Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Chapter One - ELSPETH
Chapter Two - DARKWIND
Chapter Three - ELSPETH
Chapter Four - DARKWIND
Chapter Five - ELSPETH
Chapter Six - DARKWIND
Chapter Seven - ELSPETH
Chapter Eight - DARKWIND
Chapter Nine - ELSPETH
Chapter Ten - DARKWIND
Chapter Eleven - ELSPETH
Chapter Twelve - DARKWIND
Chapter Thirteen - INTERLUDE
Chapter Fourteen - ELSPETH
Chapter Fifteen - DARKWIND
Chapter Sixteen - ELSPETH
Chapter Seventeen - DARKWIND
Chapter Eighteen - ELSPETH
Chapter Nineteen - INTERLUDE
Chapter Twenty - DARKWIND
Chapter Twenty-one - ELSPETH
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-four
Chapter Twenty-five
Author’s Note:
MAGE-GIFT
The ordinary young woman with the graceful white horse was—not ordinary at all. She was the bearer of an untrained, but major Mage-Gift; one so powerful it sheathed her in a closely wrapped, sparkling aura in his Mage-Sight, that briefly touched everyone around her with exploratory fingers she was apparently unaware of. Quenten was astonished, and surprised she hadn’t caused problems with it before this. Surely she must have Seen power-flows, energy-levels, even the nodes that he could See, but could not use. Surely she had wondered what they were, and how could she not have been tempted to try and manipulate them? Then he recalled something; these Heralds, one and all, had mind-magic and were trained in it. If they didn’t know what Mage-Talent was—it could, possibly, be mistaken for something like Sight. And if she was told that this was just another way of viewing things, that she could not actually affect them, she might not have caused any trouble.
They have no idea how close they came. If she had ever been tempted to touch something....
One thing was certain; it wasn’t a question of whether she could be trained or not; she had to be trained.
Now the question was, by whom?
NOVELS BY MERCEDES LACKEY available from DAW Books:
THE HERALDS OF VALDEMAR
ARROWS OF THE QUEEN
ARROW’S FLIGHT
ARROW’S FALL
THE LAST HERALD-MAGE
MAGIC’S PAWN
MAGIC’S PROMISE
MAGIC’S PRICE
THE MAGE WINDS
WINDS OF FATE
WINDS OF CHANGE
WINDS OF FURY
THE MAGE STORMS
STORM WARNING
STORM RISING
STORM BREAKING
VOWS AND HONOR
THE OATHBOUND
OATHBREAKERS
OATHBLOOD
THE COLLEGIUM CHRONICLES
FOUNDATION*
BY THE SWORD
BRIGHTLY BURNING
TAKE A THIEF
EXILE’S HONOR
EXILE’S VALOR
VALDEMAR ANTHOLOGIES:
SWORD OF ICE
SUN IN GLORY
CROSSROADS
MOVING TARGETS*
Written with LARRY DIXON:
THE MAGE WARS
THE BLACK GRYPHON
THE WHITE GRYPHON
THE SILVER GRYPHON
DARIAN’S TALE
OWLFLIGHT
OWLSIGHT
OWLKNIGHT
OTHER NOVELS
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THE DRAGON JOUSTERS
JOUST
ALTA
SANCTUARY
AERIE
THE ELEMENTAL MASTERS
THE SERPENT’S SHADOW
THE GATES OF SLEEP
PHOENIX AND ASHES
THE WIZARD OF LONDON
RESERVED FOR THE CAT
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THE VALDEMAR COMPANION
Edited by John Helfers and Denise Little
*Coming soon from DAW Books
Copyright @ 1991 by Mercedes R. Lackey.
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Dedicated to
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A gentleman and a scholar
OFFICIAL TIMELINE FOR THE HERALDS OF VALDEMAR SERIES
by Mercedes Lackey
Sequence of events by Valdemar reckoning
Prologue
The Legend:
Long ago, in the days of the first King, for whom the Kingdom of Valdemar is named, it came to the King that he was growing old. Now Valdemar had led his people out of the hands of a tyrannical monarch and had no wish to see them fall again into the hands of tyranny. He knew that his son and Heir was a worthy, honest man—but what of his son’s sons, and theirs?
He longed for a way to determine who would be a worthy successor to the throne, so that Valdemar the kingdom need never become less free than it was at that moment.
So he went into the fields and gardens beside the Palace, alone, and wrought what was half a prayer and half a spell, begging all benign Powers for their aid in this desire of his.
And as the last rays of the sun died from the sky, there was a mighty wind, and a shaking of the ground, and out of the grove of trees before him came a being like unto a white horse. And it spoke into his mind-Then came a second, and a third, and before Valdemar could think to question why these came, his own son and his chief herald came to the place as if they had been called. And these two beings spoke into their minds, also, saying “I Choose you.” So did the king know then that these Companions would choose only worthy folk to bear them company, for all their lives-and that these folk would be the instrument of justice and honor for all of the Kingdom from this moment. So did he name those Chosen by Companions to be Heralds, for only one could be a Monarch, and only one could be the Heir, but all could aspire to be a Herald. And he had made for them clothing of white, like the coats of their Companions, so that all might know them at a distance, or in a crowd; and he decreed then that only a Herald could be the Heir or the Monarch. And he decreed that there should be one Herald always to advise and serve and befriend the Monarch, so that his decisions be tempered with another view, and that Herald was to be called the Monarch’s Own.
So it was. And so Valdemar has prospered. The Heralds incr
eased, and the Monarch’s justice spread.
The Chronicles:
In the first year of Herald Talia’s investiture as full Queen’s Own, Prince Ancar of Hardorn slew his father and all his father’s men in a bloody and successful attempt to take the throne. He slew also Herald Kris who was there as ambassador on behalf of Queen Selenay, and imprisoned and tortured Herald Talia who was with him. She was rescued, out of all expectations, by the power of Herald Dirk, the young Heir Elspeth, and all the Companions together. Such a thing had never been known before, that the Companions would all add their strength to the Heralds to accomplish a task.
Ancar then made a trial of the strength of Valdemar, using both magic and his private army, but he was thrown back.
Some two years later, he made trial of the borders again. This time he was beaten back by the combined forces of the mercenary Company the Skybolts, under Captain Kerowyn; the armies of Valdemar; and the army of Rethwellan under Lord-Martial Prince Daren, who had come in answer to a promise of aid long forgotten. In the heat of the battle, the Prince and the Captain lost their horses and were both Chosen-and the Prince and Queen were taken with a lifebonding, a circumstance that both pleased and disturbed many.
Our ancient enemy, Karse, remains quiet, for Karse is beset with internal troubles. Ancar makes incursions on the Border from time to time; nothing but feints, however. So it has been to this day, some seven years from the last battle, when the events occurred that I now relate....
Herald-Chronicler Myste
Chapter One
ELSPETH
“But—” Elspeth protested weakly. The empty salle echoed back her words faintly. She stared at Herald Kerowyn and tried to make some sense of what she’d just been ordered to do. Repair armor? Why should I repair armor? I don’t even know the first thing about repairing armor! And what does that have to do with anything? She sat down, her arms sagging beneath the weight of a set of worn-out leather practice armor, a set long past its useful lifespan, and smelling faintly of sweat, leather-oil, and dust. “But I-”
“You know leatherwork, don’t you?” Kerowyn asked, her generous mouth twitching as if she were trying not to laugh. Elspeth squirmed uncomfortably on the wooden bench, feeling very much like a tiny brown mouse facing a bored cat.
“Yes, but-”
“You’ve seen me and Alberich repair armor before, haven’t you?” the mercenary-captain-turned-Herald continued with patient logic, arms folded across her chest. Elspeth looked from Kerowyn’s weather-tanned face to the dust motes dancing in the sunlight to the whitewashed walls of the salle in hope of finding an answer.
She was unable to come up with one. She’d been put directly under Kerowyn’s command this week, in lieu of the “usual” duties of a Herald. Those “usual” duties-riding circuit on a Sector, acting as lawbringer, occasional judge, paramilitary advisor, and general troubleshooter-brought a Herald into areas of significant risk-risk the Council was not willing to take with the Heir to the Throne.
So her assigned duty at the moment consisted of doing whatever Herald Kerowyn told her to do. She’d assumed her tasks would be things like acting as an assistant trainer, perhaps. Learning command tactics. Perhaps even acting as liaison between Kerowyn’s mercenary Company and the Council.
Especially since the Council members still weren’t certain what to do with a mercenary Captain who was also a Herald.
These were all things she knew how to do-or at least make a start on. After all, those were the kinds of things Heralds were supposed to do. They were not supposed to be repairing armor.
“Yes, but—” she repeated weakly, not knowing what else to say.
“You don’t happen to think you’re too good to repair armor....” Kerowyn’s tone held a certain silky menace that told Elspeth that someone had given Herald Kerowyn chapter and verse on the ill-tempered Royal Brat. Of course, the Brat was a phase she had long ago outgrown, but some people couldn’t seem to forget that stage of her life.
“No!” she said hastily. “But—”
“But why do I want you to repair armor-especially when it’s someone else’s job?” Kerowyn unbent enough to smile and shifted her weight to her right foot. “Let’s play ‘just suppose’ for a moment. Let’s suppose you are-for some reason-out in the back of beyond. Not even alone. We could have a situation like the one that brought me up here in the first place—where you’re with a fighting force, maybe even in command, but there aren’t any armorers around.” She gestured at the pile of leather in Elspeth’s arms. “Your gear gets damaged, and there’s nobody free to fix it. What are you going to do, wear something with a weak spot and hope nobody notices? Hope you can find somebody to fix it before the next engagement?”
“Did you ever have to fix your own gear?” Elspeth countered. She had so been looking forward to a free afternoon.
“I assume you mean after I made Captain?” The Herald laughed out loud, displaying a fine set of strong, white teeth. “My dear child, the Skybolts were so badly off that first year that I helped make armor. And arrows and lances and even some horse-gear. No, dear, you aren’t going to wiggle out of this one. Leather armor isn’t that hard to repair; merely time-consuming. So I suggest you get to it. As for how, you take apart everything that doesn’t look solid and replace it.” The former-and current-Captain of “Kerowyn’s Skybolts” nodded her blonde head emphatically and turned away toward the heap of practice armor that had been tossed into the “needs repair” pile.
Resigned to the situation, Elspeth watched Kero toss her blonde braid over her shoulder, thought of her own dull brown hair, and sighed a little enviously. If I weren’t the Heir, nobody would ever pay any attention to my looks. Mother is gorgeous, the twins are adorable, my stepfather is the handsomest man at Court-and I’m the little brown sparrow. Why couldn’t I have been born looking like her?
Kerowyn was certainly an amazing person. Lithe, strong, and with a face even her critics had to call “striking,” she would have had dozens of suitors if it hadn’t been for the fact that she and Herald Eldan discouraged even the most persistent with their devotion to one another. The Captain had been blessed with a head of hair as bright as new-minted gold and thick as a horse’s tail. And despite the fact that she was literally old enough to be Elspeth’s mother, it showed no sign of graying. Whatever Kerowyn’s past life had been like, it had left no outward marks on her. And from the stories Kero had told over the past few years, she’d been through enough to gray the hair of four women.
For that matter, her present was just as hectic, and it hadn’t left that much of a mark on her. She juggled two dedications, Herald and mercenary Captain, either one of which would have been a full-time career for anyone else.
And there are plenty of folk who think she should stick to one or the other.... Elspeth smiled to herself. Those were the same folk who were mightily annoyed that the Herald Captain wouldn’t wear Whites unless it was ordered by the Queen herself. She compromised-if one could call it that-by wearing the same kind of dark gray leathers the Weaponsmaster favored. And the Queen smiled and held her peace. Like Alberich, Kerowyn was a law unto herself.
“Besides, you have all the resources of the armory at your disposal,” Kerowyn said over her shoulder, as she hefted another corselet in need of repair-this one of metal scale, a mending task Elspeth didn’t even want to think about. “You wouldn’t have that in the field. Be grateful I don’t demand that you fix it with what folks carry in their field kits.”
Elspeth bit back a retort and spread the shirt out over the bench she was sitting on, giving the armor the kind of careful scrutiny she imagined Kero must have.
Well, it isn’t as bad as I thought, she decided, after a second examination proved that some of the worst places had already been repaired. Evidently the Captain had taken that much pity on her....
She bent to her task, determined to make as good a job of it as Kerowyn would.
Her determination did not last more than a few momen
ts.
Someone distracted her as soon as she turned her attention to a tricky bit of stitchery that had to be picked out without ruining the leather. A whisper of air was all that warned her of the attacker’s rush—but that was all the warning she needed. What Weaponsmaster Alberich had not pounded into her, the Herald Captain was making certain she learned, and in quick-time, too. And Kerowyn was a past master of the unconventional.
:Gwena!: she screamed mentally, as she acted on what had become reflex. She tumbled off her bench, hit the hard wooden floor with her shoulder, and rolled. She came up on the balls of her feet, poised and ready, the tiny knife she’d been using to cut the stitches still in her hand. Her heart pounded, but from battle-readiness, not fear.
She found herself facing someone who had recovered just as rapidly as she had; he stood in a near-identical pose on the opposite side of the bench, and she sized him up quickly. Taller and heavier than she, an anonymous male, in nondescript clothing, his face wrapped in a scarf and head covered with a tight hood, so that all she could see were his wary eyes.
A thousand fleeting thoughts passed through her mind in that moment of analysis. Uppermost was a second mental scream for help to her Companion Gwena. Hard on the heels of that was the sudden question: Why doesn’t Kero do anything? She glanced out of the corner of her eye. The Captain stood with arms crossed, watching both of them, no discernible expression on her handsome face.
Valdemar 09 - [Mage Winds 01] - Winds of Fate Page 1
