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
