by J. P. Wagner
“I’ve found her! There’s a rough wood cottage up a ways and to our right.” Carrtog reported. “Now to get there and bring her out before they know we’re nearby.”
“So we stop here and make some plans,” Yakor said.
“The first thing I want to know is whether or not they’ve got anything up to protect themselves against magic. I’ll get started at that right now.”
“Be careful, for the Gods’ sakes. You don’t want to go poking them with a magical stick and letting them know we’re here.”
Carrtog gave him a look. “Give me credit for a bit of sense, will you? His Majesty’s tutors taught me how to do more than poke people with sticks.”
Yakor gave a slight smile. “Sorry. I’m sure they did; carry on.”
In fact, being cautious about it required the better part of a half-hour, but at the end of that time Carrtog took a deep breath and said, “They do have some protection spells up, but nothing really powerful. I’m guessing their magician doesn’t want to extend himself too soon, so as to save his strength for when he has to deal with me. And they didn’t really expect to deal with me at all, I suspect. As far as they’re concerned, I’m still sitting up at Kilgarhai, either waiting for their message, or trying to decide how to respond.”
“At least, you hope so.”
“Actually, I’m going to plan on the basis that they suspect we’re out here somewhere and planning to come on in. I hope that makes you feel better. And before you ask, I believe there are no more than about a dozen men in there.”
Yakor turned aside and spat on the ground. “My first suggestion, maybe my only one, is that you go in fast and furious, to give them less time to think.”
Carrtog nodded. “Exactly.”
Gryff spoke up, a bit diffidently. “I’ve been working on some devices to help us out, including something to bring down the front door.”
Two grim faces turned to him in unison, and he jerked, almost as if struck.
“Uh— it may not be all that good an idea,” he muttered.
“Nonsense!” declared Carrtog. “I’ve been fiddling with notions along the way but putting the finishing touches on your work would probably be quicker than my working things out from the start.”
“It will probably require the destruction of one or more of the balloons.”
“Out with it, boy!” growled Yakor.
Gryff was still cowed by having the full attention of both Carrtog and Yakor, but he continued. “If we hang a container, preferably metal, full of gunpowder under a balloon and float it over to the door, then set off the powder. Uh… could you do that by magic Lord?”
“By magic or by some other means. Perhaps best if we put in a handful of pistol balls as well. Before we do this, I would like to make certain that Lady Adengler is not being held anywhere near that door.”
“Of course, Lord.”
“We have something to make this canister out of?” asked Yakor.
#
‘Something’ ended up being one of several short lengths of fallen tree that they had brought along, already hollowed out, metalized, and turned into short lengths of pipe. They blocked one end with another short round piece of wood and patched all the cracks with short chips. They spread pistol balls across the bottom and placed a bag of gunpowder on top. They made a small slit in the bag and stuck a fuse into it, then spread more pistol balls on top. They made another round lid, put it in with the fuse protruding, then fastened it with more chips.
“You think this will do?” asked Yakor, doubtfully.
“It might,” answered Carrtog, “but I’m going to take it a step further, working on Enemantwin’s lessons. I’m going to change the wooden parts of this thing into metal, specifically iron.”
“Won’t that make it too heavy for the ballon?”
“I’ve been working on a spell to increase the lift produced by hot air. So far the effect is limited in both effect and time, though I hope to increase those limitations in times to come. Now’s as good a time as any to test those spells.”
He set the wooden container carefully on the ground, then walked a short distance away and poured a small charge of gunpowder onto a wooden chip. He used a taper to set off the charge of powder, at the same time repeating an invocation.
He then took his belt-knife and tapped the blade against the container. It gave off the familiar near-metallic ‘ting.’
“It worked.”
Yakor’s eyebrows rose. “Had you doubted it?”
“No, not really; I’ve practiced it several times since Enemantwin first taught it to me. It’s just that this attempt has a lot more riding on it.
“I see. Before we go breaking down doors, you don’t suppose they might have someone inside there watching for balloons to come floating up the front road carrying big packages of gunpowder?”
“Actually, I was planning to put a charm on it to make it less easy to notice.”
“Invisibility?”
“No, invisibility is hard to get right on something that’s moving. Nor is it a spell that I’ve practiced. I plan to use something more like ‘Don’t Really Notice This,’ but with a fair bit of power behind it.”
“’Don’t Really Notice This?’” Yakor repeated. “You’ll convince someone not to notice a great big round thing drifting up to their door?”
“I will admit that it would work better on someone or something drifting up between the trees, but I think we can get away with this.”
“You think so seriously enough to take the risk?”
“Yes, I do. But just to make sure, I’ll be ready to rush the door before the noise of the explosion starts to die down.”
“You? Who’s going to control the balloon?”
“I am. But I plan to get right up close before I set up the table and the scrying-bowl to control it by.”
“You do, do you? And do you plan to use this ‘Don’t Really Notice Us?’ spell to hide us as we get up close?”
“’Us?’ I hadn’t really intended there to be an ‘Us,’ just me and the equipment.”
“How many people did you expect to waste getting me tied up so you could leave me behind?”
“I was hoping you’d have sense enough to let me do this by myself.”
“You were, were you, boy? My job is not to let you go taking boneheaded risks by yourself. If I can’t talk you out of it, my job is to go along and lessen the risk as much as I can.”
“What if I tell you that the chance of failure of the ‘Don’t Really Notice Me?’ spell is increased for every extra person included?”
“Then we won’t let anybody else come along. They’ll just have to start running from further back as soon as the charge explodes.”
#
Carrtog maneuvered the balloon and its cargo toward the door. It was nearly impossible to believe that nobody in the house could see the balloon; it was so clearly visible out here, with neither trees nor brush to hide it. But no one opened a door or a window, nor fired a shot at it.
He and Yakor were out behind a bush, possibly the only bush within a stone’s throw of the house, with the scrying-bowl set carefully level on a clump of grass.
A moment more and the balloon would touch the door. Carrtog picked up the stick that had been magically connected to the fuse. When he broke the stick, the fuse would immediately catch fire. The fuse itself would burn quickly; within two to three heartbeats it would set off the powder charge. After that, they would go in through the door, and after that…
He snapped the stick.
For a moment, he thought the thing had failed, then there was a roaring explosion and the whole front of the building was obscured by a cloud of smoke. Several things, either pistol balls or bits of the container, whipped through the bush above them, clipping off bits of twigs and leaves, and Carrtog was glad that he and Y
akor had lain down on the grass behind the bush that hid them.
But Yakor was already on his feet, and Carrtog was only a little slower.
Yakor and Carrtog leaped up the three steps into the acrid powder-smoke to face the door. Several pistol balls and bits of the canister had gone right through, but it had not been blown down in its entirety. Carrtog brought up his right foot and stamped forward against the door; the lower half of it flew inward to land somewhere beyond, and the upper half hung there for a moment, then clattered to the floor.
Carrtog went through the doorway at a run, pistol raised. A man came out of a hallway across the room, pistol in hand. Carrtog fired, then tucked his pistol into his sash, switching his sword to his right hand. Through the smoke, he saw the man stagger back against the wall and slide down.
More men came pouring into the room. Yakor’s pistol fired, adding to the smoke; a man in front of Carrtog lunged forward, sword thrusting. Carrtog’s blade was up and parrying in a moment, the two blades clanging and screeching together.
The man was no poor swordsman, either; he and Carrtog matched thrust for thrust, parry for parry, until Carrtog managed to hit home with a thrust to the throat.
The fight then became a melee in the dim confines of the main room of the house; Carrtog vaguely had time to be grateful that Yakor had insisted on not having the full force of his guard take part in the attack.
Suddenly, there were no more men to be fought in the front room, and Carrtog was racing down the hallway where they had estimated that Addy’s room was located. He flung open the first door and, seeing it was empty, turned aside to the next one. This one was locked, so he stamped his heel into it, and the latch pulled free with the sound of splintering wood. The windows were blocked by shutters, but some light came in by means of the cracks between them. He could see a figure standing beside a bed. “Addy?”
She rushed over “Carrtog! You’re here!”
“Of course I am. Did you just think I’d sit by while some group of bandits stole you? Come, let’s get out of here.”
“Oh Carrtog!” There was anguish in her voice. “They’ve killed Aderyn!”
“Is that what they told you? They lied. Yakor got to her room before they could get in. We’ve brought her along with us just to be sure she stayed safe.”
She turned to Yakor. “Yakor? I could kiss you!”
“Not right this moment, if you please, Lady. We might still have some fighting before we get away clean.”
That statement was accentuated by further clashing of swords back in the front room, along with shouts of fighting men, as well as more than one scream as men fell, wounded or dying, as the main body of Carrtog’s guard entered the house. The battle was done a moment after that.
It was Yakor who gave the orders to their men. “Let’s go! We don’t leave anyone behind, wounded or dead. Make sure of it.”
“Yes sir!”
#
Gryff had brought the stew-pot up to the door towing the wagon set up for carrying passengers in relative comfort. Carrtog saw Addy on board where Aderyn was waiting in the arms of her nursemaid.
“None of us want to stay around here in the company of all the dead, so we’re going to pack up and be gone immediately.”
Holding her daughter tight in her arms as if she were never going to let her go again, Addy merely nodded quickly.
‘Immediately’ turned out to require a bit more time than the word inferred. It was Yakor who suggested, “We should search the place, see if there’s any sign who hired them. I know we suspect the king, but it might have been the rebels. After all, you were being fairly effective in keeping the railway line open.”
Carrtog stood still for a moment, then nodded. “You’re right, of course. Would you go give the orders?”
Yakor glanced at Addy, smiling, then said, “Yes, of course, sir.”
Carrtog sat quietly in the doorway of the passenger-wagon along with his wife and daughter. The child was holding on to her mother, afraid she would go away again, and Addy was trying to comfort her as best she could. As for Carrtog, all he could do was to sit quietly with them, giving silent assurance that all was well.
Yakor finally came out of the house. “We searched everywhere and everyone. I don’t suppose we actually expected a written letter from the king requesting that they kidnap your wife and kill your daughter. There was, of course, nothing like that, only a suspiciously large amount of money amongst the lot of them. We found most of it on that Llodcar; there’s no saying which of our bunch killed him, but if we could find out, we should give him some kind of reward. That Llodcar’s the kind of gowk I always think’s better dead.”
“Well, take about half the money and share it out among our men. You take one in ten of the rest, and I’ll use what’s left to help defray the costs of the rescue.”
“One in ten? Isn’t that overly generous?”
Carrtog smiled. “Argue, and I’ll make it two in ten.”
Yakor nodded, smiling. “All right, if you insist, sir.”
#
The return trip was less hurried and they took greater care for the comfort of their passengers. They also stopped overnight more often in towns, having a good deal more money then they previously had.
Thus it was on the night before they reached the capital, that they discovered the drapery of mourning black adorning the small inn where they stopped. The window sashes were black, the staff were all dressed in black, and at the peak of the roof of the porch there was a black streamer.
Carrtog called the innkeeper over. “We’ve been off in the back country. Who’s passed away?”
“Why, King Bornival, may the Gods be good to him, Sir. He fought a great battle, and beat the Northies right well, but in the very end, some Gods-cursed Northie fired a shot and hit him accidentally. Accident or no, it took him in the heart, and he died there, victorious. The leader of the Northies that Rhadfel Llorsan, was killed as well, so it looks as if the war is over, at least until some other Northie takes it into his head to rise up against the queen.”
“The queen?”
The innkeeper looked at Carrtog sharply. “You have been off in the back-country indeed! Why, Queen Ellevar, of course. Everyone knows that the king, Gods keep him, had no male heir, and his wife had passed away some time ago. There’s this lord and that lord think only a man should rule over a country, but Queen Ellevar has shown herself to have a good head on her shoulders, and she’s had a good few lords behind her from the start. So, long may she reign, I say!”
He was looking at Carrtog gravely, so Carrtog answered, “Long may she reign indeed! I was taken by surprise because, as it happens, my wife, the Lady Adengler, was, until our marriage, a lady-in-waiting to the then princess Ellevar.”
It seemed clear that the innkeeper did not really believe this tale, but was polite enough not to say so out loud, in particular to a lord who had a large following of armed men.
#
In private, Carrtog, Addy, and Yakor talked this over.
“If it wasn’t so late in the day, I’d suggest we carry on to Waliauchel today,” Carrtog said. “I wonder just how much of our landlord’s story is fact, and how much is elaboration as the tale’s passed on.”
“I think we can depend on the fact that the king is dead. Just how he died might not be exactly as the landlord’s version has it,” Yakor answered. “This could be a dangerous turn of events. You’ll recall, you have no few enemies because you had the king’s favor. Cause could be made for the accusation that you abandoned your post, no matter what the circumstance. There might be any number of them willing to try to force the queen to have you disgraced over it.”
“She wouldn’t agree to something like that,” Addy said.
Yakor shrugged. “Being a ruler doesn’t necessarily mean that she can do anything she likes. She will need the support of h
er lords. If a large enough group of them demand something, she may have to fall in with it simply in order to be able to do anything that requires the support of those lords in the future.”
“On the other hand, even if I wait until I get back to Kilgarhai to send her a message, I’ll still be in the same situation. I think I’ll be better off altogether to stop by, if only to let her prepare for whatever trouble comes.”
Addy nodded, “Though she had nothing to say about matters of government, she was more aware of how the kingdom was run than you might think. I’d say that you’d be best to stop in and talk to her. At the very least, you can give her your condolences on the death of her father, even though you may be nearly certain he paid those brigands to kidnap me.”
Carrtog nodded. “Then its decided, we’ll stop by to give our condolences and to let her know that we were successful in dealing with those outlaws.”
#
Next morning, therefore, they set out for the capital, in a mood of uncertainty. Conversation was sparse for most of the day, and even little Aderyn caught the mood and was fretful, requiring her mother’s attention to the point that her nursemaid could barely conceal her relief when Addy took charge of her in the afternoon.
As they rolled into the outskirts of Waliauchel later that day, it became clear that their landlord the previous night had the story essentially correct. The whole town seemed to be in mourning, and broadsheets posted on town walls extolled the bravery of King Bornival, who had died boldly leading his men in the charge that led to victory.
“You can’t call down a king who dies in battle, especially if the battle’s won,” Yakor observed. “So that’s the official version, no matter what the facts might be.”
It was too late, of course, to call on the queen that day, but they left word that they would be calling the next day and found lodgings for themselves for the night.
Getting in to see Princess Ellevar had been one matter, getting in to see Queen Ellevar was quite another. The ruler of Cragmor had numerous demands on her time, and visits from old friends, no matter how dear, had to take second place to the requirements of the nation.