was dry; no doubt part of the bride-price was to be paid in slaves for training. These children were evidently the result of that program.
‘I believe they’re ready for you, my lord, if you’re satisfied with them.’ Now the overseer stepped back several paces as he spoke, as if to take himself out of range of something.
‘Yes, I think they’ll do.’ Dyran raised his hands, shaking back his sleeves – and she felt a moment of unfocused fear, as if something deep inside her knew what was going to happen next, and was terrified.
Dyran clapped his hands together and Serina was blinded by a momentary flash of light, overwhelming and painful – when her eyes cleared, the children stood there still, but all signs of fear or unhappiness were gone. Each wore a dreamy, contented smile; each looked eagerly from Dyran to the overseer and back, as if waiting for an order to obey –
A tiny fragment of memory: standing in line with the other ten-year-old girls. Lord Dyran, in brilliant scarlet, raised his hands. A flash of light. And –
Serina shook her head, and the tiny memory-fragment vanished, as if it had never been.
‘Exactly what are these going to be trained for?’ Dyran was asking the overseer. The other removed his helm, and Serina recognized him; Keloc by name, and one of the few of Dyran’s subordinates he actually trusted.
‘Half of them are going straight into infantry training; line soldiers, my lord,’ Keloc said, shaking back his hair. ‘A quarter’s going into bodyguard training, the rest are for duelists. Lord Edres wanted about a dozen for assassins, but I told him we had nothing suitable.’
‘Rightly,’ Dyran replied with a frown. ‘I’m a better mage than he is, but that doesn’t rule out the chance of him allying with someone who’s as good as I am and breaking my geas. It would be a sad state of affairs to find assassins with my brand on them making collops of my best human servants.’
‘Exactly so, my lord,’ the overseer replied. ‘Did you sense any resistance? I didn’t specify an exact number to Lord Edres, only a round figure. I weeded out what I could, but I’m not the mage you are.’
Dyran looked out over the sea of rapt young faces. ‘No,’ he said, finally. ‘No, I don’t think so. These should do very well. Excellent work, Keloc. You’re getting better results with these than with the horses.’
The overseer smiled a little. ‘It’s easier to breed humans, my lord. So long as you keep an eye on them, damage during breeding is minimal, and they’re always in season. And you’ve always had good stock, my lord.’
Dyran chuckled, with satisfied pride. ‘I like to think so. Carry on, Keloc.’
The overseer clapped his helm back on and saluted. ‘Very well, my lord.’
Alara was disappointed, though not by the clarity of the woman’s memories. It wasn’t going to be possible to pose as either a bodyguard or a concubine, she decided. That was really too bad; either position would have been ideal for gathering more information than the Kin had access to at the moment. At least one thing was explained: it looked as if the elven lords encouraged rivalry among their humans, while maintaining control over them with spells – or at least, that was what happened with the humans they allowed close to them. So they kept the humans at odds with each other, while looking to their lord with complete loyalty.
He had spoken of a geas; Alara wondered what it was they really did, how it was set. Was it just to keep the humans from being disloyal to their lord? Or was it more complicated than that? The father and mother kept saying that ‘everything comes from the Lord.’ She wondered if that was part of it too?
But it couldn’t be foolproof; Dyran had said something about ‘resistance.’ Which had to mean the geas could be fought, or even broken, by the human himself …
She wondered if one of the Kin could break it, too …
Well, even if they couldn’t get into the ranks of the fighters, Alara could at least see one of the duels through the woman’s memory.
It could be very enlightening.
Serina drifted on clouds of light, too overcome with lassitude to wonder at anything. A few moments later, she found herself standing behind Dyran, in her place behind his seat in the arena. He was not alone.
The arena was alive with color and light, and buzzing with conversation. Serina replaced a red velvet cushion that had fallen from Lord Dyran’s couch, trying to remain inconspicuous and very much aware that she was the only other human in the audience.
She had followed Dyran out to the arena, even though it meant crossing under that horrid open sky to do so, and he had made no move to stop her. Nor had anyone barred her from his side when he took his place in his private box with his guests, V’Tarn Sandar Lord Festin and V’Kal Alinor Lady Auraen. The Lady had given her a very sharp and penetrating look when Serina entered behind Dyran, but when she made no move to seat herself, but rather, remained standing in a posture of humility, the Lady evidently made up her mind to ignore the human interloper.
All three elven lords were in high formal garb, in their house colors, wearing elaborate surcoats stiff with bullion, embroidery in gold and silver thread, and bright gemstones, all in motifs that reflected their Clan crests. Dyran sported gold and vermilion sunbursts, Lord Sandar wore emerald and sapphire delphins, and Lady Alinor pale green and silver cranes.
The occasion for all this finery was the settling of a disagreement between Lord Vossinor and Lord Jertain. Serina wasn’t entirely sure what, exactly, the disagreement was about. It did involve a disputed trade route, and a series of insults traded in Council – and it was by the ruling of the Council itself that the duel was to take place.
‘… and I, for one, am heartily sick of it,’ Lady Alinor murmured to Dyran as she dropped gracefully into her seat. ‘Jertain might actually be in the right this time, but he has lied so often that how can one know for certain? I truly believe that he doesn’t know the truth of the matter anymore.’
‘The Council is exceedingly grateful to you and Edres for providing the means of settling the damned situation once and for all,’ Sandar said, with just the faintest hint of annoyance.
Dyran only smiled graciously. ‘I am always happy to be of service to the Council,’ he said smoothly, handing Lady Alinor a rosy plum from the dish Serina held out to him.
He’s been working toward this for months, Serina thought smugly, offering the dish to Lord Sandar as well. This way the Council owes him for getting a nuisance out of their hair, and neither side can expect him to take a side. No matter who wins, he wins. Not to mention the favors owed for providing a neutral place, and fighters matched to a hair.
‘And what about the dispute between Hellebore and Ondine?’ Sandar asked Alinor. ‘Is there any word on that?’
‘Oh, it’s to be war, as I told you,’ she replied offhandedly. ‘The Board is going to meet in a few days to decide on the size of the armies and where they’ll meet. After that it will be up to the two of them. I told you they’d never settle an inheritance dispute with anything less than a war.’
‘So you did, my lady,’ Dyran replied, leaning toward her with an odd gleam in his eye. ‘And once again, you were correct. Tell me, which of the two of them do you think likely to be the better commander?’
He’s
