Part 65 (1/2)
”That's because I have some power, and he didn't.”
”From what I hear, you had little enough power when you came to Defalk. Yet you would not turn from what you saw to be true. You have shamed him.” Falar laughed, almost lightly, ”Not that we all could not use shaming at times.”
Including you... but what else could you have done-except let people keep getting slaughtered. What you've started is like an avalanche... you either stay ahead of it or get swallowed in it.
Her eyes burned as she turned and walked out to the end of the knoll, looking eastward at the distant keep of Arien. Zybar and his ten lancers had already vanished into the twilight.
108.
Under the morning sun, Anna turned in the saddle and looked back over her shoulder at Arien. While some had wondered at her refusal to enter Arien, and her insistence on making a camp above the battlefield, after what she had done, she could no more have stayed in the town or the keep than... physically touched Elizabetta across the gap between worlds. Or worked sorcery on Earth.
Her face turned to the road that would lead to Synope, and the keep of Flossbend, but she saw nothing. After a restless night's sleep, her eyes watered and burned with the questions that ran through her mind. What have you become?
All you wanted...was a few more rights for women... a little more justice... and it's as though you were. . . some sort of monster. Even Himar looks sideways at you.
She twisted in the saddle, then reached for the water bottle, not sure she was thirsty, but knowing she couldn't afford to get dehydrated, either. The water was cool, tasteless, and she swallowed, then replaced the bottle in its holder.
The wind was cool, but not cold, on her face, and the air carried the mold ofautumn. She found herself coughing, leaning forward in the saddle for a time before she straightened. Stress always had made the asthma worse.
Liende rode up beside Anna. ”You are troubled, Lady Anna.” Her voice was soft, sympathetic in a way Anna had not heard from the older-looking woman in weeks, if not seasons.
”Does it show that much?” Stupid question. ”I'm sorry. Yes... I'm troubled.”
More than troubled... very troubled.
”You did not wish to destroy Lord Tybel that way?” Liende glanced ahead toward Himar and the vanguard. Except for Liende and her guards, Anna rode very much alone, with wide s.p.a.ces between her and the lancers.
”It's not that. I mean, it is, but it isn't. All I started out to do was to survive and then to make sure Lord Jimbob would have a country left to inherit, and then I tried to make sure that women weren't treated as slaves. But I kept having to use sorcery against other countries to keep them from invading mostly, except for Ebra the second time, but Bertmynn was killing all the women in Elahwa because they didn't want to be slaves anymore.” Anna swallowed. ”And somehow, almost half the lords in Defalk are or were against me. And most of Defalk's neighbors. It's like a holy war, and all the old lords want to kill me and stop what I'm trying to do. Some of the old crafters like the chandler in Pamr, too. So I either give up, and that doesn't seem right, or I kill a lot of people, and that's not right, either. When I tried to talk, no one listened, and when I used force they all thought I was terrible.”
Liende nodded. After a time, she spoke. ”Lord Brill treated women well, but he would do nothing beyond his own lands. He died, and nothing changed.”
”If I died tomorrow,” Anna said, ”nothing would change.”
”It has already changed, lady, and if you can but survive a handful of years, it will never change back.” The chief player continued more softly. ”Never would I have paid as you pay,” Liende said. ”You have given my son lands, and my daughter hope and dignity... and others as well, but few will thank you. You have begun to change this land so that it will survive and prosper, but few will thank you for that.”
”I guess I just got tired of being the good little girl.”
”Ah...”
Another expression that doesn't quite translate. ”Women are supposed to listen to men and take their advice. They're not supposed to he too a.s.sertive, even if they're regents. They're not supposed to use sorcery to wipe out brave strong armsmen. It's all right for that brave strong armsman to use his blade or lance, or to take an unwilling woman with his strength, but good girls don't point those embarra.s.sing things out. Good girls don't say, 'You're not going to keep doing this, and back it up with superior force.' Good girls don't...” ' Anna broke off the monologue. ”I guess I'm just not a good girl. Maybe I never was. .
. Now I'll have to hold the Thirty-three-or many of them-under an iron fist.”
The sorceress shook her head. ”I never wanted that.”
”Perhaps not...” There was another long silence, before Liende continued. ”Were there another sorceress to follow you...”
”Another sorceress?” Anna laughed harshly. ”I'm not sure that one isn't too much for Defalk.””Power must he balanced by power, and women cannot lift blades as heavy as do men.”
Anna wasn't certain about that. She'd seen Ytrude and Lysara carrying blades.
But how many Ytrudes and Lysaras are there in Defalk? ”Another sorceress...”
Maybe that would help balance things out. But whom do you choose-and trust?
Secca? She's young, and will she have the insight after her hormones kick in?
Clayre-Birfels' other daughter, who had once expressed interest and might be coming to Falcor? Was there anyone else? Would there be? Could there be?
Anna frowned. Why did everything just get more complicated?
109.
Under a cold midday sun that foreshadowed winter, Anna sat upright in the saddle and looked across the low valley, finally catching sight of the white structure that, as she had recalled, resembled a Mediterranean villa as much as a Defalkan keep. Flossbend stood on the low rise to the northeast, across the Synor River, linked to the main road by a winding lane that climbed the gentle slope to the hold.
”There, that's Flossbend.” The sorceress pointed for both Liende and Himar, reined up beside her. ”Both the holding and the town are on the other side of the river, but the town is upstream-east-of Flossbend.”
”The walls are low,” observed Himar.
”It's not designed for a siege.”
Farinelli sidestepped, and Anna bent forward in the saddle and patted his neck.
”Easy... easy...
”What do you plan?” asked the arms commander.
”I'd like to get as close as I can, and then cast a spell over the keep to kill the handful of people, especially Beltyr, who are guilty of murdering Lady Anientta and her sons and who oppose the Regency.”
”After that?”
”We try to organize the keep before we head back to Falcor.” You make it sound so simple. . . and it won't be. She looked at Liende, reined up beside Himar.
”The players may have to dismount and perform quickly.”
”We will be ready,” the chief player confirmed.
The sorceress took another long and studied look at the white-walled hold before nodding to Himar.
The arms commander raised his arm, and the lancers followed the vanguard and the players downhill on the road to Synope. As Anna reached the bottom of the short incline, the light and cool breeze died away, and she found herself using the square of worn gray cloth to blot her forehead.
Anna began the first vocalise after they had traveled another dek across the western end of the valley. ”Holly-lolly-pop...” She coughed, but the amount of mucus she brought up was minimal, and she continued vocalizing.
”Lady?” Himar's voice interrupted her concentration.She looked up, following his gesture. Puffs of dust marked the four riders headed westward on the road from Synope- toward Anna.
”They all wear green surcoats.”
”How far is the hold?”
”Two deks, perhaps three.” Himar stood in his stirrups. ”Green company! Forward, arms ready! Bring forth the banner!”