Along with the other nobles King Gainibu had summoned to the palace, Krasta applauded. "Victory! Victory! Victory!" The shout filled the Grand Hall, with occasional cries of "On to Trapam'!" thrown in for good measure.

Gainibu held up his hand. Slowly, silence returned. Into it, he said, "Nor does Vahniera go to war alone. Our allies of old are our allies yet."

As if to prove as much, the minister from Jelgava came and stood beside the king. "We too are at war with Algarve," he said. Krasta understood his words with no trouble, though to her ear they had an odd accent: Jelgavan and Valmieran were so closely related, some reckoned them dialects rather than two separate languages.

The tunic the swarthy minister from Forthweg wore could not dis guise his blocky build. Instead of Valmieran, he spoke in classical Kaunian: "Forthweg, free not least because of the courage of Valmiera and Jelgava, stands by her friends in bad times as well as good. We too war with Algarve." Formality fell from him like a mask. He abandoned the ancient tongue for the modem to roar, "On to Trapani!" The cheers were deafening.

"Bari in Algarvian hands is a dagger aimed at Sibiu's heart," the minister from the island nation said. "We shall also fight the common foe."

But the minister from Lagoas, which had been Valmiera's ally in the Six Years' War, stayed silent now. So did the slant-eyed envoy from Kuusamo, which ruled the eastern, and much larger, part of the island it shared with Lagoas. Lagoas was nervous about Kuusamo; Kuusamo was fighting a desultory naval war far to the east against Gyongyos, - though not, strangely, in any real alliance with Unkerlant. The Unkerlanter minister also sat on his hands, as did the envoys from the minor powers between Unkerlant and Algarve.

Krasta hardly noticed the ornissions. With her allies, Valmiera would surely punish the wicked Algarvians. They had brought the war on themselves - now let them see how they liked it. "On to Trapani!" she yelled.