“Unbelievable,” Thu-Kimnibol murmured. “Utterly unbelievable.”
“There was love and peace aplenty in the days when our parents lived in the cocoon!” cried Maliton Diveri, who had just entered the room. “Perhaps that’s what they really want. To give up all this city life, and go back into the cocoon, and spend their days sleeping, or kick-wrestling, or munching on velvetberries. Pah! What this city has become disgusts me, Thu-Kimnibol. And it’ll disgust you too.”
“The war will put an end to all this foolishness,” Thu-Kimnibol said brusquely.
“The war?”
“I’ve spent these months speaking with Salaman. I sense that he believes the hjjks are restless and angry, that our failure to accept their treaty has offended them, that they’re going to launch war against us all. The first move will be to attack Yissou, within the year. If the Presidium ratifies, we’ll be pledged by treaty to go to his aid in that case.”
Maliton Diveri chuckled. “Salaman’s been having nightmares of a hjjk invasion for thirty years. Isn’t that why he’s hidden Yissou behind that preposterous wall? But the invasion never comes. What makes him think it’ll happen now? And why do you believe he’s right?”
“I have good reason to think he is,” Thu-Kimnibol said.
“And then?” Si-Belimnion asked. “Is this city of sudden hjjk-lovers that we have here going to lift so much as a finger to save far-off Yissou?”
“We have to help them to see the importance of honoring our new alliance,” said Thu-Kimnibol quietly. “If there’s an attack and Salaman beats the hjjks without our help, he’ll lay claim to Vengiboneeza and everything north of it. Can we allow him to grab all that? On the other hand, if Yissou falls to the hjjks, it won’t be long before we see armies of the bug-folk marching through our own lands. Which is even less acceptable. We’ll make the citizens here understand that. They’ll have to realize that a hjjk invasion of Yissou is an act of war against all the People of every city. Surely not everybody in this city has become a worshiper of the Queen. We’ll find enough who are loyal. The rest, if they like, can stay behind and pray to their new goddess. While we’re marching north to destroy the Nest.”
“To destroy the Nest?” Lespar Thone asked. He was the most cautious of these princes, a man of great property and slow, wary ways. “Will that be so easy, do you think? The hjjks are ten to our one, or perhaps a hundred to one. They’ll fight like the demons they are to keep us from getting anywhere near the Nest. How are we going to overcome such numbers?”
“I remind you that I’ve faced those numbers before,” said Thu-Kimnibol. “We routed the hjjks long ago at the battle of Yissou, and we’ll rout them again now.”
“At the battle of Yissou the People had the aid of some Great World weapon, wasn’t that so?” Lespar Thone observed.
Thu-Kimnibol gave him a sour look. “You sound like Puit Kjai. Or Staip. We won that battle by our own valor.”
“Yet Hresh had some ancient thing that was of great help, so I understand,” Lespar Thone insisted. “Sometimes valor alone isn’t enough, Thu-Kimnibol. And against such an immense horde of hjjks, desperately determined to defend their Queen—”
“What are you trying to say?”
“The same thing Husathirn Mueri did, when we discussed all this at the Presidium. Before we can attack the hjjks with impunity we need to have some new weapons.”
“Perhaps the ones found a little while ago in the countryside will fill that need,” said Kartafirain.
Every head turned toward him.
“Tell me more,” said Thu-Kimnibol.
“The story’s been circulating by way of the House of Knowledge. I think there’s something to it. It seems that during the storms there was a great mudslide in the Emakkis Valley, and some farmer who was trying to catch some of his beasts that had escaped stumbled on the mouth of a tunnel leading into a hill. In which he found certain ancient artifacts that have since been brought to the House of Knowledge. A member of Hresh’s staff believes that they’re Great World devices of war, or, at any rate, of destruction. I have this from someone who works there, a Koshmar, Plor Killivash by name. His sister’s in my service.”
Thu-Kimnibol smiled triumphantly at Lespar Thone. “There you are! If there’s any substance to this, we have exactly what we need.”
Si-Belimnion said, “Hresh is known to be cool to the idea of a war with the hjjks. He may not cooperate.”
“Cool or not, the war will come. He’ll help us.”
“And if he chooses not to?”
“He’s my brother, Si-Belimnion. He won’t hold vital information back from me.”
“All the same,” Si-Belimnion said, “you might consider approaching one of Hresh’s subordinates instead of Hresh himself. This Plor Killivash, for example. I hardly need to tell you, of all people, how unpredictable Hresh can be.”
“A good point. We’ll work around him. Kartafirain? Will you have another talk with your friend at the House of Knowledge?”
“I’ll see what I can manage.”
“See that you do. These weapons are just what we need. If weapons is what they really are.” Thu-Kimnibol filled the wine-cups once again, and drank deep. “It troubles me,” he said after a while, “that Taniane hasn’t been willing to take action against this new cult of hjjk-worship. Don’t tell me that she’s come to love the Queen these days as much as her daughter does!”
Kartafirain laughed. “Hardly. She loathes them as much as you do.”
“Then why are these chapels allowed to flourish?”
“It’s as Kartafirain said,” Si-Belimnion replied. “She was afraid there’d be an uprising if she continued the suppression.”
“Taniane never lacked for courage in the old days.”
“You’ll find that she’s much changed,” said Si-Belimnion. “She looks old. She’s hardly ever seen at the Presidium, and doesn’t say much when she’s there.”
“Is she ill?” Thu-Kimnibol asked, thinking of Naarinta.
“Weary, only. Weary and sad. She’s been chieftain longer than most of us have been alive, my friend. It’s taken a terrible toll on her. And now she sees the city falling apart in her hands.”
“Things can’t be that bad!”
Si-Belimnion gave him a melancholy smile. “A bizarre new kind of belief sweeps through the populace. Her own daughter is lost in incomprehensible fantasies. Threats are made against her in the streets by people calling for her abdication — hotheaded members of my own tribe, mostly, I’m ashamed to say. The rain goes on and on as has never been seen here before. She thinks the gods have turned against us and that her own end can’t be far off.”
Thu-Kimnibol looked toward Kartafirain. “Is this true?”
“She’s greatly transformed, I think. And not for the better.”
“Incredible. Incredible. There was never anyone with as much vitality as that woman. But I’ll speak with her. I’ll show her how the war will redeem us. She’ll feel young again once we go marching off to smash the hjjks!”
“She may oppose you on the war,” Maliton Diveri said.
“You think so?”
“Husathirn Mueri is very close with her now. And you know, Thu-Kimnibol, he’ll always take any position that stands against your own beliefs, If you’re for war, he’ll be against it. He’s still in favor of watching and waiting, taking no action, gathering our strength. And he’s certain to speak in the Presidium against your alliance with Salaman.”
Thu-Kimnibol spat. “Husathirn Mueri! That slippery ghost! How can Taniane possibly trust him?”
“Who said she trusts him? She’s smarter than that. But she listens to him. And I guarantee it, he’ll advise against any kind of military action that you support. May well be able to sway her, too.”
“We’ll see about that,” said Thu-Kimnibol.