"You may speak the truth," said Captain Akryd at her back, long-haired and grim, his thumbs tucked into his swordbelt. "It matters not. She has Taneryn, she has Valhanan and she has much of Tyree. I speak for Taneryn in Lord Krayliss's absence. Not many of us cared for that pompous goat. But we care for the Udalyn, and we reject the rule of Verenthane lords."
His eyes fixed hard on his king. "You are not King Soros, Your Highness," he continued. "You have not come to liberate us from anything, and we don't owe you any more than a fistful of horseshit. Should you find a leader amongst the Taneryn to elevate to a lordship, we'll kill him. Should you send priests to convert our poor pagan souls, we'll kill them. Should you send a Verenthane lord from the outside to rule over us, we'll kill him. Should you send armies to enforce any of these rules, we'll fight them until there's not a Taneryn man left alive."
"That is acceptable!" Lord Rydysh spat. "Your Highness, please accept this pagan's challenge."
"We are not here to bargain for the fate of Taneryn," Koenyg told Captain Akryd, unable to hold his tongue any longer. "We discuss the fate of the Udalyn, and the fate of the Hadryn army, and that's all!"
"It's the same thing!" Sasha retorted in exasperation. "You don't understand a thing, Koenyg. You never did." Her eldest brother glared at her. "The Goeren-yai of Taneryn, Valhanan and Tyree are angry as all hells. Angry enough to defy a king they've otherwise always respected. And they do still respect you, Father." Meeting Torvaal's impassive stare across the table. "Don't they, Captain?"
"Aye, M'Lady," Akryd echoed. "Never had no quarrel with the king. The king brings peace and trade. It's the lords we've had a full stomach of."
"We're here to discuss terms for a peace," Sasha said firmly. "Terms acceptable enough to allow angry men who've ridden against the king's wishes to go back home and care for their families. If you don't understand why they're so angry, then you'll never be able to offer those terms. They only ask you to listen, Father. Listen to them, as you've been listening to the lords. The lords would have you believe that they are the only voice in the land. These men tell you differently. Only if you listen to all the voices of Lenayin can there be peace.
"Lords' rule might work well in the lowlands, but Lenayin is different. Lowlands peasants live their whole lives doing what their lords tell them. It doesn't work here, and it's time all you lowland-lovers learned it! Lenays have never liked being told what to do! They'd rather fight. Even the poorest Lenay farmer is a formidable warrior. You've been kicking the hornets' nest for far too long, my Lords, and finally the hornets are swarming. I only tell you what you need to know to let them go back to their nests and leave you alone. But if you refuse to listen, there will be nothing in Lenayin's future but blood and tears. Even in Isfayen," she added, with a glare toward Lord Faras, "where the Goeren-yai may not give a holy damnation about me. You try and put them under the feudal yoke, there'll be enough blood on the hills of Isfayen to make the rivers of Raani run red for a month."
"Name your terms," Torvaal said suddenly. Sasha stared at him, completely off-guard. Blinked, trying to gather her thoughts. Behind their king, the lords were seething, but they dared not interrupt once the king had made his request. She had to get this right.
"Safe passage for all these men," she said finally. "Reinstatement of all those who may have lost title, rank or pay-with no punishments." Torvaal simply listened, his black-gloved fingers interlaced on the tabletop. "The Udalyn shall be granted royal protection. Royal soldiers shall hold open the Udalyn pass into Valhanan. The Udalyn shall be allowed to trade, to move back and forth, and to become a part of broader Lenayin. Royal soldiers shall ensure the safety of any moving along the pass."
"Impossible!" Lord Rydysh snapped. "The Hadryn shall never agree! Royal soldiers on Hadryn soil is a violation of the sanctity of lords' rights, an insult to Hadryn pride, and is against the letter of the king's law as written by King Soros!"
"King Soros is dead," Sasha replied, looking only at her father. "King Torvaal rules now." Perhaps there was a flicker of response in her father's dark eyes. Or maybe she imagined it. It was unclear why the Hadryn had not sent a representative to these talks. Perhaps, with Usyn dead, they had not reached agreement on who led them. Or they found the prospect of talks with their female vanquisher too shameful to bear. Even so, Sasha suspected something more was at play. Where matters of power were in question between lords, it was always safest to assume intrigue.
"Continue," her father said simply.
"No additional powers shall be granted to the great lords, nor to the nobility in general-no new taxes, no new rules of justice, no more authority over the priesthood, nothing." There were, predictably, cries of outrage. Sasha ignored them. So, for the moment, did the king.
"Continue," said Torvaal, once the outbursts had faded. Could it be that there was a faintly different expression now upon his face? It seemed to Sasha that there was… perhaps a wry acknowledgement of a common exasperation between them-the lords. And, just maybe, a hint of
… no, not pride. Respect. An acknowledgement that perhaps father and daughter, as little as they knew each other, were alike in one respect-in stubbornness, and determination, and an utter disdain for the disapproval of others.
"The Taneryn shall be free to choose their own succession to Lord Krayliss," Sasha continued. "I understand from Captain Akryd that Krayliss's eldest son now claims the title of great lord, but under the ancient ways, such claims can be challenged. I understand that none of Krayliss's sons are particularly respected in Taneryn, and a challenge may be forthcoming. Whatever the result, the Verenthane great lords, and the king, should respect the result."
"The ancient ways have never truly recognised great lords, however Krayliss styled himself," Torvaal stated, with grim curiosity. "How can the laws of the ancient ways determine the outcome of a modern, and some would claim Verenthane, invention?"
Sasha blinked at him. It was the question of a knowledgeable man. She was astonished. And, just as quickly, she doubted herself. How well did she know her father truly? And how often had Kessligh insisted, against her own disbelief, that all through Krystoff's life, King Torvaal had been a fair and just man with the Goeren-yai? Things had only changed when Krystoff had died, he'd told her. When the sheer weight of protest from Lenayin's Verenthane leaders had shifted the path of the future, and convinced the king that his previous vision for the kingdom had been ungodly after all. Her father's knowledge of the ancient ways was not dead, it seemed. Merely dormant.
"The ancient ways are flexible," Captain Akryd spoke up. "Taneryn has its own Rathynals, where chiefs and village seniors gather to discuss matters of the province. We shall arrange another. The old ways accept much that is new, Your Highness, even if Lord Krayliss did not. Not all in Taneryn are like him."
"Might you stand for the Great Lordship of Taneryn yourself, Captain Akryd?" the king asked shrewdly. "Lord Krayliss spoke often of saving the Udalyn, but it is you who stand here today."
Sasha resisted the urge to turn around and look. Behind, she heard a creak of mail and leather as Akryd shrugged. "Perhaps," he answered.
Torvaal considered him with narrowed eyes. Pressed his lips thin and gazed out of the cottage windows across the sunlit expanse of valley. "It is beautiful here," he conceded. "The Udalyn have cared for their valley for many centuries. It seems that the gods have plans for this to continue."