"Bah!" snapped Audry. "That is most farfetched! How could Casmir arrive on the Plain of Shadows without first defeating the entire armed strength of Dahaut?"

"King Aillas feels that the contingency, while remote, is real. In any event, he relies most strongly upon his first argument, to wit: that the lands are his by right of conquest."

Sir Rudo cried out in scorn: "An argument specious and incorrect! Does he take us for lumpkins? The boundaries of Dahaut are grounded in tradition; they have been immutable for centuries!"

"Precisely true!" declared Sir Archem. "The Ska must be regarded as transient interlopers, no more!"

King Audry made an impatient gesture. "Obviously it is not so easy! I must give the matter thought. Meanwhile, Claractus, will you not join us at our breakfast? Your dress is somewhat at discord, but surely no one with a conscience will cry you shame."

"Thank you, Sire. I will gladly eat, for I am famished."

The conversation shifted to topics more agreeable, but the mood of the breakfast had been roiled and presently Sir Huynemer again condemned the provocative conduct of King Aillas. Sir Rudo and Sir Archem endorsed his views, each advising a stern rebuff to put the ‘young Troice upstart' in his place.

Audry leaned heavily back in his chair. "All very well! But I wonder how this chastening of Aillas is to be accomplished."

"Aha! If several strong companies were dispatched into the March, with clear indications that we intended to take back our lands by force, Aillas might well chirp from a different branch!"

King Audry rubbed his chin. "You feel that he would yield to a show of resolution."

"Would he dare challenge the might of Dahaut?"

"Suppose that, through folly or recklessness, he refused to yield?"

"Then Duke Claractus would strike with his full might, to send young Aillas and his Ulf bantlings bounding and leaping across the moors like so many hares."

Claractus held up his hand. "I am chary of so much glory. You have envisioned the campaign; you shall be in command and lead the charge."

Sir Huynemer, with raised eyebrows and a cold glance for Claractus, qualified his concepts. "Sire, I put this scheme forward as an option to be studied, no more."

Audry turned to Claractus. "Is not Poëlitetz considered impregnable to assault?"

"This is the general belief."

Sir Rudo gave a skeptical grunt. "This belief has never been tested, though it has cowed folk for generations."

Claractus smiled grimly. "How does one attack a cliff?"

"The sally port might be rammed and sundered,"

"Why trouble? The defenders at your request will be pleased to leave the portcullis ajar. When a goodly number of noble knights-say, a hundred or more-has swarmed into the yard, the portcullis is dropped and the captives are destroyed at leisure."

"Then the Long Dann itself must be scaled!"

"It is not easy to climb a cliff while enemies are dropping rocks from above."

Sir Rudo gave Claractus a haughty inspection. "Sir, can you offer us nothing but gloom and dismal defeat? The king has stated his requirements; still you decry every proposal intended to achieve the goal!"

"Your ideas are impractical," said Claractus. "I cannot take them seriously."

Sir Archem struck the table with his fist. "Nevertheless, chivalry demands that we respond to this insulting encroachment!"

Claractus turned to King Audry. "You are fortunate, Sire, in the fiery zeal of your paladins! They are paragons of ferocity! You should loose them against the Celts in Wysrod, who have been so noxious a nuisance!"

Sir Huynemer made a growling sound under his breath. "All this is beside the point."

Audry heaved a sigh, blowing out his black mustaches. "For a fact, our Wysrod campaigns have brought us little glory and less satisfaction."

Sir Huynemer spoke earnestly: "Sire, the difficulties in Wysrod are many! The gossoons are like specters; we chase them over tussock and bog; we bring them to bay; they melt into the Wysrod mists, and presently attack our backs, with yells and screams and insane Celtic curses, so that our soldiers become confused."

Duke Claractus laughed aloud. "You should train your soldiers not for parades but for fighting; then they might not fear mists and curses."

Sir Huynemer uttered a curse of his own: "Devilspit and dog-balls! I resent these words! My service to the king has never been challenged!"

"Nor mine!" declared Sir Rudo. "The Celts are a minor vexation which we will soon abate!"

King Audry pettishly clapped his hands. "Peace, all of you! I wish no further wrangling in my presence!"

Duke Claractus rose to his feet. "Sire, I have spoken hard truths which otherwise you might not hear. Now, by your leave, I will retire and refresh myself."

"Do so, good Claractus! I trust that you will join us as we dine."

"With pleasure, Sire."

Claractus departed. Sir Archem watched him stride across the lawn, then turned back with a snort of disapproval. "There goes a most prickly fellow!"

"No doubt loyal, and as brave as a boar in rut-of this I am sure," declared Sir Rudo. "But, like most provincials, he is purblind to wide perspectives."

"Bah!" said Sir Huynemer in disgust. "Provincial only? I find him uncouth, with his horse-blanket cloak and blurting style of speech."

Sir Rudo spoke thoughtfully: "It would seem part and parcel of the same attribute, as if one fault generated the other." He put a cautious question to the king: "What are Your Majesty's views?"

Audry made no direct response. "I will reflect on the matter. Such decisions cannot be formed on the instant."

Sir Tramador approached King Audry. He bent and muttered into the royal ear: "Sire, it is time that you were changing into formal robes."

"Whatever for?" cried Audry.

"Today, Sire, if you recall, you sit at the assizes."

Audry turned an aggrieved glance on Sir Tramador. "Are you certain of this?"

"Indeed, Sire! The litigants are already gathering in the Outer Chamber."

Audry scowled and sighed. "So now I must finick with folly and greed and all what interests me least! It is tedium piled on obfuscation! Tramador, have you no mercy? Always you trouble me during my trifling little periods of rest!"

"I regret the need to do so, Your Highness."

"Ha! I suppose that if I must, I must; there is no escaping it."

"Unfortunately not, Your Majesty. Will you use the Grand Saloon* or the Old Hall?"

Audry considered. "What cases await judgment?"

Sir Tramador tendered a sheet of parchment. "This is the list, with the clerk's analysis and comments. You will note a single robber to be hanged and an innkeeper who watered his wine, for a flogging. Otherwise there seems nothing of large import."

"Just so. The Old Hall it shall be. I am never easy on Evandig; it seems to shudder and squirm beneath me, an anomalous sensation to say the least."

"So I would think, Your Majesty!"

The assizes ran their course. King Audry returned to his private quarters, where his valets dressed him for the afternoon. However, Audry did not immediately leave the chamber. He dismissed his valets and, dropping into a chair, sat brooding upon the issues raised by Duke Claractus.

The prospect of retaking Poëlitetz by force was, of course, absurd. Hostilities with King Aillas could benefit only Casmir of Lyonesse.

Audry rose to his feet, to pace back and forth, head bowed, hands clasped behind his back. When all was taken with all, so he reflected, Aillas had spoken only stark and unvarnished truth. Danger to Dahaut came not from the Ulflands, nor from Troicinet, but from Lyonesse.

Claractus not only had brought no cheer, but also had hinted at some unpleasant realities which Audry preferred to ignore. The Daut troops in their fine uniforms made a brave show at parades, but even Audry conceded that their conduct on the battlefield might be held suspect.