Kings Of The North Part 48

"Glad to hear it," Meddthal said, "since it seems we're going to be seeing another miserable war. d.a.m.n these ambitious men! Why can't they be content to rule their own lands well? There's more than enough work for a lifetime in that, if you do it right." He shook his head. "Though it would be hard luck on you mercenaries, then. I suppose you like the life of the sword-"

"Not at the moment," Burek said, lifting his arm slightly in its sling. "But some of it, yes."

"I would rather go back to minding the wine production," Meddthal said. "But my father needs me here, so here I am."

"I don't want war," Burek said. "What little I saw of Siniava's War...no one sane wants that. But I do think wars come, want them or no-"

"Someone wants them, or they wouldn't-"

"True enough. Alured does, I think. Some demon drives men like him and Siniava. But there will always be brigands, even without a war, and someone must protect the farmers and merchants from them."

Chaya, Lyonya

Kieri woke with a start, as if someone had touched him with a coal. A vision of fire glittering on dark water, ships of fire...and the taig, roiled with fear.

He was out of bed before he knew it, sword in hand, feet planted firmly on the carpet. The sword steadied him, even as its jewel flared brightly in the dark room. Where? Where was the menace? It must be the Pargunese coming across the Honnorgat, but upstream or down?

And had the Pargunese king betrayed him? Or been overthrown? He reached out to the taig as he had done before, this time to steady it.

I am here. Your king is with you.

A knock on the door.

"Come," he said aloud.

"Sir King, I felt something-" It was Berne, one of the half-elven Squires.

"And I," Kieri said. "North-the Pargunese are across the river, bringing fire."

"What will you do?"

"Dress," Kieri said. "I can't do much like this-" He glanced down at his winter bed gown and his bare feet and gave Berne a rueful grin. As he'd hoped, Berne chuckled, a bit nervously. "It's not my first war," Kieri said. "Send to the kitchen-we'll need hot food as soon as possible-and to the stable-we'll need horses prepared for couriers. Also Garris: he has the Squire roster. I'll be dressed and down by the time you're done."

As he lit the candles-by this time he had enough control of his powers to do that by magery alone-he wondered what prompted an attack now, at this moment. Had the Pargunese king turned against him? Unlikely, he thought. Had he been killed by his wicked brother? Possibly...though the reports he'd had regularly from the king had indicated he felt he was making some headway and wasn't in flight for his life.

Reports days old. Much could have happened, including the king's brother making an attack out of panic. Kieri reached out to the taig again, this time to call the Lady. She would have felt the disturbance, he was sure, and in this crisis he must ignore the anger he still felt against her. But he could feel nothing-had she, in her anger, locked herself away from him completely? Surely she would come, with the taig in danger.

He dressed quickly, mail under his outer garments, shirt, doublet, and capelet all in the royal colors, boots, and the day-crown he usually wore only for semiformal audiences. His people needed to see their king looking calm and regal...but martial, too. When he opened his door again, the Squires posted there looked worried. He smiled at them.

"Whoever ordered the attack cannot know how quickly word reached us," he said to them. "Remember, even the king of Pargun does not know about our taig-sense, or all the details of our deployments. I do not think this is his treachery, which means the attackers know almost nothing. They will think they can gain a foothold before we even hear about it."

"But what will we do?" Berne asked.

"Eat breakfast," Kieri said. "Never fight a war on an empty stomach."

Downstairs, servants scurried about; all seemed a confused bustle. Garris, his face blurry with sleep, at least had his uniform on straight as he came out of his office. "Is it war, Sir King?"

"I believe so, yes," Kieri said. "It seems someone in Pargun still seeks to burn us out."

"You'll want to send for Aliam Halveric, then-"

"Indeed. It is a shame to wrest him from a home still under repair, but I need him and his troops. And we'll need the rangers from the southern borders-and the west as well-but first, we eat."

Garris grinned, to the obvious surprise of the other Squires. "Aliam's rules, eh?"

"Right. It's near enough dawn; the kitchen may have already lit fires, so I suspect we'll be getting hot food soon."

"The Council?"

"I expect they'll arrive on their own while we eat. As will my elven relatives." Surely they would come, would appear any moment. "I am monitoring the taig now, but would like Orlith or another to do so as well."

"Is there any chance our river force can throw them back?"

"It might, depending on what force they sent and what their fire weapon is. The Pargunese king's mention of a 'forbidden hill' and 'dragons' fire' worries me. It may be nothing more than a scare-name, but if it's not-"

"Sir King-" That was the steward, looking both scared and determined. "Bread's not out yet, but there's porridge-cakes quickfried and cold meats-hot sib in a few minutes."

"Excellent," Kieri said. "Come now-let's eat. Everyone needs to start this day with a good meal under their belts."

"My lord-" The steward bowed them into the small dining room.

Kieri and Garris ate heartily, and soon his Squires joined in. Kieri drank down a cup of hot sib in three swallows, finishing just as Orlith arrived.

"Sir King-I'm glad to see you're awake."

"The taig woke me, as I'm sure it did you. Have you eaten?"

"Yes," Orlith said. "Others are coming."

"The Lady?" Kieri asked. "I haven't been able to reach her through the taig."

"I expect so," Orlith said.

"Good," Kieri said, applying himself to another porridge-cake. "We will have a busy day. I would like you to monitor the taig, so that I can deal with other things from time to time. I'm staying in contact, but I don't want to miss anything it might tell us and yet I must attend to purely military matters as well."

"As you wish, Sir King," Orlith said, bowing.

"I'm sending couriers to bring in our reserves of rangers," Kieri said. "And the Halveric with his troops."

"I thought they were already here-"

"No." Had Orlith paid no attention earlier? "A cohort and a half are still south, with Aliam." Servants brought in a steaming basket of hot bread. Kieri broke off an end and slathered it with b.u.t.ter, then dripped honey on it. "Let this stand for the pastry," he said. "We're already talking business, and we must continue."

Garris pushed back his chair. "By your leave, Sir King, I'll get the couriers started on their way-and yes, I'll make sure they've breakfasted."

"Good. Whoever's at the river should already have sent to Tsaia to warn them, as well as to us. Send also to whatever domains you think might not be touched by couriers on their way to and from the river."

Garris bowed and left just as Sier Halveric arrived, more fl.u.s.tered than Kieri had ever seen him.

"Sir King!"

"Sit down," Kieri said. "Have some breakfast-"

"There's no time," Halveric said. "We must do something."

"We must prepare for a long and difficult day," Kieri said. "Eat, if you haven't. I'm sending couriers to Aliam and to steadings between here and the river."

"How long have you been awake?" Halveric asked, reaching for the bread.

"A turn of the gla.s.s, now. The taig woke me. When Aliam arrives, he will take command of all our forces, second only to me. I'd like you to see to provisioning, if you would."

"Of course, Sir King...you are so calm; are you not worried?"

"Worried? Of course. Panicked, no. This is not my first war."

He felt the northern edge of the taig flinch, as if from a blow; glancing at Orlith, he saw that the elf had felt it as clearly.

"Dry leaves and a wind from the north," the elf said. He did not need to say more. Kieri could almost feel his own skin crisping in a blaze, as dry leaves ignited and blew through the air, lighting the dry wood of fallen limbs...but deeper in the forest, the burning leaves fell on snowdrifts and went out. "They picked an ill time to use fire," the elf said. "Autumn before snow would be better..."

"That may have been their original plan," Kieri said, "which we delayed, by intervening in the matter of their king. Let us ask the G.o.ds for more snow-or freezing rain."

By dawn-a bitter, clear dawn, with north wind thrashing the trees-couriers were well on their way and Council members resident in Chaya were busy carrying out the tasks he had given them. Still he had heard nothing from the Lady, and Orlith, busy with the tasks Kieri had given him, merely shook his head when asked if she was aware of the taig.

"Will you take the field?" Sier Belvarin asked.

"Not now," Kieri said. "Captain Talgan is a competent field commander for the Halveric troops-I've seen him in action-and I must trust my ranger and Royal Archer commanders are the same, though they lack Talgan's experience. We should have couriers arriving this evening with reports."

The rest of the day, Kieri worked through the plans he'd made, nudging his Council into faster action by antic.i.p.ating their questions and confusion. He spent an hour at midday, walking through the streets of Chaya, where rumors were already causing some disturbances, encouraging people to come to their local council if they wanted to know more. "I'm going now to talk to them," he said. "There's nothing you can't hear."

Men and women crowded into the meeting hall; Kieri told them what he knew, what he didn't know, and when he would know more.

"So far, the damage has not spread. It might-I do not know what this special fire is, that the Pargunese king told me about."

"Do the elves know? Does the Lady?"

"The elves have not told me, if they do, and since they love trees, I can't imagine they would keep it secret if they did. Here is what I want you to do: since we do not know yet how many they are, and exactly what they purpose, you must prepare yourselves for several possibilities." Kieri outlined these, and explained what preparations were needed for each. "You see there is much to be done, and you can accomplish this, if you start now, and do not panic."

"Are you going north?"

"Not yet." He saw relief on most faces; it surprised him. His own troops-his former troops, he reminded himself-were most confident when their commander took the field with them. These people seemed to want him near them...but then, it was the same impulse, just expressed differently.

Through the afternoon, his annoyance with the Lady's nonappearance grew; he tried to ignore it, lest it further disturb the taig. But where was she? Where could she go that he could not feel at least the touch of her power? He felt less keenly another fire blaze in the north; Orlith, he saw as he looked up, was monitoring it closely.

"I think the rangers are able to quench the fires," Orlith said. "It is nothing new."

"It is ordinary fire so far," Kieri said. "I do not trust that it will always be. If I had a weapon of unquenchable fire, I would not necessarily use it first."

"Why not?"

"I would see how well ordinary fire did...I would probe my enemy's defenses. An extraordinary weapon kept in reserve for the right moment has greater effect."

Orlith stared at him for a moment then shook his head. "I had not thought of that. Truly, your experience as a war leader may be more valuable than I thought."

"It usually is, if you're in a war," Kieri said. He finished the stack of orders before him. He felt stiff and stale-it would be turns of the gla.s.s yet before a courier would arrive. "I'm going to the salle for practice, and then a bath before dinner." He pushed himself to his feet. "Aulin, Sarol, have you had practice today?"

"No, Sir King. The others went earlier."

"Then come along; you can rotate in."

In practice garb, and with another mug of sib, he ran down the stairs, followed by his Squires, and found Carlion and Siger putting a group of lads in palace livery through elementary footwork drills.

"I wondered when you'd show up, m'lord," Siger said. "Knew you were busy."

"Busy, but not about to miss both my practices," Kieri said. "You'd never let me hear the end of it." He hung his sword up and began stretching, trying not to rush-it would not do to hurry through this, not in front of both senior armsmasters, one of whom knew him very well indeed.

Sure enough, Siger came over and watched critically. "Get that elbow right straight out, m'lord. You've another thumb width of reach that way...and your foot's not at the right angle."

Kieri moved his foot, straightened his elbow-a tight muscle in his forearm twinged-and finally Siger agreed he was stretched enough to begin practice.

"You lads, move aside," Carlion said. "By your leave, Sir King, I'd let them stay...Siger and I intend to work you hard this afternoon."

"I'd welcome it," Kieri said. He strapped on a banda, put on his gloves, and picked up a practice blade.

"The audience or the work?" Carlion asked.

"Both," Kieri said, with a quick grin for the audience.

"The middle range to warm up," Carlion said. The two armsmasters were already there; the moment Kieri stepped up to that division of the salle, they came at him from two sides. Kieri retreated along the line of the low ledge; they advanced, trying to press as he parried stroke after stroke-but as he neared the corner, they could not both find room to close.

Worries about the invasion disappeared, and he relaxed into the immediate moment, letting his years of practice take over, ignoring the gasps of the lads who were watching as his heel met one unstable stone that tipped beneath him. Along the side wall, then two quick strides-catching a flurry of blows on his blade-diagonally away from it. Carlion was caught behind Siger for a long moment, and could not reach him. Kieri tried to maneuver Siger so he kept blocking Carlion, but Carlion had too much s.p.a.ce to move and too much sense to stay where he was. Still, he had a solid touch on Siger by the time Carlion was at him on the side again. Siger stood back, acknowledging a blow that would have put him out of the fight if it had been real. He would reenter the fray, Kieri knew, after a certain number of blows, as Carlion's reinforcement.

Best finish quickly, if he could. Kieri shortened his blade, coming in fast to parry Carlion's attack then make his own-a blow with the shortened blade, a leg-trap with one leg, and finally, when Carlion fell, a touch with the pommel to Carlion's neck.

"Yield," Carlion said.

"Accept," Kieri said. Instinct made him roll aside, just as Siger swung at his back from behind; the blow hit Carlion instead, though Siger pulled it.

"Hold," Carlion said, and Siger grounded his blade. Kieri and Carlion got up, both breathing heavily. Carlion grinned at him. "You are not so out of practice as I thought, Sir King. It's going to be annoying in a few years-you half-elves do not slow with age in your fifties or sixties or seventies, and we human armsmasters do. With you, I realize how much I'm relying on experience and tricks instead of bladework...and you have grown stronger and faster since you came."