by Robert Adams
Blushing and fidgeting with embarrassment, the general-to-be gazed at the floor tiles. Then, clearing his throat, he changed the subject before more could be said. "My father's wine is superb, sir. But he must talk forever, ere he offers it. My wind is not so long and very little. Speech tends to dry my throat."
Bili found that the wine was indeed superb. When, after the ritual of mutual healths and toasts to the High Lord and The Morguhn, the cups were refilled, Komees Hari apologized for the absence of his wife and daughters, chuckling ruefully.
"Your arrival, Bili, has set my girls all aflutter especially Eeyohahnah and Mehleesah, who are at or near marriageable age . . . though where I'll get the gold to dower two more daughters is in the lap of Sacred Sun!"
He shook his white head. "I suppose that peace is wonderful for many of our Confederation, but it spells hard times for a man whose livelihood is the breeding of warhorses, what with high taxes and a profusion of daughters to be adequately dowered."
"You see, lad, Vaskos is my only son. None of my wives' male infants lived more than a couple of weeks; and, can I secure Council's approval, he'll be my heir. How could any Council refuse to grant legitimacy to a Strahteegos of our Confederation? Although after I've provided dowers for Eeyohahnah and Mehleesah and little Behtee, my title, my sword, and my ledger-books are about all I'll probably be able to leave him."
"I vow, Bili, were it not for a few good and faithful customers in the Middle Kingdoms and the Black Kingdoms, my family and I would be starving and in rags!"
Bili was nobody's fool. His mission here was to win the support of the aging Komees. What better way than to offer his help in furtherance of the old nobleman's ambition for his bastard? It was certain to be more effective than the simple choice and purchase of a horse he really did not need.
Besides, he had liked the officer and he genuinely admired him and his accomplishments. A Keeleechstos, leader of three thousand men. In the Middle Kingdom, his rank would be colonel, and he just might have attained to that rank through the skillful greasing of selected palms. But in the Army of the Confederation it was well known that Strahteegoee were chosen strictly upon the grounds of ability; too, there was that Golden Cat. While thousands of Red Cats and hundreds of Silver Cats had been awarded during the century since the establishment of the orders, less than five score men, all told, had ever won the right to a golden one, of any class.
"Lord Hari," he began.
"Now stop that, Bili!" admonished his host. "You've clearly been too long away from home, among those stiff-necked northerners. We of the Kindred call each other by name, reserving formality for superiors, strangers, and known enemies. I'm Hari and my son is Vaskos."
"All right, Hari," Bili started over. "I'll be candid. I want something of you, and you want something of Council. Pledge me support in my aims, and I, in turn, will pledge you my support and my best efforts at gaining the support of others in attaining your aspiration for Vaskos."
——«»——«»——«»——
And so, we sing a proud song,
Of Pitzburk, where the siege was long,
Of Pitzburk, where our rivers ran with blood.
The last note died. Klairuhnz, the traveling bard, lowered his instrument and slowly bowed.
Bili's fingers sought his purse and selected a silver thrahkmeh. The singer deserved it, for he had certainly rendered an excellent performance, what with ancient telling-songs of the exploits of Morguhn and Daiviz chiefs and clansmen now hundreds of years dead; a couple of Ehleen love ballads which had even brought a few brief smiles to the jowly, perpetually frowning face of the Lady Hehrah, Lord Hari's short, immensely fat wife; a Freefighter song, much laundered, which nonetheless had every man in the room roaring, since the words replacing the bawdy ones did not rhyme, making the original lyrics easy to guess; and ending with the famous Song of Pride, a venerable favorite in the Middle Kingdoms, though not so well known this far south.
Allowing his host and Vaskos to throw their coins first, Bili then tossed his thrahkmeh. The bard caught the three silver pieces in flight, juggled them for a few moments, then lined them on his open left palm. Closing that hand, he made a gesture or two above it with his right hand and, when he reopened the left, all three coins were gone.
The two youngest of Lord Hari's three daughters oohed and ahhed their amazement, but the older, Eeyohahnah, never changed expression, since she did not see the sleight-of-hand. Her dark, brooding, slightly slanted eyes had never left Bili since first they were introduced; they had followed his every movement or gesture throughout the dinner. However, on each of the several occasions he had attempted to meet her stare, she had looked down with a show of modesty and the barest flicker of a sly smile. Her activities were beginning to irk Bili, but it would be undignified and most impolitic to allow his discomfiture to become noticeable.
Bili was far from a novice in the ways of women. Since first his voice had deepened and his shoulders commenced to broaden, women and girls had made no secret of the fact that they found him handsome to look upon. He had been but fourteen when be had pleasurably spent his virginity within the young widow of the Earl of Dawfuhnburk, then living at King Gilbuht's court. After her, he had tumbled countless serving girls and had paid court to and bedded other idle noblewomen.
He had been introduced to rapine at the ghastly intaking of Indersburk and again, more recently, had renewed his acquaintance when Behreesburk fell. But this girl, this Eeyohahnah, was no spoil of war, to be stripped and enjoyed at his leisure. Nor was she a lustful serving wench or a promiscuous northern grass-widow, free to take the bed partner of her choice.
That the raven-haired girl was nubile was more than apparent, even through the folds of her old-fashioned Ehleen himation, especially since she had, seemingly by accident, pulled the garment tight over her firmly swelling breasts. But the very fact that the girls and their mother were all dressed so anachronistically attested that Eeyohahnah had been reared in the Ehleen manner, and Bili knew that Ehleenoee nobles placed an absurdly high value on virgin brides. All rational men agreed that the crucified god of the Ehleenoee alone knew why they clove to so stupid a custom.
So it angered Bili that she would thus flaunt herself and taunt him with what she knew he could not take the pleasure of without so deeply offending Lord Hari that he would probably end up having to kill the old man in a death match . . . either that or marry the brazen chit. And, it came to him, maybe that was at the core of the matter. She knew that he would be Thoheeks sooner or later, and fancied herself a fair candidate for Thoheekeesa of Morguhn.
Well, she was no such thing! When Thoheeks Bili wed, he had no intention of taking an unproven heifer, not for his senior wife anyway. The woman he would take for that would have proven couch skills and would also have a proven ability to conceive.
But Lord Hari was speaking, commanding, "A chair and wine for Bard Klairuhnz." Then, to the bard, "You are, I am informed, lately come from the Southern Duchies. Tell us the news, when you have had of the wine."
The black-haired singer sat on the chair and carefully lowered his harp to the floor, then accepted the mug of wine. His Adam's apple bobbed as he downed half the mug. Leaning back, he smiled contentedly as the warmth the spirit spread through his vitals.
"Another of the ancient horseclans," he began, "has crossed the southern mountains and has been recognized as True Kindred by Ahrkeethoheeks Djaimz. The clan is that of Sanderz and they live according to the tenets of the Couplets of the Law. Even now, their chief, Hwahltuh by name, journeys to Kehnooryos Atheenahs to pledge his Kindred Oath to the High Lord."
"Do you believe them truly of our Kindred, Bard Klairuhnz?" inquired the Komees. "In times past, I hear, there have been bands of nomads who so claimed, in order to be granted lands . . ."
The bard nodded vigorously. "Oh, these are genuine Kindred, Lord Komees, I've no doubt of that. Lord Djaimz had me seek out the Sanderz bard, and he knows the Law—all of the Law! Also, he sung
me the entire Song of Sanderz, which took most of a day. They are most certainly of the Children of Ehlai, the original Kindred. Their Old Mehreekuhn is the purest I have heard in years, and those who can tell say that almost all of the Sanderz can mindspeak."
This last was a telling point. Mindspeak—telepathic ability was once an ages-old inherent talent of eighty percent of the Kindred. On the Plains which the Kindred had roamed for hundreds of years, before forty-odd of the clans had first invaded the Ehleen lands, mindspeak talents had constituted a definite survival factor, as well as the only way of communicating with Prairie Cat and horse. Even with the blood of those original forty odd clans much thinned by generations of intermarriage with other peoples, many of the modern Kindred still possessed mindspeak, to a greater or lesser degree. Bili had it, as did both the Komees and Vaskos, and so, though he was damned careful of who knew, did Bard Klairuhnz.
"The sea—" the bard continued his news, the transmission of which between far-flung duchies was one of the most valuable and welcome functions of the traveling bards "—still is rising along the coasts and more farmland is being lost each year, as the salt fens widen. Sea creatures venture ever farther up the rivers as well, and the talk in the Southern Duchies has been of the huge white shark—a full dozen meters long and far thicker and heavier than most of that ilk, with teeth half as long as a man's finger—slain in the pleasure lake of the Ahrkeethoheeks. It overturned three boats and slew or drowned near a score of boatmen and soldiers ere all its monstrous body abristle with arrows and darts and spears was finally driven into shallows and clubbed and axed to death."
"So many of the soldiers and waterpeople swore that the shark fought with the reasoning of a man rather than the mere cunning of a beast that the Ahrkeethoheeks had a boatload of Ehleen priests brought down from his capital, giving them leave to conduct their ceremonies for driving demons from the lake and the land. I myself saw some of those rites, and right awesome they were."
"Hogwash!" snorted the Komees. "Young Djaimz must be as weak-brained as was his father, to put any faith in Ehleen superstitions. If he really wanted to be sure that that lake was cleared, he should have rented or borrowed some Orks from the Lord of the Sea Isles. No known water beast is the match of a few of those thirty-footers!"
"And it is a pure mystery to me, Bard Klairuhnz, why God Milo failed to slay every one of those pimps in priests' clothing, those holy slavers, on whom he could lay hands a hundred years agone! All the bastards, from the lowest Eeyehrefsee to the Ahrkeeyehpeeskohpohs himself, are power-hungry and athirst for Kindred blood . . . or Kindred gold, whichever seems easiest to lay their scaly hands to."
"Why, that thrice-accursed Kooreeos Skiros of Morguhnpolis had the nerve to come to me, no more than a year agone, and demand mind you, Kinsmen, not ask, but demand one of my daughters for a 'bride' for his god, complete with a dowry which was to be paid to him."
"So what answer did you give the holy man, Father?" asked Vaskos, grinning hugely. He had obviously heard the tale before, and enjoyed it.
A harsh, humorless laugh came from the Komees. "I told him that since I did not follow or honor his stupidities, he had no claim on me or mine. That it has been known for a hundred years that he and his kind are whoremongers and slavers and that I would slay every one of my daughters, ere I consigned them to his 'care.' And I warned him against returning to Horse Hall, since the next time he trespassed under my roof, I'd make him 'holey,' in truth!"
He turned his face to Bili. "Lad, I'm sorry to have to criticize your father, but over the years he has been far too lax in his handling of potentially dangerous malcontents in this duchy. Myros of Kehnooryos Deskati, for instance, should've been flogged the length of these lands and hanged ten years ago. Your uncle, the Tahneest, favored it, as did Komees Djeen and I and Clan Bard Hail and even your mothers; but Thoheeks Hwahruhn would list to none of us, and now his duchy, and all of us with it, sits in the pan of a cocked catapult!"
"Mark my words, Bili, bad days are coming to these lands. Myros's agitation was bad enough, but since this arrogant Kooreeos arrived four years ago, the petty Ehleenoee nobles and most of the commoners, city and rural, are become secretive and surly. I fear that terrible things are afoot."
"Aye," agreed Klairuhnz. "Ever do the square-beards foment unrest amongst their followers. And no matter how much freedom is given them, they demand more and ever more. Why, in Gafnee . . ."
Komees Hari's bony knuckles glowed white against the sun-browned skin of his clenched hands and his voice grated. "Yes, Kinsman, we heard even here; and my son, Vaskos, has told me still more. A nasty business. Sacred Sun grant that our troubles never get so far!"
"Heard what, Bard Klairuhnz?" asked Bili impulsively, noticing neither the rage on the face of his hostess, nor the grim set of his host's features.
So abruptly and violently did Komeesa Hehrah arise that her chair went crashing over. In an icy voice and clipped phrases, she said, "My lords, the hour is late. Too, I have heard quite enough slander of dedicated, selfless clergymen, I beg leave to retire. Eeyohahnah, Mehleesah, Behtee . . . come!"
Spinning, she waddled to and through the doorway, trailed by her daughters and servingwomen, bidding a goodnight to no one.
"I take it, Lord Komees," the Bard dryly remarked, "that my Lady cleaves to the Ehleen religion."
Lord Hari made a rude noise, disgust and anger on his face. Grasping an ewer, he filled his mug to the brim, drank it all down, then slammed the empty mug onto the table with enough force to set dishes and cutlery to dancing. After taking several deep breaths, he spoke in a well-controlled voice, his first words directed to Bili.
"I apologize for my Lady's atrocious conduct, Kinsman."
Bili squirmed in his chair. "My Lord, perhaps if I had not asked the question of Bard Klairuhnz . . . ?"
"No, Bili," the old lord sighed. "It was coming, and I well knew it. My Lady ever goes out of her way to offer offense to any Kindred I entertain, only showing her good side around folk of her own ilk. In the last few years, she's become almost unbearable."
"But, why . . . ?" Bili began.
Looking as if he needed to spit, Komees Hari answered before Bili finished asking. "Because among her innumerable other failings, my cursed wife slavishly bides by every one of the old Ehleen superstitions and practices, including some of the vilest of them. Oh, warm and loving Sun!" He beat one big fist against his wiry thigh, soul deep pain shining from his eyes.
"Why, oh, why was not my father more careful? Had he but known how rotten was my Lady's blood with all the cursed, shameful Ehleen practices, this day would see me wed to her I truly loved, Vaskos' dear mother, not to that perverted, demon-ridden sow, Hehrah!"
"Bili, all else aside, I know why you came. Rather, why you were sent to my hall, today. Your dear mothers are wise and were thinking straight and properly, but it was not really necessary, for your House has ever had my support in Council and you will always have it. I can speak for my brother, Drehkos as well, I believe. As for . . ."
But then Hofos, the majordomo, advanced up the hall, bowing and wringing his hands, to announce the arrival of noble guests.
3
Shortly, Bili, Vaskos, and Klairuhnz were seated with wine, cheese, fruit, and pipes in the Komees's study-cum-armory, awaiting the arrivals of Lord Hari and his guests. Once the wine cups were filled and the Bard and Vaskos had their pipes going well, Bili addressed Klairuhnz.
"All right, Kinsmen, what in hell happened in the lands of Komees Gafnee that caused Lady Hehrah to take such umbrage at the mere mention of it?"
"Well I—I . . ." drawled Klairuhnz, with an inquiring glance at Vaskos.
The officer chuckled. "You may speak freely, Bard. I hold to Sun and Wind, like my father. I may look like an Ehleen, but my heart is that of a Horseclansman. Further, having served the Confederation for so many years, I can spare scant sympathy for those who would see its dissolution. I know of the Gafnee business, of course, for I've talked with o
fficers whose units helped to mop up the mess. Bili's a right to know, for it would appear that matters are building up to a similar problem here, unless a certain Vahrohnos—you two may be unaware of the fact that the same bastard was cashiered from our army—and a passel of bloodthirsty priests are right speedily executed or banished."
The Bard nodded brusquely, drained off his mug, then asked, "My Lord Bili, how much know do you of the Ehleen priests and their sect?"
Bili shrugged. "Damned little, I'm afraid. None of our halls practice it, none that I know of anyway. And it is unheard of in the Middle Kingdoms the sword being worshiped there, though a few women do hold to the Blue Lady."
Klairuhnz puffed at his pipe and eyed his audience through a cloud of bluish smoke. "The sect is old, Bili, ancient really. It's at least as old as the first Ehleen kingdoms say, seven hundred years. But the Ehleenoee apparently brought it and its priests with them when they crossed the Great Sea and invaded these lands, and I have talked with Ehleen scholars who held that their religion was two thousand years old at the time of the War of the Gods. And men say that that calamity occurred nearly twelve hundred years ago! Of course, many doubt that contention, but who can say truly, after so much time?"
"Ere the Kindred came, the Ehleen sect had been slowly dying for a hundred or more years, and what few followers it retained were mostly lower or middleclass peasants, mechanics, tradesmen, small merchants, and suchlike. Most of the Ehleen nobility had adopted some odd and rather sinister cults the worship of monstrous animals, fish, and serpents, to whom they frequently sacrificed living humans. But as more of the Ehleenoee became dispossessed of their lands and cities, during the Wars of Confederation and the sporadic rebellions, the Eeyehrefsee advertised themselves and then religion as a rally point for those of their race, and many of the nobles went back to what they called the Ancient Faith."
