VII

 

 

 

FROM MIRALDRA’S MAIN GALLERY A PORTAL OPENED INTO THE GREAT HALL. To either side of the opening stood a heroic marble statue, the pair brought from the Mediterranean five centuries before. The statues represented warriors of ancient Hellas, naked save for helmets, with short swords and shields held in attitudes of attack.

King Casmir and Queen Sollace, after taking breakfast in their chambers, strolled along the gallery, pausing now and again to examine those objects of craft and virtue which across the years had been collected by the kings of Troicinet.

Beside one of the marble statues stood a footman in the livery of Miraldra, armed with a ceremonial halberd. As King Casmir and Queen Sollace paused to examine the heroic figures, the footman made a signal to King Casmir, who, turning his head, recognized that person whom he knew as ‘Valdez’.

King Casmir looked up and down the gallery, then stepped apart from Queen Sollace and approached the footman. “So this is your vantage-point!” he muttered. “I have often wondered!”

“You would not see me here today, had I not wished to speak with you. I will no longer be coming to Lyonesse Town; my movements are attracting notice among the fishermen.”

“Oh?” King Casmir’s voice was flat. “What will you do now?”

“I intend a quiet life in the country.”

King Casmir, pretending interest in the statue, reflected a moment. “You must come to Lyonesse Town one last time, that I may reward you properly for your service. Perhaps we might arrange a new system, from which you would derive profit but know no risk.”

“I think not,” said Valdez drily. “Still, if someone speaks my name at Haidion, give him attention; he will bring news . . . Someone approaches.”

King Casmir turned away, and with Queen Sollace strolled down the gallery.

After a moment Sollace asked: “Why do you frown so?”

King Casmir forced a laugh. “Perhaps I envy King Aillas his fine statues! We must see to something similar at Haidion.”

“I would rather have a set of authentic relics for my church,” mused Queen Sollace.

King Casmir, lost in thought, spoke absent-mindedly: “Yes, yes, my dear; so it shall be, just as you wish.”

Events, in fact, were not going to King Casmir’s satisfaction. When spies left his employ, he liked to terminate the relationship in a definite manner, so that they might never sell their services elsewhere, and perhaps apply what they had learned to his detriment . . . Slowly he became aware of Queen Sollace’s voice: “—so Father Umphred assures me, is to buy before the need is recognized. He knows of three authentic splinters from the Holy Cross that we could acquire at this moment for a hundred crowns apiece. The Holy Grail itself is known to be somewhere about the Elder Isles, and Father Umphred has had the opportunity to buy maps providing exact—”

Casmir demanded: “Woman, what are you talking about?”

“The relics for the cathedral, of course!”

“How can you talk of relics when the cathedral itself is no more than a hallucination?”

Queen Sollace spoke with dignity. “Father Umphred declares that in time the Holy Lord will surely bring you to grace.”

“Ha. If the Holy Lord wants a cathedral so badly, let him build it himself.”

“I shall so pray!”

Half an hour later King Casmir and Queen Sollace again passed by the statues, but now Valdez was nowhere to be seen.