"What little you have, we need," Erminie said grimly. "But for the moment, you can run errands. Find Storn, Floria, Lenisa, and that swordswoman governess of hers, and bring them here-quickly, please."
Gavin ran from the room, and she turned to Conn. "We need Markos, and you're closest to him. Call him."
Conn started to rise from his chair, but she gestured him back impatiently. "No, we haven't time for you to ride out and find him. Concentrate on him- call him like that! Think at him, make him feel that something is terribly wrong and we need him here at once. If he starts calling up the men on his way over, so much the better; we'll need them all."
Conn concentrated, furrowing his brow with the effort. Markos, come to me; I need you.
He was quite surprised when Markos appeared,
and more so when his stepfather clearly thought nothing of it, taking it for granted. Gavin came back, with Lenisa and Dame Jarmilla; Alastair with them.
"Alastair! I'm glad to see you up and about," Conn said.
Dame Jarmilla said crossly, "He shouldn't be, you know; he's still as weak as a kitten."
Erminie explained quickly what she meant to do; to transform any wild animals she could find into the semblance of an army. "There would not be a proverb about it if no one had ever done it," she said.
"It is not a laran I've ever heard of," Gavin said.
"It was better known in the old days than now," Erminie said. "Shapechanging has given rise to many legends; but I have never done it; there were those in my family who, they say, could transform themselves at will into wolf, hawk-I know not what. It is dangerous for humans to do this; if they keep that form too long, they can take on the characteristics of the beast-kind. A part of it is simple illusion, of course; they will not be as human as they look. They will be able to carry no weapons but those nature has given them. And in the case of a rabbit, that is not very much. Still, they can be useful to us nonetheless."
"I don't know anything about it," Conn said, "but we will be grateful for anything you can do to help us; one blood feud at a time is enough. How will you get them?"
"I can call them to me," Erminie said. "So could you, I think; do you want to try?"
But Conn was too far out of his depth to try anything of the sort. And gratefully left that duty in the hands of a more experienced leronis.
"Bring them to me now and I will do what I
must," Erminie said, and Storn seemed to understand. He picked up his starstone, and a little later when Conn looked out the window, he saw that the clearing around the building was rapidly filling with the wild animals of the woods.
There were rabbits and rabbit-horns, hedgehogs and squirrels, and there were two or three small animals that even the woods-bred Conn did not recognize. But there were also bears.
Erminie studied them all, thoughtfully. After a time she got up and went out, moving among the animals. "When I change them, it will not give us the army we need except in illusion," she said, when they came out to join her. "The rabbits will still be rabbits, and will run away rather than fight if they are threatened."
That, Conn imagined, made sense. But what of the bears? He and Floria were still closely in rapport; and she said quietly, "I hope the appearance of a vast army will stop those of Scathfell without need for confrontation, I do not relish the task of controlling a bear in human form!"
Conn didn't either. "Not in any form!" he said; but by that time Erminie had approached the nearest of the animals. She threw a little water on it and said in a low voice, "Leave the form you wear and put on the form of a man."
As Conn watched, the animal, groaning in protest, stretched out, and a small man stood there; clad in brown and gray, he was bucktoothed and-as Erminie had said-he was essentially still a rabbit; but in form, at least, he looked like a man. Now Conn knew what she had really meant when she promised to arm the bears and rabbits against Scathfell.
When Erminie had finished her work, it seemed that an army stood before them-but, he understood, it was still an army of wild things. Alastair understood this, too, and said, "They cannot really light for me, even in human form-"
"We hope they will not need to fight," Erminie said. "But I can give you a bodyguard who will defend you to the death." And so saying, she called Jewel to her; the old dog came, and as she had done in Thendara, looked long in her face; then, as she had done with the other animals, threw a little water in her face, saying; "Quit that form you wear, and take the form your soul seeks."
"Why," exclaimed Dame Jarmilla, "It's a woman!"
Erminie said, "Yes, but she is like you-a warrior." She said to Alastair, "She will fight for you as long as life is in her body; it is in her nature to defend you."
Alastair looked at the fed-haired woman who stood where the dog had been. She was roughly clad in leather and wore a sword at her waist.
"This is the-this is Jewel?"
"This is the form Jewel has taken to guard you," his mother answered. "This is the true shape of her soul, or at least this is akin to how she thinks of herself." And Alastair remembered that Jewel had guarded him since he could remember. In fact the old dog was one of his earliest memories.
"But if she is not to fight-"
"I did not say she would not fight," replied Erminie. "It is her nature to defend you-I said we hope it will not be necessary for the other creatures to fight; they will look like an army, and that is probably all we really need, but they could never really defend us."
Jewel crouched at Alastair's feet; he expected at
any moment that she would begin licking his hands, and wondered how he would respond if she did; she was still a dog, but she did not look like a dog; she looked like a woman warrior. Only her eyes were the same: wide, and brown, and devoted.
21
Alastair waited in the bushes for sight of Scathfell's army. His own force-the pitifully few real men and the "army" his mother had raised by giving the bears and rabbits human form, waited with him; so many that if Scathfell-or his military advisors-caught sight of them he would turn and run-or so Alastair hoped.
But if Scathfell-with the use of his laran-could tell what had been done, what then? Alastair could not hope to win any kind of military victory with such an army; they could only run away. An army composed mostly of rabbits would, he thought with dry humor, be very good at running.
Jewel slept at his feet; with nothing to do but wait, she had curled up on the ground and fallen asleep. This, more than anything else, reminded him that whatever form she might wear, she was still essentially his old dog.
And this made him wonder a little; his mother had
said Jewel would defend him. How could this strangest of warriors defend him better than a good dog could? Though he loved her, Alastair would be the first to admit that as a human she didn't look like much.
Before he left Thendara, his mother had spoken of changing Jewel's form, but said at that time she could protect him better as a dog.
But now Erminie felt he could be better protected by Jewel in human form-what was she expecting?
He did not have much time to ruminate. Before long he heard a distant rumbling; he had never heard such a sound before, but he needed no one to tell him what it was. The sound was quite unmistakable-Scathfell's army on the march. Alastair could also hear the far-off military sound of trumpets and drums. Aidan had nothing like that, only his honor guard-alone and without anything to protect them, as Gavin said. The unfairness of it made Alastair's blood boil.
At his feet, Jewel stirred and stretched. Alastair said tightly, "I guess it's time, old girl," and she made a little sound of excitement; neither a growl nor a whine, but something of each. Alastair felt partly excited and partly afraid; his first battle. Would he be killed? Would he panic? Would he come through it and see Lenisa again? He half envied Conn, who at least had some experience with such things.
Then an arrow came screaming toward him; and instead of thinking about his first battle he was in the thick of it.
Erminie had told him what they were going to do; it was an old trick in the mountains. Beyond the thicket where he was hidden he heard the few other
men-and the great many bears, rabbits and hedgehogs in human form-crashing about in the underbrush, making a great deal of noise and sounding as if a large army lay concealed there. The only unquestionably human sound-and the one which made the rest sound human, as opposed, Alastair reflected, to the noises of the wild animals they really were- was the ululation of the drone-pipe played by old Markos, reverberating in the distance as if there were many more of them. Alastair had never realized how hard it was to tell one war pipe from a dozen when the sound came at you through the hills and underbrush.
Through the trees he heard Scathfell give the order to withdraw. Aldaran, or whoever was commanding his forces, had not been expecting to face half a dozen regiments, and judging by the sound, that was what lay in wait for him under cover of the bushes. Alastair had heard of this sort of thing before-there was an old story of how eleven men and a piper had driven off a couple of regiments-but it had never been attempted on this scale. He knew Scathfell's army could see a great body of men milling just behind the cover of trees. Sooner or later, Scathfell would begin to wonder why they did not close, but before he had a chance the few men they had among them, a scant half-dozen and a few women, let fly a hail of arrows and crossbow bolts from cover. They seemed like far more than they were; and taking Scathfell by surprise could do no harm; by taking the offensive they might succeed in driving them off before Scathfell and his armies fully knew what they were about.
Alastair looked around him. Jewel crouched at his
feet, but it was only fair that Conn, who was known by the few loyal men, should be in command of them-they should have the "young duke" they had fought with before to rally them. Gavin, Alastair knew, was riding to intercept King Aidan's party and make sure that he did not blunder unaware into the battle.
And I am left to command the bears and rabbits. Alastair reflected with some bitterness; whatever came of this, he would get no glory from his first battle. A commander skulking in the bushes, in charge of a horde of transformed animals, wasn't terribly heroic. And the worst of it was that there was nothing he could do about it; anything that he might do, except for crashing about and making noise in the bushes, would reveal the trick to Scathfell, and whatever came of that would not be good.
So Alastair chivied his forces, such as they were, through the bushes, helped by Jewel. Obviously enough of her dog's nature remained for her to enjoy chasing rabbits, whatever form they were in, although she never allowed the chase to take her far from Alastair.
The situation, though precarious, was stable for the moment.
And then their luck changed.
It was, as everyone told Alastair later, no more than unavoidable chance that Jewel chased one of the rabbits onto the path in front of one of Scathfell's men. The man promptly set on it, running through with his sword what he thought was a soldier; and when it died, it turned back to its natural form. The man's cries of, "Sorcery! It's a trick!" alerted his fellows, and before Alastair could call for help, a
good number of them charged into the bushes, all set to slaughter a bunch of rabbits.
The rabbits, naturally, panicked and ran all over the place. The hedgehogs and squirrels also turned tail, but the bears were another matter entirely. It seemed to Alastair no time at all before the soldiers started running into bears in their quest for rabbits. And while both rabbits and bears appeared to be unarmed humans, that was only their semblance. Rabbits were still timid and defenseless, but the bears were quite the opposite. Running into a bear, even in human form, was a terrifying and potentially deadly experience. The bears still had claws and were not happy about being bothered. Numerous soldiers died, mauled by the claws and teeth of enraged bears, and their dying screams ,told the others that this thicket wasn't the easy fight it had appeared to be.
Scathfell's men drew back to join the main body of their army, which, Alastair noted, was somewhat smaller by now. Good, he thought grimly, Conn and the men must have done some damage in the confusion. I only hope that Gavin managed to reach King Aidan in time. Then Scathfell's bowmen started shooting at random into the thicket in which Alastair and his "men" were concealed. But this tactic had some unexpected results. The rabbits who were struck usually died, but the bears were far tougher. Not only did they stay on their feet, they tended to. charge into the road and maul a few more soldiers before they fell. Yet Scathfell must have decided that this was still his best chance; the arrows continued to fly.
Alastair was sorely tempted to take refuge behind the nearest large rock and wait for it all to be over, but he sternly reminded himself that he was Duke of
Hammerfell, and the Duke of Hammerfell did not hide behind a rock during battle. After all, hadn't he fought for Hammerfell hundreds of times? Even if they had only been pretend battles in his nursery, he knew that a duke must set a heroic example to his men. Despite his fear, he continued to move his troops around, trying to make enough noise so that Scathfell would believe his arrows were having little effect.
Then suddenly an arrow flew toward Alastair from the direction of the road, and before he knew what was happening, Jewel threw herself in its path. Had she still been in dog form, the arrow would have passed over her head and hit Alastair, but in her present form, it hit her squarely in the throat.
Alastair threw his arms around the stricken Jewel, kneeling, sobbing, cradling the body of the old dog who had taken the arrow meant for him. He no longer cared about the sorcery by which this had happened; he knew only that for him the most personal casualty in this battle had been the dog who had fought more fiercely in his defense than any warrior, and had died for him. Jewel's slayer was standing over him, stunned; in an instant Alastair had his sword out and even before he knew what he was doing, the man lay dead.
Then Gavin was with him, reaching to take the dead dog's body from where it lay.
"Don't," he said urgently, "I'll carry her myself." In his heart he knew this was just the kind of death his gallant dog would have wished for.
Cradling Jewel's body in his arms, Alastair could not help but wonder if Erminie had known-if Jewel herself had not known.
22
There was not much to the battle after that; a few minutes later Scathfell's forces asked for a parley. Alastair got hold of himself again, dusted off his clothes and strode into the clearing, with a flag of parley, concentrating on looking as impressive as he could. After a time a tall, burly mountain man, with hair like flame and the double-eagle crest of Aldaran emblazoned on his tunic, came to him and said harshly, "I am Colin Aldaran of Scathfell; you, I believe, are Hammerfell."
"Yes, but probably not the one you were expecting." Alastair said sharply, and Aldaran smirked.
"Save me the tale for when we are seated around a fire somewhere," he said roughly. "I have heard just enough to be sure I would not understand. For now I want to know why you have joined against me with the lowland men and the Hastur king."
Alastair thought about that for a moment. "If you
will tell me why you and your men were marching in full strength against King Aidan and his honor guard, who had come into these hills as a private person to settle an old feud between Hammerfell and Storn-"
"A likely story," Scathfell snarled derisively, "do you truly expect me to believe that? Even here in the mountains we know that the Hastur-lords want to rule us all."
Alastair fell silent, feeling confused. Did King Aidan really want to rule in the Hellers? It had seemed to Alastair that the king had quite enough to keep him busy in the lowlands, and just wanted to see unnecessary bloodshed ended.
Colin of Scathfell looked at C
onn, who had come up to join them, and said, "Both alive? I had heard that the twins of Hammerfell were killed many years ago. Now I know this will be a long story-I am eager to hear it sometime."
"You shall hear it, and as a ballad," said Gavin, who joined them. He looked sadly at the body of the old dog which Alastair had laid at the edge of the clearing. "And she will be a character in it-the dog who fought as a woman warrior to defend her master. But I think Aidan should join this parley, and Storn as well." He gestured to the two men who were approaching them, accompanied by Erminie, Floria, Lenisa, and Dame Jarmilla, "Then will all the parties to this feud be with us."
Colin of Scathfell smiled. "That is inaccurate; I have no feud with anyone in these hills. Or elsewhere, as far as I know; though my cousin to the south seems to be trying to make one with me. But now tell me why you armed every bear and rabbit in
these woods against me. And I will consider peace with you."
"Gladly," said Alastair. "I have no quarrel with Aldaran-at least none that is known to me. One blood feud at a time is enough! We armed-to aid King Aidan, who is here with a scant two dozen of his bodyguard, to arbitrate between myself and Lord Storn. He has no quarrel with you-although who is lo say what he may say when he finds you have raised an army against him when he came here all but unarmed. And that I, too, would like to know."
"So we come to that again,' said Colin of Scathfell with some exasperation. "I marched out against the Hastur kings who are eager to bring Aldaran under their rule."
King Aidan entered the clearing with his honor guard of ten men, a few pipers, and Valentine Hastur. Colin glared.
"If we go over all the causes which lie between Hastur and Aldaran, we shall be here till tomorrow sunset and accomplish nothing. I came here," King Aidan said, "to settle the feud between Storn and Hammerfell-and for no other reason."
"How was I to know that?" demanded Scathfell.
"Be that as it may," Aidan said, "and probably will-I am only here to settle for all time this feud between Storn and Hammerfell; it has gone on for generations too long, and few of either family remain-no one alive knows the rights and wrongs of it, nor can it matter now. Tell me, Storn, will you lay your hand in friendship within that of the Lord of Hammerfell and pledge to keep the peace in these hills?"