Ascendant

by Florian Armas

“Two words from Reymont and he will forget everything. If it’s of any interest to you, I was able to postpone the departure of the second troop for Poenari. We are waiting for Bucur or the Circle to inform us why they took the decision to attack Poenari instead of Deva, as we had agreed. I have to say that your stunt about Albert’s perceived weakness helped me, but it did not help you.”

  “It will buy Albert some more time, but he is too stupid to realize that Reymont will sell Peyris to Bucur, in fact to the Circle.”

  “You told me that before, but how can I believe it without proof?”

  “Then don’t believe it.” Cleyre turned away from him, and leaned her head against the window. “Why do you think they murdered Grandfather and sent those mercenaries to kill me?”

  “It’s not me who will ask for proof. I have to leave now.”

  “Help me leave Peyris.”

  “Your place is here. Jerome is not the ideal husband, but you will manage,” Nicolas said, softly and deliberately.

  “I will manage it until Reymont...”

  “He will not dare to kill you. The Assassins can be very persuasive, even if they don’t speak directly.”

  “Nicolas, I need to leave.”

  Cleyre was ready. She was dressed in Dressed for riding Cleyre was ready to leave her suite. She opened the door and found Albert smiling at her.

  “Going somewhere, niece?” he asked.

  “Into the garden.” As she spoke, she felt the presence of a Wanderer. This is how they learned about my escape.

  “Would you mind if I join you?”

  “Why should I mind? It’s your garden, after all.”

  “Someone wants to talk with you,” he said and a woman came into sight. “Talk with her, and then we have to talk.” Albert moved out of the doorway, and let the woman take his place. He closed the door, leaving her alone with Cleyre.

  “Do you have the Light?” the Wanderer asked without any introduction.

  “You would feel it,” Cleyre said.

  “Maybe you are a special type of Wanderer, and I can’t feel your Light.”

  “I am not a Wanderer. I am just a young woman trying to escape a forced marriage to an old man. You just gave me back to him. I pity myself for that, but I pity you even more for going so low. Your order is as bad as the Circle.”

  “I can help you.”

  If they find that I can hide my Light from them, they would keep me prisoner, or kill me. “No, you don’t. You would have had contacted me, instead of selling me to the old man. And you are a woman too. Leave me.”

  Chapter 29 – Codrin

  The first half of Spring had come and gone, but Spring had not yet fully arrived in Poenari or in the surrounding mountains. A memory of his previous winter in Long Valley came to Codrin. There was much more snow there, he thought, then returned to the papers in front of him. During the winter, Mara had given birth to his son, and Codrin felt more responsible now. Until the day when he held the little body in his arms, he had not thought much about responsibilities. If he died in a fight, then he died. There were consequences for Saliné, Jara and Vio, of course, but they did not feel the same. And there was another consequence; the pile of papers in front of him. Calin and Siena had taken over the Secretariat and Varia was now leading the Visterie, but they did not know his ways as well as Mara.

  How is Cleyre? Codrin recalled his last journey through the northern Duchy. I did not receive any letter from her. They had agreed that she will inform Codrin about the last moves of the Circle in Peyris. I hope she is well.

  Absently, he took a piece of paper and, searching for numbers in the many letters in front of him, started to write:

  The Mountes will bring two hundred soldiers.

  Boldur was strong enough to convince them, he thought. In his last letter, Boldur wrote that the Circle had sent Verenius to stop the Mountes soldiers going to Poenari.

  Valer will bring a hundred mercenaries.

  They are the best ones in Frankis. I hope that Valer is able to hide his actions from the Duke of Tolosa.

  Laurent and Marat will bring fifty soldiers. Other knights should being a hundred more.

  Laurent took faster than I thought over the eastern part of Severin. He was even able to collect more than half of the taxes, and provided a lot of food for the siege.

  Orhei and Saunier will bring fifty soldiers.

  I have a hundred and fifty soldiers in Poenari, and ten in Cleuny.

  “Six hundred and fifty soldiers,” Codrin said, and underlined the number on the paper. “It should be enough.” He burst into laughter. “I am trying to fool myself. Bucur will have more than three thousand soldiers.”

  ***

  Celeste was silent, but under her studied calm, Pierre guessed at her turmoil. “Wife,” he said gently, “it’s not the first time I have led an army to war.” He took her hand and kissed it, then looked at her. That sweet, simple gesture brought tears to her eyes.

  I am afraid, Celeste thought, I am afraid in a way that did not happen before. Is this a bad sign? “I wish you to come back whole and well.” Her voice had the same studied calm as her face. Unconsciously, her hand gripped Pierre’s. Her eyes widened. She wanted to protest, to beg that he simply let someone else lead the army, but she would not. Pierre was a commander; the best in Tolosa, the best in Frankis, and fighting had been his vocation since he was a twelve-year-old squire. She hated the thought of him fighting for some dishonest scheme of the Circle, and wished he were a simple man so she wouldn’t have to worry about him but, deep inside, she loved his strength and his power. He was the Spatar of Tolosa, and she loved him as much as she loved their children. As afraid as she was for him, she would never ask Pierre to be less than he was.

  “I promise you that this is my last fight. I am getting old, and I have enough wars on my plate. Some youth hungry for fame should take over from me.” Pierre was fifty-two years old, and for almost twenty years, he had ruled Tolosa beside the old and the new Duke. Things had changed with Baldovin’s sickness and the ascent of Maud as Master Sage of the Circle. Helped by Masson, the Secretary of Tolosa and Sage of the Circle, his wife, Laure had taken the reins of the dukedom in her hands, and Pierre had once again to march to war. Laure was both the Duchess of Tolosa and Maud’s daughter.

  “Your children want to see you before you leave.” Celeste felt her eyes sting with tears and leaned her head on his shoulder.

  “I shall see them. But only after...” Pierre took her in his arms and kissed her with the vigor and desire of a young man. He did not let her go, even when their lips parted, holding her tightly in his arms. His reached into a pocket and picked out a small box. “In a week, it is our anniversary. Twenty-five years of marriage. I feel like it was yesterday. For our past and future happiness, wife.” He opened the box, revealing a gold brooch.

  “You have carved our years in gold.” The brooch was sophisticated in its simplicity, something only the jewelers in Tomis could make: two figures, representing the time they had spent together, used as support for two black gems.

  “The best years of my life, wife, and the most beautiful black eyes in the world.”

  Silently, she attached the brooch to her chemise and, unwillingly, tears escaped from her eyes. She hid her head on his shoulder again, and he pretended to be unaware of her emotion.

  Early in the morning, the massive outer courtyard of the barracks was full of soldiers, and many torches lit the area brightly. Fully armed, Pierre sat astride his large destrier, solemnly watching what was going on. His orders were brief and sharp and, when needed, he moved like an efficient war machine, competent in what he was doing as he arranged fifteen hundred soldiers in order. From the window, Celeste watched everything in anguished silence, wringing her hands.

  “Mother,” Helene said gently, and took Celeste’s hands in hers. “Father is a strong man, and he has the best army in Frankis.”

  “That young man in Poenari...” Celeste shook her head.


  “As you said, he is young.”

  “Still he has achieved so much. Some people say that his father was a Duke, others say that he was the King of Arenia.”

  “Why would that matter?”

  “There is an aura around him. That kind of charisma that brings out the best in any soldier.”

  The end of spring sun was now half in sight over the large plain, and the army was properly in order and ready to leave Tolosa as the knights, their duties complete, began to mount their horses. “March!” Pierre ordered, his voice sharp and loud in the morning silence. The army moved like a giant snake, company after company leaving the city through the large northern gate, the Red Gate. The four gates of Tolosa were each constructed from a different color stone. They descended toward the valley of Garon River under the summer sunrise, looking like an army of ants in the distance. Like a dark blue tide of men and horses, they flowed away in a steady rhythm, watched by the guards atop the massive wall of the city.

  ***

  The letter was brief, containing only one sentence, the order for him to come to Tolosa. What could have happened to make the Duke summon me so urgently? Valer wondered. “I need five men with me,” he said to his second-in-command. “I must go to Tolosa. I may stay there overnight.” It was just a three hour ride from the fortified house in the mountains that played the role of quarters for Valer’s mercenaries.

  At the gate of the palace, Valer was taken in charge by the guards and his men were preventing from joining him inside. I don’t like this; he thought and briefly touched the hilt of his sword. This was the first time that his guards had not been allowed inside the precincts. The Duke’s guards led him to the antechamber of the council room. One of them mutely pointed to one of the chairs aligned against the wall on the left. Valer was not alone waiting for an audience; there were six more people, and he felt a kind of amusement in their stares: he would have to wait longer than them. Now I am sure that I have to sleep in Tolosa.

  After half an hour, one man and a woman left for the council room, while two more men joined them in the antechamber. The reaction of the people around Valer toward the newcomers revealed the same amusement they had treated him to. Eyes almost closed, Valer ignored them, and he also had to ignore – or at least to pretend that he ignored – the fact that all the people in the antechamber were invited inside before him, even the newcomers. The Duke wants me to stew.

  When Valer was finally allowed to enter, he found Baldovin, the Duke, and his wife, Laure. That was expected; Laure was more Duke than Baldovin. What he had not expected was Maud’s presence, and her cold eyes staring at him. He bowed and waited patiently. It took a while for the Duke to gesture loosely toward an empty chair.

  “How busy are your mercenaries?” Baldovin asked.

  “All of them are hired for periods from a few months to half a year. More than half are already gone to their assignments.” That was untrue; in three days, his main force of a hundred would be ready to leave and join Codrin in Poenari.

  “How many will join Codrin? It seems that you are his preferred Black Dervil,” Maud said.

  “Fifty.”

  “Why only fifty?”

  “I can’t answer that question.” He looked at Maud, then he chose to move his eyes to a painting hanging on the opposite wall. “I deliver as many soldiers as a contract stipulates.”

  “You are fighting against me,” Baldovin snapped.

  “I would never do such a thing, my lord. My mercenaries never fight in Tolosa. That’s one of our strictest rules. Maybe someone has deceived you. If there are indeed mercenaries ready to fight here, they don’t belong to me; they are from another Dervil.”

  “You pretend you do not know about the Duke’s army going north, to Deva,” Maud said, her voice even.

  “How should I know?” Valer replied. “I am not part of the Duke’s entourage.”

  “People say that you are well informed. You can’t be a Dervil without being well informed. Can you?” Maud stared at him, her blue eyes a contrast to Baldovin’s black stare.

  “Information often flows in strange ways, Lady Maud. This year, I have no interests in Deva. None of my mercenaries will fight there. Maybe that’s why I did not learn about the ducal army going to Deva.”

  “How many men do you still have at home?”

  “Fifty.”

  “Keep them there. You may leave now.” Baldovin’s voice was cold, and he gestured dismissively toward the door.

  ***

  The rain was pouring when Bucur left Severin. The small river, meandering only ten miles from the city, became suddenly swollen and split his army in two. Some considered this a bad omen; some did not care much about such things. Bucur did not care either; he was more worried that only five hundred soldiers, from the promised fifteen hundred, were coming from Peyris. And all their other allies had sent fewer soldiers than they had agreed. That little series of shortfalls meant another five hundred soldiers fewer for his army. When they were all gathered together, his army would have only two thousand seven hundred soldiers, and most of them would come from Tolosa. He had expected four thousand and, even worse, he had not been able to learn much about Poenari. Few people knew about it, and most of the things they told him were not helpful. Ghost city, he thought. What I can do with such superstitious people? None of our scouts has returned from Poenari. Now half the idiots in our army think we are fighting ghosts.

  From her window, Saliné was watching the army which became smaller and smaller toward the horizon. Fate, please help Codrin, she pleaded. Both Aron and Bucur took care to let her know how many soldiers will come to take Poenari, and none of them tried to hide their satisfaction and how will they hang Codrin after capturing his fortress. She listened to their morbid bragging with a forced calm, and that make them repeat the same thing for several times. Only late in the evening, alone in her room, she could let her worries take over and, standing on the floor, her back leaning against the wall, she cried, sometimes long after midnight had passed. When the last soldier vanished from sight, she pressed her forefront against the cold window, trying to calm her turmoil, and tears ran down her face.

  When his army arrived in the forest, Bucur signaled the riders behind him to stop under the trees. There was at least some shelter under the dense foliage, and they had to wait for the other half of the army that was hindered by the swollen river. For a moment, he considered riding ahead, and arriving earlier in Poenari. I may fall into a trap; he shook his head. The best of my soldiers will come from Tolosa, and we will meet close to Poenari. He had only seven hundred soldiers with him, five hundred of them from Orban, a man he could not fully trust. The troop from Peyris would join him close to Faget, the traditional castle of his family, now in Codrin’s hands. He ached to take the castle back, but the Circle had forbidden him. Poenari first, and then he could what he wanted. Two Itinerant Sages, Verenius, the Primus, and Octavian, accompanied him. Which was to say, they were there to keep an eye on him. The Circle had gambled a lot on this war which, officially, was started to bring Deva under Bucur’s authority. They wanted to crush Codrin.

  How I will enjoy seeing him hanged, Bucur thought with morbid satisfaction. I will force that bitch to watch him die. How pleasant will be to have Saliné in my bed while she still mourns him.

  Despite Maud’s formal interdiction, a part of the Circle led by Octavian had decided to avenge Belugas, and kill Codrin the same way. Octavian was Maud’s closest confidant, and she knew about his plot, and each time he tried to convince her, she protested, though she did nothing to stop it. It was just a show, as she was afraid of Drusila’s visions. She would welcome Codrin’s death, crying that she didn’t know anything.

  The only one who was not planning to kill Codrin was Verenius. In spite of that great army, which Bucur was formally leading, the Primus Itinerant had come to understand that the reality was more complex, and the young man, who the most powerful forces in Frankis wanted dead, might not be so easy to kill, a
nd any assassination attempt would only complicate the Circle’s task. There was something else in Verenius’ mind too; of all the Circle’s people working for Bucur, he was the only one who actually knew Poenari, and knew its value as a fortress. That place was so isolated and forgotten, that most maps were not even mentioning it. Maud did not ask him, and Verenius did not tell her. Codrin will make a better King, but we have to wait ten more years until Bucur expires.

  Chapter 30 – Codrin

  The Mountes should have arrived five days ago in Poenari, but none of the scouts could locate them. Worried, Codrin searched over the local map on the wall of the council room, and compared it with the one he had brought from Cleuny. This was indeed a council room, ten times larger than his previous one, with a vast, heavy table able to seat thirty people. Codrin’s council of seven people was very small compared to the immensity of the table, and they gathered at one end of it, so they didn’t feel too lost.

  “The army from Tolosa is coming by this road.” Codrin tapped the map and looked at Vlad at the same time; he was the leader of the scouts.

  “We can confirm now that it is led by Pierre, the Spatar of Tolosa. The army is three to four days away from Poenari, and they are marching slowly. From the correspondence we’ve intercepted they want to meet Bucur before they get here.”

  “Yes,” Codrin agreed, “they want to meet with Bucur’s northern army at the Burned Forest crossroads, ten miles from here, sometime in those three days you mentioned. Thanks to Cleyre, Bucur was delayed by the late arrival of the Peyris army. Pierre is not aware of this, as we’ve intercepted Bucur’s couriers. Bucur will actually reach the crossroads in six days, but if Pierre takes control of it before the Mountes get here, their way will be blocked. Well, not completely blocked, but the Mountes won’t be able to use the road anymore. Place a scout team ten miles from the crossroads, on the road to Orhei. They should help the Mountes reach Poenari through the mountains.”