Then there was an odd sound, and Lord Morin looked sharply at the Emperor, half afraid that his ruler was about to go into another seizure. But there was no evidence of that. Instead, Morin perceived that Ran Borune was chuckling. "Did you see how she tricked me, Morin?" The Emperor laughed. "She deliberately goaded me into that fit. What a son she would have made! She could have been the greatest Emperor in Tolnedra's history." Ran Borune was laughing openly now, his secret delight at Ce'Nedra's cleverness suddenly emerging.

"She is your daughter after all, your Majesty," Lord Morin observed.

"To think that she could raise an army of that size when she's barely sixteen," the Emperor marveled. "What a splendid child!" He seemed quite suddenly to have recovered from the gloomy peevishness that had dogged him since his return to ToI Honeth. His laughter trailed away after several moments, and his bright little eyes narrowed shrewdly. "Those legions she stole from me are likely to become fractious without professional leadership," he mused.

"I'd say that's Ce'Nedra's problem, your Majesty," Morin replied. "Or Polgara's."

"Well-" The Emperor scratched one ear. "I don't know, Morin. The situation out there isn't too clear." He looked at his chamberlain. "Are you acquainted with General Varana?"

"The Duke of Anadile? Of course, your Majesty. A thoroughly professional sort of fellow - solid, unassuming, extremely intelligent."

"He's an old friend of the family," Ran Borune confided. "Ce'Nedra knows him and she would listen to his advice. Why don't you go to him, Morin, and suggest that he might want to take a leave of absence - perhaps go to Algaria and have a look at things?"

"I'm certain that he'd be overjoyed at the idea of a vacation," Lord Morin agreed. "Garrison life in the summertime can be very tedious."

"It's just a suggestion," the Emperor stressed. "His presence in the war zone would have to be strictly unofficial."

"Naturally, your Majesty."

"And if he just happened to make a few suggestions - or even provide a bit of leadership, we certainly wouldn't have any knowledge of it, would we? After all, what a private citizen does with his own time is his business, right?"

"Absolutely, your Majesty."

The Emperor grinned broadly. "And we'll all stick to that story, won't we, Morin?"

"Like glue, your Majesty," Morin replied gravely..

The crown prince of Drasnia burped noisily in his mother's ear, sighed, and promptly fell asleep on her shoulder. Queen Porenn smiled at him, tucked him back in his cradle, and turned again to the stringy-appearing man in nondescript clothing who sprawled in a nearby chair. The emaciated man was known only by the peculiar name "Javelin." Javelin was the chief of the Drasnian intelligence service and one of Porenn's closest advisers.