by Greg Keyes
“This army is marching from the west,” Isarn replied. “Men and horses, maybe five hundred.”
“Not Fend, then,” Winna said.
“Relief from Eslen, perhaps?”
“Perhaps,” Aspar said. But he remembered what Fend had told him, and in his heart he didn’t think there was any relief in sight.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
DRINKING WITH WARRIORS
THE ARROW felt like liquid fire in Cazio’s arm, and he went all knee-weak.
Dodging arrows, he had decided, was not his forte. That was too bad, because he could see that the man who had shot him was drawing back another shaft as another fellow with ax and shield was bearing down on him hard.
He stepped to put the axman between him and the archer and raised Acredo, glad he’d been hit in the left arm. The arrow was still there, like a little tree sprouting from his bicep. His balance felt off.
He speared at the axman’s face, but the fellow lifted his shield, turned his blade with it, and stepped in with a hard cut. Cazio jerked his blade to parry in a high prismo, with his hand above his head and the blade slanting from right to left across his body. It met the ax just below the hilt, deflecting it a fingers-breadth from hitting him.
With his point down and standing belly to shield with the other man, Cazio did the only thing he could think of: He sprang straight up, tilting his hand out so that the earth-pointing blade came down on the other side of the enemy’s shield and stabbed him in the neck just above the breastbone. Encountering no bone, Acredo slipped right down into the man’s lungs.
When Cazio’s feet hit the ground again, his legs wouldn’t hear of standing, so he went on down while the axman stumbled off, trying for a little while to pull Acredo back out of his body before fetching against a tree.
That left the archer, who was advancing cautiously toward him. Desperately, Cazio began crawling for cover, glancing back often. The man looked grim now and stepped up his pace. Cazio wondered if the axman had been his friend.
But then the fellow sat down hard and dropped his bow. Cazio saw that he had an arrow in his belly.
“Ah, sceat,” he heard the man say. “I knew it.” He sat that way for a moment and then used his bow to push himself to his feet. He looked around, then cast another glance at Cazio.
“Sceat on this,” he said, and began hobbling off into the woods.
“Good luck,” Cazio called after him.
“Fooce-thu, coonten,” the man called back.
“Right,” Cazio breathed, trying to stand. It was absolutely astonishing how much blood was on him. Should he try to get the arrow out?
He took hold of it, the sun exploded, and the next thing he knew, someone was looking down at him. He hoped it was a friend.
“This is going to hurt,” z’Acatto said later that evening.
“You’ve never lied to me before,” Cazio said sarcastically. “I—” But he forgot whatever he meant to say as his vision went white with pain and his capacity for speech was reduced to a series of ragged gasps.
“Told you,” the old man said.
“Yes,” was the cleverest response Cazio could manage.
“You’ll be fine if the fever doesn’t get you.”
“What a relief,” Cazio replied, wiping tears of pain from his eyes with his good hand.
A glance at Austra’s concerned face, and he felt suddenly a bit ashamed. He’d only had an arrow in the meat of his arm. What had been done to her was far worse.
He drank something z’Acatto handed him. It tasted like fire stirred with the sweat of a drunk.
He took another drink, and as z’Acatto plugged and bandaged the wound, he got the broad strokes of what had happened. Shortly put, they had won. The hedgehog had held back the attackers so that the archers could keep putting arrows in them.
“Then the Cassro orders us forward,” Jan told him. “Against what’s left of the horse. At first they can’t believe it; they reckon we’re a defensive formation. But we advance with pike a step at a time, braced together like old times, and they got their infantry behind ’em. Even charging they couldn’t break us, and now we’re startin’ to tickle ’em with our pikes, and they’ve no room to charge. Before you can say Jaq Long-wick, they turn and cut their way through their own infantry.”
He jerked his chin toward the swordmaster. “That’s a man who knows a thing or two about fighting,” Jan said.
“I’m sorry I missed it,” Cazio said.
“Ah, you did your part. Here, have another drink with me.”
“Pleased to,” Cazio said.
“One more,” Austra said from behind him. “Then he’s mine, boys. The sun’s going down.”
They’d set up a tent for her, and once inside, he took her gently by the shoulders and kissed her. She had alcohol on her breath, too, and her eyes were troubled, showing more need than desire.
He pulled her closer, and need suddenly was replaced by what looked like panic. He felt her go rigid and released his grip.
“I’m sorry,” she said.
“No need for that,” he replied, stroking her head. “You’ve been through a lot.”
She kissed the shoulder of his wounded arm. “So have you.”
He bussed her forehead, then sidled around behind her. This time when he pulled her close, she didn’t tense up. He kissed the back of her neck, and she sighed.
Gently, gently, he undressed her, and soon they were spooned flesh to flesh. He reached around and stroked her forehead, then down her ribs and hip.
“Is this enough for this evening?” she asked softly.
“More than enough,” he replied. “Kingdoms more. Empires more.”
“Thank you.”
“You’ll heal,” he told her. “I’ll heal, and we’ll both be better. But we’re fine now. We’re alive, and we have each other.”
“That’s true, isn’t it?” she murmured.
He woke a few bells later. It was cold, and he made sure Austra was well covered in her blanket. Then he pulled on his pants and shirt and went outside. His arm throbbed as if a demon were in it, and the liquor had gone thin as milk in his veins.
About half the men were still awake, singing and laughing by the fire.
He found z’Acatto alone, up on the wagon.
“Is it time for the wine yet, old man?” he asked.
He could just make out his mestro’s face in the distant firelight. It looked like he was smiling a little.
“No, not yet.”
“Why didn’t you tell me any of this? I mean, I know we have our quarrels, but you’re almost my father.”
“I’m not your father,” z’Acatto snapped. Then, more softly: “I could never be that.”
“No? But you took on the role. Why?”
“I couldn’t think of anything better to do,” he said.
“You haven’t answered my question.”
“Doesn’t look like I’m going to, does it?”
Cazio sighed. “Don’t you ever get bored with this bickering?”
Z’Acatto was silent for a moment, and then he chuckled. “Easier than talking,” he said.
“Exactly. For me, too.”
“Fine,” z’Acatto said. “I never wanted you involved in this sort of thing. Your father made me promise to teach you the sword, but he never asked me to make you a soldier. I don’t think he wanted that for you, and I damned sure didn’t. So I didn’t fill your head with tales of our exploits.”
“Maybe if you had, I wouldn’t be involved in all of this now.”
Z’Acatto laughed again. “Right, that’s funny. No matter how bad I made it out to be, it would have sounded exciting to you. And because your father did it, and maybe because I did—”
“You were both famous.”
“Yes. All the more reason you would have wanted to follow in our footsteps.”
Cazio nodded. “You’re probably right. I was a little hardheaded when I was younger.”
“When you were younger
? Your head gets harder every day. And a good thing, because you get hit on it more often all the time.”
He handed a bottle down. It was a not very good wine. Cazio took a swallow.
“What now?” he asked.
“You seem to have that worked out,” z’Acatto said.
“You’re the Emrature,” Cazio replied.
Z’Acatto took the bottle and had another drink.
“I guess I am,” he finally said. “Most of these fellows want to go back to Eslen and fight for Anne. I’ve never seen the place, and I guess I should.”
“Well, it’s something to see,” Cazio said, yawning.
They finished the bottle and started another one before exhaustion overcame the ache in his arm.
“Back to bed for me,” he said, clapping his mentor on the back.
“We move early,” z’Acatto told him.
“Yes, sir, Cassro,” Cazio replied.
He went back to the wagon and found Austra just as he’d left her. He lay against her, relaxing against the warmth of her body.
He woke the next morning in exactly the same position. Austra was still quiet, so he thought to rise and help break camp without waking her.
But as he sat up, he noticed that her eyes were open.
“Morning, love,” he said, and kissed her on the cheek.
She didn’t move, and her eyes were glassy. He shook her, and she didn’t respond. He shook her harder.
CHAPTER TWELVE
DEPOSITIONS
ANNE STRETCHED her limbs and closed her eyes as a cool zephyr ruffled the grass. Faster snuffled nearby, and a lute sounded in the distance.
Something tickled against her lips, and with a smile she parted them and gently bit down, filling her mouth with the tart juice of a grape.
“You didn’t peel it,” she murmured.
“Oh, I see where I stand now,” the earl of Cape Chavel said. “One day a suitor, the next a Hadamish serving girl.”
“You can be both,” Anne said, lazily opening her eyes.
Gulls fluttered overhead in the sea breeze.
“This is a nice place,” the earl said.
“One of my favorites, Cape Chavel,” she replied.
“Really?” he said. “Can’t you see your way clear to call me Tam?”
“Can you see your way clear to peeling a grape?”
He tugged at the sleeve of her dress. “If that’s a manner of speaking.”
“You’re too bold, sir,” she said.
“I wonder if your legs are freckled,” he replied.
“Huh. I wonder if they are.”
“There you go.” He pressed another grape to her lips. This time it was peeled.
“Very good, Cape Chavel,” she said. “You’re learning.”
“But we still aren’t on a first-name basis?”
“I think we should be after a few more years of courting. Are you in a rush?”
“No,” he said. His voice became a bit more serious. “It hardly seems necessary now.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’ve beaten back the army of Hansa. The Church has withdrawn and is suing for peace.”
“Who told you that?” she asked, pushing up on her elbows.
“I guess—well, that’s the word going around.”
“I’ve no idea what Hespero wants,” she said, “but I doubt very much that it is peace. He’s foolish even to come here, given the crimes he’s implicated in.”
“I stand corrected, then.”
“Continue to recline instead,” Anne said.
“As you wish.”
“Are you saying you no longer wish to court me?”
“I’m not saying that at all. But if our courting is pretense to encourage Virgenya to send troops, well, you don’t seem to need them.”
“I don’t, do I?” Anne replied. “But I’m going to get them anyway. And not by any pretense.”
“What do you mean?”
“Charles slighted me, and he slighted the empire. What sort of empress would I be if I allowed my subject kings to treat me like that? No, I think we will change the head beneath that crown.” She cocked an eye at him and reached to stroke his hair. “I think it would sit well right here,” she told him.
The earl blinked, and his mouth opened. Then he smiled as if he’d just understood a joke.
“Your Majesty is in a jesting mood.”
“No,” she said. “I’m quite serious.”
A troubled look turned his features.
“What’s the matter?” she asked.
“I hope Your Majesty doesn’t think—You can’t imagine I had this aim when we began our friendship.”
She shrugged. “I don’t care if you did. Loyalty is good, but so is intelligence. When you cast your lot with me, I wasn’t the dog favored to win this fight. You took a risk with me, and I won’t forget that.”
“I’m not sure what to say, Majesty.”
“I don’t require you to say anything,” she said. “Just don’t pass the news around. I expect your uncle may put up a bit of a fight when you go to claim his hat, and right now we still need our army here. It’s not over yet. Even now Hansa is sending another army, larger than the first.”
“You’ll crush it as easily.”
“It will be easier,” she agreed, “now that I know how to do it.”
“I think you overestimate my uncle’s bravery,” he said. “When he really comes to understand your power, he won’t stand against you. I doubt that any army from anywhere would.”
“Well,” Anne said in a speculative tone, “I was very ill treated in Vitellio and Tero Gallé. I’ve half a mind to add them to the empire. Certainly z’Irbina must be taught a lesson.”
He was staring at her again.
“Don’t be so serious,” she said. “Let’s just come back to this. Our courting is now pretense only for you to kiss me, and I would prefer you start on that now.”
And so he did. His lips were familiar with her neck and shoulder, her hands, the hollow beneath her throat. His hands were acquainted with the broader territory of her body and made themselves languidly busy there. He was not sneaky or apologetic, as Roderick had been. He didn’t pretend to have brushed her breast accidentally but went there with confident deliberation.
And if he explored where he was not allowed, he could tell, and he accepted it, and that was that. It didn’t seem to bother him or hurt his feelings or make him seem weak.
But by the saints he kindled her, found the slow fire in her belly and stroked it out to every inch of her, until all she wanted was for more of her flesh to press his, to feel what two unclothed bodies were like together.
But not here, where anyone could see. They could go back to the castle, though…
“Enough,” she said faintly. “Enough, Cape Chavel.”
“Is something wrong?” he whispered.
“Yes,” she replied. “I want you. That’s what’s wrong.”
“Nothing wrong with that,” he replied. “I want you, too. You’ve no idea.”
“No,” she said. “I think I have some idea. But we can’t. I can’t. I’m queen. I have to be responsible. What if I got pregnant, for saints’ sake?”
She was surprised to hear herself say it, but there it was.
“I understand,” he said. “It doesn’t make me want you any less.”
She stroked his face. “You’re dangerous,” she said. “Another few moments and you might have convinced me.”
He smiled halfheartedly. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I would not make a mistress of you.”
She nodded.
“I would make you wife, though, if you would say yes.”
She started to make a joke of that, but then, with a bit of a shock, she understood the look in his eyes.
“Let’s not get in a hurry, Cape Chavel,” she said.
“I love you.”
“There’s no need to say that,” she whispered. “Just hush.”
He
nodded but looked a little hurt.
Saints, he’s serious, she realized.
Things felt turned around all of a sudden. She hadn’t understood until this moment that she was the one in control of the situation.
“I’m not closing the door,” she said. “When I was younger, it was my dream to marry for love. My mother, my sister—everyone—tried to make me understand that a princess didn’t have that option, but I refused to believe it. Now I am queen, and I begin to understand. Marriage isn’t something I can choose because my heart or body wants it. You have become dear to me in a very short time, and I am tempted to rush. I can’t. Please bear with me, court me, be my friend. I never took you for a man easily discouraged. I hope I wasn’t wrong about that.”
He smiled, and this time it looked more sincere. “You weren’t.”
“Good.” She kissed him again, lightly this time. “And now I’m afraid I must return to the castle. Thank you for a pleasant morning. And welcome back. I’m very well pleased you didn’t get yourself killed.”
The morning left her with a pleasant tingle that lasted well into the evening. Emily seemed to be grinning a lot, and Anne was pretty certain the girl had made it her business to watch at least a little of what was going on through the hedges. Anne couldn’t really bring herself to care.
That afternoon she prepared to meet Hespero. After a little consideration, she chose to wear the habit and wimple of a sister of Saint Cer. Then she went to the Red Hall. They were to meet late, after the dinner hour, around ninth bell.
She made him wait until the eleventh.
He didn’t seem particularly disturbed when she entered alone. He was dressed in the simple black robe and square hat she was accustomed to seeing him in as praifec. He still had the mustache and barb, too.
“Majesty,” he said, bowing.
“I didn’t know your grace accepted me as queen,” Anne said. Her heart was beating a little too fast, and she realized that now that he was here, she was nervous.
She couldn’t let that show.
“It has been difficult for me, I admit,” he said. “But I thought to start on a note of conciliation.”
“Well, that’s promising,” Anne said. “Speak on.”
“News has spread of your rather impressive powers. Would you be surprised to learn that it was not unexpected?”
