NexLord: Dark Prophecies (32 page)

Muttering under his breath, Aerin entered
Mara's room.  His teacher was using some cloth to wrap up
a set of jars she kept on a shelf.

"Mara, what is going on?" Aerin asked
again.

"I would think it was obvious, we're packing
to go."

Aerin's voice faltered,
"G-go?  But... this is our home."

Mara paused for a moment, "Aerin, this is a
city, one of many, and only remarkable because it is the largest
this side of the Dragonback.  But home?  Home
is where your friends are, this is but a place."

"But this is where my friends ARE!" his
voice rose in volume toward the end, he was visibly upset.

Mara returned to her packing, "Your friends
are coming with us."

That caused Aerin to pause for a moment,
"But... Gandarel can't leave; he is supposed to become the
Warlord!"

"Leaving won't change that; it's a title, not
a place."

"But that's not the point, he WON'T
leave."

That made Mara pause again, and she looked at
Aerin, "He must. Now stop wasting my precious time, and go fetch
Lor and Dono.  I thought they would have been here by
now, but I imagine they are out by the east wall waiting for their
first look at the approaching army of Togroths.  Get them
both, and have Dono stop and pick up his things, no more than he
can carry in one pack. Then get back here as fast as you can, we
don't have much time."

Aerin left her room, more puzzled than when
he entered.  He climbed back to the roofs and headed for
the east wall.

Gandarel felt like a bug under the eyes of a
flock of hungry birds.  The council members were all
staring at him.  He had just told them to prepare for a
siege.

"What do you know of these weighty matters,
Gandarel?" Niler asked in an angry voice.

"Mara advised me that this is best, and I
trust her," he explained.

Councilman Enolive, normally Gandarel's lone
supporter in the council, spoke up, "I warned you all, repeatedly,
that this unknown vagabond woman teaching Gandarel was a bad
idea.  Now look at the fool notions she has pushed into
his head.  Gandarel, you know me, you know I have been
your supporter in the past.  
In
this case,
you are better off listening to your trusted
advisors, than some old woman."

Niler had noted the grudge that Enolive
seemed to have against Mara in prior meetings of the
council.  Here he saw an opportunity to widen that
gap
and bring the boy back under
his own sway. "Regardless of where the advice came from
Enolive, I do not yet discount its validity."

"Validity... better to call it
insanity!  The Seat of Stone is here to watch for and
stop any incursions from the Wastelands; I think this
qualifies!  We should marshal the Guardsmen, draft men of
acceptable age into the infantry, and attack!"

Niler scowled at
Enolive's
outburst.  "You would have us give up
the advantage of the city wall's defense?"

Enolive turned to address Gandarel directly,
ignoring the head of the council, "Gandarel, the Guardsmen were
placed under your father's and his father's control to guard the
lands east of the Dragonback, now it is your turn and duty to do
the same."

Niler shook his head, "I forbid it, Gandarel
is not yet come of age, nor has he stood before the King."

"The King is dead," Enolive reminded him.

"The Regent then, but he must do so before he
can take command of the Guard."

"He commands now, unless a unanimous council
overrules him," Enolive exclaimed.

Niler's bushy eyebrows were nearly meeting
between his eyes from the intensity of his frown.

Enolive faced Gandarel again, his eyes so
intense they almost seemed to glow from within, "Tell them,
Gandarel, tell them to call forth the captains and sound the
attack!  It's time to defend the Seat of Stone."

Gandarel was confused, Enolive seemed right,
it was his duty now that his father was dead, but he remembered
what Mara had said.

"I must consider my options," Gandarel
finally said.

Niler nodded, "Good lad, never make a
decision in haste."

"But," Enolive added, "do not tarry too long,
or you may get no choice at all."

Gandarel remembered his promise to Mara to
return as soon as he could.  "I must go see my teacher,"
he informed them.

"Which teacher?" Niler asked.

Gandarel realized that he only considered
Mara his teacher at this point, the rest were just necessary
evils.  "I must go see Mara."

Enolive scowled, "Has this woman bewitched
you or something?  We are training you to be a strong
man, like your father; he would never have had to consult with an
old woman on matters of battle."

Gandarel fretted for a
moment
but then remembered his promise. "I swore
I would return to speak with her after seeing the council," he said
in explanation.

Niler pulled at his lower lip, "I
see.  Well, we cannot have you forsworn, but in the
future,
you had best be more
careful of where and to whom you give your word."

Enolive gave a snort of surprise, "You're
letting him go?"

Niler shrugged.  "We will send
councilmen with him this time, and Guardsmen.  It cannot
be helped.  Perhaps we should also question this woman
about why she is giving advice to Gandarel on how he should command
this council!"

Enolive nodded, "I agree."

Niler continued, "I have never been
completely satisfied with that woman's explanation of how she was
in the Seat, uninvited, in time to save Gandarel from the
Togroths.  There is something wrong with her
story.  We granted her request in gratitude, but now that
I think further on this, it is
time
for her to answer some questions."

The other councilmen nodded and muttered
agreements with Niler's suspicions.

"Come with me, Gandarel," Niler said, placing
a hand on his shoulder, "let's go and speak to this woman."

Gandarel sighed
.  Oh
well
, he thought, 
I did promise to return as soon
as I could, but I didn't promise I'd come alone.

Finding Lor and Dono was not as easy as Aerin
had expected.  Looking out over the east wall was not a
normal endeavor for his friends, so he had to start by reaching a
high place near the wall and then look for logical places where
they might go.  After searching for over two hours, Aerin
was about to give up and head back to search other parts of the
city and check to see if they had shown up at the Villa.  He
paused one more time and considered the rooftops before him and
likely places to perch.  His eyes fell on the actual
guard towers that were spaced along the outer wall.  One
of these had another building near; the gap was wide, but not
impossible to leap.  It would be daring and dangerous to
actually sit on the guard tower itself as an approaching army
arrived.  When applied to Lor’s personality, that thought
alone made Aerin think he might have found the
solution.  He started working his way in that
direction.

Gandarel arrived at the gate into Mara's
inner courtyard with a vast entourage.  The entire
council had come with him.
Hork
,
High Priest of the church of The Hand, had got wind of the
expedition and come along as well.  There were thirty
Guardsmen to protect the council, as well as fifteen battle priests
from The Hand. The battle priests were there ostensibly to help
protect Gandarel, but they
were
grouped
around Hork the entire trip.

 They had to hammer on the gate, four
separate
times
before someone
answered.  Katek opened the door a crack and saw Niler
standing before him and the rest of host behind.

"What do you want?" Katek asked.

Niler's chin rose slightly as he spoke in a
demanding tone, "Open this door!  The council has come to
speak with the woman of this house."

"I have orders not to let any strangers in,"
Katek
explained
and started to
close the door.

"Young man, we are not strangers, we are the
council!"

"I'll have to go ask," Katek replied,
unimpressed.  He had been a gladiator, and the local
council was nothing to him, just another group of officials.

Gandarel stepped forward so that Katek saw
him, "Tell Mara that I have returned, though the council decided to
come with me."

Katek nodded and closed the door.

"Do you always have this much trouble getting
in here, Gandarel?" Enolive asked him.

"No, but I don't usually come in through the
door," he answered.

"But, then..." Enolive looked around for
another entrance and saw none.

"I have another way in," Gandarel said,
evasively, he didn't want the council knowing about his dangerous
travels over the High Road.

Just when Niler was getting red enough in the
face to explode, the gate finally opened wide, exposing the
courtyard within.

The council poured in, flanked by the guards,
and then followed by Hork and his priests.

Mara met them in the center of the
courtyard.  She had Tocor and Yearl standing to either
side.  Tocor was dressed in his large robe with the hood
up, and Yearl stood dressed in his dark purple tunic and black
leather pants.

Katek closed the gates behind Gandarel’s
troop once they were all inside.

Gandarel noticed a sudden hardening of Mara's
eyes as she saw Hork and his battle priests at the back of the
group.  He knew that look and wondered what the final
outcome of this confrontation would be; he was just glad she wasn't
aiming that look at him.

"To what do I owe this sudden visit of the
austere council?" Mara asked, though her frank tone belied the
deference of her words.

There was a hiss of recognition from Hork as
he took in the Willowman standing to Mara's right.

"This is my house, and you are my
guests.  I will not tolerate any insults to my friends,"
Mara said in a hard voice, looking at Hork.

The fat priest stepped forward and angled the
knobby top of his cane at Yearl.  "Ye shall not suffer a
Willowman to live in the presence of humans."  He quoted
from the book of The Hand.

"I'm sorry, but that line has been
miss-translated over time, what it really said was, "Willowmen
seldom choose to live among humans," Mara answered.

"You blaspheme!"
Hork
stated, his face turning a nice shade of red in his
anger.

Mara didn't back down, "And you feed the
Dreadmaster with anger and fear."

"Enough!" Niler stated forcefully, "We are
not here about Willowmen; we are here to see if it is true that you
have put notions into this boy's head.  He has stated
that you told him what to demand of the council about the
deployment of the city’s defenses.  If this is true you
are skirting close to treason!"

Hork
was
barely containing
himself
and made
various gestures against evil in the direction of
Yearl.  His battle priests all had their hands on the
hilts of their weapons.

Mara did not answer Niler's accusation
instantly; she considered the situation for a moment and then
spoke.  "I had hoped that Gandarel would present these
suggestions as his own, but regardless of that, I stand by my
advice."

"Treason!"
Hork
nearly screamed.

Mara spared him a withering glance.

Niler was quieter, but no less grim, "This
may indeed be treason against the state."

Mara actually laughed.  "And how do
you come to this wild conclusion?  I think you might find
that if you look in your books of law, any citizen of this country
may petition the Warlord to state any suggestion they
want.  Now, the Warlord has to set a meeting, and
traditionally does this at specific times and while in the main
audience chamber."

"I am more familiar with the laws of this
state than you are, madam," Niler answered in disdain.

Mara merely raised an eyebrow, but let the
statement pass.

"What you said is true, but only when the
Warlord sits in state, with his council there to advise
him.  By subverting him in private you have committed
treason," Niler accused.  He raised a hand to have the
Guardsmen apprehend Mara, but her voice forestalled his
command.

"Book two, section five, paragraph three and
I quote: 'Any citizen may speak freely to the head of state without
fear of reprisals if the head of state has given them leave to
speak,' end quote.  Gandarel," Mara said, fixing her gaze on
her student, "have you agreed to accept me as your teacher and
given me leave to speak to you?"

"Of course, Mara," he answered.

"And in my capacity as a citizen, I have
spoken freely."

Niler ground his teeth
together
but nodded.  "Then I see no
further evidence of treason, at this time," he
added.  "However, we did not come here to arrest you, we
came for answers.  What purpose do you have in demanding
Gandarel's promise to return to this place during this
crisis?  He should be in the Seat of Stone, surrounded by
his council and his Guardsmen, instead of in danger wandering the
streets during this terrible time.  We are here so that
he does not break his word, a word that should not have been asked
or given.  What have you to say to that?"

"I say that his word is his own to
give.  I have my reasons for asking him to come."

"Which are?" Niler prompted, glancing around
at the obvious packing going on in the courtyard.

Mara's next statement was so wildly
unexpected that the council was momentarily stunned. "Gandarel must
leave the city, with me, before the siege begins."

Finally, Niler exploded, "What... this is
treason!"

Mara was exasperated, "Again, that word, I
think you should look it up before bandying it about
incorrectly.  I did not say I was abducting him, he would
have been coming under his own free will."