Dragonsword #3 6 страница

And where are your own children, Seena?

They were, by the grace of the nameless Gods, safe in the most secure fortress in Gryylth. Helwych had thought it best to move the queen and her children to Hall Kingsbury, and Seena had bowed to his caution. There were awful things abroad in the night—Hahle himself had been attacked just outside the town, and now Timbrin had been missing for several days—and only four wartroops were left to defend the land.

Your children, Seena?

She saw them then: naked and bound, stretched out before the implacable hounds. Eyes like lamps burned down on their faces, and glowing mouths opened to drip phosphor on their soft throats.

Seena was suddenly screaming, battling her way through rank vines and fetid hands, struggling towards her son and daughter. " Take anything you want, " she cried. " Take me, take my life, take my land, but spare them! "

Anything?

Hedges of thorn and pools of slime now. She tore the thorns asunder, leaped across the pools. A sword was suddenly in her hand, and though all her womanly conditioning and instincts rebelled at the touch of the weapon, she lashed out at the beasts that threatened her children.

The hounds fell, and their blood ran in a putrid stream away into the far distance where a black wall had suddenly arisen to bring a deeper darkness to the endless night. But when Seena fell to her knees beside Ayya and Vill, they were unmoving. Bound and gagged, their eyes closed, they did not even struggle.

Where are your children, Seena?

With a shriek, she pulled herself out of the dream and opened her eyes. Lit only by a low fire, the walls seemed to shift and flicker, and she was not at all sure that she was not still asleep. But not even when she rose and stumbled across the room did the sense of nightmare dissipate. She felt as though she waded through water, or forced herself through thick hedges; but she knelt beside the sleeping forms of her children—Ayya in her white gown, Vill still in swaddling—and shook them gently. " Ayya. Vill. "

But they did not stir.

It was just at dawn that the soldiers came to the house of Kallye the midwife, pounding on the door and shouting in the loud voices of young men who are feeling self-important. Kallye—used to being roused at all hours—was throwing on a robe and padding barefoot across the floor even before she realized that she was awake, and Gelyya, her apprentice, was already gathering up pouches and pots and stuffing them into Kallye's scrip.

" The instincts of a midwife, " Kallye mumbled fuzzily, and she swung the door open and blinked at the tall soldier clad in the livery of the King's Guard.

" I am Dryyim, " he said. " The queen commands your presence. "

" Seena? " Kallye shook off the last shreds of sleep. " Is something wrong with Ayya and Vill? "

" My orders are to take you to the queen, " said Dryyim flatly; and, behind him, his companions nodded.

Gelyya's red hair was a dusky blaze in the halflight. ' 'What else shall I pack, mistress? ''

Kallye considered. Dryyim was being uncooperative, but perhaps he knew nothing of the situation. Perhaps he did not want to. Many men were like that. Children meant little to them save as heirs and producers of heirs; and messy things like pregnancy and childbirth could easily send them running. " Just the usual, Gelyya. "

Kallye threw a cloak over her robe, and Gelyya handed her the bundle. But when the apprentice made as if to follow her mistress, Dryyim scowled and shook his head. " Just the midwife, " he said. " No more women present than needed. "

His tone was ugly. Kallye flared. " Man, " she said, " you came from woman. "

He made as if to strike her, but seemed to think better of it. More than likely, Kallye considered, it would be difficult for him to explain the delivery of a damaged midwife.

But the possibility that Seena's children were ill quickened her steps as she followed the men up the street, and she kept pace with their long strides until they reached the palisade. Then she was shoved roughly up to the guardhouse at the gate, and a young man—they were all young men, these soldiers—examined her critically. " This is Kallye, " he said at last. " Let her through. "

Kallye had never been in Hall Kingsbury before, for she had—fittingly, she thought—attended Seena, her births, and her children in Cvinthil's house, a setting infinitely more domestic than this place of guards and questions. Kallye was concerned with homely things: mothers, mothers-to-be, children. She did not care about politics or policy.

But here, seemingly, the two had suddenly come together, for she was shown to a room within the hall where Seena was pacing frantically, wringing her

hands. The queen's eyes were red with crying, and when she saw Kallye, she threw herself at the midwife. " There is something wrong with Ayya and Vill, Kallye. I cannot wake them. They just. . . they just lie there. . . "

Helwych, bent and in a ragged robe, stepped out of the shadows in the corner. " The physicians have examined them, " he said dispassionately. " They can find nothing wrong. Actually... " He cleared his throat. " I suspect the worst. "

Seena whirled on him. " Such blessings you call down on my children! "

Helwych's black eyes flickered. " The worst, my queen, is not death. I speak of sorcery. "

Kallye set down her bundle. Midwife's instincts. There was something unhealthy in this room. Helwych's comments reeked of it, and the presence of so many young guards—jostling and glowering and hating every particle of these woman-matters—made her feel hemmed in and even frightened. Sorcery? Maybe. But whose? And what else?

Wondering at her thoughts, Kallye tried to soothe Seena, but the queen was hysterical and dragged her towards the unmoving forms of her children. The physicians had failed. Seena had called on her last hope.

Kallye was unwilling to leave Seena's side, but after a moment, she noticed that Relys was in the room. The warrior looked slender and almost fragile compared to the big men of the guard, and she stood as if she had decided that she was helpless in the face of Seena's distress. Kallye called her over and put the queen into her arms. Relys took her stiffly, unused to such womanly gestures, but her black eyes met the midwife's and then flickered earnestly to the children on the pallet by the fire.

Bending over Ayya and Vill, Kallye found that Seena had spoken accurately. The children lay as though asleep, but they did not stir when called or shaken.

Kallye lifted them one at a time, but she might have held sacks of flour for all their response.

She held her ear close to their faces, then called for something made of polished metal.

One of the soldiers scowled. " She can do no more than the physicians. "

" And maybe even less, " said another.

Kallye ignored them. Still holding the queen with one arm, Relys pulled a dagger from a belt sheath with her free hand. Kallye took it and held it up to the children's lips, but no mist appeared.

" No breathing? " she murmured.

And no heartbeat, either, she found. But every instinct she possessed told her that Ayya and Vill were not dead.

" I do not understand, " she said at last. " They live... but.. . "

Helwych was a dark presence in the dark room. " Sorcery, " he said. He folded his arms inside his sleeves. " A palpable attack. "

Relys looked up. " Why would Vaylle strike in this manner? It has shown itself able to command magics that can raze a city. "

Helwych smiled thinly. " Vaylle is subtle, captain. Very subtle. " He allowed his words to hang meaningfully for a moment, then turned to the soldiers. " Take the midwife away. She is useless. " He might have been ordering them to discard a piece of burnt wood.

Seena freed herself from Relys's arms and stood over her children, stricken, hands pressed to her mouth. Knowing her feelings, Kallye reached out to her, but Dryyim interposed himself. " Come on, " he said, taking the midwife's arm. " You are going home. "

" But-"

" Now. We have had enough of your interference. "

" Interference! "

Relys eyed him coldly. " Captain Dryyim, " she said, " I would suggest that you use our midwife with more

respect. She has cared for the king's household for many months. "

" Then, Relys, " said Helwych. " I would suggest that you take Kallye home yourself. ''

Relys was unruffled. " My duty is to my queen, " she said calmly.

Helwych's eyebrows lifted. " Seena? "

The queen was distraught. " Do what he says, Relys, " she whispered, lifting and cradling the still body of her infant son. " Helwych knows best. Go. Go, both of you. "

Relys seemed shocked at Seena's acquiescence, and Kallye herself wanted to protest, but she had lived long enough in a male-dominated society to know both a woman's limits and the dangers inherent in exceeding them. In the room were over a dozen strong men. The odor of intimated threat was in the air. She caught Relys's eye, shook her head.

Relys turned, stared at the queen. " Seena, I—"

Seena was sobbing. " Do what Helwych says. "

" Yes, Relys, " said Helwych. " Do what I say. "

Jaw clenched, Relys bowed to Seena, walked across the room, and held the door open for Kallye. " This way, my lady, " she said. Reluctance and anger were thick in her voice.

But as they left the room, Helwych turned to Seena. " I think I can say with certainty, Seena, " he said, " that if you wish to save your children, you will have to do exactly as I say. "

Relys was halfway through the door, but she paused at the words, and Kallye saw that she was on the verge of plunging back into the room. The midwife laid a hand on her arm. " Come, captain. You can do no more here. "

" Vipers and eels, " muttered Relys. " Kingsbury is infested with them. "

Kallye was moved by the captain's loyalty, but heroics would accomplish little at present. She took Relys's arm. " Come, captain. You have your duty. " Relys

muttered. Kallye tightened her grip meaningfully. " Woman, " she whispered seriously, " you are in peril. "

Her tone finally penetrated Relys's anger. " Aye, " said the captain after a long moment, and then she guided Kallye down the corridor and out of the Hall. " I picked my battlefield weeks ago, " she said when they were away from the palisade. " And so I suppose I must be satisfied with it. But I wish Timbrin were here. "

Relys's loyalty had touched Kallye deeply, and the fact that the captain was a woman—despite her mannish trappings—had gained her sympathy. " Your lieutenant? " said the midwife.

Relys spoke cautiously, but there was a weight of worry in her voice. " Aye. She has been missing now for days. No one knows anything of her. I... " Her voice caught. " I fear the worst. "

The worst, Kallye thought, had already happened. If Helwych was correct about sorcery, then Gryylth had been struck at its very heart. Relys, perhaps, was too new to her womanhood to know the grief and helplessness that Seena was feeling, but then. . .

Kallye took the captain's hand as she might take the hand of a grieving mother and Relys did not appear to resent the gesture.

. . : but then again, maybe she knew exactly. The captain had no children, but she had a missing, lieutenant and a country that she obviously felt was in danger.

' 'I am sorry, captain, '' Kallye said softly.

" I am helpless, midwife. Helwych rules the queen now, and I have no more power in the matter than a prostitute on the block in Bandon. " Relys turned to her suddenly. " I have watched you with Seena, my lady. You are wise, and so I ask you: What power does a woman have? If there is any to be had in my sex, I need it now, for I am no longer a man, and therefore am I now mocked and disregarded by the very men I

am supposed to command. Do I simply give up? Do I have nothing? ''

They entered the market square. About them, women from neighboring towns, awake and on the road since before sunrise, were setting out their cottage-work and the early produce of a warm and clement summer. Kallye had caught the babies of many of them, and knew by name a great many more. She nodded greetings while she considered her answer.

' 'If you ask me what a woman's power is, '' she said at last, " I would have to speak as a midwife, and I would have to say that, from what I have seen, a woman's power lies in change, and in patience, and in endurance. "

Relys frowned, her fists clenched. -'I would I could act. "

Kallye shrugged. " Sometimes even a man cannot act. "

Relys turned her head away abruptly. Kallye realized that she might as well have slapped her. She squeezed Relys's hand. " Forgive my stupid words, captain. Do you understand, though, what I am saying? "

" Aye... aye... " Relys looked back up the street. Hall Kingsbury was silhouetted against the bright sky, its solid, peaceful exterior giving no clue that there was anguish contained within.

About them, dogs barked, chickens squawked, bolts of cloth shone with bright colors. The market—men or no men—was open, but a woman was approaching the midwife. " Kallye, " she said. " May I speak with you? "

Kallye stopped and bobbed her head by way of a bow in the new fashion. " Of course, Paia. Is something wrong? "

Paia looked worried, and Kallye began to fear that the affliction of Seena's children had been repeated elsewhere. But Paia—round and maternal—had her full compliment of toddlers clinging to her skirts. " I am not certain, " she said. " The other day, my boys found

a woman wondering in the forest near our steading. They thought her mad, and so they did not approach her, but they told me of her. What with Nedyyc off with the king and all, I was almost afraid to go and look; but we all seem to be playing the man these days, and so at last I went. " She glanced at Relys, caught her breath, and paused uncertainly.

But Relys shook her head. " Pray continue. "

" I found her as they told me, " said Paia with an attempt at resolution. " Truly, she is deranged, but she was hungry, and she had no home, so I took her in. My older girls are keeping watch over her today, but I do not know what to do with her. "

" Is she a country woman? " said Kallye. " What does she look like? "

" She is small and slight, " said Paia, " but dark as a fisher's daughter. ''

Relys stiffened.

Paia paused, blinked at the captain, went on. " Her hair is thick and curly—"

" What is her name? " Relys demanded suddenly. " How was she dressed? "

" I do not know her name, " Paia stammered. " Her. . . her clothes were so torn that they were no more than rags. Because of her boots I thought she might be of the First Wartroop, but she shrinks from the sight of even the smallest knife. " She tore her eyes away from the captain's intense gaze, turned to the midwife. " She needs help, Kallye. I have approached the men of the guard, but they will not listen to me. They call me a silly woman and tell me to run along. Can you help? Will you come see her? "

Kallye read Relys's unspoken thoughts. Timbrin. " By the Gods, " she said, " let us go to her now. "

* CHAPTER 7 *

Head down, clad in a gown that was too big for her, Timbrin sat huddled by the fire in Paia's house. She was not a large woman—in the months following her transformation by Tireas, she had come to joke about her stature—but now she seemed almost pathetically tiny. Paia's daughters had made an effort to brush her hair and tend to her cuts and bruises, but she had the air of a child who had been beaten and abandoned.

Relys entered the house and stood by the door, stricken. Kallye, though, bobbed her head at Paia's daughters and went immediately to Timbrin. " Good morning, child, " she said kindly, kneeling beside her. " Paia sent me to see to you. "

Timbrin's brown eyes opened wide, and she scanned the midwife anxiously, but though Kallye was no stranger to the First Wartroop, she only huddled further into her gown and lowered her head.

Relys found her voice at last. " Lieutenant. "

Timbrin's eyes turned feral, frightened, and she made a frantic motion as though to flee, but Kallye took her hands. " It is all right, child. No harm will come to you. " She looked at Relys sternly. " Call her by name. "

Swallowing the lump in her throat, Relys set aside her sword and approached. " Timbrin, " she said softly. " Dear friend. "

Timbrin's mouth trembled. " R-Relys? "

She barely whispered the name, and Relys's eyes were aching with suppressed tears as she went down on one knee. " How is it with you, Timbrin? "

But Timbrin's face turned pained, her brow furrowed. Mouth turned down in a grimace, she shook her head in small, rapid movements.

Kallye nodded understandingly. " Too many people? "

Timbrin nodded slowly.

' 'Are you afraid of us? ''

Again the nod, but quicker.

" Do you know who you are? "

Timbrin only looked sad.

Kallye turned to Paia's girls. " Leave us alone with her, " she said. They nodded and withdrew in a swish of skirts and aprons. Timbrin relaxed noticeably, but she had still the look of a beaten thing.

Relys's throat was dry. First Seena's children, and now this. And in both cases she was helpless. Slowly, she reached out a hand. Slowly, almost fearfully, Timbrin clasped it. " What happened, my friend? "

Timbrin fought with words. " I. . . " She looked anguished, as though speaking had become a physical pain for her.

Relys was close to tears. " Hounds? "

With a frantic whimper, Timbrin turned to Kallye and threw herself into the midwife's arms. Eyes clenched shut, mouth again set in an agonized grimace, she whined like a starving dog. But she shook her head.

" I. . . saw Helwych... " she managed.

Relys leaned forward. As she had feared. And she had sent Timbrin to spy on the sorcerer. . . alone. " What about Helwych? "

" He. . . walking. . . "

Relys exchanged glances with Kallye. " I do not understand. "

" No... no crutch. "

Stranger and stranger. Timbrin's wounds were hardly more than superficial cuts and bruises: nothing that would explain the mental damage that had been inflicted upon her. But her comments about Helwych were only growing more cryptic. " But he is ill. "

Timbrin's face remained buried in Kallye's shoulder. It was obvious that speaking brought her close to screaming with pain, but she was forcing herself nonetheless. " Not ill... "

Gradually, with frequent hesitations and backtracking, Timbrin sketched out the story. She had been watching outside Helwych's house when noises, lights, and the presence of something indefinable had made her drop her caution and open the shutters. Immediately, she had been battered senseless by powers that she could only describe in terms of light that was heard, sounds that were felt, and vague swirlings that had struck to the heart of her psyche. But before she had been so savaged, she had seen Helwych standing in the middle of the conjured potencies, erect and healthy.

Relys's eyes hardened into obsidian darkness. If Helwych's wounds were a sham, then everything that he had told Cvinthil was a lie. The story of Vaylle was a lie. The men of Gryylth and Corrin had gone off to exact revenge for. . .

... for what? Quite possibly nothing.

By the time Timbrin was done, she was a crumpled doll. Her hands clutched at Kallye's gown, and she whimpered softly, constantly, like an infant. Relys's face was damp with tears, the first she had allowed herself since the First Wartroop had been struck, and her hands were clenched into fists that she would have liked to turn instantly upon the body of the Corrinian sorcerer.

" Dear friend, " she said, reaching out to touch Timbrin's cheek. " Dear, dear friend. Our thanks. Fear not; we will protect you; and, given time, you will heal. For the time, I ask that you stay here. Do not be afraid

of Paia or her children, for Kallye vouches for their trustworthiness. Rest. You will be provided for. "

Timbrin—shaking, gasping—nodded without looking up. Kallye called Paia's daughters, and together they helped the broken lieutenant into bed.

Later, when Timbrin had fallen into an exhausted sleep, Relys stood outside the house with Kallye. The midwife finished giving instructions to one of the girls and handed her a pouch of herbs. " Boil this in a kettle of water, and give her a cup of the infusion as often as she will take it. " The girl nodded and ran off to prepare the brew.

Kallye straightened, shaking her head. " I have never seen anything like it, " she told Relys. " The herbs will soothe her, but I am afraid that the body of her affliction is beyond me. " She shook her head again.

" Beyond anyone, I fear, " said Relys. " Save perhaps the Gods. But this is not the first time that we of the First Wartroop have been deeply stricken. We survived then. Timbrin will survive now. I will see to it that Paia is given what she needs to tend her. In secrecy. " She looked meaningfully at the midwife. " But I will do something else, too. "

Her jaw clenched for a moment, and her hand fell to her sword.

When Alouzon's party reached Mallaen, they found it in ruins. But though the burned and blackened heap of stone and charred wood was beginning to soften with the encroachments of weeds, moss, and an occasional patch of wildflowers, summer seemed not to have come to the surrounding fields. Where crops had once grown, there was now only bare earth and the browned and dead remains of an aborted spring.

Desolation. The lake lapped at the shore, the wind sang in the ruins and among the dead grass. It was a place fit for ghosts.

Wykla shuddered. Manda looked equally uneasy, but

she gave Wykla's hand a squeeze. " Courage, princess. "

Wykla colored. " Manda. Please. "

" You showed no such modesty when you called yourself a king's daughter in Broceliande. "

Wykla's blush deepened. " I spoke in the urgency of the moment, and to distract the Specter. ''

The maid of Corrin grinned. " As I spoke to distract you. "

Karthin, who was scanning the area for signs of hounds or Gray faces, chuckled at her words; but Kyria was examining the party critically. " We will fall over unless we rest, " she said. " Magic can help, but flesh and blood needs real sleep, and we have gone too long without. "

Santhe rubbed at the stubble on his chin. " And Cvinthil? "

The sorceress shrugged. " If we keep pushing ourselves and collapse halfway to Lachrae, what good have we done? "

The sun had slipped behind the Cordillera some time before, sending cold fingers of shadow reaching across the land, and now dusk was coming on. Santhe debated. " The full moon is just rising. Half a night? What say you, Marrha? "

Marrha was leaning against the remains of a stone wall. She passed a hand back through her hair, felt the frizzy remains of what had once been a precise braid. " A week, I think, would do us more good, but half a night it will have to be. "

Wykla was still uncertain about the ruins. " Do we wish to camp here? " she said. " Perhaps the fields would be better. ''

Kyria shook her head abruptly. " Stay out of those fields. " Her face was drawn, and she was staring at the dead farmland as though a nightmare had invaded her waking hours. After a moment, she dropped her eyes, shook her head. " Chemicals, " she said softly. " Defoliants. Nothing will grow in those fields for

years now. If you spend much time in them, you might well become ill. Or worse. "

Dindrane was outraged. " What kind of monster would do such a thing? " But she broke off and sat down heavily. She knew. She had seen it, confronted it, fought it... and learned some of its secrets. " Oh, my Goddess... "

" Go to sleep, " said Kyria. Her tone was muted. " We have a few hours: let us make the best of them. "

Karthin and Wykla claimed the first watch, and sleep took their comrades quickly. The wind swept the surface of the lake, and the moon, full and bright, splashed silver across the land. Karthin scanned the ruins at their backs, then turned and checked the fields. Nothing moved. Mallaen was gone. " They treated us well here, Wykla, " he said softly. " Enite and Ceinen and all. "

The Mullaen that Wykla remembered was alive and full of faces that had not turned away from the sight of swords and armor. It was a place where the wounded had been healed, and, more important, where she had finally ceased her struggles against womanhood. In Mullaen, she had at last embraced her new life fully, with no regrets, and acceptance and optimism had filled her heart like water.

But now the square where she had worn a gown and plaited flowers with Manda was burned and blackened, its songbirds gone. The fountain was dry, and the circle of standing stones that was as much of a temple as the Vayllens needed had been overthrown.

" Tell me of Darham, Wykla, " said Karthin. " Manda said a little, but matters. . . " He shook his head as though he contemplated the failure of a crop. "... matters have kept us from lengthy talk. How is my king? "

Wykla tore her eyes from the ruins, fought to keep clear her memories of the town. " He is well, Karthin, " she said. " Good-hearted and strong, though he seems at times sad. "

He nodded. " As are we all at times. " He leaned on his sword as he kept an eye on the fields. " He called you his daughter, I hear. ''

Wykla squirmed uncomfortably. " Aye, Karthin. He did. At first I thought it but a figure of speech, or courtesy, but Manda told me that his words were in earnest. ''

" They were indeed. " Karthin's gaze rested for a moment on Marrha. " His wife died of illness years ago, and she had borne no children. Since then, Dar-ham has looked upon all of Corrin as his child. " He nodded to Wykla. " And now you also, my princess. "

Acutely embarrassed by the title, Wykla fought with her tongue. " Why? " she managed.

Karthin shrugged. " He is a deep man, Darham is. The loss of his wife and then his brother have brought him wisdom. " For a moment, he paused as though listening. Silence. " I would guess that he saw an honorable woman who lacked only one thing: a family that esteemed her. "

Wykla looked away. Her eyes smarted. Months now, and the wound still bled freely.

" Aye, my friend. " Karthin's voice was compassionate. " I heard what happened. "

" They are nonetheless my family. "

" That is so. But now so is Darham. And you may believe me when I say that should you ever bring yourself to call him father, he will answer gladly. "

Wykla wiped her nose with a ragged sleeve and sniffed softly, irritated that she sounded like a simpering child. " I. . . " Whenever she thought of it, Dar-ham's generous offer plunged her into a sea that seemed of equal parts happiness and grief. And so she tried not to think of it. " But I have a father already, and—"

A noise. Her head snapped up. Her tears choked off instantly.

Karthin lifted his sword. Together, they slipped towards a group of ruined buildings that stood off a little distance from the town, a straggling heap that lay like

a decaying arm across a path of undefoliated land. Weeds and dust silenced their steps as they climbed through the tumbled wood and stone. Cautiously, they lifted their heads above the crest of the pile.

Even without the bright moon, Karthin and Wykla would have been able to see the three faintly glowing beasts that shambled amid the sterile fields, their eyes flickering like lamps and their teeth glinting. The hounds, though, seemed unaware that they were not alone. Rooting in the dead ground, pawing at one another, their playful jibes flaring now and again into snarling hostility, they milled and wheeled in the moonlight.