Page 36
“And you made offerings to him in these pots?”
Mereli nods.
“I had heard that there were other offerings. In Azuria it is said that the Ambolk worshipped a demon and gave him blood sacrifices.”
Mereli looks around the hall. It is busy but no one seems to be paying them much attention. He says, “Irgo Harok asked me to find you today and ensure your safety and comfort,” says Mereli. “But you were not in your chambers. You have been hard to track down.”
Tobi frowns. Mereli seems to be purposely not answering the question. But he is interested to hear what Harok asked Mereli to do, so he says, “I have simply been exploring my new home, Sire.”
Mereli smiles. His old face crinkling. “Indeed. You know it is not usual for kushir to wander the halls. But Irgo Harok must have told your guards to permit it. Come with me, kushir. I would speak with you in my solar.”
Tobi nods in agreement, feeling quite delighted to be able to speak Artemian with someone so venerable. He follows Mereli out of the Sacred Hall, through a door that leads to a passageway and into a series of fine parlours. Each one is warm and plushly decorated, with soft furnishings and fabrics and, as with every room in Urynwud: dense foliage covering the walls — ivy and creeping vines and flowers blooming, scenting the air. Every part of Urynwud is strangely magical.
Eventually Tobi and Mereli reach some stairs and climb up them, Mereli seems to cope with them impressively, his staff tapping down firmly on each tread. They emerge into a wide room with a glazed ceiling. The top of a tower. The room is sweetly warm. Through the glass, Tobi can see that the trees around it have been cut back, allowing the chamber to fill with warmth and sunlight.
Mereli gestures to a long settle, “Please, kushir. Sit down.”
Tobi does as he is bid. “You speak Artemian very well, Sire” Tobi says. “How did you learn?”
“I was taught by the Maid Alyse, on the command of Irgo Lal. His intention was that all the Solwen should learn the language of the Empire. Although, of course, those plans were thwarted in the end.”
Mereli turns away to a small cabinet. Atop it is a large silver urn.
“The maid Alyse. You mean Gold Alyse?” says Tobi leaning forward. “The woman snatched by the Ambolk fifty years ago?”
“Snatched,” Mereli says, turning from the cabinet. “I do not think that is truly the right word.”
“That is not the story in Azuria,” says Tobi. “The way I have heard it, she was taken the way I was. Carried off to be bride to a forest king.”
“Really?” says Mereli, filling a pair of glazed cups from the urn. “I suppose she did become a kushir. But later. And not to Irgo Lal, Harok’s father, but to his uncle, Irgo Vahul.” Mereli turns. He brings the cups over to the table and offers one to Tobi. “Tea?” he says, as he sits down himself, seeming glad to take the weight off his ancient bones.
Tobi nods. He takes the cup wondering how the urn keeps the water inside hot. “Is she still here?” Tobi says, feeling sure as he says it that she is not.
“Ah, no.” says Mereli. “Sweet Alyse has been dead for over twenty years. But, I did actually visit the Rose Palace many times as a younger man. You know it well, I understand.”
Tobi shrugs. “I lived there for a year when I was seven. I served as one of Emperor Selim’s first pages.”
“Selim,” Mereli says. “I never met Emperor Selim. When I visited the palace with Lal it was to discuss a trade pact with Emperor Erond. A great man. Did you ever meet him?”
Tobi shakes his head. He has not heard anything at all pleasant about Emperor Erond, his grandsire who died before Tobi ever came to the Rose Palace.
“A shame,” says Mereli. “He formed quite a bond with your Irgorye’s own father, Irgo Lal.”
“Were Lal and Erond friends?” Tobi says, a little interested in this connection between his grandsire and Harok’s father.
Mereli shakes his head. “Not friends, no. There were many points of contention between them. It was not so at the start. But after some years things soured between the two of them. Erond could not tolerate many of the ways of the Solwen. Our traditions were considered against the laws of Zai. But, of course, Irgo Lal was unwilling to bring the faith of Zai to the Amber Forest. But Erond wanted that, I believe, and an end to the worship of Diazuul. Lal laughed at the idea of your Book of the Rules. The Solwen would never live by so many dictats about such trivial things. Although there was much talk that these could be overcome somehow. Because, of course, your God Zai has his roots in this forest. Your ancestor Sarelik Darek was sent by the Hevelikar to take this place for the empire. He held Urynwud for almost a moon’s turn. The last Azurian to do so. From Erond I learned that some in Azuria believe he communed with Diazuul through Susal-ur-Bellan and Diazuul granted him the strength to mount his revolution. He certainly charged his descendants never to take the forest for the empire again. Lal was fascinated by this connection and even thought that Zai was simply a face of Diazuul. The same God under another name. It was this notion that sadly broke the relationship between Erond and Lal irreparably. Although it is clear to me that Sarelik Darek took the idea of one God rather than many from what he learned of the worship of Diazuul and brought that back to your empire. Over the years, many more and stranger rules seemed to have been added to that concept.”
“My mother taught me that all Gods are the creation of men to control other men.”
“Really?” says Mereli. “Your mother sounds like an interesting woman.”
“She was,” says Tobi, voice suddenly heavy.
“She is passed?”
Tobi shakes his head. “She is…” He pauses. He’d rather not speak of it. His mother’s madness. His own part in it. He says, “She sickens. But she used to be as you say. She had travelled the world. She said there were different Gods in every corner, but no matter what the land and no matter what the God, the Gods always seemed to agree with whatever the ruler of the land wished them to.”
This seems to amuse Mereli. “Your mother is wise. And you take after her?” he says. “Do you agree with her views?”
