Part 3 (2/2)
they would have to devise a way of neutralizing the Isphardi suggestion that the Empire give up territory Varodias would never stand for it and the Emperor when angry, was an exceedingly dangerous man He looked over at the Commissioners and found them clus- tered around the Oligarch. d.a.m.n that Olivderval'
chaptep 3
^^arrod Courtak looked up from his reading at the
knock on his door.
”Oh, h.e.l.lo Tok,” he said to the plump Magician who entered without waiting for permission. ”What did you do, sneak past the Duty Boy?”
”Hardly,” Tokamo said good-naturedly. ”I'm not ex- actly built for sneaking. I pa.s.sed the poor tyke on the stairs buried under a pile of your was.h.i.+ng.”
Jarrod smiled fondly at his oldest friend. Tokamo still made jokes about his girth, but he had in fact slimmed down considerably since his thirtieth birthday. He had become an important man in the Discipline of Paladine, taking on more and more administrative responsibility as Agar Thorden got older. He did most of the traveling these days, supervising the Weatherwards and the Vil- lage Magicians, collecting the t.i.the and adjudicating
disputes.
”I haven't seen you for a fortnight,” Jarrod said.
”You been off terrorizing the scullery maids at the post
inns again?”
”No such luck. I've been stuck in the countinghouse
going over the t.i.the receipts. Master Thorden's got an attack of the ague again. Needless to say, Naxania's late with the Crown's share. So, how did the big meeting go? My spies tell me that you were back early.”
”It was a disaster,” Jarrod said with relish,” but it 25.
looks as if we're going to get something out of it after all.”
”You sound as if you had a good time,” Tokamo commented as he went to the sideboard and helped himself to a flagon of ale. He took a chair from the side of the room and brought it across.
”Oh, I wasn't the one who caused the trouble.”
”I see. Who did you get to do the dirty work for you?
Borr Sarad?”
”No. Olivderval and Estragoth had one of those clas- sic, extremely polite, head-on clashes. Why the Elector thought that the Isphardis would accept a divided ter- ritory is beyond me. The basic problem is that the Um- brians despise the Isphardis.”
”The Umbrians look down on everybody,” Tokamo commented.
”True, but they have this att.i.tude that commerce is beneath them. Mining and manufacturing support most of the Electors, but they maintain this fiction that ac- tually selling the stuff is plebeian.”
”More fool they; there's nothing wrong with money.”
”It seems to me that, as far as the Empire is con- cerned, having it is one thing, but working for it is something else entirely.”
”Surely-this head-on clash wasn't about money.”
”Territory, access and administration on the surface, power beneath it,” Jarrod said succinctly.
”Power? Isphardel doesn't have an army and . . .”
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