The Hero King (21 page)

“And this autumn is far from ordinary,” I said. That was the least negative remark I could come up with. The arrival of our wizards spared Kardeen the necessity of a reply.

“Lay out the map aligned with the compass points,” Parthet said. “North to north.” Aaron helped the chamberlain get the scroll uncoiled and situated. “We may get the parchment a bit soiled. At least one of us will have to stand on it.”

That turned out to be me.

“You’re the apex of our triangle,” Parthet told me, adjusting my position down to the inch. “Don’t move your feet or turn your body.”

Parthet and Aaron were the bases, facing me. A line bisecting the Parthet-Gil-Aaron angle would touch the corner of land where the eastern shore of Xayber broke north from the mainland, just north of Coriander, where Xayber, Varay, and Dorthin all touched.

“Now, remember, don’t budge,” Aaron said. “And watch the map. If this works, you’ll see the results.”

The map was one of Baron Kardeen’s large, classy hand-drawn jobs, in four colors, with a lot of detail drawn in. It was “illuminated,” in the style of those ancient monastic books, a real work of art. And I had my combat boots planted firmly on it, over the Eastern Sea, just beyond the corner of land where the three countries meet.

Parthet and Aaron started chanting together—point and counterpoint, not in unison. They carried on for several minutes before I started to feel a strong tingle that was highly localized … in what was left of Vara. It was almost like a jolt of static electricity that didn’t go away. It wasn’t comfortable, but I remembered Parthet’s injunction and didn’t move an inch.

Slowly, the map got hazy. Then, something happened. The closest I can come is to say that the map appeared to turn into a large television screen showing the territory covered by the map as it was, not as it had been drawn. It started out like a high-altitude shot, like some of the pictures taken from a space shuttle, first of the entire area, and then zooming down on the area in Battle Forest north and east of Castle Coriander.

It was like being there, hovering overhead, real enough that it made me dizzy. And then, we saw the soldiers riding west. I held my breath for a moment, as if I was afraid that they would hear me. I didn’t even dare rub my eyes, afraid that I would move too much and spoil the magic.

Then the map itself moved, or the forest it showed did. Paths, creeks, everything shifted around. Aaron and Parthet kept chanting. I kept watching. After maybe five minutes, the column of soldiers stopped. There was a flash of light near the head of the column, a bright orange glow, almost like a flame. The light faded and the column started to move again, northwest, closer to north, bending more and more toward Xayber.

I can’t say how long I watched that remote picture. There were two more pauses by the soldiers, both marked by the orange glow near the head of the troop. I eventually figured out that the orange flashes were the Dorthini wizard’s efforts to identify and nullify the magic being used against him.

“Okay, lads, that should do it,” Parthet said. I looked up. Parthet had backed off from his corner of the triangle. Aaron blinked rapidly several times and rubbed at his eyes. I stepped off of the map. It was once more just a drawn representation.

“Don’t you have to keep it up until they get out of our territory?” I asked.

Parthet shook his head. “Unless the Dorthini wizard somehow manages to break the spell, it will hold of itself … long enough. And we’ll know if the spell breaks.” He chuckled suddenly. “And
you’ll
probably be the first to know. If the Dorthini wizard manages to penetrate the spell, the backlash of energy will likely raise your lance ready for the joust.” He pointed toward what remained of Vara. I got his point.

“Okay, so we’ll know if it breaks. Now, when do we notify the elflord that he’s got visitors coming?”

“Might as well do it now while the air is hot.” Parthet said. He had to be referring to different air from what I felt. The morning was decidedly chilly.

“I’ll make the link,” Aaron said. “I built in a shortcut the last time we talked to him.” Parthet just nodded, and Aaron let off a short chant.

The elflord appeared on the battlements with us almost instantly.

“I was just about to call you,” he said, taking one step in my direction.

13
On the Roof

“You know where I can find the Great Earth Mother?” I asked.

“Yes.” Xayber looked down at the map and then around at my companions. “I gather that there is something else in the wind this morning, though.”

“That’s why we made the contact,” I said. “That Dorthini wizard is about to intrude on your domain, with about five hundred soldiers.”

The elflord raised an eyebrow.

I smiled. Xayber didn’t make me nearly as nervous as he used to. “The Dorthini wizard thinks he is invading Varay, probably to steal as much of our harvest as he can grab for his outlaw band. But we’re a little pressed at the moment, so we diverted him. I thought you might enjoy a little amusement.” I shrugged. “This wizard sees only a chance for his own aggrandizement and vengeance in the current chaos, maybe a chance to take over much of the buffer zone.”

“Yet you managed to ‘divert’ him?” Xayber said. He seemed to find a little amusement in the idea.

“The three of us in concert,” Parthet said.

Xayber nodded as though he understood completely, which was more than I could say for myself.

“I suppose we can arrange a proper reception for the fellow. Give me a moment. I shall return.” The elflord vanished without fanfare.

Kardeen rolled up his map and left. He had plenty of work waiting for him below. Our new arrivals would likely keep him busy for ages … perhaps for as long as the world would last.

“So far, so good,” Aaron said softly. Parthet nodded.

And then the elflord was back.

“My compliments on that bit of work,” Xayber said. “Quite nicely turned—for outsiders.”

I walked a few steps to the side and leaned back against one of the crenels. “What about the Great Earth Mother?”

“She
can
be found,” Xayber said. He moved to sit down, and there was a chair under him when his butt got that far. “It is even possible that you are the one who can find her and do what must be done.” He didn’t sound as if he had any great confidence in that, though. Well, fair is fair. I didn’t have much confidence myself.

“You can tell me how to reach her?

“I can tell you where she is, where you’ll have to go. The question is whether or not you can even manage to get there. She bears you a deep hate.”

“I know.”

“And there is the question of time.” Xayber looked up at the cloudy sky. “There are five moons now.”

“Where do I find her?” I asked.

“Her central temple,” Xayber said. His voice got vague-sounding. “It is located beyond Fairy, in a place where nothing is constant, nothing reliable. I can’t even call it a ‘land’ of a certainty. It is—a place that is strange beyond belief.”

“By
your
standards?” Parthet asked. When the elflord nodded, Parthet seemed to blanch noticeably.

“How do I find this place?” I asked. The elflord seemed reluctant to get down to practical matters.

“Yes,” he said. “I will give you what directions and advice I can, but there is something I would like from you first.” He raised a hand quickly. “I do not speak of the return of my son at the moment. I merely wish to speak with the girl Annick, the hellhound. Merely talk.”

I didn’t see
why
he might want to talk to her, but I had no objections.

“Uncle Parthet, is she still at Curry?”

“She was last night. Sir Compil has proved to be a most capable guardian. Shall I fetch the lass?” I nodded.

“I’ll go,” Aaron said quickly. “If there’s any difficulty, I can handle her easier.”

“It’ll take a few minutes,” I told Xayber while Aaron hurried down the stairs. Xayber nodded.

“If you are to have any hope of reaching the Great Earth Mother in time, you’ll have to start your ride from my estate here,” Xayber said. “I can transport you through, along with my son.”
Now
a reminder.

There wasn’t much choice. Right into the parlor. I nodded.

“I did promise I would return your son,” I said.

“Even leaving from here, there is no guarantee that you will have time enough, but you—we all—will have some chance.”

“We
all?” I asked.

Xayber smiled. “Some hope of a new world, a posterity of any sort, is the only hope any of us has in these latter days.”

I felt the frown jump across my face and tried to remove it. Something didn’t ring true about what he said. I couldn’t pin it down at the moment. We were still dealing with the most nebulous of legends that
seemed
to be supported by the dire realities around us.

“And I gather that I need to start as soon as possible,” I said.

“Immediately would not be too soon,” Xayber said. The expression on his face was more one of extreme distaste than a frown. “And I am not one normally given to consider hours or days.”

“Well, no matter, I’ll need a couple of hours to get ready,” I said.
At least!
I thought. “I have to assemble my supplies and make a few arrangements for while I’m gone.”

Xayber shrugged. There was little more he could say. We both knew what we were up against, the price of my all-too-likely failure.

“Why is it so important for you to talk to Annick?” I asked when the silence became uncomfortable.

“There is a thing I must tell her.” Xayber frowned clearly this time. Deep lines appeared on his forehead. “A thing she should hear directly from me.” He stood, his chair vanished, and he started pacing. I glanced at Parthet, but neither of us said anything.

At least we didn’t have much longer to wait. We all heard footsteps hurrying up the stone stairs and looked that way. Aaron emerged from the stairwell holding Annick by the wrist. She pulled loose when she saw Xayber.

“You wanted to talk to me?” Annick asked, as defiant as ever. She moved slowly toward the elflord.

“I did,” he replied. “Stand there a moment, if you would?” I think it was more the polite tone than the words that stopped her. Annick looked at the elflord, then around at the rest of us.

“Yes, it is so,” Xayber said after a moment.

“What
is so?” Annick asked.

“After our previous meeting here, I decided that I should learn the identity of your father. My suspicions have been confirmed.” Xayber’s face was a study in shifting emotions, everything from deep sorrow to strong pride. I couldn’t tell which were prevailing.

“And?” Annick prompted. Her fists were clenched at her sides. The only emotion on her face was hate.

“Your father is dead,” Xayber said, and I thought, Another lost father! That Annick had long been looking to arrange that fate for him didn’t enter into my thoughts at the moment.

“Then who was he?” Annick demanded.

Sadness deepened on the elflord’s face, an emotion that made him look almost human. “He was my son, slain in combat by the Hero of Varay.”

Oops
.

“That makes you my granddaughter,” Xayber continued. “That means something to me.”

It obviously meant something very different to Annick. She screamed—a painfully high screech like the death call of some mythical bird. Her entire body seemed to tighten up and enter into the scream. Blood vessels stood out on her forehead and temples and along the sides of her neck. She went up on tiptoe and sort of stretched toward the sky, almost as if she had been caught in some monstrous muscle spasm. But she kept her arms down, her fists pounding against her thighs in short, rapid movements, like a nervous tic gone mad.

The contortions she went through were fearful to watch. I was afraid that the convulsion might lead to a stroke, that she might drop dead on the spot.

After a moment, she screamed again. This time it was a tortured but recognizable “
No!”

Xayber whispered, “Yes.”

And then Annick collapsed. Her muscles all went limp and she pitched forward, crumpling as she fell. Aaron had been standing at least eight feet away, but he managed to catch her before her head could smash into the stone. He lifted her easily. The stark white of her half-elven skin contrasted strongly with Aaron’s deep black … and almost perfectly matched the narrow streak of white left from the face of Wellivazey.

Her dead father.

“She’s just fainted,” Aaron said. “She’s breathing easily. I’ll take her downstairs.”

I nodded, even though Aaron wasn’t paying attention to anyone but Annick. He was staring at her face. Xayber took a couple of steps toward them. I was surprised to see real concern on his face. He started to speak but didn’t. Aaron carried Annick toward the stairs.

“I’d better get downstairs and start getting things ready for your quest,” Parthet said.

Always the quest, I thought. It was becoming a four-letter word to me.

“Parthet,” I said. He stopped and looked at me, his face troubled. “This time, I
will
be going alone.”

“There is no other way,” Xayber-said, but without any force. He was still staring at the stairs and the disappearing forms of Aaron and Annick.

“Alone?” Parthet asked.

“Alone,” I repeated, as firmly as I could without raising my voice. Parthet nodded and left. I turned to the elflord again.

“Annick is your granddaughter?” I asked after the sound of footsteps on the stairs faded. “And that changes how you think of her?”

His nod covered both questions. “She is my blood,” he said.

And knowing that might screw up Annick’s mind worse than it already was. This time, when I wondered about psychiatrists among our refugees, I wasn’t making a joke.

Xayber and I didn’t have much more to say at the moment. He continued to be distracted, obviously troubled by Annick’s reaction to his announcement. I wondered at that, and at the importance the elflord placed on family ties—even a tie that resulted from a rape his son had committed.