As they followed Watashi on foot, with a squad of guards behind them, Hearst murmured to Miphon: 'What does Watashi mean?'
Miphon sorted through the few dozen words of the language of the Harvest Plains which he knew: it means blood,' said Miphon. it means fear. It means death.'
Watashi led the travellers through the noisy, crowded streets of Selzirk, a city which – according to Miphon's lectures – was a centre for trade in grain, silks, pottery, and also tin and copper mined in the Chenameg Kingdom in mountainous country to the east. It was also, of course, the capital of the Harvest Plains. i wish we could stop,' said Ohio, i see some Galish merchants. We could learn a lot from talking to them.'
'We'll have a chance later,' said Hearst.
'You hope.'
'Why shouldn't I hope? Remember this word: intelligence.' intelligence?'
'Yes. If I say that word, use the ring.' Hearst's last words were drowned out by the racket of a group of men with shaven heads and saffron robes, who stood on a street corner banging drums, beating tambourines and chanting over and over again the Mantra of the Sun.
'You've got the word?' said Hearst.
'Intelligence,' said Ohio.
'Right. If I say it, use the ring.'
'As you wish,' said Ohio.
They stopped then, for the way ahead was blocked by a funeral procession, and Watashi showed no desire to force a way through the mourners. Horns and trumpets blared discord to the skies: to scare away evil spirits, said Miphon. Hearst, who could hardly make himself heard over the uproar, gave his instructions to Miphon. Then the way was clear again, and Watashi led them onwards.
Farfalla's High Court was housed in one of the buildings crowding what had once been the central courtyard of a wizard castle. Her throne room was a vast chamber with a vaulted roof arching high overhead; it was open on every side to the sun and the wind. Watashi introduced the travellers, speaking for their benefit in the Trading Tongue: 'To the kingmaker, mother of all the peoples, ruler of the See of the Sun, greetings. Here before you stands the Rovac warrior Morgan Hearst, and here, the wizard from the south, Miphon. This one here we believe to be a peasant from Estar, Blackwood. And this one, perhaps with truth and perhaps not, tells me he is a Galish merchant by the name of Ohio.'
Watashi took up a position by the side of the throne, and Farfalla studied the travellers. Her silence did not intimidate them: they met her scrutiny with bold stares of their own.
Farfalla was a woman of middle years, her hair red, and her skin – thanks to a dye – the same colour. She wore earrings of twisted copper; broad copper bracelets adorned her bare forearms. Her light woollen robes were the colours of blood, iron, earth and clay. Her throne, raised on a small dais, was made of white marble padded with white satin. She looked like a blaze of fire on pure white snow.
Unlike some courts Hearst had seen, overpopulated by lacquered flunkeys and ceremonial attendants, Farfalla's throne room held only a couple of scribes, some guards in grey livery, and a few serving women who stood to one side ready to obey any command that might come from the throne.
'So you're Morgan Hearst,' said Farfalla.
'Yes,' said Hearst, taking a step forward, watching out of the corner of his eye to see how Farfalla's guards would react. The guards held their positions.
'We've heard much of you,' said Farfalla.
'Then you have the advantage over me,' said Hearst.
He studied the woman. Her forearms were strong, muscular; her hands large, fingers broad, knuckles big. Her neck was thick, like that of a wrestler. The features of her face were coarse and generous: heavy bones, large eyes, large nose, large mouth, strong line to the jaw.
'You know much about me, if you care to think about it,' said Farfalla. 'I hold power over an empire. I am told the Rovac have a good understanding of imperial power.'
'Certainly we understand the limitations of such power,' said Hearst.
Watashi said something in the language of the Harvest Plains; Farfalla silenced him with a word.
'Power, for example,' said Hearst, 'gives no protection against lies. At the city gate I saw one of the world's scavengers, a deserter from a defeated army. I hope his tongue has not been allowed to guide your councils.'
'You speak boldly for a man with only one hand,' said Farfalla. in some places, you'd lose the other for speaking like that to the throne.'
'If murder is today's entertainment,' said Hearst, recklessly, 'then proceed.'
'You tempt me,' said Farfalla, who did not look tempted at all. 'Even so, I'll give you a chance to outgrow your adolescence. I have brought you here because you can be of service to me.'
'Says who? The man Erhed, whom I saw at the gate? That weak-minded gallowed and gutless coward? A runaway? A deserter?'
'Whatever his defects,' said Farfalla, T regret to say that his manners are better than yours.'
'On Rovac,' said Hearst, 'we believe in the diplomacy of steel'
'My son, I'm sure,' said Farfalla, 'would be happy to join such negotiations. However – fortunately for you, my hero – I prefer to exercise my own intelligence rather than my son's sword-arm. Hear me out, for I have a tale to tell.'
'Then tell away,' said Hearst.
Farfalla, without protesting at his abruptness, began: 'When your men deserted you far inland, they made their way down the Velvet River, through the Chena-meg Kingdom and all the way to Selzirk.
'Rumours came to me of wild tales being told in the taverns: fantastic stories of ring-magic, dragon-killing, battles between wizards, the destruction of armies. You know the truth of what you've been through; as you can imagine, a little strong liquor soon set some weird and wonderful tales afloat in the stews of Selzirk.
T didn't quite believe the story of how Morgan Hearst, riding on a dragon, led armies against the Red Emperor of Tameran. Nor the tale of the Temple of Eternal Love by the shores of the Araconch Waters, with its trees of gold and its gardens of diamonds. Still, it was clear that something had happened that I should know about.
T gave my orders. As you can imagine, rumours take more than a day from a riverside bar to my throne room. Some of the men had left with Galish convoys, others on ships sailing from Adrolmarphos. A few had joined the criminal fraternities of Selzirk and proved impossible to locate.
'But my men arrested twelve. We interviewed them in isolation, giving them no chance to rehearse lies; once all twelve stories matched, I knew I had the truth.
'So I know you marched from Estar to pursue the wizard Heenmor, who had a power-source known as the death-stone, capable of turning men to stone and bringing rocks to life. I know all about your expedition to the point where the soldiers deserted you.
'It was midwinter when I extracted these truths from your soldiers. I knew that if you succeeded in capturing this… this death-stone, it would probably come south by way of Selzirk. For months my three sons have taken turns to command the guard at the northern gate: I wanted no errors, no mistakes. We've a great need for a weapons such as this, for our entire coastline is menaced by the pirates of the Greater Teeth, now grown strong enough to seize Stokos – a conquest of which you, no doubt, have yet to hear.
'More recently, from Runcorn, we have received an ugly little embassy demanding our surrender in the name of Elkor Alish and the death-stone. Knowing this Alish to be sworn to the service of wizards, and lacking any evidence of a death-stone slaughter said to have taken place near Runcorn, I have chosen to disregard this threat. Yet I see this Alish is not of your party. So is he dead? And if not, does he indeed command the death-stone?'
'On that point,' said Hearst, i am not sure whether I should furnish you with any… intelligence.'
He heard Blackwood protest as Ohio grabbed him, then there was the noise behind him of the red and green bottles hitting the stone floor. Hearst pulled the death-stone from where he had hidden it inside his leathers. He whipped away a bit of cloth that had been wrapped around it, and held it aloft.