Skatzabratzumon into launching a mountain avalanche at his command, or subsist when necessary upon the blood of a horse – and none of these strengths were suited to a resolution of his present predicament.
We must remember, too, that Guest was only 17 years of age, having experienced his 17th birthday in Galsh Ebrek in the spring.
And here in summary, before our history sees Guest plunged into an uncertain future, let us take a brief moment to recap his past.
Our history picked up the boy when he was aged 14, and foolishly fought the Rovac warrior Thodric Jarl, contending for the posession of the woman Yerzerdayla – and thus offending his own father and securing his own exile to Alozay. On Alozay, Guest had his 15th birthday, and was tempted by the demon Iva-Italis, who offered him the chance to make himself a wizard. After such temptation, he sojourned upon Alozay for another year, attaining the age of 16. The young Weaponmaster was then whirlwinded by airship to the mountains of Ibsen-Iktus, from which he descended to the lowlands, only to be captured by his father's enemies.
Throwing in his lot with those enemies, Guest Gulkan dueled his father in a civil war, only to lose the entire Collosnon Empire to the invader Khmar. Father and son being united in defeat, the Weaponmaster Guest and the Witchlord Onosh retreated to Alozay, chiefest of the Safrak Islands. There Witchlord and Weaponmaster made themselves masters, overthrowing the Safrak Bank by a combination of guile and violence – only to have the sweetness of their victory upset when Sod took advantage of their momentary lapse from unity.
Pursuit of Sod made Guest a refugee in Galsh Ebrek, ruling city of Wen Endex, and so it was that Guest Gulkan saw out the winter in Wen Endex, survived his 17th birthday in the spring, and continued working as a barman in the Green Parrot while spring turned to summer.
Midsummer's Day marked the formal start of the rule of Khmar in the Collosnon Empire, and thus was the first day of the year Khmar 1; and it was the first year also of Alliance 4308 (and also, for those who have an interest in historical cross- reference, the third year of Talonsklavara, and the first year of the rule of Justina Thrug of Untunchilamon).
It was on Midsummer's Day that Eljuk Zala Gulkan reached Safrak, arriving in the company of the wizard Ontario Nol; and it was shortly afterwards that the Witchlord Onosh caused the Circle of the Partnership Banks to be reopened, thus unwittingly making his son Guest the focus of the full and unfriendly attention of all the surviving Banks.
So we find Guest entering into the greatest predicament of his life at the age of 17, and this is a boy's age. Since boys of 17 typically lack wives, and children, and households, and businesses, it has usually been found expedient to use such children as the meat of war; and the historically continuous slaughter of children has given rise to the conceit that a boy of 17 is fit for the adventures of adulthood.
However, this conceit is false, and Guest was certainly most woefully ill-equipped to face the unfriendly face of the world on his own.
To this, the casual reader of this history may object.
One can imagine the objections.
The young Guest Gulkan was a warrior! A hero! A leader of men! A master of revolutions! A lord of the avalanche! A victor in battle! Surely he was a man in his independence, and ready for the world!
Ah, but was he? Anyone who thinks that he was must have overlooked a supremely important fact: the fact being that Guest had ever been guided and supported by the wisdom of wizards.
Admittedly, one of those wizards was a mere slug-chef, an unemployed necromancer, a broken-down wizard of Xluzu unable to nerve himself any longer to the full employment of his wizardly powers. But the other wizard! Why, that other wizard was a scholar, and a sagacious scholar at that, and as learned in war as he was in the irregular verbs.
A close reading of this history will show that Guest was never far from the wizard Hostaja Sken-Pitilkin. It was Sken-Pitilkin who preserved the boy's life when he fought Thodric Jarl in Enskandalon Square; Sken-Pitilkin who accompanied the boy to Alozay; Sken-Pitilkin who ensured that the boy was kept well away from the demon Iva- Italis after that demon had first tempted him; Sken-Pitilkin who flew the boy from Ema-Urk when escape from that island was required. It was the sagacious wizard of Skatzabratzumon who then aided the boy in war, who helped both the boy and the boy's father escape from a wrathful Khmar, and who used his wizardly powers directly in the fight for Alozay.
Let the victories of the boy's childhood be placed where they belong: at the feet of the mighty Sken-Pitilkin! Guest, then, had lived as a child must live – ever guided, assisted, disciplined and educated by adults. And what could he have done without them? Why, nothing – for Guest on his own lacked the skill even to parse a verb or bake a hedgehog.
Even in Galsh Ebrek, Guest had been watched over by a diligent adulthood, for the callow ignorance of this primitive Yarglat barbarian had awakened the maternal sympathies of the worthy Anna Blaume, who had routinely kept him safe in her bed of nights, thus preserving him against the worst consequences of his own his native folly.
But now he was truly on his own; and was on his own at the worst of all possible times; and was beset by the jabber of incomprehensible languages; and was fed food which was strange to his tongue; and was dungeoned he knew not where; and was shocked and dislocated by the suddenness of his incomprehensible change of fortune.
But while Guest was bewildered, there is no need for this history to mimetically duplicate his bewilderment. Let his location then be stated with precision. He was held in Chi'ash- lan, a city in that region of ice and snow which is known as the Cold West. Chi'ash-lan lies at the western end of the Ravlish Lands, and it is a city mighty in war, a city ruled by a cruel and oppressive Bailiff. The Bailiff's unfortunate habits were matched by the like traits of the Morgrim Bank of Chi'ash-lan, in which Banker Sod of Safrak held high position; for, though nominally independent, Safrak's Bank had long been subordinate to the disciplines of the Morgrim Bank.
With the Circle open, and with Guest Gulkan a prisoner in Chi'ash-lan, and with Sod likewise restored to the freedoms of Chi'ash-lan, negotiations began between the Partnership Banks and the Witchlord Onosh – who naturally guarded his own Door in the mainrock Pinnacle with supreme care, making sure there could be no repeat invasion by murderous Zenjingu killers.
The Bankers invited Lord Onosh to come to Chi'ash-lan under flag of truce, telling him that his wizards were not included in this invitation. Sod had made it clear to the Partnership Banks that Lord Onosh had the support of two wizards, Pelagius Zozimus and Hostaja Sken-Pitilkin, and that both these wizards were dangerous.
Lord Onosh accepted the Partnership Banks' invitation, and ventured to Chi'ash-lan in the company of Ontario Nol – who was introduced as a Yarglat warlord, and who looked the part, for he was dressed in boots of felt and in a coat made out of an old solskin horseblanket. Thus garbed, and armed with a scalping knife at his side, the venerable wizard of the order of Itch looked every bit the bloodstained barbarian.
With Lord Onosh and Ontario Nol went Eljuk Zala, venturing around the Circle to the chamber of hanging skeletons which held the Door of Chi'ash-lan's Morgrim Bank. With some trepidation, they exited from that chamber, daring themselves past the demon Ko, which remained mute in their presence.
Then they were taken to one of the inner offices of the Morgrim Bank, where Guest Gulkan was brought before them.
'Know our price,' said Banker Sod, speaking on behalf of the Partnership Banks. 'We will let you have Guest if you will surrender to us the rule of Safrak.'
'I cannot surrender Safrak,' said Lord Onosh, 'for I have already surrendered my empire to Khmar, hence have nowhere to go.'
'You will be allowed to hold the island of Ema-Urk in fief,' said Sod. 'That will be your reward if you will only surrender.'
'I was told on an earlier occasion that I would be allowed to hold the island of Im-skim-patorta in fief,' said Lord Onosh.
'Solemn agreement to that affect was followed by your effort to murder me and mine.'
'You call me murderer?' said Lord Sod. 'You? When you smuggled weapons into the mainrock Pinnacle with murderous intent?'
'The weapons were solely for self-defense,' said Lord Onosh.
'You must admit that not one blade was used against you until you had started to seize my men.'
'But you intended murder,' said Sod.
