immense and crushingly destructive mass of men with their pikes and shields and deadly onrushing force, naturally; but the sight of Nath commanding had power to instill perfect confidence.
The business of the day being settled for the time being, for alarums and excursions cropped up at any hour, I was free to give thought to what Delia had said about Jaidur. The notion in my mind that there must be more than one army advancing on Vondium had, for the moment, to be pushed aside. I left it with the thought that the mercenaries and the detachments from Hamal who had taken over the southwest had not obstructed the landing of the new army from Pandahem, and this argued they were in league and mutually assisting each other.
But, Jaidur…
As we sat to a private meal in what would be called our withdrawing room, with Delia superb in a long sheer laypom-colored gown, and I lounging in a white wrap, the whole small room limned with gold from the samphron-oil lamps, I found her as reticent on this as I had on other occasions touching the Sisters of the Rose. That secret society of women demanded much of their members, and had a hand in a great deal of what went on in Vallia.
“You know I am under vows, my heart.”
“I know. At least reassure me that Jaidur is — well-” I gestured helplessly. “That he is not likely to be chopped and eaten at any moment.”
Delia laughed. The line of her throat caught at mine.
“No, no, you hairy old graint. You worry too much over the children, and yet-”
“And yet they have been woefully neglected by me, I know. Some people, looking at our family, might well say they have turned out a thoroughly bad lot. Well, not Drak. I except him, of course, and, I suppose, Zeg, seeing he is fully occupied in the Eye of the World being the king of Zandikar.”
“A bad lot? We-ell… Lela bides her manners and is so mewed up with the SoR she hasn’t been home for-”
“I haven’t seen her since I got back-” I choked on my words, and seized up a crystal glass of best Jholaix — for we had unearthed a cellar full of the superb wine in a ruined wing of the palace — and drank it off, scarlet-faced, I have no doubt.
Gravely, Delia regarded me. Her gown slipped demurely from one rounded shoulder. The lamps caught flecks of gold in her brown hair. She looked gorgeous.
“From where, my heart?”
I swallowed down. Sudden, it was, sudden and quick and fierce, like a first love.
“From that world I told you of. That world with only one sun, and only one moon, and only apims.”
She caught her breath, and was still. And that was her only reaction. Then: “You have spoken to me of this strange world which boasts but one small yellow sun, and one small silver moon, and lacks any kind of humans save apims, without a single diff to make life interesting. And is it real? And is it-?”
“It is real. It is called Earth. And it is where I was born.” I reached over the table and took her fingers. They were warm, alive, trembling only a little. “And, my heart, it is many and many a dwabur away from Kregen, lost among the stars of the heavens.”
“Your home — is among the stars…”
“No, Delia, no. My home is here, on Kregen. With you.”
Her smile transformed her face, making what was beauty into a radiance so all-encompassing the loveliness dizzied me. I closed my eyes, and opened them, and Delia still smiled on me.
“And this weird crippled world is where you go when you leave me?”
“I am sent there. Against my will. Because I defy those who wield the power. I shall not defy them so stupidly again.” We talked then, quick questions and answers, and I told her much. She was fascinated by the idea of Earth, and quite beyond any childish feelings of guilt that the pure religions of Opaz would frown on her or condemn her conduct.
We talked through many burs of the night.
And, when at last we slept, we still had not talked enough to satisfy her curiosity or relieve my mind of those years of guilty secrecy. But, when all was said and done, what difference would this make in our relationship? We were a twinned whole, a twosome that transcended one-ness. She had always been aware that I left her from time to time, without explanation, and always returned. She always waited. No moist-mouthed seducer from Quergey the Murgey could sway her love away from me, as he had so often done with lesser women from their husbands. We remained still Dray and Delia. We were. But I felt a deal easier in my mind now that Delia knew. And, when she did know, I saw all my previous fears as the childish phantasms they were. To be brutally honest, the truth had come out and the whole episode smacked of anti-climax.
And, to be equally truthful, that was exactly how it should be.
The next day I mounted up and rode out at the head of my little band, aiming to get on with the hard business of rebuilding an empire, not for the glory of empire but because it was a task that had been set to my hand by the people of Vallia.
Chapter Seven
Barty reined up and swung his zorca about to fall in with me.
“They’re three ulms away, off beyond that ridge of trees.”
He pointed ahead. The trees lined the horizon, barring off forward vision. The clouded sky towered above and, I fancied, when the wind dropped there would be rain. The turf compacted firmly beneath the hooves of the zorcas and nikvoves, the breeze rustled bushes and small trees among the grassland, and we were approaching Dogansmot, which is a lively enough little town in the vadvarate of Thadelm in the southwest of Vallia.
I said to Volodu the Lungs: “Do not lift your trumpet, Volodu. Word of mouth, and quietly. Dismount.”
Approaching us walked three zorcas, one of whom had a broken horn, carrying two dead men and two wounded. I looked at them and felt the anger, and repressed it.
“Close, Barty. You did well.”
He nodded and was enough of a veteran now to say, merely: “Our patrol was ambushed. They left two dead men, three zorcas. The Pandaheem know we are about.”
“Surely.” At our backs the long columns were dismounting. “Get the men away into what cover they can find. Spread out. Strict silence.” I swung to Targon the Tapster and Naghan ti Lodkwara who rode with Korero the Shield. “Come, and quietly as you value your hides.”
The four of us cantered out across the turf, making very little sound. The zorca hooves beat softly. And I would have no truck with junk like jingling accoutrements and flying tassels and nonsense of that sort. Our harness and gear made no sound as we cantered out to scout the enemy.
“Gallop,” I said, in a harsh penetrating sort of way, and with a swift look back, which assured me that the troops were finding cover and making themselves and their mounts invisible, clapped in my heels and took off. The others followed.
We reached the line of trees without strain.
The situation was as I had expected.
The enemy general had sent forward a patrol to the line of trees and their distance beyond gave us time to reach the trees first. But only just.
We saw the green and blue uniforms, the brilliance of bronze and silver, as the zorcas broke up the ridge from the far side. There were ten of them, riding hard, and their plumes nodded very bravely.
“Let them get in among the trees,” I said, most mildly. “Ten. Well, whoever gets himself a third man will be right merry and quick.” From which, you will perceive, I was in a grim humor that needed a little skull-bashing to relieve the tensions. Vondium had burned and Vallia had been ripped into shreds. Somehow we had to start rebuilding, and here and now was a tiny fracas along the way… The trees rose tall and heavily foliaged, their roots no doubt drinking deeply of a subterranean stream. The shadows fell bafflingly, and we waited in silence, completely confident. The ten cavalrymen spread out a trifle as they reached the crest of the ridge and plunged boldly in among the trees, and this made me think they had once been good soldiers but were now by reason of
