Son of the Hero

"I'd appreciate that." The views of the man in charge at the scene had to be better than what I'd gotten at Basil.

"Things get powerful confusing. This isn't a proper little war at all. There are just two main routes from Xayber into Varay. Arrowroot guards one. Coriander sits astride the other. Any large force, any army, has to take one or the other-or come by sea-but there are dozens of paths and trails that a small raiding party could take. We have to patrol the coast and halfway to Coriander."

"With how many men?"

"Never enough," Resler said, predictably. What commander ever thinks that he has enough men, supplies, or support? "Right now, I have about four hundred and fifty men. Ten times that wouldn't be enough to do a thorough job, even if we only faced steel and not elfin magic."

"What about Coriander?"

"Baron Dieth has a more vulnerable castle, fewer men, and as much ground to cover."

I knew that manpower was spread thin throughout Varay. By any "modern" demographic standards, the country was more underpopulated than some deserts back home. People had moved to other kingdoms over the centuries. Many had left the buffer zone altogether, fleeing to Fairy or to our world. Varay was too often in the way of invaders.

"Attackers come at any point of our border," Resler said. "When the elflord is feeling particularly strong or cross, he sends his army against the castles and towns. But he's never been able spring a strong enough magic to cut us off from resupply." I understand that he was talking about the magic passages. "More often, though, he just sends raiding parties to attack our villages, burn crops, steal livestock. Usually, the raiders come out of Battle Forest from the isthmus. More rarely, a dragon ship comes out of the Mist to ravage a coastal fishing village and escape before we can respond."

Resler shrugged. "It could be worse. Vara's magic protects us somewhat. The elflord's offensive magics always seem to go awry when he hits us with them. Outside Fairy, those magics aren't always reliable for Fairy folk."

The way Varayan magic didn't work in Fairy or the way my lighter wouldn't work even in Varay, I thought. I wondered if my pistol would work either place. Dad had carried firearms, though they hadn't been with his body, and guns hadn't saved him. It was something else to ask Parthet about when I got a chance. In the meantime, I just had to remember not to count on my gun.

Baron Resler walked to a window. It wasn't glass, but a skin that had been scraped and oiled until it was translucent, then stretched and tacked to a frame. He opened the window and looked out at the Mist.

"I've spent most of my life fighting forces out of Fairy," he said. "Oh, there are months, even years at a time, when the elflord makes no trouble, but we can never be sure. We can't stop our patrols. We never know until our people spot his, or until he attacks. He never tires of it. Over and over your father put his mind to the problem without success." Resler turned to look at me again. "You can't imagine how weary I get of the fighting, how I long to see the old prophecies come true."

"What prophecies?"

"That we'll have us a new golden age when the same man is both Hero and King of Varay."

I thought, Oh shit, not again. But I just said, "You think that will stop the attacks out of Fairy?"

"How could the age be golden if this warfare continued?"

I didn't try to answer that.

"We've lived a long time on hope," Resler said, turning to the window again. I shook my head. He was another True Believer who though that a vague legend could do what all his years of experience couldn't. I waited, and the melancholy mood seemed to lift from him.

"You were wanting suggestions for your route," he said. He strode across the room to me. "There is no certain way, but your best chance is to stay in the forest, fairly close to its edge, near the Mist. Any force traveling the western side of the isthmus would take the open road along the beaches and bluffs. You might chance upon a patrol in the forest, but perhaps not. Speed is essential. The elflord knows when outsiders trespass in Xayber. You may have one other problem. Lately, we've had two dragons flying south out of Xayber to hunt. They haven't raided right around here yet, thank the Great Earth Mother, but dragons are nothing if not unpredictable."

"That's all I need," I muttered. "We'd better get started, unless it's safer to start after dark."

"Light or dark means nothing to creatures of Fairy, so there's no call to wait on that account. Come, Highness, we'll find you horses and such food as you can carry."

It didn't take long to outfit us. Lesh and Harkane chose lances from the castle's stock of weapons to go with their swords and knives, and Lesh added a wicked-looking battle-axe. I had my own weapons, all of them. The horses were excellent by appearance, a coastal breed with long hair. They were smaller than Gold or his ilk, but they looked strong, and the chief groom said they could stand the greatest rigors of a campaign. Resler told the groom that we were to have the best in the stable. The groom chose them, and Lesh signaled his satisfaction. I accepted Lesh's judgment, because I didn't know enough about horses to contradict him.

When we headed for the main gate, the portcullis was down and the drawbridge was up. Resler took no chances of being surprised. While we waited for the gate to be opened, I glanced up at the ramparts between the gate towers and saw a young woman staring down at me. Her long blond hair blew freely. She was dressed in dark green with a thick leather belt around her waist. I smiled. She nodded, so slightly that I though I might have imagined it.

"You know the lady above the gate?" I asked Lesh softly.

He glanced up. "What lady?" I looked again and she was gone. I described her, and Lesh shook her head. "I don't recall anyone like that, but it's years since I was here last."

The portcullis went up, the drawbridge went down. We walked our horses across the rough-hewn surface of the bridge.

There was a large, open plaza between the castle and its town. Built at the shore, Castle Arrowroot didn't have the advantage of height that helped protect Castle Basil. The near edge of the town was two hundred yards from the moat. The buildings were lower than the curtain wall as well. The plaza and streets were paved with stone. The houses and shops seemed considerably more substantial than those in Basil Town, and the roofs were of timber or slate rather than thatch. Arrowroot had a different feel to it than Basil Town. Basil was open and friendly. Arrowroot was closed and suspicious. There were no open shopfronts, no tradesmen plying their crafts in full view of passersby. Apart from the three of us, there weren't any passersby. The lower stories of the town were made of stone, and the doors looked formidable. Living under the immediate threat of attack left a mark that I could almost feel as we rode through the silent streets.

"They don't take much to strangers," Lesh said.

I grunted, too nervous to speak. I looked around all the time and wondered if the feeling of-almost-dread was natural or perhaps enhanced by the elflord. That feeling could be a mighty weapon.

We had to wait at the town gate. I thought that the gatekeepers were going to insist on a pass from the baron, but after Harkane made a loud fuss, the gate was opened… and quickly closed behind us.

Beyond the town wall-another difference between Basil and Arrowroot-the farm fields provided another clear zone, three hundred yards or more from the walls to the trees. This early in the spring, the crops would offer no cover and little incentive for a raider. Halfway across the cleared acreage, I reined in my horse. I stared at the forest ahead, then turned and stared back at Arrowroot. I felt an equal sense of foreboding in each direction, as if Arrowroot was as dangerous as Battle Forest and Xayber.