‘His Master?’
‘Ctuchik’s one of Torak’s disciples, and the time’s not too far off when the Dragon-God’s going to invade the western kingdoms. This Haldon’s only one of the people Ctuchik’s insinuated into Arendia. There are others who are stirring up similar mischief in Asturia and Mimbre. If each duchy can be persuaded that it has an alliance with the Tolnedrans, and the legions don’t appear when and where you expect them to, you, Corrolin, and Oldoran will probably attack Tolnedra – either individually or in some hastily-formed alliance. That’s Ctuchik’s ultimate goal – war between Arendia and Tolnedra.’
‘What a ghastly thought!’ he exclaimed. ‘No alliance between Corrolin, Oldoran, and me could ever be firm enough for us to withstand the imperial legions! We’d be swarmed under!’
‘Precisely. And if Tolnedra crushes and then annexes Arendia, the Alorns will be drawn in to protect their interests. All the kingdoms of the west could go up in flames.’ A thought came to me at that point. ‘I think I’d better suggest to my father that he go have a look at Aloria. If Ctuchik’s stirring things up here in the south, he could very well be doing the same in the north. We don’t need another outbreak of clan wars in the Alorn kingdoms. If everybody here in the west is fighting everybody else, the door’ll be wide open for an invasion from Mallorea.’
‘I would not insult thee for all this world, Lady Polgara, but Haldon hath documents bearing the seal and signature of Ran Vordue.’
‘The imperial seal isn’t that difficult to duplicate, your Grace. I can make one for you right here and now, if you’d like.’
‘Thou art most skilled in the devious world of statecraft, Lady Polgara.’
‘I’ve had some practice, your Grace.’ I thought for a moment. ‘If we do this right, we might be able to turn Ctuchik’s scheme to our own advantage. I’m not trying to be offensive here, but it’s a part of the Arendish nature to need an enemy. Let’s see if we can re-direct that enmity. Wouldn’t it be nicer to hate Murgos rather than each other?’
‘Far nicer, my Lady. I’ve met a few Murgos, and I’ve never encountered one that I liked. They are a most unlovable race, it seemeth to me.’
‘Indeed they are, your Grace, and their God is even worse.’
‘Doth Torak plan immediate action against the west?’
‘I don’t think even Torak himself knows what he plans, your Grace.’
‘Prithee, Lady Polgara, my friends do call me Kathandrion, and this vital information which thou hath brought unto me hath surely made thee my friend.’
‘As it pleaseth thee, Lord Kathandrion,’ I said with a polite little curtsey.
He bowed in reply, and then he laughed. ‘We are getting along well, aren’t we, Polgara?’ he suggested.
‘I rather thought so myself,’ I agreed, a little startled by the duke’s lapse into what I considered to be normal speech. As we came to know each other better, Kathandrion stepped down from ‘high style’ more and more frequently, and I took that to be an indication of a fair level of intelligence. Kathandrion could – and frequently did – stun his listeners into near-insensibility with flowery language, but there was a real mind hiding behind all those ‘thees,’ ‘thous,’ and ‘forasmuches’. When he chose to speak normally, his tone was often humorously self-deprecatory, and his ability to laugh at himself was most unArendish. ‘We’d probably better get used to each other, Kathandrion,’ I told him. ‘I have a suspicion that you and I have a long way to go together.’
‘I could not wish for more pleasant company, dear Lady.’ He reverted to ‘high style’, and the sudden contrast also contained a hidden chuckle. This was a very complicated man. Then he sighed just a bit theatrically.
‘Why so great a sigh, friend Kathandrion?’
‘If the truth be known, thou hast given me reason to consider abdication, Polgara,’ he lamented. The peace and quiet of a monastery do beckon unto me most invitingly. Are international politics always so murky?’
‘Usually. Sometimes they’re worse.’
‘I wonder if they’ll make me shave my head,’ he mused, tugging a long, brown strand of hair around so that he could look at it.
‘I beg your pardon?’
‘When I enter the monastery.’
‘Oh, come now, Kathandrion. We’re having fun, aren’t we?’
Thou has a peculiar definition of that word, Polgara. I was quite content with hating Asturians and Mimbrates. Life was so simple then. Now hast thou loaded my poor brain top-full of other strife to consider – and it is not that capacious a brain.’
I put my hand affectionately on his arm. ‘You’ll do just fine, Kathandrion. I’ll see to it that you don’t make too many mistakes. Just how stringent are the rules of evidence here in Vo Wacune?’
‘Rules of evidence?’
‘How far will you have to go to prove-that the Tolnedran’s a knave?’
He laughed. ‘Thou art unschooled in Arendish customs, I see,’ he said. ‘We are Arends, Polgara. Evidence and proof are quite beyond our capabilities. I rule here by decree. If I say that a man’s a villain, then he’s a villain, and he takes up immediate residence in my dungeon. Our nature is such that we must keep things simple.’
‘How terribly convenient. I need further information, however. Have him picked dp, if you would, please. There are some questions I’d like to ask him before he takes up residence down in the cellar. I want to know just exactly how wide-spread this plot is before I go on to Vo Astur and Vo Mimbre.’
‘Wilt thou require the services of a professional interrogator?’
‘A torturer, you mean? No, Kathandrion. There are other ways to get the truth out of people. Once I know the full extent of Ctuchik’s scheme, I should be able to spoke his wheel.’
‘Hast thou ever met this miscreant Ctuchik?’
‘Not yet, your Grace,’ I said bleakly. ‘I expect it’s coming, though, and I’m rather looking forward to it. Shall we go now?’
I paused momentarily at the door to look critically at the hound sprawled just outside in the hallway. ‘All right, father,’ I said. ‘You can go home now. I can manage here quite well without you.’
He even managed to look a little guilty.