Storm over Vallia [Dray Prescot #35]

by Alan Burt Akers

  “I did not see them in the fight. Did you?"

  “No."

  Drak sat himself down on a rough wooden seat and put his forearms on the scrubbed tabletop. The fire threw harsh shadows into his face. Yet Endru could see the power there, the arrogant beak of a nose, the jut of chin, all the charisma he possessed, shared and inherited from his father the emperor. They were much alike, yet Prince Drak for all his austere ways, his uprightness, his dedication to his duty, possessed a streak of more gentle character from his mother, the divine Empress Delia.

  The small cottage room contained other men and women: Kapt Enwood nal Venticar, the prince's right-hand man and his chief of staff, crusty old Jiktar Naghan the Bow, commanding the prince's bodyguard regiment, the Prince Majister's Devoted Archers, his personal servants, one or two of the sutlers come to report the damage, various people who had business with the prince, and Chuktar Leone Starhammer, commanding Queen Lushfymi's regiment of Jikai Vuvushis. Now Kapt Enwood resumed the conversation Endru's entrance had interrupted.

  “Jiktar Endru confirms my view, then, jis. I am confident the Kataki twins commanded. It is certain that Vodun Alloran was not there."

  “The quicker he is put down, the better it will be for Vallia."

  “Yet he is clever and resourceful. He commands many men. And he's getting his gold from somewhere—"

  “Aye!” burst out Drak. “But where?"

  “It is my view,” put in Leone Starhammer, “there is sorcery involved here."

  No one cared to answer that. This Leone, a full-bodied woman, plain of face, dark of hair, with biceps that could smash a sword through oak, kept herself and her girls up to a very high fighting pitch. Fortunately, in Drak's mind as in the others', the Jikai Vuvushis had not been heavily engaged during the short fray.

  “Let's have the maps out and see what we can cobble together and call a plan."

  Again Endru felt that stab of dismay at the depths of the prince's despondency.

  The maps were brought and spread upon the table and the people gathered about them in the light of a lamp, a cheap mineral oil lamp.

  Drak began by stating the obvious.

  “We are fighting for Vallia. The whole island empire has been broken into pieces, and slavers and slave masters, villains who batten on our misery, have swarmed in to ravage and despoil. We will not allow slavery in Vallia. We will not allow honest folk to be crushed into the mud. So we fight for them. And, this day, we have been defeated."

  “Tomorrow, jis,” said Kapt Enwood, “or the day after or the day after that, we will be victorious."

  “And how many days must the downtrodden wait for us?"

  “As many as the Invisible Twins made manifest in the glory of Opaz decide, my prince."

  Drak took that well enough. He stabbed a finger at the map.

  “At least, they did not pursue their victory."

  “I lost the better part of a fine totrix brigade,” said Kapt Enwood, grimly. “Then the rains came.” He drew a breath. “No. They did not pursue."

  Where Drak had stabbed his so savage finger the little bay, known as Swanton's Bay, gouged a piece out of the Venavito coastline. To the east lay the province of Delphond, the Garden of Vallia. Delphond was the province of the Empress Delia. The people were languid and easygoing, joying in the good things of life which they produced so profusely from their lovely land, not easily aroused. During the Time of Troubles they had changed. From slitting the throats of stragglers in ditches, they now sent many strapping sons and daughters to swell the ranks of the regular Vallian army. Delphond was cut off from many direct routes and canal trunk systems, and invasions usually passed the province by. Drak did not wish to contemplate what his mother would say if he allowed invading hordes once more to ravage her lands.

  Northward lay the vadvarate of Thadelm, mostly occupied by Vodun Alloran's mercenaries. There was some resistance to his schemes there, though, and a small force watched the borders.

  To the west the kovnate of Ovvend was now once more solidly in Alloran's grip. Ovvend was on the small size for a kovnate province; it was undeniably rich.

  West of Ovvend lay the diamond-shaped kovnate of Kaldi, Vodun Alloran's own province. The westerly point of land was the last on the mainland of Vallia. Beyond that extended many islands, chief of which was Rahartdrin, with Tezpor to the north. No word had been received from these islands, or those further west, for many seasons, and spies sent in did not return.

  Two divisional commanders had been killed in the battle, so the council was thin on the ground. Brigadiers would have to be appointed to take over the divisions; as Endru had suspected, they would not advance a grade within the Chuktar rank.

  “I am determined to hold them on this line,” said Drak, indicating a river some miles to the east. “We must draw them north."

  He was aware that these people, all well-meaning, gathered here to help and advise, would know why he wanted to do that. The thought of Delphond once more put to the torch and the sword made him limp with anger. He had spent some of his childhood there and he loved Delphond's lazy ways, her soft rivers, the winding dusty lanes, the fields of fruit and hop gardens, the fat ponshos with fleeces as white as the clouds above. Oh, no, he must draw Alloran's army, commanded by the Kataki twins, toward the north where they could be entrapped in mountains.

  Kapt Enwood said: “We shall have to send to Vondium to ask for reinforcements. I see no alternative."

  “They are short of troops in the capital."

  “If you appeal to the emperor—"

  Drak's head snapped up. Almost, almost, he burst out: “Ask my father? Oh, yes, we'll ask him. But he won't be there. He never is. He'll be off gallivanting around the world doing derring deeds, hurtling under the Suns in his scarlet breechclout and swinging his Krozair longsword. Oh, yes, ask the emperor, an’ you please. Much good will it do you."

  Instead, he said: “Send and ask, Kapt."

  “Quidang!"

  Their faces harshly highlighted by lamp and the fire, they thrashed out some kind of plan. They would draw the enemy on, try to chivvy him northwards, get him in unfriendly country, continuously ambush him, run him ragged. They could not stand up to a face to face set-piece battle. Not while they were now, having sustained casualties, at a worse ratio than one to three. When the reinforcements marched and flew in, why, then, with the blessing of Opaz and the strength and cunning of Vox, they'd knock Vodun Alloran's teeth down his throat.

  And his two whip-tailed Katakis with him, too...

  “We must preserve the Phalanx intact,” said Drak, stating the essential and the obvious. “Without them at Swanton's Bay we would have been destroyed."

  “Aye, jis."

  “Get the kervaxes moving at first light and withdraw the entire Phalanx force to the east. We will need light infantry for ambush work, and light cavalry."

  They talked on for a space, settling details, then at Drak's suggestion, they retired to try to sleep for what was left of the night. The rain continued. The sky was a mere black platter pressing down on the land. Leone Starhammer lingered.

  “Jis?"

  “Yes, Leone?"

  “The queen—I fear she will take this news ill."

  “She will have to be told, I suppose..."

  “Jiktar Shirl the Elegant fell today—"

  “I am desolated! I did not know."

  “A stray varter bolt pierced her through the throat, above the corselet rim. She died in my arms.” Leone's hard plain face revealed no outward emotion; Drak was not deceived.

  “She was handmaid to the queen; but she kept on pestering to go with the army and be a Jikai Vuvushi. In the end the queen relented and gave her assent. Shirl the Elegant was very dear to the queen."

  “I see. Then she will have to know. I give thanks to Opaz that the queen stays in Vondium."

  Leone stared at him, and the slight movement of her right eyebrow was of enormous significance.

  “I believe the queen
would dearly love to be with the army, to march with her regiment of Jikai Vuvushis, to be with the man she—the prince she—"

  “All right, Leone. I know, you know, the whole damned world of Kregen knows Queen Lushfymi of Lome wants to marry me. Well, I am not so sure."

  “May I say, prince, that it would be a splendid match? Lome is a very rich country, and Pandahem is allied to us now, after the wars, and—"

  “Allied to us! By Vox, Leone! You saw that fresh damned army come shrieking off the beaches! They were from Pandahem. They were Pandaheem. I wouldn't be surprised if there weren't more than a few men from Lome among ‘em!"

  “Majister!"

  “Aye, and a few girls, too!"

  “Jis—you do me dishonor—I cannot—"

  Before Drak had time to spit out that he didn't really mean what he said in the heat of angry resentment, Leone fled from the room. Drak swore. He swept the maps off the table, then he kicked the table leg, then he swore some more.

  Women!

  The trouble was, ever since Queen Lush—at once he mentally corrected himself. He ought to refer to her as Queen Lushfymi, although she was generally known as Queen Lush. She'd come to Vallia to marry the old emperor, Drak's grandfather, and when he had been killed, Queen Lush, after some fraught experiences with sorcery, had decided her best bet would be to marry the Prince Majister. One day Prince Drak would be the emperor.

  Well, and so he would, if his father had his way. Drak refused even to think about all that. He had a campaign to run and Vodun Alloran, the damned traitor, to whack. Time enough later to think of marrying.

  And then—of course!—he could not stop himself thinking of Silda.

  Daughter of his father's boon companion, Seg Segutorio, the finest Bowman of Loh in the world of Kregen, Silda Segutoria troubled Drak in ways he just couldn't fathom. He knew she loved him. She had risked her life, willingly offering it up, to save him from death. She was marvelous, wonderful, impetuous, quicksilver, and damned devious, too, like all the women who were members of the famous if secret sorority the Sisters of the Rose.

  Into the bargain he knew that Seg Segutorio, who was like an uncle to Drak, and his father the emperor and his mother the empress, all wanted Drak and Silda to marry. That seemed in their eyes to be inevitable and wonderfully apt.

  And here was Queen Lush, sophisticated, alluring, a woman of the world, sensual and clever and reputed possessed of some sorcerous powers, setting her cap at him.

  It was all a muddle.

  He glanced at his own great Krozair longsword standing in the corner by the fireplace. The coals were mostly burned through now and he'd better turn in before the room became too cold. He was a Krozair of Zy, a member of that martial and mystical Order. Yes, life was a lot simpler out there in the Eye of the World, the inner sea of Kregen. Out there, where his brother Zeg was King of Zandikar, life was simple. If anything wore green you killed it. If anything wore red you fought for it with your life.

  As for Silda Segutoria—where in a Herrelldrin Hell had the girl got herself? Where the blazes could she be? She might be in Vondium, where Queen Lush was no doubt living a life of luxury. She might be off on a wild adventure for the Sisters of the Rose. There was a strong possibility she could be with his sister Dayra, or his mother, the Empress Delia, although recent letters had not mentioned her. She could, even, be haring off into breathtaking adventures with his father, the Emperor of Vallia.

  Thoroughly dissatisfied, Drak rolled himself up in his cloak and drifted off to sleep where he dreamed dreams of men with no eyes sloshing about in the bloodied surf of Swanton's Bay.

  * * *

  Chapter three

  The kov who would be king

  The loss of so many fine specimens was not to be allowed to interfere with the festivities—not if Kov Vodun Alloran na Kaldi had anything to say, no, by Vox!

  “There are captives aplenty,” he shouted at his chamberlains. “Use them! Do I have to think of everything?"

  In preparation for the many ceremonies the streets were garlanded, tapestries and carpets hung down from balconies, ales and wines were brought in by the cartful, trees were decorated with strings of colored lights for the evening entertainments.

  Strolling players, whose numbers had declined during the Times of Trouble, were now reappearing. If folk believed that these new troublous times were over, then they could be encouraged in that belief. Troupes of actors and actresses, singers, jugglers, fire-eaters, animal-tricksters, gathered in the town to add their color and sparkle to the festive occasion.

  In the natural course of his own estimation of himself, Alloran took his personal tailor on his travels. This functionary shared quarters, meals and salary with the hairdresser, the bootmaker, the perfumer, the mistress of the linen and other men and women whose sole function in life was to care for the person of Vodun Alloran.

  “I want clothes more beautiful, more sumptuous, more glorious than any seen before,” Alloran instructed his tailor, a snuffily little Och called Opnar the Silk.

  “It shall be done, my lord kov,” gabbled Opnar.

  “After all,” said Alloran, looking at himself in the tall mirror in the angle of the room, “after all, this is the first time I have been crowned king.” He smiled widely at his own reflection, pleased with the air of authority and regal command he himself sensed emanating from his reflection. “Although I am completely persuaded it will not be the last."

  “Assuredly not, my lord kov."

  The little Och bid his assistants bring in bales of materials so that a beginning could be made on the choice of fabrics. He was pleased in one way that the kov spoke to him in so familiar a fashion, and in another trembled lest inadvertently a great state secret should slip out and necessitate the removal of his head from his narrow shoulders.

  Alloran expressed dissatisfaction with everything he was shown, which was perfectly normal. Opnar did not take out his own fears and ill humor on his assistants. He was in general a gentle man who just wanted to make fine clothes.

  “And let there be a great quantity of gold,” declared Alloran, forcefully. “Gold lace, gold bullion, gold leaf, gold everywhere. The people must see and know how great a king I am."

  That seemed a perfectly logical request and desire to Opnar the Silk. He bobbed and nodded and unrolled more cloth.

  A sentry at the double doors bellowed: “Kapt Logan Lakelmi, my lord kov, desires admittance."

  Naturally Alloran had installed himself in the finest residence in the town and already plans fomented in his head to increase the size of the place, and build higher walls and more sumptuous chambers. Once he had decided where in his new realms he would build his capital and palace, he would indulge himself in a frenzy of building on a colossal scale.

  He gestured negligently with a beringed finger, the sentry vanished to reappear with Kapt Logan Lakelmi.

  “My lord kov!” rapped out Lakelmi, saluting.

  “Kapt Logan. The news?"

  “Is good. The Kataki Strom has gained a great victory over the Prince Majister. A place called Swanton's Bay. The Vallians run in rout, and—"

  “Hold, Kapt Logan! Yes, the news is exceedingly good. The Kataki Strom has done well, although I sent him a great reinforcement for his army. But, Kapt Logan, softly. We are all Vallians in Vallia—although you are a mercenary from Loh—do not forget that. When I am king over all, when I am emperor, I shall be the Emperor of Vallia."

  “Yes, my lord kov."

  “Vallia!” breathed Alloran. There was genuine emotion in him, his eyes bright. “Yes, I shall be Emperor of Vallia, and Vallians will rule in their own country as is proper.” He glanced under down-drawn lids at Lakelmi. “But I shall not forget loyal servants, Kapt Logan. You will not be forgotten."

  “I thank you. Do you wish to see the lists—?"

  “Later."

  Kapt Logan Lakelmi, with the red hair of Loh, with his spare, tall, erect figure, looked every inch the fighting man. Now he acted a
s Alloran's chief of staff, and longed for an independent command. That would come, he felt sure. The kov's plans encompassed many more campaigns and battles, and there would be employment for many mercenaries for seasons to come.

  Lakelmi knew something of Alloran's history. The kov, despairing of ever being kov in those peaceful days before the Times of Troubles, when his father was set to live, it seemed, forever, had gone abroad. He had become a mercenary as a very young man. Then he had worked and fought his way up to become a paktun, a mercenary with a reputation. The next step had been to mort-paktun, a warrior elected by his peers, who wore the silver mortil-head on its silk ribbons at his throat. His fame had spread among his own kind. Before he had taken the next step, to become a zhan-paktun, wearing the golden zhantilhead at his throat, tribulations and disaster had fallen upon Vallia.

  Alloran, returning home, his father killed by malignant hostiles, had fought for his kovnate, and lost, and fled to the capital of the country, Vondium.

  There he had joined the new Vallian army and, given a brigade by the new emperor, had fought well. He had been selected to go to the southwest with an army and to clear out the slavers and all those festering upon the misery of Vallia, and to return all those provinces to the empire.

  Just how the corrosive ambition had at last broken through, Lakelmi was not sure. What was certain was that Vodun Alloran had rejected loyalty to the emperor. He had fought for his own kovnate province, had won that back, had taken neighboring provinces, and then declared his own independence.

  The next inevitable step was to crown himself King of Southwest Vallia.

  With the latest victory against the forces of the Prince Majister of Vallia to crown his efforts, nothing appeared to stand in his way. His ambitions would be rewarded.

  Yes, Kapt Logan Lakelmi felt convinced a bright and prosperous future lay ahead.

  That was—if he didn't get himself killed in some stupid affray.