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knowledge--forbidden knowledge. He shivered inwardly, thinking not of the bumbling, crude Ulm--but of the Inquisition. He said, “There is no starship at Vara. There will be none until the Gloria in Coelis arrives from Aurora.”
    “Then let Ulm send the soldiers overland. I must have more men.”
    “Enough to take and hold this valley for yourself, warleader?” Emeric asked evenly. “You know that if there is sin in Trama, it is for the Order Militant to say what must be done about it.”
    Glamiss’s eyes were as cold as the glacier on the mountain. His words were both treasonous and blasphemous, but Emeric had no doubt whatever that he meant them. “Whatever there is here I will have, Emeric--if I must wade through blood to get it.”
    The Navigator’s voice was steady. “Even if the blood is mine, Glamiss?”
    The Vykan’s expression tightened and he said, “Even then, old friend,” and turned to climb the ridge once again.
     
     

Chapter Five
     
    The cosmography of the Second Stellar Empire is based, of course, on that of the First Empire. Confusion has arisen, however, due to the much greater size of the domain of the Rigellian Galactons, which needed to be divided into Marches, Provinces, Sectors, and finally the stellar systems with which we are familiar. In ancient times, for example, the Province of Vega contained at least a dozen star systems known as “Vega.” Local names were used by the natives, but the Imperial Cosmographic Institute listed these systems as Vega A, B, C, and so on. (These classifications should not be confused with the “Alpha,” “Beta,” etc., used to differentiate between stars of multiple systems.) Confusion has been compounded by the Second Empire practice of renaming certain star systems, corrupting the old names of others, and retaining the Golden Age names of still others. Thus modern Vega and Vyka lie within the ancient Province of Vega but are separate and distinct star systems seven parsecs apart. This, in spite of the fact that “Vyka” is nothing more nor less than an Inter-regnal corruption of the name “Vega.” Cosmographers tell us that present-day Vega and modern Vyka were, in ancient times, Vega B and Vega C, respectively.
    --Star Commander Kendo alt Styglyz, First Principles of Cosmogation,
Late Second Stellar Empire period
     
    It is told in the dark forests that the evil princes of Cyb and Sin who plotted against the god-men of the Golden Age had the power to light the suns and strike terror into the hearts of all men. This they did for joy of wickedness, and their wickedness grew apace and they grew over-proud and they enlarged their wickedness until the very stars were consumed and the Dark Time was upon all the worlds of the Great Sky.
    --From The Book of Warls, Interregnal period
     
    Shana Lar faced her father with tear-stained cheeks. The talon mark on her upper arm had stopped leaking blood and subsided to an ugly brownish smear. She tugged nervously at her straight-combed hair and covered her small, naked breasts courteously as she waited on her knees for the head of the household to come to a decision about the thing the eagles had seen.
    Shevil, gray and weathered, old at forty seasons, tugged half-heartedly at the ritual seams in his weyr skin vest, and prayed to the Star for guidance. Behind him, arranged in a council semicircle, squatted the six elders of the valley. Shevil was aware that the youngest, Tamil Hind, was being distracted from his deliberations by the sight of Shana’s sweaty skin and scratched, but shapely thighs. With one portion of his mind Shevil concentrated on the momentous decision the folk expected of the elders, and with another--that part that devoted itself to the business of being the father of four daughters and no sons--pondered the possibility of marrying Shana to Tamil, who owned a substantial number of the weyr in the high pastures.
    Actually, Shevil was angry with Shana: angry but relieved that she had