Jack Whyte - Uther

"Beyond that, however, on the matter of the Queen, I grant that what you say is true, and I have no justification for expecting you to speak on her behalf on any matter. But that is not what I would ask of you. My urgency lies elsewhere. Your Queen is in my hands, and as a hostage she is more than simply valuable: she is beyond price. And yet, if I do the wrong thing, or if I proceed less than judiciously, I could lose every advantage in negotiating with Lot for her release. I will release her, and unharmed—I can give you my assurance on that, so believe as you will—but we are at a crucial interval here, and I require your help in the form of an answer to this question: which one, of all the Queen's women, would be the best possible choice for me to send to Lot with word of his wife's capture?"

He stopped talking then, watching her eyes closely, and precisely when he saw her begin to gather her breath to speak, he held up a peremptory hand.

"Before you answer that, let me add something else for you to consider: the woman whom I send must have authority among you and must command respect in all your eyes, for only then will she achieve standing in Lot's eyes, I believe. But she must also be fluent and strong in argument, and she must enjoy the confidence of the Queen herself. Do you take my meaning?"

Dyllis nodded. "I do."

"And do you have such a woman among your number?"

Dyllis nodded. "Yes, but only one. The woman you require is called Deirdre. She has everything you seek, and she, above all others, has the power to convince King Lot of what he must do to safeguard and win back his wife, Ygraine the Queen."

Uther frowned. "You intrigue me. She, above all others, has the power to convince Lot? Arc you saying—is this Deirdre then Lot's mistress? For if she is, she would be the worst person I could send, since it would be to her advantage to leave her Queen right here with me, rotting in bondage."

Dyllis coloured prettily and raised her head high. "Believe me, the Lady Deirdre is no mistress to King Lot. Nor need you fear her motives. Nothing would be more to Lady Deirdre's liking than to have Queen Ygraine safe home again as quickly as may be, and safe from your captivity."

Uther stared at her for long moments, his brows drawn slightly together, then nodded decisively. "So be it. I shall use your Lady Deirdre as my messenger. She will be my interlocutor in dealing with Lot."

"But—but you cannot. . ." the Lady Dyllis looked scandalized. "You cannot, surely, think to send the Lady Deirdre out alone to do your bidding? Surely you will grant her at least one companion?"

"One companion? She will have an armed escort. She will come to no harm."

"An armed escort? That will be well enough for her protection while travelling, but she will require a companion, someone with whom she may be herself. She needs more than an escort of drunken soldiery. Think you your base-born troopers could be fit company for any high-born lady?"

Uther appeared to think about that for a time, then nodded in agreement. "Very well, we will permit her a companion. Will you accompany her?"

Dyllis sat blinking at him, her eyes awash with tears as she realized what was being asked of her, and then she nodded wordlessly.

Uther grinned and stood up. "My thanks, Lady Dyllis, you have relieved my mind. Now please inform your friends that they will soon be removed again, with your Queen, this time to a place of safety, with clean, pleasant and private accommodations away from the close proximity of common, base-born soldiery. They will all be lodged there in comfort until this treaty is completed and they can return home. And in the meantime, I can wage my war while the Lady Deirdre sues with Lot for your deliverance." He paused, evidently thinking, and then resumed. "Your guards will take you back now, but will you ask your Lady Deirdre to return here with them, and tell her, if you please, that she will not be harmed in doing so?" He saw her nod and returned the gesture as he stood up. "My thanks for this." He beckoned to one of the guards. "Return the lady to her friends and bring back the woman Deirdre."

Ygraine approached the meeting with Uther with misgivings, her mind still full of the terrifying comment he had made to her concerning Deirdre of the Violet Eyes. His mention of that name had shattered what small degree of equanimity had been left to Ygraine, because the impossibility of his knowing it had been, to her sure knowledge, complete and unequivocal. Uther Pendragon could not ever, under any conceivable circumstances, have heard anything of Deirdre of the Violet Eyes, because Deirdre of the Violet Eyes had died as a mere child and had been dead for many years, and during the brief span of her life she had never left her home in Eire, beyond the sea and far beyond the knowledge of an untutored savage from the mountains of Cambria.

Now, summoned into Uther's presence, she walked slowly. Dyllis had informed her about every aspect of her own conversation with the Pendragon King, but still Ygraine wondered what might be coming. The guards, somewhat to her surprise, made no attempt to hurry her along, but merely walked beside her, adjusting their pace to hers. Abruptly aware of that, she stopped moving altogether, simply to see what they would do, and they stopped with her, standing in silence, waiting for her to start walking again.

They arrived soon after that at the tent that Dyllis had described to her, where the large, saddled horse still stood grazing beneath the hawthorn tree. There was no sign of Uther Pendragon, and when one of her guards bade her be seated, Ygraine obeyed the instruction and sat in one of the two chairs.

A short time later, Uther approached through the trees, surprising her because she had assumed he was in the tent. He came striding towards her, removing his helmet and drying perspiration from his forehead with the crook of his elbow, and when he reached the table in front of her he stopped and inclined his head in an informal salute.

"I am glad you agreed to speak with me," he said. "And grateful."

She looked directly up at him, keeping her face free of expression. "Grateful? You mean I could have chosen not to come?"

"Of course."

"And had I so chosen, what then?"

"Then my guards would have brought you anyway, but not so gently."

"I see. Well, now that we both understand the terms of my presence here, what would you have of me? I have no wish to remain any longer than I must."

"Lady," the big man said with a rueful grin, "I was jesting. In truth, had you chosen not to come, I would have come to you, instead." He looked over to where the two guards stood at attention and nodded to one of them. "I no longer need you. I'll look after the lady myself now. Dismiss." He stood watching the two troopers as they marched away in lockstep, then turned back to where Ygraine sat watching him. "I will not keep you long. I imagine that the Lady Dyllis has already informed you as to what I want of you?"

"You mean regarding the Queen and her ransom."

"Yes." He placed his helmet carefully on the tabletop, then reached out and took hold of the other chair, pulling it towards him. When it was positioned properly, he swept his cloak out from behind him and slung it across his arm to keep it out of the way before he sat down across from her with the table between them. When he was securely seated, he released the folds of his cloak, draping them across his knees, and then looked her directly in the eye.

"Would you be willing to serve as liaison between myself and Gulrhys Lot in this matter of the Queen and your captivity ?"

"To what end?"

He frowned, a quick drawing together of his brows that briefly registered surprise that she would ask such a thing. "Why . . . to the end of gaining your Queen's release. What other end could there be?"