THE BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, CHAPTER 5, Part 2

 THE BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, CHAPTER 5, Part 2

A story of Necromantra

By Aladdin

Edited by Christopher Leeson

THE STORM, Chapter 5, Part 2

Arielle’s situation being somewhat improved, I would have wished to push things ahead and rescue her entirely from what was a barrel of snakes. Unfortunately, I was held back due to the uncertainty of Ulik’s fate. I felt I should attempt something positive in order to save lives, it’s troubles being to such a great extent caused by my earlier usurpation.

While Arielle was settling into her place in Armand’s camp, the Darkuran battle troop left its bivouac, arriving at the siege sight like a lowering storm cloud. They proceeded to set up a new camp behind the main army. Though they initially held aloof -- like a pride of lions contemplating a flock of sheep – no human there was reassured. I made rapid inquiries and learned that this redeployment had not been approved in advance by Armand. With tensions running high, word traveled surreptitiously through the ranks that the men should keep their weapons at hand and stay close to their assigned units. Armand, I learned, had called a council of war with his main people, discussing the unwelcome closeness of the alien detachment.  

The next morning, an Darkuran ambassador arrived at Armand’s pavilion followed by a thuggish guard of honor.  Our faction leader had little choice but to received them, though he kept his own guards on hand and allowed only one bodyguard into the tent with the ambassador. I didn't like it. This unexpected initiative by the Darkurans carried the stench of trouble.

While Armand and the ambassador were meeting, all hell broke loose.

From the distance came the sound of horns and clamor; Duke Erhan, from the city, was making a desperate sortie. The incomplete siege lines were overrun at several points, but Armand’s men, already on alert due to the looming presence of the Darkurans, rallied and issue devolved into a sloughing fight. Our side had not been caught flat-footed and so I didn’t see what the city garrison hoped to gain by forcing an open fight.

Continuing to watch from the sidelines, I received no orders and so took no action. I was unwilling to kill Ulikans – of either faction -- for no good reason. Before long, the cry went up that the that the Darkurans were approaching the battlefront.  I guessed they would be able to rout Erhan’s soldiers with ease and then pursue them with gleeful slaughter all the way back to the city gates.

I was totally wrong.

My bad.

I heard the sounds of dismay behind me and whirled to see the Darkuran ambassador’s bodyguard emerging from Armand’s tent holding the viscount's severed head in his gore-drenched fist.

In a flash, I knew what was going on.

Because Princess Arielle had been rescued, Erhan’s position had been rendered hopeless. He had no option except to send to the Darkurans, offering them the sun and the moon and the stars if only they would switch sides. Clever! The Darkurans had probably been peeved at Armand because he had been reluctant to put himself heavily into their debt. That was upsetting their king's plan, and so the new offer from Erhan would have been appealing. No doubt King Q’zon had been contacted by magical means and had signed off on the treachery.

So Ehran had launched his attack against Armand’s besiegers, knowing that the Darkurans would rise to support him. With Armand’s leaderless array caught between two enemy masses, a massacre had begun. I saw no point in joining the battle myself. Really, I had been indifferent to the choice between either Erhan or Armand for high lord. The best move I could make would be to use the chaos to act in the cause of my personal aims and help the people I cared about.

I continued to watch, absorbing the energy released by countless death wounds. I don’t always have to kill personally to vampirize the released bio-energy of the dying. I get a larger percentage if I kill personally, of course, but just being near to violent death replenishes my magic somewhat. Merely by standing there, I was being charged like a battery.

But there were other pressures on me. The victorious side would soon break through into the noncombatant area, so I left my place of vigil and made for the pavilion which had been assigned to Princess Arielle.

“Marinna!” shouted the teen when I came in through the flap.  She looked afraid, not sure of my intentions.  Maybe she thought I was supporting the Darkurans, while, in fact, I was on no one’s side except hers.  The plucky girl stood fending me off with a sword and a buckler, but I came closer, undaunted.  I was hard to kill; I could recover in minutes from deadly wounds when my energy level was high – as it was now. Once I survived being run through by Mantra’s enchanted blade – the Sword of Fangs.

“I want you out of here!” I said, shouting over the general din of fight and confusion.

“No!  Help my people. My life doesn’t matter!” she returned indignantly.

“Stop that, Arielle!  That the attitude that got you killed the first time! There's not much I can do except help you personally,” I admonished. Only later did I realize how much like a parent I must have sounded. But, fine. More than anything else, she needed a parent just then.

Scooping up my stepdaughter, I went phantom and levitated away.  A few arrows and lances passed through our insubstantial forms as we came through the tent wall, but the fighters were paying us little heed. Taking flight, we reached a line of rugged hills about fifteen miles away. Before landing, I checked it for danger, but sensed no life larger than a vlag -- a harmless creature about the size of a rabbit.

“Keep your head low and stay here,” I told Arielle.  “I’m going to go back and find your cousin.  After that, we'll have to concentrate on getting ourselves out of this mess alive.”

“No, Marinna!” she yelled. “You have to do more than that!”

I left her without answering. This hadn’t happened the way I’d wanted it to, but events had changed so quickly.  The most productive thing I could do would be to rescue the princess' cousin, whom I though would be ready and willing to join me in protecting the girl's life.

But I was being too pessimistic. I had been surprised once already today, and now I was surprised again. Looking across the battlefield, I saw something amazing advancing over the horizon.

#

Unknown to me, Captain Arielle had held her men back from recklessly engaging Armand's men, until the treacherous movement of the Dakurans made clear what the situation was. From then on, her only interest was in finding Princess Arielle and taking her to safety.     

Airelle thereupon worked her band around to the flank and in the open ground made for Arman’s noncombatant camp. But there the knight found fleeing fugitives and plenty of dead, since the Darkurans had brushed by, killing many when they did so. The princess was not to be found, however, and the warrior maid only just barely held on to the hope that the girl was not already dead.

As Erhan’s soldiers approached the area, the she-knight directed her men to make it appear they were pursuing fugitives. At some distance from the tents, they caught up with a broken cohort of routed soldiers wearing Armand’s badges. Arielle shouted after them, requesting parley. A junior officer who knew her on sight slowed and let her come up to him.

“What can we expect at Erhan’s hands, lady?” the lieutenant asked feverishly, blood oozing from the elbow joint of his armor.  

“I don’t think Erhan’s in real command anymore,” Arielle replied. “You'd better avoid both his men and the Darkurans for as long as you can. Have you seen any trace of the princess or the witch?”

“I wouldn’t advise you to trust the witch,” the lieutenant replied in bitterness.

Instead of disputing, she asked that the lieutenant’s group should doff their Armand badges and join with her band. As the now-enlarged group moved out, newcomers gravitated to it for protection, encouraged by the sight of the maiden knight’s pendant. Some of them had an interesting story to tell. Arielle listened to their excited jabber.
   
“More trouble?” asked the lieutenant.

“No! It’s good news," the she-knight replied. “But now it's more important than ever that we find the princess.” She was inwardly pessimistic, but by giving the band some definite task to perform, they would be imbued with an aim and a sense of purpose.

#

Remaining aloft, I had seen the Aerwa warriors sailing over the horizon like a dense flock of geese. I safeguarded myself with a force field and waited in place, unsure how these alien beings would react at the sight of me. I had had scarcely any personal contact with the Aerwa previously, except that many of them knew me as a powerful living weapon serving Q’zon. Fortunately, they ignored my person and preferred to go after the Darkurans, whose grotesque forms they could see on the ground.

The brutes below began to shapeshift, making themselves even more formidable. But Q’zon’s troopers numbered only scores – their numbers having been kept deliberately small so as not to alarm the Aerwa. But the Aerwa had been alarmed regardless. To capitalize on this probability, I had urged the noblewoman to send to the nearest Aerwa outpost with an appeal for aid against the Darkuran threat. Her emissaries' appearance had apparently encouraged an modest interventionist response and hundreds of flying warriors had been dispatched toward Roch.  

The elf-like Aerwa’s main weapon was a staff born by most of the warriors, capable of raining energy discharges on the enemy. Most of the Darkurans met the aerial onslaught by taking to sky in the shape of dragon-bats. By my assessment, Q’zon’s small troop was so outnumbered that it could not last long, but I was left to wonder how this mad affair was going to be sorted out later. Armand was dead. Would the Aerwa offer protection to Erhan, though he had been ostensibly the ally of the Darkurans? 

But did any of it matter?

While the wild fight raged on, I resumed my search for the blonde soldier girl.

TO BE CONTINUED in Chapter 6, Part 1

THE BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, CHAPTER 5, Part 1

 THE BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, CHAPTER 5, Part 1

A story of Necromantra

By Aladdin

Edited by Christopher Leeson

Choices

“If my people may die by the thousands, how can I avoid aligning my life beside theirs?” declared Arielle the younger.  

Her cousin shook her head. “I understand what you’re saying, but make sure in advance that your life will be dearly sold. For the moment, I don’t believe that Erhan can survive politically if he doesn’t have a royal marriage to legitimize his claim. If he cannot gain that marriage, he is on very weak ground. If you go instead to Armand, the viscount will be greatly strengthened. Erhand and his supporters may begin to see the hopelessness of their cause.”

“But if Erhan gives up, what will the Darkur do?” the younger cousin asked. “Will they just go home?”

“It might not go smoothly," I said. "King Q’zon sent them there to leverage power over Armand. They won’t head out easily,  I told her. “Besides, their race is always spoiling for a fight. But the real danger is that Q’zon might reinforce the battalion for a war against the whole of Ulik. That would be bad, but at least that should bring both factions together.”

The knight turned on me, exasperated. “Any victory against the Darkurans will be bought very dearly! Against a full army, defeat by by those demons will be almost unavoidable!”

She was right.

Then the soldier asked, “Do you suppose that an attack on Ulik by the Darkurans would draw in the Aerwa?”

I shook my head. “While I don’t think that the Aerwa would approve of a Darkuran war of conquest in the Wold, who knows if they would start a major war over it? Even if one eventually came, it would probably be too late for Ulik.”

“What are my choices then?” the younger cousin asked.

“What do you most hope for?” I asked.

“I want peace for Ulik, no matter who becomes high lord. What is the worst case?” she asked grimly.

“In the worst case could be genocide. The Darkurans consider humans too weak even to make useful slaves. If it comes to such a war, your best aim would be to flee and save yourself.”

“Flee to where?” the girl demanded. “If such a war started, the invaders would surely seek to take the whole Wold, not just Ulik.”

“As I see it, you have three choices. Support Erhan and face the coming war. It shouldn't amount to much more than the fall of Roch. It won't even take long, if Armand is supported by the Darkur. After that, who knows how much the 'allies' will demand of Armand for the aid given him?

“Or, leave Roch and go over to Armand. Even without a clash of arms, Erhan’s cause would probably collapse over a few days or weeks. Hopefully, if they are asked to do very little, the Darkurans might not demand the suns, the moons, and the stars for their compensation. But one can’t expect their kind to be sane and sensible.”

“This is ghastly!” the girl said.

“It may prove out that you have the wherewithal to improve the situation. Your best choice might be to depart to places unknown. I’d help you with that.”

“What places unknown?”

“Your cousin has the means to take us all back to my home world, the same world that she visited when she was seeking to find and slay Lord Pumpkin.”

“My wish is to save the greatest number of lives,” the princess said. Then she looked at me accusatively. “If my father had not been murdered by a madwoman, none of this would be happening!”

“That’s true,” I admitted.

Saying nothing, Tavon's daughter drew her cousin close. “What should I do, Arielle?”

The latter grimaced. “I see no good choices. When you decide what course is least terrible for you, I will be with you as long as you wish me to be.” Then, glancing my way, the war-maiden said, “Leave us. This is very much a family matter.”

“Of course,” I said.  “Only do not talk for too long.  Those spies I stunned will not sleep forever.”

“Thank you for not killing them,” the princess said.

With a sigh I and walked away. She was too good a person to guide a rowdy kingdom and I feared for her.

#

With no clear decision being made by either of the Arielles, the game became increasingly perilous, the odds for tragedy greater. It might still be fairly simple to save the teen’s life if we didn’t wait too long, but I saw no clear course for helping the sorry land of Ulik.

I had brought all this about, and I despised myself for it.

Days passing, I couldn’t bring myself to wait any longer and so I acted on my own, not even consulting with Arielle Senior. Because I didn’t want to drag her down with me, I waited until the knight was attending an assembly of Erhan’s subordinates before I acted.  As furtive as a specter, I entered the princess’ apartment through the floor of the empty rooms located above her suite.

Briefly startled at seeing me filter down through the stucco, she clenched her fists and declared, “I don’t want to talk to you.”
    
“Princess,” I said, “it's time you made a decision for your own welfare. Doing nothing is too risky. It leaves your fate in the hands of others. What could be worse than being a pawn for exploiters or an opportunists?”

“You make choosing sound so easy,” she said, pivoting away.

“If you don’t know what to do, at least tell me what you don't want to do. Narrowing things down will make deciding easier.”

She was quiet for a moment, but finally said, “I can’t marry Erhan. It would be all the excuse Armand needs to attack the city. If he decides to do that, he’ll have little choice but to call for Darkuran help. And you know what that can lead to.”

“Haven't you considered that you can’t save the kingdom? Maybe you should be focused on saving yourself.”

“If I did that,” she said, “it will surely be war. If I abandon my people, I am not worthy of them. I’ll be an exile wherever I go, and that is all that I would deserve to be.”

“If you don’t want to help Erhan, you don’t want to flee personally, is there anything left to do except going with Armand’s offer?”

She sighed. “Even though he is not any husband I would care to have, you’re right that I need to choose my own fate. I think I may best serve my people by joining with the stronger faction to stave off a civil war. Then we would only have to worry about how the Darkurans react.”

I nodded. “Good enough. Let’s get on with it then.”

The windows were hung with dark drapes. I tore down a couple of these to use as cloaks. They would help us blend into the darkness outside. Then I took the girl into my arms and flew with her through an exterior wall.  

The night was misty and had no trouble getting beyond the range of the sentries’ crossbows. Once over open ground, I made for Armand’s encampment.

I placed the youngster the care of my maids in my own tent. They were definitely spies for Armand, but I had no reason to keep the arrival of Arielle secret from him. Then I flew back to Roch carried out a secret reentry.

I had done the latter for the good of the elder Airelle. The simultaneous disappearance of the both the princess and her maid would have looked bad for her. I thereafter stayed in my small room until the absence of the princess became generally known. Thereupon, I joined in with the excited crowd in the halls outside and made sure that I was recognized. Later, when the maiden knight joined me, I explained what had happened. She didn't care for the fact that I had acted alone, but admitted that with the deed being done, it was for the best.

I wouldn’t have liked to be Erhan that night. His options had suddenly become very narrow. He looked very much like an usurper with very little general support. In the morning, the fortress was sent word that the princess was in Armand's camp requesting protection. The announcement also said that "the traitor" Erhan's life would be spared if he struck his flag and accepted exile. Because the latter remained stubborn, Armand ordered the deployment of fortified siege lines in preparation for the forcible seizure of the town and castle.  

Amid the bustle of the next couple days, Erhan dispatched representatives to the enemy under a truce flag. They were asking for the transfer of non-essential personnel into Armand’s power. The request was dressed up as a humanitarian gesture, but such things were commonly done in war to save food in the face of a siege. In my maid guise, I said adieu to the elder Arielle and duly evacuated the castle. She would herself continue to feign support for Erhan, while looking for chances to undermine him. The intrigue as a whole seemed to be going smoothly for Armand, but I was a player, too, and I had a few tweaks in mind that he was not going to like.

TO BE CONTINUED IN CHAPTER 5, Part 2

THE BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, CHAPTER 4, Part 2

 

Written 2006
Revised Oct. 7, 2021
 
 

THE BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, CHAPTER 4, Part 2

A story of Necromantra

By Aladdin

Edited by Christopher Leeson

 
Chapter 4, Part 2

The Best Laid Plans (Continued)

 

The next morning, I learned that Captain Arielle had withdrawn from Armand’s camp. She hadn’t gone into Roch but, being still neutral, had taken a position outside the line of fire of the anticipated clash of warring factions. Some of Lord Armand’s people were already wondering out loud as to whether the renowned warrior had slain the Darkuran for some reason of her own, but, of course, the evidence was lacking. The Darkuran ambassador, meanwhile, was fit to be tied over the incident, but the killer had left no trail behind.

Possibly, just to give the Darkurans something else to think about, he gave orders for his host to move into siege position against Roch. Thanks in part to my use as a figurehead, his forces had been recruiting well, until by now his faction was twice the size of Erhan’s muster. That made it unlikely that the Duke would be coming out to fight. On the other hand, a mere two-to-one was no great advantage when it came carrying fortified walls. Probably, the Darkurans, with their superior weaponry, would have to be brought up, seeing as how they could make short work of all obstacles. I doubted that the primitive stone bulwarks of the fortress could resist even the first attack by the intensity of their firepower.
    
Oddly enough, my killing -- motivated from sheer necessity -- had opened up some positive options. I went to the viscount with a plan. Ostensibly, I was being helpful, but my real intention was to plant suspicion between allies and to slow down the build up to open warfare.

“My lord,” I said to my unbeloved betrothed, “it would be a pity if your Ulikan allies were alienated by a Darkuran atrocity.”

“What are you talking about?” he asked.

“I have seen the Darkurans at war; they leave nothing alive on conquered ground. Worse, if you use them in battle, King Q’zon will consider you to be deeply in his debt and will start demanding greater compensation, more compensation than you should wisely hand over.”

He reacted, but not in the way I wanted him to. “Run along, my lovely,” he said, not looking up from his map. “Only a fool takes military advice from a woman.”

That rankled. I'd gained a new body, but still possessed my well-tested understanding of warfare. I wondered if I should at last "come out" and set him straight about my life story, but decided against it. Being continuously underestimated gives a woman a great advantage, one that should not be lightly throw away.

“I know, my lord. But consider this. You risk gaining the enmity of all the kingdoms around Ulik if you bring the widely hated Darkurans into Man Land, long term. The way I see it, the only claim that Erhan has to power is in his prospect of marrying Princess Arielle. If she were lost to him, his cause wouldn’t amount to much. It’s not like anyone would consider the likes of him inspiring or charismatic.”

“Perhaps,” the nobleman answered, finally deigning to look my way, “but he’s not an idiot and so will be holding her securely. It would take a major assault to win the princess free and, without the Darkuran help, any assault would be futile.”

“There are several ways to look at this. Ask yourself what would be the result if you did rescue her?” I asked.

He straightened. “I sometimes forget that you’re a warrior sorceress and not just a redhead -- even one with a penchant for sleeping yourself to the top. What exactly do you have in mind?”

“If I were to go into Roch myself and bring her out, what then?”

“Why bring her out?” he asked. “Why not just kill her?”

“Because the slaughter of a popular innocent would turn much more of Ulik against you. If I could bring Arielle out and place her into your custody, Erhan might be fool enough to launch an attack beyond his walls to get her back. You could deal with his inferior forces easily enough in the open field.”

He shook his head scornfully. “I think you're mainly interested in keeping the princess safe. Women are always getting sentimental over this child or that pajonga cat. Clear your head, Marinna. Affection has nothing to do with politics. If the reign of Lord Pumpkin taught us nothing else, it should teach us how effective the iron fist can be.”

“Lord Pumpkin was a mighty sorcerer, and that was what made his iron fist so hard. It might be less easy for a man less well advantaged to rule the same way he did,” I cautioned. “Your prosperity will be best served if you make and hold many allies. Arielle would give you prestige enough to draw some especially important kingdoms to your side.”

He regarded me keenly. “As I look at it, Arielle has an even better claim to the hearts of the people than you do. Why should I not marry her instead and set you aside?”

I folded my arms over my breasts. “It matters to me not at all whom you marry, Lord Armand. If you haven’t noticed it, you’re not my dream mate any more than I’m yours. Sooner or later, Q’zon will take me back anyway. That is all I can look forward to as a destiny. I actually do think that Arielle would be the better choice of consorts for you.” It made me queasy, offering my stepdaughter to a crooked politician, but I’d rather have Armand scheming to marry her than scheming to assassinate her.

He shrugged. “You’ve only told me your intention. Now tell me your plan.”

“My plan can best be served by getting Captain Arielle into our cause. Fortunately, I heard enough from her to know that she is not at all fond of Erhan. If we can offer her something worthwhile for her support, I propose having her pretend to choose Erhan’s cause. When she deploys into the castle, I can enter along with her, disguised as one of her servants. That will allow me to meet privately with the princess and persuade her to accept your proposition.”

“Bah!” the nobleman scoffed. “Why should I think that Arielle likes me any more than she like’s Erhan?”

“For the best of reasons. You have the bigger army.”

He looked at me without scoffing. I knew how to talk to a man, having been one.

“Also,” I said, “she has been living as Erhan’s hostage, not his eager bride. And whatever Arielle chooses, I think it will prove acceptable to her cousin. The captain is totally devoted to the princess. She will have a force of arms inside the very castle that you need to take. Something useful could be done with that advantage, I’d say.”

He was frowning, but no disagreeing. “You almost think like a man. But if the princess agreed to join us, how will you get her out of Roch?”

“Easily.” I picked up a bronze candlestick. “Pretend that this is the princess, and pretend that this table is the fortress walls.” Then I made my arm and the candlestick phantasmal and passed it through the surface of the table.

“Very interesting,” he remarked with an appreciative nod. “What partners we might actually become if only I could trust you.”

“You never be able to trust a witch, my lord, especially not a witch who is owned by someone like King Q’zon.”

He obviously agreed. Now, if he only he would be just as agreeable to the rest of what I'd been saying to him.

#

I was with Captain Arielle’s troop when it crossed over the drawbridge into Castle Roch. Disguise was nothing new to me. With my hair blackened and nose reshaped and enlarged by an artful appliance, it would have taken Princess Arielle herself to recognize me.

We settled into new quarters and it was soon arranged for the cousins to meet. I was chosen to attend on the captain during the reunion, and my disguise must have been convincing, insofar as the princess didn’t give me a second glance.

“Wait one minute before you speak,” the older cousin whispered to her young kinswoman. Then she gave me the nod and I went about the room, seeking for listening holes.

I discovered two, the agents behind them betrayed by their life traces. They could have been either Erhan or Armand servants, but it didn’t matter which. I send a magical surge through each hole in turn, strong enough to put a strong man into a faint.

“It is done,” I advised the captain. “Speak your piece.”

“What is done?” asked the younger Arielle, her brow wrinkled prettily.

“Marinna has secured the chamber from eavesdroppers.”

“Marinna?” The girl looked at me. Her incomprehension transformed into wide-eyed horror.

“Why did you bring her?!” she fairly shouted.

“The plan was hers. What’s wrong?” the captain asked.

“She – she murdered my father!”

The warrior-maid looked at me aghast. Seeing no surprise or denial in my expression, she drew her sword -- the same nasty sword she'd told me about.

“Put that down,” I told her. “I've admitted that I've had periods of insanity. There is no way I can make up for the worst things I've did, but I’m earnest in wishing to do the best I can for the princess. After that, I want to leave this land forever.”

“If you killed Lord Tavon, you deserve to die,” the warrior told me coldly, suddenly seeming to be more the warrior and a good deal less the noblewoman. “If not for you, this war would never have been fought at all!”

“She claims that she was possessed by a demon,” young Arielle put in. “I wish I could believe that there was no more to it.” Then she hung her head. “No, I think I do believe it. But it isn’t enough of an excuse to make me feel about her the way I once did.” The princess placed her hand upon her cousin’s fist and pressed the sword hand toward the floor. “I don’t think Marinna would harm me intentionally. Just keep in mind that she’s capable of almost anything when the madness is on her.”

I felt the evaporation of spirit of the camaraderie that had been growing between the soldier and myself. And I also felt a twinge of shame to be the recipient of even the cautious trust that the teenager was bestowing on me. My stepdaughter was not good at hating and holding grudges and I was sorry for that. If she expected to survive in a world like this one, those were valuable qualities to learn, and the sooner she did, the better.

“You came with a plan. What?” the princess asked of me, her eyes reflecting the torch fire.

“We will take you to the camp of Viscount Armand,” her cousin answered for me.

Arielle frowned.  “Is that wise?  Can we trust him?”

“No. No more than we can trust Erhan,” I ventured.  “But if the Darkur attack this city, thousands in it will die.  Each one of those beasts is worth a score of Ulikan soldiers, and they command weapons like your defenders can scarcely conceive of.  These stone walls will be no obstacle to one of their attacks. If it were not for the Aerwa people, a race equal to them in power, the Darkur would have long since inundated the Wold in a bath of blood.”  

I was talking straight on that score. I could only wonder why hadn’t it happened already. I needed to get young Arielle out of this powder keg of intrigue and into a safe place. The only question was, what place would be safe for a royal princess, even on a world as large as the Godwheel?

TO BE CONTINUED IN CHAPTER 5, Part 1

The Beauty and the Beast, Chapter 4, Part 1

 

Written 2006

Revised Sept. 11, 2021
 
 

THE BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, CHAPTER 4, Part 1

A story of Necromantra

By Aladdin

Edited by Christopher Leeson

 

Chapter 4, Part 1

The Best Laid Plans 

 

She shook her head, like she was trying to shoo away flies.

“The sword was given to my by a demon at the price of the lives of a dozen lives – the lives of my friends and followers. I hate the thing, but if I carry it around with me, it will drift away to find another master. I wouldn’t mind that, except that in hands of a person worse than me, I dread what it could do. If you’re a sorceress, Marinna, maybe you can understand that.”

“Nothing much surprises me anymore,” I admitted. “But did you actually sacrifice your closest friends just to gain a magical weapon?”

I shouldn’t have said that. I had no right to rebuke the elder Airelle, or anyone else for that matter. Necromantra would have been glad to enter into such a bargain. But wouldn’t have pegged Captain Arielle and Necromantra to be birds of a feather.

“I did not!” the knight declared. “They willingly surrendered their souls to a demon – not for a magic sword, but to save my life. We had attacked Lord Pumpkin’s castle in the night, but we were outmatched and I was wounded and dying. The demon healed me at the price of the self-sacrifice of our kingdom’s best knights.

“When I was left alone, he gave me the sword without my asking. It may have been that he wanted Lord Pumpkin dead, too, but he had explained nothing! The sword suddenly opened a portal to the place where the Pumpkin had sought sanctuary and I went through to confront the enemy of my people.”

“But you didn’t kill him,” I pointed out.

“I did. But by his foul magic, he never stays dead for long. I would have burned his body to a cinder to make sure we were rid of him, but I didn't have time. The sword was calling me back home.”

Hers was a too-easy protest of innocence, but I didn’t try to make myself disbelieve it. I didn’t want to despise her, because if I rejected her it would leave me alone and impotent.

“I didn’t here come to quarrel,” I told the she-knight. “I’m here because something you said before gave me the hope that you might be a person to trust in this den of vipers.”

“What did I say?”

“You bothered to mention that Princess Arielle herself might have some rights and interests while her kingdom is being despoiled around her.”

“Can you actually care about the princess? There are stories about Queen Marinna, and very few of them are edifying.”

“Those stories are true,” I told her. “But that that was then and this is now.”

“There is not much in your own words to give me much confidence, Lady,” she observed.

“Where I come from they say that actions speak louder than words. First, how many men can you bring into battle?”

She frowned. “That would depend on what I’m asking them to fight for.”

“You would be asking them to fight for Princess Arielle’s life at the very least, and her throne at best.”

“On those terms, maybe a dozen,” she said. “But I have a couple hundred swords behind me – mostly men personally committed to me, not to Tavon’s heir. Tavon was the first of his dynasty and reigned only briefly, after the fall of Lord Pumpkin. He was a good man, but his brief tenure didn’t create any broad or deep following. The people yearn for a proven paladin in very bad times and there is no constituency to place the scepter into the hands of an unseasoned minor. They would be ready for either an Armand or Erhan, except that both are so evidently self-interested that even the peasants can see it.”

“Power-seekers are always self-interested. But with enough swords around her, Arielle has both the head and the heart to make a rare queen. But, tell me, if you’re related to the former family and you’re also the sort of person to make grown men willing to die for you, why haven’t you become a throne candidate yourself?”

“I am only related to the royal family on her mother’s side,” she said, shrugging.

Maybe that was all that was to it, I still thought she might stack up very well against the other contenders. There had to be something more, something she didn’t want to talk about. I supposed I could have found out more if I dug for it, but I wasn’t sure that I wanted or needed to.

All I said was, “I came here hoping that we could serve the princess together.”

“Truly?” she asked. “I heard rumors that you were not to be trusted. Your reign was a bloody one.”

“It was, I’m sorry to say. You need to understand that I was insane then, and I was insane for a long time before then. But I’m more or less sane now, so I need to work fast. If I lose my mind again there might be no coming back from it. Even now, I’m only serving Armand’s cause because I’m forced to.”

“How are you forced?”

“Powerful interests will slay the princess if I do not serve my master’s interests.”

“Are your speaking of Erhan? But you have already been open about your opposition to Erhan.”

“No, I’m under the thumb of forces that are much more dangerous than Erhan.”

Arielle shook her head. “I don’t know what you expect from me, but I would like to help my young cousin through this chaos. I’m not sure that fighting for a throne in a kingdom like this serves her best interests.”

“That’s my feeling, too,” I said. “I have sorcery, but if I stay only queen on the chessboard can’t create a checkmate. I could use some help.”

“I’m sorry. I don’t know what a chessboard is.”

“It’s a metaphor. I’m saying we have to talk. We have to know if we can achieve anything as allies.”

#

After leaving Arielle’s tent, my wobbly flight reminded me that I was in critical need of a kill.

Killing domestic livestock could have revived me somewhat, but the half-formed spirits of dumb beasts are weak. My curse renders me helpless unless I live as a murderer and that is the reality I have had to deal with. Necromancer would cheerfully have killed anyone on hand, because she saw existence in the terms of an extra-planar demon. But in my current state of mind I didn’t want to kill even the knights engaged in this civil war. It is the nature of people to quarrel politically and I doubt they deserved to die any more than did Archimage’s knights, men who were my best friends. So, if I was to rule out the slaying of humans, where did that leave me? Where are the rampaging dragons when one needs them?

There was the nearby Darkuran contingent, of course. I hadn’t had the chance to kill many Darkurans thus far, except for a few criminals I had been used to execute. But killing such as they had been a memorable experience. They had powerful, magic-charged spirits, and each one on his own was a full meal for me. But I was plighted to obey the king of the Darkurans, and so I couldn’t betray them and let suspicion fall on me.

I tentatively flew toward the Darkuran encampment, keeping out of sight in the low-hanging night-mist. Even in the dark of night, I thought I could find one or more of them wandering around.

The only question was how to make the kill without be called out for it. I needed a conventional weapon for the execution insofar as a death by magic would make me a prime suspect. But, unlike in the old days, swordplay came hard to me, having a shape that a lingerie model would envy and the upper body strength of a thirteen-year-old boy.

In a war camp of this size weapons, at least, abounded. My magic enabled me to spirit away a medium-weight sword from a set of stacked arms. I felt its heft off in an isolated copse and found that I could adequately swing and thrust it. Now I only had to use it to kill someone.

I spread my aura wide, knowing what a Darkuran life signature feels like. They were thick in the tents, and in some wide-awake group gatherings thereabouts. But it didn’t take me long to trace one of the creatures who was prowling alone through the benighted bivouac. I moved toward his bio-signature, found him, and then stalked him until he reached a place where he was out of sight and isolated. While in a wooded grove beyond the light of the campfires, I then dropped to Earth behind him. At once I loose a magical back-shot calculated to stun him. If I could render him helpless, I could hopefully use my sword, to leave him dead and unmarked by the signs of sorcery.

I have a good aim and my shot through him to his knees, though it lacked the potency needed to render him unconscious. I came in behind him with all my strength plunged my point into his sinewy hide – but I’d never tried to kill a Darkur that way and it only it only penetrated an inch or less. He tumbled away and metamorphosed, making himself into a formidable battle monster with thick chitin-like plates. Before my eyes, he took on the aspect of a damned ugly, many-armed species.

The Darkuran turned to face me, and the sight of a woman holding a sword left him unimpressed. He himself was holding a Darkuran blaster. That worked in my favor, since I impressed him as being so contemptible that he didn’t reflexively cry out for help. “I’ve heard that human meat is almost as tasty as that of the Aerwa, and that of their shes are the sweetest of all,” he rumbled.

“Oh, so you haven’t already eaten humans?” I asked. “Maybe I picked the wrong guy to assassinate.”

“Oh, yes, you have,” he replied. Wearing the ghastly face of present guise, I couldn’t tell if he was smiling at the thought of killing me or not. He wouldn’t have been so smug if he realized that I was Necromantra dressed in ladylike garb. Because he seemingly wanted to enjoy killing me slowly, he gave me the chance to move first. I used telekinesis to send my sword through the air to striking at his gun-hand. My sorcery had diminished to such a degree that I failed to entirely shear off his wrist. But the surprise and the pain of the strike made my opponent drop the blaster.

I ducked under his guard, seizing the gun in a roll, and then fired at his jaw, to preempt any belated bellow of alarm. His crippled cry came out strangled and low volumed. Because the Darkur race could heal with preternatural swiftness, I had less than a minute to locate and destroy the creature’s change-organ, its best weapon and most effective kill-spot. Unfortunately, that organ is no stationary thing, such as a human’s heart is, but it possessor can move it anywhere within its body to serve the self-defensive needs of the moment.

I fired into his gut, but that didn’t stop him. I leaped out of the way of his wounded rush, but the sweep of his arm knocked the energy pistol from my grasp and into the briers of the dark woodlot.

I could have fled, but I needed a life and also dared not to leave behind a living witness to my rebellion. I surprised him by springing to retrieve my sword on the ground, but he was instantly on top of me and only the force field I’d thrown up kept him from slicing me into pieces via his claws.

“You!” the monster growled, having recognized me by my glowing aura. The realization that he was up against a super-witch frazzled him, time enough to do a flash-probe of his body’s for mystical traces. Back in Darkuria, I had made it a project to learn how to find the location of a Darkuran’s change-organ, something very useful to know. Being magical, it gives off a patterned throb of mystical energy, on even easier to detect than a heartbeat. Fighting him by main strength was out of the question, so I hurled the sword at him again, riding on the crest of another a burst of kinetic energy. It entered him like a steel-headed bolt shot from a crossbow, with his change-organ as my target. In my weakened state, I had nothing left to give. It was like putting the whole bet on one dice cast.

The Darkuran gave out a muffled yowl of when penetrated and collapsed inert. As his dim spirit evaporated into the night, I felt the released of the alien’s bio-power as it flowed into me. It was a mystic recharge exceeding any that I could have gotten from a dozen ordinary men. And, as a bonus, the taking of it left me guilt-free. Instead, I felt like more like a big game hunter who had downed a trophy-worthy beast.

Refreshed, I looked anxiously about. I heard the clump of boots breaking the brush – probably sentries that had heard strange sounds. On impulse, I retrieved the Darkuran blaster in case of future need, and then went phantom, diving into the ground. I focused on the energy currents of a nearby flowing stream, so as to not get lost.

Shortly thereafter, with the blaster hidden in my “mystical closet” – that explicable “other-place” where I may store objects and retrieve them at will” -- I returned to my tent, changed my soiled garment for a night dress, and woke up my spell-anesthetized servants.

I was reasonable certain that I’d left no murder clue behind by the time I slipped between my covers. Before I dropped off to sleep, I was only sorry that the Darkur I had found hadn't been a killer of human beings. But it was a dirty world and nothing ever worked out in the nice and tidy way that we would want them to.

Continued in Chapter 4, Part 2

The Beauty and the Beast, Chapter 3, Part 2

 

Written 2006

Revised Aug. 8, 2021

 
 

THE BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, CHAPTER 3, Part 2

A story of Necromantra

By Aladdin

Edited by Christopher Leeson

 

Chapter 3, Part 2

The Den of Vipers


I was staring at the young warrior and she looked at me curiously.  “We have not met, my lady. I am flattered that the ladyship already knows my name,” my visitor said.

She had a melodic voice, but that voice was not Arielle’s. If this was a different person, wow was it that they had the same name?

Then it occurred to me that Arielle had mentioned that she'd been named Winola at birth but had, by custom, adopted a different name upon coming of age.  She had said that she’d taken the name of a warrior whom she admired. Well, here was a warrior and the likelihood was strong that this older Arielle was a blood relative of hers.

“I am sorry, Madame Knight.   I took you for my stepdaughter momentarily. She has honored you by taking your name, I assume.

“That is true, Lady Marinna,” my visitor affirmed.  “Your stepdaughter is very dear to me. She has said that you defended her against the selfsame enemy whom I fought not long ago.”

It seemed that Arielle had not given damning testimony against me upon her return from death. Why would she have protected the reputation of the person who had murdered her father?

“T-The same enemy?” I said, my words shaky. “I presume you mean Lord Pumpkin.” I had known that the monster had murdered a former High Lord, along with his heir, and then usurped Ulik by force. The thing had fled during a revolt, but had attacked me to wrest back the throne again.

Arielle had definitely reacted when I named Lord Pumpkin. She must have had a very bad experience with him.

The amazon then glanced back at her retinue.  “Hanno, Japet, do you recognize this lady as your former queen?”

I knew these men slightly, officers of the kingdom’s cavalry.  They greeted me correctly but, understandably, without cheer.

“She is the image of the queen I met,” one of them said, and the other nodded in agreement.

“Ask her the questions you have prepared,” Arielle said. “Appearances may be deceiving.”

They did as instructed, actually being more blunt with their interrogatives than any of the diplomats and couriers whom I had earlier entertained. I couldn’t help but react to the officers in a positive way. My fellow knights serving under Archimage had been men of similar stamp. But I never like to call those to mind, since betraying them was the worst thing that I have ever done.

The warriors, at length, admitted to Arielle that I had answered their queries correctly. I took the opportunity to ask a question of my own.  “Which faction do you favor, Madame Knight?”

The young woman frowned slightly, as if disliking that term of address. But she answered evenly, “To be frank, we favor Princess Arielle.”

“You are for Erhan then?” I probed.

“No,” the Amazon replied, as laconic as any male. In general, my impression of this officer was becoming a good one.

I thought we should speak privately about the polticis of Ulik, but I was being closely watched by attendants loyal to Armand.

“Where have you pitched your camp, my lady?” I asked.

She reacted again and I was sure that it was because she disdained being referred to as a lady. I supposed that in that society it was hard to carry on as a female knight. I surely knew of no one else like her at Ulik. 

“We’re encamped on the north side of the pond,” she replied after the briefest hesitation, “under the banner of the slithor.”

“I don’t like silthors,” I responded.  One had all but killed me the moment that I had first arrived in Ulik.

“Hoperfully we will give you a reason to like this one,” the warrior-maid replied, the glint in her eyes suggesting a sense of humor.

That trait, too, appealed to me.

Then, without any opportunity for us to get better acquainted, Arielle requested leave to withdraw.

#

During the dark of the night, I used magic to put my maids asleep and avoided the guards outside by shifting into a phantom state and leaving by way of the underground. Soon, having estimated that I was a good distance away from my tent, I levitated above ground level and solidified.

Up to this moment, I had scarcely been allowed a moment to myself in Ulik. But sky-gazing on the Godwheel is a strange experience. It is a cosmic artifact of unimaginable size, a disk with a large hole in it. The disk orbits a pair of twin binary dwarf stars. The sunlight therefore usually falls at a sunset angle. By right, there should have been no regular nightfall on the Godwheel at all, but its makers had provided artificial moons that subjected the land below to very regular eclipses. Their movements are governed artificially and each eclipse lasts several hours. The wheel structure has very many moons moving in perfect sync with each other to bring about this effect. This was probably done for the health and sanity of the billions of beings who inhabit the world. It was “night” now.

Was this miracle of technology really built by some brilliant mortal race? If so, those mortals somehow had been able to create a  virtually immortal god race, which – before they destroyed themselves – had protected and given law to the whole Godwheel.  It would be easier to believe that an omnipotent Creator had spoken this world into being just by saying, “Let it be!”

The downside was that there were seldom any stars to see in the sky.  

Alas, I could not waste my time stargazing. I flew underground again, but this time I began to feel weak. That reminded me that I hadn’t killed in some while. If I do not kill something man-sized with frequency, I become a sorry excuse for a sorceress. Necromantra likes to kill, but this side of my character doesn’t. The world is so dangerous that I have to kill just to survive on it, but I always want to delay homicide as long as possible. King Q’zon had been providing me with enemies to execute, but I had no such opportunity here in Ulik.

My dislike of killing was one reason why I envied my former friend Mantra – Lukasz. She was a life-witch able to draw her power from living things.

Ascending again, I went airborne to get a fix on Captain Arielle’s slithor banner. I espied it among several other tents, but didn’t know which tent belonged to the warrior maid. I actually tried to look for feminine underwear hanging on clothes lines, but  had no such luck.”  

So, I would have to depend more on my magical sensitivity. Fortunately, there is a slight difference between the aura of a man and the aura of a woman. I drifted along slowly, trying hard to feel that difference in the auras below. Failing at that, I decided to check the tent that was closest to the slithor banner.

I alighted behind that pavilion and this close up, I was actually able to detect the psychic traces of a female. I entered my phantom form again and walked through the canvas of the tent, creating a moonlight-intensity glow for my own benefit. I could see Arielle – wide awake and looking at me in the light that I had myself summoned up.  She looked at me as if I were a ghost. The war maid must have armed herself the instant at the instant of waking, insofar as she was already holding a broadsword.

I stepped back, lest she react violently. Dimming my light, I whispered, “Captain, it’s Marinna.  I’m sorry.  I want to speak to you in private.”

“What --?” the woman muttered, still groggy.  “Mar-Marinna? Why? What do you want to talk about?”

I was was fascinated by that sword of hers. It was no ordinary blade but a thing imbued with a powerful aura of dark magic.  

The lady warrior threw off her quilt and stood up, dressed in a night tunic and warm hose.  She was looking at me doubtfully, but nonetheless lowered the sword.

“My word,” I said, “magic swords aren’t that common, not even on the Godwheel. Where did you get yours?”

“It’s a long story,” she replied.

From her expression, I expected that the story was not a very nice one.

TO BE CONTINUED Chapter 4, Part 1

 

The Beauty and the Beast, Chapter 3, Part 1

Written 2006

Revised July 09, 2010

 
 

THE BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, CHAPTER 3, Part 1

A story of Necromantra

By Aladdin

Edited by Christopher Leeson

 

King Q’zon grasped my hair and threw me against a granite wall.

“Deceitful witch!” he growled. He was holding his fist bunched for a killing blow.  Maybe it was only an afterthought that induced him to merely give me the hardest face-slap I ever felt. In the aftermath, he stood back, enjoying the sight of me sprawling at his feet. I got up as soon as I was able, not sorry that I had been only been moderately punished by Darkuran standards. He was physically and psychologically prepared to tear me limb from limb. I thought that my magic would be a match for him, but if I fought back I would be giving the Tradesmen an excuse to carry out their threat against Airelle.

“I beg your pardon, Majesty,” I feigned to plead, “my magic is mighty but my body is not.  If I am beaten to death, I cannot serve you!”

He flared his large nostrils. “You’ve been serving poorly enough, human cow!  And now you are caught intriguing behind my back!”

“It wasn’t to challenge or defy you!  I went seeking news of my daughter, the Princess Arielle!”

“No excuse is tolerable. You have no life, you have no family. Your only duty is to excel in your slavery.”

“I did not act against you” I said.  “When they told me what I wished to know, I withdrew!”

“Vigon came seeking alliance,” the king said. “Now he seeks to have me send you back to Ulik to become Viscount Armand’s puppet.  So be it. These humans’ petty scheming fits into my greater plan.  Ulik, rotten with internal dissension, is a ripe plum to fall into my fist.  It would make a strategic vassal, and you may be the perfect cat’s-paw in subjugating it.”

“I live to obey,” I told him.

He grabbed my hair again. “The day you cease to obey is the day you die,” he reminded me unnecessarily.  “Now, get out. Your bleeding is befouling my rug. Be prepared to attend the next council held with our human “allies.”

“As my lord wills,” I muttered.  In the way of dismissal, he shoved me out the door, skinning my shoulder against a fluted pilaster. The scrape did not much concern me, since, overall, I felt encouraged. I had put into Vigon’s mind into a new mode of thinking, one to benefit me. Now I had nudged Q’zon’s convoluted scheming onto the right track also. All in all, matters were going very well.

#

Later that day, I was summoned into a conference room occupied by King Q’zon, his aides, and most of the human emissaries from Ulik.  The Darkurans ignored me, but the humans rose and bowed, as if to a queen.  I knew, of course, that they saw me as nothing more than a valuable tool. I wondered if any of them were the least concerned about me living under continual threat from a monster. I doubted it. And why should they care? After all, I had not ruled Ulik with a light touch.

“Marinna,” rumbled Q’zon in way of a greeting. This was the most gallant address was he had ever used. Usually, “whore,” “slut,” “slave,” or “bitch” much more easily off his thick tongue.  “These are my commands.  You will accompany the emissaries back to the war camp of Viscount Armand. He will announce that your are his intended bride.  With the former queen together with the viscount, Erhan’s faction might weaken and collapse.  If not, Armand’s hand will even so be strengthened. You will apply your magic howsoever Armand commands you to.”

His general plan, I guessed, was be to back Armand until he removed Erhan. Then he would use Ulik traitors to push Armand aside or kill him. No doubt he had a some pliant human puppet waiting offstage to ascend the throne of Ulik. I doubt that he wanted to outright annex the kingdom. That would antagonize his Aerwan enemies, who had their own interests in the kingdom.  Q’zon, by his caution, was demonstrating his weak hand – namely, he was not prepared for a general war.

“Say something!” the king told me. “If you have no use for your tongue, you may be deprived of it!” This was what passed for a joke in Darkur and, to be fair, it was about the funniest that I ever heard a member of his race utter.

“I am content and ready to serve,” I said with lowered head.

#

In a month’s time, Viscount Armand had deployed in full force against Erhan’s stronghold. The latter was the city-fortress of Roch, a stronghold more defensible than had been the former seat of High Lord Tavon.  
    
The viscount’s was being widely supported by the landed magnates, while Erhran was the choice of the courtly party. These groups were two kingdom factions that were always at odds. When High Lord Tavon’s daughter fell into his hands, Erhan had thrown caution to the wind and announced his intention to marry her, which would allow him to rule in her name. Because of this powerful move, Armand had been compelled to make overtures to an outside power, the Darkur.  

As intended, my public betrothal to the viscount was serving as a check against Erhan's intentions. In fact, spies reported that some of Erhan’s adherents had shown signs of faltering as soon as I had been put forward as a playing piece. Also, personages who had stood aloof previously had increased their flow of gifts and engaged in more serious negotiations with Armand. The lesser fry, the minor claimants to power, were falling away. The struggle for the throne was becoming more and more a two-man match. The final test of strength was fast approacing.

The Darkur contingency, by the way, was encamped several miles Roch, waiting for Armand to call upon their magical power and their force of arms. Because the Darkur were so feared and disliked all through Ulik, Armand little wanted to flaunt the fact of his alliance with them. While chess pieces were being moved and available forces were jockeyed, I was left to my own devices.

Fortunately, I had not been ordered to kill anyone lately; my role was still diplomatic. I used my downtime to watch and learn. My eventual course of action depended on what was going on around me. I wanted to make contract with Arielle, but I was waiting for the right moment, lest I put her into danger.

My main function at this stage was to receive delegations, both from the enemy and from nonaligned nobles. I was under orders to be lavish in my support for the statesmanship and integrity of my “betrothed.” The more hostile of the delegates sought to prove me an impostor, since Erhan’s propaganda was maintaining that I was dead. Those less blatantly partisan generally accepted that I was Queen Marinna returned.  I met each new delegation with the hope that Princess Arielle was in it, but that hadn’t happened.  On one hand, I wanted her to stay safe. On the other, I wanted to assure her that I was not a willing participant in this civil war.

But I had so far seen little room for maneuver, mainly because I was alone, without allies. The scoundrels in the main factions were happy enough with either Erhan or Amand. What I represented was a third force, but so far I was not seen as such. I was still keeping watch for the kind of person who didn't like either usurper, someone who cared about his country. But, thus far, no real altruist had shown up. No one, that is, until a young captain unexpectedly came calling at my pavilion.

#

One morning, my aides – jailers, really – put me on notice that another delegation was calling on me. “Let them in,” I said blandly. It wasn’t that I cared to meet even more petty intriguers, but I had a role to play to everyone’s satisfaction.

The new visiting party having been admitted, I beheld up front a fair-eyed youth amid the graybeards and senior warriors. He didn’t fit in that company and I wondered if he were here due to some sort of high rank. As the youth’s eyes met mine, I froze.  This was no princely boy! It was my own teenage stepdaughter. What shocked me to the quick was that she had seemingly grown into young womanhood after the passage of only a few months.

What was going on here?

“Arielle!” I said bemusedly.

TO BE CONTINUED IN CHAPTER 3, part 2

The Beauty and the Beast, Chapter 2, Part 2

Written 2006

Revised June 09, 2021

 
 

THE BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, CHAPTER 2, Part 2

A story of Necromantra

By Aladdin

Edited by Christopher Leeson

Q’zon had given me a bed so hard that no one but a thick-skinned Darkur could have found it comfortable. Sleeping in that atrocity usually brought on nightmares.

There was one particular nightmare that haunted me nightly.

I would discover myself amid the carnage of a bloody battlefield. I am never able to recall my own role in that battle, or why so many others had died instead of me. But while I’m standing there, I remember that I am not Thanasi, but Necromantra. This ugly fact makes me realize that this great host of men lay dead only because I had betrayed them.

It is then that a winged, horned beast rears up from a crater in the earth. Blue-green of hue and without legs, its body below its waist is naught but a glowing miasma. It glares at me, but does not attack. Its attention is fixated on someone nearby, not a soldier, but a passing observer. I gasp to recognize that my daughter Arielle is watching us.

Something informs me that that if the demon strikes Arielle dead, it will be striking an indirect death-blow against my own person. In some strange way the teenage girl is my beating heart and the creature knows that I will cease to exist if my symbiotic heart is stopped. I need to defend her – not only for her sake, but also for my own. I never assail the blue beast in the dream, however, because I awaken, sweat-soaked, every time.

But though the dream is over, the battle is not. Rolling from my bed, I crawl to a spot on the floor where I have a chalked-down a diagram. It is a scheme of mystic runes. My body being fortified by those white lines, I invoke the wizards' spell taught to me by the Tradesmen’s conjurers. I chant incantations crafted to keep the beast at bay. But defense is not enough. I have to go on the attack. I have been told that if the beast dies, I will be free. If I die, I will be Necromantra.

And this is a fate very much worse than death.

Thus far, I have never won this battle. But I have not lost either. The beast and I carry out a mystical combat until it withdraws to lick its wounds. My body exhausted, I stagger back to my absurd travesty of a bed and sleep. And the sleep of the battle-weary is mercifully dreamless.

***

Because I do not praise them nor grovel, the Darkur lords trust me but little and I am not in their confidence. Being their weapon, they simply take me to some target that they want me to destroy and I destroy it. Even so, despite their paranoid secrecy, I have often garnered information they have sought to keep from me. I seek out the resentful and the greedy around the stronghold and bribe them, seeking to learn what others are trying to keep from me. The favors that can be granted by great power serves as my medium of exchange.

Then came the day came when I learned that a delegation of humans had arrived at the stronghold of Krad-Rog. These humans were not captives, but emissaries from another land. What most aroused my interest was that they had come from my former city of Ulik.

I sought for follow-up information and I learned that the visitors were Ulikan rebels seeking an alliance with the mighty Darkur. I thought the idea madly reckless. If they admitted the wildly ambitious Darkur into their country, how on earth did they expect to get rid of them?

If the inhuman horde destroyed or enslaved Ulik, Arielle would be in very great peril. I hadn’t brought my daughter back from death only to see her destroyed a few months later.

I needed to know more.

***

After learning where the Ulikans were lodged, I went to them, winding through complex passageways built into the stonework of Krad-Rog. The Darkur are sensitive to the proximity of magic, so I avoided using sorcery as I made made my way.

I exited the tunnels via a hatch near that was near to the guest suites. There were guards posted, but I eluded them until I saw an official of Ulik whom I knew, one Baron Vigon. He had been a senior aide to an important grandee, Viscount Armand. Whatever scheme was in the works, I needed to speak to these people, and discretion mandated that I do so demurely. Determined to get the meeting started, I simply stepped out into the open and said, “Hello, my lords.”

They turned my way, surprised to hear a woman’s voice. I had left behind my magical armor and worn a human gown given to me by Q'zon. I looked very much like the same person they had known in Ulik. The dress had originally come amid the loot from a human city. The fabric showed a mended slit under the left breast, by the way, one such as a stiletto might have made. I took it for granted that the owner had died by violence.  

"My lord Baron Vigon," I said, keeping my voice near to a whisper.

Vigon greeted me uneasily.

"You recognize me, I see, my lord."

"You are unforgettable, my lady,” the man said. “Forgive my reaction; but you appear to us as suddenly as a ghost.”

"I am flesh and blood, lord," I assured him. Though I have not often been called upon to play a damsel in distress, I am a decent actor. Serving Archimage required his knights to wear many different bodies and act in diverse roles.

“We are very pleased to find you safe, my lady. Many believe that Lord Pumpkin carried you away, until word came from King Q’zon that you were here. How has this come to be?”

"The Pumpkin would have killed me, but he fell victim to another of his many enemies,” I explained. “I fled, but fell into the hands of the Tradesmen."

“The Tradesmen?!”

“They sold me to the Darkur. Tell me, sire, did my daughter Arielle arrive safely at Ulik?"

“I am astonished,” Vigon said, “for Arielle told us that she was taken by the Tradesmen, also.”

I could not help but wonder if coming here had placed me among enemies. If Arielle had told the men of her court that I was a regicide, they would see me as a traitor fit to be killed on sight.

It didn’t suit me to confront that touchy topic. “Does Arielle now rule in Ulik, as is her right?” I asked.

"Alas, Arielle is no better than a captive in the power of Viscount Erhard. He has put forward a claim upon the throne of Urlik and intends to marry the princess, so that he can rule in her name. To make matters worse, several of the court factions have been drawn into his treasonous conspiracy. My master Viscount Armand opposes Erhard’s pretensions. He is marshaling his forces to set affairs right. It is his aim to return Arielle to her rightful dignity before the usurper's power becomes unassailable."

So, Armand and Erhard were quarreling for power in Ulik. I had no reason to favor either of the two rogues over the other. Armand I had met only fleetingly appeared at one of my court function, but Duke Erhan had seved Lord Tavon as warden of the armory. I had sized him up as that sort of man who was either the one’s feet or at one’s throat.

"About this marriage,” I said. “Is Arielle satisfied with Erhard’s proposition?” I rated it as a match made in Hell. She was fresh and young, an idealist. She loved life. Erhard was a cynical middle-aged schemer who loved power.

"Our information tells us that she her opinions are being ignored,” said Vigon. “Armand seeks to restore the princess’s rights as Tavon’s legitimate heir."

No doubt he simply intends to force himself on Arielle in place of Erhard, I was thinking. But to Vigon I said, "Here, in my captivity, is there anything that I may do to help my daughter?"

I awaited his reply, having placed my chip into the power game. I could not help but wonder if it was by coincidence that Vigon had come to Krad-Rog, the seat of my captivity. I doubted that. Others had apparently decided that I should be a player in the game, whether I liked it or not. I was motivated to learn what Armand’s entire plan was. For an opening move, I would seek to insinuate myself into Armand’s faction, doing my best to appear as useful tool.

"You can help, my lady! " the baron said. "You have many admirers and sympathizers in Ulik. If you publicly set yourself against Erhard, some of his power-backers might fall away.”

Was this true? Did I still have support in Ulik? To my mind, the whole kingdom should have hated and despised me. What this told me was that Arielle had not informed her people about all the damning things that she knew about me.

“I made many mistakes as Queen-Regent,” I said. “I tried to oppose violence by using even greater violence. It only made matters worse.”

“Many people saw you as a solid rock and a true leader. If you threw your support behind the Viscount, very many royal subjects outside of the capital would support him – and, of course, support you. Erhan would be largely restricted to his adherents within the city and palace."

“You do realize that using the princess as a pawn will place her life in great danger?” I said.

“As matters stand, she is already in danger as Erhard’s hostage. But in memory of her great father, she has broad support among the people, even within the city of Ulik. That is why Erhard tries to hard to pose as her champion. If the people can be brought to see that she is the usurper’s unwilling prisoner, it may cause division amongst those who surround him.”

“I suppose it would,” I said with a nod. Yes, indeed, being baited with the prize of power, the wheels of intrigue were grinding.

Unfortunately, the wheels of intrigue always grind exceeding fine.

From now on I had to make my every move with the utmost care, lest Arielle herself become one of those that the wheels would overrun and grind down.


CONTINUED IN Chapter 3 Part 1

The Beauty and the Beast, Chapter 2, Part 1

Written 2006

Revised May 11, 2021

Revised June 09, 2021

 
 

THE BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, CHAPTER 2, Part 1

A story of Necromantra

By Aladdin

Edited by Christopher Leeson

I was sold slave to King Q’zon. His stronghold was called Krad-Rog and his people were called the Darkur. These beings were engaged in an interminable war against another dominant race, one called the Aerwa. The Darkur were violent and brutish to the extreme, while their foes were less repulsive both in nature and appearance. Of course, the latter’s shape was decidedly more pleasing to the human eye – they looked rather elfin, in fact -- but there seemed to be a rapacious violence, or the threat of violence, behind everything that the Darkur engaged in. Both tribes were able to evoke magical powers, but the Darkur had lately been getting the worse of the conflict, both in sorcerous and physical warfare.   

Apparently, Q’zon must have purchased me to use as a super weapon. They hoped to tap me for mystical and even military insights and thereby turn the battle their way. My problem was that I hated the Darkur whom I served worse than the Aerwa I opposed. My attitude wasn’t personal; just to know the Darkur was enough to make any sane person hate them.

Acting the role of a compliant slave, I did as told. I nonetheless avoided volunteering anything that might help them with their scheming.  This was passive resistance performed in a society where any resistance at all might get a slave killed. But I did my best not to be too obvious about my attitude. They consequently sized me up as dim-witted, which was fine with me.

In truth, however, there was plenty that I knew about waging war. I had specialized in military matters, both overt and covert, for over a very long time. I had learned the use of hundreds of different weapons between the last days of Rome and the start of the Twenty-First Century. If I wanted to, I could have slain thousands of the Aerwan foe, not merely the hundreds that I actually did kill in compliance with Q’zon’s orders. Fortunately, his tribe was a bigotted one, assuming that human intelligence was very low, and so the king made fewer demands than he might have done otherwise. I did my best to follow explicit commands while trying to do only the minimum.

Physically, the Darkurans resembled big-framed humans with exaggerated muscles. They had brutal faces, pointed ears, and came in divers colors. The latter was clearly not indicative of different subspecies or races. A single family could display as many different colors as a bowl of Easter eggs. As far as I could see, the Darkurans considered pigmentation unimportant. Something far more significant about their race was the fact that they had shape-shifting skills.  It allowed them to morph into more combat-effective forms, most of which looked like the denizens of feverish nightmares. 

This power had its limitations, though; as far as I knew, they could not use it to impersonate other beings, not even other Darkurans. I think the skill must have been magical in origin, for it allowed them to more than double their size and, for all I could tell, their mass. Their best fighters were able to create weapons out of their own body – strangling tentacles, organic spears, or jets of acid.  Their own bodies were consequently their favorite weapons, thought they used hand-held energy weapons, also -- most often energy-shooting small arms that I would call “blasters.” They hardly employed war machines or mechanical artillery.

Being sold to the Darkur was like being thrown into into a cage of hungry lions, something which I really have experienced, by the way. Their sports were bloody battle games; the whole society seemed to get off on killing and destroying.  I don’t know how they managed to hold together as a society. The Nazis would have come off as courtly gentlemen by comparison. One of the most disconcerting quirks of their nature was that they liked to feast on the flesh of their enemies, craving especially the meat of the Aerwa race.  

Be that as it may, I would have preferred to be eaten by a Darkur rather than be taken to bed by one – or by a hundred of them, which was would be more in their nature. Fortunately, the Darkur found having sex with other races as odious as humans do about mating with farm animals. Oh, there are perverts in both races, of course, but I never had to square off with any of these. They all knew how lethal I was. I never met a Darkur who had a good nature, but – within limits -- they could be made to respect someone who was proficient at killing them.

So this mad exile had become my way of life and here I had to stay, if I intended to keep Arielle safe from Tradesmen reprisals.

They had let me speak to her after restoring her to life. I had paused at her door, ashamed to show my face to her, considering our last meeting. But I wanted to make sure that the Tradesmen were not pulling a fast one on me. They said that they had recalled her from the dead, and I wanted to be sure that this version of Arielle was the real person and not an impostor.  

She had passed muster on that score; this Arielle could still remembered dying at the hands of the Beast within me. She seemed to be kindly disposed to me, something I was sorry for.  In our last meeting, I told her the brutal truth by about the demon that clung to me, and about the bargain that I’d made to save her.  

I deliberately avoided mentioning that I would miss her, but urged her to go home and forget about me. I also kept it to myself that casting her off felt like casting away a vital organ from my own body. I also tried to conceal any trace of kindness or sympathy I felt toward her; I didn’t want kindness and sympathy in return. And any kindness she gave to me would surely come back to hurt her later, just like it had done following our original meeting.

“Marinna, you shouldn’t have agreed to do such a thing for my sake!” she had exclaimed. “I would not have agreed. You have your own life and shouldn’t be throwing it away for me.”

“You must not forget that it was I who murdered you. I owe you.”

“But wasn’t it the beast inside you that was acting by its own will?”

“Regardless, the devil might come back. I don’t want you anywhere near by if it does.”

She shook her head. “My father is dead. My living relatives that I are strangers far away, except for one cousin. In such days of crisis, I don’t think the aristocracy will allow me to rule in my own right. If I return home, I’ll be treated as a political pawn, expected to marry the strongest warlord available. I’d be better off staying with you. Maybe I can give you the strength you need to keep the monster at bay.”

“It’s just not possible. The beast is determined to kill everyone I love the most.”

She perked up. “So you’re admitting you love me! Let’s work with that. I’m not afraid to believe in you one more time.”

“No, I won’t allow it. It’s safer if you hate and avoid me. You already know so much about what I did wrong, but you still don’t know the half of it. I could tell you things that would make you despise me.”

“Like what?”

“Don’t force it. It will hurt the both of us,” I told her.

“No, tell me. It may not be so terrible as you think. I will try to forgive you.”

“Stop forgiving. Never forgive a wrong! Never look for the best in a person. It’s sometimes not there. If you trust evil, you give evil the advantage it needs to harm you.”

“There is bad in all of us,” she said, “but look at all you’re doing to save me. With your mighty sorceries, you must be able to get away from the Tradesmen. But you’re giving in to them because you have a good heart.”

I shook my head in pity – pity for myself, mostly. Somewhere along the way I had lost the privilege to hear words like that.  “You can’t come with me. I have nowhere to go, except into the darkness.”

“That may change in time,” she said.

“You have to grow up. It’s time to stop loving and trusting.”

She grimaced. “If I did, I would lose any wish I have to stay alive.”

“You will change,” I told her. The brutalities of life will eventually teach you to put your own survival above everything else. The sooner you change, the better your prospects for a long life.”

“Why is it so important to live for very long if it means becoming everything that I most despise?”

“Living amounts to one long series of betrayals. I will tell you this much. I knew all along who killed your father, Lord Tavon.  It was not the horned beast, it was not Lord Pumpkin, and it was not the Tradesmen.”

“You knew?” she asked with astonishment.  “Why didn’t you say something?”

“I had good reasons not to. Selfish reasons,” I said. “There is nothing in me that is not selfish.”

She was now looking at me with incredulity.  Maybe it crossed her mind that I was the last person to see her father alive. Arielle was not a stupid child.   

“Don’t say any more,” she told me.

“Whatever you’re thinking right now,” I said, “it’s probably right.”

I’d never seen her face be so pale. Well, it was for her own good. To save her life I had to slay her illusions. A future queen needs to be hard and cruel. Ruling means  giving up all regard for lives or decency. Knowledge brings pain, but what fails to kill us makes us stronger.

I left her apartment then, anticipating the day when she would hear about my death and it would put a smile on her lips. What parent would not welcome anything that made his child happy?

#

Leaving Arielle’s world put me into my descent into the world of the Darkur.

I had clung to life for some 1570 years. Now I had to ask myself, why? I think I had lost my original love for life shortly after meeting Archimage. It wasn’t my love for life that made me cling to it; it was because I hated death, I despised and I feared it. Who can honestly love life without respecting it? Hundreds of men had been sacrificed to keep me above the ground. That was what I had become. The wizard Archimage had made a whole new man of me.

And for that I will forever curse his memory.

I think most of us knights had lived as if our unnatural existence was something that could go on forever. It ended abruptly. Archimage himself died, and also ten of his twelve knights. Even Boneyard, his enemy, enjoyed his triumph only for a year beyond that, before fate took him out, too. The two wizards had warred for some 1600 years. Had all that carnage made the world a better place?

Most men are indifferent to dying because they believe that death means oblivion. If only that were true. My spirit has visited the Soul Walk hundreds of times, and that place was all the proof I needed to know about the immortality of the soul.  It is a terrible thing to find out that life doesn’t end with death. If the soul is real, who can deny that God is real? If He is the Honest Judge of the Scriptures, it leaves me in the dock as an accessory to hundreds of murders. What possible defense can I offer? A spider clinging to a man’s finger over a crackling fire had better prospects than I did.

I was damned even before the demon took hold of me.

I think I know when and how that happened. Boneyard had captured me.  I had been languishing in Boneyard’s prison for some days, and then I suddenly found myself awake on the Soul Walk. Archimage rescued me, as he always had, by placing my soul into yet another strong, fit human body.

But I was not the same man who Archimage had known before. I made up a story of escaping from Boneyard’s prison by suicide, beating my brain against the stone wall of my prison cell. But that was a lie. In truth., I had accepted a deal from Boneyard, a deal I’d made after I was already possessed. For the first time in my life I had become a traitor. And I was a traitor all the way, with no inner struggle at all. I cared for no one and for nothing. I didn’t even care about Boneyard, except that I was bound to do a job for him in exchange for a reward. A year later, when I finally heard that the dark wizard was himself dead, my heart sang.

I believe that when Boneyard had been unable to corrupt me in any straightforward way, he had bound some monstrous allied spirit to my own. This possessing demon obviously had the ability to follow me from body to body as I was killed and reincarnated time and time again. The thing was, as the Tradesmen’s wizards had said, a “soul-rider.”

The Tradesmen’s wizards had informed me that the Beast was still there, barely holding on to me, but not gone. They told me that they could not entirely dislodge it. That battle was for me and no one else could fight it for me. I would have to choose the ground and fight the fight myself. I ultimately failed, I would become the Necromantra that had I had been before.

I remember her thinking thoughts in my mind and they disgusted me. I didn’t know whether my death without resurrection could separate me from that tormenting spirit, but as a last resort I was willing to give that a try, too.

For the present, though, I still needed to fight just as hard as ever to live. This time I would not fighting for my own life, but for the life of another.

TO BE CONTINUED IN CHAPTER 2, PART 2

 

The Beauty and the Beast, Chapter 1, Part 2

Written 2006

Revised May 11, 2021

 
 

THE BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, CHAPTER 1, Part 2

A story of Necromantra

By Aladdin

Edited by Christopher Leeson

“Do you wish to die?” the Tradesman asked. I wondered why they never betrayed a hint of emotion. Did they consider it a disgrace to show emotion to an “inferior” race? Did they have no emotion to show?

I had been brought before three Tradesmen. All were of the same build and dressed alike. Was their whole race radically conformist, or were these Tradesmen of similar rank and wearing the uniform of that rank?

These outfits looked utilitarian, canvas-colored and provided with many pockets. The creatures’ legs were strangely jointed – reminiscent of bovine beasts. Though bipedal and upright, they only superficially resembled men in general outline. Their helmets had large glass eye-slots that concealed their faces. Was it more than a mask, I wondered; was it also a kind of breathing device? If this were so, their problem with the atmosphere of this part of the Godwheel could represent a possibly exploitable weakness. That was something to think about.

As their name suggests, Trade was their business. Though they showed no emotion, was their overriding drive greed and acquisitiveness? I knew that they exchanged precious commodities, and that these commodities were not always material. At this time and this place, I was one such commodity. By reputation, the Tradesmen were scrupulous in fulfilling their contract. Similarly, they demanded that all those that they dealt with should honor their commitments in scrupulous detail. Also by reputation, what the Tradesmen demanded, they usually got.

It was also said that they were either telepathically linked to those around them, that each individual was an element in a hive mind. If an outsider met one Tradesman, he was, in a sense, meeting with many Tradesmen at the same time – possibly with every other Tradesman in existence. Pretty clearly, that would rule out playing one Tradesman against another.

I couldn’t help looking about, though there was very little to see in the nearly featureless room. One chair for each Tradesman and little more. Ill at east, I didn’t want to be here, but I hadn’t been given any choice. I could expect no sympathy from them, for I had killed a Tradesman. This was an almost unprecedented offense and they had every right to kill me in retaliation. Oddly, though, I didn’t feel like cringing. Instead, I felt strangely detached. Why should I worry? After all, being executed would spare me the tedium of working myself up into a suicidal mindset.

To make any sense of this situation, I had to see it through the mindset of the Tradesmen themselves. Under their contractual law, I had been born their slave. My mother had promised to give them her next child in exchange for a desperate favor that she had needed to receive immediately. Yes, my mother is very strange, but that is a long story to tell. They had asked in exchange her next-born child. That was me. But how did they know that she would ever have a child? She absolutely had not wanted one. Did their race have prophetic powers? Or had they manipulated my mother after their meeting to see to it that my conception occurred? I had to stay on guard. Whenever these aliens wanted something, it didn’t take them long to get it. Bully for them. But the rules I was subjected to didn’t leave me in a very good situation.

I couldn’t help but smile. I knew that if my mother had known the circumstances she had put me in, she would have been amused. She would probably be hoping for my death. I didn’t think that anyone in the universe hated me than my mother did. I couldn’t blame her.

“You do not answer me,” said the Tradesman.

I blinked myself alert, having been lost in thought. The voices of these aliens, by the way, had a filtered quality, as if the sounds they projected were digitally created. “I have forgotten the question,” I murmured.

He repeated his interrogative. “Do you wish to die?”

“Yes, sir, I do wish to die,” I told him – her – it.

That reply didn’t seem to faze him. “So often human beings appear to value their lives casually,” he said. “Why is this so?”

I didn’t mind telling him. “Not every human likes living. I, for one, am not very good at it.”

“Understood. We know that you are afflicted by an evil spirit that has been possessing you. Our analysis tells us that you would rather die than have it again usurp the guidance of your life. Still, you will not have to face that eventuality, so long as you maintain an attitude of strict obedience. We have a purpose for you, but realizing that purpose calls for your fealty to the agreement we are about to offer you.”

“The demon you mention has kept me its slave for two years. What do you offer me, except a change of masters?” I asked him.

“Under our law, you are property – a slave, as your people would say. Despite your race’s zeal for enslaving one another, your majority considers slavery debasing. But humans also say that anything has its price. So, consider, what do you desire so much that you would willingly yield up your body and soul?”

He could have hardly been more blunt about the nature of the Satanic bargain he had in mind. “Nothing,” I said. “I would not choose to be another’s property for any price.”

“We believe that statement to be fallacious,” the Tradesman replied. “We have calculated that we are able to make an offer with a very high probability of being acceptable by you.”

“You are miscalculating,” I said.

“We shall see. Come.”

The three Tradesmen rose as a group. I guessed that they expected me to follow them. I was led into a chamber that resembled the magic room where I had been kept in since my abduction to the Godwheel. While there, human wizards had worked on me. I didn’t know why the Tradesmen employed humans for sorcery, unless their kind were unable to work magic themselves, or else regarded sorcery to be demeaning work. After all, any medieval prince would have bridled at the thought of supporting himself by selling turnips.

This particular chamber seemed to be centered around what looked like a glass coffin. The Tradesmen pointed at this artifact, directing me to peer through its transparent lid. I did, and what I saw therein made my limbs quake. I turned away.

“You bastards!” I shouted.

“This is the one you killed,” said one of the Tradesmen. “Has it occurred to you that she could be brought back to life?”

“Back to life?” I muttered.

“The young female may be revived if we strike a bargain. If not, death will become her permanent condition.”

I looked at him accusingly. “Revived? She’s dead because I sucked the life-force from her body. How can she be revived?”

“You already know that such things are possible. Did not your foe Boneyard know the art of resurrecting his own slain minions and did so many times. He did this by use of a rare spell. Have you never wondered where the necromancer acquired a spell so mighty?”

Yes, all of us knights had wondered. Now that I was being asked a leading question, I made a guess. “From – the Tradesmen?”

“He paid a very high price,” the being informed me, “but he never regretted the bargain. Your master, Archimage, on the contrary, refused our price. Now he and all his works have perished.”

“Yes, but Boneyard survived his brother by only a few months,” I reminded him.

The Tradesman made no reply. Instead, he said,

“We have preserved her in a preservation capsule,” said the Tradesman. “We brought her body to this place because it so clearly gave us a negotiation advantage. We know that some humans will unselfishly surrender what is most precious to them in order to save a loved one. Are you a human of that stamp?”

No, I was not.

I was, in fact, the worse of humans! Even before I had been demon-possessed, I had lived – existed – only because I was absolutely selfish.

“I am the wrong person to be offered such a proposition,” I told the alien. “

“Our analysis disagrees. We shall ask again. Will you accept bondage in body and spirit in exchange for the restoration of Princess Arielle to life? We restored, she will be permitted to return in safety to her own people.”

I shook my head, not in negation but in amazement. I had not believed that these aliens had anything in their bag of tricks to move me. But now, and with apparent ease, they had backed me into a corner. I searched my mind for a reason to refuse.

First, I asked myself, would it not be kinder to leave Arielle where she was? All her pains and troubles had been met and left behind. If she were to return to life, would she not have to resume a life of trouble and sorrow? Would she not have to undergo the trauma of death all over again?

But, in all the universe, if there was only one mistake that I would do almost anything to reverse, it would have been this mistake.

“What must I surrender?” I heard myself asking.

“Swear fealty. Submit to total obedience. And swear, too, to become the dedicated servant of any other party who becomes your purchaser. You will pledge to live your life to doing as you are told, and will do nothing else. Do so and no doubt Arielle’s people will rejoice at having their heiress restored. She will not be stigmatized. No one needs to know that she had ever died at all. After all, there was no witness to that death except yourself.”

“The monster called Lord Pumpkin seized power in Ulik,” I protested. “He will simply kill her again, and with pleasure.”

“This is inaccurate,” said the negotiator. “The pitiless one has vanished. Other ambitious men are now contesting for control of Ulik. Blood flows freely.”

I could see my reflection in the goggles of the alien’s mask when I asked, “Why would you trust me to keep such a bargain?”

“We knew that the Soul-Rider who was guiding you would never keep its bargains,” the Tradesman replied. “We enhanced your value a thousand-fold by removing it. We are now addressing the knight Thanasi. Documentation tells us that he was ever a man of his word.”

I might have laughed at such a complement, if I felt like laughing at all. I had let a thousand men die to keep myself alive. Before this moment, I would have considered myself utterly shameless.

But if my debasement was so complete, why was it that I could not take my eyes away from Arielle’s face, the teenage girl who was still sleeping the sleep of death.

For me, this was a Poesque moment. I was being offered the chance to reduce the check list of my crimes. The temptation was almost irresistible. I had loved Arielle, but she was so much more than my legal step-daughter. If she had never lived, I would not be alive at this moment. She had chanced upon me in the wild, a stranger in need of help, and she had given me that help.

That I had paid her back so badly made the debt owed to her a thousand times heavier to bear.

Her mistake had allowed me to continue my life of crime. Except for the error she made in rescuing me, I could not have murdered her father, could not have thrown away the lives of so many of her countrymen. Looked at in that way, it was her compassion that had brought on every evil thing that had happened since then.

“Will you make the trade?” the masked being again asked.

Outwardly, it would seem as though I was being given a choice.

But it was no choice at all.

The Tradesmen knew the game of life so much better than I did. The aliens had won the match even before the first piece on the board had been moved.

It had never been a contest that involved my winning or losing. My challenge had always been to deal with my eventual loss.

 

TO BE CONTINUED IN CHAPTER 2, PART 1