compound, and yet more startled looks at the drawbridge to
Ehlana’s castle. Vanion had stubbornly rejected his wife’s urgings
to conceal his head and face with the hood of his cloak and
,it quite literally flaunted the fact that some thirty-odd years had
somehow fallen away. Vanion was like that sometimes.
There were some visible changes inside the castle as well.
They found the Emperor in the blue-draped sitting-room on the
second floor, and in addition to Baroness Melidere, Emban and
Oscagne, three of his wives, Elysoun, Gahennas, and Liatris
were also present. Elysoun was probably the most notable, since
she was now modestly dressed.
‘Good God, Vanion!’ Emban exclaimed when he saw the
Pandion Preceptor. ‘What’s happened to you?’
‘I got married, your Grace,’ Vanion replied. He smoothed back
his mahogany-colored hair. ‘This was one of the wedding presents.
Do you like it?’
‘You look ridiculous!’
‘Oh, I wouldn’t say that,’ Sephrenia disagreed. ‘I rather like
it.”
‘I gather that congratulations are in order,’ Sarabian said
urbanely. There was a marked difference in the Tamul Emperor.
He had a self-confidence and a commanding presence that had
not been there before. ‘Considering the enormous religious barriers,
who performed the ceremony?’
‘Xanetia did, your Majesty,’ Vanion replied. ‘Delphaeic doctrine
didn’t have any objections.’
Sarabian looked around. ‘Where is Xanetia?” he asked.
Sephrenia pointed upward with one finger. ‘Out there,’ she
replied rather sadly, ‘with the rest of the Delphae.’
‘What?’ The Emperor’s expression was baffled.
‘Edaemus took them, Sarabian,’ Flute explained. ‘Evidently
he and Bhelliom made some sort of arrangement.’ She looked
around. ‘Where’s Danae?’
‘She’s in her room, Divine One,’ Baroness Melidere said. ‘She
was a little tired, so she went to bed early.’
‘i’d better go tell her that her mother’s home,’ the Child Goddess
said, going toward the door leading back into the rest of
the apartment.
‘We’ve received any number of reports,’ Foreign Minister
Oscagne said, ‘but they were all couched in generalities – “the
war’s over, and we won” – that sort of thing. No offense
intended, Queen Betuana. Your Atans are excellent messengers,
but it’s hard to get details out of them.’
She shrugged. ‘Perhaps it’s a racial flaw, Oscagne-Excellency.’
As she always did now, Betuana stood very close to the silent
Engessa. She seemed reluctant to let him get very far away from
her side.
‘The thing that puzzles me the most is the rather garbled
message I got from my brother,’ Oscagne confessed.
‘Itagne-Ambassador has a great deal on his mind just now,’
Betuana said blandly.
‘Oh?’
‘He and Atana Mans became quite friendly when he was
posted to Cynestra last fall. He didn’t take it too seriously, but
she did. She came looking for him. She found him in Cyrga and
took him back with her to Cynestra.’
‘Really?’ Oscagne said, his face betraying no hint of a smile.
Then he shrugged. ‘Oh, well,’ he added, ‘it’s time that Itagne
settled down anyway. As I recall, Atana Marts is a very vigorous
young woman.’
‘Yes, Oscagne-Excellency, and very determined. I think your
clever brother’s days as a bachelor are numbered.’
‘What a shame,’ Oscagne sighed. ‘Pardon me a moment.’ He
went rather quickly into the next room, and they all heard the
sounds of muffled laughter coming from there.
And then Danae, her black hair flying, came running into the
room to hurl herself into her mother’s arms.
Sarabian’s face went bleak. ‘Who finally killed Zalasta?’ he
asked. ‘He was at the bottom of all this, when you get right
down to it. ‘
Zalasta isn’t dead,’ Sephrenia said sorrowfully, lifting Flute
into her lap.
He isn’t? How did he manage to get away?’
‘We let him go, your Majesty,’ Ulath replied.
‘Are you mad? You know the kind of trouble he can stir up.’
‘He won’t be causing any more trouble, your Majesty,’ Vanion
said. ‘Unless he happens to start a few grass-fires.’
‘He won’t do that, Vanion,’ Flute said. ‘It’s a spiritual fire, not
a real one.’
‘Will somebody please tell me what happened?’ Sarabian said.
‘Zalasta showed up at Sephrenia’s wedding,’ your Majesty,’
Ulath told him.
‘He tried to kill Vanion, but Sparhawk stopped
him. Then our friend here was just about to do something fairly
permanent about Zalasta, but Khwaj asserted a prior claim. Sparhawk
considered the politics of the situation and agreed. Then
Khwaj set Zalasta on fire.’
‘What a gruesome idea,’ Sarabian shuddered. Then he looked
at SePhrenia. ‘I thought you said that he isn’t dead. Yet Sir Ulath
just told me that he’d been burned to death.’
‘No, your Majesty,’ Ulath corrected, ‘I just said that Khwaj
set fire to him. The same thing happened to Baron Parok.’
‘The Trollish notion of justice sort of appeals to me,’ Sarabian
said with a bleak smile. ‘How long will they burn?’
‘Forever, your Majesty,’ Tynian replied somberly. ‘The fire is
eternal.’
‘Good God.’
‘It’s further than I’d have gone,’ Sparhawk conceded, ‘but as
Ulath said, there were political considerations involved.’
They talked until quite late, providing details of the campaign,
the rescue of Ehlana and Alcan, the freeing of Bhelliom, and the
final confrontation between Sparhawk and Cyrgon. Sparhawk
rather carefully stressed his surrogacy in that particular event
and made some issue of the fact that he was no longer Anakha.
He wanted that particular book permanently closed with no
doubts remaining in anyone’s mind that there was absolutely no way to
reopen it.
Also during the course of that long conversation, Sarabian
told them of the attempt on his life by Chacole and Torellia.
‘They might have actually pulled it off if it hadn’t been for
Elysoun,’ he concluded, looking fondly at his now-demure
Valesian wife.
Mirtai looked at Elysoun with one questioningly-raised eyebrow.
‘Why the change of costume?’ she asked bluntly.
Elysoun shrugged. ‘i’m with child,’ she replied. ‘I guess my
days of adventuring are over.’ She looked at Mirtai’s puzzled
expression. ‘It’s a Valesian custom,’ she explained. ‘We’re
allowed a certain amount of freedom until our first pregnancy.
After that, we’re supposed to behave ourselves.’ She smiled. ‘i’d
more or less exhausted the potentials of the imperial compound
anyway,’ she added. ‘Now it’s time to settle down – and catch
up on my sleep.’
‘Has anybody heard from Stragen and Caalador?’ Talen asked.
‘Viscount Stragen and Duke Caalador came back to Matherion
a week ago,’ Sarabian replied.
‘New embellishments?’ Ehlana asked with some surprise.
‘Rewards for services rendered, Ehlana,’ Sarabian smiled. ‘It
seemed appropriate. Duke Caalador’s accepted a position in the
Ministry of the Interior, so he’s gone back to Lebas to settle up
his affairs there.’
‘And Stragen?’
‘He’s on his way to Astel, your Majesty,’ Baroness Melidere
replied with a bleak smile. ‘He said that he wants to have a few
words with Elron.’
‘Did Elron manage to get out of Natayos alive?’ Kalten
sounded surprised. ‘Ekrasios said that the Shining Ones had
obliterated the place.”
‘The word Caalador picked up was that Elron hid out somewhere
while the Shining Ones were dissolving Scarpa and
Cyzada. Then, after they were gone, he crept out of the ruins
and bolted for home. Stragen’s going to look him up.’ The
Baroness looked at Khalad. ‘Krager got out as well,’ she told
him. ‘Caalador found out that he was bound for Zenga in eastern
Cammoria. There’s something you should know about Krager,
though. ‘
‘Oh?’
‘Do you remember how King Wargun died?
‘His liver finally gave out on him, didn’t it?’
She nodded. ‘The same thing’s happening to Krager. Caalador
talked with a man named Order in the town of Delo. Krager
was completely out of his head when they put him on the ship
bound for Zenga.’
‘He’s still alive, though, isn’t he?’ Khalad asked bleakly.
‘if you can call it that,’ she sighed. ‘Let it go, Khalad. He
wouldn’t even feel it if you ran your sword through him. He
wouldn’t know who you were or why you were killing him.’
‘Thank you, Baroness,’ Khalad said, ‘but I think that when
we get back to Eosia, Berit and I’ll run on down to Zenga just
to make sure. Krager’s gotten away from us just a few too many
times to take any chances. I want to see him in the ground.’
‘Can I come too?’ Talen asked eagerly.
‘No,’ Khalad replied.
‘What do you mean, no?’
‘It’s time for you to start your novitiate.
‘That can wait.’
‘No, it can’t. You’re already a half a year late. If you don’t
start training now, you’ll never become proficient.’
Vanion looked approvingly at Sparhawk’s squire. ‘Don’t forget
what we talked about earlier, Sparhawk,’ he said. ‘And pass
my recommendation on to Dolmant.’
‘What’s this?’ Khalad asked.
‘i’ll tell you about it later,’ Sparhawk replied.
‘Oh, by the way, Ehlana,’ Sarabian said, ‘as long as the subject’s
come up anyway, would you be put out with me if I
bestowed a title on your little song-bird here?’ He smiled fondly
at Alcan. ‘I certainly hope not, dear heart, because I’m going to