The Heirs of Hammerfell (11 page)

His doubts and qualms had evaporated; with Floria as the reward he felt ready to pledge to whatever King Aidan wanted.

"I suppose so," he said. "I do not want your brother

picking another quarrel with me; one feud at a time is enough."

"Oh, he would not; not when you are a guest beneath our father's roof," Floria assured him, but Alastair looked skeptical; he had forced a quarrel when Alastair was a guest in their father's box at the concert hall, so why not beneath his father's roof?

They moved out on the dance floor, his fingers just touching the silk at her waist.

Far to the north, Conn of Hammerfell all but cried out, disoriented. The woman's face, the touch of his hands, the warmth of her body under the silk, the almost-memory of her lips fleetingly against his own . . . he overflowed with emotion. His dream-woman again, and the blazing lights, the richly clad people whose like he had never seen . . .

what had come over him? What had happened to him, that this lovely woman

companioned him so closely now night' and day?

Alastair blinked, and Floria asked gently, "What is it?"

"I hardly know―I was dizzy for a moment," he said, "dizzied with you, no doubt―but for a moment it seemed I was far from here, in a place I have never seen."

"But you are a telepath, surely; perhaps you picked up something from someone who is to be part of your life; if not now, sometime in the future," she said.

"But I am not a telepath, not much," he said. "I have not even enough laran to be worth training, so my mother has told me―what makes you think that?"

"Your red hair; it is usually a mark of laran."

"Not in my case," he said, "for I was born a twin; and my brother, so my mother said, was the one with laran." He saw the troubled look on her face and asked, "Does it mean so much to you?"

"Only―it is one more thing we might have shared," she said, "but I love just as you are." She blushed and said, "But you must think me bold, to speak so frankly before it has been settled between our parents. . . ."

"I could never think anything but good of you," he said fervently, "and I know that my mother will welcome you as a daughter."

The music came to an end, and he said, "I should go and tell my mother of my good fortune―our good fortune. Another thing," he asked, suddenly reminded by his mention of his mother, "do you know of a good dog breeder in the city?"

"A―dog breeder?" she asked, wondering what he meant by the sudden change in direction.

"Yes; my mother's dog is very old now. I want to find her a puppy so that when Jewel goes at last where all good dogs must go, Mother will not be left alone―especially now I shall have to be out of the city a great deal."

"What a good idea!" Floria exclaimed, involuntarily warmed by his care for his mother's happiness. "Yes; I know where my brother Nicolo buys his hunting dogs; tell him I sent you and he will find you a good house pet for your mother." And she thought, See how kind and good he is, to be so thoughtful of his mother. He will surely be good to his wife as well.

He asked, hesitating, "Will you ride with me tomorrow?"

She smiled at him and said, "I should like it very

much; but I cannot. I have been in the city for five tendays awaiting a place in the Tower; and I have finally been asked to be monitor in Renata Aillard's circle, and I must go tomorrow to be tested.

Through his disappointment Alastair felt curiosity; although his mother had been a Tower worker since his childhood, he knew really very little about it.

"I did not know women were allowed to be Keepers," he said.

"They are not," Floria said. "Renata is an emmasca; born so. Her mother is of Hastur blood, and many of that line are born emmasca, man or woman as they may choose. It is sad; but it opens to her the work of a Keeper and perhaps some day real women "may be allowed such work. It is very dangerous for women; I think I would rather not attempt it myself."

"I would not have you run into danger," Alastair said fervently.

And she said, "I shall be finished, and know if I am accepted for the circle by noon; then, if you wish, we shall go and choose a puppy for your mother."

"Accepted? But I thought you already had a place in the circle―"

"Yes; but it is very important for all the workers in a circle to be acceptable to one another; if there is anyone in the circle who feels he or she cannot work with me, then I shall have to wait again for a place. I have met Renata and I like her very much; and I think I am acceptable to her. But tomorrow I shall be tested to see if the others can work with me."

"If there is anyone who dares to refuse you, I will declare war on him!" said Alastair, only half in jest,

and beneath the joking tone she sensed his seriousness and took his hands in hers.

"No," she said. "You do not understand these things, since you are not a trained telepath.

Please promise me that you will not do anything rash or foolish."

The music had ended, and they moved to the edge of the dancing floor. She said, "Now I must dance with my other guests―though I would rather stay with you."

"Oh, why must we do what others desire just because it is the custom? I am sick to death of the 'proper way to do this' and the 'proper way to do that'!"

"Oh, Alastair, don't talk like that! I have been taught that we were not sent here to do our own will, but to do our duty to our people and our family. You are Duke of Hammerfell; a day may well come when―as is right―your duty to Hammerfell may have to come

before our pledges to one another."

"Never!" he vowed.

"Don't say that! A private man may make such pledges, but a prince or a duke, a lord with responsibilities, may not." Inwardly she felt troubled, but thought: He is young, he has had too little training for his post; he was educated in exile, not schooled to the responsibility of his birth.

"It is only that I cannot bear to leave you," he said. "Please stay with me."

"My dear, I cannot. Please understand."

"Whatever you say," he said morosely and gave her his arm, conducting her silently to her kinswomen―among whom, he noticed with an instant of awe, was Queen

Antonella, smiling a bland and vacant smile.

The queen said, in the curiously strident voice of the hard-of-hearing, "At last; we have been waiting for you, my dear. But I think I do not know your young escort."

"He is the son of the Duchess of Hammerfell; Erminie, Second Technician in Edric of Elhalyn's circle," said Floria in her gentle voice, so softly that Alastair wondered how the deaf old lady could hear. Then he remembered that she was surely a telepath and could understand what Floria said, though not in spoken words.

"Hammerfell," she said in her rusty voice, nodding blandly to him. "A pleasure, young man; your mother is a fine woman; I know her well."

Alastair felt gratified; recognition in one evening first from the king, now from the queen was more than he had hoped for. A young man Alastair did not know came up and claimed Floria for a dance, and Alastair, bowing to Queen Antonella, who returned the salutation most graciously, went in search of his mother.

He found Erminie in the conservatory examining the profuse flowers; she turned as he came in and said, "My dear boy, why are you not dancing?"

"I have had enough of dancing for one evening," he said. "When the moon has set, who cares to look at the stars?"

"Come, come," Erminie said. "Your hostess has other duties."

He said irritably, "Floria has already lectured me on that, Mother, do not you start."

"Then she did well," Erminie said, but sensing that he had much to say to her, asked,

"What is it, Alastair?"

"I had an audience with the king, Mother―but I cannot say much of it here in public."

"You wish to leave at once? As you wish," she said and beckoned to a servant. "Summon a chair for us, please."

On the way, Alastair poured out all his emotions to his mother. "And, Mother, I asked Floria if she would look favorably on me when I was restored to my own―"

"And what answer did she give you?"

Alastair almost whispered, "She kissed me and said that day could not come too soon."

"I am so glad for you; she is a lovely girl," Erminie said, wondering why, if all this were true, he looked so pensive.

But, since Alastair was not a developed telepath, she read him wrong, thinking that perhaps Alastair had pressed the girl for an immediate pledge, or even immediate

marriage and Floria had quite properly refused him.

"Now tell me every word that His Grace said to you," she demanded, and settled down to hear him.

8

The village of Lowerhammer was not much more than a cluster of stone houses at the center of a dozen farms; a poor place, but it was harvest time, and the village's largest barn had been cleared and converted into a dance hall. It was crowded with raucous revelers and lit with a festive array of lanterns; pipers and harpers played a lively dance tune. All along one wall a row of trestles were spread with planks, and every mug and glass in the village was lined up there around jugs of cider and beer, along with benches for the elders, while at the center a ring of young men circled to the left around a ring of young girls stepping to the right.

Conn was in the circle; when the music came to an end, as expected, he held out his hands to the girl with whom the circle had brought him face to face and led her toward the refreshment table. He filled her a mug, and another for himself.

It was hot in the barn; beyond a rough wooden bulkhead there were still horses and dairy animals and four or five hearty young men were guarding these doors to make certain that no torches or candles were carried where there was hay or straw. The fear of fire always overshadowed country festivals, especially at this season before the fall rains had drenched the resin-trees.

Conn sipped the rough cider, smiling woodenly at the girl he had partnered in the dance.

Why at this moment did he see, as if through her, another woman―one he saw at almost every turning, one who was with him at work during the day, and in dreams at

night―the stranger dressed in brilliant satins; a woman with fair hair, dressed

elaborately in jeweled braids?

"Conn," Lilla said, "what is it? You are a thousand leagues away; are you dancing on the green moon?"

He laughed. "No, but I was daydreaming of a place far from here," he confessed. "I don't know why; there is no place better than here―especially at a harvest ball." But he knew he was lying; next to the woman in his dream, Lilla looked like the rough-handed farm girl that she was, and this place no more than a travesty of the brilliantly lighted palace of his daydream. Were these bright scenes he saw as if in dreams the reality, and these rustic festivities the dream? He felt confused, and rather than pursue the thought, turned to his cider.

"Do you want to dance again?"

"No, I am too hot," she said. "Let's sit here for a few minutes."

They found a bench at the end of the barn, near the wooden bulkheads; behind them he could hear

the soft stamping of the animals, everything near him was dear and familiar. The talk around him was of harvest and weather, the familiar realities of everyday life; but for some reason they now seemed alien, as if suddenly everyone were talking in a strange language. Only Lilla at his side seemed solid and real; he took her hand, and put his free arm around her waist. She leaned back against his shoulder; she had braided fresh field flowers into her hair and some crudely dyed red ribbons. Her hair was dark, curling coarsely around her red cheeks; she was plump and soft against him, and his hands strayed into the softness under her shawl. She did not protest, only sighing a little when he bent to kiss her, pulling her face around to his.

He whispered to her, and she came compliantly into the darkness at the end of the long barn. Part of the game was to elude the young men who made sure that no fire was

carried into the area of stored grain, but they wanted no lights. Surrounded by the fresh sweetness of the hay, with clover flowers adding to the scent, Conn held her tightly and kissed her again and again; after a little he murmured to her, and Lilla moved with him farther into the darkness. They were standing pressed together, his head -buried in her breasts, his hands fumbling blindly with the laces, when he heard someone call his name.

"Conn?" It was Markos's voice; Conn turned angrily to see the old man, a fire-shielded lantern in his hand. He held it up to look into the girl's face. "Ah, Lilla; your mother wants ye, girl."

Rebelliously, Lilla looked round; she could just see her mother, small and dark in a striped gown, gossiping with half a dozen other women. But Markos's

scowl was too forbidding and she chose not to argue. Reluctantly she let go of Conn's hand, her own fingers quickly tightening the laces of her bodice.

Conn said, "Don't go, Lilla; we'll dance again."

"No such thing; ye're wanted, young master," Markos said deferentially but with a sternness Conn had never dared to resist. He followed Markos sullenly out of the barn and once outside, turned to demand, "Well, what is it?"

"Look, the sky's dark; there will be rain before dawn," said Markos.

"And for this you interrupted us? You overstep yourself, foster-father."

"I think not; what's more important to a landlord than a farmer's weather?" Markos said.

"Besides, it's my business to be sure ye remember who you are, Master Conn. Can ye deny that in another quarter hour, you'd have had the girl in the hay?"

"And so what if I did, and what's that to you? I'm no gelding; do you expect―"

"I expect you to do right by whoever you take," Markos said. "There's no harm in dancing, but as for more―you're Hammerfell; you couldn't marry the girl or even do what's right for her child if anything came of it."

"Am I to live all my life womanless because of our family's ill luck?" Conn demanded.

"By no means, lad; once Hammerfell's yours again, you can sue for any princess in the Hundred Kingdoms," Markos said, "but don't let some farm girl trap you now. You can do better for yourself than your cowman's daughter―and the girl deserves better of you than to be taken lightly at a festival," he added. "I've never heard but that she's a good girl