when they had gathered again in the royal apartment, ‘you do
not have our permission to withdraw. You’re a member of the
royal council of Elenia, and we have need of you.’
Sephrenia’s pale, grief-stricken face went stiff. ‘As your
Majesty commands.’
‘Snap out of it, Sephrenia. This is an emergency. We don’t
have time for personal concerns. Zalasta’s betrayed us all, not
just you. Now we have to try to minimize the damage.’
‘You’re not being fair, mother,’ Danae accused.
‘i’m not trying to be. You’ll be queen one day, Danae. Now
sit down, keep your mouth shut, and learn.’
Danae looked startled. Then her chin came up. She curtsied.
‘Yes, your Majesty,’ she said.
‘That’s better. I’ll make a queen of you yet. Sir Bevier.’
‘Yes, your Majesty?’ Bevier replied.
‘Tell your Cyrinics to man their catapults. Vanion, put the rest
of the knights on the walls and tell them to start boiling the pitch.
Zalasta’s on the loose out there. He’s completely lost control of
himself, and we have no idea of what forces he has at his command.
In his present state, he may try anything, so let’s be ready just in
case.’
‘You sound like a field-marshal, Ehlana,’ Sarabian told her.
“I am,’ she replied absently. “it’s one of my titles. Sparhawk,
can Bhelliom counter any magic Zalasta might throw at us?’
‘Easily, my Queen. He probably won’t try anything, though
You saw what happened to him when Bhelliom blew his cloud
apart. It’s very painful to have one of your spells broken.
Sephrenia knows him better than I do. She can tell you whether
or not he’s desperate enough to risk that again.’
‘Well, Sephrenia?’ Ehlana asked.
“I don’t really know, your Majesty,’ the small Styric woman
replied after a moment’s thought. ‘This is a side of him I’ve
never seen before. I honestly believe he’s gone mad. He might
do almost anything.’
‘We’d better be ready for him, then. Mirtai, ask Kalten and
Ulath to bring Kolata in here. Let’s find out just how far this
conspiracy goes.’
Sparhawk drew Sephrenia to one side. ‘How did Zalasta find
out about Danae?’ he asked. “it’s obvious that he knows who
she really is. Did you tell him?’
‘No. She told me not to.’
‘That’s peculiar. I’ll talk with her later and find out why.
Maybe she suspected something – or it might have been one ‘of
those hunches of hers.’ He thought for a moment. ‘Could he
have been trying to kill you? It seemed that he was throwing that
fireball at Danae, but you might have been his target.’
“I could never believe that, Sparhawk.’
‘At this point, I’m almost ready to believe anything.’ he
hesitated. ‘Xanetia knew about him, you realize. She told us
earlier.’
‘Why didn’t you warn me?’ Her tone was shocked.
‘Because you wouldn’t have believed her. You’re not really
inclined to trust her word, Sephrenia. You had to see Zalasta’s
treachery for yourself. Oh, incidentally, she did save your life,
you’ll remember. You might want to give that some thought.’
‘Don’t scold me, Sparhawk,’ she said with a wan little smile.
‘i’m having a difficult enough time as it is.’
“I know, and I’m afraid nobody can make it any easier for
you.
Kolata proved to be very cooperative. his weeks of confinement
had broken his spirit, and Zalasta’s obvious willingness to kill
him had canceled any loyalty he might have felt. “I really don’t
know,’ he replied to Oscagne’s question. ‘Teovin might, though.
He’s the one who brought Zalasta’s proposal to me originally.’
‘Then you haven’t been involved in this affair since you were
first appointed to office?’
“I don’t think “this affair”, as you call it, has been going on
for that long. I can’t say for certain, but I got the impression
that it all started about five or six years ago.’
‘You’ve been recruiting people for longer than that.’
‘That was just ordinary Tamul politics, Oscagne. I knew that
the Prime Minister was an idiot as soon as I took office. You
were my only significant opponent. I was recruiting people to
counter your moves – and your absurd idea that the subject
kingdoms of Daresia are foreign nations rather than integral
parts of metropolitan Tamuli.’
‘We can discuss jurisdictional disputes some other time, Kolata.
It was Teovin, then? He’s been your contact with the
enemy?’
Kolata nodded. ‘Teovin and a disreputable drunkard named
Krager. Krager’s an Eosian, and he’s had dealings with Prince
Sparhawk before, I understand. Everyone in our loose confederation
knows him, so he makes a perfect messenger – when he’s
sober.’
‘That’s Krager, all right,’ Kalten noted.
‘What exactly did Zalasta offer you, Kollata?’ Oscagne asked
the prisoner.
‘Power, wealth – the usual. You’re a minister of the government,
Oscagne. You know the game and the stakes we play for.
We all thought that the Emperor was no more than a figurehead,
well meaning, a little vague, and not really very well informed
– sorry, your Majesty, but that’s what we all believed.’
‘Thank you,’ Sarabian replied. ‘That’s what you were supposed
to think. What really baffles me, though, is the fact that
you all overlooked the fact that the Atans are loyal to me personally.
Didn’t any of you take that into consideration?’
‘We underestimated your Majesty. We didn’t think you
grasped the full implications of that. If we’d thought for a
moment that you really understood how much power you had,
we’d have killed you.’
“I rather thought you might have. That’s why I played the
simpleton. ‘
“Did Zalasta tell you who was really behind all of this?’
Oscagne asked.
‘He pretended that he was speaking for Cyrgon,’ Kolata
replied. ‘We didn’t take that too seriously, though. Styrics are
peculiar people. They always try to make us believe that they
represent a higher power of some kind. They never seem to
want to accept full responsibility. So far as I know, however, it
was Zalasta’s scheme.’
“I think that maybe it’s time for us to hear from Zalasta himself,’
Vanion said.
‘Have you got him hidden up your sleeve, Vanion?’ Ehlana
asked.
‘in a manner of speaking, your Majesty. Kalten, why don’t
you take the Minister of the Interior back to his room? He looks
a little tired.’
“I still have questions, Lord Vanion,’ Oscagne protested.
‘We’ll get you your answers, old boy,’ Itagne assured
him, ‘quicker and in much greater detail. You plod, Oscagne.
It’s one of your failings. We’re just going to hurry things
along.’ Vanion waited until Kalten and Ulath had removed Kolata
from the room. ‘We’ve told you all in a general sort of way that
Xanetia knows what other people are thinking. This isn’t just
some vague notion about feelings or moods. If she chooses, she
can repeat your thoughts word for word. Most of you probably
have some doubts about that, so in the interests of saving time’,
why don’t we have her demonstrate? Would you tell us what
Queen Ehlana’s thinking right now, Anarae?’
‘An it please thee, Lord Vanion,’ the Delphaeic woman
replied. ‘Her majesty is enjoying herself very much at the
moment. She is, howevre, discontent with thee for thine interruption.
She is pleased with the progress of Emperor Sarabian,
thinking it might now be reasonable to expect some small
measure of competence from him. She hath, as well, certain
designs of an intimate nature upon her husband, for political
activity (doth ever stir that side of her personality.’
Ehlana’s face turned bright red. ‘you stop that at once.’ she
exclaimed.
‘i’m sorry, your majesty,’ Vanion apologized. ‘I didn’t anticipate
that last bit. Did Xanetia more or less read your thoughts
correctly?”
‘you know I won’t answer that, Vanion.’ The queen’s face
was still flaming.
‘Will you at least concede that she has access to the’ thoughts
of others?’
‘i’d heard about that,’ Sarabian mused. ‘I thought it was just
another of the wild stories we hear about the Delphae.’
‘Bhelliom confirmed it, Emperor Sarabian,’ Sparhawk told
him. ‘Xanetia can read others the way you’d read an open book.
I’d imagine that she’s read Zalasta from cover to cover. She
should be able to tell us everything we want to know.’ He looked
at Xanetia. ‘Could you give us a sort of summary of Zalasta’s
life, Anarae?’ he asked her. ‘Sephrenia in particular is deeply saddened by
what he revealed in the throne-room. Maybe if
she knows the reason for his actions, she’ll find them easier to
understand. ‘
‘I can speak for myself, Sparhawk,’ Sephrenia told him tartly.”
‘i’m sure you can, little mother. I was just serving as an intermediary.
You and Xanetia don’t get on too well.’
‘What’s this?’ Sarabian asked quickly.
‘An ancient enmity, your Majesty,’ Xanetia explained. ‘So
ancient, in truth, that none living knoweth its source.’
‘I know,’ Sephrenia grated at her, ‘and it’s not as ancient as
all that.’
‘Perhaps, but hearken unto the mind of Zalasta, and judge
for thyself, Sephrenia of Ylara.’