Door: an archway of what appears to be steel, set on a plinth
of what appears to be marble. When activated by a star-globe, the
Door fills with a humming silver screen. Each such Door typically
forms part of a Circle, the separate parts of which can be
continents apart. To physically interfere with such a screen is,
in effect, to open a one-way valve to the next Door of the Circle.
To step through such a valve is to find oneself Elsewhere.

                                                 * * *

        With Sod having followed Guest Gulkan through the Door, and
with Ulix of the Drum having closed down that Door, Lord Onosh
took personal possession of the Door's controlling star-globe.
Setting aside all questions of the fate of the Weaponmaster and
the potential of the Door, he then set about consolidating his
conquest.
        At the command of the demon of Safrak, the Guardians had
sworn themselves to Guest Gulkan's service. By isolating the
demon, setting guards to prevent anyone from entering the Hall of
Time, Lord Onosh ensured that the demon of Safrak did not give
anyone leave to retract such an oath of fealty. By blurring the
question of Guest's whereabouts - initially the world was led to
believe that both Guest and Sod were still in residence in the
heights of the mainrock - Lord Onosh neatly circumvented the
possibility of any legalistic nitpicker pointing out that an oath
to the Weaponmaster did not compel loyalty to the Witchlord.
        Having thus temporarily shored up his position, Lord Onosh
swiftly moved to reorganize the Guardians, combining his own men
into that force, extracting personal oaths of loyalty from all and
sundry, and diluting the old blood with new recruits.
        In all of this, the Witchlord was advised by the dralkosh Bao
Gahai, and, to a lesser extent, by the wizards Pelagius Zozimus
and Hostaja Sken-Pitilkin.
        So it was that Lord Onosh came to the Swelaway Sea in the
winter of the year Alliance 4307, and, through a combination of
courage, luck and studied brutality, made himself the undisputed
lord of Alozay.
        Notwithstanding all the reversals of the past, the Witchlord
Onosh still claimed himself ruler of the Collosnon Empire. He
hoped to use the islands of Safrak as a base from which to recover
his empire. So he labored mightily to secure his power base, soon
reaching out from Alozay to bring all the Safrak Islands under his
sway.
        recognizing that the greater number of his potential subjects
spoke Toxteth, Lord Onosh set himself to master that tongue.
Having mastered Alozay by the sword, he brought the lesser islands
to heel by threat of violence, then chose sound-tempered Guardians
to hold each of these islands in fief. Meanwhile, he despatched
ambassadors and a trade delegation to the free city of Port Domax.
        Since no army makes its passage through any land without
leaving wreckage and complaint in its wake, Lord Onosh sent other
representatives to the west, to meet all claims consequent upon
his armed withdrawal to the shores of the Swelaway Sea. In the
west, his agents dispensed much good gold to settle claims for
murder, and rape, and arson, and looting, and pillaging, and
poaching, and blasphemy, and the desecration of temples, and horse
rustling - all of which claims were well-founded, for the Yarglat
are not gentle in either victory or defeat.
        Furthermore, all those to north, south, east and west were
invited to prove out any claims they might have against the Safrak
Bank, since Lord Onosh recognized that he was now a Banker and
must look to banking for his cash flow. In this spirit, he
undertook to guarantee the safety of all trade through the
Swelaway Sea, and confirmed Safrak's schedule of fixed and
moderate charges for pilotage, provisioning, dock facilities and
armed protection.
        All in all, Lord Onosh conducted himself as a model ruler,
which proved decidedly expensive in the short term. There were,
for example, a full twenty merchants from Port Domax who had
managed to get themselves killed during the Witchlord's armed
seizure of the mainrock Pinnacle and the associated city of
Molothair, and in the fullness of time Lord Onosh paid full and
generous compensation to the widows of each.
        In such many and varied acts of mercy, peace, justice and
generosity, the Witchlord Onosh expended the last of the treasure
brought with him from Gendormargensis, which left him bitterly
impoverished, though his wizards assured him he would recoup his
losses a dozen times over in the years ahead.
        "Recoup, recoup!" said Lord Onosh furiously. "I was born to
loot, not to recoup!"
        Justice, mercy, peace and generosity had not come naturally
to the Witchlord Onosh, and each dispensing of gold had cost him
dearly, as if he was paying his many creditors in lumps of flesh
torn hot and bleeding from his protesting bones.
        "We know your propensities, for you have told us of them
often, my lord," said Pelagius Zozimus calmly. "But, believe me,
recouping is the greatest looting of them all."
        "If I'd been not so weak in my defeat," said Lord Onosh,
bitterly regretting the delicacy of his position on Alozay, the
smallness of the forces at his disposal and the greatness of his
enemies, "you'd never have forced me to this folly."
        "Forced!" said Zozimus, looking at Sken-Pitilkin. "Did we do
any forcing?"
        "I would count it impossible," said Sken-Pitilkin, "for it is
well known that the weakest of the Yarglat warlords is a match for
any ten wizards in the world, and the great Lord Onosh is not a
weak warlord but one mighty in the courage of his sword."
        Yet the truth of the matter is that Sken-Pitilkin and Zozimus
- acting in concert with Bao Gahai - had indeed forced the
Witchlord Onosh to follow a path of reason, moderation, compromise
and diplomacy, encouraging him to secure the peace of his own
domains and appease his neighbors before making his next move.
        The Witchlord's obvious, necessary and unavoidable next move
was to open the Door in the uppermost chamber of the mainrock
Pinnacle, the Door which was still a tightly-guarded secret known
to only a chosen few. With that Door reopened, Lord Onosh could
then negotiate with the Banks of the Circle. Nightly the Witchlord
sat in conference with Ulix of the Drum, who told him much of that
Circle. Only from that Circle could Lord Onosh draw the power he
needed to overthrow the invader Khmar and reclaim his empire. Only
the Banks of the Circle could provide him with the warriors he
needed, warriors in their thousands, and weapons, and horses, and
all necessary gear of war.
        "Including, one hopes," said the sagacious Sken-Pitilkin,
when appraised of the Witchlord's plans for war, "a good supply of
cushions and collapsible armchairs."
        Yet if Sken-Pitilkin spoke lightly of the Witchlord's plans
for conquest - he cared not a whit who ruled in Gendormargensis,
and would happily have traded all the lands of Tameran for a pair
of sheepskin slippers and a baked onion - Lord Onosh was in deadly
earnest.
        In the earnestness of his intent, the Witchlord took care to
neutralize all his potential enemies. The greatest of these was
surely the demon Iva-Italis. For that uncannily intelligent block
of jade-green stone commanded the only stairway leading to the
highest chamber of the mainrock Pinnacle, and had proved its
ability to enforce its rule of those stairs by eating men at whim.
        Lord Onosh did not trust the demon-thing, and, with his
wizards supporting him in his distrust, the Witchlord had his
carpenters build him an outer stairway. This outwork climbed from
the floor below the Hall of Time to the floor above, thus allowing
one to bypass the demon. Thereafter, the Hall of Time was
forbidden to all, and even the Witchlord and his wizards never
went there, for after long conference they were mutually agreed
that the demon should be shunned, and that all people of all rank
should be kept well away from it lest it suborn the weak-willed in
conspiracy.
        So it was done.
        As for the secret of the Door, it was agreed that this secret
should continue to be held in the smallest circle possible. So men
of rank such as Thodric Jarl got a tour of the uppermost room in
the mainrock Pinnacle, and were there shown the metal arch and the
marble plinth, and were told that it was a mystery -
        "Most probably," said Zozimus gravely, giving the standard
lecture which he gave to all and sundry when he conducted these
tours, "a secret shrine sacred to a great god, but what god we
cannot tell, and will probably never know."
        Thus Thodric Jarl and others saw the greatest secret of the
Bank, and, finding nothing there of any note, thereafter forgot
about it; whereas, had the room been banned to them, they would
doubtless have been afire with curiosity about it for the rest of
their lives.
        Now since the Witchlord was dynamic in his execution of his
policies, and since he was well supported by men of talent, and by
the womanly talents of the witches Bao Gahai and Zelafona, and by
a wizard mighty in wisdom, and by a slug-chef, and by a dwarf, and
by Ulix of the Drum as well, all these things were accomplished
with surpassing rapidity, and news of the accomplishments spread
equally as quickly.
        When all is said and done, the Swelaway Sea is but an
overgrown lake, and a ship at a speed of fifty leagues a day can
reach from its central islands to its shores in a matter of four
to six days. If one buys a rotten boat from the villainous
villagers of Ink, or if one is forced to interpolate an airship
adventure into one's travels, then such a journey has the makings
of an unfortunate epic; but, as in all things, concerted
professional organization reduces epic potential to routine.
        And though it had been woefully difficult for Lord Onosh and
his army to make the march to the Swelaway Sea, when they knew not
quite where they were going, and had no conception of what paths
or roads they should be looking for, and were poorly clad, ill-
shod, short-rationed and grotesquely overloaded with treasure,
overland journeys in all directions were a thing of ease to
organize from Alozay.
        For, after all, Alozay was in business as a Bank, and a
trading bank at that; and hence the Guardians of Safrak were
veteran travelers able to bodyguard and guide the innocent and
the ignorant alike over any piece of country between Port Domax
and Gendormargensis.
        Hence Lord Onosh was able to economically accomplish his
tasks, without lavishing generations on their achievement; and
some news of his accomplishments spread with a similarly
economical rapidity.
        In particular, news of the raw and unadorned fact of the
Witchlord's conquest of Alozay soon reached the Collosnon Empire,
for some Guardians had escaped toward that Empire with news of the
Witchlord's triumph. Those Guardians had thought that they would
be well-rewarded for bringing that news to his enemies - and in
this they were right.
        The Guardians who carried that first raw news of conquest
fled from Alozay to Ink; then dared down the Pig, riding the speed
of the dog-drawn sledge, which is ever the favored transport of
those few fur-merchants and such who trade the continental
winter; then, believing Khmar to be still in Locontareth,
expressed their sledges in that direction, and were favored by
the confirmation of their belief.
        Thus it was that Khmar learnt early of the Witchlord's
success, and set in train the actions necessary to neutralize his
enemies.
        The winter of the year Alliance 4307 came to an end; and in
the spring, emissaries from the Yarglat barbarian Khmar came to
parley with the Witchlord Onosh. Khmar's embassy was led by one
Lord Alagrace, who had been in Gendormargensis when Khmar invaded,
and had chosen to give his loyalty to that invader. Lord Alagrace
and his fellows presented the Witchlord with an offer from Khmar.
The usurper Khmar would grant Lord Onosh a peace if the Witchlord
would order all parts of his empire to surrender to Khmar.
        For it happened that some parts of the empire had yet to
surrender to Khmar; and Khmar, who was great in ambition, wanted
to consolidate his rule without further bloodshed. For Khmar
wanted to save his soldiers for the great invasions and conquests
which he planned to make in the future.
        Lord Onosh was initially reluctant to agree to Khmar's
demands.
        "This implies," said Lord Onosh coldly, "that I am to
surrender my empire to Khmar."
        "As I see it," said Lord Alagrace, who was possessed of
uncommon wisdom, even though he was a mere man, and no wizard, and
had no especial command of the irregular verbs, "you do not have
an empire to surrender. You have merely some poor and
unsupportable claims to an empire. All Khmar asks you to do is to
give up those claims."
        "The claims and the empire are one," said the Witchlord
stoutly.
        The sagacious Sken-Pitilkin, who had the privilege of
following this dialog, doubted that this claim was tenable in
logic. But Lord Alagrace was too wise to argue with the barbarous
Witchlord on the grounds of logical consistence.
        Instead, the mighty Lord Alagrace, Khmar's calm and
intelligent ambassador, explained to the Witchlord that some of
Khmar's men had dared to Ibsen-Iktus in winter. They had struck,
had conquered, had imprisoned - and now held as prisoners both the
Witchlord's son Eljuk Zala and the wizard Ontario Nol.
        Now it was proved of a certainty that Eljuk was a prisoner,
for Eljuk himself had written a letter confirming this, and had
written that letter in foreign verbs of such pronounced
irregularity that they were known to only two people on the entire
continent of Tameran, those two being Eljuk himself and his former
tutor Sken-Pitilkin. Furthermore, Ontario Nol had drafted a
collaborative letter in the High Speech of wizards; and both these
letters were beyond the power of Khmar to fake.
        Then Lord Onosh was sorely oppressed.
        For Khmar held his son as a prisoner, and -
        If one's son be placed in the scales and weighed against an
empire, then it will invariably be found that the empire is
heavier. However, the Witchlord Onosh had personally seen the
mountains of Ibsen-Iktus, and believed those heights to be surely
impassable by winter. Khmar, by exercise of invincible will, had
successfully commanded men into those mountains in the coldest of
seasons. Driven by Khmar's will, those men had subdued a wizard,
and had tamed him to accept his chains.
        It was Khmar's defeat of the abbot of Qonsajara, rather than
any over-tender concern for his son, which at last made Lord Onosh
despair of defeating his enemy. In the short term, he lacked the
strength to wrest the Collosnon Empire from Khmar's grasp. And,
though future dealings with the Circle of the Banks might increase
the Witchlord's strength, he might not be permitted time for such
dealings - for the Khmar who could successfully organize the
storming of the heights of Ibsen-Iktus could surely break the
strength of a mere pin-spike like Alozay, and break it ten times
over between breakfast and lunch.
        "What are your terms?" said Lord Onosh to Lord Alagrace.
        Alagrace stated Khmar's terms simply.
        Khmar would surrender up both Eljuk and Ontario Nol in
exchange for the Witchlord's surrender of all claims to the
Collosnon Empire.
        "And," said Lord Alagrace, who was not yet finished. "And - "
        Here he hesitated.
        "And what?" said Lord Onosh sarcastically. "My head,
perhaps?"
        "No, my lord," said Lord Alagrace. "The only other thing
which Khmar requires is the services of Thodric Jarl."
        "Well!" said Lord Onosh. "He's out of luck! For Jarl is a
free man! Were Jarl a slave, I could sell him or trade him, but it
is an oath of fealty which binds us. Undo such an oath, and I undo
my every claim to be fit for the rule of an empire."
        "Jarl is a free man, as you say," said Lord Alagrace, "and
Khmar does not seek him as a slave. Let us summon Jarl, and see
what he says in his freedom, and it may be that he thinks alike
with Khmar."
        Lord Onosh thought this unlikely, but nevertheless had Jarl
brought before them - and was somewhat distressed by the outcome.
For the Rovac warrior did not hesitate. On hearing that Khmar
wanted him, the gray-bearded Jarl decided without hesitation that
he would gladly return to the Collosnon Empire to fight for Khmar
in Khmar's wars. Here we remember that Jarl, despite the gray of
his beard, was aged but 26, and hence far too young to contemplate
with equanimity the prospect of a lifetime's retirement on Alozay.
        But, on interrogating Jarl, Lord Onosh discovered that the
Rovac warrior's chief concern was the woman Yerzerdayla, who was
still resident in Gendormargensis. Offended to find his chiefest
general deserting him for a woman's favors, Lord Onosh then
arranged, by covert treaty, for Alagrace to arrange for
Yerzerdayla to be covertly conveyed to Alozay, and for Thodric
Jarl to be told that she had died.
        "I have another Rovac warrior if you would like him," said
Lord Onosh. "One Rolf Thelemite by name. Do you want him?"
        "No thank you my lord," said Alagrace. "His name came up in
conference, and Khmar said you could keep him."
        "But he is a mighty warrior," said Lord Onosh, endeavoring
to be persuasive. "So mighty in valor that I trusted him to be
the bodyguard to my best-loved son, Guest Gulkan."
        "Then that hardly speaks in his favor," said Lord Alagrace,
"for I have heard that Guest Gulkan is missing, and rumor holds
him to be dead. In any case, Khmar distinctly said that he wished
for Rolf Thelemite to remain in your service, to be a comfort to
you in your old age."
        "That was very generous of him," muttered Lord Onosh. "Very
well! Let's draw up a treaty, then."
        So a treaty was drafted, and bickered over. The last thing to
be settled was its title: the Treaty of Eternal Friendship Between
the Collosnon Empire and the Islands of Safrak. With the title
confirmed, the thing was signed, and witnessed by everyone from
the dwarf Glambrax to Edlard of the Guardians.
        The treaty consigned the Collosnon Empire to the rule of
Khmar and his heirs; it called on all those still resisting Khmar
to surrender to his rule; it secured the Safrak Islands and the
Swelaway Sea for Lord Onosh and his heirs; and it specified that
there should be a peace between the Empire and the Islands:
        "... until the last Rider be unseated from the Horse; or all
horses lose their hair; or the wind cease its riding; or blood be
milk and cheese be water; or the dogs be unheard by the campfires;
or no child be born to any of the tents of the Yarglat; or
Drangsturm fall and the Swarms claw all established order to an
end."
        That last bit about Drangsturm and the Swarms had been
inserted into the language of the treaty by the wizard Sken-
Pitilkin, who felt that the bits about wind, horses and hair were
too vaguely unspecific for a legal document. (And who felt, too,
that the language of a formal treaty should be suitably remote
from that of a smoky barbarian campsite and the ethnological
curiosities of a shaman's chant).
        This treaty was signed at the end of spring in the year
Alliance 4307. Come Midsummer's Day, when the year Alliance 4308
began, the conqueror Khmar formally proclaimed himself emperor,
and that day was the first day of the year Khmar 1.
        The lord emperor Khmar then began to plan the conquest of all
of Tameran, excepting Safrak alone - the exception being an honest
one, for Khmar was great in honor, and fully intended to be true
to his treaty. But that was of small consequence to the Witchlord
Onosh, who had resigned himself to living out his years in the
circumscribed kingdom which had fallen to him by conquest.
        The main event which did concern the Witchlord Onosh was the
arrival of his son Eljuk Zala, who came to Safrak in the company
of the wizard Ontario Nol on Midsummer's Day, the first day of the
year Khmar 1; and Lord Onosh received Ontario Nol with every mark
of respect, and declared Eljuk to be the heir of Safrak, and
ordered a great celebration to mark the event.
        "But where," said Eljuk, "is Guest?"
        "He is missing," said Lord Onosh. "Missing, believed dead. He
vanished shortly after our battle for the mainrock Pinnacle, and
has never been seen or heard of since."
        But actually, of course, as the Witchlord Onosh knew full
well, the Weaponmaster Guest was somewhere in the Circle of the
Banks, and there was no telling what fate might by now have
befallen him.