Leisha wanted to ask who he had stolen it from and if the child had cried when he took it. She wanted to go to sleep. Instead, she said, “Why? I don’t understand what good this does me. Even moving one little cup is exhausting.”
“That’s an astute observation,” Avrid said, sounding pleased with her remark. “It’s rarely useful for much. Who cares if you can scoot a few papers across a desk? But the Cursed who can move objects use this gift to greatly increase their stamina. In battle, a few very strong Cursed have been known to use the ability to protect themselves from archers—turning arrows aside before they reach them.
“I don’t know if you would ever be able to do it, but start practicing moving things. Just a few. And stop before you faint.”
Fascinated, Leisha drew a deep breath and carefully nudged the little horse. It scooted across the table easily. Avrid managed to look both pleased and annoyed at the same time, and she remembered the trouble he had demonstrating how to move the cup. Again and again she poked the wooden horse with her mind, keeping the motions small so she did not immediately drain her strength.
Even so, it seemed like little time had passed when she heard Zaraki say, “She’s exhausted. You’re done for the day.” He did not care for their practice or for Avrid.
Leisha sagged on the bench. “Yes. It’s time to eat and then I’m going to bed. Thank you for your time, Avrid.”
Once he left, Zaraki sat down next to her and let her lean on his shoulder. “Can we eat here tonight? I’m not feeling up to much anymore,” she asked.
He kissed the top of her head. “Of course. I’ll have it brought round. How are you doing? It was a long day.”
“I’m furious and overwhelmed. How does something like Otokar happen here? I know I said it already, but what more can Lukas do?” Leisha did not completely know how to deal with the events of the morning. She had always felt a great sense of responsibility, for all sorts of things. As a child, she treated Andrzej’s books as delicate treasures because he told her access to the library meant she had a duty to protect and care for them. Her nurse, Wysia, made her promise to be a good and fair ruler, so Leisha dedicated herself to keeping the vow. Now she felt as though she had failed Otokar.
Servants brought food around, but before they could eat, Andelko arrived with Ladvik in tow. “I’m sorry, we have a couple of decisions and need your agreement,” he said.
“Of course.” Longing for sleep and trying to disguise her exhaustion, she smothered a yawn. “Please sit down,” she said, and nodded at the chairs.
Andelko began, “We have to assume Gerolt is in the south to attack us. I don’t know what’s changed, but a battle is coming. If what your survivor this morning says is true, we need to know what’s going on. I’m worried about what Gerolt brought with him.”
He meant mind readers, Leisha knew. Their strategy now hinged on there being few mind readers in the enemy army, and if Gerolt had brought too many, then it meant trouble.
Taking a seat, Ladvik cleared his throat, looking nervous and unsettled. “Your Highness, I’ve asked Aniska to send Eamon to scout the Deojrin around Otokar. We have scouts out now who can get us good information on their movements, but I need someone to get closer and count the number of Cursed.”
Ladvik wanted to handpick the men to go with Eamon. Petrick and Tibor would go because of their experience and success killing enemy patrols. The former lord chose several other veteran scouts who excelled at tracking. Shifting in his seat, he said, “I’d also like to send Sarika, Your Highness.”
While he had discussed who else to send, Leisha had drifted off, nearly falling asleep at the table. Now she snapped back to attention. “Why Sarika?”
“Well,” Ladvik admitted, shuffling his feet. “She came to me, wanting to volunteer to help. She seems to feel like she’s not contributing much. I thought about it and for this, she might be an asset for Eamon. I heard him talking about how she kept an eye on the spies trailing them back from Ostrava. She could help him avoid patrols and tell him if their mind readers are near, couldn’t she?”
Leisha sighed, not sure how she felt about this plan. “She can certainly do what you say, and I can see it being helpful. Have you asked her about it? She isn’t a soldier or a spy.”
“I hope you aren’t angry, but yes, I did already ask her, and she seemed excited to help.”
She had to smile. Poor Ladvik. Even after all these months of increasing freedoms and responsibilities, he feared her and her displeasure. He did not want to do anything that might jeopardize his standing or his chance to get his lands back.
Getting her reluctant approval to send Sarika, Ladvik rose and bowed. “I’ll leave you to your dinner, my lady.”
Maybe because of her weariness or maybe because she truly had forgiven the other man, Leisha made a decision. “Wait. I owe you an apology and my thanks. I haven’t been fair to you.” Across from her, she saw Andelko raise his eyebrows.
“Highness, you’ve been more than fair—”
Holding up a hand, she interrupted Ladvik’s pleading. “No, I haven’t,” she said. “You’ve done nothing but what Andelko and I’ve asked of you. You have been a model captive here; you’ve obeyed all the rules. I’ve held your title and lands over your head for months and that’s not fair. Ladvik, I promise when this is over you’ll have it all back. Every castle, everything.”
The man stared at her, shocked, unsure how to reply. Searching for words, Ladvik bowed again and said, “Thank you, Your Grace. Thank you for everything. Astra and the children. The freedoms I have. They’re all more than I deserve for what I did.”
“Go and tell your wife,” Leisha said, happy to see how much it pleased him and how his thoughts leapt first to Astra.
As soon as Ladvik and Andelko left the tent, Zaraki grabbed her hand. “Eat,” he commanded, pointing at her plate. “And then you’re coming to bed. Enough being queen tonight. You can barely keep yourself upright.”
First thing in the morning, Eamon and his scouting party rode east across the Tymek. The army broke camp and continued moving slowly south and west.
***
Another week passed and it became clear why Gerolt had abandoned the northern army. It began quietly, a sound barely heard. One lord could not meet his promise of food. Then another failed to send the arrows Andelko’s captains requested. Before long, though, the sound of Leisha’s unraveling alliance threatened to deafen them all.
A new bloc in the south formed behind Gerolt and Andelko. Some said they would prefer to have the Deojrin take the kingdom, believing the foreigners would sail back home and leave Andelko to rule as a governor. Others embraced this connection to their history, sensing a return to a more aggressive Tahaerin people. Some wanted a male monarch and believed Andelko would prove stronger and better able to beat back the Deojrin. Others wanted anyone but the hated woman who bullied and manipulated them into doing her bidding.
Regardless of ideology, they all shared a common desire to see the crown pass to the miraculously resurrected Andelko Tahaerin.
When the first letter arrived for him, Andelko raged. “This!” he shouted one evening, throwing down a folded parchment with a rearing horse pressed into the red wax seal. Symon sat, watching him pace furiously. “This is why I stayed hidden. This is why I never told anyone! That bastard has the balls to call me sire. Sire? I’ll shove his balls so far up his ass—”
He closed his eyes and clamped his mouth shut, seeing Symon’s face now. Turning around, he knew she stood behind him.
“Who was it?” Leisha asked, trying to keep the concern out of her voice and failing for once.
“Petr,” Symon said, looking at the letter. “Declaring his loyalty to our reluctant prince here.” Andelko rolled his eyes.
Dumbstruck, Leisha stared. “How do they imagine this will work? He has no interest in being king and he’s loyal to me.”
“Because,” Symon said. “They imagine either that when you lose he’ll do his duty
or they think he can be swayed.”
Andelko snorted. “They don’t know me very well at all. I’m not a loyal man. My sense of responsibility ends with you and the others, Leisha.”
“Thank you, cousin.” She chuckled, appreciating his blunt pronouncement. “But what does this mean for us?”
Both men looked unhappy. “I’m not sure yet, Leisha,” Symon said. “Petr owed us a few supplies, and we can assume this means he won’t be sending them. Thankfully, he sent unskilled levies of men, so he can’t recall them. But with a number of lords refusing to send supplies, I need to look over our books. I’m worried.”
***
Symon spent two entire days speaking with keepers of horses, men responsible for feeding the army, the quartermasters who kept lists of things needed to arm soldiers and those who ensured they kept tents enough on hand. He sent men who could count higher than ten out to inventory arrows and bows, horses, bits and bridles, anything they would normally request from the lords.
Since the war started, some of Leisha’s nobles tried to avoid sending the supplies the army needed. Tradition and custom placed responsibility on them to help their monarch in times of war. Of course, some tried to profit from the conflict, selling goods in high demand while shorting Andelko’s requests, or sending low-quality stock. That, Symon expected. There would always be those who took advantage. But what began with Lord Levent and his outright rebellion over the archers now spilled over as a few lords stopped responding to their queen. They turned their eyes to a man who could one day be their king.
And try as he might, Symon could not deny the looming problem. He huddled over his desk for hours before giving in and sending for Leisha.
“We have an issue.” He pulled out the ledgers to show her his notes, tallies of items in neatly ordered columns. “With the so many of the lords refusing to honor our requests, we’re running low on several essential things. If we can’t depend on the lords to send them, we’ll need to figure out how to pay for supplies ourselves. I think we have perhaps a month before you’ll have to start selling gems and jewelry.”
That would be hard in the middle of a war, Leisha knew. Men they could trust would have to be dispatched to Embriel, likely, to find buyers. They would need escorts and would have to go undetected, as Andrzej would likely object to the Tahaerins flooding the market with gems. The other king could seize the stones and jewelry just because he wanted to or because news had reached him about Lukas’s death and he wanted revenge.
“If we have to. It’s just jewelry, Symon. I’ll get over it.”
The old man sighed. “That’s the real problem. I’m concerned about protecting your liquid assets. In the event things don’t go our way, you’ll need those gems and jewels to live on. I want you to consider how to pay the mercenaries.”
Leisha stared at him for a moment before she realized what he meant. “Are you saying we shouldn’t pay them?” If her oldest friend had lost hope or confidence in their war, she did not know what to do.
Slumping in his chair, Symon rubbed at red and tired eyes. “I don’t know what I’m saying. I’m just worried.”
“That I’m going to lose,” Leisha said quietly, despairing and feeling hope slip away.
“I’m so sorry, my dear. It’s my job to look after your future. You need assets to live on if we have to go into hiding. We’re going to start running out of things if we don’t find a way to force the lords to honor their commitments. Perhaps a strong victory in a few weeks will bring the lords to heel. If you’re all right with it, I’d like to bring Andelko in to talk about this.”
Before Cheylm, Leisha worried about winning in an abstract way because they did not have any strategy besides just retreating. But at the time, it seemed as though infinite possibilities stretched before them. They would find a way to defeat their enemies by capturing one of the Cursed, who would impart deep secrets to them. Perhaps they could unite the continent and the other kingdoms would rally to the cause. The Tahaerin lords would come together under her hawk and sword banner and together they would throw off the invaders. Or the mind readers to the east would reveal a trove of forgotten knowledge.
One by one, those hopes withered and died on the vine. Sarika’s scroll allowed them to free Avrid, but he held no keys to unlock the secret to defeating the Deojrin. The best hope for an ally came from Embriel, but that door had slammed shut because of Lukas’s reckless and stupid need to please Lorant. Now her nobles were slipping away, seduced by the promises of a religious fanatic because they could not help but follow their base natures. One or two at a time, but as they sensed blood in the water and turned hungry eyes on her, more would follow Petr’s lead.
Everything had changed the day Andelko and his marshals presented their plans to attack the southern Deojrin. She understood in that moment they no longer had a vast store of options to draw on. Rather, they had an army and nothing more.
One problem at a time, Leisha told herself. She could not attack everything at once, so for now, she would find a solution to the problem of the mercenaries. If she could not pay them, there would be no hope of victory.
Trying not to sound too defeated, she said, “Of course. Do whatever you need to, Symon. I trust you all. We’ll come back together in a day or two and discuss it.”
***
In the end, they never got to discuss it.
The next evening, Ladvik saw Vially approaching as he sat outside with his wife and children.
He kissed Astra and excused himself, seeing the look on the other man’s face. They had grown close over the last few months and confided in each other often.
“We have a very big problem.” Together they went in search of Andelko as Vially spoke under his breath.
They found the Lord Constable, lounging outside his tent with Aniska. “Fucking Ceslav,” Ladvik spit once he checked no one else could hear. “Vially says he just saw Teo and he’s been ordered to return to Jivina, by that coward Ceslav.”
“Let’s go inside,” Andelko said, motioning them all through the flap. He sent a passing servant to find Leisha and Zaraki.
Two different sorts of soldiers made up their army. Lords could send trained, professional soldiers under the command of one of their own captains. They would pay to field those troops and provide supplies for them. Usually, close allies or those who did not want to be responsible for a shopping list of supplies chose this option. Alternately, nobles could discharge their obligations by providing a higher number of untrained and poorly equipped men. Then they would receive periodic requests for supplies—swords or food, bedrolls, tents or bows. Nobles could not recall their levied troops because the men answered to whatever company they were assigned to when joining the army. But those who came under the banner of their lord answered to the captain who came with them to the army. That captain could be ordered by his lord to return home—just as Lord Ceslav of Jivina had just done with his captain, Teo.
Andelko fell into a chair. “This is a disaster,” he said, rubbing at his temples as the headache he had been fighting all morning returned. “We’re what? Three days’ ride from Jivina and Ceslav waits until now to recall his troops? We need those men. Their loss leaves a huge hole in the western line. A hole I have nothing to fill with.”
Around the table, they all knew no time remained. Returning scouts reported the Deojrin had decamped from around Otokar and now marched towards them. There could be no further retreating, no withdrawals unless Leisha decided to try and cross into one of her neighbor’s kingdoms. Trillinae would be the most obvious choice only because relationships with their king had remained friendly since early on in her reign, but the border lay some distance away and would not be easy to reach.
Once they arrived, Andelko explained the problem to the royal pair.
Leisha stared, dumbstruck, unwilling to believe she would lose because she could not field an army. “We’re so close. We’re weeks away from a confrontation with Gerolt and now, now Ceslav decides to pull
his support?” Seeing victory slipping away, she threw her hands in the air. “No, I’m not going to just accept this. I don’t accept this. They can’t think to force someone to be king against his will.”
One problem had just become two, and Leisha could see no way to solve either one. With Ceslav’s defection, she needed the mercenaries more than ever, but if she could not pay them, they would abandon her side in short order. Defeat would come because she could not weave the strands of her kingdom into cloth.
“Can we force Teo to stay? Order him to fight or take him captive?” Aniska asked.
Andelko shrugged, looking miserable. “Of course we could, but his men fight for him. Taking him hostage will hardly encourage their loyalty, and it sets a terrible precedent for the others.”
“But Ceslav is a traitor,” Ani insisted.
Leisha looked up suddenly, a vicious smile spreading over her face. “Yes, yes he is.” With Ani’s words, she saw how to solve the problem with the mercenaries and Ceslav, she saw how the threads might be woven together, to stop her alliance and her army from unraveling further. Perhaps this could work in her favor and she could use it to find a way to keep the mercenaries happy and on her side. But first, she had to hear Ceslav say it. She would hear it from his own lips and then she would act.
“Call for a meeting,” she said. “He’ll come. He won’t pass up the chance to be the first to speak to Andelko. Would you be willing to come, cousin?”
Andelko dragged his fingers through his dark hair, looking defeated. “Of course I’ll come with you. Anything you need. I just wish—nothing. Excuse me.” Standing up, he stalked out of the tent.
Leisha watched him leave, not knowing if she should follow or not. She felt his conflict and turmoil. He wanted to be alone, but this seemed like a time when she should go after him and provide some sort of comfort. For all her abilities to read and sense others’ emotions, she did not always know how to react to them.
As Dragons from Sleep (The Tahaerin Chronicles Book 2) Page 36