She looked up to see that the Grand Vizier was watching her carefully. "Something is wrong, isn't it, Valide?"

"Yes, something is. You must forgive my distraction, Grand Vizier. I'm sure it's meaningless in comparison to what Percheron faces. Please continue," she said, amazing even herself at conjuring up contrived tears.

"Oh, Highness, please. Do tell me, can I help at all?"

She shook her head, looked away. "I'm so sorry." She sniffed, making a show of composing her emotions. "It's of a personal nature. I've been embarrassed this morning and I imagine there will be ramifications."

"Embarrassed?" Tariq said, frowning. "By whom?"

"Grand Master Eunuch Salmeo. He does like to have his little sticks with which to beat us harem members. I'm afraid he has a large club to hold above my head as of this morning and I'm just confused as to how best to handle it. Again, forgive me, Tariq, this is not your problem. You have far more important duties than allowing me to cry on your shoulder."

The Grand Vizier was at her side in a second. "Valide," he said softly. "Salmeo wields far too much power. He is dangerous. And you are the last person who should be in any way under his thumb."

"Oh, but I am, Grand Vizier, and there's nothing anyone can do."

"Share the problem, Highness. I am sure I can help you to find a solution. Nothing you say could shock me," he soothed.

"Are you sure of that?"

"I'm positive."

"Come out onto the balcony. Elza likes to eavesdrop."

He followed her eagerly, shaking his head at the Mute not to follow. She wrung her hands absently. "Oh, can I offer you some refreshment? Forgive my manners. My mind is certainly addled this morning," she said, affecting a soft laugh of confusion.

"No, I need nothing, Valide. Now tell me and let's sort this out."

"It's a delicate matter, Grand Vizier. I'm not sure how to approach it, other than to be direct."

"I appreciate candor, Majesty," he replied, clearly keen to put her at her ease.

Herezah hesitated only for a blink. The Grand Vizier leaned forward and she hesitated no more, took a deep breath in mock fear, ensuring that he understood her reluctance. "Spur Lazar and I have become lovers. We didn't mean for it to happen, Tariq, but over these last few moons that I've cared for him, something special has developed between us. Today, Salmeo interrupted us at a most delicate moment."

The Grand Vizier rocked back on his heels, obviously shocked. Herezah saw the disbelief in his gaze. "I know you find it hard to put us two together but"

"Hard? Impossible, more like, Majesty. Anyone could be forgiven for believing the two of you detested each other enough that you would happily stick knives into the other's gut. I understand you have a long-held fascination for the man but it was also my belief that you enjoyed punishing him."

She shrugged, even allowed a coy smile to play on her lips. "I know. It's a shock for me, too. But there's no explaining love, is there, Tariq?"

"Love?" There was an audible intake of breath. "Are you serious, Majesty?"

She had turned away from him as she spoke but now looked back over her shoulder, a contrite expression on her face that she knew her eyes would reflect. "It's probably wrong and I've tried to hide it through that opposition toward the Spur you speak of, but I've always felt this way. The fascination you mentioned was always genuine." She smiled inwardly to see that the Grand Vizier was, for once, rather lost for words, and waited for him to rediscover his voice.

"How serious is this affair, Valide? Where do you expect it to go?"

"Nowhere, Tariq, absolutely nowhere," she replied, lacing her tone with resignation. She flounced into a seat. "That's part of the problem. It was never anything that could go anywhere; we both knew it, but it was ours. And in this palace, Tariq, you of all people should know that shiny, bright moments are few and far between. We kept it to ourselves and we enjoyed it for as long as we could. It was not meant to be shared with anyone else and certainly wasn't intended to hurt anyonehow could it?"

Tariq shook his head. "I don't see who you can offend."

"Exactly! But Lazar is a private man, a mysterious man, as we've all discovered," she said, dismay now in her voice. "To be found like that by the chief eunuchof all peoplehas distressed him. It distresses me. Salmeo will find a way to use it against us. To blackmail me, perhaps."

"With your son, you mean?"

"Well, yes." She nodded sorrowfully. "I don't want to hurt Boaz. He loved Joreb."

"I don't think he'd expect you to remain celibateyou're still so young and..." He struggled for the right word, couldn't find it, and hurried on. "And anyway he has only the highest respect for Lazar."

"I know, but it's the manner in which Salmeo will see to it that Boaz learns this secret. You know how cunning he is."

"I do. Hmm, well, this is a prickly situation, Valide. You've quite taken my breath away. I don't mean to offend you, but the Spur always seemed so smitten with Ana. Surely you noticed?"

Herezah felt her temper flare. "Noticed? Of course I noticed. I'd have to be as dim as the dwarf not to notice, Tariq. But that's it, you see. Because I refused his advances, he used Ana against me."

The Grand Vizier's mouth opened and shut. Again she waited. "I noticed he was very cool toward the Zaradine on our journey," he finally said. Herezah nodded. "And he chose you over her. He risked his life to save us."

"To save me, Tariq. Your life is expendable. Do you believe Lazar cared whether you lived or died? It was me he came for, fought for."

"You're right. I never understood why."

She demurred with a soft sigh. "Well, I think you do now. He's told my son it was about duty, and it's true that he has never come to terms with leaving Ana behind, her being the Zaradine and so close to Boaz's heart," she lied smoothly. "Did you know that Boaz is sending him back into the desert to find her?"

"I did, Valide, and I think it's important that Percheron have its Zaradine safe, particularly if an heir exists."

"So that's my dilemma, Tariq," she said, ignoring his sentiments and bringing their conversation back to her needs rather than Ana's. "I'm frightened."

"Well, we can't have that, Majesty. At this level you should fear no one but your Zar and his enemies."

"What do you suggest, Tariq?" she asked eagerly, already knowing, already counting on him suggesting the very solution she had been leading him toward.

"I think perhaps I should talk with your son. Man to man. He is not very approachable right now and I respect his reasons for it, but I shall find a way to let him know what has occurred. I will even suggest that the Grand Master Eunuch is threatening to use this against you. If the Zar knows and doesn't overreactand in fact turns a blind eyeI see no future for Salmeo's cunning in this regard."

Herezah's stomach unclenched. No man was any match for her guile, not even the Grand Vizier. She smiled gratefully. "Oh, that's such an inspired notion, Tariq. You are clever! Thank you. I would be so, so grateful if you would do that for me."

Instead of smiling graciously as she'd anticipated, the Grand Vizier frowned. "How grateful, Highness?"

"Pardon?"

"How will you show this gratitude?"

"Zarab save me! What are you asking, Tariq?"

"Not what you think, Valide. A simple matter of exchange. I do you one favor, you give me one in return."

Her eyes narrowed above her veil. "What is it you want, Tariq?"

"I want your son gone from the palace."

"Gone?"

"Away from the Galinsean threat."

"Oh" she said, understanding with a fresh frown. "He refuses to flee, you know that."

"That's a dangerous situation. Until we have confirmation of an heir, your son is being flippant with the Crown of Percheron."

"Flippant?" she asked, surprised by the Grand Vizier's attitude. "I am proud of his courage. He is prepared to die for his realm."

"And what good will that do any of us, Valide? If he dies we have no Zar and the fabric of our society is destroyed. As long as Boaz lives, as long as there is a threat that he can sire more heirs of the royal bloodline, Galinsea will not prevail."

Herezah was shocked by Tariq's attitude; she had always assumed him to be a coward. And it surprised her even more that she could appreciate the sense of what the Grand Vizier was promoting. She had expected the exchange of favor to be something of a far more personal natureriches, land, perhaps even use of her body for his own relief. But certainly not a maneuver that protected Percheron's Crown. "What do you suggest?"

"I had made arrangements for us to go upstream into the foothills but he ridiculed that suggestion."

"He would see it as cowardly. To be honest, I thought you were protecting yourself, but now I realize that's not your intention, is it?" When he gravely shook his head, Herezah believed he could have no other agenda. "You have spent enough time in the company of my son to know how seriously he takes his position as ruler. On his very deathbed, his father impressed upon the boy his rolehow he had been chosen because no one else was better suited to rule than Boaz. He is still so young. His head is filled with idealistic notions of being a grand, wise, and much-beloved Zar."

"I'm approaching this the wrong wayis that what you're saying, Valide?"

"Precisely. You need to come up with a plan that plays to his sense of the heroic. Boaz has been such a studious, serious boy all his life. He reveres Lazar, most likely because of the Spur's devil-may-care attitude. Did you see how the tale of how Lazar fought all those attackers fired Boaz's imagination when he heard it?"

Tariq considered the Valide. She could all but see his mind working, accepting that what she was advising was true. "Have you any advice on how we might encourage the Zar to place himself in safety, then? Perhaps even where he may agree to go?"

Herezah paused. Suddenly a new thought occurred to her, a notion that was so neat in the way it dovetailed into her own plans, she nearly hugged herself.

"Valide? You are smiling," Tariq said. "Have you an idea?"

"I do, Grand Vizier. And it's perfect. I shall suggest to my sonand you will support this suggestion with vigorthat he accompany Lazar on his quest to secure the heir. In all truth, Boaz is safer with Lazar than anyone else. And the Spur would never put him in danger, so I imagine he will find ways to leave Boaz behind once he knows where Ana is. Boaz has never been out of the palace grounds, save for one or two trips to the bazaar when he was quite young. That's probably why Ana intrigued him so much; she was so daring. He will relish the opportunity to travel alongside the Spur into the desert and on the hunt for his wife. It has the right balance of the romantic and the heroic to appeal to him."

"Valide, that is a masterful plan. I think he might actually go along with that."

"Then you keep your promise to me, Grand Vizier, and I shall do the same for you."

"Just one more thing."

"Yes?" She had been turning to leave.

"I intend to go with the Zar."

"What? I can't make that happen."

"But you will try."

"Why, Tariq? Why would you want to go back into that place?"

"I am no use here without a word of Galinsean to my name, Valide, and should Lazar leave Boaz behind, the Zar will need someone at his side. I can't protect him physically with a weapon but I can protect him through wisdom. We will, of course, have to take some of the Mute Guard."

Herezah nodded. It was of no consequence to her where the Grand Vizier went and in fact this played even more to her advantage. "You speak to him today, Tariq, and clear this business of my union with Lazar. Then I will attempt what you ask."

He bowed. She acknowledged his obeisance with a nod, relishing the idea that she would not only be the highest-ranking royal left behind in the city, but that without the Grand Vizier, her role might be even more critical. She watched Tariq make to leave. She would force herself not to be scared of the Galinseans. They didn't seem to be keen to raid the city yet. Perhaps diplomacy would prevail. She shivered with delight, suddenly remembered Boaz's news, and said to the Grand Vizier's back, "By the way, Tariq, have you heard that the dwarf has turned up?"

9.

Maliz was fuming. He slammed the door behind him as he entered his official chambers in the palace. Pez back! How could that be? How could the dwarf have survived alone in the desert, when three people of sound mind barely returned in one piece? He had hoped they were well rid of the freak, who seemed to have a curiously strong friendship with the Zar, the Spur, and the Zaradine, even though he spoke such gibberish all the time.

Maliz had been suspicious of the dwarf for a long time now but he had watched him carefully for more than a year and not once had Pez given him any reason to believe that he was involved with Lyana's rising. At first he'd thought the dwarf might be Iridor, and certainly Iridor had come into being again or Maliz would not have been called from his slumbers, but the dwarf was too stupid, too frustrating with his moods and idiocy, to have anything on his mind except his own lunatic thoughts. No, Iridor was wily and cunning. Lyana's messenger paved the way for her arrival, discovering ally and foe alike, passing on messages to other disciples of the Goddess, and warning them of their enemies. Pez did nothing except drool, make bodily odors and noises, and apparently amuse most, although he certainly didn't amuse the Grand Vizier. Who was Iridor? The old priestess at Lyana's temple had claimed that Salmeo was Iridor! She had clung to her loyalty to the lasta brave woman indeed. And although Maliz laughed at the suggestion, he had also taken precaution, made sure he "accidentally" touched the great eunuch on several occasions to reassure himself that no magic flowed through the head of the harem. Boaz had flitted through his mind as a possible candidate but the same "inadvertent" touches had revealed that no magic ran through the Zar. Salazin, all the Mutes, in fact, and great numbers of the Elim had been checked using the same ploy. No luck. Iridor evaded him. The demigod was always male; so Maliz didn't have to concern himself that it could be Herezah or Ana or indeed any of the women of the harem, or the palace servants. He had even taken to roaming the streets in a jamoosh, brushing past countless unsuspecting Percherese, in the vague hope that he might stumble upon Iridor, but so far his travels had brought him no closer to his goal.

He had kicked himself upon realizing that Kett, the young eunuch who had niggled in his mind seventeen moons ago, had been the one called the Raven, the bird of omens. He wondered what message the blackbird had brought. If only he had listened to his instincts as he normally did, he might have had the opportunity to interrogate the black servant. But he had been so distracted by events that he had not paid attention to Kett until it was too late. That had been a costly mistake. But it was no use crying over it. None of it explained Iridor.

Again he was brought back to the dwarf and all of his supporters. Ana he had touchedshe had no magic that he could feel or sense. Lyana couldn't have risen anyway because Maliz had not felt anything akin to the usual surge of power. He was sure of that. Apart from that moment in the desert when he had been awoken and felt a muted response to something magical, anything that might have prompted him to have the stirrings of Lyana's awakening amounted to nothing but confusion. As for Lazar, the Galinsean Prince had not permitted himself to be touched; that made him a suspect but it didn't fit, not with all the sickness and heroics.

Maliz frowned in frustraton. Iridor and Lyana's magics were not closed to him. He was connected to them; they had never been able to hide from him, but this time, although he sensed their presence, he could not lock his focus onto anyone in particular. He would need to go back over everything. Surely he had missed some crucial clue. But his immediate focus now was to keep Boaz's body safe. The Zar's harem was to be the demon's playground and no Galinsean war was going to stop Maliz having what he wanted.

Regarding the Valide's problem, he was baffled by Herezah's claims of being in love with Lazar. That the Valide had finally followed through on the yearning that was transparent to all was not so much of a shock, but that the Spur had not only welcomed such attention but actively sought it didn't fit the picture that Maliz had of Lazar. Tariq's memories told him only of the traditional rancor between the head of security and Joreb's Absolute Favorite. It didn't make sense, but then the relationships between mortals rarely did. They were a contrary bunch, prone to unexpected divergences from original pathways regarding their desires.

Ah, how this strange plot thickens, he said to himself. He would go along with the Valide's needs because it suited him. He didn't relish another trip into the desert with all of its inherent dangers, especially as he was still vulnerable in Tariq's body until Lyana's rising brought forth his full powersand immortality. But Galinsean invasion posed a far greater threat to himself and the Zar whose body and status he wanted too badly to waste.

Maliz knew he needed a plan. He must find the dwarf and satisfy himself once and for all over Pez's madness.

Pez was with Lazar at the Spur's house. They were sharing a kerrosh that Pez had brewed as the soldier readied himself for travel.

"Are you going to tell me what else is on your mind, other than racing off into the desert to find Ana?"

"Apart from war, you mean? Or on top of the fact that the father I haven't seen in almost two decades might be leading that war? Orhere's a good onehow about the fact that Percheron may well be decimated on account of me!"

"Stop it! I don't mean any of that. I mean, what has made you so angry this morning?"

"I don't know what you mean," Lazar said, stuffing a few items into a sack.

"I've known you long enough. You're the most irritable person who stomps this realm and yet I can see genuine angst written on your expression."

"Don't pry, Pez."

"Why not? What secret could you have from me when you shared the deepest held secret of all?"

"And you didn't hold on to that one at all well."

Pez glared at him. "I held it for those two decades you speak of. I divulged it to the one person you personally sanctioned to have the knowledge upon your death. You alone chose to tell the next person."

Lazar put a hand in the air to stop the dwarf 's tirade. "All right. I'm sorry."

Pez rubbed his hands, reached for the cup with the dregs of his drink. "Ooh, not like you to apologize over anything, Lazar. Something has pricked you. Tell me."

The Spur sighed. "Herezah made her move," he said baldly.