Then again, her stepfather hadn't ever seen her until she was adult and in her full Whites. It was an old proverb that a person was always a child to his parents... but it was war she should really be worrying about, not how to make her mother realize that she was an adult and capable of living her own life. The two problems were entwined, but not related. And the personal problems could wait.
The next try Ancar makes is going to involve magic, I know it combative magic, war-magic, the kind they use south of Rethwellan. the kind the Skybolts are used to seeing. Kero says so, and I think she's right.
She can talk about real magic, and I can... and that might be a clue to what I need to be doing right there.
For Valdemar was not ready to cope with magic, especially not within its borders. For all the efforts to prepare the populace, for all the research that was supposed to have been done in the archives, very little had actually been accomplished. Yes, the ballads of Vanyel's time and earlier had been revived, but there was very much a feeling of "but it can't happen now" in the people of Elspeth had talked to. And she wasn't the only one to have come to that conclusion. Kero had said much the same thing. The Captain was worried.
Elspeth licked her bitten lip, and thought hard. Kero's told me a lot of stories she hasn't even told Mother. Some of the things the Skybolts had to deal with-and those were just minor magics.
"Most of the time the major magics don't get used," she'd said more than once. That was because the major mages tended to cancel one another out. Adept-class mages tended to be in teaching, or in some otherwise less-hazardous aspect of their profession.
Most mages, Adept-class or not, were unwilling to risk themselves in all-out mage-duels for the sake of a mere employer. Most employers were reluctant to antagonize them.
But when the ruler himself was a mage, or backed by one-a powerful mage, at that-the rules changed. Mages could be coerced, like anyone else; or blackmailed, or bribed, if the offer was high enough. There was already evidence of coercion, magical and otherwise; outright control, like the men of his armies. And where there was a power broker, there were always those who wanted power above all else and were willing to pay any price to get it.
So Valdemar wasn't protected anymore because there was someone willing to pay the price of breaking the protections.
Or bending them...All right; when the Border-protection has failed, what's been the common denominator? She rubbed her temple, as she tried to think of what those failures had in common.
It didn't keep Hulda out-but she didn't work any magic while she was here. It didn't keep some of Ancar's spells out, but they were cast across the Border. It didn't keep that assassin out-but the spell must surely have been cast on him when he was with Ancar. And it didn't keep Need out, but Need hasn't done a blessed thing-openly-since Kero got here.
So; as long as there wasn't any active magic-casting within the borders, the protections they had relied on weren't working anymore.
Or else there were now mages who were stronger than the protections, so long as they worked from outside.
And, without a doubt, Ancar had figured that out, too.
Furthermore, no matter how powerful the protections were, unless they were caused by some deity or other-which Elspeth very much doubted-they could be broken altogether, instead of merely circumvented.
And when-not if, but when-Ancar accomplished that, they were going to be as helpless as a mouse beneath the talons of a predator.
As if to underscore that, Elspeth heard the call of an owl, somewhere out in the gardens.
Someone was going to have to find a mage-preferably a very powerful mage, one who wouldn't suffer from whatever had kept the Skybolts' mages out-and bring him to Valdemar.
That was going to take a lot of money, persuasion, or both. The first they had-or could get. The second just required the right person. Someone who was experienced in diplomacy and negotiation.
Or, failing being able to bring someone in, a Herald was going to have to learn magic herself.
That's it, she decided. that's what I need to do-find a mage and bring him in. I'm the perfect instrument for the job. Or learn magic; Kero says there are some things-according to her grandmother-that just need a trained will. I've certainly got that.
And as for where to find a mage-I think I know just the place to start.
This time Elspeth called the meeting, at breakfast, in her mother's suite. She hoped to catch her in a malleable mood-which she often was in the early morning. Not that Elspeth enjoyed being up that early; on the whole, she preferred never to have to view the sunrise.
But for a good cause, she'd sacrifice a bit of sleep.
She stated her case as clearly and logically as possible, before Selenay had finished her muffins, but after she'd had her first two cups of tea.
She'd thought about her presentation very carefully; why someone had to go chasing mages, and why that someone had to be her. Then she sat back and waited for her answer.
She has to agree. There's no other choice for us.
"No," Selenay stated flatly. "It's not possible." For a moment she was taken aback, but she rallied her defenses, thought quickly and plowed gamely onward. "Mother, I don't see where there's any choice," Elspeth replied, just as firmly as her mother. "I've told you the facts. Kero backs up my guesses about what's likely to happen, and she's the best tactician we have. And Alberich backs her up. The three of us have talked this over a lot."
"I don't-" Selenay fell strangely silent, looking troubled and very doubtful. Elspeth followed up her advantage. I can't give her a chance to say anything. Look at her hands, she's clutching things again. It's conflict between being a mother and the ruler. I think I can convince the Council, but I have to convince her before I convince the Council.
"We can't do this on our own anymore; we have to have help. We have to have a mage-'Adept-class," is what Kero says. Someone who can work around whatever it is that keeps active mages out. We have to find someone like that who is willing not only to help us but to teach Heralds if he can."
"I don't see why-" Selenay began. "We've managed all right until now. Why can't the Gifts provide an adequate defense? They've worked so far.
"Mother, believe me, there hasn't been a real trial of them," Elspeth countered. "I've listened to Kero's stories, and frankly they won't hold against a real effort by several mages. I'll tell you what, I suspect that we have people capable of becoming mages. The Chronicles all talk about a"Mage-Gift' just as if it were something like-oh, Firestarting; rare, but not unusual. I don't think it's been lost. I think that we've just forgotten how to tell what it is, and how to train it. But to do that, we need a mage. A good one. And Kero says that all the good teachers are Adept-class."
"Even if all that is true," Selenay said, after a long silence, her hands clenched around her mug. "Why should you be the one to go?"
"Well, for one thing, I've got Crown powers. When I find a mage we can trust, I can offer him anything reasonable-and I know what's reasonable; Kero's briefed me on hiring mages. For another-I'm not indispensable.
You have two more heirs, and if you want to know the truth, I'm not certain I should wear the crown." She smiled ruefully. "I take shortcuts a little too often to make the Council comfortable." Selenay returned the smile reluctantly, but if faded just as quickly as it came.