Lord of Lies

this must soon end.'

'We've heard that there were plots against you.'

'Against a king, there are always plots. But the assassins were caught and killed. The barons who set them upon me will be punished, I can promise you that.'.

'Very well,' Asaru said.

'Anjo will be strong again,' King Danashu boasted. 'As it was in the old days.'

'We all pray that this will be so.'

'Yes, with the aid of friends such as Mesh, we'll be strong,' he muttered. Something in the way he said the word 'friend,' with both resentment and hope, caused me to sit up straighter on my tent's rug and pay closer attention. 'And then all will be repaid.'

'We of Mesh desire no repayment of any debts you may think you owe us,' Asaru told him. 'Only, as you say, your friendship.'

'But what if the Red Dragon were to attack Mesh?'

I felt Asaru's pulse quicken along with my own. Although King Danashu couldn't have known of the threats that Morjin had made in his letter, he must have feared such an obvious move and the reper-cussions it would have on Anjo.

'The Red Dragon won't move against Mesh,' I assured him. 'Soon there will be a conclave in Tria. And we'll make an alliance against him.'

'You speak with such certainty,' King Danashu said as he looked at me. 'Do you really believe you can unite the sovereigns. of the Free Kingdoms to your purpose?'

'We must unite,' I told him.

'Yes, well, the Maitreya would say such a thing. And perhaps the Maitreya, if the Maitreya is more than just a myth, could accomplish this miracle. But what would an alliance against Morjin be worth without the swords of the Valari kings?'

'Very little,' I admitted. 'Which is why our kings or their emissaries must journey to Tria.'

'Impossible, impossible. I'm afraid that not even the Maitreya could accomplish that. Why, I was speaking just this morning about this impossibility with King Waray.'

Something about the way he said King Waray's name made me look at King Danashu more closely. He was breathing quickly, which caused his big belly to rise and fall beneath his blue tunic, I could almost feel the beads of sweat running down his side there, too.

'Does King Waray, then.' I asked 'share your discouragement?'

'All the Valari kings do. Lord Valashu. None of us wants to answer King Kiritan's summons to Tria.'

'Pride,' I said. 'The pride of kings.'

King Danashu pulled back his massive shoulders as he sat up straight. He regarded me with a flaring anger as he said, 'Don't think to judge a king until you've sat upon his throne. When I was your age, I too, thought being a king, a Valari king, would be a simple matter of following simple principles. Always to be honest. so honor the Law of the One, to wield a sword an angel and die in battle — to be willing to die for kinsmen and kingdom, this seems such a simple thing. But

life is not so simple is it? There are always complication and difficulties, so many, impossible to see. There are always those who would undo a king and destroy his honor, and so a king must stand strong at all times. You may call this pride, if you will. But do not blame the Valari kings if they do not wish to abandon their realms to pursue impossible dreams in Tria.'

I sat looking at King Danashu for a few moments and then called for Sar Shuradan to enter my tent. At my command, this grizzled knight drew forth the Lightstone and placed it in King Danashu's hands.

'A year ago,' I said, 'King Kiritan called a quest to recover this cup. And the Valari kings, even yourself, refused to send their sons and knights to Tria. They said that finding it would be impossible.'

King Danashu's once-fine features face took up the light of the golden cup so that the beauty of his youth stood out from his tired face. His dark eyes flared with its radiance as he stared at the Lightstone. 'What you say is true, Lord Valashu. But there were so many uncertainties, it seemed foolish to waste men on such a quest.'

I smiled at him and said, 'Truly, many thought me a fool for setting out toward Tria. But what is considered foolish before an event occurs is often deemed otherwise afterwards. And so with the reverse. What will Ea think of the Valari if we allow Morjin to triumph, all because common wisdom deems an alliance against him to be impossible?'

'Some would say,' King Danashu told me, 'that Morjin could never triumph so long as we possess the Lightstone.'

King Danashu eyes were now blazing with a golden fire. And I said, 'It is one thing to gain such a prize, but another to keep it. Morjin has already set a ghul to try to steal the Lightstone, and nearly succeeded.'

'But he must not succeed, not a second time.'

'Will you help us, then?'

'What is it you would ask of me, Lord Valashu?'

'Only that you speak in favor of journeying to Tria.'

King Danashu stared at the cup in his hands and sighed out, 'That is indeed a great deal to ask. Do you wish that I should do this for Mesh or for you, Lord Valashu?'

'Do it for yourself,' I said. 'If Mesh should have to stand alone against Morjin, who will stand with Anjo against Ishka?'

King Danashu's heart surged with a wild hope, and I wondered at its source. He said, 'But if I speak in favor of the conclave, who will listen?'

'You're the king of Anjo,' I said. 'Everyone will listen.'

He nodded his head as if suddenly deciding something. 'Very well, then. I shall begin with King Waray. He, at least, is a reasonable man.'

'Thank you,' I told him. I watched as he turned the Lightstone around and around in his hands. 'It's a beautiful thing, isn't it? Will you help us guard it?'

'Help you? How?'

'As King Hadam did. Twenty Ishkan knights are now Guardians of the Lightstone.'

'Twenty knights,' he muttered, shaking his head. 'I'am sorry to say that right now I have very few knights to spare.'

'How few, then? Fifteen? Ten?'

'No, five knights only could I lend you for this task.'

'Very well then, five knights it will have to be. Choose your finest, King Danashu.'

'I shall choose them from among those who win honors at this tournament.'

We clasped hands then to seal this troth, and King Danashu reluc-tandy gave the Lightstone back to Sar Shuradan. He stood up and prepared to leave my tent. And then he said to me, 'It will be good to take meat with the sons of Shavashar Elahad at the feast tonight. But King Waray would speak with you, Lord Valashu, in private before the feast. He has asked me to convey his invitation.'

After bowing to me and my brothers, he collected his two knights posted outside my tent and left our encampment. I noticed him making his way toward some nearby jewelry stalls, perhaps to inspect their wares.

'He calls himself a king,' Yarashan spat out as he watched him stride forth. 'But it seems he's only a king's messenger.'

'No, Yarashan,' I said, 'he is a king, and could file as one if only he turned his attentions toward winning his dukes and barons instead of other kings.'

Asaru said, 'It's clear enough, isn't it, that he's looking for meals at King Waray's table?'

'Yes, that seems certain,' I said, thinking of the surges of emotion pourinig out of King Danashu whenever King Waray's name was mentioned. 'But does he seek a secret alliance with Taron? And does Taron seek alliance Anjo? For King Waray, that would be a dangerous game.'

'It would,' Yarashan agreed. He stood beneath the apex of my tent near Asaru and me, and looked back and forth between us. 'If King Hadaru gained word of this alliance before it was concluded, he might be tempted to