“I was expecting... I thought I’d be... well, ready by the time I got there.”
“Nobody is ever ready to face a battlefield for the first time.” Leiard looked at Jayim and chuckled. “You will learn a lot quickly when you do. Do not fear the learning. I will guide you.”
Jayim shook his head. “No point in worrying about something you can’t avoid; you’ll have enough worries when it happens.”
Leiard looked at Jayim in surprise. “That is an old saying.”
The boy shrugged. “My mother says it all the time.”
“Ah. I imagine you’ve given her many reasons to...”
The tarn before them slowed to a stop. As Jayim pulled on the reins, Leiard peered around the side of the vehicle before them. Another vehicle stood side-on to the lead tarn, blocking its path, and four Dreamweavers Leiard did not recognize stood beside it.
“Looks like our numbers have just grown a little,” Leiard said. “Stay here. I will greet the newcomers.”
He climbed down from the tarn and strode forward. As he drew closer to the strangers he saw that Arleej’s caravan had reached the end of the track. Three vehicles waited on the side of a wider road. Arleej was talking to one of the newcomers, a stocky male Dreamweaver with pale hair. She saw Leiard and beckoned him forward.
“This is Dreamweaver Leiard, former Dreamweaver adviser to the White,” she said. “Leiard, this is Dreamweaver Wil.”
The man was Dunwayan, Leiard noted. Wil’s eyebrows had risen when Arleej had mentioned Leiard’s former position.
“Adviser to the White,” he said. “I had heard something of this.” He paused, then snorted. “I had best tell you now that I have my doubts about the wisdom of it. These White are mind-readers. They could rob us of much of our knowledge.”
“Only that which is valuable and acceptable to them,” Arleej replied. “Which, when you remember that they consider our use of herbs quaint and our mind-linking skills taboo, is little.”
Wil shook his head. “Attitudes change.”
“And they have, to our benefit, for now.” She smiled. “You will find Auraya of the White surprising, Wil. She visits us every night. She and Leiard are old friends, since before her Choosing.”
Wil’s eyes widened slightly. He stared at Leiard for a moment, then shrugged. “I look forward to meeting her.”
“We had best return to our tarn,” Arleej said firmly. “We have much travelling to do before we draw close to the army again.”
Wil nodded, then headed toward the first of his group’s tarns. As Leiard turned away, Arleej spoke his name. He looked back. She gestured to her tarn.
“Join me for a while?”
He followed as she climbed up onto the seat. The newcomers waited while she urged her arem forward and took the lead along this new road. After several minutes Arleej looked at Leiard and smiled.
“The White have told Raeli that they have lifted the ban on people using our services for a day after the battle.”
“That is good news.”
“Yes. It appears some good has come from your friendship with Auraya.”
He nodded in reply.
“I expect she does not reveal any of the White’s plans for the army?”
Leiard shook his head. “Nothing we don’t already know.”
“Has she mentioned the new Dreamweaver adviser at all?”
“Once.” He grimaced. “She finds Raeli’s aloofness disappointing, but understands the reason for it. She hopes there will be time later, after the war, to befriend Raeli - or at least gain her respect.”
“I see. What else does she talk about?”
“Reminiscences.” He shrugged. “Stories of her visits to Si and Borra.”
“Has she noticed this trouble you have with Mirar’s link memories taking on a personality in your mind?”
He frowned and looked away. “I’m not sure. She hasn’t mentioned it.”
A feeling of threat came with the reply. Leiard felt his control slip and found himself looking at Arleej.
“I have a confession to make,” he found himself saying. “This fool of a Dreamweaver has been...”
Leiard fought Mirar and managed to regain control. Arleej was frowning at him in puzzlement.
“What’s wrong?”
Leiard shook his head. He dared not speak for fear that the words that came out would not be ones he’d planned to utter.
“It’s Mirar, isn’t it?”
He nodded.
Her eyes widened in understanding, then she frowned again in concern.
“Jayim told me he thought things had been getting worse lately. He said it started after Auraya first visited you.”
Leiard looked at her in alarm.
“Don’t worry, he kept his promise. Though he could not hide his concern for you.”
Arleej took his hand and held it firmly when he tried to pull away.
“There’s more to this than you’re willing to tell. I would leave you your secrets, but I suspect they’re destroying you. Tell me, Leiard. Obviously Mirar wants you to.”
He shook his head.
“I am already avoiding the White so they do not learn you are keeping something from them. I may as well know the whole truth.”
He looked away. Arleej fell silent. Then she sighed.
“Mirar.”
The name was spoken like an order. A summons. He felt control melt away.
“At last.”
His own voice was different: higher and with an authority and arrogance he’d never possessed. He found himself straightening and turning to regard Arleej.
She stared at him and he saw a hint of fear in her face.
“Why are you doing this to Leiard?”
“For his own good. He cannot continue this affair with Auraya. It will destroy him, and my people.”
Her eyes widened. “Affair?”
“He loves her. She probably loves him, too. It’s pathe- sweet. But dangerous.”
“I see.” She looked away, her gaze intense as she considered what she had just learned. “I do not think Leiard would do anything to harm our people,” she said slowly. “He must believe there is no danger.”
“He is wrong.”
“How so? If this secret remains hidden there is no immediate—”
“Even if accident does not reveal it, you can be sure the gods know.”
She shuddered. “Obviously they don’t disapprove or they would have put a stop to it.”
“They will when it brings them the greatest advantage. You can be sure it will not be for our benefit. Never think that they don’t hate us. We contain memories of darker times, when they were not so benevolent. They do not want their followers to know what they are capable of.”
Arleej had turned a little pale. She grimaced, then shook her head. “Leiard, Leiard. What are you doing?”
