Key to Destiny

  “What are my crudities?” he asked bluntly.

  She realized that he had not been wholly asleep when she and Ennui had discussed him. Probably any potential attacker would have been rudely surprised had he approached the sleeper. She should have been more careful. She tried to demur, but he insisted on having an answer.

  She explained that she did not wish to risk giving offense. But he persisted. “Please."

  “The king never says please to an underling,” she said, alarmed. And of course that was part of his ignorance. She had to do it. Not only was he the king, he did need to know. “Very well, Sire, I will speak plainly, though it pains me. It is crude to utter expletives in conversation. ‘Hell’ is an expletive. It is crude to cut directly to the point, such as asking ‘Why?’ It is crude to scratch or belch or fart in public. It is crude to meet a person's gaze for more than a moment, and may even seem threatening. It is crude to sleep on the floor, or in your clothes."

  Havoc wiped his nose. “I guess so."

  “As is wiping your nose with your bare hand.” She continued to instruct him, and had the impression that he was paying close attention. He was, she was discovering, an extremely intelligent man. He was almost visibly becoming civilized.

  He was observant, too. “How long has it been since you slept?"

  “Not since my husband died, Sire."

  “Then sleep now, and when you are refreshed, come to me. My fiancé Gale will also need instruction, when she arrives here."

  Then at last they emerged from the closed bathroom. Ennui was outside. She had the wit not to look askance at discovering the barbarian king closeted in the bathroom with the former king's widow.

  Havoc and Ennui departed for his own apartment, and Aspect went to her bedroom to lie down. Somehow the recent interaction with Havoc had reassured her, and she was at last able to sleep.

  In due course Symbol returned, and Ennui, this time alone. The two seemed well acquainted by the time Aspect was active again. At any rate, Symbol had doffed her headdress and veil, so that her head was invisible; she never did that in public. They agreed that Symbol would have an early appointment with Havoc, and would continue his education in civilized and royal ways.

  “But you know I will try to seduce him,” Symbol said to them both. “It's my nature, and my business. Do either of you have a problem with that?"

  Aspect and Ennui considered. They exchanged a glance. “No,” Aspect answered for them both. For to object would be to imply that they had some sexual interest in the king themselves. Aspect could not object on the grounds of disloyalty to King Deal, because Deal was dead. And Symbol did indeed need to secure her position, lest she be cast out as superfluous. Actually she held another formal position, that of Invisible Chroma Representative, but Chroma Representatives did not normally associate closely with the king. They were a nominal check on his power, and reported to their Chroma.

  “Actually I will merely tempt him, at first. I will need to get his fiancée's approval before taking him to bed."

  And none of them knew Havoc's fiancée. She was surely a barbarian girl, with abundant ignorance.

  Symbol had her interview with Havoc, and returned impressed. “That's the smartest man I have encountered,” she reported. “I gave him the full dose of culture and history, and he understood immediately though it was mostly new to him. And there's something about him. He's barbarian, but he reminds me of Deal."

  Aspect was surprised to realize it was true. Havoc was as different from Deal as it was possible to be, superficially, but his underlying presence was similar. “That must be why we like him."

  “I really would like to seduce him,” Symbol said dreamily. “He's a decade my junior, but he has a remarkable body."

  “Yes.” Aspect had seen that body. Deal might have looked like that, in his youth.

  In another day Havoc's fiancée arrived. She was Gale, of peasant stock, but a remarkably healthy and lovely girl of seventeen. She reminded Aspect of Symbol, oddly. Aspect was there when she entered the palace and met Havoc. He swept her into his embrace. “What's this about your being king?” she asked. “Why are you wearing a clown suit?"

  He grinned ruefully. “Talk with the Lady Aspect.” He pointed her out to the girl. “And the Lady Ennui, my oath friend."

  “Oath friend!” Gale exclaimed, shocked. She was barbarian, all right. She knew about oaths.

  “Go with Aspect now."

  Evidently not pleased, Gale went with Aspect to her apartment. Aspect could hardly blame her; this was even newer to her than to Havoc. “King Havoc is an extremely quick study,” she said to the girl. “Are you also?"

  “When I have to be. Who are you?"

  “I am King Deal's widow."

  The girl's face was a study in surprise and sympathy. And as Aspect prepared her for the coming ordeal of attendance at the king's coronation, she found that Gale, too, had endearing qualities. She was lovely, smart, and sensitive, very much the female counterpart of Havoc. They were obviously well matched. Aspect found herself liking her.

  Then she passed Gale along to Ennui, who had ugly news for her. It was obvious that Gale did not like Havoc's having an oath friend, and she really objected to the idea of Deal's mistress being near Havoc. This was understandable, but there were necessary adjustments the girl had to make. Still, when she learned that Deal had been murdered, and that Havoc might face a similar threat, she focused instantly.

  Later Aspect learned what Ennui told Gale: that she had to go on a secret mission to investigate the changelings, which were a mysterious class of babies occurring as fourths. King Deal had been investigating that mystery when he was killed. King Havoc was going to investigate it also, which put him in immediate danger. So Gale would have to leave the city anonymously to seek information, while Havoc would go about the king's business with another woman emulating Gale at his side. A woman who would share his bed, and be enchanted to believe she was Gale.

  Woman that she was, Gale agreed to this. She attended the coronation speech, as did they all. He made quite a show, telling the huge audience that he didn't give half a wad of stale dragon poop for the job of king. He said he hated King Deal, and wanted to kill him, but the idiot had leaped off a cliff and bashed his brains out, and good riddance.

  The audience was stunned, and so was Aspect. But it got worse. “They told me not to be crude in public. Well, all I have to say to that is—” He paused, as the members of the vast audience stared. Then he let fly with a resounding belch.

  Then they laughed, and Aspect found herself laughing with them. Havoc had broken the ice in a big way. He went on to more positive things, and his crudity faded. He complimented the prior king's staff, which he had kept on, and complimented Lady Aspect and the Lady Symbol. He summarized the challenges facing the king, and concluded: “I need you. I need all of you. Are you with me?"

  And they cheered. He had completely won over the audience, and the others, and Aspect herself. The man was a natural politician.

  After that he took the field on the king's business, traveling with the former First Bath Girl, Bijou, made up to resemble Gale. Aspect did not like that business; the girl had agreed to play the role, but would be locked in love with Havoc, and in time would discover that what she thought she was and had were illusion. Indeed, when the two got infected with the mental disease and became mind readers, she did learn the truth, and was appalled. But later Havoc associated with her as herself, privately, though she still played the public role of Gale, and she was more than satisfied.

  When Gale returned from her mission, she had much to report, but she insisted on seeing Aspect first, even before Havoc. Surprised, Aspect met with her, and learned that she had been attacked by a succubus. She had defeated the demon, a remarkable accomplishment, but feared that it was merely quiescent, and would steal Havoc's soul if Gale had sex with him. Also, she had learned that the two of them were changelings, as was King Deal, more alike than twins, so they could not aff
ord to marry. So the two had to stay apart, an awful grief for them both. Yet Gale was handling it, doing what she had to. There were queenly qualities in this barbarian girl.

  Havoc went on an anonymous mission with Bijou, and a minstrel was coached to emulate Havoc and take his place as king, with the new First Bath Girl, Spanky, now emulating Gale. Spanky turned out to be good at it, as Bijou had been, and it became a regular role for her, for both Havoc and Gale spent a lot of time away from Triumph. Aspect and Ennui, of course, supported them in every possible way, because it was Havoc's wish, and because formidable respect was developing. Aspect had never seen a new king and queen take hold like this.

  Chief, the father of Aspect's fourth, took an interest in Ennui, who was at first amazed. Symbol had a fling with Throe, the bodyguard, who had never been a fan of hers; perhaps she regarded it as a challenge. Then Ennui and Throe got together, and found true love. And in time Chief and Aspect decided to see whether they were capable of a genuine association, for the purpose of companionship rather than generating a fourth. Naturally sex was part of it, and she discovered that it was good to get back into this aspect of a relationship. She was into aspects, hence her name.

  Meanwhile Havoc turned out to be a truly meritorious king. He went far toward solving the mysteries of King Deal's murder, and of the changelings. Of course he was impeached, but he not only beat back that challenge, he invoked the help of the mysterious Glamors, and eliminated all traitors in high places. He had accomplished what none of the prior four kings had. Most of his associates had been involved in challenging missions for him or with him, and been profoundly affected by them.

  If there was one thing Aspect regretted, it was that she had been peripheral to all this. She had never risked her life or status for Havoc, or undertaken a dangerous mission. She had wished to be more of a part of his activities than she was. But that was her secret, shielded from mind reading.

  Still, there was one vital way in which both she and Ennui had become extremely close to Havoc and Gale. It had finally turned out that changelings were of different types, and could marry and have children, so that Havoc and Gale could at last formally recognize their love. In the process of this discovery, they had fathomed the riddle of the Glamors, and become Glamors themselves. Each Glamor left behind an ikon, the key to his or her enormous magical power. Havoc had given his to Ennui, his trusted oath friend, and Gale had given hers to Aspect. So they were the holders of the ikons of the two most important people on the planet. It was a unique privilege. They guarded both the ikons and the secret of the ikons from all others. So she could hardly consider herself neglected, even in her secret thoughts.

  Now Havoc had summoned the Ladies Aspect and Ennui for a private rendezvous. This had the feel of adventure. She was thrilled.

  * * * *

  Ennui looked up from her scrubbing, as Aspect's extended mental review concluded. They had just about completed the job, but there was something odd. Neither she nor Aspect had spent much time scrubbing in decades; their hands and knees should be raw after this extensive workout. But she felt fine, and saw that Aspect did too. Nonce, in contrast, was tired, despite doing the easier vertical work.

  The ikons, Aspect thought. They lend power.

  And that had to be it. The ikons were the essence of magic, and their full nature was unknown. Gale had fetched an ikon from a volcano just as it erupted, and been blown far through the air, and had survived: that was an indication. Ennui's ikon seemed to have lent her extra sexual appeal, interest, and stamina, and she knew the same was true for Aspect. Both of them looked better than they had in years, being more slender and shaped. They tried to mask it, but a number of court personnel had noticed. Others gave the men credit, thinking that regular attention and sex was responsible, and neither woman demurred. But Ennui had had plenty of sex in her life, and never thought much of it, until she carried the loom ikon. Then she had become a wildly sexual creature, to Throe's amazement. He had had recent experience with several extremely sexy women, so had a basis for comparison, and told her she was a match for any of them. She knew it was true, because their minds were open to each other. She had regretted having to return the loom to its refuge when the need for it was done. The Glamors had seen to that somehow, for all the ikons, though they could not handle any of them themselves. But then she had acquired Havoc's Tree ikon, and the youth and power were back.

  It is true, Aspect thought. I had become portly, and Deal seldom had sex with me any more. I didn't blame him; Symbol was so much better. But now my appetite in that respect matches Chief's. Chief had an affair with Symbol, and said I had come to match her in passion. It wasn't so before I got the ikon; I did sex for the sake of the larger relationship, to have some company. Now— She made a mental shrug.

  Ennui wondered what else there might be about the ikons they had yet to discover. No one had carried ikons before Havoc set out to find them, so as to locate the missing Glamors; indeed, their existence had been unknown. Thus there was no prior information.

  We must find out, Aspect thought. We are the ones most able.

  “Take a break,” Bus said. “You ladies have done a fine job—better than I expected. You must have had plenty of experience."

  “We have had our four,” Ennui said. “It comes with the territory."

  “You look so fresh,” Nine said. “What is your secret?"

  “We're traveling,” Ennui said. “Getting away from the routine is uplifting."

  He shrugged, not quite believing it. The red woman served supper; that was part of her wifely duty. It was good; the bus was well stocked with foods from a number of Chromas, and Nine clearly knew her business.

  When they were done, Nine cleaned up, and then the five of them relaxed. The bus was parked for the night at the edge of the Yellow Chroma zone; in the morning Yellow levitators would take it on across. Bus provided curtains so they could make private cells for sleeping. He and Nine shared one; the other three decided to share one also.

  “They're right,” Nonce said. “I'm worn out, and both of you worked harder than I did, yet you don't look tired."

  There would need to be an explanation, yet they could not tell her the truth. Aspect tackled it. “As you know, we are close to Havoc.” The girl smiled; that was a significant understatement. They were his personal secretary and his social guide, and their word was taken without question in the palace, and a fair distance beyond it. “He is now more than he was. He was able to lend us a certain magic power of restoration so that we could better serve his needs. We prefer not to call attention to it."

  “Then you'd better work slower tomorrow,” Nonce said. “Bus doesn't really care, so long as the work gets done, but that Red Chroma woman is afraid he'll put her to work scrubbing and take one of you to wife instead."

  They hadn't read the blue man's mind, but she was surely correct. “No fault has to be mutual,” Ennui said, amused. “And why would any man want either of us in his bed, rather than Nine or you?"

  “Stamina.” She glanced at each of them. “You don't by an chance have any of that spell left over that I could use?"

  She thought it was a potion or an amulet. Either ikon would indeed lend her similar properties, but they could not let go of them for any reason other than dire emergency. But there might be a way. “Perhaps we could share with you by proximity,” Ennui said.

  Ennui took Nonce's right hand, and Aspect took her left hand. Immediately the girl brightened. “Oh, I feel it! Strength and health coursing through me! But you shouldn't deplete yourselves for me."

  “No danger of that, I think,” Aspect said. “Sleep between us, and we will charge you through the night. That will restore you for the journey ahead."

  They arranged themselves, and did hold her hands. But soon there was a complication. “I feel—I want to get hold of a man and—"

  “That is a side effect,” Ennui said. “The magic enhances health, and sexuality is part of it. We can let go if you prefer."
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  “No, I'll bear with it. It really is helping me. But I won't speak for the consequence if I encounter a virile man."

  Aspect laughed. But thus warned, Ennui and Aspect focused on dulling sexual interest, hoping that this would reduce that portion of the transferal. This seemed to work, and they slept well.

  Still, this was interesting. Both of them had assumed that it was their enhanced interest and performance that turned their men on, but perhaps the physical contact lent enhancement directly to the men. They were indeed discovering something about the ikons.

  The purpose of the ikons, as they understood it, was to collect and convey magic power to their associated Glamors. Most ikons were in altars in chambers close to volcanoes, reaping the tremendous magic power there. This was transmitted to the Glamors, who could use it to perform amazing feats of magic anywhere. Normally the residents of Chroma zones were limited to their types. Some special gemstones could enable people to take their magic along, a blue stone for blue, and so on, and this made such stones extremely valuable. The king's crown had ten such stones in it, and they protected the king from both magical and physical threats. But when used, they soon became depleted.

  Glamors, in contrast, were not limited. The Blue Glamor might seem like an ordinary person in the heart of a blue Chroma zone, but his magic did not fade when he left it. This was because he really didn't leave the source of blue magic behind; his blue ikon remained, and sent him power. If that stone were taken from its refuge and carried out of its Chroma zone, then it could no longer send power, and the Glamor would slowly lose magic ability. It had happened when Havoc arranged to fetch in all the ikons of the other Glamors. Havoc's own ikon, when he became a Glamor, seemed different but wasn't: it did not need to reside near a volcano, because it was nonChroma. It needed to remain in nonChroma zones. The same was true of Gale's ikon that Aspect carried. So though they were traveling across Chroma zones, they would not remain in them any longer than necessary. Were they to spend several days in a Chroma zone, Havoc and Gale would lose their magic powers and become ordinary people.