Written 2006
Posted 07-20-22
Revised 07-21-22
THE BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, CHAPTER 2
A story of Necromantra
By Aladdin
Edited by Christopher Leeson
After my capitulation to the Tradesmen, I was sold as a chattel slave to King Q’zon of the Darkur race. His people have long been engaging in an interminable war against another dominant non-human species, one called the Aerwa. The Darkur are violent and brutish. In contrast, I sized up their foes as being less repulsive, both in nature and appearance. Both tribes are capable of magic and from a distance their sorcery-charged battles look light shows. Though the Darkur will do anything to win, they have lately been getting the worse of the conflict.
Physically, the Darkur resemble big-framed humans loaded down with muscles. They have brutal faces, pointed ears, and come in divers colors. A single family might display as many hues as a bowl of Easter eggs. But the most noteworthy aspect of their race is the fact that they have shape-shifting abilities. It allows for them to morph into more destructive forms, most of them as ugly as a drug addict’s feverish nightmares.
But their metamorphic powers have limitations. As far as I can see, they can choose the general type of creature that they wish to become, but cannot refine their shape-shifting to allow them to impersonate specific beings, not even other Darkur. This skill must be magical in origin, for it allows them to more than double their size and, for all I could tell, their mass, too. This is something that Earth science holds to be impossible.
Of course, the more I learn about the true nature of the universe, the less respect I have for Earth science.
The best Darkur fighters are those able to create weapons out of their own bodies – including strangling tentacles, organic spears, or jets of acid. Nonetheless, they have hand-held weapons, including energy-discharging small arms that I would call “blasters.” They seldom employ mechanized weapons of war.
Q’zon had purchased me to serve him as a super weapon against their enemies. Ironically, I hated the Darkur more than I did the Aerwa, though those were the ones I was supposed to oppose. And I don't see my attitude as being quirky; to know the Darkur is to hate them.
To keep the Tradesmen happy, I scrupulously did as told. Through my service with Archimage’s knights I’d become a capable military strategist, but I avoided volunteering military advice to the Darkur, lest it be too helpful. I had to keep my resistance passive, unfortunately, for any overt treachery on my part was certain to get both me and Airelle executed. My uselessness in military planning caused Q’zon to size me up as dim-witted, which was fine with me. The less expected from me, the better I liked it. In truth, though I was slaying hundreds of the Aerwan foe merely by following orders, I could have slain thousands if I'd wanted to and I was left free to do my own planning.
Being in the Darkur kingdom was like being thrown into into a cage of hungry lions – a fate that I actually have experienced, given my long life. Their sports were bloody battle games and their whole society seemed to get it jollies from killing and destroying. Even Earth’s Nazis would have come off as courtly gentlemen in comparison. One of the most disconcerting habits of the Darkur was their determination to feed on the flesh of their enemies. Oddly, they seemed to think such culinary homage was the supreme compliment to a worthy foe.
Be that as it may, I would have preferred to be eaten by a Darkur rather go to bed with one of them – or with a hundred of them, which was hardly unheard of in Darkur. Fortunately, the Darkur hold some races, including humans, to be repulsive. They are no more attracted to humans than humans are to farm animals. Oh, admittedly, there are perverts in both races, but I took care to keep clear of that sort of Darkur. One reason I could hold them at bay was the fact that I let them know very early on that I was as lethal as all hell.
I never met a Darkur with a good nature, but – within limits – one could earn their respect. A person had to do this in a practical way – by demonstrating his proficiency at killing them.
So, living among psychotic monsters had become my way of life. It was something I had to endure in order to keep Arielle safe. Loving and protecting someone who hated me with a passion wasn’t so bad. If kept up long enough, it can actually make one feel like a good person.
And feeling that way was something that I’d been missing out on for a long while.
Incidentally, the Tradesmen had permitted me to speak to Arielle soon after her restoration to life. I’d wanted to confirm that this person supposedly back from the dead was truly Arielle and not some magical simulation or impostor.
In talking to her, I became convinced that she was truly whom she claimed to be. The girl, by the way, remembered being seized by the Beast prior to being lost to oblivion, but she didn’t quite understand where it had come from. I told her the truth on that point, but Arielle continued to feel kindly toward me. That was not the reaction that I had been looking for.
I told her that I had to leave soon and urged that she go home and forget about me. I tried to appear cold and matter of fact, as if I didn’t care anything about her. Her kindness and sympathy hurt me, and why not? Kindness is overrated. It plays into the hands of the trickster and exploiter, while doing little good for the benevolent and compassionate.
“Marinna, you shouldn’t have agreed to slavery just for my sake!” she had admonished me once. “Your life is too precious to be thrown away on my account.”
“How can you say that?” I asked. “I murdered you. I owe you.”
“I understand that, but you were the victim of the beast who was possessing you.”
“Be that as it may, the beast might still come back and I don’t want you anywhere near me when it does.”
She shook her head. “My father is dead. My living kin are strangers to me, except for one cousin. If I return to Ulik, the aristocracy will never allow me to rule in my own right. Different factions will use me as a political pawn, expecting me to marry whatever warlord they’re backing at the moment. I’d be better off at your side. Maybe my love can give you the strength you need to hold the monster at bay.”
“It’s just the opposite! The beast is determined to kill everyone whom I most love. That’s why it picked on you!”
She perked up. “So you’re admitting you love me! Let’s go with that!”
“No, I won’t accept your love. You should hate and avoid me. Your forgiveness is misplaced because you don’t know the half of what I've done. If you did know, it would make you despise me.”
“What’s the other half?”
“Don’t force it. It’s too painful.”
“No, tell me! It may be less terrible than you think. I will try very hard to forgive you. Besides, this secret clearly bringing you pain. Maybe it will stop hurting if you shared it.”
“Oh, Arielle! You’re a sweet child, but you need to become an adult if you’re going to survive. The cardinal lesson of life is to never forgive a wrong! Never give any person the benefit of the doubt. Instead, search out his secrets until you know what game he's playing! Scoundrels always ask for toleration because toleration leaves them free to injure the people they want to injure.”
She shook her head. “There is bad in all of us, Marinna, but look at yourself. You are not asking for toleration now, so how can you be evil? What I see in you is a woman ready to sacrifice everything for those she cares about. You can’t expect me to believe that you can't break free of the Tradesmen’s grip if you want to. You are staying to protect me. What I want is for you to escape now and let me go with you!”
I shook my head in pity – pity for myself, mostly. “You can’t come with me, Airelle. I am bound for nowhere. Every path I take is just another byway into darkness.”
“That may change in time,” she said.
“Don’t think that way. Love and trust are the quickest shortcuts to ruin and death.”
She shook her head. “Without love and trust, why should I want to continue living?”
“You will change your ways someday,” I told her. “We all do. The brutalities of life defeats us in the end. They can corrupt even a saint. The sooner you change your outlook, the better you’ll prosper.”
“If that's what you think, tell me why should I want to go on living?”
“I'm only trying to explain why you shouldn't love or trust me. I’ve been keeping secrets from you. I’ve know from the start who killed your father, Lord Tavon. It was not the horned beast, it was not Lord Pumpkin, and it was not the Tradesmen.”
“You knew?” she asked with a gasp. “Why haven’t you told me?”
“I had good reasons not to. Selfish reasons. Everything I’ve ever done has been selfish.”
“Is submitting to the Tradesmen on my behalf something selfish?”
“One good act can’t offset a lifetime of evil,” I said. “Just answer one question: Who was the last person with your father before he died? Have you ever considered that that person could be the murderer? It’s easy to guess why they would do it. The most powerful motives for murder are always lust for gain and lust for power.” Arielle knew very well that I had been the last person with Tavon. I was something that I had had to admit to the investigators.
“Don’t say any more,” she told me.
“Whatever you’re thinking right now,” I said, “it’s probably the right thing.”
I saw the color go out of her. This was torture for her, I knew, but I tried not to be sorry for it. A little pain when she was young would set the foundations of a happier life. A future queen needed to be hard and cruel. I was educating her, preparing her for punishing the evil people that she would someday have to judge. A survivor needs to always stay suspicious, always be ready to strike back. A simple life may yield happiness, but governing means giving up all regard for the lives of others. Compassion is a luxury that a power-wielder cannot afford. Knowledge brings pain, but pain -- when it doesn’t kill us -- makes us stronger.
She had gone silent, so I left her. While departing, I was looking forward to the day when Arielle would learn of my death and a smile would rise to her lips. After all, what parent won’t wish future happiness on his child?
#
Darkur beds are meant for brutes padded with muscle and skins as thick as rhino hide. Trying to sleep on such an instrument of torture oftentimes brings nightmares.
And there was one particular nightmare from which I could find no escape.
I would discover myself amid the bloody carnage of a battlefield, remembering that I am not Thanasi any longer, but Necromantra. I realize, too, that this great host of men had perished only because I had betrayed them. I know I have done it because their deaths had put me at an advantage. Why should I not be content?
Of a sudden, a giant beast with horns and wings rears up from a crater. It glares, but not at me. I realize that it is looking at my daughter Arielle who is standing on the field and watching us. I can tell that the beast realizes that Necromantra is not his enemy, but that Arielle poses a very great threat to it.
I am never able to remember the dream from that point on.
I awake in terror and roll from my bed. In panic I crawl to that spot on the floor where I have chalked a diagram of mystical runes. And go to the center of it and invoke the wizards' spell taught to me by the Tradesmen’s conjurers. The chant is one crafted to keep the beast at bay.
After the spell is cast, the battle reverts to stalemate. I stagger back to my hard bed then and fall across its boards, succumbing to sleep the sleep of the battle-weary. Mercifully, the slumber that then envelops me is almost always dreamless.
***
After months in the fortress of Krad-Rog, I learned from bribed slaves that a delegation had been welcomed in by Q’zon. These humans, spies tell me, are not captives, but emissaries from a human land. Upon discovering that they come from my former city of Ulik, I have to know more about them.
Over the next couple days, I learn additionally that the visitors are Ulikan rebels seeking alliance with the mighty Q’zon. I regard that idea as madly reckless. If those within Ulik admit the powerful and ruthless Darkur into their country, how on earth do they ever expect to get rid of them?
Such a ploy, I know, will place Arielle at great personal risk. I haven’t brought my daughter back from death only to see her destroyed all over again so soon.
I at once make it my highest priority to find out what is going on in Ulik.
***
I soon learned where the ambassadors were lodging and consequently went to meet them in stealth, winding my way through covert passageways built into the stonework of Krad-Rog. Because the Darkur can sense magic, I avoided the invocation of sorcery as I made made my way along.
I came out through a disguised exit near the area where the visitors were housed. Guards were posted thereabouts, but I eluded them. I soon sighted certain officials of Ulik, one of whom I had known before, Baron Vigon. He was a senior aide beholding to an important grandee from the countryside, Viscount Armand. I stepped out of the shadows into their full view and said, “Hello, my lords.”
They turned my way and saw me dressed in a human gown given me by Q'zon, a piece that was probably loot from a military raid. Because of that, I wouldn’t have given odds that the former owner was still alive. Nonetheless, I had rigged myself out to look very much like the queen-regent whom they had known in Ulik.
"My lord Baron Vigon," I said, keeping my voice to a whisper.
Vigon greeted me uneasily.
I returned the sort of smile that I had occasioned myself in court. "I take it that you recognize me, my lord."
"You are unforgettable, my lady,” the dignitary said. “Forgive my reaction, but you have been assumed dead for months. King Q’zon has informed us that he is holding you captive, but we had our doubts.”
"Sometimes I cannot myself believe it," I said.
“How did you come here, my lady?”
"I was attacked by the Pumpkin, but he fell victim to an attack by another of his many enemies,” I explained. “I fled, but fell into the hands of the Tradesmen, who had been watching the misfortunes of Ulik like vultures."
“The Tradesmen?!”
“They deemed that I would make a acquisition as a political pawn and so sold me to the Darkur. Tell me, sire, did my daughter Arielle arrive safely at Ulik?"
“Why, yes she did.” Vigon said. “Arielle also told us of her captivity with the Tradesmen, but did not mention that you were with her.”
“I asked her not to,” I lied. “I was ashamed of the fate that the Tradesmen intended for me.”
It seemed that Arielle had kept our meeting secret. Why hadn’t she denounced me for a regicide once she returned to Ulik?
“Does Arielle now rule the land, as is her right?” I asked.
"Alas, Arielle is no better than a captive. Viscount Erhan has put advanced a claim upon the throne of Urlik and intends to marry the princess and rule in her name as prince regent. To make matters worse, several of the courtly factions are colluding in his treasonous conspiracy. My master, Viscount Armand, opposes Erhan’s pretensions and is marshaling the forces of the countryside to set affairs right."
So, Armand and Erhan were now quarreling over power. I had no reason to favor either of the two rogues. Armand’s jockeying for power was surely no more honorable than Erhan’s. As for Duke Erhan, I only knew that he had served Lord Tavon as Warden of the Armory. Ulik must have fallen into a deplorable state if nonentities like Armand and Erhan could now be strutting before the people as the best candidates for usurpation.
"About this marriage,” I said. “Is Arielle satisfied with Erhan’s proposition?” To my mind, it was a match made in Hell. Arielle was fresh and young, an idealist in love with life. Erhan was, no doubt, a cynical middle-aged schemer with an ongoing fascination for power.
"Her opinions are not being taken into account,” said Vigon. “Armand seeks to restore the princess’s rights as Tavon’s legitimate heiress."
I assumed that Vigon was really saying that the country magnate saw himself as a better candidate for prince regent. But to Vigon I said, "Even granted that I am held captive here, is there any aid that I may extend to my daughter?"
By these words I had tossed my own chips into the game of power. For now, making friends with Armand’s faction would serve me best. After all, Armand’s men were standing right in front of me, and Erhan’s were nowhere to be seen.
"You can help, my lady! " the baron said. "You retain many admirers and sympathizers in Ulik. If you publicly declare yourself against Erhan’s scheming, some of his power-backers may fall away.”
Was this true? Did I still hold support in Ulik? Why should that be? They knew me for a harsh authoritarian with blood on her hands. In fact, if I suddenly showed up at Ulik as a participant in this political wrangle, it would be natural if Arielle denounced me for the worst kind of traitor.
“I made many mistakes as Queen-Regent,” I said. “I behaved badly because I was ever in fear that the murderers of Tavon would strike at me next. But by doing unjust things, I only made affairs worse.”
“You had sublime political instincts, lady. Many people saw you as the solid rock to cling to during tempestuous times. If you now throw your support behind the Viscount, Erhan's power might be restricted to the capital and a few castle strongholds."
I shook my head. “You are proposing a dangerous game. If you use the princess as a chess piece, you will be placing her life in grave danger.”
“As matters stand, she is already in danger as Erhan’s hostage. But he has so far refrained from harming her because she retains broad support among the people, even within the capital of Ulik. That is why Erhan has so far attempted to pose as her champion. If the people can be brought to see the truth – that he is her enemy and exploiter -- it may create new fissures amongst those who the scoundrel depends on.”
“I suppose it would,” I said, nodding. I could almost hear the heavy wheels of intrigue grinding.
Unfortunately, those same wheels always grind exceeding fine. Persons unwise enough to get into their way do so at their own risk.
Ulik had become a mine field. It was fortunate that I was no newcomer to intrigue.
From this point on, my every move would have to be calculated with the utmost care. I was less concerned with my own welfare, however, than I was for the life of princess Arielle.
CONTINUED IN Chapter 3
