Darksong Rising

by L. E. Modesitt Jr.

  Anna underlined the words with two bold lines.

  ...and left me no alternatives but to destroy them and their lancers. I wish it had not been so, but Defalk is not rich in skilled lancers and armsmen, and I could not afford to be generous with a commander who had not listened to reason or to the orders of his own Liedfuhr...

  The sorceress paused. Now what?

  Because the Prophet Rabyn left no heirs, I have taken the liberty of suggesting that the ruler of Neserea be the most senior officer left to that poor land-one Overcaptain Hanfor. I also suggested that he adopt the title of Lord High Counselor, since the title of Prophet of Music would not be appropriate under the current conditions....

  I believe Neserea should continue to be ruled by Nesereans, and I have offered my support to Lord High Counselor Hanfor in the most unlikely event that he should face an invader. I would hope that you would see fit to also extend an equally generous offer to Lord High Counselor Hanfor, so that he and his people will understand that both Defalk and Mansuur are friends and trusted neighbors.

  Anna smiled, and then began to think of what sorts of flowery conclusions she might be able to pen, not that they would soften the impact all that much, but what else could she do? Konsstin had to understand that she wasn't about to allow Mansuuran lancers to run loose east of the Westfels.

  She finally scrawled out a florid conclusion, wincing as she did.

  She replaced the quill in the holder, then stood and walked to the narrow window, framed by old and dark gray stone blocks, roughly dressed. She looked out into the cool but sunny midmorning. After too brief a glance, she returned to the table, and the endless pile of scrolls.

  She had finished nearly a dozen and thought it was close to midday when there was a knock on the chamber door.

  "Arms Commander Himar," announced Bersan.

  "Have him come in." Anna stood and glanced across the piles of scrolls set on the table that had belonged to the late Lord Jearle, then at Himar.

  Himar bowed, and his eyes went to the scrolls. "You have been busy, Regent."

  "There was a lot I set aside to take care of Rabyn." She shook her head. "It didn't go away. I need these sent."

  "As you wish." Himar nodded and took out his ubiquitous grease marker and a folded oblong of the crude brown paper.

  Is that the standard issue Defalkan officer's writing tool? "This pile goes to Lord Jecks in Falcor."

  Himar scribbled out something.

  "This goes to Lady Herene in Pamr, and this to Ytrude in Suhl." Anna paused. "This is the one that we have to get to the Liedfuhr. What would be the quickest way?"

  "With Hanfor, I would guess, Regent, and then by ship from Esaria."

  "We'll send a messenger to catch up with him."

  "We can do that." Himar offered another nod.

  "Oh... and this one goes to Lord Ustal." She paused once more. "Could you let Falar know that I'll need to talk to him tomorrow. He hasn't left yet, has he?"

  "No, Regent." Himar smiled. "He had hoped you would see him."

  "He's a scoundrel, but trustworthy as scoundrels go."

  "I know him little, except by watching, but I would say his word is good."

  After Anna had bundled Himar off with the piles of scrolls, she stopped to munch on bread, actual dark bread. Where did Jearle get molasses if he was under siege for almost a season? She frowned, then cut another wedge of cheese from the platter on the side of the wide table, following that with water from the bottle beside it.

  As she ate, Anna looked at her "problem" list:

  Flossbend(Beltyr)

  Arien(Tybel)

  Silberfels(Hulber)

  Fussen(Ustal)

  Wendell(Genrica)

  Issl(Fustar)

  Mossbach(???)

  She was forgetting someone. Klestayr-the lord of Aroch. But she didn't know what he was plotting, only that he was.

  Eight holds, out of Thirty-three. Some were problems she didn't have to address immediately, like Ustal and Hulber. Some she couldn't until she knew more, like Klestayr. And the possible power grab by Fustar probably wouldn't happen until Genrica died, which might be a while. So that left deciding what to do about the succession in Mossbach, and righting the problems in Flossbend and Arien.

  "Arien and Flossbend, first..." she murmured.

  There was another knock on the door. Anna turned over the sheet with her list. "Yes?"

  "The chief player."

  "I'll see her." Anna rose and waited.

  Liende stepped into the guest chamber and bowed, deeply. "Lady Regent."

  Not knowing exactly what to say, Anna smiled.

  Liende looked at Anna, then down, then back at the regent. "I cannot thank you... not enough."

  "What? For giving your son more headaches than he'll ever be able to get rid of? For ensuring that I have a loyal lord on the border so that I don't have to worry every time I leave Falcor? For putting him so far away that you'll seldom see him?"

  Liende laughed, softly. "All those would happen were he lord or blade or player. Did you know... once I had hoped he might receive some small plot or a cot from Lord Brill. But it would have been a gift. My gift. This..." Liende gestured around her. 'This he has earned and will earn with every day he lives, and that I could never have provided."

  "But you did," Anna pointed out. "You raised him well and taught him. What you helped him become is why he is Lord of Denguic."

  Liende smiled and shook her head. "He was not certain when he came to Falcor. He watched you." The smile turned sad. "At first, he saw a beautiful girl, and I think wanted you for little less than your form, and did not understand. Alseta- she saw you from the first, and she was not kind to him. But Kinor is not without wit, and he watched and learned. And you were kind to let him accompany you." The chief player shrugged. "He will do aught that is necessary to keep this hold and your faith."

  Anna nodded. "I would hope so, and I would hope he can win the loyalty of the people. That will not be easy."

  "It may not be so hard. Already...there are tales, now that the lady Livya and her daughter have left,"

  Were there tales in every hold? Anna took a long slow breath.

  Liende bowed, her eyes taking in the table with the scrolls. "You have much to do, and I would not hold you. I did wish to thank you."

  "Liende..." Anna's voice was soft. "You have supported me and saved me when you didn't want to. I took youth from you, and I probably caused Brill's death. I didnt mean to, but... I didn't help there. I'm grateful to you. I won't say it often, but I am. I still need you, and your skills. I'm just glad that it worked out this way."

  "You are honest, and you are beautiful, and you see women as they should be." The chief player looked Anna straight in the eyes. "You are a sorceress, and at times, you ask much. At times, you are cold. You must be, and I know that. But you essay to be fair and to care for those who support you as much as is possible for any ruler. We-and I-cannot ask more." She dropped her eyes. "Perhaps... I am getting old... I say too much."

  "You... you are the honest one," Anna replied. "I'm glad you are. Thank you."

  "I need be going." A brief smile crossed the chief player's face. "Know you when we travel?"

  "I'd guess you'll have another day or two to enjoy Lord Kinor's hold." Anna smiled. "Maybe longer, but I don't know yet."

  Liende bowed, then departed.

  Anna had scarcely looked at the problem list again before there was another interruption.

  "Lord Nelmor," announced Bersan.

  The tall blond lord bowed as he entered.

  "How is the Lord of the Western Marches today?" asked the sorceress.

  Nelmor smiled shyly, almost uneasily. "I must confess, Lady Regent, that when first you told me of your intent, I had some concerns that you had spoken too hastily." The tall lord looked down at the worn carpet for a moment before meeting Anna's eyes again. "Yet my sister, may the harmonies keep her, and my daughter, they oft said that a wise man never
stood against your word." He laughed, not quite ruefully.

  Anna wasn't quite sure how to answer that. After a moment, she replied, "I do my best. It doesn't always work, but I try." She added quickly, "Is there anything...?"

  "You have given much. . . yet I would beg yet one favor...." Again, Nelmor looked down before continuing. "It is said you can see whether another lives and where..."

  "You would like to see Lysara and Tiersen?" Anna hoped that was what the blond lord wished.

  "Ah... if that be possible... or Tiersen..."

  "We can try." Anna pulled out a sheet of paper that she'd scratched up on one side in trying to draft her scroll to Jecks, and stood by the table, drafting, trying to adjust the simple scrying spell. After a short time, she looked up. "if they are together this will show it. if not, the glass will show two images, one of each."

  She sang a short vocalise, then lifted the lutar for the scrying spell.

  Show us in this glass, even from so far, Tiersen and Lysara as they are Show us bright and show us clear....

  As the notes died away, the mirror silvered, and the mist swirled. Then another mist filled the glass. Anna wondered, momentarily, before the south tower of the liedburg at Falcor appeared. With a heavy fog behind them, Tiersen and Lysara,, her red hair shimmering, stood looking out at the city. Tiersen's arm was around Lysara's shoulder.

  Although he said nothing, Nelmor swallowed slightly, his eyes on the pair in the glass.

  Anna, not wishing to spend much energy, sang the release couplet, then turned to the lord. "You see? They're fine." She was worried about the fog. Did that mean they'd face more rain in heading eastward, not that she had any intention of going directly to Falcor, not with her other problems.

  "They appear happy."

  Let them, Anna wanted to say. Let them... they'll have enough worries before long. "They do."

  A wistful look crossed Nelmor's face, then vanished, and he bowed. "You have been most kind, Regent, and most fair, and thank you. We will hold the Marches and serve your bidding." He bowed again.

  'Thank you, Lord Nelmor." Anna inclined her head, then waited.

  After Nelmor left, the sorceress walked back to the window. She'd have to return to writing scrolls and calculating, and all the things she hadn't done while she'd been preoccupied with the Nesereans and the Mansuuran lancers.

  For a time, she stood and looked out the narrow window into a day warmer than the one before, recalling other warm days, days with tender graces that were dead to her and would never come back.

  101

  MANSUUS, MANSUUR

  A low fire burns in the central hearth, and the windows are tightly closed against the northwest wind that whistles around the palace of the Liedfubr, bringing the chill polar air from distant Defuhr Bay and beyond.

  "Sire..." Bassil bows low before the polished table-desk, behind which sits Konsstin, fingering his brown-and-silver beard as he studies a scroll before him.

  The Liedfuhr looks up abruptly. "That extreme deference means all is not well, Bassil. What calamity has occurred?"

  "Sire... I would not say it was a calamity."

  "I would. When you bow and scrape so..." Konsstin purses his lips. "Will you tell me, or must I drag it from you, with each word making me less patient?"

  'The sorceress... she has destroyed your grandson and all his forces. As if they were less than ants."

  "We had discussed this." Konsstin frowns. "That is not necessarily irredeemable."

  "So it seemed. The seers watched the battle, and Rabyn used the triple drums and threw Darksong at her. He was strong. Strong enough to cast a shield over much of his camp, despite the fires falling from the heavens. In the end, though, she broke his shields and prevailed, and destroyed utterly all the Neserean armsmen with him."

  "That surely is not the problem."

  "She spared your lancers."

  "The more fool she."

  "She asked for some terms from Relour. He refused. She destroyed him in the night with lightning. The captain next in command-I think that would have been Donbrin-he attacked nearly at dawn. She was waiting, and turned them all into ash."

  "All hundredscore?"

  "Yes, sire."

  "That is war. I will not have it."

  "Sire... there is more."

  "More? How can there be more?" Konsstin stands, towering over the desk. He glares at the black-haired lancer officer. "More, you say?"

  "She spared one force of Nesereans, those besieging Denguic."

  "She spared them, and not my lancers, when I had sent her golds in good graces?"

  "Her own arms commander rides with the Nesereans, with but a small company of Defalkan lancers, and all are returning to Esaria, or so it would seem."

  "They turned and left, when she had but a handful of armsmen?"

  "Would you not were you in their boots?" asks the lancer officer. "She has destroyed whole holdings' worth of lands in both Dumar and Ebra. She has brought the fires of heaven against every force sent to bring her to bay. She has destroyed two Prophets, and two lords of Ebra, and the Lord of Dumar. Would you not retreat, given the chance?"

  "So... Bassil.. . she has flouted my power, vanquished my grandson, defeated and destroyed my lancers, and rules another land, this time over my daughter's and grandson's land." The Liedfuhr's hazel eyes flash like lightning, turning black momentarily. "And now her arms commander rides in triumph to Esaria?"

  "No, sire. Less than a single company rides with the sorceress' own arms commander, and the remainder of the Prophet's Guard. The sorceress remains in Defalk."

  "How might that be?" Konsstin's voice turns lazy, not quite indolent.

  Bassil swallows before he speaks. "It may be that he is the new Lord High Counselor of Neserea, as Hadrenn is of Ebra," Bassil suggests, finally blotting the sweat from his forehead.

  "Worse and worse... you said this could not happen. A puppet ruler over the lands of my daughter and grandson?"

  'This ruler is no puppet, your seers say."

  "Oh... some young lord of Defalk, no doubt."

  "No, sire. An older officer, her own arms commander, one of those from Lord Behlem's forces. He is from Nesalia, they think."

  "And how would they know such?"

  Bassil shrugs. 'There are messengers coming to you, also, sire. From the sorceress."

  "Summon the overcaptains, all of them. We must prepare our forces for the march to Esaria."

  "Do not destroy yourself, sire. Do not destroy Liedwahr."

  "You presume! This witch has but a handful of lancers left, and no armsmen. I will not be swayed by words. She cannot work spells without lancers to protect her."

  "Yes, sire. I presume. If you wage a mighty battle against the sorceress, she will defeat you. She will destroy your forces as she has destroyed all the others. And who will rule Mansuur, then? She cannot. No one could have stopped her from ruling Dumar. Or Ebra. Yet she has let the Lady Siobion rule in his late liege's place. She has restored the old line of Ebra, if with the new free port of Elahwa, and she has apparently placed a distinguished Neserean arms commander on the throne of the Prophet."

  'What does the woman want?"

  "Security...peace, sire." Bassil wipes his forehead again. "You should wait for her messengers. Should you then wish war, you will know what she wants and how best to oppose it."

  "Go!" Konsstin frowns, and his lips are tight. "I will consider your fair words, Bassil." As the lancer officer bows deeply, the Liedfuhr adds under his breath. "Foul as they may be."

  102

  Anna glanced out the narrow window of the guest chamber, to the south, but the late-afternoon sky was clear, although she knew from her earlier inspection of the hold that clouds were gathering to the northeast.

  "Arms Commander Himar," announced Fielmir.

  "Come on in." Anna turned from the window.

  As always, Himar bowed after entering. "All the lancers and the players are prepared to ride tomorrow." He raise
d his sandy eyebrows. "You have not said what you plan, Regent."

  "We're riding straight to Arien. That's why we need to get moving. We still have a lot to do before the full winter closes in. We'll take the trading road directly to Cheor, and we'll stay at Synfal. Then we'll take the Synor River Road east. All the lancers will come with us-except the purple company-as far as Synfal. Then one company will go north to Falcor along the Falche River Road."

  "That will leave you with but fivescore lancers." Himar frowned.

  "I think I can persuade Falar to accompany us."

  "You have something in mind for him?"

  "We'll see," Anna temporized. "He's a young scoundrel, but an honest one, and I have a thought he might prove useful."

  "He has near-on twoscore with him, and some are most experienced armsmen." Himar laughed.

  "I shouldn't ask about their past lives."

  "All one has to do is look."

  "That's what I thought, but they seem loyal to him. Will they be loyal to me?"

  "So long as you offer hope to him."

  "I'll offer to pay them." Anna nodded.

  "That is even better."

  "On your way out, would you have one of the guards summon the scoundrel? And Kinor. I have a few things I need to discuss with them-individually."

  "That I will"

  Anna stood behind the table, then bent and took a long swallow of water from the scratched but clean goblet

  What would she do about Mossbach? The Regent shrugged. That depended on what Jecks had found out about heirs. She hoped an answer would be waiting for her when she reached Synfal. Jecks had been right about not saying anything before she'd dealt with Rabyn, but that had left yet another loose end trailing. Then, all Defalk was loose ends. Was that because she'd done everything backward, by dealing with the outside threats before the inside ones?