Part 4 (2/2)
More than sometimes. Anna nodded, then cleared her throat. ”I'll sing a short song-just the notes, not the words. Listen carefully. I'll want you to play it as well as you can.”
Delvor lowered the violin and bow and nodded.
”La, Ia, la. . .” Anna sang the water spell melody. That couldn't cause any trouble, or not much, if it were pa.s.sed on to others.
Delvor c.o.c.ked his head, listening.
”Now.., you try it.”
The player picked up the bow. All in all, Anna had to repeat the song more than three times before Delvor could basically replicate it.
She wanted to shake her head. Still... he had been. able to pick it up. She supposed he would have a use, if only as the equivalent of third or fourth chair, not that sorcerers' players were cla.s.sified that way.
”Delvor?”
”Yes, lady.” The player hung his head.
”There is a great deal you do not know. If you stay here, you will have a lot to learn.”
Delvor licked his lips.
”You may stay. You will receive a silver a week, and, until the rest of the players arrive, you will also be required to a.s.sist in other areas. Nothing heavy, but I may have you learn new skills or serve as a messenger. Do you understand?”
”Where...?”
”There are players' quarters in the liedburg. You get quarters and food and the silver. Do you wish to serve the Regency?”
Delvor went to his knees. ”Yes, lady.”
Anna lifted the bell, and Cens entered.
”Cens, this is Delvor, and he is one of the new players. He can have one of the small rooms in the players'
quarters by the stables. I'd appreciate it if you'd get him settled. Then tell Dythya about him.”
”Yes, Lady Anna.”
When Cens and the player had left, she looked down at the table. There was another reason why poor Daffyd hadn't been able to find many players. Most of them didn't have any spines-except for those who'd already died at the Sand Pa.s.s or in the destruction of Vult.
She sighed. Then, what player in his or her right mind would want to serve her when most of those who had were dead? Poor Daffyd-he'd been a good viola player who had helped spell her to Defalk and then served as her chief player, and he was buried under the lava of the volcano she had raised to destroy Vult and the dark Evult who had directed the darksingers of Ebra against Defalk. So were all of the others who had followed her to Vult. She sighed again. Get back to a problem you can do .something about.. . maybe.
She couldn't get supplies or move troops if the roads turned to mud every time it rained. She couldn't use sorcery to repair the roads without players and stones being carted nearby, and she couldn't have the stones carted except in dry weather. And she couldn't find enough players.
Anna took a deep breath. She still hadn't paid that visit to the kitchens and Meryn. She might as well do that, before she forgot. The liedburg ran on meals as well as coins and arms.
The ubiquitous Blaz followed her down the corridor and out to the section of the liedburg that jutted into the rear courtyard, almost standing alone-probably for fire reasons.
Meryn stood at the far end of the huge hearth, with one of the oven doors open, easing a wooden paddle containing the dough that would be bread into the oven. At the table behind her, Jysel was plucking a just- scalded chicken, and other sodden birds lay beside the first.
Anna waited until Meryn closed the oven door.
”Oh.. . Lady Anna.” The head cook's hands fluttered. Behind her, Jysel' s mouth opened.
”I don't have any problems,” Anna said. ”I've enjoyed your cooking, and I really liked the way you spiced the mutton stew the other night. It wasn't bland, and it didn't b.u.m my tongue.”
The cook's hands stopped fluttering. ”We do as we can, lady. But with so many mouths. ..”
Anna held in a sigh. Like everything else in Defalk, the liedburg kitchen was probably overworked. ”You could use another good cook?” She gave a smile.
”I could use three, lady, not that there be three in Falcor I'd want.” Meryn shook her head.
”If you find one you would like to help you, let me know.” Anna sniffed. ”The bread smells good. I don't know how I'd manage without all the bread you've baked for me.”
”That be good.” Meryn smiled. ”Unlike some, you appreciate good food, and the folk who fix it.” She paused. ”Mola.s.ses for the dark bread, it be getting dear.”
Anna half nodded to herself. Everything was getting dear. ”Once, a long way away, I fixed a lot of fancy meals.” The sorceress offered a laugh. ”And not with sorcery. But I had things that made it easier. I wouldn't want to try to cook in that hearth.”
”Takes watching, lady, that it does.”
”I'm sure it does.” She glanced toward Blaz. ”I wish I could stay longer, Meryn... Jysel.. . but I wanted to tell you again, personally, how much I appreciate all the cooking and the work.”
Both women bowed.
Once back in the receiving room, Anna rang the bell even before seating herself at the worktable.
”Find me Menares.”
While she waited, she began to make a list-yet another of the endless lists that grew faster on the bottom than she could complete on the top. This list held the key roads from Falcor to the borders. Should she add mola.s.ses to the supply list?
”Lady Anna?” Menares bowed. His eyes flicked away from her to the floor, then to the empty gilt receiving chair.
”What did Tirsik say?”
”The stablemaster will talk to the messengers, he and Captain Alvar. They should ride on the edges of the roads, and he will tell them where not to ride.”
”Good.”
”He also sent his thanks for the coins for the extra straw.”
Anna nodded. ”I need you to find something else. Find me an artist. One who can do good sketches of bridges and roads and forts. There ought to be someone who can draw somewhere near Falcor. I'll pay him-or her.” With the word ”her,” she thought of poor Garreth, who'd drawn her picture, and who had been killed merely on a whim by Cyndyth while Anna had been saving the Prophet's armsrnen.
”Yes, Lady Anna.” Menares' voice contained a resigned tone, the one that suggested she was being unreasonable or frivolous.
”I'm not crazy,” she snapped. ”We need better-” She groped for a suitably impressive word. ”- infrastructure here in Defalk, and that means roads and bridges, and since we don't have any dissonant builders and no coins, that means sorcery, and I need images for sorcery. Is that clear?”
Menares nodded, backing quickly out of the receiving room.
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