The Tides of Kregen [Dray Prescot #12] Read online

  Now I sent the little airboat racing over the surface of Kregen under the Suns of Scorpio.

  She was an unhandy little craft and not overly fast, being capable of little more than eight dbs.[1] So as I urged her on and we passed over the sea dropping Xuntal astern, I settled down to the long haul ahead—if the flier did not break down. The flying furs wrapped me against the slipstream. At last the dim and faraway blue and brown flicker of islands to starboard told me I was passing the Undurkers. Northwest I went, over the suns-glittering sea, northwest as the suns sank and Kregen's primary moon, the Maiden with the Many Smiles, shone forth in pink and golden glory. A few clouds wafted against that glowing orb, for the moon was almost full, and I expectantly looked back to the east to see a sight I had never seen on Earth. Soon the fourth moon, She of the Veils, rose and the two moons rolled along above me, casting down their fuzzy pinkish light, most wonderful, most gorgeous, most comforting. Two of the lesser moons hurtled across, as though in welcome to see me again.

  [1 Dbs: dwaburs per bur. A dwabur is five miles and a bur is forty minutes. Dbs is the usual measurement for fliers. Land or sea transport speed is more often given in ubs, ulms per bur. An ulm is about 1,500 yards. [A.B.A.]]

  I am an Earthman, a terrestrial, and yet on Earth I had found having only one moon in the sky a most unsettling experience. How quickly we adapt and change, how quickly we grow accustomed to the bizarre ... and yet isn't just one moon as bizarre as seven? My Delia would have thought so.

  At this speed it would take me over a day and a half to reach Valka.

  That journey proceeded with nightmare slowness. As I journeyed nearer and nearer to Valka and all the place meant to me, I grew more and more irritable, more agitated, more apprehensive. The closer I came the more I feared. All manner of phantasms rose to torture me. Anything could have happened, anything could have gone wrong. Twenty-one years! The idea of invisible, near-omnipotent Star Lords directing me and controlling my destiny sickened me. My own estimation of myself, my own foolish achievements, all meant nothing beside the enormity of their power.

  My Delia! She must be there, waiting for me, smiling, running to greet me with outstretched arms!

  Close to dawn I knew I must be entering the areas of my former life on Kregen. Below me, as the first ruby fires flickered over the eastern horizon, must lie the dark outlines of islands I knew. First rose Zim, that great crimson sun that is called Far in Havilfar, and has many and many a name over other parts of Kregen. I roused myself and stared ahead in that rosy dawn. The sea sparkled empty before me. I cursed. When the vivid emerald fires of Genodras, the smaller green sun that in Havilfar is called Havil and likewise has many other names, rose to drench the bloodlit sky, I saw a faint smear on the northwestern horizon. I was gripping the wooden rail of the flier like a drowning man. My head jutted above the little windshield and the breeze roared in my face, streaming my shaggy mop of brown hair, bringing water to my eyes.

  I wore an old red-and-white checked shirt and a pair of breeches that barely fitted. Around my waist in a cheap leather scabbard and belt hung a rapier and main-gauche I had borrowed from Trylon Vektor. I stared ahead and I could feel my heart thumping. This—this homecoming was what I had craved for twenty-one unendurable years on Earth.

  Islands flashed past below. I saw the cream of surf, the windblown trees, here and there the orderly signs of cultivation. Villages and towns flashed past and then more open sea. Ships sailed down there, toy models with swelling sails. I looked ahead. Valka! Yes—there rose the high battlements of the Heart Heights, those inner mountains where the freedom-fighters had rallied to oppose oppression. Now I could see the coastline, the whole fantastic sweep of the Bay, with Valkanium dotting the bright slopes with white and multicolored buildings. The high fortress of Esser Rarioch atop its hill, the banners and streamers, the brave red and white of Valka, the suns streaming their glorious mingled rays upon all that vivid scene; it was a fusion of color and movement and brightness as the voller swept in a lancing curve to land on that high terraced platform.

  I stepped out.

  I looked around.

  By Zair!

  Home—home after twenty-one years and four hundred light-years. I felt dizzy, dizzied with the sheer ache of longings fulfilled.

  People came running.

  Many I knew. Many I did not know. There rose a babblement of voices. I laughed. I, Dray Prescot, laughed. Up above my head a patrol of flutduins curved, those famous saddle birds of Djanduin with my riders of Valka perched on them. A voller swung away, assured by the people below that all was well.

  Panshi came forward, smiling, holding his great staff of office, full well understanding the importance of this occasion.

  “Master!” he said. He looked at me and I saw the expression on his face and I clasped him by the hand, mightily shocking him and yet perfectly conveying the impression of welcome and homecoming we both experienced.

  “The Princess Majestrix! Prince Drak and Princess Lela! Prince Segnik and Princess Velia! Where are they?"

  “My Prince!” he said.

  And I chilled.

  “Prince Drak is in Vondium with his grandfather, the Emperor. Princess Lela and Princess Velia stay with the sisters of the Rose. Prince Zeg is gone to a far-off place that must exist, for he has been there and returned, but it is beyond all men's knowledge."

  My hands were gripped together. I was aware of the throng pressing, the shouts as the word passed: “The old Strom is back!"

  I hardly understood what they said. The old Strom.

  “And the Princess Majestrix?"

  I did not like the look on old Panshi's face. But he was a good and loyal man. He straightened up.

  “She too is gone, my Prince."

  “Gone!” I was shouting. “Gone where?"

  He waved his hand before his face. The great staff of office shook against the flagstones.

  “I do not know, my Prince, I do not know. But she is gone."

  * * *

  Chapter Eight

  "And so the Princess Majestrix went alone?"

  My private rooms, my inner sanctum, were smothered in dust. Dust and decay harbored here. I smashed the rapier flat against a chair and the dust flew. Sitting, I stared at Panshi, who had followed me here. All others I had waved away.

  “Fetch me food and drink, Panshi. Send for it. You must tell me all that has passed."

  “Yes, master."

  A Fristle fifi I did not know scurried in with refreshment, looking frightened. When she had gone I said: “You said Prince Zeg?"

  “Yes, Prince. He is no longer Prince Segnik.” Then Panshi revealed he was still the same old retainer, for he added in a more sprightly voice: “He said he would not have the nik added to his name any longer, and he fought Prince Vanden, whose father visited here, and gave the brat—I beg your pardon, my Prince—gave the young lord a bloody nose."

  That sounded likely. This young Prince Vanden's father was that same Varden Wanek, Prince of the House of Eward of Zenicce, a good comrade to Dray Prescot, so something at least of the old alliances continued.

  “Go on, Panshi.” I spoke more calmly now. This was not the homecoming I had expected, hungered for. The emptiness in me rang hollow with mockery of my hope. But, after so long, how could I expect everyone to be home waiting for me?

  “Prince Segnik went away—to a place—and when he returned he called himself Prince Zeg."

  I fancied I knew where Segnik had been, and you who listen to these tapes will have no difficulty in understanding just where he had been and what he had been about.

  “And the Princess Majestrix has gone there too?"

  “I believe so, my Prince. But I cannot be sure."

  “Tell me."

  “Men came. Strange men. They were closeted privately with the Princess, and Turko the Shield had to be told by me most stringently that she was not to be disturbed. We waited and fretted and when the Princess bade the men remberee she looked—I cr
ave your indulgence, master—she looked sad and tired. We wanted to help; but she would not confide in us."

  “Didn't Prince Drak have anything to say?"

  “He was in Vandayha over a matter of a silversmith who had adulterated his metal. There was a scandal and Prince Drak—"

  “Yes, yes.” I saw then that young Drak had been carrying on my government while I had been away. Well, wasn't that the proper function for a dutiful son?

  “The young Prince and Princess—” began Panshi, but in my impatience I interrupted.

  “And Turko and Balass and Naghan, Melow the Supple—they are all with the Princess?"

  He looked thoughtful and adjusted the upper hem of his robe, for he had somehow managed to find the time to dress himself in his full regalia so that he looked at once imposing and faintly ridiculous, an eminently practical appearance for the Chief Chamberlain. “I do not know for sure, my Prince. They were called away with the Elten of Avanar to—ah—attend to the disturbances of the Strom of Vilandeul. He conceived the idea that he was entitled to the lands west of the Varamin Mountains and led an expedition—"

  I felt not so much the shock of that as the annoyance. The Elten of Avanar was my old blade comrade Tom Tomor ti Vulheim. He was my Chuktar in command of the army of Valka. If the Strom of Vilandeul, a Strom governing his Stromnate on the mainland of Vallia, conceived that land in my island of Can Thirda belonged to him, there was going to be trouble. The shock, when I thought about it, was the wonder that the trouble should occur at all in the Empire of Vallia. Surely the Emperor was not so decayed as to be unable to maintain law and order? This was a matter that must be looked into. But not now; now I only desired to find my Delia. The children were quite clearly making their own lives. It was my Delia I must concern myself with.

  “In this trouble, the young Prince would have been—” started Panshi.

  “And so the Princess Majestrix went alone?"

  He did not like my tone. He lifted his thin shoulders. “She would not listen, my Prince. We tried—she left when the Strom of Vilandeul played a false tune. I think, if I may be permitted to say this, my Prince, that when the Princess went the Strom fancied his chances."

  “But Tom will fix him,” I said. With Vangar and the air fleet, the cavalry and aerial cavalry and the superb Archers of Valka, my Stromnate should be able to resist this upstart Strom's plans for conquest and occupation.

  “Master, men did go with the Princess, a small bodyguard she agreed to take, and Melow the Supple—"

  “Ah!” I said. At once I felt more reassured.

  Staring about the dusty room with the furnishings so carefully chosen, I wondered. As Panshi poured a fresh cup of tea—that superb Kregen tea on which I dote—I prowled around the familiar room, seeing that the weapons adorning the walls had all been most carefully greased, noting the books in their serried ranks, the pictures, the banners, marking all the old items, domestic and flamboyant, that made this room and these chambers a place to feel at home, to relax, to laugh and enjoy life.

  “Why is the room dusty, Panshi?"

  “The Princess would not allow anyone here after you—ah—went away, my Prince. There were some who whispered you were dead. But we who know you knew better. The young Prince, of course, did not—"

  “Was a message entrusted to you?"

  “Only that when you returned you were to be told what I have told you. I think, Majister, another message may have been left."

  I thought so too. So I prowled, going to the writing desks and the bookshelves and all those peculiarly Kregan furnishings that make a Kregan home a place of color as well as comfort. I did not find a message from Delia. Well, I knew enough. There remained one item to learn, one remaining fact I hesitated to ask, dreading the answer. But one must accept the needle, as they say on Kregen.

  “When did the Princess leave?"

  “Seven months of the Maiden with the Many Smiles."

  Over a year ago, in terrestrial reckoning! The Kregans’ measurements of time are a vastly complicated affair, with their seasons and their months calculated to the phases of the three major sets of moons and the passages of the suns. I felt again that heaviness at my heart, that hollowness within me.

  “You will have messages sent to Prince Drak and the Princesses, Panshi,” I said, with as firm a voice as I could muster. “I have no time to write. Say I am returned and gone to seek their mother.” I began to strip off the old red-and-white checked shirt. “And I will have a fleet voller readied, well provisioned and weaponed. I will select the weapons myself."

  “I will do all you command, master. And the young Prince?"

  “Since he is probably where I am now going I shall be able to speak with him myself."

  I saw Panshi's eyebrows lift a tiny fraction, then he nodded and bustled off to prepare what was necessary.

  There was no time to take the Baths of the Nine, for though Delia might have left over a year ago, I did not wish to waste a mur. As for weapons, I plundered the armory and took a fine selection. For clothes I had a whole wardrobe in a wicker basket placed in the chosen flier and made sure a quantity of scarlet cloth was included. I was traveling where men fought in different fashion from men in Vallia and Zenicce and Pandahem. And, to be truthful, in a way that was both advantageous and disadvantageous.

  The state of Valka and my other lands was sketched by Panshi: the army as I had seen was in fine fettle; the shipyards prospered; we were recovering from a poor samphron-oil crop; the Princess Majestrix had trouble in Delphond, but the leader of the high assembly of Valka, grim old Tharu ti Valkanium, continued to shoulder the burdens of office. I remembered him with affection.

  As always my mind turned towards my comrades, men and women of Kregen I counted as friends. Seg Segutorio, for whom young Segnik had been named—and how had he taken this changing of his given name, I wondered—knew where I would be going. I felt I could count on him to assist me. And Inch too would assuredly come. I must make time to write them. The pen squealed over the paper, for there was no time for the fine Kregan brushwork, and I stated to them both very simply that I was back and needed their help; I added that Inch should first contact Seg and they should journey together.

  Then I crossed out the Kregish word for should and substituted a euphemistic expression that conveyed the idea of a request and a gracious permission on their part. After this lapse of time they would be deeply immersed in their own affairs. How could I expect them to drop everything and go flying across Kregen after a harebrained onker like me, rushing headlong into adventures again, as we had in the old days?

  For I knew as surely as Zim and Genodras ruled the daytime sky that fearsome adventures loomed ahead. This was no picnic on which I embarked. And my Delia had gone—alone!

  Well, not quite alone. I was marvelously cheered at the thought of a ferocious jikla, a Manhound of Faol, pacing at her side with slavering fangs ready to rend any who would harm her.

  When I saw the flier Panshi had provided I could not prevent a tiny droop to my lips. She was not one of the best. He saw my face and hurriedly said, “Master, all the fliers save a very few have been taken, as I have told you. Even the sailers. San Evold and San Khe-Hi are with Prince Drak."

  I knew what he meant. Nothing more had been done about deciphering the secrets of the silver boxes that powered vollers.

  It was necessary for me to observe the fantamyrrh with great care as I stepped aboard the voller. This I did.

  A young Hikdar of the Valkan Archers looked up at me. He bashed his red-and-white banded sleeve across his chest.

  “My Prince! I would like to go with you. I and a choice band from my pastang."

  I looked at him. Yes, I knew him. He had been a waso-Deldar when last I'd been in Valka. Now he wore the insignia of a shebov-Hikdar of the Fourth Regiment of Valkan Archers. In twenty years he had gone from the fifth rank in the Deldar structure to the seventh rank in the Hikdar. Even when men live for two hundred years there is still prom
otion when there is fighting to be done.

  “I am sure your pastang is a credit to the Fourth, and to the Valkan Army, Hikdar Naghan ti Ovoinach. But your duty lies here, to protect Valka, as you have been detailed."

  His face lit up at my remembrance of him, and showed sadness at my words. But he bashed me another salute and stepped back to where his pastang, a full eighty superb bowmen, lined up. I saw that a strong hand had been running the army, at least, while I had been away. As the voller soared up into the limpid light of the suns I guessed that strong and guiding hand to belong to my son Drak. How odd to think that, even though I was chronologically over ninety years of age, my son at thirty-two was an older man than I. I had been thirty when I'd taken that dip in the Pool of Baptism.

  Although no one had mentioned it, I knew well enough that he was regarded as the Strom of Valka, that when I was mentioned it would be as the old Strom of Valka, Oh, yes, I knew.

  I set the controls at due west and thrust the speed lever hard over. The persistent habit of driving vollers at their top speed had been growing on me. This was no time to make an exception.

  Rising into the air, the voller swung west. I looked down over the rim where the lacing of leather to the wooden rib had frayed and threatened to rip apart in the slipstream. This was an example of the more common form of voller which, while being able to move of its own volition by reason of the two silver boxes, was yet susceptible to wind pressure. If this craft failed me somewhere over the sea ... Well, that would be an end to Dray Prescot, onker of onkers.

  Unless, of course, the Star Lords still needed me for their inscrutable purposes. The veil that had been partially lifted on the Everoinye, allowing me a dim glimpse of secrets to be discovered, had shown me potentialities for conflict that staggered me, courses of disaster I did not wish to steer.