Kalvan was pacing back and forth in front of the blazing fireplace while he wai.ted for Prince Phrames' briefing on the negotiations with Great King Nestros. Word had just arrived that Phrames-far in advance of the rest of the expedition-had just arrived atTarr-Hostigos. Kalvan suspected that it wasn't good news that brought the Prince so quickly. Something must have gone badly awry in Hos-Rathon. But what? he asked himself.
Has something happened to Ptosphes?'The Prince was clearly unwell and the only reason he'd asked him to lead the expedition was that Nestros would have been insulted if anyone of lesser rank had headed the party. Nestros was too much in awe of titles, and not enough of the people who bore them. Maybe it was part of Nestros' inferiority complex, stemming from the fact that he was the self-proclaimed king of a hick kingdom-at least, that's the way the Northern Kingdoms viewed him. And maybe how he viewed himself. Nestros certainly took a lot of pains to ape Northern manners.
Of course, it was also true that Ptosphes would have been insulted if he hadn't been invited to head the expedition to Hos-Rathon. Kalvan had purposely sent Prince Phrames along to keep an eye on Ptosphes. His father-in-law had many of the symptoms, shortness of breath and chest pains, of some sort of heart ailment. There were no cures here-and-now for heart disease and Kalvan saw no benefit to having the Prince spend his last years as an invalid-even if Ptosphes would let him, which he doubted. The Prince could be as stubborn and headstrong as his daughter!
There was a knock at the door.
"Enter."
Prince Phrames, his face and clothes travel worn, walked into the audience chamber. "Your Majesty."
"Have a seat, Phrames. Would you like some of Ermut's Best?"
"Please."
While Cleon came and filled two goblets with brandy, Kalvan noticed that Phrames was clearly agitated.
"What's wrong?"
"It's Nestros." He looked sick. "Your Majesty, he's turned down the alliance with Hos-Hostigos."
"Really! He needs the alliance more than We do. It's not as if I was ordering him to attack Hos-Ktemnos next spring! At the least, I was hoping for at least five thousand Rathoni troops for next year's campaign."
Phrames took a long drink, shuddered and said, "No, we'll be lucky if we're not fighting the Rathoni right along with the Styphoni."
"How could this be?"
"From the day we reached Rathon City, we observed that Nestros was avoiding us with delay after delay. In our talks he was distracted and making unrealistic demands, such as Hostigos sending him a flying battery and a hundred rifles with gunsmiths."
Kalvan whistled and then lit his pipe. "He must have known those requests would never have been granted."
"Exactly. Then a big delegation from Balph arrived, headed by Speaker Anaxthenes and the Commander of Styphon's Own Guard."
"Ouch! Nestros must have been waiting for them. Maybe he was planning to play both sides off each other?"
Phrames nodded. "We were in Rathon City almost a moon-quarter and Nestros wouldn't grant us even a perfunctory audience-until after the Styphoni arrived. At the meeting Nestros was very distant and it was apparent he'd already made his decision to ally himself with Styphon's House. At a later meeting, when Chartiphon accused him of being dishonorable,
Nestros blew up and told us that it was only because of his honor that we weren't already in chains being marched to Balph. He then stated that our alliance with his enemy Sargos had freed him from any obligations to either Hos-Hostigos or Your Majesty. We were then ordered to leave Rathon at all haste."
Kalvan shook his head; this was completely unexpected. Nestros had sold out to Styphon's House for something-but what? "Do you have any idea why Nestros is allying himself with our enemies?"
"Prince Bosphro of Distros, a man who fought alongside Your Majesty, gave us some information. It appears that Styphon's House has bought Nestros' loyalty with the promise that he will be recognized as Great King by all the legitimate Kingdoms. Prince Bosphro claims that the Archpriests have promised Nestros military aid in his war against the Sastragath as well as an alliance with Hos-Ktemnos, which Nestros believes will give Hos-Rathon true legitimacy as the Sixth Great Kingdom. That's what he's telling his Princes."
Kalvan made a bitter laugh. "Until Styphon's House doesn't need him any longer. Will we now be facing Rathoni troops in the spring?"
"No, Nestros told Ptosphes, as long as we recognized his territory and made no claims upon Hos-Rathon, he will continue to remain neutral in the Fireseed War."
"The silly bugger! If anything happens to Hostigos, the Styphoni will dismember Hos-Rathon, enslave his people and eat him alive."
"True, Your Majesty. Roxthar will feast upon his corpse. The stink of his betrayal will reach the very Throne of Dralm!"