King's Dragon: Chronicles of the Dragon-Bound: Book 2

by William Culbertson

  They were on their way back to the Ugori encampment. Yesterday they had arrived at the Ugori’s original camp north of Frohliem City. While his troops started digging fortifications around their campsite, Dax and the others had immediately set out for the palace. His meeting with King Kankasi had gone just as well as Dax had expected, but he was still disappointed . . . and frustrated.

  “Me and some of our boys could take our wee horses up to Drundevil Pass for a look-see anyway,” Markadamous offered.

  “Sorry. Because of the king’s command, I can’t give the order for that.” Dax shook his head. “Besides, I need you in camp to help organize the mission we have been given.”

  A moment later Scarlet spoke up. “Commander, I feel it’s time I led a scouting mission to the north country. After all, we did catch some Tharans last time we were up that way, and I think the Ugori need practice working in small, independent groups.”

  Dax nodded. “The more we know, the better. Take two platoons and supplies for two weeks. See if there is any more Tharan activity in the North.” Dax fixed his gaze on the younger man. “And, Scarlet, don’t you dare go scouting the south side of Drundevil Pass where you would be able to see a good way into the Chammanie Valley from Tallend’s Point.”

  They rode on toward the Ugori camp in silence. Finally Markadamous sighed. “Now I’m a-puzzle here. Did I just hear what I thought I heard?” he asked.

  “Of course.” Scarlet smiled broadly. “Commander Dax just ordered me to lead a scouting mission to the North.”

  Markadamous nodded. “And of course, that is exactly what you will do.”

  “It would be wrong to disobey an order from my commanding officer,” Scarlet replied with a wink.

  “And that is the truth,” Dax injected. After a moment, Dax added, “Besides, Markadamous, I really am going to need your help in getting the Dark Horse Rangers ready for the mission ordered by our king.” Markadamous grumbled under his breath, but Dax knew enough not to ask the man to repeat his opinion of the king’s orders.

  #

  Scarlet had his scouting party out of camp before sunset. Dax focused on preparing to march in support of the lancers. He wanted a lean, highly mobile force, and that meant arranging to leave most of their supplies and baggage at the Ugori encampment. Meanwhile, he had other things to ponder. Dax had sources inside the palace, and they told him Lady Aylssandra had been welcomed back, warmly, by Prince Ruprek. He still suspected she had been on her way to meet the Tharan force they had stumbled upon in the North, but for now there was nothing he could do.

  #

  Three days later, Dax and Markadamous were in the crowd at West Gate to watch the East Landly Lancers ride out at midday to meet the invading Tharan army in the Chammanie Valley. Trumpeters lined the walkway on top of the gate and played a grand fanfare as the first riders appeared. King Kankasi, Prince Ruprek, and all the highborn rode in the van, their party surrounded by the flags and banners of the noble houses of the kingdom. Their armor, for the nobility wore full armor, was picked out with gold highlights. The king’s armor was completely plated in gold. Over it, he wore a purple tunic with his family crest, a stylized griffin, emblazoned on the chest. The crest was similar to the one Dax’s father, King Darius Ambergriff IX of West Landly, had worn. East Landly’s monarchs came from the same Ambergriff line, but generations ago they had modified the crest by adding a shooting star to emphasize the independence of their branch of royalty.

  Behind the nobility came the East Landly Lancers, their horses’ hooves clattering over the cobble paving at the gate. The lancers’ red uniforms were sparked with gold braid, and their metal cuirasses gleamed with polish. Their long black lances had silver tips that caught the sunlight. In near perfect dress, they carried their lances vertically from a holster attached to their saddles. The long, upright spears looked like a forest of stout reeds jogging past. A mounted color guard led every regiment, and their standards, each showing a lancer astride a rearing horse, flapped in the breeze as they cantered along.

  “Quite the spectacle,” remarked Markadamous. “If the Tharans could see this, they would crap their drawers.” He paused a moment, then added, “Might give them something to think about anyway.”

  “Just as well they aren’t here to see it,” replied Dax. “About a third of the units are wearing ceremonial armor. It looks impressive, but it won’t stop a spear.”

  “Huh. Bet it makes you sweat about as much.”

  Dax snorted. “That it’s good for.”

  The people of the city lined the streets and cheered as rank after rank of riders on their impressive black and brown horses clattered through the streets. Women threw flowers at their feet, and children cheered and loped alongside, trying to keep pace with the horses. The procession stretched over a mile down the road toward Drundevil Pass by the time the last of the lancers’ supply train cleared the gate. The riders faded out of sight in their own dust cloud heading west.

  Silence settled in. There was no traffic into the city from the direction of the Chammanie Valley, and the townspeople who had spilled from the gate to watch the procession retreated back inside. The spectacle was over. Outside the city, all was quiet.

  Dax and Markadamous led a small train of six supply wagons back toward the Ugori encampment. Halfway to their destination, Markadamous broke into Dax’s thoughts. “You’re still bothered by the king’s plan to catch the Tharans beyond Drundevil Pass.”

  “If the lancers can meet them in the open on the far side of the pass, they will have room to use their horses to good advantage.” Dax’s voice conveyed no emotion.

  When Dax said nothing more, Markadamous asked, “But you don’t think that’s what will happen, do you?”

  “I can think of any number of things that could go wrong, starting with the Tharans catching the lancers in the pass where the lancers can’t use their mobility to cut up the Tharan formations.” Dax frowned. “What if the Tharans slip a party over the mountains somehow and catch them from behind as well as from the front? What if the Tharans have troops waiting above the walls of the pass at the west end?”

  Markadamous was quiet for a time. “I get the impression you would rather fight the Tharan end of this engagement.”

  For the first time that afternoon, Dax looked at him and smiled grimly. “That’s the problem. I can think of too many strategies the Tharans could use to make Kankasi rue the day he led his entire army into battle.” He shook his head. “His entire army . . .” Dax was silent for a while as he thought. “We haven’t heard anything from Scarlet, and I don’t expect to for several days yet.”

  “Too bad one of those flying scamps of yours couldn’t bring us word.”

  “Unfortunately they will only imprint on the dragon-bound, so Scarlet is out of our reach until he sends word,” Dax replied absently. “But you are right. That kind of communication would help me sleep better.”

  As much as he trusted Markadamous, another mile passed before Dax finally brought himself to say what he really wanted to say. “I still can’t shake the feeling that the king is headed for disaster. Would you be willing to take a group of raiders on a secret errand?”

  “Raiders now, is it? You’re thinking I know something about raiding?”

  Dax ignored the man’s sarcasm. “The king is leaving his capital completely defenseless, because we will be going with him—if behind him. If the Tharans should break through and get some small force behind us, they’d have a clear run right to the city walls.”

  “You want us to hold the road against the Tharan army if they break through?” Markadamous asked, incredulous.

  “Finally, a task you don’t think you could handle?” Dax almost smiled for the second time that afternoon, but he sobered. “I think I will be delayed in getting our Ugori forces underway.” He looked meaningfully at Markadamous. “We will not march in time to make the king’s two-days-behind request.” Dax did smile, but it did not last. “If a Tharan force gets behind the lanc
ers and comes down the road from Drundevil Pass, I don’t know if the Ugori could hold an open road against them.” He nodded at Markadamous. “However, if someone were at the pass to harry them, bloody them, and delay them all along the road”—Dax smiled—“we might have enough time to get the gates closed and be ready to meet them by the time they get here.”

  “If they are coming here,” Markadamous observed.

  “If,” Dax agreed.

  “If they get past the lancers.”

  Dax looked at him. “You are trying to make me feel like I’m shouting into an empty rain barrel.”

  Markadamous looked at him sharply. “Oh, you’ve convinced me. I would say a lot more if I wasn’t having the same kinds of dark thoughts you’re having.” They were almost at the camp. They could see the new earthworks around the tent city as they forded the stream a half mile south of the Ugori encampment. Markadamous nodded. “I can have three hundred men packed and on the road before sundown. The lancers will never see us, but we’ll be ready for any trouble coming through the pass. We’ll scout the area out ahead far enough to get word coming down from Scarlet’s men.”

  “I hope it’s a fool’s mission,” Dax sighed. “But thank you.”

  “If you are the fool,” Markadamous said with a little wink to show he thought Dax was anything but a fool, “me and three hundred men get a little ride in the countryside. If the king’s the fool . . . Well, that will be exciting for everyone on this side of the mountains.”

  #

  Later that night, alone in his tent, Dax carefully thought through the day’s events and all the possible outcomes of Kankasi’s decision to ride out with all his forces. He was certain it was a trap, and the impulsive ruler was plunging headlong into it. The Tharans were coming. He did not know how they would do it, but he felt it in his bones. The Tharans were coming, and Frohliem City would be undefended.

  East Landly was not his kingdom, but it was part of greater Landly. Tharan intrigue had been behind the plot that had taken West Landly away from him. Now they had invaded West Landly’s sister kingdom. He had been a boy when Mathilde had forced him into a life of exile, but he was a boy no longer. He was a military leader, and the Tharans were threatening Landly. The more he thought, the angrier he got.

  Finally Dax realized his dragon nature was fueling his rage. He forced himself to stop thinking about the Tharans. He got up from his cot to make an inspection of the camp. The cool night air was still. So was everything in the camp. He walked the perimeter, stopping at each of the four lighted watch stations at the camp’s cardinal points and all the unlighted postings in between. By the time he got back to his tent, the walk had cleared his head. He had decided what he had to do. King Kankasi had given him orders, but the king had left his wife, Queen Layna, behind to rule in his absence. Perhaps she would feel differently about defending the city.

  #

  First thing the next morning, Dax sent an urgent message to the palace, requesting a meeting with Queen Layna. He had met the queen briefly at one official function, and they had only exchanged the usual pleasantries with no real conversation. Although Dax was not well connected at court, what he had heard about the queen made him hopeful she would at least listen to him.

  The reply was swift. The queen would receive him yet that morning.

  Dax gave Bray Achelis, his second in command, a list of urgent items to carry out, and Dax rode into Frohliem City. The queen received him in the same audience hall where he and Scarlet had received their orders from the king earlier. The queen, however, was not on the throne. She sat in one of three chairs placed on the lowest level. A lady-in-waiting occupied another chair, and only one guard stood at attention on the dais behind the throne.

  When Dax was announced, the queen stood to welcome him, and she invited him to sit with them. She introduced him to Lady Aurilla, a matronly-looking woman who served them tea from a setting on a small table nearby. Queen Layna, tall for a woman, had a slim frame that made even the simple dress she wore look elegant. No longer young, her dark hair had flecks of gray, but one prominent lock of almost-white hair ran back from her forehead. She was a women who had aged attractively, and that, no doubt, made other women at court envious.

  Once they all had their tea and had taken a sip, the queen continued to put him at ease. “Commander Daxdendraig, I am so glad you wanted to see me.” She put down her cup. “I’ve heard you are called Dax. Do you mind if I use that name?” She smiled. “I would like you to call me Teena.” She made a dismissive gesture with her right hand. “Minister Porforio insisted I follow protocol, but he’s not here. I wanted us to talk informally even if we are in the royal audience hall.”

  Although this was hardly a social visit, Dax appreciated the queen’s efforts to make him comfortable. He nodded. “I am fine with that if you are, Your Majesty.” The queen held up her finger, then pointed at herself and raised her eyebrows in question. Dax smiled. “Teena it is then.”

  “Thank you, Dax,” she smiled. “Let us get right to the point. You are concerned the king is making a serious mistake taking the entire garrison out to meet the Tharans. You’ve trained at Iron Moor, so you can’t tell me you haven’t had that thought.”

  Dax smiled to himself. He had heard that the queen was an intelligent woman, but her insight left him breathless. This was exactly the problem he had come to discuss. “Yes, I have that same concern . . . Teena.” He caught himself in time to use the name she had requested.

  She nodded. “Thank you.” She took a deep breath and went on. “Before he left, my husband ordered reinforcements to Frohliem City from the garrisons at Bright Bay and Akomak. Akomak is close enough that they should arrive within ten days. However, their numbers are small. I expect only a small detachment. Bright Bay will send substantially more reinforcements to the city, but the soldiers they send will be mostly foot. It could be a month before they arrive.” She looked at him archly and asked, “Will that be enough to keep my city safe?”

  He shook his head. “No, Your Majesty.” This news he felt he had to say formally. “If the Tharans come in force, the city will not be safe.” He looked her in the eye. This was the critical moment. Would she see the need? “For the immediate future, I and the Ugori troops are the only military force of any strength able to defend the capital of East Landly.” He had other arguments he could have used, but the queen had obviously anticipated his line of thought. He went to his most telling point. “I worry that the Tharan force we encountered north of the city means the Tharans expect to bring the war to Frohliem City itself.” The queen’s attitude made his request easier to make. “Your Majesty, I know I came to East Landly as a political advisor, but I am a trained military man. I ask that you order out the Ugori troops to defend the kingdom. The Tharans may win through the pass. It would be the prudent course of action.”

  The queen stood up and began to pace, but she impatiently waved him down when he started to stand up as well. “What I need to know . . .” She stopped pacing in front of him and put her hands on her hips. She looked at him, her eyes challenging. “I need to know, can I trust you and the Ugori under your command? The people of East Landly need to be defended . . . but from whom?”

  Her husband might have been an impetuous fool, but not Queen Layna. She also moved him with her concern for the people of East Landly. “Your Highness.” Dax got up from his chair and knelt before her. “I and the men I command are in the service of East Landly,” he said formally. “While the Ugori have been known to make mischief”—the queen scowled at that, but he continued—“I trust their loyalty to me. They also know my suspicions that Thara has ambitions not only on East Landly, but if the Tharans are successful, on Ugor as well.” He bowed his head to her. “I will lead them in the service of East Landly at your command.”

  She stood silent before him. Dax remained where he was. Finally the queen said, “Commander Daxdendraig, I know you are of the dragon-bound, and your pledge is honest. I also feel you are the ma
n for this task.” She nodded. “You have your order.”

  The queen tapped him on the shoulder and urged him to stand up. “Now.” Her tone was light, belying the seriousness of the previous moment. “Let’s sit and finish our tea.” She sat back down on her chair took another sip. “I and the kingdom thank you for your service, Dax, but now I think you’d better tell me more about your suspicions. Would any of this involve Lady Aylssandra?” She frowned as she said the name.

  Dax took his own seat, and his estimate of the queen went up another notch. He nodded. “Did you know we met the lady on the plains well north of the city, heading for the area where we encountered the Tharan force?”

  “I’d heard she had returned with the Ugori.” She thought for a moment. “So you think she was on the way to meet the Tharans?”

  “She has been to Thara. That much I know from a lie she told Major Scarlet. She also lied about her purpose for being in the area.”

  The queen nodded. “The talents of the dragon-bound provide us an opportunity that we should take advantage of more often.”

  Unsure exactly what the queen meant by her statement, Dax continued. “My judgment is the Tharans were coming to meet her to get information. Perhaps they were to escort her back to Thara.” Dax shifted in his seat and crossed his legs. “However, the Tharans had too many men for that job alone. That’s what aroused my suspicions of a plan to attack the capital. I think their main mission was to trap anyone fleeing north from Frohliem City after an attack.”

  The queen frowned. “So you are certain an attack is coming.”

  Dax leaned back in his chair. “Certain? No.” He rubbed his chin in thought. “King Kankasi’s plan is workable on the surface, but I can’t believe the Tharans will allow him to fight the battle he wants. There are too many ways to turn this into a disaster for the lancers.”