Colonel Muhassin’s superior, GeneralIkhshid, greeted Hajjaj after he had begun to refresh himself. The general gavehim more date wine, and tea fragrant with mint, and little cakes almost as goodas he could have had in the royal palace. Hajjaj enjoyed the leisurely ritualsof hospitality for the same reason he enjoyed the date wine: lifelongfamiliarity.

Ikhshid was not far from Hajjaj’s age, andquite a bit paunchier, but seemed vigorous enough. “We drive them, yourExcellency,” he said when small talk was at last set aside. “We drive them. TheAlgarvians drive them. Down in the south, even the Yaninans drive them, which Iwould not have reckoned possible. Swemmel heads up a beaten kingdom, and I amnot the least bit sorry.”

“Few in Zuwayza would sorrow to seeUnkerlant beaten,” Hajjaj said, and then, meditatively, “I would like ourallies better if they ruled less harshly the lands they have conquered. Ofcourse, I would like the Unkerlanters better if they were less harsh, too.”

“When you have to choose betweenwhoresons, you choose the ones who’ll give you more of what you want,” Ikhshidsaid, a comment close in spirit to Muhassin’s.

“That is indeed what we have done,” Hajjajsaid. He looked toward the east, the direction from which the Algarvians wereadvancing. Then he looked toward the south, the direction in which theUnkerlanters were retreating. He sighed, “The most we can hope for is that wehave made the right choice.”

When the ley-line caravan in which Fernaowas traveling reached the border between Lagoas and Kuusamo, it glided to ahalt. Kuusaman customs agents swarmed aboard to inspect all the passengers andall their belongings. “What’s this in aid of?” Fernao asked when his turn came,which did not take long.

“A precaution,” the flat-faced littleinspector answered, which was more polite than None of your cursed business butno more informative. “Please open all your bags.” That, too, was more politethan a barked order, but left the Lagoan sorcerer no more room to disobey. Whenthe Kuusaman customs agent came upon the letter of introduction fromGrandmaster Pinhiero to Siuntio, he stiffened.