‘Come,’ said the captain.
Ser Jehannes had Ser Thomas and Ser Antigone, and Toby poured them all wine. In the distance, Oak Pew slammed a fist into Wilful Murder’s head. The archer sat suddenly. The captain shook his head.
‘It’s good to be home,’ he said.
Jehannes held out a leather wallet. ‘I know this is supposed to be a night to revel,’ he said. ‘But the messengers who brought these have been like bluebottles on horse manure, m’lord. Dispatches and letters,’ he said. He grimaced. ‘Most for our well-born recruit here.’ He motioned at Alcaeus. ‘Your uncle seems determined to hear from you.’
‘Your pardon,’ Alcaeus said, and broke the seal on a scroll tube of dark wood.
While he did so, Jehannes handed an ivory tube to the captain. He glanced at the seal and smiled.
‘The Queen, gentlemen.’
They all drank. Even Sauce.
He broke the seal while Alcaeus was still reading.
Alcaeus looked up. ‘M’lord,’ he said formally. ‘The situation has worsened. I must ask, in the Emperor’s name, that we ride with all dispatch.’
The captain was till reading his own. ‘Relax, gentles,’ he said. ‘We aren’t riding anywhere tonight.’
Alcaeus looked at white as a sheet. ‘The Emperor has been – taken. Hostage. A week and more ago.’
The captain looked up and fingered his beard. ‘All right. That does constitute a crisis. Tom?’
‘Ready to ride at first light it is.’ Tom grinned. ‘Never a dull moment.’
‘We live in interesting times,’ the captain said. ‘Everyone get sleep. We will be moving fast. May I assume this is part of the same – er – trouble for which your uncle is hiring us?’
Alcaeus shook his head. ‘I don’t know.’ He shuffled. ‘I don’t even know if he is alive, or still Emperor.’
The captain nodded. ‘Dawn, then,’ he said. ‘We’ll pick up information as we go.’
Jehannes looked at the other parchment. ‘And the Queen?’
The captain sighed. ‘An invitation to a Deed of Arms,’ he said. ‘In the spring.’ He smiled. He looked out into the darkness. He was smiling. ‘Someone has kidnapped the Emperor, and we are going to be called on to save him,’ he said quietly. ‘I think we’ll have to miss the tournament.’
He looked around the table. ‘Remember this night, friends. Breathe the air, and savour the wine. Because tonight, it’s all in the balance. I can feel it.’
‘What is?’ Sauce asked. She raised an eyebrow at Tom, as if to say Is he drunk?
‘Everything,’ the captain said. He laughed aloud. ‘Everything.’
Acknowledgements
This book is the culmination of thirty ears of study, chivalric martial arts, real life, and role-playing. To be fair to all my influences, I’d have to thank everyone I’ve ever known. There’s a Somali man who worked for me in Kenya in this book; a woman I met once in Marseille; a chivalric fighter I sparred with at a tournament a few years back – it’s like that.
But several groups of people deserve my special thanks.
First, the friends of my days in university. Joe and Regina Harley, Robert Sulentic, Robert Gallasch, Gail Morse, Celia Friedman, Steven Callahan, Jevon Garrett, and another dozen – who played in the original Alba campaign. I am an unashamed nerd. Without you people, there would be little life on these bones.
Second, the friends of my reenactment hobby – most especially those who attend our yearly historic trek, where we wander off into the Adirondacks with eighteenth century equipment – or fourteenth century equipment – to learn what it is like to live with the past. We pack it in on our backs and we go places that – in some instances – no person has been in fifty years. These experiences have helped me write this book and I owe you all a debt of thanks for putting up with me. And all the people with whom I spar, in and out of armour – here, and in Ottawa and in Finland and Greece.
Third, the craftsmen who recreate the items that make history and fantasy come alive. Leo Todeschini of www.todsstuff.co.uk deserves a visit online – his stuff is incredible. Magical, even. Ben Perkins at www.barebowarchery.co.uk makes long bows and war bows that look and behave like the originals, as far as we know. Mark Vickers at www.stgeorgearmouryshop.co.uk and Peter Fuller at www.medievalrepro.com reproduce armour that is as near exactly like originals as makes little difference. Comfortable, too. I wear it quite often. www.albion-swords.com make superb, non-nonsense swords. They are not ‘like’ the real thing. They are the real thing. Visit my website and you can see a dozen more craftsmen every bit as good.
Fourth, the teachers who taught me about history, about life and philosophy, about weapons, and about chivalry; Dick Kaeuper of the University of Rochester; Father William O’Malley, SJ, who may or may not forgive my theology; Guy Windsor, possibly the world’s finest swordsman (he runs a school!) and Ridgeley Davis who taught me to be a much better rider. And to use a spear on horseback.
Fifth, the many people who have helped me in the publishing world; my Agent, Shelley Power; my gallant publicist, Donna Nopper, and most of all on this book, Gillian Redfearn, who gets credit in every step from creation to actual editing.
And last, the other teachers – the hundreds, if not thousands, of writers who inspire me to write. Medieval fishing? Theology? Hermeticism? Memory palaces? Jousting? Singing Neanderthals? Neurology? Ancient Greek philosophy? I owe a debt to the authors of hundreds of books for filling in the gaps in experience, or just teaching me a dying or dead craft.
And, of course, there’s fantasy itself. I adore – nay, worship – J. R. R. Tolkien. For my taste, it is not just The Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit, but Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, from which I have borrowed shamelessly. And C. S. Lewis and their lesser known contemporary, E. R. Eddison. I will not claim Eddison is the best of the lot, but I will confess that my idea of what fantasy ought to do owes a great deal to Eddison, and to William Morris. Does anyone still read William Morris? Have a go. The Sundering Flood is one of my favorite books, not least because I share Morris’s love for the crafts and the material culture. More recently, I love Celia Friedman, Glen Cook, Katherine Kurtz and Steven Erikson. My hat is off to Erikson – I think he did the most magnificent job of plotting in our generation. And C. J. Cherryh and Lois McMaster Bujold. I don’t think either has ever written a book that I didn’t enjoy.
I could go on. But I have to work on book two – The Fell Sword. If you want to know more, visit my website at www.traitorson.com. And if you want to wear armour in the Wild . . .
Well, we’ll see if we can accommodate you.
Miles Cameron
August, 2012
A Gollancz eBook
Copyright © Miles Cameron 2012
All rights reserved.
The right of Miles Cameron to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published in Great Britain 2012 by
Gollancz
The Orion Publishing Group Ltd
Orion House
5 Upper Saint Martin’s Lane
London, WC2H 9EA
An Hachette UK Company
This eBook first published in 2012 by Gollancz.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978 0 575 11331 2
All characters and events in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor to be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
www.orionbooks.co.uk
Table of Contents
Title page
&
nbsp; Dedication
Contents
Map
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Acknowledgements
Copyright
Table of Contents
Title page
Dedication
Contents
Map
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Acknowledgements
Copyright
Table of Contents
Title page
Dedication
Contents
Map
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Acknowledgements
Copyright
The Red Knight Page 90
