John Carr - Kalvan Kingmaker

"Yes, he will make a devout Great King and a fine tool for Styphon. But how can we stop the Daemon before Lysandros is elected and can re-build the Army of Hos-Harphax?"

For the first time that afternoon, Soton smiled. "I know a way."

"Then out with it!"

"The nomads. We will drive the barbarians northeast, up through the Upper Sastragath and into the Trygath and Hos-Hostigos. Those Princes sworn to Kalvan, who live on the Trygathi border, will demand his aid, as they have every right to do. Then let Kalvan dull his blades on the barbarians' shields."

"Most excellent, Grand Master! Styphon will have you by his side in the next life. I will present your plan to the Inner Council myself. Request what victuals and gold you will need to aid your endeavor."

Soton knew he should have felt some triumph at getting everything he wanted from Roxthar, instead there was a cold lump in his stomach. If Kalvan thought he had troubles before Roxthar's ascension, he didn't know the meaning of the word trouble. Soton-as a fellow soldier-could only feel sorry for Kalvan the Usurper, who might well be master of the battlefield, but, when it came to men's souls, had met his match in Roxthar-or worse.

The small boat banged against the stones of the Greffa pier so hard that Verkan Vail, under the guise of Trader Verkan, heard the timbers creak. He grasped the brass rungs overhead before the boat could rebound, then hauled himself swiftly up the ladder before the boat could strike again. Behind him he heard the sailors shouting as they hooked the net holding his baggage to the rope being let down from the pier. Verkan hoped that the rope and net were good and stout. He needed a moment or two to recover every time he came ashore after traveling by boat.

Because of the lateness of the season, the usual two week sea and overland journey from Ulthor City to Greffa had taken twice as long as usual. It had almost been too late in the season to hire a boat and he'd had to pay the captain a big bribe to get him to make the journey. When he reached the top of the stone pier and got his footing, Verkan looked back at the gaff-rigged galleass, with oar banks on both sides, riding the swells inside the port. Never again, he promised himself. The sea was gunmetal blue and every so often he heard an explosion as a swell whacked against the pier.

First Level mental disciplines and First Level medicine kept his stomach under control; Verkan had never been seasick and never would be. He also had never been, and never would be reconciled to being, bounced around a small cabin like a cork in a baby's bathtub. Nor would he be completely reconciled to the idea of long trips by waterborne vehicles. A short moonlight cruise on a calm bay with Dalla beside him was one thing; actually traveling all the way from Ulthor to Greffa by ship was something entirely different.

This wouldn't be the last such trip he'd have to make, either, although it would be the last one he'd make before winter. The Middle Kingdoms of Kalvan's Time-Line lived by water transportation-on the Saltless Seas for Greffa, on the (Mississippi and Missouri) for Dorg, Wulfula, and the Southern Sea for Xiphlon. Verkan's own work for Kalvan also depended on it. Although, in the future, he would have his own ship and it would ply the seas with a Paratime Police crew, but no Chief. It was a blessing his critics didn't have a camera on board!

Someone was calling his name. Verkan turned to see his baggage on the pier, sitting in a puddle of water and dripping more. Dralm be thanked for oiled leather, plus the concealed layers of First Level waterproofing!

Beyond the baggage, Kostran Galth and his wife, Dalla's adopted sister Hadron Zinganna-Zinna on Kalvan Prime-were hurrying toward him. Zinna stopped to tie her scarf more tightly around her long dark hair, to keep it in place in the brisk wind, so Kostran arrived first.

"Welcome home, Verkan." Kostran, normally a Paratime Police Inspector, wore a buffalo robe over clothes that supported his tale of being a journeyman clerk who'd married a cousin of Verkan's wife.

"Greeting, cousin. How go our affairs?"

"Well enough," said Kostran, making the hand gesture that told Verkan there were untrustworthy ears too close at hand. "Did you have a good voyage? What news from the Great Kingdoms?"

"The voyage could have been better. Have these storms done any damage to the sea walls?"

"In a few places, yes," said Zinna. "But the City Sea Watch has been diligent with their repairs."

"Good," Verkan said. In Greffa when the Sea Watch went well it meant that the city's largest bureaucracy and lobby was quiet, and that the various city, merchant, and noble factions within Greffa were at peace. King Theovacar was proving himself to be a strong and able leader, which was good for business and might inevitably be good for Kalvan who needed staunch allies.

"As to news from the Eastern Kingdoms-Prince Selestros has now publicly abdicated his claim to the throne of Hos-Harphax."

The surprised expressions on Galth and Zinna's faces were a tribute to the Paratimers' acting ability. Thanks to Verkan's radio message, they'd known it almost as soon as he heard it from the agent in Harphax City.

"All claim to the Iron Throne?" Galth asked.

"Selestros' made both Lysandros and Soligon swear to provide him with suitable estates and revenues when they are on the throne. Also to take care of his bastards."

"All of them? Well, that will still be cheaper than having him on the throne. I'm surprised he was sober enough long enough to think this up."

"I don't think it was his own idea," Verkan said. The look on both faces said "Styphon's House?" as plainly as speech. He shook his head.

"I don't know whose advice he took. Still less do I know who is likely to reign in Harphax now that the nearest heir has abdicated. Soligon always had one virtue-he was not (He searched for a polite alternative to 'fanatical.') an ardent worshipper of Styphon."

"I wonder how the Regency Council will take this announcement?" Galth asked.

"With a great sigh of relief! Even that bunch of corrupt youngest-sons, know that if the Council had placed Selestros on the Iron Throne, they might as well have been offering it to Great King Kalvan. Former Prince Selestros has never been on a battlefield, much less fought an enemy."

"The Inner Circle will surely throw all their silver behind Lysandros," Zinna said.

"They won't if they're wise," said her husband. "If they too openly try to buy the Iron Throne for Lysandros, many Harphaxi nobles who care little about the gods but much about their independence will turn to Soligon. A king who can rule without the consent of his nobles is-a man to whom the gods will give enemies," Galth amended for the sake of discretion.

Since King Theovacar was widely suspected of aspiring to reduce his nobles to what he considered a proper state of submission, it was politic not to make any sweeping public comments on the rights and wrongs of such a policy.

By this time, the porters had come up and loaded Verkan's baggage onto carrying poles. With Verkan bringing up the rear, the party climbed the stone steps from the pier to the top of the great mole, where Kostran's servants waited with a cart and horses.

At the head of the stairs the near-freezing wind caught Verkan so that his cloak flew out like bat's wings. Fountains of spray shot into the air on the north side of the mole, as waves beat against the granite blocks facing it there. The wind carried some of the spray into Verkan's face and the stone underfoot was slippery with it.

The great mole ran half a mile out into the lake from the north side of the mouth of the Greffa River, then turned south for a quarter of a mile. It gave Greffa a sheltered harbor for the entire navigation season on the Salt-less Seas, and the guns on the batteries set every quarter mile all along it made the city too tough a nut for the hardiest pirate to try cracking.