An Ill Fate Marshalling

9

Year 1016 AFE; Rising Tide

Ragnarson, prataxis, eanredson, and Varthlokkur argued for two hours, while waiting for Dahl Haas to collect the Chatelaine Mist. Ragnarson ducked out once to order more chairs. Then, twenty-five minutes before Mist was expected, Slugbait came to the door. Ragnarson stepped outside.

„What is it, Slug?"

„There's a woman down to the gate says she needs to see you. Ordinarily, we just send them away, but this one maybe you should see."

„Who is she? Do you know?"

„I seen her around. She said tell you her name is Sherilee."

Ragnarson stiffened. „What's she want?"

„I don't know. She didn't make sense. You know women when they're scared."

„Scared?"

„Petrified. She's worked up about something that hap­ pened out to Lieneke Lane."

„Let's go." Bragi leaned back into the room for his sword. Slugbait had spoken the magic words. Ragnarson seldom showed it in any demonstrative way, but his children meant more to him than Ravelin or his crown. If anything had happened to them... . They were all he had left.

Slug was puffing when they reached the gate. Bragi told him, „Send her to the guardroom. I'll clear it out. Thanks, Slug. You thought right this time. I won't forget."

„Thank you, Sire. Just doing my job."

„Right. Keep at it and you'll make sergeant. Bustle her in here."

The girl was half-hysterical. She threw herself at him. He did a little hugging and shoulder-patting. He soon realized that half her hysteria was intentional.

Little by little, he got her talking. She and Kristen had seen Aral Dantice and another man go to Mist's house. They had worked one another up with dares. Before she knew it, she was sneaking across Lieneke Lane, through Mist's hedge, and crouching beside the house under a window that had been covered by bookshelves inside.

„Why you?"

„I'm smaller. Nobody could see me over the hedge. Anyway, there were four people in there. They were doing some kind of sorcery. After a while I knew they were spying on you. From what they said. Then they got all excited. Then one of them started talking who didn't talk before. One we didn't see go in or come out. But he left somehow, because they said he was gone. They talked about him, and that's when I figured out he was a Tervola."

She started crying again.

„Tervola, eh?" He was not entirely surprised.

„Yes! Here in Vorgreberg. You believe me, don't you?"

He sighed thoughtfully, took her hand and led her to a chair. „Sit down. I've got to think." He sat facing her. He did not release her hand. She stared at their joined fingers with a kind of awe. After a few minutes he grunted and stood again, pulling her up.

„Mist is coming. Stay out of sight till she's inside. Otherwise you might meet her and give her an idea how I know what I know. I think Slug will enjoy looking after you."

She turned on the tears. „I'm so scared." She moved against him, pushing her arms around him. He felt the fear in her, the animal quivering. It was real enough. Its object was the question.

He signed, thinking he had seen bigger twelve year olds. He patted her shoulders again. After a moment of closed eyes and another fatalistic sigh, he held her shoulders and pushed her away. „I'm scared too, little girl." He let go and raised her chin till she looked him in the eye. „And not of Tervola. You go looking for trouble and you're liable to find more than either one of us can handle."

Her jaw trembled. She opened her mouth slightly and closed it, twice. Her gaze kept darting to one side, then she would force it back.

Ragnarson shifted subject. „I want you and Kristen to stop playing spy. This isn't any game." Then, „Do you know what we're getting into?"

She did not reply. She sniffled once.

Her chin still rested on his hand. He drew her toward him. Her jaw trembled more. Her eyes narrowed and glazed. Her lips parted and puffed as she turned her face up to meet his kiss.

Oh, gods, he thought. The fire raced through him. It was just what he had thought it would be. He pushed gently. She clung for an instant, then stood there downcast, eyes still closed.

„I want you to think about it some more," he whispered. „Please?"

She folded her lower lip between her teeth and nodded like a child receiving a scolding.

„Everything is against it... ." Enough of this, he thought. „Go back to Kristen after Mist gets here. And stop playing spy." He whirled and got out of there. He ran up the steps to the battlements overlooking the gate, trying to distract himself. Looking out, he spied a carriage turning into the road through the park. „Mist?" The outriders might be Dahl and Aral. He raced back down and hurried to the chamber, quickly clued the others to Sherilee's report.

Mist arrived ten minutes later, accompanied by Dantice. „Sit down," Ragnarson said. He studied the couple. There was a new shyness between them. Damn! It must be catching. „I've been cooped up here all day, so I don't feel like playing games. We made a decision. You know what it is. Let's decide what I can do to help. But first I want to know who the Tervola was and why he was in Kavelin without my permission."

Dantice made a sound like a cross between a belch and mouse's squeak. His eyes widened. And Mist, for one of the few times Ragnarson remembered, was taken completely off guard.

„I have my resources too. The Tervola is important. Call it a gesture of good faith. You've been playing your game behind my back. I don't want that in Kavelin. I've got trouble enough with my enemies, without having to watch my friends."

Mist recovered her aplomb. She spoke at length.

Ragnarson decided she was being forthright. „Sounds good overall. Assuming Kuo isn't in on the planning. What's your timing?"

„That's the other iffy part. We move when Lord Ch'ien thinks the Matayangan attack has peaked and Lord Kuo is completely distracted. We seize the key points of the em­ pire. We leave Southern Army alone till the Matayangan attack ebbs. Then we relieve Lord Kuo himself."

„Right," Ragnarson said. „If he lets you." He stared at a point above and behind Mist's head, seeing a blonde-ringed face... . Damn! He had to get her out of his head. „What happens if Matayanga doesn't attack? I hear Kuo's people are talking a blue streak trying to stop them."

„The plan isn't perfect. If he talks them down, we lose. Without him knowing how much he's won."

„You wouldn't try to force that war, would you?"

„No! No more than Lord Kuo is. But why not take advantage of the inevitable? Our best recruiting argument is that there's been too much fighting lately. Shinsan can't take much more."

„Sometimes I think... . Never mind. What can we con­ tribute?"

„You're doing it. Giving us a safe place to plan. The only other thing might be some shock troops for the strike against Lord Kuo himself."

„Work it out with Sir Gjerdrum."

A door opened down the hallway. Josiah Gales stepped out. He hurried to his quarters, where he secured another despatch case. Two minutes later he joined Sergeant Wortel, the man he was due to relieve. „Jack, I need you to cover for me. I got to take this upstairs."

Wortel scowled at the hourglass. „The wife is having company, Gales."

„I'm sorry, Jack. That's the truth. I ain't trying to screw you. Yeah. I won't take long. I'll pay you back. Yeah. Gales is good for his debts. That ain't no lie. You know me."

Wortel sighed. „All right. Just don't waste no time."

„Back again, Sarge?" Toby was still at the Queen's door. Gales cursed himself for not having had the foresight to await the changing of the guard.

„Yeah. Ain't this some shit? Another one, Toby. And me due to go on watch. Yeah. Ain't this a bitch?"

Toby knocked. Gales shifted from foot to foot, muttering. She would not be happy about this second visit. She would be less pleased when she heard what he had to say.

Ragnarson swore he was getting calluses on his behind. And he could not get that girl out of his head. There was only one cure. „I'm leaving, Derel. Show Mist that treaty we whipped up the other day."

He strolled into the hallway wondering what Inger would think of his sudden interest. It had been, what? Close to two years since he had dropped everything for a daytime visit.

The guard outside the meeting room stood at a rigid attention. He was new. „What time is it, soldier?"

„Getting close to seven, Sire."

„Thank you." Bragi strode away, fantasies of Sherilee mixing with visions of Inger. I didn't handle the girl right, he thought. Should have shown more self-restraint. Now she'll turn up everywhere... . Unless I'm imagining that I'm irresistible.

He felt a twinge of nostalgia for a time when it had not mattered whether he tumbled a willing wench, a time when he had been able to fall in love three times a week without having to consider whose lives would be affected. Those had been the days! He and Mocker and Haroun had been young. Politics had been a game for sour old farts who had lost their zest for the rest of life... .

He shied from those thoughts like a stallion spooked. He had had to kill his best friend. His second-best friend had gone into the Dread Empire and been heard from no more. He had had his differences with Haroun, but, damn, he missed the man now. If Haroun were around, there would be no trouble in Hammad al Nakir. If the father were king instead of the son, Lord Hsung would not think of stealing chunks of the desert state. Haroun had the temper of a sour-bellied hawk and not enough sense not to punch back.

He halted suddenly, flung himself into the shadow of a pillar. He was a hundred feet from Inger's door.

Someone was taking his leave. And, somehow, Ragnarson was not surprised to see who the someone was, though the man should have been on duty for an hour. „Gales, I'm damned well starting to wonder about you."

He waited fifteen minutes, no longer eager to see his wife. He went through with it as much for diplomacy's sake as for desire.

The world began to twitch and shrug like a moribund giant slowly returning to life. Two days after Ragnarson's meeting with Mist, one of Dantice's smuggler's brought word of a ferocious skirmish between Throyes and Hammad al Nakir.

Hammad al Nakir's rich coastal provinces were the one area of the kingdom still controlled by El Murid. Outside observers believed Megelin's Royalists would reclaim the littoral once the kingdom's heartland had been pacified. The Disciple was a toothless tiger. He hadn't the backing to withstand the Royalist tide.

So the world thought.

When the Throyens initiated the incident the old war cries of the Invincibles rocked the disputed plain. The Disciple's white-robed Chosen seemed to materialize out of times gone by. They fell upon the would-be invaders. The Throyen commanders panicked. They threw in troops held nearby, against creation of a causus belli with which to justify a major invasion. What could have been contained as an embarrassment diplomatically forgettable became a major and patriotically unforgivable invasion of the Father­ land. When the sun set and the dust cleared, more than a thousand Throyens had fallen. Their comrades were in headlong flight.

When Ragnarson heard, he laughed. „There'll be some red faces in Throyes," he crowed. „I bet Hsung is having kittens."

Mist was less cheerful. „They'll twist this around. They'll claim El Murid started it. They'll launch their invasion. I think we've just heard about the last hurrah of the Invinci­ bles."

Ragnarson sobered. „Maybe so. Sad to say. The Disciple can't have much left."

Prataxis said, „Don't overlook the nationalist aspect.

People on the littoral aren't enchanted with El Murid or Megelin, but they'll follow anybody fighting a Throyen encroachment. They know the cost of yielding."

Bragi observed, „Wouldn't hurt my feelings if Hsung's stooges got bogged down there."

Next day Credence Abaca was the bearer of news. The wiry little Marena Dimura came to the office where Ragnarson was arguing finances with members of the Thing.

Irked by the obdurate committeemen, Ragnarson barked, „What is it, Credence?"

Abaca was direct. „Three men tried to kill me. In the park. I thought your tame witchdoctor might want the bodies. They're the same breed as tried to kill General Liakopulos."

Ragnarson cursed softly. Twenty minutes later he was part of the crowd standing round the bodies. For the first time in his reign he had provided himself with bodyguards.

„You're right, Credence. They are the same." He sent a message to Varthlokkur saying the bodies were on their way. He expected to learn nothing, but the effort had to be made.

„You dropped all three?"

„They weren't very fast," Abaca replied.

„Three of them," Bragi muttered. „Again. That's the Pracchia style, all right. A nine divided into three threes. Means there might be another try. Tell Sir Gjerdrum not to travel without guards till I tell him different."

„As you command, Sire." Abaca trotted toward the palace. Ragnarson soon followed, and joined Varthlokkur. As expected, the wizard learned nothing from the bodies.

„I'm still thinking Magden Norath," Varthlokkur said.

„Maybe Norath had students."

„Possible. Not probable. The man's character speaks against it. He was too secretive."

„This attack suggest anything?"

„Only that your list is valid."

„Who made it? Not Norath. He never came in contact with any of my officers."

„So he was hired."

Ragnarson's face hardened. „By who?"

The wizard started to say something, changed his mind. Ultimately, he observed, „We all have enemies. The more successful we are, the more numerous they become. Like throwing a stone in the air. It goes up and up and up. It slows down all the time. Finally, it comes to rest."

„And then it comes down."

„True. Sad but true."

„Is that an oracle?"

„No. Just a bad metaphor. I suggest you guard everyone on that list. Especially Gjerdrum. I'd guess he's next."

„It's done already. How about you?"

„I can take care of myself."

„Liakopulos probably thought so too. Never mind. You don't want a bodyguard, you don't get one. I have to cancel a Captures match because of this. And make myself unpop­ ular with extra duty assignments. Did you find Michael?"

Ragnarson was worried. Trebilcock had been gone longer before, but never at a time so critical. And his name had been on that list.

„Aral found a cold trail. A friend of his saw Michael in Delhagen a few days after the attack on Liakopulos."

„Strange."

„Everything is, these days."

„How long till Nepanthe's time?"

„Two weeks. Three."

„Nervous?"

„Of course." The wizard smiled weakly.

„Don't worry about it. She didn't have any trouble with Ethrian."

The wizard's shoulders tightened. „Don't mention that name."

Ragnarson did not like his tone. „There you go getting goofy again. What the hell is it with you and Ethrian?"

Varthlokkur looked like he was counting to ten. „Nepanthe has a bee in her bonnet about him lately. I don't know why, but she's decided he's still alive. She thinks we should be trying to find him."

„And you don't? Is he alive?"

„I don't know."

It might not make a lot of sense to anyone else, but Ethrian being alive might explain the wizard's bizarre behavior of late. Might there be some connection with the Deliverer, about whom he had refused to talk? „A couple of weeks ago you told me... ."

„I know." The wizard's lips were tight. He was control­ ling himself visibly. „This isn't the time to worry about it. We've got a baby to get born."

„I think you're hiding from something. You, of all people, ought to know how much good that does. Are you even going to bother to look? Or just stall and hope she forgets about it?"

„Ragnarson!..."

„You don't add up. You're making your own trouble. Forget it. I'll check back later and see if you've gotten an attack of the reasonables and bothered to see if you can find something."

„There's nothing to find."

Ragnarson walked away convinced there was something, and it must not be good. It might pay to try twisting Mist's arm a little. She'd at least have to suspect why Varthlokkur was so spooky.

That evening Ragnarson received a note written in his son Gundar's crabbed hand. It asked him to come to his brother Ainjar's birthday party, day after tomorrow.

Sherilee flashed through his mind. She would find a reason to be there. He returned the note saying he would try.

Next day one of Trebilcock's lieutenants burst into anoth­ er appropriations session. „Sire," he gasped. „Word from Captain Trebilcock."

Ragnarson sprang away from the table. The delegates watched with wide eyes. Wild rumors surrounded Trebil­ cock's disappearance. One suggested that the King him­ self had done away with his chief spy. „What? What is it?"

„A pigeon, Sire." The man still clutched a ragged bird. Michael's message dangled from his other hand.

„Pigeon? I didn't know we used them." He grabbed the message tissue.

„We don't have very many. Just for our farthest stations. They can fly farther in an hour than a rider can cover in a day."

„I doubt that." Ragnarson knew a little about carrier pigeons. „But only witchcraft is faster." He fumbled Mi­ chael's message twice before he read it.

„By damn! The wizard was right. Guard! Find Varthlokkur. Tell him to get the Unborn. Say it's an emer­ gency." He waited impatiently.

When Varthlokkur arrived he showed him Michael's message.

„What now?" Bragi asked.

„Now we wait. If you know any reliable deities, call them in."

Ragnarson chuckled. He was an uncommonly irreligious man. „If I knew any reliable gods," he said, „they'd be running Ravelin. I'd have them whipping thunderbolts on anyone who interfered around here. I'd keep one of them squatting in Hsung's bedchamber."

A nervous orderly tapped at the door. „Sire?"

„Come in."

„Message from Mr. Dantice, Sire. He said it's impor­ tant."

„Let me see it. Come on! The man don't bite."

The orderly sidled across the room, eying Varthlokkur carefully. A gesture would set him running. The wizard donned a pained expression. Thus it had been for centuries.

Bragi read the note, passed it to Varthlokkur. The wizard chuckled humorlessly. „Lord Hsung must have been might­ ily impressed by the Invincibles."

Dantice had heard from his smuggler friends. Military debacle had rattled Hsung and his puppets. Throyen officers had been stripped of their commands. Soldiers had been executed for cowardice. Hsung had postponed southward expansion. The appearance of Invincibles had been unanti­ cipated. Their gathering had gone unnoted by Hsung's intelligence people, people who had the skills of the Tervola to supplement their more prosaic resources. Rumor said there would be a shakeup in Western Army's staff. Hsung suspected the existence of a traitor.

„Think that means trouble?" Ragnarson asked. „One of his people belongs to Mist."

„They've covered themselves."

„What about Norath?"

„Uhm?"

„We don't know why, but we know who, and we know where the son of a bitch is."

„One thing at a time. We have too many irons in the fire. We don't need a war with Megelin."

„Who said Megelin? I'm talking about Norath."

„And suppose he's got control of Megelin? Suppose we failed first try? He's a first-rate wizard. He wouldn't have survived the destruction of the Pracchia if he weren't."

„Megelin wouldn't declare war. We're supposed to be friends."

„Supposed to be. They say he's gone crazy. And now we know why."

„He can't. El Murid would climb his back."

„Let Norath ride. We're committed on this thing with Mist. And I've got a baby coming. You don't want to get embroiled with Norath if I can't be there. When it comes to choosing between helping you or being with my wife, you lose."

„Should've known better than to argue with you. I hope your critter gets this over with. If I don't watch them, the Thing will slip me an appropriation I'll cry about for years."

„Let Prataxis handle it."

„Crap. He don't bully as good as me. Hell, this whole business is his damned fault. He designed this stupid government."

„It works pretty good."

„Works great, long as I don't need something done before next month. I want to give one lousy damned medal to somebody, every son of a bitch in the Thing has to have his say."

„I haven't noticed you not getting your way."

„Yeah. But Derel's experiment with democracy is a damned nuisance."

„Strictly a matter of viewpoint. How about something to eat? Maybe tip a beer or two? It might be a long wait."

That night, in Throyes, Commander Western Army re­ ceived an informational brief from a friend in Ravelin's capital. Lord Hsung was unmasked at the time. His subordi­ nates thought him a humorless man, but he smiled and laughed a great deal while he read. His good humor lasted till he learned that he could not contact Lord Kuo Wen-chin.