The Limbreth Gate. Megan Lindholm

took in air, but could not speak. A slender Windmistress, one of the young ones at the far edge of the table, shifted uneasily. Rebeke put her gaze upon her. Lilae was the newest of the Council members, with the face of a young Human maiden, lightly scaled. Her lips were still full and rosy with the blush of Humanity. ‘I will speak for us,’ she ventured timidly. ‘Unless there is another who feels she can speak better.’ She glanced about the table, but no other Windmistress moved or spoke. Shiela stared at the white table surface.

      ‘Please speak then,’ Rebeke invited her courteously. Her tone was markedly more tolerant as she looked upon the young Windsinger. Lilae drew in a deep breath; her eyes darted to Shiela, and then back to Rebeke.

      ‘The matter of Ki the Romni has been brought before us. Shiela spoke of it at the last calling of the Council. We are aware that Ki was your’ – Lilae fumbled, seeking a word for what she wished to express – ‘servant, in the recovery of the sole Windsinger Relic. We suppose you feel some debt of gratitude to her for aiding you to recover so important a treasure.’ Lilae was becoming more certain of herself with every word. ‘But perhaps you have not considered the other side of the coin. With the wizard Dresh she was able to force her way into our halls. She was a party to the slaying of Grielea, a Windsinger much honored among us, if not beloved to you.’ Rebeke’s smooth brows knit, and Lilae’s voice shook slightly as she hastily continued. ‘And it is said that she helped you to regain the relic, not to please us, but to spite the villagers that would not pay what they owed her. Or would not pay her friend. The reports aren’t clear.’

      ‘They work as one,’ Rebeke said portentously. ‘A lesson this High Council could learn from them.’

      ‘Perhaps!’ Lilae agreed recklessly. ‘And perhaps you can tolerate their disrespectful ways. But have you remembered she is Romni? For that is what disturbs Shiela. Though she and this Vanjin –’

      ‘Vandien,’ Rebeke corrected.

      ‘She and this Vandien may most often travel by themselves, but they do frequent the Romni campsites, sometimes to share a day or two of that life. The man is a skilled storyteller. All the Romni know what happened in your halls, and at the sunken temple. The story is spreading, for the Romni have made a song of it. Typical of them, the song is little related to the facts, but boasts only of a Romni and her man who tweaked the noses of the Windsingers, put them in their debt, and walked off without a scratch. Need I remind you that the Romni do not stay in one place? They move about, they meet other Romni, they move on again. The song is spreading. It is known in most of the major towns now, and is becoming a favorite. We cannot tolerate this kind of thing. A properly respectful attitude toward us is the necessary foundation for …’

      ‘Ridiculous!’ Rebeke did not laugh, but her voice was full of scorn. ‘You would kill her for a song. Perhaps you need the other races groveling at your feet, but I do not. And I have told you before: Ki travels under my shadow. If there is such a song – and I have not heard it – it bothers me not at all. Ki will continue to go her own way, unmolested. If we stoop to slaying her, it will not kill the song. It will only increase our reputation as humorless tyrants. Folk cannot be stopped from singing.’

      ‘I have heard the song,’ Shiela croaked. Her face was still white but her eyes blazed. ‘And it is more than disrespectful. It smacks of outright rebellion. Perhaps you fancy being the butt of a joke, Rebeke. We do not. Stick to pet wizards and leave the Romni to us.’

      No one could breathe in the thick silence. ‘You shall not speak to me of the wizard Dresh,’ Rebeke whispered softly. ‘If you try again, you will find yourself incapable of speaking to anyone about anything.’ Her voice grew stronger, defiant. ‘Need I remind you, any of you, that I am the possessor of the Relic? The last perfectly preserved body of a Windsinger born? Without it, you can start the transformation from lower species to Windsinger, but you cannot complete it. You have not seen it, you cannot know how pathetically inadequate it makes all your carven images. Look at yourselves and look at me. Your bodies need the guidance of your mind and the Relic. But while you take this tone with me, you will not get even a glimpse of it. Until you can be made to see reason, I shall leave you to fumble your way along the path to being true Windsingers. I am nearly there. And I have acolytes in my hall who are closer to true form and purer of voice than most here who call themselves Windmistresses. I am not going to force any of you. You can come around to my persuasion and join me. Or you can stay as you are, and be surpassed, outsung and outgrown, until you are unnecessary to anyone.

      ‘Perhaps Ki and Vandien were not my willing tools in the recovery of the Relic. That matters little to me. I have it. And it was by Ki’s voluntary aid that I was able to contain the wizard Dresh, and so control him that you now dare to refer to him as my “pet.” So. I shall give you a few instructions. Let her disobey who dares. Listen well. Neither Ki nor Vandien shall be killed. Nor shall I agree to their lives being indefinitely postponed, as you so politely refer to it when you place one in the void. Send your singing Romni a storm or two. Blow in the roofs of a few taverns where this song is sung, if you feel that will prove anything. I have no time to watch your every move. For while you are wreaking your trivial vengeances, I am training the Windsingers who tomorrow will rise up, to show this world what Windsingers used to be. The time will come when we shall rule, not with harshness, but from the fullness of our generosity, and the gratitude of a wind-blessed folk. I fear no singing Romni.’

      Shiela looked down once again at the table. Pale lids hooded her eyes, teeth met her lower lip. ‘I regret the rift that has grown between us,’ she said in a low voice. ‘Of what use is the High Council, when the ranks of the Windsingers are sundered? Only under one authority can the winds of the sky blow in harmony. Yoleth is not here, but I think I can offer you this. I give you our word that Ki shall not be killed, nor put in a void. Nor Vandien. Does that satisfy you?’

      Rebeke spoke slowly. ‘It would.’ Some thought she was reluctant to be reconciled, and some thought she was mistrustful of the sudden proposal.

      ‘And, again, though Yoleth is not here, I will be so bold as to ask this. Under what circumstances, what agreements would you allow us access to the Relic? Let your words be tempered by this thought; when you deny us, it is not only the High Council that lacks guidance, but also many young and promising Windsingers in our halls. Will you let the calf die of thirst because the cow has displeased you?’

      ‘Do not think that has not troubled me,’ Rebeke said, and her voice, for once, was empty of her power. ‘Your words are fair, your request equitable. But I cannot answer it without thought. When I return to my hall, I shall give my mind to it. The High Council will receive a list of what agreements I think essential for the Windsingers to be once more united. Your keeping of your word regarding Ki I will see as an omen of your good will.’

      ‘You will.’ Shiela was gracious but reserved.

      ‘I will leave you now. I am trusting that my words will be passed on to Yoleth, and to Cerie, Kadra, and Dorin. Please let them know that I missed them.’

      ‘We will.’

      Rebeke left them without another word. She stepped through the portal of the audience chamber and they listened to her footsteps fading down the hall. The silence that drenched the room was ominous. Shiela was the first to speak. She lifted her eyes from their contemplation of the bare table and aimed them at Lilae. Small fires burned in them.

      ‘Mark how graciously she leaves us, without even a formal farewell. Do not think, Lilae, that I have overlooked your part today. You speak loudly for one so young, and not well. Shiela tells us this, and Shiela says that. I shall remember.’

      Lilae was visibly flustered. ‘But I waited for another to take that part and speak for us. I did not want Rebeke to think we had no reasons for our plan other than to spite her.’

      ‘Spiting that one would be reason enough for any number of plans. But I shall accept your word that it was only stupidity and not malice that drove you to blather on.’

      ‘Have I missed Rebeke then?’ All eyes turned to the portal. Yoleth posed there, looking well pleased with herself. Secrets simmered in her eyes.

      ‘You