Lord of Lies

Chapter 21

In the morning, with the smells of freshly baked bread and roasting meats hanging heavy in the air, we gathered in the great open area outside of Sajagax's tent. My Guardians formed up in their three columns; Sajagax had summoned his own private guard: fifty Kurmak warriors, all of the Tharkat elan. All wore conical steel helmets over their long, blonde braids; their armor was of black leather studded with shiny bits of steel. This covered only their upper bodies, and left their arms bare and free for drawing their powerful bows. It was much lighter than the suits of diamonds that encased a Valari knight from neck to ankle. Being unused to battle at close quarters, the Sarni carried no shields, nor throwing lances, nor long lances either. Thus the load that their horses had to bear was lighter than that of our stout warhorses. Being unused to roads as well, they did not bother to draw up these lithe animals into anything resembling columns. The only order I could detect in the horde of snorting horses and fierce men that gathered to Sajagax was that Sajagax would ride foremost among them.

Just before we set out, however, he nudged his horse, a young piebald stallion, over to where I sat at the head of my knights. He looked long and deeply at Altaru and said, 'It's a great horse you ride, Valashu Elahad. He has beauty and grace. A little too thick for speed over distances, but I would guess he's a terror in a short charge.'

Sajagax and his guard led the way out of his city of tents, and this [took some time. When we reached the open steppe, his warriors fanned out to either side of him in a formation that reminded me of a flock of geese. We followed them at a distance of a hundred yards. They did not really need to lead the way toward Tria, for the during the rest of our journey, we would parallel the Poru as it wound its way through grassland and forest to the Northern Ocean.

Atara and Karimah, who had said farewell to the Manslayers so that they could attend the great conclave, rode with me and my Guardians Despite what Sajagax had said about the Sarni warriors respecting the Manslayers, the Manslayers did not really trust their own men and preferred to keep a distance from them. Of course, they did not trust my men either. But as Karimah had with Lord Harsha, she kept her knife ready (and her sword and bow), and so my knights were careful how they looked at this jolly but violent woman. And as for Atara, everyone knew that she and I had been comrades-in-arms and perhaps something more.

In truth, I welcomed the chance to be near her even though she seldom consented to speak with me. Her coldness along the sere miles of the endless steppe was a winter that I longed to melt away as with the waxing of the hot spring sun. I knew well enough the source of her silence toward me. And so I understood why she pulled her red mare next to Karimah, Behira or even Estrella, to speak with these females in a way that she no longer could with me — or perhaps any man. They comforted her in a way that I could not. It made me want to reach Tria all the sooner, to unlock the Lightstone's secrets and claim it as my own — and then to begin the great work of healing that I thought I must be born for.

Toward this end, I spent as much time as I could with Master Juwain trying to recreate the language of the Galadin. With every mile of grass that our horses trampled beneath their hooves, it seemed that I remembered more words of Alphanderry's last song. Master Juwain, in an elegant and precise script, dutifully wrote each of them down in his journal. When I confessed that I had seen Alphanderry's face take shape out of Flick's shimmering form, Master Juwain grew very excited. He brought forth the akashic stone, and he said, 'Ever since we drew near the Lokilani's island, there's been something strange about Flick. And then in the astor grove, the music, his song, so like Alphandeny's — strange, strange.'

On our first night out from the Kurmak's city, we made camp below some rocky bluffs overlooking the Poru. Master Juwain and I sat with Maram, Lord Raasharu, Atara and Estrella discussing the difficulties of unlocking the akashic crystal Master Juwain held the rainbow disc in front of a lackling woodfire and watched its play of colored lights. Just then Sajagax, with two burly warriors named Thadrak and Orox, rode into our encampment. Sajagax had with him a bottle of Sungurun brandy that he wished to share. He took his place by the fire, sitting between Atara and me. He gazed at the akashic crystal with lime curiosity, as if it were a mere jewel to be appraised and claimed as treasure But when Flick appeared to whirl above it, his blue eyes lit up with wonder and dread.

'The imp returns,' he said. He made a sign of a circle above his forehead and held out is hand as if to ward off evil.

'Flick is no imp,' Maram said. 'More like a spirit of the little people's wood.'

'No, more than a spirit, I should say,' Master Juwain told us. 'Perhaps much more.'

Sajagax hastened to fill our mugs with his fiery brandy, which was even better than our own good brandy that we had brought with us from the Morning Mountains. He gripped the bottle's long neck with great force: I sensed, to keep his hand from trembling. 'If not a spirit, what then?'

'The Lokilani,' Master Juwain said, 'believe the Timpum to be some part of the Galadin.'

'But what are the Galadin if not the greatest of spirits?'

'The Galadin,' Master Juwain said as he took out his worn copy of the Saganom Elu, 'are men — and something much more. Would you like to read the passages that tell of them?'

'I cannot read,' Sajagax said, making another circle with his finger and staring at the book suspiciously. I care not to learn that art.'

'Not read! But why?'

Sajagax tapped his finger against his head and said, 'To depend on words written on paper — this weakens the memory. And so the mind.'

'But there are so many books!' Master Juwain said. 'So much knowledge! Far too much for anyone to remember!'

'Books! Knowledge!' Sajagax spat out. 'What does a man really need to know? To shoot an arrow straight; to live like a lion; to die bravely. What good are books for this?'

'But there is so much more! Why, the ways of the stars and the secret of making the gelstei, and — '

'A man,' Sajagax said, holding up his great bow, 'teaches his son how to make his weapons and the ways of the wolves and other men. Your books might speculate as to where the sun goes at night and why winter comes. But it is better to know where the sagosk go when winter comes.'

'But all of history!' Master Juwain said. 'The Chronicles! The Songs! The Prophecies! To understand why we are here and where we were meant to — '

'We are here', Sajagax broke in again, 'that we might know joy. And as for the past, it is like the future: dwelling in these little tents, we lose the pleasure of life in the here and now, beneath the open sky. It is enough to know the deeds of the imakil and one's ancestors. These are told of in the sagas, and passed down from father to son. These words are written in the blood and heard in the heart, and so they

never lie.'

The implication that the writings in his book might not all be entirely accurate disturbed Master Juwain and angered him. But he took a deep breath to calm himself. He pointed at Flick and said 'This Timpum has somehow learned to sing. If we could hear his songs in our hearts, we might understand the Galadin's language. And so we might better understand the Law of the One.'

'What I there to understand?' Sajagax, disdaining our day mugs, brought forth a golden goblet and filled it with brandy. He drank half of it in a single gulp. The Law of the One is simple: "Be strong. Do what you will. Keep your word. Seek glory. Bear no shame. Honor — " '

'You speak of honor?' Master Juwain called out, now interrupting him. 'You, who honors not the wisdom of many great men who have given their lives to gain it?'

Sajagax's eyes narrowed as he studied Master Juwain. He seemed puzzled that an old man who bore no weapons should yet bear the courage to dispute with him. 'I do speak of honor,' he continued. 'As it is spoken of in the Law of the One: "Honor your father. Honor your horse. Honor the wind, the sun and the sky. Honor your honor above all.'"

He paused to drink the rest of his brandy. And Master Juwain asked him, 'And is that all you know of the Law, then?'

Sajagax peered at the scarred opening of Master Juwain's ear, which Morjin's priest had enlarged with a red-hot iron. And Sajagax said to him, 'No, I know this last thing, that my father taught me: "Live free or die."'

Master Juwain sighed as he rubbed the back of his bald head. He said to Sajagax, 'And I know what the masters of my Order taught me.'

He squeezed his leather-bound book and thumbed through its pages.

'If that is different than what I have said,' Sajagax growled out then it is a lie, and I wish to hear it not.'

'Is that why your people have always turned away the Brothers we sent to instruct them? Either that, or burnt them?'

'Yes,' Sajagax said. 'We do not abide liars.'

'The truth is only ever the truth,' Master Juwain said. 'And the Law is the Law. But men, according to their knowledge, according to their powers, understand it differently.'

'Words, and more words,' Sajagax muttered.

Master Juwain looked at the blazing logs before us. 'A man teaches his young son not to play with fire, does he not?'

'Of course — what's your point wizard?'

'And when his son is older,' Master Juwain continued patiently 'the same father teaches him to make fire.'

Sajagax, like a lion sensing a trap, now only stared at Master Juwain.

'A father,' Master Juwain said, 'makes rules for his children, but requires different things from an infant, a boy, or a youth.'

Sajagax now gripped his bow with such force that had it been a man's skull, he would surely have crushed it. 'Are you saying that we Sarni are children who cannot understand this Law of yours?'

'It is not my Law, but our Law — the Law of the One. And all who dwell on earth are as children in their understanding of it.'

He went on to say that the Star People knew more of the Law, while to the immortal Elijin, much more was revealed. 'And the Galadin,' he told us, 'are given the sight and senses to apprehend the Law perfectly.'

Maram, listening to his old master with great care, asked him, 'And what of the Ieldra?'

'The Ieldra are the Law, the perfect working of the One's will upon the world and all the stars.'

At these words, I couldn't help gazing up at the brilliant constellations illumining the sky. Somewhere, in this whirling array of lights, the Golden Band poured forth all the Ieldra's beauty, goodness and truth. But most men were too blind to see it.

'If we could understand the Law of the One as the angels do,' Master Juwain said to Sajagax, 'then we would understand how the Lightstone might be used. And who might use it.'

At this, I brought out the gold gelstei and sat turning it beneath the stars. Sajagax asked to hold it. I set it into his massive hands. The moment that the little cup touched his skin, his eyes brightened with a new light. He shook his head in wonder. I felt something change inside him then. The core of his being seemed like an iron heating for a long time in a fire and suddenly turning colors from black to red-hot.

He gave the Lightstone back to me. Then he pointed at Flick and said, 'And you truly believe this imp might help in this understanding?'

'We truly do,' I told him.

Sajagax again made the sign of the circle with his finger. Then he gathered in all his courage and waved his hand at Flick as he might try to ward off a cloud of flies. We all watched as his hand swept through Flick's sparkling lights without disturbing them in any way.

'All right,' he said. 'Speak, imp. Tell me of the Law of the One.'

At that moment, Flick's radiance coalesced into the shape of Alphanderry's face. I gasped to see Alphanderry's curly black hair large brown eyes and fine features now woven of light instead of flesh. It was as if our old friend stared luminously out of the dark air before us.

Sajagax jerked back his hand as if from a flame. And his eyes opened wide with astonishment as words poured forth from Flick's glowing mouth: 'Speak imp. Tell me of the Law of the One.'

Sajagax tried to making his warding sign yet again, but he couldn't seem to make his arm move. He stared at Flick, dumbfounded, as we all were. For the voice that had boomed out into the night was not that of our dead minstrel but the gravelly blare of Sajagax himself,

'Alphanderry was a great mimic,' Maram reminded me. 'Do you remember how he made fun of King Kiritan?'

I nodded my head because I remembered very well And Sajagax shook his fist at Flick and said, 'Well, he better not make fun of me.'

And Flick stared right back at him and said, 'He better not make fun of me.'

Sajagax forced a smile and tried to put on a bold face. He muttered, 'Never ask an imp to tell you the Law of the One.'

And then a moment later, still speaking in Sajagax's voice, Flick amazed us yet further, saying, 'To tell you the Law of the One: "Be strong and protect the weak. Work your will in accordance with the higher will. Keep your word as you would the truth. Seek the glory of the One." '

And so it went, Flick adding to or altering slightly the words that Sajagax himself had already spoken. I heard him command the great Kurmak chieftain to honor both his father and his mother. And he finished by saying, "Live free and die gladly into the light of the One."'

For a while no one spoke as we stared at Flick's numinous new face The sounds of the world suddenly seemed too loud: the popping and hissing of the wood in the fire; the crickets' chirping; the wolves far out on the steppe howling at the moon. Many of my men, sitting around fires in front of their tents, sensed that something extraordinary was occurring between me and my friends. They looked our way. But it seemed that Flick was not visible to them from such distances.

Then Master Juwain turned to me and said, 'I think that Flick might be able to do more than simply mimic our words, Val.'

'Val,' Flick said, now in Master Juwain's voice, and he looked up at the stars.

'Val!' Master Juwain cried out. 'Do you see? Look where he's looking! Val — this is the Galadin's word for star!'

Master Juwain set down his copy of the Saganom Elu and brought out his journal. He opened it to the first page and said, 'Arda!'

And Flick replied, 'Arda', as he looked through the fire's wavering flames straight at Lord Raasharu's chest,

'All right, then,' Master Juwain said, smiling happily, 'arda is "fire" or "heart", as I thought. Now then, we have halla, which could be harmony or beauty or — '

'Halla! Flick repeated, and he looked at Atara sitting straight and still next to me, as cold and beautiful as chiseled marble. Then Flick's soft brown eyes fell upon Estrella, and his face lit up with a beauty of his own as he repeated one more time: 'Halla!

This testing of words continued for some time. Sajagax poured more brandy into our mugs, and we sat sipping this sweet, old liquor as we listened to Flick speak. After a while, Flick seemed to grow tired of this labor. He closed his mouth and stared at Master Juwain. A twinkle of lights danced in his eyes. His face came alive with all of Alphanderry's old playfulness. And then, in Alphanderry's own voice, he sang out with heartpiercing beauty whole shimmering streams of song. When he had finished, even Sajagax had tears in his eyes. Then Flick smiled at him and laughed softly, and he winked once again into neverness. But his lovely voice lingered: it seemed to hang in the air like the after-tones of silver bells.

Master Juwain, who had been scribbling furiously in his journal, put down his quill and said to me, 'Too much, too quickly — do you remember anything of what he said?'

'Yes,' I told him. When I closed my eyes, I could hear Alphanderry's song inside my heart. 'I remember.'

'Good. Well, we still have some hours before dawn' Master Juwain again picked up his quill. 'Let's get to work, shall we?'

I yawned and looked up at the Swan constellation shining above the horizon. 'Whatever Flick really is, sir, I'm still a man and have to sleep.'

'We all do,' Sajagax agreed as he looked at me strangely. 'Summer nights are short, and at dawn we'll ride hard for Alonia. And you Valari will be hard put to keep up with us. We don't want you falling off your horses.'

He grabbed his brandy bottle and leaned over to kiss Atara goodnight. Then he stood up and muttered, 'Horses! What was it that imp said to me? "Honor your horse — and all the creatures of the earth"' But how can anyone honor the worms and blowflies alongside the horse?'

And with that, he stood up and summoned Thadrak and Orox, and they walked back to the Kurmak's encampment. All the next day, during our hot, long ride by the river, Flick did not return to enchant or mystify us. But I called up his words for Master Juwain to record in his journal. It amazed me that he managed to write with such a neat hand sitting on top of his swaying horse His need to learn the Galadin's language, 1 thought, was nearly as great as my own.

We covered a good distance that morning, for the Sarni always rode swiftly, and we who guarded the Lightstone desired to reach Tria as soon as we could. Some of my knights complained of the monotony of our journey; the world was flat here, nothing more than endless miles of yellow and green grassland beneath a sheeny blue sky. There was little to engage the eye. Bees buzzed among the wildflowers, and we caught sight of some lions fighting over an antelope they had killed. I worried that my men, irritated by the heat and bloodflies that bit their faces, might themselves take to fighting: Meshians against Ishkans, Waashians against Taroners, Atharians against Lagashuns. But the truce that we had forged during our journey from King Hadaru's hall and tempered since the tournament held true. It touched my heart to see Kaashans and Anjoris treating each other with goodwill, as if they were brothers. It helped, I knew, that we Valari were all strangers in a strange land here, where the wind blew wild and fierce across the sere emptiness of the Wendrush. If it came to battle, we must fight as one — or die as knights of separate kingdoms. That there was something more in their giving up old grievances, Lord Raasharu reminded me during a brief rest along the bank of the Poru.

'You are the Lord of Light,' he said to me as his long face brightened with reverence.

I shook my head as I told him, 'That is still not proven.'

'The more you doubt yourself, Lord Valashu, the less others do.'

I looked off at Sar Avram and Shivathar and my other knights up and down the river watering their horses in the Poru's turbid flow. Sar Jarlath, who had come so dose to death in the battle with the Adirii, smiled at me and waved his hand in salute. To Lord Raasharu, I said, 'They might do well to doubt. Much depends on the truth or falseness of that which they call me.'

'The men love you,' he said to me simply. 'They do not doubt this, any more than they doubt that you love them.'

His words pierced my heart like so many swords. My father had once said that leading men as a band of brothers was the greatest of joys — and that leading them to their deaths in battle was the greatest anguish.

'They would follow you, you know,' he said to me, 'even if you weren't the Maitreya.'

I carried this thought with me as we resumed our journey. Most of the time I rode at the head of our columns, exchanging words with Master Juwain. I kept watching Sajagax and his warriors, who rode easily and skillfully ahead of us. The Kurmak, at least, had no love of me or my knights. Perhaps, in their fierce way, they loved or honored Sajagax, for they were all of Tharkat clan, as was he. Certainly they feared him. He had demanded of each of them that they give their word not to fight with my men. It was to this, more than anything, that I attributed the uneasy peace between our two companies.

But the Kurmak continued to fight or contend among themselves. From time to time, a pair of them would shout at each other or break from their ragged formation to gallop across the grass in a race. They shot their arrows at lions and sometimes charged singly toward a pride of them, vying with each other to see who could come the closest before these great beasts either charged them or fled. They whistled and cursed and laughed at each other's jokes. A few of Sajagax's most willful warriors guzzled beer, even during the day, and their loud, brash songs of challenge to the sky frightened the birds away.

Once, as I rode next to Atara, I asked her why she had left Alonia to live with her grandfather among these rude, wild people. And Atara told me, 'We Sarni are violent, it is true. But so it is almost everywhere. On the Wendrush, at least, if a warrior wishes to kill you, he will do so openly and honesdy. We do not plot and scheme or poison each other, either in body or mind. We keep our word and our laws, as cruel as you might think they are. We like singing and dancing. And we love life, Val. Despite what my grandfather said about the flies and worms, if he were forced to spend much time in a castle or some grand house of marble, he would go mad, as would any of my people.'

Later that day, we came to the place where the Poru was joined by the Astu. This great river, fed by the Blood, the Jade and other waters that streamed down from the White Mountains, added to the Poru's flow and swelled it so that the distance from its east bank to the west was nearly a mile. Sajagax and the Kurmak now took to scanning this mighty brown river, and both its wooded banks, for directly across it was the land of the Marituk. Only the bravest and most determined of warriors, I thought, would dare swim their horses and themselves through treacherous currents that had drowned more than one raiding party. The Marituk were such warriors. And so were the Kurmak. When we camped that evening and treated Sajagax to some of the succulent antelope that one of my knights had killed, I overheard Orox begging Sajagax to add a little fun to our journey and strike out toward the west in order steal women, horses and gold.

But Sajagax had not won thirty-three battles and great wealth by being so easily diverted from his purpose. He had given me his word that he would ride with me to Tria, and so ride we did, as straight and quickly as an arrow flies, or so the Sarni like to say. By noon the next day, with the sun like a hot orange fire turning the world into a furnace, we neared the northern bounds of the Kurmak's country. We had to turn a few miles toward the east for here the Poru overflowed its banks, making a mire of the steppe's long grasses and soil. The cause of this, I soon learned, was not any natural configuration or depression of the earth. The hand of man alone had wrought a structure — the greatest on earth — that blocked the river like a dam. And this massive work of granite and mortar was called the Long Wall.

From miles away, we saw it cutting across the steppe like an upraised scar of stone. Towers, every fifty yards, surmounted its endless line of battlements, biting at the sky like teeth to the east and west for as far as the eye could see. Alonian soldiers stood garrison duty in the towers, though few were stationed here, for Alonia and the Sarni were not presently at war. But the Alonians dreaded the Sarni, as they always had. Late in the Age of the Mother, King Yarin Marshan the Great had drawn a line from the southern end of the Blue Mountains six hundred miles east to the Gap in the Morning Mountains. All the lands to the north, he had claimed for Alonia. But the kings who had succeeded him had not been able to hold back the tide of the Sarni's swelling numbers. After nearly a thousand years of war and rapine, King Shurkar Eriades had gained enough power to begin building the Wall along the Line of Yarin. Two hundred years it took for the Alonians to complete it. By 1124 in the Age of Swords, the Alonians thought themselves well-protected against the yellow-haired hordes of the south.

But the Wall had a weakness, and that was the Poru river. Indeed, the original Wall had a break in it a mile wide, for its makers had built it only to the points, east and west, where the Poru overflowed its banks during the spring floods. But the Sarni found that they could mount autumn and winter attacks along the corridors to either side of the Poru when the river went down. A few of these, despite the heroics of the Alonian soldiers defending the corridors, were successful. And so the Alonians labored another fifty years to extend the Wall to the Poru's east and west banks, driving pylons deep into the muddy earth to support its great weight of stone. And still the Sarni had continued their aggressions, building boats and rafts and simply floating their armies down the river into Alonia. And so finally, the Alonians had spent another hundred years — and thousands of lives — planting their pylons into the bedrock beneath the river itself. They then built the Wall out over the river like a massive bridge. Three feet only, during the Poru's lowest flow, separated the base of the Wall from the waters of the river. And when it was in flood or running high, during the spring and the summer raiding season, the base of the Wall was submerged, impeding the river's flow so that spilled over its banks and created a mire three miles wide.

As we drew closer to the Wall, Sajagax halted his horse on a low rise and sat staring at it. A short while later, with my Guardians behind me, I drew up to him, and he said, 'There it is, Lord Valashu. A dunghill made of stone.'

He swept his hand even with the Wall and continued, 'Do you see how it cuts the earth? Like a belt too tight cutting a man in two. The sagosk cannot cross it; neither the hares nor the antelope nor even the lions. The wild horses can no longer run free! Here, where we Sarni are constrained to live, the steppe is open and the grass grows as long as it pleases. And on the other side … well, you will see.'

Maram, Baltasar, Lord Raasharu and others of our company, gathered around to marvel at this great stone wall. Orox, sitting on his horse near Sajagax, pointed out a place on the wall a quarter mile to the east of us where its gray-green granite had been replaced by a stone pinker in color. He said, 'There is where Tulumar broke the Wall.'

In the year 2057 of the Age of Swords, Tulumar the Great of the Urtuk tribe, with the aid of Morjin, had spread a red substance called relb over the wall and melted its stones to lava. With the Breaking of the Long Wall, as this event was called, Tulumar had led his armies through the huge, smoking hole and had gone on to conquer Alonia and much of Ea.

'I'd break it myself and grind the stones to dust, if I could,' Sajagax said. 'If I had a firestone, I'd burn the whole wall back into the earth.'

Maram, who possessed what might have been Ea's last remaining firestone, shoved his hand down into the inner pocket of his surcoat as he stared at the Wall in silence.

'This is one day,' I said to Sajagax, 'that the Sarni will need neither relb nor firestones to pass through the Wall. Shall we make our way to the gate?'

A few hundred yards ahead of us, across the windswept grasses, a massive iron gate was set into the Wall. Two great, round towers stood to either side of it. The soldiers posted on top of these had seen us approaching before we had seen them. They had hoisted red pennants challenging us to announce ourselves or face a storm of arrows fired by the Wall s archers.

And so, leaving our two companies of warriors waiting behind us Sajagax and I rode side by side down to the Wall. The sally port set into the gate creaked open, and a mail-clad knight bearing a white lion against his green surcoat rode out a lew paces to greet us.

'I'm Sajagax, chieftain of the Kurmak,' Sajagax called out to him. 'Lord Valashu Elahad of Mesh,' I said, presenting myself. I looked back at my knights and added. 'And of the Valari.'

Upon this word, the thick-set knight stared at me in amazement. The sun reflected off the diamonds of my armor seemed to dazzle his eyes.

'Yes, Valari indeed — you must be,' he said. 'But what are Valari knights doing riding across the Wendrush m the company of the Kurmak?'

I did not wish to tell him of my reason for seeking the Lokilani's island, nor that my knights and I bore the Lightstone.

'We are journeying to the conclave that King Kiritan has called,' I said. 'Surely you must have been told to open your gates to any who have been summoned to Tria.'

Lord Halmar, for that proved to be the knight's name, scratched his bearded jaw and said, 'That I was, Lord Valashu. But it was thought that only Sarni would pass this way, if indeed any chose to attend the conclave. What is your business with the Kurmak?'

'Only peace,' I told him, looking at Sajagax. 'We are emissaries of peace.'

Lord Halmar studied my knights spread out on the rise behind us. 'Emissaries bearing lances and swords. And nearly two hundred of you, if my count is right. That is a great many to guard the chief emissary, even if he is a lord of Mesh.'

'These are dangerous times,' I said to him.

'And miraculous times, as well. I've heard that one of the Valari has regained the Lightstone.'

His sharp blue eyes fixed on me like grappling hooks, and would not let go. I held his gaze and said to him, 'We have heard that as well.'

After a few moments, Lord Halmar looked away from me and muttered, 'Very well, then, I will send heralds to Duke Malatam, and he will decide whether or not you may pass.'

On the other side of the Wall, as Atara had told me, lay the demesne of Tarlan, whose lord was Duke Malatam. 'And how far from here is his castle?'

'Two days' ride.'

'Then it will be four days before your heralds return. The delay might well cause us to miss the conclave.'

'I'm sorry, Lord Valashu, but that can't be helped.'

Sajagax finally lost patience and shook his fist at the wall as he thundered, 'It must be helped! I have been summoned to the conclave; and Lord Valashu rides with me. And so does Atara Manslayer, also known as Atara Ars Narmada. If you delay us, Lord Halmar, you will have to explain to King Kiritan why you kept his daughter and the father of his queen from joining him to decide great matters. Now open your cursed gate!'

At this. Lord Halmar paled. I sensed that he was caught in the unenviable position of having to face King Kiritan's wrath or that of his lord duke. 'All right,' he told us, 'you may pass. Call your companies forward and wait here.'

Without another word, he turned his horse and rode back through the sally port, which slammed shut with a loud ringing.

I said to Sajagax, 'It seems he has guessed the nature of the little trinket that we bring to Tria.'

'Indeed. You're not very good at lying.'

'I never denied that we bear the Lightstone.'

'No, but you didn't affirm it either. The truth evaded is a lie.'

So it was. So my father might have told had he been here sitting on his horse in Sajagax's place. I looked at Sajagax and bowed my head to him. I said, 'I don't think you're very good at lying, either.'

'No, I'm not. But then I haven't had much practice.'

Sajagax and I returned to our companies, and we led our men down to the very foot of the gate. There, with the Long Wall towering above us and blocking the sight of half the sky, we waited for the gate to open.

With much shrieking of rusted iron, rattling chains and men shouting, its two doors swung slowly inward. Sajagax led his warriors through the Wall, and I followed him with the Guardians of the Lightstone riding in their columns behind me. Lord Halmar had assembled the entire garrison here, lining up a hundred knights and some four hundred men-at-arms on either side of the road leading north into Tarlan. Only the knights, I saw, were permitted to display their own charges on their shields and surcoats, for that was the way of things in Alonia. The common soldiers, standing stiffly with their long, rectangular shields before them, each wore two badges, one on either arm. The right badge bore the arms of King Kiritan: the gold caduceus on a blue field. And the left badge showed the black saltire and red roses of Duke Malatam. It seemed that Lord Halmar had called up his men to honor us. But as Lansar Raasharu told Lord Harsha in a low voice, it was more likely that they stood ready to do battle with us: 'How can this Lord Halmar be sure that Sajagax hasn't hidden the whole Kurmak horde on the steppe behind us? And that we and his warriors won't fight to keep the gate open?'

Indeed, more than once over the ages, the Sarni had won their way into Alonia through assaults on the Long Wall's gates. Where siege engines or heroic storming of the walls had failed, often bribery of the gates' guards with gold had won the day. But on this day at least, Lord Halmar and his garrison had little to fear, for Alonia and the Kurmak had been at peace for more than twenty years, ever since they had sealed an alliance through the marriage of King Kiritan and Sajagax's favorite daughter, Daryana. Even so, after the last of my knights had passed through the gates, Lord Halmar's men hastened to shut them once again.

The road before us led through a patchwork of canals and irrigated farmland bordering the river. Two men on horses, I saw, were galloping northward along it. I guessed that Lord Halmar must have sent them to alert Duke Malatam that we would be passing through his lands.

Lord Halmar invited us to take refreshment with him in one of the guardhouses built into the base of this side of the wall. But as Sajagax put it, not caring who heard him, 'I've litde liking to set foot inside one of these stone coffins. In any case, we must be on our way'

And so we thanked Lord Halmar for his hospitality and set out down the road after the heralds. A hundred and fifty miles of good roads and peaceful country lay between us and Tria, and I hoped to make this journey in only four or five more days.