" 'But,' said Filoman, 'if all my subjects gave up conjugal relations, there would soon be no people in Kortoli at all.'
" 'All the better,' said the sage. 'If people ceased to be born on this plane, then all the souls would perforce be promoted to the next one, instead of being sent back again and again to this vale of suffering and sorrow. So you and the queen, to set an example, must henceforth live like brother and sister.'
"Filoman gave in. The queen, however, did not take kindly to this scheme. Within the year she had eloped with a sea captain from Salimor, who became a notorious pirate. She left behind her young son, who grew up to be the famous King Fusinian.
"Next, Ajimbalin made Filoman relinquish his fine raiment and wear a piece of sacking pinned about his body, as Ajimbalin himself was wont to do. He made him sleep on the ground in the palace courtyard and spend all his waking hours memorizing Ajimbalin's moral precepts. Filoman's idea of wild revelry had been to sit up till midnight over a flagon of ale and a game of draughts with some crony; but even these simple pleasures were denied him.
"Strangely enough, this regiment did not produce in King Filoman the state of perfect bliss that Ajimbalin had promised. It only made him unhappier than ever. He missed his wife—for all that she had nagged him—and he missed his son, who had been sent off to the court of the Grand Duke of Othomae to serve as a page. He missed his cronies and he missed the hunting and fishing and dancing and the good food and drink he used to enjoy. Instead of the promised strength and wisdom, he found himself enfeebled in body and bewildered in mind. Weeping, he told Ajimbalin that he must be a hopeless sinner, because the life of perfect virtue had not made him happy but the reverse.
" Then, my son,' said the holy man, 'I see that you are now ready for the final and most drastic step. First you shall make out a document of abdication, naming me king in your room.'
"This startled Filoman, and he argued. But Ajimbalin soon talked him round, for the holy man had so gotten Filoman under his thumb that the king no longer had will of his own. So Filoman wrote out the document.
" 'Now,' said Ajimbalin, 'you shall utter a prayer to the true god of Mulvan and slay yourself. Only thus can you promote the welfare of your people and end your own sorrow, for you lack the mettle to impose upon Kortoli the reforms required for its salvation. The gods have therefore chosen me as their humble instrument to effect these improvements. Here is a dagger from your armory; one quick thrust and it is done.'
"Filoman took the dagger, looked dubiously at it, and tried its point on his thumb. Then he pricked his breast a little, said 'Ouch!', and cast the blade from him, for he could not quite summon the courage to thrust it home. Nor could he nerve himself to drink the poison that Ajimbalin thoughtfully proffered him. He broke down into sobs and tears; and indeed he was a pitiful sight, gaunt from starvation, in rags, and covered with sores and dirt from the ascetic life he had led under Ajimbalin's spiritual guidance.
" 'I will get Oinax to do the deed,' he said. So the minister was summoned, and a sword that King Filoman had worn in former days was fetched from the armory.
"Filoman explained the plan to Oinax, who fell on his knees and begged the king to reconsider. But Filoman, to whom death now seemed a welcome relief from his misery, was firm.
" 'I shall kneel here,' he said, 'and when I say, "Strike!", you shall cut off my head. It will be your last act as my loyal subject, and I do but ask that you make the stroke swift and sure. Thenceforth, your loyalty shall be transferred to the future king, the holy father Ajimbalin.'
"So King Filoman knelt and bowed his head, and Oinax, trembling with fear and horror, took up the sword. Being a small man, he had to wield it in both hands. He took his stance, made a practice swing, and glanced at Ajimbalin. The holy man was crouched nearby, glaring at the king with a strange gleam in his eyes and spittle running from his mouth. Now whether this was some form of holy ecstasy, or whether it was a simple, worldly lust for the power he now saw nearly within his grasp, was never known. For Oinax pivoted suddenly on his heel and struck with all his might at the neck of Ajimbalin, whose head went bouncing and rolling across the floor like a football.
"Horrified, Filoman tried to wrest the sword from Oinax, but so weak was he from his austerities that the minister easily frustrated him. Then the king burst into a fit of mad weeping. And when he had finished that, he seemed to come to himself.
" 'How fares the kingdom, Master Oinax?' he said. 'It has been months since I heard aught about it.'
" 'In some ways well, in others not so well,' quoth the minister. 'The leopards, from not being hunted, have become so bold that they snatch children from the streets of the villages. We need to raise the tax on luxurious imports from Mulvan, and we need a new dam on the river Phodon. I have done what I could, but there is much that has necessarily awaited Your Majesty's return from his—ah—quest for spiritual perfection. And I urge that Your Majesty recall his son from Othomae, where I hear he has fallen in with a wild young crowd and bids fair to acquire dissolute habits.'
"So they buried Ajimbalin and tried to pretend he had never existed. And Filoman returned to his former way of life, and Kortoli, to its normal state."
"Did your King Filoman ever get his wife back?"
"No. She preferred to be the mistress of a pirate king. She said that Filoman, though nice in his way, bored her, and she wanted excitement for a change."
"Did he learn common sense from his tribulations?"
"Oh, no, nothing could give him that. Luckily for Kortoli, a few years later-he fell from his horse during a hunt and broke his neck. Fusinian—who proved a very different sort—succeeded him."
Yargali: "You tell fascinating tales, Lord Jorian. Do you know many more?"
"Many more indeed. But—" Jorian glanced through the long windows to the interior of the ballroom. "—I fear I should be discourteous to our royal host if I kept you out here for the rest of the ball. Perhaps I might call upon you later… ?"
Yargali pointed up to the windows of the upper story of the Hall of the Green Serpent, where lamplights showed through the diamond panes. "Yonder iss my abode, and it would pleasure me to receive you there. But I fear it were impossible."
"Why so?"
"How would you gain access? All the doors and windows leading into this hall are locked after the ball, with armed guards posted at the doors."
"Suppose I could fly and appeared before your window after the ball. Should I be admitted?"
"If you came bearing such tales, aye. But I do not see how you can. You have no wings, and the wall iss without carvings to climb by. You would have to walk up the smooth stone like a fly, no?"
"Leave it to me, Highness. Now, perhaps we had bet—"
"One moment, Master Jorian," said a voice, and a hand was laid, none too gently, on Jorian's arm. It was Lord Chavero, the disagreeable Mulvanian. "I have somewhat to discuss with you."
Jorian twisted his arm free. "I believe I am called Lord Jorian by those would entreat me with courtesy."
"That is one of the things I wish to discuss. But this were a poor place. You will excuse us, Princess? Will you be so good as to descend this stair to the garden, Master Jorian?"
They went down the marble steps at the end of the terrace into the sunken garden, which was six cubits below the level of the terrace. Then Lord Chavero faced Jorian. Although there was no moon—this being the end of the Month of the Wolf—enough light escaped from the ballroom to show each plainly to the other.
"Well?" said Jorian.
"Master Jorian," began Chavero, "this ball was to have been for members of the true nobility—that is to say, the nobility of Mulvan, not the self-styled 'nobles' of upstart barbarian realms, who to us of the genuine birth are no more than dirt. We were willing to put up with you as long as it was necessary for you to interpret for Queen Mnevis. Now, however, that condition no longer obtains. Since your presence here is offensive to us of superior blood, you are requested to leave the premises forthwith."