by Guy Antibes
“Those are hefty glass panes, your majesty,” Anchor said.
“Have to be. Must have cost one of my predecessors a lot of coin. None of them have broken, but I would imagine they are nearly an inch thick. They’ve held back the weather and not a few arrows and ballista bolts in all of the time the windows have protected this room. Every other window that faces the sea has shutters; even my throne room has shutters, but not here. I feel like I can defy the sea itself from here.”
“Indeed.” Unca had never been invited into this room before.
“Now… “ The king barked a laugh and sat down. “I still can’t get over your transporting here all the way from Gensler.”
Shiro shrugged. “We came from within your borders, Your Majesty. Only a few people at a time. It takes a powerful wizard to teleport.”
“Will you teach my mages? I’ve always heard Ropponi wizards are the most powerful in all Goriath.”
“I will do my best, King Willom.” Shiro gave the king a curt bow. Anchor wouldn’t let him teach them their secrets until he trusted Willom’s men.
“Now, tell me how we are going to defend ourselves?”
Anchor began from the attack on Happly. By the time he had finished with his final description of all of the alliance forces closing in on Foxhome, the windows only reflected the light from within the map room.
“Aren’t you men hungry? I could eat a whale.” He climbed down from his elevated chair that looked down at the map table. “I have a private dining room that will suit us just fine.”
~
How could King Willom have sired Prince Peeron? The king had a quick grasp of current events and of Anchor’s strategy. He lacked a certain amount of courage and Anchor could see him struggle with the dramatic moves Anchor intended to be made.
He took another sip of his wine. He’d never had this vintage before. The king said it came all the way from Dakkor. He noticed that the king only picked at his food despite his claim of hunger. Anchor felt dismayed at the king’s ill health. If Willom died and Peeron ascended to the Learsea throne, all of Besseth would fall into chaos through Peeron’s incompetent rule.
“Do you want to know what my son wanted to do?” The king’s tongue seemed to be a bit loose from the wine that he had with dinner. “He wanted to build a wall across the Red Plain. That’s what we call the gap between the mountains. Fifteen leagues. Would have taken years and I still don’t know where you’d find all of the stone.” King Willom shook his head. “He honestly scares me. I didn’t have a competent man to lead our ground forces. Peeron is not bad at naval strategy, but on land, he’s even worse than I am. Sometimes, I’d prefer to hole up in my castle, but that’s not good enough for the rest of Learsea, is it?”
Anchor shook his head. “An admirable position in the right circumstances, but these are not the right circumstances.”
“You speak like a courtier of some kind.” Willom narrowed his eyes. The alcohol made them droop. “Are you sure you’ve never been to Learsea? It seems I might have met you before.”
Anchor laughed. “I assure you that Captain Anchor has never set foot in Learsea until today.”
Shiro smiled at Anchor’s statement.
“Nor will Captain Anchor set foot on my lands again. I can’t have a Captain commanding all of my troops. I’ll think of a suitable title to bestow upon you tomorrow with my generals in attendance.”
“As you will, your Highness. We must begin to muster troops immediately from all parts of your kingdom. I can show you or your staff how I would do it, tomorrow morning, then I need to return to my forces. As we discussed, the Red Roses under Shiro’s direction will begin constructing the fortifications.”
“Where will you get the stone?”
Shiro sat up a bit straighter. “We will use compacted earth and timber. They won’t be as strong as stone, but then they can be dismantled or reinforced for permanency after the coming conflict.”
Willom gazed into his goblet as he rolled the wine around the inside. “Are you absolutely sure Histron is coming?”
“Emperor Daryaku pulls the strings, your majesty. He has been successful in Oringia, the Red Kingdom, Happly. He’s tried to do the same in a number of places, Valetan, Gensler, Learsea.” The king nodded in agreement. “Militarily, your kingdom is the easiest he has to access. I’m not at all certain all of the south Duchies aren’t under his control as well.”
“Not Bintz or Ashof,” the king said. “They are all but part of my kingdom. Trading pacts make it so. You may have a point with the southern dukedoms of Deshine, Venato and Teryon. My factors have reported a slackening of our trading volume with those three.”
“Then we won’t have to expend resources on dukedoms of Bintz or Ashof. Could we expect assistance with men and supplies?”
The king blinked and pursed his lips. “Let’s see how successful we are to the Northeast. If that goes well, that will give me the confidence to ask Duke Hovitz and Duke Selgrid to join us.”
“Please send birds to them with a warning of possible conflict with Deshine.”
The king nodded and took a deep breath, placing both hands on the table. “I’m afraid I have overtaxed you this evening. We will talk again tomorrow morning. I will have servants show you to your quarters. Leef, you get to stay as a guest in the castle tonight, but don’t let it go to your head. Right?” The king looked to be the one overtaxed.
Leef bowed his head. “Your majesty.” Anchor thought the Captain had outdone his monarch in the volume of alcohol consumed.
In the morning, the king had successfully shrugged off the previous evening and sat in his map room perusing a folder.
“Anchor, I will make you my War Marshal. You will have command of all of the land forces of Learsea. I’ve got your appointment papers here.” He looked down at some notes. “It seems that we might have to do something about Deshine. But don’t worry about the south or an attack from the Ayrtan Sea. We can assist Valetan in capturing Port Scarlet from the sea. There is a naval installation close by. Remember, I rule the waves without question.”
The king or one of his people had been scribbling during their dinner. King Willom’s confidence in his sea defenses only served to reinforce his impressions of the king through the years. The king ruled competently enough, but clearly loved the sea more than his subjects inland.
“What kind of defenses do you have in place now?”
“Of course, you know of the Fargo, that great, vast stinking river that starts in Histo and runs through Valetan and Oringia into the Ayrtan Sea. Still, I’ll have General Fellon brief you now that your appointment is official. You do what you deem necessary and that includes drafting men and women into the army. I would appreciate being up to date on all of your activities. You do realize that appointments to high rank come and go.”
Anchor got the message. He examined his documents and confirmed that King Willom had given him extraordinary powers. The king waved his hand in dismissal and took another folder. Before he opened it, he looked out at the sea.
Anchor knew it was time to go and rose to leave the room.
A guard took Anchor to the military building on the castle grounds. “This is your office sir.”
Anchor looked into a hastily cleared out room. Perhaps it housed officers. He couldn’t tell since the furniture looked very new. Leef walked in.
“I’ve now been officially assigned as your adjutant, Lord Marshal.”
“Call me Anchor when there aren’t other officers around. Can you possibly do that?” Anchor said.
“Of course, Anchor. Do you want me to get General Fellon? He’s been in his own office pacing and muttering.” Leef said. “I love to see an uncomfortable general.”
“I don’t,” Anchor said. “They make the rankers uncomfortable.” Anchor never liked seeing King Billeas pacing back and forth. It usually meant trouble for him. He was sure the same kind of discomfort trickled all the way down to every soldier.
Leef’s face
fell a bit. “I’ll be right back.”
Anchor didn’t have to wait long.
“Marshal,” Fellon said. He was a fit man, a head shorter than Anchor with steel gray hair and a full mustache.
“Sit. We have a lot to go over.” Anchor looked over at Leef. “Leef, could you bring in Shiro and something to eat and drink. I’ll be spending the next few hours of the day with the General.
“Yes, Marshal,” Leef said. The man still had a smile on his face, so Anchor guessed Leef cheerfully accepted his new assignment.
The four men met until mid-day exchanging information. Anchor thought Fellon to be competent, but not very imaginative. He had little to add to his strategies and assigned him to the defense of the south and the build up of the army for the southern swing. He only spoke of his general strategy of defending the northwest. Already too many people knew of his plans, so he’d have to assume that Histron would know as well. Thank the gods, his strategy did not require surprise.
Fellon arranged for Anchor to spend a working dinner with the officers in the castle, explaining how the general muster would occur and a broad discussion of strategy. All of the details of the muster had originally come from Tishiaki. Anchor kept it very simple and didn’t provide the men with Anchor’s full strategy along the Northwest Corridor that they all began terming the conflict.
Anchor allowed the three of them another night in beds before they returned to their forces. He took along a willing well-traveled sergeant to connect with Shiro so they could transport to many places within Learsea.
He looked up at the ornate ceiling of his quarters in the castle. Tomorrow he’d be looking up at the stars or the ceiling of a dripping tent. He sighed and turned over. Everything had gone too easily. He tried to go to sleep outlining everything that could go wrong.
~~~
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
~
LOTTO PACED THE FLOOR OF DUKE JELLAS’S STUDY, waiting for Princess Sallia to arrive for a final meeting before he departed north to Valetan.
“Are you that nervous?” Councilor Lessa of Prola asked, sitting back in one of the Duke’s side chairs. The duke hadn’t arrived yet either.
“I don’t know,” Lotto said. “I had an adolescent crush on Princess Sallia and I’m still excited to see her.”
Lessa laughed. “Is the Princess Restella jealous?” He played with his dagger as he continued to lean back.
“She’s always jealous. The link just makes it worse. She can’t read my mind this far away, but we can communicate through the Moonstone, if we concentrate. Restella has the Moonstone and she thinks that gives her more power.”
“But you don’t need the Moonstone.”
“I don’t need to touch the Moonstone, but it’s my guess that any communication goes through it.”
“So if Sallia was interested in you after all, you wouldn’t want that relationship to be communicated. Am I right?”
Lotto wrung his hands. “I suppose so. That damned link has me so confused. It amplifies the emotions between Restella and me.”
Lessa laughed. “I’m glad I’m not you.” He pointed the tip of his dagger at Lotto as Duke Jellas entered with Princess Sallia.
“Please,” the duke said holding up his hand. “No fighting in my offices.”
Lessa smiled and sat forward, sheathing his weapon. Lessa stood and offered Sallia his chair.
“I kept it warm, just for you,” Lessa said, smiling at the princess. Lotto knew he said it just to tease Sallia. The man was a lovable rogue. The princess colored as Lessa had intended, but sat in Lotto’s unoccupied chair. Lessa just raised an eyebrow in mock alarm.
“I’ll just sit here,” Sallia said. “It’s closer to the duke. Are you sure you aren’t Morio’s brother?” She gave Lessa a doubtful smile as she delivered the mild chastening.
Jellas pursed his lips to hide a smile, Lotto surmised. Lotto pulled up another chair over from its place along the wall. He sat on the other side of Lessa from Sallia. Lessa gave him a knowing smirk.
The duke cleared his throat. “I’ve called you here to discuss Prince Peeron.”
“He’s a worse popinjay than I am,” Lessa said, examining his fingernails. “I’d just as soon ship him back home to his father. I dislike cringing in strategy meetings.”
Sallia moved up in her seat. “I disagree with the Councilor. Prince Peeron has little standing among us, but think of the damage he’ll do to Anchor in Learsea. I can put up with a little ‘cringing’ if it furthers our efforts to rid Histron and the Dark Emperor from Besseth.”
The three of them looked at Lotto, who had put his hand to his chin, thinking about his plight with Sallia and Restella. “Uh, I agree with the princess.” He hadn’t really noticed that the question had been aimed at him.
Lessa poked him in the side. “Your opinion of the prince?”
“Oh.” Lotto couldn’t verbally thank Lessa, but he did give him a nod. “I think your initial motive was to keep him close so he can be controlled. I still think that’s the best solution.” He patted Lessa’s knee. “Sorry, Lessa, I’ll have to disagree with you. We won’t assign him to your forces, how’s that?”
Lessa nodded. “I will submit to your collective wisdom, especially assigning him to someone else’s forces. He will stay healthier that way,” Lessa sighed, “but if called upon to be his nursemaid, I can handle him.”
Lotto knew what Lessa meant and he looked at the duke.
“Fair enough. Any word from Oringia?”
Sallia pulled out her Bloodstone. “Let’s have an up-to-date assessment.”
Lotto heard her calling for Restella through the Moonstone.
“Who calls?” Restella’s voice clearly rang through Lotto’s mind.
Sallia spoke, “Lotto, Councilor Lessa, Duke Jellas and I were talking about our intentions to the south and wondered about your progress.”
Lotto heard and felt a laugh. He sensed Restella’s confidence through the communication. “What a difference when the command wants to win against the enemy,” Restella said. “We are halfway to the capital… ”
Lotto realized that Restella was about to act as Duke Histron to Oringia’s Learsea in Anchor’s Learsea strategy. “Oringia’s strategy could be identical to Anchor’s. They might let you advance unhindered to the capital on the other side of the country and then collapse unseen forces on your flank. If you continue forward, you won’t have anywhere to go if they attack from behind.” If Restella needed to listen to advice, it was now. He let his concern for her welfare seep into his thoughts.
Restella said nothing for a few moments, but Lotto could feel a procession anger, confusion and then embarrassment. “Oh, I see. Let me pull out a map.”
Lotto told the group in Crackledown that she was evaluating her position as the moments passed.
“You may have saved me from a monumental error.” Her emotion was one of relief.
“The Oringians might just be weak, Restella and your strategy sound, but I ask you to reconsider. You don’t have to unnecessarily expose yourself.”
“Like in Happly? I know full well the strategy and have had a version of it already played out on me. And I didn’t even see it.”
Sallia looked concerned. “Princess, I’m no strategist, but I urge you to be careful. We are always at your disposal. The Duke, Lessa and I, as well as Lotto, would be pleased to share our thoughts with you as I am of the opinion that your thoughts can benefit our movements as well. Anchor and Shiro would be happy to consult as well through the Sunstone.”
Lotto tried to keep his admiration for Sallia’s comments from his mind.
“I can sense you agree, Lotto.” Restella said.
Lotto felt his forehead grow hot. “I do. This method of instant communication is new to me and I think Sallia makes a great point. We have the Warstones. We should use them.”
“I’m calling my commanders together. I will get back to you after we reframe our strategy, now that you’ve shown me they need r
econsideration. Thank you.” Restella’s connection had been cut off.
Sallia communicated Restella’s final thoughts to the Duke and Lessa. Lotto could only feel relieved.
Lessa fell back into his seat. “Good going, Lotto, for piercing through her strategy.” He made a thrust with his index finger.
“It just became clear to me what she intended. I can sense more through my connection with Restella than can Sallia, I imagine, and I could tell generally what her plans were. It was more of a feel, actually. She instantly made the connection with Happly. Perhaps Anchor’s plan won’t work on Histron. The usurper might see the same pattern.”
Lessa sat up again. “Anchor knows that. His plan has layers. His expectation isn’t to smash Histron’s forces, at this point, as much as it is to keep the Red Kingdom army from penetrating too far into Learsea, while keeping them occupied while we continue to prepare in the north.”
Duke Jellas looked at the three. “I agree with Lessa. Remember Anchor expects to eventually be fighting through the southern duchies and come up to Foxhome from the south. That’s a strategy expecting expulsion of Histron’s forces in Learsea.”
“I only hope that he is successful,” Sallia said.
Lotto hoped they would all be successful.
~
The earthenwork walls looked nearly as strong as stone to Anchor. They took on the aspect of fired clay, to his mind. This wasn’t like mud and wattle structures used by peasants throughout Besseth. Even with coats and coats of limestone wash, no cottage or inn approached the stone-like quality of the walls he now inspected.
“What do you think?” Tishiaki said to Anchor.
“Solid. What will rain do?”
“Make it wet.” Tishiaki laughed and then shrugged. “In fifty or a hundred years, the edges might soften, but as forts, for a few years, Histron’s army can’t pull them down.”
“But can you?” Anchor said. His thoughts turned to Lotto’s method of entering Happly Keep by reducing the mortar to sand.
