The Copper Crown

by Patricia Kennealy-Morrison

  "This is your sister we're talking about! Doesn't that mean anything to you?"

  He looked at her then, and she wished she had emulated Haruko's silence, for the gray eyes were terrifying.

  "It means a very great deal to me, O'Reilly," he said. "Not only is Ari my sister, but she is Aeron's foster-sister, and Morwen's also, and you two know by now what that means to a Kelt."

  Haruko's face was full of all the helplessness he felt. "I am sorry, lord, to be the one to carry this suspicion to you. And desperately sorry that I didn't do so sooner."

  "Better you than another, Theo. You did right to come to us, and later or sooner, I think, will make but little differ here. Any road, I too have had suspicions about Ari of late. I have sensed--well, I thought my suspicions unworthy of either her or me." His laugh was short and unamused. "The reality seems to be a thousand times unworthier than aught I could have imagined."

  "Will you tell Aeron, then?" murmured Morwen. "Or shall I?"

  "When time is, I shall tell her. But not yet. She has much upon her shoulders at the moment. If we tell her now, the first thing she will demand is proof, and we have none to speak of. Neither of Tindal's guilt nor--nor of Ari's."

  "We have some pretty good circumstantial evidence, at least."

  "We do, and very like Aeron would honor our judgment by accepting that evidence as fact, since it was presented in good faith by us whose word she values. But it is not fact, and no brehon in the kingdom would sentence a pig upon such evidence. We have not even convinced ourselves yet; how are we to convince the Ard-rian?"

  "But suppose we're too late!" O'Reilly's anguish broke through at last.

  "Then is it dan, fated so," said Gwydion, "and certainly no fault of yours." His voice was soft, full of concern for her distress. "You did not delay out of any reasons but good ones: justice and love. And now must I do no less. But I feel it will not be very long until we know."

  "One way or another," said Haruko heavily.

  Gwydion nodded as their eyes met and held. "As you say."

  *

  "So Aeron is expecting real ambassadors." Kynon swirled the ale in his cup and looked up at Arianeira, who stood, flushed from the outdoors, beside the fire in the Great Hall at Llys Don.

  "She has just informed her Councils so this morning. That old bodach Straloch told me all about it. He was in a rage over it, and that was why he was so eager to talk to someone; and I have always been a favorite of his. He opposed Aeron most bitterly, and the upshot of it was that she dismissed him from the Council on the spot. How long before that embassy ship should arrive?" she threw over her shoulder.

  Tindal shrugged. "Depending on when they leave--maybe a month, two months at most. I respectfully suggest Your Highness notify our Coranian colleague."

  "I agree, lady," said Kynon, in response to the questioning look Arianeira gave him.

  She took a deep breath. "Well then, tonight. Tindal, you will make the necessary preparations."

  "One moment," said Tindal. "Once I have sent the message, how will you let down the Curtain Wall to fulfill your part of the bargain? You've been rather vague about the details, and you did tell us you couldn't manage to winkle the clearance codes out of your brother's office."

  "There are more ways than one to shear this particular sheep," said Arianeira, unruffled. "And it is in my mind that Aeron, of all people, shall show me that way." She ignored the massive doubt registered on the faces of the two men. "You have the escape plan to hand. Once the message is sent, you will leave Caerdroia separately and head for Gwynedd. Go to Caer Ys, where you will be expected, and be prepared to take ship from there when I send word that the Curtain Wall has been breached. That should be in no more than a day and a night. By then I shall be aboard Jaun Akhera's flagship, and I will send you sailing instructions. You shall be kept well away from the fighting, I assure you," she added scornfully, for Tindal's face had filled with alarm. It was surely the sarcasm of the gods that she had to rely on such a one for such a matter--but the end was surely worth even so contemptible a means...

  Kynon had divined something of her intent. "You will use magic, then," he said gruffly. "True it is that you are a renowned sorceress, and I am no magician of any skill, lady, but do you know what you do?"

  Her blue eyes flashed displeasure. "I know very well what I do, son of Accolon, and better it will be for you if you do not question it."

  When her two accomplices had withdrawn, leaving her alone in the high-ceilinged hall, she put her hands to her mouth to still her excited trembling and turned a passionate unseeing gaze on the room.

  "Ah, Aeron," she breathed, "how easy you have made it for me to destroy you..." Of course, it would not be truly easy, what Arianeira had it in mind to do. After all, Aeron had used the same method at Bellator; it had worked, right enough, beyond all expectation--but its aftermath had also nearly killed her.

  Arianeira scowled at that thought. It would be tedious indeed to be so--inconvenienced. But Aeron had always had a core of conscience far too easily pierced for one who would be High Queen. She herself would not be so afflicted.

  *

  Arianeira had little difficulty that night in obtaining a ship at Mardale Port. Few would refuse the Princess of Gwynedd transport in her brother's name, and once the ship stood well out from Tara, it was a simple enough matter to control its crew. Some died in resisting her magic, their minds torn apart even as their bodies ended in torment. But to her way of thinking, better it was for them that they perished now than in what was to come when the ship docked at the Curtain Wall station of Murias.

  Jaun Akhera himself had specified this station, in his conversation with Arianeira earlier that night. Of the four Curtain Wall power outposts, it was the one nearest to the Keltic Throneworld system, and also the one most convenient to the Imperial armadas, which even now were assembling outside the Wall, their ranks reaching back for many thousands of star-miles.

  The personnel at Murias station never knew what killed them--it happened much too quickly for that, so there was some small mercy even at the end. One minute they were welcoming the sister of the First Lord of War, the next they were dead or dying.

  ... Arianeira lowered her arms, breathing hard after her exertions, as if she had run a race or fought a bout. And it was Aeron who showed the way, she thought exultantly. It was somehow fitting that the same sorcery Aeron had used against Bellator to avenge a wrong should now be used against her for the same reason. But it was truly a fearful spell. It had taken more out of her than any magic she had ever worked, though she had studied it ever since she and Jaun Akhera had first made their hell-wrought bargain, knowing she would undoubtedly be obliged to use it in the end and steeling herself to master it.

  But it had not been so difficult after all, merely tiring; or else perhaps she had grown stronger for her months of discipline. Pity it was, though, that the Curtain Wall was too far distant from Tara for even Aeron to sense the backwash of the magic; though she would hear of it soon enough.

  She looked around triumphantly at the carnage she had wrought. And that was only the first step, the clearing of the way for the real work now to begin. And as for Kynon and Tindal...

  Arianeira permitted herself a small smile. Those two would find at Caer Ys neither ship nor sanctuary, but only a rather abrupt passing into their next lives. She had set there a telesm, a kind of magical time bomb keyed to the personal auras of the two men. It wanted only their arrival to activate itself, and would not do so until that moment, even though all the rest of the kingdom should crowd into the castle. The resultant implosion would bring down the castle, and perhaps even the entire island upon which it stood, upon their unsuspecting heads.

  She turned her attention to the next phase of her magic: the destruction of the Curtain Wall. Before granting him the mercy of death, Arianeira had subjected the station captain to the full force of her kenning powers; and the information she had ripped from his mind--how could the Fianna assign su
ch weak vessels to such critical posts--had revealed to her the station's points of greatest vulnerability. Destroy that, and this entire section of Wall would billow inwards like a tapestry in a draft. It remained only to do it. And beyond the Wall's thin blue glow, though Arianeira could not see them, nor they her, waited the Imperial fleets.

  She drew three deep breaths and raised her arms above her head, joining her palms together, for the final phase of the spell of destruction, then closed her eyes and summoned all her power. As the sparkling vortex began to build around her, she smiled again, for nothing could stop it now.

  "Aeron," she whispered, "you are undone." And the evil radiance began to stream outward from her hands.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Full winter now on Tara. At Caerdroia, the prevailing winds had backed round into the north, blasting down through the high passes of the Stair, snow-laden, blue with chill from out of Northplain.

  Up in the seaward tower, snow hissed against the windows. In the tapestry-curtained bed, it was warm and snug as a walled pleasaunce, and the last of the firelight flickered over a man and woman deep asleep.

  Gwydion's arm even in sleep was laid protectively over Aeron, tanned skin contrasting with blue-veined ivory. But his sword arm was unencumbered, ready to reach at need for the weapon that lay on the chest beside the bed.

  Aeron slept profoundly, totally trusting for once to another's strength rather than her own. The news of the coming Terran embassy, and the ensuing brangle with the Council, and above all the passage-of-arms with Straloch, had wearied and upset her, and even before that her dreams had been troubled with renewed prescience. So that Gwydion, coming to her from his own council with Morwen and the Terrans, had not the heart to waken her when at last she seemed peacefully asleep; he would tell her of the Terrans' suspicions in the morning.

  In the dark cold predawn hours, everything seemed to happen at once. The automatic viewscreens lit with a sudden blaze of urgency, alarms sounded, and two cloaked people burst unceremoniously into the chamber.

  Gwydion was awake with his sword in his hand before Aeron even moved, so great was the speed of his warrior's reflexes--and the measure of his protectiveness. When he saw that the intruders were Rohan and Morwen, he relaxed, but even so he was slow to lower the point of the sword.

  Aeron, whose own instinct had told her almost as swiftly that only three people in the universe could enter her rooms unannounced and unchallenged--and one of those three was already beside her--was less startled, though a good deal angrier.

  "Do not ever do so again... do not. But tell us quickly."

  Morwen wasted no words. "The Curtain Wall has been breached, and an Imperial armada is on its way here. Get dressed at once, both of you are needed in the Commandery."

  Without a word Gwydion began putting on trews and boots, and Aeron caught the black Dragon uniform that Morwen took from its peg in the wardrobe.

  "What other word?"

  "None as yet," admitted Rohan, holding boots and cloak ready for his sister like one of the royal dressers. "The verified signal has only just come through, as you heard; we were in the Commandery on other business when the preliminary alarms sounded from Murias station on the Wall, and we came here at once, thinking to warn you. We were something late... Also the Terran Tindal goes missing."

  Aeron pulled the tunic over her head and came up shaking her hair from her eyes. "Declare a state of war, effective immediately."

  "Already done, Ard-rian, and the order awaits only your sign-manual to be official."

  "You say Tindal is missing?" Aeron sat on the bed to pull on her boots. "Where has he gone, could he be in danger? Did no one see him go?"

  Morwen shook her head. "We do not know where he is, and we fear the worst; if he has dared to venture off-planet, he could be in very great peril. But we have sent some to search for him... Meantimes, the Fianna generals and the Dragon commanders are now assembling in the War Room; the Earl-Marischal and the Earl-Guardian have been summoned also."

  "Good." Aeron stood up and flung her cloak about her. "Now fetch the other Terrans to the War Room, and for the sake of all the gods find Tindal!"

  When the knock came at his door, Haruko, awake at once, was not at all surprised, and he opened the door fully prepared for the worst.

  A tall warrior in the black Dragon Kinship uniform stood there, and saluted Haruko smartly. "I am Grelun, lord," he said. "Lieutenant to the Pendragon."

  Confused for a moment, Haruko remembered that that was Gwydion's Dragon title, and he nodded. "Yes, Lieutenant?"

  "You are summoned by the Ard-rian, lord, to the War Room, you and the others who came with you. They are coming here now." He gestured. "If you will?"

  "Of course." He grabbed up his uniform from the chair where he had thrown it and pulled it on hastily. "Is it war?"

  "That is not for me to say, lord," said Grelun, and Haruko finished dressing in silence.

  In the tower courtyard they met O'Reilly, Mikhailova and Hathaway, each with a Dragon escort and each looking apprehensive. Haruko peered around.

  "Where's Tindal?"

  "Lieutenant Tindal is apparently not in Caerdroia," said Grelun.

  Haruko and O'Reilly instantly sought each other's eyes, shattered by the same thought: They had been right about Tindal after all, and now it was too late.

  "Captain?"

  Haruko turned his head with an effort. Mikhailova stood at his elbow, looking white and frightened in the light of the torches.

  "What is it, Ensign?"

  "I have something to tell you, sir," she said all in a rush, as if in fear she would lose her courage before she could say what she must.

  "May we have a moment?" said Haruko to Grelun, and the Kelt nodded. Haruko drew Mikhailova to one side and put a hand on her shoulder.

  "Tell me, Athenee. It's all right, I promise you."

  "Well--I don't know if this is the best time to bring this up--it probably isn't--but it's been bothering me a long time, sir, and I'd just as soon tell you, if that's all right with you."

  "Of course." Haruko felt a chill breath pass over him, as if somehow he already knew what it was she wished to tell him.

  "You remember the party, the night we arrived here? Well, a man came up to me at dinner a couple of weeks later and said that he'd met me at the party and that he--he wanted to be friends with me."

  "What man?"

  "His name was--is Kynon. He's a retainer of the Princess Arianeira--you know, Prince Gwydion's sister."

  Haruko felt his blood flood cold to his feet, and he leaned back against the tower wall, a little faint. This, then, was the link he had sought all this time in vain, the proof he had needed for Morwen and Gwydion. It wasn't the whole story, but it was enough for Haruko to see where it had to be going and where it had begun. Only now it was too late to stop it--But Mikhailova was intent on her own thought, and did not notice her Captain's reaction. "It was so strange, sir. He was very attentive for a few weeks, and I must admit I felt very flattered. And then, all of a sudden, he turned so cold--it was like flipping a relay switch--and I never saw him again. Well, I did once or twice, actually, from a distance, with Tindal... I was hurt and confused, and I didn't know what to think, so I just withdrew from everything. That's why I've been so out of things lately." She looked up at him at last, heartened by his hand squeezing her shoulder. "I thought I'd been stupid and naive, making a fool of myself, and I didn't want to think about it, and I didn't want to risk doing it again. I know it probably doesn't have very much to do with whatever's going on tonight, but I should have told you sooner, and I just wanted to tell you now, so you'd know."

  Haruko chose his words carefully, not wishing to give the appearance of blaming her, which, God knew, he most certainly did not...

  "Athenee--I don't think you were either foolish or naive, I think you were being used. Tell me now, honestly, do you remember this Kynon asking you things, maybe he hadn't any business asking about?"

  She
looked up at him sharply. "Oh, but he did! And it made me feel so uncomfortable. He would ask about my duties on the Sword, what a tech officer could and couldn't do, what kind of computer facilities we had, things like that. I didn't tell him anything, sir; I swear it."

  "I know you didn't," said Haruko. "And when he realized you weren't going to tell him, Athenee, that was when he dropped you, and found somebody else who would."

  "Who would?" she repeated blankly. Then, with dawning horrified comprehension, "Not--not Hugh!"

  "I'm afraid so. I haven't time to go into it all now, but Sally and I think that's exactly what's happened. And if we're right, that's why we're being summoned now by the Queen."

  "To the War Room, they said. Is it war?"

  Haruko nodded, and across the courtyard Grelun gestured to him. "We have to go now. I'll tell you the rest on the way."

  *

  The Fianna Commandery occupied a brugh of its own across the Great Square from the palace, and could be reached from there by means of underground passageways. The War Room, nerve center of the huge complex, was located in a tower of its own; by the time Aeron arrived there, Gwydion and the others close behind, it was ablaze with lights and roaring with activity.

  At her entrance the frenzy redoubled, and the captain-general of the Fianna dashed over to her.

  "Hail, athiarna," he said, saluting in the Fian manner.

  Aeron acknowledged the salute, moving to the hologram star display in the room's enormous two-story center well.

  "Well met in ill time, Donal. What is our current state?"

  "Ill enough, Lady. An Imperial armada has entered through a deliberately created breach in the Curtain Wall. Murias station has been completely destroyed, as yet we know not how or by whom. Fleets have been sent against all our systems, but the main strength of the invasion is coming in along Ullin's Straight Way, headed for Tara."