Much of the easternmost region of Bhealfa consisted of meandering rivers and scrubland. For Prince Melyobar’s court, travelling above ground, the terrain was irrelevant, but it presented many problems for the innumerable camp followers trailing the flying palaces. As a consequence, the court was forced to slow down.
While any diminution of pace was guaranteed to make the Prince nervous, for Devlor Bastorran and Lahon Meakin it came as a small relief.
They sat in the back of a carriage being driven at speed across the inhospitable landscape. The mud-splattered carriage bumped and rolled, throwing them about in their seats and rattling their bones.
‘Damn the man!’ Bastorran cursed.
‘Sir?’
‘Melyobar. I go through this wretched performance every time I’m obliged to meet him.’
‘You’ve been granted an audience before, sir?’
‘Several times, when I accompanied my uncle. It was always a farce.’
‘But this time’s different, isn’t it, sir? Your first meeting with His Highness since you became High Chief.’
‘And it’s only happening now because I can’t put it off any longer. If protocol didn’t demand it, I wouldn’t be here at all. You look shocked, Meakin. Find my attitude disloyal, do you?’
‘Er, no, sir. That is…well, a little surprising perhaps.’
‘I’m as devoted to the institution of monarchy as the next man. More so than the Prince, I’d venture. Be honest, you can’t pretend you don’t know the stories about him.’
‘There are always rumours, sir, and admittedly most of them are odd.’
‘Everything you’ve heard about Melyobar is true, and more. He isn’t a patch on the old King, Narbetton. And be warned: you will not, of course, address the Prince of your own volition. Should he speak to you, be brief and circumspect in your answers. You smile, but this is a serious matter.’
‘Sir.’ Meakin’s demeanour was instantly solemn.
‘The man has some…let’s say unusual notions. Showing disrespect for them, or gods forbid, questioning them, is more than an indiscretion; it’s downright dangerous. So keep your mouth shut and follow my lead.’
‘Yes, sir.’
They bumped over a particularly deep pothole. Bastorran swore vehemently under his breath. Meakin leaned to his window and gazed at the hovering palace. Its enormity was astonishing. It led an unruly procession of lesser, but still massive, floating structures that blotted out the sky.
‘Ever seen it before?’ Bastorran said.
‘Once. When I was much younger, sir. With my mother and brother, and from a distance. But I’ve never forgotten it.’
His master gave an offhand grunt, uninterested, and muttered, ‘You’ll be seeing it much closer soon enough.’
If the airborne convoy inspired wonderment, what was happening below stirred a different kind of awe.
Their carriage bounced along in a torrent of humanity. As far as they could see on all sides a kind of insanity was on the hoof: an incalculable number of wagons, coaches, traps, gigs, landaus and carts thundered across the land. Like seagoing craft they traversed an ocean of uniformed and civilian mounted riders, and far to the rear of the wheeled conveyances and charging horses a multitude of people strained to keep up on foot. The scene was reminiscent of a free-for-all land-grab or gold rush. Except the aim was to keep pace with the spectacle passing overhead.
‘Ah,’ Bastorran said, ‘here’s our escort. Hold on. The ride’s about to get even rougher.’
Meakin looked out at the chaos on his master’s side, but could make no sense of it, let alone identify any kind of escort. Then a particular contrary movement caught his eye. A carriage not dissimilar to their own was edging towards them through the human deluge. As it weaved their way, Meakin could make out a royal crest on its side, and the palace guard uniform the driver wore.
‘They’re experts at negotiating this rabble,’ Bastorran explained. ‘I hope you’re fit, Meakin.’
‘I think so, sir.’
‘You’ll need to be. Ready yourself.’
The royal carriage drew alongside. Its driver and Bastorran’s exchanged shouts that were impossible to hear above the din. Then the door of the carriage opened. Inside, another uniformed man beckoned. Bastorran opened his own door, letting in a blast of cold air.
‘Come on,’ he said. ‘And don’t linger if you value your neck.’
The paladin grasped the hand stretching from the other carriage and jumped.
Meakin eased himself across to the open door. He looked out, trying to ignore their speed and the bedlam all around. Bastorran was yelling at him from the second carriage and beckoning. A hand was extended. Meakin reached for it and leapt. A dizzying second later he was across and deposited on a seat by a grim faced Captain of the Guard.
‘Well done,’ Bastorran congratulated him coolly. ‘But don’t relax just yet. We still have the pleasure of getting on board the palace itself.’
They pulled away from the paladin carriage and soon lost sight of it in the galloping confusion. Their new carriage sliced into the crush, handled skilfully but totally without regard for the safety of others. Riders who got in the way were downed and trampled. Wagons swerving to avoid the carriage crashed into each other, shattering axels and shedding passengers. There were collisions and runaway horses.
‘I must say this does have a certain exhilarating quality to it, eh, Meakin?’ Bastorran enthused.
‘Um, yes, sir.’ He was trying to stop himself being hurled from his seat.
After what seemed an age they were in the shadow of the royal palace, its massive base sliding along above them at three or four times the height of their carriage.
‘What now, sir?’ Meakin asked.
‘Not too many more indignities to go,’ Bastorran replied caustically.
The officer who’d sat silently facing them went to open the door nearest the palace. The carriage began undertaking a series of complex manoeuvres. Within minutes they were beside a wooden platform suspended from the palace by a complex arrangement of stout ropes.
‘Over we go,’ Bastorran instructed.
They stepped onto the rocking platform, grabbing the handrail to steady themselves. Immediately the carriage moved away. The platform hung for a moment, swaying, then began to be hoisted up. Knuckles white on the rail, wind beating at his face, Meakin looked to the scene unfolding below, but even from his elevated position he couldn’t see an end to the camp followers.
Perhaps a hundred feet up the edifice they arrived at a wide terrace. Here they were met by a contingent of guards, escorted to an ornate entrance and into the palace proper. They were then lightly searched; a humiliation Bastorran endured in scowling silence. After that they were shepherded through a maze of eccentrically decorated passageways and made to climb a seemingly endless succession of staircases.
Walking yet more lengthy corridors lined with grotesque statues, and hanging back from their escort, Bastorran whispered, ‘What do you think? You can speak freely. But keep your voice down.’
‘It…it’s…’
‘Insane?’
‘I was going to say vast, sir.’
‘That’s part of the insanity.’
Going through a set of reinforced doors, they emerged onto broad battlements.
‘And we’re still only a quarter of the way,’ Bastorran said, pointing up at the looming pile above them. ‘You can see why I enquired after your fitness.’
‘I can, sir.’
Making their way across the ramparts to another section of the palace, they passed a dozen full-sized catapults, standing in line.
‘These are new,’ the paladin commented.
‘Their defences certainly seem comprehensive, sir.’
‘Yes,’ Bastorran replied thoughtfully. ‘But why catapults? They’re siege engines; hardly the most ideal of defensive weapons.’
‘Perhaps it’s another of His Highness’s…eccentricities,’ Meakin ventured in an undertone.
‘Probably. I should know better than to be surprised at anything he does.’
They were led back inside the building, through more passages and up further flights of stairs. At last they were shown into an anteroom and left to wait.
Bastorran seated himself, and motioned for his aide to do the same.