Eud-Ecachlon's air certainly did not much resemble the conventional notion of a man in love. As Maia came up to him in the garden he smiled and took her hands; yet there was nothing particularly happy or eager in his manner, which seemed, indeed, abstracted; nor did he compliment her on her appearance or her dress. She knew him, of course, for an impassive man, not readily stirred- and anyway, she thought, 'twasn't as though she was going to say anything likely to make him start turning cartwheels. Yet all the same it nettled her-it affronted her sense of what was fitting-that he should to all appearances be so little on tenterhooks for her answer. She had left Sednil in tears, poor lad. From the look of things, she didn't reckon there were going to be many more shed round here.
Well, that'd certainly make it easier; but all the same it annoyed her.
He drank down his first goblet almost at once, like a man who needed it. She smiled, making a little pantomime of looking in and finding it empty. As she picked up the wine-jug to re-fill it, he asked her "Have you got any djebbah, Maia?"
"Djebbah? Yes, of course, if you want it. I'll call Ogma."
He drained his first tot of djebbah, too; and then sat down, looking rather more relaxed.
"I'm afraid you must have had a bit of a bad old morning, Euda. Everything all right?"
"Anything but, Maia; though I wouldn't say it to anyone except you."
"You mean the Council didn't go well?"
"How could it? The news is about as bad as it could well be."
"Why, what's wrong with the news, then?" asked Maia rather carelessly, as though the news were some sort of dish which Eud-Ecachlon had found not altogether to his liking.
He paused, seeming embarrassed, leaning forward as he tossed a handful of serrardoes one by one to a duck which had wandered up from the lakeside.
"Elvair-ka-Virrion," he said at length. "He's a friend of yours, isn't he?"
"Well, he's always been very nice to me. Yes, I'd say he
"What would you say if I told you he was a coward?"
"Well, if you really want to know, Euda, I dunno as I'd be so very much bothered. Men are always going on about fighting and cowards and victory and courage and-oh, all that stuff. Elvair's got nice manners and a kind heart-I know that much. Why;
"Well, it certainly looks that way, I'm afraid. And you may find that you've
She could have hit him. "Well, my lord, seeing as you don't seem to have anything better to talk about, p'raps you'd better tell me."
But even this, to all appearances, went over his head. "Well, the news from Yelda is very bad. In fact, they're not going to give it out in the lower city at all. It seems that Elvair-ka-Virrion, after entirely failing to come to any
sort of grips with Erketlis in Chalcon, decided to fall back on Ikat Yeldashay for supplies and a general re-fit. He thought-and I think Kembri thought, too, though he hasn't said so-that once he was clear out of Chalcon, Erketlis would leave it at that and go home. But he didn't."
"Oh, didn't he?" asked Maia politely, since it seemed to be expected of her.
"No. He must be a very remarkable leader, that man," said Eud-Ecachlon. "He kept almost all his army together-apparently only a few went home-and made a forced march-something like fifty miles-through absolutely desperate country in less than two days. They got across the Thettit-Ikat road south of Elvair-ka-Virrion, so that he had to attack them."
"But I thought that was what Elvair wanted all along?" asked Maia.
"Well, so did he, but by that time his men were in pretty poor heart. Anyhow, the long and short of it is that he was beaten." He hesitated, and then went on, "But according to the officer who brought the news, he needn't have been. This man-Gel-Ethlin, his name is-made his report at the meeting this morning. He was so angry and upset that he couldn't contain himself-couldn't stick to what he'd been told to say. He couldn't even hold himself in on account of Kembri being there."
"Why, what did he say, then?" asked Maia.
"Well, what it amounted to was that Elvair-ka-Virrion had made a complete mess of the whole battle. Gel-Ethlin said he gave no leadership at all and-well, more or less ran away, as far as I can make out. And then he broke off the action, even though his captains wanted to go on. Gel-Ethlin said to Kembri, 'I'm very sorry, my lord, to have to report this, and believe me I wouldn't say it if I didn't feel I had to. If one word of it's proved a lie, you can hang me in the Caravan Market.'"
Even Maia was startled by this. "What did Kembri say?"
