Wind Rider's Oath

efforts to work out a peaceable compromise solution to his disputes with you. As far as I'm aware, he hasn't gone into any specifics about just how you've been hostile and confrontational. Do you suppose that would have anything to do with the concessions you want from him?'

'Hostile and confrontational, is it?' Yalith glowered. 'I'll 'hostile and confrontational' him! We've been as reasonable as we can be with such a pigheaded, greedy, stubborn, opinionated young idiot!'

Despite herself, Kaeritha found it difficult not to smile. Yalith's evident anger made it a bit easier, since it was obvious her resentment of Trisu burned much deeper and hotter than she wanted to admit to Kaeritha . . . or possibly even to herself. At the same time, the knight could see how even a man considerably more reasonable than she suspected Trisu was might feel the war maids were just a trifle hostile toward him.

'I'm sure you have,' she said after a second or two, when she was confident she could control her own voice. 'What I need to know before I move on to Lorham is exactly what concessions you've been seeking.'

'Nothing that earthshaking,' Yalith responded. 'Or they shouldn't be, anyway. We want a right-of-way across one of his pastures to a stud farm which was bequeathed to us by Lady Crowhammer six or seven years ago. We want a formal agreement on how the river's water will be divided and distributed in dry seasons. We want a guarantee that our farm products-and farmers-will receive equal treatment in local markets from his factors and inspectors and from the market magistrates. And we want him to finally and formally accept the provisions of our charter and Lord Kellos' land grant-all of their provisions.'

'I see.' Kaeritha sat back and considered what Yalith had just said. The first three points did, indeed, sound as if they were less than 'earthshaking.' She was only too well aware of how simply and reasonably someone could describe her own viewpoint on an issue which was bitterly contested, yet she was inclined to think it must be the fourth point which lay at the heart of the war maids' current confrontation with the Lord of Lorham.

'What specific provisions are in dispute?' she asked after a moment.

'Several.' Yalith grimaced. 'King Gartha's charter defines specific obligations to local lords from which war maids are to be exempted, and, to be fair, Trisu and his father and grandfather have generally accepted that. They've been less interested in enforcing the provisions which require those same local lords to grant war maid crafters and farmers equal protection and treatment in their markets.

'That's bad enough, but it's also been going on literally for generations, and we've managed to live with it all that time. But another serious dispute's arisen in the last few years, concerning the water rights I spoke of and the integrity of the surrounding land which Lord Kellos originally granted to us. Lord Kellos' grant defined specific boundaries and landmarks, obviously, but Trisu's family-and, for that matter, some of the other local lords, although not to the same degree-have been encroaching upon those boundaries for years. In fact, Trisu's father built a grist mill on what's clearly our land, and Trisu has refused to acknowledge that Lord Darhal was in the wrong when he did. In fact, Trisu insists that he owns that land and always has, despite the fact that the original grant puts the boundary almost half a mile beyond the mill. That's just one instance of the way in which our boundaries are being routinely violated.

'Another point is that the grant clearly specifies that we're exempt from tolls on the use of roadways crossing Lorham. Lord Kellos and Trisu's great-great-grandfather did some horsetrading back and forth over the exact boundaries of our holdings, and Lord Rathman gave us the exemption in return for a couple of offsetting concessions from Lord Kellos. But Lord Trisu's father, Darhal, began charging us the tolls anyway about thirty years ago.

'Admittedly, this isn't a point we've made an issue out of before, since the tolls Lord Darhal levied weren't all that high. More to the point, they were clearly intended for the maintenance of the roads in question, and we were using them to transport our goods and produce. But Trisu began raising the tolls immediately after he became Lord Warden of Lorham. He's obviously trying to raise additional revenues, over and above the cost of maintaining the roads themselves. We may've been willing to pay a toll we weren't legally obligated to pay so long as the funds were being used to repair and maintain roadways that benefited us, as well as Lorham. But we are not prepared to subsidize other parts of his treasury while he's violating our boundaries and attempting to deny us our legitimate water rights.

'There are several other, minor points-most of them procedural, really. Some of them, to be completely honest, probably aren't worth fighting over. But they're part and parcel of our overall quarrel with him. We're not prepared to concede any of them without getting something in return, but that's something that can be worked out in negotiations, assuming that both sides are willing to negotiate.'

'I see.' Kaeritha nodded, her expression thoughtful. 'That's about the size of it?'

'Well, yes. Where our prerogatives and boundaries are concerned, at any rate. But . . . there is one additional, major problem.'

The mayor's pause was almost a hesitation, and Kaeritha quirked an eyebrow.

'As I said,' Yalith continued, 'our charter clearly and unambiguously provides that our craftspeople, farmers, traders, and anyone else who may be a citizen of Kalatha or any of the free-towns which were founded later are guaranteed the same rights as any other citizens of the Kingdom, regardless of whether they're men or women. Trisu doesn't seem to think that applies in Lorham.'

'In what way?' Kaeritha asked, leaning forward and frowning intently.

'Our merchants and artisans and some of our farmers have been harassed in local markets, and Trisu's magistrates have done nothing about it,' Yalith replied. She waved a hand in a back-and-forth gesture. 'That, in itself, isn't all that important. There's always going to be some bigoted farmer or townsman who's going to give women doing 'man's work' a hard time, and war maids can't afford to be too thin-skinned when it comes along. But it's symptomatic of a more serious problem.'

'What sort of problem?'

'There have been . . . incidents concerning the temple of Lillinara at Quaysar,' Yalith said. It was obvious she was picking her words carefully, and also that she was trying hard to restrain a volcanic surge of anger. She paused once more, and Kaeritha waited for the mayor to be certain she had control of her temper before she resumed.

'Since you follow Tomanak, not Lillinara, you may not be aware that the temple in Quaysar has special significance to the Mother,' she said, after a few moments. 'It's not an especially large temple, but it's a very old one. Quaysar itself is a tiny town. In fact, the town proper has pretty much disappeared over the last fifty or sixty years. What's left of it has been effectively absorbed by the temple itself. But the Quaysar Temple has always been especially important to the war maids-just as Kalatha itself has been, despite our small size-because it was at Quaysar that our original charter from King Gartha was first officially and formally proclaimed. You might say Quaysar is the 'mother chapter' of all war maids everywhere and that Kalatha is the 'mother free-town' to match it. Quaysar's also located in Lorham, unfortunately. As a matter of fact, one of the reasons Lord Kellos originally granted Kalatha to the war maids, and why the Crown recognized it as a free-town, was our proximity to Quaysar.'

'You're right. I wasn't aware of that,' Kaeritha murmured. 'Tellian told me Kalatha was your oldest free-town, but I didn't know about Quaysar or its importance to you.'

'There's no reason why you should have,' Yalith pointed out. 'Obviously, we would have preferred to have been able to include Quaysar under our charter. Unfortunately, the lord wardens of Lorham have always been much less sympathetic to us than Lord Kellos was. It didn't seem to matter much, though, given the respect and autonomy enjoyed by any temple. Whether Trisu or his ancestors approved of war maids or not, surely no sane person was going to harass or insult the temple of any god . . . or goddess. Or so we thought.'

'You mean he has done that?' Kaeritha demanded sharply.

'I mean,' Yalith said grimly, 'that he's repeatedly demonstrated his disrespect-I would even say contempt-for the temple at Quaysar. He's insulted the Voice of Quaysar in personal conversation. He's made it clear to her that he is not impressed by the fact that she speaks for the Mother. For that matter, he's all but openly stated that he doesn't believe she does speak for the Mother at all.'

Kaeritha was shocked. Different rulers always evidenced different degrees of reverence and respect, and some people seemed to believe that if they worshiped one god-or goddess-all of the others were irrelevant. But what sort of idiot openly showed the sort of disdain and contempt Yalith was describing? Regardless of what he himself believed or disbelieved, such an attitude was guaranteed to offend and