Chapter 8
When the Projection came from Xervia, they had been ready to go for over an hour, and had spent the time examining a scaled model Illusion of Hilia provided by Equemev from her Reading of Silaran, who had Translocated there for a moment to memorize the view from the top of the lip of the volcano. At the moment the Projection reached them, they were planning the locations of barracks and other facilities.
An Illusion appeared on the lawn beside them, six meters round and two and a half meters deep, showing the inside of a great hall in miniature. The hall was of a circular shallow bowl shape of pure white marble with a domed ceiling, and easily large enough to seat tens of thousands of humans, were it filled with human sized chairs. Most of the floor was bare stone, some was carpeted, and there were scattered areas of seating close to the center for humanoids from gnome to giant size. There was a flat, circular area in the center of the room a step higher than the surrounding floor, and in the center of that was a house-sized boulder of translucent blue stone, shaped like a thick crescent with rounded ends, glinting from the millions of tiny facets cut onto its entire surface.
The Illusion remained the same for five seconds, then it focused closer until its six-meter-wide area was filled by the low stage at the center of the hall.
A white dragon appeared, hideously scarred along his right side, that forelimb only a stump, half the wing missing, that side of his face, neck, and upper torso twisted with scar tissue. “Greetings. I am Somonik, Eldest of the Draconians of Xervia. Today is an historic day. Today, the leaders of the nations of the world who stand for justice will meet in this place, to declare our Great Alliance.”
He turned a bit and laid his left hand upon the glittering blue boulder. “I swear forevermore, that I will not break the peace, that I will defend the innocent, and that I will uphold justice.”
Even through the Projection, the dragon’s vow triggered a bright blue light in Mark’s vision.
Somonik took his hand from the stone and stepped to the edge of the stage. “I am Speaker for The Circle of Ninety-Nine; which is the ruling council of the dragons of Xervia, as well as being First Speaker of The Grand Council of Xervia.
“First, I present in nines, The Circle of Ninety-Nine.
Nine dragons appeared around the stone. Each laid a hand upon it, then they spoke the oath in unison, their voices creating a huge rumbling chorus. After they had moved to the outer edge of the room and reclined on the floor, nine more appeared and did the same, then nine more, dragons of every color of the rainbow, as well as gold, silver, copper, bronze, white, and black, and they varied widely in size.
“What a magnificent sight. Somonik must be fairly small for a dragon.” Mark commented, noticing that the scarred white was dwarfed by the rest.
“He is The Eldest of All, over sixty-three million years old.” Povon informed him. “Dragons grow larger now than they did then. He is only two-thirds my size, and I am among the very smallest of the young adult dragons. The largest of The Ninety-Nine is almost Kragorram’s size.”
“Are you the biggest, Kragorram?” Talia asked.
“No. Of the four and a half million or zo dragonz in Xervia, there are perhapz two or three hundred who are larger than I, though none are among The Ninety-Nine. Billigog iz the largezt dragon, and zhe topz me by a full head and shoulders when we zit up ztraight. Her weight iz almost double mine.”
“The largest dragon is a female?” Equemev asked in surprise.
“Yes.” Povon told her, while still watching the illusion. “Males average five percent larger, but the variance in size among our genders is much greater than that. There are many small males, and many large females. Right now Billigog, a female, is biggest, and the biggest dragon has been a female during about one third of our history. And female or male, size has no relation to the strength of our power or our flame. I myself am among the strongest in those ways, far stronger than Billigog, though she is four times my size!
“Ha! When Billigog learns that I attended this meeting while she could not, her blue scales will turn green with envy!”
Soon the last of the eleven groups of dragons had appeared and sworn and taken their places. The Ninety Nine (minus Somonik) filled the outside of the great hall, occupying over half of the floor space.
“I present Tithian; Speaker and Justicer of the Senate of The People of Morning, and the members of the Senate of The People of Morning, and their staff.” Somonik announced.
A herd of over fifty unicorns appeared around the gigantic blue stone, as colorful as the dragons had been. They turned and stood shoulder-to-shoulder facing the stone, touched the tips of their horns to it, and swore the oath in psionic speech. Three more similar herds followed.
“Your Mother has been promoted since this morning.” Silaran commented to Equemev. “She was not yet Speaker of the Senate then.”
“I imagine she will take the initiative in the Senate until stability is reached after the nexus.” Equemev thoughtfully answered. “Since she was the first to detect it, I think she feels that dealing with it is her responsibility, to some extent.”
“Wow! That rock must be twelve meters long and four and a half high!” Mark exclaimed as the huge scale of what he was seeing became apparent.
“The Truthstone of Falgaroth? Closer to fifteen meters long, I think.” Equemev speculated. “And it would be twice as high, were it not half-buried in the floor. It must have taken dozens of our mightiest to Move it.
“What is the history of the stone?” Talia asked.
“It was a gift to my people from Falgaroth, Eighth God of The People of Morning. I don’t remember exactly when he gave it to us, but it was around ten or eleven million years ago. It ensures that oaths are truly sworn.”
“How so?”
“If you swear upon the Truthstone of Falgaroth to uphold justice, it does not matter if you are sincere in swearing or not!” Equemev chuckled. “After you have sworn so upon it, you will uphold justice, despite any previous feelings and inclinations to the contrary! Its power that way cannot be resisted by anyone of any race. Falgaroth imbued his Truth spell with so much god-power that no lesser stone could contain it. It will not allow the swearing of an oath that is evil or harmful by any who are in contact with it, and it will not let you swear to do the impossible, the stone would not allow you to speak the words. And of course, any in contact with it are forced to speak only the truth.”
“Ah. That’s good to know.”
The delegation of unicorns was followed by over five hundred selkies, and they by almost three hundred gargoyles, as those two races, like the dragons and unicorns, each constituted a single nation.
Mark had to laugh. “You know, Yazadril showed me illusions of those two races earlier, and I thought he showed them naked because, well, because he wanted me to know what their bodies looked like, like it was a Healer’s chart. I didn’t expect them all to actually be naked!”
“The selkies find that clothing drags on them when they swim, which is their normal mode of travel. “ Povon pointed out. “As you see, they are slightly awkward on land. Less so on all fours, but they think that walking upright makes them appear more civilized. And the gargoyles are not naked. If you look closely, you can see that they wear small breechclouts and belts, and the males have sleeveless shirts. Those items are hard to see because they are made from gargoyle hide. It’s not as bad as it sounds; the hides are gifts from honored and deceased ancestors. Few small peoples are comfortable with exposing their loins, and the gargoyles’ are covered, as the fur of the selkies covers theirs. I’m very glad that Draconians and unicorns at least are not so silly about such things.”
“Why do the male gargoyles wear shirts, and not the females?” Mark asked.
“The shirts are worn as armor. Their females become warriors as often as their males, but they think that appearing in armor at a formal occasion such as this is unladylike, as you would say in this language.”
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“Oh.”
After the gargoyles had sworn and settled in their area, Somonik announced the delegation of The Hidden Nation of Xervia. Despite their vast populations, the hidden races were represented by only eleven delegates, who each appeared as a roughly human-sized transparent violet glow. They swore upon the stone, some in voices so high and squeaky that they were indiscernible, and some in languages other than Trade Common.
As they left the center of the room for their area, Somonik stepped to the Truthstone again. “Lest any have a doubt,” he stated in his whispery and gravely rumble as he laid his hand on the stone, “I do swear that the eleven beings who last appeared here were indeed the delegation of The Hidden Nation of Xervia, who only this morning unified their many nations into one, the first truly multiracial nation on Kellaran. I do further swear that they all have sworn Osbald’s Oath of peace, protection and justice while in contact with The Truthstone of Falgaroth.” With that, he moved back to his place at the edge of the stage.
Next called were the delegation of The People of Life led by Alilia, followed by The High People led by Yazadril, then the other fifteen nations of the elves in sequence, in no particular order that Mark could see, with Jaromer and those from Thon next, and Pimall with the delegation of The Warm People appearing last.
Emperor Osbald of Thon, along with that human nation’s Council and staff, were announced after The Warm People, and the delegations from Sming and Kuth followed them.
“I think I understand the order of presentation.” Equemev mused as the Kuthians made their way to their seats. “If I am correct, the human northern kingdoms will be next, followed by the dwarves, then the giants, then the gnomes.”
“Oh? How did you figure that out?” Talia inquired.
“It is the order in which each nation was allied and sworn to justice.” Equemev revealed. “My people and the dragons were the first to do so millions of years ago. The other Xervian races appeared in the order in which they joined The Grand Council of Xervia. Yazadril and Alilia allied their nations over three thousand years ago, they were also the first elven nations to ally with Xervia.”
“The elven alliances forged by my father and Alilia were of common defense and economics.” Talia pointed out. “They do not formally mention serving justice. That was assumed as a matter of course.”
“Ah, but in the discussion between my mother and Yazadril and Alilia, when they agreed to ally your peoples with Xervia, my mother said; all who stand for justice must stand together. So it was implied in the agreement. Osbald swore next, and swore his nation to justice, then made the rest of the human kingdoms do so. He spread his movement to Kletiuk next, then Felion. Now that I think about it, the order of presentation must go by the order in which they swore to justice, rather than the order in which they were allied, for some nations of the giants and the dwarves have been allied for almost a quarter of a million years.”
“And The People of Life went before my people, because Alilia offered a just alliance with Xervia first last night, before my father did.” Talia guessed with a nod. “I would think the order of the other elven nations reflects the sequence in which they were informed of the Elven-Xervian alliance, or perhaps the order in which they agreed to it, though the two are probably the same.”
The presentations did indeed proceed in the order Equemev had suggested, with two unexpected exceptions. After the last delegation from the seventeen dwarven nations of Kletiuk had sworn, a female gargoyle appeared beside Somonik, gestured him down, and whispered in his ear. Then she disappeared as he straightened.
He clicked the claws of his hand together, and a human appeared before him. It was a large man with black skin and curly black hair, wearing an ornate light blue toga and an immense headdress made of woven palm fronds studded with jewels and colorful shells. His fists were clenched, the cords stuck out from his neck, and he appeared to be suppressing rage.
“Speak. I will hear your petition.” Somonik stated.
“I am Pumbowmbo, Grand Chief of Chiefs of Nipukbi!” he announced. He spoke Trade Common in a rich baritone with a strange accent, and he managed to not sound as angry as he looked, instead he held his tone to seeming sternly irate as he continued. “I lead a nation of over one hundred and sixteen million citizens residing on over nine hundred islands! And at this moment, I also represent the other two thousand, four hundred and sixteen human nations of the islands and archipelagos of the oceans of Kellaran, whose total populations exceed eight hundred million people!
“While my nation is our largest, all of us, every single sovereign nation of us, right down to tiny Pinatupa with only fifty-seven citizens, are offended! None of us were officially informed about this great meeting, despite the fact that the leaders of our most populous nations received the warning of the elves yesterday, along with the rest of you! I was the first of us to learn of this meeting less than an hour ago, and it was as third-hand information at that! This despite the fact that every other nation of every race outside the Dark Continent were invited!
“It took every wizard we have to arrange a Speaking for all of us to discuss our response in the short time we had available, and three of our younger wizards died from the strain!
“Though every one of our nations has an equal right to be represented here, our lack of notice has made that impossible! Know that we have therefore formed The Association of Oceania, whereby our common interests might be practically represented within a common diplomatic policy! We have selected three hundred and four diplomats, including myself, leaders of nations all, who have been chosen to represent the two thousand four hundred and sixteen nations who comprise The Association of Oceania! We demand recognition, inclusion, and apology for the slight that has been dealt us!”
“I see.” Somonik nodded. “On behalf of The Grand Council of Xervia and The Human Empire of Thon, who have co-operated in sponsoring this meeting, we do apologize for not contacting you about these matters. We offer our most sincere empathy and regret for the loss of your three valiant wizards. However, you should know that no effort was made to include every nation on Kellaran, nor were your nations intentionally excluded.
“We of Xervia contacted the elves because our foreseers have detected that a crucial historical nexus is imminent, and that two who dwell among the elves are key to it. An alliance between the nations of the elves and The Grand Council of Xervia was subsequently proposed and informally accepted. We did discuss contacting the governments of the humans, dwarves, giants and gnomes, but only to inform them of the critical nature of the coming nexus, and to council them to caution until a new stability is reached.
“Neither we nor the elves expected any more alliances to be formed within the next few weeks. We did not know that at the same moments in which we were forming our alliance, Emperor Osbald of Thon was swiftly forming alliances with the nations of Debivin, Kletiuk, and Felion. Nor did Osbald at that time know about the Xervian-elven alliance.
“Those nations are here because they had direct diplomatic contacts with Osbald of Thon, who initiated their alliances, and who proposed the formation of The Great Alliance of The Nations United For Justice in response to the elves’ warning of the threat of an instigated war. None of the nations of Oceania were contacted because none have diplomatic relations with Thon. Only Osbald had the contacts to include the nations of Kletiuk and Felion in time for them to attend this meeting. If he had not had trusted friendships with the most influential monarchs of the dwarves and giants, the nations of those continents would not have been invited either, despite their being powerful and populous. We meant no slight to any citizen or leader of the nations of The Association of Oceania.
“If you will accept our apology, and if all of your delegates will swear Osbald’s Oath upon The Truthstone of Falgaroth, we will recognize and include the delegation of The Association of Oceania in this meeting. Should this meeting proceed as successfully as we hope, you will al
so be invited to join the rest of these nations in forming The Great Alliance of The Nations United For Justice.
Pumbowmbo considered a moment. “So this nexus of history, that’s what this is all about?”
“It is. It will be the most important one since The Segregation. We have as yet no idea what it will involve, yet almost every similarly critical moment in history involved a great war. Already there are signs that hidden forces are trying to instigate one, as was mentioned in the warning sent by the leaders of the elves yesterday. Thus Osbald’s Oath, thus the alliances that have already been formed, thus this meeting for the formation of The Great Alliance.”
“What is Osbald’s Oath? And what’s The Truthstone of Falgaroth?” Pumbowmbo asked, most of his anger gone.
“Osbald’s Oath, as we have taken to calling it for convenient use, is this; I swear forevermore that I will not break the peace, that I will defend the innocent, and that I will uphold justice.” Somonik told him. “The Truthstone of Falgaroth is the great blue stone behind you, given to the race of unicorns by Falgaroth, eighth god of that race. None can swear false upon it. The power of the god prevents it. To attend, every member of your delegation must swear the oath upon it. If your delegation agrees to join The Great Alliance, every rightful leader of every nation you represent will then have to swear the oath upon the stone before their inclusion in the alliance is formalized.”
“I see. I was chosen to present our petition when your stony friend informed us that only one of us could do so. But I am not authorized to agree to your terms without consulting our other representatives. I must confer with them.”
“Very well. I will Translocate you back to the place I took you from. If you need assistance to confer among yourselves without straining your wizards, we will assign enough communications specialists to help you do so. When you have decided which among you will agree to our terms, speak my name, and I will bring you here as soon as the stage is clear. I am Somonik.”
“Such assistance is both necessary and appreciated.” Pumbowmbo nodded, loath to have to admit his need.
“I will assist them.” said a strangely feminine voice that sounded like boulders rolling down a mountain, and as the illusion pulled back to show the entire hall again, every eye turned to see an incredible shining gold dragon almost Kragorram’s size gain her feet at the edge of the hall, and flex her wings a bit. “My power should be sufficient to allow him to speak with his delegates, and with his legions of other island rulers as well.”
“Thank you, Grakonexikaldoron.” Somonik nodded.
“Know this, Pumbowmbo.” the gold drake said. “I will add power to every Speaking you are part of until your decisions are made. I will ensure that the casters of those Speakings are not stressed by their exertions, but I will be privy to your communications while I do so. And before I will do anything for you, you must personally swear Osbald’s Oath upon the Truthstone. If you refuse, none here will assist you, and you will be barred from returning here, whatever the rest of your colleagues may decide. But then, if you refuse, communications will be the least of your worries, for you will then have to deal with Osbald of Thon, who has been rather insistent of late about such things among you humans.”
Pumbowmbo glared at the dragon for a moment, then suddenly turned and slapped his hand onto the stone. “I swear that I will defend the innocent, uphold justice, and not break the peace, for as long as I live and breathe!” he declared, his vow punctuated by the blue flash.
“Close enough.” Grakonexikaldoron nodded, and reclined upon the marble again. For a moment she closed her eyes, and when she opened them a second later she seemed to look right at Mark from the illusion. That was proven to be the case when Mark heard her Speaking. “Greetings, neighbors. It would please me to meet with you. Please contact me tomorrow.”
“I will speak your name when we have decided.” the islander stated to Somonik, who simply nodded and clacked his claws, and the human was gone.
As Somonik began the presentation of the first of the four nations of the giants of Felion, Talia called in surprise; “She Spoke to me! Grakonexikaldoron Spoke to me just now!”
“Me too!” Mark added.
“Oh? What did she say?” Povon inquired.
“Just hello neighbor and call me tomorrow, basically.” Mark laughed.
“I wonder what zhe wantz?” Kragorram pondered.
A moment later Mark exclaimed; “Wow! Look at those giants!” The first delegation of them were leaving the stage and passing the human delegation of Sming, who were seated on the aisle. This revealed just how big the giants were by contrast, and they were indeed gigantic. The shortest stood four meters tall, the tallest well over five. Adding to their impressiveness, they were all clad in full articulated plate armor, the steel polished to a gleam and accented with metals and paints of various colors, and they were fully armed with an assortment of gigantic swords, axes, maces, spears, lances, pole-axes, bows, and crossbows.
“That iz a large group, even for giantz.” Kragorram observed. “The zmallezt three are the largezt three femalez of that raze I have ever zeen together in one plaze, and that big one with the black aczentz iz larger than any I’ve heard of! Hiz zize iz az much a rarity among hiz people az your own iz, Mark.”
“And they are ready for trouble.” Talia noticed. “Even through the illusion I can tell that all of their weapons and armor are heavily spelled. Some items carry as many as ten enchantments.”
“Huh. Are any of their swords like mine?” Mark asked.
Talia squinted in concentration. “Not even close. None of them have anything that could challenge our swords.”
“You have a sharp eye for such things.” Povon admitted. “I’d not have noticed any of that if you hadn’t pointed it out.”
“I’ve had the best teachers.” Talia shrugged. “I’m very young, but I’m ahead of some of my fellow students with centuries of experience.”
“Thoze are a far more normal group of giantz.” Kragorram pointed out as the next delegation swore their oaths.
These were from three to four and a quarter meters tall, and uniformly dressed in flowing white silk togas.
The next delegation were of the same range in height, but were noticeably stocky compared to the previous two groups, and these wore sandals, plain white blouses, and trousers in various dull colors. An abundance of jewelry made up for their plain clothing.
The last group of giants were dressed very formally and ornately, the females in flowing dresses, the males in dark suits with sweeping capes.
The six nations of the gnomes of Felion each had over two hundred delegates, but they were so small they had no trouble finding room around the Truthstone to swear their oaths as nations.
Talia giggled to see them. “I must laugh, for they seem so comical! Best to get it over with now, before we get there!”
“I know what you mean!” Mark grinned, watching the thirty to sixty centimeter tall diplomats swear their oaths in very high, piping voices. “Between the red hats and the way they walk, I’ll have to be careful not to chuckle in their faces at the meeting!”
Every gnome had white hair, and they were all very squat and stocky for their height. This gave them a very quick stride with a great deal of side-to-side motion. The females wore ornate dresses, and looked like children’s dolls brought to life. The males wore full beards and formal suits with black buckled shoes, along with their red cone-shaped hats that were so tall that some of their tips flopped over.
“If you wish to avoid laughing, look at them with your inner eye.” Povon advised, grudging admiration in her voice. “Those gnomes have more wizard-power in their delegations than any other race!”
“Ah. That is impressive, now that I look for it!” Talia admitted.
“I can’t see it through the Illusion.” Mark stated thoughtfully. “In person I’ll be able to see that, by how brightly they glow.”
; As the last nation of gnomes appeared on the stage, Talia cautioned; “Be ready now, they’ll call us soon.”
But the delegation from Oceania was announced next. As they appeared, a bony old woman in a white gown who must have been at least a hundred years old stepped forward, Pumbowmbo at her side. “I am High Chieftess Tokibimina, monarch of Simifilibufitu.” she stated. “I will be First Speaker for The Association of Oceania during the remainder of these proceedings. I apologize if the manner of Pumbowmbo earlier seemed overly brusque, but you should understand that his sister’s son was one of the wizards we lost to over-exertion less than an hour ago.”
“We understand.” Somonik nodded. “Before you proceed, we would know this; how did you learn of this meeting? You should not have been able to, and we should know if we have a security leak.”
“There is a sailor of my nation who is a soothsayer, and he sees the future, though only rarely does he get a glimpse of it.” Pumbowmbo related, his mood now a calm one. “Most of his visions are of trivial things; that tomorrow it will rain in Kumpoktu, or that next week a specific child will eat a piece of yellow cheese. But he foresaw that today the leaders of the nations of Kellaran would meet to perform acts of greatness. He is never wrong. He told a tavern-keeper, who came straight to me with the information. I summoned the sailor and questioned him, and thus we learned what was occurring.”
“I see. Our seers will wish to meet this sailor, for even the most minute detail of the future could be of incalculable value. These things will be discussed during or after the meeting.
“For now, welcome, leaders of Oceania.”
“Thank you.” Tokibimina nodded, and turned to lay hand on the stone.
“We must be next!” Talia stated eagerly. “Let’s assume our positions!”
The Oceanians were sworn, and were seated on chairs hastily placed by hundreds of gargoyles and selkies just inside the ring of dragons at the edge of the room.
Somonik then announced; “I now present Prince Mark and Princess Talia of the newly independent Principality of Hilia, Keys to the Nexus! And,” here he paused for a chuckle, “And their staff!”
As had been the case with the delegation from the hidden races, their party did not appear in a ring around the Truthstone since there were so few of them. Instead they appeared in their pre-arranged formation between the stone and Somonik, facing the ancient white dragon. Stripe stood proud and calm between Talia on his right and Mark on his left. Mark had Scout on his shoulder, and to his left stood Silaran and then Kragorram, while Povon stood outside Equemev on Talia’s right.
Their company was themed in white and gold.
Mark wore gleaming gold-plated plate-over-mail armor with white accents and a white cape, and GrimFang hung across his back, its scabbard newly-white.
Silaran also wore his gold-trimmed armor, a cunningly articulated set of plate barding that covered him almost completely, featuring white silk tassels and a glinting meter and a third long sword blade that was mounted on his head just in front of his exposed horn.
Kragorram wore the most impressive sword any there had ever seen, sheathed in a gold and white scabbard along his left side, belted in two places with gold chain as thick as Mark’s leg. The dragonblade was a meter wide and fifteen centimeters thick at the hilt with a diamond-shaped cross-section, and tapered evenly to a point along its twenty meter length.
Talia wore her wedding dress and accessories, and a cloth-of-gold bandoleer hung diagonally from one shoulder, with pockets containing her most potent magic items. The sword of Visinniria hung at her side, its sheath also newly-white.
Equemev wore gold-plated shoes that covered the entire hoof, and her flowing mane and tail were festooned with diamonds, gold charms and trinkets, and tiny bows of white and gold ribbon. The elven ring was prominent upon her horn.
Povon wore a dragon-sized vest of heavily gold-plated chain mail that was almost completely encrusted with diamonds of every size in swirling patterns, with inside pockets for her favorite devices of power. Having decided that she looked silly carrying a wand, she had carefully curved the staff she’d gotten from Talia with her power, affecting its shape while leaving its magical properties completely intact, and she now wore it as a bracelet on her right wrist.
All of them wore the same symbol on a white ribbon around their necks; a slim gold six-pointed star with a long tail hanging down, that also somewhat resembled a double-hilted sword. Even Stripe and Scout wore the device on white collars around their necks.
“Greetings, Somonik.” Talia said with a formal manner, as she and her party all bowed respectfully in unison, including Stripe and Scout.
“Greetings, Talia.” Somonik chuckled. “A well appointed group you have here, though I wonder how you qualify your pets as staff?”
“Though Stripe and Scout are indeed animals, we do not consider them pets.” Talia calmly informed him. “Rather, they are friends and family members, and comrades-at-arms. I hope that they are permitted to attend as such, and if not, they may be considered part of our ceremonial armament.”
“I see. Be welcome then. Once you have sworn and taken your places, we will begin.”
“Thank you.” Talia nodded, and they turned to put their touch to the stone.
However, as soon as Mark touched the Truthstone he gave a soft cry of surprise and jerked his hand away.
This prompted many there to wonder if he was an agent of evil, and a few called the thought aloud.
“What is it Mark?” Talia anxiously asked.
Mark gave her a quick smile and turned to scan the unicorn delegation. “Tithian? Would you assist me for a moment?”
Tithian appeared before him. “Certainly Mark. What seems to be the problem?”
“Touch the stone please, and I’ll show you.” Mark said, and she moved to the stone and contacted it with the tip of her horn.
Mark laid one hand on her shoulder and touched the stone for a fraction of a second with the other.
“My word!” Tithian exclaimed. “I see why you are having difficulty!”
“What is it?” he asked.
“Your touch draws power from The Truthstone of Falgaroth! Great quantities of it! Such a thing is unprecedented! If you maintained contact long enough to speak the oath, you may draw enough of it to become burnt-out!”
This raised voices in consternation all over the room.
“What should I do?” Mark asked.
“I will administer the oath as a question. You will then touch the stone long enough to reply; I do.”
“All right.”
Tithian touched her horn to the stone again, and asked; “Do you, Prince Markhan Reginus Longstrider of Hilia, solemnly swear to never break the peace, to defend the innocent, and to uphold justice, forevermore?”
Mark slapped his hand firmly on the stone just long enough to call; “I do!” Then he had to give his head a shake to fight the wave of dizziness that came with a great rush of power from the stone.
“Amazing! Proceed.” Tithian said, and Translocated back to her delegation.
Talia and the rest of their party laid hand and horn on the stone and swore the oath, then she led them to their place, the last open space of floor at the outer edge of the room, with two carpets for the unicorns and two chairs for Mark and Talia.
“We are now assembled.” Somonik called, and The Truthstone of Falgaroth sank into the floor of the stage as if the white marble had become thick liquid, until only a blue oval of its top surface about three meters long projected three or four centimeters above the floor. Somonik moved to the center of the stage and stood over the stone, proving the floor was still solid.
He paused for almost a minute, and slowly turned all the way around, inspecting and observing the vast assemblage, seeming to meet every eye for a moment.
“I have lived for sixty-three million, four hundred and fifty-six thousand, two hundred and fifty-one years.” he stated, and let that s
ink in for a moment. “There is always something new.
“In the scant thirty thousand years since the gods withdrew from Kellaran, this world has changed more than it had in the previous two hundred million years. There had been gods active on Kellaran almost as long as there have been thinking, sentient people, and now there are none.
“While there were gods in the world, the use of magic by magicians and mages was always a religious and spiritual act. It was often limited to members of religious hierarchies. Magic was a rare and special thing, considered separate from the rules of reality. When the gods withdrew from the world, many expected that magic would go with them, leaving only the magic abilities that are inherent in some races.
“But magic remained, in all its forms, and so it was seen that its use had nothing to do with the gods. Some began to study it objectively, and to incorporate their findings with the other rules of reality that deal with light, heat, matter, motion, and weight. Magic had been religion, and it became science. Magicians who utilized the light of the Source and who thought in this new way began to call themselves sorcerers, while mages who used the heat of the stone also adopted these new attitudes, and thus began wizardry. The use of magic became more widespread, in war and in peacetime, and the new methods allowed their practitioners to increase their skills and powers very quickly, compared to the old ways.
“But all those events were merely foreshadows of the vast changes that are now occurring.
“Less than two centuries have passed since the commercialization of magic began; the common availability of wizards for hire, the systematic copying of pre-cast spell scrolls for sale, the widespread manufacture of spelled items. Magic has now become technology, merely a tool like any other, be it a lever or a knife. In this way, the use of magic has been made available to the vast majority who are not talented spell casters.
“The repercussions of this are universal. I will not list them all now, but the most powerful of them have been drastic and sudden increases in the general prosperity and in the populations of almost every race. With the exceptions of the elves and the dragons, every race has more population now than they have ever had. The amount of power available in the world today is absolutely staggering, even to me! Perhaps especially to me. No matter how long you’ve lived, if you wait long enough, there is always something new. I can assure you, the state of civilization on Kellaran today is a very new thing.
“And it seems the pace of change is still accelerating. Yesterday at this time, most nations behaved as they always have, helping or harming at the whim of their rulers, forming alliances almost exclusively along racial lines. And now the leaders of every nation outside Serminak have sworn themselves to justice! Now we stand ready to unite most of the world into a global force for good! Till now only the elves and The People of Morning have never stood for evil, and they were balanced by those on the Dark Continent who have never stood for good. The rest of our races have been of both alignments, sometimes committing horrendous acts of evil, sometimes sacrificing all for the greater good, and as individuals containing the potential for either morality. Thus the world has seemed balanced between good and evil for my entire lifetime.
“Now, for the first time, it seems the forces of light stand ready to tip the balance, and final victory seems within reach!”
Somonik began pacing the stage in his enthusiasm, exhorting all to share his vision.
“There will be drastic changes everywhere after this day! All of you have sworn to justice upon The Truthstone of Falgaroth! Now your concept of justice will be that of Falgaroth, and you will be unable to sustain the old hatreds and prejudices that have been handed down to you for generations! When you return home to your nations, every act of cruelty and injustice that was previously tolerated or unnoticed will stand out and offend you! And an alliance of us all will be so strong that not even the demon-spawn on Serminak will be foolish enough to attack us! Though they cannot be turned to the light, they will be contained by the might of our alliance! Peace may cease to be merely the time between wars! Peace may finally become the universal state of life on Kellaran!”
He fell silent for a moment, and eyed the assembled leaders again. “I now give you he who has done more than any other to bring us here today. I present his Excellency Osbald the Eighth, Emperor of the Humans of Thon!”
Osbald appeared, and bowed to Somonik. He was a hundred and eighty-eight centimeters in height, slim and square shouldered, with steel gray eyes and hair of the same hue bound back beneath a slim gold circlet adorned with only a single huge diamond. He wore a simple but perfectly tailored black suit, with a white fur cape, black riding boots, and a wide white silk sash diagonally across his chest with the twin-towered emblem of Thon prominent upon it in gold thread.
“I too dream of universal, permanent peace on Kellaran.” Osbald told the ancient white drake. “Unfortunately, it may not be achieved in the near future.”
He turned from Somonik to address the assembly. He was a very skilled speaker, with a formal manner, enhanced by expert use of tone and expression. “We have discovered a vast and insidious conspiracy, whose aim is nothing less than the overthrow of most of the leaders and governments on Kellaran.” he stated. Some of those he addressed were unsurprised, while others loosed exclamations of shock and outrage.
Osbald gestured for silence with both hands, and was given it. “The idea that a conspiracy might be occurring was first proposed by the elves, who wondered if the increasing number of powerful acts of evil being done by magic on Debivin were in any way connected. On a continent of billions, there are many such crimes, though the vast majorities of our citizens are of good heart. Most of those incidents are not related in any way, and most perpetrators are quickly apprehended and dealt with.
“However, we have learned that many of the worst crimes that have been committed on Debivin, over the last one hundred and twenty years at least, crimes both magical and mundane, have indeed been perpetrated by members of the insidious conspiracy. They include the slaughter of fifty-two citizens of Finitra, the release of a cloud of poisonous gas in the city of Meto in Kuth which killed eighteen and sickened thousands, the assassinations of some thirty-eight prominent citizens all over the continent, the assassination of King Wittan of Finitra, the murders of the daughter of Prince Yazadril of The High People and the son of Princess Alilia of The People of Life, the attempted assassinations of Emperor Kevim of Sming and King Tethenir of Yazzak, and the destruction of hundreds of roads, bridges, homes, docks, manufactories, storage depots and warehouses throughout the three empires of Debivin.
“Now, today some have questioned whether it is a just thing to do, to force someone by arms or Compulsion to swear a binding oath to uphold justice. If it is not just to do so, then I was wrong to force the compliance of the kings of northern Debivin and their retinues by that threat, and wrong to try to prevent the escape of those who refused to do so, and wrong to kill them when they attacked us for blocking them.
“I think that I was right in everything I’ve done in these matters, and apparently Falgaroth would agree with me, for I’ve no compunction about doing so again after swearing to justice upon his stone!
“Six were captured after the fight, and were questioned under the strongest Compulsions that the wizards of the three empires could cast.
“Thus we learned that Obiman, Royal Wizard of Finitra, and three of his colleagues, were responsible for the curse upon Yazadril and Alilia, and for the assassination of King Wittan. Wittan was killed because Obiman planned a coup that would leave himself as ruler of Finitra, and Obiman considered Wittan to be formidable, while his son Dren was judged an easier enemy. King Dren and his heirs were to be killed at the moment power was seized. Yazadril’s nation is surrounded by Finitra, and Alilia is closely allied with him, so they were cursed in the hope that the deaths of their children and their ensuing strife would weaken them and prevent their impeding the coup.
Once his grip on Finitra was secure, Obiman had planned on conquering The High People before proceeding to the conquest of Membitra.
“Obiman was killed, and only one of his Finitran co-conspirators survived the fight, and that one told us those things. He knew nothing about the deaths of fifty-two Finitrans in Shinosa Valley, beyond that it had occurred, though he was sure that Obiman had known what happened there.
“We captured an Aide to the First Wizard of Iktra, who was killed, and who had planned to rule that kingdom, and to conquer the northern lands of The Warm People as well!
“King Sorrin of Venak, the only monarch who was part of the conspiracy, was killed. We also captured an Admiral and a senior battle wizard from Venak, who were not part of the conspiracy, and who had only fought us on the order of their king.
“In only one case did we capture a leading member of the conspiracy. Ebzumin, First Battle Wizard of the kingdom of Yazzak, planned to rule that kingdom, and he had planned to conquer Taldria, Luffan, Bhia, and the lands of The People of Life! We sensed that his mind had been strongly spelled to prevent his telling us some things, and we could not crack his mental shields without killing him. Then, after we were in contact with Xervia, we were told of the Truthstone of Falgaroth. We brought our six captives here, and Compelled them to swear to truth and justice upon the stone. The power of the stone proved irresistible. Five revealed nothing new, but from Ebzumin we learned crucial new things.
“King Sorrin of Venak had planned to conquer the empires of Thon, Sming and Kuth, as well as the lands of The Fisher Folk! To Ebzumin, he had admitted responsibility for much of the sabotage and destruction in the three Empires and for many of the killings of prominent citizens, and much else besides.
“Conquest of the three empires seems like an impossible goal for Venak, but from Ebzumin we learned that he and the other three leading conspirators who had planned to divide the continent of Debivin between them were to have assistance in their endeavors. Their coups and conquests were being coordinated and sponsored by another party. We did not succeed in learning who was to help them, for that identity had been completely erased from their minds. But their belief that help would come was absolute. When the moment was right, they would be given the power to conquer a continent. In return, they would owe loyalty to their unknown benefactor.
“From Ebzumin we also learned that the massacre in Shinosa Valley and the release of the poison gas cloud in Meto were committed by other members of the conspiracy. Ebzumin did not know exactly who had done them, but he knew that those atrocities were committed as acts of... weapons testing, for want of a better term. He had raised no protest, indeed, he had been eager to know the results. The same was true of his three cohorts.”
He paused for a long moment, and a grim silence held in the cavernous room. “Thus we know what ilk we face. Thus am I vindicated in my actions.
“This is a very well organized conspiracy. Recruitment is motivated by enticements of wealth, and promises of power and slaves and plunder. Beyond the four principles, every new member of it is only certain of the identity of the one who sponsored their membership, and once their loyalty is established, each is only allowed to sponsor three new members, though they can suggest others to higher members. Thus each conspirator can name with certainty only four others at most.
“Because of this organization, it may take a considerable time to apprehend every member of the conspiracy, even if we Compel every one we find to reveal the identities they know the moment we have them in custody. And they are already getting harder to find, and harder to catch. The arrests we’ve made have warned the rest that we are coming for them, and they are hiding and disguising themselves.
“If I had not acted with the haste and force that I did when I summoned the kings of Debivin to swear to justice, we would have caught none of them. Given the slightest warning of what was to occur, they’d have faded away like mist. This reality inspired my colleagues in Kletiuk and Felion to act with equal speed, with equally fortunate results. Thus there is more that is known of our enemies.
“I give you my dear friend Senchak, Lord of Overclan Beijur.”
That mighty dwarf strode proudly to the stage and nodded to Osbald and Somonik before addressing the assembly. He was clad in gleaming silveron plate, with a huge crown of gold, sapphires and rubies resting on his bushy brows. Thick of bone and muscle he was, and looked to weigh close to a hundred and thirty kilograms before he donned his armor, though he stood but a hundred and fifty-five centimeters tall. His black beard covered most of his chest plate, his long hair hung in six thick braids bound with gold rings at the ends, and he spoke in a gravely baritone.
“The rot had not spread so far in Kletiuk, nor would it have needed to.” he stated without preamble. “The conspiracy there was limited to Clanlords, but the clans whose lords fought to their deaths rather than swear to justice are the most rough and aggressive packs of fools on Kletiuk! They’d have followed their lords to slaughter and loot without a second thought! After the battle in the Arena of Government of Overclan Beijur, the heirs of the slain Clanlords were offered the choice of death, or swearing to justice. Half refused to swear, but their heirs did not. Thus we now stand united.
“The associates of all who refused to swear have been questioned, and some knew of their lords’ plans to conquer the rest of us. Since the clans of the slain lords would have been outnumbered at nine to one, we can assume that they also expected outside help, and were thus part of this confounded conspiracy!
“I do admit that I now wish I’d had a better grip on my temper at the battle, for then I might have ordered the capture of the lords we fought. We might even have succeeded in taking one alive. Instead I called for their surrender, and they would not give it. Though they fought like cornered wildcats, they could not hope to prevail against us, and so they died. Any secrets we might have learned from them died with them.”
“Thank you, Senchak.” Osbald said, when it was obvious the dwarf was finished.
Senchak gave him a short nod, and returned to his delegation.
“I now present The Lady Emeroth, Empress of Verzaclon.” Osbald pronounced.
The second tallest of the females of the armored delegation of giants appeared before Osbald. She was olive skinned and black haired, with narrow dark eyes and full lips, and wore armor that was enameled blood red. She was so normally proportioned that her four and a quarter meter stature was only apparent because she stood before Osbald, and towered over him. “Thank you, Your Excellency.” she told him, without a bow or a nod.
“You’re most welcome, Your Eminence.” Osbald returned, and they both snickered, as if at some private joke.
Emeroth addressed the assembly in a cultured contralto that sounded surprisingly normal to human ears. “We of the Shiganzhu have had more than enough of bloody conquest. Our populations have been decimated by war more times than any other race. The four monarchs of our race, including myself, could never be tempted to war against the others, nor could any of our close subordinates. And so the conspiracy has worked differently on Felion. When we gathered to consider Osbald’s news and his offer of formal alliance, only three secretaries of third ministers refused to swear to justice. However, they have been found to be impostors, impersonating loyal staff who were abducted months ago, and who were most likely killed. The three impostors were questioned, and it was found that they were there to spy on us, on behalf of the leaders of gangs of bandits. We believe such people are the principals of the conspiracy on Felion.
“I am ashamed to say that there is a thriving criminal subculture on Felion, as is often the case in times of prosperity. There are hidden guilds of thieves and extensive criminal syndicates, and though only a small percentage of our populations turn to crime, they are as pervasive among both Shiganzhu and Bojudai as they are among humans or Kleti.
“We believe that the conspiracy is rampant among them, on all four cont
inents represented here.
“Yes, four, for we have evidence that there are criminal families among the Kwetkerthok. We suspect they exist among the Selkies as well.”
Mark sent a quick mental inquiry to Talia, and had the answer before Emeroth had spoken another syllable.
“It’s how they name themselves in their own languages. Shiganzhu are giants, Bojudai are gnomes, Kleti are dwarves, and Kwetkerthok are gargoyles. Selkies have names for their nations, but have no word for their own race, and so use the Common word.”
Meanwhile Emeroth’s words had triggered murmurs of surprise among the assembly. “With so much wealth in the world now, it is unsurprising that some would rather take than work, even on Xervia.” she continued. “Everywhere, such taking is done by deception, extortion, blackmail, kidnapping, and piracy, as well as by outright thievery. And since criminals will not appeal to the law when they themselves are offended against, where there are thieves, there will always be bone-breakers and killers to settle the disputes that arise between them. Such people are fertile fields for the conspiracy. If a significant portion of the world’s criminal element act for the conspiracy, believing that they are unleashed beyond the threat of lawful reprisal, they will be a terrible force, for they are among us all. And they know almost everything about almost everyone.
“So far as we can tell, only The People of Morning, The Hidden Nation, and The Just Draconians are completely free from this threat. Most elven nations are almost certainly free of crime, but in the three empires of the plains of Debivin, even the elves have criminals. Though I will admit that from what I know of them, they are less susceptible to the temptations offered by the conspiracy.
“On Felion, we are taking drastic steps. Martial law has been declared, and our civil guards are being reinforced by our military reserves. Every citizen who has ever been suspected of a crime is being found and questioned on the spot under the most powerful Compulsions of Truth ever used on Felion, for they are being cast by Linked teams of one hundred wizards. Those who are found to have committed serious crimes, or to have knowledge of the conspiracy, will be brought here after this meeting and questioned upon the Truthstone of Falgaroth.
“Our regular militaries have been fully activated and are busy fortifying our defensive emplacements and Wards. We strengthen our coastal defenses to defend against attack from without, and we strengthen our national and civil defenses to contain and defeat any attack from within. Our navies are patrolling the seas we claim jurisdiction over, bolstered by every civilian vessel we have whose crew can be both sworn to justice and spared from their work for a few days, and they are sweeping our waters clean of pirates while watching for hostile forces.
“We are asking every citizen in Felion to swear Osbald’s Oath upon our most powerful tokens of justice. We will not force them to do so, but you can be certain that we are noting who has sworn and who has not.
“I ask you all to adopt these measures in your own nations. We have been very lucky thus far, in that the conspiracy was detected before they were ready to act. We must not lose the advantage. We may cause them to abandon their plans if we act swiftly enough. If we fail to do so, we may inadvertently pressure them into striking very soon, before their entire infrastructure is destroyed.
“Remember the atrocities that have been committed already, merely as tests of spells; A cloud of poison gas that sickened thousands and would have killed them all were it not for a speedy and massive response by the Wizards’ and Healers’ Guilds of the city of Meto. A killing blizzard that slew in one hour six-tenths of a hardy mountain folk who were fully prepared for harsh winter. If such a thing were cast on an equatorial region, casualties would include almost everyone in the area. A spell of total madness that affected nearly all of those it was cast upon, and only half of those recovered. Finally, a spell of rotting death that acts almost instantaneously. We believe those last two spells will be one hundred percent effective against all humanoids and many of the races of Xervia. No race would be completely unaffected by them.
“We cannot risk such things being used against our major population centers in a full scale attack. In all the long, sad wars that have been fought upon this world, no one, not even those from the Dark Continent, ever considered unleashing such holocausts upon the world.
“Therefore, I urge that we bring our proceedings here to a finish as promptly as possible. We all have urgent business awaiting us at home.
“Thank you.”
With that, she Translocated back to her delegation.
“Now we all know what is known.” Osbald stated. “And, we have a course of action to follow. I for one will follow Emeroth’s example and advice. I join her in strongly urging you all to do the same.
“Thank you.”
He bowed, then he too returned to his delegation.
“Who would speak now?” Somonik asked, nodded, and announced; “Prince Jaromer of Thon.”
Jaromer appeared before him. “I’d just like to say that we think we have counter spells for the poison cloud and the blizzard, and we’re starting to get a grip on the madness. The rotting death is a more difficult puzzle. Please have any research wizards you can spare for a co-operative effort in finding counters to these heinous spells contact me after we adjourn here.”
He bowed, and vanished.
“Who would speak now?” Somonik asked, then announced; “King Wosea of Enj.”
A gnome only thirty-six centimeters tall appeared, wearing a blue silk suit with buckle shoes and the tall red cone-shaped hat. He spoke a strange language in a very high and melodic voice, and delivered a psionic translation in Trade Common at the same time. “Perhaps I am ahead of events, since we have not as yet officially formed the great alliance, which is our primary purpose here. Yet it seems obvious that we will. We will therefore need to coordinate our communications, information, and intelligence. I think it wisest that such coordination be left to The Grand Council of Xervia. When we need to pass critical intelligence between us, we should meet here to do so, and swear upon the stone each time to prevent infiltration.
“Beyond that, we need to decide if we are truly to be an alliance, or merely a co-operative of nations. If we are truly allied, we must be prepared to commit our military and civil forces to each other’s mutual defense if any of our nations are attacked by superior forces. If that happens, and we must then counter-attack on our enemies’ territory to achieve victory, we must be prepared to do that as well.
“I am authorized at this moment to commit the military forces of the ten nations of Felion to a true military alliance of the nations allied for justice.
“If war comes despite our best efforts to prevent it, we must obviously maintain our present national chains of command, but we must also admit that when every second is critical, we cannot wage war by committee. We will need an overall commander. None of my race is most suitable for such a post. And as formidable as The People of Morning and The Just Draconians are, they are not the most suited to be supreme commanders of massive and very racially mixed hosts. I therefore nominate Empress Emeroth of Verzaclon as First Commander of the military forces of The Great Alliance of The Nations United For Justice.”
Wosea then shook his head and clapped his hands, and returned to his delegation with a pop of over-displaced air.
Empress Emeroth stood and spoke from where she was. “I would accept the post if it comes to it, for I believe I am certainly capable of performing the duty, and performing it well. But I believe there are better choices. I nominate His Eminence, Osbald of Thon.” She sat down.
Osbald stood, and also spoke from where he was. “I decline. There is only one true candidate for the position. I nominate Prince Yazadril of The High People. I have studied his record, as I have studied the records of every currently active military commander. Strategist or tactician, none of us are his equal in experience and the ability to command our mighty host, or even clo
se.” He sat.
Yazadril stood. “This is no time for false modesty.” he grimly stated. “I am the most capable candidate available. If all of you agree to appoint me First Commander of our alliance, I will accept the duty with honor.” He took his seat.
“Who would speak now?” Somonik asked, and apparently none answered this time.
“Then I ask you; Are we agreed that we will formally form The Great Alliance of The Nations United For Justice?”
The assembly answered; “We are agreed.”, or words to that effect.
As Mark and Talia answered with them, Mark closed his eyes tight against the expected flash, and it still showed almost white through his eyelids.
“Let the record show that all have agreed.” Somonik stated.
“And how many are committed to providing civil assistance to one another in times of need?”
The assembly responded.
“Let the record show that all have agreed to provide civil assistance.
“And how many are committed to providing military assistance to one another in times of need?”
The assembly responded again.
“Let the record show that all except The Hidden Nation of Xervia have agreed to provide military assistance.
“And how many agree to appoint Prince Yazadril of The High People to the position of First Military Commander of The Great Alliance of The Nations United For Justice?
“Let the record show that all have agreed.
“Thank you all, I thank you with all of my soul.” Somonik stated with emotional sincerity. “This is a great moment in history. This may be the greatest moment in history. We have formed the mightiest organization that has ever existed. And we are dedicated to justice. This alliance will still be strong when the present danger has passed, and then we will usher in a golden age of peace and prosperity, of trust and communication and camaraderie among all races!”
He paused for almost ten seconds, as they all considered the magnitude of the sudden accomplishment.
“And now, to present the closing address of this assembly, I give you WHAT?!!!”
An apparition had appeared on the stage beside him, a transparent green dragon only half Somonik’s size, barely nine meters long including a two-meter stump of a tail. The comparatively tiny phantom dragon began psionicly Speaking in a language that seemed utterly alien to all but the dragons who were listening, a cacophony made up largely of fierce roaring, growling, and snarling.
“He’s speaking a dialect of High Draconian that is so quaint I can barely make him out, but I’ll give you a rough translation.” Povon psionicly informed her party.
Newcomer: “What is happening here?!!”
Somonik: “Who are you?!! And how did you get in here?!!”
Newcomer: “I am not here! I am Dreaming! And I will not give you my name, not knowing who I face, nor under what conditions I have manifested! I am not such a fool as that! Now what is happening here?! And what are all those small creatures?!!”
Somonik: “I am Somonik, and you are not authorized to be here!!! That is not affected by your presence being astral or corporal!!”
The green phantom considered.
Newcomer: “Somonik? Somonik. That touches a memory. I know you! You fought and defeated Kergok over the Pact of Kraka a few centuries before I went to sleep! You were looking much better then, as I recall! What happened to you to make you so scarred, young one?”
Somonik was so taken aback that he physically staggered.
Somonik: “By the fire of the Source! Do you realize that the Pact of Kraka was signed over forty-one million years ago?!!!”
Newcomer: “That long? That… is a long time to sleep. But then, I will never wake, and what is time in a dream?”
Somonik: “My soul! At sixty- three million years old, I think I am not the Eldest! Please tell me, honored elder, how old are you?”
Newcomer: “Well, I was about eighty-one million years old when I went to sleep. I was Eldest then, so I guess I am still the oldest living, if one can refer to my existence as living. If that was forty-one million years ago, then I am about one hundred and twenty-two million years old.”
This created an uproar in the assembly, as obviously many were listening to translations of the conversation, but the transparent green ignored that.
Newcomer: “Besides, even if I were gone you would not be Eldest. My enemy still lives, and if I remember right, he would be about ninety-five million years old now. I can feel him, over there.” He pointed at the floor about six meters away.
“He points north!” Povon revealed excitedly. “If you drew a straight line from his arm down through the world at that angle, it would emerge in central Serminak! He must mean an Elder of the Dark Dragons!”
Somonik: “I... I know you! I know who you are! And so I know who your enemy is! Oh Honored Eldest, we gave you both up for dead after your great battle with him, over forty million years ago! No sign could be found of either of you!”
Newcomer: “Yes, well he might as well have killed me. I almost killed him as well, and I hoped after I last saw him that he would die of his wounds, but he is fully recovered now. I can feel it, curse his shriveled soul!
“At any rate, I now live in the dream I create for myself. At least I did until a minute ago, when your great cacophony drew me here! I tell you, you made the sphere of power ring like a bell! An infant would have noticed it from the second moon! You can be sure my old enemy felt it, so perhaps you’d better explain to me just exactly what is happening here! Or better yet, why don’t you just give me your Reading of what’s happened in the world since I went to sleep?”
Somonik recoiled in consternation.
Somonik: “But that is two-thirds of my life! It would take me an hour to prepare such a Reading!”
Newcomer: “Ha! You always were more strength than brains! If you don’t mind my having it, and you trust me to do so, I’ll just take it!”
Somonik: “Now just one moment! I am fairly certain of your identity, but I admit that I could be deceived! If you will swear to uphold justice upon this stone, I will let you have my memory of the time since you were last awake.”
The transparent green inspected the stone with curiosity, then stuck his right hand into it up to his elbow, causing a huge momentary shower of sparks and sparkles in Mark’s vision. The phantom appeared not to notice.
Newcomer: “Ahhh! That’s very nice! Very nice indeed! I do swear to uphold justice.”
This time when the flash lit in Mark’s vision, he realized to his surprise that everyone else saw it as well, from the way they jerked in startlement. The dream dragon then withdrew his hand from the stone and turned to Somonik.
Newcomer: “Now just hold still. This won’t hurt.”
Somonik jumped a bit. “Great gods of stars and flames!” he cried aloud in Draconian.
Newcomer: “I see. Ah. How interesting. Oh my! Great things are truly happening now, aren’t they? It will take me a while to review all of that, but only the most recent portion is truly important, right?
“Now this Trade Common language. If there are any here who speak it as their native tongue, and who would give me the knowledge, I can save you all a great deal of inaccurate translation. And Translation spells always gave me a headache.”
Somonik: “Trade common is an artificial language based on Old Low Debivinian, Eldest. Debivinian has passed out of use, and Trade Common is native to no nation.”
“Actually, Trade Common is my mother tongue.” Mark said as he stood, nervous about speaking up at such a moment, yet more nervous about remaining silent.
“Is it?” Somonik asked in surprise. “I understood you were Finitran?!”
“Shinosa Valley was settled by people from all over the northern kingdoms.” Mark shrugged. “Most of the adults spoke Finitran, or could if they wanted to, and I learned some of it, but Trade Common is the languag
e all us kids grew up speaking. And I don’t mind helping the Eldest.”
“Excellent!” Somonik exclaimed, and translated that for the Eldest, who fixed Mark with a stare, then flashed in and out of the young man’s consciousness in a blink so short that Mark was unsure for a moment whether he’d actually felt anything.
But then it was the astral dragon’s turn to recoil in surprise. “May Holy Amirgath preserve me! What a mind to find in such a newborn!” he declared, still Speaking psionicly, though now his mouth moved to the words of Trade Common as if he were saying them out loud. “And do you realize what he IS?!!! Such a one has not appeared on Kellaran for a hundred eons! AND this one is half the Key to the approaching nexus!”
“We know it, Eldest. That is why he is here.” Somonik informed him. “Not all of us know all the details, however. Such things must be kept on a need-to-know basis, in case any of us are captured by the enemy and Compelled to reveal what we know.”
“Of course, of course.” the Eldest nodded. “Look, so long as I can stick my foot in that stone every hour or so, I can keep my dream focused here. If all of you don’t mind, I’ll just observe the remainder of these proceedings. I’ll have things to say in private to that infant ape, and to your military high command.”
“Be welcome. Most welcome indeed!” Somonik nodded, and turned back to the assembly as the Eldest faded almost to invisibility.
“As I was saying before the Eldest arrived, to present the closing address of this assembly, I give you Tithian, seer and oracle.”
Tithian appeared before him and whinnied with a toss of her silver mane, then gave him a nod.
He gave her a respectful bow, then vanished, leaving her the stage.
“I asked to be introduced at this time as seer and oracle, because I am here now in that role. We, the seers of Xervia, have been applying the utmost effort to feeling the shadows of the future while this meeting was being held. We hoped to find that we were wrong about the timing of the Nexus. We hoped that the formation of this great alliance today was the huge event that we’ve felt coming, for if that was so then this Nexus could pass without war. It might have been, for this was triggered by the warning of he who is Key. But as we feared, that is not the case. To use an analogy, this alliance is a mighty crashing wave upon the ocean of this world’s reality, but it is not the hurricane of the Nexus.
“One thing that we knew before, and that we are even more sure of now, is that the two who are Key must address you in... one minute and four seconds from now. This is crucial to our prosperity for reasons we have been unable to determine.
“Mark and Talia, please appear beside me, and prepare to speak. I will prompt you to begin at the crucial moment.”
“Mark!” Talia yiped in his mind. “I’m not ready for this! I don’t know what to say!”
“That’s okay, my adorable love.” Mark chuckled as he picked her up like a child. “I’ve got a few things to say. And if you feel like joining in, just go with the moment.”
“Silaran, could you take us down there please?” he asked aloud.
“At this distance I can Send you from here.” Silaran stated, and suddenly they stood beside Tithian. Mark watched her for a signal while he went over what he wanted to say, and Talia hugged him tight in stage fright.
At the appointed moment, Tithian nodded and said; “Speak.”
“Thank you Tithian, and thank you to all of you here today.” Mark began. “I’m told that the world may be better, or worse, after the Nexus, and it may not be any better or any worse, but it definitely will not be the same. There will be great change, and a lot of it as I understand, though we don’t know what kind of change the Nexus will be.
“We have to hope that we can choose the change that will happen, by causing great changes of our choice, beneficial changes, and hope that they satisfy the Nexus. Then, even if something else is going to happen, even if it’s something bad, we’ll have done our best to make the world into the best possible place it can be, and hopefully we’ll be more prepared if the worst happens.
“This alliance is a great thing, but it hasn’t yet been of much direct benefit to anyone. On the contrary, the things you’ve been driven to do to counter the conspiracy are disrupting the lives of many, and probably alarming many as well. I know those things must be done, and we heartily approve of them. Preparations for defense are necessary, and the apprehension of criminals must already be having indirect benefits for the good people who would have been further victims of their crimes. But we must not become too focused on such things.
“It’s not enough to prepare for war, to be ready to counter violence with violence and death with death to protect our loved ones. It’s equally important that we do beneficial things, things that actually help people to be happier, things that improve people’s lives and bring them together in friendship and understanding.
“Generally, the actions of governments during peacetime don’t have much noticeable effect on everyday people’s lives, except for the collection of taxes. Systems that are paid for by those taxes are quickly taken for granted, such as water supply and law enforcement and defense, leaving the ostentatious wealth of rulers as the most visible and noticeable use of taxes. When war comes, everyday concerns and priorities are set aside, and everyone pulls together in the common struggle, generally whether they want to or not. But we hope that our present struggle will not be a war. How then to involve the great majority of our peoples in the struggle we now face?
“To define our struggle; we must create sweeping and beneficial changes in the world of such strength and momentum that they will counter or prevent any great harm. We have already chosen our side in the struggle, for we stand here not only united as nations and as races, as it has been in the past, but as nations and races that are all united for justice. Thus, this will not be a struggle of ‘us against them’, but of ‘good versus evil’.
“Good versus evil can be more practically defined as happiness and fun and health, versus unhappiness and suffering and harm. Those who are good want everyone to be happy and healthy and to have fun, while those who are evil want to do things to others that cause unhappiness and misery and injury.
“But, those who are evil do evil deeds to bring themselves happiness, either by taking resources from others that they think they need to be happy, or by causing misery to others because they think it’s fun, or to advance their own interests.
“So they’re all trying to bring themselves happiness, the difference is the choice between selfish and generous means to do it. Between concern for the self alone, and concern for the group of people we know, as well as the larger group of people we don’t know who affect us.
“I submit to you that any realistic accounting of the happiness of individuals will reveal that most evil people do not succeed in truly making themselves happy, and that those who are good are far more likely to be happy. Also, once an evil way of life is formed among a people, it makes almost everyone in it miserable, the good and the evil alike. Those who live in good and just societies are conversely far more likely to be happy, whether they as individuals are good or evil.
“This is a crucial point. Since everyone is trying to make themselves happy, and one of two methods is obviously more effective than the other at achieving that, it becomes a choice between doing the smart thing; that which is more effective, or doing the stupid thing; that which is obviously less effective.
“This is important because we can’t eliminate all the evil people in the world by killing them, or by imprisoning them. Both choices are impractical. Almost all of them will have to be converted to the just way of thinking and the belief in the benefits of goodness. We can convert the worst by Compelling them to swear Osbald’s Oath upon a powerful item of justice. Everyday criminals with mostly mundane methods can swear upon items like Osbald’s or Yazadril’s swords, while those of great evil or power can be made to swear upon the Truthstone of
Falgaroth.
“But we must also try to eliminate petty and future evils of every kind.
“The direct appeal to goodness has been ineffective at converting evil people to good. Many of them are proud of their attitudes, and they enjoy the feeling of power that comes from being willing to do whatever it takes to get their own way. But while some can be proud of being evil, no one can be proud of being stupid. Thus we must all stress the point; evil is stupid. Committing evil is stupid, and is likely to lead to misery for the perpetrators as well as the victims. The way of justice and the common good is the smart choice for everyone, even for the selfish who care only for their own happiness.”
He paused, and got a huge grin. “Pardon me for rambling on, but all that gives us a strategy for our great changes; the creation of universal happiness and the elimination of evil. And we have a slogan. Let me hear you say it loud and proud, if you please!
“Evil is stupid!”
“EVIL IS STUPID!” the many delegates called, amidst many laughs and chuckles, and Mark and Talia laughed with them.
“That’s good to hear.” Mark chuckled. “The leaders of most of the people in the world, laughing together. For we must be the alliance for justice, but far more important than that, we must be the alliance for happiness and health and fun!
“Now, as to the tactics of our struggle.
“First, a universal campaign of public communications to promote justice and understanding and co-operation among all people, and to shout our slogan from the rooftops!
“Second, we must wage peace with the same absolute commitment that we would use to wage war! Let us bring prosperity to the poor with generosity and with training and education and help and camaraderie! Let us restore the lands and wilderness areas that have been despoiled by past wars and disasters! Let us build schools and libraries and parks and gardens for the enjoyment and betterment of all! Let no effort or expense be shirked in these endeavors, for the Nexus threatens our entire world!
“Third, we must set aside our old racial and national fears, prejudices, and insecurities. We must open our borders and venture forth from our segregation, and encourage our citizens to do so.
“The present system of Wards and segregation was designed to provide defense and prevent infiltration by attackers and criminals, and with the conspiracy active, those concerns are still valid. So let us create a new social device; a passport for the entirety of The Just Alliance, that allows the bearer the freedom of travel to any of our nations. If we only grant these passports to those who have sworn Osbald’s oath upon a great token of justice, our security concerns will be addressed.
“All of you should appear together in great parades in the major cities of every nation, and publicly declare our alliance, so the rest of your citizens can see with their own eyes that the alliance is real and strong!
“Let us hold great festivals where people can meet those they would never encounter in their everyday lives, where new friendships and associations can begin! Such a gathering of every elven nation occurred at my wedding, I think to their great benefit. As all the elves were brought together in joy and camaraderie, so all the peoples of all the nations of this alliance can be brought together, thousands at a time!
“As we wage the acts of peace, let us do it together! Let us exchange thousands of goodwill delegations of teachers, builders, rescuers, healers, trades people and theoreticians of every sort, from every nation to every other nation!
“Fourth, let us cease being nations of races, and become nations of the just! Let us follow the example of The Hidden Nation, and form multiracial nations of the like-minded. I’m told that this is almost the case with the humans and elves of the empires of Debivin, and with the Shiganzhu and Bojudai; the giants and gnomes of Felion, which proves it can be done. Let us allow emigration to and from any of our nations, within the limits of our infrastructures to healthily adapt to shifts in population. Many of us would love to spend a few years living in an exotic society of another race.
“As for permanent residence within the nation of another race, we will never truly mix as one people, because though we can all be friends and comrades in almost any activity, we can’t all be lovers.”
That brought a round of chuckles from his audience.
“Because of this, we will always gather together in communities of our own race for family life, but my own earlier life proves that it only takes a few dozen to make a healthy community. There is no reason such communities cannot be interspersed and intermingled among the communities of good-hearted people of other races.
“Though our own nation is tiny and has room for few visitors or permanent citizens, it will be equally open to those of every race. But every one of those who visit or live there will have sworn to justice upon the most powerful token of justice available. With this practice, and with the construction of strong Wards, I hope that even those of The Hidden Nation will feel comfortable there. There should be such places where they can mingle with the races from outside Xervia, as well as with those from within it.
“Fifth; just as we limit travel between our nations to those who are bound to justice, we can limit other new privileges to those who have sworn. I’m with Osbald and Emeroth in this, I’m in favor of using almost any enticement or encouragement to get as many as possible to swear a binding oath to justice upon a powerful token. Everyone, if possible. Everyone. If we have to, we can organize lineups, and have thousands of them swearing per hour in quick succession, and we should see if we can make more such powerful items of good intent.
“I don’t know if there are any evil spells or evil items of power that could negate our oaths, but if there are, they must be detected, found, and destroyed.
“It would be nice if we had an infallible way of knowing or marking those who have sworn a binding oath to justice. I would be proud to wear such a marking.
“Sixth, we must prepare for the worst. That means expanded systems of emergency healers, fire extinguishers, rescuers and rebuilders of every sort. Dedicated professionals are needed for these tasks, but we must also encourage all of our populations to form and train as volunteer corps. We should train every citizen to know what to do in case of fire, flood, earthquake, storm, or military attack. We should hold large-scale civic tests of emergency preparedness. Again, we must do our best to make these activities fun and healthy and enjoyable! Hold them as contests, in a sporting and festive atmosphere, and award prizes for the best responses and performances by individuals, neighborhoods, and cities.
“Also, every organization; civic, trade, government and military, should know where their vulnerabilities are. It might make more profit for all wagon makers to make wagons in one great facility, but if that facility was lost, then we couldn’t make new wagons until we built another one. What I’m saying is we should make sure we never have too many eggs in one basket, that our organizations and societies be structured with enough redundancy to ensure that we can continue after the loss of any of the parts, or even many of the parts. Increasing trade between our peoples serves this end as well.
“Talia and I will be putting our money where our mouth is, so to speak. We will offer the use of our vacation homes to those who have suffered the worst, so that they may recover from their trials before making new lives for themselves. And we will donate much of our wealth to good works.
“As our contribution to the readiness of The Just Alliance to deal with military attack, it is our intention to form a small but very powerful quick-reaction force, answering directly to the First Commander of The Just Alliance, who can detect the initiation of battle anywhere on Kellaran, and arrive there to deal with it instantly. We will have a better chance to contain it, hopefully to nip it in the bud completely, and thus prevent the outbreak of full-scale warfare. Thus far we include all eight of us in our party here, as well as a support corps composed of a number of elves from every elven nation. We negotiated the independenc
e of Hilia from The People of Rain in order to reduce the diplomatic repercussions of instituting our military academy there.
“One last point. It’s quite a mouthful to say The Great Alliance of The Nations United For Justice. As I have done, many will shorten it to a conversational term. I almost wish the word ‘great’ hadn’t been included, for it will be tempting to refer to us as The Great Alliance, which may seem intimidating to some, and not really the image that I think we should project. I therefore ask that you all make an effort to do as I have done, and refer to this organization as The Just Alliance whenever it’s impractical to use the entire title.”
Talia smoothly continued the address as he left off.
“This great hall should be more than just a dignified edifice of assembly. The Truthstone of Falgaroth is our greatest weapon in our struggle, and as many as possible should be allowed to use it. But beyond that, any number of us should be able to gather here at any time to discuss our progress and renew our bonds of friendship. I know that those of you who have duties implementing the military and judicial actions that Emeroth outlined must rush off after the meeting. But that does not include most of us, and implementing Mark’s suggestions can wait at least an hour or three, so I hope we can remain and mingle for a while after the meeting. I’d love to get to know as many of you as possible.
“We thank you for your time and patience.” she finished.
“Thank you.” Mark nodded, and turned to Tithian.
That great unicorn considered them for a moment. “Well. I must say, that was a powerful speech. Far more so than I truly expected of you. Thus it has been noted and recorded. And I agree with all of it. We absolutely must attempt to satisfy the Nexus with beneficial change. It is our best insurance against disaster!”
She turned and addressed the assembly. “I move that we adopt Mark and Talia’s suggestions as policy, every word as they were spoken. Who agrees?”
A mighty response was jubilantly called out.
“Let it be known that all have agreed!” Tithian called out proudly, and turned back to Mark and Talia. “Thank you, and congratulations. You represent our newest and tiniest nation, with an official population of only the two of you, and you are the two youngest persons here. Yet you appear to have gained a position of leadership of sorts in this alliance, on the strength of your good thinking.” she chuckled.
“As long as we can lead by suggestion, that’s just fine!” Mark laughed.
“That it is!” Tithian agreed, then cocked her head to the side.
“I receive a Speaking from the sorcerers, magicians, and wizards of The Grand Council of Xervia. They have co-operated to formulate the spell you requested, and have formed it with their combined power. They can cast a spell that will cause a symbol to appear on all those who are bound to justice, which can be recognized without fail by others who wear the mark, and that will fade if the wearer’s oath is compromised. They suggest the symbol you wear would be appropriate, the six-pointed sword-star of Hilia. And since it cannot be counterfeited, this spell-symbol can also serve as the passport of The Just Alliance.”
“No, I mean I agree, except that I wish the sword-star to remain only the symbol of Hilia, and of our company. It represents the six of us who are the founding core of our strike force.” Mark told her.
“I suggest you use a blue filled circle with a curved indent on one side, to represent the Truthstone of Falgaroth, surrounded by a white filled circle to represent this; The Hall of The Just Alliance.” Talia said with a wave at the room around. “And perhaps, for those like friend Silaran who are white, a thin blue line around that.” She cast a meter high illusion of the symbol she was picturing in the air.
“An excellent suggestion.” Tithian nodded. “And in order to indicate the strength of the bonding, we should show beneath that symbol a recognizable pictogram of the token of justice that was sworn upon. Thus those who swore to Osbald at his first swearing would wear a small picture of the Imperial Sword of Thon beneath the symbol of The Hall of The Just Alliance, whereas we here today would wear the symbol of the blue stone beneath the blue and white of the hall.”
“I agree.” Mark nodded.
“Let all who agree to wear the symbols of those who are bound to justice concentrate on the place upon your surface where you wish them to appear, and the size you wish the symbols to be.
“The spell is cast.”
Mark looked at his left shoulder, where the round white and blue of the hall appeared seven centimeters high, with the indented round blue of the stone repeated alone two centimeters high beneath that. Talia inspected the same symbols that had appeared on the back of her left hand, a centimeter and a half centimeter in diameter respectively. Tithian’s appeared five and two centimeters high, on the two lowest spirals at the front of her horn. Most everyone around the room proudly inspected their new markings. Mark noticed two brown selkies pointing to the symbols in the short fur on each other’s foreheads, and they appeared to be giggling.
“I give you Princess Talia and Prince Mark of Hilia, Keys to the Nexus, and Keys to The Great Alliance of The Nations United For Justice!” Tithian called. “I think we should have a round of applause for these two fine young people!”
Mark carefully bowed as Talia bowed from the waist in his arms, then Mark strode from the stage and all the way up to their place with their company at the edge of the room, both of them smiling and waving, and the thunderous round of applause continued until they were seated, some applauding with bursts of colored light, and many of the dragons around the perimeter of the room puffed rings of fire and smoke.
“We have much to do in the days ahead.” Tithian declared. “All those who have military command should report their resources and deployments to Prince Yazadril at the earliest possible opportunity. Contact Somonik with any important developments on the conspiracy, and he will inform the rest of us. All that has been decided here that is of a public nature must be passed down to all the personnel of our governments, and announced to all our citizens. Our administrators will arrange for the exchange of goodwill delegations for the co-operative accomplishment of good works. We will all consult our schedules for the days ahead and arrange for parades and festivals to celebrate the founding of The Just Alliance.
“Is there anything else that anyone feels must be added at this time? No?
“Then I now declare this meeting at an end. Thank you all, and good life to all of you.
“Remember; evil is stupid!”
Many there repeated the slogan amidst a round of chuckles, and then a third of the delegates vanished in a burst of light that left spots in Mark’s eyes.
“Ria says that it’s silly for you to put up with that.” Talia told him with a giggle as she saw him flinch, her hand on her sword’s pommel as it often was when she wore it. “She furthermore points out that it would be a crippling detriment in any battle where significant magic is being cast. She suggests a series of tests and spells that may fix the problem for you, but it’ll have to wait till we get home.”
“Sounds good to me.” Mark chuckled as he rubbed his eyes.
“Friend Mark, I am zo proud of you!” Kragorram told him. “You zeized the moment magnifizently, you reprezented our company with exzellenze, you zpoke with greatnezz and changed the world! I mean, not to zlight you Talia, you alzo zpoke beautifully, but the way that Mark laid out the new future of the world like it waz only common zenze, the truth of hiz wordz waz undebatable!”
“Oh I agree, Kragorram!” Talia proudly stated as she kissed Mark’s cheek. “My tongue was like knotted string when we went down there, and I couldn’t have said a word before I was inspired by Mark’s example!”
“Hey, it is only common sense!” Mark laughed. “And I won’t have you filling my head full of hot air, like it was an act of genius or something!”
“Nonsense.” Povon insisted. “Hilsith made me want to be a better person, and I think
I’ll use you as my example. You’ve given me a whole new outlook, though I admit I also feel some Compulsion from swearing to justice on the stone. As Yazadril said, this is no time for false modesty.”
“I couldn’t agree more.” Equemev nodded. “I’d wager you feel no Compulsion from your oath; that you feel exactly the same. Your parents must have been very proud of you, for they have made you a man of truly noble character.”
“Thank you, ladies.” Mark nodded. “I’m sure they’d be pleased to hear that. And really, I don’t feel any different. I truly believed in the morals of Osbald’s Oath before I swore.”
“You hear that, Equemev?” Povon chuckled. “We have been promoted! Where once we were merely ‘the girls’, now we are ladies! I think I like the sound of it much better!”
“Do you?” Mark laughed, enjoying the teasing far more than the praise. “Then I now pronounce you; Lady Povon and Lady Equemev of Hilia!”
“Why thank you! That is truly charming! Lady Povon of Hilia! Don’t you agree, Lady Equemev?”
“Quite charming!” Equemev psionicly giggled while giving her mane a toss.
“Well in that case,” Talia smiled as she gave a flourished wave, “Silaran and Kragorram, I dub thee Sir Silaran and Sir Kragorram, valiant Knights of the Principality of Hilia!”
“Why thank you zo much, Prinzezz Talia!” Kragorram beamed. “Zeriouzly, it meanz a great deal to me! Zir Kragorram of Hilia, valiant Knight of the forzez of juztize! Truly, what a fine thing!”
“It truly is!” Silaran agreed. “It makes me want to trot about this assembly of the mighty, introducing myself! ‘Why good day, your majesty! I’m Sir Silaran of Hilia! Have you met my love, the Lady Equemev?”
“I can’t wait to tell my mother!” Equemev gleefully whinnied. “And my friends from the Sorcerer’s Academy will simply faint with envy!”
“You know my love, these four may be insufferably smug for a while.” Talia grinned.
“True.” Mark chuckled “But Silaran’s right, in that we should stroll around and meet some of these fine rulers of the world. One doesn’t get the opportunity to do so every day!”
“All right. It looks like Father’s and Alilia’s delegations are busy with military leaders and their affairs, and Tithian is drawing a crowd of administrative types, unless I miss my guess. That eliminates our chance to be introduced by people we already know, for now, so we’ll just have to venture boldly forth on our own. A great many are eyeing us, perhaps considering approaching us, but none look ready to take the initiative yet. We have one prior arrangement to fulfill, as the dreaming dragon wished to speak to us. Is there anyone else you wished to meet?”
“Yes, King Dren of Finitra in particular, and Osbald of Thon. But first things first, I suppose. Let’s go talk to the Eldest.” Mark said, and they started for the center of the stage, where the dreaming dragon sat on the inner edge of the marble and swung his insubstantial feet within the matter of the Truthstone of Falgaroth like a child with his feet in a lake.
“The thought of any living thing being one hundred and twenty-two million years old is literally incomprehensible to me.” Mark revealed. “And from what he said to Somonik, no humanoid race of people had even emerged on Kellaran the last time he was aware in it! No one else is speaking with him, so Talia and I will be the first of our races he has ever met!”
“Even my race had barely begun forty-one million years ago!” Equemev marveled. “Of all the races of people on the world today, I think only we and the dragons were around that long ago!”
“Wow! He’s awoken to a completely different world, if awoken is the right word! I’m looking forward to meeting him!” Mark smiled in wonder.
“You are zo confident!” Kragorram noted admiringly. “I could never bring myzelf to approach zuch a legendary and revered figure! And I doubt I will be able to zpeak to him at all, I warn you now!”
“I have a brash nature, and I think a justifiably high opinion of my capabilities,” Povon mused, and rubbed against Kragorram a bit as they paced beside each other on all fours. “But right now I am fully in agreement with you on both of those points, my love. He is only here as a Projection of himself, and from what he said he is asleep as well. Yet his psionic power is as unstoppable as an avalanche! No one could bar him from their mind! He took a Reading of forty-one million years of Somonik’s life in a blink! I mean look at him! He is refreshing his feet within the god-stone!!!”
“Ah, but it’s not confidence I have, it’s an almost complete ignorance of the magnitude of the forces I’m dealing with!” Mark laughed. “Two days ago Talia was so far above me I’d have almost considered her a goddess! I have to either not be intimidated by any of it, or be completely intimidated by all of it!
“And I’ll keep my ignorance, thank you very much. To my way of thinking, people are people no matter who they are, all worthy of my respect, as I’m worthy of theirs. The Eldest is an incredible being in every way, but I’d bet he’s just a nice old guy at heart, and probably feeling as displaced as I am as well.”
“You’re right about that last, sure enough.” the sleeping green drake agreed without looking up or physically talking. “Displaced is a good term for it.
“But that’s a big fat white lie about not having confidence. You’ve always had confidence and pride, and rightly so, in the company of other unpowered humans. But since your wife lit the candle with your power and her father explained its scale, you are so confident that you truly fear no being. You know you can always light another candle if things get rough. Since the candle killed you both and the curse returned you both to life, you are confident in your immortality and your indestructibility, and you feel an immense confidence from knowing your wife is as safe as yourself. Thus you have the temerity to approach one such as me with such a cavalier attitude. You are among the most insufferably confident beings I have ever encountered. And I lived eighty-one million years before I was forced to sleep, so I’ve met a few.
“That’s pretty much what I wanted to talk to you about. You’re right about being completely ignorant of the magnitude of the forces you’re dealing with. You’re completely wrong about being immortal, and you’re completely wrong about having enough power to be more than a momentary inconvenience to many of these here in any sort of contest, least of all warfare. You’re wrong in thinking that raw power has anything to do with it, for as I sit here I don’t have enough personal magic power to even cast a spark, let alone light a candle, nor any physical strength at all, yet I could kill you and everyone here at any moment I chose, without fear of reprisal. All of that doesn’t worry you, since we’ve all sworn to justice upon this stone, or within it in my case, but really, you can’t even be confident that I’m bound by my vow!
“And as it happens, I’m not bound by that vow! That quality of the Truthstone of Falgaroth is activated by physical contact, and my body is far from here! It’s lucky for you that I had already sworn a binding vow of justice, at a time when your ancestors were not that different from raccoons! Otherwise I couldn’t be bothered with you! As to the exchange between the Truthstone and myself when I swore on it, I was not bound by it, but rather bonded with it.
“It’s also lucky for you that you are right about a great many important things. You and your wife are indeed key to the nexus. You are indeed key to this alliance. The advice you gave on waging peace and benefiting the world in order to fulfill the nexus, that was brilliant. Your reduction of philosophy and morality to everyday practicality, as encapsulated in the phrase; ‘evil is stupid’, may well be history’s most original and crucial thinking. That phrase maintains opposition to evil without inherent hatefulness in the opposing.
“For these and other reasons, I’m prepared to expend some effort to keep you silly children among the living. And I assure you, someone must do so, for if battle comes right now it would find you woefully unprepared for the task you have chosen f
or yourselves, as a strike force for the alliance.
“You six and your pets would be wiped out in a moment in any serious engagement! You’re nothing but a pack of foolish, headstrong adolescents! Granted you have considerable strength and talent and power as individuals, but face reality! Now that this alliance is formed, the existing fast reaction units of its nations’ military forces will number tens of thousands of warriors and wizards and dragons! No enemy will attack unless they can match at least that force! For a platoon as small and inexperienced as yours to make any real difference at all, you would have to detect the initiation of hostilities, Translocate there, assess the situation first hand, and be acting accurately with all your power, all within one-quarter of a second after the first advance units of the enemy had Translocated to the site of hostilities!
“Now you’re right in that there are many uses for such a force as you hope to constitute. You do show a lot of promise, and you do pack a great deal of raw power in a very small package as a military unit. And if you had at least a century of battle experience as a unit, you might even be allowed out without a babysitter!”
The power and tone of the Eldest’s communication had stopped Mark’s group in their tracks nine meters from the stage. Now he finally turned and looked at them, “Come here.” he snapped. “No one else is sharing our communication, and you’re drawing attention.”
He waited till they had come within a respectful conversational distance upon the stage and stopped. “I’ve saved you from embarrassing yourselves by offering your services immediately and publicly, for Yazadril or any competent military commander would have burst your bubble the same as I’ve done, including Talia’s sword if you’d given her the chance. The best you could have hoped for would be assignment to an existing strike force for further training under a competent officer. And somehow I don’t think you’d have been content with that.
“As I say, you need at least a century of battle experience to be ready to be an independent force of six under your own command. Three centuries would be reasonable, and three centuries more before you’re competent to bring the hundreds of elves who’ve sworn to you under your command.
“You have one to three years until the nexus. Only I can make you ready in time.
“If you wish to be of any military use at the nexus, you will do three things. You will not allow yourselves to be drawn into battle until you are ready. You will train intensively as a unit under instruction from the sword of Visinniria until she judges that you are ready for true weapons exercises. At that point you will come to me, and I will complete your training.
“Silaran, here is my location. You will forgive me for making it absolutely impossible for you to reveal it to anyone else. You will guide them when the time comes.
“Your pardon, Eldest.” Mark said with a bow, Talia bowing with him. “We thank you for your offer of training, and we gratefully accept it. I also apologize for anything I’ve said that earned your displeasure. I’m sure you are now aware of everything I’ve ever said. I will attempt to improve my attitudes in the future.”
“Oh, I’m not displeased with any of you, young man!” the Eldest chuckled. “You’re a fine group of youths. But you’ve been special all your lives, you males for your might, you females for your power. Being grouped with others who are similarly exceptional further increases your individual awareness of your value. And it will always be the case that such groups of special youths will occasionally need a bit of lecturing, to keep them from thinking that they’re any more special than they truly are!
“As to your words as you approached, they were modest and good-hearted. You were the only one here who considered that I might be feeling lonely or displaced in this situation, that I might need a bit of friendly conversation and camaraderie. Everyone else is either awed, intimidated, or overwhelmed with curiosity in their thoughts of me. Only you thought of me as a person, just another good soul like any other. While that does bruise my ego a bit, that is also part of the property of your personality that makes you, and you alone, Key to The Just Alliance. Awe and intimidation have more to do with evil than good, and curiosity is neutral. That makes you the most good-hearted person here.
“But it is a grave weakness to not understand the magnitude of the forces around you, in every way; socially, physically, intellectually, emotionally and magically. Kragorram is physically the strongest being here, and to fight beside him well, or to fight against someone like him, you need to know how many times stronger than you he is. The weakest here are beings smaller than your thumb, but you should know that eight hundred of them could pick you up and throw you off a cliff, if they were emotionally capable of the act, which they’re not. Osbald is the most influential here, and if you cannot measure that property, you cannot debate him on an opposing point in this assembly with any hope of convincing the majority. Somonik is first in magic, Tithian is first in intellect, Senchak is first in emotion, and I am first overall, though my body lies sleeping far from here. When next we meet, I’ll expect you to know how you differ from all of them in those qualities, and to be able to quantify that difference to at least the nearest order of magnitude. I’ll make that a formal assignment of your training.
“As to your not-so-subtle rebuke for my having Read you completely when you gave me your language, know that I couldn’t help but do so. You have a great mind, but because of your short life and the comfortable pace of your education, your mind is almost empty. Imagine having to look into a huge room for a small white marble with a blue spot on it, without looking at anything else in the room. But when you look inside, it contains nothing but six white marbles in a corner.
“For that matter, I’ve Read you all, and I know every tiny thought that’s ever crossed your minds. Of the six of you, only you and Povon have any serious mental shielding at all, and she’s the only one of you who realizes both who I am, and what the order of magnitude is between herself and I. So she alone respects me with the fervor that my ego thinks I deserve, and she dropped her psionic shields to me as a sign of respect. Or perhaps out of fear and appeasement. At any rate, I hungrily took what she offered, every second of it, and much of it of great value.
“You other four need serious work on your psionic shielding. You’re used to a great deal of very open psionic communication, unlike Mark, and you’re all too trusting, unlike Povon. Fine within the Wards of this place, but not elsewhere. As Povon guessed, none here could resist my probe, but you four were too easy. I literally cannot direct my attention to you without knowing every thought and sensation you’ve had during every breath you’ve ever taken.
“Work on your mental shielding. That’s your assignment.
“Povon, your personality improvement program is important, and you are doing amazingly well at it. Keep up the good work, that’s your only individual assignment.
“I’ll tell you something else that’s not generally known. I’m taking you into my confidence in this, because I intend to keep taking part in the coming events in the world, and I will be working closely with you. I can keep a portion of my attention here only because of my interaction with the godstone. Beyond that, I am trapped in a dream. But it keeps enough of my attention here that my awareness of these surroundings continues to expand.
“By now, I’ve Read all who attended tonight for the last ten years or so of their memories, and these who have stayed after the meeting, for their last century if they’ve lived that long. My awareness has grown outward from this stone in an expanding sphere, and I’ve now Read at least the last year of everyone within fifteen kilometers of here. Only a few of the most senior dragons are aware of it.”
“Ah, your pardon Eldest, but won’t those dragons tell the others that they’ve been Read?” Silaran asked.
“They most certainly will not! Ask Povon some other time if you wish to know why that is so.
“At any rate, once I have you trained up to the po
int where you are more than a hazard to yourselves, you will have many new duties and roles in this alliance, and some of them will involve acting on my behalf. Being my hands in the world, so to speak. I ask this service in fair trade for the training and guidance I will provide you.
“Now, as much as I do enjoy your company, I must bid you good day, for as I suspected, the military commanders are waiting patiently for my direct attention.”
“One thing, honored Eldezt.” Kragorram politely interjected. “Are we allowed to reveal to otherz that you have become our mentor?”
“Yes, so long as it’s made clear that you are not to engage in combat without my clearance.”
“Thank you, Eldezt.” Kragorram bowed respectfully. “And good day.”
Their group also bowed and bid the Eldest good day, and he actually chuckled as he stood to meet Yazadril and the other commanders, leaving his stump of a tail immersed in the stone.
“Well, he certainly told us, didn’t he?” Talia quietly asked when they were a good distance from the stage.
“He did.” Povon agreed. “I feel rather chastised, and I had thought that no one could put me in my place so effectively.”
They were then approached from different directions by four groups, those of King Dren, Overlord Senchak, Empress Emeroth, and half the remainder of the delegation of gargoyles. It looked like the giants and humans would arrive simultaneously, until Dren quickened his step to arrive first.
“Set me aside, would you love?” Talia asked. “As much as I love being held by you, this is an occasion where I should be seen standing on my own.”
Mark released her, and she stood in mid-air beside him, holding his hand, her eyes level with the approaching king’s.
“Good day, your Majesty.” Mark told him, as he and Talia gave a polite bow. The king of Finitra was slim and fairly tall at a hundred and ninety-three centimeters, with prematurely gray hair and brown eyes.
“Good day to you as well, your Majesty.” Dren smiled as he bowed to them in return. “You do work fast once you get going, don’t you? You do us proud, even if you’re not a resident of Finitra right now.
“Ambassador Bomil of Thon told me of his conversation with you, and Prince Yazadril mentioned you in his letter, which Bomil passed along.
“You should know that what happened at your home was considered a national disaster, and that all of Finitra rejoices in knowing that one of our citizens from Shinosa Valley has survived.
“I knew your father before his early retirement, he was a good man as well as a comrade of mine during my training years, and I truly mourn his loss.
“I’ve met your grandfather occasionally, and I went to him the minute I learned of your survival. He’s a colonel of the Finitran army, retired now of course, though still vigorous. He and the rest of your father’s family were overjoyed to hear of your survival, and he has all of your family’s possessions from Shinosa Valley, collected and intact at his manor in Belinhome, my capital. He also holds intact the proceeds from the sale of your home, and he asked me to assure you that he considers it to be entirely yours, both possessions and funds.
“He also extended his invitation to visit, and his regrets that he hadn’t taken time to visit you while your parents still lived.
“For my own behalf, you should know that two of the families that lived in Shinosa Valley, the Jormans and the Wiselkops, have no known heirs. I’m hoping you might know if they had any kin outside Shinosa.”
Mark considered. “I have no idea about the Jormans. They were one of the first families in the valley; Verk Jorman was fifth generation Shinosan. They spoke Common without an accent, and I don’t recall any of them ever mentioning where they were originally from.
“The Wiselkops were from Iktra, though I’m afraid I don’t know exactly where in that country they came from.”
“Ah. That might be all we need. Iktra takes a census with the taxes every year, just as Finitra does. I’ll find out if there are any Wiselkops still living there, and if any of them still remember who Stef Wiselkop and his family were, they will inherit the proceeds from the sale of the Wiselkops’ home and lands in Shinosa. You wouldn’t happen to remember Goodwife Wiselkop’s maiden name, would you?”
“No, I’m sure I never knew it.”
“Ah. Well as things stand now, you inherit the proceeds from the Jorman’s home and their mill. And you inherit their possessions and wealth. If we can’t find the heirs of the Wiselkops in Iktra, you’ll inherit theirs as well.”
Mark’s eyebrows rose. “That must be a goodly amount! Dob Jorman’s mill was the finest thing in the valley!”
“It is, and it went for a fair price. The Wiselkops had orchards and grazing lands as well.” Dren nodded.
“I see. Well, I’ll contribute all that towards your efforts to wage peace and help the poor in Finitra.”
“Thank you. Wage peace, I like that!” Dren laughed. “And I’ll do it, too! I even plan to sell many of my personal possessions for the cause!”
“I’m glad to hear it.” Mark smiled. “By the way, I thought your use of Shinosa Valley to help those from Whiskers Delta was an admirable act of wise rulership.”
“Thank you, and I’m glad you don’t mind that I sold your home while I still believed you dead.”
“That’s okay. Since I no longer have to go back there to help find out what happened to my people or to get my family’s things, I doubt I’ll ever return, except to visit the cemetery to honor and remember those I’ve lost. And I was saddened to hear of the loss of your own father. From what I knew of him, he was a good man, and a good king.”
“Thank you. He was that.” Dren nodded. “If you get a chance, I’d welcome your visit, along with your companions’.
“And now, if you will all kindly excuse me, I have obligations to speak with a few others here before I go, and I must return home shortly. Good day.” He finished with a nod and a smile, Mark returned them with the same salutation, then Dren and his party withdrew.
Emeroth then took the initiative. “Greetings. Congratulation on your recent ascensions, and my condolences for your losses.”
“Greetings, and thank you Your Majesty.” Talia returned as her group bowed.
“Youth, do you know you bear GrimFang, sword of Verzaclon The First, founder and namesake of my empire?”
“I do know that, yes.” Mark nodded up at her.
“Have you drawn it?”
“I have.”
“I see.” Emeroth frowned. “And what did you notice when you did so?”
“That it’s quite dangerous, and has a bit of a personality, like a puppy that’s eager to please whoever’s holding it. And that none could take it from my hand. Because of that, I always wear it or keep it within reach, to keep it safe from those who would miss-use it.”
“I see. Did you test it?”
“I did.” Mark nodded. “I found that it cuts what I want it to cut, and doesn’t cut what I don’t want it to cut.”
“Pardon? How do you mean about that last, about not cutting?”
“I mean that when I so directed it, it was too dull to cut a taut silk handkerchief, even with considerable pressure. If I tell it to not cut, I could swing it with all my strength at anyone, and give nothing more than a bruise. And a small bruise at that, since the blade is so light.”
“Well!” Emeroth declared with raised eyebrows. “I did not know of that property of it! And Verzaclon The First didn’t know it either! If he had, he could have saved himself from a few of the wounds he took by parrying his enemies’ weapons! Instead he used it to cut through everything; his enemies as well as their weapons and shields and armor, and a couple of them ducked and scored on him with the stumps of their weapons, even as GrimFang shortened them!!
“For that is the one and only offensive property GrimFang has; it will cut anything! That makes it a very simple weapon indeed for an item of such power, but that prope
rty is absolute! It will cut without resistance any material, be it flesh and bone, wood, any metal, any stone including diamond! And no magic shielding can withstand it either! I swear; you could cut a god in half with it, if it were possible to make one hold still for the blow! I ask you to never draw it here, for it could carve chunks from the Truthstone of Falgaroth itself, and the thought of that terrifies any rational person!
“It has one other property, for it is a wand of dark intent! It amplifies destructive emotion! Since you didn’t feel that when you held it, you have almost no dark intent within you. But you have not yet wielded it to kill or destroy, which is dark intent, even if it is done to uphold justice! When you do, the sword will feed on that, and likely drive you berserk! Verzaclon the First never drew it until he was among his enemies and well away from his own forces, for once he held GrimFang, he would kill any within reach, friend or foe!
“The damned thing is a symbol of brutal repression among my people, for Verzaclon The First was the archetypical bloody-minded conqueror and dictator! I ask you to never draw it within half a kilometer of any person except those of proven evil intent, and to never bring it to Felion unless there is no alternative!”
“I understand, and thank you for the warning.” Mark nodded. “And I will carefully conduct any further tests of it in extreme isolation. However, I don’t think it will affect my emotions as you fear. I didn’t feel anything like that from it. I understand that none have wielded it since Verzaclon himself. It might have reacted to his personal over-abundance of dark intent, or it may not affect humans in the same way it affects the Shiganzhu. For that matter, I may be personally immune to that effect.”
“Because you are Key to the Nexus?” Emeroth asked in surprise.
“Perhaps, or perhaps because of other unique qualities that I have.”
“Oh, and what would they be?”
“Well, I’d like to tell you, but I’ve been asked not to speak of it as a military secret. Tithian or Yazadril could tell you.”
“I see.” Emeroth nodded, looking irritated. “And I respect that you follow protocol in that way. Being who I am, many would have told me anyway. I will indeed ask them. If you are allowed to tell me, how did you acquire GrimFang?”
“It was given to me as a wedding present by just less than two thousand elves, who as individuals hail from every elven nation. I’ve only looked at a few of their cards so far, but it seems that they are all rather wealthy exotic weapons enthusiasts and collectors.”
“I see. How unusual. Upon the death of Verzaclon the First, GrimFang was given unto the safekeeping of Somonik the White, for no way was found to destroy it. He was asked to never give it up!”
She paused for a moment as her face clouded with anger, then she turned to look for the disfigured white dragon. Though he was almost two hundred meters away on the other side of the great room, she demanded of him; “Somonik, why did you fail my ancestors’ trust?! You know as well as I that GrimFang should not be about in the world!”
Across the room, Somonik turned to regard her, and answered psionicly. “I was asked by a consortium of elves to sell GrimFang to them, and I refused, of course. I was at that moment contacted by a seer of my race, whose identity I will not reveal. That person told me that it was necessary that I sell the sword to the elves, and to speak nothing more of it.”
“So you sold it, when you did not own it! And we Shiganzhu have nothing to say about the disposition of our property, is that it?”
“In this unique case, I’m afraid so. The Dragon Seer is never wrong, and is furthermore a formidable person who becomes rather cranky at having such findings questioned. Myself, I had no wish to endure the haranguing that would result, but if you insist, I can put you in contact with that person. Beyond that, I suppose you have the right to ask for the sword back from Mark, though that would also be unwise. The Dragon Seer would not have had it given to Mark if unjust destruction would result. The same might not be so if it is again in the possession of a Shiganzhu.
“I do apologize for breaking my word. The Dragon Seer would never have named it necessary that the sword be sold, unless failure to do so would result in greater consequences than doing so. It was necessary.”
“I suppose I’ll just have to assume it was!” Emeroth snapped, barely keeping rein on her anger.
“Mark will not be corrupted by GrimFang.” Somonik assured her. “We are safe from it, though it is again about in the world. Consider that our enemies are not safe from it, so long as Mark wields it.”
Emeroth nodded, and seemed to grudgingly accept that. “Still, by all the missing gods, Somonik! You sold the damned thing! How much did you get for it?!”
“Twenty-one thousand ounces of gold, two hundred kilograms of raw opal ore, and two thousand one hundred and seventy-six carats of medium to small fine cut diamonds. I saw no reason to sell it cheaply. Actually, I was feeling somewhat confounded at being so brusquely commanded to break my word by anyone, even the Dragon Seer, so I negotiated the transaction rather aggressively. I assure you, the elves did not initially envision paying so much.
“I admit that the payment is rightfully your people’s property. Now that you know of this without my having to risk the seer’s wrath by telling you, I will forward the payment to you. I will include with it ten times as much, as my penalty for having broken my word to your ancestors, who have been dead for half a million years.
“Now, will you accept my apology?”
Emeroth and all who listened knew that Somonik would not offer it again. Furthermore, he was offering a tremendous treasure, and she couldn’t help but be astounded by the amount. “I do accept your apology and your payment, and I offer my own apology for my anger. The payment will cover my government’s recent extraordinary expenditures, and much of our costs in implementing Prince Mark’s suggestions besides. Actually, we’ll share it with the other three empires of Shiganzhu. We were one nation under Verzaclon The First, and as many thousands of their citizens were slain by GrimFang as ours. That makes it the unwanted heirloom of our entire race.”
“It was, but no longer.” Somonik gently reminded her. “Now it is a far more fitting heirloom of Hilia. Your sharing of its proceeds is wise and just. Now you must excuse me, for you’ve interrupted my conversation, and these fine people have waited patiently for my attention while you’ve had it.” With that, he returned his attention to the hundreds of gnomes who surrounded him. They all started talking to him at once, and he appeared to have no trouble listening to them.
Emeroth stared at him in outrage at being thus dismissed.
“As I discovered during my recent conversation with the Eldest,” Mark commented with a chuckle, “It’s not that much fun to be treated like a child, especially when I found that I’d been acting like one.”
“Are you saying I’m being childish?!” Emeroth demanded.
“I’m saying that from what I know of your race, and judging by your youthful beauty, I’d think you were about thirty years old.”
“My youthful what?!!!” Emeroth exclaimed, caught between being surprised, flattered, and newly outraged. “It so happens that I’ve lived forty-one years, and fifteen of those on the throne of Verzaclon! And what the hell does that have to do with anything, anyway?!”
“So Somonik is more than a million times older than you and me put together. That’s like me or you talking to someone who’s been alive for about ten or twenty minutes. Let’s face it Your Majesty, compared to him, we are of races whose members all die right after they’re born. And as he pointed out, he made a promise to some people, and then they died, and he kept the promise for another five hundred thousand years anyway.
“I suppose the seer could have let Somonik tell you about selling the sword, but that was before Osbald started having everyone swear to justice, and your people still had no diplomatic relations with Xervia then, so they didn’t yet know who was trustworthy.
“Besides, he did give me a nice little plaque with the sword, with the basics of its history and abilities on it, so I wouldn’t cut my foot off with it or some such, which I think was rather decent of him.”
Emeroth stared at him a moment, then burst out laughing, and a great many around either joined her in laughter or breathed a heavy sigh of relief at the break in the tension.
“All right, I’m being childish.” she admitted. “I’m also reminded why you’re the Key to The Alliance, and I’m not. I loved your speech by the way. I’ve never felt so inspired. You’ve really made me believe that the complete elimination of evil from Kellaran is not only possible, but a practical goal. It didn’t hurt that you have a wonderful speaking style and a beautiful voice.”
“Thank you.” Mark nodded, a bit sheepishly.
“I also was inspired.” one of the gargoyles stated in a gravelly voice, with a grin that revealed a startling amount of sharply pointed gray teeth between his protruding tusks. “Though the complete elimination of evil will require that we drag everyone in Serminak here and press their snarling faces against the Truthstone as they swear Osbald’s Oath under the strongest Compulsions ever cast! Of course that’s fine by me, and I’m eager to get started at it, but it will take a while.
“By the way, I’m Gershkulp. Like most of the words in our language, if you try to pronounce it without any vowels between the consonants, you’ll be pretty close. My companions and I are what you might call the young up-and-comers of the Kwetkerthok political and military communities, here for the meeting as aides and secretaries and what not, now released from duty to enjoy this fine gathering.
“Before I go on, shall I have food or drink brought for any of you?”
“Thank you, Gershkulp.” Talia smiled. “I’ll just have cold water, unless you have a small glass of snowflower elixir, or bumbleberry wine?”
“For today’s meeting, we have all the more popular kinds of refreshment from every nation. I’m sure we’d have the bumbleberry, if not the snowflower.”
“I’ll have cold apple juice, thank you.” Mark told him.
To his surprise, Povon ordered hot cinnamon tea, Silaran and Equemev asked for cold ale, and Kragorram asked for the strongest grain liquor available.
As the giants, dwarves and other gargoyles nearby ordered things Mark had never heard of, often in other languages and with words he couldn’t pronounce, Kragorram chuckled. “It doezn’t get me drunk, if that’z what you’re zmiling about. But it taztez nize, and it’z good fuel for the fire, which reduzez how much hunting and lounging I have to do.”
Gershkulp took the last order of the four groups around him, nodded, and announced; “I’ve sent your orders, and they’ll be brought here in a few moments.”
“Thank you, Gershkulp.” Mark smiled. “Other than that, you had something you wished to say?”
“I do. We were noting that yours is a multiracial force, and a multiracial nation, so we were wondering if either were open to a few Kwetkerthoks.”
“Our nation certainly is, but it’ll be a few days of organization before we have the infrastructure to start allowing immigration, or even visits of more than a few hours. We’ll have more openings in our support corps soon after that. As for our strike force, it has just come under the tutelage of the Eldest, so I’ll have to ask him about that. Even if he says yes, we have a lot of training to do as individuals and as a sextet, so it’ll be a while before we add any new members. When we do, we’ll likely only add two from each race at most, a male and a female.”
“A wizard and a warrior, young and bright and strong in their ability, like yourselves.” Overlord Senchak interjected with a nod. “I understand that. A force that equally represents the genders and the races. I can think of a few pairs of Kleti who would qualify. They would be eager for the chance to fight with you, and I would gladly detach them to your service, when and if you would welcome them.”
“I can say the same of the Shiganzhu.” Emeroth nodded. “Fate swirls around you both, and if I were not Empress, I’d apply to your company myself!”
“Ah. I feel the same, though I’m too old for that.” Senchak smiled through his thick beard. “I can still swing an axe, but we have younger and stronger that do it better now.”
“From what I’ve heard, you gave a mighty account of yourself in your Arena of Government yesterday, old warrior.” Emeroth laughed.
“Thank you, Lady Emeroth.” Senchak chuckled, and bowed. “Coming from a fighter of your abilities as they were reported to me, that means much. And I suppose I did all right, for I slew four conspirators and wounded a few more without taking a scratch. Now if only all battles were that short, I would still be a warrior! As it was, I was so winded at the end, I felt like I’d run up every step in Princess Waakeen’s elven treehome! And we fought for only five minutes, or thereabout!”
“Then you must be neglecting your training, for you seem strong enough still to me!” Emeroth laughed. “Of course I understand that. With the demands of leadership, I have barely enough training time to keep my stroke smooth, and I know my own endurance isn’t what it was, or what it should be.”
“That’s the way of it, all right.” Senchak chuckled. “Five hundred things to do every day, four hundred left unfinished every night, five hundred new ones the next morning.”
“Are your positions hereditary, like those of the kings of the humans, or appointed, like the princes of elves?” Equemev asked.
“A bit of both, among the Kleti.” Senchak explained. “We recognize that the best thing you can give your child is the training and experience of your trade. Thus I train my own son at my side in statecraft and warcraft, and the value of that training is recognized. Thus he is expected to be the best-trained candidate for the lordship of our clan, and when I should die, or abdicate and retire, or be removed by our people, he will likely be Clanlord for much of his life. But, if the majority of our people come to think that their Clanlord is a fool, and that someone else would be a better choice, this will be decided by consensus.
“The Clanlords of all the clans meet regularly at the Arena of Government of the Overclan. Which clan is Overclan, and therefore which Clanlord is Overlord, is decided among them, also by consensus.
“My! This is such a wonderfully diplomatic language!” the great dwarf laughed. “It makes us sound so civilized!”
“How do you mean?” Equemev politely inquired.
“Well, when Kleti gather to reach consensus, there are several distinct stages to the process.” Senchak chuckled. “The first involves hours of speechmaking and feasting. Then, when everyone with prepared statements has given them, there follows a few hours of argument over the various points. A very informal debate among all the attendees, you might say, lubricated with copious amounts of mead and ale. Then, if it’s obvious that everyone agrees, the ranking lord makes a declaration to that effect. If there is still no consensus, drinking and arguing may continue for days. Positions become solidified among like-minded groups of delegates, and the most forceful or eloquent spokespersons for each position rise to dominance of their groups. The others become spectators for a time, and the debate becomes more focused. If no opposing spokespersons can convince the others, it may come to blows between them, and fists and feet and teeth will fly, and perhaps there will be a victor, and that’s the end of it. Perhaps the entire assembly will erupt into unarmed violence, and one side will prevail, and that’s the end of it. If that goes on for too long, someone will eventually stand on a table, draw their axe, and call for order, so to speak. If they get it, that decides it. If someone else draws their own axe and steps up to challenge, the rest may stop and watch, and that decides it. The entire assembly may draw steel and have at it, but that seldom happens, perhaps only once every two or three centuries.
“Only one question is ever debated during each meeting, and while the proceedings continue, the doors are barred from within
and without. None may enter and none may leave, the privacies are within the arena, food and drink are passed in through windows too small to allow the passage of a person, and the delegates serve themselves.
“One way or another, the question is decided and the declaration made before the meeting ends and the doors open. Many Kleti from all over Kletiuk will have avidly watched the proceedings via Revealings, which are transmitted Illusions. The final declaration is almost never questioned by the rest of our populace, and that is the key to the effectiveness of our form of government.
“All this may seem somewhat extreme to those of other cultures, but this system has prevented war among the Kleti for thousands of years. And for a people with our temperament, that’s saying something.” Senchak finished.
“How fascinating!” Equemev nodded.
“Indeed.” Emeroth smiled. “My own position is decided somewhat differently. Most of the aristocracy of Shiganzhu society is still inherited, and thus I was born Lady Emeroth Kezhulpa. The great families still control vast holdings, but they do not rule, and are subject to the same law as everyone else.
“The four empires of the Shiganzhu are meritocracies. All those who wish to be emperor or empress are extensively tested in a great tournament, held in each empire every five years. Events include tests of knowledge, wizardry, and mathematical ability, speeches and interviews before banks of judges, debates between candidates on ethics, administration and diplomacy, individual combat both armed and unarmed, and candidates who are still in contention during the final round of competition are tested in command of troops and naval vessels during war games.
“If you win the tournament, you become absolute ruler of an empire for five years. Then you must compete again to hold the crown, with no special advantage for having won the last time. I first won when I was twenty-six, among the youngest to do so, and I recently won for the fourth time, so now I can concentrate on my duty for at least another five years. This last victory was the toughest, I don’t mind telling you. The candidates are better each time, and while my mind and leadership ability are still improving, my body is doing the opposite. I barely placed fourteenth in unarmed combat this year, and only tenth with a blade. Only my first place scores in wizardry and statecraft gave me the overall win, I think.”
“Ha! You were top five in thirty-seven events! Your aggregate scores were unapproachable!” the largest of her companions laughed with a booming voice as deep as Mark’s, as he rejoined his empress from the gathering of military commanders.
“This is Mezomil.” Emeroth smiled, waving up at the five and a fifth meter tall fellow. He was going a bit gray in the temples of his sandy brown hair, but still moved comfortably in his polished steel and black armor, a black cloak thrown over his shoulders. “He’s won the armed and unarmed combat events at every Tournament of Verzaclon since before I was born, and never placed lower than third in the war games, which he won outright last time as well. He’s also Military Secretary in my government. Those of us who win the crown usually pick winners of events, or categories of events, as advisors in their specialty.
“That Yazadril’s a formidable little fellow!” Mezomil reported. “He sucked every detail of our forces and deployments out of my brain in a moment, and did the same with the rest of the commanders as well! Then he had a plan, as quick as if he’d had a year to think about it! He’s formed mixed companies for both defense and attack, reassigning units to new postings all over the world, from a few individuals to legions in size! Over a fifth of the alliance’s military were thus reassigned to mobile forces, and he’s building defensive formations around every major military target with more layers than an onion! And it’s all traps within traps, warriors hidden by spells, spells hidden by warriors, tricky and cunning thinking, every bit of it!
“And if he had to step into the fray, aside from his abilities as a wizard, that sword he wears is enough to make him nearly invincible, despite his tiny stature!”
“Mountainfire, it’s called.” Mark nodded.
“You know him? I thought you were Finitran?” Mezomil asked in surprise.
“My father-in-law, and a friend.” Mark revealed.
“So you are his daughter?” the giant inquired.
“And his protégé, until recently.” Talia smiled. “It’s lucky for me I’ve recently gained many new teachers. I’m afraid my father will be rather busy for a while.”
“Perhaps not.” Mezomil grinned. “He seems to have everything figured out already. He’s seen a heap of battles, that’s certain. It would be hard to surprise him. I envy you your education.
“Actually, he and mother have trained me in general wizardry. He doesn’t like to talk about war with his family, so until recently I knew very little of military matters. He’s probably a far better wizard than he is a commander anyway, as research wizardry is his major interest.”
“That would make him quite a wizard!” Mezomil commented with raised eyebrows.
“He’s First Wizard and First Battle Wizard among the elves, as well as being their First Battle Commander.” Mark told him. “As you say, formidable, though I’d have never guessed it when I first met him. He’s really a very charming and pleasant sort to spend time with.”
“Then he must have shown you a different side than I’ve seen! He took command over there with a will of steel that made me want to ask how high, just in case he should want me to jump!”
“My father’s over eight thousand years old.” Talia smiled. “He has whole extra personalities stored in his mind, ready for use when they’re needed. He once impersonated a human jester for over two hundred years in order to catch an enemy, and when my sister and I were children he would assume that personality to make us laugh. He was like a totally different person then, so complete was his construct of Blik, Jester of Sming. Though I imagine his command persona would be a more stern performance.”
“We’re lucky to have him, during these momentous times.” Senchak nodded.
“Truly.” Talia nodded.
“By the way, Overlord Senchak, was there anything specific you wanted to speak with us about?” Mark asked.
“No, not at all. I just wished to be near, that I might listen and benefit from my leader’s wisdom.”
“I’m not your leader!” Mark laughed. “I really don’t know what we’re supposed to be, really, when it comes to being key to the nexus and all that!”
“Then your understanding of this language must be different than mine!” Senchak stated with raised eyebrows. “We all distinctly heard you named our leaders by Tithian, and you accepted and declared yourselves Those-Who-Lead-By-Suggestion! You acknowledged the title of Keys to The Just Alliance! We all agreed to it! From what Tithian said, it was almost pre-ordained by prophecy! The dreaming dragon’s assessment of you fully supports our choice! And though your wife was included in that naming, it’s obvious that she also looks to you for leadership! Unless you suddenly start sounding much less wise than you have, we would all follow you into hell and holocaust without reservation!
“You have grasped the scepter, you cannot in good conscience set it aside! You have inspired us, and we believe in you! Please don’t tell me you mean to shirk this responsibility!”
“I... I will not shirk it. I just didn’t really realize that I had it.” Mark stammered, shaken and white with his reaction to Senchak’s words.
“You also feel that way?” he asked Emeroth.
“Exactly.” she smirked. “I’m sure we all understood it as Overlord Senchak said, with the obvious exception of yourself. And after the way you dressed me down without injuring my dignity just now, I’m even more sure you’re the one for the job. Unfortunately for you, the qualities that make you right for the job include the humbleness that prevented you from realizing that it was yours.”
“But that’s insane!” Mark protested. “I’m a sixteen year old no one from nowhere who’s stumbled into all
of this like a bull in a crockery, and yesterday morning I was a pauper who owned only what I wore and carried! Surely there are many here who are wiser than I!”
“Yours is crucial new wisdom, of such good nature and insight that none could deny it, so none of the rest of that matters.” Emeroth told him patiently. “Also, I understand that you had a perfect upbringing in an isolated community that was completely free from evil, and that your parents were exceptionally fine people. Then you were tested by severe hardship, and hardened by months of deprivation, then became the first of another race to be accepted by the elves into The Nine Valleys. You married their princess and brought their race together. You may take all that for granted, but the tale of your life is a powerful thing, and it’s helped make you leader of most of the world.
“I can see that it’s a bit of a shock to think that, but take heart. We’ll govern our nations as we always have, and implementing the suggestions you’ve made already will take quite a while. So I doubt you will be asked for your advice very often, for fear that you will morally obligate us to further strains upon our treasuries!”
“I see.” Mark nodded.
“I’m sorry to have shaken you.” Senchak quietly told him. “But the thought that you might step aside gripped my heart with great anxiety. And don’t let Emeroth worry you with her jesting words of strained treasuries. Things have been so prosperous in the world for the last few decades, that every treasury of every nation is bulging with more than enough wealth to implement your suggestions to the full. The merchant consortiums and trades guilds will contribute generously as well, just to show that they’re as important in the world as governments!”
“He’s right, I was only teasing.” Emeroth smiled. “Furthermore, we could all call in a great deal more revenue than we do, if necessary many times more, without exhausting the tax base. Such is the prosperity of the peoples of the world. As Somonik said, the use of wizardry as technology has had a great and beneficial effect on most people’s lives.”
“Huh. I wonder why we never had any magic like that in Shinosa Valley?” Mark mused.
“I understand that only one in a thousand humans are likely to have the capacity for wizardry, and there were only half a hundred where you lived, so it’s unsurprising that none were wizards.” Gershkulp pointed out. “Still, you benefited. The handmade raw materials and traditional finished products your people traded are now comparatively rare in the cities of the world, so they still fetch a fair price if they are of high quality. The items you received in return would have been mostly mass-produced in cities by magically assisted means, and so they were much cheaper. Books, for instance. I’d wager each household in your valley had dozens of books.”
“Oh yes! We had hundreds of them at our house!” Mark agreed.
“Three hundred years ago, a high quality book was worth as much as a good horse, or one-twelfth of its weight in fine gold. Only the very wealthy could afford to own hundreds of them. And a book of that sort, with perfect flowing hand-lettered calligraphy and gold leaf trim and wondrous hand-painted illustrations, which were almost all that were made back then, is still worth almost as much today, and just as many are produced. But now hundreds of times more are made that are affordable and sturdy, basic books made by the thousands with the assistance of magic, and the illustrations may not have brilliant artistry, but they have more realistic accuracy.”
“I see.” Mark nodded. “I realized yesterday that I needed to learn a lot more about the world. I’ve learned a lot here today, that’s for sure.”
“You still look shaken, Your Majesty.” Senchak stated with concern. “Might I advise a mild Tranquility? I assure you, I’d be diplomatically helpless without mine, for the governing of Kleti is generally done at a bellow, and it allows me this calm demeanor that the rest of you use.”
“I was hoping to get away from that, but I suppose realizing that one has become leader of most of the world is rare enough to make this an exception.” Mark stated, almost choking on the words as he activated the tine band.
Then Talia surreptitiously cast a Tranquility on him, and he took a deep breath of relief. “Ahh. That’s better. You know, with that one speech, I might have worked myself out of a job. The world seems a pretty nice place as it is, and I really can’t think of any more improvements I’d like to see beyond the ones I’ve already mentioned.”
Just then King Wosea appeared with a light puff of wind, standing on a meter and a half of air. “Excuse me, I do hope I’m not interrupting.” the gnome stated in his child-like voice. “Prince Mark, we’ve been having quite a debate over there among myself, Prime Wisdom Klirp of the Selkies of Loch Croshia, and Emperor Kevim of the humans of Sming. We’d very much like your viewpoint on the question. May we have a moment of your time?”
“Of course.” Mark nodded.
“That’s the way, boy!” Senchak chuckled, and reached up to give him a friendly slap on the back as Kevim and Klirp made their way over on foot.
Kevim was a man who was short, slim, very dignified looking in ceremonial armor under ornate yellow robes, and quite elderly, with white hair and beard, both short and neat.
Klirp looked much like any other selkie, except for being gray around the muzzle, and having a large, ornate sun symbol bleached into the fur on the front of his neck. Neither Mark nor Talia could tell what gender Klirp was, but Mark found himself assuming he was male, for some reason.
“We’ll step back and clear the view for others.” Emeroth grinned.
Word that he was about to speak on matters of importance spread at the speed of thought, and by the time the principals in the debate had approached, everyone in the huge room had turned to watch, and a few were moving to get a better view.
“In order that my side of the debate not be overly emphasized in our statement of our question, I will not state it.” Wosea told Mark. “Instead, my chronicler Pishtu, who is trained as a neutral observer, will state the question.”
Pishtu appeared floating beside him, a female gnome in a pink dress who looked quite young despite her smooth white hair gathered into an artistic mound atop her head, and held with silver clips.
She smiled shyly at Mark, then consulted a fifteen centimeter wide white disk in her hand, and he noticed that hundreds of tiny black dots were arrayed in strange patterns on it. She tapped it with one tiny fingernail, and the dots shifted, and he realized they were writing of a sort, and the disk was some kind of magic tablet.
“There were several questions posed during the discussion, actually.” she stated, so quietly that she could barely be heard.
Wosea waved at her, and her next words were amplified so all could hear, which startled her for a moment. “It was noted... It was noted that the laws of various nations differ to varying degrees. They differ in strictness and in severity of punishments, and there are acts which are forbidden in some places, while being allowed, or even officially encouraged, in others.
“The first question that arose was, if one is visiting another nation with their mark of passport of The Just Alliance, is one responsible for following the laws of the country one is visiting, or those of one’s homeland?
“The point was then raised that only one set of laws can be the most just, since true justice should be the same for everyone, and therefore all other sets of laws that differ significantly from that one are less just.
“So the next questions were, which laws are just, and which are unjust, and why?
“Then, once just laws are decided upon, what punishments are fair for breaking them?”
“I see.” Mark nodded. “And what were the acts that are forbidden in some places and encouraged in others?”
“Ah.” Pishtu tapped twice on her disk. “Gambling, exchanging sexual favors for monetary gain or procuring persons for same, blood sports and other highly dangerous recreations, various sexual practices including homosexuality, buggery, bestiality, inter-racial sex, consensua
l bondage, consensual infliction of pain and injuries, sex while in view of the public, and sex with those above or below the age of fertility, and finally, the use of various intoxicating or addictive herbs, fungi, elixirs, beverages or spells.”
“All right. I’ll give my views on laws and justice.” Mark told them. “But I’ll warn you now, I think many of you might not like everything I have to say. On the other hand, I wouldn’t speak on these matters if I hadn’t thought about it enough to be sure of the rightness of my opinions.”
“For right now, travelers should be responsible for knowing and following the laws of the places they visit. Nations who accept foreign travelers should allow them to be let off with a warning at their first offense of an illegal act that is allowed in the visitor’s home country, and prosecute them normally beyond that. Both sides give a little.
“But as soon as possible, many of your laws should be changed.
“First off, laws must be understandable for every adult citizen.
“I had to study Finitran law as part of my training as a Ranger, since at my Investiture I swore to uphold it. In general, it was written in terms that are overly grandiose and complex, and often used a great deal of specialized or archaic vocabulary. My father told me that the laws of the empires were even worse in those ways, so much so that the average citizens there couldn’t understand the official wording of the laws of their own countries! This necessitates the hiring of specialized legal advocates in order to effectively accuse, prosecute, or defend oneself in courts of law, and he told me that in many cases, the winner depended not on who was right, but on who could spend the most on advocates! Now, we should have the right to hire an advocate for their skills in presenting and arguing our case, but to absolutely need one to even understand the proceedings is ridiculous! To have a legal case wrongly decided in favor of the wealthiest is injustice of the very worst sort!
“All laws must be written in the simplest, most common terms possible while still containing the true meaning and intent of the law. Every citizen should then be made aware of the law, and take responsibility for knowing it. Again, both sides must give a little.
“There are four types of laws; criminal laws, individual rights, enforcements of responsibility, and safety regulations.
“The most important laws are those that ban crimes. They protect the innocent from harm by evildoers, whether the harm is physical, financial, or to property. There is little disagreement possible among the just about most of those.
“As for emotional harm, the onus is on the aggressive to not offend the sensitive, and on the sensitive to inform the aggressive of their feelings. Take the friendly slap on the back Overlord Senchak gave me a moment ago. Like many, I found it to be a welcome act of camaraderie, but many would be disturbed or offended by it. It’s up to him to try to know whether I’d be offended by it, and if he knew I would be, it should be illegal for him to do so. On the other hand, if I had been offended by it, it would be my responsibility to make him aware of that, and if I failed to do so, he could not be blamed for doing it again. The same principle applies to similar acts of friendly aggression, hugs and kisses for greetings or farewells, as well as other types of touching of a gentle or sexual nature, and practical jokes. It should be illegal to do such things to those who are known to be intolerant of them, and those who are intolerant of them must let their feelings be known.
“As for unfriendly insults, if they are truths or opinions, the person being insulted can insult the other person in return, or they can leave, or they can ask the insulter to leave, if the person being insulted legally controls the premises. If the insults are harmful lies about named persons or groups, that’s slander, which should always be illegal.
“No one has the right to answer insults with violence, no matter how much they feel their honor has been outraged! The hotheads of the world may curse me for saying that, but that is the only just way! No matter how much you’ve been insulted, you don’t have the right to strike back with anything beyond your own insults! Breaking the peace by striking the first blow is criminal assault, no matter how outrageous the provocation!
“The only exception is honorably challenged and accepted combat as sport. One should have the right to challenge another to non-lethal combat, but only if the combat takes place within a formal arena, and there is a referee present to end it when victory is accomplished, as well as a Healer to deal with injuries. And if a challenge to combat is refused, and the challenger has no grounds against the other for legal prosecution, that’s it, the challenger will just have to go home and get over it! Legal prosecution, insult, and honorable challenge to combat, those are the only three things one can legally do against another in a just society!
“Furthermore, to prevent harassment, and to prevent the meek from being constantly driven away by the aggressive, I would limit the right to offer unreturned insults and unanswered or refused challenges to five minutes! In other words, if an aggressor is insulting or challenging another, and no insult is returned or challenge accepted within five minutes, the aggressor must then cease insulting and challenging that person from that point ever onward, or be guilty of the crime of harassment!
“Some people enjoy friendly insults and other teasing banter of that sort. Others do not, in which case they must let their intolerance for it be known, and at that point any who insult them in any manner, friendly or not, are limited to the five minutes of it allowed before it is declared to be harassment.
“Though it’s tempting to do so, we can’t make lying completely illegal. We can’t be dragging every fisherman with an outrageously exaggerated fish story before a justicer. If the telling of a lie causes harm, then it can be prosecuted as the appropriate crime. For example, if I know that a floor is unsafe, and I tell someone that it’s sound, and they then fall through it, I should be prosecuted for assault, not for lying. The lie in that case would be considered the weapon in the assault, the same as if my words had cast a spell that weakened the floor. If a lie causes no harm, the most that can be done about it is to publicly prove that it’s a lie, and to publicly expose the one who told it as a liar.
“Other laws protect our rights to do that which is healthy or harmless, and prevent others from impeding us from normal activities. This is the legal basis of personal freedom, and we can all agree on that, I’m sure.
“We each have legally enforceable responsibilities to provide for the needs of ourselves and our dependents, and to contribute toward the common good of those we co-operate with in order to have what we couldn’t get on our own. These include seeing to our children’s education and well being, paying taxes in exchange for government services, paying dues to trade guilds we may be members of, and fulfilling our part in whatever contracts and agreements we’ve voluntarily entered into.
“The last category of laws are safety regulations. Laws that deal with the risk of dangerous activities that may be harmful, and may not, depending on the circumstances of their performance. Safety regulations must reflect three factors that affect any dangerous activity; the likelihood that something will go wrong due to a specific activity, the number of people who could be affected, and the likely severity of the injury or damage that could result.
“These obviously include traffic laws for waterways and roadways, cleanliness standards for food establishments, fire prevention laws, and building codes. They also include every single one of the acts that Pishtu listed as being banned in some places and encouraged in others, with the exception of consensually inflicted injury.
“I think it should always be illegal to purposefully inflict lethal, disabling, or disfiguring injuries upon the innocent, even if they beg you to do it.
“It must be illegal to purposefully inflict even minor injury upon a child.
“We cannot take away the rights of citizens to voluntarily risk minor injury to themselves or each other, or we’ll be running around trying to patrol for tattoos, overeati
ng, almost every sport people play, going out in the winter with your coat unbuttoned, and many other matters that are more properly the concerns of parents and spouses than of the law.
“As well, we cannot try to eliminate every tiny risk of serious injury or death to one or a few. My father once told me of a Finitran Ranger who was struck by lightning on a calm and sunny day with only a few clouds in a mostly blue sky. The fellow survived, but the point of it is that anything you do carries a tiny risk of death, even sitting at home and doing nothing.
“We must regulate any activity that carries even a tiny risk of serious injury or death to many people. Few activities truly risk disaster, but they include working with poisons, fuels, wizardry, and large constructions. These activities are valuable, and so they are allowed, but they are dangerous, and so they are regulated.
“We must also regulate activities with a serious risk of serious injury or death to one or a few people. This is already the case with dangerous activities such as being a ranger or tradesman. The risk of regulated activities is reduced to a reasonable extent through education, training, and certification or licensing, as well as by mandating reasonable safety precautions.
“Take an activity that’s incredibly dangerous but still legal and unregulated. Mountain climbing and testing one’s ability to swim to great depths are good examples. By anyone’s standards, they must fall into that last classification of risk; serious risk of serious injury or death to one or a few. My father once told me that a greater portion of those who climbed mountains for sport got killed doing it than any other activity that people voluntarily took part in. And, that those who made mistakes at it were as likely to kill their companions as themselves. Yet it’s completely unregulated in every nation. At the same time, other activities with almost no risk of injury or death, such as chewing bhalma stems, are illegal in most places.
“I think mountain climbing should be regulated in the same way as being a ranger is. Then mountain climbers would have to start off with expert instructors on less challenging climbs, and would increase their certifications with their skills, and would not be licensed to climb the most difficult peaks until they were experts at the sport. Their safety equipment and precautions would be standardized and mandated, and their gear would be inspected regularly. All would be trained to deal with avalanches, cold sickness, height sickness, and typical climbing injuries, and trained to properly provision and supply for their various expeditions. In this way, most climbing injuries and deaths would be avoided. The other highly dangerous physical recreations should be dealt with in the same way.
“blood sports are dealt with both as a licensed activity and as challenged combat. There must always be statements of limits, a declared combat arena, a qualified referee who is unfailingly obeyed by the combatants, and a qualified Healer. We hope to eliminate evil, but there is never a guarantee that it could not return, so we cannot let combat skills be lost. Combat is very dangerous, and people will get hurt, but we cannot allow honorable challenges to be lethal. So, inexperienced fighters can issue challenges to unarmed combat only, once they can prove they have enough control to fight effectively and still refrain from the use of a lethal blow. When they have sufficiently mastered more lethal weapons to be trusted to withhold the killing move with them, they can challenge with them against others of the same stature. These are standard military procedures already.
“Combat training should be limited to those who have sworn to justice and wear the marking, and as many of those as possible should be encouraged to engage in it. Thus the population would not be as completely dependent on the military for their defense.
“The rest of the questionable acts that Pishtu listed involve either sexuality or addiction. Of course it’s illegal to force or coerce anyone to experience either of those.
“Voluntary sexual behaviors carry the risks of disease, unplanned pregnancy, physical harm, and emotional harm. To be licensed for each sexual act, each person should require the approval of their qualified and sworn Healer, to be sure they’re physically and emotionally ready and prepared for it, as well as being fully educated about each act. Their Healer can cast pregnancy controls if breeding is not desired at that time. Licenses to sell sex should be granted with the same procedure. If you swear an oath to only have sex with your spouse, like a Finitran vow of marriage, you lose your license to have sex with anyone but your spouse, unless they release you from the oath.
“Addictive behaviors carry the risk of physical harm to oneself, and financial harm to oneself and to others. Each addictive substance and type of gambling carries different risks, and the risks of each activity must be individually evaluated and applied to its licensing procedures. Except for gambling, one would need a regular approval from their Healer to maintain their license for addictive activity. For instance, to be licensed to drink ale or chew bhalma stems, one should have to show that they know what their effects on mind and body really are, what their safe dosages are, what the signs of addiction and overdose are, what other activities it is unsafe to perform while under their influence, as well as having clearance for the activity from their Healer. One would lose their license for an addictive activity if their healer detected that it was making them sick, if they exceeded their maximum dosage, if they committed a crime or serious safety violation while under its influence, or if they spent so much time or money on it that they failed to fulfill any of their legal responsibilities.
“Evaluation of risk is an activity that will require the work of experienced Healers, oddsmakers, statisticians, people of commerce, and justicers. But eventually laws will treat the risk of all dangerous activities realistically, and so they will be just.
“I know that various races may differ in their tolerance of risk and danger, so you will pass laws that reflect that, but at least you can all share the same realistic judgment of how dangerous an activity is, even if you don’t agree on how dangerous an activity you will allow. In this, visitors to other nations should have to follow the limitations of their own license as well as the local laws, as I outlined earlier.
“Now, to reduce the cost of introducing all this licensing, I think you should each have a single bureau of risk licensing. It would issue a general license to risk to each citizen, listing all the dangerous activities and the level of risk they are licensed to engage in.
“You should also be able to free up a great deal of your judicial budgets by closing all your jails. When a crime is committed, have both the complainant and the accused swear a binding oath to truth and justice, then establish the facts and the evidence. When they are both bound to justice, perpetrators and those they offend against should be able to work out a just restitution between them, perhaps with atonement, but perhaps with forgiveness. If they can’t agree, then the court can offer mediation and sentencing suggestions, and make a final decision if nothing else works. Perpetrators who are bound to justice should need no other coercion to ensure that they fulfill the terms of their parole.
He paused for a long moment. “I think that’s it. Thank you for your patience.”
“You’ve only left out one thing, young man!” Emperor Kevim of Sming stated sternly. “Common decency! There’s more to the morality of law than practical reduction of risk!”
“No, there’s not.” Mark stated firmly.
“What about bestiality, fornication in public places, fornication with children?!”
“As for bestiality, one would need the approval of both one’s Healer and a qualified animal healer to assure that no diseases would be transmitted between the person and the animal, and that the animal would not be harmed or unduly disturbed by the activity. I’ll admit that the thought turns my stomach, but that doesn’t mean we can outlaw it if it does no harm.”
“That’s preposterous! How can it not unduly disturb the animal?!” Kevim demanded.
“Well, Mother Dobbim had a stringy old ram and two huge sows that she ke
pt in the same pen.” Mark chuckled. “Whenever the sows were at the trough, the ram would mount them with great vigor. The sows appeared to neither notice nor care, since it didn’t affect their eating, which was their main concern. This proves to me that some animals would be rather tolerant of such things.
“In the case of fornication with children, no qualified and justice-bound Healer would approve of the licensing of a child for most of those activities, since they would be physically harmful for persons of insufficient development even if it was with their eager consent, so those would still be illegal.
“The other rights of adult citizens, besides the right to engage in reasonable risk, should also be granted to those who are qualified and ready to assume their legal responsibilities, rather than at some arbitrary chronological age. Thus the more mature of the young would not be unfairly denied opportunity because of their youth, and the least mature would not endanger the rest of us by engaging in activities they aren’t qualified to do, yet are allowed to, due only to having reached a certain age.
“As for fornication in public, I was raised to think it unspeakably outrageous, but I still see no valid reason to outlaw it, as long as the participants are licensed for the activity, and they’re not blocking traffic or otherwise infringing on the rights of others.”
“And how about creating a disturbance?!” Kevim demanded. “Can I not prevent people from fornicating in their front yards, though a huge mob would quickly form in the street?!”
“If they invited the mob to watch, they have indeed created a disturbance with an unlicensed public performance, the same as if they’d stopped traffic with a sword juggling show. If the mob haven’t been invited to watch, and they’re impeding those who wish to pass, then they must be urged to move along, and charged with blocking traffic if they refuse, the same as would be done if they’d stopped to watch a house fire.” Mark patiently explained.
“And what of my emotional harm if I’m sickened and outraged by their display?” Kevim retorted.
“You can choose not to watch. Don’t you see, if there’s no harm done other than your outrage, it’s only harm by perception!” Mark insisted.
“Harm by perception! You’ll have to explain that a bit further!”
“All right. I might pass a law preventing people from fornicating in the deep forest, but not in their front yards in a just and secure community. In the forest around Shinosa there are wild cats, nothing so huge as Stripe here, but still big enough to kill and eat a person if they get a chance. They don’t do it very often, but they instinctively know when you’re most vulnerable. Most everyone they do kill is either fornicating or leaving a crap at the time, because that’s when you’re most vulnerable to attack from a wild cat. Pardon me for saying, but there it is, and every Ranger in Finitra knows it. Such things have been happening to people during such vulnerable moments for as long as we’ve been around, and that’s why most people will always feel a need to seek a private and safe place, out of view, for such activities. Such practical avoidance of risk is at the core of your abhorrence for public fornication, but if there’s no real risk of harm, your abhorrence is misplaced.
“Now let’s say that tomorrow you pick up a rose and prick your finger on a thorn, and your finger gets infected and swells up, and eventually turns black and falls off. It’s very rare, but it has happened. By the old thinking, rather than making a rational evaluation of the risk of roses, you might simply outlaw them from your empire in an attempt to eliminate the risk completely. But many people like roses, and would still grow them and buy them if they thought they could get away with it. When selling roses is illegal, if a rose seller if robbed, he can’t go to the city guard about it, so he has to hire a bone-breaker to get his money back. Soon the illegal market for roses is staffed by violent criminals. Every copper piece spent on roses escapes the tax collector, and instead goes to providing further power for criminals. Honest citizens begin to think; ‘Well no wonder they made roses illegal; everyone who has anything to do with them is an evil ruffian! Roses are obviously vile things!’
“Then a young man buys a rose for his sweetheart, emboldened by the romantic yet forbidden nature of the act. They get caught with it. They are disgraced, they go to prison, their lives are ruined. Because he gave her a rose, an act which any reasonable risk evaluation would rate as almost completely harmless. Yet the harm they suffer is real, and they suffer it because the act was perceived to be more harmful than it was. Thus; harm by perception, or more accurately, harm by false perception, since it’s the mistaken evaluation of risk that leads to the harm.
“This injustice happens to people every day, for such things as homosexuality and chewing bhalma stems. And yes, for being caught fornicating under the bushes in public parks.
“I bet you have a law in your country against going about in public naked, even though it presents no risk of harm, am I right?”
“You are.” Kevim nodded.
“If Somonik visits your country, are you going to arrest him for not wearing pants?”
Almost everyone there couldn’t help but look at Somonik, then mentally picture the ancient white dragon wearing trousers.
Mark let a wave of quiet laughter pass around the room before he continued.
“The law has to be equal for all. If you admit that there’s no harm in Somonik not wearing pants in Sming, there’s no harm for anyone else to do it either. Sometimes we just have to put up with the ways of others that we don’t like, unless we can prove harm or excessive risk, and that’s all there is to it. Sorry, but there it is.
“You’ve sworn to justice on the Truthstone. Can you truly deny the rightness of what I’m saying?”
Kevim’s brows furrowed for a moment, then smoothed, and suddenly he was laughing quietly to himself. “No. I truly wish I could deny it, young fellow, but I can’t refute your arguments. Well spoken.”
“Yes!” Talia exclaimed as she clenched a fist, then blushed bright red at her outburst.
“Yes indeed!” Wosea exclaimed in glee, clapping his tiny hands rapidly together, and many there joined him in applauding. It was obvious that Mark had supported his position in the debate, and he was delighted. “You recorded all of that?” he asked of Pishtu, who vigorously nodded.
Mark blushed and gulped his apple juice, as Talia hugged him warmly.
“Prince Mark, I must ask you, how did you think of all of that?” Kevim asked with a smile.
“Well it all started when I was walking through the forest one day, not long after I’d left home. As I often did then, I was weeping for the recent deaths of my family, and thinking about how unfair the whole world was.
“And I kind of asked myself; ‘Well, what would you have it be? What should be done to fix the world?’
“I walked alone for another five and a half months after that, so I had a lot of time to think about it, and a lot of it is based on things I’ve learned from the elves over the last three days. It never really came together like that before just now, as a complete policy I mean. Till now it was mostly just a bunch of separate conversations I had with myself to keep from losing my mind to monotony.”
“Six months, trekking through unsurveyed mountains alone, without equipment.” Kevim marveled. “What an ordeal that must have been, but it forged you from unfinished ore to a fine blade. I imagine the conspiracy expected that any survivors would flee to the east, toward the closest settlements, and Finitra proper.”
“No, I’d never been out of the mountains, they’re home to me. I know their dangers and how to fight in them. I’d never run to the lowlands if I feared attack. I went south, the better to escape the magic blizzard.”
“That likely saved your life, and I’m most glad it did.”
“Thank you.” Mark nodded, and heaved a huge sigh. “Well, I’d like to thank you all for your courtesy, and for listening to me. But I must admit that the tension of all that public speaking has taken
it out of me, and Talia feels much the same. Besides that, we were married just yesterday, and should be on our honeymoon right now. So, I think we’ll bid you all good night.”
He turned to his draconian and equine companions. “Feel free to stay and mingle if you want, or you’re welcome to come back with us and continue visiting.”
“I’d rather we went with you.” Povon told him. “I’m really enjoying this feeling of friendship and camaraderie, almost as much as Kragorram’s love. I’ve never felt anything like either one.”
“Yez, we’ll come with you.” Kragorram nodded.
“We came as a company, we should depart as one.” Silaran declared.
“All right then, Silaran, if you’ll bring us home?”
“I’m afraid I cannot, for I don’t know where we are. Only the makers of this hall and Somonik know where it is, though I can tell we’re deep underground. And only Somonik can send us home from here. Security precautions, you understand.”
“I’m ready to Translocate you.” Somonik told them psionicly.
“I see.” Mark nodded. “Well goodnight everyone. I hope we’ll see you all again soon.”
“Go ahead Somonik, and thank you.” Talia called, and suddenly they were in the back yard of The Living Palace.