Sparhawk and Vanion exchanged a look. ‘It was,’ Vanion said. ‘Go on.’

‘Annias rejected the notion at first, but Martel can be very convincing when he wants to be, and finally the Primate agreed to at least open negotiations. They found a disreputable Styric who was outcast from his band, and they had a long talk with him. He agreed to act as their emissary to Otha, and in due time, a bargain was struck.’

‘And what was this bargain?’ King Dregos of Arcium asked.

‘I’ll get to that in a bit, Your Majesty,’ Krager promised. ‘If I jump around in this, I might forget details.’ He paused and looked around. ‘I hope you’re all taking note of how co-operative I’m being here. Otha sent some of his people to Elenia to provide assistance to Annias. A great deal of that assistance was in the form of gold. Otha’s got tons of it.’

‘What?’ Ehlana exclaimed. ‘I thought Annias had poisoned my father and me primarily to get his hands on the Elenian treasury in order to finance his drive for the Archprelacy.’

‘I’m not trying to be offensive, Your Majesty,’ Krager said, ‘but the Elenian treasury couldn’t have begun to cover the kind of expenses Annias was incurring. His control of it, however, concealed the real source of his funding. Embezzlement is one thing, but consorting with Otha is quite something else. You and your father were actually poisoned for no other reason than to hide the fact that Annias had an unlimited supply of Otha’s gold. Things went on more or less according to plan. Otha provided money and some occasional Styric magic to help Annias obtain his interim goals. Everything was going along fairly well until Sparhawk came back from Rendor. You’re a very disruptive sort of fellow, Sparhawk.’

‘Thank you,’ Sparhawk replied.

‘I’m sure you know most of the rest of the details, My Lords,’ Krager continued. ‘Ultimately, we all wound up here in Chyrellos, and the rest, as they say, is history. Now, getting back to your question, King Dregos. Otha bargains very hard and he asked a great price from Annias for his aid.’

‘What did Annias have to give him?’ Patriarch Bergsten, the huge Thalesian Churchman, asked.

‘His soul, Your Grace,’ Krager replied with a shudder. ‘Otha insisted that Annias convert to the worship of Azash before he’d provide any magic or any money. Martel witnessed the ceremony, and he told me about it. That was one of my duties, incidentally. Martel gets lonesome from time to time, and he needs somebody to talk to. Martel’s not particularly squeamish, but even he was sickened by the rites that celebrated Annias’s conversion.’

‘Did Martel convert too?’ Sparhawk asked intently.

‘I sort of doubt it, Sparhawk. Martel doesn’t really have any religious convictions. He believes in politics, power and money, not Gods.’