Striking Chains

by Kris Schnee

  "What if..." Dominic looked up into the Duke's face. "What if you went farther than defense, and took control of Baccatan territory? You'd no longer have to live in a border town in the shadow of our armies."

  The Duke's courtiers, humbly dressed so as not to outdo the Duke in his simple uniform, murmured. Cecil said, "I didn't expect you to sell yourself quite so thoroughly to save your own hide."

  "That's not what I mean!" said Dominic. "I've been thinking about some things no one is expected to even consider, back home. And... I'd like to speak with your priest."

  More murmuring. The Duke glared at his people until they stopped. "You're volunteering to touch the Sun, to convert? It would mean certain death for you among your own people, if you weren't already doomed."

  "Possibly. The fact that it's forbidden makes me question whether the Holy State is truly right, or only afraid of us having a choice. Tell me; is it forbidden here to not worship your 'King'?"

  The Duke looked uncomfortable. "The Council granted a generous exemption for the cloudtails of the north, so long as they don't blaspheme in our lands..."

  Dominic wondered if he might be escaping from one trap of the mind, only to blunder into another. "And what do they believe? I've only heard fragments about a wizard-god and his tree."

  "You'll have to speak to one of their priests. Hmm. After you consult one of ours. If you did accept the Sun, we'd have more reason to trust you. So whatever your moral reasons might be, the practical ones are worth noting as well. Go and learn, then."

  The guards escorted him out of the keep. On the way, Dominic heard the Duke say, "They could be useful."

  * * *

  The priest was distracted. A shaggy man woke up at the noise of Dominic's entrance, and bounded up to the holy man like a child on a festival day. "Did you hear it? I rang the bells, all night! Did I ring them good?"

  The priest looked benignly at him and patted his shoulder. "You did good. The King is proud of you."

  Dominic approached the priest. "The Duke invited me to speak with you, if you don't mind."

  "Of course." He looked to the guard who'd brought Dominic, then to the bell-ringer. "Please go play."

  "Play! Sure!"

  When they were alone, Dominic said, "Well, you have your war now."

  The man of the Sun King looked up at one of the stained glass windows, and sighed. "We lost good men, but it was a fight worth having. The Duke told me about your turncoat behavior, but I don't understand. I doubt my sermon was that good."

  Dominic explained his reasons for throwing away the mask, and then his doubts about why the King's religion was mandatory. "Your Duke mentioned that there were people exempt from worship, but that seemed to apply only to the squirrel-creatures. Is that so?"

  The priest said, "Legally, all people from those lands are exempt. There are more humans than Velesians in the northern woods."

  "What are they, anyway? Some kind of enhanced familiar like your creations?"

  "Not quite. There's a wizard in the north who created them, and built a small kingdom of sorts for them. Great Oak, or the Oak Nation. We allow those people to travel among us --"

  "So you do recognize them as people," said Dominic.

  "Not at first, but the wizard was very insistent. Anyway, our visitor Rose is the first ever to venture to here, at our eastern border."

  "Ah, I hadn't heard her name yet. Why are your northern neighbors exempt from your faith, if the people here aren't? What are you afraid of?"

  The priest snapped, "We're not afraid!" He shook his head and answered more calmly. "Their supposed god is powerful, the sort who doesn't need a ballista when angry. Much better to keep him as an ally than as an enemy. In any case, we guard the souls of the humans under our care. The Oak folk are welcome to learn, but we can't require much of them."

  "It's practicality, then, that keeps you from imposing the King's rule on outsiders."

  "We're trying to save souls. What would keep our nation together if not the Sun?"

  Dominic seemed to notice the church's multicolored window light grow subtly dimmer, hidden by passing clouds. He spent a little while discussing points of doctrine, finding much to admire and nothing horrible -- besides the idea that people had to accept it. "What would you say if you were told to believe in something, but didn't entirely agree with it?"

  "I would suggest that you climb the mountain, though its peak is cold and the path before you uncertain."

  He took a deep breath and nodded, closing his eyes. "I've come this far. If I'm struck down by the might of the Holy State, then maybe it's what I deserve. My people say they fight to test themselves. I'll test them, then." He looked at the priest and past him to the altar. "Let me join your church."

  * * *

  The ceremony was quick and private. Dominic found Jakob kneeling with him in an identical robe, dyed in the colors of sunrise. "Justice, valor, and diligence," the priest said, handing each of them a cup of wine. "Will you serve your King before any mortal man, and fight though you stand alone?"

  Dominic supposed, in a way, that he already had. The best he could do with his life now was to live genuinely, no longer bound to lies and oppression. He felt alone, though surrounded, as he raised the cup to the sky. "I will serve," he said, then stood and drank.

  12. Fire of the Sun

  Duke Cecil welcomed him and Jakob back to the keep with a meal. "There's little time to celebrate. By now your people -- I should say, the easterners -- will have guessed that they failed. I must act."

  Dominic tore into thick, dark bread, the best he'd had in weeks. "Sir, where is Servant Irene?"

  "I'm afraid she's still unconscious from her wounds. We have a healer attending to her, and will give her the same choice you had. For now, don't worry about her."

  Dominic tried to put her out of his mind, but -- "I was the one who brought her here, who found her in the first place and made her a Servant."

  "Did you force her to come along?"

  "No, but --"

  The Duke gestured with his cup. "She's her own woman. Her choices are her own to make."

  "Yes, sir."

  The Velesian woman was here too, gnawing skeptically on a piece of mutton. She sat on a large pillow for a boost in height. The Duke looked at her and said, "So, you've gotten to see how my people fight. What would you say to a dangerous mission, worth yet more of my thanks?"

  The squirrel lady's tail flicked behind her in a show of alarm, but she stilled it. "I told myself I'd make this life an exciting one."

  Duke Cecil said, "Dominic and Jakob, meet miss Rose Applesdottir. This outlander actually came here with the intent of visiting your lands, and using my city as a starting point. The plan had been to parley with your border forts to get their permission and an escort, but we were distracted by your prisoner Perrin. Ah, here he is now. Come, eat."

  The branded young man gave the two former Servants a defiant look, jaw set and brow furrowed. He bowed stiffly, gave a much more sincere bow to the Duke, and sat at the table with them.

  The Duke said, "You said that you'd met the commander of the nearest border fort. I haven't. How would you suggest defeating him, any of you?"

  Dominic sighed. He'd come this far... He said, "If there's still any doubt in his mind that my mission failed, we could return to him."

  Duke Cecil looked incredulous. "You think I'd let you walk right back out? And that they'd believe you?"

  "I have a plan. We'd bring the news that we spent the last few days in a vicious internal brawl, which ended in our seizing control through a sympathetic faction. Your city was a pot about to boil over, you see, and our arrival sparked a wave of assassinations and a coup backed by my gold."

  Cecil grinned as widely as a fox. "Perrin, then, was part of a shocking revelation about some matter of his family. He proved to be the lost heir to the ducal throne of... Where would you like to be Duke of, boy?"

  "Bounty Lake," he said. "But you're not suggesting I go back, a
re you?"

  "Back home, or back to Baccata? I'm not sure which scares you more."

  Perrin grabbed a cup of wine in both hands and drank before setting it down shakily. "If I can help end Baccata, I'll risk myself for that." He caught Dominic's pained look and jabbed a finger toward the brand on his forehead. "Wouldn't you, masked man, if you'd been me? Stolen from your country and having to take this to get an ounce of real respect instead of hearing 'my lord' from the people who were really your masters? Do you understand how much this hurts, or do you know only the inflicting side of pain?"

  The Velesian put one clawed hand on Perrin's arm. "We've all got our hurts. Letting yourself be motivated by hate and grief is only going to make your life worse. I made myself smile as I left home."

  Dominic had trouble understanding her, since she spoke the local Mithraic tongue with an accent and a rodent-like muzzle, but the meaning was clear enough. "You wanted to tour the Holy State? You really wouldn't have fit in."

  "Is it the accent?"

  "What I'm thinking," said the Duke, "is that I should send a party of Dominic, Jakob, Perrin and Rose --"

  Jakob said, "What about Irene?"

  "She's my guest while you're away." The Duke didn't bother stating the implications. "I'll also send some men dressed in the uniforms of the cavalry and advance squad that attacked us. The ruse only has to last long enough for you to burn that silly wooden fort. Or collapse it, I suppose. Once you do that, we'll own more of the coast."

  Jakob said, "We... I mean, the State, will probably be sending a warship to this area very soon. I'd guess it'll be the Righteous Fury; before coming here we sent a messenger near where she'd been recently."

  Perrin looked curiously at Jakob. "You seem eager to fight your own people."

  Jakob tore into his food to stall his own response. "I want a better future for my home island. For everyone, I suppose."

  Dominic said truthfully, "I know of the Fury. That's a fast ship; it could be here as soon as tomorrow."

  Sir Marion drummed his fingers on the table. "I don't think we can rush this, and we might even be better off striking the fort and the ship at once. My lord, may I send out a few dolphins to scout?"

  "Yes, right away." The Duke called a messenger over to Marion to have the knight give the order.

  Now Sir Marion smiled. "We may as well start getting full use of them. They're eager to show off anyway."

  Jakob asked, "What can they do? I want to know all about this project."

  "In time. Think of it as an incentive to prove your loyalty."

  "All right, but what are they going to do to a warship? Squeak at it?"

  The Duke said, "Hence the fire-pot idea."

  Marion's eyes narrowed. "Even if the fuses didn't get wet --"

  "Let's not continue that argument now. If you really don't think they're up for it, fine. We have a more... exciting option for using them to destroy the Fury."

  Dominic watched a plan take shape to strike his old country and push south and east, along the coast and inland. Driving his own former people back. It was easy to look at a map and picture lines and colors shifting, but much harder to think of the villages that would suffer as the King's light overtook them.

  * * *

  They gave him back his mask; they'd fished it out of the moat. Dominic wasn't thrilled to wear it again, but there was no good way to fool his people but to see the world again through slits in brass. The disguised soldiers wore Citizen brands made of ash and paint, and there were a dozen more sullen-looking "captives" being forced to march with the horses, tied poorly. Dominic supposed that attention would focus on Rose. Hopefully that would help distract people from the horses' bulging saddlebags and the oddity of the city having taken so long to fall. He muttered, "Well, 'Great Sun King', let's see if you can blind the forces of the Boundless One." Behind him, the city gate stood invitingly open with the dark flag of the invaders hanging above it.

  They rode past stone ruins, the remains of an earlier fort made obsolete by the latest Mithraic siege engines and their wickedly long range. He hailed the modern, distant fort, where thick ranks of troops sat behind their stockade. The glare of dawn on Dominic's left gave his former countrymen an eerie, bloody look with long shadows. One of the soldiers with him carried a Mithraic sun flag on a lance, with a Baccatan one above it.

  Jakob rode closer and slipped a note into Dominic's hands. "Have you considered not going through with this?" it said.

  Dominic laughed bitterly and answered out loud. "It's a little late for that."

  Jakob nodded, looking grim. "I know, and what we're doing is right. Just worried."

  "I'm told the 'King' will take care of everything. Let's make sure that comes true. Now hush."

  Citizen Hanse rode out with a mirror image of the party Dominic had seen from the other direction, what seemed like ages ago. They were all Citizens on horseback with swords and crossbows but for a few Bound spearmen hustling to keep up. Hanse said, "Flocks! What happened to you, Servants? Who are these prisoners?" He gave Rose a glance, of course.

  Dominic saluted him. "There isn't much time to explain," he said, but gave the elaborate lie about a days-long uprising in Saint Wylan, culminating in new leadership. "So, Sir Marion and the supporters of Perrin here have the city, but don't dare remain unless we move in to consolidate and prepare for a westerner counterattack. They'll never just let us keep the city uncontested."

  Hanse looked the party over, seeing their ragged clothes, bandaged (and imaginary) wounds, prisoners' bound hands and genuine fatigue in the early light. "We'll need to move quickly, then. But come on in to drop off your prisoners -- and have a drink with me."

  "Much appreciated, my lord."

  A ship came into view as they approached the fort. That would be the Righteous Fury, finally arrived and anchored near a dock that only rowboats could reach.

  Now they were surrounded by Baccatan troops who looked them all over with curiosity. For many of these soldiers, the tied-up prisoners were their first sight of Mithraians. The garrison was mostly made of Bound young men who'd been taken from their villages to fight an unknown evil. It would be difficult to break out, and the full light of day would make it more obvious that the "Citizens" weren't the same men who'd gone out. Confusion and darkness were still Dominic's friends.

  Hurry, Dominic told himself.

  But Hanse led him back to his creaking office and poured drinks for them, saying, "There's a problem. Do you know Servant Marc? He's here from the Fury with new orders -- to wait. To hesitate again and expect more reinforcements before I can actually do anything." He thumped the table, rattling a plate of beans. "I told them I'd learn to be more decisive, and here they're treating me like a child!"

  "Another Servant? I don't know him. But he doesn't have the latest information; you do."

  "Yes! Thank you. It's good to have a Servant telling me this. That ought to be enough authority to justify moving now."

  "They've got a warship in their harbor," said Dominic. "And their smaller boats have some capability too."

  "We have the Fury to match it."

  Dominic nodded. "Good. But since they're ready with their warship, I would leave Fury right here until we've taken the city. If there are marines with her, they could help us with the city first."

  Hanse looked enthusiastic. "Yes! We can make this one decisive, and stop being stuck in this little treehouse."

  Dominic posed, trying to look concerned. "There's such a thing as being too hasty though, isn't there? Maybe the new Servant's right about not committing so many men in a hurry."

  Hanse took a drink and slapped the mug down. "Don't go flaccid on me now, Servant. This is the time. I suppose we can leave the advance squad here to watch the prisoners; they've earned the rest and they look hurt anyway. But otherwise I want more or less the whole garrison on the march, before that newcomer Marc can bother me about it. The marines from the Fury, too. Get out there and let everyone know, will you? I n
eed a moment to gather my things."

  Dominic's smile was broad under his mask. "As you wish, my lord."

  Dominic hurried down to the ground and started calling for the soldiers' attention. "Your Citizen has decided to march immediately! Drop what you're doing and prepare for an extended trip to St. Wylan, our new city!"

  The men cheered. Dominic sweated, hoping that he'd just distracted anyone who knew the false Citizens personally or noticed that some of the prisoners had bad knots on their ropes. There was no visible sign that the infiltrators had yet acted on the secret plan to light some fire-starting twigs in key places; but then it wasn't supposed to be obvious. The Citizen had been a crouching rabbit ready to launch himself into the city's teeth. Dominic just hoped that the action would be swift and hopeless enough to result in mass capture, rather than annihilation.

  "What's the meaning of this?" said a muffled voice. Dominic found a pudgy Servant confronting him, looking out of breath. Dominic didn't recognize him.

  "Servant Marc, I assume? The commander has new information that renders the latest messages from the capital outdated."

  The mask was as blank as ever, but the voice was livid. "I rode all the way out here to tell him to amass troops from the other border forts, and strike next week. And now he's planning to march into a death-trap before they get here for a unified attack?"

  "Assembling the troops is fine, but we need to take Saint Wylan right away or lose the advantage."

  "You were just there, weren't you? What were you really doing inside those walls? Being wined and dined by barbarians, I bet!"

  Dominic noticed some of the troops paying attention. He clenched his fists and feigned outrage. "Yes, I did drink with the damn westies, as part of my spying. And yes, their wine is pretty good. We're going to raid their cellars for it very soon. But I'm also the one who helped put our flag there! We lost good men doing that. I don't want to waste their sacrifice because you've got instructions from people hundreds of miles away who don't know what just happened!"

  The Servant dared to lift his mask and peer closely at Dominic. The face was bearded and narrow, with a wrinkled nose. "There's something off about you. I'll be watching." He yanked the mask back onto his face and spun to go complain to Hanse.