Then she smiled thinly as the reasoning sprang out at her. The initial levies of House Stavarov, the Counts of Chehalis up near Puget Sound, were summoned for the war in the east and the rally point at Walla Walla-the Counts themselves, their menie of household knights and paid men-at-arms, spearmen and crossbowmen, their castle garrisons, their subinfeudiated vassals and their menies. The third string, the peasant militia and town levies, were detached for service under the Warden of the Coast March against the nuisance-verging-on-threat of Haida raiders. Which meant…

Conrad spoke first.?Ah… Uriah the Hittite, my lady??

If there?s anyone who would change sides when a Cutter army arrived in front of his castle gates, it?s Count Piotr Alexevitch Stavarov. ?I?ve nearly killed Piotr at least three times,? Tiphaine said meditatively.?Isn?t there a saying that it?s the things you didn?t do that you regret at the end of your life??

And Conrad?s not looking too upset. He had that run-in with Piotr during the Protector?s War, when the idiot got half his command killed trying to rush a bunch of Mackenzies head-on. There?s still bad blood there. ?No, no,? Sandra said.?I?m not telling you to get them killed. We need every man, from what you and Lady d?Ath say. But if men must die, why not men from the menie of County Chehalis? They do their duty, and the Stavarovs are weakened.?

She held two small, beautifully manicured hands out palm up and mimicked a balance, raising first one and then the other. The Grand Constable nodded. ?I can make the adjustments easily enough, my lady,? she said. ?The logistics are a little more difficult, but not enough to matter.? ?The younger nobles are eager for a fight,? Conrad went on, and Tiphaine nodded silent agreement. ?Ordinary people are… frightened, my lady Regent,? Delia said, a frown on her oval face as she joined the conversation.

She?d been a miller?s daughter here in Montinore village before she met Tiphaine. When it came to how the commons thought, she had a better instinctive grasp than any of them, despite all the Regent?s spies. Sandra and Conrad Renfrew had been founders of the Association, of course, and Tiphaine had been raised as an Associate. Delia went on: ?They?re nearly as frightened of having the Throne weakened and the nobles unrestrained if we lose as they are of Boise and the CUT. What?s helping a lot is the stories and songs about Princess Mathilda and Rudi and the rest, particularly with the younger people.?

She was near-as-no-matter a Changeling, too, which helped. Tiphaine had noticed that the older generation tended to miss things, and she did too, albeit less often. ?Ah, yes,? Sandra murmured, with a secret smile.?How helpful of dear Juniper to compose and spread them. Between her and the Church preaching a holy war, we?re well covered on the propaganda front.?

I?ve never seen you so openly furious as you were when you found out Mathilda had scooted off east with Rudi, Tiphaine thought. I actually had to talk you out of sending the army haring off eastward to drag her back. But trust the Spider of the Silver Tower to adjust and see the advantages! ?My lady, I think you?re underestimating the impact of these… songs… that are going the rounds,? Tiphaine warned.?As Delia said, the same technique is more effective nowadays, since so manymore are Changelings. Yes, it?s convenient right now-but it will have political consequences after the war too, provided we win, that is. Ignoring Mackenzie propaganda hurt us badly in the Protector?s War.?

Sandra frowned; she?d known her husband?s weaknesses, but But then she actually loved him, Tiphaine thought; she?d hated Norman Arminger herself, and feared him as she feared few men. Loved him despite his screwing everything that moved and shaking what didn?t, and his general skankiness. Leaving aside the mass murder and so forth; that was just business, though he enjoyed it. ?The latest… this vision of the Virgin telling Father Ignatius to look after Mathilda…? Sandra said.?I like that one very much indeed. It makes anyone who challenges her rights a blasphemer. And the cream of the jest is that Ignatius probably believes it himself-everyone knows the Order of the Shield of St. Benedict is outside our influence. Mt. Angel is cool to the Protectorate at best. They fought us in the war, after all.? ?The Princess was already popular,? Delia said.?Everyone who met her liked her. The commons love her. They… ah…? ?Look forward to her rule.? Sandra nodded, with a wry twist to her mouth.

Tiphaine could read her thought: And they?ll never love me.

Respect and fear, yes; the smarter ones realized how she held the barons in check; but love, no. Too many memories of the early days remained raw, among the ordinary people. And for different reasons, among the Associates as well. Norman Arminger had taken Machiavelli?s dictum that it was better for a ruler to be feared than loved rather literally. ?This… this quest thing… it?s made her more like an icon,? Delia continued. She hesitated again.?Rudi too. The Sword of the Lady… it?s not just the people who follow the Old Religion. The rest think of the Virgin, you see? And Ignatius? vision added to that. They think Rudi is the hero who returns, the one who comes back to save his people when the evil day arrives and things look their worst.?

Sandra chuckled, a gurgling sound that made her cool brown eyes warm for a moment. ?Certainly dear Rudi has all the qualifications for a legendary hero. He?s very young, and he?s very handsome, and he?s very strong , and he?s very brave, and he?s very… not stupid.?

For some reason Conrad thought that was funny too, though she couldn?t see why: it was all true. He sobered quickly, though. ?It?s good that the stories are perking the ordinary people up,? he said.?Even with our allies, we can?t win this war just with the nobility and their retainers; it?s going to be too big for the Associates to handle. But what happens… well, my lady, what happens if Rudi and Mathilda don?t show up??

Sandra was very quiet for a moment.?If Mathilda is killed? Then it?s all rather moot.? Softly:?What have I worked for, if not for her??

TheSwordoftheLady

?So, you?re really a princess?? Kate Heasleroad said, her pink young face wide-eyed and guileless.?I mean, they call you that?? ?Yes, I?m entitled Princess and styled Your Highness at home; my mother?s the Lady Regent,? Mathilda Arminger explained to the Bossman?s consort.

She must be at least twenty, she thought. And I?m only two years older, but it feels like more. I think she led a sheltered life. Until recently, at least.

Aloud:?But I inherit through my father, Lord Norman Arminger, whose only child I am. He was our first sovereign lord; Lord Protector of the Portland Protective Association. He was a knight before the Change, of course, in the Society, as well as a great scholar of the old ways at the university.?

The other woman made a fascinated sound and inclined her head towards a painfully young man in a military uniform that involved a good deal of braid and a gold lanyard. ?Something for me and the Princess, please, Lieutenant.? ?At once, Mrs. Heasleroad!?

The aide sprang away towards the buffet and the bar.

It?s all just homelike enough to make me homesick but not enough to comfort, Mathilda thought, as she schooled her face to friendly interest. Not that it?s hard to be friendly. It?s brief acquaintance, but I find I do like Kate.

A burbling surf of conversation rose to the carved plaster of the ceiling two stories above; more guests leaned on the balustrade that ringed the reception room. Heels clicked on the marble tiles and on the curving staircase that linked the levels. The Bossman?s household troops-they called them the State Police-stood at attention along the walls amid framed pictures and half-columns, their burnished mail-shirts and helms glittering in the brilliance of the incandescent mantles of the gaslights, along with the crowd?s crystal and gold and diamonds, fine cloth and polished leather. Open French doors brought an occasional waft of cooler air from the gardens, and the scents of roses and cut grass, along with the odd suicide-bent moth. ?So everyone says your Highness?? Kate said, returning to the subject that fascinated her. ?Yes,? Mathilda Arminger said, with a practiced smile; there were people at home obsessed with protocol too.