The Twilight herald

'look at my faithful subjects,' Isak muttered, swinging his goblet Inwards them. The remaining wine slopped up, but fell back into the cup rather than dripping down the cleavage of the woman beneath. isak shared a relieved grin with Dupres and continued, 'They all sit there talking happily, despite their master having disappeared from the room, Surely one of them should he wondering if I've fallen into

the privy by now.'

Perhaps they give you more credit than that,' the steward replied, warming to the irreverent conversation, 'or they are secretly con¬cerned, but etiquette restrains them from voicing their concerns.'

Isak nodded with mock gloom. 'More than once over the last year I've suspected that tradition will be the death of me.'

At the table below Tila's voice cut though the wider conversation. 'But that encourages Lord Isak to bypass the rule of law. Surely the examples of Lord Atro and Lord Bahl demonstrate the need for con¬stant restraint, rather than encouraging a lord to exercise religious authority.'

'Perhaps, my dear,' replied the countess, an indulgent tone in her voice. Isak could just imagine Tila's expression. 'But I do not feel it is appropriate for dirty laundry to be done in public'

'Dirty laundry, my Lady, is done by servants,' Vesna joined, 'as I believe you were at pains to point out. But, while he will be surprised by its source, I'm sure Chief Steward Lesarl will be glad of your en¬dorsement that he need not bother with legal technicalities; it does take up such a large proportion of his time.'

'Hah, now he is one I would like to see publicly hung!' the countess exclaimed, 'and from what I hear, Lord Isak shares that opinion.'

'The Chief Steward is loyal to his tribe,' Vesna said firmly, stamp¬ing firmly on any such rumours. 'Lesarl will serve Lord Isak as well as he did Lord Bahl, and he will continue to do the Farlan a great service. Now that Duke Certinse is under guard and his uncle dead, you should be more concerned about enemies from abroad rather than anyone within the tribe.'

'And who poses a greater threat than that sadistic megalomanic, who will no doubt be spending every waking hour devising ways to bypass your noble lord?'

'The White Circle is the most immediate. They proved themselves to be our enemies in Narkang, and while their leader may be dead, t he organisation is not. You heard tonight that Siala has been quickest to act; there can be no confusion as to why she has taken direct control over Scree. Without that city under her control she ca

'Your assessment sounds right,' Suzerain Foleh said. The portly old man had always been, by his own admission, more a merchant than a soldier and he was happy to concede authority in the military field to the hero of the tribe, despite Vesna being his social inferior. 'But I have heard the Circle is plagued by infighting, lacking any sort of controlling structure. Wouldn't any attempt to create a kingdom from those three city-states just as easily provoke an internal struggle that would become as drawn-out as the war in Tor Milist itself?'

'Surely the first step to defeating your enemy is to know what he wants,' the Countess of Lehm interrupted. She directed an enquiring look up and down the table, and asked the assembled men of politics and war, 'We still do not know what the White Circle's ultimate goal is. Should we not be directing our efforts towards that, before we go as far as invading Scree?'

She was greeted with silence. The question of the White Circle's motivation was long-standing, and the only people sitting at the table able to answer had kept their own counsel. Isak watched their faces carefully. He knew more than most, and even he still hadn't made up his mind what to do.

'For the moment we should consider Siala's goal to be a three-city state,' Vesna said cautiously. 'If we prevent that, we block the pursuit of any further ambition, at least for the time being; their position is precarious and their priority is now survival.'

'I think that's my cue,' Isak muttered as he straightened up and raised his voice. 'I'm glad you think that is the priority,' he called down to Vesna, 'because you're going to be the one to do that.'

Everyone looked up in surprise, Suzerain Foleh blanching at hearing a voice echoing down from the servants' station. He peered up past the candles, not quite believing Isak was really standing up there.

'My Lord? What are you doing up there?'

'Enjoying a drink with your excellent steward.' Isak raised his gob-let and gestured back at the way he'd come. '1 found a stairway and wondered where it led, nothing more.' He tried not to beam at the astonished faces gaping up at him, but he did find it terribly entertain-ing to see the band's finest completely speechless.

'What am 1 going to be doing, my Lord?' Vesna asked. He knew Isak welI enough not to have been too surprised by the white-eye's actions.

The lull in Tor Mihst will not last long, and we need to ensure Priata Leferna does not defeat the duke. The answer should be obvious enough.

'You want to aid Duke Vrerr?' Tila demanded, too infuriated to remember the formal niceties. No one seemed to notice. Isak guessed from their faces that most of them were still trying to work out why a duke would voluntarily share a drink with a steward.

'If the alternative is a coalition of united White Circle cities on our southern border, why not?'

'Duke Vrerr is a cruel despot who has abused his people for years,' she protested, 'and prolonging the war means more will die of famine. You know they ca

'Would you prefer me to kill him? We could conquer the city, ex¬pand our borders a little?'

'Of course not.' Tila faltered briefly. 'But you do know how Vrerr governs? By torture, murder, destroying entire villages at the slightest provocation. He doesn't even bother to control his soldiers; half of them are mercenaries, little more than regiments of bandits.'

'But there is nothing I can do about him unless I depose him. At the moment the only alternative is the commander of the White Circle forces, Priata Leferna, and she is certainly not acceptable. Thus, es¬teemed ladies and gentlemen of the jury, we can hope that Duke Vrerr is competent enough to resist the challenge, or we can lend some assistance. I am fully aware that the people of the city would actually be better off under White Circle control, but that would not last if they subsequently find themselves at war with us.' And this is what it is to be Lord of the Farlan, Isak thought sadly. I know exactly what sort of man Duke Vrerr is, and I have to ignore it for my own selfish ends.

'Count Vesna, you will lead a division of cavalry into Tor Milisi lands. 1 don't want Vrerr's troops supplied with horses or weapons, but I do want you to do what you can to damage Leferna's position there… Consider yourself in charge of a mercenary company.

'Anything that results from prolonging the war is, I'm afraid, not our problem. It is a means to an end, and the suffering it causes is necessary. Full intervention in the war will result in a puppet govern ment in Tor Milist under my control, and history shows that whenever we've done something like that in the past, it's been a bad idea in the long run.'

'Hardly a comfort to those who'll die,' Suzerain Foleh pointed out. There was no accusation in his voice; he knew the realities well enough.

'No comfort at all, hut there'll he no gratitude if the Ghousts parade all the way down the Alder March either. We can't solve their prob¬lems for them; once the White Circle threat is dealt with, we'll look at the whole situation again, but we need to find a way that doesn't turn unhappy peace into terrible civil war.'