[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
"I trust so. I expect Marshal dy Palliar and Chancellor dy Cazaril to ride
into the gates of Porifors within the week. If my brother's and dy
Caribastos's and Foix's letters"
and mine
"do not fetch them, they are not the men I take them for."
"Will they see it, do you think? Here, now, is the moment to turn Joen's
strategy about to sweep down, all unexpected, into Jokona while it is so
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disrupted, and turn Visping's flank and the campaign could be done before it
was even expected to start."
"It does not take second sight to foresee that outcome," said Ista. "If it
works, dy Palliar will doubtless be showered with the acclaim for his grand
strategy."
Illvin smiled grimly. "Poor Joen, she even loses that credit. She should have
been a general."
"Anything but the frustrated puppeteer she was constrained to be," Ista
agreed. "What will become of
Sordso? I think he is not quite mad, for all that he sniveled and kissed my
skirt hem when I passed him in
the forecourt yesterday. His soul is his own now, though it will be long
before his nerves are anything but shattered."
"Yes, one scarcely knows if he would be of more use to us as a hostage, or set
loose to be a very bad enemy leader."
"He spoke of a religious vocation, and conversion to the Quintarian faith,
actually. I've no idea how long the fit will last."
Illvin snorted. "Perhaps his poetry will grow better hereafter."
"I shouldn't be surprised." The castle's battlements stood stark and pale in
the bright light, concealing the damage being repaired within; Ista could hear
a faint echo of hammering. "By the time Liviana's future husband succeeds to
the command of Porifors, it will have become a quiet backwater, like Valenda.
This place has earned its peace, I think." She glanced at Illvin, who was
smiling down at her. "There are two thoughts in my mind just now."
"Only two?"
"Two thousand, but these are uppermost. One is that my roving court needs a
royal seneschal: a competent and experienced officer, preferably one who knows
this area, to direct my travels and secure my person."
His brows twitched up, encouragingly.
"The other is that Marshal dy Palliar will need an experienced intelligencer,
an officer who knows Jokona and the Jokonans better than any other, who speaks
and writes both court and vile Roknari, possessing trunks full of maps and
charts and ground plans, to advise his strategies in this region. I greatly
fear that these are two mutually exclusive posts."
He touched one finger thoughtfully to his lips. "I might mention, it has
occurred independently to several military minds here that any army presently
wishing to march north would be very, very happy to possess a cure for
sorcerers, to carry close at hand. Should any further enemy sorcerers be
encountered on this campaign. Resources devoted to the protection of such a
sorceress-saint would not be considered wasted. So the saint's seneschal and
the marshal's intelligencer might not find themselves working so far apart as
all that."
Ista's brows rose. "Hm? Perhaps ... If it is clearly understood that the saint
serves not Chalion, not even the Temple, but the god, and must go as the god
directs. Alongside the marshal's tents for a time, but not in them. Well,
well, dy Cazaril will understand that part; and I think he could drill it into
dy Palliar's head if anyone could."
He stared thoughtfully up the valley road. "A week, you think, till they
arrive?"
"Ten days at most."
"Huh." His long fingers rattled the keys at his belt. "Meantime ... I actually
walked over here to invite you to take rooms within Castle Porifors again, now
we are in slightly better order. If you wish. The weather's due to change,
judging by the wind; we may have a bit of welcome rain by tomorrow night."
"Not Umerue's old chamber, I trust."
"No, we've lodged Prince Sordso and his watchers there."
Page 232
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
"Nor Cattilara's."
"Dy Caribastos and his retinue have taken over that whole gallery." He cleared
his throat. "I was thinking of the ones you had before. Across from mine.
Although ... I fear there is not enough space to also house all of your
ladies."
Ista managed not to grin, or at least not too broadly. "Thank you, Lord
Illvin; I should be pleased."
His dark eyes sparked. His hand-kissing technique was definitely improving
with practice, she thought.
* * *
ISTA SENT HER RESTORED RAIMENT FROM VALENDA ON AHEAD, EVEN minus all the staid
selections in widow's green that she left in her brother's tents, she would be
spared living in borrowed clothing henceforth. A little later, dy Baocia
escorted her from his camp. Foix attended, guardsman handily making a smooth
transition to courtier.
Dy Baocia's transition was a little less smooth, but on the whole he seemed to
be managing the leap to the new Ista reasonably well, she thought. He avoided
discussing the disturbing part about eating demons, seldom mentioned the god,
but he'd entered into the material practicalities of her new vocation with
gratifying attention to detail.
"We must determine the size of your personal guard," he remarked as they
passed under Porifors's gates. "Too many will be a drain on your purse, but
too few could prove a false economy."
"Very true. My needs will, I expect, vary with my locale. Add it to your list
to discuss with my seneschal;
he'll be the best judge of what this region requires."
"Will your seneschal also serve as your master of horse, as he did for his
late brother? Or shall I
recommend you a man?"
"Ser dy Arbanos's duties will be too demanding. I have another man in mind,
though I'm not sure yet if he will accept. I may return for your
recommendation, if not."
"What, not dy Gura, here?" dy Baocia inquired. Foix gave a little agreeable
bow. "Or his good brother?"
"Ferda is claimed for the coming campaign by his cousin, Marshal dy Palliar,
and must be off to join him shortly. Even as an officer of my household, Foix
will likely do considerable traveling back and forth on
Temple business; but a horse-master's tasks are daily. I am not sure what [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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"I trust so. I expect Marshal dy Palliar and Chancellor dy Cazaril to ride
into the gates of Porifors within the week. If my brother's and dy
Caribastos's and Foix's letters"
and mine
"do not fetch them, they are not the men I take them for."
"Will they see it, do you think? Here, now, is the moment to turn Joen's
strategy about to sweep down, all unexpected, into Jokona while it is so
Page 231
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
disrupted, and turn Visping's flank and the campaign could be done before it
was even expected to start."
"It does not take second sight to foresee that outcome," said Ista. "If it
works, dy Palliar will doubtless be showered with the acclaim for his grand
strategy."
Illvin smiled grimly. "Poor Joen, she even loses that credit. She should have
been a general."
"Anything but the frustrated puppeteer she was constrained to be," Ista
agreed. "What will become of
Sordso? I think he is not quite mad, for all that he sniveled and kissed my
skirt hem when I passed him in
the forecourt yesterday. His soul is his own now, though it will be long
before his nerves are anything but shattered."
"Yes, one scarcely knows if he would be of more use to us as a hostage, or set
loose to be a very bad enemy leader."
"He spoke of a religious vocation, and conversion to the Quintarian faith,
actually. I've no idea how long the fit will last."
Illvin snorted. "Perhaps his poetry will grow better hereafter."
"I shouldn't be surprised." The castle's battlements stood stark and pale in
the bright light, concealing the damage being repaired within; Ista could hear
a faint echo of hammering. "By the time Liviana's future husband succeeds to
the command of Porifors, it will have become a quiet backwater, like Valenda.
This place has earned its peace, I think." She glanced at Illvin, who was
smiling down at her. "There are two thoughts in my mind just now."
"Only two?"
"Two thousand, but these are uppermost. One is that my roving court needs a
royal seneschal: a competent and experienced officer, preferably one who knows
this area, to direct my travels and secure my person."
His brows twitched up, encouragingly.
"The other is that Marshal dy Palliar will need an experienced intelligencer,
an officer who knows Jokona and the Jokonans better than any other, who speaks
and writes both court and vile Roknari, possessing trunks full of maps and
charts and ground plans, to advise his strategies in this region. I greatly
fear that these are two mutually exclusive posts."
He touched one finger thoughtfully to his lips. "I might mention, it has
occurred independently to several military minds here that any army presently
wishing to march north would be very, very happy to possess a cure for
sorcerers, to carry close at hand. Should any further enemy sorcerers be
encountered on this campaign. Resources devoted to the protection of such a
sorceress-saint would not be considered wasted. So the saint's seneschal and
the marshal's intelligencer might not find themselves working so far apart as
all that."
Ista's brows rose. "Hm? Perhaps ... If it is clearly understood that the saint
serves not Chalion, not even the Temple, but the god, and must go as the god
directs. Alongside the marshal's tents for a time, but not in them. Well,
well, dy Cazaril will understand that part; and I think he could drill it into
dy Palliar's head if anyone could."
He stared thoughtfully up the valley road. "A week, you think, till they
arrive?"
"Ten days at most."
"Huh." His long fingers rattled the keys at his belt. "Meantime ... I actually
walked over here to invite you to take rooms within Castle Porifors again, now
we are in slightly better order. If you wish. The weather's due to change,
judging by the wind; we may have a bit of welcome rain by tomorrow night."
"Not Umerue's old chamber, I trust."
"No, we've lodged Prince Sordso and his watchers there."
Page 232
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
"Nor Cattilara's."
"Dy Caribastos and his retinue have taken over that whole gallery." He cleared
his throat. "I was thinking of the ones you had before. Across from mine.
Although ... I fear there is not enough space to also house all of your
ladies."
Ista managed not to grin, or at least not too broadly. "Thank you, Lord
Illvin; I should be pleased."
His dark eyes sparked. His hand-kissing technique was definitely improving
with practice, she thought.
* * *
ISTA SENT HER RESTORED RAIMENT FROM VALENDA ON AHEAD, EVEN minus all the staid
selections in widow's green that she left in her brother's tents, she would be
spared living in borrowed clothing henceforth. A little later, dy Baocia
escorted her from his camp. Foix attended, guardsman handily making a smooth
transition to courtier.
Dy Baocia's transition was a little less smooth, but on the whole he seemed to
be managing the leap to the new Ista reasonably well, she thought. He avoided
discussing the disturbing part about eating demons, seldom mentioned the god,
but he'd entered into the material practicalities of her new vocation with
gratifying attention to detail.
"We must determine the size of your personal guard," he remarked as they
passed under Porifors's gates. "Too many will be a drain on your purse, but
too few could prove a false economy."
"Very true. My needs will, I expect, vary with my locale. Add it to your list
to discuss with my seneschal;
he'll be the best judge of what this region requires."
"Will your seneschal also serve as your master of horse, as he did for his
late brother? Or shall I
recommend you a man?"
"Ser dy Arbanos's duties will be too demanding. I have another man in mind,
though I'm not sure yet if he will accept. I may return for your
recommendation, if not."
"What, not dy Gura, here?" dy Baocia inquired. Foix gave a little agreeable
bow. "Or his good brother?"
"Ferda is claimed for the coming campaign by his cousin, Marshal dy Palliar,
and must be off to join him shortly. Even as an officer of my household, Foix
will likely do considerable traveling back and forth on
Temple business; but a horse-master's tasks are daily. I am not sure what [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]