Medalon by Jennifer Fallon Page A

defences on our northern border,” Jenga told her, privately delighted at her reaction to his first request. “Or, to be more accurate, I would like to implement a defence of our northern border.”
    Mahina leaned back in her seat. “Our northern border is protected by the treaty with the Kariens, my Lord. It has been for nearly two hundred years. What need for defences in the north, when the money could be better spent elsewhere?”
    Jenga glanced at Garet and nodded. This was his area of expertise. “We don’t believe the Karien treaty is as mutually beneficial as they would have us believe,” Garet said carefully.
    “I’ve just signed a treaty with them, assuring our protection for another twenty years,” Mahina pointed out. “Are you suggesting the Kariens are not planning to honour that treaty?”
    “Your Grace, I think we need to consider the history behind the treaty,” Garet replied, “…what brought it about in the first place.”
    “I know the history of Medalon,” Mahina reminded the Commandant. “I was Mistress of Enlightenment for quite some time, young man.”
    “I’m aware of that, your Grace, but I would ask that you hear me out.” Mahina nodded and indicated that the Commandant should continue. “You need to understand the situation in Medalon at the time of the abortive Karien invasion, two hundred years ago.In those days the Sisterhood, although growing fast, was not yet a power to be reckoned with. Medalon was little more than a loose collection of towns and villages, most of which followed the pagan gods of the Harshini. The Sisterhood had evicted the Harshini and taken over the Citadel, but that was as much a sign of the Harshini aversion to confrontation, as it was to the strength of the Sisters of the Blade. Medalon had no military power to speak of.”
    “None of this is news to me, Commandant,” Mahina told him.
    “Bear with me, your Grace,” Garet asked. “As I said, Medalon, as a nation, was nothing. They had no army. They had nothing that could be construed as a threat to Karien.”
    “But they planned to invade us, none the less,” Mahina said.
    “Actually, I doubt if they cared about Medalon much at all,” Tarja added. “The Kariens were on their way south, to Hythria and Fardohnya. Wiping out the Harshini along the way was only part of their plan. They wanted the whole continent, from the Northern Reaches to the Dregian Ocean.”
    “But they failed,” Mahina pointed out, obviously enjoying the debate. “They were turned back at our borders by a storm.”
    “They weren’t just turned back,” Garet said. “They were decimated. Incidentally, the heathens believe that Lorandranek called down that storm by magic and it was he who saved Medalon. But whether it was divine intervention or sheer good fortune, the end result was devastating for the Kariens. They had taken years to amass their invasionforce and King Oscyr of Karien had beggared the nation to do it. The failure of that invasion cost him the support of his dukes and eventually caused the downfall of his whole house. But more significantly, it cost him the support of the Church of Xaphista. He was excommunicated and died in shame less than two years later. His half-sister’s son inherited the throne and it is from her children that the current royal house is descended.”
    “Commandant, I admire your grasp of history, but is there a point to all this?”
    “Yes, your Grace,” Garet nodded. “The point is, that when the treaty was first negotiated between Karien and Medalon, the Kariens were an impoverished nation, ruled by a fourteen-year-old boy. The Sisters of the Blade controlled the Citadel and a few villages surrounding it. Neither party to the treaty was in a position of strength, but both gained from it. Medalon earnt a measure of security—with the treaty in place they need not fear for their northern border and could turn their attention to protecting their southern borders. Karien gained