with his senses muddled by alcohol.
For the first time in centuries, perhaps since it had been constructed, Comyn
Castle was nearly empty. It was an eerie feeling, the great pile of white stone
no longer crammed with the energy of the nearly thousand people who usually
inhabited it. Instead of the familiar minds of his many kinsmen, there was a
circle of leroni from Arilinn, plus Rafe Scott, who had chosen to remain there
instead of following the funeral procession to the rhu fead. Most of the
servants had been given instructions to slip away as the funeral train departed,
and the children had left right after the ceremony the previous day. Getting the
children to a safe haven was, in his opinion, the most nervewracking part of the
plan, and he had not been able to relax until he had received word of their safe
arrival.
All he could do now was wait and wonder what would happen-if it did not drive
him completely insane first! There were so many variables that no one could
possibly anticipate, and Lew hoped they had covered the most important ones.
Surely the spies of the Federation in Thendara had noticed something, even
though every effort had been made to present the appearance of normality. Or
perhaps Lyle Belfontaine was over-confident-it would be consistent with his
character. Arrogant little man.
The mental stillness of the place was really getting on his nerves, and Lew made
a conscious effort to calm himself. He would need to be in control when he
joined the circle, when Belfontaine attacked, if he did. He would not permit
himself to think about his daughter, riding into the jaws of danger, where he
could not protect her. A bitter laugh rose in his throat. Marguerida had been
looking after herself quite well for years now, and she had all the protection
she needed in her husband. The Alton Gift, which he possessed, combined with
Rafe's knowledge, was needed to make their part of the plan work, as Marguerida
and Mikhail were needed for the attack on the train. It was rather late in the
day to start having second thoughts. He sighed and ran the fingers of his
remaining hand through his hair. The logic of their plan was perfect, but his
mind still gnawed at it, looking for flaws.
The entry was very cold, and he was only going to wear himself out, with his
pacing. Lew thought about Marguerida as he had last seen her, mounting her
horse. Her skin had been pale in the flickering lights of the torches in the
Stable Court, and her fine hair had curled around her brow in the damp morning
air. There was nothing he could do for her now, so he might as well stop
worrying. It had been blowing up for rain, and she was probably going to get
wet. He hoped that was the worst she would suffer.
The castle was spooky, almost tomblike without its usual background noises-the
random and inescapable thoughts of maids and servants bustling about at their
duties. At that moment, he would even have welcomed the brittle and quarrelsome
mental echoes of Javanne Hastur-a thought that brought a smile to his face. She
had gone to Arilinn the previous day, too exhausted from the funeral to make
more than a feeble protest. He felt his mood shift as he thought of Javanne.
During the funeral the reality of her brother's death had finally hit her, and
all of her anger and bravado had collapsed into sorrow. Her strength seemed to
desert her like a puff of smoke, and when he had last seen her, she had to lean
on her husband's arm just to walk.
It had been a tumultuous few days, and he found his thoughts going to Cisco
Ridenow. He had not often encountered that dour man, with his pale hair and eyes
like blue ice, since he had been appointed, against centuries of tradition, as
head of the Guards. He found himself remembering how Cisco had entered the
Crystal Chamber, taken in the shards of glass scattered around the perimeter of
the room, the assorted weapons flung carelessly on the floor. His expression had
been unreadable, his mind shuttered, but he had eyed each person seated around
the table with caution, as if he were evaluating their military value and was
not terribly impressed by what he found. He had listened intently, without
surprise of any kind. And when he had spoken at last, the room had gone silent.
"If they actually intend to attack the funeral train, then it seems likely that
they will also attempt to occupy Comyn Castle-which we must prevent, obviously."
He had glanced around at Lew, Mikhail, and Danilo, daring them to contradict
him. When no one raised any objection, Cisco, never one to waste words, had gone
on. "I have considered this possibility for some time, and I have a plan."
Mikhail had nodded, concealing any surprise. "Good. Tell us what you need."
Where a moment before, there had been tension, a mood of calm now seemed to
encompass the table. Whatever disagreements had existed in the past were
forgotten for the present.
Cisco had spoken in short sentences, chopping off his words, and Lew realized
that he had seriously underestimated the deviousness of the commander. The
scheme he unfolded was a clever combination of military and laran talents. For
someone with no actual experience in the field of combat, Cisco had a grasp of
tactics worthy of the strategies of one who had fought a hundred campaigns. It
was a daring and innovative scheme, and Lew had felt a deep admiration for the
man.
The fact that the entire plan depended on a series of illusions was both
pleasing and terrifying. First there was the illusion that all of the Castle
Guards had left, and that the castle itself was nearly uninhabited. The City
Guards were assigned to stay out of sight, adding to the impression that no
attack was expected. And, knowing how easily baited Lyle Belfontaine was, Lew
believed he would walk into the trap, that it would be just too tempting to
forgo. And if he didn't, that would be fine as well.
Lew found himself remembering the exchange between Cisco and Marguerida when the
man had hesitated at last. "I do not know what we can do against energy weapons,
and I confess this has worried me for some days now."
"Dom Cisco, are you familiar with the original construction of Comyn Castle?"
"I do not quite follow you, Domna."
She gestured to the ruined telepathic dampers, gleaming in the light from the
high windows. "When the castle was constructed, or at least when it was begun,
it was very different than it is today."
"And how do you know this?"
"I still possess the memories of Ashara Alton who was, in many ways, the
architect of this building. There are passages that have been closed up for
years. Actually, there could almost be said to be two castles, one within the
skin of the other. You could hide a thousand men in those corridors, if you had
them and knew their locations. And there is more."
Cisco's eyes gleamed. "You have my undivided attention, Domna Marguerida." The
others in the Comyn Council were equally interested, and even as weary as they
were, they had leaned forward, bristling with curiosity.
Lew remembered the heightened color in Marguerida's cheeks as she went on. "I
know that most of you
think that Ashara placed much of her power in the Old
Tower. But, she was a wary old bird; she loved control, and most of all, she
wanted to keep herself secure. So she constructed this maze of a building, but
the most devious and clever thing she did was to hide a number of large matrices
at all the entrances."
"What the devil are you talking about?" That was from Francisco Ridenow, who was
observing the interchange between his son and Marguerida with visible unease.
"The matrices are inactive at present, and they are well concealed behind the
stonework." She lifted her left hand from the table. "I can bring them into life
quite easily."
"And why have you never mentioned this remarkable fact until this moment?"
Javanne demanded, her voice hoarse and weary.
"There was no need."
"And why has no one other than yourself been aware of these matrices?" Lady
Marilla was not hostile, just curious and rather confused.
"I believe that Valenta Elhalyn is aware of them, and has been since she was a
little girl. And I suspect that Regis knew of their existence as well."
"Nonsense. He would have mentioned it if he had known," snapped Javanne. "More,
what use would they be against off-world weapons?"
"There is more than one way to skin a cat, Javanne," Marguerida had answered
serenely, refusing to be baited. "And none of them are pleasant for the cat.
What is the one thing that all humans hold in common?"
"I am too tired for stupid riddles, girl!"
"Of course you are, Javanne. I apologize." The older woman had looked shocked at
this. Marguerida had taken a deep breath and gone on. "We are all of us,
regardless of sex or position, possessed of fears, which, at times, can ride our
minds like banshees." She had looked around the table then. "Most of the
disagreements we have had in this room come from our fears, our thoughts of the
terrible things that might happen. And what is a matrix except a device for
amplifying thought? Our foes are just as fearful as we are, and by activating
the guarding matrices at the entrances, we can enlarge the fears of our enemies,
whatever they might be, can we not?"
"How?" Cisco was rubbing his callused hands together and looking almost gleeful
now.
"The leroni will be coming into Thendara from Arilinn for the ceremony tomorrow.
If they do not return there, but remain here, they can create a working circle,
and wreck havoc on the minds of anyone who is stupid enough or foolish enough to
try to attack Comyn Castle. No one is likely to fire a blaster when the ghost of
his great grandmother is standing before him."
Cisco had nodded. "I see what you intend. But it will need someone with the
Alton Gift to direct it, will it not?"
"I believe that I can do that," Lew had heard himself say. Everyone had stared
at him for a moment, and a sense of hope had begun to come from the exhausted
minds around the table. "In fact, I have been wanting to drive Lyle Belfontaine
crazy for years!"
He paused in his pacing for a moment and looked up. He had walked through that
entrance hundreds of times in his life, and he had never known or suspected that
a large starstone had been hidden above the lintel. Until it had been activated,
it had been invisible to him, and to anyone else. Lew suspected that Regis had
known about the hidden defenses, at some deep level. As a living matrix, it was
difficult to imagine he had not. But, like Marguerida, he had never seen fit to
mention it to anyone. With good reason, he decided, since they could be used
against some outside enemy, but in the wrong hands, they could have been turned
against the inhabitants of the castle itself.
They were as ready as they could be now, with a hundred Guardsmen secreted in a
hidden passage that ran from the barracks to an opening in the wall of the
castle about fifty feet away from where he now stood, and the circle of leroni
from Arilinn. Part of Lew hoped that Belfontaine would not attack the castle,
but would stay behind the walls of HQ. His strength was less than it had been a
few days before, because the City Guards had arrested a number of his men for
brawling and locked them up in the old John Reade Orphanage. But another part of
him rather wished that Belfontaine would attack, so he could pay off some old
scores.
Enough. He had to calm himself, even if it killed him. Lew stomped out of the
entry and into the reception room to one side. There was a fire roaring on the
hearth, and a circle of chairs had been placed in front of it. Half were
occupied by the men and women who had come from Arilinn, while the rest of them
were standing or walking to and fro, as restless as he was himself. He gazed in
amazement at one older woman who was placidly knitting by the fire, as if
nothing was more important than keeping her stitches uniform.
"Stop fussing, Lew," Valenta said quietly, appearing beside him without warning,
trying to match her short stride to his longer one. He had begun to pace again
without noticing it. At twenty-eight the beauty she had possessed as a child had
blossomed into its fullness. Her dark hair was braided and coiled around her
head, and her skin shone with health. The rosebud mouth was poised as if at the
start of a smile, and her dark eyes sparkled with her usual mischief, despite
the tension all around them. When she put a hand on his forearm gently with the
butterfly touch of the telepath, he could feel the power that radiated from her.
She was young enough to be his grandchild, but Lew found it impossible not to
confide in her, as if she were a contemporary. "I can't help it, Val. I want to
be here, but I want to be on the road at the same time, and I keep hoping all
this effort will be in vain-that nothing will happen."
Val shook her head. "Well, of course that would be very nice, but you know as
well as I do that something is going to happen. You don't have to have the
Aldaran Gift for that. Why, even those without laran know something is up-the
merchants have shuttered their businesses and the streets are nearly empty.
More, I sense a clutter of energies advancing toward us, so I suggest you stop
fretting and get ready to smash them like bugs."
"Bloodthirsty wench," he said fondly, aware now of the movement of minds toward
the castle. He felt a flood of relief. The waiting was over, and now all they
had to do was find out if their plan would work.
"Nonsense! With a little luck not a drop of blood will be spilled, and if it is,
it will not be Darkovan blood." Valenta grinned, displaying perfect teeth, but
sounding almost disappointed.
"Do you think our plan will work? I know it is rather late to be having second
thoughts, Val, but can we really frighten a bunch of trained fighters with a few
illusions and shadows?"
"They are just men, Lew, and all men and women are afraid of the darkness inside
them. All we have to do is wake it up. Oh, they may have superior technology,
but they do not know what we have, and that is our advantage." She gave a brief
nod. "And with those trap matrices to increase the power of their imaginations,
they will likely surrender wi
thout a shot being fired."
"You are probably right, and I am just being a worrier."
"Yes, yes, I know. At your age, you should be sitting by the fire, reading a
book and smoking your pipe."
Lew glared at her, horrified at the image she presented. "That is not what I
meant." Then he realized she was teasing him, and made himself smile back at
her.
Rafe Scott walked into the room just then, his eyes narrowed with concentration.
"Our roof spotters report about seventy Terrans marching toward the castle,
dressed in Federation uniform. At least they are not disguising themselves, so
we don't have to pretend we don't know who is coming to call."
"Seventy? That is fewer than I assumed. Armaments?"
"Standard issue side arms, battle helmets, combat suits, and two small energy
cannon seems to be the extent of their armament."
"Cannon?"
"Yes, but don't worry. I remember the things being in Ordinance when I was still
at HQ, and to the best of my knowledge, they have not been tested in at least a
decade. They are probably more for show than for use, since I think that
Belfontaine does not expect any real resistance."
"Is the City Guard in position?"
Rafe nodded. "They are behind the enemy, and out of sight. Belfontaine should
have thought to cover his back, but he was always a headstrong fellow. If the
troops try to retreat, they can be contained for a time, as long as they don't
start shooting."
"When do you want to begin our work?" Val asked softly.
"We should probably start preparing now, but I would like them to get almost to
the front door before we actually attack them," Lew answered, beginning to enjoy
himself in spite of his persistent fears. At last he would have something
concrete to do!
"That close?" She sounded a little doubtful.
"They have brought nothing which can breach these walls, Val, and I think that
Belfontaine really expects an immediate surrender. All the cutbacks the
Federation has imposed have left them without much in the way of advanced
weaponry, and what they have is nearly obsolete, although on Darkover it is
still pretty powerful." Rafe was so calm when he spoke that both of them were
comforted.
"I wonder what Belfontaine's excuse for attacking the castle is going to be,"
Lew mused. "Is he with them, or has he stayed behind in the safety of HQ."