The Bandit (Fall of the Swords Book 2)

by Scott Michael Decker

  Before he died, Brazen Bear had specified that the Broken Arrows should elect as their leader the child who attained the highest status. Before she reached menarche, Flowering Pine had surpassed her brother in social status. She became a servant in the House of Oak, and served Towering Oak personally.

  Formerly the Commanding General, Towering Oak was Prefect of Cove and had been a member of the Imperial Ruling Council before Flying Arrow dissolved it. Towering Oak was five foot four, his name a joke. Infiltrating the House of Oak, Breaking Arrow became the leader of the Broken Arrows at twelve years old, as Brazen Bear had known long ago that she would.

  The House of Oak regarded Flowering Pine as just another young, pretty face. Despite the odd hours that many nobles kept, she managed to be present whenever Towering Oak discussed matters of state with his appointed Heir, Aged Oak, second in command of the Imperial Armed Forces under Guarding Bear. The perfect servant, Flowering Pine was always ready to cater to the two men, her robes immaculate, her coiffure perfect, her smile radiant. Quickly, she ingratiated herself into their confidences, both men liking pretty, empty-headed females. Other servants whispered that she shared their beds as well. Both father and son asked her to. Eliciting their pity and fatherly affections, she played the vulnerable virgin not quite old enough to share her pleasures. Breaking Arrow gleaned abundant information from Towering and Aged Oak. The Broken Arrows began to flourish.

  Breaking Arrow, however, aspired to the ultimate goal: Emparia Castle.

  Seeking an artifice to get to Emparia City or to bring the Emperor to the northeastern province, she considered her options carefully. The Prefect's age suggested a plan. Nearly seventy, Towering Oak was a doddering old fart bent on fornicating himself into the final embrace of the Infinite. As Flowering Pine's body ripened, she approached the age that most males considered prime virgin material. Unable to stave off the old man's persistent advances much longer, Breaking Arrow implanted another servant to poison Towering Oak. Investigating, Aged Oak discovered that some Wizard had implanted the servant to poison his father. In the implant were signature traces of a Wizard no one could identify, since Breaking Arrow's signature differed from Flowering Pine's.

  The Emperor Flying Arrow came to Cove for Towering Oak's funeral, his presence obligatory at the obsequies of such an eminent man. In a private conference between Aged Oak and Flying Arrow, Flowering Pine made a charming nuisance of herself, wooing Flying Arrow with the help of her persuasive talent.

  When a polite amount of time passed, the Emperor inquired about the lively, loquacious, flame-haired wench among Aged Oak's personal staff of servants. Discovering she had no mate and was a virgin amenable to becoming a consort—despite the fate of previous consorts—Flying Arrow demanded Flowering Pine.

  Breaking Arrow knew if she acquiesced too quickly, he'd use her and discard her. Flowering Pine prolonged the negotiations for nearly a year, demurring on the pretext that she was still too young for defloration. During that year, Flying Arrow visited frequently. Lavishing priceless gifts upon her, he regaled her with stories of the riches and comforts of Emparia Castle. Always demure in his presence, she listened with the patience of the Infinite. Like a pubescent maiden, she blushed bright crimson at his every blandishment. For some reason, her blushing stiffened the Emperor terribly. Since she was reluctant to submit to his attentions, he wanted her more than ever.

  With the sensitivity of a disobedient dog, Breaking Arrow knew when Flying Arrow would lose patience with the protracted courtship. Before that happened, Flowering Pine acquiesced. The final agreement included a hundred servants and a suite of twenty rooms in Emparia Castle. She even bargained for—and won—Flying Arrow's exclusive attentions, an unheard of stipulation for a lowly consort of questionable parentage and beggarly beginnings. She garnered the stipulation easily with her talent of persuasion. Flying Arrow slavishly granted her every wish.

  At the enemy hearth, Breaking Arrow exerted inordinate influence. Among her staff of a hundred, she secreted two other psychological Wizards. From her palatial and isolated suite within Emparia Castle, she forged alliances with everyone hostile to Arrow Sovereignty. Setting up contacts in all four Empires, Breaking Arrow infiltrated the spy networks of every Eastern noble. Her couriers flowed in and out of Emparia Castle's labyrinth without detection. Some used the secret passageways. Some came and went in their daily duties as servants. Few knew about the information they carried.

  After only a few weeks as his consort, Flowering Pine began to talk about children. The woman desperately wanted to bear a child. Flying Arrow hadn't begotten on ten earlier consorts even a single miscarried fetus. Breaking Arrow knew nothing would stop her. With the concern of a dutiful consort, Flowering Pine shyly suggested he find a way to impregnate her. Like the most practiced courtesan, she let him think the idea his own. If he hadn't already considered the option, Flying Arrow would've thought of it soon, his sterility nearly unbearable.

  The inseminator he selected surprised her, however. When he told her, Flowering Pine laughed like a child, appreciating the irony and happily agreeing. Breaking Arrow felt ambivalent. The inseminator was an eminent noble. Only with elaborate subterfuge did Flying Arrow arrange the insemination. The Sorcerer Lurking Hawk erased the man's memory afterward. She decided to filter the spermatozoa to negate the dangers of incest. She wanted a child healthy and whole. She was grateful the Emperor went to so much trouble, the insemination and manipulation having serious consequences. In his efforts, she saw his desperation, sharing it.

  Then the Matriarch predicted that the Consort Flowering Pine would bear “not one—no, one would be too few!—but two Heirs, identical twin sons.” Breaking Arrow cursed this wrinkle in her plans, fervently wishing throughout her pregnancy that Flying Arrow had found the missing Heir Sword. Watching the machinations of both Emperor and Sorcerer, Breaking Arrow couldn't decide whether to abort one.

  Twins meant an identical-twin empathy link. Contact between them was deeper and more intimate than between any two beings, essentially one mind in two bodies. One twin's grasping the Heir Sword would begin the gradual molding of both twins' minds. Two Heir Swords would separate them irrevocably, as they had the Peregrine Twins. She didn't know if the Sorcerer Lurking Hawk and Lofty Lion had destroyed the Northern Heir Sword or had merely hidden it. Breaking Arrow couldn't decide her own course of action. Thus she waited.

  Lurking Hawk's clandestine meeting with Lofty Lion had offended her. In one of his regular reports to his Broken Arrow contact, Lofty Lion had mentioned the collision with Lumbering Elephant and his meeting with the Traitor. Three weeks ago, her intermediary suggested in Guarding Bear's name that Flying Arrow employ the Inviolate Insignia to get the depositions of the two bandits. Breaking Arrow felt only too happy to help with Lurking Hawk's demise, the man more a threat than a help. She felt convinced he'd perpetrate his treachery upon the most vulnerable of victims: Her sons. Now, the Traitor was a prisoner in his own suite, pending interrogation and trial. Breaking Arrow felt safe from his treachery.

  A week and a half ago, through intermediaries, she'd received Scowling Tiger's query about Guarding Bear's siege. Although the bandit general's nominal ally, Breaking Arrow supported Guarding Bear as well. Both were instruments of resistance to Arrow Sovereignty. Again, Breaking Arrow found herself undecided. Choosing the neutral ground, she hadn't replied to the query. Breaking Arrow cursed her lack of prescient talent. The siege scheduled to begin four hours hence, she still didn't know which side to take. Like bandit and Empire, she could only wait, the results in the hands of the Infinite.

  A kick by one of the gestating twins jolted her back to the present. “Patience, my sons,” she said in her inner voice. “Soon I'll expel you from my womb. You'll come forth to begin your dying, Infinite make your lives long.”

  The leader of the Broken Arrows suffered not a qualm about bearing children for Flying Arrow. The children weren't his. Breaking Arrow felt satisfied at having ended seven generati
ons of Arrow Sovereignty in a manner known at present only to her. Thus, Brazen Bear and Breaking Arrow had finished the Arrow Dynasty.

  * * *

  Breaking Arrow listened in on the conversation that the other third of her brain was having.

  Flowering Pine prattled to her guest about how her appetite had changed over the course of the pregnancy. At first she'd been miserable with morning sickness at all hours of the day. Then the most lavish of banquets was but a measly morsel. She was insensate to the boredom of her guest, the Matriarch Bubbling Water.

  The two women stood in the nursery. Bright primary colors in geometric patterns adorned the walls. Mobiles of multiple arms hung from the ceiling. Standing against a wall was an ornately-carved oak crib with drawers in the base. Cotton clothes of countless sizes and styles spilled from a cedar chest. Filled with ointment and unguent, a wicker basket perched precariously on a shelf.

  Although the nursery was ready, the twins weren't. Thirty-eight weeks old, the fetuses were due to emerge during the fortieth. Breathlessly, the Empire waited for their birth.

  While Flowering Pine prattled, Breaking Arrow watched the Matriarch carefully. The leader of the resistance was a patient woman. From years of hiding inside Flowering Pine's brain, Breaking Arrow had learned infinite patience. The Consort's interminable soliloquies tested even her patience.

  An hour earlier, Bubbling Water had requested an audience with the Consort. Granting it immediately, Flowering Pine had been curious to find out why the second-most influential woman in the Empire wanted to see her. When questioned, the Matriarch had said she felt insecure because her mate's siege of the Tiger Fortress was a few hours away. Laughing, Flowering Pine had tried to help her feel comfortable. She'd asked Bubbling Water to come look at the nursery, wanting her opinion on the preparations.

  Thus far, the Matriarch had expressed only approval. Does she know anything about Flying Arrow's subterfuge? Breaking Arrow wondered. She dismissed the idea of having Flowering Pine broach the subject. Such a question was completely out of character. Although she knew Flying Arrow had met with Lofty Lion three weeks ago, Breaking Arrow didn't know the content or purpose of the meeting. She knew it urgent she find out.

  A servant appeared. “Lady Pine, the Lady Matriarch Shading Oak is at the southern gate. She humbly asks to see the Lady Matriarch Water.”

  “Oh, uh, well, uh, oh, my,” Flowering Pine stammered. “Well, uh, I, oh, I, uh … Lady Matriarch, what would you suggest?”

  “I don't know, Lady Pine,” Bubbling Water said. “Although I left word I'd be here, I didn't expect anyone to follow me. We can't exactly turn away the Lady Oak. Besides being Aged Oak's mate, she's noble in her own right. Lady Pine, weren't you her servant? Surely, your former employer merits a polite welcome?”

  “Well, you're probably right, Lady,” Flowering Pine said. “I wasn't exactly her favorite. I'm afraid she was a little jealous of me. I never acquiesced to the Lord Oak's attentions, mind you, but he did spend a lot of time trying to loosen my robes. You know how servants whisper the nastiest of rumors, eh Lady Matriarch? Really, she's a very nice lady, but I'd feel uncomfortable bringing her here.”

  “How about the eastern hall, Lady Pine? Isn't the Lord Emperor on the northern battlements with several other nobles? He won't be using it. We can go there, eh?”

  “Oh, good idea, Lady,” she replied in her high-pitched voice, clapping her hands happily. Her face broke out in dimples. She turned to the servant. “Have the Lady Matriarch taken to the eastern hall. We'll be there shortly.”

  “Yes, Lady Consort,” the servant said, bowing deeply and leaving.

  “I tell you, Lady Matriarch, I get so confused by all this noble stuff I should know. I liked being a peasant servant. I didn't have to pretend like I knew anything or, or not talk about certain things, or always be on my best behavior. It was so easy.” She sighed. “I guess we'd better go.”

  Smiling, Bubbling Water led the way from the nursery.

  “How do you do it, Lady Matriarch? You never say the wrong thing or lose your composure or anything! I wish I was like you, I really do. I know I'm not worthy to be the Lord Emperor's consort, much less the mother of his heirs. I feel so honored by his attentions. He's such a nice man, he really is. He's very good to me, even though I know I bore him silly with my endless talk of unimportant stuff. Just like I'm boring you now, eh Lady Matriarch?”

  Laughing, Bubbling Water put her hand gently on Flowering Pine's shoulder. “I don't feel bored. Lady Pine, I'm glad you're so lively. I don't want you to be like me. I want you to be you. You're wonderful.”

  “That's very kind of you, Lady. I know you're lying, but I guess that's one of those things you always have to do when you're a noble, isn't it? That's probably why I'll never get used to this. I'm just too honest and I don't like lying. You probably call it something else, eh? Like diplomacy, or something? Well, to me it's just lying, but I guess there's a reason for it. We'd always be at each other's throats if we didn't lie to each other once in a while. I don't want anybody mad at me or anything. I don't like that at all. Lady Matriarch, do you—” Flowering Pine stopped and leaned against the corridor wall, holding her abdomen.

  “Are you all right, Lady?” Bubbling Water asked.

  She nodded, breathing deeply. “False-labor detraction, Soothing Spirit says, or something like that. I've been having them for a month now. Nothing to concern myself with, he says. There, it's beginning to pass. Lend me your arm, would you, Lady? Thank you, you're so kind. We'd better get to the audience hall before the Lady Oak does. It'd be rude to arrive later than her, wouldn't it? Unless I was mad at her, I think. I just don't understand all these rules of nobility, Lady Matriarch. It's all so confusing…”

  Entering a stairwell, the young Consort and middle-aged Matriarch descended, the pregnant woman chattering endlessly.

  The leader of the Broken Arrows smiled a secret smile at the perfect behavior. Flowering Pine was the perfect cover for the perfect spy in the perfect place. Everything is perfect, Breaking Arrow thought, content.

  Chapter 20

  The Fortress: From the bowels of the quiescent volcano to the eyry overlooking much of the northern Windy Mountains, the Tiger Fortress soared more than ten thousand feet. Built during the reign of the Peregrine Twins, the fortress was ancient. With six hundred levels from top to bottom, the fortress could house twenty thousand people in relative comfort, or fifty thousand in cramped quarters. Tapping aquifers deep beneath the mountain and having thousands of acres of hydroponics, the fortress was self-sufficient. With a network of electrical shields girding its surface like chain-mail, the fortress was impregnable. Poised a paltry twenty miles from the border, the fortress has always been a thorn in the foot of the Eastern Empire, and always will be.—The Political Geography, by Guarding Bear.

  * * *

  The siege was hours away. Guarding Bear moved easily among his warriors.

  Two weeks ago spies had reported that Scowling Tiger had asked the leaders of the larger bands to attend a conference to unite them against the Empire. He'd scheduled the conference for the same day as the siege.

  Guarding Bear had thanked the Infinite for such a blessing, ecstatic. All those bandit leaders in one place, like sheep in the slaughter pens.

  Then, a week ago, without a word of explanation, Scowling Tiger had delayed the conference until a week after the siege. At the time, Guarding Bear considered delaying the siege, wanting to break all the eggs while in one basket. After deep deliberation, he decided the risks were inordinate. The chance of a spy leaking the nature of the siege increased by the hour, and delaying the siege would give Scowling Tiger an extra week to prepare.

  So Guarding Bear didn't change the day of the siege.

  The refectory of Burrow Garrison echoed with noise, the chairs and tables cleared for this assembly. Clasping another warrior's shoulders, Guarding Bear slapped the next man on the back, then moved on. Chatting amiably with them, he greeted each
warrior by name, hailing with enthusiasm those who'd fought under his command before. Like a God, he granted the largesse of his attention, dispensing praise and encouragement. His every motion was full of confidence and conviction, his every word inflected with faith. Thus, the legendary General sowed the seeds of bravery in his men, cultivating a deep veneration in each warrior, nurturing their zeal to fight, from which he hoped to reap a crop of victory.

  While his body moved and his mouth spoke, Guarding Bear strove to keep his mind at peace. The eve of battle was the worst. During planning and battle, warriors might distract themselves from their fears with motion, discussion, decision. Between planning and battle was a lull filled with fear. Some commanders snapped without mercy at subordinates. Some orated with bluster and rallied their troops with speech. Guarding Bear usually did neither.

  Fear was an Infinite-bestowed emotion, given with good reason. Fear sharpened the senses, focused the mind, and charged the muscles with superhuman powers. For some, fear was a killer and for others, motivation. For Guarding Bear, fear engendered violence. The more fearful the situation was, the more violent his reaction. Sometimes this reaction undid him—as at the negotiations almost nine months ago. Sometimes this reaction helped him extinguish the source of his fear, as he hoped it would this evening.

  Moving among the troops, Guarding Bear struggled to control his fear. The time for fear was later. In the midst of battle, he'd direct it like an elemental force into his sword arm and tactical acumen.

  Moving gradually toward the small dais at the front of the refectory, Guarding Bear stepped over a warrior's pack and almost fell. A tremor shook the earth beneath his feet, the earthquake minor but sustained. Even after he put the foot down, the dizziness continued. As the earth continued to rumble and rock, he lowered himself to a knee.