Armada of Antares [Dray Prescot #11]

by Alan Burt Akers

  One of my concerns meanwhile lay with Kytun, who reported in his losses, shaking his head. He brightened up as he described the flyers and fliers he had captured. What with the masses of zorcas and totrixes we rounded up, and the saddle-birds and vollers Kytun brought in, we were reasonably well provided. I told Chuktar Tom ti Vulheim that we would mount up a goodly proportion of the footmen, turn them into mounted infantry. I cocked my head on one side. Tom ti Vulheim had served well and faithfully in those dark and harrowing days when we had cleansed Valka, all of which you may hear in the great song: The Fetching of Drak na Valka.

  “Tom,” I said, and I spoke in my no-nonsense voice, so that he braced up. “Tom. You struggled against being made a Chuktar. You run the foot soldiers perfectly. Your Archers are a wonder. Yet you refuse a second name. Why?"

  He stared at me, nonplussed. He was a blade comrade. “Do I need a whole raggle-taggle tail of names?"

  “You do not, and neither do I. Yet, for my sins, I have been saddled with a rainbow of pretty names. I wish to unload some of my sinfulness upon your head."

  He knew I had something in my mind, so he smiled and nodded and waited for the ax to fall.

  “We have just gained a victory—oh, it was not one of the greatest battles in all history—but it was a smart little win, all the same. Beneath Tomor Peak. And, too, there is a nice estate not too far from Vulheim, a place of samphron bushes and nectarine plantations, a charming place called Avanar—"

  “I know it."

  “Well, Tom ti Vulheim, whether you like it or not, whether you own it or not, from henceforth you are Tom Tomor, Elten of Avanar, with all the rights and duties of your rank and all the goodness of your estate for yourself—save what the law requires you to part with in the way of taxes and imperial dues."

  He bowed. He actually bowed. “I thank you, Prince.” Most formal, this, for Tom ti Vulheim, who was now an Elten! “I accept with all gratitude, and I do so for the sake of Bibi, the granddaughter of Theirson and Thisi the Fair.” I nodded at this, the memories rising. “And, if it pleases you, I will call myself Tom Tomor ti Vulheim."

  “And you, Tom, the man who mocked a string of names!"

  But I understood his meaning.

  Well, as you may imagine, all this was highly gratifying to me, in the old selfish way. I'd make all my friends princes and princesses, if that was possible. Mind you, on Kregen, it is entirely possible, entirely...

  I mentioned earlier that I had instituted a mark of valor within the Valkan regiments. A silversmith of Vandayha, one Eckermin the Graver, had designed a round medal showing the little valkavol flying above and the symbol of Valka in the center, the trident shooting up from the bow. Below was a scroll of leaves and sacred plants and, on the reverse, a space for the name of the recipient, the place, and occasion. These medals were more like phalerae and those men who distinguished themselves in battle received them at my hands and proudly wore them on their war harness. Well, petty it may have been, but it seemed the least I could do, that and the addition of tidily heavy bags of golden talens.

  My men called these phalerae “bobs.” This was a typical ranker's way of contracting and abbreviating their full name, which was of the order of “The Strom's Medal for the Valor of a Warrior Heart."

  I had not, needless to say, chosen that name myself. The High Council of Elders of Valka, warming to my suggestion, had given the name. I, like the swods, preferred bobs.

  So we worked all that day. With the sinking of Antares I took up a cup of Vela's Tears and drank deeply, preparing to plunge afresh into the reorganization and forward planning of my little army. We must not be trapped by the vastly superior forces of Hamal before I had made proper contact with the King of Tomboram, who had not turned up, as I had expected. Mind you, he had his hands full elsewhere. Now we must march and throw ourselves into the battle line alongside him. Kytun Kholin Dom and Tom Tomor would handle the troops; I had no fears on that score. So I planned and, the night being hot, threw off the white tunic and sat in a plain blue breechclout, drinking, and working by the mellow gleam of the samphron-oil lamp within my tent.

  Stretching, I yawned. The close air clogged my lungs, so I rose and, hitching a fine Vallian rapier and main-gauche about me, strode outside the tent for a breath of fresh air. The guard slapped his glaive across as I went out and I spoke a few words to him. I wandered along in the fuzzy pink moonlight, with the camp about me filled with those nocturnal noises of a sleeping army...

  A shadow moved against a darkened tent. I halted at once but the shadow had gone. I went on quietly and saw a guard—a Chulik—sleeping peacefully on the ground. About to bellow at him to stand up and get on guard, he'd face a charge in the morning, I held my tongue. A thin thread of dark blood trickled down behind his ear. He was not dead. I straightened up, looking around, and the pink moonlight fell full on my face.

  I heard a gasp. Then a voice spoke, a blustery lion-voice that strove to whisper in that moonshot darkness.

  “Hamun! By Krun! Hamun!"

  * * *

  Chapter 11

  Escape under the Moons of Kregen

  The rapier went back into the scabbard with a snick.

  I said, “If you shout loudly enough, Rees, you fambly, the whole camp will know we have escaped."

  “By Krun!” said the Trylon Rees of the Golden Wind, stepping forward and looking around him. “You are a changed man from our days in Ruathytu, so help me Opaz!"

  “And you, too, Rees, old fellow. Has Opaz then conquered you? What of Havil the Green?"

  “This is no time to argue theology, Hamun! For the good graces of Hanitcha the Harrower, let us get out of here!"

  This was to be expected. The plan that had instantly flown into my head demanded a few murs alone, and yet I should have known that Rees, that glorious golden Numim who—I counted myself fortunate—was a friend as well as an enemy, would be full of energy and resolve. He wouldn't hang around when he could escape.

  I said, “I am overjoyed to see you, Rees, by Krun! I did not know you were with the army here."

  “And I had no idea you were either, old fellow. Now where are you going?"

  “I will fetch weapons and clothes.” I had seen he wore the wreck of a uniform, and he carried a stone in his hand with which he had knocked the Chulik out. “Wait quietly!"

  “Don't be long. They are as efficient a pack of scoundrels here as any I've known."

  “Oh, yes,” I said. “These rasts of Tomboram are a fine fighting bunch."

  “Tomboram? These are cramphs of Vallia!"

  So that meant I'd blown up one pretty little scheme.

  Still, I would not have my friend Rees slain out of hand. He and I had ruffled it together in the Sacred Quarter of Ruathytu, when I was spying in Hamal; with Chido we had had some fine old brawls and roistered the night away. He thought I had been captured and escaped, as he had. Now I would put that to my advantage, for there were outstanding items in Hamal.

  You may imagine the speed with which I ran.

  “Tom!” I said into his ear, and he was awake on the instant. “I am going to Hamal. Do not question. You and Kytun must do what we planned with the army. I trust you. If there is any difficulty at all with the rast of a King of Tomboram—any difficulty at all—then pull out. Use the transports and the vollers and get the men safely away. No questions. Tell Kytun. Tell him I trust you both and if you argue too much, one with the other, I'll knock both your heads together."

  “But Dray—!"

  But I was gone.

  In my own tent I ripped out a clean blue shirt for Rees and a loincloth. I snatched up a fine matched pair of rapier and main-gauche and then, on my way out, paused. I turned back, snatched up the longsword, and at top speed again fled into the moonlight.

  I saw Rees hiding in the shadows of the tent. As I came fairly close to him a Chulik guard stepped out into the fuzzy pink and golden glow of moonslight. He started to snap his spear across in salute and to bellow out, �
��All's well—” He would have finished that with, “My Prince!"

  I leaped for him, took him by the throat, hissed in his ear: “Silence! Shut up! Stand still!” Then I tapped him alongside the head, just under the brim of his helmet. “Fall down and lie still, my friend!"

  He fell down and he lay still.

  Rees got up and whistled. “A different man from that Amak Hamun I rescued from the Rapas and the burning building, by Krun!"

  “Here are clothes, here are weapons. Now let us find a voller."

  Rees stared at the longsword. “That bar of iron—is that a weapon?"

  “I found it in a tent and thought it might serve."

  “I fancy I might wield it passing well."

  “I fancy so, too. But for now I think I will carry it. It pleases me."

  Rees shook that golden head of his so that his mane fluttered under the golden moonsglow. “A different man."

  We crept cautiously away.

  “Not so, Rees. I am still the same Hamun ham Farthytu, the Amak of Paline Valley. But I have been in a battle and I see things a little differently now."

  We reached the voller lines. I had to be far more careful now than even Rees realized. I most certainly would not slay one of my own men, not even for a scheme of importance, but Rees would be elated if he could dispatch a hated Vallian to the Ice Floes of Sicce.

  A thought occurred to me, so, as we eased up to a voller with our eyes glaring out at the guard, a Rapa who paced some fifty yards away, I said: “And Chido? Is he here, too?"

  “Now, old feller! D'you think I'd sneak off and leave old Chido a prisoner? No, he was not taken, thanks to Opaz."

  I noted this use of Opaz by a Hamalian who in theory should stick to his state religion of Havil the Green, and who by belief and predilection professed Krun. I shook my head.

  “Of course not. I am glad he is safe.” I was sincere.

  How can a man be friends with men who are enemies of his country? It is a puzzle and a torment.

  In any event we stole a voller—not a prime example, I was glad to see—and we made good our escape, successfully eluding the guards. Much though this pleased me—we had not had to fight, so I was saved the agony that would have caused me—I was also hotly angry that my guards had allowed it. On one hand my pleasure was genuine as we flew swiftly through the pink-streaming moonslight, and on the other I was ragingly angry at the slackness of discipline. I would have something to say to the guard commanders when I got back, that I promised. To jump ahead, and also to explain much of what had happened, I should now say that Tom Tomor had sprung out of his bed, rushed out, and seen my attack on the Chulik. The Chulik had repeated my words. So Tom gave immediate orders that a mock pursuit was to take place. He understood just enough to assume I knew what I was doing, maniacal though that appeared. But then my chiefs of Valka are accustomed to a maniac leading them...

  In my own overweening pride I had decided that any attempt to fake the escape would alert Rees. Probably, in one way, that was right. But now I think that if Tom had not given his orders, Rees and I would never have escaped so easily.

  During that flight through the night sky of Kregen with the moons casting down their pinkish golden light, Rees told me what had happened in his life since I had last seen him, a gravely ill man, near death's door. He spoke of his daughter Saffi, the glorious golden lion-maid, and his thanks for her rescue were given in gruff, harsh tones, but simple, direct, and from the heart. She had reached Ruathytu safely with Doctor Larghos the Needle and Jiktar Horan. She had been full of her escapade when, kidnapped by Vad Garnath and his Kataki Strom, she had been taken as a bargaining counter to the Manhounds of Faol. Apparently she had described the fight in the voller, when I had just about keeled over from loss of blood, to her father as a High Jikai. Well, it had been a little Jikai, I suppose; I remember nothing of it, as I said.[3]

  [3 See Avenger of Antares, Dray Prescot #10.]

  Rees looked back. “Those yetches of Vallia do not follow.” As he turned to me his golden face with that fierce lion-look glowed in the moonslight. “Hamun, old son. I owe you much, so much that I know I can never repay you, but—"

  “You can repay me, Rees."

  “How?"

  “Promise me you will hold out your hand in friendship to me."

  “Well, of course! May Hanitcha harrow me else!"

  “In friendship, Rees, no matter what happens."

  “By Krun! This makes me glad to promise."

  Would a promise, the feeling of gratitude to me for the life of his adored daughter, weigh in the balance when he discovered I was a hated enemy, a Vallian and, much worse, the damned Prince Majister of those cramphs of Vallians? I wondered.

  And, at that moment, I felt a great partiality for Rees, for hadn't he dragged me off from poring over figures and plans—fascinating in themselves, of course—and hauled me into headlong action, haring over the surface of Kregen into more adventures, flying under the moons?

  What Rees had to say about the Battle of Tomor Peak intrigued me, but he clearly did not relish talking about it. This, at least, was a comfort, because I only had to mumble something about joining at the last minute by voller, not really knowing Rees was there but finally wishing to join his regiment, and being caught up in the battle. I could not forbear adding, “And how did the regiment behave?"

  His fists clenched. He looked unhappy and guilty, which pained me.

  “You always hinted, more than hinted, about my beautiful zorcas. My lovely regiment! We trotted out, every lance aligned, all in perfect formation—oh, Hamun, the regiment looked grand!"

  I did not speak but busied myself unnecessarily with the voller controls. Presently Rees went on in a slow, leaden voice, reliving those moments of scarlet horror.

  “We were trotting out, ready to charge, having those yetches on the run. The infantry was attacking. We picked up speed, yelling: “Hanitch! Hanitch! Hamal!” in the old way. And then ... then a crazy mob of maniacs astride animals—nikvoves, I believe they are called—smashed at us. My beautiful zorcas!"

  He did not go on. He could not, I think, go on.

  I said, “But the totrix regiments were smashed, also."

  “Aye. It is a sad day for us. What the Queen will say..."

  “Will you reform the regiment?"

  “Again?"

  “The war still goes on."

  “Aye, old fellow, the damned war still goes on. And the Queen will not be pleased. We have suffered a reverse. And I think her treasury does not have a never-ending supply of deldys."

  This was heartening. I prodded. “Do you think she would come to some arrangement? Not sue for peace, but desist from the fighting while arrangements are made?"

  “Now that the rasts of Vallians have come in, maybe that will stay her hand. She has a fear of Vallia, for all they are a miserable lot, too stupid to build their own vollers."

  By Vox! It was true!

  “And,” went on Rees, visibly growing warmer, “did you see the crazy man who led the charge? A big man, broad in the shoulder like you. His face was covered by a blazing golden mask. He came in at the head of the nikvoves like Hanitcha himself."

  I said, with perfect truth, “No. I did not see him."

  A breeze of alarm touched me. That golden mask was a mere toy, designed to mark me out so that my own men might know and follow. It had served here in that Rees had not seen my face. But suppose some imp of memory stirred, some mannerism betrayed me? Then common sense reasserted itself. How could the Trylon Rees possibly equate his bumbling friend Amak Hamun, for all he had picked up a few sworder's tricks lately, with the puissant majesty of the Prince Majister of Vallia?

  For Rees knew who that man riding like the thunderclouds in his golden mask was.

  “A feller called Prescot. Prince Majister of Vallia. I'd like to have him at the point of my rapier!"

  I coughed and twitched the controls. The airboat flew up and swooped, and Rees, thrown off balance, yelped,
“What in the name of Hakki are you playing at?"

  “A shadow, there under the moon ... It is gone now."

  He peered but could see nothing. “We should be up with the remnants of the army soon."

  “Would you give the Jikai to the Vallians for their victory?"

  He looked at me as though I had sprouted devil's horns.

  “The Jikai? To nulshes of Vallia! Are you off your head?"

  “They beat us, fair and square."

  He chewed on that. His hand brushed his golden mane. He did not like the thought. I pressed on relentlessly. “If they march to fight the main army, they might overthrow that, also. Kov Pereth—"

  Luckily he burst in then, interrupting me, fortunately concealing my lack of up-to-date knowledge out of Hamal.

  “Yes! The Queen threw Kov Pereth into a dungeon in the Hanitch! That idiot Kov Hangol is Pallan of the armies of the north now. I know him! A bungler, but he knows how to fawn on the Queen, Havil take him!"

  “She'll run out of Kovs soon."

  “You may jest, Hamun. But you have a sorry truth in the jest."

  “Then she may turn to a Trylon, perhaps the Trylon of the Golden Wind."

  “She knows I have never toadied to her, and dangerous that has been, fool that I am. No, old friend, I think we know each other well enough by now for me to tell you that the King himself frowns on his wife's follies. Of course he is powerless, but one day ... who knows?"

  “The King?” I said, surprised. “But he is a mere puppet."

  “Today, yes. If the war goes on ... then tomorrow, who's to say?"

  As you may imagine, I digested all this very thoroughly. It would not be as easy as all that. Queen Thyllis was seated very firmly on the throne—she and the Opaz-forsaken manhounds that lolled on her golden steps. The King her husband was a mere cipher. If the Queen was to be deposed, I hoped for little from the King. Anyway, as soon as a great and suitable opportunity arose, a mighty victory, for instance, then Queen Thyllis was going to hold her triumphal procession and have herself crowned Empress of Hamal. She was hard, and evil, and power-crazed.