Given that the Holderkin would only follow precisely the same strategy a second time, it was vanishingly unlikely that the Tedrels would attempt the conquest of the entire country of Valdemar from there. It was far more likely that their plan was to conquer all of Valdemar and then cut off the Holderkin, dealing with them one Holding at a time at their leisure.
"I haven't much else to tell you," Talamir admitted. "Only that they've fallen for our ruse, that they believe we have been beaten down and depleted, and that they are gathering every resource they can for that final campaign."
"ForeSeers?" Alberich asked. He hoped the ForeSeers were getting something, although his own rogue and unpredictable Gift hadn't even warned him of this news.
Then again—hadn't it? How much of the dread he'd felt these past several moons had been due to his Gift? It didn't always give him visions; sometimes it only gave him warnings.
"The ForeSeers just confirm that the agents are right. But since the decision was evidently made in their council a few days ago, and only just announced to the general troops, I expect that will change." Talamir sounded confident, and he had every right to be.
Mutable and unknowable Future....
Well, perhaps. What the Writ had to say on that subject was a matter of philosophy rather than reality—meant more to keep people from closing themselves off to all of the possibilities that free will gave them. And this was particularly true when Karsite Writ met Valdemaran reality, and the Gift of Foresight—which, often as not, showed many futures, not just one.
And if Vkandis really abhorred the knowledge of the future, would he have given me that particular Gift? For Alberich, like the Heralds, had used it to change the future he saw for a better one....
He began making calculations in his mind, trying to reckon how long it would take the Tedrels to coax or coerce the Sunpriests into adding Karsite troops to their numbers—or, more likely, come up with more gold and silver—how long it would take to get all the supplies together for such a campaign—establish a base four times larger than any they'd had before—
Then he realized that there were better heads than his who were already working on that very problem, and that their agents-in-place would be able to give Valdemar infinitely better information about what was actually happening than he could with what was only speculation. But there was one thing he could and would do.
"Two targets, and two only, they will have, should the King and Heir the field take," he told Talamir and Dethor. "Sendar to slay, and Selenay to take or slay. Take Selenay, they would prefer, and sword-wed to—whatever leader survives. It is the land they want. Behead the leadership, they must, to take the land. Better still, to behead the leadership, and make all right by wedding the Heir. Live with their neighbors, they must—" Now he could deliver his warning, the warning that Geri had delivered to him.
Dethor made a sound like a groan, and Talamir nodded. "Just what I thought, and I told Sendar as much," the King's Own replied bitterly. "But trying to keep either of them out of the fight at this point is impossible. Stopping the Tedrels now is going to take everything we have, and Sendar believes that if he and Selenay stay safe in Haven, we will lose the fight before it even begins. If they take the field, there isn't a man or a woman who won't fight better for their presence. And much as I hate to say this, I have to concur."
With a sense of sick agreement, Alberich nodded. The warning had been delivered and heeded, but it clearly would make no difference to the King and Heir. So—
The warning was given to me. Therefore, it is I who must act on it.
"Then this, I can do," Alberich said firmly. "Heralds there will be, and Guards, to shield them in a battle guard. So, to me, bring them for training. To make the shield-wall for a King, a special skill is, and each man, his place must know, and know that the right- and left-hand comrade will firmly stand."
"And he has to know how to fill in when the man to his side falls," Dethor seconded grimly. "Alberich's right, Talamir. We haven't had a King go into combat in—glory!—over a century. More, I think; I never was much good at history. We haven't had a battle guard in all that time. I don't know the strategy except from books."
"But trained the Sunsguard is, for such a thing," Alberich told them. "Sunpriests, Red Robes, and Archpriests and Hierophants we must guard, if not the Son of the Sun—for into the vanguard they will go. When know you Sendar's battle guard, to me send them. Selenay's battle guard, I will choose. And Selenay's battle guard and bodyguard, I will lead. Remain here, I will not." He was slightly appalled to feel his spirits rising a little at the prospect of a fight at last, and something he could do. Action, rather than sitting.
But that was just it, really; it was a fight at last. No one could deny him his right to be in the thick of it now. He would be the leader of Selenay's battle guard; no one could stop him now.
"So far as the Palace Guard members are concerned, I would just as soon that you chose for both Sendar and Selenay," Talamir said thoughtfully. "You are the best judge of them, since you work with them all the time."
"Then, not solely Palace Guard it will be, but City, too." He honestly didn't think that there would be enough men in the Palace Guard who were young and fit enough to supply what he wanted for two sets of bodyguards. And that wasn't being snide either—so many of the Palace Guard had resigned their posts to serve down South that men who had retired had come out of retirement to fill their places. Those old men were perfectly fit to stand indoor guard duty at a door; if their reflexes were a little slower than in their youth, they had a world of experience to take the place of fast reflexes. They might even be good enough to fight with the army as a whole. But they couldn't march like younger men, couldn't run like younger men, and hadn't the stamina that was needed for this job.
"Whatever, whomever you want," Talamir told him. "I'll see to it that you get it. Or him."
"Or her. She-Heralds and she-Guards for Selenay, can I get them, half and half with men," said Alberich, and grinned fiercely to see the surprise on both their faces. "Tcha! Think, you! No thanks from the Princess, would there be, for clumsy men in her tent trampling. And with her, they must be sleeping! And follow her other elsewheres, that a man should not go!"
"You mean to guard her that closely?" Talamir asked, his face reflecting an interesting mix of shock and approval.
"One man, with a knife, all our efforts can overset," he pointed out to them. "Sendar your charge is, Talamir. Selenay is mine. And, say I, guarded she will be in every moment of every night and day. Battle guard there will be, but also bodyguards, will she, nil she, waking and sleeping."
He did not say that he expected Sendar would rebel over being so closely watched and would disregard anything Talamir had to say on the subject. But Selenay would listen and obey his orders once he'd explained them, thanks be to the One God. She wouldn't like them, but she'd obey them.
Unlike her father, she could not disregard orders. He could and would have her tied up and locked into a secure tower if he had to. He hoped it wouldn't come to that, but at the moment, he thought he could count on her good sense. Especially when she saw her father being less than sensible.
Tcha. All it takes for a youngling of that age is to see the parent doing one thing, and it is certain they will try and do the opposite. How refreshing to have youthful rebellion working for him instead of against him! And perhaps, when Sendar saw his daughter being sensible, he would be shamed into sense as well. Not likely, but he could hope.
"You'll want Heralds Keren and Ylsa," Talamir said thoughtfully. "Neither of them will be in the least impressed with rank and birthright; they saw Selenay as a first-year Trainee and helped me whip her into shape."
"Women there are in the City Guard as well—" And he couldn't help the wry smile. "Locasti Perken, Berda Lunge, and Haydee Dellas." His spirit rose a little at the thought of recruiting those three to his bodyguard. Selenay would have to be a deal older and craftier before she could outwit or overawe them
.
Dethor raised an eyebrow. Talamir chuckled. "Oh, I believe I know those names," the King's Own said, matching Alberich's smile. "They have night patrol around the Compass Rose and Virgin and Stars, don't they?"
"And just last week frog-marched young Lord Realard back to his father, then delivered a lecture to the old man that fair pinned his ears back," Dethor said, with a nod. "Or so I heard."
"Correctly, you heard. Impressed with rank, they are not, either." Two Heralds, three City Guards, that made five, and with the addition of a Palace Guardswoman who came to his practices who was called Lotte—if she had a surname, he'd never heard it—that would give him two women at Selenay's side at all times. That would do for close bodyguards; for her battle guards, and Sendar's, he'd want another ten or a dozen. Twenty or twenty-four good fighters; he'd have to think long and hard about who....
"These, I need—" he said, rattling off the names; Talamir nodded. "—those six at once. Special training, will they need. The rest, from Palace and City Guard, I will make a list."
"Have it to me in a candlemark," Talamir said, getting to his feet. "Send it by page. I'll have Sendar sign on it. That will cut through any objections. I'll have your six women report in the morning, and the rest to you within the week."
He would have liked it to be sooner, but that was probably the best that could be done. Replacements would have to be found, schedules juggled, and all of that took time.
Time—which was now working against them.
"Selenay, I want as well," he added. "Best it is, that she learn her guards to work with."
"Right," Dethor agreed. "And if we can get Sendar down here to work with his—" He stopped at the grimace that Talamir gave.
"Ask for the moon, and you're more like to get it," the King's Own said grimly. "If he sees his bed for more than four candlemarks in a night now, I'll be surprised, so don't expect him to come down here for what's 'only' a little arms practice."
"Then his Companion, we shall have!" Alberich said, in a burst of inspiration. "One at least of the pair shall we train with!"
:Done, Chosen,: Kantor said instantly.
"And you'll have Taver to stand in for me, because I must be with Sendar," said Talamir in the same moment. "That way at least one half of the pairs will get some practice in this."
:The sensible ones,: Kantor said.
Alberich was not disposed to argue with that assessment.
«»
Six women—two in Herald's Whites, three in City Guard blue, and one in the darker, near-midnight blue that marked the Palace Guard—stood at attention before Alberich. Three of the six were older than he by three or four years, and were probably at least as tough. But there was not a jot less than honest deference in their expression, and though all six of them looked sober, they did not look anxious. That was good; it meant that they trusted him, his competence, and his orders.
"You six have I selected, as Selenay's bodyguards," he told them. "Two each for each of three watches, day and night. Her side, you will not leave, while on watch, ever."
He saw the two Heralds exchange a glance; noticed a slight frown of concentration on Lotte's face.
"Now will I ask, how paired you wish to be, and which watch you wish to take," he continued. "Sensible you are, and know you that no less honor there is, for the night watch than the day."
"If it's all the same to you, I think Ylsa and I ought to be on day watch," Herald Keren spoke up. "Selenay will have to be in on all of the battle plans and councils and the like, and—well, not to be rude, but Heralds will just blend in with the background."
Meaning, no one will object to Heralds being there, when some of the highborn might complain to see City Guard, particularly women that they might have seen hauling their erring sons home drunk.
"Objections?" Alberich asked, looking at the other four, who shook their heads.
"That splits the night with us," said Berda. "I'll tell you what, if it's all the same to you two, I'm used to the late hours after the taverns close, and I know that Haydee and 'Casti are on—were on—first night watch. Lotte, think you could handle the dawn watch with me?"
The Palace Guardswoman shrugged. "It'll take me a bit to get adjusted, but I'll manage."
Well, that sorted itself out painlessly. "Make it so," he told them. "And once satisfied I am that your business you know, those watches you will take at Selenay's side."
"Whether or not we're still in Haven?" Herald Ylsa asked, looking surprised.
"Whether or not. Used to your presence, I wish her to be. Invisible, I wish you to be."
Nods, no objections. "What do you want us to do that we haven't done before?" asked Lotte.
He proceeded to show them.
They were used to fighting back-to-back, but not when in charge of someone incapacitated, or someone who needed to be kept in cover. They needed to learn how to find safe exit routes, at least two, the moment they entered a room or a situation. They had to practice defensive, rather than offensive, fighting. And later, he would teach them quick rescue techniques, how to dash in and grab the Heir if someone had snatched her, while she was still within reach. Even if that someone had a knife to her throat. The time to get her away was not after she was in enemy territory. He hoped that at least one of each pair was a good shot; one of the best ways to rescue someone who was kidnapped was to shoot her in the leg. Someone who had to be carried became doubly hard to take.
But he thought he would save that lesson for a time when Selenay wasn't with them.
By midmorning, Selenay had joined them. She was not at all happy about having bodyguards all the time, but she was reasonable about it. The same could not be said for her father, according to the terse report he got from Kantor.
But Alberich didn't have to deal with her father. That was Talamir's problem, not his.
He was just pleased that his six women were quick studies, a little quicker than he'd hoped, actually. The three from the City Guard were especially adept in defensive strategies, perhaps because of their riot training. Students, crowds of layabouts and troublemakers, and drunks in fair season sometimes turned into mobs, and the City Guards and constables were trained to deal with a mob in every manifestation, whether cheerful and manic or surly and destructive.
The two Heralds had their own set of valuable skills, especially suited to their day watch, in no small part because they were used to letting their eyes skim over a crowd, looking for someone or something that was subtly wrong. The two Heralds would have their Companions to help, of course—and the Companions made another good reason to have them on day watch. No one assassin, not even a group of three to six, could get past two Heralds and three Companions. And the possibility of getting a group of strangers past sentries and guards and other sharp-eyed sorts by day was vanishingly small.
By night—well, it was possible, but it would have to be very well coordinated, and the number of approaches to get at Selenay would be limited. So once Selenay joined them, Alberich concentrated on escapes—how to get her to where her Companion could reach her, for once she was mounted, she was probably safe. Safer, anyway. Her Companion could get her out of reach of anything that anyone could use at night, for distance weapons would be severely limited by limited visibility. Night watch did have a different problem, for Selenay would be asleep part of the time. The three City Guards solved that problem for him, though, because they were perfectly used to manhandling semiconscious bodies. Even if Selenay was somehow drugged and couldn't be awakened, with a little luck, they'd be able to get her out of harm's way.
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