The Enhancer Read online

  "Yes, Major."

  As Meeral saw more enhancers arriving she asked the name of the woman who had been respectful and attentive from the moment she arrive. Her name was Nelasmar.

  "I put you in charge of this group," Meeral said. "I'll check in with you tomorrow."

  Other groups, as they arrived, fell into the same organization. The next few days Meeral only had time to look in on her groups of fire enhancers and give a few suggestions for improving their skill.

  One group complained, "With so many of us practicing, how can we tell if we hit our target or another enhancer did?"

  Meeral said, "Work it out -- perhaps your group leaders can get together and come up with ideas."

  Meeral supervised the archers and organized the fire builders. She spent several hours stretching her ability to draw a flame from a distant fire, and enhance it to a great distance. Every day there were rumors.

  "The Drarie are crossing the border," some said, but it was a false report.

  "Send troops to defend us," came the request from a town on the coast. Kaldoat did not have enough men to protect the whole countryside south of Pactyl.

  "Show me how to enhance fire as you did when you sank the Drarie ships," a woman said. She had come from a town on the coast, thirty miles south of Pactyl. Meeral added her and many other women, to the groups that were improving their enhancing skills.

  Kaldoat prepared defenses along the coast. Linima sent and received messages, and gently directed Kaldoat to spend a little time listening to the civilian who spoke to him. He discovered that he learned from them. Even when he didn't learn, things went more smoothly after he had listened.

  Though Meeral went from one army command to another followed by her two guards, she did not see MorToak for several days. Suddenly he greeted her with, "You'd better go see what your enhancers are doing with fire, Meeral."

  "Why?"

  "Just go look for yourself."

  Though she searched his face for signs of disaster among her fire enhancers, it told her nothing.

  When Meeral arrived she saw several fires burning. She saw that the enhancers knew she was coming. Some were lined up along the shore, some along the bluff, a few sitting on windowsills of houses.

  At a signal they began their trails of fire, but they had individualized their paths. One sent a bouncing ball of light that jumped from the top of one wave to the next. Another sent a deep tunnel of heat, with steam rising in a straight line to the target. Another had a peculiar zigzag. The woman in charge of the first group, Nelasmar, pointed out to Meeral a level-one enhancer perched in a tree. As Meeral watched, the woman sent her fire directly to her target. She did not need a path of fire to guide her to her objective.

  "You did a good job, Major."

  Behind her stood MorToak. He smiled, and having said his piece, he started to walk away.

  "Did you get through to King ParToak at Lurdoa City?" Meeral asked, wanting to hold him.

  "Yes." His voice was so curt, it almost stopped Meeral. His face darkened and she wanted him to smile at her again.

  "Was your uncle glad to hear from you?"

  "Glad?" he said with a mocking laugh. "This gave him another chance to point out that DotToak, his son, will succeed him on the throne. He used to be kind to me. Now he doesn't trust me." He stopped, then said. "I don't know why I'm telling you this."

  Before he could turn away, Meeral said, "Perhaps he did it to protect you. Wouldn't you rather have people around you who are your friends, rather than those who are seeking favors from the king?"

  Meeral expected him to stalk away immediately. He started to say something, changed his mind and walked slowly away.

  CHAPTER 15

  Lenera repeatedly said she was happy that Linima spent so much time with Kaldoat, but she often glanced around in panic, looking for the twin who wasn't there. Meeral particularly noticed it when they both weren't busy working. To distract her, Meeral took her to the Ezant Temple where they helped the Ezants.

  Meeral, too, had problems. She only saw MorToak at a distance, working with Kaldoat or other soldiers. Perhaps it was just as well. Every time the two women came to the Temple, Zavona took Meeral aside and cautioned her to avoid doing anything that might remind the prince that he had rescued her from the man who killed Syhira, the enhancer.

  "I don't think he even looked at my face that day," Meeral said. She didn't tell Zavona that she had returned MorToak's handkerchief with the onics in it.

  "Don't remind him -- or let anyone know Chak brought you to Pactyl."

  In the palace the Duchess swept by them without a glance in their direction. She was a good-looking woman, with a short, solid body and dark hair. Her face was surprisingly pretty, with pink cheeks that Lenera first said were artificially colored. Much as they set their hearts on finding fault with her, they decided her coloring was natural and she was genuinely lovely.

  Finally Meeral heard from MorToak. A messenger came to the door of her palace suite. He held a paper in his hand. She recognized him as the same man who had read her the invitation to dinner with MorToak.

  "Are you Meeral?" he asked as he started to open the letter. "Yes," she answered, "and if that is for me, give it to me." She held out her hand. The messenger gave her a startled look. "I'm supposed to read it to you," he said. But instead of opening it as he had the last time, he hesitated.

  Meeral repeated, "Give it to me."

  He did.

  The letter said, "Meeral. I'm working on plans for the defense of Pactyl. Will you ride north with me tomorrow after lunch? I need your knowledge of enhancing to determine what we should in that area? We could have dinner in a tavern. The place has a different atmosphere than the Harbor Inn. If you agree to come I'll arrange it with Kaldoat."

  Meeral noticed the underlined word. She looked up at the messenger who had been standing at attention. She could not explain why his expression softened. Then she realized that she was smiling. She told him to wait while she wrote her answer, yes, she would go with him. When the messenger left he gave her the proper, subservient bow.

  "How do you do it?" Lenera asked. "You know just how to treat the servants. I would be afraid to ask them for help if I were drowning in the bathtub."

  Meeral laughed but remembering Zavona's warnings, said no more.

  But Lenera continued. "They all treat us as if we were no better than they, while you get as much respect as the Duchess."

  "That's part of their job," Meeral said, "to treat us with respect and to serve us. Try it, Lenera."

  Lenera cocked her head to the side as if she were thinking about it for the first time, then asked, "Where did you learn to act that way?"

  Meeral gave Lenera the same answer she had given Rephna. "The people in Cyrtuno aren't like those in Pactyl." She added, for the sake of honesty, "I watched someone who knew how to do it."

  "Perhaps I should watch you," Lenera said, then she glanced at the chair in which Linima usually sat. "If Twin were here, she'd tell me to mind my own business." Then she said, "May I ask you what was in the letter?"

  Meeral showed her. She told Lenera about the awkward, unpleasant dinner she had with the Prince. She would have liked to tell her how he rescued her, but then she'd have to explain Chak. They talked together about love and marriage.

  "I was foolish enough to fall in love with a prince," Meeral said.

  "I've only been in love with love," Lenera said. "Never with the real thing."

  "Some day you will," Meeral said, "but be practical. Don't pick a prince."

  Kaldoat prepared to defend Pactyl. He had the thousand men that MorToak brought from Lurdoa City and the Duke's small army, not enough men to create effective defense around the sprawling city of Pactyl. Instead, he stationed enhancers and fire builders at strategic locations along the coast. If one part of the country were attacked, enhancers could relay messages back to head quarters asking for help. Each archer, paired with his own enhancer, learned to shoot arrows fart
her and more accurately. Kaldoat insisted all archer-enhancer teams practice for hours daily. The distance and accuracy they achieved was impressive.

  Meeral suggested that enhancers should ride horses to locations where they were needed and should use walls of fire. She said it would be more effective than a rain of arrows, but Kaldoat stuck with the weapons familiar to him. Besides, all horses were assigned to the men in the army.

  When MorToak arrived after lunch the next day, he said, in an apologetic tone, "The only horse available is Bonfire. She was the favorite of the Duke's daughter. "

  Meeral was wearing very full skirt so she could fling her leg over the saddle with a maximum of modesty, but she stopped short. Bonfire was equipped with a sidesaddle. The minute she glanced at MorToak, he began gazing at something on the horizon. He'd seen her plunge into the river astride 'Taur.

  Well, Meeral thought, as a groom helped her onto the saddle, here's another "useless" skill Shejani taught me. She adjusted her skirt to the proper grace suitable for this less practical manner of riding. She remembered Shejani quoting her father, "Men designed side-saddles so women would never ride as well as they." She didn't think this fat, old horse would cause her any problems.

  As they rode for hours at Bonfire's pace, Meeral pointed out places where enhancers could use a wall of fire to block the road against a Drarie invasion. Several times they found a narrow portion of the road with a hill, a house or a tree where the enhancer could wait for enemy troops. When they rode to the top of the hill they looked down on a wide stretch of deserted beach. MorToak explained that he did not think the Draries would attack north of Pactyl, but it seemed prudent to make some plans. On the way back Meeral sometimes persuaded Bonfire to trot, but most of the time 'Taur waited impatiently a few paces ahead. They had passed this way on their way out, but Meeral had not then thought about the first time she traveled on this road. She glanced at MorToak quickly, hoping that if he remembered her as that mud-stained woman he would not realize that the man from whom he rescued her was the man who murdered Syhira?

  Something jogged his memory of that day for he said, "The last time I was in this road I had a passenger." He paused, then said, "Do you know something funny?"

  She smiled, glad that he seemed to have changed the subject from their last ride together.

  "What's funny?" she asked.

  "You have the same color hair as that poor muddy woman who rode in front of me all the way to the Ezant Temple." Meeral must have looked dismayed because he added, "Of course, your hair is clean."

  Rattled by his words, Meeral pretended to be interested in the building ahead of them. Hoping he did not see the blush that gave her away, she said, "Is that the tavern where we'll eat?"

  "Yes. It's not very grand but it's clean, the service is polite and the food is good."

  He described the place well -- no fancy sauces or linen tablecloths, but simple, delicious food served in a comfortable atmosphere. The owner, a burly, bald-headed man, gave them a table in the corner.

  "Do you remember what you said to me the other day?" MorToak asked.

  Yes, she did. Had she hurt him? She had not meant to. "I sometimes say foolish things," Meeral said gently.

  "No. What you said was wise. When I was close to the King, I didn't know who was a true friend."

  "What about his son? Were you favored over DotToak?"

  "No. He was a good father to DotToak, but I, too, was treated as if I were his son when I came to live with him." He paused, shaking his head regretfully. "I should have realized what happened after the old king died. King BekToak was my oldest uncle, and I was good friends with the youngest of his three boys. I felt deserted when they all drowned. After the funeral a man from the court whom I hardly knew, acted as if I were a marvelous, wise person. He asked my advice, introduced me to beautiful women . . . " He glanced at her as if he had not intended to tell her so much. ". . . suggested ways in which the King could make him richer and more powerful. I'm embarrassed to say I was taken in. I asked my uncle for some favors for the man."

  "What about your father?"

  "He died five years ago. He remarried when I was ten -- two years after Mother died. My stepmother and I never hit it off. I was a rambunctious child. She had no idea what to do with me. They sent me off to Uncle ParToak's estate at High Pastures. He knew exactly what I needed -- the same as his own son, DotToak. We're the same age. He kept us busy. Tutors instructed us in fencing, hunting, dancing, fighting -- which later became military tactics. We were taught mathematics, politics, history, science, literature, and music."

  "What did you like best?"

  "Making the estate run smoothly. It combined the best of what I had been taught. I was particularly interested in growing the best wheat."

  "Is that what you were doing when the king sent you to Pactyl?"

  "No. I really had not been doing anything. I tried managing my father's estate after he died. I loved it, but I wasn't comfortable with my stepmother. When I came back to High Pastures, DotToak had married and my bachelor life did not fit in. I moved to a house in Lurdoa City and . . ." His eyes met Meeral's. Then he looked away. "I don't need to tell you, do I? I'm a wealthy man with no responsibilities. Surely you know exactly the kind of life I've been leading, don't you?"

  "Well," Meeral said putting her hands to her cheeks. "Not exactly, but I can guess."

  He gently took her hands and pulled them away from her face. "You blush more than any woman I've ever met," he said. "How do you do it?"

  "I don't do it," she said. "It does it all by itself -- creeps up on me -- and I can't get away from it."

  A strand of her hair fell across her forehead. He took it between his fingers. "No mud on it this time."

  He kissed her on the lips so quickly that before she could react it had become a memory. His face was still close to hers when he said, "Shall we have some dessert?" She wasn't sure what he meant until he called the owner's wife and she served them each a dish of baked apples. They talked until all the other customers left and the tavern keeper stood near them, yawned noticeably. MorToak paid him generously. The owner, lantern in hand, stood at the tavern door while his son brought their horses.

  "Don't go too far south, Sir," he said. "You might run into them Draries." He disappeared into the building.

  After they had ridden a few paces, Meeral looked back. The man must have extinguished his lantern as soon as he went into the tavern. Everything was black around them, except for the light from a three-quarter moon that shone faintly on the road. Their horses would find their way.

  MorToak and Meeral continued talking in the quiet tones that the dark night seemed to demand. It was so still even 'Taur paced his agile steps to the plodding steps of Bonfire.

  Unexpectedly, distant rumbling interrupted their hushed voices. Meeral looked up at the stars in the sky in disbelief. "Thunder?" she said.

  MorToak's voice was grim. "That was a cannon. I have to be with my men."

  He left so quickly she barely caught the black outline of horse and rider moving away from her on the road. She patted Bonfire's neck. "I hope you know your way home, old girl," she said, "because I certainly don't."

  She felt alone and deserted, which of course, she was.

  CHAPTER 16

  Bonfire perked up, moving forward eagerly. She knew she was heading for home. However Meeral's mood was as dark as the woods around her. She was a major in the Lurdonian army and had no reason to take offense when the commander-in-chief chose to be with his men rather than with her. Yet, if he cared for her at all, he might show some regret in leaving her. He might have said some words such as, "I'm sorry I must leave you," or "Be careful."

  Now she was alone. Everything was quiet except for the sounds of the distant Drarie cannons. Then she heard the clank of hooves on the road. MorToak was coming back. No. The road ahead was a bare silver ribbon. Bonfire shook her head and whinnied. The noise startled Meeral, particularly since a horse reply. She turned in
her saddle. In the moonlight she saw two horses with riders galloping up behind her.

  Perhaps it was the recollection of Chak and Glitob chasing her on this same road, but something about these two horsemen made her turn an unwilling Bonfire off the road and into the bushes. Meeral looked back. She was right to sense danger. The moonlight reflected two silver streaks -- drawn swords in the hands of the riders. Bonfire's short, heavy body would never evade two horsemen on powerful horses. Meeral had a better chance hiding in the woods. She slipped off the saddle. Darting between bushes and trees she headed straight back into the denser woods.

  A man shouted, "I'll get him."

  The sound of the horse's hooves changed from the clank on the hard road to a softer thump as the rider followed her into the woods. She dived between two heavy-stemmed bushes. His sword whistled as he slashed at them. She crawled to the other side, keeping low so the moonlight would not give her away. She tried to draw a flame from the tavern to use as a weapon but no fire had been left burning. In a minute, the rider would ride around the bushes and reach her. She must run across a small clearing, well lit by moonlight, to reach a denser clump of bushes where she might evade her pursuer.

  "Don't let him get away," the man on the road called.

  "Where did he go?" her pursuer shouted, poking into the underbrush and swearing. His accent was characteristic of the Draries.

  "You better find him, Sergeant, or the whole countryside will know we've landed twenty cannons and a division."

  "There he is," the man near her cried out as Meeral, her skirt gathered in her hands, bolted across the clearing.

  Behind her she heard a whoop. "It's a woman I'll get me a Lurdonian woman"

  Hooves thumped and out of the corner of her eye she saw a hand reaching toward her. Meeral threw herself to the ground and rolled under a bush. She crawled until she was out of reach of the man's sword thrust. A string of curses followed her, interrupted by a shout from the man near the road.