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He crossed himself, and Rudi drew the Pentagram.
MISSISSIPPI RIVER SCHOONER HAMMERDOWN NORTH OF DUBUQUE SEPTEMBER
Mathilda waved wistfully as the spires and towers and curtain wall of the Iowan city fell out of sight around a bend of the river. Their shadows fell long across the deck, with the morning sun at their backs. A propeller ship went by in the other direction, the crew chanting at the pedals belowdecks, and fishing boats were out like a flock of gulls. Rudi stood with his hand on the cool metal frame of the schooner?s bow catapult, his legs flexing as the ship nosed across the swell, content with the slap of water on the hull, the manifold thrum of wind through the rigging and the groan and creak and squeal of the wooden fabric beneath them. ?I?ll miss Kate,? she said after a while.?Her husband was a complete bastard, but she was… is… a good friend. A good woman. I don?t know how she could have loved him, but she did.? ? Acushla, if women didn?t have bad taste in men and weren?t prone to fall in love with right bastards now and then, it?s certain, sure and completely beyond question that humankind would have died out long ago.?
Mathilda snorted.?Things would have been a lot harder for us without her. She?s really getting a grip on things there, too.?
Rudi nodded; he?d had the same impression.?And now that she?s hatching from her egg, the which you had a hand in, I suspect she?ll be a very bad enemy to her foes, as well as a good friend to us. It?s important work you did there, work which may decide battles in our favor in a year or two, and perhaps turn the course of the war.?
She leaned against him with a sigh, and he put his arm around her shoulders-careful of her wounds-and his chin on her hair, enjoying the clean summery smell of it.
The sun was fairly warm as the morning went on, just comfortable despite the stiff breeze that fluttered the edges of his kilt and plaid, and snatched at his bo
The use of the ship was a gift from the new Regent and Chancellor of the Provisional Republic. She was big enough to take the party, their best horses, and all the Southsiders.
The whole tribe of which are now a pain in the arse of cosmic dimensions, he thought. But we couldn?t leave them there, not even at someplace friendly like the Heuisink?s estate. Too many old angers, and they?d be too afraid and bewildered and cramped, too likely for it to end in blood if they felt deserted. At least they?re hardy sorts, and not settled folk. They?re all used to moving about in dangerous country in all seasons.
It wasn?t something he could get too irritated about now. They were finally moving, and quickly-as much north as east, right now, granted, but on their way again, and soon they?d turn eastward up the Wisconsin River.
I can?t say our stay in Iowa was wasted time, either. We?ve made a strong friend, and Corwin and its Prophet an enemy.
And Mathilda was a pleasant warm solidity against his side, as well, the dearer for their separation. The blue-gray surface of the Mississippi slid by, the wooded bluffs on both sides streaked with gold and red and brown as the trees turned, above marshes clamorous with duck and goose and teal, where reeds had gone brown and spilled their white floating seed onto the air. That air smelled of wet and silt, tar and canvas and warm wood. And, faint and exciting, a hint of the wildwood.
Mathilda gri
He laughed.?You took the thought from my mind, darlin?,? he said. ?Now, just put some high mountains on that eastern horizon, turn this river westward, sow the forest with some Douglas fir, and it would be downright homelike, eh?? ?Just like Montival?? she said.
Rudi?s answering grin was wry. There was a yearning in the tone beneath the joke, and he knew his heart as well would leap when he saw the cone of Mt. Hood again, or sailed down the Columbia past waterfalls vein ing the cliffs in silver, or felt the soft autumn rains that dimpled the Willamette between willow-clad banks. ?That name… I think a kindly Power whispered it to me. It has a ring to it, does it not? For our home is all mountain and valley, and it?s beautiful… which the name is too, you see? Though Edain liked it even more than I.? ?I think it does have a ring to it,? she said.?We?ve all been talking about it and we all like it. It?s… it?s true. The name the land was waiting for.?
There was something in her voice… He looked down sharply, and her bold-featured face was smiling in a way that had a disconcerting hint of her mother?s expression when she?d just maneuvered someone exactly where she wanted them-or was about to castle in a game of chess. The more so as she stepped out from beneath his arm.
He turned, and all the companions of his journey were there, with Jake su
Mathilda wasn?t in court dress today, of course, but the badge of the Eye was on the shoulder of her sheepskin jacket. She tapped it, and grew less grave for an instant. ?Conspiring? Hel lo! House Arminger, Rudi!?
Then she drew her sword with her good arm, and carefully so as not to stress her healing ribs beneath the bandages. They all did, and raised the blades; Rudi felt himself struck speechless as the ship?s crew looked on curiously. ?Hail!? Mathilda cried, her voice proud as an ocean of lions. ?Hail… Artos! Hail, Artos the First, High King of Montival!?
The others shouted it with her-some of them a little awkwardly, but just as loud; a red-tailed hawk that had been circling low took flight and soared upward into the blue dome of the sky.
He waited until the sound died, and set his hands on his sword belt. ?Is it that you?ve all gone barking mad the now?? he said sharply. ?Here we are a thousand miles and more from home-yes, from Montival-and it?s a king you would make of me?? ?I think God wants you to be a king, R-Artos, not just us,? Mathilda said calmly.?And that?s why the Sword is waiting for you to bring it back.? ?You?re many of you heirs to rulers, but none of you rulers-well, Jake is, and Odard?s of age but he?s a vassal, not a sovereign himself. It?s our parents that should make any such choice, not us!? ?Or the head of my Order, for me, technically,? Ignatius said. ?Particularly since he?s my temporal ruler as well as my Father in God. But I have prayed for guidance, and… I think that this is right; even righteous. Against the dark Power that possesses Corwin, God would raise a bulwark of the Light.? ?I don?t even believe in your version of the divine!? Rudi protested.
Ignatius smiled with polite, invincible certainty.?That is a great pity. But nevertheless, He believes in you… your Majesty. And He is thrifty, and uses what comes to hand. I have that on the best authority.?
Ingolf shrugged.?I?m not even an heir, just a younger son,? he said.?But yah, who cares what the old geezers think? Here, there, or anywhere? We?re all Changelings, or close enough-and this world?s going to be ours soon. If it isn?t going to end up belonging to the Cutters,? he added.?Which is what this crazy trip is all about, you betcha.? ?Aunt Astrid will love it,? Mary said with conviction, and Ritva nodded vigorously.?And mom… well, Signe?s reasonable. When she has to be. When it?s official Bearkiller business. Sorta reasonable, mostly.? ? I?m for it,? Frederick said, his brown young face grave.?Dad wanted the country united again, and tried all his life, but the bits and pieces went their own way in spite of everything he could do. My brother Martin… he just wants to take it all, hammer it flat, and kill anyone who gets in his way. It?s time to try something else, something that lets them all be different but puts them together as well. I know you, Rudi, and if anyone can do it, you can. I?d rather be your, umm, vassal, and follow you to victory than fail all by myself.?