The Iron Princess

by Niall Teasdale

  Imperial Fleet, 35th Day, First Marita.

  The night air had a chill to it. The sky was clear and the full moon shone down on the fleet as it put troops, siege equipment, horses, and wagons ashore like a well-oiled machine. You had to admire the efficiency, Xian supposed; it was just a shame that the efficiency was under the control of a madman.

  They had come ashore on a beach some two days’ march to the south of Istollam. They were unloading the ships at night because they were worried about scouts from the city seeing them. That was laughable, but Xian was not laughing. The moon provided plenty of light for the landing operation and there were engineers already setting up a staging area for the troops. By Xian’s estimate, there were around ten thousand infantrymen coming ashore, another thousand bowmen, perhaps a hundred siege engines and their crews, and then there were the logistics people and their gear. It was a lot to move, but she was sure they would be done by morning. It was time to go looking for Ayah.

  Invisible to the entire force marching up the beach, Xian lifted into the air and turned to the north. The troops had to march to their destination, but Xian, in spirit form, could move a lot faster and more directly when she wished to. Now she wished to: she had two days at most to find Ayah and persuade her to get out of the city. She had the feeling that it would not be nearly long enough.

  Istollam, 36th Day, First Marita.

  Ayah was the last into the Fire Dance circle so she only had a limited amount of time to scan the audience before the dance started. She began doing so as she slipped her cloak from her shoulders and handed it over to one of the drummers. The art of the removal of the cloak had taken her a little while to get just right – it needed to be smooth and designed to reveal the body beneath in just the right way – but she thought she had it now. Then, rising onto the balls of her feet to make her legs appear longer, she stepped across the cobbles to the dance platform and assumed her place.

  That was when she spotted the tall, raven-haired woman in the red dress. Golden eyes looked back at her with a twinkle in them and a slight smile played over Xian’s lips. Ayah briefly contemplated rushing over to hug the woman. Professionalism won out and as the drums began to sound out the beat, Ayah swept into the first position of the dance with renewed focus. Her teacher was in the audience and that meant she needed to put on the best show of her career.

  She tried hard to manage it too. A little extra swing in her hips as she moved to make her skirt sway more than usual. A little extra heat in her eyes whenever she faced the audience. She made sure her lips were wet and slightly parted. She held her back straighter than usual and pushed her chest out a little more. And she made sure she hit every static point in the dance’s complex sequence of steps as perfectly as she could. From the look on Xian’s face as the dance progressed, Ayah figured she was doing pretty well. It was just what Ayah wished to see: a combination of pride and lust.

  The dance came to a peak and ended. Ayah flashed a quick look at Xian before heading for the exit; the slight smile was back, but the twinkle in the fox spirit’s eyes was brighter. Wrapping her cloak around her shoulders, Ayah stepped out of the enclosure and stepped aside to wait. A second later, Yaena was standing beside her.

  ‘You were really on form tonight,’ Yaena said. ‘Would it have anything to do with that woman with the red dress and the jet-black hair who was looking at you as if she wanted to eat you?’

  ‘That,’ Ayah began, and then Xian stepped out of the enclosure, making straight for Ayah. Ayah changed tack. ‘This is Xian. She taught me the dance. Xian, this is Yaena who is the principal dancer of our troupe.’

  Xian made a little bow to the blonde dancer. ‘I am pleased to meet you, Yaena. You are very good, though I think Ayah had you beaten tonight. She put in a little extra effort, I think.’

  Yaena returned the bow. ‘For you. You’re obviously a good teacher and she wanted to be sure she performed well in front of you. I’d love to see you dance at some point.’

  Xian ran her tongue over her lips. ‘I’m sure that can be arranged. I’m looking forward to it. However, I need to catch up with my favourite student.’

  Ayah had been around Yaena enough now that she could recognise the woman’s body language quite well. Even hidden beneath a cloak, Yaena gave off the signals which indicated that she was suppressing the desire to jump Xian’s bones on the spot. She was not especially good at delayed gratification. But she could handle it. ‘I’ll leave you to it. I’m really looking forward to that dance.’

  ‘Somehow,’ Ayah said when Yaena had taken her leave, ‘I don’t think this is an entirely social visit.’

  Giving Ayah a little grimace, Xian moved away from the enclosure and into the darker area between a couple of wagons. ‘I wish it was because you were really good in there.’

  Ayah gave a shrug. ‘I’m sharing my room with two other women and I’m not sure Nareel is really into girls. Suyin would probably go for it, but…’

  ‘You’ve made a few friends then?’

  ‘One or two.’

  ‘That makes this more difficult, of course.’

  Ayah frowned. ‘Xian, what’s going on?’

  ‘The Imperial Army is marching on Istollam. You need to get out of here as soon as possible.’

  ~~~

  Xian walked into the room Ayah shared, took one look at Suyin, and began swearing. The words were colourful and, in many cases, incomprehensible. It looked like Nareel and Suyin recognised at least some of the words Ayah did not. Suyin was quite pale, but she went white after one particularly long, unintelligible string of curses. Some things went over all of their heads, which was probably not a bad thing. Ayah suspected that the spirit was swearing in her native tongue.

  ‘Do you know who this is?’ Xian finally asked, pointing at Suyin.

  ‘Princess Sying,’ Ayah replied. ‘The daughter and only child of Emperor Siyu. The Iron Princess.’

  ‘The Flower of the Empire,’ Nareel added, just to be complete.

  ‘I thought we were keeping that a secret,’ Suyin said, scowling.

  ‘I don’t keep secrets from Xian,’ Ayah replied.

  ‘And she already knew,’ Nareel added.

  ‘And now we’ve got the Imperial Army marching toward the city, so I think your secret is more of an issue than you thought. Or less of a secret.’

  Suyin shook her head. ‘Siyu can’t know I’m here. If he did–’

  ‘Of course he knows,’ Xian interrupted, lifting her hands in exasperation. ‘He’s known where you were since the circus stopped in Garia City. Did you really think you could spend three weeks there without anyone noticing you?’

  The princess lifted her chin. ‘If that’s so, why didn’t they take me there and drag me back to Siyu?’

  Xian rolled her eyes. ‘Because, by then, the circus was advertising their plans to be in Istollam in the spring. Your father plays a very long game, your Imperial Highness. Several games, in fact. You disrupted one small one when you escaped, but you just became part of a much bigger, nastier one. You’re his excuse to take Istollam, but he’ll find a way to use you for his next conquest.’

  ‘What’s that?’ Ayah asked.

  ‘I don’t know. My guess would be that he’ll go north.’

  ‘He’s always wanted to take Abesson,’ Suyin said.

  ‘Yes, but Abesson is notoriously hard to take. If it was easy, Tengfei or Shoushan would have made it part of their Empire a hundred Great Years ago. They found it easier to cross the Eastern Sea and invade another continent. Lambechim has similar issues. With Abesson, it’s the Lesser Sand. Lambechim has its jungle which is impassable in a different way. The City of the North would be easier, but he may be aiming to bypass it and try to subdue the tribes on the tundra.’

  ‘That would never happen,’ Nareel stated flatly.

  ‘You may be right but you should never underestimate the power of a man with a mission. Siyu wants to save the world.’

  ‘What from?’

>   ‘Itself. He believes that the only way to bring peace and prosperity to the world is by placing everyone under his rule.’

  ‘And,’ Suyin said, ‘he’s quite prepared to destroy everything to get what he wants.’

  37th Day, First Marita.

  ‘Too late to do anything about it now,’ Ayah said. She kept her voice low, but it was audible to the people standing right beside her. They knew what she knew anyway: the Imperial Army had arrived at Istollam.

  ‘Damn,’ Xian muttered. ‘They must’ve pushed hard to get here this early. I thought we had at least another few hours.’

  It had been too late to leave the city by the time Xian had found Ayah. That was without the explanations and discussions. The city gates closed around the time the circus packed up for the night and no one got in or out without a very good reason. They had woken early, but there were already rumours flying that something was up. Now, standing on the walls – which had not yet been cleared of civilians – anyone could see the army deploying around the city.

  ‘The Third Army,’ Suyin said.

  ‘There’s more than one army in the Army?’ Ayah asked.

  ‘There are six, unless another’s been formed. The first two garrison the Iron City and Astollar. The Fifth is the occupation force at Garia City. The Fourth handles logistics and specialist roles.’

  ‘Specialist?’ Jun asked. He had spotted the girls leaving with Xian and followed.

  ‘Intelligence mostly. The Third and Sixth Armies are offensive. The Sixth is relatively new. The Army is experimenting with fighting from horseback. They feel that may be a feasible concept on the Western Plains. But the Third Army was created to handle open warfare and sieges.’

  ‘You seem to know a lot about it.’

  ‘I grew up in the Empire. Imperial citizens take great pride in their armed forces.’

  ‘Okay. Whatever, I think you’re right. Look’ – he pointed out toward the forces massing some distance from the wall – ‘that looks a lot like a catapult going up. Give them… two quarters at most and they’ll be ready to start bombarding the walls.’

  ‘Great,’ Ayah said. ‘I guess there’s nothing we can do.’

  ‘We can talk to Taravel,’ Jun said. ‘He was in the army in Garia City when the Empire attacked. Maybe he has some idea what to do.’

  ~~~

  ‘The Third Army you say?’ Taravel’s gaze swept across the collection of faces in front of him, pausing briefly when he got to Xian. ‘And who might you be?’

  ‘Xian,’ Xian replied. ‘I taught Ayah the Fire Dance. I’ve been… travelling since. It is the Third Army. They’re setting up for a siege.’

  He nodded. ‘Once they’re ready to attack, they’ll want to parlay. They’ll offer an opportunity to surrender.’

  ‘Which will be rejected.’

  ‘Likely. I don’t know the politics in Istollam, but it’s unlikely they’ll capitulate. Then the fighting starts. It could take weeks to reduce the walls here.’

  ‘Or not. They have a new weapon and miners who know how to use it.’

  ‘Undermining the walls will take time.’

  ‘Agreed, but they won’t need to undermine them in the traditional sense. Their alchemists have created something they call Thunder Water. It explodes. It’s terribly unstable, but the damage it does is extraordinary. They had four galleys carrying barrels of the stuff. There was an accident. There was barely anything left of the ship after the explosion. A few barrels of that under the foundations…’

  Taravel frowned. ‘How do you know this?’

  ‘Xian is very good at finding out information,’ Ayah supplied.

  Xian smiled. It was a rather wolfish smile. Or perhaps vulpine. ‘Most of my information on Thunder Water came from seducing someone in the Office of Military Intelligence. I can be very persuasive and men have a bad habit of flapping their lips to impress an attractive woman.’

  ‘If Siyu finds out about that,’ Suyin said, ‘he’ll have the man flayed.’

  ‘It’s better if he doesn’t. I might need that source again.’

  ‘Alright,’ Taravel said, apparently to get the conversation back on topic, ‘why are you telling me about this?’

  ‘We thought you might know what to do,’ Jun said.

  ‘Jun thought that,’ Xian said. ‘I think you should take this to the city’s leadership.’

  ‘Why me?’ Taravel asked.

  ‘Because they’re unlikely to accept it from me, a woman. If you offer your services as someone who knows how the Empire makes war, they will be more likely to accept the intelligence I bring. I’ll go with you. Ayah will come too, as our bodyguard.’

  ‘Bodyguard?’

  ‘We don’t need a bodyguard. We need someone to act as a bodyguard so that it appears that our information is important enough for the Empire to want to stop us.’

  Taravel’s brows went up, but his lips quirked as if trying not to grin. ‘And Ayah?’

  ‘Because she has a very ornate sword which will impress the generals or whoever will be running the defence.’

  ‘It can cut spirits,’ Ayah said. ‘I know that’s not really relevant, but I thought you should know.’

  It was Xian’s turn to raise an eyebrow, but just the one. ‘Can it now? Your smith gave you quite the present. I wonder if he knew what it could do.’ She shifted her gaze back to Taravel. ‘This city will fall, and quickly, if they don’t know what they’re up against. Will you do it?’

  Taravel sighed. ‘This city will fall anyway, young lady, but I suppose I should at least offer what I can. Besides anything else, we are stuck in here and when that army comes through the gates, anyone inside is going to be in for a very bad time. I suppose we should delay that as long as possible.’

  ~~~

  ‘I’ve never been a bodyguard,’ Ayah muttered as they waited in some antechamber. ‘What am I supposed to do?’

  ‘Assuming we don’t actually get attacked, nothing,’ Xian replied. ‘All you need to do is look confident. Watch what’s going on around you as though you are expecting someone to leap out with a knife at any moment. It’s important that you look as though anyone who did so would be dead before they took their first step.’

  ‘I guess I can do that.’

  ‘You can,’ Jun said. ‘I’ve seen you fight, remember?’ Jun was there because Taravel had suggested that two bodyguards would be better than one. Ayah thought he looked the part more than she did, being a tall, strong man with a sword. ‘Anyway, you look like a barbarian princess or something. No one’s going to argue with you.’

  She had not considered that. She had put the deerskins on because they were actually good to fight in. But they were also pretty tough looking. ‘Okay. I can do that.’

  ‘Good,’ Xian said. ‘Here they come.’

  ‘They’ turned out to be one man and he looked harassed. Dressed in a heavy mail shirt, he had a sword at his waist which Ayah recognised as the single-edged style commonly used by professional soldiers. The man himself was tall and well-built. His dark hair had streaks of grey in it, but his short beard did not. Without the scowl, he would likely have been handsome. As it was, grey eyes flashed around the four of them and Ayah could read ‘What in the name of all the spirits am I doing wasting my time here?’ in his face.

  ‘I’m Keeva,’ he said, ‘Captain of the Watch. I’ve been told you have valuable information regarding the imperial forces.’ Taravel opened his mouth but Keeva raised a hand. ‘No point in telling me. I was just sent down to get you. Follow me.’

  The Grand Hall of Istollam sat at the centre of the city. It was a fortified building which housed various governmental functions, though the fortification was primarily because of the mint. It was a large structure with the mint and the city’s dungeons in the basement, and a lot of offices and meeting rooms and the garrison of the permanent watchmen above on four levels of vaulted stonework. Keeva took them up to the very top and to a room with broad windows facing out over the city
. Heavy, wooden shutters were closed over two of the five windows and the others could be closed if required, Ayah imagined, but she was too busy wondering at the windows themselves: she had never seen that much glass in one place before.

  The room also had a big fireplace and a big table, long and made of expensive woods from the jungle around Lambechim. There were a total of twelve chairs arranged around the table but only eight of those were occupied. Ayah found herself looking over a collection of people at least as old as Taravel aside from two who were younger. One of the younger ones was a woman – all the rest were men. This was the leadership of Istollam?

  One of the men, seated at the head of the table, got to his feet and spoke. ‘You’re Taravel?’ He was a little shorter than Ayah and with a distinct paunch. What little hair he had left was grey, but he sported a truly enormous, broad moustache which Ayah found comical. His eyes were a grey colour that suggested the fading of bluer eyes and they were watery. ‘You own the circus that’s in the city?’

  ‘I do, laoshi,’ Taravel replied. ‘However, under the circumstances, I’m Colonel Taravel. I was a senior officer in the Garia City Guard when the Imperial Third Army turned up on our doorstep. I’ve come to offer any help I can, and also because I have certain information which may be very important to the defence of Istollam.’

  ‘I hardly think that the advice of a man who lost to the Empire of Iron will be of much use to us.’ The speaker was the youngest man and he had a really irritating, nasal tone to his voice which just made the arrogance of the statement clearer. He was, Ayah supposed, good-looking in a ‘I spend hours on grooming’ sort of way. Thick, black hair was combed back from a fairly high forehead and stuck there with something which made his hair glisten. That did not look so good, but there was also a hawkish nose which likely gave him a bad profile.

  The older man did not even spare the younger one a glance. ‘Which is why I consider you a poor choice as colonel of the militia, Gothram.’ The younger man’s face reddened, but he said nothing. ‘Colonel Taravel, my name is Marsan. For my sins, I’m the general in command of our defence.’