Sentimental nonsense, Conn thought. This is no more than a romantic girl's infatuation with a handsome man, when she has known too few of such. Yet the straightforwardness with which she had spoken touched him; he admired her honesty.
Alastair reached out and took her hand, saying gently, "I would rather not be your foe, Lenisa. Maybe we can find a way to be friends." He raised his eyes suddenly to his brother's with a belligerent stare. "And now you may call me a traitor to Hammerfell, if you will-"
"No such thing," Conn said. "Maybe this old feud has served its purpose. One thing which Lord Storn said really touched me; he said that there were so many outside enemies that mountain folk should not quarrel among themselves. He said the Hasturs and Aldarans were pressing us from either side hoping to gobble up our kingdoms under their rule-and perhaps we should all unite against them. It would go hard with me to think of King Aidan as my enemy-"
"-and yet he has promised us help in regaining Hammerfell," Alastair said.
Lenisa rose and began to pace the room; Jewel prowled at her heels, her teeth bared, her toes clicking on the bare floor.
"Oh, he has, has he? And by what right does he offer that? What right has he to interfere in this matter?" she said, and it was perfectly obvious that she was so angry she could hardly speak. "I do not want to see all this land just another fief held under the Hasturs, who seem determined to spread their reign from Temora to the Wall Around the World."
"You do not know King Aidan," said Conn. "I do
not think he is personally ambitious; but he wants peace and order in the land. He hates these small wars and the bloodshed and the upheaval and turmoil which follow them. He would like to see this realm at peace."
"And when we are all subject to the reign of Hasturs," Lenisa said, "what will happen to such men as my grandsire?"
"The only way to know that," Alastair said, "would be to ask them both when they stand face to face."
"Perhaps that can be arranged. Indeed, if King Aidan comes hither it is sure to happen sooner or later," Conn said, "but we pledged ourselves to raise men here against Storn, so that the king could legitimately raise an army to put down rebellion from Aldaran." By revealing this much of King Aidan's plan he felt he was being disloyal.
"Why must we have Aidan's armies here, if we can settle this feud among ourselves and find strength in unity?" Alastair asked. "Surely even a threat from Aldaran concerns ourselves, and not any lowland lords, even the Hasturs."
Lenisa said, "Granted I do not understand all these things, but I have heard there was a treaty by which all this land is held under the Hasturs and we cannot make agreements among ourselves without their consent. When Geremy, the first of that name reigned in Asturias-"
"It seems, then, that the thing to do would be to try and bring Aidan here without his armies," Alastair interjected.
"And that's the question," Lenisa said. "How do we persuade Aidan to come here in peace?" She came and perched on the end of Alastair's bed.
"If the king's mind is set on making war in the mountains-"
"I don't think he wants to make war. My impression was that he thought it a distressing necessity which he feared he could find no way to avoid," Conn told her.
"Somehow or other, then, we must persuade Aidan to come here without his armies-" Alastair began, "but if we do that, he is likely to feel we are trying to lure him here unarmed for some traitorous purpose-"
"Rubbish," Lenisa interrupted. "Tell him he can bring all the bodyguards or honor guards he wants; but no armies to stir up trouble by riding all over the crops and being quartered upon poor folk in the village who have hardly enough to feed themselves, let alone to give to the army's quartermasters."
"Just a minute," Conn said, "I have spoken with King Aidan and I think he is well disposed toward us, or at least to our cause. But I have no power to bid the king to come or to stay. He has offered us armies, but I do not know if he ever had it in his mind to come here himself."
"Then somehow he must be persuaded to come," Lenisa said. "Is there anyone you know-your mother perhaps, who has spent all these years in Thendara- who has the ear of the king or perhaps some member of the royal family?"
Alastair said, "The king's cousin, Valentine Hastur, has been seeking for years to persuade my mother to marry him-but I would not wish to ask Mother to use her influence in that way. And I do not think she would do it if I asked."
"One of my closest friends is the queen's foster
son, the son of one of her favorite cousins," Alastair continued, "but he is in Thendara-"
"If you are speaking of Gavin," said Conn, "he insisted on coming with us, and he is in Markos's cottage at this moment, looking after Mother and Floria. Certainly he has the ear of the king, or at least of the queen-" Conn continued more sadly, "But the queen is in no condition to lend anyone aid. When we left Thendara she was terribly ill, and in grave danger for her life."
This unhappy news cast a pall over everyone, but through the momentary quiet in the bedchamber, a commotion could be heard in the hall, and a moment later Dame Jarmilla came in.
"Mistress, the lord gave orders you were to go to bed early; how many people are going to come here tonight and demand to see your guests?"
"I was expecting no one," said Lenisa, her pretty blue eyes wide and innocent, "but unless it is a band of armed mercenaries, let them come in, whoever they are."
Grumbling, Dame Jarmilla went to the door, and flung it open.
Gavin Delleray, soaked to the skin, his elaborately curled and dyed hair sagging and dripping onto his collar, came into the room.
"Alastair, my dear fellow! For no reason at all, the very strangest thing! I was sleeping in Markos's cottage, and I woke out of a sound sleep; I had been dreaming that I was in King Aidan's throne room and he demanded that I come at once-at once, mind you, in this rain and not even a decent umbrella to be had anywhere in the village-and see how you
fared here." He looked apologetic, and bowed to Lenisa and Dame Jarmilla.
"On my honor, mestra, I mean no harm to anyone beneath this root, or for that matter any other," he said. "I am a minstrel, not a soldier."
Oh, is that so? Conn thought, startled. I wondered at the time why it was that Gavin insisted on coming with us; But I should have know that King Aidan would have wanted eyes and, ears on this journey. Gavin himself did not understand what he was doing here; but I should have known. . . .
Alastair and Lenisa had evidently come to the same conclusion. They were both talking at once, and Gavin held up a hand in entreaty.
"Please, I beg of you," he said, "let me at least dry myself a little by the fire before you enroll me in your intrigues."
Lenisa looked delighted.
"Some angel sent you to us," she said. "Or are you yourself an angel come in our need?"
Dame Jarmilla sniffed.
"The cristoforos say that angels may be found in strange places," she remarked, "But surely it is the only time in all of history that any God has had enough of a sense of humor to send an angelic messenger who dyes his hair purple."
Gavin stared. "Who, me? An angel? Lord of Light, you must indeed be hard up for messengers! What's this all about, then?"
Alastair sat up, reaching for a folded blanket across the foot of his bed, and flung it to his friend. He said, "My dear fellow, sit down by the fire and dry your clothes; and if the excellent Dame Jarmilla could be persuaded to bring a hot drink of some sort? If
yon take the lung fever, you'll be no good at all to any of us." Dame Jarmilla went to fetch the kettle hanging over the fire and busied herself with some kind of potion that steamed and smelled delicious.
"And when you get yourself dry," he began, "never in my life have I so much regretted that I have no laran; but perhaps it is enough to have a friend who has not only laran but the ear of the king. If you'll help us,
Gavin, perhaps we can prevent war breaking out in these hills." He chuckled and added, "Maybe when it's over, you can make a ballad out of it."
18
They were awake very late, talking half the night about how Gavin should link with King Aidan and try to persuade him to come peacefully, with no more than his personal bodyguard and honor guard, for the purpose of burying the feud between Storn and Hammerfell which had raged for all these generations.
"But," Lenisa reminded them, "that may be the last thing the Hastur king wants; for if there is peace in the Hellers, he has small excuse to extend his kingdom into this part of the world."
"To that I can only say that you do not know King Aidan," Conn replied. "If you did, I think you would trust him as I do."
"It could be," said Lenisa, "but if Aidan is a mighty laranzu, able to read men's minds at a distance, perhaps he could make me wish to be his vassal even without my consent."
It was Alastair who answered that, for Conn had never thought of such a thing. He said, "I am not all that familiar with the mind of the king; but my own mot hen has been a leronis since I can remember, and if she were able to force obedience against a person's will, 1 would have been less of a rascal. She brought me up with the knowledge that the first law of laran is that it must never be used to force the mind or will; if Fiona were here, she could quote for you the Monitor's Oath, which is the first obligation of any leronis--to 'enter no mind unconsenting, save to help or heal,' " he quoted.
"That is what I have heard during my schooling," said Lenisa, "but who knows what a Hastur-one of the sorcerer kings-might define as 'helping' or 'healing,' or as being for someone's own good."
Alastair looked at her, and to Conn it seemed that his brother's whole heart, such as it was, had poured itself into his eyes.
Shallow; he is a fool and shallow, if he would give up Florid for this one, Conn thought, and an ancient feud with the honor of our ancestors at stake for the craven comforts of peace. War for a Hammerfell is an honorable endeavor; but what has this vaunted peace with Storn to offer us? We have yet to hear that Storn intends to return our lands, or rebuild our castle. Honor demands that we continue this ancient strife at least till we have avenged our father, he thought. But though he had lived his life for the thought of revenge, he was confused, and Lenisa was looking at him almost as if she read his thoughts, with a sad look of skepticism.
He tried for a moment to see Lenisa through his brother's eyes, and she seemed little more than any of the simple country girls with whom he had played
as a child, danced with at harvest and Midsummer festivals all during his childhood. Pretty, yes, he supposed she was pretty, with oval features, pink cheeks, shining fair hair looped into braids, wearing a simple tartan dress of blue and dark green.
In his mind he contrasted her with Floria; tall and elegant, with striking features, deep-set eyes, and soft speech. She was a trained leronis; a person could easily assume she would never brew a drink, or fetch mulled wine for a guest with her own hands . . . but this would certainly not be true, Floria had helped to housebreak and train the puppy Copper herself, and had not stinted the labor of her hands. Floria was no more a useless fine lady than Lenisa, and had her own component of skills to which she had been trained. But in addition, Floria was beautiful, noble and educated, a leronis in her own right, while Lenisa was only a pretty and unsophisticated country girl. Well, it would be easy to draw wrong conclusions about Floria; Lenisa, too, might have virtues which were not apparent, and if he knew her better he could value her at nearer to her true worth.
That night Conn slept on the floor of his brother's room; surely this was the first time, as Lenisa said-or was it the swordswoman Dame Jarmilla-that Storn had housed not one but two Hammerfells. He dreamed of King Aidan, and felt disloyal; he had displaced onto Gavin the task of making it clear to Aidan that the king's promised armies were not needed. But what, then, of the threat from Aldaran? And even so he wondered-was it only his country upbringing?--if indeed Alastair and Gavin were somehow in league against him. He didn't really trust
these city people. And as he fell asleep, his awareness drifted through closed doors to where Lenisa slept, with Dame Jarmilla on a cot in the corridor, so that she could watch the door of Lenisa's room and make sure there was no unauthorized coming and going into Lenisa's chamber.
Alastair woke him early the next morning; snow was rattling softly against the window.
"You must take your horse, brother," he said, troubled. "She is in Storn's stables. Ride her back to Markos's cottage, for our mother should be kept advised of what we are planning. And I know not when it will be suitable or possible for me to leave here."
"And because of Lenisa, you don't want to leave," Conn said.
"You should be the last to reproach me for that," Alastair said, not without a flare of anger, "since it will leave Floria to fall into your arms-do you think I didn't know you were mad for her the first moment you saw her?"
"Can you blame me for that? And why should I not, since it's obvious that you don't love as you should."
"That's not fair,' said Alastair. "I do love her. I have known her since we were seven years old. Until I came here, I thought life could hold for me no happier destiny than to marry Floria-"
"Then why have you changed your mind? Do you now think it's better to marry this Storn girl-for political reasons?"
"One would almost think you did not want to bring this lend to an end," Alastair accused, now truly angry.
"1 would have no objection to an honorable end to it," Conn said, "with the return of our lands and keep and assurances that no harm would come to our people. You may not care much about them; there is probably no reason that you should. Certainly you do not know them. But I have lived among them all my life and I feel honor bound to take care of them. Do you think you can do it just by marrying one of the Storn women?"
"The Storn woman," Alastair snapped, "She and Lord Storn are the only ones left of that kindred. With Storn dead and Lenisa married to a Hammerfell, the feud ends naturally, with no one left to carry it on."
"Are you planning to murder your host, then?" Conn snarled sarcastically. "I don't know what the custom is in the city, but here that sort of behavior is frowned upon."
"No, of course I don't-" Alastair shot back, as Gavin sat up in his bedroll by the hearth and groaned.
"What are you two fighting about now?" He raked his fingers through his hair, which was straying in all directions at once. "What time is it anyway? It's barely daylight out!"
"Conn is accusing me of a plot to murder Lord Storn," Alastair replied. "Pretty cheeky for my little brother."
"You certainly seem ready enough to forget your pledge to Floria," Conn pointed out, "so how can you expect me to understand the delicate shades of your definition of honor?"
But Alastair, rather than rise to the bait, sat thinking for a moment, and then said wonderingly, "The fact is that I am not pledged to Floria. I am sorry for
Queen Antonella's illness, but because of her sudden affliction, the handfasting did not actually take place-"
Conn said just as thoughtfully, "And of the guests there that, night, how many knew to which of us Fiona was to be pledged?"
Gavin looked amused, as if he knew something they did not. "And it's such a wonderfully traditional ending to a feud, for the two families to join together in marriage-I assume, Alastair, that you do wish to marry Lady Storn-the damisela Lenisa, that is?" Alastair nodded, and Gavin continued, "and if Conn wishes to marry Floria, I doubt if your mother will mind, since she will still have Floria as a daughter, so all you have to do is persuade Lord Edric . . ."
"And Floria," Conn interjected, "unless you think she's a bargaining counter to be traded about at her father's whim."
"Yes, of course," Gavin agreed. "You should both speak to Floria, but I am certain that
she will "agree to do her part in ending this dreadful feud. After all, if she married Alastair and the feud continued, she'd be losing her children to it. But will Storn give his consent?"
Alastair shrugged. "We shall simply have to ask him and find out," he said, as the door to the room was opened.
"Ask me what?" Lord Storn stood in the doorway. Although no one answered him out loud, he seemed to have heard the answer anyway.
Does he have laran? Conn wondered.
"Of course I do, boy," Storn replied. "The Storns have always had it. Don't the Hammerfells? He did not wait for either of them to answer. "So you want
to marry my grandniece, do you" he said, turning to Alastair. "First, why don't you tell me about your promised wife, the one who's staying in the village with your mother."
"Domna Floria," Alastair said slowly. "Well, you see, sir, our families are friends, and I've known her since we were children, so when she was proposed to me as a bride, I thought myself lucky. She's a lovely girl. But then I met Lenisa, and-now I have fallen in love with her."
"Have you?" Lord Storn said consideringly. "That's all very well for the first few months, young man, but after that what keeps you together? I don't hold with all this nonsense about love and romance; never have, never will. A suitable marriage arranged by your parents has a much better chance of success; that way you don't have unrealistic expectations." He scowled. "Still, Lenisa has to marry-unless I'm prepared to let my blood die out altogether, which I am not. Aldaran of Scathfell wants her for his brother, but I'm not sure . . . I'll think about it, boy, I'll think about it."
He looked at Gavin, who was still sitting on the bedroll beside the fire. "I don't believe I've met you." Gavin rose hastily to his feet as Alastair performed the introductions. "So you're the Hastur king's cousin, are you?"
"Only by marriage, sir," Gavin said respectfully.
"And you're proposing to lure him up here to talk to us all?"
"If you agree, sir," Gavin said. "I wouldn't wish to bring King Aidan into any danger."
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