Valmar slipped away from the All-Gemot.

He had often attended the royal Gemot back home, held four times a year, but he had expected the conclave of the Fifty Kings to be different. To his disappointment, the proceedings within the cords that marked the Gemot-field were very similar, whether accusations were made, sworn testimony given, or evidence-a bloodstained cloak or a sealed agreement-handed around.

The only markedly different aspect had come at the very beginning, when the two kings new since the last All-Gemot stood forward and announced their rule, and those kings who had brought their heirs with them for the first time introduced them to the rest. King Hadros introduced Valmar, and Karin’s father showed her to all the other kings. Several of the younger ones, and several of the older ones whose heirs were reaching marriageable age, made low and appreciative comments that made Valmar frown as though they had been insults. She wore a heavy gold brocade gown slightly too big for her, and she seemed not to see him or anyone else. Once introduced, she returned to the castle with the maids and warriors who accompanied her.

But after that the All-Gemot was very much like the quarterly Gemots Valmar knew. Karin’s father, King Kardan, presided, as Valmar’s father presided at home. Even though the Gemot began at dawn, when everyone was sober and most men still sluggish, there was the normal arguing and shouting. Men leaped at each other, reaching where their swords should be except that no one was allowed weapons within the cords, and were pulled back by their friends. The most exciting part was when the conclave voted to outlaw a king who had not even attended, for killing a man secretly in a fit of jealousy according to the testimony, and then hiding the body.