Shadow of a Dark Queen Part 02: The Serpentwar Saga, Book 1 by Raymond E. Feist

[Music] chapter 13 search the barman looked up the inn was crowded and in the normal course of business anyone entering should not have caused him to notice but the figure who entered was not one of his ordinary customers nor was the bar man an ordinary bar man the newcomer was a woman tall and alert in her stance wearing an all-concealing robe of sturdy weave fine enough to mark her as more than a common street girl but not so elegant as to mark her as nobility for a moment the bomber expected one or more men to follow her escorts to protect her from the streets rougher denizens when none appeared he was certain there was nothing ordinary about this woman she glanced around the room as if seeking someone then she locked eyes with the bar man she threw back the hood of the cloak revealing a youthful appearance though the bar man knew well enough appearances were deceiving with dark hair and green eyes she was not pretty but striking with a full mouth and good cheekbones her eyes were dangerous most men would have called her beautiful but most men wouldn't have known how dangerous she was a young bravo stepped up to intercept her before she could reach the bar he was at the peak of youth feeling too much the rush of blood and ale he was nearly majestic in appearance half a foot taller than six feet with shoulders broad with iron plates and enough scars to ensure that few of his boasts were challenged as lies here now he said with a drunken laugh pushing back a crested helmet so he could see better what's so wonderful a wench doing without my company this brought a laugh from two of his companions and a disapproving look from the who had counted on all three of these soldiers making a knight profitable the woman stopped as the young warrior stepped before her and looked him slowly up and down excuse me she said softly the man boy grinned and seemed about to say something then his smile slowly faded until he looked down upon the woman with a puzzled expression i'm sorry he said quietly as he stepped aside his friends looked on in amazement and one stood up to say something the bar man produced a light crossbow and put it on the bar with the bolt pointed directly at the protester why don't you sit back down and finish your drink hold on tibbett we spend a lot of gold here don't be threatening us rocco you get drunk on cheap wine down at the market then stagger up here to grope and fondle one of my girls until closing when half the time you don't have enough to pay for our company the girl who had been sitting with the three men stood up and said and the half of the time they have money they don't have any iron left in their swords from all that cheap wine and even when they do it's nothing much to brag on this brought a torrent of laughter and insults from the rest of the patrons of the commons the third warrior who had been holding the until she stood up said erlet i thought you liked us show me your gold then i'll love you darling she said with a grin lacking any affection tabert said why don't you three boys head on down to kinjiki's and annoy his girls for a while he's serrani blood so he'll bear up under the abuse with better grace than i the two companions looked ready to dispute this request but the first who had tried to stop the woman nodded slowly and pulled his helm back down reaching under the table he retrieved his weapon and shield come on we can find our phone somewhere else his two friends were about to protest when he bellowed i said come on the abrupt rage startled the others and they hesitated then agreed following him out of the room the woman reached the bar the barman knew her first question before she asked he said i haven't seen him the woman raised one eyebrow in question whoever it is you're looking for i haven't seen him who do you think i'm looking for the bar man a stout fellow with mutton chop sideburns and a receding hairline said there's only one kind of man who'd bring a woman like you searching and one like that hasn't come by recently and what kind of woman are you taking me for she asked one who sees things others miss you're very observant for a barman she counted most barman are though they learn not to show it i on the other hand are not most barman your name tabert lowering her voice she spoke i've been to every shabby inn and dirty tap room in la mutt seeking something i was told on good authority would be here so far i get nothing but blank looks and confused stammering speaking even more softly she said i need to find the hall with a smile he said the back room he led her through a small back room then down a flight of stairs this storage room connects with others below the city he said he opened a door at the foot of the stairs and led her to the far end of a narrow hall there was no door only a small alcove doorway hidden by a piece of cloth hung from a metal rod as she reached the door tabert said you'll understand when i say if you're in this room i can't help you i can only show you the door miranda nodded though she wasn't entirely sure of the meaning of what he said she stepped through into the small room as she stepped across the threshold and passed under the rod she felt the energy emanating from it for a brief instant she saw a tiny storage room stacked high with a few empty ale and wine casks and some crates but instantly she understood the barman's words she willed herself into phase with the energies coursing down from the metal rod and an instant later she stood somewhere else the hall was endless or at least no creature able to communicate had ever discovered the end of it miranda saw that every so often a doorway a rectangle of light adjoined the hall on the sides between the entrances her gray nothingness loomed that she could see at all was something of a mystery for there was no obvious source of light miranda shifted her perceptions and instantly regretted it the darkness she experienced was so profound it produced an instant despair she returned her sight to the magically tuned vision she had employed and again she could see she considered the barman's words you'll understand when i say if you're in this room i can't help you i can only show you the door he knew of the magic portal into the hall but could not empower anyone to enter only a talent like miranda or a few others on midkamia would have the means of entering the hall and surviving once there she turned and looked at the door she had just stepped through seeking to set it apart in her mind from the others should she need to return this way at first nothing out of the ordinary marked the doorway at last she noticed faint runes hovering over the top of the door difficult to see she focused her attention on them and memorized the shape and formation in her mind translating the glyphs to medkamia across from the door only a featureless grey void beckoned the doors were staggered on the left and right so that none faced another she moved down and saw the glyphs of the door on the other side of the one through which she had entered bore a different mark she memorized that one as well if she were to be turned around somehow and lose sight of where she was a series of familiar landmarks would prove useful after memorizing a half dozen of the nearest door glyphs she continued on assuming that without information one direction was as apt as another and began to walk the figure in the distance appeared roughly human in shape but it could have been a member of any number of races miranda stopped walking and watched she was able to defend herself but she thought it better to avoid rushing into trouble if she could a door to her right provided the potential for escape though she had no idea what was on the other side as if reading her thoughts the figure yelled something holding out its gloved hand to show it was holding no weapons the gesture was less than reassuring as the creature was otherwise bristling with more arms the miranda thought anyone should be able to carry and still walk upright upon its head a full visor masked its features while the body was covered in a material that looked as rigid as steel yet gave the appearance of being more flexible it was a dull pale silver in color almost white and lacked the higher reflective quality that most polished armor possessed the creature carried a round shield on its back giving it a turtle like appearance a long sword's hilt peeked over one shoulder while what appeared to be the stock of a crossbow was visible over the other at the right hip hung a short sword and an assortment of knives and throwing implements hung around the figure's torso a whip was rolled up and hung from the left side of the creature's belt and over one shoulder a large sack was thrown miranda called out in the kingdom tongue i can see you're not carrying anything in your hand at the moment the figure moved cautiously toward her and said something in a language different from the first it had used miranda answered in keshian and the slowly walking arsenal answered in yet another tongue at last miranda spoke in a variant of the language of the kingdom of roldham and the figure said ah you're a midkamian i thought i'd recognize delkian a bit ago but i'm rusty he for his voice sounded like that of a man said i've been trying to tell you that if you jumped through that door you'd better be able to breathe methane i have means of protecting myself from lethal gas answered miranda the man reached up slowly and removed his helm revealing a face that was almost boyish a freckled visage set with green eyes and topped with a damp mat of red hair a face split with a friendly smile few who walk the hall don't but the stress is pretty awful you'd weigh about two hundred times as much as you do normally on this seo which is what the inhabitants call that world and that can slow movement down a great deal thank you miranda said at last first time in the hall ask the man why do you ask well unless you're a greek deal more powerful than you look and i'll be the first to admit that appearances are almost always deceiving it's usually first-timers whom we find wandering the hall without company we those of us who live here you live in the hole you're a first timer no doubt he set the bag down i am bolder blood interesting name miranda said visibly amused well it's not the one my parents gave me certainly but i'm a mercenary and one must attempt a certain level of intimidation in my line of work hardly credible i know but it does prove to be the case besides he pointed to his own countenance is this a face to inspire terror miranda shook her head and smiled in return no i guess not you can call me miranda yes it's my first time in the hall can you get back to mid came here if i turn around and walk about 220 doors i suspect i'll find the right one boulder shook his head that's a long way there's a door short way off that will put you in the city of italy on the world of ill jabon if you can get through the two blocks to another entrance without being accosted by the locals you'll find a door that leads back into the hall next to the door that leads to i forget which medkamian door it is but it's one of them he leaned over opened his bag and took out a bottle he fished around inside the sack and produced a pair of metal cups care to join me in a cup of wine thank you said miranda i am a little thirsty buldar said when i first stumbled into the hall must have been a century and a half or so ago i wandered around until i almost starved to death a very agreeable thief saved my life in exchange for a seemingly inexhaustible series of reminders of that fact usually in conjunction with a need for a favor from me but he did save me a great deal of difficulty at the time knowledge of how to navigate the hall is quite useful and it's knowledge that i'm delighted to share with you in exchange for you catch on quickly said blood with a grin nothing is free in the hall sometimes you might do something to build accounts and put others in your debt but nothing ever goes without something in return there are three types of people you'll meet in the hall those who will avoid you and spare you their society in passing those who try to bargain with you and those who try to take advantage of you the second and third groups are not necessarily the same thing i can take care of myself miranda said with a challenge in her voice as i said earlier you couldn't be here in the first place and not have some capacity but remember this is also true of everyone else you meet in the hall of worlds yeah occasionally some poor soul without any powers talents or abilities blunders in unbidden no one quite understands how but quickly they walk out the wrong door or run into those who seek easy prey or step off into the void what happens when you step off into the void if you know the right spot you end up coming into a saloon of a great inn known by many names owned by a man named john the n is called simply the inn and as john is known as variously john the oath keeper john without deceit john the scrupulous john who has ethics or any other of a half dozen such honorifics the saloon is usually called honest john's there were at last count 1 117 known entrances to the saloon if you don't know the right spot well no one knows for no one's ever returned to tell anyone what exists in the void it is simply the void miranda relaxed the mercenary's affable manner was such that she doubted he would attempt to take advantage of her would you be willing to show me to one of these entrances certainly for a price that being she asked raising an eyebrow in the hall there are many things of value the usual gold and other precious metal gems and stones deeds of ownership to estates slaves and indenters and most of all information then there is the unusual items unique services personal manipulations of reality souls of those who will never be born things of those types miranda nodded what would you what have you they began haggling twice in less than a day blood had proven his worth miranda was finding herself fortunate that he had been the first person she encountered rather than a party of interdimensional slavers whom they encountered several hours later miranda had a personal distaste for the institution of slavery a bias now heightened by the attempt to reduce her and boldar to inventory boldar had disposed of the four guards and the slaver after attempting to allow them peaceful passage miranda thought she might have been able to cope with them alone but she was impressed how boulder had instantly recognized the moment the negotiations had soured and had disposed of two guards before she could begin to focus her mind on protecting herself by the time she would have encased herself in a protective aura the conflict was over the slaves had been freed which had required a great deal of argument on miranda's part for now she had to make good on the portion of profit boulder stood to make upon acquiring the slaves and selling them miranda pointed out that as he was currently in her employ he was in fact acting as her agent and she was free to do with the slaves what she chose he found this proposition somewhat dubious but after considering the difficulty of feeding and caring for the slaves decided that accepting a bonus from miranda would prove the better solution the second encounter had been with another band of mercenaries who seemed inclined to give blood and his employer a wide birth but who miranda was certain would have acted entirely differently had she been alone while they walked she learned so if you know the locations of the common doors the journey through the hall can be shortened certainly said blood it depends on the world how many doorways exist and where they are relative to one another in the hall tandara space for example he waved at a door they passed has but one door which unfortunately opens into the hall of sacrifice in the most sacred temple of a cult of cannibalistic humanoids who are less fussy about defining cannibalism than they are devoted to eating anyone who stumbles into their most holy of holies this is a world seldom visited merlin on the other hand he waved at another door a short distance ahead is a commerce world that is served by no less than six doors which makes it a hub of trade both among its resident nations and for other whole worlds the world from which you appear to hail midkamia has at least three doors i'm aware of which did you use to enter under a bar in la mote ah yes t-birds good food a decent ale and bad woman my sort of place he seemed somehow to be grinning behind the mask how miranda could tell she didn't know perhaps it was some subtlety in the mercenary's body language or a note in his voice how does one learn of these doors is there a map well there's one said boulder adonis john's it's on a wall in the public room there you can see the known limits of the hall the last time i looked there was something like 000 odd doors identified and cataloged there are occasionally messages forwarded to the inn from those who encounter new doors either in the hall or upon any world where new passage is discovered there's even one legendary lunatic whose name i forget who is exploring the far reaches and sending back messages some which take decades to reach john's he's getting so far from the end he's becoming a myth miranda thought how long has this been going on boulder shrugged i suspect the hall has existed since the dawn of time men and other creatures have lived here for ages it requires a certain talent to survive for long within the hall so it has its appeal for those who seek a higher stakes order living what of you ask miranda you could live well on most worlds with the fee you charge me the mercenary shrugged i do this less for the bounty than for the excitement i must confess that i do grow easily bored there are worlds where i could rule as king but that has little appeal for me in truth i find myself happiest in circumstances that would drive most sane men mad war murder assassination intrigue these are my stalking trade and there are a few who match me in skill i say this not to brag for i have your commission already but to tell you simply once you grow used to living in the hall there's no other life miranda nodded the scope of the place was staggering it was literally the sum of all known and quite a few unknown worlds boulder said as much as i'm enjoying your company miranda and as much as i enjoy the wealth you promise i grow tired while time has no meaning here fatigue and hunger are real in all dimensions at least the ones i've visited and you still haven't told me where you go miranda said that's because i really don't know where i'm going i'm looking for someone may i inquire whom a worker of magic by name pug of starduck boulder shrugged but if there is one place where both our present needs can likely be met it is the end miranda was uncertain and wondered at our own reluctance to embrace the obvious if there was a communal center to the hall then should pug have come through the hall that was the most likely place to inquire but she feared others might also be interested in his passing and thought it likely he would have avoided letting others know of his whereabouts still it was better than wandering aimlessly are we far from the inn no actually said boulder we've passed two other entrances since we met and there is another a short distance away he motioned for her to follow and after progressing past another two doors he pointed to the void this is very difficult the first time he pointed to the door opposite the void note that mark she nodded it's helly ali a nice place if you enjoy mountains one of the entrances to honest john's lies across from it now you simply step off and expect to meet a step foot or so beyond the edge of the void so saying he stepped into the grey and vanished miranda took a breath then as she started to duplicate his move thought step up or down miranda fell forward the step was down and she had guessed up strong arms caught her and she opened her eyes wide at the sight of white fur on them she tried remaining calm as she disengaged herself from a helper a nine foot tall creature covered in that same white fur from head to foot black spots broke up the otherwise snowy surface and two immense blue eyes and a mouth were the only visible features on a shaggy head a plaintive grunt was followed by boldar saying if you have any weapons now is the time to surrender them she saw he was efficiently divesting himself of his arsenal including several rather innocuous looking items that had been secreted about his person miranda carried only two daggers one in her waistband and another strapped to the inside of her right calf and she quickly surrendered them boldar said the proprietor learned ages ago that his establishment thrives so long as it is neutral ground for everyone quad ensures that no one who starts trouble remains inside the saloon any longer than necessary quad our large hirsute friend here answered boulder as they left the doorway he continued quads a caropaban stronger by the pound than any creature known almost completely resistant to any magic and the most toxic poisons take a week or so to kill one they make incredible bodyguards if you can get one to leave their homeworld miranda stopped and gaped the saloon was immense easily 200 yards across and twice that deep along the right wall nearly the entire way ran a single bar with a dozen barman rushing to meet their customers demands a pair of galleries one above the other overhung the other three sides of the hall thick with tables and chairs providing vantage points from which those drinking and dining could gaze down upon the main floor there every game of chance conceivable was being played from several variations of dice to a knife duel in a small sand pit creatures of every imaginable confirmation moved easily through the press greeting one another as they chanced upon old acquaintances creatures carried trays covered with a variety of pots platters cups buckets and bowls some were put before creatures that defied miranda's sense of order at least a dozen clearly reptilian creatures were dining in the hall the mere fact of which caused her to be very uncomfortable the majority of the clientele was humanoid though an occasional insect-like being or something that looked like a walking dog could be seen welcome to honest john's said boulder where's john she asked yeah he's over there he pointed to the long bar at the near end stood a man wearing a strange suit of shining cloth it consisted of trousers that broke without cuffs at the top of shiny black boots with oddly pointed toes the jacket was open in front revealing a white shirt with ruffles clothed by pearl studs and sporting a pointed collar set off with a cravat of bright yellow upon his head he wore a wide brimmed white hat with a shimmering red silk hat band he spoke closely with a creature that looked like a man with an extra set of eyes in his forehead boldar waved as they approached and the man identified as john said something to the four-eyed man who nodded once and departed with a wide smile john said boulder it's been what a yeah not quite john but close enough how do you tell time in the hall asked miranda john glanced at boldah who said my current employer miranda with a theatrical gesture john doffed his hat and swept it across his chest bowing at the waist as he reached out with his other and took one of hers lightly in it he then made a gesture of kissing it though his lips never touched skin she withdrew it quickly feeling somewhat awkward at the contact john said welcome to my humble establishment suddenly miranda's eyes widened what language are we john said your first visit i see i thought it unlikely we should host as lovely a guest as yourself before without my notice he waved them to a table located near the bar and pulled out a chair she blinked at it a moment before she realized he was waiting for her to sit she was unused to this odd behavior but considering the range of human custom she chose not to offend and let him seat her one of the few magic spells allowed it is not only useful it is necessary it's not foolproof i fear for we do occasionally have the odd visitor whose personal frame of reference is so alien to the majority of sentient life that only the most basic communication is possible if any and we also do get the occasional fool boldar chuckled and said that we do john waved his hand now as to your first question measuring time is simple outside the hall time passes as it does everywhere else in the universe as far as i know but to answer what you meant to ask we measure it as we did on my homeworld it's a vanity but as i am the owner of the establishment it's my right to make the rules what world do you hail from if i might know mid came here ah then it's very close to what you're used to mere hours different per year enough to trouble scribes and philosophers but in the course of a normal lifetime you'd only be off by a few days on your birthday between the two calendars miranda said when i first learned of the hall i thought it a magic gate through which i might seek other worlds i had no idea john nodded few do but humans for that is what i judge you to be are like most other intelligent creatures they adapt and they find things that are useful and continue to do them likewise those of us who are privileged to walk the hall well we adapt too there are too many reasons to stay within the hall too many benefits once one finds one's way into it to ignore so most of us become citizens of the hall abandoning our former ties or at least neglecting them shamefully benefits john and boldar exchanged looks so i don't bore you my dear why don't you tell me what you know about the hall suggested john miranda said in my travels i've heard of the whole world several times i had to look for quite some time to find the entrance i know it is a means of traveling through space to reach distant worlds and through time as well said boulder miranda said time to reach a distant world by conventional means takes lifetimes the hall reduces transit to days in some cases ours john said then to the heart of the matter the hall exists independent of objective reality as we like to define it when standing on the surface of our home worlds it links worlds that may be in different universes different space times for lack of a better term we have no way of knowing for that matter it may link worlds at different times my homeworld a not very distinguished sphere orbiting an unremarkable sun may very well have died of old age before your world was born miranda how would we know if we move through objective space then why not through objective time and because of that we have here within the hall everything or if not that then as close as a mortal can wish we trade in wonders in the hall and in the prosaic every chattel and species every service and debt if you can imagine it if it can be found anywhere it can be found here or at least here you can find someone to take you to it what other benefits well for one you don't age in the hall immortality or something close enough to it to make little difference said john it may be that those of us able to find the hall possess this gift already or it may be that by living within the hall we avoid death's icy hand but the gains in time are not trivial and few give them up willingly he waved his hand to the gallery above those who inhabit my guest quarters number several hundred who fear to ever again leave the hall conducting their businesses in their entirety in rooms i lease them others come here as the only possible refuge from all danger while yet others spend part of their days on other worlds and part of them here but no denizen of the whole will give up its lure after becoming aware of the benefits what of macross the black at the mention of that name both john and boldar looked uncomfortable he's a special case answered john after a while he may be an agent of some higher power or even a higher power himself at the very least he's something beyond what we would count mortal here in the hall how much of what has been placed at his feet is true and how much legend only a few can tell what do you know of him only what was told me in mid kenya not the world of his birth said john of that i'm almost certain but what brings his name into this conversation only that he's a special case as you have said so there might be others perhaps such as pug of starduck again john looked discomforted though boulder hadn't so much as blinked at mention of pug's name if you seek pug i may not be able to offer you much by way of encouragement why is that he passed through here quite a few months ago ostensibly on his way to some odd world i can't remember to do research but i fear that is a ruse why do you say that because he hired several of boldar's friends to prevent anyone who asked for him from following after who said boldar looking around the room william the gripper jeremiah the red and ellen scarlett the grey assassin boldar shook his head those are three likely to cause some trouble he leaned forward to miranda i could most likely best jeremiah his reputation is built mostly on rumor but william and ella and both possess the death touch and that makes it dicey if they're working together miranda said do i look like a pentathean john said my dear after as many lifetimes as i have spent in the hall looks are the last thing i would depend upon you for all your evident charms could turn out to be my own grandfather and it would barely surprise me though i fervently hope the old boy is dead as we buried him when i was 14 years old rising he said pug of starduck is another like macross who is not of the hall but utilizes it occasionally but his word is good and so is his gold he paid for protection and such he will get my advice is not to let anyone else in this room know you seek him and to find some other means to trace his whereabouts or be prepared to meet two of the hall's most reputable mercenaries and one of the most feared assassins no less than one minute after you leave this place he bowed please have refreshments as my guest he signaled a small man and said something to him indicating that a round of drinks should be produced should you need quarters for a time you'll find us reasonable if not i trust you'll enjoy yourself as long as you're here and return to us soon he bowed tipping his white hat and left to return to the bar and his conversation with the four-eyed man who had just returned from whatever errand he had been on blood let out his breath in a dramatic fashion what do you choose to do he asked i intend to keep looking i mean pug no harm would he think that we've never met i know him by name only but he would not think be dangerous i know i've never met him either but john recognized his name instantly that means his reputation is spreading and for that to occur in the hall one must possess a significant level of gifts for him to worry about being followed he shrugged miranda was inclined to take boldar at face value and nothing he had said was inclining her to suspect him still the stakes were too high for her to take chances she said if he doesn't want to be followed enough to take such precautions how would one follow his trail boldar blew out his cheeks there are several articles i've consulted with the oracle of all if she doesn't know her then none of them do he observed there's the toy maker who is he a creator of devices several of which may be used to spy out people who don't wish to be seen but he's somewhat mad and therefore undependable who else the waiter appeared with a round of drinks placing a frosty mug of something that looked like ale before boulder and a large crystal goblet before miranda he made a show of unfolding napkins and placing one in miranda's lap and the other in boulders he said compliments of my master and withdrew the wine was delicious and miranda drank deeply discovering she was quite thirsty and hungry there's quail daggett said boulder he deals in information the more improbable the better he likes it as long as it's true for that reason he's a full cut above the average rumor manga hereabouts miranda picked up her napkin to blot her lips and a folded piece of paper fell to the floor she looked down then at boldar who bent over and picked it up he handed it to her unopened she took it and unfolded it to find a single word whose mustafa she asked boldar slammed his hand down upon the table the very fellow we must see he glanced around and said up there pointing to the gallery he rose and miranda followed they wented their way through the press of tables and alien bodies reaching a stairway they climbed to the first of the two overhanging galleries miranda was surprised to discover that the gallery was but one side of a wide promenade which had large corridors stretching away is all this part of the inn bulldog said certainly how big is it only honest john knows for certain he led her past booths offering all manner of goods and services several lewd a score more clearly illegal anywhere miranda had ever been and many incomprehensible rumor has it that john was a barkeep on his homeworld who was run out of his birth city over some dispute a roving band of some sort of aboriginal people chased him and he blundered into the entrance to the hall as fate would have it he appeared in the hall in the midst of a battle it has been said that not knowing any better he jumped into the void opposite the door he had entered discovering the first entrance into the stable place in which the inn is now housed boldar moved down a side corridor he blundered around in a strange darkness then somehow found his way back to the hall moving back to his homeworld once he was certain the aborigines were gone and returning to his birth city over the years he came back to the hall exploring and trading when he finally had some sense of the society within the hall he decided the inn was what would make him rich he made some deals hired some workers and returned here to establish a small end he's added onto it over the years until now it's a small township whenever he adds onto the building he encounters no limit to the size he can increase his holdings or at least not so far has it what made jon rich boldar laughed and again miranda was struck by how boyish the mercenary looked i suspect that by any reasonable measure john is the richest man in creation he could buy and sell worlds should he choose but like most of us he's found that after a while riches are only a means to keep oneself amused or to keep tally on how well one does in the various games and transactions in the hall reaching a doorway hung with a curtain boulder called mustafa are you in who wants to know that got a laugh from boldar who swept aside the curtain indicating miranda should enter she did and found herself inside a small room with but a single table upon which a solitary candle burned otherwise the room was without distinction no wall hangings or other furniture just another door in the wall facing the one through which they'd entered a man stood behind the table his face nearly black like aged and oiled leather a white beard adorned his cheeks and chin though his upper lip was shaven and his head was covered with a green turban he bowed peace be upon you he said in the language of the jail poor upon you be peace answered miranda you seek pug of starduck he asked miranda nodded glancing at boldar she raised an eyebrow in question boldar said mustafa's a fortune teller mustafa said you must first cross my palm with gold he held out his hand miranda reached into our belt and withdrew a coin placing it upon his hand he put it in his own belt pouch without looking at it what do you seek i just told you mustafa said you need to say it aloud fighting off irritation at what she thought was needless show to convince gullible travelers miranda said i need to find pug of stardoc why miranda said that is my business but the need is great many look for this man he has taken precautions against being followed by those he would rather not encounter how may i know you are not such a one miranda said one may vouch for me but he's back upon the world of midkamia thomas friend of pug the dragon rider mustafa nodded that is a name few would know who meant to harm pug where might i find him he seeks alliances and goes to speak with the gods seek him in the celestial city in the hall of the gods awaiting miranda said how do i get there return to midgamia answer mustafa and get you to the land of novindus in the great mountains the pillars of the stars find the necropolis the home of the dead gods there atop the peaks of the mountains there is a hall in which those gods waiting to be reborn abide go there miranda didn't wait but rose and left leaving boulder standing alone with mustafa after a second boulder said is this true or are you doing one of your carnival acts mustafa shrugged i don't know if he's true that's just what i was paid to say who paid you pug of starduck the old man took off his turban revealing a nearly bald pate scratching his head he said i suspect he's probably another false lead i have the distinct impression this pug is a man who doesn't wish to be found boulder said this gets interesting i think i'll catch up with her and see if she needs help mustafa shook his head and said find him or not i have a feeling she's going to need a great deal of help before this is over some idiot left open a critical gate to the demon realm and a couple of realities could be in jeopardy as a result he yawned boldar was about to ask what that meant but considered miranda getting too far ahead so he said nothing and left a moment after boulder left the other door opened and a man stepped through small but striking he had dark hair and eyes and a closely trimmed beard and wore a simple robe of black he reached into a pouch at his belt and pulled out some gold coins handing them to mustafa he said thank you you did well anytime what are you going to do now i think i'll go set up a small test mustafa said well enjoy yourself and let me know how this situation with the demon realm turns out things could get busy around here if they get loose i will goodbye mustafa said the man as he began to move his hands goodbye pug responded mustafa but by the time he had spoken pug of stardoc had vanished from sight chapter 14 journey eric dismounted rue grabbed the reins of eric's and billy's horses and led them away eric and billy ran forward weapons at the ready while the maneuver was repeated up and down the line since leaving brex at shingazi's landing two weeks before kalis had been drilling the men continually they were now being trained as mounted infantry at the first sign of attack one man in three would lead the horses to be staked behind the line while the other two made a defensive position were instructed the men had complained about this saying it made no sense to leave a perfectly good horse and get down to fight but the complaints had fallen on deaf ears nakor had laughed it off saying only man and horse gives a much bigger target than man on foot hiding behind a rock the drills were becoming second nature to eric and the others who now waited to see what would happen next sometimes nothing other times atonis company of klansmen from the city of the serpent river would attack and the results could be painful the drills were conducted using heavy wooden swords weighted with lead rods that were twice the heft of a normal short sword eric swore his own sword with feather light in his hand after weeks of drilling with the false swords which he supposed was the point of it all but the wooden swords could leave heavy welts and even break bones and the clansmen from the city of the serpent river seemed to take delight in embarrassing calyse's company eric didn't understand the politics of this strange land he knew that khalis and hertonis were old friends or at least friendly acquaintances but the other men from that distant city seemed either suspicious or contemptuous of kayla's men he asked and was told by one of the soldiers from kalis's last voyage that clan warriors simply didn't have much use for mercenaries eric took this to mean that only a few leaders such as atonis knew of their real purpose in coming to this distant land eric heard a rattle behind him and knew that rue had returned and was laying down the odd short spears they had picked up at bricks soft iron they were designed to be thrown at charging opponents either injuring them or fouling their shields once they struck something they were useless as they bent easily so the enemy couldn't throw them back a shout went up from a crest nearby and suddenly it was raining arrows eric raised his shield crouching low behind it and felt two shafts strike and shatter on the heavy metal and wood a curse nearby told eric that lewis hadn't been as fortunate and had been struck by the dull point of a practice shaft not lethal these shafts nevertheless stung when they struck and occasionally they could cause real injury then another shout signaled the charge and eric rose gripping one of the heavy iron spears ready shouted to loungehrill as the charging clansmen came near eric tensed and as if reading his mind delangel shouted wait for it as the clansmen bore down upon them the men of calys's company waited until the loungeville shouted through and eric and the others motioned throwing the pileum as the short soft spear was known in the queen tongue having no practice pilum to use they couldn't throw the weapon so after pantomiming a cast each man dropped his spear next to where they waited and with a few audible groans readied the ponderous practice swords eric recognized the man bearing down on him a large somber fellow named pataki eric braced himself and let the man throw the first blow which he easily caught on his shield he stepped slightly to his left and threw a roundhouse blow with his sword that got over the top of pataki's shield and caught him behind the head eric winced for he knew the blow must hurt despite the helm the other man wore glancing around he saw that his companions were easily repulsing the attackers and within a minute the klansmen threw down their swords and removed their helms in the mercenary's sign of surrender a few of cayla's company cheered the victory but the majority were content to stand motionless for a few minutes riding most of the day then suddenly fighting a battle even if only a mock skirmish took its toll most of the men learned to steal rest whenever it was possible even if only for a minute alright shouted foster pick em up eric got his practice sword under one arm and was starting to retrieve his pileum when he heard billy say this one's not moving eric saw that pataki was still lying face down in the dust roo was the first to reach him and rolled the bulky man over he then leaned over and after a moment said he's still breathing but he's out cold the lounge rule hurried over what's this eric picked up his pileum i caught him on the back of the head i hit him harder than i intended i guess you'll guess said to loungeville his eyes narrowing as if he was about to launch into another reprimand suddenly he grinned and said that's my lad he told rue toss some water on him and get your kid together rue rolled his eyes heavenward and hurried to where the horses were picketed he fetched a waterskin and doused the motionless man pataki came awake spitting out the water and once he had regained his feet returned to his own company eric carried his set of pylon practice sword and shield to where the horses were waiting he loaded up his equipment then waited for rue to catch up when the shorter man returned he said you really caught him with a headshot you saw i was unoccupied at the moment the fellow came at me was blindsided by billy so i had nothing to do you could have lent me and eric said as if you needed one said rue you're turning into something of a terror with that practice sword maybe you ought to keep with it when the real fighting starts you could bludgeon with it better than most men can cut eric half smiled and shook his head maybe i'll find one of those big dwarven war hammers and smashed rocks too mount came the order from foster and with accompanying groans the men complied moving into position eric and rule fell in with show big o luis and billy the company waited then came the order to ride there was at least another hour of daylight before they'd be ordered to make camp and that would entail another two hours of work eric glanced at the sun an angry red globe lowering in the west and said it's too damn up for this time of year from behind him kalis said the seasons are reversed here eric it's winter in the kingdom but it's early summer here the days are getting longer and hotter wonderful said eric too tired to wonder how the captain had come to be riding next to him when we spar with the klansmen said kalis with a faint smile try to be a little more subdued with them patakis a nephew of regen the lion clan chieftain if you'd broken his head it would have strained things a bit i'll try to remember captain said eric without humor khalis set heels to his horse and moved toward the head of the line rule said was he joking who cares said billy goodwin it's too hot and i'm too tired to worry about it biggo who rode next to billy said that's strange what are through the sun's so red but it's another hour or more to sunset looking toward the west they nodded what could be causing it asked lewis from his place behind big o smoke answered a clansman who was riding past word came last night that kaipor was falling that must be it burning roo said but that's hundreds of miles from here at least that's what the captain said show pie spoke softly very big fire was all he said the training wore on and eric and the others no longer had to think about what to do they just did it even the routine of building fortifications every night became commonplace eric ceased being astonished at how much work the 75 men could accomplish once the routine was established chaos and de loungeville would disrupt it seeking to keep the men constantly alert as the days wore on eric thought it unnecessary riders came and went as messages were carried from various agents chaos had established over the years rather than take years to establish its control over the surrounding countryside the host of the emerald queen was driving on the city of la nada riding in the second company eric heard kalis speaking to artonis and one of the riders who had just brought that news it was seven years between the fall of south and the assault on hamza atonis said but the invaders had to fight through the forest of arabic three years between hamsa and kilba then a year between kilba and kaipur khalis nodded as they control more of the continent they seem more intent on accelerating their advance the lounge rules speculated maybe the army's getting too big to control and its generals have to keep it busy with conquest kaley shrugged we need to change our line of march to the rider he said rest with us tonight and tomorrow return north carry word to the shandy we will not be coming their way we are going to leave the serpent river and turn straight west pass the word to those who seek us that we are going to attempt to intercept the invaders between kaipur and lanarda look for us at the mercenaries rendezvous eric and the others turn to look across the serpent river where in the distance they saw a vast valley of forests and meadows and beyond that a small range of mountains they would have to cross the river right through that and once across the mountains down into the riverlands of the vedra the lounge rule said do we turn round for the crossing pointed brex kaylis said no it would lose us too much time send scouts ahead and find us a place to cross de laongril ordered riders forward and two days later they reported a broadening of the river where the current was slow enough that rafting might be possible kalys reached that point and agreed it was worth the try he ordered the men to cut what little growth there was along the river to make a set of small rafts a dozen men including eric and biggo made the treacherous crossing polling their way from one side to the other carrying lines that would be used to get the others across on the far bank the dozen men cut enough trees of a size to lash together logs into four rafts each large enough to hold four horses the horses for the most part cooperated though one raft was lost on the second to the last trip as a line parted and the logs broke apart the horses and men jumped into the water as the raft disintegrated and all the men were pulled out downstream but only one horse made it to the shore there were sufficient remounts so that the losing of three horses was not a serious deprivation but the thought of the animals drowning bothered eric he found that disturbing for the specter of battle and men dying held no pain for him but the idea of a horse terrified as it was being swept down river made him very sad the valley swept from the fork in the river to the west ending in a series of rising meadows until at last they would have to crest the ridge of mountains on the tenth day of the march a scout returned to tell kalis of a party of hunters he had encountered ahead eric rue and four other men were sent ahead with foster to negotiate with the hunters eric was grateful for anything that broke the monotony of the march every day had been toil without respite as much as he enjoyed horses and working with them eric had never been a great rider he found 12 hours in the saddle interrupted only by walking beside the horses to rest them making and breaking camp mock combats and a steady diet of dried rations more drudgery than even his worst days at the forge the countryside was sloping hills all moving quickly up into peaks and crests the mountains of this region topped out at a lower elevation than the biggest eric was used to at home but there were far more of them here the three major peaks of darkmoor were surrounded by many hills but otherwise few true mountains mostly there were high plateaus and sloping hillsides but here while modest in altitude the mountains were plentiful and steep with quickly rising butts and prominences dead end valleys and box canyons hard granite cut by streams and rivers trees grew in abundance and none of the surrounding peaks rose high enough above the timberline to give them a clear point of reference as they travel through the dense woods eric suspected this range of mountains might prove a hazard as well as an inconvenience the hunters were waiting at the agreed-upon location eric reigned in as foster dismounted removed his sword belt and approached with his hands open eric studied the hunters they were hill people dressed in fur covered vests and long woolen trousers eric suspected there were herds of sheep or goats secreted away in the local meadows each man carried an efficient looking bow not quite as impressive as the kingdom longbow but clearly powerful enough to kill a man or bear as well as a deer the leader was a grey-bearded man who stepped forward to speak with foster while the other three stood motionless eric glanced around and saw no sign of any horses these men hunted on foot given the terrain eric judged that more sensible than trying to convince a horse to act like a donkey or goat if the hunter's village was any higher up the slopes horses would be less than an inconvenience they'd be a danger two of the other men bore a strong resemblance to the leader while the third appeared like him in manner only eric guessed they were a family with the odd man perhaps being married to a daughter foster nodded reached into his tunic and pulled out a heavy purse he counted out some gold pieces and returned to where rue held his mount you men wait here with a motion of his head he made it clear that they were to keep the hunters from running off with the gold he just gave them i'll bring up the rest of the company these fellas have a way over the mountains that's safe for the horses eric glanced at the steep rise of the landscape before him and nodded i hope so while they waited the hunters talked among themselves the one who didn't resemble the other three listened as the leader spoke then without comment he turned and began to trot toward the tree line one of the soldiers a man named greeley shouted where does he think he's going the hunter stopped greeley's command of the local language learned on ship and while traveling was better than eric's but his accent obviously struck the hillman as odd enough that they looked puzzled by the question the leader looked at him do you think treachery seeing that all four hunters were ready to unsling bows and start firing if the wrong answer was forthcoming eric glanced at rue suddenly rue said he's sending his son-in-law home to tell his wife and daughter that he and his sons won't be home for supper tonight am i right the lead hunter nodded once and waited greely said well i guess that's all right the leader made a curt gesture and the fourth hunter began trotting off again then the leader of the hunters said and tomorrow too it's a harsh two days over the ridge with no easy time going down the day after but once on the trail you'll have that well enough without my help he leaned upon his bow once more about 15 minutes of silence followed then the sound of horses approaching from the rear heralded kalis and his company's approach kalis rode at the head of the company and when he pulled up he spoke rapidly to the hunter the exchange was so quick and heavily accented that eric couldn't follow most of it but in the end caylus seemed satisfied and turned to the others who were still riding up behind this is kerzon and his sons they know a trail over the ridge and down into the vedra river valley it's narrow and difficult for two hours they followed the hunters along a narrow trail winding up into the hills the way was dangerous enough that they took it at a slow pace since any mistake could cause an injury to horse and rider after reaching a small meadow the hunter turned to confer with kalis khalis nodded then said we'll camp now and leave at first light suddenly the loungeville and foster were shouting orders and eric and roo were snapping too without thought getting the horses in picket unsettled and placed so they could crop the long grass proved more time consuming than if they had simply been staked out in a line and had fodder carried to them by the time eric and the others in charge of the horses were finished the rest of the company had already dug most of the moat throwing up dirt on four sides in her breast breastwork eric grabbed a shovel and jumped down next to the others quickly the defense was made ready the drop gate was assembled interlocking planks of wood carried on a baggage animal that when run out served as a broad bridge over the trench then eric climbed out as others were doing on the short side of the trench walked to the gate and crossed over and began stamping the earth of the breastwork rue came over with a set of iron-tipped wooden stakes which he inserted at a set distance along the top of the breastwork then they hurried to join with the rest of the man and erect their six-man tent fashioned with interwoven pieces of fabric one section carried by each man they placed their bed rolls inside and returned to the commissary area where soup was being boiled on the march they ate dried bread and fruits with vegetable soups whenever possible at first eric and some others grumbled over the lack of meat in the diet but he now found he agreed with the older soldiers that heavy food weighed them down in the field he knew that while the thought of a steaming roast or a joint of mutton or his mother's meat pies could make his mouth water he hadn't felt stronger in his life wooden bowls were handed out and each man came away with a steaming helping of stewed vegetables with just enough beef suet and flour to give it some texture sitting near the campfire rue said i'd love some hot bread to soak this up with foster who was walking by said people in the lower elves would love a cool drink of water me lad enjoy what you have tomorrow we're on trail rations the men groaned the dried fruit and hard attack was nourishing but almost tasteless and a man could seemingly chew for hours without making the mess any easier to swallow what eric found himself missing most was wine growing up in darkmoor he had taken wine for granted the quality of the wine made in the region was near legendary and this made even the cheapest plonk drunk at meals by the commoners a cut above the usual until he reached crondor he had no idea that wine that was too inexpensive to justify transport would have earned a fair return in the taverns and kitchens of the prince's city he remarked on this to rue who said that might be just the ticket for an enterprising lad such as myself he grinned and eric laughed biggo who was sitting on the other side of the fire said what you going to truck bottles of the stuff into condor and lose money rue narrowed his gaze after my father-in-law helmut grindel advances me enough gold to work with i have a plan that will put good wine on every table in the western realm eric laughed you haven't even met the girl she may be married with a brace of children by the time you return jerome handy snorted if you return they fell silent horses are contrary creatures thought eric as he blinked dust out of his eyes he had been given the responsibility of herding the remounts over the mountains and had picked a half dozen of the better riders to ride heard one surprise had been knack or volunteering most men would find riding behind the herd drag as the position was called choking on their dust poor duty but the chronically curious izalani found the entire process fascinating and it turned out to eric's relief that the man was a competent enough horseman twice horses have been content to walk down a bluff that would have taken them to a place where they would either have to back up one of the least favored choices of most horses or learn to fly which eric judged even less likely whoa he shouted one particularly troublesome horse who was determined to walk off the mountain he shied a rock at her which bounced off her right shoulder turning her in the direction he wanted stupid he shouted trying to turn yourself into crowbait nakol rode closer to the edge than any sane man was like to do and seemed ready to somehow will his horse into flight so he could interpose himself between a horse bolting the wrong way and thin air whenever eric mentioned he might come in a bit the little man just grinned and told him everything was fine she's in season mares get very stupid when in heat he observed she's not overly bright even when she's not ready to breed at least we have no stallions along that would make life interesting i heard a stallion once said knackle a great black horse given me by the empress of great cash eric regarded the man that's interesting like the others who had gotten to know nacho he was reluctant to call him a liar so much of what he said was highly improbable but he never said he could do anything he couldn't back up so the men had come to take most of what he claimed at face value the horse died knuckles said good horse sorry to see him go ate some bad grass got colic a shout from a head warned eric the herd was bunching up and he sent billy goodwin forward to help keep the horses moving through a narrow defile that cut across the ridge of the mountains once through that they would be heading downward into the valley of the vedra river eric shouted for billy to come back to the rear and ride drag while he urged his own horse on to the head of the 30 horses that served as the company's remounts a bulky gelding was trying to turn around and eric used his own horse to push the recalcitrant animal into the gap and then the horses were moving in orderly fashion eric pulled up and waited for the rest of the animals to pass then joined again with billy and in back down hell from here said billy suddenly knackers mayor took a bite at billy's horse and his animal reared naco shouted look out billy lost his grip on his reins and fell backwards and landed hard on the ground eric jumped down from his animal and ran over while billy's horse ran after the herd leaning over he saw billy staring up into the sky his head rested upon a large rock while a crimson pool spread behind him knack all shouted how is he eric said he's dead there was a moment of silence then knackle said i'll follow the horses you bring him along to where we can bury him eric stood up started to reach down to grab billy and suddenly remembered having to pick up tyndall's body oh damn he said as tears came unbidden to his eyes he found himself trembling as he realized that of those who had been sentenced to hang that day billy was the first to die oh damn he repeated as he stood clenching and unclenching his fists why he asked the fates one moment billy had been sitting astride his horse the next he was dead and nothing more important than a stupid poorly trained gelding shying from a bite by a mare in heat had caused it eric didn't know why he suddenly felt so sad at billy's death he felt his body tremble and realized he was afraid sucking down a lung full of air he closed his eyes and bent and picked up billy the body was surprisingly light he turned and moved to his own horse who started to shy as he approached whoa he commanded almost yelling and the horse obeyed he lifted billy across the horse's neck and the front of the saddle then swung up behind sliding into the saddle he lifted billy enough so that he could rest him as much as possible across his upper thighs so the horse could manage the weight slowly he moved after the distant herd damn he whispered again as he willed his fear and anger back deep inside himself a man named natambi with a heavy keshian accent was moved into their tent taking billy's place the five remaining members of eric's company were cordial but distant while he was an outsider his training made him mesh quickly knowing exactly which duties to perform without being told two days after crossing the ridge of the mountains kurzon and his sons pointed the way down and returned to their hunting kayliss paid them off in gold and bad them farewell eric returned to the routine of travel though the difficult descent into the hills west of the mountains gave little time for reflection he buried all his memories of his feelings at billy's death and continued as before five days after crossing the mountains they encountered a difficult rise eric went ahead with chaos to scout out a clear trail before allowing the full company to proceed turning around nearly 75 riders and another 30 remounts was tricky business under the best of conditions in tight quarters it was nearly impossible reaching a crest they rained in and eric exclaimed the gods weep in the distance to the north the great tower of smoke that had been turning the sun red could now be seen how far is that asked eric still more than a hundred miles distant answered kalis they must be burning every village and farm within a week's ride of kaipur the winds blowing it east be tasting that soot as well as seeing it eric's eyes stung slightly i'm feeling it now kayla smiled his strange half smile it would be worse if you were closer riding back they found an easier trail than the first and as they moved toward the company eric said captain what are our chances of getting home kayla's laughed and eric turned to regard him you're the first with the grit to come out and ask i was wondering who it would be eric said nothing kayla said i think our chances of getting home are as good as we can make them only the gods know just how mad this plan is why couldn't you sneak one man in have him look around then sneak him out good question said kalis we tried several times he glanced around as he rode as if scouting was a habit this land is a land of few standing armies as we know them in the kingdom and cash here you're either a swordsman for your family or clan or you're in the palace guard of some city ruler or you're a hired sword mercenary armies are the rule i would think that with hired swords on both sides it would be easy enough to slip a man across the lines expression showed it was a fair observation one would think that but a single man attracts a notice especially one who is ignorant of basic customs and attitudes but a company of free booters from a distant land that's not unusual in these parts and reputation counts for much so i am kayla's and we're the crimson eagles and no one looks twice at an elf living among humans here a long lived leading such a company is rare but not unheard of you would be found out by magic or treachery were you to come here alone eric but as a member of my company no one will pay you the least heed he said nothing for a while looking down on the rolling hills that led down to the river after a while he said this is a beautiful land isn't it eric said yes it seems so chaos was silent for a moment then said 24 years ago i came to this country for the first time eric i've been back twice since then once with my own army i've left graves behind me in numbers you can't imagine i overheard the loungeville and back on sorcerer's aisle admitted eric as he rained his horse around for better footing on the trail it sounded terrible it was many of the kingdom's best soldiers died on that march hand-picked men foster de loungeville and a few others were able to escape with me and only because we took a chance and went where the enemy didn't expect us to go kalis was again silent a moment that's why i agreed with bobby's plan and convinced a router that only men desperate to stay alive would serve soldiers are all too willing to die for the colors and we need men who would do everything in their power to stay alive short of betraying us eric nodded and soldiers don't make convincing mercenaries that too you're going to meet some men who will change your thinking about what humanity is capable of and you won't be better for knowing them he looked at eric as if studying him you're part of an odd lot we searched for those things in each man that would give us all the chance of blending in an ability to be violent no pretension of ideals just men who are as rough as those we must go among but we also needed men who are more than the common scum the tides of battle usually wash ashore we needed men who when it came time would answer the call rather than run he smiled and it was a smile of genuine amusement or at least they would run in the proper direction and keep their wits about them as if a thought struck him for the first time he said i think i'd better keep you and your company close by most of the men we've selected are cutthroats who would happily kill their grannies to earn a gold piece but your little band numbers some of our oddest characters if your friend biggo starts talking about the death goddess who is a figure of terror in this land named kali she and who is only worshipped in secret or if shopai starts discussing philosophy with some of the blood drinkers we're going to hook up with we'll have hell to pay i'll tell the loungeville when we camp tonight that your six is to be billeted closest to my tent eric fell silent he was surprised that khalis knew enough about them as individuals to know about biggo's theories on the death goddess or show pies odd views of things and he didn't know if being close to the captain de loungeville and foster was a comfort or nuisance days of cautious traveling at last brought them to rolling lowlands then on the fifth day after leaving the mountains they approached a village one that sat athwart the major north-south road between lanada and kaipur they found the houses abandoned for the presence of a company of armed men usually meant a raid in this land kalis waited an hour in the small town square his men tending their horses with water from the well but otherwise leaving everything untouched a young man in his early twenties appeared from hiding in a stand of trees close by what company he called out ready to duck back into the sheltering cops of the first sign of trouble kayla's crimson eagles what village is this weenut whom do you serve the man eying kayla suspiciously said are you pledged we are a free company that answer didn't seem to sit well with the villager he spoke softly conferring with someone hidden behind him then at last he said we tithe the priest king of lanada where lies leonardo from here a day's ride south along that road came the answer chaos turned to the loungeville we're farther south than i wanted to be but the army will catch up with us sooner or later all grind over us answered the loungeville make camp tonight in that meadow over to the east instructed kalis turning to the still half hidden villager he said we'll need a market i need feed grain for bread chickens if you have any fruit vegetables and wine we are poor we have little to share said the man backing deeper into the shadow of the trees eric's squad was stationed right behind kalis and biggo who would listen to the exchange whispered to eric and i'm among the darla this is rich land and those beggars have whatever they own stashed away somewhere in those woods luis leaned down from where he still sat his horse and said and we're probably being watched over a half dozen arrows kalis called out will pay in gold he reached into his tunic pulled out a small purse and turned it over emptying a dozen pieces of gold onto the ground as if signaled a score of men appeared all holding weapons eric studied them making a comparison to the townspeople he had grown up with these were farmers but they also held their weapons in a sure-handed fashion these men had to fight to keep what was theirs and eric was glad that kalis was the sort of leader who paid for what he needed rather than taking it the leader an older man with a limp who carried a large sword strapped across his back knelt and picked up the gold pieces you'll bond peace he asked kayla's done said kalis throwing the reins of his horse to foster he held out his arm and the village leader gripped his wrist as chaos gripped in return they shook twice and let go abruptly the trees emptied of men followed a short time after by women and children before eric's eyes he saw a market take form in the small square of the village rue said i don't know where they kept all this as he motioned to pots of honey jars of wine and baskets of fruit that seemed to have materialized out of nowhere get raided often enough and i expect you learn out wide things in hurry fella milad observe biggo plenty of basements within traps and false walls in those buildings i'm thinking show pie who motioned for the others to follow to where camp was being set up said they have the look of fighting men those farmers eric agreed i think we're in a beautiful but very harsh land they picked it their horses were instructed by corporal foster then began the routine of making camp they rested while kayla's waited what he was waiting for wasn't clear to eric and the others and kalis wasn't taking them into his confidence the villagers were guarded in dealing with the mercenaries approachable but not warm there was no inn but one of the local merchants had erected a pavilion and served average quality wine and ale foster warned against any public drunkenness promising a flogging to any man who couldn't pull his weight the next morning because of a thick head each day brought more drills and new practices for three days they worked on holding their shields above their heads while moving heavy objects about foster and loungeville stood on top of a hillock nearby throwing rocks into the air so they would fall straight down on the drilling men reminding them to keep their shields up after a week had passed one of the guards set at the north end of the town cried out riders foster barked out orders for the men to get ready and practice swords were discarded replaced by steel those men selected as bowmen hurried to a position overlooking the town under foster's command while delangeril and kalis moved the rest of the company to defensive positions at the north end of the village kalis moved to where eric and his companions waited and said they're coming fast eric squinted and saw a half dozen men racing down the road that led into the village as they drew near they reigned in probably having seen a glint of metal or the movement of men big o said they're not so quick to come rush then now they know we're here eric nodded rule said look over there eric turned to where rue pointed back into the village and was astonished to see it was once again deserted they do know how to make themselves scarce don't they the riders began to trot toward the village and when they were close enough to be seen clearly kalish shouted pragee the leader waved and spurred his horse into a canter while his companions followed as they neared eric saw that the six men were mercenaries or at least dressed as such and that the man in the van was easily the ugliest person he had ever seen a face like seamed leather was dominated by an improbably large nose and a huge brow his long hair mostly grey was tied back he rode poorly his hands were far too busy and it was irritating his horse getting down the man walked toward the defensive position kalis kalis walked forward and the two men embraced with heavy back slapping on both sides the man pushed kaelus away and said you don't look a damn day older curse you long-lived bastards stealing all her pretty women then come back and steal their daughters kayla said i expected to see you at the rendezvous there isn't going to be one the man called pragee said at least not where you'd expect it to be kaipur has fallen so i heard that's why you're here and not muching up the banks of the serpent river said pragee foster motioned for eric and five other men to take the horses as they gathered the animals they studied the other five riders hard men all they had a beaten tired look pragee said we got our tails singed for sure i barely got out with a score of our men we got as close to the siege as we could but the green skins had outriders and they came down on us hard i didn't even have time to claim we were looking for work no truces you're either with them or you're attacked he hiked a thumb at his companions after we got loose we split up half the lads went with vajra to the shandy figured you'd be coming up that way but in case you put in that mahata i was heading that way figured you'd send word through our agents where you were if i was wrong give me something to drink my throat's coated with half the dirt between here and kaipur kayla said let's get a drink and you can tell me more he took the man over to the pavilion and as they moved villagers began to appear as if from the air eric and the other men detailed to the horses took the riders over to the remounts and eric inspected them all they had been ridden hard they were heavily lathered and breathing deep he unsettled the horse he led and told the other men to start walking the animals they needed an hour's cooling at least he judged before they could be allowed to eat or drink lest they become colicky after the horses were cooled eric staked them out and rubbed them down checking to make sure none was injured or coming up lame when he was satisfied the horses were all right he returned to his own tent with the arrival of the riders order in camp was lax and he found his five bunkmates lying on their bedrolls he knew that it could be seconds before the order to fall too was issued so he luxuriated in the first moment he felt the bedroll under him natombi said legionaries always grab whatever they can minute to minute who asked louis you call them dog soldiers said the keshian in ancient times they were kept away from the cities penned up like dogs to be unleashed upon the empire's enemies like jadao natombi shaved his head and his dark skin made the whites of his eyes and his teeth appear in stark contrast when he spoke the nearly black irises made eric think of deep secrets you're a dog then you're saying asked biggo with mock innocence the others laughed natombi snorted no stupid head i was a legionary he sat up on his bedroll his head almost touching the canvas above he placed his fist on his chest i served with the ninth legion on the over and deep i've heard of those said lewis making a display of not being impressed by shaking his open hand back and forth chopin rolled over and raised up on his elbows in my country cash is the heartland of the empire isalani is my nation but we are ruled by cash those he speaks of are the heart of the army how did one from the legion come so far shrugged bad company biggo laughed this an improvement i'll wager i was serving with a patrol that was to escort a man a very important man of the true blood we traveled to durbin and there i fell into disgrace women gambling or what asked biggo now genuinely interested natombi was something of a mystery to the others even though they had shared the same tent with him for more than a week since billy's death i let the man die at the hands of an assassin i was disgraced and fled you let him die asked rue were you in charge i was a captain of the legion and i was the queen of the midsummer festival said biggo with a laugh is true but now i am as you a criminal living on time given to me by another my life is over and now i live another man's life that doesn't make us particularly unique observed biggo rue said what was it like in the legion natombi laughed you know you live like a legionary what do you mean rue looked confused this is a legion camp said natambi is true agreed show pie the formations the way we march the practices this is all of the legion natombi said this man calis our captain he is a very smart man i am thinking he tapped his head to make the point this captain he trains us to survive for man to man there is no army on this world that can face the legion of the over and survive no army here has faced the legions of cash and when you fight someone it's good to fight them with tactics they've never encountered before makes even better the chance to survive luis was cleaning his fingernails with his dagger flipping it up he balanced it on the tip resting lightly upon one finger point then he let it slip caught it by the handle and slammed it point first into the dirt watching it vibrate from the impact he said and that's what it's all about isn't it my friends survival chapter 15 village the lookout shouted riders eric and the others moved away from their various tasks and put on their weapons since arriving the week before pragee had warned kalis's men that companies fleeing the fall of kaipur would be heading south twice already bands of fighters had passed avoiding the village after having seen the fortifications caelis had ordered constructed after conferring with the villagers eric was uncertain if the captain intended to truly defend this village or simply wanted to drill the men in another aspect of warcraft where just another village had stood now a respectable fortification satterthwart the a full-scale moat had been dug around the village with the earth from its serving as the foundation of the palisades two gates bound with iron had been hung one at the north end and one at the south of the village each securely attached to gate posts carved from the trunks of oaks from across the river eric had overseen the forging of the hinges pins and bands the village smithy had been abandoned years before when the last smith died but the old forge still stood lacking a full set of smith's tools eric had made do with those carried in the baggage train so he could shoe the horses given enough time he could use those tools to make other tools and eventually restore the smithy completely each time eric looked to the gates he felt a sense of pride it would take a serious siege engine to knock them down glancing around he thought he'd rather attempt to breach the log wall perhaps burning it than to send a company against either gate while being fired upon by the men on the wall he looked over his shoulder as he put on his armor and saw foster and loungeville following hard on the heels of chaos as they came down from the tower that was being erected in the center of the village this tower built atop a huge mound of earth when finished would give them an unobstructed view for miles and prevent any company of significant size from approaching unnoticed eric and rue hurried to their appointed places each silently checking to see that all weapons and supplies were where they needed to be rule carried a half dozen of the heavy iron spears and eric found himself amazed at the wiry strength his friend had developed since they had run from ravensburg he felt a stab of unexpected pain at a fleeting memory of his mother and rosaline then let the thought go as the riders came clearly into view it was a company of at least 30 men all seasoned warriors by their look at the head of the company rode a heavyset man of middle years his grey beard hanging down to his stomach he signaled for a pair of his men to circle out and around the fortress and slowed as he approached as soon as he came with inhaling distance he shouted hello there fought from the wall kalis shouted back who rides bilbao is regulus fresh from the fall of kaipur and glancing around he added oh what's left of us the outriders returned and eric assumed they were informing their leader that it was a closed fortress not a simple barricade kalis called back who commands i know bill barry and you're not he the leader again looked around i guess i do bill barry died at the wall he spit and made a sign and we took the day's grace out of the fall my name is zela pragee came to stand next to chaos and eric could hear him say i know them a good enough band for butchery though i don't want any of them sharing my bunk they'll honor the peace of the camp more or less i can give you the peace of the camp said kalis how long two days answered kayla's fair enough then zela laughed hey hey more than fair who commands here i do kayla's ah careless his crimson eagles asked zela as he dismounted the same i heard you died at hamza he said as keyless motioned for the gates to be opened as eric and the others waited foster came by and said stand down but be alert these wouldn't be the first to promise the peace of the camp but change their minds once inside all thought of such betrayal vanished when the company entered the village they were beaten men eric noticed that several horses were injured and all were footsaw even two days of rest would not be enough to bring some of these mounts to soundness eric heard zela snort clear his throat and spit damn dust he said this smoke was worse first from one horizon to the other he glanced at the men of kalis's company you did well to avoid that one motioning to his horse he asked got a smith in your company kayla's motioned for eric who handed his sword and shield to rue put these away for me would you roo's answer was rude but he took the armor and headed off toward their tent eric came up to zeela who said through a shoe somewhere along the way she's not lame but she's going to be eric only needed a glance to tell zeela was right he picked up the horse's leg and saw that the frog of the hoof was bloody i'll clean this and dress it with a new shoe packed and padded she should be all right if you don't push it too hard said zeela to careless he said there's an army of 30 000 or more coming this way they just kicked hell out of us unless someone organizes a rendezvous not out here soon we're but the first of maybe a hundred or more companies that are going to come riding this way and most of those lads are damn out of sorts or having been butchered by the lizards kayla said lizards zela nodded for a drink i'll tell you about it chaolis instructed eric to care for the newcomers horses and eric signaled the nearest men to take charge of the others as he took zela's mount in tow the animal was limping and by the time they reached the pen for remounts eric was certain she would have been useless in another day two at the most the newcomers were split equally between those who were content to let kalys's men treat their animals and those who insisted on following along to ensure their animals were well cared for eric was completely unsurprised to see that those who came along had the best mounts despite the hardships those horses were the fittest and should recover after resting up the others were a poor lot at best and eric suspected that others besides zealers would soon be unable to carry their riders eric had each horse inspected and made a mental list to which animals would be worth caring for and which would be best killed today after conferring with a couple of the more experienced horsemen in kayla's forces he found no argument as he moved away one of the newcomers approached you what's your name eric he paused and waited to see what the newcomer had to say lowering his voice the man said mine is real you know your way around horses he was a large man with a flat face reddish from the sun and covered in road dust his eyes were dark but his hair was reddish brown his beard grey shot he carried himself easily one hand absolutely resting on a long sword eric nodded but said nothing i could use another horse mine will come sound if i don't ride her for another week do you think your captain would sell me one i'll ask him eric said and started to move off rhian restrained him with a gentle touch to the arm zela's a good enough fighter and a brawl he whispered but he's no proper captain we were heading down to mahata to seek service with the raj it should take the better part of the next year for that lot up north to get past lenarda he glanced around to see if anyone else was listening your captain seems to know his way around the fortification and you seem more like garrison soldiers than hired swords every man in cailys's company had been warned against spies so eric responded without having to think i just follow orders captain careless has kept every man here alive at least once so i don't question him you think he's got room for another sword i'll ask but i thought you were heading for mahata after the beating we took kaipur you'd think a year or two or resting up and waiting might be nice but truth to tell there's no booty and i get bored easily i'll tell him that too eric said leaving the man with the horses he moved through the village and several of the villagers nodded greeting kayla's men weren't treated with open fear anymore but the villagers were equally split between those happy to have their swords around for protection as well as their gold and those who feared that the fortification would attract unwanted attention the village was routinely raided over the years and the villagers had a time-tested method of fleeing into the nearby hills few died if there was any advance warning but this fortress on the road that was both a protection and a trap someone called eric's name and he glanced over to see embracer a girl of 14 who had taken a liking to him she was pretty in a large boned way with pale blue eyes her most striking feature but eric knew that she would be old before she was 30 probably with three or four children and a husband who worked her from dawn to dusk a town bred boy eric had little sense of what real poverty and hard work were until he had come to this village he spoke a quick greeting then excused himself as he went to the pavilion that served as an inn rough wooden benches and tables had been fashioned by an enterprising farmer named shabo who would use the profits from serving calys's men poor wine and ale to build a wooden trellis alongside his rude hut eric considered that if they stayed long enough shabo would be a proper innkeeper as he kept using his profits to improve his little enterprise his latest innovation had been to knock out a second door to the hut so he could serve across a newly built bar that ran the length of the building eric considered the hut might get very cold during winter though he had no idea how cold it got in these parts chaos and zela and some others sat at one table while other men in zealous company drank heavily and did indeed look like beaten men pragee had joined kayla's and was nodding as zela said i've seen 30 years of fighting man and boy but nothing like this he drained his tankard and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand kalis raised an eyebrow at eric who said off the mounts i need a month of grazing and no work or need to be put down the rest could be ready to be ridden if they lay up a week chaos nodded zela said we don't have much being on the losing side pays little but we'll buy some mounts from you if you'll sell them what are you planning to do asked kayla's we're heading for mahata the raj is sending his royal immortals to help the priest king of la nada defend against the greenskins in the army that means his war elephants and those drug crazed maniacs of the priests king are on the same side for a change praji said things must be grim to make those two old enemies take the same cause zela waved for another tankard and shabo hurried over to replace the empty one yes but it also means the raj will need more fighters to keep peace around his city so there will be work for us i could use a couple of years of keeping farmers in line after what we just went through he looked at pragee and kayla's you say you are tamza yes they both answered it was ten times as bad at kaipur before this war began we were like you a company of mercenaries who applied our trade between kaipur and the meeting place eric knew he spoke of the annual meeting of the djishandi horsemen and other tribes who came to the boundary of the steps to trade with the nomads of the eastern grasslands oh we worked along the central vader once we even took a caravan across the plain of jajams to palamsa on the satpura river he shook his head but this war this was like nothing i've seen we signed on after the fall of kilbar i've heard enough from those who survived to know it was bad but nothing prepared us for what happened at kaipur he stopped as if collecting his thoughts bilbari signed us on to ride picket and run messages the raj of kaipor had one of those pretty little armies that looked so nice on parade but he knew he needed veterans to slow down the invaders while he hired some mother killers to train his army and make real fighters out of them my comrades and i aren't your shandy but we ride and fight well enough for the job a month after we signed on we got our first glimpse of the invaders a company much like yours about 60 seasoned fighters rode skirmish against our forward position then retreated without doing or taking much harm we reported the contact and settled in to wait for the next assault we woke up one day and the sky was brown with dust to the northwest a week later ten thousand men and horses rode into view zeela laughed a bitter laugh old bilbari messed his pants but good and i'll tell you he wasn't the only one with brown breeches that day there were maybe 200 of us in a fortification not as stout as this one and it took us all of a minute to decide to get the hell out by the time we reached the city walls every company to the north and west of the city was also heading in there was no fighting except at the city wall then from that day forward they just came at us he glanced at the faces in the pavilion as now every eye was upon him and every man listened closely some of the boys gave as good as they got and by the third month of siege those pretty home guard soldiers of the raj had turned into as tougher bunches i've seen and they fought for their homes so they were more motivated than we were he fell silent kalis said nothing for a long while until finally he asked when did they call for surrender zeela looked uncomfortable that was what caused everything to fall apart eric knew from what he had heard around camp that the behavior of mercenaries was strictly governed by convention and tradition zela's manner suggested something out of the ordinary had occurred at last kaylas asked what they didn't call for surrender they just came to the limit of our arrows and started digging setting up their siege trenches and readying the engines for a week there was no real fighting just a few shots from the walls to keep them alert the raj was a brave enough man for someone who had never held more than a ceremonial sword in his life and he stood at the head of his army zela closed his eyes he covered them with his hand and for a moment eric thought he might be weeping when he removed his hand eric didn't see tears but he did see bottled up rage silly bastard stood there wearing a god's thrice damn golden crown holding a peacock fan of office while those lizards rode around below his walls he commanded them to leave kayla said what else he couldn't understand that this was no war out on the plane over control of trading routes or to settle some matter of honor with the raj of mahata or the priest king of lanada he didn't understand even when they swarmed into his palace and started cutting up his wives and children in front of his eyes zela closed his eyes and then whispered i don't think he understood when they hoisted him up and impaled him before his own palace impaled him blurted eric cales looked at him for a moment then said what aren't you telling ah it's a nasty business said zela and i speak ill of the dead to repeat it and of myself truth to tell you're protected by the peace of the camp reminded praji his ugly face turned even less appealing by dark suspicion did you turn coat zela nodded my captain and the others he seemed lost in the tale and said you know there are ways in and out of a city under siege for a crafty man with enough money the lizards didn't ask for our surrender they just came at us again and again the men fighting with them were worse than any i've met and i met some black-hearted murderers in my time but the lizards he took a long drink they stand nine ten feet tall and they're as broad as two men across the shoulders one blow with their sword can numb a strong man's arm to the shoulder or split a shield and they have no fear they didn't attack until the wall was breached he shook his head until we quit the wall and gave it to them they sent an agent who found my captain and some others and told us there would be no formal offer of truce and that after the battle those in the city would be put to the sword they said those of us who abandoned the walls and stood aside would be free to join in the looting praji looked ready to attack the man as he slowly rose he stared at zela for a long dark moment then spit on the ground and left kalis seemed more interested in facts than in condemning the man what else the captains brought the offer to us we knew we were beaten every day more men and supplies would come down river to bolster them while we grew weaker someone had set fire to our grain warehouse eric winston anticipation he knew that grain dust in the air could explode if touched by spark or match that was why no fire was permitted near the mill or the grain silos near ravensburg and the explosion took out half the supplies of grain as well as a block of dwellings someone else poisoned a good amount of the wine being harbored near the palace and at least a score of men died screaming as they held their bellies he closed his eyes and this time a tear did fall one of rage and frustration as well as regret and their damn spellcasters the raj had hide his own and some were good a few priests were there too healing the wounded and sick but the lizard magicians were strong strange noises would come during battle and a man would feel terror no matter how well the fight went rats came boiling out of the sewers in broad daylight to bite your ankles and climb up your legs there were clouds of nuts and flies so thick you inhaled them or swallowed them if you open your mouth fresh bread turned mouldy moments after being taken from the oven and milk sard in the bucket below the cow and every day the lizards dug their trenches and turned their siege engines and kept hammering others zeela looked around the faces i don't know if you'd have done different in my place but i doubt it his tone was defiant my captain came to us and told us what was going to happen and we knew he wouldn't lie to us we knew he was no card he said to caelis accusing me you said you knew him chaos nodded he was no coward it was the lizards that broke the compact they changed the rules of war they gave us no choice how did you escape asked a voice from behind and eric turned to seed to loungeville who would come up sometime during the narrative something the liz's agent said bothered my captain i don't know exactly what but i do know that when they impaled the raj in front of his own people they told everyone still alive that they could either sit a stake next to their former ruler or serve you weren't given the day's grace to quit the field said foster from behind the loungeville and eric stepped aside so they could see zela better we weren't given enough time to pick up our own kits but bill barry knew they were up to something and had us gather by the smallest gate to the south we fought our way out and they were too busy to send anyone after us that's where our captain died leading us out of the city we had betrayed chaos said it was your captain's choice zela said i'd be a liar if i told you we're regulars and until then every man had a contract with bill barry we voted on it like regulars do how did you vote demanded loungeville does it matter yo damn right it matters he answered his face set in an angry mask turning coat is the lowest thing a man can do zeela said every man voted to leave kayla said you have the peace of the camp until sunrise the day after tomorrow see that you're gone by then he rose and as he left the pavilion eric hurried after him captain kalis halted and eric was shocked at the anger he read in the half-elf's face what some of the horses need to lie up if they don't give them another couple of days and they're useless that's zeela and his companions problem captain i don't give a nail said for zeela and his men i'm thinking of the horses looked at eric then said tend the horses as best you can but do nothing special for them hay and water that's all we'll give them what they buy from the villagers is their own business there's a man named rhian who wants to know if we'll take him says he doesn't want to lie around the heart chaos was silent for a moment finally he said if one of those turncoats is in sight when the sun reaches the sky the day after tomorrow he will be killed eric nodded and returned to the remounts there he found rhian and said my captain says we have no room the man's expression shifted and for an instant eric thought he'd appeal but at last he said very well will you sell horses eric said i don't think it had earned me my captain's thanks to keep you here lowering his voice he said keep what little gold you have take that book skin gelding over there motioned toward the horse he's just come sound from a stocked up leg he got it kicking out for no damn reason at all and he's got rocks for brains but he's fit enough to get you out of here in two days the man named rhian said i don't think i'll wait that long my captain's dead and so i will bar his regulars with him i'm heading south to find a bullet before word gets down there once a man's labeled turncoat no one will ever trust him eric nodded zela said you had no choice rhea and spat a man always has a choice sometimes it's to die with honor or live without but there's always a choice that pretty raj was a man he might never have fought a day in his life but when it came time to surrender he spit over the wall he cried like a baby when they hoisted him up onto the stake and he hulled like a broken back dog when he felt it coming up his gut but even while he hung there with his own and blood running down the pole he never asked for mercy and if kali she he used the local name for the goddess of death who judges the lives of men has any goodness in her she'll give him another chance on the wheel eric said zela said you were never offered the chance of surrender zeelas are lying sack of pig guts he was our corporal and with the captain and sergeant dead he thinks he's our captain no one's killed him yet because we're all too damn tired come with me said eric he led rian to the hut khalis used as his office and quarters and asked to see the captain when kalis appeared he looked at rhiannon then at eric what i think you should hear this man out said eric turning to rhian he said what about the offer to surrender rhian shrugged the raj told the lizards he would burn in hell before he'd open the gates of his city to them but he offered any captain who wanted to quit the city the chance to leave without pay of course rhian sighed hey if you knew bill barry you know he was on greedy son of a mule he took a bonus for staying then made a deal with the lizards to betray the city and join in the looting he shook his head but that was the joke it was the worst betrayal of all as soon as the fire started and the looting began they hunted down the mercenary companies one at a time those that stood died and those that surrendered were given the choice of swearing service or taking the stake no day's grace no laying down our weapons and walking away nothing serve or die a few of us managed to get free kayla shook his head how could you betray your vow i never did said rian with what was the closest to a show of emotion eric had seen so far he stared chaos in the eyes and repeated i never did we were a regular company soldiers for life sworn in oath as brothers we voted and those who voted to stay and fight were on the losing side but we swore an oath to each other long before we took raj's gold and damn me if i'd leave a brother for being wrong-headed then why did you seek service with us because bilbari is dead and our brotherhood is broken he looked genuinely sad if you knew bill barry you also knew he had his own way of taking care of his men some of us were with him 10 15 years captain he was nobody's father but he was everyone's eldest brother and he'd kill the first man who harmed one of his own i've been selling my sword since i was 15 years old and it's the only family i've known but it's a dead family now after kaipur no man will have us to service and that means being a bandit or starving what will you do said kalis i'd like to head out tonight and get a march on this news heading south maybe catch a boat out of my heart if i can't find a bullet there head up coast to the city of the serpent river or down to chattistan someplace nobody knows me i'll find another company will hire me or a merchant needing a bodyguard he looked to the north for a moment with a thoughtful expression but with what's up there i don't know that any of us can find a peaceful life anywhere i've never seen war like this before you saw the smoke captain chaos nodded they fired the city when they were through i don't mean a fire here or there but the entire city we saw from a ridge to the south before we ran for our lives but we saw his voice lowered as if he was afraid someone might overhear from one end to the other the fire burned and the smoke rose so high it flattened and spread through the clouds like a big tent soot rained from the sky for days twenty thirty thousand soldiers standing shoulder to shoulder before the gates shouting and laughing chanting and singing as they killed those who wouldn't serve their cause and i saw her who said chaos with sudden interest the emerald queen some call her in the distance couldn't see her face but i saw a company of lizards on those damn big horses of theirs and a big wagon bigger than anything i've ever seen before and on the wagon was this big golden throne and this woman sat there in a long robe you could see the green flicker of the emeralds at her throat and wrists and she had a crown with emeralds and the lizards all went wild hissing and chanting and even some of the men those who'd been with them long enough they all bowed when she came by you've been helpful said kalis take a fresh horse and whatever food you need and slip out at the guard change at sundown rhian saluted and left eric turned to leave and kayla said keep what you heard to yourself eric nodded then he said captain the horses kalish shook his head very well do what you can but nothing that diminishes our ability to care for our own animals no medicines you can't replace easily replace eric was about to say thank you but kayla's turned and re-entered the hut leaving him alone after a moment he headed back to the horses there was a great deal of work to do and some of zela's companions would be leaving on foot in two days if he didn't work miracles eric eric looked up to see embracer standing nearby just outside the corral where he was examining a horse's leg and he said hello shyly she said can you have supper tonight eric smiled the girl had asked him twice before so he could meet her father and mother though he already had in the market and knew them by sight she wanted a formal meeting it was becoming clear she had decided that eric should caught her and he was both flattered and disturbed by the attention would be of marrying age in another two years in ravensburg but that was ravensburg the people here were much poorer and children meant hands that could work at three years of age out in the field gleaning grain that fell from the stalks as the crops were harvested helping with the heavy work by six or seven years a boy was a man at 12 and a father at fifteen he crossed two of the rails and climbed over stepping down next to her come here he said quietly she stepped closer and he looked down and put his hand on her shoulder he kept his voice low as he said i like you very much you're as nice a girl as i've met but i'm gonna be leaving soon you could stay she said in a rush you're only a mercenary and you can leave the company a smith would be a man of importance here and you'd quickly become a leader eric was suddenly aware that besides being pretty she was also a cunning girl who had sized up the most likely man in the company to become rich at least by village standards should he remain and ply a trade isn't there a boy he began no she said half in anger half an embarrassment most of them are already married or too young the girls outnumber them because of the wars eric nodded his own company though composed of condemned men numbered more than one former farmer's son who had left home to seek his fortune as a soldier or bandit suddenly rue was standing beside them and eric knew he had overheard the entire conversation though he pretended not to by saying embracer i didn't see you there how are you fine she said lowering her eyes her sullen tone showed she wasn't as if nothing was amiss rue said did you talk to henry today eric knew who rue spoke of a young man from a village not too far from ravensburg who served with another squad but one whom he had barely exchanged a dozen words with over the course of his travels enrique was a dull man with little to say no not today answered eric wondering what rue was leading up to lowering his voice roo said he says he might come back here after we're done says he likes it and might just settle down he looked at him barissa find a wife and set up a mill embraces eyes widened he's a miller his father was one also he says ambrysa said well i must go sorry you can't come to supper eric after the girl was gone eric said thanks i was over there and heard what was going on said roo with a grin i figure a miller is the only one likely to make more money here than a smith so i thought i'd give a young friend another target eric said is enrique really thinking of staying or are you just making trouble well i don't know how much trouble given she's a saucy lass with an ample bosom and a firm young bottom if she nets our friend the miller's son who knows it could be true love and he could indeed be thinking of staying by tomorrow eric shook his head or hiding from a father ah maybe but as her father's down river with his wife and their sons leaving embry syria alone i suspect she was laying a snare for you he glanced at where the girl had gone though i think it might have been a pleasant one for a night the girl's not yet 15 years old rue said eric around here that's old enough for motherhood answered rue anyway it won't do the last much good getting either of you in a bed because the captain's not likely to let any of us wander off true agreed eric and besides we're leaving in two days what riders from the south came in about 10 minutes ago with messages some more soldiers are joining us in two days time and we all ride north well i'd better get to work said eric i've got to sort out this horse business with zela's men i think we'll have to leave about a dozen horses here the villagers will love that said roo with a grin the ones they can't use for plowing they'll eat eric nodded knowing he wasn't really joking come on give me and roo grumbled but he followed eric back into the corral to cut out the lame horses eric looked toward the southern gate expectantly zealer and his renegades had left the night before as agreed and now the new company from the south that was to join them was coming in ahead of schedule de langell had already passed word if the southern riders showed up before noon they were off as soon as the company was mustered all save a dozen men who would hold this fortress against the need of a southern retreat now the work made sense to eric a dozen well-armed soldiers could hold this village against up to three times that number of bandits and if the villagers joined in the fight it would require a small army to take it already without the order being given men were hurrying to get ready to move out then eric caught sight of a familiar figure among those riding in the gate grey lock eric exclaimed owen greylock turned gripping eric's arm in a gesture of greeting he then pulled him to his chest with a slap on the back releasing the young man he said you look well we thought we spied that grey banner of yours on the deck of the ranger one day in passage but we didn't see you come ashore pulling loose a scarf that had been around his face to cut the road dust the former swordmaster of darkmoor said that's because i didn't i sailed on with a couple of others to the city of the serpent river to make some arrangements then on to mahata to take care of some other matters after the ranger left for crondor it was ride like hell for a week getting up to leonarda then another backbreaker getting here soldiers in various dress were riding in the south gate who were they asked eric dubiously don't let the ragged cutter their outfits fool you those are some of the best soldiers from around these parts and picked by our friend praji over the last few years lowering his voice he said we need to blend in what are you doing here asked eric last i saw you was before i was arrested long story let me report to kayla's and after we've watered our mounts share a cup of wine with me and i'll tell you all it's gonna have to be at camp tonight answered eric we leave in an hour you've only got time to pick some fresh mounts and grab a bite before we're on our way greylock groaned oh that bastard isn't giving a man's spine a hope of recovery is he a fear not come on i've got some fine horses and i'll pick out one for you with a soft back greylock laughed and said lead on chapter 16 rendezvous chaos signaled a halt eric and his companions first company in line behind kalis and loungeville reigned in and passed word back for the halt owen greylock was riding with kalys and eric hadn't found the opportunity to talk to him two scouts who had ridden a head at first light were galloping down the road one of them a clansman whose name was unknown to eric said a merchant caravan has been taken on our head they tried to stand and fight but there were no more than six guards for six wagons delangel said the merchant was travelling light the other scout a man named durani said they didn't even have time to stop the wagons looks like the raiders swooped down out of the trees and shot them full of arrows before they knew what was happening the murderers stripped everyone down to the skin and took their armor and weapons and everything else they could carry kalis asked how many the clans man said 20 or 25 maybe more eric said where are the bandits ignoring the source of the question chaos nodded and duranty said they headed back into the trees we followed their tracks about an hour's ride into the woods where they turned south they've been shadowing the road since he looked around we never overtook them they may be looping behind us already what about the village asked a lounge reel kayla said our twelve can hold the village if they get advanced warning but these raiders are acting more like a mercenary company on a rampage than bandits if they come up on the village undetected turning to the loungeville he said bobby take six men and head back to the village to warn them that's the most we can do then catch up as soon as you can delangel nodded yo come along with me he said to eric and as they rode past he motioned for eric's five companions to fall in they pulled out of line and soon the seven of them were riding back to the village of wenat smoke told them they were too late even before they could see the fort as they crested a rise in the road they saw the charred ruins of the outer wall and the still unfinished tower now blazing like a banner without waiting for orders eric spurred his horse forward to a canter and got as close to the fire as he could he called out a few names of villagers he had come to know and after a moment a man emerged from the woods tamil shouted eric what happened the villager was covered in soot and looked tired but otherwise unhurt those men who were supposed to leave yesterday morning came back last night with another band of men asking to buy provisions your soldiers said no and they got into an argument over giving their word and leaving and things i didn't follow he waved up the road while they were shouting at each other at the south gate this other group climbed over the north wall and opened the north gate your men tried to fight but they were cut down from two sides most of us who could slipped out the south gate or climbed the walls then someone set a fire the bandits didn't trouble most of us after that they were too busy trying to steal whatever they could before everything burned up did everyone get out tamil shook his head no i don't think so some of the men i don't know from which band took out to the hills uh with two of our women drax wife finia and embrysa maybe some others the lounge rule came up and said don't you ever go riding off like that without leave they've taken some of the women up into the hills de loungeville swore are told khalis he cut himself off before he said anything more he looked at tarmil how long ago and how many men less than an hour and about five or six spread out ordered a lounge drill see if you can spot any tracks natombi found tracks indicating that a large band of riders went south while chopin found signs of another smaller group heading into the hills de lounge drill motioned for the former monk and the keshian legionary to take the point and begin to follow they had only a short way to go before the screams of women revealed the bandits whereabouts de loungero motioned for the six riders to dismount and spread out and moved quietly toward the sounds eric had his shield on his arm and his sword out a moment after tying his horse and glanced over to see rue on his right and luis on his left they crept forward through the trees and came upon a sight that set eric's teeth on edge two men were lying on top of two women one who was struggling the other lay motionless three other men sat close by drinking from an earthen jug as they watched the rape a sad cry was followed by a convulsion as one of the men finished and stood up and started pulling up his trousers one of the men who had been drinking tossed aside the jug and started unfastening his trousers as he came to take the first man's place he halted and looked at the still form on the ground then said gods and demons cully you killed her you fool she was biting so i covered her mouth you smothered her you idiot she's not more than a minute or two dead said you go ahead she's still warm eric saw the body and felt his heart lurch the corpse was imbreesa something strangely familiar struck him and for an instant he saw rosalind in a similar position her clothing torn away without thought he rose up and moved toward the nearest man one was watching the argument between his companions but the other started to rise he was halfway off the log where he had sat when he died with a single sweeping motion eric cleaved his head completely from his shoulders eric's companions charged and shouted and the four remaining men scrambled to defend themselves eric crossed to where the man named sadger stood while the one called cully dashed away sword and shield lay sadja pulled his only weapon a dagger at his belt and eric advanced upon him like death come into human form fear crossed the man's face as eric bore down on him and he made ready to defend himself as best he could he lunged in faint with his dagger but eric only stepped forward bashing with his shield knocking him to the ground he raised his sword above his head then brought it down with a thundering blow cutting completely through sage's upraised forearm slicing him from shoulder to belly eric had to put his foot on the man's chest to pull free his sword and when he did he turned to see that the remaining three men had taken off their helms and thrown weapons to the ground the sign among mercenaries of surrender eric's eyes were wild and wide as he looked at the man named cully he walked purposefully toward him de loungeville stepped before eric and using all his strength pushed him backwards it was like trying to move a tree but he did slow eric's forward advance get a hold of yourself on darkmoor he commanded eric paused the sound of his name he looked to where the two women lay finia had all her clothing torn from her and lay motionless in the grass the only sign she was still alive being the slow rise and fall of her small breasts ambrysa lay a short distance away also nude but bloody from belly to knee eric turned to stare at the man named kali he dies now slowly the lounge rule said did you know her yes answered eric part of his mind being surprised de loungeville didn't she was fourteen one of the captives said they was villagers we didn't know they belonged to anyone eric advanced and this time delangel threw his shoulder into him knocking him back a step you stand fast when i tell you he shouted at eric turning to face the three men he said what company the man named cully said well captain we've been sort of looking out for ourselves lately did you hit that caravan after he's ride north of here a grin of broken and blackened teeth greeted the question well now it wouldn't be the truth if we took credit for it all by ourselves there were another six or seven boys in on that one but they joined up with some men who wanted to raid that fort at the village fat man rode a big roanos he took them all together zela said to landrill i'll settle up with him someday kali continued we was watching from the woods and got in to grab what we would when they started to leave we saw these two women getting out of a burning house so we decided to have some fun he nodded at the still living but stunned finia and the dead embracer we didn't mean to be so rough but these was the only two we could find and there's five of us we'll pay you gold if there was yours captain make up for it see we won't even say nothing about the two boys you already killed we only killed the one two for one seems more than fair give the other a couple of hours to rest and why she could service all six of you and a couple of us in the bargain on your knees commanded the loungeville big o natambi and luis forced the three men to their knees holding them fast i want that one said eric pointing at collie i'm going to stick him out face down over an until and watch him die screaming de lounge road turned and struck eric as hard across the face as he could eric staggered fell to his knees and could barely retain consciousness from the unexpected blow when his vision cleared he saw delangel come up behind the first man with an economy of motion he pulled his dagger grabbed the man's hair and pulled back his head cutting his throat with a single slice the other two tried to rise but biggo and lewis kept them under control before eric could regain his feet the other two men had been executed eric took one staggering step then shook his head to clear it he came to stand over the body of cully and looked at de loungeville who said say to the woman when eric hesitated he shouted now eric and roo moved to where phinea lay eyes staring vacantly at the sky when they knelt over her her eyes seemed to focus for the first time recognizing eric and roo she said in a whisper is it over eric nodded and rue took off his cloak and used it to cover her eric helped the woman get to her feet and she wobbled as she rose rue put his arm around her to steady her and she looked over at him i told her to do as they said she scratched and bit them she was screaming and crying and her nose stuffed up when they covered her mouth she couldn't breathe eric inclined his head to roo to take her to where the horses were he took off his own cloak and wrapped embracer in it lifting her he carried her as if she were asleep softly he said now you'll never find that rich husband eric was the last to reach the horses and found a lounge roll holding his reins he handed the girl's body to the sergeant mounted then took the corpse as the loungeweel handed her up to him after the sergeant had mounted his own horse eric said you let them off easy de loungeville said oh no they should have died over a slow fire they deserve to suffer but i'll not visit that on any man why why do you care what happens to scum like them the lounge rule moved his horse alongside eric's so he was almost nose-to-nose with eric when he answered i don't care what happens to scum like them you could cut off a piece at a time over a week and i wouldn't give a horse promise for what it would do to them but i do care what it would do to you eric without waiting for an answer the loungeville moved away and shouted let's get back to the village we've got a hell of a ride before we catch up with the captain eric rode after him not sure what delangeville had meant but feeling troubled by what he had said they reached kayla's camp an hour after dark as before he had ordered a complete fortification dug and as de langeville and the others approached a guard challenged them well done said a weary deloundrel now lower the gate or i'll rip your ears from your head no one in calis's company could fail to recognize that voice so without a further remark the drop bridge was run out across the trench surrounding the camp the horse's hooves clattered on the wood and iron as the riders crossed and when they reached the center of the camp kayla stood waiting zela and the bandits joined up and fired the village mouse got away he glanced at eric they killed a girl and we killed the five of them that did it chaos nodded motioning for the lounge rule to join him in his command tent eric took the reins of de loungeville's horse and led him with his own to where the remounts were waiting it took him better than an hour to cool down the horses clean hooves and saddle marks and bedded them down with fresh fodder by the time he was finished he was aching to his bones and he knew it was more than just the fatigue of the ride and fighting the killing of the men had been so effortless as he walked back to where his companions were erecting their tent he recalled what he had done the first man he had struck had been an obstacle nothing more he hadn't been trying to decapitate him only to brush him aside lewis had said something later about its being a terrible blow as was the cleaning of the second man eric had faced but eric thought it a distant act as if someone else had been doing the fighting he could remember the smells the smoke of the burning village and the campfire in the clearing the stench of sweat and feces mixed in with the iron bite of blood and the stink of fear he felt the shock of the blows he delivered running up his arm and the pounding of his own blood in his forehead but it was all distant muted and he couldn't find it within himself to grapple with and understand what had occurred he knew he had wanted embrace's killer to suffer he knew he wanted the man to feel her pain a thousand times over yet now he was dead feeling nothing if biggo was to be believed the man was being judged by the death goddess but whatever the truth he was feeling none of this life's pain maybe delangero was right eric thought he was the one who was now suffering and it made him both sad and angry he reached the tent and found that rue had taken eric's section of tent and erected it so that the six-man dwelling was up and waiting for him eric looked at his boyhood friend and said thank you rue said well you spend enough time looking out for my horse and mind said big o and everyone else is said lewis do you think we should pay this boy for being so good to us eric looked over at lewis whose sense of humor was rarely in evidence and saw that the often short-tempered rhodesian was looking at him with a rare warmth in his expression biggo said well maybe all we could do is bit was setting up and tearing down the tent like we did tonight i can manage my own weight said eric no one needs to do for me he heard an irritation in his voice that was unexpected suddenly he discovered he was feeling very angry biggo reached from his bedroll across the narrow aisle separating the three bunks on each side and said we know lad you do more than your share that's all no one said anything but you become the horse master for our little company of cutthroats at the mention of the word cutthroat eric was struck by the image of the three men being butchered by the loungeville suddenly he felt sick and his body felt flushed as if fever was coming over him closing his eyes a second he said thank you i know you mean well he paused for a moment then stood as upright as he could in the low tent and walked away i'll be back i need some air guard duty in two hours rue called after him walking through the camp eric tried to calm himself he found his stomach clenched and he felt as if he might be sick running for the privy trench he barely got there in time to keep from fouling his pants after agonizing minutes of squatting and feeling as if he was passing fire he felt his stomach twist and suddenly he was vomiting into the trench when he at last finished he felt as if he had no strength left he went to the edge of the nearby stream and cleared himself up then he returned to the cook fire where he found owen greylock helping himself to a bowl of stew and a hunk of bread having lost everything in his gut only moments before eric was suddenly ravenous as he smelled the stew he grabbed a wooden bowl as owen greeted him and watched while eric scooped out a large bowl of stew ignoring the hot liquid as it covered his hand to the wrist look out said owen gods you're gonna boil yourself eric lifted the bowl to his lips and took a long sip then said heat don't bother me i think it's the years at the forge now cold that makes me hurt owen laughed hungry eric tore a large piece of bread off one of the loaves on the serving table and said can we talk for a minute owen motioned for eric to sit on a log that had been felled to provide a rude bench for men eating no one else was nearby save the two men who would clean up the cook area and ready it for the morning meal before turning in owen said where do you want to begin eric said i want to know how you got here but first can i ask you something certainly when you kill a man how does that make you feel owen was silent and then blew out his cheeks and let a long breath slowly escape that's a difficult one isn't it he fell silent a minute then said i've killed men two ways eric as my lord swordmaster i was dispenser of the high justice and i've hung more than one man it's different each time and never easy and it depends on why i'm hanging them murderers rapists thugs they i don't feel much of anything except relief when it's over when it's something dicey like your execution was set to be then it's a nasty business i feel like taking a long long hot bath afterward though i rarely get the chance when it comes to battle things just happen too quickly and you're usually too busy staying alive to think about it does that answer you eric nodded as he munched on soggy vegetables in a way did you ever want to see someone suffer owen scratched his head at this can't say as i have i wanted to see a few men dead but suffer not really i wanted to see a man feel pain today eric explained about imbresa and how he had wanted to make a killer experience a long slow terrible death when he finished he added then i found i could barely keep my ass closed flux and then throwing up then suddenly i'm here eating like nothing happened rage does strange things to you owen said you're not going to like hearing this i think but the only two other men i've known who felt as you say you did were your father and stefan eric shook his head and laughed ruefully you're right i didn't like hearing that your father only got that way with rage if he was angry he'd rather have seen his enemy injured and in pain than dead but that was the only time his voice lowered stefan was worse he really enjoyed watching people suffer he got excited by it your father had to bribe more than one father off because his daughter was uh damaged what about manfred owen shrugged given who his parents are he's a decent enough person you'd like him given the chance to know each other however that's neither here nor there owens studied eric then said i've known you a long time since you were a baby eric and while you have some of your father in you you don't have only your father's blood in you your mother can be a hard woman but she was never a mean one she's never hurt anyone for pleasure and you can bet that stefan was the worst mix of his father and mother i think i can understand why you'd be so ferocious with the man who killed the girl you were fond of her i take it in a way eric smiled she tried to cousin me into her bed so she could be the village smith's wife he shook his head in regret she was so obvious and there was no art to it but in a way it made you feel good yes owen nodded we all have our vanity and the pretty girl's attentions are rarely unwelcome by any man but it doesn't explain why i wanted to see that man hurt so much i can still feel it owen if i could raise him from the dead and cause him to scream in agony i think i'd do it justice maybe the girl died in agony and he got a simple death in return a voice from the dark said sometimes revenge goes disguised as justice both owen and eric turned to see nakor entering from the darkness i was out walking and heard you talk sounds like an interesting discussion without asking their leave he sat down eric said i was telling owen here what happened today have you heard nodded chopin told me you were in a rage you wanted to cause this man pain bobby kept you from indulging in his suffering eric nodded nako said some men take to the pain in others the way other men take too strong drink or potent drugs if you recognize that appetite in yourself early and learn to master it within yourself you'll be the better man for knowing eric i don't know what i wanted eric admitted i don't know if it was that he didn't suffer enough or if i really wanted to see something in his eyes as he died owen said most soldiers are struck by others death after the fact that you got sick nako said you got sick like i'd eaten green apples admitted eric nacho grinned then you're not a man to eat poison and like it if you hadn't gotten sick it would be because that poison of hate found a home in your gut he reached over and poked a finger into eric's side you ate the hatred but your body threw it up as if it were those green apples he smiled apparently satisfied with the explanation do your reiki each night and let your mind seek calmness and you will survive the terrors you just met owen and eric exchanged looks that said neither man knew what knuckle was talking about eric said now tell me how you came here owen said that was due to you me owen said when you were caught my lady matilda and your half-brother raced to crondor to ensure the prince knew you were to be hung without question when we got there i asked a friend in the prince's court to grant me an audience with nicholas and i tried to give him some idea of how you'd be dealt with as a child he shrugged it obviously didn't do any good as you were to be hung and the dowager baroness discovered i had tried to intercede upon your behalf he looked at eric and smiled i was asked to retire from my office manfred said he regretted to ask but she is his mother after all i've never met her but she seems the most persuasive woman by all reports offered that's one way of putting it said owen well there isn't a great demand for discharged sword masters so i applied to the prince's guard for a billet i was prepared to stand down to man at arms if need be or to attempt to gain a commission on the frontier failing that i was going to try my hand at the mercenary trade providing escort for merchant trains down into the veil of dreams and great cash but that blackheart bobbida loungeville found me at a tavern and got me very drunk and i woke up the next day and discovered i was going to be running like a madman from questor's view to land's end on one errand or another for prince nicholas and kalis owen continued that's a strange customer our captain did you know he ranks in the court as a duke eric said i only know him as the eagle of crondor finished owen i know he's important that's all i know but when the dust settled i was on the freeport ranger with a list of missions to last three months and one month to finish them when we made port in mahata eric finished his food and said sorry to have put you to this owen owen laughed well it was in the cards as the gamblers say and truth to tell i was growing bored at darkmoor the wines the best in the world and the women as fair as anywhere but there's little else to stir a man there i've grown tired of hanging bandits and running escort from one safe city to another i think it's time for something grand necco shook his head there's little grand ahead of us he stood up yawning i'm going to sleep we have three long days ahead why asked eric while you were killing those men we got word of a rendezvous what's that asked eric i've heard that term before meeting said owen a great camp offered knuckle with a grin he said it is where the two sides in this war will come to make offers for the service of companies like ours it's where we will find the army of this emerald queen and then friend greylock's adventure will begin he wandered off into the gloom owen said he may be the strangest man i've met i've only talked to him a couple of times since yesterday but he has some of the oddest notions i've ever encountered but he's right about one thing it's a long day tomorrow and we both need to sleep eric nodded and took owen's bowl i'll wash that up i'm doing mine anyway thank you and thank you replied eric for what for talking owen put his hand upon eric's shoulder any time eric good night he walked after knackle eric went to the bucket he used to clean the wooden bowls and rinse them with water scoured them with cleaning sand then rinsed with fresh water again he put the bowls where the men who would make the morning mess would expect to find them and return to his own tent the others were sleeping except rue who said you were right eric sighed and said i don't know but i am better rue seemed about to make a remark then thought better of it and turned over to go to sleep eric lay in the darkness and while he intended to practice the self-healing had taught him sleep was on him less than a minute after rue the camp was immense at least ten thousand armed men were scattered across a low valley that ran from the hills on the east to the river on the west cutting through the middle was a smaller tributary to the vedra and along this smaller river camps had been made the brokers who were conducting the contracts were arrayed under a large canopy ochre in color at the heart of the valley eric rode with his companions in their usual position near the head of the column near enough to call us to overhear his conversations with the men around him praji pointed some of those banners are damn strange i thought i knew every company worth talking about in this godforsaken continent he glanced around some of these others are a long way from home how is it shaping up asked a lounge roll it's early yet kaipur fell less than a month ago if the emerald queen's representatives get here in the next week i'll be surprised but i'll bet you a horde that the priest king of leonardo is spending money like a sailor in port looking around he said we'd better head up the valley and see if there's anywhere good near the river he sniffed the air with the number of these fools pissing in the water after they get drunk downstream's the last place i want to be the lounge real laughed looks like the best places are taken only if you like the taste of another man's piss in your water said praji this is just the start the word's been about for five years now there's a big war to end all wars coming and any man with a sword who doesn't get in now will be out of the looting he shook his head doesn't make much sense does it you'd think any man with eyes in his head could see chaos cut him off with an upraised hand not here too many years pragee nodded look for a red eagle banner twin to your own that'll be vajra if he's found his way here chaos nodded they rode into the camp area and eric felt his pulse race never had so many pairs of eyes regarded him with suspicion the rendezvous was neutral ground where both sides in the coming conflict could recruit mercenary companies to their cause openly bidding against one another and tradition bound every man who entered sight of the tent to keep his sword sheathed but tradition and enforceable law were two different things and more than once a battle had erupted at such a meeting men in this camp knew only that those in their own company were allies anyone else might be someone they would see across the field of battle mere days or weeks after leaving the rendezvous they passed by the large yellowish tent though on the other side of the water as they picked their way up river and away from the main body of men camping chaos found a small rise with a flat top that gave a commanding view of the valley below and motioned to the loungeville that they would camp there no fortifications it's against the compact but i want double guard when the come by let the men indulge but no strong drink and no drugs chase the peddlers away i'll not have some fool start a war because he sees the ghost of some enemy in the smoke and pulls his sword the lounge rule nodded and gave the order without the need to dig a trench and rampart making camp took little time when eric's squad had finished erecting their tent foster came by and gave the rotation for guard duty eric groaned when he was told the second watch which was from midnight to two hours before dawn sleep interrupted was as good as not sleeping from his point of view still after three days in the saddle a little time to lie around would be welcome and if he had the midnight watch tonight that meant the dawn watch tomorrow and the day after no watch at all he found that a little gratifying and was glad to have found any reason to feel good whatsoever trumpets blew and eric came awake with a start they had been in camp for five days now and he was back to a split night of guard duty he rolled out of his tent and saw that everyone was looking down into the valley below rue came to his side and laughed looks like an anthill with a stick in it eric laughed for rue was right there was motion everywhere then foster was hurrying through camp shouting every man doors we muster for inspection eric and roo turned and went back into their low tent grabbing their swords and shields they hurried to where other men were already saddling their horses and got theirs ready when the order to fall in came they swung up into the saddle and moved the horses to their position in the column foster rode by and said rest a while lads the shopping is beginning and you'll be doing little for a day when the brokers come by do your best to look fierce this got a laugh and jado shotty's base voice carried from somewhere back in line just put jerome in front man that'll scare them don't you know this brought another laugh and then the loungeville's voice cut through the air next man who says anything better my laugh or he'll wish his mother had taken oliver's celibacy before he was born the company fell silent an hour later the sound of riders came from up the valley and eric turned to see a small company of a dozen men heading their way at their head was a large man gray of hair but otherwise young looking he wore foppish regalia and obviously had put much thought into his appearance despite being covered with road dust at his side a road another carrying a crimson eagle banner vajra cried pragee as they pulled up you sorry old peacock i thought someone had killed you out of mercy what took you so long the other man handsome despite his years laughed and said you found them if i hadn't heard of the rendezvous i would still be on my way down to the city of the serpent river looking for our good captain and this company of sorry fools khalis came riding over as vajra and his men dismounted you've come just in time the master begins today vajra looked around uh there's plenty of time yet we'll have three or four days of this at least are both sides here no word of the emerald queen's agents just the priest king answered kayla's vajra said good that gives me ample time to bathe and eat you won't be taking any offer for days kayla said you know that and i know that but if we're to be convincing they he hiked his thumb over his shoulder in the general direction of the broker's tent can't know that we have to look as if we're weighing all offers equally understood said raja but i still have time for a bath i'll be back in an hour he turned and led his companions away praji said 29 years i fought at his side and i swear to this day no man more vain exists on this world he'd primp for his own execution kayla's smiled and eric realized it was one of the few times he had ever seen the captain smile for days they would muster on command and brokers would come by to look over the company with vajra's men and the men under artonis they numbered better than 100 swords a significant enough troop to be taken seriously but not so large as to bear special scrutiny after the third such day offers began to come in and kalis listened to them politely he remained non-committal a week after the mustering had started eric noticed a few companies departing he asked praji about this over supper and the old mercenary said they've signed on with the priest king probably poor captains running low on gold to pay their men they have to find employment quickly or lose their fighters to richer companies most are waiting around to hear what the other side has to offer still more days passed and the other side didn't appear two weeks after arriving eric had requested permission to move the horses upriver as they had grazed the area clean and the hay and grain brokers were charging outrageous prices kalis gave permission but instructed eric to make sure a full guard company surrounded the animals at all times another week went by almost a month after arriving eric was walking back from having checked the horses a three times daily ritual now to hear a series of loud trumpet calls from the heart of the camp the weather was hot the hottest part of the summer he had been told by one of the clan's men and soon summer would be waning it felt odd to lose a winter to leave in fall and return to spring eric was sure knuckle could explain this backwards season to him but he wasn't sure he was up for hearing the little man's explanation trumpets continued insistent and eric started to hurry to see what the matter was as he neared his own tent area foster came running toward him and shouted get those horses down here there's a court quarter we're being put on notice a fight is gonna break out eric dashed back up the hill and down into the next small valley and waved his hand as he shouted to the men standing guard bring as many as you can lead he hurried past to the most distant picket line and managed to lead four horses away others came hurrying past and before he had reached the main camp every horse was being led after him the men broke camp faster than eric had ever seen chaos gave orders for a defensive perimeter to be established and the company began digging abreast work archers scanned the hill below for signs of anyone heading their way despite the sound to quarter no sounds of battle erupted from below instead a strange buzzing sound carried up the hill and it took eric a long minute to realize he was listening to men's voices arguments and curses carried up the hillside and the sound carried a frantic quality but there were still no sounds of fighting at last kayla said bobby take some men down there and find out what's going on the loungeville said big o von darkmoor jedo and jerome will may rule laughed he's got the four biggest men in the company to hide behind de loungeville turned in a single motion looked at rue and said and yo my little man with evil delight in his eyes he grinned as he said you can stand on my shield side if trouble erupts i'm gonna pick you up and throw you at the first man head in my way rue rolled his eyes heavenward and fell in beside eric that'll teach me to keep my mouth shut eric said i doubt it they made their way down into the camp below on foot trying not to call attention to themselves as they approached another campsite men were arguing with one another as they came within earshot i don't care it's an insult i'll say let's ride south and take whatever the priest king offers another voice said you want to fight your way out so you can turn around and fight again eric tried to make sense of the remarks but delangel said follow me he made his way through several such camps more than one marked by a busy attempt to get ready to ride one man said if you break to the east up this river and cut through the hills to the south you'll probably get free the man next to him answered what you're an oracle now de lounge rule led them to the area surrounding the broker's tent where he found a knot of terrified brokers standing outside their own tent he pushed past and entered a low wooden desk was used by the brokers and behind it sat a large man in fine armor well cared for but obviously used often his feet rested on the polished wood mud scattering all over the documents still upon them he looked little different from the other soldiers in camp except that he was older perhaps older than prajee and vajja the oldest man in kayla's company but rather than of age his aura was that of a man of profound experience he calmly looked at de langeville and his companions as they entered and nodded to another soldier who stood behind him both wore an emerald green armband on their left arm but otherwise there were no distinctive markings or uniform delangel stopped and said well then what fool blows a cold quarters i have no idea said the old soldier i certainly didn't want to cause this much commotion i owe the emerald queen's agent the man said i am general gappy i'm no one's agent i'm here to inform you of your choices eric sensed something in this man he had seen in a few others the prince of crondor duke james and kalis upon occasion it was a sureness of command an expectation that orders would be followed without debate and eric decided that this man's title was no mercenary vanity this man commanded an army delangero put his hands on his hips and said oh and what choices are those you can serve the emerald queen or you can die with a slight gesture of his head de loungeville instructed the men around him to spread out eric stepped to his right until he stood opposite the single soldier in the tent behind garpi delangero said usually i get paid to fight but your tone makes me think i might be willing to forgo payment this one time garpi sighed break the piece of the camp at risk captain i'm now captain said the lounge i'm a sergeant my captain sent me down to see what the fuss was the fuss as you call it answered guppy is the consternation of men too stupid to realize they have no choice so you don't hear a garbled version of what was said here an hour ago i'll repeat this so you can tell your captain all companies of mercenaries mustering in this valley must swear fealty to the emerald queen we begin our campaign downriver against leonardo in a month's time if you attempt to leave to take service with our lady's enemies you will be hunted down and killed and i was doing this hunting and killing asked a lounge roll with an easy smile garpi said the thirty thousand soldiers who are now surrounding this pleasant little valley delangero turned and glanced outside the tent he searched the ridges above the valley and saw movement a glint of light upon metal or a flicker of shadow but enough to tell him that a sizeable force was ringing the valley letting out an exasperated sound he said we wondered what was taking you so long to reach here we didn't think you're becoming a force carry word to your captain you have no choice looking at the general delangero seemed about to say something then he just nodded and motioned for the others to follow him they were silent until they were away from the main camp when eric said you look bothered sergeant i thought the purpose was to join this army i don't like it when the other side changes the rules said de lange rule around here you pay a man to fight i think we may be getting sucked deeper into the sand than we thought besides he added when i'm going to get buggered i like to be asked nicely first it annoys me when i'm not chapter 17 discovery rue pointed in the distance fire marked a skirmish true to his word general garpi attacked any band seeking to leave to the south a few captains were stiff-backed enough to try to smash their way through the encircling army and they were met with the full weight of those soldiers already in better positions and dug in the valley might have made a pleasant enough place for the rendezvous but as a place from which to launch an attack it had little to recommend it since it was narrow and steep to the north and south the only possible means of escape was through the eastern end the way vajra and his companions had come which he reported as being treacherous hills with unforgiving trails for those taking a wrong turn still some smaller bands attempted to leave this way others moved out as did caelis's crimson eagles either to serve and take whatever recompense might be forthcoming through looting or other awards or to steal away at some future opportunity everywhere eric looked he saw unhappy men delanger wasn't the only one feeling buggered without leave those who obeyed general garpi's orders mustered in columns at the lowest end of the river just before it joined with the larger vedra a bridge long burned out in some forgotten war marked the place and a series of ferries had been established to provide transport from north to south on the east side of the vedra or from east to west below the nameless tributary kalis's company was among the last to reach the ferry having quartered higher up in the valley than most and as a result they were afforded a longer opportunity to sit and watch than those who came before men and a few women from every corner of novindus were moving across the river crossing to join those like chaoses already on the south bank a man wearing a green armband rode up and said what company delangero pointed at kalis who sat next to him on the left and said kailis's crimson eagles from the city of the serpent river the man frowned looking at kalis from the siege at hamza khalis nodded the man grinned and there was nothing friendly in the expression i almost had you you slippery bastard but you went east to the shandy and by the time my company doubled back you were into the steps he looked hard at kayla's had i known you of the long lived i would have headed east straight away a lot of you're kind with a jashandi he took out a parchment and a charcoal stick made some marks and said but our lady accepts all who come to her so we're on the same side now he waved toward the south make your way down the river about a mile find the master of the camp there and report in in a few days you'll get orders until then the rules of the camp are simple any fighting and you're killed we're all brothers now under the banner of the emerald queen so any man who starts trouble goes to the stake i don't recommend it i've seen some men twitch for an hour or longer he didn't ask if the order was understood simply putting heels to his horse and riding off toward the next company that was simple said pragee who sat on kayla's left kayla said let's find this master of the camp and report in we might as well get situated as quickly as possible he nodded at praji and vajra who peeled off from the company without comment what's that asked eric quietly foster who was riding next to eric said keep your mouth shut but laughed with all the confusion it's easy to get separated from one's own company it may take pragee and vajra days to find out where we're camped they'll have lots of time to hear many things kalish shook his head and looked over his shoulder as if warning the isolani to keep this to himself but the little man giggled in delight at the notion he said i think i'll get lost for a while too he tossed his reins to lewis saying i do better on foot and slid off his horse before khalis could object he was scampering down to where a huge company of horsemen was disembarking from barges while another large company rode in from the west within minutes the two companies were locked in milling confusion and narco had vanished into the press ducking between horsemen who shouted curses as their horses shied at nachos sudden movements kalis said he's done this before foster looked after nacho with black murder in his eyes but khalis and de loungeville only shook their heads they found the master of the camp hours later a narrow face with dark darting eyes regarded them as chaos reported in he made a mark on a document then waved toward the riverbank find a spot between here and two miles down there are other companies scattered along both sides of the road find a campsite between the river and the road there should be a company calling itself gagari's command just to the north of you across the road it will be a company under a captain named dalbreen if you move south of that position you will be assumed to be deserting and you will be hunted down those not killed will be brought back for public execution and do not try to cross the river he made a vague motion across the river where in the distance they could see a company of horse riding along at an easy lope something bothered eric and then he realized that the riders and horses were far too large for the distance and the speed they were moving he blinked as he tried to make sense of the image then he realized what he was seeing lizardmen he said aloud without thinking the master of the camp said our lady's allies are called the sour do not call them lizards or snakes lest you incur her roth motioned for chaos to lead his company away as another company approached from behind squinting against the afternoon sun eric tried to make sense of the distant riders those horses must be 20 hands said show pie closer to 22 or 4 said eric they're bigger than draft animals but they move like cavalry mounts as the riders moved away he admired the fluid motion of the horses the tsar rode with an easy rocking seat though their bodies looked oddly top heavy as their armor was cut in an almost triangular configuration due to flaring shoulder guards and a cinched waist i'd like to get a closer look at one of those horses said eric no you wouldn't snapped a loungeville at least not one with a rider on his back eric shook his head in wonder as the riders were lost in the distant afternoon haze they located the campsite and kalis made a guarded introduction to his neighboring captains it was clear that no one was feeling talkative as none of the companies knew if those next to them were actively supporting the cause of the emerald queen or were those coerced into serving eric was no military expert but he got the feeling that in this strange country with its custom of hiring men to fight as opposed to supporting standing armies having men without loyalty under arms was not a very smart thing to do still no general uprising seemed to be taking place so eric assumed those in command of this host knew something he didn't and left it at that kalis ordered the men to bed down without erecting tents there was no order given to dig a perimeter defense or erector breastwork it was clear without being said that he wanted the men to be up off the ground and on horseback in the shortest possible time if the need arose after the second day the surrounding camps became small communities to be visited if the men weren't on duty bartering gambling swapping stories or just alleviating the boredom of a camp between battles the men wandered as far as they could without causing trouble the level of trust was rising albeit slowly as those forced to serve grew more accepting of fate they might resent having no choice as to who their new master was but for most captains one side was as good as the other and booty was booty some companies had an open attitude welcoming a new face who might bring some news gold to gamble or just a break from the routine but others were still wary and twice rue and eric had been told to keep moving when they approached one of those camps the second night foster walked through the camp stopping at every group of men to speak with them he came upon eric rue shopai and lewis who was sitting around a fire watching as biggo and natombi took their turn cooking for the squad here he said motioning for the men to stand when they did he opened a purse and counted out two golden coins and five silver for each man in a low voice he said mercenaries get paid and if you can't buy something from a vendor or now and again you'll get people asking questions about us and the first man who gets drunk and says the wrong thing into the wrong ear i'll personally have his liver on a stick eric hefted the coins feeling them cold in his hand he hadn't held coins since leaving darkmoor he realized and it made him feel good to be able to buy something he put them into a pouch sewn into a seam in his tunic where they would be safe appeared later that night plying their trade without tents there was little privacy but that seemed to bother few of the men many simply pulled a woman of their choice under a blanket and ignored whoever might be sitting a few feet away a pair of them came by where eric and roo sat and one said looking for some company boys rue grinned and suddenly eric found himself flushing with embarrassment the last time had visited their camp at the other site up on the tributary of the vedra he had been looking after the horses and they had moved on by the time he returned he was certain he was the only man in camp who had never lane with a woman eric thought i might never get the chance again he looked at his friend whose smile spread ear to ear then found himself grinning back why not he asked one of the women said we get paid first rule laughed and pigs fly he waved at the camp we're not going anywhere but we can't say the same for you now can we the who had spoken gave him a sour look but she nodded you're not as young as you look i wager roo stood up i'm older than i've ever been before in my life the looked confused by the statement but followed rue as he motioned for her to follow eric stood finding himself alone with the other woman she could have been young but it was difficult to tell a hard expression and the dim campfire light made it impossible to tell if she was closer to fifteen years or forty some grey in her dark hair convinced him she was older than he but he didn't know if that made him feel more comfortable or less here she asked what do you want to do it here or somewhere else suddenly feeling profoundly embarrassed eric said let's go down by the river he stuck out his hand awkwardly and she took it her grip firm and a hand dry he suddenly felt regret for the gesture as his palm was damp and his grip uncertain she laughed softly and he said what first time is it he said why course not it's just been a long time with traveling of course she said eric couldn't tell if there was warmth in her amusement or contempt he led her down to the bank of the river and nearly stepped on a couple who were in a frantic embrace he moved to where it was relatively dark and stood there uncertain the woman quickly was out of her clothing and eric felt his own body respond to the sight of her her body was nothing extraordinary a little plump around the hips and thighs and her breasts sagged but he suddenly thought of what he was about to do and he couldn't get out of his clothing fast enough he had his tunic off and was working on his boots when she said you're a big lad aren't you eric looked down at his own body as if noticing it for the first time the passage of time and the rigors of his life since being taken prisoner had hardened him to a fitness beyond what he had known at ravensburg always strong he had lost a softer outer layer of fat and now his powerful smith's chest and shoulders were rippling muscle as if he had been carved by a sculptor of the heroic he said i've always been big for my age he sat and pulled off his boots and she came over and took the top of his pants in a firm grip her voice was husky as she said let's see how big she pulled off his pants and looking at his obvious readiness she laughed and said big enough considering her profession she was tender she took her time and didn't laugh at eric's awkward fumbling she calmed him when he needed it and while their coupling was frantic and quick there was some sense of caring in it after it was over she quickly dressed but stayed a moment after he paid her what's your name eric he said not sure if he was comfortable telling her you're a wild boy eric in a man's body the right woman is going to come to love your touch if you always remember how strong you are and how tender her flesh is suddenly he felt self-conscious did i hurt you she laughed not really you were enthusiastic i'll have a bruise or two on my backside from hitting the damn ground so hard at the end there but nothing like when those lads who like to slap a around get done with me pulling on his clothing eric said why'd you do it the woman shrugged in the gloom the gesture almost lost as she dressed what else can i do my man was a soldier like you he died five years ago i have no family or rank i can steal or she repeated without apology or regret what else can i do before he could say anything more she was gone to seek another customer eric felt both relieved and empty there had been something missing in their coupling and eric couldn't tell what it was but he also knew he was already anxious to try this wonderful thing again six days after making camp eric saw pragee and vajar riding up kalys motioned for them to come over to where he sat a short distance from eric and his squad who had just finished their midday meal men nodded greetings to the two old mercenaries who walked to where kalis waited and knelt down next to him what did you discover asked kayla's praji said nothing terribly surprising with a wave of his hand to indicate those companies mustered on all sides we're all boxed in between a range of hills to the east the river over there about twenty twenty-five thousand swords to the north of us and the armies of lanarda and mahat are mustering about 50 miles south of here the raj of mahata sent his army that far north that's the rumor said vajra keeping his voice low so only those near calys's campfire could hear him praji said this campaign's been going on for a dozen years since the fall of arabic sooner or later you'd think the raj would figure it out one by one the cities of the river have fallen each hoping its neighbor to the north would be the last the emerald queen took kayla said what else we're moving out in a few days a week at the most i think what did you hear asked kayla's as robert delangero and charlie foster approached to stand behind chaos praji said nothing that said we march in three days just watching and listening vajra waved to the north they're building a large bridge across the river where the ferry is got at least six companies or engineers and a couple of hundred slaves working on it all day and all night no one from this side can go north without a pass said praji and no one can leave this area unless they have signed orders added raja on the north side of the river continued praji that's where all the old vets are gathered the ones who've been at the heart of this campaign from the start them and the soil lizardmen kailis was silent for a moment so where wall fodder looks like said pragee eric turned to the other men in his squad and whispered wall fodder biggo kept his voice low so the officers wouldn't hear him when he answered for is to march to the wall old son you get fed to the wall as it were lewis made a motion of drawing a blade across his own throat first companies to hit the wall lose the most men he added softly kayla said we need to be alert we've got to get closer to this emerald queen and her generals to find out what we really need to know if that means we're the first through the gate or over the wall to prove our worth that's what we'll do once we know what we need to know then we'll worry about how we get the hell out of here eric lay back on his pallet arm behind his head he watched as clouds scurried by overhead in the late afternoon breeze he would have night watch so he thought he'd try to get some rest but the thought of being the first to attack the wall of a city that image returned again and again he'd killed four men so far on three different occasions but he'd never been in battle he worried he would somehow do something wrong he was still contemplating the coming campaign when foster came along and kicked his boots telling him it was time to get to his post eric found himself surprised that it was now night he had lost himself in contemplations of the coming struggle and the sun had set without his noticing he rose and got his sword and shield and moved down toward the river to spend the next few hours watching for trouble he thought it ironic that he was on guard in the midst of an army that would turn on kayla's crimson eagles in an instant if they understood their real purpose and from what he had no idea as no enemy was closer than 50 miles still he was told to go stand guard and that he did nakor stood at the edge of the crowd watching the priest lift up the dead sheep the tsar warriors closest to the fire let out a yell of approval a deep-throated hissing that echoed through the night like a chorus of enraged dragons those humans behind the circle of lizard man watched in fascination for these rites were unknown to any but the sour many humans made signs of protection to their own gods and goddesses a great celebration was underway and naco was wandering freely through the various companies of men he had seen many things and was both gratified and horrified gratified that he had uncovered several key elements of the mystery that would help calys best decide what to do next and horrified because in his long life he had never met a gathering of evil men so concentrated in both numbers and malignancy the heart of this army was the tsar and a large company of men who called themselves the chosen guard they wore both the common emerald armband and green scarves tied around their heads their malignancy was clearly demonstrated by one of their number who stood a short distance from nakhor wearing a necklace of human ears rumor in the camp had it these were the most violent dangerous and depraved men in an army of dark souls to join their ranks one must have endured several campaigns and distinguished oneself by deeds black and numerous it was rumored that the final act of acceptance was ritual cannibalism nakor didn't doubt it but having visited cannibals in the skashakan islands in prior years he also knew these men indulged in practices that would have revolted most cannibals nakhor nodded and grinded a man covered in tattoos who held a young boy tightly to him the boy had an iron collar around his neck and his eyes had a drug-induced vacancy in them the man snarled at knuckle who merely grinned even more as he moved away nako was trying to move around the largest clump of celebrators so he could gain a vantage point from which to see the emerald queen's pavilion strange energies floated on the night wind and old familiar echoes of distant magic sounded between the notes of song and neko was coming to a conclusion about who and what he would find there but he wasn't certain and without certainty he couldn't return to find caelis on the other side of the tributary to tell him what he must do next the only thing of which he was certain was the need to return to crondor to warn nicholas that whatever he had feared was occurring in this distant land far worse forces were being unleashed subtle behind the ancient magic of the pantathions a lingering scent of alien origin hung in the air glancing skyward nakhor smelled demon essences in the clouds as if ready to fall like rain he shook his head i'm getting tired he muttered to himself as he picked his way among giant soul warriors one of naco's better tricks as he called his abilities was the knack of moving in crowds without attracting undue notice but it didn't always work and this moment was one such time a tsar warrior looked down and snarled where do you go human its voice was deep and its accent sounded harsh to knackle nakol regarded the hooded eyes deep red irises surrounded by white i am insignificant almighty one i cannot see i move to a place from which i may better observe this wondrous rite nakor had been curious about the tsar when he had first reached the heart of the camp but now he was anxious to remove himself from them they were still a mystery to him they bore as much resemblance to the pantathions as humans did to elves which was to say that superficially they looked very similar but upon close examination they were totally unrelated narco was almost certain they came from another world entirely and that they were warm-blooded creatures like men elves and dwarves while he knew the pantathions were not he would have liked to be able to discuss such theories with an educated saw but all he had encountered were young male warriors with an attitude toward humans that could only be called contemptuous he had no doubt that should the men in this camp not be servants of this emerald queen the tsar would have been delighted to murder every human in the camp they could barely keep their antipathy for humans in check the average tsar stood between nine and ten feet in height the sars were massive in chest and shoulder but strangely delicate of neck and while their legs were strong enough to control their massive horses they didn't seem to be a race of runners or jumpers on foot any good company of humans should prove their match thought knackle the lizard man grunted and nakor didn't know if that was approval or not but he took it as permission to move on and he did so judging he would deal with the consequences of being wrong if he turned out to be he was not the warrior returned his attention to the welcoming ritual the pavilion of the emerald queen was raised up on a giant desk constructed either of wood or of earth nakol couldn't tell which but six feet higher than the other tents in this part of the camp the structure was surrounded by a host of sar and for the first time neko saw pentathean priests beyond even more he saw pentathean warriors as well grinned for this was a new thing to his experience and he always enjoyed discovering the unfamiliar the priest now turned and threw the slaughtered sheep onto a pyre and then cast scented oils after it the smoke that rose was fragrant and thick dark and coiling the priest and the rest of the sower watched intently then the priest pointed and spoke in an alien language but the tone was positive and knack or guessed he was saying the spirits were pleased with the offering or the portents were good or some other priestly mumbo jumbo nakor squinted as a figure emerged from within the depths of the pavilion a man in green armor followed by another who made way for a third whose green armor was trimmed in gold this powerful looking man was general fadwa first commander of the host nakor sensed evil hung around the man like smoke around a fire for a soldier he fairly reeked of magic then came a woman with emeralds at her neck and wrists dressed in a green gown and cut low in front so that the fall of emeralds at her throat could be better shown upon her raven hair she wore a crown of emeralds knackle muttered that is a lot of emeralds even for you the woman moved in a way knuckle found disturbing and when she came forward to answer the cheers of our army he became deeply troubled something was profoundly wrong he studied her and listened as she spoke my faithful i who am your lady who am but a vessel for one much greater i thank you for your gifts the sky horde of the tsar and the emerald queen promise you victory in this life and immortal reward in the next our spies return to tell us the unbelievers lie in wait just three days march to the south soon we shall move to crush them then fall upon the heathen cities and reduce them to cinders each victory comes more swiftly than the last and our numbers grow the woman called the emerald queen stepped forward to the very edge of the des and looked down on the faces of those nearest to her both sour and human pointing to one man she said you shall be my messenger to the gods this night the man raised his fist in triumph and ran up the first four steps to the dais he threw himself across the final two so his head was on the floor before his mistress she raised her foot and placed it on the man's head for a moment in ritual then removed it turning to move back into the tent the man rose with a grin winked back at his comrades who cheered him and followed the queen into her pavilion oh this is very bad whispered knuckle he glanced around and saw the celebration was building in intensity soon men would be drunk and fighting as much as was allowed and given the lacks discipline naco had seen in this part of the army he suspected much brawling and even bloodshed were tolerated now he would have to work his way through a company of very drunk drug crazed killers and seek away across the river to calis assuming he could locate calluses camp nakhor was never one to worry and this certainly wasn't a time to begin still he was anxious that he not delay too long for now he knew what was behind all the conflict that had been underway for the last 12 years and what was more he realized he might be the only man on the world who would fully understand all the different aspects of what he had just seen shaking his head in consternation the complexities of life the little man started negotiating his way back away from the edge of the emerald queens pavilion a courier rode up and asked are you captain chaos kayla said i am orders you're to take your company and forward the river he motioned some place to the north of him so eric who sat nearby assumed a ford must be close at hand and conduct a sweep along the far bank for 10 miles downstream jilani tribesman was seen by one of our scouts the generals want to keep the opposite bank free of such pests he turned and rode away as praji said pests looking after the retreating courier he shook his head in disbelief obviously that lad has never encountered any of the jelani neither have i said kalis who are they praji spoke while he casually picked up his kit and made ready to ride out barbarians he paused and said no savages really tribes people no one knows who they are where they come from they speak a tongue only a few can master and they rarely give anyone from outside a chance to learn it they're tough and they fight like maniacs they wander the plane of jams or up in the foothills of the rattan gallery hunting the big bison herds or chasing elk and deer picking up his own bedroll vajra said most of the trouble folks on this side of the river have with them is over horses they're the best damn horse thieves in the world a man's rank is earned by how many enemies he's killed and how many horses he's stolen they don't ride them they eat them so i heard will they give us much trouble said kalis hell we probably won't even see one answered praji he tossed his bedroll to eric and said hang on to that for me for a minute he bent to get a bag that contained the rest of his personal belongings they're tough little guys about half again the size of dwarves and with an evil grin he pointed at rue just like him the men laughed as praji reclaimed his bedroll from eric and they started moving toward the picket line of horses de loungeville and foster began calling orders to the company to ride praji said they can vanish into that tall grass across the river like they were spirits they live in these low huts they put together out of woven grass and you can be standing 10 feet from one and never see it difficult folks to figure but they can fight said vajra as they started readying their horses praji said that indeed they can do there captain now you know as much about the jelani as just about any man born in these parts kalis said well if they want to avoid trouble we should be able to make a swing 10 miles to the south and back before sundown as if concerned over something he looked back at the main body of the camp then said to the loungeville leave a squad to look after things lowering his voice he said and tell them to keep an eye out for knuckle foster motion to another squad that was moving to saddle their horses and gave them instructions eric glanced back as he lifted his saddle to place it on the back of his own mount where was knackle he wondered grunted as he picked up the plank silently cursing the fool at the other end who didn't seem to realize something existed called coordinated effort the man whose name was unknown to nacho but whom he thought of as that idiot insisted on lifting moving and dropping without bothering to mention it to nakor as a result over the last two days nakor had accumulated an astonishing collection of splinters scrapes and bruises nakor had encountered difficulties returning to kayla's company the muster had finally halted with the core army to the north of this tributary to the river vedra while kalis and other new mercenary companies were to the south passing across the smaller river was now accomplished only by riders with official looking passes issued by the generals nako had three such passes in his bag having stolen them two nights before but he didn't want to try to use one until he could study it and there hadn't been any place to study the documents without attracting attention besides the risk of losing such documents nakor had a predisposition not to call attention to himself unless there was a reason to do so but the generals had ordered a bridge rebuilt across this tributary and a work gang was diligently doing just that nakol figured he would pose as a worker and when the bridge reached the opposite shore he would simply vanish into the crowd on the other bank unfortunately the work was going more slowly than he had hoped since the labor turned out to be slave labor and as such the workers were in no hurry also he was now being closely guarded at night the guards might not have noticed him when he arrived if there was an extra slave in a squad the guard would merely assume he had miscounted in the morning but he would be certain to notice if there was one less which meant neko would have to wait for exactly the right moment to vanish into the companies of mercenaries he knew that once he was free of the guards watching the work gang he would have no trouble staying free but he wished to create his ideal moment as possible before he attempted it a manhunt in the southern camp might prove amusing but neko knew that he must share what he had learned with kalis and the others before too long so that they could start planning their escape from this army and their eventual return to crondor that idiot dropped his end of the plank before knackle could move and as a result he took more splinters in his shoulder he was about to do one of his tricks in retaliation a sting to the buttocks that would make the man think he had sat on a hornet when a chill passed over him he glanced back and felt his chest tighten for a pentathean priest stood not ten feet away watching the construction speaking quietly to a human officer nakor set down his end of the plank and hurried back for another keeping his eyes down nakor had encountered the pantathions and their handiwork before while traveling with the man who was now prince of krondor but he had never seen a living pantatheon that close as he passed the creature he noticed a faint odor and remembered having heard of this smell before very reptilian yet alien nacor bent to pick up another plank and saw that idiot stumble over a rock he lost his balance and took a half step toward the pantathion the creature reacted turning with a clawed hand sweeping out the talons struck across the idiot's chest ripping his tunic as if there were knives deep cuts of crimson appeared as the man cried out then he went weak in the knees and collapsed to lie twitching on the ground the human officer said to nakor get him out of here and naka and another slave grabbed the fallen man by the time they had moved him back to the slaves compound the man was dead nakor studied the face frozen in death with eyes open and watched closely after a few minutes he was certain he knew exactly what poison the pantathion had on his claws it was no natural venom but something created by mixing several deadly plant toxins together and necco found this revelation fascinating he was also fascinated by the pantathion's need to demonstrate before the human officer his deadly ability to kill with a touch there were politics here in the camp of the emerald queen that would not obvious to those far from the heart of power and naco wished he had the time to try to uncover more about them any struggle in the enemy camp was good to know about but unfortunately he couldn't afford to spend the time insinuating himself where he could observe the bi-plays of power a guard said drop him there pointing to a garbage heap that would be hauled away by wagon at sundown and dumped at a fill a mile or so away from the river nakor did as he was bid and the guard ordered the two slaves to return to work naco hurried down to the building site but the pantathion and the human officer were now gone he felt a brief regret that he couldn't study the serpent priest any longer and even more regret that that idiot had been killed the man had deserved to have his backside stung but he hadn't deserved to die painfully as a poison shut down his lungs and heart knackle worked until the known meal he sat on the bridge now only a few yards from the other bank dangling his feet above the water as he ate the tasteless gruel and hard bread to keep his strength up all the while he ate he wondered what kalis and the others were doing chaos motioned for the outriders on the right flank to keep an even line of sight one man to the next for a half mile signals from the closest man indicated the order was understood they had been riding since noon and still had no sign of anyone near the bank either the report of those tribesmen being nearby was in error or they had left the area or they were as praji had said able to keep themselves from being seen eric watched for any unexpected movement in the grass but it was a breezy afternoon and the tall grass moved like water it would take eyes far better than his to see someone moving through this sheltering plane a short time later chaos said if we don't find something within the next half hour we should return we'll be getting back to the ford in the dark as it is now a shout from an outrider and everyone looked to the west eric used his hand to shade his eyes against the afternoon sunlight and saw a rider frantically signaling from the base of a large mound kaelis motioned and the column turned toward the rider when they reached the base of the hillock eric could see it was covered in the same grass as the planes making it look like nothing so much as an inverted shaggy bowl almost completely round it was some distance from the next rise the beginning of a series of hills leading toward the distant mountains what is it asked kayla's tracks and a cave captain answered the outrider praji and vajar exchanged questioning looks and dismounted they led their horses close to the cave and inspected it a short entrance one a man could enter stooped over led back into the gloom kalis glanced down old tracks then he moved to the entrance and ran his hand over the stone edge of the cave this isn't natural said kalis or if it is said praji also running his hand along the wall someone's done some work on it to make it more sturdy there's stonework under this dirt he brushed away the dirt and revealed some fitted stones underneath sarah khan said vajra maybe conceded pragee sarah khan asked kalis praji remounted his horse and said it's an abandoned dwarven city in the rotten gary mountains all of it underground some humans moved in a few centuries back some cult of lunatics and they've died out now it just sits empty people are always stumbling across entrances down near the gulf said vajra and in the foothills near the great south forest kalis said correct me if i'm wrong but that's hundreds of miles from here true said pragee but the damned tunnels run everywhere he pointed to the hillock that one could be connected somewhere over there he pointed at the distant mountains or it could simply go back a few hundred feet and stop depends on who built it but it looks like one of the entrances to sarikan rue ventured maybe it's built by the same dwarfs but it's a different city maybe said pragee it's been a long time since any dwarves lived anywhere but in the mountains and city folk don't linger on the plane of jams kayla said could we use this as a depot leave some weapons and supplies here if we need to come down this side of the river praji said i wouldn't captain if the jelani are around here they may be using this as a base kalis was silent for a moment then he spoke loudly enough for the entire troop except for the other outriders to hear mark this location in your minds check the distant landscapes we may be very needful of finding this exact spot soon if we need to break from the camp for any reason or fight our way out if you can't make straight for the city of la nada make for this mound those who do meet here make your way to the south the best you can the city of the serpent river is your final goal for one of our ships shall be waiting there eric looked around and then looked down at his mount if he put our nose in line with two peaks in the distant mountains the one that looked like a broken fang and the other that looked like a clump of grapes to his imagination and kept the river at his back while keeping another distant peak off his left side he thought he should be able to find his way back here after the men had taken their bearings kalis turned to an outrider up on a distant hill who was watching chaos made the arm signals to indicate they were turning back the man acknowledged the order then turned and signaled an even more distant rider while kalis gave the order to return to the host of the emerald queen chapter 18 escape knackle waved he had learned years ago that if you didn't want to be accosted by minor officials look as if you know exactly what you're doing the officer standing on the far end of the dock didn't recognize knackle as the izolani knew he wouldn't slaves weren't people one didn't take note of them and now he didn't look like a slave he had ducked out of the slave pen the night before so that the morning and night head count would match he had wandered around the camp smiling and chatting until he had reached the place where he had secreted his belongings when he had run off to play construction worker then at dawn he had wandered back to the slave pens and fallen in a few yards behind the work gang he had moved along the newly constructed bridge past a guard who started to ask him something when nakhor patted him on the shoulder in a friendly fashion and said good morning leaving the guard scratching his chin now he called to the officer here catch and threw him his bundle of bedroll and shoulder sack the officer reacted without thought and caught the bundle then set it down as if it were covered in bugs by then nakhor had jumped the five feet separating the end of the bridge and the south shore foundation of rocks he landed and stood up saying i didn't want to take the chance of dropping the bundle in the water there are important documents in it important ask the officer as naco picked up his bundle thank you i must be getting those orders to the captain the officer hesitated which was his undoing for in that moment while he tried to frame his next question nakor slipped behind a party of horsemen riding past and when they had moved on the little man was nowhere in sight the officer stood peering this way and that and failed to notice that a few feet away there were now seven sleeping mercenaries around a cold campfire where moments before there had been only six nakhole lay motionless listening for any sign of alarm he grinned as he lay there his usual reaction to pulling off a good vanishing act he found it amazing that most people never noticed what was going on right before their noses he took a deep breath closed his eyes and started to doze less than an hour later he heard a voice and opened his eyes one of the soldiers next to him was sitting up and yawning nakor turned over and saw that the officer he had flummoxed was standing with his back toward the camp nakor rolled to his feet said good morning to the still half asleep mercenary and moved off down the trail toward where he hoped chaos was camped eric looked up from where he sat a few feet away from chaos to loungeville and foster polishing his sword they had returned to camp after nightfall and kalis had gone to report to the officer's tent near the bridge while eric and the others tended the horses when he returned he showed no sign of how the meeting went but kalis rarely showed anything that eric could read as pleasure or irritation but now eric saw a small betrayal of emotion as chaos rose with an expectant expression nakor was making his way across the narrow trail that had been worn by hooves and feet between the eagles camp and the one to the east the little man came trudging into view with his seemingly ever-present grin in place woof he said sitting down heavily on the ground next to foster that was some doing finding you lots of bird banners and lots of red things and most of these men he pointed in general that most of the other companies nearby don't care who's next to them this is one very ignorant bunch praji who was lying back picking his teeth with a long sliver of wood said they are not being paid to think true what did you discover asked caelis nacho leaned forward and lowered his voice so that eric had to strain to overhear though he and the others in his squad were trying hard to look as if they weren't i don't think it's such a good idea to talk about this here but let's say that when i can tell you you don't want to know what i saw yes i do said kalis knackon nodded i understand but you'll understand what i mean when i tell you just let me say that if you have a plan for us to get out of here tonight would be a very good time to do it we don't need to stay any longer kayla said well now that we know where the ford is we could try to slip across or bluff our way and tell the patrol at the bank that we're going out on another sweep to the south nako opened his ever-present bag slung over his shoulder and said maybe one of these passes would fool them eric tried hard not to laugh at the expression on foster and de loungeville's faces they looked at the documents and the loungeville said i'm not an expert in reading this gibberish but these look authentic oh they are said nako i stole them from lord fadawa's tent de loungeville said the queen's lord are general that's the man he was busy and no one noticed as i was playing the part of a slave i thought one of these might do us some good i wanted to poke around there's something very funny about that general he's not what he seems to be and if i hadn't been in such a hurry to get my news to you i would have stayed around to see just what this general really is kayla's looked through the four documents this might do it it's a vaguely worded order commanding all units to let the bearer pass it doesn't say if the bearer will have a full company of more than a hundred men with him but i think if we can keep our wits about us it might work praji stood well it is half done and if we're going to be convincing about a local patrol we'd better be on our way now or did you want to wait until tomorrow morning kayla's glanced at naco who shook his head slightly in the negative we leave now said kalis order was passed from man to man to act as if there was little urgency but to get ready quickly to ride if anyone in the other campsites took notice eric couldn't see the surrounding companies seemed intent upon their own business the coming and going of another troop of men seemed of little interest in less than an hour foster had the men in file and kayla's motion for eric's squad the first in line to fall in behind his own vanguard nakor praji vaja atonis under lounge foster would fall back and take command of the rear guard the most experienced squad in the company as jado shati and jerome handy moved out of line back to where foster waited eric made a good luck sign which jado returned along with his broadest grin they rode northward along the path to the road where they paralleled the river until they came in sight of the bridge that's finishing up quickly observed praji they have many men working on it said nako i worked on it for a couple of days so i could get across vajra said there are ample fords nearby why all they bother nako said the queen doesn't want to get her feet wet kalis glanced at the little man as did eric nacho wasn't smiling they reached the guard post and a stout sergeant came forward what's all this then careless said hello again sergeant recognizing chaos from the night before the sergeant said going out again the generals weren't happy with my report they think i didn't head far enough south i'm going out until noon tomorrow then i'll be back by morning the day after no one said anything to me about your company crossing the river captain said the sergeant looking suspicious or anyone being out for more than a day kayla's calmly held out the pass the general made up his mind just a short time ago he gave me this rather than relying on a messenger getting to you before we were ready to leave the sergeant said damn officers we've got our orders and then some captain of some company thinks he can get his drinking buddy to change the way we do things which are those strutting peacocks thinks he can just sign his neck his voice trailed off and his eyes widened as he saw the name and seal at the bottom of the pass if you want to send a message to general farawa to tell him that he's not observing procedures and you want confirmation well wait said de landrieu i'd just as soon not have to go looking for the jilani hell i don't think the general reminds sergeant the sergeant quickly rolled up the pass and handed it back to kalis you may cross he said waving them past he turned to the soldiers at the bank and shouted they're crossing to the other side they waved back and resumed their bored poses while kalis walked his horse down to where they stood and into the water taking it slowly and carefully eric felt the back of his neck itch as if someone behind would start shouting they were trying to escape or someone else would be warning the sergeant that a pass had been stolen from the general's tent but they moved across the shallow forward in the river until the last company with corporal foster the last man had safely crossed then chaos motioned for them to pick up speed and they all started moving south at a trot eric found himself fighting an unusually strong urge to dig his heels in and get his horse galloping he wondered how many of the others felt the same way when they had moved some distance down river kalis ordered them to a canter and they rode at a good rate for another mile before he signaled for them to return to a trot nakor shouted you want me to tell you now kayla said yes before you fall off and break your neck knackle grinned it's bad you remember our old friend the lady clovis kayla's nodded eric had no idea who she might be but the darkening expression on kayla's face said he knew her what surprised him was that de loungeville registered no recognition but pragee said that who was using dash archon and the overlord valgash down at the city of the servant river way back when we first met that's her said naco she's the emerald queen asked kalis nakor shook his head i wish it were so jonna that's her real name at least back when we were married what gaped caelis and for the first time eric saw him totally lose his composure it's a long story i'll tell you some other time but when she was a girl she was vain and when we were together she was always seeking ways to stay young forever i think if we get out of this you're going to tell me every detail said de langeville obviously as astonished as kayla's anyway said naco motioning for him not to interrupt the girl had talent for tricks what you call magic and she left me when i wouldn't tell her secrets i didn't have about staying young forever she was using a different body when she was the lady clovis a different body said praji now obviously confused how did you recognize her when you know someone well bodies don't matter said naco i guess said vajra obviously amused by the entire conversation shut up said knuckle this is serious this woman made a bargain with the pantathions to keep her young forever while she helped them what she didn't know was they were using her i wonder i told her they want more than you can ever give them and i was right they've taken her what do you mean asked kalis expression turned grim what happened to your father with the armor of white and gold yes said kalis color draining from his face it's happening again jonah or clovis is wearing an emerald crown and it's changing her she is becoming like your father kayla's looked shaken and said nothing for a moment then he turned to the loungeville tell foster i want a rearguard to follow by 15 minutes i want to know if anyone tries to overtake us if they encounter anyone their fastest rider is to come find us while the others are to lead whoever's coming away we'll wait for a short time at the cave we found two days ago then we'll strike straight for leonardo de lounge rule said and if those who come after don't take the bait make them take the bait said kalis delangeril nodded once turned his horse and rode to the end of the column eric looked back and saw foster and six other men slow and then stop after the loungeville gave the order they would wait a quarter hour then start riding after kayla's company hoping they would get the chance to catch up in a day or two it was mid morning the next day when someone at the rear of the column shouted ryder eric looked over his shoulder and saw jado shotty riding the life out of his horse the animal was completely lathered and from the huge extension of our nostrils eric could tell she couldn't catch her breath she was blown out and ruined he was certain jado was familiar enough with horses to realize he was killing the mayor so eric knew it could only mean trouble he untied the cord that held his sword in its scabbard as he did not need to be told that they were about to fight for in the distance less than a mile behind shadow came a dust cloud eric saw the figures on the horizon and before jadao could get close enough to speak eric shouted it's the saw de lounge will asked how can you tell the horses look too big for the distance behind shadow just then shadow came within shouting range and cried out captain is the lizard man they are following chaos turned to the loungewell and said we stay in the saddle skirmish in two lines de loungeville shouted you heard the captain i want the first 50 men dressed left on my that meant that the first fifty men in the column would line up on de loungeville's left arm in a straight line eric was the man closest to the lounge roll when he moved his horse around jado came reigning in his mouth staggering as he left off kayla shouted where's foster jada shook his head they bought none of it as soon as i took off they followed me and ignored the corporal the corporal turned around and hit them from the flank buying me a head start captain but he didn't have to say anymore eric thought of the big man jerome handy who had become something of a friend after being embarrassed by show pie aboard the ship he glanced to his right and saw shopi and nodded chopin nodded back as if he understood what eric was thinking luis said then we bleed lizards under his breath but loud enough for those named to hear eric drew his sword and put his reins between his teeth he unlimited his shield and made ready he'd control his mount with his legs but he kept the reins in his jaws in case he needed to yank them the sars animals must be as incredibly strong as their riders thought eric for if jodo's mount was near death the sars looked merely tired yet the green-skinned warriors didn't pause once they saw the line of soldiers facing them we don't scare them much observed knackle from behind eric who wouldn't take his eyes off the approaching riders kayla said when i give the order i want bowfire then the first rank will charge the second rank will hold until i give the order the bow men all in the center of the second line drew back their weapons and a loungeal half muttered wait for it the tsar bore down relentlessly and as they approached eric started noticing details some wore feathers on their helms while others had strange animals and birds on their shields the horses were bay and chestnut with some that were almost black but while a few were near white he saw no buckskins or mottled colors eric wondered why he was fascinated by the fact of there being no pintos or buckskins he fought down an unexpected urge to laugh then kalish shouted shoot and the 40 archers in the second line let loose the reign of shafts caused a half dozen riders to fall and several of the alien horses screamed then kalish shouted charge eric dug his heels into his horse's flanks and with a shout and a powerful squeeze of his legs told the horse to gallop he didn't look to see how the others were doing but kept his focus on a sar with a metal crest topped with a horsehair fall atop his helm the horse hair had been bleached and died a bright crimson so it was an easy target for eric eric sensed more than saw when his own horse crashed into the larger animal he was too intent on avoiding the blow aimed at his neck the tsar warrior used a large single bladed axe which meant he could bludgeon with it on the backswing but cut only with a forward blow eric almost fell into the gap between the two animals after his own mount staggered away from the larger horse eric ducked under the looping blow but recovered in time to deliver a punishing blow with his sword to the thigh of the saw he didn't see if the creature fell from the saddle or rode past because he was too busy engaging another warrior who had just unhorsed one of artonis's clansmen eric charged him and got his sword point under the creature's shield before he could turn and face him and the tsar fell backwards flipping completely over the rear of his horse eric swore and reigned his own horse away as the riderless alien horse lashed out with a foreleg where the mounts he cried they're trained to attack two eric moved to help rue who was attempting to work in tandem with lewis against one saw he came up on the lizard man's blind side and delivered a killing blow to the back of the creature's helm the sar fell over and the helm fell off revealing an alien face green and scaled but covered in scarlet blood well their blood's not green shouted bigger riding by they're also dying right enough so away said rue pointing biggo and eric turned to see that while most of the tsar had been unhorsed for each one killed one of their own was down as well pushing back his helm big o said we face them three to one and still they take us out in equal numbers shoot cried kalis and the ten archers who remained to him started peppering the five remaining tsar with arrows jadao said look and pointed into the distance that's why they're so fearless shouted to lounge these are just the trial breakers afar a large column of dust rose into the sky and even at this distance the rumble of hooves was thunderous eric didn't wait but set heels to the flanks of his horse and charged after the remaining tsar who were attempting to keep the humans engaged as long as possible until their companions could overtake them big o let out a whoop and charged after him they rode full into the same saw striking at him from both sides eric caught him on the sword arm shattering bone and cutting deep into flesh while biggo hammered relentlessly at the creature's shield soon it was quiet kayla said ride for the cave we'll stand there eric sucked a deep lung full of air and willed his tired horse to run there was no choice the alien horses were stronger and more powerful and had more endurance they couldn't outrun them it was clear and at one to one they couldn't out fight the tsar in the open eric hoped that the cave tunnel did lead somewhere as pragie had claimed for if it was only a cave in a hill it would be a lonely place to die in ragged order leaving the remounts to follow or wander kayla's crimson eagles exhausted and saw from the short but furious fight headed toward the distant hillock nako was among the first to reach it and without much grace he half jumped half fell from his horse he grabbed a water skin and a bag of rations then struck her on the rump yelling enough to send her running away as he ducked into the cave as eric and the others began to dismount he shouted there's a door come quick strike a light commanded kayla's and a loungeville produced a special oil and motioned for someone to give him a torch a bundle of them was fetched from the baggage along with a few other items the men would carry but most of the baggage food and all the horses must be sacrificed delangeril sprinkled the oil on a torch then struck flint and steel to cause a spark the oil caught and the torch was lit and he ducked inside the cave eric followed after and had to duck walk to pass below the low ceiling after about 10 yards the ceiling rose and the corridor broadened as the passage moved down into an underground cavern eric looked for the door and discovered it was a huge round stone it was nestled in a heavy iron and wooden frame rigged so it could be rolled from its position to the right of the passage to block it while a few strong men could use large wooden pegs set in the face to move it from inside this cave those following after would have no handhold on the smooth surface nor any way to gain enough leverage to move the massive rock when the last man was inside the cave eric biggo and jado grabbed the wooden pegs and struggled to move the rock others insinuated themselves against the wall so they could push against the edge once it moved enough slowly protestingly the rock budged and then with a grinding rumble moved as the sound of horsemen echoed through the entrance of the cave angry shouts in an alien language echoed down the hall as the grinding stone moved slowly to block their retreat suddenly eric felt resistance and knew that the saw on the other side had tried to prevent the closing push he shouted and another pair of hands moved below his and he looked down to see rue trying to add his strength to the task the little man had slipped below and crawled on the floor to find a place from which he could help nakor shouted close your eyes eric was slow and was temporarily blinded by a sudden flash of light as lit something from delangel's torch and tossed it through the narrow space between the wall and the slowly moving rock door a scream and several shouts of rage answered but the pressure on the door was released and it closed suddenly with a deep and final thud eric felt the shock in his shoulders as it slammed into the opposite wall his knees felt suddenly weak and he sat down on the cold cave floor he heard biggo laugh that was closer than i like eric found himself laughing too and looked over at jado foster and jerome jado shook his head they all died like men kayla said bobby light another torch so we can see where we're going do we have another torch ask the sergeant a voice in the dark said in the bundle here sergeant kayla said big o while we're looking ahead i want you and one darkmoor to do an inventory we've left most of what we had outside but i want to see what we have here he glanced around though if there's not another way out it really doesn't matter does it without waiting for an answer he moved off into the gloom as delangel lit a second torch handed it to lewis and moved after the captain nakor hurried to grab a few loose rocks and lay them between the stone and the floor won't roll back very well if they do get a grip he said with a grin big o turned and said all right my darlings you heard the captain look around and tell old beggar what you thieving rascals grabbed when you ran for your lives eric chuckled but knew it was just relief but still being alive he didn't know who else had noticed but when he ran into the dark he had looked back over his shoulder and seen at least 30 of the hundred or more men who had left that morning lying dead on the ground they had survived the first encounter of a long and bitter journey to come and almost a third of them were already dead he put that thought from his mind and began looking to see what resources they had hours passed and there were faint sounds from the other side of the rock door so they knew the tsar were contriving ways to move the boulder and come after them at one point rue wondered aloud what they would do if some saw magician came along and used magic to open the door and the anger that greeted the remark caused the wiry man to fall instantly silent eric couldn't remember a time when roo had been shut up so quickly or effectively when kalys finally returned biggo said we got food for four or five days captain few extra weapons but mostly what each of us is carrying we got plenty of golden gems because a sergeant there grabbed the pay sacks and we got a fair supply of bandages and herbs but all our camp gear is gone and a lot of us are going to be thirsty if we don't find water quickly kayla said the tunnel seems to head down gradually and toward the foothills i saw signs that someone's used this route not too long ago maybe a month but no more than that tribesmen asked rue doesn't matter said praji standing up unless you're anxious to face that angry pack of lizards waiting out there he pointed to the door we go that way he pointed into the gloom kayla said everyone ready no one said no and chaos turned to the loungeville get them into some sort of order and let's start seeing where this passage leads the lounge rule nodded once then turned and gave the command once the men found their way to the positions they normally took while riding a sense of the familiar surrounded eric as if following orders made the closeness of the tunnel and the gloom a gong sounded it echoed off vast ceilings of carved and coloured stone ringing through the great hall and the warden turned miranda saw him regarding her with impassive features but he made no threatening gesture as she approached she had been flying across the mountains since leaving the vast city known as the necropolis the city of the dead gods following the instructions given her by the fortune teller in the inn she had returned to midkamia and found her way back to navindus and from there to the necropolis then she flew upward guided by her arts despite her fatigue and she sought out this mythical place atop the mountains called the pavilion of the gods at last when she had to use her powers to preserve air around her she found what she sought a splendid palace atop a cloud a vast series of halls and galleries that seemed created out of ice and crystal as well as stone and marble the clouds thinned and she saw that the massive building stood atop the summit of the greatest mountain in the area and in the center stood a single immense opening she floated through the clouds surrounding the celestial city moving through the door effortlessly she felt a tingle as she passed through the spell that kept the freezing cold out and the air inside the man she had spied across the grand hall floated across the vast expanse of floor to meet her she took a moment to study her surroundings a vaulted ceiling was suspended nearly 70 flights of steps above his head supported by 12 mighty columns of stone each chosen for beauty she quickly chose our own favorite one fashioned of malachite the green veins of polished stone that could capture the eyes for hours the rose quartz was lovely too but something about the green stone spoke to her the floor of the hall was partitioned by some faint energy miranda used every trick of perception she had and decided the fields were not barriers or traps but something closer to signatures as if each area had a specific use or identity but only noted for those able to sense those energy barriers and in each area beings moved humans from their outward appearance but all wearing some of the strangest fashions she had ever seen the great windows were set with crystal pains so clear they seemed air frozen in an instant and the snow fields outside reflected the afternoon sunlight on the peaks above bathing the great hall in rows and golden hues those people moving across the vast floor through long shadows as jeweled faceted globes through soft white light across the hall the source of that light having nothing to do with nature the approaching man glided through the air standing regally as if being carried by a company of invisible bearers upon a heavy platform he touched foot to the stone floor of the hall as miranda gently touched down on the marble floor several others nearby turned to observe the confrontation though they remained silent miranda threw back her cloaks hood shaking her dark hair as she glanced around the hall who comes to the celestial city with amusement she answered a fine lot of gods you are if you don't know who comes to your own palace to visit i'm called miranda the warden said none may invade the precinct of the gods without invitation miranda grinned odd i'm here aren't i none may invade without permission and live to leave said the warden well consider me an uninvited guest not an invader what cause brings you to the hall of the gods miranda inspected the figure before her like the others who inhabited the hall he wore an odd robe tight fitting across the shoulders but billowing out below the arms forming a perfect circle at the hem almost six feet in diameter miranda guessed there was a thin band of metal or heavy cord sewn into the hem the sleeves were long and also flared along the length while the collar was stiff and high surrounding the back of the head up to the ears giving miranda the impression that she spoke to a six-foot tall doll fashioned from interlocking cones of paper with a painted clay head stuck on the top what a peculiar looking character she thought his face had olive shaded skin darkened by years of exposure to bright sun and his beard was as white as the snow outside eyes of pale blue regarded her from under white brows she glanced around the hall wishing she had more time to study the place its grandeur was nothing less than breathtaking yet somehow it was alien and as cold as the wind outside the great door no mortal lacking great magic would find his way to this abode of the gods for the climb was impossible at least a hundred feet below the base of the plateau the air became too thin to breathe long and remain alive and the temperature was constantly below freezing most of the people were turned her way and she noticed that each group seemed set off isolated by the sense of separate areas she had detected upon entering as if there was a zone on the floor they were confined to after a moment she was certain no one was leaving a given area to enter another you limit the gods asked miranda they limit themselves as they always have came the answer again i must ask what cause brings you here i come because there are terrible forces gathering and this world stands in jeopardy i have visited with the oracle of al and she is ready to enter her breeding phase her vision will be lost to us those forces that march are committed to a course of action that will bring about the end of all we know including this she waved her hand indicating the hall the warden closed his eyes a moment and miranda knew something was being communicated then he said speak more of what of what you hope to find here i had hope for some sense that the gods of midkemia were ready to answer the threat to their very existence her anger was poorly hidden and contempt edged her words these are but the aspects of the gods answered the warden those men and women who have for reasons beyond our mortal understanding being chosen to exist on the god's behalf they have come to live out their lives as mortal aspects of the gods eyes and ears granting the gods mortal perspective on the world in which they abide miranda nodded then i would speak to one of these godly aspects if you don't mind i have nothing to say in the matter came the answer i am but the warden of the celestial city it is my task to keep those who abide here comfortable he closed his eyes you may speak to whoever will answer walking past the warden miranda approached the area nearest the entrance where a group of men and women stood surrounding one who loomed over them by a full head all wore white without a hint of color and the woman at the center of the group had hair without hue her skin was also without pigmentation but rather than possessing the look of an albino she appeared to be of some alien race with skin truly white in color those who surrounded her stepped aside allowing miranda to approach at a respectful distance miranda bowed ahead then she said song i plead for help the living incarnation of the goddess stared down at the young woman her eyes held mysteries miranda could only begin to guess but her face presented a kindly visage yet no answer was forthcoming miranda pressed on a great evil arises here one that unchecked will release forces to rival even your own i must seek aid for a long moment the goddess studied miranda then with an economy of motion she indicated the woman should move to another area seek one not yet come among us miranda hurried to another quarter of the hall in which an empty area stood ready but unoccupied shifting her perceptions through each phase of sight she knew miranda searched for some hint of what she might find here a glyph shimmered in a spectrum of light beyond the ability of most men to see yet miranda saw it she turned to discover the warden had followed her floating a foot above the stone floor who placed such a mark here one who recently visited like you what does the symbol mean it is the mark of wardan hosper one of the lost gods whom we await you await the return of gods lost during the chaos wars she asked in surprise everything is possible in the hall of the gods what was the name of this man i may not say i am seeking pug of stardoc said miranda at the end in the hall of worlds i was told to come here the warden shrugged such matters are not my concern has he been here i may not say miranda thought then asked if you can say nothing else where might i go next to find this man the warden hesitated it may be that you need to look at that place where you were misled miranda said i thought as much with a wave of her arm she was gone a faint popping sound the only indication of her having been there one of the people attending a nearby god turned and threw back his hood he was short of stature his eyes the color of dark walnut aged and stained his beard as dark as that of a lad of twenty but his manner and size did little to disguise the aura of power that surrounded him stepping over to where the warden waited he said you've served your purpose with a wave of his hand the figures in the hall vanished leaving only a vast emptiness of rock and ice cold air rang in through the now unprotected opening and bit with enough harshness to make him gather his cloak tightly around him glancing around to see that no trace of illusion remained he was raising his hands to will himself to another place when a voice said gods it's cold without that illusion the man turned and standing a yard away was the woman pug of starduck the man nodded neatly done lady there are few who could have seen through the rules she smiled and something oddly familiar hinted at recognition then was gone i didn't but things just didn't feel right and i thought if i could seem to have left then perhaps i might learn something the man smiled you simply turned yourself invisible and made the proper noise the woman nodded you are pug the man said yes i am pug of starduck the woman's face took on an expression of concern and again there was something hauntingly familiar about her good we must go there's much to be done what are you talking about asked pug kaipor has fallen and leonardo is undone by treachery pug nodded i know this but for me to act too soon and the pantathions counter your magic with their own i know but there is more here than a simple bashing of magics like rams banging heads in the mountains her breath hung in the frigid air and she waited pug said before i presume to tell you there are forces at play beyond your knowledge i suppose i should find out what you know he vanished damn said miranda i hate it when men do that pug had two goblets of wine poured when miranda popped into existence why did you do that if you couldn't follow me then telling you anything was pointless pug handed her a goblet there's something vaguely familiar about you he observed miranda took the wine and sat down on a divan opposite a writing desk pug pulled out the stool that went with the desk and sat down where are we starduck she glanced around the room was small and lacking any decoration all she could see indicated that this was a library books lined every wall save one narrow space that held a window and besides the divan desk and chair the room was devoid of furniture a pair of lamps burned one at each end of the room pug nodded my quarters no one can get in or out but myself and no one expects me to visit as no one has seen me here in 25 years miranda looked around why keep it so i made a major display of breaking off my ties here after my wife died he spoke of her death in a matter-of-fact tone but miranda could see a tiny tension around the corners of his eyes as he mentioned this if someone is to come looking for me the look on sorcerer's aisle i've left enough people who work magic there that any spell designed to detect magic will be ringing like a dinner bell and as magic is being practiced here every day if you do decide to do some work no one will notice she sipped her wine and said very neat and this is very good is it asked pug he sipped yes it is i wonder which he held up the bottle i have to ask gatiss if there's more of this in the cellar at sorcerazia when i return why all the misdirection asked miranda why were you looking for me i asked you first pug nodded fair enough the pantathions are wary of me and my arts they've discovered ways to neutralize me so i make sure they and their agents can't find me neutralize you her eyes narrowed i've run across snake magic before and there are smoking corpses to mark those battles if you're as powerful as they say pug said there are more ways to stem attack than simply to meet it with more strength what if i were to hold a child you love and put a dagger to her throat miranda said so if they don't know where you are they can't threaten anyone you care about yes now why are you looking for me miranda said the oracle of al enters her birthing cycle and we lose her ability to help us i've been asked by whom interrupted pug by some people who'd rather not see this world end any time soon she snapped i've been asked to help preserve the lifestone pug stood how do you know the lifestone miranda said i am keshian do you remember one who came to support the king's army at the battle lord abdul rahman khan answered pug miranda nodded it took years to penetrate the illusions and false trails but after a while those few who entered to speak to the oracle and leave with whatever wisdom she gave them even with that statue at malik's cross as the transfer point even after decades the truth was known so you work for the emperor do you work for the king counted miranda boric and i are something of cousins said pug sipping at his wine again you beg the question so i do he set his goblet down let's say that i'm somewhat less constricted in my loyalties than i used to be which is all beside the point if you know anything of the lifestone you know that national interests are petty at this point if the valhalla reawaken we will all perish then you must help me said miranda if those foolish men i help recruit for the prince survive we'll know who and what we face sighed you a kessian recruiting for the prince it seemed the prudent thing to do to serve my real masters interests pug only raised an eyebrow so which foolish men are these kaelis leads them thomas's son said pug i haven't seen him since he was young it must be 20 or more years he's still young and angry and confused he's unique there is no other creature like him in the universe he's the product of a union that shouldn't have borne fruit and he will die someday unique and alone pug nodded who else a band of men condemned to die none known to you and neck or the islani pug smiled i miss his rambling brilliance and his sense of fun miranda said fun is far from his mind these days i fear with a rooter's death nicholas becomes the hope for the western realm the kingdom and the world he has grudgingly adopted his father's plan but he has little enthusiasm for it what plan is this she told him of the previous voyages to novindus and of the destruction endured by khalis and his men the last time she told him of the plan to send men down to join with the conquering army men who would return with the truth about what was facing them do you think asked pug after she finished that this is anything but a full-scale consolidation of all the armed might in navindus so that an attack can be launched across the sea to seize the lifestone the pantathions lack subtlety answered miranda but it could be someone is manipulating them the way they manipulated the moradelle during the great uprising pug conceded that this was true but every indication is that they are seeking to put all navindus under their sway to create the largest army ever seen in this world and from that it is just one logical step to assume they're going to throw that army at the kingdom perhaps sail right into crondor harbour then march across half the kingdom to sethenon pug was silent for a moment then said i don't think anyone is using them in the sense you suggest the pantathions are too alien by other being standards judging by everything i've seen they have a view of the universe that is so warped it defies logic but it's so ingrained in their very nature that they've not allowed more than two thousand years of observing the way in which the universe really works to sway them from their fanatic devotion to their unique view of things miranda raised an eyebrow that's a little too analytical for me pug i have encountered other fanatics and reality doesn't seem to sway them much either she waved off a comment he was about to make but i see your point if they move for their own dark purposes in such numbers then it's clear they risk all or nothing on this massive undertaking pug shook his head no and sighed not really the damnable thing about all this is we can defeat them again perhaps destroying every man and creature they send across the sea but what does this gain us save wholesale ruin on our own shore we still don't know where they live miranda said pug nodded yes we have only vague rumors up north near the headwaters of the serpent river the serpent lake down in the great south forest somewhere deep in the heart of the forest of arabic no one knows you've looked pug nodded i've used every magic spell i could find or dream up and have traveled on foot across a great deal of that continent the sad truth is they're either incredibly gifted in shielding themselves from sight both magic and mundane or they're doing something so obvious i'm not seeing it miranda sipped her whine after a moment she said that still leaves us with an army to defeat more i'm afraid what pug said i believe that kalis is going to find something far more powerful at the heart of this particular campaign and i can't tell you why he went over to a bookshelf there are several tomes here that speak of doorways pathways and routes between different levels of reality like the hall of worlds pug shook his head no that place exists in the objective universe as we understand it though it is somewhat of an artifact of creation allowing those who travel the halls to exist beyond certain limits of that objective reality do you remember how real the hall of the gods looked yes a most convincing illusion it was more than an illusion i tapped into a higher level of reality a higher energy state for lack of a better description a long time ago i went into the city of the dead gods and entered through a seam into the hall of the goddess of death i spoke to limbs kragma interesting said miranda pug looked at her and saw she was not mocking him it was really the goddess of death you spoke to that's the point i'm trying to make there is no goddess of death yet there is there's the natural force of creation and the equally natural act of destruction what breaks down a once living being provides food for new life we understand so little of these things he said showing a hint of frustration but these personifications these gods and goddesses they may be but a way in which we who live in one state of reality can interact with forces beings energy from another reality interesting theory said miranda actually most of it is knackles but what has this to do with all the murder about to be done beings from these other states exist i faced the dread to name but one really she said obviously impressed the steelers of life are not to be trifled with by all reports that's the first clue i had pug's face grew animated as he said when i fought the dread for the first time i sensed a different rhythm a different state to the energy of his being when i bested him i learned a few things over the years i've discovered other things living on kelawan the saurani home world for a number of years gave me insights i never would have gained here on midkamia one thing i've discovered is that the dread do not drink the life of living beings on this world they change the energies to a state they can use the unfortunate side effect of that change is the death of the creature they touch such academic considerations are of little interest to those who die i'm afraid true but you see it's important if they can do that why can't forces we can't see in our normal frame of reference not be able to reach out and manipulate energy here in our world where are we going with this ask miranda betraying impatience what was the lifestone like when you last visited the oracle asked pug what do you mean did it appear as it always did i don't know miranda looked puzzled it's the only time i've ever seen it but there was something odd about it wasn't there miranda shrugged i had a feeling that the valharou trapped inside was somehow doing something miranda had a far away look stirring i think that's what i said they were stirring more than usual i fear they may have found a way to interact directly with someone or some group within the pantathian community perhaps with this so-called emerald queen who now leads them that's a chilling thought pug said there is something few know have you heard of my cross the black miranda said by reputation her tone was dry and pug assumed she didn't believe the inflated tales about the black sorcerer much of what he did was theatrics but much was an order of magic beyond even my understanding today he was able to do things with time that i can only speculate on for one example her eyes narrowed at that time travel more thomas and i were trapped in a time well with him and we traveled to the dawn of time and returned but he could use his mind and will across eons how do you mean he used his skills and powers to fashion a relationship between tomas a boyhood friend of mine and ashen shugar the valharoo whose armor he wears supplied miranda it was never a simple case of an ancient magic lingering in a mystic suit of armor macross used that armor as a vehicle for his own manipulation of my friend centuries later so he could act as he did during the rift war that wily bastard muttered miranda what if thomas's armor isn't the only vehicle for such manipulation miranda's eyes grew wide is it possible of course it's possible said pug the older i get the more certain i become that there is very little that isn't possible miranda stood up and began to pace the tiny room how would we know we wait for careless to return or somehow get word to us when last i saw i asked him to travel with kayla's if possible for he's uniquely suited to spying out this sort of problem i suggested the possibility i just spoke of to you more than three years ago now that you tell me he's gone with kayla's i'm content to wait until they return and we keep out of sight until then so as not to provide the pantathions with a target i could protect myself for a while as you can i'm sure but constantly having to defend myself would prove worrisome and divert me from certain studies miranda nodded what was that business of the clue and the rest were the whole of worlds and the city of the gods all about anyway i wanted a way to keep to myself and yet be found if someone with a witten talent needed to find me had you gone prowling the hall asking questions on any number of worlds well you would have encountered difficulty i was warned of your assassins she counted who told you it was the gossip of the day at honest john's pug said the next time i hire someone for a quiet undertaking i think i will avoid the who directed you to mustafa's bold our blood uh when you left mustafa i went ahead to the mountains to wait for you the simple trick of telling you to go somewhere else was my last trick he smiled had you not proved so agreeable a guest i would have disposed of you up on those cold peaks so as to be as far from starduck as possible when the pantathions noticed the display miranda gave him a sour expression lacks subtlety perhaps but time grows short and i have much work to do while i wait for kalys and knack all can i be of help boldar blood is waiting for me in an inn in la mutt if he can be of service for now send word to him to wait let the mercenary enjoy taybot's girls and alex said pug as for you there are any number of tasks around here that i could use help with if you don't mind i won't cook she said or mend your small clothes pug laughed he was genuinely amused my that's the first good laugh i've had in a long time he shook his head hardly i can get all the dinner and laundry i require on sorcerer's isle i informed gatiss and when all is ready i transport food in and linens out no i need you to start digging through a large part of a very old library looking for clues clues to what ask miranda now obviously intrigued clues to where we may have to go to find someone if the need arises cocking her head to one side as if she already knew the answer she said looking for whom pug said if kalis brings me the news i fear most of all we're going to have to find the only being i know of who can counter the sort of magic we'll face we're going to have to try to once again locate macros the black chapter 20 passage chaos signaled silently the men behind him halted in place and raised hands to warn the others father down the line to stop since entering the tunnel two days before they had adopted silent travel all communication was done by hand gestures and noise was kept to a minimum while every man in calis's company had been trained in such practices the klansmen under hattonis and the mercenaries hired by praji had been a noisy bunch at first they had learned quickly however and no longer needed constant reminders to keep silent of the 111 men who had left the rendezvous the 66 man in kayla's command and the 45 with greylock pragee vajra and atonis 71 had survived the clash with the tsar above above was how they now thought of the plane of jams the tunnel had moved continuously down until naco estimated they were close to a quarter mile below the surface at count the night before he had whispered to eric that someone had once badly wanted to trade on the planes above to have built such a long and deep passage either that or they had wanted their front door a very long defensible distance from their home the tunnel had been a uniform size varying only with an occasional outcropping of stone that was easier to move around than to dig through except for those minor deviations the tunnel was a uniform seven feet in height ten feet wide and apparently endless at several points along the way larger areas had been dug out that might have served for rest areas or places to store provisions but their original use could only be guessed at by those now passing kalis turned back to where lewis waited and motioned for him to come forward eric wondered at the choice until he saw khalis draw a dagger from his belt beyond the captain lay another opening but eric had the impression this was more than another widening in the tunnel he sensed air movement and wondered if they had reached some portion of the abandoned underground city praji had told of he knew it was not possible that they had come far enough to enter the particular one praji spoke of down in the south but perhaps there was another such place up here in the mountains chaos and lewis vanished into the gloom the single torch was at the center of the column and the light barely reached either end eric didn't know how chaos did it his vision must be inhuman for the faint light that reached the head of the line barely gave eric enough illumination to see the loungeville's back as he crouched waiting eric hugged himself for it was cold in the passage all the men were chilled but they endured it in silence since losing foster delanger had been delegating tasks equally to biggo and eric that usually fell to the corporal eric was uncertain if this was any endorsement of his ability or simply a question of proximity they were the two men the loungeweel was most likely to find at his back when he turned around a few minutes later kalis and lewis returned and kayla spoke in a hushed whisper while lewis returned to his normal place in line it's a large gallery and we're entering through a passage that empties into a ledge leading both downward and up it's wide enough for three men to walk abreast but there is no railing and it's a long way down so pass the word that when we move out everyone should be cautious of the edge i'm going back to explore you rest here for a half hour and if i'm not back that means follow the upward path delangel nodded and motioned for rest those behind him passed along the silent instruction and the men sat where they were eric shifted around until he found a relatively comfortable position resting against the cold stone while the others did likewise he heard a faint scraping sound a realized delangel was counting knots in a thong it was an old trick moving your fingers along a piece of rope twine or leather silently reciting a fixed ditty one that had been practiced over and over until it was almost as exact as sand falling in a glass de loungeville would move his fingers down a knot each time he finished the rhyme when he reached the end of the thong ten minutes would have passed when he'd used the thong three times the half hour would be up eric closed his eyes he couldn't sleep but he could relax as much as possible without thought he put his hands on his aching legs and felt them grow warm with the healing power he had learned from knackle as the rest of his body was chilled by the cold rocks it was a welcome sensation eric wondered how the rest of the villagers in wenat were doing and what would become of them when the emerald queen's army reached that area there were so many invaders there was no chance they could lie low in the woods until they left that host would strip the land of everything edible for five miles on both sides of the river the only hope those villagers had would be to go up into the mountains and hide in the high valleys perhaps kurzan and his people would help them eric doubted it they would have barely enough food for the winter for themselves then he wondered what his mother was doing he had no idea what time it was back home he didn't really know what time it was above he thought it was midday that probably meant it was the middle of the night back in ravensburg she was most likely asleep in her little room at the inn eric wondered if she knew he still lived her last news of him might have been that he had been condemned to die given the secrecy surrounding the mission and the chance of not surviving training he suspected she thought him dead he sighed softly and wondered how she was and rosalind and milo and the others in the village they seemed so far away and that life so alien he could barely remember what it felt like to rise up every day with his only expectation being hard work at the forge suddenly he felt a touch on his wrist and looked over to see the loungeville in the dim light signaling it was time to move out eric reached over and nudged the dozing biggo who nodded and nudged the man next in line eric rose and moved out after the sergeant who passed through the opening to the gallery and turned right on the walkway heading upward in the deep darkness eric could only sense the size of the place and he was about halfway around the circular path when the man holding the torch emerged from the side passage suddenly eric could see the entire gallery and he involuntarily stepped back against the wall the floor was lost in the gloom below despite the torchlight as was the ceiling above a faint draft of air rose up and it carried a damp stale odour eric wished he hadn't known the pathway was so narrow and the fall so great as now he walked with considerably more discomfort he moved on and followed delangeville upward into the darkness at several points along the way they encountered entrances to new tunnels and they paused to see if kalis had marked any indicating they should leave the upwardly spiraling path they never saw any marks there were wide places as if ledges had been carved into the rock of the mountain to allow more comfortable movement and places where the men could sit eric had no idea how long they had been following chaos but he knew his legs hurt the constant upward climb was taking its toll suddenly they saw khalis ahead in the gloom he said this area is deserted the men seemed to relax at that and the loungeville said project is this like this dwarven place he spoke of not that i'd recognize said the old mercenary he was short of wind and obviously pleased to be halting even if only for a few minutes mind you i have only tales but it's been described to me several times by different people who've been there he looked around this place i don't know what it is kayla said there are dwarven minds back home and i've been through a couple they have galleries and such but this is something different no dwarven hand built this place this is no mine eric heard rue's voice coming from behind this looks like a city captain eric turned and heard kayla say a city rue said well something like it those tunnels lead up to other places maybe sleeping quarters or places to store goods but those wide places if you noticed are in a pattern there's one for every two entrances along the way and they're all of uniform size i think they're like mark areas then this would be some sort of central passage like a boulevard in a city only it moves up and down instead of north and south said big o who would have built such a place asked eric cales said i don't know he changed the subject we're about at ground level so i'm inclined to start looking for a way out i'm going to explore the next corridor we come to i want the men to make camp at the next market area we find is it sundown already asked to loungeville i judge it in our past said knuckle from behind more like two answered kayla's how do you know blurted roux kayla smiled in the dim light i'll be back before dawn with that he moved ahead and the weary column of men followed after until they came to the next wide space on the trail where they gladly settled in for a night's rest eric discovered he had no sense of time in these caves chaos had mentioned to de loungeville that it had been two and a half days of travel which in his judgment accounted for a 20-mile journey from the hillock to the foothills of the mountains and then a gradual climb into the interior of a large peak eric felt as if it had been a lot farther but he realized that so much of the trek had been up the spiral path inside this mountain earlier that day said he was convinced the entire region was deserted but there was something in his voice that hinted to eric there was more that he was not sharing despite eric's constant pledge to himself not to seek trouble but to mind his own business he couldn't help but wonder what it was that seemed to be lurking behind the captain's words one fortunate result of kayla's exploration was his saying that he thought they were getting close to a way out of this maze of dark passages and tall caverns at one point he had hesitated between two large tunnels one angling down into the mountain the other veering once again upward eric sensed chaos had wanted to take the other tunnel the one heading deep into the heart of the mountains but he kept them moving upward eric wondered what had drawn chaos to that other tunnel late the next day the soldier carrying the bundle of torches said they were running low kalis acknowledged the report saying nothing else eric felt an unexpected stab of fear at the thought of being in these mines without light they had been extinguishing the torches when they slept on the first night he had awakened in total darkness and had to fight back the urge to shout in alarm he had never awakened to so utter a blackness and he had laying there listening in the dark he realized he was not the only one awake for he could hear the rapid breathing of men not able to sleep in such conditions and the quiet weeping of one or two who felt terror so profound he could understand it even if he couldn't name it another fitful night was spent in utter darkness and then they resumed their march at noon on the fifth day they broke for the midday meal more dried rations water was a problem as they had only two large skins and a handful of smaller ones filled at an underground pool the morning before but there was no sign of water anywhere nearby and kalis ordered the men to drink as they had in the desert one mouthful no more as they were readying to move out a distant clutter rang through the tunnel as if someone had dislodged rocks kayla's motioned for everyone to stand still after a while the loungeville whispered rock slide perhaps answered the captain but i need to be sure he pointed up and toward the left if i am correct somewhere up ahead you should come either to an opening that leads directly to the surface showing you some light or a big passage leading up and away to the left ignore any passages that clearly lead downward or off to the right he smiled slightly you should be on the surface by the time i catch up with you i will follow as soon as i'm sure there's nothing behind us do you want to torch asked a lounge rule i can find my way without one if we are being followed by the tsar i don't want any light to show them where i am if i get too close eric wondered how he could find his way through the dark and even if he could how he was willing to give up the torch's reassurance scant as it was chaos moved down the line offering a quick tap on the shoulder or nod to each of the men as he passed them de laongril motioned for hand signals only and indicated they should follow him eric discovered he was now second in line he peered into the gloom barely able to see ten feet beyond the sergeant into the murk as the flickering torch in the middle of the line caused the shadows to dance he fervently hoped that kalis was correct and they were getting close to getting out of these caves they moved forward faint noises echoed through the passages as the torch burned low the lounge real judge kalis had been gone for almost a half day the men were tired and it seemed an appropriate time for sleep motioning for a halt he whispered back how many torches the answer came we have two after this one the lounge will swore if the captain doesn't get back soon we may be truly lost in the dark tomorrow unless that passage he spoke of is nearby put out that torch and make sure you have everything needed to launch it quickly if there's any trouble i want two shifts first four hours and second four then we walk out of this god forsaken hole eric knew he would be among those sleeping first so he lay down and tried to get as comfortable as possible despite being tired to his bones he just couldn't find it easy to sleep in the pitch darkness on rock he closed his eyes and heard muttering which told him that the torch had been extinguished he was not alone in being troubled by the total absence of light he kept his eyes closed and turned his mind to pleasant thoughts he wondered how the harvest at home this year had gone and how the grapes looked he recalled the growers bragging about a record crop but that was nothing unusual you could usually tell if they were just talking to hear themselves talk or if they truly meant it by their manner the more earnest they were that it was to be a great year the more you could suppose it wouldn't be but if they spoke of the harvest in a matter of fact nearly in different way it would be a great year he then wondered how the other young men and women in the village were he thought about gwen and regretted he hadn't gone to the orchard with her on the occasions he might have having a woman was a great deal more than he had imagined and the memory of the softness roused his flesh despite his fatigue he thought of rosalind and found himself both fascinated and disturbed by remembering her without her clothing he had seen her numerous times as a child bathing but seeing her woman's breasts as she lay before the tree he found the memory now oddly disturbing as if there must be something wrong to think about how she looked as the result of a rape eric tried to turn over and succeeded only in making himself less comfortable maybe he could talk to nacho about this unsettling memory of rosalind the funny man seemed to know a great deal and perhaps could tell eric why he was suddenly aroused by such a repulsive memory yet when he thought of that night the rage and anger were distant and the murder seemed as if it had happened to someone else but those small firm breasts he groaned slightly and sat up suddenly disoriented in the darkness he started to berate himself for being as depraved as any man living when it struck him suddenly there was light coming from a head in the tunnel it was faint but any light would be noticeable in the absolute gloom of the cavern he sensed more than saw the form of de loungeville before him and saw the soldier who was to have been on duty had dozed off he felt no anger for the man remaining alert in total darkness was almost impossible the sound of slow breathing everywhere told eric he might be the only man remaining awake who was close enough to the head of the column to see the light he gently reached past deloundreal and nudged the sentry the man came awake saying uh delangero was awake an instant later and also whispered what before the sentry could say anything eric said mark thought he saw a light ahead sergeant he was asking me if i saw it too turning to the sentry he said yeah there is light up there delangel said like the others quietly now torch first six men come with me they crept forward and after a few steps eric could see it was a moving light coming from the left from a passage that intersected the one in which they traveled 50 or so feet farther along as they neared the passage it was clear it was rapidly growing brighter then suddenly the loungeville was motioning for everyone to hug the walls the sounds of movement preceded a figure who strode into view passing through the intersection without a glance right or left eric gripped his sheathed sword hilt ready to pull it free should the need arise the creature was a serpent man dressed in a tunic and leggings rather than trousers which allowed his short tail to swing freely behind him came two more larger and dressed in armor eric had had a good look at the saw a better look than he would care to repeat but these creatures were of a different stripe the tallest of them was smaller than a human by a head and they were sinuous eric noticed they seemed slow and deliberate in their movement he wondered if it might be the chill in the cavern that slowed them furnaccore had said these creatures were cold blooded another pair of guards passed through one glancing in their direction eric waited but the creature moved on without comment or alarm eric could only reason that the creature's night vision had been harmed by the closeness of the torch before it and that hugging the walls the humans were nearly invisible another pair then another until a full dozen pantathions walked by delangero motioned for the others to wait then move to where the light was quickly fading he hurried back and whispered they're gone as the tunnel was plunged into darkness again they reached the remaining column now alert to the last man who had worked his way to the head of the line said serpent men yes how do you know i felt them was his answer i feel a lot of strange things here this is a bad place i'll not argue that said the loungeville he let his breath out slowly in frustration then he said i want us out of here as fast as we can get eric found listening to his voice in pitch darkness only heightened his appreciation of the tone of frustration in the man's statement then delangel asked which way do we go naco whispered we move roughly to the southeast i think we go the way the snake men came from not follow after i think they came from the surface and go somewhere deep within the mountain we are high enough that we will find it cool cold even when we come out serpent people don't like the cold so i think that would be the place they don't live you think they live down under the mountain could be nako answered hard to know but they are here and we need to do many things before we start fighting again if we die then no one knows what's really going on and that is bad delangeril was silent eric found himself growing uncomfortable with the duration and at last said sergeant shut up came the quick response i'm thinking eric and the others stayed silent then at last deloungeville's voice cut through the darkness greylock he called his voice low but urgent from the rear her figure moved slowly forward trying not to step on feet in the dark at last a voice said nearby yes you're in charge i expect you to get as many of this company out alive as you can the former officer said i will sergeant i'd like eric for my second de loungeville didn't hesitate von darkmoor your actor sergeant for a while shadow your corporal all of you pay attention to whatever knack or and her tone yours have to say this is what you're gonna do i'm waiting here for chaos i don't want to try to mark the passages we take in case more of those pantathions come this way leave me one torch and i'll wait here until i decide the captain's not coming back there was a note of urgency and worry in his voice eric had never heard before he wondered if he would have noticed it had he been able to see the loungeville's face then i'll catch up with you continued to lounge now here's what you'll do when you reach the surface get across the grasslands as best as you can and to the coast acquire horses or steal a boat but somehow get back to the city of the serpent river trenchard's revenge is there all she's been sunk for nicholas gave orders that at least one ship would remain for us atonis and his men will know the best route atonis from the rear spoke loudly enough for his voice to carry just to the front of the line there's an old trade route overland from ispa to the city of the serpent river through mahata it is rarely used anymore but it should be possible on horseback the lounge rule took a deep breath and said alright light a torch and get out of here the man who had been harboring the torches lit a spark and soon the flame was going eric found he had to squint which surprised him given how far back down the line the light was he turned and saw de loungeville the sergeant had his usual mask of determination in place eric decided he wouldn't have noticed the sound of worry if he had been looking at the man without saying anything eric reached out and quickly placed his hand under loungeville's arm gave a quick squeeze and released it the only gesture he could make without saying something the sergeant looked at him giving him only a brief nod of acknowledgement before eric moved down the tunnel greylock reached the junction of the tunnels peered both ways then motioned for the men to follow to the left eric reached the junction and as he started to turn the corner he fought down the urge to look back to where de loungeville waited if only the captain were here he said to himself silently where could khalis be kalis held close to the wall as he stared in wide-eyed amazement he and his father had spoken many times of what it would be like to confront their unusual heritage a legacy of ancient magic warped by the skill of macross the black and used to bring to his human father the powers incarnate of the legendary valoru thomas had wooed and won the hand of aglarana the queen of the elves and had fathered khalis impossible fruit of a union unique in history kalis was young by the reckoning of the elven people little more than a half century old by human consideration he was a man of middle years and by any measure he had more than a dozen lifetimes experience in watching the pain and madness of the creatures who lived on this world but nothing had prepared him to deal with the consequences of what he had chosen to investigate elves possessed the ability to navigate by the dimmest light of the night a single moon or distant stars but even dwarves were incapable of seeing in the utter blackness of underground tunnels yet they had other senses and kalis unlike his elven cousins had traveled with dwarves enough in his youth to have learned some of their tricks the sound of air moving faint echoes upon the passage walls counting turns and remembering distances it was said that once upon a path no dwarf could ever fail to retrace his steps kalis possessed the same knack after leaving the company he had moved back down to the vast gallery the circular central hall of this city within a mountain for that was what he was certain it had been once in ancient days a city beneath the mountains as rue had supposed but the youth from ravensburg had no idea what sort of city from what he had studied with tathar and the other spell weavers of elvendar kalis had suspected from the first that this was a city of elven construction rather than dwarven but the elves who had built this place were as unlike calys's people as they were unlike any other mortal race those elves had existed as slaves to the valharu and only by command of their ancient masters could such a place have come to be built by elven hands once he had reached the gallery kalis was convinced the sound he had heard had been nothing more than a distant rockfall there were no signs of pursuit still he moved downward to make sure passing the strange split in the tunnels that had called to him so strangely he had moved deep within the well of darkness and when at last he could hear only his own breath and the pounding of his heart in his ear he turned back but as he approached that odd junction where he had hesitated the first time he had passed at the head of the company he again paused sensing something ancient and compelling deep within the tunnel that moved downward it was a foolish risk yet it was impossible for chaos to resist he knew he should ensure the others got free but he had faith in the cunning of delaundrel and the skills of knackle and now he knew what had called him there was something ancient at the heart of this hall and he looked upon it with fear and astonishment he had taken the tunnel moving downward following through another gallery smaller than the grand gallery they had climbed yet large enough to have served as a small town high above a faint light shone down so far away that the noon sun was but a pinpoint yet that entrance at the summit of some high mountain told him his instinct was correct this ancient place had once been home to a valero much as the great cavern below the mcmordane cadal the ancient dwarven mines in the grey tower mountains had been home to ashen shugar the ruler of the eagle's reaches the valharu whose ancient spirit had come to possess his father and change his nature so profoundly crossing a narrow stone bridge he had come to a set of wooden doors large enough to admit a great dragon and chaos knew that once they did for the dragon lords kept their mighty mounts close at hand in the door was a smaller portal one used by servants in ages past he had moved a heavy iron handle and to his surprise it opened a latch easily and without noise the door had swung open on hinges recently well oiled and kalis blinked his eyes as the sudden light threatened to blind him at the end of the long cavernous hall a ledge overlooked a vast cavern a blaze with torchlight and in the center of the cavern a village of mud huts crewed and without craft in their fashioning was constructed around a series of cracks steam rose heralding an underground source of heat and at the center of the largest vent a heat shimmer danced in the air as he had approached kalis had been bewildered by the sudden rise in temperature where he had been feeling damp chill when he left the others he was now sweating as much as he had been in the desert the thermal vents showed that this valhal hall was fashioned inside what had once been a volcano the air was pungent with the smell of decay and the stench of sulfur on the air kaelis felt his eyes burn at the sting of it as he looked down on the scene below throughout the hall roamed serpent men and at the center rear of the hall on a high deus a great throne rose against the wall upon that throne where once shattered dragon lord now sat one of their tribe a creature of scales and claws but its eyes were fixed upon space for it was ages dead the pantathions nearest the motionless figure appeared to be priests where investments of green and black and to the mummy of some ancient reptile king they paid homage kalis was no spell weaver but he felt the bite of magic in the air and around the base of the throne he saw artifacts from eons past it was the presence of these items that caused him to suffer he ached to march into the hall brushing aside those creatures and to mount those steps to the top of the deus casting down this lesser creature to take possession of the items of might that lay at its feet for caelis was certain these items were indeed relics of the valaroo never had his blood sung so save once when his father had allowed him to hold the shield of white and gold he wore into battle kalis fought back such foolhardy urges and tried to make sense of the scene before him it would be too easy to count this simply a pentathean village for there were too many strange things to account for he wished nakor was here the little man's ability to see things clearly would have been invaluable as it was kaelis attempted to memorize every detail before him drinking in the conflicting images and trying to record them in his mind without passing judgment on their significance so as not to neglect an important detail through an error in judgment after a half hour several human prisoners were brought into the hall most had the vacant-eyed look of those in shock or under some sort of spell or the effect of drugs but one woman struggled against her chains the priests arranged themselves in a line across the lowest step on the dais and the center most spread his hands holding in one an emerald topped staff he spoke in a hissing language unlike anything callus had heard in his travels and motioned to guards to take the prisoners and move them to another place chaos wished for his bow that he might kill this priest then he wondered where such a violent rage came from then the priest motioned for the first prisoner to be brought before the throne and two guards moved to carry out the command a series of ritual passes of the staff was punctuated by guttural croaks and deep hisses and the emerald at the top of the staff began to glow brightly death magic surged in the room as one of the guards held the first prisoner's head back while another quickly struck with a long knife cutting the head completely from the body kalis held himself motionless despite strong anger surging up within the guard threw the head into a corner and kalis followed its flight watching as it landed with a wet thud among a pile of heads some rotting others now skulls that sat behind the throne the two serpents holding the man's body lifted it carried it to a recessed chamber and tossed it down out of sight the screeches of hunger that answered caused kaelis to swallow hard the woman who seemed unfazed by the drugs started screaming and kalis felt his nerves grow taut he clutched his sword hilt and ached to charge this den of monsters one by one the drugged prisoners were slaughtered their heads tossed to the pile after dark magic seized their life energy and the bodies were fed to the pantathion young the woman screamed continuously as she crouched on the floor her terror outracing her fatigue at last she remained alone before the priests the priest with the emerald top staff motioned for the guards to take the woman next and they lifted her up ripping her tunic free so she stood naked in front of the priest who ignored the warm sticky puddle he stepped in as he walked through the pooling blood of the victims kalis saw the priest motion the guards to hold the woman fast and he saw them force her to lie back holding her down while the priest began to make more motions with the staff and prodd her with the butt end while singing in his alien tongue callus felt his throat tighten he had encountered the pantathion's evil sorcery before they were able to use humans to create pantathions who looked like humans kayla's had seen the results before and knew it was a powerful black art being practiced below kalis was no student of magic but he had some knowledge of it and this next act was too vile for him to begin to understand as the priest removed a long dagger from his robe and advanced upon the now shrieking woman kalis looked away he judged himself too close to this place of dark magic for too long and moved backwards slowly into the gloom a few paces up the passage he turned and hurried up the long tunnel he quickly slipped through the door closing it behind him and paused a moment to let his senses start to adjust to the gloom as he paused he considered what he had just seen it was impossible to imagine what the pantathions gained from the priest's slow torture of a human woman he had no doubt that eventually the priest would kill the woman and her head would join the others on the pile as her body went to nourish the young he wished for a moment that neko had been along for the strange little man who claimed not to believe in magic seemed to know more about it than just about anyone kayla's had met he might make some sense of how this ritual torture and slaughter tied into what he feared might be occurring with the emerald queen and the valhalu artifacts of power kalis hurried through the darkness without conscious thought he started counting steps and measuring distances with his hearing and he hoped that he'd find his company where he had left it delangel almost leapt when kalis touched his arm he spun around to hear a familiar voice ask where is everyone else captain de loungeville said i was just about to say a brief prayer to ruthia and a small testimonial to limbs kragma on the i'll be half then get the l out of here now i can sit down and die of a burst heart sorry i startled you but i couldn't tell who it was here in the dark and it smelled like you but i wanted to be sure smelled like me it's been a while since you've had a bath bobby you're no bunch of roses either kalis have you a torch to answer the lounge struck steel to flint and set a hot spark into the treated cotton wadding wrapped on a stick the flames started modestly but spread quickly and by the time the loungewell held it up they were bathed in a pool of light call me mother but you'll look a fright said deloundreal what did you find down there i'll tell you when we put some distance between us and it which way we found a passage used by some serpent men so i put greylock in charge and sent the men in the other direction to the left good that should mean they're on the surface by now if we hurry we can overtake them before they get too far down the hillside we're a lot higher up than when we came in the tunnel bobby and a lot farther from where we want to be than we were when we started responded to loungeville we'd better hurry we have a long way to go softly caelis added and i fear not that much time to get there chapter 21 attrition eric ducked a shower of darts flew through the air and bounced off his shield as he tried to keep low to the ground since leaving the cavern and moving down through the hills to the grasslands nakhor and shopai had both claimed they were being observed when they had finally reached an area of broken rocks islands of limestone shale and granite the broke up pools of tall grass a sudden attack of the jelani had greeted them six men died in the first assault which was barely driven back by the heroic efforts of those in the forefront greylock had quickly organized the defense and the struggle had gone on for nearly a half day two more men had died as they retreated up the hillside looking for this defensive position praji and vajra had moved to the front and were in council with greylock as eric approached i've got everyone situated as best i could own we're taking a beating i know can the calm reply he looked at praji and said any idea why they hit us praji shrugged we're here and they are jalani they don't like anyone who isn't jalani and we're about to enter the grasslands that's their range and they're trying to tell us to keep off how'd the damn grass get so tall this time of year asked greylock vajra said there are some that grow in the winter and others in the summer and they're all mixed in down there is my guess putting aside his frustration greylock asked is there another way out of these mountains praji shrugged your guess is as good as mine even if i knew exactly where we were i've never traveled this way few men from the eastlands have he looked around i'm guessing if we could get over the ridge he pointed upward at the highest peaks of the mountains we might be able to make our way down to the satpura river maybe make some rafts and get down to the coast near chathistan or we could move back up into the foothills staying high enough so the jilani don't come after us and could head south see if we can find a way to the river d and follow that down to ispah but i don't recommend that course why not that would take us through the great south forest not a lot of people get through there alive rumor has it that's where your pantathions hole up and it's where tigers that talk like men live when greylock looked at him with disbelief written on his face he quickly added but that's only rumor a whizzing sound in the air warned them a scant second before another reign of darts pelted them eric tried to get his bulk below his shield a shout and curse told him someone hadn't covered up quickly enough as darts rained off shields and the surrounding rocks how bad are the wounded asked greylock the wounded aren't too bad answered eric one of the men has a dart in the leg but it's down in the fleshy part of the calf he can walk with help a couple of broken arms and gregory of tilburne dislocated his shoulder greylock said well we can't outweigh them here and find out how many of those damn darts they're carrying in frustration he added hell we don't even know how many jilani there are the little men had swarmed over the front of the column then vanished back into the grass when kalis's company had turned out to be willing to stand and make a fight of it since then they had been launching random flights of darts looking around greylock said eric try to get back to the rear and start the men heading back up toward the cavern we'll see if we can find another way down that won't bring us back into this hornet's nest eric crouched as he moved along and twice had to flatten himself against the rocks to avoid missiles the darts were rude things but cleverly fashioned long reeds little more than heavy grass stalks were tied together in tight bundles until they were as rigid as arrows and fitted with tips of sharpened glass or stone the tide reeds were surprisingly strong and they rained down with enough impact that they could punch through any unarmoured part of the body praji had mentioned the jilani used a throwing stick called an atlatl to propel them in a high arc over their victims heads causing them to fall with great force eric would attest to their effectiveness he reached the end of the line and started the men moving back up once more in less than 10 minutes greylock praji and vajra came into view the last of the forward element climbing upward eric looked after and saw no sign of pursuit they don't seem anxious to come up here after us he said vajra said they're not stupid they're little fellows in an open fight we chew them up in less time than it takes to tell of it but coming after us from tall grass well there's no one who can fight out there better than the jelani eric wouldn't argue that what's made them so hostile praji looked back usually they simply don't like strangers they could be coming out to us for the pure hell of it or maybe the tsar are pushing them south and they're just mad eric said but the sorrow came after us couldn't have mounted enough of a force to clear out these grass dwellers they'd need an army as big as the one mustering on the vedra to do that vajra tapped eric on the shoulder and pointed up the hill calys and de loungeville were hurrying downward to meet them when the captain reached the men eric could see by more than one face in the company that many were relieved to see the eagle of crondor back among them he retrieved his longbow from the man who held it for him and said why are you climbing back up greylock quickly explained and kayla said we can't get over the mountains there's nothing like a pass up there i could see on the way down and we can't risk going back into the cavern to see if there's a way through he thought it best not to tell anyone of what he had seen until he compared notes with knackle turning to the loungeville he said sent chopin jado ahead tell them to find us a trail heading south if we can move along the face of these mountains then down behind these jalani so we can then cut across to mahata we still may get through this without too much more damage the loungeville nodded and went up the line to give the order to the men who would scout for them how's our water asked kayla's we're fine if we can find a source every day or two answered greylock we've got eight fewer men who need to drink than we did a couple of hours ago kayla's nodded praji what's water like out there might as well be a desert came the answer the plane of jams has some streams and water holes but if you don't know where they are you can wonder buy one never see through the grass and die of thirst any birds you can follow a few but damn me if i know what they look like admitted the old mercenary if we get far enough to the south the foothills along the coast are kinder lots of springs lakes and creeks from what i've been told south it is said kalis ignoring his own fatigue he hurried past the men in line so he could take over his position at the head of the column eric trudged upward trying to be equally stoic as his legs burned with fatigue each step up the slope took its toll and he was more than grateful when kayla's at last ordered a rest eric waited with anticipation as the water skin was passed his way and drank deeply they had passed a pool on the way down so there was no reason to stint right now as he handed the skin back he looked out at the distant plane and something caught his eyes what's that rippling moment in the distance he asked no one in particular praji heard him and came down to where he stood squinting he said my eyes aren't what they used to be turning to face up the slope he called out captain you should take a look out there he pointed at the horizon kayla stared for long minutes then said god's above it's the tsar but that's impossible said delangero for that money to be marching this far south there had to be a second army finished praji no wonder those bastards were so determined to keep us away from that entrance to the mountains said vajra said they must have been using the lower portions of the cavern as a staging area so that's why our short friends in the grass are so out of sorts they just got through having an army ride through their homes delangeril said thy mean to hit leonarda from the rear after another minute in which most of the men commented or swore kayla said no they moved southeast they're heading for mahata praji said if the raj has sent his war elephants to fight with the priest's king's army at la nada mahata will be defended by the palace guards and mercenaries delangeril swore the bastards weren't keen on having us serving them they were just anxious to keep us from joining the other side he almost spit kayla said how long before they reach the city praji said i only have a rough idea where the hell we are he thought and said maybe a week ten days at the outside if they don't waste their horses two weeks can we get there before them no came the flat answer if we had wings certainly or if we hacked our way through those jilani and had fresh horses waiting for us on the other side maybe but if we keep going south there's no way we can reach the city within a week of those lizard man can the city hold out for a week maybe answered pragee frankly it depends on how much chaos is going on due to the host that's got to be fleeing southward with so many men trying to get in they may already be under siege eric said can we get around them vajra said if we can get to chatistan we might be able to find a ship that could take us up to the city of the serpent river kalis said too many maybes we're going to strike for the coast then we'll try for the city of the serpent river he called out to hattonis do you want to try for chatty stand or head overland to home her tony shrugged and grinned looking youthful despite his gray hair one fight is pretty much the same as another and if we don't fight the snakes of mahata we're certainly going to have to fight them at our own door kailis nodded let's go eric saw the others get into line and he slapped roo on the shoulder as his boyhood friend walked past rue gave him a crooked smile that showed there was nothing to smile about and eric nodded in agreement eric waited until the last man had passed then picked up the rear guard position suddenly he realized he had taken foster's place in line without being told he looked ahead to see if delangel was signaling or if another was coming to take his place but when no word came down to give up the corporal's place he continued along returning his mind to the business at hand staying alive providence smiled upon them as they found a southern trail it looked to be a miner's trail for it was wider than any goat herder would have needed and at several places along the way areas of bare rock proclaimed those workers who had hacked their way through the soil and stone to make it easy to get carts up and down the road for kayla's company it was as if at last they were running into some good luck the men moved along swiftly at a trot for a time then a walk the pace designed to cover the maximum distance by the end of each day the wounded were able to keep up though the man with the injured leg was almost unconscious with pain and loss of blood by the end of the day nacho dressed his wound and told kalis that with him and show pi working on it all night the man would be slightly better each day they found water and were clearly able to increase their speed as they moved quickly to a rising crest a rumbling warned them as they climbed the rise then as they topped the crest in the distance they saw the falls de loungeville swore they faced a gorge cut through the mountains below them by a hundred feet a great fall of water cascaded into a small lake another two 200 feet below that from there the river meandered southeast toward the ocean ancient rocks marked where once a rope and wood suspension bridge had crossed the gap another pair of rock anchors rose up on the opposite side of the gorge the satpura river said praji now i know exactly where we are where are we asked kayla's dead east across the plain of jams lies mahata said praji turning to kalis he said i don't know what sort of magic was in that tunnel but we're one hell of a lot farther away from where we entered the grasslands than i thought what do you mean after loungeville we were 50 60 miles away from where we entered when we got to that big grotto more like 300 answered raja it would take you a month on a good horse to get back to that mound out in the grass he observed if you could get past the jalani nako said it was a very good trick then for i felt nothing of it he smiled as if this was a major feat then he grinned but it was as soon as we moved from the barrow bet you there is no tunnel there it must be an illusion he shook his head now i really want to go back and look kalis said some other time how far to mahata praji shrugged by caravan from palams to port grief a month no one goes from there to mahata over land they take a ship but there is that old coast road if you don't mind the bandits and other low lifes that haunt it where's our best course asked kalis praji rubbed his chin a moment i think we sent shopai and jado that way he said pointing down the slope near the gorge to see if there's a trail down nearby if so we take it if we follow the river we should be less than a week from palms we can find a caravan or buy horses and then we ride to port grief from there a ship and we're on our way to wherever you need to go i need to get back to crondor said kalis and several of the men nearby cheered when they heard that naco said no first we must go to mahata then to crondor why asked chaos we haven't stopped to ask why the emerald queen is taking the river cities vajra said good question hatonis praji you have any ideas asked kalis attonis said conquest for its own purposes is not unknown in this land for booty to enlarge one's domain for honor but this simple taking of everything he shrugged praji said if there was something i wanted in mahata and i couldn't trust to have those other cities in my back eric said maybe it has to do with getting every sword under one banner chaos looked at him for a long minute then nodded they plan on bringing the biggest army in history against the kingdom then rue said are they planning on getting there naco slowly grinned as khalees said what rule looked embarrassed as he repeated how are they planning on getting there you needed two ships to get us here with stores and all they've got what hundred thousand two hundred thousand soldiers and a lot of horses and equipment where are they going to get the ships hattonis said the shipbuilders at mahata are the finest in the windows only the shipwrights in the paja kamaka islands are the equal our clan has long purchased our ships in mahata it is the only shipyard that could possibly produce enough transports in a short time perhaps in two years or so kayla said then we must make a stop there naco said yes we must burn the shipyards is hattonis eyes widened burn but the city will be under siege they will have put hulks into the harbour mouth to keep the emerald queen ships from sailing in and it will be impossible to get within 20 miles of the city for the patrols on both sides how long will it take to rebuild those yards if they're destroyed asked kayla's her tony shrugged the yards are massive and they have been built up slowly over the last few centuries it would take years to restore them lumber must be harvested up here and in the sotto and sumanu mountains and shipped down river or carried in wagons the great keels take a year or more to be cut and brought down at great expense nako almost danced he was so excited if we burn the yards we get five and six maybe as many as ten years before ships can be built here many many things can happen in that time this emerald queen can she keep a host together that long this i think unlikely kayla's eyes seemed to light with the prospect then he fought back his enthusiasm and said don't sell her short knuckle knackle nodded the two had spoken at great length about what they had seen and knew they were dealing with the most dangerous flow since the sarani invasion of the rift war i know but men are men and unless the pantathion magic is so powerful as to make their hearts change many of these soldiers of hers will forsake her banner without payment still said atonis denying her the shipyards would be a major victory my father ran the most successful trading consortium in the city of the serpent river we can send men to the page kamaka islands and ensure they do not sell her ships i will personally guarantee no shipwright in the city of the serpent river will work on her behalf kayla said you know that after mahata she will march on you it's logical i know we shall have to fight her if we must we can abandon the city and live again in the wild we men of the clans were not always city men hatonis smiled a dark smile but many of her green skins will die before that day comes kalis said well first things first shadow show pie see if you can find us a way down from here the two men nodded and trotted back along the trail looking for another way down as long as we wait said nakor opening his bag anyone want an orange he grinned as he pulled out a large one and stuck his thumb in squirting juice on pragee and de loungeville they found a trail down a narrow rocky pathway as treacherous as the first one had been kind three men fell to their deaths when a ledge of stone seemingly solid had collapsed under their feet now the remaining sixty men huddled in a narrow defile huddled around two campfires vainly trying to withstand the cold as a sudden change in weather set the temperature below freezing kalis and another three men had gone hunting for the remaining rations were gone but could only come back reporting no game was near the company was too large said kalis and game was staying clear he said he'd leave before first light and try to get as far down the trail as possible to see if he could find a deer or other large game praji said there were bison roaming the plains and many of them lived in the woodlands of the foothills kaelis said he'd keep that in mind eric and roo sat shoulder to shoulder holding out their hands to the fire while others huddled miserably as close together for warmth as they could the only exception was kalis who stood a short distance away unmindful of the chill rule said captain kayla said yes why don't you tell us what's going on de longshrill from near the next fire said keep your mouth shut avery rues spoke through chattering teeth hang me now and get it over with why don't you i'm too cold to mind to the captain he said you and nicole been thick as fleas on a beggar since he came back sir and well if we're gonna be getting killed i'd like to know what for before i close my eyes a few other men said yes and that's right before the loungeville's bellow silence them next man opens his gobble fun ma boot in it understood kayla said no there's some justice in what he said he looked at the men nearest him and said many of you will not get home you knew that when you were given reprieve from your sentence others of you are here because you're loyal to the lion clan or because you're old friends of pragee's and some of you are just in the wrong place he glanced at greylock who smiled a little at the last kayla knelt and went on i've told you some of what we face and i warned you that should this emerald queen prevail this world as we know it ends the klansmen and pragee's mercenaries hadn't heard that and several muttered disbelief hatonis silenced his own man and praji shouted he's telling the truth shut up and listen kayla said long ago the dragonlords ruled this world you may have heard legends of them but they were not legends they were real when the men of the kingdom fought the cerani a half century ago a door was opened a door between the worlds the dragon lords who had left this world ages ago tried to use that door to return some very brave and resourceful men stopped them but they're still out there he pointed into the night sky and several men looked up at the distant stars and they're still trying to get back nako suddenly spoke this woman the emerald queen she was once someone i knew a long time ago she is what you would call a sorceress a magician she made a pact with the serpent men and they promised her eternal youth what she didn't know was that she would lose her soul her spirit and become something else nako continued there is very bad magic under that mountain kalis said you don't believe in magic nakor smiled but there was little humor in his expression call it tricks then or spirit force or anything you like but those serpent men they use their powers in a very twisted way they do evil things that no sane man would think to do because they are not sane these are not the creatures that mothers tell children of to make them mind these are very bad creatures who think that one of the dragon lords named alma ludaka is a goddess more they think she is the mother of all creation the green mother the emerald lady of serpents she created them as servants living decoration nothing more but they think they are her favorites like children she loves and once they open a door for her return she will elevate them to the status of demigods they will never believe that if they do this terrible thing this alma lodaka will sweep them away along with everything else knackle fell silent a moment then said kalis makes no stories if this woman this emerald queen is behaving as i think she is then things are very bad kayla's tell them of your father kayla's nodded my father is called tomas he was a human boy as all here were he came to own some artifacts of power ancient armor and a golden sword once the property of a valhalu by name ashen sugar my father wore that armor and carried that sword through the rift war against the sarani and over the years he changed my father is no longer human he is something unique on this world a human body changed by the spirit of the long dead dragon lord who owned that armor and sword unique until now said knuckle for this emerald queen may be another such as he the men muttered and kayla said for reasons i only half understand my father's nature is that of the human boy knack or interrupted again that is for another time i know why and these men don't need to to the man he said it's simply true thomas is a man with a human heart despite his power but this woman this one who called herself lady clovis a long time ago said the emerald queen is lady clovis it's been nearly 25 years since she fled the city with valgasha and dahakon nako shrugged it's her body the point continued chaos is that if the pantathions are using their magic to do with this woman what others did with my father kaylee spoke briefly of how his father a boy from the far coast had come to wear ancient armor that magically gave him the memories and powers of one of the ancient dragon lords nako is convinced he finished that this emerald queen is a mortal woman he once knew with magic ability but still much like you who is undergoing a transformation much as my father did more than 50 years ago then another dragonlord may soon be among us finnish biggo said why can't your father settler once and for all then we can all go home kayla said there's more to this than two dragon lords facing off more than i'm willing to tell he glanced at knackle who nodded neko said she's not a valjorou yet he nodded with certainty if she was she'd come flying across the ocean on a dragon she wouldn't need an army kayla said if you're completely through knack or grinned but without any self-consciousness probably not in any event someone must return to crondor and tell prince nicholas what occurs here what if only one of us gets back asked lewis what do we see chaos was silent a moment then told them you must say this the pantathions bring a host to take by force what they could not take before by guile leading them is one in the mantle of a dragon lord who may be able to seize the prize tomas and pug must be warned he looked at the faces of the man orange and yellow from the flicker of the firelight all discomfort from the cold forgotten just those three things that will be ample warning now repeat them the pantathions bring a host to take by force what they could not take before by guile the men repeated the sentence as if learning a lesson in school leading them is one in the mantle of a dragon lord who may be able to seize the prize the man repeated that tomas and pug must be warned the company repeated that too you may be asked a lot of other questions answer truly and do not embellish or color your account truth is our only ally in this but whatever else you must remember these three things nako said now i will help you understand what each of those three things means so even if you're too stupid to remember more than those three sentences you might at least answer a question correctly a few of the men laughed but most remained quiet chaos turned away and started down the hillside on his hunt and he wondered silently if he could truly make any of them understand dawn saw shivering men making their way down the trail frost crunching beneath their boot heels more than one man had a fever and all were weak from hunger kalis had been ahead of them for two days now and no sign of game had been seen thankfully water wasn't a problem but if they didn't find food soon men would begin to die nakor's seemingly inexhaustible supply of oranges helped but they would not be enough to keep the men alive in this climate it was cold during the day and colder at night plunging below freezing without much body fat through training and the rigors of travel the men needed more substantial food already some were plagued by the stomach flux from eating too many oranges and nothing else eric had never seen rue look so pale and he knew he must look the same they were moving through fairly thick woodlands devoid of color as the leaves of fall blanketed the ground de lounge will turn to signal a halt when suddenly a shriek cut through the air and arrows came flying defensive square shouted to lounge rule eric snapped his shield to the front kneeling to cover as much of his body as possible while the other man in his squad did the same forming a large square roughly 15 men to a side ready to take the attack the brush and nearby piles of leaves exploded with the forms of the men who had been hiding there and others came running from nearby hiding places eric saw the green armbands and shouted it's the snakes men steel clashed and swords answered and eric was suddenly swinging with all his might at a man wearing a full helm he cleaved through the man's shield his sword cutting deep into the left arm then he was dodging a counter thrust as the man fell forward rue stepped behind him and took the attacker under the sword arm killing him before he hit the ground eric spun to his left and struck at another while roo turned to face one running at him full force the second man leaped forward smashing shield against shield knocking the smaller roux backwards in the hollow of the square de lanchiel greylock and three other men formed a flying company ready to plug any breach delangeril stepped forward and quickly killed the man on top of rue yanking him off and shouting get back in line avery you're trying to avoid work rule rolled to his feet and shook off his dizziness then half ran half jumped back into place beside eric the battle hung close with neither side taking the advantage and eric wondered how long he could keep this up as weak from hunger as he was then a shout quickly followed by another and men at the rear of the forward portion of the square saw attackers falling struck from behind by arrows kalis stood down the trail quickly taking bead and letting fly and before they knew someone was behind them four attackers had fallen with the small paws on that one front the loungeville shouted charge them and led his five companions toward the strongest section of the attack the attackers were expecting anything but a counter attack which threw them off balance seconds later they were running for their lives eric chased two men down a narrow pathway overtaking one and striking him down from behind the other swung to face him raising his sword high and eric sought to take him with a quick thrust the man anticipated this and eric's head rang with the shock of a shield bash to the face red lights exploded in his vision and he staggered back raising his shield in reflex hours of training saved his life as an instant later a sword blow rang on the shield eric swung blindly and felt his own sword strike his opponent's shield his vision cleared in time to avoid another strike and the two men backed away a step acknowledging that in the other each faced a dangerous opponent from somewhere behind eric heard the loungewell's voice cut through the woods i want a prisoner eric tried to shout and found his mouth didn't work he spat and felt a tooth wiggle he tasted blood and felt his right eye burning as it began to blur with the blood running into it gathering his wits he shouted over here the man facing him a large weather beaten figure of middle years stood hesitating for a moment then took another step backwards over here eric shouted again as he attacked the man rushing him the man stood to take the attack but rather than strike an overhand blow eric ducked threw his shoulder behind his shield and bashed the man hoping to knock him down the man staggered backwards and eric drew back his blade then danced backwards as the other swordsmen lashed out eric again yelled over here and circled to his right attempting to cut off any avenue of escape the man tensed and eric made ready to counter a blow when suddenly the man let his sword fall from his hand he quickly tossed down his shield and took off his helm which he also threw to the ground eric glanced behind and saw kalis drawing a bead on the man eric breathed hard took you long enough kalis looked at eric and smiled slightly it just seemed like a long time once the man had surrendered he was affable enough his name was dawah and he was originally from the city of hamsa but for the last seven years a member of a company called nahoot's grand company kalis de loungeville and greylock interviewed the man while nakkar and shopai tended the wounded eric's wounds were superficial a small cut to the forehead a cut lip some loose teeth and lots of bruises chopin gave him some herbs to take and told him to sit with his hands over his face doing reiki for at least a half hour and he might keep those teeth he sat on a rock with his hands over his face elbows on knees while others around him groaned in pain those able to do reiki on their own wounds or being cared for by others seventeen men had died in the battle of the enemy twenty-four when chaos had struck from their rear they had assumed another company was coming and it had broken them otherwise it would have been worse dawah said that a hundred men had lain in weight having spotted kayla's passing the day before a scout of nahoots had backtracked seen the company coming down the trail above and had returned in time for their captain to organize the ambush nothing personal said dua it was orders we got this trail and we was told to kill anyone comes this way it's that simple who gave you the orders eric heard kayla's ask someone high up in the queen's command maybe fadaway himself i don't know nahoot's not about to go around explaining everything you see he just tells us what to do when we do it kayla sad so they're keeping their flanks covered i guess things are pretty crazy and everyone's running around like chickens in a thunderstorm we don't even know who's coming to relieve us when are they due to relieve you said delangel eric felt the heat from his hands healing him otherwise he would have loved to have removed them to see what was happening i don't really know said dawah couple more days maybe a week we've been out here almost a month and it's just about got the captain chewing his saddle kalis said take him over there eric heard dua say captain i'm wondering are you giving me a day or are you gonna offer me service why asked kayla's well we're a hell of a long way from anywhere that's all my horse is down at the end of this trail along with all my personals and it's cold as you may have noticed i'd just as soon not be running from your men come sundown tomorrow kayla said can we trust this one it was pragee's voice eric heard next as much as you can trust any of these mother lovers i know nahoot by reputation he's not one of the worst but he's certainly far from one of the best you'd fight against your own companions much as any of you would rules of war i've been given no bonus to die for lost causes his voice dropped to a near mutter hell captain none of us have been paid in more than a month and we're far from looting anything unless it's nuts from squirrels there was a moment of silence before kalis said guide us to where your former company is and we'll give you your horse and turn you loose no one will follow you as long as you head for palance sounds more than fair captain eric heard the man being led away then he heard de loungeville's voice low but carrying are you mad there's still something like 70 or so swords down there but they won't know we're coming at them said kalis advantage of surprise said de langeville his tone one of disbelief it's the only advantage we've got bobby replied kayla's we're out on our feet we need rest and food there's food down there and horses if we can take that company we might even be able to get back to mahata without interference what are you thinking asked greylock kayla said if things are as confused on this flank as he says whoever comes to replace this might not have any idea what he looks like if we're waiting for them in the agreed upon place wearing those green armbands de loungeville groaned and eric was glad his hands covered his face to hide the grimace he made eric waited ahead kalis shopi luis and jado crept along looking for the sentries they knew must be there kalis held up his hand motioned to his right then handed his bow to jado he tapped chopin on the shoulder and pulled his dagger from his belt chopin laid his sword and shield on the ground pulling his own knife lewis had his out and careless motion for him to circle to the left kalis pointed to jado indicating he was to wait the three men chaos and show pi to the right lewis to the left circled out of sight into the evening gloom three moons were out the middle moon high in the sky and the large and small moons rising eric knew it was only going to get brighter as the night progressed so that the time right now offered their best cover a sudden sound of movement then a low grunt cut through the night and then silence eric waited for any sound of alarm but none was forthcoming then kalis was back retrieving his bow and gesturing to the others to follow eric motioned to the line of men behind him and moved as silently as possible down the trail a few yards beyond where kalis and the others had stopped he found the dead guard eyes staring vacantly skyward he gave the man a quick glance then got his mind back to the matters at hand his nose still hurt but it was only a dull throb and his lips were now puffy his teeth wiggled when he touched them with his tongue so he tried not to but found himself constantly probing the loosened teeth they had rested less than an hour then chaos had abandoned the dead and left the wounded behind and had ordered darwah to show him where his former company's camp lay two of the walking wounded now guarded him back up the trail until after the coming fight ahead they saw lights and eric wondered how many men there were to be so confident just hours after fleeing a battle then he could see movement and realize that they were anxious down there for at least 10 men stood watch around the camp but what astonished eric the most was that no defenses had been erected there were 24-man tents haphazardly scattered around the area with a large bonfire in the center the sound of horses carried through the night and eric judged a large picket line was situated somewhere on the other side of the camp eric watched cailis who signaled for him to approach eric moved to kayla's side and the captain whispered i want you to lead the first ten men behind you through the trees over there he pointed to his right circle around and get ready to hit them from the side they're wary now but after a few hours of nothing happening they're going to relax they may think we're running the other way or not coming down until morning he glanced at the sky it's about four hours until midnight once you're in place be alert but relax i'm not going to hit them until most of them are asleep the loungeweel said when you hear anything come running hard hit them as fast as you can and numbers won't mean much they'll be so confused they won't know what's out here in the dark but only if he acted once eric nodded and moved back in line he tapped the next ten men on the shoulder starting with rue and motioned for them to follow him natambi the former keshian legionary grinned as they moved into the woods eric was as quiet as he could be but he was certain at any minute the alarm would sound when he was approximately one third of the way around the camp he halted the men a couple of sentries stood opposite their position barely visible through the trees but obviously more interested in talking to each other than in maintaining vigilance eric hoped kaylus was right he motioned for the men to sit indicating they should rest he signaled rue to take the first watch eric sat down and put his hands back over his face he felt the warmth returned to his hands and was glad he had been taught this healing he decided he would hate to lose those teeth at the appointed time kaley shouted and launched his attack the camp was slow to come around as most of the men were asleep as they moved to repel the assault from one front eric and his ten men raced into their flank eric was on a man coming from a tent before he had his pants on the man died before he could pull a sword another was down before he could turn then suddenly one faced him astonishment on his face he shouted there behind us eric bashed as hard as he could with his sword and the man went down screaming natambi shouted some keshian war cry and biggo let out a bellow to freeze the blood men were scrambling from their low tents and eric knocked several unconscious with the flat of his blade before they could gather their wits then before he knew it men were throwing helms shields and swords to the ground de loungeville hurried along commanding the prisoners be taken to the fire half dressed dazed and dispirited several of them swore openly when they saw how few attackers had routed them eric glanced around still suspecting treachery but found only defeated men looking around in amazement of kayla's 43 men only 37 had been fit for this fight and they had almost bloodlessly captured nearly two times their own number suddenly eric felt like laughing he tried to fight it but couldn't he let out a chuckle at first then started laughing aloud then others in his company joined in and soon there were cheers as kayla's crimson eagles had their first victory in a long time kalis moved through and said get in a hoot over here a man among the captives said he's dead you killed him up the trail yesterday why didn't dawa tell us asked a lounge rule he didn't know the bleeder we carried newt down here and he died at supper gut wound messy those leading i guess i am said a man stepping forward names kalka yo the sergeant asked to loungeville no the corporal sergeant got his head split too the lounge rule said well that partially explains why there was nothing like a defense begging your pardon captain said kelker are you going to offer a service why asked kayla's well we haven't been paid in a while and as we've got no captain and no sergeant hell captain you kicked hell out of us with only half our number i figure you've got to be better than anyone else we're likely to run into if you give us the day's grace i'll think about it captain if you don't mind you're going to take our tents kaylee shook his head get back over i'll tell you what i'm going to do once i decide kayla's motioned for the loungeville and said get some food into the men and send someone up the trail to lead the wounded and do ah down here i want everyone here by noon tomorrow he motioned to the captives we'll figure out what to do with them in the morning eric sat down feeling his legs shake it had been a very long day and he was exhausted as he knew everyone else in the company was then de loungeville's voice cut through the air what oh told anyone to rest we got a camper bike ready men began to groan as delangel ordered i want a trench and breastwork dog and i want steak sharpened bring in the horses and stake them nearby i want a full inventory of stores and i want to know who's injured then after we've got this camp in shape maybe i'll think about letting you get some sleep eric forced himself to stand and as he moved he wondered aloud where are we going to find shovels de loungeville shouted back use your hands if you have to von darkmoor chapter 22 infiltration kalis whispered eric couldn't hear the captain's conversation but he saw pragee and greylock nodding agreement the prisoners had been moved to a small wash where a handful of men could easily guard them de laongril was interviewing them against what plan of the captains eric had no idea the traditional head start for the losers who surrendered was a day before any hostilities would be resumed usually according to praji those who cleared out were left alone if they kept moving eric was lost in thought when rue approached how are the horses asked rue they're a little scrawny the grass is poor this time of year and they've been kept too long in the same place but otherwise they're fine if we move them a couple of times over the next week they should put some weight on especially if i can find a place to shelter them at night from the wind it's the cold takes weight off them as much as anything else the heavy coats are starting to come in so they'll be all right rue said what do you think the captain has in mind eric said i don't really know i find it strange he's talking about heading down for pork grief loud enough so those prisoners can hear rue grinned not if that's where we want the queen's army to look for us what next we've got plenty to do said eric and we better get on it before the loungeville comes back he finds us loafing around and they'll be able to pay rue groaned i'm dying of anger suddenly eric realized he hadn't eaten except for a quick mouthful the night before let's grab something he said and rue's expression brightened then we'll get back to work rue's expression turned dark again but he followed his friend they had done a complete inventory the night before and found that while nahoot's men hadn't been paid in a while they certainly were well provisioned eric and roo made their way to the tent they shared with luis and biggo shopai and natambi had moved in with nakora and jado in another four-man tent and found the other two sleeping inside half a loaf of trail bread baked only a couple of days before and a bowl of grain and nuts were sitting by the entrance so eric sat let out a sigh and picked up the bread he tore it in half and gave a hunk to rue and then scooped up a handful of grain and nuts and started to eat the air was chilly but the sun warm and after eating eric felt drowsy looking at louis and biggo he felt the urge to follow their example but fought it off there was still work to be done and he knew de loungeville would make it harder on them if he had to tell them eric got up and woke lewis and biggo they saw rue and eric and biggo said i better be good it is whispered eric come with me lewis looked at eric with eyes made even more dangerous looking by the dark circles underneath as he rose eric asked softly got your knives louis whispered always and whipped his dagger from his belt in a motion so swift it was almost unseen are there some throats in need of cutting eric said follow me he led them through the tents moving quickly and pausing often to look around as if to see if they were being observed eric moved to where the digging continued as men made the quickly dug trench of the night before a deeper wider barrier reaching the work he pointed to a stack of freshly cut dowels laying in a bundle and said quickly before they get loose those need to be sharpened and placed around the perimeter rue and big o smiled and picked up a piece each as they pulled their belt knives but lewis glowed you woke me for this better i than to lounge real isn't it luis stared hard at eric a moment for a second he held his knife point directed at eric then with a grunt he leaned over picked up a doll and started to sharpen it rue and biggo laughed as eric said that's good i'm going to see that the horses are moved as he left he looked over his shoulder at the men sharpening stakes anyone coming across that trench would have a difficult climb over the rampart because of the stakes and once they broke camp they could pack them away eric moved to the other side of the large defensive square he joined two men fashioning a drop gate out of wood cut from nearby trees the lack of proper tools was making the job difficult as they were basically having to cut the timber with the one ax nahoot's company had carried then trim the planks with knives and daggers eric would have given the small amount of gold in his purse for a proper drag plane and some iron working tools eric knew a little about woodwork so he suggested they carve some notches and dovetail the planks together as best they could then lash the whole thing with cord they could run it out when they needed from inside the compound they wouldn't be able to break it down and carry it with them as they had with the gates they had built at ween at that one had been lost with most of their other equipment outside the barrow up on the plane of jams eric wondered about crossing the plane even though they were miles farther south or when they last encountered the jilani he knew that to encounter the diminutive warriors could spell the ruin of this mission at the last he decided there were too many things to worry about so he'd leave worrying to caelis and delandro while he just did the work that needed to be done after seeing the gate finished he noticed the day was rapidly approaching noon he ordered a couple of fires started and then decided to see if the watch had changed he found the same men on duty since he had passed them at first light so he went back into the tents and kicked some protesting men awake telling them it was their turn on watch he was seeing that the mess was in order for the noon meal when de lounge will return from interrogating nahoot's men de laundrill got off his mount and asked is that parapet finished eric said about two hours ago strikes being sharpened and placed now the gate in place sally ramp it's being built i doubt it'll be much use though more than a single horse at a time and it might fall apart has anyone changed the watch i took care of that a few minutes ago where's the captain up talking to greylock pragee raja andertonis regular officers country eh asked a lounge reel taking a cup from near the cook's fire he dipped it into a bubbling kettle then blew on the contents before he finally took a sip of hot soup eric said if you say so sergeant i'm still new at this de loungeville surprised him with a grin then drank his soup making a face he said this made some salt he tossed the cup down and started walking away if you have named me for anything i'll be with the captain eric turned to one of the men near the cook pot and said i wonder what that was about the man was named samuel he had served with one of the first groups taken from the gallows and had been around to loungeville for a long time sergeant has his reasons for doing what he's doing then he paused after a moment he added but it's the first real smile out of him since foster died corporal eric started to correct the man as no one had named him corporal officially but then thought if it made the men do what needed to be done that much quicker he'd be better served by keeping his mouth shut he only shrugged as the food was almost ready eric decided it was time to get the men rotating through the mess so the sentries could get a hot meal before the next watch eric oversaw the distribution of horses to those men given one day's grace before being hunted down chaos made an unusual offer to them if they would ride directly for the river d to the south then follow it to the coast before making for either chattistan or ispah he would send no one after them he warned them that if they followed him and his men deport grief he would kill every one of them he also paid a small bonus in gold the men who were turned loose swore a mercenary's oath to doer's bidding and were now getting ready to ride out of the camp what surprised eric was that about 20 of nahoot's men were being offered a place in the company they were being kept apart from those trained by the loungeville by being put under greylock and they would ride with hatoness's klansmen but having outsiders at this late juncture was a risk eric was not sure he would be willing to take then again he decided that was probably why kalis was the prince's eagle of crondor and he was only an acting corporal de loungeville came over and watched as eric set up the 60 men leaving they were being given the least desirable horses and knew it but at least none of them was lame they were allowed to carry a week's worth of rations and the gold kalis gave them as well as their weapons all other baggage and stores were remaining with kayla's company a half dozen riders from kayla's company would shadow the men for a half day then return when all were mounted and ready the order was given and the defeated mercenaries and their escort rode out eric watched them leave then asked sergeant why are we taking on those extra men de loungeville said captain's got his reasons you'll just keep an eye on them to see the do as they're told and don't worry why they're here just one thing past the word that no one is to talk about our previous set to with the tsar with those new men eric nodded and walked off to pass the word when he reached the center of the compound he saw that greylock was passing out green armbands eric took one and said what's this as of this morning we are now nahuts grand company he motioned to where de lounge rule was walking inspecting the stores they'd won he's nahoot at least the men who've joined us say bobby looks the most like him of any of us here eric said and careless figures a sour might think we all look alike anyway greylock grinned never thought you were stupid and glad to see i was right he put his hand on eric's shoulder and walked him away from the men gathering to pick up their armbands lowering his voice he said nahoot's due to be relieved in the next few days at least that's what everyone thinks so if we can pass ourselves off then we can walk back into the queen's camp and no one will look at us twice something like that if those boys are to be believed things are even crazier down here than they were up north of lenarda there's a chance we might run into someone who might remember us from up there but it's a slim one greylock looked around to see who was nearby then continued seems nahoot's boys were sent to find us that a fact or a guess asked eric yes but probably a good one the orders were to ride out to this road and keep a lookout for any company riding down out of the mountains that didn't have armbands and didn't know the password i don't know who they were expecting to come down out of those mountains except us eric said you're right i wouldn't bet against its being us they were looking for graylock shrugged maybe they're concerned we saw something up in that maze of caves and galleries eric said i saw enough to think it's not some place i'm in a hurry to visit again greylock grinned how are the horses good we've moved them and they're fattening up on fall grass there's nothing here to ride that a noble back home would lose sleep over not owning but for common mercenaries they're a serviceable bunch pick me out a good one greylock said i've got to get back we're setting new duty to get the new recruits out of our hair and then we're going to wait wait for what replacements so we can head back to joining the assault on mahata eric shook his head we've got a funny way of fighting this war helping the enemy take their objective greylock shrugged aside from the pain and dying war can be a pretty funny business eric i've read every written history of war i could get my hands on and i know this once a plan of battle is set loose it takes on a life of its own and once you make contact with the enemy the plan has little meaning anymore it's grab the moment so you can seize the day mostly it's hoping the other side makes a mistake before you do and getting lucky chaos had a plan when we started out but once he and nacho found what they sought out at the queen's camp it's been tossed aside and now he's making it up as we go so he's open the other side makes a mistake before we do and that we're going to get lucky something like that then i'll say a prayer to ruthia said eric as greylock turned and walked away eric thought about what he had seen so far and what he had done and was forced to concede that greylock was right there was little of planning and cleverness in what chaos had done since making contact with the queen's army and a great deal of boldness and hoping for luck putting aside such weighty considerations eric decided that as long as things were settling down to routine he'd try to get some work done on his armor and weapons he returned to his tent and found it empty as his three bunkmates were off working on finishing the palisades eric unbuckled his sword removed his helm and stripped off his breastplate he grabbed a rag and some oil he had liberated from stores and began to work on his armor he frowned when he saw how corrosion was finding niches to take hold and set too with a vengeance to expunge all imperfections from his breastplate a rider came speeding over the rise pushing his lathered horse up the trail for all he was worth eric instantly turned and shouted ryder coming in delangelo had the men racing for weapons and taking up positions before the rider reached the gate recognizing the rider as one of their own eric motioned for the bridge to be run out the moat and rampart camp had been turned into a first-rate base since kalis had run off nahoot's company they had found a wandering herd of bison down a ways in the woods and some deer as well as a good supply of nuts with the food liberated from nahoot's grand company they were amply provisioned for the time being as the rider reached the bridge he reigned in dismounting as quickly as he could he led the horse across the bridge which flexed and creaked alarmingly but which held better than eric had expected shrinking the leather had helped and it would serve but it still made him nervous each time a horse was walked across the rider tossed the reins to eric and ran past him to where delangel and kalis were approaching it's the green skins he shouted where asked to lounge down the trail it's a large patrol maybe twenty of them they don't seem to be in any hurry thought for a moment tell the men to stand down i want us looking alert but i don't want anything suspicious eric passed the word as he led the rider's horse away he found lewis on duty around the picket and told him to walk the horse for a while to cool her out then to rub her down and feed her he returned in time to see men back at their normal posts but noticed that every man had a weapon close to hand and many looked on edge as he walked by he quietly said take it easy or relax you'll know soon enough if there's going to be trouble still it was a painfully slow 20 minutes until the first of the tsar hove into view eric studied them for he had been too busy staying alive the last time he saw them mounted to study them carefully rule came to stand beside him and said that's some sight say what you will about the green skins but they know how to sit those impossible mounts of theirs the tsar road with long legs and easy seats as if they had spent their lives on horseback each rider had a short bow slung across the back of his saddle and eric said a silent prayer that the company they had faced before had tried to charge them rather than stand off and shoot most of them carried round shields made of hide over wood marked with symbols alien to eric the leader wore a plume of horse hair dyed blue tied up in a large obsidian ring affixed to a metal skullcap the others wore simple metal helms that had large flaring sides and bar nasals when the last riders came into view eric quickly counted there were 20 of them followed by a baggage train of four more horses when they reached the camp they halted and the leader shouted where is noah his accent was thick and he tended to roar but he could be understood de loungeville wearing a helm that covered his eyes moved to the other side of the bridge what is it he shouted what have you to report chaos had thought on this and had instructed every man save the new recruits from nahoot's company in what was coming next we were ambushed by some men trying to come down this road we routed them and chased them back up into the mountains what road the tsar leader you were told to send a messenger if you found any of those trying to leave the mountains we sent one shouted delandro trying his best to sound angry are you claiming he never reached you i claim nothing human shouted the angry sar when did this happen less than a week ago a week the sower shouted something in his own language and half his company started up the trail the leader said we need provisions you will leave and return to the host i am not pleased well you can better not please you went and lost my runner shouted the lounge rule i'm gonna make sure general fudawa hears of this and imps of the evening will come to have sex with you because you're so lovely snapped back the officer eric suddenly relaxed if the tsar was going to fight he wouldn't be trading insults with de lounge roll while dismounting whoever this officer was he had accepted that delangeril was nahoot and was content to trade insults with him while the two companies changed places any trouble with the jilani no granted the tsar officer our riders have chased the little hairy humans back into the mountains to the north of here the ride will be so quiet you may sleep in the saddle he moved onto the bridge and his huge horse's weight made it creak alarmingly but it held even if it did bow under the load he led his animal into camp without noticing eric gave a silent prayer of thanks that it held and he was pleased he wasn't going to be around to see if the bridge held after repeated sar use de loungeville shouted bright camp on every man mounted and ready to ride in ten minutes eric hurried for like every man there he knew the longer they were around the sour the better the chance someone would let something slip that would start a fight he hurried to his tent with rue beside him and found big o and luis already setting about breaking things down row said eric grab my kit i'm going to keep an eye on the hoots men spared eric any bob about ducking work and merely said i'll take care of it. eric moved to where the 20 men from the hoot's company waited and saw they were muttering among themselves not giving them any chance to decide they might be better off turning kayla's in to the tsar he shouted get over to those horses and start bringing them up i want the first six for the officers then start bringing them up to the first tent then the second and the third until every other man has a mount then get your own gear together and get mounted understood his tone as loud and ferocious as he could make it imparted the proper message the last wasn't a question it was a command the twenty men moved quickly several saying yes corporal as they half walked half ran to the remounts de loungeville showed up less than a minute later and said where are the newcomers eric pointed i've got them bringing up the horses for the others and i'll keep an eye on them to lounge room nodded good he turned without another word and rejoined kalys and greylock the tsar commander was busy pulling a roll off the back of one of the baggage horses and eric turned to watch nahoot's band the 20 newcomers were hurrying with the mounts doing their best to remain orderly while around them the compound was abuzz with activity eric hurried to where his three tent mates were breaking down their equipment and rue did yours first he said eric smiled and said thanks as he grabbed his saddle and then ran back to where the newcomers were leading horses he selected one and quickly tacked it up then stowed his roll behind the saddle and mounted he rode briskly at a trot down the line as the compound seemed to melt away tents were folded somehow forced into the small packs that carried them and stacked up to be tied on the back of a baggage animal the palisades had already been cleared of stakes which were now being stored away on a baggage horse men were in their saddles and getting in line before the last of the horses were brought up by nahoot's men the only things they were leaving behind for the tsar were the moat the bridge and gate and some cook fires eric watched as the tsar camp went up ten large circular tents fashioned from what looked like cane or wooden poles bent over into a semi-circle and covered with hyde were erected they were so small that he wondered how the tsar managed to get inside he elected not to ask to see and turned his attention to the last men the newcomers were ragged in getting themselves organized but at last they were ready to ride eric moved aside as chaos gave the order to leave and watched as the men rode past him he also watched the tsar commander keeping his eye on the departing humans there was something in those red and white eyes that seemed suspicious at least eric thought that the case but then suddenly the commander waved goodbye eric found his own hand raised in a parting gesture before he thought better of it he turned his mount and took his place as last in line as he passed over the bridge they were leaving behind for the sar he thought how odd like old friends bidding each other good journey they passed down from the foothills overlooking the plane of jams entering grasslands patrolled by sour companies whatever else might have occupied the invaders a company of mercenaries wearing emerald armbands riding calmly toward the heart of the army wasn't a cause for concern several times they passed camps or signs of camps chaos judged the tsar and their allies were still sweeping the area regularly perhaps to keep the jalani at bay or perhaps to guard against others seeking to hinder the southern conquest they rode for a week without incident until they came to their first major staging point a mott and bailey construction large enough to house several hundred men and horses a lookout in the tower high atop the moth called down and there was a squad of sorrow waiting for them at a checkpoint a hundred yards before the gate without preamble the lead sour shouted orders where to rejoin the host said kalis evenly what company nahoot's grand company answered the lounge drill the lead saw fixed aloungeville with a steady gaze and said you look different keeping his voice rough the loungeville said you spend your evening sitting up in those bloody dam hills chilling your backside for a while and see how different you look the tsar tensed as if this wasn't the answer he expected but dawah one of the men from nahoot's company said let's get by murtagh we don't have time for your games the tsar turned and said you i know dua i should cleave you both for your bad manners dawah said then who would you have left to cheat at knucklebones there was a long silence then suddenly the tsar named murtagh let out a bray that sounded like a leather thong being drawn through a drum head he said perth oh son but you must camp outside the moat we are crowded inside when you come to game tonight bring plenty of gold after they had ridden away from the checkpoint eric urged his horse up to duo's side and said what was that noise the mercenary shook his head and said that's their ideal laughter if you can believe it my tags are bully of sorts but it's all bluster oh he could cut you in two if he had a mind but he'd rather have you trembling and pissing your pants or insulting him back it's the indifferent ones that get on his nerves i've gambled with him enough to know after he's had some drink he's pretty good company for a lizard knows some funny stories eric smiled you've earned a bonus a calculating look across jawahar's face you and me should talk later corporal after the horses embedded answered eric eric made his way quickly to where delongeville and kalis road leaning over in his saddle so he could speak quietly to the loungeville i told dawa he earned a bonus delangero said then y'all can pay it careless motioned for the company to fan out on the east side of the moat near another company of men who ignored their arrival he turned his horse around and said what is it young von darkmoor here has given away your money eric explained and kayla said what's troubling you it was too quick and easy to bluff us past the tower i don't trust him i remember he was pretty quick to end the fight as well almost as if he wanted to be captured finished kayla's delangel grinned and eric said what is it those twenty we kept with us eric answered chaos aren't the men we felt most able to trust delangel said they're the ones we most need to keep an eye on eric sat back in his saddle and stared open mouth for a moment then shook his head i'm an idiot no said kalis but you've a lot to learn about the less obvious side of warcraft the 20 men we kept all had answers that came a bit too fast and easy for mercenaries i think this emerald queen has agents sprinkled throughout her army all 20 aren't agents i'm sure but i'm almost certain one or two are maybe more so we keep the most likely close by trusting bunch offered the lounge drill now luke you and a couple of men you trust say biggo and shadow keep close to those men don't let too many of them off duty at any one time and keep an eye on where they wander if any of them head into that fortress i want one of you along he reached inside his tunic and pulled out a heavy purse we lost some gold on the baggage train but i kept most of it he opened the pouch and handed a dozen small coins to eric pass some of this around so that if any one of those 20 lads wants to step into the fort for a drink you'll be the fella to buy it for them understand eric nodded i'll make sure no more than four of them are free to cause trouble at a time he turned his horse put heels to its flanks and rode back down toward the end of the line kayla said he's rounding out nicely the loungeville said ah he's still not nearly half mane enough but i'll fix that chaos smiled slightly and turned back to oversee the making of the camp eric walked the perimeter of the camp keeping an eye out for anything out of the ordinary with the fortress at their back kalis had ordered no rampart and trench dug the men set up their tents quickly and saw to their stores and began to settle in for the night as he moved along eric noticed that the eight men from nahoot's company that he had put two guarding the remounts were at their posts talking in pairs but otherwise where they should be four others were bedded down or at least had been 10 minutes before when he had passed their tent jado was watching that group four others were working commissary duty that left four unaccounted for and if biggo was doing as ordered he was close to them eric found rue in his tent trying to get some sleep i thought you were duty said eric sitting down to pull off his boots i traded with lewis he wanted to go into the fortress to see if there are any the thought of women suddenly had eric interested so he stopped pulling off his boots maybe i should check up rolling over roo said sleepily you do that eric quickly made his way to kayla's command tent where he found caelus and delangeril talking with greylock who had somehow found a pipe and to back eric found the habit noxious but had put up with it all his life smoking was common enough in the tap room at the inn of the pintail though it was discouraged when serious wine tasting was underway for a moment eric wondered what had become of the fancy flint and steel lighter he had possessed back home what asked a lounge rule i'm going into the fort said eric if that's all right lewis is in there and i think bigger was there too delangel nodded keep alert he said with a dismissive wave eric walked up the damp hillock upon which the fortress had been erected and made his way along the perimeter until he reached the gate it was still open and the guards on duty were almost asleep a pair of saw one wearing what eric took to be an officer's mark on his breastplate were talking inside a hut at the gate but they ignored him as he walked in de langeville had called the fort a classic modern bailey and eric was fascinated by its construction an earthen hill had been raised up and a tower built high upon it around this hill and tower a large open area the bailey had been left with the buildings nestled against the wall sheltered by it suddenly it struck eric that this is the sort of construction kayla said undertaken at weenat but on a much more modest scale this tower could house a half dozen bowmen with little discomfort on a platform thirty feet above the ground a fifteen foot high log wall had been erected around a small village complete with wooden rampart and earthen reinforcement an army would have little trouble with such a fortress but most single companies would have had more than enough trouble to take such a fortification inside there were a half dozen buildings all made of wood and covered with dorbz made from dried mud and straw smaller wattle and dorb huts had sprung up around the larger buildings and a fair-sized town had evolved eric could see why the tsar at the gate had ordered them to remain outside it was quite close inside this fortress he heard laughing and moved toward what he assumed would be an inn and once inside he knew he had been correct the room was dingy with smoke and poor light but the stench of ale spilled wine and human perspiration struck eric like a blow suddenly he was terribly homesick and wished to be nowhere so much as back at the inn of the pin tail he pushed down the sudden surge of feeling and made his way to the bar the barkeep a stout man with a florid complexion said what'll it be got any good wine asked eric the man raised an eyebrow everyone else seemed to be drinking ale or fortified spirits but he nodded and produced a dark bottle from beneath the counter the cork was intact so eric hoped the bottle was fresh and not resealed old wine tasted like vinegar mixed with raisins but you couldn't convince the average tavern keeper he couldn't just stick the cork back in at the end of a day and unseal it again the next and not have his customers complain the barman produced a cup and poured eric sipped the wine was sweeter than he would have liked but not as cloying as the dessert wines made to the north of yabon still it was acceptable and he paid and indicated the barkeep leave the bottle he glanced around the room and saw biggo on the far side trying to look inconspicuous and failing mightily he leaned against the wall behind a table where five men gamed with two tsar the lizard men were too large for their chairs but they hunkered down as best they could and seemed intent upon the game eric recognized the sound of knuckle bones as they called dice here rattling across the table and the accompanying shouts of the winners and groans of the losers after a few minutes dawa stood up and left the game he came over to eric and said got a minute eric motioned to the barkeep for another cup and filled it down sipped and made a face nothing like the wine from the grand vineyards of home is it he said where's elm asked eric doa said far from here let's go outside for a minute eric picked up the bottle and let dua lead him outside into the fresh cold night air the man looked one way then the other and signaled for eric to follow him around the corner into a dark place next to the wall sheltered above by the palisades look corporal began to are let's have an end to the mummery you're the company now was sent to keep from coming this way what makes you think that said eric you're the ones that jumped us i wasn't born this morning said the man with a grin i know your captain's not your captain but the slender blonde fellow is what do you want a way to get rich said dawah a greedy glint in his eye how do you propose to do that said eric moving his hand slowly down to his sword look i could maybe get myself a gold coin or two for telling murtagh you're not who you say you are but that's a gold coin or two and then i'm back looking for a company to join he glanced around but i don't like what i'm seeing lately with this grand conquest too many men dying for too little gold there's not gonna be much left of use to anyone if it keeps on don't you see so i'm thinking i might be a help to you and your captain but i'll want more than wages and found you'll get ample chance for luke when we take my heart eric said none committally dawah took a step forward lowering his voice how long do you think you can keep this up you lot are not like any company i've seen and i've been around more than most you talk funny and you have the look of i don't know some sort of soldiers without the parade ground nonsense but tough like mercenaries but whatever you are you're not what you want people to think you are and it ought to be worth something for me to stay quiet so that's why you covered for us at the gate sure most of us look alike to the tsar and murtag's pretty stupid don't make that mistake about most tsar which is why he's stuck out here running this garrison and not with the main host i figure i can turn you in any time but i thought i'd first give you a chance to make me a better offer i don't know eric said holding his wine cup to his lips with his left hand while his right move to the hill to his sword look one darkmoor i'll stick with you till the end if the pace right now why don't you talk this over with captain kalis suddenly a figure loomed up behind darwar in the darkness and large hands reached around and gripped him by the shoulders they jerked him around and as he spun they grabbed the back of his head and his chin and forced it in the opposite direction and with a loud crack his neck was broken eric had his sword out as big o stepped forward we found a spy he whispered how could you be sure hissed eric his heart pounding as he returned his sword to the scabbard i'm pretty sure no one's called you von darkmoor since we met up with this lot but i damn well know no man's called the captain by name since then eric nodded strict orders had been passed not to mention kayla's my name how would he know you were eric's heart sank i didn't even notice big o grinned in the faint light i won't tell he picked up jawah's body and hoisted it across his shoulder what are we gonna do with him asked eric why we're going to take him back to the camp it wouldn't be the first drunk carried out of here by his friends i'm certain eric nodded picked up the fallen wine cups and bottles and motioned for biggo to leave eric set the cups an empty bottle down next to the door and hurried after the large man for a tense moment eric expected a challenge at the gate but as biggo had predicted the guards thought nothing of one drunk cheerfully carrying another back to the camp they rode out at first light eric had told the loungeville and caelis of the encounter with dewa they had disposed of the body down in a wash not too far from their campsite making sure it was fully hidden by rocks there had been a brief discussion after that and kaelis had said whatever they chose to do they'd do it far from the tsar and the other mercenaries the only attention they received as they got ready to depart was one sour warrior who came down to ask what they were doing de loungeville merely repeated they had been ordered to rejoin the host and the warrior grunted and returned to the fortress as caelis had suggested this fortress was as much for keeping deserters from heading south as it was to keep the main army's flanks free from attack at noon while the men rested in eight trail rations kalis told eric to get five of the men from nahoot's company and bring them over to where he waited with de loungeville when they appeared kayla said one of your companions doa got into a fight last night over a got his neck broken i don't want to see any repeat of that stupidity all five men looked baffled but nodded and left another group of five was brought up to caelis then another at last the final four men were fetched to caelis and he repeated the admonishment three of the men looked blank but one of them tensed at news of dwar's death and instantly kalis had his dagger out at the man's throat delaundrel said take them away to eric as he and kalis with greylock led the man away to be questioned as eric escorted the two men back down the line several of the men asked what was going on eric said we caught another spy a moment later a scream cut through the air from behind a small rise some distance away eric looked over while the scream lingered and when it ceased he let out his breath then it started up again and eric found every man looking off at the ridge a few minutes later delangel calis and greylock returned all with grim expressions de loungeville looked around and quietly said get them mounted eric we have a lot of ground to cover and little time to do it eric turned you heard the sergeant mount up men scrambled and eric found the sudden motion a release the sound of the spy dying under torture had set his nerves on edge and made him angry the sudden movement seemed to lift that anger from him or at least give him a place to focus it soon the column was moving heading toward the main army of the tsar and the assault on mahatma 23 onslaught eric blinked acrid smoke filled the air for miles making it difficult to see any distance stinging wind carried the smell of charred wood and other less aromatic victims of the widespread fires nakol rode back to where eric brought up the rear bud very bad he commented eric said i haven't seen a lot that wasn't bad in the last week they have been traveling for more than four weeks heading across the plain toward the hosts surrounding mahata as they approached the site of battle the area began to team with all manner of passers-by patrols from the invading host small companies of mercenaries who had decided to quit the city rather than fight they tended to give kayla's company a wide berth though two had chance to parley when it was clear that kalis wasn't interested in a fight both companies had agreed to share a camp and news the news was sobering leonardo had fallen by treachery no one was certain how but someone had managed to convince the priest king to send his host north leaving the city under the care of only a small company the leader of that company had proved to be an agent for the emerald queen and he had opened the gates of the city to a host of tsar riding in from the south west the population had gone to sleep one night after a grand parade the priest kings wore elephants with their razor-capped tusks and iron spikes ringing their legs had lumbered out the gate the howders on their backs filled with archers ready to reign death down on the invaders at their side had marched the royal immortals the raj of mahata's private army of drug induced maniacs each man capable of feats of strength and bravery no sane man could achieve the immortals have been promised great glory and a better life when reborn if they died in the service of the raj the next morning the city was in the hands of the sower and the populace awoke to the sounds of wailing as the invaders turned each household out herding everyone to the last man woman and child to the central plaza to hear the priest king he had been marched out under guard and had informed the citizenry that they were now subject to the rule of the emerald queen he and his cardway of priests were taken back into the palace and never heard from again the host of lenarda that had been sent north to face an army already behind them returned under orders from the priest kings general of the army who handed over command to general farawa then joined his lord in the palace rumors flew through the city ranging from the priest king his ministers and generals being quickly executed to them being eaten by the sour one thing was clear this conquest was coming to a head with leonardo's downfall and near certainty general fudowar had held back a token force at his position north of the city and sent the entire bulk of the host in a circling move around leonardo and down the far side of the river to mahata they had moved out only days after kalys's company had deserted the benefit to the queen's army had been a swift strike south with almost no opposition the detriment had been finding themselves on the wrong side of the river now the northern element from leonarda was moving down the main road between the two cities while engineers were throwing temporary bridges across the river some miles north of the mouth eric looked at the blackened landscape some locals had fired the dry winter grass to avoid being captured by the tsar he judged for the brush fires had been started in several places only a cold rain had prevented a major conflagration on the plane eric reflected on the cold weather and realized it was after mid-summer back home by the time they left mahata if they left mahata it would be nearly a year since he had fled darkmoor one benefit to kayla's company from the swift mobilization of fadwa's hosts southward was that most of the invading army was in the grip of turmoil and confusion moving closer to the front was surprisingly easy a day earlier an officer had tried to demand passes from kayla's who had said simply nobody gave us anything on paper we were told to move to the front the officer had been totally baffled and simply waved them past the checkpoint now they were at the crest of a rise overlooking the river valley below where the vedra emptied into the blue sea eric squinted at the scene below mahata was a city of white stone and plaster bright in the summer sun now reduced to gray by weeks of falling ash it spread across two main islands while several suburbs had arisen on smaller islands in the delta the main city was surrounded by a high wall on the northwest north and northeast while the remaining sections were flanked by river harbour or sea several estuaries and inlets provided a variety of anchorages in the deep channel of the river as well as along the coast sprinkled across numerous islands were villages and on the western shore of the river a large suburb with its own wall nacho peered at the distant city things moved close to a finish how can you tell asked eric knack or shrugged see the garrison on this side eric shook his head no there's too much smoke knuckle pointed look there at the river and see where they join in the delta there were many bridges there you can see blackened foundations where they were burned and some villages on the small islands but there on this shore there's a good-sized town with its own wall eric squinted against the smoke and fading sunlight and saw a spot of light gray against the darker water studying it he thought it might be a walled town but he couldn't be certain i think i see it that is the western precinct of mahata it is still holding eric said your eyes must be as sharp as the captains maybe but i think it's that i know what to look for what are we gonna do asked eric i don't know said knuckle i think kayla snows but then maybe he doesn't i do know that we need to be over there he pointed at the far side of the river eric looked at the massive host marshalled along the riverbank and said that seems to be everyone's problem knuckle what being over there eric pointed northward and said they say there are bridges being built 10 miles north of here if so why is everyone marshall down here near the coast they can't be thinking of swimming across can they difficult swim knuckle admitted doubt that's what they're going to do but i expect they have a plan a plan eric said shaking his head dubiously as he remembered what greylock had told him about battle plans and the realities of war he sighed all we have to do is go through this army cross the river and get the defenders to open the gate for us there's always a way said the little man with a grin eric again shook his head in uncertainty as the order to move down into the waiting host was given and suddenly he felt very much like a mouse invading a cat's lair if the outlying fringes of the host were confused the heart of the army was strictly under control chaos noticed several heavily manned checkpoints and veered away from them and twice had to improvise explanations for provost officers riding patrol he claimed to be confused about which campsite he needed to locate and said he was among those who were going to be first across both times the officers assumed that no one would be lying to be the first to cross the river so in both cases they merely waved kalis along but as they skirted around the central position of the army they got some sense of how things lay a large hill was central to the host with the queen's pavilion atop it around that tent were the officers tents and rank upon rank of sour guard with pantathione combat troops arrayed behind them then came a series of tents used by pantathian priests the air was so thick with their magic it reeked claimed knackle then the bulk of the army radiated outward like spokes of a wheel de loungeville said it's a pity there's not another army lurking about on the grass nearby these lads are so bound to conquer there's nothing remotely defensive about this place eric knew little of warcraft but after months of working hard to create defensible encampments even he could see this there were major flaws in the disposition of this army they must be planning on launching the attack soon he observed why do you say that asked kayla's greylock what's that word you told me for supply logistics that's the one the logistics are all wrong look at where they've got their horses each company has them picketed nearby but there's no easy way to get water to them from the river this is going to be a mess in a day or two careless nodded but said nothing as he looked around delangeril said you're right this host can't stay here another week without a major blow up either men are going to get sick start fighting or run out of food and have to eat their horses they can't stay here much longer chaos said there as he pointed eric looked to see a narrow peninsula of sandy ground near the river's edge sheltered by tall grasses they rode down a long incline through some rocky gullies carved out by rain and down to a sandy stretch then back up a small rise and at last reached the indicated area eric jumped from his horse and knelt near the water's edge he cupped some in his hand and found it brackish and salty they can't drink this i know said kalis form a team and haul water down from upriver to give the horses something to drink looking around as the sun began to set he said we're not staying here very long camp was quickly made and eric saw to it that the eighteen remaining men from nahut's company were always under surveillance they were not exactly certain what had happened to dawah and the other man but they knew it had been fatal and it was clear they didn't wish to meet a similar fate delangel had remarked there might be another agent among them but if there was eric was forced to concede he was far more clever at disguising his nature for not one of those men tried anything suspicious still eric billeted them closest to the river with his own men and the horses on one side of them and the river on the other rue came and found eric as he was checking to see the horses were fit captain wants you over there he pointed to where kayla stood with de loungeville nacho greylock and hertonis reaching the mound on which they stood eric heard knuckles saying three times i think there is something strange here chaos said that's a well-defended position no interrupted knuckle look closely the walls are good yes but there is no way to bring in reinforcements yet the man said they were facing fresh soldiers every time they assaulted the walls three times in one day the loungeweel said camp gossip maybe said knuckle maybe not if true then there is a way from that place he pointed toward the small western precinct of the city on this side of the river to over there he then pointed to the distant lights of mahata it might be why they tried so hard to take it last week if not for a way in why not leave it and let them starve the lounge rules scratched his chin my bather don't want trouble at the back said knuckle does this army look like it's worried about trouble this army is trouble trouble soon if they don't get across that river soon there'll be no food bad he turned to eric what was that word logistics bad logistics baggage train all strung out from here up to leonarda men pissing into the river upstream and soon men downriver get belly flux and bad runs horse dung everywhere up to your knees men don't get food men fight it's simple they take this precinct he made a diving motion and take tunnel under river then up into city there was that tunnel under the serpent river before conceded chaos hattonis said but there's lots of bedrock under the city of the serpent river our clans dug those tunnels over a period of 200 years because of the storms of summer the monsoons you can't safely cross the bridges when the seas are high and the wind is that strong they get big storms here in mahata asked knackle yes admitted the clans man but i don't know what the ground around here is like doesn't matter said nako a good builder he'll find a way certainly a dwarf would know a way said greylock chaos showed a small flash of irritation whatever we take a risk of getting killed no matter what we do that's not the point it's wasteful getting killed to get into a city that has no way out and we don't know there is a way out of the western precinct we know that across the river is mahata and we don't know if there's a tunnel on this side what if i go and find one said nako kalish shook his head i don't have any idea how you plan on getting in there but the answer is no i want every man ready to move out at midnight words being passed there's some sort of celebration on tonight the pantathions and tsar are making some sort of battle magic then tomorrow the northern elements are supposed to hit the city nako scratched his head there are some men building bridges north of the main camp but they are not finished why this and what tricks do the serpent men have to get this army across that river they've been conjuring something all day long i don't know answered caelis but i plan on every man being on the other side when the sun's up he turned to eric that's your job those men from nahoot's company suddenly eric's stomach tightened he knew what kalis was about to say yes put them around the horses and give them this to drink he handed eric a large wine skin that sloshed knackers dosed it so they'll be unconscious for a while eric felt himself grin as he took the skin for a minute if naco hadn't given me this drug i would have told you to kill them kale is finished now see to it eric turned away again chilled and for a reason he couldn't put any name to feeling shame the camp rang with alien sounds music from distant lands screams of joy and pain and laughter swearing and most of all drums sour warriors pounded on large wooden drums stretched with hide the sound echoed across the river like thunder and rang in the ears like the blood zone pulse bloody rights had concluded and now warriors readied themselves for the morning's battle horns bled and bells rang and on and on pounded the drums atonis and his men stood near the horses and eric quickly saw that all 18 of nahoot's men were unconscious he knew that had any avoided the drug's effect he was to kill them eric returned to khalis and reported all 18 are truly asleep praji said if they can sleep through that racket they are indeed senseless men kayla stuck out his hand goodbye old friends first pragee then vajra then her tonis took it and shook they and the eight remaining men from their companies would make their way up the river trying to position themselves to get across the river over one of the northern bridges while the main band attacked in the confusion of battle they were going to try to slip away and head east making for the city of the serpent river whatever occurred in the coming days eventually the city of the serpent river would have to face the emerald queens might hatonis would ready the clans once they had been nomads like their cousins the djishandi and if need be they would roam the hills near the city again striking at the host then fleeing into the high forests for hertonis knew that this struggle would be settled far from his native city and more than mere strength of arms was needed the night was dark as swift clouds from the ocean blew into the shore keeping the moon's light masked only those of especially good vision might notice someone moving along the river's edge from any distance away nakor sniffed the air rain coming i think tomorrow almost certainly chaos motioned and eric turned and signaled the first company into the water the plan was simple swim across the swift running but shallow delta to one of the tiny islands near the city wall and look for a way to climb the southern breakwater and slip along atop it into the greater harbour they would still strike for the southernmost quarter of the harbour the shipbuilders estuary that small firth fed off the main river and joined with the larger harbour to form a natural launch point for ships kalis had complete intelligence from agents who had been on this continent for years but he knew little about the harbor beyond that it had never occurred to anyone else that the emerald queen might need a navy until rue brought it up after the burning of the shipbuilding facilities the plan was still simple steal a boat and sail up the coast to the city of the serpent river eric thought not for the first time that simple didn't mean easy the water was chilly but eric quickly got used to it the men had wrapped their swords shields and armor for quiet and some of the men had abandoned their heavier arms so as to be able to swim better the path taken brought them perilously close to both a picket of the emerald queen's host and lookouts in the suburb fortification torches on the walls showed clearly that the ruckus from the queen's camp had alerted the garrison that something was up eric hoped they were all watching the lights on the top of the hill and not the rocky shore below their walls every man in the company was a competent swimmer those that hadn't had the knack had been trained at the camp outside of crondor but when they reached the distant spot that marked their first meeting point a small sandy island in the mouth of the river three men were missing a quick head count showed 32 men on that island exposed to view save for some tall grass and one lone tree kalist signaled back into the water and eric waited until everyone else was in before taking one look around for the three missing men then he followed after the others the channel deepened and the current got stronger as they neared the city and the water tasted saltier a cough sputter and splash nearby were followed by a choking sound and eric knew someone else was in trouble he swam toward the sound of splashing in the darkness but as he reached the spot only silence met him he glanced around in the gloom then listened and finally started swimming toward the distant shore suddenly he skinned his knee and found he was clambering across an underwater eyelet then he was suddenly sucked downward and pulled back into a deeper swifter current and struggling to keep his head above water his armor weighed him down and eric had to will himself to keep his head above water he had trained for hours to swim with his sword and shield on his back but nothing in training had prepared him for this nightmare of laboring through a wet inky darkness his chest burned and his arms felt leaden and he had to force himself to move forward lift one arm and throw it forward and kick lift the other and kick he moved forward with no idea how far he'd come and how far he had left to go then he heard a change in the sound before him and realized it was water lapping against rocks more he heard men quietly coughing cursing and blowing water from their noses he lashed out with his last vestige of strength and hit a rock face first red light exploded behind eric's eyes then collapsed into a ball that receded away from him in a tunnel of inky blackness eric choked spewed water from his mouth and nose then vomited he turned over and struck his head against a large rock roo's voice sounded in his ear don't you'll knock your wits out your silly head again lie still eric hurt his body felt like one large cramp and he had never felt so foul in his life you drank a lot of ocean said big o nearby if i hadn't been standing on the rock you swam into i don't know if we'd have found you to pull you out thanks said eric weekly his ears rang and his face ached and his nose hurt and generally he wasn't certain he was glad to be alive kalis came and said can you move eric stood wobbly and said of course as much as he might like to sit for a while he knew that the alternative to moving was being left behind eric looked around then his eyes narrowed and he counted thirteen men stood on the rocks looking at faces he turned to big o and said lewis out there said big o with an inclination of his head toward the river sweet gods said eric 32 men had gone into the river and only 13 had made it chopin was nearby and he said perhaps some of them are washed up at different places on the shore eric nodded but he knew it was more likely they were swept out to sea or drowned in the river eric saw they were out on the tip of the southern harbour breakwater a long finger of rocks built up to prevent tidal flow interfering with shipping in the harbour kayla's motioned and each man fell into line they moved carefully along the heavy rocks piled high to form the breakwater in the darkness the footing was dangerous after about a half hour of moving slowly they reached a flat road formed across the top of the stones knack all whispered they must pack dirt on it so they can bring more rocks out in wagons if they need to repair the breakwater after a storm kalis nodded and motioned for silence he pointed to a tiny light in the distance there was a small building located a few hundred yards ahead where the stone breakwater turned into a proper jetty it was certain to be defended glancing toward the harbour mouth eric felt his stomach contract captain he whispered i've seen came the answer eric looked back and saw the others had followed his gaze and were now looking at the harbour three ships had been sunk in the harbour mouth to ensure no raiders from the invading fleet could enter the harbour and nestled like chicks against a mother hen a flotilla of ships hugged the docks but none of them looked to be of shallow enough draft to get past the hulks blocking the harbour the pair of guards in the watch building were vigilantly watching across the river so they were taken without knowing that kalis had slipped up behind using only his hands kalis quickly disabled both men and lowered them to the floor of the heart motioning for the men to gather around chaos said the orders are simple we wait until the sounds of battle in the morning the emerald queen may try to slip some small boats around the jetty so there may be a few defenders heading this way but most of the city's army will be on the northern walls protecting the landwood side of the city then we move straight up this jetty head off left toward the shipbuilder's estuary and fire everything in sight if anyone tries to stop you kill him then we head back to the main docks steal a boat of a shallow draft as we can find and try to get out of this mess if you can't get back to the harbor try to get out of the city on the northeastern side and make overland to the city of the serpent river he glanced from face to face it's every man for himself lads no one is to linger for a comrade if no one gets back to condor then this has all been for naught if most of us are going to die let's make it worth something grim nods of agreement were the only reply he received the men took what shelter they could around the small hut and waited eric shivered he dozed but the throbbing in his head made sleep impossible he couldn't believe how tired he felt and the throbbing in his nose drained him like no pain he had known before it's broken said rue what said eric turning and discovering his friend could be seen in the pre-dawn gloom your nose it's a mess want me to reset it eric knew he should say no but he simply nodded rue had been through enough street fights to know what he was doing rue put his hands on either side of eric's nose and with a swift move pushed the pieces into place the pain shot through eric's head like hot iron spikes his eyes watered and he thought he would faint then suddenly the pain drained away the throbbing that had bothered him all night lessened and he felt as if his face might not fall off after all thanks he said wiping away tears a loud roar precluded any reply it was as if the skies parted and a thousand dragons vented their rage there came a hollow rush of sound like creation's largest waterfall echoing through a gorge and a wind sprang up from the far shore oh my said knuckle this is some trick across the river a giant light of brilliant white edged in pale green sprang up and arched across the river slowly spreading and fanning out as it climbed into the sky men and sour riders moved tentatively upon it then kicked their bulky mounts forward the horses moved slowly following the rising bridge of light nako said now we know why they must near the mouth of the river across from mahata why no bridges they're using the priest's spells to get the army across kalis said we leave now he rose and moved down the jetty they reached the main dock area without incident ignored by those on the dock who were transfixed by the site of the rising bridge in the sky across the river eric forced himself to pay attention to his leader and pushed more than one man after chaos they ran through a series of narrow streets along a thin neck of land between bodies of water eric had no sense of where he was but he thought he might find his way back the way they had come then they were moving left down a major boulevard a company of horsemen dashed past dressed in white tunics and trousers with red turbans and black vests another man similarly dressed reigned in next to khalis a moment later and shouted where are you going we have our orders kayla shouted back the estuary is at risk the man seemed confused by the answer but the incredible sight of a bridge of light rising across the river unnerved him enough that he accepted kayla's story and rode on they reached another street which crossed the top of the one they were on and eric halted ahead was a dry dock it loomed high into the sky and upon it was the keel of a great ship pulled up for hull scraping the wooden frame stretched back for what eric judged a full 400 feet and the rear of the ship protruded out beyond that he looked beyond it and saw the estuary a mighty lake adjacent to the main harbour the estuary was ringed by construction yards like this forming a nearly perfect three-quarter circle around it either end was more than a quarter mile off de longevil said take some men and go that way he pointed off to the right go to the far end and start burning everything inside as you come back try to get back to the harbour but remember it's every man for himself at the last he reached out and put his hand on eric's arm and squeezed briefly then he was off running to the left eric said you three indicating rue show pie and neck or the men nearest him come with me as he ran his head thundered and he tried to ignore the pain his knees were wobbly but his heart pounded and his nerves were taught and after a few moments he felt his head clear a bit riders came speeding past heading back the way eric's men had come he barely got out of the way of one man who seemed willing to ride him down rather than control his horse the expression on the guard's face told eric this was no movement of soldiers under orders but men put to flight by terror glancing skyward eric couldn't blame the men the bridge now reached a quarter of the way across the river and upon it stood thousands of saw their battle cries carrying across the distance like a thunder peal without end eric rounded a bend and saw two shipyards beyond where he stood to show pie the nearest man he said get down there and fire everything nako help him eric grabbed roo and moved to the hut before another gigantic cradle of wood this one was empty the door to the building was barred he quickly made his way around it and found a single window looking in he saw no signs of habitation using his shield eric smashed the window and said now put your size to good use he boosted his small friend through the window rue hurried and opened the door and eric said anything to burn some parchment and a torch got any flint eric reached into his belt pouch and pulled out some flint roo took it and his dagger and struck a spark on the torch then nursed a small fire into life when it was burning he pushed it down into the pile of parchment until it caught then they hurried out of the hut eric led rue down to the base of the cradle and saw a pile of old wood scraps he gathered them by the base and had rue set them alight they burned slowly with dark smoke but at last a good-sized fire was started eric glanced around and saw a little smoke from the far end of the estuary but no sign of any major fires he motioned to rue to come along and they made their way to the next establishment and found it guarded by a shipbuilder and his family three men of middle years as well as four sons in their teens stood ready to fight they were armed with hammers and pry bars stand aside said eric what do you mean to do demanded the oldest man there i hate saying this to any master craft but i'm putting the torch to your shop that cradle and your tools go as well the man's eyes narrowed and he said over my cold body eric said luke i don't want to fight you but no one's going to build ships for the emerald queen do you understand man it's all i have said the builder eric pointed with his sword to the distant bridge of white and green moving slowly toward them and said they'll take all you have they'll rape your women and kill you or make you slaves and force you to build ship for them and they'll sail them to my home and kill me and mine what would you have us do the builder demanded as much a plea is a challenge take a boat and sail away friend said eric get your sons and daughters and get away while you still have time go to the city of the serpent river and hold there as long as you can but if you don't leave now i'll kill you if i must big o and two other men came running up behind eric and the sight of five armed men proved too much for the shipbuilder he nodded and said we need an hour eric shook his head i can give you five minutes then i start burning he saw a small sailing boat anchored in the estuary is that yours no it's my neighbor's then steal it and go eric motioned for the men to spread out and as big o passed one of the sun shouted no father i'll not let them burn our home before big o could turn the young man struck him from behind with a pry bar bringing it straight across the large man's neck eric cried no but was too late the loud crack told him biggo's neck had been broken rule charged the young man bashing him in the face with his shield knocking him backwards into his brothers and uncles the young man lost the pry bar which clattered away across the stones and eric looked down at the motionless form of biggo the shipwright and his family stood motionless as roo stood over the boy his sword poised to end his life eric stepped over and grabbed his friend pulling him away why he demanded as he leaned over the now terrorized youth grabbing him by the tunic he lifted him by main force with one arm until he was nose to nose with him tell me why the boy's face contorted with terror then eric heard a woman's voice say don't hurt him eric turned and saw a woman who stood with tears streaming down her face he's my only son eric shouted he killed my friend why shouldn't i kill him now he's all i have said the woman eric felt the anger drain away he pushed the boy toward his mother and said go the boy took a half step then eric screamed now turning to rue he said bernatol carried a torch and hurried into the home of the family who stood watching helplessly eric said get to that boat and sail away otherwise you'll all die the father nodded and led his band away and eric knelt by biggo rolling the big man over he saw his eyes wide suddenly he heard laughter and turned to find knackles standing behind he looks surprised eric suddenly heard himself laugh for it was true no anger or pain but amazement was etched on the face of the big man eric stood i wonder if the goddess of death is everything bigger expected it to be then he turned and saw rue emerging from the building smoke coming through the door after him come on eric said we're almost out of time rue looked across the distant river and saw the bridge was now arching upward toward the midpoint of the river sounds of battle screams and the clash of arms rang from the north and eric knew the wall was likely breached or would be soon as the defenders ran in terror from the magic of the emerald queen and her army from the far end of the estuary clouds of smoke rose heralding the work done by chaos and his company show pie and two other men raced to the next building and set it ablaze while eric and roo went down a series of stone steps to a low assembly point a series of wooden sheds on a rocky point these they quickly started burning nakor hurried ahead reaching the keyside they discovered the fire had spread to the other side of the street and was growing in strength eric ran along until he came to the next construction site and started setting fires as he moved back toward the main street eric noticed a flood of people running along many carrying bundles and he knew the enemy was somewhere inside the city rue tugged on eric's sleeve and he said what rue pointed and said it's the captain through the gathering press of men and women eric caught sight of khalis nakhor and de loungeville then they were swallowed up by the crowd head for the harbour eric called out in case any other of his band was nearby he and rue made their way as best they could eric using his bulk and strength to push through the throng rue staying close behind him he lost sight of the others down a side street they overtook to loungeville where's the captain shouted eric somewhere ahead up there eric noticed delangel had picked up a cut to his arm and had hastily wrapped it you all right the lounge will said i'll live for the next few minutes where's everyone going shouted roo same place we are answered the lounge rule the docks the city's about to fall and everyone's going to be looking for a boat we just got to get one before anyone else rue glanced over his shoulder at least we got the shipyards ablaze delangel said at least we did that then it started to rain chapter 24 escape eric turned the fires what do you expect us to do the sergeant asked as increasing numbers of people swarmed by him suddenly khalis appeared forcing his way back to where the two of them stood then nakor and shopai were at his side we have to go back shouted the little man what can we do demanded a lounge roll we have to keep the fires burning said nako as if to taunt them the rain increased in urgency turning from a light sprinkle to a more insistent tattoo if we get them hot enough only the worst storm will put them out chaos nodded they started moving toward the fires and eric looked around for rue in the faint hope he could be heard over the din eric shouted in the king's tongue back to the estuary back to the fires whatever else might be taking place in the city there was a full-scale riot brewing near the waterfront soldiers sent to keep order were joining in the general run for the ships that the harbour mouth was now jammed by the hulks and only shallow draught boats could manage to slip out seemed to be of no concern to the citizenry of mahata ships crews tried their best to fend off citizens seeking a haven and several captains raised sail to put some distance between the docks and their craft a half dozen horsemen rode furiously down the street and men and women screamed as they attempted to get out of the way eric shouted get the horses and as the lead animal shied at the press of humanity before it eric leapt and took a hold on the arm of the rider catching him off guard eric found surprising strength as he yanked the man from his saddle given how beat up he felt with one crushing blow he knocked the man unconscious throwing him to the ground it was probably a death sentence as the crowd would trample the man but eric had no sympathy for someone who would ride down women and children to make good his own escape the horse's eyes were white with fear and its nostrils flared it tried to back up and felt the horse behind and without hesitation it kicked out the flying hooves caught an innocent trader carrying his last half dozen jars of valuable unguarance sending them flying through the air to smash on the stones as the stout man was knocked almost senseless eric spared a moment to grab the man and haul him to his feet with one hand while gripping hard on the horse's reins with the other he shouted at the merchant stay on your feet man if you fall you die the man nodded and eric let him go having no more time to spend he mounted and saw that chaos and the others had followed his example save who was being attacked by the one remaining rider eric kicked hard at the flank of his animal and the frightened gelding leapt forward eric's sure hands guided him through the press to where nakor struggled to avoid being skewered by a scimitar eric took out his own blade and with a single roundhouse blow took the rider out of his saddle nakor sprang to the now empty saddle and said thank you i grabbed the reins before i thought of how i was to get him to give up his horse eric urged his animal past knackles and took off up the street after chaos and the lounge drill the two remaining riders seemed content to let them keep the horses as long as they were allowed to keep their own and didn't try to interfere with their passing the bulk of the horses parted the swarming mob that would have swept away men on foot once they were back on the street leading to the fires the crowd thinned out the rain was steady and as they rounded a corner alongside the estuary they saw the fires were beginning to abate eric kept as close to the flames as possible as there he had the least trouble passing the throng running through the street the horse continued to shy from the flames but eric's firm seat and short reigns kept the animal under control at the end of the estuary where the first fire was set the large ships cradle and hull were almost completely intact save for some scorching and the once brisk fire was now guttering eric saw an abandoned house across the street and rode there leaping from the saddle he swatted the horse on the rump sending it away running inside the house eric found furnishings turned every which way looters perhaps thought eric or a family desperate to clear out their few valuables before the fire reached them he grabbed a chair and ran across the broad street to the top of the jetty that overlooked the fire and tossed the wooden chair into the flames below he made several quick trips across the rainy street and every loose piece of furniture made its way into the fire as nakol predicted once reaching a certain heat the fire grew despite the rain which seemed to be leveling off at a steady drizzle rather than a serious downpour in the next house eric found more loose flammables and threw them into the growing fire at last he felt certain the cradle and hull would stay alight but as he looked down the keyside his heart sank his was the only fire burning strongly enough to withstand the rain and there was only so much one man could do he hurried to the next fire which was almost extinguished and found a store across the street the large wooden doors had been forced open one hanging from a single hinge while the other lay on the street eric picked up the one door and carried it to the edge of the street overlooking the shipyard below he tossed the wooden door as far as he could and it sailed down to land on the edge of the sputtering flames if anything it banked the fire even more eric swore as he hurried back to the shop the front of the store was almost intact whoever had pried open the doors had taken one look and run off the store was a chandlery with nothing of value to a looter eric hurried through and in the rear he found yards of sail more he found sealing pitch in barrels he quickly rolled one out through the ruined storefront and across the street there he picked up the barrel he threw it so it landed squarely on the flames the barrel struck with a satisfying crack and quickly the pitch began to burn eric took a step away and then a fountain of flames sprang skyward nakor ran up and said what did you find that was a good whoosh pitch answered eric inside he turned and the little man followed after knackle scurried around looking at everything he could find he came away with several smaller kegs and put them aside out front then hurried inside a moment later he came out stooped over pushing a barrel as eric was returning from putting a second barrel on the flame eric paused and turned to look at the western sky the bridge of light was nearing the apex of its ark the saw and mercenaries at the leading edge standing hundreds of feet above the water nakor said wish i had a trick boy if i could make that thing vanish he snapped his fingers that would be something watching them all fall into the river eric got another barrel and side by side they rolled them down the cobbles toward the third builder's yard why doesn't some magician around here think of that he asked nearly panting from the exertion battle magic is difficult said naco as he pushed the barrel along magician has a trick another magician counters the trick third magician counters the second fourth magician tries to help the second they're all standing around trying to best one another and the army comes along and chops them up very dangerous and not many magicians willing to try surprise is the thing he paused as he reached the ramp leading down to the lower landing where the main building of the shipyard was ablaze and let the barrel roll away with a guiding kick that trick there would be very easy to counter if you gave a powerful magician the time to study it lots of plantations working together on that bridge lots of serpent priests concentrating together very difficult easy to disrupt like unraveling a bag you pull the right thread at the seam and it all falls apart eric looked at him expectantly grinned i don't know how but pug of starduck or maybe some sorani great ones could do it eric closed his eyes a moment then said well if they're not going to show up to help i guess we have to do it ourselves come on as they ran back toward the chandlers knackle continued but if pug or some other powerful magician was to try the emerald queen has even more magicians ready to burn him to a cinder if he he stopped i have an idea eric halted gasping for breath what you go find the others tell them to steal a boat here in the estuary don't wait leave now get out of the harbor fast i'll take care of the fires eric said knuckle how tell you later you gave me a great idea now go leave soon the little man hurried back towards the chandlers and eric took a deep breath and turned he willed his exhausted body into one more run and set off to look for chaos and the others at the far end of the estuary eric found khalis delangel and shopai working hard at stoking a fire two dead guardsmen nearby told him someone had objected the rain increased in tempo and eric found himself soaked to the skin as he reached kayla's neck also to get a boat and leave now kalis said there's too much here left intact he said to tell you he'd take care of it he thought of a great trick instantly chaos dropped a long board he was about to toss on a sputtering bonfire and said did you see any boats eric shook his head but i wasn't looking for any they hurried back up the road until they came to the first stone stairway leading down to a lower section of the docks where some small fire still smoldered the rain was starting to fall in earnest a drenching downpour that obscured the mystic arch that now hung more than half the way between the opposite bank and the city peering through the rain eric said there's something out there he pointed kayla said it's capsized they moved along the edge of the estuary and more than once thought they had seen something only to find an overturned hull or smashed bow then shopi said the mood to a boy kalis tossed aside his weapons and dove in eric took a breath and left after him he followed his captain by the sound of splashing more than anything else each stroke threatened to be his last as fatigue and cold seemed to leech what little strength eric had left but then he came alongside the craft it was a fishing smack with a deep center compartment half filled with brine to keep the fish fresh the single mast lay along the port gunnel lashed in place any small boat sailors asked kalis half falling as he pulled himself inside the boat eric said just what i learned on the revenge i'm from the mountains remember the lounge roll peered inside the sail locker now sails anyway he reached down along the gunnel of the boat and found two pairs of oars kalis sat down and took one pair and fit them in the orlocks while de loungeville cut the boat free from the mooring boy by the time careless had taken a third pull de loungeville had unshipped the second set of oars and was pulling along in time with chaos chopin found a rudder and tiller and set them up while eric sank deeper into the boat he was soaked to his skin battered and exhausted but he almost gave thanks for being able to simply sit and not have to move anyone see roe asked eric or jado on a tombi the loungeville shook his head where's big o dead replied eric then delangel said find a bucket we're going to be swimming if we keep taking on water eric looked around and in a bait box found a large wooden bucket he stood there a moment then asked what do i do look for pools of water fill the bucket and pour it over the side answered the lounge drill it's called bailing eric said oh a knelt the boat had a bilge grate and he saw water collecting under it he moved the grate and dipped the bucket and filled it half full water wasn't coming in saved for the rain and he didn't have to work hard to keep the water contained in the bilge eric looked ahead a shallow flow out the south end of the estuary provided a direct course into the river's mouth kalish shouted to show pi steer that way the deeper channel for the big ships leads into the main harbour this smack might be able to steer between the hulks in the harbour but i don't want to chance it eric said with the chaos in the harbour we'd be trading one mess for a bigger one delangel said just keep bailing pugs sat up as a strange keening filled the air it was the dead of night at stardoc and he had been asleep he pulled on his robe as the door to his sleeping quarters was pushed open miranda wearing a very short and sheer sleeping shift said what's that pug said an alarm i've established wards throughout novindus so i could keep track of what's going on down there without risking calling too much attention to myself he waved his hand and the sound ceased the city of mahata they had come to share a quiet sense of each other over the weeks miranda had been staying with pug she found it amusing that so many of the mysteries surrounding him were really nothing more than sleight of hand when he vanished he was usually nearby but keeping out of sight he used a magical gate to leave stardock and return to sorcerer's isle at will and usually appeared there at night meals were waiting for him as well as his laundry much to miranda's delight pug regarded the dark eyes that studied him what do you intend to do she asked go there no said puck there might be a trap come along i've got something interesting to show you he led her out of his personal quarters in the tower at the center of the keep of stardoc and down the stairs and why don't you put some clothes on you're quite a distraction in that nothing you sleep in miranda gave him a half smile as she ducked into her own quarters grabbed a dress and slipped it over her head stockings shoes and the rest she'd worry about later she returned to the hall and followed pug down the stairs she had sensed over the weeks they had been together that pug found her attractive and on several occasions had wondered about him in a more personal way but neither had broached the topic or acted upon it she had slept alone in a room close to his every night since following him to starduck a strange sort of trust had built up between them for a while miranda refused to reveal much about herself she had a quick mind and fast wit and the same dry sense of humor pug had developed over the years he had given her the run of the place and she had been in most of the rooms but not all a few rooms were locked and when she asked about them he said there were things he was unwilling to share with anyone and would change the subject he made a motion with his hand as he approached one such door and it swung open without a touch she understood the principles involved in the spell but had sensed nothing of magic when she had investigated the door a month earlier inside the room was a large assortment of scrying devices a round object lay beneath a blue velvet cover and as he removed this she saw a perfect globe of crystal this was a legacy from my teacher colgan who died many years ago it was fashioned by alphaphane of cass she nodded in recognition of the name of the legendary artificer of magic items as he passed his hand over it the heart of crystal turned opaque a milk white cloud forming within the ball with another part of his hand he brought a rosy glow to the cloud within the orb this device gave him the first hint i had some talent his voice fell low as he added a very long time ago what can it do it's a sighting device and the wonderful thing about it is that it's very subtle those being watched have to be very alert to sense its use he sat on a stool and motioned for miranda to sit nearby the problem though is that what makes it subtle makes it very stupid if you don't know what you're looking for it's no help at all fortunately i know where i placed each ward he squinted a little and miranda felt magic turning and being adjusted as pug said let's see what's happening in mahata it must be mid-morning there he focused his will and the city of mahata was revealed in the glass as if viewed from the clouds by the birds it lay in smoke and cloudy darkness what tripped your ward asked miranda that's what i'm trying to hear i think the point of view in the glass shifted and across the river he saw a bridge of light and an army upon it after viewing it for a moment pug closed his eyes he opened them again after a moment one thing about the pantathions there's little about them one might call refined unless i attack them directly there's no possible way they could know i was watching is mahata going to fall asked miranda it appears that's the case answered pug kalis pug said i'll try to find him pug closed his eyes and the scene in the ball shifted and as he opened them again the colors swirling in the ball resolved themselves into an image a small fishing boat rode by two men and holding two others struggled through rough waters pug brought the image closer and they could both see that the first man in the boat was kayla's pulling with his more than human strength against the choppy water miranda sighed i suppose helping him is out of the question difficult without letting the pantathions know where we are a few i could deal with those guarding that bridge i know she said pug looked at miranda you're fond of him aren't you kayliss she was silent for a while in a way he's unique and i feel a connection with him pug sat back his face a mask it's been a long time since i've felt that with anyone looking back into the ball he said we could attempt suddenly there was a flash of orange light in the ball miranda said what was that what was that shouted delangel as orange light exploded at the docks they had been making steady headway against the running tide as they crossed the boundary of the estuary and entered the river proper the winds were picking up and the rain increasing to the point where eric was bailing in earnest no one had spoken for a while despite their efforts to stoke the fires before leaving the rain had been defeating them even the biggest fire was starting to diminish and whatever nakor's idea it hadn't been manifested then a hum had sounded in the distance followed a moment later by a bolt of white energy arcing down from the bridge to strike the center of the shipyard a huge ball of orange flame climbed into the air followed by a rising column of black smoke the sound of the explosion had hurt their ears even at this distance and a moment later a hot gust of air struck them like a stinging blow keep rowing yelled kalis eric bailed but he looked over his shoulder past show pie who also looked back look shouted show pie as a tiny dart of blue light rose from the docks and struck at the leading edge of the bridge of light within seconds another massive bolt of energy rained down on the harbour exploding buildings and sheds into flame two previously intact ships resting at anchor waiting to be hauled out for repair caught fire as flames touched their sails now half the shipyard was a flame and hot enough apparently for the rain to have little impact kaelis and delongeville pulled hard and a few minutes later another blue bolt of light rose up and struck the bridge the third blast from above was as large as the first two combined and fully half the waterfront was engulfed in fire suddenly de loungeville let out a harsh laugh knuckle he said even kalis couldn't hide his astonishment eric said but he said he didn't have any magic that would work against the bridge de laongril said but they don't know that he jutted his chin at the bridge starting its descent toward mahata whatever he's doing they think it's an attack and they're doing our work for us they're gonna burn down after city trying to fly the little maniac suddenly eric started to laugh he couldn't help himself the image of the little man dashing madly from place to place somehow avoiding the terrible destruction the pantathions were throwing at him was comic to consider it's an illusion said show pie the serpent priests are so ready for combat they don't trouble to look at what is only an illusion they act as if it were real another tiny blue bolt shot skyward and another thundering response answered and more of the city's waterfront erupted in flame guards said eric in a half whisper how's he gonna get out of that miranda squinted against the bright image in the ball what is going on someone has the pantathions convinced they're under attack and they're spending a great deal of energy trying to destroy whoever it is can we help pug said there's enough going on that i think i can slip something in to make merry hell for this emerald queen he closed his eyes and miranda felt power flowing toward him he moved his lips slightly and like music the pitch of the energies in the room shifted miranda sat back to watch and to wait each time the flames grew and eric was convinced nacho must finally be dead another tiny blue bolt would strike the bridge and another globe of hellfire would descend on the city the entire waterfront was now ablaze from the shipbuilders estuary to the main harbour as they took the river to the ocean and rode the outgoing tide past the harbour mouth they could see mighty ships burning at the dockside eric tried not to imagine rue stuck on the docks in the midst of that fire and panic trapped with no way to escape but to jump into the harbour as they steered clear of the rocks they began to follow along the long breakwater they had used to enter the city movement caught eric's eye and he said what's that over there in the rain he could barely see but khalis said some of our men he told show pie to move closer but pulled up short of letting the boat get too close to the rocks eric looked and saw three of the men who had been lost in the river the night before one looked seriously injured and the other two waved frantically chaos stood and shouted you've got to swim we can't risk coming any closer the men nodded and one slipped into the water the other helped the injured man in and the two aided him as he slowly swam to the boat one of the men was jado and eric was glad to see a familiar face but of his own company only show pie was left rue and lewis were not with these men neither was greylock as chaos sat down to start rowing once more eric heard something it was faint and distant but familiar wait he said looking down the breakwater in the distance a tiny figure picked its way along the rocks as it got closer eric felt a weight lift from his shoulders for rue was limping along toward them hey he shouted waving his hand above his head eric stood and waved back we see you he shouted roo came to the closest point he could then jumped feet first into the water he thrashed through the water and eric was over the side before anyone could say anything near exhaustion a moment before he gained renewed strength from rue's plight and he struck out through the water as if he had all the strength he had ever possessed reaching the smaller man he took him by the shirt and half carried half dragged him back through the water he pushed rue into the boat pulled himself up half over the gunnels and let the others pull him aboard as he fell into the bottom of the boat eric said what kept you some damn full turned loose a horse that kicked me damn near broke my leg he sat up i knew there was too much going on near the harbour so i figured if any of you got out you'd be coming this way so here i am smart said the lounge rule as he and cailius began to row now start bailing what's bailing said rue eric pointed to the bucket in the bottom of the boat take that fill it there he pointed at the bilge then dump it over the side i'm injured rue protested looking around the boat where no man sat without a scar eric said me are blaze for you bale natombi greylock asked eric roo said the tomb is dead he was hit from behind by a soldier while trying to get past another i haven't seen greylock since we started back from the arbor de loungeville said talk all you want but start bailing room muttered under his breath but he dipped the bucket into the water gathering at the bottom of the boat and lifted it to dump it over the side power manifested in the air and a singing sound caused every man to turn back toward the city they had rode for nearly an hour and were well clear of the harbour mouth far enough away to have backed off the pace and now they were turning northeast making along the coast to the city of the serpent river the bridge of light was close to touching down and armies were now upon it from end to end but this strange keening loud enough to cause the men in the boat to flinch ranged over the landscape and while they could see nothing of those on the bridge eric imagined it must be painful for those close to it then the bridge was gone what said rue a thundering report sounded a moment later and then a warm wind washed over them rocking the smack against the roll of the sea shopi said someone made the bridge go away the lounge real laughed it was a dirty unpleasant sound eric looked at him and asked what i hoped though sar on the bridge know how to swim jado his broad grin lighting up his face in the gloom said as high as that bridge was man i hope they know how to fly rue winst must have been a few thousand of them up there the more the better said suddenly he was falling forward into the boat rue and chopin moved him while eric took his place he was wounded in the arm said eric shopai examined him and in the side he's lost a great deal of blood jado took the tiller and kayla said i mean to row until dawn then we'll put in that should put us ahead of most of those fleeing up the coast and maybe we can find a place to lay up chopin stood up captain what pointing ahead he said i think i see a ship chaos stopped rowing and turned to look looming up out of the late afternoon darkness a white sail rose against dark thunder clouds i hope they're friendly said rue after a moment caelis turned and there was no masking the broad grin on his face thank the gods it's the ranger oh man i'm going to kiss that captain said jado oh shut up said rue we want him to stop not run away the others laughed then kayla said start waving anything that will draw their attention the men stood and started waving swords trying to catch the late afternoon sunlight as faint as it was and reflect it from the blade or wave a shirt then the ship started to turn and make its way toward them after a seemingly endless time it came close enough for a man in the bow to shout is that you lord kelly get some help down here i've got injured men the ship slowed and sailors scrambled down and helped get the injured aboard the smack was left to drift and once they were all on deck the captain came forward and said good to see you again eric's eyes widened highness he said nicholas prince of crondor said here i'm just admiral how did you convince the king to let you come asked caelis as soon as the ranger returned with the intelligence you'd sent back i just told barrick i was going erland's in condor with patrick acting as his son's regent so we're both where we want to be i'll catch you up on court politics later right now let's get you below and into some dry clothing chaos nodded we need to get far from here and there's much to speak of nicholas called out mr williams aye sir turn us around and set as much sail as she'll carry we're making for home aye aye sir came the reply eric was certain he heard relief in the first mate's voice sailors led eric and the others below and somewhere between then and the next morning eric passed out and was undressed and put into a warm bunk by someone miranda said you took a chance pug smiled not much of one given the circumstances all i did was irritate them really the city was already theirs what next more waiting said pug and for an instant she saw his chafing at the need to do so when the queen is ready to make her next move and she shows us how she's going to dispose of those things in her possession then we'll know what we must do next miranda stretched i'm thinking we need to travel where somewhere warm and pleasant with empty beaches we've been locked up over these books for months now and we're no closer to finding the key to the puzzle there you are wrong my dear said pug i've known what the key is for some time the key is macros the black the problem is where is the bloody lock miranda stood up and knelt next to him putting her arm around his shoulder in a familiar gesture she said why don't we worry about that some other time i need a rest you do as well pug laughed well i know just the place warm beaches few distractions if the cannibals don't notice you and we can relax good she said kissing him lightly on the cheek i'll go get my things as she left the room pugs sat back and pondered this strange woman the light brush of her lips on his cheek was a small gesture but the touch lingered and he knew it was an open invitation if a demure one he had not found time to become involved with any woman since his wife had died nearly 30 years before he had known lovers but they had been companions or distractions miranda was possibly something else suddenly he smiled and stood up as he considered that a lonely beach without distractions was the perfect place to begin unravelling her mysteries the northern great archipelago would be lovely this time of the year and there were far more deserted islands than populated ones as he returned to his own quarters pug felt a spring in his step he hadn't experienced since he was a boy and suddenly he felt the troubles of the world were far away at least for a little while eric looked at the white caps as the ship sped through the ocean rue had caught him up on the gossip prince nicholas had come down from condor with the returning freeport ranger and had taken personal command of the situation he had read the reports kalis had sent down river from his first meeting with atonis and had kept himself abreast of the enemy's movement he had kept trenchard's revenge anchored at the city of the serpent river and had come down the coast against the possibility of chaos and his men having to flee that way they had been anchored in the harbour at mahata for a month when agents in the city got word to him of the coming blockading of the harbour he had raised anchor and sailed out past a skiff full of city guards and an angry harbour master then sailed away from a pursuing cutter he had stayed out to sea for a week then returned to find the harbour mouth sealed nicholas had then sailed up the coast for a day keeping out of sight of the city against the possibility of enemy ships coming up the coast when he had seen the smoke from the first battle he had given the order to hug the coastline as closely as safely possible to determine what was occurring on the land he had been sailing toward the harbour for a better look when he'd spied the fishing smack carrying the last of kayla's party de landrille came up on deck his arm and ribs bandaged and came to stand next to eric how goes it eric shrugged well enough everyone's resting i'm still sore but i'll live the loungeville said you did well back there i did what i could answered eric what do we do next we said to loungeville nothing we're going home it's back to the city of the serpent river give the clan chieftains what we know in case the tony sempraji don't get there then we pick up trenchad's revenge and head back to crondor once we're there you're a free man eric said nothing for a while until that's a strange thought what's a strange thought limping as he came up beside them he yawned never thought i'd live to see the day i'd enjoy waking up on a ship i was just saying said eric that the idea of being a free man is strange rue said i can still feel the noose around me nick i know it's not there but i can feel it eric nodded de loungeville said i was asking what you two were planning next eric shrugged but rue said there's a merchant in condor who has an ugly daughter i plan on marrying her and getting rich delanger laughed while eric smiled and shook his head in disbelief elm grindel said eric that's the man said rue i've got a plan that will make me rich in a year two at the outside what's that said delanger if i tell you and you tell someone else then there's no advantage is there de lounge rules seemed genuinely amused as he said i guess not he turned to eric and what about you eric said i don't know i'm going back to ravensburg to visit my mother then i don't know i don't suppose it would hurt to let you boys know there's a bonus of gold in this for you eric smiled and rue's eyes lit up delangel said enough for you to start up that smelly eric said that seems like a faint dream de loungeville said well it's a long voyage and you have a lot of time to think on it but i have a suggestion what asked eric this battle is just one of many nothing more we cut them and they're bleeding but they're a long way from dead burning down the shipyards gained us a few years chaos thinks maybe five perhaps six then the ships will start being built in earnest atonis and the others will run a war irregulars striking at the lumber trains as they caravan down the mountains and raiding the barges on the rivers it'll slow them down but sooner or later the ships will be built we've got agents all through the area and we'll burn a few of the ships and cause them general grief for a while but sooner or later they'll come finished eric across the endless sea right into the bitter sea and to the gates of crondale he waved back toward mahata out of sight but still fresh in their memory you think on that happening to the princess city not a pretty thought admitted rue we've got a lot of work to do kayla and i and i could use the corporal rue grind and eric said corporal you've got a knack son even if you're not mean enough hell charlie foster was a nice guy by anyone's measure before i got me hands on him a couple of years with me and you'll be spitting cobbler's nails and pissing enlightenment me in the army jalandril said not just any army nicholas is going to give kales a mandate signed by the king we're going to raise up an army the likes of which no man has seen before we'll train them and drill them and when we're done we'll have the finest fighting men in history eric said i'm not sure you think about it it's an important job eric said i'm a little soured on killing right now sergeant de loungeville's voice dropped and he spoke firmly but softly that's why it's important and that's why you're the right man for the job we're gonna train these men to stay alive he patted eric once on the shoulder it's a long voyage we'll have plenty of time to talk i'm gonna take a rest now eric and roo watched him leave and rue said you're gonna take the job aren't you said eric i don't know that i want to be a soldier the rest of my life but i do seem to have the knack and there's something about knowing where i belong that appeals to me roo back home i never felt that way i was always the barons bastard or that crazy woman's son he lapsed into silence a moment then said in killis's army i'd just be corporal eric he smiled besides i have no ambitions to be rich like you then i'll get rich enough for the both of us eric laughed and the two men stood quietly for a while simply relishing the fact of having survived to be able to plan a future epilogue reunion the traveller squinted atop a nearby hillock a figure sat playing a thin reed pipe badly the traveler leaned on a staff that compensated for his limp due in the main to a nasty sword wound to the thigh that was only just now beginning to heal he removed his hat and ran his fingers through his hair and the figure on the hill started waving owen limped closer and at last said knuckle grillock said knuckle as he walked down the hill the road was heavily traveled as thousands fled the invaders making their way up the old coastal trading route toward the distant city of the serpent river the two men embraced a knack or said you didn't get out with the others i don't know who got out he said using his staff so he could ease himself to the ground nakor squatted next to him and put his pipe away in his ever-present shoulder sack most didn't said knuckle i saw a boat and i think kalis was in it pretty sure and some others saw a ship but they were too far away to see me so someone's getting word back to the prince in crondor pretty sure said knuckle with a grin what are you doing now i was practicing my flute and resting i'm going to the city of the serpent river mind if i walk with you asked greylock i'm afraid i'm going to slow you down that's all right said knuckle i've got lots of time what happened to you asked greylock i got caught in the crush when everyone was trying to get back to the estuary i got a horse but got knocked off then a guardsman swung at me with a sword before he ran off he gestured to his leg i barely got out of the city when the citizens broke down the northeastern gate something happened to the invaders and there weren't a lot of them around for a while so i got through i hid for a couple of days until the leg healed enough for me to limp along he massaged his stiff leg don't know what happened back there but something played fair havoc with their invasion pug of stardoc said knuckle i think it was his trick he dumped them all into the river it was grand i couldn't see much though as i was trying to keep from burning you were responsible for all that in the city most of it a trick really got the pantathions to do the work for me how did you get out of that holocaust i found that tunnel i told caelis about the one that led to the western precinct i got past some rubble and some guards and when i reached the west side of the river most of the defenders had fled greylock said ingenious then he said wait a minute if you were on the other side of the river how did you pulling himself up with the staff and a hand up from knackle greylock said why don't you tell me about it as we walk knackle grinned good if we hurry we may reach the city of the serpent river before chaos and the others sail home you're sure they got out alive ship i saw a sail past a few days ago said knuckle with a grin pointing out to sea freeport ranger if that was chaos i saw in the boat then they're alive and they're heading that way he pointed toward the northeast city of the serpent river they'll do some talking with the clan chiefs make plans do other things they started walking if we don't dawdle we might get there in time think we can steal some horses asked greylock macko only grinned in reply as he dug into his sack and pulled out a large round object want an orange you've been listening to shadow of a dark queen by raymond e feist read by peter joyce for harper audio audible hopes you've enjoyed this program

Channel: AudioBooks & Beyond!

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Id: 2PumMxh2xVI

Length: 568min 1sec (34081 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 20 2021