Domes of Fire by David Eddings
The Tamuli book 1
Danger stalked Queen Ehlana’s realm. When an ambasador from the
far-off Tamul Empire begged for help, Sparhawk, Ehlana’s champion and
Prince Consort, was the Emperor’s last hope. For surely the knight who
had killed the evil God Azash could prevail against the terror in
Tamul. But waiting for him was a glittering court seething with
corruption, treachery–and the greatest danger Sparhawk would ever
face!
Prologue
Excerpted from Chapter Two of The Cyrga
Affair: An Examination of the Recent Crisis.
Compiled by the Contemporary History Department
of the University of Matherion.
It was quite obvious to the Imperial Council at this point
that the empire was facing a threat of the gravest nature
a threat which his Imperial Majesty’s government
was ill-prepared to confront. The empire had long
relied upon the armies of Atan to defend her interests
during the periodic outbreaks of incidental civil disorder
which are normal and to be expected in a disparate population
ruled by a strong central authority. The situation
facing his Majesty’s government this time, however,
did not appear to arise from spontaneous demonstrations
by a few malcontented hotheads spilling out into
the streets from various university campuses during
the traditional recess which follows final examinations.
Those particular demonstrations can be taken in stride,
and order is usually restored with a minimum of bloodshed.
The government soon realized that this time, however,
things were different. The demonstrators were not
high-spirited schoolboys, for one thing, and domestic
tranquillity did not return when ‘classes at the universities
resumed. The authorities might still have maintained
order had the various disruptions been the result
of ordinary revolutionary fervour. The mere presence of
Atan warriors can dampen the spirits of even the most
enthusiastic under normal circumstances. This time, the
customary acts of vandalism accompanying the demonstrations
were quite obviously of paranormal origin.
Inevitably, the imperial government cast a questioning
eye at the Styrics in Sarsos. An investigation by Styric
members of the Imperial Council whose loyalty to the
throne could not be questioned, however, quite clearly
indicated that Styricum had had no part in the disturbances.
The paranormal incidents were obviously coming
from some as yet to be determined source and were so
widespread that they could not have emanated from
the activities of a few Styric renegades. The Styrics themselves
were unable to identify the source of this activity,
and even the legendary Zalasta, pre-eminent magician
in” all of Styricum though he might be, ruefully confessed
to total bafflement.
It was Zalasta, however, who suggested the course
ultimately taken by his Majesty’s government. He
advised that the empire might seek assistance from
the Eosian continent, and he specifically directed the
government’s attention to a man named Sparhawk.
All imperial representatives on the Eosian continent
were immediately commanded to drop everything else
and to concentrate their full attention upon this man.
It was imperative that his Majesty’s government have
information about this Sparhawk person. As the reports
from Eosia began to filter in, the Imperial Council began
to develop a composite picture of Sparhawk, his appearance,
his personality and his history.
Sir Sparhawk, they discovered, was a member of one
of the quasi-religious orders of the Elene Church. His
particular order is referred to as ‘The Pandion Knights’.
He is a tall, ‘ lean man of early middle years with a
battered face, a keen intelligence and an abrupt, even
abrasive manner. The Knights of the Elene Church are
fearsome warriors, and Sir Sparhawk is in the forefront
of their ranks of champions. At the time in the history
of the Eosian continent when the four orders of Church
Knights were founded, the circumstances were so
desperate that the Elenes set aside their customary
prejudices and permitted the Militant Orders to receive
instruction in the arcane practices of Styricum, and it
was the proficiency of the Church Knights in those arts
which helped them to prevail during the First Zemoch
War some five centuries ago.
Sir Sparhawk held a position for which there is
no equivalent in our empire. He was the hereditary
‘Champion’ of the royal house of the Kingdom of
Elenia. Western Elenes have a chivalric culture replete
with many archaisms. The ‘Challenge’ (essentially an offer
to engage in single combat) is the customary response
of members of the nobility who feel that their honour
has been somehow sullied. It is amazing to note that
not even ruling monarchs are exempt from the necessity
of answering these challenges. In order to avoid the
inconvenience of responding to the impertinences of
assorted hotheads, the monarchs of Eosia customarily
designate some highly-skilled (and usually widelyfeared)
warrior as a surrogate. Sir Sparhawk’s nature
and reputation is such that even the most quarrelsome
nobles of the kingdom of Elenia find after careful consideration
that they have not really been insulted. It is a
credit to Sir Sparhawk’s skill and cool judgement that
he has seldom ‘even been obliged to kill anyone during
these affairs, since, by ancient custom, a severely
incapacitated combatant may save his life by surrendering
and withdrawing his challenge.
After his father’s death, Sir Sparhawk presented himself
to King Aldreas, the father of the present queen, to
take up his duties. King Aldreas, hoWever, was a weak
monarch, and he was dominated by his sister, Arissa,
and by Annias, the Primate of Cimmura, who was also
Princess Arissa’s surreptitious lover and the father of
her bastard son, Lycheas. The Primate of Cimmura, who
was the de facto ruler of Elenia, had hopes of ascending
the throne of the Archprelacy of the Elene Church
in the Holy City of Chyrellos, and the presence of the
stern and moralistic Church Knight at the court inconvenienced
him, and so it was that he persuaded King
Aldreas to send Sir Sparhawk into exile in the Kingdom
of Render.
In time, King Aldreas also became inconvenient, and
Primate Annias and the Princess poisoned him, thus
elevating Princess Ehlana, Aldreas’ daughter, to the
throne. Though she was ‘young, Queen Ehlana had
received some training from Sir Sparhawk as a child,
and she was a far stronger monarch than her father had
been. She soon became more than a mere inconvenience
to the Primate. He poisoned her as well, but Sir Sparhawk’s
fellow Pandions, aided by their tutor in the
arcane arts, a Styric woman named Sephrenia, cast an
enchantment which sealed the queen up in crystal and
sustained her life.
Thus it stood when Sir Sparhawk returned from exile.
Since the Militant Orders had no wish to see the Primate
of Cimmura on the Archprelate’s throne, certain of the
champions of the other three orders were sent to assist
Sir Sparhawk in finding an antidote or a cure which
could restore Queen Ehlana to health. Since the queen
had denied Annias access to her treasury in the past,
the Church Knights reasoned that should she be
restored, she would once again deny Annias the funds
he needed to pursue his candidacy.
Annias allied himself with a renegade Pandion named
Martel, and this Martel person was, like all Pandions,
skilled in the use of Styric magic. He cast obstacles, both
physical and supernatural, in Sparhawk’s path, but
Sir Sparhawk and ‘ his companions were ultimately
successful in discovering that Queen Ehlana could
only be restored by a magical object known as ‘The
Bhelliom.’
Western Elenes are a peculiar people. They have a
level of sophistication in worldly matters which sometimes
surpasses our own, but at the same time, they
have an almost childlike belief in the more lurid forms
of magic. This ‘Bhelliom’ we are told, is a very large
sapphire which was laboriously carved into the shape
of a rose at some time in the distant past. The Elenes
here insist that the artisan who carved it was a Troll. We
will not dwell on that absurdity.
At any rate, Sir Sparhawk and his ‘ friends overcame
many obstacles and were ultimately able to obtain
the peculiar talisman, and (they claim) it was successful
in restoring Queen Ehlana – although one strongly
suspects that their tutor, Sephrenia, accomplished
that task unaided, and that the apparent use of the
Bhelliom was little more than a subterfuge she used
to protect her ,from the virulent bigotry of western
Elenes.
When the Archprelate Cluvonus died, the Hierocracy
of the Elene Church journeyed to Chyrellos to participate
in the ‘election’ of his successor. Election is a peculiar
practice which involves the stating of preference.
That candidate who receives the approval of a majority
of his fellows is elevated to the office in question. This,
of course, is an unnatural procedure, but since the Elene
clergy is ostensibly celibate, there is no non-scandalous
way the Archprelacy can be made hereditary. The
Primate of Cimmura had bribed a goodly number of
high churchmen to state a preference for him during the
deliberations of the Hierocracy, but he still fell short of
the needed majority. It was at this point that his