Kings Of The North Part 35

"Then she might actually learn discipline?"

"She will, or she will not gain her ruby," Kieri said.

"And you?" The king seemed to be looking for that ruby.

"My ruby is still in the cabinet in the Knight-Commander's office, in a little box with my name on it, should I give my oath to Falk."

"You are strange," the king said. "You are not what I thought."

"Nor are you," Kieri said. "But it has grown late as we talked. Let us sup a little, and sleep, and in the morning consider what is best for both our kingdoms."

"And where shall I sleep?" the king asked, a little of his earlier suspicion returning.

"Not in my my bed," Kieri said. "But if you will, in the same room where your daughter stayed when she was here." bed," Kieri said. "But if you will, in the same room where your daughter stayed when she was here."

"Locked in?"

"Watched, if you come out," Kieri said. "Have you no guards in your own palace in Rostvok?"

The king nodded.

The Knight-Commander, in Falk's red and white, sat with Elis at one end of the table; Kieri and the king of Pargun sat at the other. Kieri's sword lay athwart the table, a reminder whose domain it was, in case emotion overpowered reason. Elis, in the leaf-brown uniform of Falk's Hall for first-year students, sat bolt upright, pale, lips compressed. She was here by the Knight-Commander's orders, as Kieri knew, and she did not look at her father.

Her father scarce looked at anything else in the room but her. Kieri tapped the table to get his attention. "We are met to discuss grave matters of state," he said. "Pargun is in disarray, and that disarray threatens to spill over its borders, the king tells me. Knight-Commander, I believe you have not met the king of Pargun: I present him to you. And to you, Sir King-" The t.i.tle felt strange in his mouth, but it must be given. "-I present the Knight-Commander of Falk, he who commands in Falk's Hall, where Knights of Falk are trained."

The two men acknowledged each other with a seated bow. The Knight-Commander spoke. "I have brought Elis of Pargun as you requested, my lord king. As a student in Falk's Hall, she cannot travel alone, and she wishes to remain there until she has earned her ruby. As her guardian while she is under my command, I must ask if you intend to withdraw your support of her candidacy."

"No," Kieri said. "I support her still."

"Then it was not to send her home you had her brought here?"

"No," Kieri said. "I do not go back on my word. But her land and mine are at risk of war, and her father, Pargun's king, would have her know what is happening."

Elis opened her mouth, glanced at the Knight-Commander, and closed it again. Kieri turned to the king of Pargun.

"She is here," he said. "And, you can see, unharmed. Have speech with her, if you would." Down the table, he saw Elis pale even more; her eyes were wide.

"Daughter," the king of Pargun said. He cleared his throat. "Elis, the king knows...you must know...I did not, on my honor, want you to kill this king. What Countess Settik told you was a lie."

"Your honor honor!" she said, her voice edged with scorn. The Knight-Commander touched her arm; she folded her lips.

"I did break my word to you, that is true," the king said. "I did have you drugged and brought here-I thought your wish to live alone was but a willful girl's daydream, and you owed duty to serve Pargun in some way. Here, as a king's wife, you could do that, and this man-though as I thought a rough soldier-would neither fear you nor be disgusted by your own rough ways."

Elis said nothing, staring at Kieri's sword on the table with lips folded tight.

"I did not know, until this king told me of his talks with you, about the poisoned knife. I did not know that my brother planned to challenge me for the kingdom and so he told me-told all the court-that this king had not only refused to wed you, but had sold you to a brothel of soldiers."

Her head came up; her eyes flashed. "Einar?"

"Indeed. And before all he questioned my judgment and my fitness to rule. If I was so weak that for peace I would send my daughter to such dishonor, and not avenge her myself, with my own hands, then it was time for a better man, a stronger man, to rule Pargun or the whole kingdom would be sold like a slave." The king swallowed. "It was he who urged me on to send you in the first place."

"And now," Kieri said, "the Pargunese army waits across the river for their chance to attack and fire our forests and burn us all."

"Burn the forest?" the Knight-Commander said.

"Yes," the king of Pargun said. "It is what Einar said he would do to avenge both me, if I did not come back alive with proof that I had killed this king, and you, Elis. Our funeral pyre, to cleanse our honor and that of Pargun."

"You burn your own dead?" the Knight-Commander said, in a tone of horror.

"You do not?" the king said. "But-but how do you free their spirits, if you do not give them an honorable fire?"

Kieri spoke, before that got out of hand. "We can discuss later the ways of honoring the dead," he said. "But you must know, Sir King, that we burn only those whose evil threatens the land: orcs, other vile creatures, and the worst of criminals. Here is another difference between us that could be easily misunderstood."

The king chewed his mustache. The Knight-Commander had the expression of a man discovering half a worm in a fruit he has just bitten. Kieri went on.

"We must think and act quickly. The king, if he returns to Pargun without Elis and proof of my death, faces rebellion and death. If lucky, he tells me, he will be allowed to face his brother alone in mortal combat. He might prevail, if the fight is fair, but he might be killed through a chance of war or through treachery. Otherwise he will be killed, as soon as his army knows he has not avenged the presumed dishonor of his daughter, and his brother will take command-as it is clear from what the king has told me has been his brother's intention all along."

Kieri looked at the Knight-Commander. "Something we did not know-to these people, the Webmistress has appeared as a helper, even a savior, as she has enmeshed them in her plots without their awareness."

"That cannot be," the Knight-Commander said. "Every man and woman can sense evil and good-"

"Unless through long exposure they have been blinded and deafened," Kieri said. "They accepted her aid first in a time of great peril for them; they were new in the land and did not know one from another. But it is her influence that has kept them hostile so long, and she has kept them fearful with her lies and insinuations, and her punishments as well."

"You say they were new in the land-where did your people come from?" The Knight-Commander now looked at the king of Pargun.

"From across the eastern sea, from the land below the mountains," he said. "Those lords from Aare came and drove us out, enslaving us, tormenting us. We came here for refuge, for we had fished in these waters since time began."

"Ancestors of those who tormented me also tormented them," Kieri said. "And it was his people-the Seafolk-who brought me home again when I escaped my tormentor. We have that in common. It is not much, but it must be enough if we are not to see this land ablaze with war, and his as well. You know what the elves and some of the Council thought, when the sword proclaimed me. They were afraid I would bring war here, though I swore I had no such intent. A soldier, they said, could not bring peace."

"But you did-"

"No." Kieri shook his head. "I meant to; I wanted to. But I did not know enough-I did not know that in Pargun they believe all women soldiers-even women knights-are but playthings of the men they serve with. He believed all these years that the women who joined my Company and others were lured from home, from the protection of brothers and fathers, and then abused."

"Falk's Hall?" The Knight-Commander sounded as furious as Kieri had first felt.

"Yes. And his informants, her escorts-" He nodded at Elis. "-told him the same. So in my attempt to honor her wishes, and do her honor by sending her to you, where I knew she would be safe, I provoked this conflict. True, the king's brother had intended it, but I fell into his trap the same way the Pargunese as a whole fell into Achrya's."

"I must go back," Elis said in a small voice. "I must go back, mustn't I? To save the kingdoms. To save..." Her voice faltered. "To save the king's life."

"No," Kieri said. "If you went back, they would not believe what you said. Your father told me so. They want you back, but only to lock you up. That is a waste of any young life, let alone that of a princess of Pargun."

"But then he-"

"Be still, recruit," the Knight-Commander said, but not roughly. "You are not yet in command." Her cheeks flushed, but she said nothing. To Kieri, he said, "You have a plan?"

"I have a thought to lay before you," Kieri said. "Early this morning we two kings met and laid out every possibility we could think of. We may have missed something, but we think we have a way to have peace, with a king we know on the throne of Pargun, and Elis of Pargun safe and unmarried."

"A great ending, if such is possible," the Knight-Commander said.

"It will need your cooperation, and Elis's, if it is possible at all," Kieri said. "And Pargun may yet flare into war, for the king now understands that Achrya held her own aims, not the welfare of Pargun, uppermost. His brother, surely, is deep in her toils, committed to her service, and yet I believe these men-this king and many others-to be honorable at root, only mazed."

"You never thought that before," the Knight-Commander said, with a wry twist of the mouth.

"True, I did not," Kieri said. "I thought them bad men and enemies, as they thought me. A year ago-no, even last winter-I saw nothing but enemies to the east, where Pargun lay, and they, looking west, saw the same. And where did that get us all? Endless war, hot or cold. And all blinded by fear and anger, so evil-whether Achrya or another-could intrude."

"You sound like an elf," the Knight-Commander said.

"I am by half," Kieri said, shrugging. "But elf or human, I know that peace is better for the people and the land than constant war. It does not, as we have discussed before, mean unreadiness for war should it come."

"Well," the Knight-Commander said, leaning forward. "What is this thought?"

Together, Kieri and the king of Pargun laid out their idea, scarcely a plan as yet. Kieri made sure the Pargunese king spoke as much as he wished, that it was clear to Elis and the Knight-Commander that he was under no duress other than the reality of their mutual danger.

"Elis is of the royal house; she is nominally under the king's command at all times."

This time Elis merely looked at the Knight-Commander, not even opening her mouth; he shook his head.

"If we have peace, I need an amba.s.sador at both this court and the court of Tsaia," the king said. "We have always used members of the royal family; as Elis knows, I sent my wife's sister here for the king's coronation. For the last coronation, one of my brothers; I have heard here that he made a fool of himself on southern wine."

"Brandy," the Knight-Commander said. "We thought you had strong drink at home."

"We do, but he was never allowed so much," the king said. "But he was a young man." He shrugged.

Kieri steered them back to the current matter. "As a member of the royal family, Elis could be an amba.s.sador. She is young, and not yet skilled in the arts of diplomacy, but she is indubitably Pargunese."

"I could at least trust her her to tell the truth," the king said. "She would always do so, even when it was inconvenient." to tell the truth," the king said. "She would always do so, even when it was inconvenient."

Elis chuckled; they all looked at her, and she blushed. "Go ahead," the Knight-Commander said.

"I'm sorry, sir-but the king-my father-is right. I hated courtly graces and pretense, and used to say the most appalling things...they were all true, but ill-timed."

"Falk's Knights must be courteous to all, in all difficulties," the Knight-Commander said. He glanced at the king of Pargun. "It is one of the Precepts," he said. "Our recruits must learn and practice courtesy, for Falk, even under humiliation, never stooped to rudeness."

"We value plain speaking," the king said.

"And we value the truth, but neither plain-speaking nor the truth need be rude," the Knight-Commander said.

"The day turns," Kieri said. "We have not much time, I think, from what the king said." The king nodded. "If we succeed, we will have more time to learn one another's ways, and discuss whether courtesy is lies or plain-speaking always truthful. But not now."

They all looked at him. He smiled at them, a smile he had used on his troops. It had the same effect, he saw.

"If the king appoints Elis as his amba.s.sador, and can convince his n.o.bles that she has been honored-and if he can convince them that my past torments across the sea create a common ground with his people-"

"But will they accept a woman so young as an amba.s.sador?"

The king shrugged. "I do not know. I can hope. She is known to be strong-willed, and to have read more than any of our other children. And she is, for our people, over-age for marriage. As an amba.s.sador, she would be serving our people, and be-at least formally-under my command. We have sent women before; she is just younger than the others."

"Her training at Falk's Hall?"

"On my orders," the king said, "now that I have met its commander, because I deem it the best way for her to learn about your people, and confirm or deny what we have long believed. All know she is awkward at court; at your court I would be fearful she might create an insult-" Elis looked furious, but said nothing, Kieri noticed. Only a short time in Falk's Hall and she was already learning self-control. "So I would tell my people," the king went on. Then, with a rueful look, "If they give me the chance."

"I have called a Council meeting," Kieri said. "They know, of course, about the Pargunese army across the river, and they know what forces we have, but I would refine this thought."

"It's sounding more and more like a plan to me," the Knight-Commander said. "It lacks only the way you will keep the king alive until he has told his tale. If his brother indeed intends to seize the throne, then he will surely be ready to silence and kill the man the moment he comes within reach." He looked at the Pargunese king. "Have you any trusted person to whom you can send a message? Any way to communicate other than by putting your skin at risk?"

"I thought I had brothers I could trust," the king said. "Until this." He scowled at the table.

"Iolin?" Elis asked.

"Perhaps," the king said. "One of my sons," he said to the others. "Elis's favorite brother."

"Why do you think him reliable?" Kieri asked Elis.

"He never liked my uncle Einar. He even thought-he thought Einar wanted my father's place. He had been friends with Einar's son Ailin, but they quarreled over that, last winter, and he said he dared not tell our father, for he thought Einar would hear and do worse."

"I will have to risk my skin somewhat," the king said, "because it is not kingly to risk others in my stead. My people think a king is like the captain of a s.h.i.+p-the king must care more for the others than himself. He must risk himself, when risk is inevitable." He smiled, a grim smile. "We do not have many aged kings."

"Iolin and my brothers will not live long if Einar is king," Elis said. "Indeed, he might contrive accidents for them now."

"We are able to think, Elis," the Knight-Commander said. "But you are right." He smiled at the king, and Kieri noticed it was a much friendlier smile. "Sir King, your daughter is more than just headstrong and hasty-she has a head apt for both diplomacy and command, should she submit to training." His smile widened. "Youngsters like these, once they start gaining their teeth, bite into life with gusto."

"So she did," the king said. "Had she been a boy-"

"We would not be sitting here trying to create a peace," Kieri said. "'If only' will not serve us. She is what she is, what the G.o.ds made her. And we still need to get Pargun's king back to Pargun."

"I can see how you led a company all those years," the king said. "But I cannot see how I will have a chance to speak to my people."

"If you know someone trustworthy, to whom you could send a message, that one might arrange a meeting with you and some of your n.o.bles. And Elis and the Knight-Commander, and me."

"In Pargun?"

"No, not in Pargun. I will not cross the river. But here, in one of the river towns."

A cold wind blew through the trees; the last leaves were falling fast, carpeting the track with crimson, scarlet, orange, and gold, the colors still brilliant even under the clouds. cold wind blew through the trees; the last leaves were falling fast, carpeting the track with crimson, scarlet, orange, and gold, the colors still brilliant even under the clouds.