The Jewel in the Skull Page 2

  The castle was built of the same white stone as the houses of the town. It had windows of thick glass (much of it painted fancifully) and ornate towers and battlements of delicate workmanship. From its highest turrets it was possible to see most of the territory it protected, and it was so designed that when the mistral came an arrangement of vents, pulleys, and little doors could be operated and the castle would sing so that its music, like that of an organ, could be heard for miles on the wind.

  The castle looked down on the red roofs of the town and at the bullring beyond, which had originally been built, it was said, many thousands of years ago by the Romanians.

  Count Brass rode his weary horse up the winding road to the castle and hallooed to the guards to open the gate. The rain was easing off , but the night was cold and the count was eager to reach his fireside. He rode through the great iron gates and into the courtyard, where a groom took his horse. Then he plodded up the steps, through the doors of the castle, down a short passage, and into the main hall.

  There, a huge fire roared in the grate, and beside it, in deep, padded armchairs, sat his daughter, Yisselda, and his old friend Bowgentle. They rose as he entered, and Yisselda stood on tiptoe to kiss his cheek, while Bowgentle stood by smiling.

  'You look as if you could do with some hot food and a change into something warmer than armour,' said Bowgentle, tugging at a bellrope.' I'll see to it.'

  Count Brass nodded gratefully and went to stand by the fire, tugging off his helmet and placing it with a clank on the mantel. Yisselda was already kneeling at his feet, tugging at the straps of his greaves. She was a beautiful girl of nineteen, with soft rose-gold skin and fair hair that was not quite blonde and not quite auburn but of a colour lovelier than both. She was dressed in a flowing gown of flame-orange that made her resemble a fire sprite as she moved with graceful swiftness to carry the greaves to the servant who now stood by with a change of clothes for her father.

  Another servant helped Count Brass shed his breastplate, backplate, and other parts of his armour, and soon he was pulling on soft, loose trousers and shirt of white wool and wrapping a linen gown over that.

  A small table, heavy with steaks of local beef, potatoes, salad, and a delicious thick sauce, was brought up to the fire, together with a flagon of mulled wine. Count Brass sat down with a sigh and began to eat.

  Bowgentle stood by the fire watching him, while Yisselda curled up in the chair opposite and waited until he had taken the edge off his appetite.

  'Well, my lord,' said she with a smile, 'how went the day? Is all our land secure?'

  Count Brass nodded with mock gravity. 'It would seem so, my lady, though I was not able to visit any of the northern towers but one. The rain came on, and I decided to return home.' He told them about his encounter with the baragoon. Yisselda listened with wide eyes while Bowgentle looked somewhat grave, his kind, ascetic face bowed and his lips pursed. The famous philosopher-poet was not always approving of his friend's exploits and seemed to think that Count Brass brought such adventures upon himself.

  'You'll recollect,' said Bowgentle when the count had finished, 'that I advised you this morning to travel with von Villach and some of the others.' Von Villach was the count s chief lieutenant, a loyal old soldier who had been with him through most of his earlier exploits.

  Count Brass laughed up at his dour-faced friend. 'Von Villach? He's getting old and slow, and it would not be a kindness to take him out in this weather!'

  Bowgentle smiled a little bleakly. 'He's a year or two younger than yourself, Count ...'

  'Possibly, but could he defeat a baragoon single-handed?'

  'That is not the point,' Bowgentle continued firmly. 'If you travelled with him and a party of men-at-arms you would not need to encounter a baragoon at all.'

  Count Brass waved a hand, dismissing the discussion. 'I have to keep in practice; otherwise, I might become as moribund as von Villach.'

  'You have a responsibility to the people here, Father,' Yisselda put in quietly. 'If you were killed . . .'

  'I shall not be killed!' The count smiled scornfully, as if death were something that only others suffered. In the firelight his head resembled the war mask of some ancient barbarian tribe, cast in metal, and it did seem in some way imperishable.

  Yisselda shrugged. She had most of her father's qualities of character, including the conviction that there was little point indulging in arguments with such stubborn folk as Count Brass. Bowgentle had once written of her in a private poem, She is like silk, both strong and soft', and looking at them now he noticed with quiet affection how the expression of one was reflected in the other.

  Bowgentle changed the subject. I heard today that Granbretan took the province of Koln not six months past,' he said. 'Their conquests spread like a plague.'

  'A healthy enough plague,' Count Brass replied, settling back in his chair. 'At least they establish order.'

  'Political order, perhaps,' Bowgentle said with some fire, 'but scarcely spiritual or moral. Their cruelty is without precedent. They are insane. Their souls are sick with a love for all that is evil and a hatred for all that is noble.'

  Count Brass stroked his moustache. 'Such wickedness has existed before. Why, the Bulgar sorcerer who preceded me here was quite as evil as they.'

  'The Bulgar was an individual. So were the Marquis of Pesht, Roldar Nikolayeff, and their kind. But they were exceptions, and in almost every case the people they led revolted against them and destroyed them in time. But the Dark Empire is a nation of such individuals, and such actions as they commit are seen as natural. In Koln their sport was to crucify every girlchild in the city, make eunuchs of the boys, and have all adults who would save their lives perform lewd displays in the streets. That is no natural cruelty, Count, and was by no means their worst. Their entertainment is to debase all humanity.'

  'Such stories are exaggerated, my friend. You should realize that. Why, I myself have been accused of —'

  'From all I hear,' Bowgentle interrupted, 'the rumours are not an exaggeration of the truth but a simplification. If their public activities are so terrible, what must their private delights be like?'

  Yisselda shuddered.'I can't bear to think . . .'

  'Exactly,' Bowgentle said, turning to face her. And few can bear to repeat what they have witnessed. The order they bring is superficial, the chaos they bring destroys men's souls.'

  Count Brass shrugged his broad shoulders. 'Whatever they do, it is a temporary thing. The unification they force on the world is permanent, mark my words.'

  Bowgentle folded his arms across his black-clad chest. 'The price is too heavy, Count Brass.'

  'No price is too heavy! What will you have? The princedoms of Europe dividing into smaller and smaller segments, war a constant factor in the life of the common man? Today few men can ever know peace of mind from cradle to grave. Things change and change again. At least Granbretan offers consistency!'

  'And terror? I cannot agree with you, my friend.'

  Count Brass poured himself a goblet of wine, drank it down, and yawned a little. 'You take these immediate events too seriously, Bowgentle. If you had had my experience, you would realize that all such evil soon passes. A hundred years will see Granbretan a most upright and moral nation.' Count Brass winked at his daughter, but she did not smile in return, seeming to agree with Bowgentle.

  'Their sickness is too ingrained for a hundred years to cure it. That can be told from their appearance alone. Those jewelled beast-masks that they never doff, those grotesque clothes they wear in even the most extreme heat, their stance, their way of moving - all these things show them to be what they are. They are insane by heredity, and their progeny will inherit that insanity.'

  Bowgentle struck his hand against a mantel pillar. 'Our passivity is acquiescence in their deeds. We should — '

  Count Brass rose from his chair. 'We should go to our beds and sleep, my friend. Tomorrow we must appear at the bullring for the beginning of the festi
vities.'

  He nodded to Bowgentle, kissed his daughter lightly on the forehead, and left the hall.

  3

  Baron Meliadus

  At this season, the people of the Kamarg began their great festival, the summer's work being over. Flowers covered the houses, the people wore clothes of richly embroidered silk and linen, young bulls charged through the streets at will, and the guardians paraded in all their martial finery. In the afternoons the bull contests took place in the ancient stone amphitheatre on the edge of the town.

  The seats of the amphitheatre were of granite, arranged in tiers. Close to the steep wall of the ring itself, on the south side, was a covered area consisting of carved pillars and a red slate roof. This was hung with curtains of dark-brown and scarlet. Within it sat Count Brass; his daughter, Yisselda; Bowgentle, and old von Villach.

  From their box, Count Brass and his companions could see almost the whole of the amphitheatre as it began to fill, could hear the excited conversation and the thumps and snorts of the bulls behind the barricades.

  Soon a fanfare sounded from the group of six guardians in plumed helmets and sky-blue cloaks on the far side of the amphitheatre. Their bronze trumpets echoed the noise of the bulls and the cheering crowd. Count Brass stepped forward.

  The cheering grew louder as he appeared, smiling to the crowd and raising his hand in greeting. When the din had quieted, he began the traditional speech that would open the festival.

  Ancient people of the Kamarg who were preserved by Fate from the blight of the Tragic Millennium; you who were given life, celebrate life today. You, whose ancestors were saved by the fierce mistral that cleansed the skies of the poisons that brought others death and malformation, give thanks in this festival for the coming of the Life Wind!'

  Again the cheering broke out, and the fanfare blew for a second time. Then into the ring broke twelve huge bulls. They stampeded round and round the arena, tails high, horns gleaming, nostrils dilated and red eyes shining. These were the prime fighting bulls of the Kamarg, trained the year through for their performance today, when they would be matched against unarmed men who would try to snatch the several garlands that had been wound around their throats and horns.

  Next, mounted guardians galloped out, waving to the crowd, and herded the bulls back into the enclosure under the amphitheatre.

  When, with some difficulty, the guardians had got every bull into the enclosure, out rode the master of ceremonies, clad in a rainbow cloak, broad-brimmed hat of bright blue, and a golden megaphone through which he would announce the first contest.

  Amplified by both the megaphone and the walls of the amphitheatre, the man's voice almost resembled the great roar of an angry bull. He announced first the name of the bull - Cornerouge of Aigues-Mortes, owned by Pons Yachar, the famous bull breeder — and then the name of the principal toreador, Mahtan Just of Aries. The master of ceremonies wheeled his horse about and disappeared. Almost at once, Cornerouge appeared from below the amphitheatre, his huge horns digging at the air, the scarlet ribbons that decorated them flying in the strong breeze.

  Cornerouge was a huge bull, standing over five feet high. His tail lashed from side to side like a lion's; his red eyes glared at the shouting crowd that honoured him. Flowers were thrown into the ring and fell on his broad white back. He turned swiftly, pawing at the dust of the arena, trampling the flowers.

  Then, lightly, unostentatiously, a slight, stocky figure appeared, dressed in a black cloak lined with scarlet silk, tight black doublet and trousers decorated with gold, knee-high boots of black leather, embellished with silver.

  His face was swarthy, young, alert. He doffed his wide-brimmed hat to the crowd, pirouetted, and faced Cornerouge. Though barely twenty, Mahtan Just had already distinguished himself in three previous festivals. Now the women threw flowers and he gallantly acknowledged them, blowing kisses even as he advanced toward the snorting bull and drew off his cloak in a graceful movement, displaying the red lining to Cornerouge, who took a few dancing steps forward, snorted again, and lowered his horns.

  The bull charged.

  Mahtan Just stepped aside and one hand reached out to pluck a ribbon from Cornerouge s horn. The crowd cheered and stamped. The bull turned speedily and charged again. Again Just stepped aside at the last possible moment, and again he plucked a ribbon. He held both trophies in his white teeth, and he grinned first at the bull, then at the crowd.

  The first two ribbons, high on the bull's horns, were comparatively easy to win, and Just, knowing this, had won them almost casually. Now the lower ribbons must be taken from the horns, and this was much more dangerous.

  Count Brass leaned forward in his box, staring admiringly at the toreador. Yisselda smiled. 'Isn't he wonderful, Father? Like a dancer!'

  'Aye, dancing with death,' Bowgentle said with what amounted to self-mocking severity.

  Old von Villach leaned back in his seat, appearing bored with the spectacle. It might simply have been that his eyes were not what they had once been and he did not want to admit it.

  Now the bull was stampeding straight at Mahtan Just, who stood in its path with his hands on his hips, his cloak dropped in the dust. As the bull was almost upon him, Just leaped high into the air, his body grazing the horns, and somersaulted over Cornerouge, who dug his hooves into the dust and snorted in puzzlement before turning his head at Just's laughing shout from behind him.

  But before the bull could move his body, Just had jumped again, this time onto the back and, as the bull bucked madly beneath him, turned his attention to hanging onto one horn and disentangling a ribbon from the other. Just was soon dislodged, flung down to the ground, but he displayed another ribbon in his waving hand, rolled over, and just managed to get to his feet as the bull charged at him.

  A tremendous noise broke out from the crowd as it clapped, shouted, and flung a veritable ocean of bright blooms into the ring. Just was now running lightly around the arena, pursued by the bull.

  He paused, as if in deliberation, turned gradually on his heel, and seemed surprised to see the bull almost upon him.

  Now Just jumped again, but a horn caught his coat and ripped it, sending him off-balance. One hand came down on the bull's back, and he vaulted to the ground but fell badly and rolled as the bull charged.

  Just scrambled away, still in control of himself but unable to rise. The bull's head dipped, a horn lashed at the body. Droplets of blood sparkled in the sunlight, and the crowd moaned with a mixture of pity and bloodlust.

  'Father!' Yisselda's hand gripped Count Brass's arm.

  'He'll be killed. Help him!'

  Count Brass shook his head, although his body had moved involuntarily toward the ring. 'It is his own affair. It is what he risks.'

  Just's body was now tossed high into the air, arms and legs loose like a rag doll's. Into the ring came the mounted guardians with long lances to goad the bull away from his victim.

  But the bull refused to move, standing over Just's still body as a predatory cat might stand over the body of its prey.

  Count Brass leaped over the side of the ring almost before he realized what he was doing. He ran forward in his armour of brass, ran at the bull like a metal giant.

  The riders pulled their horses aside as Count Brass flung his body at the bull's head, grasping the horns in his great hands. Veins stood out on his ruddy face as he pushed the bull gradually back.

  Then the head moved, and Count Brass's feet left the ground, but his hands kept their grip and he shifted his weight to one side, bearing the bull's head back so that gradually it seemed to bow.

  There was silence everywhere. From the box, Yisselda, Bowgentle, and von Villach leaned forward, their faces pale. All in the amphitheatre were tense as Count Brass slowly exerted his strength.

  Cornerouge's knees shook. He snorted and bellowed and his body bucked. But Count Brass, trembling with the effort of holding the horns, did not relent. His moustache and hair seemed to bristle, the muscles on his nec
k bulged and turned red, but gradually the bull weakened, and then slowly it fell to its knees.

  Men ran forward to drag the wounded Just from the ring, but still the crowd was silent.

  Then, with a great wrench. Count Brass flung Cornerouge over on his side.

  The bull lay still, acknowledging its master; acknowledging that it was without question beaten.

  Count Brass stepped back and the bull did not move, simply looked up at him through glazed, puzzled eyes, its tail shifting slightly in the dust, its huge chest rising and falling.

  Now the cheering began.

  Now the cheering rose in volume so that it seemed the whole world would hear it.

  Now the crowd rose to its feet and hailed their Lord Guardian with unprecedented acclaim as Mahtan Just staggered forward clutching at his wound and gripped Count Brass's arm for a moment in gratitude.

  And in the box Yisselda wept with pride and relief, and, unabashed, Bowgentle wiped tears from his own eyes. Only von Villach did not weep, but his head nodded in grim approval of his master's feat.

  Count Brass walked back toward the box, smiling up at his daughter and his friends. He gripped the wall and hauled himself hack to his place. He laughed with rich enjoyment and waved at the crowd as they cheered him.

  Then he raised his hand and addressed them as the cheering died.

  'Do not give me the ovation - give it to Mahtan Just. He won the trophies. See' - he opened his palms and displayed them - 'I have nothing!' There was laughter. Let the festival continue.' Count Brass sat down.

  Bowgentle had recovered his composure. He leaned toward Count Brass. 'So, my friend, do you still say you prefer to remain uninvolved in the struggles of others?'