The Born Queen

"The man he fought?"

"I killed him, of course."

"You could have told me. You could have told me a lot of things."

"I could have. I was a coward."

Cazio felt his heart constrict as he looked at this man he did not know, had never known.

"This is worse, knowing now," Cazio said. "Now, when everything is all coming apart."

"What will you do?"

"Now that A

"I can only apologize so much," z'Acatto grunted.

"You haven't apologized," Cazio said.

"Cazio…"

"Go away," he said, suddenly very tired. "Just leave me alone, whoever you are."

Z'Acatto got up slowly and stood there, arms hanging at his sides, for a long moment. Then he walked off.

Cazio continued drinking.

He woke the next morning, still on the bench, with one of Elyoner's pages tapping him apologetically. He groggily levered himself up to a sitting position.

"What?" he said.

"My lady would have you come to her chambers at third bell."

"What bell is it now?"

"Second, sir,"

"Fine," Cazio said. "I'll be there."

It was only as he found his room and was bathing as best he could from the basin that he began to worry about the place assigned for the meeting.

When he arrived to find the duchess in bed and Austra on an adjacent bed, his worries intensified.

"Don't look like that," Elyoner said with more than a hint of her old self. "Every man wants a go with two women."

"Duchess-"

"Hush and sit on the foot of the bed," she said, sitting up against enormous pillows. She was clad in a dressing gown of black-and-gold brocade.

As Cazio sat gingerly on the bed, two serving girls came in bearing trays of food. One was placed in front of the duchess, another next to Cazio. A third servant, a slight girl with large eyes, entered with what looked like porridge and began to feed Austra.

"Greyna is very good," the duchess said, nodding at the girl. "Her brother was injured in the head at a joust and was unable to feed himself. He lived two years, so she's had plenty of practice. She has a large soul."

"Thank you for all of your kindnesses, Duchess."

Elyoner glanced over at Austra. "That girl is as dear to me as A

"Austra isn't dead," he said.

"No," the duchess replied. "She isn't. Break your fast."

He looked down at the tray, thinking he wasn't hungry, but the cream fritters, sausage, and dewberries invited him to try a few bites, anyway.

"Unlike Greyna's brother, Austra doesn't seem to have an injury to her head or any wounds at all except those cuts on her legs. You said it was done by a churchman. Do you know what he was up to?"

"No. She said he said something about the 'blood telling' but nothing about what that meant."

"Curious," Elyoner said. "In any event, whatever has happened to the dear girl, I think we must suspect some eldritch cause-something I, unfortunately, know very little about."

"Do you know anyone who knows more?"

"I assume you mean outside of the Church?"

"That's probably best."

"No, not really. But surely you do."

He nodded. "Yes, there's an old Sefry woman in Eslen that A

"Eslen won't be easy to get into," Elyoner said. "The city is under siege, with Hespero's army camped on the south and Hansa on the north. The fleets have met in Foambreaker Bay, but I haven't heard much more than that."

"Who rules?"

"Artwair had declared himself regent," she said. "The logical heir is Charles, but no one wants that charade again. After him it gets complicated; there's Gramme's bastard, Robert, any number of cousins."

"You," Cazio pointed out.

"Oh, yes," she said. "Yes, that's out of the question. I simply won't do it. Buts it's actually rather moot, because I suspect Eslen is going to fall, and Marcomir and Hespero will decide the matter."

Cazio shrugged. "I don't care who rules. They can put a pig on the throne as far as I'm concerned. But I'll have Austra back, and I need to kill Hespero."

"Kill the Fratrex Prismo of the Church? I'll be interested to see how you do that."

"I've met them that seemed immortal and unbeatable before," Cazio said. "Most of them are dead now, or might as well be."

"That's it, then? You're really going to Eslen?"

He nodded. "If I can impose on you for a few horses."

"Of course," she replied. "Do you have a plan for getting into the city?"

"No," he said. "But I'll have one when I need one."

He rode out the next day with Austra in the carriage and three spare horses. He didn't bother to find z'Acatto to say good-bye.

The road took him west across the flat yellowing grass of the Mey Ghorn plain. Clouds scudded across the sky like fast ships until near sundown they piled up and blotted out the stars. The air was wet and cool and smelled like rain when he went to where Austra lay and fed her some porridge and watered wine. She seemed thi

"The Sefry will know what to do," he assured her. "Mother Uun will have a cure."

The rain came gently enough, and he lay there listening to it on the canvas until sleep at last folded him into her blanket.

He woke to the morning songs of birds and realized that the sun was well up and he had lost time. He felt guilty for sleeping at all when every bell counted. He gave Austra her morning meal and ate a bit of dried meat. He found the horses grazing and brought them back to the harness. He settled onto the seat and started out.

It had been a long time, he realized, since he had been alone, his time in the wine cellar at Dunmrogh aside. He wasn't technically alone now, but for all intents and purposes he was. He'd once spent a good deal of his time solitary, and he understood now how much he missed it.

What sort of man am I? he wondered. A

"A

But of course, no matter what one survived, death was always coming. There was no wi

By noon the road was winding gently downhill, and the occasional malend could be seen turning its sails in the distance. He stopped to feed and wash Austra and let the horses go to water. He was just about to start off again when riders appeared on the road ahead.

He looked about, but it was all open fields. If they were enemies, there wasn't much he could do.

Oddly enough, the impression he had was that the horses he saw were mounted by giant mushrooms, but as they drew nearer, he saw that they were Sefry, wearing their customary broad-brimmed hats to keep the sun from their dainty skins.

When they were even nearer, he recognized their colors as those of A

He watched them come, wondering what they could possibly be up to. Having failed their mistress, were they now on their way to cast themselves into the eastern sea?

He counted forty of them and wondered why he bothered to do that. Weren't these friends? If they were, why did he have such a strange feeling in his belly's abyss?

And why were they flanking him?