Stalking Darkness

detail.
    “They looked grand, riding out of the city by torchlight,” he said. “Klia and the high officers rode at the fore in full uniform, helmets and all. And there was our Beka at the head of her turma with a steel lieutenant’s gorget at her throat. The horses had bronze chest plates and cheek pieces that jingled like bells as they rode.”
    “She wrote that she’s in Captain Myrhini’s troop,” noted Kari, stroking Illia’s dark head as the little girl leaned against her knee.
    “Myrhini’s as good a captain as there is,” Micum said, pulling her close. “The frontier will be quiet for a while yet, too. The Plenimarans couldn’t get that far west much before mid-Lithion at the earliest and probably not until early summer. She’ll have time to find her feet before any trouble starts.”
    “1 hope so,” murmured Kari. “Will there be more letters?”
    “Dispatch riders go back and forth as often as possible,” Seregil assured her.
    “That’s good, then.”
    Micum exchanged uneasy glances with the others, but after a moment she simply tucked the letters away and rose with her usual briskness.
    “Well, Arna, you and I had better go see to the supper. Micum, tell the men to set up the tables. You two chose a good night to come, Seregil; we’ve got venison pie and apples baked in cream.”
    The meal was the usual noisy communal affair and the guests were summoned to give news of the absent daughters between mouthfuls. Watermead was a country household, close-knit and loyal. The servants wouldn’t be satisfied until they’d had descriptions of Beka’s regiment twice over and a detailed account of Elsbet’s studies at the temple school.
    Later, when a loudly protesting Illia had been put to bed and the servants had spread their pallets in the warmth of the hall, Micum and Kari joined Seregil and Alec in the guest chamber.
    “Tell me about your reunion with this fellow Rhal,” Micum said when he’d poured hot spiced cider for everyone.
    Sprawled crossways on the bed, Seregil launched into what sounded like a highly colored tale of their ambush of Rhal and the subsequent battle with a mob of alley toughs. Alec’s prowess was featured in such flattering detail that the boy, who was sitting close beside Kari, flushed with surprise.
    “Well done, Alec,” Kari laughed, hugging him.
    “This Captain Rhal of yours sounds like a man worth knowing,” Micum said. “I’ve thought so ever since you told how he let you go that night.”
    “Micum told me something of your trip, but I’d like to hear your version of it,” said Kari. “Did he really fancy Seregil, Alec?”
    Alec grinned. “I half fancied him myself, when he was all prettied up. As it was, I had all I could do to keep the two of them at arm’s length.”
    With frequent interruptions from Seregil, he went on to describe Rhal’s attempts at seduction, and Micum noticed that both of them skillfully omitted any mention of the wooden disk, or the influence it had exerted over Seregil. In this account, Rhal had simply walked in on Seregil in an unfortunate state of undress. It all came out sounding a great deal more humorous than the original version Micum had heard in Nysander’s tower.
    “Ah, Seregil,” Kari exclaimed, wiping her eyes with the corner of her apron. “I’ve never known anyone who could get himself into such messes, and then right back out again!”
    “It would have been considerably more difficult if Alec hadn’t been such a faithful defender of my virtue.” Seregil gave Alec a courtly nod.
    “My lady,” Alec murmured, rising to give him a bow of such elaborate solemnity that they all burst out laughing again.
    “I was watching Seregil’s face tonight,” Kari said as they lay together in the darkness that night. “He’s in love with Alec, you know. He wasn’t last time they were here, or even at the Festival, but he is now.”
    “Are you surprised?” Micum yawned, resting a hand lazily on the roundness of her belly, hoping to feel the new life fluttering there.
    “Only that it took so long. I doubt he knows it yet himself. But what about Alec?”
    “I don’t think such a thing would occur to him, with his upbringing and all.”
    Kari let out a long sigh. “Poor Seregil. He has such rotten luck when it comes to love. Just once, I’d like to see him happy.”
    “Seems to me you had your chance about twenty years back,” Micum teased, nuzzling her bare shoulder.
    “When it was
you
he fancied,