by Pam Uphoff
Kurt turned to look at the warehouse wall, and grinned. Most of the doors were wide open on this nice day. "Oh yes this is very interesting. Where's the Bishop?"
Kurt dismounted and stretched, then leaned against a blank spot in the wall while the newcomers all examined them, trotting from door to door to see how they could possibly fit.
"Don't forget to look inside the warehouse," he called to the Bishop.
Much pacing out of distances followed.
He spotted Liz in the crowd of curious and amused onlookers, and edged over to her. "He likes the idea of giving me a territory. He is less enthusiastic about me marrying this completely unknown daughter of Jameson's, who, by the way is here."
"Here?" Her voice squeaked and her eye searched the crowd of overdressed nobles.
"On the left, the man in the green coat with his arms crossed."
"Mother and Father had a fight yesterday. He took the baron's horses back to the manor, she stayed in the new house. She's got classes again today, and Mrs. White came back and minded the babies while she taught."
"Did Lonnie find you? And how are the littler kids doing?"
Her eyes lit up. "The brat certainly was surprised by the reception he got. Do all fifteen year olds think they are abused and unwanted? Anyway, the other kids are . . . a bit ambivalent about the whole thing. 'Why didn't Mama tell us she'd been married before?' sort of complaints."
"We'll see what the Bishop does with what I've told him. I have this hideous feeling of starting a wagon rolling down the hill out of control, and whether we'll stop safely on the flats or crash halfway is pretty much out of our hands now."
She nodded. Tossed her head. "I suspect I'd be a horrible mistress, though."
"I suspect I'd sneak you through this 'gate' if we can find it and marry you in the Kingdom of the West. The courts can argue the legality of it all they wish."
She snickered. "Anyway, Moxie is still at the tavern. I'm having to fight an impulse to ride off to the northwest searching for a glowing circle."
He nodded. "Yes. I'm going to have the worst time just . . . riding back to Arrival to arrange the legalities of the territory, and gig the Archbishop if he tarries on that other matter." He straightened abruptly as Jameson came striding over.
The Baron stared down at Liz for a long moment. "Did Lucy name you Elizabeth? We talked about what we'd name our children . . . " His voice quieted. "We had such glorious plans . . . and we let them die."
"Yes, I'm Elizabeth. After your mother, she says. This is going to be a horrible mess. I won't say I have the best of relationships with my . . . stepfather, but he raised me and gave me a herd of little brothers and sisters. My parents aren't on speaking terms at the moment. Mother has a small school, but she says that if she is going to meet you it will be in a public venue."
"A herd?"
"Eight, three sisters and five brothers."
"Lucy has nine children?" He blinked a bit about that. "She did say she wanted a large family. Have they . . . is it a happy marriage? I . . . may be about to make a mess of it."
Liz frowned. "She was always so busy with children, I don't recall her ever talking much to him. They seem . . . fond."
"Which of them are you staying with?" He was frowning.
She crossed her arms and frowned right back. "Mother, at the moment. I was staying with Lady December Quicksilver until she left. Now that the Arbolians are gone, everyone is leaving town. It feels nearly empty."
The King had walked quietly up, and was studying them. Father and daughter faced each other with crossed arms, Liz's red brown braids tidier than Jameson's shag, but the color identical.
"In any case, it's up to the Church to decide." Liz gave him a firm nod.
Jameson tossed his head. "My man of law will be looking over their shoulders. Be sure of it."
Liz tossed her head. "And your Baroness and her people will be looking from the other side. Be sure of that."
"I am sure this is your daughter, Paul." The King interrupted.
"Indeed, sire. Elizabeth, may I present King Mark Alpha of Arrival. Sire, my Daughter Lady Elizabeth Jameson."
"Lady Elizabeth, a pleasure. Kurt, a word please."
"M'lady, Baron." Kurt nodded and walked off with his father.
"So, how many of these rooms that aren't actually there, are there, all over this town?"
"I believe we're down to a couple of hundred, sire. Once someone figured out a way to detach them, most of the farmers took theirs home with them. Very handy for storing grain."
"That's all well and good son, but are they good for storing Bishops? I seem to have lost one."
"I suppose I ought to have warned him about the slow time inside."
"Five other people did. He decided to test it."
"Well, if he doesn't come out in a month or so, I'll try to find the Lady to come and rescue him. She offered to put outside handles on them, before she left, but most people wanted to be able to hide."
"It looked pretty empty. He'll die of thirst in a few days. No?" The King raised a skeptical eyebrow at his head shake.
"No. Poor fellow will think only a few seconds have passed. A slow count of ten inside takes about a day outside. He can get out anytime he wants to."
The King slowly frowned. "I really prefer a lack of magic about my towns."
"Yes, sire."
The brick wall split open and the Bishop stepped out. "I don't see anything uncanny about sealing yourself in one of these rooms. There's no lock of any sort. If the Arbolians had sacked the town they still would have massacred these foolish people." He clapped his hands together as if washing the whole controversy away. "So, which gate did the Arbolian's assault?"
"They started with the south gate, then moved to the north. Oh, and sappers under the west wall." Kurt turned toward their horses. "Allow me to show you the south gate."
The King raised his eye brows at the tower and nearby wall. "Carved from the bedrock, was it? I'm not surprised they gave up and moved to the north."
The Arbolians had taken their little god statues with them. Kurt scratched his jaw and pondered the advisability of letting some things evolve into tall tales and myths. "The north gate is where they tried their demon summoning. I have people scraping the ground to remove all residue of the sand they used. I will have it sent to the University at Arrival, if you think it advisable."
The King snorted, and followed him out the north gate. "I see they were assembling some siege towers."
"Oh, they finished them. The . . . God of War demolished them."
"Who?"
"The God of War. Roger summoned him, but he decided he liked our side better. Umm, Lady December Quicksilver said he was the god from her world."
"Quicksilver, Quicksilver. No, never heard of her." The King shook his head and walked his horse out and about the remains of the encampment. The Bishop rode over to the scraping party. The King was frowning again as he returned. "I thought perhaps you were exaggerating when you said two thousand. If they could have taken this little, unimportant town, the rest of the state would have rolled over, and they would have had a clear victory and full supplies to start in on Vista."
"Yes, sir. Jeram's the least populous state, isn't it? There are only eight towns. The Baron's seat is here, but that's Jeramtown's sole claim to importance."
"Yes. If the first word we'd gotten of this had been from Vista, telling us that the State of Jeram had fallen, with a Royal Prince dead or captured, and the baron swearing fealty to Arbolia, and Vista under attack . . . We would have been in a difficult situation, both militarily and politically. As it is we left the Capitol a bit lightly defended."
"I'm astounded you got here so quickly."
"There was a flurry of reports about the Arbolian's army's movements. We called up the barons and got the army ready to roll down the ridge and block them before they could get north of the lake lands and spread out. Then we heard they were moving west, and thought that they might tr
y coming up between Genevieve and Hermione Lakes. Then we worried about being pulled away from Arrival . . . and about then your messenger made it in and we loaded up and headed west as quickly as we could."
The bishop rode back, frowning. "I want those scrapings sent to the university, and the church will need oversight. I will request that the archbishop send an ecclesiastical team out here. Not to mention ordaining a bishop to lead the spiritual community. I can't believe a half trained country preacher is all a Baron's seat has."
"Jeram only achieved statehood eight years ago," Kurt shrugged. "I was impressed with Mr. Richover's ability to research the sand paintings the Priests were making. Quite accurately as events unfolded."
"I can't believe you let this Quicksilver person get away." The King frowned at Kurt.
Kurt parsed out the misapprehensions embodied in the statement and sighed. "Lady Quicksilver was here for over a month. We talked extensively about trade. They have a lot of mineral wealth, and have never seen cotton before. She was quite enthusiastic about it.
"Then she rode out to study the Arbolians. She's the one that brought me word of the larger army. She'd, umm, attempted a bit of a disruption, but I don't know if that will make any difference in their decision to attack, or not."
They looked skeptical.
In the morning the scouts returned, spooked by the corridors, but certain of their utility. The large army was splitting up and returning to their usual locations. The officers and priests had been recalled and were heading back to Paree. "The troops rioted. They even attacked one of their own towns, raped, looted and burned it, as if they were the enemy. The officers may be lucky to not be executed. It was a pretty damn sullen camp, what little I saw of it." The scout cheered up as he recounted what he'd seen, and ignored how he'd traveled.
General Omally looked pleased. "Tempted though I am to take advantage of their weakness, there simply isn't any way to hold territory down there. No point in throwing away lives, then having to retreat behind the lakes, anyway."
The king nodded. "And if we attacked, their Emperor might have to retain his generals. If we sit back, they'll purge their officers, probably do more damage to their army than we could inflict." He looked around the still-disordered parlor of the baron's mansion. "Let's stay a week, then let these people get back to their lives.
"I need to speak to Baron Randal about his sons . . . I don't recall their ages, we may need to appoint a regent."
One of the other men stirred. "Perhaps appoint a temporary governor until the council approves of Randal's son inheriting? And if the boy's too young, continuing as a regent?"
Kurt slipped out, leaving the King to his counselors, and hunted down Liz.
She was in the small house her mother was renting for her school. Liz was living there, for now, along with her mother and the two youngest siblings.
She and Lonnie were behind the house.
". . . good legs, but she pretty old." Lonnie was looking at Moxie.
"She's a sweetie. And she's bred to a spectacular stallion." Liz beamed at Kurt. "Tell him."
"She's bred to a spectacular stallion, and I'm entirely jealous, not having had time to get any of my own mares out here."
Lonnie raised a skeptical eyebrow. Shrugged. "If you say so. But of course I'll take care of her while you're gone. You've got the shed loaded up with hay. I'll grain her every day, and once the grass is up, I'll find a farmer with a good pasture. Huh. You, with money to burn!" He eyed Kurt speculatively. "You think it'll take a year just to get married?"
"Probably at least a year and a half, with travel time. And the Church is going to have to put their oar in, especially if they want to suppress rumors about the odder thing that happened here."
Lonnie grinned. "I'd have to be a moron to believe half the tall tales already going around."
Kurt snickered. "You ought to join the scouts keeping an eye on the Arbolians. Very . . . enlightening."
Liz coughed, turned and pet Moxie, as the mare trimmed the long grass growing in the tiny unkempt yard.
"Father says they'll leave in a week."
Liz gulped. Straightened her shoulders. "I'll be ready." To leave the only home I've ever known.
Chapter Thirty-two
Spring, 1376 PE
Ash, Comet Fall
December looked up the faint wagon track. The trees and brush had been cut back neatly, yet it was clearly rarely used by anything with wheels. Phantom pulled a bit at the reins, and she loosened her grip. "This is home, isn't it?" The horse nodded. I've been back almost three weeks, it's time to face the worst. She tried to remember the basic charms, the building blocks of a basic mental shield spell "Bouncy . . . drat, bouncy something bounce away . . . " She winced at the first probe, but it was barely a touch and not repeated. Phantom carried her steadily uphill to a rocky flat with a rambling sprawl of a house to the left and tidy little barn to the right. Phantom delivered her to the front porch as a blonde girl trotted out the open door.
"Rustle!" She was leaking excitement from behind hard held shields.
Rustle told herself it wasn't too painful, and tried to remember the lists of witches she'd looked over. "Calm down. Can you take Quicksilver? I still haven't quite mastered dismounting with a baby."
The girl, she must be eleven came up and reached for the baby. "I'm Topaz. Do you remember me?"
"I think so, but you're awfully tall." Rustle swung down, and looked past her sister to her mother, hovering worriedly in the doorway. "Hi, Mom. I'm home. Haven't run away screaming yet."
"Rustle, I'm so sorry, I just had no idea I . . . leaked like that."
Rustle snorted. "I suspect all your shielding is to keep other people's thoughts and emotions out. You don't hide your own. And I'm afraid that was pretty much exactly where I was most vulnerable."
"Dydit changed his shielding almost immediately. I've been practicing for days." Never stepped up and hugged her. "You don't remember us?"
"Sorry. I hope it'll go away as I heal. I'm sleeping an awful lot. Wolf says that's good, and I should stop pushing myself, but I just keep getting restless."
Never looked distressed. "Your room here . . . " She broke off at Rustle's wince. "I guess I never quite adjusted to your growing up. I mean, you and the Auld Wulf have two children, you're twenty-three years old. You'd think I could deal with it."
Rustle decided that her mother was probably not the right person to ask about her history with Wolf. She turned to her sister instead. "You're . . . eleven, right? And Obsidian is fifteen?"
"Right. She's a Crescent Moon, and I'm doing the New Moon exercises, since you two grasped power so early." Topaz bounced on her toes.
Rustle sighed. "I may have to start over, memorizing them. I couldn't even remember the charms for a basic mental shield."
Topaz was happy to supply them, and drilled her on them while her mother took Quicksilver and walked her around showing her things. Leaking love and delighted happiness all over. Rustle braced herself under the weight of the emotions, but said nothing. This is how I was raised, with love pouring in from all sides. When Topaz volunteered to show her their very own geyser, she leapt for it, and put a bit more room between herself and her mother. Phantom trailed after them, stopping at a corral to greet a pair of horses that reminded her of Junk, despite their pinto coloring.
"These are the Terrible Twins. Dad says he hopes they've been bred to Phantom."
"Are they by Sun Gold?"
Topaz giggled. "He's their grandsire. Not many get that color. Nil says he's got a fondness for pintos. He kept one of Blackberry and Sun Gold's colts for a stallion for awhile, but the pintos don't sell very well so he gelded him and used him for a harness horse and he got lost over on the Old World. But he got some of that wine before they turned him loose, so I figure he's still siring pinto foals all over the place."
Rustle didn't quite know how to parse that, but Topaz rattled right along. "And their dams are two really nice mares, warhorses, that
Dad got when the Ba'alists attacked him and Mom. Nil says Dad's got the makings of a great horse thief."
"Really?" She was beginning to wonder if her family was insane.
"Oh yeah. He's got other horses that he captured from bandits. Most of them are down at the Wizard's Tower. We just keep a few up here for riding, but Dad bred so many last year he ran out of riding horses. That's one of the reasons he said he'd be happy to keep Phantom for you. The other is that they can breed mares to him. After all of this year's foals are born."
Rustle chuckled. "Wolf said something about them not ever paying stud fees." She grinned at the little steaming hole, with its built up minerals around it.
"It used to look like a teapot, but it sort of outgrew that. I want a pool, but Mom says there's not enough water flow."
The discolored little trickle of water that ran across the stone and disappeared into the underbrush was definitely thin. Rustle thought vaguely that there was another reason for the lack of a pond, but as usual, the memory refused to surface.
She heard Quicksilver cry, back at the house and trotted back. "Sorry, didn't mean to miss dinner time. Oh, my, all clean and dry already? How nice."
She settled down with the baby and Never hustled up some tea.
"I don't suppose there's a primer on witchcraft I could read, to jog my memory, is there?"
No, but her mother was more than willing to talk, and Rustle relaxed and rocked Quicksilver to sleep as she listened to the familiar but somehow distant sketch of a witch's life and talents.
But even with them trying so hard, the leakage crept up and she finally took a fairly graceful exit that didn't look too much like fleeing.
Chapter Thirty-three
Spring, 1376 PE
Ash, Comet Fall
The next morning, she hit the kitchen early, raiding the magic cold cabinet for a snack, and then decided to explore northward.
A number of young women were walking up a path into the woods. Had it been ten days since she'd encountered Answer?
They spotted her. One of them waved, and she cut across the hill to meet them.