“Ah, but there are no Sisters of the Blade here. In the absence of orders to the contrary, we have no choice but to follow the orders of the Lord Defender.”
Adrina smiled at Kilton’s rather liberal interpretation of the law.
“That seems fairly cut and dried,” Denjon agreed. “And what about you, Lord Wolfblade? Are you still allied with Medalon?”
“You’re holding my men prisoner, Captain.”
“Then you should consider your answer most carefully, my Lord.”
Damin smiled faintly. “Much as I hate to turn down a good fight, I’m afraid I must return to Hythria. The Fardohnyans will be standing at my border come spring. I plan to discourage them from crossing.”
“Pity,” Kilton sighed. “Your Raiders are quite good in a fight.”
Judging by the surprised look on Damin’s face, such an admission was high praise indeed.
“You and your men are free to go, Lord Wolfblade. If you stay clear of the Citadel, you should be able to make it home by spring,” Denjon told him. “You were right when you said the bulk of our forces are in the north. By the way, I heard that the Warlord of Elasapine withdrew from Bordertown as soon as he heard of the surrender.”
“Narvell’s no better at following orders than I am,” Damin said. “It’s a pity, though. He’ll be too far into Hythria to call him back, by the time I get there.”
“Then we have to stop my father attacking Hythria,” Adrina said.
“How?”
“By offering him an alliance.”
“He’s already allied with Karien.”
“The alliance was dependent on my marriage to Cratyn. As that is no longer the case, the treaty can reasonably be assumed to be null and void.”
If Kilton could twist the law to suit the outcome he desired, there was no reason Adrina couldn’t do the same thing.
“I doubt if Hablet will see things quite so clearly,” Damin warned.
“Then we’ll have to make him see.”
“Marry her, Damin, then he won’t have a choice.” The demon child’s unexpected entrance gave Adrina a chance to recover from the shock of her suggestion. R’shiel had finally shed the power she had used to destroy Terbolt and intimidate the Karien priests, and her eyes had returned to normal. They were an unusual shade of violet, wide set and clear. She was very tall – almost as tall as Damin – and she carried herself with an unconscious aura of power. The comatose, uncertain child who had been led into Terbolt’s tent had emerged a woman, sure of her power and certain of her purpose.
“Is Tarja...?” Denjon ventured cautiously.
“Dead? No. He’ll live. Brak is with him. He’s not to be moved, nor is anyone to approach him until I say so. Is that clear?”
Denjon and the others nodded their agreement. Adrina doubted anyone would deny her when she used that tone. She then turned to Damin and smiled. It was obvious R’shiel was fond of the Warlord and the thought sent an unexpected spear of jealousy through her.
“I wasn’t kidding, Damin. If you marry Adrina, and Hablet still wants to attack Hythria, he’ll have to go over the Sunrise Mountains. Fardohnyan law demands a peace treaty between both Houses in the marriage. It may not keep him out of the rest of Hythria, but at least he won’t be able to take the easy road. He’ll be unable to set foot in Krakandar Province until he figures a way around the marriage contract.”
Damin nodded thoughtfully. He seemed to accept the suggestion with remarkable composure. “It would delay him, I suppose, assuming I was willing to go along with such a ludicrous plan. But he could just as easily deny the marriage had taken place and carry on regardless.”
“I’ll have Jelanna perform the ceremony herself, if that’s what it takes.”
Adrina gasped. Somehow the idea that this girl could command the Goddess of Fertility, the goddess her father worshipped with almost fanatical intensity, was more terrifying than anything else she had done this morning.
But things were moving a bit too fast and R’shiel had not even asked her what she thought about this rather hasty decision.
“Do I get a say in this?”
“Why?” R’shiel asked. “Were you planning to object?”
“That’s not the point. But as a matter of fact, I was planning to object. I’ve had all the arranged marriages I want, thank you. Besides, I’ve been a widow for just over an hour. It’s indecent.”
“Don’t be such a hypocrite,” R’shiel said bluntly. “You’ve been sleeping with Damin for ages and he obviously loves you, or he would never have been so stupid as to try to keep you from returning to Karien.”
Adrina felt herself blushing, something she had not done since she was sixteen and was introduced to her first court’esa. She glanced at Damin who actually looked embarrassed. The captains were fighting to maintain straight faces.
R’shiel did not seem to notice, or care, about their feelings.
“Denjon, if you truly mean to undermine the Karien occupation of Medalon, then the first useful thing you can do is give me a few experienced men and enough supplies to reach the Citadel.”
“I’d have thought the Citadel was the last place you’d want to go.”
“There is something that I have to take care of. Or rather, someone. I had it pointed out to me very recently that I take the easy way out, too often. That’s about to change.”
“I’ll see to it,” Denjon agreed. “Unless you want to wait until Tarja...”
“No. This can’t wait and I’ve done all I can for him. Brak will watch over him until he regains consciousness. In the meantime, you’d better do something about those priests I let loose. You don’t want them reaching the border and warning the Kariens about what’s happened here.”
“There’s the rest of Cratyn’s troop out there, too,” Damin reminded them. “You’d be well advised to do something about them before the day is out.”
“We can take care of a few hundred Kariens,” Denjon assured him.
“As for you two,” R’shiel said, turning on Damin and Adrina. “Get one of the captains to marry you; they can perform the ceremony at a pinch under Medalonian law. Once Tarja has recovered, Brak can go to Talabar to deliver the news to King Hablet. If one of the fabled Harshini walking his palace halls doesn’t convince him, nothing will.”
Damin was no more able to argue with her than Adrina was. This was not R’shiel speaking, this was the demon child finally come into her power. She had no intention of marrying Damin Wolfblade and was quite sure he did not want to marry her; but she would wait until R’shiel left for the Citadel before she announced it. Adrina was not foolish enough to defy R’shiel in her current mood.
“There’s a vineyard just south of Testra, that we used as a headquarters during the rebellion,” she continued, addressing the captains once more. “My guess is that Tarja sent his troops there. You’ll need to get a message to them. Once I’ve taken care of what I have to do at the Citadel, I’ll join you.”
“And then what, R’shiel?” Damin asked cautiously.
She hesitated for a moment, as if some weighty decision hung in the balance.
“And then I’m going to put a stop to this insanity, Damin. I am going to kick the Kariens out of Medalon and make damned sure they never stick their noses over our border again.”
“I don’t know how you think you can manage that,” Dorak scoffed.
“It’s quite simple, Captain,” the demon child replied. “I am going to bow to the inevitable and fulfil my destiny. I am going to destroy Xaphista.”
Chapter 67