“Very well, Ghail!” And to Tony she said: “I think that even as a captive queen, though, I can amend my council’s orders to say that it will not be necessary to exterminate the djinns completely! I should think, in fact, that if they were suitably subdued, a few tame ones kept around the palace would be quite pleasant. They’d be excellent for the prestige of the throne of Barkut, too!”
Tony said painfully: “Majesty—”
“It’s really too bad you came to Barkut at all,” the Queen said, though with no unfriendliness. “Humans and djinns alike believe that if anybody can bring about a human victory, you can. So the humans won’t consent to a compromise until they’ve tried for conquest. And if they would, the djinns would be sure they knew they couldn’t win, and they wouldn’t compromise until they’d tried for conquest. It’s so silly! We really could get along without fighting, if we tried! I’ve been working on the djinn king. He was willing to come to a compromise, but—male vanity again!—only on condition that the Queen of Barkut married him. And that seemed to be out of the question.”
“It was out of the question!” snapped Ghail, her eyes angry.
“I was wearing him down,” protested the Queen. “After all, if he had his harem of djinnees, a private agreement that his marriage to a human queen would be a form and not a fact—”
“Absolutely out of the question!” repeated Ghail, her color high. “Absolutely!”
The Queen sighed.
“I know it is, my dear… and it’s too late now, anyhow. The Lord Toni has come. The humans think he’s going to lead them to victory. The djinns are sure that if he can’t, the war goes to them.” She looked at Tony, frowning. “Of course you’ve got to win, Lord Toni! Of course! Humans as the slaves of djinns would be in a terrible state! It would be like enslaved by apes or—children! And apes make nice pets—I had one once—and children are doubtless very well, but apes or children or djinns would be horrible masters! But the djinns are so amusing—”
“I’m getting a trifle confused,” admitted Tony.
The Queen nodded kindly.