Vorish bade them sit down and offered them wine. When they had exchanged introductions and pleasantries he began.
“I've been thinking about Gashan, Gentlemen. You all know Gashan attempted to invade Relanor forty years ago. Some of you were there, though others of us were not yet born.”
“Gashan?” said Treath. “I thought that it was a tale put about by Anthor in the war with Thealum.” The question was directed more at Menish than at Vorish, and Menish wondered if he was trying to make some point.
“We did spread stories of Gashan in the war against Thealum,” said Menish. “Those stories were true, though they may have sounded fantastic. Gashan is a marshy country that lies north of Anthor. Its people are smaller than we Anthorians, but yellow-haired like you Vorthenki. They're an evil folk and fierce in battle.”
“And the battle years ago?” asked Athun. “Is that also true? You defeated them.”
“It was a victory of a sort. I've suffered better defeats. The armies of Anthor and Relanor were reduced to a tattered band of wounded survivors with an inexperienced, young prince as their leader.
“When they threw fire at us my company managed to reach the river. We covered our shields with cloaks and coats we'd soaked in water. By that time the Gashans had passed us by, pursuing the main army. We attacked them from behind. The fire throwers, who were ranged across the vanguard of the Gashan forces, panicked and tried to blast us through their own ranks. They destroyed themselves.”
“When you say they were destroyed,” said Vorish, “I understand you to mean they were no longer able to fight?”
“A number of their companies retreated with some order, though many were killed outright and others fled in fear. We hunted those down over the following weeks, killing them when we found them. The work only stopped when we heard Sinalth had taken Relanor.”
“And that has taught them to stay away from our lands. Why are we interested in them now?”
Menish noticed the way Treath said 'our lands' which included Anthor, but there was nothing he could say without sounding petulant.
“Rumours, hearsay, tales. Some say Gashan is on the move. Some say they'll attack us in the spring. You understand I can't reveal all my sources even to this company. The news reached me a short time ago and I delayed mentioning it until the King of Anthor arrived so that we have the benefit of his wisdom.”
Everyone knew he had spies everywhere so they expected him to hear of things long before anyone else. That he knew something of Gashan and that he knew of Menish's coming well before he arrived surprised no one. Only Menish wondered how often he really knew, or only seemed to know.
“Has Menish heard these rumours?” asked Treath, turning to him.
“I've been away in the north for weeks now,” said Menish. “Such rumours surely came directly from Anthor and would not reach me.”
How simple it was to fall in with Vorish's deception.
“What is this information you have, Vorish?” asked Althak. “How certain is this attack?”
“Quite uncertain. Hints and conjectures. Nothing more.”
“We need more information, surely,” said Althak. “You can't do anything about it without some confirmation.”
“Are you volunteering to go and see, Althak?”
“Someone must. Yes, I'll go, with M'Lord's permission.” He nodded at Menish who nodded back.
“I think we should review what we know of Gashan before we proceed,” said Vorish. “Would you be so kind, Tishal?”
“Of course. The men of Gashan first attacked Anthor in the days of Telish II, about five hundred years ago. At that time Relanor was weak from a famine and we could do little to aid them. It was Telish’s son Gilish, the third of that name and often called ‘the warrior’, who sent aid to Anthor. He led a vast army into the mountains of Ristalshuz and fought the Gashans, driving them before him well into their own lands. When he returned he commanded a book to be written about his expedition and we have it today. It is known as the Gash-Tal.
“Written there is all we know of the dreadful land of Gashan. As the King of Anthor said, it is a land of marshes and swamps. In the swamps there are fearsome creatures not found anywhere else in the world. Many soldiers were lost to the land of Gashan, rather than to the men of Gashan.
“But he did find an ancient causeway through the marshes that led him to a city the Gashans inhabited. He was surprised that they had built such a causeway and such a city, for they seemed a rude folk.
“Gilish III defeated them so utterly that they were not heard of until the attack the King of Anthor spoke of occurred.”
“My offer to enter Gashan stands,” said Althak. “I'm not afraid of a swamp, especially one with a causeway across it.”
“Your offer is accepted, Althak. There is something else that must be borne in mind on such an expedition.” He paused, eyeing them warily. Menish knew what he was going to say. “They have the Eye of Duzral.”
“The what?” said Angoth.
“Some things should not be spoken of so openly,” frowned Tishal.
“What is this thing?” asked Athun.
“I can tell you,” said Althak, smiling at Tishal’s consternation. “It's an ancient talisman of Relanor. It was made by Gilish and used by him as a weapon-”
“It's better that the true tale is known rather than one that is nearly true,” interrupted Hrangil. “The Eye was fetched by Gilish, the first Gilish, from the Vaults of Duzagen that lie in the Chasm of Kelerish at great cost. The Eye was the defence and prosperity of Relanor, until the battle forty years ago.
“It was lost in the battle. I saw the Emperor engulfed in Gashan fire even as he held the Eye, and I saw the men of Gashan take it from his hands before we drove them off.”
“So they have this Eye,” said Treath. “I'd not heard of it before. Why is it important? It didn't help at this battle you speak of.”
“There are reasons for these things that are not to be spoken of!” protested Tishal.
“The Sons of Gilish are full of secrets,” said Vorish. “It is assumed that Telish IV failed to use the Eye at the battle with Gashan because he was not a descendant of Gilish I. Gilish III, we've spoken of him already, wrote that he used the Eye successfully against Gashan.”
“If that's the case,” said Althak, “then the Eye is rendered useless now. You're not descended from Gilish, neither are the men of Gashan.”
“Perhaps, but something the expedition should try to discover is whether the men of Gashan have found a way to use it anyway. If they haven't then perhaps it can be retrieved. Even if we can't wield it, and I'm not certain of that, I'd rather see it in our hands than theirs. It is, by all accounts, a fearsome thing.”
“What, exactly, does this Eye do?” asked Athun.
Tishal and Hrangil glanced at each other then turned their eyes downwards.
“No one knows what, if any, use the men of Gashan would put it to. But the answer that Tishal and Hrangil are concealing from us is this: The Eye has the power to drive men mad.”
“What do you mean?”
“They usually kill themselves.”
A grim silence followed. This was something Menish had never heard before, but he recalled the tale of how Gilish had thrown himself into the Chasm of Kelerish after he had fetched the Eye. He noticed Athun look at the dagger on his own belt uneasily.
“I, for one, would want to know about that before a battle,” muttered Angoth.
“And I'd rather have the Eye fighting for us,” said Vorish.
“But we know it's powerless now. I said before that you're in the same position as Telish IV. You cannot wield the Eye.”
“If I read my history correctly the lines of Anthor and Relanor mingled before the great civil war that destroyed the line of Gilish in Relanor. Perhaps, Menish, if your father had used the Eye at the battle with Gashan history would have been different.”
“No,” said Tishal. “Only the Emperor can use the Eye. Only the Emperor has the right.”