Lady Warhawk Read online

  "Please, two of my sons have some springtime malady. Will you come to my inn to tend them?"

  "Can I come with you, Mother?" Lycen stayed by Meghianna's side as she crossed the room to stand in front of Megassa.

  "It's my turn," Thrarin said, leaping up from the table where Ector just barely managed to keep his mouth from dropping open at the sight of the elegant noblewoman in the inn.

  "Now now, you two." Bethian stopped in the middle of the floor, her blacksmith-strong arms full of trays of dirty dishes. "I thought you planned on helping me with my baking. Who's going to test the berry tarts to make sure they're good enough for our customers?"

  Megassa laughed, the merry sound of innocent childhood mischief. "A dilemma, indeed. I assure you, young man, your mother will be perfectly safe with me. We are only perhaps twenty minutes of walking away. Sir, you are a soldier assigned to the garrison here?" She nodded to Ector, who leaped to his feet and bowed, somehow managing not to knock over his stool or any of the other chairs around him.

  "Captain Ector, commander of the garrison, at your service, milady."

  "Wonderful. Captain, would you stand as escort for our healer Ianni, so her son doesn't worry for her safety?"

  "Sons," Thrarin said, crossing over to stand next to Lycen. "Why do you look so much like our mother?"

  "Don't be silly," Bethian said, chuckling, as she continued across the room with her load of plates. "They look nothing look alike." She met Meghianna's gaze, grinning, before she ducked into the kitchen. "I need someone to wash dishes before I can start baking," she called.

  "Go," Meghianna said, fighting not to laugh at the indecision in the boys' faces. They adored helping Bethian when she was baking. Their sweet tooth was almost as strong as their hunger for adventure. "I'll be perfectly all right."

  "Most likely it will take longer for you to come to our inn and return, than it will to determine what ails my sons." Megassa smiled sweetly. Her gaze flicked sideways to watch the boys dash into the kitchen. "Two sons? They both must look like their father. Where is he?"

  "I am a widow, milady."

  "My condolences. Captain, if we could be on our way?" She gestured at the door.

  Why had Megassa come for her? Meghianna mulled the question as she gathered up her healing supplies, which she doubted she would actually need, and let Ector escort her and her sister out the front door of the inn.

  More important, how had Megassa found her? Meghianna couldn't imagine her sister visiting every healer in every city in Lygroes, wagering that the Queen of Snows hid there. If Megassa had come just to make mischief, Meghianna vowed she would find a punishment that would make her sister's banishment seem like a spring frolic.

  "Is your husband with you, Lady?" Meghianna asked, when the three of them had turned two streets and moved away from the harbor, heading into the more affluent quarter of the city.

  "No. He has important work. Leading our enemies on a mad chase." Megassa cast a sideways glance at Ector, who walked a respectful distance slightly behind them. With a little shrug, she brushed her hand against Meghianna's. I know you probably don't trust us, Meggi, but I swear, we're here to help you. And our brother. "Ah, here we are." She gestured at the inn. "We have the entire second floor. Far too much room for us, but the innkeeper insisted. Your inn is lovely. Would there be room for us there? My boys would enjoy meeting your sons."

  "Let me see how ill your sons are, milady. Then we can decide if my inn is fit for you."

  A glance out of the corner of her eye revealed Ector watching them, frowning, his gaze going back and forth between the two. Meghianna felt slightly better, knowing her old friend suspected something lay deep under the surface of the seemingly innocuous conversation.

  Megassa's four boys waited in the common room of the second floor. Four men in Lorkin's livery, gray and dark lavender, with the drakag emblem of the royal house of Welcairn on their shoulders, stood guard at the top of the stairs, the door of the room, and inside the room at both windows. Signs of play interrupted and lessons ignored lay partially concealed. Scrolls and wax tablets and slates lay haphazardly piled on the long table in the center of the room. Carved wooden animals and toy swords were piled up in one corner and partially covered with the cloth that once covered the table. Bruises and welts marked the boys' hands and faces, indicating scuffles the guardsmen stationed inside the room hadn't interfered in.

  Meghianna took a closer look at the guardsmen and muffled a chuckle when she saw mussed hair and bruises, and a few mischievous glances shared between the boys and men. So, the men had indulged in playtime with the boys under their care. That said much for the affection between Megassa's family and those sworn to their service. Meghianna agreed with her former nurse, Nalla, that the feelings between nobility and their personal servants said much for the character of the nobility.

  "Thank you." Megassa nodded toward the door. The guardsmen left. Ector stayed outside in the hall, and Meghianna saw some of his concern ease up when the guardsmen left. His eyes narrowed in discontent when the door closed, leaving him outside and her separated from him. "Is he so loyal because he knows, or he's a sweetheart?" her sister continued, sitting down on the long bench that ran under the larger of the two windows. Immediately, her two younger boys clambered up on the bench to sit on either side of her, and the two older ranged themselves in front of her, taking up the guardsmen's places.

  "Suitor," Meghianna said with a smile. "And I rather think he adores Bethian's cooking just as much as he hopes to wear down my resistance someday."

  "It must be nice to know you have such loyalty without anyone knowing the truth," her sister mused. A flicker of sadness peered out from her eyes before she closed them. For two heartbeats, weariness emphasized the silver streaking her hair. Then she took a deep breath, sat up straighter, wrapped her arms around the two boys, and opened her eyes. "Well, my dears, this is your aunt at last. What do you say to her?"

  "Aunt Meggi?" the oldest, tallest of the boys said. This had to be Lok. He was his father's image, but without the hardness around his mouth, the sharpness in his eyes.

  Meghianna threw out a testing loop of Thread, wrapping it around all the boys. All of them had faint imbrose. She didn't know why she felt disappointment that Megassa's sons hadn't inherited strong imbrose. Wasn't this what the Rey'kil Council and the Warhawk's Council had hoped? That the legacy of the Nameless One would die out in Triska and Trevissa's line?

  It stole her breath to realize that Lok had called her Aunt Meggi--meaning that was how Megassa had referred to her all these years, when talking to her boys about her.

  "Yes, Lok, I'm your aunt." Meghianna blinked away her tears and smiled. "I've been terribly busy, but I did miss you, Megs."

  Megassa let out a little moan and launched from her bench, nearly dragging the two boys with her. She wrapped her arms around Meghianna and they clung to each other, laughing and weeping. They ended up on the bench again, with the boys asking questions and the littlest one somehow managing to get onto Meghianna's lap. She welcomed that sign of trust and easy affection. It meant Megassa and Lorkin hadn't spoken evil or anger about her to their boys. That easy acceptance and affection from the four boys meant more to her than anything Megassa said when she revealed her story.

  "We unraveled the mystery perhaps five years ago," her sister said, after sending Lok and the next boy in line, Mikyl, to fetch cider and cakes from the innkeeper. "When you cut the connection between us, that told me you were the most likely one to have charge of Athrar."

  "Did it hurt?"

  "Not feeling the link between us break, but knowing why you had to do it. Oh, I was so furious. I was sure it was Lord Mrillis' doing..." Megassa shrugged and stroked the hair of the boy on her lap, Arkin. "Then after a while, I realized I would have done the same thing if our roles were reversed. I certainly hadn't given you any sign that I had learned my lesson, so why should you trust me? Especially when I locked you out every time you tried to reach me?"
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  "Megs--"

  "I understand. And I wouldn't take your job for all the fame and glory and honor you could offer me. I have an entire estate full of servants to help me and Lorkin raise our boys, and I still wonder sometimes how we manage. You have two boys you're raising on your own, along with acting as a healer and running an inn. That was how we found you, finally. A healer woman with red hair."

  "Five years ago, you say?" Meghianna could barely repress a sigh. She thought she had been so clever. If Megassa had found her, how many far more vicious and bitter enemies of the Warhawk had been watching her all this time?

  "Oh, no, we didn't find your inn until two moons ago. We decided you were in Quenlaque, and we had decided you had to be a healer--you can't resist helping people, Meggi. Do you have any idea the number of healers in this city? It's growing faster than our spies can keep count."

  "Your spies. How many know--"

  "No one but Lorkin and our boys. We have a few trusted men and women, all with Valor training, bound with those clever spells Mrillis devised--"

  "What spells?" Meghianna felt some disgruntlement that Mrillis had done something new in Valor training and hadn't told her. Even if she wasn't involved in Valor training anymore, as Queen of Snows she should at least have been kept informed.

  "Not truly magic," her sister said with a chuckle. "Vows sworn on their swords and Braenlicach, imperiling their very souls, to stand for honor and truth and loyalty and justice, to protect the weak and defenseless, and defeat those who would harm innocence and profit from suffering. How can anyone stray from vows like that, when it's been pounded into you during your training, and strong chains of guilt hold you fast?" She sighed. "If only such vows and such training had been pounded into my head ..."

  "You were in love. It does odd things to even the most sensible people," Meghianna offered.

  "Now, I can truly vouch for that." The sparkle came back to her eyes and she tapped the nose of the youngest boy, Garyn, perched comfortably in Meghianna's lap. "My dears, go back to your games and let your Aunt Meggi and me talk about boring grown-up things."

  Lok and Mikyl returned then with the food, and it was several minutes until everyone was served. Meghianna and Megassa settled down under the window again with their mugs of cider and two cakes, sticky with honey and studded with dried fruit. Meghianna made note of the composition of the cakes, to tell Bethian. This inn didn't have any sort of reputation for its food, either good or bad, but these cakes would make a nice change in her inn's regular fare.

  "I wasn't particularly keen on bringing my boys with me, but ... well, if anyone is watching us, they wouldn't suspect any sort of action if the boys were involved." Megassa's gaze followed her boys as they settled down to study or to play. Then she sighed and turned back to her sister. "To continue my tale, we only suspected where you were, and had our people simply keep watch for anyone who vaguely matched your description. I guessed you would dye your hair. How often do you have to do it? I don't feel any magic holding an illusion, so I assume that really is dye?"

  "Twice a moon, at least. I do use magic regularly in my healing and that tends to burn off the dye and reveal the white." Meghianna chuckled. "Sometimes I think my hair has a mind of its own and resents being dyed, covering up the white."

  "You earned that badge of honor and respect, Meggi. It's a pity you have to cover it and pretend to be far less than you are."

  "I've enjoyed being ordinary. As if either of us could ever be ordinary, with our heritage." It warmed her to get a grin from her sister at those words. "So how did you narrow down all the possibilities to me and my inn, and why are you here? Much as I have missed you and wanted to meet your boys, I can't imagine you're here just to visit."

  "Lorkin and I have dedicated ourselves to rooting out all our brother's enemies, to make up for our stupidity so many years ago. As Athrar grows older, those people are becoming more desperate to find and destroy him. And there have been several attempts on our father's life."

  "Yes, Mrillis said. But he said all were defeated."

  "Our father isn't as young and strong as he used to be. Poison leaves a mark in the body. He's old and feeling the effects of his years of battle. Blood left on a sword eventually corrodes the metal. Papa isn't called the Bloody Sword without good reason."

  "You do miss him, don't you?" she half-whispered. She reached out to take her sister's free hand. "Oh, Megs, why didn't you go to visit him?"

  "Hurt pride, partly." Megassa didn't free her hand. "And partly to keep up the game of deception Lorkin and I have been playing. It makes the Warhawk's enemies a little more confident, thinking there are a few less allies, and perhaps a chance to use us to get control of the throne. And we are able to get more information that way, to safeguard that throne."

  "So someone has found our brother."

  "Not yet. But rumors insist the Queen of Snows is not a recluse at the Stronghold, and that she is in disguise, raising the Warhawk's heir as her son. Having two boys will only shield you a little while longer. That was rather clever, having another son. It threw us off the trail for nearly a year. But too many of your neighbors know that your brother was orphaned and came to live with you around the time that Athrar Warhawk vanished. Someone who remembers you as a child might see you, and catch the resemblance."

  "Ah. Yes, I had hoped to avoid that as long as possible, but the simpler the disguise, the easier it is to carry it off. And both boys call me Mother, so..." She shrugged.

  "Who is the other? Is he truly yours?"

  "Do you remember Lysette and Syndal?" Meghianna waited until her sister nodded. "They were murdered by the Purebloods just before Athrar was born. I adopted their son, Lycen."

  "I assume he inherited his father's strength and talent. I vaguely remember Syndal was a suitor...until Lysette swept him off his feet." Megassa sighed, mischief glittering in her eyes. "I was quite jealous."

  "Until Lorkin pursued you."

  "True." The sisters shared smiles of memory, and Meghianna thought she felt a little more of the shattered bond between them mend, like pieces of a pottery bowl coming back together. Not quite neatly, but whole enough to be useful again. "Well, my mission is done, bringing you warning. Whatever you decide, you have the support of the house of Lorkin."

  "You wouldn't offer if you didn't think our enemies are ready to swoop down on us," she murmured, as she let her mind spin through all this new information. "No matter how clever your people are, they would be rather conspicuous, simply being strangers here. Taking us to your estate would be just as conspicuous."

  "The logical tactic would be to take Athrar to the Stronghold, but the enemy would expect that, too." Megassa got up to pace, instantly getting the attention of her sons. "I don't want you to tell me where you are going... But I wish we could help. Somehow."

  "Wish what, Mama?" Garyn dropped his toy sword and scurried across the room, to grab handfuls of Megassa's skirt and look up at her with wide, somber eyes.

  "Your first duty as a Valor in the Warhawk's service," Meghianna said. She caught the instantly widening of all the boys' eyes, the excited grins, the alertness that rang through their bodies. A moment later, she and Megassa shared glances, and laughed.

  Blessed Estall, thank you. I have my sister back.

  Chapter Two

  Meghianna knew Ector was worried, and she silently blessed him for his silence and patience as he escorted her back to her inn. Her mind was in a whirl as she considered all her options and made lists of all the things she had to do.

  She would leave Quenlaque, with as little fuss as possible, but where should she and her boys go? She would have to speak with Mrillis that evening, after the inn had shut down for the night. She didn't need the business of the inn interrupting what might prove to be a very long conversation through the Threads.

  "I'm worried about you, Ianni," Ector finally said, when they could see her inn.

  "How?"

  Meghianna thought she knew Ector w
ell. He liked to ask questions, listened, thought hard, watched, and refused to jump to conclusions on scanty evidence. It made him a dangerous enemy and a valuable ally. She had thanked the Estall daily that he had chosen to take both her boys under his wing. They could have no better teacher in the soldierly arts--or in being a man of honor. She was especially grateful that Ector hadn't grown sour at her constant refusal of his marriage proposals, and had remained her friend.

  "Did that lady tell you who she was when you were alone with her?"

  "Yes, of course." Meghianna silently revised her half-formed plan. "Princess Megassa. You likely guessed that she did not come by accident to my inn."

  "But why? What sort of trouble has she gotten you into?" He grabbed her arm, stopping them in front of the well in the middle of the square. Traffic flowed around them. It was as good a place as any to have a private conversation. They were both well known enough that no one would even notice them standing there, talking.

  "She has enlisted me in helping to protect the heir." Meghianna clasped Ector's hand where it rested on her arm, to give emphasis to her words. "I have imbrose enough to know she speaks the truth. Can I ask your help in a great service to our World?"

  A crooked smile twisted the concerned, hard set of Ector's mouth. "I always thought there was more magic to you than just healing and raising two mischief-makers." He nodded. "Ask me. I doubt you would plan treachery."

  "Quite the opposite." She patted his hand, then gestured to her inn. "This is something I don't want to say twice, and the boys are intimately involved with this. Join us for dinner?"

  "You don't have to bribe me that way," he said with a chuckle as they resumed walking. "But Bethian's cooking is enough to make a man consider committing crimes."

  "Why didn't you ever ask her to marry you, instead of me?" Meghianna muffled a giggle when Ector stumbled.