The Green Pearl Page 18

  "Yes, sir."

  "See to it. He is on his way to Poinxter in County Gray wold. He carries a document signed by me which I would wish returned." King Casmir turned back to the fire and Oldebor departed the sitting room. King Casmir at last opened the parcel to discover a stuffed blackbird mounted on a stand. A sheet of parchment, folded and tucked between the bird's legs, read:

  To hold converse with. Tamurelo, pluck a feather from the belly of the Bird and place in the flame of a candle.

  Casmir examined the stuffed bird, taking critical note of drooping wings, molting feathers and a half-open beak.

  The look of the bird might or might not convey an overtone of sardonic meaning. Dignity, however, prompted Casmir to ignore all but the explicit purport of bird and message. He departed the chamber, descended curving stone steps, passed through an arched portal into the Long Gallery. He walked with a ponderous tread, looking neither right nor left, and footmen at their posts along the gallery jerked quickly erect, aware that the apparently abstracted gaze of the round blue eyes in fact apprehended every detail.

  King Casmir entered the Hall of Honours, a vast high-ceilinged chamber reserved for the most solemn of state occasions, to which King Casmir had vowed to restore the throne Evandig and the table Cairbra an Meadhan. The Hall of Honours was now furnished with his own ceremonial throne, a long central table and, around the walls, fifty-four massive chairs, representing the fifty-four noble houses of Lyonesse.

  To Casmir's annoyance, he discovered the princess Madouc playing alone among the chairs, jumping from seat to seat, balancing on the arms, squirming through the underbraces.

  For a moment Casmir stood watching. A curious child, he thought, self-willed to the point of intractability. She never cried, except sometimes in small furious gasps of vexation when someone dared to thwart her. How different yet how alike were Madouc and her mother Suldrun (such was Casmir's understanding of the case), whose dreamy docility had masked an obduracy as hard as his own.

  Madouc, at last aware of Casmir's cold stare, paused in her antics.' She turned to watch Casmir with a gaze of mild curiosity mingled with displeasure at this unsuitable and blundering invasion of her privacy. Like Princess Suldrun before, Madouc regarded this chamber as her personal domain.

  Casmir came slowly into the room, never relaxing his cold blue stare, in order that the saucy little minx might be overawed. Madouc's gaze dropped to the stuffed bird which Casmir was carrying. While she neither giggled nor even smiled. Casmir knew that she was amused at the picture he made.

  Madouc, becoming bored with both bird and Casmir, resumed her play. She jumped from the arm of one chair to the arm of the next, then glanced around to see if Casmir were still in the room.

  Casmir halted by the table. He spoke in an even voice, which, echoing against the stone walls, seemed to become grating and harsh. "Princess, what do you do here?"

  Madouc supplied Casmir with the information he seemed to require. "I am playing on the chairs."

  "This is not the place for your game. Go and play somewhere else."

  Madouc jumped down from the chair and ran hopping and skipping from the room. Without a backward glance she was gone.

  Casmir took the bird around the Great Throne of Haidion to the back wall and through the hangings into a store-room. Here he manipulated the lock of a secret door. It swung wide and Casmir was allowed access into that chamber where he kept his magical trinkets and artifacts. The most valuable of his belongings, Persilian the Magic Mirror, had been lost some five years before, and to this day Casmir was uncertain as to how the mirror had been sequestered and who was responsible. To his knowledge, no one knew of the secret chamber save himself. He would have been dumbfounded to learn the truth: that the culprits were Princess Suldrun and her lover Aillas, then Prince of Troicinet, who had taken Persilian at the behest of Persilian himself.

  Casmir glanced suspiciously around the room, to assure himself that none of his other properties had disappeared. All seemed in order. A globe of swirling green and purple flame illuminated the chamber. An imp in a bottle glowered at him and tapped fingernails against the glass, hoping to engage his attention. On a table rested an object of astronomical significance, presented to one of Casmir's ancestors by Queen Dido of Carthage; and as always Casmir bent to examine the instrument, which exhibited an amazing complexity. The base was a circular ebony platter, marked around the rim with signs of the zodiac. The golden ball at the center, so Casmir had been told, represented the sun. Nine silver balls of various size rolled in circular troughs around the center, but for what purpose was a secret known only to the ancients. The third ball from the center was accompanied by a smaller ball and made its circuit in exactly one year, which only perplexed Casmir the more: if the object were a chronometer designed to measure yearly intervals, then why the other balls, some of which moved almost imperceptibly? Casmir no longer speculated in regard to the object and now gave it only a cursory survey. He placed the stuffed bird on a shelf and considered it a moment. At last he turned away. Before initiating a conversation with Tamurello, he must decide carefully what he wished to discuss.

  Departing the secret chamber, Casmir passed through the Hall of Honours and stepped out into the gallery. Here, as luck would have it, he encountered Queen Sollace and Father Umphred. They had been out together in the royal carriage, inspecting sites for a cathedral.

  Queen Sollace told Casmir: "The optimum site is clear; we have seen it and measured it: that area just to the north of the harbour entrance!"

  Father Umphred spoke in enthusiasm: "Already a sweet sanctity surrounds your remarkable spouse! I would like to see, flanking the grand front entrance, two statues worked in imperishable bronze: on one hand the noble King Casmir and on the other the saintly Queen Sollace!"

  "Have I not declared the project impractical?" demanded King Casmir. "Who will pay for such nonsense?"

  Father Umphred sighed and raised his gaze to the ceiling. "The Lord will provide."

  "Indeed?" asked King Casmir. "How, and in what style?"

  " ‘Take no other gods before me!' So spoke the Lord on Mount Sinai! Each new Christian may properly atone for his years of sin by dedicating his wealth and his labor to the construction of a great temple; thus will be eased his way into Paradise."

  Casmir shrugged. "If fools so want to spend their money, why should I complain?"

  Queen Sollace gave a glad cry. "Then we have your permission to proceed?"

  "So long as you faithfully adhere to each and every provision of royal law."

  "Ah, your Majesty, that is glorious news!" cried Father Umphred. "Still, to which provisions of the law are we susceptible? I assume that ordinary custom will here prevail?"

  "I am unacquainted with these ‘ordinary customs,'" said King Casmir. "The laws are simple enough. First, under no circumstances, may moneys or other articles of value, be exported from Lyonesse to Rome."

  Father Umphred winced and blinked. "From time to time—"

  King Casmir spoke on. "All moneys collected must be declared to the Chancellor of the Royal Exchequer, who will levy the appropriate tax, which will be deducted in advance of all else. He will also fix the annual rent upon the land."

  "Ah!" groaned Father Umphred. "That is a discouraging prospect! It cannot be! No secular power may levy tax upon property of the church!"

  "In that case, I retract and renounce my permission! Let no cathedral be built at Lyonesse Town, now or ever!"

  King Casmir went his way, with Queen Sollace and Father Umphred looking disconsolately after him.

  "He is a most obstinate man!" said Queen Sollace. "I have prayed that the Lord bring the balm of religion into his heart, and today I felt that my prayers had been answered. But now he is settled; barring some miracle, he will never change."

  Father Umphred said thoughtfully: "I can supply no miracles, but I know certain facts which Casmir would go to great lengths to learn."

  Queen Sollace gave him a questionin
g look. "Which facts are these?"

  "Dear Queen, I must pray for guidance! Light from above must show me the path."

  Queen Sollace's face took on a petulant droop. "Tell me and allow me to advise you."

  "Dear Queen, dear blessed lady! It is not so easy! I must pray."

  Ill Two DAYS LATER KING CASMIR RETURNED to the secret room. He plucked a feather from the belly of the stuffed blackbird and took it away to his private parlour, at the side of his bed-room. Lighting a candle from the fire, he thrust the feather into the flame, where it burned with little puffs of acrid smoke.

  King Casmir watched the wisps dissipate into the air. He called: "Tamurello? Do you hear me? It is I, Casmir of Lyonesse."

  From the shadows spoke a voice: "Well then, Casmir: what now?"

  "Tamurello? Is it you whom I hear?"

  "What do you wish of me?"

  "A sign that I truly speak with Tamurello."

  "Do you remember Shalles who now lies sightless in a ditch with his throat cut?"

  "I remember Shalles."

  "Did he tell how he saw me?"

  "Yes."

  "I showed him the wizard Amach ac Eil of Caerwyddwn in the full of my black dreuhwy*."

  *dreuhwy; from the ancient Welsh and untranslatable; approximately: a self-induced mood of morose extra-human intensity, in which any grotesque excess of conduct is possible; full identification of self with the afflatus which drives the eerie, the weird, the terrible. The adepts of the so-called ‘Ninth Power' conceived of ‘dreuhwy' as a condition of liberation, in which their force reached its culmination.

  Tamurello mentions the idea apparently in a spirit of mockery or as an extravagant flourish in response to Casmir's rather heavy insistence upon identification.

  King Casmir grunted in acquiescence. "I call your name now for a reason. My ventures stagnate. I feel frustration and anger on this account."

  "Ah, Casmir, on my word you ignore such good fortune which the Cutter of Threads has allowed you! At Haidion you bask at your ease in the warmth of a dozen blazing hearths. Your table is mounded with succulence and savor! You sleep between silken sheets; your raiment is the softest cloth; gold adorns your person. There seems an adequate population of voluptuous boys; in this regard you never need fear deprivation. When someone excites your displeasure, you utter two words and he is murdered, if he is lucky. If he is unlucky, he goes to the Peinhador. All in all, I consider you a fortunate man."

  Casmir ignored the gibes, which exaggerated his appetites; indeed, he was almost austere in his use of catamites. "Yes, yes; no doubt you are right. Still, these remarks fit your case as pointedly as they do my own. I suspect that you are often provoked when events fail to suit you."

  From the shadows came a soft laugh. "One signal difference between the cases! You are applying to me, not I to you."

  Casmir responded in even tones: "I appreciate the distinction."

  "Still, you have deftly probed my sore spot. Murgen has discovered one or two of my foibles and makes as if the world were about to end, as perhaps it will someday. Have you heard of his latest quirk?"

  "No."

  "A magician named Shimrod lives at Trilda, near the village Twamble."

  "I am acquainted with Shimrod."

  "If you can believe it, Murgen has appointed Shimrod to be my monitor and overseer, to ensure my deference to Murgen's will."

  "That would seem an irksome case."

  "No matter. Should Shimrod swallow himself like a revolving snake, it is all one with me. He is easily confused; I will do as I did before, and poor Shimrod will go sprawling down uncharted abysses."

  King Casmir made a cautious suggestion: "Our destinies may well go hand in hand. Perhaps we can profit by an association."

  Again the soft laugh from the shadows. "I can put toad-heads on your enemies! I can change the stone of their castles to suet pudding. I can enchant the surf, to bring sea-warriors with mother-of-pearl eyes charging ashore out of each breaking wave! But never may I do so! Even if, through some folly, I thought it advisable."

  King Casmir said patiently: "I understand that this must be so. Still ..."

  " ‘Still'?"

  "Still this. Persilian the Magic Mirror once spoke out to me, though I had put no charge upon him. The utterance defies both fact and reason, and causes me a great puzzlement."

  "And what was the utterance?"

  "Persilian spoke like this:

  Suldrun's son shall undertake Before his life is gone To sit his right and proper place At Cairbra an Meadhan. If so he sits and so he thrives Then he shall make his own The Table Round, to Casmir's woe, And Evandig the Throne.

  "So spoke Persilian, and would say no more. When Suldrun bore the girl Madouc, I went to question Persilian, but then he was gone. I have long brooded over this matter. Somewhere among those words lives wisdom, had I the wit to search it out."

  After a moment the voice responded: "I care nothing for you or your prospects; and I will listen to no reproaches should your affairs go badly. Still, I am driven by my own forces in a direction which may for a time run parallel to your own. My impulse is detestation. It fixes upon Murgen, his scion Shimrod, and King Aillas of Troicinet, who at Tintzin Fyral did me savage and irreparable harm. Count me not your friend but the enemy of your enemies."

  Casmir gave a grim chuckle. At Tintzin Fyral Aillas had hanged Tamurello's lover Faude Carfilhiot on a gallows grotesquely high, and gaunt as a spider's leg. "Very well; you have made yourself clear."

  "Do not be too sure," said the voice, speaking sharply. "Your surmises in regard to me will surely be incorrect! At this time Murgen's calculated affronts cause me a great wrath. He uses the charlatan Shimrod as counterpoise to me, and sets him to bait me with his surveillances. Shimrod becomes self-important and pompous; he expects me to make a daily report upon my conduct. Ha! I will show him conduct to scorch his backside!"

  "All very well," said Casmir. "What of Persilian's prediction? He spoke of ‘son,' but Suldrun bore a daughter only: is the prediction false?"

  "Uncertain! These apparent contradictions often are masks for startling truth."

  "If so, what might be such a ‘startling truth'?"

  "I suspect that she bore another child."

  Casmir blinked. "That cannot be so."

  "Well then: who was the father?"

  "A nameless vagabond. In anger I did away with him."

  "He might have had much to tell you. Who else could recite precise facts?"

  "There was the serving woman, and her parents, who nurtured the baby." Casmir frowned as he thought back across the past. "The woman was a stubborn sow; she would tell me nothing."

  "She might be tricked, or inveigled. The parents might also know facts not yet revealed."

  Casmir grunted. "This seems to me a dry source. The parents were old; they might be dead."

  "Perhaps so. Still, if you like, I can send you a man who is a ferret for smelling out secrets."

  "That will suit me well."

  "Let me instruct you. His name is Visbhume. He is a wizard of very limited skill and certain curious habits, owing perhaps to yellow bloom in the cracks of the brain. You must overlook his peculiarities, and give precise orders, since at times he is flighty. Visbhume lacks all qualms; if you want your grandmother strangled, Visbhume will oblige, with care and courtesy, or, if you prefer, he will strangle his own grandmother."

  Casmir gave a dubious grunt. "Can he be trusted for steadfastness?"

  "Indeed! Once started he is obsessive; he never stops, as if he is pushed by an incessant rhythm inside his head. He cannot be deterred by fear, or hunger or lust; he lacks interest in ordinary sexual procedures, and I am not even curious as to his personal habits."

  Casmir gave another grunt. "I care nothing for such matters, so long as he does his work."

  "He is single-minded. Still, supervise him closely, as his is a strange personality."

  IV

  ONCE EACH WEEK KING CASMIR SAT TO
DELIVER royal justice in the cold gray juridical chambers beside the old Great Hall. His chair was placed on a low dais, at the back of a massive table, with a man-at-arms, halberd at the ready, posted to either side.

  At these occasions King Casmir wore always a black velvet cap encircled by a light silver crown, together with a flowing cape of black silk. This costume, so he believed, and correctly so, augmented the mood of somber and implacable justice which already hung heavy in the room.

  During testimony King Casmir sat motionless, staring with cold blue eyes at the witness. He pronounced his decisions tersely, in a flat voice, without regard for rank, status or connection, and for the most part fairly, without extreme or harsh penalty, that he might enhance his reputation across the land as a wise and equable ruler.

  At the end of the day's assizes, an under-chamberlain approached the table: "My lord, a certain Visbhume awaits audience; he states that he is here by your command."

  "Bring him here." Casmir dismissed the court officials and ordered the guards to take up their stations outside the door.

  Visbhume, entering the dour and solemn chamber, found himself alone with the king. He advanced on long bent-kneed strides, to halt close by the table, where he inspected King Casmir with placid bird-like curiosity and a total absence of awe.

  King Casmir drew back from Visbhume's appraisal, which seemed over-familiar and even brash. He frowned and at once, Visbhume put on an ingratiating smile.

  King Casmir pointed to a chair. "Sit." As Tamurello had indicated, Visbhume made no immediately favorable impression. He stood tall, with narrow shoulders, a gaunt chest and large hips, and hunched forward, as if in eagerness to get on with the duties at hand. His head and nose were both narrow and long; black hair seemed painted upon his scalp and made a stark contrast with his pasty skin. Arsenical shadows outlined his eyes; his mouth hung in loose-lipped folds over a sharp chin.

  Visbhume seated himself. King Casmir asked: "You are Visbhume, sent here by Tamurello?"

  "Sir, I am he."