Page 63 of Valdemar

Again, Ardatha just lingered in his mind, observing, which seemed to be his habit when Kordas was holding Court.

:I seem to have some time to spare before dinner—:he thought to Ardatha.

He got the sense of a chuckle. :No you don’t. The old Portal is opening and you are about to have a visitor.:

:So! The Tayledras saw our flag! Sooner than I had hoped!:

It wasn’t a good idea for a King to run, but Kordas certainly set a new record in speed-walking as he hastened down to the postern-gate that led outside the wall to where the old Portal was.

The Portal was not something anyone could use to go wherever they chose, not even a mage, because it had been irrevocably locked to the Portal wherever the new k’Vesla Vale was. Kordas didn’t actually know the geographic location, which was exactly how the Hawkbrothers wanted it. Despite that, caution had dictated that when the Mother built the wall complex, the Portal should be outside it. Just in case someone did somehow manage to hijack it. So when the Hawkbrothers came and went—visits that were less and less frequent as time passed—they had to wait patiently outside the wall until someone with authority would let them in.

They didn’t seem to mind. Probably because the precautions seemed reasonable to them. Kordas didn’t know exactly what protections the Tayledras had on their Portal, but he suspected they were formidable to say the least. Something that could stop the Portal from opening—or maybe something that stranded an unwanted or unanticipated passenger in the terrifying “between” until the Tayledras could verify the in-comer as harmless. And leave them there if they weren’t.

That . . . would be a horrifying fate. Every time Kordas transited through a Portal, he got the feeling there was something just outside his sensing range that was watching him. Hostile? Neutral? Definitely not inviting. He wasn’t eager to find out what it was, either.

“Majesty?” one of the two guards on the Portal said in surprise, as he dropped his dignity and sprinted the rest of the distance from the postern-door to the Portal. And it was only just as he got there that the first physical signs of the Portal opening manifested in the form of a mist that filled the gap between the two curved uprights. :Ardatha—how did you know the Portal had been activated before there was any sign here?:

:We are much more sensitive to the movements of magical energies than humans are,: Ardatha confirmed, as the Companion strolled out of the postern-door in a much more leisurely fashion than the King. :I suspect that will be useful.:

The mist thickened, then became the rippling, reflective, water-like expanse that signaled someone was about to step through. Kordas waited, a little impatiently, because he had the shrewd notion that the Hawkbrothers had not been unaware of the entrance of the Companions into the world, had waited to confirm that whatever the phenomena was, it wasn’t dangerous or hostile, and then had decided that it was a good time to respond to the hawk banner.

But he was exceedingly glad to see Silvermoon k’Vesla step through that watery surface, and not someone else. First, because Silvermoon was a great friend, not only to Kordas personally, but to all of Valdemar. Second, because if Silvermoon had come, the Hawkbrothers had confirmed that there was nothing inimical about the phenomena they’d detected.

And just to verify that assumption, Silvermoon was dressed in his Hawkbrother finery, showing this was a visit in which he anticipated no trouble, with his white goshawk resting on a thick shoulder-strapped gauntlet on his left arm. Today he wore green in all its possible variations, in the form of an intricately pieced long vest, tunic, and wide-legged trousers, his pure white hair long and loose, ornamented with strings of delicate green beads. Even the green leather belt at his waist was tooled and embellished, as were the pouches and his weapon-sheaths. Only his green gauntlet remained plain—as plain as the hertasiwould allow, which meant dyed patterns—probably so that the bird didn’t get his talons caught. That goshawk was easily twice the size of a “natural” bird, because it was Silvermoon’s bondbird. Bondbirds were magically enhanced, and quite intelligent.

But Silvermoon wasn’t alone! The shadow of a second person appeared behind the surface of the Portal, and then the second figure stepped through.

It was a young woman, about Restil’s age, Kordas judged, dressed less ostentatiously than Silvermoon in a gray-and-blue tunic and trousers, a wide gray fabric belt around her waist and a narrower gray leather belt slung at her hips, holding several pouches and weapons, and with a bird of her own on her wrist. This one was a sooty buzzard in its normal colors, broad of shoulder and hips, with a naturally white breast. Unlike Silvermoon, the young woman’s hair wasn’t white, it was a pure, deep sable, and her eyes were so dark a brown that the pupil almost vanished.

Kordas stepped forward as Silvermoon launched his bird into the air. It soared over the wall and presumably found a place to perch to its liking. Kordas had no fear for the chickens and pigeons of the Palace; Tayledras bondbirds were well-mannered, and didn’t hunt domestic stock—although the Palace servant in charge of the chickens, pigeons and rabbits had now and again given one of them permission to “dispose of” particularly aggressive roosters that had somehow missed getting turned into a capon.

“Silvermoon!” he exclaimed, holding out both arms, and the two men embraced without delay. “I presume you came here about—” He jerked his head at Ardatha.

“—that wonder,” said Silvermoon. “Indeed. So this is the form that the favor of the gods took.” He released Kordas from the embrace and stood back a little to run his gaze over the Companion. “Greetings, Bright Soul,” he said, with a little bow.

:Greetings, Elder of your people,:Ardatha said, apparently able to Mindspeak to Silvermoon, which should not have surprised Kordas in the least. :And yes, we are the manifestation of the intervention of the gods. I am Ardatha.:

“So there are more of you?” Silvermoon replied. “Good. This is excellent news. Truly excellent news. Kordas, Ardatha, this is my cousin, Starbird k’Vesla.”

The grave-eyed young woman moved her left arm further from her body to accommodate the buzzard, bowed slightly to Kordas, and more deeply to Ardatha, but said nothing.

“So, you put up the banner, with the designation that this was not a request for a social visit, and I am fairly sure you would not have done that merely so that one of us would come to examine your new—” He paused, significantly.

:Companions. We are calling ourselves Companions.:

“—Companions,” Silvermoon finished smoothly.

“No, but I’d prefer if we continued this discussion in the comfort of the Palace.” Kordas did not want to make his guards uncomfortable by coming out and saying he wanted to be away from long ears. These men were only human. Part of the guards’ daily ration was beer, and people were known to drink a little too deeply and talk a little too much as a result.

Silvermoon addressed the two guards. “Thank you for your vigilance.” Taking her cue from that, the young woman clicked to her bird, and the buzzard launched from her gauntlet smoothly when she raised her arm.

“I would be very pleased to see the Palace up close. Let us take ourselves there,” Silvermoon agreed. He nodded at his cousin, and all four of them made for the Palace at a more leisurely pace than Kordas had set to get to the Portal. Kordas hadn’t missed the implication in Silvermoon’s precisely worded comment—“see up close” indicated he knew it from a distance, implying that he surveilled it periodically. It wasn’t a detail a listener would understand, as such, but the Hawkbrother preferred to speak subtly. Ardatha trailed behind at a distance that was neither awkwardly far nor uncomfortably close, aware that he had a possibly intrusive “presence.” While they walked, Kordas kept up a running dialog about what he had done at what they were now calling the Grove, why he had done it, and an abbreviated version of what had happened there the night the Companions appeared. Silvermoon listened attentively, asked a few questions, and mostly listened. His cousin said nothing, but Kordas sensed that she was concentrating on his every word.

He paused when they were equidistant from the Palace and the pasture. “Do you want to have our conversation inside, or do you want to go examine the place where ‘it’ all happened?”

“I should like to visit this Grove, if you don’t mind,” Silvermoon said. “I’d like to see more of these Companions, and to tell the truth, I sense there is something you want to say that is not for every ear. It’s easier to see a curious eavesdropper in the open.”

:Oh, we wouldn’t let anyone get near you,:Ardatha told him.