“What? Why…?” he stammered.
“You! You are weak in body and spirit. But I can feel the hate in you. You hate the Easterners just as I did. You! You shall be the instrument of our people’s revenge! Now, strengthen yourself.” The ghost waved its hand and there was a sudden blast of wind through the chamber. One of the buzzards was swept inside with a squawk. It hung in the air for a moment, and then its head was twisted round and it dropped to the ground. More wind blew in twigs and dry brush. They swirled into a pile and the wind stopped and the wood burst into flames, making a small fire. The ghost gestured again and water bubbled up out of the ground.
“Eat. Drink.”
Atark crawled to the water and scooped it into his mouth. Nothing had ever tasted better. He drank and drank until he had enough. Then he went to the dead bird. He still had his little knife and he set about butchering it. He looked up at the ghost. In the light of the fire it was barely to be seen.
“Thank you,” he said to it. “How can I repay you?”
“By becoming great! I am doomed, but you can lead the Kaifeng to victory! Eat and strengthen yourself. Then I will teach you to be great. But learn well!” The ghost gestured again and two shimmering images appeared. Shelena! Ardan! His wife and son floated there. “By the souls of your dead, you shall learn well!” thundered the ghost. “If you value them, you will not fail!”
A shudder of fear went through him. Just what was he making a bargain with? But it did not matter. He knew what he had to do. “I shall learn well, Lord. I shall become great, as you command.” He stood up, the bloody knife still in his fist.
“And I shall bring vengeance to our enemies!”
Chapter One
“Trooper, you are an absolute disgrace!” snapped Lieutenant Mattin Krasner. The soldier he was addressing looked straight ahead with no emotion at all on his face. “Hell, I’ve seen bloody Varags that look better than you!” Ah, now he was getting through. The soldier’s face slowly reddened, and Matt could see the man was angry. No real soldier wanted to be compared to the scruffy irregulars they shared the fort with. Good. Four years of service at Fort Pollentia had taught him that a soldier who was angry at being dressed down by an officer was of far more value than one who simply did not give a damn. “Your tunic is filthy, your brass looks like you left it in the rain, and I don’t even want to know what the bore of your musketoon looks like! Sergeant!”
“Sir?” said Sergeant Chenik.
“Four extra hours stable duty for this one. And make damn sure he doesn’t present himself to me like this again!”
“Yes, sir.”
“You can dismiss the rest of them, Sergeant.”
“Yes, sir.” Matt walked away before the sergeant could begin his own evaluation of the troop. He was quite sure it would be far harsher than his had been. It was so hard to maintain any sort of discipline in an isolated post like this. It had taken Matt a while, but he had finally learned how to be an effective officer. Not too harsh, not too easy-going. Always fair. Well, almost always. Phell Gerowst had helped him quite a bit, but he took his lead from Captain Vargos. Unlike most of the other officers in the regiment, the captain had not purchased his commission. He had worked his way up through the ranks. A rarity. Of course, he was stuck as a captain forever now. He had neither the money nor the influence to ever rise farther. Majors and colonels had to have influence or money, or both. Matt was pretty much in the same situation, come to think of it. He’d never have the money to purchase a captaincy, so unless he really distinguished himself somehow, he was a lieutenant for life. There were worse things, of course—like being a private.
He went over to one of the stairs leading up onto the fort’s walls. It was nearly the end of the day and he liked to watch the light on the mountains. It was one of the place’s few charms. He went past a batch of gunners, lounging by their cannon. They did not get up or salute. The ‘real’ Berssian troops had still not entirely accepted these foreigners of the Tapestry Regiment. The name was very nearly official now. On the King’s roster of regiments, they were the 18th Dragoons, but no one ever called them that. The die-hards within the regiment still referred to themselves as the 6th, and to everyone else they were the Tapestry Regiment.
Matt climbed up on the parapet and found a spot along the wall where he could sit and dangle his legs over the edge. “The edge of the wall on the edge of the world,” he murmured to himself. The sun had gone behind the western mountains and the shadows stretched out toward him, but the peaks were silhouetted by the dazzling glow. Beyond those peaks, the mountains went on for another ten leagues and then abruptly dropped away into the endless Plains of Kaif. Legend had it that those plains went on into the west forever. There was a story he remembered from childhood about some legendary hero who, on a boast, set out to run across those plains. According to the tale, he was still running even to this day.
They weren’t true, of course, neither the legend nor the tale. In the last few decades, exploring ships had returned from the lands on the other side of the Plains of Kaif. They did have another side, there were even other countries there, but they were three thousand leagues away. Matt could scarcely imagine such a distance. The countries of the east—his land—from where he was sitting, to the shores of the sea, was not even a quarter that far. The west was a huge, nearly unknown land.
And the Kaifeng were out there. Tribes of nomads and wandering herdsmen filled those plains. They called themselves the Kaifeng, and they could be fierce warriors. Three hundred years earlier, their vast hordes had invaded the eastern lands. According to the histories and legends, the massed knights and wizards of the kingdoms had driven them back across these mountains, and a mighty battle had been fought somewhere west of here. The Kaifeng were smashed and they had little troubled the east since then. But the kings of Berssia took no chances, and strong forts made sure the nomads remained on their side of the mountains.
Strong forts, manned by bored men like Matt.
He could hardly believe he had been here for four years. Sometimes it seemed infinitely longer, and at other times, it seemed like he had only arrived the day before. The unending routine had a timelessness that sapped the mind and the heart. The nearest real town was a five-day ride to the east, and then it was another three weeks to the capital. Matt had only made one trip there in those four years. It seemed like a dream.
A bugle call roused him from his thoughts. It was the end of the day in the fort. Those unlucky enough to have sentry duty were reporting to their posts. The rest were heading for their barracks and messes. Those with passes were swaggering out the gates for the fleshpots and taverns of the town below. Matt got up from his perch and headed for his home.
The parade ground seemed very dark after staring at the sunset, but Matt crossed it with the ease of long familiarity. The apartment he shared with Kareen and their servant, the Kaifeng girl Kareen had rescued on their first day here, was on the ground floor of a two-story brick and plaster building set against the eastern wall of the fort. Light shown around the edges of the curtains in the windows and spilled out through the open door. He stepped inside and their serving girl was there almost immediately to take his hat and coat.
“Thank you, Thelena,” he said. The woman bobbed her head.
“Lieutenant Gerowst is here, sir,” she said in her heavily accented voice. Then she went to hang up his things.
Matt stepped through the vestibule into the parlor. As Thelena had said, Phell Gerowst was there and, naturally, so was Kareen.
“Evening, every…whoa, what have you got there?” Matt stopped short. His sister was wearing an amazingly elaborate white dress. The full skirt had multiple layers of lace, and there was a tight bodice and a top that displayed a shocking amount of Kareen’s bosom. Her long brown hair spilled down to her bare shoulders. She was absolutely beautiful. Her delicate, oval face lit up in a smile when she saw him. She spun around and made the skirt flare out.
“It’s my wedding
dress! Phell ordered it all the way from Berssenburg! Isn’t it beautiful?”
“It’s lovely,” he said sincerely. “A little…daring, isn’t it?”
“Nonsense! All the Berssian ladies dress like this on formal occasions.”
“Oh. Well it really is beautiful. But isn’t it supposed to be unlucky for the groom to see the bride in her wedding dress before the wedding?”
“That’s just a silly superstition,” said Kareen. “I had to try it on to make sure it fits, and it just would not have been fair not to let Phell see me in it.”
“All right. It’s on your heads. But you’re not going to try and eat dinner in that, are you? Wouldn’t do to have stains on it beforehand.”
“Of course not! Thelena! Come and help me get this off.”
The servant girl appeared immediately, and the two women went into Kareen’s bedroom. Matt found a chair and looked over at Gerowst. “I can’t believe you are going to marry my sister. Actually, I can’t believe she is going to marry you.”
“Your sister is a woman of impeccable taste, high intelligence, and…”
“…and the most beautiful woman within a hundred miles.”
“A thousand. But you are certainly correct. And I love her.”
“You had better. If you treat her like your other girls, I’ll break your neck—even if you do outrank me.”
“No worries, soon to be brother-in-law,” said Gerowst, laughing. “My wandering days are over. No man could ask for more than Kareen. And if her other talents are as good as how well she kisses…”
“Phell!” cried Kareen, coming back into the room wearing a more modest camp dress. “You’ll shock Matt.”
“I’m beyond shocking.” He said it lightly and the other laughed, but inside he wasn’t smiling. His father had charged him with taking care of Kareen, and he had taken the job very seriously. There was no doubt that Kareen was the most beautiful woman in the fort, and many a man had set their sights on her. Matt had his hands full protecting her. And this marriage with Gerowst did not entirely please him, either. Phell seemed to have changed, but one could never tell. Even Kareen seemed to have her doubts. She had postponed the wedding twice already….
“So are you still set for next month?” he asked.
“Yes!” said Kareen. “We’ll have all three chaplains to do the services, and even the colonel will be coming.”
“Really?” Matt was surprised. Colonel Fezdoorf spent almost all his time in Berssenburg and left running the regiment to Major Macador.
“Oh yes! Isn’t it exciting?”
“Actually, that brings up a bit of a problem, Matt,” said Phell. “Traditionally, you ought to be giving Kareen away, but the colonel said something in his letter about wanting to do that himself. Would you settle for being my best man?”
“Uh…”
Matt was saved from having to respond by Thelena coming in to announce that dinner was ready. They got up and went into the cozy dining area off the equally cozy kitchen. The meal was plain, as most of them were. The choice of foodstuffs was not exactly great in this isolated spot, but Thelena was a good cook and made the most of what they had. She sat at a small table off to one side and ate her own meal. She would spring up from time to time to serve them. At least the wine wasn’t too bad.
Kareen and Phell spent most of the meal holding hands and making ridiculous statements and little cooing noises to each other. Matt found himself staring at Thelena. The Kaifeng woman was a mystery to him. After she had recovered from her injuries, she had been almost uncontrollable. Matt had nearly despaired of ever being able to trust her or let her loose. She had run off again and again. Each time she was caught and returned. Matt had to reward the ones who caught her, but he knew full well that they had taken their own reward out of the girl’s body. Finally, after about a year, she had stopped running. By that time, Kareen had managed to teach her to speak and do her chores. Kareen had far more patience than Matt. He could only guess why she had stopped trying to get away. Maybe it was the small hope of actually making it out onto the steppes. Maybe it was the abuse she received when she was caught. Maybe she finally realized how lucky she was to have been bought by Kareen. Other Kaifeng women had been captured by the Varags. Aside from two who were virtual slaves in a brothel in town, the rest were dead.
Thelena would have been an attractive woman if she had not gotten a broken nose and lost several teeth in her escape attempts. Her cheekbones were more prominent than was common in eastern women, and her eyes had a tiny slant to them. It gave her an exotic look that Matt found appealing. She dressed in eastern clothing but kept her long blonde hair braided in Kaifeng fashion. Once she stopped trying to run, she became a good servant. She cleaned and cooked and washed and mended. From time to time, Matt gave her a few coins from his own meager salary. He suspected that she made more money by selling herself to the soldiers on occasion, but he had never actually caught her at it. Not that he would have tried to stop her; what else could she really do? He felt sorry for her. She was as much an exile in a strange land as he was—and she didn’t even have the comfort of a sister or a regiment.
He stirred uneasily in his chair when he remembered that after Kareen was married, Phell would be moving into this cozy apartment, and he would be moving out. He was not happy about that prospect, but there was nothing for it. Kareen would marry, and he supposed he would, too, someday. There weren’t any real prospects at the moment, but a few of the older officers had daughters who were growing up. Maybe in a few years….
“Matt, you are woolgathering,” said Kareen, jogging him out of his thoughts. “Have you decided about being Phell’s best man? I’d love for you to give me away, of course, but we don’t want to disappoint the colonel now, do we?”
It didn’t really matter to him, but for some reason the whole thing rankled. Still, no point in getting the colonel annoyed with him. A knock on the door saved him once again from having to decide just then. Thelena hurried to answer it and returned in a moment with Major Macador’s orderly.
“Lieutenant Krasner? The major would like to see you in his office right away.” Matt jumped up in surprise. He had assumed it would be a message for Phell. Thelena already had his coat and hat waiting for him. He put them on and hurried out. The parade ground was completely dark by now and the stars were blazing overhead. It only took a minute to reach Macador’s office. Matt stepped inside, removed his hat, and came to attention.
“Ah, yes, Krasner,” said Macador from behind his desk. “Sorry to interrupt your dinner, but I wanted to catch you before you were asleep.”
“Sir?”
“One of the Varag patrols is two days overdue. Normally, I wouldn’t make anything of it—the Varags rarely ever keep to any sort of schedule, you know. But one of our scouts who just came back reported seeing an unusually large number of buzzards in the direction of Hessley Well, which is in the area the Varags were supposed to be patrolling. It’s probably nothing, but I want you to take your troop there tomorrow and look it over.”
“Yes, sir,” said Matt, feeling excited. This would only be the third time he had been put in command of an expedition. “I’ll alert my men.”
“Good. I want you on the road by first light.”
“Yes, sir.”
* * * * *
“Now in order to give you a real example of what I’m talking about, I’ll need the curtains drawn,” said Jarren Carabello. He stood by the speaker’s podium and watched as several of the students carried out his request. He really hoped this would work. He’d tested it, of course, but things did tend to go wrong at times.
“Good. Now, Mister Kafallen, would you open the right-hand section just a tiny crack? No, that’s too much, try to get just a narrow beam of sunlight. Hmmm, would you mind standing there and holding it? Thank you.” A thin sliver of morning sunshine was now falling on a table next to the podium. He’d have to hurry before the sun moved too far.
“I’m sure you are all f
amiliar with Slarnaroff’s experiments in optics and the refraction of light. Well, I will now use this glass prism to break the sunlight Mr. Kafallen is providing into its component colors. You can see it over there on the wall.” Jarren adjusted the prism so that a broad rainbow of color appeared on a blank section of the lecture room’s plaster walls.
“Very good. Now I am going to take this object here and activate it.” Jarren had a magical candle, similar to the one he had shown old Hano years before. This one’s spell was still quite powerful, and when he set it to work, the light was very bright. “This is producing a light which is magical in origin. To get a beam, I’ll place it in this box which has only a narrow slit in it.” He did so and then placed a second prism in the beam of light that came through the slit. A second rainbow appeared on the wall; not as bright as the one from the sunlight, but still easily visible in the dark room. Jarren adjusted the box and both prisms until the rainbows were side by side.
“Now, gentlemen, look closely. Observe how the light from the sun has been broken into a smooth gradation of color ranging from red to violet. There are no gaps or sudden changes in color. Then look at the light from the magical source.” Jarren walked over to the chalkboard, grabbed a pointer, and then went over to the second rainbow. “Notice that there are some dark areas in the prismatic display. Here in the yellow and again here in the green region, there are dark areas. You can also see how the entire spectrum is shifted and compressed slightly toward the red end.” He pointed them out and then looked to his audience. Most of the students did not look terribly interested, but there were also a number of masters and aspirant masters among them who looked far more interested. He saw several of them whispering to each other.
“Just to prove that this is not some flaw in the second prism, let me switch the two.” He did so, and after some fumbling, managed to produce the same display. There were a few more whispers now.
Fires of Memory Page 4
