Darksong Rising

1 Anna readjusted her floppy brown hat and shifted her weight in the saddle. Beneath her, Farinelli, the big palomino gelding, continued his quick walk eastward along the dusty road that ran south of the Chean River toward the former ford at Sorprat. Anna glanced sideways at Himar, the sandy-haired captainovercaptain nowwhose mustache drooped more than usualperhaps from the road dust...perhaps from sweat. Two of her personal guards flanked themRickel on her left, and beyond and slightly back of Himar, Lejun. An overcaptain, personal guardssometimes it was still hard to believe that she was Regent and Sorceress of Defalk, and Lady of Mencha. Less than two years earlier, she had been Anna Marshall, struggling assistant professor of voice in Ames, Iowa, a divorcee mourning the death of her eldest daughter. Then, a spell sung in Defalk and her own ill-uttered wish to be anywhere but Ames had thrown her into the intrigues and battles of Liedwahr, both colored by the ever-present male chauvinism, a chauvinism that so often she seemed the only one to recognize, even after she'd survived three attempted rapes. Because the world of Erde was governed by the harmoniesand song magic that workedthose struggles she faced were more deadly than the faculty politics of Ames.But only slightly, Anna reflected as she thought of the fate of untenured and discarded junior faculty members at the universities where she had taught over the years. The late-summer sun had burned the back of her neck, despite her ever-present felt hat, and the sweat that oozed from her hair added to the stinging. In her green trousers and shirt, and floppy brown hat, she scarcely looked like a regent. Only the gold-trimmed purple vest betrayed the slightest indication of rankthat and her position at the head of the column that stretched a good hundred yards behind her. An older-looking woman with red hair liberally streaked with white rode up alongside Himar, clearing her throat to announce herself. Anna turned toward her chief player. "Yes, Liende?" "Lady...the players are tired...especially young Delvor." Anna glanced at the road ahead, rising slowly to a crest perhaps a dek awayroughly a kilometer in earth termsthen back to Liende. "I suspect all the armsmen are tired, too," Anna temporized, blotting the sweat from her forehead. "Everyone can rest a little when we get to Sorprat. I mean, this side of the river. I think it should be only two or three deks from here." "Four at the most," added Himar. "It won't be that long," Anna promised. "As you say, lady." The woodwind player nodded, then let her mount drop back. The air was still, so hot that the browned grasses to the south of the road hung limply in the heat. Road dust coated the legs of the horses, and a finer film covered the riders' legs. Anna rubbed her nose, gently, wondering why she had ended up breathing so much road dust.Because there wasn't any other way? Himar eased his mount closer to Anna, his eyes on the pair of scouts nearing the rise in the road almost a dek ahead. "I will be glad when you have completed this task, lady," the overcaptain said in a low voice, "and you can return to Falcon." Anna nodded. Lord Jecks would also be glad when she returned, since the white-haired and still-young-faced lord of Elheld had questioned the need for her mission, even though he was the grandfather of young Jimbob, the heir to Defalk, for whom Anna ruled as Regent.Regent for a youth not always grateful. Yet you've used your sorcery for Jimbob when yoModesitt, L. E., Jr. is the author of 'Darksong Rising' with ISBN 9780812566680 and ISBN 0812566688.