rights and to clear away trays that held discarded fruit rinds. Force Commander Irrilandi, in his orange-plumed helm, trailed his master unobtrusively from the hall. Incomo watched with narrowed eyes. As the doors boomed closed, and only slaves and servants remained, he bent his leathery neck and regarded the map still spread on the floor by the dais, creased now where the Lord had trodden across it. Incomo descended the stair. Posed like a shore bird with one foot in Lash Province and the other poised over the border to Hokani, he shook his head sharply. 'If Lujan is a fool, our Lord is a genius,' he mused to himself. 'But if Lujan is a genius . .
.'He pored over the map and muttered, 'Now if our headstrong young Lord would listen, I would-'
'I see several problems,' a crisp voice interjected.
Startled by Tasaio's silent return, Incomo jerked his chin upward. 'You might explain.'
Tasaio pointed. 'I came for the map.'
Incomo removed himself from the parchment as if walking on eggs. Tasaio was dangerously annoyed, and if he chose to elucidate, he would do so best without badgering.
Tasaio motioned, and his aide knelt down to roll the chart. The First Adviser waited, still with patience.
'What could go wrong?' said Tasaio in candour. He took the rolled map from his officer and slung it casually under his arm. 'M.y cousin's boldness does him honour as head of the clan. However, he depends far too much on events proceeding as Minwanabi desires would have them. From experience I suggest it is wiser to prepare for the worst.'
'Then you expect the double raid to go wrong,' Incomo prodded, skilfully implying a defeat that Tasaio would face death rather than to allow.
Tasaio lifted tawny, black-lashed eyes and returned a merciless stare. 'I will not be able to stay and lead this raid to ensure that things will go right. Nevertheless, it is often said that battles are won and lost before the first arrow is shot. The Acoma will certainly emerge with losses. I will spend my last hours before I depart for Dustari preparing for every imaginable contingency, and our Force Commander will receive instructions as detailed as I can make them.
Irrilandi was Keyoke's boyhood friend and knows his temper. He should be able to anticipate which action Keyoke will take in response to our efforts. If I give Irrilandi detailed instructions for each option, he will emerge victorious.'
Incomo bristled at the doubt implied in Irrilandi's skills; still, the criticism was fair relative to the man who had been the Warlord's Subcommander, the First Adviser conceded as Tasaio and his aide marched smartly from the hall.
Desio's cousin was probably the most skilled field officer in the Empire, having earned a reputation for valour and cunning in the rise of the Minwanabi under Jingu, then refining his natural talents through four years commanding the Alliance for War on the barbarian world.
Incomo sighed, his only sign of regret that after one last night of planning, this gifted young noble would depart by river to begin this journey across the Sea of Blood to the ruins at Banganok. There Tasaio would join the men already in camp with the desert raiders, to effect the second stage of the plot to be set in motion by the silk raid. The campaign against the Xacatecas in Dustari must be stepped up, else the demand for an Acoma relief force could never be bribed through the council. Assigned the more demeaning worries of bath water and pretty serving girls, the Minwanabi First Adviser skirted a sweeper as bent as time, and shuffled his way out of the vast hall.
Mara paced. She spun in a tight circle, repressed an impulse to kick a pillow, and said, 'Call him back. At once!'
The scribe, whose slates lay in a disorderly stack by the desk in the Lady's study, bowed low and touched his forehead to the floor. 'Your will, Mistress.' He scrambled erect and hurried from the room, too intimidated by Mara's anger to resent the fact that she had ordered him off to the farthest reaches of the estate as though he possessed a runner slave's fitness.
As the servant's footsteps dwindled down the passage, Nacoya clucked in reproof. 'Daughter, the troubles you shoulder are difficult, but that should not let you take liberties. You have worked yourself into a deplorable state.'
Mara whirled, white with fury. 'Old woman, your pattering is most unwelcome.'
Nacoya raised a furrowed brow. 'Worry has made you