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23. Dreanger: At al-Qarn, in the Palace of the Kings
The old house slave, Gamel, strained under the weight of the burden he carried across the polished serpentine floor of the vast hall where Gordimer the Lion was holding the autumn assizes. Er-Rashal al-Dhulquarnen was present, evidently having an interest in some case due to come before the Grand Marshal. Likewise, Kaif Karim Kaseem al-Bakr, who dozed on a chair nearby. He was there for a case with religious implications.
The slave had little time left in this hard vale. Decades ago he had been a fierce young Sha-lug. Time, luck, and an amazing knack for healing had conspired to rob him of a battlefield death. Sha-lug who grew old despite the endless wars had to earn their keep managing the work of the Palace.
Gamel was well known to Gordimer. Gamel had taught him the lance when he was a pup. The Marshal concluded the case at hand by ordering the defendant strangled for defiling the daughter of his sister. Sentence was carried out on the spot. Gordimer then ordered the daughter stoned. Both corpses to be thrown to the crocodiles.
Then he sent two lifeguards to help the old man.
"Forget all that, Gamel. Your life has earned you the right to stand in the presence of the Marshal." Though not, perhaps, in that of the Kaif. If the Kaif were anything but an extension of the will of the Sha-lug, and awake. "What is this?"
It had to be critical if the old slave came here, now, during the height of the assizes.
"This box was given to me to bring to you. I was told it had to be delivered immediately."
"And what is it?"
"I don't know. But it's been dripping cold water."
"Who gave it to you?"
"General Nassim. Nassim Alizarin."
"The Mountain? He's here? In al-Qarn? Er-Rashal. I thought Nassim was dead."
Shaken, the court sorcerer replied, "I was sure he was no longer among the living."
"Let's see what it is. You two. Bring that box here. Open it."
Er-Rashal faded into himself while the lifeguards carried out instructions. Suddenly, he snapped, "Don't open that!" An instant too late.
"What do we have?" Gordimer demanded. He glowered at the scores of supplicants and defendants, all of whom leaned toward the scene.
"A head. In melted ice." The lifeguard lifted a severed head from the box by its hair. His companion retrieved a wooden tube about six inches long and an inch in diameter, covered with wax. He handed that to the Marshal.
Gordimer twisted an end off the cold tube, fished out a piece of paper. He asked er-Rashal, "What's the matter?" The sorcerer stared at the head. "You've turned gray." The Lion unrolled the paper. And read aloud, " 'To my lord the Grand Marshal of the Sha-lug, Gordimer, called the Lion, and to the sorcerer er-Rashal al-Dhulquarnen. Greetings. A gift. All that remains of the pagan sorcerer Rudenes Schneidel, by whose order my son Hagid was murdered. He was the first to pay. His partners in wickedness will follow.
" 'Nassim Alizarin, once a friend.
" 'In recollection of friendship, O Lion. A courtesy. Be warned. The storm from the north is rising. I have seen it with mine own eyes, and it is of your own construction. Nor even the Almighty Himself shall stand before it.'"
Gordimer the Lion closed his eyes. This was the voice of prophecy. Half a minute later, he said, "Clear the hall. The assizes will resume tomorrow morning." He roamed his own mind till the hall fell quiet.
He opened his eyes. Er-Rashal was no longer present. The Kaif still slept. Gamel had retired. He addressed the lifeguard still holding the head by its hair. "Glaid. What do you make of this?"
"That General Nassim disappeared because he heard his son was murdered. But Hagid was supposedly among those Sha-lug lost in Calzir."
"Where he was not supposed to have been."
The lifeguard nodded. "There are evil rumors about what happened over there. About Sha-lug who were abandoned, denied the chance to board ships carrying survivors of the disaster away from Calzir."
"Is that so? I haven't heard anything like that. Sidiki. You look like you're about to explode. If only you dared. Dare."
"There is much that you do not hear, sitting here in the Palace, O Lion." Sidiki carefully avoided the least implication of criticism, though the lifeguard complement were scandalized by the behavior of the Marshal in recent years and even those nearest him thought he had ordered those Sha-lug abandoned to the mercy of the Infidel because of their co
In the end, the lifeguards, and those Sha-lug who spent much time around the Palace of the Kings, chose to blame all misfortune on the sorcerer er-Rashal el-Dhulquarnen.
"Enlighten me."
24. Brothe: At the End of the Day
After a week of loafing Piper Hecht started half days at the Castella. Nothing official had come out of Krois. But rumors ran hot and fierce. There would be another invasion of the Co
Ships were at sea, collecting the troops from Artecipea. Titus Consent made sure those men knew that it was Piper Hecht's fault they were coming home. The Captain-General and Boniface VII had an understanding. The Patriarchy's soldiers would be treated well, henceforth. With a big or else! implied.
Pinkus Ghort visited A
Hecht had seen the signs. Wherever three or more people got together somebody developed a need to drag somebody else down.
He was about to snap defiantly, arrogantly, but caught himself.
"What?" Ghort asked. "You don't believe me?"
"No. I do. I'm having trouble believing me."
Ghort gave Hecht that look he reserved for times when he had no clue what Hecht was talking about.
Hecht asked, "One of them wouldn't be your boss, would it?"
"One of them would. He's developed a hard-on for you."
"He always had one. I wouldn't be his ru
"He figures you owe him."
"Really? Because he got us out of Plemenza?"
"Yeah. And some other stuff."
"Despite the fact that he wouldn't be alive if I hadn't wakened him in the Ownvidian Knot."
"I won't make excuses for the man, Pipe. I'm just saying. I tell you this, he's go
Which Hecht had anticipated. Bronte Doneto being consul or not, the city senators would have gotten to that. Maybe just not as soon. No one not part of the Church hierarchy wanted the Patriarch's soldiers stationed in the city.
"I think we're in compliance already." By sleight of hand. By means of a deal with the Brotherhood of War whereby the Brotherhood claimed those of Hecht's men quartered in the Castella.
"Not with the spirit of the law. You could have five thousand armed veterans here inside four days. And a hell of a lot more handy once the rest get over from Artecipea."
"And that's a bad thing with the troubles you're having here?"
"Hey, Pipe, I'm not trying to pick a fight. I'm just saying. And I'm wondering. What's your pal Principate Delari been up to? We haven't seen hide nor hair in a rat's age."
"I don't know. Why?" Hecht smiled at Vali and Bit's daughter, Lila. The kids kept finding excuses to wander through. They were both curious and hoped that Ghort had brought treats. He did that sometimes.
Lila had recovered physically from the attack that had injured her and killed her mother but she was not yet over it inside. Though older and bigger, she had become Vali's timid shadow. She seemed to have put her harsh early years aside, A