* * * * *
WHEN he got back to camp (carrying Shalkan's armor, as he certainly couldn't ride Shalkan into camp), he was able to greet his people as if nothing had happened. The short winter day was already drawing toward dusk, and nobody found it unusual for Kellen to go off to his pavilion once he'd checked with Isinwen. Isinwen could run the camp, barring emergencies. As Kellen's Second, that had become part of his job.
But Kellen breathed a deep sigh of relief once he reached his pavilion and pegged the door shut behind him. Instinctively, he knew he'd convinced his Second that all was well and that nothing out of the ordinary had happened, and what Isinwen believed, the others would believe as well. But to keep up that deception and it was a deception, Kellen acknowledged to himself he needed to find a deeper measure of peace within himself, and find it quickly.
He lit the lamps and the braziers, took off his armor, and rummaged through his packs until he'd found his three Books.
He hadn't had much time for studying them lately, and he really doubted that the answer to his current dilemma was to be found in any of them not The Book of Moon, which addressed the "how" of the Wild Magic, nor The Book of Sun, which mostly addressed the "when," nor even The Book of Stars, the most abstruse of the three, which was essentially about the "whether or not" of the Wild Magic when it was best to intervene, and when it was best to just leave well enough alone.
Although if this is "well enough" I'd hate to see a really bad situation, Kellen thought with a sigh, opening the third Book. He guessed he was looking for peace of mind and calm as much as anything he couldn't make any good decisions while he was chasing himself in circles, much less act as if he hadn't just received what was almost the worst possible news the Allies could have gotten. So he might as well improve his mind. The Book of Stars always managed to make him feel better, even when he didn't understand half of what it was saying.
What if Andorieniel dies? Ashaniel and Sandalon can't rule the Elven Lands from the Fortress of the Crowned Horns, and they can't come back. So the Council will have to make the decisions. And that just won't work.
Because the Council would probably even now still want to want for the Endarkened to fight a "traditional" war. And the Endarkened weren't going to do that or weren't going to do that until the probability of victory was overwhelmingly on Their side.
Would Redhelwar act without waiting for the decisions of the Council? Did he even know what needed to be done next?
Do you?
Kellen took a deep breath, feeling as if he stood on the edge of a very high cliff. A rash decision right now would do nobody any good. Master Belesharon always said that to make a decision before it was needful was worse than making no decision at all.
Kellen put all thought of the future from his mind and settled down to read The Book of Stars.
As always his Book seemed to be speaking directly to him.
"Do nothing in haste, and everything in its proper time."
"What will be, is. And what is, will be."
"A Knight-Mage changes his surroundings by his very presence. Sometimes his presence is enough."
He read until a grumbling in his stomach told him that it was far past dinnertime, and closed his Book with a sigh, feeling better.
Nothing was any different than it had been this morning. And as much as the leisurely Elven way of doing things drove him crazy sometimes, right now he had to admit that as bleak as things were, the best thing to do was stick to his original plan. As urgent as matters were, the army needed rest before anyone went anywhere. And that would give him the time to think carefully over who was going where.
* * * * *
"THIS had better be good," Keirasti grumbled, though Kellen could tell her heart wasn't in it.
"I thought you'd like to take Orata for a ride," Kellen said, with as much innocence as he could muster. "She's getting fat and lazy sitting in camp, and so is Firareth. And we'll be moving out day after tomorrow. Which is why I wanted to talk to you now."
"Privately," Keirasti observed, nodding at the emptiness surrounding them. "Which will be remarked, if not overheard."
"Then it must be remarked," Kellen said. "And not overheard."
He'd thought long and hard about this. He'd spent the last several days writing up a full report of everything that had happened so far for Redhelwar the scroll was a fat one and he'd already chosen the people he intended to send back over the Mystrals. But he hadn't yet told them they were going, intending to leave that for the last minute. Keirasti would be leading them she'd handled the other mission to Ondoladeshiron well, and Kellen knew that she could do this just as expertly.
And he'd decided that she would need to know why she was going all of it. So that in case disaster happened, the party was attacked, the report was lost, she would understand that she had to get through and deliver the gist of Kellen's message personally, no matter who and what she had to sacrifice to do it.
"I wish to lay a very heavy burden upon you," he said, beginning slowly and carefully. "Before I can tell you what it is, and why, I must tell you that it might require you to… throw away… hundreds of lives and save your own. I must know if you can do that."
"Leaf and Star," Keirasti whispered, reining Orata to a halt. "Kellen, I do not yet understand."
"Keirasti, can you let everyone under your care die to save yourself just because I tell you it's necessary? Hundreds of people?" Kellen asked bluntly.
The Elven Knight stated at him for a long moment, her dark eyes wide and unseeing beneath her helm. At last she nodded slowly. "Yes, komentai'i. I can do this."
Kellen let out a shuddering breath. "Leaf and Star grant you will not need to. You must tell no one no one of what we speak of here today. Ever."
Keirasti nodded again. "I understand."
"Tomorrow I am sending you and four hundred of my command back over the mountains. You must find Redhelwar wherever he is and deliver my report to him. It must reach him at all costs, no matter what you must do to get it there, no matter what sacrifices you must make. You must go as fast as you can."
Which meant risk, for her and all he would send with her, and though he could spare her two of the Wildmages to accompany her party, they would not be enough to protect her force from a magical attack, or to heal her injured swiftly.
"I… hear and obey, komentai'i," Keirasti said.
Kellen smiled unhappily. "If that were all, I would not have sworn you to secrecy. My report may be lost… and… I think you need to know why I am sending you." He took a deep breath and continued.
"Rochinuviel has had word from Sentarshadeen. Andoreniel lies gravely ill with plague, too ill to give orders. The Healers do not know when or if he will recover. Redhelwar doesn't know that he is sick; Rochinuviel found out too late to send a message with Jermayan when he came to Ondoladeshiron. This information is too… sensitive… to trust to the signaling mirrors even if they did work across the Mystrals."
And Rochinuviel doesn't think the Council has sent word to Redhelwar. That was clear enough from what she said to me. If they had, we would almost certainly have met up with the rider. And I think Shalkan would have known, somehow.
Keirasti actually rocked in her saddle. Orata took a nervous step sideways in the snow, and tossed her head inquiringly. "The King… " Keirasti said.
"Ashaniel and Sandalon are safe at the Fortress of the Crowned Horns," Kellen said, reminding both of them. "And Andoreniel could recover. I will go to Sentarshadeen as soon as I am finished at Halacira, and see him myself."
Keirasti nodded, still looking stunned. Kellen waited, giving her time to take in what he had just told her. He'd had several days to get used to knowing that the Allies were essentially without a leader, after all, and when you came right down to it, Andoreniel wasn't his King. It was different for Keirasti.
After a few more moments she blinked and nodded, signifying that she was ready to go on.
"Knight-Mage, what are your orders for the Army's General?" she asked simply.
There it was, right out in the open, the one thing he'd been avoiding for days. No, not avoiding. Setting aside until the proper time.
An irresistible sense of Presence filled him the same calm that came with casting a Healing spell, or sinking into Water Mind. He knew the words he had to say, just as if he'd rehearsed them for sennights or remembered them from an old Teaching Song.
"Say to the Army's General all that I have told you, and that it would please me greatly if he would bring the Army to the Gathering Plain to hear the news from Sentarshadeen," Kellen said firmly, and without a trace of doubt.
The sense of waiting Presence lifted.
What have I done? Have I just taken command of the Army? What if Redhelwar says no and stays in Ysterialpoerin?
There was no answer to that, nor would there be for quite some time. But he'd done all he could.
Keirasti sighed. "It shall be done. And now… if we are to depart tomorrow, there is much for me to do tonight."