"He probably takes better care of me." Anna loosened the girths, but let Quies take the saddle. "We've been through a lot." She paused, glancing to the adjoining stall where Jecks had already unsaddled his own mount. "How have you managed here? Did I send enough coin and clear enough instructions to you and Serna?"
"More than enough coin, Lady Anna. We have some saved in the lower chest room. Could use a few more mounts, if you'll be coming back here more often."
"I don't know, but that's probably a good idea anyway. We need to talk... but not now. It's been a long ride, and I'm not thinking too well."
Quies nodded. "Always... Albero and me, we're here to do what you need, lady. Best I check with the overcaptain, see what he might need. Always a lame mount or something."
"Don't let me keep you... but thank you... again."
"My pleasure, lady." Quies offered a bow, and a surprisingly shy smile before slipping away.
After unsaddling and grooming Farinelli, Anna walked across the stone-paved courtyard, noting how even and how clean the area was, although a thin layer of dust coated the stones wherever the hoofs of her party's mounts had not scuffed it away. As Jecks joined her, her eyes went to the low parapets-unguarded-and then to the long blue-tinted windows on the upper level of the keep itself and the metal louvers beneath each window. No wonder Brill had wanted to stay at Loiseau. It was a work of art, from the well-proportioned walls to the graceful sweep of the keep itself.
Behind her echoed the boots of her guards, carrying everything she had brought except the lutar she held.
"You are thinking, my lady," Jecks said quietly from beside her.
"Yes... I was thinking about how beautiful Loiseau is."
"It is a small hold, but gracious. It will barely hold the ten-score lancers you brought."
"I won't always need tenscore lancers," Anna pointed out.
Jecks laughed. "You will need them for near-on another six-seven years. Jimbob will not reach his score until then."
"I won't need so many if we can make Liedwahr more peaceful."
"I wish you luck."
"You, too," she pointed out, turning beside the mounting block and starting up the half dozen low wide stone steps into the entry hall.
Brill's former assistant Gero stepped forward even before Anna was through the main doorway. "My lady Anna, I have waited. I know I cannot be a sorcerer... but what can I do?"
Anna wanted to shake her head. She definitely needed Halde-or someone-to sort everything out. "You can stay, Gero. Don't worry about that. I'll be talking to everyone, probably tomorrow."
The youth bowed, deeply. "Thank you, Lady Anna. Thank you."
Anna paused, to take in the three-storied entry hail that she hadn't seen in over a year. The space was warm, but far cooler than the courtyard outside. Her eyes went up to the brass chandelier that dominated the space overhead, then down to the black-and-white interlocking triangles of polished stone, embellished with inlaid strips of curlicued brass. The purple twilit sky was barely distinguishable through the high translucent skylights of milky blue glass set in the angular trapezoidal cupola that topped the entry foyer.
A faint gasp came from the youths behind. Jimbob, Anna guessed, since Kinor had been raised in and around Loiseau. A wry smile crossed Anna's lips. She'd almost forgotten the half-Moorish feel of the entry hall.
"Your hall is most impressive, my lady." Jecks' eyes twinkled. "More impressive from within than without"
"You hadn't been here?"
"Lord Brill never invited me," Jecks admitted.
"He should have." Anna smiled. "Then, maybe he shouldn't have. This way, you see the hall as mine."
"Yours it is and will always be."
Serna and her daughter Florenda stepped through the stone arch at the back of the entry foyer, both pausing to bow before stepping forward, then drawing closer to Anna. "All the chambers are ready, my lady."
As Anna stepped through the second archway and approached the grand staircase, Anna drew Serna aside. "I have to confess... I really don't know how many chambers we have."
"Six on the second level, besides your master chamber, lady. There are five vacant chambers on the lower level beyond the dining hall. They are smaller, but hold two beds each."
Anna nodded. "The players will go there, except for Liende. She, Lord Jecks, Lord Jimbob, Himar, and Kinor can have chambers upstairs, then."
"Very good, Lady Anna." Serna smiled. "All are in readiness, and we can serve your immediate party in the grand dining hall in a glass, or a trace beyond. As we have done before, I summoned Unana from Mencha and her daughters to prepare food for the armsmen." Her voice lowered. "We will need three golds a meal to pay her. That includes the provender as well, for we do not carry that much in our larder."
"We need to carry more, and I did bring some golds for you to keep running the household," Anna said.
Serna beckoned before Anna could turn away. "Some things... they still work. There is water, because Lord Brill set that up to always run, but it is but cool, and not heated, and the air comes through the window ports unchilled...."
Anna nodded. "It may have to do for now. I have not had the time..."
"We understand, Lady Anna, but..." Sema's head inclined toward Jecks, Liende, and the others who followed.
"They will be happy with what we have."
"Then, Florenda"-Serna nodded to her daughter-"she will assist you while I return to my stoves."
"Thank you."
Florenda led the way up the grand staircase to the second level. "While you were gone, Lady Anna... I hope you don't mind... but we moved your clothes to the master chamber... and set aside Lord Brill's things until you could decide what to do with them.. We had no instructions...."
"I should have thought of that," Anna said, trying to put the young woman more at ease.
"I would suggest the chamber here on the left for Kinor,"
Florenda whispered to Anna, "and the one you had for Lord Jimbob. The one beyond Kinor's for your chief player, and beyond that is the great lord's chamber... perhaps Lord Jecks..."
"That would be fine."
"And the overcaptain should take the chamber by the back stairs."
Anna nodded and relayed the information, trusting Florenda and wanting to shake her head. Mistress of Loiseau, and she'd never even set foot in the master bedchambers of the holding- or any beyond the one she had occupied.
As the others took their chambers, only Jecks and her guards followed Anna and Florenda to the end of the upper corridor. There, Florenda opened the door-a single door, just as the door to her own chambers at Loiseau had been-an eight-paneled door, but the panels were diamond-shaped and blue-lacquered, not rectangular as on Earth, and framed in blond wood. Anna stepped inside, followed by Jecks and her guards.
Surprisingly, at least to Anna, Brill's chambers had not been that much larger than the one that had once been her bedchamber. The main chamber in the master suite was nearly ten yards long and two-thirds of that in width. The north wall contained the same almost-floor-to-ceiling, clear, but blue-tinted, windows, with the metal louvers beneath. The bedstead was of the same blue-lacquered metal, as were the delicate-looking chairs set around a blue-lacquered table below the foot of the bed. An open archway led into a bathchamber.
The difference was that on the south wall was a second, wider archway that led into a small study with a full wall of built-in bookcases on the east wall, and an ancient table-desk and chair backed up the west wall The south wall boasted more windows, with a view of the domed sorcery workshop beyond the hold walls.
"Impressive, your hold," observed Jecks.
"It gets more impressive, the more I see."...But when will you ever be able to spend much time here? She turned to Jecks with a smile. "I need to get washed up and ready for dinner."
"I stand dismissed, my lady." The twinkle in his hazel eyes belied the formality of the words.
"Excused... never dismissed, my lord Jecks." Anna smiled. "Never d
ismissed."
"For that I have come to be most grateful."
Anna wanted to reach out and touch him for a moment, but the moment passed, and, instead, she smiled gently. "So am I. I'll see you shortly."
The hazel-eyed lord bowed and turned, leaving with Rickel and Lejun, who stationed themselves outside the closed door. Anna stood alone for a time in the unfamiliar chamber, before turning back to the bathchamber and jakes area.
As the cold water filled the capacious stone tub, Anna wandered back to the study, letting her eyes range across the volumes on the bookshelves. Many had no titles at all on their spines, and the titles she did see encompassed a variety of subjects: Historie of Wei, NordAphorisms, Reisefuhr Botanisch, Kunstmusik. She shook her head slowly-nearly two hundred leather-bound volumes-a fortune of sorts in a world where books were copied and bound by hand.
She picked up the saddlebags as she headed back to the bathchamber, although she knew that she would wear one of the gowns Florenda had transferred into the master suite. Tonight, she would eat and rest. Tomorrow-it would be another day-and a long one.
34
After breakfast the next morning, Anna stood on the fourth step of the central stone staircase and glanced out at the hold's key staff. Quies stood in front, with his redheaded son Albero by his side. Serna and Florenda stood a few paces back, while Frideric and Gero stood to the right of the women.
Rickel and Lejun stood behind Anna, but a step up and several paces to each side. Wiltur stood to the right of Lejun. Despite the older guard's grizzled appearance and his silver hair, the steady eyes, the blade in the well-worn scabbard, and the long scar across his cheek marked him as perhaps more to be feared than the two younger men.
"You all know I have not been able to come home to Loiseau as much as I would have liked," Anna began. "That isn't likely to change soon. I cannot maintain the hold with sorcery when I am not here." She looked around. "But I do want Loiseau maintained. You were all helpful when I knew nothing about Defalk and Liedwahr, and for that I thank you. I will only be making one large change... and one I make reluctantly." Anna scanned the group, but no one's face seemed to fall or appear displeased. "Sometime after harvest, I will be bringing in a saalmeister who has run a much larger holding. He will probably have to bring in more people to make sure Loiseau remains well kept, because I cannot use sorcery from a distance, as much as I am gone. But I will make sure that all of you will remain here, if you wish, and that you are rewarded for your loyalty, both to me and to Lord Brill. Also, Serna, Quies, Albero.. . Wiltur... you will all, if you wish, and I hope you will, continue to do as you have. You will lose no responsibilities. Halde is young, but has much experience, and I have cautioned him to heed your knowledge. He will be here to do some of those things which otherwise I would do, not to do what you all have done so well." Anna offered a sad smile. "I cannot be here to do them, and I do not wish to see Loiseau ill served."
She paused once more, then added, "I'd like to meet with each of you individually in my study upstairs, starting with Quies in just a moment." With a smile, Anna turned and went up the stairs. While using her personal chamber was not perfect, there were no private rooms-that she knew of-on the main level of the hold.
As she had suggested, Quies was the first to step into the chamber, looking around, as if he had never been there.
"Over here," called Anna, standing by the ancient table-desk, on which rested a leather pouch.
The stablemaster stepped through the archway.
Anna took two golds from the pouch and pressed them on the older stablemaster. "Quies, I appreciate all you've done to hold things together... and for finding Farinelli for me."
The short and wiry Quies bowed his head. "I wasn't sure... Lady Anna... but Serna, she said you'd be back... and when the scrolls and the coins came... well... she was right."
"If I can come back, I will, as often as I can."
"We know that, lady." Quies smiled.
Next was Gero, the former assistant to Brill.
Anna offered him a gold. "Just keep the workrooms and pool in shape." She paused. "Are they prepared now?"
The youth nodded. "Yes, Lady Anna... when the messenger arrived, I cleaned it and set it up just as Lord Brill always, instructed me." He bowed.
"I'll be going there shortly... and thank you."
"Thank you, lady." Gero looked down, then slipped away.
The white-haired Serna was third in the line, accompanied by her daughter Florenda. Serna bowed twice, once as she entered the chamber, and once as she came through the archway to the study area. "Lady and Regent."
"I understand you were the one who really kept people together..."
"Lady... I did what any houseminder would do-"
"Lady... she did all that and more," interjected the diminutive Florenda. "Mum... she wouldn't admit anything."
Anna couldn't help grinning. "The loyal daughter."
"That she be," admitted Serna.
"She's also right, I'll bet." Anna offered three golds to Serna, and two to Florenda. "For keeping the house together, and," she added to Florenda, "for all the altering and extra food."
Serna's mouth opened as she realized the coins were golds. "My Lady... never..."
"I cannot be here to tell you how much I value you and your work." Anna shrugged. "Gold's a poor substitute, but all I can do."
The two women bowed deeply.
Albero was next, and the hold armorer smiled shyly. "l owe you more than you realize, Albero, especially for teaching me about knives." She slipped him two golds. "Thank you."
"Lady... I did what..."
"You did well." She smiled.
Frideric and Wiltur came in together, and each of the hold guards received two golds. As had the others, they bowed reverently.
"Said you don't forget... good or evil," offered Wiltur. "Good thing." He grinned briefly.
"I try not to," Anna answered. "We'll be going to the workroom building in a bit, after I finish."
"I'll be waiting by the stables, lady," Wiltur confirmed.
After the two left, Anna retrieved the lutar before heading back down the hallway and then down the stone steps to the main level, followed once more by her guards. At the base of the stairs, she looked through the stone arch to the front entry hall, but the hall remained empty. Where is Jecks? Or did he mention something about blade lessons for Kinor and Jimbob?
Anna walked to the stables, followed once more by the guards. As she crossed the north courtyard, her glance went to the rear of the courtyard, where Jecks was instructing Kinor and Jimbob in some aspect of using a blade, while several of the younger lancers watched. Anna wondered if Jimbob was really paying attention.
"Lady Anna?"
Her head turned back toward the stables. Outside the open doors in the already hot morning sunlight stood Quies.
"Yes, Quies?"
"If I might ask, Lady Anna, from where does this Halde hail?" inquired the stablemaster.
"He's been the saalmeister at Synfal, Lord Arkad's hold at Cheor," Anna answered. "When Lord Jimbob received those lands, he also decided to replace the saalmeister with someone from Lord Jecks' lands."
Quies nodded.
"I thought Halde had done an excellent job in the weeks after Lord Arkad's death and the death of the head saalmeister, and I've had him working under Herstat. I believe he will do a good job. He's fair, and he works hard." Anna looked at Quies. "If he has any fault, it is that he may not praise good work enough, but those who have worked with him for years say he does not bully or cheat, but expects the best out of each person."
Quies pursed his lips before speaking. "You won't be here long, will you, lady? And you won't be here that much."
"No," Anna admitted. "I can't be. Not now. I might be here for a week, or less, and I don't know when I'll be back."
"Lady...?"
"Yes, Quies." Anna smiled.
"I'd not be the youngest stablemaster... and the horses are not A
lbero's love..."
"You want to train someone else to help you?"
"Aye...my sister's bairn Vyren. A bit young, not twelve, but he loves the horses, and they love him."
"Can he learn the rest of running a stable?"
"That young, I'd not be knowing for sure, but I'd send him home if he could not." A crooked smile appeared on the stable-master's face. "With two... we could build up the stable more."
"Then have him come to work for you... you tell Serna and anyone else who needs to know."
"Thank you, lady."
"Thank you. You do the work, and Farinelli's shown me that you do it well, Quies."
A nervous smile appeared.
"I meant it." Anna stepped into the comparative cool of the always-clean stables and toward the front stall where the big gelding greeted Anna with a whuff, as if to ask why she'd taken so long.
"Business, fellow, business." She slipped into the stall and brushed him briefly, not all that necessary since she'd groomed him thoroughly the night before, tired as she'd been.
The ride out to the workshop buildings was almost too short, except for the heat, and, again, almost a parade, Anna felt, with Wiltur and two of her guards following her.
Wiltur insisted on checking the building before she entered. Then, as Anna carried the lutar, a water bottle, and a sheaf of her notes into the building, Wiltur stationed himself by the door, joining Rickel and Blaz as guards.
After closing the door behind her, the sorceress and Regent wandered through the dusty workrooms, then through the larger room where Brill's players had practiced, and where hers would later.
After checking the last of the three workshop rooms, she stopped by the pool in the scrying room, pondering. It's been long enough... do you dare? Besides, when and where else can you try? She nodded and took out the lutar, beginning her vocalises, as she tuned the instrument. When she was ready, she faced the pool, not that she needed it, and sang the simple spell.
Bring to me the letter I desire, from my daughter, safe from fire across the void from Earth to here, let all words from her appear....
A column of flame exploded beside the scrying pool, forcing Anna to lurch backward-then died abruptly, leaving a steaming oblong lump of blackened matter on the stones beside the pool. Her eyes went to the object. She swallowed.
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