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Coercer before being deposed by Gomnol. Now that the latter was dead and his post vacant, the Host would put Imidol forward as a presidential candidate. The Peace Faction urged Leyr to challenge young Imidol in order to keep the Coercer Guild from Host control. Leyr was much older, but it was known that Imidol was weaker than Gomnol, so there seemed a slim chance that Leyr might win. The other banished Tanu present at the secret meeting was Minanonn the Heretic. Five hundred years before, he had been Battlemaster. But his pacifistic temperament was antithetical to the barbaric Tanu battle-religion, and he had been forced into exile deep in the Pyrenees. The Peace Faction hoped that, in the event Aiken defeated Nodonn, Minanonn would fight against Kuhal Earthshaker for the presidency of the Psychokinetic Guild- However, Minanonn refused to compromise his principles. Leyr did agree to go up against Imidol.
    Later that same night, on a mountain above Muriah, Elizabeth and her great hot-air balloon awaited the arrival ofCrcyn. He was to bring Stein and Sukey to her and the balloon would carry all three to safety. Bul when the Tanu redactor arrived, he brought not two people but three. Curled up unconscious in the carriage was Felice. Creyn had found her in a cell next to the others, near death after torture by Culluket. Felice, like Stein, now wore a gray torc- But Sukey had been given a pair of iron shears to remove the devices once they were safely off the ground. There was only one problem: The balloon gondola carried only three. Elizabeth was despairing and furious. Both Brcde and Dionket had pleaded with her to remain with them, doing important work that only a Grand Master metapsychic such as herself was capable of. But Elizabeth did not want the responsibility, especially if it meant that the Host would never relent in trying to kill her. Faced with the wretched Felice, Stein, and Sukey, she felt caught in the Shipspouse's web.
    Finally, Elizabeth sent the three freed prisoners away in her balloon. Then she returned to Brede's room without doors and withdrew into a fiery mental cocoon that isolated her from all other minds.
    The First Day of the Combat began.
    It was a day of bloodless sporting events and ceremony. Mercy came to watch the thrilling contests with Bryan, who was literally dying for love of her. Then she left him in order to challenge old Aiuteyn Craftsmaster for the presidency of the Creator Guild.
    At the same time, the balloon carrying Felice, Stein, and Sukey drifted westward and landed alongside the Long Fjord east of Ml. Alboran. Felice recovered her senses, and more. In his tortures, Culluket had unwittingly duplicated a drastic mind-altering technique that Elizabeth had used on Brede to raise her to operancy; now Felice had gone operant, too. She no longer needed a torc in order to exercise her metapsychic powers; and these powers, at least the destructive aspects of psychokinesis and creativity, were greater than those of any other person in the world.
    Felice was finally in a position to take revenge on the Tanu. Her plan was to blast open the Gibraltar Isthmus with psychoenergy, letting the Atlantic flood the empty Mediterranean Basin- The battleground of the White Silver Plain below Muriah was well below sea level. It did not bother Felice that thousands of Firvulag and humans would also drown in the cataclysm. She did not trust the Firvulag protestations of friendship (neither had Madame Guderian), and most of the humans in Muriah were creatures of the Tanu. In order to implement her plan, Felice required Stein's help- As an ex-driller of the Earth's crust, he had the technical knowledge to instruct her where to blast. At first. Stein refused to consider Felice's terrible scheme. He had no grudge against the Tanu, none, that is, worth such a hideous retribution.
    At that point, Felice triumphantly told Stein that King Thagdal was responsible for Sukey's miscarriage, the guilt for which Stein had