Chapter Sixteen: In the Halls of the Mountain King
The land of Phyrgia was drier and less fertile than the other lands Callixtus had seen, although as it was on the same latitude as southern Cheskia, the weather was mild in spite of the fact that this was February. Nevertheless, the weather did cool as they progressed upwards. They had been travelling for three days, and the sparse tree cover - at first some type of aspen, later succeeded by a species of fir, neither of which looked familiar to Callixtus - gradually thinned. Only scattered, spiky shrubs broke the monotony of the red rocks and jagged boulders.
At the top of a range of hills they reached the foot of a towering mountain where their guide stopped and spat. "This is it. I stay here with the mule and wait for you. I stay three days, no longer." This was quite a long sentence for their taciturn guide. Although not quite old and hideous as Magnus had prophesied, he was certainly not young or attractive either. A short, squat, sparely built man with a black beard but a shaved upper lip, he was nevertheless sure footed and well versed in fieldcraft.
"Thank you", said Magnus. "I hope to be back by this time tomorrow." A path wound up around the mountain, in places with steps cut into the rock, until it disappeared out of view in the mists near the summit. At the start of the path, near where they were standing, was a large obelisk with a carved inscription. Although Callixtus was illiterate, he nevertheless knew it was not the Imperial script he was used to seeing.
"What does it say, master?"
"It is a boundary stone" said Magnus, "marking the start of the territory of the King of the Mountain,
and announcing that all who set foot beyond it are subject to his dominion."
The ascent took them several hours, and it was wearisome and difficult near the top. The wind flapped their cloaks, and Callixtus felt chilled, clad as he was only in his small jerkin and loincloth underneath. Magnus had told him little about the King of the Mountain, except that he was a kind of elf, and ruled over a large tract of barren country which was nevertheless rich in gems and gold. The Mountain Elves were the rulers over a larger population of humans, an admixture of many different races, who in status
were little different to slaves.
The track culminated still some distance short of the summit in a small stone fort clinging to the side of the mountain, large enough for perhaps fifty men to garrison. An orange banner flew from the walls, with a device on it showing a snarling leopard with black and white stripes. "A mountain leopard" said Magnus, "Sigil of King Adeodax." Behind them, the sun was setting over the distant Inner Sea, and a blaze of red and yellow light splashed the sides of the mountain in front of them, so that the orange banner appeared to be dappled with luminescence.
An officer approached them, a man clad in a round burnished helm, leather armour trimmed with the black and white fur of the mountain leopard, and carrying a spear. He also wore a broad sash of orange silk diagonally across his body, tied at the shoulder, as a mark of his office. "State your business!" he said brusquely.
"I am Magnus the Mage, on a mission from my Order, and seeking an audience with the King."
The officer motioned them inside the fort and they sat on a stone bench in a small guardroom, warming themselves by the fire, while another surly soldier stood watch over them.
Callixtus said, "I was surprised that the officer addressed you in the Common Tongue. I had not thought to hear it this far from the Empire."
"The King has a large following of men of many different ethnic origins" said Magnus, "and the Mountain Elves considers the elvish tongue too pure to be sullied by the speech of those they see as inferior races."
After half an hour the officer re-appeared and said, his tone slightly more polite, "You may enter the Halls of the Mountain King, but all weapons must be left here." Callixtus handed over his bow and arrows and his knife; Magnus was unarmed apart from his ashen staff, which was not taken from him. Two soldiers, one in front and one behind, led them inside the mountain.
The first impression Callixtus had on entering the spacious chamber that lay beyond the entrance door was the silence; the wind had become strong outside, and its sudden absence was pleasing. The second sensation was a surprising amount of warmth and light. From a multitude of rock fissures came silent exhalations of steam, and large lancet windows, often filled with coloured glass, were built high into the chamber walls.
The passage way frequently went upwards for twenty or thirty steps, but never for more, then continued horizontally or opened into further chambers. Others were also travelling inside the mountain, who when they saw them stood quietly still and observed them. They did not speak, and there was something unnerving about their silent scrutiny. There were many women amongst them. All wore simple garments of long unbleached linen and all either an orange silk headscarf (for the women), or a headband in the same colour and material for the men. Callixtus, who was expecting to see elves, was surprised and a little disappointed that he encountered none.
After half an hour, they came to a large arcaded chamber flooded with green and yellow light from large stained glass windows in an upper clerestory, with an apse opposite where a sweep of semi- circular stone steps led up to an ornate wooden door lacquered in carved and painted panels depicting scenes of war and conquest. And here at last, in front of the door, there stood - a pair of Mountain Elves.
Callixtus was completely unprepared for the sight. The Forest Elves were diminutive, rarely much more than five foot tall even when fully grown, and were dark of hair and always nude. The only High Elf he had seen -back on the Isle of Mages - could have passed for a tall, slender and rather handsome blond human, save for his pointed ears. But the Mountain Elves were something else altogether...
In size they were almost as tall as the unicorn Shalmaneser, being closer to seven foot than six. They were magnificently muscled, although not quite on the same scale as the unicorn. Their hair was extraordinary: pure white in colour, it formed extravagant peaks on the tops of their heads, and sweeping waves and curls down to their shoulders. They both wore silk gowns open at the front to reveal their bare chests - like the forest elves, they appeared to have no hair except on their heads. They wore small square loincloths which did little to conceal their impressive bulges, and sandals; and they were also adorned with a variety of jewellery such as gold or silver wrist bands and arm bangles and earrings.
When they moved, it could be seen that they had strange spiral tattoos on their arms and shoulders. They wore scimitars in jewelled scabbards on their hips. Their skin tone was different: one was a bluish-grey, the colour of the sea on a cloudy day, and the other was a soft grey, like the ash left by a fire of burnt-out timber.
The blue elf spoke. His voice, though deeper and richer than that of the forest elves, still had something of the same sibilant and melodious quality. "Greetings, Mage Magnus, and welcome again to the Halls of the Mountain King. It has been some years since your last visit, yet you look no older than I do. Perhaps you have elf blood in you." And his companion gave a strange gasping sound that Callixtus thought must have been the elvish equivalent of a sardonic chuckle.
"Greetings, Lord Skyrax, Knight Commander to King Adeodax. I have important business with your King and would be glad of an audience."
Lord Skyrax, his imposing height increased by the fact that he stood several steps higher than Magnus, gave him a none-too-friendly look. "The King is busy with one of his catamites and cannot be disturbed."
Magnus produced an object wrapped in silk from inside his tunic, unwrapped it, and held out in his hands the goose-egg sized sphere which glowed and sparkled with red and yellow light. "Behold the Oriflamme of Hyrcanus. This could be your King's, if we can reach a satisfactory arrangement."
There was a lengthy pause as the elf's violet eyes sparkled with the reflected golden glow from the Oriflamme.
"I have heard of this object" he said. "I have no doubt the King would gladly speak to you about it." And with that he turned to the ornate door over which he stood guard, knocked, and entered.
So it was that a minute or two later Skyrax returned and ushered them into the throne room of King Adeodax. The room was large, and appeared to be a natural rock chamber, although the floor was paved with polished black marble. High in the wall, a series of lanceolated windows opened onto the mountainside and flooded the interior with light. The glass panes were alternately clear and blue, giving a beautiful dappled effect.
On a raised throne of malachite and obsidian sat the King of the Mountain. His skin was very pale, though not the extreme milky white of the unicorn Shalmaneser - more like the skin tone of a very pale human. He was even taller than the two guardian elves, being fully seven feet in height, and rippling with muscles. He had the appearance of a man in his late twenties, but of course Callixtus knew enough about elves by now to realise that this was almost certainly deceptive, and he could easily be many centuries old.
He wore a richly embroidered gown of orange and white silk which reached as far as his knees, but he wore it unfastened, and underneath he was entirely naked and clearly unabashed about the fact. And he was not alone: on his lap, dwarfed by the elf's huge stature, sat a human youth who looked about the same age as Callixtus. He wore an orange headband, like all the elf-King's human subjects, and curious leggings made of mountain leopard fur. They encased his calves from just below the knee to just above the ankle. Apart from that, the boy was naked.
Magnus and Callixtus bowed low before the Elf King. "Greetings, My Lord King, from the Order of Mages, who wish you continued prosperity and good fortune." A silence followed.
"You have arrived at a somewhat inconvenient time, as I was about to sample this latest addition to my harem. I have two hundred boys in my collection, and I so enjoyed this one yesterday that I have sent for him again today. The others will be jealous."
The boy certainly did not look as if he had been enjoying the elf's favours - he had a dull and listless expression, and all in all did not look very happy. And no wonder, thought Callixtus, if the poor little scrub is getting pronged by that monstrous thing that lay flaccid but massive between the Elf King's legs. Although not as extreme as the never-to-be -forgotten occasion of watching the forest elf Lendulio being shagged by the unicorn Shalmaneser, it was nevertheless quite clear that the young boy's bottom and the elf King's enormous cock were not destined to make a comfortable match. At least not for the boy. And although elves and unicorns were both capable of drawing on powerful reserves of psycho-sexual magic to ease the pain and increase the pleasure of anal intercourse, this was not so easy for humans.
"Of course, Mage, you know I desire to possess the Oriflamme. It will be of inestimable worth to me in my conflict with the Zandish hordes who teem on the steppe land to the east of my mountains, and over which the elves, as a superior race, have a right to rule. And I think we can negotiate a price. Skyrax, take our catamites out and leave us. The matters I wish to discuss with the Mage are for his ears alone, as they concern arcane secrets which it is not meet for the uninitiated to hear."
Skyrax bowed, and said "As my Lord King commands." The elf king's catamite slipped off his knee - with a look of relief, thought Callixtus - and they followed the blue skinned elf lord out of the throne room. To Callixtus's mind, the Mountain elves did not seem at all friendly - there was something alarming, menacing even, about them. Could they misuse the Oriflamme for evil purposes? Was it a good idea to give such a powerful item away to such a frankly sinister crowd? And would Magnus's frivolity and lack of care with money lead him to be gulled by the Elf King, so he failed to get a good price?
He sat on a stone bench in the large chamber outside the throne room as Skyrax and his companion resumed their guard over the door. The King's catamite sat by him cross legged on the floor. Callixtus looked at him, though his mind was mainly elsewhere. He was certainly pretty, in a pathetic sort of way; his orange headband kept slipping over his shaggy brown locks, and his frame, though small, looked tough and wiry - though not as hardened as Callixtus's had become over the last few months.
Callixtus's thoughts continued. What if the Elf King simply decided to take the Oriflamme by force? Was there anything Magnus could do about that if he did? And would they then be thrust out to return to Isle of Mages with their tail between their legs to explain their failure to Joab? But what if they weren't allowed to return! Callixtus felt a sudden chill as he contemplated the possibility of being added to the Elf King's boy harem, and being skewered on that massive elven cock....it was not a pleasurable thought. As if reading his thoughts, the boy at his feet began to snivel. Sorry friend, thought Callixtus, I've got enough worries of my own.