The Lark and the Wren - Chapter Twenty-Two

[kalinara]

Last time, Gwyna got a love interest, Jonny got a name, Rune and Talaysen got nifty elf jewelry and this book actually found a plot.



So we rejoin our heroes as they try to figure out what the heck's going on. They do this by having Peregrine, the Roma mage we met last chapter, put Jonny in a "sleep-trance". Talaysen tells us that he's seen a sleep-trance done before, by his cousin Ardis, but that had always been for the purposes of putting someone to sleep and that's it. He wonders if Ardis knew if this other use.

The idea is that the sleep trance is supposed to help Jonny remember what he's forgotten, or forced himself to forget. Peregrine refers to him as Kestrel here, and asks if he can hear him.

Interestingly, when Jonny answers, he doesn't stutter. Peregrine tells him that he and Master Wren will be asking him questions, and Jonny must answer. He asks if Jonny trusts Talaysen, and Jonny does. Aw.

So we lead into the questioning. He asks Jonny about the first day he came to Kingsford Guild:

"Yes." Jonny's forehead wrinkled, and his voice took on the petulant quality of a sick child. "I'm cold. My head hurts. My eyes hurt. Master Darian says I'm going to get better but I don't, and I feel awful-"

"He relives this," Peregrine said with a bit of surprise. "This is useful, but it can be dangerous, if he believes himself trapped in his past. Have a care, Master Wren."

Talaysen swallowed, and wet his dry lips. "Jonny, can you remember farther back? Go back in time, go back to before you entered Kingsford. Can you remember before you were sick?"

Abruptly the young man began to scream.

As we can see, it's going swimmingly. Peregrine cuts off the poor kid's screaming, and asks him something interesting: "Who are you?"

"I-I can't-" Jonny bucked and twisted in Peregrine's grip; the mage held fast, and repeated the question, with more force. The young musician wept in terror-Talaysen had heard that sort of weeping before, from the boys that had been ruined by their Guild Masters. . . .

Peregrine had no more pity than they had, but his harshness was for a far better cause. "Who are you?" 

''Ah-" Jonny panted, like a frightened bird. "I-I-ah-Sional! I'm Sional! I have to run, please, let me go! Master Darian! Master Darian! They're killing my father! Help me! Ahhhhhhhhh-"

I won't lie. This is pretty effectively written. Which means my brain immediately distracts me by noting that "Darian" is one of those names that tends to pop up in Mercedes Lackey's work. I only note that because I tend to recycle the same names in my own stories, and I keep getting embarrassed by that. I should learn from Ms. Lackey, really. If you write like a billion books, no one's going to care if you recycle a name or two.

So Peregrine sends the kid back to sleep, looking a bit wrecked. Magic is rough. He notes what is now obvious: "Jonny Brede" is an Anglicized pseudonym. The kid's name is Sional, and he's got a dad who might or might not be dead. The name doesn't ring any bells for Talaysen or the others. Peregrine thinks that the kid is probably pretty important, and they're going to have to find out who his father was.

Gwyna asks if this will hurt him. Peregrine can't promise anything. He's going to try not to hurt him, but unfortunately if they don't find out what's going on, they won't be able to protect him from people trying to kill him. Gwyna unhappily concedes the point.

I like this, though. I think a lot of fantasy or sci-fi stories tend to be a bit intrusive when it comes to magic or psychic powers, and while it usually works in context, I like seeing characters actually talk about the potential harmful effects and look out for each other's well beings.

Peregrine asks Talaysen how old Jonny would have been when he came to the Guild. Talaysen thinks he'd have been twelve or thirteen. Not much younger, because that's like the lowest limit that the Guild takes apprentices. Children aren't really built for the kind of intensive study, or sitting in one place for so long.

Peregrine uses this to send Jonny, or Sional, farther back. To his tenth birthday.

"Today I get my first horse!" Sional's voice really did sound like a ten-year-old's, and Talaysen started in surprise. "It's my birthday present from father, a real horse, not a pony! Victor and I get to go to the Palace stables and pick it out, too! Victor's going to teach me trick riding! Then Master Darian will give me the present from mother that he's been saving for me; it's a harp, a big harp, with lots more strings than my little harp!"

Aw.

So Peregrine asks why his mother can't give him the harp. She's dead. The kid is pretty matter of fact about it, and since Jonny isn't generally a dick, it's clear that it was a long time ago. He doesn't remember her very well, only that she was a great singer. And apparently, Master Darian had said that if she hadn't been a woman and a princess, she'd have been a Bard.

Obviously the word "princess" gets their attention. They try to question him further, but, being as he has the brain of a ten year old at the moment, it takes a bit to get anything useful. (His dad is "the King" and he lives "in the Dowager's Palace".)

They finally get him to say the land he lives in: Birnam. "The red place on the map." Sional seems like a cute kid. Very enthusiastic.

So anyway, Talaysen, the one most adept with Kingdom politics, is maybe freaking out a bit. Because they kind of have the crown prince, or possibly KING, of Birnam. He explains: About six years ago, the King of Birnam was overthrown by his brother. Talaysen knows because he was on Guild Council at the time, and that's when Master Darian came by. He was saying that his life was in danger as a supporter of the former king.

...of course this immediately fucks up the timeline something awful. Because this would mean that the Free Bards are only about six years old. Rune was getting visits by them earlier than that. I suppose it's plausible that the musicians were keeping an eye on her BEFORE they were a full fledged group. It's still pretty tricky.

Jonny is eighteen or nineteen. Rune's supposed to be the same age. Which means somewhere along the way she gained another two years. I'm good with that, because I'm on board with anything that shrinks the age gap with Talaysen. (I kind of like that this means that Gwyna is older than Jonny. We've got one couple where the man's older and one almost-couple where the woman's older.)

So this means that Talaysen has some relevant info. They'd investigated Darian's claims with the Guild in Birnam, and indeed, the King's brother basically slipped his men into the palace, murdered the King and supporters, and by dawn there was a new King.

Ouch. But efficient.

Anyway, Darian had sworn that both the King and the King's only child were dead. Interesting, that. It implies that he didn't necessarily trust the Bardic Guild to protect the boy. Wise.

So there we have it: Kestral/Jonny/Sional is alive. His uncle knows he's alive and where he is, hence the would be assassins.

They discuss hiding the kid, but that's not really doable. The assassins are armed with magic amulets that allow them to seek him out. Talaysen considers hiding him with the elves, but that's tricky. They might not want to give a talented musician back.

But there's another option that occurs to Talaysen: they could go to Birnam. It seems unlikely that the King would look for Sional in his own kingdom after all. We also learn that the Kingdom where this story's taken place so far is Rayden.

Talaysen ultimately thinks that they don't know enough about what's going on. And they should find out.

Peregrine points out that the assassins can't know everything about him. They've obviously associated him with this group, but they don't know much about the group itself. They probably, for example, are assuming that they're looking for three men, since Rune still tends to wear breeches. So they'll have Rune wear feminine clothes. They'll dye Talaysen's hair black with a nifty magic trick of Peregrine's. The wagon is pretty ordinary. They should be able to escape notice.

I'm...not sure that would work. I mean, they found him once already. Peregrine figures that the amulets are expensive, so not every hired killer will have one. They plan to leave the next day. He does have one more question: do they wake the kid with his memories or without.

Gwyna makes the call: with the memories. She thinks it'd be a lot scarier for the poor guy to not know what's going on. Talaysen backs her up. Peregrine agrees and kicks them out. Everyone goes back to the wagon (which is now repositioned in the center of camp, protected) and, despite their misgivings, fall asleep.

When Talaysen wakes up, Jonny/Sional is back. And he looks different:

It was Kestrel-and yet it wasn't Jonny Brede. Talaysen couldn't put his finger on the differences, but they were there; in the way the young man held himself, in the direct way he met Talaysen's gaze.

"Sional?" he said, tentatively.

The young man nodded, solemnly. "B-better stick to K-Kestrel, though," he replied, his stammer improved, but still very much a part of his speech. "Th-that's not a n-name we ought to b-be using much."

"Point taken." He sat up and scrutinized the young man carefully. He looked much older in an indefinable way-now he looked his real age; when he had been "Jonny," he had looked several years younger. Interesting.

Unfortunately, now that Kestrel knows who he is, he's now stuck giving a monologue with a phonetically described stutter. I actually appreciate that having his memories restored did not miraculously fix his speech, which I was a little afraid of during the trance sequence. But I wish Ms. Lackey would realize that she doesn't need to write out every verbal tic.

The gist of the monologue is that Kestrel agrees. He wants to find out what his uncle thinks he's doing. But he disagrees with the idea of finding a rebellion, which had been a possibility that Talaysen had floated in the discussion. Kestrel might be a prince, but he doesn't know anything about being a King.

Talaysen is impressed by this. He also points out that any movement against the uncle might only be interested in using Kestrel as a puppet. And Kestrel admits that, at this point, that's all he'd be.

He also has other interesting information: namely that his father was actually kind of a dick. He'd basically just shoved his wife and kid into the Dowager Palace, trotted them out for special occasions, and ignored them otherwise. That's how the Queen died actually: she'd caught something and he didn't bother to send a doctor.

So basically what Kestrel is getting at is that he's not particularly interested in revenge here. He's spent the last four years sweeping floors and tending goats and doesn't have much by way of romantic dreams. (So now we have a timeline for Darian's death. Ish. It's good that musical skills don't atrophy?) Kestrel really just wants to know what's going on and for people to stop trying to kill him.

Fair enough.

This does get Talaysen thinking, because he was expected Kestrel's reaction to be a bit different. He considers that if there's a rebellion, they might be able to protect the kid better. But then the rebels likely have their own plan in mind and maybe wouldn't welcome an intrusive "rightful king". There's also the possibility of staging his death?

Gwyna ends up coaxing more info out of Kestrel, which, since it's close quarters, Talaysen hears as well. He imagines the kid as he would have been eight years ago:

A lonely boy; packed away in what was apparently a drafty, damp "palace" in constant need of repair, with a single, half-deaf servant and his tutor, Master Darian. That surprised him; Guild Bards-and Darian had been a Guild Bard, his credentials were impeccable-were not normally employed as tutors for boys, not even when they were princes. Although he could not be certain, Talaysen framed the notion that Master Darian had been a great friend and admirer of the unhappy Queen, and had volunteered his services in the capacity of tutor when the lady died.

Talaysen considers and discards the idea that Darian might have been the Queen's lover and Sional's father. If that were true, the King would have gotten rid of them both. Talaysen thinks the relationship was more like Tonno's with Rune.

He considers why the Queen and Prince were shut away. He speculates that the King disliked her, but she was too clever to get Anne Boleyned. (And well, if she were a princess, then she may have come from a family that would take that kind of thing amiss). So he basically just shoved both wife and son aside, hoping that they'd die, and he'd be able to find a spouse more to his liking. And the need for the heir would give him leverage.

They find out more about what happened the night of the King's murder:

It would have been comic if the circumstances had not been so dire. He had discovered on a previous visit that there was a greenhouse full of fruit-trees that were forced to bloom and bear out of season. He got very little in the way of luxurious food; it seemed that he, Darian, and the servant were brought whatever was left from meals at the Crown Palace after the servants had taken their shares. He never saw out-of-season fruit, and boy-like, had decided to filch himself a treat. The greenhouse was just under the King's private chambers, and the way into it-if you were an adventurous child-was through the air vents in the glassed-over roof.

Okay, this is getting a little over-the-top in the poor little rich boy sense. It seems a bit unlikely that the heir to the throne would get shunted away to this extent. This is like a step above locking the poor kid in the Tower of London.

I am a lot more willing to sympathize with this kid than Jaxom of Ruatha, I admit. Also, I really can't make heads or tails of the architecture here.

But anyway, tiny Kestrel also had the opportunity to spy on his mysterious father, and he took it. From the sound of it, his dad had a guest, and tiny Kestrel was curious enough to watch.

I'm not really sure why this part is necessary, but I have a bit of a hypothesis. Eventually, the King's name will be given as Charlis. This is a name that pops up a LOT in Lackey's stuff. The evil Emperor in the Valdemar books was "Charliss". Another evil King in the same series, but a different time period and kingdom is "Raschar", called Char.

The very similar set up for each one makes me think that at one point in her life, a man named Charles really really pissed Ms. Lackey off. And thus, he's immortalized at least three times in her series.

I'm not judging. If I were a successful writer, I'd totally do that too. But I think that's why he gets this coitus-interruptus death scene.

Because that's of course when the assassins burst in. They kill him. And unfortunately, they're not professionals, and when the lady kept screaming, they killed her too. Freaked out and traumatized, young prince Sional ran for it.

This makes Talaysen sentimental:

Poor old man, Talaysen thought pityingly. No wonder we thought him half-mad. How did he do it? How did he smuggle a child out of a place crawling with killers, get the boy away, and smuggle him out of the country? He was no hero-he wasn't even young. He was an old, tired man with his best days behind him. One day I am going to have to write a song about him. Bravery and intelligence like that are all too rare . . . and we never even recognized them while he was alive.

Um, dude, I bitched at Menolly for this very thing, and even though I like this book a lot better than Dragonsinger, that doesn't excuse you. MAYBE you should ask KESTREL what he thinks about that. Darian is a stranger to you, but a dear loved one to him, and this is Kestrel's trauma that will be on display.

Kestrel would probably be on board with it. Musician. But you could ASK him.

So anyway, the poor kid is in shock and traumatized already, and then gets marsh fever during the escape. Darian convinces him that he's someone else entirely to hide him. And then we know the rest of the story.

Well, except for one part that we, and Talaysen, didn't know for now: the reason poor Jonny Brede hadn't been able to keep a job. Namely, assassins. He's had three close calls, not counting last night, starting right after Darian died. Talaysen's offer had been a godsend, since they were moving around so often.

I kind of like this. Really, Kestrel should have disclosed that he was putting the group in danger, but it's completely understandable that he didn't. And no one blames him for it later. Poor kid was going through hell. But now at least he understands why.

Talaysen promises himself that if they find the uncle in a position of vulnerability, Talaysen would give the man a little taste of what he'd dealt out to Kestrel. Aw.

--

So they move out, in the company of three other similar wagons. The Roma are spread about to make sure that no one's spying. They're heading toward the border to Birnam. There are two ways to enter: the causeway, or the fens (Darian and Kestrel had been desperate enough to take the fens, but the group are going by way of causeway.)

Birnam will be tricky: there are very few Roma that have knowledge of the place. Free Bards are still pretty rare there. There won't be any large faires, instead they have weekly markets with goods passig through the Trader's guild. So Talaysen has no idea what the life of a traveling musician is there.

We do learn that at some point Talaysen has learned to manage the reins of the wagon, while Kestrel has the ability to sleep anywhere. Talaysen is driving now, with Rune sitting beside him. Talaysen apologizes for saying something gauche and male and says that she looks wonderful like this: in the dress and her hair down.

Rune likes the compliment though. As mentioned, Rune doesn't dress the way she does because of any particular preference. It's just easier. And sometimes even she gets tired of the breeches and tunics. She had a lot of fun picking out her new feminine clothing from what the other women of the camp had offered.

Aw.

So anyway, what Rune really wants to talk about is magic. She has trouble believing that there's no way to block the stupid talismans that that the assassins were using to trace Jonny. Talaysen agrees, which is why he'd apparently talked Peregrine into giving him the one they'd taken from the dead assassin. He's hoping that they can study it and figure out how to copy it.

It's pretty simple: a copper disk with a thin lens of glass with a single strand of hair in it, which presumably belonged to young Sional. Apparently in places where magic is used more openly, people are very careful to keep nail clippings and hair safe. Birnam is apparently one of those places.

OH. We have confirmation that this was taken from the guy who was set on fire last chapter. I'd ASSUMED that the guy was an assassin, given how callously he was ignored by the Roma and Free Bards, but it's good to get confirmation. In fact, the amulet was part of why the guy burned up, it had triggered Peregrine's defenses.

Rune tries to use it. It works, but there's a nasty feeling, and she rubs her hand on her skirt. Apparently, Talaysen had done the same thing when he tried it. And that's been the obstacle with learning how it works: it's so slimy.

Fortunately, Rune is less squeamish. She's had to do a lot of gross clean up work at the inn, so she takes over the examination. Eventually, she comes to a few conclusions: namely that it's not human work . It doesn't work by their magic. Talaysen figures that this is why it feels so unpleasant, since it's operating by laws of melody that they don't understand. He compares it to some swamp creatures in the south who can make people sick by humming.

Rune agrees, and tells him about talking to a Mintak about music once. (Maybe Boony!). He can't stand human sopranos and a lot of human instruments because they're too shrill. For her part, Rune couldn't even hear half of the notes of his own song.

Now that he knows the cause of the grossness, Talaysen is able to focus on the task at hand. They need to figure out the logic or pattern, and maybe they can disrupt or block it with something they can stand. So they get to work on that while the chapter ends.

Hey look! Plot!

It does occur to me that in a lot of ways, Kestrel is as much an expy for Menolly as Rune is. Maybe more, even. Rune's got the similar personality, focus and prodigy-type genius, as well as the wise mentor. But Kestrel's the one with the royal upbringing, with the tutor that he'd spent as much time caring FOR rather than learning from, and he's also apparently learned his skills in an unlikely amount of time. They've even got the same weak point: singing.

But then, there are elements that differ too. Kestrel had had a lot longer with his mentor before either of them had gotten sick, and even if he'd been too young for formal Bardic training, he would have been able to learn basic skills. He didn't learn every single instrument or skill either. So there is that.

He also actually has a plot. So that's a big enough difference right there.