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virtually no trade advantage was gained. Although it was widely
denounced in commercial circles, the one concession the Emperor
gained which made the treaty perhaps more valuable than any other
was permission to construct the Great North Road across Algaria to
the southern border of Drasnia. Thus, for the first time, a land route
directly to Boktor was possible. The legions were permitted to enter
Algaria for the purpose of constructing the road. As the Emperor
observed to one grumbling merchant, 'I would trade off the Horse
People - even if they were ten times more numerous - for overland
access to Boktor.' When one balances the volume of trade coming
out of the east into Drasnia, one can only agree with the wisdom of
our most splendid Emperor.
In 3822, Vo Astur, seat of the Asturian Arendia, fell before the
onslaughts of the Mimbrates, and, like Vo Wacune, the city was
destroyed. The Mimbrates, however, though they had won the
victory and crowned their Duke the first unchallenged King of
Arendia, were exhausted by the final struggle. The restrictions
imposed by the Emperor in return for Tolnedran assistance in the
destruction of the Asturians in many respects made the Arends
virtually a subject people. Though it rankled the proud Mimbrates,
they were too weak to protest, and the new King had other
problems. Though they had been defeated and Vo Astur had been laid
waste, there were still Asturian Arends in the north. They. mtrated
into the trackless reaches of the Arendish forest and began the
guerilla warfare which was to sap the strength of the Mimbrate
Kings for over a thousand years.
Nothing, of course, could have suited Tolnedran purposes better.
The open baffles and extensive military campaigns which had made
travel through Arendia so hazardous were at an end, replaced by the
hit and run tactics of the Asturians and the futile expeditions of the
Mimbrates into the dark forest in pursuit. The Emperor reached a
secret agreement with the Asturians which guaranteed freedom of
movement along the Great West Road which the legions were
constructing southward through their forest. At the same time, in
accordance with the Treaty of Tol Vordue, other legions were
constructing the southern leg of the highway north from the River Arend.
Although the Great West Road and the Great North Road were
not to be completed for over a century' the concept was now clear.
When these colossal projects were finished, it would be possible to
travel overland from Tol Honeth to Camaar, from Camaar to Boktor,
and - along the North Caravan Routes - from Bok.tor to Yar Marak
and Thull Zelik in the Kingdoms of the Angaraks.
This was the zenith of Tolnedran power. Ran Horb II was quite
literally the most powerful man in the world. By Imperial Decree in
3827 he created the Kingdom of Sendaria on the northwest coast.
When certain northern merchants protested, he pointed out that it
was more efficient and far less costly to allow the Sendars to govern
themselves than it was to attempt to administer a country five
hundred leagues beyond our northern border. 'Let the Sendars enjoy
the aggravation of administering their own country,' he said. 'So
long as we have the right trade agreements with them, we will lose
little by our generosity''
In the twilight of his life, Ran Horb II, then well over eighty,
concluded the Agreement of Sthiss Tor, formalizing trade relations
with Nyissa; and, in one of his most stunning moves, signed the
Accords of Rak Goska which established the South Caravan Route