The Grand Crusade (67 page)

But, if there is no other choice… Alyx shook her head. “There is always another choice.“ As she had discussed with her commanders, it could be that they would have to break the army apart, retreat, and force Nefrai-kesh to leave his stronghold. The summer would wear on his troops, and if he were forced into attacking a fortified position, he would be hurt. But it was a weak strategy and she knew it, for without a decisive victory, the war could drag on for years.

Her thoughts turned fleetingly to Resolute, Kerrigan, and the others. The last message she’d had from them told of the fall of Loquellyn and their determination to push on to Vorquellyn. They certainly had to have been through there. And, if they had Will with them, they were pressing north. Her victory or defeat could be rendered moot by the success or failure of their mission. Alexia didn’t like the idea of facing Resolute as the new king of thesullanciri, but she would if she had to.

And if Nefrai-kesh wins and they fail, the world we know is gone forever. Taking one last look around, she exited the room and was not surprised to see that Maroth had long since vanished. As she came up the last flight of stairs, she met Crow waiting for her. She gave him a smile, then slipped into his arms and hugged him tightly.

He grunted. “What’s that for?”

Alyx smiled and kissed him. “You’ve never once asked if I think I can do this. You’ve never once questioned my judgment in how we are approaching this assault.”

Crow pulled his head back. “Why would I?”

She slackened her embrace and stepped back. “Crow, I am very young, especially when my age is measured against those who are under my command. Yes, I was trained to be the best military mind I could, but all the wisdom in the world doesn’t mean every puzzle has a solution. At least not an elegant one. And this puzzle appears to be one we will solve with a lot of blood. Is my lack of experience consigning my soldiers to pain and death?”

He frowned. “I think you’re forgetting two things. The first is that while you’re right not to underestimate Nefrai-kesh, you can’t also make him invincible. It’s true that he gave away Okrannel but, even so, he made tactical errors. Adrogans has said—and you and I have discussed the fact—that Nefrai-kesh could have inflicted a lot more damage than he did at Svarskya. While he has had no compunction about slaying people like Queen Lanivette, he didn’t kill Sayce when he could have.”

“What are you saying?”

“I’ve been thinking about thesullanciri. The original ones were all corrupted individuals who went to Chytrine willingly. This current crop were different. They were dead or dying and certainly desperate. They may have been unable to resist her—at the time, anyway.”

Her violet eyes narrowed. “You think he might truly want to see his mistress defeated?”

“Is there a slave who doesn’t hate his master?”

“Your point is well-taken, but I can’t act on it.”

Crow reached out and caressed her cheek. “I know that. I’m just trying to say that Nefrai-kesh may have his own problems. This style of warfare is as new to him as it is to you, but you’ve had a chance to study how to fight against it. He’s only had to try to make it work better. The closest we’ve seen to this fight is the battle for Fortress Draconis.”

She nodded. “Yes, but Chytrine’s forces had dragonels there, and we don’t. I see your point, however. You’re telling me he could make mistakes.”

“Exactly.” He smiled. “The second thing you are forgetting is this: our troops are fighting for their nations, their families, and their future. For them, losing is not an option. They know how far we’ve pushed the Aurolani. We’ve pushed them from Saporicia and Muroso. We’ve pushed them from Bokagul, Sarengul, and Oriosa. We’ve pushed them from Okrannel. This is one more push—a mighty one, but they will give way. That’s the knowledge in the heart of every man and woman out there.”

Alexia nodded solemnly, then pulled Crow back into her embrace and kissed him again. Then she broke the kiss and hugged him ferociously. As his arms encircled her and tightened, she whispered in his ear, “I fight for our future, too, Crow. For the peace neither of us has known.”

He nodded and kissed her ear. “We both fight for that, beloved. It’s one more edge we have over Nefrai-kesh. We have something to fight for, and a future to look forward to. He has nothing. We knowwhywe continue to fight, but neither he nor his troops have that.”

Alexia pulled back and took his hands in hers. “Well, then, Crow, let us ride north, leading the army of the future. Half a week hence, we will face the Aurolani host and drive them back into the frozen wastes where they can languish forever.”

Isaura discovered that, for the others, reaching the glacier brought discomfort, but not the same sort of discomfort as it did for her. For them, living on the ice and snow was hard because of the cold. The way the night’s winds blew fiercely sapped them of strength. Hlucri built ice shelters as he had on the trip down, but the lack of firewood meant cold camps, which left everyone irritable and cross.

Isaura could further tell Trawyn neither liked nor trusted her. The Loquelf’s home had been overrun by her mother’s troops, and her resentment at that slopped over onto Isaura. She could not blame the princess, but the fact that Isaura was accompanying them north again to attack her mother provided her no protection from Trawyn’s ire. Save for invoking Hlucri’s wrath, Isaura thought Trawyn would have been content to leave her behind.

Sayce, who had been her friend, had her own burdens. While she had dealt with Will’s transformation well, the bravery with which she had handled his death had eroded. Isaura, though never having known love or lovers, still could imagine how it felt to have Force around as a constant reminder of Will, yet to get no satisfaction or even recognition from him. The image of Will that Sayce carried in her heart had to be slowly merging with Force, forever stealing away her lover.

So while the cold did not bother Isaura, their march north made her feel more and more uneasy. On one level she loved Chytrine. Save for the role she’d been given, there would have been no place for Isaura in Aurolani society. She did not have the avaricious edge of the recruits Neskartu had instructed in his Conservatory. Barring Chytrine’s acceptance, she’d likely have been left to die on some hillside or fed to frostclaws.

Were she still a child, that simple gratitude would have been enough to make

her revolt against what they were going to do. It would have led to thinking that there was a way to make Chytrine see sense. Just as the Norrington was going to redeem Vorquellyn, so her mother could be redeemed.

But the last chance of that died when Ferxigo had ordered her death. It would have not been difficult for Isaura to believe that order had been given in error, but Hlucri had reacted to the reality of it. He’d immediately slain his fellowsul-lanciri, confirming for Isaura that the order had been genuine. And, as Resolute suggested, that it came from her mother.

It saddened her that Chytrine had been twisted and warped enough by the Oromise to be willing to spurn Isaura’s love. Chytrine saw her as nothing but a means to an end. The searching spell she’d been given had not been entrusted to her for any reason other than to search out the Norrington and lead Ferxigo south. Her mother had used her, and once she had accomplished her task was willing to discard her.

Isaura wondered for how long she had known, in her heart of hearts, that her mother saw her as an object. Consciously Isaura had not known it until now, but it now occurred to her that the whims of magick might not have led her to the Norrington in Meredo. Instead, she might have been drawn to him by other forces, which were aided and abetted by what she knew of her mother.Did I find him because I knew that if she were not destroyed, she would kill me?

That question, viewed from a myriad of positions, occupied her mind for much of the journey up the glacier and across it. She replayed every scene of her life, reading new meaning into her interactions with her mother. She caught nuances she’d not seen before, and suddenly realized that not only had her mother seen her as a tool but had shaped her to be one. Isaura was clearly meant to be drawn to the Norrington. It explained the affection shown her by Nefrai-kesh and even the attention of his son.

Her thoughts sank her deeper and deeper into a grim mood that matched those of most of her companions. Only Qwc did not get angry; he just slept a lot on Force’s shoulder or nestled against Sayce’s bosom. And Force gave no sign of his emotions, just trudging on tirelessly. The rest grumbled, growled, and glared.

The advent of a swirling ice column two days before they reached the capital valley broke her mood. She smiled as the ice cone collapsed, then reformed itself as Drolda. “Yes, I am happy to see you, too.”

Hlucri showed no alarm at Drolda’s appearance, but Resolute drew his sword and approached. “What is this?”

Drolda turned to Resolute and bowed, shifting his shape a bit. As Isaura said, “This is my friend, Drolda,” recognition blossomed on the Vorquelf’s face.

“Drolda, of course.” Resolute’s silver eyes became crescent slits. “Drugi Oldach. He was the one member of Lord Norrington’s expedition who went missing. He was never found, never made into asullanciri, but what is he now?”

Drolda immediately signed to Isaura and she translated, rather amazed at

what he was saying. “Drolda says you are right, that Drolda was all I could understand of his name when I was a child. He did wander off and escaped thegri-chothkachasing him. He died in the snow and left his body behind, taking his form and substance from the ice and snow. In the early days he’d been unable to take this shape, but he still helped. He created the storm that hid Hawkins from pursuit and guided the fevered young man to the place where you found him.” Resolute slowly nodded. “Then you remained in Aurolan, because you still had a duty to your comrade, Hawkins.” Drolda nodded solemnly.

Isaura looked at the Vorquelf. “What are you talking about?”

“Do you know who your parents were?”

She shook. “No. My mother said I was a foundling. She said there was no knowledge of my father.”

“And you have no guess at the identity of she who gave you birth?” Resolute’s voice became tight. “You know she gave birth on Vorquellyn. That is the only way you could have been bound to the island.”

“I guess I knew that, yes. But as for my mother’s identity

” Isaura stopped, raising a hand to her mouth. “The one who wanted nothing to do with me. Myrall’mara.”

“She was probably afraid that since Chytrine had claimed you, you would be destroyed were she to befriend you.” Resolute looked at Drolda. “You weren’t on Vorquellyn, but you must have seen Seethe with child.” Again the ice creature nodded.

“And you befriended me because my father had been your friend?” Linking his thumbs, Drolda shaped his hands into a bird and flapped fingers as wings. His face melted into an expression of extreme sympathy.

Isaura looked down and suddenly found herself sitting hard in the snow. “I am the daughter of Tarrant Hawkins?”

Resolute squatted next to her. “You find that more distasteful than to be sprung from the loins of asullancirp.”

“You don’t understand. My mother would speak of Hawkins only in horrible terms. He would be the one to come steal me away if I were to disobey. He was the slaughterer of innocents. He had betrayed all of thesullanciri. He had been a coward and he had been rude enough to refuse my mother’s offer to set him above even Nefrai-kesh. She offered him the chance to become her consort and he spurned her. Why? Because he was so arrogant and evil that he went south to collect an army to take from her what she had willingly offered him in the name of peace between their realms.”

She glanced at Drolda. “Now I know why you don’t like my mother.” The ice man nodded.

The Vorquelf rested his arms across his knees. “If you have any question whether or not your mother’s stories are lies, just think how a friend of his clung to existence here, as a creature of wind, snow, and ice, to protect you, his daughter.

Drugi Oldach did not know Hawkins that long, but he came to know him well enough to accept and acquit that duty to him.“

Isaura slowly nodded. “So she knew that I would join with the Norrington. She just had to watch me to see if it were true. She sent me to Meredo to prove it to herself. Once she knew that, she knew she would be warned when he approached and—if she was speaking truly about the nature of potential, and the power being gathered as the prophecy neared a point of fulfillment—then she wanted me close to make sure that would happen.”

Sayce knelt by her right side and hugged her. “That’s a lot to learn about how your family saw you. Are you okay?”

Isaura swallowed hard against the lump rising in her throat. “Yes, thank you. I think I will be fine.” She glanced at Resolute. “After all, I’ve known all along I was not Chytrine’s daughter. Now I see I was her tool, but I’ve also discovered something more. I am a Hawkins. A Hawkins wouldn’t let this stop her, would she?”

Resolute actually smiled, then stood and helped her to her feet. “No Hawkins I know.”

“Good, then I won’t break the pattern.” She pulled her cloak more tightly around her and started to march north. Drolda sped ahead of them, returning to warn them of dangers and to find good places to rest. Once they passed a perfect place for an ambush, but the dozen gibberers who had been waiting were frozen solid.

Finally, at dawn—at the end of the first week of the month of Green—they crested the mountains surrounding the capital valley. There, still sheathed in shadow, lay the black eminence of her mother’s fortress. Everyone paused in the rocks of the pass, staring at the journey’s end.

Isaura remembered the last time she’d looked upon that black castle. She’d been riding Procimre, returning from the siege of Nawal.I’d been very happy tobe home.

She thought for a moment and realized she was happy once more, but it was a different kind of happiness. Gone was the childlike delight at returning to a sanctuary. This was a happiness drawn from the knowledge that great things were about to happen, that evil would be stopped, and that the poison her mother bled into the world would cease.