THREE DROPS OF BLOOD (21 page)

"I told you," Markas said.

Meghianna's magic hadn't changed his voice, and the sound of an adolescent boy's voice
coming from a young woman's mouth startled Ynessa, so she took several hasty steps backwards
until she ran up against the door. Then astonishment opened her eyes wide and she smiled
uncertainly.

"Markas?"

"They're helping me sneak out, so we can get help. The Warhawk is coming to rescue
Mother," the boy hurried to explain.

"We all had better leave quickly, if we don't want to be taken prisoner and forced to
fight our way free," Megassa said. "Ynessa, do you want to come with us?"

"I have an idea," Meghianna said, before the young woman could respond. Judging by
the brightness in her eyes, she was about to say yes.

She contacted Pirkin through the Threads, startling the young man enough that he
listened and didn't ask a single question. Then Meghianna stomped down the stairs to the main
hall of the castle, prepared to throw a temper tantrum to make up for all the tantrums she had
never thrown. Long ago, Nalla had told her that a powerful woman's strongest weapon was to
refrain from reminding people of her power. At all times, she should act and speak and move
with restraint and delicacy, and most of all discretion and reasonableness. Then, when she found
it necessary to demand and to scream and vent her temper, the shock of the contrast with her
usual behavior would be enough to get her anything she wanted.

Meghianna hoped people would be so intimidated by the image she planned to present,
no one would realize that one more person left the castle that evening than entered it that
afternoon.

She demanded Timark's presence. When the sullen man-at-arms said he was gone, she
demanded Glyssani. When told that the queen was ill and on one was permitted to intrude on her,
Meghianna demanded Lord Markas, then the seneschal, then anyone of any power whatsoever in
the castle. With each demand unanswered, her voice grew harsher and louder, and she increased
the magical nimbus enfolding her. Within fifteen minutes of stomping down the stairs, sparks
and tiny bursts of lightning spun out to bounce off the walls and ceiling of the great hall. The
sight of people in Welcairn livery ducking and dodging was enough to make her want to
laugh--but she couldn't, because she had everything invested in presenting an unreasonable, shrewish,
arrogant manner and face and voice.

"Enough of this!" She flung up her hands and blood-red sparks shot through the air,
making more than a dozen harried, increasingly fearful people duck and leap back out of the
way. "I have never been so rudely treated in all my life. I refuse to stay in this pestilent hole one
more minute. Megassa!" Magic augmented her voice, so it echoed and rang throughout the
castle, and everyone within view cringed. "We are leaving immediately!"

Meghianna saw one man open his mouth to protest, obeying his master's command that
no one was allowed to leave the castle. She turned her back on him and walked away, mentally
daring him to try to restrain her. No one followed her as she stomped at double speed out of the
room and up the stairs to the guest quarters.

Megassa, Ynessa, Pirkin and Markas had been busy while Meghianna indulged in her
mummery, and had everything packed. The four Valors who had accompanied them had come at
Megassa's first call through the Threads and had their gear ready for flight. From the grim
expressions they wore and their tendency to surround Markas, they knew all the details and
didn't find the subterfuge of the future king disguised as a girl amusing in the slightest. She
silently blessed them, and thanked the Estall they had been assigned to accompany her.

She paused in the flurry of preparing to leave--and fight their way out of the castle, if
need be--to offer a prayer to the Estall for safety and success. Then she contacted Mrillis through
the Threads and sent him a quick image of everything they had done and intended to do.
Meghianna thanked the Estall she had the strength to talk to Mrillis over such a long distance.
How else, she wondered, could she have had the courage to do this, without his guidance? She
had the strength, she had the talent, she had the authority as Queen of Snows to do anything she
thought necessary, but she hoped she was wise enough to know her lack of experience could be a
severe disadvantage to them all.

Clever girl
, Mrillis said, after several seconds of utter silence following her
report, when Meghianna feared she had lost him or stunned him or worse, disappointed him.
Such people expect the worst of everyone, so they expect such actions from you. Even if all
reports painted an entirely different picture of you, they would not question you acting as you
have done. Now flee, and know your father and I are on our way with the best of the Warhawk's
forces. I have called all the Valors on Moerta to your aid. Your father sends his love and his
approval to you both.

"Lord Mrillis and Papa approve," Meghianna reported, feeling a little breathless, as she
opened her eyes and found all her companions watching her. She laughed when the Valors and
Pirkin showed relief at her words. She wasn't entirely confident in her skills or the wisdom of her
plan, so how could she fault them for being uncertain? She wasn't used to subterfuge and
play-acting and hiding her intent. Now that she thought of it, she wasn't used to bullying and
demanding, either.

Their departure from the castle was an anti-climax. Only a few people in the inner and
outer courtyards even stopped to look at them. No one protested, though Meghianna caught a
few faces peering over the parapets and through the arrow slits of the outer wall, watching them.
Two women stopped them as they went down the last staircase, each wanting to know why
Ynessa was going with them. All it took was for Pirkin to wrap his arm around his sweetheart's
waist and for Ynessa to blush and stammer. Both women smiled and urged them to hurry before
the seneschal caught them. No one scolded Ynessa for deserting Glyssani in her illness, and that
made Meghianna wonder just where the half-blood girl stood in everyone's estimation. Good
enough for her fellow ladies to approve her fleeing with her sweetheart, but not high enough for
anyone to protest her leaving? Perhaps she had led even more of a sheltered life than she had
guessed. It was one thing to know about the prejudices between Rey'kil and Noveni, and the hard
line that half-bloods walked. It was another to see the effects on the innocent caught between two
nations and races.

"Why didn't they ask about me?" Markas asked, once they were far enough away from
the castle that distance and the sound of their horses' hooves covered his voice.

"No one recognized you, so they assumed you belonged with us," Pirkin said. "People
pay more attention to strangers entering than they do to strangers leaving."

"That's a mistake they won't make again," the boy muttered. Even through the
alterations of Meghianna's magic, his grim expression was clear. She knew then he would make
a strong, wise king, and a valuable ally.

The child Glyssani and my father will have will be his half-brother,
Meghianna
realized.
He will be my half-brother's strongest supporter--or his most deadly enemy, if we
bungle anything that happens in the next few moons. Or even years. Oh, blessed Estall, protect
us all. Protect the generations yet to be born.

She knew then that no matter how deep and strong the attraction and bonding between
Glyssani and Efrin might prove to be, she had to ensure they did not marry until Markas had
reached his majority and took his father's throne. Only then could Glyssani leave her post and
duty as regent for her son. It was the only way Efrin could avoid any blame or scandal.
Especially if anything happened to Markas before he gained his crown.

I'm sorry, Papa. How you will ache in the years of waiting. Even more than you ever
ached for my mother.
Meghianna chafed at the burden of the knowledge, and the fear that
she might have misread the situation.

She tried to push that consideration into the back of her mind, to deal with later when
her companions didn't fear for their lives and freedom quite so much. The Valors took up the
duty of seeking ahead and behind them with magic, to ensure they had a clear path and that no
one followed them. She was glad to let them take up the duty of protecting Markas, but that
didn't mean she would ride and conserve her energy. She tested the Threads, sending her
thoughts along them in every direction, seeking every bit of disturbance or trouble, the slightest
discord of fear or pain or sickness.

Despite knowing the general location of Tantagar, and the description Markas and
Pirkin had both given them as they rode, it shocked her when her mind touched on the knot of
poisoned growth that surrounded the tower. Meghianna gasped aloud, so that Megassa and
Pirkin, riding on either side of her, reached out a hand as if they feared she would fall off her
horse.

"I found Tantagar through the Threads," she said, and paused to wipe new sweat from
her face. "It is worse than I imagined, worse than you described. If I did not know better, I would
think someone had been encouraging the foulness growing there."

"I think Timark has been herding the warped animals there," Markas said. "He has men
stationed there, Encindi blood, and some men that I heard failed their Valor training. They spend
most of their time out in the wild lands, looking for monsters. Timark claims he is doing it to
protect our people, but what if he's using them? Can you train monsters to act like guard
dogs?"

"The Nameless One did," Megassa said, surprising them. "I read that after the fortress
on Flintan was stormed and the three children were rescued from sacrifice, the soldiers who
came in to clear out the sickness there found cells where men and beasts were kept penned up
with raw star-metal. It warped them, made them insane and twisted in their bodies. I read that
pregnant women were kept in cells lined with raw star-metal. Their children came out of the
womb twisted and strong and insane, and the Nameless One intended to turn them into an
army."

"That isn't part of our Valor training," Pirkin said, "though I do remember some
reference to it among all that history we had to read." He shook his head, his expression
darkening and grim. "Thank the Estall, those days are behind us."

"Such days are never behind us until we learn history's lesson and keep it clearly before
our eyes, so we never repeat such wickedness," Meghianna said.

"So... We can expect all sorts of monsters, both men and animals, waiting for us when
we reach Tantagar," Kettin, the leader of the four Valors, said. He glanced around and met the
gazes of his three fellow Valors. They all nodded, and Meghianna felt a sense of warmth and
safety from their determined, somber expressions.

It was ridiculous, she knew, to feel that way. She had the power and strength and
training to protect all of them without much effort on her part. The combined
imbrose
of
everyone else in their party couldn't match up to even a fraction of her power. The difference,
she knew, was that they had experience in battle and strategy and ambushes. She had only her
reading and theorizing. Who was better suited to protect them? The weaker and more
experienced, of course.

This journey had turned into more of a learning experience for her than she had
anticipated. Meghianna wondered if her father felt any guilt or worry on her and Megassa's
behalf. What had started out as a simple fact-finding expedition, and a possible exercise of her
authority as Queen of Snows, to take Glyssani out of an unpleasant situation, had turned into an
adventure that could change the course of history for both continents.

When she shared that thought with Megassa, after they finally stopped near midnight to
make camp, her sister laughed.

"We'll be written into the history scrolls for this, no doubt," Megassa said, muffling
more laughter into snorts. Her gaze softened when she looked across the fire at Markas, finally
free of his disguise and dead asleep, leaning against Kettin, who had taken the boy under his
wing. "What I want to know is, who will get more written about them? You and I, for stumbling
into the foul situation, Timark for his nefarious plot...or Papa and Glyssani?" Her voice dropped
to a whisper. "If they are soul-mates, as your vision says, history will claim that Papa laid siege
to Welcairn Castle to capture her and carry her off and make her his bride. If I know the way
rumors twist everything, two generations from now, people will believe Glyssani and Timark
were married, or betrothed, and Papa took one look at her, decided she had to be his, and fought
Timark to possess her."

"Will this battle be for love, or for lust and power?" Meghianna said, deciding to find
humor in her sister's speculations. She was just tired enough that everything could be extremely
funny, or send her into tears. She preferred laughter, after all they had done this day.

"It would be nice to have people fighting for love of me someday," her sister murmured,
her gaze losing focus as she gazed into the fire.

"You, my dear sister, are more likely to fight a dozen women over the warrior you want
to possess."

Megassa sat up and stared at her, mouth open, for a good ten heartbeats. Then she
shrieked laughter and fell backward against her saddle backrest. Meghianna noted the laughter
didn't disturb either Markas or Ynessa, who were both exhausted from their journey.

* * * *

Lord Mrillis?

Meghianna's voice startled him, and Mrillis smiled to realize he had started to doze in
the saddle. The Warhawk's forces rode straight through, ignoring mere dividing lines such as
night and day.

Here. Are you well?

We're safe and fed and close to Tantagar.

Show me.
He tamped down the sympathy he felt, and the shudder of loathing
that came to him from Meghianna's mind.