‘Then surely that bastard Jude is behind it,’ Gevan snarled.
‘Jude?’ I echoed blankly. ‘But he was sentenced to the Councilfarms ages past.’
‘He should have been but no one would accuse him and Dardelan’s Charter of Laws requires an accusation before a person’s guilt or innocence can be judged,’ Rushton said. ‘Even his bondmate, Ylane, would not speak against him. As you know, she left him, but she claims not to want her children to grow up knowing their father is in a Councilfarm. More likely she fears he will revenge himself on her somehow, whether or not he is locked up on a Councilfarm. Nor is any coercer permitted to examine Jude to find out if he is colluding with the gangs, unless someone accuses him.’
‘Do you think Brocade is working with him?’ I asked, thinking of the soft fat chieftain of Sawlney, with his love of luxury.
Rushton shook his dark head and I had a disconcerting flash of myself pushing the hair from his forehead. I had to force myself to concentrate so that I could take in his answer to my question. ‘Chieftain Brocade is no lover of Misfits, but equally he dislikes confrontation. While ostensibly he and Jude are friendly enough, Jude’s workers are loud-mouthed troublemakers and Jude himself violent and unpredictable. In all, he is a difficult and dangerous man whom I believe Brocade fears to alienate but would like to be rid of. You can bet Jude knows all of this, for as well as being vicious he is clever.’
Though I was troubled by the news that Jude was free still, a night of broken sleep and high emotion was beginning to take its toll on me, and my mind drifted from Jude and poor broken Ylane to Radost and Analivia. The rider who had carried my missive to her had returned even as the bell had begun ringing a summons to guildmerge. The bell was new, having been gifted to Obernewtyn by Elkar on behalf of the Norselanders, and hearing it, I had stopped in wonderment to listen to its clear soft tone. That was when the rider found me with the news that he had been unable to deliver my missive to Analivia because she had been absent from her brother’s house. I asked what he meant by absent and he told me that Bergold had said blithely that his sister was ‘a-roaming as is her wont’. He did not know where she had gone nor when she would return, though she had promised him that they would attend the moon fair at Obernewtyn so that he might finally behold the magi performance he had long desired to see.
The messenger had gone on to tell me that he had delivered my spoken message to Iriny, who had agreed to meet me as I proposed. That meant I would have to get up and ride down to the watchhut overlooking the pass to the mountains before sunrise the next morning, since I had been fool enough to ask for a dawn meeting.
Javo had risen now and was listing the supplies that could be got ready to be sent to the lowlands by the time Dardelan left Obernewtyn and I suppressed a yawn. When this topic had been exhausted, Rushton asked each guild to present their list of potential expeditioners. I forced myself to pay attention as the names were read out.
Most of those who would travel to the Red Land were coercers and healers and empaths but there were no beastspeakers, no teknoguilders and no futuretellers. These guilds were to be represented only as secondary Talents.
Nor were any horses to go. Alad spoke against it, pointing out the beasts would have to endure the journey in which they would take up space and consume food and water without being able to offer much in exchange, since the settlement in the Red Land was within walking distance of the shore. If we needed mounts within the city, there was a kind of sturdy long-eared pony native to the place that could be asked to help us. Rushton called a vote and it went in Alad’s favour. This last had woken me up because Gahltha would have to come with me. I debated asking that an exception be made in his case, but decided it would be better done privately, after the guildmerge, when I had time to think of a reason for my request.
Maruman would need to come with me, too, but being small he would need little in the way of food and water or space, and I doubted anyone would make a fuss about his presence. In fact I thought it likely he would be expected to accompany me.
If only he would return.
Garth rose to argue that since his teknoguilders were the only ones with any chance of understanding the mechanism of the weapons aboard the slavemasters’ ships, should they need to be dealt with, two teknoguilders ought to be included on the list. Besides this, he wished one of the teknoguilders to request a visit to the land of the White-laced Lords, after the confrontation between the Redlanders and the slavemasters was over.
The Teknoguildmaster’s request did not surprise me. I had seen the flush of excitement rising in Garth’s plump cheeks when Sarn had mentioned the White-faced Lords’ interest in machines and Beforetime devices.
Rushton told Garth sardonically that he was pleased the Teknoguildmaster had such faith in the quest of the four ships to rid the Red Land of the slavemasters that he would make plans for the aftermath, but that it might be better to wait until peace had been won first. Garth asked somewhat hotly when teknoguilders were ever likely to have the chance to make the long and difficult journey to the Red Land again and Rushton had to concede the journey was long and that ships from the Land would seldom travel thence. It was suggested by Gevan that two teknoguilders might replace two other names listed, so long as they had a strong secondary Talent for coercivity or farseeking.
A long, sometimes heated discussion ensued before the final list was approved, then Christa rose to ask all guildmasters to send those listed to the Futuretellers hall on the morrow, so that they could be fitted with suitable attire. After she sat down, Gevan rose to remind us that each expeditioner should visit the Coercers hall to choose a weapon.
I knew the meeting was nearing its end when Alad rose and went to the door leading to a tunnel that ran directly to the outside. Traditionally a beast would speak on behalf of the Beastguild at the end of each guildmerge. I expected to see Rasial enter but to my great surprise it was the mountain pony Avra who came into the circular guildmerge chamber. Ceirwan saw my reaction and farsought me that the Beast guildmistress had returned to the farms that very afternoon with her foal, now named Theral, which meant ‘fleet’.
The mountain mare moved to the sandbox provided for beasts and greeted us in signal speech and by beastspeaking. Then Alad rose and went to stand with her to translate her beastspeech into ordinary speech for those who lacked either. Avra said in her grave sweet mindvoice that the Beastguild concurred that equines had no place on the long sea journey to the Red Land but she requested that three smaller beasts be permitted to accompany us. She proposed a dog, a goat and a cow, arguing that the latter was large but wise, and had agreed to be milked during the journey, as her calf was on the verge of being weaned. The goat too was a female with a kid she had just weaned, and so both could contribute materially to the expedition. Avra added that the dog had fought with the horses during their historic battle against Malik’s men in Saithwold, and was prepared to do so again.
Using signal speech but also speaking aloud, Rushton responded. ‘Well do I understand that these beasts will offer enough to warrant their place on this journey, and I do not oppose it, only I wonder what is your intention in sending them, Beastguildmistress?’
‘They would be emissaries / messengers of freedom,’ Avra sent and signalled. ‘The three will tell beasts of the Red Land how things are done / arranged in the Land / in Sador. They will tell / suggest that the same might be achieved in the Red Land. Some of the funaga that go will have the ability to beastspeak, but a freebeast from a land where beasts are free will show how animals can equal humans/work with them.’
Rushton glanced about to see that no one had raised a hand to speak and then he said that his only concern was that there seemed to be no cows in the Red Land, in which case a cow would stand out. There were, however, goats and dogs. Avra countered by suggesting that two goats accompany us, and the dog.
As a vote was taken, I studied the mare, wondering what it meant that she had brought her foal to Obernewtyn now. I
could not believe the timing was an accident and my instincts told me this visit had more to do with my quest than the expedition. Like most beasts, Avra knew me as Innle of beastlegend, and believed that I was to lead beasts to freedom from humans, and though Gahltha had not said so, I guessed she knew that he was the Daywatcher and my guardian companion. Was it possible the black stallion had sent word to her that the time was nearing when he would have to leave Obernewtyn with me, and she had come, wishing to see her mate one last time before we departed?
Gahltha knew that I had been told I would never return to the Land once I left it, and he must understand that this meant it was unlikely he would return either. Had he told Avra that? Would it grieve her to see him go? It was hard to tell, for she had left Obernewtyn and Gahltha to take their foal to run with the wild herd soon after it was born and relationships between horses were different from those of human couples. The instinct of horses to pair bond was powerful, but unlike wolves and swans, they did not mate for life. Once a foal was born and weaned, a mare might form an attachment with another stallion and conceive another foal to him. Yet it had always seemed to me that the relationship between Avra and Gahltha had been unusually strong. Not that it was a subject I could talk about to either of them. Indeed, I would have to make sure my curiosity was shoved well to the back of my mind before I saw Gahltha again.
A count was made of hands and it was agreed that the dog and goats would accompany us aboard the ships. Avra thanked the merge and then Rushton concluded the meeting. Alad turned to accompany Avra out and I farsought him to ask Zade to carry me down to the watchhut on the morrow. He immediately asked if something was wrong with Gahltha. I sent that there was nothing amiss, but that it had occurred to me that he might like to spend the day with Avra and his son.
I lingered as the room cleared, waiting for Rushton to come to me, but the minute the doors to the guildmerge had been thrown open, Brydda strode in and demanded Rushton tell him all that had been decided over a large supper. Rushton threw me a half-amused look before surrendering himself to the Black Dog.
I noticed Ceirwan watching me, and felt the heat in my face, but before I could utter anything idiotic, he farsent that he was glad to see that things were well between us. As he came towards me I felt a wave of affection for the guilden, who did not pry but only asked if I would go to the kitchens as well. I shook my head, telling him that the rider he had sent down to the White Valley had returned to say Iriny would meet me at dawn in the watchhut above the pass, and I needed to get some sleep.
Ceirwan wrinkled his nose. ‘Dawn!’
I nodded. ‘I know, but it was my idea. At least it is not still raining, and with luck it will be a fair day again tomorrow.’
‘I’ll have Javo organise some food for ye to take, since th’ watchhouse pantries are always picked clean,’ Ceirwan said.
Aside from being weary after the long merge and conscious that I would have to get up very early, I wanted to try to contact Atthis on the dreamtrails, but when I entered my chamber, I found Cinda sitting by the fire warming her hands. She rose immediately, smiling, and I crossed the chamber to greet her, feeling guilty that I had not spent any time with her that day. She shook her head to silence my apologies and held out her hands to me. I took them, surprised when I entered her mind to find that she was already imagining us in a mirror image of the turret room, seated before an imaginary fire. As I drew her to sit down in reality, she apologised for entering my chamber uninvited, saying Elkar had been carried off by some of the teknoguilders to visit their caves but she had preferred to wait to see me, for she had heard that I meant to ride out early on the morrow. After a time she had come to the Farseekers hall and one of the farseekers had bidden her come up to my chamber to wait.
‘You look tired,’ she said contritely. ‘But I wanted to see you because we will be leaving tomorrow morning as well, and I feared that I might not have another chance to say goodbye.’
‘Oh no,’ I said. ‘I had not realised you meant to go so soon.’ I made a mental note to let Sarn know before I slept that the Norselanders were leaving the next day. Then I got out the little comb I had set aside to give her as a gift. She exclaimed over it with delight and admired the cloak pin I had chosen from my jewellery for the shadow Ursa, who had set herself before me, offering her life as a shield when we had faced the Hedra on Herder Isle. Then I asked whom they would travel with down to Sutrium.
‘Some of the coercer-knights will go with us and also the same armsmen of High Chieftain Dardelan’s who escorted us up here.’
I nodded my approval. ‘I am so glad you came, though you were not able to stay long. It is a pity I did not bring a jug of something for us to drink a farewell toast.’
‘But we have something!’ She pointed to a tray set on the mantelshelf. ‘The girl that bade me come up here sent it a little while later. There are sweet buns and hot mulled ferment, although I fear they might be cold by now,’ she added regretfully.
It was nothing to tip the ferment into a pot and heat it. When it was steaming I poured two mugs and we each took a sweet bun. As we ate in companionable silence, I thought how pleasant it was to sit and eat and drink with someone who liked me and yet was not in awe of me. And Cinda had a calm, restful manner that seemed to soothe all of my anxieties. I thought how Maruman would have liked her, and regretted that they would never meet. From the cat my thoughts turned inevitably to Dragon, as I wondered yet again where she was.
‘She is a beautiful child for all her rags and dirt,’ Cinda’s image said, and I saw that she had taken a memory of Dragon from my thoughts and reproduced her within the imagined turret room. I gazed at her bedraggled form with mingled regret and frustration.
‘That is how she looked when first I met her,’ I said, then I altered her image so that she looked as she had done the last time I had seen her, when I left her with the healer Kella, to travel to Saithwold.
‘Is she truly queen of the Red Land?’ Cinda asked.
Instead of answering, some impulse made me summon up a memory of the play and the song Miky and Angina had long ago made about a sleeping princess. They had used Dragon’s image for the princess and Cinda gasped to see her lying asleep on a flowery bier. When the part of the story came that showed the prince who wakened the sleeping princess in the story, I was startled to see that instead of having Dameon’s face and form, as in the empaths’ performance, staged to honour their guildmaster, the blind prince bore a striking resemblance to Matthew. I found myself explaining how the unformed feral child had fallen in love with the immature youth that Matthew had been, his head too full of heroes and heroines for him to recognise her worth.
‘He was very cruel to her,’ I said aloud.
Cinda shook her head. ‘Maybe he was only afraid. Love feels very dangerous sometimes.’
I stared at her, remembering my initial dislike of Rushton, who had been a man when I was still a child. Only later had I understood that I had feared what he made me feel, being unready for love. What made Cinda so wise? Was it the result of so much suffering?
‘I do not think suffering inevitably leads to wisdom, though I think it can teach compassion,’ Cinda’s image murmured. The fire cracked and outside I heard the wind in the trees. ‘Do you think she loves him still?’
I shook my head. ‘I think what Dragon felt for Matthew was only a child’s infatuation. She was very young and he had been kind and attentive to her while he had been helping to teach her to use her Talents. She mistook his kindness for love.’
‘Do not say only to what a child can feel, for do you not recall how powerfully you experienced emotion as a child?’ Cinda asked me very seriously. ‘We do not cast off childhood like the skin of a snake. It remains within us, even as we grow. It is the heart and core of us. And a child’s love can grow into a woman’s love.’
‘Perhaps, but Dragon has forgotten Matthew along with everything that happened to her since I found her on the west coast,’ I said. ‘It may be
that she will never remember what she felt for him and I can’t help but feel that would be for the best.’
‘Maybe Dragon went to the west coast when she disappeared because she hoped it would help her to remember what she had forgotten. It must frighten her to have forgotten so much,’ Cinda’s image replied.
I was a little staggered to realise that I had never once considered how Dragon might feel at being told over and over that she had forgotten great portions of her life. Rushton had been convinced from the start that she had gone back to the west coast where I had found her, and it shamed me that I had never guessed that she might have done so in the hope of retrieving her memories.
If she had gone to Oldhaven, Dameon would be the best person to try to convince her to return, for although she had forgotten everything, Dragon had been no more immune to the blind empath’s gentle charm than anyone else.
‘Do you think she will remember much of the Red Land? Even if her memory is restored, she must have been very young when she was taken from it,’ Cinda said.
‘Whatever she remembers or not of the Red Land, she is its queen,’ I said, thinking of what had been discussed in the guildmerge. ‘When her people see her, they will know who she is immediately because she bears a striking resemblance to her mother, whose face is carved here and there about the Red City. I think once they see her there, they will rise against the slavemasters as they have always sworn to do.’
There was a knock at the door, and we heard Elkar say, ‘I am sorry to disturb you, Lady Elspeth …’
‘Come in,’ I called.
‘I am looking for …’ he stopped, seeing Cinda rise from the seat by the fire, and smiled, saying, ‘I thought you might have come here, my love.’
I offered him the last of the ferment but he declined politely, saying his head was still spinning from his hours with the teknoguilders, and that was only partly the result of the mead they had been drinking. ‘Sometimes it truly seemed to me that they do not think of this world we live in now, with all its wonders and difficulties, but only of the world destroyed by the Great White.’
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