Princeps ip-5

by L. E. Modesitt Jr.

  As the scouts crossed the middle section of the bridge, Quaeryt noted that the planking and timbers flexed more than he thought they should, especially on the south side, but there was little give on the last third of the bridge, the one closest to Gahenyara.

  “We can only do two at a time,” suggested Skarpa as the three neared the bridge. “I’ll drop back a bit.”

  Quaeryt could feel the bridge depress as the mare moved to the midsection, but there was no sense of recovery or rebound in the planking-only an ominous creaking that intensified. He immediately extended his shields to the planks and anchored the shield to the two pylons.

  “Keep riding!” he hissed at Vaelora. He turned in the saddle. “Keep clear of the midsection of the bridge! It’s going to give way!”

  “Should I turn?”

  “No. Keep moving.” Quaeryt couldn’t explain his words, but with each step the mare and Vaelora’s gelding took, he felt more and more pressure on his shields-as if they were contracting around him. He concentrated on holding them, despite the pain and pressure, until both of them were on the far section, when he released all shields because he could barely hold on to them.

  He glanced back over his shoulder, but kept riding until he and Vaelora were off the bridge, when he turned the mare and reined up. So did Vaelora.

  The heavy planks on the south side of the middle section of the bridge-where he had been riding-slowly sagged into the water. For almost half a quint, nothing seemed to happen. Then the rushing water ripped away one plank … and then another … and a third, until even part of the bridge where Vaelora had crossed was gone. Before long, only the northern third of the midsection remained. The rest of the midsection had been carried away by the flood waters. The northern part might support a single horse and rider at a time, but what remained was far too narrow for any of the supply wagons.

  Skarpa had retreated to the eastern end of the bridge, where the bulk of the regiment now waited.

  Quaeryt’s head ached, and his eyes burned so much that he could barely make out much beyond the bridge and the river.

  “You’re pale and shaking,” Vaelora said. “You need to eat something.” She reached back to the pack behind her saddle, then handed a hard biscuit to him.

  He fumbled out his water bottle, filled with watered lager, took a mouthful, enough to make the biscuit chewable, and slowly ate it. “We’re going to be here a while, until the engineers can repair the bridge.”

  “If you keep making a habit of this,” murmured Vaelora, handing him another biscuit, “I won’t have any extra food left.”

  You won’t have a husband, either. Except … what else could he have done?

  “You need to be more careful.”

  “I didn’t think it was going to collapse when we started across, and I wasn’t going to let you get swept away by the river.”

  “You were on the weaker part.” A grin followed. “I do appreciate the thought, though.”

  Quaeryt refrained from pointing out that the planks where she’d been riding were also at least partly gone as well. “Thank you, dear one.”

  “Well … I was riding close to what collapsed.”

  “I worried.” Quaeryt paused but slightly. “Is this under the administration of the governor of Montagne? Do you know?”

  “On this side of the river. That’s why-”

  “The town is named Gahenyara,” he finished.

  Two men came running toward the riders from the town.

  Quaeryt and Vaelora eased up beside the scouts and waited.

  19

  By nightfall on Vendrei, two battalions had walked their mounts across the remainder of the bridge one at a time. That portion of the regiment had taken over what empty barns there were in and around Gahenyara, and Quaeryt and Vaelora had occupied the best chamber in the ten-room local inn.

  When Quaeryt woke on a very lumpy mattress beside Vaelora on Samedi morning, his headache was gone, and his eyes no longer burned. He could also hold light shields, but heavier ones only for a few moments before his head began to throb again.

  After breakfast, the two stood on the narrow front porch of the inn, waiting for Skarpa.

  “How long will the repairs take?” asked Vaelora.

  “Several days, at least. I’d like to hear what Skarpa has to say.”

  “You didn’t plan on stopping here…” Vaelora broke off what she might have said as the regimental commander rode up to the inn.

  Neither she nor Quaeryt said anything until Skarpa joined them on the porch.

  “The river’s down half a yard from yesterday,” said Skarpa. “The engineers have located some trees that look solid and tall enough, but getting them turned into planks will take another two days. Most of that will be felling the trees and getting the trunks across the river. The local mill can handle the logs. Barely.” He shook his head. “Hate using green timber, but there’s nothing long enough that’s dried and seasoned around here. You’d think the locals would know better.”

  “If the former governor hasn’t been here recently…” Quaeryt had the feeling that the previous governor, most likely a casualty of the eruption, hadn’t been as far east as Gahenyara in a long time … if ever.

  “You’re as cynical as I am, Princeps.”

  “Can you get another battalion or two across what’s left of the bridge while the engineers work on the trees?”

  “I’d planned on that.”

  Quaeryt nodded. “I’d like to take a battalion and leave tomorrow.”

  “Thought you might have something like that in mind.”

  “We can’t do anything to help you, and a battalion should be enough to deal with anything we encounter.”

  “I’d feel happier if you took two. We can unload two wagons and break them down and ferry the supplies across by hand. That should be enough to get you to Montagne, and it will keep everyone busy. We’ll catch up as we can.”

  “That might be better in any case,” Quaeryt said. “Gahenyara isn’t provisioned to support a regiment. Not for long, in any case.”

  “I’ll send Third and Fourth Battalion with you.”

  “Was that Meinyt’s request?” asked Quaeryt.

  Skarpa grinned. “He did say that he couldn’t imagine you’d wait around when there was trouble in Extela. He volunteered Third Battalion in the event you did want to go on. Major Fhaen also volunteered.”

  Quaeryt knew little about Fhaen, because he’d been stationed at Northcote, except that Meinyt had high regard for the redheaded major. “Then we’ll leave early tomorrow.”

  “I’ll let them know.”

  After Skarpa had mounted and ridden back east toward the bridge, Vaelora cleared her throat.

  “Yes, dear?”

  “We can’t do anything to help rebuild the bridge,” she said. “Can we go look at the old chateau?”

  “Is it still standing?”

  “It is. It was still able to be occupied when we were children, Bhayar said. It’s been empty for years, though.”

  “Why?”

  “It costs too much to ship timber and crops from here to most places, and it’s too far from anywhere, or other holders.”

  Meaning Solis.

  “… and it’s also too big for the keeper to maintain anything but the building. He and his family live in the gatehouse.”

  “It might be a good thing to visit it,” agreed Quaeryt.

  “You’re just not humoring me?”

  “No.”

  “Why do you think so?”

  “I couldn’t say,” replied Quaeryt. “I just feel that it would be.”

  “Good.”

  With one thing and another, including obtaining directions and arranging with Meinyt for a squad to accompany them, which became two squads led by the company commander at Meinyt’s insistence, it was almost a glass later before they set out from the side courtyard of the unnamed inn. Undercaptain Jusaph rode ahead of Quaeryt and Vaelora as they made their way westward from town
along the old stone-paved road.

  Less than two milles farther on, they reached a stretch of stone wall extending a quarter mille on each side of a set of ironbound wooden gates. On the other side of the wall, west of the gates, was a stone dwelling, clearly inhabited, since a thin trail of white smoke issued from the chimney. Farther to the north, rising over the bare limbs of the trees, Quaeryt could see a long slate roof, from which sprouted a half score of natural stone-faced chimneys.

  Even before Quaeryt and Vaelora reined up at the wooden gates, a man in a gray jacket and brown trousers had hurried from the iron-grated opening in the wall beside the gates. “These are the lands of Lord Bhayar.”

  “We know,” said Vaelora. “He’s my brother, and this is Governor Quaeryt. He’s the new governor of Montagne. He’s also my husband.”

  The black-bearded man glanced up at Vaelora, then to Quaeryt and then at Undercaptain Jusaph and the squad of uniformed riders behind him.

  “A thousand pardons, Lady … a thousand pardons.”

  “We’re here to inspect the chateau,” Vaelora went on, “before we continue on to Montagne and then to Extela.”

  “The chateau … I do what I can, Lady…”

  “We know. It has been years…”

  “Since the time of my grandfather. That was when Lord Lhayar trained men on the lands to the north.”

  “If you would open the gates,” suggested Vaelora.

  “But…”

  Quaeryt could see that trying to be patient with the man would only result in Vaelora losing respect. He tried to image the sense of authority toward the gatekeeper. “The Lady Vaelora has every right, indeed the duty, to inspect her family’s lands.”

  The gatekeeper stepped back, his face suddenly pale. He swallowed. “Yes, sir … Governor, I mean. Just a moment.” He hurried back through the archway, leaving the gratework open.

  Shortly, the ironbound wooden gates began to creak open.

  “What did you do?” murmured Vaelora. “All of a sudden, it was like you were Bhayar. You didn’t look like him. You just had that presence. Except it was greater.”

  “Imaged authority,” he replied in a low voice.

  “You can do that?”

  “I didn’t know for certain. I thought it was worth a try.”

  “Don’t let Bhayar know. He’ll want you with him all the time.” Vaelora smiled wryly. “He suspects, but he’d rather not know. Not at the moment.”

  “Deniability,” suggested Quaeryt.

  “Something like that,” replied Vaelora.

  Quaeryt nodded.

  When the gates gaped wide, the keeper hurried forward and extended a heavy ring of keys to Vaelora. “If you’d return them when you leave, Lady…”

  “I will indeed. Thank you.”

  The gatekeeper did not look in Quaeryt’s direction as he backed away.

  Vaelora raised the ring and keys, and Quaeryt eased the mare forward, through the gates and onto the rutted lane that might once have been heavily graveled-if the intermittently spaced heaps of gravel and dirt along the right side of the lane were any indication.

  The lane curved to the left gently and gently uphill for only about fifty yards before splitting. The right branch led to a cluster of outbuildings some thirty yards from the east end of the chateau, while the left ended in a stone-paved square before the main entry-a wide but single ironbound door fronted by an oblong stoop of natural stone. There was neither a roof over the stoop nor any sign of a mounting block, although a good teamster might have been able to position a coach to use the stoop as such.

  The stone-walled chateau itself had two levels aboveground, and extended no more than fifty yards from one end to the other, and less than thirty from front to rear. All the windows were shuttered, and most of the shutters sagged in some measure. While the shutters and casements had once likely been oiled or painted, any vestige of either had vanished, leaving the wood one shade of gray or another.

  Vaelora reined up beside the stoop and immediately dismounted, handing the gelding’s reins to a ranker. Quaeryt followed her example.

  “If you wouldn’t mind, Lady … Governor,” offered Jusaph, “I’d feel remiss in my duties if my men didn’t enter the chateau first.”

  “Of course.” Vaelora smiled and waited.

  The undercaptain gestured, and three rankers and a squad leader dismounted, hurrying forward. Vaelora handed the key ring to the squad leader, who inclined his head, then moved to the door. The door opened easily, but squeaked as it did, and the four troopers entered the chateau.

  “It looks clear,” called the squad leader after a time.

  Quaeryt and Vaelora stepped inside, into a modest hall some four yards by four. Quaeryt almost tripped when the longer heel on his left boot caught the edge of the stone doorsill, but caught himself quickly enough that Vaelora didn’t notice.

  Off the foyer to the left through a square arch was a great hall, empty of furnishings. At one end was a hearth and a fireplace large enough to hold several grown men. To the right was a hallway that appeared to stretch to the eastern end of the chateau. Directly opposite the entry was a stone staircase some two yards wide, certainly the narrowest main staircase Quaeryt had ever seen in a holder’s dwelling.

  He looked to Vaelora. “Up or to the right.”

  “I’d like to see the main floor first.” She turned and walked to the first doorway, where the open door had sagged enough that the end away from the hinges rested on the rough stone floor. Beyond the doorway was an empty square chamber with a hearth and modest fireplace.

  “A parlor?” suggested Quaeryt.

  “Most likely.”

  The doorway opposite the parlor revealed a larger room, also with a fireplace and without furnishings except for the east wall, where slightly drooping shelves of once-polished goldenwood had likely held books. The two proceeded through the main floor past a family dining room, and then into a large kitchen, still holding a massive trestle table and little else. Off the kitchen were several storerooms, one of which had rows and rows of shelves for dishes and platters and the like. There was also a narrow stone staircase down to the lower level and the storage cellars.

  The upstairs held six modest bedrooms, two chambers for washing, and the holder’s private apartments, consisting of a sitting room, a bathing chamber, a small jakes, and at the eastern end a large bedchamber.

  Quaeryt followed Vaelora into the bedchamber, then stopped and frowned as he looked to the south side.

  “There’s a small room off here,” said Vaelora. “It’s barely large enough for a storeroom … but it has windows and shutters.”

  Or what’s left of them. Quaeryt stepped forward and looked at the sagging narrow shutters in the wall and then at the archway, where a still polished, but heavy carved goldenwood door sagged on its heavy iron hinge pegs. “It’s rather oddly placed, and that door is heavy enough to be used to guard a strong room. But there’s no lock and no hardware for that, and the room has windows.”

  “Oh…”

  Quaeryt turned to Vaelora. “Oh … what?”

  “Grandmere said that her grandmother always slept alone. She never explained. She only said that it was safer for everyone that way.”

  “How did they have children?” asked Quaeryt wryly.

  “She didn’t say…” Vaelora shook her head. “Sleep alone, dearest, not make love. They are different. As you should know.”

  Quaeryt definitely understood the difference-especially after all the days on the road-but why had Vaelora’s great-great-grandmere always slept alone … and why, in those days, had her husband acquiesced in that arrangement? “Did she have a temper?”

  “Grandmere did. I don’t know about her grandmere.”

  “Did they ever move to Extela?”

  Vaelora shook her head. “They both lived here until they died, Grandmere said. Their son and his wife eventually moved to Extela after Grandmere married Grandpere. Grandmere’s younger brother died in a
hunting accident, and the lands became hers because he had no heirs.”

  Quaeryt nodded slowly. “It has to have something to do with your grandmere’s visions. Did her mother and grandmother have that ability?”

  “Grandmere never said. They were both Pharsi, though. From wealthy families.”

  Quaeryt would have wagered that one or both had had visions, but after all the years, who would know? “Have you seen enough?”

  Vaelora nodded. “It’s sad. This was once a place filled with people. They loved and cried and laughed. Now … there’s no one.” She stood in the chamber for a long time, saying nothing.

  Quaeryt waited.

  Finally, they left, walking slowly back along the rough stone floor toward the staircase. Neither spoke.

  20

  Quaeryt, Vaelora, and the two battalions reached Montagne by midafternoon on Mardi, through one rainstorm and more high waters, but did not have to cross any more flooded or damaged bridges. The post at Montagne was far older than the one at Cloisonyt, and the two battalions filled every available space in the barracks that could be called habitable. That did not include three barracks that resembled abandoned storehouses. After talking matters over with the two battalion majors and Vaelora, Quaeryt decided they would stay the one night in Montagne and leave the next morning for Extela.

  Five days later, on Solayi afternoon, Quaeryt and Vaelora followed the outriders over the crest in the road leading out of the hills and down to the valley that held Extela-situated largely on the west side of the Telexan River. The sky was dusky orange, not with clouds, but with a heavy haze, and what looked to be a gray fog rose from a peak to the north of the city. As dry flakes fell intermittently around him, Quaeryt realized that the mountain had to be Mount Extel and that the gray plume rising from it had to be ash.

  “The northwest quarter of the city…” gasped Vaelora, “it’s all covered in black rock … only one tower left of the palace … and the north market…”