Chapter Three



After almost three hours strenuous ride, the long procession arrived at the clearing where the week-long talks were to be held. Hakim Fahrar and the Stump took over, ordering the pages to surround the clearing. They were posted in pairs, back-to-back, one facing in to keep an eye on the spidrens involved in the peace talks and one facing out to check for more immortals sneaking up on them. Kel was facing outwards, whether by accident or design unable to see the Lady Knight. Luckily, she was paired with Merric, but - even better - Neal was close enough to grin at. She did so.

"The Stump isn't too bothered whether we get shot or not, is he?" whispered the irreverent one. "I mean, one of those bolts from a winged baboon would go straight through the pair. Probably hit him, too, if he goes on like that..." he added, eyeing Lord Wyldon's restless pacing up and down the ranks of pages. Apologising quickly, Kel reached past Seaver and elbowed Neal, hard. He yelped.

"Silence in the ranks!" bellowed the King's Champion, adding to Daine and Numair, "This remind you of anything?"

"Please... don't talk about it. That was such an awful time. I know I'm being too sensitive, but it was terrible. Almost as bad as... the bandits. Even the madness..." said Daine with a shudder. Numair kissed her tenderly.

"Sh, magelet. Don't think about it. I'm sorry, it was horrid for you, and all my fault. I ought to have told you about my plans."

"Don't be silly," murmured Daine, burying her head in his shirt, "It wasn't you at all! Well, that was bad enough, but the real trouble was your old Graveyard Hag. Now she was a nightmare and a half!"

Alanna, smiling at the adoration on their faces, suddenly became aware of the pages watching the drama with immense interest. She blushed for her friends and kicked Daine.

"Sorry to come between you at such a moment," she hissed, " but you came here with a serious job to do. And with fifty pages aged ten to fourteen."

Daine jumped, blushing. "Thank you so much! But it was you that brought the subject up."

What Alanna would have said was lost, for at that moment the spidren delegation entered the clearing. Even the Stump couldn't quite repress the shudder that ran through every frame at the sight of them, and Seaver quivered like an aspen. Using her Yamani training to the full, Kel managed to stifle her overwhelming desire to cry out in fear and shock - and had the satisfaction of controlling herself better than Vinson. But any who did scream could easily be excused for by any standards spidrens were horrific. Six feet tall, black and furry, with human heads, their teeth were sharp and caked with dried blood, their faces were dirty and bloody, and underneath their bodies were the terrible spinnerets.

"Greetings!" Daine managed to give her voice the firmness and confidence that she lacked, as well as to hide her confused embarrassment. "I am Veralidaine Sarrasri, delegate from the Tortallan King."

"We know no king." That was the tallest spidren, a male, with blond hair and blue eyes. A Scanran, thought Daine - growing up in Galla so close to the Scanran border, she knew the fierce, lawless people as few in Tortall did.

"That is what we are here to discuss," Daine couldn't communicate mentally with part-human immortals, but she did know - almost instinctively - what would go down well with them, "At this preliminary meeting, we invite you to make any requests or ask any questions that you feel must be answered before the talks really get underway." She stepped back slightly, to give Them the floor. As she had feared, it was the Scanran male who minced forward on his eight long, delicate legs.

"We are troubled," he began, rolling his 'r's slightly to give a smooth and menacing effect, "We came in good faith, expecting no fighting. As you see, we have only six. All are chosen only as delegates. Now we find ourselves surrounded by armed palace boys. There are the men who fought so bravely in our last... encounter. There is the woman who wiped out an entire tribe, five years ago. There is the tall mage, of whose power we have heard. Do you tell us still that you trust us?"

Daine bowed. She was starting to get the feel of this. "Honoured sirs, we are flattered by your estimate of our abilities; yet we are hurt that you so clearly mistrust us. These are the most important negotiations of the year. The pages are simply honouring that status. It is also an excellent and useful exercise for them in following debate. Your suspicions, honoured sirs, are utterly groundless. I hope this puts your minds at rest."

The spidrens conferred briefly and the Scanran spokesman began, again with an obviously well-prepared speech.

"We are satisfied. For now. But we also wish to know why it is that we have hitherto been so ruthlessly pursued and persecuted. Every time that we have stepped onto Tortallan soil we have gone in fear of our lives, even when our visit was for a purely peaceful purpose. Why is this, Veralidaine Sarrasri?"

"We had no intention of pursuing, or indeed of persecuting you, honoured delegates. Indeed, we would not harm you for the world, if you did not harm us. But many spidrens - I speak no disrespect to you, sirs, or those whom you represent; the spidrens who often attack are clearly rogue or even insane - have killed our livestock and carried off our families. With no means of distinguishing spidrens of peaceful and of warlike intent, we have been forced to slay all we see. " Daine decided to push her advantage: she sensed that the spidrens were confused and not, at that moment, hostile. "If these talks are successful, we would be happy to enter into an agreement with you. If, perhaps, we were to give you your own lands, and then all who leave them are presumed of hostile intent. Unless they leave for a declared, peaceful purpose. And of course," she continued swiftly, hearing mutters from the spidren ranks, "a similar restriction should be imposed upon us. That is, we should be unable to go to your lands, unless, as for you, for a declared and peaceful purpose. Then, if we saw unannounced representatives of the other species on our lands, we should be entitled to attack and pursue them; this would, of course, be purely in order to defend ourselves and our families. Please, do talk this proposition over before you answer me. Indeed, you need not answer today."

Kel listened to the dance of manners for some time, although she never took her eyes off the woodland in front of her. Although she was very interested in the talks, her Yamani training had taken over and she managed to obey the orders of her overlord, the Stump. She knew that Neal, without the benefits which she had, would be utterly rapt in the negotiations, so she was trying to watch for him as well. Finally her patience was rewarded. She saw a furry spider-leg, twenty times as big as the legs of a house spider, stuck out from behind a tree. Kel took a deep breath.

"At the rear!" she yelled. "At the rear!"

It was an utter muddle after that. Numair wheeled around and blasted the leg that Kel pointed out... the spidren delegates began denying all knowledge of the attack... the Stump and Hakim Fahrar came to the rear to investigate... Daine, abandoning the negotiations, sent out a probe. And screamed.

Her scream broke the chaos. Everyone, even the Stump stopped what they were doing and stared at the weeping wildmage. Numair swore vehemently and covered the distance between himself and his lover in two long strides. He caught her up and sank down, holding her tenderly and brushing the tears from her face.

"What is it, my darling?" he asked.

"Spidrens... thirty, forty of them. And something else. It could sense me... it got my mind. It was... like nothing I've ever felt before. Totally evil, and yet familiar as something not evil... Magical and immortal, certainly... Numair!"

"Yes, my magelet?"

"I think... I'm almost sure... it was a dragon."