"Strong words, Oligarch, strong words."

The Elector spoke calmly and even mustered the ghost of a smile, but Malum knew that the accord was in trouble and his master was angry. They had both known that it was possible; the Elector had even discussed it with him. In. fact, in one of those brilliant flights of a.n.a.lysis that never failed to impress Malum, the Elector had outlined the consequences of the vote for decades to come. Olivderval had obviously come to those same conclusions and was moving now to thwart them.

Malum allowed his attention to wander for a brief time. The Oligarch made him intensely uncomfortable.

She had cultivated him, that was the only word for it. She had sought him out at diplomatic gatherings and had quizzed him in a friendly way. She had been frank with her own opinions and had listened to his with re- spect. She was fun to debate with, despite his nagging suspicion that she had a better mind than he did. He rather enjoyed her company. He just wished that she

would behave more like a lady.

"I have a reputation, my Lord President," Olivderval said, breaking into Malum's thoughts, "for being blunt, and I am. Not from any lack of sensibility, I a.s.sure you, but because time is precious." She pushed herself up in her chair and gazed around the table, compelling atten- tion.

"We have all wasted far too much time on this mat- ter. We have been dancing diplomatically for fifteen years and I have gone along with it. We do not have the luxury of time anymore. The Outland is ready for settlement and every st.u.r.dy beggar, every disgruntled younger son, every escaped criminal in the world, will be heading out there to make a life for themselves. If 21.

we do not set up controls there will be a lawless society.

Now, I don't think that any of us want that."

She looked up and down the table again, but there were no comments. "Very well then," she resumed, "the time has come to talk truths-all the nasty, little stick- ing places that it has been "bad form' to bring up. Con- sider that, according to this map, the Kingdom of Arundel appears to have ceded to Talisman an area about four times the area of Talisman itself. I a.s.sume that Queen Arabella has decided that when the lands beyond the Mountains of the Night are explored, Arun- del will have more than enough territory. The Empire, on the other hand, with who knows how many leagues of Unknown Lands to exploit, hasn't given an inch, thereby forcing Isphardel, and only Isphardel, to settle for a territory separated by close to a thousand leagues from the homeland."

"Does anyone else have a 'sticking place" to bring to our attention?" Estragoth asked as Olivderval paused for breath.

"With the Lord President's permission," Jarrod said.

He had not intended to make this proposal, but it sud- denly seemed imperative.

"Yes, my Lord Mage?" Phalastra said politely.

"I have discussed the earlier draft of this doc.u.ment with the Archmage and he insists that the Discipline be afforded an autonomous base in the Outland.

"I do not think," Jarrod said, hurrying on before anyone could cut in, "that I have to remind the Council that, without the Discipline, we would not be discussing part.i.tion now. Besides, with the vast distances involved, the Discipline needs a center from which to organize and control the Weatherwarding." He had not in fact received any such instructions, but he felt sure that Ragnor would approve.

Phalastra sipped delicately at his cider. "Since the

22 control of weather is of interest only to the Magical Kingdoms, I should imagine that it is up to them to cede whatever territory is deemed necessary. Lfmbria has no objection."

"Nor Isphardel," Olivderval added.

"Songuard does not object," the Hodman rumbled.

"Very well then," Phalastra resumed. "I think we can safely leave the Discipline and the Magical Kingdoms to work out the details. Does anyone else have a prob- lem that they would like to raise?" He looked around the table.

"Well, it would appear that Paladine has been some- what shortchanged." The voice, soft and diffident, came from the Paladinian Chamberlain. "The portion marked is consistent with our northern border, but that is the narrowest part of the Kingdom."

There was a buzz of conversation that began to grow louder. Estragoth banged on the table in an effort to regain control of the meeting, but he was ignored. Fi- nally he stood, pushing his chair back, and used his mug on the tabletop. Slowly the meeting came to order.

When he spoke, he was calm, but the effort showed in his rigid stance.

"The Oligarch has given us much to think about," he said, "and it is clear that we shall make no headway today. I suggest that we adjourn for four days and re- convene here at the eleventh hour. If there are further problems with the proposed part.i.tion, 1 shall be most happy to meet individually with Commission mem- bers." He looked from side to side. "Are we agreed?"

Taking silence for a.s.sent, he stalked from the room.

As soon as he was through the door the voices started up again. Malum began to pack up his things. The meeting had been a disaster. It was supposed to last the day and now his master had cut it off inside of an hour.

The old man was going to be in a foul mood. Somehow 23.

they would have to devise a way of neutralizing the Isphardi suggestion that the Empire give up territory Varodias would never stand for it and the Emperor when angry, was an exceedingly dangerous man He looked over at the Commissioners and found them clus- tered around the Oligarch. d.a.m.n that Olivderval'

chaptep 3

^^arrod Courtak looked up from his reading at the

knock on his door.

"Oh, h.e.l.lo Tok," he said to the plump Magician who entered without waiting for permission. "What did you do, sneak past the Duty Boy?"

"Hardly," Tokamo said good-naturedly. "I'm not ex- actly built for sneaking. I pa.s.sed the poor tyke on the stairs buried under a pile of your washing."

Jarrod smiled fondly at his oldest friend. Tokamo still made jokes about his girth, but he had in fact slimmed down considerably since his thirtieth birthday. He had become an important man in the Discipline of Paladine, taking on more and more administrative responsibility as Agar Thorden got older. He did most of the traveling these days, supervising the Weatherwards and the Vil- lage Magicians, collecting the t.i.the and adjudicating

disputes.

"I haven't seen you for a fortnight," Jarrod said.

"You been off terrorizing the scullery maids at the post

inns again?"

"No such luck. I've been stuck in the countinghouse

going over the t.i.the receipts. Master Thorden's got an attack of the ague again. Needless to say, Naxania's late with the Crown's share. So, how did the big meeting go? My spies tell me that you were back early."

"It was a disaster," Jarrod said with relish," but it 25.

looks as if we're going to get something out of it after all."

"You sound as if you had a good time," Tokamo commented as he went to the sideboard and helped himself to a flagon of ale. He took a chair from the side of the room and brought it across.

"Oh, I wasn't the one who caused the trouble."

"I see. Who did you get to do the dirty work for you?

Borr Sarad?"

"No. Olivderval and Estragoth had one of those clas- sic, extremely polite, head-on clashes. Why the Elector thought that the Isphardis would accept a divided ter- ritory is beyond me. The basic problem is that the Um- brians despise the Isphardis."

"The Umbrians look down on everybody," Tokamo commented.

"True, but they have this att.i.tude that commerce is beneath them. Mining and manufacturing support most of the Electors, but they maintain this fiction that ac- tually selling the stuff is plebeian."

"More fool they; there's nothing wrong with money."

"It seems to me that, as far as the Empire is con- cerned, having it is one thing, but working for it is something else entirely."

"Surely-this head-on clash wasn't about money."

"Territory, access and administration on the surface, power beneath it," Jarrod said succinctly.

"Power? Isphardel doesn't have an army and . . ."