Chapter 25

Zalasta’s face was strangely altered when Ekatas unlocked and opened the door to the small, dank cell adjoining the larger room at the top of the tower a week or so after he had brought Ehlana and Alean to Cyrga. The doubt and remorse which had filled it before were gone, and the Styric’s expression was now one of calm detachment. He took in the horrid little room at a glance. Ehlana and Alean were chained to the wall, and they were sitting on heaps of moldy straw that were supposed to serve as beds. Crude earthenware bowls filled with cold gruel sat untouched on the floor. ‘This won’t do, Ekatas,’ Zalasta said in a remote kind of voice.

‘It’s really none of your concern,’ the High Priest replied. ‘Prisoners are kept closely confined here in Cyrga.’ As always, Ekatas sneered when he spoke to Zalasta.

‘Not these prisoners.’ Zalasta stepped into the cell and took up the chains that bound the two women to the wall. Then, showing no emotion, he crushed them into powdery rust. ‘The situation here has changed, Ekatas,’ he snapped, helping Ehlana to her feet. ‘Get this mess cleaned up.’

Ekatas drew himself up. I don’t take orders from Styrics. I am the High Priest of Cyrgon.’

‘I’m truly sorry about this, your Majesty,’ Zalasta apologized to Ehlana. ‘My attention’s been diverted for the past week or so. Evidently I didn’t make my wishes clear to the Cyrgai. Please excuse me for a moment, and I’ll correct that oversight.’ He turned back to Ekatas. ‘I told you to do something,’ he said in a dreadful voice. ‘Why haven’t you started?’

‘Come out of there, Zalasta, or I’ll lock you in with them.’

‘Oh, really?’ Zalasta said with a thin smile. ‘I thought you had better sense. I don’t have time for this, Ekatas. Get this room cleaned up. I have to take our guests to the Temple again.’

‘I’ve received no such instructions.’

‘Why should you have?’

‘Cyrgon speaks through me.’

‘Precisely. The instructions didn’t come from Cyrgon.’

‘Cyrgon is God here.’

‘Not any more, he isn’t.’ Zalasta gave him an almost pitying look. ‘You didn’t even feel it, did you, Ekatas? The world heaved and convulsed all around you, and you didn’t even notice. How can you possibly be so dense? Cyrgon has been supplanted. Klæl rules in Cyrga now – and I speak for Klæl.’

‘That’s not possible! You’re lying!’

Zalasta walked out of the cell and took hold of the front of the High Priest’s robe. ‘Look at me, Ekatas,’ he commanded. ‘Take a long, hard look, and then tell me that I’m lying.’

Ekatas struggled momentarily, and then, unable to help himself, he looked into Zalasta’s eyes. The blood slowly drained from his face, and then he screamed. He screamed again, trying to tear himself free from the Styric’s iron grasp. ‘I beg of you!’ he cried out in a voice filled with horror, ‘no more! No more!’ Then he sagged, covering his eyes with his hands.

Zalasta contemptuously let go of the front of his black robe, and he fell to the floor, weeping uncontrollably.

‘Now do you understand?’ Zalasta asked him, almost gently. ‘Cyzada and I tried to warn you and your petty Godling about the dangers involved in summoning Klæl, but you wouldn’t listen. Cyrgon wanted to enslave Bhelliom, and now he’s the slave of Bhelliom’s opposite. And, since I speak for Klæl, I guess that makes you my slave,’ He prodded the weeping priest with one foot. ‘Get up, Ekatas! Get on your feet when your master speaks!’

The grovelling priest scrambled to his feet, his tear-streaked face still filled with unspeakable horror.

‘Say it, Ekatas,’ Zalasta said in a cruel voice. I want to hear you say it – or would you like to witness the death of another star?’

‘M-M-Master,’ the High Priest choked.

‘Again – a little louder, if you don’t mind.’

‘Master!’ It came out almost as a shriek.

‘Much better, Ekatas. Now wake up those lazy cretins in the guardroom and put them to work cleaning this cell. We have preparations to make when I come back from the temple. Anakha’s bringing Bhelliom to Cyrga, and we’ll want to be ready when he arrives.’ He turned. ‘Bring your maid, Ehlana. Klæl wants to look at you.’ Zalasta paused, looking at her critically. ‘I know that we’ve treated you badly,’ he half-apologized, ‘but don’t let our bad manners break your spirit. Remember who you are and draw that about you. Klæl respects power and those who wield it.’

‘What do I say to him?’

‘Nothing. He’ll find out what he wants to know just by looking at you. He doesn’t understand your husband, and looking at you will give him some hints about Anakha’s nature. Anakha’s the unknown element in this business. He always has been, I suppose. Klæl understands Bhelliom. It’s Bhelliom’s creature who baffles him.’

‘You’ve changed, Zalasta.’

‘I suppose I have,’ he admitted. ‘I have a feeling that I won’t live much longer. Klæl’s touch does peculiar things to people. We’d better not keep him waiting,’ He looked at Ekatas, who stood trembling violently. ‘I want this room clean when we come back.’

‘I’ll see to it, Master,’ Ekatas promised in a grotesquely servile tone.

‘How do you find them again?’ Itagne asked curiously. ‘What I’m trying to get at is that the Trolls are in this “No-Time”, but you and Tynian had to come out into real time in order to enter Sarna, so time started moving for you. How do you get back to the moment where you left the Trolls?’

‘Please don’t ask metaphysical questions, Itagne,’ Ulath replied with a pained expression. ‘We just go back to the spot where we left the Trolls, and there they are. We deal with “where” and let the Troll-Gods deal with “when”. They seem to be able to jump around in time without paying much attention to the rules.’

‘Where are the Trolls right now?’

‘Just outside of town,’ Tynian replied. ‘We didn’t think it was a good idea to bring them into Sarna with us. They’re starting to get a little out of hand.’

‘Is it something we should know about, Tynian-Knight?’ Engessa asked.