little more by the time they reached Na Sashimoko and were shown into the presence of Plandruk Qinplaqus.
Though Guest had at first had trouble in recognizing Asodo Hatch, he had no such trouble in identifying Qinplaqus. For, after all, Qinplaqus was firmly seated on his throne with the Princess Nuboltipon upon his knees, hence the elderly Ashdan could scarcely be mistaken for one of his own servants.
Besides, the Silver Emperor still had at his side the same pelican-headed walking stick which he had been carrying when Guest had first met him, back in the days when Plandruk Qinplaqus had been in the habit of traveling the Circle of the Doors of the Partnership Banks, his identity disguised by his traveling name:
Ulix of the Drum.
(Ulix of what Drum? After all these years, Guest finally realized that the name had been designed simply to mislead, and that there was no literal drum to be identified with the name. A small discovery, but a certain one – and the Yarglat barbarian felt quite pleased at working it out).
'Greetings, Guest,' said Qinplaqus.
'Greetings, my lord,' said Guest, pleased to be recognized.
But, just as Guest Gulkan had no trouble in recognizing Plandruk Qinplaqus, so Qinplaqus had no trouble in turn in recognizing him. For, after all, how many Yarglat barbarians were there in Dalar ken Halvar? A definitive answer to this question cannot be given, but it is reasonable to presume that precious few such savages soiled their feet with the red dust of the Plain of Jars from one generation to the next. And, besides that, there was the matter of Guest's ears. Even amongst the Yarglat, his ears were of such a largeness that they would have been considered unique had not his father been similarly disfigured.
Even though Plandruk Qinplaqus these days allowed Asodo Hatch to have practical day-to-day control over the management of the Empire of Greater Parengarenga, Qinplaqus remained the ultimate power in Dalar ken Halvar. He dismissed Hatch, and Hatch went, departing without complaint.
Qinplaqus similarly dismissed Yubi Das Finger, sent Lord Onosh away to a bedroom for some much-needed rest, then set about interrogating Guest Gulkan.
For Guest to tell of his adventures was no easy matter, and it was evening before he was finished even a fraction of it.
'You have not mentioned Untunchilamon,' said Qinplaqus at length.
'Haven't I?' said Guest. 'I must have!'
'Well,' said Qinplaqus, 'you may have said one or two words about it, but I think there's more to tell. Still. It grows late.
The rest can wait till tomorrow. Meanwhile – have you any pressing questions of your own?'
'The x-x-zix,' said Guest. 'I left it with Thayer Levant.
Have you had word of him?'
'Yes,' said Qinplaqus. 'He reached my palace with that very device barely three months ago.'
Then Plandruk Qinplaqus explained that all the skill of Dalar ken Halvar had not yet proved able to compel the x-x-zix to its proper purpose, which was to control the Breathings which made the weather of Parengarenga so fearsomely hot.
'But,' said Qinplaqus, 'Hatch has some people working on the problem, and we hope to crack it within the year. Once we have our own Breathings under control, the device will be yours to use against the Cold West.'
'I'm glad to hear it,' said Guest cordially, doing his best to conceal his mounting distress. Guest Gulkan had always presumed that the x-x-zix, the fabled wishstone of Untunchilamon, was a magical device of some description which could merely be waved at a Breathing to change its weather. The idea that ancillary machinery was necessary, and would take a year to build, was upsetting. Guest hoped to use the x-x-zix to persuade the Partnership Banks to his will – or, at a minimum, to win control of the city of Chi'ash-lan. After his long exile and the many difficulties of his wandering, he was in no mood to wait.
'I would do things quicker,' said Qinplaqus, seeing something of Guest's distress, 'but speed is not in my power. Unfortunately there is, ah, a shortage of people apt for the construction of the devices which Hatch is supervising.'
What Plandruk Qinplaqus did not say was that he himself had for generations compelled the murder of all 'mad scientists', that is to say all people who were prepared to put to some practical use the knowledge they won from Paraban Senk and the mountain of Cap Foz Para Lash. After long generations of diligent murder,
Qinplaqus was at last prepared to admit that he might have made a mistake – but the effects of his bloodthirsty predations could not be easily reversed.
'It can't be faster?' said Guest.
'It can't,' said Qinplaqus.
Now Plandruk Qinplaqus was a wizard of Ebber, and there are many men who will not trust such a wizard, fearing any hint of trust to be a proof that the wizard himself is dabbling with the contents of their minds. But, to Guest's knowledge, this wizard had never played him false. So the Weaponmaster said:
'I trust you.'
'Any more questions?' said Plandruk Qinplaqus.
'One,' said Guest. 'Where is Penelope?'
'Penelope?' said Qinplaqus blankly.
'Yes,' said Guest, 'Penelope, Penelope, you remember! A Frangoni woman. Tall. Purple. She was married to me. She was my wife. Where is she?'
'I would presume that she is where you left her,' said Qinplaqus. Guest was offended at this bland dismissal of his concerns.
True, Plandruk Qinplaqus was an emperor, so the domestic affairs of a wandering swordsman were unlikely to be prominent amongst his concerns. Yet Guest – who felt himself a ranking emperor in his own right, albeit an emperor temporarily displaced from his realms – considered that he was being slighted.
'I left her here,' said Guest. 'I left her here in Dalar ken Halvar when I went questing to Untunchilamon. Yet Senk tells me she's gone.'
'But you went away ages ago!' said Qinplaqus. 'A woman isn't something you can leave like a lump of gold you buried in a dungheap, charting its burials with maps and plans. In any case, the governance of an empire is our concern, not matters of marriage and such.'
With this rebuke, Qinplaqus dismissed the Weaponmaster. Guest's sole consolation was that the mazadath was delivered to his quarters in the evening. It was delivered by a servant who spoke no language which Guest could understand, but, in the absence of explanations, Guest supposed that Thayer Levant had brought that amulet to Dalar ken Halvar just as he had brought the x-x-zix.
So thinking, Guest put on the mazadath, vowing never to take it off again, for it had been given to him by his wife Penelope – whose perceived value had been increased tenfold by their long separation. But where was Penelope? This was all most unsatisfactory!
We need but turn our backs and the world changes. Guest had done far more than turn his back, and he passed a night in nightmares, for the distress of the world's transitions came home to him in full force during the night.
The next day, Guest was reunited with his father, who proved to be in possession of the cornucopia – which Guest had succeeded in forgetting about during the upsets of the previous day.
'Where did you get that?' said Guest.
'You dropped it,' said his father, making no move to give it back. 'Your dropped it in the dust.'
'But where?'
'Outside the Bank.'
'Dalar ken Halvar's Bank?' said Guest.
'The same,' said the Witchlord. Guest had indeed dropped the horn of plenty in the dust outside the Bralsh while dueling with the Great God Jocasta. But he had been so badly upset by attempted possession, by battle, by a disconcerting adventure into Cap Foz Para Lash and by Penelope's disappearance that – surprising as it seemed to him in the calm of the new day – he had entirely overlooked the cornucopia's loss.
'What about the ring?' said the Witchlord.
'The ring?' said Guest. 'Oh, the ring!'
The ring of ever-ice which Guest had taken from the Mutilator was still on his finger. But the knife -
There was no sign of the Mutilator's knife. After thinking about it, Witchlord and Weaponmaster realized that
