David Drake - The Gods Return

Because I don't guess they've seen a lot of your folk on Charax, Coerli I mean. And it seems like they may get, well, perturbed." One thing Cashel learned the first time he came into a city is that people in cities talked a lot; really a lot. Also stuff took a long while, especially if there was a lot of people needing to agree before things happened. What with one thing and another, it seemed like the pirates might be up to the city walls before a shepherd and a Corl wizard got anybody to listen. "I must speak to the oracle, Warrior Cashel,"

Rasile said. "I did not understand why I saw a tree on the path till you told me that." Her smile didn't disturb Cashel now that he'd gotten used to it, but he hoped she wouldn't try it on suspicious strangers in Charax. They were going to have problems enough as it was. "Cashel," Liane said, setting down the scroll she'd picked up as an illustration. "Wizard Rasile. I will be accompanying you on your journey. Neither of you-" "Ma'am?" Cashel blurted. He blushed when he realized he'd broken in on a woman talking-and her a lady besides-but he'd just had to! "You shouldn't be doing that. It's not right." "It's not only right, it's necessary," Liane said. She didn't snap the way Ilna would've done if somebody talked to her like Cashel just had, but he didn't hear any more give in Liane's voice than there'd have been from his sister. "To begin with, neither of you can read. It's more than probable that you'll need to read in the course of this business." "Ma'am, I know you're right," Cashel said. "But a clerk could do that." He wouldn't like it even if she wasn't Garric's girl, because she was nice and this wasn't going to be a nice business. He'd seen what happened to women in Ombis when the pirates got through the hole in the walls, and what the male pirates were doing wasn't the worst of it. "Or an officer, I didn't want soldiers but maybe that'd be a good idea." Liane was Garric's girl. Cashelwasn't going to take her along! "And as you've already understood, Cashel," Liane continued, her voice smooth as polished diamond and just as hard,

"we'll have to negotiate with the Priests of the Tree. Neither of you are suitable for that task. I am the best person for it in the government, with the possible exception of Prince Garric. Even Garric would have a great deal to learn in a short time, though, and I'm already familiar with the business." "Ma'am…," Cashel said. He felt awful, his guts twisting themself tighter every time he breathed in. He couldn't think of anything to say that would change her mind.

Nothing he said: Lady Liane said she was coming, so she would come. He sighed. "Yes, ma'am," he said. "Female Liane," Rasile said. She'd never stopped looking at Liane, and Cashel hadn't seen the old wizard's expression change from beginning to end. "I will take Warrior Cashel and myself to Dariada by a shorter route than walking through the waking world. If you come with us, you will take the same route."

Liane looked at her coldly. "Thank you, mistress," she said, clipping the words in a way Cashel hadn't heard her do before. "I am familiar with wizardry. My late father was a wizard himself. I'm not concerned with the means by which you accomplish the task in which I assist you." "Tomorrow morning," Rasile said quietly. She looked at Cashel.

"I would like a wooded grove for my incantation. Can you lead us to such a grove, warrior?" "There aren't real groves anywhere near the city," Cashel said, mulling the question in his mind. "There's been too much building going on, you see." "The palace has a roof garden," said Liane. "Will that be adequate?" "It will," said Rasile, wagging her tongue in agreement. Liane rose to her feet. "I have more business to attend," she said. "I'll see you tomorrow morning at the palace."

Cashel offered Rasile a hand, mostly for courtesy. She was spry enough she didn't really need it. They didn't speak as they watched Liane disappearing down the stairs into the guard room below. It was true that Liane knew about wizardry: her father had trussed her for a sacrifice. If she was willing to go where and however Rasile led, then she was even braver than Cashel had already thought.

Chapter 5 Cashel hadn't been here in the garden before. There were three small trees in pots: a weeping willow which must've been a trial for the servants carrying water to it and a pair of silver birches.

The grape arbor was nice, and there were terracotta planters with flowers. Anyway, Rasile seemed satisfied as she placed the yarrow stalks she used to lay out her figures. Cashel was used to being around animals whose legs bent the wrong way so it didn't bother him when she hunched, the way it did some folk looking at the catmen. When Rasile stood up, though-well, a sheep never did that. Liane stood like she figured to be hanged by midday. She wore sturdy tunics that must've been from Ilna; nobody else Cashel knew could weave cloth so practical and still have designs that seemed simple until you looked at them close. The sleeves and torsos mated perfectly. "These myrtles seem full grown even with being so small," Cashel said quietly. It took a moment for Liane to understand he was talking to her. When she did, she jumped like he'd poured ice water down her back. She flashed a wide, embarrassed smile. "Yes," she said, "they're a dwarf variety from the mountains of Shengy. One of Mistress Gudea's tutors grew this kind. It's hard to imagine a pirate with the same tastes as Mistress Lassa, but I suppose it makes a change from drinking blood and cutting people's fingers off." Cashel laughed. He had a notion of what it was like in Liane's head right now, and it wouldn't have been right to let her wallow there. If she'd been Sharina, Cashel would've put an arm around her-or more likely, Sharina would've put an arm around him.

Cashel wasn't comfortable doing that, but sometimes it was the best thing there was. "I guess," Cashel said. "I think I'd rather have peonies, though." He kept on smiling, but mention of pirates made him think of Ilna's friend Chalcus. They'd never talked about the things Chalcus had done before he met Ilna, but you could read from the scars all over his body that he hadn't been the kind of sailor who took a tub from Shengy across the Inner Sea with a load of oranges ripening aboard. Had Chalcus cut off fingers and drunk blood? Not without a reason for it, but Cashel guessed there wasn't much Chalcuswouldn't have done if he'd had to. Because Ilna wouldn't have been happy with a man who wasn't that way, since she surely was herself. "Cashel?" Liane said, looking at his smile and maybe seeing what was behind it. She was smart, just as smart as Garric. "I was thinking about my sister, ma'am," Cashel said. He didn't talk much, but he'd answer a question if somebody asked him. It was easy when you were willing just to tell the truth. "She's gotten a lot mellower since we left home-even after she lost Chalcus and Merota, I mean, though for a while there she was something else. But you still wouldn't want to be on the wrong side of her." "No," said Liane, "I wouldn't. But I don't think anybody could be a better friend." Cashel smiled. "Yes, ma'am," he said. "But she's not a good friend to herself." Rasile got to her feet, looking like a toy unfolding. "Are you ready, Cashel?" she said. "Yes, ma'am," he said. Rasile's eyes were a little harder as she turned them on Liane.

The expression reminded Cashel that the wizard's jaw was long and full of pointed teeth. "And you, female Liane?" "Just Liane, please," she answered pleasantly. "Yes, I'm ready." "Then join me in the heptagram, Cashel and Liane," the wizard said. "The star of power, we of the True People call it." She waggled her tongue in the equivalent of a grin.

"We will see if it hasenough power," she said. "The power…," said Liane as she stepped over the jagged line of yarrow stalks. "Is in you, Rasile, not in your symbols. And you have power enough." "The Wizard Tenoctris trusts me more than I trust myself," said Rasile.