The Porfian Princess: The Chronicles of Cornu Book 4

by L J Dalton Jr.

  After thinking about it, Petronas realized that either he was going to live or Skelous would have to go. He couldn’t overthrow the Duke; he would be an outlaw in the eyes of the Porfian nobility. That didn’t mean he couldn’t work behind the scenes to ensure that outcome. If he were careful, people wouldn’t have proof. They would have suspicions, but this type of scheming was par for the course in Porfia. It was how they wound up in control of Tantulus in the first place.

  That evening Petronas sat and considered all the aspects of the current situation. First, Porfia had gained control over Tantulus through trickery, deceit, and assassination. It maintained it by a strong Porfian presence in the Guard and the threat of more Porfian forces coming in to crush any rebellion. In addition, Porfians controlled the economy.

  The Porfians in the Guard were a minority, a significant minority, but a minority nonetheless. Any fight between the Porfians in the Guard and the Tantulusians would be bloody. No matter what the outcome, Porfia would move to take back anything that was lost. That final piece was no longer available. No more Porfian Guards would be sent to Tantulus no matter what.

  Now Petronas knew that, as did the nobility. He doubted that it was widely known. That could be a bargaining chip.

  The rebels clearly had some military training. It was as good or better than the training the Guard had. The Guard was used to riding over peasants who would only have farm implements as weapons. They had never faced anyone armed with good weapons and good training. The rebels had strong forces to the north of Koronos. He wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t have similar forces to the south. This was too well planned. He didn’t doubt that the rebels knew that Porfia couldn’t send reinforcements.

  There was also deep resentment against the Porfians ruling Koronus. People remembered what happened to the merchants and minor nobility that had been marched off to Porfia. They were slaughtered – men, women, and children. Their bones had been found in a clearing two days down the road to Gortyn. There was no doubt about what happened. Skelous denied it, but no one believed him. While it was twenty years ago, that’s not that long in a land where people lived into their hundreds.

  Petronas didn’t doubt that if the chance arose, Porfian blood would flow like water in the streets of Koronus. That would mean his family and the families of his men could easily be among the dead. He would have to navigate this carefully.

  It seemed that his best course of action would be to arrange for dissidents in the Guard to meet with the rebels. He would first need to get agreements from those elements in the Guard to provide free passage to his men, their families, and merchants and their families to return to Porfia. He was hoping that they didn’t know that Porfia couldn’t send reinforcements.

  He’d negotiate with them first. The question was, who should he approach? That was answered for him as he was walking through the camp. He overheard two of his men talking.

  “This should make that prick, Lieutenant Sorbor, happy. Any disasters that befall Porfians or Porfia make him happy.”

  One of the other men answered. “That’s true. But a lot of the Guard doesn’t like us. The Duke is heavy-handed, and they remember what happened after we took over. Let’s hope that the threat of Porfia retaliating holds them because if not, our days are numbered.”

  That silenced the men. But Petronas now knew who to contact. Sorbor was an excellent officer. His family had served in the Guard for generations. They were loyal to the old regime. That didn’t stop the man from being promoted; he was just too good to hold back. Petronas tried to advance on merit. He never thought that Porfia’s grip on Tantulus would ever weaken. Certainly not in his lifetime. He was now thankful for his treatment of Sorbor.

  The man was well respected in the Guard and commanded the loyalty of the non Porfians in the Guard. Petronas had established his fundamental fairness in the way he treated Sorbor. He was hopeful that would translate into the ability to negotiate an equitable deal with the man.

  He wrote out a set of orders for Lieutenant Sorbor to bring twenty men along with healers and medical supplies to meet him at this location. When the messenger came, Petronas was very specific about his instructions. “Give this directly to Lieutenant Sorbor, and nobody else is to see this. You may tell him we’ve had a large fight with the rebels and have wounded. Do not tell him the extent of our casualties. This is critical. If the extent of our defeat gets out, Porfian blood may flow in the streets of Koronus. Do you understand?”

  The messenger agreed and then was off. Petronas settled down to wait.

  Victory

  After the battle, Dedessus sent a runner back with a message to the base camp. It was short. Just that a large battle had been fought and that they had been victorious. Details will be forthcoming. This was to be sent to Sandford and the southern camp for Duke Harlold.

  Petronas was wrong; Dedessus’ men didn’t kill all the wounded. Dedessus had told them that he wanted prisoners. Prisoners meant information, and the more he had, the better off he was. His men did dispatch any men who were so severely wounded that they couldn’t be cared for and would only suffer and die anyway. It might have seemed cruel; it was a mercy. They did manage to find two Guardsmen, who were wounded but couldn’t escape with the others.

  One Zeno, a corporal, was extremely bitter over being left behind by his comrades and would have no trouble telling Dedessus everything he knew. Dedessus could sense that. The man had a leg wound. It wasn’t serious, and the healers he had could treat it without having to take the leg. Dedessus thought he’d let the man stew a bit. Besides, he had a lot of work to get done.

  He needed to deal with his own wounded. Any that needed serious help would be stabilized and sent back to the base camp by wagon. The ride wouldn’t be easy, but they could be given something to ease the pain. The less serious wounded could be treated on-site. His own dead, thankfully not that many, had to be buried.

  That still left all the bodies of the fallen Guardsmen and the dead horses to be taken care of. There were too many to be buried. Dedessus had the wall he had built, and the sharpened stakes pulled up. Then more wood was cut. The weapons and valuables were taken from the dead, and as carefully as possible, they were placed on a pyre built from all the wood. Then it was lit, and bodies burned.

  Dedessus made sure that the two prisoners observed all this. He also had them name all the dead, which one of his literate platoon leaders took down. Any personal items or money the men had on them was noted, and Dedessus made it clear that would be given to their families when Duke Harlold took the duchy.

  This treatment of the dead further loosened the tongues of the two captives. Still, the corporal had the most knowledge to share.

  After everything was organized, Dedessus went to see the two prisoners. They were restrained and under guard but well treated. He sat down. “Hello, I’m Colonel Dedessus. I was Duke Sandar’s master of the hunt. Now I serve his son Harlold, the rightful Duke of Koronus. Who are you?”

  The two men gave their names and rank. The corporal was the ranking Guard, so he took over answering any questions. Dedessus was fine with that.

  “Corporal, I’d like to know about the large force you brought against us. I’m sorry that there was so much bloodshed. We want to hold that down, but we’ll do what we must, to see Harlold take his rightful place as Duke and to make sure the people have a just and fair ruler. You may know what was done to the villagers. People enslaved, the headmen, and others crucified. All for no reason except to sow terror in the populace. This is the result. That said, we want justice, not revenge. And certainly not all this blood spilled. We want to have as few people hurt as possible.”

  Both the captives were happy to hear about the desire to hold down bloodshed. Zeon carefully answered Dedessus’ question. “Colonel Petronas had been ordered by Duke Skelous to put this rebellion down. He assembled a force of four to five hundred Guardsman, all Porfians to come out and defeat you.

  We got hurt at first, but the
n we learned how to fight your smaller units. We pretty much destroyed the second one we faced.” Dedessus nodded, and Zeon continued.

  “We thought that we were facing another one of your smaller units. Nobody thought that you had a really large group of trained men. Your tactics caught us all by surprise. Where did you learn them?”

  “As you may be aware, this all started because King Leonades tried to have the Nordian Royal Family kidnapped.”

  Zeon piped up. “That isn’t true; at least that’s what we heard.”

  Dedessus said to them. “No, the Nordians have proof. Do you think Leonades is simply going to admit that he was behind it?”

  That brought a good laugh from both men.

  Dedessus went on. “The Nordians have a lot of evidence. They got one of the men sent by Leonades to pick up the royal family after the bandits had kidnapped them. They also got the payment, and it was all in Porfian coins. They caught and executed the man who organized it. No, they got Leonades dead to rights.

  Now that’s where our training comes in. The man who rescued the Royal Family and is married to Princess Catrina is a military officer from the home world. He’s the one who is training us.” Dedessus noticed the looks of shock and concern on both men’s faces. So, he elaborated.

  “It’s Baron Michael. He’s teaching us the minimum that he can. He doesn’t want home world wars or war-making technology to come to Cornu.”

  Upon hearing that, both of the prisoners seemed to relax. Zeon spoke up. “That’s why you’ve got such good tactics and training—a home world military officer. The Gods are smiling on you for sure.

  Porfia is going to have to reinforce us. We took a beating from you. There won’t be enough of us to really control the city. “

  Dedessus told them. “There won’t be any reinforcements coming. The northern kingdoms have told Porfia that if they do that, the northern kingdoms will assemble an army and march into Porfia. Of course, Baron Michael will probably play a big role in that.”

  That shocked the prisoners. Zeon almost shouted. “If the word of this battle gets out, there will be Porfian blood flowing in the streets.”

  Dedessus nodded. “That’s something that we want to avoid. If necessary, we’ll march our forces into the city to maintain order. What about the Guard?”

  Zeon thought for a minute. “It depends on what Lieutenant Sorbor does. He’s the most well-respected non Porfian officer in the Guard. Colonel Petronas promoted him because he is so competent. He could hold things together in the city.”

  Dedessus thanked the two men. “You’ve been very helpful. Hopefully, it won’t be too long until you are reunited with your family.”

  He then went back and started to write out his report. He highlighted the necessity of maintaining order in Koronus. He also sent a bird to Harlold, advising him to move his position nearer to the city and to form his men into a single group.

  Lieutenant Sorbor

  The messenger arrived from Colonel Petronas. Lieutenant Sorbor read the message. Apparently, the Colonel’s expedition had been in a fight. All that the Lieutenant could get out of the messenger was that they’d been in a large battle with a substantial rebel force. They had casualties, and those injured men needed some additional medical care.

  Sorbor sent the man to get cleaned up and see his family. He told the man to be back in the morning because they would be leaving then. He thought about the message and the reluctance of the messenger to be more forthcoming. The most likely explanation was that the messenger was acting on the orders of Colonel Petronas. If they were so secretive about what happened? He could only guess that it wasn’t good for the Porfians.

  Sorbor was sure that there had been a big fight. How it turned out, he wasn’t sure. He was reasonably certain that it wasn’t a resounding victory. If it had been, the messenger would have been more open about what had happened and would be cocky about the victory. That wasn’t the way the man acted. No, Sorbor thought, that at best, it was a draw. The rebels might have actually won. Either way, how many casualties did Petronas take?

  If he took a lot of casualties, what did that mean to the city? The lieutenant had heard rumors that the northern kingdoms had demanded that Porfia give up control of Tantulus. He was all for that. His family had served the Dukes of Koronus for generations. He was a young private and out in the field chasing ‘bandits’ when the city fell to the Porfians.

  Like practically everyone else, he knew that the merchants and minor nobility who had been sent away to Porfia never arrived there. They’d been killed a couple of days outside the city. All the Tantulusians had lost friends and family in that massacre. That resentment was there and only exacerbated by the knowledge that they couldn’t do anything about it. What would happen if they could?

  He didn’t think that was going to be pretty, not pretty at all. There was also Harlold, the apparent son of Duke Sander. He knew that Harlold had been declared Duke of Koronus by the northern kingdoms. It was his forces that were causing all the trouble in the countryside.

  He needed to make sure that things didn’t go to hell while he was out seeing Colonel Petronas. He went home and told his wives that he would host an important dinner for a few close associates. All of them came from families that had served in the Guard for generations and were loyal to the old Duke and his predecessors. They were Lieutenant Alec, Sergeants Tabor, Alika, and Gaetano.

  Sorbor invited the men and made it clear to them that there were important things to discuss and that it was to be kept quiet.

  The four men arrived at Sorbor’s house at the appointed hour. He occasionally had colleagues from work for dinner, so it wasn’t out of character. Over dinner, he let the men know about Colonel Petronas’ request for medics and the vague information that he received from the messenger.

  Gaetano observed. “Yes, I saw the messenger; his name is Parris. He didn’t look good. I would say he looked like a man who had just been through the wringer. I suspect that Petronas’ men got handled roughly.”

  That engendered some spirited conversation and speculation. Alec had some information. “My cousin is a key servant in the palace. He’s heard Skelous ranting about this Duke Harlold and how he is the son of Duke Sander. The northern kingdoms have apparently recognized him. My cousin heard that they’d threatened the Porfians with war if they send reinforcements.

  Also, the northern kingdoms have demanded Porfia give up control of our country. This is in retaliation for King Leonades attack on the Nordian Royal Family. The kingdoms seem to have a lot of proof that he was behind it.

  In addition, my cousin said that the rebels stole the shipment of tribute to Porfia.”

  All the men had heard some of the rumors but hadn’t talked of them. Now they discussed them. In the end, they were left with suppositions and guesses. Sorbor summed it up. “We know that something is going on. There are rebels who are well trained and well-armed. They’ve been inflicting casualties on the Guard now for several months. They may have gotten the tribute that is sent to Porfia.

  Colonel Petronas went out to put the rebels down. Now he needs medical supplies and healers. That means he suffered casualties. We think it likely that the losses were severe because of the way the messenger avoided giving specifics.

  The northern kingdoms may be in the process of forcing Porfia out of our country. Porfia might not be able to send reinforcements to continue to hold on to Koronus. Did I miss anything?”

  The other men agreed that he’d summed it up and had highlighted the key points.

  Satisfied, Sorbor went on. “Tomorrow, I’ll leave to bring the supplies and healers to Colonel Petronas. Then we’ll have a better idea of what is going on. We shouldn’t wait until I get back; we should make plans.

  I see three possibilities. First, Porfian control will continue, and if necessary, more troops will be sent here to hold on to our country. In that case, nothing changes.

  Second, Porfia is slowly losing control of Koronus. If they a
re, we need to be prepared to help push them out when the time comes. It could be that Petronas has stalled the rebels. But that would be temporary, and the insurgents will simply continue to be a problem and grow stronger.

  Third, Colonel Petronas has suffered a large number of casualties and cannot count on any support from Porfia. If that’s the case, then our freedom is at hand. We need to make sure that we can control the city and keep the peace. I don’t want old grudges settled violently. We’ll need to arrest the Duke and open the city for Harlold to enter.

  That has to be controlled. We want a say in what happens. Petronas will want to protect his people and their families as well as the Porfian merchants. That will all have to be worked out. You all need to be prepared for any of these.

  If the third scenario is true, then we may need to move in a couple of weeks. Plan carefully and in secret. I’ll let you know what is going on. Are we agreed?”

  When they all agreed, Sorbor gave them their assignments. “Alec, you need to make sure we’ve got our most loyal people in the Duke’s guard detail. Men who will follow orders and not kill the slime out of hand. I’m sure that if this Harlold becomes Duke, he’ll want to deal with Skelous.

  Alika, you, Tabor, and Gaetano have plans to put out heavy patrols in the city. We want to keep the peace. We gain nothing if there is widespread violence and looting. We’ve got enough to rebuild without adding to it.

  Oh, Alec, make sure that you can secure the treasury. We don’t want people making off with it. If they try and get away with a good portion of Gold and Silver, arrest them and seize the treasure. We will need it to rebuild. I think that Skelous is an arrogant and stubborn prick, and he won’t run. That doesn’t mean some of his close advisors won’t. And if they run, they’ll try and take the treasure with them. Any questions?”

  There was a number, and the five men talked till midnight, going over what they needed to do and working out preliminary plans. The next day Lieutenant Sorbor left with twenty men, two healers, medical supplies, two wagons for the wounded, and the messenger. During the day, the other four men started to get ready for a possible change in who ruled the city. Lieutenant Alec made sure that the men in the Duke’s guard detail were men he could trust. He also made sure that there was a strong guard on the treasury.