minutes. Now light me some lamps and then get out of here!"

Randronoth! she thought. Randronoth-here, in the middle of the night; when he ought to be at the front in Lapan. Did Eud-Ecachlon know he'd come to Bekla? Probably not.

No doubt about what he's here for. What else could he be here for? And thereupon Occula took over. The bloody crazy damned basting menstrual tairth-struck bastard! And it's completely compromising! It leaves me wide open! Oh, Cran! and with Eud-Ecachlon, of all people, left in command of the city! I've got to get him out of here somehow!

She was hurrying into her clothes, yet even in this crisis stopped to wash her face and comb her hair. Middle of the night or no middle of the night, she'd be damned if she was going to let Randronoth or anyone else see her all in a flurry and lookng like-what was it Occula used to say?-a pig's venda in a thunderstorm. Becoming a little more composed as she looked at herself in the mirror, she put on her diamonds and the jewelled Leopard emblem with which the Council had presented her. Then, with all the outrage, authority and dignity of which she was capable, the Serrelinda made herself walk slowly down the stairs and into the parlor.

Randronoth was standing in the middle of the room. Under his long cloak he was fully armed-sword, dagger and breastplate. He had taken off his leather helmet and cleared a space for it on one of her side-tables. As she entered he held out his arms, smiling with an apparently sincere and perfectly spontaneous expression of joy and triumph.

"My love! My queen!"

"Lord Randronoth," she said sharply, "have you gone out of your mind? Do you know what time it is? Please leave my house immediately!"

"Oh, I can well understand it's a shock," he replied. As he spoke he unbuckled and cast aside his sword-belt, flung back his cloak and sat down. "But it's the finest shock you'll ever have had in your life, my love, believe me! Listen and I'll explain."

"I'll listen to nothing! Get out of my house; now, at once! If you don't, I'll send the porter for the night-watch, and believe me I mean it! I don't care if you're the governor of Lapan or anywhere else. I will not be subjected to this

sort of behavior in the middle of the night! If you really have anything to say to me-and I'd imagine the first thing you ought to explain is why you're not with the army in Lapan-you can come back tomorrow morning. Now if you're worth calling a nobleman, get out!"

"Not so fast, Maia," he said. "If we're to take Bekla, you and I, you've got to help me. And if you find yourself giving up no more than half a night's sleep before we're done, you'll be lucky."

"Take Bekla! Whatever are you talking about?"

He laughed. "Taking Bekla."

Maia felt herself close to tears of desperation. If she could, she would have thrown him out by force. For a moment she turned away to hide her feelings. Zenka! Zenka, tell me what to do! Come and help me!

"Stop arguing with him," replied the invisible Zenka. "He's obviously not here for the reason you thought. Make him tell you what he's up to!"

"Randro," she said, pulling up a stool, "you must realize that this is a great shock to me. You'd better tell me what it's all about. You owe me that at least."

"As if you knew nothing?"

"As if I knew nothing."

"Very well: since you seem to want to act the simpleton, Maia, I'll go back to the night of the barrarz. You remember we made love, I suppose? You've not forgotten thafl"

She compressed her lips with annoyance. Her head was beginning to ache.

"And you may possibly recall that you promised me that if I got Sednil freed, you'd spend another night with me next time I was in Bekla?"

"Well, if that's all you want, why can't we get on-"

"Wait a minute! Of course it is-I never stop thinking about you-but just now there are more important things to be done. You'll remember, too, that Seekron came to see you. I know, of course, what he told you. I'll remind you, shall I? He told you that the whole of Lapan was ready to declare for you as Sacred Queen. He gave you the names of several Leopard councilors who were ready to join us; and he gave you forty thousand meld." Ran-dronoth paused a moment and then repeated it. "Forty thousand meld. Didn't he?"

"Yes," she whispered.

"And you took it, and you sent me back word that you'd do all you could to help me?"

The reckoning day, she thought. Oh Cran, the reckoning day!

"Randro, I'll give you back the money-half of it now, this very minute! If only you'll let me alone-"

He held up his hand.

"Oh, Randro, you can go to bed with me all you want! Only please, please leave me out of-"

"Well, as it's turned out, you see, events have moved rather faster than we expected. In this life one has to be able to seize opportunities." ›

Opportunity is all, she thought. Opportunity is all. O Lespa, save me!

"The long and short of it is that the Leopards are ripe for destruction. Sencho's dead, Durakkon's a puppet. Kembri's no more than a murderous ruffian and his son's a proved coward. As for Forms-"

She burst out, "So you're working for Santil-"

"For Erketlis?" he said. "Never in a hundred years, my love! I'm working for myself-and for you! I'm the man, not Kembri, that's going to save Bekla from Santil-ke-Erketlis."

"You must be out of your mind, Randro! Have you thought about this, really and truly? You'll only be throwing your life away; oh, and mine too, Randro! Please-"

"Indeed I've thought about it," he answered. "Listen and I'll tell you. Erketlis has defeated-shamefully defeated-the force the Leopards sent against him; and I can tell you that the force are in very poor heart now. Kembri's reinforcements, I'm told, are just about the sorriest bunch between here and Zeray. If I'd joined them I'd have been a raving lunatic. Meanwhile Durakkon's been sent out against Fornis with orders to try to hold her up until Kembri gets back. But Kembri never will get back. The plain truth is that Bekla's lying here under Mount Crandor like a dropped purse. Who's going to grab it first, Santil or Fornis? Neither; I am!"

"You mean you've got enough men-"

"Yes; Bekla will be in my hands by tomorrow evening; by this evening, I ought to say, since it's getting on for morning. When I got Kembri's order to call up every man in Lapan, I obeyed it, with his full authority behind me. But we didn't go anywhere near Elvair-ka-Virrion's lot;

no fear! I've got four thousand men, under Seekron, marching up to Bekla now. That's not a great many, but it'll be enough."

"But Randro-"

"The plain truth is, there's no one here to stop us; only Eud-Ecachlon and a handful of second-rate troops. Seekron will be here by this afternoon. We shall simply take the place over."

"Well, just you leave me out of it! I don't care what I said!-"

He ignored her interruption. "But it's not enough just to take a city, Maia. It's got to be held, too. If you've ever fed those ducks out there" (he jerked his thumb towards the Barb) "you'll know what happens when one of them manages to grab a big bit. The inhabitants-we're going to need their support and goodwill if we're to hold the place." He laughed. "Of course the best thing for us would be if Santil and Kembri were to destroy each other and Fornis and Durakkon were to do the same. But something tells me that won't happen-things are never so simple. One or other of them will be coming against us; perhaps more than one. That's why I'm here tonight; to talk to you. The people of Bekla are going to be united behind their new Sacred Queen; the Serrelinda."

She flung herself at his feet, clasping his ankles.

"No, Randro, no! Oh, please don't try to make me! I won't do it!"