"Power doesn't always allow any better choices. Sometimes, all the time, anymore, it seems, sorcery is the only real tool I have."

Thrap. At the rap on the door, both turned.

"Counselor Menares," announced Resor.

"Come on in, Menares. Dythya should be here in a few moments." Anna turned to Jecks. "Somehow, it always gets back to that," Anna said. "Which lords fear my power as a sorceress enough to do as requested, and which don't. If I don't exhibit power, then none want to honor their obligations. If I do, they complain about my being high-handed."

"All lords respond to power, and little else," Jecks pointed out. "Your being Regent does not change that."

"But I can't ignore their complaints, because-" She broke off as there was a second rap on the door.

"Lady Anna, the counselor Dythya."

"Have her come in." Anna glanced at Jecks, then Menares. "Time to go over the accounts and the obligations."

Dythya bowed as she entered, carrying a stack of scrolls under each arm. "I have the accounts as you requested, Regent."

Anna nodded. "Thank you." It was going to be a long, long day. Even patient Jecks rolled his eyes.

23.

With the late-afternoon sun shining through the high window behind her, Anna rubbed her forehead and looked down at the conference table and the stacks of scrolls and accounts that surrounded her. Slowly she reached for the pile that held the expenditures for armsmen and lancers-Hanfor's accounts.

"Lady Anna?"

Anna looked up as Menares peered around the door, "Yes, Menares?"

"Lady Anna... if I might have a word...?" The gray-haired advisor's head bobbed up and down as he stood inside the double doors.

What does the old schemer want? "Of course, Menares." She gestured to the chair across from her, and Menares closed the door behind him.

"Thank you, lady..." As he took the proffered seat, the heavy and gray-haired counselor cleared his throat, once and then again. "Ah...uhm... what I have to say might be considered presumptuous, and I do not mean it to be taken such inthe slightest... but I have had some modest experience in observing the ways of rulers in Liedwahr..."

Anna nodded for the older man to continue.

"It is just... Lady Anna. . . that I overheard your words to Lord Jecks about...

about the lords of Defalk.... and at that time... it would not have been my place to offer any words... not in public... but I have reflected.... and I trust... that in revealing my observations in private..."

Roundabout as Menares often was, seldom had he been so indirect. Anna caught herself managing to keep from clicking her nails in impatience. "I will keep your observations between us."

"Ah...thank you." Menares cleared his throat again. "You had remarked that you felt that few listened to you, except to obviate the threat of magical force which you could bring against them... and you offered some words about how many of the Thirty-three and even lords throughout Liedwahr responded but to the power of your sorcery."

"I did." Anna wondered where Menares was headed, but tried to keep her eyes off the stack of paper that represented what she needed to spend on armsmen. And what you really don't have, even with the golds coming from Dumar... if they arrive.

"You may recall that Lord Jecks pointed out that all men respond to power. You said that you yet need worry about their complaints..." Menares paused, glancing at the Regent for a moment before going on. "Yet the real complaint to which they will not give voice is that your power is greater than theirs. Even Lord Behiem had once told me that the lords of Defalk revered their customs only insofar as those customs and traditions enhanced their power." Menares gave a wry smile. "I doubt that much has changed since his death."

'I doubt it," Anna acknowledged.

Menares continued, speaking more smoothly, "Men are willful. Women may also be willful, but there are few in power, save you and the Matriarch of Ranuak. Lords and rulers talk about reason, and about the need to solve disputes without the use of force, but they require such methods not because they admire them, but because all forms of power are limited, and the use of force must be reserved for times when no other method can be employed. They are jealous, my lady, because you are not bound by their limitations.

"They cannot match the force you can muster with your song magic... so they will try to weaken your resolve to use it, and thus weaken you and Defalk, by claiming that you rule but by force of magic. Yet all rulers maintain their reign by force. They cloak their force and call its differing manifestations by various terms. Some, as do the Norweians, talk of the necessity of trade.

Others, such as the Sturinnese, talk of the freedom of the seas. Lord Behiem insisted he was but the manifestation of the will of harmony. The Ranuans purchase their power with golds...."

He's right... money is a kind of force-economic force. So is trade... so even is the ability to logically persuade--you could call that intellectual force. Avery was great at that.... Anna found her nails clicking together and clasped her hands under the table to stop the mannerism.

"The great lords talk of harmony and of the need for agreement and peace, but all the words and the maneuverings-they rest on the armsmen and the golds they control."Politics is really only a system for legitimizing the use of force in the minds of the people-or in the minds of the lords of the Thirty-three.... "You've thought about this," Anna said. "But I must worry about whether the people feel there is truth in what they've charged. I have used force. I've used a lot of force. They know I have this power. So why do they require me to use force?"

"Force is distasteful to the people," Menares replied. 'To some people. If you always use force, then some of the lords believe that you will be less popular with the people."

'That could happen. Easily," Anna said. "I worry about it."

"Worry you must, but worry most about not using your powers, my lady. Few powerful rulers lose their lives and kingdoms, but many have failed for lack of use of their powers."

Was life that brutal-or that direct-when you stripped away the facades of society? She nodded. Almost all people wanted things their own way. Societies developed because the weaker needed protection against the strong. Ruling elites developed ways to attain their goals without unnecessary brutality. She laughed, almost bitterly. Dowries and marriage-a bartering of women-little more than economic coercion... the indirect use of force to reduce women to commodities by male power brokers.

Menares swallowed. "I have spoken more... perchance than I should...."

"No... you haven't. I'm glad to have your words, Menares. I really am. You've reminded me of some pretty basic truths, and regents and rulers sometimes need reminding." She offered a smile. "Even we forget what we shouldn't." Or never had to think about except in political science cla.s.ses years ago.

"Thank you, my lady."

Anna rose. "Thank you, Menares."

After the old counselor left, Anna sat, looking down at the stacks of accounts.

Her lips tightened. When I became Regent, there were no coins: so that form of power wasn't available. Nor was the power of politics because I'm a woman, and most lords disliked or distrusted women with power, and insisted on my proving that I had power and knew how to use it. They were the ones who required I use force. They wouldn't do anything except bicker among themselves until I did-and then they complained.

Why was it always different for women when they got power? Dieshr had schemed her way to being chair of the music department at Ames, and the moment she retired, the men would be at her throat Of course, there, position and control of funds had been power. Anna tightened her lips. Someone like the Liedfuhr of Mansuur could use coins instead of force. The Norweians had trade, and fleets of ships. As Regent of a land that had yet to recover from nearly a decade of drought, what resources did she have? None-except her powers as a sorceress-and every time she used them, some lord or another whined or whimpered that all she could do was destroy something.

No one talked about the bridges she'd built, or the drought she'd ended, or the peace she'd brought to Defalk itself.

If this were a book, the male readers would be complaining that all this sorceress does is fry people... but it's not, and I haven't been able to come up with any better alternatives-and neither have my male advisors. So... the only sin of which I'm really guilty is a failure to use my power in differing ways?

Anna laughed, but the sound was hollow in the receiving room.24 Leaning over the conference table that served as her working desk, Anna rubbed her forehead and her eyes. She wasn't sleeping that well.... wondering about what was happening in Ebra, in Pamr, in Neserea, and with who knew how many lords of the Thirty-three. She couldn't keep up with it, even with scrying sorcery, not without being totally exhausted all the time. And there was the underlying strain of wondering whether she'd waited long enough before trying to retrieve any message Elizabetta might have written. If you try too early...

you'll destroy anything she has written with fire... too long, and she'll lose hope...faith... whatever...

Anna took a deep breath and glanced toward the woman sitting across the table- Dythya-waiting patiently for Anna to refocus her attention on the problems involved with governing Defalk itself. The accounts for the liedstadt-what pa.s.sed for a national government-were her responsibility-and a general disaster.

Even with the four thousand golds sent from Dumar the treasury didn't hold really enough golds to do more than sc.r.a.pe by.

"How much will it cost to arm and maintain another tenscore lancers?" Anna asked.

"Almost a thousand golds for arms and mounts, and another thousand each year for wages and food," answered Dythya. "That is, if the weather is good, and food is not dear, and if there is no horse fever."

"We'll still have to spend several hundred each year for replacement arms and mounts...." mused Anna. Yet the Liedfuhr can casually send fiftyscore lancers to Neserea. That has to cost him as much as us... say something like five thousand golds a year or more." That's like a quarter of your total budget... and you think you can build Defalk into an independent power?

Anna ma.s.saged her forehead again before a thought struck her, and she pulled a gold coin from her belt wallet and examined it, slowly. The image struck on the coin was that of a woman, and the lettering though worn, read "Mutter Harmonie"

Anna smiled, wondering if Mansuuran coins held the legend "Vater Harmonie"

except that "harmonie" was feminine. She shook her head. Stop woolgathering...

"Defalk doesn't make... mint... its own coins, does it?"

"Not for generations. It's said Lord Jecks has a gold piece that was struck by the last Corian lord, and Lord Mietchel has several Suhlmorran pieces."

Anna fingered the small heavy coin for a time, then nodded, looking at the gray- haired counselor, "Dythya...?"

"Yes, Lady Anna?"

"Do you know if there was ever any place in Defalk where gold was once mined?"

Anna knew that no such mines existed now, but that didn't mean that there hadn't been mines at some time.

"Gold?" Dythya raised her eyebrows.

"Or silver, but gold would be better." Anna reached for the water goblet.

"There were mines near Nordland," answered the counselor slowly. "Lord Clethner would know"

Anna had to concentrate. Nordland? She shook her head. Nordland was practically in Nordwei "Is there anywhere east of Falcor?""Lord Hulber of Silberfels once told Lord Jecks that his great grandsire found nuggets of gold, small ones, in the Chean, but there were no mines, not in recent memory."

Silberfels? Then Anna laughed. Silver rocks? That was what the name meant in German. Except she couldn't recall where Silberfels was. "Is that far from Mencha?"

"One, perhaps, two days' ride north of Mencha. Silberfels is a small holding, and very old. It was there even before the Corian lords ruled the north."

After a knock on the receiving-room door, Menares slipped inside, bowing, then extending a scroll toward Anna. "Lady and Regent, you have a scroll from Lady Gatrune."

"Thank you," Anna read though the missive, skipping over the compliments.

... As you requested, Regent and Lady, Captain Firis had discreet inquiries made. Some unknown magics have been reported in the chandlery of Fa.r.s.enn, the son of Forse, and some say that his brother Giersan has constructed a strange a.s.semblage of drums... few would answer anyone from my lands, and this is troubling. That is why some indirection was required and why I have been so long in responding to your request....

...You might also be interested to know that Herene sent a messenger asking for clothing for her wards, or a skilled seamstress, and since we have several I dispatched one to Suhl.... Herene is working hard to instruct the children, both on their letters and figures and on other matters as well..... The daughter is most bright, but Herene has some doubts about the sons....

So did you. Anna reflected, then stopped as the receiving room door opened yet again.

Jecks slipped inside and hurried toward Anna. "My lady Anna, there is an emissary from the Liedfuhr of Mansuur-an overcaptain of lancers with some sort of gift."

"A gift... more like a Trojan horse..." murmured Anna.

Jecks and Dythya exchanged glances at the unfamiliar term, but Anna didn't bother to explain.

"Have them come in, with the guards." Anna smoothed her hair back, almost unconsciously, and stepped back onto the dais, where she stood by the high- backed and heavy carved chair she used to receive people on a more formal basis.

Jecks slipped from the receiving room, to return moments later with Rickel and Blaz. The Lord High Counselor gestured for the two to flank Anna on the dais. As the guards stepped into place, the receiving room doors opened.

"The emissary of the Liedfuhr of Mansuur," Skent announced.

Flanking Anna, Rickel and Blaz stiffened, easing forward slightly as two lancers in maroon carried in a chest and set it on the receiving-room floor before the dais. The lancers were accompanied by Kerhor and Lejun. who watched not Anna, but the lancers.

The two lancers withdrew, leaving the single officer in maroon. He bowed, deeply, almost reverently. "Regent. Sorceress of Power, Lady of Mencha. . . weare here to convey a message from the Liedfuhr and to bring his greetings and best wishes."

Anna inclined her head slightly to the lancer officer. "You are most welcome, and I appreciate the effort you have made to come so far."

The officer extended a scroll, but Jecks stepped forward, took it, studied it.

and then pa.s.sed it to the Regent.

"How did you come here?" asked Anna as she took the scroll. "We took one of the Liedfuhr's fastest ships to Narial, and then rode through Dumar to Stromwer and thence to Falcor."

Anna glanced at the maroon and gold ribbons that twined the scroll. "And how long did it take?"

"More than two weeks at great speed," admitted the lancer with a smile. "Mansuus is not close to Falcor."

"I appreciate your effort. If you would wait for a moment..." Anna broke the seal and began to read through the scroll.

Regent of Defalk, and Sorceress of Power, Greetings from Mansuus and from the people of Mansuur to those of Defalk and to their most wise and puissant Regent...

Anna skimmed over the paragraph of flowery praise and formality, her eyes settling on the next lines.

Many have speculated about what actions may be taken by Mansuur in the days and years to come.... You have shown, by your actions in Dumar, that the Maitre of Sturinn is the greatest threat to all Liedwahr. You have also risked greatly for all those who wish Liedwahr's destiny to be controlled by its peoples, and not those who would chain us to traditions that are not ours. ...

He definitely has an idea who you are. Anna's lips crinkled slightly at the blatantly veiled reference to the chains of adornment used by the Sturinnese on their women.

... As Liedfuhr, I wish to a.s.sure you that Mansuur has no designs upon the lands of Defalk, nor of Dumar, now that Dumar has declared its allegiance to Defalk.

To a.s.sure you that these words are written in honesty and honor and not empty, I have sent a chest to demonstrate both my grat.i.tude for your actions in opposing the Maitre of Sturinn, and the strength of my word that no forces of Mansuur under the command of officers loyal to the Liedfuhr, will be brought against the forces Anna frowned at the wording, then smoothed her face and continued.

... I must, regretfully, inform you that Mansuur cannot be held responsible for any actions taken by the Prophet of Music of Neserea, since the Prophet has renounced any guidance from Mansuur... I will be dispatching shortly fiftyscore lancers to Neserea in an effort to ensure restraint by the Prophet in dealing with Defalk and to attempt to a.s.sure continuing peacefulness between Neserea and Defalk. Knowing how your powers have destroyed hundreds of scores of lancers, I trust that you will not regard these fiftyscore lancers as a reason to distrust my pledge and honor....

The scroll concluded with more praise and formality, and was signed: "Konsatin, Liedfuhr of Mansuur."As she looked up from the scroll, Anna did not look at the chest, but she could see from its size that it had to contain more than a thousand golds. A thousand... and he's sending another fiftyscore lancers to Neserea?

"We thank you, Overcaptain. .

"Captain Gislhem, Regent." Gisihem bowed.

"...and we thank the Liedfuhr for his wisdom and his warm gestures. I will have a response for you to take back tomorrow, and we look forward to seeing you at dinner. I hope you will be able to tell us about your journey."

"You are most kind."