death's knight 23

 

Chapter 23

 

Harkon strolled out of the temple in the deadlands for the plainsfolk, nodding to Arrag.

“Harvest all cached?” he asked.

“Not only cached but with more than one way in and out,” said Arrag. “We’re running a series of underground passages, and the speed is really only limited by how many sand to stone spells my people collectively can cast in a day, because we need more than just props, because there are going to be cattle and horses thundering over the top.”

“Well done,” said Harkon. “I’ll be back and forth, scouting, and when the army is committed, I’ll be arranging for fire on the steppe. Tell Kurihor to be ready for it, and to have the priestesses of Mother Rain, or whatever they call her here to give the land a really good soaking.”

“And any soldiers underneath it as well?” said Arrag, sniggering. “I think it’s Mother Mare, mother of the Skyhorse.”

“Well, at least that’s the correct relationship,” said Harkon. “Fine, carry on.”

“Yes, my lord,” said Arrag.

The weather here was significantly warmer, and dry, if a little sullen. Clouds covered the sun. This made travel easier for Harkon, who sprang lightly upwards, calling on Thyella’s spells. The whiff of ozone made him wrinkle his nose; and he realised that Thyella had no idea how noisy her arrival and departure was. He managed not to snigger. After all, he loved her dearly.

 

Things had moved on at the Great Plains River. Harkon appreciated looking down as if on a map made of real land. It gave him an appreciation of the vastness of the Selenite empire, occupying the greater part of the coast, and their impressive road network, wider even than was shown on maps. Harkon cursed, having thought mostly in straight lines, and using the lakes for transport; there was also, it appeared, a large contingent of sea-going ships assembling at the coastal port of Selenopolis, which had sailed in from other coastal cities, and were embarking troops. These were doubtless to sail north to Hals Ochuroma to march to Mesolimnos. Other troops were leaving Phrourion, a garrison with a road to the road which skirted the Great Plains, and went on to Rhinopolis. There were troops marching beside the river, with its barges, but the enemy had been more flexible. This would, thought Harkon, be Thea Drex, who was a phenomenal planner.

The sea troops were the greatest threat. Harkon dropped a couple of lightning bolts on ships in the harbour; they lay closely enough together that with luck, fire would spread from one to another. Then, with deep regret for the wild animals, he set fire to the grass of the steppe nearest the road; and again along the road that skirted the plain. The plainsfolk were prepared, and would have breakfire ditches ready, to fight fire with fire, using burnback to create clear areas around their positions.

He saw a boy and a mule, trapped by fire, and used the lightning travel to land and whisk them both into the sky.

“Mighty Pieran! I will worship you and no other!” said the boy, and Harkon felt his sacrifice from his kormajiea. There was a chime.

Harkon’s thoughts could not be expressed clearly, or without a heavy number of words Kaz would scold him for using. He placed the boy down at the settlement he appeared to be heading towards.

“No, don’t kneel!” he said, hastily, as the boy would do so. “Live a good life.”

It was enough; the plainsfolk must do the rest. Harkon was tired, and he wanted a bath and his wife, and not necessarily in that order.

 

oOoOo

Thea Drex was managing to ignore the irritating dreams. Moreover, there was something about the handsome northerner which was familiar; and it nagged at her, and somehow repulsed her more than it attracted her. She threw herself into planning, and worked with Erlax Sorn to come up with how best to move troops north.

“I don’t like almost emptying Phrourion, lady,” said Sorn. “It leaves it vulnerable to attack from the north, if the plains barbarians approach it on the side not protected by rivers.”

“I know; but it is a strong fortress town, and I think they have enough to hold it against the sort of undisciplined raids the plainsmen favour,” said Thea. “They will have their own troubles when we strip them of their harvest. They might be desperate enough to attack, but they will be weakened, and therefore unable to use their full strength.  They can probably, if it looks serious, be bribed to go away with a meagre amount of grain.”

Erlax Sorn nodded.

“Yes, Lady, you are probably correct. I like your idea of placing the exhausted troops from the siege in Hals Ochuroma, to rest and recuperate, and leaving the fresh troops there whilst sending out the standing garrison, who have had a chance to become used to the northern climate.”

“It will be worse than usual; our goddess has obtained a means to visit the sort of winter on them normally found only in the northern mountains.”

“Ah, no wonder you wanted them hardier,” said Sorn. “And now I understand the tents with warming runes ready for activation, and stoves.”

“I want armies approaching from many directions, so they cannot send any hero to disrupt all of them,” said Thea. “If we lose one army, it is a problem, but not a tragedy... what is that shouting?”

An adjutant burst in.

“My lady! My lord! The ships in the harbour are burning! There was a storm, and lightning...”

“Daze’s bollocks!” swore Thea. “The knights of the clear skies have done this!”

“Natural storms do happen,” said Sorn. “They would surely not have the impudence to strike us in our own heartlands?”

“I... maybe not,” said Thea. “Bad luck happens too, and it is not all enemy action. Let us go and see what can be saved.”

 

oOoOo

 

“How is she resisting my dreams? It isn’t fair,” whined Zeandine.

“Maybe it’s just bad timing,” said Secalia. “Give it a rest; you can prod her when she is face to face with him.”

“I suppose so,” sulked Zeandine.

 

oOoOo

 

“I feel as if I should be doing more,” said Kaz.

“You’re preparing to be on Trickster’s Mound, outside of Selenopolis on the solstice,” said Harkon. “I can jump around causing some damage but it isn’t actually much more than an annoyance.”

“Can you arrive more quietly than Thyella and introduce an irritant to the supplies?” asked Kaz.

“I can’t hear myself, so I assume Thyella can’t, either, and so we can’t control the volume,” said Harkon.

“Well, you’ll just have to use your own little feet after arriving out of earshot,” said Kaz.

“You’re taking being offensive to new levels,” said Harkon.

“Practising for the Trickster,” shrugged Kaz. “I have to offend him enough to curse me.”

“Fair point,” said Harkon. “And what irritant were you considering?”

“Rats,” said Kaz. “If we set people to capturing them in the sewers it serves a double purpose; get rid of ours, and add to the misery of the Selenites.  I’ve eaten rat, at need; it isn’t pleasant, and humans need to boil them, rather than roast, as you don’t have such aggressive digestive systems as those of the toróg, but that’s by the by. Unless it ends up being the only meat they have.”

“I like it,” said Harkon. “I need time to rest, though. I wouldn’t have done as much, only I got worshipped a little bit by a lad I rescued from my fires, and he and his family worshipped me which seems a bit much as it was my fault he got into danger in the first place.”

“Just live with it,” said Kaz. “You know how to store power.”

“I do,” said Harkon. “But it takes it from Thyella and Ombros...”

“I’m at least half-resigned to losing my brother,” said Thyella, sadly. “He won’t be able to adapt. It’s why I’m spending time with him, until he makes me lose my temper with him. I love him better when we don’t meet too often.”

“I feel like that about Erippion Windblown,” said Harkon.

“My brother is the reason there are descriptive nouns like ‘blowhard’ and ‘windbag’ for boasters and the wordy,” said Thyella. “But I love him.”

“You can warn him; and maybe he can change,” said Harkon.

“I was wondering,” said Kaz, “If we could use shaping cantrips on dead rats to reduce their incisors and increase their canines, and tweak the skull shape, and cook them in that red spice the easterners like so much, and present Thea Drex with a meal of red ‘wolves...’”

“Now, that would get her hopping mad,” said Harkon. “Better to do once she arrives.”

“Or I can see to it being served to Allenna Dren and Thorus Mils before the reinforcements come,” said Kaz, happily. “I need to practice shadow-shifing, anyway.”

“You’re supposed to be resting for your ordeal,” said Lelyn.

“I can’t. It tires me out,” said Kaz. “If I can do something amusing, it will make me feel better.”

“I suppose I understand that,” said Lelyn. “I’ll obtain some red spice from Sono and Mono, the eastern twins.”

“We’ll have to do something about the tails, but a group of three red wolves, howling at the moon should get their attention,” said Kaz.

“Before, or after, I release the waters?” asked Protasion.

“Before; I want them to really enjoy the impact,” said Kaz.

 

Kaz and Lelyn turned their attention to making a beautifully displayed dish of spiced wolf, wearing collars, and presented on the rice which was a staple for the Selenites. There was a lot of shadow for Kaz to merge with, and she quickly reached her objective of the officers’ mess tent, where the senior priests were also catered to.

Kaz returned, sniggering.

“Ah, if only I could see their faces when they uncover the dish,” she said. “Let’s not mention this to Polia and Vulk, however; they might not think it as funny.”

 

oOoOo

 

Kaz was glad of Alethos, spending time in her dreams to help soothe her to sleep. The time seemed to creep forward like a snail, and then at other times it seemed to rush by, so that the time when she must confront Daze in the past rushed up on her.

She spent the day before the solstice in meditation and vigil, in the innermost sanctum of the temple, and there, Alethos came to her in person, and held her to him.

“I am some fine Alethosi, I am shaking in fear,” said Kaz.

“We all fear, at times,” said Alethos. “Courage is in doing that which you fear. Tell me about it, my little love.”

“I fear that if I die in the past, I will not come to you because you did not know me then,” said Kaz. “And I fear that I will not get it right, and he will not curse me, so that when I return to the future, I will no longer be your beloved, because it changed things if I get everything wrong. And I fear losing you...”

“My mother is in charge; she will see that all goes well,” said Alethos. “And if it’s any help, around the time of the trógling curse, I heard a quite painfully loud chime, which I did not understand, and my mother said, ‘You will know all about it one day.’ So, you see, you have already succeeded, and your quest is a mere formality.”

“But I haven’t, and I might tear all of space and time if I make a mistake...” said Kaz.

“I don’t think you can, my sweeting. Otherwise, you would not be foredestined,” said Alethos. “I believe in you. And now my mother has opened a memory she had clouded, that I received prayer from a powerful one of my people whom I did not know; but I was there for my hero.”

“Oh! Well, I can only do my best; but I hope you will not forget me too much if I fail,” said Kaz.

“Beloved, I can never forget you,” said Alethos, hoping that it was true, and that she would succeed, and that it would not change the world to be as if she had never existed; because that was beyond sorrow.

He felt his mother’s irritable presence, and was reassured.

To find such love and to lose it was not to be contemplated.

But never before had a night seemed so long to any of the immortals.

 

oOoOo

 

Erytheon woke Epiphio early.

The boy clung to his mentor.

“Hush, child, I am ready,” said Erytheon. “I will be able to visit you in dreams, I believe; so do not grieve. Learn what you may from the Alethosi, and wish the Daykaz good fortune. In truth, I am quite excited, for I have never had an adventure myself, having given my life over to foretelling the adventures of others. Lead me to the gate.”

“Will they let you out?” asked Epiphio.

“Yes, because I found out who was on duty, and bribed them ahead of time,” said Erytheon.

Epiphio gasped.

“But surely Alethosi and Pollosi cannot be bribed?” he gasped.

“No, but the city militia can,” said Erytheon. “Besides, I told them that I had cult business and it was best to ask no questions, but that I would be pleased if they would drink to my success. My poor young friend! I have shocked you by the perfidy of our fellow men.”

“But... suppose they are bribed to let others in?”

“Son, there are degrees of venality.  Letting out a glyph-level member of one of the senior cults of the city is a long way to letting in enemies; especially when the bribe is a gift of thanks to drink to my success, so it can be dismissed in their own minds as not really a bribe. And when they know that it is foretold that I must be without the gates on this day, and will be so, will they, nil they. And this way, they get a nice gratuity.”

Epiphio was almost quivering still, in outrage, and the old priest suppressed laughter. The boy was so very innocent.

Well, the Alethosi would protect him from the worst behaviour of mankind.

 

“Good luck, old man,” said the gate guard, soberly. “May fortune smile on you; and may your end be fast. It is a one-way mission, isn’t it?”

“It is,” said Erytheon. “Don’t let the boy follow; he has to seek out the Alethosi and tell them I am on my way.”

“One of us will escort him,” said the guard. “The sun shine on you.”

“And on you,” said Erytheon, sketching the Solosian blessing. He set off sure-footed across the bridge, without any hesitation.  His inner eye saw the path he must take with absolute clarity, as if someone else’s eyes were feeding the view in front of him into his eyes. He knew he would not encounter anyone, nor even any beast, nor trip on any guy-rope. He knew that there was a freezing fog, and that desultory snowflakes fell, and his boots, with warming charms in them as in his clothing, crunched through the fresh snow. He skirted sundry tents until he came to one with guards, who fell to quarrelling as he would have loomed out of the mist, and started pummelling each other. Erytheon walked around the unseemly brawl, and into the tent.