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governments. Even when priests ruled and kings were gods and Dreanger
prostrated itself to the Tyranny of the Night whether sun or moon ruled the
sky. And al-Qarn, wearing other names before the Conquest, had been the seat
of administration since before men had begun to distinguish their rulers from
their gods.
These days the Upper Kingdom was wild country, frontier country, snuggled up
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against the Slang Mountains, that shielded Dreanger from the south. Chaldarean
cultists and anchorites, and pagan nomads, still haunted uie Upper Kingdom, in
company with the ghosts of seven thousand years worth of Dreangerean dead.
Today the Upper Kingdom was commonly called the Kingdom of the Dead. The
barren hills on either bank of the Shirne, for as far as thirty miles back,
were networked with tunnels that led to the tombs of half a thousand
generations. The Instrumentalities of the Night made grave robbers and tomb
raiders wish they had chosen more auspicious careers.
The original significance of being buried in the Hills of the Dead had
gotten lost centuries before Josephus Alegiant, but
even now, amongst those who claimed unalloyed Dreangerean blood, there was a
social imperative for having one's corpse laid down underneath the Hills of
the Dead.
That part of the Upper Kingdom had accumulated immense reserves of dark
magic. Only the Holy Lands boasted a superior supernatural status and more
concentrated magical power.
The Wells of Ihrian were the Heart of the Soul of die World.
GORDIMER ASKED, "WHAT DO YOU THINK OF CAPTAIN TAGE,
Rashal?"
"I think you're letting your fears get the better of you again, my friend.
That man might be your most loyal and valuable follower. He's truly, totally
Sha-lug." No man but er-Rashal al-Dhulquarnen would dare speak so directly to
Gordimer the Lion.
The marshal was not pleased. But he could do nothing. Much as he hated it,
he was at er-Rashal's mercy.
Gordimer had great difficulty grasping the fact that not everyone thought
the way he did, that every man was not a slave to bloody ambition.
Captain Tage was a competent man. How could he not... ?
Er-Rashal said, "Huge events will overtake us in coming years. If you go on
the way you have been, those events will devour you, me, Dreanger, and the
Kaifate of al-Minphet. Because you, driven by baseless fears, will have
eliminated everyone with enough nerve, strength, and ability to lift a sword."
Gordimer rose. He stamped around. He cursed. He threatened. He appealed to
God. He told his only friend, "You have to help me, Rashal. I can't control my
thoughts. But they can control me."
"I'll do what I can. For Dreanger's sake as well as yours. But my best
efforts won't do any good if you don't make an effort yourself. Remind
yourself, whenever you think you smell a plot, that there's an excellent
chance that it's imaginary. Talk to me before you start killing people. Sit
down with me and we'll study the evidence. And let me question the suspects
before you kill them. We don't want to waste good people. Abad did that Abad
wasted too many good people. Which was why you gained enough support to remove
him."
Er-Rashal did not mention that he had been chief wizard to Gordimer's
predecessor. No need to give Gordimer anything else to brood about.
"I try, Rashal. I really try. But it's a disease."
"Just let me question your suspects. Don't do anything yourself. Don't draw
the lightning."
Gordimer grunted agreement. But he did so with secret reservations.
7. The Andorayan Travelers
S
hagot rested his palms on his knees. He panted. He had stopped only seconds
before he started puking from the exertion. He had done way too much drinking
and loafing lately. Though he would never admit it, particularly to Sigur-dur
and Sigurjon, whose parents must have lost a riddling contest to a boulder to
come up with names as unimaginative as those. Not that he and his brother had
fared much better.
"Shit," Shagot gasped. He fought for air. "How the hell... can we still...
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be this far... behind... those assholes?"
Shagot and his companions stood in a saddle on a ridge in the Jottendyngjan
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