come upon a rope ladder dropped from heaven, and he climbed it and learned the tongues of the Gods, and many secrets, including how the Black Casket might be rebuilt.'
'Nonsense! Lunacy!' hissed Thyne.
'But of course, sir,' said Ott dryly.
Rose leaned back in his chair, frowning. Oggosk twisted her rings.
'And a history lecture, to boot,' Thyne went on irritably. 'The dead history of a lunatic cult. What of it? I find it hard to believe that we have gathered here, gentlemen, for this review of the heathen myths and squabbles of our enemies.'
'But we are here,' said Drellarek, glancing sidelong at Thyne. 'Let him speak.'
Thyne looked at the sergeant and decided to close his mouth.
Ott continued, 'Lunacy or not, the Shaggat persuaded tens of thousands to his cause. The other Kings named him Enemy of the Faith, but he had already vowed to sweep them aside. And now I will tell you something that does not appear in the history books: Arqual owes its very survival to that madman. Do you understand, Mr. Thyne? We were losing the Second Sea War. The bulk of the Nelu Peren was already under the Mzithrini flag. The whole Empire might have been conquered within the year, and Etherhorde burned, and Magad's head hoisted on a stake, if the Shaggat Ness had not appeared. Soon the Kings were too busy fighting him to win the war against us. That is why His Supremacy rules the greatest spread of territories on earth. Because of one holy madman in the west.'
Thyne snorted, as if he did not believe a word.
Rose stood up from the table. 'I will bring wine,' he said.
'The Mzithrin,' Ott went on, 'could not win two wars at once. Wisely, they chose to defeat the Shaggat, but to do so they had to pull all their forces back from the Inner Lands. We chased them west, island by island, ship by ship. And meanwhile the Four Faithful Kings crushed the army of the Shaggat in a terrible battle that laid waste to the Mang-Mzn and the Cities of the Jomm. But the Shaggat escaped.'
'We know all this,' said Aken, the other Company man. 'He fled the Mzithrin in a fast ship-he and his sons, and the sorcerer Arunis. The so-called Horrid Four. But their flight from the Mzithrin brought them straight into the path of our fleet. We cut that ship to ribbons-the Lythra, wasn't it? — and she sank with all hands.'
'Not all,' said Sandor Ott.
Silence: the low slap of waves suddenly audible, and the oil lamp sputtering. Thyne looked startled, even afraid; Uskins gaped like a fish. Motionless between them, Aken looked like a man who has just realized, very soberly, that he is seated among ghouls and vampires.
A grin spread over Drellarek's face.
Thyne rose from his chair, steadying himself with a hand on the table. 'What are you saying?' he whispered.
'He did not drown, Mr. Thyne,' said Ott. 'We plucked him from the wreckage. And he awaits us on His Supremacy's prison isle of Licherog.'
'Awaits us?' cried Thyne suddenly. 'The Shaggat Ness, that murdering thing, that… creature, alive?'
'And his sons.'
'But we told the world they drowned!'
'Lower your voice, Thyne,' rumbled Rose, closing the wine cabinet.
Thyne did not seem to hear him. 'Mr. Ott! Mr. Ott!' he cried. 'The Shaggat was an animal, a beast!'
'He is that,' said Ott. 'And much more. In the eyes of ninety thousand rebel Mzithrini, he is a God, descended to Alifros to lead them to glory. They have never believed him dead. Forty years they have fought the other Kings, and prayed for his return. Exactly when they expect that miracle to occur is a great secret, and one still unknown to the Mzithrin Kings. Shall I tell you, gentlemen? Oh yes, I know their prophecy. I wrote it, you see. My spies have whispered it in Gurishal these four decades, spread it like a sweet pox of the mind. He shall return, they all now believe, when a Mzithrin lord marries his enemy.'
'Rin's blood!' blurted Uskins. 'You arranged it! The admiral's daughter and the Sizzy prince! You set the whole thing up!'
'Very good, Mr. Uskins,' said Ott. 'And now you will appreciate just how vital it is that word of our plans never reaches Lady Thasha's father. For when the Mzithrin Kings grasp that young bride's place in the prophecy, they will kill her in a heartbeat. Of course, by then it will be too late. Is it not beautiful, gentlemen? Ninety thousand rebels still worship the Shaggat as a God. And we have a chance to prove them right. We shall raise him from the dead.'
'This is monstrous!' said Thyne.
'It is genius,' said Drellarek. He rose and bowed to Sandor Ott. 'A weapon forty years in the smithing. My compliments, sir, on the tactic of a lifetime.'
'Except,' said Aken, 'that the entire White Fleet lies between us and the Shaggat's worshippers. How do you mean to get him to Gurishal, on the far side of the Mzithrin lands?'
'Wait and see,' said Ott.
'They put a new King on the Shaggat's throne, didn't they?' asked Drellarek.
'Right after the war,' said Ott with a nod. 'But the fanatics of Gurishal made so many attempts on his life that the Pentarchy changed the seat of that kingdom to North Urlanx. Both moves only served to deepen the hatred of the Nessarim for the rest of the Mzithrini peoples. Gurishal may be contained by the armies of the Five Kings, but it is primed to explode.'
'And what of the Shaggat's mage, Arunis?' demanded Thyne. 'Did he too escape the wreck of the Lythra? Is he imprisoned on Licherog?'
'No longer,' said Ott. 'Arunis was indeed pulled from the Gulf of Thуl and imprisoned, but he met a curious fate. It appears he tried sorcery on his guards and nearly escaped the island. But one guard regained his senses and shot an arrow into the arm of the fleeing mage. It was but a scratch, but it bled, and by the spoor of blood Arunis was tracked down by dogs, recaptured-and hanged. The guard paid a high price for his valor, though. Arunis flung a curse at him with his last breath, and within weeks the guard began to lose his mind, convinced that he was the one dangling from a rope. He ended up in a madhouse on Opalt.'
Rose limped back across the floor. Mr. Uskins, rigid with fear but with a new gleam in his eye, leaned forward. 'And the gold we're carrying? What are we to do with all that gold?'
'Can't you guess?' snapped Ott. 'The Shaggat is the blood enemy of the remaining Mzithrin Kings. We're sending him into battle, and battles require soldiers and horses, catapults and cannon and ships. Thanks to us he will have them. We are financing his war.
'But this war will be different. This time Arqual will be innocent, a spectator-and not a war-crippled spectator, either. As the Mzithrinis retreat, fighting themselves once again, we shall move in force to take their place- permanently. And why not? Why should men of the Crownless Lands buy their boots and coal and weapons from savages who drink one another's blood? Our boots fit. Our coal burns as hot. That business, those millions in profits, should be Arqual's-will be Arqual's, in due time. And naturally, ships full of valuable goods must be protected.'
Drellarek looked at him sharply. 'You're speaking of the Imperial navy,' he said. 'But would the Crownless Lands ever agree to let our ships back in their waters?'
'Dear sergeant!' said Ott. 'With the Shaggat returned, and civil war to the west? They will beg us on bended knees.'
'But Sizzies are Pit-fiends in a fight!' whispered Swellows, over Ott's shoulder. 'Tough, and cruel, and wicked-even to their own kind.'
'We need them to be wicked, fool,' said Ott. 'Every misery the other Kings inflict on their people makes the Shaggat that much dearer to his followers, and costly to destroy.'
'What if they can't destroy him?' Swellows pressed. 'Will he turn on us?'
A silence. 'They'll destroy him,' said Ott finally. 'No doubt about that. But oh, gentlemen-how it will cost them! They will be Kings of rubble when it's done! In five years' time, Arqual will own the Quiet Sea.'
'And in ten years?' asked Aken. 'What of your further plans, Mr. Ott?'
For the briefest instant Ott looked surprised. Then he said, smoothly: 'Nothing further. I am sworn to defend Arqual from the Mzithrin horde. That is enough.'
Thyne gathered up his papers. 'Defend it with another ship, Spy-master,' he said. 'You have exceeded your
