Harshini

“On what grounds?”

“By right of blood.”

“Your great-great-grandmother was a Wolfblade, Lord Eaglespike. By right of blood, Lord Wolfblade has the stronger claim.”

“I merely mention my blood tie to validate my claim, my Lady. My reason for offering my candidacy however, is because I believe Lord Wolfblade has committed treason.”

Terse silence met Cyrus' startling claim.

“That is a serious accusation, my Lord.”

“No more serious than the actions of Lord Wolfblade.”

“Can you substantiate your claims?” Narvell demanded, leaping to his feet “If not, I suggest you sit down before I decide to —”

“Narvell, shut up,” Kalan snapped, for a moment addressing her twin, rather than the High Arrion addressing a Warlord.

“Kalan!” he objected. She was the older twin by a mere twenty minutes, but she had always been the dominant one.

“Sit down, Hawksword,” Rogan added. “Cyrus will dig his own grave without any help from you.”

Narvell reluctantly sat as Cyrus turned to Rogan. “Are you threatening me, my Lord?”

“No, Eaglespike, I'm not threatening you. You'll know about it if I do.”

“As I was saying, before I was interrupted,” Cyrus continued, looking pointedly at Narvell, “Damin Wolfblade has committed treason. He cannot, therefore, be allowed to take the throne, regardless of the will of the late High Prince.”

“Would you care to elaborate, my Lord?”

“He made an unauthorised alliance with a foreign power and then he married a Fardohnyan.”

“At least he married,” Tejay remarked with a chuckle. “Which is more than you can say for poor old Lernen.”

Cyrus did not appreciate her levity. “This is a serious matter, my Lady. You would do well to treat it as such.”

“I'm trying to take this seriously, Cyrus, and I would, if this wasn't such a joke.” She turned to Damin. “What say you, Lord Wolfblade? Is Cyrus right? Did you make an unauthorised alliance with a foreign power? I think we all know by now that you married a Fardohnyan.”

“Guilty on both counts,” Damin replied calmly.

Cyrus stared at him, making no attempt to hide his surprise. “You admit to your crimes?”

“I don't know that I'd call them 'crimes', cousin, but I certainly did make an alliance with Medalon and I believe you've already met my wife.” Cyrus still had enough honour left in him to squirm a little under Damin's scrutiny. Damin wondered if he had figured out yet how she had escaped. “I plead mitigating circumstances.”

“What mitigating circumstances?” Conin Falconlance scoffed. “What could possibly justify such actions?”

“I was asked to aid Medalon. I was ordered to marry Adrina.”

“By whom?”

“In the former case, Lord Brakandaran of the Harshini asked for my aid. In the latter it was the demon child. As she had been placed in my care by Zegarnald himself, I could hardly refuse, could I?”

Cyrus laughed sceptically. “You expect us to believe the God of War singled you out and asked you to aid the demon child?”

“Yes.”

“That's preposterous! What proof have you?”

“Call Glenanaran, if my word isn't good enough. You'll take the word of a Harshini, won't you? He was with us when we crossed into Medalon and I'm sure he wouldn't mind calling up the God of War so you can cross- examine him.”

Only Kalan and Narvell knew that he had spoken with Zegarnald. With the exception of Cyrus, the other Warlords seemed quite overawed by the revelation. Lord Eaglespike glanced around the table, shaking his head.

“Am I the only one here who finds this fantastic tale unbelievable?”

“No, you're the only one here with a vested interest in having us deny it,” Tejay pointed out. “I believe Damin, and when it comes down to it, I'd rather have a High Prince who speaks to the gods than one who uses my name to perpetrate mischief.”

Cyrus was looking decidedly uncomfortable. He obviously had not expected Tejay to learn of his deception, just as he expected to come to this meeting with Adrina as a hostage.

“Well, Lord Eaglespike?” Kalan asked. “Shall I call on the Harshini to bear witness to Lord Wolfblade's defence?”

Cyrus shook his head. “That won't be necessary, my Lady. Lord Wolfblade is a man of honour.”

“An honourable traitor? You flatter me, my Lord.”

The Warlord ignored the comment and remained standing. “There is still the issue of his marriage to that Fardohnyan. He may have married her on the orders of the demon child, but that doesn't make the situation any less intolerable.”

“What's your objection, Cyrus?” Tejay asked cheerfully. “That she's Fardohnyan, or that you can't seem to keep her in your dungeons for more than a few hours without losing her?”

Cyrus kept his temper with admirable restraint. “Anything I have done, my Lady, I have done for the good of Hythria.”

“Then we are of one purpose, my Lord,” Damin replied. “I, too, have only the interests of Hythria at heart.”

“If you only care about Hythria, how can you possibly expect us to tolerate that woman? She is a viper! When she was here in Greenharbour the last time, you claimed she tried to kill Lernen!”

“I was wrong.”

“Wrong? Or simply thinking with your balls?” He glanced around at the others with a knowing smirk. “I hear she's court'esa trained.”

Damin called on every ounce of self-control he owned to stop him leaping over the table and taking Cyrus Eaglespike by the throat.

“You will speak with respect when referring to your High Princess,” he managed to say, despite the effort it cost him to remain outwardly calm.

“She is not my High Princess, and will never be!”

“Whether or not Princess Adrina is the High Princess is yet to be decided,” Kalan reminded them, raising her voice slightly. “Lord Eaglespike, do you have a specific objection to the Princess, or is it simply her nationality that disturbs you?”

“I'd settle for just one good reason why we should accept that foreign whore,” Conin Falconlance interjected.

Damin gripped the side of his stool until his knuckles were white, but gave no other indication of his anger. “One reason? Gunpowder.”

That got their attention.

“Gunpowder?” Tejay gasped. “Gods, Damin, if you took all of his daughters off his hands, Hablet still wouldn't part with that secret.”

“I'm aware of that and so is Adrina. When Hablet signed the treaty with the Kariens, which included sharing the secret of gunpowder, it was sealed by her marriage to Cratyn. She knew he was never likely to live up to his end of the bargain. She was understandably fearful that his refusal might result in the Kariens taking reprisals and the most obvious target would have been her. So she made a point of learning the secret before she left Fardohnya.”

“And she told the Kariens the secret?” Toren Foxtalon asked. It was the first time he had spoken. He had been sitting so quietly Damin thought him asleep, but this news had seemingly woken him from his torpor.

“No. The only person she has shared it with is me.”

“What makes you so special?” Cyrus laughed disparagingly.