'Why?' asked the Lord Patriarch-Father Ricard, who had replaced elderly Father Aldon. At the same time, the Lord Marshal asked 'How?'
'Why should be fairly obvious,' Prince Daren said, the first time he'd spoken since the meeting began. 'They knew we had Rojer, and they felt what he had to tell us was important enough to try to silence him.
Selwin nodded. 'Precisely, Your Highness,' he replied. 'As for 'how,' I presume the mage managed to overcome the Border-protections somehow. I saw the attack. At first, I thought it was some kind of mist, and I didn't think it looked all that dangerous. But Lieutenant Shallan said the Skybolts had seen this sort of thing before, and got us all evacuated; she said they had something to take care of it, but it would only work at a distance. The 'mist' turned out to be a swarm of tiny insects, no bigger than gnats, but poisonous enough to drop a man. And they were guided, there's no doubt of that. They came out of a kind of hole in the sky.' He shook his head. 'I really can't properly describe it. But the hole appeared near the outskirts of town, inside the Valdemar Border.'
These insects,' the Seneschal asked, 'are they gone now?'
'Not gone, my lord,' Selwin replied. 'Dead. The Skybolts, as I said, have seen this kind of weapon before. They evacuated the town, then used small catapults to lob pots of burning herbs into the streets. The insects were killed so completely that there were none to follow us, and few to return when the hole in the sky reopened.' He sat down again when no one else had any more questions. Prince Daren stood up in his place. 'This is not going to be the last attempt, my lords and ladies,' he said grimly. 'I think we can count ourselves fortunate that it was the Skybolts who encountered this first. If it had not been-if it had been a regular garrison-they would have died to a man, and we would never have known what it was that killed them.' prince Daren sat down and took his wife's hand; Selenay looked very pale.
'I must admit,' she said, 'that I doubted when Kerowyn and my daughter swore that Ancar would find a way to penetrate our Border with magic. I was wrong.' Selenay looked over at Elspeth, and bit her lip. 'My daughter also proposed a solution that I rejected out of hand; she suggested that Valdemar seek out magical allies as well, and find some mage who was strong enough to pass our borders to help us from within, and perhaps even teach new mages. She suggested that, since the Chronicles all speak of a'Mage-Gift,' that there may still be Heralds carrying that Gift. She thinks that Gift has simply gone unrecognized and untaught because there was no one to teach it. She also suggested that she be the one to leave Valdemar, find such a mage, and bring him-or her-back to us.' Silence met her words as the Councilors turned looks of doubt toward Elspeth's end of the table. She did her best to look as mature and competentand confident-as any of them could have wished. She was very glad now that Kero had insisted she wash and change before the meeting.
She doubted she would have been able to convince any of them looking like a disheveled hoyden.
'May I speak?' she asked. At Selenay's nod, she stood up.
'Always speak to the Council from a standing position, kitten.' Kero had tutored her a few weeks ago, after watching one of the sessions from the visitor's seat. The Council had wanted a report on what the Skybolts had been assigned to-and now Elspeth knew why Kero had been fairly reticent.
But what the Council didn't realize was that Kero had learned more about them than they had from her. The Captain had made careful assessments of the Council and their reactions to Elspeth, and had some fairly shrewd observations to make afterward.
'Always speak to them from a standing position. that will put your head higher than theirs, and give you an emotional advantage. Put your hands on the table, and lean forward a little. Showing your hands tells their guts that you have nothing to hide, leaning says that you are comfortable with your power, and leaning forward tells them that you are earnest. Never raise your voice; in fact, if you can, speak a little lower than usual. that tells their guts that you're not just an emotional female. But if you feel passionately about something, choose your words carefully, and put some punch behind them.' Talia and Selenay did all these things, but they did them without thinking, without knowing the reasons why they worked. Talia analyzed the audience through her Gift of Empathy, and adjusted herself accordingly, all without ever thinking about it. Selenay had been trained by her father-who may have known why his advice worked, but didn't bother to explain it to his daughter. Kerowyn, on the other hand, had to fight her way up to the top in a predominantly male profession-and she was a superb tactician in any arena. She knew how to deal with authority figures, and why the tactics she used worked.
Elspeth tried to keep all her advice in mind as she began.
'Herald-Captain Kerowyn and I have had several conversations about this eventuality,' she said, quietly. 'That in itself is unusual, because until now, it seems as if it has been very difficult even to speak about magic within the bounds of our realm, especially for Heralds. Please think back, think about what has happened every time in the past that you've spoken about magic in this Council Room-you've gone outside these walls, and gradually forgotten all about it, haven't you?' She looked around, and got slow nods from most of the Councilors.
'Somehow, as urgent as the threat seemed to be, it became less urgent once the immediate danger was over, didn't it? It did for me, too, until I met Kerowyn. I suspect that 'forgetting' may be a symptom of whatever it is that has protected us until now. But now-if you'll notice, we're speaking about magic, all of us, and I don't think we're going to forget about it outside the room. And I am terribly afraid that this is a symptom of something else-a symptom of the fact that this protection is weakening.' A swift intake of breath was the only sound that broke the silence following her words, but she couldn't tell who it was that had gasped.
She glanced around the horseshoe-shaped table. Several of the Councilors were nodding, though not happily. She continued.
'I don't think we have a choice; I believe we must find a mage or mages to help us. I have several reasons why I think that the person who goes to look for one should be me.' She paused again, waiting for opposition, but she didn't see anyone leaping to his-or her-feet to object.
