Hugh Cook - The Walrus and the Warwolf

There was no braggadocio about him: only business. He was utterly calm. He felt remote from what was happening. It was like something in a dream.

The thin winter sun shone down as the two men clashed. Blade chimed against blade. And Drake beat down Plovey's blade, and struck. And the pitiless perfection of his sword drove home, going deep, deep, deep through skin and flesh and bone and vein.

Thus was the need of steel slaked with gore, and, when Drake withdrew the blade, the blood-eddy shimmered in the glittering sun.And Plovey fell.Flopping to the mud like a dead fish.

And the spray of mud and blood and water which scattered from his corpse broke Drake's dream-trance, and suddenly he was hot, hot, hot and burning.

He cut Zanya loose.

They said nothing, but kissed.

Then held each other.

Then wept.

Then clouds consumed the sun, and the heavens wept with them.

Royalty: a notion devised in an attempt to consolidate tyranny through genetic inheritance, to deny the rightful aspirations of the common people, to cripple the Class Struggle and thereby institutionalize feudalism.

In Argan, the real power has, in most places, been for generations in the hands of the guilds and immortal government bureaucracies. Even so, lip service has still been paid to the notion of the superiority of the Favoured Blood -and those of the Blood have clung fiercely to any surviving privileges remaining to them.

Superstition, assiduously cultivated by state propaganda in the form of fairy tales, has long convinced the common people of Argan that those of the Favoured Blood are in fact their actual rulers – and that only such are fit to rule.

Night.

Drake and Zanya, drowsy with love, lay between grubby sheep-skins, talking.

'You'll throw out Plovey's head tomorrow, won't you?' said Zanya.'Why?'said Drake.

'Well. . .gloating is all very well, lover dearest, but soon it'll start to smell.'

'I want to keep it till I'm lord of the Gates of Chenameg,' said Drake. 'Then I'll plant it on a stake by way of display.''You think to master the Gates?' said Zanya, amused.'Why not?'

'Dearest heart, you don't have the necessary stature to become a ruler.'

'That's all right,' said Drake. 'I'll get a pair of built-up boots.'

'That's not what I meant, and you know it,' said Zanya. 'I mean, you're not of royal birth.'

'I'm rightful king of Stokos,' said Drake, 'for King Tor named me his heir.'

'You've told me all about that,' said Zanya. 'Thrice. But he's dead. And you never got to marry his princess daughter. You'll have to do better than that, I'm afraid.'

'No problem,' said Drake. 'I've a world of fatherhood to choose from. Should I be a prince of the Rice Empire, perhaps?'

'No, fool!' said Zanya. 'For the Rice Empire is an ancient enemy of the Harvest Plains.''Then I'll think of something else,' said Drake.'Think of me for a change,' said Zanya.'Dearest. . .' said Drake.And thought of her diligently.Sometime later, drowsier still, Drake said:'Did I ever tell you about Blackwood and Miphon?'

'Miphon I know well,' said Zanya, 'for I spoke often and long with the wizard on Burntos. But Blackwood? Who's he?''A woodsman,' said Drake. 'Remember? In Estar-'

'Oh, yes!' said Zanya. 'I remember now. He found us when you'd got us lost in the forest.'

'When I'd got us lost! It was you who said that strange little path would lead to safety!'

'Me?' said Zanya. T said it looked interesting, that's all. I never said we had to walk down it through five thousand leagues of mud and brambles!''Gah!' said Drake.

'Anyway,' said Zanya. T remember your Blackwood now. He had a wife. Misral? Mysral?' 'Mystrel,' said Drake.'Trust you to remember the woman!' said Zanya. 'But she wasn't anything to look at. Neither was that Blackwood. A rather dull fellow, in fact.'

'Yes,' said Drake, 'but did you know? Blackwood and Miphon both became questing heroes in company with Morgan Hearst.'

'Oh, Hearst!' said Zanya. 'that warlord fellow! He killed all gossip in Selzirk for days, for all the talk was of him. I wonder where he got to in the end? Anyway -what's all of this got to do with you and me?'

'Don't you see?' said Drake. 'If someone like Blackwood can become a questing hero, then what's to stop me being anything I please?'

'There's a big difference,' said Zanya severely, 'between being a questing hero and being a king. For a start, in every fairy tale I ever heard, potential kings always had a great doom written on their brow.''That's daft!' said Drake.

'Yes,' said Zanya, 'but that's what the fairy tales say, so that's what people expect. You won't get far without it.'

'I don't hold with this writing stuff,' said Drake. 'Not on my brow or anywhere.'

'You've got a snake ruling your love life,' said Zanya, 'so what's a few words on your forehead?'

'The snake's private,' said Drake. 'Nobody sees it unless they're entitled to. But words on my brow – man, people will laugh themselves sick.'

'They won't,' said Zanya. 'These are troubled times. People are desperate for leadership, for belief. Talk boldly, and you'll gather them in to your leadership.''So you do think I can do it!''Of course, darling treasure snake.''You sounded doubtful enough before.'

'Don't you know when I'm teasing you?' said Zanya. 'Tomorrow. . . tomorrow we'll make a start.'

The very next day, Zanya scavenged some paint. With that paint she wrote A GREAT DOOM on Drake's forehead in Galish orthography.

They were ready to begin.

The Gates of Chenameg: endpoint of the Manaray Gorge.

Here the Velvet River enters Chenameg, pouring in a torrent from between two cliffs. A steep and narrow path cut into the side of the southernmost cliff provides the sole practicable route inland from Chenameg.

THE CHRONICLE OF AENOBAE

Of Dreldragon and his Doings at Chenameg

Now let me tell of Lord Dreldragon, and of his coming to

the Gates of Chenameg.

Lord Dreldragon was heir to the Scattered Empire, the sea-power realm of the southern seas, which stretches from Ling to Hexagon. Mighty were the weaponmasters of that realm, and beautiful were the women; but, more than either, the kingdom valued its honour.

And it came to pass that Lord Dreldragon heard rumour of great disaster in Argan.And he said unto his father, the great Jon Arabin:

'My lord king, is it right that we should sit in idleness while a continent entire falls to the evil of the Swarms?And his father answered him thus:

'It is written that a darkness will fall over Argan and will persist for tens of years upon thousands. Such is the fate of fair and foul alike. What can we avail against prophecy?'

That we know not until we try,' said Lord Dreldragon.

And, grim in decision, he took the battle-sword Warwolf, which had been in his family for thrice five generations, and he went forth from the Scattered Empire that he might contend with the mighty evil which was come upon Argan.

With him went the Lady Zanya, whom he had taken to be his lawful wedded wife, for she was a woman strong in decision, and there was naught beneath the stars which could daunt her courage.

And thus the two came unto Argan, where they had command of armies. These armies they led against the monsters of the Swarms. And many fell deeds were seen beneath sun and beneath stars. But, in the end, heroism availed not against prophecy, and all who survived from the wars against the Swarms retreated into Chenameg.

Now it happened that toward spring in the year Celadric 2, Lord Dreldragon and the Lady Zanya came unto the Gates of Chenameg.

The people were amazed to see them, for surely there was nobility about them. For the Lady Zanya was not as other women, but walked with the stars about her. And the wise, when they looked on Lord Dreldragon, saw that a mighty doom was upon his brow, and they knew him for the son of a king.And they asked him:'What do you here?'And he answered:T bring justice.'