Chapter 22
Chessina did us proud; fresh baked bread, and pork chops with turnip tops and mashed turnip, applesauce and fried onions, and not a piece of mutton in sight.
I would get my taste for mutton back, but it might take a while.
We made our prisoners dine on gruel made with broth; nutritious enough and easy to digest after their exertions, but they had to endure the smell of our meal. Oh dear, how sad. They needed the fluid. We also left them in the great hall, though Chessina and I transfigured the trestle tables into coffins for the other four girls.
Then we questioned Moruk and Jolinn.
“Where did he go?” I demanded.
We asked the same question, over and over, one of us and then another, and neither of them broke, though both were sobbing in fear and tiredness.
“Did he say anything before he left?” asked Chessina, gently.
The change of question and gentle tone was enough to make them crumble.
“He… he said ‘enjoy motherhood,’” said Jolinn. “He laughed. We’d been trying so long, and we did… we were intimate. But he assured us that this would work. And he said, he’d see us when he felt like it.”
“He said he had plans for General Beretrulle,” said Moruk. “He said she needed guidance to get revenge for being sidelined by her brother.”
“I never was!” said Beretrulle.
“Well, that sounds like a design to foment civil war,” I said, grimly.
“Won’t work,” said Beretrulle.
“He can be handsome,” said Jolinn. “He said an ugly big cow of an old maid would fall for romance because you were almost past your last prayer.”
“I think she’s a very handsome woman, myself,” I said, mildly as Beretrulle flushed, hurt. She gave me a brief smile.
“Most men won’t look at a capable woman, who is a warrior besides,” she said, a little sadly.
“My lady is a warrior – in our own way,” I said.
“And though they call Ogier ‘old,’ he’s a contemporary of your brother,” Chessina pointed out. “And I know he admires you. And didn’t I read admiration for him in your tone?”
“I… I have carried a torch for him for some years,” admitted Beretrulle. “He taught me swordplay when I was a young woman, and… and I always admired him.”
“Good, that’s sorted,” said Chessina. “True love allows a woman to resist the blandishments of even the most accomplished demon; true love can even combat a succubus or incubus.”
That was worth knowing.
Well, the chances were, there would be a handsome young captain at the camp in the Marches.
He’d wait.
His plan was dependent on having Beretrulle around; so, he must be patient, because Beretrulle was with me. And I planned on keeping her with me until we were ready to go and find Nosy.
We spent the night there, rehydrating the errant couple.
Then I set up the gate after breakfasting, and very quietly opened up the doors. There was no drawbridge. Sooner or later, one of the villagers would find their way in, and they could deal with their dead, loot all they wanted, and find provisions for the rest of the winter. Was it cowardly to just leave them to do so? Probably. But it wasn’t my job, and trying to explain demonology without handing over Jolinn and Moruk would probably prove too difficult. It would take a little while for them to notice the gate being open, and we could be well on our way. Why not? Sooner or later someone with authority would come to sort things out.
So, we hustled our prisoners and our acquisition through the gate, and I brought up the rear, and closed it, conscious of some noise already at the entrance to the castle.
The guards on the place of gating in Adalsburg were a little surprised.
“Could you send for some more guards, please?” I asked. “I have prisoners, whose activities have made them somewhat incapable; I want them secured but we need stretchers to take them to the royal castle to answer for treason.”
That got them moving.
The palace was separate from the castle, which was sensible; any royal family could move into the castle if times got dangerous.
Beretrulle barked orders with regards to our prisoners, and took us to the palace, where the royal family were just starting breakfast. She ruthlessly ordered more settings for us, including poor Renni, whom she introduced as ‘our only living witness,’ and insisted that we all devour black pudding, scrambled eggs, toast, and ham before telling our story. I let her take over. Why should I have to give all the reports when someone else is willing to do so? I permitted Beretrulle to tell the story, which made me seem fairly heroic if you went with her way of telling it, rather than bumbling around which was the way it had felt at the time. Chessina wasn’t dissenting, so I didn’t dare to do so. As reports go, it went; and it wasn’t much balder than mine tend to be.
“Why does he feel so confident that he can make you rebel against me?” asked the king of his sister.
“It’s the nature of demons, sire,” said Chessina. “They can be very persuasive. But it is harder for them to persuade those who are in a loving relationship. And I know that Duke Ogier has shut himself away, but if you order him to marry your sister, I think he could learn to love her.”
“That’s a big step,” said King Beremar.
“Your majesty, he’s miserable anyway,” said Chessina. “He’s hardly going to be more so, and even if he was, it’s a small price to pay for peace in the realm. You will need to order him to make Beretrulle happy so she can resist the advances of this incubus, and therefore he will be concentrating on pleasing her, and will gradually discover that it pleases him too. Be wily!”
Beremar had given up taking offence at anything Chessina said; besides, she was being very earnest at him, and had her arm around the sister he loved very much indeed.
“I will speak to Ogier,” he said.
“And Beretrulle will make him work at it,” said Chessina. “Ogier has no need to know that she is aware of this situation. If you tell him he is the only man you know she has ever admired, and you need him, he will have to step up.”
I said absolutely nothing.
Besides, I had discovered a plate of delicious dill pickles which went well with the glaze on the ham.
I must get the recipe from the royal cook.
I had no need to interfere with Chessina manipulating people; it was something left from her time as a demon, and she was very good at it, and enjoyed it.
Chessina also managed to have Renni give her deposition to the king – once the royal children had withdrawn to their tutors – and the queen had to fight down nausea at the girl’s sufferings, and the terror of being the plaything of a demon who had not held back in playing with the unfortunate women he had taken before slitting open their wombs. Renni was awarded a royal pension for her bravery in giving a deposition, and her daughter was to receive royal favour. Cheaper than a pension, but potentially useful for the child.
“And so Jolinn has the four other babies inside her?” asked the queen.
“Not exactly,” I explained. “The death-throes of the mothers and the foetuses powered the enhanced fertility of Jolinn and Moruk and made conception certain. I don’t quite know how Nosy expected five children to survive, when twins do not always do so, and the rare triplets hardly ever. Perhaps his ultimate… joke… was that they would sap the strength of Jolinn so she had children, and died herself, but he hoped to be able to manipulate the helpless children?” I waved my arms in a gesture of perplexity as shrugging was frowned upon in higher society. Don’t ask me why: I’m a peasant.
“The children are not demonic, are they?” asked the queen, in horror.
“No, no, your majesty, they are physically the children of Moruk and Jolinn, but sparked by the life-force of the babies sacrificed,” I said. “I have no idea whether the four offspring of Jolinn have new souls, or if the souls of those who died transferred; it seems impolite to ask Emaxtiphrael about the details of his work.”
“Er, yes, quite,” said Queen Silavelle. “And it is his choice, and none of our business.”
I suspected that Emaxtiphrael did his best to preserve the souls of innocents and would probably have transferred them, but I did not want anyone coming up with the idea that Jolinn was birthing peasant souls who were somehow less human for it.
“We will have to wait until she has given birth, before she can be turned into an ass,” said Beremar. “And what is then to be done with the children? Do you know what gender they are?”
“One boy and three girls,” said Chessina, who had noted this. “At least, the foetuses were, and I assume it would be easier for them to be the same.”
“It is my opinion that they should be split into two pairs of twins,” I said. “Assuming they survive. They will be less remarkable for that, and will draw less attention.”
“Very wise,” said the queen. “We can decide who will raise them later.”
I gave my enigmatic smile. It was a vague enough expression not to be volunteering to add a pair of twins to our own nursery. The boy was Moruk’s heir in any case; let him be raised to that by someone like Ogier. A ready made second family for him.
Having dumped everything on the king, we took Renni and Crystal back through our own gate to the Tower, and installed her with Elizelle’s family of carers. Renni would be well-looked-after there. And we could visit the children.
“Did you have enough to eat?” asked Ascyla.
“Thank you, yes,” I said. “We manged to improvise, later. And yes, the rug got a little singed, but not too much. Have you any advice for me?”
She sighed.
“Just be careful,” she said. “Don’t let Ogier challenge him to a duel; you must do that yourself.”
“Thank you,” I said.
Ogier would almost have to do so if there was someone pursuing his betrothed wife, so I would have to get there first. Besides, Nosy would cheat, which Ogier would not.
I, however, would.
Sometimes, being a peasant is an advantage.
I spent some time registering the killing of the dragon, which gave me legal right to it; I would pay to have it rendered, and I would also invite volunteers from the Academy of Wizardry to come to see how it was done. They could have some scales as a keepsake. And I registered the shares in the hoard, which would have to be moved, counted, assayed, and shared out. It would take a long while so I might as well get things in train. I had to give Ogier enough time to do at least some romantic approaches to Beretrulle. And as he was a man of stern duty, he would do his best to save her from demonic attraction, I was sure.
I left Chessina flitting back and forth to interfere; she is so very good at it. She came home every night, to catch up on our missed intimacy. It was much needed, but I missed her during the day. I gave our apprentices a few lessons about tackling dragons.
And the first instruction was, don’t even try, if you can avoid it.
I reduced them to giggles by telling them all the things I did wrong.
“The problem is,” I said, “All the textbooks tell you how to react according to the attack vector of the dragon. But they don’t tell you what to do if it changes its attack vector in flight, and sets up unfavourable conditions for your team. Because dragons are pretty intelligent, and can be as capricious as any human, or just change their minds. And so you need to ignore the textbooks and make it up as you go along.”
“But Frost ray down the throat works pretty well if you can do it?” asked Castovar.
“If you can put up with the halitosis, yes,” I said. “And get it off before you get chargrilled. I got the timing right. I was lucky it was still torpid after having been woken. But a few protection from fire spells are always a good idea.”
“And the fire resistance potion,” said Harmana.
“Yes, but the operative word there is ‘resistance,’” I said. “It helps you pass through places that are on fire, but not through fire. Especially not dragon fire. The trick to dealing with dragons is to get your retaliation in first, and kill them before they have a chance to breathe on you. Of course, managing to do that is a whole different game. I got lucky. Don’t assume that luck will save you.”
They nodded gravely.
Ascyla looked at me gravely.
“You know,” she said, “Demons are very conventional in some ways. I think you could surprise him by doing something he would never think of, but you must decide at the last moment so he can’t guess.”
“I’m sure I’ll think of something,” I said.
She beamed at me sunnily.
“Of course you will,” she said.
Chessina whirled in one evening.
“They’re getting on very nicely and he has managed to re-spark the flame of her admiration by practising swordplay together. I managed to trip them both when using practice swords, so that Ogier fell on her, and landed with his hand in a most improper place. They enjoyed it so much they went off to practice horizontal swordplay with only one sword. We can go back to the marches and sort this out once and for all.”
I adore my wife.
She cheats outrageously.
We left the children again, but Ascyla was in a sunnier mood this time, and kissed us goodbye cheerfully.
I hoped I would live up to her beliefs.
I did not intend to be overconfident just because she had faith in me.
And then we met up with Beretrulle and a rather bemused Ogier, and the newest recruits to march through the gate to Pennwath, ready to march out to the borders.
And surprise, surprise, there was a very handsome adjutant ready to help Beretrulle with sorting out the new recruits.
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