“So it would follow that from time to time one would be born with a power greater than others . . .” Edmir said, following the thread of the tale, as Dhulyn had known he would.
“And from time to time, one without power at all,” she said. “Oh, he knew the methods—” She drew a symbol in the air. “He’d seen it done hundreds of times, knew what to do and what to say. But until he felt the residual power that the Stone generated even while it slept . . . until then, no magic had ever worked for him. In me, the Stone found a Mark untrained, and so the power it gave me overwhelmed me. But in Avylos it found a broken vessel, cracked and unglazed, which could not hold the power at all.”
“And is that why his power did not affect women so well? Because it was borrowed?”
“Can you see the women of the Red Horsemen letting the men have magics which could be used against them? And those women all Seers? I can’t, not if they were anything like Dhulyn Wolfshead.” Parno laughed.
“It seems that some of his magics disappeared with him,” Zania said. “As if, like his powers, they had no permanence.”
“Not long-standing magics,” Kera said. “There are soldiers that he magicked who are still whole and healthy, so it seems likely that Valaika’s son will keep his health. It does appear, however, that some of Avylos’ most recent magics have died with him. His cure of my mother the queen. His curse on Parno Lionsmane. But other things are still with us—”
“We’ve had to prop open the workroom door,” Parno said, “otherwise the latch keeps disappearing.”
“The ghost eye on my back is still there,” Edmir said. He shivered, and Zania put her hand over his. He smiled at her, but the smile was strained, and both lowered their eyes as Zania withdrew her hand.
Kera saw this, and her glance went back and forth between the two. There was something bothering the young princess, Dhulyn thought. Something she was hesitating to say.
“Will you want the Stone?” Dhulyn asked, when no one else seemed ready to speak. “It is drained now, but I can finish translating the book, and . . .”
Zania was shaking her head. “I don’t think so. Not after what I’ve seen. I’d rather rely on my own talents, and my own powers.”
“Then, Lord and Lady Princes, I’d suggest the Stone, and the book for that matter, should be sent to the Scholars’ Library of Valdomar for study. They know much of the Caids there, and this will be a find of great importance for them.”
“Speaking of powers.” Kera sat up straight and turned to Edmir.
Here it comes, Dhulyn thought. Whatever it is that’s been biting the girl.
“There’s a different power altogether that we have to settle,” Kera said. “Edmir, you have kept yourself in the shadows these last few days, and I have not argued with you.”
The corners of Edmir’s mouth tightened, as if he had clenched his teeth. “I’m sorry, Kera,” he said. “I thought it would be less confusing this way, with everything else that’s happened. I’m ready to lift the burden from your shoulders if you think the time has come.”
“Please believe there is no one more loyal to you than I—well, perhapsthere is one other,” Kera nodded across the table at Zania. “But, Edmir, I have given the events of the past moon much thought, and I believe—whatever I might want, whatever you might want, you cannot be king.”
Edmir sat back in his chair as if he’d been pushed. But the color had come up in his cheeks, his eyes widened. He looked, Dhulyn thought, for all the world like a tired horse seeing the open door of its own stable, but who fears it may be only an illusion.
“Kera.” Edmir cleared his throat and started again. “Kera . . . what are you saying? I have not come all this way, they—” He gestured at where Dhulyn and Parno sat next to each other. “—have not done all they have, in order for me not to be king.”
“Edmir, please listen. The country believes you are dead. Many who have seen you alive here in the Royal House were told you are an imposter. We know the truth, and those who have known you your whole life will know you and believe, but what about the rest of the country? Ordinary people who have never seen you? With Kedneara dead and Avylos gone, we cannot afford more cause for insecurity and doubt. And as for the subject lands, what will the Noble Houses of Balnia, or Demnion, or—” Kera threw up her hands. “Edmir, I swear to you, if I saw any way for you to keep the throne, safely, and without danger to the country, I would say so.”
And it was that last point, Dhulyn saw, that convinced him.
“I will be an excuse for war,” Edmir said. “And not just now, but always. Whenever there is discontent, a bad harvest, a long winter, there will be someone ready to challenge my right to the throne,” he said. “Someone who will say I am not Edmir, son of Kedneara.”
Dhulyn watched. From where she sat, she could see Edmir’s hands under the edge of the table, clenching and unclenching. He was not stupid, and his imagination was such that he could always clearly see that all actions and events had a number of possible consequences. Edmir glanced up, and she caught his eye.
“Prepare for what can happen,” she told him. “That is the Common Rule. I have Seen Visions of you as King, Edmir,” she added. He frowned. “But Zania was always with you. I think perhaps you were on a stage, not on this throne. I have Seen you late at night, in a tent, writing. I have also seen your sister, in armor, leading troops into battle, the royal crest of Tegrian on her breastplate.”
“Of course,” Edmir said. He turned to Kera. “I wanted to be a soldier, like our father. But you were always better at it than I was. It was always you who came up with the plans, the strategies. It was never me, Kera, always you. You were the soldier. You will be Queen.”
Dhulyn folded up the sleeves of her shirt, uncomfortable with being so much covered in the summer heat. She resisted the urge to scratch, for the fifth time, at her wig, but not quickly enough that Parno had not seen the beginnings of the movement.
“We’re only a week out of Lesonika,” Parno said. “It won’t be that much longer. We’ll present our documents from Queen Kera to the Senior Brother at our House there, and we won’t have to disguise ourselves any longer.”
Dhulyn tried to smile without snarling. “It seems that in the last month everyone’s lives but ours have been settled. The player Zania Tzadeyeu and her new husband, the soon-to-be famous playwright of The Solder King, have left Beolind well laden with gifts from the new Queen of Tegrian, to return to Jarlkevo to collect their caravan.”
“And the Stone, and the book, together with your letters, have gone off to Valdomar in the capable hands of Megz Primeau.”
“Who, on her return, will also go to Jarlkevo, to become Steward of the House, until Janek Jarlkevoso is old enough to hold the House himself.” Dhulyn blew out a short breath.
“As for us, how settled do you want us to be? We’re finally back on the road to Delmara after that little detour to earn some money from the Nisveans.”
Dhulyn pressed her lips together and shifted in her saddle. Her back was sore, and the muscles in her belly and thighs were cramping.
“Separate beds tonight, my soul,” she said, in as pleasant a voice as she could manage. “And that means more money spent.”
“Ah, but look on the sunny side,” Parno said. “Evil Mage destroyed, princes and princesses all where they want to be—and out of our hands, let me point out. As for us, we’ve got our horses, all our weapons, food for the journey, money for inns. What more could we ask for?”
Despite herself, Dhulyn found the corner of her mouth turning up. Still . . .
“Those Sun-burnt, Moon-drowned Nisveans never paid us.”
Parno laughed. “There is one thing you haven’t explained, my heart,” he said. “It was Avylos who broke the Tribes, or so your Visions tell you . . .”
“But how is it that the women of the Espadryni—Marked Seers as we know them to have been—how is it that they did not See him, and stop it?”
“Exactly.”
“Do you think we’ll ever know?”
Dhulyn put her heels to Bloodbone’s sides. “I know we won’t make the next inn if we stand about talking.”
The Soldier King Page 43