by Hugh Cook
'I hope we don't run into trouble there.'
'We won't,' said Miphon. 'The people of the Harvest Plains are very hospitable.'
'At Kelebes – ' began Hearst.
'You were drunk,' said Miphon. Then: 'And not for the first time, cither. I have to tell you that neither your brain nor your liver benefit from – '
'Oh, nara zabara jok,' said Hearst, which, in the Trading Tongue, was obscene in the extreme.
'Should I bash your heads together till your brains splinter?' said Ohio. 'Or just cut your tongues out?'
'Peace,' said Blackwood, pained by this exchange. 'Let's plan out what we'll do if we do meet danger.'
'We won't,' said Miphon, demonstrating – not for the first time – a wizard's need to be seen as an expert. 'I've been this way before. I know this place.'
'There's been a lot of fish in the net since then,' said Hearst. 'With Alish holding Runcorn and threatening invasion, they're bound to be suspicious.'
'Then we'd better not try to avoid the city,' said Ohio, 'or they'll think us spies for sure.'
'Well then,' said Hearst. 'Let's do what we can -which means stay alert and take precautions. I'll carry the death-stone. Miphon, you take the green bottle and the ring commanding it. And Blackwood – the red bottle and the ring for that.' i'd rather not,' said Blackwood.
'No?' said Hearst. 'Then Ohio can carry it. Let's arrange that now.'
They did so, then went on toward the city. On either side of the road, bentbacked peasants were working in a leisurely rhythm in fields of rape and panic.
Hearst watched a barefoot boy shooting at small birds in a fallow field. The boy had a stave bow; he shot arrows into the air so they climbed high then plunged down, skewering their targets and pinning them to the ‹ ground. Hearst noted that the range was extreme and I the archer's accuracy was excellent. I
*** |
The travellers were entering Selzirk by the northern] gate when the challenge rang out: I 'Azat!' | A moment later, soldiers grabbed the reins of their j horses. Then the gate commander stepped forward. j Lurking behind him was a furtive, anxious individual, a j man Hearst knew he should recognise from somewhere. '.
He cast about for a name. j Erhed! Yes, that was it. Erhed, one of Prince j Comedo's soldiers who had deserted in dragon country j deep in the interior of Argan. j 'You,' said the gate commander, in the Galish j Trading Tongue. 'Come with me.'› Hearst glanced around. The gate commander had numbers on his side, but it might be possible to intimidate him. Hearst put his hand to the hilt of his j sword: i 'Who are you to command me?'; 'My name is Watashi,' said the gate commander. 'I'm eldest son of the kingmaker, Farfalla, highest power in 1 the Harvest Plains. Mark me well: I'm the best swordsman in Selzirk, and my blade is faster than yours.'
Hearst judged the boast to be true. Clearly Watashi was a young man, about twenty-five years of age, but I there were battle-scars on his face; his voice and stance indicated that he had the habit of command. He looked tough, capable, relaxed and dangerous. j 'I've been here before,' said Miphon. 'Then, Farfal-, la's eldest son was Sarazin Sky.'
'So men have called me,' said the gate commander. 370 'But names may change with the times. Watashi is my name now, as I have told you. Come.' Hearst hesitated.
'Let's go with him,' said Ohio. 'He's not polite, but at least nobody's drawn a weapon. And think of it – the ruler's son doesn't stand watch on the gate unless for something the ruler wants badly.'
'We'll come with you,' said Hearst. 'We'll let you take us to Farfalla.'
'Dismount, then,' said Watashi, who, Hearst saw, was unimpressed by the ease at which the travellers had divined his immediate intentions.
As they followed Watashi on foot, with a squad of guards behind them, Hearst murmured to Miphon: 'What does Watashi mean?'
Miphon sorted through the few dozen words of the language of the Harvest Plains which he knew: it means blood,' said Miphon. it means fear. It means death.'
***
Watashi led the travellers through the noisy, crowded streets of Selzirk, a city which – according to Miphon's lectures – was a centre for trade in grain, silks, pottery, and also tin and copper mined in the Chenameg Kingdom in mountainous country to the east. It was also, of course, the capital of the Harvest Plains. i wish we could stop,' said Ohio, i see some Galish merchants. We could learn a lot from talking to them.'
'We'll have a chance later,' said Hearst.
'You hope.'
'Why shouldn't I hope? Remember this word: intelligence.' intelligence?'
'Yes. If I say that word, use the ring.' Hearst's last words were drowned out by the racket of a group of men with shaven heads and saffron robes, who stood on a street corner banging drums, beating tambourines and chanting over and over again the Mantra of the Sun.
'You've got the word?' said Hearst.
'Intelligence,' said Ohio.
'Right. If I say it, use the ring.'
'As you wish,' said Ohio.
They stopped then, for the way ahead was blocked by a funeral procession, and Watashi showed no desire to force a way through the mourners. Horns and trumpets blared discord to the skies: to scare away evil spirits, said Miphon. Hearst, who could hardly make himself heard over the uproar, gave his instructions to Miphon. Then the way was clear again, and Watashi led them onwards.
***
Farfalla's High Court was housed in one of the buildings crowding what had once been the central courtyard of a wizard castle. Her throne room was a vast chamber with a vaulted roof arching high overhead; it was open on every side to the sun and the wind. Watashi introduced the travellers, speaking for their benefit in the Trading Tongue: 'To the kingmaker, mother of all the peoples, ruler of the See of the Sun, greetings. Here before you stands the Rovac warrior Morgan Hearst, and here, the wizard from the south, Miphon. This one here we believe to be a peasant from Estar, Blackwood. And this one, perhaps with truth and perhaps not, tells me he is a Galish merchant by the name of Ohio.'
Watashi took up a position by the side of the throne, and Farfalla studied the travellers. Her silence did not intimidate them: they met her scrutiny with bold stares of their own.
Farfalla was a woman of middle years, her hair red, and her skin – thanks to a dye – the same colour. She wore earrings of twisted copper; broad copper bracelets adorned her bare forearms. Her light woollen robes were the colours of blood, iron, earth and clay. Her throne, raised on a small dais, was made of white marble padded with white satin. She looked like a blaze of fire on pure white snow.
Unlike some courts Hearst had seen, overpopulated by lacquered flunkeys and ceremonial attendants, Farfalla's throne room held only a couple of scribes, some guards in grey livery, and a few serving women who stood to one side ready to obey any command that might come from the throne.
'So you're Morgan Hearst,' said Farfalla.
'Yes,' said Hearst, taking a step forward, watching out of the corner of his eye to see how Farfalla's guards would react. The guards held their positions.
'We've heard much of you,' said Farfalla.
'Then you have the advantage over me,' said Hearst.
He studied the woman. Her forearms were strong, muscular; her hands large, fingers broad, knuckles big. Her neck was thick, like that of a wrestler. The features of her face were coarse and generous: heavy bones, large eyes, large nose, large mouth, strong line to the jaw.
'You know much about me, if you care to think about it,' said Farfalla. 'I hold power over an empire. I am told the Rovac have a good understanding of imperial power.'
'Certainly we understand the limitations of such power,' said Hearst.
Watashi said something in the language of the Harvest Plains; Farfalla silenced him with a word.
'Power, for example,' said Hearst, 'gives no protection against lies. At the city gate I saw one of the world's scavengers, a deserter from a defeated army. I hope his tongue has not been allowed to guide your councils.'
'You speak
boldly for a man with only one hand,' said Farfalla. in some places, you'd lose the other for speaking like that to the throne.'
'If murder is today's entertainment,' said Hearst, recklessly, 'then proceed.'
'You tempt me,' said Farfalla, who did not look tempted at all. 'Even so, I'll give you a chance to outgrow your adolescence. I have brought you here because you can be of service to me.'
'Says who? The man Erhed, whom I saw at the gate? That weak-minded gallowed and gutless coward? A runaway? A deserter?'
'Whatever his defects,' said Farfalla, T regret to say that his manners are better than yours.'
'On Rovac,' said Hearst, 'we believe in the diplomacy of steel'
'My son, I'm sure,' said Farfalla, 'would be happy to join such negotiations. However – fortunately for you, my hero – I prefer to exercise my own intelligence rather than my son's sword-arm. Hear me out, for I have a tale to tell.'
'Then tell away,' said Hearst.
Farfalla, without protesting at his abruptness, began: 'When your men deserted you far inland, they made their way down the Velvet River, through the Chena-meg Kingdom and all the way to Selzirk.
'Rumours came to me of wild tales being told in the taverns: fantastic stories of ring-magic, dragon-killing, battles between wizards, the destruction of armies. You know the truth of what you've been through; as you can imagine, a little strong liquor soon set some weird and wonderful tales afloat in the stews of Selzirk.
T didn't quite believe the story of how Morgan Hearst, riding on a dragon, led armies against the Red Emperor of Tameran. Nor the tale of the Temple of Eternal Love by the shores of the Araconch Waters, with its trees of gold and its gardens of diamonds. Still, it was clear that something had happened that I should know about.
T gave my orders. As you can imagine, rumours take more than a day from a riverside bar to my throne room. Some of the men had left with Galish convoys, others on ships sailing from Adrolmarphos. A few had joined the criminal fraternities of Selzirk and proved impossible to locate.
'But my men arrested twelve. We interviewed them in isolation, giving them no chance to rehearse lies; once all twelve stories matched, I knew I had the truth.
'So I know you marched from Estar to pursue the wizard Heenmor, who had a power-source known as the death-stone, capable of turning men to stone and bringing rocks to life. I know all about your expedition to the point where the soldiers deserted you.
'It was midwinter when I extracted these truths from your soldiers. I knew that if you succeeded in capturing this… this death-stone, it would probably come south by way of Selzirk. For months my three sons have taken turns to command the guard at the northern gate: I wanted no errors, no mistakes. We've a great need for a weapons such as this, for our entire coastline is menaced by the pirates of the Greater Teeth, now grown strong enough to seize Stokos – a conquest of which you, no doubt, have yet to hear.
'More recently, from Runcorn, we have received an ugly little embassy demanding our surrender in the name of Elkor Alish and the death-stone. Knowing this Alish to be sworn to the service of wizards, and lacking any evidence of a death-stone slaughter said to have taken place near Runcorn, I have chosen to disregard this threat. Yet I see this Alish is not of your party. So is he dead? And if not, does he indeed command the death-stone?'
'On that point,' said Hearst, i am not sure whether I should furnish you with any… intelligence.'
He heard Blackwood protest as Ohio grabbed him, then there was the noise behind him of the red and green bottles hitting the stone floor. Hearst pulled the death-stone from where he had hidden it inside his leathers. He whipped away a bit of cloth that had been wrapped around it, and held it aloft.
'The death-stone,' he said, wheeling to survey the room. 'Move and you die.'
'Die yourself!' snarled Watashi, drawing his sword.
In Hearst's hand, the death-stone kicked like a living heart. To use it would mean death, for when the stones of the throne room came alive, the building would collapse. But Miphon, Blackwood and Ohio were safe in the bottles: they would have time to search for the death-stone when they emerged into the ruins where once the city of Selzirk had stood.
And then again – As Watashi raised his sword to strike, Hearst threw the death-stone. It took Watashi on the forehead. Hearst was drawing his sword even as Watashi fell. Sword to throat, he straddled the unconscious body of Farfalla's son, and challenged her: 'The right words now, madam, or your son is dead.'
Farfalla got to her feet and clapped her hands: 'Leave us. Everybody.'
The throne room emptied, and Farfalla resumed her seat. She was confident – and why not? No kingmaker of the Harvest Plains reached maturity without becoming quick-witted and resourceful. And now what?
Whatever Hearst had expected, he was surprised at what Farfalla did next, which was to recite, in a Trading Tongue translation, two lines of Saba Yavendar's 'Albatross Odyssey': 'Wind to horizon making;
Birds match their wings to its shaping.'
Then Farfalla gestured at the wind-wide open view across the city and out to the open plains, across which the wide waters of the Velvet River snaked from east to west, glittering in the sunshine. It was easy enough to make out the north-south line of the Salt Road, reaching away to far distant horizons.
'It's a hundred and seventy leagues downriver to Androlmarphos,' said Farfalla. 'But on a fast ship, you can make the downriver journey in comfort in two or three days.'
'My journey lies south,' said Hearst. 'Along the Salt Road. My destination is Drangsturm, and the Castle of Controlling Power. I thought you'd know at least that much.'
'I do,' said Farfalla. 'And I know the highway's windings make for a long journey. Another seventy marches, at least. On the other hand, from Androlmarphos there's just five hundred leagues of southing by sea; they tell me even a slow ship can make that journey in ten days.'
She was not exaggerating. A ship of any speed could manage fifty leagues a day – at least on the Central Ocean, where there was seldom any shortage of wind.
'Make me no offers,' said Hearst, i'd not trust my life to one of your pretty river boats. Not on the Central Ocean.'
'We don't take galleys to sea,' said Farfalla, 'but there are stout ships in plenty that sail from Androlmarphos. That is what I'd offer you – not just a passage to the south, but a ship entire, with the men to crew it.'
Hearst was tempted, but kept his wits about him, and stepped clear of Watashi, who was starting to recover. Watashi groaned and sat up. Hearst recovered the death-stone.
'What would you demand in return?' said Hearst.
'I'd have you organise the defence of the Harvest Plains against pirates – and against your friend to the north.'
'Alish has been disarmed,' said Hearst. 'I hold the death-stone. We need not worry about him.' And with these words, they began bargaining.
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
Miphon emerged from the green bottle after three days; Ohio and Blackwood, more cautious, waited for five. All were relieved to find Selzirk had not been destroyed, but more than a little annoyed to find that they would now be delayed while Hearst masterminded the defences of the Harvest Plains.
Nevertheless, they soon found compensations. For Miphon, it was a relief to be no longer travelling; he was able to resume a wizard's true life of study and meditation. For Blackwood, Farfalla's palace offered the solace of solitude, which, in a bustling city like Selzirk, was a considerable privilege indeed.
The rewards for Ohio were rich, as Hearst made him responsible for buying in stone and shipbuilding timber from the Chenameg Kingdom. While Ohio was not exactly corrupt, he found that a certain fraction of the money which passed through his fingers stuck to them -a process which happened so easily that he was almost able to persuade himself it was accidental.
For Hearst, there was an unexpected reward in that Farfalla, a master of Sunoya Dance – a mind/body training system perfected in Selzirk, and unknown to the world at larg
e – was able to teach him physical and mental disciplines which slowly began to give his left hand the bladeskills which had once been possessed by the right.
And so the days passed, with spring becoming summer – and disaster fast approaching.
Hearst's plans for the defence of the Harvest Plains included new military roads, new castles, new ships, a guild of assassins, a courier service, and chains of watchtowers able to signal with windmill-style vanes during the day and with fire by night. All this cost money, but the Harvest Plains were rich.
Combined with the formation of a militia, the construction of new armouries, and, if necessary, the recruitment of a few legions of mercenaries from the Chenameg Kingdom, Hearst's plan would give the Harvest Plains a strong defence against both the Orfus pirates and more traditional enemies, namely the Rice Empire which lay to the south.
The only thing wrong was that Hearst would never have time to put these plans into effect, because the enemies of the Harvest Plains fully intended to strike before the stone and timber from the east was assembled into castles and ships.
Hearst had spoken of Elkor Alish as being disarmed, but this, of course, was far from the truth. Hearst had spent too long in the company of wizards, and had spent too much time exploring the memories left to him by the wizard Phyphor; he had acquired something of a wizard's contempt for the weapons of men.
Alish was no stranger to the ways of war; his experiences in the Cold West had given him mastery of the mixture of bribery, flattery, fear, diplomacy, brutality and generosity needed to hold together a mercenary army.
The seaport city of Runcorn, complete with its armoury, its treasury and its ships of war, was under his command. Using Prince Comedo as a figurehead, he could pretend when necessary to be a servant of the Favoured Blood. Under his leadership were men from Dybra, Chorst and the Lezconcarnau Plains, eager for a share of the wealth of the Harvest Plains.