She's the Captain of the Skyboltswho are in Valdemar's employ. And she has perfectly adequate stand- ins.
She doesn't have Crown authority, in case she has to negotiate with someone besides the people she knows.
Well, there's always a writ.
She's too old.
That sounded like a stupid excuse even to Elspeth. Too old, sure. She can beat me nineteen falls out of twenty. Not even close, girl.
She doesn't know what we need.
Now that might be a good reason. The needs of a mercenary Captain and the needs of a country like Valdemar were vastly different. A Company might be able to use someone who didn't necessarily fit their profile.
Valdemar was going to need someone very special.
For one thing, he's going to need a pretty good set of ethics. He'll have to be able to get along with people. He'll have to know when not to use his power. And most especially, he'll have to be someone who would never, ever, abuse either his power or position.
In other words, he would, for all intents and purposes, be as much like a Herald as possible.
And ideally, really, he would be Chosen as soon as Elspeth returned to Valdemar with him. That would be perfect.
But that would make him the first Herald-Mage since Vanyel...She shook off the haze of speculation. What mattered was that Kero-if she went-was all too likely to bring back someone who was picked with a Captain's eye, rather than a Herald's. And that could be a major mistake.
She might well take the best of a dubious lot, without looking any further.
She could get someone who had managed to conceal his motives. She could even get someone in alliance with Ancar, who had not only managed to conceal his motives, but his intentions.
Kero was smart, but she hadn't been a Herald for very long. She still took some folks aback by her attitudes. That was amusing inside Valdemar, but in a situation where Valdemar's well-being depended on her attitudes-a difference of opinion could be dangerous.
And there was always the possibility that she would pick someone who was not strong enough to pass the borders. Then what?
Would she simply conclude that this mage-hunting was a waste of time, and return?
Elspeth wouldn't-but she wasn't sure that the same would be true of Kero. this may be one case where my stubborn streak is an advantage. I won't give in until I have someone. Kero might. And if she winds up having to go outside of Rethwellan-I think her reputation as a mercenary might be held against her. There might be mages with active morals who would feel that working with a mercenary, former or no, wasn't ethical, no matter how worthy the cause.
Kero had worked all of her life to keep her emotions out of her negotiations.
That lack of obvious passion might work against her in a case like this.
But Elspeth might be convincing enough...I have all the reasons and counters I need, she thought, grimly kneading her clay. Now if only someone would be willing to listen to them.
*Chapter Four DARKWIND
'So, you have encountered another situation,' Starblade k'sheyna said coldly as he regarded his son without blinking. The ekele was too low on the tree trunk to sway, but the branches surrounding it moved in a gentle wind. Darkwind tried not to shift position in any way that might be interpreted as showing his discomfort. It was difficult to remain cool beneath that measuring, inscrutable gaze. Starblade's bondbird, a huge, hawk-sized crow, gazed at him with the same, impassive expression as its bondmate. It might have been a stone bird, or a shadow made into flesh and feathers.
'What ever happened to the Father I knew? He's gone as thoroughly as Songwind.
'Let me see if I understand this correctly. You were on patrol along the border. Your bondbird located
