A Handful of Men: The Complete Series

by Dave Duncan

  That had been at least half an hour ago, maybe longer.

  The rocks that littered the hills were painted with blotches of pale green and orange and red and white. If she looked at them kind of squinty-sideways she could see pictures in them. Lichens were a plant and very old, Papa had said. He’d shown Kadie a clear image of a face on one rock near the peat diggings and said it had looked just like that when he was a boy, and maybe Inisso had seen that same face, too.

  Suddenly Thaïle glanced sideways at Kadie and smiled a sad sort of smile. “I’m sorry! You’ve been wonderfully patient! I was watching what was going on in Hub.”

  Hub was more than a thousand leagues away, but Kadie was not going to show surprise. She knew that sorceresses could do things like that.

  “No need to apologize! I’m sure you were busy.”

  The pixie shook her head sadly. “It wasn’t very nice. The usurper shouted out to all the sorcerers in the world, telling them to come and join the Covin.”

  “Oh!” Kadie said, alarmed. “You’re not going to, are you?”

  Thaïle shuddered and pulled a face. “Never! A few did, but not very many. I don’t think very many. There was another sorcerer speaking, too, the warden of the east.”

  “Warlock Olybino? The imperor said he didn’t know where he had gone.”

  “Well, he’s dead now. The Covin just killed him.”

  Kadie said, “Oh!” again. “Because of what he did to the goblins?”

  “That wasn’t him. It was the Covin killed the goblins, and the legions, too.” Thaïle stood up and smoothed her skirt. It was a very simple garment, in green and beige stripes. Her blouse was plain white, her golden-brown legs were bare above soft half-boots with turned-over tops.

  Kadie had never seen garments quite like Thaïle’s, and had been admiring them. In spite of their plainness, they looked very good. She thought she might get some like them, once she was home in Krasnegar again. “What people wear in Thume,” she would say when asked. After months of scavenging for clothes in deserted ruins, it would be wonderful to put on decent clothes again. Even the familiar old things in her closet would be welcome.

  “Warlock Olybino mentioned your father,” Thaïle said. “He didn’t say where he is now, of course, but I think he must be all right still. The Covin hasn’t caught him yet, anyway.”

  Without any warning, the bleak tundra landscape went strangely soft and misty. “Thank you,” Kadie muttered, having trouble swallowing. Mom and Gath were probably all right, because they were with a warlock, and the imperor, but it was wonderful to know that Dad — Papa — was safe, too. They would all have wonderful stories to share when they were reunited, and hers would be as good as any. Rescued by a pixie!

  Thaïle turned and stared to the north. She wrung her hands. “But now I don’t know what to do!”

  “What did you mean, ‘watchers’?” Kadie asked.

  “I meant there’s a spell on Krasnegar. It’s a nice place, Kadie, although I wouldn’t call it little.” She grinned briefly. It was nice to see her happy, if just for a moment. For a sorceress, she seemed extraordinarily sad most of the time.

  Krasnegar certainly was little! Still, there were more important things to argue about. “What sort of spell? Are the people hurt?”

  “No. No, they can’t even know it’s there. Most sorcerers wouldn’t see it, even.” For a moment Thaïle seemed at a loss for words. Probably magic was difficult to explain.

  “Are you a specially powerful sorcerer, er, sorceress, then?”

  “Very powerful,” the pixie said sadly. “That’s my problem. I’m probably the greatest sorcerer since Thraine.”

  Kadie said, “Ooo!” After a moment she said it again, wondering why that could ever be a problem. There were hundreds of legends and old stories about Thraine. Would there be stories and books about Thaïle one day? How she saved Princess Kadolan, for instance?

  Perhaps the pixie read her thoughts, for she smiled again. “At least, I’m comparable — very, very strong! But I can’t see any way in past the watchers, the spell. That’s what it’s for, you see. It’s been put there like a guard dog, to bark if it detects sorcery.” Thaïle looked wonderingly down at Kadie with her big gold eyes. “Your father must be very important to the Covin!”

  “I expect he is! He’s invented a whole new protocol to replace Emine’s Protocol.” Kadie was not very clear just what Papa had done, but it did seem to have impressed the imperor.

  “Yes, the warlock explained, and the Almighty was annoyed very much that it was mentioned.”

  “The who?”

  “The usurper, Zinixo. He calls himself the Almighty now. He’s mad — crazy.” Thaïle frowned crossly. “But that means you’re important, too! If Zinixo could capture you, then he could hold you for ransom, couldn’t he? To make your father give himself up or something?”

  Kadie nodded, feeling uncomfortable. She did not want to be kidnapped again, not just yet, anyway. “Suppose so.”

  “I wouldn’t put any evil past him. You see, he must have set the watcher spell on Krasnegar to tell him if your father tries to come home. I can’t think what else it’s there for. And it’s a very strong spell.” Thaïle bit her lip. “I only know two people who could make a spell that big and that strong.”

  “You?”

  “Ha! No! If I was that powerful, I could undo it. I meant Zinixo. He’s got hundreds of sorcerers to help.”

  “Who’s the other one, then?”

  The pixie hesitated. “I’d best not say who.”

  “A sorcerer stronger than you, and you’re as strong as Thraine?”

  “Sorceress. Well, not really a sorceress. More than a sorceress!”

  “Oo! You mean she’s a demigod?”

  Thaïle started, gold eyes widening. “What do you know of demigods?”

  “Papa was a demigod once,” Kadie said modestly.

  “Once? What do you mean ‘once’? Tell me.”

  “I don’t know much. Mama told us some of it, Gath and me, when we’d been captured by the goblins. I’ve forgotten.”

  The pixie continued to stare for a while, and then shivered. “You are full of astonishing things, Kadie! Mundanes are not supposed to know such lore at all. I think the Gods sent me to you.”

  “I certainly thought so!”

  Thaïle chuckled, then went suddenly sad again. She ran fingers through her hair. It was wavy hair, pale brown, and she wore it very short. She would look older if she let it grow longer.

  “Well, what are we going to do? I don’t dare take you to Krasnegar, and it’s too far to walk.”

  Kadie jumped to her feet. “Magic up a couple of horses?”

  The pixie shook her head sadly and walked away a couple of paces. “I don’t think I can risk that much power so close to the watchers.” Her fists were clenched now. “Kadie, I think I ought to go back to Thume and tell the Keeper about all this. She probably knows, but… But where am I going to take you? I can’t leave you here.”

  Well, that was certainly a relief! Kadie moved close and adjusted her sword. “I’ll come to Thume with you! I’ll be safe there, won’t I?”

  “I don’t think so!” Thaïle wrung her hands again. It was a very strange gesture, just as the way she spoke was a little strange, too. “Oh, you’d be safe from the Almighty, at least for a while. But I’ve already told you too much, and shown you too much. The Keeper wouldn’t ever let you leave!”

  Kadie thought about that. If she couldn’t go home to Krasnegar, then she had nowhere else to go. She decided she would like to stay with Thaïle and visit Thume. Nobody ever did, only her mother had, years ago. She’d been trespassing, though. To be shown around by one of the residents would be quite different. And Thume could never be worse than the goblins.

  “I can’t think of anywhere that’s very safe right now. And why shouldn’t the Keeper let me leave? Who’s ever going to believe me if I say I’ve traveled to Thume by magic?”

  “Any so
rcerer could tell you weren’t lying,” Thaïle said sharply. “You don’t have any friends or family anywhere?”

  “In Hub we have some relatives, but I don’t know them.”

  “Hub’s out of the question!” Thaïle shrugged. “No, I mustn’t take you to Thume. I mustn’t!”

  Kadie smiled hopefully. “You’re the most powerful sorcerer since Thraine, you just said.”

  “I can’t fight the Keeper, Kadie!”

  “She’s the demigod one? Is she not a good person?”

  “No! The Keeper protects Thume. That’s her job. And she’s ruthless!”

  “Ruthless? What do you mean, ruthless?”

  Thaïle turned her back. Then she said, quite distinctly, “She killed my goodman and my baby.”

  She stepped over to another large rock and sat down, not looking around.

  Kadie gulped. “That’s horrible!” She would never have thought that Thaïle could have had a baby. She didn’t seem nearly old enough.

  Then she realized that Thaïle was weeping. Oh!

  This time the boulder was quite big enough for two. Kadie went and sat down and put an arm around Thaïle. In a moment she had both arms around Thaïle, and Thaïle was sobbing on her shoulder. Kadie began to think about Dad, and Mom, and Krasnegar, and even silly old twin Gath, and soon she was crying, too.

  They sat there together on the boulder amid the flowers of the barren lands under the washy blue sky, and wept in unison.

  Still pursuing:

  Let us, then, be up and doing,

  With a heart for any fate;

  Still achieving, still pursuing,

  Learn to labor and to wait.

  — Longfellow, A Psalm of Life

  TWO

  To the appointed place

  1

  About an hour past the top of the pass, the phaeton emerged at last from the clammy white mist. Angling down the side of an enormous valley, the road had just reached the tree line, where a few stunted pine pioneers seemed to be leading the forest in a general migration upward. Sunlight shone in silver on a lake far below.

  “There!” Ylo said proudly. “Scenery!”

  “Gorgeous. Are the tops of the hills pretty, too?”

  “So I’m told. They’ve been temporarily removed for cleaning. Let’s find a place where we can eat. I’m famished.”

  There was so little traffic that he could have just stopped on the highway itself, but he seemed reluctant to do that He drove on for a while, until the trees began to crowd in more thickly. Then he reined in, but he jumped down and led the roan up a gentle slope and around behind a thick clump of conifers, the chaise lurching along behind. Eshiala passed Maya down to him and then accepted his hand to descend, wondering but not commenting. She knew Ylo now, and he would have his reasons. He would also have his reasons for not telling her his reasons.

  The sun had begun to peek through the clouds, and the day was warmer. They ate lunch. Maya became engrossed in trying to feed, or possibly catch, a ground squirrel.

  Lying back on the cloak Ylo had spread on the grass, Eshiala watched him through half-closed eyes. He was leaning his arms on his knees, staring at nothing. Thinking? Worrying? The sun glinted blue highlights in his black hair and traced out the angles of cheekbone and chin. He was quite the handsomest man she had ever met.

  She wished her darling daughter would curl up and go to sleep and leave the two of them alone. This would be a very suitable spot to learn about outdoor loving, even if there weren’t any of his precious daffodils about. The wind was warm and gentle, the only sounds the roan’s steady munching and an occasional rattle of harness.

  Whatever was she going to do when they reached Gaaze and Ylo left her? How could she fend for herself and her daughter? Her share of the gold Lady Eigaze had given them was still intact, because Ylo had insisted on spending his and not hers, and it would suffice to buy a little store, a grocer’s store, like her father’s. She knew how to serve customers in a store, but she knew nothing about buying stock or keeping books or hiring helpers, and she did not think Imperial law allowed a woman to own anything like that anyway. So she would have to find a man to help her. What man could she trust? What man could ever be as satisfying as…

  Ylo raised his head. Hooves beat a slow tattoo on the road. Harness jingled, wheels rumbled — a carriage coming up the hill. He relaxed again. The sounds died down until the wind wiped them away. He leaned on an elbow to spot a kiss on the end of Eshiala’s nose. “Asleep?”

  “Almost. What’s my dearest daughter doing?”

  “Stalking.”

  “Stun her with a rock, will you? Gently, of course.”

  He grinned, eyes close above hers. “Don’t be greedy.”

  “Why not? You taught me to be greedy.” She would not have Ylo around to make love to very many more times. They were in Qoble now; at Gaaze he would leave her. That had been the agreement. The dream was almost over. She sighed, and stretched, and then laid an arm around his neck, trying to pull him down. “Time to go, I suppose?”

  He resisted, frowning, listening, “In a minute.”

  More hooves, and this tune faster — a horseman, descending. He went by. He stopped, suddenly. The roan looked up and whinnied and was answered.

  Ylo sat up, breaking free of her. His hand slid to his sword hilt, but she suspected he was unaware of it.

  The hooves returned, slowly. Then the sound ended, as the horse left the roadbed. Eshiala sat up. Ylo floated to his feet, graceful as always.

  The rider came into view around the pines, a legionary, mail flashing bright in the sunlight. A swarthy and surprisingly youthful face peered out from his helmet. He reined in a few feet away and saluted.

  “Signifer Ylo!”

  Ylo hesitated. His fists were clenched tight. Then he laughed. “Hawk! Well, well. Hawk, you old rascal!”

  Hawk nodded. His eyes flickered momentarily to Eshiala and then away again. “On vacation… sir?”

  Ylo was out of uniform. The man’s tone was respectful, but it indicated that distinction somehow.

  “More or less,” Ylo said. “They don’t call you Hawk for nothing, do they?”

  “A blind bat could see those wheel tracks.” The youngster looked pleased by the flattery, though.

  “Transferred to first cohort, I see. How’s Anlya?”

  The legionary’s mount began to prance, and he brought it under control with more effort than a skilled horseman would have needed. “She’s fine, just fine. Deeded me a big bouncing son couple of months ago.” He beamed proudly. “Young bullock, he is.”

  “Hey, great! Congratulations. Give her my regards.”

  “Will do.” Again Hawk glanced briefly at Eshiala, and then at Maya, who was watching from a safe distance. He regarded Ylo appraisingly.

  His horse began to fidget again and he swore at it. “Signifer… I think this brute may be going to go a little lame, you know?”

  “Want me to take a look?” Ylo asked hesitantly, puzzled.

  The legionary shook his head in a blaze of sun on bronze. “It’ll slow me, I mean. I may be late arriving. Er, just past the second ford, there’s a track goes off to the left. It’s a bit rough for wheels, but it takes you around Pinebridge.”

  Ylo’s fists relaxed. “Ah. Thanks, Hawk. Appreciate that information.”

  “Useful shortcut.” The legionary smiled grimly. “Try and stay out of trouble, Signifer.” He patted the dispatch pouch at his belt thoughtfully.

  “Trouble tells a man who his friends are.”

  “Well, there’s that. The Good be with you. My lady.”

  The kid nodded, wheeled his horse clumsily, and headed back to the highway. A moment later, hooves clopped on the paving.

  Ylo stood stock still, staring after him. Eshiala climbed to her feet, heart thumping.

  “Now tell me what all that was about.” She waited, aware that she was starting to shake. “Ylo? Tell me!”

  He shrugged and turned to smile at her.
“It can’t be the Covin, obviously. So it’s mundanes.”

  “Who?”

  The smile became wooden, a mask hiding his feelings. “Hardgraa, I expect. We made a fool of him, locking him in the cellar. Aunt Eigaze did.”

  Eshiala moved closer, wanting comfort. “Spell it out, darling, please!”

  “It’s my own evilish fault!” he said, suddenly furious. “Back at Yewdark I blabbed about looking for a warmer climate. Hardgraa’s a lot smarter than he looks. He must’ve guessed I meant to head back to Qoble. He’s still loyal to Shandie’s memory. He thinks it’s his duty to turn your daughter in at court.”

  Eshiala shivered. Suddenly the wind seemed much colder. “He’s only a centurion!”

  Ylo shook his head. “Everyone in the XIIth knows he’s Shandie’s man. He wouldn’t need papers and warrants. He could’ve reached Gaaze ahead of us, easy. And talked to the legate. The XIIth guards the passes.”

  “They’re going to arrest us?”

  His anger was obvious now. “Detain us for questioning. He won’t have mentioned who you are, of course. He’s probably told them some tale about a high official’s wife and the imperor being furious but not wanting a scandal. Hardgraa can spin yams like that by the league. That would be my guess. And the legate’s told them to look out for me.”

  “They all know you!”

  He nodded. “And my reputation.”

  If he wasn’t going to initiate a hug, then she would have to. She stepped close and put her arms around him. He did not respond, just stood there, looking down at her coldly. “Well-earned reputation!”

  “The finest lover in Pandemia,” she countered.

  “Finest seducer of beautiful young women!” he said bitterly.

  Surely he was not having an attack of conscience? Not Ylo! “And a hero to the army. Hawk was offering to commit treason for you, darling — wasn’t he?”

  He blinked in surprise and then laughed uneasily. “I suppose it would be mutiny at least, if you want to put it that way.”

  Strange and lovely man! Ylo was very conscious of his good looks and sometimes lately he seemed just a little ashamed of the use he put them to, but he never, ever gave himself credit for all his good qualities. Like heroism.