Amirantha kept his voice low, and in neutral tones said, ‘So, this is Queg?’
Pug smiled and nodded. He knew, as did Amirantha, that it was likely one or more of the bearers were listening, and they would almost certainly be a Quegan agent. ‘Yes,’ said Pug. ‘Does your master know much of this place?’
‘A little,’ said Amirantha, going along with the pretence he represented the Maharaja of Muboya. ‘One of my tasks was to learn as much about the Kingdom’s neighbours as I could, as well as being tasked to study your nation. Queg was once part of Great Kesh, true?’
‘Yes,’ said Pug, assuming the Quegan agent listening would not pay close attention to a history lesson he knew as well as Pug did. ‘A great revolt among the client states known as the Keshian Confederacy in the south of the Empire of Great Kesh, caused her to recall her legions from the north. They abandoned all of the lands to the west and south of Yabon. The Kingdom then pushed forward, out of Yabon into what is now the Far Coast, but the former Keshian cities on the shore of the Bitter Sea repulsed the Kingdom’s invasion and formed the Free Cities.
‘Queg was in a unique position; it had housed a garrison and the naval yards, but while the legions left, the navy refused to depart, as their families and lives where here. Kesh was kept busy fighting in the south, and by the time they had crushed the Confederacy rebellion, Queg had achieved independence and controlled the Bitter Sea.’ He paused as if thinking. ‘The people who lived here came from a relatively small province of the Empire, I believe it was called Itiac.’ He knew better than that; they had in truth come from a province called Itaniac, but Pug wanted whoever listened in to believe he was no expert on the history of the island nation. ‘I want to study some documents from that era and earlier, if possible, as our Kingdom history is full of holes and many misunderstandings.
‘Our relationship with Queg has not always been as good as it should be, and as a result many erroneous notions about its history and people circulate widely in the Kingdom of the Isles. I will take pride in correcting those misunderstandings.’
‘Well, it’s all new to me,’ said Amirantha, playing along. ‘Whatever I learn will be useful for my reports. Perhaps my master will wish to send a trade delegation here; you say the Quegans build good ships?’
‘Among the best,’ said Pug, knowing that was a shade of the truth. The Quegans built fearsome war galleys, but they were coastal-clinging vessels not meant to be sailed further than a day or two off shore. They possessed nothing that could cross as vast an expanse as the Endless Sea, to the west of the Straits of Darkness and reach Novindus. Still, flattery always appealed to those who wanted to believe it sincere.