TCG

TCG01: When everything was done in preparation  for the Council of Royals there remained only the impending arrival of the Great Personages. Queen Aurra Firegem's serving wench,  a woman named Nuriel, attained to the astonishing situation of having nothing to do so she removed to a nook.

Nuriel perched above the great hall of  Barachiel's airy castle high enough to see all  the nobles when  they paraded in  to be seated. She smiled broadly when  she was joined by  Gabriel and they shared a sweet kiss.

TC02: They had worked together for only six days, but they had slept together as many wonderful  nights. For Nuriel the thing was still bewildering. Gabriel somehow knew everything  about her. In bed he made not a single awkward move. It was as though they had been married for a lifetime and Gabriel had returned to the very beginning to start all over again. Nuriel was already in love with this nephil who towered over her, this otherworldly boy who was so beautiful because he was also a girl.

TC603: Gabriel frequently spoke to her in the form of song. Over the last two days Nuriel  came to understand  Gabriel's Earthly tongue, as he said she would  when she consented to  become his lover.

"I sing of woe brought by those of black beard.

When noble ones stood against what they fear'd.

Just close your eyes to see them meet the king.

Mark two slave women who watch all unseen."

Nuriel said, "In all truth, Gabriel, you're both a  woman and a man, but never mind, it's your art, right?"

TC604: He went on:

"Gabrielle is one slave woman's name

And Nuriel is her female flame.

They shirk toil in the valley castle

As Uriel walks before hez vassal."

Indeed King Uriel of House Bellon had entered the chamber first with hez daughter Princess Dafla at hez side and First Minister Makassar walking a  few paces  behind  them. The king and  the princess looked none the  worse after their  flight to  the Dul Valley, mounted on the  dragon Demonstroke. Makassar had taken much longer to arrive.

TCG05: The ophan Barachiel forbade all weapons from the council chamber save for the Dragonthorn alone, the diamond blade in the possession of Princess Dafla, which  she wore in a  scabbard on her back. Gabriel knew the sword was useless as a weapon of war, despite the hardness of diamond. Yet it was something more than merely a ceremonial weapon. In Kemen, in this time,  the word talisman was bound up with it. In another time and place it was just a transmitter and antenna to control a machine.

TCG06: Ophan  Nithael  followed  King Uriel  into  the  chamber arm-in-arm with hez spouse Losna. A jen and an ambi, red of hair with a nephil crop, they looked less a married  couple and much more nearly identical twins. The city of Vaska was  theirs to rule on the western shores of Thalury.

Gabriel sang to Nuriel:

"They rule distant Vaska where you were born.

Queen Aurra greets them with no trace of scorn.

Yet their bitter clash of arms claimed her son

And is fresh in the minds of everyone."

TCG07: "Not bad, said Nuriel.

"Yeah. I should have brought my sax."

Nuriel shook her head and sang to Gabriel in his alien tongue:

"Your horn with an otherworldly sound

Will make it sure that we will both be found."

Gabriel had to admit she was right. They both watched in silence as Makassar pulled out tall chairs where they were  to sit near the king and his daughter.

Hashmal Phanuel entered then, alone,  as the final  delegate of House Bellon. Hy ruled the city of Atria in Haaretz.

TCG08: Phanuel was an elyon rather than a  nephil. His presence served to remind everyone that some members of the great family of Red Beards, at least, actually had red beards.

Atria lay at the head  of navigation on  the Sabik. It was the only civilized place in a rich land nigh to the Wall of God that was yet uncrowded and untamed. Gabriel knew the place well after spending an extended honeymoon there. He sang:

"Alodra the source of oxen and gold

All guarded well by Phanuel the Bold."

TCG09: King Rimmon made his entrance next, with  a rolling gait that showed forth he was at  heart a warrior. Gabriel knew the seraph came in the role of a spoiler. Certainly Rimmon was aware any league of  kingdoms forged  in this  council would  be much stronger than Adan alone.

Nuriel had never  seen  the stocky  and  brash Adanite  emperor before. He came with a human  female and no others. Nuriel saw how both the woman and  Rimmon had  small black horns  on their heads, like those of certain beasts.

TCG10: Gabriel knew much about King Rimmon's companion, but her presence was a mystery. This wasn't the first time he had looped through the Council of Royals, but  it was the first  loop this particular woman had joined. Gabriel told Nuriel, "She's from Earth, the  daughter of a  seraph. Her  name is Tabaet  but here she's  calling herself  Joy. That's  not an  inappropriate name, given her particular talent."

All Nuriel knew was somehow the presence of this woman seemed to halt Gabriel's flow of verse.

TCG11: The nobility  of the  land of  Sala entered  Barachiel's chamber  next. At the side  of Queen  Aurra Firegem  walked the Royal Consort, Duke Evander. Their raiment was subdued, as they were still in mourning  over the  death of  their son,  a death which had precipitated the council.

Queen Aurra  ruled  the  most   fertile  part  of  Kemen. Left unchecked, the human  population of  Sala would  multiply until they outnumbered everyone else in  the Slush Belt. King Rimmon did not intend to leave them unchecked.

TCG12: Countess Ayani entered next. She was the recently widowed wife of Aldred Firegem. Nuriel noted with faux-disgusted glee the almost  continuous  eye-lock  Ayani  seemed  to  have  with Hashmal Phanuel, now already seated  at the table. And Phanuel shamelessly returned the gaze. Something was obviously happening there. Tongues of courtiers would surely wag. It had been less than a month since Count Aldred's death.

Gabriel remembered the  finest  horses in  Kemen  were bred  in Ayani's city of Locotin.

TCG13: Gabriel sang:

"Heeding no more her grand prize winning stallions.

Ayani now seeks two-legged medallions!"

Her kinsman the  Baron  Alastor Firegem  of  Thorgram was  also eligible for marriage, but his ever-wandering eye made marriage impossible. When his dalliances annoyed  his mother  she would send him abroad. By now he knew Kemen better than anyone alive.

Nuriel found the man as brawny as any angel of greater stature, but he was  always smirking,  as though  frozen in  a perpetual boyhood.

TCG14: Gabriel cooked up a quick couplet for the Baron:

"'Alastor's a feast for many a talebearer.

Whomever he's with, he finds the next much fairer!"

His city of Thorgram was nestled in a range of hills that formed a fence between the fertile heart  of Sala and a  narrow wooded plain along the  shore  of  Thalury, a  coast  that was  shared uneasily with the Red Beards.

Thorgram glistened amid a forest of gopher trees. These produced a kind of lumber found neither on Earth nor natively in Kemen.

TCG15: Gopher trees were a hybrid of both worlds and their wood was used by the ships during the Deluge, since  it could not be destroyed by expanding ice. It was ridiculously easy to cut and work. Perhaps Alastor was so boyish, Gabriel thought, because he ruled a city made of tree forts.

The order the delegations came to council was  by drawing lots, lest anyone thought the sequence was set by Barachiel according to whom he  deemed the  greater. He only insisted the  Larund delegation enter last.

TCG16: Hamon entered  with  his little  family. There he was, thought Gabriel, grandpa  in  his younger  days,  a bit  better dressed than  usual but  still  just  a stonemason's  son  with nothing marking him a seraph.

Gabriel's own mother Leliel walked  in front of Hamon. She was just two years old. Despite this being the second loop for him at the Council of Royals, Gabriel found it a unique sensation to see his mother as a child, in  real time and in  the flesh, and not just through something like a film.

TCG17: More interesting was how Leliel had somehow been tamed to a slow walk.

Even on the  previous loop  Gabriel recognized  his grandmother Lilith walking next  to  Hamon. She was  unmistakable, a  dark thunderstorm frozen as a long-legged yan. Lilith was attired in the ornate gray and black of  a Fallen Angels dress  uniform, a recent  thing that  made its  appearance  as the  colony in  the Living Valley took root. Lilith's amazons, exiles of downfallen Salem, were now loyal subjects of King Galizur.

TCG18: When wee Leliel seated herself she methodically removed a white scroll from a fired clay cylinder and  prepared quills in what  was taken  to be  a precious  parody of  an adult  scribe. Gabriel knew she was entirely serious.

Nuriel sang:

"I thought the child would sit and fidget

Now I think she is really a midget!'

Hashmal Raphaela,  second-in-command   of  the  Fallen  Angels, followed Lilith wearing  an identical  dress uniform. She came with Ophan Barachiel, the Prince of Sealiah Island.

TCG19: The  green  island  of  Sealiah held  in  fee  by  Ophan Barachiel kept the  people of  Rumbek well-nourished,  and many more besides. It was  a  great blessing  but  perhaps not  all thought so.

Nuriel sang:

"The more the soil yields in Dul Valley

The more we toil in Ophan's galley!"

Uzziel of Elketz entered at a stately pace. His city lay far to the west of  the Nine  Mile Wall  in the  heart of  the Magodon peninsula. The animals raised near there were driven throughout Magodon to be slaughtered.

TCG20: Gabriel sang:

"Check your soles Hashmal, 'ere further you roam,

I just caught a whiff, reminder of home!"

When Uzziel reached the place he  was assigned he did  not take his seat, but  he said,  rather, in  a loud  voice, "Lords  and ladies, King Galizur is come. All rise."

Nineteen complied with this rule  of court etiquette,  but King Rimmon and "Joy" stubbornly remained seated.

The cherub entered the chamber through a massive door behind the head of the table where all were to sit.

TCG21: Nuriel sang:

"Fishers circle the island in a ring

All of them subject to Galizur King."

'"We must separate for a  short time," Gabriel told  her. "Lord Hamon has need of me."

Since all eyes were  already on  King Galizur,  Gabriel started there. Walking to the king's  side, he inverted and  restored a leather pouch to show here  was nothing inside. Then he withdrew a crystal goblet of golden wine from the same  pouch and set it on the table without spilling a drop, to gasps and applause.

TCG22: Gabriel repeated this trick down the table on the king's left-hand side, omitting wine only for Leliel.

Rimmon wasn't impressed  with the  magic. He knew Bat-El  must be working  it. Someone was handing  Gabriel  the  wine  from "off-stage", as it were. More interesting was his halo of white horns, identical to that of Lilith and her daughter. Only Tabaet seemed bored with his trick.

"Tabby...what are you doing?" he asked in a  sing-song voice, using the tongue of the latter-day B'nei Elohim.

TCG23: "Same thing as you,  Gabe. Check  out back there,  get a second life here.  The difference between us is  you're still on the clock. I'm very, very retired."

"We need to talk."

"No, we don't. I already know why you're here.  I read it right off your mom's scroll."

Gabriel spared a glance at little Leliel, who  was busy writing everything she saw  happening. But there was  nothing more  he could do except  produce more goblets of what would  be called a crisp, oaky Chardonnay in his own time.

Instead, che produced more  goblets of what  would be  called a crisp, oaky Chardonnay in hez own time.

TCG24: Gabriel was collecting quite  a handful of  black rubber lids from  the  goblets,  necessary because  the  wine  floated without gravity in  the  little pocket  of  space-time that  he relied upon to do his trick.

After an interval that was much shorter than had Gabriel poured the wine rather than pulled full goblets from his leather pouch, everyone had been served. He then stood a short  distance from the king with wine in his own hand.

Galizur said, "Ladies and lords of Kemen, welcome to Sealiah!"

TCG25: The king  picked  up his  goblet as  he  deemed it  more mannerly to raise a glass in  the direction of someone  than to point a finger. He said, "Queen Lilith of Salem and her husband Lord Hamon have been my honored guests on this isle for over two years. They arrived  through the air inside what  Lord Hamon has called an avatar. With them came also their daughter Leliel, who even now  is marking down the  words I say here,  and her mother insists Leliel does not merely pretend to work as a scribe."

TCG26: Galizur turned his hand holding the wine to where Rimmon and Tabaet remained seated. Both remained unmindful of decorum in the presence of the king. Galizur said, "It is well that the ruler of the whole land of Adan, King Rimmon, has also made his appearance here. We do not  conspire against him in secret! Lord Rimmon and his companion have come to us in an extraordinary way that very few among  us have seen before, as hy  is a seraph and any place in Kemen is accessible to him at any time."

TCG27: King Galizur  looked along  the table. He said, "Baron Alastor Firegem  of the House  of Firegem  has come. He  did not need to travel far as he was already in Rumbek on an errand laid upon him by his mother."

At that remark Ayani could not  help making a sharp  titter, to her immediate regret. Galizur had intended to mention her next, but the eruption of mirth did not suit the words he had prepared touching the recent death of her spouse Count  Aldred. The king decided to circle and come back.

TCG28: The king passed over  Ayani and introduced  instead King Uriel of Jelaket and hez young daughter the  Princess Dafla. He said, "I think  in  all Kemen  the only  means  of travel  more remarkable than the way employed by  King Rimmon must be to come to this island riding on the  back of the last surviving dragon, Demonstroke. even as the nobles from Jelaket in the land Sastrom have done. On how  this has come to be King  Uriel will no doubt have much more to say during our deliberations in council."

TCG29: King Galizur's eyes moved further up the table, and again he raised his glass of wine. "We are honored to have with us the ophan Nithael of Vaska and also  hez spouse Losna. As  with our guests  from Salem  they  traveled  by means  of  the avatar  of Bat-El. Nithael spoke of being  whisked over the wide expanse of Thalury, the Wall  of God, and most of the  Magodon peninsula in the space  of just  half an  hour. But che  also told  me moving about Kemen in that manner is not for the faint of heart."

TC634: "We have with us  as well  Hashmal Phanuel, who  was the traveling  companion of  Baron  Alastor. They  had most  arduous journey of all  who have come to this council  chamber, for they went by foot  and by steed, and  they took the better  part of a year to  make the journey.  I am pleased as  well to see  my son Hashmal  Uzziel. He  is come  from Elketz,  the nearest  city to Rumbek west  of the Nine  Mile Wall, yet  he spent most  of last summer riding here. This world where  we dwell is truly great in extent."

TCG30: COBB : Galizur then introduced  Raphaela, seated between Uzziel and Barachiel. "Of her doings on the marches of my realm she will  no doubt  have much  to say,  for indeed  events there precipitated this very council, unique in our history. Yet it is long overdue. The question before  us is nothing less than this: Will there be  lasting peace in Kemen? Such must  be foremost in the thoughts of  Queen Aurra, Duke Evander,  and Countess Ayani, all who have come to this council still deep in grief."

TCG31: "None present  here can  be unaware  that the  nobles of House Sala have come to us  soon after the life of their kinsman Aldred was  taken on the field.  In the days leading  up to this conclave it  first came to my  mind to utter soothing  but empty words in  his memory.  But let  us drink  to a  better sentiment instead. As we trot  out our grudges in the days  to come may be forge something truly lasting and meaningful. May we see through to making Count Aldred's death significant in an enduring way."

TCG32: Then the King  and all the  attendees quaffed  the wine, save for King  Rimmon  and Tabaet,  who  remained seated. They clearly did not share Galizur's sentiments.

There were gasps all  around the  table. The gathered nobility marveled how the wine was somehow as chilly as a mountain stream after being poured from Gabriel's wine skin. Even Gabriel joined them in the king's toast as  he stood near Galizur,  and Nuriel marveled that he was not rebuked  for drinking on duty. But he was quite finished.

TCG33: His role as fool  and court magician  fulfilled, Gabriel polished off his crystal goblet of wine and returned to the high nook where Nuriel awaited. But now Hamon pondered  whether the clown's halo was real, and not  merely a gentle mockery  of the horns marking his wife and daughter. From her earliest existence Bat-El could never resist unraveling a good mystery.

King Galizur bade the lords  and ladies  to be seated. Then he rang the little bell that was  set before him. The council had begun.

TCG34: The council of Royals quickly degenerated into a kind of show  trial. A seemingly endless  set  of accusations  against the Adanites  were  left  dangling  in  the  air  while  Rimmon cherry-picked the most defensible ones.

Queen Aurra Firegem of Saharad  spoke first of her  son Aldred. She said, "The news of  Aldred's death traveled from  the field faster from than the bier carrying  his pierced body. Yet it was not until I  saw the stricken face of my  husband Evander that I submitted fully to my grief.

TCG35: "Lord Hamon was come  with him. I spied  Hashmal Phanuel walking beside the  procession, and I asked my  husband, 'Did we prevail  in the  battle  after  all? Is  the  lord  of the  city of  Alodra our  prisoner?'  But Evander  said,  'No, Lord  Hamon brought hem under  a truce-bond.' And when he  drew near Phanuel prostrated hemself before me.  Che expressed hez deepest regrets for the death of my son, and  che offered to explain why it came to be. 'No  explanation is needed,' said I. "This  is war, after all.'

TCG36: "Phanael said in reply, 'Yet, Your Majesty, it  is a war that never  had to be. King  Rimmon came before me  in Atria not long ago.  There he  rolled out a  map and told  me the  isle of Danya should  belong solely  to House Bellon,  for we  have ever been the  mariners while the  inhabitants of Sala were  more the farmers and should be content with  the broad vale of Loenna. He suggested the  Gold Beards were sticking  a finger in my  eye by holding Danya. I accepted the logic of his argument at the time.

TCG37: Then very  skillfully  Rimmon changed  the subject  from Danya to the superbow.'  And Hashmal  Phanuel brought  out this superbow for my inspection."

In council Phanuel stood up at a nod from  the queen. Che said, "The superbow is made of gopher wood between a layer of sinew to the fore and horn to the rear, all held together from glue made from boiled  horse hooves. The  bowstring is made also  of sinew from the shoulders of oxen. To be honest, my eyes fairly sparked at the sight of the thing.

TCG38: "When I fitted  an arrow  to it I  deemed that  only the mightiest could draw the string  fully back, and when I released the string  the shot flew  half again as  far as from  any other bow. So I ordered a thousand of them. And why should I not? Have not each of our kingdoms done the same for centuries now, one or two houses  rising up against  one, or all houses  assailing the others, but never  (and how odd this now seems  to be) all three Houses simultaneously coming up against the Black Beards?"

TCG39: Queen Aurra  said, "I  thank you,  Phanuel. If  you also recall I showed Evander the curious mark on your superbow, which s  also stamped  on every  weapon we  have purchased  of Adanite make, not excepting the compound bows that settled the battle in our favor."

Duke Evander stood to amplify  Aurra remarks. "When my cavalry met Phanuel  che had  somewhat greater numbers  than we,  but my forces were  armed with bows curved  in such a way  to allow the archer to pull the string without growing weary.

TCG40: "That  in turn  gave  them  sufficient  time to  take  a carefully considered shot."

Phanuel said, "I was forced to break off the engagement or face a  mutiny by  my own  cavalry.  But it  was not  soon enough  to preserve the life  of your son, to my  everlasting regret, noble ones."

The queen offered  Phanuel a  gentle smile,  but her  eyes were moist. She said, "My son is gone and he cannot be replaced. Your army was driven off by special bows that King Rimmon supplied to us just before the battle.

TCG41: "And now we both see he has been quietly playing a double game."

Queen Aurra was seated once  more, followed by her  husband and Phanuel.

Then, abruptly, King Rimmon stood up  to speak. He said, "I do not deny  the essentials of  what the  queen, her duke,  and the hashmal Phanuel  have just  related to you.  Family Gerash  is a House  of merchants  after  all.  What I  deny  is the  unspoken implication  that my  dealings with  the kingdoms  of Kemen  are somehow an evil. Weaponsmiths may not seek increase?

TCG42: "If they did not, of a surety there would soon be no arms in all of Kemen."

King Uriel stood to answer him. "No one here would deny worklen their wages," said  che, "and  none suggest  the industry  of a kingdom must be carried out entirely by edicts from on high. But recall  when last  you came  to my  palace, before  you came  by dragon.You carted off much gold from my treasury in exchange for a forest of  long pikes made from a new  admixture of metals you said could pierce any armor I possessed.

TCG43: :"You assured me it  would pierce even the  wrought iron mail  of  the  Brown  Beards. Yet  the  summer  campaign  proved otherwise. House Larund was not caught by surprise. I was met on the approaches to Elketz by Gadreel and his entire infantry, all clad with immovable plate armor  that was curiously able to turn aside the allegedly irresistible pikes you sold to me. So friend was turned against friend with no small loss of life, and no one benefited except the arms merchants of distant Adan."

TCG44: "So let us not speak of the evils of reining in commerce when the only industry that  is actually commanded by directives issued from  a high cabal  is that of  the arms makers  of House Gerash."

In reply King Rimmon said, "I fail to see any real significance in your tale,  Your Majesty. Especially, I take  issue with your conclusion. The pikes we sold were indeed invincible at the time we sold  them. Unfortunately, House  Larund took advantage  of a late breakthrough we achieved in metalsmithy."

TCG45: "If your ancient houses insist on carrying out your hoary family squabbles, we in Adan are only too happy  to provide the means  for you  to do  it,  as surely  as we  aid House  Firegem and  yourself in  other perennial  quarrels amid  the shores  of Thalury."

The lesser nobles  of the  monarchies then  rose one  after the other to weigh in. The baron Alastor Firegem spoke  of battles that were fought, every year it seemed, on the hills of glacial till that formed the border between Sala and Gerazan.

TCG46: Gadreel spoke  of a  skirmish with  Raddai near  Peshast between nobles within the same house. None knew at the time what had been the  essential  cause. "Only at  this council,"  said Gadreel, "are  things beginning  to  grow  clear. In  hindsight we  see  Larund against  Sala,  Larund  against Bellon,  Firegem against Bellon,  even brother against brother  among Larund, and it's curious  how omnpresent  King Rimmon remains,  pointing out problems we  never knew we had,  and ever with a  remedy on hand for sale."

TCG47: Lilith then stood up to  state her piece. "You have all heard tidings of  my land of Adan,  and how it has  been torn by civil war  of late, and how  King Melchizedek was slain  by many arrows  even  as  he  drew  nigh to  the  shore  near  Salem  to surrender. But  mayhap not all of  you learned how I  fled Salem with Lord  Hamon together with  the Fallen Angels and  others of the  city who  yet call  me Queen,  even as  we were  pursued by overweening victors who were not content to digest the spoils of the city.

TCG48: "Few know of the bargain we forced on King Rimmon, Hamon and I.  A hard border now  lies on the frontier  of Magodon that the Adanites must  never cross west, nor I east.  So I remain in perpetual exile. My  husband assures me once a  seraph's word is given there can be no repentance,  and indeed this is why Rimmon could depose my father and  my brother only by assassination and not a simple edict. Also an impenetrable bog stands between Adan and Sala. The Black Beards are entirely boxed in."

TCG49: "The Adanites  need only  to fear  an attack  from House Larund. Yet  King Galizur has  no plan to recover  the trackless wastes that lie  between his new border and the  ice bridge in a fruitless adventure against a thoroughly well-equipped army. And none  dare assail  King  Uriel,  who now  has  a  dragon in  his keeping. So  the weaponsmiths  of Adan must  set their  hopes on insurrection, on new strife engendered  within each of the three kingdoms,  lest the  arms they  ever churn  out lie  in armories unsold."

TCG50: When Lilith was seated Hamon stood up to add his remarks to those of his wife.

"Ultimately, King Rimmon  is lord  of  all Kemen.  That no  one denies. He is a seraph: an elyon in union with the living sun we call Shemhazai.  This world huddles near  to the white sun  as a soldier draws near to his fire in an overnight camp. The land of Adan has  always been beholden  to Shemhazai, and  while elyonim and nephilim  are peculiar to Kemen,  of old humans came  from a world where Bat-El reigns absolutely.

TCG51: "Therefore in Sala where humans number in their hundreds of thousands and the elyonim and  nephilim are found not at all, Bat-El is given the full adoration  due to the Holy Ones. But as you look further and further east  along the Slush Belt, and the human population dwindles in proportion, this adoration likewise fades. Bat-El finds this tolerable  because he has always called world-dwellers  the Students,  and it  is a  far better  thing a student learns how to think rather than what to think.

TCG52: "But I assure you such divided loyalty  is not tolerable to King Rimmon. Shemhazai has never called the dwellers of Kemen students but rather you are, to him, only servants. I am certain King Rimmon  has already set  his designs  in motion. He  can no longer assail you with his main force, but he can send assassins at  will, as  he  did  at Salem,  and  burn  through the  ruling nobility until he  finds an ophan or hashmal most  nearly to his liking, and he will outfit that one to adventure abroad."

TCG53: King Rimmon stood  to offer his  rebuttal. He said, "To this yen  who styles herself  a queen  I have no  counsel, other than to muse out loud, can there  really be a queen with no city to rule?  As for the  misguided imaginings of  this stonemason's son, Hamon, consider! If I  wanted to subdue the remaining three kingdoms of  Kemen it would be  such a small thing  to equip one and put  a complete embargo  on the other  two, yet ever  I have sold  Adan's  arms to  all  alike.  This everyone  present  must admit."

TCG54: King Galizur  rose to  his feet  to speak. "My city of Rumbek has a seaside precipice protecting us on three sides, and the Nine  Mile Wall protects us  from being assailed by  land on the fourth. Yet in times past  we have ventured down the face of the  Wall of  God  to ally  with Sastrom,  and  we even  crossed Thalury to  assail distant  Sala. Once, during  the reign  of my father,  I crossed  the  ice  bridge and  passed  from Salem  to Ganelon and thence to Adan. It was a journey that took more than a year.

TCG55: "Ganelon sits on the finest bottom land I have ever seen. It is better, perhaps than even  that found in the  vale of the Loenna. Adan has  soil so deep and rich it  is nearly black, yet there are few crops, save weeds."

King Rimmon replied, "In these enlightened days most of the East Land became a smithy. Only at Salem do farmers till the flats as they still do  in your  ancient monarchies.  We have  you at  a disadvantage. I can  move goods anywhere in Adan as  easily as I can move myself."

TCG56: Lilith, in a quiet  aside to  Hamon, said, "That  is how Rimmon can evade  the covenant I made with  him that established the frontier. He can bring his  whole army over the line by ones and twos, and keep them supplied that way as well."

Hamon shook his head. "No, my mother would reveal it to me if he made the attempt.  She, after  all, must  form one  end of  the portal. I  would tell King Galizur,  and he would fall  upon the soldiers long before they built  up sufficient numbers to form a threat."

TCG57: "Noble ones," said King Galizur, "let us  reflect on the words of  King Rimmon for a  moment. East of Salem  everyone who makes a living in the land  of Adan is either making weapons, or they are  supporting those do.  The livelihood of  every Adanite depends entirely on keeping us at each other's throats."

"Now consider what  our  livelihood purchases  for us,"  Rimmon countered. "In a legal  sense even  my guards  are on  the same level as  myself, with  the same rights  and obligations  to the state.

TCG58: "Can anyone here say  the same thing about  yourself and one of your servants? A lowly apprentice could rise to attain to my seat  on the State Council.  Blood counts for nothing  in the East  Land, only  ability and  devotion to  Shemhazai. Now  that Lilith has departed Salem all of Adan is a republic."

"A theocratic meritocracy, more  like," said Queen  Aurra. "The apprentice who rises so  high will no  doubt merely  become the next lan possessed by Shemhazai as his living avatar, willing or no.

TCG59: "Nevertheless,  Your Majesty,  for  all  your praise  of affairs in your  own land, consider that cities,  and not merely individuals alone, may form republics after a fashion."

A massive bell was heard to ring somewhere in  the castle. King Galizer slapped his hands sharply twice. That was the signal for Nuriel and Gabriel to come down from their little nook and serve the midday  meal. The Council of  Royals  paused  their  grim deliberations to  enjoy  the  offerings  of  Ophan  Barachiel's kitchen.

TCG60: Gabriel fanned out  once more with  his wine  trick. The guests were astonished it was chilled to the same degree as when he served the first round over two hours prior.

As Nuriel served a kingly plate  of roast beef to  Uriel Bellon Gabriel ventured to sing:

"Born to rule Jelaket as king.

Yet queen-gentle hez words do ring.

Valiant like the yeng of old

Fair like a bust of purest gold."

He composed the words in English  but sang them in  the private language Bat-El and El invented.

TCG61: The king did not understand the words, but che liked the tune. Nuriel had only come to understand the tongue in the last day or so. The song was really meant for Hamon,  that he would know Gabriel was not a  simple clown  sporting a false  halo in parody of Lilith and Leliel.

When Gabriel drew near to Hamon and his family  he said, in the same tongue, "Your  pardon, my  Lord, I  am the  herald of  the daughter  of Bat-El.  I crave  audience  with you  in a  private setting as Binah has commanded me."

TCG62: At  this Lilith  was  thrown  into much  confusion. The daughter of Bat-El, her  husband had told  her, would  not even become a conscious being until  an interval  on the order  of a human lifetime had passed. And the name Binah was something she and Hamon had discussed only in private.

But to Hamon  certain things  he  had only  suspected were  now confirmed. He said,  "We  will receive  you  in  our  chambers tonight, after the evening meal."

Gabriel bowed deeply and said, "It will be as you say, Lord."

TCG63: As  Gabriel  joined  Nuriel  and  resumed  his  role  of refreshing the  guests, Hamon could  not supress a  broad smile. His wife was pleased that he seemed so happy but she had no idea what it was that made him so. When she demanded an accounting he told her, "Let's  save it  for tonight.  Only .  . .  Lil, this changes everything!"

King Rimmon and his companion "Joy" did not stay for the midday meal. They pushed their chairs back and departed  for their own chamber. Princess Dafla followed them.

TCG64: As the keeper of Dragonthorn, Princess  Dafla of Jelaket was convinced beyond any doubt that  she had the power  to bend the will of everyone around her,  even the will of  her father. She had put this  belief to  the test  many times. Once, after flying by Demonstroke  to the  Isle  of Danya  far outside  her kingdom, she had put it to the ultimate test.

There she had done a trick that Rimmon had done once before with Lilith. She scattered a party from their camp and helped herself to their food.

TCG65: Yet one  figure  did not  flee at  the  approach of  the dragon, and no wonder, as it  was Rimmon himself, the  very one who had contrived the "gift" of the monster to House Bellon. He stood his ground with a  bemused grin  as he watched  the young princess bring her dragon to a wobbly landing and dismount.

She approached with Dragonthorn pointed straight at him. The tip wavered only slightly  when she  realized who  she was  dealing with. "King Rimmon! You will speak only the truth to me."

"Yes."

TCG66: "What manner  of  beast  have you  foisted  upon me?  It eats  and drinks  nothing! When  it is  idle it  becomes like  a sculpture."

"You foolish  female, no  living  thing  can breathe  fire  and survive. Demonstroke is nothing more than an engine of war."

"Yet it can walk, and run, and fly."

"It can mock the actions of a living thing, Princess, but it is no more intelligent than, perhaps, a locust."

"And this blade you gave me,  the Dragonthorn, is it  truly the only means by which to control it?"

TCG67: "Did I not say that  very thing to King  Uriel? But then again, it  is you  who felt  the need to  constrain a  seraph to speak only the truth. Did your father tell you what my engine of war will do should the diamond blade be no more? Regarding that, too, I spoke in verity."

"Once I saw the blade glow with light. Was  that your doing, or does the blade also have some dim awareness?"

"Oh, that was just me,  making the hand-over ceremony  a little prettier. You found me out, O clever one."

TCG68: "Now,  King   Rimmon,  I  command  you   to  change  the Dragonthorn blade once more. It's continued existence must never again be bound up with anything  I do. Yet it must still command the dragon, and it must still command anyone that I indicate."

"It is done," he said, but her blank look told  him she was not ready to believe. "Do you need more pretty lights to affirm the truth of what I say?"

"Come closer," she told him. "Many times I have thought of the only way to put it to the test."

TCG69: Now, while the council had taken a short  recess for the midday meal,  she dismissed  the  guards  blocking her  way  to Rimmon's chamber and  received yet one more  confirmation of her power of persuasion.

The Earth woman, Joy, was lounging sensuously inside the king's chamber like some  exotic black cat, with her  black hair, black clothing, black lipstick and black nail polish. The only thing about Joy that wasn't black was her unnaturally pale white skin. Dafla told her she was dismissed also.

TCG70: Rimmon was incensed. "How dare you send my  woman away like a common servant!"

"I wanted privacy and I'm very persuasive, as it turns out. Yet the last time we met it seemed you had the stronger power."

"We both know why that happened, Princess."

"I came to  see if  your  resolve to  keep our  secret has  not withered."

"You came to see if my own spell still holds  after it you used it against me. Be assured, I  have no urge to call into question the purity of King Uriel's daughter."

TCG71: "It's a shame that it must be so, Your Majesty. When last we met you said I had a very lovely ass and  you could not keep your hands from caressing it."

Rimmon puckered his  mouth in  disgust. "Right now I  wouldn't reach  across your  ass to  grab a  winning ticket  in the  Adan numbers racket.  Look! Kemen is  in no danger  from Demonstroke. House Bellon has a pet dragon. Your secret is safe. Now, if that is all you wanted to know, then please leave."

Dafla pivoted on one foot and marched out.

TCG72: When she was well out of earshot Rimmon began to snicker, then chuckle, and finally guffaw. The effort it had taken not to laugh the entire time was almost too much for him.

"So that was the girl," Joy  said after emerging from  behind a curtain. She had doubled  back by secret  ways and  listened to almost the entire exchange. "It's a wonder you didn't have done and  unleash  the dragon  on  Kemen  the  instant she  gave  her so-called virtue away."

"No, no, this way will be far more satisfying."

TCG73: "I have already been to see Demonstroke,"  Joy told him. "I can feel the invisible reins in my mind but the blade remains a barrier."

"Not for very much longer. But how is it,  Joy, you imagine you can control my toy. It seems too much of a coincidence."

"Hamon believes there will  come a time  when people  will make things akin  to your  dragon. Some of  these will  be controlled with a bundle of copper drawn  out in fine wire and that's where the bone cup I already displayed for you comes in."

TCG74: Indeed,  Joy had  already  permitted  Rimmon to  closely examine the cup of bone that  pierced the scalp at  the back of her head. It was in the shape of the  letter 'D' lying  on its back, and had dozens of fine carbon pins that extended like the lead in a mechanical pencil. This was in addition to  the two black horns that also grew out of her head.

"Hamon trying to be funny" she told Rimmon. "Same as the ring of bone on Lilith's  head. It's  an Earth  joke. It  wouldn't make sense here on Kemen."

TCG75: "The magician who served the wine has a ring on hez head similar to the one Lilith bears. Who is che?"

"Oh, that's just Jerry, milord.  He's a very good  courier. The thing he  did with the  wine, normally  he saves that  trick for carrying documents, or money."

"Why is he here?"

"I'm not certain, milord. Perhaps he brought  Hamon some gewgaw from Earth  and then was  put to work as  a court clown.  He did seem surprised  to see  me. He  asked why I'm  here, but  we had little opportunity to speak."

TCG76: "Perhaps I can shake his tongue loose."

"At the very least, milord, he would  be exceedingly courteous, as any B'nei Elohim would be in the presence of a seraph. And he would  try to  carry out  any orders  you deigned  to give  him, unless they conflicted with Hamon's wishes."

"And did Hamon give you orders to attend to me?"

"Certainly not, milord!  But  not all  B'nei  Elohim remain  in Bat-El's service.  The ones  who follow me  are even  working in opposition to him. We call ourselves Groupies."

TCG77: "Why that name?"

Joy said, "In our tongue Groupies refer to the sexual playthings of a musical troupe  who remain  idle during  performances. The name  is appropriate  since this  change  with the  bone cup  is intended to spread  like a venereal disease." She rubbed one of the two bumps on the scalp  of Rimmon that would soon break open to reveal horns. "Other members of the B'nei Elohim are called Roadies, who  are certainly not  idle. And, of course,  there is the Band, the apple of Bat-El's eye."

TCG78: Rimmon said,  "I'm sure  it's all  another very  amusing Earth joke, but  let it lie there, Joy. It  is sufficient that I have accepted  your plan for  the dragon. You make  a compelling argument that  Bat-El would otherwise destroy  Demonstroke quite easily with  his own  avatar. I  had tired of  the game  and was ready to roll the whole world up and discard it, but you've made the case  there remain interesting permutations  yet to explore. So let us return to council and listen to the fools once more."