Fate of the Tyrant (The Eoriel Saga Book 3)

by Kal Spriggs

  Since Grel had turned out to be tied in with some sorcerer, that did throw some of Hector's orders into doubt. Yet Kara couldn't put aside her anger with the nobleman that easily. Hector had ordered her home destroyed in an effort to kill Lady Katarina. His men were there when Josef was killed. He was the reason that her son would grow up without a father.

  But Grel was at Southwatch, according to his own statements, Kara thought and pulled up a report they had found from Covle Darkbit. And it was Grel who had sacked Watkowa Village in an attempt to kill Lady Katarina.

  What if Hector wasn't the one behind both those atrocities? What if it were someone else?

  Her first thought was that it was absurd. Hector had murdered his cousin to take over the Barony of Longhaven and then his uncle's entire family -- all but Lady Katarina -- to take over the entire Duchy of Masov. He had proven he was ruthless and capable of assassination and murder.

  Yet the bloodbath at Watkowa Village had been extreme, even from the darker rumors about his campaigns against the Armen. For that matter, his hatred for the Armen was so well established that even Lady Katarina doubted that he had been behind the attack at Southwatch.

  But that still didn't excuse his actions here at Zielona Gora. Hector's southern commander, Covle Darkbit had led over a thousand mercenaries against the town. They had killed over fifteen hundred men, women, and children. Only Lady Katarina's forces had prevented a full massacre.

  But Grel was there, too... and Commander Flamehair called off the attack in Hector's name, Kara thought.

  She shook her head, but that didn't explain why Covle Darkbit had launched the attack in the first place. By all accounts, he was one of Hector's most trusted commanders... except he had also been the one ordering Grel for the past few months. Kara's eyes widened as she considered that. Covle Darkbit was known to be a man of expensive tastes. What if he had been bought by an enemy of Hector's?

  It wouldn't take much, she thought absently as she searched through the rolls of parchment until she found the report she had remembered, he's notorious for his ambition. She read over the report from Captain Gwendolyn Wallace, a mercenary from the Duchy of Taral that had switched sides.

  Odd orders, overheard voices, in his office when no one had been admitted... those were signs that something else might be at play. But what? Kara wasn't sure. In fact, she wasn't sure that she wanted to know more. Whether or not someone had manipulated them into a civil war, they still needed to end it. Besides, short of a confession, Kara doubted she could prove anything.

  No, she thought, best to just leave it as a theory.

  ***

  Lady Katarina Emberhill

  Zielona Gora, Duchy of Masov

  19th of Ravin, Cycle 1000 Post sundering

  The wind continued to howl outside and Katarina shivered a bit in the chilly conference room. She had gathered her advisers for a tour of the refugee facilities in the larger buildings of Zielona Gora. The tour had opened some of their eyes... though she didn't miss the absence of Earl Joris of Olsztyn or his eldest son.

  The emotional impact she had felt when she toured the cramped quarters had reminded her of just how precarious things were for the common people. While they had put as many people as they could into empty homes, the damage from the attack on the town had left many of the city's people without homes as it was.

  The cold weather and upcoming snowfall meant that tents would be unlivable. The survivors from Watkowa Village had led hundreds of people to their mountain hideaway, but snow had already closed the high mountain roads to heavy traffic. Other towns and villages had taken in many, but with how tight the winter and spring would be for food, most of the towns couldn't take anyone else.

  Katarina had wanted to send some to the Ryftguard, to make use of its many corridors and rooms, but all of her advisers had cautioned against it. The fortress was their only connection to lands outside of Lord Hector's control. From the Ryftguard, they could bring in food, weapons, and supplies from Boir and Marovingia. While the heavy snows of Taral made it difficult to bring anything south from Boir, the road to Marovingia was in good condition and the Marovingians kept it mostly clear of snow.

  Her advisers feared that Hector's spies, mixed in with the refugees or would attempt to seize or sabotage the Ryftguard somehow. While Katarina thought it unlikely that he could slip in more than one or two agents, she didn't discount the chance that even one man might cause some damage or open a gate at the right time.

  The only option that left, though, was to make Zielona Gora the main hub for receiving the many refugees fleeing the depredations in the north. While many of the refugees were from the borderlands where Covle Darkbit's mercenaries operated, many more came from the lowlands, either run off or turned out by Hector's tax-collecting mercenaries or driven out by the outbreak of violence and insurrection.

  What stories they told varied, many of them hadn't even seen any violence, they had only fled the prospect of it... but they came in droves. While some were eager to join the ranks of her army, many more just wanted someplace to shelter.

  Katarina knew that there was plenty of work to put them to, but much of that work would have to wait until spring. For now, they sat huddled in warehouses, public buildings, and even the keep. She had clerks and scribes interviewing them all, to find out where they were from, what skills they possessed, and what they had seen on their journey south. She knew that Kara had spent weeks pouring over the information they provided, drawing details to gain a better picture of Hector's military strengths.

  As she looked around at her council, though, she saw worry and concern.

  "We'll have to find more room for them," Lord Garrel spoke up first. While she didn't find him particularly interesting, she could admit that her betrothed had intelligence and capability. "If they spend the winter in such close quarters, we'll have a pestilence for certain."

  Katarina nodded. The Starborn Strictures laid out the best methods of disease prevention. Sanitation was a key role of that and Katarina knew that they were dangerously close to a situation where if they did get a dangerous disease, it would spread through the refugees like wildfire. And probably to the rest of the townsfolk and my troops, she thought.

  "What about longhouses, like we did for the prisoners?" Ivan Petrov asked. The older man had been chosen by the Zielona Gora council to be their representative to her. He was a merchant by trade, but he also owned a number of the buildings in town. While she appreciated how he had loaned her the use of his warehouses "free of charge," she hadn't missed how he had raised the rent in his other properties to gouge money from those refugees who could afford better quarters.

  Katarina answered the question, "Bringing in the logs for that and finding a location will be hard, especially for the numbers of refugees. Plus, with this storm..." she trailed off as the shutters rattled in the wind. They had met in the town hall and the whimpers of children just down the hall and the rattle of the shutters made as pointed a reminder as she could wish about the importance of finding a solution.

  "Plenty of spirits will be down out of the mountains, too," Gerlin said quietly. Katarina shivered at that, but she didn't argue. There were always a few spirits that survived off of heat. In the summer, they often fed off of excess body heat and no one minded them... but in the winter, those same spirits were starved, they could latch onto a person and siphon away their heat no matter how warmly they were bundled... and then jump to the next victim. All towns and most villages had protections from such predatory spirits, but those protections wouldn't extend to shelters built outside of them.

  She still vividly remembered a story she overheard as a young child... about a winter so cold that hundreds of spirits attacked village after village, snuffing out fires and freezing hundreds of people, night after night.

  "Worse things than just spirits," Lord Theodore said with a nod at the halfblood. "My scouts near Black Mountain reported a great deal of activity in the area. Something has caused som
e of the Black Fortress's beasts to stir. We'll have to deal with them, else they'll seek out blood."

  Katarina winced at that. She didn't know much about the beasts that sorcerers made, but she did know that they sought out those with mageblood, either by design or intent, and that they were quick enough to sample the blood of anyone they came across. While the energy contained in mageblood was enough to sustain them, they were said to feed on the bodies of all their victims, often in a mutilating or gruesome fashion.

  "What can we do?" Katarina asked.

  "If they're operating alone, my scouts can track them and my son or I can lead a company to deal with them," Lord Theodore said. His son, Lord Jack, gave a cheerful grin at the prospect.

  "If they're being guided or driven by something, then it's a different prospect all together," Lord Theodore said softly. "Now and then one of Aktan's apprentices stirs up the beasts. Most of them are bad enough driven by killer instincts and whatever cunning Aktan built into them, but with human guidance, they're a damned sight worse to deal with." He nodded at Cederic, "We may need the wizard's help and we'll definitely need more than a single company, if that's the case."

  "Understood," Katarina said. "Those threats also make it too dangerous to build more quarters for unarmed refugees outside the protection of the city." She looked around at the others, "which brings us back to the issue, finding enough space for the refugees we have."

  "We could step up the rebuilding of the northern quarter," Gerlin said.

  "This would not be the best option," Ivan answered. "We haven't enough materials on hand to build proper homes. We run the risk of fire if we build with wood, especially given the crowding. We still need people to tear down the destroyed buildings and others to help salvage what we can of the damaged ones. Even if we clear enough room to build simple buildings such as longhouses, we'll still run the risk of fire... and we haven't enough logs or lumber on hand."

  "I wish we had sent more to Watkowa," Katarina said and shook her head.

  "There may be a way," Eleanor said quietly.

  Katarina raised an eyebrow at the woman, who normally didn't speak at these meetings. Not that she didn't have good ideas, but it seemed like she viewed such gatherings as pointless.

  Eleanor gave a sigh, "My people know of tunnels that run under the Ryft Peaks. Some may run as far as Tucola Forest. We used them to get around in the winter and I know that they connect to... our new settlement." She shrugged, "Samen and his brother may know more, they used the tunnels to trade in furs in the winter."

  Commander Samen now ran the three companies that secured the Ryftguard. Like Eleanor and the rest of the survivors from Watkowa Village, Samen was of Starborn descent. Indeed, much of the mountain folk that lived near the village seemed to be Starborn, a fact that while not unique, was noteworthy. While Starborn heritage wasn't exactly uncommon, most Starborn tended to be nobility, or their servants and guards. The exceptions were often secluded villages like Watkowa Village, where a single Starborn family had settled and then intermarrying had, over time, passed along the Starborn traits of longevity and general good health.

  Katarina frowned, though, "Who built these tunnels? From what I understand, most towns and villages here in the south have some tunnels for when the snowfall is heavy, but what you've mentioned goes far beyond that." From Watkowa Village to Tucola Forest was several hundred miles. The sheer effort involved in digging through rock and dirt that distance boggled her mind.

  Eleanor looked uncomfortable. She glanced at Solis, another survivor of Watkowa Village. The former innkeeper-turned-quartermaster also looked distinctly uncomfortable, yet after a moment he spoke, "The tunnels have been there a very long time. Our people maintain them, at least the ones we use. I know that some connect as far east as Dawnspring, but Eleanor is right, Samen or his brother will know more."

  Katarina remembered then that Samen had mentioned he and his brother had poached furs and smuggled them in the winter time. Perhaps that was why the two felt uncomfortable about saying more to her in such an official setting. Then again, Katarina felt there was more here than that. She still had too many questions about the hidden valley where the survivors of Watkowa Village had taken shelter... a place which had been settled once and which now seemed connected by underground tunnels which those same survivors had kept secret.

  Everyone knew that the Ryft Peaks were littered with ruins and ancient towns. Katarina vividly remembered some of her childhood adventures with Jarek had been reenactments of their favorite adventurers who had gone in search of riches and fame in those peaks. The rugged terrain, violent weather, and encampments of barbarian Norics made journeys there dangerous in the best of times. When all this is over, Katarina thought as she stared at Eleanor, I will have some answers about all this, if only to sake my curiosity.

  "Very well," she said. "If those tunnels prove to connect close enough, we can move refugees there... if you have the room?"

  Solis nodded, "From what I understand, we've built up the valley quite a bit. There are also..." he glanced at Eleanor, who it seemed gave him the slightest nod "... some other locations where people can shelter, most of it a sight better than this," he waved a hand at the town hall, in time for a chilly draft to blow through and make the torches sputter.

  "Good," Katarina nodded, "I can send a message to Samen, or do you think it might be better if you did?"

  Solis flushed a bit, "My Lady, I think..." he shrugged uncomfortably, "if I explained it to him, it might clarify the situation a bit more."

  Katarina just gave him a nod, "Now," she said, "that leads us to our next problem." She looked to Bulmor who still acted as her primary military adviser.

  Her armsman looked uncomfortable as he stood, "We've a company of men still out on patrol, but with the weather, it doesn't look good for them, especially since they were last seen at Tucola Lake. I'd like to ask for volunteers to mount a search."

  Katarina swallowed at the lump that formed in her throat, but she didn't argue. The storm so far had gone on two days. Two days in the howling wind and biting cold of this storm was dangerous enough here behind walls and under a roof. Just the journey down from the Keep had left Katarina cold and shivering, despite warm clothing and as much preparation as she could take.

  "Thanks to your scouts," Earl Joris said with an icy nod at Gerlin, "we've learned that Covle Darkbit's men left that area in strength. This isn't the first time we've lost good men to Darkbit's forces." Katarina didn't miss a note of particular anger in his voice as he said Darkbit's name.

  There was a rumble of anger around the room. Darkbit's name had become something of a curse. Too many atrocities had been laid at his feet, too many good people had died on his orders or by his hand.

  "Without being able to scout during this storm, we can't know for sure what happened," Earl Joris said with a sneer, "but it seems your inexperienced captain probably fell afoul of Darkbit's mercenaries. I don't think a search would be of any use," The Earl of Olsztyn finished. "I mean, we can't help them if they are dead."

  "If they did run into an ambush," Bulmor grunted, "then they'll have wounded and need support." He ignored the comment on Aerion's inexperience, which was more than Katarina was prepared to do.

  "Ghost Company is one of our better forces," Katarina said sharply. She didn't miss how Earl Joris and Captain Tytus flushed. They had lost a company to Darkbit only a few weeks after Katarina's forces took Zielona Gora. Captain Patka and his company had walked right into an ambush and the Usurper's mercenaries had left Earl Joris's men to rot, without even the courtesy of a mass grave. Katarina knew for a fact that Earl Joris had told his men to avoid any decisive fights as a result, which was why Covle Darkbit's men had gone almost unopposed until Katarina rotated them out entirely.

  The Earl of Olsztyn's embarrassment had only grown when Ghost Company and Zielona Gora's militia had done so much better against Lord Hector's mercenaries. Covle Darkbit had survived, but most of the other mercenarie
s had not.

  "My Lady," Earl Joris said with obviously false sympathy, "I'm afraid that at this point, after two days of this storm, we just have to admit the truth. Young Captain Swordbreaker and his company are lost --”

  Katarina frowned as she heard a shout from down the hall. A moment later, she heard excited voices in the corridor. She saw Earl Joris grimace as the raised voices interrupted his, no doubt, practiced speech of condolence. "... are lost and therefore we should cease these pointless patrols..."

  The doors swept open and a tall figure wreathed in snow and ice filled the doorframe. For just a moment, Katarina thought that it must be some wraith or revenant, a spirit or elemental taken form from the cold and snow. From the gasps of the council, many of them seemed to think the same thing.

  The figure, though, seemed to regain his composure first, "My Lords and Ladies," Aerion said, "apologies, I didn't know you were meeting here." He waved behind him and Katarina saw dozens more of his men, many of them carrying children or supporting men and women. "We found a caravan of refugees north of town, just before the storm hit." He brushed some of the snow and ice off of his face and Katarina bit back a snort as she saw the ice frozen in his eyebrows. It made him look remarkably dignified.

  Katarina heard Solis grumble, "More refugees..." More mouths to feed, she knew, but better that than dead in the road.

  "No need to apologize," Katarina said warmly. "We were just wrapping up, weren't we Earl Joris?" She saw the arrogant man give her a grudging nod, his face pinched and lips pursed.

  "Oh, good," Aerion said. "If anyone would be willing to give us a hand, there's quite a few people who need some help. We barely made it to the city walls as it is."

  "I think," Katarina said in a warm voice, "That Earl Joris's men will be very eager to help."