“No. I’ve a straight eye, not one for wave-shapes.” He looked around. “This won’t look such a mess by freeze-up, sir king. And come spring break-up, you’ll have a place for ships.”

When he left the port site, Kieri traveled on to the Honnorgat and then up it, along the rough track that ran from river village to river village. Riverwash, upstream, had grown again, with trade coming in from Tsaia. It looked raw and unfinished, but the stone foundations of some buildings had survived the scathefire, and those already bore new structures atop. Here he intercepted a Royal Courier from Tsaia with a letter from Arcolin and another from the Marshal-General, as well as a long one from Mikeli.

Arcolin’s letter was much as he’d expected: Alured the Black almost certainly had the missing necklace and was believed to have captured one of Andressat’s sons. Unrest was growing in the south, and Arcolin thought a move might be made along the north road.

The Marshal-General’s came as a surprise. Elves in Fin Panir? Demanding that enchanted magelords in the far west be removed? He recalled something about them, but not any details. The appearance of magery in the peasantry was not as surprising. He had half expected news of this sort since Beclan had shown magery. The Marshal-General had convened a special council to discuss this—well, that made sense.

Mikeli revealed that his brother was now showing magery—he had waited to tell his neighbor king only, he said, because he had awaited the Marshal-General’s ruling on it—but he had not yet told his Council. He wrote at length about the steps he’d taken to keep Camwyn’s magery secret and why, and without actually asking for advice, he hinted that he would be glad of it.

Kieri determined to find Amrothlin and ask him about the western elves—perhaps he knew something about the magelords in their cave or whatever it was.

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

If that pirate could sail up the river,” Arian said, “could he not march inland across Prealíth or even come over the mountains here—you said there were other passes—instead of at Valdaire? Without the Lady—without the elvenhome—who will watch the borders east and south?”

Kieri scratched his head, sweaty from an extra session in the salle. “He could indeed. I’ve been thinking about that, too. We need more rangers; I can take some from the north and west, since Pargun and Tsaia aren’t a problem now, but not all of them.”

“I’ve always wondered what it was like, the deep elvenhome we couldn’t enter. The elves claimed it was the most beautiful, but the forest near here is beautiful.”