“I can certainly spare a little time for that.”
Charyn led the way out of the study, and they walked along the north corridor to Chelia’s sitting room. When the two opened the door and entered, Howal eased out, but stationed himself in the corridor outside. Charyn closed the door.
“Maitre Alastar, how good of you to see me.”
“Charyn thought you might like to hear about Aloryana.”
Chelia pointed to the chair closest to her. “Please, do sit down. I know Aloryana’s only been at the Collegium two weeks, but how is she doing?”
“She’s doing quite well,” replied Alastar as he seated himself. “She’s well ahead of the other seconds and thirds in academic instructionals, except for mathematics and geometry, but Alyna and Lystara are tutoring her, and she’s making excellent progress. She’s beginning to grasp the basics of practical imaging, and she can already hold a weak shield for a fraction of a quint.”
“Enough to protect herself?”
Alastar shook his head. “That will likely take a year or more, but most imagers don’t get as far as she has until they’ve worked at it months, if not longer. Most never develop strong shields. Usually only maitres do, and it takes time…”
From where he sat on the settee, Charyn tried to listen, but his mind was elsewhere, still thinking about the meeting with the two councils. Everything he knew told him that matters shouldn’t have gone that smoothly. Was that just because Alastar had been present? Or were they just agreeing because they expected him to be assassinated as well? Even before they had to pay the additional tariffs?
After Alastar had spent a quint with his mother, Charyn escorted him to the front entry, then headed back up the grand staircase with Howal, only to find Bhayrn standing at the top, glowering at him.
“Why didn’t you tell me that Maitre Alastar was here and telling Mother about Aloryana?”
“I didn’t know where you were.”
“You could have sent someone to find me. She’s my sister, too, you know.”
You never seemed to care that much before. You didn’t even want to play duets with her. Charyn kept those words to himself. “The Maitre didn’t have that much time.”
“Whereas I have all the time in the world, doing nothing, and you couldn’t even spare a moment to have someone find me.”
“I have had a few things to deal with, Bhayrn.”
His brother snorted. “As if you ever cared.”
“If I didn’t care…” Charyn shook his head.
“Will I ever be able to go riding again?”
“It’s only been three weeks—”
“More than a month! It was the twelfth of Finitas. A month of doing nothing but indoor exercise and too much clavecin practice. A month of—”
“You’re absolutely right.”
“It’s so kind of you to grant that. How long?”
“Until we either stop getting threats or can discover who is making them and dealing with them.”
“That could take years.”
“If … if I don’t know more in another month, you can do whatever you please.”
“Is that a promise?”
“It is.”
“I’ll hold you to that.” Bhayrn turned and walked toward Chelia’s sitting room.
Charyn shook his head … again.
“Your Grace,” offered Howal quietly, “if anything happens to both you and your brother, the only possible heir is High Holder Regial, and he is not of age.”
“The way I feel right now, Howal, is that if the High Holders and factors of Solidar are self-centered and stupid enough to allow that to happen, they Namer-well deserve what befalls them.”
“Does everyone else?”
Charyn paused, then sighed. “Probably not, but, outside of the Collegium, I don’t see anyone terribly interested in what’s best for Solidar.”
“Does that matter?”
Charyn laughed ruefully. “I suspect I know who tutored you.” He could just imagine Alastar offering such a question.
Howal only smiled, if faintly.
The two continued toward the study, but Charyn was thinking about Howal’s observation about the young High Holder Regial, the only son of his father’s unlamented late brother Ryentar. It seemed an unlikely fact for Howal to know and bring up. Unless Maitre Alastar briefed him. Charyn nodded.
Once in the study, Charyn sent for Alucar, since the Finance Minister needed to know what had happened.
Alucar arrived with a concerned expression, doubtless because he had to have known that Charyn had met with both councils. “Your Grace.”
“Apparently, I’ve reached an agreement with both the councils on obtaining additional tariffs for additional warships and also building a regial shipyard.”
For a moment, Alucar looked stunned. “Sir?”
“There are conditions. I can’t collect the additional tariffs until the regular tariffs are due this fall, and there are two levels of levies…” Charyn went on to explain the details. When he finished, he said, “That was the best I could do under the circumstances, I think.”
“That you got any agreement at all is remarkable.” Alucar paused.
“I thought you would like to know so that you could work out estimates of when and from where the funding will come for next year’s shipbuilding.”
“That will be most helpful. I do foresee some difficulties…”
Charyn refrained from sighing. “I’m certain there are a number of aspects I did not anticipate.”
“It will take time to find and purchase the land necessary, and the master shipwrights … and finding the necessary timber—”
“Use the exchanges, either the one here or the one in Solis.”
“Ah … there is the matter of membership…”
“The head of the Factors’ Council, Factor Elthyrd, is an exchange member. Or perhaps the head of the shipyard, when he is selected, could become a member in Solis. There might be other possibilities as well.”
“I suppose that could be arranged.”
“What else?”
“If you hire the best shipwrights, it will cost more, and those wanting to build merchanters will be angered…”
Charyn listened and commented for another quint before Alucar finished enumerating and describing other difficulties, all of which seemed both accurate—and surmountable. “I appreciate your thoughts. Let me know immediately if you have problems in dealing with any of those issues.”
“Yes, Your Grace.” Alucar inclined his head. “Thank you for letting me know.”
“If you don’t know, you can’t do your job.” Charyn stood, smiling pleasantly, and watched as the Finance Minister departed. Then he turned to Howal. “Now we need to draft a letter to both councils stating the agreement reached, as well as the conditions I agreed to.” He had no doubts that there would be several drafts … and that Sanafryt might well suggest changes in the wording for reasons of law.
39
The comparative ease with which he had secured agreement for the additional shipbuilding tariffs was still worrying Charyn when he woke on Jeudi morning, far more than the minor word changes that Sanafryt had suggested for the letter to the two councils. All he’d heard for years was how difficult, how impossible, the High Holders were. And how greedy and gold-grubbing the factors are. Yet they’d agreed … and he still wasn’t sure why.
Before he left his sitting rooms for breakfast, he went to the sitting room window, pulled back the hangings, and scratched away enough of the frost on the glass to peer out. Scattered snowflakes drifted down from the gray clouds, with only a hint of wind, and the windowpane was cold enough that frost began to re-form almost immediately. He let the hanging fall closed and headed for the family breakfast room.
Once there, he ate quickly, and then he made his way to Norstan’s study.
“Good morning, sir,” offered the seneschal.
“Good morning, Norstan. Are there any requests for appointment
s?”
“Only one, sir. That’s Chorister Saerlet.”
“Again?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Tell him…” Charyn shook his head. “I’ll see him at first glass of the afternoon. Did he say what he wanted?” Besides golds to refurbish a perfectively good anomen.
“No, sir. He just said he needed to see you.”
“Send someone to tell him.”
“Yes, sir.”
“No one else?”
“No, sir.”
Charyn thought there would have been more, even despite the cold and snow. People had always been clamoring for appointments with his father, not that Lorien had granted that many. Why did so few wish to meet with him? Were they waiting to see what he did first? Or was there some other reason? He looked hard at Norstan. “Are you absolutely sure?”
Norstan took a step back. “Yes, sir. I am, sir.”
“I may not wish to see all who ask, but I need to know who requests to see me and why. Is that clear?”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
Charyn’s next stop was by the duty desk of the Chateau Guard, but Churwyl was not there, although the duty guard assured him that the guard captain was in the rear courtyard of the chateau conducting an inspection.
“Tell him I might be making an inspection of the grounds myself sometime later.”
“Yes, sir.”
Charyn half-wondered what had made him say that. Because you feel so confined? Because you want to see for yourself how and where the chateau guards are posted?
He was still pondering over that, as well as Meredi’s meeting and the sudden lack of interest in meeting with him, when he entered his study, nodding to Howal. “Apparently, almost no one wants to meet with me.”
“You haven’t been rex all that long, sir.”
“That may be.” Charyn wasn’t convinced. After thinking over what the duty guard had told him, Charyn said to Howal, “Get on a coat. We’re going to walk around the outside of the chateau.”
Howal frowned.
“The walk will do me good, and I’ve never really looked at who is posted where. I’ll wear my green jacket and visor cap. I’ll meet you at top of the grand staircase.”
After returning to his room and donning the green riding jacket that was almost identical to the ones the guards used and the visor cap, Charyn walked to the top of the staircase, where Howal was already waiting. The two walked down to the main entry.
Churwyl hurried forward, his face red, mostly likely from the cold outside. “Sir?”
“Howal and I are going to walk about the chateau. I’ll be close the whole time.”
“Your Grace…”
“I haven’t left the chateau in days.” It feels more like weeks. “Have your men seen anyone suspicious?”
“No, sir.” Churwyl’s voice was resigned.
“Good. We won’t be all that long.” Charyn turned and nodded to Howal.
Once they were outside and walking down the white stone steps toward the front drive, Howal said quietly, “It might be best if we stayed close together.”
“Thank you. I appreciate the reminder.” Charyn recalled that Malyna had experienced some difficulty in holding shields across several people and eased closer to the imager.
“Do you think this is wise, sir?”
“Probably not, but I’d like to see who might be watching and what happens.” Charyn glanced back over his shoulder. He wasn’t surprised to see Churwyl and two more guards standing at the stop of the entry steps. As he watched, Churwyl motioned the guards back inside and turned.
As he walked down the drive, Charyn found the wind stronger than it had seemed, and in moments his eyes were watering from the chill. Halfway down, he turned north along the stone walk that divided the topiary gardens on the east side of the chateau, smiling as he recalled playing seek-and-find among the sculptured trees. Aloryana had complained, often, about being at a disadvantage in skirts. Charyn chuckled to himself, recalling that all the women imagers he’d seen, in grays, anyway, always seemed to wear trousers. She won’t have that excuse now.
“Sir?”
“I was thinking about Aloryana.” Charyn paused in the middle of the east garden, looking down at the ring road to the east where he could see only two horse-drawn wagons and a single carriage, the carriage headed north, and the wagons south. After a considerable time, he turned toward the chateau and studied it. There were no guards on the east side, but then, he supposed there didn’t need to be, since there were no doors on the east side, and the first-level windows were barred.
Overhead, the clouds seemed to be darkening, but the snow did not seem to be falling. Wind had blown the few flakes that had fallen earlier into the garden, where they were piled around the base of the various sculpted trees. “It’s colder than it looked.” Charyn resumed walking toward the drive that ran from the ring road up to the rear courtyard, with its stables, coach houses, and barracks.
Howal said nothing.
Charyn glanced at the imager, who was looking everywhere, and immediately felt concerned. You really shouldn’t have done this. When he reached the drive, he glanced toward the ring road, but saw no one and no wagons or carriages on the ring road near the drive. He started up the drive, noticing that the guards at the courtyard gates were watching him. As he and Howal passed the pair of sentries, one on each side of the stone pillars that supported the ironwork gates, he could see the sentries’ eyes turning to follow him.
At that moment, he heard one crack and then another. From the corner of his eye he saw Howal stagger, and then a puff of snow or dust on the stone wall next to stable door. He glanced over his shoulder and down the drive. He saw no one there.
“Sir! Inside. Now!” Howal’s words were a command.
Charyn didn’t hesitate, but ran alongside the imager to the rear entrance and up the stone steps. Once inside, though, he stopped immediately and looked back at the courtyard, asking Howal, “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine. What about you?”
Charyn forced himself to concentrate on his own body. “I didn’t feel anything hit me.”
“Good. That was a rifle shot. Two shots.”
“I heard. One of them hit the wall by the stable door.”
“Which side?”
“The right side. The north side.”
“Then the shots came from south of the drive.” Howal frowned. “How high was it?”
“Just above the night lantern bracket.”
“Rex Grace! Your Grace!” The words came from Churwyl as he sprinted through the courtyard gates and toward the rear steps. “Are you all right?”
“We’re fine.” Charyn stepped back. He discovered that his legs were shaking. He took a slow deep breath and waited until Churwyl stood in the rear entry hall. “What did you see? Did you find anyone?”
“I heard the shots, and I started running. I have guards searching. I didn’t see anyone. It could be that whoever shot at you was hiding in the lower east garden. Or they could have fired from the alleyway across the ring road. My men are checking both places.”
“Keep looking.”
“Yes, Your Grace.” Churwyl cleared his throat. “Your Grace … ah … do you think…”
“The shooting either means that someone wants to kill me regardless of what I do, or that they think whatever I’m doing isn’t enough. And, unhappily, it means that I shouldn’t walk where I can be seen.”
“That might be … for the best, Your Grace.” Churwyl glanced nervously at Howal and then toward the courtyard.
“Go,” said Charyn. “See what you can discover. Then come and tell me what you find.”
“Yes, sir.” The guard captain backed away, then turned and hurried out the rear doorway.
“We might as well go up to the study.” Charyn paused. “I suppose I ought to tell Mother that someone shot at me. It wouldn’t do for her to hear from someone else.” He turned and headed for the stairs, only to find Chelia coming do
wn them.
“What was all that about?” Chelia looked at Charyn, then Howal.
“Howal and I went out to check the postings of the guards. Just as we entered the rear courtyard someone shot at us.”
“At you, you mean.”
“The shots were closer to Howal.”
Chelia again looked at Howal and her son. “Of course, they thought you were a guard and he was you.”
“I’m blond. His hair is brown.”
“It’s light enough to be mistaken for you, especially at a distance.” Chelia looked to Howal. “I know he’s the rex, but do remind him that people want him dead if he wants to take another walk.”
“Yes, Lady Chelia.”
She turned back to Charyn. “Did you see the shooter?”
“He was behind us. I took a quick look back, but didn’t see anyone.”
“I didn’t either,” added Howal.
“You’re fortunate neither of you were hit.”
“Howal might have been … except…” Charyn didn’t finish the sentence.
Chelia looked to Howal. “I cannot tell you how much I appreciate your presence.”
“I’m glad I’ve been able to help.”
Charyn cleared his throat and waited for Chelia to look at him before he said, “I’d appreciate it if you told Bhayrn what just happened. When I suggested that going riding was a bad idea, he didn’t take it well. If I tell him…”
Chelia nodded. “I will tell him.”
“Thank you.” Charyn offered a lopsided smile. “Since walks seem to be something to avoid for now, Howal and I will address various matters and papers.”
“I think that’s a very good idea.”
Charyn nodded and then started up the grand staircase.
Once he was back in his study, he immediately walked to the window by the desk. He pulled back the hangings and looked out the window and down at the courtyard. He probably hadn’t had the training in geometry that Howal had, based on what Maitre Alastar had said about Aloryana, but from what he recalled, the bullets could not have come from the ring road, not if anyone wanted to hit him. The drive downhill to the ring road was steep enough that the bullets would have struck the stone wall even higher than they had. Conceivably, the shooter could have fired from an upper-floor window in the building on the far side of the ring road … but the shooter would have to have had excellent eyesight and been an outstanding marksman. Then again, those who had shot Bhayrn’s horse and the chateau guard must have had those skills. He felt that there was something … something he was missing.
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