"That"s c.r.a.p. One corner of the place did collapse. But it wasn"t because of anything like what happened with the hippodrome. Delari must be preoccupied with something. He hardly ever shows himself."

Mounted, Hecht walked his horse slowly in the direction of Anna Mozilla"s house. Allowing Madouc and his lifeguards to keep up. He felt mild despair about the attention his pa.s.sing caused.

"Things have really changed here, Pipe. But they"ve stayed the same, too."

"Good to know, Pinkus. But try to be a little less clever. What does that mean?"

"Never mind me, Pipe. I"m a walking cliche factory."

"That doesn"t take us to any point, either."

"You are a hard, cruel man, Piper Hecht."

"The tasteful constraints of my faith won"t let me say what you are, though it features the stern of a horse with tail upraised for the drop."

Ghort laughed. Then he got busy talking about everything he thought Hecht ought to know about the current situation in the Mother City. A situation unlikely to spark conflagrations of optimism.

The refugees just kept coming. There was nothing for them to do.

Ghort chattered all the way across town, from the Teragi right down to the street outside Anna Mozilla"s house. He went right on chattering at t.i.tus Consent when the Captain-General broke away. Hecht was grateful for Ghort"s effort. The man had told him more than he had thought.

Vali and Pella were in the open doorway to Anna"s house, Pella practically jumping up and down. They had known he was coming. They had been out scouting. Hecht had seen them dashing through the crowds, speeding ahead with news that he was coming.

Vali stepped in front of Pella and gave Hecht a huge hug, startling him totally. She did not say anything, though.

Pella had plenty to say for both of them. Questions. Reports. Brags about how he was doing with his studies.

Forcing a word in edgewise, Hecht asked Madouc to see t.i.tus safely home, then told Pella, "You"ve grown about a foot. And Vali, too." Vali looked like she was starting to bud. He was thrilled to see the changes.

Pella continued to jabber. Vali was more restrained but did keep the fingers of her left hand touching his arm. "Anna! Anna Mozilla! Are you in there? Can you come rescue me from these wild monkeys?"

He was nervous about this. How had Anna dealt with their separation? Would she invite him in?

Anna came to the doorway because he had not been able to push past the children. His worries were unfounded. She was pleased to see him. Her embrace enveloped him, swamping him with hungry promise. But she said, "You smell like you haven"t had a bath for a year."

"And I was just up at the Chiaro Palace. Why didn"t I use the baths when I had the chance?"

"I refuse to say what I"m thinking. Pella! Calm down. Your father will be here. Piper. The other one, Lila, is too scared to come out."

"It"s all right. I remember being the same way when my father came home from the marshes. You don"t know how long it"ll last. And you don"t know if there"ll be a next time. The Sheard are cruel and cunning."

Anna gave him the oddest look, as though wondering if he had started believing his own made-up back story.

No. But the children needed to believe it. Children talked.

Anna led him to the kitchen. She had bathwater heating.

The precursors of a meal were cooking. Vali and Pella worked on that, Pella never easing up on the chatter. When his questions interested Anna, too, Hecht responded.

She asked few questions herself. But, "We heard a rumor about a giant worm attacking you beside the Dechear River."

"Sort of true. Whatever you heard would"ve been exaggerated. We destroyed it. Hardly anyone got hurt."

She gave him a hard look. "Princ.i.p.ate Delari was there, too. Wasn"t he?"

"He was," Hecht admitted. "I wonder if he exaggerated." Hecht had no answer.

By the time he was clean he was so warm and relaxed he was inclined to head for bed. "Oh, how marvelous it will be to fall asleep with no worries to keep me up. Knowing there won"t be interruptions all night."

Anna said, "I don"t know about that."

Pella and Vali snickered.

Anna said, "Pella, set the table. Vali, keep an eye on the sauce. She planned the meal, Piper. I"m just a consultant."

"But I saw her out..."

"A working consultant. It"s her project. And Lila"s."

Hecht got the message. Though he never saw Bit"s daughter.

As he settled in to work on the capon and sides, Hecht said, "Blessed Eis and Aaron, it feels good to be clean and wearing fresh clothing."

"Which, I see, hangs loosely. You lost weight."

"That happens. So now I"ll get busy putting it back on."

"Aren"t you forgetting something?"

"Hunh?"

"Prayer?"

"Oh. Got out of the habit out there. The only priests were Brotherhood of War types. Pella, unless Vali wants to do it, you go ahead."

Vali smirked. Pella managed a rather imaginative grace. Following the lead of his literary namesake, Hecht supposed.

Later, before the inevitable adult encounters, Anna whispered, "Vali is talking now. To Pella. To Lila all the time when she thinks I"m not listening. To me sometimes, when she"s excited. She"ll slip up with you, too. She feels secure enough, now. Did you find anything out over there?"

Piper Hecht had no worries about Vali Dumaine. But, "Nothing. No famous child disappeared anytime in the last few years. t.i.tus"s people found relatives of the Erika Xan who supposedly brought Vali to the sporting house in Sonsa. They knew nothing except that Erika Xan disappeared years ago."

His worries had faded mainly because Vali was getting older.

In the wee, paranoid dark hours in the camp, awash in the pervasive enmity of the Night, he had come to fear that Vali might be a planted living artifact. Like Osa Stile.

Anna Mozilla soon distracted him from all outside concerns.

21. Alten Weinberg: Hard News

Tension in the Imperial capital escalated daily. The Princess Apparent did not share it. She had no c.o.c.k in the fight. Nor was she near the center.

The Empress had sent numerous knights and n.o.bles to support King Peter against the Almanohides. All had volunteered. Most backed the Empress in her romance with Brothe. Her stay-behind supporters were afraid that those who were displeased by that romance might take advantage.

Katrin was frantic with fear for Jaime of Castauriga, who had summoned his full feudal levy to a.s.sist King Peter. Katrin had seen Jaime just once but had talked herself into an obsessive romantic love that set courtiers wondering, in whispers, about her sanity.

Helspeth was pleased by it all. In the sense that anything deflecting attention from herself was pleasing.

She was able to partic.i.p.ate in life at court. Friends were not afraid to be seen with her, particularly Lady Hilda Daedal of Averange. Lady Hilda joked that Helspeth was more likely to be stained by her adventures than by any of the Princess Apparent"s own.

Court gossip suggested that Lady Hilda was involved with three different gentlemen of the court. Each believed that rumors about her and the others were vicious lies retailed by Lady Hilda"s enemies. "Men are fools," Hilda insisted. "They"re stupider than puppies."

"Then why get involved with them?"

"I like variety. And I have fun manipulating them. If you weren"t a princess you"d have a chance to understand. Might still, after you get yourself a husband and give him a couple of sons."

"I"m not going to marry. I"ve decided."

"So you say. And you might make it work. For a while. As long as Katrin is frazzled." Lady Hilda smirked. "I had a letter from my cousin." She did not say which cousin. But her smirk expanded when Helspeth responded with an excited start.

The Empress was not the only Ege daughter with an obsession.

Lady Hilda"s cousin Culp was a priest. He was secretary to Princ.i.p.ate Barendt, living in the Chiaro Palace in Brothe. Cousin Culp was one of Hilda"s game pieces. Helspeth feared there was a totally wicked side to their relationship. Maybe.

"Now you"re trying to play with me."

"Only a little. Just making sure I figured it out right."

Helspeth frowned but said nothing.

"You aren"t as obvious as Katrin."

"Katrin will get what she wants."

"If Jaime survives."

"So?"

"Your fixation is back in Brothe. And the Collegium is scared. Pacificus Sublime tried to do the Captain-General dirty by giving him an impossible job. He did it in record time, then came over... What"s that goofy look, girl?"

"What? Excuse me?"

"You look like you think he"ll be in your bed when you get back to your apartment."

"He might be. In my mind."

Helspeth felt the heat hit her cheeks. How could she have said that, out loud, in front of anyone? She was Princess Apparent of the Grail Empire. She was not supposed to have fantasies.

Lady Hilda broke out laughing. "One of you girls is human, then."

"What?"

"Your father had appet.i.tes. They say."

"He was a man. Men are that way."

Lady Hilda nodded but did not pursue the subject. She shifted to the mundane. The usual stuff of women at court.

Helspeth followed all the forms when she responded to her sister"s invitation to visit her in her quarters.

"Get up. Get up, Ellie. There isn"t anybody here to see. We don"t have to play the game."

Helspeth did as she had been told, clinging to Ferris Renfrow"s instruction about being pliant. She could not restrain a gasp when her sister moved into a stronger light, though. "Have you been eating right?"

Katrin had aged terribly. Katrin gave her an ugly look. "Being Empress isn"t what I thought it would be. Father made it look easy. People did what he told them."

Helspeth said nothing. She did not know what to say.

"I wish I could call down the lightning. I"d rid myself of these vultures."

"I agree with you on that." Though maybe not on who ought to be stricken.

"And Jaime... Helspeth, you can"t imagine how awful it is, worrying all day and most of the night, terrified about what might happen."

And Helspeth could not. She worried, but not with the self-consuming intensity Katrin showed. The worst disaster imaginable in Direcia was unlikely to affect her personally. Other than in the misery her sister might choose to pa.s.s along.

"I can"t eat. I can"t sleep. I can"t focus on being Empress."