Dybo, in turn, spread his arms. "You cannot be sure of that. Without conclusive evidence, it’s a hollow claim."

Rodlox’s tone was firm. "I am sure of it, sure in my very bones."

Dybo stepped up to the marble platform that supported the ruling slab and the katadu benches for imperial advisors. He lowered himself belly-first onto the angled slab and looked down upon Rodlox.

Rodlox refused to be victim of such a transparent ploy. Rather than look up at the Emperor, he simply turned sideways and gave the appearance of examining the tapestries on the far wall, although in fact his black eyes were locked on his rival. "It’s true," he said. "I know it’s true."

The ruling slab creaked slightly under Dybo’s weight; that amused Rodlox, but the Emperor went on, oblivious. "Dy-Rodlox, look at me. Look at my muzzle." Rodlox turned to face him. "I tell you, I have no direct reason to believe what you say is true."

Rodlox shrugged. "That your muzzle hasn’t turned blue doesn’t surprise me. It means only that those who perpetrated this fraud did not confide in you."

"Are you saying they did confide in you, Dy-Rodlox? Did someone tell you this, someone who would know?"

"No, but it doesn’t matter. Consider this, brother, not one of the provincial governors has risen up to challenge your authority to rule, authority based solely on the fact that you are a descendant of the now-discredited Larsk. Not one of them. Why is that?"

"Satisfaction with my administration?" Dybo said innocently.

"You know full well that many people object to the exodus project, think it a mad obsession on your part, an obsession driving us to ruin."

Dybo dipped his muzzle in mild concession. "Some say that, yes."

"And yet, despite the opposition to the exodus, not one of the other governors has risen against you."

An insect had somehow made it into the room and was buzzing above Dybo’s back. He flicked his tail, trying to shoo it away. "So you’re saying the reason they haven’t challenged me is that the other governors are also party to this conspiracy."

"I think they are," said Rodlox, "except for myself."

"If such a conspiracy involved all governors, why are you exempt?"

"Both the previous incumbent in your office of Emperor and the previous incumbent in my office of governor of Edz’toolar died prematurely. I know my predecessor told me nothing about this before she died; perhaps Lends had said nothing to you before that roof collapsed on her."

"I tell you, she did not."

"I must accept that," said Rodlox, "but I suspect at least some of your advisors know. Mek-Maliden, the imperial bloodpriest, for one. Have you asked him?"

"No."

"Why not? If my claim is absurd, he could prove that. Ask him."

"I cannot."

"Why not?"

"He’s gone missing."

"You’ve had him locked away, I’d warrant."

"I’ve done no such thing. He’s left town, apparently of his own volition."

"Regardless," said Rodlox, "his absence bolsters my claim."

"If this is true, surely Maliden isn’t the only one who knows."

"That’s right. I’m confident the other provincial governors know. Again, that’s why they continue to support you, despite your delusions. To expose your secret would be to expose their secret: that they were illegally exempted from the culling of the bloodpriest."

"What about your advisors, Dy-Rodlox? Surely Len-Ganloor told some of them before she died?"

"An unusual situation," said Rodlox with a shrug. "Those who would have been my two most-senior aides, Cat-Makdon and Pal-Haskan, were part of that same ill-fated hunting party on which Governor Len-Ganloor died." Rodlox shook his head. "It should have been an easy kill, a concession to ceremony, really. Ganloor, Makdon, and Haskan were all trampled to death in the stampede."

"And you think the secret about your siblings died with them?"

"Yes. I don’t think there’s anyone left in my province who knows the truth," said Rodlox. "But once you fight me, they will. The entire world will."

Dybo waved his hand. "Even if, as you claim, I was not the strongest eggling of Lends’s clutch, that does not necessarily mean that you were the strongest. There would have been six others, besides you and me."

"The six who now serve as apprentice governors in the other provinces." Rodlox nodded. "But the same logic that says keep the weakest here at the imperial court also says send the strongest to the most isolated province. Edz’toolar isn’t the farthest of the toolars from the Capital, but it is the harshest and most difficult to get into, requiring the climbing of many mountains if approaching by land, and weathering its storm-swept shores if arriving by water."

"But there’s no guarantee that the winner of a battle between just the two of us now would indeed be the same one of the eight who would have best eluded the bloodpriest twenty-eight kilodays ago."

Rodlox grunted. "True. But in the absence of any alternative method of making the determination, it must suffice. I can prove I am of the imperial line, prove that I am Larsk’s descendant."

"Proof is an elusive thing…"

"I can demonstrate it to the reasonable satisfaction of the public. And that, fat one, is all that counts."

A moment later, Dybo’s claws slipped out, and it seemed to Rodlox that it was perhaps a deliberate gesture rather than an instinctive response. "You will not address me that way. My name is Dy-Dybo, and I grant you permission to use it. If you prefer to call me by title, you will use ’Your Luminance’ or ’Emperor.’ "

"I will call you what I wish."

Dybo raised his hand. "Then this conversation is at an end. I have granted you no special privileges, beyond the right to call me directly by name. I rule, Dy-Rodlox. Acknowledge that."

"For the time being, Dybo." That Rodlox had chosen the familiar form of his name visibly irritated Dybo, for it was clearly done not from affection but out of defiance. "But you must answer my challenge."

Still, Dybo adopted a slightly mollified tone. "I see that you are a person of strong will, and I grant that your intellect is keen." He scratched his belly, which was spilling over the side of the polished stone slab. "Perhaps Edz’toolar is too barren and isolated a prize for one such as you. I offer an accommodation, a middle ground: a senior official’s role, with whatever portfolio you desire. Public works? The judiciary? Name it, and it is yours. You will move here to the Capital and enjoy all the benefits of life at the imperial court."

Rodlox scraped his teeth together, a deliberate mockery of laughter. "You are transparent, Dybo. You perceive me as a threat, so you would have me underfoot where I could be watched at all times. I reject your offer. You will fight me in single combat. And I shall win."

Dybo spoke now as one might speak to a child. "Single combat has been barred since ancient times. You know that. There is no way to begin a battle without having it continue until one participant is dead."

"That is true."

"You threaten me with death? There are prescribed penalties for such treason."

"I make no threat. I simply note the probable outcome of a battle between us."

"I concede that I am perhaps not your physical match…"

"Indeed you are not."

"But being Emperor is not about physical prowess. It’s about fairness and progress and clarity of vision."

"Which is why the most appropriate person — the rightful heir — must, must, lie upon that ruling slab that now strains to support you."

Dybo spread his arms, looking to Rodlox like a monster wingfinger, suspended in air by the slab. "All the Packs are prosperous. We’re making great strides toward the stars. What quarrel do you have with me?"

"I hate you." The words were unexpectedly harsh.

Dybo’s inner eyelids blinked. "I do not hate you, Rodlox."