Don't we have trouble enough right now without adding to it by attacking the Imperials directly? We should be concentrating on the next step after the breakwater, not trying to get an army of our own halfway into Hardorn to attack someone we don't even know is our enemy!
The general din seemed to have died down a bit, and he saw an opening. With shaking hands, which he disguised by keeping them clasped on the table in front of him, he spoke up.
'I'm not certain going after them is a good idea,' he said quietly. 'We should be concentrating all of our effort on the mage-storms; the breakwater isn't going to hold forever—in fact, if the storms change their pattern drastically, it won't hold at all. The Imperials haven't done anything we can prove, and they are going to have all they can take with the results of the mage-storms over there. Why don't we just leave them alone, at least for now, and see what happens?' Stunned silence met his suggestions, and he added into the deathly quiet, 'Our resources are limited, and things might get even worse. Who knows? They have so many mages with them—they know things we don't—they might turn out to be valuable allies.'
'What?' Jarim sprang to his feet, his face scarlet with outrage. Karal felt his heart stop, then start up again, and he knew that he had gone pale by the cold and stiff way his face felt. 'Are you mad? Or are you so much of a coward that you won't even face what these Imperial jackals have done to you? They slew your mentor, your envoy! Are you a fool, boy? Or—are you a traitor?' He put one hand on his knife hilt and drew the blade with a single swift motion. 'Those assassin blades somehow mysteriously never touched you! Foul piece of sketi—have you been the traitor in our midst all along? By the Star-Eyed, I swear I —'
Karal kept himself from shrinking back only by iron will and the knowledge that Daren and the others wouldn't let Jarim actually do anything to him. Darkwind rose malevolently and grabbed the Shin'a'in's wrist in a grip of steel, roaring to drown out whatever Jarim was going to say.
'Stop that, you fool! Where are your senses! Drawing steel in the Grand Council, threatening the Karsite Envoy, are you trying to break the Alliance apart all by yourself?' He shook the man's arm, rattling the startled Shin'a'in's teeth. Karal was impressed; Darkwind did not give the impression of being stronger than any other normal man. Evidently there was a great deal about this Hawkbrother that was not obvious.
The Shin'a'in was so startled that he dropped the knife, which clattered to the table. Firesong snatched it up before Jarim could reach for it.
'The boy is only pointing out alternatives—as is appropriate. He is a priest, he is supposed to think beyond the obvious, and he is supposed to suggest peaceful possibilities rather than ones involving war!' Darkwind turned to glare at everyone around the table, and some of the representatives of other gods had the grace to look chagrined, since they had been doing nothing of the sort. In fact, they had been calling for war as enthusiastically as Jarim. 'He is absolutely right; in regard to what has happened here, we have no proof as to the origin. We have speculation, but no proof. For all we know, our real enemy could be someone we are not even aware of, someone who set all of this up to make it look like the Empire was the perpetrator!'
'Oh, that's hardly likely,' the Lord Marshal scoffed. 'Who would this nebulous enemy be? Some hypothetical evil shaman from the North, beyond the Ice Wall?'
'Not likely, I will grant you, but possible—and we have not even discussed the possibility. I remind you, before any of you accuse our own Council members of duplicity, that outside influences should be the first consideration. A history-proven means of destroying vital alliances is to sow dissension among its members, from outside, by duplicity!' Darkwind met the Lord Marshal's eyes squarely, and it was the older man who dropped his gaze. 'Furthermore, as a mage, I concur with his priority. You've all accepted the breakwater as the solution to the problem of the mage storms, but it was never meant to be more than a stopgap measure to gain us time.'
'Now that is completely true and irrefutable, Firesong drawled, toying with the Shin'a'in dagger. 'Forgive me, Herald Captain, but this breakwater of ours is rather like its namesake—and the more storms that come to wash away at it, the faster it will erode. It is more like a levee made of sand than one made of stone. I know it seems to you as if this is a good time to strike at a possible menace, but believe me as a mage of some talent—they will have all they can handle and more as the mage-storms wreak havoc in Hardorn. If they are very, very lucky, the monsters that are conjured up will be stopped by walls and enough arrows. If they are not—' He shrugged. '—well, let me remind you that the breakwater may stop mage-storms, but it is no barrier against hungry creatures capable of decimating an army. What comes to dine on them might well move in to dine on us before all is said and done. As mages and artificers—' he bowed ironically to Master Levi '—we should be searching for the next level of protection against the storms. As military leaders, you should be searching for ways to hold off whatever might come at us through the Imperial Army. The likelihood is that, if you do not, it may be our Alliance that will be smashed like a particularly inconvenient bug.'
He held the dagger out to the sullen Shin'a'in, hilt first; Darkwind released the man's wrist, and Jarim took the dagger and thrust it back into the sheath. He sat down again, his face still rebellious.
Karal drew a breath of relief; at least this crisis was over, for the moment anyway. Kerowyn had simply stood there through all of it, her own expression a study in passivity.
Finally, she spoke. 'On the whole,' she said carefully, 'I must admit that more energy should be put into finding another solution to the mage-storm than anything else. I wanted to point out the possibility that the Imperial Army might be vulnerable at this time. I do not want anyone to think that I am certain of that. After all, as Karal rightly pointed out, nothing is certain but those facts that we can verify for ourselves. He is also correct in pointing out that a great deal of what we think we know is only speculation. Probability is not fact, and I for one prefer not to send troops into battle while the home fronts are unprotected.'
