"As a voice?" said Zud.
"Nay, as something shown to me, together with the manner in which it may be made."
Zud rose and lifted his hands. "Who may understand Zitu?" he intoned in a voice of amazement. Croft felt he was convinced.
Hence when he stood that night before the white-haired Tamhys, he felt a quiet assurance born of the belief that Magur and Zud, both present, were his friends, and they were the friends of his cause.
"Jadgor of Aphur," Tamhys began. "I have now summoned you before me, since for some time I have had you beneath my eye. You have married your son to a princess of Milidhur, and within half a cycle you have betrothed your sister's child to Cathur, and Belzor of Nodhur and yourself are friends. Thus only Bithur seems not swayed in more or less degree by those wishes which are yours, and you wax strong in power. Why have you done these things?"
"Tamhys of Tamarizia," Jadgor replied; "these things I do not deny. Robur of Aphur wedded the Princess Gaya for love. Nodhur's interests are one with Aphur, since both possess the Na within their lines. Naia has plighted her troth to Kyphallos of Aphur at my wish to make strong the guard of the western gate and assure to Tamarizia those things she holds." He spoke boldly and faced the emperor of his nation with an unflinching eye.
But Tamhys frowned. "This is not all," he said. "It has come to my ear that you have in Himyra a man—Jasor of Nodhur—who stands now before me—a man who works new marvels undreamed of before—that some of them are weapons, designed for the work of war—that Aphur and Nodhur and Milidhur increase the men in their guards to an unwarranted degree. What say you to this?"
"That you have heard the truth, O Tamhys," Jadgor again replied. "These things have been made. The guards have been increased. These things also have I done to make Tamarizia strong."
The lines of Tamhys's countenance contracted further. His features grew dark and he clenched a hand. "You are a man of power, Jadgor of Aphur," he cried. "Power is beneath your nostrils. Hence you dream of war. Yet is war not of my creed, nor shall be. For fifty cycles has Tamarizia known peace—"