Mitchell Graham - [Fifth Ring 03] - The Ancient Legacy(V1.0)

by Mitchell Graham

  "I wonder how Gawl is getting on?" said Collin, look­ing up at it.

  Mathew assumed the remark was because Gawl was a sculptor, and said so.

  "No, it's not that," Collin replied. "The arms remind me of his."

  They spent the next several minutes looking around the lobby and found nothing remarkable there. It was just a large empty room that could have held at least a thousand people. Against the far wall Collin found a series of metal doors with four tiny rooms behind them. Each contained several rows of numbered buttons on a wall panel. The highest read 42.

  "I saw something like this in Argenton," Collin told Mathew. "The Ancients used them to go up and down the building."

  "You boys can keep exploring if you like," Lara said. "It doesn't look like the storm is going to let up. I'll get the food and our sleeping rolls." "I'll go with you," Ceta said.

  To everyone's suiprise, the women returned a short while later not only with food, but with a small gray cat.

  "Look what I found," Lara said. The cat was cradled comfortably in her aims, its paws resting on her shoulder. "Where'd you find him?"' Collin asked.

  "He was in that basement place. He meowed when we came down. I'll bet he's starving."

  Collin looked at the cat and frowned. "He doesn't look like he's starving. He looks kind of chubby."

  Lara made an exasperated sound. "Don't listen to him," she told the cat.

  The cat glanced at Collin for a second and dismissed him, putting his head back on Lara's shoulder.

  "Hmph," said Collin.

  Ceta took the basket Lara was carrying, set it on the floor and, with Father Thomas's help, spread the blankets out. When she was through, they all sat down to eat, in­cluding the cat, who waited patiently for leftovers, which Lara was more than happy to give him.

  "Do you think he lives here by himself?" asked Collin.

  The question hung in the air for several seconds. It was answered when Father Thomas slowly got to his feet and drew his sword. Ceta's gasp startled the cat, which skit­tered across the floor and disappeared into the shadows. No one moved.

  Standing outside the glass windows were at least fif­teen men.

  34

  Corrato, Nyngary

  Teanna d'Elso was surprised to find Bryan Oakes coming out of the palace apartments. "Good morning, your highness." "Good morning, Bryan. Is my cousin in?" "No, the prince and his escort left earlier this morning. My captain asked me to check the rooms." "They've gone?"

  "I believe so. Is there something I can do for you?" "No," she said, annoyed. "Do you know if they were re­turning to Alor Satar?"

  "Prince Duren didn't choose to confide in me, majesty, but I did overhear him say that they were going to crush the rebellion out of existence, if that helps." "It does," said Teanna, "a great deal." "Are you certain there is nothing I can do to be of help?"

  Teanna shook her head. "No, but I may call on you later." "I am at your service,", Bryan said, with a small bow. Fifteen minutes later Teanna found herself in her fa­ther's private library. The king was there reading a book, and he closed it when she entered the room. "Is something wrong?" he asked, noting her expression.

  "Father, I need your advice. We have a problem." "Is this regarding our discussion yesterday?" "Yes. I needed to speak with the Guardian, so I visited the town."

  "May I ask why?"

  "There were things I was curious about. I wanted to know more about the Orlocks; about where they came from, and why they hate us as much as they do. He showed me, Father. It was horrible."

  Teanna proceeded to tell her father about the Orlocks' origins and about how men had tried to exterminate them. The king listened in silence.

  "Interesting," he said. "And the problem you spoke of?"

  Teanna looked at him. It was always difficult to tell what her father was thinking, but oddly, he seemed to be taking the news far more calmly than she expected he would.

  "I'm not insensitive to what you are saying, daughter. What happened to the Orlocks sounds terrible. Unfortu­nately, these events occurred three thousand years ago. And to be perfectly blunt, I feel no responsibility for something my ancestors might have done . . . assuming we are related at all. The present, I can do something about. So, I'd like to hear the rest of what you have to say."

  Teanna took a deep breath and continued. "There is a machine the Guardian has that shows pictures. It's like reading a book, but you actually see things that happened. I was watching it when Shakira and Terrence Marek ap­peared in the cavern. I hid myself and heard what they were saying. They're planning to lure Eric into a trap.

  "The Vargothans have sent him a message that a rebel­lion is in progress in Elgaria, and they need more troops to put it down. They think Eric will respond by sending his soldiers. Once that happens, they're going to turn on him." "I see," Eldar said.

  "That's not the worst of it, Father—" "Yes, yes, yes—the Orlocks and Coribar are going to join them," Eldar said, finishing the sentence for her. "You're right. We do have a problem. The question now is, how we should deal with it?" "How could you know that?" "A guess based on our conversation the other day." El-

  dar pushed himself out of the chair and went to the win­dow. "In all likelihood Eric is already in Elgaria, or what­ever your cousins are calling it these days, so it may be too late to do anything to help him. My concern is whether we should get involved at all."

  Teanna's mouth fell open. "You mean, we should do nothing?"

  "Alor Satar is perfectly capable of defending itself. They're the most powerful country in the world. Seeing them get their comeuppance wouldn't be entirely a bad thing."

  "Father—"

  "In fact, it might go a long way to equalizing the mili­tary balance of—"

  "Father," Teanna said. "I didn't finish what I was telling you. Shakira also has one of the rose gold rings, as well as a million Orlocks at her command. Marek doesn't care what means she uses, if they can eliminate whoever opposes him. He's so blind to get what he wants that he can't see that she's lying." "Interesting," Eldar said.

  "Interesting or not, we need to warn Eric. The Orlocks aren't going to stop in Elgaria. If anything, they should be better disposed to Alor Satar than the rest of us. It was Eric who kept his father's bargain with the creatures."

  Eldar thought over the possibilities for several seconds. "I suppose we had better prepare the country for war. I'll see to it the border garrisons are placed on alert." "And what about Eric and Armand?" "My dear, one less Duren in the world won't make much of a difference, but if it makes you happy, I'll send riders out to intercept them... unless you have a faster way of doing it with your ring."

  Teanna shook her head. "I'd have to know where they are to transport myself. Send the riders."

  "Good. Then we're agreed." The king kissed Teanna on the forehead, picked up his book and started for the door.

  "Father. .."

  Eldar stopped in mid-stride, turned around and folded his hands in front of him. He listened as Teanna told him that Mathew Lewin was alive.

  "You're quite sure?" he said.

  "Yes."

  "And I assume Shakira is capable of using her ring, just as you can?"

  "I don't know how strong she is or the extent of her powers, but she was obviously able to get to the cavern. My guess is that we are dealing with a very dangerous oppo­nent."

  "In Lewin or her?" Eldar asked.

  The question caught Teanna off guard. "Mathew doesn't have his ring anymore, Father."

  "I understand that. Have you considered the conse­quences if he did? Two against one?"

  Teanna didn't answer immediately. She walked over and stood near the fireplace, letting the heat warm her back. "Mathew would never side with the Orlocks against humans."

  "Are you willing to bet our lives on that?"

  Teanna was preoccupied as she walked through the garden toward the sculpture. She needed time to think. It was al­ready late in the afternoon, and the temperature
was drop­ping. What had started out as a mild autumn day was going to melt into a cold night. Winter was coming. A movement near one of the benches stopped her. It was Bryan Oakes.

  "Forgive me, your majesty, I didn't mean to startle you."

  "You didn't. I was just thinking."

  "I will leave you alone, then," he said.

  "It's all right, Bryan. You're welcome to stay. What are you doing here?"

  "The palace commander wanted me to check the apart­ments again."

  "Aren't they empty?"

  "Quite," Bryan said. "You were the only person to show up there today. I'm afraid I'll have to report that. One can never be too diligent."

  Teanna giggled. "I'll be sure to tell Captain Jervis about your work." It felt good to laugh.

  She saw her father up on the balcony watching them and gave him a small wave.

  "Should I wave, too?"

  "Oh ... do you know Father?"

  "No, but I thought he might like it if I waved to him."

  The comment caused Teanna to laugh again. She looked at Oakes more closely. He was definitely a hand­some man. He had wide shoulders, a slender waist, and warm brown eyes. She liked his eyes.

  "I'm glad I could get you to smile. You looked so seri­ous a moment ago ... besides, I felt I owed it to you."

  "Owed it to me? Why?"

  "I've always been curious about what beautiful young princesses do in their spare time, and now I know. They walk in their garden and think."

  Teanna stopped. "I do more than that."

  "Such as?"

  She started walking again. "Running a country, for one. You may think it's all fun and games, but I can tell you.. ."

  Her voice trailed away as a buzz cut the air. It was fol­lowed by a dull thud and a sound from Bryan. She turned and to her surprise saw him stagger. A heartbeat later there was another buzz, then Bryan hit the ground face first, two arrows sticking out of his back.

  Teanna was in shock. Three soldiers from the palace guard were racing toward her with the king close behind them. One of them was Captain Jervis, the officer in charge of the royal bodyguard.

  "Father, what?" she gasped.

  Eldar went to her and put his hands on her shoulders. "Are you all right?" he asked, searching her face.

  "Yes," she said.

  Teanna's shock widened further when the captain rolled Bryan's body over and she saw that he was clutch­ing a long needle in his right hand. Jervis used the toe of his boot to kick it away, then took out a handkerchief, bent down and picked it up. He held it to his nose and sniffed.

  "Poison," he said, looking at the king.

  35

  Sennia

  It took the army nearly a full day to disembark the ships. Gawl had only visited the port city of Mardell in western Sennia once before and he knew little about it. To his surprise, they met absolutely no opposition from Lord Guy's forces on their arrival. In fact, the soldiers were no­table by their complete absence. Ballenger insisted on landing one ship farther up the coast and another about fifty miles below the town to ensure that they weren't sail­ing into a trap. Neither encountered the slightest bit of re-sistence. Stranger still were the reports they brought back. It appeared that Lord Guy had withdrawn his troops two weeks earlier.

  A delegation of people, led by the town's mayor, came down to the docks to meet them. Gawl took James's ad­vice and waited in his cabin with Ballenger until Colonel Haynes could report on what they wanted. James stayed with him. The colonel returned fifteen minutes later.

  "It appears the people are quite happy you're back, Sire," Haynes said. "They'd like to talk with you."

  Gawl and James looked at each other. "Just like that?" said Gawl. " 'We're happy you're back. Sorry about you being in prison the last four years.'"

  "Well. . . uh, yes," said Haynes. "That's pretty much what they said. Both the mayor and the head of their coun­cil confirmed that the garrison stationed here left for Bar-cora ten days ago. The mayor also told me a small number of the Archbishop's guards fled to the monastery when they saw our ships pull in."

  "Do you trust what he said?" asked James.

  "I do," Haynes replied. "I grew up quite close to here. The mayor and my father were friends."

  Gawl pushed himself up and promptly thumped his head on one of the beams. "Goddamn these little ships."

  For a second it appeared that James was going to laugh, but the smile forming on his face vanished when Gawl looked in his direction.

  "If he knew Shelby's father," Gawl said, rubbing his forehead, "he's got to be at least a hundred years old."

  "Thank you," Haynes said, giving him a flat look. He held the cabin door open for the monarchs, as they went out, adding, "Mind your head," as Gawl passed by.

  Gawl chose to ignore it, though a smile twitched the corners of his mouth.

  Dan Kirk, might not have been a hundred, but he wasn't far from it, at least in Gawl's opinion. Despite his age, the man's eyes were sharp and bright. His face was nut brown from the sun, heavily lined, and his hair snow white. He and the other members of the council bowed when they saw the king approaching. Gawl introduced James and Ar-teus Ballenger.

  "If we knew you were coming, your majesty, we would have arranged for a better reception," Kirk said, shaking Gawl's hand.

  "Quite all right," Gawl replied. "What news have you from the rest of the country?"

  The mayor rubbed a jaw that was badly in need of a shave. "There's still some fighting going on between your supporters and Lord Guy's people, but for the most part it looks like it's over."

  "Over? We've only just gotten here." "Are you saying Lord Guy's troops gave up and ran?" James asked.

  "I don't know whether they ran or not, but they didn't

  waste any time leaving. They lost three battles in succes­sion to that general of yours and took off for Barcora."

  Ballenger frowned. "What general is that?"

  "Some girl who took over after word got out that you escaped. That's when all the riots started."

  "Melinda," Gawl exclaimed.

  "That's the one. A big blond girl... curses like a drunken sailor. I met her when she came through here."

  "How many people did she have with her?" asked Gawl.

  "Couldn't say for sure, sire. My guess would be upward of five thousand men, and a good number of women, too."

  Gawl started to chuckle.

  "I know this woman," said Ballenger. "She commanded a regiment during the Sibuyan War."

  "And fought with us at Fanshaw Castle," Gawl added. "She's something."

  "Yes, indeed," Kirk agreed. He reached into the pocket of his vest and pulled out a letter. "She asked me to give this to you if you showed up."

  Gawl carefully unfolded it and started reading. A sec­ond later he burst out laughing and clapped the mayor on his shoulder. "Thank you very much, my friend. I'm go­ing to send some men up to the monastery to have a word with the Archbishop's guards, unless you and your council object to it."

  "No," said the mayor.

  "Good. From this moment on the Archbishop's Guard are illegal in Sennia. There are no exceptions. I will see that their weapons are turned over to you."

  "Does this mean you're back to being king again?" asked Kirk.

  "I suppose it does," said Gawl. "That is my first law." "Are you in the mood to make another law, sire?" "Such as?"

  "Well... the prices of wine, copper, and coal have all doubled since Guy closed the borders. My guess is that a little competition wouldn't be such a bad thing. The Ashot

  priests keep telling us we'll all go to hell if we let foreign­ers settle in Sennia and trade with us. Personally, I have my doubts on this point."

  "Do you?"

  "I do. Seems like young James here doesn't have any horns growing out of his head. No offense intended, sire," he said to James. "I've always thought that an ally who shows up to help when you're in need is a person to be cultivated."

  "Thank you," said James, with
a small bow.

  Gawl stared at the old man for a space then slowly drew his broadsword from the scabbard. Grasping it just under the hilt, he held it at arm's length and pitched his voice so it would carry to all around.

  "I, Gawl Alon d'Atherny, King of the Ten Provinces, Ruler of the Eastern Islands and all territories lying therein, do hereby declare the borders of Sennia now to be open. Our neighbors and friends may pass in and from our country without fear of molestation or excessive tariff."

  After a quick glance at Dan Kirk and the rest of the town's council out of the corner of his eye, Gawl added, "And so on and so forth. This sixth day of Ocandell, in the year of our Lord, 6265."

  The members of the council appeared to be all suitably impressed and nodded to each other. Then they bowed to Gawl and James, and headed back to work. Kirk shook Gawl's hand and invited him to stop by his home for din­ner along with Prince James when they had the time.

  James watched them go and moved closer to Gawl. "And so on and so forth .. . that was my favorite part," he said, under his breath.

  In the week that followed, Gawl, James, and the Southern Army engaged in only one battle. It lasted less than an hour before the Earl of Chambertin's men threw down their weapons and surrendered. Of Edward Guy, no sign could be found. The army scoured the country for him without success. It was Ballenger's opinion that he had re­treated to Barcora to consolidate his position and get his men ready for the coming fight.

  Each town the army went through gave them much the same reception they had received in Mardell. Most people were glad Gawl had returned, and more than pleased that the borders were once again open. The news that drew the greatest reaction, however, was the announcement that Archbishop Willis's guards were officially disbanded. No one they met voiced the slightest objection. Nor did they object when Gawl let it be known that a system of courts were to be established throughout the country, with each town, city, and province having a court of their own to deal with local matters.

  Sennians gathered in town squares and inns to read the king's proclamation. They discussed it and argued its mer­its. The new law provided that the people were free to elect from their own ranks any person, male or female, they felt qualified to act as a judge.