---

CHAPTER SEVEN

A Change of Patrons

Please,' Leoff begged the soldier, 'can'tyou tell me what's happened, what I'm supposed to have done?'

'Don't know,' the soldier said. He was a short fellow with a puffy red face and an unpleasant nasal voice. 'Word was left at the gate to grab you if you turned up'and you turned up. That's all I know. So just keep moving and don't make my life difficult with a lot of questions I can't answer.'

Leoff swallowed, but resigned himself to waiting.

They were in a part of the castle he hadn't been in before'not that that was a surprise, because he hadn't seen most of the castle. They'd already passed the court, so they weren't going there. They went down a long hall with high arches and a red marble floor, then into a large room of alabaster. Light streamed in from broad windows trimmed with pale green and gold drapes. The rugs and tapestries were done in similar colors.

When he saw the men who waited in the room, he felt his scalp prickle, and his heart jerked erratically.

'Fralet Akenzal,' one of the men said, 'or shall I call you cavaor?'

Leoff did not know the face, but he knew the disharmonic voice instantly. It was the man from the dike; the one Mery had said was Prince Robert.

'I'I'm sorry, my lord,' Leoff stuttered, bowing. 'I don't know how to address you.'

The other man, of course, was the praifec. 'You would not know Prince Robert,'

he said, 'but he is now your regent. You may refer to him as 'Your Highness' or 'my Prince.' '

Leoff bowed again, hoping the shaking in his legs wasn't visible. Did they know that he had heard them, somehow? Did they know?

'It is my great honor to meet you, Your Highness,' he said.

'And mine to meet you, Fralet Ackenzal. I hear you performed a great service for our country in my absence.'

'It was nothing, my Prince.'

'And I've also heard that you're excessively modest, a trait I've little understanding of.' He stood and put his hands behind his back. 'I'm glad you're well, though I see you've been injured.' He pointed at the bandage on Leoff's head. 'You were at the lady Gramme's ball, were you not?'

'I was indeed, Your Highness.'

'A tragic thing, that,' the prince opined. 'It won't happen again.'

'My Prince, if I may ask, has something happened to His Majesty?'

The regent smiled an unpleasant little smile. 'I did not have you brought here, Fralet Ackenzal, so that you could question me. You will understand the situation in due course. What I would like to know at the moment is where you have been.'

'Wh-where I have been, Your Highness?' Leoff stammered.

'Indeed. You were nowhere to be found when the smoke cleared at Lady Gramme's and now, five days later, you suddenly reappear at the gates of the city.'

Leoff nodded. 'Yes, Sire. As you might expect, I was frightened and disoriented.

My head injury made me dizzy, and I became quite lost in the dark. I wandered until I collapsed. A farmer found me and took care of me until I was able to travel.'

'I see. And you were alone, when this farmer found you?'

A Change of Patrons

'Yes, Sire.'

The prince nodded. 'You know the lady Gramme's daughter, Mery, I believe? You were instructing her in the playing of the ham-marharp?'

'I was, my Prince.'

'You did not see her at the ball?'

'No, Sire. I wasn't aware that she was there.'

The prince smiled and scratched his goatee. 'She was, and now no one can find her. An attempt was made to kill the lady Gramme and her son when they were in the queen mother's custody, so we fear the worst.'

Leoff tried to look upset. It wasn't difficult. 'I pray nothing has happened to her,' he said. 'She is a wonderful child and a gifted musician.'

The prince nodded. 'I had hoped you knew something of her whereabouts.'

'I'm sorry, my Prince.'

The regent shrugged. 'How did you escape from the manse? The entrances were well guarded.'

'I don't remember, Sire,' Leoff said. 'I was very confused.'

'Ah,' the prince said. 'Ah.' He crossed the room, settled into an armchair, and snapped his fingers. A steward immediately brought him a cup of wine.

'Suppose,' the prince said, 'I tell you what happened?'

'Your Highness?'

The regent took a sip of the wine and made a face. 'You were taken prisoner,' he said, 'by the queen's Lierish guard, and kept in a dank cell for five days, until report reached me that you were there. I then had you freed.'

Leoff frowned. 'My Prince''

'Because if that isn't what happened,' the prince went on, examining the fingernails of his right hand, 'I might have to accept the report from a nearby village of a man who looked like you and a girl who looked like Mery traveling together. I would then have to conclude that you had lied to me, which would be a capital offense, even

if you did it to protect a little girl you rightly thought was in danger from the queen mother.' He looked back up at Leoff. 'I should think you would like my story better.'

'I'yes, Your Highness,' Leoff replied, feeling thoroughly miserable.

Robert smiled and clapped his hands together. 'We have an understanding then,'

he said. 'And if you happen to hear from Mery, or learn her whereabouts, her mother misses her, and she is no longer in danger from the queen mother, so let someone know, would you, please?'

'Yes, Your Highness.'

'Very good. Now, I am given to understand that you were commissioned by the queen mother to produce a musical performance of some sort?'

'Yes, Your Highness. For the Yule celebration, in the Candle Grove. There was to be a feast and general invitation to the people of the city and countryside.'

'A wonderful idea,' the prince said. 'Please submit the work to His Grace the praifec for review.'

'Yes, Your Highness,' Leoff said.

'Fine. I'm done with you now.' He dismissed Leoff with a wave of his hand.

As soon as Leoff was alone, he leaned against a wall, his limbs feeling like water. What was he to do? If he told them where Mery was, what would happen to her? To him? Did they know or suspect that he and the girl had heard their plot?

Were they still looking for her?

But he had to do something, and in this he could have only one ally.

He squared his shoulders and continued walking.

'Yes?' the footman said. 'How can I help you, Fralet?'

'I must speak to Her Ladyship,' Leoff said. 'It is a matter of utmost importance.'

The footman looked irritated, but he nodded and left. He returned a few moments later. 'Follow me, please.'

A Change of Patrons

He led Leoff to a sitting room with an immense pastoral tapestry covering one wall. Shepherds and rustically dressed women picnicked beside a pool, entertained by a goat-legged man with a harp and three nymphs playing flute, lute, and sackbut.

Gramme looked drawn and disheveled, but rather than diminishing her beauty, disorder somehow augmented it.

She didn't waste any time on her usual pleasantries.

'Do you have news of my daughter, Fralet Ackenzal?' she barked.

'She is alive and well, my lady,' Leoff assured her.

'Are you quite out of your mind?' she snapped. 'Do you know the penalty for kidnapping?'

'Please, my lady,' Leoff said. 'I did not kidnap her'I was only trying to keep her safe. I was afraid for her life.'

'Well,' Gramme said, looking down and ticking her finger on her armchair. She took a deep breath and let it go before meeting his gaze again.

'You are not a father, are you, Fralet Ackenzal?' she asked.

'No, lady, I am not.'

'Do not become one,' she advised. 'It is tremendously annoying. I never wished for a daughter, never once, you know. She has been nothing but a liability to me, and yet, despite all reason and very much against my will, I find I have feelings for her. I thought she was dead, Fralet Ackenzal, and you are to blame for that.'

'Lady, forgive me for the worry I've caused, but I think if I had not acted as I did, she would be dead now.'

Gramme sighed. 'I am distraught, and you have a point. An attempt was made to poison my son and me when we were in the queen mother's 'protection.' No doubt she intended to kill Mery, as well.' She took a deep breath. 'Very well, let this be forgotten. The prince wants to tell a different story of you anyway, and I think it unwise to stand in his way on that matter. Just tell me where I can find my daughter.'

'I would prefer to fetch her myself, Your Ladyship,' Leoff said. 'If you could provide me with a horse or carriage''

Her brow furrowed again. 'Why won't you tell me?'

'It is a marriage, Your Grace, of drama and music.'

'Like the lustspell one hears in the streets?' Hespero asked disdainfully.

'No, Your Grace'and yes. The lustspell are narrated by song, and the actors mime the parts. I propose to have the actors themselves sing, accompanied by the orchestra.'

'That doesn't sound substantially different to me.'

'But it is, Your Grace. Her M'the queen mother asked me to write something not for the nobility, not for the court, but for the people, to give them hope in these dark times. They are'as you say'familiar with the lustspell. But while the street performances I have seen are vulgar in content and poorly drawn, I intend to give them something that will stir their souls'as you say, uplift them.'

'As you uplifted them in Glastir, by starting a riot?'

'That was an unfortunate event,' Leoff said, 'but it was not the fault of my music.'

Hespero didn't say anything, but continued leafing through the pages.

'This triad is in the seventh mode,' he noticed.

'Indeed, Your Grace has an excellent eye.'

'Triads in the seventh mode are not to be used,' the praifec said firmly. 'They have a disharmonious influence on the humors.'

'Yes, yes,' Leoff said. 'Precisely, Your Grace. This is a point in the piece where all seems lost, when it appears that evil will triumph. But if you turn the page here, you see''

'The third mode,' Hespero interrupted. 'But these aren't mere triads, these' How many instruments is this written for?'

'Thirty, Your Grace.'

'Thirty? Preposterous. Why do you need three bass Vithuls?'

'The Candle Grove is quite large. To project over the voices' but you see, also, here, where they each depart to different themes.'

'I do. This is extraordinarily busy. In any event, to shift from seventh to third mode''

'From despair to hope,' Leoff murmured.

The praifec frowned and continued, 'Is to excite first one passion and then another.'

A Change of Patrons

'But Your Grace, that is what music is meant to do.'

'No, music is meant to edify the saints. It is meant to please. It is not meant to stimulate emotion.'

'I think if you just heard it, Your Grace, you would find it''

The praifec waved him to silence with his own sheet music. 'What language is this?'

'Why, Your Grace, it is Almannish.'

'Why Almannish, when Old Vitellian is perfectly suited to the human voice?'

'But, Your Grace, most of the people attending the concert do not understand Old Vitellian, and it is rather the point that they should understand what is being sung.'

'What is the story, in brief?'

Leoff related the story Gilmer had told him, including the embellishments he had added.

'I see why you choose that tale, I suppose,' the praifec said. 'It has a sort of common appeal that will be popular with those for whom it is intended, and it promotes the idea of fealty to one's sovereign, even unto death. But where is the king in all of this? Where is he in his people's hour of need?' He paused, crooking a finger between his lips.

'How is this?' he suggested. 'You'll add something. The king has died, poisoned by his wife. She rules through her daughter, who has' against all that is right and holy'been named his successor. The town is invaded, and the people send for help from her, but it is denied. After the girl sacrifices herself, the invaders, overcome with fury, swear to slaughter the entire populace, and it is then we learn that the king's son'whom all thought dead'is indeed alive. He saves the village and returns to take his rightful place as king.'

'But, Your Grace, that isn't what''

'And change the names of the countries,' the praifec went on. 'It would be too incendiary to name a Hansan as the villain, given the current climate. Let the countries be, let me see'ah, I have it. Tero Sacaro and Tero Ansacaro. You can guess which is which.'

'Is there anything else, Your Grace?' Leoff asked, feeling himself wilt.

'Indeed. I will give you a list of triads you may not include in your piece, and you will not have chords larger than a triad. You may retain your thirty pieces, but only for the sake of volume'you will simplify the passages I mark. And this most of all'voice and instruments shall not be joined together.'

'But Your Grace, that's the whole point.'

'That is your whole point, but it is not one you will make. The instruments will play their passages, and then the players may recite their lines. They may even sing them, I suppose, but without accompaniment.'

He rolled the papers up. 'I'll borrow these. Write the new text, with my inclusions. Do it in Almannish if you must, but I will have a complete translation, and likely some amendments, so do not become too attached to it. I will return this to you in two days' time. You will have two days to alter it to my satisfaction, and you will begin rehearsals immediately after that. Is this all clear?'

'Yes, Your Grace.'

'Cheer up, Fralet Ackenzal. Think of it this way'the patron who originally commissioned this piece is no longer in a position to reward you for it. You are fortunate you still have a position here at all. The regent is your new patron'mind you do not forget that.'

He smiled thinly and turned to leave.

'Your Grace?' Leoff said.

'Yes?'

'If I am to start rehearsals so soon, I must retain the musicians. I have a few in mind.'

'Make a list of them,' the praifec said. 'They will be sent for.'

When the praifec was gone, Leoff closed the door and leaned against the hammarharp on balled fists.

And then, very slowly, he grinned. Not because he was happy, or because anything was funny, but because he wasn't worried or afraid anymore. That had been swept away by a clean, cold fury the like of which he had never felt before. This man, this fool who styled himself a praifec had just sowed a very large field, and soon enough he would reap it. If Leoff was a fighting man, he would take his sword

A Change of Patrons

and cut down the praifec, and Prince Robert, and whomever else he could reach.

He wasn't a fighting man. But when he was done, the praifec would wish Leoff's weapon was the sword. That he promised himself and every saint he knew.