“And is that why he did not return the following year?”

“No, not entirely. The Royal Council in Tsaia were most unhappy with him for taking his reserves south, and forbade him travel the next season. The Duke of Verrakai—you may not know the Verrakais, I suppose.”

Andressat shrugged.

“One of the most powerful families in Tsaia—or they were. Very—” Halveric paused, looked slightly embarrassed. “—very proud of their purity of blood,” he said finally. “Magelords from before Gird’s time, they claimed. They had long hated Kieri for rising to the rank of nobility, thinking him but a bastard, and also because one of his captains was their close relative. Dorrin, whom you met, was Dorrin Verrakai until her family disowned her for becoming a Knight of Falk.”

“Magelords … that’s part of the problem I must bring to your king.” Andressat was surprised that Halveric would still call his king by the familiar name.

“My point is,” Halveric went on, “that Verrakai hated Kieri, and even after the paladin proved Kieri’s birthright, and the Council granted him royal protection and an escort to Lyonya, Verrakai raised a force against him. Imported Pargunese troops as well.”

“Are they not enemies of Tsaia?” Andressat asked.

“Quite so,” Halveric said. “And then the Verrakai attacked the royal family, and were put under attainder, all but Dorrin Verrakai—Kieri’s former captain—who is now the new Duke.”

And so, Andressat realized, the new king would have much to occupy him besides trouble he probably thought he had left behind in the south. It would be hard to convince him—and yet, he must try. He glanced aside at Halveric. The man was staring at the path this time. He had hoped to win Halveric to his own view of the urgency before tackling the king—Halveric had been the king’s friend so long—but the tired, beaten old man Halveric had become would be no strong ally. He would simply have to convince the king himself.

The next morning, he walked out with his host and saw more evidence that Halveric was not what he had been. His servants, his soldiers, even his family, eyed him with concern as Halveric led him from house to gardens to barns to fields. Everything was in order, well-organized and well-kept, but Andressat felt something missing. Halveric talked of plans made, but now abandoned … of people who left and none replacing them, as they had in the past, attracted by a living, growing holding.

Yet fields were tended, animals healthy, fences in repair, buildings mended and clean. Andressat sensed no loss of energy in the others; Halveric’s tall wife bustled about the place as if twenty years younger, keeping the household staff at work. His own room, when he returned to it before lunch, had been freshened. Only Halveric himself seemed faded, weakened by something … and yet essential characteristics lingered.

“I will travel tomorrow,” Andressat said at last. “My mount has recovered.”

“We will provide an escort,” Halveric said. “And supplies, of course. There are few settlements between here and Chaya; this is a quiet corner of Lyonya.”