The Queen of the Swords

Now the dark-robed man had seen them and their company and he was pointing and shouting. The villagers were plainly disturbed.

As they entered the village street and drew close to the crowd, the dark-robed man, whose face was full of madness screamed at them. 'Who are you? On which side do you fight? Do you come to destroy us? We have nothing for your army.'

'Hardly an army,' murmured Jhary. Then more loudly he called: 'We mean you no harm, friend. We are passing this way on our journey to Llarak.'

'To Llarak. So you are on the Duke's side! You will help bring disaster on us all!'

'By what means?' Corum called.

'By leaguing yourselves with the forces of weakness - with the soft, degenerate ones who speak of peace and who will bring terrible war to us.'

'You are still not especially specific,' Jhary said. 'Who are you, sir?'

'I am Verenak and I am a priest of Urleh. Thus I serve this village and have its well-being at stake - not to say the well-being of our entire nation.'

Corum whispered to Jhary: 'Urleh is a local godling of these parts - a sort of vassal deity to Arioch. I should have thought that his power would have disappeared when Arioch was banished.'

'Perhaps that is why this Verenak is so upset,' suggested Jhary with a wink.

'Perhaps.'

Verenak was now peering closely at Corum. 'You are not human!'

'I am mortal,' Corum told him equably, 'but I am not of the Mabden race, it is true.'

'You are Vadhagh!'

'That I am. The last.'

Verenak put a trembling hand to his face. He turned again to the villagers. 'Drive these two out from here lest the Lords of Chaos take their vengeance upon us! Chaos will soon come and you must be loyal to Urleh if you would survive!'

'Urleh no longer exists,' said Corum. 'He is banished from our planes with his master Arioch.'

'It is a lie!' screamed Verenak. 'Urleh lives!'

'It is not likely,' Jhary told him.

Corum spoke to the villagers. 'Lord Arkyn of Law rules the Five Planes now. He will bring peace to you and a greater security than you have ever previously known.'

'Nonsense!' Verenak shouted. 'Arkyn was defeated by Arioch ages since.'

'And now Arioch is defeated,' Corum said. 'We must defend this new peace we are offered. Chaos in all its power brings destruction and terror. Your land is threatened by invaders of your own race who serve Chaos and plan to slay you all!'

'I say that you lie - you seek to turn us against the Great Lord Arioch and the Lord Urleh. We are loyal to Chaos!'

The villagers did not seem to be as certain of that statement as Verenak.

'Then you will bring only disaster to yourselves,' Corum insisted. 'I know that Arioch is banished - I am the one who sent him into limbo. I destroyed his heart.'

'Blasphemy!' shrieked Verenak. 'Begone from here. I will not let you corrupt these innocent souls.'

The villagers glanced suspiciously at Corum and then bestowed the same suspicious looks upon Verenak. One of them stepped forward. 'We have no particular interest in either Law or Chaos,' he said. 'We wish only to live our lives as we have always lived them. Until recently, Verenak, you did not interfere with us, save to offer us a little magical advice from time to time and receive payment in return. Now you speak of great causes and of struggles and terror. You say that we must arm ourselves and march against our liege the Duke. Now this stranger, this Vadhagh, says we must ally ourselves with Law - also to save ourselves. And yet there is no threat that we can see. There have been no portents, Verenak…'

Verenak raged. 'There have been signs. They have come to me in dreams. We must become warriors on the side of Chaos, attack Llarak, show that we are loyal to Urleh!'

Corum shrugged. 'You must not side with Chaos,' he said. 'If you would side with no one, then Chaos will devour you, however. You call our little band an army - and that means you have no conception of what an army can be. Unless we prepare against your enemies your flowery hills will one day be black with riders who will trample you as easily as they trample the blossoms. I have suffered at their hands and I know that they torture and they rape before slaying. Nothing will be left of your village unless you come with us to Llarak and learn how to defend your lovely land.'

'How came this dispute to begin?' Jhary asked, taking a different tack. 'Why are you trying to arouse these people against the Duke, Sir Verenak?'

Verenak glowered. 'Because the Duke has gone mad. Not a month since he banished all the priests of Urleh from his city but allowed the priests of that milk-and-water godling Ilah to remain. Thus he put himself upon the side of Law and ceased to tolerate the adherents of Chaos. He will therefore bring Urleh's vengeance - aye, even Arioch's vengeance - upon himself. And that is why I seek to warn these poor, simple people and get them to take action.'

'The people seem considerably more intelligent than you, my friend,' laughed Jhary.

Verenak raised his arms to the skies. 'Oh, Urleh, destroy this grinning fool!'

He lost his footing on the water trough's sides. His arms began to wave. He fell backwards into the water. The villagers laughed. The one who had spoken came up to Corum. 'Worry not, my friend - we'll do no marching here. We've our crops to harvest, for one thing.'

'You'll harvest no crops if the Mabden of the East come this way,' Corum warned him. 'But I'll debate no longer with you save to warn you that we Vadhagh could not believe in the bloodlust of those Mabden and we ignored the warnings. That is why I saw my father and my mother and my sisters all slain. That is why I am the last of my race.'

The man drew his hand over his brow and scratched his head. 'I will think on what you have said, friend Vadhagh.'

'And what of him?' Corum pointed at Verenak who was hauling himself from the trough.

'He'll bother us no more. He has many villages to visit with his gloomy news. I doubt if many will even take the trouble to listen to him as we have done.'

Corum nodded. 'Very well, but please remember that these minor disputes, these little arguments, these apparently meaningless decisions like that of the Duke in banishing the priests of Urleh, they are all indications that a greater struggle is to come between Law and Chaos. Verenak senses it just as much as does the Duke. Verenak seeks to gather strength for Chaos while the Duke puts himself in the camp of Law. Neither knows that a threat is coming, but both have sensed something. And I bring news to Lywm-an-Esh that a struggle is about to begin. Take heed of that warning, my friend. Think of what I have said, no matter how you choose to act upon it…'

The villager sucked at a tooth. 'I will think on it,' he agreed at last.

The rest of the villagers were going about their business. Verenak was making for his tethered horse, casting many a glowering glance back at Corum.

'Would you and your company take the hospitality of our village?' the man asked Corum.

Corum shook his head. 'I thank you, but what I have seen and heard here confirms that we must make speed to Llarak-an-Fol and release our news. Farewell!'

'Farewell, friend.' The villager still looked thoughtful.

As they rode back up the hill Jhary was laughing. 'As good a comic scene as any I've written for the stage in my time,' he said.

'Yet it has tragedy beneath it,' Corum told him.

'As does all good comedy.'

* * *

And now the company galloped where before it had trotted, riding across the Duchy of Bedwilral-nan-Rywm as if the warriors of Lyr-a-Brode were already pursuing them.

And there was tension in the air. In every village they passed through there were apparently meaningless disputes between neighbours as one side supported Urleh and the other Ilah, but both refusing to listen to what Corum told them - that the instruments of Chaos would soon be upon their land and they would cease to exist unless they prepared to resist King Lyr and his armies.