Beyond the Prophecy Read Online Free Page B

so. Gerusa’s downfall—particularly when it comes to
you, Vatar—was her tendency to leap on any perceived opportunity. But that
doesn’t mean she doesn’t have deeper-laid plans. She didn’t gain the power she
had on the High Council without careful—and long-term—maneuvering. Direct
action, like she tried against you, was never her strength. But when it comes
to Council politics, she’s a very formidable opponent. It may be she’s
retreated to what she knows she’s good at. And the only way to win at that kind
of chess game is to have a goal firmly in mind. Regrettably, she knows Caere’s
weaknesses as well as any of us.”
    Vatar studied the contents of his mug. Maybe they could have
avoided this if they’d just turned around and brought their prisoners straight
back to Caere after the ambush Gerusa orchestrated. It would have been more
humane. And he suspected one of the survivors must have warned her by Far
Speech. How else could Gerusa have known her plan had failed? And that had
given her time to evade arrest here. If they hadn’t left the ambushers alone on
the plains, could they have prevented that? Would Gerusa still be here, under
arrest?
    Had he been too stubborn about continuing on to Zeda? True,
the trade he and Arcas held with the Dardani every year supported both their
families through the winter. The annual trip to Zeda was also usually Vatar’s
only chance to visit with the Dardani half of his family. And the only time when
his children got to experience the freedom of the Dardani way of life. He
wanted that for them, but this year the cost might have been too
high—especially for the short time they’d stayed.
    “You think her goal is to weaken Caere?” Vatar asked.
    Father shook his head. “No, I think that’s just her first
move. Kausalya’s too small to satisfy her for long. If I had to guess Gerusa’s
real goal—and I only stayed ahead of her on the Council as often as I did by
guessing that well—I’d say she wants to regain power here. And rub all our
noses in it. Mine—and yours—most of all. She does like her successes leavened
with revenge.”
    Vatar suppressed a shudder. He could think of few things
that would be worse than Gerusa in power anywhere. But Gerusa ruling Caere
would be disastrous. And not just for him and his family. “Well, then, we have
to find a way to stop her. She can’t have consolidated her power in Kausalya,
yet. Not the way she had here. Is there a way to force her out? Or get the
Kausalyans to do it?”
    Father paused to pour more cider into his mug.
“Unfortunately, she’s put us on the defensive right at the start. We can’t move
against her—or Kausalya—right now. We grow next to none of our own grain here.
We need the Kausalyan imports or this winter there may be no grain to be had.
And without grain, there’ll be no bread.”
    Arcas rubbed his chin. “I thought they were growing a
surplus of grain in Tysoe this year.”
    Father grimaced. “They are. But we can’t get it here. It has
to go down the river and through Kausalya. And Kausalya has placed either
embargoes or ruinous tariffs on most of the goods shipped from Tysoe.”
    Arcas glanced out the window, past Vatar’s shoulder. “Sounds
like it’s time to start thinking about another way to transport goods to and
from Tysoe, then. Over the winter, I talked with Orleus a little about the
possibility of a road.”
    Vatar grinned. “That’d put a spike in Gerusa’s plans.”
    “Is that even possible?” Father asked.
    Arcas shrugged. “Orleus has ridden across country to or from
Tysoe at least three times that I know of. And by at least two routes.”
    “The first time I came to Caere, we came straight from the
Gna River, beyond Tysoe,” Vatar said. “Of course, that was with pack horses,
not wagons.”
    Arcas frowned. “True. It would take some time to build a
road suitable for wagons. And there’s a limit to how much even a train of pack
horses can carry over that