Forged in Fire (Destiny's Crucible Book 4)

by Olan Thorensen

  We’ve got them! exulted Yozef to himself. I may thank whatever God there is that this particular Narthani is rational. He might actually care about his men and the civilians he’s protecting. Please let it be so!

  “We offer you your lives. The lives of every Narthani on Caedellium. We only ask that you go board your ships and leave.”

  “That’s it? Just that we leave? No vengeance, no ransom?”

  “There are, of course, a few conditions but nothing that should stop you from saving the lives of all the Narthani you are responsible for. We can discuss the details of leaving, but in short, you will embark both soldiers and civilians in equal ratios. We don’t want to find that after you embark all civilians, you decide your supplies can then support a longer siege, or you decide the honor of the Narthani demands a fight to the death.”

  “If we do that, there will come a time when we have few-enough soldiers you could attack.”

  “That’s a risk you’ll have to take. But consider that we don’t want to waste our own lives unnecessarily. Trading even one islander’s life for one Narthani is the same ratio, no matter if we’re speaking of hundreds or tens of thousands.”

  “And other conditions?”

  “There are two. One is that your slaves will remain. We will not allow you to take anyone with you involuntarily. They will be freed to either live on Caedellium or try to find their way to some other place on Anyar.

  “The final condition is that you will leave all weapons, powder, and shot. It will be a small repayment for the damage you’ve caused, but it will help prevent future adventures against Caedellium. We also will not allow you to take weapons that might be used against either ourselves or others at some future time. We consider leaving you your lives to be more than satisfactory. Realize that more than a few islanders would rather pay whatever price is necessary to kill every one of you—men, women, and children.

  “There are also those who want to identify and hold you accountable for every act against an islander any of your people committed. I and others have prevailed against those desires—so far—but you would be well advised to know the mood against you.”

  Akuyun remained silent for almost a minute. “I think we understand each other. I will have to consider all you have said and consult with others before I have an answer.”

  “Of course. Though it’s really quite simple. Your options are limited, and our patience is short. Given all the facts, I think two days is sufficient time for you to come to a decision. I hope it’s a rational one. My sense is that you feel a strong obligation to the people you are responsible for. You don’t want to see them all killed, nor do I want to see thousands of islanders die to get you off Caedellium. The simple answer is to just go. Go, for God’s sake, and let’s be done with death.”

  With those final words, Yozef rose with both of his companions’ assistance and he walked back toward the islander lines. Balwis and Carnigan followed, though not before Balwis gave the Narthani a look that clearly placed him in the camp of those wanting to personally see every Narthani die.

  Akuyun walked back to the Narthani fortifications, where his staff and subordinates waited. He recounted the meeting.

  Hizer spoke first. The assessor appeared haggard. He had been captured at Orosz City—assessors having a duty to remain alive, if possible. “That was certainly short and to the point. And I’m afraid quite succinct in the analysis.”

  Akuyun looked at the assessor. “Any immediate thoughts, Sadek?”

  “Oh . . . plenty of thoughts. None of them pleasant. How do you assess this Kolsko fellow, who seems to be their leader? Interesting that the clans sent a single person to represent them. From what we knew, I wouldn’t have thought they would trust any individual to negotiate.”

  Akuyun grimaced. “Unless you know of a different meeting than the one I just attended, I didn’t hear any negotiating. It was reasonably polite, but what I heard were ultimatums.”

  Hizer gave a short laugh, which was amazing under the circumstances. “So I exaggerated a bit. Still, I wonder about this Kolsko and exactly what is his position in the clans? We didn’t know who we’d be talking to, but now I’ll go back and look at our past reports. Our agent in Caernford, Istem Sokulu, imagined him important enough to add him to the target list, along with the Keelan hetman, and those innovations we’re now attributing to him are another factor, but none of that answers exactly how he fits into the clan leadership.”

  “Do you think he was bluffing about the prisoners and civilians?” asked Nizam Tuzere, the civilian administrator, with a worried expression.

  Akuyun heaved a big sigh. “Sorry, Nizam, I just don’t know.”

  Hizer voiced the opinion of all of the men. “It will ultimately be your decision, Okan, but unless you see something I don’t, what other choice is there but to accept Kolsko’s demands?”

  Akuyun turned to the senior of the two naval officers at the meeting. “Admiral Dimir, I know you wonder whether you couldn’t have done more to relieve Marshal Gullar, but from all the reports, I don’t see what other options existed.”

  The admiral had made several attempts to break through the Fuomi blockage of the Normot Cut. Failing to find a passage for even a sloop, Dimir sent a thousand men in cutters and longboats through rocks and reefs to attack the frigates and clan battery barges from the rear. The attack failed with three-quarters casualties. In a final desperate effort, Dimir sent two war galleons side by side into the gap, where they dropped anchor within cannon range and used anchor-springs to turn broadsides to the similarly anchored Fuomi frigates, absorbing Fuomi fire the whole time. One Fuomi frigate was so badly damaged, the crew abandoned and burned it. The others all suffered major damage, but both Narthani war galleons fought until they were shattered wrecks and then sank, further blocking the gap.

  Dimir shook his head. “I know you’re right, General, but it will eat at me forever, wondering if there was anything else I could have tried. In the end, I didn’t see what else to do, especially since I had to maintain enough of my ships to support you and General Istranik back here. You’re sure there are no other options than to abandon the Caedellium mission entirely?”

  “None I can think of at the moment, Admiral. We have two days, so let’s give it some more thought. Maybe a brilliant idea will occur to one of us,” Akuyun said sarcastically.

  Akuyun Villa, Preddi City

  Rabia Akuyun had dinner prepared for her husband, as if it were any other evening. The children had protested about eating early and then being sent to their rooms, but Rabia wanted the evening to be solely for her husband. Whatever the outcome of the meeting he had that day with the islanders, it would weigh heavily on him.

  Surprised, she heard a servant announce Okan at the villa’s main entrance only just past sundown. She had expected him to go well into the night before leaving his headquarters. He came onto the balcony, where she waited, sitting at the table.

  He sat down and looked at her, a conflicted expression on his face.

  “How was the meeting?” she asked. “Was anything decided?”

  His mouth turned up slightly, but it wasn’t quite a grin.

  “I think the decision was foreordained before we met. It’s just that neither side was aware of it.”

  “Already decided?”

  Akuyun patted his wife’s hand.

  “I think we are all going to leave Caedellium, some of us very soon, the rest in a few months. The leader of the islanders, a man named Kolsko, seems to have them convinced to let us leave, instead of trying to take the city. He gave me two days to decide, but considering the options that Kolsko laid out, and that I unfortunately agree with, I don’t see any alternatives.”

  “And conditions?”

  “Humiliating, perhaps, but we don’t have much choice. We must leave all weapons, and no slaves will go with us. All troops and civilians are free to leave aboard our ships, if those two conditions are met.”

  Rabia grasped his hand wi
th both of hers. She was visibly relieved and fearful. The children would be safe, but what about Okan?

  “What will this mean for you back in Narthon?”

  “The fact that the High Command gave my original mission only a slim chance of working and that it was Gullar in command of the disaster, I think at worst I will never rise beyond my current rank and will be sent to some unpleasant assignments, out of sight. Assuming the High Command remembers it was their basic plan in the first place.”

  “Whatever it is, we’ll get through this,” said Rabia. “Even if it takes time, they’ll eventually see you’re too capable not to put you in more important positions.”

  Akuyun smiled fondly at his wife. Always trying to make me see a bright side, even in this, he thought. At one time, I would have worried that she’d be disappointed in having married me, if I failed like this. Those doubts are long gone, but still I will regret it, for her and myself, if this is the end of my advancement.

  Word is Spread

  Akuyun meet with his most senior officers the next morning. He recounted details of the meeting with the islander leader and his views of their options. They talked for several hours, going over various scenarios without finding alternatives. That afternoon, they expanded the meeting to include all officers down to the company level. It was a chance to let them give their input and to fully understand the situation, which they needed to communicate to their men. Their level of shock and dismay directly related to their rank. The more experienced men understood either immediately or after some discussion. A few of the younger officers were of the “die to the last man” or “never surrender, to uphold Narthani honor” school. Akuyun made a note to remember the more recalcitrant to never have them in any units he commanded in the future—if he had a future commanding troops.

  In the end, all agreed or at least seemed willing to follow orders. Akuyun felt moderately pleased that he didn’t have to relieve or arrest any of the officers who said they would refuse the conditions laid out by Kolsko.

  It was settled, and Akuyun sent word to the islander lines for a meeting the next day.

  Chapter 51: The Last Ship

  Truce

  Six months passed quickly, after Akuyun accepted Kolsko’s conditions. In principle, it was simple—the Narthani would leave. In practice, it was more difficult. Akuyun relentlessly accounted for every Narthani, including civilians in other parts of Preddi. Tuzere masterfully orchestrated temporary housing and scheduling to shuttle the people to Ezarkin, Narthon’s westernmost port.

  The Caedelli matched Akuyun’s determination, though they focused on assurances that the Narthani didn’t hide slaves who didn’t want to leave. The islanders were intransigent in child disputes where one parent—more commonly, the mother—was an islander and the other parent a Narthani who wanted the child. If the mother wanted to stay, so did the child.

  In some cases, a Narthani slave wanted to stay with his or her master for whatever reason. Private interviews confirmed the slave was not being coerced and understood the options. In a few cases, the slave had known no other life, and the option of being free was too frightening.

  Surprisingly, more than three thousand Narthani wanted to stay. Their reasons varied, from having an islander wife and children and wanting to stay with them, to seeing more options in life on Caedellium than back in Narthon, to being Narthani in name only because they came from peoples only recently granted Narthani citizenship. Most of the latter hated the Narthani.

  A few violent interactions occurred where an islander took it upon himself to settle a score for treatment by a specific Narthani offender on any Narthani available. As sympathetic as the islander’s leadership might be to his grievances, by the terms of the armistice there would be no reprisals. Clan authorities handled the first cases with stern warnings and minimal charges against islanders, but when instances continued and a few egregious offenders escaped consequences, Yozef arm-twisted the War Council to declare special trials and judges separate from those of a clan. After several exiles and one death sentence, the worst offenses stopped.

  On the Narthani side, enforcement came easier. Akuyun issued orders for behavior—and that was that. Swift and harsh responses dealt with offenders. After a couple of public hangings for murder, assault, and fomenting mutiny, the Narthani behaved better than the islanders.

  Akuyun never had to use the emergency refuge he’d asked Admiral Kalcan to develop on Klinwyn Island, off the western coast of Preddi Province. By the end of the first month of the armistice, it was evident the Caedelli would honor the conditions set out by Yozef Kolsko, and Akuyun’s worry about a need for emergency evacuations subsided.

  During the first month, Akuyun and Yozef met regularly, sometimes more than once in a day. During one meeting with Akuyun, the general introduced a man named Sadek Hizer, who carried the title of assessor, whatever that meant. Yozef hardly noticed Hizer. His attention centered on a man accompanying the assessor, standing behind and to one side, as might an aide. Yozef and Esyl Havant stared at each other. The Narthani spy had worked in Caernford as a semaphore messenger and orchestrated the attack that cost the lives of Anid Keelan, Mirramel Killin, Norlin Rumney, and two guards and resulted in Culich Keelan losing a lower leg and Ceinwyn Keelan bearing a terrible scar across the side of her face.

  Yozef’s fingers clenched, relaxed, and clenched again, as if searching for a pistol or a knife. Havant glanced at Yozef’s hands, his eyes narrowed, and he gave a slight shrug as if to say, “Nothing personal.” The meeting continued, but Yozef remembered nothing. He decided not to tell Maera. The truce agreement forestalled retributions, and as much as he wanted to kill Havant, the relationship with Akuyun eclipsed his urge. Nothing could jeopardize the invaders leaving Caedellium.

  Later that evening, Maera asked Yozef why he seemed quiet at evening meal. He said he was tired and went to bed telling himself to forget Havant. Instead, he dreamed of the shot hole in Aeneas’s nightshirt, another hole in Anid’s forehead, and the wounded Narthani he had stabbed over and over.

  The War Council set up a temporary headquarters in Neath, a southwest Eywell town that boomed into a city of 30,000 from an influx of clanspeople. Four dragoon regiments, 10,000 men, rotated monthly to keep an eye on the Narthani, with company- and battalion-sized patrols throughout the Preddi countryside. At Yozef’s suggestion, the War Council assembled 30,000 men and three hundred cannon at Neath for the senior Narthani officers and officials to “accidentally” witness practice maneuvers. The gathering lasted only a sixday, because most of the men needed to get back to their families and clans, but it impressed the Narthani. “Leaked” information spread that 70,000 men and seven hundred cannon participated in the maneuvers—a sum the Narthani couldn’t confirm but that seemed plausible, with the shuffling of banners and scarves supposedly representing different clans. Balwis Preddi later claimed the largest collection of “unique” clan scarves at nine and for months referred to himself by different names, the closest many had seen at humor from the man.

  Finally came the day the last Narthani ship finished loading. Among the cargo would be Okan Akuyun and his family, with Akuyun the last Narthani to board. He served as a de facto hostage for his men’s behavior, but he would have been the last anyway, because all the Narthani were his responsibility.

  The two men stood on the wharf, watching the last people climb the ramp to what had been a troopship, but which now carried a load of Narthani civilians and the last few soldiers. The two men had become comfortable with each other. Ironically, both respected the other and at times wondered to themselves whether a friendly relationship might have developed under other circumstances. Both also thought the other didn’t quite fit a stereotype of his people. Akuyun was too reasonable and honorable—given the system he grew up in. Yozef was too civilized and unconcerned with anything except end goals.

  When the time came for Akuyun to board, they called over a single translator for them both. Someone who spoke fluent Nart
hani and Caedelli. Balwis.

  “Thank you, Ser Kolsko, for upholding the conditions of the armistice.”

  “And thank you, General Akuyun, for keeping tight control of your people. There were a few unfortunate incidents, but overall I believe everything went as well as we could reasonably expect.”

  Yozef was curious about Akuyun’s future. “What will happen to you when you get home?”

  The question surprised Akuyun, because it hinted at concern. “There will be endless debriefings to see what went wrong here, but I suspect in the end I’ll get another assignment somewhere in the empire. I also think there will be considerable interest in finding out exactly where Yozef Kolsko came from.”

  “Came from?” Yozef echoed innocently.

  Akuyun grinned. “Oh, word has gotten around. It happens when you put thousands of people in proximity, even though they may be enemies. We’ve heard of the mysterious Yozef Kolsko who washed up on a Caedellium beach only a few years ago and has brought momentous changes to the island, both in new knowledge and by playing a leading role in resisting us. I just wish we had known about you earlier.”

  “What would you have done?” Yozef asked, genuinely curious.

  Akuyun had learned the personal details of the attack on the Kolsko home but believed that his newly developed rapport with Kolsko required honesty. “I would have first tried to capture you and then convince you that the Narthon Empire was the natural place for you to flourish. If capture didn’t succeed, then I would have sent a larger assassination team into Keelan Province as soon as possible.”

  Yozef’s gut tightened at these honest words given so matter-of-factly. His memory flashed again back to that night, Anid’s death, the hole in Aeneas’s nightshirt, the first time he knew he’d personally killed other humans.

  You might think you could come to like this guy, Yozef thought, but don’t forget where he’s coming from and what he’s capable of.