Aside from that, however, there was little of the king about him since he was clad simply in a loose, white tunic, out of which his neck rose massive, below which his lower limbs showed corded with muscle and strong. Plainly Jadgor was talking state business with his brother-in-law at ease. As Croft gained the room he struck the table at which he sat with clenched fist. "Cathur must still guard the gateway with Aphur, Prince Lakkon!" he cried. "Let Zollaria plan. Cathur's mountains make her impregnable now as fifty years before. Had Mazhur been other than a low-lying country she would have never fallen victim to Zollaria's greed. But Cathur must be assured in her loyalty to the state." "Her loyalty?" Prince Lakkon exclaimed. "What does Aphur's king mean?" "What he says." Jadgor set his lips quite firmly. "Scythys is king--a dotard! Kyphallos is what--a fop--a voluptuary, as you know--as all Tamarizia knows. When he mounts the throne--as he doubtless will since there seems none to oppose him--what will Zollaria do? Cathur, since Mazhur was taken, stands alone--secure in her mountains, it is true, but alone, none the less. And Cathur guards the western gate to the inland sea. "Fifty years ago Zollaria meant to take Cathur as well, and she failed. The capture of Mazhur, save the territorial addition to her borders, gave her nothing at which she aimed. True, she has now a seaport at Niera, yet to what end? We hold the gate and the mouths to all rivers opening into the sea. Yet has Zollaria ceased to prate of a freedom of the seas? You know she has not. With Kyphallos on Cathur's throne, will she seek to gain by craft what was denied to her arms?" "But Kyphallos himself?" Lakkon objected as Jadgor paused. "Kyphallos!" The heavy shoulders of Aphur's monarch shrugged. "List ye Lakkon! Zollaria is strong. Cathur stands alone. Cathur guards the gate. Aphur could not hold it alone. Think you our foemen to the north have ceased of their ambition or to plan or prepare, while Tamarizia wounded by Mazhur's loss, has licked her wounds for fifty years--and what now? Tamhys--Zitu knows I mean no unjust criticism of a nobleman--is one who believes in peace. So, too, do I, if peace can be enjoyed without the sacrifice of the innate right of man to regulate his own ways of life. Yet were I on the throne at Zitra, do you think I would ignore the possible peril to the north? No! I would prepare to meet move by move should the occasion arise." "And your first step?" Lakkon asked. "To make sure of Cathur," Jadgor said. "How?" * * * * * Jadgor leaned toward his companion before he replied. "I would take a lesson from Zollaria herself. Lakkon, we have lived--each state too much in itself. Tamarizia is a loosely held collection of states, each ruled by what--a nominal king and a state assembly? And those assemblies in turn elect the central ruler--the emperor of the nation--to serve for ten Palosian cycles.