'Nothing has yet been claimed,' I said once again, turning back to King Kiritan. 'And I am the Lord Guardian of the Lightstone, and so it is upon me to see that it is placed in the hands of the Maitreya.'
'Maitreya,' he snapped out. 'Lord Guardian. Who appointed you so? By what right? And from whom do you guard the Lightstone? King Marshayk? King Kaiman? Ourselves?'
Next to King Hadaru, King Kaiman nodded his red-haired head toward me. And next to him, King Santoval Marshayk, who looked much like an older and even fatter Maram, flashed a jolly smile at me, showing his brown, sugar-eaten teeth.
Without warning, from behind me, Baltasar suddenly leapt up from his table and pointed his finger at Duke Malatam. He cried out, 'We guard the Lightstone from your own back-stabbing lords, King Kiritan!'
Duke Malatam's face flushed bright red. Count Muar's hand fell upon the hilt of his sword. Lansar Raasharu, without rising, reached out to grasp his impetuous son's arm and pull him back to his seat. And King Kiritan barked out, 'Duke Malatam has journeyed here to make apologies for his misjudgment. He shall himself be judged at the appropriate time. In any case, we are not in Tarlan but in Tria.'
He continued staring at the Lightstone as he addressed me, 'If you truly guard this for all of Ea, Valashu Elahad, then allow all of Ea to behold it — and to hold it in our hands, even as you do.'
So saying, he nodded at Prince Viromar, sitting to my right, and at King Danashu next to him.
It seemed that I had no choice but to pass on the Lightstone, and so this I did. Prince Viromar took the cup from me and studied it for a few moments before giving it to King Danashu. The Valari kings were no strangers to its radiant warmth, and they did not linger over it. Quickly the cup made its way to King Sandarkan and King Waray, who hesitated only a moment before setting it into King Aryaman's hands. It seemed lost there. King Aryaman was bigger even than Sajagax, with a bushy red beard, yellow hair and eyes as blue and cold as ice. His arms were as thick as most men's thighs, the better to swing the axe that was buckled to his waist. An old wound to his lip made him seem that he was sneering at others, even when he was not. He was the strong king of an island people ravaged and weakened by centuries of blood-feuds, and I could feel in him a raging desire to make Thalu great again.
'The Cup of Heaven!' he called out in a voice like rolling thunder 'What a great weapon has been given us, if only we have the wit to use it.'
He gripped the little cup so hard that it seemed he might crumple it. But one might as well try to crush a diamond. With a heavy sigh, he passed the cup to King Tal, said to be a great scholar of the gelstei and perhaps the most intelligent of Ea's kings. He looked at it for a long while, turning it around and around in his long, lithe hands. Then he gave it to King Hanniban. This old man held it close to his mouth as if he could drink in its light with his bluish lips. It took all his will, it seemed, to turn it over to King Kiritan.
The moment that this aspiring King of Kings touched the lightstone, I nearly whipped out my sword and lunged across the table at him. For I felt his will to claim the Lightstone for himself as surely as I did the wild beating of my heart against my ribs. All of his vainglory and lust for power — and his malice toward me — beat against me like a battering ram. It crushed the air from me, and for a moment I could not draw breath.
'Very good, Valashu Elahad,' he said to me. His blue eyes were now lit up like glowing sapphires. 'Very good.'
He glanced toward the hall's west door at a tall, scarred graybeard decked out in full armor and gripping the hilt of his sword. 1 took him to be the captain of the guard. The way that King Kiritan looked at him sent a thrill of fear shooting through me.
'Indeed,' he said, speaking to King Aryaman, and to everyone present, 'the Lightstone has been given us to be used for a great purpose — the greatest of purposes.'
His rough, strong hands folded around the golden cup as if making a prayer. It seemed that he was waiting for something.
My attention was drawn to a young man sitting at the Narmada table and I knew without being told that this must be Joakim, the blacksmith's son. He was about my age, and his hamlike hands were blackened from coal dust. He seemed uncomfortable in a new tunic stretched too tight across his massive chest and shoulders. His thick forehead, broad face and dull, brown eyes gave him something of the appearance of an ox. His easy smile was full of longing and wonder as he gazed at the Lightstone.
I sensed King Kiritan's awareness of him, and I expected that he might turn and address him. But he ignored him. Instead, he gripped the Lightstone even more tightly, and called out into the hall: 'Surely it is the will of the One that the Lightstone has returned to Tria, where it belongs. Its promise has drawn Ea's free kings here, to make alliance. What a great thing this is! When we called the Quest a year ago on our birthday, we knew that fate would deliver it into our hands. Many of you made vows to regain the Lightstone for all of Ea — but how is all of Ea to use this greatest of all the gelstei? Surely one, and only one, can wield it in Ea's name.'
'The Maitreya!' Baltasar suddenly cried out again leaping up from his chair. Only Lansar Raasharu's steely grip on his arm kept him from drawing his sword. 'This we all know: the Lightstone is for the Maitreya!'
'Indeed, indeed,' King Kiritan said, 'but until he comes forth, others must use it as best they can.'
Now I pushed back my chair with a harsh, stuttering of wood against smooth stone, and I stood up, too. I called out to King Kiritan: 'No, others may not use the Lightstone as you say.'
'You say this, who has used it to draw your Valari kings here?'
'It is one thing,' I said, 'to call others to gather around a great light. It is another to wield this light oneself.'
The sound of another chair scraping over the floor broke out into the quiet of the hall. And Count Muar stood and called out, 'Prince Valashu confuses the issue! By what right do the Valari keep the Lightstone? By force, I say, they keep it — as I've said before. And by force alone they will be compelled to surrender it!'
His words caused all the Guardians to spring up and clasp the hilts of their swords. And Baltasar shouted at Count Muar, 'Are you calling for a battle? Then battle you shall have!'
King Kiritan turned his bright gaze from me to regard the fierce King Mohan and King Kurshan, and the other Valari kings, whose hands also gripped their swords. The knights in their retinues, sitting at their tables, looked toward them for sign that they should draw and set upon Count Muar and his men — or upon anyone who challenged a Valari's honor. On the lawn outside the palace, all my other Guardians stood ready to battle to the death, if only I could call to them. Even Sajagax and his warriors seemed unprepared to see King Kiritan appropriate the Lightstone.
'When the time comes, the Lightstone will be taken by force,' King Kiritan said, gripping the cup between his hands. 'But by the force of reason, fate, even love. Until then, it will be guarded as it has been. No one has suggested otherwise.'
And with that, he glared at me even as he passed the Cup of Heaven to Sajagax. He motioned for Count Muar to take his seat, and we all joined him in sitting back down in our chairs.
Sajagax traced his calloused finger around the contours of the golden cup as he regarded King Kiritan. Although King Kiritan had reserved the place of honor for him, I knew that Sajagax took little honor in sitting to King Kiritan's immediate right. 'Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer' — this was a cherished Sarni maxim, no less that of the more civilized Alonians. King Kiritan had wed Sajagax's daughter only to blunt the arrows of one of his deadliest, enemies, and he had never ceased treating Daryana as something of a barbarian. Sajagax's love for Daryana, with her still-golden hair and bright, blue eyes full of adoration for her father, was like an arrow piercing my own heart. I wondered if King Kiritan suspected that Sajagax regarded Daryana as too good for him, and not the opposite.
'Reason,' Sajagax said to King Kiritan in his bull's horn of a voice, 'is a great, good thing. It was reason, was
it not, that impelled us to ally our lands by marriage when a thousand years of bad blood would have it otherwise. And thus reason should prevail in leading others into alliance with us in order to bring this light that Valashu Elahad speaks of into all lands. And to bring the Law of the One. Why else has the Cup of Heaven come to us? I care not to hear more arguments as to claims and rights. Prince Valashu has spirited this gelstei out of Argattha and guarded it successfully so far. Let him continue to guard it until the Maitreya comes forth.'
So saying, he gave the Lightstone to King Theodor, who rather quickly passed it on to King Santoval Marshayk. This great whale of a man was the largest in the room — indeed, in almost any room. He was the only king besides Kiritan to wear a crown: a splendid working of gold set with large rubies on each of its points. His fingers were heavy with fat and jeweled rings; his jewel-embroidered silks glittered almost like Valari battle armor. Even as he examined the Lightstone, he nibbled on a honey cake, which he washed down with copious amounts of mulled wine. His face was as red as a beet. Jasson had told me that he had brought with him part of his harem, and had taken over several rooms of the palace. He was, I thought, what Maram might have become if not for the grace of the One.
'So this is the little trinket that Prince Maram Marshayk lifted from the Dark City,' he said. Because he was wroth with Maram for taking on the sword of a Valari knight, among other things, he would not look at him or refer to him as his son. But he didn't mind loudly speaking his name, the better to call more glory to the house of Marshayk. 'If the Lightstone remains here in Tria, then surely it will invite the Red Dragon's attack. I would like to say again that should his armies march, Delu stands ready to march to Alonia's aid.'
His blustering speech prompted cheers from his retainers at the Delian table, but from no one else. Everyone doubted his willingness to fight the Red Dragon — and his ability.
With a lingering look, he gave the cup to King Kaiman. At thirty years of age, he was a young king, and a bold one. He had curly red hair and restless blue eyes; he was himself restless, moving about in his chair like a flaming torch aggravated by a hot, southern wind. Some said that he was a king in name only, for with the fall of Surrapam, he had been forced into exile. About him was an air of desperation to return to his land and free his conquered people.
He stared into the Lightstone's mirror-like surface as he said to King Marshayk, 'Would you then pledge to march as far as Surrapam to fight the Dragon's armies there?'
'To march to the end of the world?' King Marshayk said. 'Of course! If we make alliance, of course I will.'
King Kaiman passed the cup to King Hadaru, and it quickly made its way around the table to King Kurshan, King Mohan, and then to me I set the gleaming gelstei in the middle of the table for all to behold.
For the moment, at least, the business of the conclave seemed to have returned to more practical questions. And so King Kiritan fixed King Marshayk with his cold eyes and said, 'As for that, you haven't yet declared how many men you will pledge.'
King Kiritan, I thought, was quite eager to obtain this number. And King Marshayk, like a fish wriggling away from a spear poked at him, said, 'Surely more than five thousand.'
'Indeed, but how many more, then? Two thousand? Ten?'
'Perhaps. Perhaps even more. But a king never knows how many men will muster to his standard until he makes his call.'
King Marshayk, of course, did not wish to commit any great numbers of his army to defending Alonia — or any other realm. But he was even more loathe to understate Delu's strength, and so invite enemies (or friends) to perceive his kingdom as weak. It was a dilemma that all the kings at the table faced.
King Kiritan now looked over at me and said, 'And what of Mesh, Prince Valashu? If we were all to make alliance, how many knights and foot will King Shamesh pledge?'
I felt hundreds of people watching me and waiting for my answer. It was clever of King Kiritan, I thought, to have called for the conclave to be held in public. It was hard not to commit all of Mesh's forces with the eyes of so many upon me.
'When last Mesh and Ishka lined up for battle by the Raaswash,' I said, 'we fielded ten thousand knights and foot.'
'Ten thousand? We had thought that the Valari's proudest kingdom could do better than that.'
'If it came to war with the Red Dragon, perhaps we could.' I waited a moment then cast King Kiritan's barb back at him. 'What of Alonia then?'
'If it comes to war, Prince Valashu, a hundred thousand Alonians await our command.'
'That,' I said, 'is a large army. But probably too many to maneuver effectively.'
'Indeed, too many for an inexperienced commander,' he said, gazing at me, 'to lead into battle.'
Upon hearing this, King Hadaru pulled at the colored ribbons tied to his long, white hair. He held up his hand as if to call for silence, then he said, 'Once again we return to the question of who is to lead the Alliance, if there is really to be one. Commanding larger numbers is no measure of a warlord. Were it so, Duke Malatam would have defeated Lord Valashu's Guardians at the battle they fought only a week ago.'
As Duke Malatam, sitting at his table, bowed his head in shame, King Kiritan addressed King Hadaru. 'Are you saying that this young prince of Mesh is fit to lead all the armie of the Alliance?'
King Hadaru turned to fix me with his lustrous black eyes. I knew that this irascible king still bore me much ill will. So it surprised me when he said, 'Fit? Yes, it would seem so. And even more, fated.'
'But only two days ago,' King Kiritan said to him, 'you claimed precedence over all other kings, even ourself, as having fought the most battles!'
'Two days ago,' King Hadaru said, 'Duke Malatam hadn't arrived to tell of Lord Valashu's victory. And what a victory! A hundred and sixty of the Duke's knights killed against none of Lord Valashu's! As far was we Valari are concerned, that was to be the measure of things, that he prove himself as a warlord.'
'The measure of what, then?'
'The measure of him as the Maitreya.'
Many people in the mob behind King Kiritan began murmuring and vying with each other to get a better look at the great round table. Two men, almost with one voice, cried out, 'Lord of Light!' And King Kiritan's guards quickly escorted them from the hall.
King Mohan waved his hand impatiently as the fine features of his face contracted with fierce concentration. 'As King Hadaru says, we keep circling back to the same question. Who else except the Maitreya could lead the Alliance?'
'Only the greatest of kings,' King Kiritan said.
'Yes, but which king is he?' King Mohan said, looking around the table. 'Which king will the other kings suffer to command them?'
A wicked gleam flared in King Kiritan's eyes as he said, 'Perhaps you, King Mohan.'
At this, King Sandarkan shook his head violently, and King Kurshan's scarred face fell into a scowl. 'Never!' he said. 'The breaker of the rules of sharshan to lead other kings in battles with no rules? Never!'
King Kurshan continued scowling at King Mohan, and for a moment I was afraid that these two enemies might renew their old dispute and draw on each other. It was beneath King Kiritan's dignity, I thought, to so provoke Valari kings into rancor toward each other, for this was too easy to do. But thus did he strive to control the conclave.
'It seems that the Valari,' King Waray said, playing the peacemaker, 'are of a single mind regarding the Alliance's leader: he must be the Maitreya.'
'Must he?' King Marshayk said from across the table. It seemed that he was mouthing words he imagined King Kiritan would wish him to speak. 'What if no Maitreya comes forth? Is there to be no Alliance then?'
And King Aryaman growled out, 'We don't even know what the Maitreya really is.'
He is the lightning in the darkest night, I thought He is the sun that lights up the day.
'It is written,' King Mohan said, 'that the Maitreya will be the greatest warrior in the world. Who is that? The minstrels will sing ten thousand years of
Lord Valashu's feat in fighting his way out of Argattha.'
King Aryaman, I noticed, fingered his axe as he glared at me in challenge. I knew that he would have liked to put my prowess to the test.
Here Master Juwain, sitting with other masters of the Brotherhood, rose to his feet and drew forth his battered copy of the Saganom Elu. He thumped his hand against the old leather and called out, 'Your Majesties, may I speak? It is indeed written as King Mohan says. But the Valari have always striven to be warriors of the spirit. Surely the Maitreya would conquer through the force of his soul and not his sword.'
He sat back down, and King Hanniban cleared his throat as if to warn everyone to silence. He said, 'Whether the Maitreya wields soul or sword begs the question. How will he conquer at all if there is no Alliance? I, for one, doubt that an alliance is possible, even led by the Shining One.'
'What is because,' King Theodor said, 'you refuse to risk even a single battalion in defense of any land other than your own.'
'Or any warship,' King Tal said.
'I'm still not convinced of the need,' King Hanniban said. 'But be assured that my shipwrights are building more even as we speak.'
King Aryaman's fingers tightened around the haft of his axe as he called out, 'Yes, warships that can sail toward Thalu as easily as Surrapam, should the Red Dragon's threat prove to have no teeth.'
'Be careful, King Aryaman, of what you say,' King Hanniban warned him. 'During my reign, Eanna has known only peace because peace we have sought. But, at need, that can change.'
'We of Thalu,' King Aryaman said to him, 'have warships of our own.'
'Which you have encouraged to fall on my merchants' caravels!' King Tal called out from next to him.
King Aryaman now turned his bellicose gaze on King Tal as he half-shouted, 'Be careful of what you sty, King Tal! How many times must I affirm that the losses you bemoan were caused by a few rogue raiders?'
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