David Drake - The Mirror of Worlds

He'd make do. Mainly he hoped that Ilna was all right. She'd had a hard time, what with Chalcus being killed and just the problem of being Ilna. There wasn't much anybody could do about either one.

"Garric didn't want anything like this," said Sharina. She sounded worn and looked worn too, though the first thing anybody thought when they saw Sharina was that she was beautiful. "Word must've gotten out, and people are so afraid of the Prince leaving now when everything's happening." Sharina hugged Cashel's arm and gave him a wan smile. "And they're right," she added. "Idread to think what'll happen to the kingdom if he doesn't come back." She'd still been awake when Cashel returned with Tenoctris from the Temple of the Mighty Shepherd. That wasn't uncommon-they liked to wait up for one another when they'd had to spend the day apart-but Cashel didn't think Sharina slept during the rest of the night either. He didn't know what was wrong since she hadn't told him. He hadn't asked, of course. Sharina'd let him know when she was ready to. He was sorry to see her looking so tired, though. "I guess Garric'll come back fine from this trip to see the Yellow King," Cashel said. "He's done harder things. And you'll run things till he comes back just the same as you've done before, with Liane helping and all the other people. There won't be any difference this time." What he was saying was the simple truth. Somebody as smart as Sharina ought to be able to see it: everybody else, Garric especially, did. But Cashel'd learned that Sharina needed him to say that sort of thing, which was easy enough to do. They'd kept back from the crush right around Garric, but now a servant came out of the circle of high officials, nodded politely to Cashel, and said to Sharina, "Your highness, Lady Liane would appreciate you joining her and the prince if you would." "Right," said Cashel, smiling. Making a passage for Sharina through folks who were too excited to be polite was something he could do better than most. Though the servant leading back into the mass of gorgeous tunics and gleaming breastplates didn't do a bad job either. Liane employed two sorts of people for her work as spymaster: bookish ones and tough ones. This fellow was as courteous as could be and wore a tunic appliqued in the latest fashion with a scarlet phoenix, but he wasn't a scholar. Lord Waldron and two other soldiers were talking to Garric-or talking at him, anyway, because he seemed to be paying more attention to Liane and the small man in leather breeches holding a sabretache-sort of a saddlebag but for him, not the horse-in both hands. Cashel would've expected Attaper to be there too, just because his rival Waldron was if he didn't have a better reason. He was nowhere to be seen, though. Cashel grinned. He wasn't sure Attaper or Waldron either one thought therewas a better reason to do something than because the other of them was doing it.

Anybody who'd watched two rams in the same meadow knew what was going on, but Cashel didn't have to look any farther than his own heart to understand it. Garric had people around him on one side and on the other the horse he'd be riding: a rangy brown gelding. It looked strong, which Cashel supposed was the main thing. He wasn't wearing armor for the journey, just the new sword and a wicker shield, but he was a big man regardless and there was a packed bag hanging on either side from the crupper. The horse made a nasty wheezing sound when it saw Cashel. That probably didn't mean anything, but Cashel didn't like horses in general and there wasn't anything about this one to change his opinion of the breed. Sure, they moved faster than oxen so you could plow a longer furrow in a day; but they were skittish, you had to feed them grain, and they were apt to take sick for no better reason than the wind changed. Cashel'd take an ox to a horse any day.

He realized his face'd gotten hard; that made him smile all by itself.

Imagine letting something a puny as a horse make you angry! And it wasn't as though anybody was askinghim to ride. Garric saw Sharina and Cashel coming toward him. "Excuse me, milords," he said and pushed between Lord Waldron and a younger fellow also dressed in cavalry boots and a short cape. Putting his arms around his sister, Garric looked over his shoulder and said, "Lord Waldron, would you and your men please give me a moment with the princess and Master Cashel before I take up my new duties as ambassador to the Yellow King?" He grinned.

In that expression Cashel saw the happy young fellow he'd been friends with all his life. Lord Waldron backed because he had to and bumped somebody, which also he didn't have much choice over with things being so tight. He clapped his hand to his sword hilt and shouted, "By the Lady, sir!" The other fellow was a civilian who Cashel thought had something to do with the roads. "Move aside and give his highness some room!" Waldron said. "Move or I'll make the room myself!" The aegipan, Shin, came around from the other side of the horse. Because he was so short, the people crowding didn't pay much attention till his hairy shoulders brushed their bare forearms; then they jerked back, some of them mouthing curses. The little fellow cleared space about as well as Waldron did, and he did it without shouting. Shin saw Cashel watching and lolled his tongue out. "So, Master Cashel," he said. "Do I remind you of your former charges, then?" "Sir," said Cashel, "I tended sheep, not goats. There's folks who think they're the same, but they never tended either. And anyway, you're not a goat." Nor was he.

Besides not really looking like one, the aegipan didn't smell any more like a goat than he did a man. Cashel's nose wrinkled as he considered. What his smell most resembled was a chicken, which wasn't anything he'd have guessed before getting this close to Shin.

"Sharina," said Liane, touching the courier's pouch. "You've been busy too, and I haven't kept you informed as I should've done. The Last have appeared at seven other places that we know about, all cities. At Lady Tenoctris' suggestion, Prince Garric has sent urgent warnings to all the cities of the kingdom-" "I've signed my name to warnings that my able secretary composed," Garric said, putting his hand on Liane's shoulder. She reached up and pressed it firmly. Liane'd been crying, though she seemed composed now. The powder and rouge on her cheeks-usually she didn't wear makeup-couldn't hide the puffiness around her eyes. "I simply transcribe what his highness requests," she said firmly, looking at Sharina. "In any case, we've sent warnings that these appearances have to be crushed immediately and the reflecting pools which the Last are using must be blocked off from the sky. From the star-" She nodded toward the south. The new white star wasn't bright enough to see in daylight, but everybody knew what she meant. "-that is. In some cases our messengers have crossed with reports from the localities which've been attacked, as with these dispatches from Erdin." The courier thrust forward the sabretache, but Liane gestured it away with a flash of irritation. That wasn't any more usual for her than the makeup was. "Thus far, there've been no reports of attacks in places which we haven't warned, however. We can hope that will continue, but his highness-" She broke off and looked at Garric. The silliness of talking about Garric as 'his highness' while she stood there with his hand on her shoulder had choked her.

"Right," said Garric easily. "Sharina, you'll be handling this while I'm gone, but there may not be anything more to do. Still, I thought I'd tell you myself before I left." "Yes," said Sharina in a funny sort of voice. "I suppose I'll have to delegate my usual duties. I wonder what will happen about the Valles sewers?" "I can loan you two trustworthy clerks," Liane said, her head close to Sharina's. "They can meet with petitioners and precis requests, though you'll still have to make the decisions." "Yes, I'd appreciate that," Sharina said in the same low murmur. She looked at Garric again and said in a normal voice, "We've warned the cities, you say; but what if the Last appear somewhere else? There're ponds and pools everywhere, lots of them in places which nobody but a herdsman or a hunter would ever see." "We're doing what Tenoctris told us to," Garric said with a shrug. He looked worried, though. "Ah, Garric?" Cashel said. He wasn't comfortable butting into other people's conversations, but this time he knew something that the others didn't from chatting with Tenoctris in the gig. "Ah, what Tenoctris told me was that it isn't just the ponds, it's the ponds in a place with a lot of, you know, power.