Sun in Glory and Other Tales of Valdemar

month. :Like a Companion, yes. And, presumably, gets its wisdom from the same source.:

'There have been reforms of late, in the ranks of the Sun-priests,' Alberich ventured.

'Solaris' reforms, it is said.'

Now Karchanek actually laughed. 'Reforms-yes. One could call them 'reforms'-in the same way that one could refer to the razing of a robber's stronghold as 'a little housecleaning.' Not even Solaris can root out all the corruption of centuries, but the cleansing has begun.' Then he sobered. 'The Fires, the summoning of demons, the terrorizing of our own people, all these are no more. And there is something that should die with them. The enmity between Karse and Valdemar.'

Well, there it was, the offer that Alberich had been hoping for, but was still not certain he should trust. 'We seem to be facing the same enemy,' he pointed out. 'Ancar of Hardorn-'

'Hardorn can devour us separately: United, we will be too tough a morsel to swallow,'

agreed the other. 'And there is no surety on your part that once he is disposed of, we will not turn back to our old ways and warfares.'

'But-'

'But hear the words of the Son of the Sun.' Karchanek brought out a thin metal tube from within his sleeve, in diameter no larger than an arrow shaft. He opened it, and removed a sheet of paper so thin that Alberich could see the writing on it from the opposite side.

'Greetings to Captain Alberich, now Herald of Valdemar, loyal son of two warring lands,' Karchanek read aloud. 'I, Solaris, Son of the Sun by the grace of Vkandis Sunlord, send these words to you and not to the Queen who holds your allegiance because the counsel of the Sunlord is that one with a heart divided will be more like to lend heed to that which promises division will be healed than one who is single-hearted. To you I say this: without Karse, Valdemar may fall, and without Valdemar, Karse may perish. Yet to unite our peoples, more than words on a treaty are needed All overtures were like to come to naught, or be concluded too late. So I brought my prayers to the Sunlord, and the Sunlord has said this unto me. 'Bring Me a Herald of Valdemar, that I may make of her a Priest of My Order in the sight of all, that none may doubt or dare to prosecute a war which is abomination in My sight.''

Alberich suddenly found it hard to breathe, and Myste gasped openly. With Karchanek's eyes on him, he forced himself to take a breath, forced himself to think, think about this offer, so strange, and so unexpected.

And when he managed to get his mind focused, one thing leaped out at him.

'You read Solaris' words exactly?' he demanded, his voice harsher than he intended.

'Exactly.' Karchanek averred. 'And there is just a little more.' He cleared his throat, and went on. 'And when the Sunlord had said this to me, I bowed before His will. 'I shall send my trusted envoy with all speed,' I pledged, but He had not finished. ' Not any Herald for so great a trust, not any Herald can bridge this gap between our peoples,' He said unto me. 'Send thou to the one they call the Great Traitor, for only his tongue will be trusted, and say that I require they send the one who stands at the Queen's right hand. Say that I call upon the Queen's Own to join My service, and be a bridge between Our peoples.' And so He left me, and so I have done. By my hand and seal, Solaris, Son of the Sun.'

The last words fell like pebbles into an abyss of silence as Alberich gave over any effort to keep his face expressionless. His mind was a total blank. If anyone had told him that these words would ever be spoken between Karsite and Valdemaran, he'd have sent for the Mind-Healers. Insane. Impossible.

'Gods don't ask for much,' Myste said into the silence. 'Do they?'

'I will leave this with you,' Karchanek said solemnly, rerolling the near-transparent paper and inserting it in its metal tube, handing it to Alberich who took it numbly. 'There are other sureties I have that I will bring to you later. I understand that you have a kind of magic that can determine if one is telling the truth, and I beg that you will tell your Queen that I submit to such willingly. This is no trivial thing we ask of you.' He stood up, and Gerichen belatedly did the same. 'You will know where to find me when you are ready.'

Without asking leave-not that Alberich could have given it at the moment-he and Gerichen walked out. Alberich stared at the metal cylinder in his hands.

'ForeSight-' Myste said firmly. 'We need someone with ForeSight.' She started to get to her feet, but Alberich shook his head at her.

'Eldan and Kero, these are who we need first of all,' he countered. His own ForeSight, limited as it was, hadn't even warned him that this was coming.

Then again, would it? It only tells me about disaster looming, not if something good is going to happen...

Small wonder he was a pessimist by nature. 'I shall get them-if they are where I think, none other would be paid heed to,' he continued, handing the cylinder to Myste. 'If you so kind would be, would you with a scholar's eye look this over for tampering.'

'I can try,' Myste said dubiously. 'But I don't exactly have a lot of Karsite documents to compare to it-or anything in Solaris' hand either.'

But she unrolled the document and bent her lenses over it, much to Alberich's relief. He didn't want her haring off to the Collegium in search of someone with ForeSight and letting fall any hints of this evening's revelations. At least, not until she had gotten over her own shock and regained a Chronicler's necessary dispassion for the situation.

Herald-Captain Kerowyn was the logical choice to be informed, since she was practically in the Lord Marshal's back pocket. And as for Herald Eldan-well, that worthy was Alberich's source of information on Karse and the goings-on there. Not to put too fine a point upon it, Eldan was a spy, and but for a single slip, had never once alerted even the Priest-Mages to his true identity.

Kero wasn't in her quarters; neither she nor Eldan were particularly pleased when Alberich interrupted them by pounding insistently in a coded knock on Eldan's door.

'I don't smell smoke and the Collegium isn't on fire, so this had better be at least that important, Alberich,' Kero growled, cracking the door only enough so that Alberich caught a glimpse of tousled hair and an angry blue eye in the light of a hall candle.

'It is,' he said. 'A friendly visit I have had, from-Gerich's outKingdom visitor.'

Kero blinked. 'Friendly?' she said dubiously.

' Very friendly. Unbelievably friendly. This cannot wait until morning. I think it should not wait a candlemark.'

'Right. I heard that,' said Eldan's voice from deeper in the room. 'Give us a little; we'll be right on your heels and meet you in your rooms at the salle. Outside of the Queen's suite, you've got the most secure quarters in the complex.'

Alberich nodded and left them to put themselves back together in peace. Poor Kero!

Eldan was only just back from his latest covert foray into Karse-which was how Alberich had known just who Karchanek really was-and already business had interrupted their time together.

But when had that not been the case with a Herald? Add to which, Kerowyn had been the Captain of her own Guild Mercenary Company, so she should be used to being interrupted by now. She might not like it, but she should be used to it. She's been a