Children of Chaos tdb-1

by Dave Duncan

  Children of Chaos

  ( The Dodec Books - 1 )

  Dave Duncan

  CONTENTS

  Preface

  Prologue

  Part I: Spring

  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22

  Part II: Summer

  23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32

  Part III : Fall

  33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42

  "You must decide..."

  "What does Bloodlord Stralg hope to gain by slaying so many people? Does he not fear the wrath of the Bright Ones?"

  A translation, then the Vigaelian sneered and replied at length.

  Fiorella said, "Stralg says the only god he fears is Weru and warfare is His worship. We Florengians are timid and neglect the Terrible One, so we must be taught... to fear Weru until we wet our legs at the mere mention of His name. You and your wife may return to the city. He will keep your children as hostages for your continued obedience."

  Papa flushed scarlet. "No! This is my eldest son, lord Dantio. He is eleven years old. I brought the others only to show that they are too young."

  "He says all of them."

  "Benard is eight and Orlando only three, in the holy names! The Lawgiver wrote that only males over the age of ten may be taken as hostages."

  Stralg turned and waved a signal. Men started walking out of the woods behind him. They were unarmed, yet that was how they had slaughtered every man sent against them at Two Fords.

  "The bloodlord says that he gives the laws here."

  Orlando squirmed free of Dantio's grasp and made a break for freedom. Stralg held out his hands. Orlando went to him, trotting on stubby legs. The Werist lifted the toddler high overhead.

  "The bloodlord asks if you want to see the inside of your son's head, lord." Fiorella's voice turned shrill. "He means what he says! He will kill the child."

  "My sons, then!" Papa shouted. "Let him take the boys, but my daughter is a babe at suck. Holy Demern has written—"

  The big man roared, not even waiting to have Papa's words translated.

  "The bloodlord says he will take the cow, too, so the calf can feed. He says you must give them all up or watch them all die, and then he will put out your eyes."

  Papa fell on his knees. "I beg him to show mercy to a mother and her babe! Does holy law mean nothing to him? Has he no pity?"

  "He says no, he has no pity. He has never had pity. You must decide."

  NOTE: If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as "unsold and destroyed" to the publisher, and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this "stripped book."

  This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this novel are either fictitious or are used fictitiously.

  CHILDREN OF CHAOS

  Copyright © 2006 by Dave Duncan

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form.

  Edited by Liz Gorinsky

  A Tor Book

  Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC

  175 Fifth Avenue

  New York, NY 10010

  www.tor.com

  Tor® is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.

  ISBN-13: 978-0-765-35381-8

  ISBN-10: 0-765-35381-4

  First Edition: June 2006

  First Mass Market Edition: February 2007

  Printed in the United States of America

  0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  This book is dedicated to the memory of

  Robyn Meta Herrington

  1961-2004

  who loved it and helped make it.

  Preface

  THE GODS

  The true rulers of the world are the Bright Ones:

  Anziel, goddess of beauty

  Cienu, god of mirth and chance

  Demern, god of law and justice

  Eriander, god-goddess of sex and madness

  Hrada, goddess of crafts and skill

  Mayn, goddess of wisdom

  Nastrar, god of animals and nature

  Nula, goddess of pity

  Sinura, goddess of health Ucr, god of prosperity and abundance

  Veslih, goddess of the hearth and home

  Weru, god of storm and battle

  (There is also Xaran, goddess of death and evil, whose name is not spoken.)

  IMPORTANT MORTALS

  Hrag Hragson begat a daughter, Saltaja, and four sons, Therek, Karvak, Stralg, and Horold.

  Piero, the doge of Celebre, had three sons, Dantio, Benard, and Orlando, and a daughter, Fabia.

  Karvak died in Jat-Nogul and Dantio in Skjar.

  HELPFUL NOTES

  12 Werists make a flank.

  4 flanks and a packleader make a pack.

  5 packs and a huntleader make a hunt.

  5 hunts and a hostleader make a host, 1,231 men.

  A pot-boiling is the time needed for a crock of cold water to come to the boil on an open fire, roughly one hour.

  The unit of counting is one sixty, which therefore takes a singular-form plural: e.g., "four sixty," as we say "four hundred" or "four dozen."

  SOME OBSCURE VOCABULARY

  Chthonian: Related to the underworld

  Corban: An offering sworn to God

  Menzil: The distance a caravan travels in one day

  Henotheist: A person who worships a single god without denying the existence of others (on Dodec, usually a member of a mystery cult)

  Polytheist: A person who worships many gods (as most people on Dodec do)

  Extrinsic: An outsider (used by members of a mystery to indicate a nonmember, either a polytheist or a member of another cult)

  THE WORLD

  The Dodecians' image of their world is a physical impossibility. I have summarized the logic in an appendix at the end of the sequel volume, Mother of Lies. Until you have a chance to read that, please be charitable. It is not so very long ago that most people thought the Earth was a flat disk. The Dodecians may be mistaken, but they are not crazy enough to believe anything as absurd as that.

  Prologue

  LORD DANTIO

  was very frightened, clutching the rail as tightly as he could—much tighter than he needed to, because the chariot ran smoothly on the paving and Papa was not going fast. The axle squealed, the guanacos' little hooves clip-clopped, wheels rumbled, the leather straps of the floor creaked, but that was all. No other sound.

  When news of the massacre at Two Fords reached Celebre, the city went mad. For three days and nights the people mourned, clamoring and wailing, blowing trumpets, beating on drums or pots. Panic-stricken crowds packed into the temples until worshipers were being trampled or suffocated. But then, suddenly, the enemy was at the gates and the noise stopped. The city fell silent—completely, appallingly, silent.

  Yet everywhere there were faces, thousands and thousands of faces—massed on balconies and roofs, in every window, and ten or twelve deep along both sides of the wide avenue—and they were all staring at him. All silent. Could they not even call out just one farewell, sing a dirge for him, shout a blessing? The entire city seemed to have turned out to watch his departure. He stared straight ahead, trying to ignore all the faces and keep his eyes fixed on the great gates drawing closer up ahead. He was horribly afraid that he was going to weep, or throw up, or piddle, or do something even more terrible to shame himself and Papa.

  "Almost there," Papa said. "You are doing wonderfully! I am enormously proud of you."

  Dantio looked up, feeling his lip quiver. Despite all the promises he had made to himself, he had to say it: "Papa, I'm scared!"

  His father winced,
as if he'd stubbed a toe. "You don't look it! I told you—courage is simply doing your duty even if you are frightened. By all the gods, son, you are a very brave boy doing his duty."

  Brave people did not tremble. Their mouths were not drier than salt.

  "Don't let the crowds worry you," his father said. "They're counting on you, son. The whole city is counting on you. And so am I. I am so proud of you I want to weep. Celebre is proud of you."

  At last the chariot rumbled under the great arch into the narrow barbican, out of blazing sunlight into the shadow of high battlements. There were no soldiers up there manning the walls, because Celebre's city guard had died with the militia at Two Fords. The noise of hooves and axle redoubled, echoing. Papa slowed down to take the curve through the outer gate.

  Dantio took a quick look back. The second chariot was bringing Mama and the baby, driven by a Nastrarian in his green robe. Witness Fiorella, wearing her seer's blindfold, was driving the third, bringing Benard and Orlando. Benard's face was only just visible over the rail; he looked scared, although he had nothing to worry about—he would be coming back. Orlando was too small to see over the sides of the car at all. He would be peering out through the wicker and probably throwing a temper tantrum because he had been strapped in.

  One flap of the outer gate stood open and unguarded as the doge and his eldest son rolled past them, out into the menacing world beyond, into the noontide glare. Goodbye, Celebre! The open expanse around the city served variously as fairground, playing fields, and farmers' market, but that day it was deserted, just abandoned animal paddocks and grassland already burned brown by the dry-season heat. The Sturia road was a stripe of baked red clay weaving across it to disappear into olive groves and vineyards.

  Papa drove at a walking pace on the rutted surface. There was no sign of the ice devils, but they would be waiting in the shade, staying out of bowshot of the walls.

  Holy Demern, the Lawgiver, had decreed in ancient times that a boy of ten was old enough to understand oaths and laws. At ten he could be sentenced to men's punishments, like flogging or even hanging. He could be taken hostage.

  Dantio was eleven.

  He did not know where he would sleep tonight. He could not shake off the terrible fear that he might never see his home and family again. At his feet lay a bag of clothes Mama had packed for him. The ice devils had spared the little town of Sturia when it opened its gates and yesterday had promised to spare Celebre, too, but they had warned they would demand hostages.

  A chariot emerged from the trees, being driven much faster than Papa was going. The two men in it were obviously not Florengians, so they must be ice devils. Another followed it, more slowly. Dantio's knees began to shake even harder, and not just from the bouncing of the webbed floor.

  "That's far enough." Papa reined in alongside a corral fence and dropped the brake. He went down on one knee and clasped his son in a fierce hug. "Well done, well done! That was the worst bit, I'm sure—all those people watching you."

  Dantio did not think the worst bit had even started. He nodded and tried not to cry, biting his lip. His father's mourning robe smelled of lavender. It was the one he wore to funerals.

  "Even if the Vigaelians do insist on taking you as hostage for my good faith, son, they will have to look after you well. Holy Demern gives very strict rules in His Arcana about hostages being well treated. Oh, Dantio, Dantio! We Celebrians are peace-lovers, not cowards. If we had any chance at all of defending the city, we would do it. If the bloodlord will take me instead of you, I will go gladly, but that was not what his messenger demanded.

  "And I swear to you again, son, that I will do nothing to break the terms we agree on. I will give them no cause to harm you. And in a year or so, when they have learned that they can trust me, I will try to get them to send you home and take some other hostages in exchange—young men, not a child."

  Dantio sniffed a few times and whispered, "Yes, Papa."

  His father squeezed again and then released him. "You aren't behaving like a child. Keep being brave, always be polite, and no harm will come to you. Come along, let us go and see these Vigaelians."

  Dantio jumped down, onto his shadow on the clay, and Papa followed. The other two chariots had halted alongside, and the Nastrarian was already in control of all three teams, stroking the guanacos' necks and murmuring as if he were talking to them. Being an initiate of the cult of holy Nastrar, he probably was talking to them; he would keep them standing there happily for hours, and be quite happy himself just doing so. Nastrarians never cared for people much.

  Papa lifted Mama down, with Fabia still in her arms. Benard ran at once to his mother. Witness Fiorella unstrapped Orlando and set him down without letting go of him—she had no need to call on the wisdom of her goddess to know he would try to run away. He screamed and kicked. She would be needed in the parley, so Dantio went to take charge of Orlando. It would be for the last time.

  "Come," he said. "Come and see the ice devils. They're very fierce."

  The family terror decided that this sounded promising and went quietly. He even let Dantio hold his chubby little hand, although that would not last long.

  The first ice devil chariot had stopped at a distance. One man had stayed aboard to control the team and the other was striding forward to meet the Celebrians. He was unarmed and very big. Some of the wilder stories had described the Vigaelians as monsters, but this one seemed quite human, apart from his bizarre coloring. He wore what seemed to be a black woolen blanket wrapped around his body, leaving his arms and legs bare. His head and face glinted with golden stubble; sunlight flashed on a golden collar around his neck. His eyes were a sickly blue. He stopped and looked around, waving angrily for the other chariot to hurry.

  He had bigger muscles than even Markeo, the palace wheelwright.

  Markeo had died at Two Fords.

  "Why is that man red?" Orlando demanded.

  "The sun burned him," Dantio said.

  "Why?"

  "Because." Dantio had heard that the ice devils' skin was pink instead of brown, and he could see that some parts of the man were pale, but most of him was blistered and peeling. He glanced back and saw the roofs and walls of Celebre packed with people, watching to see what would happen, waiting to learn their fate.

  The second ice devil chariot arrived, and stayed just long enough to deliver a very oddly dressed person, draped from top to toe in cloth that had once been white. Since even her face was completely covered, she must be a seer. She scrambled down awkwardly, but more as if hampered by her long skirts than as if she were blind. How could she stand such clothes on such a hot day? Her driver drove the chariot away and she minced forward to stand at the big man's side. Only her hands showed; they were pink.

  " 'Anto, is that man hurt?" Orlando demanded. He must think she was bandaged.

  "No, she's a seer, like Fiorella," Dantio said.

  Orlando turned to frown up at Fiorella, who wore a respectable ladylike gown of dark brown and a blindfold to show she was on duty. Witnesses saw with the eyes of their goddess.

  Papa bowed. "I am Doge Piero, ruler of this city. I have come to parley, as we agreed, and have brought all my children, as you requested."

  The white-shrouded woman spoke. She would not be able to speak Florengian, or even properly know the words, but seers could always tell meaning, just as they could hear lies or recognize poison in a glass of wine. The man in black scowled and replied in a deep, rumbling voice, as if he were gargling rocks. When he had finished, Fiorella translated.

  "He says he is Stralg Hragson, bloodlord of the Heroes of Weru, and he did not come to parley. He never requests, he gives orders. He is here to accept your submission and oath of allegiance."

  Papa said, "I have agreed to give them. And he promised he would swear to respect our lives, property, and laws."

  The Vigaelian seer interpreted. The bloodlord rumbled again.

  "He says you already have his word."

  That
was not fair! If Papa had to take a solemn oath, then the murderous Vigaelian should certainly do the same, not just quote a promise sent through a messenger. More rumble.

  "He asks who the woman is." Fiorella added softly, "Be careful, lord!"

  Papa hesitated, but no one could deceive a Witness, so he had to tell the truth. "Oliva, my wife." He did not say that he had refused to bring Mama at first, but she had insisted she would not trust Fabia to a nurse. Dantio had overheard the argument yesterday.

  Rumble. "The bloodlord also says that if you do not immediately kneel and kiss his feet in submission, she will be first to die."

  Orlando let go of Dantio's hand. Dantio caught his arm instead. Orlando opened his mouth to scream and Dantio said "Shush!" so fiercely that he actually obeyed. Benard was hiding behind Mama, who was having trouble with Fabia. The baby could smell her milk and wanted to suck.

  Horrible! Papa walked forward and sank to his knees in front of the hateful monster in his black shroud. Dantio looked away, unable to watch this humiliation of the father he loved.

  Far to the northwest, under a sky of indigo, sharp young eyes could just make out the glimmer of white that marked the Ice, where no one normally went. Only a few brave traders ever ventured over the Edge to the Vigaelian Face. Even fewer returned, and the goods they brought back were always small items, valued mostly as curiosities. Mama had shown Dantio a rather ugly little jade pot in the ducal collection and told him that it came from Vigaelia.