Chapter 28 "Where do you hide a salamander?" Durilil, his head resting in his lover's lap, looked up at the face inverted above him, marveled again at his good fortune. "Why would I want to hide a salamander?" Melia shook her head. "Not you. One of the few things we know about the Elementals is that nobody has found one. And if Olver is right _ " "Any decent fire mage should be able to see the thing from ten miles away. Yes." He thought a moment. "If I were hiding a salamander, I would hide it in the biggest fire I could find." He reached up, caught her hand, brought it down to his lips. Now he was back where the search had led, directly underneath him the trailing skirts of the Northfire, its heart barely ten miles away. From where he lay he could smell sulfur in the air. It was probably why Duke Morgen's residence was on the other side of the keep from the hot spring, bath house, and spare guestroom above it. Why he was installed there was clear enough; Her Grace, intending him as a surprise for her daughter, wanted him out of sight until the proper time. One of the chests he had brought contained cut gemstones, sample pieces, drawings, paper and pens, everything needed to design the jewels for a royal wedding. Over the next few days, if all went according to Duchess Gianna's plans, the Prince would propose to Mari, Mari would accept, the two would inform her father, and Gianna and Mari would set about planning the details of the wedding. With a jeweler conveniently at hand. Of course, it might also have occurred to Duchess Gianna that a man of Master Dur's age would be glad of a warm room in winter, despite a bit of sulfur in the air. If so, she was correct. Any room occupied by Master Dur and his luggage was going to be warm, with or without a hot spring underneath it. There was much to be said for a room that people expected to be warm. Which brought him back to his reason for being there, which had nothing to do with jewelry. Having come this far, he felt an odd temptation to finish the matter once and for all, close the circle. It would be easy enough to put the Salamander back where he had found it, to make the choice the Mage King had made at a still more advanced age. He wondered how the imperturbable Duchess would react to finding an impossibly aged corpse in her guest room bed. He put the idea firmly aside; he had not come here to die. Not, at least, if he could avoid it. What he planned would require returning the Salamander to the fire's heart, at least for a little while, but if all went well _ . He could not possibly retrieve it from a distance of ten miles, so he had to go too, if not quite all the way to the fire. It had been a long time, but he thought he could still find the way. If, of course, it was still there. It was dark outside. The servants, having brought his dinner and cleared away what he left of it were unlikely to come again. Still, it was best to be safe; Durilil spent several minutes making sure that anyone who came to his door would pass it by. The lid of one of the two traveling chests was warm to his touch. Inside was a leather bag; he put the carrying strap over his shoulder, felt the warmth of the box inside it against his side. That done he wrapped himself in his cloak_he was already dressed in his warmest clothes_and left the room. * * * All Johan could see, looking out the postern gate, was snow, lit by the lantern hanging above him. With twenty or thirty miles of snow between Northkeep and the nearest Forstings, it was not entirely clear to Johan why the gate needed guarding. But he knew his duty. At least he could guard the lantern. Suddenly, the lantern went out. Surely he had filled it before dark; perhaps a gust of wind had somehow gotten through the horn panes. He untied the lantern rope, let it run up through the pulley as the lantern lowered. He unhooked it. The guardroom fire was an entirely illicit charcoal brazier his superior officer, having stood watch himself in past winters, scrupulously failed to notice. It would do to reignite the lantern. The brazier too was out, its charcoal ash. Laurens must have forgotten to fill it on his watch earlier that evening. Odd. It had been going well enough just a while ago. Johan had warmed his hands over it. There was more charcoal in the corner, a bundle of kindling, flint and steel and tinder in his pouch. In a few minutes the charcoal was again beginning to glow, the lantern relit, Johan again at his post. Looking back out of the night, Durilil could see the lantern and make out the figure of the guard; the guard, his eyes blinded by the lantern's light, saw nothing but snow. An hour's walk brought him around the wall and a mile or so towards the pass. The road was bordered by evergreens; Durilil took shelter under one of them to rest. Master Dur was in good shape for his age, but miles of walking, uphill through snow, was not a task for an old man. The box in its leather bag was almost too hot to touch; he let his hand rest on it, fire pouring up through his body. Some hours later, where the road bent left to find its way through an old lava flow, he stopped, stood for some minutes wrapped in his cloak, eyes closed. Still there, but blocked. He turned off the road, scrambled along the edge of the lava, uphill through the snow. Arrived at his destination he let his mind sink into the stone, felt for fire, found it. Unlimited fire, and nobody within miles to see. For once_ . He pointed with his right hand, the other resting on the rune that was the lid of the box; water ran steaming away. Where there had been a bank of unmarked snow was now bare rock, the cave mouth showing clear. The first few feet were half choked with dirt and broken rock where part of the roof had fallen in. His mind filled with fire, he pointed again. No. Carefully, strand by strand, the mage pulled his mind free from what he carried. Turning broken rock molten might clear the cave, but while the Salamander could take no harm, his own body was flesh and blood. Hands might be slower, but a great deal safer. It took him an hour to open a sufficient space to crawl through. Once past the rock fall, the tunnel, a vent formed long ago by hot gases through molten lava, was high enough for him to stand. Half an hour more brought him to the chamber at the tunnel's end. He folded up his cloak, lay down at full length upon it, the Salamander's box resting on his chest. The floor was warm, but not as hot as he remembered. Eyes closed, he felt through rock. The fire at the mountain's heart had cooled a little in fifty years, the crust that roofed it thicker than he remembered. It took a moment to realize that what he was looking for, the work of the Forsting mages, would be found not at the top but the side, where the road through the pass ran by the flank of the mountain. The mages themselves he could barely make out through the greater flame, but their workings were clear enough. The pattern bright in his mind, Durilil reached up, undid the catch, slid open the lid of the box. * * * From where they stood on the parapet, the flattened cone of Fire Mountain was outlined against the evening sky. The wind off the mountains was cold; Mari let the Prince draw her into the shelter of his heavy cloak. When he spoke it was with less than his usual assurance. "Will you marry me?" Mari stiffened against his arm. "Perhaps. You and Father have agreed on your terms; I have yet to set mine." "What are they?" "Nan was a good and gentle lady. But I do not think that in all the years you were together she ever said no to anything you asked." "And you?" "And I am not Nan. If we wed I will deal with you honestly, serve King and Kingdom as best I am able. But merge my will in yours, no. If I believe you are mistaken I will say so, and I will act as I think right, with your leave or without it." "You drive a hard bargain, lady mine. I could name three or four maidens of rank who would have me with no such conditions." "If you would rather wed one of them _ ." "I think not. I know both sides of my bargain with your father; if I accept your terms, what do you offer in exchange?" "Besides my person? You have not declared your love; are you inquiring as to mine?" "If I say that I love you more than sun and moon and stars, will that suffice?" "Too much and not enough. No." "So far as the charms of your person, you are certainly the most desirable lady I know, but I do not think that is the question you are asking." Mari said nothing, waited. "You are the only lady I would be willing to have to wife on the terms you offer. I accept them. Does that suffice?" "And does your son _?" "Agree? Yes. I asked him before I made my final decision." "That was well done. Then to answer your question, if I had my choice out of all men alive there is none I would rather wed." The two fell silent, Mari held in the Prince's embrace. After a long minute she pulled free. "That's impossible." "That you should permit me to kiss you?" She shook her head. "Listen." He listened. A moment later he moved to the rampart's edge; looked down. The ground below was dark. "It sounds like running water." Mari nodded. "It sounds like the stream out of the pass when the snow melts in spring, but even louder." Before she had finished speaking the Prince was at the stairs leading down from off the rampart; she followed him. By the time they reached the Great Hall it was clear that they were not the only ones to have noticed. Duke Morgen was already there; a moment later Bertil, the Castellan, joined him. Morgen gave him an enquiring look. "The stream is running, and running fast. The water isn't hot, but it's warmer than any water outside the hot springs has any cause to be this time of year." Morgen thought for only a minute before he started giving orders: "I need four messengers, two to His Majesty, two to the Earls. Now. I also want Magister Coelus brought here as quickly as possible." He saw the Prince, motioned him over. "The streambed down from the pass is running full; I think I know what the Forsting mages have been doing for the past year. With luck Coelus can give us at least a guess at how they are doing it." "You think they are using magic to melt the pass clear? There aren't enough fire mages alive." Mari broke into the conversation. "Can't fire mages channel fire as well as making it?" The Prince nodded, his expression shifted. "You are saying that _" "The hot springs. There is a reason it's called Fire Mountain. I expect there is enough fire under it to melt clear a hundred passes." "And the mages don't have to make it, just channel it. It must still have been a massive undertaking." Duke Morgen turned back to them. "They've had most of a year to do it in. Do we have any idea how soon we can expect to see a Forsting army coming through the pass?" The Prince shook his head. "Ask Coelus. Here he comes now." By the time Morgen and the Prince had finished explaining the situation to Coelus, the Castellan had returned with four of his men. Morgen turned back to them. "It looks as though the Forstings have found a way of clearing the pass in winter and are about to descend on us in force; I must get word to His Majesty. They are obviously planning to cross the pass and take this castle before any help can arrive. One way of making sure they succeed is to ambush any messengers we send; they may have gotten a few men across already, and there may be people in place here to help them. "I want two of you to leave tonight, separately, each carrying letters to His Majesty. Assume anyone you meet might be an enemy. Get as far as you can from here by dawn, get to the capital as fast as you can. I'm giving you courier chits to get you remounts at the stations, but don't use them until you are well out of the Marches; at that point I think it will be safe to assume that the people at the stations can be trusted. The other two are going to the Earls to warn them." The Prince broke in. "Are you asking them for troops for the garrison?" Morgen shook his head. "Not yet. For one thing, I want to see if the mages we lent Frederik a week ago come back." He turned back to the four men. "You know yourselves better than I do; you and Lord Bertil can decide who does what. How soon can you be packed, mounted and ready to go?" "Half an hour, Your Grace." "Meet me then by the front gate; I'll have the letters." He turned back to Coelus. "Do you agree with His Highness about what is happening?" Coelus nodded. "I expect they used a lot of static spells, set up over the past year. Probably started at the north end of the pass. If the melt water is coming south, the melting must be this side of the crest of the pass by now. Exactly how they are doing it and how long it will take I don't know, but we may be able to learn more." "So if you are right, we will be blocked from the pass until the last moment, when they melt through the snow at this end, by which time they will probably have troops already filling the pass. Can they use the same heat against us_roast us in the keep?" Coelus shook his head. "A disturbing thought, but I doubt it. Even if the magma layer under the mountain extends this far_as for all I know it does_they don't have the spells set up to use it. The snow they are melting where they do have spells is just above the fire they are melting it with; we're miles away. It might be worth figuring out how they are doing it so we can set up spells here and try to roast them next time, but I doubt it will help just now." The Prince touched Morgen's arm, as he turned spoke in a low voice. "The Marcher lords?" Morgen shook his head. "That we will have to see. I can assure Your Highness that I will be careful." Morgen spent the next half hour dictating letters, having them copied, signing and sealing, while the Castellan made his own preparations to ready the castle for what might come. Once the messengers were out the gate, Morgen and the Prince returned to the Great Hall. Coelus and Mari were still there, but the Prince noticed that Ellen, who had come in with Coelus, was gone. He turned to Mari: "Has your friend sensibly gone to bed?" "I don't think so; she spoke with Magister Coelus, then went off with a determined expression." Coelus heard, turned away from Morgen to the Prince. "Ellen has gone to see what she can about what the Forstings are up to." "Alone?" "It seemed prudent. I realize there might be enemies watching the castle, but Ellen is good at not being seen. I don't suppose His Grace has any invisible guards to keep her company." "I concede your lady's skill with magery. Also that, despite appearances, she is probably the most dangerous person in this castle; I would not care to be the man who tried to take her prisoner. Is she also a practiced mountain climber?" Coelus shook his head. "Not that I know of; I don't think she plans to go that far. Her perception is much better than mine and probably better than yours, and she is, among other things, a fire mage. Her plan was to get to where the mountain starts and see as much as she can from there." * * * Ellen joined the others at the morning meal, looking tired but undamaged. Coelus looked up from his plate. "Were we right?" She nodded: "They are tapping fire from the magma under Fire Mountain, using a series of static spells to channel it, I think, under the control of fire mages. A lot of fire mages. There's a channel that lets out its fire near the peak of the pass, another a ways this side of it, several the other side but too far to make out much detail. I couldn't tell if they were set up to open more channels further south; they may just plan to use warm water coming down through the pass to melt the rest of it clear." "Nothing you could see that _" "We could do to stop them? If I were at the top of the pass and nobody was paying attention I might be able to do something to interfere with their channeling, but not at this distance. It would take far more power than any single mage has." The Prince looked up as if he were about to say something, didn't. It was well past noon when a guard came down from the keep roof seeking the Castellan. Lord Bertil listened to him, then sent for Duke Morgen and the Prince. "There's a fair sized force approaching from west of here; my guess is it's Earl Eirick. One of the men thought he saw something the other direction but wasn't sure." The Prince looked puzzled. "That's fast work; your messengers only went out last night." Bertil and Morgen exchanged glances; Morgen spoke: "Impossibly fast_it's most of a day's ride from Eirick's keep here, and nearly as far from Frederik in the other direction. Neither retains an army feasting in their halls all winter; they would need to call men up from the lords in allegiance to them. If that's who it is, it isn't our messengers that brought them." An hour later, the western force was close enough to show both size_substantial_and banners, a red axe on a white field, the banner of Earl Eirick. A second force was approaching from the east but not yet as close. Morgen, standing with the other two on the eastern ramparts, turned to the Castellan. "The garrison is ready, the walls manned?" Lord Bertil nodded. "Yes, Your Grace. I hope needlessly." Morgen nodded agreement, turned to the Prince. "They will send someone to tell me who they are and what they are doing here; I will arrange to speak with him just inside the gate. They may not know of Your Highness's presence; from the second story of the gatehouse you will be able to hear without being seen." The Prince nodded agreement. Earl Eirick's force stopped a little out of bowshot from the walls; from there a single horseman rode to the front gate, where he was met by the Castellan and led in on foot. "My Lord Eirick has word of a Forsting threat from over the pass. Considering how small your garrison is this time of year, he thought it prudent to offer your lordship reinforcements. Since he did not know what would be required, he brought all the force he could. If the threat is not urgent, he proposes to station as much of his levy as you require in the keep, return home with the rest, and be prepared to come back if necessary." Bertil thought a moment before responding. "I am grateful to His Lordship for his assistance, but I do not think we can provide accommodations within the wall for his forces. He himself, of course, I will be happy to guest, since I would like to combine his information with ours." The messenger looked around the almost empty courtyard with a puzzled expression. "I see room enough for a considerable force. We can, of course, camp for a little while outside the walls, but if the invasion is imminent that could be risky." Bertil smiled. "There is room enough, but we are holding it for royal forces expected to arrive imminently to reinforce the garrison. If His Lordship wishes, he could make camp between us and the pass; as you will see, there is no shortage of fresh water there just now. With sentinels in the pass, there should be no difficulty falling back on the keep if there is need." The messenger, still looking less than satisfied, bowed to the Castellan. "I will bring your message and invitation to my Lord." The Prince waited until the messenger had gone to join the other two. It was less than half an hour before a guard came down from over the gate to tell them that a party was approaching from Eirick's force. As it drew near, they could see that it was led by a young man in Eirick's livery, accompanied by four others. They stopped in front of the open gate, where Lord Bertil was waiting. Two of the four unfurled banners; the other two raised trumpets, sounded them. As the echoes died away their leader stepped forward, spoke in a loud voice: "On behalf of my Lord Earl Eirick and his lord Prince Iolen, rightful claimant to the throne of Esland, I demand that this castle be yielded up, to be held for His Highness by those loyal to him!" Bertil stepped forward, replied in a voice even louder: "And on behalf of my lord His Majesty Petrus, rightful king of this land, I name Earl Eirick traitor, faithless, foresworn of his oaths to his king. This castle I hold from the King's hand, and it I will defend with all my strength against my kingdom's foes and the traitors who ally with them!" There was a brief pause, then the trumpets cried out again. As silence returned, the Earl's herald spoke: "Then, in the names of Earl Eirick, Earl Frederik, and their liege lord Prince Iolen I summon Northpass Keep to siege." He hesitated a moment, as if waiting a reply. Bertil spoke softly to the guard beside him, stepped back. The gate swung shut. Ellen, watching from the ramparts, turned to Mari. "You recognized him?" Mari nodded. "Anders makes a good herald. I hope it doesn't end up costing him his head." Less than an hour later, Coelus and Ellen met with the Prince at his invitation in a room in the keep. He offered them seats, himself remained standing. "I need your help. I make no threats; the last thing we need at the moment is conflict among ourselves. I ask only that you hear me out before you make your decision. He hesitated, continued: "As matters stand now, it is very nearly certain that this keep will fall. The winter garrison is small and Fredrik's treachery has left us with only a handful of mages. The forces of the Earls we could probably withstand, but in another day or two there will be a Forsting army besieging us, with siege engines and ten or twenty times our number of mages. A Forsting army allied with the marcher earls will advance into the kingdom, probably driving for the capital. We may hope that one of our messengers got through; if so His Majesty will at least be warned. Whether he will be able to defeat the invaders I do not know; we will not. "I see one way, and only one, of saving the Keep, stopping the invasion, ending the rising of the northern lords. As Lady Ellen said, interfering with the magery that is melting clear the pass requires more power than any one mage possesses. We know, you most certainly know, a way of getting such power. Coelus shook his head; the Prince continued. "I understand your arguments against letting the Cascade become known, and on the whole I agree with them; it might be better if the spell had never been invented. I can see how you might truly believe making the spell known to be too high a price even to save the kingdom from the horrors of an invasion. But that is not the choice you face. "I know how to do the Cascade, although not without risk. Lord Iolen knows how, or knows enough to learn it. Both of you know. Your secret is out, and it cannot be put back in the box. "I want you to help me implement the Cascade, use it to destroy the workings of the Forsting mages and as many of the mages themselves as we can. If you refuse, the Keep falls. Any of the three of us that survive its fall will be captives. "Magister Coelus once spoke to me of the limits of magery to extract information without destroying the mage one used it against. It had not occurred to him that the combination of torture with truth telling, a simple magery familiar to our enemies as to us, provides a means of extracting information from a prisoner with no injury to his mind, only his body. You may believe, with some justice, that the means I have been willing to use to obtain information from you were less scrupulous than they ought to have been, but I can assure you that our enemies are far less restrained. If we are taken prisoner, they will learn, by one means or another, all we know. And that most certainly includes the Cascade. Ellen looked up, face set, started to speak; the Prince gestured her to silence. "We might try not to be taken alive, though all plans are hazardous in the chaos of battle. But this still would preserve your secret for only a short while. His Majesty knows much; the Learned Hewry, now safe in the capital, knows, at least believes he knows, how to accomplish it. Magister Coelus described to the Learned Gervase the precautions he intended to take when next he implemented the spell, information Gervase passed on to Hewry, who made use of it and all else he could learn. If the kingdom is threatened I have no doubt that my brother will use every weapon he can, that included. "And there is Lord Iolen. If the invasion succeeds, he will be king, and will no doubt take the opportunity to complete his knowledge of the spell. If it succeeds only in breaking free the Northern Marches under Iolen's rule, he still will have all the resources needed for that project, and reason to use them. I see no future that leaves your secret secure. "Among the remnant of the Keep's mages there are, by great good fortune, one each of earth and water. With them, the two of you for fire and air, and myself at focus, we have what we require to implement the schema. With the knowledge you possess we can do it safely, at least more safely than I could have without that knowledge. I could promise that if you help me in this I will not use the spell again, but if I did you would not, should not, believe me. No promise will bind if the need is great enough. I can say truthfully that I think the secret is less likely to get out into the world if you aid me than if you do not, but on that you will have to trust to your own judgment. "I ask no answer now; you will wish to consult among yourselves. I go to take council with His Grace and the Castellan as to the defense of the Keep; when you have made your decision, tell me." The Prince bowed to Ellen and Coelus, turned, and left the room. * * * Kieran glanced over the top sheet of paper, covered with neatly written instructions for his part in the schema, at Magister Coelus. "This is it?" The mage nodded. "Instructions for all five of us. I believe I know what happened last time and have taken precautions; I cannot guarantee that nothing will go wrong, but I am fairly sure that particular thing will not go wrong. Before we start I should tell you what I believe will happen, and we should discuss what you will be doing with the pooled power." Prince Kieran nodded agreement, waited. "The first stage is creating the pool; this room should be big enough. I brought chalk to mark our positions. The three of you should go over the instructions several times in advance and keep them before you as the schema starts. Once the pool is formed, the second stage is in Your Highness's hands; it starts below the red line halfway down the sheet. "As the Cascade spreads, it uses the power from each new mage pulled into the pool to pull in the next. While it is spreading there will be little power available to you to use. Since this time we are not working within a protective sphere, there is no external limit, or none I know of, to how far it can spread. I have accordingly designed a limit into the schema itself. When the Cascade has reached a radius of about thirty to forty miles, if our calculations are correct, it should stop spreading. "The pool will then contain the power drawn from the last cohort of mages pulled in, which ought to be considerable. Instead of being spent pulling in more mages, it will be available for your use, as focus. You will have to be careful; power is peril, and you will be using more power than any of us has ever had to draw on before. "In addition to what is in the pool, there should be a gradual inflow from all the mages that have been pulled into the pool, as their own pools of magery slowly refill. With luck you will not need that. The longer you hold the focus, the greater the danger to you. My advice would be to do whatever you think needful to end our current peril as quickly as possible and then release. Releasing should be easy, but I have additional instructions at the bottom of the sheet just in case." Prince Kieran waited to be sure Coelus had finished, turned to Ellen. "Do you have any advice to add, lady?" She shook her head. "It's all on the sheets, and what Coelus just said." "Then, while the two of you lay out the pattern, I will consider what I can do with the power you are providing me. Am I right in understanding that I will have not only power but a mix of talents under my control, a mix spanning all of magery?" Coelus nodded. "Yes. You start with a complete basis star here, and of course the magery pulled in will be of all sorts. But you will still be limited by your own knowledge; if you intend to do things that are more than your accustomed uses of magery, you had best plan out the spells with the same care you would use for any new spell." "That had occurred to me. There are only three things I intend to do with the power, and I think I know how to do them all. The only difficult one is canceling the Forstings' static spells. I will have to work out the details of that when I see their precise nature. Either of you could do it better, I expect, but as I am neither air nor fire I cannot replace either of you in the star." Outside the room Mari was waiting. There was no one else in the corridor. The Prince took her hand, drew her away from the door, spoke softly. "Coelus and your friend Ellen have agreed to help me with a spell that should, if all goes well, end what the Forstings are doing; we will be starting shortly." He stopped a moment, looking down at her. "Coelus has done the spell once before; it killed the mage controlling it. He believes he knows what went wrong and that he has altered the spell so that it will not happen again. I am willing to stake my life that he is right, there being no better gambles available. If I lose, there is nothing I will regret so much _" He stopped speaking, unable to continue. Mari put both arms around him, hugged him tightly. "You will do what must be done. If Coelus and Ellen think it is safe, it is probably safe. If not _ " "If not, you will take care of Kir for me?" She nodded, said nothing, held him tighter. * * * Kieran reviewed the sheet of paper a last time, closed his eyes, and watched the web grow; in a moment it was a star traced in the colors of the four elements, himself at the center. He raised his hand, spoke the final Word, and felt it roll through him, then lifted his hand. Three bright lines, each in mixed colors. By their direction they were pulling the mages in the north tower into the Cascade. More lines from other directions in the castle. Two were brilliant red, brighter than the others_not from the castle then. The earls must have brought fire mages in their company. Magery poured through him into the pool, out again into the world, a thick cluster of lines pointing at the pass, the Forsting mages. He felt a surge of relief as the web ceased its growth; it felt to him that he was already full of more magic than he could possibly contain. No new lines, but something was still happening. His hand was pouring out what seemed, to his perception, a cloud of soap bubbles. For a moment he remembered Kir, the bellows-powered bubble machine someone had given him, and the resulting mess. What he saw accorded with nothing in the descriptions he had heard of earlier experiments. But they had ended sooner than this, and the schema had been changed. When it was done he would ask Coelus. For now there were more urgent matters to deal with. First and easiest, the forces of the two earls. Any mages guarding them were now pulled into the Cascade, their power his. His own perception was brighter, more detailed than ever before. He let it move out to the western camp. There a wagon full of grain, here a massive stock of hay. With his new power, dealing with them was a moment's work. Another wagon was stacked with beer kegs; Eirick treated his men well. But not for long. He pulled back, expanded his view. Over the camp, plumes of smoke were rising. With a last twist of fire he set the Earl's tent ablaze. Next the other camp. If there were only the rebels to deal with, he would be done; without supplies for men and beasts they could not long maintain the siege. But now he must confront the real threat. He tried to throw his perception north to the top of the pass, failed. For a moment, he was lost in a wilderness of snow and trees. He pulled back. Better, if slower, the way he knew, the road he had many times ridden. Up the road into the pass, mind moving faster than any rider. At the top of the pass, the head of the army. Within it a dozen mages, each linked to him by a line of light, their own power dimmed. He would deal with them, but first their work. His mind's vision scanned the mountain slope, searching for magery. Something was wrong; holding the vision in his mind was getting harder and harder, the picture shredding away at the edges into mist. The magery that filled him, still far more than his own, was less than it had been. He had spent too much of the pool. He needed to wait while it refilled sufficiently to let him finish his set task. Kieran let go the vision of pass and mountain. He knew that, when he wished, he could have it back. He opened his eyes. He was still standing in the same room, its stone floor marked up with chalk, the center of a star of mages. He drew in deep breaths of the cold air. Closed his eyes. The lines linking him to the mages in the north tower were gone, with them the two brighter lines of fire. Even as he watched, one of the other lines blinked out. "It didn't work." Mari looked up from the chessboard at the tone of the Prince's voice; Kir kept his eyes focused on the pieces. "The spell?" "The spell. I don't know what went wrong_everything seemed to be going fine, and nobody casting it got burned up this time. I think it may buy us a little time_I don't expect any enemy mages in the pass will be doing much for the next few hours. And I managed to destroy quite a lot of the Earls' supplies. But it was supposed to do a lot more than that, at least stop the magery thawing the pass. And with luck kill the mages controlling it. Perhaps if I had moved faster_ but the spell ran out sooner than I expected." "What happens now?" "What happens now is that Eirick and his allies lay siege to the castle and the Forstings bring a real army over the pass to help them. Even if one of your father's messengers gets through_and with the North rising against us that's far from certain_it's going to take longer for the royal forces to get through the rebels, assuming they can, than we can expect to hold out. Especially with almost no mages. "Your friend Ellen has extraordinary talents, as I discovered to my cost some time back. I am going to ask her if she can get you and Kir out and away to someplace safe_east to your father's lands if she can manage it. If the keep falls, I expect the marcher lords and their allies will move on the capital." "And you?" "Will do my best to make myself a bad prophet. With magister Coelus to help, and good fortune, we might have a chance." "Father, look. The sky's burning." Kieran spun around. Two steps took him to the window; he undid the catch, swung the two sides in. The shutters were open already. The sky was red with reflected fire. The whole top of Fire Mountain was ablaze, a thin trickle of lava pouring down the side. Into the pass. * * * Durilil lay in bed, eyes closed, mind wrapped in fire, watching. The burning mountain was too far for unaided perception, even his, but to the Salamander all fires were one; merged in it, he could look out of the mountain at what he had done. There was a limit to how much a human mage could channel, but none for the Salamander during the hours it had poured its fire directly into the mountain's heart. The crust of rock that had roofed the Northfire was gone, the accumulation of decades melted away in days. The south end of the pass was filled with steam where lava pouring out of a crack in the mountain's side boiled off the snow and ice that still choked that end of the pass. The north end, already swept clean by magery, was clear. Someone on the Forsting side had kept his head; lines of troops were streaming north out of the pass in an orderly torrent, leaving behind piles of abandoned supplies. Where the slow advance of lava had reached the rear of the debris, a siege engine was burning. Between the burning engine and the rear of the retreating army, a man was sitting his horse, looking uphill towards the lava. Curious, the mage let the vision expand. Ten miles and more from where Durilil lay in the keep, and even he had his limits, but perhaps _ . Iolen took a last look at the road home; no magery, whether from the Forsting guild or the College, would open it again until the mountain subsided. It would go hard on the loyal earls, but there was nothing he could do beyond persuading the Einvald to offer refuge to those who escaped the failed rising. Fredrik, still vigorous, might make it even in winter over the high pass that his castle guarded, but he had little hope for Eirick. As to his own position, whatever had gone wrong had been the failure of Forsting magery, not of his part in the plan. That would do him little good if he chose to remain where he was until the lava reached him. He reluctantly turned his horse about and started after the tail of the army which should have put him on the throne his father had lost. As the road emerged from the crease between Fire Mountain and its eastern neighbor the left side dropped away. Iolen held his horse hard to the road's right. Just in front of him, a stand of dried grass burst into flame; he wondered how the volcano had reached so far. The horse shied left; he snatched at the reins too late. * * * Duchess Gianna took a final look over the scene, nodded to the servants to open the doors. The dining room in the residence was smaller than the Keep's great hall_also more comfortable and, with fires blazing on both hearths, warmer. A much more suitable site for her purposes. Later in the evening Castellan Bertil would carry the news to the Keep; between them they had made suitable arrangements for celebration by the garrison. Gianna watched Mari and Prince Kieran come in, not quite hand in hand. Certainly a daughter to be proud of. The one skill that mattered in the long run was that of choosing friends wisely and winning their love. If she was not very much mistaken, the triumph about to be announced was as much Mari's work as hers. Looking down the table, she noticed that Mari had put Kir next to her, beyond him her friend Ellen. A delightful if odd young lady, but a puzzle; Ellen spoke freely of her mother but had never mentioned her father. The obvious explanation felt in this case unconvincing. Gianna liked puzzles. Morgen came in with Bertil; Gianna waved them to their seats, took her own, the Prince on her right hand. Circumstances had delayed her plans a little, but between the incompetence of the enemy mages and the diplomacy of her husband the difficulties had and would be dealt with. And a little peril, jointly shared and overcome, was not a bad start for a life together. The guests all seated, she caught her husband's eye; the Duke rose, the table fell silent. "Before we begin our dinner, I have two announcements to make. The first is that, in Lord Bertil's judgment, the Keep is now safe. The Forsting invasion was ended when Fire Mountain erupted into the pass. The rising is not yet over, but the Earls have agreed to send one of their people to hear what we have to say and I have good hopes that we can offer them terms they will accept." He paused a moment; the silence held. "My second announcement is that His Royal Highness Prince Kieran has made an offer of marriage to my daughter the Lady Mariel, which offer she has accepted. They plan to wed in early summer, when Mari will have completed her studies. The wedding will be held in the capital; everyone present is of course invited to attend." The dinner over, congratulations given and received, Gianna drew her daughter aside. "Now that the preliminaries are done with, we can leave what is left of the revolt to your father and your betrothed while we take care of the serious business of planning a wedding that will have the whole capital talking. I have a small surprise for you." Mari gave her a curious glance, followed her to the door to one of the side rooms. "A wedding, a royal wedding, requires jewelry. Spectacular jewelry. Accordingly, I have provided us with _" She opened the door. "A jeweler. Your favorite jeweler and, as of the pieces he made after you introduced him to me, mine as well." Master Dur looked up from the table. Gianna noted, to her surprise, that he was looking not at Mari but through the door. Turning, she saw Ellen looking in from the near side of the dining room with an astonished expression on her face. Of course; she too would know the jeweler, and be as surprised as Mari that he was here, not a hundred miles away in Southdale. Gianna nodded politely at her daughter's friend, closed the door, and turned back to the table with its stack of sketches, two burning candles, and a small bowl filled with glints of brilliant color. Ellen watched the door close and turned back to the table where Coelus was deep in discussion with one of the mages from the garrison. When it ended she caught his eye, nodded towards the door into the hall; he followed her. Without speaking, she led him to the hall's end, through an open door into an empty room. "Master Dur is here." "Master Dur. You mean _" She held up a hand; he fell silent. They were not the only people in the Keep who could see, or hear, through walls. "Master Dur, the old jeweler from Southdale. I think Her Grace brought him as a surprise for Mari; I expect they are in there now planning out jewels for the wedding." "I see." He paused a moment, considering how best to put the question. "The eruption was great good fortune; do you have any more ideas as to how it happened? It must have been due in some way to the channeling spells; it is too great a coincidence otherwise that it should occur just when it did. But I cannot figure out how. One would have thought _" "That the spells would draw fire out of the mountain, making an eruption less likely, not more. I do not see any mechanism in magery by which the spells could cause the eruption, but I agree that there must be some connection." Their eyes met; he nodded, spoke. "Perhaps, when Mari and Her Grace are done for the moment with their consultations, you can find Master Dur. If he left the village after we did, he may have news from home." "And I would like to see what he is planning for Mari, if it isn't all a deep secret. He was in the room next to where we dined; perhaps we can catch him on his way out." * * * Anders looked about the room. Mari was seated at one end of the table. Next to her sat a tall stranger, well dressed, and next to him Duke Morgen. Morgen motioned him to a chair. "I asked to have you taken to the tower roof so that you could view the eruption for yourself. As you can see, it is still in progress. I think I can say with some confidence that no Forsting army will be using Northpass in the next few weeks, probably not for considerably longer than that. Do you agree?" Anders hesitated, nodded reluctant assent. "There are, of course, other passes. But they are still choked with snow, and the mages I have consulted doubt that the spells that used the mountain's fire to melt Northpass could clear places so distant, even if the Forsting mages had not lost control over their own creation and brought out more fire than they had any use for. And even in summer Northpass is the only pass in the range low enough and wide enough to let through an army and its supplies. "It will not be easy for Earl Eirick and his allies to take this keep without Forsting support. Lacking Forsting mages and Forsting engines you will have to either storm the walls at the cost of many lives, with no certainty of success, or siege it_and we are better supplied for siege than you are. Frederik's treachery has deprived us of many of the mages stationed here for the keep's defense. But, by good fortune, my lady daughter's friend Elinor and her teacher Magister Coelus are guesting with us. They are both, as you may be aware, accomplished mages. "I sent messengers as soon as we discovered the pass was being cleared. If one got through, you will be facing a royal army within weeks_sooner, if His Majesty has received word of your rising from another source, and such secrets are hard to keep. The men of the Northern Marches, the liegemen of Eirick and Frederik and the rest, are brave and accomplished soldiers. But with the whole rest of the kingdom against them they cannot long prevail. You know that and they know that_it is, after all, the reason you chose to call in the Forstings in support of your rising. "If you continue to fight, by the time it ends the holds of Eirick, his allies and his liegemen, your father among them, will be destroyed, and many will die." Anders looked up with a fierce expression. "Not all of them ours." "Not all of them yours_which will make things still less pleasant when the fighting is over. There will be new feuds between lords that supported Eirick and lords that support the King. And the more of our people are killed the more reason His Majesty, who did very little against the lords who supported Prince Josep against him, will have reason to wonder how prudent mercy to the defeated would be this time. "When this is over, the Marches will still be part of the kingdom. Every soldier killed, Marcher or loyal, weakens us when next the Forstings move against us. Not all who will be killed will be yours_but all, on both sides, will be ours." "Your Grace's point is?" Anders' voice was steady. "My point is that I want to end this now, on terms, before any more people die." There was a long silence before Anders spoke again. "I will carry any message you give me back to my liege lord. But whatever terms you offer, he will ask me what authority you have to offer them. What assurance do we have if we agree to your terms that His Majesty will honor His side of the agreement? Your Grace is high in His Majesty's council, as all men know. But what authority have you to make promises that will bind His Majesty?" "None. That is why I have asked His Highness Prince Kieran, who also was guesting here, to join us." The tall stranger who had been sitting by Mari stood, pushing back his chair, the noise loud in the silent room. "After consulting with His Grace, I am prepared to offer the following terms on behalf of my brother. Earls Eirick and Fredrik, as leaders of the rebellion, are to be permitted to go into exile, succeeded in each case by one of their sons acceptable to His Majesty. Any damage done to property held by those loyal to His Majesty to be repaired at the cost of those responsible. Any deaths of those in service to His Majesty or those loyal to him to be compensated according to the customary schedules of the northern marches. Those terms met, all remaining rebels willing to swear allegiance to His Majesty directly or through their own lords are to have a free pardon." "Your Highness's terms are generous. There remains one question the lords I serve will certainly put to me, and so I must put to you: What reason have we to believe that what was spoken here will be remembered after we have laid down our arms? I cannot speak of my own knowledge to the rights and wrongs of the past. But Your Highness played a role in the conflicts at the Old King's death that was not highly regarded in this part of the kingdom." The Prince thought a moment before replying: "I will, of course, put the terms agreed to in writing, signed and sealed. Beyond that, and so far as your own knowledge is concerned, you are I think acquainted with the Lady Mariel, daughter to His Grace. You may if you wish take private council with her as to what my word is worth. It is a matter on which she may be prepared to offer an opinion. Three days ago she accepted my offer of marriage and is now my betrothed." * * * "Can we trust him? It is my neck, and the necks of my kin, at stake." Mari thought a moment before answering. "I think so. I would not have agreed to marry Kieran if I did not think he was, on the whole, an honest man. He is, as Ellen puts it, too used to having his own way. But among us_I, Ellen, and your fellow rebels_we may have convinced him over the past year that having his own way is not something he can always rely on. I do not think he has it in him to first promise you all pardons, then massacre you after you lay down your arms. "Further, I think I can myself provide at least a partial guarantee. Kieran has spent the past six months and more courting me, with reasons both political and personal. We do not plan to marry until this summer, when I will be done with my studies. If between now and then I discover that he has committed such treachery, and made me the instrument of it, he will have to find himself a different bride, and I have no doubt he knows it. For sufficient reason he would pay that price. Kieran feels deeply his obligation to his brother and the kingdom. But he would not pay it willingly. "More important still, I have discussed affairs of the kingdom at length with His Highness and my father. Both have long regarded the disaffection of the northern marches as a serious weakness to the kingdom. By getting rid of the leaders of the insurrection and replacing Eirick with his son Eskil while dealing generously with the rest, they can help mend that weakness. Killing the rebels or forfeiting their holdings after promising pardon would open new wounds that would take a long time to heal. I think you may rely upon His Highness's honesty. I am confident you may rely on his sense." Mari paused for a moment before continuing. "One more thing. I know that you, and those you follow, rose for Lord Iolen, that you believed in the justice of his cause and claim. Ellen says Iolen is dead. When Fire Mountain erupted he was in the pass and his horse took him over the edge. She did not say how she knew, and I did not ask. But Ellen is, in my experience, truthful to a fault, and I have no doubt that it is true." Epilogue Coming to Northkeep, they had been four: Mari, Ellen, Coelus, and one of the Duke's retainers. Returning there were three. Or perhaps, considering the contents of the case on the seat next to Master Dur and the warmth of the carriage, again four. The road was a good one, the coach well sprung; the Duchess did her best to provide for the comfort of her guests. Ellen, half asleep with her head resting on her companion's shoulder, tried to feel her way into the case to its contents, but the blocking spells were tightly woven, too strong even for her. Her father, seated across from them, was speaking softly to Magister Coelus; she kept her eyes shut, listened to their voices over the rumble of the wheels. "We can talk freely; neither the coachman nor the groom is talented. "My half of the story is simple enough. I saw what the Forstings were doing, guessed why, and so accepted Duchess Gianna's invitation. The Salamander left the Northfire fifty years ago. Since then the fire has slowly cooled; I put it back for long enough to change that." "The day after I finished doing so, someone invoked the Cascade. I could feel it drawing fire from both of us, on a less lethal scale than last time. When it stopped I discovered that I and the Salamander had each somehow acquired a protective shield strong enough to cut off the flow. It looked to me as though His Highness had invoked the Cascade and then, a few minutes later, the two of you had invoked your spell to block it. Where he and you found enough mages for two stars at once, or how you managed the necessary power without my assistance, I haven't yet figured out. I wondered if perhaps you had limited the protection to just the mages in the Keep. But I would have thought that by the time it started, the Cascade would have spread farther than that." "It had. Much farther. We did two spells, but it only took one star for both of them." "You used the Prince's Cascade to power your spell, to shield every mage in the area?" Coelus nodded. "Every mage for about fifty miles around, if I got it right. To spread it farther we'll have to do it again later, with your help and two more mages. The pool was supposed to have power enough from the final stage of the Cascade to both spread the shield and let the Prince undo the magery that was melting the pass clear. But he didn't quite make it. Once the bubbles got thick enough to start cutting mages out of the Cascade, there was no more power coming into the pool_and no way of getting more even if we had been willing to run the Cascade again. I spent several hours afraid that my cleverness had killed all of us, until Fire Mountain erupted. It didn't occur to me that that might be your work until Ellen told me you were here." Ellen opened her eyes. "You mean our cleverness, don't you, love? If we had ended up killed by the Forstings it would have been my fault as well as yours. I didn't know Father was here either." Durilil smiled. "Both of yours equally, I think. Dying for your principles is all very well in stories, but on the whole I prefer to live_it makes it easier to fix my mistakes. If you only spread the shield for fifty miles, someone would eventually have tried the Cascade somewhere where it would work. Some of the Prince's people know enough to do it, I expect, and not all of them were in the Keep. And there was Iolen too. You were very clever indeed, but you should have allowed more of a safety margin. It's not as if the Prince had ever had that sort of power to play with before." Ellen let her eyes close again, her mind drifting. Mari's wedding, Mari resplendent in silk and jewels, Mari some day as queen. Perhaps Ellen should volunteer herself as royal mage. It was amusing to imagine how Kieran would respond. But no, Coelus would never leave the College willingly. Weddings _ .