The Warrior's Tale Part 27

I shuddered at the task awaiting me, steeled myself, and dragged off the first corpse. It was a child, covered with putrefying plague boils. The three other bodies in the cart were his family - father, mother and sister. I'd smeared my body with the silver ointment Gamelan said would protect me from the disease, but it did not ease my fears as I lifted the small boy's body in my arms, carried him to the pyre, and placed him on it. The other three corpses followed.

Gamelan was silent as I worked, angry with himself that he could not help. I dressed each body in rich garments, then I thoroughly doused each pyre with magical oil. Other than the wind, all was silent; but I could feel scores of eyes watching me from the palace windows. When I was done with the bodies, I went to Gamelan. He handed me the ebony box which held the heart of the Archon's brother.

'Be very careful, Rali,'he whispered. 'Say and do only what I taught you. Otherwise ...'

He didn't have to finish. I'd already been warned that if I failed the Konyan torturers would be cheated of their pleasure; the Archon would make a meal of my soul.

I walked to the pool and gingerly placed the box in a toy sailboat. I opened the box, exposing the hard gem that was the talisman heart. Next to it I placed a single fire bead, chanted the spell which made it glow into life, then set the boat in the water and gently pushed it forward.

I whispered: Sail swiftly, sister To Dawns portals, Where the G.o.ds play, And demons are denied!

Defying the winds which pebbled the surface of the water, the boat moved smoothly - its sails moving this way and that as if commanded by a skilled navigator. It stopped in the centre. The black heart began to glow a fiery red. I stared at it, transfixed.

Gamelan hissed at me: 'Quickly, Rali!'

I leaped to my feet, threw up my arms and shouted: 'Arise! Arise!'

There was a clap of thunder and flame shot up from the boat. Another clap and I leaped back as the entire pool sheeted with flame.

'Now, Rali!' Gamelan cried. 'Do not hesitate!'

The fire was growing hotter, but I had to put aside mortal reason. I stepped forward, felt searing heat, but pressed on to the edge of the flaming pool. I put one bare foot out, marvelling that the skin did not peel away and blacken as fire licked over it. I gulped and stepped forward onto the surface of the burning water. I felt intense heat, but no pain, as I walked across the unyielding surface to the boat. I picked the boat up, lifting it high, flames pouring over and around me. I shouted the spell, my voice booming over the winds and hammering at the skies.

Come Father, come Mother, Come Sister and Brother - The one who slew you awaits.

Take thy hate to him, Take thy suffering And demon pain.

Foul winds blow sweet, Sweet winds, blow cool.

Awake! Awake!

I took out the glowing heart, placed it in my palm and blew across it into the boat's sails.

The boat stirred then jolted forward, leaping away like a bird. As it cleared the flames, the fire suddenly died and I was standing up to my knees in blood-red water. The small ship sailed over each pyre, and as it did so, they exploded into black smoke and flame. The smoke rising above each of them twined together like snakes and formed a single thick column of foulness, geysering upward. The sky mottled, then clotted and I saw a black brow with fierce red eyes beetling out.

The Archon's voice thundered: 'Away! Away!'

Then he shrieked in pain as the smoke of the plague-dead rasped across his eyes.

He thundered again, but there was fear in his command: 'Away! Away!'

The smoke billowed thicker still, blanketing the Archon's great ghostly features. Another howl of pain and anger ... then he was gone.

I felt weak, drained. I looked down and saw only ordinary water lapping at my knees. Somewhere I heard a bird chirp and I looked around in wonder and saw a cheerful little fellow on a withered branch. The branch was quite still and I realized the hot wind had stopped. I stumbled out of the water to Gamelan. He took the Archon's heart from my hand, put it away, and then embraced me.

I heard cheering from the palace and then the Konyans were swarming out, Princess Xia in the lead, tunic flying up over those graceful legs as a cool, balmy wind, moist with promised rain, blew across the park.

The plague had been broken.

The next time I stood before the Council of Purity, the nine pairs of eyes staring down at me were not quite so pitiless. They weren't friendly, to be sure, but there was respect in them - a willingness to see what I sought next. I made no preamble, but launched directly to my goal.

'I want freedom for my soldiers and crew,' I said. 'Return our swords and ships and we will fight with you until peace has been restored.'

'How do we know you just won't flee?' Lord Kanara asked. 'This is not your fight.'

Princess Xia started to protest, but I moved quickly before she could say something unpleasant to her father.

'But it is is my fight, Lord Kanara,' I said. 'I've explained it is my people's mortal enemy who has made a bargain with The Sarzana. And it will take more than a few spells to defeat my fight, Lord Kanara,' I said. 'I've explained it is my people's mortal enemy who has made a bargain with The Sarzana. And it will take more than a few spells to defeat him him with the Archon as his ally.' with the Archon as his ally.'

'Even then,' Lord Kanara said, 'he will still be The Sarzana. And he's proven to be enemy enough in the past.'

'Then let me kill him for you,' I said. 'You cannot, because you would be cursed. But I am a stranger, I could not be harmed for taking his life.'

Lord Kanara and his fellow n.o.bles had a hasty, whispered conference.

He turned back. 'What is it exactly that you suggest?'

'I propose to join with you in an expedition against the forces of The Sarzana,' I said. 'We would be able allies. We Orissans have much experience in warfare.'

Another whispered exchange, then: 'I'm certain you and your soldiers are brave, Captain,' Lord Kanara said. 'But there is still the matter of trust. We do not know you. Our experience with you is brief. In one instance, you wronged us. In the other, you helped us. But that was under duress. How do we know which way the dice will fall if we allow a third toss?'

Princess Xia stepped forward. 'Please, My Lords, may I speak for the youth of Konya?'

Her father was taken aback, but he nodded, go on.

'All suffer in war, My Lords,' she said. 'But is it not the youth who bear the worst of it? And when The Sarzana ruled, was it not to your sons and daughters that he was the most cruel? How many of your children died then, My Lords? And how many more die now - as we speak?'

There was muttering among the crowd watching the proceedings, especially among the young n.o.bility.

She put an arm around my shoulder. 'You said, Father, that Captain Antero has only been tested twice. I beg your forgiveness for correcting you, but there was one other time she acted - when she rescued me. She could have sailed on. Pa.s.sed us by. It might even have been the wisest course, for she was in as much danger in that storm as I. But she didn't. She risked her life for me. Her women warriors did the same to save twelve other Konyans from death.'

I was afraid she was going to move on to my confrontation with Cholla Yi, when we risked all again. That might speak highly of us, but not of him. I needed that pirate, curse his hide. I was relieved when she skipped past that rock and continued to cross the stream. But I was astounded to see where that next step took her.

'I will prove to you, My Lords, how much I trust Captain Antero. I ask - nay, I demand - that I be allowed to go with her when she fights. Her fate, will be mine. She will not betray me, My Lords. She will not betray the youth - the future - of the kingdom of Konya.'

Her father nearly fell from his seat. His colleagues were equally astounded. The crowd surrounding us, however, thundered its approval. Princess Xia's name was roared to the vaulted ceilings of that great room. Scores surged forward to shout at the Council of Purity, demanding that I be allowed to join in the fight against The Sarzana. With Princess Xia at my side - a hostage to fortune.

The Council, led by Lord Kanara, had no choice but to grant permission. As Xia's father hammered for order, the crowd went wild - as if victory had already been won.

I looked at my new lover. Her face was flushed with excitement; eyes dancing with joy. But there was a look about her I had never noticed before: a stubborn tilt to her chin; a squareness to her flung-back shoulders; a regal look in her eyes. By the G.o.ds if she didn't look like a queen.

Eighteen Love and War SOME SAY THE road we all travel in this life has been surveyed and cobblestoned by the G.o.ds. If so, then the G.o.ds must have an unhealthy fondness for strong drink. How else could you account for the madness of that path - the way it twists and turns, plummeting into muddy holes, or rising to breathtaking heights? I'd like to meet the G.o.d who mapped my life. I'm not certain whether I'd cut his throat, or buy him another round. In Konya, one moment I was a most unhappy woman, awaiting my fate in the bowels of a Konyan dungeon; the next, I was the woman of the hour, my praises being sung in the greatest halls of the very people who'd locked me away. Is it too great a stretch, Scribe, to wonder if the G.o.d who mapped that route wasn't drunk? road we all travel in this life has been surveyed and cobblestoned by the G.o.ds. If so, then the G.o.ds must have an unhealthy fondness for strong drink. How else could you account for the madness of that path - the way it twists and turns, plummeting into muddy holes, or rising to breathtaking heights? I'd like to meet the G.o.d who mapped my life. I'm not certain whether I'd cut his throat, or buy him another round. In Konya, one moment I was a most unhappy woman, awaiting my fate in the bowels of a Konyan dungeon; the next, I was the woman of the hour, my praises being sung in the greatest halls of the very people who'd locked me away. Is it too great a stretch, Scribe, to wonder if the G.o.d who mapped that route wasn't drunk?

The days that immediately followed my meeting with the Council of Purity were crazed. We were all released from the dungeon and given most commodious quarters. Even the meanest sailor, or lowest-ranking Guardswoman, had a room - and plush rooms they were - to themselves. They fed us and clothed us well. So many invitations to entertainments poured in I had to refuse them all, rather than end up accidentally insulting some Konyan n.o.ble. It was easy to plead the excuse of being too busy readying for the coming battle. Mostly, this was true. But, there was also ample time for private pleasures. I had a princess to attend to, after all.

She arranged for me to be given a small villa that overlooked the harbour and had it staffed with her most discreet servants. The day she showed it to me was warm and the air heavy with the scent of hyacinth. The villa had thick white walls and was roofed with blue tiles. Roses climbed the entranceway, which let into a sunny garden. The pathway cutting through the garden was shaded by an arbour of scented gourds whose flesh was so sweet it drove a colony of wasps quite mad. They darted among the ruby-red fruit, never seeming to be satiated no matter how much they ate. An ancient fountain played in the centre of the garden, spilling out under a willow on one side, and feeding a soft bed satiated no matter how much they ate. An ancient fountain played in the centre of the garden, spilling out under a willow on one side, and feeding a soft bed of moss. of moss.

The bedroom of the master's quarters was huge, carpeted with thick rugs, upon which were piled pillows of every size and colour. The canopied bed was the size of a small practice field, overflowing the largest comer and leaving a small pathway between it and the verandah doors, which opened to the most marvellous view of the harbour. It was a room for sunsets and love. We fell into that bed the moment we came into the room. We were as insatiable as those hungry wasps, kissing and exploring every inch of sweetness. Shout followed shout, wail followed wail as we took each other from one height to another.

I see you are red-faced, Scribe; yet the evening is cool. Are you t.i.tillated by my descriptions of our love-making - or shocked? Ah, I see it's the latter. What could be the cause? You're certainly experienced in memoirs such as these. Is it because they were the adventures of men, doing manly things? Isn't such spicing permissible in a history of a woman? Or, is it that same-s.e.x love-making offends you? If this is the case, I'm not sorry. I've sworn to tell the truth; and the truth is that love is the same no matter the costume it wears. Pa.s.sion is the nature of all things that walk, or swim, or crawl. To deny it, to ignore it, is not to understand fully the very life the G.o.ds blew into us. In the end, it is your own self you will understand least of all.

Xia and I made love until the sun neared the end of its daily journey. We lolled quietly in each other's arms, enjoying the cool of the early evening winds.

Finally, she broke the silence. 'You are not my first,' she said, eyes shyly lowered. not my first,' she said, eyes shyly lowered.

I didn't think I was. She was quite experienced for one so young. But that's not what I said. 'It's not my business. Your adventures are your own. To share, or to treasure in silence.'

'I want to tell you about it,' She said, 'so you know me.' said, 'so you know me.'

I kissed her and let her talk.

'I've always felt I was strange, out of place,' she said. 'It was as if I didn't belong in my family, but was simply left at the door and taken in by my mother, who was certainly a kind enough woman to do such a thing.'

'You don't think that's what really happened, do you?' I asked.

She shook her head. 'No. Foundlings don't become princesses. Still, the feeling was there. I never liked boys. Not like my girlfriends who were going on about them even before we all grew b.r.e.a.s.t.s and started our monthlies. Actually, it was my girlfriends girlfriends who first attracted me. It was all quite natural, for a time. Even though they talked of boys, we had dalliances. Schoolgirl crushes with one another. Many of which were consummated in bed. No one thought anything of it. Perhaps it's even encouraged a bit in our society. The maidenhead is much prized in Konya, and such innocent play tends to keep it intact until families can negotiate our future - our marriages.' who first attracted me. It was all quite natural, for a time. Even though they talked of boys, we had dalliances. Schoolgirl crushes with one another. Many of which were consummated in bed. No one thought anything of it. Perhaps it's even encouraged a bit in our society. The maidenhead is much prized in Konya, and such innocent play tends to keep it intact until families can negotiate our future - our marriages.'

'It is the same in Orissa,' I said.

Xia took this in, then continued. 'All went well until I reached marrying age, which in Konya is sixteen. Since then my father has become anxious that I wed and bear him grandchildren so our line can continue.'

'But you've resisted?' I guessed.

'Absolutely,' Xia said. 'I want no man to rule me, much less bed me.' Again I noted that regal, stubborn look of hers. Xia was not someone I'd like to get on the wrong side of.

She continued: 'It has become increasingly difficult to refuse my father. More so, because of what happened just before I met you in that storm.'

'I've wondered how I came to find you there,' I said.

'I was sent to the temple at Selen for purification,' she said. 'My father learned that I'd become the lover of an older woman. Fiorna's the wife of one of our generals. He was always away, which pleased her, because when he's home he's a brute to her and her children. Also she's like ... us. Fiorna prefers women to men. Anyway, a scandal was avoided - just. She was sent home to her mother and her husband was a.s.signed to the outskirts of the kingdom. As for me, my father thought I needed to be purged of my tastes. To undergo purification. Hence, the voyage.'

I laughed, stroking her fine b.r.e.a.s.t.s. 'The purification didn't seem to take,' I said.

Xia made a wry face. 'Actually, the priestesses there were quite helpful. They taught me how to be more discreet.'

She gave me an impish look. Her hand reached and found a place that made me shiver. 'They taught me some other things as well,' she giggled.

'Lord knows,' I said, husky, 'I've always been an eager scholar.' Later, as she rose to dress and depart, she said: "Would you do something for me?' 'Anything within my power,' I said. 'Would you teach me to fight?'

I rose up, startled. 'You're a princess. You have no need for that knowledge.'

She shook her head, serious. 'I'll be with you when the fight begins. And I refuse to be some helpless flower, while other women - your soldiers - risk their lives. I at least want to know how to protect myself. If not more. And don't worry, I won't do something foolish and charge into the fray and be a worry to you. Also, I want to be something other than pretty Princess Xia in the eyes of my people. When this history is written, I intend to be more than a footnote.'

I thought over her request. It seemed sensible to me. And then she said: 'Besides, we must be discreet, my love. Training with you will be a wonderful excuse for me to come and go as I please.'

'Very well,' I said. 'We'll begin tomorrow.' We did, and she proved as ardent a pupil of battle as she was of love.

Meanwhile, the Konyans prepared for war. The Council of Purity might still have been babbling on about the way to wage that war, but at least there was more than talk in Isolde.

Each day saw more ships arrive off the island. Sometimes there'd be one, sometimes half a dozen, once fleets of over two dozen. Finally, there were nearly four hundred vessels. They'd quickly filled Isolde's harbour from headland to piers and most lay in the roadstead outside the harbour mouth. They hailed from all over the kingdom - if such a polyglot collection of so many hundreds of islands can be called such a thing - especially since each group seemed to have its own customs and language. Communication was either in Konyan, which most of the ruling cla.s.ses of the islands knew after a fashion; the Konyan traders' pidgin, or through those Orissans of mine who'd been blessed with the Spell of the Tongues.

The ships were of every variety, from vessels designed only for war to hastily converted merchantmen and even some sharkish galleys whose crews I knew were pirates who'd decided to sail under a known banner for as long as loot was in the offing.

I was impressed by how rapidly the Konyans could turn themselves to battle and asked Xia if her people had an especial talent for bloodshed. 'I don't know about that,' she yawned. 'But it seems as if someone's always fighting someone. someone. If you wish, I'll have one of my servants show you the a.r.s.enal.' If you wish, I'll have one of my servants show you the a.r.s.enal.'

I did wish and on the morrow I was escorted to a separate part of the harbour, which was fenced and guarded. Inside, I learned the Konyans' secret. The a.r.s.enal was a row of wharves, man-made islands actually, with a long warehouse running the length of each. A narrow strand of water ran between each wharf and at either end there were wide basins. The wharves swarmed with workmen, who reached them on wide bridges that slid out from the main dockyard. Into the basin at one end an out-of-commission ship would be towed in by lines linked to huge capstans on the sh.o.r.e itself. The ships had been 'laid up in ordinary', as it was called, which meant all their stores had been removed, their yards and masts brought down and the bare hulk anch.o.r.ed to await another crisis.

Big sliding doors opened at each warehouse as the ship was towed down the wharf. From one, masts would be taken - each marked for the ship it had come from. Cranes would restep them and shipwrights lash them into place. At the next warehouse the spars and main-yard would be lifted and mounted; following that, coils of line would appear, and the laborious process of rerigging begun. After that, canvas sails would be carried aboard. Xia's servant told me Isolde tried to design their warships uniformly, so supplies could be as common to all as possible.

Now the hulk looked like a ship and was dragged on down the line. The rowers' oars and benches were loaded, then came barrels of salt pork and beef, then bedding, wine and freshwater barrels and so on -with each warehouse a chandlery with a single speciality. By the time it reached the end of the wharf, the warship was ready to be manned and put out into the roadstead to join its fellows. The process was impressive, but the ships being 'launched' I found less so. All of them were huge single-masted galleys, like the one I'd rescued Xia from. The Konyans didn't fancy swift, small galleys such as Cholla Yi, or some of the outer islanders, favoured.

I made it my business to inquire how Konyans fought their naval battles, and found it to be even more primitive than the so-called tactics my women had been taught when we sailed after the Archon so long before. A warship would be filled to the gunwales with soldiers soldiers who knew even less about ships and the sea than I had when we set out from Lycanth. The captain of that warship had simple duties - he was to sail in tight company with the fleet until they encountered the enemy. The order would be given to attack, always in some ma.s.s formation designated by the fleet admiral. The captain's final duty was to put his ship alongside that of an enemy. The soldiers would board the ship and take it by storm. All of his weaponry, from catapults to the crows'-beaks, which were spike-ended gangplanks meant to embed themselves immovably in an enemy's deck planking, were to produce this single end. Ramming was still considered an innovation, since all too often the ramming ship incurred as much damage as the one being rammed, or else broke free and the fighting soldiers could not carry the battle to its 'proper conclusion'. That was sea battle the way it always had been fought, and the way it always would be fought. The Sarzana would be using ships similar to ours, so the day would be carried by numbers, force of arms, sorcery, but most of all, justice. The last, I thought to myself, I'd seldom seen on a battlefield.

I remembered what Stryker and Duban had said during the storm about Xia's galley, and my own thoughts of direwolves bringing down a bear. This time, I did more than just remember. Late in the evenings I began holding very quiet, very private meetings with Corais, Ismet, and Dica, whom I welcomed because it's been my experience a complete novice can frequently see a better way more clearly than a veteran. Sometimes Polillo, in spite of her loud protests that she was a fighter, not a planner, took part.

I'd bought a cheap model of one of these monstrous Konyan ships in a bazaar, and the four or five of us would sit around the toy, like so many babes planning the next day's sail in a pond, and think. Sometimes our thoughts were meritorious, mostly foolish or impossible. But I wrote all of them down in a tablet, cursing as I did so and remembering what little talent I have with words. What we were talking about, and what fruits those long hours bore, I'll tell shortly.

Despite Xia's protests, I left the main part of her training to Ismet. I've learned that such things are best taught by others. A friend will be either too easy or too hard. Besides, there's nothing like the impersonal appraisal of a tough sergeant to see where one really stands; so the princess drilled in the practice yard along with the other Guardswomen. She took to the bow and the spear and sword as if she were born to it, and flushed with vicious pleasure when she got the upper hand of her drilling partner and gave her a good drubbing with the wooden blade. And when I saw how quickly she learned to fire arrow after arrow into its mark, I was glad I hadn't relented and let her show up the dashing, all-knowing Captain Antero.

Plain exercise was another matter. Every evening we ran along the ring road that circled the humped main section of Isolde. It was a good five miles, beginning at the harbour and ending at a small tavern near my villa. It took me a week to get her built up enough to make that circle once. She was aghast at the end of that week when I told her that our next goal was to make it twice, then three times, then four.

'I doubt we'll make the last goal,' I said. 'There isn't time to get that much strength into your legs.'

'What's wrong with my legs?' she pouted. 'You seem to like them well enough when I'm not running on them.'

'Oh, I like them fine,' I said. 'And they're powerful enough when you've got them twined about my neck. But there's more stamina required for fighting than love, thank the G.o.ds. A soldier's legs are more important than even her weapons. They must carry her for miles to the fight, then hold her up under the most gruelling a.s.saults at that fight, and if it is the whim of her superiors she might have to march right out again when the battle is over.'

'We'll be on ships,' she said. 'They'll carry us to the fight and back again. So once around the harbour ought to be more than enough.'

'Humour me,' I said.

'And if I do?' she asked, eyebrows arching up mischievously. I whispered in her ear. She giggled. 'Oh, I like like that. Are you sure you don't want to start on the next five miles right now?' that. Are you sure you don't want to start on the next five miles right now?'

One day, a grand meeting of all division captains was called. We were to meet our new fleet admiral. I thought I was well prepared for this, but as usual when I attempt to predict the thinking of men when it comes to that cheap jade of command, I was wrong.

My women bristled, but I'd known I wouldn't be in overall command of the expedition against The Sarzana, at least not in name. No matter how much the Council of Purity might have praised me, I knew I'd be no more than an advisor at best, a figurehead at worst. Corais and Polillo had growled privately that once again a woman was being forced to kowtow, but I'd asked them if the same situation occurred in Orissa, and I were from distant sh.o.r.es, how many ships and men would our own Magistrates have let me lead to their deaths?

I thought it was a sensible reminder, but both of them looked at each other, and Corais delicately lifted her lip, and said, 'Rali, my love, of course men will repeat the same stupidity from land to land. We're talking about what an intelligent intelligent person would do.' person would do.'

That made me laugh and it was about the only cheeriness the meeting produced.

Cholla Yi and I sat to either side of the new Grand Admiral on the high stage that was framed by a frieze of the gaping bony jaws of some sea monster. The Grand Admiral was named Trahern, and he was awe-inspiring. He was a huge man - nearly as tall as Polillo, and she's over seven feet. His voice rang like a palace bell. He had a great white beard, carefully combed and divided at the chin to sweep to the side in two waves. He must've been in his seventies, but still had a full head of hair, studded with jewels, and knotted behind his head. On the breast of bis silk and leather tunic he wore many medals - all that a grateful nation could confer on their most celebrated warrior.

Unfortunately, the last war Admiral Trahern had fought was twenty years earlier, a skilful if hardly imaginative campaign against some barbaric outer islanders. Then he'd retired to his huge estates and become a noted historian. His entire career had been one of bravery, honour and n.o.bility. Now he'd been brought back to lead Konya into what would be its greatest, and his final, triumph.

When he was named he was cheered and cheered again by the captains. I'd already noticed that too many of the senior captains were natives of Isolde, no matter what other islands their ships and crews hailed from. Once again, I saw a region whose real rulers hailed from a single area. Perhaps The Sarzana had overly favoured men from his native Cevennes, but the barons weren't that different. But while all the men cheered themselves hoa.r.s.e for Admiral Trahern, what crashed through my own mind was: h.e.l.lsfire! It's General Jinnah all over again!

Trahern gave the obligatory heroic address. He said how honoured he was to serve the colours once again, how we all were determined to win, how right was on our side, how we could only triumph, how Konya was honoured to be given the talents of mighty warriors from the far-distant lands of... of, and he paused, trying to remember where the strangers had come from, hastily said Larissa, and continued on and on and on.