The Usurper

49

“Which one do you want?” asked Ingeld.

“Neither,” said Hrothgar.

“Release us!” said Viviana. She spun about, robes whirling, on the rush-strewn, dirt floor of Ingeld’s hall. “Return us to Telnaria!”

Ingeld’s hall, on this world, incidentally, had once been the hall of Ortog, a secessionist Drisriak prince.

“Be patient, Princess,” said Ingeld.

“We are of the royal blood,” said Viviana. “We will never espouse commoners, let alone barbarians. It is unthinkable. Release us!”

“Shall I have their clothing removed?” inquired Farrix, he of the Teragar Borkons, the Long-River Borkons.

“Stay away!” cried Viviana.

“It might make it easier to decide,” said Farrix.

“Neither would bring much on a block,” said Hrothgar.

“We are beautiful, I, in particular,” cried Viviana.

“Sister!” protested Alacida.

“I am going to the stables,” said Hrothgar. “I must tend my horses.”

“Clear your mind, dear brother,” said Ingeld, “of horses, hot bror, falcons, and slaves. We talk here of important things, of power, of worlds.”

“Have your power, and your worlds,” said Hrothgar. “I want a blue sky, a fine morning, fields of green grass, a good horse beneath me, a falcon on my wrist, and game afoot. Then, at the end of the day, give me bror in my cup and a slave in my arms.”

“Barbarian!” said Viviana.

“You know the will of our father, the king,” said Ingeld. “For my part, I would be pleased to give you a hundred horses and a hundred falcons, a barrel of bror, and a hundred slaves. I cannot, in Telnarian law, marry both princesses.”

“You shall marry neither!” said Viviana. “Even now imperial ships rush to rescue us!”

“Our information,” said Ingeld, “is that ships remain in their housings, why should they not, they do not know where to go, and your disappearance is denied. They can do nothing. They are helpless. They must wait for us to contact them.”

“They seek us! They search! They speed to our rescue,” insisted Viviana.

“Your head must be as empty as one of your brother’s rattles,” said Ingeld. “Resources are limited, few, and precious. Surely you are aware of the rationing of resources. In places, a town might be exchanged for a pistol, a city for a rifle and ten charges. Do you think this is a hundred thousand years in the past? Finding you would be more difficult than locating a single grain of sand on a beach a thousand miles in length.”

“Liar! Liar!” said Viviana.

“As far as I am concerned, dear brother,” said Ingeld, “you need not marry a princess. I am perfectly ready to marry one of the princesses, either one. I cannot marry both. If you marry neither I need only marry one, and make certain the other never returns to Telnaria, where she might marry a Telnarian and bear a son, indeed, better, that she remain unmated.”

“That is easily enough arranged, Lord,” said Farrix, “a simple motion of the knife.”

“I do not want either of them,” said Hrothgar.

“And you are not wanted!” said Viviana, angrily.

“Hrothgar is a strong, handsome fellow,” said Farrix. “I am sure he could make you kick, and buck.”

“Do not be vulgar,” said Viviana.

Alacida began to weep.

“Stop blubbering, female,” said Ingeld.

“‘Female’?” said Alacida.

“Yes,” said Ingeld, “even a princess, even a queen, is a female.”

“I loathe men,” said Viviana. “I will have no feelings toward them. They are either brutes or fops. I cultivate frigidity. I pride myself on my inertness. I know nothing of sex, and will know nothing of sex. I am of the royal blood. I am a princess. I am superior to sex.”

“Let us get her clothes off, put her in a collar, and give her a taste of the whip,” said Farrix.

“Beat him, cast him out!” demanded Viviana.

“It is my understanding,” said Ingeld, “that many free women of civilization, of the empire, think themselves superior to sex.”

“They are different, once they are sold off the block,” said Farrix.

“And you, pretty Alacida,” said Ingeld, “are you superior to sex?”

“I fear not,” whispered Alacida.

“Good,” said Farrix, “strip her and get her in wrist-to-ankle shackles. It is easy to learn womanhood in chains.”

“It is easy to make a woman moan, and beg,” said Hrothgar.

“Please, let us desist in such vulgarity,” said Ingeld. “Consider the feelings of our guests.”

“Females,” said Hrothgar.

“Women of station, of refinement and sensibility, of education and breeding,” said Ingeld, “indeed, even princesses, not half naked, collared slaves.”

“I want neither,” said Hrothgar.

“And you will have neither!” exclaimed Viviana.

“I trust, dear brother,” said Ingeld, “you will reconsider your position on this issue.”

“No,” said Hrothgar.

“It is the wish of the king, our father,” said Ingeld.

“It is not my wish,” said Hrothgar.

“Then,” said Ingeld, “explain your reluctance to our father. Proceed, displease him! And remember Ortog!”

“Very well,” growled Hrothgar. “I will marry one or the other. What do such things matter?”

“Viviana is the eldest, and doubtless the most prestigious to wed, but Alacida, I speculate, would most likely be the first to bear a son.”

“You gentlemen, in making your plans,” said Viviana, coldly, “forget one thing. Neither my sister nor myself will consent to such an infamy. We are adamant. We would as soon espouse filchen as such as you, rude, gross barbarian lords.”

At that moment, the door of the hall swung open.

“The king,” was heard, from the door herald.

In the portal stood Abrogastes, looking about himself, then regarding the princesses, and his sons, near the high seat.

“It is raining outside,” he said, shaking his cloak, from which water fled, handing it then to an armsman. “It storms. The wind rages. It is cold. The night is dark.”

Ingeld and Hrothgar slipped to one knee, heads bowed. Viviana and Alacida remained standing, to the right of the high seat, as one would face it.

Abrogastes strode forward, and seated himself on the high seat of Ingeld’s hall. As soon as Abrogastes had passed them, his sons rose up, and turned to face the high seat.

“Ah,” said Abrogastes, straightening his small shoulder cape, with the large, dully glistening golden clasp, “here we have two princes, and two princesses. I trust matters have now been resolved.”

“Hrothgar and I, noble king and father,” said Ingeld, “as dutiful sons, loyal to the throne, stand ready to obey. As yet, the princesses prove reluctant to abide by your will.”

“You have not yet agreed on your brides, nor set a date for joyful nuptials?”

“No, father,” said Ingeld.

“By now,” said Abrogastes, “arrangements were to have been made.”

“I am sorry, father,” said Ingeld.

“Princesses?” asked Abrogastes.

“Release us!” said Viviana. “Return us immediately to Telnar!”

“I do not understand,” said Abrogastes. “You are princesses. My sons are princes. What, fine ladies, do you wish? I am prepared, against my better judgment, in unprecedented generosity, to permit my sons, of Drisriak blood, of the blood of kings, to mate with you, pale, flawed weaklings of the empire. Are you ignorant of the honor that is paid to you? Why do you not kneel thankfully to me? Why do you not rejoice? Why are your lips not pressed in gratitude to my boots?”

“Let us go!” said Viviana.

“Is that your wish, as well, slight, gentle Alacida?” inquired Abrogastes.

Alacida glanced to her sister, and then turned to face Abrogastes. “Yes!” she said, defiantly.

“Our guests wish to be released,” said Abrogastes to Ingeld, Hrothgar, and Farrix.

“It seems so,” said Ingeld.

“Well, then,” said Abrogastes, “let us release them.”