For a long time Tavis kept silent, sitting motionless on his bed. Gnnsa saw something glisten on the boy’s face and realized he was crying.
“You threatened me,” the young lord finally said, his voice so low that the gleaner could barely hear him.
“What?”
Tavis looked at him, wiping his tears on his sleeve. “At the Swallow’s Nest. You said that you’d shatter my blade if you had to, and that you were tired enough that you might break my wrist also.”
Gnnsa closed his eyes briefly, wondering how he could be so thoughtless. Time and again, he found he had to remind himself that for all the changes he had seen in the young lord over the past several turns, despite the scars on his face and his arrogant bearing, Tavis was still a boy, less than a year past his Fating.
“I didn’t mean it as a threat so much as a warning,” the gleaner said. “I wasn’t going to let you kill the man and if I couldn’t persuade you to lower your blade, I would have had to break it. I swear to you, Tavis, I have never had any desire to hurt you. I’ve always done only what I felt was necessary. That’s all.”
He looked over at the boy, trying to gauge his reaction. Tears continued to fall from the young lord’s dark eyes, but the expression on his face didn’t change.
“I know that it seemed we were searching for the singer a long time, Gnnsa went on. ”But it was only a few turns.“
“It was five.”
He conceded the point with a small shrug. “All right, five. But that’s still less than half a year. Now we know what he looks like. We know his name, or at least the name he uses. He’ll be easier to find a second time.”
“He knows we’re looking for him now. Even if we find him, I won’t be able to surprise him again.”
“Maybe not. But then we’ll find some other way. No matter what it takes, we will prove your innocence to all the nobles of Eibithar. I don’t know what will happen with the Order of Ascension-the fate of the Glyndwr line lies beyond my control. But we will restore your name, that I promise you. You were born a noble of the House of Curgh, and you’ll be a lord of that court again.”
Tavis took a long breath and nodded, though he still looked grim. At last he spoke. “If all that you say is true, you risked a good deal more than your life freeing me from Kentigern’s dungeon. You risked the future of the Forelands.”
Gnnsa was silent for a moment. “I suppose I did. I thought the risk was justified.”
“I’m grateful. But my point is that if you’re the only one who can stop this Weaver, then we have to do everything possible to keep you alive.”
“Don’t worry about me, Tavis. As I’ve already made clear, I wield many magics. I can take care of myself.”
The young lord looked away. “But it might be helpful if you had someone with you, watching your back. Someone who was good with a sword.”
Gnnsa suppressed a smile. A joke came to mind, something about the lord becoming a liege man, but he kept it to himself. He had worked too hard trying to repair their friendship, and he sensed that this was important to the boy, that Tavis needed to feel that he had a role to play in the coming war, just as did his father and the king and Gnnsa himself.
“Yes,” the gleaner said instead, keeping his expression solemn. “I think you’re right. I’d feel safer knowing such a person was nearby.”
Tavis nodded. “All right then.”
The gleaner watched him for a moment. “Does that mean you’re going to start talking to me again?”
“Isn’t that what I’m doing now‘”
Gnnsa frowned. “On second thought, I think I enjoyed your silence.” He lay down again. “Sleep now. We’ve a long way to go and I’d like to cover at least three leagues tomorrow, notwithstanding the snow.”
“Where are we going, anyway?”
Gnnsa glanced at him, a smile on his lips. “Don’t you know?”
The boy shook his head. “I’ve been occupied with other things. I know we’re headed east, toward the steppe. I assumed you just wanted to get as far from Mertesse as possible.”
“I did. But I have it in mind to cross into Caerisse and then turn north.”
“North?”
“Yes. I thought it might do you some good to go home, to Eibithar.”
“It would,” Tavis said, smiling for the first time in days. Almost immediately, however, his expression sobered again. “But Aindreas still wants me dead. Except for Glyndwr, I’m not safe anywhere in the realm.”
Gnnsa summoned a small wind that extinguished the candle. “You haven’t been safe in Aneira either,” he said, closing his eyes. “And at least to the north you won’t have to rely on that awful accent.” He couldn’t be expected to keep all of his jokes to himself.
Chapter Thirty-six
Dantrielle, Aneira, Eilidh’s Moon waning
“Numar writes of overtures from the emperor of Braedon,” Tebeo said, pacing the chamber as he always did when unsettled. “It seems he intends to strengthen our ties to the empire.” Evanthya looked up from the parchment she was reading, which bore the Solkaran seal. “Does this surprise you, my lord?”
“I suppose not. Carden had already begun the process.”
“But it troubles you.”
The duke gave her a quick look, a sour expression on his round face. “You don’t think it should?”
“I only wish to understand why it does, my lord.” Evanthya felt certain that she had finally put to rest Tebeo’s suspicions about her loyalty, but their conversations remained difficult. It almost seemed that because her eyes were yellow, he blamed her for the Qirsi conspiracy, even as he convinced himself that she was not party to it. “As you say, the late king started us down this path some time ago.”
“But it’s more dangerous now than it was when Carden was alive. The emperor wants Aneira as an ally in the event of a naval war with Eibithar. The Eibithanans must know this, in which case we invite an attack by tying ourselves to the empire. With all that’s happened in the past few turns, we can hardly afford a war on the Tarbin.”
“With all that’s happened we’re more vulnerable than ever,” Evanthya said. “Isn’t it just as likely that an alliance with Braedon will keep the Eibithanans from attacking?”
“I’d considered that, First Minister,” he said sharply. “I’m not simple.”
“Of course, my lord,” Evanthya said, looking away.
He stopped pacing and ran a hand over his beard. “Forgive me, Evanthya. You didn’t deserve that. An alliance with Braedon may well give the Eibitharians pause. I’m sure that’s what Numar thinks.” He returned to the chair behind his writing table and sat, rubbing his eyes with a meaty hand. “I’ve never taken the threat from Eibithar lightly, and I never would. But I think you’ll agree with me when I say that Aneira faces far greater dangers than King Kearney and his army. This is no time to go looking for a war. Rather, we should be trying to reach beyond old hostilities. If we’re arrayed against one another, we have no hope of defeating the conspiracy.”
Evanthya nodded, remembering that the gleaner’s friend, the Eandi boy she believed to be Tavis of Curgh, had said much the same thing in Solkara. “Is it possible that the emperor is reaching out to Numar for just that reason?”
Tebeo gave a sad smile. “Have you ever met the emperor, First Minister?”
“No, my lord.”
“I did once, at Carden’s investiture. I barely spoke to him, of course. We sat near each other at the banquet that night, but Carden was so busy flattering the man that he left the rest of us little opportunity to say anything at all. Still, that one night was enough for me to see that he is a singularly unimpressive man. He thinks of war and of wealth, and of little else. I doubt very much that he’s ready to lead an alliance against the conspiracy. More likely, he’ll continue to follow his petty ambitions, even if they lead all the Forelands to ruin.”