Anna closed her eyes again.

56.

The next morning, Anna sat on the edge of her cot for a long time, her head in her hands, before she dared to stagger up and retrieve the water bottle.

Finishing off the water bottle helped some, as did eating too much of the hard cheese and biscuits. Finally, ignoring the dull and throbbing headache, she stepped out of the tent into a morning that felt far too bright for her physical condition.

Jecks turned quickly, but his smile was professional enough to tell her that she looked about the way she felt-like horse droppings flattened by a long column of lancer mounts. "Good morning, my lady."

Lejun and Kerhor both nodded, and a half dozen yards to their right, Kinor and Jimbob watched warily.

"It is morning." Anna admitted, "I think." The sky was a hazy white, not quite gray. Another result of sorcery... or guilt about sorcery? She stopped herself from shaking her head, knowing it would fall off. At least, it felt like it might.

The matted gra.s.s was damp, and the acrid odor of the cook-fires drifted toward her on the light breeze. Her stomach turned at the scent of something cooking.

Cheese and biscuits had been better, but even they had settled uneasily.

"You should not ride today," Jecks said.

"With Rabyn probably at Elioch?" She raised her eyebrows. "I couldn't ride yesterday. That cost us a day already."

"You cannot do anything if you reach Denguic exhausted." Jecks met her eyes with concern in his own hazel orbs."I know, but we can shorten today's ride and the next day's if I get tired, but we can't push the horses to make up that distance once I get recovered, not if the lancers need to fight." She snorted. "No matter what I try, it seems that we still need men with sharp blades and strong arms."

A greater hint of cook fire smoke and the fainter odor of burned gra.s.s filled Anna's nostrils, and with those reminders of the impact of her sorcery, her stomach turned and churned even more as she stood before her little tent.

Another set of battles... thousands more men dead... will it ever end? Can it ever end?

She took a deep breath. "We need to talk to Hadrenn. There's no point in dragging this out."

Jimbob and Kinor slipped back and toward where Liende had gathered with the players a good fifty yards to the south.

"Now?" Jecks looked at her, then nodded. "I will have him summoned." The white- haired lord slipped past the tent and walked swiftly toward another tent with a green pennant set before it.

Anna started after Jecks, then stopped, and shrugged. She hadn't meant to have Jecks chase down the young lord of Synek.

It seemed but a few moments later when Jecks returned with Hadrenn beside him.

Both men stopped well short of the Regent.

"Sorceress and Regent." Hadrenn inclined his head. "You have destroyed Bertmynn.

What can I say to express my grat.i.tude?"

"We all did what needed to be done. I'm glad we could help you." Anna forced a smile she didn't really feel.

"All Synek is grateful...." Hadrenn let his words slide into silence.

"And that will help erase some of the unpleasant memories of last year?" Anna offered an ironic smile.

"It cannot but help, and I will ensure all know."

"Does Bertmynn have a son or daughter?" asked Anna.

A look of puzzlement appeared in Hadrenn's deep brown eyes. "I have heard he has two sons... but those are words on the wind."

"Fine. You need to declare that his son-or other heir-will hold the lands around Dolov... but only there. And you need to proclaim that as widely as possible.

You also need to proclaim that you have accepted the protection of the Regent and Sorceress of Defalk for all of Ebra to a.s.sist in repelling any who would strike at your land... or some words like that. And you need to send someone to Elahwa... saying that you will recognize a government by the freewomen." Anna paused. "They may not believe you. You might ask for the Matriarch to send a representative-but make sure it's a representative of the Matriarch and not of the SouthWomen."

Hadrenn's eyes contained the expression of an ox stunned with a heavy hammer.

Behind the younger lord's shoulder, Jecks shook his head gently, and mouthed, "Be gentle...be gentle."

Anna nodded that she'd heard. "Let me explain," she addressed Hadrenn patiently.

"The SouthWomen started this mess by shipping blades to Elahwa. You don't wantthem in this. You do need someone outside of Ebra whom the women of Elahwa can trust. If you do that, the Matriarch and their grain factors will look on you more favorably, and you won't have another revolt on your hands in ten years.

You-and Ebra-can't afford that. Neither can I."

"You do not sound as though you are fond of Ebra." Hadrenn's voice contained the hint of a querulousness.

"In my shoes... boots, would you be? My lands have been invaded by Ebra once, and I have to fight battles again a year later in Ebra in hopes of getting a just and peaceful ruler as a neighbor. However," Anna added, "I will recompense you slightly. Send a score of lancers with me, and I will send them back with golds to help you rebuild Synek-and Elahwa."

Hadrenn looked down. "You are generous."

You may be a d.a.m.ned fool. "Hadrenn, I want a peaceful neighbor strong enough to ensure that the free state of Elahwa survives and powerful enough that Ebra can keep the Sturinnese out of Liedwahr. I'm not after an empire like the Liedfuhr seems to be. Most empires don't last, and those that do aren't places most people would like to live."

Another puzzled look crossed Hadrenn's face, but he did not speak.

"The mist worlds have had more empires than Erde has ever dreamed of-or should."

Anna glanced toward the west "Do you have any questions? We need to be leaving."

"Leaving?"

"Leaving. There are no forces left in Ebra, except yours. You have my support, and, once you proclaim the free state of Elahwa for the freewomen, you'll have some support from the Ranuans. At the very least, they won't oppose you. You have Gestatr, and his judgment is sound. What else do you need?" If Hadrenn can't handle it now, he'll never handle it.

"Gestatr said that you would be fair... no matter what it cost you. I was not certain." Hadrenn bowed his head. "Synek and Ebra will stand before and behind you, Regent and sorceress, for none could have a better ally nor a worse enemy."

Hadrenn looked up, his eyes upon Anna. "I will not keep you, but I will also tell Stepan your words of wisdom, and we will begin." He paused. "Can I offer you an escort? You lost lancers, and you brought few enough."

"Just the score you'll need to bring back the golds I'll send. And an officer or subofficer you trust."

"You shall have them." Hadrenn bowed again.

As the younger lord turned, Anna drew Jecks toward her. "I didn't mean for you...

"Who else, my lady?"

'Thank you." Anna smiled. "I don't say that enough. Especially to you, without you... without you, I wouldn't be here."

"I think not, my lady. Without you, Defalk and Elheld would yet lie under Behlem's boots and I in an unmarked grave."

Anna shook her head. "I won't argue this one, but I don't agree. We'd better get ready."Now... all you have to do is march across two countries and figure out how to defeat another madman without losing any more lancers-and that doesn't even count all the problems you don't know about.

57.

Under a gray and misting sky that had threatened a full rain all morning, the green banner of Synek and the purple-and-gold banner of Defalk headed the column of lancers riding toward the eastern end of the river town whose name Anna did not know.

Rickel and Kerhor had brought out the heavy shields as they neared the town and had moved up to flank Anna. Jecks surveyed the small daub-and-wattle dwellings at the edge of the town, and then the wood-and-brick ones nearer the center of the hamlet.

Several figures peered out of open windows, and the column slowed as someone from the town called something to the Ebran lancers.

Anna glanced over her shoulder at the distant rumble of thunder, but the gentle mist did not intensify.

Sylvarn-the subofficer in charge of Hadrenn's lancers- replied loudly. "The sorceress and Lord Hadrenn defeated Bertmynn, and Lord Hadrenn is now Lord High Counselor of all Ebra, thanks be to the Regent and Sorceress of Defalk, his ally and supporter."

"...who will rule Dolovr'

"Lord Bertmynn's heirs will hold his lands, and the free-women will hold Elahwa- at the sorceress' insistence-but both pledge allegiance and fealty to Lord Hadrenn."

A low murmur, not entirely friendly, followed Sylvarn's second response. Rickel and Kerhor edged closer to Anna, their shields higher.

"The sorceress is returning to her demesnes... for her a.s.sistance is no longer necessary, but Defaik and Ebra have pledged friendship, and there will be peace between them." Sylvarn blurted out.

"...peace...after the fire flood..." .

"...peace... why not?"

"Better peace than war..."

In the time it took Anna to ride the hundred yards to the small square, people poured from the buildings and stood, watching as the cavalcade made its way along the damp clay of the road, past, first, a small chandlery, and then past a cooper's.

"That's her!" whispered a high voice, either a young boy or girl. "The evil sorceress!"

"I don't want to hear it. She's not evil now," answered a woman. "She slew the war-dog of the north."

"But the man said..."

"The officer said," repeated a stronger voice."The sorceress slew the war-dog; young Hadrenn could not have done so himself."

"But she made the mountain of fire..."

"Hush..."

Abruptly, the girl ran to the front of the cooper's porch and called, "Sorceress... did you slay the war-dog of the north?"

Anna wanted to sigh, but she turned in the saddle to face the smudged-faced child and answered. "Yes. He used Darksong, but Clearsong was stronger. He died in fire."

"Darksong..."

"Darksong..." The word pa.s.sed through the small crowd of perhaps forty souls, repeated again and again. Some seemed to shudder at the word itself.

"Well put," murmured Jecks.

Luckily put was more like it, Anna thought, but she kept a smile on her face all the rest of the way through the town-a smile on her face, but eyes that looked everywhere. Neither Rickel nor Kerhor lowered their shields until the entire column was through the town and well along the River Syne on the road leading to the Sand Pa.s.s.

58.

MANSUUS, MANSUUR.

"So...Ba.s.sil... she has vanquished Bertmynn, and placed young lordlet Hadrenn as her puppet over all Ebra." The Liedfuhr's hazel eyes flash, seemingly turning black momentarily, and he leans forward, putting his large hands on the polished walnut of the desk standing before the open windows of his private study. "And she has given the Matriarch a foothold in Ebra, without the slightest of requests and without any concessions from Ranuak."

"Yes, sire." The raven-haired lancer officer bows. "She also lost near-on a third of the lancers accompanying her, and she must return to Defalk, traverse the entire land, and meet with the overwhelming forces of your grandson."

"And most probably a hundredscore of my own lancers-as you recommended, Ba.s.sil."

"If she loses... then you bring all your forces into Neserea and Defalk because of the instability, and you will control all of Liedwahr. Neither Lady Siobion nor Lord Hadrenn can stand against you, and the Ranuans will remain as they always have. The Sturinnese will have to look elsewhere, and you have the beginnings of your empire of magic, sire. And you will not have to offer Aerlya to Rabyn."

"That... that...even I would never do, and I do not wish to hear aught of that again." The Liedfuhr's tone is like the ice of the polar caps south of Pelara.

"Yes, sire."

"Now... how does your logic run, if the sorceress wins- again?" questions Konsstin.

"Then you hold by your bargain and offer her half of Neserea. The Council of Wei will not move against her. Nor will the Matriarchy, and in all events she willtake the rest of her long life to settle the internal affairs of what she holds in Defalk and Neserea. You will consolidate your hold on western Neserea, and Mansuur will be the most powerful land in Liedwahr."

"You make it sound so easy-for both me and the sorceress."

"For you, sire, there is little risk. The sorceress gambles much, in everything that she ventures. She attempts to remake a land that has undone everyone who has tried such. She will anger the Matriarchy and the SouthWomen because she does too little for their taste, and the old lords of Ebra and Defalk because she changes too much. Your grandson understands neither, nor will he, even when he perishes, and that will not be long, even should he defeat the sorceress."