Hawkwood's Voyage

“I know it only too well, but I ca

“They are still gathering. Our worthy Prelate had a good passage once he was out of the calms around these coasts. His vessel is currently crossing the Gulf of Almark, south of Alsten Island. He will be in Charibon in ten days, if the weather holds.”

“Who is there already?”

“The Prelates of Almark, Perigraine and Toru

“The longer the better, if it keeps that tonsured wolf from my door. I will soon be setting off myself for the Conclave of Kings at Vol Ephrir. Can you keep me informed about the doings here while I am away, Golophin?”

The old mage sucked deeply on his pipe, and then shrugged with a twitch of his bony shoulders.

“It will not be easy. I will have to cast through my familiar, something no mage likes to do at any time, but I will do my best, sire. It will mean losing our eye on the east, though.”

“Why? I thought all you wizards had to do was gaze into a crystal and see what you wanted to see.”

“If only it were that simple. No, if my gyrfalcon accompanies you I will be able to send you news from here through it, but do not expect regular bulletins. The process is exhausting and dangerous.”

Abeleyn looked troubled. “I would not ask, except—”

“No, you have a right to ask, and it is a thing which must be done. Let us speak no more of it.”

No one else could have spoken thus to the King of Hebrion, but Golophin had been one of Abeleyn’s tutors when he had been a ru

“Speaking of the east,” Abeleyn said conversationally, “how are the Toru

Golophin tapped his long pipe out delicately on the table. He preferred leaf imported from Ridawan flavoured with ci

“I have been working the bird hard lately. He is tired, and when he is tired he begins to slip away from me, and I receive pictures of the stoop, the kill, blood and feathers drifting in the air. It is said that a tired or a despairing mage will sometimes let his self slip wholly into his familiar and become one with it, leaving his body an empty husk behind him. He glories thereafter in the animal emotions of the creature, and eventually forgets what he once was.”

Golophin smiled thinly.

“My familiar sleeps on a withered tree not far from Orma

“You believe the dyke will fall,” Abeleyn said.

“I believe the dyke will fall, but more importantly so do its defenders. They feel forsaken by God, and King Lofantyr of Toru

Abeleyn thumped a fist down on the table, making the beer jump in the flagons. “The damned fool! He should be concentrating all he has at the dyke.”

“He is afraid he will lose all he has,” Golophin said calmly. “There are less than eighteen thousand men left in the garrison, and the Knights Militant have been riding away to the west in large bodies for days. If Shahr Baraz finds more than twelve thousand ma

“How long do we have before the assault?” Abeleyn asked.

“More time than you might imagine. Sibastion Lejer’s fighting rearguard badly mangled the Hraibadar, the shock-troops of Shahr Baraz’s forces. He will wait for them to come up before launching a serious assault, and with the Western Road in a shambles and the weather showing no sign of changing, his transport will have difficulties moving with the troops. The River Searil is swollen. Once the Toru

Abeleyn nodded absently. “I begin to see that Orma

“By sea it might take five weeks, with fair winds or the aid of a weather-worker,” Golophin said.

“By sea?” Abeleyn shook his head. “The navy has its hands full patrolling the Malacar Straits against the corsairs; and then there is Calmar to consider. A western armament sailing into the Levangore would have to contend with the Calmaric Sea-Merduks. They have been quiet since Azbakir, but they would not tolerate an incursion of that size. It would be Azbakir all over again, save we’d be fighting it with transports instead of war-carracks. No, Golophin, unless you can magically spirit a few thousand men halfway across the world there is nothing we can do about the dyke. Lofantyr will love hearing that when I meet him at the conclave. Already he thinks the other monarchies have abandoned Toru

“Perhaps he is right,” the mage said sharply. “There were seven great Kingdoms after the Fimbrian Hegemony ended; now the Merduks have reduced it to five. Will you sit in Abrusio until their elephants come tramping over the Hebros?”

“What would you have me do, teacher?”

Golophin paused, looking suddenly weary. “Teachers do not always know the answers.”

“Nor do kings.” Abeleyn set his brown fingers atop the old mage’s lean wrist and smiled.