thee out of the hearing of others.’ I just adore archaic speech, don’t
you?
‘That is not customary, Lady – ?’he replied, fishing for my name.
The duke was a handsome fellow with flowing brown hair, and he
wore a regal purple velvet doublet and a circlet that stopped just
short of being a crown.
‘I will identify myself unto thee when we are alone, your Grace,’
I advised him and went on to suggest the possibility of spies lurking
in the background. Arends absolutely adore intrigue, so the duke
walked right into that one. He rose. offered me his arm, and led me
to a private chamber where we could talk. Father, in the form of a
somewhat flea-bitten hound, trailed along behind us.
The duke escorted me to a pleasant room where filmy curtains
billowed in the breeze coming in through the open windows. He
shooed my father out, closed the door, and then turned to me. ‘And
now, dear Lady,’ he said, ‘prithee disclose thy name unto me.’
‘My name’s Polgara, your Grace,’ I replied. ‘You may have heard
of me.’ I deliberately dropped the archaic speech. Archaism, though
quite lovely, has a tendency to lull the mind, and I wanted his Grace
to be very alert.
‘The daughter of Ancient Belgarath?’ He said it in a startled tone.
‘Exactly, your Grace.’ I was a little surprised to find that he knew
of me. I probably shouldn’t have been. What some in the west refer
to as ‘the brotherhood of sorcerers’ is the stuff of myth and legends,
and Arends have a natural affinity for that sort of thing.
‘My poor house is overwhelmed that thou hast so graciously
honored it with thy presence.’
I smiled at him. ‘Please, your Grace,’ I said in a slightly whimsical
tone, ‘let’s not get carried away here. Your house is the most
beautiful I’ve ever seen, and I’m the one who’s honored to be received
here.’
‘That was a little extravagant, wasn’t it?’ he admitted with a rueful
unarendish candor. ‘Thy statement, however, startled me, and I fell
back on extravagance to cover my confusion. To what do we owe
the pleasure of thy divine company?’
‘Hardly divine, your Grace. You’ve been receiving some bad
advice lately. There’s a Tolnedran merchant here in Vo Wacune
who’s been telling you that he speaks for Ran Vordue, but he’s
lying. Ran Vordue probably doesn’t even know him. The house of
Vordue is not offering you an alliance.’
‘I had thought my discussions with the merchant Haldon were
most private, Lady Polgara.’
‘I have certain advantages, your Grace. Things here in Arendia
have a habit of changing almost hourly, so perhaps you could tell
me with whom you’re currently at war.’
‘The Asturians – this week,’ he replied wryly. ‘Should that war
chance to grow boring, we can always find some excuse to declare
war on Mimbre, I suppose. We haven’t had a good war with the
Mimbrates for nearly two years now.’ I was almost certain that he
was joking.
‘Are there any alliances?’ I asked.
‘We have a rather tentative agreement with the Mimbrates,’ he
replied. ‘The Mimbrates have no more reason to be fond of Asturians
than do we. If truth be known, however, my alliance with Corrolin
of Mimbre is little more than an agreement that he will not attack
my southern border whilst I deal with that wretched little drunkard,
oldoran of Asturia. I had hopes of an alliance with Tolnedra, but
if thine information should prove true, those hopes are dashed.’ He
,jammed his fist down on the table. ‘What doth Haldon hope to
achieve by this deception?’ he blurted out. ‘Why would he bring
this spurious offer from his emperor?’
‘Ran Vordue isn’t Haldon’s master, your Grace. Haldon speaks
for Ctuchik.’
‘The Murgo?’
‘Ctuchik’s lineage is a little more complicated than that, but let it
pass for now.’
‘Of what concern are Arendish internal affairs to the Murgos?’
‘Arendish internal affairs concern everyone, your Grace. Your poor
Arendia’s an ongoing disaster, and disasters have a way of
spreading. In this case, though, Ctuchik wants the strife to spread. He wants
confusion here in the west to open the door for his Master.’
‘His Master?’
‘Ctuchik’s one of Torak’s disciples, and the time’s not too far off
when the Dragon-God’s going to invade the western kingdoms. This
Haldon’s only one of the people Ctuchik’s insinuated into Arendia.
There are others who are stirring up similar mischief in Asturia and
Mimbre. If each duchy can be persuaded that it has an alliance with
the Tolnedrans, and the legions don’t appear when and where you
expect them to, you, Corrolin, and Oldoran will probably attack
Tolnedra – either individually or in some hastily-formed alliance. That’s
Ctuchik’s ultimate goal – war between Arendia and Tolnedra.’
‘What a ghastly thought!’ he exclaimed. ‘No alliance between
Corrolin, Oldoran, and me could ever be firm enough for us to
Withstand the imperial legions! We’d be swarmed under!’
‘Precisely. And if Tolnedra crushes and then annexes Arendia, the
Alorns will be drawn in to protect their interests. All the kingdoms of
the west could go up in flames.’ A thought came to me at that point.
‘I think I’d better suggest to my father that he go have a look at
Aloria. If Ctuchik’s stirring things up here in the south, he could
very well be doing the same in the north. We don’t need another
Outbreak of clan wars in the Alorn kingdoms. If everybody here in
the west is fighting everybody else, the door’ll be wide open for an
invasion from Mallorea.’
‘I would not insult thee for all this world, Lady Polgara, but
Haldon hath documents bearing the seal and signature of Ran
Vordue.’
‘The imperial seal isn’t that difficult to duplicate, your Grace. I
can make one for you right here and now, if you’d like.’
‘Thou art most skilled in the devious world of statecraft, Lady
Polgara.’
‘I’ve had some practice, your Grace.’ I thought for a moment. ‘If
we do this right, we might be able to turn Ctuchik’s scheme to our
own advantage. I’m not trying to be offensive here, but it’s a part
of the Arendish nature to need an enemy. Let’s see if we can re-direct
that enmity. Wouldn’t it be nicer to hate Murgos rather than each
other?’
‘Far nicer, my Lady. I’ve met a few Murgos, and I’ve never
encountered one that I liked. They are a most unlovable race, it
seemeth to me.’
‘Indeed they are, your Grace, and their God is even worse.’
‘Doth Torak plan immediate action against the west?’
‘I don’t think even Torak himself knows what he plans, your
Grace.’
‘Prithee, Lady Polgara, my friends do call me Kathandrion, and
this vital information which thou hath brought unto me hath surely
made thee my friend.’
‘As it pleaseth thee, Lord Kathandrion,’ I said with a polite little
curtsey.
He bowed in reply, and then he laughed. ‘We are getting along
well, aren’t we, Polgara?’ he suggested.
‘I rather thought so myself,’ I agreed, a little startled by the duke’s
lapse into what I considered to be normal speech. As we came to
know each other better, Kathandrion stepped down from’high style’
more and more frequently, and I took that to be an indication of a
fair level of intelligence. Kathandrion could – and frequently did
stun his listeners into near-insensibility with flowery language, but
there was a real mind hiding behind all those ‘thees,’ ‘thous,’ and
‘forasmuches’. When he chose to speak normally, his tone was often
humorously self-deprecatory, and his ability to laugh at himself was
most unarendish. ‘We’d probably better get used to each other,
Kathandrion,’ I told him. ‘I have a suspicion that you and I have a
long way to go together.’
‘I could not wish for more pleasant company, dear Lady.’ He
reverted to ‘high style’, and the sudden contrast also contained a
hidden chuckle. This was a very complicated man. Then he sighed
just a bit theatrically.
,Why so great a sigh, friend Kathandrion?’
,If the truth be known, thou hast given me reason to consider
abdication, Polgara,’ he lamented. ‘The peace and quiet of a
monastery do beckon unto me most invitingly. Are international politics
always so murky?’
,Usually. Sometimes they’re worse.’
‘I wonder if they’ll make me shave my head,’ he mused, tugging
a long, brown strand of hair around so that he could look at it.
‘I beg your pardon?’
‘When I enter the monastery.’
‘Oh, come now, Kathandrion. We’re having fun, aren’t we?’
‘Thou has a peculiar definition of that word, Polgara. I was quite
content with hating Asturians and Mimbrates. Life was so simple
then. Now hast thou loaded my poor brain top-full of other strife
to consider – and it is not that capacious a brain.’
I put my hand affectionately on his arm. ‘You’ll do just fine,
Kathandrion. I’ll see to it that you don’t make too many mistakes.