The Icemark Chronicles: The Cry of the Icemark (34 page)

“Oskan. Look!”

He followed her pointing finger and gasped. “There are dozens of them!”

“Dozens that we can see. There are probably hundreds or even thousands more watching us at this very minute.”

The werewolves thundered on, following Taradan closely as he approached a sheer rock wall at the end of the valley. Thirrin could now see that a broad platform like a terrace lay
at the foot of this towering cliff, and at its very center stood a large boulder draped in crystalline splendor, with huge icicles that glittered and shone in the starlight like carved diamonds. But this spectacle paled into insignificance as she realized that the entire platform was packed with hundreds and hundreds of Snow Leopards.

“Oskan, they’re everywhere!”

“I know, I can see them,” he answered in a very small voice.

They stared wonderingly at the giant cats sitting in ordered ranks around the central boulder that rose ten feet or so above them. But then Thirrin realized that something else sat at the very top of the rock. It was the largest leopard they’d seen so far. Its fur was brilliantly white and marked with spots, rosettes, and small stripes that were so black, it seemed the night sky had dripped its darkness onto the fine fur. But as their sleigh drew closer it was the magnificent head that held their gaze. The eyes were red-amber like the deeply glowing coals of a fire, and the whiskers were like fine spindles of ivory. And then, when the animal yawned, the deep red of its mouth was the perfect setting for the array of teeth that gleamed and glistened as though polished.

Taradan stopped, as did the sleighs following him. He walked slowly back to Thirrin and Oskan. “Welcome to the court of Lord Tharaman-Thar. As you can see, you are expected, and the Thar himself will listen to your request.”

“Will you present us?” Thirrin asked.

“That will be my honor,” he said. Then, lowering his head as though bowing, he whispered, “Show him the fire you showed me. Hide your fear and be as haughty as an empress.”

“When I want your advice, Mr. Pussycat, I’ll give you due notice,” she answered with a cold glare.

“That’s the way,” said Taradan approvingly, and winked at her.

Thirrin and Oskan both stepped down from the sleigh and followed the herald to the high platform. The sight of so many huge leopards, all staring intently at them as they approached, made the short walk a very uncomfortable experience. But both managed to hide their fear, and they walked with their heads held high.

There was a flight of graded rocks that served as steps up to the natural dais, and as Thirrin and Oskan climbed these, the nearest leopards drew back and a pathway opened up to where Tharaman-Thar was waiting.

A murmur of small growls and whispers rose up as they walked through the throng of enormous cats, but otherwise they were silent and looked constantly up at the boulder as though waiting for the Thar to set the tone of their greeting. Meanwhile Tharaman-Thar was lying at his ease and washing a paw. He seemed completely unaware of the humans and slightly bored. Eventually Thirrin and Oskan arrived at the foot of his boulder-throne and stood waiting quietly.

Taradan the herald let out an enormous roar that echoed around the cliffs and proclaimed, “All hail the Lord Tharaman, great Thar of the Snow Leopards and Ruler of the Icesheets. His will brings the sun back to the sky and allows winter to reign in its due season. He is lor —”

“Yes, yes. Get on with it, Taradan. I don’t want to be here all day. Who have you brought me?” asked Tharaman-Thar in a deep and refined voice.

Thirrin drew her sword, planted it firmly between her feet, and rested her hands on the hilt. She’d been warned that the Snow Leopard King would respect only bravery and confidence so, drawing a deep steadying breath, she said, “He’s
brought
you no one at all. But if you allowed him to do his job properly and announce me, you’d find out that he has
escorted
a fellow monarch into your presence!” Her voice cut sharply into the cold air, and the huge leopards all stared at her in shock.

“My name is
Queen
Thirrin Freer Strong-in-the-Arm Lindenshield, Wildcat of the North, Ruler of the Icemark. My will commands no heavenly bodies, and no season waits for my permission to begin. But even so, I
do
demand a little respect from my equals and deference from my many inferiors!”

Tharaman-Thar turned his huge head to look at her, and his amber eyes glowed deeply. “So, the legends are true. Human beings do exist and they can speak our language. How amusing.” He turned to wash his paw again. “I was of two minds whether to believe the reports. But now I see they were right in every way. And yes, you are puny, aren’t you?”

Thirrin controlled her anger and directed it into her voice. “For my part, I’d heard nothing of the Snow Leopards until a few days ago; their fame seems to be restricted to a scant area of the frozen wastelands. But I have been warned over the last few hours or so that their ruler is arrogant and has no knowledge of how to behave in a civilized manner when receiving guests!”

A gasp rose up from the surrounding courtiers, Tharaman-Thar stopped washing his paw to glare at her, and Taradan looked intently at the ground. “It was you who sliced the whiskers and beard from my herald, wasn’t it?” said Tharaman-Thar.

“It was. I found his manners needed improving. But now I see the fault was not his.”

The Thar climbed to his feet and let out a huge roar at this, but gritting her teeth against her fear Thirrin ignored him, and turning to Taradan said, “Please accept my apologies, Master Herald. I realize now that the fault was not yours; your
society is barely civilized, and no one has the right to expect better behavior from an individual than his homeland can teach him.”

Tharaman-Thar roared again and loomed menacingly from the edge of the boulder-throne. “The lemming shouldn’t squeak in a parliament of cats!”

“I’ve no idea what a lemming is, My Lord Tharaman-Thar, but I bet very few of them are battle-trained, tough as boiled leather, and armed with a sword that could slice open a cat’s throat before it even considered leaping from a rock!” As quick as a striking heron she spun around and thrust her sword into the open mouth of a leopard that had moved up behind her. “Perhaps you don’t value this individual, My Lord Thar. But if you really don’t want me to skewer its brain, I suggest you order it to withdraw.”

The Thar of the Leopards nodded almost imperceptibly at the huge cat, and it stepped carefully away. “Why have you come? What do you want of us?”

Thirrin turned to face the throne again and said angrily, “After a polite greeting, those should have been your first questions!”

“I can only thank you for the valuable lessons in etiquette you are giving us,” the Thar said sarcastically. “But now perhaps you’ll be polite enough to answer me.”

“Certainly. I came to offer you friendship.”

The giant leopard laughed. “A fine way you have of showing it! And why should we need or want your friendship, anyway?”

“Because the day your existence is known to humans, many people will come, but they won’t be offering friendship — only war!”

“And why would they come to the Hub of the World?”

“To rule it. To enslave your people, to kill you and take your skins.”

“Take our skins?” Tharaman-Thar asked incredulously. “Why would they do that? Haven’t they skins of their own?”

“Oh yes, but humans feel the cold, and your skins are so beautiful they’ll want to make them into clothes so they can look as lordly and as gorgeous as you.”

The huge leopard fell silent, and his amber eyes looked out over the starlit ice fields. “How can I believe such a thing? You hardly seem a threat at all, being so small and insignificant. And not only that, you’re the only humans I’ve ever seen. You’re a legend to the Leopard People. How can I know that there are more than a few of you?”

“Humans inhabit almost every part of the world,” said Thirrin. “I’m told we speak many different languages, we have different-colored skins, and we believe in many different gods. But in one way we are nearly all the same. We fight wars, we want power and wealth, and we want to dominate everything we see around us. We are truly terrible and terrifying if you only knew it. We may seem puny, but our numbers are overwhelming, and our weapons of war make us stronger than the most ferocious warriors of any other species. Be afraid of humans, Tharaman-Thar. Be afraid for your Snow Leopards. Once the eyes of humanity are turned on you, there will be little you can do to save yourselves and your lands. You will be hunted and killed, you will be stripped of your homes, your dignity, even your fur, and you will be left to go into the dark of death to be forgotten by the lands you once ruled.”

Tharaman-Thar stared at her long and hard, then spoke in a quiet voice. “If I were to believe you, Thirrin-Thar, why should I make an alliance with such hideous monsters?”

“Because I said we are
nearly
all the same. Some of us are honorable and live with our neighbors without harm, or at least with as little harm as possible. We hunt to eat, as you do, and we take from nature what we need. But some of us take as little as we can and try always to pay back when the opportunity is given. But now even we are threatened by our own species. And if we fall, then you will, too. A great war is coming against a ruthless Empire — and I am trying to build an alliance of free peoples of many species to fight it. Already the Wolffolk have joined with us, and even the Vampire King and Queen, but we need more allies or we’ll fail. I offer you friendship and death, I offer you despair and a glimmer of hope, I offer a long struggle with no way of knowing how it will end. But alone you will definitely fall — this year or the next or the one after that, but fall you undoubtedly will. With us, you will at least have a chance.”

In the silence that followed, Tharaman-Thar raised his head as though scenting the wind, and when he looked down again, he said, “I smell your spirit, Queen Thirrin. It is young but strong, and it will tell nothing but the truth. But your words are strange and terrible. How can we accept the threat and power of this Empire that we have never seen or indeed even heard of before this day? And why should we form an alliance with any people, when we have lived alone since the One made us from the ice of the land, the light of the moon, and the fire of the sun?”

Thirrin remained silent as she gathered her thoughts. Setting her shoulders in determination, she said, “Leopards of the Hub, I believe even the Great Creator holds its breath tonight. The One made us of different form but placed in our throats the same tongue and in our heads the same thoughts,
so that one day its two favorites of all Creation could talk.” Her voice echoed on the freezing air, the natural amphitheater of the rock walls and cliffs projecting her voice far out over the valley. She’d hoped that reminding the leopards of their creation myth — which King Grishmak of the Wolffolk had told her about — would draw some response, but they remained silent. She almost panicked as she faced the unblinking gaze of thousands of amber eyes. But fighting for control, she drew breath and went on. “Tharaman-Thar asked who the people are who threaten my lands and your lives, so I’ll attempt to explain. The Polypontian Empire is huge; it stretches from the Southern Sea to the east and west beyond our knowledge. Its rulers are cruel, unstoppable, and trample everything in their path.”

“So you say,” a voice called from the ranks of leopards. “How do we know they’re not simply your personal enemy you want to destroy?”

“A good question,” the Thar said, turning to Thirrin. “Well, how do we know?”

“You don’t; you can’t,” Thirrin answered, feeling her battle-blood rising. “You have only my word, the word of a creature who walked out of your legends and into reality only today. But if I can’t convince you that I’m telling the truth, then we’ll all die, it’s as simple as that. My cities will burn, my people will be enslaved, and the Polypontian Empire will ruthlessly extend its borders farther and farther to the north until they discover another land, the Hub of the World, fantastic and beautiful and unconquered. And you will then have to fight alone against a mighty enemy and, have no illusions about this, you
will
lose and you
will
die in your thousands.”

Suddenly a huge anger burned up in her frame and, striding to the boulder-throne of the Thar, she climbed it and stood
looking out on the massive crowd. Drawing her sword she shouted, “But if the Snow Leopards of the Hub will not help in their own war, then my people and their allies will die fighting to defend the borders of this land
you
believe to be safe. Shame on you if you do nothing in defense of the north!”

The giant leopard sighed, then strolled to where Thirrin stood. “Would you be so kind as to answer my questions without the rhetoric and insults? This Parliament of Leopards requires only facts and information to make its decision. Your personal views and jibes only cloud the issues.”

Thirrin felt her face burn, but took comfort in the probability that the giant cats wouldn’t recognize human embarrassment. “I stand ready to answer any questions put to me by the Parliament, but reserve the right to voice my opinion on any issue.”

“Very well. Then answer me this. You mentioned our creation myth, so am I right in assuming that one of the reasons you expect help from my leopards is because our peoples were both loved by the Great Creator?”

“One
of the reasons, yes.”

“And am I also right in assuming that the people of the Polypontian Empire are human beings, too, and therefore loved equally by the Great Creator?”

“Well, yes, they are human, but —”

“But
they’re
a threat and therefore we should help
you.”

“Yes.”

“But why should we assume that the One wants us to kill
them?
We share the gift of speech with all human people, not just the population of the Icemark. One day, perhaps, I will be talking to envoys from the Empire, and remember, we have only your word that our conversation will be anything but friendly.”