“Lord Karak, I made no such agreement. At the worst, I simply took advantage of your sense of honor,” Cor replied.
“Ha!” Naran boomed.
“We need to discuss this,” Cor said. “There is no need for this to go any further.”
“You will not leave it be,” Naran sighed. “Very well. I invited you here as a guest, and if you must, then we must as well. Out! Everyone out! Everyone but the Seven and our guests! What are you all staring at? I said everyone out!!”
Cor wanted to cover his ears with his hands to muffle the Shet’s great voice, a voice that he was sure could be heard for miles around. The various servants and warriors who had been pressed into this service looked on confusedly before they all quietly began to turn and leave the tent. The personal servants and guards of the Seven Lords were the last to leave and only did so with the release of their masters. After several minutes, the huge tent contained only eleven persons. The Seven Lords came together on the far side and then sat cross legged in a semicircle arrangement. Cor noted with interest that Naran sat in the center.
The Seven all looked on quietly, seemingly disinclined to speak. Cor sat upon the hard ground in the same manner as they, and Thyss, Mora and Red followed suit. Karak spoke first, his words crisp and regimented. Though polite, Cor thought he sensed a degree of hostility, or at least disdain in his words.
“Lord Dahken Cor Pelson,” Karak said, “we are here at the behest of Lord Naran. Finding a lost friend among the enemy, he demanded an end to the fighting. This was meant purely as a social occasion, and yet you have called some sort of parlay. What would you say to us?”
“I thank you for listening,” Cor said with a slight bow of his head. “I know you are all powerful, as you must be to have raised such incredible armies. I also know that great promises have been made to you, first by Parol and now by Marya. I am here to show you that even greater promises can be made by Aquis.”
“You would bribe us to return home?” asked a woman to the right whose name Cor couldn’t remember.
“If that is what you require, you merely need to name your price. I am sure King Rederick would pay it,” Cor replied.
“A monetary sum will not do it Lord Cor.” This came from a Tigolean on the left. “Our agreements are based upon lands, taxes, moneys and exclusive trade rights. The trade rights alone are worth more in the long run than Aquis’ entire treasury.”
Cor nodded slightly as if in agreement. Truthfully, Cor had no idea what exclusive trade rights were worth or even what they meant, but he did know that the treasury in Byrverus was virtually empty. “I am sure Aquis can exceed any offer made to you by Akor.”
“Unlikely Lord Cor,” disagreed the left. “Those agreements were made based on strict accounting of Aquis’ wealth and trade assets.”
“But you have to fight Aquis to fulfill your end of the bargain,” Cor reasoned.
“Which we are prepared to do,” said Peku the Shet.
“If you are set on fighting, then join Aquis in fighting the Loszian Empire. With the resources of both nations, I can make you all wealthy beyond anything Aquis alone could do,” Cor said, and he saw it for just a moment. The Tigoleans paused as the possibilities dawned on them. “Furthermore,” Cor continued with pointed looks at Karak and Naran, “there will be no honor earned here, no glorious battle to be fought. I have taken that from you. I’ve given orders to my host to pull up stakes and march back to Byrverus. You will have to march over hundreds of miles of hostile countryside to reach our final battle – a final battle that will take place against a fortified enemy with greater numbers than we have now, for more join Byrverus daily. All the while, your flanks and supply caravans will be harassed. Your warriors will arrive tired and ready to go home. In the end, you cannot win, and you will lose almost everything you have earned doing so.”
“What is it you suggest then?” asked Karak. The man leaned forward in interest, though some of his cohorts seemed angered at the suggestion that victory would escape them.
“Marya is no queen; she is barely a woman out of childhood. She doesn’t understand the death she’ll bring upon the Shining West. Allow me to deal with her myself. After all, she is one of my people. Peace will be brokered between your people and Aquis, and I guarantee it will be most profitable.
“If it is the honor or bloodlust of battle that calls you,” Cor continued, “then you need only wait a little longer. Sovereign Nadav of Losz again stirs his empire to invade the Shining West. It will be terrible and glorious; enough blood will be spilled to turn the Narrow Sea red. But that will not be all, for the greatest battle the world has ever seen will be yet to come.”
“And what is that?” asked Naran almost quietly, his eyes wide.
“The battle to destroy the gods of Losz.”
17.
“I cannot believe you did that to me!” Thyss shouted as they rode away from the Tigolean host the next morning. “You sent our son away with an army without telling me?! Who the fuck do you think you are?”
I should have thought about this, Cor reflected inwardly as Thyss continued to rant dangerously. He was not happy that she would assault him so in front of Mora and Red, but Thyss rarely cared about other people’s sense of propriety. He dared not look behind him at their reactions, so he merely kept his helmed head facing straight upon their course, a difficult task as the rising sun threatened to blind him.
“Don’t you have anything to say?!” she screamed at him. It was an oddly welcome change from the total silence she had shown him since his revelation before the Seven.
“I was waiting until you were ready to listen,” Cor replied calmly. “It was better that none of you knew. If you looked surprised, then they wouldn’t know I lied. Yes, I ordered the army out, but only about three miles. The point was that if the Tigoleans sent out their riders, they’d see our soldiers breaking camp or even marching away. They set a leisurely pace. I promise, we will rejoin our son shortly.”
Thyss said nothing in response, and as he reached over to place his hand on hers, she moved her horse into a gallop just long enough to pull thirty or forty feet in front of him. Cor wanted to groan as he watched her back and how she made a point of not acknowledging his existence. He closed his eyes and sighed, reopening them at the sound of Mora and Red quickening their own pace to ride to either side of him.
“So, a ruse Lord Dahken?” asked Red.
“In a way. We will retreat for a time, though not hurriedly. I don’t want the Tigoleans to think we’re running. I want them to think I just don’t care what they do next.”
“To what end?”
“The Seven Lords will come to a decision today I think,” Cor mused. “If it is still to be war, then Karak will feel honor bound to inform us of that decision. He will send riders to catch us. Once they deliver the message, we’ll have to act.”
“Turn and fight?” asked Mora. “I do not see the wisdom.”
“Lord Dahken, we gave more than we got the other night, but even still we lost too many to risk battle,” agreed Red.
“No, at that point we’ll run and make our stand at Byrverus, but I do not think that’s what’s going to happen. The Seven Lords are merchants by trade, and risk for profit is their life. But they also have much to lose.”
Mora nodded as he spoke, following his thinking, “So now you have them thinking that if they fight us, they risk all. If they join us, they may still lose everything, but the profit is even greater than what Marya could offer. The same risk with greater chance of profit.” She paused, then concluded, “Maybe Lord Dahken Cor, you understand people better than I gave you credit for. You are most definitely wiser than you sometimes act.”
They rode the rest of the way in silence, which left Cor to ponder exactly which acts Mora referred to. He had hoped the one armed paladin had moved past the slaying of Erella; he certainly had except when someone threw it back into his face. Perhaps she meant his apparent misstep with Dahken Keth or his quick willi
ngness to go to war so easily with Akor. Looking back, he saw the errors. Though at the same time, all of his actions made sense; they were justifiable, and he was still alive. Not everyone else could say that.
It had been perhaps two hours since they crossed back into Aquis when Thyss broke her horse into a full gallop. Cor smiled, knowing that she would be calmer once reunited with their son, and he followed suit. Within minutes, he could see the marching pickets and outer ranks of the host, and it wasn’t long before all four of them merged into the formations to find their spots in the march. The soldiers, knights, warriors and archers never broke step.
“You are lucky I did not melt your flesh,” Thyss said cheerfully, riding with Cor’El in a sling around her chest.
“As many times as you’ve threatened it, I thought I was safe,” Cor said with a smile in return.
“I have never threatened you with that,” Thyss replied with mocked indignance.
“You did so the first night we met!”
“I believe,” she said, drawing out the word, “I wondered aloud if your hair would light as easily as any normal person’s. Of course, I also believe I mounted you shortly thereafter.”
“You never can tell with you, can you?” Cor asked rhetorically, ignoring the sideways glances of some of those nearby. He paused, and then changed the subject. “Now we wait for the Seven to send word of their decision.”
* * *
“By the fires of Hykan, there is no way I am letting you do this!” Thyss shouted; it seemed to Cor she was always shouting at him. “Gods damn you, why are you always trying to leave me behind and get yourself killed?!”
“I must agree with Lady Thyss,” Mora said more calmly. “It does not seem to be the wisest course, which has me rethinking something I said earlier.”
“I am in command, and the decision has been made,” Cor replied firmly, looking at each one of them in turn. Thyss smoldered, almost literally, and Mora looked on him with open concern.
Red for his part merely looked at the ground and moved one boot through the loose dirt. “They’ll kill you,” he mumbled. “We cannot trust them.”
“We cannot trust Marya,” Cor disagreed, “but I understand what drives her. Karak himself penned the message, and the man has an almost arrogant sense of honor. The Seven have agreed to allow Marya and me to settle this issue. This is a negotiation to them. They will not interfere in any way, I know it.”
“Your commands do not extend to me,” hissed Thyss, and she came to stand mere inches from him. “I am neither your slave, nor your soldier, and I am most certainly not your property. I go where I will, when I will. How dare you order me back to Byrverus as if I am your lesser. I should burn you down where you stand.”
Cor pulled off his helm and dropped it carelessly onto the ground. He reached up and gently placed a hand on each of Thyss’ soft golden cheeks, and they were burning hot to the touch. He quite suddenly noticed the heat emanating from her entire form that matched the fire in her eyes, and he was vaguely aware that their son cried in the background.
“I have not and never would order you to do anything. You’re the thing I love most, as bittersweet and deadly as it sometimes seems. I’ve never paid much heed to gods before, but if I were to, you would be the object of my worship. You go where you will, and I will always come back to you. But this thing I must do alone. I must face down Marya myself if I am to be Lord Dahken Cor Pelson.”
“And what if she somehow kills you?” Thyss asked, the fire in her eyes somehow burning less brightly.
“Impossible. I don’t fear her,” Cor replied, and he added, “and Keth is there to watch my back from treachery.”
“What if he is the traitor?”
Cor leaned in and kissed her firmly but not aggressively on the lips. “I could never believe that, but I will do what I must.”
18.
Cor waited impatiently in the Tigoleans’ giant tent, his heart thudding hard and fast. He felt the need to pace, to open and close his hands reflexively as the anxiety of forthcoming battle took hold. The buzzing in his ears was back, a sound he hadn’t heard since strangling Queen Erella what seemed like a lifetime ago, and it threatened to push him over the edge, to make him slay every person he saw. Somehow and by the most superhuman effort, he controlled all these impulses and stood perfectly still.
He had come fully armed of course, Soulmourn and Ebonwing at his sides, and he’d polished his black armor before coming. The tent’s torchlight bouncily reflected off the stylized muscled torso and abdomen of his hauberk, giving the illusion of motion. He held his helm in his bare hands before him, almost respectfully. Cor had left his gauntlets behind.
The Seven Lords were in attendance, and they sat in their cross legged fashion in their half moon shape off to his left. They, even Naran, were silent and patient, virtues Cor would have never attributed to the Shet. They came ready for battle apparently, as they were all accoutered in their various armors with weapons lying respectfully on the ground in front of them. Cor hoped it was all for ceremony’s sake, for he doubted that he could take them all if his battle with Naran was any indication.
A pair of Tigolean servant girls drew back the north side tent flaps, and in walked Marya with an entourage. Cor hid his surprise at her still relatively small form resplendent in gleaming steel plate armor without helm or chain cowl. It seemed that she had been wearing such heavy armor for quite some time, as she walked easily with no apparent lack of balance. In fact, there was a swagger about her walk reminiscent of another female Dahken Cor had once seen in a vision. She was also armed, her sword and dagger sheathed on either side of a heavy leather belt.
Cor locked his eyes on the taller figure immediately behind, searching Keth’s face for any sign or clue to the Dahken’s intentions. Behind Keth came a half dozen armed men led by a leather armored man whose shoulders looked as wide as the average set of double doors. The group came to a halt about a dozen paces in front of Cor, Keth standing just behind Marya to her right. The six ruffians split apart to flank the two Dahken three to each side.
“It is practice in the Shining West to show your respect to a queen by kneeling, is it not?” Marya asked haughtily.
“I have no respect to show you, Dahken Marya,” Cor answered, and he fought every instinct pushing him to strike her down. He pushed further by adding, “You are my lesser, and I don’t kneel or bow to you.”
“I could kill you now for that,” she said, and the men around her tensed, ready to attack should the command come.
“You’re welcome to try, but I think the Seven Lords here would… frown upon it. I’m here for one reason only, Queen Marya.”
“And what would that be?” she asked, and the arrogant tone only thickened.
Cor answered without missing a heartbeat, “To accept your full loyalty to me as Lord Dahken and your unquestioned alliance with King Rederick of Aquis.”
Marya laughed loudly, and some of her guards picked it up. Their leader did not laugh, but he grinned widely to reveal a mouth full of shattered and jagged teeth. She cut them off with a suddenly raised hand and said, “I owe you no loyalty, and I bow to no one. I am Queen of Akor!”
“You’re a child, playing at power,” he responded quickly. “You have no clue what you’re doing, and you’ll only lead both of our kingdoms to ruin. You can’t even see it, as you’re blinded by your own delusions of grandeur. Look at the Seven – they already know that what I say is true.”
“I am indomitable!” Marya almost screamed at him. “I-“
“You’re nothing. You’re just a girl.”
“I am a Dahken! My strength stretches beyond that of mere men!”
“Perhaps, but not beyond mine. You will kneel to me, lest I take action, and then your armies will follow me anyway. Which will it be?”
Marya fell silent for just a moment, and while her expression did not change, Cor thought that a glimmer of doubt flashed across her face for just a moment. He studied Keth in th
e hopes for some sign from the younger Dahken, but received none. Cor weighed the likelihood of Keth’s loyalty to her, and he wondered if Marya was doing the same thing. All the while, Cor battled his own inner turmoil, containing the urge to leave his skin behind as he leapt to the attack.
“I’ll not kneel. You are no longer my Lord Dahken. If you must act, then meet your death. You can’t kill us both,” Marya stated defiantly as she stepped forward with a clatter of gleaming plate armor and crossed her arms as she simultaneously drew both sword and dagger. She stepped slowly and said, “Come, Keth.”
As he lifted his helm to slide it over his head, Cor took one lasted pointed look past Marya at Dahken Keth. Following his eyes, she turned momentarily to see Keth standing perfectly still. The young man watched impassively with his hand on the hilt of his longsword, but he did not draw it and did not move. Marya turned and thudded heavily to stand so that her face was mere inches from Keth’s.
“Fight with me, my love. Kill Cor and be free from him. I command it.”
“No,” Keth replied quietly, “that is your battle alone.”
Then her dagger punched through his flesh to slide in between ribs on his right side, having been aimed perfectly into the seam created by the front and rear plates of his armor. Keth grunted, and his left hand immediately shot to the wound. As she pulled the dagger out from his body, the blade sliced deeply into his fingers.
“Take him so I can deal with him later,” Marya commanded.
As her henchmen converged on the wounded Keth, Marya turned back to Cor, but he was no longer where she expected him to be. He had charged into the three men on his right, mortally wounding the first and maiming the second before they even knew he was there. Ignoring the third Akorite, Cor whirled and locked steel with Marya just as she would have attacked him from his flank. They danced around each other as Cor followed her jaunty movements, parrying her sword and narrowly avoiding the snake-like strikes of her dagger.
The Cor Chronicles: Volume 04 - Gods and Steel Page 13