The leader of the conspiracy frowned. He would not have to sneak around like a Ferengi much longer, he promised himself. Soon he would be sitting in the high s eat in the central hall, where Gowron sat presently.

Then, he mused, things would be different. The Empire would shrug off its ties to the cursed Federation and find other allies. Not the Romulans-someone else. Allies of the Klingons' choosing, willing to observe Klingon rules and serve Klin on purposes.

That was the trouble with the rebellion the House of Duras had launched a couple of years ago. The Romulans had been pulling the strings, rendering Duras's sisters and his heir mere p.a.w.ns in their scheme. And if Gowron had been toppled, the Romulans would have ruled the Empire.

Not so with this rebellion. The conspirator would be beholden to no one for his ascent to power. Not even Lomakh and Kardem and Olmai, and the others who did his bidding.

His ties with them were already growing strained. And the last thing he wanted was to surround himself with proven traitors. Better to find supporters among the wellfed and the content, and not have to look for the glint of a knife's edge in every mirror.

The conspirator smiled. Soon, he thought. Soon it would all be in his capable hands. And what did it matter if some blood was shed along the way, even the blood of innocent children?

What was a council leader, anyway, if he did not spill someone's blood from time to time? What was the use of being in the high seat if one did not hold the power of life ... and death?

The Heroic Age AA'S his s'tarahk left Vathraq's village behind, Kahless heard someone call out to him. Looking back over his shoulder, he saw that Morath was following on his own beast.

The younger man was only fifty meters behind and gaining. With a burst of speed, Morath closed the distance even more. But by then, Kahless had turned away again.

He wanted no part of what Morath wished to tell him.

He wanted no part of anything except oblivion.

"Kahless!" the younger man cried out again.

Ignoring him, the outlaw kept on going. But soon, Morath pulled even with him. And though he didn't say anything, he stared at his friend with those dark, piercing eyes of his, until Kahless could take no more of it.

The outlaw glanced at Morath. "Leave me alone."

Morath shook his head. "I will not."

"And why not?" growled Kahless. "Why can't you let me suffocate in my misery, d.a.m.n you?"

"Because it is your fault the villagers are dead," Morath replied. "Because it is you who murdered them.

And you cannot leave until you have made retribution for your crime."

Kahless rounded on him, his anger rising high enough to choke him. "Me, you say? Did I take a blade to Kellein? Did I pin her father to his throne with my arrow?" His teeth ground together. "I had nothing but respect for those people. Respect and grat.i.tude!"

Morath kept pace with him, relentless. "Then why did you allow them to become close to you, when a you could expect was the tyrant's hatred? Why did you let them believe in your rebellion, when none of it was true?"

Kahless didn't have an answer for that. He found that his hands had turned into tight white fists around his reins.

"I'll tell you why," said Morath. "To suit your purposes. To fill your belly. Or sate your l.u.s.t."

The reference to Kellein filled Kahless with a blind, consuming fury. With a sound like a wounded animal, he threw himself at Morath and dragged the man off his mount.

Before Morath knew what was happening, Kahless struck him with all his strength. Again. And again, staggering him. The hills echoed with each resounding impact.

For the first time, Kahless saw anger in the younger man's eyes-a cold, deadly anger. The next thing he knew, Morath had taken his sword in his hand. Kahless stared at him, wondering if this was the way he was going to perish-and not much caring.

But a moment later, Morath's rage cooled. He tossed the sword away. And, with blinding speed, dealt Kahless a savage blow to the jaw.

The outlaw spun around and nearly fell, but he put out a hand to right himself. Then, like a charging targ, he went after his friend. Nor could Morath move in time to avoid him.

They hit the ground together, clawing and pounding at one another. Kahless grabbed his adversary by the hair and tried to dash his brains out on a piece of exposed rock. But Morath used both hands to push Kahless's chin back and finally broke the older man's hold.

They wrestled like that for what seemed a long time, neither of them gaining the advantage, neither coming close to victory over the other. Kahless felt as if he had fallen into a trance, as if his arms and legs were striving on their own without his mind to guide them.

But there was a struggle in his mind as well-not with Morath himself, but with Morath's accusations. He was grappling with shame and guilt, trying to free himself though he knew he would never be free again.

At last, exhausted in body and spirit, he and Morath fell apart from one another. As Kahless rolled on the ground, his muscles aching as if he'd wrestled a mountain instead of a man, he nonetheless found the strength to glare at Morath.

"Leave me," he demanded. "Go back to the others and let me drown in the depths of my pain."

His face scored and smeared with dust, Morath shook his head. "No," he rasped. "You've lied. You've shamed yourself and all your ancestors. The blood of an entire village is on your hands, as surely as if you had put them to death yourself."

Kahless closed his eyes against the accusation. "No," he insisted. "Molor killed them. Molor!"

"Not Molor," said Morath. "You!"

The outlaw couldn't listen to any more of the man's libels. Raising himself to his knees, he gathered one leg underneath him, then the other. Staggering over to his starahk, who had been gnawing on groundnuts by the side of the trail, he pulled himself onto the animal's back.

Somehow, he sat up and took the reins in his hands.

"Go," he told the s'tarahk. "Take me away from this place."

The beast began to move, its clawed feet padding softly on the ground. But after a while, Kahless heard a second set of clawed feet behind him.

With an effort, he turned and saw a haggard-looking figure in pursuit. It was Morath, sitting astride his own s'tarahk, only his eyes showing any life. But they accused Kahless as vigorously as ever.

The outlaw turned his back on his pursuer. Let Morath dog my steps all he likes, he thought. Let him follow me day and night. If he keeps at it long enough, he can follow me to Gre'thor.

The Modern Age Alexander eyed the lanky Klingon standing not two paces away from him, armed with a wicked-looking bat'telh. A bar of light from a hole in the cavern roof fell across the Klingon's face, throwing his knife-sharp features into stark relief.

The boy moved sideways, placing a milk-white, tapering stalagmite between them. The sc.r.a.pe of his feet on the stone floor echoed throughout the dark, musty s.p.a.ce.

Chuckling to himself, the Klingon followed, shifting his weapon in his hands to allow him more reach.

"You shouldn't have come here," the Klingon rasped.

"I go where I please," the boy piped up, though his heart wasn't really in it.

Without warning, his adversary struck in a big, sweeping arc-one meant to separate Alexander's head from his shoulders. Somehow, the boy got his bat'telh up in time to block the blow.

The cavern walls rang with the clash of their blades, just as if this had been a real place and not a holodeck recreation. Alexander's opponent made a sound of disgust in his throat, just as if he were a real being and not an amalgam of electromagnetic fields and light projections.

Quickly, the boy moved to the other side, taking advantage of another stalagmite to buy himself some time. But, enraged by his failure to deal a mortal wound, the Klingon moved with him.

"You were lucky that time," he growled.

"We'll see about that," Alexander countered.

But he knew the Klingon had a point. The boy wasn't concentrating as hard as he should have been. He was too distracted, too concerned with events outside the program.

Even his retorts to the warrior's taunts seemed hollow.

And usually, that was his favorite part of the exercise.

Alexander had received the program as a gift from his father on his last birthday. Of course, birthday gifts were a peculiarly human tradition, but Worf had grown up on Earth and was familiar with the practice.

"Tell me," his father had asked, "is there anything in particular you would like? Something from Earth, perhaps?"

The boy had shaken his head. "What I want," he'd said, "is another battelh program. I'm kind of getting tired of the one in the town square. I mean, it's so easy once you get the hang of it."

That seemed to have surprised his father. But it also seemed to have pleased him.

"I have just the thing," he told Alexander. "And you'll find it a lot more difficult than the one you have now, I a.s.sure you."

He was right. This one was a lot more difficult.

Actually, it was an adaptation of a program Worf himself had used when he first arrived on the Enterprise.

Of course, a Klingon had been inserted in place of a Pandrilite and it was restricted to Level One, whereas Worf had b.u.mped it up to Level Three at times. But otherwise, it was pretty much the same.

For instance, if his adversary's bat'telh connected, it would hurt like crazy. All the more reason, thought Alexander, not to let it do that.

The Klingon struck again, this time coming from above. Antic.i.p.ating the move, the boy stepped to the side and launched an attack of his own-a swipe halfway between the vertical and the horizontal.

It wasn't the best countermove Alexander had ever made. Far from it, in fact. But fortunately for the boy, his opponent had overextended himself.

Before the Klingon could withdraw again, Alexander dealt him a nasty blow to the left shoulder. If an adult's strength had been behind the blow, it might have made a b.l.o.o.d.y ruin of the joint.

As it was, it didn't even pierce the Klingon's body armor. But it did make his arm twitch-an indication that the boy had done some damage after all. Gritting his teeth, the warrior switched his bat'telh to his other hand.

Alexander was about to try to capitalize on his enemy's weakness when he saw an irregular pattern open in the stone wall. Of course, that wasn't going to stop the Klin on.

He launched another a.s.sault, this time one-handed.

Still, it was every bit as vicious as the first. The boy stepped back and nearly tripped on a stalagmite, but managed to keep his feet. And somehow, he deflected the attack.

Then , before he could be pressed any further, a voice said: "Freeze program."

The Klingon stopped moving. Alexander noted how much less threatening his adversary looked frozen in midmaneuver.

"Sorry to interrupt," said Riker, stepping through the opening. Behind him, one of the ship's corridors was visible. Bright, austere, and streamlined, it provided a jarring contrast to the subterranean depths of the cavern.

"I just thought I'd look in on you. See how you were doing, you know?"

The boy looked at him. "I guess."

The first officer indicated Alexander's bat'telh with a tilt of his chin. "You've gotten pretty good with that thing."

Alexander knew it was less than the truth. His friend was just being kind. "Not as good as I'd like," he said.

Riker regarded him. "In that case, maybe I can help."

He looked up at the ceilingful of stalact.i.tes. "Computer.

I'd like a battelh, appropriate size and weight."

A moment later, a blade materialized in his hands. He hefted it, then nodded his satisfaction and eyed Alexander.

"Ever heard of anbojytsu?" he asked.

The boy shook his head. In fact, he hadn't heard of it.

And more to the point, he had no idea what it had to do with his combat program.

The Klingon named Majjas sat in his heavy, carved chair against the far wall of his central hall, his white hair glistening in the light from several tall windows. He smiled beneficently.

"This is quite a day," said Majjas. "Not only do I have the pleasure of meeting the Emperor Kahless and renewing my acquaintance with the sons of Mogh, though that would be honor enough. I am fortunate to have beneath my roof the esteemed Arbiter of Succession."

Picard smiled back. It wasn't just the slightly ironic twist the Klingon put on the word "esteemed" that elicited the human's admiration. It was the fact that Majjas had not waited for his wife to make introductions, but had glanced at each of his visitors in turn and identified them all without the slightest hesitation.

Not bad for a blind man, the captain thought. Especially one without a VISOR to rely on.

Apparently, Majjas had lost his sight several years ago in a weapons-room accident on a Klingon bird-of-prey.

The scars that wove their way through the flesh around both his eyes bore mute testimony to that-though it was difficult to see the man's eyes themselves, slitted as they were and hidden beneath large, bushy white brows.

Kahless must have been surprised by Majjas's feat as well, because he grunted approvingly. "I see the stories about you are true," he remarked. "Majjas, son of Eragh, is as canny a warrior as ever served on a Klingon shipand your blindness has not changed that."

Of course, Picard mused, the old man would have had warning of their visit. Kurn would have seen to that before he took them off Ogat in his private vessel. But still, to know each of them by their footsteps-or perhaps their scent-was certainly an accomplishment.

Majjas chuckled. "The Mogh family is coming up in the world," he jibed, "to be traveling in such distin guished company." Leaning closer to Kahless, he added: "For the record, I do not care in the least whether the scroll is authentic. I, for one, will always believe in the Kahless of legend. Now," he continued, leaning back in his chair, "what sort of impulse has brought you to my humble abode?"

No sooner had Majjas completed his question than a quintet of females emerged from a back room, carrying trays full of decantered drink and brazen goblets, and writhing gagh in bowls of supple, red mressa twigs.

The captain couldn't help noticing how beautiful they were. In a savage way, of course.

"My daughters, was said the old man, his smile broadening-though from his tone of voice, it was clear even to Picard that Majjas would have liked a strong son to go with them.

As one of the trays was placed in front of him, the captain poured himself a goblet full of black Klingon wine-but declined when offered the gagh. He had eaten on the way here, after all.

Worf was the one who finally answered Majjas's question. "You have been a friend of my family for years," he told his host. "Since before Kuru and I were born."

"Since before your father was born," the old man interjected. "And a difficult birth it was."

Worf grinned. "I stand corrected, honored host. Since before ourfather was born." He paused. "I remember my father saying no one knows armaments like Majjasregardless of whether they are daggers or disrupter cannons, phasers or photon torpedoes."