the wind and rain, the wasps and thorns, the rockburn and sunburn which had bedeviled the Weaponmaster on his year of flight from Chi'ash-lan.
Then Guest promptly launched himself into a conference with Sken-Pitilkin, making plans for returning to Alozay with the starglobe, and, assuming his father to still be in possession of that island, using Alozay as a base for a struggle which would surely seem him end as master of the Circle of the Partnership Banks.
Chapter Forty-Nine
Lord Onosh: the Witchlord, the sometime lord of the Collosnon Empire who retreated to Alozay after his defeat at the hands of the Red Emperor Khmar. On Alozay, Lord Onosh made himself master of the Safrak Bank. His regime suffered a setback when Shabble temporarily usurped his authority; but, when Shabble left Alozay,
Lord Onosh was easily able to restore his authority, and has governed the Safrak Islands and the Safrak Bank ever since.
Of Guest Gulkan's return to Alozay, there is no need to give a detailed account.
Lord Onosh had long been separated from Guest, the most warlike of his sons. So, when Witchlord was reunited with Weaponmaster, the celebrations were considerable. Horses were slaughtered, and their meat cooked in great barbecues. A babble of storytelling was followed by bout upon bout of drunken boisterousness.
The celebrations went on for a full ten days; the hangovers lasted a further three; and it was not until the fourteenth day after Guest's return to Alozay that a council of war was held to consider the reopening of the Circle of the Doors.
'After all I have endured,' said Guest, 'I will settle for nothing less than the rule of the Circle.'
'That may be difficult,' said his father.
'Nevertheless,' said Guest, 'it is what I have set my heart on.'
'Then,' said Sken-Pitilkin, 'perhaps our first move should be to talk with the resident demon of the Hall of Time.'Guest was most reluctant to do this. But he knew the importance of the demons to the Banks. Had it not been for these silent, ever-watchful jade-green monsters, then Bank security would have been a much more difficult proposition. The Circle of the Banks could still be run – and perhaps dominated – without the assistance of such monsters. But their co-operation would make Guest's schemes of conquest infinitely easier.
'But,' said Guest, 'what can I offer them?'
'You can offer,' said Sken-Pitilkin, 'to give material assistance to the Great God Jocasta when that dignitary eventually emerges from the tunnels of Cap Foz Para Lash.'
'I can what?!' said Guest.
'You heard me,' said Sken-Pitilkin.
Then they began to argue the rights and the wrongs of offering to aid the Great God Jocasta, the delinquent controller- of-carts which was currently sheltering inside one of the minor mountains of Dalar ken Halvar.
During this debate, Sken-Pitilkin reminded both Witchlord and Weaponmaster of some uncomfortable facts. Both were Yarglat born and Yarglat bred, but they were cut off from their own people. Few of the Yarglat had followed Lord Onosh to Alozay, most choosing instead to desert to the Red Emperor Khmar. Lord Onosh had won the rule of Alozay with a rabble of mercenaries, slaves and other such underlings.
'You have no natural constituency on Alozay,' said Sken-Pitilkin. 'You have no natural constituency in the Safrak Islands.
The society you rule has no internal cohesion. It is not unified by language, or by race, or by religion. By personal strength, by studied alliance, by careful management and with the assistance of a fair measure of luck, you have managed to reach an accommodation with the Partnership Banks in the past.'
'With difficulty,' said Lord Onosh, remembering the many vicissitudes of his relationship with those Banks.
'Yes,' said Sken-Pitilkin. 'You know the Bankers can be cunning, treacherous, and totally ruthless in the application of power. Your own resources have served to let you deal with them.
But if you and your son are resolved to conquer them, why, then you must have something greater to stand behind you in support. If you can win the aid of the demons of the Circle by promising support to the Great God, then you have that something.'
'But what do we do then when this Great God comes forth from the hiding place where it is licking its wounds?' said Guest.
'The licking of those wounds may take generations,' said Sken-Pitilkin. 'Don't worry about it.'
Here Sken-Pitilkin showed his great wisdom, for he no longer sought perfect solutions. If Guest Gulkan was determined to make himself master of the Circle, then he might have to settle for a regrettably imperfect alliance with a treacherous Great God. Even such a flawed solution would be safer than trying to challenge the might of the Banks single-handed – and Sken-Pitilkin knew full well that it was useless to suggest that Guest might care to abandon thoughts of such challenge and make his retreat to a monastery. Sken-Pitilkin said as much, and at length. After long deliberation, the wizard's wisdom prevailed, and so Guest and his father went in Sken-Pitilkin's company to the Hall of Time, where they bearded the demon Icaria Scaria Iva-Italis. Guest Gulkan did the talking. He made a frank confession of his desire to conquer the Circle of the Banks; he declared his intention to seek an alliance with the demons of the Circle, using their brute strength and intelligence to his advantage; he offered in return to declare himself for the Great God Jocasta; and then he asked, quite openly, how long it would be before Jocasta returned to the world of daylight.
'The Great God Jocasta will come forth from the tunnels of Cap Foz Para Lash in due course,' said Iva-Italis. 'But the Great God's renaissance will not take place for many years yet. The Great God was grievously injured by the evil Stogirov in the Temple of Blood.'
'I'm sorry to hear that,' said Guest, who was not sorry at all, and wished upon Jocasta a thousand years of painful convalescence.
'However,' said Iva-Italis, 'while Jocasta will not be seen by the sun for many years yet, there is work to be done even now.
Should we conclude a satisfactory alliance, then there would be much for you to do in preparation for the Great God's renaissance.
There are for example many machines which should be built – machines designed to aid comfort supplement and support the Great God in its endeavors. The contrivance of such mechanisms is not easy. You would have to build lesser machines to construct greater machines, and even with guidance from myself and my colleagues, this task could not be accomplished in anything less than two or three generations.'
Then Iva-Italis paused. Guest Gulkan promptly answered the unstated but implicit question, which was this: can you, mere mortal, make any meaningful commitment to a task which may well last generations?
'My brother Morsh Bataar has bred sons on the island of Ema Urk,' said Guest. 'Though my brother Morsh is slow in his wits, his sons by all accounts have proved worthy of their grandfather.
I have sired no dynasty myself, but will pledge myself to the support of Morsh Bataar's sons. Yurt and Iragana can be the founders of a dynasty which would see your machines constructed as you wish.'
'Very good,' said Iva-Italis, positively purring. 'Very good.'Sken-Pitilkin was almost inclined to purr himself. This was all going very well. Guest Gulkan had spoken with uncommon reasonableness, and the demon had matched him in that.
But there was more to come: 'I have conferred with the Great God Jocasta,' said Italis.
'That was quick!' said Guest.
'It is over a year since you stole the star-globe from the Morgrim Bank,' said Italis. 'We have had a full thirteen moons to consider the possibilities. Where would you come to if not to here? We have had a year to talk this matter out in full – and to discuss it with Shabble.'
At that, Guest and Sken-Pitilkin exchanged glances. It is significant that Sken-Pitilkin should look to his former tutor rather than to his father. Despite the rapturous reception which Lord Onosh had given his long-lost son, the plain fact was that Guest had spent much more of his adult life in Sken-Pitilkin's company than he had in his father's house, and wizard and Weaponmaster knew each other to a nicety, whereas Guest had inevitably become
