"Of course I did. He's going with us. There have been rumors of fresh stirrings to the north, and he would guard you and your charges. Also," he added, nodding at Zazar, "he sends his kindest regards which he will convey in person within a very short time. Also, Lord Royance wishes to pay his respects."
"I always said Ashen did herself more than proud when she married Gaurin," Zazar remarked. She rummaged in her pack again and added a few more items to the pouch fastened to her wrist. "Well, let's be off. This Royance fellow can wait. I'm as eager to see the pools as any."
To Ashen's dismay, the war-kats insisted on coming with them to the pools. With both her and Gaurin leaving the camp, there was no denying them, and Finola carried Weyse in her mouth, as gently as she would have carried a kitten. Weyse made no objection, but Zazar rescued her nevertheless, preferring to settle her on the sled that would carry Hyn-nel.
If the war-kats accepted Weyse, the same could not be said of the sled dogs.
They bristled, lifting their lips in deep, scarcely heard growls, and in spite of the harnesses they wore, began to stalk stiff-legged toward the small furred one. Immediately, the war-kats took up vigilant positions flanking the sled and issued answering growls as their tails lashed from side to side. The men assigned to driving the sleds waded in fearlessly, slapping dogs aside and establishing discipline in a no-nonsense manner, thus avoiding an unpleasant incident. Reluctantly, the dogs assumed their positions at the fronts of the sleds and dropped to the ground, elaborately ignoring what they were forbidden to touch.
Eight men touched by the Dragon's Breath were brought out of the infirmary tent; the four who were the most ill rode the sleds where beds had been prepared for them, and the others, despite protests, were conveyed in litters gladly carried by their companions.
Gaurin, swathed from head to foot in his wulvine-lined cloak, found a moment to greet the women. "Your presence is most welcome, Madame Zazar," he said. He lifted her hand to his lips, and in spite of the heavy mittens she wore, kissed it. "And you, my Ashen? Are you well?"
"Always, when I catch sight of you."
He smiled, and Ashen's heart cramped at how tired and worn he looked. With the worries and responsibilities of war to burden him, there were more lines in his face than before. In an effort to lighten his day, she told him of the dogs, the war-kats, and Weyse, and was rewarded by seeing him throw his head back and laugh out loud.
"How wonderful!" he exclaimed. "We must be sure the story spreads. It is just the thing to lift soldiers' spirits. Building snow-brick walls has lost its appeal, and the war engines are almost completed."
"Boredom is one of our worst enemies, I have learned," Ashen explained to Zazar.
She gazed at the guardsmen lined up, waiting for Gaurin's command to march. "I believe the drama of the war-kats and Weyse, plus the discovery of the hot pools the laundresses have kept secret, will provide conversation material for quite a while."
The laundresses, as if hearing themselves mentioned, came into view, loaded down with the bundles they had been accustomed to conveying by sled. Soldiers stepped forward to help.
"Good enough," said the woman to whom Zazar and Ashen had spoken earlier. She loaded an enormous pack into a soldier's waiting arms. "You gets 'em dirty, so you might as well lend a hand when it comes to taking 'em where we gets 'em clean again."
The soldiers laughed, and then Gaurin gave the signal to move.
The place of the hot pools could be sensed long before the caravan arrived.
Steam rose well above the ridge of snow-covered rock that surrounded the place on three sides. Inside this little pocket in the mountains, Ashen discovered humid warmth that prompted her to remove her heavy, fur-lined cloak. The laundresses were already taking the bundles of soiled clothing from the soldiers carrying them and making for their favorite spots in the series of sulphurous pools that dotted the landscape. The sled-drivers placed the conveyances in an area that looked to have been used for the purpose many times before, and unhitched the dogs. They trooped, as if by habit, to a particular place and lay down to sleep.
The war-kats likewise found locations from which they could observe all that was going on and, if necessary, sound a warning. Finola settled Weyse between her paws, and there the little creature from the Bog stayed.
"Come, Ashen," Zazar said. "We must locate a pool that the laundresses do not use. It must be very warm without being boiling hot. It might be necessary to bring snow in to cool it, at least for the first bath."
Obediently, Ashen followed the Wysen-wyf as she tested the temperature of one pool and then another. At length, after rejecting several, Zazar found a pond, somewhat distant from the rest, that seemed suitable. It was not fed directly from the ground, as the others were, but was the result of runoff from a small one that the laundresses did not use. With the help of the guards, the women brought their patients to the pool and saw to it that they immersed themselves in the warm water. With this accomplished, Ashen found a few moments to look around at this strange place.
Though snow still fell, even here, it sizzled as it struck the water. The ground around the pools, though devoid of vegetation, still was warm enough that snow did not collect. The air seemed too moist to allow for the drying of the clothes after they had been washed, but on a higher elevation some distance away Ashen discovered the ingenious solution the women had devised.
Perhaps with the aid of some of the men who, on occasion, drove the dog-sleds, they had erected a drying shed and filled it with racks. Here the rocky ground was heated, perhaps from the underground passage of the water, and the air was dryer. All that was necessary was the flow of air, and someone had rigged a panel woven of twigs and branches that served as a fan to move the air through the shed when the natural breeze did not suffice.
There was a definite routine to the laundresses' activity. Certain pools were used for the actual cleansing; other pools were reserved for rinsing. As the now-clean articles soaked, the women entered the shed and took down the clean, dry, warm garments, folded them neatly and wrapped them to keep the snow off.
Then the women returned to the rinse pools, wrung out the clothing, carried it to the shed, and laid it over the racks. One woman untied the ropes on the fan blade and started its motion while all waited for Zazar to judge that the sufferers from Dragon's Breath had completed their initial treatment.
"A very neat arrangement," Gaurin commented with some amusement. "It is one that, I confess, I had not even questioned until now. I was just grateful that we could all stay clean and dry."
Ashen was not allowed the luxury of remaining long in her husband's company undisturbed. Zazar called to her.
"Come and help me mix a certain potion," the Wysen-wyf said. "It must be drunk soon after being stirred and I only have two hands."
Whatever taste the mixture had was disguised by the sulphuric tang of the hot water. Zazar would not allow snow to be melted for the brew.
"No time," she said. "We must get this into them while they are still warmed from the bath. And anyway, this water must contain healing properties as well."
When Hynnel had been given his dose, he had scarcely swallowed it before he began coughing. "Madame Zazar!" he said, breathless, "this is even worse than before!"
Zazar crouched down beside him where he still lay in the pool. "Yes," she said, touching his shoulder with unaccus- tomed gentleness, "and will be for a while. I will be frank with you. The
Dragon's Breath froze your lungs where it entered them."
He stared at her, comprehension growing on his face. "And now it is like the situation when a wound mortifies, is it not?"
"Yes. The tissue that was frozen is dead, and must be removed before you can hope to get better. That means you must cough." She handed him a clean scrap of linen.
The other men were likewise beginning to cough, deep and racking, and they reached eagerly for other scraps of linen that Ashen and a couple of the laundresses gave them.
"You won't bring up much, the first time," Zazar said, dusting her hands and getting to her feet. "But once begun, it will continue. Now, your lungs are loosened by the beneficial heat and my herbal drink. Later, back at the infirmary, we will wrap you in blankets and heat stones to place beside you to help the process."
Then the men were helped from the pool, covered warmly, and settled in litters or sleds. The company of laundresses, invalids, healers, and guards started back for the camp.
"One moment," Gaurin said to Ashen and Zazar. "When we get back, your presence is required in the command tent."
"What for?" Zazar demanded.
"I believe that Rohan mentioned earlier that we had had word of some stirring among our enemies to the north. If we are to fight again, you and Ashen must be informed of our plans, so that you can make preparations of your own."
"In anticipation of what we and the physicians will be facing later," Ashen finished for him, through numb lips.
"Yes, I fear so."
"Gaurin, I want to go with you, when you march out," Ashen said, an edge of urgency in her voice.
"Never!" he shouted. And then, more softly, "Never. No, my Ashen, I would never put you into such danger, or allow you to put yourself in peril—not while there's a breath left in my body."
"I realize that there is some risk involved, but hear me out." Ashen tried to sound as calm and reasonable as possible. "We will set up various areas so that we can work more efficiently, treat the most serious cases first while the ones less severely hurt can wait. If I am there, I can make judgments on the spot as to where to send the wounded so that we don't waste time."
Gaurin frowned, a single line cutting deeply between his brows. "It is unprecedented, entirely contrary to all the customs of war. Nevertheless, I will think about it," he finally said grudgingly.
As they once more came in sight of the encampment, Ashen determined to bring it before the meeting to which she and Zazar had been invited. Gaurin would be expected to try to discourage her, and she should have known better than to approach him privately. But the other officers might see the sense in her suggestion.
And anyway, it wasn't as if she was anticipating taking up a sword and plunging into the thick of combat. She would stay well back from the fray—though, she knew with a sinking feeling that thoughts of Gaurin's safety would be uppermost in her mind.
Also, she had to admit if only to herself, if Gaurin were wounded, she would be in a position to tend his hurts immediately.
Something bitter rose in the back of her throat. No] she cried silently. He must not be hurt. She would die before she let anything happen to him.
Seventeen
Of course I know who Lord Royance is," Zazar said impatiently. "I've just never met the man, that's all."
"If you had, you would never have referred to him as 'that Royance fellow,' "
Ashen said. "It sounded disrespectful."
"I think that Madame Zazar is having some amusement at your expense, my Ashen,"
Gaurin murmured in her ear.
Ashen stared first at her husband and then at the woman who had nurtured her from the moment of her birth. Zazar quickly glanced away but not before Ashen caught a definite twinkle in the Wysen-wyf's eye.
"What has gotten into you?" she demanded. "We face a horrible enemy, whose weapons do such terrible damage, and I see you more merry than ever I have known you to be in all my life."
Zazar sobered. "A fair question, deserving of an honest answer," she replied.
"Perhaps it is because I sense that all is now drawing to a conclusion. Whether for good or for ill, I cannot tell."
"Would that you could, Madame Zazar," Gaurin said somberly.
"We should be tending the wounded," Zazar said, "instead of wasting time in meetings."
"Our patients are so tired from their excursion that all they want to do now is sleep," Ashen pointed out. "It will do no harm to meet with our brave officers before they march off to battle."
Zazar shifted Weyse on her arm; beside her, Finola nudged against her anxiously.
"Oh, don't worry so much," she told the war-kat. I won't let anything happen to your 'baby.' "
They reached the command tent and Gaurin ushered the women inside. Lord Royance looked up from his place at the head of the table and rose to his feet. The younger officers, including Harous's newly returned honor guard, hastily followed his example.
"Great Wysen-wyf of the Bog!" Royance exclaimed. "Your presence is most heartily welcome to us!" He bowed to her. "Ashen, my dear, it is good to see you again as well. Come, gentlemen, make a place for our honored guests."
Chevin came forward to escort both Ashen and Zazar to seats at the far end of the table; Gaurin took his chair next to Royance as his second in command.
"I have a message for you, Lady Ashen," the young knight said. "There were three messages in all, and I have delivered the first two." He glanced at Gaurin, who nodded. Then he kissed Ashen on her right cheek. "This is from Lady Rannore, who is proud to call you her dearest friend."
"As she is mine. Thank you, Chevin."
Then Ashen gave her attention to the discussion as it resumed. Snolli nodded at the women and then took up his tale.
"We must've put a good fear in 'em/' he said complacently. "They won't send another of those Dragons after us soon, that's for sure, not after we killed one and left it to wash up on their shore. We sail as we please, up and down the coast, far enough out that they think we can't see what's going on."
Seated beside him, Kasai, the Spirit Drummer, looked up from the small drum he had been stroking, and spoke. "They don't have our secret," he said, grinning.
"Chieftain's got a far-see glass and all they've got is those flying monsters that won't come close."
"I have heard of viewing instruments such as this," Roy-ance said, "and think that one would be useful on land as well. If you ever come across another, please keep me in mind."
"I will. Anyway, what we've seen is companies of men, marching from the north.
Sometimes there's a Dragon with 'em, sometimes not. They don't seem to be in any great hurry. We lose sight of 'em somewhat to the north of the burnt Frydian camp. I think they turn inland."
"This has been confirmed by our scouts and hunters," Gaurin put in. "Also, that they are not all Frydians. Our enemy has found better allies."
"Indeed," Royance said heavily, "I recognized some of the descriptions of cognizances. Some of us remember certain nobles who departed Rendelsham in the wake of the revelation of the viper our Dowager Queen had, unwittingly, harbored."
Steuart spoke up. "Piaul and his followers. At the time we thought ourselves the better for their absence."
"Just so. It is a terrible day when those on whom we should rely turn traitor."
Ashen glanced at Royance but his countenance showed nothing beyond his statement. He is a better master over his feelings than I, she thought. I could not keep it to myself that the biggest traitor of all is the man whose position he now occupies.
A sudden commotion between her chair and Zazar's attracted everyone's attention.
Bitta had nudged up to Ashen, as was her wont, to have her hurt paw massaged. In so doing, she had apparently come too close to Weyse, dozing comfortably on
Zazar's lap, and Finola objected strenuously. Both war-kats were now fizzing at each other, fur bristling. Pyegan and Rosela, Hynnel's war-kats now in Royance's care, stalked forward, possibly to join in. Rajesh was on his feet, alert and protective, but not yet menacing. In seconds the command tent could have been filled with snarling, battling war-kats had not Royance intervened.
"Stop that at once!" he shouted sternly. "Both of you. Bitta, go to your bed.
You, the other one—"
"Finola," Gaurin supplied. "Her mate is Rajesh."
"Yes. Well, you, Finola, sit. And be quiet. Rajesh, Pyegan, Rosela, leave be.
Leave be, I say!"
There was no gainsaying Royance's authority, not ev
en by independent-minded war-kats. The animals obeyed, if reluctantly.
"Now," Royance said, looking around the table at the officers who were a little more interested in the diversion than was seemly. "We know of the enemy's approach. It is up to us to choose the battlefield. Gaurin?"
Gaurin arose, placed an upright support on the table, and unrolled a map on it for the others to see. "Here is our camp," he said, pointing to a drawing of a stockade battlement. "Here, the sea, the ruined Frydian camp, and here the valley where our first battle was fought. It was no good battleground to begin with, and has been rendered even less so by the avalanche that still blocks the valley floor."
"Not to mention the frozen river above, dropping ice spears on any who pass,"