Traitor's Blade (The Greatcoats)

by de Castell, Sebastien

  When your enemy is offering complete surrender and the only alternative is black bloody war that will surely take a fierce toll of your men, it’s easy to be generous.

  ‘Full pardons for every Magister? Nothing else?’

  ‘Nothing else,’ I said calmly.

  ‘No tricks now, boy,’ the general said to me. ‘You’ll find there are worse things than a quick death by the sword if you’re lying.’

  ‘On my honour, sir, I swear to you that the castle will be yours, the Magisters will be disbanded and the King will await your pleasure in the throne room.’

  ‘Good, good.’ The general pressed the treaty down on the table to sign it. One of his fellows snorted, and caught my attention. He was an older man with coarse grey hair and a thick moustache. His coat looked strange to me for a moment, but then I realised it was just the oily blue flower pattern on the right breast.

  ‘I have seen seven wars in my lifetime,’ he started. ‘Wars against barbarians from Avares, against the East and even wars against other Dukes. I have seen cowardice; yes, I have, many times. But there are cowards and then there are cowards, and boy, a man who lets his Lord rot for a pardon on a scrap of paper is a coward unlike any I have ever seen.’

  ‘Is there some service I can perform for the general?’ I asked.

  He snorted again. ‘Yes, boy, you can tell me what Duchy grew such a coward as you, so that I might go there and correct their Duke.’

  ‘Why, General,’ I said, ‘I hail from Pertine, where cowards grow like wildflowers on the side of the hilltop.’

  ‘I should kill you for your impertinence, dog,’ he bellowed.

  ‘Yes, General,’ I replied, ‘it was impertinent. But I’m afraid that, under the circumstances, you’ll have to pardon me.’

  ‘Enough,’ the lead general said, passing the paper to his next-inline. ‘The decision is made. We accept the treaty. We’ll move our vanguard into the castle at once.’

  I bowed and stood to one side as they passed. The general from Pertine shot me a look of pure venom, but there was nothing he could do but swallow the shit that had been served him. So we had that in common, anyway.

  Hours later I was still outside the castle, waiting for word. A messenger summoned me and I was brought once again before the lead general.

  ‘The usurper’s asked a favour,’ he said.

  ‘The what?’

  ‘The King, boy, the King. He’s asked a favour and I’m inclined to grant it, given the circumstances.’

  ‘What is the favour, General?’

  ‘He’s asked to see you.’

  For a moment my mind raced and I tried to devise some kind of plan – an escape, some kind of poison for his guards, anything.

  The general chuckled. ‘Boy, sometimes life feeds you bitter fruit, doesn’t it?’

  ‘Yes, General, it does.’

  ‘Well, don’t go getting any ideas. Two of my men are going to escort you up to the tower where Paelis is being held. You’ll see him, talk to him, sing to him for all I care, but when the guards come to get you, you’ll come back down quietly and exit the castle with your fellows.’

  ‘And then what?’ I asked.

  ‘And then we execute the King and move on.’

  ‘I’m sorry, General,’ I said, ‘but I vow to you that you will not.’

  He looked me square in the eyes and chuckled. ‘I would almost wish you luck, boy, but I’m afraid there is no luck at all in this world for you.’

  *

  I caught up to Brasti, Valiana and Aline along the sloping landscape of fields that filled the Duchy of Pulnam. Valiana was doing her best, but Aline was only thirteen and her legs simply couldn’t keep up. I scooped her up and carried her on my shoulders for a way, but we had all been pushed to exhaustion since Orison and we couldn’t go on any further. When we reached the top of a slope, we all slumped to the ground and rested.

  ‘How long do you think we have?’ Valiana asked.

  ‘I don’t know,’ I said. ‘I doubt the fight could have lasted that long, but who knows how fast a Saint walks?’

  ‘Pretty fast,’ Brasti said, looking down the slope. I rose and followed the line of his arm. About half a mile away we could see a figure walking towards us. I couldn’t make out the details at this distance, but I could see the faint red aura he carried with him.

  Brasti has better eyesight than me. He squinted down the path. ‘I can see the red-faced bastard,’ he said.

  I took another look and now I could just make out the blood-red colour of his face. And then I saw he was wearing Kest’s greatcoat. I drew my rapier and started down the hill.

  ‘Falcio!’ Brasti called.

  ‘Take Valiana and Aline and go. I’ll hold him off for as long as I can.’

  ‘Falcio, come back, please!’

  ‘Go!’ I shouted.

  They kept calling, but I ignored them. Saint or no Saint, if nothing else worked I could throw my body in his path and hope he tripped over it. A dusty haze was rising with the afternoon heat and it began settling into my nostrils and mouth, making me cough. I found a solid place to stand in the middle of the path and closed my eyes. If I couldn’t see him swing his sword anyway, I might as well swing blind and hope I got lucky. I don’t know if Luck is a God or not, but if he is then I’d sure like to make a better deal with him one of these days.

  I heard the Saint’s footsteps as he approached, but I kept my eyes closed and prepared the fastest cut I could. When I felt the heat from his body I let it fly. I might as well have been aiming for myself. I heard the blow sail by him and dropped the point of my blade to await the inevitable.

  ‘Now I ask you,’ said a hoarse voice, ‘what kind of man fights with his eyes closed?’

  My eyes opened wide and I saw him there. His face was indeed the colour of blood – mostly because it bled from a dozen shallow cuts.

  ‘Kest!’ I shouted. ‘Kest! How is it possible – how could you possibly have beaten Saint Caveil-whose-blade-cuts-water?’

  ‘I told you,’ Kest said, coughing, ‘he was a Saint – really just a little God, as these things go.’

  And then he collapsed into my arms.

  I heard screams as Brasti, Valiana and Aline raced down towards us. They wrapped themselves around Kest, who was fighting for breath.

  ‘Who knew it took so little effort to make women fawn over you,’ he said at last.

  ‘Little effort,’ Brasti breathed. ‘Gods, man, you’ve killed a Saint! Do you know what that makes you?’

  ‘Blasphemous?’

  ‘No, man, you killed Caveil – he was the Saint of Swords. That means you’re the new Saint of Swords. I have a Saint for a friend!’

  ‘Trust me, Brasti, all of your friends have to be Saints.’

  ‘Something is horribly wrong,’ I said to Kest.

  ‘What?’

  ‘You’re telling jokes.’

  ‘Life is funny,’ he said.

  ‘Why?’

  ‘You remember what you told me before you left? About how you beat me?’

  ‘Yes, but—’

  ‘Believe it or not – and I don’t think you really have any choice in the matter – I think it may have worked.’

  I started laughing, but Brasti interrupted, asking, ‘What about the Duchess?’

  ‘She fled. I’m afraid I was a little too busy to deal with her.’

  ‘Leave him be a moment,’ Valiana said. ‘He needs to rest. We have a little time.’

  He shook his head. ‘No – I’m afraid there’s a reason why I was moving so fast.’

  ‘Why? What is it?’

  ‘Oh shit,’ Brasti said as we saw the dust rise in the distance as the Duke of Jillard’s army marched up the slope towards us.

  ‘One more try for a brave death, eh, friends?’ Kest said. Then he lay down and stretched out on the ground as the rest of us watched them come.

  THE WAR SONG

  I wish I could say that my King met his death fearlessly, with a
smile on his face and a joke on his lips. But when the guard let me into the tower chamber I found Paelis huddled in the corner, shivering and weeping and coughing.

  ‘I didn’t think it would be here,’ he said at last. ‘I thought … a trial or a public execution, some chance to speak – but it’s to be in here, tonight, in the dark.’

  He looked as small and weak as he had the day ten years ago when I’d come to Castle Aramor with a blade in hand ready to murder a King. I couldn’t find any words to reply.

  ‘No,’ he said, composing himself. ‘No, I’ll be all right. I didn’t think I’d get to speak to you again, but their general is a reasonable man and he said he’d grant a request if it wasn’t unreasonable. It hadn’t even occurred to me that he might offer and so I couldn’t think of anything except that it would be good to talk to you again, Falcio.’

  He looked around the room for a moment. ‘Gods. I had finally convinced myself that I wouldn’t end up back in this room. Can you imagine that? A decade of freedom and just as soon as you take it for granted—’

  ‘We would have rather died, you know. You took that away from us,’ I said at last. He was my King and my friend, but I couldn’t help saying it. His last act had been to strip us of everything that mattered.

  He took my hand and kissed it. An odd gesture for a King. ‘I know you would have,’ he said, ‘but I couldn’t allow that. My time is over, Falcio, but the Greatcoats are my gift to the world. The one truly important accomplishment of my lifetime.’

  ‘But it’s over now,’ I said. ‘We are disbanded for all time.’

  ‘No,’ he said. ‘Remember King Ugrid? He tried to disband the Greatcoats, and for a hundred years his order stood. But we brought them back, Falcio, you and I: we brought them back to the world. And you can do it again.’

  ‘How?’ I asked.

  ‘I haven’t been idle, Falcio, and I haven’t told you everything I’ve been doing. Years ago I began hiding my Charoites throughout the realm. You have to find them now. You and Kest and Brasti.’

  ‘My King, you told me this before, and I’ll do my best to look for them, but can you not tell me anything more?’

  ‘Only that they are priceless beyond measure, and even just one of them can bring down the Dukes.’

  ‘But how will we even know if we’ve found one?’ I asked.

  ‘If we’re both very lucky, you won’t know – that’s the only way the jewels will be safe until the time is right. Look for them, but do not expect to find them. Do you understand?’

  ‘No,’ I said, irritation overcoming sadness, ‘of course I don’t understand. No one could, because it doesn’t make any sense.’

  ‘Hush then, for a moment, and listen,’ he said. ‘There is one more thing you’re going to do for me.’

  He told me what he wanted me to do and I agreed and then we sat and he talked and I listened but I don’t remember what he said. After an hour or so we heard the guard coming up the staircase and I drew the four-inch blade concealed in one of the pockets of my greatcoat and I jammed it straight into the King’s heart.

  And so I kept my vow to the general that he would not kill my King.

  *

  It didn’t take long for the Duke of Jillard’s army to overtake us. There wasn’t any point in trying to run any further.

  ‘You’ve led us on a merry chase, Valiana,’ the Duke said.

  Shiballe, by his side, grinned.

  ‘That’s not her name, actually,’ Brasti said.

  The Duke ignored him. ‘But imagine my surprise to learn from Shiballe that you are not, in fact, Duchess Patriana’s and my daughter at all but the progeny of some peasant woman. Ah, well, perhaps you’re still my daughter. I bedded many a maid in Hervor during my bachelor days.’

  ‘You don’t need her,’ I said. ‘You can let her go.’

  The Duke frowned at me. ‘Now why would I want to do that? I have her, and soon I’ll have the scrolls back and, since they bear Duchess Patriana’s seal as well as mine, I may as well take the girl and make her a Queen after all. I’m sure that she will be pliable to my wishes after the proper training for a year or two.’

  He looked down at Aline. ‘The little one has to die, though. She has unfortunate qualities I wish to see extinguished from the world.’

  ‘Why?’ I asked. ‘Why is it so important to kill off the Tiarren line?’

  The Duke smiled. ‘Tatter-cloak, I couldn’t care less for the Tiarren line. Lord Tiarren was a buffoon and his Lady was only interesting to me insofar as her previous entanglements were concerned.’

  ‘You can’t do this,’ I said, though I had nothing whatsoever to back up my statement.

  ‘Why not? I seem to have an army behind me.’

  ‘We have a Saint,’ Brasti said, pointing at Kest.

  ‘Your Saint seems to be unconscious,’ the Duke replied.

  ‘My Lord, there’s someone coming up the path,’ Shiballe said.

  The Duke looked around, and so did we. A stooped figure was making its way gradually up the hill.

  ‘Oh, hells, not her again,’ Brasti said.

  ‘Who?’ I asked.

  ‘You know who,’ she bellowed from halfway up the slope.

  Several of the Duke’s men ran down and grabbed her. They dragged her to the Duke and dropped her at his feet.

  ‘Bless you, boys,’ the Tailor said to the soldiers. ‘I honestly didn’t think I’d make it up that hill.’

  ‘What are you doing here, old woman? Do you not value your life?’ Shiballe demanded.

  ‘Not especially,’ she said, ‘since no one else appears to. But to answer yer Lordship’s question, I came to deliver you a message and these here a gift.’

  ‘You have time for the message but not the gift, I’m afraid,’ the Duke said. He motioned to one of the soldiers and he brought his lance into line with the Tailor’s belly.

  ‘My Lord,’ Shiballe said, ‘I know who this woman is now. I’ve heard rumours about her, about her influence on the Greatcoats. She may have information as to their whereabouts. Give me leave to break the information from her.’

  ‘No need fer that, tubby,’ the Tailor said. ‘I’ll tell yer exactly what y’want to know – what you’ve wanted to know for a long time.’

  ‘And what’s that?’ the Duke asked, almost amused.

  ‘Where the Greatcoats are,’ she said casually, brushing more dirt from her sleeve.

  ‘Well then? Where are they?’

  ‘Ah,’ she said wagging a finger at him. ‘That’ll cost ye. Not much, mind; a very reasonable fee and one I’m sure ye’ll be willing to pay.’

  ‘My Lord, give the woman to me. I’ll—’

  ‘What do you want?’ the Duke asked.

  ‘It’s just a wee small thing,’ the Tailor said. ‘It’s jest that the Covenant you fine Dukes and the King agreed to, it’s always irked me. You can’t kill me; I can’t kill you … so if ye could just break it fer me, I’d be much appreciative.’

  The Duke threw his head back and laughed. ‘The “Covenant”? Woman, don’t you think the Covenant’s been broken for some time now? What do you think I plan to do once you reveal the locations of the Greatcoats to me? Oh, old woman, have no fear. The Covenant is well and truly broken.’

  ‘Grand,’ she said; then, ‘See?’ She turned to Shiballe. ‘Now, was that so hard?’

  Shiballe’s eyes were shifting furiously as he tried to understand what was happening. ‘Tell us then, you stupid old cow. Tell us where the Greatcoats are, if you truly know.’

  The Tailor looked up at the Duke and then smiled. ‘They’re here,’ she said.

  Then she screamed a single word at the sky, so loud and so clear that I swear the trees themselves would carry the sound imprinted in their bark for all time.

  The word was, ‘Paelis.’

  THE ANSWER

  At first the reverberation of her voice was the only sound, but then thunder roared from below us and a cloud of dust rose from the slope.
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br />   ‘Horses,’ Brasti said. ‘Must be a hundred or more.’

  At first all I saw was Monster, her hooves pounding the earth as she raced ahead of a cloud of dust. And then they came through the cloud and the sight I had once dreamed of seeing appeared before me: a hundred Greatcoats on horseback, swords drawn and war cries on their lips.

  ‘I told you,’ the Tailor said to me, an evil grin on her face, ‘I know where every thread is and I know where every thread’s going.’

  ‘But how—?’

  ‘The Dukes were so busy trying to find and kill all the Greatcoats – they knew every name and face – and, while they searched for ways to kill all of you, I found myself some new ones, trained by me and trained right. It’s taken time to assemble them, though, I’ll give you that. That damn fool, Paelis. He had the makings of a great army and what did he do? He scattered them to the four winds. But I’ve made my own Greatcoats, and now we’re going to do this my way.’

  The Duke had five times as many men as we did, but few were on horseback and the rest were not exactly what you’d call a battle-ready army. They were conscripted house-guards and he’d dragged them up the Eastern Pass to deal with the Duchess of Hervor. When they saw that first charge of the Magisters, they very nearly scattered then and there.

  ‘Kill her,’ Shiballe shouted. ‘Kill all of them!’

  But my rapier was already in my hand and Kest, Brasti and I knocked the lances away from the Tailor and surrounded her, protecting her from anyone else who might try to fulfil Shiballe’s order.

  The captains were screaming at their men to get into formation and, as they did, Shiballe urged the Duke to get to the back lines.

  ‘I showed you!’ the Tailor was cackling behind us. ‘I showed all of you!’

  I looked around and caught a glimpse of her face. It was terrifying to look at, half-joyous and half-enraged, and she was tearing her clothes off and shouting at the sky, ‘You took him away from me! You took every last good thing away from me!

  ‘This!’ she screamed. ‘This is my answer! This is my answer!’ And now she was whirling around, naked and dancing like a madwoman, as the battle began to rage around us.