"Yes, Lady." A wan smile appeared.

"I am telling you this because whenever others are present, I will treat you as if you were a mere assistant, and I do not want you to think you have fallen from favor because I have consorted with Alcaren." Secca smiled. "I hope I will not have to require such of you for long, but I wanted you to understand."

"Thank you." Richina inclined her head.

"Go," Secca said with a laugh. "I'd wager that Captain Kuttyr will be waiting for a glimpse of you."

"That is all he will get" Richina laughed as well, before turning and opening the door.

A faint smile played around Alcaren' s mouth as he and Secca waited for Richina to leave the chamber. After the door closed, he murmured, "That was wise."

"She's still young. If I don't tell her, and tell her directly, she'll fret. She may, anyway, if this draws out." Secca smiled at her consort. "You said once that you could play dinner music. Can you do so with the lumand?"

Alcaren laughed. "That is easy enough. You want an excuse for me to bring the lumand?

"That, and I don't want Fehern knowing that you are a sorcerer. I hope you don't mind."

"I've spent most of my life keeping people from knowing that. I wasn't terribly successful in Ranuak, but let us hope I can be more so here."

"I do not think they'll be expecting you to be a sorcerer, and people do not see what they do not expect unless something calls it to their attention," Secca replied. "We had best go."

Everyone was mounting, or already mounted, by the time Secca and Alcaren reached the side courtyard between the villa and the stables.

The ride to the other villa through the deepening gloom was both short and silent, as Secca wrestled with her concerns and her thoughts about how best to handle Fehern and her worries that she might be reading the man wrong.

Captain Kuttyr was waiting outside the entry foyer of the villa serving as Fehern's headquarters.

"Greetings. Lord Fehern awaits you in the dining hall." He bowed deeply as Secca dismounted and stepped toward him, flanked by Richina and Alcaren, and followed by the two chief players and the two overcaptains. As Richina passed, his smile widened.

In return, Richina offered the young captain the slightest of nods, along with a warm but pleasant smile.

The Lord High Counselor of Dumar waited, with his arms commander, by the entry to the dining hall. Fehern stepped forward as Secca neared. "Greetings, Sorceress Protector."

"We are most grateful for your hospitality, Lord Fehern." Secca inclined her head.

"Lady Secca." Fehern's eyes studied Secca's green vest, far plainer thin the gold-trimmed crimson tunic and trousers he wore. "You travel light, I see."

"Just riding clothes, I fear, Lord Fehern." She smiled. "But then, we are here to fight, not to banquet, although I cannot say how welcome fare such as yours will be after so many days traveling."

Fehern's eyes flicked to Alcaren and the lumand the overcaptain carried.

"My lady requested that I bring the instrument," Alcaren said smoothly. "She thought you might enjoy some after dinner music in the Ranuan tradition."

"Not sung, I trust?" asked the tall arms commander from behind Fehern's shoulder.

"Harmonies, no," replied Alcaren. "That would be regarded as sorcery in Ranuak. After the slightest pause, he added, "Or anywhere, I suppose."

"We could not bring you gifts, except perhaps for the gift of music," Secca continued. "And Alcaren is accomplished."

"You are most thoughtful, Sorceress Protector." Fehern offered a polite smile, then gestured toward the open double doors.

The dining hall was not overlarge, with a single long table capable of holding twoscore, and set for slightly more than half that. Fehern took the seat at the head, with Secca to his right, and Alcaren to his left, then Halyt beside Secca, and Palian beside Alcaren. Richina was placed above the over-captains of both Secca's forces and those of Dumar, with several Dumaran captains below the salt.

Fehern gestured for the others to sit, then sat a moment later, leaning toward Secca. "Once the wine is poured, I will offer a welcome and a toast."

"You're most kind and gracious," replied the sorceress.

The wine poured by a serving-woman in brown was a pale amber, and once the server had reached the base of the long table, Fehern stood and lifted his goblet. "For seasons we have struggled against the Sturinnese, but now we will prevail, for we have the assistance of Defalk and one of its greatest sorceresses." He lifted his goblet. "To the Lady Secca and her forces."

"To the Lady Secca and her forces."

Almost immediately a handful of servers appeared with platters of food, all beginning at the head of the table. The meat seemed to be slabs of mutton rolled around a filling of some sort and covered with a white sauce, and the potatoes had been diced, mixed with cheese and spices, and baked again.

Secea sipped her wine sparingly, not difficult under the circumstances, since it was a vintage that had once been lush and was shading toward lush vinegar. Like Dumar, she reflected.

"Did you have any . . . difficulty . . . in reaching Envaryl?" asked the overcaptain farther down the table to Alcaren's left.

"There was a company of Sturinnese," Alcaren replied. "That was three days ago. They tried to ambush us, but Lady Secca discovered them in enough time that we dispatched them." He took a small sip of wine and broke off another chunk of the flat crackerlike dark bread.

"That is too bad," mused Fehern. "The survivors will report your arrival, and the Sea-Priests may attack sooner."

"There were no survivors," Secca said easily, "but that would not matter. The Sturinnese have sorcerers everywhere, and they doubtless know we are here."

"No survivors?" inquired Halyt, raising a single eyebrow.

"None," affirmed Alcaren.

"With all the companies of lancers they have, the Sea-Prests will scarce miss one," added Wilten.

"That is unhappily all too true, Overcaptain," replied Fehern. "Yet it is still an accomplishment to destroy an entire company of Sturinnese without casualties."

Secca laughed ruefully. "Lord Fehern, you give us great credit more than we deserve. While we have managed this latest engagement without losing lancers, our efforts in reaching you have not been without casualties. We have already lost several companies.

"Several companies?" asked Halyt. "I presume, but I saw no wounded."

"Against the Sturinnese," Alcaren replied, "there are few wounded. There are the dead . . . and the survivors."

Halyt nodded slowly. "That, too, has been our experience. Yet, even against their sorcery and drums . . ."

"We can talk of tactics later," Fehern said smoothly, "when we meet to plan how we will attack the Sturinnese. For now, let us speak of other matters. And shortly, we will hear the overcaptain play.

Secca smiled politely. "He plays excellently, as you will hear."

"I am sure we will, Lady Sorceress." Fehern laughed warmly. "We will need to meet soon, however."

"Tomorrow morning?" suggested Secca. "At my villa at the second glass after dawn? The sooner, the better, do you not think?"

"Ah . . . " Fehern frowned.

"I will have a scrying glass set there so that you may see for yourself." Secca smiled warmly.

"And so Halyt can see as well."

"Excellent." Fehern motioned to the serving-woman with the wine, then turned back to Secca.

"You must tell me, and Halyt, how you found Ranuak, for none of us has ever traveled there. So much is rumored, yet so little is known."

"I had heard much as well, and I had never visited there, or Elahwa, either," Secca replied. "I was surprised to find Ranuak a poorer land than I had heard. All work, and every morgen of good land is tilled, yet without the fishing and the trade, I think that life in Ranuak would be hard indeed. They abhor sorcery, although the Matriarch was most polite, and we left as soon as we could." Secca laughed lightly. "That I am a sorceress may have added to her willingness to help us leave and come to Dumar."

"The Matriarch helped you?"

"She provided the vessels that carried us to Stygia," Secca admitted.

"And you did not encounter the white-hulled warships?"

"We saw not one," Secca replied.

Halyt looked at Alcaren. "Not one?"

"They had blockaded Encora for a time, but there were none on the seas when we left," Alcaren affirmed.

"But where . . .?" mused Fehern "To Neserea, we fear," Secca said. "To support the rebellion there."

The quickest of glances passed between Halyt and Fehern before the Lord High Counselor spoke again. "What of the city of Encora itself. Is it the marvel all say?"

"It has walls on the hills that surround it, and a deep and narrow channel that protects its harbor .

. ." As Secca talked, she was all too conscious of how dangerously she wove truth and omission together into a misleading image. Yet there was much she did not wish Fehern to learn--- not yet.

25 East of Eseria, Neserea Beyond the faded and heavy wall hangings that fail to keep the winter chill at bay, Clayre stands over the bare wood of the table in the small sitting room of Lord Nysl's keep. Her fingers touch the strings of the lutar, and she begins the spell.

"For all who seek me through spell and song let them see me sifting here as if here long.

Let them see me use the spell and glass as days and moments come to pass.

Yet a dtfferent view will unfold, for each time one seeks me to behold..."

Clayre smiles as she finishes the spell. After a moment, she lowers the lutar and eases the instrument into the oiled leather case. Then she dons the leather riding jacket, picks up the saddlebags, and walks to the door of the chamber. The ancient oak door creaks on its iron straps as she opens it, and creaks again as she closes it behind her.

At the bottom of the narrow rear staircase, there is a small hall, whose stone walls are unadorned.

There, Diltyr waits, beside the door that leads to the rear bailey and the stables. In one hand is a leather case within which is his violino. The other hand is empty. "The players are mounted and ready, Lady Clayre."

A white-haired man in a faded purple tunic trimmed with silver stands beside the chief player..

He bows as he speaks. "For all of our sakes, I wish you well, Lady Sorceress."

"I thank you, Lord Nysl, both for your good wishes, and for your hospitality. I wish you well in the weeks ahead."

"Thank you, lady." Nysi bows again.

"Thank you." Clayre acknowledges the bow with a graceful nod. Then she turns as Diltyr opens the bailey door and steps out into the dark gray of an overcast morning before dawn.

Side by side, she and Diltyr walk across the courtyard toward the stables, outside of which players and lancers are already forming up.

"He is relieved that we are departing," says Diltyr in a low voice.

Clayre nods brusquely. "That is to be expected."

"Will not Belmar see us in his glass? Even though we leave before dawn?"

"He will, but what he sees will not be what is." Clayre chuckles.

"With each season, sorcery becomes more devious," murmurs Diltyr.

"And more dangerous. We must make certain that the danger falls upon Belmar, and not upon us."

"That requires lighting a lamp with a short splinter, lady."

"Better than having no light, I think," replies the dark-haired sorceress with a laugh.

26.

Once back in the guest villa after a too-long and not too-enlightening dinner with Fehern, Secca opened the door onto the wide balcony and stepped outside into the night air. Alcaren hurried out after her, his hand on the hilt of his sabre, but the balcony was empty, and the loudest sounds were laughs from the barracks, muted by the brick walls, and the whispering of a wind that was too warm for winter and too chill for spring.

Secca stood at the balcony railing for several moments, looking skyward, but the intermittent clouds obscured any view of either moon. "So many words . . . so little said, and everyone listening for something.

"That is often true," Alcaren said.

"Was it that way in Ranuak?"

"Even less obvious, I fear, my lady. I am not good at such listening, and others would hear what I did not"

"I feel the same way, even here." Secca turned from the railing, and Alcaren followed.

After they had stepped back into the sitting room, Secca slid the door bolt into place, not that it would more than delay a determined intruder. "Did you notice who wasn't there?"

"The disguised Sea-Priest we've seen in the glass with Fehern---unless he was disguised in another fashion. Captain Kuttyr was near the bottom of the table, well away from any of us."

"That's both a precaution and a slight." Secca laughed. "Or a disciplinary action because he said too much to us."

"Or all three."