"How can you know of this?" Zud shouted.
Solo stepped forward. "Majesty, Piebr speaks the truth. THRUSH agreed to aid you in a war against Xanra, and in exchange you were to deliver Kuryakin and me to be held as hostages by THRUSH. Isn't that true?"
"I need aid in my battle!" Zud shouted. "Xanra is four times the size of my country, with ten times the population! I take aid where I can find it.'
"Yes. And did you know that THRUSH meant to use Illya Kuryakin and me to achieve the return of a lethal war machine?"
"Yes!" Zud strode back and forth beyond the table. "I was told the weapon would be a great aid in my unequal battle."
"THRUSH wanted to use that weapon––as fearful and evil as the use of the hydrogen bomb. Devastating. Did you want Xanra laid waste?"
Zud tilted his leonine head, jaw thrust forward, but finally he shook his head, his massive shoulders slumping. "I did not understand."
"THRUSH was using you. THRUSH would have helped you win the war against Xanra. But Xanra would be rubble, its people destroyed or deformed. Then the world would see the graphic demonstration of THRUSH'S newest weapon. That was what THRUSH wanted. And when the war with Xanra was ended, its queen victim of that inhuman machine—"
"No!" The growl of agony was torn from Zud's throat.
"Yes!" Solo said relentlessly. "And you would have ended up a puppet of THRUSH, without power, without glory—to live out your life knowing what you had done to your neighbors in a war that doesn't even need to be fought."
Zud straightened to his full height, staring down at Solo. "What are you saying—a useless war?"
"You know it, King Zud. In your heart. Better than I do. Why did you go to war with Xanra? To prove that you could conquer it. To prove to its queen—as you once proved to your mother—how great you were. But you didn't need to do that. Queen Soraya knows your greatness. She loves you."
"What? No woman so beautiful cou1d love such a beast as I."
"Then why did she come here repeatedly on missions of peace, King Zud? Her country is larger, richer than yours. She didn't have to sue for peace, but she did! She even talked of marriage with you."
"No woman would marry me, unless she was forced into it."
"I heard her say she would."
"To stop the war. Only to stop the war."
"No. She loves you. Anyone but you could see it. Just as you should be able to see that Piebr here is as loyal as the slain Kiell, and trained by him to take his place. And Frun—meant to be a diplomat, like the lamented Zouida. And—"
"And Aly David, your most loyal soldier!" Illya Kuryakin said. "Fighting for you, even when his heart broke because he disagreed with what you were doing to Queen Soraya and Xanra. A brilliant soldier, waiting to make your untried armies great."
"Young men," Solo said, "anxious to serve you with their hearts and minds. Ready to make this nation––and you––greater than ever. Especially when you are joined in alliance with the Queen of Xanra through marriage."
Zud prowled the carpeting. He stared at Napoleon Solo, at Illya Kuryakin, at the young men awaiting his decision.
The door of the council chambers was thrown open. A young army officer burst through.
Zud raged. "How dare you burst unannounced—"
"Majesty!" The officer prostrated himself before the sheik. "Word comes that a woman named Pretty Wilde, with the mercenary troops sent into Zabir to aid you, have revolted against you. They have taken over all the refineries."
Zud shook his bead. "We'll get them back." He looked around, uncertainly. "It may take a bit of time, but—"
"Majesty. That is only part of the communiqué. This army has kidnapped Queen Soraya of Xanra as she returned under our escort to her own border. She is being held hostage until you, O King of Lions, agree to carry out your contract with THRUSH."
Zud sank into one of the chairs beside the table. His wide shoulders sagged, his eyes held torment, and he gazed about, distracted.
Aly David stepped forward. "Majesty, if you would permit, I'll take an army and retrieve the refineries. I vow to drive every mercenary across our borders."
Sheik Zud stared for one more moment at the zeal burning in Aly David's black eyes. He made his decision, and leaped to his feet.
"So be it!" He shouted. "I name you, Aly David, commander of all my troops. I charge you to drive out the mercenary and the invader."
Aly David knelt. "I pledge my life to it."
Zud moved quickly to Frun. "And you, Frun, will immediately assume the duties of the late Ambassador Zouida Berikeen. You will notify all nations that Zabir honors no false alliances with any secret conspiracies, that from this day Zabir intends to take its place among the honorable nations of the world."
Frun knelt beside Aly David. "Allah hears my vow to serve you now and forever, sire."
Zud nodded impatiently. "Before you leave to attend the United Nations sessions, I request that go at once to Xanra and assure that nation that all warlike threats from Zabir are ended from this hour. Our forces will withdraw to stated boundaries. And that my secret police will find their queen and restore her, or I, Zud, place my own life in forfeit for hers."
"It will be done," Frun said. He got up from his knee, kissed the king's ring and strode from the room, followed quickly by Aly David.
"If Kiell were alive," Zud said, his voice quavering, "I would say to him, 'Kiell, find Soraya, return her to safety, and punish those who threaten her with harm.'"
He gazed about the room, distracted. "I would say this much to Kiell, and I would know it would be done as surely as the east sky across the desert of Zur will burn with tomorrow's dawn."
He pressed his huge hands over his face. "I would know it. As I breathed, I would know it. Ah, without you, Kiell—" he stretched out his arm toward the body on the silken bier. "Without you, I am truly lost."
Piebr stepped forward and knelt. "Majesty, I am not Kiell. I was only his assistant. I cannot vow to you as Kiell would have done. But, Sire, I am the son of Zouida Berikeen. I can swear to my ruler that my last breath will be spent in assuring the safety of Queen Soraya if you will but allow me this chance to serve you."
Zud straightened, shaking himself, as if returning to this moment from his distracted thoughts. He stared at Piebr vacantly. He said, "Oh, Piebr, forgive me. I am overwhelmed with grief. I name you minister of security. Let your first duty be the escorting of these people to the air terminal of Kurbot and secure their safe passage to New York."
"But your Majesty! Queen Soraya!"
Zud shook his head and smiled. "You are too young, Piebr. I remember when you played at your father's knee in this room. I will not imperil your life by matching you against the professional killers trained by THRUSH. No. We must let the army handle this and pray Allah for Soraya's safety."
Solo said, "Forgive me, Majesty. I realize you have been patient, and I have spoken too much. But one suggestion?"
"Speak," Zud said.
"I know your reluctance to trust the skills of a man you remember as a child, close to you. But Piebr is a clever and resourceful man, trained by Kiell himself. Perhaps Kiell meant that Piebr would some day replace him. Piebr must be tried under fire if he is ever to serve you as Kiell did. And I must warn you that when THRUSH realizes you will not knuckle under, they may well slay Soraya in order to set Xanra forever against you."