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behind Mist's head, seeing a blonde-ringed face.... Damn! He had to get her
out of his head. ,What happens if Matayanga doesn't attack? I hear Kuo's
people are talking a blue streak trying to stop them."
,The plan isn't perfect. If he talks them down, we lose. Without him knowing
how much he's won."
,You wouldn't try to force that war, would you?"
,No! No more than Lord Kuo is. But why not take advantage of the inevitable?
Our best recruiting argument is that there's been too much fighting lately.
Shinsan can't take much more."
,Sometimes I think.... Never mind. What can we con- tribute?"
,You're doing it. Giving us a safe place to plan. The only other thing might
be some shock troops for the strike against Lord Kuo himself."
,Work it out with Sir Gjerdrum."
A door opened down the hallway. Josiah Gales stepped out. He hurried to his
quarters, where he secured another despatch case. Two minutes later he joined
Sergeant Wortel, the man he was due to relieve. ,Jack, I need you to cover for
me. I got to take this upstairs."
Wortel scowled at the hourglass. ,The wife is having company, Gales."
,I'm sorry, Jack. That's the truth. I ain't trying to screw you. Yeah. I won't
take long. I'll pay you back. Yeah. Gales is good for his debts. That ain't no
lie. You know me."
Wortel sighed. ,All right. Just don't waste no time."
,Back again, Sarge?" Toby was still at the Queen's door. Gales cursed himself
for not having had the foresight to await the changing of the guard.
,Yeah. Ain't this some shit? Another one, Toby. And me due to go on watch.
Yeah. Ain't this a bitch?"
Toby knocked. Gales shifted from foot to foot, muttering. She would not be
happy about this second visit. She would be less pleased when she heard what
he had to say.
Ragnarson swore he was getting calluses on his behind. And he could not get
that girl out of his head. There was only one cure. ,I'm leaving, Derel. Show
Mist that treaty we whipped up the other day."
He strolled into the hallway wondering what Inger would think of his sudden
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interest. It had been, what? Close to two years since he had dropped
everything for a daytime visit.
The guard outside the meeting room stood at a rigid attention. He was new.
,What time is it, soldier?"
,Getting close to seven, Sire."
,Thank you." Bragi strode away, fantasies of Sherilee mixing with visions of
Inger. I didn't handle the girl right, he thought. Should have shown more
self-restraint. Now she'll turn up everywhere.... Unless I'm imagining that
I'm irresistible.
He felt a twinge of nostalgia for a time when it had not mattered whether he
tumbled a willing wench, a time when he had been able to fall in love three
times a week without having to consider whose lives would be affected. Those
had been the days! He and Mocker and Haroun had been young. Politics had been
a game for sour old farts who had lost their zest for the rest of life....
He shied from those thoughts like a stallion spooked. He had had to kill his
best friend. His second-best friend had gone into the Dread Empire and been
heard from no more. He had had his differences with Haroun, but, damn, he
missed the man now. If Haroun were around, there would be no trouble in Hammad
al Nakir. If the father were king instead of the son, Lord Hsung would not
think of stealing chunks of the desert state. Haroun had the temper of a
sour-bellied hawk and not enough sense not to punch back.
He halted suddenly, flung himself into the shadow of a pillar. He was a
hundred feet from Inger's door.
Someone was taking his leave. And, somehow, Ragnarson was not surprised to see
who the someone was, though the man should have been on duty for an hour.
,Gales, I'm damned well starting to wonder about you."
He waited fifteen minutes, no longer eager to see his wife. He went through
with it as much for diplomacy's sake as for desire.
The world began to twitch and shrug like a moribund giant slowly returning to
life. Two days after Ragnarson's meeting with Mist, one of Dantice's
smuggler's brought word of a ferocious skirmish between Throyes and Hammad al
Nakir.
Hammad al Nakir's rich coastal provinces were the one area of the kingdom
still controlled by El Murid. Outside observers believed Megelin's Royalists
would reclaim the littoral once the kingdom's heartland had been pacified. The
Disciple was a toothless tiger. He hadn't the backing to withstand the
Royalist tide.
So the world thought.
When the Throyens initiated the incident the old war cries of the Invincibles
rocked the disputed plain. The Disciple's white-robed Chosen seemed to
materialize out of times gone by. They fell upon the would-be invaders. The
Throyen commanders panicked. They threw in troops held nearby, against
creation of acausus belli with which to justify a major invasion. What could
have been contained as an embarrassment diplomatically forgettable became a
major and patriotically unforgivable invasion of the Father- land. When the
sun set and the dust cleared, more than a thousand Throyens had fallen. Their
comrades were in headlong flight.
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When Ragnarson heard, he laughed. ,There'll be some red faces in Throyes," he
crowed. ,I bet Hsung is having kittens."
Mist was less cheerful. ,They'll twist this around. They'll claim El Murid
started it. They'll launch their invasion. I think we've just heard about the
last hurrah of the Invinci- bles."
Ragnarson sobered. ,Maybe so. Sad to say. The Disciple can't have much left."
Prataxis said, ,Don't overlook the nationalist aspect.
People on the littoral aren't enchanted with El Murid or Megelin, but they'll
follow anybody fighting a Throyen encroachment. They know the cost of
yielding."
Bragi observed, ,Wouldn't hurt my feelings if Hsung's stooges got bogged down
there."
Next day Credence Abaca was the bearer of news. The wiry little Marena Dimura
came to the office where Ragnarson was arguing finances with members of the
Thing.
Irked by the obdurate committeemen, Ragnarson barked, ,What is it, Credence?"
Abaca was direct. ,Three men tried to kill me. In the park. I thought your
tame witchdoctor might want the bodies. They're the same breed as tried to
kill General Liakopulos."
Ragnarson cursed softly. Twenty minutes later he was part of the crowd
standing round the bodies. For the first time in his reign he had provided
himself with bodyguards.
,You're right, Credence. They are the same." He sent a message to Varthlokkur
saying the bodies were on their way. He expected to learn nothing, but the
effort had to be made.
,You dropped all three?"
,They weren't very fast," Abaca replied.
,Three of them," Bragi muttered. ,Again. That's the Pracchia style, all right.
A nine divided into three threes. Means there might be another try. Tell Sir
Gjerdrum not to travel without guards till I tell him different."
,As you command, Sire." Abaca trotted toward the palace. Ragnarson soon
followed, and joined Varthlokkur. As expected, the wizard learned nothing from
the bodies.
,I'm still thinking Magden Norath," Varthlokkur said.
,Maybe Norath had students." [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]