Renegade of Kregen [Dray Prescot #13]

by Alan Burt Akers

  Every time, every single time, the answer was automatic, instant, not needing thought. No woman in two worlds is as perfect as my Delia, my Delia of Delphond. Yet...

  I hesitated.

  He thought I feared, perhaps, to speak the truth, hesitated for the reason directly opposite to the truth.

  Often, although my own feelings needed no thought to arrive at the truth, that none could compare with my Delia, I had temporized—most particularly on the roof of the Opal Palace in Zenicce. Now my hesitation held none of calculation.

  I said, “The lady is more beautiful than all women—save, perhaps, for one."

  He seized on that.

  “Perhaps?"

  “Aye. But beauty is not all. I know nothing of the lady's perfections—and I do know a lady whose perfections are unmatched, in her beauty, her spirit, her love of life, her courage, her wisdom, her comradeship, her love—"

  He sat back. That small ironic half-smile flitted on his lips and vanished.

  “I do not think you lie. You speak too warmly for lies."

  Here there was no need for me to go on. He would decide what to do with me. If he decided against, then I would decide if he must be killed at once or if I dare leave him merely gagged and bound.

  Perhaps something of those wild leem thoughts showed in my face, although I own I would have been extremely wroth had I thought that possible: perhaps he realized more than I gave him credit for at the time.

  “You know little of my history, Gadak."

  “I know little, gernu. Men say you were a Jikaidast. If that is so it is no wonder you always win."

  His smile broadened, became genuine, warm. “Were I not so busy—with this and that—I would call for the board at once, the grand board. Yes, I was a Jikaidast, in Sanurkazz."

  These Jikaidasts are a strange lot, strange in the eyes of ordinary men who love the game of Jikaida and play when they can. A Jikaidast lives only for the game. As a professional he plays to earn a living, and these men are found all over Kregen earning their living from the highest to the lowest levels. The greatest of them even aspire to the title of San, which is given to great savants, wise men, and wizards.

  There is much to be said about Jikaida and Jikaidasts, as you will hear. The odds would be against the manner of the master's winning, not if he would win. Handicaps would be set, a simple matter of removing a powerful piece, say a Paktun or a Chuktar, or of giving the privilege of extra moves.

  Gafard, the King's Striker, said, “I was known as a Jikaidast who could win after having surrendered my Pallan from the call of ‘Rank your Deldars'."

  I resisted the temptation to fall into the deadly trap of talking Jikaida. That way lies the engulfment of many burs of a man's life.

  “You were a hyr-San, gernu. But of aught else, I know nothing."

  He showed his pleasure. This was the first time I saw him as a human being apart from those traumatic moments when he had clasped his lady to him after the hunt of the lairgodonts.

  “There is little to tell, as a Zairian. My home was too small, the people too small, my opportunities too small. When I fought for Zair men smiled. I was taken by the Grodnims. I did as you have done. I think the decision hardened me, made of me different flesh. I am a man among men now, the keeper of the king's confidence, his Striker."

  “And Sea-Zhantil,” I said.

  I couldn't resist that little dig. He nodded. “Aye. I value that. You know it. It was borne by a man who—” He glanced up sharply at me, and I saw he felt his own surprise.

  “You were brought here to listen to me, Gadak. I tell you this because I have taken a liking to you. But treachery is rewarded by a knife in the back, just under the ribs."

  “Aye. Perhaps that is all it deserves."

  Again that probing look. If I was to take him seriously, for he was a mortal powerful man in his own surroundings, I would have said, then, that he was puzzled by my attitude, realizing he dealt with a man who might be of more use to him than he could have imagined.

  “That is sooth.” He picked up a dagger that threw scattered shards of light from the gems packing the hilt, and he twirled it as he spoke. If there was a meaning here, he was underlining it too obviously. “I am a king's man. King Genod is a wonderful man, a genius at war, commanding, powerful—he has the yrium. I do not forget that. But—” Here he again broke off and flicked the dagger into the ground. The sharp blade struck and stuck, the hilt vibrating just enough to fill the tent with leaping colors. “But he demands women. He takes women and uses them and discards them. It is his only weakness; and, for a man such as he, it is not a weakness."

  “I can see that. But the princess Susheeng?"

  “She carried much weight when King Genod defeated the overlords of Magdag and took the throne. She supported him and in return is his official queen—although, well, it is all in the loving eye of Grodno. I tell you this, Gadak—” He interrupted himself yet again, rising and prowling about the tent, his fierce face thrust forward. “It is all probably common knowledge. Susheeng has her powers. She must tolerate Genod's caprices. Do not whisper this in your cups, for you may wake up minus your head."

  “I believe I understand, gernu. The veil, the concealment so that no man may see her face—yes, I understand."

  “Be sure that if you do understand you tell no one."

  I felt it was about time he eased up from this fraught excitement. And, anyway, confidences like this were damned dangerous secrets. So, to goad him, I bellowed.

  “Your orders, my commands, Gernu!"

  He turned on me, saw me standing bolt upright, my ugly old face blank, and he caught himself and lowered his hand.

  “Yes, yes you are right, Gadak. That is the way it must be. Regulations. Just remember. I let you live even though you have seen the face of the Lady of the Stars."

  “I shall not fail you."

  “I do not think you will. I would have you slain out of hand, you know that. And yet I would feel sorrow were that to be so."

  As I went out I said to myself, rather obviously for all it was the perfect truth, “Not half as sorry as I would be, dom!"

  * * *

  Chapter Eight

  Concerning the mystery of the escaped prisoners

  There followed a short campaign that, although viciously and bloodily fought, contained nothing of interest apart from a demonstration of the overlords’ methods of maintaining order in their own lands and of dealing with incursions over their borders.

  The people who lived beyond the river were mainly nomads, although cities existed as well, built by settlers in favored positions. No one knew very much of this whole vast area of Northern Turismond, and we were much less than two hundred dwaburs into a space of land stretching, it was estimated by the Todalpheme, for six hundred dwaburs to the pole.

  These nomads did not remind me of my own Clansmen.

  Oh, they possessed vast herds of chunkrah, and they lived in magnificent tents, and when they moved they shook the earth. I do not think the land was as rich here as it is in the Clansmen's areas of Segesthes. These folk had their ways and their customs, traditions and folklore, and pretty and fascinating it all was to me at the time, to be sure. These people called themselves the Ugas, in their various tribes, and many races of diffs formed the tribes and nations. They had no zorcas. They had no rarks. Their weapons were inferior longswords and small bows. They did have the hebra, which I have mentioned, and a form of dog I believed they called ugafaril— the derivation is obvious—but which the Grodnims called rasts and cramphs and all manner of obscene things, for the dogs kept watch and alerted the camps and it was damned difficult to carry out a neat smart raid.

  In all this I acted my part with as good a grace as I could muster. Duhrra, rumbling like a vessel of San Evold's boiling with the cayferm, followed.

  I will not weary you with the details of the campaign. We caught leemsheads who were very dreadful men with atrocities upon their heads, so that I had no compunction
about dealing with them. The Ugas were another matter. But they were worthy foemen and after they caught a strong party of Grodnims and slaughtered them to a man the atmosphere eased. And, anyway, I did not see much fighting, being used by Gafard as an aide, a messenger, a trustworthy conveyer of orders and instructions.

  One day we surprised a war party of Ugas, and Duhrra and I had a taste of the reckless charge, swinging our swords, going up and down on the sectrixes, lumbering into a bone-crunching collision with the Ugas. Hebras went down. Swords whirled. The dust rose in driven clouds. When it was all over we inspected what we had captured.

  This had been a slave caravan. The Ugas required slaves, as was common over Kregen except where Delia and I had stamped out the practice, and we were happy to release a number of Grodnims who fell on their noses and upended their bottoms and gave long howls of thanks to Grodno for their rescue.

  Among the slaves I saw a group of men and women with stark white hair.

  I thought, as was natural, that they were Gons, that race who habitually shave their white hair religiously until they are bald, out of shame.

  “Not so, Gadak,” said young Nalgre, the son of an overlord of Magdag on Gafard's staff, and therefore one day to be an overlord himself and so a candidate for the edge of my sword. He would have been a smart young man had he worn the red. As it was, he had no chance to learn what humanity meant. “They are the Sea-Werstings. Best we slay them all, here and now, and so save trouble."

  “Are they so dangerous?"

  “Little you know, renegade.” They liked to rub our noses in it, these puppies, when Gafard was not around. “They are a sea-people and they should be sent sailing to the Ice Floes of Sicce, by Goyt!” He half drew his Genodder, scowling at the huddled group of naked white-haired slaves, and thrust the shortsword back into the scabbard with a meaningful snap.

  Later there was a chance to talk to these Sea-Werstings, for Gafard had issued orders they were not to be slain but were to be kept awaiting his pleasure.

  Their language was but little different from the universal Kregish, an imposed tongue, and it would have been easy to talk with them even had I not been blessed by Maspero's coded genetic language pill given to me in Aphrasöe, the city of the Savanti.

  I selected a strong man in the prime of life, who sat with bound hands and feet in a protective fashion by the side of a woman who, although not beautiful in the accepted sense, was firm of body and pleasantly faced, with a fineness about her forehead where the white hair had been cut away.

  “You have fallen on hard times, dom,” I said, sitting at his side and offering him a piece of bread soaked in soup. He opened his mouth sufficiently to speak, and shut it at once.

  “Thank you, master. Give it to my woman."

  I did so and then gave him a second piece from the earthenware bowl. I kept my weapons well away from his bound hands, just in case he had been working on his bonds.

  “You are Sea-Werstings?"

  He scowled. “That is the foolish name given to us by these barbarians, and by you ignorant Grodnims."

  “Then what is your name, and where is your home?"

  As we talked so I fed them soup-soaked bread, and gave also to the others nearby.

  “We are the Kalveng. We are a seafaring folk, with havens all along the western coast of Turismond. When our long-ships breast the foam and our weapons glitter across the dark sea, then all men tremble."

  “I have never been there. Is it very cold?"

  He looked at me as though I were an idiot. “No more than a warrior may bear, wearing mail and wielding a sword."

  “And a woman?"

  “They, too, are handmaidens of Veng."

  We talked more. It seemed to me the spirit of these people would not be broken by fetters and chains. Had I been a king ruling a country menaced by their depredations, I fancy I might have heeded well the advice of that young puppy Nalgre, the Magdaggian overlord's son.

  This Kalveng, Tyvold ti Vruerdensmot, clearly a proud and stubborn character, told me much of the unknown lands of northwestern Turismond. In the map I roughly sketched out I indicated that coast with a mere scrawl, a line of no meaning, for the coast there had no part to play in my story then.[1] The inner lands are riddled with vast lakes and inlets of the sea; there are fjords and rapids and marshes, a whole vast area aswarm with life and people on the move and people in their keeps and towns. As the folk of the inner sea face inward, to the Eye of the World, so the nations of the northwest hold themselves aloof from others!

  [1 This refers to the map Prescot drew that is appended to Volume 5 of his saga, Prince of Scorpio. It is quite clear that this map was a mere sketch to indicate the main landmasses and seas. No doubt more detailed maps will eventually appear. Prescot has provided a map of the inner sea and this will be appended to Volume 3 of the Krozair Cycle. A.B.A.]

  “What is your name?” said this Tyvold ti Vruerdensmot.

  “I am called Gadak."

  He looked astonished.

  “And is that all?"

  “Aye."

  “You do not trifle with me, for sport?"

  “No. You are bound and I am free. There is no sport in that."

  “I have seen it, though, when the slaves ran and the torches flew and the brands bit. You are a man with a secret."

  I stood up, easily enough, and stretched my shoulders under the mail and the white tunic and the green sleeveless jacket. I looked down on Tyvold.

  “And if you escaped this night ... would you return home direct?"

  The hunger in his face moved me.

  “Aye!"

  “Direct?"

  He took my meaning. “Aye, master. Direct."

  I said no more and turned away, leaving the empty bowl.

  That night a thief broke into a stores tent and a quantity of food and clothing was taken. Also, in the morning, a Rapa guard was discovered unconscious but otherwise unharmed where the Sea-Werstings had been chained to stakes driven into the ground. The Sea-Werstings had vanished, every one, and a search failed to discover any trace of them. Gafard entrusted the leadership of the search party into the hands of his fellow-renegade, Gadak; and Gadak, although he searched diligently to the north, failed to find a single trace of the escaped slaves. With that, amid a smother of curses, the affair was forgotten.

  As Nalgre said, lifting his manicured fingernails to the gold lace at his throat, “They do not make good slaves. We would have had to slay them, in the end.” He couldn't leave it alone, for he added with selfish venom, “A fine opportunity for sport, lost!"

  I did not answer, but walked away. I wondered what that cold northland of the Kalvengs was like.

  When the Grodnims said the Sea-Werstings would not make good slaves I knew what they meant. Some races seem destined to be enslaved and one must fight for them and put iron in their backbones, for no man is born slave in the eyes of Zair or Opaz.

  Of the diffs of Kregen, the Xaffers are a case in point.

  Other races breed men and women who will not tolerate slavery, and these simply will themselves to death, or seek release at the hands of their masters in the final death. I will not speak of these races now.

  And there are races of people with a stiff-necked pride that bends ill beneath the yoke. There are many of these. My fearsome four-armed Djangs will accept slavery if forced upon them; but they make their masters damned uncomfortable all the time these masters are foolish enough to enslave a Dwadjang.

  I had been slave many and many a time, as you know. So had my Delia, to my shame. I wondered how my children would tolerate slavery. I had last seen my eldest twins, Drak and Lela, when they had been fourteen, just at the time when they were burgeoning into manhood and womanhood. Now they were all of thirty-six. Prince Drak ran my island Stromnate of Valka and was a Krozair of Zy, and was a powerful man. Lela had refused the offers of marriage five times—at the last count. My other twins, Segnik and Velia, would now be twenty-five years old, and I had last seen th
em when they'd been three, running and laughing upon the high terrace of Esser Rarioch, forever plaguing Aunt Katri, joyous, gorgeous, wonderful children; and now Segnik would have himself called Zeg and was a Krozair of Zy, and Velia had received the same education as Lela with the Sisters of the Rose and was no doubt in her turn refusing offers of marriage. I wondered what they were like now, and if I would ever see them again, and so that made all the dark powerful forces of obstinacy rise up in me.

  I would play out this hand and act like a Grodnim and so use that as a springboard to escape with Duhrra and once more become a Krozair of Zy. Oh, yes, I'd set my hands to that task. I'd become a Krozair of Zy again, for only by doing that would I escape the Eye of the World and once more clasp my Delia in my arms, see my twins Drak and Lela, and my twins Zeg and Velia.

  As to the Red Brotherhood of Zy—the Krozairs—I swung a Ghittawrer longsword at my waist now and wore the green and swore luridly by Grodno. Nothing mattered besides escaping and going home to Valka and my family.

  When the last barbarian chief in this area had been captured and had his head removed Gafard said we would return to Magdag. A strong force would be left against future disorders. None of these Grodnims seemed to realize that the Ugas were not barbarians. There were savages in the north, we all knew that, but they lived farther off, and they cut up the Ugas cruelly. One day, no doubt, the barbarians of the northern hills would foray down south, past the tribesmen and the citizens, past the Ugas, and come rolling down to find out what pickings the Eye of the World might offer.

  History and destiny follow their own paths, on Kregen as they do on Earth.

  On the march south a messenger rode up on a foundering hebra and was instantly escorted to Gafard, where he rode at the head. He had remained cold to me, reserved, but not hostile. Shortly thereafter Nalgre summoned me. Gafard looked at me stonily. He had given orders that closed up a bodyguard, ready to ride.

  “Orders, Gadak, from the king. We ride for Magdag and must reach there faster than the wind.” He bent closer from his mount. “There is serious trouble in the inner sea. I want you at my side, for I smell treachery.” He lifted himself in the stirrups, a powerful, compelling figure. He waved his sword. “We ride! On for Magdag!"