Valdemar Books

by Lackey, Mercedes

  “Then perhaps he will stop treating Skandranon to so much of it after this,” Zhaneel responded, her voice quite tart. “A little is amusing, but he makes a habit of sharpening his tongue on Skandranon, and I am weary of hearing it! Skandranon does not deserve it; and if Aubri continues in this way, there may be trouble with younger gryphons believing in his so-called teasing. They will think that anything Skan says he has done is only wind and empty boast!”

  Skan turned to her in surprise; she didn’t often spring to his defense this way. “Aubri doesn’t mean anything by it,” he said on his old friend’s behalf. “He’s getting old and cranky, and he just likes to tease. And I don’t think I’m going to lose any respect from the youngsters just because he tries to raise my ire now and again.”

  Zhaneel sniffed and twitched her tail with annoyance. “That might be, and I will not be rude by chiding him in public, but I have had enough of it, and he can expect to get as good as he has given from now on.”

  “I agree,” Winterhart put in firmly, crossing her arms over her chest. “Skan deserves a great deal of respect, after all. Maybe not as much as you’d like, you vain creature, but more than Aubri gives you.”

  Skan cast a look at Amberdrake, who only shrugged. “Don’t get me involved in this,” he said. “I don’t think Aubri means anything of what he says, and I don’t think anyone else takes him seriously either—but I think I’m outnumbered here.”

  Winterhart made a little face, and put her arm over Zhaneel’s gray-feathered shoulders. “Come along, my dear,” she said to the female gryphon. “I think we should discuss this at length, just the two of us, since the men don’t seem to take this situation with the gravity we think it merits.”

  “I concur,” Zhaneel said agreeably, and the two of them sauntered off toward the cliff rim and several pleasant lookouts that had been constructed there.

  Skandranon turned a face full of astonishment on Amberdrake—who was gazing after the two females with equal puzzlement.

  “What prompted all that?” he asked, trying very hard to get his thoughts back on track. Amberdrake shook his head.

  “I haven’t any more idea than you do,” he confessed. “Maybe with their chicks gone from the nest, they both feel they have to defend something. I might be considered something of an authority on human emotions, but I have to admit to you that sometimes my lady Winterhart baffles me.” He nodded with his chin toward the head of the trail. “Care to walk down with me so we can both worry about the youngsters together?”

  Skan let out a deep breath; so Drake was just as troubled about Tad and Blade as he was! “Yes, I would,” he admitted mournfully. “Zhaneel made me promise not to go with them, not to follow them, and not to talk about them with her unless she brings the subject up. I wish I had her confidence that everything is going to be all right, but I keep thinking of all the things that can go wrong.”

  Amberdrake followed his mate’s example by draping an arm over Skan’s shoulders. It felt very good there; the support of an old and trusted friend, even if the friend was just as much in need of support himself. Tradition spoke of an elegant half-arch being only a fallen pile of stones without its counterpart to make it whole.

  “So much can go wrong, even in the most peaceful of times. I fear the worst, too,” Amberdrake told him. “But as Blade very rightfully reminded me, their job is not to confront danger directly. They’re only scouts, of a sort. If something dangerous appears, they are supposed to send a warning by way of the teleson, then keep themselves intact so that they can get home and brief us in detail.”

  Skandranon took care not to step on Amberdrake’s feet, and snorted in reply to his statement. “And just how likely do you think that is to happen?” he demanded. “They’re our children! Do you think there’s even half a chance that they wouldn’t see themselves as the front line of the White Gryphon defenses and go confront something dangerous if it appeared?”

  He maneuvered Amberdrake into the inside position, between himself and the cliff, as they started back down toward the city. Drake needed to walk on the protected inside, since if one of them was to slip on the trail, it had better be Skan; he could fly and Drake obviously couldn’t.

  “I honestly don’t know,” Amberdrake admitted. “My daughter baffles me more often than my mate does. I sometimes wonder if the midwife switched babies with someone else when she was born. She doesn’t seem anything like either of us, and believe me, I have tried to find common ground with her.”

  “I know what you mean,” Skan replied with chagrin. “Although Keenath affects me more that way than Tadrith does. Still. Just because we’ve never seen either of them act the way we did at their age, it doesn’t follow that they wouldn’t. If you understand what I’m trying to say.”

  “I think so.” Amberdrake picked his way over a rough spot in the trail before continuing. “Children tend to act differently around their parents than when they’re on their own. At least, that’s what I’ve observed, both professionally and nonprofessionally.”

  Of course he wouldn’t remember himself being that way; he lost his own parents and all his family when he was hardly fledged. But he’s right; I went out of my way to be the opposite of mine. They never wanted to be anything but followers, and I wanted to be the one others looked to for leadership. Sometimes I wonder if they weren‘t smarter than I was. “I wish we had some other way besides the teleson to keep track of them,” he fretted. “It’s very tempting to wish that Urtho was here to give us another Kechara. . . .”

  He couldn’t finish the sentence; the pang of loss he felt even when mentioning the name of the creator of his adoptive “daughter” was enough to still his voice for a moment.

  “It’s more than tempting to wish she was the way she used to be,” Amberdrake sighed, “and not just because she’d be useful now. I’d gladly continue all the evasion and diplomatic garbage we had to concoct for the Haighlei if it meant she was still such a powerful Mindspeaker. She is such a cheerful little soul, though; I don’t miss her powers at all if it means we get to see her alive and happy.”

  Kechara had been one of Urtho’s rare “mistakes,” although Skan had never discovered what his leader, mentor, and friend had intended when he created her. Had she simply been a first attempt at the “gryfalcon” type, of which Zhaneel was the outstanding example? Was it possible that she had been a deliberate attempt to create a gryphon with tremendous ability at mind-magic? Or had she simply been a “sport,” something Urtho had not intended at all, an accident that Urtho saw and carried through, then hid away for her own protection?

  Whichever the case had been, little Kechara had been what the other gryphons referred to as a “misborn.” Severely stunted, slightly misshapen, with wings far too long for her dwarfed body, her mind had been frozen in an eternally childlike state. But her pure strength at mind-magic had been without equal. Adorable little Kechara had been able to reach her mind-voice as far away as the Haighlei capital of Khimbata, which was how she had discovered where Amberdrake and Skandranon had been made prisoners long ago. The madman Hadanelith and his two Haighlei allies had captured them in the last stage before the attempted assassination of Emperor Shalaman during the Eclipse Ceremony. Without Kechara, Skandranon would never have been able to get away in time to save him, and Amberdrake most certainly would not even be alive at this moment. Impelled by danger to him that even she had been able to perceive, her mental “shout” had sundered magical shields and incapacitated Hadanelith’s two allies across all that distance.

  Urtho had known just how powerful her abilities were, and had kept her close-confined in his Tower for safekeeping. He had known that she might be viewed as a prize to be captured or a weapon to be used, and had thought to protect her from that fate. But in confining her, he had assumed that she would not live very long, an assumption that had proved incorrect.

  Skan shook his head. “I agree. And I also know that I would never want to take the chance that another one with worse
problems than hers might be born—we just don’t have the skill and judgment that Urtho did. We all love her, but Kechara’s flaws were too high a price to pay for her gifts, objectively speaking. Quite frankly, I think that it is only because she still doesn’t understand most of what she saw in other people’s minds that she hasn’t been driven mad by it all.”

  He had done his best to make certain she never lost her trusting nature—and so had Judeth, Aubri, and anyone else in White Gryphon who ever came into contact with her. In her turn, she served the city and its people faithfully and joyously. She carefully relayed messages she barely, if ever, understood to and from all of the Silvers with even a touch of mind-magic of their own. It was a task they had all tried to ensure was never a chore for her, and she had loved the attention and approval.

  Skan reflected that it was odd, the way the Haighlei had acted concerning her. For them, a creature with the mind of a child and the ability to read anyone’s thoughts would have been a blasphemy. For a year or two after the Eclipse Ceremony, Skan was fairly certain the Kaled’a’in had been able to keep Kechara’s existence secret from their allies— but eventually they surely had discovered just what she was. There had been many, many circumspect little hints, diplomatic tail-chases and discreet suggestions. Finally an official communique from High King Shalaman had come, advising the “permanent elimination of the long-range communicator of White Gryphon”—referring to Kechara—making it clear by its phrasing that it was not an idle request, and that not doing so would have grave consequences. Skandranon, Zhaneel, and Amberdrake went to Khimbata to appeal to Shalaman in private, and returned to White Gryphon with a delegation of mages led by Advisor Leyuet. Between various nervous ceremonies of state, “Papa Skan” explained to Kechara that it was time for her to rest from her work, and that they were going to make sure nobody was ever scared of her. Kechara trusted Skandranon completely, of course, and gleefully greeted the delegation. The grim-faced Haighlei, who were steeling themselves to meet a monster and fight against its horrible soul-invading power, instead faced a little creature who only thought they were very funny and demanded their absurdly elaborate and colorful hats to play with.

  Well, that’s the Haighlei for you. I suspect one could probably get away with just about anything, so long as it was wrapped in the proper historical protocol. Come to think of it, the reason Shalaman was so incensed about those murders in his Court was because the assassinations hadn’t been done with the proper protocol! Perhaps if we could have found a way for Kechara to be put into Shalaman’s service under their religion, she could have kept her powers—but that wouldn’t really have been true to her, either, and it would only have made her into the tool, the bargaining chip that Urtho feared she’d be used as. It would have destroyed her loving innocence if she were used against one of us and realized it. At least this way she could stay at home and play. At least she can still talk to all the gryphons, as long as they’re within the city limits.

  “Well, what are we going to do, old friend?” the aging gryphon asked, as they picked their way steadily down to the topmost level of the city. This level was the receiving platform for everything lowered down from the cliffs above, or sent up from the city to the cliffs. Work crews were already unloading pallets of food from the farms, and would continue to do so all day. “What do we do about the children, I mean?”

  “What can we do?” Amberdrake asked, with only the faintest hint of irritation. He led the way to the broad white-painted stairs that formed the back slope of the White Gryphon’s “head.” “Nothing. This is their job; the job they chose. They’ve been assigned to it by their superiors, who have judged them capable. Like it or not, they have grown up, and I’m afraid we had better start getting used to that.”

  Skan ground his beak and prowled after him, talons clicking on the stone ramp alongside the stairs, which was easier for a gryphon to handle than steps. “I don’t like it,” he said finally. “But I can’t tell you why.”

  Amberdrake stopped suddenly, turned, and faced him, looking down at his friend with a troubled expression as the gryphon stopped a step later and looked up. “I don’t either, and I haven’t any real reason to feel this way. I wish I could say that I have a premonition about this—because this feeling that there is something wrong makes me look like a nervous old aunty—”

  “But?” Skan prompted. “You’re worried you don’t have the correct dress to play aunty?”

  Amberdrake chuckled, then sighed. “But I am afraid I haven’t had anything of the sort, and there hasn’t been a solid sign from anyone who does have Foresight that something is going to go wrong with Blade and Tad. I know what I would say to any of my clients who felt this way.”

  Skan looked into his friend’s eyes, and shook his head. “Let me guess. What we are feeling is a combination of old war reactions, and unhappiness because this fledging of our youngsters is a sure sign that we are getting old.”

  “Too true. And who wants to know that he is getting old? Not I, I can promise you.” Amberdrake’s expression was as honest as it was rueful. “I’ve been keeping my body limber and capable for decades now, through all kinds of strain, as loose as a down-feather and as tight as whipcord as needed, but—it’s all been to last as long as possible during the pace of time. One never bothers to think about growing old as one is growing older. Then suddenly it is there, looming in your face. Your bones and joints ache, youngsters are expressing concern that you are overexerting yourself, and when you try to insist that your experience means you know more than they do, you find them exchanging knowing looks when they think you don’t notice.”

  “Alas. It is life’s cruelty, I say. One moment we are fretting because we are not considered old enough to do anything interesting, then we turn around and younglings barely fledged are flying off to do the interesting things we can’t do anymore!” Skan shook his head, and looked out over the ocean. “And we are supposed to accept this gracefully! It is hardly fair. I protest! I believe that I shall become a curmudgeon. Then at least I can complain, and it will be expected of me.”

  “Too late for that.”

  Skandranon snorted, “Then I shall be an exceptional curmudgeon. I’ve earned the title. The Curmudgeon King.”

  “Endured Where E’er He Goes. May I join you, then? We can drive the youngsters to distraction together.” Amberdrake seemed to have thrown off some of his anxiety and, to his surprise, Skan realized that he had relaxed a bit as well.

  “Certainly,” the Black Gryphon replied with dignity. “Let’s go down to the obstacle course, and make loud comments about how we used to run it better and in half the time.”

  “And with more style,” Amberdrake suggested. “Finesse and grace, not brutal power.”

  “Naturally,” Skan agreed. “It couldn’t have happened any other way—as far as they know.”

  “So, just how worried are you?” Winterhart asked Zhaneel as soon as they were out of the range of Skandranon’s hearing. As a trondi’irn she had a very good notion of just how sensitive any given gryphon’s senses were, but she knew Skan’s abilities in excruciating detail. For all that he was suffering the onset of the ailments of age, he was a magnificent specimen with outstanding physical abilities, not just for his age, but for any gryphon male.

  “About Skan, or about the children?” Zhaneel asked, with a sidelong glance at her companion.

  “Hmm. Both, of course,” she replied, returning Zhaneel’s glance. She’s just as observant as I thought. “Skan, first. He’s the one we have to live with.”

  “As we must live with Amberdrake, heyla?” Zhaneel nodded shrewdly. “Well. Come and sit beside me here, where the wind will carry away the words we do not wish overheard, and we will discuss our mates.” She nodded her beak at a fine wooden bench made of wave- and wind-sculpted driftwood, and sat down beside it on the cool stone rimming the cliff.

  Winterhart sank gracefully down into a welcoming curve of the bench, and laid one arm along the back of it.
“Drake is very unhappy about all this. I think he expected Judeth and Aubri to assign Blade to something like bodyguard duty, or city-patrol. I don’t think it ever occurred to him that they might send her out of the city, much less so far away.”

  It didn’t occur to me, either, but it should have. I’ve known that Blade wanted to get away from the city—and us—for the past year. Maybe if Drake hadn’t been so adamant about her living with us until she was a full Silver. . . .

  Keeth and Tad had been able to move out in part because Skan had lent them his resources to excavate a new home to trade for an existing one. Sensing Blade’s restlessness, Winterhart had tried to persuade Drake to do the same for Blade, but he wouldn’t hear of it.

  “Why should she need to move out?” he’d asked at the time. “It’s not as if she has any need for a place of her own. We give her all the privacy she would have anywhere else, and it’s not as if she could feel embarrassed to bring a lover here!” Then he had sighed dramatically. “Not that there’s any interest in that quarter.

  The way she’s been acting, a vow of celibacy would be an improvement in her love life. Where could we have gone wrong? It’s almost like she doesn ‘t want to listen to her body.”

  Winterhart could have told him—that children were always embarrassed by the proximity of their parents when trying out the first tentative steps in the dance of amorous life, and inhibited by their parents when learning for the first time what kind of adults they would become—but she knew he wouldn’t believe her. He would have, if Blade had been anyone else’s child, but not when he was her father. A parent can sometimes be too close to his child to think about her objectively. When it came to seeing someone else’s children, a parent could see a larger canvas, but with their own—all they would see were the close daily details, and not grasp the broad strokes. Amberdrake, brilliant as he was, couldn’t grasp things like Blade not wanting to be around parents as she learned her body’s passions. And if Blade had actually come out and asked him for a place of her own, he would probably have given in and made it possible. But she was too shy and too proud, and now, in retrospect, Winterhart could see that requesting assignment to outpost duty had probably seemed the only way she could get that longed-for privacy.