06

Chapter Five

Razai stared forlornly at her cup of tea, wishing it was something stronger as she half-listened to Renny Senshall and Leena catch up on the events of the past few weeks.

Finally the young concubine gave enough of an opening for Leena to bring up the reason they'd come to Tyrsall.

"Mother Yewen in Four Roads suggested I ask you for an introduction to Mother Ola," the Sanvari woman said. "The problem with expanding Travelers' Posts to the north is in identifying safe locations for teleporting. Treya said the Three Orders chapter houses are known for passing along messages, and the local lords won't interfere with them. We can say it's magic without telling anyone the whole the truth."

Razai glanced around, making sure no other patrons of the teahouse were listening in on the discussion.

Renny narrowed her gaze. "How would this affect the deal you made with Varsin?" she asked. She'd always been smarter than she acted.

"I'll keep to my arrangement with your family," Leena said. "Mother Ola could offer our services to others, but at a higher rate than what you're paying. I'd prefer if you delivered your messages to the chapter house, though, so I don't have to make two stops."

A disappointed frown passed over Renny's face. She liked having visitors.

"Treya's right," she said. "In most places, the chapter houses are protected from interference, either by law or tradition. And facilitating communication is the reason the Orders came about to begin with. I can't say how Mother Ola will respond, but I'll introduce you."

Razai's attention was drawn to a tall young man with bushy sideburns strolling past the teahouse. As he walked by, he turned his head to stare directly at her through the window. She knew that face--a face that shouldn't be in Tyrsall.

"I just saw an old friend go by," she told the other two women. "I'll be back in a minute."

She rushed out of the teahouse before they could ask any questions, but the man was already out of sight.

Where is he?

she asked.

Close. Waiting. Ahead.

The whispers were afraid.

Razai headed the same direction the man had been walking. At the first alley she passed, an arm reached out and grasped her wrist, pulling her into the shadows between buildings.

"No knife at my throat?" the man said. "You're slipping."

She jerked her arm out of his grip with a scowl. He knew she hated being touched.

"I recognized you," she said, her voice flat. "What are you doing here?"

"With Yelena gone, so are her wards," Vatarxis replied. "Tyrsall is no longer a death sentence for demons." It was strange to hear his voice without the deep vibrations added by his larger demon form. She hadn't seen him take on a mortal body since she was a child, when he was teaching her to fight like a human.

"I mean

why

are you here, now, talking to me?"

"I came here for my own purposes, so imagine my surprise to sense your presence in the city. But very well, if you need a reason, tell me why you approached Rusol. You were supposed to be watching Corec."

"You don't already know the answer?"

"I can't see everything that happens everywhere. Why should I need to, when I have my

very

honest and trustworthy daughter to handle things for me? So talk."

"Rusol is my nephew," Razai said. "Grand-nephew. You didn't think I would just ignore that, did you?"

"Had a little family reunion, then?" Vatarxis asked. "Did you tell him the truth?"

"No. He's a paranoid lunatic. Whatever you were hoping to get out of him, you'd better do it soon. He's building up a list of enemies longer than your own."

Vatarxis steepled his fingers together and rested his chin atop them, a pose he couldn't manage in his true form. "That's your honest assessment of him? You don't think he can be trusted?"

"Ignoring the fact he tried to murder me? No, I don't trust him at all."

Her father was silent for a moment, then nodded. "The important part of the plan is out of his hands now. There's a child in Sanvar who can take his place. I'd hoped to get more out of him, though."

Razai put together the hints Vatarxis had dropped in the past. "If you're looking to make an alliance with the wardens, Rusol isn't the one to start with."

Her father eyed her. "Let's pretend for a moment that you're right about what I want. Who better than one of our own kind? Badru would rather gut me than speak to me, yet these days he's nothing more than a crazy old man howling at the wind. I could crush him, but where's the thrill in defeating someone who's lost the fight before it begins? There are no other leaders left among the wardens. Kono could have led if he wanted to, but he doesn't care about anything beyond his own borders. Hildra's convinced herself that the purpose of the wardens is to hide in the shadows. Rusol was meant to be a fresh start."

"Corec. You said you'd hoped to make use of him. He must have been part of your plan."

"A small part, and he hardly wields the sort of influence Rusol would have had if The Lady's ideas had borne fruit."

Razai shrugged. "Something's better than nothing, and if you pass along a message, Corec will at least read it before trying to kill you. That's a better deal than you'll get from most of the wardens."

"We'll see. If he lives through the next few years, perhaps I'll consider it."

But with the idea out there, Razai's father was unlikely to ask for Corec's death.

"He's no pushover," she warned. "He'll want to know what you're after."

"What I'm after?" Vatarxis said. "Come talk to me in five thousand years. By then, you may have even figured it out for yourself."

She rolled her eyes. "Fine. Keep your secrets. What was that you said about a child?"

"A problem for the future. I can't visit Sanvara City--not with Yelena making her new home there--but someday I might send you south to check on the boy. If Rusol dies, we'll need him."

#

Ellerie had skipped the midday meal, spending that time with Commander Alarein as he'd tried out a suit of silversteel plate sized to his measurements. The armor had been crafted by the two wizards Ellerie had hired to learn shaping magic, the first time she'd set them loose on such complicated pieces of metal-shaping. Most of their practice had been with stone-shaping.

They'd only lost the backplate of one gauntlet during the process, the piece hardening into its final shape with a deep indentation in it, making it unwearable. Ellerie had dropped it into a crate containing her own failures. Hopefully someday she'd find a way to recover the expensive materials.

Alarein had approved of the new armor, styled to look like his own, though he intended to experiment with it more to test its durability. Sentinels traditionally wore plate armor, but elven men weren't as strong as human men, which meant sentinel armor was thinner than typical plate. While the cuirasses were sturdy enough, the greaves and vambraces were more for show than for actual defense. A silversteel version would offer true protection for the whole body, despite weighing even less than regular sentinel armor.

If Alarein's tests went well, Ellerie hoped to convince Commandant Jorel to agree to equip all of the sentinels with shaped weapons and armor, giving her the first major customer for her shaping business. She was hesitant to sell silversteel and fortisteel equipment on the open market, not knowing whose hands it would fall into, but the sentinels were a safe choice. Over half of them worked for Ellerie's own family, and they served solely as defenders, not as an offensive force.

Back at the keep, she debated stopping at the kitchens for something to eat, but with no other tasks awaiting her, and Leena away in Sanvar for the day, she decided to head to her suite instead. She wanted to try once again to do something she'd been attempting for nearly a year. Conventional wisdom among wizards suggested her goal was impossible, but after meeting Hildra, Ellerie had come to doubt that convention.

In her rooms, she retrieved one of the spell books she'd discovered in Tir Yadar--not the one with the shaping spells but the other--plus a glass bead she'd been using as her target. The spell would work better with a real gemstone, but she didn't want to go to that expense until she was certain it would work.

Finding a comfortable seat, she set to work.

#

Leena couldn't put a name to every Traveler around the table, but she recognized them all by sight. Pavan and Satyana were there, and the other six were Pavan's friends and confidants from among the senior members of the cadre.

Rohav wasn't present, nor anyone else who was likely to raise a fuss.

Completing the circle were Empress Shereen, as well as her granddaughter, the Princess Nasrin, whom Leena hadn't met before.

Pavan started off the discussion. "Some of you know I've been tasked to come up with a way to compensate for our recent losses. We're all reaching our limits, if we haven't already passed them. Her Majesty has suggested using weaker Travelers to fill in the gaps, which I believe will help, but it won't solve the entire problem. We'd be asking them to spend just as much energy making a few short trips as it would take Satyana or Leena to visit every Post in the empire. If we reconfigure the routes to group the shortest ones together, I'd say we can replace two full members of the cadre with a dozen of our cousins who wouldn't have qualified previously."

It wasn't the best news. They'd have to nearly double the number of active members, and it still wouldn't be enough to return to their old resting schedules.

"Since you called us here, I assume there's a solution," Satyana said. "I was quite enjoying my retirement. I'd like to get back to it one of these days."

"I suggest we make better use of Seers," Pavan said. "Right now, we only have Seers in the biggest cities, mostly to coordinate with the government offices. If we expanded their numbers, they could check the smaller Posts before we even send a Traveler. We don't need to visit every Post every day as long as we're sure no urgent messages are waiting. The Seers could even transcribe short emergency messages themselves if the Post caretaker leaves them laid out in a designated spot. If we're willing to accept longer delivery times from the smaller and more remote outposts, we could cut the amount of Traveling by a third. That would make up for the rest of our shortfall."

"It's not that simple," Princess Nasrin said. "The Seers you have now work at short ranges. The amount of long-distance Seeing you're asking for will require many of the stronger members of the imperial diplomatic service." She meant the empire's spies. "We'd be giving up an advantage we've held for a long time."

The princess was more aware of the intricacies of Seer magic than Leena had expected. It was a puzzle, much like the secret Zidari members hidden amongst the palace guards.

"We'll have to make a choice," the empress said. "What's more important?"

Pavan said, "If we go through with this, Leena, Fareed, and Indirah can focus on the northern expansion. We'll need their strength to handle the greater distances involved."

"I've made a deal with the Three Orders chapter houses up north," Leena put in. "That gives us two dozen more locations."

"Why are we making the north a priority when we're already struggling here?" a man asked. "I was given to understand that Leena would be able to take Satyana's place."

"I can answer that," Shereen said. "Expanding to the north

isn't

a priority, though it's a desire I've had for quite some time. The real priority is in allying ourselves with two wardens. The northern expansion is the cost for that. We've seen wardens and their bonded partners achieve feats that only our strongest mages could accomplish, and we've already gotten one strong Traveler out of the deal, with two more to follow if their training goes well."

This group knew about wardens, since they were the ones Pavan had approached to identify potential bondmates for Yelena.

Not much was said after Shereen's comments--no one seemed interested in arguing with the empress herself. After a few hesitant nods, Pavan spoke up again.

"Shall I proceed with these changes?" he asked. "The cost is substantial, but would allow the Travelers' Posts to return nearly to their previous capacity. The northern expansion won't cost us anything, and may eventually pay for the increases here."

Nasrin frowned as she considered the request. "I suppose the benefits outweigh the losses elsewhere. We'll have to refocus our remaining Seers on our nearest neighbors." She faced Leena. "Perhaps you and your apprentices can compensate elsewhere on the continent. You'll hear rumors about troop movements, weather patterns, and crop yields; you'll see who's communicating with whom. It's not the same as having a Seer, but it will help."

"Yes, Your Highness."

Shereen nodded. "Then if we're agreed, I'll authorize you to move forward, Pavan. Work with Nasrin to identify Seers from the diplomatic service." She stood up from her chair, having to use the table to steady herself. Shereen projected such an air of power that Leena sometimes forgot just how old the empress was.

With Shereen's departure, the rest of the meeting broke up, but Princess Nasrin gestured for Leena to remain behind. "My grandmother tells me you've requested to speak to Queen Yassi of Larso?" she asked.

"Yes, Your Highness," Leena said. "You've heard about the battle in the free lands?" The princess nodded and Leena continued. "The empress told me the queen wasn't taking visitors."

"That was true, for reasons that will be obvious when you meet her, but she's feeling up to it now. She's extended an invitation to you, four days from now. I didn't tell her about your warden friend, only that you had an urgent matter to discuss. Given what she's gone through, I suspect she'll be receptive to your approach."

Nasrin's final comment sounded more like a hint than an offer to expound, so Leena simply thanked her rather than asking for more detail. With her business at the Sun and Sea complete, she returned to the Sanvara City Travelers' Post, where Fareed and Indirah were waiting for her. They'd spent the day visiting with Yelena and making short trips to other Posts for practice.

Fareed was Pavan's cousin, and looked somewhat like him, while Indirah was a very tall, very quiet woman from the jungles of the Ochal region.

"What did they say?" Fareed asked.

"For now, we don't have to split our time," Leena told them. "We can focus on the northern locations and Cordaea." She didn't broach the subject of spying yet. She had come to a comfortable balance with her own split loyalties, but she wanted to get to know the two younger Travelers better before having that discussion.

"Then we can get started for real?"

"Tomorrow I'll get back to finding the chapter houses I haven't visited yet, and then take you to each so you can learn their signatures. We'll need to set up Post rooms before we can really get going, but yes, it's time to get started."

She grasped their shoulders and teleported all three of them to the old granary at Warden's Keep, which they'd repurposed into a temporary Travelers' Post. It wasn't much, but at least someone had finally replaced the rotted floor boards.

After dismissing her students to their rented rooms in the village, Leena headed into the keep and then up to her own room, eager to pass along the news.

"Ellerie?" she said, opening the door. There was no answer, which was odd--she could sense the elven woman's location in the room.

She found her lover lying unconscious, hidden behind a low table. Blood had dripped from Ellerie's nose down to her chin, long enough ago to have congealed.

"Ellerie!" Leena shouted, trying to shake her awake.

Ellerie slowly opened her eyes, blinking as she tried to focus her gaze. Then she rolled onto her side, staring at a glass bead lying nearby on the floor, glowing with a mage light.

"I did it," the elven woman said, a note of quiet triumph in her voice. "I did it." She weakly stretched her arm to point to the bead. "I knew it was possible."

It looked like any other mage light, but she could mean only one thing. Ellerie had crafted a permanent enchantment.

#

"This is the room we've set aside for you," Katrin said, opening the door to the last empty chamber in the servants' quarters. "I realize it's small, but you'll have it to yourself." There was a real bed rather than a cot, plus a wardrobe and chair and a few other odds and ends they'd scrounged up--enough to make the place feel cozy. Good furniture was at a premium in the region, and anyone skilled at carpentry could pick up extra coin by taking on commissions.

"Yes, my Lady," Greta said. The housekeeper had come recommended by Varsin Senshall's wife, and had made the long trip to Hilltop Village in one of the family's caravans, accompanied by her letter of recommendation. Katrin hadn't realized she was on her way until she'd already left.

"I've read through Kelsa Senshall's letter, and everything appears to be in order," Katrin said. In truth, she had no idea what to look for amongst the flowery language, but she had to assume they wouldn't have sent someone incompetent. "It says you worked for one of the families?"

"I was lady's maid to Mistress Elba before she and Mister Tobin... well, I won't go into all that, but once Mistress Elba returned to the Three Orders, she had no more need for my services. I stepped in for Mister Burton's housekeeper when she came down ill, but now that she's recovered, they don't need two housekeepers, and none of the young misses are old enough yet to require a lady's maid. Miss Kelsa told me you were looking, if I didn't mind leaving the city."

Katrin nodded. She wasn't interested in having a lady's maid, but it wouldn't hurt for the housekeeper to have those skills.

"Well, as to the work," Katrin started, "you'll have a small staff for now, probably smaller than you're used to." She paused when she heard familiar footsteps coming up the stairs.

"My lady?" Mella said when she reached the top. 'You sent for me?"

"Yes," Katrin said. "I wanted you to meet Greta, our new housekeeper. She's from Tyrsall. Greta, this is Mella, our cook. As I was saying, you'll have a small staff right now--just the two upstairs maids--but I expect that to grow now that you're here. Mella manages the kitchen staff."

In some households, the housekeeper was in charge of all the female staff, but Katrin didn't know Greta yet, and she'd come to appreciate Mella's brusque and assertive nature. It could be maddening at times, but she'd realized Mella was only arguing to ensure she was making the best decisions she could.

"I understand, my Lady," Greta said.

"I'll give you some time to get settled and put your things away, then I'll show you around and introduce you to the maids." Katrin turned to the cook. "Mella, do you have time to talk with Barz and Ana this morning?"

"Of course," Mella said. "The kitchen maids can finish today's baking without me."

Katrin and her brother hadn't found a cook yet for the new inn. Ana had managed to do a passable job at serving breakfasts for guests who'd stayed overnight, but that strained the limits of what she knew how to make, and with the baby to take care of, she didn't have time to deal with the larger crowds during the midday meal and supper. Mella had offered to help them find and interview candidates.

Katrin and the cook left Greta to unpack her bags and headed down the stairs. Mella paused at the keep's front door.

"Before we go," she said, hesitantly, "there's a matter that could use your attention."

"Oh?" Katrin said.

"I've asked Lord Corec how many wedding guests we should expect from his family, and how long they'll be staying. He seems... reluctant to answer, but I can't plan the meals without those numbers. We've got to place our final orders soon if we're going to get all the provisions from Four Roads in time."