“You have not heard recently from Submarshal Myskyl, have you?”
“No.”
Bhayar’s tone told Quaeryt to drop that subject. So he said, “If the weather holds, we will finish the road from the avenue around the Chateau Regis to the south bridge in the next few days. We’ve replaced both the north and south bridges.”
“The imager roads are a great improvement. We will need more … in time. How are you coming in setting up your ministry?”
“Vaelora went looking for tables and furnishings for the studies … And ledgers and chests. I have had Zhelan and Khaern making discreet inquiries about clerks.”
For the next quint, the two discussed Bhayar’s requirements for the new Ministry of Administration and Supply for Bovaria.
After leaving Bhayar’s study, Quaeryt walked to the east side of the chateau, but Vaelora was not in the quarters. He found her on the main level, working with three troopers in arranging writing tables and chairs, and stacking chests.
“You’ve been busy,” he observed.
“We can’t do much until we have the furnishings and supplies.”
He glanced around. “Are you about finished for now?”
“Just about.” Vaelora looked at him. “Something’s happened, hasn’t it?”
“There’s nothing we can do at this moment. I’ll tell you when you’re finished.”
Less than a quint passed before Vaelora dismissed the rankers, and the two of them walked up the main staircase to the upper level of the chateau and to their quarters. Quaeryt had barely closed the door to the sitting room when Vaelora turned to him.
“Something from Antiago?”
Quaeryt nodded. “Skarpa was assassinated. Read these.” He handed her the two dispatches and let her read them before he went on to tell her what had happened at Chaelaet and then about his meeting with Bhayar. “I didn’t tell him about my not correcting the steward.”
“You were right not to. That would only make matters worse without benefiting anyone.”
“I should have corrected the steward. I should have.” Quaeryt shook his head.
“How were you to know?” asked Vaelora. “Besides, it might not have changed anything at all. Skarpa was the submarshal in charge of Southern Army, and all the dispatches you sent to the High Holders said that Skarpa and I would receive the allegiance of the High Holders.”
“But it might have,” said Quaeryt.
“You can torture yourself about that forever, dearest, and it won’t change anything.”
“I know that. You know that. Skarpa would probably even have said that. But it doesn’t make it right.”
“Will telling anyone but me make things better? Here? Or in Antiago?”
He shook his head. “It’s just that I owe so much to Skarpa.”
“He owed much to you.”
“I put him in danger.”
“He would have been in danger without you, and he might well have died in battle without everything you did. It’s not as though you gave an order that caused his death. And you weren’t the only one, dearest. Kharllon made it impossible for the imagers to protect Skarpa. Don’t forget that.”
Quaeryt just stood there for a moment. “That’s true … but he wouldn’t have needed protection-”
“Are you sure of that? He was still the submarshal. In the minds of all the southern High Holders, he was the one responsible. Also in the minds of all the surviving Shahibs of Antiago.”
Quaeryt said nothing.
Vaelora stepped forward and put her arms around Quaeryt. “You’re upset. You made a mistake. It was such a small mistake. How could you have known? But he was your friend, and you feel like all the blame is on you. I understand.”
For a time, neither spoke.
Finally, Quaeryt stepped back. “I don’t want to talk about it anymore right now.”
Vaelora nodded, then asked, “Do you think that it’s wise to set up two separate locations for your Collegium?”
“I thought I’d prefer one location, but what happened with Skarpa made me think differently. The imagers will always be vulnerable if they and those who lead them are in one place.”
“And Voltyr is the best one to lead the imagers in Antiago. That was what you had in mind, wasn’t it?”
“I did, but I was thinking of months, perhaps a year, when I did. Now…” Quaeryt shrugged, then shook his head. “Oh … with what happened to Skarpa, I forgot to tell you. Gauswn showed up this afternoon. Straesyr sent him and four student imagers.”
“That’s just the beginning,” said Vaelora.
Quaeryt hoped so, but he couldn’t stop thinking about Skarpa.
21
Quaeryt did not sleep well on Mardi night, disturbed as he was by vague nightmares, and one in which he tried to tell the assistant steward that he was not a submarshal even as the winds kept blowing his words away. That was followed by another in which a tree was falling on Vaelora, and he couldn’t reach her … or do anything at all as she immediately gave birth to another daughter who died as he tried to hold her. He much rather would have had any of the dreams in which Erion appeared and admonished him, he reflected, as he dressed on Meredi morning.
He and Vaelora hurried through breakfast. Then each copied one of the dispatches Quaeryt had received. Next, Quaeryt wrote dispatches to Alazyn, and then to Voltyr, both confirming their actions. After that, Quaeryt made his way to Bhayar’s study, while Vaelora headed down to finish setting up the studies for the supply ministry.
The guard didn’t finish announcing Quaeryt before Bhayar called, “Send him in!”
Quaeryt immediately crossed the room and handed the copies to Bhayar, who, as usual, was standing beside his writing desk. “Here are the copies you requested.”
“Thank you.”
“There’s one thing I forgot to tell you yesterday. I’m sorry, but it skipped my mind with everything about Skarpa’s murder. That upset me more than I realized.”
Bhayar nodded, but remained standing behind the desk, waiting.
“Chorister Gauswn, I may have mentioned him before. He was a captain in Tilbor, and when his term was up, he left to become a chorister at the scholarium. He arrived at headquarters yesterday with four young imager students. Straesyr sent them here.”
“Straesyr sent him and four imagers?” asked Bhayar. “Four?”
“He sent him with the two student imagers I knew about when I left Tilbor. I didn’t finish learning where Gauswn picked up the other two because I got the dispatches about Skarpa just after he arrived at headquarters. I made quick arrangements for them and then rode to see you as quickly as I could.”
“It appears that fate and every officer I trust wants you to lead the imagers and build that Collegium,” said Bhayar dryly.
“I had no idea that Straesyr felt that way, sir.”
“I assume he sent a dispatch or letter?”
“Oh … yes, sir.” Quaeryt extracted the governor’s letter from his uniform and extended it to Bhayar, who set the copied dispatches on his desk before accepting and beginning to read the short letter from Straesyr.
Bhayar stopped reading and looked at Quaeryt, then said, “Straesyr saw what you had in mind. Otherwise he wouldn’t have written, ‘you will certainly need the imagers, as will Lord Bhayar, and any that Gauswn can find along the way.’ Would he?”
“That might have been because Gauswn wrote me while we were advancing up the Aluse, and I wrote Gauswn back, and advised him to consult with the governor if he had continuing difficulties.”
“And what about his concluding lines, where he requests that you ‘try not to destroy more than necessary in seeking your aims’?”
“He is a perceptive man. I never told him what I hoped for the imagers.”