or emperor is almost inevitably succeeded by a hopeless incompetent.’
‘What’s the customary procedure here in Tamuli, sarabian?’ Ehlana asked. ‘I
know that you have nine wives. Does your first-born become the crown
Prince, no matter what the race of his mother?’
‘Oh, no. Certainly not. The throne descends to the first-born son of the
first wife. She’s always a Tamul, Since a Tamul princess is always the
first one a crown prince marries. I was married at the age of two,
actually. I married my other wives right after I was crowned emperor. It
was a group ceremony – eight brides and one bridegroom. That eliminates
jealousies and arguments about rank. I was absolutely exhausted the
following morning.’
‘You mean that – ?’
‘Oh, yes. It’s required. It’s another way to avoid those jealousies I
mentioned. And it all has to be finished by sunrise.’
‘How do they) decide who’s first?’ Ehlana sounded very interested. ‘I have
no idea. Maybe they roll dice for the privilege. There were four royal
bed-chambers on each side of a long corridor. I was obliged to go down that
endless hallway and to pay a call on each of my new brides. It killed my
grandfather. He wasn’t a young man when he ascended the throne, and the
exertion was too much for him. ‘
‘Do you suppose we could change the subject?’ Sparhawk asked. ‘Prude,’
Ehlana chided him. ‘I wonder if Dolmant would let me have more than one
husband,’ Danae mused. ‘Never mind,’ Sparhawk told her very firmly. The
others arrived, and they all gathered around a large table set with a lunch
consisting of unfamiliar delicacies. ‘How did you find Subat, your Grace?’
Sarabian asked the Primate of Ucera. ‘We went to his offices, and there he
was, your Majesty.’
‘Emban,’ Sephrenia chided the fat little churchman, .who was looking
suspiciously at an undefinable meatcourse. ‘Sorry, your Majesty,’ Emban
apologised. ‘Your prime minister still seems to be a bit set in his ways.’
‘you noticed,’ Sarabian said dryly. we definitely noticed, your Majesty,’
Vanion replied. ‘His Grace here turned his thinking upside down for him
just a bit, though. He suggested that what the world really needs is a
Divine Emperor or an Imperial Archprelacy. Both offices are incomplete as
they stand.’
‘Me? A God? Don’t be ridiculous, Emban. I’ve got enough problems with a
government. Please don’t pile a priesthood on top of it.’
‘I wasn’t really serious your Majesty,’ Emban replied. I just wanted to
shake up his thinking a bit more. That talk you had with him opened his
eyes right enough, but we still have to open his mind.’ what happened to
your arm?’ Vanion asked the woman he loved. Sephrenia had just turned back
her sleeve to reveal her bandaged wrist. I sprained it,’ she replied. ‘On a
stubborn Styric head,’ Zalasta added, chuckling. ‘~Sephrenia.’ Vanion
stared at her. I used my Pandion training, dear one,’ %she smiled. someone
should have told me that I was supposed to kKl( my wrist, though.’ , you
actually hit someone?’ Kalten asked incredulously. ‘She did indeed, Sir
Kalten,’ Zalasta grinned. ‘She knocked him half-way across the room. She
also threatened to kill him and even went so far as to begin the death
spell. He grew very co-operative at that point.’ They all stared at her in
disbelief. ‘Oh, stop that,’ she told them. Then she laughed softly. ‘It was
a great deal of fun actually. I’ve never bullied anyone before. It’s very
satisfying, isn’t it?’
‘we like it,’ Ulath grinned. ‘The Styrics will co-operate fully,’ she told
them. ‘How was the army?’ Emban asked Tynian. ‘I don’t think we should
expect too much there, your Grace,’ Tynian replied carefully, glancing at
the emperor. ‘Their function’s primarily ceremonial.’
‘They come from the very best families, Sir Knight,’ Sarabian said
defensively. ‘That might be part of the problem, your Majesty, that and
the fact that they’ve never had to actually fight anybody. We’ll be
depending on the Atans anyway, so we won’t really need the Imperial Army.’
He looked at Engessa. ‘is the local garrison up to standard, Atan Engessa?’
he asked. ‘A little soft, Tynian-Knight. I took them out for a run this
morning, and they began to falter after twenty miles. I gave some orders.
They’ll be fit by the end of the week.’
‘Things are falling into place,’ Vanion approved. ‘The palace servants
have all the usual vices, Lord Vanion,’ Khalad reported. ‘They love to
gossip. alcan’s making much better progress than I am – probably because
she’s prettier.’
‘Thank you,’ the girl murmured, lowering her eyelashes. ‘It’s no great
compliment, Alcan,’ Talen told her. ‘My
brother’s not a raving beauty’- none of us are. Our faces are designed for
wear, not for show.’
‘i’d guess that by the end of the week we should have gained their
confidence sufficiently to start picking up secrets,’ Khalad surmised. ‘You
Elenes amaze me,’ Sarabian marvelled. ‘You all seem to have an absolute
genius for intrigue.’
‘This is a rather select group your Majesty,’ Emban told him. ‘We knew
before we left Chyrellos that our major task here would be the gathering of
information. We chose people who were skilled at it.’
‘I came across one of the scholars in the contemporary affairs department
at the university,’ Bevier reported. ‘Most of the rest of the faculty has
already established reputations based on this or that past event. Resting
on one’s laurels is one of the failings of academics. They can coast along
on a single monograph for decades. Anyway, this fellow I mentioned is young
and hungry. He’s come up with a theory, and he’s riding it for all he’s
worth. He’s absolutely convinced that all the present turmoil’s emanating
from Arjuna – perhaps because no one else on the faculty’s staked out that
particular ground yet. He’s also convinced that Scarpa’s the man behind the
entire conspiracy.’ who’s Scarpa?’ Kalten asked. ‘Zalasta told us about
him,’ Ulath reminded him. ‘He serves the same function in Arjuna as Sabre
does in Astel and Gerrich does in Lamorkand.’
‘Oh, yes, now I remember.’
‘Anyway,’ Bevier continued, ‘our scholar’s gathered a huge mass of
corroborating evidence, some of it very shakey. He’ll talk for hours about
his theory to anybody who cares to listen.’
‘ is anybody else at the university working on any alternatives?’ ~Emban
asked him. ‘Not actively, your Grace. They don’t want to risk their
reputations on false leads. Academic timidity’s urging them to take a
wait-and-see position. My young enthusiast doesn’t have a reputation, so
he’s willing to take some risks.’
‘Stay with him, Bevier,’ Vanion said. ‘Even negative conclusions can help
to narrow the search.’
‘My feelings exactly, Lord Vanion.’
‘Do you suppose I could impose on your Majesty?’ Stragen asked the
emperor. ‘That’s what a host is for, Milord,’ Sarabian grinned. ‘impose to
your heart’s content.’
‘You did know that there are criminals here in Matherion, didn’t you?’
‘You mean other than the members of my government?’ Stragen laughed. ‘Score
one for you, your Majesty,’ he said. ‘There’s a world below the surface in
every major city in the world,’ he explained. ‘It’s a world of thieves,
pickpockets, burglars, beggars, whores, swindlers and murderers. They eke
out a precarious existence by preying on the rest of society.’
‘We’re aware that such people exist, of course,’ Sarabian said. ‘That’s
why we have policemen and prisons.’
‘Yes, your Majesty. Those are some of the minor inconveniences in the
criminal’s life. What isn’t generally known, however, is the fact that the
criminals of the world co-operate with each other to some degree.’
‘Go on.’
‘I’ve had some contacts with those people in the past, your Majesty,’
Stragen went on, choosing his words carefully. ‘They can be very useful.
There’s almost nothing that goes on in a city that some criminal doesn’t
know about. If you make it clear that you’re not interested in their
activities, they’ll usually sell you the information they’ve picked up.’
‘A business arrangement then?’
‘Precisely. It’s something on the order of buying stolen goods. It’s not
very nice, but many people do it.’
‘Of course.’
‘Now, then. This co-operative spirit I mentioned doesn’t exist here in
Matherion. Tamuls don’t cooperate very well for some reason. Each
profession here keeps strictly to itself. They’ve even formed guilds, and
they view other criminal professions with contempt and suspicion. We’re
going to have to ‘break down those walls if those people are to be of any
use to us.’
‘That stands to reason, Milord.’ Stragen seemed to breathe a bit easier.
‘I’ve made some arrangements, your Majesty,’ he said. ‘The leaders of the
various criminal guilds are going to come here. They respect you
enormously, and they’ll obey if you tell them to do something.’ He paused.
‘That’s as long as you don’t command them to become honest, of course.’
‘Of course. You can’t ask a man to give up his profession, I suppose.’
‘Exactly. What you can order them to do, though, your ‘ Majesty, is to