Vingaard, the very river that is our namesake! We were there when the siege of Solanthus was broken-we, too, bravely faced the fire giant in the Battle of the Foothills!”
Jaymes shrugged. “I am not disputing the sacrifices made by your men-they are as worthy, and no more so, than any other knightly unit. Est Sularus oth Mithas, naturally. But that was the story of wartime; this is a time of peace. And these figures are based on property, not men, and it is here that your realm has emerged without the scars that have marked these other places.”
“So you would destroy us with taxes and conscription?”
The emperor shook his head. “These contributions will not destroy you. They should make you stronger-they will make you stronger, for the larger nation needs your contribution of steel and men in order to restore its place as Krynn’s mightiest empire.”
“It is too much, I tell you!” declared Kerrigan, his voice rising almost to a shout.
“You refuse to pay? Still?”
“I cannot pay!”
Jaymes nodded. His eyes flicked to Sergeant Ian, commander of the Freemen, who stood with his small company off to the side of the council. “Then arrest these men now. I want all four of them clapped in irons.”
“Yes, sir!” replied the young knight, waving his men forward.
“This is an outrage!” cried Kerrigan, leaping to his feet, instinctively grasping for the hilt of the sword he wasn’t wearing. “You gave us your word that we would parley under a truce!”
Jaymes stood too, not cowed by the duke’s display of temper. “I changed my mind,” was all he said.
“Thanks for coming to see me,” Selinda said to Coryn as the guard closed the door behind the white-robed enchantress.
“Of course-I would have come at once, but I have been busy in Wayreth for the last ten days.”
Coryn the White embraced her friend, concern reflected in her dark eyes. The wizard’s black hair fell in a loose cascade over her shoulders and halfway down the back of her immaculate white robe. The silky material was embroidered with countless images in silver thread, and the magical sigils seemed to glimmer and gleam in the bright, sunlit room.
Selinda noticed, with surprise, that a few streaks of gray had begun to appear in those thick, dark tresses. But Coryn’s face was smooth and unlined, her features still those of a very young woman.
That was, except for her eyes. The enchantress, the Master of the White Robes, had seen much of the harshness of the world in recent years, and those experiences, Selinda could see, were taking a toll. She remained a very beautiful woman, but there was a maturity and sadness about her that Selinda saw more clearly than ever before.
“What is the news in the city and the land-of Jaymes… and Vingaard?” Selinda asked as the two women settled themselves on a settee beside one of the tall windows-not the pane with the angular crack running across it. The summer morning was balmy, and a slight draft of fresh air wafted from the open doors to the nearby balcony. “No one will tell me any real news, up here.”
“And are you stuck here? Are you not allowed to leave?” Coryn had heard the rumors but hadn’t credited them. She looked at the princess with upraised eyebrows.
Selinda felt the flush creep across her features, a mixture of humiliation and anger. She met her friend’s gaze and spoke quietly. “Jaymes-the emperor,” she amended bitterly, “says it’s because he doesn’t want anything to happen to his-our-baby.”
The wizard blinked and, unless it was Selinda’s imagination, she started, for a fraction of a second. Then a mask fell across Coryn’s face, but it didn’t cover her eyes-and those dark eyes, the princess realized, seemed terribly wounded.
Then the mask was dropped. Coryn’s expression warmed, and she reached out to take Selinda’s hand.
“Well, that’s bigger news than anything I can tell you. Congratulations, my dear.”
Selinda looked away, changing the subject. “But what is the word from over the mountains? As I said, they tell me nothing.”
“Jaymes took his army all the way through the pass and down to Vingaard Keep. I understand that he intends to stand firm and that he doesn’t expect Duke Kerrigan to agree to his terms.”
“So-there will be civil war?” asked Selinda, despairing.
“I hope it won’t come to that-I trust it won’t!” Coryn replied without a great deal of conviction, to Selinda’s ears. “I’m sure they will come to some kind of understanding. The duke has to recognize how important the riches of his realm are to the restoration of empire.”
“ ‘Empire.’ Such an old-fashioned word, it seems to me,” Selinda replied. “I would have thought that, perhaps, the modern world has outgrown such concepts.”
Coryn shook her head firmly. “There will always be a struggle between order and chaos, between light and dark. And a strong empire-an empire that upholds the Solamnic Code, the Oath and the Measure-is the greatest defense we humans have for the future. It is the only thing that can protect us from the scourges that have befallen the elves, from the menace of minotaur invasion that has swept over so much of Ansalon. Of that I am certain.”
“And Jaymes Markham is the only man who could forge such an empire, isn’t he?” the princess asked.
“Frankly, I have invested all of my hopes in him,” Coryn answered. She looked sincerely at the other woman. “He has brought our fractured land together, led our defense against unspeakable evil. He is a great leader-though he has his faults. Even so, I never imagined he would keep you virtually imprisoned here!”
Selinda looked out the window for a long time before squeezing Coryn’s hand and looking again at the enchantress, staring deep into her dark eyes. “Coryn, I need your help.”
“What is it? I’ll do anything I can,” pledged the wizard.
“This baby…” Selinda spoke softly, and her face was wrenched by an expression of raw emotion-grief, rage, and frustration all twisted together. “I am so afraid-I don’t know if I can bear it! What kind of father could Jaymes be? What kind of mother will I be?”
Coryn sat back, shocked. “But-you-you’re pregnant!” she finally stammered. “The die is cast. I mean, it’s natural for you to be afraid-all young mothers are. But… how can I help you?”
“I will not let my life be carried away by this current beyond my control!” Selinda declared in utter sincerity. “Will you advise me, help me? Is it possible… to bring about some delay? To let me think, give me time to reach some decision?”
The wizard stood and moved to the window. Selinda could see that Coryn was trembling, her legs shaking. The White Robe wrung her hands together, stared outside for several interminable seconds, then turned back to the emperor’s wife.
“I–I don’t see what I could do to help,” she said, and Selinda sensed that she spoke candidly. “There is nothing in the repertoire of a white robe wizard that would enable me to do anything even if-”
“Even if you wanted to help me?” the princess finished bitterly.
Coryn sat back down and took both of the other woman’s hands in her own. “I do want to help you. I meant that, and I still mean it. But I spoke the truth: I have no skill, no ability to change or delay this reality.”
Selinda’s eyes welled even as she clenched her jaw. “Isn’t there anyone?” she asked. “Anyone I can turn to?”
The wizard thought for a very long time. “I don’t know, not for sure,” she finally said, speaking very deliberately. “But perhaps you could speak to a priestess… someone you know… a wise woman who could counsel you, could help you to understand, to cope.”
The princess of Palanthas nodded as she worked to keep her expression cool and mask her disappointment. Of course, Coryn was speaking the truth-it wasn’t a matter for a wizard of the white robes.
“There is… there is something I can do that might alleviate your troubles,” Coryn said softly. She removed a slender silver band from a finger on her right hand. “I give this to you-it will assist you in escaping from your prison here.”
Selinda took the tiny circlet and looked at the enchantress curiously. “How?”
“It’s a ring of teleportation. Put it on your third finger-there, like that. To use it, simply twist it three times around your finger, and say the name of the place where you wish to go. It must be some place known to you, and you need to picture it very clearly in your mind. The magic will transport you to that place.”
The princess had a look of awe in her eyes as she examined the little ring, gleaming and silver, on her right
