Robert Hughes - The Prophet of Lamath

“These tugoliths!” Pelmen yelled. “They’re both beautiful animals!”

“Oh!” Dolna nodded, pleased by the comment, too deafened to consider the incongruity of it. After all, these fine animals were about to tear the Prophet in half.

“Dolna?” Chimolitha called.

“Wait here!” the keeper yelled. He went around to face Chimolitha. “What is it now?”

“Was that man talking about me?” the beast asked.

“Yes—he said you were nice-looking. Now leave me alone!”

“Dolna?” Chimolitha called, stopping the keeper before he even got around the tugolith’s forequarters.

“What?” he bellowed, finally losing his patience.

“I like him.” Dolna waved the beast’s comment off, and went back to Pelmen’s side. The crowd roared in anticipation as Dolna stooped to fix the wrist irons in place, and now Pelmen gazed up into the blue sky. He alone saw the blue flyer whoosh by overhead, bound for the palace beyond.

Suddenly, Pezi the merchant was standing over him, dressed outlandishly in the robes of the High Priest, and Pelmen had to chuckle. Pezi frowned at him, and looked around to see if any of the crowd had noticed. They hadn’t. He carefully got down onto his knees, and spoke into Pelmen’s face.

“Have you any last words, Prophet?”

“Why are you dressed like that, Pezi? Where’s the High Priest?”

“He sent me in his place. Are those your last words?”

“I suppose they are as good as any.”

“Very well. But before I give the order that will kill you, I want a little information.”

“What?” Pelmen yelled, for the crowd was delirious with excitement.

“I need some information about where you hid the girl!” Shock danced across Pelmen’s visage, then he smiled.

“You don’t know?”

“Of course I don’t know! Why would I ask you if I knew?”

“Pezi, you don’t know how much that pleases me. I certainly don’t intend to tell you where she is.”

“Be reasonable, Pelmen! In another minute these beasts will pull you apart! What difference should it make to you whether I find the girl or not?”

“What do you want with Bronwynn? You already have your war. Isn’t that what Flayh was after?”

“I know little of what my uncle plans, but I know it would please him if I could bring the girl back. Come now, Pelmen, cooperate with me! If you’ll tell me, I promise that the house of Ognadzu will build you the finest tomb in Lamath.” Pezi said this so seriously that Pelmen laughed aloud.

This caused the headsman to mutter to the warder. “What are they doing? Telling jokes?”

“What?” the warder shouted.

A new group of soldiers suddenly broke from the gate of the dungeon, and they made no pretense of courtesy. They clubbed people out of the way and wedged themselves into the back of the crowd, all shouting as loudly as they could for the warder. He neither heard them nor saw them.

The headsman saw them, however, for his eyes were trained to look for that.”

“Oh, no!” he murmured bitterly. “Not again!” Then he .rushed to Dolna and grabbed the handler’s shoulder. “Give the order!” he shouted.

“The man is still with the Priest!”

“This is my responsibility and I said to give the order!”

“Very well then.

Thuganlitha? Chimolitha?”

“Yes, Dolna?” the beasts roared back in chorus.

“Pull!”

“Dolna?”

“Yes, Thuganlitha?”

“Is that man being unkind to you?”

“What man?”

“That man I don’t like!”

“No, Thuganlitha, he’s not. Now pull!”

“Dolna?”

“Yes, Chimolitha?” Dolna ran across the platform to get in front of the other animal. “Why am I here?”

“To obey my orders, and my orders are to pull—now pull!”

“But one thing.”

“What, Chimolitha?” Dolna groaned. “If I pull this way, and Thuganlitha pulls the other, won’t it hurt that man I like?” Dolna was amazed. Chimolitha had never uttered such a long sentence before. “How did you figure that out?”

“I don’t know,” Chimolitha said honestly. “It just popped into my mind.”

“But things don’t just pop into a tugolith’s mind,”

Dolna said, gazing curiously into Chimolitha’s saucersized eyes. Had he been looking into Pelmen’s eyes instead, he might have understood a little better. Pelmen was smiling.

“Are these beasts going to pull or aren’t they?” the headsman shouted. Though the warder still had not noticed them, the soldiers were almost to the platform.

“Dolna, I’m going to horn that man!” Thuganlitha bellowed, and he gave a tug on the block as he tried to turn to his left to reach the headsman. That one jerk pulled Pelmen’s arms rigid, and he gritted his teeth against the sudden pain.

“Not until after we’ve finished!” Dolna yelled, running around the blocks to get in front of Thuganlitha—then he stopped. He stared in amazement as he watched Chimolitha step backward, nudging his block back with his massive hindquarters. Pelmen fell back onto the platform, gasping for breath as he thanked the Power for this respite.

“Stop them! Stop them now!” the warder began shouting, but Thuganlitha would not be stopped. As he jerked around to get at the headsman, Pelmen was spread-eagled again, but Chimolitha answered with a relieving nudge. “Can’t you stop them?” the warder screamed at Dolna, who stood transfixed, watching Chimolitha rescue Pelmen from Thuganlitha’s rampage.

“I can’t stop Thuganlitha now,” Dolna shrugged. “He won’t be satisfied until he’s buried his horn in that fellow.” The headsman leapt into the crowd and tried to push his way through, but as people bolted outward in panic, a solid wall of bodies formed across his path, penning him in.

“Take that man!” the warder shouted, and six soldiers jumped down into the crowd in pursuit. As they seized the headsman and buried him under their weight, Thuganlitha trumpeted and lurched forward. Pelmen screamed as he felt himself being drawn in two.

The guards hustled the headsman around to stand face to face with Thuganlitha, then scattered.

“Nice beastie! Nice beastie!” The frightened man smiled in horror as that monster’s eyes lidded menacingly in anticipation of the thrust. Dolna wrestled with Pelmen’s chains, attempting to unclasp them even as the warder read the message that the blue flyer had carried all the way from Dragonsgate. Through his pain Pelmen still noticed when Pezi scampered from the platform, holding the Hood on with both hands. Then the pressure suddenly came off of his arm, as the lock clicked open in Dolna’s hands. Free at last, his mind clouded. In the few seconds before he passed out, Pelmen was dimly aware of the warder’s words. “The Prophet is right,” the warder read. “Spare him, or I’ll draw you.

Asher.” Then there was nothing.

The day Asher wrote that message had dawned brightly on the General’s marching army. There had been a quiet promise of light, then suddenly the sun had broken free from the mountains to the east, and the fabled Dragonsgate became visible in all its awesome splendor.

Asher held up a hand to stop the column and sat there for a moment, marveling. “Here is truly the center of the world,”

he whispered. The rocky heights rising beyond the pass looked like the citadel of a race of giants, but in Asher’s mind the place was far more. Here was the home of Lord Dragon. At last he’d been privileged to view the dwelling place of his god.

Asher had selected an honor corps from among his most favored warriors. Now they rode behind him up the sharp incline, lances and swords held in readiness, heads held high with pride. The northern mouth was the steepest of the climbs, but it was a short approach, and soon they turned the comer into the heart of the pass. There Asher jerked his steed to a halt, and his heart , sprang into his throat. The dragon was immense—and he was real.