David Drake - The Mirror of Worlds

Sharina had agreed gladly. They'd sent away even the clerks who were normally as much a part of the business of governance as the polished cherrywood table at which they were working. Cashel had stayed too, of course. He had no business here except to be Cashel, imperturbably solid; and the way Sharina felt at the moment, there was nothing in the world more valuable. "It's the army that's worst," Sharina said softly, her palms covering her eyes. Time with Liane in Cashel's silent presence was actually better than solitude. She desperately needed friends: completely trustworthy, sympathetic friends. "I don't know anything about soldiers. These appearances of the Last…"

"All the incursions have been stopped and the pools have been covered over," Liane said when she realized Sharina's voice had trailed off.

"No one could've done a better job than you did, dear." "But there were almost eight hundred dead and wounded on Tisamur, Liane," Sharina said, raising her head and putting her hands flat on the table before her. "That's what the messenger himself says, anyway, and since Lord Lomar, the Resident Advisor, doesn't give a figure in his formal report I'm inclined to believe the messenger. That's terrible, isn't it? Someone must've blundered badly. Should I replace the military commander?" Liane put her right hand over Sharina's left. "We don't know," she said. "We can't know. And we don't have to worry about it now." She squeezed Sharina's hand and grinned. "Because we havefar more important things to worry about," she added. Sharina smiled back.

She felt relieved, though nothing had changed. "Garric would know what to do," she said, without the bitter despair that would've been in the words a moment before. "I really don't think he would," Liane said musingly. "But King Carus would, I'll agree. He had an instinct for that sort of thing. His technique for dealing with foreign envoys lacked subtlety, however." Sharina burst out laughing; an instant later Liane was laughing also. They'd both watched Carus behead the ambassador from Laut as part of the same motion in which he drew his sword. At the time, of course, it hadn't been funny; and perhaps they wouldn't find it funny now if they weren't on the verge of hysteria.

There were voices in the hallway; the rhythms though not the words were audible through the chamber's thick door. Cashel got up silently, nodded to the women, and opened the door just enough to slip out.

Sharina found watching him move to be a continuing wonder and delight.

Cashel didn't seem to do anything quickly, but he never made a false step and he never slowed because he'd run into something solid or heavy. A moment later, he reappeared with Tenoctris. "I told the guards it was all right," he said. "You didn't mean her not to come in when you said they shouldn't let in anybody." "Of course!" said Sharina. The trouble with the way Attaper trained the Blood Eagles was that they tended to interpret orders very strictly. Thinking about it, she wasn't sure they'd have passed even Garric without discussion.

Tenoctris always seemed alert, but this evening her expression had a febrile brightness that Sharina found disconcerting. Though she smiled toward Liane, it was to Sharina that she said, "Dear, I believe I'm as prepared as I can be. With your permission, I'll put my research to the test in the Old East Burying Ground now." Sharina nodded calmly, though her heart had gone to ice again. Aloud she said, "I told Lord Waldron to give you any assistance you wished. I trust he's done that?" "He offered me a regiment of soldiers," Tenoctris said with a twinkling smile. "Actually, he offered me mychoice of regiments, as if I'd know one from another. I believe he was pleased that I'd gone to him rather than Lord Attaper. I asked him for ten men who were willing to dig if necessary, which he assured me they would be." She cleared her throat. "And I would also like Cashel to accompany me, Sharina," she continued. "I believe I'll need his company for some time." "Of course," Sharina repeated. "We'd all assumed that, I think." She got up and waited for the dizziness to pass, then walked briskly around the table and threw her arms around Cashel. She hadn't expected Tenoctris to say "need," though. She didn't know what that meant, but she didn't see any advantage to pressing the old wizard for a detailed explanation. Cashel was as solid as a great oak. While Sharina was with Cashel, nothing could go wrong. And she was about to lose Cashel's presence. "Excuse me, Tenoctris?" Liane said from the world outside Cashel's arms. "I'm not familiar with the Old East Burying Ground." Sharina squeezed Cashel and stepped out of his embrace, though she continued to hold his hand. She looked between the women.

"The name is from my age, not yours," Tenoctris said. "It was quite old even a thousand years in your past, however, and it'd vanished into the sprawl of shanties beyond Valles proper before the Change. I believe that in a tomb there I'll find the ally which mankind needs."

Is it safe to drag an ancient wizard from his grave? Sharina thought, and of course it wasn't-but if Tenoctris was doing it, there wasn't a better solution available. The realization made her stomach churn. "We depend on you, Tenoctris," Sharina said aloud, gripping Cashel's hand hard. "Well, on you and Garric, but the Yellow King was a myth to me from before I could read. I'm afraid I still feel that way." "We'll both hope you're wrong, dear," the old woman said, smiling wistfully.

"When I was very young, I read Hohmann'sGrammar of the Powers in what was left of the family library. I found that I could make a feather lift in the air. I certainly never thought I'd be at a pivot of history, though." She shook herself or perhaps shivered. "Well," she said. "Cashel, if you're ready, shall we-?" "Excuse me, Tenoctris,"

Sharina said. She blurted the words without consciously meaning to, though they'd been on the tip of her tongue since the wizard entered the room. "I-something happened last night. Could I talk to you and Liane? It's sort of… a woman problem." She glanced at her companions. Tenoctris was brightly quizzical, Liane was carefully neutral. Cashel was Cashel, smiling softly and as firm as the bedrock.

"I'll go chat with the guards," he said. "Besok was a shepherd on Cordin." He closed the door softly behind him. Sharina took a deep break. Shecouldn't have talked about Vorsan in front of Cashel. "Last night when I returned to my room I saw a reflection in the window," she said in a firm voice. "I fell into it, I don't know how; I was concentrating on the reflection and then I was in a room with a man who called himself Prince Vorsan. He said he'd made a place to preserve himself from the Flood. He wanted me to join him." Her mouth was dry. She licked her lips and went on, "He said the Last would destroy us as the Flood did his world." "How did you escape, dear?" asked Tenoctris quietly. "He didn't try to hold me," Sharina said. It sounded impossible when she tried to explain it. "He told me to look into one of his mirrors, and when I did I was back in my room." She paused, trying to focus on important details. "The mirrors seemed to be glass, not metal," she said. "I've never seen anything like them."

Tenoctris shrugged. "Your Vorsan sounds very interesting," she said.

"I wish I had leisure to learn more. Perhaps I could even meet him, but-" Her smile was perfunctory; a polite dismissal. "-I'm afraid I don't. He doesn't appear to be a serious threat, or indeed a threat at all. And other matters certainly are, I'm afraid." "I'm just to forget him, then?" Sharina said. She managed to keep her voice calm, but she was more angry than she'd have expected. "Yes, dear, if you can,"

Tenoctris said. "Or perhaps…" She looked appraisingly from Sharina toward the door, then back. "If matters go as I hope they will tonight," she resumed, "Cashel and I will be doing a great deal of travelling until the Last have been defeated. You and the kingdom will need a wizard to advise you in day to day matters while I'm gone, though. That person, my replacement, may feel otherwise about Prince Vorsan. I won't be offended if you take his or her advice over mine."