Read Online Queen of Springtime by Robert Silverberg - Free Book Online

Hresh had learned how to work miracles with it.
    He took it now in the curve of his sensing-organ, grasping it firmly. His expression grew distant and strange. He was summoning his second sight, now, unleashing all the formidable powers of his mind and focusing them through the strange device that was called the Barak Dayir.
    The stranger, motionless, stood with his eyes fixed unblinkingly on Hresh. They were unusual eyes, a clear pale green, like the water in the shallows of Dawinno Bay, but much colder. The stranger too seemed to be locked in deep concentration; and once again that odd almost-smile had appeared on his face.
    Hresh’s eyes were closed. He appeared not even to be breathing. He was lost in his own spell, his mind given up entirely into the power of the Barak Dayir. But after an eternity he could be seen to return. The room was very still.
    “His name is Kundalimon,” Hresh said.
    “Kundalimon,” Husathirn Mueri repeated gravely, as though the name had some deep significance.
    “At least, that’s what he thinks it is. He isn’t entirely sure. He isn’t entirely sure even of what a name is. He doesn’t have one among the hjjks. But the traces of the name Kundalimon are still in his mind, like the traces of ancient foundations in a ruined city. He knows that he was born here, seventeen years ago.”
    Husathirn Mueri said quietly to the bailiff, “Go to the House of Knowledge. See if there’s any record of a lost child named Kundalimon.”
    Hresh shook his head. “No. Let it be. I’ll take care of that myself, afterward.” He turned to the stranger. “We have to teach you your own name. Everyone in this city has a name, a name that belongs only to himself.” And in a clear high tone he said, pointing to the boy, “ Kundalimon .”
    “Kundalimon,” the stranger repeated, nodding, tapping his chest, smiling something that was close to being an actual smile.
    Hresh touched his own breast. “ Hresh .”
    “Hresh,” said the stranger. “Hresh.”
    Ho looked toward Nialli Apuilana.
    “He wants to know your name too,” Hresh said. “Go on. Tell him.”
    Nialli Apuilana nodded. But to her horror her voice wasn’t there when she called upon it. Nothing would come from her throat but a cough and a tight hoarse rasping that could almost have been a hjjk-sound. Dismayed, embarrassed, she clapped her hand over her mouth.
    “Tell him your name,” said Hresh again.
    Silently Nialli Apuilana tapped her throat with her fingers and shook her head.
    Hresh seemed to understand. He nodded to Kundalimon and pointed to her. “ Nialli Apuilana ,” he said, in the same clear high tone as before.
    “Nialli—Apuilana,” Kundalimon repeated carefully, staring at her. The supple vowels and liquid consonants did not seem to rise easily to his lips. “Nialli—Apuilana—”
    She looked away, as if scalded by his gaze.
    Hresh took the Barak Dayir and closed his eyes again, and disappeared once more into his trance. Kundalimon stood statue-still before him. There was utter silence in the room.
    Shortly Hresh seemed to return, and after a time he said, “How strange his mind is! He’s been with the hjjks since he was four. Living in the great main Nest, the Nest of Nests, far in the north.”
    The Nest of Nests! In the presence of the Queen of Queens Herself! Nialli Apuilana felt a surge of envy.
    She found her voice and said softly, “And do you know why he’s come here, father?”
    In a curious muffled tone Hresh said, “The Queen wants to make a treaty with us.”
    “A treaty ?” Husathirn Mueri said.
    “A treaty, yes. A treaty of perpetual peace.”
    Husathirn Mueri looked stunned. “What are the terms? Do you know?”
    “They want to draw a line across the continent, somewhere just north of the City of Yissou. Everything north of the line is to be considered hjjk, and everything south of it will remain the territory of the People. No one of either race will be allowed to enter territory belonging