as the Bank is concerned, you failed the test, for you proved disloyal and disobedient. Therefore we will not have you as king. That is our decision.’
‘The decision is not yours to make,’ said Alfric.
‘Isn’t it?’ said Comptroller Xzu.
‘The Bank does not make or break the kings of Wen Endex,’ said Alfric coldly.
‘Doesn’t it?’ said Xzu. ‘Is that what you really think?’
‘I think,’ said Alfric, ‘that I’m going to find out. One way or another.’
Then he got to his feet and went to the door.
‘Iz’bix.’
Alfric turned.
‘What?’
‘Iz’bix, are you formally resigning from the Bank?’ ‘Are you askin g me to?’ said Alfric.
‘Iz’bix, we’re happy to have you stay. We are disappointed with you. But, as I said before, the Bank is not given to childish vengeance. You do have talent. You can be of great use to us. Your promotion to Banker Second Class is good and valid. In time, you can rise further. But… Alfric… if you strive for the throne then… then we will have to reconsider our position.’
Alfric paused.
‘May I… may I have time to think about it?’ ‘Certainly,’ said Xz u. ‘You’ve been mauled in battle, and you’ve been very ill. Go home, I z’bix. Rest. Sleep. Think it over. Then come back and tell us what you ’ve decided.’
‘I will,’ said Alfric.
But he was lying.
He had already decided that he would strive for the throne, regard less of the consequences.
The only question was:
How?
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
She was dead.
She would never again haunt the nights of Wen Endex.
With Her death, the Yudonic Knights were no longer governed by their duty to command the night against Her depredations. They were free to reclaim the day.
Butin honour of the fallen king, Ursula Major decreed that the Knights should continue to live by night until she commanded otherwise. Ursula Major further ruled that, as a token of respect to her dead father, no official business would be conducted in Galsh Ebrek until thee nights after the Wormlord’s funeral.
Ursula Major issued these decrees as regent.
A subtle move, this.
No Knight could rightly disobey such commands, for Tromso Stavenger was surely due such honours. Since Ursula Major’s commands were meant to honour the dead, to abandon night for day would be to insult the fallen king; and, likewise, to insist upon certain outstanding administrative matters being settled immediately would also be an insult. No Knight could bring himself to thus profane the dead. Thus the Knights continued to live by night, out of fealty to the deceased Wormlord if for no other reason. And, for like reason, the question of the succession to the throne was left in abeyance for the moment.
Ursula Major, having very carefully chosen her ground, was obeyed without protest.
There was no way Alfric Danbrog could persuade people to rebel against his aunt’s commands. Such rebellion was nearly unthinkable. If he had tried to stir the Knights into revolt, if he had pleaded that Ursula’s rule as regent was unlawful and that she must be replaced immediately, then he would have shocked one and all by his impious attitude to the dead.
The dead were due the honours which were being paid to them; and, whether Ursula Major was strictly entitled to command those honours or not, nevertheless all must obey Ursula’s orders lest they scandalize their peers.
Alfric was frustrated.
He wanted to bring Ursula Major to battle, and soon. He wanted to stage a confrontation. He wanted to march up to Saxo Pall and say:
‘Get off my throne!’
But he could not move, not until the funeral had taken place, and not until another three nights had passed.
This meant that Ursula Major had days in which to consolidate her position. Alfric knew that questions of power are largely settled by public perception. He had learnt from the Bank that power is an intellectual conjuring trick. While people believe it exists, it does exist. When belief falters, then power melts faster than ice in a blazing furnace.
By ruling from Saxo Pall as regent, Ursula Major was consolidating her position. She was teaching Galsh Ebrek to think of her as its customary ruler.
Alfric sat at home, wondering what he should do.
He was still sitting at home when the news reached him. Guignol Grangalet came personally to Varnvelten Street to bring Alfric the news.
The earthly remains of Tromso Stavenger and Grendel Danbrog had been recovered from the place of slaughter, and had been conveyed to the seashore, there to be cremated.
‘The seashore?’ said Alfric, startled. ‘Why?’
‘Because,’ said Grangalet, ‘Ursula Major has commanded that it be done so.’
‘But,’ protested Alfric, ‘the bodies of the kings of Wen Endex are burnt in the marketplace in the presence of the people. That is the custom.’
‘It has been the recent custom,’ acknowledged the Chief of Protocol, ‘but that does not mean that it is a good custom. Ursula Major thinks it to be a lazy, slothful thing to do. She says it constitutes a discourtesy to the dead. She says the Knights should prove their honour by making the march to the seashore.’
‘But-’
‘Furthermore,’ said Guignol Grangalet, ‘the practice of seaside cremation has an honourable place in our tradition. It is the older custom, is it not? Long before bodies were ever burnt in the marketplace, our kings were consumed by fire by the shores of the Winter Sea. ’ Alfric protested, but Guignol Grangalet told him there was nothing he could do. The bodies had already been taken to the seashore, and were being held there under guard in preparation for the funeral on the following night.
Once the Chief of Protocol had departed, Alfric raged around his house, kicking at the furniture in incoherent fury.
Now he realized his mistake!
Instead of sitting at home, he should have been taking active steps to seize control of any instruments which might have helped him win power. And, without a doubt, the corpses of his father and grandfather were such instruments.
Alfric should have gone personally to the mere to recover those battle-battered bodies. Nobody could rightly have denied him that privilege. He should have brought the corpses back to his house. Had he done that, Ursula Major could scarcely have wrested them away from him by brute force, for such an action would have scandalized Galsh Ebrek and would have turned the Knights against her.
Then Alfric should have personally made arrangements for the funerals of the fallen, and should have made sure — very, very sure — that the bodies were burnt in the marketplace.
Because the marketplace was in the middle of Galsh Ebrek, so any crowd which gathered for the funeral could then be marched to Saxo Pall by any orator who had the wit to rouse the mob.
Only now did Alfric begin to imagine the speeches he could have made.
It was obvious, wasn’t it?
This is what he should have said:
