by Jo Walton
It was very good to be alone for a moment as I walked out through the stables, past my ala’s familiar horses, and into the courtyard. It was very peaceful. I wanted to prepare myself to see my son Darien. I hadn’t managed to bring him anything, again. My mind somehow refused to stop racing. I wanted to know what was happening.
When I came out into the courtyard, Arvlid was remonstrating with three of my armigers, who were sitting soaking their feet in the pool that fed the water clock. Arvlid was very plump now, and very pink in the face. She could never have run ten miles to warn the monastery; she would have been out of breath after one. I sent the armigers away with their heads between their knees—one of them looked as if she might cry when I asked them if they had just come off the farm. Arvlid was the only real friend I had made in my time at Thansethan, and I was glad to see her. I thanked her for the letters she had sent, and she told me how well Darien was doing at his lessons. “You’ll have to get on down to the pasture while you’re here,” she added. “Darien’s been longing to show you his foal.”
Then the doors of the sanctuary opened and the people poured out.
Darien came out with the other children. He had grown much taller. I thought he looked thin and wondered if they were feeding him enough. He seemed to be walking on his own in the midst of them. I had a moment before he saw me and his face closed up. We embraced, among the crowd coming out of the sanctuary. “How are you?” I asked. “How is your foal?”
“She’s wonderful,” he said, his face lighting up again. “She’s as beautiful as her mother, and I have called her Keturah.”
“That’s an unusual name for a horse,” I said. The other children giggled.
Darien’s back stiffened, and his cheeks flushed red. “It’s the name of the star that shone when the White God was born as a man,” he explained, in the tone of one explaining that spring grass is green.
“An excellent name,” I said, “with her mother being called Starlight.” This seemed to redeem my idiocy slightly for Darien. He almost smiled.
“And her father is called Maram, after the White God’s apostle who was so stubborn, because he is stubborn you know,” a boy a few years older put in, very politely. Darien moved a little towards me, away from the boy who had spoken. Arvlid frowned at the boy, and took a breath as if she meant to speak, but kept her silence.
“Well, a very good name,” I repeated, as heartily as I could.
“Shall we go and see her now?” Darien asked, turning to me and Arvlid and pointedly excluding the other children. I wondered if they bullied him.
“I have to speak to Raul first,” I said, catching sight of him coming towards me, looking almost pleased to see me. “Will you show her to me later? I’ll meet you in the stables.”
Darien ran off as Raul came up, and Arvlid gathered up the other children and led them off, except the older boy who had spoken. He was almost a young man—I had boys not much older working as grooms and scouts. He lingered near me, by the pool, looking at me and frowning a little.
“Ap Gwien, thanks be to God,” said Raul. “I was afraid you would have gone up to Wenlad.”
“I almost did,” I said. “What is the plan?”
“Have you heard the news from Demedia?” he asked, in a low voice. Then he looked round and saw the boy still nearby. “No, let’s go inside and talk.” I followed him into one of the little copyist’s rooms in the library where I had spent so much time in the months when I was waiting for Darien to be born.
“Who is that boy?” I asked, curiously.
“That’s the youngest son of the old lord of Angas,” Raul said, “Our Angas’s brother. Which is why I didn’t want to speak about it in front of him. He hasn’t been told the details. He’s been here for the last six months having a bit of education before he comes to Caer Tanaga to the ala.” He had grown and changed a lot since he had fought against me to fling himself into the fire that killed his mother at Caer Lind. I would never have known him.
“What’s happened?” I asked. “I know some Isarnagans have landed up there.”
Raul sighed heavily and pushed back his hood. “When we were fighting the Battle of Foreth and winning the Peace, you may remember Ohtar Bearsson brought all his troops down in boats to fight against us?” I already had a bad feeling. I raised my chin in acknowledgment. “Angas, having an ala and some local levies of foot soldiers, probed into Bereich and found that the defenses were a bluff, it was in fact almost undefended. He rushed all his force to the border, dashed in, and took it while he had the opportunity. He captured Gytha Ohtarsdottar, Alfwin’s wife, who has remained with her father all this time. She had been conducting the fight herself after their captain was killed.”
“Alfwin will hate that,” I blurted.
Raul half smiled. “No doubt. Angas spoke of her in the highest terms in his first letter. She is a great queen.” I remembered what he had said of her at Foreth, that she had taken the pebble. Raul went on. “In his next letter, he had heard from Marchel of our troubles and he left his militia but was riding south with his ala to come to our aid. Meanwhile, as Angas was securing Bereich and moving south into Tinala, Demedia, also left stripped of troops, was being invaded by Isarnagans from the west. These are the same Isarnagans who have always raided the coast, the people of Oriel. This time they came in force, largely because of what that idiot Chanerig ap Thurrig did at their fire feast.”
“I thought—” I said, and stopped.
Raul put his head on one side and looked at me. “It is possible to serve the White God without being a narrow-minded fanatic, you know,” he said, mildly. “I know, as do many at Thansethan, that if people are given the chance to see they will open their eyes. Some people take longer than others.” He smiled at me, and there was no doubt that he meant what he said. “But we do not believe in forcing conversions at any time. I wanted to preach to them all after Foreth and see if the spirit would move in them to accept the god of the victorious on the battlefield, as we read happened in Narlahena and in Lossia. But I would never force anyone to come to the White God’s table unwilling. When Custennin took the pebble the whole land of Munew sang and rejoiced and praised and worshiped the Lord. All of us who were there heard it. In Tir Isarnagiri it will be regretful praise at best, always looking backwards. Besides which impiety, Chanerig is a fool, and he has wished this invasion on us at a bad time. It would have been even worse if it had come before Foreth, and we have only God to thank, who turns even evil things to his purpose, that it did not.”
“That was lucky,” I agreed fervently. “So to go back to Demedia, what happened? Angas was away when they arrived?”
“Angas is not such a fool as to leave the country completely unguarded, though he was not expecting anything on that scale. The Isarnagans had a fight on their hands, and a message reached Angas. He immediately sent to us and returned as fast as he could. They are there in great force—both Atha ap Gren and Black Darag are there. Dun Idyn is under siege. There had been an inconclusive battle when last he sent, but it looks as if they are in possession of the western part of Demedia, while Angas has the eastern part and all of Bereich.”
My head hurt. “Where is Ohtar in all this? Does he know?”
“We very much hope he is in Caer Lind, so that he will be there when Urdo gets there. He probably knows by now. Urdo will tell him if not. He is hoping to persuade both Alfwin and Ohtar to march or sail north and secure Demedia.”
“I see why he went himself,” I said. “Will Angas give Bereich back?”
“It is to be hoped that he will, in return for Ohtar’s help,” Raul said, folding his hands together and staring at them.
“And what am I to do, and my ala?”
“Guard all the south and east,” Raul said. I opened my mouth, but he went on. “You can do it from here or from Caer Tanaga, or wherever suits you. There is what’s left of Ayl’s troops in Aylsfa, you can do something with them if you can get Ayl to agree. Luth is going up to Demedia,
but when Marchel and ap Mardol have sorted out the Isarnagans in Wenlad they will be available.”
I thought of the vast amounts of territory that were implied in that “south and east,” and remembered that the only ala in the west was Galba’s ala at Derwen. I would send to move them to Magor, that was near enough if there was trouble with Lew ap Ross or if anyone came up the Havren. That would do, and then my mind turned back to the magnitude of the problem Urdo had dropped on me. The open coastline of Tinala, Tevin, Aylsfa, Cennet, Segantia, and Munew and all the inland country as well. I wondered how much infantry militia the allied kings had and whether they would let me move troops around. I would have to be ready for Jarnish revolts, maybe even Tanagan revolts, certainly for more Isarnagan landings and Jarnish attacks from over the sea, either raiders coming for after-harvest attacks or a real attack with an army from Jarnholme wanting revenge for Foreth. Sweyn’s nephew could have got away, Ulf’s brother whatever his name was. Raul would know.
“What is the name of Sweyn’s younger nephew?” I asked.
Raul laughed. “You have been sitting there chewing your lip without saying a word until it is almost time for the next bell to ring for worship, and that is what you want to know? It is Arling Gunnarsson. He may be dead. He was carried from the field wounded, and nobody has seen him since.”
“I hope he is, though who knows who might lead any Jarnsmen who want to fight in that case. Will you talk to the allied kings for me about how many troops they have?”
“I will,” said Raul. “Some of that I know already, but we will have to tread very carefully.”
I raised my chin absently, agreeing. “After your next worship we must get the maps out and consider troops and logistics. The glory of victory is all very well, but making a show would probably help in some cases.” A thought struck me as I stood. “Whatever would you have done if I had gone to Wenlad?”
“I don’t know,” Raul said, and smiled thinly. “Urdo was absolutely sure you would be coming here; he wouldn’t listen to argument. And he was right, for here you are.”
I thought that the land had probably told him, but managed not to say as much to Raul, however friendly he was being at present. “Here I am, indeed. Shall I meet you back here after your service?” I asked. “I have to go and see a horse now.”
29
“If I have no sword, where then shall I seek peace?”
—from a hymn to Sky Father
The month and a half after I left Thansethan I spent mostly in the saddle. There was no fighting except for one skirmish against raiders. Mostly I moved troops around and looked as strong as possible for the kings. There were potential problems almost everywhere that looking weak would exacerbate. I went first to Caer Tanaga and saw Garah and Glyn and Elenn. Garah and Glyn both looked exhausted—all the years of building up supplies to keep the horses fed in the War had left the stores in entirely the wrong place for this new invasion. Dalmer had gone north with Urdo and left it all to them. Elenn was also deeply involved in all the logistic work. I told her about the settlement with Lew and Emer, but not about Emer’s relationship with Conal Fishface. It was too shocking, and I did not know how she felt about her sister. I would tell Urdo, and he could decide what to tell her.
I left three pennons there with Masarn. I also left him orders to be ready to respond to any trouble anywhere on his own initiative. I left his own pennon, of course, and the two weary pennons of volunteers who had come with me from Galba’s ala. Garah assured me at parting that she would send to me whenever there was any news at all.
We were only one pennon short of a full ala when we crossed the Tamer and rode into Aylsfa. The farmers getting the harvest in stopped in the fields to stare at us as we rode by. In some places they had dug holes in the side of the highroad to get stone for their houses, and it was collapsing down to the level of the fields. I couldn’t find it in my heart to reprove the mutters of “barbarians” that ran through the ranks when we saw that.
I ate very good roast boar with Ayl in his strange hall of Fenshal. It has bog and reeds on three sides. This makes it safe from attack but horrible to visit. Both roof and floor are made of rushes, and the walls are wood and mud. It was horribly damp. I reassured him over and over that whatever we could do we would. Those few of his household and fighting men who were alive after Foreth seemed cheered to see us and this proof of Urdo’s friendship. They had lost all their confidence with their defeat. I tried hard to be delicate at explaining that he could call on us for help if he needed it. He promised us any supplies we needed if we had to fight in Aylsfa.
Ayl did not fear the Isarnagans, who were not fools to sail all the way around Tir Tanagiri just to attack him when they had no particular grudge. He was worried that Sweyn’s first wife, Hulda, who was ruling Jarnholme, or Arling Gunnarsson, if he had survived, would invade across the Narrow Seas at any moment. Hulda, he told me, hated Sweyn for taking a second wife and for sacrificing their daughter to the gods. This would not necessarily stop her deciding to try to avenge him. He was also worried that some of the Tanagan kings would see his weakness and attack. He did not name any of these threats, and I did not like to say that he was fortunate in not sharing borders with the ones most likely to do it.
As far as help went I could say no more than that I would be ready to do what I could. I could not leave as much as a pennon there with him because there was nowhere safe to house the horses and no supplies ready. Greathorses can live on grass alone, but they can’t fight on it. Nor do they thrive in wet land, and when they are outside walls they are vulnerable at night. I told him to prepare supplies and have people ready who could ride and knew the ways to the coast in case there was an invasion and the ala needed guiding.
He told me after supper that he was looking for a wife, which I promised to mention to Urdo. I could see this was an excellent opportunity for a closer alliance and that it would be better if he looked for a wife in Tir Tanagiri than if he sent for one from Jarnholme. I wondered if Alswith could cope with him. I couldn’t see any Tanagan wanting to live in a damp place like this. But there were proper towns along the coast—I had seen them on the map—Othona and Caer Col. I thought that maybe now there was peace he would live somewhere more sensible. (I was wrong about this. Ayl liked Fenshal and lived there until he died, and his heirs are living there still.) Just before I left he asked after Ulf, who was not with us. Urdo had assigned him to Masarn’s pennon, and I had not wanted to change Urdo’s direct order without a good reason.
Then I went south, calling briefly at Caer Tanaga to pick up Raul and get Glyn to send one of his sharp young quartermasters to Ayl to help organize the supply situation there. I rode on after only one night, down to Cennet. I ate eels and beans with Guthrum and Ninian and assured them that the Isarnagans would be cleared out of their daughter’s kingdom soon. I learned from them that Eirann Swan-Neck and her older children were out rousing the Demedian countryside against the invaders. Guthrum was in no need of troops. Indeed Cennet was probably the strongest and best-armed place on the island as they had lost very little in the War. They’d fought a few skirmishes with Ayl but nothing more. I think Sweyn had thought they would acknowledge him as High King if Urdo were defeated and had not wanted to cause bloodfeuds. I suggested that if they were thinking of attacking Aylsfa, Urdo would be very unhappy to hear it. Ninian replied that the thought had never entered their minds, but she laughed as she said it. They gave us some supplies for the horses, not as much as I would have liked, but certainly a help. It seemed the bean crop had been notably good in Cennet that year. I arranged for most of the sacks to be sent to Caer Tanaga. Beans sustain horses well but with two great disadvantages. The first is the smell, and the second is the interminable jokes everyone makes about the smell. We rode out of Cennet on a dry morning surrounded by a great cloud of both.
We went on westward along the coast to Caer Segant, fighting one little action against some raiders who had put in from Jarnholme in three ships. The
y were nothing but pirates, and it was a skirmish such as any commander would wish—we either killed or took them all, we took possession of their ships, and without the loss of a single armiger. I gave the prisoners to the monastery at Caer Segant to arrange ransoming or labor and sent the ships on to Caer Thanbard. Then I ate bread and roots with Rowanna. She apologized that I had come on a fast day. She was mourning for Gwair Aderyn in the Jarnish fashion, wearing grey and keeping her head covered. Ninian had kept her head covered, too, but Rowanna somehow seemed to show less of herself than her sister, even though she talked much more.
I was grateful for Raul’s presence and skill at making conversation and was sorry when she sent him away after dinner. She had no news for me but after a while I realized she was trying to ask me if I thought Urdo would want to take up the rule of Segantia himself when the Peace was secure. I had no idea, but I told her honestly that I had never heard him mention it. Indeed that was the first time I ever considered that Rowanna ruled Segantia as Avren’s widow and Urdo’s mother rather than as king in her own right. Urdo never spoke about Segantia any differently from anywhere else. She agreed before we left that if her militia troops were needed I should send for them and they would come under her war-leader. There was one pennon there already, and I left Gormant’s pennon with instructions to guard the whole coast between there and Caer Thanbard.
There was some complaining among the armigers who were to be left. They didn’t like the south and living among Jarnsmen, they said. This was Gwair’s ala’s place; they wanted to go back to Caer Tanaga. I comforted them with the thought that I wasn’t giving them up, this was temporary, an emergency. I told them that Gwair’s ala, now ap Erbin’s, would doubtless want to be in Caer Segant as soon as they came back from Demedia.
I went along the coast to Caer Thanbard. I’ve often wondered why the Vincans never saw fit to build a highroad along the south coast of Tir Tanagiri, linking all the towns there. Instead all the highroads lead inland north or northeast to Caer Tanaga, and there are nothing but tracks, or nothing at all. At least it is difficult to get lost riding next to the cliffs. This was my first visit to Caer Thanbard. I was very impressed with the sea defenses, which Thurrig had built, or restored. I was amazed at the Vincan lighthouse, with mirrors to reflect the lantern and send the beams far out to sea. There was also a very splendid new church inside the town walls. I was invited to the king’s hall and ate lamb and plaited honey bread with Custennin and all the great folk of Munew.