| |
When he finally got back to the little house he was staying in with the others, which wasn’t that small, if he was being honest, there was a strange woman there. Not that he didn’t get who it was, after a half second or two.
“Saffron? This is a different look for you. Very nice.”
The woman smiled. Looking like a regular lady, if one with scales, pale green and white at the throat and darker on the backs of her hands and arms, with yellow hair that honestly was saffron in hue, and rather ordinary brown eyes, smiled at him. Her nose was flat, but still just a nose, not a few slits.
She nodded, her face seeming interested in him, for some reason.
“Well, the war is over, so Ganges decided that I could probably go with this look, for the time being. It might make it easier for me to get a husband, or so the idea goes. So far you’re the first person to compliment me on my looks.” She looked at him from the side of her eyes, which was a coy look, to Farad. A thing from his own youth, but not one that Istlan really used, for some reason.
“Say, you aren’t married, are you?”
There was a time when he would have blushed and stammered about being asked that. Honestly, part of him wanted to do that in the moment, to be honest about the idea. Anders, the boy, buried that deep down, stifling Farad for a moment, winking at the woman.
“I’m not married yet, no. I’m a bit too young for that still, but no harm in discussing the idea, for later?”
The woman, who looked to be part dragon, at the very least, didn’t pretend they were playing even.
“Good! We should do that. Now... I’m really just walking around and talking to people. That being you and my great-great grandfather. No one else speaks the right language for me here, yet. I should learn, but no one who can has volunteered to take the time, so far.”
That was rather pointed, since, as mentioned, there were only two of them there who had the right language to communicate with her at all.
Rather than go and nap for a while, which was tempting to do, or eat, which would be needed soon, Anders nodded at the woman.
“Please, sit.”
Then the two of them worked at learning Istlan for six hours, not stopping until Ganges found them, and cleared his throat.
“It’s time to eat? We don’t have anything prepared yet, so Prince Erold suggested we beg Anders to do that for us. I can help with that, so it isn’t all about abusing you, but the food we have here is yours, so it was deemed polite to ask after that?”
He stood up, needing to move, and to break out of the trance he was in. He’d fed Saffron words in two languages, but also described to her how to think of each one, and how to arrange it in the hall of memory. That meant they’d covered three words per minute, giving the woman about a thousand words of Istlan. Not the spellings or particular tricks in using it, but those rules were relatively simple, compared to just learning what sounds meant what.
Yawning, he waved to Saffron.
“At this pace it will take about a week for you to master Istlan. At least if we work on this after the meal, as well. Then we’ll work on Yansian. I need to learn Doran, as well, soon. There’s likely to be a war in that direction in a month or so.” He had to repeat some of the words, and help her learn them, as they came up, but there was a grin from Ganges.
“Certainly. A week for her to learn a new language. You do know that most people take years for that kind of thing, don’t you? Is that your plan for the time being? Cooking and teaching Saffron?”
Anders made a considering face, but shook his head.
“Page Walden contracted some magic lessons, so there’s that as well. He knows that I’ll be leaving in a few weeks, but learning a little is better than not learning anything.”
He was speaking in Istlan, and had to stop again, to go over what everything meant. He did it right, even as they moved to the other room, the woman placing each new thing in the hall of memory. Their kitchen was outside, as it was, being a nice earthen stove and oven. He had to collect fuel for that, which Saffron and Hoatha both aided with. When he actually started to fix the food, Daren and Jeld came over. There was no sign of Depak, Erold or Salina.
Daren knew that, and volunteered the information, without hesitation.
“Prince Erold asked for Depak Sona and Princess Salina to aid him in negotiations with the people from Minoa. The ones with the... Um, interesting clothing, from last night? Apparently, it’s much warmer where they come from, so they tend not to wear much. I was planning to find some material and make a gift of fine clothing to them. That... Well, I’m not certain that it’s my place, as a mere servant.”
Anders didn’t know either, but Ganges snorted.
“You’re going to hold to the illusion that you’re a servant still? That’s dangerous. You’re a mighty war mage, Daren Willet. I’m not suggesting that as a jest either. You, in your own person, could potentially stop entire armies. Pretend to humility, if it serves you, but don’t forget what you truly have become. That can lead to errors, or even death.”
He waved a bit at Anders then.
“King Yarler made a mistake like that, with Anders and many died for his not appreciating who he was dealing with. From the sound of it, he would have died shortly anyway, making threats against Erold, as if he were a mere boy to be held hostage... Still, that was a King, in his own kingdom. One defeated, but if it had been you there, instead of Anders, do you think that King Mathias would have reacted any differently? I think not. There is a man who holds to decent levels of wisdom.” The man grinned and waved at Daren then.
“Not that you should let power go to your head. It gives you options others don’t have, but you aren’t truly better than anyone else, either.”
Daren, humbly, ducked his head.
“Thank you for the instruction, Hoatha.”
The words got a chuckle, but no more lecturing. Not that the information was incorrect.
Anders simply shrugged.
“I need to thaw this deer meat, and cut it into strips. Saffron, Daren, why don’t you help me with this?” He spoke in Istlan still and arranged a work space, on a counter top, next to the oven. That needed to be started first thing, but Hoatha did that, without needing to be told how, or asking what was required.
They worked at making meat smaller, for cooking, chopping vegetables and making flat bread. He’d managed to keep his yeast mother alive, somehow, so used half of that to produce enough bread to feed all of them plus a few others.
The whole time they worked, he covered what they were doing, the reason behind it and how the words were placed together, for Saffron. They had some time, because hungry or not, it took about two hours to get the stove and oven hot enough for use, and all the food ready. The others walked up, eventually, clearly having come from the castle, about a mile away.
They had a table for eating, inside, and for once managed to get there before the rain started. Everyone had to get their own bowls, but they were at war, so no one whined too much about not having the comforts they were used to. Not even Salina, which was refreshing.
Though, he had to admit, the woman hadn’t been too bad, once the other girls had left them. Not really. A bit, at times, but in the main she’d simply worked, like the rest of them.
She moved in next to him, when they sat, her shoulder touching his, for a moment.
“Say, Prince Anders? Ambassador Nona was very impressed with the healing you did on her first husband, earlier. What do you want in return for that? She begged me to find out, not having realized what the problem was, and the high magics which would be needed to fix it. She mentioned sending home for riches to compensate you, for your efforts. She wasn’t jesting, either. This seems fairly important to her.”
He stopped for a moment, then blinked.
“You know, tell her that it’s a gift, from the new Regent. Prince Alpert? To impress her with the friendliness of Istlan. We need to ply them with some gifts, to that end as well. Perhaps some warmer clothing? Daren, you mentioned that portion of things?”
The man had just taken a bite, of stew, and had to finish the chewy meat, so took a moment before speaking.
“I did. As you said, a gift, from Istlan. Something colorful, though? Maybe in a similar style to what they are used to, but with more coverage? Against the weather, of course. Anders, you could make them some of your heavy cloaks?”
He nodded, that being a good idea.
“I’ll do that. Some others might need that kind of thing. Probably not for the summer, but after that. Is that plan appropriate, Prince Erold? We don’t want to overstep, but people traveling shouldn’t be hit with vast expenses, if we can limit them.”
There was a nod, with a bite of flat bread, which wasn’t set down. They were all doing that, since they didn’t have plates. If you wanted stew, you had to have the top of the bowl free, which meant holding the bread.
When he spoke, it was considering.
“Get in touch with the Regent on that? I’m sure it’s fine, but that way we can honestly say that he arranged for it, in his own person. I haven’t asked after what’s going on that way, over the last few days. Things take time, but I’ve been busily sitting and talking to people, who need me to comfort them, in the main. Things have been hard for many, lately.”
Anders understood the reason for the words, so didn’t bother acting affronted by the idea. A few of the others stiffened a bit, as if insulted by their own place in the story. At least the perception of it. Rather than start a fight, he took a deep breath.
“Right. Page Walden mentioned some of that, earlier. He works at the castle. The red-headed boy?”
Erold nodded.
“I’ve had the pleasure. He’s hard working, and reliable.”
“Also learning magic, starting in the morning. Can you put the word out on that, so it’s official? I’m going there for that. If anyone else there wants to try and has the basic talent, we can do that as well. I know, it’s dangerous, teaching a former enemy our tricks, but if you always treat people as an enemy, they’ll stay one.”
Ganges looked at him for a long while, then nodded.
“Agreed, Farad. Anders, I mean. You sounded like him, just then, but I’ve been told that isn’t how the crystals work. We should all seek to busy ourselves, in the coming days. There will be a lull in what is needed of the army, which, if not filled, will mean that troubles begin. The men aren’t allowed to rape, so will be growing desperate for female attention. I haven’t looked into the whore situation here. Have any of you?”
Daren blushed a bit, but spoke anyway.
“It isn’t a common thing here. They have some, but it’s considered a very low occupation. I mean, criminal, like cutpurses or killers, not just a job some look down on a bit.”
No one mentioned as to how he’d learned all that, simply accepting it as being real enough. It wasn’t a thing for them to worry over, officially, but the point of having the army being occupied was a good one. They needed to rest and heal, but their forces were in good shape, compared to what most were like, after several hard battles. There had been a few who were so injured they couldn’t be soldiers any longer, but it was a small handful, only. They hadn’t had any real losses to illness yet, either. That was down to the fact that they had decent sanitation, so far.
Depak tapped his chin for a few moments, then looked at Jeld.
“We could work on improving the water system for Amtha here? The infrastructure was well planned, but it’s leaking in places due to time. Some of the army could aid with that, perhaps?”
It clearly wasn’t their task to see to the occupation of others, but trying to be helpful wasn’t a horrible idea, either. The others spoke on those topics, for a while, as Anders simply ate. A lot. Enough that he felt like he was going to pop. Instead of scolding him for his greed, Depak glanced at him and smiled.
“Good. You need to keep eating more. All of us do, for the time being. We can’t let ourselves become weak and are burning massive amounts of energy.”
Princess Salina rolled her eyes, but had more bread, making a face at the idea of eating more. The others just ate, which was good enough, it seemed. No one spoke about that again, thankfully. Standing, he cleaned the table, using magic, and then removed his bowl, ready to work with Saffron again.
She however, had other things to do. What that was didn’t get mentioned, but it was an hour later when she came back and sat on the floor.
“Forgive the time. Things...”
Nature called for all of them, so he didn’t make a point of worrying over it. Just working, walking her through each word, helping to memorize it quickly. After three more hours, it still being daylight out, he called a halt to the learning for the day.
“I need to make the late meal, soon. First, I have some other work to see to, so, we’ll meet in the morning, after I come back from the castle? Let’s call that noon, actually?”
Saffron gave him a blank look, then laughed.
“This is a lot to learn, in a short time. Also, the language of a different land than the one we are in. Why is that?”
He had a real reason for that, so shared it, openly, with her.
“That way you’ll be able to talk to us. Not the locals. You’re far more likely to join our side if we’re the ones that don’t poke you with sticks and can understand you, don’t you think?”
“I see! Yes, that is very wise. At noon, tomorrow, then? Here?”
He agreed on that, and she left then, even if he was sitting in the shared front room of their shared dwelling. On the floor, since they didn’t have real furnishings. Beds, but not much else. Not even pillows to sit on. That was down to the fact that no one knew if they were going to be ordered to leave the next day, or were staying for longer. Anders sort of wanted to improve the roads heading north, if at all possible. Rather, he didn’t want to do it, but if Dora attacked, having the ability to bring goods in was going to be needed. The same was true of moving troops quickly.
At the same time, he didn’t want to make excellent roads for Doran forces to use to invade them, so asking about that before just going and doing was a good idea. At least he hoped so. Still, working out what he wanted to ask about, directly from the new Regent, he worked out who he wanted to contact for that.
After a moment, he nodded to himself, and checked, to make sure Princess Mathia was available at the moment. She didn’t notice him watching her, being in conversation with a set of women that he didn’t know, but did vaguely recognize from his life at the castle. They were having tea. He didn’t pry into what they were discussing, deciding to bother the Princess anyway.
She was new to the communications magic, but if it took her a while to write everything out, that was fine with him.
The girl did take a while to contact him, about an hour, but when she spoke in his ear, seeming a trace formal but very much like herself, he realized that he’d made a mistake.
“Anders! Prince Alpert is already in route. He left three days ago. Princess Aisla is here, with Leopold. Father asked for a full report from there, if possible? This will repeat five times.”
It did, which was fine, being short.
The mistake was that, while he had a special magical name for Alpert, in case he needed to contact him, he’d never done that kind of thing with the man, directly. Plus, he couldn’t reply, in his own person. Anders could read his mind, but the man might just not want that to happen.
Which was going to be a problem, at least possibly.
Also, he was just asked to do even more work. Which wasn’t going to get done faster, by not doing it. So, instead of whining about it, he planned out a full report, created the spell and sent it to both Alpert and Mathia. Then he waited, monitoring his father, in case the reaction was one of anger or suspicion.
Instead, the man, who was already camping for the night, scrambled to get a pen and paper, and wrote the whole report down. He missed half of it, so Anders sent it again, two more times. That was enough, thankfully.
Then he waited, the man making a point to think about what his receiving such a thing directly might mean. It wasn’t a focus on the violation of his thoughts, as Anders would have expected. Instead, it was a sense that his son, Anders, hadn’t done that before. Which could have been either the boy telling him that he was fine with his younger half sibling being named heir to Yanse, or, in a different way, could have been him showing how important he was, claiming that right for himself.
A thing that even King Mathias had nearly called into being.
For his part, Anders had never even considered the idea at all. He marked the thought, for discussion at a later date, but set that aside, and sent off his original group of questions about what Prince Alpert wanted done.
Doing that actually took up the rest of the evening, since the Prince had some real ideas, but needed more information about what was happening on the ground there. That meant sending seven different, if shorter, messages to the man, who took notes on the data, as if they were in a meeting. Anders didn’t have all the information, so had to make his own notations, so that he could query people about a host of things, in the morning.
There were things that the man felt would be needed, that he rather dreaded. Such as purging the castle of any workers with loyalties to the old king, as well as doing the same, in a more violent fashion, with the nobles and advisors who remained. On the nice side, they weren’t doing that work before he arrived.
Except that Anders understood the need to act in some cases, before those same people could escape, to come back at them later, with a fresh army in tow. It wasn’t an issue that day, thankfully.
In the meantime, Alpert liked the plans to give gifts to the foreign Ambassadors there, which he wished Anders to see to, if possible. Asking for that was loaded, in his mind, with ten layers of subtext or more. He wasn’t at all certain that he wasn’t going to ride up with his men, to find that Anders had named himself king there. If that happened, he was under orders to find a way to gain his trust, not to fight him out of the position.
Anders, feeling a bit amused, sent one final message back.
“I’m not currently seeking a new position. I have the rest of the information and will pass it to those who need it, I’ll be in touch as required, over the next days.” He wanted to make the last part a question, but they didn’t really have the luxury of not being in touch, if Prince Alpert wasn’t going to take offense at his messaging him directly.
He slept well, that night, being exhausted as he was. If he dreamed, he didn’t recall it when he stood up in the morning. That was fine, since refighting battles was a boring way to spend his valuable sleep time.
After cleaning up, changing his clothing, though wearing a black arm band to show that he was in mourning for the old King and his family. Even if doing that was hypocritical of him, Anders headed over to the castle. He was hungry, but stopping to eat first would mean starting a fire, then digging the food out and so forth. When he got into the large stone building, the guards, once again, acting as if he belonged there, he had to search around for Page Walden.
It was tempting to simply call out and demand the boy find him, but screaming in a place where over half the people would be sleeping still seemed inconsiderate. So, instead, he fixed the image of the boy in his mind, dropped into a trance and walked to where he was sitting. That, interestingly, was in a back room, off the kitchen. It was a small space, with room for ten people to eat, if they were careful not to bump into the walls around them. There though, sitting at the back, with six other people, was Page Walden. The boy waved at him.
“This is my friend, Anders. I told you, Mother? The boy who offered to teach me magic?”
A woman, one who didn’t seem that much older than Salina, if even that old, let her face shift slightly. The woman had fiery red hair, and a mass of freckles that broke the pale flesh up a lot, otherwise. Her look was concerned, at first, but instead of dealing with her, one of the men, an old fellow with a pure white beard and a bald head, over a slightly beefy body, frowned at him.
“I don’t know if the new King will allow that. We can’t risk angering him, before he even arrives.”
That was sensible enough, so Anders shrugged.
“I spoke to him last night on that very topic. Magically? Anyway, I had to vouch for Walden, personally. Prince Erold gave a recommendation for you as well, earlier, with King Mathias.” He looked at the boy for that part, then turned back to the man, who seemed grumpy, but also in charge. “Anyone else who wants to join us, and who has the talent, may. Not that we should expect too much that way. Everyone wants power, but few are willing to actually work for it.”
It was an offhand statement, but the old dour fellow glared at him.
“You spoke to the new King? Magically, you say?”
He shrugged, since it was true enough.
“Communications like that is one of my jobs, so, yes. The point is that Prince Alpert, he’s the Regent, not the new king, if that makes any difference? He knows about this and agrees that it’s fine. We’ll also be going over the water system in the city here. Depak Sona and Master Jeld are seeing to that, along with some of our army.” He sounded bland, but, rather embarrassingly, his middle growled, reminding him that he hadn’t eaten.
Walden’s mother stood up then, quickly. Her face was concerned again.
“I can run and make you something? I don’t know what you like, Lord Anders.”
The grumbling man with the long beard waved at the chair next to him.
“Sit, sit. This is the servants’ room, but if you aren’t too good to work with Walden, you probably won’t mind.” It was a test, of course.
One that took no skill at all, to pass.
“Thank you. All of you. I can have what everyone else is, if there’s anything left? I was too lazy to make something, earlier.” He glanced at the freckled woman, who he didn’t have a name for and smiled. “Just Anders, though. Well, technically it’s Prince Anders, but that’s only in Barquea, or if I’m needed to give a speech. Otherwise, it’s just Anders do this, Anders do that...” He grinned a bit, even though everyone else looked like it had fallen on deaf ears.
No one spoke while the red headed woman left the room, her skirt swishing as she moved, until one of the other men there did. He had a beard as well, but it was short and neatly groomed. Also, rather blond. His clothing was colorful and he had a gold hoop through his left ear. His voice was smooth and rich, both at the same time.
“I’d heard of that, in asking about the battle. Prince Anders Brolly. The Warbow. Those who saw you in battle make wards against magic, when they speak your name out loud. Men from both sides, in fact. They keep describing you as being a giant, however, for some reason. At least a full head taller than other men. Some have suggested that you might not be sane?” If the man cared that he could be giving insult, it didn’t show on his face.
Meaning it was another test.
A dangerous one, for the other man.
“That’s always a good thing to keep in mind. I think I’m well, mentally, but battle can take a toll on anyone, can’t it? That, well... I had to do what I did, to save my home, land and people. I wouldn’t expect anyone from here to forgive me for it.”
There were a few nods, but Walden was the one who spoke. Indicating that he was allowed to do such things, even when the adults were having a conversation. Not that the rest of them would be able to see Anders that way.
“The Prince, the other one, Prince Erold... He knows who I am?”
That got everyone to stare at him, as if he were stupid.
“Yes. We all do, in fact. All the mages and many of the guards. Walden, the red-haired page boy. Prince Erold called you dedicated and hard working. That’s a good place to start.”
Just then, the woman who had left came back, with a slice of fresh, warm, bread, a bowl of ground grains of some kind and a tankard, which had fruit juice in it. She ducked her head a little, when he sniffed it, even if it seemed fine to him. Apple, with something sweeter mixed in.
“I could get ale, I just...” She swallowed and shook a little bit. “It’s just not known if you have a temper, in your cups, so the head cook suggested that we give you something soft.”
Again, they all looked scared, except Walden, who rolled his eyes.
“Everyone drinks juice or clean water, in the morning. Or, is drinking ale first thing an Istlan custom? I could run and get something for you, if you want?”
He shook his head.
“This is perfect, thank you. People who use magic, at least the ones of note, rarely drink anything harder than tea. I don’t think anyone from Istlan will ask for ale or harder drink, this early in the day at all. This smells very nice.”
It was plain gruel, and soft bread, but was actually warm and had some salt in it. The juice was actually delicious, but he didn’t mention that, because saying he liked it in particular could be taken as him trying too hard to please the servants there.
Still, he ate it all, and then carried the dish and empty cup, along with the wooden spoon he’d been given, into the wash area. Walden did it first, so he simply followed along. The old man with the white beard did that too, as if it were perfectly normal.
He spoke, before Anders could call the Page away with him.
“Where will you be working today, and for how long?”
The man stared at him, rather frankly, as if expecting to be dressed down for not using his title or for being demanding. It wasn’t the noble Yansian way at all, but they did seem to be a curious people. Asking questions without guilt coming into play.
“I don’t know where. We just need someplace out of the way. Also, a large rock. I have to leave at a half hour before noon, since I’m teaching Saffron the Lerna to speak Istlan.”
The old, bearded, man simply glared at him again.
“Get to it, then? Daylight is burning.” Then he turned on his heel and strode off.