by Robert Adams
When he opened the door of his bedchamber, three girls ran, all grinning and giggling, out. Two of them he recognized as slaves of Sitheeros; the other was a stranger, though marked by her clothing as a mountain barbarian, for all that she was as dark as any kath'ahrohs Ehleen, with black wavy hair and flashing dark-brown eyes.
He stopped dead when he took a step inside. His bedchamber had been drastically altered; gone were his own, narrow bed, his campaign chests and his small desk, and in their places was a large, clearly expensive bed adorned with feather mattresses, satin coverings and bolsters, and semi-enclosed in a tentlike affair of gauzy silken draperies. Low carven tables flanked the massive piece of furniture, and where his plain iron watch-lantern had hung there now was an elaborate lamp of hammered, gilded brass with insets of crystal-clear glass. Tomos could not imagine just when and how Sitheeros' servants and slaves had managed to get the room first emptied and then refurnished without his knowledge of their activities.
In the two outer corners of the chamber, braziers glowed, sending up tendrils of fragrant smoke from the rich nuggets of incense that had been scattered in generous handsful over the coals. His head awhirl, Tomos estimated the total cost of these new furnishings to be at least a thousand thrakmehee, if not more. Sitheeros was a more than wealthy man, but . . .
A soft, throaty voice intruded upon his thoughts. "Mah lord husband, Ah feared that Ah would sleep before you came to me." Her Ehleeneekos was slow, stilted and most ungrammatical.
Tomos, smiling, strode over to the bedside and deposited the basket on one of the carven tables, then said in Mehreekan, "My dear, given time, I'll see that you learn our language properly, but for now, let us speak in yours, for I do own a dialect or two of it. My mother was, you see, a daughter of King Rahdnee III of Briztuhl."
She wrinkled her brows. "But . . . but mah daddy said that you were . . . that mah husband would be an Ehleenee duke . . . ?"
Tomos laughed. "I'm that, too, my dear. I'm a hereditary thoheeks of the Kingdom of Karaleenos, a land up to the northeast of here, but I'm only half Ehleen, nonetheless. I'm down here to command troops that my king's new overlord has loaned to these Ehleenohee until their own army is strong enough to defend their lands without aid."
Although he conversed gaily, Tomos was become painfully aware of just how Sitheeros had felt when first he had seen this child-woman. She lay propped against one of the bolsters, her flaxen hair now loose and framing her small head and lightly freckled face. Her body was sheathed from throat to below her small feet in a nightgown so sheer that he could easily discern through the fabric the bright red-pink nipples of her proud, pointed breasts and the red-blond tangle of curling hair between her upper thighs. Once more, he wondered fleetingly if Sitheeros' back-poundings earlier in the evening had damaged his back, for his chest felt suddenly tight and his breathing was become difficult.
Licking dry lips, he poured measures of the watered wine into each of the goblets, added a dollop of the thick honey wine, then proffered one to his bride, before taking a long swallow of his own. Seating himself stiffly on the edge of the luxuriously soft bed, he stretched forth a hesitant and, he noted with a still rational part of his mind, slightly tremulous hand and gently clasped it on one of those enticing breasts. All at once, he was become feverishly hot, he could feel the salt sweat oozing out his pores and trickling down his face and his body under the quilted robe, and he knew that the robe must come off and quickly.
When he stood up to remove it, the girl untied something behind her neck and sat up long enough to pull her wispy nightgown over her head, at which point Tomos' breathing seemed to become even more constrained, so that he found himself to be panting shallowly like a spent coursing hound at the end of a brisk hunt.
Kicking off the felt shoes, he pulled his own tunic over his head, not even hearing the gasp that issued from between the red, red lips of the nude girl. But when he lay beside her, first placed his arms around her, he felt her stiff, tensed muscles, felt her slender form all atremble, heard the ghost of a whimper, a sound of hopeless terror.
Restraining the insistent demands of his body, he released her and drew a little away from her, though leaving one hand in contact with her flesh. "Brandee," he said in a voice that quavered only slightly, "you should have no fear of me. I am your husband, child; I mean you no harm, now or ever. If you so wish it, for tonight I'll just seek out the bed that was previously here and sleep in that, that you may rest and sleep and compose yourself for the morrow. I have no kin here, nor either have you, so what we two do or do not do in this chamber and this bed tonight is no one's business but ours. Come now, speak your thoughts to me, Brandee, tell me your wishes."
A shudder rippled the length of her body, she sobbed one time, then she began to speak. "Ah . . . Ah'm truly sorry, mah lord husband . . . but . . . but when Ah . . . Ah saw it, Ah . . . It's just so ... so huge, so much bigger than Ah'd thought it would be. Ah don't think Ah can . . . that you can ... Ah know I should be, must be brave, that's what my mothuh and aunts told me, but . . . but ..." Then she began to cry.
Tomos took her, enfolded her slender body in his arms and held her against his hairy chest, patting her back gently as she cried out her fears and her terrors. At some length, when the sobs had first muted, then ceased, he released her, and, propping himself upon an elbow so that he could the easier look into her swimming, blue-green eyes, he said, "Brandee, bravery is only necessary in the face of danger or of pain. I pose no danger to you and I will not willfully hurt you, so save your bravery for some time when it is needed. Because you still have your flower, there will no doubt be some pain, but no more than you can bear, and soon there will be none at all.
"My first wife, who died years ago of a summer fever, was smaller even than are you—only fourteen hands from soles to pate, and slender—yet we two experienced scant difficulty in doing the things that men and women do together, not after the first few days. Indeed, when she died, she was carrying our child in her womb.
"But look you, my lady wife, you have had a full measure of excitement this day just past, as too have I.
Let us sleep now. We two have the rest of our lives in which to learn to enjoy each other and breed me an heir or three. You must be the one to choose the time for a beginning of lovemaking. For now, sleep you well; 1 know that I shall."
Brandee thought, as she felt the scarred, muscular, hairy body lying beside her slowly relax, heard his breathing become deep and regular, "This stranger to whom they have married me, he is so very kind, so thoughtful of me, of my feelings, he is so wise and so caring. Could Daddy have been aware of this? He never met my lord husband ... I don't think; perhaps the Lord Duke Sitheeros told him. But I am so very glad that they married me to this man and not to that old, fat, toothlessly leering Chief Rahbin of the Nahkszfil Tribe, who is always undressing girls with his eyes and dribbling porridge down his chins and the fronts of his shirts. My lord husband keeps himself so very clean and smells so pretty, while I don't think old Chief Rahbin has had a wash since he left his cradle.
"Yes, I think I could be very, very happy with this man to whom they have married me, this Duke Tomos Gonsalos."
Epilogue
Despite his ever constant press of affairs, Thoheeks Mahvros was quick to grant an appointment—over the strident, almost carping arguments of his staff—to the signatory of a properly drafted letter. However, when the man actually stood before him, smiling, he was much amazed. Save only for certain racial differences— lack of height, a flat-muscled, wiry build, hair and skin barbarian-light—had he not known the rp-n, he would have taken him for an Ehleen gentleman from his dress, his manners, his cultured dialect.
"My, you have changed, my old friend," he commented, shaking his head slowly. "Please be seated, there. You will have wine?" He signaled the hovering servant to pour, then waved him from out the chamber.
Once the forms, the polite, meaningless words, had been exchanged, the healths to each other and
to Council and to the High Lord had been announced and dutifully sipped from the gilded silver goblets of much-watered wine, Mahvros said, "Now, all of that time-consuming foolishness completed, what can I do for you, Captain of Elephants Gil Djohnz?"
"My lord, I want to leave the army," said Gil flatly.
"Well, surely, Gil, this would be a military matter, it would fall under the jurisdiction of Tomos Gonsalos or Thoheeks Pahvlos, not under mine," Mahvros replied.
Gil sighed. "I spoke with Tomos; he agreed, though with regret. But when he sent me on to Pahvlos, the old bastard flatly refused. It would seem that he considers me to be some variety of military slave, thinks that I and my elephants are owned entirely by him and his army. Tomos went over and tried to reason with the hard-headed old fucker, but even he could get no more of a concession than that as the army is actually the property of Council and the thoheekseeahnee, then Council must make any decision that would serve to override his."
Steepling his fingers and nodding, Mahvros commented, "He's shrewd, but then we've all known that for years. He knows full well that so heavy is Council's schedule of business, so petty a matter might not come up for years. Besides, Council can seldom agree on any point, it would seem; I've seen smaller bones of contention than this one would be promote personal verbal attacks, physical assaults in the very Council Chamber, duels and the hiring of assassins, on more than one occasion. We refer to ourselves as 'noblemen' and 'gentlemen,' but I have seen more of nobility and gentility in certain mountain barbarians than in the persons of certain Councillors. But, nonetheless, there are ways to circumvent the sure delays and chaos of Council.
"Who suggested that you come to me? Tomos?"
"No, my lord." Gil shook his head. "Lord Sitheeros was the first to say that I should, but Tomos agreed when I mentioned what Lord Sitheeros had said. Tomos dictated the letter to his secretary and I signed it."
"Heheh," chuckled Mahvros, grinning. "You have good advisers, Gil, among the best, really. The Wolf of Iron Mountain and the Karaleen Fox are two fine men to have guarding your flanks. Of course, they know what many men do not know: right many matters never even go to the full Council, for many and varied reasons. Really earth-shaking decisions, of course, must be decided by the ayes of at least two thirds of Council; that's the way that Thoheeks Grahvos and the early Council set it up.
"But matters of lesser importance, and your case would surely fall into this category, can be approved by half the Council plus one more vote, nor do said votes have to be cast before the rest of Council, nor even in the Council Chamber. Of course, the full Council is almost never here and assembled together, you know that—many are just too busy on their lands, some are infirm, Thoheeksee Pahvios and Portos are away on campaign for at least two thirds of any given year—therefore, in order to give full votes on important matters, most of the thoheeksee have given their proxies to men of like mind who are likely to be here, in Mehseepolis, more often than are they.
"As chairman of Council, I vote five—my own vote and four proxies. Thoheeks Bahos votes for himself and for a cousin, Thoheeks Gahlos; Thoheeks Grahvos has two votes that are his because his is a double thoheek-seeahn; and Thoheeks Sitheeros, as I'm sure you know, owns three votes due to his triple thoheekseeahn. But in addition, Grahvos holds and votes two proxies and Sitheeros has three from as many border thoheek-seeahnee. So the grand total is seventeen Council votes, exactly the number needed to approve your request that you be allowed to leave the army, so you may consider it done and the matter settled, my friend, and if Grand Strahteegos Thoheeks Pahvios doesn't like it, he can go somewhere alone and cry.
"But, as a matter of purely personal curiosity, I'd like to know why. Are you getting homesick, then, Gil?"
"No, not me, my lord." The Ehleenicized Horseclansman replied. "It's Sunshine and Tulip, my two elephant cows. They want to go back to the land where they were born, want to know once more their own dear kindred and browse again the forests that fed them in youth, wade and swim the rivers, be dried and warmed by the sun of home. They have both served me and this army well and long, so I think they deserve to be served equally well by me, and that's why 1 wish to take leave of the army. I want to go with them to their distant homeland. Do you, can you, understand, my lord?"
Mahvros had always owned a deeply emotional streak that he had had to work hard to hide, over the years, and the plain, simple sincerity of the words of Captain of Elephants Gil Djohnz had brought a painful lump to his throat and a misting to his black eyes, so that he had to swallow hard before he could reply.
"Yes, my dear friend, I do understand. Your motives are selfless and distinctly laudable. How else may I help you and your elephants on your way?"
The Grand Strahteegos Thoheeks Pahvlos Feelohpohlehmos, newly confirmed Lord of Kahproskeera, had sent an officer of his personal horse guards to summon and escort Sub-strahteegos Thoheeks Tomos Gonsalos back to his headquarters complex on the other side of the sprawling camp under the walls of Mehseepolis. The gaze he had fixed upon Gonsalos when he had been ushered into the audience chamber had been as glittering and cold as the edge of a headsman's axe.
Tomos had known damned good and well just what it was all about; therefore he had simply saluted his superior and then stood stiffly and in silence, returning the cold rage blazing from the old man's eyes with bland calmness.
Finally, his rage getting higher than the dike of his control, Pahvlos had smashed the side of a clenched fist against the top of his desk and snarled, "You arrogant, insufferable, insubordinate son of a Karaleen sow! You knew that I wanted to, meant to, keep that cur of a barbarian bitch's whelping for the good of my army. I imparted to you my reasons, good, sound reasons; I can now see that I should not have so wasted my breath on such as you, my lord foreigner. My decision has been overridden by a Council fiat, but I doubt not that you knew of that well before they chose to inform me of the outrage. Am I not right, you traitorous bastard, you betrayer of trusts?"
Tomos chose his words most carefully, not allowing a scintilla of his own rage—fully justified, in face of the personal insults that the old man had hurled at him, heaped upon him—to show in face or voice or actions. "My lord Thoheeks did, if he will but recall, say that the case of Captain of Elephants Gil Djohnz's request that he be allowed to take his elephants and leave the army be adjudicated by the Council of Thoheeksee and—"
"Shut your mouth!" growled the Grand Strahteegos. "Try throwing my words back at me and I'll see you stripped and well striped in a trice, noble officer or not; it would just now do me good to see your thin blood and your alien backbone.
"I meant for the case to go to the Council, right enough, but before the full Council, and you knew what I meant, too. It might've been as much as a year and a half before the Council got around to the matter, and my army would've had the full use of the barbarian and his beasts in the interim. At that Council sitting, I would've had the right to put forth the reasons why he will be needed indefinitely, and, finally, I would've been able to cast my vote and that of Thoheeks Ahramos of Kahlkopolis against the barbarian's foolish request. In a civilized land such as this, the only use or place for barbarians of his ilk is my army ... or wearing a slave collar.
"But no, you and that brawling, boozing, woman-crazy, meddling, overindulged fool of a Thoheeks Sitheeros had to disregard my sound decision on the matter and send that barbarian ape to Thoheeks Mahvros, who's thick as thieves with Thoheeks Grahvos and his crooked clique. Now I just have to sit here and let that damned barbarian go and let him take the rest of the barbarians and four of my army's elephants with him! And I lay the full blame for it on you, you turncoat, you renegade, you half-barbarian scapegrace.
"I think the time has come for you to leave my army, take your skinny, barbarian whore and go back to your savage homeland and leave decent, civilized kath'ahrohsee to rule themselves without having to bear the unwashed stenches of your foul breed. Go on, you pig, get out of my presence before I lose complete co
ntrol and run my sword through your putrescent body!"
Blankfaced, though with great effort, Tomos saluted, faced about and strode out of the audience chamber. But as he was fitting foot to stirrup, the officer who had escorted him to the place stepped out of the building and signaled him to wait. When they had ridden, side by side, in silence for enough distance to be out of sight and hearing of the headquarters buildings, the officer reined up close and said in hushed tones, "My lord Sub-strahteegos must know that he has full cause to issue challenge to the Grand Strahteegos, to meet him in a session of arms to the death. My lord is a thoheeks and so too is he, so he can have no slightest acceptable reason to decline a challenge from my lord. I heard all of his insults and I will so swear before the chosen seconds."
Thinking he might be scenting some trace of a trap of some obscure nature, Tomos said in a equally low voice, "Man, you're an officer in his personal bodyguard! Will he not consider such an action to be a betrayal?"
"Was what my lord did in advising the captain of Elephants truly a betrayal of the Grand Strahteegos and the army, as he so stated?" asked the officer.
"Of course not!" snapped Tomos. "I'm only attached to his army; my loyalty is to my men, my king, his overlord and to your Council, in that order; I try to cooperate with the Grand Strahteegos, but I never have considered myself to really be his subordinate officer in the command structure of this army."
The officer nodded once, then said, "My lord, my own loyalty is to my men and my comrade officers, the rulers of my land—the Council of Thoheeksee—and their army. This senile old man is ill serving Council and is weakening the army through mistreating and abusing and alienating the officers and men under his command.
It is my understanding that he refuses to step down and retire to his thoheekseeahn, so it would seem that the only way to remove him is to kill him, nor am I the only man who so feels in this army. So, should my lord decide to issue challenge, please remember Captain Vahrohnos Djaimos of Pleenopolis."