e young man too--as I remember him. You're sure he's
dead?"

"If not, he soon will be."

"But he is not in Ammad, I understand. Didn't he make a trip to Sephar,
Vokal?"

"He is due back within half a moon at the earliest."

"How will you handle the matter when he arrives at Ammad's gates?"

Vokal smiled his dreamy smile. "He will not arrive at Ammad's gates, O
Heglar! The day you attempt Jaltor's assassination a party of my most
trusted guards will leave Ammad to intercept Jotan and his men. Their
orders will be to leave not one of them alive."

"It is clear that you have thought of everything!" The old man gulped
down his wine and stood up. "It is late, and at my age I need a great
deal of sleep--especially if I am to be tortured by Jaltor's experts in
that line! So, if you will pay me my thousand tals, noble Vokal, I shall
leave you."

"Of course." Vokal rose smoothly to his feet, went to the door and
summoned a guard outside. "Arouse Yodak and instruct him to bring a
thousand tals to me here."

"At once, Most-High." The guard saluted and went quickly down the hall.

Heglar was shaking his head admiringly. "You take some long chances,
Vokal!"

The gray-haired nobleman glanced sharply at him. "What do you mean?"

"This matter of your guards calling you 'Most-High'. That is a mark of
respect given only to kings, you know. I doubt if Jaltor would approve
of your appropriating it to your own use."

* * * * *

The other's blue-gray eyes seemed to film over. "Kings have been known
to die, noble Heglar--and at times the ranking nobleman takes his place.
One must prepare for every possibility."

"Even to having one's guards form the habit of saying Most-High, eh?"

The arrival of a small frail-bodied old man in hastily donned tunic
ended the conversation. He was bearing a small cloth bag which gave off
the sounds of clinking metal.

"The thousand tals, Most-High," he quavered, holding out the bag.

Vokal took it and dismissed the man. "... Would you care to count them?"
he said upon placing the bag in Heglar's hands.

"It is not necessary," the old man said, then smiling, added: "You need
my specialized services too badly to cheat me!"

Vokal summoned a guard and instructed him to appoint several warriors to
escort the old man safely to his home, as robbery under cover of night
was far from unusual on Ammad's numerous streets.

When the door had closed and Vokal was alon