Page 61 of Valdemar

:A fact that is sad, but true,:Restil acknowledged. :We would dig up the land that a burrow or nest was in. Pebble can move it wholesale.:

“And re-shaping the landscape to suit us,” Isla said. “Cover for archers. Even better cover for mages. Perhaps some rock towers with a simple battlement for both to hide behind. Channeling traps; I remember we used them a few times on our journey when hunting game. I’d very much like him to give us every advantage that he can.”

“Well, as Pebble has grown up in age and size, he’s grown up in understanding. I believe that if someone can explain anything in a way he can understand it, he can and will create it.” Kordas pulled on his beard a little. He stopped for a moment, got that increasingly familiar look that meant Ardatha was talking to him, and nodded. “Ardatha agrees. And Celamir can probably explain things very clearly to him. This would be a good time of year to do this kind of thing; he might leave the earth bare where he sculpts it, but with some seeds, cuttings, and mage-work to accelerate the growth, it will look like the ground cover has been growing there for years.”

“And with our exploration party figuring out the line of march, we won’t chance putting our traps in the wrong place.” The Lord Martial rubbed his hands together in great satisfaction.

Kordas looked up and down the table. “Now . . . can anyone think of anything we could do to buy us more time? The longer we have before the Adept moves on us, the more preparations we can get in place.”

“Armies need food,” said the Exchequer, tentatively. “Is there any way our mages can create a crop failure?”

Both Kordas and Restil shook their heads emphatically. Kordas deferred to Restil, which gave him a little bit of a thrill. “Aside from the ethics of it—it would most harm those who aren’t the target—things like that don’t stay in one place,” he pointed out. “Whether it’s insects or a disease, it will spread beyond their food crops and eventually reach ours. While we probably could get something like the green beetles or nimworms to decimate their crops by creating a way to attract them there, that will also feed the pests, which will multiply, and the next place they’ll look for food is Valdemar.”

Everyone around the table made some sort of unhappy face. Everyone remembered all the pest plagues. No one wanted to repeat them.

His mother blinked, as if something had occurred to her. “Herald Palonia is a weather mage! She could likely engineer a very large thunderstorm with hail. And if she is careful about it, she can keep it raining right on into fall. Not only will that ruin the crops, no one wants to slog through mud with an army, even a small one.”

But Kordas shook his head. “We’re dealing with an Adept. She can disperse anything Palonia can produce over her own territory. If the Adept is able to tell that we sent that bad weather, and she probably can, that might accelerate her plans to attack us. Let’s save storms and hail for our defenses. I very much doubt this Adept is going to leave her city. As we all know, mages in general like their creature comforts, and are loath to leave them.”

“Hey!”Ponu and Wis objected together. They looked at each other. “Well,” Wis admitted. “That’s fair. But we’re also individuals, and for all we know, she’s a bloodthirsty creature who wants to see a slaughter at first hand.”

Kordas drummed his fingers on the table. “The problem here is that we know almost nothing about her. The Hawkbrothers undoubtedly know more of her than we do, but they haven’t contacted us yet.” He pointed at Ponu and Wis. “You mages see what you can learn about her and the army she is creating without her discovering you. I want that lack of discovery to be a higher priority than information gathering; when in doubt, stop watching. Unfortunately all our agents learned was that she’s an Adept, she wants Valdemar gone—or perhaps subjugated—and she is building a conventional army. Not much else, although to be fair, they were concentrating their attention on our defectors, not the Adept.”

The debate went around and around for some time without anyone coming up with any more solid ideas. They all adjourned for the day, with the Lord Martial and Hakkon going off to find the Fairweathers.

The three royals left together. “Let’s check the royal library before we get dinner,” Isla suggested. “If Jon is up there, we’ll probably have to drag him away.”

The room designated as the “royal library” was a pretty massive one, and some people had grumbled about “all that space wasted on books,” when they were unhappy about their own Palace quarters. It was a very good thing that those people seemed to have managed to get their own manor houses built relatively quickly, and had moved out, to mutual satisfaction.

Fortunately, although the books were not in any kind of order, they were all on shelves, and no longer in tottering piles on the floor. Jon was indeed in there, and absorbed in doing something at one of the shelves, while referring to freshlywritten notes. It was a very plain room; the walls were of the creamy “stone” that the Mother created, the floor and ceiling the same. Eventually, Restil knew, there were plans to make floors, walls and ceiling paneled in wood, but for now, it was more than serviceable. No open flames were ever allowed in here, so the place was lit by mage-lights.

Jon looked up when he heard footsteps—they’d have had to sneak not to make any noise, given the stone floors. “Have you made a plan for tackling all of this?” Isla asked.

“I’m organizing each shelf in alphabetical order by title,” Jon said. “Then I’ll start moving the books in the whole room so that they are in alphabetical order across the room rather than across individual shelves. Should I organize further by category?”

“Maybe, if you keep things to just a few categories. Magic, history, geography, tales, and poetry, perhaps?” Isla suggested. “I don’t think we have very much on maths in our personal library . . .” She winked at her husband. “If we did, I am sure I would have noticed Kordas using them to put you lot to sleep while you were younger. Organizing the materials in those few categories would be enough for someone to know exactly what shelves to go to in order to find something. However, right now, you need to find some dinner, and so do we.”

Restil could not help but notice that Jon looked considerably better. He thought about asking about Sable and her kittens, but then . . . let’s not remind him of Sydney.

“Maths aren’t boring,” Jon replied, and rubbed the back of his neck. “I am awfully hungry. And . . . I think my eyes are tired.”

“Then Darshay and Ardatha want you to come out to the field after dinner and see if the Companions can talk to you, Chronicler Jon Valdemar,” Restil said, putting emphasis on Jon’s new appointment.

Jon lit up. It was all he could talk about through dinner; he all but inhaled his food and very nearly ran out the door, dodging around latecomers to the meal. Restil already knew that Darshay and Ardatha would be waiting for him right at the fence—

And that was when he realized that the bond went both ways. Good heavens. I’m in her mind as much as she’s in mine! This is astonishing! He knew exactly where she was and what she was doing, and if he just opened his mind a little more—

He watched Jon running across the bridge through Darshay’s eyes, face shining with amazement. “I can hear you, Ardatha!” he shouted as he ran. “I can hear you!”

Restil looked over to his father and mother, and saw that both of them were smiling. “Well,” Isla said. “That’s certainly sorted. Our son, the first Chronicler of the Heralds.”

• • •

The little expedition to and past the northern border went out the next day. As the Seneschal, Hakkon already had a deployment plan written up. The band found themselves with aides and runners gathering and packing everything they’d need for a fortnight’s foray, polished and weather-protected. The staff utilized a staging room near the stable supplemented by folding tables outside, directed by a quartermaster and clerk. It was distinctly similar to how the hertasi worked, and no wonder. Valdemarans were pretty smart in general, and were wise enough to adopt superior methodology when they could—in fact, they even had shortcut tunnels as part of their newest architecture. This was a rehearsed task for the staff by now, and the rehearsals had become a kind of sport. For the past five years, each biannual drill had featured more difficult, quirky, and puzzling elements than the last. There were even spectators! Most of the senior participants had learned improved methods from the endlessly resourceful lizards, like priority packing, tag-based duty boards, and more in the settling days before the Tayledras and hertasi departed.

Hakkon and Ivar led the band. Herald Menalus went with them as far as the border, with Laramir as their guide. The Fairweathers were serving as guards, although everyone hoped that they wouldn’t need to do much other than hunt game for meals. Although these lands had been cleansed by the Hawkbrothers, in no way did that mean they were safe—it only meant the dangers there would not be warped into chaotic monsters. There were still plenty of nasty surprises out there, and a giant boar could do as much damage as an ambush by humans or a mage could. Kordas was more than a bit surprised that they managed to get themselves organized so quickly—

But then again, it’s Ivar and Hakkon. They’re experienced at this. They both probably keep expedition packs at the ready at all times.As for the Fairweathers, he knew from experience that they were always prepared for almost anything. He found them inspiring in that way; they had a family tradition of raising children in constant lessons, honing skills for resourcefulness, resulting in the most clever family he’d ever met. They taught how to evaluate problems, to solve for the best-informed answers.