Read Blessings Of A Curse - USA Promotional Edition - Book One of The Nexus Of Kellaran Trilogy Page 23

Chapter 21

  They ended up procrastinating until the last minute, and then having to hurry to be ready in time.

  Once they were, Talia Translocated them.

  They arrived in the midst of a huge celebration, surrounded by the Assembly of The Just Alliance and their families and friends, in an outdoor oval amphitheater that must have been the largest stadium on Kellaran. The infield was five hundred yards long, and the gigantic banks of seating rose one above another five hundred feet high, filled with people of every description. Everywhere there were scattered tables where people of every type sat before mountains of food and barrels of drink of every kind, with plenty of open lawn left between for mixing and mingling, and for dancing to the joyous music that was heard throughout the great facility. Glowing circular blue Translocation Stages like the one they’d just arrived in were scattered about, marked with warnings. All the way around the top of the gigantic grandstand Kleti-style Revealings a hundred feet high showed other people celebrating at other huge gatherings all over Kellaran. And Mark realized by the size of the doors and seats both tiny and huge that the facility was literally gigantic, being of Shiganzhu design, so they must be in Felion somewhere.

  Kleti Spell-Mongers wandered about in the crowd, transmitting what they saw to other places and providing exuberant commentary, as did others who transmitted the experience via broadcasted Readings.

  Mark, Talia and Dalia looked around for a moment, then a pretty young Kleti Spell-Monger recognized them and hurried over, the glowing red stone on her chest showing that she was transmitting a Revealing. “The Keys to The Just Alliance, and Princess Dalia! Good day and greetings, from the people of Kellaran, most of whom are watching right now!”

  Mark laughed as he noticed the great Revealings at the top of the stadium quickly switch to a view of himself and the radiant twin elves. “Good morning, my fine friends! At least it’s morning for me, as I just woke up! Welcome to a bright new day, whatever time it is where you are!

  “Other than that, I’m afraid I’ll need some breakfast before I’ll be capable of the eloquence this wondrous occasion surely deserves. It’s sure nice to say good morning to everyone in the world at once though! For now, I see my grandmother beckoning me, and so is the big stack of berry cakes on the table there!”

  “Thank you everyone, for everything you’ve done for our victorious effort!” Talia grinned as she gave a friendly wave.

  “Hi! She’s Talia!” Dalia laughed as they turned away, clearing up a great deal of confusion, since Mark had one of them on each arm, and they were informally dressed for summer weather, and so wore no signs of office.

  “Thank you for talking to us!” the broadcaster grinned.

  Yazadril and Colonel Markhan Longstrider the Third presided over a gigantic long table occupied by everyone in Mark and Talia’s families. Most of those they knew by name were seated close by, or stood gathered in small bunches around the table, most with a glass or a small plate in hand.

  “Welcome to your victory celebration!” Bezedil called over the music and the many happy voices.

  “Those are my mother’s aunt and uncle! I haven’t seen them in months!” Talia happily pointed out.

  “And these new faces seated with us are your cousins’ spouses and children, and some relatives of mine.” Mark’s grandmother announced.

  “There was ample room, so we thought to bring as many of your family together as we could find on short notice!” Yazadril chuckled, as Alilia filled the newcomers plates and smilingly graced them with a quick kiss.

  “Most fine!” Mark laughed. “Good morning everyone, and welcome to… Where are we, anyway?”

  “The Arena of The Empire, in Verzaclon City.” Talia told him. “It was here that Empress Emeroth has won the throne of Verzaclon on four occasions.”

  “It’s the biggest arena on Kellaran!” Dilimon added as he and Yalla moved to stand at Mark’s shoulder, their hands filled with glasses and rolled peach-filled sweetened flatbreads.

  “I suspected that!” Mark chuckled, and set to with gusto.

  He paused in his enthusiastic consumption a few minutes later, but only long enough to ask Yazadril; “Any significant developments?”

  “The gods have shown themselves to some, and in every case it was an act of Healing. They have healed all the sick and the wounded, and brought peace to the traumatized. And I do mean all of them. That includes thousands who were in the Great Link and were driven to the brink of breakdown by sharing in your deaths and Talia’s suffering during your battle with Zarkog, and some suffered from being Linked or contributing power beyond their healthy limits. Also thousands who have been hurt or shattered by the events of the war all over Kellaran, including those Serminaki who were near the battles in Zarkog’s capitol, and his wizards who were stricken when we breached their Wards. Thanks to the gods, every person who lives at this moment is well.

  “Quewanak appeared physically in The Hall of the Assembly two hours ago, after we had decided the location and timing of the festivities and their activities. He tells us the gods will appear here at an appropriate point in the agenda, and that they will officially announce the ending of the withdrawal.

  “Every Serminaki we could catch has been sworn to justice, and that’s almost all of them. They’ve been encouraged to mingle among us all over the alliance, and to take part in enjoying the festivities. The rest will be caught by tomorrow.

  “Crafters and builders from all over The Just Alliance have gone to Serminak to help rebuild their battle damage, as many of their crafters have volunteered to help rebuild ours. It is a great act of healing and reconciliation.

  “It was found that many of Serminak’s young dragons have been suffering from an abnormal lack of parental attention due to Zarkog’s forced breeding programs, and all of the worst-off have been fostered to a Xervian dragon. Almost every Draconian adult in Xervia is caring for a young dragon who was deprived of affection or forced to be a warrior from too young an age, and most care for two or three.

  “Once most of that was in motion, those in Venak saw how things were developing, and decided to take the prudent course. They have astronomers who were capable of confirming what we told them of the approach of the demons. That helped decide King Pirkan, heir to the late King Renem, who was killed in an insurrection by those in Venak who objected to attacking The Just Alliance on Zarkog’s order. Pirkan has requested entry into The Just Alliance for Venak, and he has been sworn. Most of his citizens have agreed to be sworn as well. He will probably force it on the rest by use of the Compulsion stones, and we will not impede him. He is eager to make amends for his late great-uncle King Sorrin’s crimes on behalf of Zarkog’s conspiracy.

  “In about an hour there will be a few official addresses made to mark the victory, and everyone hopes you and Talia will consent to speak. I imagine the gods will make their appearance after everyone has spoken.

  “General Zwak has asked to speak on behalf of the Sylvan. He says he has a proposal that will suit the sensibilities of his people and The Just Alliance’s as well. I’m eager to hear what he has to say, since I’m one of many who doesn’t think that returning Zarkog to power is the best choice of government for Serminak. Many who’ve lost loved ones due to his actions would not stand for it, despite his having been sworn to justice, and I don’t blame them. I remember all too well how I felt when we thought Dalia was dead. If you feel he should be returned to power when he is ultimately responsible for the atrocity at Shinosa Valley, you’re a more generous soul than I.”

  “Luckily, I don’t have to say.” Mark nodded after a swig of berry juice. “I’ll leave that for cooler heads to decide, and I don’t plan on offering a suggestion one way or another, because frankly, I’d just as soon think about him as little as possible.”

  “That’s how I feel as well.” Talia added with a bit of a shiver. “Is there anything more pleasant to report, or to discuss?”

  “
I have something.” a familiar voice contributed, and a tiny, glistening white dragon only four feet long landed carefully on the table in front of Nemia, in a clearing between the dishes. “The gods have found the secret to Healing the wounds of demon-fire.”

  “Somonik? Is that you?” Nemia asked in amazement. “You look wonderful! And I see you’ve mastered the Shrink spell!”

  “Yes. It required ninety Draconian gods and nine gods of other races working together to Heal me, but I am restored. It feels even more wonderful than it looks! To be free of pain after enduring it for so long is ecstasy itself!

  “And if you look around, you will notice many people who have altered their apparent size in order to mix with other races more comfortably. There, a giant who has Shrunk to a third her height dances with a selkie, and there is a gnome who is six feet tall, due to his size-altering Simulacrum. And that female hovering there is not a three foot tall elf with pretty and decorative artificial wings, that is the queen of the sprites, who has not yet chosen a personal name that is pronounceable by any of us. She casts her fully-sensory Simulacrum from the safety of her distant location in Xervia, but experiences every sensation of being here in person, and in a more appropriate size for such experiences as shaking hands and offering hugs. A delightful experience she shared with me a few minutes ago, I might add. Her aura is almost as pleasant as a goddess’s, even through a Simulacrum.”

  “Well congratulations, my handsome friend!” Mark told him with a broad smile.

  “Thank you. And now I intend to ask Grakonexikaldoron to dance in flight with me. I haven’t danced since the demon war. And you know, I may just ask her to be my mate for an eon or two!”

  “You have my blessing, old friend!” Yazadril laughed.

  “Good! I may need it!” Somonik laughed as he launched himself carefully enough to not wrinkle the tablecloth, and flew off, darting with agility through the crowd with crisp snaps of his wings like an exuberant adolescent in an obstacle course.

  “There’s one who truly trusts his flying, considering that he still weighs many tons.” Alilia commented with admiration.

  “Ah, he is reborn, and his joy is wondrous to see.” Sana laughed, shaking her thick gray hair in ripples. “As is yours, my fine young grandson.”

  “I was healed by a goddess last night, Grandmother.” Mark chuckled. “And enjoyed many other glorious experiences as well. And I had an extremely pleasant wake-up call too!”

  “That would explain it.” Colonel Longstrider nodded, and grinned as he availed himself of a frosty mug of ale.

  Mark’s cousin Dren turned to his girlfriend Mandri, and grinned. “Maybe Somonik has a point. Why get married, when we can simply agree to have a quick fling for the next two million years or so? I mean really, you’re sure to be bored of me by then!”

  “You still have to marry me.” Mandri insisted with a matching grin. “It’ll take me at least three million years to become bored with you, and when I do, I’ll ship you off to join the navy and have tawdry affairs behind your back while you’re at sea.”

  “Oh you will, will you?” he laughed. “Do you still think it’ll work now that you’ve spoiled your plan by telling me?”

  “Are you serious? You can’t even remember where you left your socks last night! There’s no chance that you’ll remember this conversation in three million years!”

  “I see. I guess I’ll have to write it down on something.” he smiled mischievously as he rummaged in this pockets. “Now let’s see, I don’t have any paper, but I can write it inside this little box I have. The lining is white, but first I’ll have to empty it of all the stuff inside.”

  He opened the little blue silk-covered box, took out a gold ring bearing a diamond, and said; “Here, could you hold this for me for a minute?” as he handed it to Mandri.

  The girl almost went crazy! She started jumping around and screaming in joy while trying to inspect the ring at the same time, then jumped into his lap and frantically hugged him, then jumped off and bounced around some more, waving the ring overhead like a battle trophy and cheering at the top of her lungs.

  “All right, give it back.” Dren chuckled as he stood and deftly snatched the ring from her fingers.

  She froze and her countenance dropped in shock, but Dren went down on one knee before her. “We have to do this right.” he explained with a grin as he held the ring up to her again. “Mandri my love, will you marry me?”

  She almost collapsed into his embrace and wrapped her arms around his neck, and sobbed hysterically into the hollow of his shoulder for a minute, too overcome to even speak to say yes. But five minutes later she sat perched on his lap with the ring on her finger, grinning like a madwoman and wiping at her tears as she accepted the congratulations of all.

  When Mark and Talia had finished eating, they excused themselves for a dance. They joined a huge throng of dancers in the center of the field, where many of the tables had been cleared and taken away.

  Eventually the music stopped at the end of a tune, and the dancers were politely asked via a Speaking; “The organizers would be most grateful if we could please have the center of the field cleared for a presentation?”

  Once the dancers had dispersed, Empress Emeroth’s magically augmented voice was heard to announce; “I present Somonik the White, Speaker for The Ninety Nine, Speaker for The Grand Council of Xervia, Communications Director of The Just Alliance!”

  Somonik appeared full-sized in the center of the field, and was warmly and enthusiastically applauded. He waited a moment for silence to fall, and as he did, half the Revealings high above changed to various views of him from different Spell-Mongers throughout the great stadium, the others showing various crowds of happy and expectant people waiting for him to speak, indicating that his image was being watched by people of every race, from locations all over The Just Alliance.

  “It is fitting that we have feasted before commencing with the more official portion of today’s activities, for this is a time of great contentment, and one is seldom more content than after feasting!”

  Some found humor in his sentiment and laughed, while others applauded, and some cheered with boisterous joy.

  “We came together to deal with the threat of the insidious conspiracy, but we have triumphed, and that threat is no more!”

  This time the cheering was a great roar of happy approval.

  “When Zarkog’s conspiracy failed to give him power over us, he declared war upon us with all the forces of Serminak and tried to terrorize us into submission, but he failed!

  “He swore that he would exterminate us if necessary to ensure his conquest, but he was brought down in defeat as we rose in triumph!!

  “Today, justice reigns supreme and unopposed on the united world of Kellaran!

  “Today we enjoy the dawn of a new age of prosperity even greater than we ever hoped for!

  “We declare this the first day of an official week of celebration for our victory!”

  After each sentence he had to pause for a louder cheer, and his voice rose to match them, until he let the last great outburst run its course for a few moments.

  Silence fell as he continued speaking in a more somber tone. “Unfortunately, our victory was not without a grievous cost. Three hundred and forty-one of us were slain by the insidious conspiracy before it was discovered. Nineteen thousand three hundred and sixty-one of our soldiers lost their lives in open warfare with Serminak, as did one hundred forty-one thousand and twelve of our citizens.

  “A great monument to all of those who fell in the struggle against Zarkog and his forces will be raised in every great city in The Just Alliance. Each monument will be a large roofed open-columned quadrangle of purest white marble surrounded by lush and beautiful gardens, and in the center of each will be a great cube of gold, and on the sides of each cube will be written a brief history of this conflict. Also written upon the gold will be the names of each and every person who lo
st their lives in the great struggle that finally ensured that we who survive them can live in freedom and justice. In this way the memory of our fallen comrades and loved ones will be forever preserved, revered, and honored.

  “Let every one of us at every place on Kellaran now have a minute of silence to remember those we have lost.”

  After the minute was past, the ancient drake continued in a brighter tone. “We must also remember that many more lives were saved than lost, and they were saved by acts of bravery, of brilliance, and of sacrifice. The stories of these fine acts should be remembered and preserved, and I urge every one of you to record anything you feel to be significant that you experienced or observed over the last nine days and nights, for collection in The Archive of the War of the Founding of The Just Alliance.

  “Many of those acts of bravery, brilliance and sacrifice were of such significance that no one could deny that they are deserving of public recognition and a token of our appreciation.

  “To speak further on this, I present my dear friend Grakonexikaldoron, of The Ninety Nine.”

  “Thank you Somonik.” the gold dragon said with a bow as she appeared beside him. He bowed in return and vanished, and she continued speaking.

  “I hold in my hand the award for the very first act of heroism performed in this struggle that is deserving of our public recognition. It is The Medallion of Service of The Just Alliance, the first such to be commissioned, and it bears the words: ‘For bravery and sacrifice.’ If our broadcasters will supply a close view, you can see that it is the symbol of The Just Alliance in sapphire on white gold, and it is mounted on a silver plaque. The words on the plaque tell the story of the act that is being recognized. Sixty-one years ago, in one of the first violent acts of the insidious conspiracy, they firebombed a warehouse in Pabaks, a city in northern Thon. The recipient of this award is a warehouse porter named Basrin Davess, who risked his life to save two co-workers from being burnt alive in the fire. The two had been overcome by heat and smoke, and though all three were severely burned before they escaped the flames, they all lived and eventually recovered.

  “Basrin Davess will receive this award before all who know and care for him in a presentation held in Pabaks within the hour. Every one of the thousands who performed such acts of valor will receive one for bravery, all who were wounded will receive them for sacrifice, and all who contributed important ideas or research will receive them for brilliance. All those will be presented over the coming hours and days, at the celebrations the recipients are attending all over The Just Alliance.

  “But first, there are fourteen individuals whose actions were absolutely crucial to our victory, and who deserve to be recognized for their service before the watching and appreciative eyes of the entirety of The Just Alliance. Without the efforts of these fourteen individuals, it is very likely that we would all be Zarkog’s slaves right now, or in the near future.

  “The first two will receive The Medallion of Service for Brilliance, but their awards must be presented anonymously, for they are seers, and it is easier for them to read the shadows of the future of events that they are not part of. They fear that even having their identities widely known may cloud their visions, but they still contributed many crucial insights to our victory, including their help in the discovery of the coming great Nexus, and in identifying the two who are Key to that Nexus.

  “Our third great seer is possessed of a slightly different variation of the talent, and needs not fear that acting publicly will affect her performance. She will be asked to receive the awards on her companions’ behalf, and to convey them to their rightful recipients with our profound and heartfelt gratitude.

  “Tithian; seer, oracle, Justicer and Speaker of the Senate of The People of Morning, please come forward.”

  Tithian’s striking black and silver form appeared beside the gold dragon, and they bowed to each other.

  “Tithian, for your crucial insights into many matters of magical research and spell design, for your crucial role in initiating the formation of The Just Alliance, and for your work as a seer, both that which you accomplished on your own and that which you shared with the previous two recipients, I present you with The Medallion of Service for Brilliance. Please accept it with our deepest respect and our most sincere thanks.”

  “I am humbled and honored beyond words. Thank you all.

  “I will faithfully convey my companion seers’ awards to them. They are taking Readings of these events and following them closely. They ask me to say for them, that they feel they do not deserve these awards as much as some others may, but they will accept them in honor of all who labored or fought for our great triumph in anonymity or obscurity. They offer their humble gratitude.

  “I also feel that there are others more deserving of this recognition than myself, but I will gladly accept this medallion with honor, and with great pride. Again, I thank you all.”

  The crowd cheered her from all over the world, as they did for all of the fourteen who received a globally broadcast presentation.

  The next four presentations were of a similar pattern, and all were of awards given for brilliance.

  Osbald the Eighth was honored for creating his oath, for being the first to swear it, for helping to make doing so the defining act of the new age, and for his crucial role in initiating the formation of The Just Alliance.

  Alilia was honored for her role in initiating the formation of The Just Alliance, and for her deciding insight near the end of Mark’s confrontation with Zarkog.

  Yazadril was honored for his role in initiating the formation of The Just Alliance, and for his tactical, strategic, and command performances prior to Mark’s assumption of command.

  Somonik was honored for his communications brilliance, and it was pointed out that at one point he had been conveying or participating in over eighteen hundred different conversations simultaneously.

  All of them gave brief and humble acceptance speeches.

  Then Grakonexikaldoron called out; “Lady Equemev of The Six of Hilia, please come forward.

  “You are presented with The Medallion of Service for Bravery, Sacrifice, and Brilliance, for your actions in the battle, for participating in training that involved far more suffering than any warrior endured in the real fighting of the war, for your part in the infiltration of Zarkog’s senior officers, and for your contributions to creating the solutions that won us the war on it’s final day.”

  Equemev was almost frozen with stage fright. “I am so very moved by this. I thank you all.” was all she said before Translocating back to her place beside Tithian and the rest of her friends and family.

  Silaran and Kragorram were the next two called, and were honored as Equemev had been for the achievements they’d shared.

  After Silaran was presented with his medallion, he reared joyously and did a pirouette on one rear hoof before sweeping a graceful bow onto one front knee with the tip of his horn touching the turf. His body language portrayed his emotions with great eloquence, so he simply added; “Thank you my friends!”, and galloped off to rejoin Equemev.

  Kragorram was more loquacious in his acceptance, after taking a moment to consider what he would say, while the crowd waited in anticipation. “I bargained my service as a wedding present for Mark and Talia only eight days ago, but it seems that I have done a great deal of living since then. I am changed profoundly, and for the better I think. I received in the bargain a chance to finally win the love of the beautiful Povon, my perfect mate, and she has blessed me with her affection, and exhilarated me with her prowess as my companion at arms.

  “I hoped that my association with Mark would give me a chance to combat the forces of evil in an effective way, and that I might share in mighty deeds, and that I might be considered a great champion of justice who is recognized and cheered by multitudes. I have wanted this as long as I can remember, and one of my earliest memories is of playing at being a hero, but my dreams have often see
med like foolish ones over the years. And now my hopes are fulfilled beyond my farthest imaginings. Mostly because of my association with others whose greatness far exceeds my own, and whose love and friendship I treasure above all else.

  “It is with profound gratitude that I accept this award, and I will dedicate it to the memory of my dear friend Dekagnath, who fell while fighting over Zarkog’s lair as a warrior of The Strike Force of the Just Alliance. Thank you.”

  For his eloquence, the crimson dragon was indeed cheered by multitudes, and heartily.

  Povon was given the award for the same reasons as her squad mates, with special emphasis on her groundbreaking contributions to spellcraft and psionic techniques.

  “I did it all because I love Kragorram, and because I wanted to be a better person, so that I would truly deserve his love.” she frankly explained. “Then I had to see him wounded three times in reality, and I saw him wounded and killed dozens of times in training, and each time that hurt almost as much as if it was real. I like to think that it was all worth it. We stand ready to do it all again if we have to.

  “I thank you all for this honor.”

  Rather than Translocating back to her place at Kragorram’s side, she Levitated from the turf and slowly flew back with great grace. After she landed, Mark saw to his surprise that between her and Kragorram was a very young black dragon only twenty feet long in total. The young drake wasn’t using a translation spell, so Mark couldn’t read it’s expression or understand it’s words, or even guess it’s gender, but the black infant clung to Kragorram and Povon with desperate affection.

  “Prince Mark and Princess Talia, Keys to The Just Alliance, please come forward.” Grakonexikaldoron called.

  They appeared before her, smiling and holding hands as the multitudes cheered them with a mighty roar. They bowed in unison to the four corners, then waved as the wild applause went on and on. Finally the gold dragon held her wings and her hands up for silence, and eventually the crowds quieted.

  “Princess Talia, we award you The Medallion of Service for Bravery, for Sacrifice, and for Brilliance. You have shared in all the valiant deeds of The Six of Hilia, for which you deserve this award and recognition. We also recognize the crucial nature of your work as Key to The Just Alliance, for everyone knows that you and Prince Mark share every task. His is the role of leadership, but I think that neither of you could have achieved what you have without the other, and your contribution was no less important than his. Furthermore, due to the brilliance of the battle methods that your squad introduced, only you two, of all our fighters, needed to take direct and personal risk in the final battle of the war, though most of the world took part in the fight. You and your husband volunteered to take the risk for all of us. You were killed in that battle, and you were tortured with madness. We know for a fact that you were killed, as the experience was shared by the billions in the great Battle Link, and we know for a fact that you two are not gods. Our researchers have yet to reconcile the discrepancy between those two facts, but I suspect that we will soon. You suffered horribly for us, and you were crucial to our victory, and for all of that we offer this award.”

  “Thank you so much.” Talia smiled as she took the plaque from Gran’s careful claw-tips. She took a long look around at the hundreds of thousands in the arena, and the huge views of millions more in other places. She gave a spontaneous giggle and a wave. “Hi everyone!” she called, and billions laughed and waved and called greetings in return. Then she waited until almost total silence had fallen, and it didn’t take long.

  “The last ten days have been… incredible. Yesterday, they seemed like seventy-eight years, but the memory of the Eldest’s training is fading a bit, and it’s starting to seem like ten days again. During that time, it seems like we’ve been sucked up by a tornado of events, and there’s been no time to get used to things before everything changed again. I’ve been cursed and blessed, been married and assassinated, fallen madly in love, been gifted with fortunes and tasked with great responsibility. I’ve saved lives and I’ve been killed. Four times in real life, and dozens of times in training, perhaps hundreds. It’s amazing how many times you can be willing to experience the horror of death if you know that a curse is going to bring you back to life again, especially when millions of your fellow soldiers and citizens are depending on you. And sometimes even then, you cannot do enough, and they are lost anyway.”

  She paused to wipe away a tear, then smiled and carried on.

  “Now, we should have some time to achieve a new stability in the new order of things, time to come to grips with everything that’s happened, time to enjoy all the good fortune that we still have.”

  She spent a moment considering her award, then hugged it to her chest and bowed her head over it. “I’ll always treasure this.” she quietly finished, and her tears escaped her control and ran down her face.

  Mark unabashedly picked her up and hugged her warmly, and she clung to him and reveled in his love as the people roared their approval, and many were those who wiped away a tear.

  “Prince Mark, we award you The Medallion of Service for Bravery, for Sacrifice, and for Brilliance. We honor you for all the valiant acts you shared with The Six of Hilia, for your role in triggering the formation of The Just Alliance and in defining its spirit, for your inspiring words of wisdom and your suggestions as Key to The Just Alliance, for your cheering good nature and optimism, for your firm and swift leadership in our hour of indecision, and for fighting and winning, with Princess Talia, the final battle against Zarkog.

  “That victory is almost beyond belief in its wonder. Zarkog is the second eldest living being on Kellaran, he is first in years of waking experience, he is first in personal power, and he had significantly more power available for his use in that last battle than you did. You are barely seventeen, and with Talia together you have less than half a century of life. Ten days ago, any of us would have thought such a performance to be absolutely impossible, but there it is.

  “Truly, you are The Keys to The Just Alliance. Should the moment ever come again when you feel we need your direct leadership, know that we are yours to command. Now don’t object, we’re aware of your feelings on the subject, but that doesn’t change our minds about it.

  “There’s something profoundly wondrous about your turning down the chance to truly rule the world when it’s freely given to you. And for that too, we honor you. Our gratitude is boundless and eternal.”

  The people began to give him another mighty cheer as the dragon handed down the award, but he started speaking before they could drown him out, so they fell silent again.

  “Thank you, Gran, and thank you everyone.

  “First, I’d like to say that it’s really nice that I receive the same award as Basrin Davess, the first hero of the war, and he receives the same as me, and that everyone who’s being recognized for their efforts gets the same medallion. It wouldn’t have felt nearly as right if you’d given mine a bunch of extra gold trim or anything. All of us did what we had to do with the tools that came to hand, and with each other’s help. I only stand here right now because I had very good tools, and even better help.”

  He paused for a quiet chuckle. “Ten days ago I was homeless, destitute, unknown, and alone. The world was divided, the insidious conspiracy sought to undermine us all, and Zarkog ruled Serminak. Things have changed a lot in that short time. We have achieved what we set out to do, and reckoned the terrible cost, and now we enjoy our well-deserved celebration of our good fortune.”

  He paused and let the enthusiasm of the crowd find thunderous voice for a few moments.

  “Still, there are important things that need to be said here. Our greatest leaders have come forth and been honored, and they’ve not chosen to say them, so I guess it falls to me.

  “We still have great challenges ahead of us.

  “Those who are guilty of crimes against us have been sworn to justice, includi
ng Zarkog himself. The families of our comrades who were killed in attacks on our territory, along with our finest Justicers, must find a just punishment for the guilty and a just restitution for the victims. I don’t envy them the task, and I offer no suggestions, though my family were among those killed.

  “However, as I have said, I strongly suggest we find forgiveness for those who fought in defending against our attacks in Serminak, and for those who chased me and Talia and Holanam around Kellaran. We need to make peace with the Serminaki, now that they’re sworn to justice, and we can’t really do that if we insist on punishing the majority of their population. We need reconciliation.

  “Our societies are still girded for war, and that will continue. Our increasing militarization will continue as well, though we must also carry on with trade and commerce, and some enjoyment of life’s luxuries. We will continue the rebuilding of The Just Alliance with one eye to civilian utility and enjoyment, and one toward defense and military utility, and we will find ways to ensure that one doesn’t interfere with the other.

  “We all know that the demons are coming, and fast, though they’re still a very long way away. Dealing with them remains our highest priority. That was the one thing we and Zarkog agreed on, and all our lives are on the line in this together, including the Venaks and Serminakis. Deciding who was going to be in command of our efforts against the demons was the sole point of the conspiracy and the war, and it is a point that is now solidly decided. Our world is now united against the demons, and the sooner we can find a way to eliminate the threat they represent, the less danger we’ll have to face. If they’re allowed to get close enough to attack us, the war we just won may seem like a fistfight in comparison.

  “Also quickly approaching from a vast distance are the worldlets of a new race, and they are many, perhaps as many as everyone on Kellaran. They travel the void to fight the demons, and if we can earn their trust, they may be mighty allies, and they may aid us in defending our world. I cannot over-stress how important it is that we offer them our genuine friendship, and that it be accepted.

  “It appears that they are small individuals, weighing only four or five pounds each at most. But we must not underestimate them. They have been chasing demons through the void for ages, fighting whole worlds of demons again and again, and they are still strong enough to choose to come here, and to face the unknown millions of demons that approach. They will fight the demons, of that I’m quite sure, and that’s good as far as it goes.

  “I think they consider the eventual extermination of all the demons in the great void to be necessary to their long-term survival, but that doesn’t necessarily make them nice people. Who knows what they might do if we earn their enmity? If we offend them, it may become convenient for them to sacrifice us to the demons as bait, or as a distraction, or as a discardable shield to hide behind.

  “Personally, I think they are good people. Their representative admired it when I refrained from killing my enemies, and said that if we ever marauded the void as killers, they would hunt us down. He started the conversation by asking if I would be his friend, right after he saved us from Zarkog. I said I would, and he said he would be my friend as well. Mind you, he’d just learned Trade Common and he was obviously still working out the knack of it, so we might have been misunderstanding each other, but I don’t think we were. I think they are a great force for justice, and that’s why they’ve hurried here to help defend us from the demons, at the risk of their own lives. They said if we stopped killing each other, they may help us directly, and we’ve done that.

  “I just want us all to remember that these people will be very different from us. They may also be battle-fatigued and heavily armed, and as jumpy as any soldier fresh off the front lines. They may have manners and etiquette we can’t even understand.

  “So, we’re all going to be on our very best behavior when our visitors contact us. Right?!”

  He was grinning, but there was enough steel in his voice to prompt most of those watching to spontaneously answer him, and firmly in the affirmative in every case.

  “There’s a few other things to be said, but I’m pretty sure someone else is scheduled to say those. So I thank you all for this award, and more importantly, I thank you for everything that all of you have done together since The Just Alliance was formed.”

  The crowd erupted again as soon as they sensed he was finished, and he and Talia waved as he bowed with her. Then he prepared to walk back to his seat, since it was close and many were crowded around their chairs, but Grakonexikaldoron stayed him with a gesture. She spoke to him privately by excluding the area around them from the sound amplification spells of the arena’s operators.

  “We were scheduled to award one more medallion, for sacrifice and brilliance, and it was to go to the Eldest, but we have been unable to reach him. He was last seen with Amirgath, so we’re not worried about him, but that brings us to the next item on our agenda. If you would stay and permit it, Zwak Deathbringer wishes to publicly speak with you on behalf of the Sylvan who are sworn to justice.”

  “Ah. I understood he was to address The Just Alliance?”

  “He will not. He has refused to discuss matters of state with anyone but you, but he wishes to speak with you publicly, before The Just Alliance, in their entirety.”

  “Oh. Well, he is sworn to justice, so I don’t see why not.” Mark shrugged.

  She nodded, restored the amplification, and made the announcement.

  “And now, I present Zwak Deathbringer, General of The Sylvan First Guard of Northern Serminak, eldest of the Sylvan, and that people’s chosen representative. He will treat with Prince Mark, Key to The Just Alliance, for the rights of The Sylvan.”

  Zwak appeared standing straight and confident with his arms folded across his chest, before offering Mark a deep but simple bow, placing his arms straight at his sides and bending at the hips.

  Like almost all Sylvan males, he was close to seven and a quarter feet tall, with broad shoulders and narrow hips. He wore simple black leather trousers and shirt that were soft and supple of material and cut to enhance the virility of his build, and thick black cavalry boots. The tips of his ears twitched above his long black hair, and Mark noted they were much longer than an elf’s ears, even when his greater size was considered, almost seven inches from tip to lobe. His slit-pupiled yellow eyes blinked slightly more slowly than one would expect. All in all, he presented a somewhat disconcerting appearance, but Mark had faced him before in a dream, and many times at that.

  The two met each other’s smiles with equal confidence.

  “Greetings, Prince Mark, and congratulations on your great victory! Your fight with Zarkog was surely the greatest spectacle ever seen on this world! And to think you achieved victory by assuming the size of a rat, and hiding in a sphere the size of a unicorn turd! Absolutely brilliant!”

  Some in the crowd cheered, and some laughed, and some grumbled and growled at the compliment delivered in insulting terms.

  Mark laughed. “I see that Osbald’s Oath hasn’t deprived you of your caustic wit, Zwak. You’re just as vicious as ever.”

  “I am, within the limits of the intentions of Falgaroth when he made the stone, as concerns the concept of justice.” Zwak grinned. “And that’s what I mean to speak with you about today. My people are at a great turning point, due to our having sworn.

  “Yours has been a strange form of conquest, being limited to Compelling our oaths. You have defeated Zarkog and removed him from power, at least temporarily, but you have not actively replaced him. There is no Lord of Serminak except you. But, we have not been asked to join The Just Alliance. Our command structure would have remained completely intact, except for the fact that our dragons are deserting us. Most of the formerly dark dragons, once sworn on the stone, seem to suddenly feel the need to take part in the great re-unification of all Draconians, in Xervia. Mouths still need to be fed in Serminak, and crops
still need to be sown, things must go on, yet two-thirds of the dragons of Serminak have deserted their posts, their duties, and their responsibilities. This adds to the many disruptions of our activities caused by the recent war. If it were not for aid from The Just Alliance, Serminak would soon be in a severe social crisis.

  “My people are not like the dragons; we are not like any other people that has ever been. The oath does not sit well with us. When one of any other race swears Osbald’s Oath upon The Truthstone of Falgaroth, they will generally follow their oath and like it. We will follow our oaths, but even the great Truthstone cannot make us like it. It’s too contrary to our nature. So the first thing I did after I was sworn and received my Compulsion stone, was to swear a company of my soldiers to Osbald’s Oath, and I then set them to testing the limits of the binding.

  “They tested exactly how hard one could strike one’s companion when giving a slap on the back as part of a friendly greeting, before the oath considered it a breaking of the peace, or an attack on an innocent, or an injustice, and prevented them from carrying out their own intentions. They tested exactly how much information could be withheld during a transaction involving a faulty item. They tested exactly how far the oath could be pushed, in every direction. We were somewhat frantic at our findings. It limits us too severely. We are sworn and bound, but the binding chafes.

  “You seem to have a good grasp of what it is to be Sylvan. In fact, you act like we’ve met before.”

  “We haven’t.” Mark told him. “The Eldest knows you, indirectly. And I fought you in a dream. Many times. You were an effective opponent.”

  “Thank you.” Zwak smiled, with another of his distinct bows. “You must know that to the Sylvan, life is a game. In fact, one of our most popular phrases is the one our ancestors coined for our lifestyle; ‘the game of status.’ Status is achieved through power, authority, wealth, combat and magic skills, and all the other ways that one’s worth is measured among any of our peoples. And Sylvan males are accorded greater status among themselves for mating a greater number of females, while our females gain status among themselves for being mated by the males with the highest status.

  “Before Zarkog seized power on Serminak, there were only four rules to the game of status, for both Sylvan and dark dragons. Do whatever it takes to advance your own interests, protect yourself from attack, protect your young until they become a danger to you, then throw them out. Those imperatives are instinctual for Sylvan, and undeniable.

  “But, none survive alone, so most soon learn to co-operate, then communities are formed and hierarchies established, then the advantages of manipulation and betrayal become apparent. And, in order to keep your young alive until it’s time to throw them out, they must be trained and educated to some extent. Serminak was hunted out long ago, so if we do not keep crops and livestock, we starve. For these reasons, we have always had a society and a civilization of sorts, though none of us have what you would consider sentiments of patriotism or community spirit.

  “There is nothing on Serminak for Sylvan to hunt except dragons, and nothing for dragons to hunt but Sylvan, and each other of course. And so we all did hunt one another, and we all liked it just fine. Nothing finalizes a victory like eating your enemy.

  “Sylvan are eternal optimists. Our system did allow us to be swindled, robbed, enslaved, tortured and killed. But each one of us are absolutely certain, deep down inside, that the worst will not happen to us. We are all deeply sure, even unto the last moment of life on a torture pole, that we will somehow escape and survive, and find a way to gain in power and status, and that eventually, we will achieve the ultimate triumph and enslave the entire continent under our fist! That was the prize for the ultimate winner of the game of status! So we weren’t worried about what might happen to us, so long as we might have the chance to do the same to everyone else.

  “Many have held the lead in the game, and have held the highest status at any given time, but none of them ever truly won the game until Zarkog. It could not be won by any sort of coalition, for once a group has triumphed over all others, their unity dissolves into infighting for the top prize. It could not be won without the power to stand alone against anyone and everyone, and it could not be held without such a vast awareness as to be invulnerable to stealth and betrayal.

  “Zarkog did that, and in the most convincing style. That he didn’t kill us because he didn’t need to, that was very powerful. We were his toys, and he made it clear that he did not break his toys, nor allow them to be broken. And nothing earned our admiration more than his encouraging us to try to take his life by any means we liked, if we dared, and he said he would not kill the assassins in retribution for trying. He even rewarded the best attempts, though the recipients were still beaten for days. Now that’s style, as the Sylvan see it!

  “He gave us his rules, and he made an army of us. There was no refusing him, but he never really understood my people. He could never tell us apart visually, and he had to do so by psionics. Most dragons cannot differentiate or identify individual Sylvan by any means without the use of external markings and insignia. Nor for that matter can people of most other races.

  “Many of our adolescents were simply too high-strung to obey the rules, and too foolish to avoid being caught breaking them, so they were beaten daily until they lost their minds, or were reduced to little more than automatons. But then, before Zarkog, they’d have been killed by more capable and disciplined youths in their struggle for status.

  “Many of the dark dragons actually came to believe in Zarkog’s rules, but for us, they merely changed the shape of the arena in which we played the game of status. The struggle for wealth and land and slaves was replaced by competition for rank in the army and sumptuous quarters, but the game went on. The competition for mates went on unchanged, so long as the females were pregnant most of the time. We found that Zarkog would allow us our schemes, and that we could get away with almost anything, so long as it caused no open dissension, did not cause a decrease in production, and did not reduce the military capabilities of the army. At least so far as anyone could detect.

  “That was more than enough leeway for us to enjoy our lives, and besides, we knew that eventually, when we were numerous enough, Zarkog would have us conquer all of you, in which case there would be loot and slaves for all. Or, Zarkog would eventually fall, and things would go back to the way they had always been.”

  “Things don’t always work out the way you think they will, do they?” Mark chuckled.

  “You are most certainly correct.” Zwak laughed in return. “We never counted on the oath. And now we have returned to the point in my tale where my soldiers were testing the oath. We found out how far we can push it, and I’m certain it’s a lot farther than you think, in many instances.

  “Was it unjust of me to offer an insult veiled in a compliment when I first arrived here? Obviously it was not unjust enough for the oath to prevent me from saying it.

  “Many seem to think that because we are sworn and bound that we will simply integrate into The Just Alliance like any other people, but if you allow that, you will regret it, and you will regret it severely. We would be unleashed among you, and the limitations of the oath would not keep us from seizing every bit of status we can get. Once we are established among you, we would be almost impossible to uproot, and we would make the rest of you just a little bit miserable, all the time.

  “But that would not be enough for us. The limitations of the oath are too restricting, and it would be actively binding our actions twenty times a day until we started to go mad. Sylvan are not meant to live like that.

  “We were saved by the fact that the vow allows us our games in the name of sport. As you said at the founding of The Just Alliance, and apparently Falgaroth would agree, if a person wishes to enter the formal arena of sport, with a referee and agreed conditions, they can do what would otherwise be unlawful. They can attack each ot
her with fists or swords or spells, if they are qualified to do so and the conditions are equal for both sides.

  “The crucial discovery came when a sergeant took a deck of cards, and proposed to a private; ‘Let’s gamble, and you try to cheat me.’ The private replied; ‘is it still cheating if you allow me to do it?’, and the sergeant told him, ‘I’m not going to allow you to do it, I’m going to try to catch you, and you’ll have to be very good at it to cheat me while I’m watching for it. But I am giving you permission to try. It’s still a game of skill, only now the gambling is unimportant, it’s your skill at cheating against my skill at catching you.’

  “The private was unable to fool the sergeant, but the point is, for the first time, he was able to try to cheat at cards while sworn to justice on the Truthstone of Falgaroth!

  “I realized the implications immediately, and convened our finest thinkers. We have mapped out the future for our people.

  “You have two choices, as Lord of Serminak.

  “You can follow the course that I just mentioned, and have Sylvan interspersed among your nations, constantly pushing the limits of the oath, and driving you all to distraction for the rest of eternity.

  “Or you can agree with our proposals. And by the way, a quarter of our dragons are with us in this, which is most of them who haven’t gone to Xervia, and every Sylvan in Venak as well.

  “We propose that Serminak be given equal status with the rest of you in the Just Alliance. Every one of us will swear on the Truthstone to be completely nice, following the spirit as well as the letter of the laws and of our oaths, except where it concerns registered players of The Game Of Status.

  “By formalizing the game and by designating The Lord of Serminak as official referee, our oaths of justice will allow us to continue to play the game among ourselves as we played under the reign of Zarkog, ourselves being only those who are qualified and registered players. As then, we can do anything to one another that does not get us caught by The Lord or his inspectors for causing dissension, slowing production, or reducing the effectiveness of the army. As I said, these rules lend a certain civilized restraint to the game, while allowing enough leeway for a healthy life for a Sylvan. It’s easy to kill someone, hard to keep from getting caught, harder yet to hide the fact that the victim is dead, and hardest of all to replace that person’s output or fill his emptied spot in the fighting line without anyone noticing. But, it has been done by skilled players a time or two. If we get caught, we will gladly submit to the beating, the same as always. We will be ranked for our performance into ten leagues of skill and status, and one can only contest by underhanded means against those players in the same league, in order to protect the beginners from being hopelessly obliterated by the masters.

  “We’ll even swear to never attempt to kill another otherwise valid player while they are parenting dependent children.

  “What are your thoughts on this?”

  “First, why come to me with this?” Mark asked.

  “Until the demons are gone, we need the army, so we need the command structure, including a Lord of Serminak to enforce the rules. You are the Lord of Serminak, having won Zarkog’s place by unlimited combat without even having to kill him. We know that if we don’t appease you, we’ll have to deal with you some other way, and none of us wants that, particularly while crippled by the limitations of the oath. We know we cannot stand against your power and that of The Just Alliance, you proved that against Zarkog.

  “And besides, despite your strange style, you truly do rule all of Kellaran, and any Sylvan can see it as plain as the sun. To me, every nuance of your status is as obvious as your nose. As you accepted your award it was said again that you had given up your rule, and then you proceeded to tell everyone exactly what they were going to do as concerns almost everything that’s going to happen on this world for at least the next six years. Even when you said you would not do a task, you made it very clear exactly who was going to do it. You might as well admit it. You expected those orders to be obeyed without question, and it never crossed your mind that they might not be.”

  “Huh. I’ll admit that it kind of bothers me, what a good argument that is. When we were in training, we were the only ranking members of the Assembly of The Just Alliance in the world. I had to get used to taking command, and quickly, in order to get anything done. I’ll have to watch that.

  “Anyway. Why did you not just enact your plan in secret?”

  “That cannot be done, since the oath demands that we declare and register ourselves as players before it will allow us to play. Besides, we plan to market recorded Revealings of our machinations after the fact. We think that The Game of Status will become the most popular spectator sport on Kellaran, and we will profit handsomely thereby. We will be Marked as players for all to see. We welcome players of any race to the game, and there are many in Venak who are eager to join. There are a few among the other races who show some promise, particularly the gnomes, much to my surprise. Of course, no one can scheme and intimidate like a Sylvan. But they will add to the marketability of the lower leagues, since every race can have a few, shall we say, local favorites, to cheer for.

  “Everyone who is not a declared player will know that they are absolutely safe from us, and that they can trust us to be honorable with them, and nice. And we will keep our sanity, and be able to enjoy our lives.

  “And besides all that, all of Kellaran and The Just Alliance are playing in a higher league now. Zarkog’s astronomies, and the approaching demons and sphere-people, all show that there is a greater game going on out there. It is being played by the peoples of many worlds throughout the great void. Consider our strength, which matched the power of The Just Alliance in the last battle, and also that we’ll soon learn all those nasty spell tricks that you hit us with in the war. One never knows when The Just Alliance may need to have a few billion underhanded and sneaky cut-throats available.”

  “Well. That’s a good point, or I’ve never heard one.” Mark nodded. “And what you’ve said is well thought-out, that’s certain.

  “It’s true that you haven’t joined The Just Alliance, though we’ve been honoring the Markings of your oaths as passports in our nations. So, regardless of whether I truly do rule The Just Alliance or not, if I don’t accept that I’m now Lord of Serminak, then we have no control over anything you do besides trusting your oaths. And if we’re not holding you responsible for Zarkog’s actions, except for those who attacked and killed in our nations, we have no further claim against the rest of you.

  “So fine, I’m Lord of Serminak.”

  He had to pause and shake his head with a grin as the crowd suddenly gave him a mighty cheer.

  “The first thing I’m going to do with that authority is to curtail Zarkog’s forced breeding program. If we can’t beat the demons with the number of us that we’ll have with voluntary breeding only, then we don’t deserve to win.”

  “Thank you, My Lord. My people will sing your praises for that. Some of our females have been almost continuously pregnant for many decades, and will be very glad to be free of the burden for a while.”

  “My next decree is to delegate to you the problem of finding the proper environment for your rambunctious adolescents. If they were chafing that badly under Zarkog’s rules, they’re likely to feel worse under the vow. They have to be allowed to develop as healthy Sylvan, yet they have to be kept under control to the extent that they’re not an unacceptable danger to others or to themselves. That has to be accomplished without beating them more than superficially, at least until they’re of an age and development to leave home and join the first league of the game. You figure it out, and if you and your people can’t figure it out, ask for help from our researchers.”

  “Yes, My Lord.”

  Mark turned to Gran. “Do you have a Truthstone we can use for a moment? I ended up putting the Compulsion on mine so I could hit Zarkog with it.”

>   She handed over her pristine blue stone. Mark took it, and held it out to Zwak, who touched his fingertip to it. “Do you swear to enact and install the rules and infrastructure of The Game of Status, exactly as you’ve described it to me, including the oaths you described to protect non-players and to live by the spirit of your oaths, and to swear those oaths and abide by those rules yourself?”

  “I do.” Zwak said, his words accompanied by a great pulse of blue light from the stone.

  “Then I authorize you to do so.” Mark nodded, and turned to the audience.

  “Can I have silence from everyone except the ruling members of The Assembly of The Just Alliance? Thank you.

  “Members of The Assembly of the Just Alliance, acting only in my capacity as Lord of Serminak, and not as Prince of Hilia or as Key to The Just Alliance, I ask that the Sylvan people be recognized as my vassal; The Sylvan Nation, and that those dragons who choose to remain in Serminak be recognized as my vassal nation; Serminaki Draconia, and that those two nations be granted entry with full standing into The Just Alliance.”

  There was a cheer that might have seemed mighty in the Hall of the Assembly, but it did little to fill this vast outdoor space.

  Mark turned to Gran as he chuckled and shook his head in chagrin. “I don’t have Somonik’s counting spell, and I forgot to cast one of my own.” he admitted.

  Somonik appeared and snorted. “It’s not a counting spell, it’s just good awareness.” he lectured, then turned to announce; “Let the record show that all have agreed!”

  The crowd erupted again.

  “Thank you My Lord.” Zwak smiled with another bow. “The Game of Status will have a great inaugural round, and by this time tomorrow I’ll be able to report on who’s been promoted to fill the vacancies in our command structure left by the dragons who’ve gone to Xervia.

  “Now I’ve duties to attend to, and I won’t take up any more of your time. Nor will your duties as Lord of Serminak, really. Zarkog designed the system to run itself while he engaged in astronomy, and he only concerned himself with detecting rule breakers, thwarting assassins, reading general reports every three months, and issuing new general orders at that time. And unless you plan to become a player, you won’t even have to thwart assassins.”

  “I’m not, and I’m going to delegate the rest of the duties as well. As a member nation of The Just Alliance, your senior commanders will give your military reports to the high command of The Just Alliance, they will participate in military discussion with the other national commanders, and they will receive general orders from the First Commander of The Just Alliance. Right now that’s Prince Yazadril of The High People.

  “You’re right that Serminak still needs someone at the top to watch for rule breakers and to make sure everything’s running smoothly. That would have to be someone with incredible awareness, a huge intellect, and an intimate knowledge of both Sylvan and dragons. Being one of the best psionicists around would help too. I’m not that person, so I’m appointing a regent to rule Serminak on a day to day basis, and that regent will answer to no-one but me.”

  “I humbly offer my services, my Lord.” Zwak smiled and bowed again.

  “Forget it, Zwak.” Mark laughed. “It has to be someone who’s not a player in The Game of Status! The regent will referee the game, and we can’t have the fox watching the chickens!”

  He turned and met the bluest eyes in the stadium. “Povon, you’re the best I’ve got for this job. How’d you like to be Dragon Lord Regent of Serminak?”

  “Dragon Lord Regent of Serminak? It sounds like fun!” she called in return. “Can I have Kragorram as my second in command?”

  “Sure! We’ll make him Prince of Serminaki Draconia under you. His shining nobility should draw most of the new Just Draconians back to Serminak before Xervia is swamped with them; at least once they’ve had a while to enjoy the draconian reunification.

  “We’ll make Zwak here Prince of The Sylvan Nation under you, at least until some other player sticks a knife in him or something.”

  “Then I’ll take it!” Povon laughed.

  “Excellent.” Mark smiled.

  “The Dragon Lord Regent will be a difficult referee to deceive. Well chosen My Lord.” Zwak nodded with a grin. “And thank you for honoring me by naming me Prince of The Sylvan Nation, though that does put the position up for grabs in The Game Of Status. With that great honor I already sit about as high as any player can aspire to, and a worthy prize it is, so for now I am the unofficial champion of The Game of Status. With that momentum and the esteem I will have gained for my work here today, I will be difficult to topple, and I fear nothing so crude as a knife in the back. Let it never be said that the game was not a true challenge from the moment it was officially inaugurated.

  “Farewell, My Lord. I will continue to monitor events here with great interest as I work. I have a feeling that settling the future of Serminak will not be the only great deed done here today.”

  “Drop by some time, Prince Zwak. I’d like to get to know you.”

  “Thank you My Lord. I will.”

  The Sylvan vanished with a loud pop of overdisplaced air.

  It had been so long since anyone Mark worked with had done that, that he had to chuckle in amusement. “What’s next?”

  “Now you have to promise to stop acquiring titles.” Talia teased, and gave him a quick kiss on the chin. “You know they’ll want to list them all with our arrival at every official occasion, and that could get tedious if you get three or four more.”

  “I’ll bear that in mind.” Mark chuckled, then felt a touch of bashfulness as he remembered that they were still under the eyes of the world. “What’s next?” he asked, to distract himself from it.

  “Actually, we have nothing else planned, officially.” Somonik smiled sardonically. “So of course, now something unexpected will happen. All things considered, including the issues that have yet to be addressed, it is inevitable.”

  “Ah, I have been contacted psionicly.” the gold dragon chuckled. “People of The Just Alliance, I present Quewanak the Eldest, Master of the Dream!”

  Quewanak appeared in person for the first time in forty million years; a very small green dragon, but glowing with health and vitality, his scales sleek and his muscles rippling. He carried himself proudly, and had a powerful presence.

  “Quewanak, I present to you the Medallion of Service for Brilliance and Sacrifice, for spending the last spark of your life-force hundreds of times over a twelve hour ordeal, in order to give The Six of Hilia the crucial knowledge, time, and training they needed to help us win the war so swiftly. We are eternally grateful.”

  “Thank you. I was glad to do it.” Quewanak nodded as he accepted the award, and he was cheered mightily, particularly by the dragons present, including Somonik and Grakonexikaldoron.

  “And now,” Quewanak called, “It is my greatest honor to introduce those who quite literally need no introduction, for to see them is to know them. I proudly present The Pantheon of Kellaran!”

  The gods appeared, some three hundred of them on the surrounding lawn and floating in the air above, scattered about a bit. They were almost half of them dragons, and with their great size that race visually dominated the group. Of the others, some were of hidden races who had never been seen by any mortals before. Most surprising were a dozen gods who appeared to be halfway between a selkie and a seal, and over twenty feet in length.

  When those in the audience spoke of the event later, not one could be found whose view of those at the center of the lawn was blocked by one of the gods.

  The arena became absolutely silent.

  Quewanak was right. To know the name and character of each god or goddess, it was only necessary to look at them. They all offered their various words of greeting at once, and they were all distinctly understood by everyone watching.

  “Greetings and welcome, most honored guests, from The Just Alliance to The
Pantheon of Kellaran.” Mark smiled, and bowed deeply and gracefully with Talia still in his arms, and she followed his movement perfectly. They actually bowed to Falgaroth and Visinniria, who were right in front of them and facing them.

  “Thank you Prince Mark, Lord of Serminak.” Visinniria smiled a bit teasingly. “Congratulations on your recent victory.”

  Then she turned and regarded the crowd. “There is something you should know, that some of you do not.” she said.

  In the next moment, everyone learned or remembered what was said at the gods’ visitation in Kraka, where it was revealed that the future of the gods and their level of participation in the society of Kellaran depended on Mark’s contest against Zarkog.

  “Now you know what was at stake when Prince Mark and Princess Talia fought Zarkog.” The elven goddess continued. “Prince Mark triumphed, and the withdrawal is broken. You have honored him, but honor him and Talia for that as well. They could have won the war without facing Zarkog, and they knew it at the time.

  “Today we healed our people. It was a good start. We intend to help our people in many ways, but we will never behave as we did when last there were gods among you. Now, we are simply citizens, helping our fellow citizens as so many of you have done. As Prince Mark suggested, we can be thought of as people like any other, with the same rights as any other, though we do have the status of being the most powerful spell-casters. We will force our will on none, and we will not cast our power on any individual in the slightest way without lawful authorization. For instance, if any we healed today had refused our treatment, we’d have respected their wishes and left them with their injuries.”

  The crowd was relaxed enough by then to get a chuckle out of that.

  “The reasons we withdrew from the world are still valid, and we will allow no religion on Kellaran. No temples will be raised to us. If you call our names, we will hear it, but that is true of any masterful psionicist here. If you are in the mood to offer friendly greetings occasionally, that would be nice, but if anyone calls to one of us repetitively, or as a matter of course, they may be answered rather rudely, and if it still continues, they will be prosecuted in the courts of their nation for harassment. We will especially discourage anything being done for our glory, or anyone singing our praises repetitively. We’ll take care of our own glory, thank you, and we certainly don’t need you to tell us that we’re great. We like it of course, but most of us have enough bother with controlling our egos as it is.”

  The people laughed again, and warmed to her charm.

  “I’ll give you a quick example of why we will allow no religion.” she continued. “When I was still young as a god, an elf with almost no magic sought to build a small shrine to me on a remote mountaintop, a shaded and wind-sheltered cupola with a wonderfully comfortable marble chair. I had saved his life in the war of the segregation in his distant youth, and after a long life as a simple farmer, he chose a place with a beautiful view atop a peak deep in a remote and forbidding range to build his tribute out of personal gratitude. He never prayed a word to me, he just did it, but I noticed because I was so warmly in his thoughts. He climbed the mountain again and again with heavy stones and shaped them with muscle and steel, and one day he fell, and I saved him again. He simply offered thanks and returned to his work, and was soon finished. He returned to his life as a farmer, and for another millennium, he mentioned none of this to any other. I sometimes went to the shrine he built and took comfort in enjoying the view and the solitude, for none knew it was there but he and I.

  “One day he mentioned it in passing to a friend, and a few years later that one told someone else, and eventually his story was widely known. Thousands declared him to be a saint, and they trekked to his farm in hopes that he would give them words of wisdom. But he had no eloquence to offer them, and he was vexed by their constant presence and attentions. They brought him gifts and tribute, and his wife began to covet their new wealth and status, and she took charge of dealing with their many visitors as his priestess. Soon there was a temple complex where a simple farm had been, and he lived in seclusion to escape the expectations of the throng, and they took his lonely misery to be holy contemplations. Finally he allowed himself to die from a common infection.

  “My attention had been elsewhere as this happened, and on a clear and starry night I returned to the mountaintop, and his beautiful little shrine was gone. Thousands had made the arduous trek to the mountain and had climbed to its peak. As an act of pilgrimage, even those who could fly climbed the mountain by muscle, and the most determined of them did it while carrying stones as he had done. Some fell. Some jumped, hoping I would save them. But his shrine had never been designed to be visited by mortals. It sat at the very tip of the mountaintop, and in order for climbers to sit in the seat it was necessary for them to grasp the base of one of his slender columns and pull themselves up into the cupola. Eventually the column broke, and a while later the roof fell in and smashed the throne, and then the pilgrims claimed all the pieces as holy relics.

  “All of their arduous effort was a colossal waste, as I hadn’t been paying them any attention. In their well-meaning zeal, they had hounded a simple farmer to death and destroyed something precious to me.

  “The list of harms that religion caused before the withdrawal is appalling, and we will allow no repeat of it. Do not test us on this.

  “However, that’s not to say that you should never appeal to us. If you’re in very, very serious trouble, and there’s no way you can get yourself out of it, and you see no way that any mortal can help you, then you can call to one of us for help. Maybe we’ll help you. Maybe we won’t.

  “Don’t ever ask us for anything political or military. Anything we do of those natures will be conducted with The Assembly of The Just Alliance directly, and with their High Command.”

  Visinniria turned back to Prince Mark. “There was much debate about how we would conduct ourselves among you. We wish to be integrated into the legal and political framework of The Just Alliance, yet we also wish to have a greater voice in governmental and military affairs than the average citizen, as I’m sure you can understand. We also do not wish to be under the political authority of any of the mortal monarchs, and so we will not accept citizenship in any of the existing nations of The Just Alliance. To explain the proposal we have agreed upon, I present Citizen Amirgath.” She followed that with a chuckle as the quicksilver dragon-god took a place near center-stage beside Somonik.

  “I am pleased to announce the formation of a new nation; The Nation of Amirgath.” he announced with a grin. “I ask for recognition for my nation, and a position and voice in The Assembly of The Just Alliance that is equal to that of the other nations of Kellaran.”

  “I suppose you are your only citizen.” Somonik chuckled. “An understandable position, since you bring as much power and resources to the table as any nation. If all of you do the same, you’ll be able to swing any vote in the Assembly. Why not simply ask for command?”

  “As it happens, I am not the only citizen of my nation. I am joined by eighteen draconian gods who have consistently shared my position in debates among the pantheon. If our petitions our accepted, there will be fourteen nations formed among the gods of Kellaran, each representing a faction who consistently share similar views on matters of policy, each nation named for their dominant spokesperson. Thus each of our positions will be represented.

  “And as for dominating the vote, you know as well as I that The Assembly of The Just Alliance is a body that decides by consensus, and not by a vote of the majority. All but two of the questions put to it were answered unanimously, and in the two cases where there was a dissenting minority, a solution was found where the minority were allowed to act in keeping with their convictions, rather than being compelled to act with the majority. We anticipate no disturbance in this pattern of behavior from our entrance into your political arena.”

  “In tha
t case, I see no reason not to endorse your proposal whole-heartedly, and in it’s entirety.” Somonik nodded.

  “I agree.” Mark nodded. “It’s a good compromise solution. It gives the gods the voice in international affairs that I think they deserve, without presenting any suggestion that they wish to take over. I suggest we put it to the question now, and I hope it passes.”

  “Right.” Somonik nodded. “Members of The Assembly, do you agree that we should admit the fourteen nations of the gods to The Just Alliance as member nations of full and equal standing?

  “Let the record show that all have agreed!”

  “Thank you.” Amirgath nodded, looking quite pleased. “Visinniria?”

  “Thank you Amirgath.

  “Now, there’s something else you all need to know.”

  Then everyone remembered or learned of the intervention of First Burgundy in Zarkog’s hunt for Mark and Talia and Holanam, and of his conversation with Mark.

  She let a long moment pass so everyone could absorb the sudden learning a bit, and grasp the more important implications.

  “We know for a fact that First Burgundy and the other gods of his people are watching and listening right now.” Visinniria happily told Mark with a sparkle in her eye. “If there’s anything you’d like to say to them, go ahead.”

  “Thank you.” Mark nodded, and spoke to one of their unseen listeners. “First Burgundy, we agreed that we would be friends, and you said that if we on this world stopped killing each other, then you would talk to me again. We stopped the killing, and now would be the perfect time for you and your people’s other representatives to visit, since this is the first time that all of our gods and almost all of our people have focused their attention on one place at the same time. So I most respectfully do invite you to speak with us now, and to visit if you would be comfortable with doing so.”

  Somonik hurriedly barked; “How many of The Assembly of The Just Alliance agree to authorize Prince Mark to negotiate on our behalf with the visitors from the void and to be bound by any treaties he may enact with them?

  “Let the record show that all have agreed.”

  Just as he finished speaking First Burgundy appeared floating five feet off the ground in front of Mark. “Greetings, my friend Prince Mark, it’s good to see you again. And as you have inferred you suspected I would, I have become much more effective at communicating in this way.”

  “It’s good to see you again as well, First Burgundy, and yes, your Trade Common is completely fluent now. And that’s an interesting speaking technique you’re using. Not physically spoken or psionic communication, but magically generated sound. It’s quite elegant.”

  The alien god blinked strangely at him for a moment. “That is a very unusual way of thinking about what I am doing, but now that I have considered it, you are essentially correct.

  “Before we continue, I ask your leave for others like me to join us. I should be the one to talk to you. But I am not the best one of my people to talk to these around us, the gods of your world. For one thing, they are being rather rude. Some of them seek to probe my secrets, more so than I consider polite, though I have made particular effort to not be privy to the private thoughts of any being on this world. Only language have I taken from your mind, and I have learned more of it by listening to conversations in public places, and I have observed much that is there to see of your world, so that I could gain knowledge. I would not have gone into your mind without your leave, were it not necessary to learning your language for the first time. I should give you some knowledge of our worlds and our language in trade, but that will take some time, since our minds are very, very different, and you are not a god. But these gods of yours, some of them seek to take beyond what is fair.”

  “Ah, but you came here and interfered in affairs of this world without asking permission.” Visinniria reminded him pleasantly. “You could say you did it to save Mark from danger, but we all know that that’s not true; he and his companions would have managed well enough without you. Since we both know he didn’t really need your help, you don’t have any real excuse for probing his mind without permission and taking his language, along with all the concepts and general knowledge necessary to use it. You could have taken the time to learn his language by more conventional means. But you did the smart thing and attended to your work in a timely manner, and gambled that we would judge your assistance to be worth this transgression. And you were right, but don’t get upset if a few of us are curious enough to inspect your mental shielding, and maybe see if there’s anything obvious and interesting sticking out.”

  First Burgundy considered her, then returned his attention to Mark. “I am not the one who should talk to her. I am instructed to ask permission for two of my friends to join us.”

  “They may.” Mark nodded.

  Two more alien gods arrived, similar in appearance to First Burgundy except for coloring and size, and he introduced them.

  “My friends First Mauve, god of intelligence, and First Aquamarine, god of power, the two most senior and respected of our pantheon.”

  Everyone in the stadium was taken a bit aback, mortals and gods alike.

  The two newcomers were named for their top surface’s coloring, and like First Burgundy, they were white on the bottom. It was somehow understood that First Mauve was female, her two companions male.

  First Mauve was twenty-eight feet in length, and appeared fifty feet in the air between two dragon gods, who drifted aside to make more room for her.

  First Aquamarine was a monstrous six hundred and forty feet long and two hundred and ten feet wide, and over thirty feet thick in the center. He floated above the rest and curled his front edge under with surprising suppleness in order to see below himself, since his eyes were on his top surface.

  Both of the newcomers were horribly scarred over much of their surfaces by demon-fire, and First Aquamarine was missing a twenty-foot wide notch out of his trailing edge. First Mauve was missing her forward eye, which had been replaced by a smooth pink diamond sphere.

  Both of them radiated an immense dignity and an air of quiet sorrow, not to mention a palpable aura of power.

  “You know, I think he was that big as a mortal.” Visinniria mused as she gazed up.

  “He was.” First Mauve agreed with a strange chuckle. “You were unwise to judge us by First Burgundy, I think. He is a lovable little soul and the quickest among us, which is why it was he who was sent to investigate the release of power we detected when The Strike Force sought to capture Zarkog in Serminak. But after all, he is our God of Hiding. Your own God of Hiding is a sprite even smaller than he is, when she chooses to be her natural size. And he is impulsive, and so he chose to intervene upon his arrival here, which most of us would not have done.

  “We cannot fault his result, however. Contact was established, and crucial thoughts exchanged. Conditions have indeed changed here since then, changes which we sincerely approve of. Peace reigns among you, and you who are gods here have begun to fulfill your responsibilities to your people.

  “We stand ready to join you in friendship, and in opposition to the demons, if you will fulfill our condition.”

  “And what is that?” Mark asked, and he was answered from above by First Aquamarine.

  “Your gods, who have so recently rejoined you, must swear upon the artifact you name The Truthstone of Falgaroth to always speak the truth to us, to always reveal any information that is pertinent to us, and to never act against our interests. And for those who are gods of the Sylvan, you must swear to follow the spirit of the agreement as well as its literal wording, and to not seek to test the limits of the vow. Your Truthstone would have no effect of us, as we are of a fundamentally different nature, but we will swear reciprocal oaths, and be bound by The Diamond Eye of First Mauve. Once that is done, we will share thoughts with you without shielding, so that we can confirm the validity and binding of each other’s oaths.
r />   “We will swear your oath of truth, openness, and fidelity, if you will join us in swearing Osbald’s Oath of peace, protection, and justice.” Falgaroth countered. “There’s a great deal of overlap between the two sets of oaths, but with two sets of minds as differently constructed as ours, it is best if there is no room left for misunderstanding.”

  “We agree.”

  A moment later it was done. Falgaroth had summoned his stone, the gods all swore on it in a quick flicker of movement, and were back in their places in a blink. The truth of the action was in the vast outpouring of energy released by the bindings of the Truthstone, and though enough of it was blocked by Falgaroth that it was no more than mildly dazzling, enough was allowed to reach the mortals present that none could doubt what had occurred.

  A moment after that First Mauve and First Burgundy met beneath First Aquamarine, and the three swore their oaths on First Mauve’s diamond eye.

  Two voices cried out. One was Mark’s, who screamed as his skin and eyes were momentarily burned, then Healed by the curse of Alilia. The other was the utterly unnerving psionic and physical cry of pain released by Glup, god of the long-lost crustacean people now known as The Zurb, who rested on the grass some thirty feet behind Mark.

  “I’m… I’m all right!” Mark gasped, gray smoke still rising off his skin, his mind already racing on the implications of his injury.

  “As is Glup, though he was caught by surprise for the first time in many eons!” Gvetwa laughed, slapping his thighs in hilarity. The Sylvan god’s manner was like an adolescent laughing at a practical joke.

  “What an instructive development.” First Mauve commented as she appeared over the crustacean god. “You are most interesting. And not merely for the fact that you were capable of avoiding my direct attention until now, an impressive demonstration of unnoticability. There are three kinds of gods here, and not merely two, for you are almost as different from the rest of your pantheon as I am.”

  “Yes, and he’s difficult to understand.” Gvetwa laughed again. “We’ve yet to find a way for him to speak directly to a mortal, as he is so different in thought and language. Even for one such as you, it will be a day’s work for you to grasp it, and a millennium to become fluent.”

  “Let us proceed.” First Aquamarine urged. “We must confirm our oaths, and share our thoughts and our knowledge. The enemy approaches, and every thirteen and seventeen sixty-fourths of a second could be crucial.”

  “It is unlikely that we are that close to disaster.” First Mauve disagreed. “We have ample time to prepare, I think. Still, let us proceed with the sharing.”

  Mark and Talia were incapable of sharing in more than a tiny fraction of the psionic exchange that followed, but Visinniria and Falgaroth made sure that they and the other senior leaders of The Just Alliance were privy to as much of the gods’ conference as they could deal with.

  A thousand thoughts flashed through their minds in a moment, concerning a wide variety of subjects, but Mark recognized some as more immediately pertinent than others.

  Dealing with the demons directly was no longer Kellaran’s first priority. First Mauve considered it likely that the Sylvan had been designed by the demons to be instinctively obedient to their creators. The mechanism by which the demons may yet be able to exert control over the Sylvan needed to be identified and eliminated from every individual of the Sylvan race, because every one of them could suddenly turn traitor at any moment, and begin acting as the demons’ helpless slaves. Eliminating this danger was the new top priority.

  The newcomers stated that the first demon attack on Kellaran had likely been launched from the demon’s home world, since the hordes who ravaged through the void were seldom capable of creating a gate such as the one that had been used to launch that attack. They therefore considered that there were two likely possibilities concerning the nature of the approaching demons.

  The first was that they were a wandering horde that was so out of touch with their home world that they were ignorant of the failed first demon attack on Kellaran, in which case they were a minor horde, weaker than most, and likely thought that they approached a completely unprepared world that had never faced demons before. If this was the case, they would present little challenge to the peoples and gods of Kellaran and the newcomers combined.

  The other possibility was that the demon home world had dispatched a force of DemonLords and their minions to crush the world that had defeated them before, since they did not take defeat lightly. The demons considered the entire void to be their larder, and they became incensed when their food bit back. If this was the case they would send a force that would be at least ten times as strong as any resistance they expected to encounter. DemonLords were beings of such great and terrible power that they could not utilize the gates they had been known to use to transport greater and lesser demons. They ranged from as dangerous as four greater demons to as strong as any ten gods the newcomers had.

  It was learned that the gods of the newcomers were significantly less powerful than the gods of Kellaran as individuals, on the average, because of the completely different way their power worked. On the other hand, the gods of the newcomers numbered seventeen thousand, three hundred and three. To Kellaran’s gods, this was a staggering amount, and it indicated how much longer the newcomers had existed.

  They knew how to utilize far greater energies than Kellaran’s gods had ever dared to cast on the mortal plane for fear of breaking reality, and they knew how to hold reality together while they did it. They also revealed that reality was self-correcting to some extent. Many of their battles had torn a volume of reality as large as Kellaran’s closest moon, but it had healed itself within a millennium, though that was little consolation to those who had been obliterated by the tear. The greatest catastrophe of that kind that the newcomers knew of had destroyed reality in an area as wide as the distance from Kellaran’s star to the next nearest one, but that had finally finished reverting to normal void after two and a half million years.

  Their people would never live together with Kellaran’s, since they required an environment hotter than Kellaran’s harshest desert at high noon, their air and water contained a large proportion of sulfur compounds, and it was thick with alkaline mineral salts. They also doubted that any mortal on Kellaran could ever learn to communicate with their people directly, since the sphere dwellers communicated by means of taste, scent, and magnetic fields. It was thought that the two groups of people were so alien to one another that they could only speak to one another through their gods.

  The round doors on the outside of their spheres were small, not because their adults were small, but to preserve the strength of the sphere, and because only their youths needed to use doors.

  Just before the Link slipped away, Mark realized Quewanak was no longer the eldest living mortal, and that he chose to keep the fact that he’d become a god a secret from all mortals who were not Candidates for Divinity. He recommended that any of the other Candidates do the same if they ascended to divinity, in order to smooth their relationships with those who remained mortal.

  “Wow.” he stated in wonder as his mind returned to the here and now.

  “I agree. That was quite amazing.” First Mauve commented. “Your world is unique in our experience in important ways. It is by far the largest naturally-inhabited hard-surfaced world that we have encountered. This gives it a very deep atmosphere, which allows life to thrive here, even though your star is one of the most energetic of those that support life. We think these facts explain the incredible diversity of life forms and peoples that have developed here. Your star gives you great power, as does your diversity. No single race could have the breadth of creativity and intellect that this world has, and knowledge is power.

  “You have as many spell-casting and engineering techniques as we do, though we have learned from many races on many worlds, and we have a continuous history that encompasses some two and one half
billions of your years, over five times as long as yours. Similarly, you have as much knowledge of the rules of reality as we do. There is still much of the workings of reality that none of us knows, but our ignorance has shrunk by half this day, because each of our civilizations know important subsets of the rules that differ from what the other knows, and our combined knowledge will be far more complete. Still, even for gods, it will be centuries before the two sets of knowledge are completely integrated.

  “The life of your world is in its prime, and except for the first attack of the demons here, you have never had to face a disaster that threatened to sterilize all life here. This allowed the insular attitude of non-interference displayed by your gods before today.

  “But we have seen that the time of life on any world is temporary. Even before our home world was attacked by demons, we had dealt with three threats that may have killed everything on our world; the explosion of a nearby star, an episode of extensive volcanism, and a civil war among our gods and peoples. We have learned with certainty that those gods that do not do everything they can to help their people survive and thrive will soon find themselves without mortal people to care for, as happened to Glup of the Zurb. And when this world finally dies sometime in the far future, as it eventually must, your people will be lost forever, unless some of them live on other worlds. When your star finally dies, long after the death of this world, you will need to already be established on worlds that circle other stars.

  “The void is death, and the life-bearing worlds within it are only tiny sparks in the midst of the endless and sterile emptiness. It is a sacred duty to establish life in every possible suitable location, or the forces of death may finally win some day, and leave a completely dead reality.

  “For these reasons, we do more than hunt demons as we travel the void. We also establish colonies of our people and gods in every place we can.

  “We ask a boon of you. Yours is the fourth closest world to your star. We ask that we be allowed to build a colony for our people on the third world out. It is not suitable for life right now, but it is not so different from our home world that we cannot change it to suit us over a period of time that you would refer to as an eon or two, and it cannot be made suitable for your people without removing most of the atmosphere or moving it further from the star. In return for this boon, once our colony is well established, we will assist you in altering your star’s fifth most distant world, which can be made suitable to your world’s life in half an eon. Of course, there is no utility in even discussing these matters further until the demons that approach here are destroyed.

  “This is a great day for all of us. As different as our peoples are, this is the first time we have found any who were so suitable to be our friends, and our allies against the demons. All of us will benefit greatly from this association. And you will not fall to the demons unless we have all fallen with you. Today we stand together, and together we will protect ourselves, and drive the demons from the skies.”

  “I am certain that your boon will be granted.” Mark nodded. “And we welcome you all to our neighborhood. This is indeed a great day for all our people. Gaining the friendship of you and yours gives us another reason to celebrate today.”

  “Then celebrate with all your energy.” First Mauve said, and she actually nodded. “Our people have already begun to celebrate the successful beginning of our association, since First Burgundy has already returned to them with the news.

  “We will speak again tomorrow. At that time we will craft formal treaties between our civilizations. Also by then your gods and ours will have begun to make sense of the vast quantity of information we have exchanged here, and we can begin dividing and assigning the vast number of research tasks that we need done to answer our most urgent questions.

  “Until then, we thank you, and wish you all forms of fulfillment.”

  “As we thank you, and we also wish you every happiness.” Mark grinned. “There is just one thing I need to ask before you go. We’ve never really needed a word to use for everyone of this world before, but I guess I would refer to us collectively as the Kellarani. What should we call you, your gods and your people that is?”

  “We do not differentiate between our people and our gods, generally, since both groups have been integrated into a single society for hundreds of eons. In fact, many of our most advanced mortals are of higher rank and greater wisdom and power than some of our most junior gods, so the differentiation is not so clear.

  “We refer to ourselves quite simply as; ‘The People’. And since we do not use sound to communicate, we have no true word for the concept. One of you will have to give us a name. Preferably something simple and of neutral connotation.”

  “Ah. Then I suggest we call you the Triax.” Mark proposed.

  “We will accept that.”

  “In that case, First Mauve of the Triax, we bid you fond farewell.”

  “And we you, Prince Mark of the Kellarani.” the alien god responded, and then she and First Aquamarine were gone.

  First Burgundy had left minutes before, though only three gods of Kellaran noticed his leaving, and no mortals did.

  “This also ends our visitation for today.” Falgaroth announced. “I encourage you to enjoy your week of celebration. We will have important research assignments available after that, for any theoreticians, Master spell-casters, and engineers who can be spared from the researches you are already conducting.

  “Again, we thank you all. Despite the threat of the demons, today begins a new golden age for all of us; the Kellarani.”

  With that, the gods of Kellaran also took their leave, and there was a long moment of silent wonder left in their wake.

  “Well, I need a drink.” Mark suddenly announced. “And let’s have some more music! I wasn’t finished dancing yet when the awarding of medallions started!”

  This broke the mood and the tension as well. Millions laughed and enjoyed a deep breath or two, and then the revelry commenced with abandon, everyone drunk with amazement on the wonder of events.

  Someone handed Mark a fresh bottle of cold redberry elixir, and when it was gone a while later, he was handed another.

  As dawn was breaking the next morning Yazadril noticed Mark asleep in his chair, a half-full bottle in his hand, Talia asleep in his lap. Hilsith was still awake and chatting with Alilia, but they were looking quite sleepy, and Nemia was found asleep in a huge fur with Dalia and Bezedil in the lowest bleachers at the edge of the field, all three curled together in a single giant’s seat with room to spare. All around the celebration continued without slowing, since so many wanted to come here; where great events had taken place, and new revelers constantly arrived to replace those who’d left.

  Yazadril and Hilsith cast hangover cures on their loved ones, then took them home and tucked them into bed.