Darkspell

by Katharine Kerr

  “So we are, my prince, but the sight of you gladdens my heart, anyway.”

  “And it gladdens mine to see you. Will you shelter us?”

  “What? Of course, Your Highness. Why, you’ve come at the perfect time. Scwna’s just been airing out your chambers, you see, like she does every spring, so they’ll be nice and clean for you.”

  “Has she, now? Every spring?”

  “Every spring. We’re like badgers, my prince. We hold on.”

  Mael swung down from his horse, grabbed Avascaen’s hand, and shook it hard. When he saw the tears in the prince’s eyes, Avascaen began to feel a bit rocky himself.

  “I’m not a prince anymore,” Mael said. “And I count myself honored to call you friend. Here, I’ve got my new wife and son with me, and let’s pray that this time I’m home to stay.”

  As the party filed into the ward, Egamyn, Maryl, and Scwna ran out of the broch to greet them. Avascaen gave Egamyn a smug smile.

  “And didn’t I tell you he’d be back?”

  He had the satisfaction of seeing his bigmouthed son speechless.

  After a companionable afternoon and celebratory dinner, Avascaen went out to tend the light. Just as the sky was fading to a pearly gray, he struck sparks from his steel, set the dry tinder burning, then blew on it until the sparks licked round the kindling. He added logs until, at last, the beacon burned strong and sent its warning out to sea. He walked to the edge and looked at the broch, the windows cheerful with lantern light. The prince was home. I didn’t forget him and he didn’t forget me, he thought, just like badgers, both of us. The world was a satisfying place, filled with justice. Later, when the full moon was at its zenith, Mael came up to the tower. Panting, out of breath, the prince leaned against the guardrail.

  “You must have cursed strong legs,” Mael said.

  “Oh, you get used to it after a bit.”

  They leaned side by side over the rail and looked at the sea, the waves foaming silver in the moonlight as they crashed onto the tiny strip of pale beach.

  “Did I tell you that I was kept in the top of a tower during my imprisonment?”

  “Well, fancy that. So there you were, looking down, and here I was, doing the same.”

  “Just that, but this view is a true sight wider than the one I had. I want to stay in Cannobaen for the rest of my life, but that depends on Prince Ogretoryc. The demesne is his to dispose of now, not mine.”

  “If he’s got the gall to turn you out of it, then he’ll have to find himself another lighthouse keeper.” Avascaen considered the problem for a moment. “Now, here, my brother’s got more land than he can farm by himself. He’ll take us in if things come to that.”

  “My thanks. I can earn a bit as a letter writer, too.”

  For a few minutes they shared a companionable silence.

  “By the way,” Mael said, “have there even been any ships out here?”

  “Blasted few, but you never know when someone will need the light.”

  Since Primilla’s strategy lay in portraying Mael as someone utterly unfit for courtly affairs, she urged him to make his letter to his son as blunt as possible, and she was pleased with the result.

  “To Ogretoryc, prince of Aberwyn and Cannobaen and my son, Mael the philosopher sends greetings. Although we have never spoken two words together, Your Highness, it behooves a father to be blunt with his own flesh and blood. I know full well that you wish to keep your positions and your honors at the court of my brother the king. I have no desire for anything but to see you do so. I have become a humble scholar, unfit for the duties of war and rulership after my long imprisonment. All I want is to live out the remains of my life in my old country lodge of Cannobaen, or, if his highness prefers, as a common villager. You may send word to me through Primilla, head of the dyer’s guild. I fear for my life in court circles. I have no desire to taste freedom only to taste poison a few weeks later. Your father, Mael the philosopher.”

  When she finished reading, Mael leaned back in his chair and gave her a quizzical smile.

  “It should do splendidly,” she said.

  “Good. You know, it’s a strange thing to be humble to your own son. If it’s not enough for them that I’ve been disclaimed, now I’ve abdicated. Should keep things all nice and tidy, as our Avascaen would say.”

  When Primilla returned to Abernaudd, she waited a day before delivering the letter in order to hear the current gossip. The court—indeed, the entire city—was as full of rumors as a wasps’ nest is of stings. The King had indeed sent an honor guard to the border to receive Mael, but they’d found Nevyn the Cerrmor councillor and Prince Cobryn of Cerrmor there instead, telling them that Mael had decided to travel alone. Everyone suspected treachery, but on Ogretoryc’s part, not Cerrmor’s.

  “Now, I say they’re wagering on the wrong horse in this race,” Cadlew said. “If there’s treachery, the princess is behind it, not the prince. Some of her loyal men might have taken a warband out after Mael.”

  “Indeed? Now, suppose the philosopher isn’t dead. Does anyone have any idea of where he might be?”

  “There’s plenty of guesses, but the tale making the rounds is that Mael’s gone over to the rebels in Pyrdon, who’ll shelter him for the chance to make trouble here in Eldidd. Fortunately, they’re too weak to back him in a drive for the throne—too weak as yet, anyway. After all, once a man’s been a prince, who’s to blame him if he wants it all back again?”

  On the morrow Primilla made her visit to the prince and princess. Laligga’s face was so drawn that it seemed she hadn’t slept in nights; Ogretoryc merely looked baffled.

  “Your Highness, I have a letter from your father to you.”

  Ogretoryc was up like a bow shot. Laligga crouched in her chair and stared wide-eyed as Primilla handed over the message tube.

  “And where have you seen my father?”

  “On the roads. His highness knows that I often travel. He seemed much distressed and asked me to take the letter when he found out I was going to Abernaudd.”

  “It’s the seal of Aberwyn, all right.” Ogretoryc was looking over the tube. “It must be the one he had with him when he was captured.”

  While he read the letter, Laligga watched with eyes that revealed far too much fear to be becoming.

  “Well,” Ogretoryc said at last, “this should put a stop to these rumors that we had him murdered on the road. I fear I forget myself, good dame, but my heart has been heavy this past few weeks.”

  “Of course, Your Highness. Doubtless concern for your father’s life was hard to bear.”

  “It was.” The way he spoke convinced her of his sincerity, as did the disdainful way he threw the letter in his wife’s lap.

  With a toss of her head Laligga picked up the letter and read it. Primilla could see the currents in her aura, where fear and suspicion whirled around it like demons.

  “And is my lady satisfied?” Ogretoryc spit out.

  “And is my lord thinking that I would be anything else?”

  When their eyes locked, Primilla turned away and busied herself with admiring a floral arrangement. After a moment Ogretoryc broke away with a small snarl under his breath.

  “Allow me to escort you to the door, good dame,” he said. “You have my thanks for bringing me the letter.”

  The prince didn’t speak again until they were well out of the princess’s hearing.

  “Can you tell me where Mael is?” he said.

  “In Cannobaen, Your Highness.”

  “I thought he might be, but, here, don’t tell another soul until I have things arranged. My beloved wife can just stew over it a little longer.”

  Every morning Mael and Gavra went for a long walk along the cliffs and looked at the ocean. Since memories of Cannobaen had haunted his imprisonment, it still seemed unbelievable that he was really there, feeling the sun warm on his back and breathing in the sharp, clean smell of the sea. Often in the afternoon he would climb the tower and sit by the ash
es of the beacon as he kept watch on the road. As time slipped past, he began to wonder how many days of contentment were left to him. Every day without an answer from Abernaudd was an evil omen of court intrigue.

  Yet when the answer did come, he was taken by surprise. He was in his chamber, using a stylus to rule lines onto parchment, when Avascaen’s son Maryl burst in.

  “Your Highness, there’s twenty-five men at our gates, and your son with them.”

  Hardly thinking, Mael grabbed his tiny penknife for a weapon and ran outside, but the men were dismounting in a friendly sort of confusion. Mael had no trouble picking out the prince in the bustle, simply because his son strikingly resembled him. Smiling, Ogretoryc strode over and held out his hand.

  “It gladdens my heart to see you, Father. All my life I’ve heard tales about you, and now at last we meet.”

  “And so we do.” Mael took the offered hand.

  “Your letter ached my heart. You’ve got nothing to fear, I swear it.”

  “Then the court must have changed since last I rode there.”

  “I’ve had plenty of impious advice, if that’s what you mean, but I’ll kill any man who raises his hand against you.”

  He spoke so sincerely that Mael nearly wept with relief.

  “Then you have my thanks.”

  Ogretoryc turned, looking up at the broch and the tower.

  “I’ve never been here before, you know. When I was a child, Mother never visited it, because thinking of how much you loved this place made her weep. When I was grown, I was off at war much of the time. It’s yours again. I’ve made it over to you, and the king’s most graciously bestowed a title with it. I’ve got the letters patent in my saddlebags.”

  “By the gods! That was generous of you.”

  He shrugged, still looking away.

  “There’s one thing I’ve got to say,” Ogretoryc went on. “Some years ago, when they sent the letter of disclaimance, everyone was sure Glyn would hang you. I would have begged the king not to send the letter, but I was away from court.” At last he looked at Mael. “My wife arranged for me to be away from court during the councils when the king made his decision. I found that out much later.”

  “Well, I wouldn’t ache your heart over it overmuch. I doubt me if the king would have listened to your plea. But I’ll ask you a favor, that I never have to meet your lady.”

  “I’m putting her aside. She can live out her life in some quiet place of retirement.”

  And there was malice in his voice.

  On the morrow Ogretoryc took his leave with the promise to return soon if the summer’s fighting allowed. Mael waved him out of the gates, then went looking for Gavra, whom he found studying the ward near Scwna’s kitchen garden.

  “What are you doing?” he said.

  “Thinking of taking up these cobbles so we can put in an herb garden. Scwna tells me there’s lots of sun out here.”

  “I can see it now. For years the folk will talk about the eccentric Lady Gavra of Cannobaen and her herbs.”

  “I can’t be a lady. I refuse.”

  “Can’t refuse. You sealed your fate when you married me. You know, many a lass has won a title with beauty, but you’re the first one I ever heard of who won hers with a decoction of febrifuges.”

  When she laughed, he kissed her, then merely held her tight, free in the warm sunlight.

  In the summer of 797, in his fiftieth year, Glyn, Gwerbret Cerrmor and would-be king of all Deverry, died of a congestion of the heart. Although Nevyn had been worrying about the king’s health for some time, the suddenness of it caught him off guard. One morning Glyn rode out at the head of his men; at noon they brought him home dead. He’d been stricken while mounting his horse and died within minutes. While his sobbing wife and her serving women washed and laid out his body, his eldest son, Camlann, assumed the kingship before his loyal vassals in the great hall, where the head priest of Bel first blessed him, then pinned the enormous ring-brooch of kingship onto his plaid. As the vassals came forward, one by one, to kneel to their new liege lord, Nevyn slipped away from the confusion and went to his chambers. The time had come for him to leave Cerrmor.

  Late that night Nevyn was in the midst of packing when the new king sent for him. Camlann had already moved into the royal apartments. He now stood by the hearth where Nevyn had so often watched his father pace restlessly. At thirty, the new king was heavily built, but he was just as handsome as his father, and he stood as straight and as tall.

  “I hear you plan to leave us,” Camlann said. “I was hoping that you’d serve me as you served my father.”

  “My liege is most kind.” Nevyn sighed at the necessary lies ahead of him. “But your father’s death has dealt a heavy blow to one as old as I. I have no more strength for court duties, my liege. I only wish to eke out my last few years honoring your father’s memory.”

  “Most nobly put. Then it would please me to settle some land near Cerrmor upon you, as a reward for your long years of service.”

  “The king is most generous, but he should save such favors for a younger man. I have kin who will shelter me, and it’s to his kin that an old man’s mind turns.”

  When he left Cerrmor, Nevyn rode to Cannobaen to see Mael and Gavra. Although there was open warfare along the Eldidd border, in his guise of shabby old herbman he easily slipped the lines and made his way along the Eldidd coast. Late on a golden summer day, when the wild rose bloomed along the road, he reached the dun. Over the gates the old crest of the princes of Aberwyn had been taken down, and a new device hung there, a pair of grappling badgers and the motto: We hold on.

  When Nevyn led his horse and mule inside, Mael ran to greet him with a shout. He was tanned and vigorous, grinning as he grabbed Nevyn’s hand and clasped it between both of his.

  “What are you doing here, away from all the important affairs of the kingdom?” Mael said. “It gladdens my heart to see you.”

  “Well, Glyn’s dead, and I left the court.”

  “Dead? I hadn’t heard the news.”

  “You look sad, my friend.”

  “In a way, I am. Whatever his reasons, Glyn was the most generous patron a scholar ever had. He fed me for twenty years, didn’t he? Many a lord’s got a fulsome dedication for a cursed sight less than that. But come in, come in. Gavra will be pleased to see you, and we’ve got a new daughter to show you.”

  Besides the new daughter, Mael had another treasure to share, a very rare book indeed, which he had found at the temple of Wmm during one of his rare visits to Aberwyn. At night they took turns reading aloud from this early translation of a dialogue by the Rhwman sage Tull Cicryn, and stayed up late many a time discussing these rare thoughts from the Dawntime age.

  “I spent a wretched lot of coin on this,” Mael remarked at one point. “Gavra thought I was daft, and mayhap she’s right. But the priests said it’s the only book of Cicryn’s that came over in the great exile.”

  “It is, and it’s a pity we don’t have more. The old tale runs that Cicryn was a man much like you, a prince of the Rhwmanes who fell from power because he backed the wrong claimant to the Rhwman throne. He devoted the rest of his life to philosophy.”

  “Well, I hope his exile wasn’t too harsh, but it was worth it to have these Tuscan Talks of his. I intend to include his arguments against suicide in my new book. That central image of his is most apt and striking, where he says that we’re like watchmen for an army, appointed by the gods for reasons we can’t know, and so to kill yourself is to desert your post.”

  “As I seem to recall pointing out to a very young prince a very long time ago.”

  Mael laughed easily.

  “So you did, and my tutor was right enough. Here, I’ve been meaning to remember to tell you somewhat. You’re welcome to stay here the rest of your life if you want. I can’t offer you courtly splendor, but Cannobaen’s warm in the winter.”

  “Most generous of you, and truly, I’m tempted, but I have kin to go to.”<
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  “Kin? Of course, you must have kin. Here I’ve been thinking that dweomermen must spring full grown from the ground.”

  “Like frogs from warm mud? Well, we’re not as strange as all that—not quite, anyway.”

  When Nevyn left, he slipped out early one dawn before the family was awake, simply to spare everyone a bitter parting. As he rode away, he looked back to see the pale glow of the Cannobaen light, high on its tower, and knew that he would never see Mael again. He wished that he really did have kin to go to, but, of course, what distant relatives he did have were all at one or the other of the warring courts, which he would have to avoid for a time. Quite simply, he needed to pretend to die. After a good many years another Nevyn the herbman could reappear in places that had once known him without people asking embarrassing questions about his unusually long life.

  He decided to head for some outlying place in Cantrae territory, where he could bring his skills to the common folk of the torn kingdom. He wondered where he would find Brangwen again and if perhaps she was already alive somewhere in a new body. He could do nothing but follow his intuitions and let the chance that was more than chance guide him. With a long, painful sigh, he turned his horse onto the north-running road. For all that his long life would have seemed wonderful to other men, he was very tired.

  And as for Mael, Lord Cannobaen, he and his wife lived many a long, happy year, finally dying within a few days of each other of old age and nothing more. As his reputation for wisdom grew, he became known as “Mael the Seer,” being given the title of that class of men known as “vates” in the Dawntime. Although in Deverry folk would have called him Mael y Gwaedd, in the Eldidd way of speaking, his name became Maelwaedd, a title passed to all his descendants down the long years.

  SUMMER, 1063

  You must never speak of “binding” a spirit into a crystal or talisman. If the spirit chooses to serve you in this way, well and good, because it will gain knowledge and power as its reward, but let us leave this talk of binding and subjugation to the Dark Path.