“What sort of a person is this Prince?”
Valkar shrugged. “It is hard to say: I have had no personal contact with him, myself. But you must understand, Jandar, that the high councils of the Chac Yuul are ridden with rivalry and factionalism. The information that you are a veritable newcomer to the Legion seemed to delight His Highness most. You have no clan allegiances within the Black Legion, you see, and you have been with us for too brief a time to make very many close friends. Hence Prince Vaspian can trust in you to a considerable extent, where in another man he might fear a spy or even a carefully planted assassin. At any rate, he has fixed on you to join his retinue, and you are thus immediately detached from service to the third and reassigned to the palace. I shall be sorry to have you leave us.”
This remarkable accident afforded me entrance into the palace and a chance to be near Darloona, hence I was tremendously excited by my good fortune. But I strove to conceal my elation, for I perceived that Valkar was somewhat saddened that we should see no more of each other and that our paths should part here.
“I shall regret leaving the cohort,” I confessed, “and even more, I shall be sorry not to see you again. But perhaps my new assignment need not sever our friendship entirely, for surely we can continue to meet and to share our off-duty hours together, even as before.”
He smiled, but shook his head reluctantly.
“I fear not, Jandar, for a mere komor has no business in the high circles of the Chac Yuul. But I shall not forget our friendship, and perhaps after all we shall meet again at a later time.”
We bade each other farewell, and within the hour I was on the way to the palace compound with my few possessions bundled into the saddlebags of my thaptor.
At the very center of the city of Shondakor lies a square plaza, and on the northern side of this central plaza rises the ancient palace of the kings.
This palace has three main wings, and it is surrounded by parks and gardens which are themselves enclosed in a high wall, smaller, but no less strong and well guarded than the wall that encircles the vast metropolis itself. This inner enclosure forms the fortress citadel of the city and is designed to serve as the last defensive area in case the rest of the capital is
overwhelmed in siege. These things I had learned from conversations with Lord Yarrak before setting forth on my mission to rescue the Princess Darloona from the stronghold of the Black Legion.
A pass, signed with the medallion of the Prince, gave me entry into the palace enclosure, and a chamberlain led me through endless suites and corridors, anterooms and apartments, meeting chambers and feasting halls, to the north wing where the retinue of Prince Vaspian was housed.
All about me lay scenes of vivid splendor and regal luxury. No expense had been spared in decorating the sumptuous apartments of the palace. Bare woods, exquisite tapestries, precious gems and noble metals, had been lavished on the ornamentation. Pierced lamps of burnished silver shed an even glow over silken carpets and carved ivory screens. Vases of sculptured jade, amber, and gleaming onyx bore fresh-cut flowers. Standing globes of perforated brass exuded coiling threads of priceless incense to sweeten the air. Superb statues of marble or bronze were enshrined in niches along the high-roofed corridors. Gems flashed in the folds of gorgeous tapestries. The masterworks of painter, sculptor, and mosaicist adorned every room. The luxury, the opulence, the beauty of the palace decor was overwhelming. I recalled my brief tour of the citadel of Zanadar, months before, that time Lukor the Swordmaster had smuggled me within the palace of Prince Thuton in a last-moment effort to free our Yathoon comrade, Koja, from death in the arena. Even the kingly citadel of the City in the Clouds could not outshine the sumptuous splendors of Shondakor.
Prince Vaspian met me in a glorious room whose walls were hung with heavy folds of shining cloth. The Prince was clothed in glistening white silks, diamonds flashing from lobe, brow, throat, wrist, and girdle. He acknowledged my salute with a casual wave of a glittering hand and gestured for my attention.
“The servitors will take your belongings, to your new quarters,” he said in a low voice. “I require your immediate services. In a short time I will attend a council meeting with my royal father and certain other lords of the Chac Yuul, here in this very chamber. I desire you to guard my person, for among the lords of the Legion are certain enemies who wish nothing so much as the chance to injure me. Do you understand?”
“I shall do whatever the Prince requires,” I answered. “Precisely what are my instructions?”
He strode across the room and pointed to a low ottoman, one of a half circle of such.
“I will be seated here,” he said. Then, striding behind the ottoman, he drew aside the curtains with a flourish, disclosing the yawning mouth of a black unlit passage.
“You will station yourself here,” he said. “All you have to do is keep your eyes open and watch for treachery. If anyone makes a move towards me, strike to defend my person. Here you will be unseen, for the curtains are opaque unless one stands very close to their folds, in which case the fabric can be seen to be transparent. Remain completely silent, regardless of what may happen―and do not let anyone know you are there unless there is an attempt upon my life. Is this clear?”
“Perfectly,” I nodded. “And what do I do later on?”
“At the conclusion of the council, we will all file out. It would not be wise for you to emerge from your hiding place in order to accompany me, for that would give away the fact that I suspect treason and am guarding myself accordingly. Therefore, once all have left the chamber, you may withdraw. At the end of this passage you will find a secret door which leads out into a corridor. Go out into the open and ask directions of whomever you should meet. Go at once to my suite and my servitors will show you to the room set aside for yourself; remain there until I call for you. My servitors will bring you wine or food or whatever else you may require. You may sleep, if you like.”
“I understand,” I said.
“Very good. Now take your position behind the curtains, and be careful not to give away your presence by a word or a sound!”
I stepped through the shining curtains to stand in the unlit doorway of the secret passage. Standing close to the curtains I saw that it was indeed easy to see through them, for at intervals in the heavier weave, gauze-thin patches of a lighter fabric of identical hue were set, as if for this very purpose.
Vaspian withdrew swiftly from the room and I settled down to await whatever should happen.
After a few minutes, several Chac Yuul guards filed into the room and took up positions on either side of the door, holding long spears, the light from bright-paned windows sparkling off their helmets of burnished copper adorned with small cubes of silver.
Then several men entered, one by one. They were squat, burly, and heavy-thewed, obviously warriors, although no longer young men. Probably high-ranking officers of the Black Legion. They had a swaggering, piratical look about them―men accustomed to power, command, authority―men who had led the bandit legion in many battles, sieges, and forays.
Next followed my “patron,” Prince Vaspian, a haughty look on his dark, lean, and not-unhandsome face. He disdained to notice the courteous manner in which the senior officers of the Legion rose to salute him. He stalked across the room to the low ottoman he had indicated to me earlier, and seated himself directly in front of the place where I was standing.
No sooner had he taken his seat than another individual entered, and the Prince struggled reluctantly to his feet again to stand in the presence of Arkola the Usurper himself, the all-powerful Warlord of the Black Legion.
He was a remarkable personage: a most impressive man; the almost tangible aura of supreme power radiated from his powerful frame and heavyset features. Of course, he Nvas no stranger to me, for I had seen him once before, or his image, mirrored in the palungordra° I had seen in operation weeks before, in Zanadar, at which time I had overheard a conversation between Arkola and Prince Thuton of the Sky Pirates from a concealed passageway in the walls of the royal citadel.