While the women wept, Bifalt turned to the rest of his audience.

“You knew Master Ungabwey,” he continued more strongly. “You also knew the most holy devotee of Spirit Amandis.” Like Klamath, he could make his raw voice carry. “Before the final battle, she sacrificed herself to stop the approach of the Great God’s books. She only failed because I failed her.

“I am what you see, an ordinary man with ordinary gifts. I fail as often as any man. I am wrong as often as a man can be.

“I was wrong when I came here long ago. I judged the Magisters you have lost wrongly. I interpreted their intentions wrongly. When I left, I vowed to myself that I would humble their arrogance. I was wrong.

“And in my own realm, and in Queen Estie’s, I was wrong. I feared sorcery. I saw every wielder of a Decimate as dishonorable and cowardly, Belleger’s as well as Amika’s. In all of my dealings with them, I betrayed my scorn. I could not bear to admit that their gifts diminished me. I was wrong.

“Worse, I treated my wife wrongly, my Queen-Consort, Estie of Amika. You do not know the pain I caused her. I do. My father, King Abbator, was a good man. He would have groaned to see my treatment of her.”

For a moment, the King paused, bowed his head. During their last exchange in Belleger’s Fist, Third Father had encouraged him to surpass himself. He did not know how.

Nevertheless he knew what he had to say.

He raised his head, faced the gathering like a man who knew himself.

“But I was not wrong when I sought an alliance with Amika, or when I married Queen Estie to confirm it. I was not wrong when I chose Commander Forguile and Captain Flisk to defend the Bay of Lights. They were defeated, yes, but only because I asked too much of them.

“I was not wrong when I made Klamath the General of my army, and of Amika’s. You know what he has done. I was not wrong when I relied on Elgart for the security of my realm and the alliance. He did more than seek out treachery. He exposed the Great God’s Archpriest. And he brought Suti al-Suri and the el-Algreb to fight for us.

“I was not wrong when I trusted Queen Estie and Amika to remain faithful to our alliance despite my conduct toward her. I was not wrong when I asked my brother Lome to command the evacuation of the Open Hand. He gave his best to the task. I was not wrong when I put my life in the hands of Magister Astride and her wielders of earthquake. I was not wrong when I required my brother Jaspid to remain with me until the time came when only his unmatched skills would suffice.