Silver May Tarnish (30 page)
Read Silver May Tarnish Online
Authors: Andre Norton
“Well met, and where from here is the dale of which you spoke?”
Lorcan gave him the bow between equals. “Only a short distance further, my Lord. Follow me.” We rode with the old man, laughing, talking, while those of his retinue also seemed joyous. Yet if they had been hopeful while they traveled, the reality surpassed their dream. We halted them at the head of the dale where they might look downwards and see all they would own. I spoke.
“Once, before the bandits came, this was Merrowdale. Fair and fertile land. Their lord was kin to mine. Of both dales I alone still live. If I have any rights I renounce them now. All save one. That as the lord here was friend to Honeycoombe, let you now be friend.”
“I hear your words.” Lord Salas gave me the bow of equals. “Let it be so. Never shall this dale ride against your home. Rather, if enemies come, we ride against them beside you. Children shall be fostered between us, goods and gear exchanged. Friendship shall ever hold between dales,
on this I give my hand.” He reached out to clasp my fingers in his own large sword-roughened paw. I clasped back as Lorcan joined his own hands to the grip. Then I reined Rez backwards.
on this I give my hand.” He reached out to clasp my fingers in his own large sword-roughened paw. I clasped back as Lorcan joined his own hands to the grip. Then I reined Rez backwards.
“Into your new lands let you go alone. Claim them as you will.” I turned my mount. Lorcan followed me as we rode away, leaving Salas to ride on leading those he had brought so far.
And so Lord Salas and his people took what had been Merrowdale but which place they renamed Hopedale. Now and again, as we could, we had rounded up sheep and returned them there. Tildale's old weaver was delighted by the quality of beasts and wool. In little time the sheep had a shepherd and care again. Looms began to clack busily. That was as well. I had set my wedding date, but before I wed I went again to the secret vale to talk with the voice. I had labored in secret many days before I did so. I had visited the shrine of my Lady of the Bees once towards the end of my toil. From her I had wisdom and aid.
Now Lorcan came with me to the secret vale deep within Honeycoombe. With him alone I had shared the secret the voice had told me. It was only right since it was his secret before it was mine.
“Lady, we have come to speak with you. If that is intrusion and unwelcome, let you say?”
“Nay, Lorcan, son of the House of Erondale. You are welcome.”
“And my lady?”
“I welcome also Meive, wing-friend, daughter ofâ” The name she spoke was the true name of my Lady of the Bees. More a stirring in the air than a name one of our kind could say. There was a pause, then the voice spoke again.
“Lorcan, son of Erondale. Long and long ago a man of your line took up sword in our name. My kinswoman was in need and he did not count the cost. The power my people
can wield varies. Some have much, some little. In some it does not rise until they are of certain age. Thus it was with my kinswoman, who was a small child in our terms, so that she was unable to protect herself. Yet one came who stood as kin in our stead. We do not forget.
can wield varies. Some have much, some little. In some it does not rise until they are of certain age. Thus it was with my kinswoman, who was a small child in our terms, so that she was unable to protect herself. Yet one came who stood as kin in our stead. We do not forget.
“I was ever solitary, yet once, long ago, I visited your lands and found them very fair. I sorrow with you that all is gone. Now I, too, go from this place, from the lands of your kind. A gate opens and it is my will to depart to be with my people again, even though my kin departed long ago as you would count the years.”
“We do not drive you out?” It was both statement and question I made. We had no wish to do so and if she feared it then I would reassure.
“Not so. The time has come, that is all. But I heard talk of a wedding. To your lady, Lorcan, I gave a gift which she used well. To you also I would give a gift in friendship. Nay,” as he drew in a breath, “no talk of debts between us. Nor of kin and blood. I give a wedding gift that the son of a house we knew shall prosper. And that this may be accomplished, let you send your people beyond your own lands on the morrow. Let them be gone by sun-high. Then shall I come out.”
Lorcan and I stared. “Aye. I, who have not been seen by any of your kind yet living, shall come forth. The gift shall be yours, then must I depart and this my home, shall fall to you.” She spoke further then. Instruction as to things we must bring her and do. We agreed. It never occurred to us to do otherwise.
With morning we cleared our people from the dale. Levas was with them to lead them in a variety of tasks out on the hillside, Vari at his side.
Then we returned. We walked: it seemed more fitting. At the entrance to the hidden place we were met by a pillar of mist from which spoke our voice. From that came a small hand which beckoned us. We obeyed. It moved out across
the inner vale and past the keep. There it turned and I knew within it eyes studied keep and cliffs behind. The mist faded, thinning out enough so that we might see within it a slight form. The figure raised its arms.
the inner vale and past the keep. There it turned and I knew within it eyes studied keep and cliffs behind. The mist faded, thinning out enough so that we might see within it a slight form. The figure raised its arms.
Words came. It seemed as if they hurtled like great blue-green darts against the cliff. They struck at a point hard beside the keep wall. They clung, each seeming to cut deeper. Where they ate at the rock I could see a tunnel forming, the height of a mounted man, and the width of two ponies. The dart-words vanished from sight, but I could feel their sounds yet in the still air. At last they fell silent and I knew they had broken through to the inner vale.
The mist-lady raised her arms and spoke one short word as she turned. At the entrance to our inner vale the rock groaned. She pointed as if in command. It groaned again and fell. Not as a slide but as if the whole of the cliffs dropped that distance to settle again. Where there had once been a fault in the rock, an entrance, now there was nothing. Yet she was not done with her gift.
A third and final time she spoke, words which produced a great roaring in the air. I stepped back. Such power was fearful. I had no wish to stand too close lest I be consumed by it. As we watched, the rock flowed outward. It fell slowly, shaping itself as it fell. Great blocks of stone fell into place, timbers split and screamed. Dust billowed out to hide the scene. When it cleared we could only stare at what her power had wrought.
“This pleases you, Son of Erondale?”
Lorcan was gaping like a stranded fish. I understood that: I, too, felt as if there was not enough air to take in a breath. At last he bowed.
“Lady, I am greatly pleased. This is a wondrous gift. Not only as something I wished for but also refuge, safety, and life for our people in years to come.”
“If it is as you wished, then that is well. I will depart. Once I am gone my lands shall be yours without let nor
hindrance. Care for them, Son of Erondale. They have sheltered me so long.”
hindrance. Care for them, Son of Erondale. They have sheltered me so long.”
“I shall care, Lady. Both for them and in your name.” I saw the mist roil and before my courage was gone I ran lightly forward.
“Lady. Gifts you have given such as no great lady in all the dales could have brought us. But I, too, would give a gift. Let you remember us.”
I reached out my hand, holding within it a small carved wooden box. It was good workmanship, nothing unusual but well made. A slender six-fingered hand showed clear for a moment as it accepted my offering, then opened the lid. It took out what was within it and as if even the land waited, the breeze fell silent, the birds did not call.
I had wrought well with the power My Lady of the Bees had granted me. The stones I had taken from the keep wall here, when I returned to find all dead and fled again, had contained few jewels of great value. Nay, they had been the semi-precious gems from hill and stream. Of them I had chosen one. From a large honey-colored agate I had chipped and smoothed out a bee. The gauzy wings were of silver spun fine as no smith of the dales could have done. Power alone, asked for and given to me freely, had made them.
Tiny black gems set in the head created eyes with which one might have sworn the creature saw. The body had been polished so that it seemed to glow with honey-fire. Loaned power had made it, yet it had been my vision and the desire to give a gift which had guided that power. I had not seen it for many days. Now, as our mist-lady opened the box, even I who had created the gift within was amazed anew by the beauty of that which I had wrought.
The figure took it up to admire. I felt a soft and gentle delight flow out to me. I smiled. If I had brought her joy in the gift then I was well pleased. Within the box, too, lay a long neck-chain made with gold and silver links. I had asked it of Lorcan, since that had come from the treasure given his House. He had given it and asked not why I requested
it. Now he knew. The gift was from both of us. I looked sideways from a corner of my eyes, seeing his smile.
it. Now he knew. The gift was from both of us. I looked sideways from a corner of my eyes, seeing his smile.
The figure took up the bee then, threading chain through the loop atop the glittering wing-friend. She lifted it over her head and laid the bee as a pendant upon her breast. Then she lifted her hands one last time, turning to look at us.
“I shall remember you always. Fare you well, Lorcan son of Erondale that was, Meive, wing-friend, daughter to the Hive and Honeycoombe.” We spoke our farewells in turn as her hands lifted in supplication to the air. “Oh, let me now come home, my kin. Open the gates to me!”
Lightning cleaved the sky. She stood motionless, her hands upheld as the air split before her. Shimmering, outlined in silver fog, the air opened to her plea. Beyond we glimpsed a place I could never afterwards describe. Only that the beauty, the quiet peace, had been beyond any place I had ever known. She turned to pace forward through the gate, then, as she passed through, the mist fell from about her.
For seconds we saw with clear eyesâher shape, her inhumanly graceful loveliness. Not of humankind, no. Or not of any humankind we had ever known. But beautiful and a person, a great lady of her people. That we did know. The huge amethyst eyes turned to survey us and the triangular face moved in a smile. The white feathers which clad her form seemed to ripple in the breeze of her own lands. Her voice was clearer, a crystal ringing.
“Farewell, may you ever fare well.” There was a flare as the sides of the silver fog closed together and she was gone. For a time we simply stood, hand in hand, letting the wonder of what we had seen slowly fade. It was Lorcan who moved, stirring as he looked at his gift.
“You told her what I wished, did you not?”
I nodded. “Was I wrong?”
“Never so. It is right. Most marvelously right. Look!” He pointed out the features to me, his voice rising in excitement.
Indeed I could see why. I had not known how it should be done but the lady of our innermost valley had guessedâor known somehow.
Indeed I could see why. I had not known how it should be done but the lady of our innermost valley had guessedâor known somehow.
The tunnel had been driven home from outer to inner valley through the cliff. Around it had risen a double wall, an extension of the walls about our Keep, although so close was the tunnel little additional length of the walls had been required. Set in them both were gates. Not one before the other, but stepped, so that should we be attacked the invaders could not fight forward in a straight line.
The gates themselves were a wonder. From where she had called them I could not guess. Perhaps from some long-abandoned keep of her own kin or kind. They were of bronze set so cunningly that they could be swung open or closed by even my own strength. And upon them lay signs. I could read several. They were runes of ward and guard. Lorcan, too, recognized them. He traced one with a finger.
“They are warm.” He smoothed the sign again. “We shall carve these into all the gates of the Keep. Upon posts by our road and on the guardpost door also. No dark evil shall win past them. The inner valleys shall be a refuge for our people should war come again.”
I smiled. “I shall move the hives to the lady's valley. I think they shall like it there.”
So I did and so did they. The weeks flew past until it was high Summer. Levas went to the cross-roads again, bringing back another family of six who would join us. On the longest day of the year we were wed, Lorcan and I, before all our people in the great hall of our keep. My warriors attended with the queens of the hive, swarming to hang from the beams above us. Never was a dale's wedding so guarded. Lord Salas of Hopedale came with his grandchildren, among them, Merria, eager to become my apprentice as several of the queens dropped to consider and approve her.
Out of the dark of war and its aftermath, out of the death
of all I had, came love and happiness. This I said the next time I visited the shrine and to me there was made answer.
of all I had, came love and happiness. This I said the next time I visited the shrine and to me there was made answer.
“To all things there is a season, daughter of the hive: Spring, when we rise to fly forth, when our daughters swarm seeking new pastures; Summer, when we gather nectar; Fall, when we prepare; and Winter, when we drowse away the dark days, the killing chill. Winter is done for you. Fly free, daughter. It is your Spring, may your land be filled with flowers.”
She was right, my wise Lady of the Bees. It was my Spring and Lorcan was the honey I gathered. Yet always Winter returns. I shall pray only that it does not do so again in my lifetime. Yet if it should happen I shall know I do not stand alone. That is enough.
Lorcan
M
ost holds and keeps have a muniments room. In such small rooms are kept safe all documents the lord and lady of the dale might require. All the latter half of that golden Summer Meive and I made time to sit, quills in hand, and write, finishing our tale. And when at last we were done the writings were laid in a wood-lined brass box. Above and through the sheets Meive strewed herbs to keep moth and insect from our records. Then we took aside Levas and Elesha and I spoke to them.
ost holds and keeps have a muniments room. In such small rooms are kept safe all documents the lord and lady of the dale might require. All the latter half of that golden Summer Meive and I made time to sit, quills in hand, and write, finishing our tale. And when at last we were done the writings were laid in a wood-lined brass box. Above and through the sheets Meive strewed herbs to keep moth and insect from our records. Then we took aside Levas and Elesha and I spoke to them.
“In many dales none know the true tale of their founding. The man who took up the land is long since dead so there are only legends and songs. When first I met my lady it seemed right to me that this thing should change. Here we have written what happened. Of how my lady was bereft of all she loved. Of how the invaders slew my dale. And of how we two met and took Honeycoombe for our own. I have writ of the lady of the inner vale and her gift to us, of her appearance and words and the gift we gave her to take beyond in memory of Honeycoombe.”
“And have you written of us?” That was Elesha.
“Of you, and Levas here, and Vari, Aria, Manon, Criten.” I smiled. “I need not list everyone, but all have their place.
Each is within these records.” I glanced at Levas from the comer of my eyes. “Even Gathea has her due.”
Each is within these records.” I glanced at Levas from the comer of my eyes. “Even Gathea has her due.”
“That is well. Else she might omit to chase mice should they seek out your papers.”
“The Gods forbid.” I turned to look from the high window. “The invaders are gone. The war is ended. But there were wars before-time. Mayhap their folk, too, said afterwards, âthe war is done. Forever now we live at peace.' Meive and I have written that we may all remember. Levas, what do you think?”
“That you speak true. Time passes, those who fought grow old and die. Those who come after forget.”
“They shall not. For on the shortest days of each year, as we feast for mid-Winter, this shall be so. That one shall read what we have written and our words of warning. For evil does not die, it only steps back a while. It may come again and if that time shall be, then shall Honeycoombe remember and be ready.” I placed the box upon a shelf, then Meive and I swept them out before us, closing the door as we departed. “But for now, I have work to do, as have you my friend.”
Levas looked a question. “Aye, mouse disposal and a true soldier's clean-up detail. Gathea caught a plump prey last night and, being hungry, ate it. After which she was sick in my lady's slippers.”
I drew down my brows in an effort not to smile but it was of no use. So, laughing, the four of us went on down the stairs, and indeed it was fitting that a tale which began in blood and fire should end in honest laughter. Might all our days so ever end, in joy, in mirth, and in the sweetness of Honeycoombe.
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