Free In the Earth Abides the Flame by Russell Kirkpatrick Page A

there may be no escape. To flee the betrayed city would remove the last defence Instruere had against the stratagems of Bhrudwo. His wife bit her lip, held him close and reassured him that she would do whatever was necessary. His girls cried. His servants made certain discreet preparations against his failure to persuade the Council, in the event the evil had gone further than the northern Trader asserted.

    Saraskar used the time as well as he could, but not well enough. The Council had convened early that morning (just after sunrise, in fact), in order to make some impression on the stream of appellants congesting the corridor of the Hall of Meeting. He had no opportunity to talk to the Arkhoi he knew to be loyal, other than the exchange of a few whispered comments; learning that they, like him, had no firm plan, and no chance to make one. On and on the day wore, the Council dealing swiftly with appellants under the firm hand of the Arkhos of Nemohaim, their leader. One of the traitors, Saraskar reminded himself. And the Arkhos of Nemohaim kept them busy as though to deny them any opportunity to discuss the coming meeting.
    The northerners knew nothing of this. Some of the great men of the world were gathered in this room, about to judge their case. Leith flicked a glance in the direction of the Arkhos of Sarista, and in a moment of clarity read the fear on his face. His hopes sank. If this wise man feared the outcome, what hope did they have? What was likely to be their reward for accusing these powerful men of treachery? In a wild moment he hoped his father was wrong, had made it all up, that the benevolent caretakers of Faltha would forgive them their impudence and let them go.
    To his left sat Hal. Behind him stood the Bhrudwan warrior, compelled to the Council under the close eye of Farr and Perdu, his hands still bound. Hal had effected some sort of change in the stern man, but the Company was by no means ready to risk freeing him from his bonds, so he stood there, a barely controlled explosion just waiting for a spark. Surely here was evidence no Council could ignore. Surely truth would win, just as Hal argued it would. Please, please, please, Leith thought, willing it to happen; please, please, phase ...
    The meeting went wrong from the start. In spite of the importance of the moment - or perhaps because of it - the hard faces staring at them from across the table daunted most of the Company, who were reduced to staring at their laps. The Haufuth found it particularly difficult, as he had been in the city barely three days, and had not yet encountered the grimness characteristic of the Instruians. Phemanderac found his scholarly arguments of no use, as they were invariably interrupted long before the point he so carefully tried to formulate emerged from its logical construction. Farr and Perdu were content to leave the talking to the others. Indrett and Stella, being women, were tolerated in the Council only if they did not speak. Thus within minutes Mahnum and Kurr became the effective spokesmen for the group, and found themselves questioned sharply by several of the ambassadors. Then Leith accidentally knocked over a carafe of water, and the Arkhos of Tabul was forced to stop in the middle of an elaborate dissertation on the ability to discern Bhrudwan troop movements, having to mop up the spillage with his own handkerchief.
    The Council Members insisted on questioning the Bhrudwan themselves. One after another they fired questions at him, but the Acolyte simply refused to answer them. He doesn't understand the common tongue, Leith shouted at them in his mind. We told you that! Of course he can't answer! When Hal attempted to answer for the Bhrudwan warrior, the questioner bade him keep silent. Hal tried to encourage them to approach him differently, without confronting him so blatantly. The Council would have none of it. Even Saraskar seemed to be losing patience.
    A tremendously fat man, larger even than the