Daggerspell - Katharine Kerr [121]
“You’d best get ready to ride, my sweet,” he said. “Lord Rhodry’s going to want that message on its way.”
“Well and good, Da, but I still wish you—”
When Cullyn raised his hand for a slap, Jill held her tongue.
“Have a good ride,” he went on. “And I’ll see you when I do.”
Cullyn walked away so fast that she knew that she wouldn’t see him again before she rode. It was better that way; she hated saying farewell to him before a war because speaking the words made them both aware that it might be the last farewell they ever said.
All that morning, as the army made its slow way east, Nevyn and Aderyn rode together at the rear behind the carts and the servants. Although Rhodry had offered them a place of honor at the head of the line, they had a dangerous sort of rear guard to keep. At any moment, they might have to turn their horses out of line and dismount, because not even mighty masters of dweomer like they could assume a full trance on horseback without falling headlong into the road. No matter what the bards claim, the dweomer has its limits.
“I’m truly grateful you’ve come along,” Aderyn said. “By rights, this little job should be mine alone.”
“Well, you’ll have to fight the last battle without me, sure enough, but I haven’t spent years brooding over Rhodry like a hen with one egg just to have him killed by a pack of rebels. Here, do you think Loddlaen will try to attack you directly?”
“I don’t know what to think. That’s why I’m so glad you’re here.”
When Nevyn turned in the saddle to look at him, he realized that Aderyn was frightened.
“We’ve never faced each other in combat,” Aderyn went on. “For all I know he’s stronger than me, and I’ve never tried to kill a man in my life, while he’s already murdered one. Ah, by the hells, it’s not my life I fear for, but my work. It isn’t finished yet. I can’t afford to waste all that wretched time being reborn and growing up again. You know as well as I do that without human dweomer on the border, there’ll be open war between man and elf.”
“So I do. Well, I’m going to do my best to convince your successor that she should take up the dweomer.”
“And is that our Jill’s Wyrd?”
“I’m not certain, of course, but I’m beginning to think so. First she’ll have to be firmly rooted in the ways of her own kind. That’s my task. And then? Well, the Lords of Light will give her omens when the time is ripe.”
“Just so. But that’s a long way away, and the Elcyion Lacar need me there now.”
“Well, if worst comes to worst, I’ll ride west. There are others in the kingdom who can do my work in Eldidd.”
“My thanks. You can’t know how much that eases my heart.”
“Good. But you’re not dead yet, my friend. If we stay on guard, we’ll keep you alive, sure enough.”
Near noon, one of the carts shattered a wheel—a common occurrence. Irritably Rhodry announced that the army might as well have its midday rest while the carter made repairs. The men spread out along one of those tiny streams so common in the Eldidd meadowlands and unsaddled their horses to let them roll, then clustered around the carts to get their rations. Since neither Nevyn nor Aderyn ever ate more than two spare meals a day, they had time for more important things. They turned their horses over to a servant and walked downstream until the noise and bustle of the army were far behind them.
“I want a look at things,” Nevyn said.
“I’ll admit that it’ll gladden my heart if you can scry him out. I haven’t done so much flying in years, and my arms ache all day long.”
Nevyn shuddered. Even though he’d seen Aderyn fly many a time over the past year, there was just something about a shapechanger that creeped a man’s flesh, even if that man had other dweomer himself.
“Then you haven’t been scrying him out on the etheric?”
“I’m quite simply afraid to meet him there until I test his strength some other way.”
“That’s doubtless wise. Well, I’ll see what I can find out for you. I have the feeling the young cub will run like the hells