The Usurper (22 page)

Prominent amongst the barbarian leaders was a man known as Abrogastes, the Far-Grasper.

We apologize for these historical remarks, but I felt they might render certain aspects of the succeeding accounts more readily comprehensible.

Chapter Fourteen

“Elena,” said Iaachus, Arbiter of Protocol, “you may withdraw.”

“I have brought
kana
,” she said. “Am I not to serve it?”

“No,” he said.

“But who, then, will serve it?” she asked.

“Leave it on the table,” said Iaachus.

“Surely I have not offended you?” she said.

“Not at all,” Iaachus assured her.

“I do not understand,” she said.

“Do not concern yourself,” he said.

“You are to entertain a secret guest?” she said.

“Not at all,” he said.

“I hope I am not in disfavor,” said Elena.

“No,” said Iaachus.

“I fear I have offended you,” she said.

“No,” said Iaachus. “I fear you might offend another.”

“Ah!” she said. “Your guest is a free woman!”

“Perhaps,” he said.

“I am fully clothed,” she said, “and well, if simply, gowned.”

“You are barefoot,” he said, “and neck-ringed.”

“Of course,” she said.

“Nonetheless,” he said.

“I see,” she smiled.

“What free woman would not detest you?” asked Iaachus. “You are beautiful, quite so, your brown hair, your gray eyes, your exciting limbs and latitudes, the turns within your plain gown, that permitted you, your only garment, your body which, suitably exhibited, would fetch good coin off a girl block.”

“It is my hope,” she said, “that Master has no intention to sell me.”

“Not at present,” he said.

“I love Master,” she said. “I love his chains! I love the feel of his hands on my body. Long ago he made me his! I was banded and branded, and then, later, he caressed me into the understanding of what I truly was, one appropriately submitted to a Master, which I had only suspected when a free woman.”

“It was pleasant for me to do so,” he said.

“Doubtless there are many pleasantries attendant on the Mastery,” she said.

“Of course,” he said.

“But there are pleasures, too,” she said, “I wonder if you understand them, on the part of the owned, on the part of those who find themselves subjected helplessly and without recourse to a welcome, coveted, enforced servitude.”

“The feelings of a beast,” he said, “need not be considered. It exists for the service and pleasure of its Master.”

“Master made me what I most desired, in my deepest heart, to be,” she said, “a slave.”

“You had no choice,” he said. “It was done to you.”

“As it should have been!” she said. “How I longed to have it done to me! It prospered in my most secret dreams! How I longed to be one who is owned and must obey, one who must yield all and serve choicelessly, one who would find herself, kneeling, collared, head down, wholly subject to another.”

“I see,” he said.

“The conflicts, the wars, were done,” she said. “I was subdued, as I had desired, I was chained, made helpless, as I had hoped. In losing, reduced and tethered, I won, as I had dreamed, and wished. My victory was in my defeat.”

“Do not concern yourself,” said Iaachus. “These things are neither here nor there. You are a slave.”

“The unhappinesses, the uncertainties, the troublings, the ambivalences, the anxieties, the confusions were done,” she said. “I would belong! So let it be confirmed! Let the collar be locked on my neck!”

“It was done,” he said.

“A beast is grateful,” she said.

“What free woman would not see you as a reproach? What excitement and fear you might inspire in her! She need only look at you, gowned, and banded, to see herself similarly reduced and owned. What recognitions, and uneasinesses, what fears and desires, you would stir in her body!”

“I shall withdraw,” she whispered.

“Do so,” said Iaachus, “but the guest is not a free woman.”

“No?” said Elena.

“No,” said the Arbiter of Protocol, “but I fear the guest is one who might be as much, if not more, offended, at your presence.”

“I withdraw,” said Elena.

“Hasten,” said the Arbiter of Protocol.

“Yes, Master,” said Elena, and slipped from the chamber.

Shortly thereafter the guest was announced.

Chapter Fifteen

“How gracious of you to accept my invitation,” said Iaachus.

“I have long anticipated receiving it,” said the guest. “You may kneel, and kiss my ring.”

“I think not,” said Iaachus.

“As you will,” said the guest.

“Be seated,” said Iaachus. “
Kana
?”

“Is the Arbiter of Protocol to pour?” inquired the guest. “Is there no servitor?”

“I thought privacy might free our tongues,” said Iaachus, “even more than
kana
.”

“I have not yet been granted an audience with the emperor and the empress mother,” said the guest.

“Nor have thousands of others,” said Iaachus.

“I am not as others,” said the guest.

“That is why I have sought this exchange,” said Iaachus.

“We no longer meet in caves, in abandoned buildings, in private homes,” said the guest.

“Indeed,” said Iaachus. “You have four temples here in Telnar alone, imperial city of Telnaria.”

“Only three,” said the guest. “One is a false temple.”

“Even so,” said Iaachus, “three temples here, in imperial Telnar, Telnar, the seat of the empire, the august and famed meeting place of the senate itself.”

“The senate is meaningless,” said the guest.

“Surely not,” exclaimed Iaachus.

“If it does not enact the imperial will,” said the guest, “it will be dissolved, and replaced, it being a trivial matter to appoint a more acquiescent membership.”

“I fear you know little of the power of the senate,” said Iaachus.

“It lacks fleets and armies,” said the guest.

“Even so,” said Iaachus.

“I think it must be unpleasant to be cast to serpents or boiled in the blood and fat of lizards,” said the guest.

“I do not understand,” said Iaachus.

“I think you do,” said the guest.

“I fear not,” said Iaachus.

“More benignly,” said the guest, “many a time a senator or fellow of deeds and wealth has been invited to revise his will in favor of the empire, following which, caring for his family and name, he has been found lifeless in a scarlet bath, his veins parted.”

“No more,” said Iaachus. “Such dreadful doings, if they existed at all, would characterize more primitive times, more savage days, times and days lacking
civilitas
.”

“Men are satellites,” said the guest. “They orbit various suns of power.”

“The emperor would not hear of such a thing, nor the empress mother,” said Iaachus.

“I suspect they would not hear of such a thing,” said the guest. “I suspect they would not be told.”

“Speak with care,” advised Iaachus.

“The emperor is a boy,” said the guest, “and the empress mother a timid, irascible, vain old woman.”

“Beware,” said Iaachus.

“Arrest me,” said the guest, “and Telnar will erupt in flame.”

“You must be fatigued from your journey,” said Iaachus. “I understand you have recently arrived from Zirus.”

“From the Holy World of Zirus,” said the guest.

“Of course,” said Iaachus.

“In whose marshes once swam and waded the Redemptor,” said the guest.

“I understand,” said Iaachus.

“Telnar,” said the guest, “is not merely the seat of the senate, as you remark, but it is also the seat of the imperial court.”

“In season,” said Iaachus.

“That season is now,” said the guest.

“It is not easy to obtain an audience,” said Iaachus. “There are many others.”

“Not such as I,” said the guest.

He fingered the device slung about his neck, over his voluminous purple robes. It, and the chain from which it was suspended, appeared to be of gold. The device itself appeared to be a small replica of a rack, or grid.

“The empire prides itself on its fairness, its tolerance and impartiality,” said Iaachus.

“Faults, not virtues,” said the guest. “Falsity deserves no fairness. Surely you cannot think so. Iniquity deserves no toleration. Who could entertain such a thought? Wickedness is not to be viewed with impartiality. Is that not itself the greatest of wickednesses?”

“
Kana
?” said Iaachus.

“Please,” said the guest.

“I am curious as to these movements within the empire,” said Iaachus.

“Movement,” said the guest. “Truth is one.”

“The individual in question, as I understand it,” said Iaachus, “died long ago.”

“Not so long ago,” said the guest.

“Generations ago,” said Iaachus.

“If you like,” said the guest.

“And left no written records, or writings.”

“No,” said the guest.

“Written accounts dealing with these matters date from long after the individual's demise.”

“Not so long,” said the guest.

“Generations,” said Iaachus.

“If you like,” said the guest.

“Doubtless there was a prior oral tradition.”

“Of course,” said the guest.

“Some doubt that the individual existed,” said Iaachus, “for example, the unusual accounts, the surprising occurrences, the similarities with other prophets, teachers, gods, and such.”

“To deny truth is blasphemy,” said the guest.

“I have no objection to supposing the individual, or such individuals, perhaps conflated into one, existed,” said Iaachus.

“The Arbiter of Protocol is generous,” said the guest.

“His, or their, nature, doings, lives, views, teachings, and such, seem obscure.”

“Not at all,” said the guest. “Truth is one.”

“There are many differing versions and accounts of the teachings in question,” said Iaachus.

“But truth is one,” said the guest.

“It must be difficult to know which version or account is true,” said Iaachus.

“Not at all,” said the guest.

“If any one of them,” said Iaachus.

“One is true, truth is one,” said the guest.

“Surely others cling as tenaciously to their own accounts and versions, as you to yours,” said Iaachus.

“Persistence in error is execrable,” said the guest.

“The Redemptor, as I understand it,” said Iaachus, “is identical with Karch.”

“Yes,” said the guest, “but different, as well.”

“That is hard to understand,” said Iaachus.

“Of course,” said the guest.

“Your doctrines, in their abundance and complexity, seem to far exceed the simple words ascribed to your Redemptor.”

“But are entailed by them, by irrefragable logic.”

“Many seem unintelligible,” said Iaachus.

“They transcend reason,” said the guest.

“That is a virtue?” asked Iaachus.

“Of course,” said the guest.

“You take much of this on faith?” asked Iaachus.

“Yes,” said the guest.

“Why?” asked Iaachus.

“Because our faith is based on truth.”

“Truth is hard to find,” said Iaachus.

“Not when seen through the eyes of faith,” said the guest.

“Which faith?” asked Iaachus.

“Mine,” said the guest.

“I see,” said Iaachus.

“I hoped you would,” said the guest.

“Your doctrines, and those of other temples, all claiming to be the one, true temple of the Redemptor, seem to differ.”

“Heresy is rampant,” said the guest.

“Perhaps the empire might be of assistance?” said Iaachus.

“If properly guided,” said the guest.

“Perhaps that has something to do with your desire to meet with the emperor and the empress mother?” said Iaachus.

“Perhaps you can arrange such an audience,” said the guest.

“As I understand it,” said Iaachus, “differing temples, and sets of temples, define themselves in terms of beliefs, or creedal commitments. For example, your temple, or your temples, commit themselves to, say, propositions one, two, and three.”

“Proceed,” said the guest.

“But, as these propositions appear to be unintelligible—”

“Such as exceed the grasp of reason,” said the guest.

“—they can be neither proved nor disproved.”

“They are beyond proof,” said the guest.

“And they cannot be disproven,” said Iaachus.

“That is their strength,” said the guest. “They are irrefutable.”

“But,” said Iaachus, “these differing temples, or sets of temples, have their own propositions, say, one, four, and five, similarly irrelevant to the world, similarly compatible with any situation whatsoever, more propositions which in no way could be shown to be either true or false, propositions to which evidence is immaterial, propositions similarly immune to refutation.”

“What is your point?” inquired the guest.

“And yet the adherents of your Redemptor, who spoke of peace, sweetness, gentleness, love, patience, resignation, and such, are willing to burn and kill one another over these competitive gibberishes.”

“Perhaps you can arrange an audience with the emperor, or the empress mother,” said the guest.

“Do you truly believe,” asked Iaachus, “that your mighty Karch, invisible and mighty, unseen and vast, sculptor of universes, designer of the cobra's fangs and the vi-cat's claws, the germ that can fell a
torodont
, stars which can engulf worlds, cares whether or not some street sweeper believes in propositions one, two, and three, or one, four, and five?”

“The audience?” politely inquired the guest.

“You are a highly intelligent man,” said Iaachus. “You cannot convince me that you take these things seriously.”

“I think that you can arrange such an audience,” said the guest.

“Permit me to speculate,” said Iaachus, “on the practical relevance of creedal commitment, and on the importance of the singularity claim, as well, both of which, viewed simply, appear so implausible, anomalous, and absurd. What lurks behind the contrived veil of nonsense, so objectively pointless, on the other hand, is mighty with meaning. Behind the fog of appeal and distraction lies something quite real, quite comprehensible. Concealed in the night of nonsense is something quite different. In the darkness, the beast is afoot, alert, eager, and ravenous. How ironic that simple, loving teachings should be turned to the familiar ends of ambition and greed, of power. How wise to claim sole proprietorship of the keys that lead to golden worlds. What prestige redounds to the humble! How paradoxical to cast oneself down to be exalted over one's brothers. Consider the self-image, the self-esteem, the community image of the selfless servitors of so innocent and benign a creed! Celebrate them! Contemplate the public's acceptance and approval so lavishly awarded, so justifiably deserved, so humbly acknowledged, the garnered livelihood so easily acquired, the economic support bestowed by the faithful. Who would be willing to divide the spoils of such a possible victory? Who will contest a hut of reeds on Zirus? But many might do much for a golden palace.”

“Men are satellites,” said the guest. “They orbit various suns of power.”

“And there are a hundred suns,” said Iaachus.

“A thousand,” smiled the guest, “and even more.” He then sipped his
kana
.

“I shall arrange the audience,” said Iaachus.

“I thought you might,” said the guest.