The King Of Dreams

465 Pages·2002·9.56 MB·English

by  Robert Silverberg

The King
of Dreams
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BOOK THREE OF THE PRESTIMION TRILOGY
THE CONCLUDING VOLUME OF THE MAJIPOOR CYCLE
ROBER T
SILVERBERG
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the prod-
ucts of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual
events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and
beyond the intent of either the author or the publisher.
KINGOFDREAMS. Copyright © 2001 by Agberg, Ltd. All rights reserved under
International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required
fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read
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sion of PerfectBound™.
PerfectBound ™ and the PerfectBound™ logo are trademarks of HarperCollins
Publishers, Inc.
Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1. November 2001
ISBN 0-06-008729-3
Book Three of the Prestimion trilogy
First Eos hardcover printing: June 2001
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Contents
I
The Book of Waiting
Epigraph
And Lord Stiamot wept when he heard them singing the bal-
lad of his great victory at Weygan Head,
1 “That has to be what we’re looking for,” said the Skandar,
Sudvik Gorn, standing at the edge of the cliff…
2 Morning in the Castle. Bright golden-green sunlight entered
the grand suite…
3 The floater came around the last curve of craggy Normork
Crest and the great stone wall of Normork city rose up…
4 Already, in his mind’s eye, Thastain could see the blackened
timbers of the house of the Vorthinar lord…
5 Asleep in his bed in the royal lodging-house in the Guardian
City of Fa, Prestimion dreamed…
6 Three of Varaile’s four children were waiting for her in the
morning-room when she entered it.
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7 They were at the beginning of the Plain of Whips, now.
Ahead, a red wall rising against the northern horizon…
8 In the evening the Justiciar Corde called for Dekkeret and
Dinitak at their hostelry…
9 The first pungatans were coming into view, dotting the
wasteland before them.
10 The lights remained on and the steward Falco stayed with
Prestimion while he calmed himself.
11 A pale, tense face appeared in the doorway of
Mandralisca’s work-chamber.
12 “Shall I go with you?” Varaile asked. “I could, you know.”
“Are you that eager to see the Labyrinth again?”
13 The resemblance was an astonishing one, Mandralisca
thought…
14 Dekkeret returned to the Castle by the quickest route,
taking the Grand Calintane Highway…
15 “Today, I think, is our day for the singlestick baton,” said
Septach Melayn a little doubtfully.
II
The Book of Lords
1 The moist, humid lands beyond the Kinslain Gap were
Hjort territory.
2 Mandralisca lifted the helmet from his head. Khaymak
Barjazid sat facing him, watching him avidly.
3 Dekkeret said, “So this is the imperial throne-chamber!
I’ve always wondered what it was like.”
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4 “Even a self-maintaining garden needs a certain degree of
maintenance,” Dumafice Moal told his visiting nephew…
5 Word was beginning to spread up and down Castle Mount
and outward into the lands beyond…
6 Septach Melayn said, “Again, milady. Up with your stick!
Parry! Parry! Parry!”
7 Jacomin Halifice said, “The Lord Gaviral respectfully
requests your presence at his palace…”
8 As though in a dream Dekkeret roamed the myriad halls of
the Castle that would from now on bear his name…
9 “Are you still awake?” Fiorinda asked.
Teotas, beside her, muttered an affirmative.
10 Prestimion said, “So now it’s finally over and done with, all
the jolly festivals and amusements.
11 Khaymak Barjazid said, “I have a thought, your grace. —
You mentioned, some time back…”
12
“My lord,” Dekkeret’s chamberlain said, “Prince Dinitak is
here.”“Thank you, Zeldor Luudwid. Ask him to come in.”
13 Fulkari was crossing the Vildivar Balconies, heading in the
direction of the Pinitor Court…
14
“My lord?” Teotas said, peering through the open doorway.
He stood at the threshold…
III
The Book of Powers
1 The Pontifex Prestimion had not been expecting to return
to Castle Mount so soon…
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2 “My lord, may I come in?” Abrigant said to Dekkeret, who
had gone to the door to answer his knock.
3 Keltryn was in the little bedroom of her apartment at the
Setiphon Arcade, laying out the cards…
4 This would be Prestimion’s fifth visit to the Isle of Sleep.
That was unusual in itself…
5 Prestimion had dreams himself, that night.
Not nightmares, not him…
6 It was the sixteenth day of Dekkeret’s journey across the
broad central plain of Alhanroel…
7 “Sabers today?” Audhari asked, surprised, as he entered the
gymnasium room…
8 In Thilambaluc, a medium-sized city four hundred miles
farther along the road to Alaisor…
9 “Thastain, with someone who’s here to meet with Count
Mandralisca,”
10 At Kesmakuran, a neat little city of perhaps half a million
souls five hundred miles deeper into the west-country…
11 “This very room,” said Prestimion bleakly, looking out over
the sea, “was our battle headquarters…”
12 The last time Dekkeret had been in Stoien city had been
in the second or third year of Prestimion’s reign…
13 “You are a duke?” the Shapeshifter asked, as Thastain led
him from Mandralisca’s office.
14 “A breakfast meeting is what he wants,” Prestimion said. “A
discussion of the highest priority…”
15 “The plan is this,” Dekkeret told Fulkari, two hours later.
“We are to call it simply a grand processional…”
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16 “You asked for me, your grace?” Thastain said.
Mandralisca nodded curtly.
17 “A parley,” Dekkeret said, fascinated by the strangeness of
the idea. “We are asked to a parley!”
18 It was midday, bright and warm, when the summons came
to gather in the meadow for the conference…
19 From her many-windowed room high up atop the Alaisor
Mercantile Exchange . . .
About the Author
Credits
About the Publisher
Front Cover
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For Jennifer and Peter
—such twists, such turns!
And Lord Stiamot wept when he heard them singing the ballad of
his great victory at Weygan Head, because the Stiamot of which they
sang was not the Stiamot he knew. He was not himself any more. He
had been emptied into legend. He had been a man, and now he was a
fable.
—AITHIN FURVAIN
The Book of Changes