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You think I like it? asked Ryba, her voice still calm. I can t ask
anything without the threat of some sort offeree. I can t get anyone to see
what I see. If I try to use reason, even you fight me. If I use coercion and
trickery, then what does that make me? But I have to, if I want a daughter,
and if I want her to have a future. There aren t any choices for me, Nylan.
And there aren t many for you.
Nylan looked back at Dyliess s peaceful and innocent face, asking himself,
Were we like that once? Does life force us into the use of force and violence,
just to survive?
You have visions of what must be, and when you don t follow those, people
suffer and die, Nylan finally said. You ve told me that, and I see that. I
see it, but that doesn t mean I have to like it.
All I want is for us to be free, for the guards, me, Dyliess, not to be
trapped in a culture in which some horses are treated better than women.
That s not asking a lot.
It doesn t seem so, agreed Nylan. But for us to be free seems to require
more recruits and more and more weapons. More recruits makes the locals
madder, and that means we have to defend ourselves, which leads to more
deaths, and more plunder. That allows us to get stronger, but only if we keep
our deaths few, which means better training and more weapons. Better training
means less food-growing and hunting, and that means a military culture,
probably eventually hiring out to the powers that be. Nylan cleared his
throat. Is that what you see? Is that what you want?
I wish I could see a more peaceful way, but I don t. Westwind will have to
hire out some guards, but from what little I do see, we will be able to
prosper by building better trade roads, by levying tariffs on them, and by
protecting them. Ryba paused. I don t see this as the clear and unified
picture you paint, either. I catch an image here, or there, and I have to try
to visualize how it fits. I always worry that I won t put the pieces of this
puzzle together right, and that I ll fail and someone else will die who
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shouldn t.
Nylan slowly eased the cradle to a stop. Dyliess gave the smallest of
snores, then sighed. He slipped under the light and thin blanket that was all
he needed in the summer evening.
Would you hold me? asked Ryba. I know you ve been forced, tricked, and
coerced, and I m not proud of it. But it s lonely. I m not asking for love.
Just hold me.
In the darkness Nylan slipped from his couch to hers, where, uncertain as
he was, Nylan put his arms around her, his eyes open to the rough planking
overhead, wondering how long he could hold her, yet knowing she had no one
else.
CIV
HISSL HAS REQUESTED relief from his post in Clynya for three eight-days,
Sillek says, looking up from the table and stifling a yawn. His breath causes
the candles in the nearer candelabra to flicker.
He s been there for a while, hasn t he? asks Zeldyan, gently bouncing
Nesslek on one knee, while occasionally picking up a morsel from the small
sitting room table and eating it.
Yes.
Why does it bother you?
Terek says he s up to something, something not exactly wizardly. Strange
people have been visiting him-armsmen no one recognizes. He s been laying up
enough provisions for a small army. Koric told me that. He laughed. Said that
Hissl has no idea how to do something secretly.
He s not& surely he wouldn t try to& he s not stupid enough for treason.
No. And he s not subtle enough to try it that way. If he were out to
overthrow me, his best chance would have been to murder Koric and open the
grasslands to Ildyrom in return for support from Jerans. He is smart enough to
consider that. Since he didn t, it s something else. Sillek yawns and looks
at his son. When will he go to sleep?
Soon, says Zeldyan with a laugh. Keep talking. Your voice soothes him.
So what is Hissl doing?
I m just guessing, but I d say he s going to mount his own expedition to
the Roof of the World.
Why? He wouldn t know a sword from a dagger.
He is a wizard, and he told Terek last year that he thought the
thunder-throwers of those angel women would not last a year.
Zeldyan frowns. Why would he risk such a thing?
He dislikes being second to Terek. He would like lands in his own right
and a title. I could not back down on my promise on that, especially if Hissl
defeats them, and he knows that. My word would be forfeit to every holder and
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