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Show storehouses and the entire Four Kingdoms were in the process of celebrating a meager Christmastide Feast when Lusela came once more in state to visit Jothra, pounding over the bare frozen ground determinedly, and wrapped up to the eyeballs in furs. They met in the Palace courtyard. "Lookest thou on this, friend Jothra," she said darkly, her breath making a great mist on the frigid air in front of her. "My. . . u h . . .contact in the Commendiums tells me this is affront indeed." With a sigh, Jothra took the sheath of papers she was holding out in front of her. "By the mass!" he said explosively. He turned a page, then another. It was a complaint form for the provincials to fill out-in triplicate, a .request for the return of the hardcopy and BubbleMemory from BAA, and a bill for a total of three hundred and fifty metric tons of barley, corn, and wheat from the Commerce Bureau. "Received we these stores?" he asked incredulously. "Not I," said the Seljuk haughtily. And it was true, she had not. "Nor I," chorused Zud and Elsen together, an answer seconded by the scrawniness of both their following of horses and the warriors sitting astride them. Jothra pulled at his beard and looked around at the walls. His courtyard was decorated with scrupwood bows and dried Bauerberries for the feast and outdoor games to be held the next day. "I say we do battle," growled Zud, "with these infidel dogs." He flashed his teeth momentarily and pulled out his sword to test the blade. The Seljuk looked thoughtful. "'Tis a temptation, that, for now they must know we exist h e r e . . . . " Her voice trailed off and she looked at Jothra from under her thick eyebrows. 311 |
