The meeting of the monarchs had been scheduled to take place in Chaldea's arena. It had been agreed to allow a small number from the general public to attend, and these would sit only in the left stands. This had been suggested by K'rar himself, and Tao had jumped on it easily, as he thought it would serve Goldora's purpose. It would be fantastic if Korazites themselves witnessed Korazin's surrender, and the signing of the document that conceded the Reideland District to Goldora. The whole city was buzzing because the foreign monarchs had arrived together the previous night, with an entourage of over 200. All night long the final preparations for the meeting had been taking place in the arena, and still were, supervised by Bartle Frere. Ahn Emis was with him, but he was completely confused by the manner in which Bartle Frere was going about this business. Bartle Frere had for example just concealed a hundred Kaffrarian archers among the gathering crowd in the stands, armed to the teeth. The chairs and tents where the visiting kings would sit were on the same side of the arena as the archers' stands. This is what prompted Ahn Emis to finally ask what this was about,
'General Bartle,' he asked, 'what is the meaning of this? What's with the archers? Are you planning to assassinate the guests?'
'No,' Bartle Frere smiled, 'but they're on the list. They will eventually die, but not from here.'
'What?'
'Why are you so surprised? Did you not hear the king? We are waging total war against his enemies.'
'Yeah, so?'
Bartle Frere raised one eyebrow first, and then raised the other,
'Oh, of course. You do not understand what total war is. As you will soon find out, it means that all efforts and resources will be directed to this war. The enemy must be destroyed completely. There will be no room for negotiation, and no surrender will be accepted. Then they will know not to harbor such a crazy idea as to attack Korazin again.'
'Wow. You speak as though you were a native Korazite.'
'The king's people are our people too. Even after the king is gone, the Kaffrarian Knights will fight for Korazin.'
'Believe me, I look forward to that.'
A soldier came up to them to report that the monarchs were now in the vicinity, so Bartle Frere descended from the steps to go out and meet them. The kings of Rabier and Arioch came first with their entourages. Gaixa was the only one among them who had been to Chaldea, so he was rather more relaxed than Erdial of Arioch. But when Bartle Frere and his team, which included two other blond knights, met them on the narrow pass from the city to the entrance, both kings scrutinized them as if they were looking at spirits.
'Who are you?' Erdial asked.
'I'm Bartle Frere. We will escort you to the arena,' he and his men stood aside. The two kings exchanged looks and obliged. Their own men flanked them as they passed, with Bartle Frere ahead of them. Not long after, the king of Goldora came along too. He came last on purpose. He was with his eldest son, General Amavi, and Undersecretary Gastan. They were surrounded by a larger team, and their approach was more pompous and showy. He was walking now, but he had been carried in a hand-held carriage through the public streets from his abode. In spite of his age, Tao had not slackened in his brisk, forceful gait. He was clad in long purple robes, while his son wore military uniform. The old man's long white hair, tied back into twin braids at the back, gave him a commanding look. He never looked aside. His gaze was straight ahead, and his countenance was always stern and serious. In the entrance, Bartle Frere was waiting for him. He recognized Amavi immediately.
'You must be King Tao,' he said to Tao, who said nothing in response, but just stared straight in Bartle Frere's face. So Bartle Frere greeted Amavi instead, 'you came too? I'm glad you're alive.'
Amavi emulated his father and said nothing too. Bartle Frere smiled, and stood out of their way. He and Ahn Emis exchanged looks, and followed them inside. Now they had stationed the negotiating table right in the center of the arena, and this one was not covered by a tent, so that everyone would see it. There were about seven chairs on one side of it, and only five on the other side. The visitors would sit in the row of seven with their officials, while K'rar would sit on the row of five with his mother, Shaniz, Bartle Frere and Ahn Emis. He would have reserved a seat for the Lord Chamberlain, but he had still not named the occupant of this position. Meanwhile, though, these seats were vacant, as K'rar had not arrived, so Tao and his officials were directed to the tent where the other kings were already sitting, on the opposite width of the arena. The tent was adjacent to two others under which the Korah of governors and other officials were already sitting, including Ossus and Lady Esella. As soon as Tao sat down he snapped,
'Where is he?'
'He'll be here soon,' said Ahn Emis.
'How can the host come later than his guests?'
K'rar was not far off though. He was already climbing the pass to the arena, with his mother, Helga and the rest of his Kaffrarian generals except Bekka and the Admiral Sorcatan. Shaniz was once more clad in her uniform. A squadron of Jaax's Hassendrale followed them. Their uniform color had been changed from black to blue, except the Arrondo Jaax's. The Hassendrale was also dragging Garrera along, in a caged wagon. Tao had demanded that he and his family be part of any deal, and K'rar had obliged. Now, since only K'rar and his Generals knew about today's agenda and what was going to happen, K'rar had to endure his mother's tantrum and insistence on his marriage along the way. She, like everyone else, thought this meeting was all about Korazin's official surrender, and was, much to K'rar's frustration, attributing the humiliation to the goddess Ashtoreth's anger at K'rar for undermining the set customs.
'There is no other explanation for it,' she was saying. 'The Goldorans invaded on the day you declared that you will not honor our customs. If you must marry her, then marry her according to our customs.'
'Mother, you're aware she's right here, right?'
'I am trying to convince you both. You are the husband. Must you follow her faith and her gods?'
'God. Her God.'
'Whatever. Are you even listening to me?'
'I do not worship Ihanga because of her. I do so because I want. And as I've already said, I will not compromise.'
'Please, open your eyes. You cannot make Ashtoreth angry. Especially not you. You are her representative on earth. Why must you bring disaster to yourself immediately after your return? Do you not know the importance of alliances?'
'As far as that goes, your country, Kai, has joined the aggressors in trying to partition our land like a cake. So of what use was your marriage to father?'
This shut her up. She chad no reply to this, but thankfully they had come to the entrance of the arena and she did not have to. K'rar stopped to look at the scene, especially the citizens. He then headed straight for the center table and sat down. Shaniz and Bartle Frere sat to his right, Noor-shan and Ahn Emis to his left. The visitors stood to join them. All their soldiers were in the arena, and almost half stood behind them with their backs turned to the crowd. King Erdial of Arioch was especially loudmouthed, so when he opened the talks, there was no surprise.
'A pompous way to surrender, Your Majesty, don't you think?' he taunted. No one responded. All were still studying each other's faces, as they were meeting for the first time. K'rar and the old Tao were especially interested in each other. The others were interested in Shaniz. She, Resite and Daena Milshkin were the only knightesses present in the arena apart from Hazael and another knight, stationed in the stands. At long last, old Tao broke the silence.
'I believe we are meeting for the first time,' he said to K'rar, and then he added, to Noor-shan, 'it is good to see you again.'
'I can't say I'm pleased,' Noor-shan said immediately.
Another brief, but tense, moment.
'I hope you don't mind me announcing my intentions to visit while already on the way,' Tao said, 'considering your despicable actions back at Tyrne.'
'Is this a revenge show, then?' K'rar spoke for the first time, and chuckled, 'I would have thought you would spot a fundamental difference, as you are an experienced leader. I came down to Tyrne with 3,000 knights. I had the lives of both your sons in my hands, but I spared them, and I could have slaughtered the port workers, but I spared them. But you? You came here with only a couple hundred men and a walking corpse. I could kill you and hang your head on the streets.'
Tao was shocked, something he expressed in an ironic chuckle,
'You sure are full of threats. I can forgive you for that, seeing as I have had two young sons. But you are a king who has lost an essential city for plunging yourself in a war you can't win, and you did so with an army of women. And, you are now forced to surrender in front of your own people. You should know better than to make empty threats.'
'Cut to the chase. You are not here to exchange hostilities.' Noor-shan was getting impatient. Was already impatient.
'Very well,' Amavi leaned forward. 'To avoid further expansion into Korazin, you will officially concede the southwest district to Goldora. You will also release General Garrera to us. Lastly, you will pay 300,000 kori as reparations for your unwarranted attack in Moon Province. You must also swear that you will not undermine our interests there, and you will have a peaceful reign of the rest of your kingdom.' The undersecretary pulled out a document with these demands and put it on the table, and Amavi leaned back triumphantly.
'That's…' Noor-shan had snapped, but her son raised a hand to her face to stop her. He picked up the scroll and proceeded to pretend to read through it. The scroll only needed his official stamp to end the meeting. It also had to be read to the governors for approval, so K'rar gave it to Bartle Frere, who rose from his seat and turned around. The officials could hear him even if he read out the demands right behind his chair, so he only stepped down the concrete platform and began to do so. He had not completed this, when Jaax and two others walked over to where they had stationed Garrera, and yanked him out of the wagon. His hands were bound behind him, his skin pale and wrinkled. He looked so hideous for someone who had flaunted himself in the palace as king. As they brought him closer, K'rar's officials, and Helga, were shocked that he was about to accept the demands, while Tao and company were smiling at each other. Tao said,
'You capitulated quite easily. I thought you would resist.'
'I do not want to cause unnecessary problems for my people,' said K'rar, rising, 'I am not equipped for a war against your larger armies. I am not stupid.'
'Very well said. Perhaps this will be a good precedent for future relations.' He was laughing as he watched K'rar approach Garrera. Two of his own men were coming forward to receive Garrera from the knights. They let Garrera speak with K'rar first. He said,
'So what was the point of your glorious return? You thought just because you're from your dynasty, Goldora would cower away? You have even suffered worse humiliation than me.'
'No kidding,' K'rar said. Suddenly, he snatched Jaax's sword from its sheath on his waist, drew the blade, and sliced open the General's throat. The man didn't have time to even know what had happened. Blood gushed out of his neck like an animal's, his hand over the wound unable to stop the bleeding. He fell face first onto the soil, dirtying it with his blood, convulsing for one final time. Before anyone was able to react, K'rar also turned on both Goldoran soldiers, executing them on the spot. Even Tao was among those to rise up from their seats in utter shock, along with many from the crowd and the officials' tent. Yet the action was not over yet. K'rar's actions were the signal for the concealed archers to rise up and shoot at the two centuries of foreign soldiers in the arena. In just one minute, they had dropped more than half of them. The remnant raced to snatch their kings from the table, but Bartle Frere, Shaniz and five other knights immediately apprehended them with their weapons. Bartle Frere shouted,
'Order your men to drop their weapons, or die with them!' but Tao did not need to, because his men stayed back, and dropped their weapons without making a fuss. K'rar handed Jaax his weapon, and then walked back to the table. His mother was white with terror. Her hands were frozen, one on her head and one over her mouth. Bartle Frere and Shaniz held down their weapons and sheathed them, while K'rar took the demands from Bartle Frere. One knight then came forward with a torch, another knight lit it and gave it to K'rar, and K'rar said, aloud,
'This is my answer.' He set the paper alight, and dropped it and the torch, 'consider it a declaration of war.'
Now it was Shaniz's turn to read a scroll to the officials, who were still shaking in fear and awe both. As Tao said that K'rar had just made a mistake, Shaniz began to read aloud to the government.
'Governors and officials, hear and obey. Korazin will go to war. Total war. All hands are thus hereby commanded to join this war effort. All resources and tools will be diverted, and all recreational activities suspended until further notice. I am calling upon the fighting spirit of your fathers and grandfathers and all those before them. The barbarians dared to invade our lands, so we will flush them out with military might such as has never been seen before on the face of this earth. This is my command.'
K'rar stood before his three dumbfounded opposite numbers. He said to Tao.
'How dare you stroll into my house and think you can turn over the tables? As much as I would love to, I will not shed your filthy blood on my land. Return to your lands tonight, and reflect on the grave mistake you have made. If you are here by morning, there will be blue blood. Do not threaten the sovereign nation of Korazin ever again.'
'See you on the field of battle.' Said Bartle Frere. Then he and the other Generals started to exit the arena briskly, followed by the Hassendrale. They had to remove Noor-shan by assisting her, as she was rooted to the spot.
When they were out of the arena, K'rar said to his officers,
'Begin the march south.'
'Yes, sir.' Bartle Frere was thrilled. He did not have to do this by physically meeting the army. He only had to shoot up a signal flare into the sky, which would be seen by Kaffrarians somewhere in the city. These would signal the same thing, until all forces received the message. So, the best part of an hour later, when the three kings were on their way out, they knew exactly what was happening even though they did not see the army mobilize, except for the movement of some native soldiers on the battlements of Chaldea's walls. As much as he hated to admit it, Tao was stunned. He was afraid. He had never met such determined, fierce opposition in all his long years. Still, he said to Amavi,
'His haughtiness will waver when he realizes that the I am after more than the Reideland.' He was referring to the northern attack by Kayan ships, which he thought was still largely a secret.
He couldn't have been more wrong.
Bekka was with Yorgi and fifty knights, some hundred miles north of Magherita. She had in just three days cleared all the distance between Chaldea and the mighty River Sorvian where it changed course and flowed southeastward toward Botterein. Camped south of the river, they only had to cross it, cross the steppe and savanna of Dura, and arrive at Paramael, Cockroach. Yorgi was the only one who wasn't a knight among them, and he had had to endure the blistering pace of the hard men, and women, in part to avoid embarrassment of being more timid than the ladies. They were traveling with a pack, or squad, of wolves, as well as just ten whizzguns. Admiral Sorcatan was no doubt on his way to Cockroach by sea, and it would be more than ideal if he got there before them, and certainly before the Kayan ships. Although Sorcatan needed only a single day to reach Cockroach, it took more than a day to get him the message, as it was still not feasible to use birds, unfamiliar with the land, to deliver it. So Bekka had set off on land first.
Their camp by the river was only their second. They had been riding nonstop for the rest of the time, even blitzing past Ursa, now a ghost village, as if it wasn't there. However, Bekka had listened with a sunken heart to Yorgi's story, and had pitied him. That conversation on horseback had been the spark, and the two had gotten along better than either of them would have anticipated. Bekka noticed this tonight as they roasted springbok. The two shared a fire alone, with one canine which they were feeding. There were other fires, belonging to the rest of the squadron, also roasting the meat of the same springbok, and fish from the Sorvian.
'You know what,' Bekka was saying, 'I have learned much more about this place from you than from K'rar.'
'Well, I'm older than His Majesty, and I have been here thirteen more years. Gosh, it's freezing. How can you not be covering yourself?'
'The weather feels just fine for me. This is freezing?' she chuckled. While he covered himself with a woolen cape, she was not even wearing her armor, and her arms were out, 'look around. No one thinks it is freezing.'
'Don't blame me for not being like you strange fellows.'
'Nothing is stranger than this land. K'rar tells me you have just two seasons, dry and wet.'
'I'm not even sure I understand what you mean.'
'You obviously don't. In Xaxanika, there are four seasons. It is the spring now. There will be summer after that, then autumn, then winter, and spring again.'
'That's crazy. Perhaps fire falls from the sky in one of them.'
'No. But snow does. Ice.'
'I know what snow is, girl. We have that on the Debasian peaks.'
'On the peaks only. In the winter, snow falls everywhere. Not just the mountains. The whole land is covered in white when the snows fall, and it's so cold you can't feel your skin. In the far north, the sea solidifies, and you can walk on the water. So I don't know what you mean when you say this is cold.'
'Man, your country is so scary in just words. You've even got giants and weird birds and tailless beasts,' Yorgi had seen a white snow bear, one of two that K'rar had captured and brought to his palace, aside from other creatures indigenous to Xaxanika. He added, 'but also beautiful ladies.'
'Really?' Bekka bashfully said, 'beautiful ladies? What are you insinuating, Yorgi?'
'I wasn't being symbolic.' Yorgi said quickly.
'Well, this camp has only got three ladies other than myself. Why did you suddenly notice now that Xaxanika has beautiful ladies?'
'Hey, there are less than three bears you brought with you too. I spoke about them too.'
'You sure did.' Bekka was looking at his face, but he was strictly avoiding her eyes. She said, 'here, the meat is ready. For a man your age, you're too shy.' Precisely, he was five or six years her senior.
'I'm not shy,' Yorgi denied strongly.
'No. You're not.' She arose from the stone she was sitting on, 'I'm going to sleep. Go to sleep early too. We set off before dawn in the morning.'
'Good night,' Yorgi said, 'but, why did we camp here? There is a bridge downriver.'
'It will draw attention. We will cross the river here.'
'What? How?'
Bekka just smiled at him and left him. He watched her walk to her small tent and slide under its flap. He hoped she would glance back in his direction, but he got nothing. Still, he sighed in relief, and smiled to himself before chomping into his springbok meat. Another knight came to join him, offering him a skin bottle of drink. When he took a sip, he regurgitated it immediately, and said,
'This is just water.'
The knight laughed at him.
'Of course. We do not drink on duty. Even off-duty, we drink responsibly.'
Yorgi soon found out the hard way how they would cross the river without boats, when he was shaken from sleep only some hours later by the same face he had last seen before going to bed.
'Wake up, man. It's time.' The knight was inside his tent, squatting over him.
'Already?' Yorgi complained.
'That's right. Come on, tie up your things in one heap. We've only got a few rafts.'
'A few what?' Yorgi couldn't believe it, 'we're crossing on rafts? Where did you get them?'
'Gosh, we made them by night. Chio's pretty good at it.'
'I don't know who that is. I don't even know who you are.'
'Of course. You are only interested in one of us, eh?' teased the knight, with a plastic smile. Once it subsided he added, 'still, you ought to learn our names. It is the knight's way. My name's Regius.'
But the three rafts were made for carrying equipment like the whizzguns, not to transfer the knights, as Yorgi soon found out in a chilling way. Half the knights had already crossed the river, and half were still taking off much of their clothes on this side.
'Wait. Wait a minute. Are we wading through this river?' he was watching them take off much of the clothing, including the two ladies who were still on this side, including commander Bekka, who turned around to look at him, and laugh along with the others. He walked over to her to continue his appeals, 'then what are the rafts for?'
'The whizzgun barrels must not get wet. Come on, even the horses are wading through.' She was taking off her shirt, leaving only an inner garment fastened around her waist and covering her breasts. While his mouth fell open at this, none of the other knights seemed to give a shit.
'Well, that's precisely why we should have camped downriver.'
'There's a village there. As I said, it will draw attention.'
'Well, we aren't bandits, are we? Why must we hide? Bekka, this water is extremely cold. This is insane.'
'It's Commander Bekka,' Regius corrected him, 'jeez, you're on first name status already?'
'Regius, shut your mouth!'
'Yes, commander.' He turned away, chittering like an insect, but not before Bekka ordered him,
'Put him on the raft. He was cold in the humid weather last night. The river might kill him.'
The rafts had been made quickly in the matter of hours. Chio and two of his southwestern redhead comrades had hastened the process. Yorgi was put on one of them with one whizzgun and ammunition in wooden crates. Four knights pushed it through the water, including this Chio and Regius. Yorgi felt so embarrassed to be the only one who did not get in the drink, so he made sure to make no conversation with the knights, but not for long. He spoke to his new friend Regius halfway down. The water was neck-deep, but the knights were gliding through as gracefully as ducks.
'How can you not feel the cold?' he asked. Regius laughed, but he wasn't the one who answered. Chio did,
'Don't worry about us. We trained for this.'
'How can you train for this? Even the hardest men would freeze in this.'
'Well, we're not them. We're Kaffrarian Knights. So you know we're harder than the hardest men. Besides, the rivers in Xaxanika are much colder than this. Ever been in a glacier?'
'Goodness. Even the ladies trained like this?'
'Everyone trained the same,' said Regius.
'What else can you do?'
'Total war.' Chio said.
Across the river, the knights dressed themselves up again. This time, the ladies did so separately from the lads, as they had to strip themselves completely and put on dry inner garments. Yorgi was nonetheless still shocked at how the guys dressed up together as a group without any qualms, even though they were doing so in concealed bushes. Once everything was finished, including loading back the logistics on the few wagons, they assembled again before Bekka, who declared that this would be the last stop, and that they should get to Cockroach when the sun was still out. Yorgi knew better than to disagree with this, after all he had seen. These riders were the fastest and most assiduous he had ever seen. Even their horses seemed to have special abilities.
He got to speak to Bekka once more later that day, when they stopped to water the horses in a tributary deep in the savanna.
'I should have told you that the roads were faster,' he said. Bekka was sitting on a wagon, wiping her blade. He sat down next to her.
'I wouldn't have believed you.'
Bekka had drawn a straight line from Chaldea to Cockroach on the map, and this was the route they were strictly following. It only deviated left and right ever so slightly whenever they came across difficult terrain, like the Debasian forest, inhabited places and high altitude topography.
'Still, this is pretty intense.'
'We're at war. K'rar has probably already met his enemies and declared total war. In total war, the first person to blink will lose. K'rar will not blink at all.'
'You refer to the king pretty casually, even in his presence, like Lady Shaniz. But Lady Shaniz is a royal, and she's engaged to the king.'
Bekka glanced aside at him and chuckled.
'Shaniz Santillan. Bekka Santillan. Clearly, we are not on first name basis, as Regius insinuated.'
Yorgi's jaw sagged again.
'No way. You and Shaniz are family? Are you sisters?'
'She's my cousin. She and I were the first Kaffrarian Knights to be recruited. And you best get used to saying her name with respect. She will be queen.'
Yorgi was now scrutinizing her all over again. She was aware of his staring although she was concentrating on her sword. She said,
'Why are you studying me? Do you want to tell me that I look like a royal highness now?'
Yorgi nodded a bit, 'Yes. You've got that one right. That is what I want to say.'
She raised her eyes again at him,
'What else?' she did not shift her gaze from him. He, too, maintained his gaze at her unlike the night before. He said, after a long pause,
'This nation is not very friendly with its women, and you're not only a foreign woman, but also a warrior. You will face opposition at Paramael.'
'Do you mean insubordination?'
'Yes.'
'That is why you will help me.'
'With military business?' Yorgi was traveling up to lead the Constabulary, or the Police. Paramael Fortress, the army base at Cockroach, was Bekka's business.
'Yes.'
'How?'
'With the civilians.'
'What do you mean, with the civilians?'
'Do you not know what total war is?'
'I'm starting to think I do not know what war is at all. You and your men have mentioned that term, total war, many times. Is it not the same as conventional warfare?'
'Hmph. Total war involves the civilians. They do not wield weapons, nor stand on the field of battle of course, but they must directly contribute to the war. As Chief of Police, you will ensure this.'
'I am still entirely lost.'
'I'll simplify it further. All forges must make weapons. Ranchers shall provide horses. Farmers will give food. Builders will build barriers. And so on. That is what total war is. The enemy will not be allowed to surrender. They must be completely smashed.'
'What's the point? What is wrong with conventional war?'
Hundreds of miles south in Chaldea, this question was being posed by Mongoose, to Jaax, captain of the Hassendrale. They were supervising the planting of the royal decree in public places within the city away from Antelope Hill.
'The answer,' Jaax answered, 'lies in these words.' He pointed at the royal decree on the wall, and Mongoose obliged by reading through it again. They were surrounded by a gathering crowd of boys and men and passersby who could read.
'Oh, I get it,' Mongoose said, 'he wants the population to feel involved in the liberation.'
'You get it indeed. What else?'
'Interesting how a young man like you is lecturing me on war. But let's see, what other reason could there be other than that?'
'It is to establish trust in the military. To raise it from the ashes it's been in for more than a decade. The people will learn to sleep in security when they know that the Korazin Army will defend them in blood. And, to the king, power has a hierarchy. The highest form is military power. The ruler of the land must have that.'
Mongoose understood. He nodded in assent,
'The king's father did not hold the military power.'
'And he who held it took even his political power from him. The army must be in the king's command, or else the nation faces ruin. King K'rar taught the king of Xaxanika this. He almost suffered the same fate as K'rar.'
'That is why the Goldorans have easily turned us into a laughingstock, with their army. All Korazin's silver and gold did not save her.'
'He has said those very words before, in that order,' Jaax said, smiling. He began to turn around, 'let us return to the palace.'
Mongoose continued to ponder over the topic on the way, keeping his head down.
'If the war is won…'
'When.'
'When the war is won, what next?'
'The king's plans for Korazin are not limited to pacifying continental enemies. The king will explore the entire surface of the earth. Only the Kaffrarian Armada in the whole wide world is able to reach the most distant parts. He will fulfil the prophecy about him opening the gates of the earth. Which he has already done to some degree.'
'An empire.'
'Precisely. Korazin will become a superpower. The creation of an empire is a superpower's prerogative. Don't you agree?'
'So, Goldora is just a mere rafter in his eye that must be removed.'
'A mere drop in the ocean.'
'I just became gladder that I have served this king. But sad that Ashdud is not alive to see it. He was the king's head of security. He once wagered that the king was destined to be a great man, who will do great things for this nation.'
'He would have been proud.'
'Vastly.'
K'rar was with Pliny, Lady Esella, Pithadia and Ishkeniaz in his office chamber. He was just about to head out on the march, and was giving them instructions. Ishkeniaz was a governor now, and so was Lady Esella.
'You will begin your work,' K'rar was speaking to the two of them, 'after the war. For now, I need you here in the city. Mother will be busy with state affairs, and I need you two to help her. I don't yet trust father's old gerontocracy like she does. Report to me all their moves.'
'Certainly, Your Majesty.'
'Pliny, you will be tasked with feeding the city. Work with Jaax. Mother will soon announce a currency reform to deal with the remnants of bad elements in the city, and she will assign you with that too. And Pithadia. I'm leaving Ollinz's education in your care. His mother knows where you will continue.'
Everyone knew who Ollinz was. K'rar spent lots of time with him, but no one knew or asked exactly why, aside from the fact that Ollinz was obviously under K'rar's tutelage and obviously part of his unknown, but important, plans.