Salamander (31 page)

Anders looked up with a fierce expression. "Not all of them ours."

"Not all of them yours—which will make things still less pleasant when the fighting is over. There will be new feuds between lords that supported Eirick and lords that support the King. And the more of our people are killed the more reason His Majesty, who did very little against the lords who supported Prince Josep against him, will have to wonder how prudent mercy to the defeated would be this time.

"When this is over, the Marches will still be part of the kingdom. Every soldier killed, Marcher or loyal, weakens us when next the Forstings move against us. Not all who will be killed will be yours—but all, on both sides, will be ours."

"Your Grace's point is?" Anders' voice was steady.

"My point is that I want to end this now, on terms, before any more people die."

There was a long silence before Anders spoke again. "I will carry any message you give me back to my liege lord. But whatever terms you offer, he will ask me what authority you have to offer them. What assurance do we have if we agree to your terms that His Majesty will honor your side of the agreement? Your Grace is high in His Majesty's council, as all men know. But what authority have you to make promises that will bind His Majesty?"

"None. That is why I have asked His Highness Prince Kieron, who also was guesting here, to join us."

The tall stranger who had been sitting by Mari stood, pushing back his chair, the noise loud in the silent room. "After consulting with His Grace, I am prepared to offer the following terms on behalf of my brother. Earls Eirick and Fredrik, as leaders of the rebellion, are to be permitted to go into exile, succeeded in each case by one of their sons acceptable to His Majesty. Any damage done to property held by those loyal to His Majesty to be repaired at the cost of those responsible. Any deaths of those in service to His Majesty or those loyal to him to be compensated according to the customary schedules of the northern marches. Those terms met, all remaining rebels willing to swear allegiance to His Majesty directly or through their own lords are to have a free pardon."

"Your Highness's terms are generous. There remains one question the lords I serve will certainly put to me, and so I must put to you: What reason have we to believe that what was spoken here will be remembered after we have laid down our arms? I cannot speak of my own knowledge to the rights and wrongs of the past. But Your Highness played a role in the conflicts at the Old King's death that was not highly regarded in this part of the kingdom."

The Prince thought a moment before replying: "I will, of course, put the terms agreed to in writing, signed and sealed. Beyond that, and so far as your own knowledge is concerned, you are I think acquainted with the Lady Mariel, daughter to His Grace. You may if you wish take private council with her as to what my word is worth. It is a matter on which she may be prepared to offer an opinion. Three days ago she accepted my offer of marriage and is now my betrothed."

* * *

"Can we trust him? It is my neck, and the necks of my kin, at stake."

Mari thought a moment before answering. "I think so. I would not have agreed to marry Kieron if I did not think he was, on the whole, an honest man. He is, as Ellen puts it, too used to having his own way. But among us—I, Ellen, and your fellow rebels—we may have convinced him over the past year that having his own way is not something he can always rely on. I do not think he has it in him to first promise you all pardons, then massacre you after you lay down your arms.

"Further, I think I can myself provide at least a partial guarantee. Kieron has spent the past six months and more courting me, with reasons both political and personal. We do not plan to marry until this summer, when I will be done with my studies. If between now and then I discover that he has committed such treachery, and made me the instrument of it, he will have to find himself a different bride, and I have no doubt he knows it. For sufficient reason he would pay that price. Kieron feels deeply his obligation to his brother and the kingdom. But he would not pay it willingly.

"More important still, I have discussed affairs of the kingdom at length with His Highness and my father.
Both have long regarded the disaffection of the northern marches as a serious weakness to the kingdom. By getting rid of the leaders of the insurrection and replacing Eirick with his son Eskil while dealing generously with the rest, they can help mend that weakness. Killing the rebels or forfeiting their holdings after promising pardon would open new wounds that would take a long time to heal. I think you may rely upon His Highness's honesty. I am confident you may rely on his sense."

Mari paused for a moment before continuing. "One more thing. I know that you, and those you follow, rose for Lord Iolen, that you believed in the justice of his cause and claim. Ellen says Iolen is dead. When Fire Mountain erupted he was in the pass and his horse took him over the edge. She did not say how she knew, and I did not ask. But Ellen is, in my experience, truthful to a fault, and I have no doubt that it is true."

Epilogue

Coming to Northkeep, they had been four: Mari, Ellen, Coelus, and one of the Duke's retainers. Returning there were three. Or perhaps, considering the contents of the case on the seat next to Master Dur and the warmth of the carriage, again four. The road was a good one, the coach well sprung; the Duchess did her best to provide for the comfort of her guests. Ellen, half asleep with her head resting on her companion's shoulder, tried to feel her way into the case to its contents, but the blocking spells were tightly woven, too strong even for her. Her father, seated across from them, was speaking softly to Magister Coelus; she kept her eyes shut, listened to their voices over the rumble of the wheels.

"We can talk freely; neither the coachman nor the groom is talented.

"My half of the story is simple enough. I saw what the Forstings were doing, guessed why, and so accepted Duchess Gianna's invitation. The Salamander left the Northfire fifty years ago. Since then the fire has slowly cooled; I put it back for long enough to change that."

"The day after I finished doing so, someone invoked the Cascade. I could feel it drawing fire from both of us, on a less lethal scale than last time. When it stopped I discovered that I and the Salamander had each somehow acquired a protective shield strong enough to cut off the flow. It looked to me as though His Highness had invoked the Cascade and then, a few minutes later, the two of you had invoked your spell to block it. Where he and you found enough mages for two stars at once, or how you managed the necessary power without my assistance, I have not yet figured out. I wondered if perhaps you had limited the protection to just the mages in the Keep. But I would have thought that by the time it started, the Cascade would have spread farther than that."

"It had. Much farther. We did two spells, but it only took one star for both of them."

"You used the Prince's Cascade to power your spell, to shield every mage in the area?"

Coelus nodded. "Every mage for about fifty miles around, if I got it right. To spread it farther we'll have to do it again later, with your help and two more mages. The pool was supposed to have power enough from the final stage of the Cascade to both spread the shield and let the Prince undo the magery that was melting the pass clear. But he didn't quite make it. Once the bubbles got thick enough to start cutting mages out of the Cascade, there was no more power coming into the pool—and no way of getting more even if we had been willing to run the Cascade again. I spent several hours afraid that my cleverness had killed all of us, until Fire Mountain erupted. It didn't occur to me that that might be your work until Ellen told me you were here."

Ellen opened her eyes. "You mean our cleverness, don't you, love? If we had ended up killed by the Forstings it would have been my fault as well as yours. I didn't know Father was here either."

Durilil smiled. "Both of yours equally, I think. Dying for your principles is all very well in stories, but on the whole I prefer to live—it makes it easier to fix my mistakes. If you only spread the shield for fifty miles, someone would eventually have tried the Cascade somewhere where it would work. Some of the Prince's people know enough to do it, I expect, and not all of them were in the Keep. And there was Iolen too. You were very clever indeed, but you should have allowed more of a safety margin.
It's not as if the Prince had ever had that sort of power to play with before."

Ellen let her eyes close again, her mind drifting. Mari's wedding, Mari resplendent in silk and jewels, Mari some day as queen. Perhaps Ellen should volunteer herself as royal mage. It was amusing to imagine how Kieron would respond. But no, Coelus would never leave the College willingly.

Weddings … .