Song of the Dragon

them-in which case they will have beaten me-or I will rush you across my border and claim with feigned innocence that you aren’t here at all-which, if they want you badly enough, may be what they’re after all along.”

“Then might I suggest,” Ethis said, “that we could try to win the game before the elves know they are even playing. Don’t wait for the elves. . send us out of Hyperia now. You remove their pretext for war and upset their plans all in a single move.”

“I always like the way you think, Ethis,” Murialis mused. “Where would I send you? I’m on good terms with Chronasis to the southwest. You might make your way down to Mestophia.”

“We might also go east,” Ethis considered, “into the Mountains of Aeria and then into the chimerian lands of Ephindria. The dwarf might then be of considerable. .”

“North,” Drakis said.

“North?” Murialis asked with surprise. “Into Vestasia? Why would anyone want to go into that backward swamp?”

“Well.” Drakis thought for a moment before continuing. “Isn’t that what the legends say. . that I’m supposed to go north?”

Ethis frowned. “That might be a good reason not to go north. The Rhonas know the legend well and would anticipate such a move.”

Murialis slapped both her open palms down on her knees at the same time and stood up. “So they might-but how can we resist twisting destiny’s tail? North it shall be, but we shall best them with speed. They may expect a move to the north but never this quickly. I shall make the arrangements at once. Thank you, Ethis, for bringing me such amusement! I knew there was a reason that I let you live!”

“I am grateful, Your Majesty,” Ethis replied. “But do you not think that the Rhonas may invade you whether we are here or not?”

“If they wish to invade my sovereign lands,” Murialis replied with a quiet smile, “then they will have to invent a lie in order to do so. I will not provide them the satisfaction of an excuse. And if they do come-let them come! The land itself shall rise up against them. Let us see how their Legions fare when the rocks themselves rebel beneath their feet!”

Murialis stepped down to where Drakis stood and, leaning over slightly, extended her hand.

Drakis glanced at Ethis.

The chimerian nodded.

Drakis took the woman’s large hand and kissed it.

Murialis straightened and smiled. “Drakis, I bid you farewell. Your journey is young. I go now to make arrangements for you and your companions to be tossed out of my kingdom at once. I trust you do not mind being such unwelcome guests?”

“Your. . Majesty,” Drakis said, “I believe I prefer it. Thank you.”

Murialis smiled and with a nod vanished into fading embers and smoke.

Drakis paused for a moment and then turned slowly to face Ethis. “This-‘trick’ of yours-who else have you done this to?”

Ethis cocked his head to one side, his face once more the blank that was common to his kind. “Each in turn after we entered the woods. Murialis was long acquainted with me but did not trust the rest. It was the only way I could convince her-the only way she would spare your lives.”

“Who are you?” Drakis asked. “Part of me remembers you as a faithful and long-standing comrade, but that I know is a lie placed in my mind by the Devotions. What is true is that I have no memory of you prior to three weeks ago. So, tell me: Who are you?”

“No one that need concern you. .”

“But I am concerned,” Drakis stood his ground. “How does a creature who has such incredible abilities-who could be anyone-allow himself to be enslaved? You could have taken the form of an elf and. .”

“I did!” Ethis chuckled.

“Then how. .”

“My own mistake,” Ethis said then shrugged his four shoulders. “It matters little now. My mission was to find Thuri.”

“Thuri?”

“Yes, the same Thuri you know from your Octian,” Ethis continued. “He had been a rather prominent leader of a rebellion that threatened the security of the chimerian High Council in Exile. I had been hunting him for over a year when I found him as an Impress Warrior in House Timuran. He had forgotten his past, of course, but I knew if I could get him away from Devotions long enough, he would remember what I needed to know. I came in the guise of a Fourth Estate Elven Guardian and applied to the Tribune for an appointment as a House Guardian.”

“Tribune Se’Djinka,” Drakis urged.

“Yes,” Ethis admitted. “I knew he had been a general some years back and hoped to use the story that I had served under him as means to gain his trust. He seemed to me, on our first meeting, to be ancient and feebleminded-and that was my mistake. It was all a game on his part. He laid a trap for me-literally a metal cage. The last thing he said to me before forcing Devotions on me was that he could remember the name of every warrior who had ever served with him. It seems he had never believed my story from the very beginning.”

“And now you have told me a story, too,” Drakis said. “And I still don’t know you.”

“How is that possible when each of us has barely had time enough to know ourselves?” Ethis replied. “Let’s find the others. Murialis always puts a good meal on the table for her guests, and as we are apparently bound for Vestasia, we should avail ourselves of her hospitality as much as possible. Vestasia is a wild land, and that part of our journey will be difficult.”

“I don’t trust you.”

“And you shouldn’t,” the chimerian went on, “but then I think that’s sound advice in general-don’t trust anybody.”

CHAPTER 30

Shift in the Wind

Ch’drei settled once more on her throne in the heart of the Iblisi Keep and permitted herself a grateful sigh.

It was an entirely familiar place, and she was thankful to enjoy it again. In her younger days she, too, had been numbered among the Inquisitors who ranged across the wide lands and seas wherever the influence of the Rhonas was extended and often far beyond. But age and the politics of the Imperial City had eroded her enthusiasm for distant horizons and new vistas. She preferred that the reports of such places came to her here in the center of political life. Better to hear of the open sky than to experience it; rather the world be brought to her than she leave her lair to see it herself.

There were, however, those rare occasions when a journey beyond Tsujen’s Wall was required. . as when the truth to be learned needed to be kept to herself and as few others as possible. This business with Soen on the Western Frontier was one such time. Yet whenever she was required to travel, she was comforted along the road by thoughts of this place. . that all her journeys would end back here in the quiet darkness of her court deep beneath the ancient stones of the Old Keep. The darkness better suited her purposes and the decisions that she was required to make for the good of the Empire.

It felt much like a tomb, she mused, and where better to bury the truth than with the dead?

Truth, after all, was the province of the Iblisi. The Imperial Will had from its inception altered the public perception of its past. Lie upon lie was told in the interest of the greater good and the Will of the Emperor until any concept of the actual truth was becoming lost. Even the Imperial Family of the Rhonas had begun to lose track of