Part 5 (2/2)
”Even the roads in Falcor are slippery.”
''Then few will be out.”
A wry and wintry smile crossed the white-haired stablemaster' s face. ”As you wish, and it usually is, my lady.”
”I know, Tirsik. I'm being difficult. So is most of Liedwahr at the moment.” She added, ”I hope I didn't ask too much of you when I sent Menares over to have you instruct some of the riders and messengers on foul-weather traveling.”
”It be my pleasure, lady, and glad to put what these gray hairs have learned to service.”
”You are a learned rascal.”
”Once, lady. No longer.”
Anna grinned and headed for Farmnelli' s stall. The palomino gelding greeted her with a loud whuff.
Then she took out the lutar, tuned it, and tried the words-only in her head-with the chords.
Finally, she lifted the bell and rang it. This time Resor opened the door.
”Resor, would you tell Fhurgen that I am going riding in a bit, and that I'll need two squads of guards, or whatever he and Alvar think is right.”
”Yes, Lady Anna.” Resor did not close the door, then asked, ”What should I tell them if they ask me your destination?”
”Somewhere around Falcor.”
”Yes, lady.”
Anna replaced the lutar in its case, and picked up both the case and her jacket and hat.
Blaz and Giellum flanked her on the walk from the main building to the stables.
Tirsik met 'her before she had taken a pace inside. ”Lady Anna.” The white-haired and wiry stablemaster nodded, glancing at Anna's riding gear and the lutar case. ”The roads are foul.”
”I'm not going far. Just to the other side of Falcor up by where the bridge was.”
”Even the roads in Falcor are slippery.”
''Then few will be out.”
A wry and wintry smile crossed the white-haired stablemaster' s face. ”As you wish, and it usually is, my lady.”
”I know, Tirsik. I'm being difficult. So is most of Liedwahr at the moment.” She added, ”I hope I didn't ask too much of you when I sent Menares over to have you instruct some of the riders and messengers on foul-weather traveling.”
”It be my pleasure, lady, and glad to put what these gray hairs have learned to service.”
”You are a learned rascal.”
”Once, lady. No longer.”
Anna grinned and headed for Farmnelli' s stall. The palomino gelding greeted her with a loud whuff.
”I know. I'm late, and you want to be groomed on schedule.” By the time she had Farinelli brushed and saddIed, Fhurgen and her guards had formed up in the lied-burg courtyard.
Anna pulled on the leather riding jacket and the floppy-brimmed hat of the type that had seen her through her time in Defalk, then strapped the lutar in the case behind the saddle. She led Farinelli out, mounted and nodded to Fhurgen. ”Let's go.”
She let Fannelli pick his way across the wet stones of the courtyard and out through the main gate.
Fhurgen and the guards followed.
The north breeze was chilly, even for Anna, but the leather jacket kept her comfortable. She could sense the s.h.i.+vers of the guards, and catch a few phrases.
”... know she comes from the mist worlds.. . day like this...”
”. . . doesn't even look cold.. .”
” ...went through the Ostfels in six feet of snow. Tyres said...”
Anna wanted to snort. The expedition against the Evult had been in late fall, and there hadn't been any snow to speak of. Some cold rain, but no snow.
As rode across the flat outside the liedburg and toward the road that led through the part of Falcor north of the keep, Anna studied the buildings. A few more bore signs of life, like smoke from chimneys, or new shutters or even windows. There were still too many empty struchires.
Two blocks up, she saw a new sign-a picture board depicting a golden lutar outside a refurbished inn.
Anna laughed. The Golden Lutar-clearly an attempt at flattery, since the instrument had been made by Daffyd specially for her and was, so far as she knew, the only one in Liedwahr.
Still, the rebuilt inn was one good signal at a time when there were few enough. Her smile faded when they reached the north end of Falcor and the Falche River. Anna reined up and studied the ruined bridge b.u.t.tresses, the remnants from the flood unleashed by the Evult of Ebra, and the riverbed, through which ran a muddy and winding track.
Originally, the old bridge had consisted of three spans, the ends of each outer span anch.o.r.ed in the rock on each side of the river. The center span had been anch.o.r.ed on the western side to a pier sunk into the rock beneath the riverbed and to a second pier on the eastern side, which had rested on a rocky islet in the river. Parts of the two piers remained, and muddy water swirled around the disarrayed stones, covering the lower section of the rude trail that travelers had used after the bridge had been swept away.
Anna finally turned in the saddle and fumbled with the lutar case, easing the instrument out, and then easing Farinelli forward.
”Fhurgen, please move the annsmen back.”
”Yes, lady.” The dark-bearded squad leader raised his arm. ”Back. Back to the pedestal there.”
As her guards guided their mounts back toward the pediment that might once have held a statue, Anna ran her fingers over the strings and checked the lutar' s tuning. Then she ran through the spell melody once, thinking the words.
She cleared her throat and began the spell, not belting, but using full concert voice.
”...replicate the blocks and stones.
Place them in their proper zones...
Set them firm, and set them square weld them to their pattern there...
”Bring the rock and make it stone.. .”
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