"With my life, your Majesty," he replied and lifted his horn to his lips.
As his last ringing notes faded, Ce"Nedra, her stomach churning with the now-familiar nausea, rose in her stirrups to speak. "Legionnaires," she called to them. "I am Princess Ce"Nedra, the daughter of your Emperor." It wasn"t perhaps the best beginning in the world, but she had to start somewhere, and this was going to be something in the nature of a performance, rather than an oration, so a bit of awkwardness in places wouldn"t hurt anything.
"I have come to set your minds at rest," she continued. "The army ma.s.sed before you comes in peace. This fair, green field, this sacred Tolnedran soil, shall not be a battleground this day. For today at least, no legionnaire will shed his blood in defense of the Empire."
A ripple of relief pa.s.sed through the ma.s.sed legions. No matter how professional soldiers might be, an avoided battle was always good news. Ce"Nedra drew in a deep, quivering breath. It needed just a little twist now, something to lead logically to what she really wanted to say. "Today you will not be called upon to die for your bra.s.s half-crown." The bra.s.s half crown was the legionnaire"s standard daily pay. "I cannot, however, speak for tomorrow," she went on. "No one can say when the affairs of Empire will demand that you lay down your lives. It may be tomorrow that the interests of some powerful merchant may need legion blood for protection." She lifted her hands in a rueful little gesture. "But then, that"s the way it"s always been, hasn"t it? The legions die for bra.s.s so that others might have gold."
A cynical laugh of agreement greeted that remark. Ce"Nedra had heard enough of the idle talk of her father"s soldiers to know that this complaint was at the core of every legionnaire"s view of the world. "Blood and gold-our blood and their gold," was very nearly a legion motto. They were almost with her now. The quivering in her stomach subsided a bit, and her voice became stronger.
She told them a story then - a story she"d heard in a half dozen versions since her childhood. It was the story of a good legionnaire who did his duty and saved his money. His wife had suffered through the hardships and separations that went with being married to a legionnaire. When he was mustered out of his legion, they had gone home and bought a little shop, and all the years of sacrifice seemed worthwhile.
"And then one day, his wife became very ill," Ce"Nedra continued her story, "and the physician"s fee was very high." She had been carefully untying the sack fastened to her saddle while she spoke. "The physician demanded this much," she said, taking three blood-red Murgo coins from the sack and holding them up for all to see. "And the legionnaire went to a powerful merchant and borrowed the money to pay the physician. But the physician, like most of them, was a fraud, and the legionnaire"s money might as well have been thrown away." Quite casually, Ce"Nedra tossed the gold coins into the high gra.s.s behind her. "The soldier"s good and faithful wife died. And when the legionnaire was bowed down with grief, the powerful merchant came to him and said, "Where"s the money I lent to you?" " She took out three more coins and held them up. " "Where"s that good red gold I gave you to pay the physician?" But the legionnaire had no gold. His hands were empty." Ce"Nedra spread her fingers, letting the gold coins fall to the ground. "And so the merchant took the legionnaire"s shop to pay the debt. A rich man grew richer. And what happened to the legionnaire? Well, he still had his sword. He had been a good soldier, so he had kept it bright and sharp. And after his wife"s funeral, he took his sword and went out into a field not far from the town and he fell upon it. And that"s how the story ends."
She had them now. She could see it in their faces. The story she had told them had been around for a long time, but the gold coins she had so casually tossed away gave it an entirely new emphasis. She took out several of the Angarak coins and looked at them curiously as if seeing them for the first time. "Why do you suppose that all the gold we see these days is red?" she asked them. "I always thought gold was supposed to be yellow. Where does all this red gold come from?"
"From Cthol Murgos," several of them answered her.
"Really?" She looked at the coins with an apparent distaste. "What"s Murgo gold doing in Tolnedra?" And she threw the coins away.
The iron discipline of the legions wavered, and they all took an involuntary step forward.
"Of course, I don"t suppose an ordinary soldier sees much red gold. Why should a Murgo try to bribe a common soldier when he can bribe the officers - or the powerful men who decide where and when the legions are to go to bleed and die?" She took out another coin and looked at it. "Do you know, I think that every single one of these is from Cthol Murgos," she said, negligently throwing the coin away. "Do you suppose that the Murgos are trying to buy up Tolnedra?"
There was an angry mutter at that.
"There must be a great deal of this red gold lying about in the Angarak kingdoms if that"s what they have in mind, wouldn"t you say? I"ve heard stories about that, though. Don"t they say that the mines of Cthol Murgos are bottomless and that there are rivers in Gar og Nadrak that look like streams of blood because the gravel over which they flow is pure gold? Why, gold must be as cheap as dirt in the lands of the East." She took out another coin, glanced at it and then tossed it away.
The legions took another involuntary step forward. The officers barked the command to stand fast, but they also looked hungrily toward the tall gra.s.s where the princess had been so indifferently throwing the red gold coins.
"It may be that the army I"m leading will be able to find out just how much gold lies on the ground in the lands of the Angaraks," Ce"Nedra confided to them. "The Murgos and the Grolims have been practicing this same kind of deceit in Arendia and Sendaria and the Alorn kingdoms. We"re on our way to chastise them for it." She stopped as if an idea had just occurred to her. "There"s always room in any army for a few more good soldiers," she mused thoughtfully. "I know that most legionnaires serve out of loyalty to their legions and love for Tolnedra, but there may be a few among you who aren"t satisfied with one bra.s.s half crown a day. I"m sure such men would be welcome in my army." She took another red coin out of her dwindling supply. "Would you believe that there"s another Murgo gold piece?" she demanded and let the coin drop from her fingers.
A sound went through the ma.s.sed legions that was almost a groan. The princess sighed then. "I forgot something," she said regretfully. "My army"s leaving at once, and it takes weeks for a legionnaire to arrange for leave, doesn"t it?"
"Who needs leave?" someone shouted.
"You wouldn"t actually desert your legions, would you?" she asked them incredulously.
"The princess offers gold!" another man roared. "Let Ran Borune keep his bra.s.s!"
Ce"Nedra dipped one last time into the bag and took out the last few coins. "Would you actually follow me?" she asked in her most little-girl voice, "just for this?" And she let the coins trickle out of her hand.
The Emperor"s general staff at that point made a fatal mistake. They dispatched a platoon of cavalry to take the princess into custody. Seeing mounted men riding toward the ground Ce"Nedra had so liberally strewn with gold and mistaking their intent, the legions broke. Officers were swarmed under and trampled as Ran Borune"s army lunged forward to scramble in the gra.s.s for the coins.
"I pray thee, your Majesty," Mandorallen urged, drawing his sword, "let us withdraw to safety."
"In a moment, Sir Mandorallen," Ce"Nedra replied quite calmly. She stared directly at the desperately greedy legionnaires running toward her. "My army marches immediately," she announced. "If the Imperial Legions wish to join us, I welcome them." And with that, she wheeled her horse and galloped back toward her own forces with Mandorallen at her side.
Behind her she heard the heavy tread of thousands of feet. Someone among the ma.s.sed legions began a chant that soon spread. "Ce-Ne-dra! Ce-Ne-dra!" they shouted, and their heavy steps marked time to that chant.
The Princess Ce"Nedra, her sun-touched hair streaming in the wind behind her, galloped on, leading the ma.s.s mutiny of the legions. Even as she rode, Ce"Nedra knew that her every word had been a deception. There would be no more wealth for these legionnaires than there would be glory or easy victory for the Arends she had gathered from the forests of Asturia and the plains of Mimbre. She had raised an army to lead into a hopeless war.
It was for love of Garion, however, and perhaps for even more. If the Prophecy that so controlled their destinies demanded this of her, there was no way she could have refused. Despite all the anguish that lay ahead, she would have done this and more. For the first time Ce"Nedra accepted the fact that she no longer controlled her own destiny. Something infinitely more powerful than she commanded her, and she must obey.
Polgara and Belgarath, with lives spanning eons, could perhaps devote themselves to an idea, a concept; but Ce"Nedra was barely sixteen years old, and she needed something more human to arouse her devotion. At this very moment, somewhere in the forests of Gar og Nadrak, there was a sandy-haired young man with a serious face whose safety - whose very life - depended on every effort she could muster. The princess surrendered finally to love. She swore to herself that she would never fail her Garion. If this army were not enough, she would raise another - at whatever cost.
Ce"Nedra sighed, then squared her shoulders and led the Tolnedran legions across the sunny fields to swell the ranks of her army.
Here ends Book Four of The Belgariad. Book Five, Enchanters" End Game, brings this epic to a brilliant conclusion as Belgarion confronts evil Torak to decide the fate of men, G.o.ds, and Prophecies.