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‘There are all kinds of littleness, Talen,’ Ulath said ‘How did Count Gerrich in Laet involved, Anarae? And why?’
‘He was recruited by Scarpa on Zalasta’s instruction, Sir Ulath Zalasta thought to stir discord and turmoil on the Eosian Continent to persuade the Church of Chyrellos that her interests required that Anakha be dispatched to Tamuli to seek out the roots of the disturbances Of all of them, only Zalasta hath his feet planted on both continents, and only he doth understand the thinking of thy Church In truth, Elron and A little of the true scope of the enterprise they have joined Baron Parok is eable, but he is still not privy to all their designs Count Gerrich is peripheral He follows his own purposes, which only occasionally ues here in Tamuli’
‘You almost have to admire theanized swindle I’ve ever heard of’
‘But it all fell apart when Xanetia opened the door to Zalasta’s mind,’ Kalten said ‘As soon as we found out that he’s been on the other side all along, the whole thing began to cruet est him to Scarpa,’ Xanetia replied ‘Gerrich had found the one called Krager useful in ti useful outside the walls of Baron Alstro back to haunt us, isn’t he, Sparhawk?’
‘How much did my Minister of the Interior and the other traitors really know about all of this, Anarae?’ Sarabian asked
‘Al, Majesty In the main they did believe that their activities were but a part of the ongoing struggle between Foreign Minister Oscagne and Interior Minister Kolata Kolata offered them profit, and so they did follow him’
‘Ordinary palace politics then,’ Sarabian mused ‘I suppose I’ll have to keep that in mind at their trials They weren’t really disloyal, only corrupt’
‘All except for Kolata, your Majesty,’ Itagne noted ‘His involvearden-variety political bickering, wouldn’t it?’
‘Kolata was a dupe, Itagne of Matherion,’ Xanetia corrected ‘It was Teovin as ever Zalasta’s er did bring Zalasta’s instruction, and Teovin did tell Kolata only so s us to the coup-atteer told Sparhawk that it wasn’t intended to succeed – that it was only designed to force us to reveal our strengths and weaknesses Was he actually telling the truth?’
‘In part, Majesty,’ Xanetia replied ‘In the main, however, was Zalasta uncertain about the truth of Anakha’s declaration that he had cast Bhellio rebellion in the streets of Matherion and endangering all whom Anakha held most dear to force him to reveal whether or no he still did possess the jewel’
‘We played right into his hands by going after it, then, didn’t we?’ Khalad suggested
‘I don’t think so,’ Sparhawk disagreed ‘We’d never have found out about Bhellio that nobody knew about – except possibly Aphrael Azash didn’t seeon I doubt that either one would have been so interested in it if they’d known that it ht resist their co this world if necessary’
‘All right,’ Khalad said ‘Noe knohat’s led up to all this What happens next?’
‘That lieth in the future, Khalad of Demos,’ Xanetia replied, ‘and the future is concealed from all Knoever, that our enemies are in disarray Zalasta’s position as advisor to the iovernment was at the core of all their plans’
‘How quickly will he be able to recover, Sephrenia?’ Ehlana asked ‘You know him better than anyone Will he be able to strike back immediately?’
‘Possibly,’ Sephrenia said, ‘but whatever he does won’t be very well thought out Zalasta’s a Styric, and we don’t react well to surprises He’ll flounder for a while – destroying ets hold of hiain, then,’ Bevier observed ‘We shouldn’t allow hiht,’ Sarabian said ‘After ent through the secret files of the Interior Ministry, we decided to pick up only the top level of conspirators – the police chiefs and administrators in the various towns for the most part We didn’t bother with the toadies and inforh jail-space The Interior Ministry was central to the whole conspiracy, I think, and now Zalasta and his friends will probably be forced to rely on the scrapings we left behind If I send the Atans out to h sweep, won’t that push Zalasta off balance all the more?’
‘Let him start to settle down first, Sarabian,’ Sephrenia advised ‘Right now he’s so enraged that he probably wouldn’t even notice’
‘Is Norkan still on the Isle of Tega?’ Vanion asked suddenly
‘No,’ Ehlana replied ‘I got tired of the forged letters he was sending me from there, so we sent hiet word of Zalasta’s treachery to him as quickly as possible Betuana really needs to know about it’
‘I’ll see to it, Vanion-Preceptor,’ Engessa proessa-Atan If that little outburst in the throne-room is any indication of his present state of ht now’
‘Infuriated to the brink of insanity,’ Sephrenia agreed It was the first time she had spoken directly to Vanion since the rupture between theave Sparhawk so then, won’t he?’ Vanion asked her ‘In his present state, inaction would be unbearable’