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scrutator.
    'Due
process —’ began Halie.
    Ghorr
stood up, and he was a huge, dominating man. 'We've lost a third of our finest
army. We may yet lose the war because of it. Flydd led them to disaster and now
you call on the evil of democracy to let him off!' He spat the word out as if
it were heresy, which it was.
    'That
is the prescribed process, Chief Scrutator!' said Halie. 'Would you care to
retire for a few minutes to prepare your case?'
    'With
the greatest pleasure,' said Ghorr, back in control. He strode out, robes
flapping.
    The
other scrutators gathered at the corner of the tent, talking in low voices.
Jal-Nish remained where he was. Flydd moved his chair so he could see the
acting scrutator. 'Nice day for it,' he said conversationally.
    Jal-Nish
shifted in his seat, as venomous and deadly as a nylatl. 'I'll be dancing on
your flayed corpse by sundown.'
    Flydd
felt the touch of fear and was careful not to look into Jal-Nish's eye — it was
the one contest he could not win. The man was determined to destroy him, whatever
the cost. He could not afford to show his disquiet — not the least trace.
Summoning all his strength, Flydd yawned in Jal-Nish's face. 'And you want to
replace me, of course.'
    'I'll
have your place on the Council and crush the lyrinx too.'
    'Really?'
said Flydd, without bothering to correct him. 'What next? Abolish famine,
pestilence, death?'
    'You
won't be sneering when the torturers have their disembowelling hooks in you.'
Jal-Nish stormed out.
    I've
got to him, Flydd thought. Impossible to resist, but was it wise?
    After
half an hour, Ghorr came through the flap of the tent, accompanied by Jal-Nish
and three people in robes. The first was a thin-faced, sallow fellow, the
second a grey-haired woman wearing shoulder pads that squared off her stout
figure; the last was a sawn-off, good-looking man with regular features,
brilliant blue eyes and a leonine head of brown hair, swept back in waves. He
had the rolling gait of a sailor and was only half a span tall. Flydd knew him
— Klarm, the dwarf scrutator, an honest man, as scrutators went, but as
ruthless as any.
    Klarm
nodded cheerfully to Flydd, who waved back. The other two newcomers, mancers
both, did not acknowledge him. Jal-Nish resumed his seat.
    'I
present my witnesses,' said Ghorr. 'Mancer Vydale and Mancer Lubis.'
    The
sallow-faced man bowed formally, as did the stout woman.
    'You
all know Klarm, of course,' Ghorr went on. There were a few nods around the
table. 'Vydale and Lubis, you designed the device that was given to Scrutator
Flydd in Nennifer, did you not?'
    'We
did,' said Vydale.
    'Each
must answer the question, if you please,' said Halie.
    'We
did,' said Mancer Lubis.
    'And
you supervised the team of artisans who built it?' said Ghorr.
    They
both affirmed that they had.
    'Was
the device tested?' asked Ghorr.
    'It
was,' each said in turn.
    Flydd
sat up, surprised, though he should not have been. The scrutators were
notoriously thorough.
    Ghorr
smiled thinly. 'Who supervised the testing?'
    'I
did!' said Scrutator Klarm.
    'How
was the device tested?' Flydd asked. 'With an operating node-drainer?'
    'How
else could it be tested?' said Klarm. 'We rotored to a node in the mountains
that had gone dead, located the enemy's node-drainer and fitted the device to
it. After some adjustment by the artisans, the node-drainer collapsed and
failed.'
    Flydd
felt his last hope die. 'What about the node?'
    'Its
field returned to normal the following day.'
    Flydd
knew that Klarm was telling the truth, and there was no doubt that he would
have done his work competently. Flydd's counterattack had been destroyed.
    'Mancers
Vydale and Lubis,' he said, 'can you confirm what Klarm has told us?'
    They
averred that they could.
    'Any
further questions, Flydd?' said Ghorr.
    Flydd
had none, for he believed them too. Nonetheless, the breaker had been tampered
with. But how, and by whom?
    'Only
one. When I began to use the device, it became clear that it was