time of year. The wheat nee my attention: it’s no time for the Queen to be playing with armies....” She sighed. “But you’re right, it can’t be helped. And it must be settled quickly. I haven’t the resources to make this war twice. Herewiss, the last I heard, the Brightwood could field about three thousand people on short notice.”
“Closer to thirty-five hundred now, Queen. But do I take it correctly that you agree to my embassy to Prydon?”
“Oh, well, since Lorn seems to have this all planned out....”
“That part was my idea,” Herewiss said. “Someone has to see what the terrain looks like....”
Eftgan looked at him cockeyed. “And so you earn your name.” Freelorn saw Herewiss go slightly pale. Earning one’s name was not always a safe business. And “herewiss” in the Darthene meant “battle-wise,” and was used of tacticians or generals. “All right,” Eftgan said. “I can use, shall we say, a military attaché in Prydon. But Lorn, I want to know that you understand what you’re doing. First, Herewiss is not exactly inconspicuous. A man with the Fire—”
“Yes, a man with the Fire. Good. Let them see what they’re up against. Let them test him.”
The Queen sat back, looking thoughtful. “Lorn, there’s also the minor business of your relationship with him. They know that you two are lovers. They would know that he would be spying out the place for you, even if we hadn’t sent them defiance. And if they can find any way to do him harm... they will.”
“I know,” Freelorn said.
After a moment the Queen looked down. “Very well. Continue.”
“Don’t think me cruel,” Lorn said. “You agreed with me that it was time we stopped letting the battle be carried to us. What we have to do is walk right into the Shadow’s den and pull It by the beard—then stand up against the worst It sends, and afterwards, crush It. Rian in particular is an unknown quantity. We need to know what he can do, now. And the best way to find out is to wave Herewiss in his face.”
“He can’t refrain from me,” Herewiss said. “Power tests Power, always. And in this game as in any other, some advantage rests with the side that moves first. So... I go draw Rian out.” Khávrinen in its sheath was leaned up against his chair; the Fire about its hilts burned briefly higher, as if fuel had been thrown on it.
“And not just Rian,” Freelorn said. “Some ways, Herewiss is our banner—a symbol to the Shadow of all Its plans that the Goddess is destroying. It will definitely respond to his presence in Prydon.”
“It’d respond to mine, too,” Segnbora said from down the table. “Look, you two, you don’t dare waste me! I’m in breakthrough right now, and my Power’s running high, but it won’t be so forever. A month, maybe—then I’m no more to you than any other Rodmistress.”
“Oh, somewhat more....” said a voice that spoke without sound; and that end of the room did not so much grow dark, as seem to have been that way for a long time. The air there smelled of burning stone, and there were eyes in the dark again. “Yet I would not care to be wasted, either; my sdaha and I may be of some small use to you.”
Eftgan smiled. “ Lhhw’ Hasai, I had thought to ask you two—” Hasai laughed in the Dracon fashion, a sound like a small lake boiling over. “However many of you there are, then—I had thought to ask you what you felt you could do best in this campaign.”
“We’ll go ask the Dragons for help,” Segnbora said.
Those silver-burning eyes looked at her calmly, but there were misgivings in them. “ Sdaha , we are guests in this world: refugees, here only by the mercy of the Immanence. Your kind was here first. We have long been careful to keep our intrusion in your lands and lives to the barest minimum. We do not become involved with humans.”
“Oh really?” Dritt said, dry. There was some muffled laughter up and down the table as Segnbora and her
“Closer to thirty-five hundred now, Queen. But do I take it correctly that you agree to my embassy to Prydon?”
“Oh, well, since Lorn seems to have this all planned out....”
“That part was my idea,” Herewiss said. “Someone has to see what the terrain looks like....”
Eftgan looked at him cockeyed. “And so you earn your name.” Freelorn saw Herewiss go slightly pale. Earning one’s name was not always a safe business. And “herewiss” in the Darthene meant “battle-wise,” and was used of tacticians or generals. “All right,” Eftgan said. “I can use, shall we say, a military attaché in Prydon. But Lorn, I want to know that you understand what you’re doing. First, Herewiss is not exactly inconspicuous. A man with the Fire—”
“Yes, a man with the Fire. Good. Let them see what they’re up against. Let them test him.”
The Queen sat back, looking thoughtful. “Lorn, there’s also the minor business of your relationship with him. They know that you two are lovers. They would know that he would be spying out the place for you, even if we hadn’t sent them defiance. And if they can find any way to do him harm... they will.”
“I know,” Freelorn said.
After a moment the Queen looked down. “Very well. Continue.”
“Don’t think me cruel,” Lorn said. “You agreed with me that it was time we stopped letting the battle be carried to us. What we have to do is walk right into the Shadow’s den and pull It by the beard—then stand up against the worst It sends, and afterwards, crush It. Rian in particular is an unknown quantity. We need to know what he can do, now. And the best way to find out is to wave Herewiss in his face.”
“He can’t refrain from me,” Herewiss said. “Power tests Power, always. And in this game as in any other, some advantage rests with the side that moves first. So... I go draw Rian out.” Khávrinen in its sheath was leaned up against his chair; the Fire about its hilts burned briefly higher, as if fuel had been thrown on it.
“And not just Rian,” Freelorn said. “Some ways, Herewiss is our banner—a symbol to the Shadow of all Its plans that the Goddess is destroying. It will definitely respond to his presence in Prydon.”
“It’d respond to mine, too,” Segnbora said from down the table. “Look, you two, you don’t dare waste me! I’m in breakthrough right now, and my Power’s running high, but it won’t be so forever. A month, maybe—then I’m no more to you than any other Rodmistress.”
“Oh, somewhat more....” said a voice that spoke without sound; and that end of the room did not so much grow dark, as seem to have been that way for a long time. The air there smelled of burning stone, and there were eyes in the dark again. “Yet I would not care to be wasted, either; my sdaha and I may be of some small use to you.”
Eftgan smiled. “ Lhhw’ Hasai, I had thought to ask you two—” Hasai laughed in the Dracon fashion, a sound like a small lake boiling over. “However many of you there are, then—I had thought to ask you what you felt you could do best in this campaign.”
“We’ll go ask the Dragons for help,” Segnbora said.
Those silver-burning eyes looked at her calmly, but there were misgivings in them. “ Sdaha , we are guests in this world: refugees, here only by the mercy of the Immanence. Your kind was here first. We have long been careful to keep our intrusion in your lands and lives to the barest minimum. We do not become involved with humans.”
“Oh really?” Dritt said, dry. There was some muffled laughter up and down the table as Segnbora and her
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