him. Her cavalry charges were outrageously winsome remarks and
observations. Her siege engine of choice was a low-cut gown that
went just a bit beyond the bounds of propriety. Baron Mandorin
didn’t quite sue for peace that evening, but he came very close.
The Countess shared my quarters, and I waited up for her. ‘Why
Mandorin?’ I asked her bluntly when she came in.
‘I didn’t quite follow that, Polly.’
‘Why are you setting your cap for Baron Mandorin? There are
others here who are prettier, and he’s quite a bit older than you
are.’
‘So much the better,’ she replied, letting her hair down and
shaking it out. ‘With Mandorin, I won’t have to endure all those calf-eyed
looks and the reams of misspelled bad poetry. Mandorin’s very close
to the center of power in Mimbre, and I’ve got a similar position in
Asturia. You’ll be managing things in Wacune, so among the three
of us, we ought to be able to keep everybody in line – long enough
for peace to become a habit, at least.’ Then she gave me a wicked
sidelong glance. ‘I hate to say it, Polly, but I’m going to have more
fun than you are.’
‘Are you doing this out of patriotism, Asrana?’ I asked
incredulously.
‘you can call it that if you wish, but down at the bottom, power
excites me – and the three of us are going to have almost all the
power there is in poor old Arendia. You can’t ask for much more
than that.’
‘What about love, Asrana?’
She shrugged. ‘What about it? Love’s for children, Polgara. It’s
a plaything I’ve outgrown. I like Mandorin. He’s handsome and
unspeakably noble. The years will erode his handsomeness, and I’ll
erode his nobility. We’ll do some fairly unpopular things, I’m afraid,
but Arendia’s going to be better for it. If that makes me a patriot,
so be it. Watch me very closely, Polly. I might even be able to teach
you some tricks.’
By mid-morning of the next day, even the densest Arend in Duke
Corrolin’s pavilion was aware of the fact that something was ‘going
on’ between our unscrupulous countess and Baron Mandorin, and
I think that was also included in Asrana’s plan. I don’t think that
even Ce’Nedra could ever be as duplicitous as Asrana was. By the
end of that day, poor Baron Mandorin was completely in her thrall.
He watched her every move and hung on her every word – since
Asrana spoke frequently at our deliberations. Here was a young
lady who could play two games at the same time – and both of
them very well.
On the fourth day, the leaders of Mimbre, Asturia, and Wacune
signed the ‘instrument of peace’, and immediately thereafter Duke
Corrolin rose and invited everybody to stay for the wedding.
Countess Asrana could move very fast when it suited her.
Once again I found myself pressed into service as a bridesmaid,
and all went smoothly. Asrana and Mandorin were married with
not so much as an earthquake or tidal wave to alert poor Arendia
to a dangerous new force that had come into being right at her very
heart.
PARTFOUR
mOntrose
*CHAPTER17
I hate to admit this, but when you get right down to the core of
things, my father and I are very much alike. We both know that our
primary business will always be study and the slow accumulation of
knowledge. Interruptions crop up from time to time, though, and
we’ll both assume surly expressions when someone comes rushing
into the Vale begging us to go out and save the world. Would you
be at all surprised if I told you that our apparent grouchiness is
only a sham? To be completely honest about it, we enjoy putting
out these little brush-fires almost as much as we’d enjoy discovering
just exactly why two and two makes four.
When I’d spent those years on the Isle of the Winds, I’d been at
the very center of things, and I’d found that to be engrossing. Then,
when I’d been called away again to deal with Ctuchik’s scheme in
Arendia, I’d enjoyed that just as much. Like my father, I’ll always
be happy to lay my book aside when the fire-bell rings.
Given the tentative nature of the peace father and I had crammed
down the throats of assorted Arends, it was fairly obvious that I
was going to have to stay in Arendia to make sure that it stayed
crammed. And so it was that in the spring of the year 2313 I returned
briefly to father’s tower to pick up a few things I might need. I
suppose I could have just willed what I needed into existence, but
they wouldn’t have been the same, for some reason.
Father had returned to the Vale during the previous winter, and
when I reached his tower, he called the twins over, and the four of
us got down to cases. ‘I’d rather hoped to see uncle Beldin,’ I said.
. ‘He’s still off in Mallorea, Pol,’ Belkira said. ‘What’s happening
In Arendia?’
‘What’s always happening in Arendia?’ Beltira snorted.
‘Pol took steps,’ father told them. ‘There’s this unnatural silence
hovering over Arendia right now. I think it’s referred to as peace.’
‘I don’t know that I’d go quite that far, father,’ I disagreed, getting
up to check the ham I was baking for supper. ‘Ctuchik had things
fairly well stirred up, and the Arends were having a lot of fun with
his little fires. Now that we’ve doused them with cold water, the
Arends are at a loss for excuses to slaughter each other. I wouldn’t
really call it peace yet, though. They’re sitting around waiting for
somebody to come up with new reasons to go to war.’
‘I’m sure they’ll find something,’ he said sourly.
‘That’s why I’m going back,’ I told them. ‘I want to make it very
obvious to the Arends that if they don’t behave themselves, I’ll
spank them.’
‘They aren’t actually children, Pol,’ Belkira objected.
‘Oh, really? You haven’t been there lately, uncle. Arends are a
very charming people, but a lot of that charm lie’s in the fact that
they’ve never grown up.’
‘Are you going to settle in one place, Pol?’ Beltira asked, ‘or were
you planning to be a traveling fire-brigade?’
‘I’ve had invitations from all three of the rulers in Arendia, uncle,
but I think I’ll set up operations in Vo Wacune. It’s far more attractive
than Vo Astur or Vo Mimbre, and Duke Kathandrion shows a few
flickers of intelligence. At least he can see beyond his own borders.
I don’t think Mangaran or Corrolin can yet. I’ll probably have to
rush about quite a bit until peace gets to be a habit, but it’s always
nice to have a place to call home.’ Then I thought of something the
twins ought to know about. ‘Ctuchik’s come up with a way to
disguise his agents,’ I told them. ‘There’s a quasi-religious order
headquartered in the Great Desert of Araga off to the southeast of
Nyissa. They’re called the Dagashi, and they’re half-breed Murgos.
Their mothers – and probably grandmothers as well – are slave
women from other races. The Dagashi are bred down to the point
that they don’t have Angarak features, and they’re trained as spies
and assassins. Don’t automatically assume that just because
somebody doesn’t look like an Angarak, it means that he isn’t one.’
‘That could be fairly troublesome,’ Beltira said, frowning.
‘It already has been several times,’ I said. ‘I thought we all ought
to know about that. Oh, there’s something else as well. Evidently
the Murgos have discovered gold in their mountains. They’re very
free with their bribes now. I think there are iron deposits near their
mines, because Murgo gold always has a reddish tinge to it. That
might help us to identify somebody who’s been bribed.’ I leaned
back in my chair. ‘Ctuchik’s getting very much involved in things
here in the west,’ I mused. ‘That might just mean that Torak’s getting
ready to come out of seclusion at Ashaba, or it might mean
something else. I’ll try to keep a lid on things in Arendia, but you
gentlemen are going to have to stand watch over the other
kingdoms.’
‘Thanks,’ father said sourly.
‘Don’t mention it.’ I smiled sweetly at him.
Then the following morning, I packed up the things I wanted and
left for Vo Wacune.
It was late spring or early summer of that year when I returned
to the fairy-tale city in the Arendish forest. Kathandrion insisted
that I live in the palace, and now that I had some leisure, I was able
to take a bit of time to get to know a wider circle of people in the
Wacite court. Kathandrion’s wife was named Elisera, and she was
an ethereal lady with reddish blonde hair who spent most of her
time reading interminably long Arendish epics and overwrought