found out about Bhelliom’s awareness if we’d left it where it
was. That’s the thing that nobody knew about – except possibly
Aphrael. Azash didn’t seem to know about it, and neither does
Cyrgon. I doubt that either one would have been so interested
in it if they’d known that it might resist their commands – even
to the point of obliterating this world if necessary.’
‘All right,’ Khalad said. ‘Now we know what’s led up to all
this. What happens next?’
‘That lieth in the future, Khalad of Demos,’ Xanetia replied,
‘and the future is concealed from all. Know, however, that our
enemies are in disarray. Zalasta’s position as advisor to the
imperial government was at the core of all their plans.’
‘How quickly will he be able to recover, Sephrenia?’ Ehlana
asked. ‘You know him better than anyone. Will he be able to
strike back immediately?’
‘Possibly,’ Sephrenia said, ‘but whatever he does won’t be
very well thought out. Zalasta’s a Styric, and we don’t react well
to surprises. he’ll flounder for a while – destroying mountains
and setting lakes on fire – before he gets hold of himself.’
‘We should hit him again, then,’ Bevier observed. ‘We
shouldn’t allow him to recover his balance.’
‘Here’s a thought,’ Sarabian said. ‘After we went through the
secret files of the Interior Ministry, we decided to pick up only
the top level of conspirators – the police chiefs and administrators
in the various towns for the most part. We didn’t bother
with the toadies and informers – largely because we didn’t have
enough jail-space. The Interior Ministry was central to the whole
conspiracy, I think, and now Zalasta and his friends will probably
be forced to rely on the scrapings we left behind. If I send
the Atans out to make a more thorough sweep, won’t that push
Zalasta off balance all the more?’
‘Let him start to settle down first, Sarabian,’ Sephrenia
advised. ‘Right now he’s so enraged that he probably wouldn’t
even notice.’
‘is Norkan still on the Isle of Tega?’ Vanion asked suddenly.
‘No,’ Ehlana replied. “I got tired of the forged letters he was
sending me from there, so we sent him back to Atan.’
‘Good. I think we’d better get word of Zalasta’s treachery to
him as quickly as possible. Betuana really needs to know about
it.’
‘I’ll see to it, Vanion-Preceptor,’ Engessa promised.
‘Thank you, Engessa-Atan. If that little outburst in the throne-room
is any indication of his present state of mind, Zalasta’s
totally out of control right now.’
‘infuriated to the brink of insanity,’ Sephrenia agreed. It was
the first time she had spoken directly to Vanion since the rupture
between them. That fact gave Sparhawk some hope.
‘he’ll almost have to do something then, won’t he?’ Vanion
asked her. ‘in his present state, inaction would be unbearable.’
She nodded. ‘He’ll respond in some way,’ she said, ‘and since
he wasn’t at all prepared for what just happened, whatever he
does won’t have been planned out in advance.’
‘So it’ll have large holes in it, won’t it?’
‘ Probably. ‘
‘Most likely it would involve the use of main force,’ Sparhawk
added. ‘Enraged people usually try to smash things.”
‘You’d better alert Norkan and Betuana to the possibility,
Engessa-Atan,’ Sarabian instructed.
“it shall be as you say, Sarabian-Emperor.’
Vanion began to pace up and down. ‘Zalasta’s still more or
less in command,’ he said. ‘At least he will be until he does
something so stupid that Cyrgon replaces him. Why don’t we
let him have his temper-tantrum, crush it, and then round up
all the minor conspirators? Let’s frighten our opponents just a
bit. If they see us methodically smashing everything they’ve
gone to so much trouble to prepare, and rounding up all their
friends, they’ll start having thoughts about their own mortality.
At that point, I think Cyrgon’s going to have to show himself,
and then Sparhawk can turn Bhelliom loose on him.’
“I hate it when he’s like this,’ Sephrenia said to Xanetia. ‘He’s
so certain – and probably so right. Men are much more appealing
when they’re just helpless little boys.’ The casual-seeming
remark was startling. Sephrenia was clearly stepping over
ancient racial antagonisms between Styric and Delphae and
speaking to Xanetia as one woman to another.
‘Then all we really have to do is sit here and wait for Zalasta’s
next move,’ Sarabian observed. “I wonder what he’s going to
do.’
They did not have to wait long for the answer. A few days
later an exhausted Atan stumbled across the drawbridge with
an urgent message from Ambassador Norkan.
‘Oscagne,’ the message began with characteristic abruptness,
’round up every Atan you can lay your hands on and send them
all here. The Trolls are dismantling northern Atan right down
to the very bedrock.’
CHAPTER 23
‘We can’t send them, Engessa-Atan,’ Sarabian said. ‘We need
them right where they are. At the moment, they’re all that’s
holding the Empire together.’
Engessa nodded. “I understand the situation, Sarabian-Emperor,
but Betuana-Queen will only wait for so long. If the
lands of the Atans are in peril, she will have no choice but to
act. She will order the Atans home – despite her alliance with
you.’
‘She’s going to have to pull her people back,’ Vanion advised
the huge Atan. ‘She doesn’t have enough warriors to defend
the north against the Trolls, so she may have to abandon
northern Atan for a while. We won’t be able to send full garrisons
to her aid, but we can pull one or two platoons out of each
garrison. That’s several thousand warriors altogether, but
it’s going to take them longer to reach Atan because they’re
so spread out. She’ll just have to pull back until we can get
there. ‘
‘We are Atans, Vanion-Preceptor. We do not run away.’
‘i’m not suggesting that, Engessa-Atan. All your queen will
be doing is repositioning her forces. she can’t hold the north at
the moment, and there’s no point in wasting lives trying. The
best we can do for her in the meantime is to send some Genidian
advisors and Cyrinic technical assistance.’
‘Not quite, friend Vanion,’ Kring said. ‘I’ll go to Tikume in
central Astel. The eastern Peloi aren’t as fearful of forests as my
children are, and Tikume loves a good fight as much as I do, so
he’ll probably bring several thousand horsemen with him. I’ll
gather up a few hundred bowmen and come to Atan ahead of
his main force.’
‘Your offer is generous, friend Kring,’ Engessa said.
“it’s a duty, Engessa-Atan. You serve as Mirtai’s father, and
that makes us kinsmen.’ Kring absently rubbed his hand across
his shaved scalp. ‘The bowmen are very important, I think. Your
Atans have moral objections about using bows in warfare, but
when we met those Trolls in eastern Astel, we found out that
you can’t really fight them without shooting them full of arrows
first.’
‘Here’s another thought,’ Khalad said, holding up his crossbow.
‘How do your people feel about these, Engessa-Atan?’ Engessa spread
his hands. “it is a new device here in Tamuli,
Khalad-squire. We have not yet formed an opinion about it.
Some Atans may accept it; others may not.’
‘We wouldn’t have to arm all the Atans with crossbows,’
Khalad said. He looked at Sparhawk. ‘Will you be needing me
here, my Lord?’ he asked.
‘Why don’t you see if you can persuade me that I won’t?’
‘That’s a cumbersome way to put it, Sparhawk. We’ve still got
all those crossbows we gathered up when we put down the
coup. I broke most of them, but it won’t take me too long to fix
them again. I’ll go north with Engessa-Atan and the technical
advisors. Engessa can try to persuade his people that the crossbow’s
a legitimate weapon of war, and I’ll teach them how to
use it.’
‘I’ll join you in Atan later,’ Kring told them. ‘I’ll have to
lead Tikume’s bowmen to the city. The Peloi tend to get lost in
forests.’
‘Never mind, Mirtai,’ Ehlana told the giantess, whose eyes
had suddenly come alight. “I need you here.’
‘My betrothed and my father are going to war, Ehlana,’ Mirtai
objected. ‘You can’t expect me to stay behind.’
‘Oh yes I can. You can’t go, and that’s final.’
‘May I be excused?’ Mirtai asked stiffly.
‘if you wish.’
Mirtai stormed toward the door.
‘Don’t break all the furniture,’ Ehlana called after her.
It was really only a small domestic crisis, but it was a crisis all
the same, largely because the Royal Princess Danae declared
that she would die if her wandering cat were not found immediately.
She wandered tearfully around the throne-room, climbing
into laps, pleading, cajoling. Sparhawk was once again able to
observe the devastating effect his daughter could have on someone’s
better judgement when she was sitting in the’ person’s lap.
‘please help me find my cat, Sarabian,’ she said, touching
the Emperor’s cheek with one small hand. Sparhawk had long