Darksong Rising (27 page)

“Thank you, lady..." As he took the proffered seat, the heavy and gray-haired counselor cleared

his throat, once and then again. "Ah...uhm... what I have to say might be considered

presumptuous, and I do not mean it to be taken such in the slightest... but I have had some

modest experience in observing the ways of rulers in Liedwahr..."

Anna nodded for the older man to continue.

“It is just... Lady Anna. . . that I overheard your words to Lord Jecks about... about the lords of

Defalk.... and at that time... it would not have been my place to offer any words... not in public...

but I have reflected.... and I trust... that in revealing my observations in private..."

Roundabout as Menares often was, seldom had he been so indirect. Anna caught herself

managing to keep from clicking her nails in impatience. “I will keep your observations between

us."

 
"Ah...thank you.” Menares cleared his throat again. “You had remarked that you felt that few

listened to you, except to obviate the threat of magical force which you could bring against

them... and you offered some words about how many of the Thirty-three and even lords

throughout Liedwahr responded but to the power of your sorcery.”

“I did." Anna wondered where Menares was headed, but tried to keep her eyes off the stack of

paper that represented what she needed to spend on armsmen. And what you really don’t have,

even with the golds coming from Dumar... if they arrive.

“You may recall that Lord Jecks pointed out that all men respond to power. You said that you yet

need worry about their complaints..." Menares paused, glancing at the Regent for a moment

before going on. “Yet the real complaint to which they will not give voice is that your power is

greater than theirs. Even Lord Behiem had once told me that the lords of Defalk
 
revered their

customs only insofar as those customs and traditions enhanced their power.” Menares gave a wry

smile. “I doubt that much has changed since his death.”

‘I doubt it,” Anna acknowledged.

Menares continued, speaking more smoothly, “Men are willful. Women may also be willful, but

there are few in power, save you and the Matriarch of Ranuak. Lords and rulers talk about

reason, and about the need to solve disputes without the use of force, but they require such

methods not because they admire them, but because all forms of power are limited, and the use

of force must be reserved for times when no other method can be employed. They are jealous,

my lady, because you are not bound by their limitations.

“They cannot match the force you can muster with your song magic... so they will try to weaken

your resolve to use it, and thus weaken you and Defalk, by claiming that you rule but by force of

magic. Yet all rulers maintain their reign by force. They cloak their force and call its differing

manifestations by various terms. Some, as do the Norweians, talk of the necessity of trade.

Others, such as the Sturinnese, talk of the freedom of the seas. Lord Behiem insisted he was but

the manifestation of the will of harmony. The Ranuans purchase their power with golds....”

He’s right... money is a kind of force—economic force. So is trade... so even is the ability to

logically persuade-—you could call that intellectual force. Avery was great at that.... Anna found

her nails clicking together and clasped her hands under the table to stop the mannerism.

“The great lords talk of harmony and of the need for agreement and peace, but all the words and

the maneuverings—they rest on the armsmen and the golds they control.”

Politics is really only a system for legitimizing the use of force in the minds of the people—or in

the minds of the lords of the Thirty-three.... “You’ve thought about this,” Anna said. “But I must

worry about whether the people feel there is truth in what they’ve charged. I have used force.

I’ve used a lot of force. They know I have this power. So why do they require me to use force?”

“Force is distasteful to the people,” Menares replied. ‘To some people. If you always use force,

then some of the lords believe that you will be less popular with the people.”

‘That could happen. Easily,” Anna said. “I worry about it.”

“Worry you must, but worry most about not using your powers, my lady. Few powerful rulers

lose their lives and kingdoms, but many have failed for lack of use of their powers.”

Was life that brutal—or that direct—when you stripped away the facades of society? She

nodded. Almost all people wanted things their own way. Societies developed because the weaker

needed protection against the strong. Ruling elites developed ways to attain their goals without

unnecessary brutality. She laughed, almost bitterly. Dowries and marriage—a bartering of

women—little more than economic coercion... the indirect use of force to reduce women to

commodities by male power brokers.

Menares swallowed. “I have spoken more... perchance than I should...."

“No... you haven’t. I’m glad to have your words, Menares. I really am. You’ve reminded me of

some pretty basic truths, and regents and rulers sometimes need reminding." She offered a smile.

“Even we forget what we shouldn’t.” Or never had to think about except in political science

classes years ago.

“Thank you, my lady.”

Anna rose. “Thank you, Menares.”

After the old counselor left, Anna sat, looking down at the stacks of accounts. Her lips tightened. When I

became Regent, there were no coins: so that form of power wasn’t available. Nor was the power of

politics because I’m a woman, and most lords disliked or distrusted women with power, and insisted on

my proving that I had power and knew how to use it. They were the ones who required I use force. They

wouldn’t do anything except bicker among themselves until I did—and then they complained.

Why was it always different for women when they got power? Dieshr had schemed her way to being chair

of the music department at Ames, and the moment she retired, the men would be at her throat Of course,

there, position and control of funds had been power. Anna tightened her lips. Someone like the Liedfuhr

of Mansuur could use coins instead of force. The Norweians had trade, and fleets of ships. As Regent of a

land that had yet to recover from nearly a decade of drought, what resources did she have? None—except

her powers as a sorceress—and every time she used them, some lord or another whined or whimpered that

all she could do was destroy something.

No one talked about the bridges she’d built, or the drought she’d ended, or the peace she’d brought to

Defalk itself.

If this were a book, the male readers would be complaining that all this sorceress does is fry people... but

it’s not, and I haven’t been able to come up with any better alternatives—and neither have my male

advisors. So... the only sin of which I'm really guilty is a failure to use my power in differing ways? Anna

laughed, but the sound was hollow in the receiving room.

24

Leaning over the conference table that served as her working desk, Anna rubbed her forehead and her

eyes. She wasn’t sleeping that well.... wondering about what was happening in Ebra, in Pamr, in Neserea,

and with who knew how many lords of the Thirty-three. She couldn’t keep up with it, even with scrying

sorcery, not without being totally exhausted all the time. And there was the underlying strain of

wondering whether she’d waited long enough before trying to retrieve any message Elizabetta

might have written. If you try too early... you’ll destroy anything she has written with fire... too

long, and she’ll lose hope…faith... whatever...

Anna took a deep breath and glanced toward the woman sitting across the table—Dythya—

waiting patiently for Anna to refocus her attention on the problems involved with governing

Defalk itself. The accounts for the liedstadt—what passed for a national government—were her

responsibility—and a general disaster. Even with the four thousand golds sent from Dumar the

treasury didn’t hold really enough golds to do more than scrape by.

“How much will it cost to arm and maintain another tenscore lancers?” Anna asked.

“Almost a thousand golds for arms and mounts, and another thousand each year for wages and

food,” answered Dythya. “That is, if the weather is good, and food is not dear, and if there is no

horse fever.”

"We’ll still have to spend several hundred each year for replacement arms and mounts...." mused

Anna. Yet the Liedfuhr can casually send fiftyscore lancers to Neserea. That has to cost him as

much as us... say something like five thousand golds a year or more." That’s like a quarter of

your total budget... and you think you can build Defalk into an independent power?

Anna massaged her forehead again before a thought struck her, and she pulled a gold coin from

her belt wallet and examined it, slowly. The image struck on the coin was that of a woman, and

the lettering though worn, read “Mutter Harmonie” Anna smiled, wondering if Mansuuran coins

held the legend “Vater Harmonie” except that “harmonie” was feminine. She shook her head.

Stop woolgathering... “Defalk doesn’t make... mint... its own coins, does it?”

“Not for generations. It’s said Lord Jecks has a gold piece that was struck by the last Corian lord,

and Lord Mietchel has several Suhlmorran pieces.”

Anna fingered the small heavy coin for a time, then nodded, looking at the gray-haired

counselor, “Dythya...?"

“Yes, Lady Anna?”

“Do you know if there was ever any place in Defalk where gold was once mined?” Anna knew

that no such mines existed now, but that didn’t mean that there hadn’t been mines at some time.

“Gold?” Dythya raised her eyebrows.

“Or silver, but gold would be better.” Anna reached for the water goblet.

“There were mines near Nordland,” answered the counselor slowly. “Lord Clethner would know”

Anna had to concentrate. Nordland? She shook her head. Nordland was practically in Nordwei “Is there

anywhere east of Falcor?”