The Soprano Sorceress: The First Book of the Spellsong Cycle

by L. E. Modesitt Jr.

  “You ordered her to,” points out the counselor.

  “She is obeying. That is good.” Behlem paces toward the window again. “So I will inform everyone that she is leaving on the following morn to rebuild the old sorcerer’s place—Loiselle or whatever it’s called. Will that be enough?”

  Menares spreads his hands. “Even if the assassins fail, they cannot be traced to you—or Cyndyth—and she is out of here. If she survives, you call on her to repulse the next attacks of the Evult. She will.” Menares shrugs. “You cannot lose, sire. She either dies or replaces thousands of armsmen.”

  “What if she throws in with Ebra?” The Prophet pauses by the shuttered window.

  Menares laughs. “She cannot. The Evult hates her, and he hates women. Those lands are surrounded by your holdings in Defalk, and only Ebra is close.”

  “I still worry about the old man, and the lord-pretender.” Behlem turns toward the center of the room and fingers his beard again.

  “Lord Barjim’s brat is twelve years old, and Lord Jecks has all of tenscore in armsmen and levies. Remember, Jecks sent a messenger and met with her in a open field without weapons. That does not sound like they are exactly close. Also, the lady Anna is clearly from a place where intrigue is seldom practiced. She is most straightforward, even blunt.”

  “That seems apparent.” Behlem straightens his uniform. “It nears the glass when we formally bestow the lands upon the lady Anna.”

  “And your officers will understand that the private presentation, announced later at the dinner, effectively terminates her service as the equivalent of an armsman.”

  “Exactly.” Behlem smiles. “So does Cyndyth.”

  The counselor nods. “That is good.”

  “You do not know how good. No … do not respond, Menares. Not a word.” Behlem’s hand touches the gold hilt of the ceremonial blade.

  104

  After running through a full set of vocalises, Anna took down the green recital gown from the corner wall pegs. She didn’t have to struggle into it. She didn’t even need the longline bra. In fact, she had wondered if the gown would be too large, but it wasn’t—even though she knew she was slimmer. Was she more muscular? Or had she subconsciously tailored it with her cleaning-and-pressing spell? After dressing, she tried more vocalises, but the gown let her breathe easily, unlike when she had worn it in Ames.

  She looked in the mirror, but couldn’t see any real difference. The gown fit, almost perfectly, and she knew it would have the desired effect. Her eyes dropped to the open note on the table.

  She was to meet with the Prophet in the small receiving hall—the note from Menares was quite specific—and then proceed to the main hall for the dinner. She was not to approach the Prophet during the dinner itself. One way or another, that would not be a problem.

  Beside the open note was a sealed one, with the name Hanfor on the outside. What it said was simple enough, just requesting that the overcaptain meet the sorceress outside the small receiving hall following her meeting with the Prophet in order that she might express her gratitude in an open and proper fashion.

  Thunk!

  “Coming.”

  Anna turned and picked up the lutar case, careful to hold it away from the gown’s skirts. The sealed sheet was in her other hand. When she opened the door, the dark-haired page stood on the landing. His eyes widened as Anna stepped out.

  “Ah … Lady Anna. You …” Skent blushed.

  Anna touched his shoulder. “You’re good for a lady’s ego. Thank you.” She paused. “Would you please carry this for me?”

  The page looked at the lutar case, then took it, even as he said, “Of course.”

  “Is Birke below? Or Resor?”

  “They both are.”

  “Good. I have a message for Birke to deliver.” Anna went down the stairs carefully, although she wore the green dress slippers she had created, rather than the heels. She wasn’t used to heels anymore, and the gown didn’t drag with the slippers—another change? Or was she somewhat taller?

  Both Birke and Resor gaped as had Skent when she turned the corner and came down the last steps to the main level.

  Anna handed the folded and sealed sheet of paper to the redhead. “This is to be delivered directly and immediately to Overcaptain Hanfor. You are to hand it to him directly. Dire consequences will befall you or anyone else if it does not go to his hand. Remember,” Anna smiled, “it is from a sorceress.”

  Birke looked at the envelope and gulped.

  “Thank you, Birke.” Her voice softened, and she offered a smile, though her heart was pounding, as it always had prior to a performance, and this was going to be quite a performance if she could pull it off.

  “ … is beautiful …” murmured Resor.

  “ … got to get going …”

  The sorceress hoped Birke would have no trouble finding the overcaptain, but if he did not, she would go solo.

  For once, all the lamp mantles in the hall’s corridors were clean and shimmered with the flames of trimmed and lit lamp-wicks. Armsmen in clean uniforms were positioned at every corner, standing stiffly—or relatively stiffly, Anna reflected.

  A pair of guards and the ubiquitous Giellum were drawn up outside the small receiving hall.

  Anna smiled at Giellum. “Is the Prophet ready?”

  “He said to show you in, lady.”

  “A moment.” Anna turned to Skent. “This case is important, young man. You wait right here with this until I summon you. It probably won’t be long.” She forced a smile. “Certainly no longer than until the dinner itself will begin. It is part of the ceremony after I meet with the Prophet. Don’t go anywhere.” Anna looked over at Giellum. “Make sure he doesn’t, Giellum. The Prophet would be displeased, and so would I.”

  Both nodded.

  “As soon as the doors open, you be ready with this. Do you understand?”

  “Yes, Lady Anna.” Skent nodded seriously, tightening his grip on the brown leather handles.

  “Good.” Anna glanced at Giellum.

  The young armsman and de facto herald opened the door. “The lady Anna, as summoned by the Prophet. Lord of Defalk, Sovereign of Neserea, and Protector and Prophet of Music.”

  Anna blanked her face and entered the long and narrow room.

  Behlem stood before a high-backed and gilded wooden chair. A raven-haired woman sat in gown of brilliant blue in a lower-backed but also-gilded chair to the left of Behlem’s. Cyndyth’s eyes fixed on Anna as the sorceress stepped forward and as the door closed behind her. On the right side of the dais stood Menares, in dark Neserean blue. On the left, beside Cyndyth, stood Hanfor, in a formal blue uniform.

  Behlem smiled broadly as Anna approached. She stopped and curtsied—à la Metropolitan Opera, Anna reflected to herself, all style and no heart. She stood and waited.

  “Menares has informed you, Lady Anna, that you are gifted, for your life, the estates and lands of the late Lord Brill?”

  “Your grace is most kind,” Anna murmured, her heart pounding, almost hoping that Behlem would provoke her, wondering if she could do what was necessary if he did not.

  “This strikes me as a most reasonable compromise,” Behlem continued. “You have rendered me service in your efforts against the Ebran forces, but those services have been costly in other ways.” The Prophet provided a condescending smile, the kind she hated.

  “First, the road to Mencha and the only good ford across the Chean have been greatly damaged. Second, the flow of the river has diminished and that has reduced the harvest. Third, there is the devastation to Sorprat and to Falcor itself.”

  Anna waited. Hanfor’s face was weathered stone. Menares looked grave, as if trying to emulate some great jurist. Cyndyth smiled, faintly, triumphantly.

  “I would talk about the devastation wrought by the great flood. Could you not have stopped this?” asked Behlem. “They say you are the greatest sorceress in the history of Liedwahr.”

  “Your trust in my a
bilities is most touching, your majesty,” Anna said with a smile, but not taking her eyes off either the Prophet or Cyndyth. “I am one person. I cannot be in two places at one time.”

  “Then it is for the best.” Behlem nodded. “I would request that, tomorrow morn, you make your way to Mencha to take possession of your holdings. You may take all that you require, and your player, and any of your personal guard that may choose to accompany you. Like all lords, you will pay liedgeld, but because your lands have been neglected, not until after the next harvest.”

  “Is that all?” Anna asked.

  “All? You have been rewarded, rewarded beyond the dreams of most singers or sorceresses.” Behlem looked incredulous. “Do not press me, sorceress.”

  “Nor me … .” murmured Cyndyth.

  Menares shook his head minutely.

  Anna sighed, hummed one note, and sang, full-voice:

  “Prophet strong, prophet wrong,

  turn to flame with this song.

  Singing turn, music burn,

  die the death you’ve earned!”

  “No! You bitch!” Behlem stumbled forward, his right hand groping for the ceremonial blade for a moment before he began to tear at his uniform. Then slowly, like a falling tree in a forest fire, he toppled slowly.

  Even as she stepped to her left, Anna felt like retching, both at the shrieks of agony; and the stench of burned meat. Instead she gathered herself together, as cold inside as Behlem was hot, hummed again and sang.

  “Scheming lady, scheming wrong

  turn to fire with this song.

  Your schemes have you burned,

  die the death you’ve earned!”

  Cyndyth stared for a moment, then opened her mouth, rising and lurching toward the sorceress, but she, too, flared into flame, and then toppled into a burning charcoaled heap.

  Anna swayed, but managed to stay on her feet, swallowing the bile in her throat.

  The old advisor—Menares—opened his mouth.

  “Don’t,” Anna croaked.

  Menares shut his mouth.

  Anna turned to the overcaptain. “Will you serve me, Hanfor?”

  Hanfor stood for a long moment. “Do you threaten me, lady?”

  “No. I am asking, because you have ability, and because I’d rather there not be any more killing and deaths. Defalk has had enough, and there’s no one left capable of commanding armsmen here.”

  “I will serve you,” Hanfor bowed, “so long as I do not have to lead troops into Neserea.”

  “Thank you.” Anna appreciated his wording. “I suppose you had best gather the officers immediately in the main dining hall. Do not mention the Prophet yet. I will announce that.”

  “What … of me?” Menares croaked.

  “Come along, and say not a word,” snapped Hanfor, touching his blade.

  Anna opened the door, and motioned Menares out, glancing at Hanfor. She let him close the heavy door.

  “Let no one enter,” Hanfor ordered Giellum.

  The young armsman’s eyes flickered, and his nose twitched, and he swallowed. “Yes, ser.”

  Across the hall, Birke stood looking around, note in his hand. Then he rushed for Hanfor and pressed the paper into the overcaptain’s hand. Hanfor glanced at Anna. She smiled briefly, then took the lutar case from Skent, as Hanfor opened and read the note, which he then tucked into his belt.

  “The Prophet has commanded that all enter the dining hall,” Anna said quietly. She took the lutar case and extracted the instrument, then handed the case back to Skent.

  As she walked toward the open double doors thirty yards down the corridor, she could hear low voices, and voices not so low. Her mouth was dry, and her heart pounded. Was it murder? Of course it was. Was it necessary? Lord, how many people justified themselves that way? She kept walking.

  The great hall was already half filled with the Prophet’s officers when Anna walked to the dais. Holding the lutar, she glanced around, waiting.

  “ … beautiful …”

  “ … beautiful like a sharp blade with no hilt … no matter how you handle her … get sliced six ways to market …”

  “ … never seen her in a gown … looks different …”

  “ … like her better in the field …”

  More officers entered, then Hanfor, and the doors closed. Hanfor moved across the room, and the officers parted as he neared Anna. He offered a quick bow. “They are all here, I think.”

  “Thank you. Stand behind me. Please.”

  The weathered officer frowned, but obeyed.

  Anna’s fingers flicked three loud chords, and the murmurs died. Would she have enough time before someone charged, or would her reputation hold them at bay? She slipped into Rosina’s words quickly, almost effortlessly.

  “Ma se mi tocano dov’e il mio debole,

  sarouna vipera, sa ro,

  e cento trapole

  prima di cedere

  faro giocar, faro giocar …”

  Then she followed up with the revised version of the spell used on both Virkan and Madell.

  “Captains here, captains strong,

  keep me safe with this song.

  Captains warm, captains cold,

  faithful be till dead and old.”

  Even before she stopped singing, Zealor stepped forward, trembling, and opened his mouth. Then a violent shaking took him, and he collapsed on the floor writhing. Soon … he was still.

  Anna nodded. So much hate that his system could not stand the conflict.

  She turned to the others. “As I am sure some of you know, Delor attempted to have me killed. Don’t believe that I didn’t understand that Behlem kept others around to try again once I had defeated the dark ones.”

  She paused. She was sounding stupid, getting ahead of herself, and her mouth was still like cotton. “The lord Behlem had requested I leave Falcor and planned to have me killed once I left tomorrow. He and his consort killed and tortured innocent women. She set at least two assassins after me. Yet I never opposed him. Not until today. All rulers do some terrible things, but Lord Behlem would have become little different from the Evult of Ebra.” She swallowed. “Those of you who know me, you know I do not like killing. Those who know me know I do not speak in fancy phrases. I have done what I thought best. I killed many to save you, and I have destroyed the Prophet and his Consort to save Defalk and perhaps Liedwahr. I don’t know, but I have done what I felt was right.”

  Silence filled the hall, the silence of men stunned beyond immediate belief. Men who could not believe a woman was cold-blooded and direct enough to kill their ruler and face them.

  The sorceress looked out across the faces of the officers, seeing Alvar’s swarthy face, and Spirda’s strained pale face. “I do not intend you harm, as most of you must know by now. There are some who have meant me harm, and the spells were to keep them from harming me. Any of you may leave, with your armsmen, but I command those who do depart to leave Defalk and never to return, save with my written permission.

  “Now,” Anna gestured to the tables, “there was a victory. You have paid for it. Best you enjoy it.” She turned to Hanfor. “It is time I leave the hall.”

  “Lady Anna!”

  A swarthy figure made his way through the stunned officers—Alvar.

  “I be no lord. I be no overcaptain. I captained the lead lancers. I watched the lady Anna stand in a dirty trench with a player and three guards and face ten thousand Ebrans alone. I watched her almost die from that effort, and I watched Lord Behlem insult her.

  “I talked to others. They watched her stand on a broken wall and try to hold back the Ebrans when all others fled. She near died then, too, and was carried away’cause she spent herself to save others.” Alvar coughed. “I be from Firscor, and for generations, my folk be there. I never saw a lord put himself in front of his men one time. The lady did twice. That be all I have to say.” He knelt.

  Anna’s eyes burned, but she took Alvar’s hand and insisted he rise.
/>   “Lady Anna … Lady Anna …”

  The murmured words were not a booming acclamation. Neither were they bitter, but an acknowledgment that she was Lady Anna, worthy to be called such.

  “Eat and enjoy it,” Hanfor said. He turned to Alvar. “It’s your job to get them not to waste good food. I will return shortly.”

  “Yes, ser.” Alvar smiled. “You heard the overcaptain! To the tables.”

  As Anna and Hanfor stepped into the corridor outside the hall, followed by a dazed-looking Menares, Giellum knelt, as did the two pages. The two guards looked to Hanfor.

  “The lady Anna holds Falcor,” Hanfor said, “and all the Prophet’s officers support her. You guard her, with your lives, or I’ll have them.”

  The two young guards blinked.

  “You heard them acclaim Lady Anna.”

  The guards’ faces relaxed. “Lady Anna.”

  Anna turned to Skent and Birke, still kneeling. “Up. You need to spread the word. Just what the overcaptain said. I hold Falcor. No more, no less.”

  As the two pages scurried off, and as overcaptain, the sorceress, and the white-haired counselor walked toward the receiving room, followed by the two guards, Hanfor said, “Neatly done, my lady. Are you going to claim any special title? The Sorceress of Defalk?”

  “No.”

  Hanfor’s face blanked.

  “It’s not time for a woman to be lord, not officially. Young Jimbob will have to be lord.”

  “He is but a child.” Hanfor stroked his beard. “Yet your words about women have a bitter wisdom.”

  “This poor land doesn’t need another lineage.” Anna looked at Hanfor. “My children are worlds away, and I can have no more. For now, I am acting as regent—in the absence of anyone in the lineage of Defalk.” Anna smiled. “Do you mind serving an acting regent, Hanfor? I will release you …”

  “I will stay. My life would be worthless in Neserea.” The weathered face cracked into a smile. “Matters here will be interesting, anyway.”