Hugh Cook - The Worshippers and the Way

"Then while we're closeted together in private," said Hatch, "let's talk about Dalar ken Halvar."

"Why?"

"Because there's revolution in Dalar ken Halvar."

"Why should I worry about that?" said Senk.

"Because it's going to compromise your ability to fulfill your mission," said Hatch. "Your mission to train Startroopers for the Nexus."

"So?" said Senk. "I thought I'd made my position on that clear. Some lawful authority will establish itself swiftly in the city, and I will then deal with that authority."

"So," said Hatch, "let's talk about dealing. Obviously it's something you've got to do, so why not now rather than later? Why not deal with someone you know, someone you trust, rather than someone unknown and untested? Why not manipulate the situation in Dalar ken Halvar rather than taking whatever random leadership gets thrown up by the present disorder? Senk, if you're willing, then I'd like to cut a deal. If you make me the instructor, I'll do my level best to restore order in Dalar ken Halvar and help you fulfill your mission."

"I thought you didn't want to be instructor," said Senk.

"What gave you that idea?" said Hatch.

"Lon Oliver gave me that idea," said Senk. "He told me today that you offered to sell him the instructorship. You invited him to bribe you. Lon Oliver asked me to disqualify you from this competition on that account."

"But you didn't," said Hatch.

"That's right," said Senk. "I didn't. Even so, the information made me doubt the strength of your commitment to the Nexus."

"You're not saying you believe Lon Oliver, are you?" said Hatch.

"You're not denying the truth of his accusations, surely."

"Of course I am!" said Hatch. "It's a nonsense, an utter nonsense, the whole lot of it."

"Perhaps," said Senk. "But Lon Oliver was very persuasive.

He makes much of the fact that the Silver Emperor is missing."

"Temporarily, perhaps," said Hatch. "But – "

"He tells me," said Senk, "that the Free Corps is going to end up in effective control of Dalar ken Halvar. I'm inclined to believe him, Hatch. I've come to a decision. As you say, I've got to do deals with whoever ends up in control of Dalar ken Halvar, and I may as well start now. So I'm starting. I've decided that it's best that Lupus Lon Oliver becomes the instructor."

"So you're going to adjudicate in his favor," said Hatch.

"That depends on what argument you put up," said Paraban Senk. "But I give you fair warning. If you fight with Lupus Lon Oliver a third time, then I'm going to ensure that you go down to defeat. I'm going to ensure that you die."

"Die?" said Hatch.

"Yes, die," said Senk. "I'm going to ensure that you meet with your death. First you'll die in the world of the illusion tanks, and then you'll die in the fact of the flesh."

"And how do you propose manage that?" said Hatch.

"Wait and see," said Senk. "Wait and see."

"The initiation seat," said Hatch. "Is that how you're going to do it? Kill me with the initiation seat?"

"That's for you to work out," said Senk. "Think about it, Hatch. Think about it."

Hatch did think about it. He thought about it fiercely all the way to Forum Three. Kill him. Senk was going to kill him. But how? With the initiation seat? Maybe, maybe. Or. Or what?

– Purpose.

The hotbright thought burnt bright in Hatch's mind. Purpose.

What was the purpose of deciding the instructorship through trial by combat? Hatch knew the answer to that. Dalar ken Halvar understood trial by combat. Everyone could understand that. So the instructor who triumphed over all others was graced with an authority which everyone in Dalar ken Halvar could understand.

– Assume that Senk wants Lupus as instructor.

– Senk will want Lupus to win authority through triumph in battle.

– So.

So the implication was that Paraban Senk must ensure that Lupus Lon Oliver defeated Asodo Hatch in combat. In front of witnesses. How could Senk do that?

– The MegaCommand.

The ominous thought rose in Hatch's mind and could not be suppressed. Lupus was much better than Hatch when it came to making war with the MegaCommand.

– But first, the adjudication.

As Hatch entered Forum Three, striding onstage in front of the tiered seating, he was hailed by a familiar voice.

"Wah, Hatch!" cried Beggar Grim.

Beggar Grim was sitting with his comrades Zoplin and X'dex.

All three members of this besognio scumpack had entered the Combat College as the official guests of Asodo Hatch. Deloused, ungrimed and dressed in the limegreen uniforms of beneficiaries of Nexus Welfare, they looked superficially disciplined, but their unruly cheers nullified the effect of the superficialities. Though each had been provided with a double eye-patch to hide empty eye sockets, they had strung these round their necks, and were passing the Eye from hand to hand, from socket to socket.

Master Zoplin socketed the Eye then said, chanting the words:

"I see you loud, I see you clear, I see you killing – kill him, Hatch!"

Hatch acknowledged the beggars' applause, not because he welcomed it but because he knew the gesture would infuriate Lupus.

It did.

Lupus swore at the beggars, who jeered at him, then threw food at him. The strange food of the Nexus which tasted soft in their mouths, like food made to feed some monstrous race of earthdwelling grubs.

Lupus was furious.

"Senk!" said Lupus, addressing the Teacher of Control. "Call them to order!" Then, when there was no reply from Paraban Senk:

"Hatch! Control your filth!"

"Filth!" said Lord X'dex. "Are you referring to me?"

"Of course he is," said Master Zoplin. "You look as if you took a bath in liquid snot then cleaned your ears with a dog turd.

How else should you be called but filth?"

"I am not filth but royalty," said Lord X'dex. "Know me in my might, for I am Lord X'dex Paspilion, master of the Greater Tower of X-n'dix in the mighty kingdom of X-zox Kalada."

"Then know the boy Oliver as your superior," said Beggar Grim, "for he has the greatest of Greater Towers at spring between his thighs, whereas yours is but a worm, and useless, yes, and last month's piss the smell of it."

"I dispute it!" said Lord X'dex. "Come! A trial of proof!

Hey, Oliver-boy! Bring your piss-stick this way!"

"He lingers," said Master Zoplin.

"He knows himself secretly a woman," said Lord X'dex.

"Wherefore he lingers where a man would leap."

"A woman?" said Beggar Grim. "Why, if a woman then all the more reason for leaping, for I am man sufficient to rape him out of his virgin ugliness."

"You will bring your people to order," said Lupus to Hatch, a note of desperation intermixed with his anger.

"Or?" said Hatch.

"The Season starts in a month," said Lupus.

There was only one Season in Dalar ken Halvar, a city where the climate was ever a constant. The Season referred to by Lupus was the three months of the year in which the Grand Arena became a stage for gaudy death and bloody execution.

Lupus's words constituted a challenge. Lupus Lon Oliver was inviting Asodo Hatch to join him on the sands of the Grand Arena where they could duel it out for real, fighting with swords like the atavistic heroes of the more childish entertainments of the Eye of Delusions.

"I await then the start of the Season," said Hatch, with due formality.

It was an empty formality. He would never face Lupus on the sands of the Grand Arena, for their quarrel would be resolved one way or the other much sooner – probably by the mob.

"The day," said Lupus, with conviction, ducking a wodge of tofu thrown at him by Master Zoplin, "cannot come too soon."

The beggars then began to systematically pelt the unfortunate Lupus with all the food at their disposal.