[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
happy to wait. Surprisingly, I was. I needed time to think. About a lot of
things.
You re certain? She stood.
So did I. As certain as I am about anything these days.
Then she leaned forward and gave me a friendly kiss. I m glad you came.
Relax if you can.
The kiss was just friendly, but as she turned and left she smiled, and I
wondered.
Besides wondering, I washed my hands and face, trying not to use all the
water or make too much of a mess. Although curious, I did not look at any of
the papers on the desk in her bedroom.
Instead, I sat down on the long couch, except that I was tired, and I was
not sitting and thinking for long.
Click!
I see you waited. Krystal s voice was cheerfully brisk, but I had trouble
appreciating it, since I was trying to wake up from the afternoon nap I hadn t
expected to take, realizing that it was nearly twilight.
Long& meeting& I yawned between words and struggled to my feet.
There are too many long meetings these days. Will you be all right for
dinner?
I just have to wake up. I sat down and& then you were back here.
Her lips quirked, and I could see a few gray hairs among the black as she
stepped nearer. Lerris& Then, she shook her head. Later. I need to change,
and you need to get into something-
A little less travel-worn?
Do you have something?
It s plain, but I left my bags in the stable.
I ll send-
This time I shook my head. They won t find them.
I see. You have learned a few things. Her tone was light.
So have you, lady, I expect.
Herreld is waiting outside. Have him escort you there and back. We ll
worry about a bed for you later. You can change here for dinner, if that s all
right.
The word dinner disoriented me, after more than a year of hearing dinner
as the noon meal, but I recovered and nodded. No. Whatever s easiest.
Krystal was already heading for the door, and I followed, and just kept
going, straight for the stable to recover my pack and better clothes, such as
they were.
LXI
THIS DOORWAY. KRYSTAL inclined her head toward a carved entrance flanked
by two green-clad guards. She wore her sword. She probably slept with it.
Only the guards eyes moved, checking me out, but I had left the staff in
Krystal s quarters. I decided to wear the empty knife sheath, since in some
principalities, failure to wear a knife carried certain implications. I didn t
remember if Kyphros were one, but if it weren t, no one would care one way or
the other. If my pack and staff weren t safe in Krystal s quarters, they
weren t safe anywhere in Kyphrien.
This is a small dinner. The autarch wanted to hear of your adventures.
She guided me into the room.
A state dining room it was not. The imperial-style black-oak table was
covered with a green linen cloth bordered in gold. The utensils were silver,
and the plates were of a china nearly as fine as my mother s best. The
Page 222
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
informal dining room was not much bigger than my parents dining room, nor
much larger than the dining area of the waystation where I had eaten lamb
chili two days earlier.
A good dozen wall lamps provided a brightness not often seen at an evening
meal in Candar. I supposed the autarch could afford the extra lamp-oil.
We stopped almost after entering the room, and well short of the six people
who stood talking by the bay window on the other side of the table, a window
that overlooked Kyphrien and the scattered lights of the lamps and torches of
the city.
Krystal. The woman in the green silk jumpsuit with black hair shot with
gray spoke.
Krystal inclined her head. Honor.
Would you introduce your friend?
This is Lerris. Krystal named the six. Her Honor the Autarch; Guard
Commander Ferrel; Public Works Minister Zeiber; Liessa, sister to Her Honor;
Finance Minister Murreas; and Father Dorna.
Honor, I murmured to the autarch. I am honored to meet all of you. In a
way, I was.
Krystal said you were young, observed the younger woman who looked like
the autarch, except her black hair was without the graying streaks. I
wouldn t have guessed from her description. The comment was made with a
smile.
The Public Works Minister, thin and white-haired, only nodded, as did the
Finance Minister, a heavy-set woman with square-cut short white hair who wore
an ornate green tunic over equally ornate trousers.
Peace, was the only word from Father Dorna, a functionary in the religion
of the one-god believers from his aura and garb of black, who radiated neither
order nor disorder.
Krystal still wore green, a plain green silk blouse with no frills and a
high neck, the same green leather vest, and matching green trousers-cotton, I
thought. She wore no jewelry, no rings, and she looked professional, like the
autarch s champion. She walked the same way, her eyes never quite at rest.
The only one dressed more plainly than Krystal was me. My best clothes were
the dark-brown cotton tunic and trousers made by Deirdre. Good as they were,
certainly not of the quality of those worn by Krystal or the autarch.
We should be seated. The autarch simply pulled out the chair at the head
of the table, then pointed at the chair to her right. Lerris, if you would.
Krystal took the seat across from me, and Father Dorna sat on my right. At
the end of the table was Liessa, the only woman wearing a dress.
I attempted to seat the autarch, but she avoided the question by seating
herself before my hand more than touched the back of her chair.
No ceremony here. My name is Kasee.
I just nodded, not certain exactly what to say, as mixed greenery was
placed on the plate in front of me.
Krystal says you know something of the reasons behind the apparently
senseless attacks by the Gallians.
Some few things, I said, and some few thoughts as to why. Since the
autarch began to question me before taking a bite of the greenery on her
plate, I decided that, informal dinner or not, the main course was
information, and the chef was a young man named Lerris.
I looked at Krystal. While I thought I saw a momentary twinkle in her eye,
her expression was polite and impassive.
Does the name Antonin mean anything?
& devil& That came from my right, from the priest.
He is reputed to be a white wizard who lives in the West-horns, responded
the autarch. I didn t think of her as Kasee then, no matter what she had said.
He is a white wizard. He has allied himself with the prefect, or spends so
much time in Fenard that he might as well be allied.
What does he supply, exactly, to this alliance? asked Ferrel, the
white-haired Guard Commander, whose words were as precise as her plain green
Page 223
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
tunic. She and Krystal were the sole diners visibly armed.
Chaos&
In what form, if you will? What does he gain from it?
I took a deep breath. I don t have all the answers& but& I continued
before the Guard Commander asked yet another question, he opened a
chaos-fountain in the guard quarters in Fenard. The fountain had the effect of
submerging reason, since reason is a function of order. The fountain made the
soldiers more obedient to commands issued with a-I guess you d say-chaos-link.
I mean, they re more likely to fight and kill blindly.
I could feel Krystal s concern behind her impassive face.
How did you discover this?
After forcing myself to take a sip from the crystal goblet and discovering
it contained redberry, I answered. I felt it from where I worked in Fenard.
So I-well, it s really not that simple. You see, if Krystal hasn t told you, I
left Recluce as a dangergelder. My charge was to reach the Westhorns and to
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]