Yalde placed the tray with the fruit bowl and the decanter near YetAmidous" elbow, then stepped out of the loose gown she had worn to visit the servants" quarters and slipped into the water. The eyes of the other two men followed her movements but she ignored them. She floated at YetAmidous" side and poured wine for him.

"So our little time of power may be drawing to an unexpectedly early close," ZeSpiole said. He brought one hand out of the water and stroked the tawny calf of Terim's leg. She looked down and smiled at him, though he did not see. Both Terim and Herae were from Ungrian, and spoke only their own tongue and Imperial. The men talked in Tassaseni.

"That might not be so bad," RuLeuin said. "The Protector told BiLeth to report to me while he's away and I'm growing tired of having to listen to that idiot pontificate on diplomatic niceties. Part of me hopes UrLeyn does come back."

"You think he will come back?" YetAmidous asked,

looking from RuLeuin to ZeSpiole. He accepted the goblet of wine from Yalde and slurped at it, spilling some into the translucent waters around his wide chest.

"I fear he will," ZeSpiole said.

"Fear?" RuLeuin said. "But-"

"Oh, not because I am so attached to a temporary third of the shadow of his power," ZeSpiole said. "But because I think it the wrong thing for him to do for Tassasen."

"The troops will go on without him, most of them, won't they?" RuLeuin said.

"It would be better if he did bring some of them back with him," YetAmidous told the Guard Commander. "There may be three of us to share his authority but there are precious few troops at our command, and when all fine words are finished with it's soldiers and swords that make power. I have barely enough men to make the city walls look lived in."

"The Protector has always said that a populace which in general assents to its ruling — and to its rulers — needs few sheriffs and no troops," ZeSpiole said.

"Easily said when you have several barracks full of soldiers to agree with you," YetAmidous said. "But you will observe that it is we who are allowed the privilege of testing our master's theory in this regard, not he."

"Oh, the people are happy enough," ZeSpiole said. "For the moment."

RuLeuin glanced at him. "Your spies are sure of that then?"

"One does not spy on one's own people," ZeSpiole informed him. "One has, rather, conduits of communication which lead to the common man. My guards mix with all sorts. They share their houses, their streets, their taverns, and their views."

"And they hear no grumblings?" YetAmidous asked sceptically, pushing his goblet towards Yalde to be refilled.

"Oh, they hear constant grumblings. The day they stop hearing grumblings I shall be sure that revolt is imminent.

But people grumble about this tax or that, or that the Protector keeps such a large harem when many an honest working fellow can hardly find a wife, or they grumble about the luxurious life led by some of the Grand Aedile's generals," ZeSpiole said, accepting a piece of fruit from Terim with a broad smile.

RuLeuin smiled too.

YetAmidous drank greedily. "We are to be reassured, then, that we are in no immediate danger from the general populace," he said. "But what of our other frontiers? They are reduced to the minimum or less. Where are the reinforcements if some other place makes war on us?"

"The problem in Ladenscion will not last for ever," RuLeuin said, though he looked troubled. "The troops will come home. With the new men and machines now in Niarje, Simalg and Ralboute should be able to bring it to a swift conclusion."

"We were told that at the start," YetAmidous reminded the other man. "We should all have gone then, all of us. We should have crushed the barons with every force at our command." The general made a fist and brought it down on the surface of the water with a splash. Yalde wiped soapy water from her eyes. YetAmidous drank, then spat the wine out. "There's water in here!" he told Yalde, and tipped the wine over her head. He laughed, followed by the other men. The wine stung her eyes a little, but she bowed her head. YetAmidous pushed her head under the water, then let her bob up once more. "Here." He pushed the goblet into her hands again. She wiped it with a napkin and refilled it from the decanter.

"That might be obvious to all of us now," ZeSpiole said. "But it was not then, to any of us. We all agreed that Simalg and Ralboute's men would be more than ample for the job."

"Well, they haven't been," YetAmidous said, then tested the wine by sloshing it round his mouth. "The Protector should not have entrusted so important a mission to those fops. Noble men, indeed! They are no better than us. He is too impressed by their high birth. They make war like children, like women. They spend too much time talking with these barons when they should be fighting them. Even when they do fight, they fight as though they're frightened of getting their swords bloody. Too much finesse, not enough muscle. All is ruse and subtlety. I have no time for such nonsense. These barons are best met head on."

"Your directness has always been your most engaging feature, YetAmidous," RuLeuin told him. "I think my brother, if he ever had a concern over the style of your generalship, only worried that your assaults tended to be rather expensive in men."

"Oh, what expense is that?" YetAmidous said, waving his free hand. "Too many of them are idle wretches from the gutter who'd have met an early death anyway. They expect to return with treasure. Usually all they bring back is the diseases they picked up from the whores. Death in battle, a place in history, remembering in a victory song… better than most of the scum deserve. They're a crude tool and they're best used crudely, with none of this effeminate feinting and playing around. Better to attack straight and get it over with. These so-noble dandies dishonour the whole business of war." YetAmidous looked at the two girls sitting at the pool side, then briefly at Yalde. "I wonder sometimes," he said quietly to the two men, "whether there is not some other motive in the Dukes" inability to finish this war."

"What?" RuLeuin said, frowning.

"I had assumed, with the Protector, that they were trying as hard as they could," ZeSpiole said. "What do you mean, General?"

"I mean that perhaps we are all being treated like fools, sir. That Duke Ralboute and Duke Simalg are closer to the Barons of Ladenscion than they are to us."

"Apart from physically, obviously," RuLeuin said, smiling but looking awkward.

"Eh? Aye. Too damn close. Don't you see?" he asked, levering his bulk away from the side of the bath. "They go off to this war, they pull in more and more troops, they delay and delay and stumble and lose men and machines and come whining to us to help them out, taking troops from the capital and our other frontiers, leaving the way open to any bastard who might want to march in from outside. Who knows what mischief they might have got up to if the Protector had put himself in their midst? The boy about to die might save his father's life, if he really is his father."

"General," RuLeuin said, "have a care. The boy may not be about to die. I have no doubt that in any event I am truly his uncle through my brother, and the Generals Ralboute and Simalg have always shown themselves to be good and true officers of the Protectorate. They joined our cause long before it was sure to succeed and could be said to have risked more than any of us in supporting it, for they started out with much power and prestige which they entirely risked by throwing their lot in with us." RuLeuin looked to ZeSpiole for support.

ZeSpiole had busied himself with a segment of fruit, burying most of his lower face in it. He looked up at the other two men and expressed surprise with his brows.