"_Guards!_" Obar pried himself up. "_Guards!_ Arrest these maniacs!"
Feet clumped outside, then turned into the chamber. Sam relaxed,
unaware that he had been holding his breath, knowing that his plans
were going through after all. The men who came in were the same who had
escorted them from the city, Kahl's own private guards.
The captain turned to Kahl and bowed low. "You called, Your Most
Graciousness?"
"Yes. Take this blithering idiot away."
The captain bowed again, and gestured. Two of his men grabbed the
former king by the arms and carried him away, screaming.
"Ho, southerner!" Kahl sat down on his father's couch and gestured. The
manservants had been cowering in the background; they came forward now
and touched their foreheads to the ground. Kahl took a fruit and bit
into it, letting the juice trickle down his chin.
"It worked," said Kahl, swallowing. "By the Sun God, it worked!" He
slapped his knee. "I confess, southerner, when first I heard your
plans, I thought you daft indeed. But it worked! I'm king!"
"I felt certain it would," said Sam, carefully omitting the title
of respect. It passed unnoticed. More sure of himself, he continued,
"After all, the idea was inherent in the very structure and strictures
of your government. Your divine position comes from the Sun God. He
should be able to remove it as easily as he grants it."
"True," said Kahl. "Howsomever, there shall be some changes made in
that respect, once I have consolidated my position. Oh, I delude myself
not in thinking that the battle is over, my friend. But the hardest
part has been won."
"I've been thinking," said Sam, slowly.
"Well, keep it not to yourself!" said Kahl. "If any more of your ideas
prove as useful to me as the last, then you have a glorious future
indeed."
"My thoughts are, I'm afraid, roaming rather far afield. But take them
for what they might be worth. You are king of this nation now, Kahl;
and a very able king you shall be. Why limit the benefits of your rule
to this one nation? Why not let the rest of the world know the joys of
your rule?"
"Ummm?" He squinted, one eye closed. "You think it might work out?"
"Why not?" _And the Sun God help us all!_ he added to himself.