Free Love And War by Various Page A

was. One of the centaurs - you remember them;
    they replaced you as guardians? - still knows some of the song. But you shouldn't be
     surprised; scandal always outlives honour"
    “True. For example, look at us - though we can hardly be said to be outliving anything.”
    Presently the spirit grunted in satisfaction and raised a timeworn crown on his
     sword-point. He put it on with a bony hand, adjusting it carefully and standing straight.
     For barely a moment he looked like some mockery of a real monarch.
    The stag said deliberately, “Long live the king.”
    “The king lived long enough.” The dead king sat a moment, looking much like a tired man,
     for the dead who may not rest know more weariness than any of us. “Tell me, did you see
     anyone this night?”
    “You know I did. A knight, a mage, a half-elf, assorted two-legged shortlings. They are
     important to you?”
    “They are important, I think.” The king said absently, “You seem curious. I had thought
     you indifferent to everything.”
    “To everything beneath me, which is much of the world. And you, great and loyal Peris?”
    “Much the same. Of course, more is beneath a dead king”
    The stag said drily, “Long though we have endured, our standards are still better
     preserved than we are. May they last forever. What is their importance?”
    “The standards?”
    “Their importance is self-evident, or it is none. I mean the strangers; how are they
     important?” “To the future of our wood and world.”
    “Ah. Politics.” The stag nodded wisely. “I try to avoid politics.”
    “I understand completely,” the king said casually. “I tried to avoid politics - once.”
    “A question of permission to enter, and of forced entry, wasn't it?”
    “It was.” He added with uncustomary frankness, “A question of entry by evil, and into
     these woods - which at that time were not called Darken. Perhaps you remember the stanzas
     - ”
    “I do.” The stag sang, a little too eagerly for the king's liking:
    BUT ONE LONE GUARD FOREWARNED THE KING: “THIS HUNT IS EVIL-STARRED; FOR THOSE WITH ARMS
     AND POTENT CHARMS AGAINST WHOM WE MUST GUARD NO MORE WILL WAIT WITH EYES OF HATE AND SOULS AND HEARTS OF GALL, BUT PURGE THE WOOD OF
     LIGHT AND GOOD, AND GODS FORGIVE US ALL.”
    He looked expectantly at King Peris, who sighed hollowly and sang with as full a voice as
     a spirit could muster:
    STILL PERIS BOASTS, “STEP DOWN, MY HOSTS, AND HEAR THE HUNTING-HORN, LET MEN INVADE BOTH
     WOOD AND GLADE, WE HUNT THE UNICORN.”
    He lowered his sword, which he had raised for emphasis. “It wasn't that way at all, of
     course. And it wasn't rebellion, or wilful treason, or any of those things. My men were
     bored; I was bored. A hint or two from their commanding officer - ” he made a mock bow“ -
     was all it took.” He looked around himself. “Imagine thinking anything in a short life and
     a merry one could be boring. I threw away a kingdom for a day's amusement and an afterlife
     of painful tedium.”
    “I am surprised to hear you admit it.”
    “I am surprised also. Perhaps something is troubling me. Let us change the subject.”
    “I shall. Did you speak to any of the strangers?” As the king shook his head, the stag
     nodded, “For I thought I saw one address you.”
    “Ah. That one was a mage. He spoke first.” The king looked as though he had never even
     tried to evade answering.
    “What did he say to you? I could not hear.”
    King Peris said with difficulty, “He knew that we were the spirits of men who had failed a
     pledge, that we were doomed to perform that same task endlessly until we somehow earned
     final peace.”
    “Knowledgeable man.”
    “Mages often are. I think he meant to remind me that I could earn final peace.”
    “And what did you say to him of your present state, 0 King? For if I may be truthful, you
     do not appear in full majesty. Empty majesty is more like it.”
    “I told him that we