Instead of resisting the pressure on his blade, Zaraki let her push his away, twisting his wrist so the tip of his rapier pointed at the ground. With his hand facing upward, he stepped right past the tip of her blade, and out of danger. Then, his left hand shot out, stabbing towards her midsection, just as she moved with a thrust.
Fast reflexes saved Ani and she shifted away again, but she felt the tip of his dagger scrape along her side. With live steel, it would have been a painful cut, but not life-threatening. “Bastard. And point,” she said, smiling, trying to remember if she had seen him use the move before.
Leisha found herself gasping and clapping along with the other spectators as the two Ostravans moved around each other. Ani scored a point with a feint and lunge Zaraki misjudged. Countering her next thrust, and parrying her rapier away with his dagger, he managed a cut to her arm to put him up by one.
Frowning, Leisha tried to guess how the points were scored, but could not quite grasp what constituted a point and what did not. Seeing her confusion, the soldier next to her volunteered to explain the basics.
“Ostravan score-keeping is a bit arcane,” he began.
Suddenly, Leisha looked up in alarm as she heard a bell chiming in her mind. The sound and the pressure building behind her eyes served as a caution, warning her of someone’s close and often dangerous regard. The first time, it came just before a would-be assassin made an attempt on her life. Another time, she noticed it when someone spied on her, following her through a crowd. Now she cast about, trying to see where the alarm came from.
Across the yard, she saw Andelko running towards them.
Invasion
When the invaders came, they came from the west. Twenty ships, their tall masts thrusting into the sky as they sailed over the horizon. The boy in the Observatory turned his spyglass on them and called down to another at the base of the tower. Ships did not come from the west; they hugged the coast, carrying cargo from other kingdoms. They sailed up from around the islands of Trillinae in the south. Very occasionally, a ship from the wild lands in the north appeared, but, as far as the people of Ilayta were concerned, nothing lay to the west, certainly nothing inhabited.
By the time someone found Andelko and he climbed the stairs to the Observatory, the flags the ships flew could be seen. A white hawk diving on a yellow and green striped background. No kingdom in Ilayta flew that flag. The Tahaerin family seal often featured a hawk in flight, but the birds were hardly uncommon.
Racing down the stairs, Andelko tried to order his thoughts. This was an invasion, of that he felt sure. A vast list of preparations scrolled out before him. Riders had to be sent to Moraval to recall the Queen’s Horse and Queen’s Guard. More riders sent to Leisha’s nobles to summon additional troops. He needed an inventory of weapons, even though he knew every sword and bow in the castle armory. Food, they need to lay in food for a siege.
The moment he emerged from the Observatory tower he flagged down a runner and told him to find Symon and send him to the library. Another servant dashed off to find his two senior captains. Then, Andelko started running to the training yard.
***
Leisha saw him racing towards them. For eight years, he had served her, first as Captain of her guard at Branik, then as Lord Constable. Brash and cocksure from the moment he arrived, she had always adored him. Now, the big, dark-haired man looked alarmed. Reaching out, she touched his thoughts, saw the image of the ships approaching and heard the word invasion chiming like a bell in his mind.
Her friendly, casual persona dropped away. She stiffened, standing taller, and wiping away the smile on her face as if it never existed. Everyone recognized this when it happened and she expected everyone to fall in line, including Zaraki, king or not.
“Zaraki, Aniska,” she barked.
Both heard the command in her voice and stopped their practice, rushing to her side. They stood together when Andelko skidded to a halt in front of them. “Highness, Sire, Aniska. We should talk inside. There’s ships on the horizon. I asked Symon to meet us in the library.”
He’s thinks it’s an invasion, Leisha sent to Zaraki as they walked into the castle, not wanting the whole yard to hear yet. Once the boys from the tower started talking, the rumors would be thick enough.
Seated at the great table in the middle of the library, Symon waited for them.
“What is this, Andelko?” Leisha demanded as soon as the doors shut behind them.
Her Lord Constable looked unsettled and anxious. “We just counted twenty ships heading towards Lida. They’re flying unknown flags and have not responded to any of our signals. They didn’t come from the north or from Trillinae.” He paused and shook his head, as if unwilling to believe what he would say next. “You don’t bring twenty ships for trade. Their holds are full of soldiers, without a doubt.”
“The question is, are they invading us or someone else?” Symon said.
Two uniformed men appeared at the door to the library. Andelko waved them over to give them orders and sent them back out. “They’re summoning the Horse and Guard now and then they’ll send riders to Lords Tamar, Lubek, and Lorant. Maybe Lovek as well. They’ll at least call up their armies and have them ready to march,” he explained.
“Are you that sure about this?” Tahaerin nobles were a threat Leisha recognized and felt prepared to deal with. Through bullying, bribery and political maneuverings she kept her kingdom at peace. She tamed her nobles by making them economically prosperous. Fat, happy nobles spent less time agitating. Lords with full purses tended to shy away from war. She never prepared for an invasion by an unknown enemy from across the ocean, and it seemed laughable only a few hours ago.
“It’s possible they’re here for purely peaceful reasons,” Andelko said, shrugging his shoulders. “Or perhaps they decide we’re not an appealing target and sail on. But I won’t be unprepared.”
Looking around the long table now, Leisha marveled once more at the motley group of people sitting around the table with her. Two foreign spies barely older than herself, her father’s longtime butler and a career army man formed her innermost circle of advisors. While faced with a treacherous uncle who wanted to force her into a marriage and a collection of peevish, fractious nobles who wanted her to fail, she forged a kingdom with their help. Her successes were due, in no small part, to the collaboration between all of them.
“Do whatever you feel is right, Andelko. You know I trust you,” she said, marking the concern painted across the faces in front of her.
“I do. They’re still too far out to do anything but sit and wait today. I would expect something to happen first thing in the morning.”
All afternoon, the ships sat in the bay, their presence conspicuous and threatening. At first light, the group gathered for breakfast to wait to see what the ships would do next.
An hour after servants cleared the dishes away Leisha began pacing in front of the tall windows in her receiving room. She hated waiting, hated inactivity. After two hours, she wanted to start shouting at someone and wished she could set her temper free. Finally, as lunch neared, they heard pounding footfalls in the hallway. One of the boys from the Observatory burst through the door gasping for breath and leaning over, hands on his knees.
“Easy, lad. What did you see?” Symon asked as the boy gestured and pointed towards the harbor.
“Sire, Highness,” he panted. “They’re sending a party. To the port. In a dinghy.”
“And now we’ll find out what our new friends want,” Leisha said, eager to do something. “Shall we all go down to the docks and greet them?”
Aniska looked pained, thinking of several dozen safer ways to handle this meeting. While two years serving as spymaster had taught her to expect this sort of thing from her employer, she still hoped to do things the way Cezar trained her. “Why don’t you send me and a few others? I’d feel better about it, since we don’t even know who they are.”
“No,” Leisha said immediately, dismissing the
idea, as they all knew she would. “I won’t hide behind my walls, and Lida needs to know I’m not afraid. Find a way to make it safe, Ani.”
***
The Yard Marshal had a carriage readied and Andelko picked a handful of men to accompany the party on foot. He wanted a show of force for his diminutive queen, and ordered five warhorses in from the pastures outside the city. Sleek, black stallions draped in blue and gold barding stood away from the other animals, waiting on their riders to finish preparations.
As Leisha and her party emerged, she saw Irion calling on his men to mount. She thought he looked very impressive with his lieutenant’s dress uniform on over his armor. Turning her head, she caught sight of the carriage coming around, pulled by a team of horses draped in blue and gold. She scowled.
“No,” Zaraki said under his breath, without needing to see the look on his wife’s face. He knew she wanted to ride and he knew she would balk at the carriage, but even after eight years he still could not erase the memory of the attempt on her life. The image of the assassin spooking her horse, Leisha clinging to the animal’s neck as it reared and tried to bolt through the city streets burned in his mind. Riding together through town differed greatly from riding out to meet an enemy.
She, on the other hand, hated being carried out to meet an adversary.
I could do it. I’m much better at riding now. You said so, she sent to him. They would not bicker about this in public. Which, she knew, was why he chose not to mention the carriage earlier. As queen, she was annoyed at the omission; as his wife she was touched he still worried so much about her.
I really don’t care what you say about it. No. This was all symbolic, Zaraki knew. She wanted to remind him she would not be ordered around. He wanted to let her know he would impose limits on her pig-headed whims. Two years ago, when he stopped working for her and they became lovers, he stopped acceding to her every wish.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her smiling, forgetting for a moment the ships that lay in the bay. “My lady wife?” He offered her his arm, and together they walked down the steps and into the waiting coach.
Once the carriage began to move, Zaraki watched as the mask Leisha wore as queen settled back over her face. She had always kept the two sides of herself separate, though in their time together, the line blurred more and more. The cool, aloof sixteen-year-old girl had given way to a warm, sunny woman who laughed easily and let herself enjoy friendships with those around her. However, when it came to her kingdom, she put all it away to become a powerful and imposing monarch.
Leisha looked out the curtained window as the coach rolled over the cobbled streets of Lida, through fountained squares, past timbered and plastered buildings. For the past eight years, the city prospered under her rule. She loved Lida and its tidy rows of two and three-storied homes and shops lining the road that led down to the harbor. From here, she had built a base of power that allowed her to be the queen she wanted be when she returned from Embriel at sixteen.
If these foreigners came looking for a war, she would fight ferociously to save her city.
***
Aniska checked the preparations again as she caught sight of the carriage and horses making their way down the hill from the castle. Ten soldiers stood near the shop fronts where Leisha’s coach would stop. Curious citizens stared out their windows, hoping to see the strangers arriving, but also to catch sight of their queen. Several had volunteered to let archers stand in their upper stories, watching over the meeting.
With nothing left to do but wait, Ani pulled at the collar of her shirt. She hated her dress uniform, with its awful silk vest and coat. It chafed, and she felt it hampered her ability to fight, but she donned it to greet their visitors. In exchange, Leisha agreed to wait in the carriage until given a signal.
As the small boat approached the quay, Aniska saw five men aboard. One man, finely dressed, would be some sort of ambassador or representative. Three soldiers in uniforms accompanied him, but she saw armor under the formal dress. The last man in the dinghy wore a plain black robe of rough spun cloth. It had deep sleeves and he kept his head shaved bald. He sat quietly behind the well-dressed official, looking around with curiosity.
Two liveried guards from the castle helped the dinghy to dock and tie up. Aniska stepped forward as first the soldiers, then the two other men clambered out. Her men extended hands to assist the strangers out of the little boat.
“Welcome to Lida and to the lands of Tahaerin,” Aniska intoned formally. The traditional greeting would tell the visitors the city gates stood open to receive and shelter them. However, Leisha felt no need to extend the offer to strangers who showed up on her doorstep unannounced with twenty ships in tow.
The three soldiers showed no signs of understanding her words, but the two others inclined their heads politely. “Thank you for your kind welcome,” the well-dressed man said. “I am pleased to finally see these lands.” He spoke the common tongue with a heavy accent.
In the carriage, Leisha chafed at the restrictions she agreed to. She preferred to meet challengers head on, not sitting meek and afraid in a coach. “I hate this,” she lamented again, annoyed. Shifting on the pile of cushions, she reached out to touch Ani’s thoughts, so she could at least hear part of the conversation going on without her.
Leisha saw the black-robed man stiffen and whip his head around to look towards the carriage. The motion startled her and she withdrew from reading Aniska’s mind. As the stranger’s gaze roamed over the coach, the driver, and horses, Leisha felt something sweep over her. A chill breeze, or bird’s wings, a touch on the edge of her awareness. The questing eyes of the bald man settled on the curtained window she gazed out of and he stared for a long minute. It unsettled Leisha, and she always hated being afraid.
When she reached for the handle on the door, Zaraki caught her wrist. “Wait. I saw it, too. Wait for Ani’s signal.”
Several minutes passed as Aniska spoke with the ambassador. The bald man continued to look around but made no threatening moves. When Zaraki saw Ani turn towards the coach and nod, he asked, “Are you ready?” He would play bodyguard instead of king today.
“Quite,” Leisha said testily, anxious to be free of the carriage and to get on with this meeting.
Zaraki climbed out as the two men approached. “Her Royal Highness, Leisha, Queen of Tahaerin,” he said, and then turned to offer his hand.
Appearing from behind the curtains of the coach, she stepped down. The peevish, querulous woman from earlier had disappeared to be replaced by a haughty and disdainful monarch. With her chin raised, she looked across the space between herself and the strangers with cool disinterest. These men were clearly not the leaders of the expedition, so she appeared to pay them little mind.
A strange sensation wafted through the air, hovering just out of her reach, and try as she might, Leisha could not capture it. There’s something odd here. I can’t tell what it is, though, she sent to Zaraki. Next to her, she saw him watching the foreigners closely and felt him step in closer to her.
I know. His words came short and clipped, but she felt his unease.
Leisha barely heard the stranger’s greeting. “Your Majesty, I am Von and I represent Gerolt, the Kirous Visarl of the Deojrin.” He did not introduce the thin, sharp-featured man trailing behind him in the black robes.
She waited in silence for several seconds, watching the pair as if judging their worth so there would be no mistaking her displeasure. “To what do we owe this surprising visit? Where do your people hail from?”
“Your Majesty, I’m only here to ask if you would consent to a visit tomorrow by the Visarl. He has matters he wishes to discuss with the leader of the Tahaerin people.”
The black-robed man turned his gaze on her again and like before, Leisha found it vaguely threatening, though now she saw confusion there, too. “And what is a Kirous Visarl?” she asked. At the same time, she reached out to brush across Von’s thoughts and found a bewildering tumult of m
emories and sounds. They clamored against her mind so fast and confounding she could not make sense of any of it except for the overriding scent of fanatical devotion. Von revered this Gerolt.
“He leads this expedition and represents our king and speaks for our—” Von paused, seeming to search for the correct word. “Our numen, our god.”
Leisha did not care for the way he skirted around her questions, and she watched him in silence for some time. Then she felt the strange sensation, almost like someone lightly running their hands over her, or like bugs crawling across her skin. It unnerved her, and she suddenly wanted this meeting to end.
“You’ll wait here, Von of the Deojrin,” Leisha commanded, refusing to invite them back to Branik or to give them any chance to see her defenses. “I’ll send a messenger back with my decision. Does this Gerolt read my language?” she asked with a hint of contempt in her voice. Anger often allowed her to read a person’s mind more clearly as they stopped trying to hide their thoughts from her.
The stranger found their language uncultured and guttural. He bristled at her insult.
Good, Leisha thought.
***
Pen put to paper produced a cool, unenthusiastic invitation for Gerolt and his retinue. Andelko suggested allowing him to bring twenty men ashore. He and Ani would have double that amount at the docks. Though neither liked the idea of Leisha meeting with the foreigners, they both knew they would not convince her to stay back.
With the preparations agreed on, Aniska drew a breath and tackled the next issue. “You can’t go down with us for this meeting, Zaraki. You can’t.”
“This isn’t up for discussion. I’m not staying behind.”
Aniska shook her head, trying to reason with him. Usually, the fact they grew up and trained to be spies together benefitted her work. When they butted heads, however, he could become as difficult as Leisha, and he was always blind when it came to her. “You’re king now, and I can’t have both of you taken captive. This is a basic rule we learned at ten years old.”
As Dragons from Sleep (The Tahaerin Chronicles Book 2) Page 3
