“It doesn’t look good, but any help we can get is better than none.” Saryn hated the triteness of her words, true as they were. “I’d like to walk through the stables.”
The stables were clean but dusty, as if they were unused and had been cleaned quickly and perfunctorily. Still, reflected Saryn, after she left Hryessa and crossed the courtyard back toward the palace proper, they offered better quarters and shelter than anywhere so far.
The young woman was waiting in the second-level hallway. She’d clearly been pacing back and forth. “Commander…”
“We still have a little time, don’t we?”
“Yes, Commander.”
Saryn nodded. “I’m Saryn, and you are…?”
“Lyentha.” Her eyes did not meet Saryn’s.
“What are your duties, Lyentha?”
“I serve the Lady Zeldyan, Commander.”
“What do you do in serving her?”
“I assist her in dressing, and in overseeing her wardrobe and that of young lord Nesslek. I help her in planning the food for the palace. When we have receptions or the year-end ball…”
Saryn listened for a time, interspersing occasional questions, before asking, “The staff appears smaller than when I was last here. Is this something recent?”
“I couldn’t say. I’ve been here but a year and a season.”
“I’ve met Lord Gethen once before, but Lord Kelthyn was not a regent. What can you tell me about him?” Saryn offered a winning smile and tried to project warmth.
“He is the eldest son of Lord Weald. His sire perished…with Lord Sillek.”
“When Lord Sillek was forced by the older lords to attack Westwind, you mean?”
Lyentha nodded.
“He is less than favorably disposed toward us, I would judge, and I can understand that, but why is he so cool toward Lady Zeldyan?” That was a guess on Saryn’s part, but from what Nylan had written and Zeldyan’s actions in seeing Saryn first, it certainly wasn’t unreasonable.
“I’d not be the one to say.”
“What might others say, then? You must have heard. After all, Lady Zeldyan has done her best in a most difficult situation.”
Lyentha glanced down the corridor, one way, then the other. “He is a cousin of Lord Sillek. It is a distant relation, but he is the only lord-holder with a blood tie.”
“Has he pressed for Lady Zeldyan’s hand…and she refused?”
Lyentha looked down. “I could not say, Commander.”
Saryn could sense the answer. “So he will go out of his way to put pressure on her, either to force her to accept his offer or to discredit her in the eyes of the other older holders.”
“I could not say that.”
“You have said nothing, and I appreciate your discretion.” Saryn nodded. “Perhaps we should make our way toward wherever I am to meet the regents. If you would lead the way…?”
Lyentha headed down the steps to the main floor and northward until they passed through an older stone archway that opened onto a foyer, part of the original tower. To the left was a polished door of old and dark wood. Beside it stood a guard with a decorative brass breastplate and a sheathed short sword. He looked at Saryn, then at the table beside him.
Saryn smiled, then unfastened the formal sword belt and laid the belt with the attached and sheathed Westwind blade on the table. In close quarters, she could always use hand-to-hand, not that she expected that kind of trouble. Trouble, but not that kind.
Lyentha opened the door, and announced, “The commander is here.”
“Have her enter,” replied a pleasant male voice.
Saryn stepped through the door.
The chamber held no table, but three chairs in a semicircle, and two others-empty-facing the three. The heavy but worn dark green carpet had a purple border decorated with intertwined gold vines and leaves. The walls were dark-paneled, and the only natural light came from the pair of high windows in the back wall, and from the four brass lamps in wall sconces.
Lady Zeldyan sat in the middle chair, with her father, Lord Gethen, to her left, and Lord Kelthyn to her right. Kelthyn was not at all what Saryn had expected. Although seated, he looked to be of moderate height, with short-cut but wavy brown hair and a neatly trimmed squarish beard, slightly redder in shade than his hair. His blue eyes appeared guileless. His tunic was a deep blue that brought out his eyes and was trimmed in a darker blue.
Saryn bowed to the three. “Regents.”
“If you would be seated, Saryn,” offered Kelthyn, his voice pleasant.
Saryn bristled inside at the instant familiarity, but she smiled politely and replied, “Thank you.” She omitted any honorific as her sole response to the youngest regent’s inherent arrogance, then settled into the chair closer to him. She could feel his intense and instant dislike of her.
“Zeldyan has offered a summary of why you are here,” Kelthyn continued, “but it would seem that your journey to confirm a hostility of which we are already aware affords Lornth little knowledge that we do not already possess.”
“That was always a possibility,” Saryn replied, “but given the nature of the treachery and the possible cost to Lornth, it seemed unneighborly not to make certain you were aware of how deep and far-reaching the enmity held against you by the Suthyan Council happened to be.”
“That was most thoughtful of you, but of little consequence-”
“Commander,” interrupted Zeldyan, her voice like cold steel cutting through Kelthyn’s honeyed words, “I understand you ran into some difficulty on the way. Could you explain this?”
“Lady Zeldyan, as you suggested, we did indeed encounter some small difficulty on our way here. That difficulty, I fear, emphasizes the danger facing Lornth.”
“Oh…and what might that be?” Zeldyan’s politeness concealed amusement.
“Our difficulty concerned the actions of the Lord of Duevek. His men attempted to block the road and dissuade us from riding to see you. Although we were riding under a parley flag and stayed to the road, he sent two squads against us, first to block the road, then to attack us from behind.” Saryn shrugged. “When they charged us, we were forced to use…persuasion. The kind with long shafts.”
Even Gethen stiffened.
“That is an outrage!” snapped Kelthyn.
“We were under a parley flag, and their undercaptain called them to arms. He seemed unable to understand the parley flag, and he claimed that the regents did not rule in Duevek.”
“He said that?” asked Gethen. “In those words?”
“Exactly, and most clearly.”
“And then?” pressed Zeldyan.
“He ordered his men to attack. After we removed him and his front line, his assistant ordered the survivors to charge us, and another group attempted to attack us from behind.”
“You do not seem that much the worse off,” observed Kelthyn, his voice gently sardonic.
“We are not. Three guards suffered minor wounds. They will recover. There were perhaps five survivors out of forty from those who attacked us. We sent them back to Lord Duevek with the message that he should not presume for his regents.” Before any of the regents could say more, Saryn pushed on. “What is most interesting is that the Suthyan trader who had been part of the delegation that came to Westwind under the guise of trading talks had not returned to Suthya directly but had proceeded to Lornth and to Lord Duevek. One of the delegation to Westwind attempted to poison the Marshal. When he was given the choice of drinking his own poison, he declined and attempted to use his blade to kill the Marshal. He failed and died. The Marshal was most considerate, given the situation. She merely expelled all the remaining Suthyans…” She went on to explain the Suthyan effort to isolate Lornth, ending with, “…and under those circumstances, the Marshal felt that it was not only wise, but neighborly, to send someone of stature to inform you.”
“Someone of stature,” repeated Kelthyn politely. “I suppose it is a most kind gesture. Yet it would seem that where you angels go, death always follows.”
“We came in peace,” Saryn said. “We came to warn you. Death came to those armsmen because they did not wish us to reach you. Why, that I could not say. I might surmise that Lord Duevek sought a personal advantage with the Suthyans, but I could not say. I also might surmise that the Suthyans seek to increase divisiveness between Westwind and Lornth and between Lornth’s regents and its holders…but I could not say that.”