Valentine Pontifex

[Majipoor Trilogy 03] – Valentine Pontifex

By Robert Silverberg

Note at the time of the scan (7/26/2003):

The Majipoor Trilogy consists of:

1.

Lord Valentine’s Castle (scanned by someone from Usenet)

2.

The Majipoor Chronicles (not scanned yet and I don’t have it)

3.

Valentine Pontifex (this release)

... I live in mighty fear that all the universe will be broken into a thousand fragments in the general ruin, that formless chaos will return and vanquish the gods and men, that the earth and sea will be engulfed by the planets wandering in the heavens. ... Of all the generations, it is we who have been chosen to merit this bitter fate, to be crushed by the falling pieces of the broken sky.

—seneca

Thyestes

ONE

The Book of the Coronal

1

Valentine swayed, braced himself with his free hand against the table, struggled to keep himself from spilling his wine.

This is very odd, he thought, this dizziness, this confusion. Too much wine—the stale air—maybe gravity pulls harder, this far down below the surface—

"Propose the toast, lordship," Deliamber murmured. "First to the Pontifex, and then to his aides, and then—"

"Yes. Yes, I know."

Valentine peered uncertainly from side to side, like a steetmoy at bay, ringed round by the spears of hunters.

"Friends—" he began.

"To the Pontifex Tyeveras!" Deliamber whispered sharply.

Friends. Yes. Those who were most dear to him, seated close at hand. Almost everyone but Carabella and Elidath: she was on her way to meet him in the west, was she not, and Elidath was handling the chores of government on Castle Mount in Valentine's absence. But the others were here, Sleet, Deliamber, Tunigorn, Shanamir, Lisamon and Ermanar, Tisana, the Skandar Zalzan Kavol, Asenhart the Hjort—yes, all his dear ones, all the pillars of his life and reign—

"Friends," he said, "lift your wine-bowls, join me in one more toast. You know that it has not been granted me by the Divine to enjoy an easy time upon the throne. You all know the hardships that have been thrust upon me, the challenges that had to be faced, the tasks required of me, the weighty problems still unresolved."

"This is not the right speech, I think," he heard someone behind him say, Deliamber muttered again, "His majesty the Pontifex! You must offer a toast to his majesty the Pontifex!"

Valentine ignored them. These words that came from him now seemed to come of their own accord.

"If I have borne these unparalleled difficulties with some grace," he went on, "it is only because I have had the support, the counsel, the love, of such a band of comrades and precious friends as few rulers can ever have claimed. It is with your indispensable help, good friends, that we will come at last to a resolution of the troubles that afflict Majipoor and enter into the era of true amity that we all desire. And so, as we make ready to set forth tomorrow into this realm of ours, eagerly, joyously, to undertake the grand processional, I offer this last toast of the evening, my friends, to you, to those who have sustained me and nurtured me throughout all these years, and who—"