none (3 page)

I am still reluctant.”

“I know,” Damon said, looking down the road. They were now within sight of the great front gates of Armida, the hereditary estate of the Domain of Alton. Home, he thought, and Ellemir waiting for him. “But even if all
you
 
say is true, Leonie, I do not know what we can do to stop Callista. She is no silly young girl in the grip of infatuation; she is a woman grown, Tower-trained, skilled, accustomed to having her own way, and I think she will do her will, regardless of us all.”

Leonie sighed. She said, “I would not force her back unwilling; the burden of a Keeper is too heavy tobe borne unconsenting. I have borne it a lifetime, and I know.” She seemed weary, weighed down by it. “Yet Keepers are not easy to come by. If I can save her for Arilinn, Damon, you know I must.”

Damon knew. The old psi gifts of the Seven Domains, bred into the genes of the Comyn familieshundreds or thousands of years ago, were thinned now, dying out. Telepaths were rarer than ever before. It could no longer be taken for granted that even the sons and daughters of the direct line of each Domainwould have the gift, the inherited psi power of his House. And now, not many cared. Damon’s elderbrother, heir to the Ridenow family of Serrais, had no
 
laran
 
. Damon, himself, was the only one of hisbrothers to possess
 
laran
 
in full measure, and he had been in no way specially honored for it. On thecontrary, his work in the Tower had made his brothers scorn him as something less than a man. It washard to find telepaths strong enough for Tower work. Some of the ancient Towers had been closed andstood dark, no longer teaching, training, working with the ancient psi sciences of Darkover. Outsiders,those with only minimal Comyn blood, had been admitted to the lesser Towers, though Arilinn kept to theold ways and allowed only those closely related by blood to the Domains to come there. And fewwomen could be found with the strength, the psi skill, the stamina—and the courage and willingness tosacrifice almost everything which made life dear to a woman of the Domains—to endure the terriblediscipline of the Keepers, Who would they find to take Callista’s place?

Either way, then, was tragedy. Arilinn must lose a Keeper—or Andrew a wife, Callista a husband. Damon sighed deeply and said, “I know, Leonie,” and they rode in silence toward the great gates of Armida.

Chapter Two

«^»

From the outer courtyard of Armida, Andrew Carr saw the approaching riders. He summoned groomsand attendants for their horses, then went into the main hall to announce their coming.

“That will be Damon coming back,” Ellemir said in excitement, and ran out into the courtyard. Andrew

followed more slowly, Callista close at his side.

Page 8

“It is not only Damon,” she said, and Andrew knew, without asking, that she had used her psi awareness to guess at the identity of the riders. He was used to this now, and it no longer seemed uncanny or frightening.

She smiled up at him, and once again Andrew was struck by her beauty. He tended to forget it when hewas not looking at her. Before he ever set eyes on her, he had come to know her mind and heart, hergentleness, her courage, her quick understanding. He had come to know, and value, her gaiety and wit,even when she was alone, terrified, imprisoned in the darkness of Corresanti.

But she was beautiful too, very beautiful, a slender, long-limbed young woman, with coppery hair looselybraided down her back, and gray eyes beneath level brows. She said as she walked at his side, “It is Leonie, the
 
leronis
 
of Arilinn. She has come, as I asked.”

He took her hand lightly in his own, though this was always a risk. He knew she had been trained anddisciplined, by methods he could never guess, to avoid the slightest touch. But this time, although herfingers quivered, she let them lie lightly in his, and it seemed that the faint trembling in them was a stormwhich shook her, inwardly, through her schooled calm. He could just see, faintly, on the slender handsand wrists, a number of tiny scars, like healed cuts or burns. Once he had asked her about them. She hadshrugged them away, saying only, “They are old, long healed. They were… aids to memory.” She hadnot been willing to say more, but he could guess what she meant, and horror shook him again. Could heever truly know this woman?

“I thought
you
 
were Keeper of Arilinn, Callista,” he asked now.

“Leonie has been Keeper since before I was born. I was taught by Leonie to take her place one day. I had already begun to work as Keeper. It is for her to release me, if she will.” Again there was the faint shivering, the quickly withdrawn glance. What hold did that terrible old woman have over Callista?

Andrew watched Ellemir running toward the gate. How like she was to Callista—the same tallslenderness, the same coppery-golden hair, the same gray eyes, dark-lashed, level-browed—but sodifferent, Ellemir, from her twin! With a sadness so deep he did not know it was envy, Andrew watched Ellemir run to Damon, saw him slide from his saddle and catch her up for a hug and a long kiss. Would Callista ever be free enough to run to him that way?

Callista led him toward Leonie, who had been carefully assisted from her saddle by one of her escorts. Callista’s slim fingers were still resting in his, a gesture of defiance, a deliberate breaking of taboo. Heknew she wanted Leonie to see. Damon was presenting Ellemir to the Keeper.

“You lend us grace, my lady. Welcome to Armida.”

Andrew watched intently as Leonie put back her hood. Braced for some hideous domineering crone, hewas shocked to see that she was only a frail, thin, aging woman, with eyes still dark-lashed and lovely,and the remnants of what must have been remarkable beauty. She did not look stern or formidable, butsmiled at Ellemir kindly.

“You are very like Callista, child. Your sister has taught me to love you; I am glad to know you at last.” Her voice was light and clear, very soft. Then she turned to Callista, holding out her hands in a gesture of greeting.

“Are you well again,
 
chiya
 
?” It was enough of a surprise that anyone could call the poised Callista “little

Page 9

girl.” Callista let go of Andrew’s hand; her fingertips just brushed Leonie’s.

“Oh, yes, quite well,” she said, laughing, “but I still sleep like a nursery-child, with a light in my room, so I will not wake to darkness and think myself again in the accursed caverns of the catmen. Are you ashamed of me, kinswoman?”

Andrew bowed formally. He knew enough of Darkovan manners now not to look at the
 
leronis
 
directly,but he felt Leonie’s gray eyes resting on him. Callista said, with a little thrill of defiance in her voice, “Thisis Andrew, my promised husband!”

“Hush,
 
chiya
 
, you have no right to say so yet,” Leonie rebuked. “We will speak of this later; for now I

must greet my host.”

Recalled to her duty as hostess, Ellemir dropped Damon’s hand and conducted Leonie up the steps. Andrew and Callista followed, but when he reached for Callista’s hand she drew it away, not deliberatelybut with the absent habit of years. He felt she did not even know he was there.

The Great Hall of Armida was an enormous stone-floored room, furnished in the old manner, withbenches built in along the wall, and ancient banners and weapons hung above the great stone fireplace. At one end of the hall was a fixed table. Near this,
 
Dom
 
Esteban Lanart, Lord Alton, was lying on awheeled bed, flattened against pillows. He was a huge, heavy man, broad-shouldered, with thick, curlyred hair liberally salted with gray. As the guests came in he said testily, “Dezi, lad, put me up for myguests,” and a young man seated on one of the benches sprang up, skillfully piled pillows behind his backand lifted the old man to a sitting position. Damon had thought at first that the boy was one of Esteban’sbody-servants, then he noticed the strong family resemblance between the old Comyn lord and theyoungster who was lifting him.

He was only a boy, whiplash thin, with curly red hair and eyes more blue than gray, but the featureswere almost those of Ellemir.

He looks like Coryn
, Damon thought. Coryn had been
 
Dom
 
Esteban’s first son, by a long-dead firstwife. Older than Ellemir and Callista by many years, he had been Damon’s sworn friend when they wereboth in their teens. But Coryn had been dead and buried for many years. And he had not been oldenough to leave a son this age—not quite.
 
The boy is an Alton, though
 
, Damon thought.
 
But who ishe? I’ve never seen him before
 
!

Leonie, however, seemed to recognize him at once. “So, Dezi, you have found a place for yourself?”

The boy said with an ingratiating grin, “Lord Alton sent for me, to come and make myself useful here, mylady.”

Esteban Lanart said, “Greetings, kinswoman, forgive me that I cannot rise to welcome you to my hall. You lend me grace,
 
Domna
 
.” He caught the direction of Damon’s gaze and said offhandedly, “I’dforgotten you don’t know our Dezi. His name is Desiderio Leynier. He’s supposed to be a
 
nedestro
 
sonto one of my cousins, though poor Gwynn died before he could get around to having him legitimated. Wehad him tested for
 
laran
 
—he was at Arilinn for a season or two—but when I needed someone aroundme all the time, Ellemir remembered he was home again, and so I sent for him. He’s a good lad.”

Damon felt shocked. How casually, even brutally,
 
Dom
 
Esteban had spoken, in Dezi’s very presence, ofthe boy’s bastardy and his poor-relation status! Dezi’s mouth had tightened but he kept his composure,and Damon warmed to him. So young Dezi also knew what it was to find the warmth and closeness of a

Page 10

Tower circle, and then be shut out from it again!

“Damn it, Dezi, that’s enough pillows, stop fussing,” Esteban commanded. “Well, Leonie, this is no way to welcome you under my roof after so many years, but you must take the will for the deed and consider yourself bowed to, formally welcomed, and all courtesies duly done, as I should indeed do if I could rise from this accursed bed!”

“I need no courtesies, cousin,” Leonie said, coming closer. “I only regret to find you like this. I had

heard you were wounded, but did not know how serious it was.”

“I didn’t know either. It was a small wound—I’ve had deeper and more painful ones from a fishhook—but small or large, the spine was damaged, and they say I will never walk again.”

Leonie said, “It is often so with spinal injuries; you are fortunate to have the use of your hands.”

“Oh, yes, I suppose so. I can sit in a chair, and Damon devised a brace for my back so that I can sit without drooping like a baby too small for his high chair. And Andrew is helping to supervise the estate and the livestock, while Dezi is here to run errands for me. I can still run things from my chair, so I suppose I am fortunate, as you say. But I was a soldier, and now…” He broke off, shrugging. “Damon, my lad, how went your campaign?”

“There is little to tell, Father-in-law,” Damon said. “Such catmen as are not dead have fled to their

forests. A few made a last stand, but they died. Beyond that, nothing.”

Esteban chuckled wryly. “It is easy to see you are no soldier, Damon! Even though I have reason toknow you can fight when you must! Some day, Leonie, it will be told everywhere, how Damon bore mysword into Corresanti against the catmen, linked in mind through the matrix—but another time for that! For now, I suppose if I want details of the campaign and the battles, I will have to ask Eduin; he knowswhat I want to hear! As for you, Leonie, have you come to bring my foolish girl back to her senses, andtake her back to Arilinn where she belongs?”

“Father!” Callista protested. Leonie smiled faintly.

“It is not as easy as that, cousin, and I am sure you know it.”

“Forgive me, kinswoman.” Esteban looked abashed. “I am remiss in hospitality. Ellemir will show you to

your rooms— damn the girl, where has she gone to now?” He raised his voice in a shout. “Ellemir!”

Ellemir came hastily through the door at the back, wiping flour stained hands on a long apron. “Themaids called me to help with the pastries, Father—they are young and unskilled. Forgive me,kinswoman.” She dropped her eyes, hiding her floury hands. Leonie said kindly, “Don’t apologize forbeing a conscientious housekeeper, my girl.”