Page 51 of Gryphon in Light

“And why did you come here?” Back to the first speaker. How did they manage to maintain that expressionless look about them?

“Because Kelvren asked for me. I owe him a debt of gratitude, and my superiors in Valdemar approved of my coming.” He tried to match their stone-faced expressions.

“Ah, yes. Your superiors in Valdemar. Who appointed you as a military attaché. An interesting title.” Well, a blind man could have seen the challenge in that. Are you here to spy on us? Are you here to recruit for Valdemar? Why are you here, Hallock?

“They weren’t going to demote me. They weren’t going to release me. I was told this rank is equal to First of the Sixteenth, and I see no reason to think anyone was lying. I know why I am here: to help Kelvren. No one gave me any other orders, and I have no secret ways of sending back messages or information. The only other Valdemarans you’ll have along are my wife Genni, and maybe young Jefti and his ma, Ammari. None of them are able to send back secret messages either.” He shrugged. “Like I said. No Mind-magic. So if my superiors had an ulterior motive, they didn’t give me orders about it, they didn’t hint about it, they didn’t imply anything, and only they and the gods know what they were thinking.”

Silence, punctuated by distant sounds from the Vale. And the crickets again. I hope this doesn’t make me averse to crickets in the future.

“What do you think you can do?” The question came from the first speaker.

“Fight. Work to instill some strategy into those Ghost Clan lads. If they are anything at all like what I’ve been told, their idea of ‘strategy’ is to run straight at danger, yelling at it and waving whatever weapons they have.”

That got a hint of a smile.

“I know when to fight. More importantly, I am fairly good at telling when fighting is not the right solution. The situation at Deedun—fighting was not the right solution, but we were forced into it by the other side. Thankfully, Kel figured out a way to bring that nonsense to a screeching halt.” He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Kel’s good at strategy too. I figure between us, we can avoid as much fighting as is possible without getting ourselves into trouble.”

“I would never have put strategy and Kelvren into the same sentence,” the Hawkbrother said dryly.

“Then, you’ll have to forgive me, but you don’t know him at all.” That last was said with perhaps too much force, but he was getting angry on Kelvren’s behalf. “I’m sorry, that was harsh. Listen—”

He told them about what had happened in the tent for the seriously injured and recovering. He told them about what Kel had said about the fighting itself—how wrong it was, and how it was forcing everyone on both sides except the mercs into an intolerable position. How that was why Kel had done what he had done, and stopped the fighting cold, saved the day, and prevented any more useless death and pain. Kel’s clever morale-booster of using his clipped feathers and Ammari’s glowing paint. “And he did all that because he considered himself honor bound, as an ally, to come up with a solution to what looked like an insoluble problem. If that’s not strategy, I don’t know what is.”

More silence. I just bet they have some form of Truth Spell going. Not the sort I’d recognize, and not coercive, I don’t think, but at least they know I’m telling the truth as I know it.

“You speak strongly in his defense,” said the one in black.

“He’s one of the finest creatures I have ever met, and I’d say that even if he hadn’t risked his life to save mine.” Hallock forced himself to cool down. “I mean . . . he does have a different outlook than me. He’s a gryphon. I’ve noticed that they tend to think of things in more black-and-white terms than we do. Maybe I can help him learn a little—nuance.”

That actually surprised a real laugh out of some of them.

“A nuanced gryphon. That would be a prodigy I would like to see,” said the one in black. So far he, the woman in braids, and the first man were the only ones speaking aloud, but at this point Hallock was absolutely certain they were Mindspeaking volumes to each other. Well, that was probably why they were silent; it was probably hard to Mindspeak and talk out loud at the same time.

“Is Valdemar intending to use this expedition as an excuse to push westward?” That blunt and unexpected question came from one of the silent ones, a woman whose hair was uncharacteristically covered by a wrapped cloth, and whose clothing was uncharacteristically austere. And she surprised a startled laugh out of him.

“Lady, I respect you all, but you’ve all grown up with centuries of magic as an everyday part of your lives. We’re not primitives, we’re just different. Valdemar is coping with the discovery that the magic we thought was nothing but legend and wonder-tales is a very real and present force in our world. We’ve got Change-Circles all over the bloody kingdom that are frightening not just the children and horses, but people who never saw the like before. We’re afraid of what may be out there, but there’s more to life than fear, and we’ve been blindsided before. We’ve got to have a look, all of you willing, beside friends. We’ve only just ended a war with Hardorn, only just made allies out of Karse and Duke Tremayne, and we’ve got ambitious bastards inside Valdemar trying to stir up trouble and elevate themselves. Every Herald in the Kingdom is scattered around the land trying to quell fear and greed and insurrection. Which is why you didn’t get a Herald for this, who might have been a more reasonable choice than me. We’re juggling screaming cats already, and we’re not going to add a couple of flaming axes to what we’ve already got in the air.”

Evidently they had enough acrobats and the like in their own ranks to understand his analogy, which got a genuine laugh out of all of them.

“We don’t, and never have, tried to expand by force,” he continued. “When people join Valdemar, it’s because they want to—they see what we are and want to share it, and that’s how we like it. Some join us for protection, some because they are like-minded, some for opportunity. But they all join us because they want to, and it’s vital to us that we explore, because the future is coming regardless. We need to learn. There is no one true way, after all.”

“Well,” the last woman said, allowing her face to relax into an expression of satisfaction. “The Valdemarans haven’t changed since the Baron’s day, it seems. And let me remind all of you that this attitude is why we helped them in the first place. I think we have nothing to fear and much to gain by adding at least this man and his mate to Kelvren’s party.”

The first man turned slightly, and bowed a little. “Even so, Willowheart. I believe we are all in agreement.”

Expressions relaxed, nods all around. Hallock sighed, the tension draining out of him.

“We are pleased Valdemar has been willing to part with you, and are certain that you will be a valuable addition to this group,” the man continued. “And if you can actually teach nuance to a gryphon, well, you will be nothing short of a miracle worker!” He patted the bench beside him. “Come, let us tell you our names, and discuss everything that we already know—which is precious little—and you can add your wisdom to ours.”

Hallock accepted the invitation and joined them. That went better than it had any right to, he thought as they introduced themselves. I wonder how Kel is getting on today? If I know him, he’s eaten up with impatience to get on the move.

“You look pleased with yourself,” Kel observed, as Firesong arrived for his daily meeting—well, you couldn’t call it a “lesson,” when neither of them really knew what they were doing. At least, that was Kel’s impression, although Firesong was so very good at presenting façade upon façade upon façade, like the layers in an onion, that he suspected even Silverfox had trouble seeing through to the real man.

“I’ve found your Heartstone,” Firesong gloated. Yes! Gloated! There was nothing hidden behind a façade at this moment, mask or not. “Fool’s gold was a very good choice, after all. Not suited to a full-sized Vale Heartstone, because the crystals won’t grow bigger than the length of a hand, but perfect for what we want.”

“Hurr, I hope that name is not somehow an omen,” Kel told him, flopping down in his favorite spot in the tent, opening the book on gryphonic anatomy and its relationship to magic, and gesturing with his beak that Firesong should join him. “You place your faith in something you think is gold, which turns out to be worthless.”

Firesong sniffed, and folded his legs up to sit beside Kel. “Hardly worthless. As it happens, the crystalline structure of fool’s gold makes it much more suitable for harmonizing magic work than my first thought, sculpted ductile gold. Captured in hard glass to keep it from eroding, it can be added to or altered as we go, and it can be chained to substones for outside use, like ‘flaring off’ excess fuel,” he continued, with hand gestures describing its internal structure akin to a flier describing their maneuvers. “High enough melting point to suit, which can only help.”