then he realized that the group was moving again and had begun to ascend the
broad steps below the stairway that led to the ledge high above. He could hear
the crowd growing noisier and sense its rising excitement.
In the dignitaries’ enclosure, Eskenderom was watching Frennelech intently from
a distance. “Indeed, if this Enlightener is a product of the High Priest’s
working in league with the aliens to hinder my expansion, then Frennelech is
displaying a most remarkable composure at his impending loss,” he whispered to
Mormorel. “I am tempted to conclude that the architect of the machinations whose
consequences it has been our misfortune to suffer was none less than Kleippur as
we suspected.”
“I too,” Mormorel replied. “And now Kleippur shall learn of the fate that awaits
those who allow themselves to be enticed into conspiracy with alien criminals.”
“Thus has the Lumian king chosen to demonstrate the folly of opposing his rule,”
Eskenderom said. “An illuminating lesson, the study of which will not be
restricted to Kleippur, I trust, or confined within merely the boundaries of
Carthogia.”
“The news will be repeated rapidly far and wide,” Mormorel assured him. “All
nations shall know that the powers of the gods have aligned themselves with
thee.”
Groork’s universe had narrowed to the silver-shod heels of the guards ascending
the steps ahead of him and the incessant chanting of the priests on either side.
He had lost all estimate of how high they had climbed or how far was still to
go. He didn’t dare look up. Endless steps; endless steps; endless steps . . .
“The King’s disposition seems strangely agreeable if this Enlightener was indeed
his chosen replacement for you,” Jaskillion murmured in Frennelech’s ear. “I
must confess my expectation was that Eskenderom would intervene to protect his
protege when I heard of his return posthaste from Gornod.”
“A protege who has exhausted his potential usefulness,” Frennelech replied. “And
what surer way could Eskenderom find than this to conceal all trace of his
involvement in the plot so recently frustrated and, at the same time, eliminate
all risk of embarrassing indiscretions and exposures in the future? The smugness
so evident upon the royal visage is not as deeply seated as it appears, I feel,
for it was against Eskenderom’s plan that the Lumians elected to direct their
magic, not ours. If these aliens are indeed the god of which the Scribings
speak, then I think we can feel safe in claiming that He is with us.”
Groork and his escorts had reached the ledge. A line of trumpeters along the
rear wall blasted a fanfare, and then everyone stood silently for what seemed an
eternity while more speeches were delivered inaudibly far below—deliberately
intended, Groork was certain, to prolong his anguish. A hush fell, and the
Executioner advanced onto the narrow, tapering platform that projected outward
from the ledge and held up a full-size effigy of a robeing. It was customary to
commence the proceedings with a dummy to test the quality of the acids; it also
added to the victims’ terror and therefore helped excite the crowd. An expectant
stillness descended over the sea of upturned faces on the hill opposite. Very
slowly, the Executioner pushed the dummy forward to the edge of the platform,
held it steady for a few seconds, and then allowed it to tumble forward into
space. A thunderous roar came up from the spectators and sustained itself for a
long time. From where Groork was standing, he was unable to see what happened.
But he didn’t have to; he’d seen executions before. After the dummy, a
succession of sacrificial animals was led forward and dispatched, one by one,
from the platform. With each the crowd grew wilder.
And then the last of the animals was gone. Groork stared in horror at the
platform, and felt himself freeze. The priests had formed a solid wall
immediately behind, and to the rear the line of guards was closing up and moving
forward. The Executioner left the platform and removed his long lance from its
stand beside an altar bearing fire, while behind Groork the line of priests drew
into a semicircle that drove him outward toward the end of the tapering