Camelot in Orbit by Arthur H Landis

Author:Arthur H Landis [Landis, Arthur H]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction, Fantasy
ISBN: 9780879977825
Google: SL6qAAAACAAJ
Amazon: 0879977825
Barnesnoble: 0879977825
Goodreads: 2066704
Publisher: Daw
Published: 1978-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

I’d commissioned my gay young Lors Sernas to gather what drinking companions he could find and to create a claque, as it were, to shout in support of the questions of free trade between the Selig Isles and the Lords of Om, which I would bring to the night’s meeting. With Sernas gone to his duties, I then held the others for a last word-that they must prepare themselves this night to face with me the fury the Dark One would unleash against us. For with any luck, before cock’s crow our “Birnham wood” would have begun its perilous march to Hish’s Dunsinane.”

Alone at last on our sumptuous bed with its furs and scented sheets, my faery princess frowned darkly. “By the Gods, Collin,” she said in teasing petulance, “you never cease to surprise me. Despite all you’ve told me, you can still lie there, sleep even, when for all we know, sir, the Dark One may have our souls before the hour’s out.”

“‘Tis like I said,” I mumbled. “We play it all by ear.”

“Huuummmmpppphhhhh”

She looked delicious in her diaphanous red shift.

“There’s one thing, my dear. Rawl and I must get you and Caroween to the safety of the ship.”

“That,” she said, “you will most certainly not do.” Her hand had tightened, pulling my hair so that my eyes teared.

“Murie. ‘Tis best.”

“I am your princess, sir! When my father’s dead, I’ll be your queen!”

“‘Tis why I’d hold you safe, for Marack.”

She laughed shortly, kissed me, and lingered to say softly in my ear, “Play me no idiot games, Collin. For I know you now. ‘Tis true that a lying lover’s the best to be had in all the world-that is if his love is constant. But no man, Sir Lenti, including you, may use his power for the express control of my person. Do you think for a second that our Caroween would shirk her duty because Rawl feared for her? ‘Twould be demeaning. Do you think it would ever enter his mind to ask such foolishments? ‘Twould be an insult! You say, love, you’re from another world….”

“I never did,” I murmured.

“You say you’re from another world,” she persisted. ‘Well, look round you, Collin, and learn our ways before you judge and give your orders.”

I sought to reply but she placed a finger to my lips. “There’s but a single person, who gives orders to a prince. That person is the king-or the queen of Marack.”

The rain continued, a hypnotic patter conducive to reverie and dreams. Twilight came, then darkness. Murie left to join with Caroween in preparation for the festive dinner.

Rawl slipped in to tell me that our stalwarts were ready. And our young Omnian joined us for a few brief minutes, after which he left to be with his clique of newly organized supporters. These, we were told, were excellent swordsmen. They were also admirers of both his peccadilloes and his iconoclastic spirit. The host, Rawl informed me, was also alive to the fact that something was in the wind.

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