Queen of Springtime (46 page)

It was still early in the day, just hours after his return from Yissou. But he had lost no time setting in motion his preparations for war. He was due to see Taniane in the afternoon; but first, messengers had gone out to Si-Belimnion, to Kartafirain, to Maliton Diveri, to Lespar Thone: men of power, men he could trust. He waited impatiently for their arrival. It was not good, being here by himself. He hadn’t expected that, how painful it would be to come back to an empty house.

“Your grace?” His major-domo, Gyv Hawoodin, an old Mortiril who had been with him for years. “Your grace, Kartafirain and Si-Belimnion are here.”

“Send them up. And then set out some wine for us.”

Solemnly Thu-Kimnibol embraced his friends. Solemnity seemed the appropriate mood of the day: Si-Belimnion wore a dark mantle that emanated a bleak funereal glow, and even the ebullient Kartafirain was somber and subdued. Thu-Kimnibol offered them wine and they drained their cups as though it were water.

“You won’t believe what has happened here while you were away,” Kartafirain began. “The common folk sing hymns to the Queen of the hjjks. They gather in cellars and children lead them in nonsensical catechisms.”

“This is the heritage of the envoy Kundalimon,” muttered Si-Belimnion, peering moodily into his cup. “Husathirn Mueri warned us that he was corrupting the young, and indeed he was. A pity he wasn’t killed even sooner.”

“It was Curabayn Bangkea that did it?” Thu-Kimnibol asked.

Kartafirain replied, with a shrug, “The guard-captain, yes. So everyone says, at any rate. Someone killed him too, the same day.”

“I heard about that up north. And who was it that killed him, do you suppose?”

“Very likely whoever it was that hired him to kill Kundalimon,” said Si-Belimnion. “To silence him, no doubt. No one knows who it might have been. I’ve already heard twenty different guesses, all of them absurd. In any case the investigation’s just about forgotten, now. The new religion’s the only thing that anyone thinks about.”

Thu-Kimnibol stared. “But isn’t Taniane attempting to stamp it out? That’s what I heard.”

“Easier to stamp out wildfire in the dry season,” said Kartafirain. “It was spreading faster than the guards could close the chapels. Eventually Taniane decided that trying to eradicate it was too risky. There might have been an uprising. The common folk profess to see great blessings in the teachings of the Queen. She is their comfort and their joy, the prayer goes. She is the light and the way. They think everything will be love and peace here, once the kindly hjjks are among us.”

“Unbelievable,” Thu-Kimnibol murmured. “Utterly unbelievable.”

“There was love and peace aplenty in the days when our parents lived in the cocoon!” cried Maliton Diveri, who had just entered the room. “Perhaps that’s what they really want. To give up all this city life, and go back into the cocoon, and spend their days sleeping, or kick-wrestling, or munching on velvetberries. Pah! What this city has become disgusts me, Thu-Kimnibol. And it’ll disgust you too.”

“The war will put an end to all this foolishness,” Thu-Kimnibol said brusquely.

“The war?”

“I’ve spent these months with Salaman. He says the hjjks are restless and angry, that our failure to accept their treaty has offended them, that they’re going to launch war against us all. The first move will be to attack Yissou, within the year. If the Presidium ratifies, we’ll be pledged by treaty to go to his aid in that case.”

Maliton Diveri chuckled. “Salaman’s been having nightmares of a hjjk invasion for thirty years. Isn’t that why he’s hidden Yissou behind that preposterous wall? But the invasion never comes. What makes him think it’ll happen now? And why do you believe he’s right?”

“I have good reason to think he is,” Thu-Kimnibol said.

“And then?” Si-Belimnion asked. “Is this city of sudden hjjk-lovers that we have here going to lift so much as a finger to save far-off Yissou?”

“We have to help them to see the importance of honoring our new alliance,” said Thu-Kimnibol quietly. “If there’s an attack and Salaman beats the hjjks without our help, he’ll lay claim to Vengiboneeza and everything north of it. Can we allow him to grab all that? On the other hand, if Yissou falls to the hjjks, it won’t be long before we see armies of the bug-folk marching through our own lands. Which is even less acceptable. We’ll make the citizens here understand that. They’ll have to realize that a hjjk invasion of Yissou is an act of war against all the People of every city. Surely not everybody in this city has become a worshipper of the Queen. We’ll find enough who are loyal. The rest, if they like, can stay behind and pray to their new goddess. While we’re marching north to destroy the Nest.”

“To destroy the Nest?” Lespar Thone asked. He was the most cautious of these princes, a man of great property and slow, wary ways. “Will that be so easy, do you think? The hjjks are ten to our one, or perhaps a hundred to one. They’ll fight like the demons they are to keep us from getting anywhere near the Nest. How are we going to overcome such numbers?”

“I remind you that I’ve faced those numbers before,” said Thu-Kimnibol. “We routed the hjjks long ago at the battle of Yissou, and we’ll rout them again now.”

“At the battle of Yissou the People had the aid of some Great World weapon, wasn’t that so?” Lespar Thone observed.

Thu-Kimnibol gave him a sour look. “You sound like Puit Kjai. Or Staip. We won that battle by our own valor.”

“Yet Hresh had some ancient thing that was of great help, so I understand,” Lespar Thone insisted. “Sometimes valor alone isn’t enough, Thu-Kimnibol. And against such an immense horde of hjjks, desperately determined to defend their Queen—”

“What are you trying to say?”

“The same thing Husathirn Mueri did, when we discussed all this at the Presidium. Before we can attack the hjjks with impunity we need to have some new weapons.”

“Perhaps the ones found a little while ago in the countryside will fill that need,” said Kartafirain.

Every head turned toward him.

“Tell me more,” said Thu-Kimnibol.

“The story’s been circulating by way of the House of Knowledge. I think there’s something in it. It seems that during the storms there was a great mudslide in the Emakkis Valley, and some farmer who was trying to catch some of his beasts that had escaped stumbled on the mouth of a tunnel leading into a hill. In which he found certain ancient artifacts that have since been brought to the House of Knowledge. A member of Hresh’s staff believes that they’re Great World devices of war, or, at any rate, of destruction. I have this from someone who works there, a Koshmar, Plor Killivash by name. His sister’s in my service.”

Thu-Kimnibol smiled triumphantly at Lespar Thone. “There you are! If there’s any substance to this, we have exactly what we need.”

Si-Belimnion said, “Hresh is known to be cool to the idea of a war with the hjjks. He may not cooperate.”

“Cool or not, the war will come. He’ll help us.”

“And if he chooses not to?”

“He’s my brother, Si-Belimnion. He won’t hold vital information back from me.”

“All the same,” Si-Belimnion said, “you might consider approaching one of Hresh’s subordinates instead of Hresh himself. This Plor Killivash, for example. I hardly need to tell you, of all people, how unpredictable Hresh can be.”

“A good point. We’ll work around him. Kartafirain? Will you have another talk with your friend at the House of Knowledge?”

“I’ll see what I can manage.”

“See what you can do. These weapons are just what we need. If weapons is what they really are.” Thu-Kimnibol filled the wine-cups once again, and drank deep. “It troubles me,” he said after a while, “that Taniane hasn’t been willing to take action against this new cult of hjjk-worship. Don’t tell me that she’s come to love the Queen these days as much as her daughter does!”

Kartafirain laughed. “Hardly. She loathes them as much as you do.”

“Then why are these chapels allowed to flourish?”

“It’s as Kartafirain said,” Si-Belimnion replied. “She was afraid there’d be an uprising if she continued the suppression.”

“Taniane never lacked for courage in the old days.”

“You’ll find that she’s much changed,” said Si-Belimnion. “She looks old. She’s hardly ever seen at the Presidium, and doesn’t say much when she’s there.”

“Is she ill?” Thu-Kimnibol asked, thinking of Naarinta.

“Weary, only. Weary and sad. She’s been chieftain longer than most of us have been alive, my friend. It’s taken a terrible toll on her. And now she sees the city falling apart in her hands.”

“Things can’t be that bad!”

Si-Belimnion gave him a melancholy smile. “A bizarre new kind of belief sweeps through the populace. Her own daughter is lost in incomprehensible fantasies. Threats are made against her in the streets by people calling for her abdication—hot-headed members of my own tribe, mostly, I’m ashamed to say. The rain goes on and on as has never been seen here before. She thinks the gods have turned against us and that her own end can’t be far off.”

Thu-Kimnibol looked toward Kartafirain. “Is this true?”

“She’s greatly transformed, I think. And not for the better.”

“Incredible. Incredible. There was never anyone with as much vitality as that woman. But I’ll speak with her. I’ll show her how the war will redeem us. She’ll feel young again once we go marching off to smash the hjjks!”

“She may oppose you on the war,” Maliton Diveri said.

“You think so?”

“Husathirn Mueri is very close with her now. And you know, Thu-Kimnibol, he’ll always take any position that stands against your own beliefs. If you’re for war, he’ll be against it. He’s still in favor of watching and waiting, taking no action, gathering our strength. And he’s certain to speak in the Presidium against your alliance with Salaman.”

Thu-Kimnibol spat. “Husathirn Mueri! That slippery ghost! How can Taniane possibly trust him?”

“Who said she trusts him? She’s smarter than that. But she listens to him. And I guarantee it, he’ll advise against any kind of military action that you support. May well be able to sway her, too.”

“We’ll see about that,” said Thu-Kimnibol.

Despite everything they had told him he was still unprepared for the transformation Taniane had undergone since summer. She seemed a hundred years old. It was hard to believe that this dull-eyed lusterless woman was the fiery chieftain who had ruled this city so vigorously for so many decades. The fierce masks of the former chieftains, hanging on the wall behind her, made a mockery of her fatigue. Thu-Kimnibol felt almost apologetic for his own vigor and strength.

“At last,” she said. “I thought you’d never return.”

“There was a great deal to discuss with Salaman. It had to be done carefully. And he went out of his way to make me feel welcome.”

“A strange man, Salaman. I’d have expected him still to hate you.”

“So would I. But all that’s ancient history now. He was very loving.”

“Salaman? Loving?” Taniane managed a faint smile. “Well, it may be. Even the hjjks are loving, so I’m told.” She leaned back in her chair. In a voice that seemed to come from some deep crypt she said, “There’s been madness here, Thu-Kimnibol. Things are almost beyond my control. I’m in need of all the help you can give.”

“I’ve never heard you so despondent, sister.”

“You know of the new religion? This Kundalimon-worship?”

“Hjjk-worship, you mean.”

“Yes. In truth, that’s what it is.”

“News of it came north with the autumn caravan.”

“Those who believe it—and there are hundreds of them, Thu-Kimnibol, perhaps thousands!—are pushing me to accept the treaty with the Queen. I get petitions every day. They march outside the Presidium. They cry out at me in the streets. I tell you, that boy spread some kind of poison in the minds of the children during just the few weeks he was among us. By the gods, Thu-Kimnibol, I tell you I wish he’d been killed sooner!”

Uneasily Thu-Kimnibol said, “Surely you didn’t have anything to do with his death, Taniane!”

For a moment there was a flash of the old fire in her eyes. “No. No, not at all. Am I a murderer? I had no idea the boy could do such harm. And he was Nialli’s lover. What do you think, that I’d have wanted him removed because of that? No, brother, I had nothing to do with it. I wish I knew who did.”

“Her lover?” Thu-Kimnibol said, shaken.

“You didn’t know? They were coupling-partners, and twining-partners also. I thought everyone knew that by now.”

“I’ve been away many months, sister.”

“You seem to know of everything else that’s gone on here.”

“Her lover,” Thu-Kimnibol said again, still struggling with the idea. “I never thought of that. But how obvious it seems now! Small wonder she went out of her mind when he was killed, then.” He shook his head. It was strange to think of his brother’s daughter having taken a lover of any sort, after the way she’d always kept herself aloof. But to have chosen that dreamy hjjk-reared lad—how much like her that was, he thought. And then for him to be killed. How sad. “The gods have been unkind to that girl,” he said. “One shouldn’t have to have so much turmoil so young. I suppose she’s involved with the new religion, now?”

“Not so far as I’ve heard. By all rights she should be, yes. But I’m told that she stays in her room at the House of Nakhaba and hardly ever goes out. I don’t see her very often, you understand.” Taniane laughed bitterly. “You see how it is? My one child is as foreign to me as a hjjk. My mate hides himself as usual in the House of Knowledge, and busies himself with important matters ten million years old. My people cry out to me to sign a treaty that means the end of us. There have been calls for my abdication, do you know that, Thu-Kimnibol? ‘
You stay much too long
,’ they tell me practically to my face. ‘
It’s time you stepped aside
.’ By the gods, Thu-Kimnibol, I wish I could! I wish I could!”

“Taniane—my poor Taniane—” he began, in his gentlest tone.

Her eyes flared wildly. “Don’t you dare talk to me like that! I don’t want your pity! Or anyone’s! Pity isn’t what I need.” In a softer tone she said, “What I need is help. Do you see how isolated I am? How helpless? And do you see what troubles are upon us? What can you offer me beside pity, Thu-Kimnibol?”