Valdemar Books

by Lackey, Mercedes

  "Aye, m' - Master Starwind. Master, this drake - she just be chance-come, or be there anythin' more to it?"

  Starwind turned to look at him more closely, and with some interest. "Why do you ask that?"

  Phellip coughed, and flushed. "Well, m'lord, I was born 'n' bred west a' here. M'people held land a' Mage-lord Grenvis - he were all right, but - well, when 'is neighbors had a notion t' play war, they useta bring in drakes an' th' like aforehand."

  "And you think something of the sort might be in the offing? Phellip, I congratulate you on your foresight. The thought had only just occurred to me - "

  "Da?" One of the boys couldn't contain himself any longer, and bounced up beside his father. "Da, there gonna be a war? With fightin' an' magic an' - "

  Phellip grabbed the loose cloth of the boy's tunic and pulled him close. "Jo - I want ye t' lissen t' what m'lord Starwind is gonna tell ye - m'lord, you tell 'im; 'e don' believe 'is of man that fightin' ain't good fer nothin' but fillin' up graveyards."

  "Young man," Starwind fixed the boy with an earnest stare. "There is nothing 'fine' about warfare. There is nothing 'glorious' about battle. All that a war means to such as you and I is that people we know and love will die, probably senselessly; others will be crippled for life - and the fools who began it all will sit back in their high castles and plot a way to get back what they lost. If there were to be a war - which, trust me, Phellip, I shall try most earnestly to prevent - the very best you could hope for, young man, would be to see these lovely fields around you put to the torch so that you would face a very hungry winter. That is what warfare is all about. The only justifiable fight is a defensive one, and in any fight it is the innocents who ultimately suffer the most."

  The boy didn't look convinced.

  Vanyel cleared his throat, and the boy shot a look at him. "Pretty exciting, the way that drake just nipped off that fool old man's head, wasn't it, Starwind?" he drawled, in exaggerated imitation of some of the young courtiers of his own circle.

  The boy paled, then reddened - but before he could burst into either tears or angry words, Vanyel looked him straight in the eyes so fiercely that he could not look away.

  "That's what you'll see in a war, Jo," he said, harshly. "Not people in tales getting killed - your people getting killed. Younglings, oldsters - everybody. And some fool at the rear crowing about how exciting it all is. That's what it's about."

  Now Jo looked stricken - and, perhaps, convinced. Out of the corner of his eye Vanyel saw the farmer nodding in approval.

  Out of nowhere, Vanyel felt a sudden rush of kindred feeling for these people. Suddenly they weren't faceless, inscrutable monoliths anymore - suddenly they were people. People who were in some ways a great deal more like him than his own relatives were. They had lives - and loves and cares.

  Their outlook on warfare was certainly closer to his than that of any of his blood relations.

  They aren't that much different than me. Except - except that I can do something they can't. I can - I can protect them when they can't protect themselves. And they can do things I can't. But I could learn to grow a carrot if I had to. It probably wouldn't be a very good carrot, but I could grow one. They won't ever be able to blast a colddrake.

  What does that mean, really? What does that say about my life? Why can I do these things, and not someone else - and what about the people out there who - who send drake-swarms out to eat Helpless farmers? If I can protect people like this from people like them - doesn't that mean - that I really have to?

  He looked up and saw his aunt's eyes; she was watching the children at their chores, cleaning and chopping vegetables for a stew. Her expression was at once protective and worried.

  It's the way Savil feels - it's got to be. That's why she's a Herald.

  And suddenly Tylenders words came back to him; so clearly that it seemed for a moment as if Tylendel were sitting beside him again, murmuring into his ear.

  "… it's a kind of hunger. I can't help it. I've got these abilities, these Gifts, and I can't not use them. I couldn't sit here, knowing that there were people out there who need exactly the kind of help I can give them and not make the effort to find them and take care of them.'' Now he understood those words. Oh, the irony of it; this part of Tylendel that he had never been able to comprehend - now it was clear. Now that Tylendel was gone - now he understood. Oh, godsHe closed his eyes against the sting of tears. Oh, yes - now he understood. Because now he felt that way, too. Too late to share it.

  Fourteen

  :Well?: To all appearances, Savil was asleep beside the settlers' stone hearth as she Mindspoke Starwind in Private-mode. In actuality, despite her weariness she was anything but sleepy, and was watching the fire through half-slitted eyes as she waited for the opportunity to confer with him. Her single word contained a world of overtones that she was fairly certain he'd pick up.

  :Interesting, on several levels,: he replied. He was lying on his back, arms beneath his head, his eyes also closed.

  The settlers - Savil had learned before the evening was over that they were calling their lands "Garthhold," and that there were seven loosely-related families in the group - had offered the Tayledras and their friends unlimited hospitality. All four of them were bone-tired even after rest and tea, and it was agreed among the three adults that it would be no bad thing to take them up on it. They refused, however, to put anyone out of his bed. So after a dinner of bread and stew, they made it plain that they intended to sleep by the fireside. The four of them were currently rolled up in their cloaks, on sacks of straw to keep them off the stone of the floor, beside the glowing coals of the kitchen hearth.

  Vanyel was genuinely asleep. Savil wasn't certain of Moondance; he was curled on his side, his face to the fire, as peaceful and serene as a child's.

  By all rights, he should really be asleep. There'd been several injuries related to the colddrake's attack and the hasty escapes, and Moondance had had his hands full Healing them. Then he had delegated himself magical assistant to getting the stockade back up. It had saved the Garthholders no end of effort to have the logs spell-raised back into place. He should have been exhausted.

  So Savil thought, until he Mindspoke both of them. :May I enter the conversation? I assume there is one.:

  So much for Moondance being weary.

  :Be welcome, but keep it in private,: she replied, :Among other things, we're discussing the boy. Starwind, go on please. :

  :From the small things to the great - I think perhaps you may cease to fear for the boy. I think he now feels the hunger you spoke of, and understanding has been attained. Herein the question is if the boy can conquer his fears.:

  .I wondered about that. He's been wearing a very odd look on his face this evening, and I've never known him to be as friendly with common folk as he was tonight.: She opened her eyes wide and stared at the glowing embers of the hearth without really seeing them. -.Poor Van. If that dream of his is ForeSight - that's a hell of a burden to carry around.:

  :It still may never come to be,: Moondance reminded them, and the straw of his bedding crackled as he shifted. :We still See only the thing most likely at this moment. And the moment is always changing. I would change the subject. We have a more urgent consideration. Those colddrakes were Gated here. That speaks of - :

  : - great trouble to come,: Starwind replied, his mind-voice dark and grim. '.There is no doubt in my mind at this moment that the drakes were sent to harry this area in advance of a fighting force.: The fire popped once. :This has gone beyond tampering. There was a village to the west of here under tacit k 'Treva protection. I can no longer sense it; it is under a foreign shield.:

  :Someone moved in and took it over, hmm?: Savil brooded on that a moment. :What would you say to us organizing a little surprise for whoever sent those drakes? I doubt anyone is expecting k 'Treva response this soon. By rights, dividing the swarm should have kept us busy for a week.:

  Starwind's mind-voice was troubled. .I would say that yo
u are not k'Treva - :

  :And I would reply that I am Wingsister, which makes me just as much k 'Treva as Moondance. I would say also that two mages tampering in this area is a very unlikely coincidence, ft is far more likely that this is the same mage who was hired by the Leshara of Valdemar. Which makes it the more my fight.:

  More straw rustled, and Savil moved her head slightly; just enough to see Starwind's ironic gaze bent on her for a long moment.

  :And I,: Moondance put in, .-would say that my shay'kreth'ashke is unlikely to win a battle of wills with such a stubborn one as I know the Wingsister to be. I would also say that three Adepts are better in this than two.:

  Starwind sighed. .I fear I am defeated ere I begin. What do we do with the boy, then? We cannot leave him here, and I mislike taking the time to take him back to the vale. That will lose us the element of surprise.:

  :He may prove useful,: Moondance said unexpectedly. :He did defeat the queen-drake. :

  :We bring him, I suppose,: Savil agreed, though with some misgiving. :Surely Yfandes can be counted on to keep him out of serious trouble.:

  :I cannot like it, but I must agree,: Starwind replied reluctantly. :This is a great deal of danger to be taking one so untested and so newly-healed into.:

  .I know,: Savil said, wishing the coals burning in the fireplace didn't look so much like a burning town. .'Believe me, I know. :

  It had been snowing all day, not heavily, but steadily. The air felt almost warm. The Companions moved like white spirits through the drifts of flurries, each carrying double. White horses, white riders - all but one; the one riding pillion behind the second Companion was in smoky black and dark gray, a shadow to a ghost.

  "You all look like Heralds," Vanyel said, from the pillion-pad behind Moondance. "Everyone does except me."

  "How so?" Moondance asked, somewhat surprised.

  "It's your white outfits," Savil supplied, as Kellan lagged a little so that she could reply without having to turn her head. "Heralds always wear white uniforms when they're on duty."

  "Ah - youngling, Tayledras always wear the colors best suited to blend into the treetops. In winter - white. In summer, obviously, green." Moondance was carefully plaiting a new bowstring using both hands; he wasn't even bothering with the reins, he had those looped up on the pommel of the saddle. Vanyel didn't much care for riding pillion, but it wasn't bad behind Moondance; the younger Tayledras didn't mind talking to him. As Vanyel had suspected, he had forgiven Vanyel even before he made his apology to the Tayledras. Which he had done as soon as he could get Moondance alone; it only seemed right. Now it was as if the incident had never occurred; Moondance even seemed to welcome his questions and encouraged him to ask them.

  They'd talked about Vanyel's Gifts, mostly. Vanyel hadn't actually talked about them to anyone; Savil hadn't had much opportunity to do so, and Starwind had just gone directly into his head, showed him what to do, and then expected him to do it.

  "So, what were we up to?" Moondance asked.

  "ForeSight." Vanyel shivered. "Moondance, I don't like it. I don't want to know what's going to happen. Is there any way I can block it?"

  "Now that it is active? Not to my knowledge. But you must not let it cripple you, ke'chara. You are not seeing the irrevocable future, you see the future as it may be if nothing changes. The most likely at this moment. These things may change; you can change them."

  "I can?" Vanyel perked up at this.

  "Assuredly. But it may be that the cost of such a change is to dissolve a friendship or a love you would not willingly forgo. You may feel such a bond is worth the price." He smiled crookedly back over his shoulder. "If I were to have the certain knowledge that my lifebond to Starwind would send me to my death tomorrow, I would go willingly to that fate. But I would not tell Starwind of my foreknowledge. Think on that, if you will."

  Vanyel did brood on that for several furlongs.

  It was Moondance in Yfandes' saddle and not Vanyel, because if they were surprised by an attack, Vanyel had been ordered to drop off the pillion pad and stay out of the fight.

  It was humiliating - but sensible. Vanyel was rather more acutely interested in "sensible" than in "humiliating" at the moment. If an attack came, he'd obey those orders. He'd learned his lesson with the colddrake.

  "Well, are there no more questions, ke'chara?"

  Vanyel shook his head.

  "Then I have one for you. Starwind has said that when you were frightened in practice you pulled power from the valley-node. Is this true?"

  "What's the valley-node?"

  "Savil did not tell you?" Moondance made a face. "No patience, that one. You surely have felt that all things have energy about them, yes?"

  "Even rocks - "

  "Ge'teva, if you sense that, then your Mage-Gift is a most strong one! Even I have some difficulty with seeing that. So; have you seen that this energy flows along lines, as rainwater to streams?"

  Vanyel hadn't, but when he closed his eyes and extended he could see that Moondance was right.

  "I do now."

  "Then follow a stream to the place where it meets another.''

  He did. There was a kind of - knot. A concentration of power. He told Moondance so.

  "That is a node." Moondance nodded. "Tayledras can direct the course of these streams on occasion, which is how we take the magic from places where the wars left it and move it to a place where it is useful. We build our strongholds over places where two or more powerful streams meet; nodes. The energy of the node is such that all of us can use it, but we have found that a-many out-land mages not only cannot sense the streams, they cannot sense nor use the nodes. This may be something only those outsiders at the level of our Adepts do well; I think it is perhaps unique to the Tayledras that all of us, from the time we start to feel our Gifts awaken, manipulate this energy as easily as a child plays with building bricks. There was a time - very long ago - when the Tayledras adopted outlanders very commonly, and it is said that these outlanders changed even as I have. I think that the key to change is using this magic under the direction of Tayledras born. So; of outland Adepts we have known, only Wingsister Savil can link into the nodes as well as Tayledras; her Gift is very strong. So, it seems, is yours.

  Vanyel was confused as to where all this was leading. "But what does that mean, Moondance?"

  "For now - you exhausted yourself when you killed the colddrake. That is something you need not do quite so quickly, if you remember that you can pull from the life-energy nodes within your sensing range. When they are drained - then you use your own strength."

  :That's what I've been trying to tell you,: Yfandes said unexpectedly in his mind.

  That gave him food for thought for several more candlemarks.

  They'd journeyed westward from Garthhold with the rising of the sun, stopping three times on the way to question folk Starwind knew. The first had been a fur trapper, who'd told them of rumors of a renegade wizard, who was half-human, half-Pelagir changeling and had sorcerous skills and a taste for worldly power. The second was a kyree, a wolflike creature with a mind fully the equal of any human. He stopped them; Mindspeaking to warn them of of the same wizard, but his stories were more than mere rumors; to his certain knowledge the changeling was planning to carve himself a realm of his own as quickly as he could, and had already begun that task.

  The third had been one of k'Treva's border-guards - not Tayledras herself, but another of the Pelagir changelings, a tervardi, a kind of flightless bird-woman.

  She was no longer among the living.

  When Starwind had been unable to Mindcall her, they had detoured to the grove of trees that held her ekele. There was no sign of a struggle, but they found the fragile, white-plumaged wraith in her ekele, dead, without a mark upon her, but with her bow in her hand, bowstring snapped, and her empty, glazed eyes wide with what Vanyel assumed was fear.

  Starwind spent some moments beside the body, working some kind of subtle magic. Vanyel could feel things s
tirring, even if he couldn't yet read them. What it was Starwind found, he would not tell Vanyel, but the three adults grew very grim - and Moondance took the bow and its arrows when they left.

  They had been riding all day, cutting cross-country at the ground-eating pace only a Companion could maintain; it was nearing sunset when they slowed, on coming to what looked to be a fairly well-traveled road.

  Savil and Kellan halted while they were still within the cover of the forest, and Yfandes came up beside them as silently as it was possible for something the size and weight of a Companion to do. The snow-laden branches of an enormous evergreen shielded them from the view of anyone on that road, although the road itself looked deserted. There didn't seem to be any new tracks on it, and all the old ones had been softened with a layer of new, undisturbed snow. The road was lined on both sides by a row of these evergreens, though, and anything could lie in wait undetected behind them.

  "The village of Covia lies a few furlongs up that road," Starwind whispered, as the sun sank in sullen glory ahead of them. "There is still a shield upon it, and I do not like the feel of the power behind that shield. I do not, however, sense that the power is presently in the village."

  "Nor I," replied Savil, after a moment.

  :Nothing,: Yfandes said to Vanyel.

  " 'Fandes says she doesn't feel anything either," he reported, feeling rather in the way.

  "My thought is to enter the village and see how much is amiss - and what the people know. Then - Vanyel, it is in my mind to leave you with the villagers. You have enough mage-training to be some protection to them, and they may be of some physical protection to you."

  "I - yes, Master Starwind," he replied, not much liking the idea, but not seeing any other choice. "What about 'Fandes?"

  :I don't like it, but I'll go with them,: Yfandes said reluctantly. :If you need me, I'll know, and they need a second mount.:

  Vanyel reported Yfandes' words with a sinking heart. Starwind nodded. "I think she has the right of it; we can cover more ground mounted. Well." He peered up the road through the gathering evening gloom. "I think it is time to see the handiwork of our enemy."