Daughter of Independence

by Simon Brown

  Paimer and his party had made good progress during the day. They were halfway around Horse Run Lake, and maybe another day’s ride from Kuttle, the largest city in southern Hamilay. Paimer was not so sure it would be a good idea to pass through the place; it was possible he would be recognised, even without his wig, and such a large group of Kevlerens travelling together would not go unnoticed, although the fact they were on horseback rather than being carried in sedans would help hide their identity.

  He did not know why, but he increasingly felt the need to hurry, to get to Omeralt as soon as possible, and judging by the earnest expressions on the faces of all his relatives, even the daft Bayer, they all felt the same drive inside of them.

  That night, after they made a fire and ate well and drank some of the Hamewald wine they had taken with them from the governor’s house, they lay down in their bedrolls, weary from the day’s travelling.

  But Paimer could not sleep. He tossed and turned for a while, and then in exasperation got out of his bedroll and stood at the edge of their camp, gazing north like a bird about to take flight for the spring migration. He did not know how long it was before he realised all his relatives were standing behind him, all looking north as well.

  29

  The first thing Gos Linsedd heard when he entered Poloma’s office in the Assembly was ‘Sayenna! Why didn’t we foresee this? Why didn’t I foresee this? And why didn’t we predict they would move so soon?’

  In the office was the prefect, Commodore Avier and an exhausted-looking naval officer Gos recalled had been sent to Sayenna with one of the ships Kydan had sent as a gift.

  As soon as Poloma saw Gos, he waved a piece of paper in front of him.

  ‘Guess who this is from?’

  ‘Governor Arden Hassouly,’ Gos said, hesitating only slightly on the last name. He had been practising.

  Poloma seemed impressed.

  ‘And do you know what it says?’

  ‘Judging from your reaction, a raid on Sayenna.’ He nodded to the naval officer to show he was not being ignored, and the officer, tiredly, nodded back. ‘Was it repelled, sir?’

  The officer blushed. ‘We were not given the chance, Commander, we –’

  ‘Arden sent them scurrying back to Kydan!’ Poloma interrupted.

  ‘Sir!’ the officer protested.

  ‘That isn’t fair, Prefect,’ Avier added.

  Poloma rubbed his forehead with one hand. ‘No, no, it is not fair. I am sorry. I am in shock, that is all. Tell your story.’

  ‘It was not a raid, Commander,’ the officer resumed. ‘It was an invasion.’

  Gos could not hide his surprise. ‘An invasion? Already? From Hamilay?’

  ‘We have been outmanoeuvred!’ Poloma declared. ‘Why didn’t we see this coming?’

  ‘How big an invasion?’

  ‘Forty ships or more,’ the officer said. ‘The governor ordered us to skirt around them and escape to Kydan. He gave us letters to give to the prefect.’

  Poloma held them up for Gos to see.

  ‘Does the governor say what he will do?’

  ‘He did not know, sir,’ the officer continued. ‘When we got the news the enemy fleet was almost upon us, but we had not yet seen it for ourselves.’

  ‘But you saw it subsequently. You said there were at least forty ships.’

  ‘More, sir. We only just missed running into them. They covered a great body of water.’

  ‘How many transports?’

  ‘I estimate between twenty and thirty transports, of many sizes, but most large.’

  ‘How many men does that mean?’ Poloma asked Gos.

  ‘I cannot say for sure, Prefect. Until the journey across the Deepening Sea, I had never been on water before.’

  ‘My officers and I estimate they could carry up to five thousand soldiers, sir.’

  ‘I would agree with that,’ Avier said, ‘and I’ve done my share of transporting troops.’

  Poloma put his hand on his desk to steady himself. Gos wanted to join him.

  ‘Are you sure? Five thousand.’

  ‘Yes, sir.’

  ‘Will Arden resist, do you think?’ Poloma asked.

  ‘I hope not,’ Gos said, ‘if only for Sayenna’s sake. I assume the other ships were warships? Heavy warships?’

  ‘The size of Karhay, sir, at least,’ the officer said. ‘We counted none with fewer than ten longgons.’

  ‘If Arden Hassouly decides to hold firm, then the enemy fleet can simply stand offshore and bomb Sayenna into rubble,’ Avier said.

  ‘Kydan and Frey,’ Gos said under his breath.

  ‘If they attacked us here in Kydan we’d be hard-pressed,’ Poloma said. ‘But what chance do we have of meeting them in the field? How many do we have? A thousand under arms and properly trained here in Kydan? Another two or three hundred from Sayenna, if they still survive?’

  ‘Don’t forget Lannel Thorey,’ Gos said, thinking furiously. ‘He’s raising companies, along the rivers.’

  ‘But not enough, Gos,’ Poloma said, and then obviously thought he had said too much. ‘You can go,’ he told the naval officer. ‘See that you are rested. Then return to Commodore Avier tomorrow morning for your orders.’

  The officer saluted. Before he could leave, Poloma added, ‘And tell no one of our discussion! Not even your own officers. Not yet.’

  When he was gone, Poloma swallowed and said, ‘Arden also let me know that Heriot and the children were all safe, and that he would be sending them home before the fleet arrived.’

  ‘I am glad to hear it,’ Gos said, feeling guilty that it was not something he had even considered. He could not claim to know Heriot, but had been surprised Poloma had let her go to Sayenna with both their children. Families and their doings were to him strange and mysterious.

  Poloma collapsed into a seat and the other two copied him.

  ‘We cannot leave Sayenna to its fate,’ Gos said.

  ‘Of course not,’ Poloma concurred. ‘It would destroy the trust we’ve built up with the city and all the communities in between us, and we would never rebuild it in our lifetimes.’

  ‘But from what you’re saying, our land options are limited,’ Avier said.

  ‘You think they are any different at sea?’

  Avier shrugged. ‘I would not count them out. I do not know that our new ships, even with their new longgons, could take on that many enemy; after all, there are only three of them. But with all our other ships thrown in, we may have a chance.’

  ‘How much of a chance?’

  ‘Not much, admittedly.’

  ‘We have good forces on land and sea,’ Gos said, ‘but not the numbers to use them to best effect.’

  ‘So it would seem,’ Poloma said glumly.

  ‘Not traditionally, anyway.’

  Poloma looked keenly at Gos. ‘What do you mean, exactly?’

  *

  ‘Will they send reinforcements?’ Velan asked softly so no one but Arden would hear.

  Arden was sitting against a tree, a blanket wrapped around his huge frame, and staring out over the water.

  ‘Governor?’ Velan persisted. ‘Do you think we can expect reinforcements from Kydan?’

  Arden shook his head as if coming out of a deep dream. ‘Kydan? I don’t know what they can do. They must look to their own defences, I think. The empire has sent more than we expected, and possibly more than we can handle.’

  ‘You don’t really believe that,’ Velan said, trying to sound more confident than he felt.

  Arden grunted. ‘No. There is always a way to bite off the enemy’s dick. You’ve just got to get them when they’re not looking.’

  Velan laughed. ‘They teach you that in Axkevleren training school?’

  Arden stared levelly at the soldier. ‘No. It was an old man called Bessarly who taught me that.’

  ‘As in Bessarly Kevleren? He was Hamilay’s best general in my father’s day. Rivald cursed him day and night.’

  �
�That’s him. His speciality was the frontier. He told me that if he’d had a choice he would have stayed there.’

  ‘What? He told you personally?’ Velan looked as if he might be ready for another joke.

  ‘I was an Axkevleren once.’

  ‘I know that. Everyone in Sayenna knows that by now.’

  ‘I was second in my house. If the Beloved had died, I would have taken her place. In many ways I was a Beloved.’

  ‘What house? The palace, I suppose?’

  ‘That’s right. I was in Empress Hetha’s household. And I did talk to Bessarly personally. We liked each other. He hated his family, except Hetha, for whom he had a soft spot. He’d talk with Axkevlerens all the time, especially those who had served on the front.’

  ‘You’re full of surprises,’ Velan said with new respect.

  ‘And that’s how you do it,’ Arden said. ‘That’s how you catch them when they’re not looking. Always be full of surprises. Just like we did with that small landing party.’ He shook a little and tugged the blanket tighter around his shoulders.

  ‘Are you all right?’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘It’s a warm summer night and you’re shivering.’

  ‘It’s nothing.’

  Velan shivered then, but it had nothing to do with the temperature. ‘How’s your hand?’ he asked.

  ‘Never you mind,’ Arden said abruptly. ‘Listen, we’ve got to make for Orin of the Two Rivers. Soon.’

  ‘I can ride ahead with the dragoons if you like. Should get there by noon, or not long after.’

  ‘Just you and one or two others. I want the rest of the dragoons screening the retreat, just in case the Hamilayans send cavalry after us.’

  *

  ‘What do you mean we can’t send the horse?’ Rodin demanded.

  ‘The mounts have all come down with something,’ one of his clerks said timorously. He had never been the object of a Kevleren’s attention before. ‘The soldiers assigned to the cavalry to look after the stables gave them feed from large wooden boxes, your Highness. They thought after the long voyage they deserved something better than hay. Now they’re all sick. The horses, I mean.’

  Rodin ground his teeth in frustration. Had the feed been poisoned for just such an opportunity? Perhaps it was time he had a chat with this Rivald Axkevleren. He had put it off until now because he did not trust her, he did not trust anyone with that kind of intelligence and training if they were from the other side, and by her own admission she was originally from Rivald. ‘Bring me the prisoner,’ he ordered. ‘Now!’

  The woman was brought down from the room she said had once been hers, and which was now her cell. She was looking a little shabbier and paler than before, but she had not been ill-treated; Rodin would not allow that to happen to an Axkevleren – he had seen too many go to Lerena to want to harm any himself. Unless he had to.

  ‘Our horses are ill,’ he said. ‘Do you know anything about this?’

  The woman looked at him in surprise. ‘How could I? You’ve kept me locked in my room for the last four days.’

  ‘They ate the feed in the stables.’

  ‘From the stables or from the boxes outside the stables?’ she asked.

  Rodin glanced at the clerk who had brought him the bad news.

  ‘Umm, the boxes, your Highness.’

  ‘That’s not feed, at least not yet,’ Quenion said. ‘It’s clover. Has to dry some or the horses will get bloat.’

  ‘Why wasn’t there a sign or some other indication?’ Rodin demanded.

  ‘Because the dragoons who used the stable knew what the boxes were for. They didn’t need a sign.’

  Rodin nodded. Of course. A perfectly simple explanation. And now he had perfectly useless cavalry. ‘Will the horses recover?’ he asked.

  ‘Some, I expect,’ Quenion said. ‘But I’m no expert.’

  ‘All right,’ Rodin said to the clerk. ‘You heard. Tell the master of horse what the problem is and make sure the soldiers assigned to him know not to use the boxes for feed.’ He surveyed Quenion carefully. ‘You’re not being maltreated?’

  ‘Other than being confined to a small room all day and night, I am not being maltreated. I am fed twice a day, and my chamber-pots are emptied. I would like some water and soap, if I may.’

  ‘You’re very forward for a prisoner.’

  ‘I am an Axkevleren, your Highness.’

  ‘What were you doing in Sayenna?’

  ‘I was part of Numoya Kevleren’s administration here. When the Kydans captured the city I was taken prisoner. I was paroled on the condition I worked for them.’

  ‘And did you?’

  ‘Diligently, your Highness. I gave my word.’

  ‘And now that they are gone and we are here?’

  ‘Properly speaking, sir, I am a Hamilayan, just like you, now that Rivald is part of the empire.’

  That made Rodin stop and think. Quenion had a point, and he knew it. He was not even sure, under those circumstances, whether he was right in detaining her. But still he did not trust her. She had been an enemy once, when Rivald was an independent kingdom, and might still be one.

  ‘How do I know you are telling me the truth?’

  ‘You don’t, your Highness. However, I think I may be able to prove my loyalty.’

  ‘And how would you propose to do that?’

  ‘Before he left, the governor ordered the city treasury to be hidden so it didn’t slow down their escape.’

  Rodin did not personally care about the treasury, but was glad to hear his enemy no longer possessed it. ‘And you know where this treasury is hidden?’

  Quenion smiled thinly. ‘I can take you straight to it, your Highness.’

  *

  When Poloma, Avier and Gos met the next day, Gos told the others he thought Kydan, and by extension Sayenna, had only one chance.

  ‘And what chance is that?’ Poloma urged.

  ‘We force the enemy to stay in the vicinity of Sayenna. We do not give it the chance to move on Kydan.’

  ‘How do you intend to restrict the movements of a much superior force?’ Avier asked.

  ‘Hit and run. Tactics we used on the frontier all the time. There’s nothing special about them, except to carry them out effectively you need a well-trained soldiery, local knowledge and reliable supply. Given those three things, a small force should be able to harass a large force, and if the leadership of the larger force is not up to scratch it will respond defensively. In other words, rather than going out and hunting down its persecutors, the large force settles down and waits to see what happens next.’

  ‘That certainly helps Kydan, but how does it help Sayenna?’ Poloma asked. ‘They’ll just base themselves there and bring in extra troops from across the Deepening Sea.’

  ‘It helps Sayenna because in the end the army occupying it will not be able to bring in reinforcements, and will not have the supplies it needs to fight off continuous and determined raids. Given the right circumstances, a large defensive force, hungry and demoralised, is no match for a small attacking force with plenty of food, plenty of gonblack and plenty of determination.’

  ‘That’s all very well,’ Poloma said, halfway convinced, ‘but how do you stop the Hamilayans from bringing in all the supplies and reinforcements it needs?’

  ‘Ah,’ Gos said, looking meaningfully at Avier. ‘That’s where our navy comes into its own.’

  30

  Commander Salo Mikhel had left most of his men behind, either as corpses or exhausted stragglers. With him were a few cavalry and farmers with their own horses. Behind them smoke filled the sky from fires lit by the living desperate to do anything they could to stop the monsters from getting to their homes and families. In front of him lay the Vardar Mountains, shining in the sun, their yellow stone beckoning, and in the mountains was Omeralt, the golden city, the capital of Hamilay, and in Hamilay was the empress. Only Lerena with her power over the Sefid could stop the plague now, because
Mikhel was sure nothing he or the army could do would ultimately help; there only needed to be one creature left to start the whole thing over again.

  Mikhel, leaning over his saddle, desperate to keep awake, felt the horse under him slow to a halt. He looked up and saw that a picket had been drawn across the road, comprising a wagon, a tangle of fence posts and about twenty farmers armed with scythes, pitchforks and old firegons.

  ‘There’ll be no crossing over,’ said one of the farmers, a big man with a wide, leathery face and a firegon cradled in his arms.

  ‘What are you talking about, man?’ Mikhel said. ‘I have to get to the empress! Don’t you know what comes behind me?’

  ‘Aye, I do, which is why you’re not going anywhere past this point.’

  One of Mikhel’s men kneed his horse off the road to work around the picket. Another of the farmers moved to block his way, and several firegons were cocked.

  ‘There’ll be none of that fancy manoeuvring,’ the spokesman said.

  ‘If you know about what’s happening, why don’t you let me through?’ Mikhel pleaded. ‘Only the empress can help us now!’

  ‘As to that, we’ll stop any creatures, starting with you.’

  ‘It’s not us you have to worry about, you fool. The creatures don’t ride horses!’

  ‘So you say.’

  ‘And they don’t look like us!’

  ‘We’ve had plenty of good folk coming to us for safety. They’ve told us all the stories we need to know. These creatures look like us, they said, and sometimes seem to be family or friends, but then attack you and eat your children. We don’t want none of that going on in our part of the world.’

  Mikhel did not know whether to laugh or cry. ‘Believe me, you will have it soon if you don’t already. I have moved as far as I can every day and they are always ahead of me, and I have done everything I and the soldiers under my command can do to stop them but nothing has worked. They always got around us. Or through us.’ He pointed to the barricade. ‘And they don’t worry about roads.’

  ‘Then why hasn’t the empress done something about it already, eh?’

  ‘You tell ’em, Noddy!’ said a few of the farmers behind the picket.