his disposal.Butthe need to keep up appearances was not the only reason for Rohyrsvisit to Vireshe. With Lassen nearing the end of gestation, itbehooved Rohyr to be closely involved once more in the internalaffairs of his firstborns future holdings. Thus, the decision tostay awhile in Vireshe before he went back to Glanthar. It was at theroyal estate just outside the capital of Lythaen that Jareth andZykriel caught up with him, bearing the results of weeks of arduousresearch.Alongwith Keiran, they had ransacked the Citadel archives as well asscoured the State University library and even the Lawyers Guildrecords for anything pertinent to Anjus peculiar succession law.The problem had lain in the local nature of the statute.Giventhat Anju had been an independent state and its political and legalsystems largely left untouched by the Essendris who subjugated itthose many centuries back, scant attention had since been paid to thefiefs internal dealings, including the detailed archiving of itsdomestic laws and traditions. After all, who cared how a fieffunctioned so long as its lords broke no laws, did not brutalizetheir subjects and regularly contributed to the national treasury byway of taxes?Ratherthan chance anyone overhearing their discussion, Rohyr suggested anearly morning ride through the estate forest. A hunting lodge wasconveniently located in the heart of the woods and could be easilyguarded without being obvious about it.Whathave you learned? Rohyr said as soon as they settled around thesmall dining table within.Muchmore than we expected, Jareth replied. To put it plainly, itappears Tyrdes threat against you is toothless.Howso?Zykrieldeposited a sheaf of documents on the table. All were yellowed andstronglymustyin odor.Rohyrwrinkled his nose in distaste. Where in Aisen did you unearththese? They smell as if they came from underground.Theywere a sight more smelly when we found them, Zykriel retorted.There was a stash of ancient documents in a vault in the verybowels of the archives. Even I didnt know it existed. I warrant mypredecessors didnt bother to inform me because they believed iteither empty or no longer holding anything of import.Well,what did the vault contain?Mostlycensus documents and records of revenue from as far back as twocenturies after the Inception. The original reports regarding thepassing of the last females in Khitaira were there, too. Its justas well they were copied and stored in the upper levels. The olddocuments were barely readable and almost fell apart when we broughtthem out. He showed Rohyr a thin bundle of badly streaked oldparchment. We tried to find a newer copy of this elsewhere but itseems there is none available.Exceptin Anju perhaps, Jareth said. But we could hardly searchthere.Indeednot. So we had to make do with this. Its a duplicate of thecharter document by which Anju was created a fief of Ylandre,inclusive of royal ratification of the Anjuin Bill of Rights as setdown by the Kardovas when they first founded the duchy. Included,too, are the rules on herunic succession. Its clearly stated thatthe line of inheritance is always through the eldest son of areigning Heruns younger brothers. There is no mention anywhere ofelection of ones successor being permitted. Indeed, primogenitureis against the law and a Herun who attempts to