Storm Warning - Mercedes Lackey [16]
Firesong sat under a crocus-patterned lantern in the gathering dusk, scratching the crest of his firebird. The bird weighed down his other arm, its eyes closed with pleasure, and Firesong’s eyes were distant as he concentrated on An’desha’s hesitant words.
“... it was the same as the last time,” An’desha concluded, the memory of that terror calling up a chill all over again. “That’s three times now, and the circumstances I was in were different all three times.”
Firesong nodded slowly, brushing a lock of white hair back behind his neck. The firebird slitted one sleepy eye in disapproval, until Firesong’s hand came back to scratch his crest again. “I don’t think this is coming from within you,” he said, as a night-blooming flower beside An’desha released perfume into the air. “I believe your own impression is right; there is a menace approaching that we are not yet aware of, and this feeling of fear of yours is a presentiment.”
An‘desha sighed with relief; the first two times that this had happened, Firesong had been inclined to think it was nothing more than a delayed reaction to all that An’desha had been through. Still, he was troubled. “F-F-Falconsbane had no such prescience,” he stammered.
Firesong only shrugged. “Falconsbane never wished to know the future,” he pointed out. “He assumed it would follow the course that he set. And you are not he; the Star-Eyed could well have granted you such a gift along with all else.”
A very real possibility and, if so, it was yet another “gift” he wished that She would take back. His face must have reflected that thought since Firesong smiled slightly.
“The most likely direction for threat is east, of course,” he continued. “This Empire that the Valdemarans fear so much is rich with mages; I think it likely that they will not end their conquest at the Hardorn border.”
As An‘desha sat there dumbly, Firesong expanded his speculations. The Empire was a good prospect; the Adept was right about that. But An’desha could not rid himself of the surety that the danger was not coming from the Empire.
This was something more than mere warfare; something much, much worse.
When I was still hiding in Falconsbane’s body, and the two Avatars of the Star-Eyed came to teach me the way toward freedom, did they not say something about this?
Now that he came to think about it, he believed that they had. He had been guided by a pair of spirits, who had once been fleshly. One had been a Hawkbrother, the other, a Shin’a’in shaman. They had helped and taught him how to gradually insinuate himself into his enemy’s mind in such a way that Falconsbane thought the thoughts directing his actions were his own. They had also taught him how to gain access to the memories of Falconsbane’s many pasts.
At least once, and perhaps more often, they had hinted that if he succeeded in regaining the use of his own body again, there was an even greater peril to be faced.
If only he could remember what they had said! But he had been too busy worrying about his own survival to pay much attention to vague hints of terrible danger to come. He’d had quite enough terrible danger on his plate at the time!
Firesong continued his speculations concerning the threat of this Empire, and he tried in vain to suggest that the peril might be coming from elsewhere. Finally, he just gave up; when Firesong had the bit between his teeth about something, there was no hope for anyone else to get anything in. It was best to just nod thoughtfully and let him continue to expound.
But inside, his thoughts had a new target to circle around in worried, dizzy spirals. The danger was not from the East, but from where? What could be worse than an army, full of powerful mages and larger than anything Valdemar had ever seen, bearing down on the border?
If only he could remember....
Karal
Three
Karal patted his horse’s damp neck nervously and tried not to be too obvious about watching the Valdemaran Guards out of the comer of his eye. The horse fidgeted and danced in place as it picked up his unease, and he dismounted