Of to the west, where the river made a fat bend into a district of terraced canyons, all was misty and hidden, as though this were time’s first morning. But when he looked toward the east Hissune saw the serene red-tiled roofs of the great city of Pendiwane glowing in the early light, and far upriver the sinuous low shadow of the Makroposopos waterfront was just coming into view. Beyond lay Apocrune, Stangard Falls, Nimivan, and the rest of the valley cities, home to fifty million people or more. Happy places where life was easy; but now the menacing aura of imminent disruption hung over these cities, and Hissune knew that all up and down the Glayge people were waiting, wondering, fearing.
He wanted to stretch forth his arms to them from the prow of the riverboat, to enfold them all in a warm embrace, to cry out, “Fear nothing! The Divine is with us! All will be well!”
But was it true?
No one knows the will of the Divine, Hissune thought. But, lacking that knowledge, we must shape our destinies according to our sense of what is fitting. Like sculptors we carve our lives out of the raw stone of the future, hour by hour by hour, following whatever design it is that we hold in our minds; and if the design is sound and our carving is done well, the result will seem pleasing when the last chisel-stroke is made. But if our design is slapdash and our carving is hasty, why, the proportions will be inelegant and the balance untrue. And if the work thus be faulty, can we say it was the will of the Divine that it is so? Or, rather, only that our plan was poorly conceived?
My plan, he told himself, must not be poorly conceived.
And then all will be well; and then it will be said that the Divine was with us.
Throughout the swift river-journey northward he shaped and reshaped it, as he traveled past Jerrik and Ghiseldorn and Sattinor where the upper Glayge flowed from the foothills of Castle Mount. By the time he reached Amblemorn, southwesternmost of the Fifty Cities of the Mount, the design of what had to be done was clear and strong in his mind.
Here it was impossible to continue farther by the river, for Amblemorn was where the Glayge was born out of the host of tributaries that came tumbling down out of the Mount, and none of those lesser rivers was navigable. By floater, then, he proceeded up the flank of the Mount, through the ring of Slope Cities and that of Free Cities and that of Guardian Cities, past Morvole, where Elidath was born, and Normork of the great wall and the great gate, past Huyn, where the leaves of all the trees were scarlet or crimson or ruby or vermilion, past Greel of the crystal palisade and Sigla Higher of the five vertical lakes, and onward still, to the Inner Cities, Banglecode and Bombifale and Peritole and the rest, and on, on, the party of floaters racing up the enormous mountain.
“It is more than I can believe,” said Elsinome, who was making this journey at her son’s side. Never had she ventured from the Labyrinth at all, and to begin her travels in the world by the ascent of Castle Mount was no small assignment. Her eyes were as wide as a small child’s, Hissune observed with pleasure, and there were days when she seemed so surfeited with miracles that she could scarcely speak.
“Wait,” he said. “You have seen nothing.”
Through Peritole Pass to Bombifale Plain, where the decisive battle of the war of restoration had been fought, and past the wondrous spires of Bombifale itself, and up another level to the zone of the High Cities—the mountain road of gleaming red flagstone led from Bombifale to High Morpin, then through fields of dazzling flowers along the Grand Calintane Highway, and up and up until Lord Valentine’s Castle loomed overwhelmingly at the summit of all, sending its tentacles of brick and masonry wandering in a thousand directions over the crags and peaks.
As his floater entered the Dizimaule Plaza outside the southern wing, Hissune was startled to see a delegation of welcomers waiting for him. Stasilaine was there, and Mirigant, and Elzandir, and a retinue of aides. But not Divvis.
“Have they come to hail you as Coronal?” Elsinome asked, and Hissune smiled and shook his head.
“I doubt that very much,” he said.
As he strode toward them across the green porcelain cobblestones he wondered what changes had occurred here during his absence. Had Divvis proclaimed himself Coronal? Were his friends here to warn him to flee while he had the chance? No, no, they were smiling; they clustered round, they embraced him jubilantly.
“What news?” Hissune asked.
“Lord Valentine lives!” cried Stasilaine.
“The Divine be praised! Where is he now?”
“Suvrael,” said Mirigant. “He is a guest at Palace Barjazid. So says the King of Dreams himself, and we have this very day had confirming word from the Coronal.”
“Suvrael!” Hissune repeated in wonder, as though he had been told that Valentine had taken himself off to some unknown continent in the midst of the Great Sea, or to some other world entirely. “Why Suvrael? How did he get there?”
“He came forth from Piurifayne in the land of Bellatule,” Stasilaine replied, “and the unruliness of the dragons kept him from sailing north; and also Piliplok, as I think you know, is in rebellion. So the Bellatule folk took him to the southland, and there he has forged an alliance with the Barjazids, who will use their powers to bring the world back to sanity.”
“A bold move.”
“Indeed. He sails shortly for the Isle to meet again with the Lady.”
“And then?” Hissune asked.
“That is not yet determined.” Stasilaine peered closely at Hissune. “The shape of the months ahead is not clear to us.”
“I think it is to me,” said Hissune. “Where is Divvis?”
“He has gone hunting today,” Elzandir said. “In the forest by Frangior.”
“Why, that is an unlucky place for his family!” Hissune said. “Is that not where his father Lord Voriax was slain?”
“So it is,” said Stasilaine.
“I hope he is more careful,” Hissune said. “There are great tasks ahead for him. And it surprises me that he is not here, if he knew that this was the day of my return from the Labyrinth.” To Alsimir he said, “Go, summon my lord Divvis: tell him there must be a session of the Council of Regency at once, and I await him.” Then he turned to the others and said, “I have committed a grave discourtesy, my lords, in the first excitement of speaking here with you. For I have left this good woman to stand unintroduced, and that is not proper. This is the lady Elsinome, my mother, who for the first time in her life beholds the world that lies beyond the Labyrinth.”
“My lords,” she said, with color coming to her cheeks, but her face otherwise betraying no confusion, no embarrassment.
“The lord Stasilaine—Prince Mirigant—Duke Elzandir of Chorg—”
Each in turn saluted her with the highest respect, almost as though she were the Lady herself. And she received those salutes with a poise and presence that sent shivers of the most extreme delight through Hissune.
“Let my mother be taken,” he said, “to the Pavilion of Lady Thiin, and given a suite worthy of some great hierarch of the Isle. I will join the rest of you in the council-chamber in an hour.”
“An hour is not sufficient time for the lord Divvis to return from his hunt,” said Mirigant mildly.
Hissune nodded. “So I comprehend. But it is not my fault that the Lord Divvis has chosen this day to go to the forest; and there is so much that needs to be said and done that I think we must begin before he arrives. My lord Stasilaine, will you concur with me in that?”
“Most surely.”
“Then two of the three Regents are in agreement. It is sufficient to convene. My lords, the council-chamber in an hour?”
They were all there when Hissune, cleansed and in fresh robes, entered the hall fifty minutes later. Taking his seat at the high table beside Stasilaine, he glanced about at the assembled princes and said, “I have spoken with Hornkast, and I have beheld the Pontifex Tyeveras with my own eyes.”