by Alex Avrio
“Shouldn’t we be on our way already?” Jackson asked.
“There goes the legendary Eressian precision,” Eleven commented, loud enough for only the Merrovigian contingent to hear.
After an hour sitting on their horses, ready for departure, Briggs went to speak to Morgenstern.
“Are we leaving soon, Major?” Briggs asked. He was received with a dismissive sneer.
The Hussars were ready, and the Merchant Blades were ready. The Princess and her ladies were not. It wasn't until after elevensies that Princess Rosamynd, Baroness Orsy and Lady Emilia came out of the palace doors and got into their carriage. The scarred Lieutenant Schaefer traveled inside with them as personal bodyguard. Charlie gave a wink in their direction as she climbed into one of the servants’ carriages, which was more like a large hay cart with a wooden roof.
“Seems like Eressian Colonels, Majors and Kapitans are all punctual, but Eressian princesses not so much,” Eleven muttered. Jackson and Summers laughed. Jaeger’s ears turned red.
Jaeger’s back stiffened further when he heard Summers add, under his breath, “We could have slept a couple more hours if we’d known.” This was Regina’s moment to realize that she had a new role this job, as the second: and it wouldn’t be easy. She’d have to act as a buffer between the team and Jaeger.
“It seems the ladies are late in all countries,” Amanates said, smiling broadly. “Our king has seven wives – it's midday before he can go anywhere.” The team’s laughter broke the mounting tension, but Jaeger's face remained set.
“If everyone’s quite done–” Jaeger said peremptorily. Regina caught a glimpse of the officer he’d once been. He spurred his horse forward. The rest of the Merchant Blades followed him as the procession finally moved out.
The convoy bypassed the heart of the city and took the road circling round it. Where the road forked, they took the track towards Neidenwalde. The surface was well maintained and it hadn’t rained this week so the carriages made good time. Which was just as well, Regina thought. After such a late start they would have to skip the stop for lunch if they were to get to their first planned stop at a hunting lodge before sunset. Regina felt her stomach give a lurch. Skipping lunch wouldn't be a problem for her at all, though she wasn’t so sure that the rest of the team would share the sentiment.
The road took them straight through rich farmland, though the sight was a gloomy one, what with so many of the fields unploughed. Regina guessed that their owners hadn’t returned from the war, or if they had they were in no fit state to tend fields. In the next village, Regina noticed the front steps of the houses were swept, and fresh flower baskets hung next to the doors, but paint was peeling off the doors, and many roofs were missing tiles. Children ran up to the convoy and waved. Some women came out of their houses wiping hands on their aprons or holding their babies in their arms with toddlers grasping their skirts. There was no cheering or clapping as they passed by. An eerie silence hung in the air, broken only by the heavy coach wheels and hoofs of the horses on the cobblestones.
The coaches lurched around the village square where many of the paving slabs were missing. A woman was running frantically around the square, calling out for her lost daughter. By the state the woman had worked herself into, Regina expected the girl would get a thrashing when she appeared. By the village well, an unkempt man with a straggling beard sat in an old soldier’s coat. Both his legs were missing and he held a begging bowl. He looked up at the glittering carriages as they trundled by, the people inside oblivious to his existence. The Hussars, shielded by their youthful arrogance, rode by without casting him a glance. At the tail of the procession Jaeger threw a handful of golden coins into the bowl. He didn't stop or lean so Regina only saw the gesture because she was looking entranced at the man. The soldier stared into the bowl in disbelief half expecting the mercenary to jump off his horse, snatch the money back and laugh cruelly. Jaeger rode on, acknowledging the man with a slight inclination of his head. Regina felt her heart grow heavy and a wave of guilt wash over her. She had escaped the war with only a bullet wound on her leg that hurt in cold weather and a number of minor scrapes. She had several scars from glancing sword slashes on her limbs but arms and legs intact. She rummaged through her pockets and gave the man whatever coins she found. The soldier nodded acknowledgement.
“The Mother bless you, Ma’am,” he cried after her. Amanates jumped down from his horse and gave the man his food rations for the day.
“May the Gods keep you, brother,” he said and jumped back on his horse again. They rode in silence. They could earn more coins. The man could not regrow his legs.
After an afternoon of plodding through more featureless fields, just as the sun was touching the horizon, the convoy reached the lodge.
8 NOCTURNAL ACTIVITIES
ONCE the Team reached the lodge they realized they had separate accommodation from the Hussars, merely a notch above the servants. Jaeger’s face tightened when he heard, but said nothing. Regina shrugged indifferently.
Jaeger’s mood slightly improved when he and Regina were invited to the officers’ table for dinner. Briggs, Eleven, Jackson, Summers and Amanates sat with the soldiers. Some stared at Amanates in curiosity. He fixed his gaze on his plate.
“Not pickled cabbage again,” muttered Summers.
“I like it,” Amanates replied.
“I like it too,” Eleven piped up. “My mother used to serve it with almost every meal.”
“You don’t seem like you’re from around here, friend,” one of the soldiers seated opposite Amanates said. Briggs’s ears pricked up for signs of trouble.
“Well observed, friend,” Amanates replied. “I am from what you call the South Across the Water.”
“We’re from what you call Eraden, in Eressia,” the man answered, grinning mischievously. “But I guess you already know that.” The rest of the men laughed. Summers and Jackson were listening in carefully. Eleven tucked in a mouthful of cabbage. Amanates had a calm smile on his face.
“I am Johannes,” the soldier said. The rest of the soldiers and the Blades introduced themselves.
“So, Amanates, what do you call our lands then?” Johannes asked with interest.
“North Across the Water.”
The Eressian soldiers burst out laughing and the rest of the team started to relax.
“Is it far from here?” a man with a face full of freckles asked.
“That’s the wrong question, Peeter,” said a man with a gap-toothed smile and hair the color of sand who had introduced himself as Kyfer. “The question is, are the women beautiful there? If not, why bother going?”
The whole table erupted into laughter.
“One might think that you don’t like your women here,” Amanates observed.
“Is it true that a man might take many wives down there?” Kyfer asked.
“Only the very rich do so. Women are expensive creatures.” A nod of agreement went around the table while Jackson and Eleven shot Amanates a look. “I believe that one wife is trouble enough,” Amanates said.
“Well said, friend,” Johannes said.
“May I ask a question of my own?” Amanates asked.
“Seems you have,” Kyfer laughed and drank from his tin cup a long swig of frothy beer.
“I have been wondering about a few things that are different from my homeland.”
“Such as?” Kyfer pressed, when Amanates paused without resuming.
“For one,” Amanates said, “everyone here speaks the same tongue. The accents change from place to place but it’s the essentially the same. In South Across the Water there are many tongues and even more dialects, like the shattered shards of a mirror.”
The soldiers looked at each other at a loss. Briggs took it upon himself to explain.
“You can ask the Captains if you want a more detailed account because they’ve got better educations. But the short of it is that long ago there was the Old Empire, stretching from one side of the c
ontinent to the other.”
“Apart from the Eastern Steppes,” Kyfer chipped in.
“Yes, apart from the Eastern Steppes,” Briggs said. He knew that Eressians were quite touchy with the Eastern Steppes. “There was a common language, laws and civilization for many hundreds of years, perhaps millennia. Then the Old Empire collapsed, leaving the countries that emerged to develop differently but still having many things in common. Such as language.”
“The Old Empire collapsed because the riders of the Eastern Steppes came,” Johannes clarified. “It was Eressia who took the brunt of these attacks as the legions of the Old Empire retired inwards.”
“Well, they did reach all the way to the capital of the Old Empire to rip its heart out eventually,” Jackson added. “What? I know a bit of history too,” she smiled as she shrugged at the surprised Briggs.
“I see,” Amanates said.
“You lot are lucky the riders couldn’t cross all that water to get south,” Kyfer said.
Amanates smiled politely. Under his smile was the certainty that his lot could deal with these riders better than the legions of the Old Empire had.
“May I ask a question now?” Peeter asked Summers. Summers looked up from his almost empty plate.
“Ask away.”
“Are you from the Black Coast?”
“How did you know that?”
“I met a man– during– a few years ago,” Peeter said. “He was dark like you and he said he was from the Black Coast. We were both injured and he used to read to everyone from a book he had. It was a nice book about the Grace of the Mother. Everybody liked him. I think he said he was a law clerk or a school teacher. He told us that long ago people crossed the sea from South Across the Water and settled on the coast. The Merrovigians called it the Black Coast because the people who settled were,” he glanced at Amanates, “like our new friend here, very dark-skinned. In time they intermarried with the locals but the name remained.” Peeter picked at a scab on his hand. “Well, that’s what he told us anyway.”
Summers gave him a smile. “That’s what we tell our children too.” He leaned forward. “Where are you from, then?”
Peeter turned red. “Just a little village far from here, called Clearwater for its waters. It has the sweetest bread, the coldest waters and the–“
“Most beautiful maidens,” the rest of the soldiers said all at once. Peeter’s face turned beet red.
“No man could ask for more,” Amanates said to Peeter who was still speechless from embarrassment.
“And what about this Nassay-Beden business?” Amanates asked. Immediately the atmosphere around the table tensed.
“Nassay-Beden is a province of Eressia,” Johannes exclaimed, his face red. “Stolen away by the Merrovigians.”
“Excuse me, but Nassay-Beden was signed over, by your own Emperor, to Merrovigia after the end of the war,” Summers replied calmly.
“Nassay-Beden is Eressian. The people of Nassay-Beden are Eressian. It will soon be Eressian again,” Kyfer said with passion.
Briggs was alarmed. This could turn nasty quickly. “Does anyone play cards? It would be good to count heads for tonight’s game,” he said. He waived at the waitress for another round of drinks which arrived promptly.
“Cards are all fine and good,” Kyfer said, filling his cup with strong beer, “but do you play the dice?”
Briggs finally perked up. “You insult us,” he said fiercely.
“Sorry,” Kyfer said, crestfallen.
“We’re the best there is,” Briggs said, a twinkle in his eyes.
“The dice will tell.” Kyfer rubbed his hands together with satisfaction. “Who else is in?”
After dinner, Thomas and another of the serving boys, Mikka, went around the corridors looking outside the doors of the officers’ quarters for pairs of boots left out for shining. Mikka went off in a huff when he noticed how many pairs hadn't been put out yet.
“I thought you’d be happy for less work,” Thomas said.
“Shows how much you know,” the other boy replied. “We'll have to come back and pick them up later. It's going to be a long night.” He picked up a pair of boots, wrapped a colored thread around them and made a few knots.
“What's that for?” Thomas asked.
“The color is for the corridor and the knots, the room. We’ll leave them outside and they’ll know which ones are theirs. If you mix up the rooms, may the Mother help you.” He looked Thomas up and down. “You haven’t been a serving boy long, have you?”
“No,” Thomas admitted. The best lies have truth in them. “I used to work for a Kapitan so there weren’t that many boots to tell apart.”
Mikka nodded. They walked on picking up the boots and marking them.
“The rest of them are still up drinking and gambling and who knows what else,” Mikka said in a tone that implied that he knew what else they were doing. “They’ll come back in at dawn to shave and leave and then they’ll be complaining that their boots haven’t been shined.”
“At least they haven’t thought to ask us to shine them while they’re wearing them,” Thomas laughed.
“Shhh, they might hear you and get ideas,” Mikka said with a smile.
A tall lieutenant shuffled past, a little worse for wear from drinking. He stopped and called them back. Mikka rolled his eyes but didn’t dare disobey.
“Yes, sir?”
“Wait a minute to take these,” he said, pointing to his boots. He’d started to remove the right one when he noticed the three scars on Thomas’s cheek.
“By the Mother, boy, where did you get that?”
Abidari wolves, last year at the Ugarri Pass. Owe my life to Kapitan Jaeger. Thomas didn’t think that the truth would serve him well.
“My father had dogs, sir. One of them turned on me and he had to shoot it.”
The lieutenant nodded in appreciation. “That was one mean dog.”
“Aren’t you done yet?”
All three turned their eyes to see Charlie in her maid’s attire.
“And who might you be?” the lieutenant asked.
“Someone who wants to go to bed before daybreak,” Charlie replied.
The lieutenant laughed. “A feisty one,” he said, flashing a smile.
“A tired one,” Charlie said coldly. “Now sir, if you can give your boots to the boys we might be able to move on and finish the rest of our jobs.”
The lieutenant took off his boots sheepishly and handed them to Thomas. Then he took Charlie’s hand into his own.
“You, madam, are the most beautiful woman I have ever had the fortune to set eyes upon,” he declared, kissed her hand and unsteadily walked into his room.
“He mustn’t have seen many women then,” Thomas said, and was swiftly cuffed round the ear by Charlie.
Regina was supporting Jaeger down the corridor with his arm draped around her shoulder as she quietly guided him back to their room. He had drunk all night with his fellow officers like she’d never seen him drink before. She could feel her stomach twitching and burning after her first sip of drink so she had steered clear of the hard stuff that evening. How could she figure out a way to stop him from drinking so much without embarrassing him in front of the others?
At least he was an easy drunk, not causing any trouble at all. Then he started talking.
“Who needs them,” he said to Regina.
“I thought you liked being around them,” she commented.
“I don’t think I fit in like I used to,” he muttered.
“Oh, what did you expect? The moment you came back they’d crack open the champagne?”
From his silence Regina got the impression that that’s exactly what he’d thought. Sometimes he managed to surprise even her.
“Arrogant sods. Who needs them, when he has a friend like you,” he eventually said.
Despite herself, she smiled. “Really, Max?”
“Really. A friend and comrade,” he said. Her face went red. “You
are everything I need in a friend.”
Regina’s face started to burn. She even forgot her stomach ache.
“You have the best quality a friend can have. You can carry me home when I’m drunk,” he laughed. Regina’s expression soured.
“I’m looking forward to embarrassing you tomorrow,” she said.
Charlie did another round of the corridors of the palace, past the walls adorned with hunting trophies, keeping an eye out for anything to report back. Almost everyone was abed. An early morning start was scheduled. Charlie didn’t think that likely to happen, though. Passing an ornate door, she could hear two women talking on the other side. She glanced both ways and pressed her ear close.
“I miss Meinheart,” a soft and well-educated voice said. The voice of a loved and pampered woman, it sounded to Charlie.
“This will all be over soon,” a second woman’s voice said. This voice was also serene but sterner: used to giving orders, not making requests.
“Thank the Mother for that!” There was a short pause and Charlie checked left, right again. She pressed her ear back against the door.
“I’ll have good news for Meinheart when I see him next,” the first woman said.
“I’m very glad for you both,” the second voice replied. “I hope we both have good news for him.”
They laughed.
“So how are you getting on with the other matter?” the first lady asked.
“Still working on him.” The second woman paused thoughtfully. “It might be more difficult than we thought. He’s stubborn and idealistic.”
“I’m sure you can bring him round to– another way of thinking?” Both women laughed.
“I’m on my way to try now,” the second woman replied.
Charlie ran down the corridor and hid in the shadows. She could pretend to be just passing on a late-night errand. She peered around the corner but could only see the back of the woman who came out. She was tall with long blonde hair, wearing a pale blue dressing gown, and she moved purposefully. Charlie couldn't quite put her finger on where she’d seen that walk before. She hung back, and then followed the woman discreetly. The woman knocked on a door, which opened to let her in. Charlie smiled. She knew whom that room belonged to.