Stormcaster (Shattered Realms #3)(39)

“Where do you think you’re going?” she demanded, her hand on the hilt of her sword.

“This is where we say good-bye.” Hal led his mount out into the stable yard, with Talbot hard on his heels.

“What do you mean, good-bye?” Talbot planted herself in his path. “You’re coming with me to Fortress Rocks, and then on to Fellsmarch. The queen will want to question you along with me.”

“I have business in Arden,” Hal said. “I need to go home.”

“You are a prisoner of the queen,” Talbot said, “and it’s not my place to decide to set you free.”

“I won’t tell if you don’t,” Hal said, but she didn’t crack a smile. He sighed. It was unfair for her to keep playing by the book when he’d already strayed so far from it. “After what we faced together in Chalk Cliffs, do you really want to shed blood between us?” He knew Talbot well enough by now not to suggest whose. He swung up into the saddle, and Talbot gripped the stallion’s cheek piece. Never a good idea where Bosley was concerned. He showed his teeth, jerking his head to one side so that she lost her hold. Hal reined in, forcing the stallion back a few steps.

Talbot drew her sword. “I like you, Matelon,” she said, “but I can’t just let you ride back home when you are a prisoner of war.”

“We’re all prisoners of war, aren’t we?” Hal said, but that gained him no ground. He leaned down toward her, using all the persuasion at his command, which, admittedly, wasn’t much. “Look, I know you don’t want to go back to your queen and report that you lost your commanding officer, your post, and your prisoner. If I had my way, I would go after that ship even if I had to row all the way to Celesgarde.”

By now, Talbot was nodding her agreement.

“But,” he said, which stopped her nodding. “I’m tactician enough to know that the only thing I’d likely achieve by doing that is an early grave. We need more information. We need more firepower. And the only connections I have are in Arden. Holding me hostage and hoping my father responds for the first time in his life is a waste of time. I can do your queen and your queendom a lot more good by going home and making a case in person than by cooling my heels in a dungeon in Fellsmarch.”

“How, exactly, could you do us good?” Talbot asked, scowling. “And why would you, once you’re home?”

Hal had lots of possible answers.

Because I’ve fallen for your Captain Gray. Because, when it comes to choosing between her and the despicable Montaignes, it’s no choice at all. Because I’ve never seen a people so devoted to their line of queens. Because, after swimming for so long in the political swill of Ardenscourt, I’ve gotten used to breathing clean air here in the north.

Because I’m a fool for lost causes.

“Captain Gray and I had an argument about the war,” Hal said. “I told her flat-out you were going to lose. I told her we had better weapons, a bigger army, deeper pockets, and an entire empire to draw upon. It’s a total mismatch. Only a fool would bet on you.”

Talbot’s face was getting redder and redder. “And she said . . . ?”

He laughed. “She disagreed.”

“What’s your point, Matelon?”

“The point is, now I’m not so sure. Winning a war depends on more than armament and numbers. An army can’t fight on heart alone, but it can’t fight without it, either. That said, the empress Celestine and her army of bloodsworn scare the hell out of me. I’ve never seen soldiers like them. From what Enebish said, she has an endless supply. After Chalk Cliffs, I am sure of one thing: if the Realms cannot unite against the threat from the east, we will all lose.”

Talbot nodded grudgingly. “Maybe so, but if you think that after twenty-five years of war, Queen Raisa is going to bend the knee to the empire, you’re wrong.”

“I didn’t say the empire. I said the Realms. Give your queen my regards.” With that, Hal set his knees to the stallion’s sides. As he rode away, he was reasonably sure that Talbot wouldn’t put an arrow in his back. Mostly because she didn’t have a bow in her hands. Still, the tension didn’t leave his back and shoulders until he rounded a turn and was out of sight.





16


PRODIGAL SON


Hal rode south over the Alyssa Plateau, taking the path he’d traveled after his escape from the debacle at Queen Court. He crossed into Arden west of Spiritgate, but he didn’t feel any safer on the southern side of the border. For all he knew, the empress was attacking ports up and down the coast. For all he knew, he was a hunted man in Arden.

Once he was well into Arden, he began asking questions about the state of the dispute between the king and the Thane Council. But when your sources are tavern gossip, you get creative and conflicting stories.

Some said King Jarat had freed all political prisoners and was negotiating with the thanes in a new spirit of collaboration. Some said that the full power of the army of Arden would take the field against the thanes any day now.

Another common line was that Queen Marina had seized power and was running the kingdom in the name of her son. Still others expected that Jarat’s betrothal would be announced any day, bringing one of the powerful thane families to his side. If not Jarat’s, then his sister’s.