General Halbren well enough to know that I could leave the
refinements up to him, so we moved on from there. ‘I’m sure that at least
some units of the Wacite army managed to escape the bonfire at Vo
Wacune,’ I said. ‘Tell Halbren to give making contact with those
people the highest priority.’
‘T’ swell our own ranks, me Lady?’ Malon suggested.
‘No. If we do things right, we won’t need more men. What we
do need is information about
Asturian troop movements. MY
generals have to know exactly where the Asturians are massing to come
across the River Camaar so that we can be ready to meet them. The
Wacites hiding out in the woods down there will be our eyes. Have
General Halbren impress the idea on those survivors that passing
information on to us is far more important than randomly
murdering any Asturians they come across.’
,Spyin’ ain’t considered t’ be th’ most honorable o’ professions,
me lady,’ Malon reminded me.
‘We’ll make it honorable, Malon. Tell Halbren to wave the word
“patriot” in front of the surviving Wacites. We have to make them
understand the notion that it’s a Wacite’s patriotic duty not to get
killed with even the tiniest bit of useful information still locked up
in his mind.’
‘That’s always assumin’ that there be any Wacites left down there,’
Malon said. ‘There’s bin a steady stream o’ people comin’ across
the River Camaar, don’t y’ know.’
‘We’ll have to make arrangements for them, I think. After we take
Muros, we’ll set up camps for them and provide food.’
‘Tis a kindly, charitable person y’ are, me Lady.’
‘Kindness has nothing to do with it, Malon. I want the Wacites
who choose to remain down there to know that their wives and
children are safe and well cared for up here. That should encourage
them to spy for us just as hard as they possibly can. Now, then,
let’s have a look at the defenses of our coasts.’
By evening, we’d sketched out the preparations for the inevitable
war lurking just over the horizon, and then I turned to something
that definitely needed attention. ‘Now then, Malon, you and I are
going to have to be able to communicate, and we won’t have time
to wait around for messengers on horseback to run back and forth
between here and where I’m currently living.’
‘An’ where might that be, yer Grace?’
‘My father and I aren’t speaking right now. He was taking me
back to his tower in the Vale of Aldur, but I took up residence in
mY mother’s old house at the northern end of the Vale instead. He’s
the nosey type, so I’m sure he’ll try to keep an eye on me. I don’t
want to give him any excuses to come here to start snooping around,
So I’ll have to stay fairly close to mother’s cottage. You’re going to
have to pass my orders on to General Halbren.’ I gave him a direct
look. ‘You know who I am, don’t you, Malon?’
‘Of course, yer Grace. Yer th’ Duchess o’ Erat.’
Let’s go back beyond that. Who was I before I became the
Duchess?,
‘I’m told Y’ was Polgara th’ Sorceress.’
.’I still am, Malon. It’s not something you can get rid of. I can do
things that other people can’t. You know that little room at the top
of the northwest tower?’
‘Y’ mean th’ little place where th’ upstairs maids bin keepin’ their
brooms an’ mops?’
‘Is that what they’re doing with it now? That wasn’t what your
great uncle and I had in mind for it when we built the house.
Anyway, I’ve cast a spell on that room. Killane and I used to use it
when we needed to talk with each other when I was away. He’d
go up there when he needed to tell me something, and I could
hear him when he said something to me – no matter where I really
was.’
‘What a marvel!’
‘It’s fairly commonplace in my family. Why don’t you go up there
right now? Let’s find out if it still works.’
‘If that’s what y’ll after be wantin’, yer Grace.’ He rose to his feet
and left, his expression dubious.
Notice that I’d hurried through the explanation and decorated it
with a few out and out lies. There wasn’t anything special about
that room, but I wanted Malon to believe that there was.
I think my father explained to Garion one time that what we call
“talent” in our family is latent in all humans, and as long as someone
has reason to believe that something’s going to happen, it probably
will. If Malon was convinced that the broom closet at the top of the
tower was a magic place, my plan would work.
I gave him several minutes to get up there, and then I sent my
thought out to him. ‘Malon Killaneson, can you hear me?’
‘As clearas tfy’were standin’right beside me, yer Grace,’he exclaimed,
his voice distorted.
‘Don’t talk, Malon. Put what you want to say in your thoughts instead.
Form the words in your mind, not your mouth.’
‘What a wonder!’ His thought was much clearer than his voice had
been.
‘Give me a moment to brush the cobwebs off the spell, Malon,’ I said.
‘I haven’t used the place in centuries.’ I’ve noticed that little touches
of housekeeping tend to reinforce belief. ‘There,’ I said after a minute
or so, ‘is that better?’
‘Much better, me Lady.’ Actually, there was no real difference
We tried for some distance after that, and we continued the little
game until well after midnight, and by then the whole thing Was
firmly locked in Malon’s mind. Then we returned to the library. ‘I’d
probably be getting back now,’ I told him. ‘Father’s almost certain
to come nosing about soon. He’s got me pinned down, so you’re
going to have to convey my orders to General Halbren. I’ll give you
a written authorization to speak for me, and that should head off
any arguments. You and I are going to have to stay in close contact,
so I want you to go up to that tower room every day at sunset so
that we can talk. You’ll have to let me know what’s going on and
advise me about things that need my attention. I’ll tell you how to
deal with anything that comes up.’
‘Isn’t it th’ clever one y’ are, me Lady? Y’ve come up w’ a way t’
be in two places at once.’
‘Well, not quite. It’s a cumbersome way to do business, but we
haven’t got much choice. Once we’re firmly in control of Muros,
we’ll have Halbren set up headquarters in some building there and
I’ll cast a spell on one of the rooms so that you and I’ll be able to
communicate there as well as here. That way you won’t have to
spend all your time on horseback carrying messages. Warn Halbren
that when he occupies Muros there’s to be no looting and no
atrocities. The people in Muros aren’t our enemies.’
‘I’ll see t’ it, me Lady. Y’ kin count on me.’
I wrote him an official-sounding authorization, and then I went
out into the garden and put on feathers again. As it turned out, I
got back to mother’s cottage just in time. Even as I flew in, I saw
father crawling through the tall grass toward the ruin. There was
barely time to resume my own form, but just at the last instant, I
veered off. An idea had just come to me, an idea that might prove
useful later on. I settled into a solitary tree several hundred yards
from the cottage and blurred from a falcon to a snowy owl. I knew
that the form upset my father in the first place, but I also knew that
his seeing me in that form might explain occasional absences. He’d
assume that I was out hunting or something. I gave him about a
quarter of an hour to start getting nervous, and then I flew in,
resumed my own form, and made some show of moping about for
the rest of the day.
My invasion of Muros was a quiet one. My army, dressed in
nondescript clothing, slipped into town in twos and threes, mingling
With the steady stream of refugees out of Wacune. We didn’t want
to announce their presence to the Asturians until the city was
comPletely in our control. The brisk commands Malon had carried to
MY generals had given them a sense of purpose, and that raised the
sPirits of the army as a whole. Moreover, the improved morale of
the army seemed to be contagious. The ordinary citizens began to
realize that the world hadn’t come to an end with the fall of Vo
Wacune, and that just maybe the Asturians weren’t invincible. I
concentrated on Muros because it would be Garteon’s obvious first