Brand blinked. Fortunately, he was wise enough not to laugh. ‘I’m honored, gentlemen, but I’ve got responsibilities on the Isle of the Winds. I can’t very well rule Arendia from the city of Riva.’
Mandor sighed. ‘Then is poor Arendia doomed to endless civil strife,’ he mourned.
Brand scratched at his cheek. ‘Maybe not,’ he said. ‘Didn’t Aldorigen have a son?’
‘Prince Koradullin, yes,’ Mandor replied.
‘And didn’t Eldallan have a daughter?’
‘Mayaserana,’ Wildantor said. ‘Now that her father’s dead, she’s the Duchess of Asturia. She’s a very strong-willed girl - pretty, though.’
‘Would you say that the two of them are patriots?’
‘Everybody in Arendia’s a patriot, Lord Brand,’ Wildantor replied. ‘That’s part of our problem.’
‘Doesn’t that suggest a solution to your quandary? A king who was either Mimbrate or Asturian wouldn’t be able to rule, but how about a joint rulership? If we could persuade these two young people to get married and rule jointly …’ He left it hanging.
The two Arends looked at each other, and then they both burst out laughing, and the laughter spread through the rest of the Arends.
‘Did I say something funny?’ Brand asked them.
‘You don’t know those two, my Lord,’ Wildantor said gaily.
Mandor was still chuckling. ‘Thy proposal doth have some merit, my Lord. A marriage between Korodullin and Mayaserana might well serve to quiet dissension in the rest of Arendia, but methinks our civil war will continue, though it will be confined to one household.’
‘Is it that bad?’
‘Worse, my Lord,’ Wildantor assured him. ‘We might be able to keep them from killing each other - if we chained them to opposite walls of the royal bed-chamber, but anything less probably wouldn’t work. Their fathers just killed each other, remember?’
‘Why don’t you bring the two of them here and I’ll talk with them. Maybe if I appeal to their sense of patriotism, they’ll go along with the idea.’
Wildantor looked very skeptical. ‘What do you think, Mandor?’ he asked his friend. ‘Is it worth a try? We could search them both for weapons before we brought them here.’
‘Gladly would I brave anything to heal our poor Arendia,’ Mandor swore fervently.
‘Stout fellow,’ Wildantor murmured.
‘That’s the most ridiculous proposal I’ve ever heard!’ Mayaserana screamed when Brand presented his idea to her and Korodullin. ‘I’d sooner die than marry a Mimbrate butcher!’
‘Gladly would I help thee to accomplish that end, outlaw wench!’ Korodullin offered.
It all went downhill from there - quite rapidly.
‘I really think you children ought to think this over,’ Pol suggested smoothly, cutting across the screaming. ‘You both need to calm down and talk about it - someplace private, I think. Tell me, my Lord of Mandor, thinkest thou that there might be some secluded room where our youngsters here might hold their discussions without interruption or distraction? At the top of some tower, perhaps?’
‘There is a secure room at the top of the south tower of the palace, your Grace,’ he replied a bit dubiously. ‘It hath oft-times in the past served as a prison for miscreants of noble birth whose rank forbade their being incarcerated in the dungeon.’
‘Barred windows?’ she asked, ‘and a stout door that can be locked from the outside?’
‘Yes, your Grace.’
‘Why don’t we all go have a look at this room?’ she suggested.
‘It couldn’t hurt to look,’ Brand replied.
I took my daughter by the arm and drew her aside. ‘They’ll kill each other if you lock them in the same room, Pol,’ I muttered.
‘Oh, I don’t think they’ll go that far, father,’ she assured me. ‘They might yell at each other, but I don’t think they’ll get violent. There are certain rules of behavior in Arendia that prohibit violence between men and women.’
‘But not between Mimbrates and Asturians.’
‘We’ll see, father. We’ll see.’
And so Mayaserana and Korodullin became cell-mates. There was a lot of screaming and yelling at first, but we didn’t really mind that. The yelling proved that they were both still alive, after all.
I’ve always meant to ask Polgara if the notion of imprisoning those two together was her own or if Garion’s friend had suggested it to her. Given his twisted sense of humor, it might very well have been his idea. On the other hand, Pol’s very wise about the peculiarities of the human heart, and she knows what’s likely to happen when two young people are alone together for any extended period of time. Polgara’s arranged a long series of marriages, so she’s very good at it.
Anyway, after we’d locked the two of them in the south tower of the palace, we moved on to other things. No war or major battle is ever complete without an extended conference after the fighting’s over. We were all a little surprised when the Gorim of Ulgo came to join us in our discussions. The various Gorims have almost never come out of the caves. Ran Borune was tied up with affairs of state in Tol Honeth, so Mergon represented him, and Podiss came north to speak for Salmissra.
We usurped Aldorigen’s throne room for our conference, largely at Mandor’s insistence, and after we’d spent a couple of hours complimenting each other, we got down to business. Ormik, the king of the ever-practical Sendars, spoke first. Ormik was a rather dumpy, unassuming sort of fellow, but he was a lot shrewder than he looked. ‘Gentlemen,’ he started, ‘and Lady Polgara - it seems to me that we’ve got too good an opportunity here to pass up. This is one of those rare occasions when most of the rulers of the western kingdoms are gathered in one place, and the recent unpleasantness put us all on the same side for a change. Why don’t we take advantage of this temporary sense of brotherhood to smooth over all the little disputes that have cropped up over the years? If we can hammer out a set of accords, we might have some reason to be grateful to Kal Torak.’ He smiled faintly. ‘Wouldn’t it be ironic if he came to bring war and the result of his little adventure was peace?’
‘We’ve still got a few little odds and ends to take care of, Ormik,’ Rhodar said. ‘There’s an Angarak army occupying Drasnia, and I’d like to persuade them to pack up and go home.’
‘And I’ve still got some Murgos camped around the Stronghold,’ Cho-Ram added.
Then Eldrig took the floor, and I think he got a little carried away. ‘Aloria can deal with the few rags and tatters of Angarak still inside her borders,’ he told us. That made me prick up my ears. I’ve periodically used the word ‘Aloria’ myself, usually to rally the Alorns when I needed them to do something, but Eldrig’s rather casual introduction of a name that hadn’t really meant anything since the time of Bear-shoulders made me more than a little nervous. When some Alorn starts talking about Aloria, it’s usually a sign that he’s a member of the Bear-Cult, and there was a sizeable army of Alorns camped right on Tolnedra’s northern border. ‘We’ve got something a little more momentous to discuss here,’ the aged King of Cherek continued. ‘We’ve seen something happen here that’s never happened before. A God was overthrown right before our eyes. I’m sure the other Gods had a hand in that, and Brand was their instrument. I don’t know about the rest of you gentlemen, but that suggests something very interesting to me. My copy of the Mrin Codex speaks of a Godslayer who’ll become Overlord of the West. Very well, then. I watched Brand kill Torak with my own eyes, and I’m ready to take the next step. Cherek acknowledges Brand’s Overlordship. If we’ve all got one ruler, those disputes Ormik spoke of will evaporate.’
‘He’s got a point there,’ Cho-Ram said thoughtfully. ‘Brand and I get along fairly well, so I think Algaria can join Cherek in this. I’ll acknowledge Brand’s Overlordship too.’
Those idiots! Brand wasn’t the one the Mrin was talking about! It was Garion, and he hadn’t even been born yet!
‘I suppose we might as well make it unanimous,’ Rhodar chimed in. ‘The Children of the Bear-God speak as one. Brand is Overlord.’
‘Aren’t we going a little fast here?’ Ormik protested. ‘I’m part Alorn myself, and I’d be more than willing to accept Brand as Overlord. I’ll go wherever he tells me to go, but I think I’d like to hear from Tolnedra, Ulgo, Arendia, and Nyissa before I start making plans for a coronation. We’ve got all the armies of the west camped right here. If those of us who happen to be Alorn rush into something exotic and offend the non-Alorn rulers, we could have a second battle of Vo Mimbre before the blood even dries off the grass from the first one.’
Then the oily, reptilian Podiss, the emissary of Queen Salmissra, rose. ‘The king of the Sendars speaks wisely. Much have I marveled at the readiness of sovereign kings to submit to the Overlordship of a man of no known heritage. Brand isn’t even the King of the Isle of the Winds. He’s nothing more than a caretaker. I don’t even have to send to Sthiss Tor for instructions about this. Eternal Salmissra will never swear fealty to a nameless Alorn butcher.’