The Fireseed Wars

He made his morning ablutions: a cold water wash-up, then dressed himself in a floor-length blue gown-like robe of linen, with a broad black leather belt studded with jewels and a golden buckle the size of a lemon. He gazed in the polished silver "mirror" and shook his head; to himself, he looked like a middle-aged matron with a bad case of the mange.

He joined Kostran, whose First Level job was Paratime Police Inspector, along with Zinna in the spacious kitchen. Kostran's Greffan cover was that of a journeyman clerk who'd married a cousin of Verkan's wife. Since Tortha had been out of direct contact with Home Time Line for several months, Kostran filled him in on all the latest Home Time Line news, politics and gossip-reminding him of the old adage, that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Yandar Yadd, one of the big time newsies, had put together a critical expose on how much time Paratime Police Chief Verkan Vail spent out-time on Kalvan's Time Line, and was making political hay out of it. Those Paratime Police logs were kept under high security, which meant if Yandar had access to them, then there was a leak on the force-bad news for Verkan and anyone else affiliated with the force.

Yandar and Verkan had had run-ins before. After the Wizard Traders case broke, the newsie had received several death threats and gone into hiding. It had been a wonderful respite from his leg-biting editorials. No one was more unhappy than Verkan when the rogue newsie suddenly turned up after one of the major crime bosses was jailed and sentenced to psycho-rehabilitation by the Bureau of Psychological-Hygiene.

In response to Yandar's negative publicity, several Management Party bigwigs had complained to the Paratime Commission about Verkan's out-time absences. As if Vail didn't have enough problems.

Prince Phrames joined them at the kitchen table for a first meal of pork sausage, turkey egg omelets and fried potatoes prepared by Zinna and a female Paratime Police officer masquerading as a Greffan serving wench. "Very good," Phrames said, polite almost to a fault. The Prince had suffered the tumultuous lake voyage without a cross word and in unfailingly good humor. It had taken all of Tortha's First Level discipline not to toss him overboard.

Still, Tortha had to agree that after two ten-days of hardtack and jerky aboard the Sea Dog, it was damn good to eat a decent meal. He even took a second helping of eggs and hash browns, although he would have given his favorite needler for a cup of coffee. In his opinion, sassafras or ginseng tea were not good substitutes, although he'd found himself eating healthier on Kalvan's Time-Line than he had in a long time. He'd also lost about twenty pounds since arriving in Hostigos; he felt in the best physical shape he'd been in for a century, after too many stressful decades of sitting behind the horseshoe desk at the Chief's office in Paratime Building.

Once everyone was finished eating and pipes were lit, Kostran briefed them on the local situation: "Everyone in Greffa is following the Fireseed Wars with great interest. I don't know of anyone in the Lower or Upper Middle Kingdoms who doesn't despise Styphon's House for selling inferior fireseed powder at inflated prices and in limited quantities. The locals call it 'Styphon's Worst.' There are few believers of Styphon in Greffa. There's one Styphon's House temple in the city, but it's no bigger than the one that Kalvan sacked in Hyllos Town. At a well-attended service, they're lucky to bring in two score of worshippers, most of them workers at their local banking branch."

"Praise Dralm," Phrames said. "We've fought enough of Styphon's bed-sheet battalions, as Kalvan calls them in Hostigos."

"Speaking of Kalvan, the Great King has a lot of man-in-the-street sympathy," Kostran added. "However, the mercantile classes view him with concern; they've heard about some of his reforms and slave trading is big business in the Middle Kingdoms. On the other hand, the nobility here is always on the lookout for opportunities; a war with Kalvan would supply plenty of battlefield commissions, as well as clear out the deadwood from some of the older houses. Since his coronation King Theovacar has been putting the squeeze on his nobles, chipping away at their rights and raising taxes; now, they'd like to squeeze back.

"In the other Upper Middle Kingdoms, the smaller kings and princes are worried that Kalvan might covet their real estate. They know that Kalvan and the Hostigi have been booted out of Hos-Hostigos and need living space. No state in the Middle Kingdoms has an army capable of stopping the Hostigi, or even slowing them down-not even Theovacar. However, the other Princes are counting on Theovacar, as the dominant power in the Upper Middle Kingdoms, to keep Kalvan at bay: Maybe through negotiations or an alliance of smaller princedoms.