by Chris Bunch
As I watched, a shimmer grew on them, the borealis. Someone spoke to me, a voice of thunder, a voice of silence, and perhaps it was the voice of a goddess, perhaps the voice of a little girl. Perhaps it came from the gods, perhaps from my good, hard common sense.
What the voice said was not in words, but it was very clear.
The world is death, the world is nothing but pain and a desperate fight to avoid returning to the Wheel, and then an equally headlong rush to be taken by it.
If that is how you choose to see it that is the way life is and always shall be, the voice went on. But do you think Captain Mellet and his men wanted death? Didn’t they want life, want warmth, love, and the giggling embrace of a woman?
So Saionji took them, took them and the girl Allori. Does she also now own you?
“No,” I said, and wasn’t aware I’d spoken aloud, vehemently, until Jacoba said “What?” in a startled manner.
“I’m sorry,” I said, and turned away from the mountains and death and realized she was very close. Her lips were parted, and her breath was very sweet.
It seemed appropriate to kiss her, and so I did. Her arms fumbled for a moment, then found the entrance to my cloak and pulled me closer to her. I kissed her again, a very long kiss.
“I’m back,” I said.
Somehow she understood, or appeared to.
“That’s good.”
I opened my cloak so it covered us both and we held each other, me standing, her on the branch, for a very long time, without moving. I kissed her once more, and her legs came around me, and took me into another embrace.
It was warm, comforting, welcoming me, and I felt my spirits lift.
Jacoba giggled.
“What’s funny?” I asked.
“That statue.”
I peered at it through the gloom, and was grateful for the darkness. I still had some innocence. The stone showed some god loving a nymph. He held her lifted above the ground, hands cupped around her buttocks, her legs wrapped around him, and on both their faces were expressions of goatish glee.
“What’s funny about it?”
“You know a man carved it.”
“How can you tell?” I wondered. “Other than it’s, uh, fairly exact.”
“Ah, my handsome young cavalryman, but that’s where you’re wrong. It’s not exact at all.”
“Why not?”
“Men aren’t that strong,” she said. “At least not for very long. If anybody … even a god … tried to make love like that, he’d be sure to fall. Probably on her, too.”
“Ah-hah,” I said. “Further proof, my pastry chef, you should stick to matters of the kitchen, and not theorize wildly.”
“Prove I am wrong,” she said. “That is, if your leg is up to it.”
“It’s not my leg that’s up,” I murmured, as my hands slid beneath her cloak, and lifted her tunic, and her small breasts sprang against my palms, nipples hard and firm. I massaged them, while my lips sought hers, then kissed down the silk of her neck. Her breath came faster against my ear.
She wore some sort of belted kirtle, and her hands unfastened it and pulled it away, then busied themselves with the ties of my trousers.
I moved both my hands down her sides and across her stomach, fingers entering and gently caressing her. She gasped pleasure. I slid my hands under her thighs and picked her up from the branch. Her hand held my cock steady, and I let her slip down onto me, and she shuddered as I drove deep, breath shrilling, gasping and then she buried her shriek into the wool of my cloak as I shuddered and spasmed inside her. We stood like that forever.
Then she murmured, “You cheated. You used the branch for a brace.”
So I had, holding her against the tree as we drove together.
“You still haven’t proved you were right,” she said.
Still inside her, I lifted her away from the tree and carefully knelt, until she lay on her cloak, mine serving as blanket. I felt myself growing strong, and moved within her. Her legs slid up around my waist and she lifted against me.
When we came back into the palace it was very late, and I was very glad no one was about, for we looked exactly like what we were, with damp leaves everywhere and clothes muddied in the most obvious places.
I was back from that dark realm of death and ice.
• • •
I sought Tenedos out the next morning to apologize as subtly as I could for not showing the proper enthusiasm for our summons to Nicias.
“The very man I was about to look up,” he said heartily before I could speak. “Tell me, Damastes, poor lad, do you feel sick?”
“Not at all, sir.”
“Oh dear,” he said. “The disease you have is truly dreadful, since one of the signs is the carrier is unaware of his state.”
I noted the smile on his face, and waited. I was becoming accustomed to Tenedos’s way of dealing with matters.
“So I am sick, sir. Why?”
“Sit down, and I’ll explain. What do you think will happen when we reach Nicias?”
I thought about it for a few moments. “Forgive me if I sound like a fool, sir. But I’d guess that the Rule of Ten want us to testify as to what happened.”
“Of course. So they said in their orders. What comes next?”
“Now I’m using some of what you told me, about them wanting to settle the Border States, and using you as a pretext for action. I’d guess they’ll mobilize the army and, as soon as the Time of Dews permits campaigning, march south against Kait.
“As for us … well, I suppose I’ll return to the Lancers, and you’ll do whatever you want.”
“Let’s ignore us for the moment and go back to the former matter. Before this morning, I would have agreed with you as to the Rule of Ten’s intents. But I breakfasted with the domina of the Twentieth Heavy Cavalry this morning.”
The Twentieth, the Lancers, and the Tenth Hussars were the three elite formations responsible for keeping peace along the border.
“I imagined,” Tenedos continued, “that he would have been alerted to such a plan, or do I still not understand the military mind?”
“No, sir. You’re correct. Of course the Rule of Ten would send some sort of confidential missive to him, since his unit should be one of the first to take the field. If I were planning the campaign I’d use the Lancers to drive through Sulem Pass and the Twentieth to hold it, so soldiery from the flatlands could enter Kait with the fewest possible casualties.”
“Well, he’s heard nothing. I gently sounded him about the matter, and he was most surprised he’d not been alerted, given what happened to us.”
Anger flooded me. “Are you saying the Rule of Ten won’t do anything?”
“I’m afraid that may be exactly what will happen. They’ll be terribly outraged at the horror of it all, and then send some sort of threatening note, which Achim Fergana will ignore, and life will continue.”
“Son of a bitch!” I said.
“Yes. I’ve often thought of our rulers in similar words.”
“What about the Tovieti? What about Thak?”
“Ignore it and it shall go away. They’ve ruled Numantia for generations with that policy. Why should things be different now?”
Tenedos still smiled, but his expression was utterly humorless. I controlled myself. Very well. If that was to happen, I was a soldier, and I would continue to serve. Politics were not my affair.
“What does this have to do with my being sick?”
“After I returned from my meal with the good domina, I considered the options. What I need is time, time to send some dispatches north.”
“As you did when we recovered the dolls?”
“Exactly. Perhaps if I sound our horn quite loudly it shall be impossible to mute when we arrive in person. So I sent a message north to the Rule of Ten just an hour ago that you had fallen ill. I said that we would be delayed for a week, and apologized for the delay. Certainly I could not entertain the notion of coming without you, sin
ce you have knowledge of important military matters far beyond my ken, so the Tauler’s passage can be put off for a few days.”
The anger ebbed, and I grinned.
“Just how sick am I to be while you’re being a one-man symphony?”
“Quite invisibly ill.”
He handed me an envelope.
“You mentioned once, back in Sayana, that you wished to spend time on one of the Ureyan houseboats. Well, it is not spring nor summer, but arrangements have been made.”
“May I ask a favor, sir?”
“You need not,” he said. “That also has been taken care of. I guess I can live without my desserts for a week.” He looked down at his body, which was regaining its former sleekness. “Someone commented last night I was putting on weight. I suspect she prefers the emaciated look, but be that as it may.
“I want you to perform your disappearing act within the hour. There shall be an ambulance at the rear entrance to the palace to take you and Jacoba to your ‘hospital.’ ”
I saluted him, and hurried off.
• • •
Jacoba had already gotten the message, and her case was packed. I’d seen her open but one, and asked her, as I rolled my kit, what was in the other.
“My cooking tools.”
“Those two cases are all you own?”
“All I wish to, right now. When the time comes to own other things, I shall know it, I believe. But at the moment I prefer to travel fast and quickly.”
• • •
The week on the lavish houseboat floated past easily and quickly. I’m afraid we didn’t avail ourselves of many of the services that were available. The lavish meals were all too often eaten cold, the moment having seized us. Since Jacoba was not much more fond of drink than I, the expensive wines went untasted. Nor did we see much of the winter splendor of the lake, even though the crew moved us every day from place to place.
What we did was make love. Sometimes it was carefully planned, a building crescendo in one of the luxurious bedchambers. But it was as likely to be a sudden burst of passion.
Once, when we’d sent throw rugs and a small table flying, Jacoba murmured afterward, her head against my chest, that whoever owned the boat would have to have it most thoroughly cleaned, since every room now smelled of nothing but musk and semen. “Or, perhaps he’ll leave it as it is, and try to find for his next client some rich old fool with a young wife who wishes some aphrodisiacal assistance.”
I said I was delighted to be doing such an altruistic service, but that her knee was digging into my side, and could she move a little?
“I could,” she said. “Tell me how. Should we consider whether my heels would fit comfortably behind your neck?”
I said I thought that could be a marvelous experiment, and the world swam away yet again.
• • •
“I think I need a vacation from our vacation,” I murmured as we left our carriage and reentered the palace.
“Weakling,” Jacoba said. “I’ve been looking forward to getting back, and having a few hours to show these foolish Ureyans a sabayon is not a custard.” Her superior had not survived the journey from Sayana, and so Jacoba had been promoted to his place.
Resident-General Tenedos found me in my rooms, where I was contemplating a nap. I’d found that the Tauler had not arrived, although it was expected momentarily.
“My sorcery says you are most miraculously healed,” he congratulated me.
“You appear most jovial, sir,” I said.
“I am, I am. I have had some response to the small missives I sent to Nicias that suggest the Rule of Ten may not commit its usual vacillations after our testimony, although I frankly believe cowardice will always out.”
“What happens if it does?” I asked. “I’d hate to think my men and the others died in vain.”
“Damastes, don’t ever think that. The battlefield is always changing. If it is not fought here, well then, it shall be mounted on another day, in another place.
“History cannot be turned back on itself, which the Rule of Ten do not know as yet.
“My day is drawing very near. Which is why I wished to speak to you. I’ve considered how we should appear once we reach Nicias, and think it would be best if we appear most wonderful and exotic.
“To that end, I sought our hillman Yonge, who is making a most disgusting satyr of himself in the whorehouses of this city. I think the harlots were glad to see his back.
“He was delighted at the thought of accompanying us on our journey, especially when I told him he was to be assigned directly to you. He’s quite determined to copy your style of leading, for which I wish him nothing but luck.”
Tenedos’s light tone vanished. “I’ll also be taking four of the poor foot soldiers with us. Perhaps when the Rule of Ten see these men who’ve given an arm, a leg, or an eye they might be less likely to pass the matter off with an empty threat.”
Tenedos took a deep breath, visibly forcing a change of mood.
“I’ve also written a letter to your domina, and he agreed that certain of the soldiers in Cheetah Troop could be detached to join us.
“I’ll welcome your suggestions. Remember, we wish men who’ll be very colorful, sending the starkness of the Frontiers deep into the hearts of these city men. And wasn’t that a well-turned phrase?”
I thought.
“Lance Karjan … the one who was your bodyguard in the pass. I’d also be very pleased to have Troop Guide Bikaner,” I said, “but I doubt if the domina will give him up. Besides, he’ll be busy rebuilding Cheetah Troop up from fresh recruits.
“The archer, Curti, although I’d take him more for his talents than appearance. If I’m allowed one other, that gaur who walks on two legs, Svalbard.
“Maybe if we can’t get the Rule to listen, we can turn him loose with a bludgeon and let him provide his own brand of logical convincement.”
“Careful, Legate,” Tenedos warned. “You’re spending too much time around me. You’re starting to sound positively treasonous.”
I grinned. “One question, sir. Who are you taking to provide this, umm, color you seem to think is vital?”
“Why I’m surprised,” Tenedos said. “First, a sorcerer worth his potions needs no outside bullshit to baffle.
“Secondly, Damastes, what do you think you are?”
• • •
A day later the Tauler churned its way to the docks in Urey. It was decked with bunting from stem to stern, and a band played gaily on its foredeck.
Its officers and crew were uniformed, and the ship shone as if it had just been launched.
There were barely seventy of us to make the journey, less than a quarter of the usual complement of passengers. The Tauler was to be ours exclusively, and we were told again and again that anything we wished would be provided for, nothing could be too great for the heroes of the Border States. I tried to lead Lucan and Rabbit aboard myself, and I thought the hostler would die of shame. I tried to give him a coin, and he was even more shocked.
Two stewards led me to my cabin, which was on the top deck of the paddle wheeler, its large portholes looking directly over the ship’s bows. There were three rooms, a bedchamber, a sitting room, and an enormous bathchamber. There were four attendants whose sole duty was keeping me happy. I wondered what the suite cost in normal circumstances and shook my head. I would most likely have to loot an entire province to afford it.
The Seer Tenedos had his cabin across the passageway. Its door stood open, and I noted three young women making themselves easy within. The first was one of the women who’d shared his bed in Sayana, the others were maidens he’d met in Renan. One I’d been introduced to as the daughter of one of that city’s elders. The city had given its all to make us happy.
As for me, I had Jacoba, and wanted nothing more. She bounced twice, experimentally, on the springs of the large bed.
“I wonder what my mother would say if she could see me now,” she said.
&nbs
p; “Perhaps … shameless doxy?”
“Not likely, since she was kept by one of our district’s counselors, and she told me she was never quite sure who my father was, other than he was certainly not that old lecher.
“She’d most likely be proud of me,” Jacoba went on, “and tell me to not waste a single second of this time.”
She unstrapped her sandals, kicked them off, and leaned back on the bed, bringing one knee up and letting it fall to the side and sliding her dress up over her bare, brown thighs.
“Come here, Damastes,” she murmured. “I always listened to my mother’s advice.”
• • •
Sometimes we had our meals sent to the cabin, sometimes we went to the dining room, so Jacoba could evaluate the wares of her competitors and, she added, “steal any ideas worth the thieving.” I used the excuse of letting my wound heal, although, thanks mostly to Tenedos’s magic, my leg was nearly completely mended.
Seer Tenedos also held to his cabin for most of the journey, and when he did appear his three women danced close attendance on him. I was amused — they behaved like pheasant hens doting on their cock at the start of mating season.
I did encounter him alone late one night.
He was leaning on the top deck’s railing, staring back at our wake. I could tell he had been drinking, although his speech was unslurred.
We talked of this and that, then, without preamble, he said, “Are you ready to go back?”
“Back where?”
“Into Kait. But not as a legate, and not at the head of a single troop of cavalry.”
I looked at him curiously. Perhaps part of me never wanted to see that country again, not its sere peaks, not its dry deserts, and above all not its treacherous, deadly people. But I knew that was where my duty lay, and most likely the rest of my career would be spun out in the Border States.
“Of course, sir.”
Tenedos nodded once, as if that was the answer he’d expected, and walked off, without saying good night.
I stared after him. Suddenly I had questions that I’d not be able to ask him on the morrow when he was sober, and I’d missed my chance now.
How would he be able to decide what rank I might gain, let alone what commands I might have?
