Chapter VI
Caleb had summoned Vathek outside a town near Torus Intzmat. The citizens of this town had sworn their allegiance to Prince Phobos some years before he had captured Meridian, and when Caleb's forces arrived, they had driven them back. The townsfolk weren't necessarily malignant, though. A series of misfortunes coinciding with the reign of Queen Chesed had plagued them. When Phobos had approached them, the vulnerable people had seen improvements in their water and food supplies. As long as they gave a percentage of new crops and cattle to him, and a few soldiers occasionally, he had promised that their new fortune would continue.
"Which is why we need you," explained Caleb. "You were Cedric's right hand man, and that means you were also close to Phobos."
Vathek sighed sadly and stared at the ground.
"That doesn't mean they'll listen to me," he pointed out.
"Yes, they will," insisted Caleb.
"But that doesn't mean I can convince them that Phobos was a tyrant."
Caleb reached for one of his shoulders and patted it, replying, "I know, old friend. But we've got to try. The townsfolk won't listen to us. They consider us 'the curs who drool at the boots of the Light.' You, on the other hand, have been where they are now. You used to see something in Phobos that the Light hadn't offered; but then something or someone convinced you that Phobos wasn't all that he was presenting himself to be. Even his most loyal servants were used and used and used until he could no longer use them."
Then he laid both his hands upon Vathek's shoulders. Finally, his friend conceded:
"Very well, though I wish you had called me to aid you in battle. I'm not at all eloquent, but I shall try."
"That's all I ask," said Caleb. "Even if it fails, we tried."
Caleb and several of his soldiers accompanied Vathek to the boundary established by the town. The guards stood at attention, prepared to turn their weapons upon them.
Then Caleb introduced Vathek but briefly, for Vathek interrupted him and used a greeting that Caleb didn't recognise, neither the tongue nor the sound.
Two of the town's guards seemed to understand, and after they whispered to their comrades, one dashed into town.
"What did you say?" whispered Caleb, but before Vathek answered, one of the two guards spoke:
"The Burgess and the priests of Shaubnagurat shall arrive as quickly as they can. Health and prosperity to you, commander."
Vathek tipped his head to the guard.
"What was that about?" puzzled Caleb. Then Vathek whispered:
"Shogott is the worldly master of this town, but the priests of Shaubnagurat have the authority to overturn any legislation he and the town council agree upon. They were the first to endorse... well—heh, heh!—their God had endorsed the 'salvation delivered unto them by His Dark, Majestic Highness.'
"The problem is the priests of Shaubnagurat won't hold an audience with simply anyone. And I just now barely remembered a special word—phrase, actually, that Cedric had learned and recited. I had hoped one of the guards might recognise it."
Lo and behold, the other guard returned with men, all mixed-bloods of various heights and shapes, decked in red and black with strange, silver shapes embroidered upon their chests. Among them strode the Burgess, lanky Shogott, the old spectre, his nose turned to one side in disdain.
Humph! I'm happy to see him, too, thought Caleb.
One of the priests stepped forth and greeted Vathek in the strange dialect. Then Vathek tipped his head and answered in kind before he stopped in the middle of his phrase, apologising.
"It's been years, gentlemen, and I'm not learned in the sacred tongue like my former masters were."
"Your effort lifts our spirits, Vathek," said another priest, "health and prosperity to you. Still, we feel dismayed to see you stand on the side with dogs blinded by the Light."
"Please, Vathek—health and prosperity to you," began a third, "shall we continue this at the Temple?"
When Vathek glanced at Caleb, the young general replied, "With all due respect, Your Holiness, we feel that it's better to conduct talks out here."
Shogott harrumphed and said, "I agree, Your Holinesses. I shall send the guards to have chairs fetched for you."
So Shogott's will was done, and chairs were loaned for the talk (for the priests, Shogott, and Vathek but no others).
While Caleb traded glares with the old spectre and, occasionally, a guard, Vathek spoke as calmly as he could about Phobos and Cedric and they lies they had told. He spoke of what he had seen and reluctantly of what he had committed; but each time, a priest would excuse the sins of Phobos or try to place blame solely on Vathek (though he had to have been following someone's orders). The conversation frustrated Caleb, for these men were clearly not naive teenaged girls, lured into their arrangement with Phobos. Why, some of the men were old enough to be his grandfather, if not great-grandfather!
Yeah? And what about Cedric? argued one half of his brain.
Yeah? Well, that was different, argued the other half. These men should know better.
"In soothe, Vathek," said one of the priests (the party had dropped the honorific), "we wish no ill upon you. In soothe, we are disheartened by your betrayal of His Majestic Highness—health and prosperity to him."
"Indeed, and without a doubt! We shall pray for you, old friend, pray for the restoration of your reason."
His reason? puzzled Caleb angrily. His reason? Of all the utter bullshit that I've heard!
The sun began to set as not an inch of progress had been made. In fact, the priests had "come to see how" Vathek was "seduced by the rhetoric of this rebel." As Caleb prepared to dismiss the meeting (in as calm a manner as he could blooming muster), two men arrived from the camp.
"Message for Vathek," said one of them quietly, and he nodded to his comrade. "Stopped in Meridian first but came here when it was told he was here."
Caleb eyed the bird that the second men held, a kikehtrix with a long green ribbon and bound by that ribbon, large, rolled-up parchment pages.
"Who is it from?" he asked.
"Someone named Lady Cecelia," replied the second man.
Caleb tipped his head. He recognised that the name had a close association with Cedric. Glancing at Vathek, he wondered if the message were urgent enough to warrant an interruption.
"Stay here," he commanded, and he rejoined the interlocutors.
"Begging everyone's pardon," said Caleb, "but a message has arrived from a Lady Cecelia addressed to Vathek."
The blue giant's eyes had waxed as wide as the moons of Gaahn.
"Ce... Cecelia received my letter?" he stuttered. "I... And wrote back so soon, too..."
"Cecelia?" sneered Shogott. "Is she one of the traitors who funded the insurgency against our Prince?"
Vathek harrumphed and smirked.
"No, Shogott, not at all," he said. "In fact, Lady Cecelia's visit from their homeland—uh, her and Lord Cedric's homeland—it was the catalyst for me to look into, truly look into what I was doing and what Prince Phobos was doing."
Each priest tensed and glanced slowly at his holy brother. Two made strange signs in the air and clasped their hands in prayer.
"You... You were visited by one of... them?" wondered a priest.
"And why not?" asked another. "For was Lord Cedric—health and prosperity to him—born of the spores of mushrooms or has he not at least one of them as a relative? Why not receive one of the awesome Dames, unless he or even Prince Phobos—health and prosperity to him—wished to curry the wrath of their Gods?"
"With all due respect, Minister Huhulhu," said Shogott, "but how do we know this isn't a trick?"
The holy men gathered round and spoke in hushed voices. Meanwhile, Caleb maintained a grave face while he smiled in his mind. Oh! If only it were a ruse! If only he had obtained such knowledge sooner so that he could perform such a trick, but honestly, the moment belonged to Serendipity alone.
Then one of the priests requested, "If you would oblige us, Vathek, we would like to see the letter."
Caleb and Vathek glanced at each other before the priest continued: "We shall not remove the ribbon or break the seal. We have methods given to us by Shaubnagurat that allow us to weigh the veracity of a claim."
After a moment of contemplation, Vathek agreed and removed the pages from the kikehtrix. As Caleb bade his soldiers take the creature back and give it some dried meat for completing its task, the priests of Shaubnagurat eyed the letter and weighed it in their hands. Some sniffed it and described the notes they managed to detect. Another pulled forth tiny scissors and delicately snipped the blank tip of a page, lighting it with a whispered spell and gazing at the smoke hanging in the air. After the priests conferred again, they deemed that Vathek spoke honestly of its source.
"You are blessed man, Vathek—health and prosperity to you," croaked the eldest as he returned the letter to Vathek. "Though we continue to grieve that you have forsaken our saviour, if, as you allege, the words of this awesome Dame compelled you to change, then we are more willing to listen; for the awesome Dames of the Forbidding Realm of Serpents are closer than we to the Gods."
Caleb smirked as a wide-eyed Shogott, mouth ajar, hid his face beneath the shadow of his large red chaperon. His smile softened as he gazed at Vathek, whom stroked the letter like a gentle giant petting a small bird.
"Minister Huhulhu... Yo'shoðot... Naphrank... all of you... this Lady, this most esteemed and glorious Lady—she hadn't even stayed that long in Meridian. I can't recall the number of days, but she is, indeed, the reason why I sit here with the former rebels, trying to get you to see that maybe... Hmm...
"Yes, Prince Phobos had given you that which you lacked during Queen Chesed's reign. I'd be ignoring reality if I denied he did do some good... but only when it benefited him. He took advantage of everyone, including learned men; and if learned men were convinced by his lies, what chance did a simpleton like me have to turn away from what he offered?
"Lady Cecelia, though... In the span of a week and a half—two weeks? I can't remember, but how-ever long, she had just enough time to convince me to think—really think about why I had joined Prince Phobos. And she did it all without being hostile to him. She had never come to expose him, like how one jumps on the smallest, most petty transgression that one's rival commits. She had come to see if the transition of power was for the better, but any hope that she had had crashed and shattered.
"Gentlemen, I did not want to rebel against my Prince because if I did, it meant so many terrible things. If I were right to rebel, it meant I'd been wrong to join him and been played like a fool. If I were wrong, then I would've been wrong and made a terrible and fatal mistake, turning against my Prince. No advantage either way; but Lady Cecelia had planted the seed of Doubt, and as I watched Lord Cedric struggle to make her understand this new world under Phobos, he, without realising it, watered the seed.
"I speak truthfully when I say: It was unintended... but it happened. And while my presence on this side cuts each of you to the quick, imagine how I felt when I was driven to this side. But I know now that it was for the better."
The priests gazed at Vathek with furrowed brows and deeply-carved frowns. They gathered round again and whispered for the longest time. Caleb patted his friend's shoulder, and Vathek smiled softly at him.
Eventually, the priests stepped forth and spoke their minds:
"Vathek... he who was the right hand of the Saviour-Prince's right hand... You have spoken with a genuine heart to us, and you have respected us much better than the men whom you now serve. If only in their stead were the awesome Dame herself, for if on her behalf you told us whom to serve, then we would eagerly say, 'Take a hundred cattle to start with as tribute to the crown!' But... dear friend, it is her favour alone. You cannot speak for her—"
"And lucky me, minister, for that is a responsibility that demands a far more competent servant than I," said Vathek, eliciting their chuckles.
"But as Minister Naphrank began, though you do not serve her, you have her favour, and based on this revelation, we have made this decision: We shall suspend hostilities between Town-Near-Torus-Intzmat and Meridian for the time being. We shall make ourselves clear: we do not owe any allegiance to the Light of Meridian, for we continue to believe that she gained her power through an illegitmate party—"
I'm not going to say a damned thing, thought Caleb with a scowl.
"—however, because Vathek—health and prosperity to him—has the favour of a dreaded and magnificent Dame from the Forbidding Realm, we shall not attack neither soldier nor civilian whom visits from Meridian unless they provoke us through explicitly hostile actions."
Caleb could have sworn that Shogott sighed louder than he did. That arrangement would have to do, Caleb conceded, and he agreed to have his people construct an agreement that matched the terms of the priests of Shaubnagurat. They would return to the boundary in the morning for a review, with spare paper for any addenda and ink and quills for the signing.
A hot supper greeted Caleb, Vathek, and their colleagues when they returned to camp. Caleb savoured two servings of steaming gaogao soup (Too bad a certain noisy sire isn't the one swimming in this, thought Caleb). Vathek had taken his bowl and disappeared, probably to read the letter in as private a setting as he could find.
"Did you know anything about her?" asked one of the soldiers of Caleb.
The young general shrugged. "Not a clue. Of course, not many people run around Meridian saying they know an Aaronag. It's a good way to make people fear you for the rest of your life."
Another soldier harrumphed. "Absolutely. Ya know, I was thar that night at the Sei'espian. Before that night, I woulda swore most o' dem serpent-folk hardly liked anyone 'cept maybe Phobos and shadowy folk, like de followers of Shauby-Nauggy. Course, we know better now, but dey're a lot I still wouldn't mess wid."
Drake injected his knowledge: "Most shape-shifting peoples that weren't raised decently like Galhots tend to align themselves with dark forces: the Mogriff, Andandsee-ites, Laringian Werebears, the Rasamesh... hell, most Werewolves native to Metamoor and all the ones that sneaked here during the Saviours' Migration."
"Makes me wonder why Cedric's folk didn't join Phobos during the war," said one soldier.
"And why they helped us at the Sei'espian. Least, their spirits, anyway," said another.
Aaronagim were not renowned for socialising with outsiders. Of course, Caleb had learned titbits of history from Cedric and from a journal written by Queen Chesed; and honestly, if the situation had been reversed, Caleb would have been as bitter and suspicious. Nevertheless, the conversation had piqued his curiosity. Why had Phobos, infamous for his disdain of his own people and Galhots, not been able to recruit more Aaronagim? What had caused Lady Cecelia to react in such a way that Vathek to spontaneously develop a conscience?
Once he finished his soup, Caleb grabbed his mug and walked around the camp. He discovered Vathek sitting in the crotch of a large tree, a lantern dangling from one of its branches while he closely read the letter.
"Good evening, old friend," said Caleb.
Vathek glanced at him and smiled. "Evening."
"Mind if I join you?"
Vathek gestured to a patch of grass before him, and Caleb sat with a content sigh. As his friend began to browse the pages anew, Caleb noted, "You seem happy."
The Galhot's smile widened, eyes fixed on the letter.
"So, uh... this Cecelia gal—er, Lady must be real special. Not that I'm implying anything—"
Vathek blushed and set aside the letter. He clarified, "Oh, no! No, not at all like you and the Earth Guardian. Hoho! It could never be."
"Ya never know," the young general teased.
Vathek sighed and then replied, "Lady Cecelia is... Lady Cecelia is... She's a very important person among her people. She's the ambassador to Meridian, working directly under the authority of their supreme ruler. Phobos had seized the throne many months before her visit, and he... wasn't exactly elated at her coming."
Caleb cocked his head as Vathek continued: "And Cedric? Woah-hoho! He was pissing angry! But Phobos permitted her to come, and about a month later, she arrived; and I had been tasked with ensuring that her visit was a pleasurable one, one that showed nothing but the good that Phobos had done—the good!"
Vathek clicked his tongue and shook his head.
"Beyond sharing a country of origin," began Caleb, "have Cecelia and Cedric any other connection?"
Vathek stared at him and blinked rapidly.
"They are brother and sister."
"So, that's it!"
"I thought I had mentioned it earlier."
"No! Not that I can recall. So, what's she like? Is she as ferocious as her brother or more so because she's 'an awesome Dame'?"
"Ohhh, goodness, Caleb," sighed Vathek, burying his face in one hand. "Yes, she looks like her brother... unsettlingly so, both in her human form and natural form, and yes, she's a beauty to behold in human form. She did give me a nasty fright in her natural form one night. Huhhh! Aaronagish women are not to be taken lightly."
Caleb tempered his excitement before he continued his inquiry.
"So... my understanding is Cecelia became upset by what she saw in Meridian."
"Mmm... Indeed."
"Why? I mean, based on what Elyon told me of her experience, Phobos carefully-orchestrated an elaborate illusion that he was this great custodian of the queen-dom. What went wrong with Cecelia?"
Vathek shrugged. "I can only guess that Cecelia saw through the illusion. It's easy for Aaronagim to deceive others but to be deceived? You'd probably have to be a Red Dragon—and thank the Oracle for everyone's sake, they're about extinct.
"No, Cecelia seemed happy sometimes... content, rather, but satisfied with the transition? Caleb, the minute she saw the vines, small at the time though they were, she knew something was deadly wrong. And nothing I or Cedric could do could stifle her suspicions.
"But you know, dreadful though it was for her, it had been good for me, though at the time it'd caused me grave discomfort, so badly that I questioned why I even drew breath any more."
Caleb hummed thoughtfully.
"Did you try to keep in touch with her?"
"Certainly. Oh, certainly! But it takes about a month to travel to the capitol of Žeayia Yikþ. And anything can happen to a letter in that time, not the least of which is confiscation. It became so difficult that finally I sent her a one last message: 'I can't write to you any more.' I made it sound as though it were a problem due to class—she, a noblewoman and I, a humble attendant to her brother—but I had prayed that she would sniff the truth behind my lie."
Caleb smiled and patted one of his knees.
"I'm glad you were able to reconnect with her," he said. Vathek agreed.
"Cecelia was stunned to learn I was alive. And she was overjoyed, too, that Phobos had been removed and the rightful heir of Queen Chesed restored."
"And how does her mistress feel about it?" asked Caleb.
Vathek thumbed through the pages before he found the relevant passage: "'I have informed Her Most Esteemed and Excellent Lady Olindoyo of the change in power. She and They Who Are Born Straight from the Great Mother have said that They had felt a tremendous shift in the energy that circulates the planet. They are pleased to have someone confirm what They had suspected.
"'Her Excellency has also commanded that you wish Queen Elyon well," and Vathek lifted his head and his eyebrows for emphasis, "for in spite of argumentative episodes between Her and Queen Chesed, Her Most Esteemed and Excellent Lady Olindoyo has never desired her destruction. She has desired the understanding of Our antiquity, Our history, Our culture, and Our autonomy by the Escanors, and Her Late Majesty had been the sole soul to genuinely attempt to reach out to Our People.'
"So, there you have it! Of course, I'll need to bid the Queen good tidings when I return home."
"Indeed!" exclaimed Caleb, sighing as though winded by excitement. "That's incredible! Incredible beyond incredible! Huh! I'm sure Lady Cecelia would have a better time now if she came to Meridian."
"Oh! Hoho!" chuckled Vathek. "Maybe wait a year—two years, when Her Majesty's queen-dom is more stable and Her Majesty develops more confidence."
"True. The poor thing's more nervous than a juvenile Hermaneutibeast."
Vathek smiled. "She's trying. Even though she stumbles, she's trying."
With some of his curiosity sated, Caleb bade his friend good-night and retired to his cot.
The other part of his curiosity made the falling asleep difficult. If the Aaronagim had aligned themselves with Phobos, Caleb probably wouldn't exist at all. But what had prevented the the alliance before Cecelia's visit?
And what had Chesed done or even failed to do, wondered Caleb, to make them sit back and watch all this happen? Not that Vathek would know all that, and I couldn't risk tipping over his carriage while he's riding high and joyful right now. But you'd think saving the beating heart of the planet would be even more important than preserving the Sei'espian! I'll have to ask Cedric.
That was simply what he'd do: ask Cedric and, in the meantime, take comfort that their supreme leader, this fearsome Olindoyo, seemed satisfied with the legitimate heir in power.
Annotations:
health and prosperity to... (phrase) derived from the Ancient Egyptian accolade that sometimes accompanied persons of high regard; originally, 'life, peace, health.'
Shauby-Nauggy (god) to clarify, this is indeed Shaubnagurat. This diminutive is used by outsiders derisive of the dark God's worship.
Most shape-shifting peoples that weren't raised decently like Galhots tend to align themselves with dark forces (history) Since this fanfiction is a mixture of the animated series universe and the comics, Galhots have the ability to shape-shift but only into one other form, similar to the Browns.
Andandsee-ites (pl.) the exonym for Miranda's people.
You'd probably have to be a Red Dragon—and thank the Oracle for everyone's sake, they're just about extinct (history) While dragons are common on Metamoor, Red Dragons (such as Jonathan Ludmoore) are scarce, perhaps no more than six pure-bloods and seven, maybe eight mixed-bloods, like Ludmoore. The reasons for this require a lengthy explanation, which must be reserved for another time.
Red Dragons are the most evil of dragons and tie with Infernal Demons in how evil they are as creatures. They are one of the few beasts that the Aaronagim, who are natural masters of animals, have no control over. Their devilish nature is on par with JRR Tolkien's drakes.