Year 1016 AFE; Rising Tide

Ragnarson, prataxis, eanredson, and Varthlokkur argued for two hours, while waiting for Dahl Haas to collect the Chatelaine Mist. Ragnarson ducked out once to order more chairs. Then, twenty-five minutes before Mist was expected, Slugbait came to the door. Ragnarson stepped outside.

„What is it, Slug?"

„There's a woman down to the gate says she needs to see you. Ordinarily, we just send them away, but this one maybe you should see."

„Who is she? Do you know?"

„I seen her around. She said tell you her name is Sherilee."

Ragnarson stiffened. „What's she want?"

„I don't know. She didn't make sense. You know women when they're scared."

„Scared?"

„Petrified. She's worked up about something that hap­ pened out to Lieneke Lane."

„Let's go." Bragi leaned back into the room for his sword. Slugbait had spoken the magic words. Ragnarson seldom showed it in any demonstrative way, but his children meant more to him than Ravelin or his crown. If anything had happened to them... . They were all he had left.

Slug was puffing when they reached the gate. Bragi told him, „Send her to the guardroom. I'll clear it out. Thanks, Slug. You thought right this time. I won't forget."

„Thank you, Sire. Just doing my job."

„Right. Keep at it and you'll make sergeant. Bustle her in here."

The girl was half-hysterical. She threw herself at him. He did a little hugging and shoulder-patting. He soon realized that half her hysteria was intentional.

Little by little, he got her talking. She and Kristen had seen Aral Dantice and another man go to Mist's house. They had worked one another up with dares. Before she knew it, she was sneaking across Lieneke Lane, through Mist's hedge, and crouching beside the house under a window that had been covered by bookshelves inside.

„Why you?"

„I'm smaller. Nobody could see me over the hedge. Anyway, there were four people in there. They were doing some kind of sorcery. After a while I knew they were spying on you. From what they said. Then they got all excited. Then one of them started talking who didn't talk before. One we didn't see go in or come out. But he left somehow, because they said he was gone. They talked about him, and that's when I figured out he was a Tervola."

She started crying again.

„Tervola, eh?" He was not entirely surprised.

„Yes! Here in Vorgreberg. You believe me, don't you?"

He sighed thoughtfully, took her hand and led her to a chair. „Sit down. I've got to think." He sat facing her. He did not release her hand. She stared at their joined fingers with a kind of awe. After a few minutes he grunted and stood again, pulling her up.

„Mist is coming. Stay out of sight till she's inside. Otherwise you might meet her and give her an idea how I know what I know. I think Slug will enjoy looking after you."

She turned on the tears. „I'm so scared." She moved against him, pushing her arms around him. He felt the fear in her, the animal quivering. It was real enough. Its object was the question.

He signed, thinking he had seen bigger twelve year olds. He patted her shoulders again. After a moment of closed eyes and another fatalistic sigh, he held her shoulders and pushed her away. „I'm scared too, little girl." He let go and raised her chin till she looked him in the eye. „And not of Tervola. You go looking for trouble and you're liable to find more than either one of us can handle."

Her jaw trembled. She opened her mouth slightly and closed it, twice. Her gaze kept darting to one side, then she would force it back.

Ragnarson shifted subject. „I want you and Kristen to stop playing spy. This isn't any game." Then, „Do you know what we're getting into?"

She did not reply. She sniffled once.

Her chin still rested on his hand. He drew her toward him. Her jaw trembled more. Her eyes narrowed and glazed. Her lips parted and puffed as she turned her face up to meet his kiss.

Oh, gods, he thought. The fire raced through him. It was just what he had thought it would be. He pushed gently. She clung for an instant, then stood there downcast, eyes still closed.

„I want you to think about it some more," he whispered. „Please?"

She folded her lower lip between her teeth and nodded like a child receiving a scolding.

„Everything is against it... ." Enough of this, he thought. „Go back to Kristen after Mist gets here. And stop playing spy." He whirled and got out of there. He ran up the steps to the battlements overlooking the gate, trying to distract himself. Looking out, he spied a carriage turning into the road through the park. „Mist?" The outriders might be Dahl and Aral. He raced back down and hurried to the chamber, quickly clued the others to Sherilee's report.

Mist arrived ten minutes later, accompanied by Dantice. „Sit down," Ragnarson said. He studied the couple. There was a new shyness between them. Damn! It must be catching. „I've been cooped up here all day, so I don't feel like playing games. We made a decision. You know what it is. Let's decide what I can do to help. But first I want to know who the Tervola was and why he was in Kavelin without my permission."

Dantice made a sound like a cross between a belch and mouse's squeak. His eyes widened. And Mist, for one of the few times Ragnarson remembered, was taken completely off guard.

„I have my resources too. The Tervola is important. Call it a gesture of good faith. You've been playing your game behind my back. I don't want that in Kavelin. I've got trouble enough with my enemies, without having to watch my friends."

Mist recovered her aplomb. She spoke at length.

Ragnarson decided she was being forthright. „Sounds good overall. Assuming Kuo isn't in on the planning. What's your timing?"

„That's the other iffy part. We move when Lord Ch'ien thinks the Matayangan attack has peaked and Lord Kuo is completely distracted. We seize the key points of the em­ pire. We leave Southern Army alone till the Matayangan attack ebbs. Then we relieve Lord Kuo himself."

„Right," Ragnarson said. „If he lets you." He stared at a point above and behind Mist's head, seeing a blonde-ringed face... . Damn! He had to get her out of his head. „What happens if Matayanga doesn't attack? I hear Kuo's people are talking a blue streak trying to stop them."

„The plan isn't perfect. If he talks them down, we lose. Without him knowing how much he's won."

„You wouldn't try to force that war, would you?"

„No! No more than Lord Kuo is. But why not take advantage of the inevitable? Our best recruiting argument is that there's been too much fighting lately. Shinsan can't take much more."

„Sometimes I think... . Never mind. What can we con­ tribute?"

„You're doing it. Giving us a safe place to plan. The only other thing might be some shock troops for the strike against Lord Kuo himself."

„Work it out with Sir Gjerdrum."

A door opened down the hallway. Josiah Gales stepped out. He hurried to his quarters, where he secured another despatch case. Two minutes later he joined Sergeant Wortel, the man he was due to relieve. „Jack, I need you to cover for me. I got to take this upstairs."

Wortel scowled at the hourglass. „The wife is having company, Gales."

„I'm sorry, Jack. That's the truth. I ain't trying to screw you. Yeah. I won't take long. I'll pay you back. Yeah. Gales is good for his debts. That ain't no lie. You know me."

Wortel sighed. „All right. Just don't waste no time."

„Back again, Sarge?" Toby was still at the Queen's door. Gales cursed himself for not having had the foresight to await the changing of the guard.