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A.R.Yngve

DARC AGES
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Inu

Chapter 11


At the hour of half past eleven, Darc sneaked out of the great hall to "visit the bathroom".

He did so -- and then borrowed a guard's cloak, donning it as a disguise. He was closely followed all the way by Lachtfot, who was under strict orders from Bor to never stray from Darc's side. Man and robot exited through the kitchen entrance, and took a shortcut through the moonlit gardens. He could hear the noble guests playing their little love-games behind bushes and walls, female voices giggling. Darc walked past the main gate, ignored by the slightly drunken guards.

The city was lit up -- partly by the few lampposts controlled by the city lord, partly by the citizens. People walked along the narrow streets with candle-lamps in their hands, danced around mighty bonfires in the plazas. If Darc had seen the spectacles of previous summer nights, he would have noticed a difference in the city's mood: a sense of renewed excitement, expectation tinged with fear -- and great hope. He avoided the crowd, and stuck to the back streets until he reached the cathedral. He spotted it one block away, and was about to cross the open place surrounding the building, when --

"Sir Darc, someone is following us," Lachtfot said in a very low voice.

Darc ducked into a portal; the robot followed suit. They could both hear steps closing in, then coming right up -- Darc rolled out and grabbed the person's feet like a rugby player, knocking him down heavily.

The pursuer grunted. In spite of the darkness, Darc knew that voice.

"Dohan? Why are you following me?"

The ruddy, bearded young man stumbled to his feet, suddenly more sober than the hour before.

"I... wanted to make certain nothing happened to you."

Darc took out his mounting frustration on his friend.

"Well, you seem to be in greater danger than me," he said sarcastically, "walking drunk in the streets at this hour! Go home and sleep! I don't need nurses to follow my trail! You too, Lachtfot! Capisce?"

"I must obey my owner's orders, Sir Darc."

"I'm going to enter the cathedral over there, okay? Are robots allowed in church?"

"No."

"Fine. Then stay outside and guard the cathedral, as long as I'm inside it. Okay?"

"Okay meaning yes, Sir Darc."

Darc fought back an impulse to kick the robot in the knee -- he would probably just break a toe anyway. He left Lachtfot and Dohan, and crossed the open place.



The cathedral turned out to be much bigger than Darc had imagined; its two thick spires reached up perhaps fifty meters into the starry sky. The stars above, at least, looked exactly the same as in his own past.

This close, he could discern the wall ornaments that had intrigued him before. They were representations of nature as it was before the apocalyptic wars -- animals, lush vegetation, streaming rivers. And in this imagined pastoral sat full-bodied women and men -– flirting, kissing, embracing -- fully dressed yet very sensual. The cathedral had no sharp corners, but was rounded off to resemble... a giant female figure, lying on her back. The two large spires were the "arms", stretching up to embrace the sky. The "head" was the rounded back of the building, where he was heading. And the main entrance, buried between two half-buried "thighs", was... Darc blushed.

He found the back door portal, and pounded on it with his fist. Immediately, the door nudged open a few inches. Darc could glimpse the figure of Inu standing behind it. She frowned at the cloaked figure, then recognized it and let him inside. Carrying a candle-lamp, Inu silently led him through a dark corridor, into a small chamber, and closed it. At first, Darc was too confused by what he saw, and turned around several times to get his bearings.

"This is my study," Inu said in her husky voice, ripe with promises, "where I and my novices and students study the scriptures, pray, sing, and meditate."

He took in the atmosphere -- it sure was a room for true believers. From top to bottom, the chamber walls were covered by small icon paintings, resembling the paintings of Christ he knew from Eastern Orthodox churches. On a closer look, the faces on the paintings were different. All of them pictured the Goddess, or other blond women with dreamy expressions on their faces. Gold and silver foil covered their hairpieces. The artwork was stylized, hyperreal, incredibly detailed.

"Who... who made these pictures?" he asked.

Inu smiled, and replied: "The novices and the priestesses. I spent five years completing that one." She pointed one fleshy, white arm to a wall shrine. The largest icon was hanging there, surrounded by lit candles. Fresh flowers lay in bundles at its foot – and open jewel-cases filled with glistening crystals. Diamonds! Darc picked up one stone and held it to the light. It refracted the light perfectly. "A small contribution from the parishioners," Inu said softly.

An old tune played in Darc's head: "Diamonds are girl's best friend..."

He thought: My God, this is for real. The gold, the jewels -- it's all real. He turned to face Inu again. She was flushed and gleaming with sweat -- the chamber was hot from all the candles. Darc took off his heavy cloak; he was sweating too. Inu sat down on a couch in a corner.

"They call you Darc," she half-whispered, "but that is not your real name?"

Darc wondered how she knew, but he saw no risks in confessing the truth.

"No, it was Lord Damon who gave me that name. My real name --"
"I knew it! You are the resurrected Singing King, in the prophesied disguise!"

"But how can you --"

"You knew the forgotten words, they way they should be sung!"

She flung herself to her knees and spoke rapidly, as if in a fever: "I have studied Old Juro and Aenglich. I recognized your words at the banquet. There were recordings, many centuries ago, that were destroyed -- only the memory, and the hymn texts, the notes remained, preserved here. You knew the real words, without knowing the hymns! You can deny it, but you are the Incarnation!"

Darc shook his head, staring helplessly at the fanatical woman. There was no way to make her change her mind -- and he was just a little tempted to play along.

Stumbling on his tongue, trying to gain control of the situation, he said: "This Goddess... I have seen her face in my time."

"Have you... met her, the All-Mother made flesh?"

Inu was wide-eyed, her mouth agape.

"Not the person, no! But in my time, there were many... pictures of her. Moving pictures. All over the world. Do you have any of that kind here?"

She looked down, sadly.

"Only memories of the Goddess's first incarnations remain today. The original representations withered away... only the icons remain."

She looked up again -- desperately, tugging at the lapels of his jacket, and exclaimed: "But you saw her! You! Tell me the names, so I know you do not lie!"

"Names...?"

"The names of her personal hymns, in the original language! The ones no one but I is allowed to know or sing!"

From some recess in Darc's memory came the baffled answer: "You mean... 'Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend'?"

"Yes! 'Demanti So Kurlis Befrend'!" she whispered back in Castilian.

This was fun, in an almost shameful way -- and he went on, egging her: "'We're having a heat-wave, a tropical heat-wave!'"

"Yes, oh yes!"

"'That old black magic has me in its spell!' Um... 'Let's Make Lo --' Oof!"

Inu threw herself upon Darc, pushed him onto the couch. She wriggled herself out of her black dress, and pinned him down with her warm, soft flesh.

"Before your experience," she breathed in his ear, "I am but a novice. Guide me! Share the sacred ecstasy with me!"

Darc finally realized that he didn't want to talk any more. A little later, as they were sharing a significant moment of ecstasy on the couch, he called out: "My Goddess!" -- and he thought he meant it.