Julian May - Conqueror’s Moon - Part One of the Boreal Moon Tale

He noted stout Count Munlow Ramscrest and his allies Bogshaw, Cloudfell, and Catclaw. And there were Tanaby’s sons, Swanwick, Hawkhurst, and Grimstane. The wealthy mountain barons Kimbolton and Conistone, with estates bordering those of Beorbrook, were holding close conversation with their powerful overlord. At the far end of the table on the left sat Viscount Hartrig Skellhaven and his cousin Baron Ingo Holmrangel. Their seaside castles and fleets of armed cutters defended Cathra’s far north-eastern coast, and they were themselves rumored to be little better than pirates.

‘So all of those invited did come after all,’ said a soft voice behind Prince Conrig.

He felt the hairs at the back of his neck prickle as a draft of chill air brought a familiar, green-fen scent of vEtiver.

‘It bodes well for the enterprise,’ the voice continued, almost purring with satisfaction. ‘For you know that not even I could compel their alliance. Of course, they haven’t accepted your proposal yet, but I believe that the odds are strongly in your favor — and your plan for taking care of any nay-sayers is most ingenious.’

Still crouched low, Conrig dared not turn around. Suppressed fury tightened his throat. A Sending here? Now, at this critical juncture? Was the woman mad?

‘If you’re seen,’ he hissed, ‘I’m ruined! My brother Vra-Stergos is hidden away with my other Companions in the repository tower, and your Sending could only be attributed to me!’

‘No one will see or hear me, my prince.’ She spoke with a hint of mockery. ‘Your accession to the throne is safe, untainted by any whiff of magical talent.’

He craned about and saw a cloaked and hooded figure standing in a dark niche. The face was invisible and the glowing moonstone sigil that enabled the Sending was out of sight. Slowly he withdrew from the railing and climbed to his feet, keeping well out of view of those below, and went to her. ‘Why are you here?’ His whisper was brusque, to hide the fact that he had been badly startled.

‘I come with good news, as well as some of less happy portent.’ Her hand reached out and caressed his cheek. ‘Affairs in Didion have fallen into place just as we hoped, and you may so inform your council of war. King Achardus will remain at the palace in Holt Mallburn during the crucial time. He has scant motive for traipsing abroad among the faminelands listening to the wails of hungry peasants or the mutterings of mutinous vassals. His sons Honigalus and Somarus are another matter, however. Both have taken ship to the south, probably to seek help from Stippen or another Continental nation in countering your blockade in the Dolphin Channel. Beynor and three senior members of the Glaumerie Guild are accompanying the Didionite princes. My dear brother is playing some game of his own, and he’s probably being well paid for it. He has used a sigil to cast a strong spell of couverture over their vessel, and I cannot penetrate it.’

Conrig muttered a quiet oath. ‘But you will be able to find out what they’re up to?’

‘Eventually. It may become necessary for me to empower another of my own Great Stones in order to learn his plans, but I hope I can use alternate means. The most powerful sigils are activated only through atrocious suffering, and their conjuring puts the user deep in debt to the Lights.’

He felt the familiar thrill of dread at her mention of the awful Beaconfolk. ‘Lady, must you invoke those dire creatures? Is there no other manner of sorcery that will serve our purposes?’

‘None so effective. I call upon the Coldlight Army as rarely as possible, since they’re notorious for twisting petitions and conjurations to unwelcome outcomes. But we must find out what Honigalus and Somarus intend. They are the real power behind Achardus’s throne and they have powerful friends on the Continent. It would do you small good to triumph in the north while disaster strikes the southern underbelly of your unborn Sovereignty.’

‘No,’ Conrig admitted reluctantly. Most of the Cathran navy was at sea, enforcing the blockade against Didion, and the capital city of Cala on the south coast would be vulnerable to a lightning assault from mainland ports.

He was silent, considering other things that her words had brought to mind. Then: ‘Advise me, if you please. None of these council attendees, not even Duke Tanaby or the earl marshal himself, knows that the Edict of Sovereignity was as much your idea as mine. Would you have me tell them?’

A patronizing laugh. ‘I’m not the one who covets the ancient glory of Emperor Bazekoy, my prince. Warriors mistrust sorcery, and for good reason. It’s best that they know nothing of our earlier … strategic consultations, for that might taint the sanctity of your great vision and weaken your authority. You must certainly tell your council of war how I intend to assist the invasion, and my reasons for doing so. But keep the rest secure in your own heart. The unification of High Blenholme is your own dream, after all, and none but you can fulfill it.’

He felt sweat start out on his brow, not from doubt of his own abilities to persuade and command the others, but in a belated flush of apprehension at where this alliance with her might eventually lead.

‘They will ask — my godfather and the earl marshal, at any rate — how you and I came to this marvelous friendship. Lady, what am I to tell them? They know we could never have met face to face. And even though we have made some use of my brother’s arcane talent—’

‘He has always been our go-between! You must convince the others of it. And see that Vra-Stergos is also convinced.’

‘I’m sure my brother has suspected that I possess the talent, that you and I bespoke each other through magical means long before your Sendings appeared to Gossy and me together at the hunting lodge. He’s a timid soul, and he no doubt put the notion out of mind for fear of what the consequences would be. Nevertheless, my brother won’t tell an outright lie about my talent, even to protect me. It would violate his vows to God and Saint Zeth.’

‘Then you must ensure that he does not officiously strive to tell the truth,’ she snapped, ‘while you say what you must to the duke and the earl marshal, and charge your own conscience. And if the new-hatched Doctor Arcanorum will not let be, then you must silence him.’

‘He’s my older brother!’ the prince exclaimed in horror. ‘I love him!’

‘He is a man born with the talent, whose voice carries on the wind and whose mind solidifies the Sending. And by that token he is ineligible for your precious throne of Blencathra. As are you , Conrig Prince Heritor, if your vaunted truth be told.’

‘But I didn’t know!’ His whisper was desperate. ‘Not until—’ ‘Until I came,’ she said, unaware of the real state of things and knowing nothing of Snudge. ‘And I showed you how the audacious dream of your youth might be fulfilled. You listened well to my secret counsel and your scheme prevailed. The Edict of Sovereignty was proclaimed. That its fulfillment was cruelly bungled by imbeciles was only a temporary setback. With my aid you shall set all to rights. And in the end who will care that you possess a small portion of the talent, or that a few necessary falsehoods were told in your great endeavor’s fulfilling?’

He could think of no way to counter what she had said. Gossy would understand. He must understand …

‘Very well. Leave me, then, lady. Be assured I’ll do what is best.’

Again she touched his cheek, smiling, then vanished. The scent of vEtiver remained, sweet and woodsy.

Prey to unspeakable thoughts concerning his beloved brother, he crept back to the balustrade and looked down blindly on the hall for a few minutes more, until Tanaby Vanguard announced to the nobles at the high table that it was time to go to the solar and begin their conclave.