Chapter 5

The Buyan Throne room was crowded with representatives of all the Clans and Subpaths, in addition to palace functionaries and the Royal party. The door guards had questioned Greyshadow's presence, but Gareth had enough standing in the community to convince them that she belonged. They also eyed the Do's longsword, as no one but Primogens and Elders could go into the presence of the Princess armed, but refrained from trying to forbid the old man from carrying it. After all, Greyshadow thought, the Princess herself was a great Warrior and thus did not fear the sight of even a Do blade. Still, drawing steel during a Royal audience was considered a capital crime, so Gareth was honor bound to keep it sheathed.

Gareth left Greyshadow near the hastily raised banners of Nagnang, presumably to be close enough to overhear any whispered comments in her native language, but as his next stop was the Throne, it may have merely been a move to save himself having to explain the presence of the Nagnang girl he had brought with him.

From Greyshadow's vantage point, whatever Gareth had wanted to discuss with the Princess certainly involved a lot of arm waving. Her Royal Highness seemed to be disagreeing with Gareth and eventually called over a modestly dressed woman that Greyshadow recognized as the Elder of the Do path.

Although Elder Keely was not as demonstrative as the Princess, Greyshadow believed that Gareth was unable to convince her also. This apparently didn't bother Gareth much, for though he was still visibly agitated, he had regained much of his former imperturbability.

Just as Greyshadow's curiosity was getting the better of her and she had begun to edge over towards the two Do and the Princess, the Heralds announced the arrival of the Nagnang party.

The Prince's Royal Guards entered first and Greyshadow thought they were magnificent! She realized to her surprise, for the first time in a long while she was feeling proud to be from Nagnang. Perhaps it was just seeing people dressed in Nagnang colors that didn't look like refugees, she thought.

Protocol dictated that Kija's Royal Advisers would follow the Guards.

"Advisors, ha!" Greyshadow thought, grimacing. Even from across the room, this ornately robed and bejeweled group reeked of power-madness. They were Mages, not advisors and all of them were at least as strong and likely far more insane than any Greyshadow had seen before. Her recently rediscovered pride melted away.

The next person through the door was a rather nondescript gray haired fellow in simple black robes. His steely eyes quickly swept the room, taking in everything.

Greyshadow gasped as his eyes locked on her, a small smile curling up the edges of his mouth.

"Tomas!" She whispered in recognition, breaking their gaze to see if Gareth had noticed the arrival of the Ninja Master.

He had.

Gareth was glaring at the Ninja assassin, probably trying to determine exactly how Tomas fit into his misfortunes. Gareth's Elder also watched the Ninja's entrance, but with cool interest, as if well-known murderers often strutted into the Royal Throne room. The Princess smiled in greeting, surprising Greyshadow. Then on second thought, she guessed 'Ninja Master' was a similar rank to 'Sub Path Elder', wasn't it?

The Buyan Royal Guards snapped to attention at a signal from their Captain, as the Prince of Nagnang arrived.

Wearing his official robes of state, he was a majestic, if somewhat menacing figure, dressed in a heavy black silk cloak over black-enameled armor decorated with grotesque spikes. He carried under his left arm a black helmet shaped like a wolf's head. His right hand rested on the rather plain hilt of a dagger, sheathed at his waist.

He was accompanied by two black-cowled figures that were definitely not Ninjas. One was obviously a Nangen Noble lady, although Greyshadow hadn't heard about any new Consorts in her sporadic news from home. With the Lady's face covered, it was hard to tell much about her, except that she was regally tall with an air of someone raised in a Palace.

The second cowled figure was a youth in black-dyed Nangen robes. Something about him reminded Greyshadow of her own Ninja gracefulness, yet sometimes when he moved, it was with almost marionette stiffness. She decided that she was mistaken, although perhaps the stiffness was attributable to nerves, as some people took Royal events so seriously.

When they arrived in front of the Royal party, Kija bowed politely, surprising Greyshadow again, who expected almost anything from Kija except etiquette. Still, anyone could change. Perhaps the new lady in his life helped him to rearrange his priorities. Not so long ago, Greyshadow remembered, Kija had exactly one priority- to inflict a painful death on Gareth, as payment for what he saw as a humiliating defeat. After miserably failing at this, everyone hoped he would just forget about the whole thing. She really didn't believe that was very likely, but here he was, exchanging pleasantries with the Royal House of Buya and acting the perfect gentleman.

After a few official greetings, the Prince and his party worked their way slowly across the floor to the roped off pavilion decorated in Nangen colors. Kija sat down on an ornate chair that was somewhat throne-like, yet of course just slightly smaller than Lasahn's. He waved off the young Pages that approached carrying fans, which puzzled Greyshadow, as even this deep inside the Palace, the heat was oppressive and Kija was wearing heavy armor!

The Prince noticed several surprised looks directed at him.

"Deep within the caverns beneath the Palace in Nagnang's Capital city," he explained in a booming, though cheerful voice. "There is a chamber carved from glittering crystals, lit only by a naturally occurring glowing fungus. This chamber is always warm in the winter and cool in the summer, so I set up an Official retreat there. I hope these proceedings go well and quickly, so I can get back there soon. Until then, perhaps I could help bring a bit of comfort here? With Her Royal Highness' permission, of course."

There was a flurry of whispers around the Princess, but she pretended not to notice.

"All of Buya and Kugnae are protected from harmful magics," she announced, silencing the whispers with an upraised hand. "Beneficial magics are always welcome. Please, proceed."

Kija smiled and shifted a bit in his chair. Placing one hand on his oddly plain dagger's hilt, with the other, he waved childishly at the tall cowled figure next to him.

"Go ahead, dear," he said quietly, although Greyshadow had no trouble hearing him. "Show them what you can do."

The lady thrust her hands over her head, dramatically causing a few gasps of concern from the crowd. Visible swirls of blue magic coalesced around her hands like tiny tornadoes, and although there were no Mage rings glittering on her fingers, there was little doubt that she was a highly skilled mage.

As the swirling blue glow intensified around the Mage's hands, Greyshadow was surprised to realize that the room's oppressive heat was fading, quickly being replaced by a blessed cool breeze. The gentle breeze circulated around the room like a conscientious party host, making sure that all his guests were comfortable.

Nearly everyone let out a sigh of relief at once, although a few chose to applaud instead. Kija nodded and smiled at the crowd. The scattered pages set down their heavy fans and cheered at the foreign Prince. Greyshadow was certain that spontaneous cheering of a visiting head of state had never occurred before in the Buyan Throne Room.

"What a marvelous magic!" Lasahn praised sincerely. "I have never seen its like before."

Around the Princess there was a murmur, with many shaking of heads and much shrugging.

"I have seen it before," Gareth muttered, arms crossed. Greyshadow could tell from the expression on his face that at least one person was not applauding the Prince.

Lasahn ignored the Do's words.

"I, too, see the wisdom in allowing these proceedings to go swiftly," Lasahn held a scroll up in front of the crowd. "Prince Kija has proposed in this treaty to make Nagnang and Buya allies and friends in trade and mutual protection. None of my advisors has found anything in here even slightly objectionable and yesterday Prince M'hul of Kugnae signed a similar treaty. If we sign, part of the agreement extends the limits of the King's Magic to protect all of Nagnang, as it does now the citizens here. I feel this represents the beginning of a Golden Age for the Kingdoms and I will sign it."

There was much applause meeting her words, but one very unhappy Do objected.

"Why the change, Kija?" He asked disrespectfully. Even Lasahn gave him a cold glance this time.

Araias, the Phoenix Primogen, touched Gareth on the shoulder.

"Although his words are somewhat harsh," Araias spoke up, in a melodious voice, "And totally out of order in this proceeding, we all wonder why our honored guest is so agreeable to what just a few years ago, he flatly refused."

There was a murmur of agreement in the room. The Clans, at least, remembered the first attack upon Buya by the merciless heads of the Forsaken Clan. It took the combined might of all the Clans to force them back into Nagnang. A peaceful coexistence with the Forsaken Clan seemed unthinkable.

"Ah, yes, my change of heart," Kija began. "It's really not that hard to explain. You see, my country is old- with a very strict caste system. We have priests and clans, assassins and peasants, nobles and merchants and at no time ever in the history of my Kingdom, did any of these agree on anything. Even to so simple a thing as who was in charge. Recently, this all changed. I can safely say that there is no one in all my Kingdom now that disagrees with me."

Gareth cleared his throat noisily and ignoring the warning glances shot his way by Princess, Primogen and Elder, said, "Other than mass executions, I cannot think of any way you could silence your dissenters. So, how did you do it?"

Kija held his open hand out pleadingly.

"Your Highness, is there no way to silence this man?" Greyshadow thought that the room got a bit colder, but she wasn't sure. "The truth is, we all realize what a great benefit it would be to our people to ratify this treaty, but Gareth does bring up another point. Even though our previous meetings weren't amicable..."

There was a slight titter in the Throne Room as people remembered the last time Kija was here- carrying a paper that he insisted on reading to the crowd.

It had taken months to get the smell of smoke off the tapestries.

"The reasons for my 'vendetta' against this Do were simple," he went on explaining. "With so many groups vying for power in my country, I could not allow even a single tiny appearance of weakness. Failing to address his insult would have hurt me far more than the insult itself. So, you see, it was politics that forced me to repeatedly attack him. Thank goodness those attacks failed."

Gareth had such a look of disgusted disbelief on his face at such an obvious lie, that he took a deep breath to respond, but held it as the small hand of his Elder grasped his arm.

"However, I do believe that there is room enough on that treaty to add a proviso," Kija announced with a snakelike smile breaking through his façade of benevolence, briefly. "Lets all agree that this treaty will only be in effect so long as Gareth remains on his side of my border. I have had quite enough of him for one lifetime."

Greyshadow noticed another change in the cool air circulating the room. First she noticed a faint smell, like the lifeless breath of a glacier that almost burned the nose, followed closely by a noticeable drop in temperature.

Quite suddenly, the room went from a glorious spring to deepest winter, as the gentle breeze began to feel more like a gale blowing off a frozen lake.