3 When Darkness Falls.8 (66 page)

"Morusil! I — That is, I hope I find you well."

Morusil chuckled. "Extremely well, my brash young Knight-Mage. I shall tend my gardens for some years yet." He lowered himself into a chair.

Thus rebuked, Kellen sat again as well. Javondir replaced the empty pot with a fresh one, and withdrew, this time closing the doors to the room behind him.

"And — so I hear — things have gone well for you at Halacira as well, and we shall be welcoming guests within our borders soon."

"In spring, I think," Kellen answered. "Travel simply isn't possible in the winter."

"Yes, the winter has been unusually hard. But it promises an excellent — if wet — spring. The fruit trees should flourish, if the orchards receive proper drainage."

And they were back onto the topic of the weather.

After several more cups of tea — at least Kellen was able to turn the topic of the weather to conditions south of Sentarshadeen, which actually interested him — Morusil allowed Kellen to turn the conversation to more practical matters.

"But you will not have come to talk about the weather."

"Actually, it is a matter of interest to me, for the reason that the weather always affects the army, especially when it must travel. And I — hope — that the army will soon be traveling a very great distance."

"I am told that the army has already traveled a great distance. From Ysterialpoerin to Ondoladeshiron in one footstep is a great journey."

"The Enemy is not at Ondoladeshiron, Morusil. And it isn't
Their goal.
For moonturns we've known
They
mean to take Armethalieh. Now we know that Idalia has called up, well, Cilarnen isn't really sure what. Shalkan calls it a 'Great Power.' But whatever it is,
They
don't like it. And it seems to be interfering with
Their
plans to call up
Their
own Great Power: He Who Is. While
They're
figuring out just what to do about it,
They're
going to be about as disorganized as
They're
going to get."

He took a deep breath.

"But there's bad news to go with the good. Vestakia can see into her father's mind a little. What she's seeing seems to say that
They
are finally massing an army for an all-out battle. If
They
do that — and have Armethalieh to draw on — we don't stand a chance."

"You would not have come here solely to tell me that we are doomed, Kellen. That is not in your nature," Morusil observed.

"No. I have come here to tell you that we need to take the army to Armethalieh
now.
Get there before
They
do, and convince the Armethaliehans to fight on our side."

"It would please me to know how you intend to do this, as they will listen to none of us."

"They'll listen to Cilarnen," Kellen said grimly. "He's one of them. It's true he was Banished, but he was supposed to have been stripped of his Magegift before they turned him out, and he still has it. That will make them listen. He can tell them about Anigrel, and everything he's done to betray them to the Enemy. The High Mages are powerful. I don't think Anigrel can fight them openly and win — and if he tries, he'll just be proving that Cilarnen's right. Morusil, it's the only chance I see for us. We can't let Them take Armethalieh."

"But to take the army out of the Elven Lands," Morusil said slowly. "Under whose command?"

"Redhelwar is the commander of the army," Kellen said, feeling his way. "If he is ordered to go west and prevent Them from taking Armethalieh, he will do that."

"Taking the advice of his Knight-Mage as to the best way to proceed," Morusil said.

"I hope Redhelwar will always listen to the counsel of the Wild Magic," Kellen said honestly. "Mine, and Idalia's, and Jermayan's, and that of all the other Wildmages who ride with the army."

"A good answer," Morusil said. "Yet I can still not give you the answer you hope for. That answer must come from the King, and Andoreniel is yet too weak to give counsel."

"Morusil, I
must
have an answer. Redhelwar will be at Halacira within a sennight," Kellen said desperately.

"And Halacira lies two days' ride from here. Yet I believe an army travels more slowly than a single rider, especially in winter. So it will be perhaps ten days before I see you again. Leaf and Star grant you can obtain an answer at that time."

And Gods of the Wild Magic grant that it's the one I need.

But there was nothing more he could do here, and Kellen knew it. If any of the surviving members of Andoreniel's Council was willing to grant Kellen's request, it was Morusil. Tyendimarquen would have refused out of hand, and Dargainon would simply have debated both sides of the matter until the Demons arrived in Sentarshadeen itself.

"I thank you for all your help — both that you have already given me, and that you have yet to give. And may Leaf and Star watch over us both."

"That is a prayer I make daily, Kellen Knight-Mage."

* * * * *

WALKING back out to the Unicorn Meadow through the snow, Kellen did his best to believe that his visit to Sentarshadeen had not been useless.

He knew he'd needed to go, to put his request before Morusil.

At least he'd gotten orders to bring the army as far as Sentarshadeen. What they were going to do with it here if they
didn't
take it to Armethalieh, he didn't know.

"I take it you didn't get what you wanted?" Shalkan asked, apparently materializing out of a snowdrift.

Kellen produced a couple of iced cakes out of his tunic — when confronted with a plate full of pastry, he'd automatically tucked several away for the unicorn. Lamarethiel and Javondir might have thought his behavior a little odd, but they'd never been confronted with a greedy unicorn with a sweet tooth demanding to know why they hadn't brought him back anything from an Elven tea.

"Yes and no. In other words, Morusil heard me out, and told me to come back with the whole army, when he'd let me know."

"A little ambiguous," Shalkan remarked, around a mouthful of cake.

"I suppose he can't say much else," Kellen said reluctantly. "He can't give me — or Redhelwar, really — the army without Andoreniel's permission, and Andoreniel is still too weak to be consulted. Morusil's hoping he'll be stronger ten days from now."

"Let's hope so," Shalkan said.

* * * * *

KELLEN did not spend the time waiting for Redhelwar to arrive in leisure, however. Even though he only had a few thousand horses, there were preparations to make to leave Halacira, especially since he must provide for a permanent force to be left behind. As he was doing that, he also sent a dispatch to Redhelwar, so the General would know he was now to proceed directly to Sentarshadeen.

Kellen did not think at all about what he would do, or need to do, if he did not receive the answer he needed when he returned to Sentarshadeen. None of this, as Kellen had realized long ago, was about him and what he needed. It was all about the Wild Magic and its balance, and whatever was best for that was what was going to happen.

He only hoped his nerves could stand it.

Meanwhile, there was the far more mundane (but still important) matter of telling Cilarnen it was time to pack and move again — and this time, if Fortune favored them, Cilarnen would have no fixed workspace ever again.

But here Cilarnen had anticipated him.

"I shall need two oxen," he said, when Kellen came to tell him the news. "Six draft horses would be better — faster — but I suppose they can't be found. And at any rate, I shan't need to travel any faster than the army does."

"Would it be a great deal of trouble, o' Exalted High Mage, if you told me just what you're talking about?" Kellen asked.

In answer, Cilarnen pulled out one of his books and opened it. There was a drawing of a cart unlike anything Kellen had ever seen, though it looked a little like the wagons in which the Elven children had first been sent to the Fortress of the Crowned Horns: a little house on wheels, with a door, windows, and roof. Kellen even saw what looked like a hearth built into one side. The conveyance was drawn by four large horses.

"The drawing doesn't show much, so I cast Knowing on the chapter. This is how the War Mages carried their equipment to war. I can store everything I really need here. I could even sleep in it, if I had to, but I'd really rather not."

"Cilarnen," Kellen said doubtfully, "I don't think we have time to build something like that."

"Did you have to build my last work area?" Cilarnen demanded scornfully. "I admit I'd need help if it were going to have wheels, and axles, but it's going to be on sledges, like the heavy wagons — which is why I'd need six horses instead of four, if I were going to use horses at all. I'll be fine. Artenel won't even have to cut any more planks; I can just take apart my sanctum and re-use the wood from that."

"Well, I'll look forward to seeing it," Kellen had answered.

"Don't forget the oxen."

Making the war-wagon had taken Cilarnen a little longer than constructing his round house, but three days later, after Kardus had led a yoke of oxen up to him, Cilarnen had driven it down into camp. It looked, Kellen had to admit, very much like the picture Cilarnen had shown him. And by then it was time to leave.

* * * * *

JOINING up with an army on the march — especially such a comparatively large army — was a complex logistical problem, especially in an area like the Avribalzar Forest, where both forces must move along the War Road in long narrow columns, hemmed in by the trees.

In the end, Kellen simply distributed his forces along the line of march reformed into their traditional units — or what was left of them after Halacira. His own command was one of the hardest hit: Only six of his Twelve survived, and almost half of them had been new after the Second Battle of the Caverns.

Then, as their places appeared in the line of march — Healers, Knights, supply-wagons — each element of the army moved fluidly into the gaps Redhelwar left for them. Cilarnen and Vestakia rode with the Healers.

And once more Kellen and his command became a part of the main army.

Unfortunately — from Kellen's point of view — this maneuver was all-too-easy to accomplish, even after all his warnings to Redhelwar. Even after a thousand years — and, for all he knew, after five thousand years — the elements of the Elven Army marched and fought in exactly the same position and order.

And that meant that when the Allies finally met the Enemy on the battlefield for the first time in a thousand years, the Enemy would know exactly where to strike for greatest effect.

The Road to Armethalieh

AT THE END of the day, when the army made camp, Kellen was at last reunited with Idalia and Jermayan.

He had seen Ancaladar flying back and forth above the trees several times that day, of course, but though the sight did much to reassure him that Jermayan was indeed alive, it did nothing to answer Kellen's many questions.

But that night, after camp had been pitched and the simple housekeeping chores of life upon the road attended to, the five of them gathered together in Idalia's tent.

Kellen was instantly struck by how
changed
Jermayan seemed. While both Cilarnen and Vestakia looked as if they were being consumed from within — by different but equally catastrophic fires — and so glowed far too brightly, Jermayan looked as if some natural illumination that he should properly possess had been extinguished.

The explanations — both Jennayan's and Idalia's — took several hours, starting with Idalia's realization that the imminent arrival of He Who Is back in the world from which he had been banished uncounted millennia before was keeping the Wildmage magic from working properly, to the discovery of the ancient Tokens hanging in the Council Chamber of Sentarshadeen, to the summoning of the Starry Hunt.

At least now Kellen had a name for their new ally, though from the explanation he received, it was actually a very old one.

From there it became Jermayan's story: his realization that the appearance of the Hunt in this world meant a period of unsureness and confusion for
Them;
his realization that by expending all of his and Ancaladar's magic to open a door to Ondoladeshiron he could gain the army precious time so that they might meet the Enemy while it was still disorganized; their rescue by the Starry Hunt as they lay dying.

But at a price.

Happy and grateful as he was to have his friends restored to them — especially for Idalia's sake — Kellen privately lamented the loss of Jermayan's powers as an Elven Mage. Cilarnen's abilities were not nearly as great, and the sort of things that Kellen, or Idalia — or any of the other Wildmages, for that matter — could do were entirely different than what he had seen Jermayan accomplish.

The loss of Jermayan's magic might cost them dearly.

For one thing, Kellen had been counting on Jermayan to break the wards around Armethalieh — or at least bend them a little — so that they could get Cilarnen into the City to talk to the High Council. Assuming, of course, that they could get to Armethalieh in the first place.