Lady Warhawk (25 page)

"Hmmm, yes," Mrillis said. "The Nameless One is up to his old tricks."

"What if the Nameless One is the father?" Athrar whispered. Mrillis wondered how long
he had gnawed on that possibility and let it gnaw him, before he finally spoke it.

"We again face the dilemma--destroy an innocent child, and commit a great evil, or take
the risk that the seed of evil waits to sprout in that child." Mrillis understood the weariness that
wrapped around Athrar. He had been facing this dilemma for his entire life.

"It's bad planning all around," Lycen offered. He shrugged when the other two looked at
him. "If our enemy had hoped to put a bastard on the throne to control Braenlicach, shouldn't he
have waited until Athrar slept with his wife again, so he could believe the baby was his? It
doesn't make sense to get her pregnant now. Maybe...getting her pregnant now was a mistake,
and a blessing," he finished on a whisper, and cast a miserable look of apology to Athrar.

"A blessing." Athrar nearly choked on the word, but he nodded. "If that is so, then may
the Estall grant us many great and good things to come from this pain."

Three hours later, the men were dealing with the details of reinforcing the frontier
garrisons when Mrillis heard Meghianna's mental voice. He held up his hand to silence the two
younger men so he could listen.

What have you found?
he asked.
Are you all right? You sound
strange.

It's not what I found, but who.
Meghianna's mental voice trembled.
Do you
know where Pirkin and Ynessa are right now? I know they're not in Goarlotte.

Yes, I just talked with them. They're visiting Glyssani at the fortress.
Why?

Bring them. Fetch their sons from their duties, and bring them through the tunnel as
soon as you can. Sooner. Mrillis... Lynzette deceived us.

Lynzette?
It took a moment for him to remember the name, to attach a
scowling face and sharp voice to the name.
But she's... She isn't dead, is she?
Mrillis
pressed a hand over his heart and sank back in his seat. He heard Athrar and Lycen asking if he
was all right, but he waved away their questions.
Ynfara?

We found them on her cousin's estate, in the mountains of Iork. Lynzette has friends
with enough magic to hide their presence. She's nearly insane with her hatred. Bring Pirkin and
his family quickly. The girl is terrified of anyone with magic. I just hope she has enough
memories of her own family that she will go with them.

* * * *

King Markas and Queen Lyriel came to Meghianna's rescue in dealing with Ynfara. The
girl had a strong sensitivity to magic being worked and it caused her discomfort. Markas and his
wife removed their star-metal, effectively blunting their
imbrose
, and that allowed the
too-quiet, too-watchful girl to relax in their presence.

Eight years of living in near-solitude in the wilderness of Iork's mountains had resulted
in the sweet, laughing child growing into an adolescent more like a forest creature than a
princess. Lyriel had a private garden inside Welcairn Castle, and she gave it over entirely to
Ynfara, so she could have her privacy and wander barefoot among the bushes, trees, and tiny
pools, with no risk of her running away. She had tried a dozen times since Meghianna's searchers
had stumbled upon the cottage in the valley full of shadows.

Lyriel spent long hours there in the garden with the girl, talking with her, coaxing her to
try on pretty new clothes and jewelry, to have her hair braided and adorned with ribbons and
flowers. Meghianna watched from a tower window and marveled at the queen's patience. She
never would have thought to turn the task of taming the wild child into a game, so that Ynfara
wanted to dress up and learn how to dance. Meghianna had always seen courtly manners as a
wall that prevented truth and action. Now, they were a gossamer bridle that tamed a child who
had been raised on lies and fears.

Lyriel worked wonders in just the three days it took for Mrillis, Pirkin, Ynessa and their
three sons to arrive at Welcairn Castle. Meghianna almost wished she had waited, even a few
more days, before calling Mrillis with the happy news. Then again, she had waited four days
already, until she could be sure that none of Lynzette's allies among the Rey'kil-hating Noveni
could free her and kidnap Ynfara. They had tried twice, on the journey from Iork to Welcairn. It
would break Mrillis' heart, to have his great-granddaughter returned, and then snatched
away.

That morning, Pirkin and Ynessa walked into the garden where Lyriel and Ynfara
practiced a dance step. Meghianna watched from her window and wished she could be there, to
rejoice with her friends. Ynfara no longer fled from her presence, but the resonance of her magic
still bothered the girl.

Ynfara stopped in her little twirling spin, and the laughter faded in her throat. That was
progress--Meghianna had expected her to crouch down as if expecting to be hit, to hide her face,
and flee into her tent. Now, she looked to Lyriel and stayed tall and poised. Then she slowly
turned to look at the two newcomers again. Meghianna sent up prayers to the Estall, desperate
for a miracle.

"These people have come a very long way to see you," Lyriel said. She stepped up
behind Ynfara and rested her hands on the girl's shoulders. "Do you remember them?"

"Hello, Ynfara," Ynessa said. Her voice trembled, but stayed sweet. "We've missed you
so very much."

"Mama?" The girl's voice was a whisper, but Meghianna heard it, as if even the trees in
the garden held their breaths, waiting for the answer. Ynfara turned her head to Pirkin. "Papa?"
She crumpled to her knees on the garden path. "Grandmother said you died!"

Meghianna breathed a sigh of relief at that bit of information. No wonder Ynfara had
been reluctant to talk of her family. She had been silent through grief, not anger. Meghianna had
dealt with kidnapped children several times in the past. The hardest ones to heal had been told
that their parents didn't want them, had sent them away or even sold them to their kidnappers.
Healing would be easier for Ynfara, because the lie was easily proven as a lie.

Satisfied, Meghianna waited only long enough for Ynessa to wrap her arms around her
daughter, and see Ynfara embrace her mother in return, then she turned away from the tower
window. There was no need to intrude on the family's joy any longer. All would be well.

Or at least, she hoped so.

Meghianna went down the stairs in search of Mrillis. She found him easily enough, in
King Markas' study with Ynfara's three brothers, all four men waiting with varying degrees of
impatience and eagerness--and anger. The youngest son, Torys, nearly leaped on Meghianna
when she came through the door.

"Where is she?"

"Your sister--"

"No, I know she's with Mother and Father. Where's our grandmother?"

"I'm not sure Lynzette is willing to see anyone right now," Meghianna said slowly. She
met Mrillis' gaze and he shrugged, unsure himself what the prince wanted.

"Who wants to see her? I just want to make sure she can't get out, ever. Wall her up in
her cell and let her starve to death," Torys spat.

"That won't do anyone any good," Pol, the oldest son said.

"It'll make me feel better. A little. Make her pay for all the hurt she caused us," Norris,
the middle son said. He bowed slightly to Meghianna and offered her the chair he had been
sitting in. She thanked him with a nod and sat down.

"Well, I can see you've all been considering punishing your grandmother," she said,
once she was settled. "Have you considered that she has punished herself enough already?"

"She chose to hide, to make us think she was dead, and to make us think our sister was
dead." Torys dropped down into the nearest chair with enough savagery to make it slide back a
handswidth on the stone floor. "She's been laughing at us the whole time."

"What makes you think that?" Mrillis said. His face and voice said he didn't care, but
Meghianna caught the intensity in his eyes before he closed them and slouched in the
deep-cushioned chair he had taken.

"When we were little, she used to play a game with us. We would hide and hunt for each
other. Once a hiding place was found, we could never use it again. She called it--" Norris
swallowed hard, and anger flared in his eyes. "She called it 'Hide from the Nasty old Enchanter.'
She always scolded us about how we would get caught and hurt if we didn't learn how to hide so
well, not even magic could find us."

She was planning on hiding, perhaps with all the children, long before Goarlotte
was destroyed,
Meghianna said.

Hiding from me, especially,
Mrillis agreed.

"I've thought about that game a few times," Torys said. He gripped the heavy arms of his
chair until his knuckles turned white. "I wish I had remembered. We would have looked for her.
Grandfather, I never realized until now how much she hates you. I know she's taught our little
sister to hate you, and that isn't right."

"I'm sure many people will agree with your grandmother and say what she did was
right," Mrillis said, with a weary calm that made Meghianna want to cry for him.

"She should be punished. For the rest of her life," Pol said, as the door swung open and
King Markas entered. When the three princes stood up, he gestured for them to sit again.

"Your grandmother will be punished for the rest of her life, but my healers say it will not
be long. And she is too mad to even know she is being punished." He sat on the front edge of his
worktable, facing the princes, and crossed his arms.

Meghianna listened as King Markas discussed Lynzette's manic behavior, her inability
to keep her mind focused on one thing.

Ynfara won't know how to handle people who stay in one frame of mind. She is
unused to consistency. Will it be enough for her to know her grandmother lied, and to be
reunited with her parents?
she asked Mrillis.

I believe the healing has already begun, but it will be a long journey. It is enough
for Pirkin and Ynessa to have her back. Their love will do the rest,
he responded.

But is it enough for you?
she asked, remembering how Mrillis had adored the
little girl, the memories he had shared with her. Did Ynfara have any memories of the doting
grandfather who produced brightly colored illusions woven from light for her amusement?

To avoid Ynfara being kidnapped by Lynzette's allies, and to make it easier for
mind-healers to work with the girl, Pirkin and Ynessa chose to return to Lygroes and give Goarlotte
over to their sons. Queen Glyssani insisted that Pirkin and Ynessa stay with her at the fortress
and consider it their permanent home.

Despite, or perhaps because of, the invitations from many Moertan kings to take
responsibility for Lynzette, the decision was made to take the dowager queen to Lygroes.
Meghianna took charge of Lynzette, to transport the madwoman to a healer enclave in the far
northern mountains. It was a former fort, built to withstand the harsh winter storms coming off
the sea and the Encindi clans that had settled there. It was effectively a prison. If the old woman
managed to escape her guardians, there was nowhere for her to go. The fortress's location made it
impossible for the Noveni pureblood faction, who hailed her as a heroine, to find her, much less
'rescue' her.

I think there is some strain of madness that runs in all Noveni purebloods,
Meghianna commented to Mrillis, when she finished her errand.
I think the only way to save
them is to interbreed with Rey'kil and Encindi until there are no purebloods anywhere. Isn't that
a marvelous proposition that would have them grinding their teeth in fury?

Mrillis didn't laugh at her silliness.

Mrillis?

I'm sorry, my dear. I'm trying to carry on three conversations at once. You were
saying?

Liar.
She laughed when a snort of surprise and pique came from him through
the Threads.
When have you ever had difficulty carrying on a dozen conversations at
once?

I'm tired. Even enchanters get old and tired.

What's wrong?
Meghianna's mind raced through the possible sorrows that
would make Mrillis feel his years.
Athrar? No--Pirkin. What's happened? Why didn't you
call me sooner?

There is nothing you can do. Only time and gentleness...
He sighed, and she felt
the weight of sorrow and age, threatening to crush him.
I suppose in some ways, Lynzette did
indeed kill my little Ynfara.

She's terrified of you, isn't she?
Meghianna guessed.

Despite knowing that nothing she was taught can be trusted, Ynfara can't get past
her fear of me. It sickens her to know I am her grandfather.

Give her time. Everything is still so new, so different. Leave her alone with her
parents, and let them speak well of you,
Meghianna counseled.

It occurred to her that Ynfara's terror of Mrillis was not entirely the result of listening to
the ravings of a madwoman for eight years. Meghianna decided it was time to examine Ynfara
again. Lynzette only hated Rey'kil magic, so it was possible she had turned to other forms of
magic to control the girl's mind and heart.

* * * *

"She is a lovely child, so unspoiled," Glyssani said. She and Meghianna walked in the
inner courtyard of the dowager queen's private garden. Night crept over the walls of the fortress
and the two women wandered the garden, lighting the stone lanterns sitting on short posts.

"I'm sure you enjoy spoiling her right now," Meghianna returned, and shared a quiet
smile and laughter with the queen.

"Your father would adore her. He thoroughly enjoyed having you here as a little girl."
She sighed and patted Meghianna's hand, their arms linked together. "He sometimes talked about
our daughter, how we would have argued over who spoiled her worst. Near the end, Efrin teased
me that he would find our daughter and spoil her terribly before I joined them in the Estall's
Bliss."