Tenedos stood with his arms stretched out, his fingers closing into fists, as if he were squeezing something invisible. Tenedos"s voice came again: "Your blood Courses through my hands. I hold your heart You are mine You are mine. Take your death. Take the gift. Take your death."
JaskIrshad screeched in agony, clutched at his chest, then fell. He writhed briefly, then lay still.
The Tovieti screamed with him, both their leaders down in death, screamed in panic and desperate need, and louder than the fear came their chant: "Thak! Thak! Thak!"
From somewhere their overlord heard them.
Thak appeared, atop the drumlike altar.
I do not know what strange world Thak came from, nor, really, what he was. Perhaps he came from deep inside our own world, in awful caverns where metal flowed like water and all life was like him. I suppose he was some sort of demon, but one whose form was not flesh nor blood. He was about sixty feet tall, roughly manlike in shape, but crudely formed, his limbs of equal proportion, his cylindrical head sitting squarely atop his torso. Faceted like a jewel, his body sent out blinding shards of light.
The screams from the Tovieti became louder, and I knew they feared their G.o.d or demon as much as they worshiped him.
Thak saw us, although there were no eyes or other features to his head, and stepped down from the altar toward us. His joints screeched like ungreased metal as he came, and his thick, stubby fingers reached for us.
As he came, a high-shrill ringing began, a ringing that drove against my eardrums like invisible nails.
Tenedos was digging in his pouch, and he brought out a large, clear gem, cut like a cylinder with the facets coming to sharp points at either end.
I couldn"t hear his spell over the whine, but he cast the gem out, and it landed on one end about twenty feet away. Thak was no more than thirty feet beyond. The gem began spinning, as if Tenedos had whipped a top into motion.
*As it spun, it, too, sent flashes of light striking into all corners of the cave, and a low hum started, a hum that quickly rivaled the whine in volume.
"Come on," Tenedos shouted. "I don"t know how long that will hold him."
Two men started to run, and both Bikaner"s and Vien"s bellows caught and held them, and their discipline came back.
At the trot, we went out of the cavern, withdrawing in good order, not retreating. Later I"d have time to marvel at how a handful of men had been able to strike and paralyze many times their number, with no more than boldness, surprise, and some sorcery to aid them-a device I was able to use time and again in the service of Emperor Tenedos.
One or two of the Tovieti, dazed by all that had happened in the last few minutes, tried to stop us, but were easy to knock aside or slay-they offered no real resistance.
I chanced one final look at the chamber"s exit, and saw Thak gather himself and stumble forward, like a man driving into a hard wind, step by step toward Tenedos"s gem.
I realized I was the last Numantian in the chamber and hurried on to catch up to my men.
It was a gray, dismal morning, and I delighted in it. We lost three in that cave, counting Legate Baner.
Four others were wounded, but were being supported along by their fellows.
In battle order, we went down that trail, now having no reason for concealment, and there were none to oppose us.
Within an hour, we"d regained our horses, lashed the packs with the precious mannequins to our saddles, ridden out of the draw to the track.
Tenedos stared back, up at the mountain and the cavern entrance. The rain had died, and there was no wind. I could hear nothing from the cavern"s mouth, neither screech nor hum.
"Did you kill himr I asked.
"I don"t know. I was certainly lucky, providing a spell and talisman where like could strike like, although I had no idea what we would face when we entered the cavern," Tenedos said. "Perhaps I hurt him sore. Perhaps I sent him back to where he came from." Tenedos"s voice was most unsure. "Or perhaps not." He gathered himself.
"Come. We have what we came for."
We rode hard for Sayana.
ELEVEN.
The Achim"s BetrayalWe were heroes at Achim Fergana"s court. Not only had we saved the lives of the courtiers and the achim himself from some terrible rending, but we"d killed the traitorousJask Irshadand the rebel"s most evil brother, Chamisso Fergana.
As for the demon Thak, Achim Fergana was unconcerned. With no one to guide him, even if that powerful spell the ever-brave and never-sufficiently-praised resident-general and Most Powerful Seer Laish Tenedos cast hadn"t, Thak must now be impotent and would soon return to his own dark realms.
Similarly, the dreaded Tovieti, without any leaders, would fragment and disappear as if they"d never been.
Achim Fergana, sure mat his rule was secure and his family would hold the throne forever, promised us anything,anything we wished, especially since we had returned his dolls. I"d quietly drawn Tenedos aside and wondered if this was wise. He"d shrugged and said that firstly, he doubted if any of the Kaiti would be able to use them withoutJask Irshad"s magic, and second and more importantly, it did not matter to Numantia how the ruler of Kait held his throne, so long as the Men of the Hills killed within their own borders.
*As for Achim Fergana"s rewards, unfortunately there was little the kingdom of Kait had that we wanted. Gold would have been more than acceptable, for neither Tenedos nor myself nor any of us was wealthy. But this was against the rules of the kingdom, Achim Fergana explained, most regretfully.
Besides, the treasury was in a deplorable state, and all hard currencies were desperately needed for the benefit of the people. But anything else...
Tenedos attempted, once, to tell Achim Fergana that mere ratification of the pact he"d been sent into the Border States to present would be the greatest reward of all, for Kait, Numan-tia, and Urey. Achim Fergana smiled blandly and said he had the matter well under advis.e.m.e.nt. Even someone as artless as I knew what that portended.
No one, not Tenedos, not me, not any officer or ranker, could come up with an idea for an individual reward. Each of us could have had an estate in the country, and been murdered the instant we rode out of Sayana"s gates to visit it.
t.i.tles were meaningless.
Food-the Kaiti diet wasn"t exactly prized by my men.
The Achim Fergana offered women or young boys, as many as each man wanted. Some of my men were licking their chops most lasciviously, planning orgies of a prehistoric nature. Here I had to step in firmly: If a woman wished to enter the compound by day,of her own free will, and she would be asked by me, and the man involved was off duty, what they chose to do was their business. However, the security of the compound was too important to allow strangers to pa.s.s the night. Army laws fortunately forbade enlisted men keeping slaves, so that kept another door closed.
I knew that few Kaiti women would wish to involve themselves with the hatedPh"reng beyond wh.o.r.es or our staff spies, who of course were under orders to be accommodating, especially if they would be forced out into the streets of Sayana at nightfall.
We were left, then, with the undying grat.i.tude of Achim Baber Fergana, a gift that would live, as Resident-General Tenedos cynically but correctly said, for at least a full week beyond its presentation.
There were some rewards-all the men who rode with me were mentioned in my dispatch back to Domina Herstal and the Lancers, and Captain Mellet did the same for his men. Some we could promote: Legate Baner would be posthumously raised to captain of the Lower Half, which might provide some consolation to his family. As I"d vowed, with Laish Tenedos"s full approval, Sergeant Yonge was commissioned legate, as were other hillmen.
As for my own men, I could hardly promote Bikaner to regimental guide, since there was but one such rank in the entire regiment of Lancers and that held by Evatt, back in Mehul. Lance Karjan refused my offer of promotion, saying, "Havin" rank-slashes means givin" up y"r friends an" soul both, an" hardly"s worth the few coins extra." Curti was too ashamed of his having missed his first shot in the cavern to countenance reward. At least Svalbard allowed himself to be raised to lance, and grunted, I think in thanks.
Resident Tenedos insisted on writing a dispatch to Domina Herstal that was so commendatory I nearly blushed. I wondered if it would change what Captain Lanett thought, but doubted it. People of his nature never change their minds once someone"s played into that fatal flaw of theirs.
There was other praising to be done, and this Tenedos handled most skillfully, although it left a sour taste in my mouth.
He waited less than a day after our return to begin rolling out a ream of letters and dispatches. The first was the necessary report to the Rule of Ten.
He let me read it before sealing the packet. I was polite, and voiced none of my criticisms. It was accurate, but it sounded as if we"d taken a gigantic step to bringing peace to the Border States and bringing Kait firmly under Numantian influence. I noted, however, that the dispatch left several options open, constantly sayingif certain obvious measures were continued by Achim Fergana and the present government,a.s.suming Achim Fergana provided proper justice now that inroads had been made against the Tovieti and the constant feuding within the country, these thoughts being mere conjectures dependent on the current situation continuing undisturbed for at least half a year, and so forth.
But Tenedos"s use of such slippery words was not the worst. Before he sent the official dispatches off in the hands of a twenty-man patrol to make sure they reached Urey safely, Tenedos produced a second round of correspondence. Some of these missives were private, intended for Tenedos"s friends and mentors, including those two men in the Rule of Ten he counted as his allies. Those, of course, he did not allow me to read.
Other writings were intended for various of Nicias"s broadsheets. I read part of one, which was filled with references to the "heroism" of the "stalwart young officer of the famed Ure-yan Lancers Legatek Cimabue," the "dauntless bravery" of the Numantian soldiery against "overwhelming charges" by the evil tribesmen, and so on. Legate Baner was cut down after killing at least a dozen of the rebels, and died in Tenedos"s arms, with his last words being "Promise me, Seer, that the deaths we die this day shall not be in vain, and one day Numantia will recover its past glory and more."
I felt a trifle ill.
Tenedos saw my expression and guessed my thoughts. He smiled, a bit grimly. "You are thinking, What s.h.i.t-am I not correct, Damastes?"
I grunted noncommittally.
"But what is a lie? Wouldn"t Baner, for instance, have killed that many Tovieti if he"d lived?"
"Perhaps. But you make no mention of the Tovieti, either."
"That, young fellow my lad, is because I know the Rule of Ten would have my hide nailed to the city wall if I mentioned such closely held information. Let me continue. As for Baner"s last words, well, I admit to putting some words in his mouth. But can you guarantee he didn"t believe that?"
"I never heard him say anything about politics."
"Then who can tell? Besides, there is a greater truth here,"
*Tenedos went on. "You remember when I spoke to your man, back at the ford? I promised them great times, great deeds, and great prizes.
"Very well. The men who fell, and were returned to the Wheel, can yet serve. Baner is one and gives an example to other young Numantians.
"Should I have told the truth about Legate Baner"s death? That he was killed foolishly attacking a man who had twice his skills at fighting? That he dove in front of his superior, no doubt hoping to win the great glory of killing Chamisso Fergana himself? Shall I say mat his death did nothing to bring peace to this benighted country, since it will continue to be as it is, as it always has been, unless every G.o.ds-d.a.m.ned Kaiti is slain and the land repopulated with sane folk? Shall I say that these Border States matter little to Numantia, that most Numantians cannot find mem on a map and care nothing of what happens on their frontiers?
"Do you think that would please the legate"s family, if family he had? Do you think that would serve Numantia?"
Tenedos, warming to his subject, was becoming slightly angry. I did not answer his question, but professed ignorance about such abstruse matters.
Instantly Tenedos became charming again.
"Damastes, my friend. You concentrate on what you are very good at, soldiering and doing what you can with very little to work with. I promise, one day, you too shall be rewarded and given a chance to do truly great things that shall make your name ring down the annals of time.
"Let me worry about the politics and the chicanery. But think of one thing: After these accounts I"m writing reach the broadsheets, what chance do you think the Rule of Ten will have of casting me back into oblivion?
"All I"ll have to do... allwe"ll have to do, is survive this a.s.signment and our names shall be forever known in Numantia. And what can be the matter with that?"
I was still uncomfortable, made my excuses, and left. Over the next few days the matter gnawed-I"d seen officers who made sure their every favorable action was noted by their superiors, and my father had told me, scathingly, of others. I had nothing but contempt for them.
But on the other hand Laish Tenedos wasnot a soldier, and fought in an entirely different arena, one I knew little of and wanted to know less. Was I right in disparaging him? Especially since what he"d accomplished in the cavernhad kept the peace in Kait,had kept Achim Fergana, Numantia"s ally, no matter how untrustworthy, on the throne,had kept the Kaiti from exploding north into Urey and Numantia with thirsty swords, at least for the moment.
Finally, he was my superior, and I had little right to question his decisions or policies.
Fortunately, there were other, far more important concerns, and I set the matter aside.
One matter appeared minor, but curious: The Kallian, Landgrave Elias Malebranche, had vanished, disappearing from the palace he"d been a.s.signed on the morning of the day we returned, just about the time we"d escaped Thak in the cavern. The coincidence seemed quite remarkable to me, and seemed not at all a coincidence to Resident-General Tenedos, but all questions about him at court were shrugged away.
Our biggest worry was the Tovieti. They did not disappear, as Achim Fergana had blithely promised.
Instead, the movement grew and grew. No longer was their name forbidden; instead, it could be heard almost everywhere. They may have been leaderless, but their ideas had not changed: destroy the rulers, destroy the landed. Take what you want. Until the old order is destroyed, there will never be peace, never be riches for any but the overlords. And, of course,M"rt te Ph"reng!
I saw this painted on many walls, and no Kaiti ever seemed to paint over the slogan. There was also a new wall-painting- a rough circle, sometimes painted in red, intended to represent the blood of the slain Chamisso Fergana, the martyredJask Irshad, and the others we"d killed in the cavern, and, rising from it, a nest of hissing serpents, fangs bared. It could be painted most elaborately, or merely scrawled as a circle with arcing lines coming up from it, depending on how much time and ability the artist had.
There was a Tovieti motto: "From one body, many fighters. From many fighters, one will. Death to the outlanders! War against their kingdoms!"
Now mobs always surrounded the Residency, in spite of it being the height of the Time of Rains. At any hour, there"d be outbursts of chanting, singing, always promising death to the evil foreigners, the Chishti who were determined to destroy the fair kingdom of Kait.
When we rode out, we had to wear canvas cloaks, to keep the offal from staining our uniforms. Our Kaiti staff were shouted at and pushed around, and we were forced to escort those who did not live at the compound to and from their homes. Finally, we had to dismiss them entirely.
I called our Kaiti troops together, and offered them the chance to leave our employ. I was pleased, and a bit surprised, that only half, about fifty, took my offer. The ones that remained, including Legate Yonge, were among the best.
Then the first Numantian was killed. His name was Jeuan Ingres, and he was five years old.
His father was a traveling Numantian silversmith, his mother Kaiti. He"d been playing kickball with his four brothers and a wild shot had sent the ball over a wall, into a neighbor"s tomato garden. He"d gone after it. Suddenly three men had darted out of nowhere, a yellow silk cord yanked around his neck, and with a sharp pull the boy"s windpipe was crushed. Before his brothers could cry out, the three men vanished.
The Kaiti wardens said they were unable to find any clues, and none of their agents heard anything about the deed.
Resident-General Tenedos protested the atrocity to Achim Fergana.
The ruler put on a most distressed face, and went on about how horrible it was for such a deed to have occurred, and how shamed he was, although he certainly understood how some people, remembering the traditional evils Numantia had wreaked on hapless Kait, could be so blinded by their rage that they took a mere babe for an enemy.
"What evils are you referring to, Your Majesty?" Tenedos inquired icily.
"Those that are known to us all, and hardly worth going into at this time, although they are of great shame."
"Since I speak for the Rule of Ten, for Numantia, I must insist on specifics. I understand our countries to be at peace."
"We are," Achim Fergana said. "Of course we are. But that does not alter the truth of what I said."
Tenedos stared at him coldly, then bowed, and we withdrew. Our time as heroes was clearly past.
Now we were back to normal-Ph "rengsc.u.m.
When we reached the compound, he hurriedly wrote up a summary of recent events, and ordered me to send it at all possible speed north to Urey.
"I"d suggest you send more than one rider, Damastes. Send someone clever. I doubt they"d risk killing an official representative of Numantia, but still..." Tenedos looked worried.
I said I would-and requested he prepare a second letter, this one to the army leaders in Urey, asking for reinforcements for the Residency.
"You feel things have gotten that much worse?"
"I would feel a lot more comfortable, Resident, if we had at least two more companies of infantry and a column of heavy cavalry. The lines between us and Urey are very long and thin."
"I"ll do that, and I"ll use my most cunning phrases. I"ll have it ready by the time you detail the men."
I chose Lance-Major Wace, and four of my better lances. I ordered them to move quickly but carefully, and to trust no one between here and Urey, especially not in Sulem Pa.s.s. I would have sent a larger party, but with the situation aboil I couldn"t spare the men.