The cursed towers 203
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"Do ye and dai-dein have to ride to war?"
Iseult nodded. "Aye, I'm afraid so, darling."
He struggled to be put down and she let him slip to the floor, her face graver than ever. He marched
across to his toy chest against the wall and got out the little wooden sword Duncan Ironfist had given him
for his second birthday. "I come wi' ye."
"I wish ye could," Iseult replied, pulling him to lean against her knee. "Indeed I'd like to have ye at my
back, sweetling, such a swordsman that ye are. But ye canna."
He pulled away, indignant. "Why no'?"
"Someone must stay behind and look after Neil and Sukey and help guard Dun Eidean. Ye ken we canna
leave the city unprotected, else the wicked Bright Soldiers may sneak up and try and take it back from
us."
Donncan nodded and rubbed his eyes, colored the same unusual topaz-yellow as his father's. Iseult
picked him up and cuddled him closely. "I will miss ye though, my sweetling. Ye must promise me to be
good and no' tease Sukey too much nor fly away from her."
He nodded his curly golden head drowsily and she tucked him up in bed, his sword still clutched in his
hand. With a thought she extinguished the many-branched candelabra on the table so the room sank into
darkness, only the glowing coals in the fireplace casting any light. "What story would ye like?"
He snuggled down into the blankets. "Tell me the story o' the daughter o' Frost 'n the North Wind again,"
he begged.
Iseult sat cross-legged in the wide-seated chair by his bed, her hands turned upward in her lap. With a
long sweeping gesture she began in a sing-song voice, "The daughter o' Frost and the North Wind was
born in the shadow o' the Skull o' the World, far, far away from the valleys where the people lived and
hunted ..."
The little boy was asleep before Iseult had finished but she did not stop her tale-telling, knowing the end
of a story was as important as the beginning. She came back to the real world with a little start, becoming
aware of Sukey leaning against the doorframe, listening raptly.
"That was bonny, Your Highness," the nursemaid whispered, her voice a little husky. " 'Twas so sad!"
"Most o' the stories o' the People o' the Spine o' the World are sad," Iseult answered softly, rising
carefully to her feet so as not to disturb the sleeping child. "They do no' have much o' a sense o' humor,
I'm afraid." She brushed a lock of hair away from her son's face and kissed him very gently between the
eyes.
"Have a care for him, Sukey," she said somberly. "It hurts me to have to leave him again."
"I will, Your Highness," Sukey promised. "So ye ride out again?"
"Aye, I'm afraid so. Fresh troops have marched through Arran and into Blessem again, to join those that
escaped Rhyssmadill. Indeed, they are stubborn, these Tirsoilleirean! We have had near four months to
rest and rebuild, so that is something, I suppose. Still it is time we cauterized Arran and Tirsoilleir once
and for all. We shall be riding for Ardencaple in the morning."
She went to leave the nursery and Sukey said impulsively, "Ye look tired, my lady. Must ye go back to
