Part 24 (1/2)
Finally, she stood before the pool, lutar in hand, and began the next spell.
Silver pool, show me now and as you can where near Mencha sorcery by this woman will find gold to mine and gold to coin....
The pool showed three images. Anna took a deep breath and studied them.
One depicted a low hill covered with scattered pines with mostly bare ground around each short tree. The second showed a narrow gorge that appeared almost impa.s.sable, so steep that only a few straggly junipers sprouted out of the reddish rock. The third site was a river flat under a bluff with evergreens in the background.
None was familiar, but Anna had expected that. That there were sites was encouraging. Now all you have to do is find them. Her head was throbbing, and every muscle in her body felt tight. After you eat... . and try to relax a little.
35.
Anna turned in the saddle, looking out against the early midmorning sun across the river flat toward the hills that led eastward to the Ostfels, past the lancers and the six heavy wagons that she had optimistically rented from various crafters and farmers around Mencha. She and Jecks had finally decided against driving wagons all the way from Falcor. On the south side of the small river whose name she did not know, but which flowed westward toward the Chean, were gra.s.slands and scattered herds of sheep. She suspected that the herders owed herrents, but that was something Halde would have to look into, once he arrived.
Once that's been worked out with Herstat....
According to the scrying pool at Loiseau, the site was a good thirty deks northeast of Mencha, a bit less than halfway to Silberfels, and according to the maps in Brill's study at Loiseau, definitely on Anna's lands.
Anna dismounted on a knoll a good thirty yards east of the river, and the players followed her example. Jecks, Himar, and the lancers remained mounted.
The white-haired lord stood in his stirrups, then settled down. ”There is no one else in sight.”
”Worried?” asked Anna.
”If you succeed... yes, I will be worried. Gold-bearing wagons far from a hold are scarce little to sneeze at.”
”There aren't any armsmen near,” she pointed out as she handed Farinelli's reins to Kerhor, who had remained mounted. ”I checked that before we left Loiseau.”
”For that I am glad.”
”So am I.” Anna offered a crooked smile as she turned and began a last series of vocalises as the players tuned.
When the tuning died away, Liende glanced toward the Regent.
”The searching song,” Anna nodded to Liende.
”The searching song. On my mark... Mark!”
Anna stood on the knoll, thinking, Just a hundred bars or ingots. She concentrated on visualizing those bars, stacked on the open ground to the right of the players, as she began the spell.
Search, search, search the ground deeply all around, verily, verily, verily, gold will here be found....
The ground s.h.i.+vered, noticeably, and several horses whuffed uneasily, even before Anna started into the second stanza of the spell.
Bring, bring, bring the gold, straightly here to mold, verily, verily, verily....
As she neared the end of the spell, the ground began to heave, and she forced herself to concentrate on finis.h.i.+ng while struggling to maintain her balance. A series of strobelike lights flashed overhead and seemed to knife into the ground near the players, lights so bright that the fall sun seemed dint After the strobes came a hot wind, nearly blistering.
Then, the unseen harp of harmony strummed the chords of the afternoon with an intricate chording that only Anna sensed and heard-that she'd discovered from experience. In the sky to the east, over the Ostfels, clouds appeared where none had been, quickly expanding and darkening as they rose even higher into the heavens.
Thurmmmm... Thunder rolled across the sky and rumbled over the river flat.Anna sank onto the hot ground, barely sitting up, and only marginally conscious of the rising wind and the lightning and thunder to the east Her eyes burned, and her head throbbed. She looked up dully as Jecks eased his mount beside her and handed down a water bottle.
”You must drink,” he insisted.
She took the bottle... and a long swallow... before or speaking. ”Did we get any gold?”
”Look there.” Jecks laughed and gestured beyond the players, most of whom were sitting in positions similar to Anna's. ”More than enough. You have mayhap a hundred bars or so.”
”A hundred,” Anna said, half-wondering. ”Would you go see... if they're gold.”
Nodding, Jecks eased his mount away from Anna. She took another long swallow from the water bottle, and the worst of the headache faded ever so slightly. Not only does spellsinging drain you, but it dehydrates you as well.
She found she had almost drained the water bottle by the time Jecks again reined up beside her.
”There are indeed a hundred,” he announced quietly, bending down from the saddle. ”Each of the bars weighs more than a stone, and yet they are barely two spans long. It will take all six wagons to carry them.”
Gold was heavy, Anna recalled, but how heavy had eluded her. She wanted to shake her head, but tried to keep her mind on the necessary. ”If you would have them start loading the wagons...?”
”I have already. I have young Skent watching the loading and counting. We should make prudent haste for Loiseau.” Jecks frowned. ”You will need a strongroom there.”
'There is one, I think.” Anna slowly stood and walked toward Liende.
The chief player, cleaning her horn, glanced up. ”Regent?”
”Good work. There will be a special bonus of two golds for each of them, and five for you.”
”Ah... two golds?” Liende swallowed.
Doesn't anyone reward anyone around here? ”Isn't that fair?” asked Anna, adding guilelessly, she hoped, ”A lot of this will have to pay for roads and armsmen, but the players should have some.”
”Never have any players received golds such as that,” Liende pointed out.
”Good. If you would tell them... but they won't get them until after we get back to Loiseau.”
Liende smiled. ”I would be most happy to tell them.” Anna took Farinelli's reins from Kerhor and slowly mounted the gelding, her legs so wobbly that she had to pull herself up as much as use her legs. Once mounted, she eased the gelding up beside Jecks.
”Never would I have suspected such use of sorcery...” Jecks frowned. ”Yet... one cannot pay in bars of gold.””No . . . but if I can drag gold out of the ground, I can turn bars of gold into coins.” After a moment, she added, ”I hope.” Always hoping... but someday that hope won't work out. Just trust that it won't be too soon.
Would the hundred bars or ingots be enough? Sitting limply in the saddle as the ten lancers loaded the bars into the wagons, Anna hoped so... and that she could indeed turn bars into coins. More hope...
36.
Anna forced herself to finish the loaf of bread and the last wedge of cheese set on the wooden platter beside her in what once had been Brill's scrying room.
That left one loaf of bread. The spell to mine and refine the gold had cost her weight-and strength-that she couldn't afford to lose.