Ganz peDel bristled instantly. "If you mean he went after the dirty priesthood too hard, you're wrong. It isn't possible to go after those old mothbags too hard. And when I catch up with the Elder who shot Del—"
"Oh?" Kris interrupted. "Was it an Elder who assassinated your father?"
"Well," the young man said defensively, "that's what everyone's saying. And I don't see why not. It's logical, isn't it?"
"Of course," Kris agreed. "But logic doesn't always hold together in times like these. Words lose their meaning; friends become enemies. Policies change."
Norvis, who had, as yet, said nothing, finally asked: "Are there going to be changes in our policy now?"
"Damned right there are!" Kris turned on the Secretary fiercely. "Look, Norvis, I've felt for a long time that we were going about things the wrong way. Well, here's my opportunity to do things the right way. Our first step is to win back the people Del alienated—the farmers, the majority of the masses of Gelusar, even the priests themselves."
"The priests?" asked Ganz peDel. "What do you, want them for?"
Kris folded his arms. "Because the priests help to hold this world together. Because they belong on Nidor. Because they follow the Great Light."
"Is we going to have to work with the Elder Grandfathers?" Dran asked. "I doesn't believe I trusts them."
"It isn't a matter of trust," said Kris. "It's necessity." He leaned forward. "What Del and the rest of you forgot is who the real enemies are—the enemies I plan to channel my attack against."
"You mean the Earthmen?" Marja asked.
"Of course the Earthmen! They're the devils who've been causing our troubles—and they're the ones whom we must fight! Not the Elders, I tell you."
He glanced around, saw general agreement on their faces. "Any questions?"
No one spoke. "Good. That's official policy of our Party from now on, Norvis, you can take that down."
"Does you has anything definite in mind?" Dran asked.
Kris smiled slowly as he prepared to deliver the words he had nursed in his mind so long. "Yes," he said. "Yes, I know what the first objective is."
He stared at the five faces before him. "We must destroy the School," he said slowly. "We must wipe out Bel-rogas completely, so that not even a memory remains!"
"You'll need backing for that," Norvis said evenly.
"I'll get it," Kris told him flatly. "By the time I'm through, I'll have every man on Nidor behind me."
"What about the women?" Norvis asked.
"What about them?" Kris had to admit to himself that ht didn't quite see what the Secretary was driving at. "Women can't fight; they have nothing to do with it."
Marja frowned, but said nothing, while Norvis explained.
"I know they can't; I agree with you. Women can't fight. So what do they do when faced with an emergency they can't handle physically? They pray, Kris—they pray. And a wife has a great deal to say about what her husband does, whether you realize it or not. Is a woman going to allow her husband to fight the very thing she pins all her hopes, her strength, her very life on?"
Kris chewed at his lip for a moment, then nodded. "You're right. That's probably part of the reason Del didn't succeed. He attacked the priests—the same priests who were such solace to the wives and daughters of the very men Del wanted to win over." His eyes narrowed in thought. "That means we'll have to change the women's views, too. But how?"
"I think I know," Marja said suddenly. Kris turned his head to look at her.
"Go on," he said.
"Well, look. As you said, the women depend on their faith in the Great Light to support them when their physical strength can't help them. If we can show them that the Earthmen have alienated the Great Light, we'll have them on our side. After all, the Earthmen have only been around for six Cycles of years —the Great Light has been watching over us for untold thousands of Cycles."
Kris glanced at Norvis. "What do yon think?"
"I agree," Norvis said emphatically. "If we can convince the people that the Earthmen are devils from the Outer Darkness, and at the same time convince them that we are really on the side of the priests and the Great Light, we'll have them in the palms of our hands."
Kris turned back to Marja. "Very well, then. Your job will be to convince the women, I think it's a job that only a woman could do. I lave you any ideas on how to go about it?"
"Yes," Marja said proudly, "I'll go into the temples and the market places and just talk. Gossip no more. I'll tell them about the Party and Kris peKym; I'll suggest that the Earthmen—not the priests—have caused all our trouble. I'll put it to them that the priests need our help—the help of the Party to drive the demons out. I'll start bad rumors spreading against them."
"What about the School?" Norvis interrupted.
"That, too," Marja said emphatically. "Have you noticed how many promising students have been expelled from the Bel-rogas School of Divine Law lately?"
Norvis grinned wryly. "Yes. So?"
"Very well. Those students have mothers and sisters. Do you know why they were expelled? I'll tell you: They were too smart! The Earthmen knew that they were just about to discover that Earthmen were demons— or at least they were on, the right track. So they were unjustly expelled."
The others all smiled.
"Great!" Kris said. "Great! That's the right attack!" Then he paused and looked at her carefully. "But you'd better do something about yourself, You don't look like a common farm woman."
"Oh; I'm not," Marja said, suddenly looking very demure. "My father is a priest—a Grandfather, in Sugon. I'm in Tammulcor visiting relatives."
Norvis burst into laughter. "Girl, you're perfect! Absolutely perfect."
Kris chuckled in agreement. "Right. All of her father's virtues and none of his faults."
Ganz peDel broke in then. "Is there any thing I can do?" His voice sounded eager and—perhaps—just a trifle hurt.
Kris looked thoughtful. "Well, I—"
"He can help me," said Norvis quickly. "The Secretariat has a great deal of important work to do, and Ganz will be very useful."
"Good enough," said Kris. "Meanwhile, Dran and I will be training men. I have an idea for a group of men who would be a sort of Peacemen group of my own. Those who qualify will be well paid."
Bor pePrannt said: "I can teach them to use knives, Ancient One."
"Good," said Kris. And they fell to planning their group.
Later, when the others had gone to bed, Norvis raised the first objections.
"I can't see it. Just scraping up an army and marching into Bel-rogas like that—it can't go. I don't like it, Kris."
"Why? Great Light, why?" Kris gestured angrily. "Look here, Norvis —all my life, I've hated those devils, and I know you hate them, too!"
Norvis' face darkened. "And for good reason," he said bitterly.
"All right, you hate them," Kris persisted. "And now that I propose to smash them down, you draw back. Great Light, Norvis, what's going on in your head?"
Norvis sat back and gently smoothed his ruffled down. He was silent for a moment, then turned to face Kris. When he spoke, he seemed to be choosing his words with utmost care.
"Kris—you're not a plotter. You are a fine leader, but you can't see more than three days into the future. I agree that the Earthmen should be wiped out—the devils—or at least driven back to the sky they came from."