The Fireseed Wars

by John F. Carr

  Roxthar’s eyes darted around the lavishly furnished apartment, as though trying to find an answer or escape route. He noted the four guardsmen who stood still as statues with the studied boredom of skilled arena knife fighters. There was no doubt in anyone’s mind--least of all Roxthar’s--that if so ordered they would step forward with their huge halberds and carve the Investigator into beefsteaks.

  “You have won this round, Your Divinity,” Roxthar said, with a mocking little bow. “I have more important work to do in Hostigos and in Hos-Agrys. But, do not believe for a moment that I will fail to remember this--”

  For a moment, Roxthar was at a loss for words. Anaxthenes felt as if he should fall to his knees and say a prayer to the gods; unfortunately, he didn’t believe in any. Begrudgingly, he admitted to himself, they can be useful at times like these.

  “But return, I will. I promise you that!” The threat in Roxthar’s eyes was almost palpable. “I will be at the head of a great army and will clean the Temple from floor board to attic, starting here.”

  Anaxthenes, despite the chill that worked its way up his spine, nodded as if he heard these threats every day. “Just remember Archpriest I will have my own army waiting for your return.”

  Roxthar, his white robes flapping against his bony limbs, turned and stalked out of the room like a man-sized preying mantis.

  “I don’t know if it was a good idea to whip him up into such a lather,” Archpriest Grythos observed.

  “Maybe not, but I sure enjoyed it. Besides, this is nothing compared to how he’s going to squawk when I call a State of Emergency and take dictatorial power over the Inner Circle.”

  Grythos grinned. “His shrieks will reach the Sky-Palaces of the Gods. If we’re lucky, his head will leap right off his neck! Still, do you think it’s wise to make this move before the Investigator leaves?”

  “You make a good point,” Anaxthenes replied. “We’ll wait until Roxthar’s left to re-join the Grand Host. After all, I don’t need full Inner Circle approval, just a two-thirds majority with two-thirds of them in attendance. Once I’ve got Emergency Powers, you’ll have all the funding you need to recruit and train my Sephrax Guard.”

  “Most excellent, Your Divinity.”The look on Grythos face would have frightened any opponent. “For too long, Styphon’s House has used velvet gloves on these dissidents and true believers. Now, it’s time to bring out the steel gauntlets and hammers!”

  III

  “Hestophes, I must first apologize for not seeing you again after the victory celebration,” Kalvan said, “but I’ve been bound up in working out a safe exit from Ulthor. I take it you bring good news beyond your success at Librox Ford?”

  “Yes, Your Majesty, we brought back two thousand Styphoni prisoners, many of them Ktemnoi mercenaries. All are willing to join the Royal Army, after their current contracts expire, except for a score of holdouts. Those we will cut loose and send back to their Styphoni friends--if they survive a thousand marches back to Hos-Harphax across burned villages and stripped fields.”

  “Excellent news, although I’m not sure how we’re going to feed all the new soldiers.”

  “If we have to, Sire, we’ll take it from the Grand Host’s supply trains.”

  Kalvan laughed. “Easier said than done, but a good answer. How many casualties did we take at Librox Ford?”

  “Eighty dead and about two hundred wounded, but most will recover. Under a hundred killed. We left over three thousand dead Styphoni at the Ford; we cut the throats of all the wounded.”

  Two years ago Hestophes would have been appalled by the wanton murder of wounded soldiers, Kalvan observed. Now he accepted it as routine; it was truly a war to the death. Since the Siege of Tarr-Hostigos, there was no longer room for gallantry or courtesy or kindness. Like all religious wars, the war against Styphon’s House was down to kill--or be killed.

  “We also did as Your Majesty ordered: stripped and burned all the fields of corn and barley, razed the villages and towns and brought the survivors to Ulthor Port. The Grand Host will have to eat toasted stubble and starving rats for dinner. Nor will they find any forage since we burned the fields and meadows. Emptied the forests of game. The whole of northern Hostigos and southern Nyklos are a wasteland.”

  “I know. We saw the smoke from your passage even from here.” A part of Kalvan felt sickened by their purposeful destruction, but the other part felt relieved. The Grand Host would have slim pickings when they followed the Nyklos Trail, and would find another surprise when they reached Ulthor Port.

  “Were they fooled by our Agrysi?”

  “I believe so, Your Majesty. Duke Mnestros added a convincing touch, as did his allies. Now the Host will have to look northeast as well as west for their enemies.”

  “You have done well, Hestophes. Now, what can I do for you?”

  “Give me more Styphoni to kill!”

  “That I will do, my friend, all in due time. Now, have some of Ermut’s Best. I have something I want you to do for me.”

  “Of course, Your Majesty. What is it?” Hestophes asked.

  “I will soon be leaving Ulthor Port by ship with about a third of the Army; the rest will be going with Queen Rylla and Our subjects into the Trygath. I want you and the Army of Observation to be the vanguard for Queen Rylla’s Army of the Trygath. It is up to you to protect your Great Queen and Our people.”

  “Of course, Your Majesty. I will be honored.”

  “Good.” Kalvan felt touched by his sincerity. He was fortunate to have subordinates, like Hestophes and Phrames, whom he could rely on one hundred percent. “Here’s our plan: the Army of the Trygath is going to march through Vesthar and Cyros and graze those Rathoni Princedoms down to the bare ground, like a herd of starving sheep. We don’t want to leave anything behind for the Styphoni--no food, no wells, no fodder. We’ll drive the local farmers and townspeople that we oust from their homes ahead of us, so they’ll flood Rathon City and sap their supplies.”

  Hestophes nodded. “That should shake their resolve and leave that traitor Nestros quaking in his boots!”

  “If I know Rylla, Nestros will not live long enough to betray anyone again. However, once the Army reaches the Princedoms of Vysta and Rathon, I want you to bypass the villages and towns--leave their people alone, as well. Keep living off the land, but use as much as you can from our own stores. We are coming as liberators, to save them from their False King and Styphon’s House’s puppet masters, not as conquerors.”

  “That might work. Even if it doesn’t, it will sow confusion and dissension. ‘Divide and conquer,’ as you like to say, Your Majesty.”

  “Exactly. Besides, We have plans for Rathon City.”

  “By Dralm, those stout walls will stop the Styphoni in their tracks! Won’t they stop our Army as well?”

  Kalvan felt like a proud schoolmaster, one whose favorite pupil had not only mastered a difficult lesson, but learned to read between the lines as well. “Our plan is to bypass the City entirely and inflict as little damage as possible upon the Princedom of Rathon. We will provide weapons and support for those who opposed King Nestros. But we’ll leave it for the Styphoni to storm Rathon City.”

  “That’s a good plan, Your Majesty. With the fields of Rathon stripped bare and their own pantries empty, the Grand Host will have to bring in huge wagon trains of victuals to invest the City. If they leave it behind, we can cut their supply lines and attack them from the rear. But what if there is no Rathoni uprising, or it fails and does not supplant Great King Nestros?”

  Kalvan nodded thoughtfully. “We know from recent reports that his subjects are growing restive under his rule. Nestros has taxed them heavily to build five Great Temples within Rathon to glorify Styphon--part of his price for being granted recognition by Hos-Ktemnos. Nor are his people happy with the arrogance and demands from Styphons highpriests. With our encouragement and without direct support from Styphon’s House, it’s quite possible that the Rathoni people will rise up in rebellio
n and remove Nestros from his Throne.”

  “It’s a good plan, Sire, but often plans do not work as we would wish,” Hestophes observed. “In that case, we will be leaving behind us both an enemy and an ally of Styphon’s House.”

  Kalvan sighed. “True. However, we do not have the time to besiege Rathon City. We will have to take that chance. The plan is to drive the war home to the Styphoni for a change. If the uprising fails or doesn’t materialize, it will be up to you and the Army of Observation to slow down the Styphoni advance.

  “Meanwhile, I’ll be taking Thagnor so that we will have a place to winter this year. Otherwise, we will be at the mercy of the Gods.”

  Hestophes scowled.

  Kalvan could almost read his thoughts: he knew there was little mercy to be found in the Zarthani Pantheon of Gods. Only Allfather Dralm and Yirtta Allmother, cared about their children, but the Allfather and the Allmother were far away in his Sky-Palace watching his people in the Six Kingdoms. This new land knew its own gods and they were a vengeful lot.

  “Hestophes, I also want you to keep an eye on the Great Queen. Nothing obvious; she will upbraid me if she notices. Still, I do not want anything bad to happen to her.”

  When Hestophes nodded, Kalvan believed from the look in his eye that he truly understood. I wonder if he’s met someone? Rylla will know, I’ll have to ask her.

  Hestophes’ next words answered that question.

  “Your Majesty, now it is my turn to ask a boon. One of the captains of Queen Rylla’s Pioneers has done the Army of Observation a great service and I would like to have her company added to the Army.”

  “What’s this Captain’s name?” Kalvan asked, knowing full well if he didn’t find out he’d get the third degree from Rylla later on.

  “Her name is Captain Lysia. Her company was in command of the wagon you suggested we use as bait for the ambush, which worked as planned--maybe better, Praise Galzar!”

  Praise Galzar, indeed, thought Kalvan. Three thousand dead Styphoni and another two thousand prisoners would be hard to improve upon.

  “I will bring your request to the Queen. I foresee no problems with your

  boon.”

  Hestophes all but bowed. “Thank you, Your Majesty.”

  “I take it you want to put this Captain under your protection.”

  Hestophes laughed uproariously. When his fit was finished, he said, “I could no more protect Lysia than you can protect your Great Queen! But I can try.”

  TEN

  Kalvan and Rylla held their strategy meeting before his private audience with Ambassador Dykar of the Nythros City States. The Nythros City States was at the site of Otherwhen Cleveland, Ohio and, like Renaissance Milan or Venice, was only one city-state with several large suburbs, which had probably been important towns in their own right a few hundred years ago. Nythros reminded Kalvan of Venice, with its Council of Oligarchs and Doge, only the Nythrosi called their Council the Family of Five and their Doge was titled Koynig, which meant king in Urgothi.

  Ranjar Sargos, the current leader of the Sastragath, called himself Var-Wannax--which meant Great Leader and was the linguistic equivalent of Great King (Hos-Vanax) in Zarthani. The Sastragathi tongue was an interesting analogue to Mycenaean Greek and proto-Germanic tongues. In the Great Lakes Urgothi, Sargos would have been called Grot-Koynig--the title that King (Koynig) Theovacar would embroil his kingdom in civil war to obtain.

  “What makes you think we can trust this oily snake, Dykar?” Rylla asked.

  Kalvan took a moment to clean out the ash from his pipe barrel. He had to choose his words carefully with Rylla, before she drew the wrong conclusion. Paranoia was a normal state of mind among the Zarthani leadership--Urgothi, too, if Theovacar and Varrack were prime examples--and he didn’t want to trip any of her preset mental alarms.

  “Dykar is a typical ambassador; just think of Duke Skranga with charm.”

  Rylla hooted. “You mean Skranga without food stains on his robe and wearing a wig?”

  “Exactly. In the right clothes, Skranga could pass as an ambassador; Dralm knows he can speak circles around most of the breed.”

  Rylla shook her head. “That would be a sight to see. I wonder how the old fraud is doing in Hos-Bletha?”

  “Quite well,” said Kalvan, “according to the last dispatch we got from Colonel Ranthar. Their pretender king is causing no end of mischief and it’s doubtful that the Grand Host will see any reinforcements from Hos-Bletha for several winters. I just wish all of our plans had been so successful.”

  “Do not blame yourself, my love.” She came over and gave him a big hug. Only the interruption of Cleon arriving with more tea stopped it from turning into something far more fun and definitely more interesting than a discussion about upcoming negotiations with the Nythrosi ambassador.

  Kalvan took a sip of his boiling hot (he liked his tea and coffee hot) Ginseng tea, which had the highest caffeine content of any of the local brews. He would have mounted an expedition to central Ethiopia (without the Ottoman Turks, it was doubtful that coffee would have been introduced into Europe), if he had an ocean-worthy craft and more than a few stolen moments, to bring back a sampling of coffee trees. He missed his morning and afternoon coffee pick-me-ups more than he missed listening to the Pirates’ baseball games on radio, cold beer or a hot shower!

  “Phrames told me that the word in Greffa is that the trade war between Grefftscharr and the Nythros City States is about to go from simmer to boil, if the Nythrosi don’t back down. Nythros has been encroaching on several areas the Grefftscharri tend to think of as their own turf--Baltor and Morthron. I believe the Nythrosi may need us as much as we need them, with the enmity of Grefftscharr making us both ‘friends.’ So, there’s no charity here, or reason for double-dealing. Not at the moment.”

  “I’m glad you clarified that,” Rylla replied. “The Nythrosi have a reputation for duplicity and back stabbing. Enough so that we’d even heard about it in distant Hostigos.”

  “Your warning will be taken into consideration. They’re also building up their navy so they need gold--and that we’ve got.”

  “Be careful with our Treasury, my husband. Once that’s gone, it will be hard to replace.”

  “I know. Thirteen million ounces of gold seems like a lot, until you have half a million mouths to feed. I will wring the best deal from Dykar I can. We are in far more desperate straits than Nythros: we don’t have a potential war, we’re in the middle of one. Meanwhile, we have to mount a full-blown invasion while being chased by a buffalo herd called the Grand Host that’s about to run us over. We can’t expect this gift of time to go on for much longer. As soon as Grand Master Soton returns from Balph, the pursuit will begin. And I mean for all of us to be out of here before that happens. You, my love, will be in Rathon City pinning the ears of that traitorous dog Nestros.”

  “Not pinning, my husband, but cutting! How many temples of Styphon was he ordered to build after his meeting with former First Speaker Anaxthenes?”

  “Sixteen rebuilt and fifty new ones, although some are too far away to pursue and others are still being built. You should be able to sack at least half a dozen of them at fifty thousand ounces of gold a temple. Wasn’t that the estimate Harmakros came up with for the amount of gold leaf on a typical Styphon’s House Temple dome?”

  “Yes, and twice that for the Grand Temples, such as the one at Rathon City!”

  “Well, a few of those will go a long way to paying the passage money for the Army of the Saltless Seas that I’ll be taking to Thagnor.”

  “Agreed. My Army of the Trygath will pay for its own way and the storehouses of Rathon City will feed our multitudes. We will not be so fastidious in this war, my husband, about ‘living off the land’ as you so graciously put it. However, we will step more carefully once we enter Rathon.”

  Kalvan smiled. I’m so glad we’re back on the same page, he thought happily. Things had been bleak before for the Kingdom of Hos-Hostigos; now they
were absolutely pitch black. It was do or die time and he meant to see that he and his dynasty kept on living. With no Xentos to restrain her, and Prince Phrames with the Army of the Saltless Seas, Rylla would be free to do that which she did best--drive and conquer. Captain-General Hestophes would lead the van with Prince Sarrask commanding the rear guard. Rylla had a lot of responsibility; half a million Hostigi lives depended upon her judgment--as well as the survival of their dynasty.

  Earlier they had divided up the Royal Army--he was taking ten thousand men, including most of the Royal Army infantry, all the light mobile guns and Galzar’s Teeth, the brass sixteen-pounder, in case they had to do some serious breaking and entering. The Army of the Trygath got two batteries and the huge thirty-two pounder the gunner’s had named The Fat Duchess. For cavalry, he was adding what was left of the Mobile Force, about a thousand horse, and his Life Guard and the Hostigi Heavy Horse, about three hundred of what would have been called men-at-arms or knights back on otherwhen. Rylla got most of the cavalry, the Army of Observation (less the Mobile Force) and all the Princely infantry and horse for her Army of the Trygath, some twenty-five thousand strong. He let her keep the First Hostigos Rifles, the only rifle-armed infantry regiment which combined the survivors of the original First and Second Hostigos Rifles regiments.

  Rylla had refused his Tymannian Guard, saying that Xykos and his Beefeaters were more than up to the task of guarding her. They now had a new cavalry regiment, Queen Rylla’s Own Horse Guard, to protect her during battle. It had taken half a moon to find a horse large enough to seat Grand-Captain Xykos comfortably--for the horse, that is--only a captured destrier from the Zarthani Knights would do!

  He’d had one of the Royal Scribes write up a duplicate list of the men, armaments and provisions he was taking with him so that he could present it to the Nythrosi Ambassador. He was just finishing his tea when Cleon entered.

  “The Nythrosi Ambassador has arrived, Your Majesty.”