Part 69 (1/2)
”You jest, of course.” Ehara's eyes look northward from the ridge overlook where his own archers take their position behind the exposed sandstone. The flatiron-shaped stones crest the hills that control the flat on the north side of the valley.
”Sea-Priests never jest.''
”Your pardon, I beg. My deepest apologies for doubting your veracity.”
The Sea-Marshal turns in the saddle, and his cold eyes fix upon the Lord of Dumar as though he were but a junior captain of lancers. ”Lord Ehara, listen carefully. The sorceress may call down her wizardry on my lancers or upon yours. I have insisted on the separation so that she must use great powers. My sea- captains know what to do if the wizardry fails upon you. If it falls upon my lancers, you must wait only until the sorcery ceases. Then you must attack immediately, before she can regain her strength.”
Ehara frowns. ”You speak as though you will not be with your lancers or with me.”
”No. I will be concealed near the entrance to the Vale. Even the sorceress will not discern me. If I am successful, she will not have the chance to work any wizardry. If not, you must know what to do.”
”What if she does not come? Or arrives by another route?” asks Ehara.
”There are no other routes,” states jerRestin.
”There are always other ways.” Ehara laughs easily.
”She could take a game trail and have her armsmen strung out like an unraveled net, where they could be picked off at every turn by archers.” The Sea-Marshal shrugs. ”She would still have to attack our armsmen from below, and her wizardry is limited to two or three mighty spells. That is why our forces are on separate hills.”
”She has used mighty sorcery before.” points out Ehara.
”And every time she has been laid low for weeks, if not longer. She will attempt to avoid such sorcery because she wishes to conquer Dumar, not destroy it.”
”You seem to know a great deal about her.” Ehara chuckles. ”Does she appeal to you? You know of what I speak.”
JerRestin shakes his head with a slight body shudder ”The woman appalls me. She is an unnatural creature from the mist worlds. I would not have her in chains or in any other fas.h.i.+on. She must be defeated, destroyed if that is possible.”
”I might like her in chains,” muses Ehara.
”Only with her mouth gagged,” responds jerRestin. ”She turned Lord Behlem into ashes with but her voice.”
”That was no great loss.” Ehara scans the hills to the north side of the Vale again, then nods. His archers have seemingly vanished into the red boulders, and his lancers are well sheltered under the natural overhangs and out of sight of the road.
”Except to Neserea.” A grim smile plays over jerRestin's lips. ”I must go to instruct my officers on how to put an end to the sorceress.”
”The harmonies be with you.”
”And with you, friend and ally.”
The two hors.e.m.e.n separate, one heading down the ridge to the cast, thc other to the north.
96.
The gelding whuffed once, and then, a dozen paces later, once more.
”We'll be stopping for water before long.” Anna glanced ahead along the curving road that descended into another narrow valley and toward a line of trees. A stream? She hoped so as she leaned forward in the saddle and patted Farinelli. ”Just hold on, fellow.”
Her light green s.h.i.+rt was plastered against her shoulders with sweat raised by the summer sun beating down from behind, and the back of her neck was going to be even more sunburned. Even with the return of the rains, Anna reflected, Defalk was just plain hot, hotter than Iowa in summer, more like Georgia or Alabama or south Florida away from the water-except hotter.
Riding beside her, Jecks looked over, but did not speak. She knew his unspoken question, and she still had no clear answer in her mind, except that they couldn't take the main road into the valley where Ehara was sure to set up an ambush. She hoped that, once they were closer to the Vale of Cuetayl, her sorcery would provide a clearer view of the options open to her.
The sorceress and regent looked toward the arms commander. ”Hanfor?”
'Yes. Lady Anna?”
”Will we be stopping to water the mounts at that stream?” Anna brushed aside a pesky horsefly, once, twice.
Farinelli's tail swished as the horsefly buzzed around the gelding's hindquarters.
”The scouts have said that the road toward Dumar remains clear for the next five deks,” answered Hanfor.
”I had thought we would water our mounts and let the men stand down. Have you a problem?”
”Oh, no. I was going to try the mirror again.”
”The players could use a rest also, Lady Anna,” Liende added.
Anna laughed. ”Everyone gets a break.” Except you. You have to do sorcery. She stood in the stirrups for a moment, ignoring the tightening muscles in her thighs, then eased back into a saddle that was getting harder by the dek for the ride down to the stream.
”Does the s.h.i.+eld spell draw too much from you?” Jecks asked quietly.
”No. I can feel it, like a spiderweb or the faintest brush of something against my skin. . .but so far...”
Anna shrugged, looking down at the s.h.i.+eld in the case by her knee.
”Good.” Jecks nodded.
The trees by the narrow river were some form of willows growing so thickly that the vanguard had to ride two thirds of the length of the short valley to find a clear approach to the water.
”Purple Company. . . take your mounts downstream from where water bottles are filled. Down by the gray rock.”
”Green Company! Wait for Purple... I said wait, MykIl! You want to fill evexy water bottle in the com- pany...”
”...don't push, Distek...”
”...enough water for everyone...”
Anna let Farinelli drink, then guided him back to a grove a dozen yards north of the stream, where she dismounted and tied him to a sapling. By the time she had the mirror unpacked and the lutar tuned, she had been joined by Hanfor, Jecks, and Liende.
They waited quietly as she ran through her vocalises. To the southwest, the watering and muted clamor continued. The sorceress pushed away the thought that watering the mounts of a full-sized anny would have been impossible and concentrated on the words and chords of the spell.
”Danger in the Vale, danger near, show Dumar' s armed danger bright and clear...”
Anna lowered the lutar and took a deep breath.