The Born Queen Part 37

But this was terribly real. He felt suddenly pushed back, surrounded, and it was more and more difficult to keep his focus on the demon, to match his power against it. This was not the power of the sedos; this was ancient night come to life, something that had existed long before the world itself or any of its petty powers.

No. I don't know what it is, but it can be beaten. Take- A surge of fresh energy filled Stephen's limbs, and he suddenly understood.

Whatever this was sat the Xhes throne. There had been another, years before, who had sat that, a Sefry warlock, and he had been bound, and now he knew how to do it.

He stopped fighting the Vhelny's energies, let them enter him, take hold of his heart and will. And when the demon had committed itself, was in him, he grabbed those energies like the leash of a dog and twisted them, made them his, laid stricture after stricture until the chaos in the monster was hemmed by order and his command.

No, the Vhelny whispered. the Vhelny whispered.

"Yes. And thank you for your congratulations, and to paraphrase, I'm sure you will be of use to me."

I will be free. I will grind everything in you.

"I don't think so. Now, what say you fly me back into the mountain and we find my companions."

You will pay.

But something wrapped around him, and in a moment they were soaring though the air, and he laughed in sheer delight.

He couldn't wait to see Zemle. And Winna. And Aspar. And Queen Anne, especially Queen Anne. The best part was how surprised they would be. He loved it when people were surprised, when they finally got the joke.

Of course he did. That was why they called him the Black Jester.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN.

RETREAT.

ANNE COULDN'T FEEL the reins anymore. The breeze seemed to spin her around, and then the ground reached for her. the reins anymore. The breeze seemed to spin her around, and then the ground reached for her.

She still could see, but nothing she saw made much sense. Horses' legs were everywhere, and men were reaching for her, and then it was all just noise and color, and finally she was elsewhere, lying in a meadow by a mere. She lifted her hand and saw that there was no shadow. Her side hurt, and when she reached to feel it, there was a stick there. She pushed at it, and agony erupted along her ribs. Her hand felt wet and sticky, and when she looked at it, it was red.

"Shot," she managed. There had been a lot of arrows; she remembered that. And then the horses coming together, a shock like a giant ocean wave that threw everyone around her down until she drew, drew, drew down from the sickle moon hanging pale as a cloud in the sky, and struck through them. She remembered seeing their eyes explode in gouts of steam, and the screams... drew down from the sickle moon hanging pale as a cloud in the sky, and struck through them. She remembered seeing their eyes explode in gouts of steam, and the screams...

I did that?

"You did it," her arilac confirmed, rising up from the earth. "Even Genya Dare would have been impressed by that."

"Did we win?"

"You broke their charge and killed half of them before you got shot. Beyond that, I don't know."

"I am am shot." shot."

"Yes."

"Am I dying?"

"I don't know, but you shouldn't stay here in this condition. If he he should come, you won't be able to fight him." should come, you won't be able to fight him."

"I don't-" Black spots were dancing before her eyes.

"I'll help you," the arilac said, and smoothed her forehead with one burning hand.

A hoof thudded in the earth next to her head, and someone shouted her name. She tried to sit up and gasped.

"She's here!" a man shouted. "Saints know how. We were looking there-"

"She's shot." A face appeared above her.

"h.e.l.lo, Cape Chavel," she said.

"You can hear me?"

"Yes."

"I have to get you up. Do you understand? I can't leave you here; we're in retreat. Unless you can-" He grimaced.

"I'm too weak," she replied.

"You'll ride with me. Your Craftsmen and the heavy horse have formed a rear guard. My horses are faster. We'll get you back to camp and to a leic."

Anne searched for a response, but she felt too tired.

It did hurt when he got her up in the saddle with him, and it hurt more every single time his horse took a stride. Although she tried not to, she cried, wanting nothing more than for the pain to end.

She woke flat on her back in a small, rumbling room that she eventually recognized as a wain. She remembered that Nerenai had given her something bitter to drink, and she had fallen asleep.

She felt at her side and found the arrow gone. So was her clothing. She was wrapped loosely in a blanket.

"There, mistress," she heard Nerenai say. "Lie still."

"What's happening?"

Before Nerenai could reply, Emily broke in. "It's very exciting. They say you made their eyes explode. Is it true?"

"I'd rather not talk about that," Anne murmured. "Can you find Artwair for me?"

"No, Majesty," the girl said. "He's out forming up the lines. You killed a lot of them, but there's plenty left. Like they knew we were coming."

"They did know we were coming."

"How?" the girl asked.

"I was outmagicked," Anne replied. Pray saints Alis and Neil find this h.e.l.lrune and know what to do about him. He's stronger than I. Pray saints Alis and Neil find this h.e.l.lrune and know what to do about him. He's stronger than I.

A sudden thought occurred to her. "If we're fighting, why is the wain moving?"

"We're retreating," Emily replied. "But orderly, so we don't get slaughtered. Artwair's a smart general."

I led him into a trap, Anne thought. Anne thought. That will be hard to mend. That will be hard to mend. Yes, she was queen, but she needed her generals to believe in her, especially Artwair. Yes, she was queen, but she needed her generals to believe in her, especially Artwair.

"How many have we lost?"

"I don't know. They think around two thousand. They attacked our infantry where we were camped, too."

Two thousand? The number seemed unreal. Had she ever even met two thousand people in her life? The number seemed unreal. Had she ever even met two thousand people in her life?

For three more days they fell back toward Poelscild. Losses on both sides were minimal. And then, a day's march from the northernmost dike, the Hansan army stopped following them.

The next day Anne wasn't sleeping in a wagon anymore but in a fine bed in Poelscild's keep.

The count had almost three thousand of her soldiers sleeping in the ground.

"They haven't gone far, Majesty," Artwair told her the next day.

"You look tired, Cousin."

He did. His face looked lined and ten years older than it had a month earlier.

"I'm well, Your Majesty."

"So where have they gone, then?"

"About a league north, in Andemuer. They're building a redoubt there. I expect they'll reinforce it and then come here."

Anne nodded. She'd made Nerenai and Emily sit her up. She couldn't stand, but she didn't want to face Artwair on her back. "And the fleet? Any word?"

"They antic.i.p.ated us there, too," Artwair said. "Met Liery in open sea. Five ships were lost, and about that on the Hansan side. Sir Fail brought them back to Ter-na-Fath."

"So we're in retreat everywhere," Anne said.

"Everywhere we've ventured."

"Everywhere I've sent us, you mean," Anne said.

"There's no blame to Your Majesty. It seemed like a good plan to me, too. But it wasn't the surprise they thought it would be. And things could have been worse. This h.e.l.lrune of theirs isn't perfect, either. He may have managed to trick you, but you fought out of his trap."

"Barely. But I agree that things could have gone worse. I may know little about war, but I know that armies in retreat often fall apart and are destroyed. This could have been a rout. Your leadership prevented that, Duke Artwair."

"I'm not the only one to credit. Lord Kenwulf kept our left flank, and young Cape Chavel our right. If we had ever been encircled, that would have been the end of it."

"I will commend them, too," she said. "What happens now?"

"I've sent for reinforcements, of course. Many of the landwaerden levies are already either here or reinforcing other forts along the edge of Newland."

"Then we're giving them Andemuer and the Maog Voast plain?" Anne asked.

"We're not giving it; they have it. Northwatch fell two days ago, so reinforcements can come along the Vitellian Way without resistance. Copenwis is open to their ports. No, Newland is better fortified than the northern border and always has been. Andemuer has gone back and forth between Hansa and Crotheny for exactly that reason. But they'll have a harder time breaking us here. And if they do, we'll retreat to the next ca.n.a.l and flood these poelen behind us, so they'll have to swim at us."

"You mention the danger of them coming down the Dew. Have you any reports from the east?"

"No report of attack yet, no, but I expect it."

"And the south?"

He nodded. "We've heard that at least three Church legifs are camped along the Teremene River. That news is a few days old, of course. They may have started fighting already."

Anne remembered Teremene.

"The river is in a gorge there," she said. "They'll have to cross at Teremene town or go north into Hornladh..." She trailed off.

"Majesty?"

She closed her eyes. Nothing; just another stupid thing I've done. Cazio, be as smart as I think you are. Nothing; just another stupid thing I've done. Cazio, be as smart as I think you are.

"The h.e.l.lrune can't help those in the south. I'll see what my visions can tell me about what the Church is up to. Is there anything else?"

"Not that I know of, Majesty."

"Thank you, Duke. I'd better rest now."

She met her arilac on a heather-covered down overlooking an azure sea. The air was warm and wet and a little dirty-feeling.

The arilac seemed more human each time they met, although she still shone unnaturally at times.

"You were outmaneuvered," the woman said. "With the law of death broken, the h.e.l.lrune is stronger than even I suspected."

"You should have warned me," Anne replied.

The arilac raised a fiery eyebrow. "That would have been an insult to your intelligence. If you could see the results of what he he saw, how could you not imagine it wasn't possible for him to do the same?" saw, how could you not imagine it wasn't possible for him to do the same?"

"But when does it end?" Anne asked. "If I had seen the trap, couldn't he have seen me seeing it? And so on, into utter madness?"

"Yes and no. As you've learned, the future isn't a fixed thing if you can see it. But it has a path and momentum. When the h.e.l.lrune saw that your army would march the way it did, and you saw that he had seen that, you might have done a number of things. You might have decided not to go that way, or not march at all, or bring thousands more with you-or what you did: try to turn the trap against itself. The h.e.l.lrune would have been shown all these paths, but dimly, and one would have seemed infinitesimally brighter. In turn, his possible reactions-abandon the plan, send more men, and so forth-would be even more contingent, first because your choice was one of dozens, then because his was. That's why you didn't see the reversal of the trap: It was a wispy thing, unnoticeable. For him to see the outcome of his reversal I would call impossible, which is why you managed to escape. So to answer your question, your duel with the h.e.l.lrune went as many strokes as it could, and he won. When you are in full mastery of the power, you might see one step farther. Might."

"Then I must guess, you are saying, where Hansa is concerned."