Hugh Cook - The Witchlord and the Weaponmaster

Penelope when they lacked all common language. Still, on this occasion he found such facility positively sinister.

"I have noticed the intrusion of your enemy," said Senk, "but think you owe me a full explanation."

Then Guest Gulkan and Asodo Hatch collaborated on that full explanation. So Senk learnt that Guest Gulkan had assaulted the Mutilator of Yestron, thus winning the specialized knife needed to cut the Great God Jocasta free from imprisonment; that Guest had duly freed the Great God; that the Great God had tried to take possession of the Guest's mind; that the intrusion of Anaconda Stogirov had saved Guest from possession; that the Great God had fled through the Circle of the Partnership Banks, leaving Obooloo to come to Dalar ken Halvar; and that both Guest and Hatch wanted Senk to collaborate in the thing's destruction.

"I would gladly help you," said Senk, "but help is beyond my power."

"But you are the ruler here!" said Guest, with explosive anger.

"Ruler?" said Senk. "I long ago had to concede true mastery here to Asodo Hatch. For all my functions are failing. I need the help of human agency if I am to fulfill the most basic of my missions."

"But," said Asodo Hatch, "you can at least cause this ceiling of kaleidoscope to dissolve itself. I recall you doing just that during a riot."

"I could," said Senk. "But it would not help you. The thickness of the ceiling's kaleidoscope conceals privileged tunnels likewise packed with kaleidoscope. Jocasta has fled down those tunnels, penetrating to the innards of the mountain."

Then Senk explained to Guest that the realms within the mountain were only partly given over to human domination. Large parts of those underground domains were reserved for mobile artefacts such as Jocasta. Without the aid of allied artefacts,

Senk could not hunt Jocasta out of hiding.

"The thing will shelter there," said Senk, "repairing the damage done to it by Stogirov. Only then will it venture forth again."

"Only then?" said Guest. "But when will that be? A day? Two days? Three?"

"Twenty or thirty days, perhaps," said Senk. "Or twenty or thirty years. Or maybe longer. The thing has been grievously injured, otherwise you would not have been able to force it to run."

So spoke Senk.

Naturally, neither Guest Gulkan not Asodo Hatch were easily satisfied, for both found this outcome of their conflict with Jocasta to be intensely unsatisfying. But Senk had no cure for their dissatisfaction, so in the end there was no help for it. They had to concede defeat, and to leave the Great God Jocasta uncaught and unkilled.

"Then," said Guest, "if we can leave aside the question of Jocasta's fate, perhaps you can tell me the fate of my wife. Where is Penelope?"

"Penelope?" said Senk. "Oh, her! No, I can't tell you what happened to her. She left here a year ago, and I've had no news of her since."

Meanwhile…

While Guest Gulkan was pursing the Great God through the tunnels inside Cap Foz Para Lash, his father allowed himself to be seated in the kinema and tended to by Yubi Das Finger. Lord Onosh was feeling his age, and was feeling the effects of the battering of disorientations and disconcertments which he had so recently endured.

So Lord Onosh seated himself, and was fed by Yubi Das Finger, who had bowls of soup and polyps brought for him, and fried locusts as well, and curried worms served on thin slices of unleavened bread, and other things that were likewise good for the belly and comforting to the psyche.

While the Witchlord ate his soup, his polyps, his locusts, his curried worms and his unleavened bread, he watched the entertainments being shown on the Eye of Delusions. That great Eye, set above the lockway, was proof that the Nexus (presuming it to have truly existed) must have known of one or more barbarian tribes very like the Yarglat. For the Eye showed repeated scenes of scalping, of disembowelling, of axe-blade battles and outright cannibalism.

Watching such familiar scenes, Lord Onosh was comforted, for they reminded him of his youth, his homeland, his people. He began muttering to himself in Eparget for the sheer pleasure of hearing the Yarglat tongue, and he was muttering still when Guest Gulkan at last emerged from the mountain to rejoin him.

Asodo Hatch came forth from the mountain with Guest Gulkan, and hustled Witchlord and Weaponmaster away from the kinema.

"Where are we going?" asked Guest of Yubi Das Finger, who was keeping pace with them so he could do duty as an interpreter.

"To the palace," said Yubi. "To Na Sashimoko."

"Then," said Guest, "I would like to know who rules from that palace."

So Guest began an interrogation of Yubi Das Finger, trying to get a grip on what had happened in Dalar ken Halvar during the years in which he had been adventuring in Untunchilamon or enduring imprisonment in Obooloo.

"Things are much as they were," said Yubi, "except that Nuchala-nuth gathers strength by the year."

"That," said Guest, "is nothing to me. So much for Dalar ken Halvar. What of Safrak?"

"Bao Gahai rules it still in the Witchlord's absence," said Yubi Das Finger. "Or so I have heard."Guest had learnt little more by the time they reached Na Sashimoko and were shown into the presence of Plandruk Qinplaqus.

Though Guest had at first had trouble in recognizing Asodo Hatch, he had no such trouble in identifying Qinplaqus. For, after all, Qinplaqus was firmly seated on his throne with the Princess Nuboltipon upon his knees, hence the elderly Ashdan could scarcely be mistaken for one of his own servants.

Besides, the Silver Emperor still had at his side the same pelican-headed walking stick which he had been carrying when Guest had first met him, back in the days when Plandruk Qinplaqus had been in the habit of traveling the Circle of the Doors of the Partnership Banks, his identity disguised by his traveling name:

Ulix of the Drum.

(Ulix of what Drum? After all these years, Guest finally realized that the name had been designed simply to mislead, and that there was no literal drum to be identified with the name. A small discovery, but a certain one – and the Yarglat barbarian felt quite pleased at working it out).

"Greetings, Guest," said Qinplaqus.

"Greetings, my lord," said Guest, pleased to be recognized.

But, just as Guest Gulkan had no trouble in recognizing Plandruk Qinplaqus, so Qinplaqus had no trouble in turn in recognizing him. For, after all, how many Yarglat barbarians were there in Dalar ken Halvar? A definitive answer to this question cannot be given, but it is reasonable to presume that precious few such savages soiled their feet with the red dust of the Plain of Jars from one generation to the next. And, besides that, there was the matter of Guest's ears. Even amongst the Yarglat, his ears were of such a largeness that they would have been considered unique had not his father been similarly disfigured.

Even though Plandruk Qinplaqus these days allowed Asodo Hatch to have practical day-to-day control over the management of the Empire of Greater Parengarenga, Qinplaqus remained the ultimate power in Dalar ken Halvar. He dismissed Hatch, and Hatch went, departing without complaint.

Qinplaqus similarly dismissed Yubi Das Finger, sent Lord Onosh away to a bedroom for some much-needed rest, then set about interrogating Guest Gulkan.

For Guest to tell of his adventures was no easy matter, and it was evening before he was finished even a fraction of it.

"You have not mentioned Untunchilamon," said Qinplaqus at length.

"Haven't I?" said Guest. "I must have!"

"Well," said Qinplaqus, "you may have said one or two words about it, but I think there's more to tell. Still. It grows late.

The rest can wait till tomorrow. Meanwhile – have you any pressing questions of your own?"