Fire Dragon - Katharine Kerr [110]
“It is, truly,” Admi said. “Ah ye gods, this be grievous news!”
Zatcheka rose, nodded all round, then snapped her fingers. Grallezar scrambled up and bowed to the council; the two guards fell in behind her. Without another word or even a wave, Zatcheka led her people out of the chamber.
Admi moaned aloud and tipped his head to rest upon his chair back. Hennis sat rubbing his mouth with the flat of his hand, while Burra and Frie sat like corpses.
“Never did I think such evil as this would come upon Cerr Cawnen,” Admi whispered. “Truly, it would be better to have the fire mountain vomiting than this, better to have the earth shake and heave at our feet.”
For a long tedious while the council sat, speaking little, staring at one another as if they thought themselves already doomed. Finally Verrarc stood up with a toss of his head.
“Fellow councilmen, I do suggest this. Let us each go back home to think on this thing in private. Look at us all, sitting here like stones on the hillside! There be a need on us to recover our wits. Then we can come back here and discuss the matter.”
“Well spoken, Verro.” Admi heaved his bulk out of the chair. “I do agree. And you, my friends?”
The others nodded and rose, shaking out their cloaks or pulling down their tunics, looking at the floor, the table, anywhere but each other.
“I shall send a servant with a message for Zatcheka,” Admi went on. “When it be time for her to rejoin us.”
Verrarc returned to his house to find everyone assembled in the great room. Harl was restocking the wood bin by the hearth, Korla was sweeping, Magpie sat on the floor in the corner. Raena, the only one who could wait for news without such excuses, sat in her chair with mending in her lap and her work basket beside her. If he told them the truth, Verrarc knew, it would be all over town before the council could make a formal announcement.
“Our meeting this morning did go well,” Verrarc said. “The Gel da'Thae woman be here as an ambassador to renegotiate our treaty with her town. It has stood for thirty years, and they hope it to stand for more years yet.”
The servants smiled, nodding. Harl stacked the last bit of wood, bowed, and left, with Korla and Magpie hurrying after him. Raena laid the mending back into her basket and watched him silently as he sat down opposite. With a long sigh he stretched out his legs and sank into the familiar comfort.
“There be more, bain't?” Raena said.
“Just so.” Verrarc kept his voice low. “The wild Horsekin be on the move, Rae. It bodes ill for all the towns out in the Rhiddaer.”
“And so she did come to forge some new alliance for war?”
“Just that.”
Raena swore under her breath and leapt up, then paced over to the window and stared out. Verrarc rose and walked over, putting his hands on her shoulders from behind. He could feel her trembling.
“Here, here, Rae, we're not doomed yet,” Verrarc said. “Zatcheka did tell of some mighty battle that the Kin did wage in the Slavers' country. They were badly defeated, said she, and lack horses and men both. No doubt by the time they be ready to fight again, we'll have set up our defenses here.”
“No doubt.” She sounded angry, he realized, not frightened. “The meddling bitch!”
“What?”
“Forgive me, my love. I know not what I did mean by that. But here, on this matter—will it come to a formal Deciding?”
“Of course.”
Raena spun round to face him. She was near tears.
“Verro, please, I beg you! Don't let a Deciding be called straightaway. Here, be it not a grave matter? How can the townsfolk make up their minds so quickly?”
“Well, truly, Zatcheka did say some such thing herself.”
“She has the right of it. Please, Verro? Just three nights will do.”
“Do for what?”
Raena turned pale and stepped back.
“That I cannot say,” she whispered. “Please, do it for the love of me?”
Verrarc considered, looking her over coldly, drawing the moment out. Two springs ago, Zatcheka had said—just at the time Raena had disappeared. A single tear ran