So they went on, Jezal smiling and nodding to each man in turn. Halleck, the Lord Chancellor. Torlichorm, the High Consul. Reutzer, Lord Admiral of the Fleet, and so on, and so on. Finally Hoff ushered him to the high chair at the head of the table and Jezal enthroned himself while the Closed Council smiled on. He grinned gormlessly up at them for a moment, and then realised. 'Oh, please be seated.'

The old men sat, a couple of them with evident winces of pain as old knees crunched and old backs clicked. Bayaz dropped carelessly into the chair at the foot of the table, opposite Jezal, as though he had been occupying it all his life. Robes rustled as old arses shifted on polished wood, and gradually the room went silent as a tomb. One chair was empty at Varuz' elbow. The chair where Lord Marshal Burr would have sat, had he not been assigned to duty in the North. Had he not been dead. A dozen daunting old men waited politely for Jezal to speak. A dozen old men who he had thought of until recently as occupying the pinnacle of power, all now answerable to him. A situation he could never have imagined in his most self-indulgent daydreams. He cleared his throat.

'Pray continue, my Lords. I will try and catch up as we go.'

Hoff flashed a humble smile. 'Of course, your Majesty. If at any time you require explanation, you have but to ask.'

'Thank you,' said Jezal, 'thank—'

Halleck's grinding voice cut over him. 'Back to the issue of discipline among the peasantry, therefore.'

'We have already prepared concessions!' snapped Sult. 'Concessions which the peasants were happy to accept.'

'A shred of bandage to bind a suppurating wound!' returned Marovia. 'It is only a matter of time before rebellion comes again. The only way we can avoid it is by giving the common man what he needs. No more than is fair! We must involve him in the process of government.'

'Involve him!' sneered Sult.

'We must transfer the burden of tax to the landowners!'

Halleck's eyes rolled to the ceiling. 'Not this nonsense again.'

'Our current system has stood for centuries,' barked Sult.

'It has failed for centuries!' threw back Marovia.