The Sword of Bheleu (27 page)

Garth lost track of what was happening for several minutes as the crowd gathered around the ox-drawn wagons with much loud talking. He made his way nearer; the presence of Koros at his heel meant that he need not fight the throng, which parted before the warbeast's fangs like snow before flame.

When he reached the caravan he saw that the villagers were unloading grain, furs, and other goods from the wagons, with Yprian humans keeping careful tally of what was taken, and the Yprian overmen overseeing the operation, making certain that everything went smoothly and no pilferage occurred. As each cart or wagon was emptied of what the people of Skelleth wanted, the man who had been watching it brought the listing of what had been taken and what was left to the group by the warbeasts where Tand, Saram, and several Yprians took note and added the items to their own listings. Galt had made his way in from the other side of the crowd and was watching with evident interest.

Frima was shut out, being far too short to see above the shoulders of the traders; she came over, eyes shining in the torchlight, to speak to Garth.

“Isn't it wonderful?” she exclaimed.

“It is, indeed,” Garth agreed.

“There's enough here to last half the winter!”

Garth could not help wondering aloud, “But what of the other half?”

“Oh, don't worry! We'll manage something! Saram won't let Skelleth starve.”

Garth noted where she put her trust. “You seem pleased with Saram's company,” he remarked.

“Oh, I love him! He's so kind and gentle! Thank you, Garth, for rescuing me from Dûsarra and bringing me here!”

Garth found himself amused by her shift in loyalties, but before he could reply, Saram, Tand, and an Yprian suddenly drowned out other conversation, debating the value of Yprian wine in belligerent shouts. Saram, quickly outmatched by the superhuman bellowings of the two overmen, dropped out and tried to settle grain prices with another of the caravan's attendants.

Galt noticed Garth's presence and came over to speak.

When the debate died suddenly with Tand's concession that even such a poor vintage was worth a pennyweight of gold for every twenty skins to a starving village, Galt remarked, “We are doing well. Our gold buys here seven times what it brought in Lagur.”

“Fortunate indeed, since my supply is not unlimited; Tand has just sworn away half a pound of gold on wine and spices, if I heard right.”

“Yours is not the only gold in Skelleth; we'll take up a collection when time permits. And do not think Tand wastes the gold; we can send some of Saram's people to Ordunin with those wineskins and spice jars and bring you at least triple your money. You've got the trade you wanted, Garth.”

Garth nodded and watched.

Half an hour later the trading was finished; the Yprian oxcarts were mostly empty, and Garth's gold was approximately halved. Skelleth's people were scattering to wherever they currently made their homes, makeshift for most, permanent for a lucky few; the food and goods purchased were being stored in one of the new houses, under the supervision of several of Saram's ministers, for later distribution, save for furs and warm clothing that had been handed out to the old, the ill-clad, and the children of the village. The Yprians themselves made camp in the market, where they could keep a good eye on their profits and their remaining goods. Garth, Tand, Galt, Saram, and Frima gathered in the King's Inn for a round of drinks to celebrate the evening's events before retiring.

There was much congratulation of Tand and his fellows, and the apprentice trader remarked in reply, “It was mostly luck; they were eager to trade. In fact their leader, Fargan, tells me he's planning a second expedition, to be made with sledges instead of wagons, now that the snows have come.”

“We can use it,” Saram said. “And we'll want to buy some of those sledges, or build our own, and send them up to Ordunin, Galt tells me.”

“There would be a fine profit in it,” Galt agreed.

“I might send a party to Ur-Dormulk as well,” Saram mused.

No one answered him; they were all tired and thirsty and preferred to drink.

Garth leaned back in his chair, which creaked warningly beneath his weight, and sipped wine. He smiled to himself.

False oath or no, and whatever the state of his personal honor, there was no denying that he had done at least some good here. The gold he had brought from the temple of Aghad and the knowledge of overmen on the Yprian Coast acquired in Dûsarra had saved Skelleth from starvation. The trade he had sought was at last a reality, and Ordunin would be free of Lagur's monopoly. He was himself free of the Sword of Bheleu. His enemies were defeated, and the Baron of Skelleth dead.

Things might be better, but for the present they would do.

Appendix A

Glossary of Gods Mentioned in the Text

(There are four classes of deity in Eramman theology. Dagha is in an unnamed class by himself, above all others. The other major gods are divided into the seven Lords of Eir, or beneficent gods, and the seven Lords of Dûs, or dark gods. Finally, there are innumerable Arkhein, or minor gods, who are neither wholly good nor wholly evil, but cover a broad range between. This glossary is arranged alphabetically, disregarding these distinctions and the elaborate hierarchy within each group, but each god's listing specifies in which of the categories he belongs.)

AAL: Reckoned either second or third of the Lords of Eir, Aal is the god of growth and fertility; he is worshipped widely, being the special favorite of farmers and pregnant women.

AGHAD: Fourth among the Lords of Dûs, Aghad is the god of hatred, loathing, fear, betrayal, and most other actively negative emotions. He is widely sworn by, but worshipped only by his relatively small cult.

AMERA: Goddess of the day, Amera is seventh and last among the Lords of Eir. She is worshipped widely nevertheless and revered as the mother of the sun.

ANDHUR: One of the two aspects of Andhur Regvos, sixth Lord of Dûs, Andhur is god of darkness. He is extremely unpopular.

ANDHUR REGVOS: See ANDHUR and REGVOS.

AYVI: First of the Lords of Eir, Ayvi is the god of life and conception. Since he is ruler only of the creation of life, and not its preservation or improvement, he is prayed to only by would-be parents and breeders of livestock. His name is rarely used; like his dark counterpart, The God Whose Name Is Not Spoken, he is usually referred to by description rather than by name, e.g., Life, the Life-God, the Birth-God (inaccurate but common), the First God.

BEL VALA: God of strength and preservation, Bel Vala is rated either second or third among the Lords of Eir. He is a favorite god of soldiers and warriors, and supposed to be of particular aid if prayed to in times of dire stress.

BHELEU: God of chaos and destruction, ranked second among the Lords of Dûs. Bheleu is worshipped only by a very few people since Garth's killing of his Dûsarran cultists, mostly the more deranged and violent lords and warriors.

DAGHA: In a class by himself/herself/itself, Dagha is the god of time and the creator of the Lords of Eir and Dûs. Dagha is the only deity not assigned a gender, though he is customarily referred to in the masculine form for the sake of convenience. Believed to be above all mundane concerns, Dagha is not worshipped or prayed to.

DÛS, LORDS OF: The dark gods: Tema, Andhur Regvos, Sai, Aghad, P'hul, Bheleu, and The God Whose Name Is Not Spoken.

EIR, LORDS OF: The gods of light: Amera, Leuk, Gan, Pria, Bel Vala, Aal, and Ayvi.

EKNISSA: Arkhein goddess of fire, worshipped mostly by barbaric tribesmen.

ERAMMA: The Arkhein earth-mother goddess, for whom the Kingdom of Eramma was named, since the kingdom's founders intended it to take in all the world, a goal that it never came close to achieving. The worship of Eramma is considered old-fashioned, but still lingers among farming folk.

GAU: Fifth among the Lords of Eir, Gau is goddess of joy and pleasure in all its forms, including eating, sex, and strong drink, as well as the less earthly delights of humor and good company. Worshipped everywhere, in various and sundry ways.

GOD WHOSE NAME IS NOT SPOKEN, THE: This term is used to refer to the first of the Lords of Dûs, the god of death. He does have a name, known to a very few, but it is popularly believed that any person speaking the name aloud will die instantly. He is sometimes referred to simply as Death. He is not worshipped, but shunned everywhere, feared even by the caretakers of his temple in Dûsarra. Various circumlocutions are used to avoid mentioning him; he is known as the Final God, the Death-God, and other such things.

KEWERRO: A very ancient Arkhein god identified with storms and the north wind. Placatory sacrifices are common, but he has no real worshippers.

KOROS: Arkhein god of war, strife, and battle, often considered to be Bheleu's son and servant. Worshipped by the more fanatical soldiers and warriors.

LEUK: Sixth of the Lords of Eir, Leuk is the god of light, color, and insight.

MELLITH: Arkhein goddess of lightning.

MORI: Arkhein god of the sea, worshipped by sailors everywhere. The Sea of Mori is believed to be the god's particular home.

P'HUL: Third among the Lords of Dûs, P'hul is the goddess of decay, disease, and age. She is worshipped only by her small cult in Dûsarra, but is widely prayed to in hopes of warding off her touch.

PRIA: Fourth among the Lords of Eir, Pria is the goddess of love, friendship, and peace, and of beneficial emotions generally, the exact opposite and counterpart to Aghad. She is one of the most popular deities.

REGVOS: The more popular of the two aspects of Andhur Regvos, sixth Lord of Des, Regvos is the god of blindness, ignorance, stupidity, and folly.

SAI: Fifth among the Lords of Dûs, Sai is the goddess of pain and suffering. Where her brother Aghad dominates the actively negative emotions, Sai is the ruler of the passively negative: despair, sorrow, acquiescence, masochism. She is secretly worshipped by those with a sadistic streak throughout the world, since physical pain is within her province.

SAVEL SKAI: Arkhein god of the sun; the name means “the bright shining one.” Popular to swear by, but not seriously worshipped by civilized people.

SNEG: Sneg is god of the winter, one of the four Arkhein falling into the subcategory of Yaroi, or gods of the seasons. He is worshipped only by those who depend upon him, such as ice-cutters.

SIM: Arkhein god of cold, usually closely associated with Sneg.

TEMA: Seventh of the Lords of Dûs, Tema is the goddess of the night and its creatures. She is the patroness of most of the population of Dûsarra and much of the rest of Nekutta as well.

WEIDA: Arkhein goddess of wisdom, Weida is worshipped by scholars and seers everywhere.

Appendix B

A History of This Novel

The Sword of Bheleu
is the third volume in the four-part “Lords of Dûs” series. There are no published spin-offs or related series outside the four volumes, nor are any presently in the works, but the possibility of adding more eventually hasn't been ruled out.

I described the origins of the series as a whole in the appendices to the previous volumes, so I won't repeat that here, but I will explain where
The Sword of Bheleu
came from.

There were four major sources. Three of them were stories in my original series outline, back when I thought Garth would be the hero of a series of short works—stories I never wrote.

In my original plans most of the stories were intended to be about Garth running various errands for the Forgotten King, but there were two that were not. These two were instead going to center on other people reacting to Garth's actions and the Forgotten King's plans.

One of them, “Skelleth,” would have dealt with the Baron of Skelleth learning that there's a powerful overman running errands for a mysterious magical character in his village, and wanting a piece of the action.

The other, “The Decision of the Council,” would have dealt with the other magicians in the world responding to the discovery that someone is upsetting, stealing, destroying, or destabilizing various important magical artifacts.

Another story, “The Fall of Fortress Lagur,” would have involved Garth running an errand, but would also have included material about the relationship between Garth and the City Council of Ordunin.

The actual impetus for what became
The Sword of Bheleu
, though, was the way
The Seven Altars of Dûsarra
had worked out. In writing the novel I had made the Sword of Bheleu more powerful than I had originally intended it to be, and had thrown in a bunch of background that all fit in with what I'd planned, but which wasn't part of the scheme I'd started with. The system of ages, the identity of the Forgotten King, the vendetta by the cult of Aghad—that had all been added, and once I'd set it up I couldn't really ignore it. It was obvious that the third book in the series had to deal with the Sword, and with Garth's relationship to the gods—and it made sense to me to take those three stories about Garth's relationships with other powers and add them to the mix, combining everything into a single package.

So I did.
The Sword of Bheleu
starts off with a blend of what would have been “Skelleth” and “The Fall of Fortress Lagur”—though I completely removed Lagur itself, and the errand the King would have sent Garth on—and then segues into “The Decision of the Council” to finish out the book. The working title was, in fact,
The Decision of the Council
, partly because I thought calling a fantasy novel
The Sword of
[invented name] was a dreadful cliché, but Lester del Rey was of the very definite opinion that that “Sword of” formulation had become a cliché because it
works
, and that
The Decision of the Council
was static and dull. Thus,
The Sword of Bheleu
it became, even though nobody can pronounce “Bheleu.” It is, in fact, the only one of all the hundreds of names I've invented that
I
invariably have trouble pronouncing correctly.

A few quick notes on obscure sources for details in the story:

The name “The Council of the Most High” was inspired by a Jefferson Airplane song called “War Movie” that contains a line, “Call high, to the Most High Directors!” I liked the sound of that, and in the earliest part of the very first draft my magicians were “The Council of the Most High Directors.” I quickly shortened it to something I thought was more appropriate, though.

There is a formula Bheleu recites a couple of times: “I am Bheleu, god of destruction! Death and desolation follow me as hounds; cities are sundered at my touch, and the earth itself shattered! Who are you that dare to affront me thus?” This was inspired by a recurring line in Sapir and Murphy's early novels in the Destroyer series: “I am created Shiva, the destroyer; death, the shatterer of worlds, the blind night tiger made whole by Sinanju. What is this dog meat that stands before me?” I thought that was a neat gimmick, giving a superhuman hero a ritual introduction like that, so I swiped the idea. The Destroyer's version is in turn based on a line from the
Bhagavad Gita
, one of the Hindu scriptures; the same line in a somewhat different translation was quoted by Robert Oppenheimer on the occasion of the Trinity test in 1945, the first man-made nuclear explosion: “I am created Death, the shatterer of worlds...”

My own copy of the
Bhagavad Gita
has a completely different and far less poetic translation, by the way.

The name Saram—I should have mentioned this in previous volumes—is shortened from Saram-Silva, the name of the character played by Keith Bass in a
Dungeons & Dragons
campaign I ran when I was in college. I have no idea where Keith got it; I assume he just made it up. My character is nothing at all like his, not even the same species; I only borrowed the name.

Speaking of people I knew in college, at least one old friend accused me of basing the Baron of Skelleth on him. The Baron of Skelleth actually
was
partially based on someone I knew in college—but not him. I had a heck of a time convincing him, though. I learned my lesson from that, and have never since consciously based any of my characters on my friends or relatives. If you're an old friend and think you recognize yourself anywhere in my work—you're wrong. (Well, unless you're the guy I
really
based the Baron of Skelleth on, and I haven't heard from him in twenty years.)

Chalkara of Kholis, while not based on a real person, was deliberately written as someone I'd like to meet.

There's one other major source I was drawing on in writing this series, but I think I'll leave that explanation for the final volume.

The Sword of Bheleu
was first published January 1983 by Del Rey Books, ISBN 0-345-30777-1. The original cover art was by Laurence Schwinger. There were at least five Del Rey printings. The novel has been translated into German, Spanish, and Italian.

The Del Rey edition went out of print in the early 1990s, and I reclaimed the rights. In 2001 I signed a contract with Wildside Press to publish this new edition.

In preparing the Wildside Press edition I've generally followed the Del Rey edition. A few typos and other small errors have been corrected, but no significant editing has been done.

The only significant differences are in these appendices, and the new map. The map in the Del Rey edition, although based on my own original map, was drawn by Chris Barbieri, and Wildside was unable to obtain the rights to it. We are therefore using the revised map I drew for the new edition of
The Lure of the Basilisk
, as adapted by Alan Rodgers at Wildside.

Appendix A was in the Del Rey edition; B and C are new.

Lawrence Watt-Evans

Gaithersburg, MD

February 2002