CHAPTER 19I
The next morning Kalvan’s orderly, who didn’t seem to have gotten much sleep, wakened him at nine-thirty. Should have done it earlier, but he’d probably just gotten awake himself. He bathed, put on clothes he’d never seen before—have things brought from Tarr-Hostigos, soonest—and breakfasted with Ptosphes, who had also been outfitted from some Saski nobleman’s wardrobe. There were more messages: from Klestreus, in Beshta Town, who had bullied Balthar into agreeing to a truce and pulling his troops back to the line agreed on the treaty with Sarrask; and from Xentos, at Tarr-Hostigos. Xentos was disturbed about reports of troop mobilization in Nostor; Gormoth, he knew, had recently hired five hundred mercenary cavalry. Immediately, Ptosphes became equally disturbed. He wanted to
