“When received privately by the strahteegohee, Lukos’ skillfully delivered message—backed, as it was, by irrefutable proofs—first shocked and stunned, then overjoyed the driven-to-distraction old men. Harried by Nikos, who insisted that, as they had once set precedence over custom in the case of Philos’ son, they not only could, but should do so again and set aside the claims of Alexandras’ legitimate issue, in favor of confirming him, Nikos, to the position of High Lord. Furthermore, he had broadly hinted that should they be so unwise as to foil him, he was not above raising sufficient armed might to take what they would not give! The strahteegohee had, in recent times, oft repented their rashness in disinheriting Zenos, however good an idea it had seemed at the time. Now, Lukos Treeah had saved them.
“The painstaking efforts of Zenos and his mother and their agents had produced solid substantiation of one earth-shaking fact: Alexandras and Nikos had been born bastards! On her deathbed, the Lady Petrina had sworn that never had she conceived of her husband, Pavlos, and that the true paternity of Alexandras and Nikos had been the same as that of her girl-child—namely, the Strahteegohs, Vikos Pohtahmohs. One of the strongest proofs of the brothers’ bastardy was the fact that never—never hi any living person’s memory and never in any existing records—had a Pahpahs man or woman sired or produced twin offspring, and the same was true in the noble house of which the Lady Petrina had been a scioness; on the other hand, four of Vikos’ brothers had been twins, as had his mother, his maternal grandfather, and other near relations, and his father’s father had been one of triplets. In addition, the Pahpahs stock had been mentally and physically sound, until Alexandras; but many of Vikos’ ancestors were known to have been rather peculiar. Therefore, the strahteegohee commenced preparations to announce all this to the Council of Nobles and to pave the way for exiling all of the spurious Pahpahs and inviting Zenos—proved to be Pavlos’ only legal heir—to assume his rightful status.
“But Lukos Treeah moved first! His initial lightning-maneuver was to marry the widow of Alexandras, then to have every one of the old strahteegohee murdered. As first one, then another of Alexandras’ illegitimates met with a variety of fatal ‘accidents,’ Nikos saw how the wind was blowing and took certain measures of his own. When his attempt on the lives of Lukos and his wife and adoptive children failed, Nikos took his household and retainers and possessions aboard a speedy ship and fled. ” “Now Zenos and his mother were unaware of the murders of the strahteegohee and the other developments in Kehnooryohs Ehlahs, so Lukos was able to continue putting them off for some little time—at least until all conditions were to his satisfaction. When at last he saw fit to apprise his erst-while employers of the radical changes he had effected, their forseen reactions were such as to play directly into his hands.
“Lukos Treeah was gifted with a silver tongue. It is said that he could have talked a viper out of biting him and, after a few more minutes, have persuaded said animal to make him a present of its skin! So it was that, by the tune Zenos and his mother awakened to the fact that they had been duped and bamboozled out of the game, Lukos had both the Council of Nobles and the Army and Navy solidly on the hip. When Zenos and his Karaleenoee marched across the border, Lukos had himself declared Dictator, imposed martial law, and set about jailing or killing, as suspected supporters of Zenos, all those who had opposed him in his meteoric ascent to power. Feeling his position to be secured, he then led his troops to meet Zenos’ advancing host.
“And this same Lukos, who had never before commanded troops, proved to be a military genius of the first magnitude! For nearly two weeks, he maneuvered his numerically inferior force—marching and counter-marching—until he had Zenos just where he wanted him; then he struck. In a six-hour battle, he soundly trounced the Karaleenoee. When his troops would have pursued, he held them back, re-formed them, and, after an all-night march, struck again. The orderly retreat of Zenos’ army became, after that attack, a rout. At the head of his victorious forces, Lukos pursued to and across the border, turning back only when arrows and stones, shot from the walls of Kehnooryohs Theevahs, began to fall among his vanguard.
“After that victory, there was no stopping him. By acclamation, the Army proclaimed him High Lord and the cowed Council of Nobles could only add their own acclaim in compliance. At Lukos’ death, Alexandras’ eldest, Pavlos, succeeded him, as he had been childless. Pavlos had virtually worshiped Lukos—who had indeed proved a good ruler and had been the only father Pavlos could remember—so, at his own accession, he declared his surname to be Treeah-Pohtahmohs and his family and descendants have been so known.
“Never again in his lifetime did Zenos Pahpahs of Karaleenos—truly the rightful heir to the title of.High Lord—attempt a full-scale invasion of Kehnooryohs Ehlahs, but, in the centuries since, the wars between this province and that have been frequent, bitter, and intense, though never very rewarding for either antagonist.
“Then, about a century and a half ago, there was a fratricidal struggle hi the House of Karaleenos. The losers fled to Kehnooryohs Atheenahs, where they settled under the protection of the then High Lord, Petros Treeah-Pohtahmohs. Since then, there has seldom been a time when a Pahpahs was not a high officer in the armies of Kehnooryohs Ehlahs.
“That Lord Alexandras who is coming to speak with you served the present High Lord’s father, Basil, for nearly all his life. He was a tremendously popular Strahteegohs—not only with the Ehleenoee, but with every manjack of the barbarian mercenaries, who seldom have any use for any Ehleenoee officer. When Basil died, however, Lord Alexandras’ luck ran out. Basil’s son and heir, Demetrios, could not have been less interested in affairs military; in fact, everything in his domain was considered in value only as it was useful in the promotion of his personal pleasures. A covey of officers and high nobles, Lord Alexandras among them, commenced a conspiracy to replace Demetrios with a High Lord at once less hedonistic and more militaristic. They were, in some way, found out—some say that Lord Alexandras’ own son betrayed them on a promise of leniency for his father and family. If such a promise was ever made, it certainly was not kept. Deme-trois had the would-be conspirators and their kin hunted down and put to death with incredible savagery or immured under his palace to be dragged forth and further tortured or maimed whenever he became bored. Some few escaped, fled to Karaleenos or the barbarian kingdoms or oversea, and Demetrios placed huge rewards for their capture and return to him—alive. It had been generally held that Lord Alexandras was dead, but now it seems that he never even left Kehnooryohs Ehlahs and has indeed been in hiding within less than forty leagues of Demetrios’ very capital!