And because the Eagle and Mughorck were probably both time-traveling agents from future power-blocs who knew how the current struggle was going to come out and were trying to change it here, Rod added mentally. Aloud, he just said sourly, “It’s nice to know this chamber has such thick walls that we don’t have to worry about eavesdroppers.”

“Wherefore?” Tuan frowned. “Is there reason to question the loyalty of any of our folk?”

“Uhhhhhh… no.” Rod had to improvise quickly, and surprisingly hit upon truth. “It’s just that I brought Yorick along, in case we decided we wanted to talk to him. He’s in the antechamber.”

Catharine looked up, horrified, and stepped quickly behind Tuan’s chair. The King, however, looked interested. “Then, by all means, let’s bring him in! Can we think of no questions to ask that might determine the truth or falsehood of this beastman’s words?”

Brom stomped over to the door, yanked it open, and rumbled a command. As he swaggered back Rod offered, “Just this. From Toby’s report, the beastmen’s village is very thoroughly settled and the fields around it are loaded with corn, very neatly cultivated. That settlement’s not brand-new, Tuan. If the Eagle had come here with conquest in mind, would he have taken a couple of years out to build up a colony?”

The young King nodded. “A point well-taken.” He turned as the beastman ambled in, and Catharine took a step back. “Welcome, captain of exiles!”

“The same to you, I’m sure.” Yorick grinned and touched his forelock.

Brom scowled ferociously, so Rod figured he’d better butt in. “Uh, we’ve just been talking, Yorick, about why Mughorck tried to assassinate the Eagle.”

“Oh, because Mughorck wanted to conquer you guys,” Yorick said, surprised. “He couldn’t even get it started with the Eagle in the way, preaching understanding and tolerance.”

The room was awfully quiet while Tuan, Brom, Catharine, and Rod exchanged frantic glances.

“I said something?” Yorick inquired.

“Only what we’d all just been saying.” Rod scratched behind his ear. “Always unnerving, finding out you guessed right.” He looked up at Yorick. “Why’d Mughorck want to conquer us?”

“Power-base,” Yorick explained. “Your planet’s going to be the hottest item in the coming power-struggle. Your descendants will come out on the side of democracy, so the Decentralized Democratic Tribunal will win. The only chance the losers will have is to come back in time and try to take over Gramarye. When Mughorck took over we realized he must’ve been working for one of the future losers… What’s the matter, milord?”

Rod had been making frantic shushing motions. Tuan turned a gimlet eye on him. “Indeed, Lord Warlock.” His voice was smooth as velvet. “Why wouldst thou not wish him to speak of such things?”

“For that they are highly confusing, for one.” Catharine knit her brows, but the look she bent on Rod was baleful. “Still, mine husband’s point’s well taken. For whom dost thou labor, Lord Warlock?”

“For my wife and child, before anyone else,” Rod sighed, “but since I want freedom and justice for them, and you two are their best chance for that condition—why, I work for you.”

“Or in accord with us,” Tuan amended. “But hast thou other affiliations, Lord Warlock?”

“Well, there is a certain collaborative effort that…”

“…that doth give him information vital to the continuance of Your Majesties’ reign.” Brom glanced up at them guiltily. “I ha’ known of it almost since he came among us.”

Some of the tension began to ease out of Tuan, but Catharine looked more indignant than ever. “Even thou, my trusted Brom! Wherefore didst thou not tell this to me?”

“For reason that thou hadst no need to know it,” Brom said simply, “and because I felt it to be Lord Gallowglass’s secret. If he thought thou shouldst know it, he would tell thee—for, mistake not, his first loyalty is here.”

Catharine seemed a bit mollified, and Tuan was actually smiling—but with a glittering eye. “We must speak more of this anon, Lord Warlock.”

But not just now. Rod breathed a shuddering sigh and cast a quick look of gratitude toward Brom. The dwarf nodded imperceptibly.

“Our cause of worry is before us.” Tuan turned back to Yorick. “It would seem, Master Yorick, that thou dost know more than thou shouldst.”

Yorick stared. “You mean some of this was classified?”

Rod gave him a laser glare, but Tuan just said, “Where didst thou learn of events yet to come?”

“Oh, from the Eagle.” Yorick smiled, relieved. “He’s been there.”

The room was very still for a moment.

Then Tuan said carefully, “Dost thou say this Eagle hath gone bodily to the future?‘’

Yorick nodded.

“Who’s he work for?” Rod rapped out.

“Himself.” Yorick spread his hands. “Makes a nice profit out of it, too.”

Rod relaxed. Political fanatics would fight to the death, but businessmen would always see reason—provided you showed them that they could make a better profit doing things your way.

But Tuan shook his head. “Thou wouldst have us believe the Eagle brought all thy people here and taught them to farm enough to support themselves. Where’s the profit in that?”

“Well,” Yorick hedged, “he does undertake the occasional humanitarian project…”

“Also, for certain assignments you boys probably make unbeatable agents,” Rod said drily.

Yorick had the grace to blush.

“Or is it,” rumbled Brom, “that he doth fight the future-folk who backed Mughorck? Would thy people not be a part of that fight?”

Yorick became very still. Then he eyed Rod and jerked his head toward Brom. “Where’d you get him?”

“You don’t want to know,” Rod said quickly. “But we do. How were you Neanderthals a weapon in the big fight?”

Yorick sighed and gave in. “Okay. It’s a little more complicated than what I said before. The bad guys gathered us together to use us as a tool to establish a very early dictatorship that wouldn’t quit. You’ll understand, milord, that we’re a bit of a paranoid culture.”

“Can’t imagine why,” Rod said drily.

“What is this ‘paranoid’?” Tuan frowned. “And what matters it to government?”

“It means you feel as though everyone’s picking on you.” Yorick explained, “so you tend to pick on them first, to make sure they can’t get you. Governments like that are very good at repression.”

Catharine blanched, and Tuan turned to Rod. “Is there truth in what he doth say?”

“Too much,” Rod said with a woeful smile, “and anyone with witch-power tends to be repressed. Now you know why I’m on your side, my liege.”

“Indeed I do.” Tuan turned back to face Yorick. “And I find myself much less concerned about thine other associations.”

But Rod was watching Catharine closely out of the corner of his eye. Was she realizing that she’d been on the road to becoming a tyrant when she’d reigned alone? Mostly over-compensating for insecurity, of course—but by the time she’d gained enough experience to be sure of herself, she’d have had too many people who hated her; she’d have had to stay a tyrant.

But Tuan was talking to Yorick again. “Why doth thine Eagle fight these autocrats?”

“Bad for trade,” Yorick said promptly. “Dictatorships tend to establish very arbitrary rules about who can do business with whom, and their rules result in either very high tariffs or exorbitant graft. But a government that emphasizes freedom pretty much has to let business be free, too.”

“Pretty much.” Rod underscored the qualifier.

Yorick shrugged. “Freedom’s an unstable condition, my lord. There’ll always be men trying to destroy it by establishing their own dictatorships. Businessmen are human too.”

Rod felt that the issue deserved a bit more debate, but the little matter of the invasion was getting lost in the shuffle. “We were kind of thinking about that whispering campaign you mentioned. Mind explaining how you could work it without getting caught? And don’t try to tell me you guys all look alike to each other.”