After the doors closed, Lephi walked to the window at the right end of the chamber and looked beyond the white stone walls toward the browned Grass Hills. “Fireballs, supplies and copper that never arrived-what do you make of it?” He did not turn toward the mage, but left his eyes on the Grass Hills.
“He tells the truth-”
“I know that!” Lephi turned but did not move from his position by the window. “The man is honest, and he saved troops that would have been slaughtered. But it should not have happened that way. The barbarians should attack valiantly and break against the lancers, as they have always done. There should be no fireballs in Lornth. You told me that the three white mages of the barbarians had been killed.”
“There are the angels.”
“Do we know there are angels in Lornth?”
“There is…something…” Triendar admitted. “I have seen a man and a woman and a child, but only those three.”
“Only three?”
“Only three. There is the Accursed Forest-”
“Always the forest…will Cyad…” Lephi clamped his jaw shut. “Find out more about the three. And be prepared to bring all manner of fire upon the barbarians when we meet on the field.”
“Yes, Sire.” Triendar bowed, just deeply enough for the gesture not to be mocking.
CIX
“There’s your real lake.” Nylan pointed toward the silver-tinged and elongated oval in the valley below as the mare carried him along the crest of the low ridge on a dusty road that was scarcely more than a trail. The stillness of the air made it seem far later in the day than mid-morning.
“I said there was one.” Ayrlyn surveyed the valley. “Not much else here.”
Nylan nodded. Ahead on the left was a holding of some sort, and a thin line of smoke rose into the green-blue sky from near the lake, kays yet ahead.
“With water so scarce, you’d think there’d be more people around a lake,” Ayrlyn added.
“Maybe it’s salty, too.” Nylan glanced toward the holding as they rode nearer. Nothing moved.
“It didn’t feel that way.”
The angel smith reined up, and wiped his forehead. Like everywhere in Candar outside the higher Westhorns, it was hot. And like all of southern Lornth-or northern Cyador-it seemed, there wasn’t enough of a breeze to notice.
Sylenia slowed her mount gradually, clearly trying not to jolt the dozing Weryl, a slight frown wrinkling her forehead.
The lane on the left side of the road led arrowlike to three structures perhaps a hundred cubits to the west-a square house, what appeared to be a barn, and a large shed. A dark rectangular emptiness gaped where the barn door had been, and one side of the shed had caved in, imparting a rakish tilt to the sagging roof. The lane bore no tracks, but no weeds grew where ancient wagon wheels had packed the ground.
“No sign of fire,” mused Nylan. “Just worn out.” He flicked the reins and eased the mare back into a walk.
“Aren’t we all?”
“I hope not.” Nylan didn’t have to force the grin too much.
“You’re difficult, and when you’re not difficult, you’re impossible.” Ayrlyn smiled.
“Good.”
A half kay beyond the abandoned stead, the road turned south again and descended into the east end of the valley. The lake was at the west end.
“You can tell that the lake was bigger.” Ayrlyn gestured. “The flat meadows there? That’s old lake bottomland. And there are mud or sand flats around the eastern end.”
A thin plume of smoke rose from the house on the low hill to the southwest of the marshy lake.
“Why would they build a house so far from the water?” asked Nylan.
“Wadah?” asked Weryl.
“In a moment, child,” said Sylenia in a low voice.
Nylan grinned.
“I’d bet the water level’s seasonal,” Ayrlyn explained. “In the past, it might have filled the whole bottom of the valley. That abandoned holding was on the ridge too. Probably the well went when the water level dropped.”
“Another part of the puzzle.”
“It’s no puzzle,” the redhead said. “All of this part of Candar is slowly changing to a drier climate.”
The road followed what might have been the former high-water level of the lake on the north side of the valley. The grasses they rode past were thicker, with traces of green, on the bottomland below the road.
On the right side of the road grazed a scattered flock of gray-white sheep, but there was no sign of a shepherd.
“Not many people,” Ayrlyn said.
“I have the feeling that we’re on the frontiers of Cyador.”
“That’s the real puzzle,” she said. “Why would Cyador be so interested in taking over Lornth? This valley is a lot more hospitable than southern Lornth, and people have abandoned it.”
“Maybe it’s the copper, or coal, or extractive resources that they need.”
“Maybe…but why?”
Nylan shrugged. He didn’t know, and there was so much they didn’t know.
“They do not like the old people of Candar,” ventured Sylenia from where she rode slightly behind them. “Not those who live beyond their white walls.”
The faint baaaaing of the sheep drifted toward the riders, and Nylan glanced down at the animals. Still no herder or even herd dogs. A golden bird, heavy and plumpish, burst out of the knee-high grasses below the road and soared eastward toward the even higher grasses.
“That looked like some sort of pheasant.”
“If it looked like a pheasant…”
“…it probably was,” Ayrlyn concluded.
“I’d bet they taste good.” Nylan could feel himself salivating.
“They be most tasty,” Sylenia affirmed. “In Lornth, only the lords may hunt them.”
That somehow figured. Nylan studied the lake ahead. On the south side, across from where they approached, was a stand of reeds.
“You think this is safe? Or should we wait until it’s dark?”
“If anyone’s looking, they’ve already decided to do something…or not. If they have, we’ll find out quickly. If not, why give them more time? Besides, we need the water now.” Ayrlyn paused. “And I don’t feel like there are many people around here.”
“Probably not.”
Golden sand stretched back from the water on the eastern end nearly a hundred cubits with the beach running twice that in width, almost like a resort bathing area on Svenn.
“The runoff carries the sand here. The reeds hold soil and organic matter. It’s probably a very clean lake. I’d like a bath.” Ayrlyn glanced toward the house on the hill at the west end of the small lake. “This is the first real water we’ve seen in…I’m not sure how long.”
“Weryl, he could use bathing,” suggested Sylenia.
Of that Nylan was also sure. “Let’s water the mounts and fill water bottles first,” he suggested. “Just in case.”
“You’re probably right, but it feels like that one house is the only one with people in it.”
They reined up just at the edge of the sand. Nylan glanced across the lake, but no one appeared, and the thin line of smoke continued to rise into the hot midday sky.
“I’ll water the mounts over there, and you and Sylenia fill the water bottles. If no one shows up, then you three bathe, and I’ll watch.”
“I’ll bet you’ll watch! But will you watch what you’re supposed to be watching?”
“I’m trying to be practical,” Nylan protested. “Even if someone does show up, it will take time.”
Ayrlyn nodded. “I’m sorry. We’d have to hold them off while you scramble into your clothes? Or onto your horse?” She grinned. “I might just yell to see you do it, especially if your eyes stray too much when we’re bathing.”
“Thanks.”
“You’ve been warned.”
Once the water bottles were filled, Sylenia wasted no time in stripping off her riding clothes, and Weryl’s as well, and wading into the lake, dipping Weryl’s toes as she did. Although Nylan did his best to watch the house and the road in both directions, he could definitely understand Tonsar’s attraction to the young woman-although he was glad Tonsar wasn’t around to see Ayrlyn’s charms.