Vond eyed the mound critically and then made a few adjustments, hauling tons upon tons of rock and sand to prop this corner or that edge up a little farther.
That done, he then leveled out the area around his raised rectangle until it was as smooth as a well-laid floor for at least fifty feet on all sides.
Sterren watched this without moving.
When the warlock was satisfied, the slabs of stone that he had quarried earlier began lifting from their piles and drifting over to the mound, settling in on all sides, walling it in with solid stone.
Sterren stood and marched on as this proceeded. He got within shouting distance within another few minutes, but merely stopped and watched at first.
The stone slabs were being set upright against the sides of the mound, then pressed in at the base until they stood exactly vertical. When one was in place, the next would fly over to join it. Sterren could not be sure, he was still a couple of hundred feet away, but it appeared that the seams between stones were somehow being welded shut, so that the rectangular mound was soon surrounded by what amounted to a single solid piece of rock.
When that casing was done, more slabs were laid horizontally around the outside, their inner edges butted up flush against the base of the retaining wall.
The operation was thunderously loud, of course; anything that slapped tons of stone about like building blocks had to be. During a lull, however, when the next slab was just beginning its flight toward the construction site, Sterren called, “Hai! Vond! Hello!”
Vond glanced over, saw him, and waved.
Sterren waved back.
Vond held up a hand, signaling Sterren to wait. The slab continued along its path, fell in neatly next to its predecessor with a resounding crash, and then with much grinding and hissing was pushed tightly into place against the wall.
That done, the warlock dropped from the sky until he hung a foot or so off the ground, five feet in front of Sterren.
“Good morning,” Sterren said.
Vond nodded a polite greeting.
“Pardon me for asking so bluntly,” Sterren said, “but what are you doing?”
“I’m building a palace,” Vond replied.
Sterren looked at the stone construction. “A palace?” he asked.
Vond turned and followed his gaze.
“Well,” he admitted, “it doesn’t look like much yet, but I’ve just started. I want it on a hilltop, but there aren’t any around here, so I’m going to build my own. It seemed stupid to build a hill, and then dig half of it back out for the crypts, so I’m building the crypts now and then I’ll put the hill up around them.”
“Oh,” Sterren said, “Oh, I see; that piece in the middle, the rectangle with the grass on top, that’ll be a courtyard, right?”
“Yes, exactly!” Vond smiled broadly.
“And you’ll have cellars on all four sides, and then the palace on top of the cellars, and then you’ll pile up the dirt and put a hill around the whole thing?”
“Yes, exactly!” Vond repeated. “What do you think?”
“Seems like a lot of work,” Sterren said.
“Oh, no,” Vond protested, “it’s fun! After all, I’m a warlock; the more magic I use, the better I feel. It’s not like other magics that tire people out, or like ordinary work; it’s invigorating! And I’m pretty much all-powerful now, you know.”
Sterren nodded. “Ah... I don’t know if it’s any of my business,” he said after a moment’s hesitation, “but I don’t know how well this is going to go over with the local people around here. After all, you’re tearing up several small farms here, and I don’t suppose that the peasants who lived here are gone for good. Most of them probably just ran to the castle, or to some relative’s house, and will be back as soon as they hear that the war’s over; and they’re likely to be pretty upset about this.”
Vond shrugged. “Too bad,” he said. “What can they do about it?”
Sterren blinked at this callousness and said, “You’re still mortal, aren’t you? Somebody might put a knife in your back.”
“Ha!” Vond said derisively. “Let them try! Don’t worry about me, Sterren. It’ll take more than any of these barbarians can do to kill me.”
“You’re sure of that?” Sterren asked, genuinely curious.
“Oh, yes,” the warlock replied confidently.
Sterren looked over the beginnings of Vond’s palace and remarked, “I don’t suppose old King Phenvel is going to like this much, either.”
“I don’t expect him to,” Vond retorted. “That’s why I’m doing it, well, one reason, anyway.”
“What’s another?”
Vond grinned. “For one thing, it’s fun! Haven’t you always wanted to live in a palace and have everything at your beck and call? I have, and now I can! Warlockry’s just about limitless, you know; nobody’s ever found anything it can’t do. It’s just that we’ve all always been so scared to use it, because of the nightmares and the whispering and the Calling. Well, here, I don’t have to worry about those! I have the power without the limits! Old King Phenvel can go bugger a goat, for all I care. I can do anything I want to here, and there isn’t a damn thing he can do about it.”
“For your sake, I hope you’re right,” Sterren said. “I’d feel awful if you got killed because I brought you here and you misjudged the situation.”
“I haven’t misjudged anything! It’s that old fool of a king who misjudged, telling me to take my lousy jewelry and go home. You know why I want a hill, Sterren? So it’ll be higher than his. I could have taken his castle away from him, and I might do it yet, if he goes on bothering me, but I thought it would be more fun to just outshine him completely, build a palace bigger and higher and more beautiful than his castle ever was. After all, his is something of a dump, really, sloppy and crowded and not much to look at.”
Sterren nodded. “I can understand being annoyed at him,” he agreed. “But don’t you think you’re overreacting?”
Vond considered this for a few seconds, then said, “No. I mean, if it weren’t going to be fun, that would be different. It’s not as if I have anything better to do, or anywhere else to go. I’m stuck here and I might as well make the best of it. Getting back at Phenvel for being such a fool is just a little extra, not the real reason.”
“I can see that,” Sterren admitted. He hesitated, then asked, “What do you plan to do when the palace is finished?”
“Live in it, of course.”
“I mean, do you have any long-range plans?”
Vond shrugged. “I hadn’t decided. I expect to collect a few concubines, spend some time decorating the palace, collecting treasures to go in it, that sort of thing.”
“I see,” Sterren said. He hesitated, and then plunged on. “So, at least so far, you weren’t planning to conquer Semma, or anything like that?” He hoped fervently that he hadn’t just presented Vond with an appealing idea.
No, he decided, he was certain that anyone in Vond’s position would have thought of it already.
Vond laughed. “Don’t be silly,” he said. “I’ve already conquered Semma. They just don’t know it yet!”
CHAPTER 26
Sterren stayed and chatted with Vond for several more minutes, but he could see that the warlock was eager to get back to his palace-building and he knew that the king would be growing ever more impatient.
He was not looking forward to facing King Phenvel, but he knew he would have to, sooner or later, and he decided he might as well get it over with. He told Vond farewell and started back toward the castle.
