The Walls of Air Page 0,30

That's quick.'

Something in the black humour of this amused him, for he chuckled. 'Possibly. Possibly.' The grey sky darkened overhead; he drew the rags of his cloak a little tighter about him. 'But to have come here and to be told that there is neither food nor space by one with that monolith of the Keep at his back and his fat merchants in their ermine cloaks all around him... I do not know what I expected, my lady. But not that.'

Aide said nothing, but Gil saw the fire of shame burn her face.

A girl came running through the rnucky confusion of the camp to the shelter by which they stood, calling, 'M'lord! M'lord Bishop!' He stepped toward her, and she said, 'Troops, m'lord. From up the road.'

Maia cast one quick look at Aide, meeting her blank surprise. Then they all hastened to see.

Before they reached the road, Gil could hear the sounds of the troop clearly over the unnatural silence of the camp. Behind the clinking of brass scabbard buckles, the soft slurp of boots in half-frozen slush, and the light jingling of mail shirts, she heard the whuffling breath of overworked horses and the creak of harness-work and wheels. The land on which the watchtower stood overhung the road, and the brink of it was jammed with silent, ragged watchers, but they made way for the Bishop and the two girls. Down below, Gil could see the troops hastening through the twilight - Janus on his stocky bay gelding, his red hair hidden by mail coif and helm, his eyes darting to take in every possible danger of the camp and the crowding woods beyond, Alwir's troops in their scarlet livery, leading the horses that drew the empty wagons, looking uncomfortable and ashamed as they passed before the hungry eyes of those to whom they had denied food and shelter, and the double file of Red Monks walking guard, faceless in their masking helmets. The men and women around Gil watched this show of force pass by in silence; only one child in the back of the crowd cried out, asking if those men were going to give them food.

Beside her, Maia said softly, 'They are fools to set forth anywhere this late in the day.'

Aide shook her head. 'They had planned to be gone at noon. I don't know what

delayed them.'

Gil did, but held her peace. The latest quarrel between Alwir and Govannin had left its marks; though the force around the empty forage-wagons looked formidable, she would have doubled it, had it been up to her. She, too, remembered the farms burned by the Raiders.

The Bishop of Penambra did not move until the last wagon and the last of the rearguard had vanished into the obscurity of the snowy woods. Then he said, 'So they do not only harvest - they glean also, so that those who follow after must make a meal off the chaff.'

Aide glanced up at his tall figure, her face flushed with shame. She stammered, 'We - we have need of all we can find. Alwir is raising an army, sending to the Emperor of Alketch for troops. They will burn out the Nests of the Dark at Gae, and so establish a place of safety from which we can reconquer the earth from the Dark.'

The straggly eyebrows raised, sending a whole laddering of wrinkles up the high forehead. 'On several occasions the Empire of Alketch has been likened to the Devil, my lady, and it is true in this regard: they say that the Devil cannot enter any man's house unless he is first bidden, but afterward, no man may bid him to leave. I think your brother would profit to take in the seven hundred or so warriors left to me, who are loyal to the heir of the House of Dare, before he gives his bread to enemies.'

'My brother says...' Aide began. She stopped, too ashamed to go on.

'Your brother is a man who keeps his own counsel,' Maia finished gently. He reached out his big, bony hand with its two crippled fingers, to rest on the black, soft fur that fell over her shoulders. 'I understand, my lady. But speak to him for us. Tell him he will need our swords. Tell him anything. We cannot hold out here long, and there is no place on the face of the earth left to which we can go.'

'I will tell him.' Aide looked up into the gaunt, waxy face