We divided the remaining rations, which seemed a small meal. Yet Idril told me it was more food than the rebels had given them to eat in captivity over many days.
The night was chilly, and we all slept near the fire. There were adequate blankets for the women. I rolled up in the warrior’s cloak and slept near Idril. My last thought before falling asleep was how different the circumstances were from the previous time I’d slept with Idril at her home in Thiva.
10
The Confrontational Commander
In the absence of rations for a morning meal, there was no delay the following morning. At dawn, the gardo was again rolling north on the paved road. Two hours after we had departed the campsite, we were only seven legas south of Thiva. Haela remarked we would soon arrive at a suitable location to stop so she could feed, water, and rest the veovarks. But, in the distance ahead, I noted the approach of riders on baacaases.
Some five minutes later, a dozen mounted females wearing the nominal armor, and red capes of Thivan warriors fanned out to block the road ahead and halted their baacaases. Haela reined in the veovarks and brought the gardo to a stop. Two riders approached, one of whom wore a crest of stiff baacaas hair dyed red atop her helmet, signifying she was an officer.
The officer halted her baacaas near the gardo. She gave me a long look before speaking.
“I am Tiaaira of Thiva, commander of this patrol,” the woman said. “Where are you bound?”
“Hail commander,” I said, climbing down from the driver’s seat. “We are bound for Thiva.”
“Where is your master, slave,” Tiaaira said with scorn. “Dare you to address your better without permission?”
“I have none,” I said, “neither master nor better.”
Tiaaira urged her baacaas forward two steps before reining it to a halt.
“I see you are under arms, slave,” she said, “and are wearing the uniform of a Nisa rebel. Surrender your weapons. I arrest you by the authority of the laws of Thiva.”
“I am neither slave nor a rebel,” I said. “I am Tobias Hart of Thiva.”
“I order you to surrender your weapons,” the officer said. “Drop them on the road now.”
“Come and take them,” I said, my left hand dropping to my scabbard to prepare for drawing the katana.
The meaning of my action was not lost on the warriors. Without command, four more riders galloped forward and dismounted next to their commander. The eyes of the officer were narrow in the Y-like opening of her helmet.
“Why should I yield to you?” I said to Tiaaira.
“Because you violate the laws of Thiva, slave,” she said.
“This is not the soil of Thiva,” I said. “You have no authority here. Is it not said on Vulvar, the laws of a city end at its walls?”
The dismounted warriors approached me, fanning out. One approached me with her rakir out. Another with a spear followed her a few feet behind and to her left. I knew the first would engage me, and then the other would attack my right side with the spear. The other two hung back some distance, ready to cast their spears if an opening presented itself.
“Surrender your weapons, slave,” the officer said, “or I will order my warriors to slay you.”
“My sword is mine,” I said. “You will not take it from me unless you pay its price.”
The officer looked at me with astonishment.
“What price?”
“Its price is steel,” I said, swiftly drawing the blade. “Come, Tiaaira, let us try our skills.”
“Kill him,” Tiaaira said to her warriors.
“Stop!” a voice shouted from behind me. “Do not harm him!”
Everyone froze for a moment. I glanced back over my shoulder and saw Idril standing unsteadily in the driver’s box of the gardo leaning against Haela for support.
“Idril?” Tiaaira said.
“That male is under my protection,” Idril said. “He is not a rebel.”
“We had presumed you dead, Idril,” Tiaaira said. “The council has appointed another to your command. With all due respect, I cannot take orders from you. I will disarm and arrest the slave or kill him if he refuses to submit.”
“Be it so, you will do neither, Tiaaira,” Idril said. “Whether or not I command the warriors as before, I still outrank you. If you persist in your insubordination, I will have you stripped of your rank and whipped when we arrive in Thiva.”
“This male violates our laws by bearing arms,” Tiaaira retorted. “I warn you, Idril. I will arrest you for obstruction if you attempt to interfere with me performing my lawful duty.”
“He is not a slave,” Idril insisted. “The Goddess Queens decreed him a free male years ago. Do you challenge the authority of the Goddess Queens as well as my own?”
Another voice spoke behind me. It was Emer.
“Listen to me, you she-Telarion,” Emer said, pointing her rakir at Tiaaira. “You must slay us all before you seize or kill this male.”
I turned to see six courageous, emaciated warriors standing behind me, most still naked and weak, but all boldly brandishing the captured rakirs and spears. Emotion welled within me. I turned back to Tiaaira.
“These are your comrades, those the rebels captured at Nisa,” I said. “Will you slay them? Be reasonable, Tiaaira. If any should die here today, be assured you will be among them.”
“These warriors need medical treatment in Thiva,” Haela bellowed. “Will you continue to delay us to satisfy your arrogance, commander?”
“Leave him,” Tiaaira said snappishly to the warriors surrounding me. “Mount your baacaases.”
Looking back at Idril, she spoke again. “I will yield you the road. We will escort your party to Thiva, where the council will decide the matter,” she said tersely.
Glaring at me, Tiaaira snapped, “I will not forget this.” Then she wheeled her baacaas about and rode away to reform the column. My party boarded the gardo again, and Haela urged the veovark team ahead. Idril had taken the place between Haela and me on the driver’s seat.
“Would you have fought them?” Idril said.
“Yes,” I said. “I have tired of the ways of Vulvar. An honorable death would have been better than submitting to that insufferable woman.”
“By the Goddess Queens, I hope your mother can protect you, Tobias Hart,” Idril laughed.
After traveling only a short distance, Haela guided the team off the road to attend to the veovarks. The Thivan cavalry fanned out around the gardo, Tiaaira keeping her watchful eyes upon us.
Some five hours later, after another stop along the way to rest the veovarks, the gardo rumbled through the gates of Thiva. In the city, Idril directed Haela to a military surgery as our first stop. There the medical staff gave the warriors long-delayed treatment for their wounds.
I remained at Idril’s side while a doctor treated her thigh wound. She told Idril advanced antibiotics would eradicate the infection, and her fever would soon diminish. The doctor assured Idril she would make a full recovery.
Tiaaira and her soldiers had ridden away after we had arrived at the surgery. I presumed she had been in a hurry to report my crimes and probably Idril’s interference to her commander.
I left the treatment room while a nurse bandaged Idril’s wound and found Emer near the surgery exit.
“Are you well, Emer?” I said.
“Yes, my wounds were minor,” she said.
“Thank you for rallying the others to my defense on the road,” I said.
Emer smiled. “It was the least we could do.”
“What will you do now while your city remains in the hands of the rebels?”
“I will pledge my sword to Thiva for now, until we put down the rebellion,” Emer said. “If this city will have me after I threatened one of their warriors.”
We both laughed.
“Have you family in Nisa?”
“Yes, three sisters,” Emer said. “They are metalsmiths.”
“Do they own a smithy ju
st off the market square?” I said in amazement.
“They did, until the rebellion,” Emer said. “They now work there as slaves.”
I touched the hilt of the katana. “Your sister made this sword for me.”
“Yes, I saw the blade,” Emer said with a grin. “I recognized her work.”
Idril limped toward us, wearing a garment a nurse had provided and with a large white bandage wrapped around her thigh.
“Come,” Idril said to me. “We must have words with your mother before Tiaaira poisons the minds of the council against me. My warriors will return to the barracks once the doctors finish with them.”
Then turning to Emer, she said, “Come with us. You may stay with me until I get you situated with the warriors tomorrow.”
“Thank you,” Emer beamed.
Together we left the surgery and boarded a streetcar at a stop a short distance away for the ride to my mother’s house.
11
Anax of Thiva
We arrived at the residence of the Anax, palatial by Vulvarian standards. It was an estate provided at the expense of the city for the use of its chief executive. The city council had elected my mother, Laena, to the position in my absence from Vulvar.
A male slave greeted us at the door and ushered us into a large, high-ceiling room. My mother leapt up from a couch when she saw me. She rushed forward, fell on my neck, and wept with joy. After a time, she released me.
“Tobias Hart, my son, how is it you’ve returned to this world?”
“The Goddess Queens summoned me and brought me back,” I said. “You were unaware?”
“I knew nothing about it,” my mother said. “Summoned? Why? Did not the Goddess Queens free you?”
“They summoned me for another mission, mother,” I said. “A mission which I admit I have failed to accomplish.”
“What mission?”
“The Goddess Queens sought my help in putting down the slave rebellion at Nisa,” I said.
My mother seemed to take notice of Idril and Emer for the first time.
“Idril, we feared you were dead,” my mother said.
“I might have been, were it not for your son, Anax,” Idril said. “May I present a friend? Meet Emer, a warrior of Nisa.”
“A pleasure, Anax,” Emer said.
“The pleasure is mine, Emer,” my mother said. “Where are my manners? Please, make use of the baths here to wash after your journey. My staff will assist you and provide you clean garments to wear.”
“We would appreciate a chance to bathe properly,” Idril said.
My mother summoned female servants and kindly prodded Idril and Emer to go with them to bathe and refresh themselves.
The male slave who had escorted us in brought a tray into the room, holding a bottle of Irie and two glasses. I sat on the couch beside my mother while he filled the glasses for us and then departed.
“Tell me more,” my mother said. “This is the first I’ve heard about the Goddess Queens returning you to Vulvar.”
Starting at the beginning, with the appearance of Phaerl at my door on Earth, I told my mother the entire story.
“So, you had no intention of attempting the mission the Goddess Queens gave you,” my mother said with a sage smile. “You returned to this world only for Idril.”
“I admit I only accepted the chance to return to Vulvar because of Idril’s precarious situation,” I said. “Yet, once I arrived, I had intended to do what the Goddess Queens asked of me if accomplishing both things were possible. But, once the rebels drafted me for training as a warrior, the circumstances dictated I could only undertake one or the other.”
“I understand the choice you made and why, Tobias. Yet, turning your back on the will of the Goddess Queens has complicated your presence on Vulvar. I fear they will not be so understanding.”
“Yes, I know,” I said. “That’s why, after freeing Idril, now I must attempt to satisfy the intentions of the Goddess Queens.”
“How?” my mother said with deep concern. “The rebels know you now. They will slay you on sight. You cannot return to Nisa.”
“Dabar Cooke will soon lead his rebel slave army here to lay siege to this city,” I said. “Perhaps I can surprise him somewhere along the road from Nisa.”
“I think it would be wiser for you to remain here behind our walls with the other defenders of Thiva.”
“How many warriors have you?” I said.
“Thiva has four-hundred,” my mother said. “Two-hundred warriors will arrive here tomorrow from Port Abrago to aid us. The cities of Raue and Jesa are also sending warriors to help us. They will arrive in a week.”
I shook my head. “We cannot allow the rebel army to arrive at the gates of Thiva,” I said. “In the south, the rebels have robbed farms, sacked villages, and freed slaves. There are whole regiments of rebels. Even now, Cooke’s forces are building siege engines in the forests west of this city.”
“Such a mob of misfits will not stand against our trained warriors,” my mother insisted. “We will defeat them.”
“Mother, they are not an undisciplined horde,” I said. “I have been among the rebel warriors. They have knowledgeable trainers who have molded them into an effective fighting force.”
“How could that be? They were all slaves.”
“I suspect some of those the Goddess Queens brought from Earth had military training there,” I said. “They have now mastered the tactics of the phalanx, and more importantly, tactics to defeat it.”
“That explains much,” my mother said. “It shocked me when I learned the rebels had routed Idril’s force at Nisa. It’s obvious now we sent too few warriors.”
“Speaking of Idril, will you restore her to command?” I said.
“Certainly, I put another in command only because we presumed Idril was dead.”
Suddenly I remembered something I had forgotten.
“There is a woman, Haela, that we left behind at the military surgery in our haste to come here,” I said. “She has served Thiva well as a spy in Nisa. But, she compromised herself to help us escape. We must support her while she remains here.”
“I will see to it,” my mother said. She called to her aide.
“Go to the military surgery and find the woman called Haela,” my mother said to the aide. “Make arrangements for her. See to it Haela has lodging and sustenance as long as she remains in Thiva.”
“Yes, Anax,” the woman said, hurrying from the room.
“Tomorrow, you will accompany me to address the city council,” my mother said. “We have a handful of spies in Nisa, but none have had access to the information you’ve given me. I must advise the council of the seriousness of the threat we face.”
“Yes,” I said. “We must devise a unified and effective plan to counter the rebels.”
Idril and Emer returned to the room, both wearing the floor-length white tunics trimmed in red, the color of the warriors.
“We are refreshed,” Idril said. “Thank you for your gracious hospitality, Anax.”
“It is my pleasure to extend hospitality to a pair of courageous warriors,” my mother said. “Let us retire to the dining room where my servants have prepared for us food and drink.”
After the meal, Idril and Emer prepared to depart.
“Will you stay at my home, Tobias Hart?” Idril said.
“You have a guest already,” I said. “I will not burden you with another. I’ll remain here at my mother’s home for tonight.”
Idril nodded, but with a look of disappointment.
“Please present yourself at the Hall of Government at the third hour tomorrow morning,” my mother said to Idril. “I will restore you to command before we address the council.”
“Yes, Anax,” Idril said. “Thank you.”
After we all said our goodbyes, Idril and Emer left for Idril’s home.
Before retiring for the evening, I told my mother about the confrontation with Tiaaira on the road to Thiva.
“I was only concerned she might cause trouble for Idril,” I said.
“I’m certain Tiaaira will regret her insolent behavior when she finds herself again under the command of Idril tomorrow,” my mother said. “Tell me about Emer.”
“There is little to tell,” I said. “Emer is a warrior of Nisa, also captured by the rebels. She seems a professional warrior with good skills. I consider her a friend.”
“I was curious because she seemed unable to take her eyes off you at dinner,” my mother said with a grin.
“I’m sure you imagined it, mother,” I said with embarrassment. “We hardly know each other.”
“Yet you mentioned it was Emer who rallied the others to your defense during the quarrel with Tiaaira.”
“Well, yes, but we have been comrades,” I said. “I think she was only showing loyalty because I helped free her from the rebels.”
My mother laughed. “Even the males of Earth lack understanding of females.”
Not wishing to continue the awkward conversation about Emer, I bid my mother goodnight and left for my quarters to sleep.
12
The Council Address
Until I had fallen asleep the night before, I had considered possibilities for surprising and capturing Dabar Cooke along the road to Thiva when he marched his rebel army north. I turned over in my mind several plans, none of which seemed likely to succeed. It would presumably be suicidal to make any direct attempt to abduct him from the midst of his army. Yet, I knew I somehow had to attempt it. It seemed the only way to defeat the rebellion.
While it seemed penetrating the defenses and killing Cooke would be far more straightforward than capturing him, I was not an assassin. Also, I feared killing Cooke would only make a martyr of him. One of his deputies might only replace him, and the rebellion would continue with renewed determination. Capturing Cooke and turning him over to the authorities offered the best options for ending the revolt. The authorities might use him as leverage by offering to spare his life if the rebellious slaves laid down their arms and surrendered.
Rebels of Vulvar (Vulvarian Saga Book 2) Page 7
