The Crown of the Conqueror (6 page)

  Ullsaard looked at his youngest wife.

  "Do you want to be with him?" he asked.

  She did not stir from gazing at Noran's pinched face.

  "I don't think he would want to be with me," she said. "After… After what we did, he would not have anything to do with me."

  "I want to give you a divorce," Ullsaard said, blurting it out.

  Meliu turned horrified eyes to the king, tears instantly reddening them.

  "Why? I am sorry for what happened with Noran. You said you understood. Why would you do this to me? I know you don't love me like Allenya, but I've b–"

  "Forget it," snapped Ullsaard. "I thought it would be something you wanted, so that if Noran recovers you could be together."

  Meliu stood up, still holding Noran's hand.

  "If you want to get rid of me, be honest about it. Do not pretend that it is for my benefit. You have always wanted Allenya alone, we know that."

  Ullsaard backed towards the door.

  "I made a mistake," he said. He looked at Noran again. "It's not going to matter anyway."

  Meliu's face scrunched into the fiercest scowl she had ever mustered, taking Ullsaard by surprise. Fists clenched, his wife advanced across the room until she was right in front of him, the top of her head barely reaching up to his chin.

  "You are a selfish bastard, Ullsaard," she snarled. "Would you prefer it if your friend died? Do you care about nothing except yourself?"

  Ullsaard pushed her away, as gently as he could manage.

  "I would prefer it if he died swiftly, not this lingering half-death. Maybe it was a mistake to keep him alive in the first place."

  "Look at him!" shrieked Meliu. "He is alive. He just needs more time, to build his strength."

  Ullsaard laughed and instantly regretted it.

  "I am sorry. I don't find this funny, but you are lying to yourself if you think he will recover. You cannot keep him alive forever. I have never seen a man looking so ill." Ullsaard pulled the small knife from his belt and tossed it onto the bed at Noran's feet. "I would end his misery, but I leave it up to you."

  Meliu looked with disgust at the knife. She snatched it up and for a moment Ullsaard thought she was going to attack him. Instead, she slapped it back into his hand, hilt-first.

  "Murder whomever you like," she said. "Do not expect me to be as heartless. If you want him dead, do it by your own hand, not mine."

  Ullsaard walked out, brushing aside the curtain of beads that covered the doorway. He heard Meliu's sobs as he continued along the landing. Servants were moving about the house lighting lamps. Ullsaard stopped at the top of the curving stairway, feeling awkward and out of place. This house already had its own life, its routines and small traditions, and he was not part of them. He was about to embark on the ruthless conquest of Salphoria, but it was in this quiet, domestic realm that he felt like a true invader.

  Halfway down the stairs, he met Allenya coming the other way. She smiled, linked arms with him and turned him back towards the landing. Saying nothing, she gently guided him to a bedchamber at the back of the house.

  "I have missed you," Allenya said as she drew the heavy curtain across the door. She pulled free two clasps and her long dress fell to the floor, revealing tanned skin. She lay sideways on the bed, pulling up one leg, stroking a hand down her thigh. "I hope being king has not tired you out."

  Ullsaard looked down at his wife and grinned.

  "Not a chance," he said.

  He threw off his kilt and shirt and flopped on to the bed beside Allenya. Holding back his desire, Ullsaard ran his fingers across Allenya's breasts and down to her belly. He leaned forward to kiss her on the thigh, moving slowly down her leg towards her ankle. His hands moved beneath her, turning Allenya to her back as his lips moved on a return course up the inside of her leg.

  A gentle but insistent tug pulled him alongside Allenya and she held his face in her hands, staring into his eyes. They shared a long kiss, tongues meeting tentatively at first. Ullsaard eased his leg over Allenya's, feeling the touch of the hair between her legs on his thigh. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, pulling him closer, their kissing become fiercer.

  Allenya broke away with a giggle, running clawed fingers through Ullsaard's chest hair, fingernails lightly scratching the skin.

  "You are a great man," she said, barely breathing the words. "I loved you as a captain and I love you as a king."

  "And as captain and king, I love you," said Ullsaard. "I would give up the empire for you."

  "That will not be needed," Allenya said with a smile. "Though I must share you with Greater Askhor, there are some things which are mine alone. But you will never have to share me. This is for your eyes and no other."

  Ullsaard straightened, allowing the evening sun to paint Allenya's body a golden brown. He looked at every part of her; her lips, her slender limbs, her firm breasts, her soft eyes. Ullsaard bent forwards to kiss her neck, but stopped as lips brushed skin.

  Something Allenya had just said was percolating the fog of his desire.

  "Is something the matter, my husband?" she asked, noticing his sudden hesitation.

  Ullsaard could say nothing. What was he to tell her? That he had suddenly realised that perhaps they were not alone in the room? That the spirit of a dead king lived on in his mind, and perhaps was at that very moment ogling her naked body with Ullsaard's eyes?

  Askhos had said he saw and heard everything that Ullsaard saw and heard. The Crown was more than a thousand miles away in Askh, but there was part of Ullsaard that was no longer him.

  The thought revolted him. He imagined Askhos's face, twisted and leering as it shared Ullsaard's moment of intimacy. Did the dead king feel Allenya's nipples between his fingers, or smell the scent of the wetness between her legs? Would Askhos share the climax that was to come, experience the passion and release of that most personal of moments?

  With a growl, Ullsaard flopped sideways onto the bed. His excitement had evaporated, his member flaccid at the thought of Askhos intruding upon this entirely personal situation.

  Saying nothing, Allenya used her hands to work Ullsaard back to full manhood, but her attentions were in vain. The more Ullsaard looked at her, felt her grip on his shaft, the more the thought of the dead king lurking in his head sickened him. Even the lust that burned through Ullsaard was not enough to fight back the disgust welling up inside at the thought of sharing Allenya with another man, alive or dead.

  "I am sorry," he told her. He pushed her hand away from his groin and held her close. She wrapped her arms around him and stroked his hair.

  "It does not matter," said Allenya. "We are together. That is enough."

  Ullsaard tried to keep the rage and frustration in check as he hugged Allenya tightly, but could not prevent hot tears from spilling down his cheeks, just for a moment. With a free hand, Allenya drew the sheets over them, Ullsaard nestled closer, head on her breast, drained in mind and body.

  Sharing a cocoon of warmth and love, he drifted into a dreamless sleep.

 

While a small band of legionnaires aggressively emptied the main hall of petitioners, Lenorin reappeared from the throng and told Furlthia to follow him. Furlthia found himself being led into a part of the palace he had not seen before; judging by the clean look of the stone blocks and the smell of fresh paint, the corridor he was walking along had not been built when he had last been in the city.

  At the end, the corridor branched out into a circular vestibule, with steps leading around the wall to an open gallery above. Lenorin took the steps two at a time, his energy not diminished by his senior years. Furlthia was a little out of breath by the time he reached the top, having completed a full circuit of the domed chamber to access the gallery.

  A small wooden door, almost hidden between two framed paintings of the city – from duskward and dawnward it appeared – opened at Lenorin's touch. The two of them had to duck a little to gain entry. Inside was a small room no bigger than a dozen paces across, filled with shelves holding stacks of clay tablets and piles of scrolls.

  Anglhan sat behind a narrow desk, scribbling onto a wax tablet.

  "Just making my notes for the day," the governor said without looking up.

   Lenorin retrieved a canvas-seated stool from somewhere and invited Furlthia to sit down.

  "I shall leave you two to your business," said the chancellor.

  Furlthia watched him go. The room darkened measurably as the small door was shut; the only light was a candle lamp hanging from a chain in the centre of the ceiling. Furlthia cleared his throat but Anglhan held up a hand to quieten him before he could say anything.

  "Just a couple more things…" Anglhan was so intent his brow was a deep frown, the governor regularly licking his lips with concentration.

  Finally he placed his stylus onto the desktop and looked up.

  "A while ago, you said that Aegenuis was calling a council of chieftains," said Anglhan. "Well, the Askhans are invading right now, so what's Aegenuis's plan?"

  Furlthia dragged the stool closer to the desk and leaned forwards.

  "To stop them," he said. "He knows that no single tribe is strong enough to hold against the Askhans. He wants to bring as many chieftains together as he can and form a single army."

  Anglhan's shake of the head was doubtful. He scratched his nose, sorted through the pile of papers on his desk and brought one forth.

  "Ullsaard has unleashed almost every legion in Greater Askhor," said the governor. "Nearly one hundred thousand soldiers by the last count. I'm in the process of raising a new legion at the moment. Aegenuis's only hope of survival is to accept the inevitable; he has to treat with the Askhans."

  "Not a chance," said Furlthia. "You might be a spineless parasite, but true Salphors will fight the Askhans for every river, road and field."

  "And they'll lose, and they'll die," said Anglhan.

  "Ullsaard has made a mistake, and you know it." He jabbed a finger into the desktop to make his point. "Ullsaard is stretching the resources of the empire for this. He needs a decisive victory this summer, because when winter comes his people are going to starve without the grain trade from Salphoria. But his biggest mistake is to allow the nobles and army generals to claim what they can conquer. The legions will spend as much time in competition with each other as they will fighting us. If Aegenuis can meet this disorganised attack with stiff defence, Askhan hunger for the fight will drop."

  The Magilnadan governor considered this, hand rubbing a flabby cheek. Furlthia was a little surprised, having expected Anglhan to dismiss Furlthia's arguments with his usual bluster. Instead, Anglhan leaned back, chair creaking loudly, and put his hands behind his head.

  "Until the Askhans can establish themselves further duskwards, their position is fairly precarious," said the governor. "For now, all their supplies have to come through the Magilnadan Gap. Once they get their claws into the land further into Salphoria, you can kiss those farms and woods and fields goodbye. Whatever Aegenuis wants to do, he has to act quickly."

  Studying Anglhan, Furlthia sensed that the governor's mind was working over some idea or other. He had a semi-vacant look that Furlthia associated with Anglhan's more outlandish schemes of the past. He decided to push the matter further.

  "If I was able to get certain assurances from Aegenuis, would you be prepared to act against the Askhans?"

  Still affecting an air of nonchalance, Anglhan regarded Furlthia with heavy-lidded eyes.

  "What sort of assurances?" he asked, just failing to appear casual.

  "What would you like?" said Furlthia. "What would you want out of a deal with the Salphorian king?"

  Anglhan sat forward, suddenly brusque and focussed.

  "Regained independence for Magilnada," he said, counting out the points with upraised fingers. "The lands that were called Free Country to become independent under the rule of Magilnada. Recognition of my position as ruler of Magilnada. Agreement to provide warriors for the defence of Magilnada against Askhan reprisals."

  "Is that all?" said Furlthia with half a laugh. "Let me get this right. You want Magilnada and the Gap to be its own kingdom, with you as the king?"

  "That would be the short version of it, yes," said Anglhan. "Look at it this way. At the moment, I am an Askhan governor, with tremendous powers and resources. Unless Aegenuis can offer me more than that, guarantee freedom for me to rule as I see fit, he has nothing to offer."

  Taking a deep breath, Furlthia stood and paced back and forth across the small archive room. He weighed up Anglhan's proposal. It was not for Furlthia to decide, but he was not going to travel all the way to Carantathi with a deal that would earn him nothing but Aegenuis's anger.

  "What are you offering in return?" he asked.

  "If my considerations are met, and Aegenuis is willing to swear an oath to it, then I will do whatever I can to halt the Askhan advance before it starts. I will buy him the time he needs to be ready for the Askhans."

  "How are you going to do that? You've seen how vulnerable Magilnada is, and you know that Ullsaard will crush you the moment he thinks you are betraying him."

  "That's not Aegenuis's problem, is it? Or yours. If that happens, Aegenuis has lost nothing. I'm willing to stake my future, my life, on stopping the Askhans just as he is. The rewards have to match that risk."

  "All right," said Furlthia, stepping towards the door. "I can't make promises for the king, but I will take your offer to him."