"Always danger here in the hills," Storn snorted. "If the feuds are quiet, and the bandits aren't raid-
ing, it's the Aldarans, out to extend their territory. Bui I'll give you my word, your king is in no danger From me; I'll be happy to talk things over with him if he wishes." He scowled down at the bedroll. "Is this the best my household can provide For guests?" He stalked to the door and yelled. "Lenisa!" The echoes of his voice in the hall were Followed by running Footsteps as Lenisa came to answer him.
"Yes, Grandfather?"
He pointed an accusing finger at the bedroll. "Is that the best you can do For a guest? Have another chamber prepared For Dom Gavin, and one For Lady Hammerfell and her ward."
"Mother and Floria are coming here?" Conn gasped.
"With both of you under my roof why should they not be here as well?" Storn demanded. "Surely you don't think a peasant's hut the place to house your mother and your promised wife:-or Alastair's promised wife-or whoever's promised wife she is! And I hardly think Hammerfell Castle is in any shape to house them. I have called them here myself."
Alastair glared Conn to silence. "Indeed, sir, we are most grateful For your hospitality."
Conn hoped that Lord Storn did not hear his mental addition. Especially since it's due to you that we have need of it.
IF he did, however, he didn't show it. He merely said, "Since we appear to have a lot to discuss, we might as well do it in comfort. I've had quite enough of being out in the snow for the time being. Come, girl," he turned to Lenisa. "We'd best prepare to receive our guests."
"Is walking the boundaries that bad?" Alastair asked, and Conn realized that he knew nothing of the latest
burning. When Lord Storn had left the room, he told his brother about it, thinking, Perhaps it will be for the best for Alastair to marry Lenisa. At least she knows the customs of the Hellers, and can persuade him to follow them.
"But do you really think our mother and Floria will be safe here?" Conn asked, as he finished his story.
"Don't worry about Floria," Alastair said unconcernedly. "She's not part of this feud."
"Domna Erminie should be safe enough," Gavin said, "King Aidan knows we're here, and would never stand for us to be harmed-I think we needn't worry."
That successfully silenced both twins; they knew no more powerful protector than the Hastur king.
Conn returned to the village at the ruined gates of Hammerfell and spent the morning exercising the horse that Alastair had ridden so long and hard. In the afternoon he escorted Ermine and Floria to Storn Heights. He was relieved to see that Erminie seemed at once to like Lenisa; it would have greatly complicated things if for some reason his mother had taken a dislike to her. He hardly dared to speak to or look at Floria; the idea that he might actually be free to marry her was almost more than he could take in. Indeed, the conference after dinner was a model of harmony. Lenisa must have had a long talk with Lord Storn, Conn thought with amusement. He seems much more agreeable to her marrying Alastair than he did this morning. And Floria had obviously noticed something, for she sat next to Conn at dinner and assumed a rather proprietary attitude toward him. Conn was riot surprised to find that he liked it, although he
wondered if he had Gavin to thank for her obvious change in attitude. What had Gavin told her about this morning's discussion?
This question, at least, was quickly answered. When they sat down in the solar with their mulled wine, it was Floria who opened the conversation in a direct and frank manner. "I understand, Alastair, that you do not wish to marry me."
Alastair gulped and looked uneasy. Even in Thendara, they cannot teach a graceful and courteous way to jilt your betrothed, Conn thought with some amusement, for all their elegant lowland etiquette.
"I have and always will have the greatest respect for you, dear cousin-" Alastair began, "but-"
"It's all right, Alastair," Floria said gently. "I'm willing to release you from the betrothal, which, after all, was never made formal. I simply wanted to have it made plain to eve. ?ne that this is what we both want."
"Both?" Alastair said lightly. "Am I to have you for a sister, then?" Everyone looked at Conn.
"Yes," Conn said buoyantly, "if the lady wishes it, nothing would make me happier."
Floria put out her hand and took his, smiling brilliantly. "Nothing would make me happier, either."
"And I suppose that now you expect me to consent to my grandniece becoming Duchess of Hammer-fell," Storn growled, obviously having a bit of trouble articulating the words.
"I would certainly prefer to marry her with your consent, sir," Alastair said politely.
"And without it? Are you saying you'll marry her whether I give it or not? Is that what you're saying?"
Storn turned to glare at Erminie. "A fine son you've raised, my lady! What do you think of all this?"
Erminie looked briefly at her hands, clasped in her lap, then lifted her head and looked Storn in the eye. "My lord," she said sweetly, "it seems to me that this feud has gone on for too many generations, and all those who began it are dead. I've lost my childhood playmate and my husband both to it, and for many years, I believed I had lost one of my young sons as well. You've lost all of your kin save Lenisa. Haven't there been enough deaths-both your people and mine? Whatever the original offenses may have been, surely by now we've shed enough blood between us to wash clean all the Hundred Kingdoms! If my son wishes to marry your grandniece, I rejoice at the chance to bury this old feud forever, I swear Lenisa will be as a daughter to me, and I give them my blessing. 1 implore you to Ho the same, my lord."
"And my alternative, I suppose," Storn said with the appearance of bitterness-but his eyes twinkled, "is to be the ogre of the piece; to refuse and let you go and raise up a rabble against me, and then the Hastur king will come with his army, and there will be burning and destruction all over both our lands- and then when I die you'll take the girl anyway, assuming you both survive the fighting."
"Put like that, sir," Gavin said quietly, "it doesn't sound like much of an alternative. But must you put it that way? Can't you think of it as a chance to be the hero who brings an end to all this fighting?"
Lord Storn scowled. "That doesn't sound like much of an alternative either. My own father'd be turning over in his grave. Well, he didn't live his life for my
good pleasure, I see no reason I should live my life for his. 1 don't approve of love matches, myself; but here you are, lady, to speak for your son, and I have lo give my great-niece to somebody, I suppose. Very well, girl," he addressed Lenisa, "if you want to marry him, then I won't be the one to stand in your way. Better to make Storn and Hammerfell one kingdom than lose both to Aldaran. You do want to?" he glared at her with his fierce eyes. "You're not just going along with this because you think it's romantic, or some such rubbish? Well, marry him, then, if it suits you."
"Oh, thank you, Grandfather," she cried, hugging him.
Alastair rose and extended his hand. "Thank you, sir." He swallowed hard. "I can't tell M how grateful I am. May we name our first son after you?" Alastair blushed furiously but stood firm.
"Ardrin of Hammerfell? My great-grandfather would be doing handsprings in his grave, but-well, yes, if you like." Storn tried not to look pleased. He took Alastair's hand briefly. "But mind that you always treat her well, young man; even when this first infatuation wears off, always remember that she is your wife-and, the Gods willing, mother of your children."
"I promise you that, my lord-Great-uncle," Alastair said fervently. It was obvious that Alastair didn't believe he would ever feel differently about Lenisa, and Erminie was looking indignant, but at least the fact that he'd said it seemed to make Lord Storn feel a bit better about the whole business.
"Well, that's settled," he said. "I suppose you'd better send word to that king of yours about it. You
can tell him I offer
him hospitality-but I've only got room for thirty or so of his guards in the barracks and I can't ask my people to accept strange lowland-ers quartered on them, with all else they've got to bear these days; mind you tell him that, young man," he admonished Gavin.
Gavin nodded, settled deeper in his chair and closed his eyes.
"Doesn't he need his matrix?" Lord Storn muttered.
"Not to talk to the Hastur-lord," Erminie whispered softly.
Alastair found himself wondering about the unknown laran of the Hasturs. But everyone else took it for granted; they all sat in silence for several minutes, waiting for Gavin to open his eyes. After about ten minutes he did and reached for his wine glass. Floria shoved the plate of biscuits toward him, and he took one and ate it before speaking.
"He'll be here within a tenday," Gavin reported. "Queen Antonella is doing much better than expected, so he feels he can leave her. And since he canceled all his engagements to sit with her while she was ill, nobody expects him to be anyplace else. So he'll slip quietly out of the city with twenty of his guards-no need to strain your hospitality, Lord Storn-and come straight here."
"Very well," Storn said. "Lenisa, you'll see all made ready for His Grace's visit."
"I'll help, if you permit," Floria said, looking shyly at Lenisa with a tentative smile.
Lenisa hesitated for a moment, then returned the smile. "That would be very kind of you," she said. "I do not know what a Hastur king may expect in the way of protocol-sister."
Floria knew the girl was torn between shyness and a fear that the Thendara laranzu might despise her as an awkward country girl.
"Oh, you need not worry about that, my dear," she said, giving Lenisa a spontaneous hug. "King Aidan is the kindest of men; within half an hour you will be thinking of him as your favorite uncle, as if you'd known him all your life. Won't she, Gavin?"
19 .,
Conn found himself feeling strangely uneasy about the end of the feud and King Aidan's coming visit. Maybe he had a suspicious nature, but it all seemed too easy to him, too good to be true. Being told he could marry Floria was like a beautiful dream but one he kept expecting to wake from. Riding through the hills a few days later, checking to see how his-no, Alastair's-tenants were doing, it struck him that everything that had happened since he left for Thendara seemed like a dream-something he couldn't quite believe in.
He confided his anxieties to Gavin, and Gavin laughed. "I know what you mean," he said. "If this were a ballad, there would have to be another complication, preferably with a great battle, to make a satisfying ending."
"Well, I certainly don't want that," Conn said. "By the way, how goes it with King Aidan and his Queen?"
Gavin, who had been checking in with the king each night, replied, "The lady is safe in Renata's hands, and while her recovery may be slow-and it's hardly likely she will ever be her old self-it's unlikely she will be gravely incapacitated either. As for the king, he crossed the Kadarin late yesterday and should be reaching the foothills this evening."
"You must be a powerful laranzu," Conn said, "to reach him that far away."
"Not really," Gavin said. "I actually have very little laran; it's mostly the power of the king that holds the link. It seems that you are the truly powerful laranzu; in fact, you could probably survey the condition of the lands and tenants from here," he gestured around the solar, where they were sitting, "and save yourself many hours out on horseback in bad weather."
"I like riding," Conn said calmly, "and as for bad weather, you haven't seen any of it yet." But he thought about what Gavin had said. "You really think I could see much from here?"
Gavin shrugged. "Try it," he said.
Conn took out his starstone and focused on it, lying back against the pillows. Suddenly he seemed to have risen and crossed to the windows, but when he looked back, he saw himself still sitting in the chair. He took another step forward and floated through the window and down to the ground. He was starting to walk down the road from the castle when he remembered some old stories he had heard, about leroni who flew on the mountain winds, using large gliders. He didn't have a glider with him, but then, he seemed free of his body at the moment, so perhaps ...
Apparently simply thinking about it was enough; he1 found himself floating over the trees. Should he go to Hammerfell? No, he'd ridden all over those lands yesterday and the day before-and he had always wondered what lay on the far side of Storn's borders.
Several minutes of drifting brought him to a point over a large stone keep. Scathfell, he thought, remembering Storn's comments about Aldaran. On the wings of thought he moved over fields and hedges, crowded with flocks of woolly sheep. Near the main part of the keep many men were gathered. It's not harvest festival nor a hiring fair, he thought, can it possibly be time for a roundup, a sheep shearing? But as, impalpably, he moved closer, he noted that none of them bore shearing scissors and that most of them were armed with swords and pikes. Half a dozen men in what looked like Aldaran livery, with the blazoning of the Aldaran emblem, the double-headed eagle, were mustering the men into squads that looked alarmingly like an army. ...
But why was Scathfell raising his men like this? There was no conflict in the hills, except his own family's private feud, and Aldaran had never interfered in that. But raising them he certainly was, to judge by the look of it. Conn could not at the moment imagine why.
I had better go back, and perhaps send someone out with a glider, if only to gather more information about what is happening in these hills. He was beginning to understand that there was more to ruling Hammerfell than administering the tenants or even making decisions between farms and sheep.
Maybe I should have a long talk with Lord Storn and
find out more about the business of a great estate like this one. Although of course this is really more Alastair's business than mine; Mother expects me to return with her-and Floria-to take my place there in the Tower for training. But am I to be a laranzu for the rest of my days? he wondered. It did not seem like the kind of work he would be satisfied to do forever; and yet he knew in his heart that if he remained here, he could only dilute Alastair's authority with the men who had come to think of Conn as their young duke. But it did not seem right for him to desert his people, or to stand peacefully by while Alastair adopted Storn's policy of turning men off the lands to seek work in Thendara or elsewhere, in favor of the endless sheep.
He had been trained to be responsible for these people! Did Alastair have the least concept of what it meant to be Duke of Hammerfell? For that matter, did his mother even know anything about it? She had married into the line when she was a young girl. He could not blame her; but the fact was that she probably knew almost nothing whatever about it. For a short time Conn drifted, caught up in his personal dilemma; but Scathfell was mustering, and he must somehow act-he must get back to Storn Heights and Gavin.
Thinking about Gavin, Conn found himself suddenly back in his body in the solar. His friend-swiftly gauged Conn's mood and said, "What's wrong?"
"I don't know for sure that anything's really wrong" Conn answered, "but I don't understand what's going on. . . ." He described what he had seen at Aldaran.
Gavin looked grave and said, "The lady Erminie must hear of this."
Conn didn't know what Erminie could do about it.
but Gavin seemed so sure that he did not protest. Erminie came into the room at Conn's summons, took her own starstone, and went to see for herself. When she opened her eyes again they held a look of fear. "But this is terrible! Scathfell is arming, and marching against King Aidan's people. He has at least three hundred men."
"Against Aidan! But he has only an honor guard," Gavin said. "Perhaps twenty men at best."
"He will think we lured him into these hills without knowing," Conn said swiftly. "Someone should ride at once to warn him-"
"But no one could
reach him in time," Erminie said despairingly, "unless . . ."
"Well, I could try," Gavin said without much hope, "but it is hard enough when it is night and all is quiet-"
"Three hundred men," Conn said in dismay. "King Aidan could not face so many with only his honor guard even if we armed the bears and rabbits."
He was restating an old proverb; but to his surprise Erminie smiled.
"We can do that," she said.
20
For a moment both young men stared at Erminie as if she had taken leave of her senses.
Then Gavin said, "You're joking, of course?" But he did not sound sure.
Erminie said, "I never joke about such things. Were you joking when you told me Aidan has only an honor guard with him?"
She sounded positively hopeful; for the first time, Conn realized the vast implications of laran power. He could feel, as within himself, his mother's unwillingness to use all she knew; and with the knowledge came a kind of sympathy for her. Suddenly he knew the difference it could make, would make, not so much in the battle (which he did not yet understand), but in the way people would forever after regard his mother or anyone else who called upon such powerful forces.
Although she had worked for many years as a
leronis in the tower in Thendara, there she was one of a group, and people took little more notice of her laran gifts than of her skill at needlework. In Thendara, she was Erminie first, and a leronis second. Here in the mountains, where leroni were scarce, doing something this dramatic would make her visibly different, forever alienated from those who would be her neighbors. She would never be allowed to forget it.
She looked up at Conn. "You must help me," she said, "all of you must. This is going to be complicated, and we have so few of us with any laran: me, the two of you, Floria, Lord Storn . . . Conn, do you know of anyone else on these estates who has laran?"
Conn shook his head, while Gavin protested, "But, lady, I have so little laran-I never had any training -I'm not good for much of anything!"