the cold air. “Greetings, Elemnestra of the Hypolitan, your offer of hospitality is accepted with gratitude and friendship.”
A buzz of excitement ran through the part of the watching crowd that was near enough to hear. The rumors were proven true; Queen Thirrin had made an alliance with talking leopards!
For a moment the Basilea seemed almost shocked, but she quickly recovered and smiled in reply. Thirrin now greeted her uncle Olememnon, the formality of the royal presence soon forgotten as they embraced and chatted excitedly about the journey and the military preparations. But they were interrupted by a slight figure that stood by politely and coughed gently.
Thirrin turned toward the newcomer, and her queenly demeanor slipped even further when she recognized who it was. “Maggie!” she squealed in delight, hugging the royal adviser closely. “Have I got some tales for you. We’ve always thought the lands to the north were dead and empty, but they’re teeming with life and wonders. Oh, if only you could have come with us, you’d have been struck dumb with amazement.”
Maggiore Totus smiled fondly at his former pupil. “I’m quite sure I would have been. But it seems you’ve brought some of the wonders with you. May I be presented to the King of the Snow Leopards?”
Thirrin squeezed his hand and turned toward the Thar, who’d quietly watched the reunions. “Lord Tharaman, meet Maggiore Totus, a great scholar from the Southern Continent and a valued royal adviser.”
The Snow Leopard slowly blinked his huge eyes in polite cat-greetings, and Maggie bowed as low as his cold-stiffened joints would allow him. “Hail, Tharaman, One Hundredth Thar of the Snow Leopards, Lord of the Icesheets, and Scourge of the Ice Trolls,” the old scholar declaimed, proving that he’d been listening very closely to all the proceedings. “May I express the gratitude of all the people of the Icemark for your help in this time of our greatest need.”
“Your gratitude is noted, Maggiore Totus, and I say that the nobility of the people of the Icemark would always attract friends and allies to their cause no matter how desperate their need.”
Thirrin wondered if scholar and King could ever get beyond the formality of courtly behavior, then Maggie said, “Do you know there’s a species of Snow Leopard in the high mountains in the south of my country, but they’re vastly inferior to your own mighty people.”
“Really?” asked the Thar, deeply interested. “In what way?”
“Well, they’re much smaller, for a start. Probably standing about waist height to me. And most strikingly, they cannot talk.”
“Then presumably they resemble us in some other way.”
“Oh yes, their coats and markings are exactly the same as your own, and apart from size, their anatomical detailing is identical. But there are other differences, too. For example, they seem to be solitary beasts, whereas your own people obviously live together in large groups.”
A deep rumbling sound of pure pleasure emerged from Tharaman’s chest as he warmed to the conversation.
“And that’s another thing,” continued Maggie. “They can’t purr, either.”
“Then are you quite sure they’re Snow Leopards?” the Thar asked with a laugh.
“Oh yes. But perhaps they’re only as similar to you as the ape creatures of the hot lands are to us.”
“But are these ape creatures considered human people?”
“Well, no,” Maggiore admitted. “But some scholars in the Southern Continent are beginning to put forward theories that they may be relatives of some sort that are not as advanced.”
“Then if the ape creatures are not human, by the same token neither can your mountain cats be Snow Leopards. Perhaps they should be seen as a sort of first attempt on the part of the gods to make a new species, which later models have superseded.”
“Precisely, precisely!” Maggie agreed enthusiastically. “If I may add —”
But at this point he was interrupted by the return of the soldier that Elemnestra had sent off to the city for bread and apples. The Basilea handed two large loaves and a bag of apples to Thirrin, who immediately turned and beckoned to Oskan, who’d been watching proceedings from the sleigh.
He hurried over the snow and, after a hasty bow and greeting to all the dignitaries, he seized one of the loaves and started to tear great chunks out of it with his teeth. Everybody watched in amazement, and Elemnestra seemed about to say something, when Thirrin also began to wolf down her bread. After they’d both demolished half a loaf, they each grabbed an apple, quickly ate it, then finished off the bread.
Thirrin looked