Hahan hour later, Ysaye reappeared. He was breathing hard and his skin was bruised and scratched.
"I was wrong," he said, slipping into his clothes. "The climb was almost impossible. I think I am the only man in these hills who could have done it"
"I"m sure you"re right," I said, grateful that the darkness hid my grin. "I"ll ensure Domina Herstal hears of your bravery and rewards you-if our plan works."
We went back to the others and waited. In two hours, the lights began going out in the tower. Then I heard a man scream in sudden terror.
Very good, I thought. Now we wait for the dawn.
At sunrise, the door to the tower came open, and the Wolf himself came out. Behind him was a not unpretty young woman I a.s.sumed to be Tigrinya, and three men, carrying chests.
I heard the lowing of cattle and saw half a dozen being driven toward us from the village beyond.
As the Wolf came closer I saw he had not slept well-there were great circles under his eyes, and he was deathly pale. In one hand, he held the arrow I"d had Ysaye toss through the upper window of the tower, which must have shocked him when he came on it. I wondered if Ysaye had been lucky enough to throw it into the Wolf"s bedchamber.
I walked to meet him, but stopped well out of sword range, even though neither the Wolf nor his men appeared armed. My archers had arrows nocked.
Without speaking, the Wolf knelt, and held out the arrow.
"O Seer," he whined, "forgive me my sins. I knew not what mighty wizard I"d offended, and swear on all the G.o.ds I shall never offend thee again.
"Take the woman-I swear I treated her gently.
"And here is my gold." As he spoke, the men opened the chests. "Take all, take what you deem fitting, but leave me my life."
"Igrant you your life, O Wolf," I said, solemnly. "And I am pleased that you took the warning I was gracious enough to grant you.
"But I still hold this arrow. If I ever hear of your crossing our border and harming the innocent, know I shall launch it, and it shall seek you out and slay you wherever you are."
"I swear, I swear I shall behave as a man of the law." There*was a pause as he considered, and then c.o.c.ked an eye up at me.
"At least in Urey."
"What you do in your own lands matters little to me," I answered, afraid to really press my luck. The Wolf wouldnever become a sheep.
I ordered the men forward, and they led Tigrinya back to the horses. She seemed angry about something, and pulled away from our a.s.sistance. Certainly it appeared as if the Wolf was right: She didn"t appear the victim of rape and savagery.
I looked into the chests, and learned the lot of a petty raider against poor villagers is slim. There were only a dozen gold coins, three times as much silver, and about the same in copper coins. The rest of the chest was full of rubbishy bra.s.s jewelry, beads, and gems I thought to be cut gla.s.s.
I took the gold and the silver and bade the Wolf sin no more. Bowing and sc.r.a.ping, the Wolf retreated to his redoubt, and I never saw him again, nor heard tales of his reiving against Urey.
We rode back for Tigrinya"s village, slowed by the cattle. I felt pleased with myself: Not only had I accomplished my task easily, but we had done it without any bloodshed in my column. Blood is the natural end of war, certainly, but the less spilled the greater the commander. It is ironic that I always tried to follow that precept, yet served under the bloodiest of history"s leaders.
That night, camping just on the other side of the border, intending to arrive at the village early the next morning, I heard a scuffle from where we"d made a crude tent for the young woman. After a time, Troop Guide Bikaner came to me, barely holding back laughter. I asked him what had happened, and he explained.
It seemed that Tigrinya was most angry. Here she"d had the one adventure of her life, getting out of what Bikaner said she"d called "that G.o.ds-d.a.m.ned village I was rotting in," into the arms of such a romantic rebel, and then we had to show up and ruin her dreams.
"Butshe"s a wily one, Legate, an" went an" offered one of th" men a chance wi" her charms if he"d let her ride wi" him back t" Renan. Cursed him, an" then me, most eloquent when we said it could not happen.
"What"ll y" wager, sir, that within th" month we"ll see her on Rotten Row wi" th" other wh.o.r.es?"
Such were the realities of life along the border.
We returned a sullen Tigrinya to her father, gave the coins from the Wolf to the village chieftain, who seemed very pleased, and I guessed the widows of the slain men would be lucky to see any of the money, and rode back to our cantonment. Domina Herstal nodded approval and allowed I showed signs of learning my job. The regiment adjutant, Captain Lan-ett, bought me a gla.s.s of wine in the mess that night, a gla.s.s I was most pleased to drain to the dregs.
My life with the Seventeenth Lancers was beginning.
A month later I scored five goals at rol and it appeared ended.
SEVEN.
Sayanaayana is an old and evil city.
Legend has it the city was built in a single night by a horde of demons, under the control of a master warlock, who was thus able to extend his claws over the entire region and untie it in a commonality of greed and blood l.u.s.t. This might be true, but as I"d already learned, demons could have taken lessons from these Men of the Hills.
As we rode toward it, the Seer Tenedos told me briefly of its past and at greater length what must concern me to represent the interests of the kingdom of Numantia properly.
Sayana stands on a low rocky plateau that juts from the plains of Kait, the Border States. It"s a walled city, and eminently defensible against foreign attack or the far more common internecine warfare the Men of the Hills call polite society. It controls all approaches to Sulem Pa.s.s from the south, so the Kaiti have always been able to dictate who pa.s.ses between Maisir to the south, and Urey and Numantia to the north.
Kait is a snake"s nest of intertwining clans and families, most of whom seem to have blood feuds with most of the others. Whoever holds the throne in Sayana is called achim, and deemed overlord of the Border States, at least until the next poisoned cup, arrow-dart, or dagger-strike from behind.
The current achim was Baber Fergana, whose history was positively dynastic by Kaiti standards: His family had held the throne for three generations. Baber Fergana, as was customary, had signaled his intent to rule by having all his brothers murdered and his sisters married to peasants. However, unlike his father and grandfather, he"d erred slightly, and a younger brother, Chamisso Fergana, had escaped the slaughter and now held the loyalty of those tribesmen who were not on Baber Fergana"s list of friends.
"Sooner or later," Tenedos said, "either he"ll come down from the hills, take the city, kill his brother, and become the new achim, or else Baber Fergana will succeed in inserting an a.s.sa.s.sin into Chamisso"s tents, and there shall be peace everlasting until one or another of their children become strong enough to pull sword from sheath ... or else woo enough warriors and sorcerers to once again topple what these people think const.i.tutes government."
This was the normal state of affairs for the Border States, and of little concern for Numantia. However, there"d been a new force come into the hills of late, one that worried the Rule of Ten.
This was the Tovieti, which Tenedos told me the Rule of Ten had variously called "a dangerous revolutionary order," a "cult of fanatics," and "crazed bandits." "By which," he said, a smile touching his lips for a moment, "I took it to mean our rulers are terrified of them."
Little was known of the organization, save that it was very loose, with cells scattered everywhere, and that most of its members came from the peasantry, the landless, and the lower cla.s.ses. Its prime tenet was that those who followed its banner would inherit all from the ricli-not in some future paradise, but right now, and might speed that inheritance by killing anyone whose goods they desired, "except, of course," Tenedos went on, "those who also espouse their creed." They also required absolute loyalty and obedience to their leaders and complete secrecy about the organization.
*I listened, but without a great deal of concern; it"d seemed my betters were always going on about some nefarious organization that was about to attack the state or at any rate absolutely corrupt the morals of the citizenry. As a soldier, I paid polite attention, but until I was actually faced with these folks as real enemies, and not chimerical apparitions of a fevered politician, I didn"t waste time peering under my bed for these mischief-makers.
I suppose my unconcern showed itself to Tenedos, who I"d already seen was an astute reader of men"s countenances. "There"s been more than just scare-talk," he said. "The Tovieti have killed across the borders of the Border States into Urey, Dara, and even Kallio, or so the Rule of Ten"s agents have reported. Most of the victims have been merchants whose caravans or houses were stripped bare, with nothing left but the bodies.
"The Tovieti kill by strangling with a yellow silk cord, when they can, and the cord is left knotted around the neck of their victims.
"The agents" reports also say the murderers have powerful magic on their side, since not one of them has been caught making his kill. Also, when their tracks are followed, they vanish inexplicably.
"I myself wonder just how ambitious a pursuit some village warden would mount after finding, say, half a dozen merchants dead and their gold and trade goods vanished, but I was a.s.sured that the reports of the Rule"s agents was most accurate in this regard."
"How has this group been traced to the Border States?"
"That was a question I had as well, and received no answer other than that this was to be regarded as "dependable information." " Tenedos shrugged. "I was also told Chamisso Fergana appears to be either the leader or among the leaders of this organization, which is adding members by the day. Soon he will lead mem down from the hills, seize Sayana, and mount a great war into Numantia. The Rule of Ten believe the Tovieti are responsible for all the unrest along the borders of late.
"Now you see what a wonderful ferment of evil and dark magic we are about to enter."
Sayana, not more than a mile ahead, was dazzling white under the sun, as white as a bride"s robes. But between us and the walls was a truer symbol of Sayana. Iron stanchions, about thirty feet high, stood on either side of the road. Hanging from them were wrought-iron cages. Inside each was the rotting remains of a man. Some were no more than bones, picked almost clean by the kites and crows. Others were more recently dead, corpses blackening under the sun, eyes pecked out, grasping hands reaching for a mercy that was never granted until Saionji allowed them to return to the Wheel.
I heard a croak, not from any enamel bird, but from one caged man, or perhaps a woman, who yet lived. I could not distinguish through the filth and rags. A single eye stared, and a hand fluttered, asking for the last gift.
I knew I must not grant it, as much as I wanted to take a bow from one of my men and send a merciful shaft into the heart of that caged wretch. Such a boon would have been instantly punished, most likely by my replacing the one I"d granted mercy to.
I turned my eyes away, and we rode on.
Just ahead were the city"s gates, and waiting in front was a formation of some fifty horses, with a single figure at their head.
"I see we"re expected," Tenedos said. He eyed me to see if I was about to issue a string of panicky orders for my men to buff up their uniforms and blow the dust of the road off their trappings. I said nothing-I had full faith that my troop guide and lance-majors had done any necessary smartening-up before we set out that morning. Besides, I doubted the Men of the Hills held gleaming bra.s.s in as high esteem as razor-edged steel.
This honor guard was hardly the rigid line of soldiery a state visitor to Nicias would have been met with: The horses blew and chafed, eager to be on the gallop, and the formation was motley at best. Their riders were fantastically caprisoned,
wearing many-hued headgear that billowed down like a boat"s collapsed sails, ballooning sleeves on their gaily colored tunics under leather hauberks and breeches. From each cap draped a brightly colored feather that floated back almost to their horse"s haunches.
But the sheaths of their swords were plain leather, and well worn, as were the unadorned hilts of their blades. They carried long spears, and these were also simple in design, and as I neared I saw their heads gleamed not from polishing but from frequent sharpening.
These gentlemen might be a palace guard, but they bore no relation to the parade-ground bashers like the Golden Helms of Nicias that clattered attendance around our Rule of Ten. These were warriors, not popinjays.
For a moment I thought the man at the head of the formation was their commander, but then I realized differently.
He wore robes of shimmering green that changed hues as the sun"s rays struck them. In one hand, he held a staff, and colors ran up and down its shaft as if it were hollow gla.s.s, and fires played within. The man was tall, only a bit shorter than I, far leaner, and his coal-black hair had been waxed and was pulled back in a queue that ran halfway down his back. His beard was also waxed, and divided into two spears that reached to midchest. He could only be a sorcerer.
"I greet you," rumbled his voice, and I knew it to be magically augmented, "Seer Laish Tenedos and soldiers of Numan-tia. I am Irshad, chiefjask to the Most n.o.ble Leader, Achim Baber Fergana, and his Most Humble Chief Adviser in Worldly Matters, as well." He spread his arms in greeting, and from nowhere came a gentle mist that smelled of rosewater and musk.
I"d expected murmurs of surprise from my men-but was surprised and most pleased that there came nothing but silence.
"I thank you for your welcome,Jask Irshad," Tenedos replied. "Since you have seen our coming, and divined the craft we both share, perhaps I may return your compliment and gift. But I fear mine cannot be cast through the air, for fear of hurt.
"May I ask your brave soldiers to lower their spears until they point at my heart?"
"I can and shall," the magician said, and motioned. Instantly fifty lances came level with the ground, and I saw some of the men grin tightly. "You have great faith in their willpower, since some of them have declared death-feud with all Numantia."
"I need no faith," Tenedos said carelessly, "for I come as a guest, and is it not a mark of honor that a man who comes to you as an invited visitor has naught to fear? Or have I heard wrongly about the Men of these Hills?"
Without waiting for a reply, he nudged his horse forward, touched each of the outthrust spears, one at a time. I saw he had something small in his hand, but he kept it palm down, half-curled, so I could not make out what he held. His lips moved slightly as he touched the spears in a spell.
He"d laid his hands on only three or four of the lances when shouts of surprise came. The spearheads had gleamed of steely death-now they shone of golden wealth.
Discipline-what there was of it-of the honor guard broke, and they pressed their mounts forward, to make sure each of them received the touch of gold.
Irshad"s face clouded, then he forced calm. "You give great gifts, and you are obviously a seer who has few equals in this land," he said. "My men thank you. I can only hope you have equal munificence for a man as great as the Star of the Mountains, my master."
Tenedos waited until the last lancer was gifted and he"d ridden back to my side before he responded.
Gold glittered as his hand slid inside his robes, then came out empty.
"I have indeed brought great things to Achim Fergana," he said. "But they are not of gold or silver, for I know a man of his wisdom and taste puts a bauble at its exact worth, no more, no less.
"A man of such n.o.bility might well consider himself slight- Ked by gold, even if I were to change the very gates of this city to that metal, knowing his price to be far beyond any material thing."
Now Irshad smiled. "Numantia may have chosen well, Seer Tenedos, in sending a man whose own tongue is more precious than bullion. No doubt Achim Fergana will be equally impressed, although he"s been known to have men of lesser speech"s tongues removed when disappointed."
"I am sure our time together will be mutually valuable," Tenedos said, an equally insincere smile on his face.
And so we entered the city of Sayana.
The cobbled streets were narrow, filled with carts and men on foot or horseback. I saw few women, for these men consider their women capable of the most astounding immoralities if not watched closely, and so keep their wives and daughters mewed up. The few I did see smiled boldly, and one or two allowed their robes to slip open for a moment, to show a daring bit of ankle or even calf, and I knew their trade for what it was.
The street opened periodically into a square, and each one was filled with merchants hawking clothes, melons, fruit, vegetables, bra.s.s jewelry, questionable-looking meat with flies buzzing about it, and such.
But a significant number-I thought every other one-seemed to be selling some sort of charm, spell, or magical potion.
Tenedos leaned over and said, "I see from the vendors I may have erred when I said it was a strange thing for the Rule of Ten to have posted a sorcerer as resident-general. Perhaps I am the man best suited for the task. Either myself... or a village witch."
A smile quirked his lips, and I returned it. I was beginning to like this small man, and his occasional self-deprecating humor, rare in someone with such a rarefied position.
The stone houses on either side of the street showed nothing to the world but a single, heavily barred door and, on the larger ones, a larger gate as well, equally well secured. Tene-
dos commented that he could tell the achim"s tax-gatherers were most efficient: Men made no display of their wealth only when the land was rife with taxmen or thieves. "Most would say," he went on, "the occupations are one and the same."
JaskIrshad led us to the center of the city, where the streets were broader and the houses larger, mansions filling nearly a block. Outside one walled compound he halted, and announced this was the Residency of Numantia.
"Your servants await you, and the house has been provisioned as its previous occupant, also a Numantian, wished. If anything is lacking, your staff will be eager to a.s.sist.
"You have the rest of this day and the morrow to rest, and then my master, the Hand of Peace mat Stretches Everywhere, would be pleasured by your company."
Bowing servants swung open gates-spear-tipped at the top, the spears looking like they"d been recently filed sharp- and chorused welcome.
Thus began our stay in Sayana.
We had little time for relaxation, however.
The mansion was huge, and there were many tasks that had to be accomplished instantly.