I felt the blood and brandy heating up his rough, old face as he said, 'Myself, yes, and Lord Sharad and Sar Jessu - and many others. Almost every warrior around Silvassu and the Valley of the Swans.'
'Then have you taken oaths to support Lord Avijan?' Lord Harsha rubbed at his face to hide his shame. 'We
had
to. Otherwise we would have come under Lord Tomavar's boot or Lord Tanu's. In any case. . . '
'Yes?'
'In any case, only one can become king, and we ail agreed that no one deserves the throne more than Lord Avijan.'
I remained silent as I squeezed the hilt of my sword, and I felt Maram, Master Juwam and Liljana looking at me.
'No one, of course,' Lord Harsha went on. 'except yourself. But we all thought you would never return.'
I gazed at him and said 'But I
have
returned.'
'That you have, lad,' he said. 'And Lord Avijan would release us all from our oaths and be the first to stand for you. But Lord Tomavar commands six thousand warriors, and another four thousand follow Lord Tanu, and they will surely oppose you if you come forth.'
Although Atara, sitting near the middle of the table, kept her face still and stern, I could almost feel her heart beating in time with my own. I wondered if she had foreseen this moment in her scryer's crystal sphere or what might befall next.
'Will Lord Tanu and Lord Tomavar,' I asked Lord Harsha, 'oppose me so far as to go to war?'
I would rather die, I thought, than see Meshians slay Meshians.
'Who can say?' Lord Harsha muttered. 'These are bad times, very bad. And since the Great Battle, Mesh is weaker, much too weak. New trees we need to stand in the ranks and face our enemies, but we'll be a whole generation growing them. Our enemies know this. Already, it's said, the Waashians are looking for a way to attack us. And the Urtuk already have: they invaded through the Eshur pass last fall. They weren't many, only a thousand, and they might have been just testing our strength - and so Lord Tomavar's army threw them back easily enough. And then there is Anjo.'
'Anjo!' I said. 'But Anjo has never threatened us.'
'No, and that is exactly the point: Anjo hasn't had a real king in two hundred years, and can threaten no one. Her dukes and barons still battle each other bloody. You will not have heard that only two months ago, the Ishkans annexed Adar and Natesh. And King Hadaru still looks for other of Anjo's domains to bite off. Lord Tanu has vowed that this must never happen to Mesh.'
'And it must not!' I told him.
'No - and so Lord Tanu has said that Mesh must have a new king, and soon, if we don't want to wind up like Anjo. Lord Tomavar has said the same thing. They have each demanded that the other stand aside, and have made threats.'
'But if they make war upon each other,' I said, 'then they
would
make Mesh like Anjo!'
Lord Harsha shrugged his shoulders as his face fell sad and grave. He muttered into his cup of brandy: 'These are bad times, the worst of times, so who can blame an old man for wanting to see his daughter well-wed and give his grandson his first sword? Now, in your father's day, and your grandfather's, no one would ever have thought that -'
'Lord Harsha,' I said, with greater force. 'Will Lord Tomavar and Lord Tanu take up arms against
me?'
With a jerk of his head, Lord Harsha downed the last of his brandy and sighed out 'I don't know. Lord Tanu will be cautious, as always. Once he makes up his mind about something, though, he can strike fast and hold on like a bulldog. And Lord Tomavar ...'
'Yes?' I said.
'Lord Tomavar is burning for vengeance now. Full of the blood madness, do you understand? His warriors captured thirty of the Urtuk - and Lord Tomavar accused them of helping Morjin escape across the steppe with Vareva. And so he had them hacked to death.'
'But that is not our way!'
'No, it is not,' he said. He let loose an even deeper sigh. 'And so what will he do when you come forth to claim your father's crown? That I don't
want
to know, lad.'
The sound of steel forks against earthen plates full of pie rang out into the narrow room, and echoed off the stone walls. I noticed Liljana concentrating all her attention on Behira and Joshu, while Master Juwain looked at me as if admonishing me to find a way of peace in a world full of hate and vengeful swords.
'What needs to be decided,' Lord Harsha finally said to me, 'is what
you
will do. Will you go to war for your father's throne, Valashu Elahad?'
Would
I draw my sword against my countrymen, I wondered? I sat considering this while I gripped Alkaladur's hilt. As Lord Harsha had said, only one man could be king of Mesh.
'There must be a way without war,' I said to Lord Harsha, and everyone. 'If I could step aside and see Lord Avijan crowned king, I would. Or even Lord Tomavar or Lord Tanu. But from what has been said here tonight, this is not possible.'
'No,' Lord Harsha agreed, 'such a grace on your part might only make the situation worse.'
Atara, who had said little all during dinner, now drew forth her sparkling crystal, and told us: 'Neither Lord Tanu nor Lord Tomavar will ever be king. Nor Lord Avijan. It must be Val - or no one.'
I tried not to smile at Atara's seeming assurance. Most of the time, she refrained from saying such things. I could not tell if her words were a true prophecy or whether she wished the mere force of her statement to bring about the future that she willed to be.
I drew my sword a few inches out of its scabbard, and the flash of silustria warmed my blood. And I said, 'It
must
be me. I never wanted this, but what other choice is there?'
'But Val,' Maram said, 'what will you do? Coming forth now will be
dangerous-
even more dangerous than we had thought. And what if Kane's worries prove out, and you find that some of your countrymen have joined the Order of the Dragon?'
At the mention of this secret society of blood drinkers and murderers who followed Morjin, Lord Harsha said. It is bad enough to know that Prince Salmelu went over to the Red Dragon, and is now a filthy priest who calls himself by the filthy name of Igasho. For even
one
Valari in all the Nine Kingdoms to turn traitor this way is a disgrace.'
He tapped his sword and said, 'Despite what I said earlier, I won't believe that any man of Mesh would ever dishonor himself so - I
won't.
And the warriors of the Valley of the Swan are as true as diamonds.'
'Yes,' Maram agreed with a nod of his head, 'but will they be true to
Val?'
'Nine of ten will be - perhaps more.'
'But what of Lord Tanu, then? His army is only a two-day march away. And Lord Tomavar? How long would it take him to lead his six thousand here - a couple of days more?'
How long, indeed, would the hot-headed Lord Tomavar need to march his army from the northwest down across our small kingdom?
Lord Harsha frowned at this as he rubbed the lines creasing his face. He had never been a quick thinker or a brilliant one, but once he decided on a thing, his reasoning usually shone with good common sense.
'We had thought,' I said to him, 'that we might send out a call to those who would follow me to assemble at my father's castle.'
Lord Harsha slowly shook his head at this. 'That won't do, lad. The castle is all burned out, and it would take a week even to get the gates working again. And Lord Tanu might move before you had enough warriors to man the walls.'
He drummed his thick fingers on the table as he looked at me.
'What do you suggest then?' I asked him.
'Let's do this,' he said, looking at Joshu Kadar. 'Sar Joshu and I will ride out tomorrow and gather up those we absolutely trust. We'll escort you to Lord Avijan's castle, where you'll be safe. And then we'll put out the word that Valashu Elahad has returned to Mesh. Two thousand warriors have sworn oaths to Lord Avijan, and another thousand, at least, look to the weather vane to see which way the wind will blow. Let's see how many will declare for you.'
I thought about this for a while as I traded glances with Maram, Master Juwain and Liljana. Atara inclined her head toward me. Then I told Lord Harsha: 'Very well, then, it will be as you have said.'
Our decision so stirred Joshu that he whipped forth his sword and raised it up toward me. 'Tomorrow morning I will speak with Viku Aradam and Shivalad and a dozen others! I know they'll all ride with you, Sire!'
This word seemed to hang in the air like a trumpet's call. And Lord Harsha banged the table with his fist, and turned his angry eye on Joshu.
'Here, now - that won't do!' he snapped. 'You may call Lord Valashu "Sire" when the warriors have acclaimed him, but not before!'
Joshu bowed his head in acquiescence of Lord Haasha's admonishment. Lord Harsha, as he should have known, was a stickler for the ancient forms, and he believed that a king must always draw his power from the will of the warriors whom he led.
'All right, then,' Lord Harsha said as he stood up from the table and picked up the brandy bottle. He went around the table filling up everyone's cup. He returned to his place and raised his own as he said, 'To Valashu Elahad - may he become the next in the unbroken line of Elahad kings and protect our sacred realm!'
After we had clinked cups and sipped our brandy, Behira stared across the table at Joshu and said, 'Then tomorrow you'll ride off again?'
At this, Joshu turned toward me. I sensed that he didn't want to wed Behira half as much as he burned to take his revenge for what had happened upon the Culhadosh Commons. As our eyes met, I felt a bright flame come alive within him.
'I must serve Lord Valashu,' he told her. 'There will be war - if not against Lord Tanu or Lord Tomavar, then against the Waashians when Lord Valashu becomes king. Or the Urtuk will invade in force, and the Mansurii with them. Perhaps Morjin himself will march against Mesh again. And when he does, I must ride with Lord Valashu.'
'If he is your king, then you must,' Lord Harsha agreed. 'And so must I. And that is why we should arrange a wedding while we can.'
I felt Maram's knee pressing against mine beneath the table, and I said to Lord .Harsha, 'I am afraid there
will
be war. Why not let the question of your daughter's marriage wait until greater matters are settled?'
'Do you mean, wait until one of Morjin's knights puts a spear through Joshu's other lung?' Lord Harsha said bluntly.
As my father had once told me, sometimes problems worked out best if left alone. And death solved all of life's problems.
'Or Sar Maram,' Lord Harsha said. 'I would no more see him lying bloodied on the battlefield than I would Sar Joshu.'
In the dark corner of the room above Maram's head, I caught a sense of a deeper darkness. The Ahrim, I knew, followed Maram as it did me.
'I understand your concern,' I said to Lord Harsha, 'and I will do what I can to ease it. Do you know of the estate my family holds along the Kurash River?'
'The lands by the Old Oaks?' Lord Harsha said. 'Five hundred acres of the best bottomland?'
'Yes, those,' I said. 'It shall be my present to Behira at her wedding.'
Lord Harsha nodded his head at this as he regarded me. Ever a practical man, he said, 'You're even more generous than your father, lad. But suppose that neither Sar Joshu nor Sar Maram survive what is to come? Suppose - may the stars forbid it - that you yourself do not?'
'Then,' I told him, 'let these lands be held in dower for Behira to whomever she might marry.'
'Generous, indeed!' Lord Harsha called out. Again he lifted up his cup. 'Well, let us drink to that!'
At this, Maram smiled at me in gratitude. We raised our cups, even Master Juwain, though he would drink no intoxicants. Behira, however, sat still and stolid, refusing to touch her cup.
'What's wrong?' Lord Harsha asked her.
And in a clear, strong voice, she said, 'What if I don't want to marry?'
Lord Harsha sat in a stunned silence staring at her. 'Not marry - what do you mean?'
'I mean, father, that I'm not sure I want to marry anyone.'
Her words struck Lord Harsha speechless, and he glared at her.
Then Behira looked down the table at Liljana, and caught her eye. Usually Liljana stayed out of such business, but something in Behira must have moved her, for she said, 'There are other things a young woman can do besides marry.'
Her words caused Lord Harsha to turn his black blazing eye upon her. And he commanded Behira, 'You won't listen to such outlandish talk!'
But he wasn't the only one in the Harsha family who could summon up the more wrathful emotions. Behira shook her head at her father and without warning exploded into what might have been a tantrum if it hadn't been so well-reasoned: 'Oh, won't I? And why not? Why
must
I marry? Because
you
want grandsons, father? More meat to skewer on our enemies' swords? I won't see my children killed this way - I won't! All this talk tonight of people dying and noble men defending Mesh while I wait and wait yet again for Maram or Joshu or someone else to return someday and favor me with their precious seeds - as if I'm no more than a field of dirt to plant them in! Well what if I don't
want
to wait?'
Lord Harsha, utterly taken aback by this outburst, stared at her
and said, 'But if you don't marry, what do you think you will do?'
Behira looked at Atara sitting quietly as well-balanced and
straight as one of her arrows. And Behira said, 'The Sarni women,
some of them, become warriors.'
'The Sarni are savages!' Lord Harsha shouted. Then I felt shame burning his face as he looked at Atara and said, 'Forgive me, Princess!'
'It's all right,' Atara said with a cold smile. 'Sometimes we
are
savages - and worse.'
'Do you see?' Lord Harsha said to Behira. 'Do you see?' Behira turned to look down the table at me. Then she told her father, 'I see a man who would become King of Mesh, and
not
be content merely to keep the roads in good repair and hold feasts. If Lord Elahad wins the throne, then there
will
be war - a war such as we've never seen. And we Valari women are supposed to be
warriors
aren't we? With the whole world about to spill its blood, you can't just expect us to sit around and hope for our men to return and bestow upon us babies!'