by Stephen Hunt
A well-armed sentry post of Vandians and Weylanders checked Duncan and Paetro’s papers before admitting them to the old assembly building. What had once been the rebellion’s headquarters now served its conquerors. With the siege over, the various army followers and courtiers mingled freely with officers and nobility from two nations inside the building. And three of the women in the main chamber encapsulated Duncan’s plight right there. His countrywoman Adella Cheyenne, a local beauty whom he had once loved, and who had betrayed him to take up with Baron Machus. Princess Helrena, mistress of Duncan’s house, whom he still loved but who had forsaken him for the necessity of a future political marriage to Prince Gyal. And Leyla Landor, his father’s ridiculously youthful and spirited new bride, whom he felt little for, but who was the only one to console him behind Benner Landor’s back, the one woman who seemed to appreciate Duncan for who he was.
Paetro moved through the chamber to locate Princess Helrena while Duncan halted briefly to converse with his father. Benner Landor wore the blue uniform of a colonel of the Royal Artillery with a pleased, proud superiority that came naturally to the landowner. You wouldn’t have known that before the rebellion, the closest Duncan’s wealthy father had got to a cannon was walking past the unused wall guns mounted along the ramparts of Northhaven’s old town. Yes, this has been a good war for old man Landor. He had been elevated to the nobility for his support in the war; the self-made man made respectable at last. His young new wife had seen to that.
‘Have you heard the news?’ Benner Landor growled at his son. ‘We are to travel home to Northhaven. The Army of the Boles is to be garrisoned in the prefecture while we pursue the last few outlaws and seek to dig the damnable pretender out from the burrow of his exile.’
‘It’s not my home anymore, Father,’ said Duncan. ‘I will be returning to the Imperium when the Vandians depart.’ And the sooner, the better.
Benner sounded hurt. ‘You don’t want to see Hawkland Park again?’
‘If the empire requires it . . .’
Benner shook his head, sadly. ‘I wish you would reconsider leaving.’ He turned to look for Leyla Landor, signalling his young wife should come over, calling out. ‘Talk sense to this lad, Leyla. He seems to heed your counsel these days far more readily than mine.’
‘You don’t need me. Not anymore,’ said Duncan. He watched the young wife walk towards them. Leyla might not spark anything approaching true love in his heart, but by the saints, she could certainly raise his ardour. Her walk, the way she slipped through the crowd, her sensual voice and manners. There wasn’t a thing about Leyla he would change except the old gull she had chosen to marry. ‘The House of Landor has a new mistress of the estate and a new heir.’
‘But it still holds our old welcome for you. Has your time away from our country changed the boy I knew so much?’
Duncan held back from pointing out that Benner Landor had rarely spent time with either of his two children. Too busy with the affairs of the house. ‘Perhaps time has. And Weyland won’t be the same country after the rebellion has been crushed.’
Leyla drew close and curtsied towards Duncan and he returned a shallow bow, having to tear his eyes away from the way she seductively brushed folds from her purple velvet and cotton day-dress.
‘You’re wrong about the nation, too,’ said Benner Landor. ‘Our tenant farms still need administering. The land will require seeding and ploughing and hard toil across the seasons. There will be even more contracts coming our way to supply grain fuel to the skyguard’s new squadrons. Whatever animosities the rebellion against the king sparked, they will be buried with the final few outlaws and traitors.’
Duncan’s father believed the southern newspapers’ propaganda a little too readily. The rural north bred hard families who lived equally tough lives. They wouldn’t bend their knees so readily in front of conquering southern armies. If anything got buried after the rebellion’s end, it might well be a dagger in the spine of those who had supported the king a little too readily.
Leyla observed her husband as he walked off towards the general, a look of mischief crossing her face. ‘You could stay with us.’ She leant in to rub the inseam of Duncan’s trousers unnoticed by the others in the room. ‘I will always have a special place just for you.’
‘You knew the time would come when I put Weyland behind me and returned to the Imperium.’
‘And things shall be so boring at Hawkland Park without you, Duncan. Peace will arrive and Benner will return to his tedious clerks and crops and bills of lading.’
‘Such tedium is where the house’s fortune is found. But my father will be Lord of the Northern Marches or whatever title it was King Marcus promised him for his support in the war.’
‘And what will I do while Benner glories in his newfound reputability?’
‘You could start by increasing the bounty on the head of Nocks. There’s still been no sighting of the creature since the fall of the city.’
Leyla sighed, as though it had been she who had suffered a great betrayal. ‘I don’t blame Nocks so much as I blame your sister . . . she seduced Nocks and goaded him into trying to murder you. Nocks was always the most loyal of man-servants before Willow dangled the promise of her body in front of him like a fancy lure to the trout.’
‘The law will catch up with my sister.’
‘And when are you and I to catch up?’
‘Don’t you have a son to raise? The House of Landor’s new heir.’
Leyla giggled. ‘How provincial of you, Duncan. A true lady doesn’t bother herself with the minutiae of childcare. That’s what all those wet-nurses, governesses and tutors are paid for. Young Asher will be educated at a grand southern academy inside the capital, alongside the children of the rich and the high-born. I refuse to bring him north after the war ends; he would be completely corrupted in base company.’
‘I didn’t turn out so bad.’
‘You ran wild like a ruffian by all accounts,’ said Leyla, squeezing his arm. ‘But then, perhaps it’s the rogue in you that calls out to me. Do I have to point towards your sister’s behaviour to illustrate the disadvantages of being raised alongside sordid commoners?’ She nodded towards Paetro. ‘Willow betrayed and abandoned your Vandian soldier friend during the siege, didn’t she? Left him for dead and fled with that outlaw Jacob Carnehan, all the while scheming for Nocks to put a bullet in your back.’
‘I’ll provide a proper education for Willow after she’s tracked down. It won’t be long before Nocks and Willow run out of rocks to hide under,’ said Duncan. Damn my sister. Duncan had given Willow a second chance to make up for her betrayal of him inside the empire and how had she repaid his soft heart? She had sold out her entire family, betrayed them all – her new husband, her father and brother and step-mother. And for what? To run off with that fool Carter Carnehan and his murdering pirate of a father – to help the rebels turn against their lawful king? Well, I won’t be stupid enough to give Willow another chance. The best she’ll get from me is being turned over to her rich dolt of a husband for chastisement. He supposed Viscount William Wallingbeck would allow Willow to give birth to his new heir before he handed his treacherous wife over to the magistrates. Pleading your belly was a well-known legal ploy to escape justice inside a courtroom. But not this time. Willow had murdered a servant down south in a fit of pique, as well as plotting to slay Duncan while she betrayed the loyalist cause. May the saints give me the opportunity to watch Willow pay for her crimes before I quit this place.
‘I don’t see Viscount Wallingbeck here. How is his lordship dealing with my dear sister dishonouring her marriage vows?’
Leyla frowned. ‘Less than happily, it is fair to say. He is the officer who led the cavalry charge which broke the back of the pretender’s forces defending Midsburg. William should be being celebrated as a war hero. Instead, he is being laughed at as a fool who let his wild wife run away to join the rebellion, absconding with his unborn son in her belly. The viscou
nt comes from a proud and ancient line. Mockery is not what he enjoys being served. Lady Wallingbeck will find very little to enjoy about their reunion when the time comes.’
I’m surprised the boorish dolt even noticed she’d slipped away. ‘He’ll have to fight the constables for her attentions.’
Leyla waved a finger in the direction of Princess Helrena and Prince Gyal. ‘Over to your mistress and offer her a little honey to keep her sweet. When you need to make more, you may re-visit my flower. I will be passing the Blue Shutter Hotel in my horse trap at the usual time this evening.’
‘And I thought that being at the front of a column storming a city wall was dangerous enough.’
‘My horses require their regular gallop, as do I.’
‘What if my father notices your absence?’
‘Oh, but Benner has other interests. Our quarters are covered with plans of how he will develop the prefecture when we hold Northhaven again. Between him and Prefect Colbert, they are dividing up the wealth of the north. At least on paper.’
‘How little things change,’ sighed Duncan.
‘While others don’t . . . you are still a Landor. It is your obligation to fill in for the head of the house. And I have some most interesting duties planned for you.’
Duncan bowed towards her. ‘Then I am obliged . . .’ She left his side for Benner Landor’s, and Duncan couldn’t help but notice the envious male glances following her from among the rest of the officer corps. Damned if she’ll lack for company when I’m back in Vandia. What a fool my father is. He orders the finest meal in the restaurant and leaves it uneaten while he jabbers on about government contracts and the house’s coffers.
Duncan made to join his friend Paetro but was halted by the one woman he didn’t want to talk to this afternoon. Sadly, as always, the duplicitous Adella Cheyenne had schemes of her own.
‘What a delightful lady the new mistress of Hawkland Park is,’ said Adella. ‘And what a delightful fool the great Benner Landor must be. Or perhaps not – as I hear that the new Lady Landor’s recent birth has rapidly made your position as heir redundant.’
‘You know nothing about Lady Landor,’ snarled Duncan.
‘How protective of you. How gallant. Why that look? It’s almost as if you don’t like seeing me here.’
‘Maybe I don’t like being reminded of my mistakes.’
‘You don’t like meeting me because I cause you to remember that you’re no different from me. Just hanging on to a different set of coattails, is all.’
‘I have earned my position here. While you were sitting on picnic blankets on the hills above Midsburg swapping gossip and cold meats with Vandian courtesans and southern courtiers, I was in the thick of the siege.’
‘Then more fool you,’ said Adella. ‘Although that tiresome slaughter has bought me one small advantage. I suppose it is only fair for the people of Northhaven to see me one last time before I travel back to the Imperium.’
Adella made it sound as though she would appear above their old town like an angel descending from heaven, a halo of holy fire burning brilliantly around her. ‘Yes, that’s just what they’ve been waiting for.’
‘Sour grapes?’ Adella laughed. ‘Well, why not. You family holds title to almost every other crop in Northhaven. I warned you when we met in Vandis . . .’ She indicated Prince Gyal and Princess Helrena across the chamber, deep in conversation while Paetro stood by, waiting for his chance to report. ‘Your precious princess would discard you like a hound dropping a bone just as soon as some real meat presented itself.’
‘And what does that make you? One bone among many on the baron’s table.’
‘There are few males among the celestial caste who do not keep a harem,’ said Adella. ‘It is the empire’s way. Many heirs make for a strong house. Unfortunately for you and your princess, the same custom does not apply for a female head of house. Helrena Skar will be Prince Gyal’s wife, perhaps an empress for an emperor, and what then for poor Duncan Landor?’
What then indeed? ‘You forget, I am a free man now. A citizen.’
‘Oh, but aren’t there an awful lot of them in Vandis? Clogging up the capital’s streets and avenues. You must have noticed how thick the unruly mobs run as you flew over them in your lover’s helo?’
‘I’m sure your view is better next to the baron – at least, it is when you can push your way to the front of the cockpit through all his other concubines.’
Adella rubbed her belly. ‘My child is due to be born in a few weeks. The baron always favours wives who present him with strong children.’
Duncan located the brutish baron in the crowd. Duncan had reason to loathe the coarse Vandian noble even without his removal of Adella from the sky mines. Baron Machus’s treachery had nearly led to Cassandra being kidnapped by her dangerous grandmother. There’s a man who appreciates a fresh bone to gnaw. ‘You deserve each other.’
‘Keep your hypocrisy. I did what I had to do to survive, Duncan. If you want my advice, you’ll remain behind in Weyland, free citizen. Help old man Landor run his house and count yourself lucky to have ever escaped the sky mines.’
‘Your counsel is the last thing I need. I’m not heading anywhere until I rescue Lady Cassandra.’
‘And don’t you think that celestial class brat’s better off staying in Weyland, too?’ pouted Adella. ‘Even as a hostage? Prince Gyal won’t be happy with another man’s leavings clogging up matters of imperial succession. The first child sired by Prince Gyal that drops out of Helrena’s womb might as well be carrying an execution warrant for the silly girl.’
‘Protecting Lady Cassandra is my business.’
She laughed. ‘Really? One way or another it’s a trade that’s going to get you killed, I think. But then, you’re one of the high and mighty Landors. I’m sure you know what you’re doing.’
‘As you did, you mean, when you betrayed the escape attempt inside the sky mines?’
‘Don’t appear a bigger fool than you already are,’ said Adella. ‘Nobody truly escapes from the sky mines, even if you don’t die in the attempt. Look around you, count the Vandians and their legions and their warships and fleet. Sent to punish their slave revolt. Perish in the Imperium, or die later. That’s no choice at all. I chose to live, as did you. You can’t forgive me because you can’t forgive yourself. But I don’t suffer from such a weakness.’
Duncan snorted. Adella was right about one thing, he had been a fool, once; at least as far as she was concerned. To think that if the skel slavers hadn’t struck Northhaven, I might have ended up marrying her. Duncan had experienced a few narrow escapes on the battlefield, but none so narrow as escaping this woman. ‘We’ll lay on one more picnic for you and your useless friends. It might be a little chilly along the border, but I’m sure the camp followers will dress up warm.’ He stalked away without a backward glance. Paetro stood stoically, waiting for Princess Helrena to free herself from the company of the mission’s commander as he held forth. The prince almost enjoys the sound of his own voice as much as my father likes to drone on about the Landor fortune.
‘It is a delicate balance to maintain,’ said Prince Gyal. ‘If we flood the slave auctions with too much produce, we will depress prices and many of the market owners’ houses will turn against us. Perhaps we should make gifts of the slaves to buy wavering allies? We could announce it on the victory podium after we march down the Grand Avenue.’
Duncan resisted the urge to glare openly at the prince. Being crowned emperor is all that matters to him. Not Helrena. Surely she must see that?
‘Any friend who can be bought is only waiting for a better price to be your enemy,’ said Princess Helrena. ‘And your plans for a triumph in the capital are premature. The rebels still hold my daughter hostage.’
‘Our plans,’ said Gyal. ‘And I have not forgotten the bargain we struck. The local rebels will scramble to hand over Lady Cassandra soon enough. She is the only bargaining chip they possess to save their skins.’
‘I would not underestimate the Weylanders. These rebels you dismiss so easily led the only successful slave revolt inside the empire in a thousand years.’
‘The stain of which has been well avenged here,’ said Gyal. ‘Their supposedly proud rebel capital fell in a day, and how could it be otherwise? Armoured legions and helo squadrons and electric rifles against horsemen with sabres and a few primitive holster guns. When ice meets a fire there can be only one result . . . ice melts away and drains into the soil.’
‘Melt enough ice and you may drown in it,’ warned Helrena.
‘You are over-cautious,’ laughed Prince Gyal. ‘A trait you must overcome when you rule by my side as empress. This campaign will prove as a glorious example of how far Vandia may project her power no matter what the distance from the empire. The Imperium’s borders have remained static for far too long. There are countless nations out here awaiting annexation, like grains of sand on a beach. We shall create a vast outer ring of imperial provinces and reward our allies with governorships of the new territories.’