Bagdasares let out a loud sniff, perhaps at the notion of having to associate with wizards who, in Videssos the city, would surely have starved for lack of trade; Phosteinos looked to be on the point of starving anyhow, but Maniakes blamed that on personal asceticism rather than want of business: his robe looked expensive.

«Very well,» Bagdasares said, that sniff having failed to make his sorcerous colleagues vanish. «We have to determine two things today: whether the coins Broios presented to his Majesty—» He had them in a bowl. «—are in fact those Vetranios paid to him, and, if so, who was responsible for clipping the aforesaid coins.»

«We know that,» Broios and Vetranios said in the same breath with the identical intonation. They glared at each other.

«First,» Bagdasares went on as if they had not spoken, «we shall use the law of similarity to determine whether Broios is honestly representing these arkets to be the ones he received from Vetranios.»

«Now see here,» Sozomenos said, «how can we trust you not to have it in for Broios? When the Makuraners were here, by the good god, a little coin in the right places would make magic turn out any way the chap who was paying had in mind.»

Bagdasares started to answer. Maniakes cut him off, saying, «I will deal with this.» He glowered at the mage. «Do you think either of your clients is important enough in the scheme of things to buy off the Avtokrator of the Videssians and his chief sorcerer?»

Before Sozomenos could say anything, Phosteinos broke in with a loud, startled cackle of laughter. Sozomenos glowered at his thin colleague, then coughed a couple of times. «Put that way, probably not, your Majesty,» he said.

«Good. See that you remember it.» Maniakes nodded to Bagdasares. «Proceed, eminent sir. These fellows here are welcome to watch you to make sure you do nothing to favor Broios or Vetranios—not that you would—but they are not to interfere with your magic in any way.» He gave Phosteinos and Sozomenos a severe look. «Is that understood, sorcerous sirs?»

Neither of the mages from Serrhes said no. Maniakes nodded again to Bagdasares. The Vaspurakaner wizard said, «The first thing I intend to do, as I said a little while ago, is to find out whether Broios presented to his Majesty coins he actually received from Vetranios. Vetranios, if you have an arket in that pouch on your belt, please hand it to Broios. Broios, you will then hand it to me.»

«I just might have an arket or two,» Vetranios said, chuckling. «Yes, sir, I just might.» He opened the pouch and took out a shiny silver coin. «Not clipped at all, you'll note,» he remarked as he handed it to Broios.

The other merchant took it from him as if it smelled bad. He handed it to Sozomenos, who in turn passed it to Bagdasares.

Bagdasares looked pained. «We'll do that again, with a new arket,» he said, tossing the first one aside. Vetranios' eyes hungrily followed it. So did Broios'. So did those of both local wizards. «No more foolishness,» Bagdasares told them. «Anyone who fails to follow my instructions will be deemed to have forfeited his case.»

Under Bagdasares' watchful eye, Vetranios got out another arket. This one was also undipped, but he didn't boast about it. He gave it to Broios. Broios gave it to Bagdasares without presuming to let another wizard handle it in between.

«That's better,» Bagdasares said Maniakes hid a smile; the mage spoke with the authority of a provincial governor. The Avtokrator was suddenly thoughtful. He would need new governors for the provinces of the westlands—he would need to repair the whole system of provincial administration here, in fact. He could do much worse than Bagdasares.

Muttering to himself, the Vaspurakaner mage dropped Vetranios' arket in among the coins Broios claimed to have received from the other merchant. It clinked sweetly; the Makuraners coined little gold, but their silver was as pure as anything from a Videssian mint. Bagdasares began to chant. Phosteinos and Sozomenos both pricked up their ears. They evidently knew the spell he was using. Maniakes watched as the mage made several swift passes over the coins. Phosteinos nodded what looked like approval of Bagdasares' technical skill.

After one final pass, Bagdasares cried out in a commanding voice. Some of the coins in the bowl began glowing with a soft, bluish radiance. Others remained simply—coins. «Your Majesty,» Bagdasares said, «as you may judge for yourself, some of this money has indeed passed from Vetranios to Broios, as we see by the aid of the law of similarity. Some of the coins, however, did not take this route.»

«Isn't that interesting?» Maniakes studied Broios, who seemed to be doing his best to disappear while remaining in plain sight. Gloating glee filled Vetranios' chuckle. The Avtokrator turned a mild and speculative eye on the merchant who'd brought the charges against his fellow in the first place. «Well, Broios, what have you got to say for yourself?»

«Y-y-your M-majesty, maybe I—I mixed in a few arkets that weren't from Vetranios by—by mistake.» Broios' voice firmed. «Yes, that's it. I must have done it by mistake.»

Vetranios walked over to look at the arkets more closely. «Likely tell,» he jeered. «You can see that all of these 'mistaken' coins are clipped.» He struck a pose so overblown, Maniakes wondered if he'd gotten it from some mime in a Midwinter's Day troupe.

Broios said, «They're not the only ones that are clipped, though, by Phos!» He came up to the bowl and pointed to some of the shining coins. «Look at that arket there, and that one—and that one. That one's cut so bad, you can hardly see the King of Kings' face at all. They were like that when I got 'em, too.»

«Liar!» Vetranios shouted. He turned to Maniakes. «You hear with your own ears, you see with your own eyes, what a liar he is. I don't think there's any bigger liar in the whole Empire than Broios.»

«Liar yourself,» Broios retorted. «You have your wizard here, your Majesty. He can show you who stuck the silver from the rims of these arkets into his pouch.»

«Yes, why don't you go ahead and show me that, Bagdasares?» Maniakes said. «I confess, by now I'm curious. And nothing about this case would surprise me any more, except perhaps finding an honest man anywhere in it.»

Phosteinos stirred. «Your Majesty, I resent the imputation. You have proved nothing illicit about my actions.»

«That's true,» Maniakes admitted, and the scrawny wizard Preened. Then the Avtokrator brought him down to earth: «I haven't proved anything yet.» That got a laugh from Sozomenos, a laugh that cut off very sharply when Maniakes glanced over at the sorcerer who'd been helping Broios.

At a nod from Maniakes, Bagdasares handed Vetranios a small sharp knife and said, «I presume you have in your pouch yet another undipped arket.» Most unhappily, the merchant nodded. «Excellent,» Bagdasares declared. «Be so good as to trim the silver from the edges, then, that we may have a comparison against which to set these arkets in the bowl.»

Vetranios looked as if he would sooner have stuck the knife into Bagdasares. He shot Phosteinos a hunted glance. Almost imperceptibly, the emaciated mage shook his head: he could do nothing– or, more likely, nothing Bagdasares wouldn't detect. Vetranios deflated like a popped pig's bladder. «Never mind,» he mumbled. «You don't need to go through the rigmarole. I clipped some of those arkets—just like every other merchant around.» Now he might have wanted to stab Broios.

Broios took no notice of his hate-filled glare. «Who's the biggest liar in the Empire now!» he said, for all the world like one small boy scoring a point against another.

«You're both wrong,» Maniakes said «Neither one of you knows the biggest liar in the Empire. His name is Tzikas.»

Broios pointed at Vetranios. «He knows this Tzikas. I've heard him talk about the fellow, plenty of times.»