Salamander (29 page)

Lord Bertil nodded. “Yes, Your Grace. I hope needlessly.”

Morgen nodded agreement, turned to the Prince. “They will send someone to tell me who they are and what they are doing here; I will arrange to speak with him just inside the gate. They may not know of Your Highness’s presence; from the second story of the gatehouse you will be able to hear without being seen.” The Prince nodded agreement.

Earl Eirick’s force stopped a little out of bowshot from the walls; from there a single horseman rode to the front gate, where he was met by the Castellan and led in on foot.

“My Lord Eirick has word of a Forsting threat from over the pass. Considering how small your garrison is this time of year, he thought it prudent to offer your lordship reinforcements. Since he did not know what would be required, he brought all the force he could. If the threat is not urgent, he proposes to station as much of his levy as you require in the keep, return home with the rest, and be prepared to come back if necessary.”

Bertil thought a moment before responding. “I am grateful to His Lordship for his assistance, but I do not think we can provide accommodations within the wall for his forces. He himself, of course, I will be happy to guest, since I would like to combine his information with ours.”

The messenger looked around the almost empty courtyard with a puzzled expression. “I see room enough for a considerable force. We can, of course, camp for a little while outside the walls, but if the invasion is imminent that could be risky.”

Bertil smiled. “There is room enough, but we are holding it for royal forces expected to arrive imminently to reinforce the garrison. If His Lordship wishes, he could make camp between us and the pass; as you will see, there is no shortage of fresh water there just now. With sentinels in the pass, there should be no difficulty falling back on the keep if there is need.”

The messenger, still looking less than satisfied, bowed to the Castellan. “I will bring your message and invitation to my Lord.”

The Prince waited until the messenger had gone to join the other two.

It was less than half an hour before a guard came down from over the gate to tell them that a party was approaching from Eirick's force. As it drew near, they could see that it was led by a young man in Eirick's livery, accompanied by four others. They stopped in front of the open gate, where Lord Bertil was waiting.

Two of the four unfurled banners; the other two raised trumpets, sounded them. As the echoes died away their leader stepped forward, spoke in a loud voice: "On behalf of my Lord Earl Eirick and his lord Prince Iolen, rightful claimant to the throne of Esland, I demand that this castle be yielded up, to be held for His Highness by those loyal to him!"

Bertil stepped forward, replied in a voice even louder: "And on behalf of my lord His Majesty Petrus, rightful king of this land, I name Earl Eirick traitor, faithless, foresworn of his oaths to his king. This castle I hold from the King's hand, and it I will defend with all my strength against my kingdom's foes and the traitors who ally with them!"

There was a brief pause, then the trumpets cried out again. As silence returned, the Earl's herald spoke: "Then, in the names of Earl Eirick, Earl Frederik, and their liege lord Prince Iolen I summon Northpass Keep to siege."

He hesitated a moment, as if waiting a reply. Bertil spoke softly to the guard beside him, stepped back. The gate swung shut.

Ellen, watching from the ramparts, turned to Mari. "You recognized him?"

Mari nodded. "Anders makes a good herald. I hope it doesn't end up costing him his head."

Less than an hour later, Coelus and Ellen met with the Prince at his invitation in a room in the keep. He offered them seats, himself remained standing.

"I need your help. I make no threats; the last thing we need at the moment is conflict among ourselves. I ask only that you hear me out before you make your decision.

He hesitated, continued: "As matters stand now, it is very nearly certain that this keep will fall. The winter garrison is small and Fredrik's treachery has left us with only a handful of mages. The forces of the Earls we could probably withstand, but in another day or two there will be a Forsting army besieging us, with siege engines and ten or twenty times our number of mages. A Forsting army allied with the marcher earls will advance into the kingdom, probably driving for the capital. We may hope that one of our messengers got through; if so His Majesty will at least be warned. Whether he will be able to defeat the invaders I do not know; we will not.

"I see one way, and only one, of saving the Keep, stopping the invasion, ending the rising of the northern lords. As Lady Ellen said, interfering with the magery that is melting clear the pass requires more power than any one mage possesses. We know, you most certainly know, a way of getting such power.

Coelus shook his head; the Prince continued. "I understand your arguments against letting the Cascade become known, and on the whole I agree with them; it might be better if the spell had never been invented. I can see how you might truly believe making the spell known to be too high a price even to save the kingdom from the horrors of an invasion. But that is not the choice you face.

"I know how to do the Cascade, although not without risk. Lord Iolen knows how, or knows enough to learn it. Both of you know. Your secret is out, and it cannot be put back in the box.

"I want you to help me implement the Cascade, use it to destroy the workings of the Forsting mages and as many of the mages themselves as we can. If you refuse, the Keep falls. Any of the three of us that survive its fall will be captives.

"Magister Coelus once spoke to me of the limits of magery to extract information without destroying the mage one used it against. It had not occurred to him that the combination of torture with truth telling, a simple magery familiar to our enemies as to us, provides a means of extracting information from a prisoner with no injury to his mind, only his body.
You may believe, with some justice, that the means I have been willing to use to obtain information from you were less scrupulous than they ought to have been, but I can assure you that our enemies are far less restrained. If we are taken prisoner, they will learn, by one means or another, all we know. And that most certainly includes the Cascade.

Ellen looked up, face set, started to speak; the Prince gestured her to silence.

"We might try not to be taken alive, though all plans are hazardous in the chaos of battle. But this still would preserve your secret for only a short while. His Majesty knows much; the Learned Hewry, now safe in the capital, knows, at least believes he knows, how to accomplish it. Magister Coelus described to the Learned Gervase the precautions he intended to take when next he implemented the spell, information Gervase passed on to Hewry, who made use of it and all else he could learn. If the kingdom is threatened I have no doubt that my brother will use every weapon he can, that included.

"And there is Lord Iolen. If the invasion succeeds, he will be king, and will no doubt take the opportunity to complete his knowledge of the spell. If it succeeds only in breaking free the Northern Marches under Iolen's rule, he still will have all the resources needed for that project, and reason to use them. I see no future that leaves your secret secure.

"Among the remnant of the Keep's mages there are, by great good fortune, one each of earth and water. With them, the two of you for fire and air, and myself at focus, we have what we require to implement the schema. With the knowledge you possess we can do it safely, at least more safely than I could have without that knowledge. I could promise that if you help me in this I will not use the spell again, but if I did you would not, should not, believe me. No promise will bind if the need is great enough. I can say truthfully that I think the secret is less likely to get out into the world if you aid me than if you do not, but on that you will have to trust to your own judgment.

"I ask no answer now; you will wish to consider the matter. I go to take council with His Grace and the Castellan as to the defense of the Keep; when you have made your decision, tell me."

The Prince bowed to Ellen and Coelus, turned, and left the room.

* * *

Kieron glanced over the top sheet of paper, covered with neatly written instructions for his part in the schema, at Magister Coelus.

"This is it?"

The mage nodded.

"Instructions for all five of us. I believe I know what happened last time and have taken precautions; I cannot guarantee that nothing will go wrong, but I am fairly sure that particular thing will not go wrong. Before we start I should tell you what I believe will happen, and we should discuss what you will be doing with the pooled power."

Prince Kieron nodded agreement, waited.

"The first stage is creating the pool; this room should be big enough. I brought chalk to mark our positions. The three of you should go over the instructions several times in advance and keep them before you as the schema starts. Once the pool is formed, the second stage is in Your Highness's hands; it starts below the red line halfway down the sheet.

"As the Cascade spreads, it uses the power from each new mage pulled into the pool to pull in the next. While it is spreading there will be little power available to you to use. Since this time we are not working within a protective sphere, there is no external limit, or none I know of, to how far it can spread. I have accordingly designed a limit into the schema itself. When the Cascade has reached a radius of about thirty to forty miles, if our calculations are correct, it should stop spreading.

"The pool will then contain the power drawn from the last cohort of mages pulled in, which ought to be considerable. Instead of being spent pulling in more mages, it will be available for your use, as focus. You will have to be careful; power is peril, and you will be using more power than any of us has ever had to draw on before.

"In addition to what is in the pool, there should be a gradual inflow from all the mages that have been pulled into the pool, as their own pools of magery slowly refill. With luck you will not need that. The longer you hold the focus, the greater the danger to you. My advice would be to do whatever you think needful to end our current peril as quickly as possible and then release. Releasing should be easy, but I have additional instructions at the bottom of the sheet just in case."

Prince Kieron waited to be sure Coelus had finished, turned to Ellen. "Do you have any advice to add, lady?"

She shook her head. "It's all on the sheets, and what Coelus just said."

"Then, while the two of you lay out the pattern, I will consider what I can do with the power you are providing me. Am I right in understanding that I will have not only power but a mix of talents under my control, a mix spanning all of magery?"

Coelus nodded. "Yes. You start with a complete basis star here, and of course the magery pulled in will be of all sorts. But you will still be limited by your own knowledge; if you intend to do things that are more than your accustomed uses of magery, you had best plan out the spells with the same care you would use for any new spell."

"That had occurred to me. There are only three things I intend to do with the power, and I think I know how to do them all. The only difficult one is canceling the Forstings' static spells. I will have to work out the details of that when I see their precise nature. Either of you could do it better, I expect, but as I am neither air nor fire I cannot replace either of you in the star."

Outside the room Mari was waiting. There was no one else in the corridor. The Prince took her hand, drew her away from the door, spoke softly. "Coelus and your friend Ellen have agreed to help me with a spell that should, if all goes well, end what the Forstings are doing; we will be starting shortly."

He stopped a moment, looking down at her.

"Coelus has done the spell once before; it killed the mage controlling it. He believes he knows what went wrong and that he has altered the spell so that it will not happen again. I am willing to stake my life that he is right, there being no better gambles available. If I lose, there is nothing I will regret so much …"

He stopped speaking, unable to continue. Mari put both arms around him, hugged him tightly.

"You will do what must be done. If Coelus and Ellen think it is safe, it is probably safe. If not … "

"If not, you will take care of Kir for me?"

She nodded, said nothing, held him tighter.

* * *

Kieron reviewed the sheet of paper a last time, closed his eyes, and watched the web grow; in a moment it was a star traced in the colors of the four elements, himself at the center. He raised his hand, spoke the final Word, and felt it roll through him, then lifted his hand. Three bright lines, each in mixed colors. By their direction they were pulling the mages in the north tower into the Cascade. More lines from other directions in the castle. Two were brilliant red, brighter than the others—not from the castle then. The earls must have brought fire mages in their company. Magery poured through him into the pool, out again into the world, a thick cluster of lines pointing at the pass, the Forsting mages.

He felt a surge of relief as the web ceased its growth; it felt to him that he was already full of more magic than he could possibly contain. No new lines, but something was still happening. His hand was pouring out what seemed, to his perception, a cloud of soap bubbles.
For a moment he remembered Kir, the bellows-powered bubble machine someone had given him, and the resulting mess. What he saw accorded with nothing in the descriptions he had heard of earlier experiments. But they had ended sooner than this, and the schema had been changed. When it was done he would ask Coelus. For now there were more urgent matters to deal with.