Storm Warning (45 page)

“How many of you spent your student days in the Collegium?” she asked, before anyone could make an answer, yea or nay, to the old man’s question. “And how many of you saw the highborn brats looking down their noses at us, because we were going to
work
for our livelihood? And how many of you just twisted with envy every time one of those Herald-trainees rode by on their Companions? The highborn, the trainees,
they
were going to be important! All we were going to do was make their lives a little easier! Just one short step up from peddlers, that’s us!”

The students hissed and booed her words, and the sour looks on the faces of the Master Craftsmen said all that needed to be said.

“But now we can do something they can’t!” Natoli cried out in triumph. “Even those fancy mages, they don’t have the training or the organization—
they can’t look at this problem logically.
I don’t think they can solve it! But
we
can! Can’t we?”

An angry chorus of “Aye!” and “Damn bet!” answered her. She grinned with satisfaction.

“And we’re
going
to solve it, if it takes every spare moment we have, aren’t we?”

Again, there was a chorus of assent. “And how
better
to get the funding for our projects than to show the Palace that
we
are the ones with the answers?”

This time the chorus was even stronger. Natoli’s grin widened, and she jumped down from the top of the table, bowing slightly to the old man as she alighted.

“I believe you have your answer, Master Magister Henlin,” she said, and made her way back to her table.

The old man shook his head, but grinned anyway, and his eyes disappeared in his wrinkles again. He waited patiently for the noise to die away, then gestured to the rest of the Master Craftsmen.

“Gentlemen, select your helpers; I assume you’ll all be selecting your own students, but don’t overlook someone who wants to work for you, or who hasn’t been chosen. Master Tam, Master Levy, please go with this young man to the Palace and present our services to the Queen. I will organize the groups for work tomorrow morning.” He sighed and shook his head. “I am too old to be traipsing out into a tempest, I fear, or I would go myself.”

“Master” Tam was actually a strong and squarely-built female of late middle age; she laughed and crossed her arms over her chest. “Henlin, you haven’t once left the Compass Rose as long as there was a single drop left in the kegs in all the years I’ve known you. I hardly expect you to start now.”

Master Henlin shrugged but looked unrepentant. The other Masters moved out into the taproom, but she and Master Levy headed straight for the table shared by Natoli’s cronies.

“We’ll take you scruffy lot, since you’re already our students,” Master Levy said, as soon as they got within an arm’s reach of the table. “We’re both used to you delinquents, and I wouldn’t wish you on some poor, unsuspecting Master who has no idea what depravities you can get up to.”

Natoli only nodded, unabashed. “Suits me. What
will
we be up to?”

“Dawn is what you’ll be up to,” Master Tam replied, and smiled evilly as the students groaned. “The logical, obvious thing is that first we’ll divide up the area around Haven and each group will take one piece to study. We’ll look at the obvious anomalies and look for ones the Heralds and mages missed, because I’ll bet there will be some—once we’ve measured each anomaly to within a hair, we’ll come here to collate the information. After that?” She shrugged. “My guess is that either we’ll be sending individual students out with fast horses to get information from farther out, or we’ll just make up a set of precise instructions based on what we find, and rely on locals to do the work. Then we’ll start looking for answers that fit the information. We’ll probably use the Rose as our headquarters, since it’s set up to hold all of us.”

“Just like a class problem,” groaned one of the boys.

“Exactly.” Master Levy fixed the offending party with a gimlet eye. “Don’t you think you ought to cut the evening short, since you’re going to be up so early?”

Obediently, the students started gathering up their cloaks; students at the other tables were doing the same, so evidently the other Masters had imparted the same set of orders to their groups. “I think Lady Herald Elspeth would be the one to take your offer, sir,” Karal said to Master Levy, who was nearest him. “I know she’ll still be awake. Would you like to go to the Palace now?”

“Between us, I’m pretty certain that Karal and I can get you both past the gate guard,” Natoli added. “They’ve been letting me run tame at the Collegium since I could toddle, and every Guard and Herald there is my ‘uncle.’ ”

Master Levy looked to Master Tam for advice. The woman nodded brusquely. “Sounds as good a plan to me as any.” She slung her cloak around her shoulders and took a last swig of beer from a student’s mug. “Let’s go.”

They slogged through rain that filled the gutters and soaked their cloaks; bent their heads against wind that drove the rain into their faces and threatened to pull their cloaks right out of their hands. The relatively short walk to the Palace was as exhausting as one of those dawn-to-dark rides he and Ulrich had endured on their way up here.

At long last they reached the postern gate, and the Guard there recognized all four of them. He waved them inside without any formality—which was a mistake, in Karal’s opinion, for they could have been
anybody,
in very clever disguises. He resolved to tell someone about the lapse tomorrow. Alberich, maybe, or even Kerowyn.

Once inside the Palace, however, the Guards were a great deal more alert, to his relief. They were left to drip in front of a fire while someone went off to verify that they were who they
said
they were, and to fetch Herald Elspeth. Hot spiced tea arrived after a while, and towels, both brought by pages, who hung their cloaks over frames in front of the fire to dry them thoroughly. The air filled with the smell of wet wool.

Elspeth was not at all pleased to be fetched; she looked tired and rather frazzled. Her hair had escaped from its utilitarian braids, and her face was slack with exhaustion. But the moment that Master Tam and Master Levy introduced themselves to her and explained what brought them there, she brightened with relief, and actually apologized for her curt welcome.

“I’m dreadfully sorry I was so surly, but we just finished some very difficult work, and we’re about to re peat it to double the effect,” she said, pulling a damp curl off her forehead with an impatient gesture. “I can’t even begin to tell you how much I appreciate this! Yes, we certainly
do
accept your offer, and I can’t think of anyone better suited to try to apply logic to all of this.” She favored Master Levy with a wry grimace. “Some of the others won’t like it, but I can and will overrule them—and Mother will most
certainly
be relieved that someone is trying mathematics instead of intuition for a change!”

She continued for a little while longer, as both Masters glowed with satisfaction under the weight of her sincere thanks and praise. There was no doubt that she meant every word she said—and no doubt that both of them had been half-expecting to find opposition from someone who was a mage as well as a Herald. Not surprising;
they
didn’t know her, after all.

I wonder if she’s stretching all this thanks out a little—he
thought, when she began repeating herself. Then he saw her take a surreptitious glance at the cloaks, and knew he was right. She was waiting for the cloaks to dry before sending them away!

Thoughtful, making up for being discourteous earlier?
It could be. Elspeth, he had learned by watching, was like that.

“Well,” Master Levy said, when Elspeth finished her speech, “if we’re going to lead a team of unruly students out into the muck at dawn, we need to take our leave. As soon as we have anything of any substance, we will let you know, Herald Elspeth.”

“Send me your measurements and charts, would you please?” Elspeth asked as the two Masters took up their now-dry cloaks. “They might help those of us who aren’t applying strict logic to the problem.”

“Certainly, my lady,” Master Tam assured her, tossing the cloak over muscular shoulders. “Now, by your leave?”

“I’ve sent for a carriage; at least you won’t have to walk back in this mess,” Elspeth told her, and grinned at the gratified expressions they wore. “Masters, I promise you, no matter what you’ve heard, I didn’t turn into a
complete
barbarian while I was gone!”

They laughed, and Elspeth called for a page to take them to the carriage she’d ordered up. Once they had gone, she turned her attention back to Karal, who was waiting quietly for her to dismiss him.

“Was this your idea, sir secretary?” Elspeth asked, with a stem expression that was entirely spoiled by her glow of amusement and the twitching of her lips.

“Yes, Lady,” he replied. “I don’t know a great deal about magic—but Altra, a friend, told me to trust my own good sense. You
all
said you needed measurements and facts, and my own good sense said that if you were going to need facts and figures, you ought to have people who specialize in them gather them for you.”

“Well, your friend was right,” Elspeth declared. “And I can’t begin to thank you for going out and
acting
on your conviction. You do your order proud.” And with that, to his immense confusion and embarrassment, she kissed him, much to Natoli’s open amusement.

“Now, you’ve done more than anyone else but the mages tonight, and you deserve some rest, so you ought to go get it,” she told him. Then she turned to Natoli. “You are just as much to be thanked for seeing that the task was too large for a small group of students and acting on your conviction,” she added. “It isn’t every youngling who’d sacrifice personal glory for seeing that the job is done right.”

Natoli shrugged. “A Herald’s daughter learns not to let self-aggrandizement get in the way of the job,” she said.

“A Herald’s daughter?” Elspeth looked at Natoli with speculation but did
not ask so why aren’t you a Herald, too?

“So that would be how you met Ulrich’s young secretary?” she asked instead.

Natoli nodded. “Father was the one assigned to escort them. He thought I might be able to help Karal get settled.”

Elspeth smiled. “I’d guess you succeeded, since he managed to find the Compass Rose and its taproom! Anyone could get settled with a couple of Rose pints in them!” Natoli lost control enough to giggle.

But Elspeth wasn’t finished yet. “There’s one thing I’d really like to tell you, Natoli. No matter what it may sometimes seem like, there are important, vital jobs that can’t be done by Heralds, which is one reason why this land isn’t hipdeep in Companions. You and your friends and Masters are and will be doing things as important as anyone who ever put on Whites, and don’t ever let anyone tell you differently. We Heralds are there to be obvious symbols to the people, but the Guard and Bards deserve most of the glory we get.”

As Natoli flushed with confusion, Elspeth gave her a little salute and then left.

“Well!” Natoli said at last. “What brought that on?”

Karal raised his hands and shook his head, although he had a good idea what had brought it on. Natoli’s carefully veiled expression of envy on seeing Elspeth’s uniform, and the flat tone of her voice when she mentioned that she was the daughter of a Herald. “Heralds. Who knows? It was something she thought you ought to hear from her directly, though, or she’d never have said it.”

And given that little speech back there in the Compass Rose, I think you needed to hear it, he thought
silently.

Natoli shrugged uncomfortably. “Well—I need to get back to my bed. Coming here isn’t going to excuse me from going out with the others at dawn.”

“Thank you,” Karal said, very softly, catching her arm as she turned to go. “We couldn’t do this without you. Elspeth was right. You did some very good things. I think you’re going to do more of them. I really admire you.”

Natoli blushed again and averted her eyes. “I’ve—got to go!” she blurted, and turned and hurried away. Karal watched her go and remained staring at the door for minutes after she was gone.

Karal made his own way back to the Karsite suite, his head so full he couldn’t even begin to sort out his thoughts. He was only certain of one thing.

He’d better get some sleep, himself, no matter how much turmoil his thoughts were in. Whatever lay ahead of them—this was likely to be the last moment of peace any of them would have for a long while to come.

But the next morning, it might all have been a dream.

Except that Ulrich was up very early and left immediately after canceling all of his appointments, and when Karal took his usual lesson with Kerowyn, she was preoccupied and actually let him score on her without making him work himself into exhaustion to earn it. He waited for an opportune moment and told her of the Guard’s lax-ness of the night before, which earned him a nod of approval.