Phebha, as if tired of arguing and aware that she was in danger of completely losing her dignity, abruptly stopped speaking. She turned and walked toward the doorway while Gamori yelled after her. He ordered her to come back, but she, Queen and high priestessi—therefore of higher rank—paid him no attention.
His face almost purple, Gamori whirled, seized a spear and yanked it from the hands of the nearest soldier. A cry of horror went up from the crowd, including many of his own men. Hadon yelled at her to beware and darted out toward her, his sword unsheathed. At the same time, the officer of the Queen's forces ran forward to defend her. Gamori snarled at him—Hadon could see his expression but could not hear his words—and thrust the spear into the officer's face. The blade, drove into his mouth; the man dropped his sword and clutched the shaft, then fell backward. At this a roar went up from the Queen's men and they charged. Hadon grabbed Phebha around the waist and half carried her to the doorway, keeping his right side between her and the soldiers of the King. Gamori could have stabbed him in the back then but, his own back turned, he was running toward the safety of his men's spears. Then spears flew on both sides and the two forces had collided, were mixing, were swirling, were fighting savagely.
Hadon released Phebha inside the room. She raged mightily for several minutes then, as if water had been thrown in her face, became calm. "My men will die; they are outnumbered," she said. She summoned a trumpeter, who at her orders loudly blew the call for retreat. In a moment many of the Queen's men broke loose from the melee. About twenty made it into the chamber; the others stayed behind as corpses.
Phebha gave another order and a portcullis was dropped over the huge entrance. A solid iron door followed this, blocking off Gamori's men even if they had been willing to enter the temple.
"It's open war from this moment on!" Phebha shouted. "We will act at once!" She glared around, saw Klyhy coming to her and asked, "What is it?"
"The woman of Hadon, the Witch-from-the-Sea," Klyhy said. "She has been taken to the Chamber of the Moon. But her labor pains have stopped. They were false."
"Keep her there anyway," the high priestess said. "The prophecy will be fulfilled." She looked at Hadon. "Welcome home, tall one! Though it is a sad and grisly homecoming! Not unexpected, however! Well, Gamori has revealed his true ambition, which I knew all along. One who would exalt the Flaming God above the Mother of All. And one who would, not incidentally, exalt himself above the Queen. You see, Hadon, his agents have heard about the prophecy too, and Gamori fears the child. He also fears that you, though deprived of your emperor's throne, may wish to claim his as king. And he is afraid, justly so, that I might try to depose him and make you king."
"I? King?" Hadon asked.
"You won the Great Games," she said, "and so you should be king. You are a true worshiper of Kho and so should replace that miserable hyena Gamori. And then there is the prophecy. If your child is to attain the glories promised her, she must be protected. How better can she be protected than if her father is king? And her mother queen?"
"My Queen—" Hadon began.
"I am sick and do not have long to live," Phebha went on. "If I should die soon, Gamori and the worshipers of Resu will have a great advantage. Klyhy is a capable woman, a strong one, but she needs a good man to lead her forces. You are the man. You can't marry her, since you are the husband of the violet-eyed woman from beyond the Ringing Sea of whom there is a prophecy. And you are the father of the child to be born. So I will proclaim you the new king, to take Gamori's throne by the dictates of mighty Kho. And your wife will become the new queen. Do not worry about Klyhy. She expects this and is glad. She has no ambitions to be high priestess and queen."
"That is true," Klyhy said. She had appeared by Hadon's side a moment before. "But there is a big difference between proclaiming Hadon and Lalila as rulers of Opar and actually being able to seat them on the throne. Gamori stands in the way."
Phebha looked around and said, "There are too many here to discuss affairs of state." She beckoned to a priestess and said, "Hala, take care of the girl Abeth and the boy Kohr, and see to the comfort of Hadon's men. Kumin, you come with us."
Phebha conducted them through many rooms. All were splendid, some offering even more magnificence and beauty than could be found in the palace of the Empress of Khokarsa. One room contained seven towering pillars of gold, and another was floored with a single sheet of gold said to be three feet thick.
Opar was rich indeed, but the pride of her citizens was tempered with the awareness that she was the object of envy and greed. She was safe when the Empire was strong, but now that civil war weakened it, Opar was vulnerable to attack. The raid by the Mikawuru pirates had only been a probe, designed to test the defenses. And suddenly Opar was herself being rent with war among her own citizens.
They ascended three flights of granite staircases and went down a long hall of polished mica into Phebha's apartments. These were luxurious indeed, but she took them through to a small room that was almost bare and bade them sit down at a plain wooden table. While wine and food were being brought in, she outlined her plan of attack. Hadon was amazed. Apparently she had been expecting this situation for a long time.
Before she could finish, however, she was forced to sit down in a chair. Her cheeks were red, her eyes feverish, her breathing heavy. The pendulous breasts rose and fell swiftly.
"It's the fever," she said, though no explanation was needed. "There is no way to overcome it. I have a strong will, but I cannot make my flesh ignore the fire that weakens it. But you, Hadon, and you, Klyhy, you know what to do. As for you, Kumin, you know the way. You have not forgotten the ancient tunnels, the old traps. You can lead your son to the battle."
"More than that!" Kumin said. "I may have only one arm, and I may have spent many years in sweeping floors and dusting statues, but I am a numatenu! I can wield a sword with only one hand and I can give a good account of myself!"
Phebha closed her eyes, smiled and said, "Good! You will do that."
Kumin looked excited. He was two inches shorter than his son, but at six feet he was still a tall man in Opar. His hair was gray, though when he was Hadon's age it had been as black as the wing of Kagaga the raven. He had picked up some fat and a paunch, but he was still massively built and he looked very strong. Indeed, having been forced to use one arm for twenty years, he had developed extraordinary strength in it.
"I gave my sword Karken to my son, but that does not mean I cannot swing another!"
"Then you must do it tonight, Hadon," Phebha said. "Pick out several other men; Klyhy will tell you the names of the best. And may Kho give you the stealth and the courage to rid us of this hyena Gamori."
A knock sounded on the door. A servant opened it, and a priestess entered. She bent down and whispered into Phebha's ear, looking up now and then at Hadon and Kumin, then she walked out. Phebha was silent for a minute.
"I have some bad news," she finally said. "Kumin, your son Methsuh has been captured by Gamori's men. He is being held just outside the Door of the Nine. My husband, the swine, has sent word that he wants to talk to you, Hadon."
Kumin swore. Hadon said, "What would he want with…?" He stopped, frowning, and said, "I suppose he wants a trade. If I deliver myself to him, he will release Methsuh unharmed."
"I imagine that is exactly what he will propose," Phebha said. "But you cannot do that, Hadon, even if you wish to. Lalila needs you; your unborn child will need you; Opar needs you. I am sorry for Methsuh, but you cannot sacrifice yourself for your brother."
"Let us go down and hear what Gamori has to say first," Kumin said. He looked pale but determined.
Phebha directed servants to bring in a litter. She was placed in it and carried after Hadon and his father. On the way, Hadon asked about his sister.
"Dedar is married now," Kumin said. "She went with her husband Nanquth—you remember him—to the new settlement of Kartenkloe. That was a year ago. I've heard from her six times. She's happy,
though she says it's a hard life. She's pregnant, so I am happy. She is about to give me another grandchild, though Kho knows if I'll ever get to see it."
"You will live to see many more grandchildren, Father," Hadon said.
Again the crowd in front of the doorway had to be cleared so Phebha, Hadon and the others could look outside. The solid iron door had been pulled up; the portcullis was still down. After she had exchanged the litter for a chair, the Queen said, "Draw up the portcullis."
Men picked up her chair and carried her in it to the very doorway. Hadon did not think this was wise, since it made her very vulnerable, but evidently she believed that not even Gamori would dare attack her.
The marketplace was filled with about a thousand of the King's men, Hadon estimated, all in formation. By peering around the doorway, he could see down the street past the masses of bronze-armored, bronze-armed men. On both sides was a mob of citizens. Facing them were three ranks of spearmen. The citizens were not particularly noisy, but there were some shouts now and then soaring out from the sullen murmur.
They would tend to make Gamori discreet, Hadon thought. He would not want to enrage them by threatening the high priestess herself.
On the other hand, Gamori might be rash enough to force a showdown. He might believe that a massacre of the citizens in the street would cow the rest of the population. And he could be right.
Trumpets blew. The troops on the right opened, and six soldiers and a prisoner came through the narrow avenue.
Hadon cried "Methsuh!" and heard the name echoed despairingly by his father.
Methsuh, looking much like Hadon, his hands behind him, his face bloody and puffed, was thrown down on the pavement. Gamori gestured and the trumpets and drums were loud. The crowd became silent. Gamori roared, "A trade, Phebhal A trade! One traitor for another!"
Her voice was clear but weak. "What is this, Gamori? Who is a traitor? You are the only one I see!"
"Not I!" Gamori bellowed. "I am not conducting warfare against you, wife! I am only asserting the right of Resu to primacy, the order of things as they should be! But I am not here to debate with you! I want that traitor, Hadon! Our Emperor has informed me that he should be arrested and sent back to Khokarsa!"
"There is no legal Emperor!" Phebha said. "Our Empress, High Priestess Awineth, has declared Minruth a traitor and blasphemer and profaner! So, Gamori, you have no legal basis for your claim! In fact, by pressing the rebel Minruth's claim, you proclaim for all to hear that you are a rebel and a blasphemer and a profaner! And so great Kho frowns on you, Gamori! And She frowns on all who support you! Death and destruction will visit those on whom Kho frowns!"
"Silence, you mangy lying bitch!" Gamori bellowed. His face was very red, but the faces of the soldiers near him were pale. "I am not here to discuss religion or politics or indeed anything except an exchange of traitors. I want Hadon! And if he refuses to surrender himself, or if you refuse to throw him out of the temple, then I will execute his brother! Now! Before his eyes and yours! And before the eyes of the deities! Methsuh's blood will be on Hadon's hands, on your hands!"
"You do not order the high priestess of Kho to be silent, nor do you insult her—and thus Kho—without retaliation!" Phebha said. Her voice was louder now, her anger having overcome her weakness for a moment.
Kumin, standing by Hadon, groaned. He said, "Great Kho, do not do this to me! I have lost my wife only two days ago, and now I will lose one or the other of my only sons!"
Methsuh was on his knees only twenty feet from the doorway. Two officers stood with drawn swords behind him. Gamori was to one side and about ten feet behind them. The nearest ranks of spearmen were about thirty feet from each side of the doorway.
Hadon wondered if the spacing had been arranged to tempt him to dash out and try to rescue his brother. Probably.
There was silence for a moment. Gamori, still red-faced, his lips open and his teeth clamped together, paced back and forth. Then he shouted, "Well, Hadon! I will not wait long!"
"You will, of course, do no such thing," Phebha said to Hadon. "It would be a brave and noble deed if you gave your life for your brother's. Also, an extremely stupid and selfish deed. The fate of Opar and the course of true religion in Opar depend on you. No one else can rally the worshipers of Kho as you can. You are a hero, winner of the Great Games—"
"I know all that!" Hadon said loudly, daring in his anger and grief to interrupt her. "I know that Gamori does not really expect me to sacrifice myself for Methsuh! What profit would there be in that except for Gamori and the cause of Resu?"
Kumin said, "It is cruelty which inspires Gamori to do this. He cannot violate sanctuary, so he is killing Methsuh to hurt us! He hopes that one of us will not be able to endure witnessing Methsuh's death and so will run out to save him!"
"You will not do that!" Phebha said sharply.
Kumin shouted, tore Karken from Hadon's hand and was out of the doorway before Hadon could grab him. Hadon started after him then, but a soldier by the Queen's chair thrust his spear between his legs and Hadon sprawled out of the doorway. Spears were instantly hurled toward him. He rolled back into the doorway. Two spears passed over him, one so close its shaft banged against his ribs. A third struck the pavement just in front of him, its tip digging into the cement. He scrambled to the protection of the wall beyond the doorway, and no more spears were thrown.
He bounded back three seconds later, determined to see what was happening even if it meant dodging more missiles. He saw the two officers who had been guarding Methsuh lying on the street, their throats gashed. Methsuh was on his side, but struggling to get up. Gamori was defending himself with his sword against Kumin's bloody weapon. Though Kumin had only one arm, he was using Karken as if he held its hilt with two hands. And then the inevitable occurred. Spears thunked into Kumin from both sides and from behind. He staggered and fell, though still swinging at Gamori.
The King stepped up and brought his sword down against Kumin's neck. Blood spouted, washing Gamori's feet, and Gamori leaned down and picked up the head by the hair and held it aloft, crying exultantly.
Hadon, shouting, seized a spear from a soldier and cast it at Gamori.
It flew almost true, catching Gamori in the shoulder. He dropped the head and fell into the pool of blood, clutching at the shaft.
A soldier thrust his spear through Methsuh. Other soldiers, forgetting in their rage and excitement that they were committing sacrilege, threw their spears at the doorway. Several just missed Phebha and Hadon; one struck a priestess in the stomach. A second later the portcullis dropped and the door was slammed shut.
Observers in the windows of the upper stories of the temple reported later that Gamori was carried away at once. The spear did not seem to have inflicted a fatal wound, unless infection set in. But Gamori had given an order before he left, and it was carried out with ruthlessness: the civilian witnesses were massacred, though a number escaped. And civil war began in earnest throughout Opar.
26.
Phebha said, "I have just come from the Chamber of the Moon. Lalila's labor pangs have started again. She is now an ordained priestess, and I have ordered that the news be spread that she will be our new queen. And that you will be the new king."
"How can you do that?" Hadon said. "No public criers will venture into the street. They would be killed."
"We have our ways," she said. "Lalila will have to learn them; she has much to learn, in fact. I will teach her what I can before I die. After that, Klyhy and Hala and the others will teach her."
"It is too soon to talk about that," Hadon said. "First we have to get rid of Gamori."
"Which shall be done before the night is over, Kho willing," she said. "In two hours it will be midnight. I have sacrificed a cock and found the omens good, if somewhat ambiguous. But aren't they always? Midnight is the best time to start. Klyhy will be your guide, since your father is no longer available."
Hadon tried not to think of Kumin or his brother.
There was no time for grief now. There was only time for thoughts of vengeance.
He walked to the window and looked out. It was a cloudy night, when the city would normally have been dark except for the torches of patrols. But now the flames from the burning tenements of the freemen to the north and the slaves' quarters to the south and some large buildings in the city itself lit up the night. The clouds were red, reflecting the fires below. Here and there torches bobbed, looking at this distance like fireflies. Most of the fighting had died down for the night, if the reports were to be believed. The majority of the population had fled the city itself, avoiding being ground between the Queen's men and the King's. Many civilians, however, had either joined one side or the other or had plunged into looting.
The wooden areas outside the walls were destined to burn completely. No one was trying to quench the flames; all fire fighting was confined inside the walls.
Since most of the city was built of massive stone, the fires there were limited. Much furniture had been carried out to the streets and set up as barricades, however, and these had been torched. Hangings and furniture in many buildings had also been heaped and set on fire in order to create diversions.
Gamori had surrounded the vast temple, leaving about a hundred men at each entrance. Then he had started the city-wide slaughter which had sent the civilians into a panic. The stream of refugees had kept the Queen's men from fighting through to the temple for a long time. They could make no headway against the mass headed for the riverfront and the jungle behind the city.
Gamori had been taken to his quarters in the Temple of Resu and treated there. According to Phebha's spies, he had not left his apartment, but he was conducting operations through his general, Likapoeth. If the report could be believed, Gamori would be on his feet by late tomorrow morning. Meanwhile, Likapoeth had twice stormed the Door of the Nine, battering it with heavy bronze rams. At the same time soldiers had tried to get into the windows of the second stories. Flaming oil had been poured on them; the ladders, pushed aside or out, had fallen with their shrieking burdens. The rams had failed to beat in the double barrier of portcullis and door, and oil from the windows above had discouraged the attackers.