Through Wolf's Eyes (56 page)

He turned then, resisting the impulse to tousle their
heads. For a moment, twenty and fifteen though they might be, his sons
had looked very much like little boys.

T
ODAY ALLISTER MUST CROSS
the courtyard between the sides of the Toll House to mount the stairs
on the Hawk Haven side of the building. A woman he recognized as Lady
Melina Shield was busy discussing potential decorations for the ball
with one of Lord Tench's assistants. The matter under discussion seemed
to be whether or not the emblem of the royal family of Bright Bay
should be displayed given that the queen herself was not in attendance.

More of this eternal political maneuvering for position,
Allister thought.
And I am beginning to think that it matters as little to Uncle Tedric as it does to me.

At that very moment, he made up his mind to tell King
Tedric about Zorana Archer's letter. After greetings were exchanged, he
began on this immediately.

"Yesterday, Uncle Tedric, when the physician reminded
you of your health, I was about to tell you something rather
interesting. Lest we get distracted today, I would like to begin with
that piece of business."

"I am quite curious," the old monarch said equably. "Speak on."

"Some twenty or so days ago, I received a letter from
a member of your court. It was carried by private courier and delivered
in great secrecy. The letter suggested that it would be to the mutual
advantage of the writer and myself to arrange a marriage alliance
between our families. She . . ."

"Ah, she," King Tedric murmured. "Do go on."

"She stated that she herself was already married,"
Allister continued, somewhat nervously, for the old eagle's face was
completely unreadable, "but that she had several children of
marriageable or near marriageable age. She then went on to name these
children and note something about each."

King Tedric coughed dryly. "It must have been a veritable tome."

"The missive did run to several close-written pages,
Your Majesty," Allister admitted. "Next she expressed considerable
knowledge about my own family, including the knowledge that my son Shad
was already betrothed—a thing that astonished me a little, as the
betrothal is fairly recent and I had not thought the news would have
reached your court.

"Then she suggested the combination of her children
and mine would be—in her opinion—to our mutual advantage. She signed
the letter and impressed it with her personal seal so that there would
be no doubt of her identity."

"Do you have this letter still?"

"Yes, Your Majesty. Queen Gustin, to whom I confided this information . . ."

"You did. I see."

"Queen Gustin ordered me to give her the letter for
her state archives. I refused on the grounds that it was a personal
communication to me in my capacity as the head of my family, not in any
of the positions that I hold for the Crown."

"Very correctly, I'm certain." King Tedric smiled
slightly. "And I'm certain also that as a monarch Queen Gustin was
rather piqued."

"I'm afraid she was, Your Majesty."

"I much preferred when you referred to me as Uncle
Tedric or, failing that, King Tedric. Don't worry, Nephew. I'm not
going to bite heads off just because you brought this to me. Not your
head at least . . ."

For a moment his smile faded and Allister was
reminded again that the eagle was a bird of prey. Then King Tedric was
sternly affable again.

"Do you plan to show me this remarkable document?"

"If you will agree to leave it in my custody."

"I will. I can hardly respect your rights less than did your
own monarch. I would come out rather badly in the comparison."

Allister reached into his inside jacket pocket and removed the several sheets of vellum.

"Thick enough to stop an arrow," King Tedric mused.
"If you would bide a moment, have a cup of something to drink, I will
just quickly review this."

He pulled a pair of reading spectacles from his own
breast pocket and did so. Allister sipped water flavored with mint and
rose hips, hoping by the Bull's Wide Forehead that he had done the
right thing.

At last, King Tedric set the letter aside and sighed. Removing his spectacles, he methodically put them away, saying:

"Zorana. I thought it might be her when you began.
She's ambitious and her ambitions were sadly stifled when Baron Archer
and Lord Rolfston agreed to betroth two of their children. They knew I
could hardly overlook the opportunity to flatter three of my Great
Houses. Lord Rolfston's wife is a Shield, you see, while Baron Archer's
wife is a Wellward. Lord Rolfston himself is a Redbriar on his mother's
side."

"Oh." Allister felt a bit out of his depth here. In
Bright Bay the noble houses all had one name, the same as their house
emblem. His case was rather an exception. Normally, he would have taken
his mother's family name since Seagleam was reserved for members of the
royal family—all but for the monarch, who became a Gustin. However, he
couldn't well be an Eagle in Bright Bay, so he had been granted a
dispensation to bear his father's name. His children, however, were
Oysters.

"Zorana," King Tedric repeated the name, a little
sadly it seemed to Allister. "I will need to speak with her. In the
meantime, what do you think of her proposal: her Purcel and one of your
little girls?"

Allister spoke carefully. "Remembering that we are
not talking a romantic alliance here, but a political one, I suppose
the first and most important question is what do
you
think of her proposal?"

King Tedric looked at him blankly, then roared with
laughter,
an amazingly deep and rich sound coming from such an apparently frail
body. Worried that Tedric would do himself harm, Allister glanced
around, but even Sir Dirkin, normally as expressionless as a piece of
wood, seemed to have a small smile on his face.

"Nephew! Nephew!" the king gasped when the worst of the laughter had passed. "Where did you learn to speak so bluntly?"

"From my mother, your sister," Allister replied
honestly. "I told you that she did not make herself popular among the
nobility and she did not do that by remaining meek, quiet, and demure."

A few more snorts of laughter and then the king said,
"And so this is how you honor Caryl's memory. Very good. What do I
think about this proposal? I think that it has potential."

"I would only agree to it myself," Allister said
seriously, "if I had your word, both verbal and written, that the boy
Purcel would be named your heir and that my daughter would have settled
on her land and money. There would remain the question of a regent.
Purcel will not reach his majority for another four years. If the
ancestors call you to join them before that time, someone must be
designated in advance. Would your people accept me? Would his mother
accept a third party?"

Tedric waved his hand to slow Allister down. "I can
see that you have given this matter a great deal of thought, as well
you should since you have had twenty-some days to think about it. Let
me reply to your comments one at a time."

"Very well, Uncle. Forgive my impetuosity. I have had
few people with whom to discuss this matter. Queen Gustin requested
that I keep it a state secret. Only myself, my wife, and the queen's
advisor Tench are privy to the letter."

"Zorana has also kept her peace," Tedric said,
"although not without a certain gloating calm. Now, your first demand
before you would agree to this alliance is that I name Purcel Archer my
heir. I can see that. It would protect your daughter to a certain
extent, especially from her mother-in-law's vagaries of mood. If Zorana
was to be queen with Purcel to
follow her, she could always pass him by in favor of another. Very good. I could agree to naming Purcel my heir directly.

"I could also agree to settling some property and
goods specifically on your daughter. Purcel is a warrior. Although we
can hope that this alliance would make peace between our nations,
warriors do die in battle. Your daughter should have some security of
her own.

"Regent would be a more difficult matter. I am not
certain my people would accept you as sole regent nor do I like the
idea of two regents. We have enough divisiveness without encouraging
more. Zorana has proven herself able, but too willing to act outside of
channels. I believe I would need to select from outside of all of those
currently concerned in this matter. There would be too many hurt
feelings otherwise."

Allister nodded. "I see—as well as someone who has only observed matters from outside can see, that is."

"I might have suggested Earl Kestrel," the king said,
"but that he involved himself by hunting out Lady Blysse and so
involving himself."

"About her, Uncle . . ."

"Yes?"

"There are so many stories. What is the truth?"

"The truth, as much as I am willing to admit," the
king said, a twinkle in his eye, "is that Lady Blysse—Firekeeper as she
prefers to be called—is the genuine sole survivor of an expedition into
the lands west of the Iron Mountains. She claims to have been raised by
wolves. If you had seen her table manners when she first arrived you
would have no doubt of the veracity of that statement."

Clearing his throat, Allister pressed, "I heard that
she is followed everywhere by an evil familiar spirit in the shape of a
giant wolf."

"That is partly true," the king conceded. "She is
followed almost everywhere by an enormous grey wolf with blue eyes. If
it is not a familiar spirit—as I believe it is not—then we must
reconsider those old tales from the early days of colonization which
claimed that the animals in those days were larger than any seen today."

Allister knew he was skating on thin ice, but he must ask.
"Her name is 'Blysse.' That was the name of Prince Barden's daughter. Is she . . ."

"Blysse," the king interrupted, "is what Earl Kestrel
named his feral foundling—one might say with the memory of my
granddaughter in mind. Duchess Kestrel agreed to adopt the girl into
the Kestrel House, therefore, Blysse can claim the title 'Lady.' As to
whether or not she is my granddaughter . . . that remains to be seen."

"I see," Allister grinned. "You are less blunt than my dear mother, Uncle."

"I have learned to be. I am a king."

"True. Rumor said that the name on that piece of
paper— the one on which you named your heir—is that of Lady Blysse.
They say that you summoned her to you soon before your departure and
met with her in private."

King Tedric bared his teeth in something too fierce
to be a smile. "The latter part of that is true. As to the former, I
shall say to you what I have said to everyone else: nothing."

Allister leaned back in his chair, knowing that he had pushed as far as even his uncle's curious good humor would permit.

"Shall we then turn to other matters, Uncle Tedric?
Sir Tench hinted to me that Queen Gustin would very much like you to
know that the smugglers operating through these paired cities of Hope
and Good Crossing are not operating with her sanction. She wondered if
some sort of agreement might be reached to limit their activities to
the mutual benefit of our treasuries . . ."

King Tedric nodded and motioned for the clerk to
start taking notes. The rest of the morning passed in politely formal
discussion of matters of state. Only as Allister was rising to leave
did King Tedric push Zorana's letter over to him.

"Don't forget this, Nephew. And give my best wishes to your family."

Allister smiled. "And give mine to yours, Uncle, to all of yours."

Even those,
he thought as he trooped down the stairs and across the courtyard,
who run about like wild things and howl at the moon.

D
ESPITE THE URGENCY OF THEIR BUSINESS
,
Firekeeper didn't awaken Elise at dawn, having learned from Derian that
Hazel Healer was not likely to be able to meet with them until the
morning was quite old. Moreover, it would look as strange as a wolf in
the treetops if they were all to troop off to a perfume shop at that
early hour with the ball still some days off.

Knowing both more and less about magic than her
companions assumed, Firekeeper needed no warning to be cautious about
arousing Melina Shield's suspicions. So she and Blind Seer hunted,
though the hunting was poor here on the edges of the town, and swam in
a millpond some miles from the camp. Then they trotted back at a
leisurely pace, arriving just in time for breakfast.

Such rituals completed, they gathered Elise and
Ninette and walked the track to town. The beaten dirt road was busy
enough, but most of the traffic was related to the routine of the
military. Exchanging greetings with those they knew, they made no
secret of their destination, hiding their purpose in plain sight, as
Derian had suggested.