Part 34 (2/2)
”Just the score you'll need to bring back the golds I'll send. And an officer or subofficer you trust.”
”You shall have them.” Hadrenn bowed again.
As the younger lord turned, Anna drew Jecks toward her. ”I didn't mean for you...
”Who else, my lady?”
'Thank you.” Anna smiled. ”I don't say that enough. Especially to you, without you... without you, I wouldn't be here.”
”I think not, my lady. Without you, Defalk and Elheld would yet lie under Behlem's boots and I in an unmarked grave.”
Anna shook her head. ”I won't argue this one, but I don't agree. We'd better get ready.”Now... all you have to do is march across two countries and figure out how to defeat another madman without losing any more lancers-and that doesn't even count all the problems you don't know about.
57.
Under a gray and misting sky that had threatened a full rain all morning, the green banner of Synek and the purple-and-gold banner of Defalk headed the column of lancers riding toward the eastern end of the river town whose name Anna did not know.
Rickel and Kerhor had brought out the heavy s.h.i.+elds as they neared the town and had moved up to flank Anna. Jecks surveyed the small daub-and-wattle dwellings at the edge of the town, and then the wood-and-brick ones nearer the center of the hamlet.
Several figures peered out of open windows, and the column slowed as someone from the town called something to the Ebran lancers.
Anna glanced over her shoulder at the distant rumble of thunder, but the gentle mist did not intensify.
Sylvarn-the subofficer in charge of Hadrenn's lancers- replied loudly. ”The sorceress and Lord Hadrenn defeated Bertmynn, and Lord Hadrenn is now Lord High Counselor of all Ebra, thanks be to the Regent and Sorceress of Defalk, his ally and supporter.”
”...who will rule Dolovr'
”Lord Bertmynn's heirs will hold his lands, and the free-women will hold Elahwa- at the sorceress' insistence-but both pledge allegiance and fealty to Lord Hadrenn.”
A low murmur, not entirely friendly, followed Sylvarn's second response. Rickel and Kerhor edged closer to Anna, their s.h.i.+elds higher.
”The sorceress is returning to her demesnes... for her a.s.sistance is no longer necessary, but Defaik and Ebra have pledged friends.h.i.+p, and there will be peace between them.” Sylvarn blurted out.
”...peace...after the fire flood...” .
”...peace... why not?”
”Better peace than war...”
In the time it took Anna to ride the hundred yards to the small square, people poured from the buildings and stood, watching as the cavalcade made its way along the damp clay of the road, past, first, a small chandlery, and then past a cooper's.
”That's her!” whispered a high voice, either a young boy or girl. ”The evil sorceress!”
”I don't want to hear it. She's not evil now,” answered a woman. ”She slew the war-dog of the north.”
”But the man said...”
”The officer said,” repeated a stronger voice.”The sorceress slew the war-dog; young Hadrenn could not have done so himself.”
”But she made the mountain of fire...”
”Hush...”
Abruptly, the girl ran to the front of the cooper's porch and called, ”Sorceress... did you slay the war-dog of the north?”
Anna wanted to sigh, but she turned in the saddle to face the smudged-faced child and answered. ”Yes. He used Darksong, but Clearsong was stronger. He died in fire.”
”Darksong...”
”Darksong...” The word pa.s.sed through the small crowd of perhaps forty souls, repeated again and again. Some seemed to shudder at the word itself.
”Well put,” murmured Jecks.
Luckily put was more like it, Anna thought, but she kept a smile on her face all the rest of the way through the town-a smile on her face, but eyes that looked everywhere. Neither Rickel nor Kerhor lowered their s.h.i.+elds until the entire column was through the town and well along the River Syne on the road leading to the Sand Pa.s.s.
58.
MANSUUS, MANSUUR.
”So...Ba.s.sil... she has vanquished Bertmynn, and placed young lordlet Hadrenn as her puppet over all Ebra.” The Liedfuhr's hazel eyes flash, seemingly turning black momentarily, and he leans forward, putting his large hands on the polished walnut of the desk standing before the open windows of his private study. ”And she has given the Matriarch a foothold in Ebra, without the slightest of requests and without any concessions from Ranuak.”
”Yes, sire.” The raven-haired lancer officer bows. ”She also lost near-on a third of the lancers accompanying her, and she must return to Defalk, traverse the entire land, and meet with the overwhelming forces of your grandson.”
”And most probably a hundredscore of my own lancers-as you recommended, Ba.s.sil.”
”If she loses... then you bring all your forces into Neserea and Defalk because of the instability, and you will control all of Liedwahr. Neither Lady Siobion nor Lord Hadrenn can stand against you, and the Ranuans will remain as they always have. The Sturinnese will have to look elsewhere, and you have the beginnings of your empire of magic, sire. And you will not have to offer Aerlya to Rabyn.”
”That... that...even I would never do, and I do not wish to hear aught of that again.” The Liedfuhr's tone is like the ice of the polar caps south of Pelara.
”Yes, sire.”
”Now... how does your logic run, if the sorceress wins- again?” questions Konsstin.
”Then you hold by your bargain and offer her half of Neserea. The Council of Wei will not move against her. Nor will the Matriarchy, and in all events she willtake the rest of her long life to settle the internal affairs of what she holds in Defalk and Neserea. You will consolidate your hold on western Neserea, and Mansuur will be the most powerful land in Liedwahr.”
”You make it sound so easy-for both me and the sorceress.”
”For you, sire, there is little risk. The sorceress gambles much, in everything that she ventures. She attempts to remake a land that has undone everyone who has tried such. She will anger the Matriarchy and the SouthWomen because she does too little for their taste, and the old lords of Ebra and Defalk because she changes too much. Your grandson understands neither, nor will he, even when he perishes, and that will not be long, even should he defeat the sorceress.”
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