Part 26 (2/2)
”If you would explain... Prophet...” Sweat begins to pour from Nubara's forehead, and he shudders.”I did not trust you, Nubara...so I took steps to introduce... certain ingredients into your diet... they have damaged your body. You will die within a day without the antidote. The damage is forever, the antidote is temporary.”
Rabyn's smile is hard. ”You will need several drops every few days.”
”You are truly your mother's son,” Nubara's voice is rasping. ”Truly...”
”I am indeed, and do not ever forget that. You will not forget, not if you wish to live. Nor will that b.i.t.c.h sorceress.” Another smile crosses Rabyn's youthful face, a countenance that suddenly appears far older, far more cruel.
”Now...shall we plan the attack on Defalk?”
Nubara looks down, if momentarily, before he raises his eyes. ”I believe such an attack is most unwise, Prophet.”
”Will you a.s.sist me? Or do you wish to die?”
Nubara takes another deep breath. ”I will a.s.sist you.”
”I thought you would see reason, Nubara.” Rabyn smiles once again.
41.
Come in.” Anna stepped back from the pine-planked door to let Jecks and Himar enter the chamber that had once been meant for Lord Barjim. It was larger than the room she had once occupied at the Sand Pa.s.s fort with three other women, but spare, containing little more than a large bed, whose frame had been roughly repaired with pine splints over the light oak, a few chairs, a wash table with bowl and pitcher, a small writing table with a single stool, a chamber pot, and a plank with hanging pegs nailed to the brick wall.
The traveling scrying mirror rested upon the writing table, and the uncased lutar lay across the lower corner of the bed.
”You wished to see us?” A humorous glint tinged Jecks' hazel eyes.
”I did.” Anna let Himar close the door before she asked, ”We still have two companies of bowmen, right?” We'd better...
”They can shoot arrows. Most would be useless without your spells to guide the arrows,” Himar said. ”Years it takes to make an archer.”
”We'll need their arrows, though.” Anna pursed her lips. ”Before we talk, we need to see what's happening in Ebra.” If we can. She motioned toward the mirror on the table, then turned and reclaimed the lutar. She checked the tuning, cleared her throat, and began what she hoped would be the last vocalise.
Her cords clear, she began the scrying spell.
Bertmynn, Bertmynn, Lord I'd see, show his forces now to me...
As the last notes of the spell died way, the mirror silvered over, and then presented an image of armsmen in leathers and burgundy tunics advancing across a recently harvested grain field. One armsman staggered, flailed as an arrow went through his neck, then slowly crumpled. Those behind and beside him continued to trot forward with bared blades.
'They are fighting. Whether it is the beginning or the end...” Jecks shrugged.”The beginning,” offered Himar. ”Bertmynn's armsmen still hesitate.”
Without waiting, Anna tried a second spell.
Show me now, and as must be.
any fighting near Elahwa city....
Anna tried not to wince at the rhyme, but the mirror image s.h.i.+fted, this time to show what seemed to her a pitched skirmish between figures in blue and others in burgundy. To the side of the blue figures with blades were others in blue with bows. Abruptly, a squad of lancers in burgundy appeared, slas.h.i.+ng at both archers and armsmen afoot. Anna could tell that most, if not all, of those in blue were women.
As it became clear that few of the freewomen shown by the gla.s.s would survive, Anna sang a release couplet, then slowly laid the lutar on the bed.
”It may be different elsewhere near Elahwa,” offered Jecks.
”It might be, but... is it likely?” asked Anna. ”I'll check again before we leave in the morning.”
”The morning?” Himar's eyebrows rose.
”We should march before Bertmynn can recover. We can't reach Elahwa before he takes over the city, anyway,” Anna said. You couldn't reach the other side of the Sand Pa.s.s....
”You should not,” returned Himar. ”Let the freewomen weaken him, and let young Hadrenn understand the danger. Your support will be worth more to him.”
”And it will be less costly for you and for our lancers,” added Jecks.
The Regent nodded slowly. What both men said made sense. So why did she feel guilty about not being able to attack Bertmynn before he reached Elahwa? Because women are dying, and they have no one else? Her lips tightened, but nodded once more. ”We leave in the morning.”
42.
The Ostfels and the eastern end of the Sand Pa.s.s lay a good ten deks to the west and behind the column of Defalkan lancers. On the north side of the narrow road were gra.s.slands, similar to those around Mencha, but more lush. A half dozen deks or so to the south of the road lay a long beige ridge of sand-the westernmost part of the Sand Hills. The air above the dunes s.h.i.+fted and s.h.i.+mmered, sometimes reflecting the sun or something else.
Anna could almost feel the heat radiating from the dunes, and she took another long swallow from the water bottle as she studied the Sand Hills. According to Brill, at one point, years earlier the sand had actually blocked the entrance to and the use of the Sand Pa.s.s, effectively isolating Ebra from Defalk. Then the Evult had s.h.i.+fted the dunes and begun his plans to invade and subdue Defalk.
Anna frowned. Without the Evult, would the sands s.h.i.+ft again?
”What is the worst mistake a lancer can make in battle?” asked Kinor, his voice drifting forward to Anna and Jecks.
”Trying too hard to kill people,” answered Himar.Anna found herself listening, wondering what the overcaptain would say next.
”Aren't you supposed to kill the enemy?” interjected Jimbob. Himar laughed. ”If you must and if you can-easily. If your blade skills are good, it is best to let others make mistakes.” There was a pause, as if the former Neserean officer had shrugged. ”If you cannot; then by all means attack vigorously so that none will know how little skill you have.”
”...doesn't make sense...”
Anna thought the words were Jimbob's, but she wasn't sure. ”Perhaps one lancer in fivescore is strong enough and skilled enough to beat down another's blade.
In all other cases, lancers die from their mistakes, and the biggest mistake is being too hasty in trying to kill another.”
Jecks smiled and murmured to Anna. ”His words are true.”
”They make sense,” she replied. They're true in everything... but it's so hard to be patient when everyone is flailing at you. She wished Skent had heard Himar's words... or that someone had conveyed them to the all-too-young undercaptain.
Another mistake? Another case of haste on your part? Because you need trusted and intelligent officers so badly?
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