Part 18 (1/2)
Jecks followed. ”I can see you.”
”That's because you're here with me' Anna explained. ”Ever since I got the message from Lady Gatrune, I've been trying to scry the chandlery as often as I can. This is the first time when something was happening.”
She picked up the lutar, checked the tuning, then chorded her own accompaniment as she sang the spell.
Mirror, mirror, in your frame, Show me the chandler in his fame, Where'er he may stand or be, Show him now to me.
The pool silvered, then s.h.i.+vered and turned a deep black. before an image swam into place. The view of a single room in the chandlery wavered, almost to curling in on itself, except it didn't. Darksong?
”It looks... wrong,” Jecks said slowly.
”Wait.” As Anna watched, the view split again into two images of the interior room that contained the drummer and the chandler and two other men. The darker and more sinister image also showed the statue of a naked blonde woman,extraordinarily beautiful and lifelike. The brighter image depicted the same scene except with a crude clay figure.
Jecks swallowed. ”Drums... the obscenity...”
”Darksong, I think,” Anna said. Or worse. She sang a release couplet, and the pool returned to its blank silver state.
”Never has good come from drums,” Jecks murmured.
”I think we should stop in Pamr.”
”How would you deal with this chandler?” asked Jecks. ”Turn him to flame like his sire?”
”You don't think that would be a good idea? Why not?”
”Did not Lady Gatrune tell you what difficulty she and Captain Firis had in obtaining any information?”
Anna nodded. ”You think that this Fa.r.s.eun has used Darksong like the Evult... to turn the town against me?”
”The men, I would guess.” Jecks gestured at the pool. ”Would women be ensnared by the statue of a woman?”
”I'd doubt it.”
”And if this Fa.r.s.enn discovers you are coming to Pamr? Would he use Darksong to raise the men of the town against your armsmen? Will you then destroy Pamr-or the men in it? Will you leave the lady Gatrune without the means to pay her liedgeld?”
Anna winced. ”That wouldn't make me any better than the Evult, would it? Or Behlem? Or Sargol? But if I sent a force to bring him back to Falcor, wouldn't he just use Darksong on them?”
”I would think so. Anyone who would use drums...” Jecks shook his head.
Another impossible situation. If Fa.r.s.enn has spelled all the men, or even most of them, and you use sorcery against Fa.r.s.enn, then you destroy Lady Gatrune. If you don't sooner or later, you'll have bigger problems.
”You do not have to decide now,” Jecks pointed out. ”You can do nothing until you reach Pamr. If you insist on going to Mencha... and onward.”
”We're going. If I let others decide what happens, then I know things will be worse.” Long experience had already taught her that, well before she had come to Liedwahr. Anna tried to ignore the bleakness in her own voice.
27.
The sun had barely cleared the horizon when Anna entered the receiving room and sat down at the conference table and began to write. She'd awakened early, unable to sleep with all the thoughts and ideas for what she had to do running through her mind.
First, she had to finish her newsletter so that the fosterlings and pages could start making versions for each of the Thirty-three. And she needed to get Hanfor to make plans for lancers to act as couriers. She picked up the quill, then looked for the penknife to sc.r.a.pe the nib and sharpen it. Then she had to stirthe ink, and then clean the quill again when the first attempt deposited a black blob on the brown paper. Finally, she began to write.
After a time, Anna glanced down at the rough paper that tended to soak the ink and turn her letters into fat blobs... but she didn't want to use parchment or the good paper for drafting the first of her scrolls to the Thirty-three. She scanned the words remaining from what she had crossed out and rewritten.
... Fighting may soon take place in Ebra. As you may have heard, the Lord Bertmynn of Dolov is sending arms-men against the freewomen of the city of Elahwa.... Lord Hadrenn of Synek has pledged fealty to the Regency, placing himself and his lands between Defalk and Lord Bertmynn. Bertmynn is receiving golds front the Maitre of Stirinn....
She slashed out part of the line and changed the wording to read ”appears to be receiving.”
”A newsletter sent as a scroll and written for bureaucrats,” she muttered as she continued. ”Don't forget the fosterlings, either.”
... the liedburg of Falcor is now home to more than a dozen fosterlings and pages from across Defalk, who are receiving tutoring in a wide range of subjects. Some fosterlings come from as far as Abenfel, Sudwei, and Dubaria....
She set down the quill. What else? After a moment, she began to write again.
... the Regency continues to receive information from the Council of Wei... the Liedfuhr of Mansuur has pledged that he will respect the lands of Defalk and has backed that pledge with a token gift to the Regency... has also indicated that he will support his grandson as the new Prophet of Music of Neserea....
How long it had taken her, she wasn't certain, but the room had warmed considerably by the time Jecks eased through the door.
”Lord Jecks.”
”My lady.” Jecks bowed. He wore a padded brown doublet, stained in several places, and rudely mended in others. ”Lejun says that you have been here since dawn. Have you eaten?”
”I had some cheese and bread.” Anna thrust the ink-spattered and much-corrected missive text at the hazel-eyed and handsome Jecks. ”If you would read this...”
Jecks took the heavy brown paper and began to read, then looked up. ”This...
this is what you would have the fosterlings and pages copy and send to all of the Thirty-three?”
”Sort of. Each one will start off with a personal note to each lord or lady, then this part will be in the middle, and then the closing will be personal.”
Jecks nodded and went back to reading. After a time, he looked up. ”Perhaps... I would not suggest...”
”Go ahead,” Anna replied with a smile.
”You might mention that the tribute from Dumar arrived before it was due, and that the debt to the Ranuan Exchange has been paid, so that lords might have greater freedom to borrow there.”
”I'd meant to mention the Exchange debt... but it slipped my mind when I was writing. The coins from Dumar-that will make some happy, and have some asking tohave their liedgeld reduced.” She snorted and picked up the quill, absently sharpening it before dipping it into the ink. ”They ought to have it increased.”
”You are not considering such?”
”It's not acceptable, but the liedgeld doesn't bring in enough coins to defend Defalk, or build bridges and roads... or much of anything. It's fine, except if you have enemies, droughts, or problems, and from what I've seen Defalk's never been without most of those. So... next year, we'll inch up the liedgeid, and mine will go up more than anyone else's, and you can tell everyone that.”
”Some will not be pleased....” he observed.
The Thirty-three will never be pleased... not until Defalk returns to a time that never was, that exists only in their memories. ”They may not be.” She smiled. ”So you should be thinking of ways to convince them that they're better off under the Regency with a higher liedgeld. For one thing, they've all held their lands-except for Lord Arkad-and that wouldn't have happened under either the Evult or Lord Behlem. Maybe ... a reminder from the Lord High Counselor?”
”Do you still intend to go to Ebra?”