The sounds of strings and horns echo faintly in the distance, so faintly he can barely hear them-but they come from the south. He scrambles down the scree of the slope toward his mount.

"... b.i.t.c.h... the b.i.t.c.h...."

His mumbled words are lost in the clatter of the small stones dislodged by his boots.

98.

The midmorning sun beat down as fiercely as at midday in Falcor, and Anna's shirt was again plastered to her back with perspiration as she shifted her weight in the saddle-carefully, given the steepness of the slope to her left. The trail was less than that, barely wide enough for a single mount, as it wound upward, back and forth on the southern side of the flat-topped mesa. According to Anna's scrying, the mesa overlooked the south side of the Vale of Cuetayl and the central hills where Ehara's forces and the Sturinnese waited to ambush the Defalkan contingent.

Jecks glanced ahead, at the scouts posted on each switchback, and then at Hanfor.

"No one has seen us, 'the arms commander confirmed. "They do not know about this trail, or"-he smiled- "do not believe that a sorceress would stoop to such trickery "Archers could inflict much damage here," Jecks said.

"They have to be here to do such," pointed out Hanfor, as he gestured upwards at the barren side of the mesa where little grew except for waist-high scrubby junipers at wide intervals, and intermittent patches of gra.s.s already browning. "And there is as little cover for them as for us. They would be seen from deks."

Jecks nodded.

Anna said nothing, just used the kerchief, once gray and now reddish brown from sweat and dust, to wipe more moisture off the back of her neck. The air was drier than it had been at Abenfel or Stromwer and smelled faintly of some form of evergreen-juniper?

She'd stopped once to use the mirror, but it had shown no armsmen on the trail or near it. She just hoped the spell had been accurate enough.

"Still," continued the graying veteran, "I will be happier when we can re-form all the armsmen."

Anna eased out her second water bottle and drank, nearly draining the bottle. There were two more bottles, fastened behind her saddle. Sometimes, she felt she loaded Farinelli like a pack animal, with the extra water, the mirror and the lutar. But the lutar was light, and she wasn't exactly heavy, not anymore.

Sometimes, it was hard to believe she'd ever fought weight, now that she had to struggle to keep every pound.

The sun beat down, and on the slope above the narrow valley to the south of the Vale, not a blade of the spa.r.s.e gra.s.s stirred. Not an insect hummed, and the only sounds were those of men and horses climbing the narrow trail.

Wheeeeee... eee...

Anna glanced back-just in time to see an armsman and mount seemingly rolling down the steeper slope below one of the switchbacks, then a second as the mount following took a similar misstep. . . or lost footing on part of the trail weakened by the first mishap. She took a deep breath as the figures bounced, and slid out of sight. s.h.i.t...

The line of riders slowed.

"Better that than hundreds of arrows," suggested Hanfor from ahead.

Anna knew it to be true, but she still felt for the men and their mounts. Then she checked the path ahead.

Near the top of the mesa, the trail entered a depression slightly wider than the path had been on the lower slopes. A U-shaped gulch scooped out by infrequent rain runoff over the years. The sides came nearly to Farinelli' s shoulders. The end of the gulch flattened, broadened into a fan-shaped jumble of shallow and dry rivulets opening onto the flat of the mesa.

Just before leaving the gulched part of the trail at the top of the mesa, Anna glanced back. The line of mounts still stretched a third of the way down the slope like a snake running from switchback to switchhack. Her eyes turned northward. The generally flat plain of the mesa stretched ahead for nearly a dek, dotted with the same scattered junipers and clumps of gra.s.s as the slope Farinelli had carried her up.

In the distance, the sorceress could see the more jagged rocky peaks on the north side of the valley. Was the valley a juncture between geologic plates? Anna pushed the vagrant thought away. She needed to know where the Dumaran and Sturinnese armsmen and archers were.

Liende and the players had reined up to Anna's left, west of where Hanfor, Jecks, and Anna remained mounted. The guards had fanned out in front of the sorceress, watching as the rest of the armsmen appeared, mount by mount riding up out of the low gulch.

"Best we form up here, and wait until the others are here;" suggested Hanfor.

"I'll try the mirror to see where Ehara and his forces are now," Anna said.

Hanfor nodded, his eyes still on the armsmen as they rode onto the mesa.

The sorceress rode Farinelli another fifty yards westward to a s.p.a.ce clear of the scrubby junipers and even lower creosote bushes, but sheltered by the higher boulders that cast enough shade for the mirror. Jecks and the guards followed.

She reined up and dismounted, handing Farinelli's reins to Lejun. since Fhurgen and Rickel still bore the heavy shields. The white-haired lord dismounted as quickly as she did, and took the leather-wrapped traveling mirror while she uncased the lutar and began to tune it.

Jecks laid the mirror on the leather wrapping in the shade while Anna ran through a vocalise.

She had to cough her throat clear of dust and mucus. A second vocalise helped. At the sound of hoofs she looked up to see Hanfor and Liende nearing.

"Alvar is forming the companies. I should see where our enemies are drawn up," said the weathered armsman.

"I should have thought of that." There were still so many things she should have thought of, but she hadn't been trained to be a sorceress or a regent or a ruler. Like everything else, she seemed to have to learn what she was supposed to be doing on the job.

Liende dismounted in a businesslike fashion, and Anna motioned for her to join the group. You've got to make more of an effort to keep Liende included. Don't treat her like furniture....Lord, Anna hated that when Dieshr and Avery had acted as though she were Queen Victoria's chair-just expected to be there.

Hanfor smiled as he dismounted and walked toward the shadowed s.p.a.ce under the largest sandstone boulder. "A regent and sorceress cannot remember everything all the time."

For his words, she was grateful. She cleared her throat, and stood over the mirror, humming softly to try to get the pitch right.

"Show me now and oh so clear where our enemies now appear; whether hidden or in sight, show their places in your light."

An overhead view of the vale appeared in the oblong mirror, bordered by a thin band of silver mist, Anna studied the mirror, with Jecks, Alvar, and Hanfor practically at her shoulder. Liende stood farther back.

Anna couldn't see anything.

"There... you see they have the archers in the center, where they can blanket the road. Those are nets.. .

darker than the rocks." Hanfor spoke softly, but clearly. "The white and green. . . the man by the overhang right there- he's gone now-lancers-those are the ones from Sturinn-they are on the south hills."

"The ones from Dumar are on the north?" Anna wasn't sure she'd seen anything.

Jecks nodded.

She studied the image again before singing the release couplet. "That valley is wide, and the hills in the middle are high enough to block my voice, even from here. I don't know if any spell will reach the north side-not unless it's strong enough to destroy the whole valley."

"The Sturinnese are more dangerous." Hanfor said. "They are better trained, The Sea-Priest put them closest to the road." - Anna took a deep breath. "We'd better get ready." She turned to Liende. "The first spell will be the flame spell. After that . . . we'll see."

"The flame spell," Liende repeated with a nod.

"I don't think that the arrow spell will carry far enough." Anna doubted that the arrows would carry, even boosted by her spells.

"You rely heavily on sorcery," offered Jecks.

"I know. But what else do I have?"

"I will have the archers form up near the north edge of the overlook. That is the closest to the Sturinnese armsmen." Hanfor remounted and rode back toward where the last of the armsmen were emerging onto the mesa.

Jecks wrapped the mirror, while Anna replaced the lutar in its case. Liende mounted and rode back toward the waiting players.

"They have not moved from their positions." Jecks said quietly. "I worry that the SeaPriest may have yet another surprise. Is your shield yet enchanted?"

"It feels that way." The faintest sense of an unseen spiderweb tugging at Anna remained.

"Good."

Anna remounted and guided Farinelli toward the section of the mesa that formed an overlook, reining up a good ten yards back from the edge, marked by fissured white limestone, partly covered with the red dirt.

The hills in the center of the Vale, dotted with green spots that were junipers and greenish blue splotches that were creosote bushes, seemed almost close enough to touch in the hot clear air.

After studying the Y-shaped line of hills below for a moment, the sorceress dismounted and handed Farinelli's reins to Lejun. Fhurgen and Rickel dismounted quickly and stepped forward of Anna with their shields, one in front of each shoulder, so that they could close quickly to block any arrows or quarrels.

"Archers on the flanks!" Alvar ordered, and the arms-men who doubled as archers dismounted and formed a double row on either side of Anna and Jecks and the players who stood behind Anna and continued to tune their instruments.

"The warm-up song," said Liende.

Anna edged closer to the edge of the overlook, and her guards moved forward with her.

The wind rose from the valley, carrying cooler air from somewhere, air with the faintest scent of...

something. Horses?

Without the mirror, the sorceress could see nothing but dirt and junipers, red rock and shadows-and the track of the road that traversed the seemingly empty Vale below.

After exhaling slowly, and trying to relax her shoulders, Anna turned to Liende. "The flame spell first"

She'd tried to craft the spell to cover the widest range, and it should work. "Should" doesn't mean it will.

Anna forced back the vagrant thought and concentrated on the vocalise. When she finished, feeling her cords firm, her throat clear, she nodded to the chief player. "Ready."

"On my mark. . . mark!" Liende gestured, and then the notes of the clarinet like woodwind joined with those of the other players.

Anna sang.

"Archers strong. armsmen strong, enemies bathed in flame from this song, against Defalk and you will burn..."

Anna shivered, suddenly tired from the short and full-voiced effort. Her eyes scanned the valley, but for what seemed an eternity, all remained as before, silent, except for the insects and the occasional unknown birdcall.

The points of fire flared across the closest range of hills then faint cries followed...and more cries.

Anna looked away, her stomach turning, trying to rationalize it all. You offered terms... warned them...Would they be any less dead with an arrow through their chests...?

The s.p.a.ce around Anna, except for the breathing of horses, remained silent Jecks handed her a water bottle, and she drank, deeply. Then he offered her a chunk of bread and a small wedge of cheese. She ate both, and then took another deep swig of the lukewarm water.

As she finished, he gestured toward the Vale of Cuetayl, where a single horseman in white galloped along the road, dust rising behind his mount.

"Archers!" called Alvar.

A rain of arrows arched out over the road, somewhat more than a half dek north and a good three hundred yards lower.

"The arrows curved," snapped Jecks. "Shields!"

The rider turned from the road and continued to ride up the lower slope of the base of the mesa, aimed directly toward the overlook. Abruptly, he halted and pulled a spear from his lanceholder.

Anna couldn't see what happened next because Rickel and Fhurgen stepped in front of Anna, blocking her from the charging wizard.

Still. . . she could feel a tingling-like a smaller version of the great chords she had called over Vult.

A second tingling seemed to fly from her momentarily, though she had done nothing, spelled nothing at that moment. Then a dark streak flew from Farinelli, crashing into something else perhaps three yards in front of Anna, before falling onto the red soil. A barbed javelin seemed to vibrate in the small spelled shield that had hurled itself from the open case attached to Anna's saddle.

Both javelin and shield, bound together, inched across the bare reddish ground toward Anna. The sorceress retreated toward Farinelli and the lutar, trying to recall what spell she could use to stop the magic in the javelin.

Jecks flung himself from his saddle and ran toward the edge of the mesa.

Anna pulled the lutar from its case.

Moments later, Jecks straightened, lunging back toward Anna, and the still-vibrating javelin and the shield, but carrying a flat stone more than a yard long, struggling with the weight.

Fhurgen handed his shield to the guard mounted beside him. "Lejun, cover her!" The black-bearded guard followed Jecks' example, sprinting for the rocks at the edge of the plateau, while Lejun held the shield, edge to edge with Rickel.

Jecks almost eased his stone onto the still-vibrating .javelin, then straightened slowly as Ehurgen added another stone. Two other guards added more stones, but the pile vibrated and inched toward the sorceress.

Anna fumbled with the lutar, her mind struggling for something she could adapt.

Fhurgen added yet another stone to the pile, but the stones shifted 'again as the javelin continued to vibrate toward Anna.

What frigging spell... Think! Think . . . Her mind seemed blank for ages, but it couldn't have been that long before she swallowed. The flame spell!

She began to strum the lutar.

"Javelin magic, javelin strong, turn to flame with this song!"

The stones erupted in a cascade of flame. Liende and the players stepped back from the heat, as did Anna and Jecks and the guards. Hanfor mounted and rode closer to the overlook, surveying the Vale below with only a glance at the burning weapons.

By the time the flames died away, too quickly, it seemed to Anna, even the red stones were dust, and nothing remained of javelin or shield but rust and ashes.

She glanced at the road below, but only a line of dust remained, and the Sea-Priest had ridden somewhere out of sight.

"I'm glad I brought a few other shields," Jecks said.

So was Anna. "I'm glad you insisted my spelling the shield."