Steel and Stone

Caven grunted.

The sky continued to lighten, but the haze thickened and spread until it lay like a puffy blanket just above the ground. The vapor seemed to cut off Caven's and Kitiara's legs at the knees. The colorless-ness of the day accentuated a certain resemblance between the man and woman-black hair, dark eyes, pale skin. But a close look at their expressions showed the similarities to be superficial. Whereas Kitiara's athletic skill made her body wiry and lithe, Caven's body bloomed with muscle. Even now, Kitiara's sidelong look showed appreciation.

'It will be difficult for the men to pick their way over uneven ground in this fog,' Caven said, musing. 'Perhaps the generals will decide to wait.'

'Are the horses ready?' Kitiara interjected.

Her tone told Caven that bantering and chitchat were at an end. The time of battle was near.

'Maleficent and Obsidian are saddled and loaded,' he said. 'Wode is tending them.'

'At least your squire is good for something.'

'Still, he's my nephew.'

Kitiara cast a brown-eyed glance at him. 'Now who's turning soft?' She didn't wait for an answer. 'Tell Wode to give Obsidian an extra measure of oats and to wait with the mare at the head of the western trail.' She hesitated before continuing. 'I don't like the feel of this battle, Caven,' she admitted. 'I'm not persuaded the Valdane's generals can lead us through this. They've already botched the siege, as far as I'm concerned.'

Caven Mackid waited until he was sure Kitiara had finished speaking. 'You expect a rout?'

Kitiara didn't answer directly. Instead, she stroked the hilt of her sword. 'Go talk to Wode,' she said. 'And luck, friend. I fear we'll need it today.'

It took only seconds for Caven to disappear into the fog and the trees. Dawn grew steadily nearer. 'By the gods, why don't they sound the attack?' Kitiara whispered irritably. 'We've already lost the best timing. What are they waiting for?' She took a few steps toward camp.

Voices arrested her movement. She paused and looked back downhill into the mist. Voices? Her brow furrowed, and her hand slipped again to her sword. The fog had gathered around the base of the Meir's granite castle, creeping up the walls more than a man's height. It made it appear as though the castle were floating-which Kitiara had to admit would be quite a tactical advantage. Was the fog magic-born?

Did the Meir's widow have some tricks at her disposal? Dreena was well known to be a spell-caster, although of only moderate ability. The Valdane's mage, Janusz, had taught her himself, from her girlhood on.

Dreena must know she can't match the mage, Kitiara thought to herself. He knows everything she could attempt.

Voices again. And again they came from the base of the castle. Whispers. Were the castle's occupants mounting their own attack? Kitiara looked back uphill toward her own camp. There was no time to go back for Caven or other reinforcements, and no sense in sounding an unnecessary alarm. Perhaps she was hearing the whispering of her own soldiers, reflected eerily off the stone castle.

'This infernal mist,' Kitiara whispered. Drawing her sword, she used the fog and shrubbery as a cover and crept toward the sound. She could see almost nothing, could barely see her own feet, but she continued to edge forward.

The voices seemed to be coming from the left now. Suddenly the gray granite of the castle loomed before Kitiara like the huge tombstone of some prehistoric god. Despite herself, a startled sound burst from Kitiara's throat. She saw the silhouette of a bush growing out of the castle base and threw herself behind it.

'Who's there?' It was a woman's voice, an imperious voice accustomed to giving orders. Kitiara drew farther behind the bush and peered through the foliage. A woman appeared out of the vapor, only twenty feet distant but facing away from Kitiara. 'Who is it?' the woman repeated into the mist. She waited, then swiveled to face the castle again. 'Lida?' Her voice was fraught with sudden fear.

Kitiara caught her breath again, but silently this time, as the woman turned and the mercenary saw her cheek, then the side of her nose, then those unmistakable turquoise eyes. Dreena ten Valdane, outside the castle? Kitiara's thoughts raced as she tried to decide what to do.

It was clear that Dreena was disoriented by the fog. Why didn't she use her magic to probe the mist? The answer came to Kit instantly: Because if Dreena did, Janusz would sense where she was.

Dreena no longer sported the red and blue that she'd worn atop the battlements. Instead, her body was covered with shapeless homespun cloth in earth tones. A finger of fog curled around the woman. When the mist dissipated, Dreena was gone.

Kitiara gasped and rose from her half-crouch. She forced herself to be silent, to listen; she caught the sound of slippered feet hurrying down a damp footpath. Then-nothing. Kitiara stood erect, sword still ready. She shook her head. There was no point in remaining. Dreena was gone, and Kitiara had lost the chance to capture her. The woman could be anywhere under cover of this fog.

With an oath, Kitiara sheathed her sword and dashed through the mist toward the mercenary camp. With every step she took away from the castle, the fog lost a handspan in height, until it was again hugging only her knees as her slim figure flashed through the trees, past the tents, and up the incline to the mage's and Valdane's quarters. Soldiers gaped as she passed. She could see that Lloiden was again holding forth on the stupidity of the current campaign.

No guard waited at either tent. Pausing to take a deep breath and recover her air of assurance, Kitiara entered the largest tent, the one with the black and purple pennant dangling above it.

It was as warm within the tent as it was bone-chilling and damp without, and the occupants of the shelter glared at the intruder. The Valdane, a red-haired man of middle age, was hissing something at the mage. Janusz looked decades older than the Valdane but was, according to rumor, actually a year or so younger. Kitiara pointedly ignored the two generals, and they ignored her, busy as they were quailing under a tirade of the Valdane.

'I will not attack until we are sure where Dreena is!' the Valdane was saying. 'Janusz has tried his magical skills several times since she left the battlements, but he cannot find her. We know only that she's alive. I must know where she waits before we risk an attack.' He pounded the main tent pole for emphasis. The generals swallowed as the pole creaked and the canvas swayed. Janusz barked a single word, and the poplar pole became still. The generals glanced uneasily at each other.

Cowards, Kitiara thought. With a younger brother who was a mage, she was more at ease with spell-casting than were the often superstitious denizens of the region northeast of Neraka.

The men continued to ignore her. Kitiara raised her voice and interrupted. 'Dreena ten Valdane has escaped.'

The men pivoted back toward her. Kitiara felt the right corner of her mouth quirk. It was funny, really- frightened little generals swiveling back and forth like puppets jerked by strings. The Valdane squinted at her; she squelched a smile.

'My daughter has left the castle?' he demanded.

Kitiara kept her gaze steady, her voice clear. 'Moments ago. I saw her myself.'

'You are sure?' the mage pressed. 'I have been scrying…' A look from the Valdane silenced him.

One of the generals, the self-important one, spoke up. 'We must be certain,' he said ponderously, narrowing his eyes and rubbing his chin. 'It is better if she has fled. If Dreena ten Valdane were to be killed in combat, it could arouse the Meiri peasants to our disadvantage.'

The second general chimed in. 'The Meiri peasants were fond of the Meir, but they adore his wife. We'd best be sure the captain is correct.' His stare indicated that he, at least, didn't think Kitiara was reliable. 'I suggest we wait,' he concluded.

Kitiara ignored the two and spoke to the Valdane. 'I am as sure that Dreena has left the Meir's castle as I am that I stand before you now.' Her gaze never wavered.

The leader nodded to Janusz. 'Mount the attack.'

Janusz bowed and left, and the generals scattered. Kitiara waited at the Valdane's tent until the mage, his thin white hair fluttering above the collar of his black robe, disappeared into his own tent before she followed. When she reached the mage's tent, she stationed herself by the tent flap, eased it open a finger's width, and watched. Knowledge was power, her mercenary father had often reminded her. It wouldn't hurt to know more about the mysterious mage.

Janusz looked neither right nor left as he moved directly to his cot and pulled out a trunk that lay beneath it. He released a pinch of gray dust into the air and whispered, 'Rrachelan' releasing a