Tortha reached for his purse, to make a donation toward the rebuilding of the temple, but Kostran stopped him. "Those are just ordinary workers, not temple people. Wodan knows where the silver would end up if you gave it to them, Master.
"And don't worry about the priests finding money to rebuild, they'll get enough to rebuild three times over-once from the farmers, once from the sailors and once from the gamblers, who consider her their patroness."
Tortha had been amused to find Lystris in that role the first time he heard of it, but after studying the climatic history of Greffa he was no longer amused or even surprised. Like every city at the foot of the western sea, on every time-line, Greffa City had a reputation for extremes of heat and cold, and for mercilessly changeable weather to make things worse. There was a brief period of stable weather in the spring, but beyond that, one might as well pray to a weather goddess and make her temples and shrines rich. Nothing else seemed to do any good.
Greffa had a lot of equivalents across the levels, too. In any time-line where the local inhabitants had developed so much as the canoe, it commanded the shortest overland route between the Saltless Seas and the great mid-continent river system. So in some time-lines the city made the priests of the weather deity rich, while in others scientists tried to predict what the weather would be tomorrow. In both the man-in-the-street wound up cursing and either sweating or freezing and usually giving the city a rude name.
Tortha kept quiet on a more serious thought until they were out of hearing of the workers at the temple. "Do you think anyone will call this an evil omen?"
Kostran Galth frowned. "Only the gods know their true minds, though the priests do the best that mortal men can do. Yet I would not say that the whole day is made inauspicious for conducting one's affairs. We do not know how the worship of Lystris may have been lacking, or even whether. Nor is the temple likely to be the only building cast down in Greffa last night."
He looked around and added in a near-whisper, "Besides, the College of Priests has scattered to their home temples."
Tortha nodded, considerably relieved. He didn't know how devout a believer in the gods Theovacar was, but suspected the king was a follower of most local superstitions. The Greffan College of Priests met regularly four times a year and its next meeting was a moon away. It could meet at other times only with the consent of the king-or if it was willing to fling down a challenge to a really nasty church-state confrontation. According to his briefing, the College hadn't done that in two hundred years; with the horrible example of the Styphons House war tearing the Great Kingdoms apart, he doubted the College would do anything of the kind over a minor matter such as a fallen temple.
Reaching their destination, they dismounted and gave one of the conveniently placed horse holders a small silver coin to watch their mounts. All the nearby hitching posts were already in use and the other posts were "guarded" by retainers. Most of the posts were "leased" by the Royal Treasury to wealthy merchants and nobles who spent a lot of time at the White Palace, and having "possession" of one of them was considered a valuable property that was passed down through generations. Only those who were 'favored' were allowed to use the Royal Stables.
While they might be considered unofficial ambassadors from Hostigos, they were not favored ones, which did not bode well for the morning audience, Tortha decided.
The Great Circle, a giant circular plaza with the White Palace at the center surrounded by a huge park, was one of the marvels of the Middle Kingdoms. The White Palace itself had two huge wings, faced with white marble at who knows what cost in gold and labor, which housed the functionaries and bureaucrats who ran the kingdom's government. Even Tortha who was used to seeing monumental buildings, like those of Berlin on Fourth Level, Europo-America Hitler Victory Belt, was impressed. "So this is where all the gold brought back across the Iron Trail went."
"A lot of it," Kostran said. "About a thousand years ago, when trade with the west coast Ros-Zarthani over the Iron Trail petered out, the capital was moved from Ult-Greffa to this location. King Frydrik IV spent half the treasury building the White Palace and Great City Buildings that surround it. It took him and his son almost fifty years to complete the public works and move the capital of Ult-Greffa; they say the number of barges carrying granite blocks and marble that sailed past the Great Mole outnumbered the horses on the city's streets."
"Those were the days when the Iron Kings were made of steel," Tortha said.
"Yes, but things have changed a lot in the interim. After the post-Iron Trail economic depression, which hit both the Upper Middle Kingdoms and the Lower Middle Kingdoms, the succeeding kings had to make a lot of sacrifices to keep their thrones. The money the two Frydriks blew on city improvements could have been used to stabilize the economy. Instead, their successors had to face city-wide insurrections, forcing them to make deals with their princes, nobles and merchant lords. They ended up giving them political freedoms that have shackled the succeeding rulers.
"When the present dynasty ascended the Iron Throne, they went overboard in the other direction. Now, the Greffan Treasury has more gold and silver than it had a thousand years ago. King Theovacar would love to turn back the clock and restore the old powers held by the previous dynasties, all without depleting the Treasury surplus. His high taxes and import duties have caused a lot of bad will between him and his people both in Greffa and in her territories."
"Another reason why Theovacar's probably not happy to see an invasion from Hostigos," Tortha added.
"Yes, this is a volatile time in Upper Middle Kingdom history, and dropping Kalvan into the mix is like throwing a grenade into a fireseed works."
Tortha nodded. He would have his work cut out for him.
Up close Tortha noted that the palace had undergone at least five or six successive stages of major rebuilding and additions. At the gates, the guards were King's Companions, dressed in black and white colors, wearing lobster-pot helms, back-and-breasts and carrying bell-mouthed musketoons and short swords. The Companions also carried oval buffalo-hide shields, heavy enough to turn a light bullet or almost any edged weapon. Painted on the shields' black face were the crossed white thunderbolts of Theovacar's device, representing Thanor the God of Thunder.
They addressed the gate keeper and presented him with their parchment invitations from the King. He sent a messenger to the palace. The fact that they had to wait less than a quarter of an hour for their two Companion guides demonstrated that King Theovacar was very interested in whatever they might have to tell him. Since Tortha had already seen a model of the palace interior at the Greffan Study Team's depot, based on Verkan and Kostran's observations, his First Level recall made their guide's twists and turns through the palace passages superfluous. He noted the dim lighting and smoke from the oil lamps placed in notches along the walls.
When they reached the antechamber to the presence chamber, the Companions left to announce their presence to the king. After a short wait a herald opened the door at the end of the antechamber and cried:
"Enter, all ye who seek audience with Theovacar, Fourth of that name, King of Grefftscharr, Prince of Greffa, Protector of Chiefs and Champion of Sharn."
The herald led Tortha and Kostran into a short, broad corridor with three more carved wooden doors on the far side. Between the doors were equally lavishly carved wooden benches, and on each bench sat three Companions, in full armor, carrying shields and spears that looked perfectly efficient in spite of their silvered heads.
Tortha went through the ritual of disarming, giving up his flintlock pistol. He did not offer up his sword or dagger, as Kostran had told him "no free trader or Grefftscharrer not outlawed could be made to give up his steel, even in the king's presence."