Deep Water (51 page)

At the bottom of the hill he turned aside and went down his favorite path, which led through the valley to a spring-fed pool
which flowed out to become the best water source for miles. He told himself he was looking for a way to defend that water,
which was crucial for the farmers in the valley. The pool itself was on common ground, and no one’s direct responsibility.
Which made it his.

The pool was overshadowed by a huge old cedar tree, the fruit of some long-ago warlord’s trade with the Wind Cities. The story
went that he had swapped his daughter for the seedling, but Leof doubted that. No warlord would give away so great a prize
without getting a lot more than a tree back.

Under the sweeping branches the cedar scent was so strong that Leof felt slightly drunk. He dismounted and led Arrow to the
pool and waited while she dipped her head to drink, glad of a moment’s quiet. It was cool and beautiful here, and it seemed
a long way away from the noise and movement at the fort. The pool was ringed with moss-covered rocks and the water spread
out between them serenely, with only the faint ripple from the underground spring disturbing its reflection of the tree.

Leof was watching a branch reflected in the water, thinking about Sorn and the way her hair caught the light with sudden fire,
when he saw a face appear in the pool.

He jumped back, startled, and Arrow’s head came up with a whicker.

There was a man standing on the other side of the pool, smiling at him, his hands raised to show that he meant no harm. Leof
relaxed a little, although he was silently berating himself. No one should have been able to sneak up on him like that! He
was a warrior, not a love-struck mooncalf.

The man was old, very old, with long white hair braided into plaits around his face and with the back left free. He had a
full beard, too, which was unusual. So were his clothes — leggings and gaiters and a long, full tunic, almost like a woman’s.
He wore a gold arm-ring in the shape of a dragon high on his left arm. His eyes were very blue and he had surprisingly good
teeth for such an old man. Leof wished his own teeth were that straight.

He nodded. “Greetings, sir.”

“Greetings to you also, young man.” The old man looked at him consideringly.

Then a voice seemed to come from inside Leof’s head, or from the water, or from the air itself; it surrounded him, it filled
him.

“Listen,” it said. It was his mother’s voice.

He and Arrow had ridden to this pool a hundred times before, but Leof felt suddenly that he had ventured into an unknown wilderness,
where anything might happen. His heart sped up, his hands were clammy, and he felt for his sword.

“The Lake sent you,” Leof said with certainty.

The man smiled. “Well done! I was expecting you to ask, ‘Who are you?’ Indeed, I am her ambassador. Her mouthpiece, if you
will.” He had a beautiful voice, warm and deep and flexible, but there was a hint of an accent, a slight brogue. A voice it
would be easy to trust.

Leof set his heart against being persuaded by that voice. “And?”

“Child, there is great danger approaching, and you will need the powers of the Lake to survive it.”

“
I
will need?”

“Your people. All our peoples. The Lake is not your enemy, but she will not be conquered. There is no living power in this
world which could conquer her.”

Leof latched on to that hint. “What about the power of the dead?”

“If the dead acquire such power as that, your people will be in a sorry state. Convince your lord.”

Leof smiled ruefully. “My lord goes his own way.”

The man laughed, companionably. “So did mine, once. But if you are loyal to him, you will convince him. The Lake will resist.”

Leof hesitated, but his inborn impulse to honesty won out. “He doesn’t believe in the Lake,” he admitted.

The man went very still and his eyes widened a little. He whistled in disbelief. Leof was surprised by the purity of the sound — it
was like the whistle of a young boy.

“That — explains.” He lifted a hand. Oddly, given the roughness of his clothes, his fingernails were long and well cared for.
“Be resolute,” he said.

Leof blinked. The man was just — gone. Just
not there.
He hadn’t stepped away, he hadn’t moved. Just disappeared. Leof began to shake. True enchantment.
True
enchantment, not necromancy or trick or potion. He had never heard of such power — and Leof knew that it was the power of
the Lake, not of the man. The man had been an ordinary human. Leof forced himself to cross the stream on the stones that ringed
the pool and look at the ground where the man had stood.

He felt a great relief when he saw footprints, even though they only led from the pool
to
the tree, and not away from it. At least his sense that the man was alive and real had been right. An ambassador from the
Lake. He jumped back across the stream with more energy, and collected Arrow.

The question was, should he tell Sorn about this? He should tell Thegan, no doubt, although Thegan would jump to the conclusion
that this man was the enchanter he had declared was his enemy. His shocking ability to disappear would be the proof. Leof
paused, reining Arrow in at the end of the river path, looking across the field to the fort on its hill.
Should
he tell Thegan? If he didn’t, was that treason? Consorting with the enemy?

He longed to discuss it with Sorn, to lay it all out for consideration by those wise green eyes. But private conversation
had to be avoided at all costs. So, what if he said nothing? If Thegan ever found out, it would be the pressing box for sure,
and then the gibbet. The sun was going down. He would miss evening muster and inspection of the horses. He clicked his tongue
to Arrow and she started off gladly, happy to be heading home. He put aside the decision for now. Or perhaps… This would
be a good excuse to go to Carlion. He could put Wil in charge for a few days and ride down to tell Thegan personally. It was
too… odd… to put in a message. How could he describe it properly?

Then he could leave Sorn for a while. Let them both recover. Perhaps even persuade Thegan to keep him in Carlion and send
Eddil back to command in Sendat. He had at least as much experience as Leof.

He
had
to tell Thegan. The man had even
asked
him to. He ignored a suspicion that it would make the situation in Baluchston worse. But Thegan wasn’t going to listen to
him about the Lake anyway. He cantered Arrow up the hill more cheerfully. Secrecy wasn’t in his nature and he felt much better
having decided to take action.

As he went, he saw a local farmer pacing out the course of the next chase. He sighed. As temporary lord in Sendat, he couldn’t
compete in any of the chases. He had to hand out the prizes if asked. Since Bramble’s roan, Thorn, had died he’d gone back
to racing in every chase he could, instead of just the ones Bramble wasn’t in, and he missed the regular dose of excitement.
Missed winning, too. He patted Arrow on the neck and said, “One day soon, girl,” and she tossed her head in response as he
headed her for home.

Leof left the next morning, with no more than a public explanation to Sorn that he needed to discuss some elements of the
fort’s defense directly with Thegan. She was puzzled, he could see, and so was Wil, but they both accepted his statement.
Sorn organized food for him to take and Bandy, his groom, prepared for the trip with enthusiasm. He had a ghoulish curiosity
and couldn’t wait to take a look at the wreckage the ghosts had caused.

The trip to Carlion was uneventful, although everywhere they stopped he was besieged with people wanting to be reassured that
they weren’t going to be murdered in their beds. He did the best he could, thinking wryly that they’d never have dared accost
Thegan in the same way.

Carlion itself was… odd. Leof realized that he’d expected to see the kinds of things he had seen in other towns in Cliff
Domain which had been attacked by the Ice King: houses burnt down, or stripped bare of all they had. But ghosts had no reason
to loot. It appeared they didn’t use fire, either. They just killed.

So the streets of Carlion were the same as ever, aside from a few shattered and hastily repaired shutters and doors. But there
were far fewer people on the streets than the last time he was there. He saw fearful eyes peering out at him from behind windows
and doors as he rode down the steep streets toward the Moot Hall. But the fearful people staying indoors weren’t enough to
account for the emptiness of the streets. Carlion was a town stripped bare, but of people, not things. Arrow’s hoofsteps echoed
forlornly from the brick walls, too easy to hear now the normal bustle of cart and handbarrows and vendors was gone. Leof
could even hear the seagulls down at the harbor, and the wash of the waves against the docks.

The Moot Hall, he found with some relief, was bustling as usual, although most of the bustle was provided by men in Thegan’s
uniform. He was hailed immediately by one of the sergeants.

“My lord’s in his office. Top of the stairs. Is there news from Sendat?”

There was anxiety in his voice and Leof remembered that he was a local man, with family in the town below the fort. Leof shook
his head and smiled reassuringly. “Would I be here if there was?”

He handed Arrow over to Bandy and left him to organize their quarters. No doubt there would be plenty of choice.

Thegan’s office — once the Town Clerk’s, Leof had no doubt — was opulent in a way that sat oddly with Thegan’s disciplined
style. It was furnished in walnut and rosewood, and every piece of seating was cushioned in yellow velvet. There were golden
curtains at the windows and the frieze that ran around the room was of sunflowers and green leaves. Leof remembered that the
last Town Clerk of Carlion had been a woman. Dead, now, he presumed. Thegan looked slightly out of place in the office, but
it was clear that he was unaware of his surroundings.

“Leof!” he exclaimed, waving away a Carlionite, a small man with a merchant’s potbelly and huge mustaches. “Trouble?”

The small man raised worried eyes to Leof and visibly braced himself for bad news.

“No, no, no problems,” Leof said, smiling at the man. He was so tired of smiling reassuringly. “But I needed to speak to you
privately, my lord.”

The man immediately packed up his papers and bowed himself out. “Tomorrow, Sirin,” Thegan said. “In the morning.”

Leof waited until the door was closed and then bowed.

“Well?” Thegan demanded. “I hope you have a good reason for this.”

“I think so, my lord, or I would not have come.”

Thegan nodded and gestured to Leof to sit down. He lowered himself onto the velvet cushion with some relief. The ride had
been a long one. He couldn’t resist a quick glance around the room and a smile at Thegan. Thegan smiled back, the real smile.

“I feel like I’m in a bordello,” he admitted, leaning back in his chair. “But it reassures the Carlionites if I keep changes
to a minimum.”

Leof nodded, and hesitated. He wasn’t quite sure how to proceed, although he had practiced this scene in his head on the way.
“The Lake sent an ambassador,” he said finally. He described what had happened by the pool.

Thegan sat upright. “So . . .” he said. “Our enchanter shows himself.”

“Or the Lake —”

An impatient wave cut him off. “The Lake! It’s just water, for Swith’s sake! It can’t
think
! This man, this old man, yes, he’s the one we have to search for. Did you send out search parties?”

Leof gaped. It had not even occurred to him to look. The old man’s disappearance had been so… final.

“I… I searched myself, around the site, my lord,” he said carefully, “but there was no sign. Not even a footprint of
him leaving.”

“Where did he arrive from, then?”

Reluctantly, Leof said, “The pool.”

“So he came from the Lake by boat —”

“No, my lord,” Leof said firmly. “That pool does not connect with the Lake. It flows to the Simple River and thence to the
sea.”

Thegan paused. “So he is very powerful, then. Well, you did right to come to tell me. I will consider it. Go and have your
meal.”

He turned away to look out the window, but Leof lingered. “My lord, I hoped… I hoped I might be able to stay here and
help you. Perhaps Eddil could take over at Sendat . . .”

Thegan stared at him, frowning. “Bored already? Defending my fort is not unimportant, Leof.”

“My lord, I know that. But the defenses are proceeding, the smiths know their tasks… I could be of more use to you here.
Eddil has more experience than I do at fortifications.”

Thegan’s mouth relaxed. “True. But I wouldn’t leave my wife alone with that tomcat for more than an hour.”

“He would never betray you!”

Thegan grinned. “Some men can’t help themselves. At the least, he’d make a play for that holy little thing who waits on Sorn,
and then there’d be a real problem! Officers are one thing, but a good sergeant like Alston is hard to find.”

He came around the desk and laid his hand on Leof’s shoulders. “I know it doesn’t seem too exciting, Leof, but you are where
I need you.”

Leof nodded. What could he say? “You shouldn’t trust me around your wife, either?” A death warrant for both of them.

“Do you have a report of your progress?” Thegan asked, all business again.

Leof handed over the detailed report which he had spent his last night in Sendat compiling. Unless the ghosts attacked again,
he thought, I’m doomed to go back. He had a dreadful double impulse, to run as far as he could from Sendat — to take ship
for the Wind Cities, perhaps, and leave everything he knew behind — and to ride immediately for Sendat and throw himself at
Sorn’s feet, declaring his love.

What shocked him most about the thought was that he really didn’t know which he wanted more.

T
HERE WAS WATER
moving nearby. Bramble could hear the slap and hiss of small waves on shingle, a sound that took her back to a day spent
with Maryrose in Carlion before the wedding, when they had wandered over the town and the harbor, down to the small beach,
and looked out over the waves. They had talked about their parents moving in to Carlion to live with Maryrose and Merrick
in the new house after it was built.