Actually, Xarxius's briefing, augmented by a report he had fetched from his own chambers, had given Peace a fair idea of who must be who. The formality of introductions, however, should give everyone a moment to adjust to the implications of this sudden meeting.

"And, please," Peace added, "while I deeply appreciate the courtesy you do me in addressing me in the language of the land, I am fairly fluent in your language and am willing to continue our conversation in it-more than willing. I would prefer it. I have no idea what spies may watch your house, but I feel a.s.sured that few will speak your language well. My people are... reluctant to learn other languages."

Lady Elise shifted tongues easily.

"Very well," she said. "Let me continue introductions. This-the lady who met you at the door-is Wendee Jay, a retainer of d.u.c.h.ess Kestrel and our trusted advisor."

Peace offered a bow after the fashion of Hawk Haven, and Wendee Jay responded with a graceful curtsy.

"Pray, Goody Wendee," Peace said, hoping he was selecting the correct tide, "be seated."

Wendee did so, perching at the edge of her chair, as if she expected to leap to her feet any moment.

"This," Elise continued, gesturing to the third woman, "is Lady Blysse Norwood, granddaughter of the d.u.c.h.ess, daughter of her heir, Norvin Norwood."

The third woman rose from the floor with a lithe grace that spoke of strength in its easy motion. One hand remained on the wolf, the other near her knife. She was dressed after the fashion of neither Hawk Haven nor New Kelvin, but in some style all her own. Her feet were bare, as were her arms where they extended from a fine leather vest. She wore trousers rather than a skirt, and these too were leather and showed evidence of hard use.

Yet it was not her strange manner of dress, nor even her self-contained watchfulness, that made Grateful Peace study her in slightly horrified fascination. There was a manner about this woman-Lady Blysse, as she had been introduced-that did not seem human. In some ways her body language was as contained as that of an Illuminator before a desk covered with priceless paints and liquid leaf, yet when she did move, as when she rose to greet him, it seemed as if her muscles had been trained in another school and only reluctantly yielded to human constraints.

Lady Blysse nodded at him, acknowledging the introduction, but not bothering to reply. Yet even as Lady Elise moved to her next introduction, Grateful Peace was aware that the dark gaze of Lady Blysse did not leave him-nor did the blue-eyed gaze of her wolf.

Next to be introduced-in strict order of precedence some small part of his mind noted-was Edlin Norwood, Lord Kestrel. This young man ruined the favorable impression granted by his rather handsome angular features by observing events with a slightly open mouth and an expression of mild, foolish astonishment. He, it transpired, was the heir to Earl Kestrel, elder brother to Lady Blysse.Sir Jared Surcliffe, the healer, came next. He showed some family likeness to Lord Kestrel, though only when one looked for it. There was an air of competence about him that Peace-who had not expected either such a small or such a relatively youthful group-took comfort in.

Mentally, Grateful Peace made note of the investment House Kestrel had put into this expedition. Two children of the house, one near relation, one servant. Clearly, New Kelvin's neighbor across the White Water had some interest in the matter at hand. It meant that Peace would need to take great care, for he had no desire to spark a retaliatory strike from over the border. The Gateway to Enchantment, though a small town, was a vital economic center.

Last, Lady Elise came to the tall red-haired youth who Peace had already deduced must be Derian Carter, the advisor to King Tedric. Like Lady Blysse, Derian had risen when Grateful Peace entered, but this was not a nervous gesture. He retained a poise that Peace quite admired in one of his years.

Although Derian was clearly interested in their guest, he showed neither the awe of Lord Edlin nor the nervousness of Wendee Jay nor even the guarded watchfulness of Lady Blysse.

Like a good counselor, Derian Carter was waiting to hear what would be said. Only then would he judge. Peace felt certain that despite young Carter's tradesman's name and lack of t.i.tle, whatever he said would weigh heavily with his comrades. He resolved then and there to sway young Carter at any cost.

Peace nodded to the six-or perhaps, he thought, I should think nine, for the animals are watching me with as much attention as the humans.

"May we be seated?" he asked. "What I have to say cannot be said quickly and there is no need for formality, I hope."

Lady Blysse moved and seated herself on the edge of the table that dominated one side of the room.

"You say," she said, cutting through whatever gentle diplomacies the others might have offered, "you are Lady Melina's enemy. Why? She come here at your inviting."

Peace nodded.

"At the invitation of my government," he said, "an invitation which I initially favored. Now that I have had over half a moonspan to get to know Lady Melina-half a moonspan that has been quite filled with events through which I can judge her true character-I am no longer so certain I want her to remain.

Unhappily, I am nearly alone in my feelings. Lady Melina herself has made certain that those who would be most likely to request her departure are most firmly in her camp."

He did not miss the significant glances that pa.s.sed between some of the company-nor that both Lord Kestrel and Wendee Jay seemed confused and afraid rather than enlightened.

"Why," Derian suggested, "don't you start at the beginning, sir? Are we to understand that Lady Melina is in New Kelvin at your suggestion?"

"Rather," Peace said, "at her own. It happened like this. When King Allister of the Pledge took possession of Revelation Point Castle certain heirlooms belonging to the family of Gustin the First were no longer in the Royal Treasury."

"I guess that's fairly common knowledge in this group, sir," Derian agreed.

"Well, that theft would have occurred somewhere around the end of Falling Leaf Moon-what is that in your calendar?"Lady Elise replied promptly, "Deer Moon. The next is Lynx Moon."

"Very well," Peace said, giving her a nod of thanks. "Early in Lynx Moon we-that is the Dragon Speaker, to be precise-received an anonymous letter suggesting that if Queen Valora approached our country asking for help awakening the power in the items that we refuse and insist that in order to do so the items be accompanied by someone who could a.s.sist with awakening them."

There were a few murmurs at this, but no one interrupted. Peace continued: "As you may imagine, there was much debate over this letter, much conjecture as to its source. However, we were intrigued. Rumor of King Allister's loss had hardly reached us before this missive. We resolved to bide.

"In time an amba.s.sador from Queen Valora did come to us. He hinted at the possession of magics, but it rapidly became clear-we searched his baggage most thoroughly-that he did not have the artifacts with him. We told him to depart and not to return without both the items and one who was conversant in magical lore. At that time, none of us had the faintest idea who our correspondent might have been, but we had no doubt that whoever it was would not have sent us that message without also playing the other end of the field."

Sir Jared spoke, "And what would you have done if the amba.s.sador had returned without this expert?

Sorcery is a condemned art among all the colonies founded by Gildcrest-and the Isles may be counted among these."

"If the amba.s.sador bore with him the artifacts," Peace said, "we would have negotiated. However, that did not prove to be a difficulty. When next we heard from Baron Waln Endbrook-that was the name of the amba.s.sador..."

Peace saw from the expressions around him that this information came as no surprise.

"When next we heard from Baron Endbrook, it was notification that he would be with us again at the end of Dead Leaf Moon or near the beginning of New Snow Moon."

"Boar Moon and Owl Moon," murmured Lady Elise.

"He would be bringing with him both the artifacts and the promised expert. In nearly the same post came a letter from our mysterious correspondent. This time she identified herself as one Lady Melina Shield.

She did not offer her credentials to us, instead she acted as if her notoriety was already known to us... as indeed it was.

"At that time, one of the most commonly told tales out of Hawk Haven-though it had many variations-was how the Princess Sapphire had broken the sorcerous bindings laid upon her by her mother. Our own amba.s.sadors could testify to the pale oval on the princess's brow, to the common belief by all and sundry that this was the scar marking where Lady Melina's talisman had been ripped away.

"Our interest, then, in Lady Melina had already been aroused. Many a convivial dinner had degenerated into argument over the question of whether this was evidence of active sorcery or merely a tale believed by credulous barbarians."

Peace paused. "Forgive my seeming rudeness. I merely try to show you how it was with us. Let me simply state that there were those among us who were quite eager-above and beyond the fact that Lady Melina herself had contacted us-to meet the lady and to question her.""I say!" exclaimed Lord Kestrel. "I can see that. My father had left me back to manage the old estates while he went off to war, but let me tell you that when I heard the gossip, I was pretty eager to get a squint at the witch myself. I mean, I'd known her since I was a kid, and we'd scared ourselves silly with stories about the things she probably did, but now we knew."

He glanced around, noticed the barely concealed impatience on the faces around him, and stopped.

"Sorry 'bout that, just wanted you to know I understood."

Peace gave the young lord his most gracious smile.

"Yes, that was kind of you, Lord Kestrel. You must understand that to us there is no stigma attached to practicing magic. We admire it. You may have been frightened by those stories. We were fascinated-a fascination that may have led us to behave unwisely."

He coughed slightly. At this, Wendee Jay leapt to her feet.

"We've forgotten to offer you anything to drink. Go on with your story. I've the kettle on the hob and can put some tea together in no time. Don't worry about me. I'll catch on pretty quick."

She darted from the room so rapidly that Peace was surprised. Then he realized that Goody Wendee was probably fleeing him-his avowed interest in magic must make him seem as repulsive to these people as would an interest in torture. The other five held their ground, however, nor did they seek to stop him from speaking, so Peace went on.

"We felt fairly certain that Lady Melina had arranged for Queen Valora to think of her when a sorceress was needed. Most likely, she simply sent another of those anonymous letters. However, she might have simply trusted to her reputation. I understand that upon her return from the war people hissed at her in the streets, that she was so shunned in some quarters that she finally retired to her family holdings."

Lord Kestrel nodded. "I say, that's true of the city folk in Eagle's Nest, at least. My mother told me something about that, you know. Mother thought how the lady was treated a disgrace, herself, and went out of her way to make Lady Melina feel welcome."

"In any case," Peace said when the others had glowered Lord Kestrel into silence, "we were inclined to welcome Lady Melina. She, however, had more than simple welcome in mind. Out of what she presented as simple national loyalty to Hawk Haven, she expressed a reluctance to have any of those artifacts returned to Queen Valora, for Queen Valora would certainly turn them against both Hawk Haven and Bright Bay.

"Lady Melina continued beyond this mere statement of patriotism, stating that she would help us eliminate Amba.s.sador Endbrook and obtain the artifacts. Although she was willing to help with this, she did request that we give to her what had already been promised by Queen Valora: that is, one of the three artifacts for her own.

"Lady Melina's plan was neatly arranged: simple and direct. I must admit that we might even have worked some similar ruse ourselves. Queen Valora, you see, overestimated the esteem in which New Kelvin holds her. She seems rather blinded by her own pa.s.sions-her rage at those who had exiled her, her need to have more power at her control. We are not. Moreover, Queen Valora had taken measures to secure Lady Melina as her faithful ally, so she had even less reason to fear treachery."

Peace noted that Derian Carter looked quite worried at these words.

"You have a question, young sir?""No. Don't let me interrupt."

Peace raised an eyebrow, but continued.

"I myself was sent to bring Lady Melina to Dragon's Breath. I speak your language well and could be more easily spared than my diplomatic colleague, whose talents were needed elsewhere. We made our move against Baron Endbrook. He was swifter to sense danger than we had believed he would be. He managed to flee, but in his bid to save his life he was forced to abandon the artifacts. The night into which he fled was winter-cold and snowy. Although several days' searching did not turn up his body, at the time we believed him dead."

Lady Elise repeated softly, "At the time... I must say, Duke Peace, your story gets more interesting all the time."

Grateful Peace actually had to suppress a grin. He was beginning to like these young people. They possessed such an interesting mixture of wisdom-or at least the diplomatic equivalent of street smarts-and innocence.

He transformed his grin into a kindly smile.

"I am pleased that you find it so, Your Ladyship, and, please, there is no need to t.i.tle me 'duke.' "

Elise frowned slightly. "I apologize if I demoted you, sir. My language teacher told me that 'duke' was the equivalent of your t.i.tle."

"In some ways," Peace agreed, "it might be so, but unlike a duke I do not hold my position for life, only at the pleasure of the Dragon Speaker, and even the Dragon Speaker holds his t.i.tle only at the pleasure of the Primes."

"Confusing," Lady Elise said, "but clearly this is not the time to discuss fine points of linguistics."

"No," Peace said, permitting a touch of sorrow to shade his tone. "I fear not. As I was saying, we thought Baron Endbrook dead. Indeed the majority of my colleagues have not been enlightened as to my belief that he yet lives. You see, the manner of my learning was such that I do not care to have the information spread about where the wrong ears might hear it."

Wendee Jay returned with a pot of tea and tray of cups. While she poured, Peace resumed his tale-for it was a tale, rather than a report. In a good report a watcher did not slant the facts. Here, however, Peace was not functioning as a watcher, and he felt it his right to slant the facts for their best effect.

He'd been careful not to make his own people seem too n.o.ble, too generous of spirit. Lord Kestrel might have been fooled by such high-flown rhetoric, but from the start Peace had doubted that either Derian Carter or Sir Jared would be. Now he added Lady Elise to his list of those who understood rather more than one would expect.

"I escorted Lady Melina and the three artifacts to Dragon's Breath. Initially, Apheros-that is the current Dragon Speaker-was inclined to treat Lady Melina with some disdain. However, somehow-and I firmly believe sorcery was at work-she insinuated herself into his inner circle with amazing ease. She also won the trust and favor of the Healed One-our hereditary monarch-apparently in the course of one evening. I cannot say how she did this, for the visit was relatively private and I was not among the guests.

"Since then," Grateful Peace continued, "Lady Melina has moved from barely tolerated foreign guest to a leader among those who are working to unlock the secrets of the artifacts. Her influence is subtle ratherthan direct, but I am a watcher of long standing and I see the pattern which is developing. My fear is if she can achieve so much in a period of time hardly greater than half a moonspan, what will she have managed in a full moon or in two or three? As events stand now, Lady Melina is not likely to be asked to leave until all three of the artifacts have been awakened. Only one has begun to reveal its secrets. Much time may pa.s.s before the others do the same."

Grateful Peace pressed his palms together and bent his head, staring at his own dark-painted reflection in the polished tabletop. With all his might, he sought to create the impression of a man so far gone in fear that he would attempt anything.

It wasn't hard. After his conversation with Xarxius, he was afraid.

A rough, slightly husky voice broke his act.

"What are the things?" it said. "These three artifacts. What are they? How big are they? Can they be carried away?"

Grateful Peace raised his head and found that the speaker was Lady Blysse. She still perched on the edge of the table, but there was a tightness about her-a tightness akin to a drawn bowstring or a coiled snake.

Peace answered carefully. "They are fairly small: a ring, a comb, and a mirror-a hand mirror with a carved ivory frame and a face of polished silver, such as a fine lady might keep on her dressing table."

"I want them," Lady Blysse said, her dark eyes meeting his and holding them.

Peace felt the challenge in that gaze and met it with his own. He held her eyes with his own as he spoke, but the young woman-hardly more than a girl, he realized-never wavered.

"You can have them," he agreed evenly. "I, personally, no longer want them. Others among my people may disagree."

"What you want, then, if not artifacts?" Lady Blysse asked.

Peace let his gaze drop, trying to make it seem as if he was just searching for his teacup, but he had a feeling that Lady Blysse was not fooled in the least.

"I want Lady Melina gone from New Kelvin," he declared, raising the cup. "Take her from my country, alive or dead. I don't care which, but take her away. I believe she has ambitions here-perhaps even extending to rulership. I believe she has ensorcelled my leader and my king. Once I thought sorcery was the answer to all problems. Now I see differently. In Lady Melina's hands, magical power may bring destruction to all I hold dear. Take her away!"

He let his voice drop.

"Or kill her."

The reply that came seemed unaffected by his declaration. It was simply two pragmatic words from Lady Blysse.

"You help?"

This was not quite what he had hoped for, but it was sufficient. Grateful Peace nodded and sipped his tea. It was quite good, a local blend with a faint taste of new-mown hay and the sweetness ofwildflowers.

"I will," he said, "but I do not want my role to be known. Depending on the nature of her control, even when Lady Melina is gone there may be some who will resent those who ousted her. That is why I would prefer foreign agents-agents who can be believed to have acted for their own motives. If you remove her, in turn, I will help you acquire the artifacts. I am no longer so certain I want foreign magic active within New Kelvin."

Derian Carter, who had risen to get his own tea, now spoke.

"Wait a bit," the redhead said, still standing, one callused hand holding the cup, the other tracing the pattern of the wood grain in the tabletop. "Firekeeper, we've gotten ahead of ourselves again."

Lady Blysse growled ever so softly.

"Not for me," she said. "This is what I want."

Derian held his ground. Grateful Peace was impressed, but then maybe the young man was used to growling from this strange feral creature.

Derian wagged a finger at her.

"Mice want the cheese," he said softly. "Think about that."

Lady Blysse scowled, but said nothing more.

Derian Carter turned to Peace.

"This is fascinating," he said bluntly. "You come offering to help us steal what-frankly-your people were prepared to do murder and even risk war to steal in the first place. All you want is the removal of one woman who, it seems to me, you could dispose of yourself. There's more here than meets the eye. I want to see the rest before we commit ourselves."

Peace nodded. "That is only reasonable. I am willing to talk further, to answer any question you ask."

"Any of you have questions?" Derian asked.