The Fireseed Wars

"Very good, Neamenestros. You have sketched out our present dilemma. As long as we have the Grand Host under our command, we must use it wisely and decisively. Otherwise, it will be the Temple which is in dire peril. My plan is to split the Grand Host into two armies: one army to chase Kalvan wherever he may go, the other to invade Hos-Agrys and capture King Demistophon in Agrys City."

"That is a most ambitious plan," Archpriest Grythos said, pausing to light his pipe. "Even without the Harphaxi Army, or whomever we send into Hos-Agrys, there will still be nearly one hundred thousand soldiers to chase the Hostigi. Several times what the Usurper Kalvan's ragtag force can muster."

"True," Anaxthenes replied. "However, we have to be careful which army we send into Hos-Agrys. If we use the Harphaxi Army, Great King Lysandros will see it as a means to extend his hegemony deep into Agrysi territory. This would not bode well; we do not want to vanquish a weak king, only to raise a strong neighbor-one whose loyalty, I fear, is more to the Iron Throne than to Styphon's House."

"Verily, Your Eminence," Archpriest Grythos responded. "Lysandros will be Styphon's Sword, only for so long as it is to his advantage. It would be far better to place him in charge of the Grand Host than to give him the opportunity to annex large portions of the Kingdom of Hos-Agrys-in our name!"

"I thought Lysandros, of all the Great Kings, was our one trustworthy ally," Archpriest Neamenestros declared.

Archpriest Grythos looked into Anaxthenes' eyes and raised his eyebrows. Anaxthenes nodded.

"On the surface that may be true," Grythos said. "However, while I was in Harphax City last year, I had an audience with Great King Lysandros and was able to take my measure of the man. I also interrogated a number of his advisors and subordinates as well as some of his opponents. He is a very ambitious king. It is clear that most of his subjects in the Harphaxi capital believe that Lysandros arranged his brother's death. No one who knows him believes otherwise."

Everyone around the table nodded.

"By doing so, Lysandros did Styphon's House a big favor. May Styphon bless the old fool, Kaiphranos," Archpriest Zemnos pronounced. "If Lysandros hadn't poisoned him, we might have his blood on our robes."

"That is quite possible," Grythos conceded. "However, Lysandros did not commit regicide for Styphon's House, but for his own unquenchable ambition. King Lysandros uses our gold and our support, but only for those things that concern him. True, we have had common purpose in the war against the Usurper Kalvan, but one day our paths will diverge-at that moment, Lysandros will think no more of tearing down one of our temples than one of Kalvan's tarrs!"

"You marshal your facts well," Zemnos replied. "I would not have wanted to meet you on the battlefield! Maybe we should retire Lysandros from the field and put you in his place."

All the Archpriests laughed. Anaxthenes, too, as he knew there was little gold in winning battles and much profit in being an Archpriest of the Inner Circle.

Archpriest Grythos took a moment to re-light his pipe while everyone was laughing. When the room was quiet once more, he continued. "Lysandros will continue to be our paladin for as long as he needs us and our gold. So it should be our goal to make sure that his current pecuniary state is prolonged. This will not be difficult. Even if Lysandros were seated on the Iron Throne in Harphax City today, it would take him many winters to rebuild his reconquered princedoms. It will take even longer to raise enough taxes to replenish his treasury without wholesale rebellion. He is not loved by his Harphaxi subjects, and hated by many. Now, mired in the False Kingdom of Hos-Hostigos chasing the Usurper Kalvan, it will take him even longer to rebuild Hos-Harphax.

"Furthermore, Lysandros' princes and barons have grown independent of the Iron Throne since their former ruler King Kaiphranos kept a very light hand on the reins of power in Hos-Harphax-how else could some interloper such as this upstart Kalvan come out of nowhere and forge a great kingdom that took all of Styphon's might to break? Thus, it is up to us to ensure that Lysandros does not return to Harphax City and the Iron Throne until Kalvan is vanquished and Hos-Agrys and Hos-Zygros are under our fists. If Lysandros survives the war against Kalvan, he will return a much poorer king than when he left."

"A very good analysis, Archpriest Grythos," Anaxthenes concurred. He and Grythos had been discussing Styphon's dilemma for a moon and it was pleasing to see that the Archpriest's rhetoric had been well presented and received. "To ensure that Lysandros' troubles continue, even upon his return to Harphax City, we shall support other claimants to the Iron Throne, including his nephew Duke Selestros-the debauchee who sold the Iron Thome to his uncle-and any other pretenders and upstart princes."