DragonCrown Saga - The Grand Crusade Part 9

She motioned with the stump of her right arm. "A thousand more Highlanders have entered Svarskya, so our forces swell."

"I know. Thank you." The forces he had been given to win Okrannel's freedom had numbered six thousand. The fighting had not been nearly as hard as it should have, but casualties and weather had cost him a quarter of his force. The influx of Guranin volunteers and a thousand refugees from the lost city of Svoinhad more than reinforced his army.

This influx of people did augment his army nicely, but did not represent the whole of his reinforcements.

More Zhusk came to the city, and while they appeared, like Phfas, to be feral creatures, they possessed great power. The Zhusk allied themselves with elemental spirits calledyrun. Phfas' union with air allowed him to perform miracles such as stopping an arrow in flight, or triggering an avalanche. Phfas' spiritual power mocked his tiny physical form, but he and the other Zhusk were invaluable to the army in too many ways to enumerate.

Adrogans himself knew theyrunwell, for he was half Zhusk. Before the battle for Svoin he had undergone the rituals that bound him to theyrunand vice versa. He had some command of air, earth, water, fire, and wood, but his mistress was theyrunof Pain. Even as he stood there, he could feel her clutching him loverlike from behind, her talons sinking into his shoulders and her razor teeth gnawing at his neck.

But that was a small price to pay for what she gave him. Pain luxuriated in the misery of others, and through her he could feel it as well. When he pushed his awareness through her and into Crozt, he sought the sort of discomfort armies know on the march and felt nothing. It heartened him, but did not make him believe the Aurolani had abandoned Okrannel.

"As you all know, I have been ordered to leave Svarskya for Narriz at this time tomorrow. The only caveat to the order is that, in my judgment, the situation here has to be stable."

Caro shook his head. "Under no circ.u.mstances is it stable."

The Jeranese general smiled, but held up a hand. "I appreciate your enthusiasm, and I agree with your a.s.sessment, though I think you are defining instability a bit more broadly than our masters are."

The white-haired man shook his head. "To combat foolishness, I would declare the situation unstable were there nothing more sinister than snow drifting in the streets, but that is not what prompts me to make my declaration. Captain Agitare has reported that they have hit upon a good formulation for firedirt. He wants to refine it, but he is getting power equivalent to that of the Aurolani firedirt."

Beal glanced over at him. "Why refine?"

"The firedirt the Aurolani left behind does not appear, according to what he and others can recollect, to have the power of the firedirt used at Fortress Draconis."

"Of course!" Adrogans clapped his hands. "She did leave us the dragonels, but gave us inferior firedirt.

It wouldn't matter when we chose to use the weapons against others who didn't have them, but matched up against her dragonels, we would deploy too close and be smashed. That's why she felt safe in doing that."

The Alcidese leader nodded. "And the dragonels she would recover after a battle, thanking us for dragging them along. She thought this out."

Phfas hissed. "Nefrai-kesh did this."

"True, Uncle, very true." Pain clawed down Adrogans' chest, then raked her talons across his belly.

Even if the goal of the Okrannel campaign for Chytrine had been to give him underpowered dragonels, inflicting more damage on the army that won them would not make them any less effective. In fact, had his army been more chewed up, his reliance on them would have been far greater in anything he did in the future. Nefrai-kesh, however, had refrained from doing maximum damage to the army, for reasons Adrogans felt would never be made clear.

Caro set his tankard down. "Because we have uncovered her deception in this area, we have to a.s.sume it was meant to lull us into a false sense of security. We have to guard against immediate attack. For all we know there is a fleet departing the Ghost March right now, or leaving Vorquellyn or even Muroso, headed in this direction. Moreover, if Chytrine has agents in Narriz, she could already be aware of the orders that summon you there. She could target you for a.s.sa.s.sination or, worse yet, capture and convert you into one of hersullanciri. For you to follow the orders you have been given would seriously jeopardize the war against Chytrine."

Adrogans nodded in agreement. "All of us here-not just in this room, but in this city-realize we have a duty. Our mission was to take Okrannel from Chytrine, but that was because it would hurt her efforts at making war in the east. We still need to press her and cause her more problems. In a grand sense, the situation hereisstable, and it is up to us to make it unstable.

"Our options here are very limited. Regardless of my refusal to travel by water, we have not enough ships to move a significant portion of our forces anywhere. If we are to do anything, it will be by land.

Logically, we should go into the Crozt region and secure it, which effectively wastes my army since the terrain there would allow small Aurolani units to keep us tied up for a long time. Those same units would be too small to lay siege to a reinforced Svarskya, especially if we have dragonels to discourage them."

Beal nodded. "If we reinforce the old city's walls, a garrison of a thousand should be enough to hold it against five times that number."

"Agreed, and that is the project I want you to devote yourself to. Until your arm and leg are prepared, you're not going anywhere, and the best of the new troops we have are your clansmen, so the repair and defense of Svarskya are now your responsibility."

"Thank you, General."

"Don't. It will be a thankless task. At the worst Chytrine will send a dragon to melt the city and you'll all die. At best, you'll die of boredom. The fact is, however, I need someone I can trust to do this. You'll also have Svoin volunteers and the Okrans Kingsmen to help you. Any other refugees flooding in will be trained and you can release better units to join us."

Caro sipped his wine, then smiled. "Join us where?"

Adrogans sighed. "The war in the east consists of a strong push south and now southwest. Saporicia is going to become the battleground because King Augustus cannot afford to wait for Chytrine to get south.

If you look at the Narriz harbor and draw a line east to Bokagul, you have the line Augustus must defend.

The mountains and the ocean secure his flanks."

The elf frowned. "This suggests you think Oriosa will hold against her and not just let her troops wander through."

"Augustus has to think that, too. We know that because he's not yet invaded Oriosa. He'll have forces on the border to screen against that possibility, and Oriosa has to hold or become a battleground itself.

King Scrainwood may be a cowardly snake, but he does have a sense of self-preservation."

Adrogans turned to the map again and the others gathered around, with the elf supporting Beal mot Tsuvo. "So, we have to guess at what Chytrine and Nefrai-kesh will do. Something you said, Turpus, about a fleet gathering in the Ghost March or on Vorquellyn makes me wonder. The conquest of Vorquellyn was the greatest seaborne invasion the world has known and was wildly successful. Chytrine attempted to duplicate that feat with the invasion of Vilwan. Its failure has undoubtedly led people to believe she is not going to use the sea anymore. Many would point to the fact that we shipped troops here for this campaign without opposition as proof that shecannotrule the sea."

The Zhusk shaman snorted. "She wanted us here."

"Exactly, so there was no reason she would hara.s.s us at sea. This is not to say she could not have done so, but that she chose not to do so. And remember that Nefrai-kesh, when he was Lord Norrington, led a waterborne invasion of Okrannel and did win a victory on the sea. He's not afraid of shipping troops."

Turpus set his tankard down on Valicia. "A fleet in the Ghost March could land anywhere. Once the forces are locked in battle in Saporicia, the fleet could place troops behind the lines."

Beal's blue eyes became slits. "You're thinking tactically. Think politically." She tapped her index finger on a spot further south. "The Aurolani will sail down and take Yslin."

Her words came in a hoa.r.s.e whisper that filled Adrogans' belly with ice, and Pain delighted in it. A strike at Yslin would cut allied forces off from their reinforcements by land. Oriosa would no longer be threatened by Augustus, so it could go fully over to the Aurolani camp. Alcida would fall and other nations would follow. Chytrine would conquer them, or they would bargain with her as Scrainwood had.

Blood had drained from Caro's face. "Do you honestly think she has a fleet gathering in the Ghost March?"

"It's immaterial. She did not lose all of her ships in the Vilwan invasion, and she is using ships to supply troops in Muroso. We can and should a.s.sume they are shipping from the Ghost March. What I suggest we have to do is to move the bulk of our forces up and around into the Ghost March. We disrupt whatever she is doing there. If she is preparing an invasion of Yslin, we do our best to stop it. If all she is doing is running supplies, we stop them."

Caro nodded slowly. "We really can't tell the crowns of our suspicions about the Yslin invasion, can we?"

"No." Adrogans shook his head. "It's like the dragonels: it's a problem they cannot deal with. If they plan against it, Chytrine punches down through weakened lines and it doesn't matter. Some nations will a.s.sume that Yslin isn't the target, but that their own nation is, and they will stop giving troops and supplies, so the effort against her fails."

Gilthalarwin raised an eyebrow. "Don't you fear the fleet might sail up the river to Lakaslin and destroy Jerana?"

"As much as you fear it might land at Rellaence and destroy your home." Adrogans sighed. "Being there to stop Chytrine from attacking Jerana or Loquellyn or Yslin will not defeat Chytrine. Only one thing will.

Just as she can strike at our homes and make us fear, we can do the same. With every mile we stab into the Ghost March, she has to worry about our turning north and bring ing war to Aurolan. The leaders down south won't see it that way, so we must see it for them. We have to do what they will fail to command us to do."

Caro's lips tightened into a grim smile. "There are those who would consider this mutiny."

"Yes, but they are the ones who wear the crowns." Adrogans forced a brave smile on his face. "We're the ones who shed blood for the crowns and, at least this time, that makes for all the difference in the world."

Alexia looked up from her place in the chair beside the fire as Crow entered their chambers. "Snowing again, is it?" He nodded, shrugged off a heavy cloak, the shoulders of which had been dappled by snow, "Not very much, but it's coming from the north, just like Chytrine's forces will." Crow glanced at the small table beside her and the sheaf of paper stacked there. "You read what I wrote today?"

"I hope you don't mind."

"No, not at all." He frowned. "There were things I'd not thought on for a long time. That's why I went for a walk, and I guess I was out longer than I thought."

The hesitation in his voice rasped against her heart. "I didn't realize that you and Seethe..."

Crow hung the cloak on a peg on the back of the door, then stood there, tall and strong-limbed, in fawn leathers and brown boots. His white mane half hooded his face and weariness lined it. His hands gathered at his belt, his fingers interlaced. He did not look at her as he spoke.

"Seethe and I were lovers. She was beautiful, in the way that elves are all beautiful, and she had a vitality to her that was beyond human. We were all embarked on a heroic quest, and she seemed very heroic.

Even so, she needed someone, much as I did. It would have been more remarkable that we didnotfall in love with each other."

Alyx nodded slowly and kept her voice barely above a whisper. "She was the one Chytrine made into Myrall'mara?"

"Yes."

Alyx recalled the first time she'd seen thatsullanciri. It had been in Yslin, when Chytrine's creature had organized a network of urchins to search for Will Norrington. When confronted by the heroes who stormed her headquarters, she had made a grab for Will, but Crow stopped her.She bared her b.r.e.a.s.t.s and told him he could never stab her.

"In Yslin, you would have killed her, wouldn't you?"

Crow nodded slowly, but no words came for a moment or two. Then he looked up at her, his brown eyes glistening. "She was not Seethe. She was as twisted as the children she had warped. I would have killed her. I should have."

Alyx gave him a small smile. "That was the first you had seen her?"

"Since leaving Chytrine's sight, yes."

"It must have been a surprise, and reopened a wound."

He raked fingers back through his hair. "A surprise, yes. And a reopened wound, too."

"Twenty-five years is a long time to carry that sort of burden."

He shrugged uneasily. "There were other things that made it secondary. After I was disgraced, my life was over. When Resolute found me, he rebuilt me in his image. He made me Crow. Seethe rested with Hawkins, so was not much revisited. There were times it was a great comfort to imagine that Hawkins had never been, and that I was always just Crow."

Alyx straightened her legs, untucking them from beneath her bottom, then leaned forward with forearms on her knees. "Was there no one for Crow?"

"What are you asking, Alexia?"

"If during the time you were Crow you were without love and companionship."

Crow folded his arms over his chest. "Why are you asking?"

She nodded toward the papers, giving herself a moment for the lump in her throat to go away. "I read there a lot of longing, about the joy of loving and being loved, and touching and being touched. I know you, Crow. I love you, and I know the pa.s.sions that run in you. That you could have gone so long without intimacy hurts me."

He closed his eyes. "Resolute and I were at war with Chytrine and that was not an easy course. Our paths did run parallel with others, here and there. There were women who offered comfort, seeking the same, but we knew there was no future. Weeks, months, years off and on, here and there, I wasn't always alone. Things would end because they had to. No regrets, but some tears."

He reopened his eyes and looked at her. "Until you, Alexia, I never wanted a future. I never thought one was possible. And now, here I am, in the twilight of my life, seeing what I missed."

Alyx stood and walked to him. "But it was something you were not destined to have, Crow."

"I guess not."

"Until now." She reached out and took his hands in hers. Wordlessly she led him to the bed and made him sit on the edge of it. "I am glad you were not denied companionship, my love. If I could, I would thank them for giving you what no person should be denied."

"Alexia, I..."

She pressed a finger to his lips. "You need say nothing, lover." She grasped the hem of his tunic and drew it up over his head and off. Bending over, with hands to either side of his hips, she kissed the trio of scars running from right hip to collarbone. She kissed them gently, lingering for a heartbeat or two, her eyes closed. Up and up she moved, the hair on his chest brushing softly over her nose and chin. When she reached his nipple, she kissed that more than once and felt him slide fingers into her hair.

His fingers tightened as he drew her head back and up. "You don't have to do this, Alexia."

"Silly man. Iwantto do this." Her right hand came up to hold his head, and she kissed him quickly and fiercely. Her lips pressed to his, then parted. Her tongue darted out, flicking against his lips and teeth. Her grip tightened on his head, as his did, and she pressed him down onto the bed as their kiss deepened.

Alexia pulled her head up and smiled as she looked down at him. That he was handsome she would not deny, despite the scars and white hair, the age lines at the corners of his eyes. To others that might have been all that mattered, but to her it was an added benefit, for what she desired lay within. It shone through his brown eyes, and in his smile. She could feel it in how he touched her, his hand in her hair, the other at the small of her back.

She kissed him again, quickly, then buried her face against his neck. Her teeth grazed his flesh, then her lips closed on it. She could feel life pumping through the arteries there and feel muscles stretch as he tilted his head to give her clear access. Even a whispered sigh thrummed against her lips. She sucked a bit harder, then pulled her head up sharply.

He gasped and she smiled before ducking her head to lick over the mark she'd left. As she brought her head up again, she smiled. "I love you, and I wantourfuture. And I want you, very much, my husband."

Crow smiled. "Our future, yes."

Alyx slid back off him until her feet were on the floor again. A hand pressed to Crow's chest prevented him from rising. She tugged off his boots and stockings, then loosened his belt. She took her time sliding his trousers off, and kissed him over the hipbone where the trio of scars descended and a more recent scar crossed them. Freeing him of the trousers, she bid him get under the covers, then she quickly disrobed and joined him, lying side by side.

She let him gather her into his arms, pulling them tight together, belly to belly. His hair felt soft against her stomach and chest and his arms strong around her. She sighed, closing her eyes, and nuzzled his neck again. "Make love with me, Crow."

"Yes, Alexia, yes." Crow's left hand came up as he pulled his head back. He tipped her face up and kissed her deeply and pa.s.sionately. His breath came softly on her cheek. As they kissed, she clung to him and, at her urging, he came up and over her as she rolled onto her back. She tightened her embrace with a hand at his neck, the other at the small of his back, then locked her ankles behind his knees.

As he entered her they began to move together in a fluid dance. Sensations flowed over her in rising waves, the same as the heat built between them. Her hips thrust to meet his, her hands stroked his back, then clutched and squeezed, holding him tighter. He rose on his hands, arching his back as urgency increased. Kisses quickened, multiplied, their bodies shifted and though each became inarticulate, they understood each other completely. Their ascent to their mutual goal steepened as exertion coated their bodies with a moist sheen.

Then their pa.s.sion exploded, the heat spiking, hearts racing, breath coming short and fast, even ragged.

She slid her arms up around his back, tugging him down onto her. He resisted for a second, then his elbows bent and he covered her. She tightened her embrace, determined to keep him there. She licked at his neck, at that mark, tasting the sweat their pleasures had produced.

Alyx wanted to tell him how much she loved him, but words were still too far away. Love burned in her, making her hold him even more tightly. She licked again at his throat and could feel his heart beating as hard as hers. His breathing made her smile, his scent filled her head, and for her not only did the world end outside their bed, she had no need for it.

Crow came up on his elbows and tried to slide to the side, but she held him firmly. "I don't want to crush you."

She shook her head. "You are not, and I want you right there. For now."

"For now?"

Alexia nodded slowly. "There are other ways I want you, too. Most of all, though, I want you to know you are loved and desired. That there were others to love you through the years makes me happy, but none of them knew you as I do. None of them value you as I do."

Crow smiled. "You think so?"

"Iknowso." She raised her head and kissed him quickly. "If they had, they'd never have let you go."

"Just as long as you never let me go, that is all I care about." Crow stroked her hair with a hand, letting his thumb brush over her cheek. "Many have suggested I've been very lucky to have survived this long.

That luck is nothing compared to the luck of my finding you."

"Not luck, Crow, fate. You're fated to see Vorquellyn liberated. You have given your life to that task, and the world is going to give you something back." Alexia licked playfully at his neck again, then squeezed him with her arms and legs. "As for your luck, lover, you might try pressing it just this once."