'Well, in a way. Aleikon's spies will still hear you, but they won't pay any attention to what you're saying-or to what anybody else says, for that matter. They're going to be a little strange from now on.'

'All priests are strange. No offense intended,' Bheid.

"There's something else," Leitha told him. "Aleikon isn't too happy about what Emdahl and Yeudon rammed down his throat back in the House, so he's hiding many of his Brown Robes among the general population of Maghu-in disguise, of course. He hasn't advised Prince Marwain that Brother Bheid's taking over in Perquaine yet. I don't think it's very far off, though. Marwain's not the brightest fellow in the world,, I guess, and Aleikon's made a career out of manipulating him. He seems to be fairly sure he can persuade Marwain to pretend to accept the Grey Robes, but as soon as Bheid's eliminated Argan and put down the peasant revolt, Aleikon plans to have Marwain march back into Maghu, resume his former position, stamp out the Grey Robe order-vigorously-and hand Perquaine back to the Brown Robes."

"They want me to pull their irons out of the fire, and then they come back and get rid of me, I suppose?" Bheid asked bleakly.

"Why don't we get rid of them first?" Althalus suggested.

"I'm not too interested in general murder, Althalus."

"That isn't what I had in mind, Brother Bheid," Althalus said with a wicked grin. "Maybe it's time for Exarch Aleikon and Prince Marwain to take a little trip."

"Oh?" Bheid said. "Where do you plan to send them?"

"Somewhere a lot farther away than just across the border into western Treborea. I think we might prefer it for them to be far enough away that they'll be very old before they reach Maghu again. Let's gather up the rest of the children and go home. Emmy can use the windows to help us find a new residence for Aleikon and Marwain-the far side of the moon, maybe."

"Why not just kill them?" Gher asked when they reached the House. "That's the easiest way to get bad people out from underfoot, isn't it?"

"Have you been talking with this boy again, Althalus?" Dweia asked accusingly.

"Not recently, Em," Althalus replied. "Gher can come up with ideas without too much help from me. All I really want to do is put those two so far away that they won't come back for fifty or sixty years."

"I think Dhweria might be the place you're looking for, pet."

"Where's Dhweria?"

"It's on beyond the east coast of Plakand."

"Plakand has a coast?" Eliar asked. "I thought it was just grassland that just went on forever."

"Nothing goes on forever, Eliar," Dweia told him. "The world's a globe-around ball. Anyway, the east coast of Plakand is about a thousand miles from Kherdon. Dhweria's a very large island a couple thousand miles from that coast."

"What's it like?" Bheid asked.

"Very much like Hule-primeval forest with enormous trees and lots of wild animals."

"No people?" Gher asked.

"Oh, there are people there," she replied, "but Aleikon and Marwain won't be able to talk with them, since the people there wouldn't understand what they're saying."

"Are they stupid or something?" Gher asked.

"No. They speak a different language, that's all."

"People talk is people talk, Emmy," the boy objected. "Dogs talk with bow-wows; birds talk with tweet-tweets; and people talk with words. Everybody knows that."

"No, Gher," she said gently. "Actually, there are dozens of different human languages. Maybe hundreds."

"That's silly!"

"'Silly' is part of the definition of humans, Gher. Anyway, the island's a bit larger than Treborea, and it's all one vast forest. The people there are very primitive-stone tools, animal-skin clothes, and very little in the way of farming."

"No boats?" Althalus asked.

"Rafts are about all."

"It might be quite difficult for two men to row a raft across two thousand miles of open water," Andine suggested.

"Almost impossible, dear," Dweia agreed. "That's the main reason I suggested Dhweria. Aleikon's a churchman, and Marwain's a noble. Neither of them know anything about tools, so they'd never be able to build a real boat. If we put them there, that's where they'll stay-permanently."

"We'll miss them something awful, though, won't we?" Gher smirked.

"We'll just have to be brave about it, I suppose." Leitha sighed in false resignation.

"I'm pretty brave, Leitha," Gher told her. "If I grit my teeth real hard, I can probably stand it."

"I love this boy," Leitha said fondly.

"What are you talking about, Bheid?" Aleikon demanded when the Exarchs responded to Bheid's summons the next morning.

"I'm trying to save your lives, Aleikon," Bheid explained. "You heard Argan's sermon at Dail. The peasants are butchering every priest they find. I must get you gentlemen to safety."

Aleikon scoffed. "There are safe places where we can hide."

"Oh, really?" Althalus asked. "The peasants and city laborers are everywhere, Exarch Aleikon, and all it'd take to expose you and your Brown Robes would be one set of curious eyes. Bheid's right. If you want to live, leave-and take Prince Marwain with you."

"I think you'd better listen to him, Aleikon," Exarch Emdahl rasped. "And maybe you and I'd better listen, too, Yeudon. We selected Bheid to deal with the situation here in Perquaine, so why don't we just pack up and leave so that he can do his job?"

"It might be best," Yeudon agreed.

A weary-looking priest entered the office and spoke with Aleikon "Prince Marwain is here, my Exarch," he announced. "He demands an immediate audience."

"We aren't quite through here yet, Brother," Bheid told the priest. "Tell Marwain that he'll have to wait."

Aleikon's pudgy face went pale, and his eyes bulged. "You can't do that!" he gasped. "Marwain's the ruler of Maghu. Nobody keeps him waiting!"

"Nothing ever stays the same, Aleikon," Althalus said philosophically. "It'll be good for Marwain to discover that."

"Nobody's going to take Bheid's Grey Robes seriously with the rest of us lurking around every corner," Emdahl rasped. "We hired him to do a job, so now let's get out of his way and let him do it."

"But-" Aleikon started to protest.

"Your house is on fire, Aleikon," Yeudon pointed out. "You'd better leave while you still can-and take all your Brown Robes with you. We aren't dealing with ordinary people here. I had to come to grips with that during the Ansu invasion of Wekti. What's happening here in Perquaine's a continuation of that war, and our enemies aren't all human. The gates of Nahgharash have been opened, Aleikon, and you know what that means."

Aleikon's face blanched at Yeudon's mention of Nahgharash. Evidently his nightmares still haunted him.

"One other thing, Exarch Aleikon," Leitha said pleasantly. "You might as well call in the Brown Robes you've been trying to conceal in the general population. They can't really hide, you know. Koman can sniff them out, and Argan will use them for firewood. Brother Bheid's the only one who can deal with Argan, so you and your Brown Robes had better run while you can."

"I think we've just about exhausted the possibilities of this particular conversation," Emdahl observed. "We should call in Marwain before he boils over. Let's give him his marching orders and get him out from underfoot, shall we?"

Prince Marwain appeared to be on the verge of apoplexy as he stormed into the office. "How dare you?" he almost screamed. "Don't you know who I am? I've never been so insulted in my entire life."

Aleikon tried to smooth things over. "We had a problem to deal with, your Highness. We do have a crisis of sorts on our hands."

"This peasant uprising?" Marwain sneered. "You frighten too easily, Aleikon. I'll crush their rebellion the moment they approach Maghu. One word from me, and they all die."

"Not too likely, Prince Marwain," Emdahl said bluntly. "The peasants outnumber your forces by about a thousand to one."

"Who is this man, Aleikon?" Marwain demanded.

"This is Exarch Emdahl of the Black Robes, your Highness," Aleikon replied.

"Let's clear the air here right now," Emdahl rasped. "We've just concluded a meeting of the high council of the Church, and the Church isn't answerable to secular authorities in purely religious matters. The Church is being realigned in response to the current crisis. The Brown Robe order will depart, and the Grey Robes will replace them."

"Why wasn't I consulted?" Marwain exclaimed. "You can't do this without my permission."

"We just did."

"I forbid it!"

Yeudon stepped in. "Forbid all you want, Prince Marwain. The Brown Robes no longer have any authority in Perquaine. If you have any religious questions, you'll have to take them up with Exarch Bheid of the Grey Robe order."

"I'll call out the guard!" Marwain blustered. "I'll have you all clapped into my dungeon! Nobody makes decisions like this without my permission!"

"Well, Bheid," Emdahl said slyly, "how do you plan to deal with this little problem?"

"Firmly," Bheid answered in a voice quite nearly as harsh as Emdahl's. His face turned bleak as he looked at the spluttering nobleman. "The high council of the Church has made its decision, Prince Marwain, and that decision is final. The other orders are leaving Perquaine even now, and the Grey Robes are replacing them. We are the Church now, and I'm the voice of the Church, so you'd better shut your mouth and listen to me."

Exarch Aleikon winced.

"I don't have the time to be diplomatic, Prince Marwain," Bheid continued, "so I'm going to put this to you rather bluntly. You and the rest of the aristocracy-with the connivance of the Brown Robe order-have been running roughshod over the commoners for a long time, and now it's coming home to roost. Your arrogance and outright brutality have opened the door for certain people you really don't want to meet. Those people have stirred up the commoners of Perquaine to the point that nothing's going to satisfy them but blood, and it's your blood they want."

Prince Marwain's face turned pale.

"You seem to have grasped my point," Bheid said. "That isn't an army that's marching on Maghu, Prince Marwain. It's an undisciplined sea of people, and they'll walk right over any force you could possibly raise. They'll swarm into Maghu like a horde of ants, killing anybody who gets in their way. I wouldn't be at all surprised if their first order of business is going to be putting your head on a pole over the city gate, and then they'll probably loot Maghu right down to the cobblestones. After that, they'll most likely burn the city to the ground."

"God wouldn't permit that!" Marwain asserted.

"I wouldn't make any large wagers on that, your Highness," Bheid told him. "I'm fairly well acquainted with God, and he doesn't usually involve himself in the affairs of people."

"This is starting to get tiresome," Althalus muttered. "Have you got the location of the door to the island Em told us about locked in your mind, Eliar?"

"Pretty much, yes," the kilted young Arum replied. "We aren't going to use it now, though, are we?"

"I can't see any reason why not. I'll blow some smoke in Marwain's ear about a secret tunnel down in the cellar. Then we'll take him and Aleikon downstairs. Pick any door down there that suits you and lead us on through into the House. Then you can lead them to their new home. Pay fairly close attention to what I tell Marwain and make things sort of match up. All right?"

"Anything you say, Althalus," Eliar agreed.

Then Althalus rose and crossed the room to the richly dressed Prince Marwain. "Excuse me, your Highness," he said politely. "My name's Althalus, and I'm sometimes known as the Duke of Kenthaigne."

"I've heard of you, your Grace," Marwain said with a slight bow.

"Your Highness." Althalus also bowed. "I had to set aside my personal business to assist Exarch Bheid with certain courtesies and practicalities. Churches sometimes seem to have trouble with those-or had you noticed?"

Marwain laughed. "Many, many times, your Grace," he replied.

"I thought you might have." Althalus threw a quick glance at Exarch Aleikon. The high churchman's wooden expression strongly suggested that Dweia had already closed down his mind. Althalus spoke again to Marwain. "Anyway, when I heard the news about this human sea marching on Maghu, I started looking for an escape route. Exarch Bheid might believe that he can pray his way out of this mess, but I think I'd prefer to look after myself. I snooped around here in the temple, and I found an ideal way to leave Maghu, completely unnoticed. Since we're both noblemen, courtesy obliges me to share that information with you." He sighed theatrically. "Sometimes I'm so courteous that I can barely stand myself"

Marwain grinned broadly. "You and I are going to get along just fine, Duke Althalus," he said.

"I'm sure of it. There's no real hurry at the moment, since the rebels haven't found their way here yet, but when things start getting noisy here in Maghu, we might get separated, so maybe I'd better show you-and Exarch Aleikon-this quick way out of town right now, so that you'll be able to find it yourselves in the event of an emergency."

"Excellent idea, Duke Althalus. Where's your escape route located?"

"In the cellar, of course. Underground passages almost always start in a cellar. This one hasn't been used for centuries, if the cobwebs I had to wade through are any indication. It goes under the streets of Maghu and comes out in some woods out beyond the city walls. Nobody'll see us leave, and nobody'll see us when we come out of the tunnel."

"We may never need it," Marwain said, "but it might not be a bad idea to have a look at it, eh, Aleikon?"

"As your Highness commands," Aleikon said in a numb voice.

"Lead the way then, Eliar," Althalus said.

"Right," Eliar replied, starting toward the door.

'What are they seeing?' Althalus sent his quick thought to Eliar.

'Cobwebs, torchlight, a few mice,' the young man replied. 'If you've seen one tunnel, you've pretty much seen them all.'

'You're probably right. How much farther?'

'Just a little way. The door opens into a small clearing in the woods. When we get to it, give me a moment to adjust the door frame. It's morning in Maghu, but it's already nighttime in Dhweria. I'll have to arrange for us to come out at pretty much the same time of day so Marwain doesn't get suspicious.'

'Good idea,' Althalus agreed.

Eliar moved quickly on ahead, paused for a few moments, and then looked back. "Here it is," he called back.

"Well, finally," Marwain said. "I was starting to think your tunnel went on forever, Duke Althalus."

"Maghu is a fairly big city, your Highness," Althalus reminded him. "Now, as soon as we come out in the woods, we'd better take a quick look around to make certain that nobody's watching us. Why don't you and the Exarch push on through to the far edge of the grove of trees while Eliar and I go back to the side facing the city walls? We don't want some peasant with a big mouth telling everybody in town that he just saw us, do we?"

"Not even the least little bit," Marwain agreed. "A thorough search is definitely in order. After we've taken a look around, we'll meet back at the mouth of the tunnel, right?"