Winter Be My Shield

by Spurrier, Jo

  Ricalan’s alliance with Mesentreia would never allow Leandra to adopt a sister or daughter to continue her line. So long as she remained barren, the throne was poised to fall into Mesentreian hands. In desperation, Queen Leandra turned her attention to her young nephew.

  Cam just barely remembered the day the Queen’s guards broke down the nursery door. The nursemaids had screamed and panicked, but they hadn’t been harmed. The guardsmen who carried him away had tried to reassure the frightened little lad, but as a boy Cam had never even heard Ricalani spoken. He knew only Mesentreian and had never set foot outside of the nursery.

  Looking back, he could see just how desperate Leandra must have been. Cam’s elder brother Severian took after their Ricalani father, with dark hair and northern features, but Cammarian had inherited his mother’s blonde hair and green eyes. There was only the barest hint of Ricalani blood in his features — it showed in the high, prominent cheekbones and wide-set eyes, with only a hint of the epicanthic fold common to his father’s people. At first glance most folk took him for Mesentreian and it would have taken some hard talking to have the clans accept him as Leandra’s heir.

  Queen Leandra sent the young prince to be raised by her most trusted advisor, Drosavec, Chieftain of the Owl Clan. The Owl was a tiny clan, neither rich nor powerful, but its chieftain was a man of uncommon intelligence and the queen valued him highly, even ratifying Drosavec’s only son as his heir despite the taint of power the boy inherited from his mother and against the objections of the priesthood.

  Drosavec had turned the bewildered prince loose into his clan’s flock of children and assigned his son, Isidro, to watch over him; and set about turning the brat into a man the clans would consent to have as their king.

  It could have worked. Drosavec was a brilliant man and the queen was clever and shrewd herself. The pair had won the grudging support of the clans against the threat of a foreign ruler. But that all came to an end when Leandra miscarried once again and died amid blood-soaked sheets, along with her malformed child, when Cam was just fifteen and his brother, Severian, twenty. Leandra’s will was clear: Cammarian had been named as her heir, with all the clans and the temples in support.

  But somehow, Valeria had found a Blood Mage and smuggled him into Ricalan. Kell changed the game entirely. Where he had come from and just how long he had been hidden among Valeria’s retinue remained a mystery, but what was clear was that Valeria had no intention of letting the laws against sorcery stand in the way of securing power for herself. When Drosavec entered the Great Hall to place Cam on the throne, Kell was waiting for them.

  The rebellion, as Severian now referred to the events of that night, had ended in moments. In the aftermath Cam and Isidro had been smuggled out of the palace in one last effort by Leandra’s loyal men, while Drosavec and the other nobles involved were captured and publicly executed on the palace steps. The foster-brothers had been on the run ever since. The longest they had ever stayed in one place was in these last two years, when the Wolf Clan had offered their patronage and protection.

  In return, Cam and Isidro had infiltrated the Raiders who roamed the no-man’s-land between the Wolf territory and the settlements to the south, to spy on them and steer them away from the lands belonging to the Wolf.

  ‘It was a game at first,’ Cam murmured to Isidro. ‘We were playing at soldiers, playing at spies. But you were the strong one, Issey, and I always knew you had my back. Well, now it’s my turn to look out for you and by the Black Sun herself, I swear I’ll see you through.’

  ‘Our biggest problem — apart from the cursed war — is the matter of supplies,’ Cam said once they were all seated around the stove and the meagre ration of the morning meal had been doled out. ‘We’re nearly out of flour, butter, beans, meat … well, everything, really. And there’s only about four days’ worth of grain left for the horses — five if we cut their ration again.’

  ‘It’d help if we moved camp,’ Garzen said. ‘They do well enough on graze, but they’ve cleared all the snow they can here.’ He turned to Rhia. ‘Is Isidro strong enough to move a little way?’

  ‘Perhaps, but not today,’ Rhia said. ‘He finally sleeps. I will not have him woken.’

  ‘I still say we should get rid of the horses,’ Brekan said. ‘Their grain costs a fortune and we can’t even use them so long as Balorica keeps to his bed.’

  Cam rubbed a hand across his eyes. ‘I’ve told you, Brekan, we can’t get rid of the horses — especially not with the soldiers nearby. We’ll need them come spring, if not before.’

  ‘Spring’s a long way off. A lot could happen by then.’

  ‘You want to sell the horses now and hope we’ll have the coin to buy more in a few months’ time?’ Cam didn’t bother to keep the scorn out of his voice.

  Eloba scowled at both of them. ‘Don’t start this again. We’re not selling the horses … unless you want Cam beheaded and me and Laki and Rhia passed around between the soldiers when they finally catch up with us,’ she said as her gaze settled on Brekan.

  ‘I’ve told you before, the horses make us a target,’ Brekan said. ‘The Mesentreians don’t look twice at peasants travelling on foot, but once you’re on a horse they get suspicious.’

  ‘We’ve been over this,’ Garzen said. ‘I call a deciding. Raise your hand if you think we should sell the horses.’

  Brekan immediately raised his hand. When no one else followed, his face darkened until Lakua hesitantly raised hers.

  ‘Anyone else? No? Two for, four against. The horses stay.’

  Brekan’s face was thunderous, but Lakua looked faintly relieved. She leaned over to stroke her husband’s knee, but he studiously ignored her.

  ‘Well, there’s nothing for it,’ Garzen said. ‘We’ll have to head to a village and restock — I think we should have enough time and perhaps we can get some news, as well. It does leave the question of how we’re going to pay for everything. How much coin do we have?’

  ‘Not a lot,’ said Eloba. ‘Eight or nine silver crowns; that won’t go far.’

  ‘There’s more in the cache we left at the start of winter,’ Cam said. ‘But that’s a good six days’ ride away, though at least it’ll take us away from these cursed armies.’

  ‘It’s a pity you didn’t start riding two days ago, then,’ Brekan snarled. ‘We wouldn’t be in this situation if the hunting hadn’t been so bad. Something’s made our luck go sour, I swear it.’

  Cam swallowed hard on the urge to call him a superstitious prick.

  ‘I’ve got a few ermine furs set aside I can throw into the pot,’ Garzen said.

  Kasimi, who had been listening in silence, hesitantly cleared her throat. ‘May I speak?’

  ‘Of course,’ Eloba said.

  ‘I have a few things that might be good for trade. Two swords, a knife, and perhaps the horse — I don’t know how to ride the beast anyway. It’ll be a few days before I’m able to move on and I’ll need some clothes and supplies — and I owe Cam for the hare … How much is a sword worth?’

  ‘Those two you have are good Mesentreian steel,’ Cam said. ‘But they’re military blades. This part of the country is crawling with soldiers — if we try to sell them people are going to want to know where they came from. Unless we take them to the sort of folk who don’t ask questions, in which case we’ll get only a fraction of the value. And I’d advise against selling your horse. If you’re on the run you’ll need it just as we need ours.’

  ‘But your sword doesn’t have a military mark,’ Garzen said to Cam. ‘If you were to trade Kasimi for one of hers, you could sell your old one and keep the new.’

  ‘Well, that’s a thought,’ Cam said, scratching his chin. His weapon was a nondescript piece from the time they’d joined the raiders. ‘If anyone asked I could say it was booty from a skirmish with the outlaws.’

  ‘Problem is,’ Garzen said, ‘the old one isn’t going to fetch anywhere near the value of one of those new blades.’

&nbs
p; ‘From what I’m hearing, those blades wouldn’t fetch their true value anyway,’ Kasimi said with a shrug. ‘We need the money now, so we may as well take it where we can.’

  ‘That’s all well and good, but what about the rest of it?’ Brekan said. ‘I saw those bracelets you were wearing. Those red stones would fetch a good price.’

  Even around the mask, Cam saw the colour drain from Kasimi’s face.

  ‘No! The … the people I escaped from will be looking for me. If they find the stones …’

  ‘We won’t be going to a village nearby,’ Cam said. ‘It’s too dangerous, what with Isidro still too weak to travel. We’ll pick one that’s a good day’s ride away. By the time anyone recognises the stones, we’ll be long gone, and they’ll have no idea where to find you.’

  Kasimi was shaking her head. ‘No. Believe me, it’s not worth the risk. I’ll trade you anything else I have, but not those stones.’

  Had he been able to stare her down, Cam might have been able to winkle some more information out of her, but that blindfold was as good as a shield. His curiosity prickled him like a burr beneath his shirt, but this was not the time to try to tease it out of her. The questions he itched to ask — who are you? and what are you running from? — would have to wait.

  Eloba was keeping a tally of the things they needed on one side of a set of waxed tablets and on the other she was totting up the value of the goods they had to trade. ‘Rhia, you’re running low on some medicines? Is that right?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Well, with those as well, this isn’t going to be enough. We’ll have to find something else to sell or trade.’

  ‘But we’ve been through this,’ Brekan said. ‘We’ve already traded away everything of value we have. There’s nothing left.’

  Lakua raised her hands to the neck of her shirt. ‘Well, actually, I do have one thing.’ She produced a golden brooch that had been pinned to an inner seam of her shirt. ‘It was Markhan’s bride-gift. It’s the last thing of his we have. Eloba’s was stolen, back in the Raiders’ camp, and Markhan died before he could replace it …’ Tears welled in her eyes as she spoke.

  ‘Lakua, no, keep it. We can find something else.’ Even as he said it, Cam knew Brekan was right. They’d been counting on the fur and meat of a winter harvest to see them through the cold season, but that was before the soldiers began pouring into the region, before Isidro had been captured and left an invalid.

  ‘No, Cam,’ Lakua said. ‘I’ve held on to it because I knew the time would come when we needed it. If it weren’t for you and Isidro, Markhan would have been killed months earlier. I know how sick Isidro is — we’d have to turn it into coin sooner or later and where better to spend it than on the man who avenged my husband? I’ll come with you and sell it myself, for Isidro’s sake.’

  Cam bowed his head. ‘Thank you, Lakua.’

  ‘Then I’m coming too,’ Brekan said. ‘All the villages around here are crawling with Mesentreians. I’m not going to let my wife walk among them unprotected.’

  ‘That’d probably be for the best,’ Garzen said. ‘I’m likely to stand out if I show my face and as far as I know the Mesentreians still want to hang me.’

  ‘Well,’ Eloba said, straightening. ‘The three of you should take our tent. I’ll move my gear in here for a few days.’

  Cam nodded. ‘We’ll ride out today, camp near a village tonight and do our trading first thing in the morning. That will give us time enough to confuse our trail on the way back, so if anyone does follow us, we won’t lead them here. And maybe once we get back, Isidro will be strong enough for us to break camp and head east. Is there anything else to be settled?’

  No one spoke: there was silence in the tent apart from the scraping of spoons on the breakfast bowls. Lakua swallowed her last mouthful and got to her feet. ‘I’ll start taking down the tent.’

  Eloba rose as well. ‘I’ll give you a hand.’

  ‘I’ll get the horses ready,’ Garzen said.

  ‘Where is the wax tablet?’ Rhia asked. ‘Cam, I will make you list of medicines Isidro needs.’ Eloba handed her the tablet and stylus as she left.

  As Rhia turned away to assemble her list of supplies, Cam turned his attention to the newcomer, raising her fingertips to her blindfold again.

  ‘Kasimi,’ he said; she startled at the sound, turning her blind face towards him. ‘How long ago did you leave the army? Do you have any news of what’s going on out there?’

  She grew suddenly tense, her lips pressed together and her hand still raised to her face, but after a moment she settled them in her lap, as though trying not to show her unease. ‘The Akharians have taken the Bear lands. Some folk managed to flee ahead of the invasion, but not many. Not many at all.’

  ‘Are they moving quickly?’

  She shook her head. ‘Not now. They’re taking their time. Some folk said it’s to accustom themselves to the northern winter before they met the king’s men. They’re digging in, too, building ditches and ramparts and making sure they have good fortifications at their backs —’

  ‘Digging? In winter?’

  ‘They have mages,’ she said. ‘Cutting through frozen earth is simple enough for them.’ Her tone was flat, as though mages were utterly commonplace, not creatures of legend or demons walking the earth. Before the Lord Magister had come to Ricalan, no mage had been seen in the north for nearly a century. Just how much exposure to Lord Kell had she had, to speak of them so routinely?

  ‘Do you know how far away they are?’

  She drew a shaking breath. ‘They’re close. Very close. I only know what I overheard, but I think they’re expecting to meet them soon — in days, maybe.’

  Cam drew a sharp breath. ‘They’re as close as that?’

  Kasimi nodded. ‘The captured scouts were given to the Lord Magister for interrogation and I heard they said one of the legions is preparing to march east.’

  ‘East?’ Cam frowned. ‘That can’t be right. They wouldn’t dare strike past Severian’s main force like that — his men would cut off their retreat, and they’d be trapped in hostile territory with no supply line and no reinforcements.’

  ‘The commanders said so, too, but there’s no doubt that’s what the Akharians are doing. They seemed to think the Slavers are looking for something.’

  Cam fixed his gaze on her. ‘You managed to overhear the king’s counsel? Just who did you escape from, Kasimi? We won’t sell you back to them, I swear it by the Twin Suns.’

  She stammered then, and blanched, winding her fingers into a knot within her too-long sleeves. ‘It’s not important. As soon as my eyes are better, I’ll ride on. But if you are where I think you are, it’s not safe to stay here long. The Slavers are heading this way.’

  ‘It doesn’t make any sense. If it’s slaves they’re after, they’ll have richer pickings near the coast and better loot, too …’ Villages were scattered in the north, where the winter lasted longer and mountains and forest seemed to battle for control of the land. The longer growing season and better farmland in the south supported far more people. The Akharians would probably try their luck anyway — they’d investigate the tribal lands eventually, but Cam couldn’t believe they would split their forces until the king’s men had been beaten back.

  ‘Do the clans know any of this?’ Kasimi said. ‘Or the local people? Maybe I’m wrong — I hope I am — but if I’m not, the Slavers will rip through the village folk like a hot knife through fat. Our people won’t stand a chance against their mages.’

  Winter was the time for warfare in the north, when packed snow and frozen rivers let men move more quickly than the bogs and sucking mud of summer. Fighting was a matter of strike and retreat, of ambush and traps set for men instead of beasts. The northern people were masters of it, but were the Akharian mages enough to tip the scales back? Ricalan had battled mages before and won, but it had come at a high price. And besides, it had happened a century earlier — all those who knew how to fight sorce
rers were long dead.

  If the rumours were true, the Wolf Clan would send men to help defend the region — but did they have any to spare after meeting the king’s demand for warriors? As a last resort, the village folk could flee into the forests, scattering the stock and burning the houses behind them. They’d done it in the past, in the old days of war between the clans, but folk would suffer from cold and hunger, the old and the young in particular, and if the fighting lasted into the brief summer there could be famine to follow.

  ‘I don’t know,’ Cam said. ‘But when we reach the village I’ll see what I can find out. When we get back, we can try a short journey to see how Issey fares. We ought to move on anyway; we’re too close for comfort as it is. Is there anything else you can tell me?’

  She bit her lip and shook her head, but she was still so tense that Cam had no doubt she was hiding something. Well, whatever it was would have to wait. Right now, keeping Isidro alive and his tiny band safe and fed was more important.

  ‘Cam?’ Rhia looked up from her tablet and beckoned him over. ‘I want to be sure you know all these names.’

  The list she had written in the soot-stained wax was alarmingly long, and Rhia switched to Mesentreian, her preferred language, to make sure he understood it. ‘These ones are most important,’ she said, marking perhaps half a dozen out of a list twice that length. ‘But get a little of the others too if you can.’

  ‘Rhia, tell me —’ A movement caught his eye and Cam looked up. Brekan hadn’t left with the others — he was still sitting in his place, scraping up the last of his porridge with exaggerated care. When he saw Cam’s gaze upon him Brekan slipped out of the tent with a pointed sniff, leaving his dirty bowl on the spruce behind him.

  Cam just shook his head. Markhan had been a good man and a friend and he’d thought Brekan the same, but after his brother died Brekan had changed. He had never forgiven Isidro for avenging Markhan’s death when Brekan didn’t dare try, and now that Isidro was ill … Ricalan had scant room for those who could not provide for themselves and Cam wondered how long it would be before Brekan started making snide comments about idle hands and useless mouths. When he did, Cam knew it wouldn’t be much longer before it came to blows.