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“It may not forbid, but it certainly does not ordain,” Maita Kapak said. He asked the same question Hussein had:
“What is the advantage of breaking a centuries-long tradition?”
“If you put your beliefs down in writing, the Muslims will recognize you as People of the Book,” Park said. “That means those who worship Patjakamak in the Emirate will be able to keep their religion if they pay a yearly tax, and it means you won’t be pagans to the Muslims any more. It will gain you status. Not only that, but you could put a similar tax on the Muslims of Tawantiinsuuju. It would” — he glanced at Kwiismankuu — “be only fair.”
“Let me think,” Maita Kapak said. He did not ask for advice, and no one presumed to offer it. One of the few advantages of absolutist states, Park thought, was that decisions got made quickly. The Son of the Sun did not have to convince or browbeat stubborn, recalcitrant thingmen into going along with him. All he had to do was speak.
He spoke: “It shall be done.” Park expected some kind of protest, but none came. Having heard their ruler state his will, Tjiimpuu and Kwiismankuu would carry it out. That was a big disadvantage of absolutist states: if Maita Kapak made a mistake, nobody warned him about it. This time, Park didn’t think he was making a mistake.
“Thank you, Radiance,” he said, bowing. “I might add that the Emir Hussein did not think you would do this. In fact, we had a sort of — ” he had to ask Ankowaljuu how to say “wager” in Ketjwa “ — on it.”
“Trust a Muslim to guess wrong about what we will do.” Tjiimpuu’s chuckle had a bitter edge. “They’ve been doing it since their state first touched ours, almost three hundred years ago.”
Maita Kapak picked up something that went by his foreign minister. That made sense, Park thought: since no one spoke straight out to the Son of the Sun, for his own sake he’d better be alert to tone. Now he asked: “Why do you mention this wager, Judge Scoglund? What were its terms?”
“To let me settle the dispute between the Emirate of the Dar al-Harb and Tawantiinsuuju, and to accept the settlement I set down. Will you also agree to that, Radiance, or will this useless war go on?”
“Anyone would know you are not one of my subjects, Judge Scoglund,” Maita Kapak said. Fortunately, he sounded more amused than angry. Park wondered just how close he’d come to lиse majestй-pretty close, by the expressions on the Tawantiinsuujans’ faces. The Son of the Sun said, “Let me think”; then, after a pause, “First tell me the terms you propose.”
“No,” Park said. Boldness had got him this far, and suited him in any case. He went on, “You and Hussein agreed to put yourselves under the authority of the International Court when you summoned me. If you didn’t mean it, keep fighting and send me home.”
“I tried that,” Tjiimpuu said. “It didn’t seem to work.”
Park gri
The Son of the Sun had screened out the byplay. He was like Allister Park in that: when he was thinking, he let nothing interfere. Finally he said, “Very well, Judge Scoglund. If the Emir thinks you have terms that will satisfy both him and me, I too will put myself in your hands. How shall we become friends?”
“I doubt you will,” Park said. “Being able to live next to each other is something else again. Your becoming People of the Book will go a long way toward solving that, as the Muslims will lose their ritual need to persecute you out of existence.”
“What about our need to show them the truth of our religion?” Kwiismankuu said.
Park scowled; he’d forgotten that Patjakamak had his holy terrorists too. After some thought, he said, “I do not know, sir, if you have heard that, before I became a judge, I was a Christian bishop, a senior priest. I am not trying to change your religion — you and the Muslims have both had enough of that, I think. But I will tell you one of the things we Christians try to live by. We call it the Rule of Gold: do to others what you want them to do to you.” For once, he thought, the real Ib Scoglund would have been proud of him.
“There are worse ways to live than that, perhaps,” Maita Kapak said. “So. Have we heard all your terms of peace? If we have, I tell you I am well pleased.”
“Not quite all,” Park said. “I was summoned to give my judgment on where the border should lie between Tawantiinsuuju and the Dar al-Harb, especially in this disputed sector. My judgment is that the best line between you is the Ooriinookoo River.” He walked over to a map, ran his finger along the river, and waited for hell to break loose.
The Tawantiinsuujans did not keep him waiting long. “You thief!” Tjiimpuu cried. “Did you bother to notice that we are east of the Ooriinookoo now, and in territory that has been ours for a generation?”
“Yes, I noticed that,” Park said. “I-”
“It ca
When the Son of the Sun said it ca
“What possible reasons can there be for giving up a third of what Waskar won?” Maita Kapak said in a voice like ice.
“I’m glad you asked,” Park said, pretending not to notice the Son of the Sun’s tone. “For one thing, the Ooriinookoo is a wide, powerful river. That makes it a good border between countries that do not get along well — it keeps them apart. I think Kwiismankuu would agree.”
The Tawantiinsuujan marshal jerked as if poked by a pin, then nodded as both Park and Maita Kapak looked his way.
“Not only that,” Park went on, “but having such a border would make it harder for Muslim zealots to get into Tawantiinsuuju to work harm on your people.”
Kwiismanknu nodded again, this time without prompting. Tjiimpuu, however, said, “I thought you told us we would be free of Muslim zealots if we became a People of the Book.”
Damn the man for listening, Park thought. Aloud, he said, “Your problem with them will certainly be smaller. No one can promise to make all fanatics happy, though: if they could be made happy, they wouldn’t be fanatics. Having the Ooriinookoo as a border will help keep them out of Tawantiinsuuju, though, because they won’t be able to sneak into your land so easily as they can now.”
Maita Kapak started to say something, stopped, looked a
“Militarily, it makes good sense, Radiance,” Kwiismankuu said.
“Even from the religious point of view, it could be worse; so many of the people on this side of the Ooriinookoo are still Muslims, despite our best efforts to bring them to truth.” Tjiimpuu did not sound happy about what he was saying, but said it anyway. Park admired him for that. The foreign minister went on: “If Your Radiance is able to reconcile a withdrawal with your principles-”
“No!” said a man who had been quiet till then. His tunic bore a large sun image, picked out in gold thread. From the size of that sun, and from the way he had dared interrupt Tjiimpuu, Park figured him for a high-ranking priest.
“Tell me why you say no when these others agree, Viiljak Uumuu,” Maita Kapak said.
“Because, Radiance, you were right when you first rejected this mad scheme,” Viiljak Uumuu said. “Patjakamak would turn away from you, reject you, cast you from his grace, should you decrease his realm by so much as a clod of river mud.” The priest burned with outrage at the idea.