Savior

by Loren K. Jones

  As the royal party neared a patch of forest, twenty raggedly-dressed men ran out of the trees, shouting and waving swords as they attacked. They were well disciplined for bandits, unsurprising considering their true nature. The archers were being careful to shoot only the Guards, preserving the royal party for their master’s pleasure.

  Java, Jah’Moke and Cah’Fene had each tumbled out of their saddles as soon as the shouting started, and the first arrows flew. Lieutenant Norstrand and his Guardsmen drew their swords, but six men fell to the archers before they could even arm themselves. Emin led a charge into the ambushers, slashing from side to side, scattering them and felling five. The other Guardsmen were fighting as well, but several men had slipped past them, heading toward Java.

  Cah’Fene was kneeling on the ground, shooting at the attacking men under the bellies of the horses. Java and Jah’Moke had split up, Java moving forward, Jah’Moke back. Neither had their bows, but they were both wearing their bandoleers. Knives met the men, striking throats and chests. Java was momentarily confused when a man she’d hit solidly in the chest didn’t fall. Her last knife struck him in the throat and dropped him, but three men still stood. Drawing her dirk, she prepared to defend herself.

  Jah’Moke had also expended all his knives, but he wasn’t ready to stand and fight. A diving roll brought him to his brother’s side, and he used Cah’Fene’s knives to stop two of the last men. Then he dashed to Java’s side and bracketed the last man.

  Scout Lieutenant Drelix Salvin of His Majesty Frander’s Army suddenly found himself alone, facing two opponents he hadn’t expected to be fighting. Drawing his dirk, he crouched and took and experimental swipe at the woman. She didn’t flinch as he expected, but rather met his attack with one of her own. Then the man moved, striking at his back as he guarded against the woman. Turning to block the man, the woman struck him in the shoulder, throwing him off balance.

  Jah’Moke slid his dagger in to the attacker’s chest, surprised by the resistance he encountered. Still, the knife slid home, splitting the attacker’s heart. Java darted forward, retrieving her knives and scanning for other opponents, but all the attackers were down. So were eight of her Guardsmen.

  Lieutenant Norstrand had continued through the attackers, not turning back to guard Java. He had spotted someone in the trees sitting a horse and attacked him instead. The man had tried to escape, but he had waited too long. Lieutenant Norstrand knocked him from his horse, then attacked, incapacitating him. Only when he was sure that his back was clear did he return to the fight. Java and Jah’Moke had just dealt with the last man, so he retrieved the prisoner.

  Lord Persin looked stunned: His twenty men had been defeated by only ten Guards. His hands shook behind his back as Lieutenant Norstrand bound him, then led him forward. The princess and her bastards were wiping blood from their knives, inspecting the wounded and dead men. Lieutenant Norstrand waited until they were close to Java before tripping him, causing him to fall face first in the dirt at her feet.

  “Who is he?” Java asked calmly, looking at Lieutenant Norstrand for answers.

  “I don’t know, Princess.” Stepping forward, he kicked the prostrate man in the ribs. “Who are you?”

  “Go to the deepest hell, you sellikker bitch!” Persin shouted, earning another kick in the ribs.

  Jah’Moke had retrieved his weapons and noticed something odd about the men. “Java, look at this!” he said excitedly, pointing to one of the men.

  “What is it?” Java asked, walking to Jah’Moke’s side.

  Jah’Moke tore the man’s shirt open, revealing a hard leather breast plate. “They’re wearing armor. No wonder our knives didn’t stop them.”

  “Armored bandits?” Java mused softly as her head tilted to the side. Then she turned and dropped to her knees beside the prisoner. Drawing a knife, she pulled the man’s head up by the hair and held the knife to his throat. “Who are you?”

  “Go to the deepest hell!” Lord Broward shouted, causing Java to smack his nose against the ground.

  Java stood, frowning at the carnage around her. “We need help. Lieutenant, what’s our situation?” Java asked, glancing at the bodies lying all around them.

  “Four dead, four wounded, Princess,” the lieutenant replied. “There are six wounded bandits as well.”

  “Who’s healthy? We need someone to ride back to Blackburn and bring us some support,” Java asked, her eyes betraying her feelings at hearing that four of her Guardsmen were dead.

  Corporal Relington stepped forward and bowed his head to Java. He was cradling his left arm carefully, and he had a lump on his forehead, but he was the most able of the wounded. “I can go, Princess, if someone will help me mount.”

  Once Corporal Relington was on his way, Java insisted on removing their dead from among the bandits. Lieutenant Norstrand tried to get her to stand back, but she insisted on helping. Jah’Moke detailed Cah’Fene to guard them all. He was not comfortable with the idea that there might be others.

  Several hours passed before they heard horses approaching from the direction of Blackburn. They took cover in the trees, just in case, but it was Corporal Relington returning with fifteen Hiddendell Guards and an assortment of others, including Lord Selvin and Lord Eldric.

  Eldric was the first out of his saddle, rushing to Java’s side. “Princess, are you hurt?” he asked, his eyes searching Java for signs of wounds. She was spattered with blood, but he could find no trace of injury.

  Captain Talon Drapersmith, commander of the Blackburn Guards Detachment, stepped up to Lieutenant Norstrand and acknowledged his salute.

  “Report, Lieutenant.”

  The lieutenant gave him a quick rundown of the action, including the part that the royal party had played. The captain looked startled by that but didn’t say anything.

  Lord Selvin walked over to the man lying face down with his hands bound behind his back. Kicking him in the ribs to force him to roll over, he uttered a startled oath. “Persin?”

  “Do you know this man, Lord Selvin?” Captain Drapersmith asked, quickly moving to Lord Selvin’s side.

  “Yes! He is Lord Persin Broward. He was the heir to Devon County before his father made such a mess of things.” Kneeling, he looked Persin in the eye. “Are you out of your mind, Persin? Attacking the princess like this? They’ll execute you!”

  Java stepped forward to look at the son of her enemy. Shaking her head, she sighed. “Persin Broward, you are no doubt the biggest fool in the duchy. I won’t sentence you here. We’ll let my father do that.”

  “He is not your father, you lowborn bitch! You’re not of noble blood!” Persin shouted, though not with the volume that he had had earlier. The bruises and cracked ribs he had received were taking their toll on his strength.

  “He thinks he is.” Shaking her head, she stepped away and brushed her hands off. All around her the Guards were seeing to the wounded, both hers and the bandits. One of the bandits looked like he was in fairly good shape, so she questioned him.

  “Were did Lord Broward hire you?” she asked, drawing looks from the Guardsmen around her. They had not heard the discussion among the officers.

  “I’ll never talk. Get it over with,” the man said through gritted teeth. His eyes bored through her, and Java felt uneasy next to him. Then she recognized why. She was feeling something that she hadn’t felt since she had found Samantha: Frander’s evil.

  “Captain, search him, but be careful of what you find. He’s carrying something that’s been poisoned by Mage Frander,” Java instructed, stepping back and drawing a knife in each hand. Finding Frander’s evil so deep in Hiddendell was a shock.

  The prisoner’s eyes went round as the Guardsmen carried out her orders. “How did you...”

  “Silence, you!” the captain said, bouncing the man’s head off the ground before continuing his search. He finally brought out a bundle of leather and revealed a brooch that was all too familiar to Java, and seeing it made her step back in ala
rm.

  “Smash that thing!” she shouted, causing the captain to drop it on the ground. Before he could do anything else she had swept up a discarded sword and brought it down on the brooch, shattering it. “Who the hells are you?” she shouted again, dropping to her knees and laying her dirk against the prisoner’s throat. The man recognized it, and paled.

  “I’m no one,” he whispered.

  “You recognize this dirk, don’t you? I took it off one of your Scouts after I killed him. Now again, who are you?” Java hissed, moving the dirk so it broke the skin on the man’s throat, but he still refused to talk. Java finally jerked her arm back, slicing the man’s throat and splashing blood on the Guardsmen who had gathered around to listen. The Guards shouted and cursed as Java stalked over to Persin Broward. Dropping to her knees, she held the still bloody knife in front of his eyes. “The truth, or you join him,” she growled.

  “They came to me,” Persin whispered, never taking his eyes off the knife. “They said they could capture you, force the duke to stay out of their way. They never said they were from Frander. They never said.”

  “Traitor,” Java snarled, her voice dripping with scorn. Turning to the captain, she nodded. “Execute the rest of these bastards, then search them. Gather all of their weapons but be careful with them.” Turning to a very shocked Selvin, she frowned. “We need to get the wounded back to a Mage, Journeyman or better. Frander poisons his troop’s weapons with magic.”

  “Frander? Princess, how...” Lord Selvin began, but Java cut him off.

  “Not now. We’ll have time to talk back in Blackburn.” Turning away from Selvin, Java again addressed the captain. “I want a man on a fast horse on his way to Whitehall. I have an emergency message to send.”

  The captain blinked several times, then snapped his fingers. A sergeant came to his side immediately and snapped to attention. “Sir!”

  “Sergeant Grinden, you will carry the princess’ message to Whitehall,” The captain instructed. Turning back to Java, he bowed. “I have a kit, if you’d care to dictate your message, Princess Java.”

  Java nodded and went with the captain, ignoring the sound of men being killed behind her. The message was quickly composed, and Java wrote it herself, further surprising the captain.

  Arten, we have a major problem. We were attacked by men posing as bandits, led by Persin Broward. After we defeated them, we found out that they were Frander’s men. Persin claims that he did not know they were from Frander. We will see. I lost four of my escort, but Jah’Moke, Cah’Fene and I are all fine. Send messengers to Kaster and Sammy warning them to be extra careful. I don’t think this is the only team in the duchy.

  Java

  Folding the note, she placed it in the sergeant’s hand. “This goes straight to the duke. I don’t care if you have to wake him when you arrive. Is that understood?”

  The sergeant nodded and saluted, taking the message gingerly between his fingers. Java had hardly cleaned her hands, and there were bloodstains on the message from the man she had so recently killed. Quickly mounting his horse, he galloped away, thankful to be leaving the carnage behind.

  The captain had sent several of his men into the nearby forest and they returned leading twenty horses. Captain Drapersmith ordered the men’s bodies loaded and brought back to Blackburn, but Java didn’t wait. Taking the lords and the remainder of her party, she took her dead and wounded Guards ahead.

  Corporal Livingston sidled up to his commander and saluted. “Sir, was that really the princess? She slit that man’s throat and ordered us to slaughter the rest. How could a princess do that?”

  “Yes, that is Princess Java. And she could do that because she’s still too much a damned mercenary. Barbarians, every one of them.” Turning away, the captain mounted his own horse. Riding at the head of the column, he reflected that having such a woman as duchess was not necessarily a bad thing, but it wasn’t necessarily good either.

  * * *

  In Blackburn, Java cleaned up, then called for a conference with the nobility. She was introduced to Lord Brendan and Lady Helven Kerlin, Lord Demalin and Lady Alinda Westen, and Lord Clancy Pernden. Java nodded to each in turn as they were introduced, then called for order. Elise was missing from the gathering, as was Cah’Fene. She had objected to being excluded until Cah’Fene had volunteered to absent himself, saying that such was not his place. Elise had suddenly stopped objecting and volunteered to be his hostess. Her brothers both rolled their eyes at that, but hadn’t objected.

  “My noble lords and ladies, let me recap what has transpired,” Java began, catching the attention of the nobles. “My party was attacked by a Scout Patrol from Emperor Frander, acting under the guise of bandits in the employ of Persin Broward. They are all dead, but it was a near thing. Four of my personal Guards were also killed, and it’s doubtful that Corporal Hillside will ever recover full use of his right arm. Lord Persin has been arrested on charges of high treason, but that is not our main concern. These Scouts are. I have already sent a message to Whitehall, informing Duke Arten of what has occurred. I expect he will arrive here before I’m ready to leave again. In the meantime, I’m instituting a search of the area for any other bandits. I doubt there will be any found, but we want to make sure.”

  “Princess,” Lord Demalin began, standing to address Java, “how can you be sure that these men were really from Frander? Couldn’t they have simply have come across equipment with his markings accidentally?”

  Jah’Moke stood, shaking his head. “No, Lord Demalin. We’ve had experience with Frander’s men before. These men acted like the Scouts we encountered on the border, not simple bandits. In addition, they recognized Java’s dirk as one of their own.” Jah’Moke paused to gauge the effect of his words on the nobles.

  “Lord Broward also told us that they came to him with the idea of capturing Java to force Duke Arten to leave them alone.” The meeting broke up on that note, and each of the lords left with instructions to have their people on guard against other attacks.

  Sergeant Grinden made good time to Whitehall and returned after only three days with a contingent of one hundred Hiddendell Royal Guards, headed by Stephen Corban. Backing them were two hundred Firewalkers. Lieutenant Tahoe had brought the relief contingent through Whitehall on their way to Linkville, looking for Java. When she had been informed of the incident, she had informed Duchess Naria in no uncertain terms that she was going after Java. A messenger was sent to Linkville, informing Marta and Maren.

  Java and Jah’Moke shared a grin upon seeing the Firewalkers. They didn’t realize who the contingent was until Java recognized Ari riding around the column toward her. Then she whooped and hollered, shocking her hosts once again as she ran out and met Ari half way out of the saddle.

  “Ari! I didn’t know you were coming this trip,” Java shouted, grinning at her friend.

  “It’s my turn, Java. Are you all right? The sergeant said he didn’t think you’d been hurt,” Ari said, holding loosely to Java.

  “No, Jah’Moke and I are fine. I lost four of my men though. Did Arten or Naria tell you what we found out?” Java asked, stepping back to look Ari in the eye.

  “Yep. That’s why we’re here. Jennin almost left the Guards behind when she found out what happened. Anything new?” Ari asked, glancing around. Lieutenant Tahoe and all the senior Firewalkers were gathered in a tight knot around Java.

  “No. We found six control brooches among the men and smashed them all. Lord Emver’s Mage neutralized the weapons, then we had the smith melt them.” Turning to Jennin, she gave her a quick salute. “Lieutenant, I’m happy to see you again. Has it really been six months already?”

  “Almost, Princess. Klamath sent us early for some R&R before we took over. We’d been waiting for you in Whitehall for two days when Sergeant Grinden showed up.” Jennin said, smiling at the reason for their stay.

  Java nodded and started circulating among the women, greeting friends and meeting new faces. Jennin and Ari sta
yed at her side, each staying as close as possible without crowding her. When Jennin gave instructions to pitch camp, Java helped. This surprised some of the new Firewalkers, and all the men present, but that was just Java.

  Captain Corban and Captain Drapersmith found Java sitting comfortably in Lieutenant Tahoe’s tent along with Ari and Dannett. Dannett was a corporal now, though she had received her promotion just the week before they left Firedale.

  Captain Drapersmith was frowning as he entered the tent. “Princess Java, please come back into town. It’s not safe out here without protection.” The captain stopped talking when he saw the expressions of amusement on the women’s faces.

  “Captain Drapersmith, I think that I’m quite safe with the Firewalkers,” Java said softly, making Stephen chuckle.

  “Indeed, Java, but you should still return to the manor. For the night, at least,” he said, grinning broadly. “Your father has made me personally responsible for you.”

  Ari grinned broadly and nudged Stephen’s leg. “Why don’t you stay out here with us instead? I have room.”

  Stephen didn’t rise to the bait, in spite of the fun it would have been to shock Captain Drapersmith. “No, I don’t think so, Ari. Emmy said you bite.”

  Stephen’s retort had all the women roaring with laughter while Captain Drapersmith simply frowned. Stepping forward, he looked down into Java’s eyes and spoke softly. “Princess, courtesy demands that you pay your respects to the lords and thank them for their hospitality.”

  Java sighed at that, nodding. “Very well. We can talk tomorrow, ladies. Lieutenant, please post extra sentries. I don’t expect trouble, but we need to be on guard.” Java smiled as Jennin stood and saluted.

  * * *

  Once Java had departed with the captains, Ari sighed and sat back down. “She’s changed, Jennin. Not much, but she never would have let an argument like that sway her before.”