The Eagle & the Nightingales: Bardic Voices, Book III Read online

  Those stabilizer things must he broken again. Much of the Deliambren’s equipment had a tendency to break fairly often; Harperus spent as much time fixing the wagon as he did driving it. Most of the time the things that broke merely meant a little inconvenience; once or twice the Deliambren had actually needed to secure the wagon in a place that could be readily defended at need and call his people for someone to bring him a new part.

  Still, this was a marvelous contraption. T’fyrr had, out of purest curiosity, poked his beak into the wagons of other travelers, and this behemoth was to those little horse-drawn rigs as he was to a scarcely fledged starling.

  The wagon was divided into four parts: an eating and sitting part, where he was now; a sleeping part; a bathing and eliminating part; and a mysterious part that the Deliambren would allow no one into but himself. T’fyrr suspected that this final part was where the controls for the wagon were, and where Harperus kept some of the “technical” and “scientific” instruments that he used. Not that it mattered. T’fyrr was supremely incurious where all that nonsense was concerned.

  The wagon could propel itself down a road without any outside pulling by horses or other draft-beasts. Right at the moment it was doing just that, although up until this point the Deliambren had taken exacting pains to keep humans from knowing it could move of itself. On the hottest days, it remained cool within—on the coldest, it was as warm as the Haspur could have wished. There were mystical compartments where fresh food was kept, remaining fresh until one wished to eat it. There was another kind of seat for elimination of bodily waste, and a tube wherein one could stand to be sluiced clean with fresh water. The whole of the wagon was most marvelously appointed: shiny beige wall and ceiling surfaces, leather-covered seating, rough, heavy rugs fastened down on the floor that one could dig ones talons into to avoid being flung about while the wagon was moving. Even the beds were acceptable, and it had been difficult for T’fyrr to find an acceptable bed—much less a comfortable one—since he had come down out of the mountains.

  The very windows of this contrivance were remarkable. He could see out, but no one could see in. T’fyrr still did not understand how that was possible.

  Unfortunately, the view displayed by those windows at the moment was hardly savory.

  And Harperus claims that this is not the vilest part of this city! It is difficult to believe.

  The Haspur lived among the tallest mountains on Alanda; while they were not very territorial by nature, they were also not colony-breeders. Each Haspur kept a respectable distance between his aerie and those of his neighbors. No enclave of Haspur ever numbered above a thousand—and there were at least that many humans just in the area visible from the window of the wagon!

  They crammed themselves together in dwellings that were two and three stories tall, with the upper floors extended out over the street in such a way that very little sunlight penetrated to the street below. There must have been four or five families in each of the buildings, and each family seemed to have a half-dozen children at absolute minimum. T’fyrr could not imagine what it must sound like with all of them meeping and crying at once. And how did their parents manage to feed them all? A young Haspur ate its own weight in food every day during the first six years of its growth; after that, he ate about half his own weight each day until he was full-grown. That was one reason why Haspur tended to limit their families to no more than two—T’fyrr could not even begin to imagine the amount of food consumed by six children!

  This was not even a good place in which to raise young. In addition to the lack of sun, there was a profound lack of fresh air in this quarter. The buildings restricted breezes most cruelly. T’fyrr did not want to think about how hot it must be, out there in the street; why these people weren’t running mad with the heat was a mystery. And the noise must be deafening, a jarring cacophony also likely to drive one mad.

  Perhaps they are all mad; perhaps that is why they have so many offspring.

  Haspur did not have a particularly good sense of smell, which he suspected was just as well, for he was certain that so many people crowded together—like starlings!—must create an environment as filthy as a starling roost.

  The crowds seemed to be thinning, though, and the standard of construction in the residences rising the farther they went. He was not imagining it—there definitely was more room between the buildings; there were even spots of green, though the greenery was imprisoned away behind high walls, as if the owners of the property were disinclined to share even the sight of a tree or a flower with the unworthy.

  There were fewer children in the street, too, and those few were not playing; they were with adults, supervised. Some even seemed to be working under adult supervision, sweeping the gutters, scrubbing walls, polishing gates.

  They paused for a moment; T’fyrr couldn’t see what was going on at the front of the coach, but a moment later they were on the move again and he saw why they had stopped. There was a simple wooden gate meant to bar the road, now pulled aside, and several armed guards to make certain no one passed it without authorization. They watched the coach pass by stoically enough, but T’fyrr noted that they did seem—impressed? puzzled?

  Well, Harperus is Deliambren, and he was bent on displaying Deliambren wonders to the court of the High King . . . I suppose he must have decided to begin with everyone in the city.

  Harperus had insisted that here in Lyonarie it was of utmost importance to display as much power as one could, conveniently. Abstractly, T’fyrr understood this; the powerful were never impressed by anyone with less power than they, after all. But this business of going out of their way to look strange and different, including operating the coach without horses—

  Looking different can be hazardous; I have had a crop full of what that hazard can be. Displaying too much power can incite as much envy as anything else, and the envious, when powerful, are often moved to try and help themselves to what has excited that envy, at whatever cost to the current owner.

  Still, Harperus claimed that he had “connections” at the court of Theovere, and given the dangerous trends of the past two years, he and his people had felt it was time to employ those “connections.”

  Theovere was a music lover of the most fanatic vein; apparently this was what had been occupying the time he should have been spending doing his duty as High King. Originally, Harperus was going to offer Theovere one of the music machines and a set of memory-crystals as a blatant bribe for a little more influence in legislation, but since the time that original plan had been conceived, he had evolved a better one—

  Better, not just because it means no dangerous “technology” will be in the hands of those who might somehow manage to find an unpleasant use for it, but because it will mean—or so he thinks—that he will have a direct influence instead of an indirect one.

  T’fyrr sighed, flipped his wings to position them more comfortably, and drummed his talons on the table. He was not looking forward to this. Harperus’ plan was to have T’fyrr appointed as an official Court Musician to the High King himself. Harperus was unshakably certain that once the High King heard T’fyrr sing, the Haspur would become a royal favorite. And once a nonhuman was a royal favorite, it would be much more difficult for other interests to get laws restricting the rights of nonhumans past the High King.

  Interests such as the human Church, perhaps . . . though I am not particularly sanguine about one Haspur being able to overcome the interests of the Church, however optimistic Harperus may be. Religion rules the heart, and the heart is the most stubborn of adversaries. Rule the religion, and you rule the heart, and no one can oppose you—unless what you offer is better. Then, you must convince them that what you have is better, and people will die to hold on to what they already believe . . .

  T’fyrr twitched his tail irritably. Harperus was optimistic about a great many things—and T’fyrr did not share his optimism in most of them.

  Even if we can get in to see this High King, there is no
guarantee he will be impressed with my singing. Even if he is, there is no guarantee that he will actually do anything about it personally; and from what I have seen, if he leaves my disposition up to his underlings, they will find a way to “lose” me. No, Harperus is counting on a great deal of good luck, and good luck seems to have deserted me.

  T’fyrr glanced out the windows again and was impressed, though in a negative fashion, by the homes he now passed. These dwellings—each a magnificent work of art, each set in its own small park and garden—were clearly owned by those of wealth and high rank. And the guards on that gate they had passed showed just how unlikely it would be for a commoner to get access to these lovely garden-spots.

  So the low and poor must crowd together in squalor, while the wealthy and high live in splendor. If I were low and poor—I think I would go elsewhere to live. My home would still be poor, but at least I would have sunlight and fresh air, green things about me and a little peace.

  But—perhaps these humans enjoyed living this way. Starlings certainly did. That made them even less understandable.

  Not that he had come close to understanding them so far. The humans’ own Sacrificed God spoke of fairness and justice and faith in the goodness of others. These things should prevent believers from doing harm to strangers. Why should an underling, clearly seeing his superiors doing vile things to another living being, believe that those things were justified? How could he be convinced that another being, who had done no harm, was a monster worth destroying? How could such a man be so convinced that those superiors were correct that he would spend his own life to carry out their will?

  Perhaps those superiors were right; perhaps T’fyrr was as potentially evil as they claimed. After all, he was the one who had killed. Perhaps he misunderstood what the Sacrificed God was all about—after all, if the Deliambrens could make white into black, maybe the humans could, too.

  I only hope that Harperus’ plan works as well as he thinks it will, T’fyrr thought, depression settling over him again. I might somehow redeem myself if only I can be in a position where I can do some real good—or perhaps this helplessness to affect anything for the better is punishment for my evil . . .

  T’fyrr was not as expert at reading human expressions as he would have liked, but there was no mistaking the look the Court official facing them wore on his refined visage.

  Disdain, Not all of Harperus’ Deliambren charm or magic had been able to remove that look from the face of this so-called “Laurel Herald.” He had taken in the splendor of Harperus’ costume—a full and elaborate rig that made the Deliambren look to T’fyrr’s eyes rather like one of those multitiered, flower-bedecked, overdecorated cakes that some races produced at weddings and other festivities. He had watched the coach drive itself off to a designated waiting place with a similarly lifted brow. Of course, he was probably used to seeing similar things every day, and his livery of scarlet and gold, embroidered on the breast with a winged creature so elaborately encrusted with gold bullion that it was impossible to tell what it was supposed to be, was just as ornate in its way as Harperus’ costume. He sat behind a huge desk—a desk completely empty so far as T’fyrr could see—in the exact center of an otherwise barren, marble-walled and mosaic-floored chamber. The walls were covered with heroic paintings of stiff-faced humans engaged in conflicts, or stiff-faced humans posing in front of bizarre landscapes. There was a single bench behind the desk, where many young humans in similar livery sat quietly.

  Now he waited for Harperus to declare himself, which Harperus was not at all loathe to do. The Deliambren adored being able to make speeches.

  “I am Harperus, the Deliambren Ambassador-at-large,” he announced airily to the functionary. He went on at length, detailing the importance of his position, the number of dignitaries he had presented his credentials to and the exalted status of the Deliambren Parliament. Finally, he came to the point.

  “I have a presentation to make to Theovere,” he concluded. Not “His Majesty High King Theovere,” but the simple surname, as if he and the High King were of equal stature. T’fyrr was impressed, by Harperus’ audacity if nothing else.

  The title Harperus claimed was not precisely a fiction, although very little of what the Deliambren actually did on his extensive trips ever had anything to do with conventional diplomacy. And it was entirely possible he had presented his credentials to every one of the dignitaries he named—they were all wealthy enough to afford Deliambren goods, and Harperus often acted as a courier for such things. The official favored Harperus with a long moment of silence, during which the “Laurel Herald” scrutinized the Deliambren as carefully as an oldster examining her daughter-in-law’s aerie for dirt in the corners, unpolished furniture, or a fraction less klrrthn than was proper.

  Harperus simply stood there, radiating a cool aplomb. T’fyrr was grateful that no human here could possibly have enough experience with Haspur to read their expressions and body language, or he would have given it all away with his rigid nervousness. He stood as straight and as stiffly as a perching-pole, his wings clamped against his back. Probably the official didn’t notice, or if he did, thought it was stiff formality and not nerves.

  He didn’t seem to notice the Haspur at all; in the simple silk body-wrap, T’fyrr probably looked like a slave.

  Finally the “Laurel Herald” elected to take them at face value; he signaled to a boy he referred to as “Page,” one of the dozen waiting quietly on the bench behind his desk, and gave them over into the boy’s keeping.

  “Take them to the Afternoon Court,” the Herald said, shortly, and turned his attention to other business on his empty desk.

  After an interminable walk down glass-walled corridors that passed through the middle of mathematically precise gardens, the boy led them toward—a structure. If the scale of the Palace had been anything T’fyrr considered normal, it would have been another wing of a central building. But since everything was on such a massive scale, this “wing” was the size of entire palaces. It was certainly the size of the huge Cathedral in Gradford, which was one of the largest human buildings T’fyrr had ever seen.

  “That’s Court, my lords,” the boy explained, enunciating carefully. “That’s all that goes on in that Palace building, just Court. Morning and Afternoon Court, informal Court, formal Court, Judiciary, Allocation, City—”

  The boy rattled on until T’fyrr shook his head in disbelief. How many ways could one entitle the simple function of hearing problems and meeting people? Evidently quite a few . . .

  The bureaucracy here must be enough to stun a thinking being. I feel dizzy.

  The doors at the end of the corridor swung open without a hand to open them as they approached; T’fyrr glanced sideways at Harperus, who smirked in smug recognition.

  A Deliambren device, of course. Why am I not surprised?

  The doors closed behind them, silently, and the Haspur noted larger versions of the Deliambren lighting that Harperus employed in his coach hanging from the ceiling, encased in ornate structures of glass and gold. There were probably hundreds more examples of Deliambren wonders here, but none of them would be of the type that could be taken apart without destroying them.

  Well, no matter what the Church says about the “evil magic” of those who are not human, past High Kings have not scrupled to buy and use our devices. T’fyrr grimaced. No matter what happens, I would place a high wager that they would continue to use such things, even in the face of a Church declaration of Anathema. The Church would either look the other way, or the High King would pay the fine and continue to have his lighting and his self-opening doors.

  The High King would be able to afford whatever fine the Church levied without even thinking about it; T’fyrr knew, after traveling so long with Harperus, just how much that lighting, those doors, probably cost. Nor was the display of wealth limited to the nonhuman devices so prominently displayed and used. Of course, the money came from somewhere, and T’fyrr’s mind played out an image of
the human hive they had come through.

  They followed down a hallway paved in polished marble with matching marble paneling. Graceful designs had been incised into the marble of the walls and gold wire inlaid in the grooves. At intervals, along the wall and beneath the lighting, where they were displayed at their best advantage, were graceful sculptures of humans and animals, also of marble with details of gold inlay. Between the sculptures stood small marble tables, topped with vases made of semiprecious jade, malachite and carnelian. The vases were filled with bouquets, not of fresh flowers, but of flowers made of precious stones and gold and silver wire.

  T’fyrr could not even begin to calculate the cost of all of this. Surely just one of those flowers would keep a commoner out in Lyonarie fed and clothed for a year!

  The page led them to a pair of gold-inlaid, bronze doors, each a work of art in itself, depicting more humans—though for once, these were not in conflict, but gathered for some purpose. The doors swung open, and the boy waved them in.

  “They’ll have brought your name to the Presiding Herald,” the boy whispered as T’fyrr caught sight of a jewel-bedecked throng just inside the door. “He’ll add you to the list; just listen for him to announce you, and then present yourself to His Majesty.”

  “Thank you,” Harperus said gravely. The boy bobbed an abrupt little bow, and hurried off; Harperus strode between those open doors as if he had every right to be there, and T’fyrr moved in his wake, like a silent, winged shadow.

  He had not donned all of the finery that Harperus had wanted him to put on—a huge, gemmed pectoral collar, ankle-bracelets, armbands and wristbands, a dusting of gold powder for his wings. Now he was glad that he had not. Not only had the wrist and armbands and bracelets felt far too much like fetters, but T’fyrr was certain that he would only have looked ridiculous in the borrowed gear, as if he was trying to ape these jeweled and painted humans, who were oh-so-carefully not staring at the nonhumans in their midst. There did not appear to be any other nonhuman creatures in this room, although it was difficult to be certain of that. They could have been crammed up against the white marble walls—that, evidently, was the place where those of little importance were relegated. The magic circle of ultimate status was just before the throne, within earshot of everything that went on upon the dais. Harperus strolled toward that hallowed ground quite as if he had a place reserved for him there, and to T’fyrr’s amazement, the haughty courtiers gave way before him.