Lord of Lies

march against Taron to preempt it.'

'But why,' Asaru asked, 'would King Waray take such a risk?'

I placed my hand on the hilt of my sword, and the hazy pattern forming up before my inner eye suddenly became vivid and clear. I said, 'King Waray has never liked giving battle, and the Ishkans have the largest army in the Nine Kingdoms. He's always counted on us to keep the Ishkans in check. But if Morjin should move against Mesh, Ishka would be free to turn north against either Anjo or Taron — or both. And so King Waray might see making an alliance with Anjo as the lesser risk.'

'An alliance between Anjo and Taron?' Yarashan snapped. 'Does a lamb make alliances with a lion? Doesn't King Danashu realize that Taron would eat up Anjo in pieces?'

'His position, no matter which way he turns, is weak,' I said. 'Which is why his greatest hope is for an alliance of all the Valari.'

'But he believes this to be impossible!' Yarashan said. 'As it likely is. You heard what he said, Val.'

'Yes, but he also promised to speak in favor of the Trian conclave. And he has pledged five knights to become Guardians.'

'Do you think he'll honor his word?'

'Yes,' I said. 'He is an honorable man, despite his weakness.'

'Five knights,' Yarashan said. 'How is that you invite the Anjoris into our company while you seemed reluctant to accept the Ishkans?'

I said nothing for a moment as I looked at Yarashan's haughty face. And then Asaru answered for me, saying, 'Our little brother only seemed reluctant, isn't that right, Val?'

'Yes, that is true,' I said. 'It was likely that King Hadaru would insist on making Ishkan knights Guardians. The pride of kings, yes? And if all the Valari kings do likewise, they'll see that an alliance is not only possible but inevitable.'

Yarashan nodded his head as he smiled at me. 'You're more cunning than I ever would have thought. But what of King Waray, then? Our father has always said that he's more difficult than even King Hadaru. You certainly won't persuade him as easily as you did King Danashu.'

'We'll find out about King Waray soon enough,' I said. 'Now why don't we get ready for this feast that he's prepared for us?'

I turned to see to a bath and to fresh garments, and I considered what I would say to the man who styled himself as the greatest of the Valari kings.

Chapter 11

An hour later I rode out alone to answer King Waray's invitation Many knights, on their way to visit friends or kindred in other encampments, passed by in continual streams of snorting horses and brilliant surcoats flapping in the wind. A dirt road connected the Meshian pavilions with the Tournament Grounds' main road. At the intersection, where teams of workmen made busy preparing the Sword and Chess Pavilions for the coming competitions, 1 turned east and let Altaru gallop full out for a few hundred yards to give him a little exercise. Soon we came to the Taroners' encampment. I counted hundreds of pavilions sprung up from the soft green grass like so many brightly colored mushrooms. In a little field between them, many rows of tables were being set with plates and goblets for the evening's feast Grooms working the firepits there roasted whole lambs on black, greasy spits while others nearby hurried to and fro bearing casks of brandy or baskets of bread. King Waray's pavilion, overlooking all this activity, was like a small palace constructed of red and white silk. After tethering Altaru outside it, I made my way toward its open door. I gave my name to one of the guards posted there, and he vanished inside the pavilion to announce me. A few moments later, a tall, dignified man came out to greet me. His long red tunic was emblazoned with the white winged horse of the House of Waray.

'Lord Valashu Elahad!' King Waray said to me. He clasped hands with me as if we were old friends. 'Welcome to Nar!'

With his aquiline nose and black, luminous eyes, he appeared the epitome of a Valari King. His high forehead seemed to radiate a shining intelligence. But as he thanked me for honoring his summons and began speaking of the friendship of our two kingdoms, the words that poured from his thin lips seemed sometimes to squeak like mice and at other moments to roar like mountain lions. His was a curious voice: pinched and nasal, gravelly and sweet — all at once. It might, I thought, as easily disarm and charm a friend as it could flay an enemy. It was clear from the first that King Waray intended to charm me. He hailed me as the Lord of the Lightstone. He praised the beauty of my horse and my skill at mastering such a magnificent and ferocious beast. And then he laid his arm about my shoulders and gently urged me to walk with him through the Taron encampment.

'Yes, a fine horse, indeed,' he said as he watched Altaru's neck arch downward to graze on the rich spring grass. 'One of the Anjori wild Blacks, isn't he? We've all heard the story of how you risked your life, when you were still a boy, to break him.'

'Altaru,' I said to him, 'was never broken. He allows me to ride him, but no other.'

'Of course — well, it was still a great feat. Just as it seems more recently you've tamed the mighty Ishkan bear.'

'King Hadaru,' I said, fighting back a smile, 'might think otherwise.'

'Of course he would. But he has chosen Ishkan knights to join your Guardians, hasn't he? And he has ridden with an Elahad all the way from Ishka into Taron.'

'Truly, he has,' I said, watching as King Waray's bright eyes watched me. 'For at least a hundred miles, Ishka has made alliance with Mesh.'

King Waray smiled at me. 'King Hadaru and I spoke together earlier today. He has assured me that he favors an alliance of all the Valari, even as you propose.'

As we paused in front of his huge pavilion, I had to fight to keep the fire of hope from flaring too brightly on my face. I asked him, 'Do you favor such an alliance, King Waray?'

'Of course I do — how else are we to oppose Morjin?'

'My apologies, but King Danashu has given me to understand that you consider such an alliance an impossibility.'

'King Danashu sees impossibilities everywhere,' he said. 'Perhaps he heard me speak of the great difficulties in forging such an alliance and misconstrued this to mean I thought it would be impossible.'

'Then you do think it's possible?'

'My father, a very wise man, once asked me this: How is it possible that the impossible is not only possible but inevitable?'

My heart sounded in my chest like a thunderbolt. I said, 'That is my feeling, exactly. The Valari must unite. Any difficulties must give way like darkness before the light of the stars.'

'Beautifully said, Lord Valashu. And I have invited you here so that we might speak of these difficulties. Why don't we begin with King Hadaru, who is a very difficult man?'

'But you say that he has spoken in favor of the alliance.'

'Indeed, he has. But then: was everything about his maner, the very tone of his words, that suggested he hopes to lead this himdelf.' King Waray, as we began walking between the Taroners pavillion slid this innuendo into me as snoothly as might an assassin a knife. He was a shrewd man and subtle. He had a cool polished facade like the marble of his great Sun Tower, and his casual knowledeability and seeming goodwill concealed a monumental arrogance and desire to control others. I knew that he wasn't telling me the whole truth, about King Hadaru or anything else. And yet I also knew that he sense of honor would not permit him to lie outright. He was. rather, like a knight facing formal combat or playing a game with strict rules of his own making. I recalled then that, in his time, for many tournaments he had remained undefeated at chess.

'King Hadaru,' I told him, 'has always seen himself as the strongest of the Valari kings. And he doubts that I could be the Maitreya.'

'Many doubt this, Lord Valashu,' he said And then he slid another knife into me and twisted it. 'I think you even doubt this yourself.'

I remained quiet for a moment as I stopped to look at him. And then I said, 'And you, King Waray? Are you