Lord of Lies

Chapter 11

An hour later I rode out alone to answer King Waray's invitation Many knights, on their way to visit friends or kindred in other encampments, passed by in continual streams of snorting horses and brilliant surcoats flapping in the wind. A dirt road connected the Meshian pavilions with the Tournament Grounds' main road. At the intersection, where teams of workmen made busy preparing the Sword and Chess Pavilions for the coming competitions, 1 turned east and let Altaru gallop full out for a few hundred yards to give him a little exercise. Soon we came to the Taroners' encampment. I counted hundreds of pavilions sprung up from the soft green grass like so many brightly colored mushrooms. In a little field between them, many rows of tables were being set with plates and goblets for the evening's feast Grooms working the firepits there roasted whole lambs on black, greasy spits while others nearby hurried to and fro bearing casks of brandy or baskets of bread. King Waray's pavilion, overlooking all this activity, was like a small palace constructed of red and white silk. After tethering Altaru outside it, I made my way toward its open door. I gave my name to one of the guards posted there, and he vanished inside the pavilion to announce me. A few moments later, a tall, dignified man came out to greet me. His long red tunic was emblazoned with the white winged horse of the House of Waray.

'Lord Valashu Elahad!' King Waray said to me. He clasped hands with me as if we were old friends. 'Welcome to Nar!'

With his aquiline nose and black, luminous eyes, he appeared the epitome of a Valari King. His high forehead seemed to radiate a shining intelligence. But as he thanked me for honoring his summons and began speaking of the friendship of our two kingdoms, the words that poured from his thin lips seemed sometimes to squeak like mice and at other moments to roar like mountain lions. His was a curious voice: pinched and nasal, gravelly and sweet — all at once. It might, I thought, as easily disarm and charm a friend as it could flay an enemy. It was clear from the first that King Waray intended to charm me. He hailed me as the Lord of the Lightstone. He praised the beauty of my horse and my skill at mastering such a magnificent and ferocious beast. And then he laid his arm about my shoulders and gently urged me to walk with him through the Taron encampment.

'Yes, a fine horse, indeed,' he said as he watched Altaru's neck arch downward to graze on the rich spring grass. 'One of the Anjori wild Blacks, isn't he? We've all heard the story of how you risked your life, when you were still a boy, to break him.'

'Altaru,' I said to him, 'was never broken. He allows me to ride him, but no other.'

'Of course — well, it was still a great feat. Just as it seems more recently you've tamed the mighty Ishkan bear.'

'King Hadaru,' I said, fighting back a smile, 'might think otherwise.'

'Of course he would. But he has chosen Ishkan knights to join your Guardians, hasn't he? And he has ridden with an Elahad all the way from Ishka into Taron.'

'Truly, he has,' I said, watching as King Waray's bright eyes watched me. 'For at least a hundred miles, Ishka has made alliance with Mesh.'

King Waray smiled at me. 'King Hadaru and I spoke together earlier today. He has assured me that he favors an alliance of all the Valari, even as you propose.'

As we paused in front of his huge pavilion, I had to fight to keep the fire of hope from flaring too brightly on my face. I asked him, 'Do you favor such an alliance, King Waray?'

'Of course I do — how else are we to oppose Morjin?'

'My apologies, but King Danashu has given me to understand that you consider such an alliance an impossibility.'

'King Danashu sees impossibilities everywhere,' he said. 'Perhaps he heard me speak of the great difficulties in forging such an alliance and misconstrued this to mean I thought it would be impossible.'

'Then you do think it's possible?'

'My father, a very wise man, once asked me this: How is it possible that the impossible is not only possible but inevitable?'

My heart sounded in my chest like a thunderbolt. I said, 'That is my feeling, exactly. The Valari must unite. Any difficulties must give way like darkness before the light of the stars.'

'Beautifully said, Lord Valashu. And I have invited you here so that we might speak of these difficulties. Why don't we begin with King Hadaru, who is a very difficult man?'

'But you say that he has spoken in favor of the alliance.'

'Indeed, he has. But then: was everything about his maner, the very tone of his words, that suggested he hopes to lead this himdelf.' King Waray, as we began walking between the Taroners pavillion slid this innuendo into me as snoothly as might an assassin a knife. He was a shrewd man and subtle. He had a cool polished facade like the marble of his great Sun Tower, and his casual knowledeability and seeming goodwill concealed a monumental arrogance and desire to control others. I knew that he wasn't telling me the whole truth, about King Hadaru or anything else. And yet I also knew that he sense of honor would not permit him to lie outright. He was. rather, like a knight facing formal combat or playing a game with strict rules of his own making. I recalled then that, in his time, for many tournaments he had remained undefeated at chess.

'King Hadaru,' I told him, 'has always seen himself as the strongest of the Valari kings. And he doubts that I could be the Maitreya.'

'Many doubt this, Lord Valashu,' he said And then he slid another knife into me and twisted it. 'I think you even doubt this yourself.'

I remained quiet for a moment as I stopped to look at him. And then I said, 'And you, King Waray? Are you one of the doubters, too?'

'Well, what does it really mean to be a Maitreya?' He asked me, giving voice to the question I most wanted answered. 'I can tell you that if any Valari deserves to be Maitreya, then surely it is you.'

'Thank you,' I said. 'One of my reasons for journeying here was to cast more light on this matter.'

'Of course — you hope to unite our people. If you accomplish this, you will prove yourself to be the Maitreya.'

I bowed my head to him and said, 'You are very perceptive, King Waray. But it's also my hope to search inside the Brotherhood school. There might be knowledge there that could settle this question.'

'The school has been closed,' he told me. 'Your Master Juwain has seen to that.'

'We were hoping you might be persuaded to reopen it.' 'Perrhaps some day I might be.'

The light of the late sun glinted off the helm of a passing knight, and I suddenly realized something: He does not want me to be the Maitreya. He does not want any Valari to be this Shining One. 'What would it take; then, to persuade you, King Waray?'

'That is still to be determined. You see, the Brotherhood has gath-ered much knowledge that is difficult to interpret or is actually misleading. And this is a time where we Valari must not be misled.' 'Truly, we mustn't. And that is why the Maitreya must be found.'

'Of course, he must be found, if it that is possible,' he said. 'But what if it should happen that Valashu Elahad is not the Maitreya? What if none of the Valari is? Even so, the Valari must find a way to unite.'

King Wara's black eyes were bright with dreams, and I suddenly realized something else: He truly desires a Valari alliance — but with himself as its leader.

'The way to unite is simple,' I said to him. 'Each king has only to pledge his support to every other, should Morjin threaten to march against any of our kingdoms. And then to meet in conclave in Tria.'

'Of course, it is simple to say this, but much more difficult to accomplish. King Mohan, for one, cares little for Morjin's threats.'

'That is because he knows little of Morjin.'

'He knows enough to determine that Morjin has problems of his own. Since you made off with the Lightstone, it's said that some of the Dragon Kings have plotted against Morjin and have tried to assassinate him.'

'And how has this news come to you?'

'A king always has his sources,' he said mysteriously. 'I've always striven for peace, always tried to understand the true concerns of those around me. To achieve this, one must know a great many things.'

'Does King Mohan favor a Valari alliance?'

'That is difficult to say. He certainly favors anything that would promote Athar's gaining glory, particularly if that occurred to the detriment of Lagash and King Kurshan.'

'The old dispute,' I said, shaking my head.

Long ago, in the Age of Swords, King Saruth the Great, whom King Mohan claimed as a distant ancestor, had made a bid for empire and had conquered parts of Taron and Lagash — and even Delu. The old tales told that King Saruth had captured and murdered King Thanasu of Lagash, and had forcibly taken his daughter as his wife to strengthen his line. The Lagashuns had never forgiven the Atharians for this ignominy. More recently, thirty years ago in one of the endless wars between these ancient enemies, both sides claimed the other had broken the rules of formal battle: Lagash accused Athar of commencing the fight before giving Lagash a chance to negotiate, while Athar held Lagash guilty of slaying captives out of hand.

'Of course, I've tried to reason with both King Mohan and King Kurshan,' King Waray said. 'King Kurshan speaks of sailing to the stars even as he builds a great fleet of ships. Who could blame King Mohan for fearing that King Kurshan will use this fleet to strengthen Lagash against Athar? Well, King Mohan is hotheaded and has an evil temper, and so I suppose we can all blame him for that. And so I've tried to find words to cool his heart. I count it as one of my greatest victories that during my reign, war between Athar and Lagash has thrice been

averted.'

As I listened to King Waray's sweetly deceptive voice I had a strange sense that his words had actually inflamed King Mohan's fear of King Kurshan — and perhaps King Kurshan's dread of King Mohan. I sensed that King Waray liked to fan the flames of such fires and then inter-vene with his talk of peace to put them out. In this way did he disarm the kings around him even as he gained their gratitude. In this way did he gain prestige and power.

We began walking again down the rows of the Taron tents Knights dressed in fine tunics for the coming feast passed by us on their way to visit with friends or perhaps take in a game of dice before sitting down to table. Out of respect, they gave us wide berth — all the while straining their ears toward us and stealing glances at me as if hoping for a glimpse of the Lightstone.

And then King Waray lowered his voice as he said to me, 'It may indeed be difficult to win King Mohan to the idea of alliance, for he has grievances against many kingdoms, and Mesh not the least. However, King Talanu is a different question. As always, he will favor anything that Mesh does.'

King Talanu Solaru of Kaash, my grandfather, had been unable to journey to the tournament because of his failing health. But he had sent his son, Lord Viromar, in his place. Although my uncle's friendship was much more with my father than with me, he could certainly be counted on to speak for a Valari alliance, for Kaash and Mesh themselves were ancient allies and supported each other in almost all matters.

'Of course,' King Waray continued, 'King Talanu's unconditional advocacy of this alliance is itself a strike against it.'

'Because of Waas?'

'Exactly. Anything the Kaashans support, King Sandarkan will oppose on first impulse. The Waashians remain too bitter.'

For three hundred years, the Waashians had made war against Kaash in an attempt to recover a large chunk of territory lost in one of their formal battles. But the Kaashans' ferocity and their long swords — with the aid of Mesh — had defeated the numerically superior Waashians again and again.

'Bitter they might be,' I said. 'But they will never regain the Arjan Land through war.'

A little light flared in King Waray's eyes just then, but he kept his cool demeanor. His voice rolled up from his throat through his mouth and long nose: 'There speaks Meshian pride. Is it any wonder that King Sandarkan would speak against this alliance?'

I found that my hand had fallen upon the hilt of my sword. Too many of my friends, I remembered, had died beneath the Waashians' spears only a few years before. Even so, I commanded my fingers to relax. The war with Waas, I reminded myself, had been won. And if an alliance was to be achieved, Mesh and Waas must never make war again.

'King Sandarkan,' I said, 'would then speak against the very thing that preserves his kingdom.'

'Preserves it against Morjin, do you mean?'

'No, against the Valari. My father showed great restraint in not adding Waashian territory to his realm. But the other kings surrounding Waas would not be so kind. King Mohan looks always to the south, doesn't he? Even King Hadaru might be tempted to break truce with Waas if he saw the eagles gathering to rend her apart. Even yourself. King Waray.'

He shrugged his shoulders at this and told me, 'I've said many times that Taron seeks to gain no new territories. I've assured King Sandarkan of this. I believe I have his trust, and 1 also believe that I can persuade him of the necessity of an alliance.'

At what price, I wondered? Would he promise King Sandarkan the return of the Arjan Land in exchange for his support?

'If you could soften King Sandarkan's heart, that would be a great thing,' I told him.

'Of course — I would like to help you in any way I can.'

I realized then another thing about King Waray: that if he failed to gain the leadership of the alliance because I proved myself as the Maitreya, he would try to control me by making himself indispensable.

'King Sandarkan,' he said, 'journeys to Nar often. In time, I'm sure he'll see the sense of things.'

'We have little time, King Waray. The tournament begins tomorrow and lasts only a week.'

'Well, we mustn't rush things — this isn't quite the moment for the alliance you seek.'

'But the conclave will begin in Tria and the end of Marud! The Valari kings must be there.'

'Lord Valashu,' he said, catching me up in the command of his dark eyes, 'it is one thing for the Valari to come together in alliance with each other. But it is quite another to make alliance with outland kingdoms. That, I'm afraid, is impossible. And more, it is not even desirable.'

Inside my mind, the bright tower to the stars that I had been building suddenly cracked and threatened to crumble. I damped my jaws shut to keep myself from crying out in anger at him

'There must be an alliance,' I said to him. 'Of the Valari, first, and then of all the Free Kingdoms.'

Now it was his turn for anger. I felt it burning up through his heart even though he kept his face as cool as ice. 'Of course, the Maitreya would say that. Or, rather, the one who believes himself to be the Maitreya.'

'Others believe that, too.'

'Perhaps, but fewer than you might hope.'

'It is my hope,' I said, 'at least to gain the confidence of the Valari so that they might see what needs to be done.'

King Waray paused to look beyond the Taron encampment at the fields of the Tournament Grounds. Then his sharp eyes pierced me like arrows. 'You no doubt hope to excel in the competitions. But I must tell you what many are saying: that if you are to prove yourself as the Maitreya you will have to become champion.'

'Do you say this, King Waray?'

'I only repeat the common sentiment.'

'Well, someone must be champion,' I said.

'Three previous champions will be competing tomorrow. Do you really think you can defeat them?'

'Surely that is in the hands of the One.'

'Some would say that your fate lies in your own hands, Valashu Elahad.' He cast a quick, scornful look downward as my fingers gripped the hilt of my sword. 'You competed at the last tournament, and as I remember, your handiwork, while honorable, was not outstanding.'

'Much can change in three years.'

He laughed at me then as if enjoying a great joke. 'Many of my knights have made pilgrimage to Silvassu to view the Lightstone. They have watched you practicing at arms, and a few of them have even crossed lances with you. I'm told that there is no hope of your gaining more than a third at the long lance, and none at all of your pointing at lance throwing or the mace.'

'There is wrestling,' I said.

'At which you might possibly win fourth place.'

'There is archery.'

'A fifth, if you are lucky.'

'There is chess, too.'

He laughed again, harder this time, because he of all men knew that my mastery of this game was not of the highest.

'There is the sword,' I said, squeezing Alkaladurs hilt.

Now King Waray's laughter funneled from his nose like the blare of a trumpet And he called out: 'The sword! Ha, ha, ha! Defeat Lord Dashavay? Impossible!'

For the past three tournaments, Lord Dashavay of Waas had won the sword competition by utterly destroying the defenses of his opponents. No one had ever come close to defeating him. Many acclaimed him the finest swordsman in a thousand years.

King Waray laughed for a few foments more, and then cast at me a criticism that would shame any Valari warrior: 'My knights have told me that no one has even seen you practicing at sword since you returned from your adventure.'

I said nothing as I stared down at Alkaladur's hilt, with its carved swans and diamond pommel stone.

'Clearly, then, you must have no hope of prevailing at the sword,' he told me. 'So clearly you cannot be champion.'

It was the rule of the Tournament that a knight must win at least one first place to be awarded the champion's medallion.

'We always say that a sword is a warrior's soul,' I told him. 'Do not be too quick to damn mine to defeat.'

'I hear it's a great sword you've gained,' he said to me. 'May I see it?'

I drew Alkaladur and the king's doubtful eyes squinted against the glare of its bright gelstei. 'Beautiful. But do not think that it will help you vanquish Lord Dashavay,' he said coolly.

No, perhaps it wouldn't, I thought as my sword showered its radiance upon me. Perhaps Lord Dashavay would win the sword competition as he had before, and be declared the Tournament Champion, as he had before. Or perhaps that honor would fall upon Lord Marjay or Sar Shivamar or another. Perhaps it was not my fate, after all, to be champion or even the Maitreya. Did that truly matter? Perhaps King Hadaru would overcome the hurts and suspicions of his many enemies and find a way to lead the Valari alliance; perhaps King Waray would do this himself. Why should it matter who led the alliance so long as all free peoples stood together against Morjin?

Because one, and one only, can unite the Valari. A voice whispered this inside me, begging me to listen. And then the sun above me seemed to empty itself in a stroke of lightning that ran down my sword and burned straight into my soul. And in the flash of this bright star's fire I saw my fate, even as the voice called to me again, now so loud that I could not ignore it: Because you, and you only, are this one.

'No,' I gasped out as I struggled to keep from falling down to the soft green grass below my feet, 'this sword will not help me vanquish Lord Dashayay. But it will help me vanquish Morjin. And that is why I must speak, as soon as possible, with the Valari kings.'

I pointed my sword past the Taroners' tents toward the field where a hundred tables had been set for the evening's feast. At the largest and centermost table, decorated with vases of white starflowers, I would

soon sit with King Hadaru and King Mohan — and with King Waray himself.

And now this proud and angry king shook his head back and forth, and he snapped. at me, 'Speak at your own risk then, and of all that you desire.'

After that he left me standing alone by the tent of one of his lords and he retired into his much larger pavilion to prepare himself to receive guests. I wandered about the Taron encampment, greeting various strange squires and knights. Several asked me to show them the Lightstone; I told them that they would have to wait for the feast to behold it, when the Guardians would arrive to join me. After a while, I made my way toward the many stalls in the area adjoining the Tournament Grounds' main road. I watched a fire-eater sucking in flames and an acrobat walking along a tightrope stretched between two poles; I gave a few coins to a minstrel who played for me on his mandolet a few sad songs. A haruspex beckoned me closer, and a Tarot master offered to tell my fortune. But I did not want to believe that a few colorfully painted cards chosen at random could hold the key to my future.

At last, from all across the Tournament Grounds and the inns of Nar, King Waray's guests began arriving. Knights from Athar, masters of the Brotherhood, lords and ladies from the rich country beyond the Iron Hills — they all urged their mounts down the various roads and poured into the Taron encampment. At its border, where many posts had been pounded into the ground so that the horses could be tethered, I met Master Juwain and Maram, who rode with Lord Raasharu, Lord Harsha, Behira and Estrella. There, too, I greeted the Guardians and took charge of the Lightstone. My brothers joined me there as well; with them was my uncle, Lord Viromar, who had brought with him a contingent of twenty of Kaash's finest knights. Two ot these — Sar Yarwan and Sar Laisu — had fought by my side in Tria against assassins, and they had also made their own quest for the Lightstone. Lord Viromar, whose emblem was a white snow tiger upon a blue field, was a dark, impassive man of few words. But he was a great warrior renowned for his presence of mind in battle, no less his love of justice, and my father always said that he would make a fine king. In a stream of brightly colored cloth and glittering diamond armor, we all made our way toward the Field of Feasts, where we joined King Waray's others guests. It seemed that King Waray had invited everyone in the city to dine with him, for rows of tables were laden with endless of platters of food. Lord Harsha, Behira and Estrella took their places with Maram and Master Juwain not far from the head table, while the Guardians were seated closer still. Properly, only kings or their heirs to the throne should sit with King Waray. But since I was Guardian of the Lightstone, King Waray had invited me to join Asaru at his table. In an act of kindness that surprised me, he included Yarashan in this honor so that he wouldn't feel slighted. We pulled out three chairs together, and bowed our heads as my uncle, with King Hadaru, King Danashu and the other kings, seated themselves around King Waray.

The feast began, and it was much like many others that I had attended. Much food was eaten; casks of brandy and beer were emptied as their contents found their way past the lips of King Waray's guests, and none more so than Maram. He made a fine toast to King Waray's hospitality. Others stood and made toasts, too: to all the knights who would be competing on the morrow; to their success in arms; to the tournament's past champions. Here King Waray, sitting at the center of our table, paused to cast me a cold look. It grew even colder as one of the Kaashan knights raised his goblet and praised me for leading the quest to find the Lightstone. He called for a minstrel to come forth and tell this tale. When many of the other knights present added their voices to this demand, King Waray was forced to summon his own minstrel, a man named Galajay, who sang out words that King Waray could not want to hear.

At last it came time for me to bring forth the Lightstone and show it to all assembled on that broad field. This I did. I held the golden cup high so that it caught the light of the torches and the night's first stars. Then I gave it to my uncle, who held it a moment before setting it into the hands of King Danashu. And then he passed this shining wonder down the line of the other Valari kings.

Baltasar, my hot-blooded and faithful friend, of his own impetu-ousness, suddenly stood and called out toward me, 'Lord of Light! Maitreya! Lord of the Lightstone!'

Others, at the Meshian tables, picked up the cry. Almost immediately Sar Laisu and half a dozen Kaashans added their voices to this acclaim, and soon many knights at the tables of the Ishkans, Lagashuns, Anjoris, Taroners, Atharians and even the Waashians joined in:

'Maitreya! Maitreya! Maitreya!'

So loud did this chant become that I was finally forced to stand and hold up my hand for silence. As the hundreds of voices died down I called out, 'That is still not proven!’

Sar Tadru of Athar, who had also stood with me in Tria to make vows, now called back, 'What would it take then to establish this proof?'

'That, too is still not detetmined,' I told him. 'But it would make a mockery of the One's design if the Maitreya were to come forth only to see the Lightstone regained by Morjin. And this Morjin will certainly attempt if the Valari don't stand together against him.'

I looked down at the kings at my table. It had come King Sandarkan's turn to hold the Lightstone. He was a tall, thin man with a predatory look about his lean face. His body seemed all angles and long limbs, and he reminded me of nothing so much as a huge preying mantis. And now he gripped the Lightstone in his lands as if he never wanted to let if go.

'If the Valari are to stand together,' his thin voice croaked out, 'let us first put our own house in order. And how are we to do that when certain Valari enter the rooms of others to take priceless objects that are not theirs?'

Here he turned slightly to glare at the impassive Lord Viromar, and I couldn't help remembering what King Waray had said about Kaash's conquest of the Arjan Land, I noticed King Hadaru eyeing King Danashu at a hungry bear might a wriggling salmon, while King Kurshan and King Waray sat side by side separated by a wall of mistrust. The Valari kings. I thought, shared this table like a single family. And like a family they seethed with resentments, jealousies and old wounds.

'King Sandarkan!' I called out. 'You fret over lost objects when our house itself is on fire and threatened with destruction. Will you help put out this fire before you lose everything?'

'You ask a great deal of Waas.'

'No more than of any Valari kingdom,' I said. You've spoken of rooms within our small house. But the Valari were sent to Ea to build mansions and whole cities glorious beyond anything we can even dream.'

'Myths,'he said shaking his head.

'If the Valari unite,' I said to him, 'the time of wars between us would come to end. All would be restored to Waas, and much more. The whole world would lie before us waiting for us to create an inde-structible kingdom beneath the stars.'

'Miracles,' his voice croaked out. Again, he shook his head, but his eyes were bright. 'Are such miracles truly possible?'

I looked at the golden cup that he held in his long, lean hands. It came to me then that while families were sometimes riven by malice, an opposite and deeper force ran within them like a river of light.

'Maitreya!' a young knight of Waas suddenly called out. 'Maitreya!'

It seemed to me that the time had come to bring about one of the miracles King Sandarkan had spoken of. But then the man sitting next to him, King Mohan of Athar, impatient as always, suddenly turned in his chair and snatched the Lightstone from his hands with all the speed of a snapping turtle. He held up this prize to regard it with his small, hard eyes. He himself was small, for a Valari, and hard in his body and spirit from the fierce disciplines he forced upon himself. His face was rather ugly, despite his fine features, because of his seething irritability, arrogance and love of strife.

'Lord Valashu,' he said to me, 'you have regained the Lightstone for all the Valari, and for this you have earned our thanks. And now you try to gain a Valari alliance. But who is to lead it? You?'

I counted the beats of my heart as I listened to some knights at one of the Anjori tables begin chanting again: 'Maitreya! Maitreya! Maitreya!'

King Mohan didn't wait for me to answer; he cast me an angry, smoldering look and fired out another question: 'Do you ask us to approve your leadership, here, now?'

'No,' I said, 'at this time, it will be enough if the Valari kings agree to the alliance, itself. And agree to journey to Tria. There it will be decided if I am the Maitreya.'

'No,' he shot back at me, 'that must be decided here, on the Tournament Grounds, with lance and sword. If you are truly the Maitreya, you must prove it. And how else but by becoming champion?'

I saw that King Waray was regarding King Mohan as if very pleased with the words he had just spoken.

Now Maram, both very drunk and very incensed, rose out of his chair and pointed his finger at King Mohan as he said. 'The proof you desire lies in your hands. Who but the greatest of champions could have fought through half of Morjin's army to bring the Lightstone to you?'

'Yes,' King Mohan sneered out, 'we've all heard of this great deed, sung by minstrels. But who has seen it? An old Master Healer and a fat prince of Delu?'

Delu and Athar were ancient enemies, and Maram's face flushed red with rage. I was afraid he might even draw his sword and fall upon King Mohan. But he restrained himself. He drew in a deep breath and said 'A prince of Delu I was born, but I am now also a Valan knight.'

Here he held up his silver ring, with its two bright diamonds, for all to see.

'A Valari knight,' King Mohan said, 'needs more than a ring to make him so. Prove yourself in the competitions, and we might believe you had the skill at arms to judge Lord Valashu's deeds and to report them truly.'

Maram opened his mouth as if to shout down King Mohan, but I caught his eye and shook my head slightly. If he pressed King Mohan, this rapacious king would only turn upon him like a cornered wolverine and defend his position all the more fiercely. And so, with a loud grumble, Maram assured King Mohan that he would prove his worth as both a Delian prince and a Valari knight. And then he took his seat.

I nodded at King Danashu and at King Kurshan. I said to them, and to all the kings at our table, 'King Mohan appears to speak for all of you. But I would ask you each, as kings of your own realms, to speak for yourself.'

I believed that if four or five of the Valari kings pledged to meet in Tria, King Waray, as a great conciliator, would suddenly find himself in favor of this journey as well. And then King Mohan would be forced to follow his lead — or to stand alone.

'Lord Viromar,' I said to my uncle, 'will you go to Tria?'

And this taciturn prince of Kaash replied with a single word: 'Yes.'

'King Kurshan, will you make the journey as well?'

King Kurshan looked up at the dark sky. It seemed that he was trying to decide the very fate of the world. And then he smiled, and his scarred visage lit up as if with dreams of sailing from Tria itself straight up to the stars. He said, 'If the other kings agree to this, so does Lagash.'

'King Danashu,' I said, turning to Anjo's nominal sovereign, 'will you meet in conclave with the outland kings?'

King Danashu pulled at his heavy chin as beads of sweat formed up on his brow. He had promised me that he would speak in favor of meeting in Tria, but now he seemed unable to meet me eye to eye.

'It must be said,' he finally forced out, 'that we Valari should make an alliance. Of course we should. And we Valari kings should meet with the other kings in Tria. We should do this, unless other matters prevail upon us here. King Sandarkan is right that we should first put our own house in order. Let us do this. Let us then journey to Tria, or to another meeting place, perhaps even in Nar — perhaps next year.'

As he fell silent, I saw King Waray regarding him triumphantly.

A sudden heaviness weighed at my belly as if I had swallowed a ball of lead. And I asked King Sandarkan, 'Will you meet in conclave?'

King Sandarkan glanced at King Danashu and then at King Waray. He was like a great bird of prey alert for any shift in the direction of the wind.

'No, I will not journey to Tria, not now,' he said. 'The idea of an alliance is a good one, but it's time is not yet'

Now it seemed that a whole ocean of molten lead burned inside me as I turned to King Hadaru and asked him the same question.

'The Valari must make alliance against Morjin,' he said to me and to all those present. 'But who is to lead this alliance? Valashu Elahad? I, for one, do not doubt his deeds. They are truly great. And it may be that he is this great Shining One whom many hope him to be. But at the Battle of Red Mountain, it's known that he he hesitated in engaging his enemy who stood before him. Even as, in my own palace, in a duel, he refused to slay the one whose name I will not speak. Let us not forget that he has led four men and two women only into Argattha. If he would lead the whole of the Valari against Morjin, let him first overcome these hesitations; let him prove himself in battle as a warlord. Or, failing that, let him prove himself as this tournament's champion. And then we may speak of journeying to Tria.'

He, at least, the great Ishkan Bear, did not hesitate to stare straight at me. In his grim, old eyes was a promise that he would do what I had asked of him only if I did what he had asked of me.

'King Waray,' I said, finally turning to the gloating host of this feast, 'will you meet with the sovereigns of the Free Kingdoms?'

King Waray's polite face hid the most savage of smiles as he told me, 'Perhaps, Lord Valashu. But let it be as King Hadaru has said.'

Now only King Mohan remained to query. This I did. And he told me, 'Win the championship, and we will see about the conclave.'

As it had now grown late and the lance-throwing competition began early the next day, many of those present began saying their good-nights and returning to their respective encampments. More than a few knights walked up to my table to wish me well. Their words of encouragement were sincere, and yet they were proud men who would yield before me only if I truly outfought them.

At last, King Kurshan returned the Lightstone to me. I stared at this simple cup that held the light of the bright stars above. I remembered too well how I had fought and killed many men to gain it for the Valari. And soon, at dawn, I would have fight many Valari, if not quite kill them, so that the cup might be preserved for my quarrelsome people and an alliance be forged. It seemed yet another strange turning of my fate.