Part 62 (1/2)
”But... why . . .do such sorcery?”
”To let the Dumarans and the Sturinnese know I could halt the river forever. To persuade the Sturinnese to leave Liedwahr.” You hope....
”They might not,” Birke said. ”My sire says they are like ants in a granary. You have to remove everything and kill them all before they will leave.” He paused. ”Would you do that?”
”Birke,” Anna said slowly, ”one day you will inherit your sire's lands. You'll be responsible for all of the holding. You know what the Sturinnese have done. They've conquered the Ostisles and now they have a fleet in Dumar. Would you like to see Lysara and Clayre in gilded chains? Or your own consort when you have one? What would you do?”
”They have often taken many years ... and you are powerful. They cannot defeat you.”
Anna wanted to shake her head. She'd seen it in academia on earth, and in Erde among the lords ... and everyone else. If the problem wasn't immediate, ignore it and hope it will go away. ”Birke... your faith in my ability is touching, but how long will I live? I'm older than your father, possibly older than Jecks. And I can be killed. It's almost happened twice.” More like half a dozen times if you count the backlash of sorcery. ”Then what?”
The youth's forehead furrowed. After a time, he answered. ”Lady Anna, when you talk, nothing is quite the same. But it is hard. I remember when you bespelled Virkan. At first, I thought you were fearsome, and then Skent said something strange. He talks more like you, you know. He said that you had only spelled Virkan to do what a good person would not need a spell for.” Birke glanced at the winding trail ahead, then looked back at the sorceress. ”He said that you seldom spelled except to make things better for everyone.” The redhead laughed nervously. ”And he looked at me, and he told me that what was better for lords wasn't always better for every one else. I would have struck him except. . . he's bigger, and he seemed so calm.”
Anna glanced over her shoulder. Birfels was talking quietly to Hanfor. ”Birke. . Skent was right. What is good for one lord is not good for all lords, and what is good for all lords may not be good for all people.
You remember Secca?''
”The little redheaded fosterling. Lysara wrote me about her, but...”
'You had already returned to Abenfel. She has two brothers, one older and one younger. She is brighter than either. She is fairer and more determined than either. Would it be better for her to hold the lands or her brothers?”
Birke looked at the mane of the roan he rode. ”The sons.... They have always been heirs...”
”Exactly. It's hard, isn't it? If you admit that Secca might be a better landholder, then wouldn't you have to admit that Clayre or Lysara might have that skill, too?” Anna laughed. ”I'm not changing the succession laws, except in cases where the sons are incompetent or there aren't any sons.” She paused.
”Isn't it better that Cataryzna hold her father's lands than some outsider?”
Birke nodded. ”That... that is better.”
”Well... that's the sort of thing I am changing. Nothing more.” Not for a long time, anyway. That's enough to turn some of the older lords purple as it is.
Birke screwed up his face. ”But you did not... I mean Dumar....and the Sea-Priests...”
”I didn't, did I?” The sorceress wiped her forehead. Despite the early-morning coolness in the hills, she was starting to perspire. Nerves? ”I'm hoping that if I cut off the river to Dumar for a time, that will persuade Ehara to get the Sea-Priests to leave.”
”But...”
”If they don't?” Anna shrugged. ”We'll have to see. At least this way, I'm not using sorcery to kill scores or hundreds or thousands of people.” If it works....She repressed a s.h.i.+ver. ”Isn't that the narrows there?”
Birke stood in the stirrups. ”Yes. There goes a buck! If I had my bow out, we'd have venison.”
Anna watched as the big white-tailed red deer-was there such an animal?-bounded from the cleared area into the trees that climbed the hills to the east of the trail. She was glad Birke hadn't had his bow out and stung. She turned in the saddle. ”Liende, I'd like the players to set up on that ga.s.sy spot on the ridge there, right below those bushes.”
”Players!” Liende ordered.
Anna eased her water bottle from its holder and took a long slow swallow before replacing it. By then, Farinelli had carried her to the partly cleared ridge that overlooked the narrower section of the gorge.
Most of the mist had cleared from above the river, save for a few wispy strands drifting out of the shadows she couldn't see below her on the eastern side.
”Purple company!” called Hanfor. ”Squads one and two back along the trail, up to the crest by that pine.
Squads three and four, ride down to where those two bushes sit by that fallen trunk.”
As the armsmen followed the arms commander's orders and dust swirled across the high meadow, Anna dismounted, handing Farinelli' s reins to Lejun and then unpacking the folder with the spell and the drawings of the dam. Folder in hand, she stretched, then lifted her shoulders, walking in circles to get the stiffness out of her legs. Her steps took her down to the overlook, and she studied the gorge once more.
The Falche seemed wider than even the few days earlier, the silver ribbon twisting in the shade hundreds of yards below. As she watched the play of light and mist and shadow, she cleared her throat, then began her vocalises.
”Holly-lolly-polly-pop...d.a.m.n!” She coughed, trying to clear out her throat, then began again. It was going to take a long time to get clear. It did-four separate vocalises and a lot of mucus.
Only the faintest of mist streamers were left by the time she turned from her warm-up and view of the Falche. Jecks was waiting for her by Farinelli, water bottle in hand, after she walked back up the gentle slope through the knee-high brush.
”You're worried, aren't you?” she asked.
”I should not be.” He shrugged. ”I worry every time you attempt the impossible.” A small laugh followed.
”You have made the impossible possible, time and again, but still I worry.”
”This time even more?”
He nodded.
”You may be right. This is a very ambitious spell.”
”Sometimes, my lady, you try too hard to avoid shedding blood.”
”You all wanted me as regent. That's who I am.” Anna laughed brittlely and shook her head. ”No . . . you didn't want me, You wanted someone to preserve Defalk, and you got me. That's different, isn't it?”
”In these times, Defalk could not have a better ruler.”
”You're so careful, Jecks, but I understand. Thank you.” She took the water bottle and drank, then handed it back.
The players stood on the cleared part of the ridge, stretching, coughing, clearing throats. The sounds of strings and the clarinet-like woodwind and the deeper falk-horn intertwined as the group finished its warm-up tunes.
”Your players stand ready, Lady Anna,” Liende said.
”Thank you, Liende. I'm almost ready.” Anna walked to where Hanfor waited, still mounted. ”1 don't know what will happen, but it could spook the mounts.”
”I have told the men that. They understand.”
”Good:” She paused. ”Thank you.
Hanfor touched his brow in an informal salute. ”May the harmonies be with you, Lady Anna.”
Anna glanced from Hanfor to Jecks, getting a brief smile from the white-haired lord. She took a last swallow and coughed gently, to make sure her throat was clear. Finally, she nodded to Liende.