Part 146 (1/2)

She tensed for impact, but it never came. Vi opened her eyes and couldn't see anything through the torrent. Then she was clear of it. She saw a thick rope of Talent knotted around her and extending all the way back to Sister Ariel, who was grimacing with the effort. In another moment, Vi was next to one of the chains. She grabbed it and Sister Ariel released her.

Vi was instantly swept off her feet and spun by the force of the water, but with effort she regained her feet. Above her she saw the Vurdmeisters-there were only three now-throwing fiery death toward her, but nothing came even close. On the Cenarian sh.o.r.e two hundred women glowed like torches with Talent: her Sisters. They were protecting her, and nothing could stop them. Vi's heart swelled to bursting. These women would die for her. For the first time in her life, she belonged.

She was crying and laughing even as she found the other chain. She stood with one chain in each hand, each link as long as her forearm. She heaved, but without the pulleys it was just too heavy.

She moved back a step, out of the dam's shadow into the sun. It wasn't quite noon. She felt sunlight drenching her skin and she opened herself to it, opened herself until it burned, until it filled every pore with heat.

Then she heaved again. At first, nothing moved, and then she felt as if deep within the dam mechanisms were threatening to give way, protesting deep in their iron throats, and finally... turning. Her Talent extended beyond her arms, gripping the chains like half a dozen hands, grabbing, pulling, and grabbing again. Hissing filled her ears, and she opened her eyes. Something was glowing, blindingly bright. It was her. She was luminous. Vi glowed like the Seraph herself. Steam rose in great hissing billows where the water washed over her limbs. eyes. Something was glowing, blindingly bright. It was her. She was luminous. Vi glowed like the Seraph herself. Steam rose in great hissing billows where the water washed over her limbs.

The sluice gates cracked open, three on the left and three on the right. Vi pulled, feeling her strength waning. She had to finish. She pulled one more time and felt the gates lock open. The water pouring over the top of the dam onto her slowed, stopped. She could see again.

The six open gates below her jetted water into the valley with incredible force. The water blasted into the thousands of highlanders crossing into the Great Market. Men clambered for higher ground, stampeding toward sh.o.r.e, crus.h.i.+ng their fellows underfoot.

Only Garuwas.h.i.+'s men were unfazed by the flood. Whether or not they had seen how near their trap had come to collapsing, the sa'ceurai were ready for it to work. Through all the high ground surrounding the Great Market, they closed ranks and shut down choke points expertly. Then they surged back, pus.h.i.+ng Khalidorans to a watery death. In places, men clawed their way over the sa'ceurai's s.h.i.+elds, but they were quickly cut down.

Vi became aware that everyone on the bridge was staring at her. They were all shouting, cheering. She was still holding the chains. They were suddenly unbearably heavy. She dropped them and staggered. Hands grabbed her, steadied her. A dozen Sisters had ventured out onto the slick walkway to come to her.

Sisters. My sisters. Vi started crying, and no one looked at her like she was stupid. Vi started crying, and no one looked at her like she was stupid.

87

Lantano Garuwas.h.i.+ was the first to understand the implications of what occurred at the dam. The trap he and Agon and Logan had worked up had always a.s.sumed that they would be able to close the sluice gates after they opened them. With the destruction of the pulleys, it was a miracle they'd been opened in the first place. After flooding out the highlanders, he and Logan had planned to throw everything at the shaken Khalidoran army. Caught between the Ceurans and the Cenarians and the cursed ground of the Dead Demesne, the Khalidoran army would have broken in minutes. Instead, the allies' armies could only advance across the narrow bridges. the Dead Demesne, the Khalidoran army would have broken in minutes. Instead, the allies' armies could only advance across the narrow bridges.

Garuwas.h.i.+ ordered the crossing and ordered magae to protect the bridges. If he'd been the Khalidorans, that's what he would try to destroy.

He was right. The counterattack was almost solely magical. Hundreds of meisters had hit each of the bridges, but then, suddenly, they'd been called off. The magae told him they could see a magical conflagration on the far side of Black Barrow itself, Khalidorans fighting barbarians, but they couldn't tell him anything else. Had he been able to ford the river, he could have taken advantage of the G.o.dking's splitting his army. But that was water literally under the bridge. He established beachheads and put engineers to work widening the bridges by whatever means they could, but the situation looked grim.

As soon as the Khalidorans saw that his men were establis.h.i.+ng fortifications and not attacking, they withdrew to high points hundreds of paces away and began working on their own.

In the early afternoon, Garuwas.h.i.+ found King Gyre in their command tent, which had been moved to the foot of Ox Bridge.

”Today was a great victory,” Logan said. ”They lost more than nine thousand highlanders. I lost ninety men holding the market. How many sa'ceurai?”

”One hundred fifteen in baiting the trap. Eight in springing it.”

”Two hundred men, to kill nine thousand,” Logan said. He didn't elaborate. It was a victory, but it was a victory that was a prelude to defeat.

”Tomorrow their fifteen thousand come back from Reigukhas, and you lose my sa'ceurai,” Garuwas.h.i.+ said.

”How long until the Regent arrives?” Logan asked.

”An hour. His messengers have asked that he see me immediately.” It wasn't right. After such a great victory, he should be looking on the morrow with relish. Instead, this night he would kill himself. Many of his sa'ceurai would join him. The twenty thousand sa'ceurai who accompanied the Regent would simply turn and go home.

”Can't you just use the illusion you used today?” Logan asked.

Garuwas.h.i.+ sighed. ”Feir said there's something about the magic of the blade that interferes with illusions. The glow looked good from ten or twenty paces while the sword was cutting back and forth, but from up close? It wouldn't withstand a child's scrutiny.”

”Your Majesties, if I may?” Feir asked. Garuwas.h.i.+ hadn't seen him arrive, despite his huge bulk. It was a measure of how exhausted he was. Logan gestured Feir to continue. ”I made that sword. If we can find a ruby to hold the spells, I dare say I'm the only person in the world who could tell the difference between the new Ceur'caelestos and the real thing. We don't even need a special ruby. It just needs to be big. King Gyre, I'm sure your treasury has something that will work. It seems ridiculous that we'd give up this close.” to hold the spells, I dare say I'm the only person in the world who could tell the difference between the new Ceur'caelestos and the real thing. We don't even need a special ruby. It just needs to be big. King Gyre, I'm sure your treasury has something that will work. It seems ridiculous that we'd give up this close.”

”It's not giving up,” Garuwas.h.i.+ snapped. ”It's having our fraud discovered.”

”What if they didn't discover it?” Feir asked.

”The Regents have been waiting centuries for this,” Logan said. ”I'm sure they have some kind of test to determine if the blade is real.”

”So what if they do?” Feir asked. ”The Regent's not Talented and you have magae at your disposal. With a little preparation, we can-”

”Get out,” Garuwas.h.i.+ breathed. ”I listened to you once and dishonored myself. No more. You know nothing of sa'ceurai. Begone, snake.”

Feir's face drained of color. He stood slowly. Garuwas.h.i.+ turned his back to him. He almost hoped Feir would strike him down. Let Garuwas.h.i.+ die betrayed. Then any flaw found with the sword would be a.s.sumed to be the work of the betrayer. Something would be left of Garuwas.h.i.+'s name.

”If you would save this army and all these thousands of souls, the magae and I will be near,” Feir said quietly. ”If you would save only your precious honor, you can go to h.e.l.l.”

When Garuwas.h.i.+ turned, the big man was gone. King Gyre looked at him silently.

”What is a king without honor?” Garuwas.h.i.+ asked. ”These men mean everything to me. They have followed me from villages and cities to foreign lands. Where I have gone, they have gone. When I have told a hundred to take a hill, knowing it would cost ninety their lives, they have obeyed. They are lions. If they are to die, they should die in battle, not dishonored by their lord. Tomorrow, you will face twenty thousand Khalidorans and two thousand meisters, who barely fought today. Without the sa'ceurai, your men will be shaken.”

”Seeing six thousand men and their unbeatable general kill themselves may do that,” Logan said dryly. ”As will looking at the backs of twenty thousand sa'ceurai who could have been allies.”

”You are a king. What would you do?” Garuwas.h.i.+ asked.

”You ask me that when I have such an interest in your answer?”

”I saw you put your closest friend to death for honor.”

Logan looked at his hands. He said nothing for a long time. ”The night before Kylar went to the wheel, I sent a man to break him out of my own gaol. Kylar refused to leave because it would hurt my reign. He believed in me that much. To be king means to accept that others will pay the price of your failures-and even your successes. Part of me died on that wheel. Whatever you decide, doen-Lantano, it has been an honor to fight beside you.” of your failures-and even your successes. Part of me died on that wheel. Whatever you decide, doen-Lantano, it has been an honor to fight beside you.”

”King Gyre, if I choose expiation, will you be my second?”

Logan Gyre bowed low, his face rigid. ”Doen-Lantano, I would be honored.”

88

He'd been mad. Feir had followed the instructions of an insane archmagus who was seven centuries dead. Feir had made a sword that even he didn't fully understand. He had bent even Lantano Garuwas.h.i.+ to his will. He had believed, and now fraud would build on fraud unless Lantano Garuwas.h.i.+ chose to end it all.

Having sworn himself to the warleader, Feir would be expected to suicide along with Garuwas.h.i.+, but he wouldn't. He knew that. Of course, the warleader might slay him. But Feir didn't think he'd allow that, either. So he would cheat again, and defend himself with magic. Every sa'ceurai in Midcyru would despise him. Perhaps one would hunt him down. That was Feir's future. Either that, or serving forever as Lantano Garuwas.h.i.+'s illusionist-in-chief, threading pretend flames onto his beautiful sword for the rest of his life.

That deception would destroy Lantano Garuwas.h.i.+. If he ruled, he would rule badly, knowing himself to be dishonored. Garuwas.h.i.+ was not so young that honor was the only important thing in his life, but he was sa'ceurai to the roots of his soul. The best thing for Garuwas.h.i.+ would be to bury a blade in his own guts.

The sun sat low in the sky as Feir ducked to step into the council tent. Inside the tent sat King Gyre, Lord General Agon Brant, a wan Vi Sovari, and an older maja Feir didn't recognize. Feir took an empty seat. King Gyre sat with folded hands to Feir's right. His face was emotionless, but that in itself told Feir that the king was worried. As Feir pulled his chair in, something about Logan's right arm drew his attention. There was some magic there, woven small and tight into Logan's vambrace or his arm.

Logan noticed his attention and folded his hands in his lap, under the table. Feir dismissed it and continued looking around the table. Vi Sovari had covered herself with a modest maja's dress, but at the wrists and neck her gray-black skin-tight wetboy's garb was still visible. She had dark circles under her eyes and her skin was pale from her magical exertions at the dam. She was four places down the table, almost at the end of Feir's magical vision, but he could see she hadn't overextended her Talent. After Solon had used Curoch, he'd looked broken. His hair had grown in white, and he'd only escaped permanent injuries because Dorian was such a gifted Healer. With her escapades at the dam, Vi hadn't hurt herself at all. She'd come near the limit of her gifts, but hadn't exceeded it. Feir suspected that with a good night's sleep, she'd be ready to do as much tomorrow. She was easily the most powerful mage here. She might even equal Solon. And, sitting up straight now at a word from the old maja at her right hand, Vi felt huge. As a man's muscles looked most impressive after hard labor, so now did Vi's Talent feel enormous. It made Feir feel small, and he didn't like it. table. Feir dismissed it and continued looking around the table. Vi Sovari had covered herself with a modest maja's dress, but at the wrists and neck her gray-black skin-tight wetboy's garb was still visible. She had dark circles under her eyes and her skin was pale from her magical exertions at the dam. She was four places down the table, almost at the end of Feir's magical vision, but he could see she hadn't overextended her Talent. After Solon had used Curoch, he'd looked broken. His hair had grown in white, and he'd only escaped permanent injuries because Dorian was such a gifted Healer. With her escapades at the dam, Vi hadn't hurt herself at all. She'd come near the limit of her gifts, but hadn't exceeded it. Feir suspected that with a good night's sleep, she'd be ready to do as much tomorrow. She was easily the most powerful mage here. She might even equal Solon. And, sitting up straight now at a word from the old maja at her right hand, Vi felt huge. As a man's muscles looked most impressive after hard labor, so now did Vi's Talent feel enormous. It made Feir feel small, and he didn't like it.