Beneath the Eye of God (The Commodore Ardcasl Space Adventures Book 1) (26 page)

The Commodore sighed. "I am definitely going to have to have a long talk with the lad." Then he brightened and turned to Em. "And as for you, my dear Hossen, I believe I heard several of these lads volunteer to remain and assist you. Of course, you'll have to pay them but you won't need as many if half of them aren't needed to watch the other half."

"I've known for some time how this place should have been run," Em replied.

"Well there you are," the Commodore said cheerfully. "Your problems are solved." He gazed at the door through which Ohan and the three sisters had disappeared and sighed again. "Though I fear that Ohan's may only be beginning."

***

Erol called the aircar that afternoon. It would arrive after dark. "I don't understand why you have to leave so soon," Silane protested.

"It is not by choice, dear lady," the Commodore replied. "We do have to return Malie to her family in the lowlands and attend to a burial, one that has been postponed for 500 years. More than that, I think the sooner we get Malie home, the better. City life is not good for her. She enjoys it too much. Whether the city would be a bad influence on her or the other way around, I am not certain. In any case, we had best return her to more tranquil surroundings where she can bully her siblings and ride her horse."

"She needs a mother."

"As do we all, madam. As do we all. We also have a little problem concerning the laser cannon. We really weren't supposed to have one. The authorities may be a bit upset when they find out that we brought one in—and used it. Fortunately, news travels slowly here. It is our plan to be well on our way before they learn of it. We shall take Malie home, return here briefly on our way to the spaceport and then depart."

"We shall all be sorry to see you go."

"We're not gone yet. I was impressed by the sumptuous dinner party you put on last night under adverse conditions and on very short notice. Perhaps on our return from the lowlands in a day or two, we might enjoy one under more congenial circumstances. I must confess, travel gives me an appetite and, as you see, I travel a lot."

"It will be a farewell dinner," Silane smiled. "One you will remember."

The aircar dropped out of the night sky and settled silently to the ground in front of the house. No one there had ever seen one up close before. It caused considerable excitement. Erig, Feren and all the boys had to be given an opportunity to sit in it. Malie took charge of the tours. She invented a number of awesome weapons for the little vehicle, pointing solemnly to one switch or another as being the one which would unleash the fearsome destruction which she then proceeded to luridly describe. After their tour of the violent universe of Malie's imagination, her awed visitors stumbled from the car half expecting to find themselves among the stars.

Even Em and the sisters came to see the car. The two older sisters looked quite beautiful and composed after their ordeal. They joined Caran and Laral in asking Ohan for a guided tour. He shyly gave them one that was less vivid and only slightly more accurate than Malie's.

Hossen Em ran his hand over the smooth surface. The Commodore stood watching. "Nol dreamed of owning one of these," Em said. "If he ever got one, I knew I'd have to kill him." He turned to the Commodore. "I know you don't trust me, and a few years ago you would have been right. Nol and I were the same. We recognized in each other the same lust for power and wealth. He was no more ruthless than I. But he was cleverer. I was willing to follow him—to do his dirty work—if it would help me get to where we both wanted to go."

The aircar had emptied out temporarily and the two men settled themselves in the front seats. Em ran his fingers reverently over the control panel. "We got what we wanted, Nol and I. At least I did. It as a grand, drunken gesture on Nol's part. He was showing off for the men, handing out people like they were trinkets. He regretted it later but I wouldn't let him back down. I had Silane but she wouldn't have me. I knew I had what I wanted. I also knew I couldn't keep her unless I changed. So I did."

Em seemed determined to unburden his soul. "I've never talked about this, even with Silane. Leahn was right this morning at breakfast. I was there when Nol threw her to the men. I did watch. But it was nothing new to me. I'd seen that and worse many times before. I just didn't care.

"Then, as time passed, I began to see Nol through Silane's eyes. The girls were very brave. They kept the worst of it from her. Nol may even have threatened to harm her if they told. I had other things on my mind. Maybe I just didn't want to know. By the time I saw what was happening, he had pretty much left them alone. It wasn't any change on his part. He was just tired of them and more involved in his so-called empire. I thought things would work out. Then you brought Leahn back."

He paused and stared out into the darkness. "I knew what he would do to her. And I knew I couldn't let him do it. If I let Nol kill Leahn I would lose Silane. I had already decided to kill him. But I was hoping something would happen to change things. Something did. But not what I expected."

He stepped out of the car. "You don't trust me, and that's all right. But thrust this. I'll do whatever it takes to keep Silane happy. As I see it, that means running this place the way the sisters want me to. That's what I'm going to do."

***

The sightseeing tours had ended and the travellers were stowing their gear aboard the car. "May I go with you?" Laral asked.

Leahn bristled. "Why would you want to go?"

"Why not? I've never been in an aircar."

"Too bad. We're full."

Laral surveyed the interior of the vehicle. "I don't take up much room. I could squeeze in next to Ohan. You wouldn't mind would you, Ohan?"

"Uh, no . . . well, no . . . uh . . ." Ohan coughed.

"See? He doesn't mind and I really should see the burial of the last king of the forest empire."

Leahn glared at her sister, at Ohan and at the Commodore who had already decided to keep silent. "Do as you like." She climbed into the rear seat. "I'm sure it's of no interest to me."

The Commodore was the last aboard. He took Silane's hand and kissed it. "Until our next meeting, madam."

After they had watched the lights of the big house grow small and fade into the night, Malie snuggled in beside him. "I don't suppose I shall ever fly in an aircar again," she whispered.

"Perhaps not, my sweet. But there are many even more wondrous adventures awaiting you." She no longer wore Feathered Shield's skin. That had been rolled up and carefully stowed in an overhead compartment. She was now wrapped in the brightly colored fabrics of the Commodore's former outfit. She was particularly fond of his big floppy hat with the plume. She had tied it carefully around her ears with one of his scarves.

"Is it lonely," he asked, "now that Feathered Shield has left you?"

"It was at first but he left me a sort of a present."

"Oh? What was that?"

"His memory. He said I could use whatever of it I wanted. It's kind of like opening a book. I've just gotten to the part where he was my age."

He thought for a moment before the full realization of what the child said, struck him. "You mean you possess the entire memory of the last king of the forest empire?"

She nodded sleepily. "I thought I would start at the beginning when he was a little kid like me and then go through it in order. That way it makes more sense." She yawned. "I can hardly wait to get to the part about sex. He had nine wives, you know."

"No, I didn't know that." He looked down at the little girl. She had already fallen asleep. "Just what the universe needs," he sighed. "A child like Malie with all the knowledge of an emperor."

Erol drove while Elor navigated. Flying the aircar out of the mountains was trickier than flying over the sea and it took all their attention. The Commodore, Malie and her basket occupied the middle seat. Ohan found himself wedged into the back between Leahn and Laral.

"You seem a little tense, Ohan," Laral said. "I understand the trip will take most of the night. You might as well relax and enjoy it. Would you like to rest your head on my shoulder? Ow!"

Ohan was startled. "What happened?"

"Leahn pinched me."

"Listen you little snot," Leahn snarled. "If you don't keep your hands off him, I'll do more than . . ."

"Ohan!" the Commodore hissed sharply. "We have people trying to sleep up here. I must confess, I don't know what they see in you, but if you're going to have a number of women, you simply must learn to keep them under control"

Ohan was dumfounded. "I don't have any women. They're not . . . I don't . . ."

By now the two girls had dissolved into helpless giggles. Probably, Ohan realized, at his expense. He found he didn't mind. He looked out the window. There was nothing there but darkness. He sighed and snuggled down between the two pleasantly warm women. He took care to lean a little more toward Leahn's side of the car than to Laral's.

***

They arrived at daybreak to find Alira, Kholran and the others anxiously awaiting them. They had been alerted to their impending arrival by the aircar's silent departure the previous day. There was a great deal of hugging and kissing. Malie seemed happiest to see her horse, Reddy, again. She immediately began a recounting of the journey and all the wondrous sights she had seen. It was here that the others learned of her newfound skill at rolling drunks.

"We knew you found the skin," Alira added when Malie came to that part of her adventure. "The skeleton's bones suddenly came apart and clattered to the floor."

The funeral was set for that evening. Malie said she knew exactly how it should go. She had skipped ahead a few years in Feathered Shield's memory to find the proper ritual. Though the burial ceremony was the last of the nine stages of a man's life, it was the first one that every young prince was taught—in case he had to bury his father.

The temple where Feathered Shield's bones lay scattered on the floor had been built in the densest of the narrow coastal forests. Malie picked a spot not far away for the burial. "But there are no water trees here on the coast," Ohan protested. "Didn't the ancients lay their dead in the shadow of the great trees as we do?"

Malie paused a moment in thought. "There will be a great water tree here in the years after we are done. The first ones grew from the bodies of dead kings."

As the time for the ceremony drew near, Malie borrowed the traditional dress Vardara had given to Leahn. The two sisters folded and pinned it so it fit the tiny child more as a cloak than a dress. Then Malie took Feathered Shield's skull and his bones, rolled them in his skin and rolled that in the white skins of his enemies. At twilight a solemn procession bore the remains of the dead king from the temple to the place where Ohan had dug the grave.

At its four corners he had set four bowls of burning resin, the smoke drifting up to alert the gods at the four corners of the earth to prepare a way for the spirit of the king.

Malie laid the remains in the grave and instructed each member of the group to drop a double handful of earth in on top of them. "A good man's body will rest secure under a large pile of earth laid there by his many friends. The evil man will have but few handfuls to cover him and he will become a meal for cats, his bones scattered in the dust."

When the grave was filled they all sat beneath the trees in the flickering light of the burning resin. Malie began to chant. Thin and hesitant at first, her voice took on confidence as the ancient words came to her. Some of the words and melodies were familiar to Ohan from his childhood, from ceremonies that had marked the passing of his grandparents and friends. Others of the chants he had never heard before. But the wind, he thought, seemed to stop its rustling high in the trees as all the world bent close to hear the child's voice sing again the ancient songs.

His mind wandered to images of old gods painted in forgotten books. Did they still have ears to hear the words we sing to honor them? He fancied a stillness in the earth, the wind and trees, a stillness even the small creatures of the night were loath to break. A stillness so profound he never felt its like again.

Then Malie launched into a final song, an anthem of the forest people still sung through all the seasons, a solemn pledge to earth and sky and forest that the people whose blessings they provide would ever guard and protect them. Malie sang it through the first time, its ancient words little changed from those Ohan knew. He joined her then. They sang to the web of life to which both king and commoner belonged. The twins had been recording Malie's chants. Now they recognized the song and found it in their machine's crystal memory. It was the one with which Vardara's forest clan had closed their concert weeks before. Slowly it swelled through the silent darkness. The full rich voices of a people far away rose in an ancient song and pledge of life, an homage to a long dead king they never knew existed.

***

They spent the next day riding on the beach and playing in the water. Ohan rode and waded at the sea's edge. He was not yet confident enough to go in very far. He sat on the sand and watched the two sisters swim and splash with the children in the gently breaking surf. The slim strong beauty in them made his heart ache. The rhythms he knew so well in Leahn were repeated—the same yet different—in Laral. Together they played and pushed and laughed with a grace and innocence that reminded him of kittens he had come upon once, playing in their secret forest lair.