Master of Hawks (17 page)

"Evidently. I received word that I could greet you and prepare you for an initial audience with Feder tomorrow. When I explain Miss S'Cascar's background and the reason for Proter's failure, it will ease tension considerably."

"Wait a minute, you can't do that!" exclaimed Coleman. "I told you before that Ro's existence must be kept secret to protect her."

"But under the circumstances it's very important for the chieftans and especially for Feder to realize that she is part Sylvan. Sylvan distrust of humans runs deep—with much justification." Elihen's face tensed with conflict as he struggled to bring his mixed loyalties into accord.

Ro put her arm around Coleman's shoulders. "He's right. You thought it would help if the Sylvan knew
ab
out my powers, but you didn't think it through.
H
ow could they understand the true nature and origin
o
f my abilities without knowing my identity? If they
d
on't trust me, I'd be a detriment, not a help, to this
m
ission. Coleman, you knew it had to come out sometime."

Elihen nodded agreement. "I can explain the situation to Feder and the others and ask them not to pass on the information."

"That wouldn't be any help; the news would leak out," replied Coleman. "You know as well as I do that some of the Sylvan have contacts with the Empire, just as you have a certain allegiance to Wessex and the Eastern Kingdoms."

"My allegiance is to the Sylvan," Elihen snapped. Sensing the undercurrents of strain in the relationship between the two brothers, Ro tried to smooth things over.

"That telepath, Proter, could have picked up the information anyway, when he scanned you and Hawk," she said to Coleman.

"He could have for all I know," Hawk added. "He penetrated my shields as though they weren't even there."

"Perhaps he kept it to himself or passed it on to Feder. And if he hasn't already learned about me, he could at any time by probing you," Ro pointed out.

"That's true," confirmed Elihen. "It would be just like Feder to learn something valuable and then withhold the information from the other chieftans until he could use it to his advantage. Perhaps he did know about Ro, and maybe that's why he didn't want to call off the meeting."

"Please Coleman, the masquerade has gone on long enough. Perhaps the fact that I'm a S'Cascar can help convince the Sylvan to support us."

Shaking his head, Coleman resigned himself to the truth of their arguments. "I don't like it, but I guess it's necessary. Maybe I shouldn't have brought you with me, Ro."

"It will work out," she replied.

Suddenly the door opened, and several young Sylvan girls carried in trays of food—sliced
delaap
nuts
,
dishes of cooked
delaap
with venison and osmur
,
flasks of
tomaad
and a liquor called
dinuuci
m
ade
from the fermente
d skytree nuts. There was even a
plate of raw meat scraps for the eagles.

"So Feder has finally decided to give us some decent food," said Coleman to his half-brother. "Part of his test consisted of offering us half-cooked squirrel meat and nothing else—which we returned. We haven't had a good meal in days."

As soon as the Sylvan left, Hawk fed his hungry birds and then joined the others at the table.

Although Elihen sat with them, he ate little of the food. He seemed to be somewhat ill at ease to be sharing a meal with humans. Hawk guessed that Elihen had accepted the necessity of having humans as allies, but that socializing with them conflicted with too many deep-seated prohibitions.

When they finished the enormous meal, they discussed the arguments they would use to prove to the Sylvan that war with Taral would be inevitable. Already the tribal chieftains were divided on whether to support York or to continue their neutral policy. If they could convince Feder, head of the Sylvan Council and leader of the conservative pro-neutrality faction, they would be able to swing the entire Council to their side.

In the morning they repeated the arguments to Feder himself.

Feder was just as Hawk expected—his face an elaborate mask of paint covering granite-chiseled features; his body so tall, thin, and graceful that it did seem nonhuman; his aspect savage, his manner cold,
his attitude superior.

He examined them as though he were dissecting
insects, watching them through one blue eye and one vivid green one, while Coleman S'Wessex explained the reasons why the Sylvan should fight against Taral. Feder said nothing in reply. Instead, he let the three visiting chiefs ask all the questions.

"You say that Taral will turn on us and attack all the forests as he did at Avedon," said the chief of the Aseneth tribe, "but we easily repelled their attack and we could do so again."

Coleman smiled. He'd been waiting for that comment. He replied with well-chosen words. "That was not a concerted attack by Taral's main forces, but rather an isolated incident by a power-hungry governor who was eager to steal your
tomaad,
which as you know is a very valuable medicine. When Taral attacks you, it will be with the full backing of his sorcerers. You must realize that Taral is no ordinary sorcerer. He had the power to break the Triad stones, to pulverize Castle Cascar into rubble, and to conquer almost all of the Eastern Kingdoms in little over a decade. He is a greater sorcerer than S'Shegan, and he plans to follow S'Shegan's example, with a different outcome."

He paused and then touched the curved wall of Feder's council chambers. "These trees are mighty, but they are not indestructible. More than a hundred years ago, during the Great War, S'Shegan attacked your forests, and he was able to destroy some of them. If he hadn't been stopped, and stopped by humans, I might add, there probably would be no Sylvan left."

The Sylvan chiefs glared at him angrily, but Feder remained expressionless.

"You recall the forest he attacked in northern York?"

"Artoria," Elihen identified.

"The center of that forest burned like a candle, and even now, more than a hundred years later, nothing grows there. Hawk here can attest to that, he lives in an ancient Sylvan watchtower on the edge."

"There is no need; we know of that forest," replied the Aseneth chief.

"And you know of the other places where entire forests burned. Now there is blackened earth and the charred trunks of skytrees . . . " His voice drifted off as he let them think about that.

"The Empire is greedy. Do you really think they'd let you alone? Their war has been expensive. They need your wealth, your supplies, your abilities. You have
tomaad
and valuable wood, as well as the skill to shape it. Moreover, do you really think they'd allow small pockets of possible resistance to remain in the middle of their conquered lands—forests where outlaws and renegades could hide?'

Then Feder rose and spoke. "Enough. We have heard these arguments before. We know them. We
will consider them." He strode around the table until he reached Ro and Hawk. Then he inspected them with a penetrating gaze that made Hawk feel he was being analyzed, categorized, and filed.

"Elihen has spoken to me of your abilities. I would like to see a demonstration. Please follow me."

The sudden ending to the meeting surprised everyone, even the other chiefs, but they followed Feder outside meekly. Hawk's eagles had been brought, and there were several cages with mice and squirrels.

Feder questioned Ro intently about her family,
background, training, and immunity to magic. He ordered her to demonstrate her ability to control the animals. Then he turned to Hawk, interrogated him about his telepathy, and had him fly the eagles. Hawk resented the Sylvan's condescending attitude, but responded with calm self-assurance, confident of his own abilities.

When he finished, Feder said, "Thank you. Elihen, please take them back to their room. I am going to call a full Council meeting tonight. I will inform you of our final decision tomorrow."

With that announcement Feder and the other chiefs returned to the council chambers.

"What the devil is going on?" asked Coleman. He felt bewildered by the sudden shift in events.

Elihen shook his head, as confused as the humans. "I
don't know. None of us expected him to call a full Council meeting. They do it telepathically, of course, through the communicators. But what's he up to? When I talked to him earlier this morning and told him about Ro's identity, he already seemed to know about it. He mentioned that there had been some new developments, but he didn't say what they were."

"What did he mean by a final decision?' asked Coleman. "Why didn't he tell us now? I'm getting tired of all this delay."

"I don't know, but from his tone it sounded as though he has made up his mind once and for all about fighting Taral," Elihen answered.

"It did sound that way," added Hawk. "At least we'll have the decision tomorrow." He was as anxious as Coleman to get back to the fighting.

"I'll take you back to your room. Council meetings are closed, but I'll see what I can find out." Elihen led them toward the tree trunk. "I just don't understand why he was so interested in Hawk's and Ro's abilities; why did he ask all those questions?"

Equally bewildered, Ro shook her head, but she had a sudden hunch that she and Hawk were being singled out for another Sylvan test. Only this one would be as dangerous as anything she'd ever done.

12

Bright sunlight splashed off the walled city of Keller-ton, making it seem like a dark, sparkling jewel against the shiny blue of Lake Lounsbury lying behind it. From his vantage point atop a watchtower guarding the city, Jaxton Sinclair studied the spires of the N'Omb Shrine of the Three Miracles that rose from the center of the town like three silver needles.

It was a place of wonder and hope for the thousands of N'Omb faithful who traveled to see it each year and to be blessed. Yet the name meant something else to him—something sad and almost sinister, stemming from a loss that had occurred so long ago he had almost forgotten it, but that could never be totally forgotten.

Jaxton suppressed his stirring memories and looked
toward Swego, which lay about forty miles directly northwest of Kellerton. Through his binoculars he could just make out the outline of the Inland Sea.

Suddenly his new aide-de-camp, Wagner Prenis, tapped him on the shoulder. "Lord Sinclair, I see something over there."

Jaxton smiled at his new title, courtesy of his position as Regent S'Akron. In the unfortunate event his ward should die, he would add the S'Akron name to his own—Lord Jaxton Sinclair S'Akron—it had a sound to it that he liked.

He turned and followed Prenis over to another of the tower's slitted windows. Surveying the strip of the Keller Road that ran northeast along the lake and followed the Lounsbury River eastward toward Castle York, Jaxton thought he could even see a dark smudge on the horizon that could be its fortifications—perhaps thirty miles away.

Something moved on the road—several wagons coming toward Kellerton. He watched them for several minutes until he was sure, then announced, "Farmers, bringing vegetables to market."

However, he continued to search the road for any signs of the guerrilla forces that had plagued them for days. He felt certain that most had died during the series of skirmishes that had occurred since they had left Swego. Probably the survivors would regroup and seek to cut the Keller Road behind them to block the flow of supplies, rather than try to head them off. Still, it paid to be cautious.

Having finished his inspection of the road, Jaxton handed the binoculars back to the guard manning the watchtower and instructed him: "Everything appears to be in good order. Notify headquarters of any enemy movement immediately. There's a slim possibility that what's left of S'Mayler's forces may ever try to attack Kellerton itself."

"Yes, sir," the man replied. "We've worked out signals with the guards at the city's main gate."

"Good." Jaxton hoped the man would be diligent. He didn't want any surprises. He motioned to Wagner Prenis. "We'll be going back to the town now."

They descended the ancient brick and stone tower with care, for the narrow, corkscrew stairs were broken and steeply pitched. When they reached the bottom, they mounted their horses and rode the overgrown path down the hill to the Keller Road. A few hundred feet on, the road branched, and they turned left onto a cobblestone street leading down to the walled town. Kellerton had been built near the ruins of a city destroyed by N'Omb's wrath thousands of years before, and much of its grayish stonework had come from the rubble.

As they passed through the narrow, arched gate into the almost deserted streets within, Jaxton noticed the town's dual nature. On the surface everything appeared to be quite normal, with few signs of the occupation. But the undercurrents of fear and change were reflected in the faces of the few townspeople who ventured outdoors, even though S'Stratford's directives against looting and rampage were being strictly followed. He had ordered his soldiers not to sack any more towns or villages. Instead, all conquered lands were to be annexed into the Empire as peaceably as possible. Since the men's lust and greed had been satiated at Swego, S'Stratford knew that now they would be willing to accept the discipline
necessary to subjugate rather than destroy the rest of
York.