ver-loving friend of the Company;
he acted to prevent quote certain disloyal elements unquote from
harming the people and property of the Company. _Procyon's_ on the way
to Konkrook. I'm holding _Northern Lights_ here and _Northern Star_ at
Skilk; where do you want them sent?"

"Leave _Northern Star_ at Skilk, for the time being. Tell the
Company's great and good friend King Yoorkerk that the Company expects
him to contribute some soldiers for the campaign here and against
Keegark, when that starts; be sure you get the best-armed and
best-trained regiments he has, and get them down here as soon as
possible. Don't send any of your Kragans or Karamessinis' troops here,
though; hold them in Grank till we make sure of the quality of
Yoorkerk's friendship."

"Well, general, I think we can be pretty sure, now. You see, he turned
Rakkeed the Prophet over to me...."

"_What_?" Von Schlichten felt his monocle starting to slip and took a
firmer grip on it. "Who?"

"Pay me, Them; he didn't drop it," Hideyoshi O'Leary said. "Why,
Rakkeed the Prophet. Yoorkerk was holding our ships and our people in
case we lost; he was also holding Rakkeed at the Palace in case we
won. Of course, Rakkeed thought he was an honored guest, right up till
Yoorkerk's guards dragged him in and turned him over to us...."

"That geek," von Schlichten said, "is too smart for his own good. Some
of these days he's going to play both ends against the middle and both
ends'll fold in on him and smash him." A suspicion occurred to him.
"You sure this is Rakkeed? It would be just like Yoorkerk to try to
sell us a ringer."

O'Leary shook his head solemnly. "I thought of that, right away. This
is the real article; Karamessinis' Constabulary and Intelligence
officers certified him for me. What do you want me to do, send him
down to Konkrook?"

Von Schlichten shook his head. "Get the priests of the locally
venerated gods to put him on trial for blasphemy, heresy,
impersonating a prophet, practicing witchcraft without a license, or
any other ecclesiastical crimes you or they can think of. Then, after
he's been given a scrupulously fair trial, have the soldiers of King
Yoorkerk behead him, and stick his head up over a big sign, in all
native languages, 'Rakkeed the False Prophet.' And have audio-visuals
made of the whole business, trial and execution, and be sure that the
priests and Yoorkerk's officers are in the foreground and our people
stay out of the pictu