Hugh Cook - The Wicked and the Witless

'You're not really going to let him go south, are you?' said Sarazin. You're not really going to let Hearst walk out of here with the death-stone? How could you? This solves all! With the death-stone, we could master all of Argan. You won't let him go. You mustn't! You won't, will you?' 'Wait and see,' said Farfalla.

A little later, certain ugly rumours came to Sarazin's ears, and he confronted his mother again, invading her private quarters for the purpose. 'Is it true,' said he, 'that you've taken Hearst to bed?'

That,' said his mother, her face momentarily looking as if the death-stone had been at work on it, 'is a most improper question.'

'But someone has to ask it!' said Sarazin defiantly. 'You can't take up with this – this wandering mercenary. He's the worst kind of lowlife imaginable.'

'You'd be surprised what I've taken up with in my time,' said Farfalla.

Then ordered Sarazin to depart. When he did not, she threw him out.

Back in his own quarters, Sean Sarazin lay on his bed, heartbroken. Was this how it was going to be? After all his planning, his scheming, his conspiring? Was it all going to come to nothing? Was this wretched Rovac warrior going to make himself lord of the Harvest Plains?

If Sarazin judged aright, his mother planned to romance this Rovac warrior, to make him and his death-stone hers, to proclaim herself empress, sweep away the Regency, abolish the Constitution and make herself absolute ruler of the Harvest Plains.

And for Sean Sarazin?

For him there would be, at best, a livelihood. For his mother did not trust him.

Sarazin was still brooding about it when Thodric Jarl came to see him. The Rovac warrior arrived unannounced, looking extremely weary. He was dirty, unwashed, and stank of horses. There was blood on his clothing.

'Jarl!' said Sarazin. 'I haven't seen you for days! Where on earth have you been hiding?'

'I've been down in Androlmarphos,' said Jarl, 'pursuing the recruitment of Qolidian.' 'Qolidian, yes,' said Sarazin.

That was the judge who had sentenced Sarazin to death, botching the sentence as a favour to Farfalla, who had rewarded him by making him king of Androlmarphos. Since then, Jarl had been following various leads, seeking sufficient material to blackmail Qolidian into supporting Sarazin's cause. 'Has any word reached you yet?' said Jarl.

'Word of what?' said Sarazin. Then, without waiting for a reply: 'What do you think of Farfalla's new guests? Morgan Hearst – have you met him?'

'I haven't and I won't,' said Jarl, with mingled con- tempt and disgust. A Rovac warrior in league with a wizard! That's an abomination! Elkor Alish, that's the man I admire.'

'Alish betrayed his comrades,' protested Sarazin. 'He quested for the death-stone in their company, then tried to take it for himself.'

'He was true to his duty,' said Jarl. 'He did what a Rovac warrior is sworn to do. He moved against the wizards when the time was right. This Morgan Hearst is the traitor. Hearst should have thrown in his lot with Alish. Instead, Hearst stole the death-stone from Runcorn and brought it south.'

'If you think so highly of Alish,' said Sarazin, 'why don't you go to Runcorn to join him?'

'I've no need to go to Runcorn,' said Jarl. 'Alish is already in the Harvest Plains. He's seized Androlmarphos.' 'What?!' said Sarazin. 'It's true,' said Jarl, wearily.

And explained.

Jarl's men had finally got the material they needed to blackmail Qolidian. Then they had explained to Qolidian that he had but two choices: to commit suicide or to throw in his lot with them.

Unfortunately, Qolidian had a third option. He had taken it.

He had accepted bribes from Elkor Alish, had arranged for the garrison to be poisoned, and had helped the foreign marauder invade the city from the sea.

'I was the first person out of 'Marphos,' said Jarl. 'I took a string of horses and I rode. Three drowned in river crossings, two dropped dead beneath me – but I got here. I'm the first to bring the news to Selzirk. And you're the first to hear.'

'I don't understand,' said Sarazin. 'How could Alish come by the ships to move an army? Spies suggest-'

'The pirates are in on it too,' said Jarl, bluntly. 'Alish is in league with the Orfus pirates of the Greater Teeth. That's where the ships come from, there's no secret about that.'

'He's doomed himself!' said Sarazin. 'We'll take the death-stone and trash his army in an instant.'

'And trash 'Marphos as well?' said Jarl. 'Would your mother permit that? Alish has the whole city as hostage. This business will not be swiftly settled. But we must make a decision – and swiftly.' 'What decision?' said Sarazin.

'Do you not see it?' said Jarl, so weary he was almost weeping. 'All hopes of conspiracy are gone. Power is no longer split between kingmaker and Regency. Your mother has won that battle in her own right. If we could have won 'Marphos we could have had a chance. But as it is…'

'We could throw in our lot with Alish,' said Sarazin drily.

Yes!' said Jarl, with sudden fervour. 'I didn't think you'd be game to do it, but that's it, yes, that's the way.'

'I was joking!' protested Sarazin. 'Fight with Alish? When Selzirk holds the death-stone? That's craziness.'

'Then I really have failed,' said Jarl, his voice flat. 'I thought I'd taught you some fighting spirit, but I was wrong. You haven't got what it takes. You never will have. You're a disappointment to me – and, I warrant, to Lord Regan.' Jarl turned to go.

Wait!' cried Sarazin, in anguish. 'How can you say something like that? I tried, didn't I? I won Chenameg, didn't I? If only for a day! Don't go! Don't leave me! I – I-' Wordlessly, he clutched at Jarl. But Jarl shook him off, and left. And was never again seen in Selzirk.

Soon preparations for war began in earnest. And this was like nothing in Sarazin's experience. For it was not a matter of sending away one or two thousand men to fight some- where beyond the horizon. This was the mobilisation of an entire nation for a war to the death.

Morgan Hearst was unlike Thodric Jarl in many ways. For a start, Hearst was very tense – as if he were on the edge of a nervous breakdown. He was labouring under an immense mental burden, and he was very, very bitter. That Sarazin saw easily, though he could not decipher the source of the bitterness.

But, in some ways, Hearst was exactly like Jarl. He had the same habit of command, the same ruthless style, and gave the same impression of being extremely danger- ous. What's more, when Hearst commanded, men obeyed.

Sarazin, knowing he could never hope to command the same obedience himself, was intensely jealous. This was the day of Selzirk's greatest danger. And Sean Sarazin was doing nothing for the city: instead, this foreign adventurer was winning all the glory.

After a lot of hard thought, Sarazin came up with a little scheme which he personally thought brilliant. He proposed that Drake Douay be brought from his dungeon and sent to 'Marphos to offer Alish safe conduct and a massive bribe if he surrendered. This might just work. And, even if it didn't – Sarazin would feel safer with a potential assassin out of the city.

To Sarazin's surprise, Plovey supported this scheme, and it was eventually put into practice. But Alish made no reply to this overture, and Douay did not return to Selzirk. Meanwhile, Hearst carried on organising for war. His performance was impressive indeed.

Until the day when he made a reconnaissance of the plain to the north of Androlmarphos, where he planned to fight Elkor Alish. Despite Jarl's predictions, Farfalla had proved ready to have the death-stone used against Androlmarphos. But Hearst, for inscrutable reasons of his own, had refused to employ that devastating magic. So the two armies would meet without the benefit of magic.