by Faith Eden
‘I must be losing my grip,’ Jekka growled, as she and Ceth finally rode away from the small farmstead. ‘It’s not often I let someone get the drop on me like they did back there. Mind you, that older fellow is no fool and there was death in his eyes, did you see it?’
‘And yet he could have simply killed us and chose not to,’ Ceth pointed out. ‘They both had loaded bows and we didn’t.’
‘I think he merely wanted to see what was happening first,’ Jekka said. ‘It was probably his intention to shoot us down afterwards, once he realised there were only the two of us there, not counting those poor girls, of course. Then he recognised me for what I really am,’ she added, with a terse smile. She fingered her bright auburn tresses. ‘Not such a thorough disguise as I’d hoped,’ she chuckled, ‘which is lucky for both of us, I suppose.’
‘The younger one didn’t understand though,’ Ceth said.
Jekka shook her head. ‘He’s just a fool. The uncle is the dangerous one and intelligent enough to know that ten gold telts for nothing was a good offer to just walk away and leave us in peace. True, they had two loaded bows, but he was shrewd enough to expect the unexpected from a Valkyr.’ She raised her right arm and tossed the sleeve back, revealing the miniature crossbow strapped to her forearm. ‘And this,’ she smiled, ‘was definitely the unexpected.’
‘I’m surprised you let them keep the coin after that, though,’ Ceth grumbled. ‘The younger one tried to kill me, after all.’
‘What’s one coin, more or less?’ Jekka sighed. ‘I need little money at the best of times and it was taken from thieves to begin with. But the old man was more than just a common thief, I think,’ she added. ‘No, let them have what they so sorely need for their journey and we’re well rid of them. No point in looking for trouble where there need be none.’
‘Is that why you only shot to disarm the younger one?’ Ceth asked, eyes wide in admiration. ‘That was a fantastic shot, did I tell you that?’
Jekka grunted. ‘It was a terrible shot,’ she said. ‘That was intended to strike him straight between the eyes, but I forgot I was standing in a pool of blood and my foot slipped as I fired. As I said earlier, I think I must be losing my touch.’ She grunted again and they rode on in silence for a long time.
Chapter 3
‘Even if our messengers have reached Illeum City,’ Savatch pointed out, ‘it will take days - weeks even - for Lundt to raise and mobilise an army to march on Garassotta. You know the way things are in Illeum, Alanna, the standing army is very small and the country relies upon the various nobles and the local militia.’
‘Are there not reserve soldiers?’ Alanna said. ‘I have always been led to believe that the state trains young men for military service and then sends them back to their home towns and villages to be ready in times of need.’
‘That certainly was the way of things,’ Savatch agreed, ‘but these past ten years or so things have been so peaceful this side of the water, the system has largely been allowed to fall into decay. Where once Lundt could have called on maybe forty thousand reservists, now that number would be perhaps ten thousand at a push, and most of them men past their best years.’
‘And the Vorsan states have a standing army of sixty or seventy thousand in all,’ Alanna said. ‘Illeum has played into their hands, perhaps.’
‘Until now, it has not been a problem,’ Savatch replied. ‘Illeum’s own standing army numbers at least twenty thousand men, all highly trained and a match for twice that number of Vorsan louts, but that twenty thousand is spread over and area twice the size of all the Vorsan states put together, so the lines are stretched thinly and are not prepared to deal with a concentrated assault in one area.’
‘Haafland and Tamarinia are in alliance with Illeum, are they not?’ Alanna said. ‘Between them they must be able to put five thousand into the field.’
‘Aye, that they probably could,’ Savatch conceded, ‘but the question is not whether they can, but whether they will, and it’s my bet that even the Haafland navy will sit at anchor and let the Vorsans move troop ships north through the Sea of Haaf, at least until they see which way the wind blows.
‘Both are small states, and without Illeum, easy prey to the likes of Fulgrim, so if they see he has stolen a march on Lundt, they’ll wait to see how things go before declaring for either side.’
‘Either side?’ Alanna sounded surprised, but the logic of what Savatch was saying became clear to her. ‘Yes, I suppose so,’ she said. ‘If Fulgrim appears to be winning, far better that they declare for him than remain even neutral.’
‘And five thousand troops and a hundred ships join that bastard’s cause,’ Savatch muttered. He eased his position against the side of the wagon and reached for the small flask that had been his constant companion in the days following the abortive attempt to rescue Corinna. ‘Which means,’ he continued, twisting the stopper out of the neck, ‘it is more vital than ever to prevent Fulgrim taking Garassotta and, while that castle delays him, march a new garrison to secure Varragol once more.’
‘I am beginning to think,’ Alanna said slowly, ‘that the only sure way of preventing Fulgrim from doing anything is to kill the pig once and for all, as we should have done before, when we had the chance.’
‘Well, that milk is well and truly spilled,’ Savatch grimaced, raising the flask to his lips, ‘and now it will not be easy to get near enough to him again. He has five hundred plus armed men with him and we number a pitiful few. The garrison at Garassotta is little more than a hundred or so men, many of whom are raw and never been in battle, so we cannot even hope for help from there.’
‘Indeed not,’ Alanna agreed. ‘Their best chance is to remain within the castle walls, but will they hold if they think Fulgrim is about to kill Corinna? In your absence, who commands there?’
‘Morfan Erium,’ Savatch said. ‘He’s a captain, but very young. You must have met him when you were there.’
‘Ah yes,’ Jekka said, smiling thinly. ‘A bright young man and very accommodating. I managed to persuade him to deflect young Moxie when she wanted to join us in coming to find you. He, er, managed to delay her and be a little economical with the truth about our arrangements, so by the time she had a fresh mount we were well away. I thought it best that she stay out of this. She may play games in dressing like a warrior, but when it comes down to it she’s still only a little maid with an overdeveloped bosom and she would be more trouble than she could ever be of use.’
‘Will you just shut up and let me think,’ Moxie cried, glaring at Pester, who sat hunched with his arms about his knees, his back pressed against a large black rock. ‘You twitter on like a five year old and I need to concentrate.’ She spread the ancient looking map across her knees and bent over it, her brow furrowing in thought.
‘We know that Alanna and Jekka went here to find Lord Savatch,’ she said, pointing at a spot on the thin black line that indicated the old north south road through the Vaal lands. ‘And that messenger said that they were heading for Erisroth, to try to find the Lady Corinna. That’s Erisroth, here,’ she added, jabbing at a point much further south.
‘The second messenger said they were then returning north again, trying to keep pace with this army of Fulgrim’s, so by now they must be somewhere about here.’ She drew a circle with her finger, indicating an area that was, although she did not know it, several hundred square miles. ‘And we’re here,’ she finished, pointing at the main trail line again.
‘And Fulgrim’s somewhere between us and them most probably,’ Pester pointed out, ‘along with several hundred hairy-arsed Vorsan soldiers.’ He shuddered and closed his eyes. ‘Why can’t we just go back to the castle and wait for Lord Savatch to return?’
‘Because apart from all those hairy-arsed soldiers,’ Moxie retorted, ‘Fulgrim also has my lady with him and he won’t be trying to make her life very comfortable, will he?’
/> ‘He’s probably killed her by now,’ Pester muttered. Moxie’s eyes flared.
‘No he won’t!’ she exclaimed, hotly. ‘He won’t have killed her, because he’ll want her to suffer for as long as possible and I feel sick to the pit of my stomach when I think of what she must be going through right now.’
‘And I feel sick to the pit of mine when I think what we’ll end up going through when he gets his hands on us,’ Pester said flatly. ‘Which is exactly what will happen if we keep heading straight for him, isn’t it?’
‘Not if we keep our wits about us,’ Moxie said. ‘Well, not if I keep my wits about me,’ she corrected herself, half under her breath. ‘Your wits were probably in the balls they cut off you all those years ago.
‘No, we’ll just have to be careful and keep well away from the main trail during daylight. Lord Savatch will probably be doing the same thing, as they’ll want to get to Garassotta ahead of Fulgrim, unless they manage to find a way of getting Lady Corinna away from him, of course.’
‘Which they’re not going to do, are they?’ Pester said. ‘And there’s another thing you haven’t thought of, too,’ he added. ‘If we travel well off the beaten track, we could as easily pass by Lord Savatch and the others as we could Fulgrim’s column - easier, in fact, as there’s only a few of them and hundreds of bloody Vorsans.’
‘We won’t,’ Moxie replied, firmly. ‘We won’t.’
‘Oh, won’t we?’ Pester trilled. ‘And how can you be so sure of that?’
‘Because I am,’ Moxie stated, tilting her chin defiantly. ‘Because I just know we won’t, all right?’
After two days riding in the wagon and eating well from the extra titbits that Halit brought for her, Corinna was beginning to feel a lot better than she had done since the fateful assassination attempt and the near fatal wagon crash, but with her improving physical condition now came feelings of terrible guilt.
It had been all her fault from the very beginning, she reasoned now, for if she had not inveigled Savatch into her game of master and slave, they would have remained safe within the walls of Garassotta, and not been out travelling alone on that remote road. Their unknown assailants would never have been given the opportunity to come so close to killing them both and she would not now be a prisoner and a key pawn in Fulgrim’s plot to bring her father down and all Illeum with him.
She still could not be certain whether her slave guise had succeeded in fooling Fulgrim, or whether he had indeed recognised her and was just playing yet another of his mind games, but whether he knew she was the real Corinna or not, it mattered little. Any doppelganger would have served his purposes equally as well and there could be no look-alike who looked as much like Corinna as Corinna herself.
She deserved to remain a slave for the rest of her life, she decided. She was not fit to be a part of the ruling house of Illeum, nor any other house, noble or otherwise. She truly was the slut they treated her as, thinking not with her head, nor even with her heart, but with that demanding little slit between her legs and whatever internal demon it was linked to.
Corinna stared down at her feet in the disfiguring pony hoof boots and grimaced. She peered closer to her body and at her full breasts bulging from the tight straps of the harness, at the rings and their mocking little bells and at her hands, still encased in the disabling leather mittens.
‘Damned slave whore, that’s all you are,’ she whispered, harshly. ‘Fit to fuck and little more,’ she added derisively, beating her useless fists against her breasts and setting the bells to chinking. She closed her eyes and tried to think of Savatch, but all she could see was Halit’s face, his long narrow nose and grinning mouth, as he held himself above her, his throbbing cock thrusting in and out of her with monotonous precision as she lay beneath him, grasping hopelessly at his naked body, moaning her betrayal of everything she was supposed to hold dear, surrendering herself gladly to climax after shattering climax, all thoughts of home, duty, Savatch and even her future swept away in a tide of lust she was powerless to turn back.
‘That’s not just a caravan,’ Opal said, shielding her eyes against the midday sun and squinting towards the cloud of dust that was spreading across the horizon to the south. ‘That’s a small army - maybe not so small, either.’ Alongside her, standing atop a grass-covered dune, Pecon nodded his agreement.
‘It’s certainly a lot of feet and hooves,’ he said. ‘Several hundred horses at the very least.’
‘Could it be a large caravan with an escort?’ Opal suggested. ‘Maybe the merchants who use this trail hire guards to protect against bandits. This would make ideal territory for raiding parties.’
‘Which is why this trail is hardly ever used by merchants nowadays,’ Pecon said. ‘No, I’d wager everything I’ve made this year that’s no merchant caravan.’ he scratched the side of his nose, his eyes narrowing.
‘That must dust must mean an army,’ he said, at length, ‘but what army, especially out here? Neither Karli nor the Vaals has any forces, save for small irregular garrisons in one or two of the major towns, but they are all well east of here.’
‘Did you not mention soldiers at that town you said you last visited?’ Opal reminded him. Pecon nodded, but then shook his head.
‘There were soldiers there,’ he said, ‘but only a few. At least,’ he added, ‘I only saw a few and they were trying their damndest not to appear to be soldiers. There could have been others, hidden away from both Erisroth and that slave camp, but the question is why?’
‘And whose?’ Opal said. ‘And what are they doing travelling north by this trail, unless they intend to invade the Snow Kingdoms.’
‘Anything is possible,’ Pecon said, ‘but I doubt that would be their goal.’ he paused, thinking again. ‘No, if that is an army, then it heads for one place only - Garassotta. There is nothing else worth fighting over for hundreds of miles around, but then Garassotta is a well defended castle, so who would think it worth the effort to try to attack it?’
‘Maybe that’s simply reinforcements for the castle?’ Opal suggested but Pecon shook his head.
‘Travelling this side of the mountains?’ he said. ‘I think not, my young friend. Garassotta is garrisoned and supplied from with Illeum itself, so any forces heading that way from over here must be hostile.’ He shrugged and turned away. ‘Whatever,’ he said, beginning the tricky descent down the side of the dune, ‘it is none of our concern. We’ll just break camp and move a little further away from the trail until they’ve passed by, whoever they are and whatever they’re up to. If they are heading for Garassotta, then we’ll see by their trail as we follow them and we can use a different route into Sorabund.’
‘Which will take us how many more days?’ Opal demanded. She stared pointedly down at herself. Pecon had released her wrists from the slave belt, but insisted that she keep it on in case they met any suspicious travellers on the way, when it would take but a moment to secure her again and replace the slave hood to hide her identity. Apart from the belt and her boots, she was otherwise as naked as when he had first seen her in Farridan’s hall.
‘Not many days now, my sweet,’ Pecon replied, easily. ‘‘Not many days and then you can be as free as you wish and dress more befitting to your station.’ he looked back up at her and grinned. ‘Which is a shame, if you want my honest opinion.’
‘I don’t!’ Opal retorted, bluntly. ‘I already know what you think from the way you keep looking at me and I wonder if you will really be able to keep control of yourself once you have me bound helpless again.’
‘And if I don’t?’
‘Then that wouldn’t surprise me at all,’ Opal said. ‘And it wouldn’t surprise you, I think, if I told you that I would undoubtedly kill you at some time in the future if you violated me in any way.’
‘No,’ Pecon laughed, scrambling over the last few feet of loose sand, ‘it wouldn’t surprise me at all. I
’ve seen ice that was warmer blooded than you!’
‘Well, I have a plan and I now have at least part of the means with which to execute it,’ Jekka announced, tossing the sack down onto the ground at Savatch’s feet. Behind her, Ceth hovered uneasily, holding the reins of their two horses and the one they had taken from the Dasnians that now carried the rest of her trophies. The remaining two animals they left with the grateful farm girls - their eventual sale would go a good way to providing against a lean winter season.
‘Those are three Vorsan tabards,’ the redheaded Valkyr said, ‘and those swords and bows you see hanging from that beast there,’ she added, indicating the captured horse, ‘are Vorsan weapons. We already have two Vorsan tabards and swords, so we can now equip five men to infiltrate their encampment.’
‘A risky plan,’ Alanna said, ‘but better than anything else we have at the moment.’ She looked down at Savatch. ‘The main problem with Jekka’s idea is that none of the men we have can possibly have any experience of this sort of subterfuge, and we cannot be certain they would recognise Corinna. One of us would have to disguise ourselves to go with them.’
‘I shall go myself,’ Savatch asserted. Seeing Alanna was about to voice her disagreement with this, he held up a hand. ‘I am feeling much stronger now,’ he assured her. ‘Our little adventure the other day took its toll, I’ll grant you, but the pain is all but gone now.’
‘The pain may be gone, my lord,’ Jekka interrupted, ‘but has the strength yet fully returned? I think not, but then I would not venture to try to dissuade you, for I know it would be a fruitless task. No, you should go, but then so shall Alanna and I, if she wishes, though not as Vorsans.
‘First, however, we must make ready for a subterfuge far more complicated than just trying to walk into their camp in Vorsan uniforms. Under cover of darkness, that would present little difficulty, but the darkness will hide more than just our true identities. At night we could blunder about for hours without finding what we seek, so we need to make sure we know exactly where to look when the time comes.’
