The Orb And The Spectre (Book 2) (3 page)

   A servant came running. A little way behind him
came Mawnie's nurse, distraught and filled with self-blame. "I went to get the Duchess water, Sire. She sent me. She had knocked over her pitcher, breaking it and spilling the contents. She said she was parched."

  
"Very good. Just help me now."

   Together they got Mawnie back to her bedchamber, but she had to be held down upon the bed. Doctor Melropius came and administered a strong herbal sedative, and eventually Mawnie slept.

   "I’m in two minds as to whether to recommend restraints," said Melropius. "Her condition isn’t improving and I fear she may be a danger to herself, and also to others. But in the Duke's absence I would require your authority, Sire."

   Leth shook his head. "Not unless we absolutely must. Assign two nurses to her at all times. If necessary, as now, they must hold her down. But I will not have her strapped. Not yet. I will put a guard upon her apartment door also."

   Melropius nodded. "And you, Sire? Can I give you something?"

   "Me?"

   "You are under great strain. You must take care, Sire. A potion to calm your nerves, help you to sleep, would be of great benefit just now."

   "I have no need of your potions," Leth flared. "Save your ministrations for those who need them, Doctor."

   He turned and stormed from the chamber.

  
Orbelon, I have to speak to you!

   But only days had passed since he and Orbelon had last met. It seemed unlikely that he would be summoned again so soon.

VI

   On the occasion that Leth had taken the piece of cheese to Orbelon, in line with the strange creature’s request, something unusual had happened. Orbelon asked Leth to place it on the ground between them, then to step back. Then Orbelon had shuffled forward and lowered himself to a sitting position before the cheese. He inhaled deeply, seeming to draw the aroma of the cheese into him with some pleasure.

   "Aah, yes," he breathed. "I remember so well."

   A tattered limb had reached out and taken the cheese into his rags. He sat then, quite still, and for a long time was silent. Eventually he had said, "Good. Good. All is well. Next time, will you bring me water, King Leth?
Just a small amount. And a stone, a simple pebble or piece of gravel will suffice. And lastly, for now, something of wood. Small and easy to carry - even a handful of sawdust will do."

   Leth had ventured a question. "What are these things for?"

   He had the impression that Orbelon was appraising him, considering the question.

   "It is something of an experiment," Orbelon said presently.
"A test. Something that I wish to ascertain after long ages of hope, toil and wonder. But now, Leth, you have begun this session with a question. Previously, in recent meetings, you have listened well. I know there are many questions you would ask if you could. Well, I offer you the opportunity to do so now. Please, ask what you will."

   Leth had hesitated, somewhat surprised. He had grown accustomed to being reprimanded, ignored or even dismissed for introducing questions - at least, those that did not pertain directly to the topic Orbelon had chosen to enlighten him on. Now the questions tumbled before his mind's eye, and he hardly knew where to begin.

   "This place," he said, indicating with his arms the vast enclosed blue space that surrounded him. "What is it? How did it come to be? What is its extent?"

   Orbelon chuckled to himself. "It is the Orb, as I am the Orb. No, hold your indignation! I know this is how I answered you when you posed the same question at our first meeting. But I will say more, insofar as I am able. This place is a realm, an otherwhere that exists within, beyond, and dependent upon your own realm. It is, in a sense, a nothing, yet at the same time it exists, and a nothing cannot truly exist, nor can it be described."

   Leth regretted that he had asked. "You choose to answer me in riddles. Do you make fun of me?"

   The great bundled head shook slowly from side to side. "This place has been created to fulfil a purpose which I cannot yet reveal to you. You ask about its extent. You mean
, does it have a beginning and an end? Yes, it does, in a manner of speaking. But only to those who understand its laws. I say to you, does the cosmos in all its fullness have a beginning and an end? Show me its limits. Do consciousness or unconsciousness have a beginning and an end? Show me their limits. Show me the beginning of Creation, then show me where it ends."

   Leth was disquieted by the answer. He looked about him. "There are walls, in the distance, yet close. But if I move towards them they are never closer."

   "They indicate, perhaps, that no matter how far you go, there will always be something unknown and hidden beyond. Were you to have the means to leave your world and take wing to the stars, how far would you travel, for how long? Would you ever reach the universe's end, or its beginning? If you did, then you would be forced to consider your journey fruitless. For that terminus, that state at which all things begin or end, would reveal to you only that there had to be something beyond, something  in which the condition was contained. Another, greater universe. Another, greater realm. An enigma. Perhaps absolutely nothing - yet it would still exist, for if it did not how could you possibly be aware of it? Or is it possible that, in making the awareness, the leap of imagination, you are actually creating the possibility of the existence of the thing itself?

   "In fact that journey is not necessary, Leth. Not physically. For you are already blessed with the means to undertake it. Do you see? No matter how far you might travel, the journey, truly, is one that leads inwards."

   "I’ve contemplated such mysteries before," said Leth. "They are unanswerable, futile. The more one considers them the more one is taken through terror to the edge of madness."

   "It is in a kind of madness, a letting go of all that is known and familiar, that an answer may be found."

   "No!" Leth shook his head emphatically. "We are going too far."

  
"Too far? You, who have lived your entire life within the Reach? Have you not always known, somewhere deep inside you, that one day you might have to step over. You have surely wondered what might lie on the other side? We are entering Mystery, Leth. Do you not wish to travel? Truly, this is only the beginning."

   "Let me get my breath. Let me step back." Leth had broken into a sweat. His heart pounded, his blood hummed in his ears. "You are asking me to understand too much that I cannot grasp."

   "It is you who are asking the questions, Leth."

   "But your answers fill me with fear."

   "An important admission from one who is King of his realm."

   "Just let me take my own pace. You said once that this place is a prison. Are you its sole occupant? Can you leave?"

   "I said also that it has a role, a purpose."

   "Is its purpose not to contain you?"

   "It is, but not for eternity."

   "Then you can leave?"

   "When certain conditions are fulfilled."

   "Is it all so empty?"

   "It is as you perceive it."

   "Can others exist here?
Do
others exist here?"

   "Ah, now that is an interesting point. The laws of this realm are very precise, held on a delicate balance. I have spent many ages trying to understand them and then to effect modifications of them. I
’ve been successful only to a small degree."

   "But you are alone here?"

   "The concept has no meaning when you understand that not only am I the tenant of this realm, the Orb, but I am also the Orb itself.
Are you alone, Leth, within yourself?
"

   At the time Leth had had no answer. He had not even wanted to answer. The question, like the conversation that preceded it, had his mind spinning. He was left seated in numbed silence before the hunched, tattered figure, and then Orbelon had said, "We have spoken enough for today. Reflect upon these things, Leth.
Until the next time."

   And he had raised his staff and cast the King from his blue and empty realm.

*

   Now Leth had an answer. As he came from the bedchamber where Mawnie lay in her madness, sedated and under guard, he knew without question that he was alone.
Within and without himself. Issul gone, perhaps dead, perhaps a prisoner of his enemy. His people turning against him, his realm in peril of being overwhelmed and lost. He was anguished and raging, and aware that his judgement was no longer clear.

  
'You who have lived your entire life within the Reach. Have you not always known that one day you might have to step over
?'

   My duty is to my people. I must protect them. I must bring them back to me.

  
'You have surely wondered what might lie on the other side?
'

   I have always questioned, thought Leth.
Always wished to know. But not like this.

  
'We are entering Mystery, Leth. Do you not wish to travel?
'

   He shook his head as he walked.

   No! Not like this. Absolutely not!

   He was overcome with a fear, greater, more chilling and more profound than he could explain.

TWO

I

   The rain continued to batter Enchantment's Reach that day, borne in sudden violent blasts on angry winds. In the afternoon Sir Cathbo brought Leth the news that Prince Anzejarl's army had crossed Uxon's Ridge and was now within three leagues of Giswel Holt.

   "That is surely his immediate goal. He has taken the
march town of Wizened Lea. It fell without a fight, the majority of its inhabitants having fled. It’s an important gain for him, providing him with shelter and an adequate base for supplies."

   "How reliable is the report?" queried Leth.

   "It has come by one of Duke Hugo's pigeons. It bears his seal and mark."

   Leth nodded soberly. Wizened Lea had been an anticipated loss, almost a sacrifice. Its occupation came as no surprise. For weeks its people had been pouring into Giswel Holt and Enchantment's
Reach, desperate for shelter, as they had known they would be first in the path of the Karai. Wizened Lea was indefensible. To have met the Karai there would have resulted in quick and brutal defeat.

   Folk were coming from other towns and villages, their numbers ever-increasing. They were women, children and old men in the main. The young and able had been drafted into the army. They swelled the population of the great city-castle until its walls groaned and its towers swayed, placing demands upon its storehouses almost beyond its bearable limit. Passions flared in the streets as resident citizens brunted
the influx. Order was becoming more difficult to establish or control. Ever more urgent requests came to close the city gates on the growing torrent, but Leth refused to turn his people away.

   "Do you ride to meet Anzejarl, Sire?"

   Leth remained resolute. "Hugo can certainly hold out at Giswel Holt for many weeks should the Karai lay siege. Then might an opportunity present itself to strike Anzejarl in the back. But for now he remains fluid. I do not choose to exhaust our troops by chasing him willy-nilly about the countryside."

   "And if he advances on towards Enchantment's Reach?"

   "Then he will be between Hugo and us. Keep me apprised of all reports, Cathbo."

   Sir Cathbo bowed and withdrew. Leth sat in hopeless despair. He had spoken with some bravado but within himself he knew that nothing he could do would be much more than a token gesture against the
Karai. Even a strike into the Karai army's rear would achieve little. The Karai vastly outnumbered the soldiers and knights of Enchantment's Reach. They were enigmatic, emotionless warriors, skilled in battle, who fought without fear of injury or death. And they did not fight alone. Leth's forces would be thrown into disarray by a simultaneous attack from the skies of Anzejarl's terrible slooths.

   How many slooths? Leth could not guess, but fewer than two score, expertly deployed, would be enough to bring havoc and confusion to Leth's ranks which the
Karai might exploit to devastating advantage.

   And there remained Anzejarl's other forces, the fearsome troll-things, so far unseen within Leth's kingdom. Earlier reports of the
Karai campaign had told of the effect these creatures had had as shock troops against the armies of the southern Mondanes that Anzejarl had conquered. Bolstered by such redoubtable allies Prince Anzejarl had made himself a virtually invincible foe.

  
If I could just learn how he has tamed these creatures!
Leth slammed the arm of his seat with his fist.
If I could discover how he has acquired the patronage of a god, how he has torn his nation's constitution to shreds and yet survived to lead. If, if, if. . . .

   His gloomy meditations were interrupted by a servant announcing the Lord High Invigilate. Fectur strode into the chamber, his chest puffed,
a sealed letter in his hand which he passed straight to the King.

   Leth saw at once the illicit
seal of the True Sept.

   "They grow audacious," he said, breaking the seal. The seal on the previous letter had been anonymous, the Sept's insignia contained only on the inside. Leth read the words within:

  ‘
If the Child is truly known, you are helpless without us.
’

   He handed it to Fectur, who nodded, seemingly gratified. "They also grow impatient."

   "They burn for contact, for legitimacy. I will exploit this if I can. But I’ve nothing to give them other than the news that the Child may have been found and has now vanished.
Hardly enough to persuade Venger to disgorge the Sept's most sacred secrets."

   "But they’re keen," emphasized Fectur. "Avid. The thought that the Child may be known by us is more than they can bear. The fact that they contact us again proves that."

   "I will send word," said Leth. "I’ll meet with Venger."

   "Restore him? Restore the Sept?"

   "Under Emergency."

   Fectur shook his head. "I think he will remain invisible under Emergency. No matter the temptation, he will know what it means. But I’ve a better idea. Emergency has’nt
yet been made public. It’s not too late for you to rescind it."

   "No!"

   "Sire!" Fectur leaned towards him, the muscles of his jaw rippling. "Listen to me! Rescind it now, bring Venger out,
then
declare Emergency! Thus he is caught!"

   "I’ve thought of that." Leth's face was rueful and set. "It is not my way. I would be seen by all to be sly and prevaricating, a King without principle, no matter that it snares Grey Venger. Never again would I have the confidence of my people."

   "But Sire--"

   "No! I have declared a Condition of Emergency for a specific, legitimate reason, because the evidence I have convinces me that it is warranted. I will not use such drastic legislation for anything other than its true and proper purpose: to bring order to the realm."

   "Catching an infamous troublemaker, traitor and assassin is surely included within that remit."

   "Not if I must be seen by my people to have stooped to the level of the lowest cheat. That is not the example of a King. No, what’s done is done. I have no intention of changing it."

   "Then you must restore Venger and the True Sept. I would have it set on record, Sire, that I do not counsel such a move. It will be another unpopular decision. However, your only alternative, as far as I see it, is to ignore them. One cannot guess the consequences of that."

   "There may be none," shrugged the King. "Will the information that the Sept possesses be any more valid than the so-called knowledge of the gods that the other factions claim?"

   "Only Venger can answer that." Fectur grasped his lapels and leaned back. "Sire, I must state that for you to have legitimate concourse with Venger at this time cannot improve your position. This is the man who almost murdered you, who is known to hate you beyond reason for the deaths of his two sons. He - or the Sept which he represents - is strongly suspected of having contact with the Karai. Acceptance in public will not go down well."

   "Do you have firm evidence that contact was ever made?"

   "There was a man brought to my custody. He confessed to being a Sept member, and to having been sent to establish relations with Prince Anzejarl."

   Leth gave a scornful toss of the head. "In your custody a man will confess to anything, Fectur. Where is he now?"

   "He died. Regrettably."

   "You have channels to the Sept, still? Could you arrange a meeting, in secret?"

   "It can be done. But there remain the problems of Venger's proclamation of innocence and the restoration of the Sept."

   "Propose the meeting, Fectur. Let Venger know that I’m prepared to discuss with him his demands. I leave it to you to establish the conditions, but make it clear that, in this instance at least, Venger will be free of any risk of legal action for the duration of the meeting."   

   "Are you sure of this, Sire?"

   "I am."

   "I would again impress upon you my reservations."

  
"Acknowledged. Now, about your business, man, if there is nothing else you wish to say."

II

   Late that night, sleepless, King Leth stood at the window of his and Issul's bedchamber. The rain still fell, racing cloud concealing the stars, permitting an intermittent, delicate silvered radiance from the moon to bathe the world for brief moments. In the distance the weird lights were a feeble, misted blur, marking the border of Enchantment, definite enough for Leth to discern something of their alternating hues through the low cloud. Between him and the weird lights, beyond the jagged outlines of Enchantment's Reach, lay a dark void, the great forest wilderness, a nothing, cloaked in wet mist, touched here and there with faintest moonlight streaked by rain.

   It seemed that he gazed upon a reflection of his misery.

   I am King! The people look to me for decisiveness, for resoluteness, for strength. I am not permitted to be a man. More, much more, is demanded of the King. I can show no weakness. I cannot be vulnerable to the pressures and anguishes of ordinary folk.
   And I am empty.

   His eyes travelled over the great abyss before him.
Issul. Issul. Are you out there somewhere? Do you live? Do you breathe? Do you struggle to return to me, as I yearn to have you return?

   He thrust himself away from the window, unable to contemplate any more. But the candlelit chamber offered no succour, the bed no comfort. He strode the room, then back again. Something caught his eye and he paused, straining to see into one shadowed corner.

   A figure seemed to stand there, hardly formed, immaterial. Vaguely the shape of a man, hunched and bowed, bundled in rags, bearing a staff.

  
"Orbelon?"

   The figure made no sound, though it moved slightly. It was only half-seen, for an instant became better defined, then faded, faded, and was no more.

   Leth blinked, peering hard. Was it hallucination? He was overtired, overwrought. The shadows there were dense and indistinct. Had he conjured only what he wished to see?

   He heard a sound, a half-whispered voice: "Aah, so close. . . ."

   But no more.

   Had he heard it, or imagined it? The wind - it had fooled his ears as the shadows and flickering candlelight had fooled his eyes. There was nothing.

   Or was he mad?

   Leth advanced cautiously to the corner, his hand before him. But he found only the emptiness of shadows, as he had expected to do.

   He turned and flung himself upon the bed, grasped the pillow and gathered it about his head. But nothing could separate him from the torment within.

   The night passed slowly. The rain moved on, little by little the wind abated. Leth hovered on the uncertain border between sleep and consciousness, the undefinable edge on either side of which lay the vast reach of the real and palpable and the hallucinatory and intangible. And at some point, undeterminable in time's sequence, he found himself before the blue casket in a dream, and heard the irresistible summons: "Come now, Leth."

   Instantly awake, Leth hurled himself from his bed, seized a lamp and rushed to his study. He took the casket from the wall, found it unsealed, raised its lid. When the familiar dazzle subsided he found himself before Orbelon in the great blue chamber.

   "You are distraught?"

   "I’m threatened on all sides. War is upon me. I fear losing all."

   "It is the
Karai who advance upon you?" asked Orbelon.

   "They are within my borders now. I lack the forces to withstand them."

   "They are moving with greater speed than I had anticipated," Orbelon mused. "Their need is surely urgent."

   "Do you know which god it is that allies itself with the
Karai?"

   "I could venture guesses as to the most likely, but I would only be furnishing you with a list of as many as ten names to choose from, none of which would mean anything to you. It’s therefore pointless to speculate. I presume your spies have witnessed no unusual company in the
Karai camp?"

   "Anzejarl travels with a consort who is not believed to be
Karai. My agents are unable to get close so it is difficult to be sure. Apart from that there is no one."

   "There is the clue, then. The
Karai do not mix with other races."

   "She is the god?" Leth was astounded.

   "More likely the servitor, sorcerous fabrication, simulacrum or projection of one. But it is surely through her that Prince Anzejarl commands his unnatural creatures. Still, this does not help me to identify a specific god."