“I understand your reluctance to welcome me, Anigel. I acted toward you in a despicable fashion. I had no right to upbraid you for giving your talisman in ransom for your husband and children. The decision was your own to make. I—I regret my hateful behavior from the bottom of my heart, and I beg your pardon.”
“I forgive you,” Anigel said coldly. But she made no move toward her sister.
“I will gladly help in whatever way I can in the defense of your country,” Kadiya added.
“One more warrior,” the Queen replied, “can hardly make a difference when Raktum and Orogastus attack our outnumbered force. But if my husband would have you join his fighters, I can hardly object.” She turned away again and busied herself picking up the fallen pieces of the King’s armor. Little Jagun, effacing himself, had crept away to the fireplace, where he began to sweep up the soot and ashes and add fresh fuel to the faltering flames.
“I am sorry that my apology seems unable to heal the breach between us.” Kadiya spoke low and fervently. “If my presence affronts you, I can ask Hara to transport me elsewhere. But I swear that I would give my life in the defense of you and your children.”
“Thank you, but that will not be necessary. Since you long ago cast your lot with the aborigines rather than with humankind, it would probably be best if you rejoined them … If certain rumors are true, the Folk may soon require all the help you can muster.”
“What do you mean?” Kadiya exclaimed.
Anigel whirled about, a single steel gauntlet in her hands. Tears were starting from her eyes. “We are doomed—that is what I mean! Humankind and aborigines alike. I do not speak only of the invasion of this city and the fall of the Two Thrones, but of the very destruction of the world! And it is my fault, and yours also, for letting our talismans fall into the hands of that devil Orogastus!”
“Has she gone mad?” Kadiya inquired of Antar, appalled. “Surely what she says cannot be true!” She held up the amber amulet that she wore around her neck. “Ani—dearest Sister—look! My Flower has turned again to its proper black. Surely this is an omen of good fortune and not a signal of impending doom.”
Tears continuing to course down her cheeks, the Queen put down the metal glove and drew her own amulet out of her clothing. The scarlet of the trillium embedded within was like a splash of blood on her bosom.
“Perhaps I was wrong then about the fate of the Oddlings, and it is only humanity that will perish as the Conquering Ice reclaims our poor world!” Anigel gestured at the window. “Do you hear the frozen rain and the howl of the biting wind? Such weather may be commonplace in the high mountains and in the northern wilderness of Tuzamen—but it is unheard of on the temperate shores of Labornok. The world is turned upside down because of those damned talismans of ours! You and I never knew how to control them, and I am convinced that Orogastus does not know how to, either. He is loosing God knows what upon us, and the earthquakes and the awful weather are only hints of the great cataclysm to come! Let our sister, Haramis, deny the danger if she can!”
Antar and Kadiya looked to the Archimage, but she was still in her trance.
“What does she mean about the Conquering Ice?” Kadiya asked the King.
“It is a rumor—only a rumor of Oddlings fleeing their inland valleys.” He threw up his hands. “But who can say if it is not true? Lampiar, who is the greatest savant among us, avers that this land has never known such a calamitous stretch of weather within historical times. During the last sixnight nearly a third of the Labornoki grain crop has been destroyed. What has not frozen has been spoiled by flooding, and the crops remaining are greatly endangered. What does it matter whether the disasters be supernatural in origin or not? Even if we did not face an invasion, our country totters on the brink of ruin.”
“I have found Lord Osorkon,” said the Archimage suddenly. Antar and Kadiya turned to her with renewed hope and even the Queen’s woeful face lifted. “He and an army of some twenty-nine hundred men are encamped in the Thicket of Atakum sixteen leagues southwest of this city.”
“Wonderful!” the King exclaimed. “Why, they can be here tomorrow easily!”
“I fear not,” said the Archimage. “They have been in the Thicket for at least two days, and they show no sign of being ready to move out. In my quick oversight of the camp I was unable to glean any concrete information about Osorkon’s plans … nothing except the certainty that his army will not move until the Raktumian invaders land in Derorguila and the fighting is well advanced. Only then will Osorkon march into the city.”
“Zoto’s Teeth!” groaned the King. “Then he is indeed a traitor! And not only to the Two Thrones, but very likely to his filthy pirate allies as well. Beyond a doubt his scheme is to hold back until our defenders and the Raktumians are both decimated. Then he will attempt to seize control of the city himself.”
“The treacherous qubar-spawn!” Kadiya cried.
King Antar turned to the Archimage. “White Lady, it seems now that you and your magic are our only hope. With only four thousand warriors, we cannot possibly defend Derorguila against attacks from both land and sea.”
“I am one woman and my expertise is but new-fledged,” Haramis said. “I will certainly try my utmost to help you, but Orogastus may very well be able to counter my magic with his own powers … And I can in no way seek deliberately to bring about the death of these invaders. Such would be contrary to the archimagical principles that I live by. I am charged to be the protector and guardian of all persons who live in this land, no matter what their nation or their race.”
“You—you would not use your magic to slay these unjust aggressors?” Queen Anigel cried, full of indignation.
“No,” the Archimage replied. “Not even to save your Two Thrones.”
Kadiya spoke calmly. “But, Hara, what if Ani is right and the very world is endangered? Would you not kill Orogastus to save it?”
Haramis lowered her gaze. “The point is moot. If I can overcome his magic, it will not be necessary to kill him. There is … a place where he can be safely imprisoned.”
“If he does not destroy you first!” Anigel cried. “If he does not destroy the world!”
Haramis said: “Orogastus does not understand the mortal danger inherent in the Sceptre of Power, nor do I understand it fully. I shall have to consult with my friend the Archimage of the Sea to determine how best to counter the disturbances of the natural order.”
“You had best do it quickly,” Anigel cried out, “before the pirates burn Derorguila to the ground, and Orogastus brings the Three Moons themselves tumbling down about our ears!”
“Ani—how can you speak like that?” Kadiya said, stunned by the Queen’s bitterness.
“Peace, wife, peace!” urged the scandalized King. “Your sisters have come here seeking to help us. Can you not show them gratitude rather than this undeserved reproach?”
Anigel looked wildly from Haramis to Kadiya, then exploded into a storm of weeping, her entire body shaking with anguish.
Once again Haramis opened her arms to the Queen. She cradled her and murmured comforting words as she had done long years ago when the three of them were young triplet princesses, with Haramis the sensible eldest and Anigel the youngest, timid and shy. Kadiya pulled up a chair and Anigel subsided into it and then began to recover.
“I am behaving like an idiot,” the Queen whispered. “Like a child rather than a monarch of the Two Thrones. Ever since my trillium turned to scarlet, I have been beset with horrid nightmares and feelings of dire foreboding. My courage has deserted me and I see only darkness ahead.”
“If you could restore your Flower,” Kadiya said, “your soul would also heal.”
“I have no doubt of it.” Anigel now spoke listlessly. “Since your own Black Trillium returned to you, perhaps you should tell me how you managed it.”
“I only know that when I repented of my hating and despising you, and accepted that my Folk had rightly rejected my call to war, the Blood
Trillium was transformed.”
“I have already told you that I accept your apology,” the Queen said. “As you have seen, it made no difference to my amulet.”
“I saw,” said Kadiya, “and the sight froze my heart. But what the remedy is, only you can say, little Sister.” And the Lady of the Eyes looked away from Anigel and addressed herself to the King. “Would you have me leave, Brother-in-Law, or can I be of service to you?”
Antar had stood mute, impotent in the face of his wife’s pain. But now his countenance furrowed with thought and a fresh light of resolution came into his eyes.
“Rather than answer that, let me tell you of an idea that has just occurred to me. A way that might possibly serve to neutralize Osorkon’s treachery. The plan is audacious and dangerous, and perhaps it is even futile. You three will have to help me decide.”
Haramis and Kadiya nodded gravely. The Queen seemed to shrink into her chair, seized with fresh apprehension. But she said nothing.
“I do not believe that the provincial lords following Osorkon are irrevocably committed to him,” said the King. “If I were to sally forth this very night to the Thicket of Atakum with a small troop of my most valiant knights, and if I challenged Osorkon to single combat and vanquished him, then I am virtually certain that his followers would adhere again to the Two Thrones if I pledged them amnesty. There are nearly three thousand of them. With those additional men fighting on our side, we would at least have a chance of turning away the pirate invaders from our country … whatever the subsequent fate of the world.”
“No!” cried Anigel. “Osorkon is an unchivalrous scoundrel! You would be slain before you could ever announce your challenge.”
Antar inclined his head to the Archimage. “Not if the White Lady were to use her magic to help me penetrate the camp of the traitors without being discovered. If she could render me and my men invisible, or perhaps disguise us in some other way so that we would not be stopped until I called out Osorkon, my plan would work. He could not refuse me without disgracing himself in front of his army.”
“It is a splendid idea, Antar!” Kadiya said. “Let me go with you.”
Haramis nodded judiciously. “Your idea does seem feasible. I can keep Osorkon’s force under surveillance, advising you of his movements and his intentions as you approach his camp. I can also screen you from the oversight of Orogastus. He would certainly warn Lord Osorkon if he descried you and your knights on the move.”
“He would do more than that!” Queen Anigel cried. “He would begin his invasion at once! And you, my husband, would be caught away from Derorguila. Our troops would once again be lacking their King, and what could I tell them? That you had gone away seeking reinforcements?”
Kadiya said: “But Hara would still be here to help defend the city—”
“No,” the Archimage stated bleakly. “In order to ensure that Antar is undetected, I would have to accompany him. I could not screen him from the oversight of Orogastus’s talismans except through the presence of my own Three-Winged Circle.”
The King groaned. “So much for that idea! Marshal Owanon would probably be able to keep the troops under control in my absence—but I cannot leave Anigel and the children menaced by Orogastus.”
The Queen sprang up from her chair, her eyes suddenly alight and color flooding into her pale face. “There is a solution to the dilemma. Niki and Jan and I will go with you!”
“Great God, no!” cried the King. “I cannot risk your lives!”
“Our lives are already at risk,” the Queen declared. “Without more troops, we cannot hope to hold Derorguila. Do not waste time agonizing over us, my dearest! The Thicket is only two hours’ ride from the city. We must leave at once, and arrive at Osorkon’s camp before his men retire for the night. All of them must see you challenge the traitor and vanquish him. The alternative is to wait until both Orogastus and the turncoats fall upon us, crushing us as in a nutcracker. In such a situation—with magic as well as armed might arrayed against us—the children and I would surely be taken.”
“Let your sister transport you to a safe place while I challenge Osorkon!” Antar exclaimed.
“The only way I will leave this city,” Anigel stated, “is at your side. We are the co-monarchs. We are the Two Thrones.”
“She is right,” Kadiya put in sternly. “You may not think of your Queen as an ordinary wife, nor the Crown Prince and Princess as ordinary children.”
“No,” said Antar. “But if Osorkon should win our duel—”
“He will not!” Anigel flew to her husband and threw her arms about his neck.
The Archimage said: “I must accompany you and your knights. That is inarguable. If Anigel and the children go along as well—and Kadiya, too, of course!—I can protect you all. Furthermore, the sorcerer will be unable to discover what we are up to until Osorkon is slain and his army begins its march toward the city. But make no mistake: Orogastus will certainly strike at once when that happens.”
“And then?” the King asked.
The pale blue eyes of the Archimage of the Land became as cold as the Conquering Ice. She drew the shimmering white cloak of her office closely about her, and the others shrank away from the uncanny aura that blazed forth momentarily from her body. But an instant later she was Haramis again, smiling ruefully as she said:
“I will counter Orogastus as best I can. But I cannot perform more than one magical act at a time, and I am no expert in military matters. We will all be in dire peril—I myself as much as the rest of you. If a stray arrow or an unexpected sword-thrust strikes me unawares, I may be wounded and unable to control my magic. Or I might even die.”
“And your talisman …” Kadiya began.
“You could none of you take it up and use it without the rebonding action,” the Archimage said. “It would fall to Orogastus and his star-box by default.”
The King, white-faced, declared: “I did not realize what I was proposing. We must forget my plan. Give us what help you can to save Derorguila, Archimage—but never to the point of endangering yourself.”
“I have already decided what I will do,” Haramis said.
“Then let us be off,” said Queen Anigel briskly. “We can be ready to go within the hour. Antar, you must collect our knightly escort. We will also take Shiki the Dorok with us, since he is experienced in cold weather, while we are not.”
“Jagun will also be a help to us,” Kadiya said to Anigel. “And I will assist you in readying the children.”
The Queen stiffened and the ardor drained from her features. “That will not be necessary.”
Antar said to his wife: “How I would rejoice if you and your sister Kadiya could be truly reconciled before we fare forth on this fateful mission.”
But the Queen replied: “I said that I forgive her! What else do you expect of me?”
“Ani.” The Archimage spoke urgently. “Will you let me see your trillium-amber?”
Anigel’s lips tightened. She drew the amulet on its golden chain out of the bosom of her gown. “There! Are you satisfied?”
The Flower was like a tiny splash of blood within the Queen’s hand.
As the others stared at her without speaking Anigel thrust the amulet back into her clothing. “I will see to the children after I find Shiki. Antar, you must take Hara, Kadiya, and Jagun with you in order to shield your conversation with the knights and our leavetaking preparations from the sorcerer and his spies. I will join you within half an hour.”
She hurried briskly from the room, all trace of her earlier malaise having vanished.
“Perhaps you should send me away after all,” Kadiya said. “It is clear that Ani continues to resent me.”
Haramis walked to the window and looked out at the dreary scene. “No. We must face this crisis together. I am certain of that, as I am certain of nothing else.”
“White Lady.” The King was hesitant. “Is my wife’s fear of world catastrophe fanciful, or is it real?”
 
; “It is real,” the Archimage admitted.
“I was afraid of that.” The King squared his shoulders. “Ah well. I shall concentrate on saving my little country. The salvation of the world must be your responsibility!… Ladies, Jagun, let us go together to the council chamber.”
The four of them went into the corridor. Outside Derorguila Palace, the cold wind blew ever stronger, tearing the mist apart, and the sleet began to change to fat flakes of snow.
26
They rode off through the palace’s postern gate into a night of stinging whiteness, through a city with cobblestone streets already muffled by snow three finger-widths in depth. The ornamental trees and shrubs of the squares and boulevards were pathetic things in the unseasonable weather, with leaves and flowers blasted and branches bending sadly beneath their sparkling new covering. All of the defenders had by now taken their positions in the fortifications and the supply trains were gone. Derorguila seemed nearly deserted in the blizzard, the buildings dark and shuttered, with only the occasional smoking chimney pot giving evidence that a stubborn householder was still in residence.
They rode two by two on tall, antlered fronials with quilted caparisons. First were the Archimage and King Antar. He held the reins of her steed so that she would be unencumbered in working her magic. Then came the three stalwart sons of Lady Ellinis: Marin, Blordo, and Kulbrandis, together with Kadiya. Next was Queen Anigel, and beside her on a single mount were Prince Nikalon and his sister, Janeel, muffled to the eyes in furs. Close behind them, perched awkwardly on their huge beasts, which also bore bundles of supplies, came Jagun and Shiki the Dorok. The rearguard of six doughty knights was headed by two noblemen of unimpeachable loyalty: Gultreyn, Count of Prok in Ruwenda, and Lord Balanikar of Rokmiluna, Antar’s beloved cousin.
The King, Kadiya, and the eleven human males were armored only with helmets, cuirasses, and scale-mail sleeves because of the need to wear warm clothing. They carried both longswords and lances. Both of the aborigines had crossbows and knives, and even the two children had daggers to defend themselves.