without so much as a hello. Now, I don't know much, but I does know that something is up when the both of you are here in the middle of winter. You don't have to tell me what's going on, but I might be able to help, you never know.'
'There is something going on, Freyna, but there's no help you can give me. Urikh's here? I didn't know that.'
Ullsaard gave her a kiss on the cheek and turned towards the door when something occurred to him.
'When was the last time the Brotherhood were here?'
'Not since summer, collecting tithe,' Freyna replied. 'Why?'
'If you see a Brother, or anyone not local, send word to Allenya as soon as you can.'
'Are you in trouble?'
'Yes,' Ullsaard said. He left it at that and crossed back to his wagon.
Freyna waved from her doorway as the two carts creaked into motion, the abada grunting under the switches of the drivers. Once they were past the few cottages the road reappeared, two winding lines of mud that followed the course of the river.
The grounds of Ullsaard's house were nothing grand, though he had paid for a stone wall around the cleared space of forest, and brought some of the mountain flowers and bushes from Askhor for his mother to tend. In the summer, the villagers came here to hold games and there was a wide hedge-bounded lawn on the hotwards side of the house, now just a muddy field.
The lower storey of the house was of grey stone like the enclosing wall, the upper floor made of strong Enairian timber. The windows even had blown glass panes, small though they were, and the roof was covered with slate from the Ersuan hills. By local standards it was a veritable palace in size, though it had only ten rooms in total — fewer than Ullsaard's apartment in Askh.
The servants Ullsaard had sent ahead were waiting in the courtyard, along with a member of the house staff whose name the general couldn't remember. They helped Luia, Meliu and Allenya down from their wagon. Ullsaard joined his wives and the four of them headed for the main doors while the carts were taken away.
The entrance hall was warm and lit by a fire in a deep hearth opposite the door. The floor was covered with thin strips of wood, each carefully lacquered and interlaid to present a herringbone pattern. Two housemaids appeared to take the arrivals' travel cloaks and blankets and Ullsaard was glad to be free of his heavy coat as he rubbed his hands in front of the fire.
'The mistress is in the sitting chamber,' one of the maids told Ullsaard.
The young girl led them to the right through a wooden arch, into a carpeted room where another fire blazed. Narrow windows showed the frost-caked lawn and the outer wall, the trees of the Enairian forests looming beyond. There were several couches and chairs and a slab of green and grey marble that served as a table. Lamps on the walls combined with the firelight to give the room a comfortable glow.
Sitting by the fire in a low, stuffed seat was a woman in her late sixties, her straight grey hair bound in a tight braid, her lined face staring towards the flames. As they entered, she looked up at Ullsaard, her flint-hard eyes betraying nothing of her thoughts.
'Welcome, son,' she said, standing. Pretaa looked at the women and smiled. 'And my daughters.'
'Are you well?' asked Ullsaard.
'As well as could be hoped,' she replied, receiving kisses on the forehead from Allenya and Luia.
'You look wonderful,' said Meliu, hugging her tightly. She pulled back and stroked Pretaa's hair. 'You look the picture of health.'
'Thank you, child, you are such a dear,' said Pretaa, waving them to the couches around the table. Jugs and bowls steamed and there were plates of nuts and preserved fruits. 'I thought you might prefer an informal meal. We can have something proper this evening when we have time to prepare.'
Ullsaard understood the gentle rebuke and whispered an apology as he embraced his mother.
'I hear that Urikh is here,' said Ullsaard.
'Really?' said Luia, looking around the room as if her son were hiding somewhere.
'He will be back this evening,' said Pretaa. 'I am sure he would have been here to greet you if he had known you were coming.'
Ullsaard gave his mother a look of warning not to push too far and she smiled thinly.
'It is good to see you all, even if the circumstances are not to our liking.'
'What have you heard?' asked Ullsaard as he sat down and spooned venison stew into a bowl.
'Only what Urikh has told me,' said Pretaa. 'You have had a falling out with the king, and now you have been chased into Enair.'
'It was not quite like that,' said Ullsaard.
'I would say it is exactly like that,' said Luia. 'Which part is wrong?'
Ullsaard ate his stew and said nothing while Pretaa performed her mother-in-law and grandmother duties, asking after the health of the family and goings-on in Askh. He sensed disapproval from his mother, but knew better than to ask. She would make her opinion known when she wanted, and not a moment sooner.
When they had finished eating and the servants had cleared away, Pretaa invited the women to retire to their rooms for some rest. Ullsaard watched them leave with a sense of foreboding. When he was alone with Pretaa, a mug of beer in his hand, he gave her a long look.
'Just say what you want to say,' he said heavily.
'Whatever do you mean?' said Pretaa, moving to sit next to the fire, her back half-turned from Ullsaard. 'You are always welcome here. After all, you built this house for me. It would be ungrateful to turn you away.'
'You have always been welcome in Askh, you've just chosen not to come,' said Ullsaard.
'It seems that neither of us is welcome in Askh these days,' she said with a sigh. 'I knew that something like this would happen one day.'
Ullsaard sat in the other fireside chair and leaned towards his mother.
'What do you mean? You barely know what has happened.'
Pretaa would not look at him. She gently shook her head and folded her hands in her lap.
'It was a mistake telling you to go to Askh,' she said quietly. 'No good can come of being around the Blood and their kind. The Blood calls to itself and brings out the worst.'
'I don't understand what you are talking about. What have the Blood got to do with any of this? If you mean Prince Aalun, he has been nothing but a friend and an ally. Though he is in part responsible for what has happened, he could have easily broken his ties with me and left me to the mercy of his father.'
'That is exactly what I mean,' said Pretaa. 'Why did you get involved at all? The Blood has a power of its own. It makes men hungry for power, makes them selfish.'
'That may be true of Aalun, but my ambitions have nothing to do with the Blood. I have come so far, achieved so much, I can't let all that effort simply fade into nothing, can I?'
'No, you could not, though you should have done. I cannot see what good will come of this. You should have been content. You have three fine wives, three fine sons. You have everything a man could want from his life, but for you it is not enough! I should have known that this would happen.'
Ullsaard studied his mother. There was a haunted, distant look in her eye that he had never seen before.
'What is it?' he demanded. 'How could you know anything like this would happen? Tell me what you're keeping secret.'
'It does not matter.' Pretaa's words did not match her behaviour.
Ullsaard had seen the same before, from officers who wanted to confess a break of regulations, or when one of his sons had misbehaved whilst he had been away and wanted to tell Ullsaard before he found out by other means. Something was on Pretaa's mind that she could not bring herself to tell him but knew she should.
'If it has anything to do with what is happening now, it is better that I know.'
Pretaa glanced at him and when she spoke she continued to look into the fire.
'Do you know why I have never been to Askh? I am scared that I will be recognised.'
'I don't understand. Recognised by who?'
'I am Askhan, born and bred. Not from a noble family, but one that was well enough off that I spent time in the palace.'
'I always knew you were not Enairian; that much is obvious. What does it matter that you are Askhan?'
