“But he’s a usurper, a traitor!” the king shouted.
Sterren shrugged. He didn’t consider it treason, since Vond was Ethsharitic, but he had to admit that the term “usurper” was accurate enough.
“All right, warlord,” King Phenvel said. “If you were king of Semma, how would you deal with him?”
“I’d surrender,” Sterren said immediately. He didn’t know the word for “abdicate.”
Shirrin let out a little squeak of dismay, which the two men ignored.
Sterren didn’t point out that if he were king of Semma, he would abdicate in any case, regardless of whether or not an all-powerful warlock were causing trouble. Being king did not look like an enjoyable occupation.
“Oh, go away,” Phenvel growled.
Sterren bowed and retreated.
With his duty fulfilled for the moment, he headed directly for the kitchens; he had not yet broken his fast, and his stomach was beginning to cramp with hunger.
He was not particularly surprised to find the two wizards and three witches already there, seated along the benches around two sides of a low table. The presence of Princess Lura, perched atop a high stool, was somewhat less expected, but not a great shock.
He greeted them all politely and then asked one of the cooks’ helpers to find him something. “A stale bun, a lightly chewed bone, whatever comes to hand.”
She laughed. “Don’t worry, my lord, we can always see what the dogs wouldn’t finish!”
“Oh, excellent! Do that, please!”
The servant hurried off, and Sterren settled onto a chair near a large chopping block that could serve him as a table, facing the others.
“Hello, Lord Sterren,” Princess Lura said. “What’s your crazy magician doing?”
“Oh, I don’t think he’s crazy,” Sterren replied.
“What is he doing?” Shenna asked, in Ethsharitic. “I woke early this morning, but he was already up and gone. I’m not sure he slept at all.”
“I’ve heard warlocks don’t need much sleep,” Emner remarked.
“Speak Semmat!” Lura demanded, in Semmat.
“I’ll translate anything important,” Shenna promised, in lightly accented Semmat better than Sterren’s own. “And if I don’t, then Hamder or Ederd or Sterren will. But Annara and Emner here don’t know any Semmat.”
“Well, I don’t know any Ethsharitic, and this is my daddy’s castle!”
“But we’re not talking to your daddy; we’re talking to each other,” Shenna pointed out. “I promise, Lura, I’ll translate.”
“That’s your Highness Princess Lura, to you,” Lura corrected grumpily.
Sterren looked at Lura for a moment, trying to decide whether he should say anything, and decided he shouldn’t.
“Well?” Emner asked, using the Ethsharitic word.
“He’s building a palace,” Sterren said in his native tongue. “He’s appointed himself dictator of Semma and plans to build an empire run by warlocks.”
Shenna hesitated, then translated this to Lura as, “The crazy magician is building a palace so he can be a king, too.”
“Why would he want to do that?” the princess demanded.
Sterren answered in Semmat, “He thinks your father wasn’t very nice to him.”
Princess Lura looked baffled. “But Daddy is rotten to everybody.” “I know that,” Sterren said, “but Vond isn’t used to it. His feelings were hurt.”
“That’s pretty silly,” Lura declared.
Sterren shrugged. “I guess so,” he said.
“What was that about?” Annara asked, in Ethsharitic.
Sterren sighed. He saw the kitchen maid approaching with a well-stocked platter, despite the threats, it was heavily loaded with dried fruit, slices of mutton left from breakfast, and assorted breads, and decided he didn’t want to deal with explanations just then. “Look,” he said in Ethsharitic, “I want to eat something, but I get confused dealing with two different languages. Could you people wait a while?” He switched to Semmat and said, “I want to eat now. Your Highness, could I come to your family quarters later and answer your questions then?”
The little princess looked at Sterren, then around at the magicians. “Oh, all right,” she said. She slid from her perch and stalked off.
Sterren and the five magicians managed not to laugh at her retreating figure. The warlord made it a little easier for himself by stuffing a pastry in his mouth; he found it hard to laugh with a mouthful of flaky crust.
When Princess Lura was safely out of earshot and the edge had been taken off his hunger, Sterren leaned back in his chair and began talking, answering the magicians’ questions.
With a little prompting, he explained about warlockry; of the five, only Ederd knew anything about it at all. He described what was known of the Aldagmor Source, and the Calling, and Vond’s discovery of a secondary source ten leagues to the northwest of Semma, and he reported what Vond had said of his intentions. When he had finished, the five looked at one another.
“I think I’ll go home,” Shenna said. “It doesn’t look that safe around here.” Hamder nodded in agreement.
“I must admit that if warlocks are going to be running things around here, they won’t have much use for witches,” Ederd agreed. “But I think I’d like to stay for a little while and see what develops.”
Sterren nodded approvingly. His own attitude was very similar.
“Suit yourself,” Hamder said. “I’m going home.”
“Me, too,” said Shenna.
Emner and Annara were obviously uncertain of their plans. They were eyeing each other doubtfully.
“One of us should stay to keep an eye on things, I think,” Emner said at last. “And the other should go contact a Guildmaster.”
Annara nodded. “You better go,” she said. “I don’t know any Guildmasters.”
“I’m not sure I do, any more,” Emner said.
“Well, you go, anyway,” Annara insisted.
Emner nodded.
“What’s this about Guildmasters?” Sterren asked. Annara and Emner exchanged quick glances.
Emner cleared his throat. “I suppose you’ve heard of the Wizards’ Guild,” he said.
Sterren nodded.
“Well,” Emner explained, “Guildmasters are the officers of the Wizards’ Guild. This is all more or less secret, you understand, but it’s not one of the big secrets; we won’t be punished for telling you.”
“You think your Guild will want to do something about this?” Sterren asked. He hoped for some facts to back up his earlier theorizing.
Emner spread his palms. “Who knows? They might, though, and if we didn’t tell them about it, and they found out later, it wouldn’t do our standing any good, that’s certain.”
“They probably won’t do anything,” Annara said. “They generally don’t like to interfere with nonwizards. But they like to know what’s going on. And sometimes they do intervene, eventually. Usually they wait a minimum of ten years, to see what’s going to happen. The Guild has been around a long, long time and it’s a pretty patient organization.”
“How do you know all this?” Hamder asked.
“We’re members of the Guild, of course,” Emner said. “You can’t be a wizard if you don’t join. They kill anyone who tries, usually in some spectacularly horrible way.”
“How do you join?” Hamder persisted.
“When you sign on as apprentice, you’re initiated into the Guild before you’re taught your first spell,” Annara explained. “All through your apprenticeship, you’ll get lessons about the Guild, as well as about wizardry itself. Not that they really tell you much. How the Guild actually works is all secret. There are Guildmasters, and there are rumors of an Inner Circle within the Guildmasters, but we don’t... well, at least I don’t know whether
