The Last King's Amulet pof-1

by Chris Northern

  After an hour I was spent and Sapphire was as fresh as a daisy. I hadn't touched him and he had bruised me all over, apart from my head and face and neck. I was breathing deeply and covered in sweat. My arms hurt. I'd used a shield and he had not. I decided I hated him.

  It was he who stepped back and lowered his sword, assessing my condition.. “Enough for tonight. More tomorrow. I want a token so I can pass the ward freely.”

  I stood there, breathing like a bellows and hurting for a second or two as I thought about it. Then I glanced at Kerral and he nodded back.

  “I'll see to it you have access to the one we have. You know the wagon we guard?”

  Sapphire agreed that he did and left, just like that. Not another word out of him.

  38

  “I don't know how much he was holding back, but I suspect a lot.”

  Kerral and I were walking back to my tent and I'd asked about Sapphire.

  Well, Kerral was walking. I was more staggering, using the same concentration to move as you do when really drunk and not wanting to show it. Felt similar too, oddly enough.

  “He was holding back?”

  “Quite a lot I suspect.”

  “How can you tell? I couldn't tell.”

  “Experience. You should have Pakat watch next time. Two reasons.”

  “Well?”

  “One, Pakat is a lot better swordsman than I am. Two, if he has to kill Sapphire he'll need any advantage he can get.”

  “Well. I'm not sure how I feel about that. Depressed, I think.”

  “He was teaching you the right things for battle. Don't become a victim. Hit him anywhere. Don't duel with him.”

  “Never planned to.”

  Kerral looked at me coldly and for just a second I saw a hint of Sapphire's coldness in his warm brown eyes. “Do plan on it. Anyone can become an enemy.”

  39

  I was back to hurting in the mornings again and I didn't like it (Oregano).

  That day we met the first refugees coming the other way. They didn't look much like refugees. They had wagons piled with possessions, livestock, horses, their wealth intact. They were ahead of the game, making sure they kept what they had, taking no chances. There weren't that many. Less than a dozen such groups. Clearly landowners who should be taking up arms. The moral dregs of our society, in other words. Doubtless Hadrin Ichal Merindis, the patron of the Geduri, had ordered troops raised to defend his lands. If not, he should have, should be on his way or have the best general in the family on his way, but may have just issued an alert to the potential danger and ordered the chieftain to deal with the problem. Of course, these were city people, not bound to this location by any really strong ties or duties. If Hadrin had not ordered a raising of troops they were blameless and the blame was with their patron. Still, a moral coward is as bad or worse than any other type.

  A little after noon my attention was snatched from my general reverie by a messenger thundering past me, heading the same direction. A thunder of hooves, a quick glimpse of movement as he passed, and then faded away. Not that unusual, but he had been beating the horse and shouting it on, and he was already here. Urgent news then. Urgent news in a war is always bad news. Always.

  I caught Kerral's eye and he nodded grimly. Something bad.

  A few minutes later battle horns sounded and were repeated down the line and the whole army came to a halt. More horns, reinforced with the shouts of centurions, and the whole army about turned. Including us.

  “What the hell?”

  More horns. March. Repeated. Quick march. Repeated. At the double.

  In far less than a minute we were turned around and heading back the way we came, and faster. “I'm going to find out what the heck is going on.”

  “Yes sir,” Kerral approved.

  Tul was in conversation with an officer I vaguely recognized as one of Orthand's as I caught up to him, so I didn't have long to wait.

  “The Alendi have stolen a march on us. They are across the border behind us as much as twenty or thirty thousand strong, maybe more.”

  “Damn. What about my cohort?”

  “What about them?”

  “Sorry sir. I meant, what about the Orduli?”

  He frowned and I let him think, fearing to press the point. I would but I could also wait first.

  “I'll go make the case for it. You and me to go ahead with the original plan. If he says no, how do you feel about doing it anyway?”

  “Going it alone?”

  “Exactly.”

  Hell. Not what I had in mind, but the idea had a certain appeal. I said yes before I rationalized myself out of it. Equal numbers we could handle.

  He went and I worried at it. There was historical precedent. Two cohorts, or more if Sheo had got them, against potentially twenty thousand. Even if it were that bad we could do it. I groaned softly and stretched my back. I was suddenly glad of the pain Sapphire had inflicted, the lessons learned, and that my body was being reminded of what is needed to be a swordsman.

  He was back before I knew it.

  “He agreed after I made it clear I was going anyway. Pass the word by mouth, he doesn't want any confusion with signals. Gatren, Pel, Shendoko!” The three commanders called were there in seconds. “Pass the word to the centurions, no signals, peel off the road and circle about and it better be smooth! Why are you still here?”

  Good question. I went.

  The maneuver didn't go nearly as fast as when the full army had turned about, but in a few minutes we had marched in a half circle and were back on the road behind the rearguard. Messengers flew about and the new order of march was organized and made to happen. Equestes, Tulian, me, the mules and servants, more equestes.

  “Wagons. Kerral, compliments to the commander and I respectfully inquire if we have remembered to inform our portion of the baggage train.”

  “You send me with the stupid question?” He muttered it so lightly that I could pretend not to hear him, and did.

  In a while he was back. “He's doing it.”

  I resisted the urge to ask if he was doing it now or had already done it. It didn't matter. I was still trying to think if there was anything I had forgotten. Didn't think so. Didn't stop thinking.

  40

  That night we didn't make a fort, we didn't stop moving either. Our scouts had located Sheo and we were headed for the protection of his fort. We slowed the pace in deference to the men's lack of food and the darkness of the night. Before midnight we were there, Kerral supplied the password and we were taken into the protection of the fort. My fort.

  Sheo limped around the desk on his stiff leg and gripped my arm as I gripped his. We were glad to see each other and said so.

  “How many?”

  “Two full cohorts, starting on a third and up to three hundred there. Plus fifty equestes. Young and untried, Knight's sons, but keen enough.”

  I nodded. Good. “Stores? Wait! Get me a drink, we are going to be a couple of hours at this, then sleep, then at it again before dawn. Might as well get comfortable. Who's this?”

  “Lebbo, my aide.”

  He was young. “Go find my first centurion Kerral and tell him he is in charge of everything until I relieve him.”

  The boy hesitated and glanced at his commander. Sheo nodded and the boy left.

  “I'll sort out the passing of command in the morning if that is acceptable, sir.”

  “It is.” Oh yes. My command. And bigger than Tulian commanded. Ha! Then it occurred to me that I would lose the crossbowmen and the mages and the healers. Well, I would miss them. Especially the healers. And the mages. Damn. I'd ask Tul if I could borrow some. There weren't near enough to go round. Buy spells? I had two stones, that's two healers. I needed twelve. Damn! Money! The colleges were five hundred or more miles away so I wasn't going to get the healers in a hurry. Damn. Command is a pain.

  “Where is the nearest town?” I might get lucky.

  41

  I had no idea.

&
nbsp; “Isn't fun is it?”

  Tulian was grinning from ear to ear. He'd sized up my dark and hollow eyes as I entered his tent (Ostrich or Elderberry depending on who you asked, him or me) and knew I'd not slept for things that needed doing and decisions that needed making. Here was one.

  “We need to talk.”

  “We are.”

  “Alone.”

  “Sorry, you'll have to wait. First things first.” He indicated his commanders, waiting for their orders. I nodded and settled to wait. “Get the commander a chair,” he said to no one in particular. One appeared and I sat in it, gratefully.

  I paid attention to everything he said, wishing I had had a mentor, or time as an aide to watch and learn. Well, I'd had the opportunity and declined it several times. No one to blame but me.

  “Money,” I said when we were alone and he laughed.

  “No way.”

  I sighed, thought he might say that. What was his motivation to help me support a larger force than I could afford? “Thought you'd say that. My force is bigger than yours..”

  “But I know how to use mine, and can afford it,” the barbs went home, “and we had an agreement, remember?”

  I did. “I'll honor it but it was worth a try.”

  “Forget it. You have the makings of a good commander but you don't have the experience. Use your larger force as I direct and we will be fine.”

  “I'll argue if I think you are wrong.”

  “I expect it, but not on the battlefield itself, understood?” I knew he was right, so nodded.

  “Good.”

  “You will help me feed my men.” It wasn't a question.

  “I'll do that but the money I use is a loan with interest.”

  “Greedy, cousin.”

  “Aren't we all, cousin. Agreed?”

  “Okay, sir. When do we formalize this?”

  “Now. I ordered a full assembly, best you get your men to do the same.”

  “Oh, and I want Yebratt Shaheel, one of your knights, red hair and a beard.”

  “I know him. Why?”

  “I know him and I don't want an unknown in command of my horse.”

  He nodded. “Good enough reason. I'll issue the order.”

  I left. I had things to do.

  42

  It was four days before Sapphire threw down his practice sword and said, “Practice with your own men from now on. I've taught you all I can in the time,” and walked away without another word.

  I swore at him under my breath.

  Pakat didn't say anything but I could see he didn't approve.

  I was hurting too much to care. I thought I had been busy before but that was nothing, I now realized. I worked with Sapphire for an hour each night, or rather he worked me over. I was up before dawn, planning the day and giving orders. Latrines. My army literally couldn't take a dump without me giving an order. Then I went and trained with the men till noon. Every single problem came to my tent. I didn't have the experience to deal with it but I did have knowledge.

  Unknowingly I gained a reputation as being thoughtful commander, because I paused every time I was asked anything to think and remember. I was glad I had the natural arrogance of my class or I never would have had the guts for it. Still, I couldn't cope alone and I learned to delegate. First had been the chain of command: Tulian above me, and no one else. Then myself commanding one cohort and Kerral the other. I'd left Quail in charge of the half cohort. Sheo to command the equestes and Yebratt Shaheel as captain, the equivalent of first centurion; he had been delighted and grateful for the promotion. For each cohort I had assigned Pakat and Luk as first centurions, and Geheran and Gobin as seconds. Tul had let me keep them. I had managed to hire two healers, Libby and Westel, from the nearest town, called Undralt, where they had lived and worked. They cost a fortune and I was already in debt after day two. But in debt to a surprise creditor.

  Sapphire had come to my tent early the morning after we had arrived. He'd dumped a satchel on my desk without a word of preamble and handed me a letter.

  This scrip is a loan.

  That was all. Not a word of praise. Still, I was relieved to have the scrip with his seal on it. I had played with the idea of using my own but every single transaction would have been an argument out here where I was not known; my family name might have cut it sometimes but I didn't have time to argue with everyone I wanted to hire or buy from. My father's name was much better known and trusted, and natives could ask a man of the city and be assured the scrip was good. I was relieved of one more problem but couldn't quite manage gratitude.

  As I watched Sapphire walk away now, having just been worked over by him, I wondered why I had never seen him before. He was my father's agent after all, and clearly very well trusted. Why had I never seen him? All of my father's Clients came to his door every day throughout my childhood. I dismissed the thought, but it would come back to me later, just one more thing nagging for my attention.

  “What do you think?”

  Pakat was also looking into the night after Sapphire. “Dangerous.”

  “That's what Kerral said.”

  “He was righter than he knew.”

  “Could you take him?”

  Pakat wondered over and idly picked up the discarded practice blade. “Nope. Maybe. There's always a chance. Always luck, good or bad. Wouldn't like to know for sure.”

  Hell. I'd seen Kerral take down three men with his bare hands in that alley the day he had saved my life. And Pakat was better. So Sapphire was what? He'd killed me fifty times tonight so I didn't even pretend to have a chance against him. Kerral, less chance that Pakat.

  “Don't fret. He's on your side. He was teaching you.”

  “Any man can turn into an enemy.”

  “True,” Pakat mused. “Too true.”

  43

  Food. Sleep. Then an hour before dawn Meran woke me. I don't know who woke him. Of course, the trumpet sounded the hour every hour, and brought me close to wakefulness for a moment, so I do know.

  Things had changed a little. I didn't need to go as far. My tent was now in the center of things; then a big gap, of which the equestes took a small slice; the healers and battle mages were also here but no longer my responsibility, other than the two healers who were mine. After that came the tents of the men, then a gap, then the wall. The wagons were tucked in at the corners, still away from the wall so that missile fire couldn't hit them. It was nice to be in the center of things. My men came to me, I didn't need to go to them. I looked in on Tul but that was different, he dropped what he was doing, walked around the table and we conferred for a short time before I left. Much better all round. Apart from the endless stream of questions coming through the chain of command.

  I delegated as much as I could.

  After breakfast everyone left the fort apart from the slaves, servants, engineers and anyone else who wasn't actually actively going to fight. Scouts would be out before dawn and away to do their job. Messengers shortly after.

  Once outside we exercised and practiced maneuvers and spent at least two hours scrapping with wooden weapons. No fatalities. By this time my muscles had warmed up and I felt fatigued but better. Mostly it was my arms and shoulders that hurt but already it was a good hurt, apart from the bruises of course. Under my clothes and armor I looked like a dalmatian but that would pass. I spent all day in armor. I got used to it and hardly noticed it was there.

  After the noon meal, and a bit of time fielding further questions for me, there were duties for most; kit inspections if nothing else. All duties were either rotated, decided by lot, or negotiated among the men. For me there was an hour after that in the company of Tulian looking at reports, messages, sifting rumor, reading letters and discussing all of it and more. My commanders could find me there and came and went as usual. Most often I kept Sheo with me, first because he was my second and also because of his game leg. He was going to be my commander of equestes, and they were close by in any case. He and Yebratt had quic
kly forged a good working relationship; he told them where to go and what to do and Yebratt made it happen, taking half the troop if needful. Just as I would command one cohort and Kerral the other but the first centurions made everything we needed to happen happen.

  It was all getting routine until the first real refugees started passing and we knew that the rumors were accurate. The Orduli were moving in numbers in our direction and making a big ugly mess of the land and people as they went. The runners came to us and spilled their guts and begged for food and shelter and help. We gave what help we could but no one could stay, though some wanted to, others just wanted to get far away. We used them and their hardship, the stories they told of ravening barbarians, to fuel the anger of the men. We didn't have to make up much to outrage them. Citizens had been murdered, women raped. People burned alive in their homes. The enemy was ruthless and indifferent to suffering. They were cruel. The mood of the men changed. They wanted the fight. They wanted to kill the enemy. A whole day of that before the really bad news came.

  “They sacked Ufingan,” Yebratt said without preamble as he strode into the tent.

  I snatched a map and looked at it. “Twenty miles? They could be here any damn second.”

  “How sure is this?” Tulian snapped.

  “I have witnesses who were there. Want to see them?”

  I shook my head and glanced at Tul. “No,” he said, “but I want them interrogated and every last drop of information wrung out of them.”

  Yebratt cleared his throat.

  “Yes?”

  “They are citizens sir.”

  “No one said torture them. Just get the facts, as many facts as you can.”

  He saluted and left, looking relieved.

  “I'll go with him,” Sheo offered, not quite making it a question.

  I nodded. “Yes, I'd value your observations.”

  “Can't wait for the next scout to get in.”

  “No. We seal the fort.” We had already had the engineers make gates as we were planning to stay put for more than one night. “See to it,” he instructed Gatren.