Jack Vance Elder Isles Suldrun's Garden

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In Lyonesse King Casmir discovered a claim to the throne of Caduz, stemming
from his grandfather Duke Cassander, brother to Queen
Lydia of Caduz.
The claim, based upon the flow of lineage from sister to brother, thence to a
descendant twice removed, while legal (with qualifications) in Lyonesse and
also in the Ulflands, ran counter to the strictly patrilinear customs of
Dahaut. The laws of Caduz itself were ambiguous.
The better to press his claim, Casmir rode to Montroc, capital of
Caduz, at the head of a hundred knights, which instantly aroused
King Audry of Dahaut. He warned that under no circumstances might
Casmir so easily annex Caduz to his crown, and began to mobilize a great army.
The dukes and earls of Caduz, thus emboldened, began to express distaste for
Casmir, and many wondered, ever more pointedly, as to the identity of bandits
so swift, so deadly and so anonymous in a countryside ordinarily so placid.
Casmir saw the way the wind was blowing. One stormy afternoon, as the nobles
of Caduz sat in conclave, a weird-woman dressed in white entered the chamber
holding high a glass vessel which exuded a flux of colors swirling behind her
like smoke. As if in a trance she picked up the crown, set it on the head of
Duke Thirlach, husband to Etaine, younger sister to Casmir. The woman in white
departed the chamber and was seen no more. After some contention, the omen was
accepted at face value and Thirlach was enthroned as the new king. Casmir rode
home with his knights, satisfied that he had done all possible to augment his
interests, and indeed his sister Etaine, now Queen of Caduz, was a woman of
redoubtable personality.
Suldrun was fourteen years old and marriageable. The rumor of her beauty had
traveled far, and to Haidion came a succession of young grandees, and others
not so young, to judge the fabulous Princess
Suldrun for themselves.
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King Casmir extended to all an equal hospitality, but was in no hurry to
encourage a match until all of his options were clear to him.
Suldrun's life became increasingly complex, what with balls and banquets,
fetes and follies. Some of the visitors she found pleasing, others less so.
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King Casmir, however, never asked her opinion, which in any case was of no
interest to him.
A different sort of visitor arrived at Lyonesse Town: Brother
Umphred, a portly round-faced evangelist, originally from
Aquitania, who had arrived at Lyonesse by way of Whanish Isle and the Diocese
of Skro.
With an instinct as certain and sure as that which takes a ferret to the
rabbit's throat, Brother Umphred found the ear of Queen
Sollace. Brother Umphred used an insistent mellifluous voice and
Queen Sollace became a convert to Christianity.
Brother Umphred established a chapel in the Tower of Palaemon only a few steps
from Queen Sollace's chambers.
At Brother Umphred's suggestion, Cassander and Suldrun were baptized and
required to attend early morning mass in the chapel.
Brother Umphred attempted next to convert King Casmir, and far overstepped
himself.
"Exactly what is your purpose here?" demanded King Casmir. "Are you a spy for
Rome?"
"I am a humble servant of the one and all-powerful God," said
Brother Umphred. "I carry his message of hope and love to all folk, despite
hardship and tribulation; no more."
King Casmir uttered a derisive laugh. "What of the great cathedrals at Avallon
and Taciel? Did 'God' supply the money? No.
It was milked from peasants."
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"Your Majesty, humbly we accept alms."
"It would seem far easier for all-powerful God to create the money... No
further proselytizing! If you accept a single farthing from anyone in Lyonesse
you will be whipped from here to Port
Fader and shipped back to Rome in a sack." [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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