Gilad laughed. ‘Indeed it sounds right. But the northern steppes make poor farmland. Mainly they breed goats and ponies. Any luxuries they desire, they must steal. Now to the Nadir, so Dun Pinar told me at the banquet, the word for stranger is the same as the word for enemy. Anyone not of the tribe is simply there to be killed and stripped of goods. It is a way of life. Smaller tribes are wiped out by larger tribes. Ulric changed the pattern; by amalgamating beaten tribes into his own, he grew more and more powerful. He controls all the northern kingdoms now, and many to the east. Two years ago he took Manea, the sea kingdom.’
‘I heard about that,’ said Bregan. ‘But I thought he had withdrawn after making a treaty with the king.’
‘Dun Pinar says the king agreed to be Ulric’s vassal and Ulric holds the king’s son hostage. The nation is his.’
‘He must be a pretty clever man,’ said Bregan. ‘But what would he do if he ever conquered the whole world? I mean, what good is it? I would like a bigger farm and a house with several floors. That I can understand. But what would I do with ten farms? Or a hundred?’
‘You would be rich and powerful. Then you could tell your tenant fanners what to do and they would all bow as you rode past in your fine carriage.’
‘That doesn’t appeal to me, not at all,’ said Bregan.
‘Well, it does to me,’ said Gilad. ‘I’ve always hated it when I had to tug the forelock for some passing nobleman on a tall horse. The way they look at you, despising you because you work a smallholding; paying more money for their hand-made boots than I can earn in a year of slaving. No, I wouldn’t mind being rich – so pig-awful rich that no man could ever look down on me again.’
Gilad turned his face away to stare out over the plains – his anger fierce, almost tangible.
‘Would you look down on people then, Gil? Would you despise me because I wanted to remain a farmer?’
‘Of course not. A man should be free to do what he wants to do, as long as it doesn’t hurt others.’
‘Maybe that’s why Ulric wants to control everything. Maybe he is sick of everyone looking down on the Nadir.’
Gilad turned back to Bregan and his anger died within him.
‘Do you know, Breg, that’s just what Pinar said, when I asked him if he hated Ulric for wanting to smash the Drenai. He said, “Ulric isn’t trying to smash the Drenai, but to raise the Nadir.” I think Pinar admires him.’
‘The man I admire is Orrin,’ said Bregan. ‘It must have taken great courage to come out and train with the men as he has done. Especially being as unpopular as he was. I was so pleased when he won back the Swords.’
‘Only because you won five silver pieces on him,’ Gilad pointed out.
‘That’s not fair, Gil! I backed him because he was Karnak; I backed you too.’
‘You backed me for a quarter-copper and him for a half-silver, according to Drebus who took your bet.’
Bregan tapped his nose, smiling. ‘Ah, but then you don’t pay the same price for a goat as for a horse. But the thought was there. After all, I knew you couldn’t win.’
‘I damn near had that Bar Britan. It was a judge’s decision at the last.’
‘True,’ said Bregan. ‘But you would never have beaten Pinar, or that fellow with the earring from the Legion. But what’s even more to the point, you never could have beaten Orrin. I’ve seen you both fence.’
‘Such judgement!’ said Gilad. ‘It’s small wonder to me that you didn’t enter yourself, so great is your knowledge.’
‘I don’t have to fly in order to know that the sky is blue,’ said Bregan ‘Anyway, who did you back?’
‘Gan Hogun.’
‘Who else? Drebus said you had placed two bets,’ said Bregan innocently.
‘You know very well. Drebus would have told you.’
‘I didn’t think to ask.’
‘Liar! Well, I don’t care. I backed myself to reach the last fifty.’