Cursing, weeping, he moved to the body, stood above it and brought the blade singing down. The head rolled several feet and blood darkened the stones.
"Now bring it to me."
He picked it up by the hair, held it at arm's length and returned to where he had stood. The other accepted it from him and swung it casually at his side.
"Thank you," he said. "Not a bad likeness at all." He hoisted it, studied it, swung it again. "No indeed. I wonder whatever became of my old one? No matter. I shall put this to good use."
"Kill me now," said Smage.
"I regret that I must save that chore for a bit later. For now, you may keep the remainder of your ex-Lord company here, by joining all but two others in sleep."
He gestured and Smage fell snoring to the ground; the flames died as he fell.
When the door opened, Evene did not turn to face it.
After a prolonged silence, she heard his voice and shuddered.
You must have known," he said, "that eventually I would come for you."
She did not reply.
"You must recall the promise I made," he said.
She turned then, and he saw that she was weeping.
"So you've come to steal me?" she said.
"No," he said. "I came to make you the Lady of Shadow Guard-my Lady."
"To steal me," she repeated. "There is no other way you may have me now, and it is your favorite way of obtaining what you desire. You cannot steal love, though, Jack."
"That I can do without," he said.
"What now? To Shadow Guard?"
"Why, Shadow Guard is here. This place is Shadow Guard, nor am I ever out of it."
"I knew it," she said, very softly. "...And you mean to reign here, in his place, who is my Lord. What have you done with him?" she whispered.
"What did he do with me? What did I promise him?" he said.
"...And the others?"
"All are sleeping, save for one who may provide you some amusement. Let us step to the window."
Stiffly, she moved.
He swept the hanging aside and pointed. Inclining her head, she followed his gesture.
Below, on a level place which she knew had never before existed, Quazer moved. The gray, bisexual giant moved through the elaborate paces of the Helldance. He fell several times, rose to his feet, continued.
"What is he doing?" she asked.
"He is repeating the feat which won him the Hellflame. He will continue to reenact his triumph until his heart or some great vessel bursts within him and he dies."
"How awful! Stop him!"
"No. It is no more awful than what he had done to me. You accused me of not keeping my promises. Well, I promised him my vengeance, and you can see that I did not fail to deliver it."
"What power is it that you have?" she asked. "You could never do things like that when I- when I knew you."
"I hold The Key That Was Lost," he said, "Kolwynia."
"How did you come by it?"
"It does not matter. What does matter is that I can make the mountains walk and the ground burst open; I can call down bolts of lightning and summon spirits to aid me. I can destroy a Lord in his place of power. I have become the mightiest thing in the dark hemisphere."
"Yes," she said. "You have named yourself; you have become a thing."
He turned to watch Quazer fall again, then let the hanging drop.
She turned away.
"If you will grant mercy to all who remain here," she finally said, "I will do whatever you say."
With his free hand, he reached out as if to touch her. He paused when he heard the scream from beyond the window. Smiling, he let his hand fall. The taste is too sweet, he decided.
"Mercy, I have learned, is a thing that is withheld from one whenever he most needs it," he said. "Yet when he is in a position to grant it himself, those who withheld it previously cry out for it."
"I am certain," she said, "that no one in this place has asked mercy for himself."
She turned back to him and searched his face.
"No," she said. "No mercy there. Once there was something slightly gallant about you. It is gone now."
"What do you think I am going to do with the Key, after I have repaid my enemies?" he asked.
"I do not know."
"I am going to unite the darkside, making it into a single kingdom-"
"Ruled by yourself, of course."
"Of course, for there is no one else who could do it. Then I am going to establish an era of law and peace."
"Your laws. Your peace."
"You still do not understand. I have thought of this for a long while, and while it is true that at first I sought the Key only for purposes of revenge, I have come to alter my thinking. I will use it to end the bickering of the Lords and promote the welfare of the state that will ensue."
"Then start here. Promote some welfare in High Dudgeon-or Shadow Guard, if you care to call it that."
"It is true that I have already repaid much that was done to me," he mused. "Still-"
"Begin with mercy and your name may one day be venerated," she said. "Withhold it and you will surely be cursed."
"Perhaps..." he began, taking a step backward.
Her eyes covered his entire form as he did so.
"What is it that you clutch beneath your cloak? You must have brought it to show me."
"It is nothing," he said. "I have changed my mind and there are things I must do. I will return to you later."
But she moved forward quickly and tore at his cloak as he turned.
Then the screams began, and he dropped the head to seize her wrists. In her right Hand there was a dagger.
"Beast!" she cried, biting his cheek.
He raised his will, uttered a single word, and the dagger became a dark flower which he forced toward her face. She spat and cursed and kicked him, but after a few moments her movements weakened and her eyelids began to droop. When she grew sufficiently drowsy, he carried her to her bed and placed her upon it. She continued to resist him, but the strength had gone out of her efforts.
"It is said that power can destroy all that is good in a man," she gasped. "But you need have no fear. Even without power, you would be what you are: Jack of Evil."
"So be it," he said. "Yet all that I have described to you will come to pass, and you will be with me to witness it."
"No. I will have taken my life long before."
"I will bend your will, and you will love me."
"You will never touch me, body or will."
"You will sleep now," he said, "and when you awaken we will be coupled. You will struggle briefly and you will yield to me-first your body, then your will. You will lie passive for a time, then I will come to you again and yet again. After that, it will be you who will come to me. Now you will sleep while I sacrifice Smage upon his Lord's altar and cleanse this place of all things which displease me. Dream well. A new life awaits you."
And he departed, and these things were done as he had said.
10
AFTER SOLVING ALL boundary problems involving Drekkheim by conquering that kingdom, adding it to his own, and sending the Baron to the Dung Pits, Jack turned his attention to the Fortress Holding, home of the Colonel Who Never Died. It was not long before the place betrayed its name, and Jack entered there.
He sat in the library with the Colonel and they sipped a light wine and reminisced for a long while.
Finally, Jack touched on the delicate subject of Evene's union with the suitor who obtained the Hellflame.
The Colonel, whose sallow cheeks bore matching crescent scars and whose hair funneled up from the bridge of his nose like a red tornado, nodded above his goblet. He dropped his pale eyes.
"Well, that was-the understanding," he said softly.
"It was not my understanding," said Jack. "I took it as a task you had set me to, not an offer open to all comers."
"You must admit that you did fail. So when another suitor appeared with the bride-price, I'd set-"
"You could have waited for my return. I would have stolen it and brought it to you."