Gods and Ancients - 10. The Palace and the Parlor Tricks

“I am certain that the architecture of your North American headquarters complex in Canada is not so grand as ours,” Emperor Kintu boasted as he led the delegation through the labyrinth of interconnected spiraling rooms composing the ALC Palace. Once they were inside, Kintu had relieved all but a handful of leopard warriors as he conducted his tour and had discreetly instructed his nine Kings to mingle amongst the bears, wolves, and tigers to prod them for information as to the whereabouts and status of the Heir of Odin.

“Well, your Highness,” Ezekiel replied, “the NALC complex is one of the most impressive that I’ve seen in my long life, but it is a modern structure, much less than one hundred years old, and constructed of modern concrete, steel, marble and glass. We are also not isolated in the wilderness away from the eyes of the humans, we exist among them hiding in plain sight. From the human point of view, we are just another massive corporate building occupying space outside a medium-sized city. If we were to build a palace such as this… it would attract unwanted attention.”

“The oldest parts of the Palace,” Kintu continued, ignoring Ezekiel’s comments completely, “Are nearly two thousand years old, and all wings are constructed of natural materials, primarily wood, stone, and earthenware bricks.

He stopped the tour in a room that was a central hub for the wing in which they were currently passing through so that the bears could admire the fine details.

“You’ll note that each room is a perfect circle, and as subsequent rooms branch out, each is a slightly smaller version of the room preceding it.”

“Yes,” Thomas interjected, “As one who has studied engineering, I find the construction fascinating. Western architecture is based upon straight lines and ninety-degree angles, but there is not one of either to be found here. This design must be very structurally sound.”

“Quite,” Kintu replied. “Despite the most calamitous of natural events in our history, the walls of the Palace have never fallen.

“If you will all stay close,” Kintu continued, “We will be heading to the central rotunda before you are shown to your guest quarters.”

Kintu noticed King Tau walking quietly alone to the side as the group began to gather once more and stepped over to whisper a word to him.

“King Tau,” he said, “I have asked you to mingle with the outsiders, but you have remained off to the side for the entire tour thus far. Go and introduce yourself to the tigers and their polar bear mates. I’m sure the five of you will find you have much to talk about.”

Tau bowed his head briefly, concerned at the underlying meaning behind the Emperor’s words, and fell back within the group until he was positioned next to the two weretigers holding the hands of the two massive white-haired bears.

“Good day,” Tau said to the four as they began to walk, “I am King Tau of the Southeastern realm. How are you enjoying your tour of the Palace so far?”

“Humbling,” Siku said in a low baritone voice, “My polar bear brother Nukilik and I were both born in the Arctic and were raised in tents made of simple skins and wooden boughs. In recent years, I have lived in a warm and safe cabin in Canada, and in a large modern home in the city, but neither of those dwellings can equal the majesty of your Palace.”

“Indeed,” Shivay added, holding Siku’s arm as they walked, “Although I was born in the shadow of the Taj Mahal in my home country, I am still awed by the sights of your Palace. You must be especially proud.”

“This Palace is for the emperors, not the kings,” Tau replied. “It is not my home. I have a palace of my own in my kingdom, but it is much more… humble… as your Mate put it.”

Shivay nodded in understanding, and they walked in silence for a brief minute before Tau cleared his throat again and spoke tentatively.

“I apologize if you find my next question to be rude, but how did it come to pass that tigers and bears have joined as Mates, not only breaking taboos against carnal knowledge of the same sex, but also with a different species?”

“Bears do not have any taboos against joining with other men when it comes to sex,” Nukilik said, unperturbed by the lion’s questioning. “As for joining with another species… When I left the Arctic for the first time in my life, I was unaccustomed to the concept of taking another male as a life-mate, but it was explained to me by Axel and Gunnar that when I found him, no other person on Earth would make me feel the same. I had met Nameer only a few hours prior when I proudly and publicly selected him as my Mate for life, because I knew that I would never find another who made me feel the kind of love I instantly felt for him.”

“I take it,” Nameer added to the conversation, “That if one of you Kings was to choose a male of another species… That handsome leopard back there with the yellow markings on the breastplate of his armor, for example… it would not end well for either of you. Am I correct?”

“You are correct,” Tau replied, looking downward as they walked, “Such a pairing would cost a King his throne, and earn each man a quick and dishonorable death.”

“I cannot claim that our choices of a Mate would not be viewed in a similar fashion if we were still living in our native land,” Nameer said, “But the tigers who have relocated to North America are slowly evolving into a more… modern way of thinking.”

“The bears simply take love in all its forms in stride,” Siku added, “We’ve always been accepting of everyone. It is only in recent years that the wolves and tigers are becoming more accepting of us.”

Tau pondered this information but didn’t have a chance to respond before the group walked through the doorway of one large domed room and into a massive room that dwarfed all other spaces they had yet seen. Wooden beams formed geometric ribs soaring toward the ceiling, only to be replaced by a mosaic of stained glass at the apex, which cast a soft, colored light into every corner of the rotunda.

Standing in the center of the vast room were four male lions wearing elaborately decorated military uniforms whom the delegates recognized had been standing in positions behind the leopard warriors during their initial negotiations, along with a group of ten lionesses wearing flowy white silk gowns, standing behind a lone female in a gown of purple.

“My esteemed delegates,” Kintu said, as he led them over to this group waiting for their arrival, “Allow me to introduce the generals of my armed forces, and more importantly, my wives. My number one wife, Auryon seems to have been anticipating your arrival, even though I have not yet spoken with her since leaving the Palace this morning with my warriors…”

“You will find,” Auryon said, walking over to the Emperor and rubbing her hands along the breastplate of his armor suggestively, “That there is very little that goes on here within the Palace and its grounds that my sister-wives and I do not already know. Our eyes and ears are one with the very walls of our home.”

“Have you made arrangements for our guests?” Kintu asked his bride.

“We have prepared a wing in which they may rest from their travels and sleep tonight,” Auryon replied, “I have been eagerly anticipating having them… for dinner…”

“Excellent,” Kintu said, “I will leave you in the capable hands of my lionesses. The Kings and I will join you once again this evening after you have had a chance to settle into your new surroundings.”

****

“I’m sorry to burst your bubble, yer Highness,” Axel said after the Emperor and Kings had departed and they now followed the lionesses through yet another part of the Palace to their rooms, “But my Cub and I and a few of the others have to leave on another mission.”

“What mission could possibly be more important than negotiations with the Emperor over the Heir of Odin?” Auryon purred as she led the group through a series of spiraling rooms.

“We are going to engage in negotiations with The Benefactors as well,” Axel replied, knowing that he was showing his hand to the eyes and ears of Kintu, but deciding that it was time for some of this information to come out.

“And what makes you think you’ll find The Benefactors?” the lioness asked in amusement stealing a glance at the large bear with the tattooed arms and long beard. “Do you think the mysterious eternal ones live in the Palace gardens?”

“No,” Axel said, “But we know that they live in the mountains in Morocco. We have ways of finding those who would wish to remain in hiding. We must discuss their role in the attack upon us as well and hold them responsible for their actions.”

The lioness stopped and turned fully to look at the big bear.

“Morocco, you say?” she mused. “Interesting. However, none of you are leaving the Palace… until the Emperor grants you his permission to leave.”

“Excuse me, your Highness,” Ezekiel interrupted, “But we are not subjects of the Emperor. We are a free, peaceful delegation and will come and go as we please.”

“Is that so?” the lioness replied with a touch of amusement to her face, “We shall see, won’t we? For now, this wing will be your home within the Palace walls. I suggest you make yourselves comfortable. The Emperor will summon you when it is time to resume your… negotiations… over dinner.”

The leopard guards prodded the delegation with their spears until all had gone through the doorway into the wing indicated by the lioness.

“In here you have a central living space with comfortable furniture. There are five bedroom suites, each containing a luxurious bathroom and four comfortable beds. That is one bed short for your group, I know, but…”

Auryon paused to sniff indiscreetly at Apollo and Susie who had been the last through the door, with a slight scowl on her face.

“But since it seems that many of you are mated pairs, I’m sure some of you won’t mind sharing a bed.

“I bid you good day, my guests. Please do not try to lave your suite before we come to fetch you for dinner. I assure you that escape from the Palace is impossible.”

With that final warning, Auryon shut the door to the delegation’s guest wing, and a clank could be easily heard as the door was locked from the outside.

Once the door was closed, the bears looked around at each other, and then slowly they each boke out in a grin.

“Confident little bitch, isn’t she?” Susie asked, breaking the silence, causing the bears to erupt in raucous laughter.

“Oh!” Mike said, holding his stomach, “If they only knew what we have in store for them! They think they’re going to keep us here until we crack and hand over Bernie like a sacrificial lamb. We’re going to gaslight those half-wits until they think they’re losing their minds!”

“Hold it!” Susie shouted, silencing the bears. She pulled a device from the pocket of her cargo pants and started moving slowly around the room. “Nobody says another word until I’ve finished this sweep.”

As she moved around their suite of rooms, the device would occasionally emit a loud tone, and then Susie or Apollo would carefully examine the lamp, houseplant, or object ‘d art in the vicinity, pulling a small electronic microphone or micro video camera from it, tossing it to the floor and crushing it underfoot.

After sweeping all the rooms, she finally gave the bears the thumbs-up signal to indicate it was safe to speak again.

“At least now we know how Miss Pussy Galore comes by all of her secret knowledge in the Palace,” Susie said with a smirk, “She probably has every room and most of the grounds bugged so she and her little band of sister-wives can stay one step ahead of Emperor Koo-Koo.”

“Everyone just remember,” Adam said cautiously before the bears could resume their conversation and planning, “No one refers to Bernie by name. We don’t know if they got Bernie’s name from The Benefactors, but we must assume they did. We do know that they didn’t get any information about his appearance following his first change, so for now, Bernie’s name is just Big Red. Got it?”

“Got it,” everyone replied in unison.

“Okay Rodney,” Bill said. “Time to bring out the secret weapon.”

Rodney nodded and stepped into the middle of the circular room, his eyes glowing green.

“Wights,” he called, “To me!”

After a short pause, the mist began to seep through the domed ceiling until the cloud was swirling above Rodney’s head.

“Ok, listen, Rodney,” Bill began, “What I have planned is going to depend a lot on the Wights, and we aren’t going to be able to have you shouting commands at them for this to work. Do you feel confident that they can be quickly trained to learn a set of silent hand signals, and can they make independent decisions in an emergency based on prior instructions?”

“It might take a little practice,” Rodney replied, “But Marcus and I have been able to get them to do any number of tricks and tasks so far, so they have the ability to learn and adapt.”

“Well,” Mike interjected, “I’d guess that we have a few hours before the lions are going to ‘summon’ us for dinner. If we need to practice with the Wights, let’s get at it.”

Bill carefully laid out his instructions to Rodney which were greeted with laughter and enthusiastic nods of agreement from the other bears, wolves and tigers listening to his plan.

Rodney carefully broke Bill’s plan down into sets of small instructions to the Wights in terms that they could understand, and each member of the delegation took turns practicing with them until their actions and response to the signals from the group were so perfect, they could have been the headline act at a Las Vegas magic show.

“Nothing to do now but wait for the dinner bell and see if the lions are as big a bunch of suckers we think they are,” Thomas said privately to Axel, Ezekiel, Joel, and Gunnar as the tigers and wolves took their turns with the Wights. Even Charlie the cat was able to get in on the act, getting her cues practiced just as smoothly as the Wights themselves.

“I don’t think this plan needs the lions to be suckers to work,” Axel said objectively, “Imagine if you didn’t know what we know about the Wights, and you witnessed the things the lions are going to witness tonight and the next few days until they agree to leave us the fuck alone. What would you think?”

“If I was in their shoes,” Joel said, “I’d either be scared shitless, or I’d have us all ordered to be burned at the stake as witches. Let’s hope their real reaction is the former.”

****

The NALC delegation sat in silence as dinner was served by the cheetah servants. Platters of native root vegetables were accompanied by a large roasted animal of some kind, trussed upon a massive wooden carving board.

The cheetah who appeared to be the chef stood along the side of the formal dining table, carving bloody slices of the beast, and laying them carefully onto plates, which were then whisked by more cheetah servants and placed in front of the Emperor, Kings, lionesses and delegates in turn.

“Pardon me, your highness,” Marcus said, breaking the silence at the table, “But I’m a chef myself back home, and I don’t recognize the particular… animal… on which we will be dining tonight.”

“This is an okapi,” the Emperor replied, “Taken this afternoon from my private herd. They are an uncommon animal, best served rare.”

“I see,” Marcus replied, swallowing heavily, “I’ll have to get the recipe from your chef.”

Once all were served, the Emperor took the first bite of meat from his plate and nodded his head, declaring it acceptable, after which the Kings and lionesses all began to eat as well, and the North American delegates all picked up their utensils and tentatively took their first bites.

“Excuse me,” Siku said boldly after swallowing his first bite, “This is… delicious, but would you happen to have any fish available in the kitchen?”

“Is the okapi meat not agreeable to the delicate stomachs of the bears?” the Emperor asked derisively with a smirk.

“Oh no,” Siku replied, “I’m asking on behalf of Charlie.”

He turned his head to the orange cat sitting on his shoulder, and she delicately walked down the length of his arm and sniffed at the roasted meat apprehensively.

“You see,” he continued, “We live on the Pacific coast, and she eats a diet of raw fish almost exclusively.”

“I see,” the Emperor replied, narrowing his eyes at the boldness of the polar bear. He turned to one of the cheetah servants standing at attention around the table.

“You. Go into the kitchens and find some raw fish for our… guest.”

The cheetah hurried from the grand dining room as ordered, and Siku nodded his head at the Emperor in appreciation.

“Thank you, your Highness.”

“Meow!” Charlie added.

Kintu stared at the small cat for several seconds before shaking his head and returning his attention to the okapi steak on his plate. Soon, a glass bowl was brought into the room by the cheetah servant bearing fillets of a freshwater catfish cut into small pieces and placed in between Siku and Shivay at the table. Charlie wasted no time in digging in, meowing quietly to Siku at the deliciousness of her meal.

Also enthusiastically devouring their meal was Axel, shoving hunks of meat into his mouth as quickly as he could cut them.

“Ah, yer Highness,” Axel said around a mouthful of okapi meat, “This is the best! I’m going to have to see if my butcher back home in Atikokan can get me some of this here apuki on the regular. Are there seconds?”

The Emperor nodded silently at the cheetah chef, and another thick slice of meat was carved from the carcass and brought over to Axel.

“Are you in some sort of hurry, Axel?” The Emperor asked with amusement as the big Kodiak bear began devouring his second piece with gusto.

“Oh, yeah,” Axel said, swallowing his latest bite and wiping his mouth with his napkin. “You see, my Cub and I along with the polar bears and tigers have to be leaving soon. Me and Adam have a talent for tracking down ancient Weres wherever they may be hiding out, and… ‘re-introducing’ them to lycan society. We’ve got a date in Morocco with The Benefactors next, and I don’t want to keep them waiting.”

“Axel, Axel, Axel,” The Emperor replied, chuckling slightly as he addressed the bear, “First of all, The Benefactors have been pulling the strings of ‘lycan society’ as you call it from hiding for millennia. I’m quite sure that a raggedy pack of bears would not be successful in finding them if they do not wish to be found…”

“Sleuth,” Adam interrupted, causing the Emperor to look at him with contempt for speaking out of turn, “A group of bears is called a sleuth not a pack… your Highness.”

Kintu continued staring at Adam for a few more seconds before continuing to speak.

“Secondly,” he said, returning his stare back to Axel, “You bears and your tigers are not going anywhere until you have handed over the Heir of Odin. I want to make myself perfectly clear. Each hour that goes by in which you do not agree to my demands, life here in the Palace will become increasingly… uncomfortable for you.”

“Emperor Kintu,” Ezekiel said, drawing the lion’s attention away, “What is this fascination you have with the Heir of Odin?”

“My fascination?” Kintu roared, slamming his fist down upon the table, “My fascination is that you bears possess a dangerously powerful force and it poses a grave threat to my Empire and it’s people!”

“But your Highness,” Ezekiel replied calmly, “If the bears really wanted to attack your Empire, we would have done it long before now. The arrival of the Heir of Odin changes nothing.”

“Foolish bears!” Kintu raged, “You may be individually strong, but you are no match for the forces of my Empire!”

Ezekiel began to laugh, causing the ire of the Emperor to intensify, and the assembled Kings shifted uncomfortably in their seats at the scene unfolding over dinner.

“You mean your mighty warriors like that one over there?” Ezekiel asked, pointing his finger at a leopard guard positioned along a wall of the dining room. Almost instantly, the warrior’s body turned into wispy smoke and vanished.

Several of the Kings shouted in alarm, and Kintu stood up from his seat in a rage.

“What have you done with my warrior?” he roared.

“I’m just showing you the power of the bears,” Ezekiel said calmly. “We can remove any of you from the face of the Earth that we wish. Just like this, this, and this.”

As he spoke, Ezekiel pointed at three more leopards, and all three were turned to smoke and vanished in an instant.

Kintu stood dumbfounded and the lionesses hissed at the bears in anger and fear.

“So, old one,” one of the Kings finally said, “You have magical demigod powers as well…”

“Not just Ezekiel,” Gunnar replied, “It’s a common bear trait. Watch…”

Gunnar pointed at the cheetah chef standing next to the roast okapi with the carving knife still in his hand, and the lions watched in frustration as he too turned into a cloud of smoke and disappeared from the room.

“And don’t think you lions are immune from our powers either,” Axel said with a cocky smirk.

“Bang, bang, bang!” the Kodiak shouted as he pointed at three of the Emperor’s subordinate lioness wives who immediately turned to smoke and vanished as well.

The Kings all leapt from the table and ran to the far wall of the dining room, putting as much space between themselves and the bears as possible.

“Bring them back!” Auryon shrieked, standing and glaring at the delegates with fear and hatred. “Bring back my sisters at once!”

“We can bring them back,” Ezekiel said, remaining perfectly calm, “We can bring all of them back. As I have tried to tell you since meeting you this morning, your Highness, we bears want only peace. We have no intention of harming a single lion, leopard, or cheetah lycan in all of Africa. We simply needed to give you a display of the power we possess so that you can finally be convinced to leave us in peace as well.”

“I am still not going to allow any of you to leave,” Kintu replied, shaking with range, “Until I have received the head of the Heir of Odin from you as I have demanded. My demands have never been denied before, and they will not be denied now.”

“You still don’t get it, do you?” Axel said scornfully, “You don’t have the power to keep us here. We have only remained this long because it has amused us to do so.”

Kintu seethed as he stood at the head of the table but did not respond to the bear’s taunts.

“Grand-Papa,” Axel said to Ezekiel, “If I take my team with me now so that we may embark on our quest to unearth The Benefactors and discuss the… repercussions with them over the part they played in the lion’s assassination plot, will the rest of you be able to handle Emperor Impotent over there by yourselves until we return?”

“Of course, Axel,” Ezekiel replied cheerfully, “That’s a simple task. Why, even Charlie has the power to eliminate any of these pesky lions if they rub her fur the wrong way.”

Hearing her cue, Charlie leapt to the center of the table in front of one of the lioness wives and hissed, batting at her with her paw, and with a brief shriek, the lioness turned into a cloud of mist and vanished.

“See?” Ezekiel said, causing the remaining lionesses to run from the table and join the Kings cowering along the wall. “You and Adam go ahead and take the polar bears, tigers, and Charlie along with you.”

Bill cleared his throat and glanced at Ezekiel.

“Ah yes, why don’t you take Bill and Big Red with you as well. There’s no sense in keeping too many of us here at the Palace, twiddling our thumbs waiting for the Emperor to come to his senses.

“Safe travels, and good fortune in your encounter with The Benefactors. With luck we may achieve the peace we desire between our two continents without any unnecessary bloodshed.”

Axel nodded his head solemnly, and raised his right hand, palm facing outward. Immediately after making this motion, he too turned to mist and vanished from the table.

Each of the members of Axel’s team nodded their heads and held up their hands as well, one by one, vanishing in a whisp of smoke.

When all who were leaving to find The Benefactors had departed, Ezekiel turned his attention back to The Emperor.

“Is there anything else you wish to discuss today, your Highness?” Ezekiel asked, “Or are we free to return to our rooms for the night?”

“You…” Kintu began to say, faltering and searching for the words, “You promised my wife that you would bring her sisters back…”

“I promised no such thing,” Ezekiel replied smiling gently, “I simply said that we can bring them back. Are they important to you?”

“Yes!” Auryon cried from the side of the room where she cowered with the remaining wives, “They are important to me!”

“Very well,” Ezekiel said, “I will bring back all that we have eliminated from the Earth tonight. Leopard, cheetah, and lion alike. We very much want to earn your trust so that you can understand that we mean you no harm, and we do not attack or kill unless we are attacked first and are forced to defend ourselves.”

Ezekiel stood from his place at the table, and spread his arms wide, palms facing up. As he did so, a cloud of smoke formed in the corner of the room near the cowering Kings and wives and when it lifted, all who had been taken that evening were returned.

Kintu turned upon the restored group of mixed species with frustration.

“Where were you?” he asked with clear tension in his voice. “Where did you go?”

“I…” one of the lionesses said with tears in her eyes, “I don’t know, my Emperor. I saw no one else. I saw absolutely… nothing. No color, no sound, no smell. It was… a void.”

“That is just one of our powers,” Ezekiel explained, “We can put you all within the Void for a minute, a day, or eternity. It is entirely up to you, your Highness.”

“I think,” Kintu replied, “That it is time for our guests to return to their rooms.”

“Thank you for the lovely dinner, your Highness,” Gunnar said, standing from the table, and the rest of the bears rose as well, preparing to walk back through the spiraling maze of rooms to their wing.

“I’d like to add before we go,” Susie said boldly, speaking for the first time that night, “If we find any more electronic bugs within our rooms, or if we find any lions, leopards, or cheetahs entering our rooms uninvited with hostile intentions, the consequences for your actions will make you long for the gentle punishment of the Void. Am I clear?”

Kintu stared at the wolf with rage in his eyes, but the rest of the lions, Kings and wives alike nodded their heads in agreement.

“Super!” Susie replied, brightening her serious expression and blowing the Emperor a kiss as the bears filed out of the room. “Kiss, kiss! See you at breakfast, punkin!”

After the bears and wolves had departed, the Kings all breathed a sigh of relief, and shuffled cautiously back to their places at the dining table.

“Was it really that bad?” Auryon asked one of the lionesses who had disappeared.

“It wasn’t bad,” she replied, “Nor good. It was simply nothing. The kind of nothing that would quickly drive one insane if trapped within it for very long.”

“Now do you see, my Emperor?” King Tau said to Kintu after returning to the table. “Please, for the good of us all and the good of the Empire, just agree to their terms and let them leave in peace.”

“I see that we have underestimated these bears all along,” Kintu replied, not looking directly at Tau. “I see that I have been too focused on the Heir of Odin. Obsessed.”

“At last!” Tau exclaimed, grasping the Emperor by the arm. “You have seen the light of reason! Let us go and tell them now that you agree to their terms so they may leave us in peace!”

Kintu swung his other arm swiftly and struck Tau across the face with his hand, knocking the startled King to the floor.

“Coward!” he snarled at the lion at his feet. “I see now that it is all bears who must be eliminated, not just the Heir of Odin! For the good of Africa! For the good of the Empire!”