For some reason, the thought that she'd paid two golds for five yards of velvet crossed her mind-and an armsman who risked his life got a pair of silvers. Yet a bonus of a single gold-several times during the campaign ahead, and there would be a campaign, that was clear- that bonus would bankrupt Defalk.

Cloth was always overly expensive in pretechnology societies. She frowned. Another excuse, no matter how true?

Jecks waited silently "That sounds reasonable, but let's talk to Hanfor. He has to lead the men." She paused. "Any ideas on who could run this place?"

"It would not take great experience," Jecks offered. "Not at first. What about the sister and ward of Lady Gatrune?"

Anna tried to remember the young woman's name. Anna had met her at Lady Gatrune' s holding in Pamr, when Lord Hryding's armsmen had been escorting Anna to Falcor to offer her services to Behlem after the Lord of Neserea had conquered Defalk. "Herene?" Tall and blonde, like Gatrune, but thinner than her older sister. Anna nodded to herself "Herene."

"A woman here would be good," Jecks said. "With a solid armsman and officer at her hand before long."

"So that the other lords would understand it wasn't a power grab?" Anna also understood another element of Jecks' logic. A male caretaker or administrator meant takeover-such as with Jiinbob and Herstat at Synfal- while a woman meant continuity of the male heirs. She took a deep breath. You can't change everything all at once.

"They would be less threatened:"

"I can see that." Anna wanted to threaten them all, but she only said, "In this case, that makes sense. If something like this occurs again... we'll have to see."

''That will be your decision, as always." Jecks bowed slightly, his voice formal.

"Let's find Hanfor." Anna turned from the battlement, blotting her damp forehead, and started down the steps, followed by Rickel. Two other guards swung behind her at the base of the tower. The sorceress had begun to feel that, no matter where she went, she was leading a parade.

Hanfor stood on a mounting block in the courtyard, directing officers and armsmen. When he saw the two, he stepped down, shaking his head. "Sargol was not organized."

Anna had suspected that from the beginning of the fight two days earlier. "We won't keep you, Hanfor, but Lord Jecks and I have been thinking. Would an extra payment of two silvers an armsmen be an appropriate reward for their efforts?"

Hanfor's face crinkled into a smile. "So long as you tell them now, and let them know that they will receive it when we return to Falcor. Otherwise, too many will find local spirits."

"Should I announce it, or should you?"

"Normally, I would announce that." The arms cornmander grinned. "But if you would prefer..."

"I'd prefer the normal," Anna said. "Two silvers when they return to Falcor."

"To be received when they are not on duty," Hanfor added.

Jecks smiled.

"Of course," Anna agreed. "You set the terms."

"You see. Lord Jecks, why so many of us prefer her reign?"

"So do many of the lords. Would that all understood." Jecks' voice was dry, barely rising above the clop of hoofs, and the clamor of voices of the armsmen crossing the courtyard, and the wagons returning through the gates.

"They will," Hanfor affirmed. He glanced over his shoulder.

"We'll talk later," Anna said, "about what we do next. After dinner?"

"I will be there." Hanfor bowed, and then turned to where Alvar stood, waiting.

"The wagons?" asked the swarthy officer. "Can we use two of them to gather provisions?"

Anna stepped back, letting Rickel, Jecks and her guards follow. "I need to talk to Liende, Lord Jecks. If you would excuse me?"

"As you wish, lady." The white-haired lord inclined his head.

"Thank you." Anna forced a smile. "At dinner?"

"At dinner, my lady." Jecks offered a pleasant smile m return.

It took three inquiries to find the wing where the players were quartered, and Anna had tried two doors before she rapped a third time on the ancient oak.

"Yes?" Liende opened the door, sleepy-eyed, hair rumpled. "Oh ... Lady Anna. Oh. . . I was so tired."

"Don't worry about it." The sorceress stepped into the small room, shutting the door, and leaving Rickel and the guards in the brick-walled corridor. "I feel that way still."

Liende glanced around the room, her eyes touching on the single chair and the pallet bed. Anna pulled out the chair and sat. The player perched on the edge of the bed.

"Your pleasure, lady."

"I've been thinking, Liende, and I wanted to talk to you. I don't want to repeat what happened here at Suhl," Anna said. "Perhaps Sargol and his armsmen deserved it for their treachery earlier..."

"It was treacherous to attack you unprovoked."

"I don't understand why." Anna shrugged. "I wasn't even heading toward SuhI."

"He was fearing that you were."

The sorceress nodded.

"And he claimed the lineage of Suhlmorra."

"He wanted to re-create the kingdom of Suhlmorra?" asked Anna.

"So it is said." Liende offered a tight smile.

The regent shook her head. The last thing Defalk needed was fragmentation into more small countries.

"Anyway... I hadn't wanted to use such terrible spells..."

"Even with Lord Brill..." Liende looked down.

"No. Lord Brill was too gentle." Anna laughed, then cut off the laugh before it turned hysterical. The thought of her as a ruthless and b.l.o.o.d.y butcher was insane. It was also true. "Too gentle."

"Yes," agreed Liende. "But Defalk needs you.

Defalk needs a woman butcher? What does that say about Defalk? Or you? "I will try to do what we need with less violence."

"That may not be possible, Lady Anna." Liende offered a sardonic smile.

"I know. We'll try, though. I'll be giving you two more songs, short ones, that I hope will help."

"No one can play before the morrow. Kaseth. . . he may not play for another day, yet. His fingers shake."

"We won't leave Suhl until all of you are ready to play."

"Thank you, lady."

Anna wanted to scream. Thank her for what? For butchery or common sense or both? She just stood.

"You're welcome. Take care, and let me know if any of you need anything."

"We are well quartered and fed." Liende rose, slowly, as though she were stiff.

Anna nodded again, then slipped out into the corridor.

46.

Anna's boots clumped heavily on the worn stone floor tiles of the dim corridor. Her nose itched, and she rubbed it. Like everything else in Suhl, the corridor held the faint odor of mold and must. Even five years of drought hadn't been enough to destroy that-or the recent rains had revived the spores quickly. She rubbed her nose again, trying not to sneeze.

"The family quarters and the nursery are just ahead, lady," said Fhurgen. "We've removed...."

"They need an honorable burial," she said tiredly. "And stone markers or whatever's customary." Her head still throbbed; her legs, ached; and sharp pains stabbed through the b.a.l.l.s of her feet with each step.

"Honorable?" asked Hanfor. "After his treachery?"

"He and his consort paid for it, didn't they? There's no point in disgracing the dead.'' Anna stopped and looked at the hollow-eyed Jecks. "Is there?"

"An honorable burial in the lords' plot would serve many purposes.

And mollify the sensibilities of my squeamish northern lords. "Fine. Let's set that up." There was so much to set up with only a few handfuls of retainers remaining. Yet Anna couldn't afford to have Suhl go down in ruins, not when her goal was to rebuild Defalk, not destroy it. Great start you're making.

"The nursery." Hanfor gestured to the open door.

Anna stepped into the long narrow room, with its narrow embrasured windows and weathered inside shutters. Only Jecks accompanied her. She glanced at the three children-the dark-haired girl and the two brown-haired boys-then at the short and stocky woman who stood behind them protectively.

''I'm not about to hurt them," the sorceress said, even as she could sense the nursemaid's doubt. Still, the woman had survived, and that meant she wasn't disloyal. Or that her first loyalties were to the children.

"They weren't the ones who tried to kill me."

"Lady, Lord Sargol was a good man." The nursemaid's voice quavered.

Anna respected the opinion, and the courage it took to voice it. "He was good to his peop1e, I'm sure. He wasn't good for Defalk or those who lived around him. And totally good lords don't refuse to pay their liedgeld and attempt to kill regents who aren't even threatening them. Nor would he have died if he hadn't been planning treachery. You weren't, and you're alive.

The maid's eyes widened slightly, as though she had not thought about that.

"Tell me the children's names."

"Keithen is the older boy. He's five. Resthor is his brother. He's two, almost three, at eight-week of summer. Dinfan, she be the daughter. She's eight, I think."

Anna turned to the girl. "Dinfan, do you know who I am?"

"Da, he said you were a harpy of discord."

That's one for honesty. "Some people have said that. It's not true. I'm the Regent of Defalk."

"He said you were bad." The girl's voice was unsteady, but she held her chin firmly, almost defying Anna, much as her own Irenia had. Irenia, the accident, the funeral-they all seemed so far away, so distant.

Anna swallowed, trying to keep her composure before she spoke. "I have done bad things. So has your father. So do most people. So, child, will you. That doesn't make us bad people." Anna waited, still measuring the girl.

"Will you kill us, too?"

"No. You, if you learn enough, will hold SuhI. If you don't, one of your brothers will."

"Women aren't lords." Again, that defiant echo of Irenia.

Anna forced a smile. "Lady Gatrune holds Pamr. Lady Anientta holds Flossbend. I am Regent of Defalk."

For the first time, Dinfan's eyes dropped.

"You are your father's daughter. You must learn all you can. Perhaps, when you are older, you will come to Falcor to learn. Then you will know more when you are old enough to hold Suhl."

There was no answer. Behind her, the nursemaid's eyes widened. "Do ye play with the child, lady?"

"No. I don't play games. Lord Sargol didn't understand that. Some of the other southern lords still don't.

SuhI is Dinfan's so long as she is responsible and loyal to Lord Jimbob and the Regency. I hope you will make that clear." Anna paused. "I will ensure she, and her brothers, have a tutor until they are old enough to come to Falcor. You will ensure they are loved. You will not tell them tales. You may tell them that their father rebelled and tried to kill me, and for that I slew him." Her eyes fixed on the nurse. "Do you understand?"

The nurse shivered. ''Your will is law, Regent."

"Take care of them well. Their people will need them." Anna nodded.

The nurse bowed.

"Good-bye, Dinfan."

"Good-bye."

Anna gave a last smile and stepped back into the corridor, back to her entourage.

"I don't have the faintest idea where to get a good tutor, but we need to find one." Anna looked at Jecks.

''You will not foster them at Falcor?"