put his hands together and formed a circle, thumbs pointing upward, an inch apart. ‘Imagine this is the Confederacy. Across the top of the circle lie two ranges of mountains forming the Girdle of Kesh: the western, longer half is called the Belt.’ He wiggled his right thumb. ‘The shorter, eastern half is the Clasp.’ He wiggled his left thumb. ‘There are two towns on the north of the Girdle, Lockpoint and Teléman. Neither is rightly a town, more like very large garrisons with civilians to support them. Their task is to keep murderous hordes of very angry Confederates from sweeping north through the only major pass, between the Belt and the Clasp.
‘To the east of what passes for arable land is the Drahali-Kapur desert. To the west the Dragon Mere swamplands, and south an arid, rolling plain leading to more mountains, swamps, and woodlands aptly named the Forest of the Lost, because no one who’s ever ventured in there has come back to tell us what’s in there. As for the plains, they’re hardly useful: thin topsoil and little water, except when it’s storm season and everything is under three feet of water for a month.
‘In short, the people who reside in the Confederacy would prefer to live just about anywhere else in the world but on their own land. But, and here you see the perverse nature of humankind in fullest flower, they’ll happily kill one another over who gets to squat on which miserable piece of land. There’s one town on a rocky peninsula called Brijané, home to the Brijaner sea raiders. The Imperial treasury pays them handsomely not to build ships to transport people north from the Confederacy. And they pretty much hate everyone else down there, especially the Ashunta horsemen.
‘But the one thing that keeps the mountain people from killing the flatlanders, the flatlanders from killing the swamp raiders and everyone from killing the desert-men is a universal hatred of the Empire. That’s what binds them together.’
Jim looked off into the distance for a moment, thinking, then said, ‘No, I cannot begin to imagine how Kesh could strip her southern garrisons for a war in the north. Yet …’
‘Doesn’t the King have agents in Kesh?’ Hal asked.
Jim glanced at Tal and then said, ‘It is rumoured so.’ He shrugged. ‘But information is scant and unreliable.’
‘Well, then,’ said Hal. ‘We’ll just have to be ready for whatever Kesh brings.’ He didn’t sound like a young man exhibiting false bravado, but rather a thoughtful future leader of men.
Jim studied him for a moment, then glanced around. ‘It’s getting late and I must get to bed soon, for there’s a full day of diplomatic nonsense I must endure before tomorrow’s gala.’ Everyone stood, and Jim said, ‘Hal, if I might request something.’
‘Sir?’
‘Do not return to the university tonight. With the hour late and stirrings of trouble in the air, I would sleep better knowing you are safe. You may be distant kin to his majesty, but you are still kin and I would feel a personal responsibility should anything happen to you while I was in this city.’
Tal said, ‘We have extra rooms for those rare occasions when a patron is not safe to go home. The bedding is fresh. Ty, show our two guests to their rooms.’
‘You can travel to the university in the morning,’ said Jim, ‘as you must look your best tomorrow evening.’ To Phillip, he said, ‘Feel free to return to your duke, tomorrow, Swordmaster. Until certain matters here in Roldem are resolved, I will personally undertake to look after young Lord Henry’s well-being. Rest assured, and please let his father know this is the case.’
‘I will, sir. Then goodnight, gentlemen,’ said Swordmaster Phillip.
Ty led the two guests upstairs. When they were out of earshot, Tal said, ‘What’s really going on down there, Jim?’
While not close, the two men knew each other well enough that Tal knew Jim was very high up in the King’s court, a much more important man than his rank indicated. He also knew Jim was in charge of the King’s intelligence service. And each knew the other had served the Conclave in the past.
‘I don’t know, Tal, and that’s the gods’ truth. What has me concerned is that all my reports from north of the Girdle are routine: everything in the Empire itself is calm. But all my agents south of the Girdle have gone silent.’
‘Silent?’
‘I haven’t had a report from anyone in the Confederacy in three months. The two men I’ve dispatched to see why have yet to return or report.’
‘Now I understand your worry.’
‘There’s something going on down there, and there are strange reports coming from the Imperial Court. There’s a faction of the Gallery of Lords and Masters that is almost outright calling for war against the Kingdoms.’
‘Kingdoms?’
‘Roldem as well as the Isles.’
‘Are they mad? Roldem’s fleet alongside the Isles would sweep every Imperial ship from the ocean. The Quegans would love an excuse to sack Durbin and Elarial in the West.’
‘They are not mad,’ said Jim, tapping his cheek absently as if goading himself to think. ‘But if it’s true this makes no sense.’
‘What else?’ asked Tal.
‘You don’t miss much, do you?’
‘My people are taught at a very early age to be observant, and the Conclave put me through some rigorous training.’ With a small smile he said, ‘Why do you think I get so few invitations to play cards?’ Then his features grew solemn once more. ‘You hid it well, but there’s something you didn’t tell young Lord Henry.’
‘The Prince is worried as to what might occur should Crydee be ordered to reinforce Krondor. It’s a small enough army – the smallest in the West – and there’s a lot of territory to protect.’
‘Protect?’ Tal’s gaze narrowed. ‘If the attack is on Krondor, you don’t expect a simultaneous assault on the Far Coast, surely?’
‘Not from Kesh.’
‘Then from whom?’
Jim shook his head. ‘Just suffice it to say the Prince is not sanguine about Crydee’s neighbours.’
For a moment, Tal was confused. ‘The Free Cities …?’ Then comprehension dawned. ‘The elves?’
‘The Star Elves, in particular. We’ve had a long and peaceful relationship with those in Elvandar, but these newcomers …’ Jim fell silent. After a long moment he went on, ‘I don’t know what to tell you. They’ve made no hostile act, yet they are aloof and we get reports now and again of people wandering near their borders disappearing, never to be seen again. They’ve come to some sort of understanding with the dwarves to their south, but as I understand it, friendship is hardly the word. They are an unknown quantity, and unknowns make me very nervous.’
‘What do you hear from Pug?’
‘Nothing,’ said Jim. ‘If the Conclave has heard rumours of war, they are not sharing them with me. Besides, Pug has always said he will not become involved in matters of national conflict again.’
Talwin was silent as he thought about this, then said, ‘He might if such a war would weaken us enough to be unable to withstand another assault … like the Dasati.’
Both men fell silent. An entire world, Kelewan, had been destroyed in a barely repulsed attack by powerful forces from another plane of reality. And for more than ten years all members of the Conclave, active or not, had been asked to keep their ears open for any news of demon activity.
Jim said, ‘Perhaps I should presume to remind him of that?’
‘Perhaps,’ agreed Tal, ‘you should. I wonder what Pug is up to these days?’
Pug looked around the cave. Magnus held his hand aloft, using magic to create a bright light on the palm of