The Tyrant

Chapter 26

Adrian made his break five days later, taking advantage of the Reedbottoms' preoccupation with the pleasures of newly seized Franness. To Prelotta, he explained his unwillingness to enter the city as being due to concern for the loyalty and morale of his men. As Vanberts and Emeralds, he claimed, they would be disturbed by the atrocities committed by barbarians upon civilized folk. Adrian feared he might even lose control of them. And, even if not, unfortunate incidents were certain to occur.

Thus, while the Reedbottoms piled eagerly through the gates of Franness, Adrian and his men remained in their camp several miles outside the city. A camp which they had made, not by accident, northwest of the city.

Prelotta might even have believed him. For all his sophistication and comparatively wide experience, he hadn't actually had much contact with civilized nations since he was a boy. And then, his contact had not been with professional soldiers.

In truth, precious few of Adrian's men-or Helga's, for that matter-gave any thought at all to the conduct of the barbarian victors in Franness. Or, if they did, it was simply disgruntled envy that savages were enjoying pleasures which they weren't. "Civilized" or not, the soldiers under Adrian's command were essentially mercenaries. They took the abuses of conquerors for granted, and regarded plunder and rapine much as they did any other law of nature.

Once Prelotta and his tribesmen had installed themselves in their "new provincial capital," Adrian knew that he could escape any pursuit coming from them. Reedbottoms were slow-moving at the best of times. Not even Prelotta would be able to get an effective pursuit started with tribesmen drunk on the wine and women and wealth of Franness.

He was far more concerned about Esmond and the Grayhills. Who, if they were so moved, could easily mount a pursuit. Of course, catching up with Adrian's people-well over a thousand men now, including Helga's hundred, along with their camp followers-was one thing. Catching them, with only three thousand Grayhills warriors, was another matter altogether. Adrian was quite confident that, with the guns of the Fighting Band, he could beat off any such cavalry attack. But he wanted to avoid the thing altogether, if possible. Esmond could certainly inflict casualties; and, what was worse, might pin down Adrian's force long enough for Prelotta to bring up the Reedbottoms. Things would get hairy, then.

Esmond's mood was impossible to determine any longer. The two brothers had not exchanged so much as a single word in months. Indeed, they had rarely even been within eyesight of each other. To all intents and purposes, Adrian no longer felt he understood Esmond at all.

So, for days, he chewed on the matter. Finding no real help from Raj Whitehall and Center, and coming to no clear decision. Then, on the morning of the third day after the victory over Tomsien-what was becoming known as the Battle of Lurion, named after a small town in the valley-word came that the Grayhills were beginning their retreat. After participating in the initial looting of Franness, the Grayhills had apparently decided to return to the southern half of the continent.

"Seems awfully quick, doesn't it?" he asked Jessep. Frowning: "I'd expected them to stay as long as there was anything left to plunder. Not as if they have to worry about any Confederate army stopping them, until next year at the earliest. Not after Lurion."

Jessep's shrug expressed a simple notion: Who can possibly understand what a savage thinks?

A more coherent answer came from Raj. I'm willing to bet Norrys is dying from his wounds. That'll mean electing a new chief of the Grayhills, and everyone wants to get back for the dickering. probability 68 %, ± 12, agreed Center. the mongols broke off their conquest of europe for that same reason, when the khan ogodai died.

Adrian vaguely remembered the name "Mongols," and a bit about their history. One of the multitude of historical episodes which Center seemed to have at its command at all times. At least half of which seemed to have taken place on this "Earth" the computer insisted was the original homeland of the human race. Skeptical at first, Adrian had come to believe the claim-simply because where else would human beings have managed to commit every atrocity and error conceivable. As well, he would admit, as every glory and grandeur.

Raj and Center were right. By now, Adrian's Strikers and Fighting Band had collected a fair number of Southron camp followers in addition to the people picked up in Marange. Through them, and their conversations with passing Grayhills, Adrian learned that Norrys was indeed not expected to survive much longer.

He was not surprised. On matters of this nature, at least, he had come to respect deeply the opinions of his two "spirits."

He was surprised, a bit, to hear that Esmond himself was apparently considered one of the top contenders for the chieftainship. But, there too, Raj and Center enlightened him.

Barbarians are usually less preoccupied with matters of bloodlines than civilized nations. And they take adoption seriously. With his usual wit: Damn well better, as miserable and painful as they make the whole process. yes. genghis khan did not disown his wife after she was captured and raped by enemies. nor even the son who was born thereafter, whose paternity was never certain. that son was eliminated from consideration during the succession because of it, years later, but never penalized otherwise. the whole matter was simply treated by the mongols as a practical problem, not an issue of shame and disgrace.

Thinking of Helga's situation after her own capture by pirates, Adrian couldn't help wincing. Had her father been anyone other than Demansk, she would have been kept in real seclusion, not simply the appearance of it. Among Emeralds, truth to tell, even more than Vanberts. "Shame and disgrace." There were times when he wondered if civilization was anything more than barbarism with fancy trimmings.

Oh, it's a lot more than that, Adrian. It's just that civilization brings with it vices of its own. All of which, however, is academic at the moment. The key thing is that the Grayhills are leaving-tied up and slowed down by their great booty of livestock, to boot-and with Esmond being one of the main contenders for the chieftainship he certainly won't be prone to breaking off on any sudden chases. Now's the time. There won't be any better.

Quietly, Adrian passed the word to Donnuld Grayn to get the Strikers ready for a forced march. Helga and Jessep, of course, would handle their own men, just as he'd do the same for the Fighting Band. The camp followers wouldn't be a problem. In their own way, they were also veterans, accustomed to reacting quickly whenever their men told them to do so.

Adrian began the escape shortly after midnight, taking advantage of a clear sky and a full moon. His camp was far enough away from Franness that it couldn't be seen directly; nor, of course, would anyone be able to hear the sounds of an army on the march. Not as much noise as there was filling the streets of a city being sacked. A relatively mild sort of sack, granted, since Prelotta was making sure the city itself and its populace was not destroyed. But any kind of sack does not lend itself to maintaining sober and alert sentries.

To the disgruntlement of the Vanbert-trained veterans among his men, Adrian ordered the camp left intact instead of dismantled. Pulling apart the temporary fortress would take hours better spent creating as much distance as possible between them and Franness. And there was always the chance that the Reedbottoms would even be fooled through a good portion of the following day, seeing, at a distance, the camp still erect and apparently occupied.

In the event, there was no pursuit. Save only a small band of Reedbottoms who caught up with them two nights later. But they were more in the nature of a delegation than anything else.

One of Prelotta's chieftains was in charge. When Adrian came up to him, after the chieftain was allowed into the camp which had been erected that night, the man did not dismount. Although he looked as if he wished he could. Reedbottoms always looked a bit awkward perched on saddles.

The chieftain's name was Rawal, and Adrian remembered him as being a rather good-natured fellow. Which, indeed, he was.

"Great Chief Prelotta says you are a fool, Adrian Gellert. But"-here, a magnanimous wave of the hand-"he does not curse you. Although I shall, since you've led me on a miserable chase. Damned velipads. Ought to roast the lot of them and be done with the stupid business."

Rawal shifted in the saddle, easing obviously stiff muscles. Then, grinning: "Thought you'd have gone straight north. That woman of yours, again. Talked you into returning her to her western homeland, didn't she? Ha! You should beat her more often."

Adrian returned the grin, willingly enough. He'd hoped they might make this mistake.

"Please, Rawal! You insult me. We want lands of our own-without having to quarrel over it-and the best pickings will be on the coast." He dismissed the rest with a shrug. "The woman knows the area well. She is my hunting bitch, no more."

Helga emerged from their quarters just in time to hear the last remark. Fortunately-Adrian blessed every god and goddess there was, in every pantheon he knew-she did not understand the language of the Reedbottoms very well.

Rawal glanced at her, back at Adrian, back at her, back at Adrian. Between the grin and the facial scars, Adrian thought his face might actually explode.

"No doubt. But that is not why Prelotta sent me. He asked me to deliver to you a message." Rawal's voice assumed the slight singsong of one man quoting another verbatim:

" 'Do not forget, Adrian Gellert, my lust for the matrons.' " He sat back in the saddle. "That's it. Don't ask me what it means. I have no idea. The Great Chief Prelotta is sometimes a bit odd."

And with not another word, he reined his velipad around and trotted off.

"What was that all about?" asked Helga.

Adrian translated, leaving out certain unnecessary passages involving female animals and hunting.

" 'Lust for the matrons'?" she puzzled. "What does that mean?"

Adrian scratched his head. "I'm not sure myself." Inwardly: Raj? Center?

After a moment, Whitehall's voice came. Interesting. Center, what was the name of that king? The one from that country named France, I think. Henry this or that. Said something paris is worth a mass.

The march to the sea was a nightmare. Not dangerous, particularly, for such a large and well-organized and well-armed group of men-except for the ever-present dangers of hunger and disease. Just hideous.

The barbarian invasion had ravaged the southern provinces, saving only the larger walled towns. Then, and in many ways even worse, the rebellions and slave revolts which erupted throughout the southern Confederacy after Tomsien's disaster at Lurion ravaged them further. Landowners and nobles often escaped the barbarian bands roaming the countryside haphazardly. It was much harder for them to escape their own infuriated underlings, who not only knew where they lived but had a personal grudge to settle. The landscape across which Adrian and Helga and their little army marched was dotted with the burned shells of noble villas and estates-and, not infrequently, the corpses of their former owners. Who, as often as not, had been put to death in a manner whose gruesomeness would have shaken the most barbarous Southron warrior.

Nor were slaves and landless laborers the only ones with grudges to settle. After decades of increasingly extortive and corrupt rule, the Confederation was a crazy quilt of hatreds and resentments. All of which seemed to boil over at once.

Tax farmers suffered even worse casualties than landowners. If for no other reason than because the wealthiest landholders tended to be absentee owners. Their country estates could be put to the torch, but they themselves were safe-for the moment at least-behind the walls of Vanbert or the other great cities. Whereas, in the nature of things, a tax farmer needs to live close to his "crop." When the long-simmering eruption took place, tax farmers were much in the same position as a peasant standing in a field of corn-every one of whose stalks was suddenly alive, armed, and filled with bitter memories of the fate of their predecessors.

Grudges, hatreds, resentments-everywhere. In the towns, the garrisons were usually able to maintain order. Enough to suppress any major uprisings, at least, even if they could not prevent the multitude of small homicides and beatings which took place constantly. The garrisons could keep the masses from storming into the central squares; they could not possibly keep those same masses, scattered in small bands, from looting the shops and (often enough) maiming or killing the proprietors. Any money lender or pawnbroker who did not make it to the garrison barracks within a day after the news of Lurion spread was unlikely to survive another.

In the countryside, where nine out of ten members of the Confederacy still lived in the less urbanized southern provinces, the garrisons did not even attempt to maintain order. Not loyal ones, at least. Garrisons which rebelled, ironically enough, often did establish a certain rough "order" within the immediate region. They had to, if they were to survive themselves. A loyal regiment can expect, even if vainly, to get pay and provisions from the central authorities. Mutineers must look for their own pay.

It was sheer chaos, except for little islands and pockets of stability here and there. For the most part, outside the towns, those pockets were provided by resettled veterans. Clusters of villages, much like the ones which Jessep and his clanfolk had established on Demansk's lands. Largely populated by transplanted easterners, whose close kin ties and military experience enabled them to clamp a fist on their immediate terrain.

Invariably, such villages drove off the bands of runaway slaves which were soon roaming the countryside. Taken as a mass, those slaves probably did more damage than anything else. Not so much out of vindictiveness, once they'd settled accounts with their own masters, but simply out of desperation. A group of slaves who rise up and murder a master or burn down his estate-or both-has but one thought afterward: flee, before the reprisal comes.

They had no way of knowing, of course, that there was not much chance of any reprisal coming. Not soon, at least. Isolated as they were, field slaves had little understanding of the great world of Confederate politics. The one thing they did know for sure-branded into them over the decades with lash and stake and spear-was that any rebellion against Vanbert masters would invariably bring a quick and merciless response.

So, they fled. Immediately, and with no thought at all for how they would survive the days and weeks and months ahead. Half-naked, most of them, without food; autumn here, and winter coming.

Vanbert winters were "mild," true enough-by the standards of a nobleman in his villa, or even a yeoman farmer in his cottage. For a half-naked, starving slave on the run, it is always winter. "Summer" is simply that portion of winter when you might survive a little longer.

Almost every slave plantation and estate in that third of the Confederacy called the "southern provinces" erupted, within a week after Lurion. It might be better to say "burst"-like a sudden ulcerous wound, spilling toxins within the body politic. Tens and tens of thousands of slaves roaming everywhere, like so many locusts. Except these locusts had hands; and brains, which, however uneducated, were no less shrewd than any other human brain. They plundered where they could; robbed where they couldn't; thieved at all times.

They had no choice, whatever their own inclinations might have been. There was no work. The estates were shattered, the towns were closed, and the villages of freemen attacked them on sight. If the villagers were transplanted easterners, the attacks would be carried through with pogromist fury. Easterners hated slavery, because it had ruined them-and, as is almost always the case in history, made no sharp distinction between the slaveowner and the slave. Except that it's usually a lot easier to lynch a slave.

Every day, Adrian and Helga's army marched through horror. Ruin and destruction everywhere. Rich farmlands now watered with blood; and a fruitless watering, to boot, because the crops in the fields were either ruined or left untended.

Helga was aghast. It was like seeing an entire nation subjected to gang-rape.

" This is what Father wanted?" she wept, one day. "And you also?"

There was no way to answer, really. Explain, certainly-that Adrian could have done at length, and with all of Center's encyclopedic knowledge of human history to document his argument. But answer?

He settled on the simple truth. "Yes," he said. "This is what we wanted. Because a boil cannot heal until it is lanced. A long-gaping, cankerous wound cannot close until it is cauterized."

She avoided him for days thereafter, insofar as she could in the cramped quarters of the marching column and the field camps. Until, three weeks after the march began, the column came over the crest of a hill and saw the sea beyond. The sea and, standing like a burnt shell before it, what had once been the great western villa of the family Demansk.

The ruined villa seemed to steady Helga. As if she found comfort in the fact that, whatever else, her father had not spared himself from the bleeding. And then, steadiness shifted into hope, as she saw that Trae's villa and the workshop on their side of the river was still standing and intact.

Rather more than that, actually. It seemed to be a veritable hive of activity. As they drew nearer, she could see that two ships were moored at the pier. One of them she even recognized-the same demibireme which had carried her to Marange earlier in the year.

"There's an army camp not far away, too," said Adrian, pointing. His own hopes had raised, seeing Helga's face. "There, you see? A bit off, next to the woods."

Trae himself was there, with not less than a battalion of Demansk's regulars. Fresh from their triumphs in the islands, and not the least bit intimidated by rampaging slaves or lynch-minded villagers or rumors of Southron hordes.

Especially not by rampaging slaves. Of which, as it turned out, there had been none.

Eddo J'kot, the former majordomo of the mansion-a slave himself, technically speaking-was most apologetic about the whole thing.

"Couldn't be helped, missy!" he practically wailed. "Th'master himself give me the instructions. 'Make sure it's burned, Eddo! And no saving the furniture.' "

The stoop-shouldered, elderly slave wiped his nose with a sleeve. A rather fine fabric it was, too. "Y'father's the odd one, sometimes, though I shouldna say it. But those were his orders. He made me repeat them to him. Twice."

J'kot glared at a nearby slave. A burly fellow whose name Helga couldn't remember, although she recognized his face. One of the estate's slave underbosses.

" 'Twas him did the deed. Led the rascal in himself, he did, a torch in's hand."

The burly one grinned. "Master gave me my own set of orders. Made me repeat them twice, too. 'Make sure it's burnt proper,' he said. And what are you complaining about, old man? I did let you get out all the mementos first."

Helga couldn't keep herself from bursting into laughter. "You mean it was all a fake? "

The underboss frowned. Worried, as much as disapproving. "Fake?" he demanded, waving a thick hand at what was left of the mansion across the river. " 'Tis burnt to the ground, right 'n proper! Don' you be telling your father I slacked off, now, missy! T'would be a falsehood and a lie! You'll get me in trouble deep. 'E's a goodly master, Verice Demansk is, but he's not one to tolerate disobedience."

That just made her laugh harder. When she finally finished, she seemed in good cheer for the first time in weeks. Adrian sighed with relief.

Trae was grinning himself. "It's just a building, sister. The people on the estate are fine. The villagers up north have been promised there won't be any slaves trespassing, and the slaves themselves will get the lands. Father promised it to them. So they've kept everything up. Even drove off three bands of foreign slaves themselves, not calling out the villages."

He nodded toward the burnt shell that had once been one of the finest edifices in the Confederation. "Father lost the symbol, which he'll use as he needs. For the rest, this area will be as good as ever, next year. Better, most like."

He gave the underboss a sly smile. "Though Trippa here might not be so happy, soon enough, when he realizes he's out of a job. The sla-ah, freedmen-are working the fields harder than ever, now, and I dare say they'll not take kindly to any more 'bossing.' "

That didn't seem to fret Trippa any. "I'll get two and a half shares of the land myself. Master promised."

A whimsical thought came from Raj. I dare say even Center will admit something in the universe is new. We may be witnessing the only episode in history of feudalism come and gone before it can settle in. not entirely new. something not too different happened on- Here the computer wandered into the details of an episode which had apparently occurred on some planet Adrian had never heard of, but he paid little attention. He was too busy admiring Helga's cheeks. The dimples were back.

— but, crudely, you are correct. given the rapidity with which Demansk will get an industrial revolution under way, this smug underboss here will be lucky if he enjoys a decade of pseudo-nobility. though, if he's energetic and capable, he might well leverage his way into a new rising gentry class.

Adrian understood the logic, well enough; but, again, didn't really care. Not at the moment, for certainty. The dimples were facing his way.

"So what next, O great master schemer?" Yes! There was even a lilt in her voice.

Trae answered for him. "You-everyone, including all the camp followers-take ship to Solinga. You and Adrian and his gunsmiths, immediately. The others can follow in later ships. Father's there already. He wants to drive on to the capital as soon as possible, but he wants Adrian with him to oversee the siege guns. I'm really the only other one could do it, and I've got to get back to Chalice."

He gave Adrian a look that was half apologetic. "My brother Olver's the governor of Emerald province and that won't change right away. But we need to get you installed in his place as soon as possible."

Adrian's mind seemed blank. What in the name of the gods was he talking about?

"The new proclamation," Trae explained. Then, seeing the confusion still on Adrian's face, found it necessary to explain the explanation. "The newest, I should say. Father's being making a lot of them. The proclamation that extends the rights of the core provinces to the rest of the Confederation. Everyone's a citizen now. A full citizen, with all the rights, not this half-and-half business. Even the members of the auxiliary nations, if they choose. As soon as they make a public sacrifice at the nearest temple of the All-Father, and get it officially recorded by the temple scribe. And, um, goes without saying, take an oath to support the lawful Triumvirate."

Adrian was still trying to catch up. The running commentary from his inner ghosts was more confusing than a help.

— brilliant move. He'll have the Emeralds and the Islands welded to him solid. The Ropers and the Haggen, too, as soon as they realize — on hrapti also. here, with this quality of leadership, the probability is even higher. 84 %, ± 3. and — core of the new industrial base. Who cares about the capital? Just a mob and a pack of bureaucrats, let 'em fester in their own juices. Within a year — key now are the eastern provinces. if demansk — gaining twice what they lose — probability lower, but still 74 %, ± 6 "Shut up, " he hissed. "Sorry, Trae. I was, ah, talking to myself and didn't want to hear it."

Helga seemed to choke down a laugh. Trae just looked puzzled.

Adrian took a slow breath. "Start from the beginning. Are you saying you-your Father, rather-wants me to become the new governor of the Emeralds?"

Trae bobbed his head, like a schoolmaster encouraging a none-too-bright schoolboy reciting his lessons.

"That's insane! There's a price on my head in the Confederacy!"

Trae managed to looked mildly embarrassed. "Well. Not any longer. Turns out the whole thing was a mistake on the part of the Justiciar who was in charge at the time of the investigation into the Redvers rebellion. Turns out-amazing, really-the Justiciar himself was in league with the traitors and cast the blame elsewhere to protect himself. That was Albrecht's man Jacreb Quain, in case you'd forgotten. When Father found out-did I mention that he's got the most amazingly capable man running his own new police force? — he was purely furious."

Trae was leading them toward the workshop, Helga's arm in one hand and Adrian's in the other.

"The police chief's an Islander, believe it or not. In fact, he was supposed to have been one of the chief conspirators leading the rebellion on Preble. Man by the name of Enry Sharbonow. Thicelt recommended him to Father, and once Father discovered that Enry-like you, of course-had been one of the loyalists playing a double game to undermine the traitors, he had the records corrected. Um. Actually, I believe he had them expunged altogether. Anyway-"

"How can Father trust such people?" protested Helga. "They're-they're-" An apologetic glance at Adrian. "Well, not you, of course. But-"

Trae shook his head. "I don't think 'trust' particularly enters into it, sister. Except trust them to do their job. Father does still have the only large and triumphant army in the Confederacy, y'know? Four brigades worth-more than that, and building."

He gave Helga an odd look. "And, um, he has his own way of testing whether they can be trusted at the job. In the case of Enry, he set him the task of tracking down every member of the pirate crew that, ah, despoiled you. They keep good records, you know, the Islanders. I doubt if Enry missed more than a handful."

Helga stared at him. Her expression was… mixed. Satisfaction, anger; the gods knew what else.

"I told you to tell him I'd already taken my own revenge."

Trae looked uncomfortable. "I did. But-well. Actually. I don't think 'revenge' is quite the right word, sister. I think Father just felt he needed to make another point to his new Islander subjects. No indiscriminate reprisals; no general violence; work your butts off for me and I'll see to it you share in the rewards. But don't ever mess with me or mine again."

He cleared his throat. "I dare say he made it rather effectively. All of them were executed on the piers at Chalice, in plain view of the whole populace. The city rises up from the harbor like an amphitheater, you know. Beautiful place, by the way. Nothing fancy. Cut their throats and pitched the bodies to the scavengers. Father did the first three or four himself-the captain and his lieutenants-then left the rest to Forent and his boys."

Adrian's head felt like it was whirling. So, from what he could tell, did Helga's.

"And what else is new?" he croaked.

Trae frowned. "What else? Let's see. Oh, yeah. I'm the new Governor of Western Isles. Father wants Sharlz back in the fleet, keep it under tight control. That's why-"

"And what else is new?" demanded Helga, almost snarling.

Trae gave her a reproachful look. "I was just getting to that." They had reached the side door to the work shed. Trae swung it open. Standing beyond, facing them, just inside, her very fine apparel looking out of place, stood a very young and very pretty girl. Watching them nervously and making an obvious effort to keep from wringing her hands.

"Meet my wife. Oh. Did I mention she's a princess?"