Shadowsinger

by L. E. Modesitt Jr.

  The distant roaring grumble continued to rise. Small ripples flicked across the surface of the unnaturally flat bay, ripples running from the sandy shore toward and past the Silberwelle.

  For a moment, Secca just stared at the isle, trying to see through the daystars across the dark waters toward the land. Gouts of liquid fire began to spray from the darkness of the shadowed land, from just behind the white line of the sandy beach to the cultivated hillsides and forests above. The fire fountains began to thicken, and the heat—even a dek offshore—began to increase. Within moments, the air was hot, almost like that just above an oven or a fire, so hot that Secca flung up her arm to shield her face.

  “Hard starboard! Steady on due north.”

  “Coming starboard.”

  Before the ship had even heeled slightly into the turn, a rushing gust of hot air struck Secca, so hard that she staggered. Above her sails cracked in the abrupt gust, and a long ripping sound followed. A huge thundering crash, as though a mountain wall had fallen, reverberated in Secca’s ears.

  The Silberwelle heeled farther, and Secca clutched for the railing to keep her feet. But her eyes remained on Stura. Openmouthed, she watched, frozen at the railing, as cloud of glowing ash surged downhill from the volcanic cone, as trees flattened and burst into flame almost simultaneously with the wind that preceded the avalanche of ash. Then the houses on the lower slopes vanished under the luminous ash.

  As the Silberwelle turned, crew scrambling through the rigging, and shifting to catch the wind from a different angle, Secca turned away and took a stumbling step toward the ladder that would take her below, out of the heat that she had created. Didn’t know…it would be like this…

  To the northeast, far into the distance, the sea continued to flatten and take on an ominous and deadly silvery shimmer.

  “Everyone below! Everyone below!” The frantic energy in Denyst’s voice was all too clear.

  Secca’s legs felt like lead, her arms as if she could not lift them, but lift them she did, turning at the top of the ladder. Halfway down the ladder another blast of wind ripped through the Silberwelle, slamming Secca against the ladder.

  “Bring her round another point! Into the sea! Into the sea!”

  The sails flapped in the rising hot winds that gusted round the Silberwelle, first blowing from the land, then swirling back southward.

  Secca winced as several pinpoints of fire fell from the sky and jabbed at her hands and neck, and she scrambled down the lower part of the ladder, landing with a jolt on the hard planking of the main deck. Her eyes went to the mass of players.

  “Into the fo’c’sle!” Delvor’s voice was the one that rose above the clamor on the main deck.

  Secca took a last glance backward. Above Stura rose an enormous plume of fiery ash, glowing and radiating heat far more intense than any sun Secca had ever felt.

  Looking upward, Secca could see Alcaren half-helping, half-dragging Richina to the ladder, and she stopped at the bottom of the ladder to help the younger sorceress, hurrying, and then pushing her into the passageway. Alcaren scrambled after them.

  The narrow passageway was far cooler than the deck outside, but Secca did not stop to enjoy the comparative comfort, but staggered into the captain’s quarters, half-pushing, half-urging Richina into the nearest chair, and taking the one beside her, grateful once more that the chairs were firmly bolted to the deck.

  Secca glanced toward the open wooden bin fastened to the bulkhead, where the cased lutar and wrapped scrying mirror were stowed, glad that the net covering was tied in place.

  Alcaren shut the door and scrambled into the chair next to Secca.

  “Why…?” stammered Richina.

  “Why did she want us below?” asked Alcaren. “Because the spell conjured another great wave. We might be far enough to sea not to be dashed onto the rocks—if it’s not too large a wave, or there aren’t too many. I hope there aren’t.”

  Secca hoped so as well, recalling both the damages she had seen from such waves and knowing Alcaren’s discomfort with sea travel.

  The Silberwelle’s timbers shivered with a deep bass rumbling, not something of sorcery or harmony, but a sound any could hear, and the ship heeled and then righted herself.

  “She’s got her headed into the wave,” Alcaren said. “Now…if we have enough time and enough sea…” His eyes flicked toward the forward porthole.

  From where she sat, and with the continued stabbing pain in her eyes, Secca could see little, just smudges of darkness and an eerie red glowing. The ship seemed to settle, almost coming to a halt in calm waters.

  “Hold on. Hold tight!” said Alcaren, gripping the arms of the chair in which he sat.

  In spite of knowing what was coming, and having been through it before, Secca’s mouth still opened wide as the deck tilted and the forward bulkhead of the cabin rose more than a yard above the rear one. The bow dropped with a lurch, and a shudder ran through the Silberwelle, from stem to stern.

  “Didn’t break her back,” muttered Alcaren. His hand went to his forehead, and he massaged his temples.

  The cabin went dark as water surged past the portholes. Then there was a glimmer of grayness, before more water covered the tinted green glass. The Silberwelle half corkscrewed, heeled, then righted herself once more.

  Secca realized that the air in the cabin had become noticeably warmer and damper, not quite steamy, but hot and sticky. She swallowed as she realized that the heat was coming from her, especially from her face. She put her fingertips to her cheek and then her forehead…and winced at the pain.

  Alcaren pulled himself out of his chair and, one hand on the chair, and then on the end of the bunk, made his way to the porthole, where he watched for a long moment.

  “Are we going to be safe?” asked Richina anxiously. “Can you tell?”

  He turned slowly. Even in the dim light, Secca could see that his face was bright red, as perhaps hers was.

  “We’ve still got headway, and the waves are subsiding for now,” Alcaren finally replied.

  Secca feared she understood what he meant. Feared that their spell had been all too successful. She swallowed, trying to ignore the pounding in her head and the daystars that flickered before her.

  Alcaren eased himself back into his seat. “We’d only be in the way topside, at least for a while.” Then he tightened his lips and looked at Secca.

  Richina looked from Secca to Alcaren and then back to Secca, but neither Alcaren nor Secca spoke. Both sat in the growing darkness, thinking, their faces burning.

  89

  Esaria, Neserea

  In the dimness broken but by a single oil lamp, the Maitre is standing. He watches the door to the small study where he waits, off the audience hall, when there is a single rap on the door.

  “You may enter, jerClayne.”

  “Ser…” The younger Sea-Priest bows, then swallows. The blotchiness of his face is obvious, even in the dim light. “Stura is no more, Maitre…not as we know it. The isle…it is little more than boiling rock.”

  “I could tell that a glass ago.” The Maitre’s voice is tight, and yet there is an anger like cold iron underlying his words. “Have you determined what happened?”

  “All the great volcanoes, those that have not seen fire in generations…all of them…it is nothing I have seen, nothing I have read…it is not a thing we—”

  “Do not tell me what we cannot do!” retorts the Maitre. “What she can do, we can do. We would not destroy a land and its people from spite and malice. What has Defalk done—ever? We have united peoples and brought peace to a quarter of the world. Defalk’s lords squabble among themselves. We have brought trade to all. Defalk not a single ship. Yet this…this girl…she has no thought but to destroy. She does not know what destruction is. But she will learn.”

  “All of us used the pool, ser,” JerClayne stammers. “Stura—the port, it is buried under deks of glowing rock, and the same for Inylt. Even in the night, there is no darkness
. Everything is lit with red light…and nothing…nothing lives…” JerClayne’s voice breaks.

  “What of Trinn?”

  “The western half, the lowlands, they…were flooded, and many died. Astaal, the northern and eastern half—there the volcanoes spewed forth ash and lava, too.”

  “And the sorceress?” The Maitre’s voice is implacable.

  “Her ships sail northward. They did not stop or anchor. They did not even land. They sailed past, and she cast spells.” The younger man shakes his head. “How could she?”

  “She is a sorceress and an evil woman.” The Maitre’s lips tighten. “She is spiteful and malicious. Because she cannot face us in open battle, she destroys men from a distance, and slaughters women and children. She has no honor. She has no decency. All Erde will now see her for what she is.”

  “She also maintains her defense spell. How any—” JerClayne shakes his head. “How could anyone do what she has done? And yet hold a ward?”

  “She does not hold the wards. The younger sorceress does. While she knows less than the shadowsinger, she is well trained and strong.” The Maitre purses his lips, as if considering whether to say more. “They call us cruel and ruthless, jerClayne. Think of it. We are cruel and ruthless, and we have slain but lancers and armsmen and a sorceress, and perhaps a few handfuls of peasants. They have devastated a land near as large as any of their petty countries. They have not conquered it; they have killed everyone there, as surely as if by a blade or a spear. Yet we are cruel.”

  JerClayne waits, receptively. Finally, he asks, “How did there come to be so many sorceresses when a generation ago there were none?”

  “Because the great evil sorceress from the Mist Worlds was fortunate to arrive in Liedwahr when everyone was at everyone else’s throat. First, she was tutored and taught by Lord Brill, who thought to use her as a tool, and instead was used and discarded by her. There were no other sorcerers in Liedwahr—not trained ones. Lord Robero’s sire perished at the hands of the Evult, and his grandsire the lord Jecks allowed her to live so that his grandson could become Lord of Defalk.”

  “She kept that bargain, did she not?”

  “He had the title, an added set of lands, and the liedstadt and some trappings. She kept the power, and has passed it on to the shadowsinger and the others. The Ladies of the Shadows, Lord Robero, Lord Mynntar—how could they all have been so blind, you ask?” The Maitre laughs. “Because all were desperate for peace, any kind of peace, and she gave them that. Those who did not wish her kind of peace vanished. By illness, by accident, or by some shadowy means that cast no light on her. That is how it happened, and that is why we are here.”

  “Can we defeat the shadowsinger, Maitre?”

  “We can. She cannot use the spells she used in Stura here in Liedwahr. We must remember that victory comes to those who endure. Victories are not won by destroying lands, but by dominating people. There is no victory in ruling a land where nothing lives. We have already undone much of the damage she and her predecessor created. We hold Neserea, and Dumar is ours, as soon as any lancers return. Ebra will fall to a strong wind. We will move to Defalk, and bring it down, and when she returns, bring her down as well.”

  “How shall we begin?” asks the younger Sea-Priest.

  “I must think. And think I will. For now, have the lancers and all our forces ready to ride by the second glass of the morning tomorrow. And have them bring every wagon that they can find in the city, heavily laden with provisions—the kind that will not spoil.”

  “Ah…where, Maitre?”

  “You will see. The shadowsinger will see. The Matriarch will see. The bitch traders of Wei will see what the Sea-Priests of Sturinn are made of. All Liedwahr, and all of Erde will see, and feel what we will do.” The Maitre’s eyes blaze. “Do not ask of details. Be content to know that Stura will be avenged. Be content to know that none will again cross us without knowing that their days are numbered. In time, when that is clear, the shadowsinger will have to come to us, and when she does she will pay more than she knows can be paid. She will indeed.” His words are as cold as frozen iron.

  The younger Sea-Priest involuntarily steps back from the restrained anger and chill violence that fills the dimly lighted small room.

  90

  Secca lay rigid on the captain’s wide bunk, the memory of the internally clashing, agonized single note that embodied chords of both harmony and dissonance still reverberating through her entire body. Her face burned, as if a fire were consuming it again and again, moment by moment. Beyond that, her head throbbed; her body ached; and daystars flashed across her vision.

  “Your faces are blistered,” Richina said, “as if you had ridden for days under a summer sun.” She eased the cloth she had wet once more in fresh water back over Secca’s face.

  “Or worse,” Secca said, her voice muffled by the cloth. Even moving her lips sent faint lines of added pain radiating through her face and skull.

  “Worse,” mumbled Alcaren from where he sat, leaning back in one of the chairs around the table.

  “How do you feel?” Secca managed.

  “My face is just a little red, but I looked away when all that fire exploded into the sky. I am tired.” Richina sighed. “I can feel someone probing the wards again.”

  “The Sea-Priests in Neserea,” said Alcaren. “They have sorcerers.”

  The cabin door opened, and the captain stepped inside, her eyes going first to Alcaren, then to Secca, and finally to Richina. “How are they?”

  “Their faces are blistered from the heat,” Richina replied. “In a glass, I will use Alcaren’s balm, and, in a day or so, they will be better.”

  “What about the crew?” Secca asked, sitting up, despite her headache, and the fire in her face, and the pain in her eyes.

  “We lost three off the yardarms when the wave hit. Near-on a half-score are burned like you, except more on their arms and necks. Too busy to be looking aft, I’d wager. Some of your players are scorched, too, especially your chief player.”

  Secca winced. She hadn’t even thought of Palian. So much you haven’t thought about…

  “She is not so bad as you two,” Richina said quickly.

  “That’s because the poop shielded most of them,” replied Denyst.

  “How about you?” asked Alcaren.

  “Back of my neck. That’s it.” Denyst half snorted, half coughed. “Thankful we’ve spare canvas below. Half what we had on was shredded.” There was a long silence. “Don’t think we’ll be worrying about the Maitre and the Sea-Priests ever again.”

  Secca squinted against the pain in her eyes and face, not that she could see with the damp cloth spread over her cheeks and forehead. “They still have a fleet in the Bitter Sea and more lancers than all of Liedwahr put together.”

  “You think they’ll fight after…” There was another pause. “The whole night sky to the south is red—bright enough to steer by or read a chart. The whole place is aflame, and you sang that spell near-on three glasses back.”

  Secca was silent.

  “You said it was a terrible spell,” Denyst mused. “Wasn’t sure anything could be that awful. Wrong, I guess.”

  “I made it as strong as I could,” Secca said, all too conscious of the stiffness of her mouth and cheeks and lips. “I didn’t want them coming back to Liedwahr in another score of years, just waiting, and attacking again.”

  Denyst sighed. “You’d be right on that. Took ’em twoscore years before they took the Ostisles, and threescore before that to take Pelara.” There was another sigh.

  “You think the cost was too high?” Secca tried to keep the edge out of her voice. Of course it was too high. It was something like this or watch them take Liedwahr.

  “Lady Sorceress…what be done is done, and it’s not like they were all servants of harmony. Just…so sudden-like.”

  Secca swallowed, unable to speak.

  “Till tomorrow, sorceress.”

  Secca listened to the d
oor close, still holding herself half-erect, although her arms were beginning to tremble.

  “Lady…you must rest,” Richina said softly, helping Secca lie back down. “You must.”

  How can you rest? Secca lay in the darkness, her head pounding, knives slashing at her eyes, and her face burning, wondering how she could ever explain. You can’t, except to Alcaren, or Richina, and maybe the Matriarch…Robero would never spend the golds to raise thousands of lancers and allow us to train scores of sorcerers and sorceresses, and that wouldn’t work because we can’t control them the way the Evult did or the Sea-Priests do…

  Why was life the way it was? She didn’t have scores upon scores of lancers, and scores of sorcerers. She had three people and terrible spells. She could destroy a land, but the three of them were only one force. The Sturinnese were everywhere—in Ebra, in Dumar, in the Ostisles, in Neserea, and the three of them could be but in one. Yet, just as the Ladies of the Shadows faulted the ancient Matriarchs for using sorcery to save their people, she would be condemned—even if she succeeded. Are there sorceries so terrible that it is better to suffer defeat? Are you wrong to use them? Even when you see no alternatives?

  Under the cloth, the tears oozed from the corners of her eyes, tears that scalded her burned face like steam, and silent sobs racked her.

  91

  Northeast of Esaria, Neserea

  The Maitre stands on the headland to the northeast of the city he and his forces have taken and made theirs—if but for days. Now it stands empty of all those from Sturinn and all those who have served Sturinn, returned for the moment to those inhabitants who dared to remain. As he faces the west-northwest, his eyes study the city below the headland. “You will see, all of you. You will see the might of Sturinn.”

  Then he turns to look over the players and drummers arrayed in a semicircle.