“No?” Elega was surprised. “I would have sworn you were watching everything I did for days afterward.”
“Where did you go?” Geraden put in. Like Terisa, he appeared to have some special reason to be pleased by Myste’s presence. Perhaps it was because he loved families. Not for the first time, Elega noticed that he had changed enormously. The sense of ability in him was unmistakable. In retrospect, she was ashamed that she had ever treated him with scorn.
Myste glanced a bit awkwardly at her father. “Elega told me what I needed to know,” she said slowly. “When I heard the High King was marching, not to Orison, but into the Care of Tor, I felt that my way became clear. Darsint and I went to help the Perdon, if we could.”
The Perdon, who fought a suicidal battle against the forces of Cadwal because his King had abandoned him.
“ ‘I have always believed that problems should be solved by those who see them,’ ” Terisa said, quoting softly. Her eyes shone as if she, too, were proud of Myste.
King Joyse didn’t react to the implications of what Myste and Terisa said, however. He only smiled at them, and at Elega, basking in their company. “That was well done, Myste,” he murmured. “Go on.”
His attitude relieved Myste. “There is little to tell, really,” she said more easily. “We traveled as best we could, but the High King’s army was between us and the Perdon. We were saving Darsint’s fire, since we knew it would soon be depleted, so instead of attacking High King Festten from the rear we attempted to pass around him to the fore. By the time we succeeded, the Perdon had already been trapped and killed.
“That was a hard time for us. Seeing my distress” – her eyes were wide with fondness – “Darsint wanted to assail the Cadwals, to hurt them as much as he could alone.” Darsint nodded. “But I felt certain that his force must not be wasted, and I required him to withhold. Together, we waited and watched, gathering as much knowledge of the High King’s movements as we could without betraying our presence.
“When your army came, we were once again on the wrong side, unable to reach you directly. This time, however, our position was fortuitous. Circling the High King’s forces, first to the south, then to the west, we encountered the Termigan and his men.
“Without him, we would not have been able to join you, except by a ruinous expenditure of Darsint’s fire.”
Geraden interrupted again. “Did he explain himself? When Terisa and I asked him to come, he refused.” He looked to Terisa for confirmation. “He was pretty convincing about it.”
Myste shook her head. “He told us only what he has already suggested to you. He held to Sternwall as long as he could, but at last the pits of fire in the ground left him nothing of his father’s Seat. With what fighting men he could spare from the care of his people, he set out across-country to Esmerel, intending” – she faltered momentarily, then resumed in a quiet, sad tone – “intending, I think, to both use and end his hate in one swift blow against Master Eremis.
“I cannot truly vouch for the state of his mind,” she added. “I can only say that he was not easily persuaded to join us, to join his purpose to ours.”
“I’ve seen that look before,” Darsint muttered. “Had his death all planned – until he met us. Now, who knows?” The champion may have shrugged inside his armor.
“It was not Darsint’s presence that persuaded him,” Myste continued. “He is savage against all Imagery. And I do not think he was moved by the knowledge that you were here.” She faced her father frankly. “He is another lord who believes he was abandoned by his King. But for some reason your alliance with Alend changed him. He finds – Father, I must say this. I fear he finds his old enemies easier to trust.”
A shadow passed across the King’s face. “Who can blame him?”
Awkwardly, Myste finished her story. “Once he was persuaded, however, he did not hold back. Since then, we have spent our time searching for a way past the Cadwals which would spare Darsint’s fire. Without the Termigan’s aid, we could not have reached you as we did.”
As she spoke, King Joyse’s expression cleared. “That is well,” he said when she was done. “If we are defeated, my lord Termigan will be able to do whatever he wishes with his hate. And if we are victorious, he will know that we could not have won without him. That may do much to heal him.
“In the meantime, daughter, you have brought us new hope. Did you know that your meeting with Darsint was augured?”
Elega looked at King Joyse sharply. Augured?
Both Terisa and Geraden were grinning.
“Havelock cast an augury,” Joyse explained, “in which you appeared, on your knees before Darsint as if you were begging him not to kill you.”
Darsint shifted his weight uncomfortably. “She did kneel. I was hurt – out of my head. Couldn’t get my eyes in focus. Everything was changed, enemies everywhere. Someone came, I fired. Nearly God-rotting killed her.
“Then I heard her voice. A woman. On her knees. Felt like shooting myself when I saw what I did to her.”
Distinctly, as if he wanted no mistake on this point, he said, “She saved my life.” There was a threat in his tone. He had no intention of letting Myste be harmed again.
For a moment, the King’s blue eyes blurred. “When you disappeared from Orison,” he continued to Myste, “I knew in my heart where you had gone – and I was afraid. That is why,” he explained to Terisa, “I was so harsh with you, when I asked you to account for her absence. I could not resolve my fear of the truth.
“In fact,” he went on, addressing Myste again, “when I first realized that the champion in Master Gilbur’s glass was the same as the figure in Havelock’s augury, I almost decided to shatter that glass. To spare you. So that Darsint would not be translated. Havelock had great difficulty dissuading me. Allowing that translation to take place – trusting the risks I had chosen—” His smile was sad and relieved and strong all at the same time. “That did not come easily. If I had let the Fayle urge me to stop the Congery, my determination might have faltered.”
Geraden cleared his throat. “Adept Havelock tried to tell us about that augury – tried to tell Terisa. I’m still not sure why. All he managed to do at the time was scare us. But maybe he was trying to make us understand you better. As well as he could, in his condition—”
Dryly, King Joyse replied, “Perhaps. Don’t underestimate him. At his worst, he’s still the best hop-board player I know.”
Without preamble, Terisa said, “There’s got to be something we can do.”
At once, the King shifted his attention to her. “My lady?”
“They’re all here.” She didn’t seem to be speaking to him, or to anyone. Her eyes studied the air; her attention was inward. “All the pieces are in place. Myste and the champion. Elega and Prince Kragen. The Masters. Lebbick’s army. He and the Perdon and the Tor all did what they were supposed to do before they were lost – sacrificed so the rest of us would come to this position. Even Torrent did her part. Everyone is doing what you want them to do, what you gave them the chance to do.
“Except Geraden and me.”
Again, King Joyse asked softly, “My lady?”
No one else spoke. Geraden studied Terisa intently; Myste watched her with shining eyes.
“We’ve done what we can,” Terisa said. “We helped bring about this position. But now we’re useless. We might as well be pushed off the board.”
Now she met King Joyse’s gaze. “What do you want from us?”
He smiled at her as if she were wonderful. “My lady, I can beat the High King. I want you to defeat Master Eremis.”
Before she could react – before Geraden or Elega or anyone else could say anything – Castellan Norge strode through the tentflaps, unannounced and hurrying.