Fhurgen released an audible sigh.

Anna stepped forward.

If the cries of "Honor the regent!" and "Long live the regent!" were not overwhelming, they were at least suitable, and Anna stepped back bef6re they died away. So did Gylaron.

Rickel sheathed the blade he had held ready behind Gylaron.

"I am relieved you did not have to use that." The swarthy lord took a long breath, then looked at Anna. "It is better this way."

"I'd hoped so," Anna answered. "It's better than a battle, isn't it?"

Rickel nodded solemnly.

"That it is."

"What else have you concealed?" asked Reylan.

"Not nearly as much as you think," Anna responded politely. "I don't work that way."

Gylaron glared at Reylan and extended an arm. "Might we offer you the hospitality of Lerona?"

Anna glanced toward Hanfor.

"And you, also, Arms Commander."

"There is much to do, yet," demurred Hanfor. "I would that I could join you, but you will do well indeed with Lady Anna and Lord Jecks. I am but a poor armsman."

"Scarcely." Anna ginned. "He has made it possible for Defalk to survive, yet he would take no credit."

"Nor will I," answered Hanfor. "Not until all Defalk is strong and united. Then, I will praise you for changing the world, and I will take my leave for a quiet hill retreat." A wry smile followed. "By then, I will be old enough to enjoy it."

"If you finish your duties, Arms Commander, please join us."

"Thank you." Hanfor nodded, then turned.

"My players will need refreshment," Anna said.

"Your arms commander had said such," Gylaron answered. "They will eat in the hall next to us, if that is agreeable."

"That's fine." Anna nodded and stepped back to Liende. "If you follow us, they've set up a meal for all of you in the hall next to us." Her voice lowered slightly. "The atmosphere might be more cordial there."

"You risk much," Liende said.

"I hope not." Anna shrugged. "I'm doing the best I can."

The regent followed Gylaron and his consort to the stairs, her own guards seemingly everywhere. Jecks, hand on the hilt of his blade, walked beside her. The small dining hall was down a single flight of brick stairs and fifty yards along a vaulted corridor, lit by intermittently s.p.a.ced candles set in wall sconces and protected by smudged gla.s.s mantels.

The players, led by a page or fosterling of some sort in faded maroon, followed, Kaseth almost beside Liende.

Rickel stationed himself and two others at the door to the small dining hall. Fhurgen followed Anna inside. The rectangular table was set for five, one place at the head, and two on each side. The linens were maroon, and the goblets crystal.

Gylaron gestured toward the head of the table. "Regent Anna."

"Thank you. We appreciate the effort and the hospitality."

"Would I be too blunt if I said that we appreciate your forbearance and our lives?" Gylaron's tone was light, but the dark eyes were somber.

"Honest, I'd say," Anna said as she sat. Fhurgen slipped behind her and stood before the arras at the wall to her back.

"Our lady the regent is very direct," Jecks added. "Sometimes, distressingly so. She is not from Liedwahr, and views matters with a different eye, almost always for the best." He laughed. "It has not always seemed that way at first."

"Ah... yes..." murmured Gylaron, with a sideways glance at Reylan.

After a moment of silence that seemed endless, Anna glanced at the pitcher before her. "Is that wine?"

"It is. It is our best, but poor compared to those from the hills of Sudwei and Stromwer." Gylaron smiled apologetically.

"I suspect it is far better than what comes from my lands."

"I thought... Gylaron's eyebrows rose. Then he closed his mouth.

Anna shook her head. "With the death of Lord Brill, I inherited the lands of Mencha, dry and to the east near the Sand Pa.s.s. I am also, 1 have discovered, the Lady of Loiseau, and like you, Lord Gylaron, I find 1 must pay liedgeld to the Regency." She smiled wryly. "The domains of Falcor and Cheor belong to Lord Jimbob. I was referring to the vinegar from Mencha, not anything from anywhere else." Anna smiled inside. At least, she'd gotten that part right.

"Lord Brill had no heirs?" asked Reylan.

"No. And no consort." Anna poured some of the wine and pa.s.sed the pitcher to Reylan.

"And you?" The dark-haired woman poured wine for herself and for Jecks.

"My children remain on earth-the mist world." Anna had to struggle not to squint against the continuing double vision, although the headache had subsided to a dull and muted throbbing.

Gylaron and Reylan exchanged glances.

"Haven't you heard?" Anna asked. "I thought everyone knew. I have children nearly as old as you, Lady Reylan..." She quickly ran through the story of how she had come to Erde and ended up as regent. "So... I have no heirs, and Loiseau will probably go to the next good sorcerer who supports Defalk." She laughed softly. "It almost seems fated that way."

"The harmonies," mused Gylaron.

"So it has seemed," added Jecks.

A serving girl brought in a large maroon platter, setting it before Anna. Another brought two baskets of still-steaming bread. Anna glanced at the meat and the sauce; Poison? Everyone was eating the same thing. All she had to do was wait for the others. Besides, the gla.s.s hadn't shown treachery, and it had been far more accurate than anything else. Is this what it will always be like? Wondering? Becoming more and more paranoid? She forced a smile and took a healthy serving of the meat and the white sauce, then pa.s.sed the platter to Reylan. The dark bread looked and smelled good, and she broke off a chunk.

Everyone looked at her. Hoping she wasn't too paranoid, she took a bite of the bread, then a sniff, and a sip of the wine-easily the best she had tasted in Liedwahr. ''This is the best I've tasted in Defalk."

Gylaron smiled at the enthusiasm in her voice, Even Reylan did, momentarily.

"Nuural will be pleased."

"Not as pleased as I am,' Anna answered, taking another sip.

For a time, the four ate, quietly. Anna was amazed, again, at how hungry she was, and how much she ate.

You should be getting used to this. But would she ever?

"You seem reasonable," ventured Reylan. "Why... why . . . Sargol?"

Anna frowned. "Sargol sent his armsmen to ambush me when I was traveling to Synope. I wasn't even going to Suhl. He didn't pay his liedgeld, and he brought in two companies of Dumaran lancers-or they came for some reason."

"Lady Anna suffered two severe wounds from crossbow quarrels," Jecks said quietly. "The scars are there still, I would imagine." He inclined his head to her.

Anna pushed back the sleeve of the green linen shirt. A jagged red scar ran along her forearm. "The other is... less. . . accessible." Anna flushed.

'The bolt was enchanted and went through her breastplate," Jecks explained.

"When someone goes out of his way to attack you, and doesn't pay liedgeld, and brings in foreign armsmen... The sorceress shrugged. ''Then he locked himself in his keep and wouldn't even talk. I offered terms." Not exactly the best terms, she reminded herself.

Once again, Gylaron and Reylan exchanged glances.

"Talk to her armsmen, any of them," Jecks said mildly, breaking off a chunk of bread.

"Ah. . . I could not," Gylaron demurred. His eyes went to Fhurgen, then to the doorway where the blond and broad-shouldered Rickel stood. Then the Lord of Lerona looked at his wine again.

"Perhaps later," Jecks suggested. "At your leisure."

"You would change Defalk." Gylaron continued, abruptly as if to change the subject. "Or so Sargol said.Yet you affirm Lord Jimbob."

"Defalk will change, even if I died today," Anna pointed out. "The only question is whether the people of Defalk benefit or suffer with change."

"You did not mention the lords."

"No. I didn't. Those lords who understand that times must change and help with that will benefit. The others..."

"Will suffer?"

Anna nodded, then added, "Because Defalk must change to survive."

Gylaron nodded thoughtfully.

"Might I ask what will become of Lord Sargol's lands?" asked Reylan, a tremor in her voice.

"I have confirmed that his oldest child is the heir. The former chief armsman of Flossbend is running the lands for her for now until she is older. The lady Herene-she is the sister of Lord Nelmor and Lady Gatrune of Pamr- she is coming to serve as guardian for the children." I hope.

"His daughter is the oldest?"

"Yes. She's the oldest."

Reylan smiled. "Some lords will not approve."

"I'm sure they won't, but Defalk can't afford to waste its women." Anna took another sip of wine.

"You stood before my people. Were you not afraid someone would attack?" asked Gylaron.

"I worried about it," Anna admitted, squinting and trying to decide which image before her was the real one of Gylaron. d.a.m.ned double vision...

"I would not have stood as a stranger before such," offered Reylan.

"She has stood before the Dark Monks, before a.s.sa.s.sins, before the Prophet of Music, before Sargol's archers...before many," said Jecks.

Gylaron shook his head. "You look young, but your words are not: Nor your actions. Sargol was right to fear you." He smiled sadly. "What would you have with me?"

"I told you. Do your duly to the regency and meet your obligations as a lord of the Thirty-three." Is that so hard to understand?

"I fear I do not understand." Gylaron pulled at his chin. "Surely...no lord of reason would dispute such a call... and yet many-or some..."

Anna felt like exploding. Here we go again "There must be some mistake, Lady Anna. . . you must have done something wrong... Why, no reasonable man would ever rebel tf you had been logical and reasonable..."

She slowly unclenched her jaw. "Lord Gylaron, there has never been anything hard about what I asked. I haven't asked anything special of you or other lords. I haven't asked anything that other lords haven't demanded before I ever came to Defalk."

Gylaron looked down, with that blank male look of incomprehension, combined with fear-fear that she was an unreasonable and illogical woman who would explode on the spot.

And she felt like exploding, which would do no good whatsoever. She swallowed another sip of wine, then stood. "I am sorry. For some reason, I feel rather... unsettled. I beg your leave." She forced a bright smile, one she scarcely felt. "If you will excuse me. . . . Perhaps Lord Jecks can answer your questions better than I can right now."

Fhurgen followed her out.

"You were kind," the guard said once they were in the corridor.

"I can't afford to lose my temper at every pigheaded lord in Defalk," Anna said bleakly, taking careful steps to ensure her balance against the inaccuracies of double sight and the distraction of her pounding headache. "There aren't enough people who know anything as it is."

For a moment, she stood in the dim corridor. Now what? A page bowed. "Lady Anna, regent and sorceress? Would you like to go to the guest quarters?"

"Yes, thank you." Why not? Maybe Jecks can smooth things over.

52.

Sitting on a straight-backed chair before the writing table in the guest chamber and leaning forward, Anna ma.s.saged her forehead. Her eyes were closed, shutting out the strange double images-hot and cold. The harmonious and disharmonious sides of life? She should have eaten more, and held her temper better. But she was so tired of men who either didn't understand or pretended not to understand. Or, when confronted, immediately suggested that the misunderstanding had to have been her fault. Was she oversensitive? Probably.

She looked up at the knock on the door to the guest chamber.

"Lady Anna," announced Fhurgen. "Lord Gylaron to see you."

Anna stood warily, trying not to blink as the dark-skinned lord stepped into the room. Fhurgen followed, his blade unsheathed.

"I offer my apologies, Lady Anna." Gylaron bowed, deeply. "I fear there have been many false tales traveling Defalk."