Grand Vizier of Krar

by W. John Tucker

  More than two leagues south of where Blan, Zeep, and Nellinar had reached the lake, they finally came upon Carl and Arnapa. They were on a hill overlooking the seventh embarkation point, a bay formed by a promontory of land between the main body of Lake Glorz and Southport River. This was where Carl had decided to make his last stand. Defending the promontory allowed for a shorter front line and greater access for Alliance warships to bombard the enemy. It would still be a lost cause against the vast enemy army that approached, Blan thought. There were too many troops here to rescue by ship, yet far too few to resist the enemy for long. Another plan was needed.

  Even in the dark, Blan immediately recognised the place, just offshore, where Mangrove Robin had foundered. There were no ships here now, just dragon boats. Carl had sent all the available ships as far north as they could go in the time available, to save the infantry nearest the enemy advance.

  “I don’t understand how the enemy tricked us,” Carl complained. He covered his emotion well, yet Blan could see he was very upset. It was the first time she had seen him that way.

  “It was Binpin’s doing and his corrupt offcials,” Blan said.

  “How did you discover this?” Arnapa asked.

  “I’ve cracked that new code I told you about. I found out about Binpin as part of a bigger story which I must convey to the other Actio users before we test my escape plan. Meanwhile, I have explained the plan to Zeep and Nellinar and they can help you make all the preparations needed.”

  The message from Serunipa had informed Carl and Arnapa that Blan had an escape plan; not about its nature, which Blan did not wish to advertise with beacons. Carl looked around, assessing the time available before the enemy would come. Having made a decision, he showed Blan to a tent where she could unlock Actio B and work with it. He stationed soldiers to keep any intruders away.

  One advantage of all the days that Blan had worked with Actio B was that she was now very efficient at getting Control to do the things she knew it would do for her. In less than half an hour she emerged from the tent looking relieved. She was relieved about one thing, anyway. She had locked the Actio again after passing on the news she was now about to give to Carl and Arnapa.

  “Sorry about that,” Blan apologised. “I would not forgive myself if something happened to the others because I had not told them of the new danger as soon as prudence allowed.”

  “That’s alright, we have been busy getting soldiers into the boats and preparing for your remarkable plan,” Carl said. “What is the bigger story and danger you spoke of?”

  “Black Knight is ill and his sister has assumed direct command. She is now aboard her flagship approaching Port Cankrar. Black Knight has apparently been trying to resist her moves. That was the reason for all the delay and inaction. It was Queen Rega who authorised direct negotiations with Binpin and who ordered this latest attack. Her order is to exterminate every resident of Dabbin and, in particular, to kill one Memwin and one Blancapaw.”

  Blan almost laughed at her own words. She was certain that she had decoded the messages accurately and yet it seemed so strange to read about an order for one’s own murder, let alone the extermination of an entire population. It was so far from anything she had imagined possible. She had thought that Black Knight was the most evil person in the world, but she now realised that she had been wrong. Black Knight was a mere novice in evil compared with his sister. Indeed, it was a strange turn of events that, in a way, Black Knight was trying to protect Memwin and Blan from his sister.

  “With Black Knight it would be slavery and with his sister it would be death; not much of a choice,” Arnapa lamented. “So, what of your escape plan? How will Pel manage the other end of it? How many of our soldiers can we send?”

  “Get as many on the boats as possible because that is the safest way, and all the rest can follow Nellinar, Zeep and me. You two must also come with us,” Blan demanded.

  “We must try to follow the troops we sent by land,” Carl argued.

  Zeep, having finished tying ropes around Nellinar, came over and reported, “All the Alliance infantry and cavalry are in an orderly retreat, your Grace. We saw this on our way across. Serunipa must have sent orders to all the commanders. Nobody will be cut off before they reach Outer Wall or, at least, coastal forts where they can hold out until rescued. Blan’s timely intelligence and Serunipa’s quick action have thwarted the enemy’s surprise attack.”

  “Very well,” Carl conceded. “We are lucky to have allies and friends like you, Blan and Zeep.” He gratefully embraced each of them, then turned to his senior adjutant and ordered, “The companies without places on water craft are to stand by for further orders. All craft, except one dragon boat, are to leave for River Docks immediately.”

  124

  By the time Blan, Zeep, Arnapa and Nellinar boarded the dragon boat, the enemy vanguard was just a mile away. Carl stayed on land to direct his remaining forces.

  Though crowded with passengers, two dozen Free Alliance warships were delivering a barrage of catapult shot into the enemy ranks. The Free Alliance cavalry brigades were repeatedly charging enemy regiments that tried to push forward. For the time being the vanguard had been halted. This would not last long. Enemy battalions were arriving from the north all the time, and this was just one of the armies sent across Glorz River. Other armies were now pushing the defenders back on a broad front from Lake Glorz in the south to Tan Mountains in the north, grinding on inexorably to the coast and, in particular, to Port Fandabbin. The cavalry units now engaged in holding the enemy back from Carl’s position would soon need to leave if they were to escape along Southport River to Outer Wall.

  The last dragon boat had just six oarsmen but there was not far to go. Blan sat with her three friends and an enormous coil of cable in the open space where another dozen or so oarsmen would normally have been seated. It had been made from many cables, spliced together as Blan had instructed. Fortunately, Blan’s hurried instructions via Memwin preceded her, so Arnapa had already organised mariners to make the cable and load it into the dragon boat before Blan arrived. One end was bent around a bollard onshore, the trunk of a tree that had been set deeply into the sand at the very edge of the water; it was now being lapped by the small waves caused by the recent commotion of ships and boats nearby. Zeep gradually let out the cable as the dragon boat was rowed away from the shore.

  “We are all relying on you, Nellinar,” Blan said encouragingly when they reached the spot where Mangrove Robin had run aground. She was confident that it was the same place, so she signalled the oarsmen to drop anchor. The lake looked very different now in the dark of night, disturbed by the lights and sounds of battle not far away. However, Blan remembered the distinctive contour of the hill above the promontory, and the distances seemed right.

  “Of course, oh Grand Vizier,” Nellinar replied grandly. It occurred to Blan that Nellinar should become a thespian if he ever decided not to pursue his dream career of being a spy.

  One end of a strong rope was tied to the boat and the other end made into a harness for Nellinar. Another lighter rope was also tied around him, with a buoy attached to its other end. Three oarsmen were experienced divers and they stood ready to follow Nellinar into the water should he not return within two minutes.

  Nellinar dived into the water like a kingfisher. He surfaced after a few seconds.

  “How is it?” Blan asked.

  “Colder than I would like, but bearable,” he replied.

  He then disappeared into the dark depths below. After almost exactly two minutes he returned to the surface to report that there was a sand bank beneath them and it was strewn with bits and pieces of burnt rigging and timber. Sadly, he had found no whirlpool. He dived five more times, each time resting for two minutes and then diving again for two minutes, all without positive news. It was on his seventh dive that he did not return within two minutes and the buoy submerged. Blan, Arnapa and Zeep all tested the rope attached to Nellinar’s harness. Ther
e was strong resistance, so the three oarsmen who were divers went in to find Nellinar.

  “Here!” called one of the divers. Blan, Zeep and Arnapa were looking in the wrong direction. They turned to see the diver fifty paces behind them, and they were relieved to see Nellinar and the other two divers come to the surface soon after.

  “What happened?” Blan blurted as Nellinar was hauled back into the boat.

  “I found the whirlpool,” said Nellinar breathlessly. “It was amazing. One moment I was swimming along a sandy bottom, moonlight still finding its way to me through the water. I came to a sort of rocky ridge, looked over the top, and next moment I was dragged down into some sort of ditch and then along the bottom into complete darkness. If it wasn’t a whirlpool dragging me in then it was something else like it.”

  “How did you escape?” Arnapa asked.

  “I felt the harness jerk suddenly. That stopped me long enough to grab a boulder I bumped into. I moved myself around it to snag the buoy rope. Then I started to haul myself back along the harness rope until I met these three mariners.”

  The oarsmen weighed anchor and moved the boat as close as they could to where Nellinar had resurfaced. By luck or good judgement they found the buoy just below the surface, taut on its rope which ran down and disappeared into dark depths.

  Nellinar and the three divers harnessed themselves to the long cable. Blan insisted on going too, since she was the only one present who could identify the underground river as the same passage that she knew led to Port Fandabbin. “There may be, indeed probably are, other passages, and some of those might lead to disaster,” she argued.

  Once she came to the complete darkness of the submarine tunnel, Blan realised that it was not the same entrance or whirlpool that she had been sucked into before. She was sure that the other entrance was at least a hundred paces north, but that tunnel no longer seemed to exist. She reasoned that the new tunnel must lead to the same underground river. It was too close to lead to an entirely different river, given the size of the river she sought. She hoped so! The entrance might constantly change, she wondered. That might explain why it had remained secret for so long. Work on the salvage of Mangrove Robin might even have sped up a natural process of continual change.

  There was no need to work at moving forward. The strong current of water drew her along; only the strong arms of Zeep and the three burly oarsmen remaining in the boat prevented Blan and her companions from losing their balance and being carried away without control. This time it was not really a whirlpool that Blan was experiencing; it was just a very strong and turbulent current.

  Suddenly Blan was aware of light in front of her. It was the same glow that she remembered from her previous visit. However, if it was the same river, where was she? She did not remember this place.

  As the light grew around her, Blan found the nearest rocky wall and felt her way to the surface. She filled her lungs with enormous relief. She had been fully aware of the terrible risk she had taken, and led the others into, but she was still convinced that it was the only viable plan of escape for Carl, Arnapa and their remaining troops.

  She had been submerged for little more than two minutes and now she found herself in a different world. However, it turned out to be a familiar world when she suddenly recognised where she was. The shape of the cavern had changed. The deep pool from which she had previously emerged was now a quiet backwater. A new entrance had indeed opened.

  Nellinar and the three divers had already surfaced and were looking around in wonder. Blan called to them and led them to the very same spot where she had rested with Pel and Serunipa and their little boat on her first visit.

  “Tie the cable securely around these rocks. It must be secure enough to hold when we bring the evacuees along it.” Blan said this with a smile, and in a tone of voice that might have imparted wise advice rather than an order. The divers nevertheless followed her instructions as though they had been from their own commander. They were young men and did not see her as another youngster. To them, she was like a goddess come from another world. It would never have occurred to any of them to question her instructions.

  When the cable was secure, two of the divers cautiously hauled their way back along it to where Arnapa, Zeep and the others were waiting in the boat.

  Dawn had come outside by the time the first group of evacuees arrived in the cavern. They swam from the shore, following the long cable which was held near the surface by buoys until it descended to the underwater tunnel. Before submerging, they each linked themselves to the cable with a strap or lanyard to prevent them from being dragged away by the current. After two minutes of holding their breath in the darkness and hauling themselves along the cable, they would emerge into the glowing river cavern. As each additional group arrived they would be welcomed by their comrades with much jubilation. Meanwhile, the growing crowd of evacuees in the cavern set to building a raft by linking ropes into a net and festooning it with inflatable or floating objects that they had brought with them.

  By dawn, a thousand evacuees had been successfully hidden in the underground river cavern. They were tired and hungry, but happy for the promise of safety. The enemy vanguard had been greatly reinforced and was now moving forward again. No longer able to resist the advance, the cavalry departed, anxious to reach Outer Wall before the enemy could cut off their retreat. The warships had also departed to reach River Docks before the enemy could set up catapults to bombard them as they escaped along Southport River.

  When a soldier arrived in the cavern to say that only the duke and Arnapa remained behind, Blan returned along the cable to see what was delaying them, and to check if Pel had sent any messages. Pel was vital to her plan, yet she had only been able to pass on her request to him via Memwin without waiting for a reply. As one so used to doing things herself, she felt uncomfortable relying on others so much.

  Blan found Carl and Arnapa by themselves at the shore. The last brigade of cavalry had just ridden off in haste and the last dragon boats were being shepherded around the promontory by two warships.

  “There are no more to come?” Blan asked hopefully.

  “While you were below, three of the ships returned to take the injured and the rearguard,” Arnapa replied. “Their earlier passengers voted to disembark on the south side of the lake so the ships could come back to get more evacuees.”

  “Will they be safe?” Blan asked with concern.

  “They’ll make their way along the barren southern shore to River Docks where we can ferry them back across the river,” Arnapa replied. “They’ll be safe enough for now. The enemy tried to take the southern shore in the last war, only to lose many soldiers and almost all of their equipment in the quicksands. Our officers have been trained to identify and avoid the problem spots.”

  “Will the cavalry get back to Outer Wall safely?” Blan asked.

  “They will have to do some fighting along the way,” Carl replied. “Enemy patrols have already reached Southport River; not yet in sufficient numbers to resist a determined charge by our cavalry.”

  After taking this in, Blan then asked her most important question: “Has Pel sent any messages?”

  Arnapa answered, “The nearest beacons have already been seized by the enemy, so we can only communicate with the city via beacons on the ships. However, the last message was indeed from Pel. He said that he had received your instructions and was working on them.”

  Blan was hoping to hear more from Pel, like some indication of progress or a time line. Goodness knows, she did not blame him for being cautious; she did not want him to give her false hope. Still, it would have been nice to hear something that would lift her spirits.

  Just as Arnapa finished speaking, five enemy horsemen appeared at the nearest hilltop to the west. The horsemen saw the three standing on the shore and immediately goaded their horses to charge down the hill. The leader had a long horn tied to the left side of his saddle and several lances to the right. He placed the mouthpiece of t
he horn to his lips and blew a deep, sonorous note, followed by five others of varying lengths. The sound carried far across the hill and out into the lake.

  “There must be others close behind and perhaps with boats in the lake,” Carl deduced. “We must hurry. Where are Zeep and Nellinar?”

  “They stayed below to help organise the evacuation,” Blan reported.

  All the Free Alliance boats were now out of sight, even the dragon boat so recently used by Blan to find the entrance to the underground river had been rowed away by Carl’s personal staff. The only means of escape now was the cable leading out into the lake where a line of buoys showed its path.

  “We can’t let them follow us!” Blan insisted as she ran to the bollard and started untying the cable. It was thick and heavy. Arnapa soon came to help.

  They had just freed the cable when Blan looked up to see the five horsemen nearly upon them. Arnapa threw herself backward into the water just in time to evade the leading rider’s lance as it passed where her chest had been a moment before.

  As the leading rider came to a halt in the shallows, he turned the horse around and raised his lance to strike again at Arnapa who was still lying on her back in the water. As he walked his horse the few steps to stand above Arnapa for a fatal strike, Blan seized the cable a fathome from its end and swung it at him. The heavy lead seal at the end of the cable whistled through the air and struck the man’s helmet causing him to jerk back, lose his balance and fall off the horse. Arnapa spun on top of him, her knife drawn, and cut his throat.

  Blan saw the red of blood spread in the water below her, but there was no time to philosophise about her part in the killing of another human being. A second horseman had reached the shore and had thrown his lance at her. She had not noticed this because her attention had been fully on Arnapa and the first horseman. However, the lance missed her because she had been pulled away by the weight of the cable as she swung it. She now noticed the lance quivering in the bollard. She had no weapons, the cable having been useful only in surprise. She twisted away and dodged back behind the bollard as the man dismounted and thrust his sabre at her. She felt and heard the point of his sword connect with the Actio, now stowed in the bag she had strung behind her back. She shrugged off her bag and swung it by its straps, like a bucket full of water. She could feel the weight of the Actio inside and its satisfying momentum as it swung through the air.