7B

7B

Yeshua said, "Keep your food, as you will have the greater need. I am to leave Anshar somewhat before you do."

"As you wish." Belial looked around at the walls. "There used to be a map of Kemen here. Did it perish in the blaze I kindled?"

"There is a new map upstairs."

"Then come, I would show you a thing."

Yeshua followed Belial to the railed deck that formed a ceiling over the kitchen and the comfort room. There a talented artisan, perhaps one of the B'nei Elohim, had carved a representation of Kemen into  the wall and  coated it with varnish. Belial showed Yeshua the gently twisting band of Adan, from  the River Kelang and the city of Dartarus in the east, to Ganelon and Mount Adan in the center, to  Surat and  Salem and the  Aramel Sea  in the west. "Behold, all these lands are mine, solely."

"You're a sentient star with an angel as a living avatar. Do you mean the Adanites immediately  obey the  whims of  that avatar? Forgive me, father, but that seems to me a small achievement."

"Nevertheless, Yeshua, attend carefully. This is an opportunity to forge a  covenant of our own, you and  I." Belial walked left along the wall frieze to stop where Rumbek was depicted. "Behold Magodon, which belongs to Chemah, solely."

"I dispute your use of the word 'solely'", objected Yeshua. "The War in Kemen never really ended  with the fall of  your dragon, would you  not agree?  Rumbek and Peshast  remain at  peace, but Elketz has been picked over for centuries and Belen is a ruin."

"Again, Yeshua, hear me out.  I will  make all this  worth your while." Belial walked to the far left edge of the map. "This is Rammon. Bat-El rules there by default. The Gold Beards followed Michael from the beginning and I cannot assail them."

"You are beginning to see a glimmer, Belial. To say you have an empire in a purely legal sense means little in real terms."

Belial said, "I  hope you  see where  all this  is leading.  he walked to  the right,  where Thalury appeared  on the  map, with Sastrom, Haaretz, and  Vaska. "Kemen is divided  into four great houses, four empires,  if  you  will, and  now  there are  four seraphim to reign over them. Give to me the same deference you give to Bat-El, nothing more, and the holdings of Family Bellon are yours to rule as you see fit."