Kings of the North - Elizabeth Moon [122]
“Deer, mostly,” Halveric said. “Wild boar, on occasion. And then birds … the ground-chuck, rather like your quail in the south, and a bird we call the toris, like your hill-pheasant, only much larger. Toris are rare; I don’t hunt them anymore. They’re quite beautiful.”
Andressat tasted a little of each dish—all quite good. The wines were good, too; he recognized his own product, and remembered that Halveric had always bought directly from his factor. That was a nice compliment.
He watched the demeanor of those at the lower tables, pleasantly surprised to see more civilized behavior than he expected, completely unlike the common rooms of inns where he’d stayed on his journey. True, men and women sat together, but there was no unseemliness, and they all seemed courteous.
He had eaten as much as he wanted; he glanced along the high table to see how the others were doing, and Halveric immediately turned to him. “If you would care for a stroll and then dessert in private—”
“Yes, thank you.”
Halveric rose; the others all rose with him, and Andressat followed Halveric out into the courtyard and into a garden enclosure he had not noticed with a suitable facility at one end.
“I will understand,” Halveric said, “if you do not wish to tell me why you travel so far in such haste and incognito, but if I can be of assistance …”
Andressat looked up and around. No one in hearing, but the danger lay not only in humans, he knew. “It is a matter of grave import—”
“Of course,” Halveric said. “You would not travel so far without great need.”
“I find it amazing that you would leave so pleasant a home each year to risk danger in the south,” Andressat said, waving a hand at the espaliered fruit trees. “You are a man of breeding, of family—if you had stayed here—”
“I would not have this land,” Halveric said. “Lyonya is not like the south. You do know about the duality of sovereignty?”
“Of course,” Andressat said. “But not how it forced you into the south.”
“I wasn’t forced, exactly,” Halveric said. He sighed. Once more Andressat noticed how old he looked, his broad shoulders stooped. “By agreement with our elders, not only the elves but also the other elder races, human holdings in Lyonya may not increase. This is all of Halveric Holding, or Halveric Gift, as the elves prefer to call it. It would have gone to my elder brother, had he not preferred a life at court. But in dividing the heritance, he gave up the land to gain the wealth allowing him to live in Chaya. I could not support this—” He gestured broadly. “—by trading farm goods. And as a young man, I knew I had military ability. That skill was salable, once I had a reputation over the mountains.”
“Will you return?”
“Me? No … I’m too old.” Halveric sighed heavily. “My sons, maybe. Cal might. We have to do something; my people deserve it and they aren’t all suited to this life.”
Andressat looked around again. No visible eyes or ears; this little walled space should be secure. He hoped. “I am going to ask your king for aid,” he said. “You remember that Alured the Black—”
“Yes,” Halveric said, with a look of distaste.
“Now he styles himself Visla Vaskronin, Duke of Immer, and the new Duke of Fall confirms him—”
“Vaskronin? Where did he get that?”
“He claims from an ancestor.” Andressat paused, trying to order his thoughts. “My archives are, I believe, the oldest and most complete in Aarenis. Those of Fall and Immer once contained records as old, but war and mischance befell them. Fall asked me, when first Alured-Vaskronin claimed Immer, for copies of my archives, to see if they agreed with Alured’s claims. In the search for any that might be of use, I found … I found things I had not known.” He glanced sideways. Halveric was leaning to look at something on the limb of one of the espaliered pears.
“I’m listening,” Halveric said. He reached out and pinched something from the limb. “I listen better when my hands are busy.”
“Well, then … I should have known everything