Lady Warhawk (14 page)

Efrin laughed first, wrapping an arm around his daughter's shoulders. The three of them
continued to chuckle in brief bursts as they trudged the cold, quiet hallways through the fortress
to the living quarters. Mrillis knew her words weren't that funny, which only proved just how
tired they all were.

* * * *

Meghianna had seen Captain Ector face down five belligerent drunks with nothing but
his wits and his bare hands, and not flinch. She had heard stories of Ector's quick wits and
unflinching bravery from his men. She had seen the wounds he took, protecting several of his
downed men. Two men were alive now because he went back for them when they were knocked
unconscious in the battle, and carried them away over his own shoulder.

It amazed and amused her to sit in a quiet corner of the Warhawk's council room,
partially hidden by shadows, and see Ector fidget and sweat and grow paler by the moment as he
waited for Efrin to come in. Meghianna wondered if the servant who had come to fetch Ector so
very early that morning had given him any hint of what the Warhawk wanted. She suspected the
servant had vented his early rising on Ector, and hinted at the Warhawk's foul mood, when the
truth was the servant's foul mood and Efrin's very serious demeanor.

"Captain. Thank you for coming." Efrin's somber expression brightened the moment he
walked into the room and saw Ector, frozen in mid-step in front of one of the wide
windows.

"Warhawk. Majesty. Whatever I can do for you--" Ector cleared his throat and shook his
head. "Please forgive me for not being there when your son was attacked last night. I was
lax--"

"You, my dear Captain Ector, were a guest in my fortress, off-duty, and enjoying some
well-earned revelry." Efrin shook his head, beaming, and gestured for the soldier to take a seat
on one of the many stools lined up along the wall. He settled onto one and rested his hands on his
thighs, not at all a kingly posture.

Meghianna muffled a chuckle. Despite their very late night in council, she could see her
father was in a magnanimous, mischievous mood, his spirits still high after the victorious return
of his son. She wished she had come out of hiding to assure Ector that all would be well. She
didn't know what her father had planned, but her tales of Ector's service to her and to Athrar,
before and after he knew their true identities, had pleased Efrin. He had brought Ector here,
before most of the Court was stirring, to reward him. She wished she could have reassured Ector,
but she wasn't supposed to be here. She only knew about the meeting because she overheard
Efrin tell a servant last night to fetch Ector this morning.

"Majesty, still, it was slacking--" Ector sighed, finally sinking down on the stool, and
rubbed his face. Some color returned. "How may I serve you?"

"I hope you will continue to serve me and my son as devotedly as you did when you
thought he was just an innkeeper's boy. It is your choice, Captain Ector, but I do hope you will
freely choose the duty I offer you." Efrin chuckled when Ector sat up straighter and curiosity
drove away some stiffness and discomfort. "What do you think of Athrar, as a warrior?"

"He's just a lad, of course. Talented. Quick. Smart. But he has a long way to go. I gave
both lads some training. It was all in fun, of course. They liked it. I tried to impress on them, of
course, that soldiering and swordplay and battles weren't fun and glory. I took them into the
healer halls after a few skirmishes, to see what swords and arrows can do to a man's body. They
still wanted to go on with their lessons. Even though they got white and their eyes got bigger
than tankard bottoms, they had strong stomachs, those boys. You'd be proud of them." He
grinned. Then froze, obviously remembering just who he was talking to.

Efrin laughed, nodding. "If they were called to war now, what kind of soldiers would my
son and grandson be?"

"Honestly..." He swallowed hard. Meghianna imagined he silently berated himself to be
brave. "They're good lads, but their heads are still too full of the glory of war, not the reality.
Despite how much Kaldar and I tried to beat that reality into their heads. With all due respect,
Majesty."

"That's what I want, Captain. Full honesty. Meggi told me you'd be brave enough to tell
me the truth. There are few enough men who are brave enough. But go on. What kind of soldiers
are the boys?"

"They're equal to men who've been training two years, lucky enough not to have faced
real battle. They won't run away and mess their pants at the first gush of blood or the first stink
of Encindi madmen at the front of the ranks. They're both good, solid, dependable fighters.
Worthy to go into battle with your foot soldiers. And with a little training, they'll be good
mounted soldiers, too. You should have seen them practice on the inn's carthorse. They could
make the old gelding act like a horse a third his age and weight." He grinned, and flushed with
pleasure when Efrin laughed and reached across the gap to slap his arm in amusement.

"Do they have potential to be leaders? That's the important thing."

"Someday, Majesty. Lycen knows how to lead. He's been looking after all the younger
boys on our journey. Knows how to use authority without being a bully, how to turn words
around so the stubborn ones think they're agreeing instead of being ordered. Thrarin, though...
He's a good soldier, but he's far from being ready to be Warhawk. If you'll forgive me."

"No need to apologize." Efrin leaned back a little, so his shoulders touched the wall
behind him. He nodded, rubbing his chin, and his smile widened a little more. "Do you think you
can help mold him into the future Warhawk?"

"Me, sir?" Ector stood up so fast he knocked over the stool. "I'm no one, sir."

"My daughter trusted you to be a friend and a surrogate father to her brother and her son.
I trust Meggi's judgment over almost everyone in this world. I had you investigated years ago, of
course. I had all your military records to consult. Everyone speaks highly of you. And most
important, the boys like you and trust you and admire you. I don't want a man who's been
maneuvering all his life to become someone of power. I want a man who's been dedicated to the
people in his charge. A man who nearly lost his leg because he led his men into battle, rather
than sitting on a hill overlooking that battle, directing them like a big, bloody, noisy game of
Castles. I wouldn't offer this to you if I didn't think you were trustworthy and the kind of man I
wanted as an example for my son and grandsons."

"Grandsons, sir?"

Meghianna smothered a chuckle. She imagined Captain Ector focused on that word as
an escape from the enormity of what filled his mind.

"Megassa's sons need training, too. They'll be staying here to study to be Valors." Efrin
sighed, weariness settling into his face for the first time. "I'll need you to mold them into a unit,
with Athrar at their head. I need everyone of the Warhawk's bloodline working together, not
fighting each other for pre-eminence. I want them loyal to Athrar because he's earned their
respect, and not simply because he's the heir. I want Athrar to earn his sword and his authority
long before the Estall calls me home and Braenlicach is his to carry into battle."

"Majesty, you honor me." Ector swallowed hard and straightened his shoulders. "But I
must confess something, sir, before I even consider accepting."

"Confess? What can a man with a steady conscience and good record need to
confess?"

"Your daughter, Majesty. The Queen of Snows," Ector hurried to clarify. "I took the
liberty... Sir, she must have been insulted, but she was gracious and never punished me... Sir, I
didn't know she was Queen of Snows, and I regularly--"

"You were a suitor for the woman you thought of as Ianni the innkeeper, and you asked
her several times a year to marry you. Yes, Meggi told me."

"I insulted her. I've tried to apologize on the journey, but--"

"If you had insulted her, Meghianna would not have allowed you to continue to do
so."

"Yes, Majesty."

"Please, sit, Captain. We don't have much time, but if you're willing to take the
responsibility, I'd like to discuss the first phase of the boys' training with you."

Ector paused for a three-count, then he bowed deeply to Efrin, picked up and righted the
stool, and sat down.

Meghianna had suspected her father knew she was there. She was sure of it when Efrin
dragged out the meeting to nearly half an hour, and three times his gaze went to the shadowy
corner where she sat. He stayed in the room after he dismissed Ector, though she knew he likely
had several pressing matters waiting for him.

"That was cruel," she said, coming out of the shadows. "Making me sit still for so long.
You were laughing at me all the while, weren't you?"

"I was cruel? Eavesdropping is an ugly habit. Why didn't you become invisible and
simply slide out past us when you got tired of listening to battle strategy?" Efrin slowly got up
from the stool, arching his back and stretching, with a few groans interrupting his words.

Meghianna stopped with the retort caught in her throat. It struck her again that her father
was indeed getting old.

"Papa, Ector is a good man--"

"If you could have, Meggi, would you have married him?"

"Papa!"

"As you said, he is a good man. You like him very much. He adores you as much as the
boys. And if you had been free of your duty to your brother, I seriously doubt being Queen of
Snows would have stopped you from marrying the man you wanted."

"That's just the problem." She settled down on the stool Ector had used. "I want
someone who makes the Threads sing when he's near me. Like Glyssani makes music with
you."

"Ah. Of course. How did you ever remain an idealist, my dear, when you have had to be
such a realist to do your duty?"

"That is why." She let him take her hand and raise her from her seat, and went up on her
toes to kiss both his cheeks. "I need some hope and dreams of impossible things. Every girl
needs a touch of magic in her life. Even the Queen of Snows."

* * * *

Fall came too quickly for Mrillis that year. He had thought that having Athrar revealed
to the world would make the time drag, because it was now a race to see if Athrar would
complete his training before his enemies found a way to strike that fatal blow they all
dreaded.

He watched the six boys racing around the practice field on the matching gray horses
they insisted they had to have, to show they were a unit, and reflected on something Lady
Le'esha had told him when he was too young to understand. She had warned him that as he grew
older and the time that lay ahead of him was shorter than the time that lay behind him, the days
would go faster, until a decade passed faster, at age eighty, than a day passed when he was
eight.

"She was always right," Mrillis murmured, watching the boys. He felt very old some
days, and that surprised him. He was so used to feeling as if he moved in a state of suspension,
forever the age he had been when he was in his prime.

"I thought you would be here," Meghianna said, coming up to the wall where he sat.
With utter disregard for her gown, she hoisted herself up onto the wall to watch the boys. "How
do birth mothers learn to let go?" She gestured out at Lycen, who rode at the head of the
formation like an arrowhead. "I'm going to the Stronghold for the winter. I want to take Lycen
with me. I promised I would show him where his parents lived, where he was born, but... Do I
dare ask him to leave the others?"

"Take them all with you. The boys would be delighted with the adventure."

"The enchantment..." She sighed and gave him a rueful smile. "Yes, I am the Queen of
Snows. If anyone has authority over the protective enchantment, I am the one. But I don't like the
thought of altering it or even temporarily suspending it. It's not a vision... But I know, deep
inside me, where it makes my
imbrose
thrum in dark sounds..." She shuddered
faintly.

Mrillis knew what she meant, that sensation of portent and warning that only a
self-destructive fool would ignore.

"The longer an enchantment stays whole, the longer it can soak into the physical world
and anchor itself, the stronger it will be. I sense that someday, that enchantment will be vital to
saving this world. The keystone on which so many prophecies rest," she finished on a whisper.
And shivered.

"The village where the Ladies' husbands lived has been abandoned for decades. The
boys might find it an adventure to camp among the empty houses," Mrillis offered after a few
minutes of thought. "They made that blood vow, sealed with their
imbrose
. Impress on
them that their vow is the key into the village. Let them think they will lose access if they break
it."

Do you distrust Megs' sons, then?
Meghianna said, switching to conversing in
their thoughts. It wasn't necessary, with the boys so far away and making so much noise, but
Mrillis appreciated her discretion.

Not the boys, and not your sister. But Lorkin...
Mrillis sighed, feeling his age
again.
Anyone who can be so adamant in his distrust of magic, and yet smile and encourage
his sons and wife in the practice of their imbrose... That is not tolerance, but scheming.
Everything he does is calculated. I can't begin to figure out what threat he poses us.

If he doesn't love Megs... I swore once I would tear his soul to shreds. That vow
stands.

"No need, my dear." Mrillis mustered up a strained smile and wrapped his arm around
her shoulders, shaking her a little. "Do you think your sister will sit in a corner and mourn when
her heart is broken and her trust betrayed?"

Meghianna stared, then she laughed and shook her head. The laugh faded quickly, and
Mrillis knew she envisioned quite clearly her sister's fury if the man for whom she had
committed treason was revealed as someone who used her and their love for his own ends.