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charms such as John Dawn gave the Grand Master was found around the neck of a
slain bear. Ladonys has not yet regained full consciousness and is badly
mauled. Laeoli is missing. My people are looking for her.
Archer
Aejys shook with rage and shock as she read the letter. "Tag, get our forces
ready to march in the morning."
"But Aejys..."
"Now!"
Tagalong sighed, departing immediately.
Hanadi sat quietly in a corner, her hand on Brundarad's head. "Only if you
had traveled with a handful could you have left any sooner, Aejystrys Rowan.
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And that would have played into Margrenan's hands. You must move with caution
and power."
Aejys did not reply to her statement. She stared out the window, "It looks as
if I may already have nothing left to lose."
"You still have your life and that is always something. What is more it may
be that Laeoli has escaped."
"I don't know that, Hanadi. I would appreciate it if you asked Cassana and
Tamlestari to come up. I'd like to speak with them alone."
"So be it." Hanadi rose with a deep bow and left with Brundarad at her heels.
* * * *
Sonden's healer priests, while not lifemages, were still quite skilled. A
week after the attack by the shifters, Soren was delighted to find Ladonys
sitting up in bed, speaking with quiet stoicism of the attack and the death of
Laeoli.
Maranya gave up her chair beside Ladonys' bed to Soren. The old ha'taren sat
down and took Ladonys' hand, clasping it in both of her and then kissing it.
"Mei Ajan," she said, "it is good to see you up."
Just then Yavran burst into the room, "Soren!" Then she saw Ladonys sitting
up, "Mei Ajan. Arvath is dead."
"Damn it! I told her to take no chances!" Soren cursed angrily, masking her
sorrow.
Ladonys paled. "How?"
"Two hunters found her and her wynderjyn. They'd..." Yavran choked on her
words, halted and started again. "They brought her body back. Someone
something had nailed her to a tree and disemboweled her."
Silence fell in the room: It must have taken at least a day or more for her
to die in unimaginable pain.
Yavran mastered herself, beginning again. "They laid her wynderjyn's head at
her feet. The monsters must have made her watch them kill him."
"Soren, please tell his holiness I wish to speak with him." Ladonys looked
deeply shaken, but in control.
Soren nodded and left.
"What are you going to do?" Maranya asked.
"I'm going to ask for sanctuary. For all of us."
* * * *
"I don't understand any of this!" Kaethreyn paced angrily back and forth in
her study. "Ladonys is perfectly safe here. This is her home!"
"Apparently she feels the source of attack came from within your household,"
Sonden said, imperturbably. "Arvath's murder, and I would not call it anything
less, adds weight to her claims."
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"I have lost my only grandchild. My rangers and scouts can find no trail, no
sign that leads anywhere. My eldest daughter abandons me. My son-in-law is
slain and now my daughter-in-law is frightened of my court?"
"A member of your family is in league with Waejontor," Sonden replied,
tapping the charm. "I would like to have your entire household read for the
taint of Waejontor. Especially Margren and all of her cousins."
"That's out of the question!" Kaethreyn snapped. "There is no treason in my
household! I will not tolerate the humiliation of a mass reading. Clearly that
charm was wrought to mislead us."
"I wish I could believe that, my old friend, but I cannot."
"Then we have nothing more to speak of!" Kaethreyn stalked out of the room.
Sonden sighed deeply, pocketing the charm. His heart felt heavy and a weight
lay on his shoulders such as he had not felt since the war's end. There had to
be some way to make Kaethreyn see reason though he could not think of any just
then. Sonden rose and departed Castle Rowan. He had many last minute details
to attend to before he returned to Armaten on the morrow. Ladonys would ride
in a carriage he had hired to lessen the pain of her wounds while they
traveled.
* * * *
Margren rose as the assembled nobility took their dinner, taking a very
subdued Juldrid by the hand bringing her to her feet. "I have an announcement
to make!"
All eyes turned to Margren and Juldrid. "My beloved ma'aram, ajans, and
consorts, my friends all. This is a sad time. Just days ago my beloved niece,
the heir, was slain by a ravening beast sent by powers out of hell. Yet there
is also joy. We are with child."
CHAPTER SEVEN. THE ROAD TO SAINT TARMUS
The morning was as chill as the afternoons were hot. The night mists,
smelling of salt and pine, still lay heavily upon the broad green beyond the
walls of Vorgensburg where Aejys' company assembled in a long column three myn
wide. The citizenry of Vorgensburg filled all the open spaces around them,
leaving only the far end of the road open where the city guard held them back.
They stood in little patches of family and social classes, here a group of
brightly clad syndics and their equally attired wives and children; there a
poor mother in patched clothing holding her child up on her shoulder to see;
carpenters in leather aprons; clusters of sailors; and the blacksmith standing
spread-legged, broad as a tree. Becca and Clemmerick stood close to Aejys
flanked by those members of the household that were being left behind. Josh
was not among them. He had vanished in the night to one of his hidey-holes
that only Clemmerick knew of.
The tavern master did not even attempt to smile, but wore her misgivings on
her face in grim silence. Clemmerick, standing at her elbow, leaned on his
huge staff and nodded to his companions fortunate (or not as the case might
prove) enough to be included on this riding. "You be careful, Aejys," he
admonished her.
The lapsed paladin, her hand on the saddle preparing to mount, turned back
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and clasped his huge hand in both of hers. "I have not lived this long by
doing otherwise, my friend."
Despite Aejys' objections, her three lieutenants, Tagalong, Hanadi, and
Johannes, had marked their fighting units as separate from the others.
Tagalong's Vorgeni wore black ribbons pinned to their shoulders in
consideration of Brendorn's death; Johannes' people wore red ribbons as close
to the color of his beard as they could find; Hanadi's guildsmyn wore green
for reasons known to Hanadi alone knew. Only the hostlers, the drivers, and
minor servants such as Eliahu did not wear Aejys' livery.
The mage had put aside his drab pilgrim's robes for a pair of dark brown
leather breeches and vest over a blue wool shirt with the cuffs rolled up half
way to his elbows. A heavy wool cloak kept back the morning chill. He looked
like a simple workingman save that his hands were soft and delicate. His eyes
had a distant, thoughtful look. He had learned much about Aejys since the day
of the duel. He knew the reputation of the Lion of Rowanslea, even from his
realm in the farthest north. He had begun his pilgrimage more out of curiosity
about the other realms than for religious reasons. Most of his life had been
spent in study and contemplation and the rest in the day-to-day task of
watching over his chill realm, caring for his people. There had been many
small adventures along the way as he journeyed south, but nothing of great
importance or serious challenge. Those who thought to bother him, ruffians,
rogues, and the goblin tribes learned quickly to avoid the slender small man
who wielded the ancient staff CallThunder. He was a man of subtle feelings and
gentle passions, now gripped by an eagerness and expectation unfamiliar to
him. Eliahu had seen signs of dark magics brewing in the lands of the goblins
to the north east of the Kwaklahmyn lands and could not help wondering,
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