Elenes – mostly serfs.’ Then his eyes went wide with astonishment. That’s
totally impossible that’s only a myth!’
‘My colleague’s losing his grip,’ Oscagne told them. The queen says that
once they encountered the Shining Ones.’ who are they?’ Stragen asked.
‘Norkan’s right,’ Oscagne replied. ‘The Shining Ones are mythical
creatures. It’s another of those things I told you about back in Chyrellos.
Our enemy’s been sifting through folk-lore for horrors. The Shining Ones
are like vampires, werewolves and Ogres. Would your Majesty object if
Norkan and I pursued this and then gave you ‘a summary?’ he asked Ehlana.
‘Go right ahead, your Excellency,’ she agreed. ‘ The two Tamuls began to
speak more rapidly now, and Queen Betuana replied firmly. Sparhawk got the
distinct impression that she was far more intelligent and forceful than her
husband. Still holding Princess Danae in her lap, she answered the
questions incisively, and her eyes were very intent. ‘Our enemy seems to be
doing the same things here in Atan that he’s been doing elsewhere,’ Oscagne
told them finally, ‘and he’s been adding a few twists besides. The forces
from antiquity behave the same as your antique Lamorks did back in Eosia
and the way those Cyrgai and their Cynesgan allies did in the forest west
of Sarsos. They attack, there’s a fight, and then they vanish when their
leader gets killed. Only their dead remain. The Trolls don’t vanish. They
all have to be killed.’
‘What about these ‘Shining Ones’?’ Kalten asked. ‘There’s no way to be
sure about those,’ Oscagne replied. ‘The Atans flee from them.’
‘They what?’ Stragen’s voice was startled. ‘Everybody’s afraid of the
Shining Ones, Milord,’ Oscagne told him. ‘The stories about them make tales
of vampires and werewolves and Ogres sound like bedtime stories.’
‘Could you accept a slight amendment your Excellency?’ Ulath asked mildly.
‘I don’t want to alarm you, but Ogres are real. We see them all the time in
Thalesia.’
‘You’re joking, Sir Ulath.’
‘No, not really.’ Ulath took off his horned helmet. ‘These are Ogre-horn,’
he said tapping the curved appurtenances on his headgear. ‘Maybe what you
have in Thalesia’s just a creature you call an Ogre,’ Oscagne said
dubiously. ‘Twelve feet tall? Horns? Fangs? Claws for fingers? That’s an
Ogre, isn’t it?’
‘Well ‘-‘
‘That’s what we’ve got in Thalesia. If they aren’t Ogres, we’ll settle for
them until you can find us some real ones.’ Oscagne stared at him. ‘They
aren’t all that bad, your Excellency. The Trolls give us more trouble probably
because they’re meat eaters. Ogres eat anything. Actually, they
prefer trees for dinner over people. They’re particularly fond of maple
trees for some reason – probably because they’re sweet. A hungry Ogre will
kick his way right through your house to’get at a maple tree you’ve got
growing in your backyard.’
‘is he actually serious?’ Oscagne appealed to the others. Ulath sometimes
had that effect on people. Tynian reached over and rapped the Ogre-horn on
Ulath’s helmet with his knuckles. ‘These feel fairly serious to me, your
Excellency,’ he said. ‘And that raises some other questions. If Ogres are
real, we might want to re-think our positions on vampires, werewolves and
these Shining Ones as well. Under the circumstances, we might consider
discarding the word ‘impossible’ for the time being.’
‘But you are, Mirtai’ Princess Danae insisted. ‘It’s a different kind of
thing, Danae,’ the Atana told her. ‘It’s symbolic in my case.’
‘Everything’s symbolic Mirtai,’ Danae told her. ‘Everything we do means
something else. There are symbols all around us. No matter how you want to
look at it, though, we have the same mother, and that makes us sisters.’ It
seemed very important to her for some reason. Sparhawk was sitting with
Sephrenia in the corner of a large room of King Androl’s house.. His
daughter was busy asserting her kinship with Mirtai as Baroness Melidere
and Ehlana’s maid looked on. Mirtai smiled gently. ‘All right, Danae,’ she
gaVe in, if you want to think so, we’re sisters.’ Danae gave a little
squeal of delight, jumped into Mirtai’s arms and smothered her with kisses.
‘isn’t she a little darling?’ Baroness Melidere laughed. ‘Yes, Baroness,’
Alcan murmured. Then a small frown creased the girl’s brow. ‘I’ll never
understand that,’ she said. ‘No matter how closely I watch her, she always
manages to get her feet dirty.’ She pointed at Danae’s grass-stained feet.
‘Sometimes I almost think she’s got a boxful of grass hidden among her
toys, and she shuffles her feet in it when my back’s turned just to torment
me.’ Melidere smiled. ‘She just likes to run barefoot, Alcan,’ she said.
‘Don’t you ever want to take off your shoes and run through the grass?’
Alcan sighed. ‘i’m in service, Baroness,’ she replied. ‘i’m not supposed to
give in to that sort of whim.’
‘You’re so very proper, Alcan,’ the honey-eyed Baroness said. ‘if a girl
doesn’t give in to her whims now and then, she’ll never have any fun.’
‘i’m not here to have fun, Baroness. I’m here to serve. My first employer
made that very clear to me.’ She crossed the room to the two ‘sisters’ and
touched Danae’s shoulder. ‘Time for your bath, Princess,’ she said. ‘Do I
haVe tO?’
Yes. ‘It’s such a bother. I’ll just get dirty again, you know.’
‘We’re supposed to make an effort to stay ahead’ of it, your Highness.’
‘Do as she tells you, Danae,’ Mirtai said. ‘Yes, sister dear,’ Danae
sighed. ‘That was an interesting exchange, wasn’t it?’ Sparhawk murmured to
Sephrenia. ‘Yes,’ the small woman agreed. ‘Has she been letting things slip
that way very often?’
‘I didn’t quite follow that.’
‘She’s not really supposed to talk about symbols the way she just did when
she’s around pagans. ‘I wish you wouldn’t use that word to describe us,
Sephrenia.’
‘Well, aren’t you?’
‘It sort of depends on your perspective. What’s so important about symbols
that she’s supposed to hide them?’
‘It’s not the symbols themselves Sparhawk. It’s what talking about them
that way reveals.’
‘Oh? What’s that?’
‘The fact that she doesn’t look at the world or think about it in the same
way we do. There are meanings in the world for her that we can’t even begin
to comprehend.’
‘I’ll take your word for it. Are you and Mirtai sisters now, too? I mean,
if she’s Danae’s sister and you are too wouldn’t you almost have to be?’
‘All women are sisters, Sparhawk.’
‘That’s a generalisation, Sephrenia.’
‘How perceptive of you to have noticed.’ Vanion entered the room. ‘Where’s
Ehlana?’ he asked. ‘She and Betuana are conferring,’ Sparhawk replied.
‘Who’s translating for them?’
‘One of Engessa’s girls From Darsas. What did you want to talk with her
about?’
‘I think we’ll be leaving tomorrow. Engessa Oscagne -‘.) ) and I talked
with King Androl. Oscagne feels that we ‘)”.) )should press on to
Matherion. He doesn’t want to keep ‘;’).’-‘ the emperor waiting. Engessa’s
sending his legions back to Darsas he’ll be going on with us, largely
because he ”))’)’)’ speaks Elenic better than most Atans.’ That doesn’t
disappoint me.’ Mirtai said. ‘He’s my father now and we really ought to get
to know each other better. ‘
‘you’re enjoying this, aren’t you, Vanion?’ Sephrenia said it
half-accusingly. ‘I’ve missed it,’ he admitted. ‘I’ve been at the centre of
things for most of my life. I don’t think I was meant to sit on the back
shelf.’
‘Weren’t you happy when there were just the two of US?’
”Of course I was. I’d have been perfectly content to spend the rest of my
life alone with you, but we’re not alone any more. The world’s intruding
upon us, Sephrenia, and we both have responsibilities. We still have time
for each other, though.’
‘Are you sure, Vanion?’
‘I’ll make sure, love.’
‘Would you two like to be alone?’ Mirtai asked them with an arch little
smile. ‘Later perhaps,’ Sephrenia replied quite calmly.
‘Won’t we be a little under-manned without Engessa’s Atans?’ Sparhawk
asked. ‘King Androl’s making arrangements,’ Vanion said.
‘Don’t worry, Sparhawk. Your wife’s almost as important to the rest of us
as she is to you. We’re not going to let anything happen to her.’
‘We can discount the possibility of exaggeration,’ Sephrenia said. ‘The
Atan character makes that very unlikely. ‘
‘I’ll agree there,’ Sparhawk concurred. ‘They’re warriors, and they’re
trained to give precise reports.’ Vanion and Zalasta nodded. It was
evening, and the four of them were walking together outside the city in
order to discuss the situation apart from Norkan and Oscagne. It was not
that they distrusted the two Tamuls. It was just that they wanted to be
able to speak freely about certain things which Tamuls were cullturally
unprepared to accept. ‘Our opponent is quite obviously a God,’ Zalasta said
firmly. ‘He says it so casually,’ Vanion noted. ‘Are you so accustomed to
confronting Gods that you’re becoming blase about it, Zalasta?’ Zalasta
smiled. ‘Just defining the problem, Lord Vanion. The resurrection of whole