Beyond the Blue Moon (Forest Kingdom Novels) (31 page)

When Prince Rupert had been brought down here as a small child, to see his mother put to rest, he’d thought for a long time afterward that this was the actual afterlife, where you went when you died; a place of cold blue light and endless quiet. He thought that when everyone was gone, the dead rose up from their marble coffins and communed silently together in the endless Hall. He’d had nightmares for years. Now he found the Crypt oddly comforting. A place of peace, where no one made demands on you anymore. He was here again, after decades away, and it seemed not a bad place to sleep for all eternity, surrounded by your family.

“Damn,” said Fisher quietly. “This place is huge. We’ve nothing like it in Hillsdown. But then, we haven’t been around that long. I’ll bet you could spend hours down here, just checking off the names. How many of your family are down here, Hawk?”

“I don’t think anyone knows anymore,” said Hawk. “Once, this would have been part of the Seneschal’s rounds. He or his people would have kept detailed records on who everyone was and where, and what they did of note, and someone would have been responsible for placing fresh flowers and tidying away the old. But I suppose the place just got too crowded. Too many tombs, too much work, until one of my ancestors decided that such time could be better spent at the service of the living. No one comes down here anymore except at funerals. And no one stays except those who have to.”

“The Hall seems to go on forever,” said Fisher. “I can’t even see the end from here. How are we going to find Harald’s tomb?”

“The Seneschal’s guide should take us right to it,” said Hawk. “As a recent arrival, he shouldn’t be too far from the door.”

They followed the bobbing light down the wide aisle in the center of the Hall, passing by countless empty marble slabs, prepared for those Forest dead yet to come. It was unbearably quiet, the only sound the soft slap of their boots on the stone floor. It seemed a very small sound in such a large place. The sorcerous light all around them never wavered, reflecting palely from the surprisingly low ceiling overhead. Fisher stuck close to Hawk’s side. The sheer size of the Hall intimidated her, made her feel small and insignificant. She could almost feel the pressure of centuries of past history pressing down on her. Hillsdown was a relatively recent country, with only four generations between the current Starlight Duke and Hillsdown’s original founder. Walking through the Forest Crypt was like walking back into a past she could barely visualize. Fisher kept her back straight and held her head high. Coming here had been mostly her idea. She’d needed to see Harald’s tomb, if only because part of her would never really believe he was dead and gone until she’d seen his final resting place.

The first tomb they stopped beside was that of Rupert and Harald’s father, King John IV. The solid stone coffin was seven feet long and covered in traditional runes and decorative curlicues, topped by a life-sized marble statue of King John, lying supine in full armor, his hands crossed on his chest, holding the hilt of a long sword that rested upon the length of his body. The carved cold marble face was idealized but still recognizable. Hawk hadn’t seen his father’s face in twelve years, and something very like loss tugged at his heart. Despite lives lived pretty much constantly at odds, father and son had made a kind of reconciliation at the end, fighting side by side against the overwhelming odds of the Demon War. The King’s marble face had a peace it rarely knew in life, and was covered by a thin layer of undisturbed dust. No one had touched this tomb since it had been put in place.

“Fancy carving,” said Fisher. “And a far better likeness than those official portraits of us up above.”

“A fine tomb,” said Hawk. “Of course, there’s no one in it. They never did find my father’s body. Still, it’s the thought that counts.”

They moved on. Hawk didn’t look back. Fisher shivered. The Crypt wasn’t really cold, but there was a spiritual chill in the great Hall that penetrated right through to the bone. God, don’t let me end up in a place like this, she thought fervently. So far from light and warmth and living things. Just lay me down under the good green grass, with maybe a small stone for my name, and a nice view. Then let me sleep till Judgment Day, and if God is kind, I won’t dream.

And then, all too soon, they came to the tomb of King Harald I. Here the coffin was fully eight feet long, with many detailed elaborations carved into its sides, depicting scenes of Harald fighting the demons in the long night. The statue lying supine on top of the coffin was exactly like King John’s, except for having Harald’s face, and being much larger. There was a thin layer of dust covering this statue, too, and at the foot of the coffin a single wreath held dead and withered flowers. It was clear to both Hawk and Fisher that no one had come to visit Harald since his funeral. Somehow neither of them was surprised. Harald might or might not have been a good King, but he had never been the sort to inspire devotion after his death.

“Why is Harald’s coffin and statue bigger than John’s?” Fisher asked after a while.

“Because he designed it himself,” said Hawk. “He always said he would. He cared about such things.”

“Presumably that’s why the statue’s face is a bit more accurate,” said Fisher. “Probably had it carved while he was still alive.”

“Probably.” Hawk looked at the oversized coffin and found it hard to feel anything. He’d said all he had to say to Harald before he left the Castle and the Forest, twelve long years ago. All their old jealousies and conflicts had been eroded away by distance and time, and now seemed like something that had happened to other people. Standing there beside his brother’s tomb, Hawk felt no real sorrow, or even regret. He was there out of duty, because Harald was family. And because, truth be told, Harald would have been there for him if matters had gone otherwise. Blood called to blood, family to family, no matter how separate they might become, by time or space or emotion.

Damn you, Harald, Hawk thought tiredly. I left the Forest Land in your hands, so I could leave, and turn my back on family duty. Couldn’t you do anything right?

“Nobody’s been down here since the interment,” said Fisher, wrinkling her nose at the dust at Harald’s face. “Not even the Queen. Do you suppose that’s significant?”

“Probably not,” said Hawk. “According to an old book my tutors once made me read, things were very different in the early days of the Forest line. Then it was customary for the Royal family to come down here at regular intervals, to remember their ancestors, why they were and what they did. They’d hold picnics between the tombs and retell old stories of valor and courage. It was important to know the line from which you’d sprung, the history you came from, and to set an example of what would be expected of you once you came of age. But as the numbers of the dead increased, the practice declined and finally disappeared. Now the old deeds are only remembered in romanticized and probably inaccurate songs and plays that come and go according to the fashion of the day. And no one comes down here because they don’t like to be reminded of the certainty of their own death. This is a place to be visited only briefly, when necessary, and then forgotten as quickly as possible.”

“The Demon War might have had something to do with that,” said Fisher. “We all saw too much death under the Blue Moon. We all lost friends and loved ones. Can you blame people for wanting to concentrate on life rather than death after an experience like that?”

“I don’t blame anyone,” said Hawk. He looked slowly around him. “I never thought to see this place again. I fully expected to die in some filthy back alley in Haven, when I got too old or too slow, and someone’s sword proved just that little bit faster than my axe.”

“I never really thought about it at all,” said Fisher. “I expected to die in the long night. Every day since then has been a gift, a second life I had no right to expect.”

“We did die in Haven, sort of,” said Hawk. “And there was a place we went to.”

“I barely remember it,” said Fisher. “That sorcerer put a spell on us. You know you can’t trust anything to do with magic.”

“Dammit,” said Hawk with a sudden anger that surprised them both, “Harald deserved better than this. He was a real hero in the Demon War. For all his faults, and he had many, when the time came, he went out to fight the demons in the long night, to protect and preserve the Forest Land. It never even occurred to him not to. He wielded one of the Infernal Devices, and didn’t let the damned sword corrupt him. He put his life on the line for his homeland, again and again. He deserved better than to die at the hand of some sneaking assassin over some stupid piece of politics.”

“I remember Harald,” Fisher said slowly, looking down at the dusty marble face. “But it’s hard to say who I remember. I was intimate with him for a time, you know that, but I can’t say I ever really knew him. He had so many faces, to show to different people at different times. Whether the face he showed me was the real him, I couldn’t say. He never let anyone get close to him. But he was always kind to me, and did his best to protect me. He tried to understand me, when no one else did. And yet whether he really cared for me or just wanted me, I never knew. Now he’s gone, and I’ll never know.”

“I never liked him, but I always thought he’d make a good King,” said Hawk. “Far better than me. He always knew the right thing to say, how to get people to do what he wanted, while still thinking it was their own idea. And he had a real gift for organization. Loved paperwork. He was the politician in the family; he should have been the perfect King for the transition between the old ways and the new. It was only because I believed that, that I was able to leave the Forest with you. I could have been King if I’d chosen. There were many who would have backed my claim to the Throne. But that would have meant civil war, and I didn’t want that. I didn’t want to be King. Harald looked the much better bet. But did I believe that because I wanted to? Because I didn’t want all the duties and responsibilities that went with being King?”

“You did what you thought was best,” said Fisher. “That’s all any of us can ever do.”

She let her fingertips drift slowly across the cold marble of Harald’s face, leaving creamy white trails in the dust, and then snatched her hand back as a shower of brilliant sparks erupted from the carved face. Hawk and Fisher backed away, hands dropping to their weapons, and watched in amazement as the sparks circled and spun above Harald’s tomb before rushing together to form a perfect image of the late King Harald. The apparition looked pretty much as they remembered him; still large and muscular and classically handsome. But his face was heavily lined with strain and care, and there were already thick streaks of gray in his hair. He looked beaten down, confused, almost bewildered. Neither Hawk nor Fisher had ever known him look this defeated, not even during the worst days of the Demon War. He stared straight ahead of him, apparently unaware of Hawk and Fisher’s presence.

“Hello, Rupert, Julia. If you’re seeing this, then I’m dead. No, I’m not a ghost; this is my last message to you, recorded by a spell I had the Magus prepare for me, to be triggered after my death by your return. I am threatened on all sides, and no longer know whom I can trust. There are things you must know.” He paused, as though uncertain how much he could say, even to his unseen audience. “I did my best. I tried to be a good King, to preserve the Forest Land. But everyone, everything, turned against me. I should never have allowed the Magus to open the Rift. It brought prosperity of a kind, but it also brought dangerous Southern ideas into the Land. There were always factions in the Court, but at least I understood them. Knew how to play them against each other, to prevent any one cause from becoming too powerful. Now democracy has become the new religion of the people, there’s more political parties than I can shake a stick at, and there’s growing pressure from all sides for me to stand down and become a constitutional monarch so a bunch of damned politicians can run things. I’m damned if I’ll let the Land fall into their greedy, grasping hands. All they care about is power. They know nothing of duty and responsibility. And none of them can see the big picture. Not like I do.

“As a Prince, I had to make deals with people I despised. Once I was King, I no longer had to compromise. I had so many plans, so many things I intended to do, to make the Forest Kingdom strong and great again. But always I was undermined and defeated by the bloody politicians, spreading disobedience while claiming they spoke for the people. I was King! It was my job to decide what was best for the people. Because I was the only one in a position to see the big picture. Why couldn’t everyone just do what they were told, when it was clearly in everyone’s best interests?

“No King ever had to deal with the problems I faced. It wasn’t my fault that I inherited a Land devastated and almost bankrupt, and then had to deal with all the changes brought about by the Rift. It wasn’t my fault that the Inverted Cathedral returned. My people turned against me, seduced by the false promises of democracy. It wasn’t fair. No one should have to face so many problems … so many evils. Not after surviving the long night. I still remember the dark, and the horrid light of the Blue Moon. I still have bad dreams, sometimes. And there is no one left to stand beside me. So it was all up to me. After all the chaos, all the madness, I had to make the world make sense.

“Julia, thank you for coming back. I had no right to demand that you return, but I hoped you would. I did care for you, in my way. And you were always so very good in bed.” Fisher glanced quickly at Hawk, but his gaze was fixed on Harald, as his brother spoke haltingly of things past. “I would have loved you, Julia, but I don’t know if I’m capable of love. If I have it in me. None of our family’s ever been much good at caring for anything other than the Forest Land. I never loved the woman they made me marry, though I did admire her strength of character. I’ve no doubt she’ll survive me. How much you trust her is up to you.

“Rupert, if you’re here, do your duty. Be a strong King. Fight off democracy. And protect my son, if you can. He was the only good thing to come out of my life. And beware our father’s legacy. That’s all I have to say. I’m really very tired. Avenge my death, brother. Don’t let me have died in vain.”