After the slaying, you see, there is a time for healing, the Glory observed in its cool, singing voice. Is it not well, Lord Thoh?
In a hushed voice, his face as pale and dead as one of the walking corpses, Lord Thoh agreed that it was well.
You wanted war, did you not? For honor and glory and to prove your virility. Well, you have seen now, Lord Thoh, the red face of war. Did you find it.. . pretty?
Thoh swallowed with a dry, aching throat. He had been sick five times during the scenes of carnage, and he had emptied his guts until there was nothing left to vomit up. Now, shakily, he said that war was … not pretty.
Zarouk maintained a cold, impassive mien. He had, however, closed his teeth upon his bottom lip to keep from crying out while being forced to look on as his men were butchered by the walking dead they had slain.
He had bitten entirely through his lip, and the blood bedewed his beard and stained the front of his robe.
But he had not cried out.
And you, Prince Zarouk? How do you like your conquest—and your empire? Shall I command the dead to build you a kingdom, whereover you may rule the dead men, and be served by them, forever? the Glory inquired, sweetly.
No flicker of expression showed in the stony eyes of the Desert Hawk. “You are the victor here,” he mumbled through maimed lips. “Do with me what you will.”
I shall, indeed! laughed the Glory. For in every contest, there is the victor and the vanquished. Shall I do with you, O Zarouk, as you would have done with the vanquished, had you been the victor here?
Zarouk said nothing, but no longer did he hold his head so high. He was a beaten man.
And when it was all finished, and the City was cleared for rebuilding, and the injured healed and restored to their loved ones, there came a time for ending.
The Glory directed the army of the walking dead to leave Zhiam. They marched out into the great blue valley and dwindled from sight into the distance. Far, far from the City the unnatural vitality which sustained the illusion of life within them would withdraw, and they would find lonely graves in the wilderness, there to sleep forever.
Now this is my decree, said the Glory.The victors shall dwell here with the vanquished, and together they shall toil to rebuild the City. Shoulder to shoulder they shall labor together, and perchance they shall in time discover they are no different, one from the other, for all men are as brothers, although they forget this simple truth and let vain words and bits of painted cloth called flags and other futile, flimsy, frivolous things divide them, one from the other.
And, once again, I say unto you: abide by the Vow! Shed not the blood of beasts or men, nor slay aught that liveth, but dwell in peace and harmony with all life. Do this, and I, Child-of-Stars, shall be thy friend forever. But break the Vow, and I shall break thy City asunder, and drive thee forth into the wilderness to live like beasts, naked and comfortless, to sweat and toil beneath the lash of storms.
And the people of the Lost Nation, and those who lived of Zarouk’s band, bent their heads before the Glory and repeated again the Vow their ancestors had sworn, long ago.
The Door I shall seal forever, that none may again be tempted to flee into Tomorrow, and the Keystone shall be riven into dust, aye, and that false replica made by the cunning of the priest. You shall dwell here in the past for all your days, you and your children and your children’s children, far from strife and want and peril.
And the twin seals were ground into dust before the eyes of all, and, far off at the head of the valley, a doorway veiled in glittering metallic mist closed, and was solid rock again, nevermore to open.
My priesthood I withdraw from the line of Valarda, but not to chastise her for failing to restrain the warlike passions of her subjects. Instead, I bequeath it unto the child, Kiki, who hath partaken of my spirit and who hath close affinity with me. He in his time shall pass my spirit on to whomsoever he chooseth, that I may be served forever.
Valarda bowed in submission, then raised her face to the Glory.
“And what of me and mine, Lord? What is your will?” she whispered.
The Glory looked down upon her, in all her beauty and humility, then looked to the strong, grim-faced Earthling who stood very near. And the Child-of-Stars laughed!
You have love for each other, you two, after the ways of your flesh, it said gently. Why do you deny the passion written in your hearts? Go unto each other, my children, and make many fat babies! And you, Valarda, shall reign over this people as their Princess. And you, Earthling, shall rule beside her whom thy heart loveth. Be strong and fair and just and vigilant in that rule, for behold, among you there yet live those who were thine enemies, Zarouk and Thoh. See that you hold steady the thrones that Child-of-Stars hath given you.
“We shall hold them, Lord,” said Ryker. And it was a promise.
Do so, then! … Love each other; rule in peace; and find happiness after the manner of your kind. Now I grow weary, I who have slept the ages by, dreaming of that which I shall never find, that which will ever remain unattainable … another like unto me to companion me through all the aeons to come. Leave me, now, my children, for I would return to my dreams, wherein alone I may find the happiness else denied me.
And the Glory sank into the City, and the ground opened before it. But for a moment it lingered, lingered—
But wake me, in just a little time—as you measure time—so that I may look upon the first of those fat babies. Now, farewell!
The ground closed in thunder, and the Glory was gone.
And Ryker took Valarda’s hand in his own, and they went down from that height into their City, where Herzog and Melandron and Kiki and many others awaited them, to wed and to rule, to issue their commands and decrees. And, very likely, to live happily all their days, after the manner of their kind.
And the evening and the morning were the seventh day.