to secure his power base, soon reaching out from Alozay to bring all the Safrak Islands under his sway. recognizing that the greater number of his potential subjects spoke Toxteth, Lord Onosh set himself to master that tongue.
Having mastered Alozay by the sword, he brought the lesser islands to heel by threat of violence, then chose sound-tempered Guardians to hold each of these islands in fief. Meanwhile, he despatched ambassadors and a trade delegation to the free city of Port Domax.
Since no army makes its passage through any land without leaving wreckage and complaint in its wake, Lord Onosh sent other representatives to the west, to meet all claims consequent upon his armed withdrawal to the shores of the Swelaway Sea. In the west, his agents dispensed much good gold to settle claims for murder, and rape, and arson, and looting, and pillaging, and poaching, and blasphemy, and the desecration of temples, and horse rustling – all of which claims were well-founded, for the Yarglat are not gentle in either victory or defeat.
Furthermore, all those to north, south, east and west were invited to prove out any claims they might have against the Safrak
Bank, since Lord Onosh recognized that he was now a Banker and must look to banking for his cash flow. In this spirit, he undertook to guarantee the safety of all trade through the Swelaway Sea, and confirmed Safrak's schedule of fixed and moderate charges for pilotage, provisioning, dock facilities and armed protection.
All in all, Lord Onosh conducted himself as a model ruler, which proved decidedly expensive in the short term. There were, for example, a full twenty merchants from Port Domax who had managed to get themselves killed during the Witchlord's armed seizure of the mainrock Pinnacle and the associated city of Molothair, and in the fullness of time Lord Onosh paid full and generous compensation to the widows of each.
In such many and varied acts of mercy, peace, justice and generosity, the Witchlord Onosh expended the last of the treasure brought with him from Gendormargensis, which left him bitterly impoverished, though his wizards assured him he would recoup his losses a dozen times over in the years ahead.
'Recoup, recoup!' said Lord Onosh furiously. 'I was born to loot, not to recoup!'
Justice, mercy, peace and generosity had not come naturally to the Witchlord Onosh, and each dispensing of gold had cost him dearly, as if he was paying his many creditors in lumps of flesh torn hot and bleeding from his protesting bones.
'We know your propensities, for you have told us of them often, my lord,' said Pelagius Zozimus calmly. 'But, believe me, recouping is the greatest looting of them all.'
'If I'd been not so weak in my defeat,' said Lord Onosh, bitterly regretting the delicacy of his position on Alozay, the smallness of the forces at his disposal and the greatness of his enemies, 'you'd never have forced me to this folly.'
'Forced!' said Zozimus, looking at Sken-Pitilkin. 'Did we do any forcing?'
'I would count it impossible,' said Sken-Pitilkin, 'for it is well known that the weakest of the Yarglat warlords is a match for any ten wizards in the world, and the great Lord Onosh is not a weak warlord but one mighty in the courage of his sword.'
Yet the truth of the matter is that Sken-Pitilkin and Zozimus – acting in concert with Bao Gahai – had indeed forced the Witchlord Onosh to follow a path of reason, moderation, compromise and diplomacy, encouraging him to secure the peace of his own domains and appease his neighbors before making his next move.
The Witchlord's obvious, necessary and unavoidable next move was to open the Door in the uppermost chamber of the mainrock
Pinnacle, the Door which was still a tightly-guarded secret known to only a chosen few. With that Door reopened, Lord Onosh could then negotiate with the Banks of the Circle. Nightly the Witchlord sat in conference with Ulix of the Drum, who told him much of that Circle. Only from that Circle could Lord Onosh draw the power he needed to overthrow the invader Khmar and reclaim his empire. Only the Banks of the Circle could provide him with the warriors he needed, warriors in their thousands, and weapons, and horses, and all necessary gear of war.
'Including, one hopes,' said the sagacious Sken-Pitilkin, when appraised of the Witchlord's plans for war, 'a good supply of cushions and collapsible armchairs.'
Yet if Sken-Pitilkin spoke lightly of the Witchlord's plans for conquest – he cared not a whit who ruled in Gendormargensis, and would happily have traded all the lands of Tameran for a pair of sheepskin slippers and a baked onion – Lord Onosh was in deadly earnest.
In the earnestness of his intent, the Witchlord took care to neutralize all his potential enemies. The greatest of these was surely the demon Iva-Italis. For that uncannily intelligent block of jade-green stone commanded the only stairway leading to the highest chamber of the mainrock Pinnacle, and had proved its ability to enforce its rule of those stairs by eating men at whim.
Lord Onosh did not trust the demon-thing, and, with his wizards supporting him in his distrust, the Witchlord had his carpenters build him an outer stairway. This outwork climbed from the floor below the Hall of Time to the floor above, thus allowing one to bypass the demon. Thereafter, the Hall of Time was forbidden to all, and even the Witchlord and his wizards never went there, for after long conference they were mutually agreed that the demon should be shunned, and that all people of all rank should be kept well away from it lest it suborn the weak-willed in conspiracy.
So it was done.
As for the secret of the Door, it was agreed that this secret should continue to be held in the smallest circle possible. So men of rank such as Thodric Jarl got a tour of the uppermost room in the mainrock Pinnacle, and were there shown the metal arch and the marble plinth, and were told that it was a mystery -
'Most probably,' said Zozimus gravely, giving the standard lecture which he gave to all and sundry when he conducted these tours, 'a secret shrine sacred to a great god, but what god we cannot tell, and will probably never know.'
Thus Thodric Jarl and others saw the greatest secret of the Bank, and, finding nothing there of any note, thereafter forgot about it; whereas, had the room been banned to them, they would doubtless have been afire with curiosity about it for the rest of their lives.
Now since the Witchlord was dynamic in his execution of his policies, and since he was well supported by men of talent, and by the womanly talents of the witches Bao Gahai and Zelafona, and by a wizard mighty in wisdom, and by a slug-chef, and by a dwarf, and by Ulix of the Drum as well, all these things were accomplished with surpassing rapidity, and news of the accomplishments spread equally as quickly.
When all is said and done, the Swelaway Sea is but an overgrown lake, and a ship at a speed of fifty leagues a day can reach from its central islands to its shores in a matter of four to six days. If one buys a rotten boat from the villainous villagers of Ink, or if one is forced to interpolate an airship adventure into one's travels, then such a journey has the makings of an unfortunate epic; but, as in all things, concerted professional organization reduces epic potential to routine.
And though it had been woefully difficult for Lord Onosh and his army to make the march to the Swelaway Sea, when they knew not quite where they were going, and had no conception of what paths or roads they should be looking for, and were poorly clad, ill- shod, short-rationed and grotesquely overloaded with treasure, overland journeys in all directions were a thing of ease to organize from Alozay.
For, after all, Alozay was in business as a Bank, and a trading bank at that; and hence the Guardians of Safrak were veteran travelers able to bodyguard and guide the innocent and the ignorant alike over any piece of country between Port Domax and Gendormargensis.
Hence Lord Onosh was able to economically accomplish his tasks, without lavishing generations on their achievement; and some news of his accomplishments spread with a similarly economical rapidity.
In particular, news of the raw and unadorned fact of the Witchlord's conquest of Alozay soon reached the Collosnon Empire, for some Guardians had escaped toward that Empire with news of the Witchlord's triumph. Those Guardians had thought that they would be well-rewarded for bringing that news to his enemies – and in this they were right.
The Guardians who carried that first raw news of conquest fled from Alozay to Ink; then dared down the Pig, riding the speed of the dog-drawn sledge, which is ever the favored transport of those few fur-merchants and such who trade the continental winter; then, believing Khmar to be still in Locontareth, expressed their sledges in that direction, and were favored by the confirmation of their belief.
