The Spirit Stone - Katharine Kerr [181]
‘Burn those walls?’ Gerran leaned forward. ‘You’ve gone mad. Those logs won’t catch like tinder. You’d have to build a roaring blaze next to them, and the Horsekin would be loosing arrows on you the whole time and throwing rocks, too, most likely.’
‘True enough.’ Kov allowed himself a grin. ‘We’ve considered that little difficulty, my lord. What if we had a kind of tinder with us that stuck where it landed? Like pitch, say, but better.’
Gerran started to speak, then motioned for him to go on.
‘The problem is the tents and suchlike. A chunk of burning bark hits a canvas roof—well, you lads can imagine the rest.’ Kov glanced at Salamander out of the corner of his eye. ‘It’s too bad there’s not some way to summon some rain, just enough to wet down all this clutter, like, that the Horsekin foresters left lying around when they cut down the trees. And to keep the tents damp, as well. We could do great things if only that were the case.’
Gerran’s lips suddenly formed an ‘O’, and he too looked at Salamander. The gerthddyn was studying the fingernails of his right hand with great concentration. He polished them on his shirt, then looked up.
‘What sort of great thing?’ Salamander said.
‘Well, suppose we set that wooden tower alight, just to start with, the one with the banner hanging from it.’
‘I’d love to see that one burn.’ Salamander heaved a wistful sigh. ‘That’s where they imprisoned me when I was spying out this place.’
‘Indeed? Well, we can do it from our distance. Do you think that might change the fortress commanders’ minds about another parley? Then the princes can come up with a decent offer to exchange for the women trapped inside.’
‘It might be powerfully persuasive,’ Salamander said. ‘To say naught of a great encouragement, inducement, or even a lure to reopen negotiations.’
‘I was wondering if the Wise One might have some thoughts on the matter,’ Kov said, ‘not that I’d be so rude as to trouble her with questions myself.’
‘You know, we actually have two Wise Women in camp,’ Salamander said. ‘The Exalted Mother Grallezar is said to have some knowledge of the weather herself. Together they might be able to um well, shall we say, predict when a rain like that might fall?’
‘It would certainly be grand if they could.’ Kov found it difficult to steady his voice.
Salamander smiled and got up, stretching his arms over his head with a lazy yawn. Young Clae looked back and forth between the men, his mouth slack with bewilderment. Gerran quirked an eyebrow in his direction.
‘My lord?’ Clae said. ‘Is this one of those things I’ll understand when I’m older?’
‘It is,’ Gerran said. ‘Don’t trouble your heart about it now.’
Salamander smiled vaguely at everyone, then strolled off, heading in the direction of the Westfolk camp. Kov rose and took his leave as well. As he walked back to his own tent, he felt as if two debating men shared his mind: the one smug that his idea had been sound after all; the other convinced that Salamander was only asking Dallandra about herbs to cure madness in dwarves.
The debate settled itself in the middle of the night when the rain started. Kov woke to the sound of water hammering on the canvas roof of his tent. He stuck his head outside to feel the cold drops on his face and ensure that the rain was real. Since his tent faced in the general direction of the fortress, he saw an even greater marvel and all unthinking, got up and ran out, stark naked, into the rain for a second look. Sure enough, over Zakh Gral the stars shone in the night sky. The edge of the rain cloud, as sharp as a knife cut, hung over the neutral ground twixt camp and walls.
That’ll give them something to chew on! Grinning to himself Kov hurried back inside to dry off. Although he tried to sleep, he lay listening to the dweomer rain until dawn, when it abruptly stopped. He started to drowse off, only to hear Larn shouting his name. The weaponmaster threw back the canvas door of the tent and stuck his head in.
‘Did you hear that rain?’
‘Oh yes,’ Kov said. ‘Did you see the cloud?’
Larn merely nodded,