Sharon Shinn - Reader And Raelynx

“Some started arriving about a month ago. More come every day.”

“Are more on the way?”

“I don’t know. I think so. Too far away-the water won’t let me know.”

“Well, the water has given you plenty of valuable information, and I thank you with the utmost sincerity,” Senneth said. She glanced at Chake, trying to assess his economic status. Would he be pleased or offended if she offered him money for Virdon’s information? “Is there some way I can show appreciation to your uncle for sharing this news with me?”

“No payment required,” Chake said. “But my uncle is never so delighted as when he gets a chance to see someone else’s magic at work.”

Senneth glanced at Kirra, for a shape-shifter’s effects could be far more long-lasting than those of a fire mystic. “Hand me that knife,” Kirra said, and the old man passed over an unused bread knife from their afternoon meal. She balanced it between her palms and concentrated fiercely for a moment. Suddenly it fell to the table with a jangle and revealed itself to be a silver bracelet made of heavy, interconnected links. Kirra picked it up and passed it over to the old man, whose hand was already outstretched.

“Perhaps you might like to wear this as a remembrance of the afternoon you talked magic with Senneth Brassenthwaite and Kirra Danalustrous,” Kirra said grandly. “And it will remind you of how grateful we were to learn your news.”

Chake smiled. “Thank you. We won’t take up any more of your time. Thank you again.”

They left just as Tayse and Donnal were returning. Darryn was a few steps behind and instantly joined them when Kirra waved him over. Senneth slumped on the bench next to Kirra while the men slipped into the booth across from them. Donnal settled under the table at Kirra’s feet.

“What’s wrong?” Tayse said. “What did you learn?”

“That old man who just left. A mystic who apparently communicates with the ocean. I never heard of such a thing, but I believed him,” Senneth said.

“I believed him, too,” Kirra added.

“He says there’s a fleet of ships right outside of Forten City, just sitting in the water, waiting. Big ships. Sounded like they were crammed with men. He couldn’t say how many, but more are coming every day.”

Tayse instantly analyzed the information. “Soldiers from outside Gillengaria being imported to fight this war?” he said.

Darryn looked stricken. “Has to be.”

“Makes sense,” Tayse said. “Explains the gold.”

“What gold?” Darryn demanded.

“We heard rumors last year,” Tayse replied. “That Coralinda Gisseltess had a fortune in gold piled up in the convent. Probably gathering it to help her brother and Rayson Fortunalt pay for an army of foreign mercenaries.”

“I feel sick,” Kirra said.

“Also explains why they’ve waited so long to launch their attack,” Tayse continued. “It takes a while to recruit soldiers from overseas.”

“I thought they were just waiting for spring,” Senneth said.

“Now they are. But we’ve heard rumors of war for a year. Why didn’t they attack last spring? It didn’t make sense-until you realize they were raising foreign troops.”

Senneth appealed to Darryn. “Why didn’t your mother alert us? Surely she’s got trade ships sailing out toward Arberharst and Sovenfeld. Surely one of her merchant captains would have seen something?”

He shook his head. “Maybe not. My mother’s been so worried about war these past few months that she’s practically closed the borders. All the sea captains that normally engage in trade have been pressed into service to guard the coasts. Rappengrass has always had good land soldiers, but we’ve never had much of a military force on the water. She’s doing what she can to make us less vulnerable there.”

“Then you need to get to Rappen Manor right away,” Kirra said. “And tell her there’s a navy piling up not too far from her ports.”

He nodded. “I was planning on leaving tomorrow.”

“This is horrifying,” Senneth said. “We were already worried that we wouldn’t have the numbers-that more Houses would rise up in rebellion than would stay loyal to the crown. But if they’ve hired outsiders as well-”

Tayse nodded. “It tilts the odds against us significantly.”

“Senneth,” Kirra said. “It’s worse than that! If Rayson and Halchon bring in foreign troops, we’ll be helpless! You and I and all the mystics-our magic won’t work against anyone not born in Gillengaria!”

“Bright Mother burn me in ashes to the ground,” Senneth swore. But Tayse offered her a small, calm smile.

“You can still battle the native-born traitors,” he said softly. “But Riders don’t need magic to defend the king. We will fight as we have always fought, with sword and spear and bow and bare hands. This changes nothing for us.”

“Except that you will face more enemies!” Senneth exclaimed. “Except that you are more likely to be defeated!”

Now he laughed outright. “We might face more foes,” he said, “but we will not be overcome.”

THEREwas no need to stay longer in Carrebos, and the next day, anxious and unsettled, Senneth packed for home. A group of twenty mystics from Carrebos had agreed to come with her to the royal city, a selection of shape-shifters, healers, readers, fire-callers, and a few with powers she couldn’t quite name but nonetheless respected.

“What in the world are you going to do with them when you get back?” Kirra asked. She wasn’t bothering to pack. She was going to change herself to a hawk and fly for Danan Hall alongside Donnal, and she planned to leave behind all the clothes she had manufactured for herself during their brief stay.

“I’m going to find a makeshift barracks for them somewhere in the city and make Jerril responsible for training them all,” she said. “Except for the shape-shifters, whom I plan to bring to the palace grounds so they can roam around sniffing for trouble. It will be very strange. I have no idea how we’ll control them all. I just know that I want them nearby and feeling friendly toward me.”

“Well, don’t forget that you have to be at Danan Hall in something under three weeks,” Kirra said. “Make your trip to Ghosenhall quickly, then head out as soon as you can. If you’re not there for Casserah’s wedding to Will-”

“Kiernan will be there, surely, and Nate and Harris,” Senneth said. “If Will has all his brothers there, he won’t mind if I miss the event.”

“But I’ll mind,” Kirra said. “How will I endure if I am there by myself?”

“Don’t go,” Senneth advised. “Then there will be nothing to endure.”

But that was not an option for Kirra-not an option for Senneth, either, if she wanted to maintain the fragile good relations she had established with her brothers this past year.

“I just had a thought!” Kirra exclaimed. “Will Nate bring Sabina Gisseltess along? How odd that will be! And yet you know my father would not turn her away.”

Sabina Gisseltess had run away from her husband, Halchon, last year and had been offered sanctuary at Brassen Court. It had quickly become clear to Senneth that Sabina and the insufferable Nate had been in love with each other all this time-Imagine! Someone pining for Nate for fifteen years!-which made her wish even more passionately that something would happen to strike Halchon Gisseltess dead. Not that Senneth could blame Sabina for wanting to escape her husband, for Halchon had made it very clear his frail wife had become an encumbrance he was prepared to shed. He wanted to be free to make an alliance with a powerful serramarra who might join him in Ghosenhall to rule Gillengaria, once he had wrested the throne from Baryn.