by Robert Adams
He turned back to Portos and said, "Captain, send for Hahkmukos. I want the distinguished Sub-chief Vawn to delve into that cesspool mind when he hears the testimony of Komees Klaios, for Hahkmukos is the only person of whom I can think who might have thought he would gain from buying off or waylaying messengers from Ahndropolis."
An officer was dispatched, but he returned alone. "My lords, the thoheeks refused to speak with me. He is in his tent, but he sent word by way of one of his guards that he did not care to speak with Komees Klaios and that all that he wished to see of him is his severed head."
Portos growled like a lion, and before he could speak, Grahvos had ordered, "Lieutenant, assemble a detachment double the strength of Lord Hahkmukos' guard and return with them to his tent. You are to go into his tent this time, and if any man tries to stop you, you and your detachment bear my witnessed orders to put steel into them.
"You are to tell Lord Hahkmukos that he is to come here immediately, escorted by you. If he still will not, you have my leave to have him dragged here, just as he is."
As the officer was saluting, Sub-chief Rahb, grinning maliciously, commented, "It might be wise, Lieutenant, to take along a crowbar, so's to pry the bastard from off his catamite.''
As the officer departed, Rahb Vawn commented to no one in particular, "Long's I've lived among you Ehleenee, and that's all of my life, I've never been able to fathom your kind's fascination for little slave boys; you can't get children on them and so it seems like such a waste."
Thoheeks Grahvos shrugged. "There has always been a significant minority of our race here who have declared that women exist only for breeding purposes, boys and younger men for sexual pleasure. I, personally, never subscribed to the philosophy, but some of my peers back at Mehseepolis do, Captain Rahb."
Thoheeks Portos said gravely, "I think that that subculture dates back to the days of the conquest of this land, before the conquerors had sent back to their homelands for women of their blood. They did not wish to pollute the racial strain through fraternization with the women of the conquered, some of them, so they made do with each other. I dabbled a bit in that direction when I was younger and still held my original lands, but no more, for it truly is a waste of precious seed for a man who needs to breed heirs and is getting no younger. But, even so, when I did so indulge myself, it was invariably with men not much younger than myself, not with the barely pubescent children that Hahkmukos keeps."
Captain Opokomees Gregorios of Dahnpolis put in, "It's rarer in Karaleenos than here or in Kehnooryos Ehlahs, and, I have been given to understand, rarer still in Kehnooryos Mahkedohnya. Of course, up in Karaleenos, we Ehleenoee have interbred with the indigenes from the beginning, or almost; you will find damned few kath'ahrohsee among us.
"And, you know, my lords, although one might expect just the very opposite, I had a drinking bout and some very long conversations with one of Lord Alekhsahndros' bireme officers up on the Lumbuh River during the late unpleasantness and he averred that such conduct is looked down upon in the Pirate Isles and is, therefore, almost an unheard-of thing, for all that there exist there far more men than women."
Sub-chief Rahb nodded. "Yes, true, women are scarce there, but then the Pirate Isles folk practice polyandry—each woman having two, three, four or more husbands at the same time, reckoning descent through her, as too do the Horseclanners, rather than through the sire, like most of you Ehleenee."
"Is it true, then?" asked Thoheeks Grahvos wonderingly. "Why, that is passing strange. It seems completely at odds to the very nature of men to willingly share one's wife with other men. Legal adultery is what it sounds like to me."
"Even so, my lord Grahvos," said Thoheeks Portos, "we may very well have to promulgate something of the sort in our realms, are we to see a rapid repopulation of these lands of ours, wherein far too many of the males still extant after so many years of warring are either too young or too old or, like Hahkmukos, just not inclined in the direction of breeding."
Rahb Vawn grinned broadly. "Lord Portos, I've got the answer for you. Just turn us Horseclanners loose down here; we'll ride from one duchy to the next one getting younguns on any poor Ehleenee woman as is willing. We'll charge you lords not a thing other than our food and bait for our horses, either; it's the very least we Horseclanners can do for to help you out, down here."
The assembled officers, nobles and heralds still were
laughing when the guard-lieutenant tramped in with a dark-visaged and very enraged Thoheeks-designate Hahkmukos in tow, followed by two grinning guardsmen with leveled spears held at waist level, their glittering points a bit downslanted to threaten Hahkmukos' rump area.
"My lords," announced the guard-lieutenant, "as you ordered, here is Lord Hahkmukos."
"Did his guards try to impede you, Lieutenant?" asked Portos.
The junior officer smiled slightly. "Only one of them, my lord. When the rest saw that we meant bared-steel business, they recalled urgent business elsewhere, all of them."
"Bright lads, those," grunted Thoheeks Grahvos, adding, "Our thanks, Lieutenant. You and those two may retire to the outer room, the wine and the brazier, but stay within call, eh?"
Immediately the three had saluted and left, Hahkmukos burst out bitterly, "Was it not enough, Lord Grahvos, that you and our peers saw fit to rob me, to seize two thirds of my possessions from out my wagons and packs and warehouses back in Mehseepolis? Was it not more than enough that you and Captain Portos and even the barbarian scum from the north have treated me with contempt and contumely all of the time on the march? Why was it needful to humiliate me before my proven enemy, this usurper, this Komees Klaios Kelaios, who had me driven from the city Council gave me and had me harried from off the lands of my duchy by armed and mounted men?"
"Had you come when first we whistled you up," said Portos coldly, "it would not have been necessary to send men to force compliance to our orders."
"Whether you like me or the fact or not, Lord Portos," snapped Hahkmukos, his anger and resentment overcoming his fears, "I am, by act of Council, your equal in civil rank, so you have and had no right to force me to come here or anywhere else."
"Sweet Christ!" swore Portos. "If I thought for one minute that I was the equal of such as you, I'd fall on my sword from pure shame!"
"As regards action of Council," grated Grahvos, "you're no more than a designate until the third and final vote, and now that you're somewhat poorer, now that other facts have come to light with regard to this other claimant to the duchy, I cannot but begin to doubt that that third vote will be so favorable to your claim as was the last one.
"And whilst we are here discussing claims, what know you of six noblemen of this duchy sent toward Mehseepolis and Council by Komees Klaios within the last year and a half, Hahkmukos?"
The man suddenly went from rage-lividity to the color of fresh curds, and Captain Rahb Vawn frowned, saying, "He's guilty as sin, Lord Grahvos, that's as plain as fresh horse biscuits on a winter snow. Such a whirl is his mind in just now, though, it's hard to sift out facts. Can you delve any deeper, Gil?"
Captain of Elephants Gil Djohnz closed his eyes for a moment and then spoke. "I get the impression that while he himself did none of the killings, he paid others to do them, especially a stout, thickly bearded man called Yohseefos . . . something like that, anyway."
"Lieutenant . . . ?" called Grahvos.
When that worthy stood before him, the eldest thoheeks returned his salute and ordered, "Take a detachment, go back to the camp of Lord Hahkmukos and seek out a stout man with a thick beard and a name on the order of Yohseefos."
But before the young officer could even answer, the miserable thoheeks-designate barked a harsh laugh. "If all you had by way of proof of these groundless charges against me was the unsupported word of that bastard, then know that your man here killed him outside my tent before he forced his way in and brought me here. Other credulous men may believe in these barbarians who are said to be able to read min
ds and commune with dumb beasts, but I do not, nor does any rational, civilized man.
"With this usurper in the camp, in your power, why not just kill him and get it over with? With the army camped out in plain view and with his head on a lance, I doubt that any or many would offer fight to my guards as I ride into my city."
"For one thing," answered Grahvos, "it never has been my habit to dishonor myself or a sacred truce with murder, though I would assume you hold a different philosophy. For another thing, after these last weeks of closer association with you than I could ever have desired, I am far from certain that Council would want such a thing as you in power of any description within our realm."
"Like it or not," sneered Hahkmukos, "I am thoheeks, and by your oaths you and this army are required to put me in power in this duchy, for I am, after all, my father's son and my father was the half brother of the sire of the last thoheeks of direct descent of the House of Ahndros."
Komees Klaios snorted. "If you truly believe that statement, then you're the only one in this duchy who does! Although your late father was a decent, hardworking man who did the best he could by you and your brothers, his mother was widely known as an arrant whore, such as my wife's great-grandfather used to cart to his palace in troops to entertain his guests at drunken brawls several times each year."
"You lie!" snarled Hahkmukos heatedly. "My father was recognized the half brother of the late thoheeks."
"Not so!" replied the komees. "When the boy was four or five years old, the sire of the late thoheeks chanced to see him, noted his face and remarked only that he clearly was come of an Ahndros man; he then ordered that when the boy came of age, he should be given enough gold to set himself up in a business or a trade. He was a most generous and kindly thoheeks; he
did as much for full many a commoner in his lands during his lifetime. That your sire and his mother chose to take the largesse of the old thoheeks to mean an acknowledgment of his paternity was known for long, hereabouts. She was laughed at by other whores and by everyone else, but because he was liked, people only smiled behind their hands whenever he mentioned his supposed close relationship with our late thoheeks.
"You know, gentlemen, if this thing's father still were alive, I doubt not but that many of the older folk of all stations would be willing to accept him as a city-lord, if not as thoheeks, but not his eldest son, not this creature. Force me out, kill me, if you wish—for—as he just pointed out, I am within your power—but even without me, you will find to your chagrin that neither the nobles nor the commoners will accept Hahkmukos as thoheeks in peace. All of them remember how Hahkmukos left Ahndropolis, years agone, and they will never supinely submit to the rule of a parricide, nor will all of your armies of armed men be able to place him securely in Ahndropolis until all its folk are done to death!"
With a scream, Hahkmukos ripped the lieutenant's sword from its sheath and, brandishing the blade high, hurled himself at the unarmed komees, the cloak sliding from off his shoulders to show his body naked save for a pair of soft ankle boots and his golden jewelry.
He did not get far in his impetuous attack, however. Captain of Elephants Gil Djohnz thrust out a leg and tripped him neatly, then quick-moving Portos planted a heavy booted foot athwart the downed man's neck while bending to pry the beringed fingers loose from the swordhilt.
"You want to see blood, do you, Hahkmukos?" Icicles hung from Portos' words, and his tone was frigid as a mountain blizzard. "Then I suggest that we settle this business of claimants in the ancient Ehleen custom, gentlemen: let Hahkmukos meet the komees at swords' points in a death match, winner to take all. Will you fight him, Lord Klaios?"
"Gladly, my lord," Klaios said, grim-faced. "Return my sword and loan me a panoply and shield and I'll fight him with great pleasure."
"No need to be so precipitate, gentlemen," said Grahvos. "A man fights more comfortably in his own panoply. Let the other gentleman return into the city and fetch back your gear, Lord Klaios. You two can do your combat on that little plain just beyond the main gates of Ahndropolis—that way, more of your folk can watch it and so be witness to God's decision in the matter at hand.
"It was a very good, a very fitting suggestion, Portos. My wits must be slowing with age or I'd've thought of it myself."
Turning to the lieutenant, he said, "Help the thoheeks-designate up, drape him in his cloak again, and escort him back to his tent. There help him to dress and to arm, then bring him back here. Oh, and fetch back a brace of his guards to be his arming-men for the fight, for I doubt if any gentleman in this pavilion would care for that 'honor.' You might bring him back mounted, for we'll all have to ride out to the site of the fight."
When they had gone, Grahvos seated himself again and called for ewers of wine to refill the goblets and mugs. After they all were again brimming and the servants padded out, he asked, "Lord Klaios, what is the story on this parricide business? That's a weighty charge, as I'm certain you are aware. A claimant to a title or to lands must swear powerful oaths that he never has done such, save accidentally, in the heat of a large battle, and Hahkmukos so swore before the assembled Council. If he perjured himself, then we must know."
The komees set aside his goblet and shrugged. "No one ever proved it, my lord, Hahkmukos was never declared outlaw, you understand, but the late thoheeks did make it clear to him that he would assuredly be made to suffer for it if ever he returned to this duchy while still he was lord here.
"When she who had been Hahkmukos' mother died, his sire remarried; of course, this was while Hahkmukos was away being given a gentleman's education at his sire's expense. When he returned, his sire put him to work in his shop. Then, of a day, his new young wife apprehended her stepson in the act of forcibly abusing one of his little half brothers in the way of his kind, whereupon Hahkmukos clubbed her down, all but slew her on the spot.
"Her screams brought her husband and a brace of his customers from the shop into the living quarters, and after the raging young man had been subdued and the wife revived, and her story and that of the child had been heard and witnessed, the sire became enraged and made a sincere effort to kill or at least do serious damage to his eldest son, but his customers—both of them old friends of the sire—restrained him from doing more than beating the miscreant within an inch of his life.
"In the wake of it all, Hahkmukos left the home and shop and he repaired to and lived for a while in the most disreputable section of Ahndropolis. A few months later, of a night, someone burglarized the shop, entered the home behind it, and slew the man, his wife and all of his children by her.
"Naturally, in the wake of all that had happened before, Hahkmukos was immediately under suspicion, but the thoheeks' investigators were unable to place him anywhere near that section of the city at the date and time of the murders and robbery. Nonetheless, lest certain folk be tempted to do him to death on strong suspicion, the thoheeks saw to it that Hahkmukos left the duchy for good and all. And no one here had seen him again until he came riding into Ahndropolis to gloat that he now was confirmed as our thoheeks and was looking forward to settling a number of old scores within his duchy."
Chapter IV
"Get out of here, you little shoat!" Hahkmukos snarled at the young slave boy still squatting in the corner of the tent. Having suffered his master's anger before, the child bundled his garment under a skinny arm and ran out into the drizzly cold.
"Will you grant me privacy to use the pot, Lieutenant?" asked the thoheeks-designate.
But upon the officer's departure, it was not the brass chamberpot that Hahkmukos sought; rather did he depress what looked like just another stud set in the lower corner of a traveling chest. Out of the secret drawer that then silently opened, he took a leathern belt, the pockets of which bulged with weighty contents. When he had buckled the belt around his waist, he quickly covered it with a shirt of soft cotton, then a longer one of silk, which he stuffed into silk drawers.
Seating himself on the side of the sleeping
couch, he pulled off the ankle boots, swathed his feet in two thicknesses of cotton cloth, then wrapped his lower legs in similar cloth, cross-gartering them before pulling on padded trousers that tied in place a few inches below each knee.
When the lieutenant reentered the tent, Hahkmukos had stamped into a pair of jackboots and was buckling the sides of a padded arming shirt. The officer helped finish the buckling, then his nimble fingers did up the leathern points that held on the sleeves of the garment. That done, the armor chests were opened and, one sitting, the other squatting, Hahkmukos and the officer inserted the steel splints into the sheaths let in the legs of the boots for the purpose, buckled on spurs, then knee-cops and plate cuishes above them.
The lieutenant grunted approval upon seeing the hauberk. Though decorated to the point of gaudiness, it was good, thick, first-quality, all-riveted rings that went to make it up, triple mail, split at front and back for riding, as well as on either side for ease of movement afoot, and with sleeves that descended to a bit below the elbow.
When Hahkmukos had wriggled into the mail shirt, he donned a padded coif—cotton inside, thick, sturdy silk outside—and the officer lifted out of its fitted place in the chest the backplate, whistling softly through his teeth as he recognized the rare quality of it. While he held the plate in place, the thoheeks-designate did up the straps and buckles crisscrossing shoulders and chest, then he held the breastplate secure while the officer matched the halves of the hinges and inserted the hingepins on the one side, then snapped closed the catches on the other.
Elbow-cops were buckled below brassarts which themselves were overlapped by spauldrons of steel scales riveted to thick leather. When he had cinched the waist with a studded swordbelt, the officer fitted the cased sword and a broad-bladed battle-dirk to it, then handed Hahkmukos his armored gauntlets and the battle-helm —a fine, Pitzburk-made helm, with hinged visor and gorget and feeling to be of a weight of eight or nine pounds.
