The Cor Chronicles: Volume 02 - Fire and Steel

by Martin V. Parece II

  “As soon as you’re done eating milord. They’re all here now.”

  “What?” Holt asked, his mouth full of grease soaked bread. He looked around the common room and saw men of all sorts across the room breakfasting, many of them armed. In fact, he counted about a score in all. “Do we have enough? These people are hard to kill I hear.”

  “There are only four,” Marek said, answering his own question.

  “You are sure? And you are sure that we’re on the right road?”

  Marek sighed and leaned back in his chair, staring at the ceiling for several breaths while Holt merely gazed at him and chewed. Marek dropped his chair to the floor and leaned forward. “Look, I’m a professional. I placed several good men on the three most likely routes from Fort Haldon. They come this way, and there are four of them - three with gray skin and the woman.

  “I’m surprised that a lord and lady would travel with so little protection, even if they’re as deadly as these two are claimed to be,” Holt grumbled, unconvinced. “What if others join them along the way?”

  “We’ll have advance warning of any changes. Besides, I’m not worried about a few peasants turned soldier. These men here are the best professional soldiers money can buy.”

  “Mercenaries. Larnd -“

  Marek cut him off with a loud coughing fit, spraying Holt’s plate with crumbs. He made quite a show of regaining his breath, followed by a long, deep drink of not the clearest water. After being sure that no one paid them any mind, or at least no one other than the men they had hired, the black haired Marek said, “Don’t talk anymore. Yes, they’re all here. Yes, that’s how fast we move. Yes they’re ready to fight, and they know some will die. But none of them think they’ll be the ones. Frankly, I think the whole damn business is stupid and foolhardy, ‘cause we don’t really know how many we’ll have to fight, and we know one of ‘em breathes fire or something. I think my brother is blinded by that whole chest of gold we carted away from the old man for the job. I’d just as soon say forget it, but I’m contracted now. So shut up, eat your breakfast and let’s go.”

  The old soldier stared at the murderer, locking eyes for a long moment, partially in disbelief at the man’s candor. For a moment, anger that a lowly criminal would dare speak to him in such a way roared in Holt’s mind, and he weighed the consequences of breaking the man’s jaw. Finally, Holt’s eyes cleared, and he went back to his food with nothing else to say on the matter. The mission was the most important thing. As he finished his meal and pushed the plate away with a belch, Marek stood from the table and leisurely made his way for the inn’s exit. Holt quickly followed, and as they passed, armed men followed suit one after the other. After a few minutes, only a few Westerners and one Northman remained to look about in surprise at the now empty common room.

  23.

  “Will you need an honor guard?” Thom asked.

  Cor sat with Thyss and Fort Haldon’s commander as they ate a midday meal in Dahken Hall, or at least what was very quickly becoming Dahken Hall. The room was still open to the outdoors, and a hot sun shone down on them. The workers had finished the foundation and floor and had begun building a skeletal structure around and above with heavy timbers. Just a few weeks ago, Cor felt as if the construction made no noticeable progress, but now he knew that the hall would be done in a matter of weeks.

  “No,” Cor answered. “I can take care of myself.”

  “Lord Dahken, in light of what happened when you first arrived here, I have an issue with you going alone.”

  “He won’t be alone,” Thyss said with a note of finality. As the spring season turned to an early summer, the sickness of her pregnancy disappeared, and it was replaced by a small but noticeable roundness about the lower part of her belly. Even still, she gingerly picked at her food for fear that she may suddenly become ill.

  “I didn’t think -” Cor began to say, but he stopped himself when he saw Thyss’ blazing glare. “Can you ride?”

  “I’ve been riding my entire life,” she said hotly. “Don’t think I’m going to let this stop me.”

  “I suppose I’m just wondering if it’s safe.”

  “Lord Dahken,” Thom intervened, “my wife has ridden her entire life including the several times she was with child. A midwife explained to me that if her body is used to such exercise, then there should be no concern.” He looked at Thyss as he spoke, and her gaze softened toward him, perhaps in a show of gratitude.

  “Very well,” Cor said, sheepishly returning his attention to his food. He had known that Thyss wouldn’t stay at Fort Haldon no matter what his reason, but he hadn’t expected Thom to so soundly reason for her. It was just a trip to Byrverus for the gods’ sakes.

  “You still need a retinue, Lord Dahken, someone to watch your back.”

  Cor looked back up to meet Thom’s insistent stare. “I will bring Dahken Keth along, and no doubt Marya will come with him. Between the four of us, we will be safe enough. We’ll leave first thing in the morning.”

  “What would you have me do with the Dahken, the children?”

  “Protect them,” Cor answered. “I doubt we will be gone for much more than a month. Its been a long time since they’ve been able to be just children.”

  After eating, Cor went off in search of Keth, as he had not yet informed the younger Dahken of the summons back to Byrverus. Of course, everyone knew what it was about, but Cor didn’t let it concern him too much. Keth was not at the training yards, likely having already dismissed the children as the day grew hotter. He made his way to the Dahken barracks, a building that would become obsolete as the hall and its surrounded rooms were completed. Passing the guardsmen outside, he found the interior full of his Dahken children, some slept, some ate and others played various games. Many of them looked up as he entered, and in seeing him, approached him for an embrace or a kind word.

  “Do you know where Dahken Keth is?” he asked them.

  “In his room, I think,” one boy said.

  Cor made to leave, but thought better of it. The children had very little exposure to him since they came to Fort Haldon months ago, spending almost all their time with Rael and then Keth. Cor knew that Marya had taken on the role of teacher to some extent as well, leaving him wholly to deal with the grander matters of Fort Haldon. Looking around at over a dozen gray skinned children, Cor reminded himself he must be Lord of the Dahken as much as Lord of Fort Haldon. As such, he spent well over an hour just talking and spending time with them.

  After the attack on he and Rael, the barracks had been designed with four separate suites adjoined to the main room. Suite was perhaps too grand a description, as they were little more than a small cell of a bedroom with a slightly larger general purpose room attached. Originally, Cor and Thyss, Keth, Rael and Geoff had occupied them, but with the latter two now gone Marya and Celdon had moved into the two vacant sets of rooms.

  As Cor knocked on Keth’s door, he suspected that if he found the younger Dahken inside, he would not find him alone. After a moment, the door opened revealing Keth’s form. He wore a simple tunic and trousers, having clearly changed clothes after the training session, and Cor could see his discarded armor and undergarments on the floor behind him. Keth stood in the doorway as if to bar entrance into the room beyond, and his questioning face changed to a look of surprise when he saw Cor before him.

  “Lord Dahken,” he said, “I didn’t expect you.”

  “There’s something we need to talk about,” Cor said as he entered, Keth reluctantly moving aside. He stood over Keth’s discarded armor and sweat soaked garments, and he hazarded a quick glance toward the bedroom. Seeing nothing, he turned and said, “You really should take more care with your armor.”

  “I know, Lord Dahken. Today was hot; I was rushing to get out of it,” Keth hurriedly explained, and Cor could see a worried look on his face, perhaps guilt as well.

  Cor waived it away. “It doesn’t matter. Keth, I’ve been called to Byrverus.”

  K
eth released a breath he didn’t know he had been holding. “This is about that priest, isn’t it?”

  “I’m sure. I leave tomorrow with Thyss,” he said. “You’re my right hand, I need you to come with me.”

  “Of course I am yours, but wouldn’t it be better if I stay here with the Dahken?”

  “No,” Cor disagreed, very subtly shaking his head. “Thom will watch over them for us, and I trust him completely. But I need someone to watch over me and Thyss, and for that, I trust you completely. We’ll breakfast at sunup and leave for Byrverus within the hour,” Cor concluded, heading toward the door.

  “Very well, Lord Dahken,” Keth said as he moved from Cor’s path.

  “Keth, there’s one other thing,” Cor said in a hushed tone just as he passed back into the hot afternoon sun. “As a friend, not as Lord Dahken - please be careful with Marya. I know the two of you have grown far closer than an ordinary teacher and student, but she’s little more than a child.”

  “Nor am I,” Keth replied.

  “Perhaps, but just make sure whatever happens is what she wants as well as you. See you both in the morning.”

  As Cor turned and stalked back the way he had come, Keth stood in the doorway and stared after the Lord Dahken. He closed the door behind him and leaned hard against it, once banging his head on the hardwood and staring at the ceiling. He heard a rustling from his sleeping area, and looking up, he saw Marya’s slender form standing in its doorway with a thin wool blanket wrapped tightly about her body and tucked under her arms.

  “I guess I’m glad I disposed of my armor in here,” she said.

  Keth sighed. “He knew you were here.”

  “Does it matter?” she asked, approaching him.

  “Probably not,” he muttered, shifting his gaze to his feet.

  “Then why do you sulk like your father just caught you with your hand in a honey pot?” She was close to him now. As she leaned up against him, he scented the sweat she’d worked up during their exercises. He looked down into her face, kissed her and forgot about Lord Dahken Cor.

  After, Marya lay on her side with Keth wrapped around her as he snored softly in her ear. She wondered if it were normal for a man to simply drift off to sleep, as Keth had done all three times, whereas she simply wanted to bathe. She was no longer scared of the act, as she was horribly the first time, and in fact was starting to find it pleasurable. Most certainly, it was painful as well, but Keth had taught her how to turn her pain into strength while using a sword. Apparently, it worked the same way during the act of love, and the result nearly shattered both of their senses.

  Marya elbowed Keth in the stomach, and his snoring came to an end with a sputtering snort.

  “What was that for?” he asked as he flipped onto his back.

  “I’m going with you tomorrow,” she said.

  “I know that and so does Cor.”

  “Good.”

  Marya sat up and swung her legs over the side of the mattress that sat on a solid wood platform, allowing the blanket to fall off her. Keth’s eyes traced her spine from the base of her neck and down her back to her buttocks. As she stood, Marya was aware of a somewhat uncomfortable wetness between her upper thighs - third time and the aftermath still disgusted her. She began to dress, first by pulling on her underclothes that had mostly dried but now held a somewhat salty stench. She then clasped and buckled on her armor. It was a mix of gray steel plates and gleaming rings, specifically modified to fit her petite, five foot form. The armorer grumbled as he worked it, complaining that she would only grow out of it, not to mention that armor was not meant for a woman. Honestly, as he watched her encase herself in steel, Keth was certain it only made her more beautiful.

  “Get up you lump,” Marya spat, vehemently striking the mattress’ platform with her boot. “We got things to do if we’re leaving these kids behind.”

  Keth stretched, sighed and climbed from the bed.

  * * *

  Once out of the foothills near the Spine, the Aquis countryside in the early summer was exactly as Cor remembered it as a boy. The roads led through lush, green grasslands and prairies, around bountiful farms and through quaint villages filled with the sounds of every day life. Cor sighed as he watched people go about their duties, and more than once he wished for the simplicity of a farmer’s life, even though he knew Thyss would have none of that. The weather was warm and generally clear, but several times they were caught in a sudden storm, full of thunder and huge, pelting raindrops the likes of which were common to Aquis this time of year.

  Often they slept under the stars, favoring the outdoors any time the weather was fair, as opposed to the occasional small inn or the queen’s wayside outposts. It was better that way, Thom had reasoned, as Cor had clearly made some enemies in Losz, Aquis or both, and it would help minimize the risk of the small party being trapped indoors for would be assassins. Thom asked one more time to send an honor guard for added protection, and Cor again refused.

  Before they left, Keth had all of the Dahken assemble to breakfast together; it surprised Cor at first, but when it was all over, he had been happy Keth had done so. It allowed them all to enjoy a few minutes together before the four departed Fort Haldon and assure the others that they would be back soon. After the meal, Keth pulled the pudgy Celdon aside and explained to him that as the oldest, he was in charge of keeping the Dahken on schedule. However, Cor waived it away and told the boy to simply help Thom keep track of everyone; there would be plenty of time for training and learning when they came back.

  As the four checked their horses for adequate supplies, Cor couldn’t help but notice that Keth and Marya brought only one bedroll between them. He sighed deeply, setting his jaw with clenched teeth; it did not anger him as much as it just created another complication. Before leaving, he quietly attempted to broach the subject with Thyss.

  “So what,” she had said. It was a statement, not a question, making her thoughts clear.

  “Its just that, well,” Cor stammered, suddenly wondering why it bothered him so. “They’re very young.”

  To this she laughed heartily, making no attempt to quiet herself and said, “Surely when you were their age you had some village strumpet you were ravishing nightly!”

  “When I was their age, I was either sailing the Narrow Sea with a huge Shet captain or learning about myself from an old, bitter man in a broken, old castle.”

  “Dahken Cor, the fable your life has become from the meager beginnings of a peasant farm boy, and you’re worried about two people who’ve learned what it is to fuck?” she said, and her candor surprised him as it often did. “It is what it is. Its been happening for thousands of years, and it’ll keep happening.”

  “I think it is a little more complex than that,” he said.

  “Oh,” she said in a most drawn out fashion, “I think you’re afraid she is more loyal to Keth than you. Think on this Dahken Cor - leaders inspire loyalty. When you led the Dahken from Losz, they followed you without question. Since we’ve come to Fort Haldon, you’ve been too busy managing all this to lead them.” The last she said with a grand circular motion of her left hand at all of the activity around them.

  Cor wished he had never brought it up to her. He should have known how she would respond, and her blunt way of putting things always left him feeling somewhat sheepish. She was right of course; there was nothing he could do about it, nor should it bother him. He was sure that eventually one of two things would happen - either Marya would be forced to choose between her Lord Dahken and her young lover, or as they grew older, the love would grow stale and sour to push the two of them apart irrevocably. Eventually either way, Cor would lose control of the situation.

  Why did he need to control them? The question bothered him, weighed on him heavily, and Cor spent the first several days of their ride in near total silence.

  They were over halfway to their destination when Cor decided they had little choice but to find a place to stay indoors. They had
endured two days of soaking rain in warm, muggy air. On the first day, the water worked its way through the cracks of overlapping steel armor and into the wool underneath, causing the skin to pale and chaff. The constant and steady rain turned the road to mud, and the horses slogged through it in a most despaired manner. Eventually even Thyss grew soaked and miserable, unable to continue warming her body to ward off the wetness. They camped the night in a nearby orchard Cor had seen from the road; it seemed too well kept to be wild, but no one disturbed or threatened their attempt at repose. The trees provided a degree of shelter from the incessant rain, and they laid their blankets and bedrolls underneath them on the ground. It was a miserable, sleepless night for the four of them, and they were ready to keep moving when the sky lightened just enough to see that they would have no respite from the dark gray clouds.

  It was a village that offered them protection from the weather, and they came upon it shortly after midday, at least so it seemed as the only way to tell time was buy the grumbling of their stomachs. It was little different from any other village in Aquis, except to say it was larger than most as per its proximity to Byrverus, and as such it had a seemingly sizeable inn close to its center. Cor pulled Kelli to a halt as he stared at the building - a gray stone edifice with an oak door, shingled roof and a few lead paned windows. He then looked northwest for several slow heartbeats, as though he could see Byrverus at this distance, and then dismounted.

  “Stay here,” he said as he removed his helm, “while I make sure they have enough room for us and the horses.”

  Inside was little different than he expected with a large common room that was stiflingly hot due to its two roaring fires. There were an even dozen tables in the middle of the room, all of them vacant, with a bar opposite the fires. Here was the only sign of occupancy with a man behind the bar, refilling drinks with a bored expression for the few patrons that sat there, all of whom appeared to be local farmers and such.

  “Wut ya need, lord?” the bartender asked, eyeing Cor’s black armor and sword.