“You mean his treachery!” shouted someone. Stragg jumped to his feet, but one look at the elder and he sat back down.
“Anyway,” continued Terrence, “she was in denial. She respected Lord Jawara, but Tidor was the legitimate son.” Terrence couldn’t help but to smile. “But once Jawara took matters into his own hands all was revealed and…”
“The Illyrian girl chose well!” cried Chief Tod.
“Aye!” cried another chief. “Prince Jawara should be our king!”
Terrence sighed and said, “Truly. I too wished we had taken the bastard to our hearts when we had the chance, but it’s too late now. But now do you understand why King Roc and his sons were unacceptable? Alas, we ended up at war anyway.”
“If we find Prince Jawara and return the princess perhaps we can end this,” said a chief hopefully. “Once the empress has her daughter back…”
“No,” said Chief Lok, stepping forward. “They don’t care about that. What they want is Stragg’s and Lord Terrence’s heads…and anyone else’s who participated in or helped plot King Roc’s overthrow. Tell them the rest old man.”
Everyone looked at the elder again.
“The empress and High Lord were not disturbed by Jawara’s carrying off their daughter,” said Terrence. “It was confirmed that she had bonded with the boy. And unlike us, the social status of his mother meant nothing to them, only that she was a mutant. King Roc returned home to capture and bring Lord Jawara and Princess Miko back, not to punish him and free her, but to publically acknowledge him as Cato’s descendant. In other words, legitimize him and formally mate him to the princess before the other kings and queens of the bloodline.”
“And you murdered him before this could be done!” snapped Lok. “It is because of you that our lands are now crawling with Bellasarian warriors and our dead are mounting in piles. You and that fool are the reason that we are at war with the empire. Did you really believe that Beral III would not avenge her kinsman?” Lok angrily pointed at King Stragg. “Did you really believe that the Bellasarians would be willing to accept terms after this animal had raped and murdered his mate?”
Stragg squirmed under the gaze of the other Barratians. This act had made him enemies even among his own people.
“I had nothing to do with that!” said Terrence, not even trying to defend Stragg on that score. “My plan was to hold Prince Tidor and Lady Ayala as hostages! The two princes were either disgraced or now of another house, by Bellasarian law. The empress knew of Tidor’s stupidity. She would NOT have supported his claim to the throne. I planned to use Princess Sandra to breach the gap by mating her to Stragg, thus continuing the Barratian bloodline, but…”
“But the king fucked it all up by raping and murdering one potential hostage and letting the other escape!” snapped Tod.
“The deed is done and cannot be undone!” retorted Terrence. “Tidor is a pathetic fool! And as dastardly a deed it was, Ayala was but a woman! I vow we would have been at war anyway…only later!”
“If the Bellasarians want Stragg’s head I say we give it to them and be done with it!” cried a chief. There was much ascent to this. Stragg looked white.
“And then what?” said Terrence. “Do you think that the Bellasarians will just leave us alone once this is done, hmmm? Many of our people have already gone over to them. Who will be king once this is over? Pantherus? He’s already mated to Queen Bal of Mavieland and Princes Bellasaris of Illyria, the empress’s daughter and most likely heir. When empress Beral III steps down or dies she will be the new empress and reign as Empress Bellasaris II. You all know what THAT would mean, don’t you?” The men were silent. “Prince Tidor? He plans to make that human creature his legal mate! How would you like having a human sitting beside your king ruling over you and set before your mothers, daughters and female kin?” There were angry shouts at this. “Lord Jawara?” said Terrence sourly. ‘The Dark Prince’? ‘Prince Jawara’? Until now most of you called him the ‘Bastard Prince’, ‘Blue Bastard’ or simply, ‘The Bastard’! Aye, he would be a good king, a great king! But you NEVER would have accepted him before now. And now he is gone. No doubt he is so far away from here that he’ll never be heard of or from again…if we’re lucky.” Again there was silence. “Do you STILL think it will mean freedom if we cave?! Do you still think King Stragg and I were being selfish and self-serving by acting when and the way we did? I tell you boys, war was coming!”
Only that wily old bastard Terrence could have talked his way out of such a sticky situation like that and saved Stragg’s neck in the bargain. But it was only partially successful. Most of the nobles in the capital had supported Stragg, now they were stuck with him. Only death awaited them in the camp of the vengeful Bellasarians. Seventy percent of the chiefs refused to fight for Stragg any longer. They would defend their own strongholds and domains and that’s it. Others saw the Bellasarians as invaders that needed to be driven back. They could always settle with Stragg when it was all over. As for Stragg, he was secretly planning to lead his clan and those tribes truly loyal to him west. It really was their only option. Fleeing west was risky. Many enemies lived beyond the mountains. But if he could fight his way through the border tribes he’d be in good shape…or maybe not, but it was better than the alternatives. The other chiefs would absolutely demand that he actually lead them into battle the next big offensive. He didn’t like the idea of facing Empress Beral or any of her kin in battle. He also knew that once the Bellasarians had been driven off the other tribes would kill him. If the reverse should happen and the Bellasarians’ got ahold of him they would almost certainly hand him over to their women. Stragg shuddered. If that happened he would be seeing death as a mercy by the end of it. So for Stragg, staying in Barrat was a death sentence one way or the other. For now, he would have words with Elder Terrence. The old advisor had all but thrown him beneath the bus during the council.
******
“Why did you tell them you had nothing to do with what happened to Lady Ayala?” said Stragg angrily.
“Because it was true, fool!” said Elder Terrence.
“That’s not what I meant,” said Stragg, red-faced. “The way you spoke. It was…And you name me fool?!”
“Yes!” snarled Terrence, now completely fed up with Stragg. “You have been an utter disappointment to me almost from the moment I set you upon the path. I tell you, that IS saying something. I didn’t think it possible for you to fall shorter in my estimation of you than you already were!”
“You said I had grown in your estimation!” snapped Stragg.
“I lied,” said Terrence.
“You said I was the man the kingdom needed to stay free of the empire,” said Stragg.
“I was wrong,” said Terrence. Stragg looked stupidly at the elder. “I always knew you were a sadistic perverted bully and moron,” said Terrence, “but I never believed that you were so far gone. Frankly, I’m actually surprised that you were smart enough to keep your mouth shut at the meeting and let me do most of the talking. I told you not to be lured into a major battle without being absolutely sure of your ground and your advantages! I told you NOT to order an attack until you were absolutely sure of the empress’s location. If you had but waited a day we would have gotten our spies’ report and saved the lives of thousands of our men! YOU are a pathetic king! If you had at least been there yourself you could have salvaged your reputation and even gotten some glory out of it. But instead you stayed here and telepathically communicated with your kin giving commands from safety. I can’t stand the sight of you!”
“Why did you come to me if you thought so little of me?” said Stragg, for once restraining his temper. “Obviously there were many others who you felt were much more up to the job.”
“Indeed,” chuckled Terrence, “too up to the job.” Again Stragg stared at Terrence, still not comprehending. “Also, I chose you because you had fighting spirit and
courage,” continued Terrence. “Or at least I thought you did. You know, everyone knew your short-comings well, and you had a LOT of them. But cowardice was not one of them. History, both on Earth and on Bellasaria, has proven that if a man had balls and led from the front, men would love and idolize him no matter what his other faults were. Because of this, and because you were the only one among the nobles or chiefs strong enough for the job, I planned to have you mate with Princess Sandra. This would check the Bellasarians and preserve my well-loved brother’s bloodline. I owe Barrat everything. I wouldn’t see his seed disappear. Well, you did a good job of bungling everything! How did you become so craven anyway?!”
“You dare!” said Stragg. He took a half step forward, but stopped dead in his tracks. Elder Terrence never flinched, but slowly hair began to sprout on his face, arms and other exposed parts of his body. He was grinning evilly and Stragg could see his teeth begin to grow out. Stragg stepped back.
“A wise choice,” said the elder. “Now answer my question. How did you become a cur? What has you so frightened of combat now?”
Stragg swallowed and slowly confessed his feelings. “I…I always believed in my strength,” said Stragg. “I was humbled a little by the Illyrian Princess, but that was only because I underestimated her. Then that bastard Jawara humiliated me. But…The night we attacked King Roc. I was…The king…I never came so close to death in my life. I never really saw the king in real battle before. And now his kin are here. And many of them are just as strong or stronger with the same abilities. I…I…”
“Say no more, boy,” said Terrence, not without sympathy. “I believe I understand. Remember this; courage is not the absence of fear. Rather, it is the ability to overcome it. You yet have the ability to either remain a coward in the eyes of your people or overcome the mountain within you and prove them wrong. Prove you are a man and those who plot to kill you when this thing is done may change their minds. Or at least you can leave this world dying the way a real warrior would wish to go, in battle.”
Stragg nodded. “Thank you, elder,” he replied.
Take heart,” smiled Terrence, laying a hand on Stragg’s shoulder. “We’ll send for more warriors from the western border tribes. Thanks to Lord Jawara, we have a truce with Queen Shanis and most of the tribes beyond our border, remember? We won’t have to worry about them raiding our towns there. With these fresh warriors we’ll recoup our numbers and deal with these bastards the right way.”
Just then the elder received a telepathic message, and much to Stragg’s surprise Terrence turned white as a ghost.
“What?” said Stragg. “What is it?”
“Summon your war council,” said Terrence. “Call all those lords and chiefs loyal to us back! Do it now!”
******
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
THE BEGINNING OF THE END
The war in the west had been going on for several months now. The worst fighting had taken place in the mountains. For the empire, troop movement and supply was a simple matter due to the teleportation technology in the lowlands and foot-hills. But this became a problem in the mountains where there was little mapped territory or very large cities. In the mountains war was being fought and armies supplied pretty much old school. The Battle of Cartagena had changed that somewhat. With her main base secured in the valley, Empress Beral III had a fixed location to send and receive troops and supplies into the mountains quickly.
Naturally, they had the location and means to teleport warriors directly to Dinos City, but there were definite risks in doing that with so much of the mountain towns still fighting them. Despite their victory at the valley battle, the Barratians were never known to give up easily. Everyone expected weeks and even months of hard fighting and another massive offensive by the Barratians at some point of their choosing once they moved out of the valley and back into less known regions of the mountains. Surprisingly, that didn’t happen. There had been some sharp skirmishes with various bands of warriors and they did encounter abandoned towns, but many of the once hostile towns were now sending envoys of peace. Some of these made it clear that were not surrendering or submitting to Bellasarian rule, but rather had no interest in fighting for the usurper king. If he was all the Bellasarians wanted, they could have him. For now, that was good enough for the empress. She could always bring these defiant communities into the empire by other, gentler, means later.
However, the many abandoned towns were cause for worry. The enemy was massing somewhere, which meant that a big fight was coming. After a point, the fighting did become more frequent and intense. Larger and much more defensible towns were being spied out that would have to be taken with hard fighting. Then suddenly, much of the resistance seemed to just melt away. Many of the strongholds were abandoned when the empress’s forces approached them. The large war parties shrunk or disappeared altogether.
It was at times like this that the empress really wished she could use high level technology and clear the hell out of all the damn trees so she could know what was going on. However, the rules of war were clear. There would be no deforestation by bombs. No advanced surveillance by air. No drones of any kind. So unless you had wings yourself, air surveillance was a bust. From the air a winged or mounted warrior would only be able to see vast forested areas. If they flew closer to the ground they would be exposed to archers. Forts and towns could be seen by air, but these settlements were equipped with primitive but effective anti-air weaponry. Also, the enemy’s winged fighters would certainly spot them and then it would be a race to get anything relevant back before they were killed or captured. The empress stopped her advance and strengthened her new base at one of the more impressive fortified towns. Her forces were smaller now because she immediately had every abandoned stronghold or town occupied, but she still had formidable forces in the field and now secure bases for supply and fallback points as well. The enemy didn’t even try to destroy their fortifications. They just ran and left them there…intact. Beral III and her command didn’t know what to make of it. Then word came via a messenger from the interior. The empress was in council at the fortress city of Alba when the news came.
******
“Empress, it is obvious to me that the Barratians’ resolve to fight has crumbled,” said Queen Mab of Akonia. “If we push on we’ll be taking Dinos City before the end of the next month…probably sooner.”
“Is that your opinion, my husband?” said the empress.
“It is true,” said Lord Talos, “that many have sued for peace. Many have come over to our side. Many have been captured or killed in battle…but Barratians’ don’t buckle that easily. Not the ones who think they have something worth fighting and dying for. And I don’t mean Stragg. Abandoned cities are not a sign of surrender, no, just the opposite. I recommend extreme caution if we begin to advance further.” There was much assent to High Lord Talos’s council.
“We will continue to send out scouts. We will strengthen our presence in the territories already taken before any further advancement into unknown domains,” said the empress. “These mountains are full of places for ambush and the enemy has been taught to respect us. They are more dangerous than ever. I will not expose my warriors to needless slaughter. Something is going on out there and I won’t budge until I know what.”
“Your pardon, Empress,” said a young page entering the hall and kneeling. Beral III motioned that he should rise. “Highness, I have word. A woman brings important news from the interior.”
There was a murmur of surprise from among the gather kings and queens, very few women escaped alone from the interior controlled by Stragg’s people. They were surprised further when the woman came before them. She was clearly not a Barratian slave. In fact, she gave the appearance of someone trained and experienced in battle.
“And you are?” said the empress, burning with curiosity.
“I am Lady Corina,” said the woman. Lady Corina was a sh
ort but lithe woman clearly built for speed rather than power. Above the waist she had very little, but her legs were quite firm and muscular.
“What news do you bring, lady?” asked Talos.
“My lord, Prince Jawara marches on Dinos from the west. He brings many allies from the frontier tribes and the border towns and tribes of Western Barrat have risen and flocked to his banner.”
Tidor and Pantherus jumped to their feet. The newly arrived Princess Sandra as well. “Our brother is here?!” cried Tidor.
“Aye, Prince,” said the woman. “He has sworn to avenge your father and mother’s murder and mount Stragg’s and Elder Terrence’s heads on spikes. Already he has smashed a large Barratian force in the western region and is battling Stragg’s forces even now. Until recently, he had been sweeping all before him. Then the Barratians were reinforced by several thousand warriors and he was checked at the Battle of Golas…for now.”
“NOW I have the answer to the deserted forts and mass troop withdrawals!” cried Beral III rising. “Is my daughter with him? Is she well?”
“Yes, Great One,” said the messenger. “She is with him and is eager to see you and your consort, Lord Talos. Indeed, my lord has taken prisoners who swore that his brothers and sister, whom he believed dead, were alive as well. This was confirmed by enemy defectors who actually saw the princes in battle. My Lord Jawara is most eager to join with you and destroy Stragg once and for all.”
“How do we know this is not a Barratian trap?” said a chief. A quick mental probe, with the messenger’s permission, confirmed her words…and more.
“Hah! Our daughter has chosen well!” laughed the empress. Queen Mab, it looks like you’ll get your wish. We mobilized immediately. We wouldn’t want my new son-in-law stealing all the glory, now would we?”
The Mutant World Page 48