" Tis old business," Gaston said. It came back well, old Court feuding and jealousies, and not wholly as the Emperor told it. Avril himself had been the reason Count Bors had left Panurgus's Court, risking his King's displea- Sorcerer and a gentleman 119.

sure. Bors had left in solidarity with Prince Sebastiano, Aval's and Gaston's b.a.s.t.a.r.d half-brother, whom Avril had manipulated into a quarrel with their father through ceaseless plotting, picking, and politicking. Less than a year later Sebastiano was dead, Bors was dead, Panurgus was dead. . . . The Fireduke remembered the truth of the business, far better than Avril would ever want anyone to do now that he had gotten his desideratum, the throne. Gaston blinked slowly and attended.

"Our concern was to secure Lys, because the armies of Lys are a useful tool. We had discussed with Ocher the possibility of his son marrying the girl, but Ocher himself was interested in her. He pet.i.tioned the Crown for permission when she turned sixteen and came out of first minority a few years back. Ocher had been... aggressive and we were pleased to deny Lys to him for the nonce."

"That incident with the Free Port," said Herne. "He's a braggart but a good soldier."

"A little too good. We had rather not have Lys's armies under someone with such obvious ambition to aggrandize himself and his lands. We have had other nibbles of interest in Lys and the girl, but we put them off because none was right, and we had no other good candidate for the place handy."

Gaston thought that he would not leave such a vacancy long open. Avril had always been too grasping.

"All very well," the Emperor said, pacing, "until last summer when we had tidings from Ocher. The girl, what's-her-name, eloped with a captain in Ocher's guard who was no fool at all, for he ran straight from Sa.r.s.emar to Lys with her and wed her on the first day of the appropriate auspices after her twenty-fifth birthday."

"Ah," said Gaston. "She came of age." Girls always did. And Avril's grasping hand had clutched nothing this time, lost its grip on the scion of Lys: tinder quickened at the touch of the match, become intangible flame, "Exactly. We do not trust Sa.r.s.emar, but now there is a complete unknown down there. Ocher tried to get the girl back in time but failed and was beaten out of Lys soundly."

120.

'ECiza&etfi 'Wittey "It could be just as well," Herne said. "Recognize the new Count and give him some small favor, and he will perhaps serve better than Ocher."

"Perhaps. There's no doubt that the fellow has his own ambitions. Men don't do things that risky for the h.e.l.l of it." The Emperor stopped in front of a locked cabinet and opened it. From a drawer he took a stack of papers and looked through them. "Here. Her name is Lunete. The man's name is Ottaviano. No family information-probably he's just a soldier who presented a more handsome face to the girl than Ocher's."

"They waited till her majority," Gaston said.

"So we said." The Emperor looked up inquiringly.

"Probably no coercion, then," Gaston pointed out.

"That means she rules, not he, since she inherited before the marriage," Herne said, understanding. "If he wanted power, he'd have taken her without waiting."

"Or he's a fool," said the Emperor.

"Hath the Crown recognized her?" Gaston asked.

"Yes. Ocher informed us of the abduction, so-called-she was still a Crown ward when that happened and he had to, or we'd have had to remind him of his obligations. He wrote again and informed us that he had failed to prevent the marriage after skirmishing in and around the Lys-Sa.r.s.emar border. The abduction was an offense against the Crown, but since it wasn't strictly a rape-they were formally betrothed before the man took her out of Sa.r.s.emar, very clever-the Crown took no action against them. Here," he picked up a paper, "she informs us that she has taken the t.i.tle of Countess of Lys and cites her rights to it and so on, taking an administrative-oversight tone. As if we had forgotten to confirm her in the office. There was littte we could do about it; we don't want to make a difficulty where none is needed. We sent back a confirmation of her right to the t.i.tle and a request that she present herself at Court at her earliest convenience in order to be vested and to take the oaths."

The Emperor's plans were a sticky web of threads; Gas-ton saw them all. Avril now waited to see what sort of fellow Sorcerer and a Qentteman 121.

the girl had taken, waited to see what she would do, waited to draw them into his influence. "Which she hath not yet done," Gaston guessed, leaning back in his chair and crossing his legs at the ankles.

"No. With winter coming, we suspect they'll not attend Court until spring unless we command their attendance."

"What's the husband's name again?" Herne asked.

"Ottaviano."

"Madanese?"

The Emperor shook his head. "Out of Ascolet. Ocher had nothing good to say about him, but we cannot be surprised by that."

"The sum is that we cannot be sure of Lys," said Gaston, "and there is war in Ascolet."

"Lys probably knows that," Herne said. "I say that we inform Lys that her men will be required by the Crown."

"As simple as that," Gaston said, studying his feet.

"Her husband can't be too stupid," the Emperor said. "He'll jump at the chance to distinguish himself, more likely. Quite a promotion, from soldier in Baron Sa.r.s.emar's service to Count of Lys."

Prince Gaston and Prince Herne were at their map again, discussing contingency plans, when a footman interrupted them with a request from the Emperor for their immediate attendance.

They collected their notes and locked the room, both being of untrusting and cautious disposition. The Emperor was in his private office again, and he was in a foul temper.

"Read this," he said curtly, and threw a letter at Gaston.

Unto His Gracious and Radiant Majesty . . . Gaston skipped five lines of t.i.tles and .honorific flattery.

. . . from Lord Esandor Frett, His Majesty's Governor-General of Preszheanea, salutations. I have sent this by the swiftest courier available to me and hope that it reaches you without delay. Word has 122 -^> 'E&zaBetfi "Wittey lately reached Ealshchar that there have been attacks in the southwest border region, by a substantial and well-organized force of men. Although reports varied widely, I have been able to ascertain that the force is quite large, 2000 to 2500 in number, and well-equipped. They have struck (to my knowledge) at four smaller villages (of 20 to 50 hearths) and a market town of 2600, Vidd.i.c.k. All have been looted and fired, and many of the residents were slain, taken as booty, or impressed into menial servitude.

Report of these attacks is causing high alarm in the area. I have dispatched the locally-posted Twelfth Regiment of the Army ofLanduc thither, in accordance with the CXXVl point of my commission, but I am certain that a single regiment will be hard-put to defend an area so large from a mobile and opportunistic attacker.

There have long been difficulties, as Your Majesty is aware, with brigandage in the area known as "Outer Ascolet"; the incidents, however, have been in the south and west, particularly in the Pariphals along the Plain of Linors near Sa.r.s.emar. Pres-zheanea is not prepared to meet or repel such a.s.saults. I pet.i.tion Your Majesty for reinforcement of the Twelfth Regiment with at least one other and for investigation, on the Ascolet side, into this a.s.sault. I have sent queries to Earl Maheris, Governor-General of Ascolet, and have had no reply. The messengers may have been taken on the road.

Awaiting your reply with great concern, I am ...

Gaston looked up from the letter, which had been written in haste and featured blots and crosses. "More trouble," he said, pa.s.sing it to Herne.

The Emperor sneered. "Very astute, Marshal. More trouble."

Sorcerer and a (jentCeman 123.

"Oh, dear," said Lunete of Lys to herself, but aloud.

"Bad news, madame?" asked her maid, Laudine.

"I'm not sure," said Lunete, folding the parchment and tapping it against her chin. "Is the blue gown ready?"

"Yes; shall I bring it?"

"I'll want it tomorrow," Lunete said, and she opened the letter again. Rising, she walked to the window and reread her letter.

Laudine watched her, seeing her anxiety, and asked again, "Is it trouble?"

Lunete sighed. "We had foreseen something of this sort," she said, "and I-I simply quail somewhat at what my answer must be. That is all: the nervousness before the leap."

"This year has been full of leaps and bounds," Laudine said comfortingly, coming to her side.

"Yes, and we have landed on our feet every time so far."

"Because each time you have considered the jump ere you made it, and planned your way," the maid pointed out, "with circ.u.mspection and due caution each time. As for the leap of marriage, it's always blind; there's no way to know what comes with that."

"Indeed," and Lunete wryed her mouth, "that's small comfort. I do not like the chasm now before me."

Laudine looked at her inquiringly, and the habit of a lifetime made Lunete speak on.

"I must deceive my Emperor, who is my liege lord," said Lunete, "and I cannot help but think it a bad start and a rebellious one to a lifetime I had rather fill with harmony and goodwill."

"He calls for troops?"

"Yes, in such a way that I believe the intent would be to use them in Ascolet, under Prince Gaston. That is news also: the Fireduke is sent against Ottaviano."

"He did not expect it?"

"It did not seem likely. He thought the Fireduke would rather be sent into the West, to quell the disturbance lately arisen there. -My answer to this is ready-crafted, but still 124.

'Eiiz.aBeth Ttfittey it mislikes me to turn coat against Landuc."

"It is not really against Landuc," Laudine said.

"It is. They will see it so. If Otto fails-"

"He cannot fail," said Laudine confidently.

"One would think you his wife." Lunete smiled, pleased by Laudine's loyalty.

"My lady, I have seen enough of men to know that that one is not lightly to be put down. If they have sent the Fireduke to do it, they are fools, for even he will not prevail against the men of Ascolet and Lys if they go, in their fatherland which they know well, fighting for a King in whom they have all faith and against one who robbed them."

Lunete nodded. "That's true," she admitted.

"He has planned it well, madame, you yourself have told me so: the winter will be his strongest ally, and if it be severe then the Fireduke will find himself doused and shivering."

Lunete laughed. "As the unwelcome troubadour below the balcony, eh? But with snow and ice. I am a silly girl to think about this now, Laudine. The decision was made, the plans laid, long ago, and we cannot now deviate from them. Send for Barriseo and I shall dictate my reply."

In the Pariphal Mountains south of Ascolet, autumn had come and fled. It never lasted long, not like the lazy, slow-ripening, heavy-fruited autumns of the plains where time poured by at the indolent pace of thick honey. The Pariphal autumn flickered through the high, sharp sides of the snow-topped heights hastily, preferring to linger on the hospitable lowlands, and only gave the mountains perfunctory attention in all phases. Snow flew in the air while the small yellow pemmefel fruit, sweet though seedy, hung still on the trees, those freezing which had not already dropped to become winy mulch for future sprouts or been eaten by the birds and beasts.

Dewar was standing by just such a tree at the edge of a mountain meadow, his heavy blue-green cloak thrown back over one shoulder despite the sandy white snow which scoured his cheeks and hissed in the twigs. It had dewed his Sorcerer and a Qentteman 125.

dark beard with tiny droplets and whitened and then dampened his hair. His companion, in a red cloak, had a c.o.c.ked bow in his hands and was watching a thicket upwind of them. The sorcerer was eating his way through a handful of chilly, honey-sweet pemmefel.

He was just crunching down on his last pemmefel when the other released the bow. The arrow hissed in the air and thudded into a russet-furred mountain buck's side, just behind its left foreleg; the animal leapt up, crashed out of the thicket, and staggered twenty or thirty paces across the meadow before it collapsed.

"It's not dead," observed the sorcerer. "I hate that about hunting."

"The last blow?"

"It ought to be clean."

"You're too squeamish, Dewar."

"I'm not looking forward to this war, either," said Dewar, picking another pemmefel, and he followed Otto to the deer. He bent and offered the fruit to the animal, pushing it into its mouth. Its jaw closed convulsively on the pemmefel, its eyes glazing. "Drink the untongued beast's blood, O Earth," he said, watching the hunter slash the buck's heaving throat. "You'll have better soon-"

"Knock it off," Ottaviano grumbled.

"It's a famous poem," said Dewar, smiting.

"Are you going to help me with this?"

"I'll help you carry it. I'll even help you carry it by finding a pole we can sling it on. Unless you had planned to put it over your shoulders like a proper vision of the Mountain King."

"I'll pa.s.s. My back is killing me after that workout yesterday. Where did you learn to throw like that?" "Postgraduate research. I'll fetch a pole." Otto watched his companion go and hack a sapling from the edge of the thicket whence the mortally wounded deer had run. Dewar trimmed the trunk roughly with a few cuts and then walked back, whistling, whittling off branches and brown leaves. The snow had stopped, but the thin wind still pushed the dry yellow gra.s.s back and forth.

126.

'E&zaBeth "Somehow when I suggested we go hunting I had something else in mind," Ottaviano said drily.

"You suggested that I accompany you, and I have; it is more rewarding than hunting idle words and overheard rumors. This has been very pleasant. We have also had an excellent view of the Viden Pa.s.s all day, which we hope to be occupying tomorrow."

"The next day, probably, with this storm coming. The valleys may have deeper snow; it'll be slower travelling."

"We're well ahead of the Fireduke. It doesn't much matter." Dewar pared his sapling.

"You said he isn't in Landuc. Is he on the Road?"

"I told you: I cannot know. Prince Herne travels west, gathering levies as he goes. I'd give something precious to know what's up out there."

"Something big."

They 1^-L.xi at orie another for a few seconds.

"if it's big enough," said Dewar reflectively, leaning on his trimmed tree, "they may summon troops from Lys."

"I expect to hear any day that the Emperor has done just that, to use either here or there. Since the Marshal is away, I'd bet he wants them when he gets back. The Fireduke keeps an army or two of his own in reserve, in that stronghold of his."

"If I were an Emperor, that would make me nervous." Dewar cleaned his knife on his pants leg.

Otto took the tree from him and began lashing the buck to it. "He's tame. No ambition along those lines. I've never understood why; he could've had it any time-"

"Since Panurgus's death-or before it. And he has not. So we must consider Prince Gaston to be a man who is either too smart to desire to rule or too self-effacing. Princes are seldom self-effacing." He sheathed the knife.

"He's not stupid, certainly. If Prince Herne is going west that means Prince Gaston is coming here, and frankly I'd rather face Prince Herne."

'Then go west."

"Funny man."

"You could," said the sorcerer, smiling a little. "There is Sorcerer and a (jentteman 127.

plenty here to keep Prince Gaston busy without you."

"The rebellion will die without me."