As soon as they opened their eyes, the two men knew someone was awaiting them on the other side of the door – someone who had been there for a long time, and would remain until Gebrem and Kyroun emerged from the chamber, no matter how long that took.
The Emperor and the Leba rose to their feet. With a single gesture of his hand, Gebrem opened the chamber’s door without touching it. Standing on the other side was the soldier who was in charge of the Palace guards this night, a man named Asenafe. Asenafe had fought with great distinction during the Uloan invasion, and Gebrem had rewarded him with a high position in the Gebbi Senafa.
For all his courage in battle, though, Asenafe appeared uneasy under the gaze of the Emperor and the Leba, who waited for him to speak.
“Your pardon, Mesfin, but the Tokoloshe, Bulamalayo, is in the Audience Chamber,” the soldier said. “He says he needs to speak with you. There are others with him.”
Kyroun and Gebrem exchanged a glance.
“What others?” Gebrem asked.
“Another Tokoloshe ... and one of the Fidi who look like the Tokoloshe.”
After another exchange of looks with Kyroun, Gebrem said:
“Tell them we will see them.”
“As you command, Mesfin,” Asenafe said.
The soldier saluted, turned on his heel, and departed.
“This could be trouble, Gebrem,” Kyroun said.
The Emperor nodded.
4
Instead of the Audience Chamber, the meeting between the Tokoloshe representatives and the rulers of the Matile Mara Empire occurred in the chamber in which the Emperor usually met with the Degen Jassi. It was in this room that the fate of Kyroun and the other Fidi had been decided. Now, the Seer helped to determine the destiny of the Empire.
As they listened to what the Tokoloshe envoys were telling them, both Kyroun and Gebrem soon realized that for all the immense power their wielded – sorcerous and otherwise – there were still eventualities that were beyond even their considerable ability to control. And that realization disturbed them more than they would have wanted to admit.
Already, they had been surprised when Bulamalayo revealed that Rumundulu was the real head of the Tokoloshe Embassy. Misdirection, however, was far from uncommon in the practice of diplomacy among Matile and Tokoloshe alike. But what Rumundulu and Hulm Stonehand, who represented the Dwarven, said next truly stunned both the Emperor and the Leba.
“We are closing the Tokoloshe Embassy,” Rumundulu said without preamble. “The closing is effective at once. All Tokoloshe will depart from Khambawe and the lands of the Matile as soon as possible.”
“And we will be going with the Tokoloshe,” Hulm said. He looked at Kyroun, not the Emperor, as he spoke.
Silence followed as the two rulers reacted to the news. Gebrem was the first to break it.
“Our alliance ....” he began.
“Is intact,” Bulamalayo said, speaking for the first time since revealing who Rumundulu was. His voice grated like gravel trod underfoot as he continued.
“However, we are needed in our homeland at this time.”
Gebrem labored to maintain a calm exterior even as he attempted to absorb the considerable impact of Rumundulu’s words. The connection between the Matile and the Tokoloshe stretched back many centuries, its inception coming long before the time of the Storm Wars. Together, the two races had prevailed over adversaries ranging from the ogrish Zimwe to the shape-shifting irimu, and they had kept the barbaric Thaba hordes first at bay, then in thrall.
For all that time, the Tokoloshe had maintained a presence in Khambawe, even during the Storm Wars and their aftermath. And the Matile owed the Tokoloshe a further debt of gratitude for their part in the victory over the Uloans, for without their aid, the city might have been overrun before the sorcery of the Almovaads could come into play. The prospect of such a sudden departure disconcerted Gebrem. Kyroun, being less knowledgeable about Matile history, was less concerned. But he could sense the obvious importance of this development to Gebrem.
As if he were reading the Emperor’s thoughts, Rumundulu said:
“You do not need us anymore, Mesfin. Your new sorcery is more than sufficient to protect your people. And you don’t need much protection at that, for your greatest enemy has been defeated beyond any hope of recovery. You may even be strong enough to prevent us from leaving Khambawe. – although I suspect neither you nor I would care to put that supposition to the test. As Bulamalayo said, we are needed in our homeland, and we intend to go there.”
Gebrem understood that that no threat was implied in the Tokoloshe’s words ... Rumundulu was only stating the facts of the matter at hand. A clash between the mystic forces the Tokoloshe and the Matile commanded would undo much of the rebuilding that had been accomplished since the defeat of the Uloans, and leave the Empire vulnerable to the growing threat posed by the Thabas to the south.
One question repeated itself like a drumbeat in the Emperor’s mind: Why? Why was the entire populace of the Embassy “needed” in the Tokoloshes’ mysterious homeland? Rumundulu’s statement was vague, and told Gebrem little of what he truly wanted to know. Gebrem realized, though, that he was not likely to learn more if he pressed the Tokoloshe for answers.
But Kyroun did not hesitate to ask a question of his own, which he directed to Hulm.
“Why do you wish to accompany the Tokoloshe?”
Hulm had earlier prepared a detailed, precise discourse explaining his people’s decision. Now, as he looked into the Seer’s eyes, he remembered the first encounter between the Dwarven and the Almovaads ....
5
For millennia, the Dwarven of Cym Dinath had lived secretively, much more so than the Tokoloshe of Abengoni. Although they traded sporadically with humankind and sometimes ventured into the humans’ world, for the most part they preferred to dwell in the territories they had carved out deep Belowground. They found humans to be
