She Who Has No Name (The Legacy Trilogy) (69 page)

After several hours, once again defeated, he returned to the surface and made
it
back to his room.

He was surprised to find Utik’cah waiting for him there.

‘Out walking?’ the Paatin asked.

‘Yes,’ he replied plainly.

The desert-man accepted the answer at face value and continued
,
  ‘Alahativa summons you.  I would be quick, if I were you.’

That was all he needed to hear and Samuel started off at once to see why the Paatin Queen had called for him so early in the day.

On reaching her hall, it was immediately apparent that something was wrong.  She was standing upon her dais, waiting angrily.  The Emperor, who stood below, waited patiently
,
his hands clasped by his front.

‘What is happening?’ Samuel asked, coming to stand beside the embodied Emperor.  ‘Why have you summoned Sir Ferse?’

‘Sir Ferse?’ she said calmly, although Samuel knew her expressions well
enough by now to know she was furious.  ‘Interesting that you should use such a name.  I know you and your party came here to kill me and retake your Empress, Samuel.  That is no surprise.  I had thought those who had accompanied you were of small interest, for I had
received
limited reports on Sir Ferse: a court member of little importance.  However, it seems you magicians are still capable of surprises.  I did not expect—as I’m sure no one did—that the Emperor himself would somehow accompany you.  While it is true that few in my city would recognise him, I am led to believe that his disguise is rather...convincing.  But what comes as the great
est
surprise is that, from all accounts, he has been long dead.’  Samuel tried to withhold his own surprise, quite poorly.  The Emperor, however, remained resilient and showed no emotion at all.  ‘So please forgive my lack of courtesy, Your Majesty for
,
if I had known it was you, my hospitality would have been more fitting.’

‘Think nothing of it,’ said the Emperor.  ‘I am glad that this charade can end.’

‘Of course I will have you moved to a more appropriate room, befitting a man of your standing.’

‘My room is fine.  I have given up my station as Emperor and, if you don’t mind, I would rather as few people learned of this as possible.’

‘As you wish,’ she said
,
with a deliberate bow of her head.

They waited for her to say more, but she was silent.

‘Is that all?’ Samuel asked.

‘It is,’ she replied, with a fuming expression.

They turned together and left.

‘This is very bad,’ Samuel said to the Emperor as they hurried along the halls.

‘Why is that?’ Edmond said back to him.

‘She is very
,
very
mad.’

‘I sensed that.  What will she do?’

‘I don’t know, but when she gets angry, people die.  We will have to wait and see.’

Samuel was glad that there was no summons to come to her chamber for the next few nights.  Instead, he spent as much time as possible exploring the catacombs. 

The Koian woman was still being evasive and so, when he was not delving beneath the mountain, he had little to do but chat with Canyon and the Emperor about their possible plans, all of which hinged on him regaining his ring. 

Each day, he continued his attempts to recover his magic, with little result
,
save
the odd spark and the occasional trembling mage-sphere of glowing light.  It seemed his power existed, which was some consolation, but it was still evasive and unreliable.  At this rate, it would be years before he could reliably cast a worthy spell.

A servant waiting at his door one evening was a signal that Samuel had been summoned again by the Queen, and he hurried off.  He was half-hoping that he would be led to her bedchamber but
,
instead
,
the servant once again guided him towards her
reception
hall.

‘Why have you summoned me, wondrous Alahativa?’ he said.  He already knew that something was wrong, for the Paatin Queen was standing with her back to him, surveying her city through the misty veils on her balcony.  Several men and a woman lay dead on the floor, crushed by magic, and Samuel did his best to ignore their grimacing corpses.

She turned and came back inside, brushing through the translucent cloth.  It was the first time he had ever seen a worried expression on her face.

‘I have had worrying dreams these past
few
nights, Samuel,’ she said.  ‘I have been counselled by my highest seers and astrologers, but their advice is worthless.’  As if to illustrate, she gestured to them, splayed out on the floor.  ‘The Star of Osirah shines brighter, but it cannot burn the worries from my heart.  I want to know if you, my darling, my most trusted magician, can help
ease
my burden?’

Samuel cleared his throat.  ‘Tell me what is bothering you and I shall endeavour not to disappoint you.’

‘My dreams are troubled.  I see days past and events long gone.  I see loved ones and lost ones and people that I know well, yet
whom
I have never met
in this life
.  I am generations old but
,
in truth, my own childhood was told to me by our scholars, for it was so long ago that I cannot remember it.  I always attributed such longevity to my beloved ring, but now I have witnessed these dreams, I am not so convinced.’  She ceased her stalking up and down and turned to face him directly.  ‘Do you believe that I could have had other lives?  I have never heard of such things, but these dreams are torturing me.  They are so vivid
,
so real.  They are more memories than dreams but
,
for this to be so, I would have to have lived another life that I have since forgotten; indeed
,
many lives for
,
in each, I am a different person
,
in a different place, in a different body.’

Samuel immediately thought of the Emperor.  Before learning of his transfer into the body of Sir Ferse, he would never have thought such a thing was possible.  The Paatin Queen’s words seemed eerily familiar.

‘I do not know what to say,’ he told her.  ‘Perhaps they are merely dreams?’

‘They are not!’ she roared and one of the muscled men
who
lined her room actually bolted from his position in fear and fled through the door.  Luckily for him, she failed to notice and continued stalking her dais.  Magic had begun to boil from her finger and it surrounded her like a tumultuous liquid, curling and twisting around her.  ‘I know dreams from truth, Magician.  Don’t taunt me with such stupidity.  I don’t know what it can mean.  You are useless.  Leave me be!  Go, before I do something I may regret!’ she commanded and Samuel backed away from her as quickly as he dared.  She continued muttering to herself as he left the room and he felt her magic lash out in furious
,
sporadic bursts.  It did not bode well.

Another week passed and Samuel grew anxious about the uncustomary behaviour of the Queen.  The Emperor had also begun acting strangely, looking distant and thoughtful at times, and losing his temper and having tantrums at Samuel, demanding he hurry up and find his ring. 

The Koian woman was also behaving strangely, for she had surrounded her bed with all the furniture and blankets from her room, stringing and piling the sheets to form a makeshift shanty that she inhabited all day.  Shara brought food and water to the woman, but she rarely ventured out, and ran back behind cover if Samuel or Canyon attempted to speak with her.  She had covered her face with the make-up that had been provided to her, but in a hideous fashion, scribbled and smudged all about.  When they beckoned to her, she only croaked at them from her hole and told them ‘
B
egone’.

Samuel ignored such behaviour and left the woman to her strange habits.  He then had to resort to Canyon for the occasional civil conversation.  The man was polite, but aloof
,
and so Samuel was left with nothing to do but venture beneath the mountain at every opportunity. 

He had been hoping for Lomar to appear and miraculously save the day, but more wizards had been attracted to the palace by the Queen’s erratic behaviour and that made the prospect seem even more remote.

It was only as he was tiptoeing about beneath Mount Karthma, far down in the deeper reaches, that Samuel finally had a change of luck.  Peering into a row of neat cells, he found that light was pouring from beneath the door of one and he was delighted when he sensed the familiar presence of Eric on the other side.

‘Eric!’ he hissed.  ‘Is that you?’

‘Samuel!’ came the excited reply.  ‘What took you so long?  Let me out of here!’

‘I can’t.  Not yet.  There’s nowhere for you to hide and I can’t risk alerting the guards until I have found Balten.’

‘Then at least open the door for a moment.  I can’t stand it in here.’

Samuel pulled back the heavy bolt that had been pushed into place, and it groaned as he eased it out of its rusty slot.

‘Thank goodness!’ Eric said and stepped out, stretching his arms wide as if to relieve his cramped muscles.  ‘I thought I was going to be left in there forever.’

‘What of your wounds?’

‘Much better.  The healers have been coming every day.  They cannot use their spells down here, so they cover me in their vile ointments and make me drink some wretched concoctions.  I must admit
though,
they do seem to work quite well.’

Samuel peered into Eric’s cell.  There was a small bed, a bucket of clean water and a bucket for waste.  It looked as though Eric had spent a lot of time on his cot, for it was littered with papers and notes.

‘At least you’ve kept yourself occupied.’

‘If it can be called that.  I’ll go mad if I’m in here much longer.  I need to get out and feel some magic!  How much longer will you be?’

‘I don’t know.  Not long
,
I hope.  A few more days.  This passage marks the end of the southern portion of the catacombs.  I only have the eastern section remaining and I am hoping to find Balten somewhere there.’

‘Well
,
I hope so.  What news from above?’

‘Don’t ask.  Everything is going awfully, but if I can just get my ring
,
we can finally get out of here.  I know where the Empress is and I’m fairly sure I can lure the Paatin Queen away from her wizards and overpower her.’

Eric nodded.  ‘Then don’t forget me.  You may need all the help you can get.’

‘I’m certain of it.’

‘Well.  What are you waiting for?  Go,’ Eric said, strutting back into his cell.  ‘Lock me in and go find Balten.  The sooner you find him, the sooner you can get me out of here.  Just don’t get caught!  You’d better get going.  The guards check on me quite often and they’re due back soon.’

‘All right then.  I will see you soon,’ and with that he pushed the door shut and locked it tight.

‘Samuel!’ Eric called from within.

‘What is it?’

‘I heard something shuffling around out there before.  There are strange sounds from the tunnels, and I also heard screaming.  Have you seen anything strange?’

Samuel immediately thought of the rumoured ghoul of the catacombs, but decided against frightening his friend.  ‘I’m sure it is only the guards.  But keep your lamp well
lit, just in case.’