Assassin of the Heart: Book Two: The Temple Islands Series

by Richard Parker

  de Baard moved past the King, her hand brushing lightly along his upper back and shoulders. She felt him shiver as she went by and her good humor returned. ‘Damn the old man anyway.’

  “And Navarra killed a Tar?”

  Lawrence shook his head and peered up at her for an instant then his eyes flew back to his hands. “Don’na know nuttin’ about that. Too blasted dark. I was at the skiff. Saw the boy kilt N’varra’s other men, dinna see any dead Tar.”

  “The boy killed?”

  Lawrence nodded. “Yaw he kilt, and moved on to N’varra like he was possessed or sumpin.”

  “The boy killed?” she asked mostly to herself, but Lawrence nodded emphatically anyway.

  “You may go,” she commanded, lost in thought. ‘The boy, the Prince, could he possibly have pushed Tar Navarra so? She’d watched Navarra fight once in the arena. He was good…very, very good.

  She turned her back on the two men still in the room and with a fluid, easy grace pulled her black silk blouse over her head. She heard them softly gasp at the sight of her bare back and without fully turning, she glanced back at them.

  “I need to sleep,” she said softly and leaned over, exposing the side of one breast as she lowered the flame in the lantern. The two men behind her did not move as she dimmed the light until the flame nearly went out. They were still sitting there as she lowered her pants over her hips with the same elegant movements, letting them fall and puddle on the floor at her feet. She straightened up tall, giving them a good view of her backside in the dim light of the cabin. She smiled though they could not see it, not that their eyes were anywhere near her face. She reached out and lovingly touched her kali on the night table.

  “Good night gentlemen,” she purred and slipped between the cotton sheets. The bed was as soft as new grass; the Deutzani King insisted on comfort even aboard ship. She closed her eyes and stretched flauntingly, and then grinned at the sound of chairs creaking in the gloom, followed shortly by the frustrated footsteps of the departing men. She was asleep in moments, unaware and unconcerned that the King and his advisor would spend a very restless night on deck.

  ǂ

  Jess na Gall was strong enough to Travel the afternoon Carmen lost most of her right leg below the knee, but Gwaynn did not feel right about leaving while she was still unconscious. Carmen and all the Hawsers had done so much for his country that he felt he should at least say his good-byes. She woke the very same evening, feverish still, and though she smiled brightly at everyone, her mood was false; they all could tell. Rue sat close by, holding her hand and showing off his own scar which ran from lowest rib to hip bone on his left side. It was impressive and Carmen had the wifely sense to say so. Olney sat silent on the other side of the bed, quiet and thoughtful.

  “You need to be getting back,” Rue finally said to Gwaynn and the others, voicing aloud what they all were thinking. “You take Olney with you, he’s a strong boy. You’ll need him.”

  Olney looked up surprised and with just a touch of relief in his expression. He quickly covered it up with a frown and moved to say something, but his mother placed one hand over his and he fell silent, and just sat looking at her.

  “There is nothing more you can do here,” she said, trying to be strong but her voice quavered all the while. “The surgeons will see to us. When you take back the Plateau, perhaps Gwaynn will send the Traveler to fetch us, so we can rebuild our home.”

  Gwaynn nodded. “Of course,” he answered. “All of Massi owes you a great debt.”

  Tears came to Carmen’s eyes, but she did not cry. “You go with them, fight with them for me and your brother, but come back to us, come back to us strong and whole.”

  Olney said nothing, found he couldn’t say anything, least he break down and cry over his mother in front of everyone. He nodded stiffly and she smiled at him and he knew she understood.

  “I’ll watch over him,” Gwaynn promised and no one thought it odd that he would say such a thing even though he was nearly the same age as Olney.

  Both of the senior Hawsers smiled at the Prince, proud he was to be their King, and proud that their family could serve him so readily. It was time for the Deutzani to leave. They all felt it; all of Massi seemed to be feeling it.

  “We will stay until morning,” Gwaynn added. “Nothing much we could do in the dark anyway.”

  The next morning, Gwaynn woke well before sunrise to find Olney, Samantha, Krys and Sath all up and waiting for him. He gave them a wry smile as he stepped out into the cool morning air.

  “This may be the last time any of us will sleep in a soft, clean bed for a while and none of us seem capable of enjoying it,” Sath said in a hushed voice. Gwaynn stretched then took a moment to stare up at the stars; there were thousands, and he thought fondly of Elise on Lato. He vaguely wondered what she might be doing now…sleeping no doubt.

  “So we’re only waiting for sleeping beauty,” Samantha said and Gwaynn wondered at the harshness in her voice. He glanced at her, but couldn’t see the blush on her cheeks because of the relative darkness.

  “And Lonogan,” Krys said. “We should give them an hour or so. It is still dark.”

  Gwaynn said nothing and Sath only grunted. They passed the hour speaking of small things: the Hawsers, Dana Knote, the stars, and the beautiful weather on the island this morning. Lonogan joined them nearly forty-five minutes later, but Sath went to wake Jess na Gall just as the eastern sky was turning pink.

  “You sure?” Gwaynn asked Olney as Jess formed a link with Zebo so they would Travel to the correct location.

  Olney nodded, but said nothing. They waited in silence until quite suddenly the bridge opened just after the sun topped the horizon. Without hesitation they all moved from the tranquil island in the sea to the forested hills of southern Massi in an instant. The air at the foot of the mountains, on the very edge of the Plateau was much, much cooler, just on the edge of cold, and goose bumps rose on their arms as they left the relative warmth of the islands behind.

  Captain Marcum stepped up to them immediately. His face was ashen and his eyes seemed to refuse to focus on any particular person. He made a perfunctory bow to Gwaynn then turned his attention to Afton Sath. Van waited quietly behind him, head down, clearly worried.

  “It did not go well?” Sath asked before Marcum could speak. Marcum shook his head negatively.

  “We had the high ground and the numbers, over two to one we outnumbered ‘em,” Marcum began in haste. “But our right flank disintegrated almost at once…if we didn’t have the numbers…” he stopped and gave a little shiver.

  “How many did we lose?” Sath asked, dreading the answer. It’s what he feared; most of the men volunteering were farm boys, stable hands, carpenters or the like, very few of them had any practical fighting experience. The Deutzani, of course, were all seasoned soldiers.

  “Sixty-three dead, with maybe double that wounded,” Marcum answered and then flinched from the sound of his own voice. Krys whistled, but everyone else was silent.

  “The Deutzani?” Sath asked once more.

  “Not sure of the wounded, but we counted thirty-two among the dead,” the Captain said. “We were able to shift about and finally reinforce the right flank, after that the Deutzani disengaged and moved off down the hills. I’ve scouts out now hunting their position.”

  Sath nodded. “We’ll let them go for now…”

  “No! We won’t,” Gwaynn answered immediately. “Captain how many horses do we have?”

  Marcum stared at the young Prince in consternation. Master Sath was right. They should let the Deutzani go. He shrugged. “Maybe two hundred in all.”

  “I want them ready to go in an hour,” Gwaynn said, but Captain Marcum gave no indication he would carry out the order. “Move!” Gwaynn repeated raising his voice menacingly, but still the Captain hesitated. Gwaynn’s right hand slid to the hilt of his kali.

  Marcum’s eyes went a little wider. He’d heard stories of the young Prince, but ha
d yet to see him fight in person.

  “You’re close to death, Captain,” Gwaynn said in a whisper.

  “We will prepare them,” Sath answered and grabbed Marcum by the shoulder and spun him about, and together they walked up the hillside toward the camp. Van remained behind but still said nothing. Gwaynn glanced at him a moment but the young Deutzani lowered his eyes at once.

  There was an air of tension around Gwaynn making Jess and Olney feel uncomfortable, but Krys and Samantha felt no such thing. “You should take the bowmen. They are light and fast,” Samantha added. “How many bowmen do we have?”

  “We?” Gwaynn asked and couldn’t help but smile. He thought briefly that maybe he was falling in love the girl, but then shook such thoughts away. He had no time for such dalliances at the moment.

  “We.” She replied confidently.

  Gwaynn gave a non-committal jerk of the head. “Not sure,” he answered then turned to na Gall. “Eat something, we may need you. You’ll be coming along.” She stared at him a moment, then nodded and moved up the hill toward the smell of frying bacon.

  “You should not split your forces,” Krys stated.

  “I know,” Gwaynn added. “It can’t be helped. Take Lonogan and comb through the men. We take only the most experienced. I’ll not have the timid getting in our way this time. The wounded that stay behind will have a Speaker and any soldiers you deem not ready for battle. If they’re threatened somehow, Jess can bring us back to help them.”

  “All of us?” Krys said, disbelieving. No Traveler was strong enough to hold a bridge for an entire army.

  “I’ll assist,” Gwaynn answered with a shrug.

  “You…” Krys started but stopped as Gwaynn held up a hand.

  “We’ll worry about it later,” he answered. “Now we should eat quickly and see to the planning.”

  “Sir,” Van said finally speaking, though he was clearly uncomfortable.

  “Van. It’s good to see you again,” Gwaynn said and clapped Vio’s cousin on the shoulder.

  “I…I couldn’t fight them,” Van stammered. “I…tried. I couldn’t hardly fight with them, but now I know I’ll never be able to fight against them.” He paused for a moment. “I’ll leave if you think it best.”

  Gwaynn shook his head. “I didn’t save you by that lake to see you fight your countrymen. I saved you because of Vio. If you can’t fight don’t, but do us no harm…and don’t betray me.”

  Van swallowed, his eyes held by the intensity he found in Gwaynn’s. He nodded. “I give you my word,” he answered, casting a quick glance at Samantha.

  “That’s good enough for me,” Gwaynn answered with finality, and together they all moved up the wooded hillside.

  An hour later they started off with one hundred and ninety horsemen, a hundred and fifty light infantry or bowmen, and another one hundred and seventy-five heavy foot soldiers. Nearly all the foot soldiers and a full half of the Calvary were soldiers from the past war; the rest were green and untried.

  The Deutzani had nearly a three-hour head start, but after several miles it became apparent to the trackers that their flight out of the hills was not a panicked retreat. They followed the trail for nearly two hours before one of the scouts rode up to the lead position.

  “Master,” he said addressing Sath. “The Deutzani are moving down a trail to the west of Koshka. They should break the tree-line soon.”

  “How long?” Sath asked.

  “Mayhap in another hour, or a might longer,” the scout said, looking up to the trees as he was thinking.

  “Can we catch them before they leave the trees?”

  The scout nodded. “If’n you keep to the pace,” he answered.

  “Keep an eye on them,” Sath ordered and the scout turned his horse and headed off at a quick trot, moving quickly past the column of men and horses.

  “We should not let them get out of the tree-line,” Sath said. “We won’t be able to surprise them on the open Plateau.”

  Gwaynn frowned and wondered at his father’s Weapons Master. “I think surprise is out of the question for now,” he said simply and looked to Bock for confirmation. Lonogan nodded, he was growing to trust the young Prince’s instincts.

  “We’ll let them go out onto the flat and hope they turn to face us,” Gwaynn said simply, contradicting his old Master once again. Sath made to say something but Gwaynn cut him off.

  “It will be harder for us to keep an eye on the less experienced soldiers in the wood,” he said a bit harshly. “And we will not be able to bring our bowmen to bear in the undergrowth.”

  ‘Hear, hear,’ Samantha cheered inwardly but did not voice her approval out of respect for her uncle. She rode behind them along side Krys, who also said nothing.

  Gwaynn’s plan called for Captain Tanner to have command of nearly all the horsemen. As they rode Gwaynn explained to them all what he wanted done, though Sath fretted with worry as the plan was laid out. Sath would take command of the right flank and the most senior of the heavy foot soldiers, Krys would take the left flank, the least experienced, along with Lonogan Bock. Gwaynn would take the center. Captain Marcum would be over about seventy-five soldiers and perhaps twenty-five horsemen in the rear, shifting the reinforcements where needed. David Hahn would command the archers and Samantha insisted on being counted among them. At first Gwaynn’s stomach did a slow flip at the thought of Samantha in the fight, but in the end he agreed. There was really nothing else for it. Jeffery Gaston’s lone responsibility was to watch over Jess na Gall. Olney Hawser would help him, ever since their return from Helles he’d kept close by the Traveler in any case. Gwaynn gave na Gall explicit instructions to open a bridge at the onset of battle and flee if things went badly.

  Though outwardly calm, Gwaynn emotions were bubbling about his insides as if he had the stomach flu. It was not a pleasant sensation nor did it diminish as they drew closer and closer to the unsuspecting enemy. True to the scout’s word, they closed in on the Deutzani and were discovered just before the enemy broke from the trees, only about three miles west of Koshka. As Sath suspected, the Deutzani commanders rushed their troops onto the open Plateau, confident in their ability to handle any enemy they could see. Gwaynn let them go until they were nearly three quarters of a mile away and then confidently led his troops out after them, and as he suspected, the Deutzani immediately stopped marching and formed up to face them.

  Gwaynn closed within two hundred yards and then the Massi took up their positions.

  “Watch the left,” Sath said to Bock as he moved his troops to the right of Gwaynn’s center. He knew that the Deutzani would also put their most seasoned troops on their right, directly across from the weakest Massi contingent. Most contests in warfare depended on whose left flank could hold the longest without folding.

  When everyone was in position, Gwaynn signaled to Tanner, who was trailing the front lines. The horsemen he was leading immediately moved at a slow trot off to the right threatening the left flank of the Deutzani. Farther behind, David Hahn and his archers mirrored the movements of Tanner’s horsemen, though they were hidden from the Deutzani’s view by the Massi horses and dust that was thrown up into the calm afternoon air. Gwaynn forced himself not to glance back, not to try to catch sight of Samantha, or glimpse her red hair tied up tight under her leather cap; instead he focused on the movements of the enemy. As Gwaynn suspected he would, the Deutzani commander countered by moving his own cavalry to the left, shadowing the Massi horsemen. Farther and farther Tanner took the cavalry, and farther and farther the Deutzani followed.

  Gwaynn tasted bile in his throat, but swallowed it unconsciously. As yet the Deutzani commander made no offensive move, but Gwaynn did not expect him too since they were so heavily outnumbered. The Deutzani were fielding only about two hundred heavy foot soldiers and perhaps sixty Calvary, totaling less than three hundred against well over five hundred Massi. The Deutzani were counting on experience, however, which of course, had served them well in the r
ecent past.

  When Gwaynn deemed that Tanner and his horsemen were far enough away he signaled to Krys, Bock and then to Sath then the whole of the Massi front line began advancing slowly as one. As they did so Krys began to move his force of soldiers farther and farther out away from Gwaynn’s center. At first the Deutzani did not react, but when they were within fifty yards the right wing of the enemy began to push out to protect their own flank. As soon as they did a gap appeared in their lines and Gwaynn did not hesitate. He charged, accelerating into a sprint, heading directly toward the break. His troops followed him while Captain Marcum moved his seventy-five extra troops to fill the gap in their own lines. Marcum’s horsemen looped around and moved to support Krys’ green troops. Sath and his contingent charged the Deutzani left, but before they clashed Tanner wheeled his cavalry in the distance and came full gallop toward the battle. All of these actions happened at once and all was going just as Gwaynn hoped, but then the Deutzani failed to cooperate.

  His plan called for the Deutzani cavalry to attack the Massi horsemen, in an attempt to protect their flank, but instead the Deutzani circled around behind the charging horseman, aiming to strike at the flank of the Massi. By doing so they charged directly into the mass of Massi bowmen, and Samantha. Typically, bowmen without support could not stand against a charge of mass cavalry, and this was hardly different. But the numbers were still on the Massi side, one hundred and fifty bowmen against only sixty horsemen. They would not be able to hold but they could definitely inflict damage and delay the enemy, as long as their nerve held in the face of an unchecked charge of massive horseflesh. The archers, who were only supposed to support the Massi cavalry, were now facing death as it rapidly approached.

  As the Deutzani charged toward them, Hahn yelled for his archers to take up position. They did so quickly, more out of fear than training, and within moments released their first missiles. Several horses fell, but most charged on, coming closer. A second volley was launched and more enemy fell, but nearly all continued to pound toward the Massi archers. Most realized there would be little time beyond the third volley to flee and a few were jockeying in their formation to retreat, but then Samantha stood, moved out front a few steps and released her third arrow. It struck home and a full hundred and fifty arrows followed, all at pinpoint range. Twelve more Deutzani went down, but then the horses were upon them. Samantha threw herself to the ground as a large gray warhorse bore down on her, its right rear hoof narrowly missing her knee as it pounded by. She stayed on the ground as the other horses flew past, then she stood and shot two more arrows after the Deutzani, neither hit, but other archers had more luck. Several more horses and men took arrows and a few went down. As suddenly as it had appeared, the danger past. Samantha expected the Deutzani to turn about and press their advantage. They could easily slaughter the archers if they had a mind, but the enemy horsemen ignored them and continued on toward the rear of the Massi lines. Sam watched them go and then glanced around at the carnage. Her eyes were wide with excitement and her breath was coming in gasps as if she’d run a great distance. All around her, archers were down, either by sword stroke or trampling, though many, many more were as untouched as she. Samantha looked about for Hahn but didn’t see him. She began walking and finally spotted the Captain on the ground gripping his leg below the knee and giving orders to those around him. Samantha ran to him, and saw that his left foot was crushed, having been caught beneath a heavy horse.