A Man Rides Through (94 page)

"But that is not what you wish to know, is it?"

His voice searched her, and his eyes seemed to probe her bitterness. When he looked at her like that, she felt an unaccountable desire to tell him about being locked in the closet, as if it were his fault in some way, as if there were something he could have done about it. Until this moment, he had cut himself off from her—as her father had cut himself off. What made King Joyse a better man than her father?

"You dislike what I have done," the King said, "but you are able to grasp the necessity of it. Otherwise you would not have supported me. No, my lady, what you want from me is a more immediate hope. You wish me to be greater than you can imagine. You wish me to justify myself with power. You wish me to tell you that I have the means to save you."

Involuntarily, she ducked her head, unable to meet his steady blue scrutiny.

"Terisa," he said softly, "my lady, I cannot save you. I do not have the means.

"You know that already," he continued at once. "As you have observed, I cannot so much as defeat the Adept at hop-board. It is only a game, of course, a mere exercise—but I cannot forget that the pieces live and breathe, with names and spouses, children and bravery and fear. I am an
unreasonable
man. When Quillon told me that Myste went to you before her disappearance, I risked myself and all my plans in order to challenge you, even though Havelock's augury had given me reason to think I knew where she had gone. When my wife is threatened, I do not ask whether any larger need should outweigh her peril in my mind. I lack Havelock's particular sanity.

"And the same unreason weakens me everywhere. Shall I tell you a thing which shames me? When I learned that you had fled to Havelock after Quillon's death, that you had gone to him for rescue with Master Gilbur hot behind you, and that he had refused you— My lady, Havelock is my oldest friend. It was he who put me on the path to become what I am. But when I learned that he had refused you, I struck him—"

Geraden's eyes widened at that revelation; but he said nothing.

"Nevertheless," the King went on as if mere shame couldn't hold him back, "I am here. When Quillon was killed—Quillon, who had served me so long with such courage and cunning—I knew that this battle was mine to wage, rather than only to command. The blood must be on my hands. I will not have my pieces so contemptuously used. I will not allow Master Eremis to tilt the board, to remake the world in his own image." Terisa could have sworn that he was growing taller, rising to power in front of her. "Do you believe I care nothing for Lebbick's suffering, or the Tor's? Do you believe I have not felt your distress—or Geraden's—or Elega's?

"My lady, you have not seen me fight."

Curse you. Oh, curse you completely. I'll do anything you want. Just tell me what it is.

"I
have
seen you fight, however," put in Prince Kragen as he came between the tentflaps. "Though it galls me to say so, my lord King, I am glad that you have come."

The Prince had Ribuld with him, and Castellan Norge. Master Barsonage entered the tent on the Castellan's heels. And with them came a slim figure cloaked from head to foot in dark satin, face and shape and even hands hidden. As Prince Kragen strode forward to confront the King, as both Master Barsonage and Norge stopped and stared as if they couldn't believe their eyes, the cloaked figure slipped back along the tent wall, trying to remain as unobtrusive as possible.

"My lord Prince." King Joyse swung away from Terisa and Geraden; the keenness in his stance intensified. "Master Barsonage." He looked ready to leap in any direction, haul out his sword at a moment's notice. "Captain Norge.

"I have said it before, but I will gladly say it again. We are well met."

"My lord King." The Tor tried to reach his feet against the physician's restraining hands. His voice sounded as thin as a light breeze in cornshucks. "I must speak."

At once, King Joyse turned toward the Tor; but he kept his back to the tent wall, away from Prince Kragen. "Speak sitting, my lord," he commanded. "And speak as little as possible. Your life is precious to me."

Muffling a groan, the Tor sagged.

"If we are here wrongly, the fault is mine alone," he said in a deathbed whisper. "Master Geraden and the lady Terisa have discovered their talents. Already they have worked miracles of Imagery. Norge has become your Castellan, at my command. He leads the forces of Orison."

With a visceral shiver, Terisa realized that the Tor was struggling to prepare King Joyse for his encounter with the Prince.

"Master Barsonage and the Congery have devised means of supply and defense, in accordance with your strictures. We would not have come so far without them.

"Prince Kragen is here with six thousand Alend soldiers because he is an honorable man."

King Joyse put a hand on the Tor's naked shoulder, mutely urging the old lord to conserve his strength. " 'An honorable man,'" he echoed distinctly, as if he had doubts on that point. Almost without transition, he appeared to become someone different—a figure of barely suppressed anger, spoiling for conflict. Facing the Prince again, and speaking mildly, but with a bright threat in his eyes, he asked, "Does my old friend mean that he and the Alend Monarch have formed an alliance?"

"No." Prince Kragen studied the King warily. The excitement which had brought him here was alloyed with a long-standing distrust; but his posture made it clear that he wouldn't back down from his own desires. "He means that he has explained to the Alend Monarch his intention to place his head on Eremis' cutting-block and die rather than submit to a war of attrition he cannot win. And the Alend Monarch sent me to accompany him with the bulk of our force because we have no other way to determine whether the Tor's intention is mad or brilliant. My instructions from my sovereign are to join the Tor or to flee, according to the things I learn here."

"Margonal is crafty," commented King Joyse with deceptive nonchalance, "and apparently he has grown in courage. Well, now you are here, my lord Prince. What have you learned?"

Prince Kragen allowed himself a noncommittal shrug. "I have learned that we are indeed trapped. All our heads are on the cutting-block, and Alend will stand or fall with Mordant, regardless of my instructions."

"I think not," King Joyse retorted with the air of a man pouncing. "I think you will turn against us at the last and join Cadwal, to preserve your father's true cowardice."

At that, Kragen's head jerked back; a flush of fury darkened his cheeks; he closed his fist on his swordhilt.

In response, both Ribuld and Norge braced themselves to draw their blades. The cloaked figure against the tent wall started forward, then retreated. Geraden edged closer to Terisa, moving to protect her from the danger of swords.

No, she thought urgently, you don't understand, Prince Kragen is here
with
us,
with
us.

The Tor repeated hoarsely, "He is honorable. Honorable."

"My lord King," the Prince said between his teeth, "because you
are
the King, and because I have been told at length why I must trust you, I will assume you have
reason
to accuse me of such a betrayal."

"I have
reason,"
snapped King Joyse. "During my absence, I saved Queen Madin from her abductors. It will not surprise you to hear that when at last I found her she was across the Pestil. In Alend, my lord Prince. Her abductors were Alends, and she was being taken by the most direct route toward Scarab."

Prince Kragen's mouth tightened under his moustache. His dark eyes burned with old enmity, with decades of violence, generations of bloodshed. He looked willing to gut King Joyse on the spot.

Yet he contained his outrage. And he didn't draw his sword. "And you persist," he demanded, "in the mad belief that I am capable of such a vile act?"

"No!" Terisa protested. "Eremis did it. He told me so." What was the matter with King Joyse? How could he suddenly be so wrong-headed? "It's just a trick to keep you and the Prince from joining forces."

Before she could go on, King Joyse pointed a forbidding finger at her. "That proves nothing." The command in his stance forced her to be still. "Master Eremis has a pact with Cadwal. Why not with Alend?"

"Because," the cloaked figure cried,
"he is honorable!"

"You do not trust him." Elega swept the hood back from her head as she advanced, and her vivid eyes flashed in the lantern-light. "Is the Tor wrong? Are Terisa and Geraden?" She called every gaze to herself, a cynosure of indignation and passion. Bright as a flame, she challenged her father. "He held Orison in the palm of his siege for days and
days.
He could have taken you apart stone from stone. Yet he withheld. Does that mean nothing to you? He allowed you
time
to prove yourself. And you
dare
accuse him of dishonor?
You dare that to my face?"

King Joyse looked at her as if he were stunned.

"No, Father!" she raged. "The only dishonor in this tent
is yours!
It was
you
who refused to support the Perdon,
you
who refused to hear the Fayle. It was
you
who humiliated Prince Kragen in the hall of audiences,
you
who allowed Terisa's attacker to roam Orison freely,
you
who drove Myste away. You have no
right
to doubt the Prince. There is no alliance between Alend and Mordant because no one is able to trust
you!"

Emotions throbbed under the King's old skin: outrage; alarm; disbelief. And vindication?
She carries my pride with her wherever she goes.
For a moment, no one moved; he didn't move. Elega met his stare as if she were prepared to outface the world.

All at once, King Joyse burst out laughing.

"Oh, very well, my lord Prince," he chortled while the people around him stared. "You are honest, and your father is honest, and I must apologize. If I do not, she will take the skin from my bones."

Geraden's mouth hung open. Prince Kragen clenched his jaws as if he didn't dare speak.

"It was not wise to bring her with you," King Joyse went on, "a woman in battle, a useful hostage if Eremis should capture her. But it was
honest.
If you intended treachery, you would have left her with Margonal. And she would not love you if you had such treachery in you. I know that about her.

"My lord Prince, please accept my regrets—and also my thanks. If we can be saved, it will be because of your courage, as well as your honor."

As King Joyse spoke, the excitement came back to Prince Kragen, the strange new eagerness which had led him into risks no Alend had ever hazarded before. His mouth twisted up the tips of his moustache. Slowly, he produced a smile to match Joyse's humor.

"Why do you think the decision was mine?
Have you
ever been able to tell her what to do?"

In response, the King laughed again; kindly, happily. He grinned like a new day. "Tell
her
what to do?
M.e?"
Elega glared at him in confusion, but he didn't stop. "I am only her father. Tell her what to
do?
Most of the time, I am hardly allowed to make suggestions."

Then he sobered. "One thing, however, I will tell
you,
my lord Prince. Heed me well. While this war lasts, you will obey my orders." Now his tone admitted no argument: his command was as clear as a shout. "If we do not work together, we are doomed."

Prince Kragen only hesitated for a moment; then, still grinning, he nodded once, briefly.

Still ignoring the surprise and consternation and hope around him, King Joyse turned to Elega.

"As for you, my daughter," he said gladly, "you are pride and joy to me." Taking her hands, he raised them to his mouth and kissed them. "No one could have done better. The Queen herself could not have done better. Alone and without power or position, you have made an alliance where none existed.