Cortano walked through the open flaps of the tent, raising his hands in a steeple. He bowed, hands locked in that position; it was not a gesture of respect, but rather a gesture of power. Alesso almost shrugged.

"His intent has always been clear." The words were as cool as the pa.s.sage through the Raverran night. "He is a fool."

"A necessary fool," Alesso replied, speaking as coolly. "If indeed he is one."

"Were he not, he would ride by your side with the Oertan forces; he would a.s.sure himself of the disposition of the lands you have granted him in Averda."

"Perhaps he trusts my word, Widan."

A peppered brow rose. Cortano was pale in the lamplight; weariness made him unguarded. The field was a very different court from the palace of the Tor Leonne, and it afforded Alesso a rare glimpse into the men upon whom he depended.

"And were he a fool, he would not now preside over Oerta. He is . . . intemperate. He is driven too openly by his desires. But he has never failed to achieve them, and the lack of that failure marks him as something other than fool."

"There is always a first time."

"Indeed, there is always that."

"You intend to let him go."

Alesso smiled. It was a war smile. "No."

"No?"

"Not yet, Sword's Edge."

"He will be angered."

"He will. But with Garrardi by my side, I am served by three of the five Terreans. If my position is . . . contested . . . I am served by at least two who are not likewise enc.u.mbered. Garrardi has held Oerta for generations."

Cortano frowned.

"The kin made clear that there was little battle offered; those who served him perished. He spoke of scant numbers. Five of his hunters were vanquished, and with ease. If the party of the Serra Diora encounters the kai Garrardi, I am almost certain he will not return in time. No, Cortano. For the moment, we have need of Eduardo kai di'Garrardi."

The lines of Cortano's shoulders shifted slightly. Approval there, but it was tainted by exhaustion. "I bring you word," he said quietly.

The smile dimmed. "Speak plainly."

"I have seldom spoken otherwise."

"Ah."

"Lord Isladar has left the Shining Court."

Alesso reached for the water, and in silence, poured it. He was not as graceful as a seraf-a matter of choice, of will. Water sloshed around the rim of his gla.s.s, pooling upon the flat wood of the sitting table. He offered that gla.s.s to Cortano, and the Widan accepted it without comment, pausing to dry his hands before he drank.

"Why?"

"It seems the Lord's Fist saw reason-or weakness enough-to dispose of him. They failed in that attempt, but he did not choose to stay by the Lord's side in order to further wage the war."

"And his whereabouts?"

"Unknown, of course."

Alesso nodded. "Is he a threat?"

Faint lines of irritation marred the expression of the Sword's Edge. "He is Kialli. And of the Kialli, he desires no obvious power, no t.i.tle, no lands; he demands the respect that anyone would demand in a position of power, but he enforces it in a manner of his own choosing, and in an unpredictable way. Of the kinlords, he is the most subtle. Of course he's a threat."

"To us?"

"If we better understood his desire, if we better understood his game, I would have answered that question months ago. His departure does not have the appearance of careful planning; he does not appear to have chosen the timing of his unfortunate exit."

"Carefully said." Alesso reached for a second gla.s.s and, with the same care, poured water.

"I do not believe he intends us harm," the Sword's Edge continued, speaking into a distance of tabletop, his gaze intent. "In his fashion, he has been of aid to us."

"His loss?"

"I do not know. You have seen the Lord's Fist. You have bested them in your skirmishes. But they have never openly attacked you."

Ales...o...b..re scars that might make a lie of that statement; he said nothing.

"But in subtle ways, he stood beside us. I believe, of the Kialli, there is none who understand mortals half as well. That understanding is a double-edged blade."

"He has not been destroyed?"

"No."

"You are certain of that?"

"Yes."

Alesso nodded. He did not press the Sword's Edge for the information that was not volunteered.

"Where is Ishavriel, Alesso?"

Alesso frowned. "He is in the encampment."

"No."

And rose, water and the peace of its promise forgotten. His hand was upon his sword, his eyes narrow as its edge. Lord's man.

"When did he depart?"

Cortano shrugged. "A . . . messenger arrived less than an hour ago."

"Kialli?"

"Kin at the least. If kinlord, not a lord I recognize."

"They spoke?"

"They spoke in the tongue of the kin; Ishavriel did not look greatly pleased."

"He spoke to you?"

"No. But he chose to depart the camp."

"His part in the battle is not yet come," Alesso said coldly. "And any part he might play before the right time will harm us."

"I am aware of the difficulty."

"You are certain he is no longer here."

"Oh, indeed."

Alesso waited. This time, his patience was rewarded-but it would have to be; Cortano was no fool. "The Radann kai el'Sol came to me ten minutes ago with that information."

"And the other Kialli?"

"They are present."

"Good. Did the Radann kai el'Sol choose to further enlighten you?"

"He believes that Lord Ishavriel has traveled North, in haste. He will not be missed unless someone chooses to enter his tent; he did not leave by the conventional methods the army usually uses. The Radann kai el'Sol apologizes for his inability to provide you with more precise information; the sword he bears has some limitations."

It spoke, of course. It spoke in the storm's voice, and while it spoke, Peder forgot that the sky was clear, the night unfettered by cloud or rain or the sweeping winds that sometimes came South from Raverra. He had expected to maintain his distance from Alesso di'Marente-a man he did not, in privacy, acknowledge as the equal his rank demanded. But to maintain a distance from Saval was far, far more difficult; a life spent in the study and practice of the subtle politics of the High Court was no preparation for this silent battle. The sword, the only true symbol of rank that he now desired, burned his hand when he touched hilt; it burned his vision when he drew it, singing of death, of impending battle.

Its rage was contained; its truth barely so.

He drew Saval seldom for this reason. The men who served Alesso, the cerdan who marched under his banner, the Tyran who rode above them on the backs of horses that would beggar large towns, were aware of the legends a.s.sociated with the Lord's Swords; if they could see the light that took the blade's heart and laid it bare, they would understand what it meant.

And worse: he was attuned to Saval. Some part of him, Radann now, and purified by the Lord's fire, wanted that revelation. But if he had intended to take the t.i.tle of Radann kai el'Sol by treachery, it had come to him instead as a gift born of sacrifice and necessity. He was bitterly aware of the kai el'Sol's legacy, of Fredero kai el'Sol's truth: The man who could achieve what was necessary was not Lambertan. The Lambertans were cunning, they were wise, they were cautious in ways too subtle to be seen by those who cast aspersions on their honor as a thing of quaint, rustic Courts. But they were not masters of subterfuge. They did not lie easily. Or well.

What would Balagar have demanded of Fredero? Peder took his hand from the sword's hilt, knowing the answer: no less than Saval now demanded. But Peder knew how to wait; knew when to bide his time.

Let the armies know of the existence of the Kialli before Alesso was prepared, and the Kialli might now rule in the Dominion. Rule in subtlety, rule in stolen, human guise. The Kialli were not yet weakened by their role in this war.

And until the Sun Sword came into play-if, he thought, the Lady's Moon high in the darkness of sky, her thoughts troubling his, it ever came to pa.s.s-they fought with half their strength, perhaps less.

And is the boy Leonne? The heart of Peder's fears. Is the boy truly the child of the bloodline, or is he the b.a.s.t.a.r.d of a discarded concubine, the illegitimate get of a night offered in honor or amus.e.m.e.nt to an unknown man by Markaso kai di'Leonne?

No one knew. No one voiced these fears aloud.

Lord Ishavriel, he thought, gazing North into the heart of Averda, its valleys the site of so many ma.s.sacres and so much death in the previous Imperial-Dominion war. Where have you gone?

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.

12th of Corvil, 427 AA Callesta, Terrean of Averda "IT WAS my kill," Kiriel said, with some satisfaction. Auralis parried. "But first blood was mine."

"He hardly bled."

"And if you want that to be true of either of the two of you," Alexis cut in, "I'd suggest you tone it down." She gestured, her hair flying out of her tight braid in the direction of the somber Tyran who now stood around the broken stone of the Radann's temple. Torches had been lit, although they could no longer be set in the wall sconces provided for them; hands caught them, made of their orange and red a floating, uncertain light.

Auralis rolled his eyes. He had the usual cuts and sc.r.a.pes, which didn't bother him, and a great rent in the center of his chain hauberk, which did. The quartermaster frowned upon unexplained damage to army property, and it had been made clear by Duarte that the explanation might have to be forgone-which meant that Auralis would be responsible for the cost, and the inconvenience, of the armor's repair.

Kiriel had taken less damage-her boots would need replacement, but for the time being she could get by with a simple resoling, depending on the nature of the terrain they were forced to march across and the type of encounters they were to face. In the foothills, they wouldn't last, but Auralis thought it vastly unlikely the fighting would take them to the Menorans; the valleys lay to the South and West, and it was in the valleys that all wars, in the end, must be fought.

He grimaced. He was not a superst.i.tious man; the Tyr'agnate had taken some pains to move battle outside of the forested slope of the valleys in which most of the food of the Terrean was produced. His men had ma.s.sed, and Alexis let drop the information-strictly forbidden, of course, and probably likely to cost her Decarus if she were discovered-that the Kings' armies already waited just past the delta of the largest inland river in Averda to that end.

"Kiriel?"

She nodded. "But it counts," she added quietly.

He snorted. "Of course it counts."

As if the conversation had not been private-and in the South, it was said no conversations were, Duarte appeared beside them. "Sentrus," he said curtly, speaking to Kiriel. "Decarus," he added, even more curtly, to Auralis.

Auralis, used to Duarte's moods, was surprised by the sharpness of the offered word; surprised and suddenly wary. He knew the tone of voice.

But he had forgotten it, the way a body forgets the reality, and the viscerality, of injury in battle until one is once again enmeshed in a fight for survival.

Kiriel nodded, unperturbed by the subtle change in Duarte's tone. His past-the Averdan valleys, the war in the South-separated them; of her own, she would not speak.

But she turned to the shadows. "Telakar," she said, speaking in a tone almost identical to Duarte's. It surprised Auralis.

The kinlord bowed. And followed.

They did not retreat far; Valedan kai di'Leonne awaited them at the edge of the Radann's path. The Tyr'agnate had not yet returned.

"Primus," the kai Leonne said quietly. "We desire privacy."

Duarte nodded. "The Commanders?"

"They have been summoned. They will join us shortly, but their time is valuable; cast now, and we will wait."

He cast, frowning.

"Is there a problem?"

The question seemed to be absorbed by the spell, the words deflected. But Duarte looked up after a moment had pa.s.sed, his hands settling into bunched fists at his sides. "There may be."

"And that?"