Trillium - Sky Trillium Part 22

"Your son Tolivar, of course," said the Archd.u.c.h.ess. "The one who wears the Three-Headed Monster. He had the star-box and the second talisman as well- the Burning Eye-but your sister Kadiya forced him to give those back to her."

"Tola... my talisman... This is impossible! The boy is in Var, thousands of leagues from here, and so is Kadi. And Tola does not have the coronet."

Again Naelore laughed. "What mother truly knows her own child? He has possessed it-and used it-for at least four years, unbeknownst to all save the Star Master, who speaks to the boy in his dreams. Now your precious son and his aunt and their surviving henchmen are here in Sobrania, just as you are. I doubt not that you will meet the lot of them before long, to your mutual sorrow."

Tazor hoisted the Queen, who had gone flaccid with shock, onto the rear of the Archd.u.c.h.ess's saddle. He then bound Anigel's hands and wrapped her well in a cloak. "I will deal with the others and catch up with you, Imperial Highness," he said to Naelore. "But do not let the Master delay the invasion on my account."

Naelore nodded curtly and mounted. Lifting her silver-gloved hand in farewell to Tazor, she sent her nyar speeding away.

"Will you take us back to Castle Conflagrant, then?" Ledavardis of Raktum asked the Star Man. Ledavardis and Queen Jiri were now on their feet, while old Widd knelt with his arms about Raviya, both of them pale but serene of countenance.

"No," Tazor said, peering down at Gyorgibo, who had begun to groan and stir from promptings of the Guildsman's boot. "I am going to shut the lot of you up in the imperial hunting lodge, where our army spent the night. It lies about eighty leagues downriver from here, a six- or seven-hour ride. The ferocious denizens of the Lirda will keep you secure for a few days until we complete our business in Brandoba and retrieve you."

He addressed Hakit Botal. "Sir President, you and the Goblin Kinglet wade across the river and catch your wandering fronials. Make haste, or I will burn the ears off one of these ladies with my fire-squirter." Resting his weapon on one shoulder, he turned to Duumvir Prigo. "You! Take up that old sword and cut two long poles and several lengths of stout vine. We will have to make a drag-litter for Princess Raviya." And to Ga-Bondies: "Remove the harness and blanket from that dead steed, then unbuckle the leathers and make them into separate straps."

As the able-bodied male hostages went to their ch.o.r.es, Tazor ambled over to Jiri, Raviya, and Widd, who had been whispering among themselves. "How fares the old dame?" he asked, not unkindly.

"The Eternal Princess is suffering mostly from exhaustion," said the Queen of Galanar. "The litter is an excellent idea. Will you also make one for the poor Archduke?"

The Star Man gave a nasty chuckle. "Let him travel trussed and flung over my saddle, like a dead nunchik. It matters not. Unlike the rest of you, he will not long survive his sister's ascent to the imperial throne."

"I don't suppose," Jiri said in a wheedling manner, "that you have wine you might spare for Princess Raviya? It would give her strength."

"Take the bottleskin from my saddlebag."

Jiri eyed the tall nyar askance. "Oh my! I would not dare approach that dreadful bird-"

"I have enchanted it with my Star. It will not move nor harm you unless I give the command."

Jiri went to the great creature and began rummaging in one of the saddlebags, which was so high as to be nearly above her head. "Perhaps the bottle is on the other side," she said, and went around the bird out of Tazor's sight. A moment later she called out, "I still can't seem to find it."

Grumbling, the Star Man went to a.s.sist her. The plump, middle-aged Queen stood back, smiling apologetically with both hands thrust up her ample sleeves. Holding his weapon in one hand, Tazor turned away from her and groped inside the feather-trimmed leather pouch with the other.

Jiri stepped up behind him. The s.p.a.ce between the bottom edge of the sorcerer's starburst helmet and the upper part of his cuira.s.s was narrow, only about two fingers wide. The Queen whipped a war flail out of her sleeve, whirled its chain overhead, and sent the heavy iron swingle at the chain's end squarely into the aperture of the armor. There was a ghastly snap. His neck broken, Tazor dropped in his tracks without uttering a sound.

The nyar came abruptly to life, roaring, and gave a short hop backward. It sc.r.a.ped one huge clawed foot in the mud in challenge, lowered its head, and tensed to spring at the Queen.

From the bushes came a figure scuttling on hands and knees. It was the Archduke Gyorgibo, who scooped up the weapon of the Vanished Ones which Tazor had let fall and fired it directly into the wide-open fanged beak of the monster that menaced Jiri. The nyar's head vanished in a burst of red fire and the colossal body thudded onto the ground.

"Heldo's Tentacles!" cried King Ledavardis. He and Hakit Botal were standing on the opposite bank of the small river, awestruck at what the Queen and Gyorgibo had done.

"I am truly sorry about Tazor," Jiri said. "He was by no means as deep-dyed a reprobate as Naelore." A tear gleamed in her eye and the Archduke put a comforting arm about her.

The two Duumviri now sidled up and gaped at the dead Star Man and the headless carnivore.

"Mother-in-law," Prigo said shakily, "I am overwhelmed. I salute your warrior prowess."

"What in G.o.d's name did you hit the fellow with?" Ga-Bondies asked.

"An old war flail that I picked up in the castle dungeon." She shook loose of Gyorgibo's embrace. "I must go to Raviya. All this violence must have been a great shock to her."

But the Eternal Princess was sitting up, calmly rearranging her mussed snowy hair, while Widd squatted beside her. "I don't suppose you ever found that wine," Raviya said to Jiri.

The Queen smiled. "It was in the first saddlebag I examined. Fortunately, the nyar did not fall on top of it. There is food, too."

"We can all share it," Raviya declared, "and then we really ought to be riding on. I'll be fit once I get a little something into my stomach." She c.o.c.ked her head at her husband. "What are you waiting for, old man? Go fetch the victuals from that dead brute and set them out for us."

King Ledavardis, who had recrossed the water and returned to the group, took Queen Jiri aside. "Do you think Raviya is really well enough to travel?"

Jiri considered. "She feels better for the moment, but she cannot last long. It would be best if we carried her in a litter. By following the distinctive tracks of the nyars, we should reach the imperial hunting lodge where the dead Star Man intended to take us. There we will surely find decent food and beds, if it was intended to be our prison."

"We might discover that the lodge is inhabited by minions of Orogastus."

"Then we will simply have to subdue them," Jiri said gently.

The King of the Pirates winked at her with his good eye. "Right! I don't think we have to worry about Naelore coming back for some time. Not with Queen Anigel to guard and the sorcerer instigating a brawl in the Sobranian capital."

"Anigel..." The kindly Queen's face crumpled in regret. "Poor child. I fear that we shall have to leave her fate to the Lords of the Air."

"There may be something I can do." King Ledavardis's unlovely countenance brightened as an idea came to him. "If you will attend to our preparations here, I will try to find the lost amber amulet. I doubt it would harm one who is a friend and would-be son-in-law to its royal mistress. Who knows? The Black Trillium might condescend to aid a certain pirate in coming to Queen Anigel's rescue."

"You would go after her?" Jiri's eyes widened.

"The late Star Man's sword and miraculous antique weapon would help to even the odds between me and the Queen's captors."

"Ledo, you are a brave young man," said Jiri.

The King lifted her hand and kissed it. "From you, that is the greatest of compliments."

Chapter Twenty-Three.

IN spite of his intense fatigue, Prince Tolivar tossed restlessly in the hut of Critch the Cadoon, lying on a sack of soft down. They had gone to bed in daylight, but the upper level of the dwelling was dim and cool, with only two tiny latticed windows, one at each end up under the eaves of the thatched roof. From the bare beams hung scores of string bags, each holding feathers of a different hue. The snores of the four Oathed Companions sleeping at the other end of the loft mingled with the faint rumble of surf on the pebble beach outside and the mewing and squeals of griss and pothi and other seabirds.

Kadiya and Jagun had said they would rest downstairs, but Tolivar heard them conversing for a long time with the aborigine and his family. The Prince's promise to his aunt deterred him from using the coronet to eavesdrop)-not that he really cared what kind of mysterious merchandise the Lady of the Eyes was purchasing for her foray into Brandoba on the morrow. Kadiya had made it clear that he would have to remain on the boat with Jagun and Critch, while she and the knights went off into the city, to warn the Emperor that the Star Men were planning some sort of skullduggery and beg for help in rescuing Queen Anigel and the other hostages.

Tolivar had removed the magical coronet from his head and tucked it into his shirtfront, where it would be safe. He had commanded it to wake him instantly if anybody came near him. As he lay there dozing, his fingers gripped the talisman through the cloth.

You are mine, he told it again and again.

And the Three-Headed Monster always replied: Yes.

Although he desired his mother's safe return with all his heart, the knowledge that the adults would surely try to coerce him into giving her the coronet gnawed at his entrails.

It was so unfair!

The Queen had surrendered the talisman to Orogastus- under duress, it was true, but still of her own free will-and Tolivar had taken it in turn from the sorcerer's minion. Was his mother's claim to the Three-Headed Monster any more valid than that of Orogastus? Even when she had possessed the coronet she merely kept it hidden away, almost never making use of its magical power except to bespeak her two sisters from afar.

The talisman is mine, Tolivar said to himself, rightfully mine-no matter what the others may think or say.

But only for a little while longer.

Who-? You are not my talisman speaking!

No. I am the Star Master. Your master, Tola.

No! Never! Begone from my dreams!

You are not dreaming. And I have already told you that I mould not be able to bespeak you if you did not wish it.

That's a lie- It is the truth, as you know full well. You still admire me and yearn to share my power as my adopted son and heir. It is ign.o.ble of you to deny it... just as it is ign.o.ble of you to deny that you brought about the death of Ralabun the Nyssomu.

Ralabun! My poor old friend. I didn't mean for him to die. It was an accident, even though Aunt Kadiya says- Responsibility is not necessarily guilt. Listen to me, Tola: If you had not commanded Ralabun to accompany you on the Oda River trail, he would still be alive. Accept that burden, as every commander must! But do not torture yourself with feelings of blame. The cruel Lady of the Eyes seeks to control you by imputing that you are morally culpable in the matter of your friend's death. But you are not.

... Truly?

Do you think Ralabun would have stayed behind while you undertook a dangerous journey alone?

No. Even if I had not commanded him, he would have come with me.

And did you know that a namp was lurking nearby when you sent Ralabun off the trail?

Of course not!

Therefore he did perish by simple misadventure, and not through any fault or negligence of yours. Do you understand?

Yes. I-I thank you for explaining, Orogastus.

Tola, we have been separated for many years, and much of the blame lies on me. But it is now time for our estrangement to be mended. Come away from those coldhearted, neglectful people who fail to appreciate your true worth. Once you loved me as your adopted father. Come back to me now and resume your position at my side. My Guildsmen and I were prevented from meeting you at the viaduct by other, vitally important matters. But I can meet you elsewhere.

No!

Tomorrow you will sail to Brandoba with the others. I shall also be there in the city. Use your talisman to elude Kadiya and come to me, bringing the star-box.

We can meet at-

No! Orogastus, you tricked me once when I was a silly, spiteful child. It will not happen again. All you want is to take my talisman away from me.

I cannot take it. You know that. What I want you to do is return the talisman to me freely, as you gave back the Three-Lobed Burning Eye you took from your aunt.

That. . was different.

You do not know how to use the coronet's awful magic properly. It is a tool for restoring the balance of the world, not for petty conjuring. I know that you have been unable to master the talisman-that you have merely toyed with it in that secret gra.s.s shack of yours out in the Mazy Mire.

I understand the talisman better than you think!

Tola, there is only one way you can become a competent sorcerer: by giving the coronet back to me and joining my Star Guild. Come to me, dear boy. I will forgive your disloyalty and reinstate you as my adopted son and heir, find when I die, the Three-Headed Monster will be yours once more-only this time you will truly be its master... and master of the world as well.

Orogastus, you used me once as a puppet. But never again.

Deep in your heart, Tola, you still yearn to be my son.

Perhaps. But the wish is only a childish fantasy. It is a temptation hidden away inside of me that emerges only when I sleep. When I am wide awake and in control of my wits, I reject you. I reject you now!

I had hoped you would come to me of your own free will-but so be it. Let me pose another question to you: Do you care whether your mother, Queen Anigel, lives or dies?

Certainly I do!

Then use the coronet to have Sight of her. Her fate is now entirely in your hands, in a way that poor old Ralabun's never was.

What are you saying?

The Queen is the prisoner of my ally, the Archd.u.c.h.ess Naelore, a dangerous and implacable woman.

That is not true! I have already had Sight of Mother. She is free in a forest somewhere above Brandoba, accompanied by the other rulers you kidnapped.

Queen Anigel did escape from my castle with the others, but she has been recaptured. Your coronet will show her to you, a wretched prisoner in Naelore's power. Rouse yourself and command the Three-Headed Monster to verify what I have said.

I-I have given my word to Aunt Kadiya not to use the talisman's magic without her permission.

What? Ask permission? Are you a puling schoolboy who must beg leave of his nursemaid to use the garderobe-or are you the owner of one part of the great Threefold Sceptre of Power? You owe your aunt no fealty. She took advantage of your grief to extort that promise. It is worthless. Use the talisman to confirm your mother's captivity. Do it now!

I... will take your word for it.

Foolish boy. Do you dare to play games with me?

Why should I do such a thing?

Perhaps because you still entertain maudlin hopes of rescuing your mother yourself! Tola, I have heard enough of your childish prattle. Queen Anigel and the three unborn babes she carries will die horribly under Naelore's sword unless you come to the Sobranian capital with all haste and give over to me both the Three-Headed Monster and the star-box.

I don't believe you- In the center of Brandoba is the imperial palace, and before it lies a vast pleasance, an open area where citizens celebrating the Festival of the Birds will gather at midnight to watch the display of fireworks. Be there, near the Golden Griss Fountain! I will find you, and give your mother free and harmless into your safekeeping just as soon as you hand over to me the talisman and the box.

The coronet is rightfully mine!

And your mother's life belongs to me... Make no mistake, boy! If you fail to obey me, you will find her disemboweled body lying beside the fountain.

Holy Flower-no!

And this time the death-guilt will be yours irrevocably. You will suffer from it as long as you live.