Blackjack Wayward (The Blackjack Series) (12 page)

“What’s it about?”

Drovani shifted on the balls of his feet, fidgeting with his swords as I dressed, looking like he didn’t want to respond to me.

I paused and stared at him, but he just shrugged.

“Who do I have to fight?”

He smiled, “Not every fight is with your fists, or with a sword. Come.”

We walked out of the room, trailed by the cadre of warriors who, through the shadows of the hallways, looked more like a bunch of peacocks than a fearsome band of killers.

“Tell me,” I said.

“It is a war council,” he said. “As Seshine, you are not required to come, but I proposed you as First Paladin, and....”

“What?” I asked, ducking under some lamps along a long hallway.

Drovani struggled for a moment for the right words.

“Some of the warlords are not convinced that you have the proper skill to lead our army.”

“I thought you were the leader,” I said.

He nodded. “Yes, but as First Paladin, you will command the front line. You will pursue the will of the High Champion who commands the army as a whole.”

“I’m like a sergeant,” I said, trying to simplify.

Drovani thought upon that for a moment, then shook his head.

“No, you are the point man in the wedge, you are the first to strike. All the men will look to you for courage, which is why I thought of you for the post. I gave you this great honor to the detriment of old friends who desired it, who deserved it after many years of battle and service to my flag. But none of them have your heart, my friend. None have the experience of slaying the Mist Army. Besides, I have seen you in battle. I could think of no one better for the bloodshed and madness of the front line.”

I chuckled, wondering if that was a complement or an insult.

“The warlords have not seen you and they complicate things with politics, and with currying to the goddess for her favor in the case that we win.”

“So what? I snap one of these warlord’s heads off and then they’ll fall in line?”

Drovani laughed, and soon his men joined him.

“That is why I have chosen you,” he said. “But no, we must be cautious with these men. They are important to the cause. Each of these warlords leads a ship like this, with many thousands of warriors. Warriors we will need for victory. We must convince them to join the cause of the goddess, without ‘snapping heads off’. Do you understand?”

I nodded as we walked into a small, low-lit chamber. About a dozen heavily armored Vershani sat in a semi-circle around the goddess, each man with two retainers sitting behind them. My attention was instantly drawn to her, and her eyes were on me like those of a hawk as it struck its prey. The men stood as we arrived, and I noticed no one but Drovani had weapons in the council. Drovani’s men left us as we entered, so we walked alone to the center of the room, standing before the goddess.

Drovani bowed, motioning for me to follow, and I took a knee, but my eyes were never off the woman whose alluring face had drawn me from the pirate ship and into this madness.

She stood, her tall frame draped with elaborate ceremonial robes that concealed her figure. Her long, black hair was crested back by a brass, gemmed circlet, but otherwise she had no jewelry. She needed nothing else to adorn her natural beauty.

“Aryani,” I mouthed, remembering her name, and she smiled, somehow reading my lips.

She spoke and Drovani stood. I was about to stand, but he shook his head as she continued speaking to the assembled group. Finally, he responded and turned to me.

“I will now cast a spell to allow you to understand our tongue,” he said. “Do not be afraid,” he added before bringing his hands together near his torso, almost touching his belly, and chanting in a strange whispery language, different to the normal Vershani I was becoming accustomed to. He spread his hands, lifting them up over his head and looking up, as if for some other god to grant him the power. An anima of purplish light, tinged in white and pink surrounded him. Drovani spun it above him and over to me, so a vortex of raw energy swirled above my head. Finally, he brought it down, impaling me with the magic. It felt like a thousand needles burning through my skin, boring deep into my body, and I clenched my teeth not to scream, closing my eyes as he channeled the energy to its crescendo.

When he was done, I opened my eyes, half expecting to be teleported just outside the ship, to begin my eternal fall through the mists. How else to get rid of me, no? But instead, I was still in the same room.

“Now we can finally speak, my love,” the goddess said, in a voice so rich and splendorous that I fully forgot that the floor even existed.

I nodded, swallowing hard, wondering if the rush of emotion was due to her, or to some lingering effect of the spell.

“Stand, my friend,” Drovani said, reaching out with his hand. I took it and stood, blinking a few times to steady myself.

“Thank you, my lord Drovani,” she said, and he bowed, returning to an empty seat in the front row, denoting him as important as any of the warlords.

I looked at her, trying to fight off the effects of her voice.

“Go on, Lord Thel,” she motioned to one of the men in the front. “You were saying.”

The fellow called Thel stood, bowing to Aryani, then walked over to me. His armor was burnished gold, as if blackened by fire, though simpler than most here. His face was worn and crossed with lines and scars, with darker skin that most of his companions and a wild crest of white hair. He circled me, rubbing his sideburns that were also long and unkempt.

“What experience do you have in battle?” he asked, standing in front of me. I towered over the small Vershani, maybe two heads and a half taller than him, but he stood confidently, as if imposing himself on me, taunting me by being too close.

“On my planet,” I started, staring at him like if he was on a plate, garnished with parsley, “there is a man who is considered to be the strongest and toughest of our kind. His name, aptly so, is Epic. I beat this man within an inch of death.” I was about to brag about how big Epic had been, but I recalled they had little regard for size, in fact seeing it as a weakness.

“Impressive,” he said, smiling, looking past me to Drovani, who rewarded him with a nod.

Thel studied my chest and arms, like a vet checking a horse, then nodded.

“I withdraw my objections,” the warlord said, slapping my arm and returning to his seat. Drovani nodded to me again, and I understood; we had allies here.

“Lord Krut,” she said, and another Vershani stood, this one a dangerous fellow with skin almost as pale as the ship’s walls. His eyes were wide and crazy, and his long black hair was held back in several tails, one atop each ear, and another along the back. His armor was far more decorated than Thel’s, but it had a few marks of repair, and I could see him standing at the front rank of an army.

“So, you beat this one man,” he said, his voice like a low sneer.

I nodded, “I almost killed him.”

“I see,” he said, standing just as close as Thel had, but unlike the older Vershani, I could feel the tension with this one. He wanted to try me. “And against the Mist Army,” Krut continued, “how did you defeat them?”

“Deception,” I said, not sure I wanted to get into the whole sordid plan. I hadn’t done it alone, that much was for certain, but I wasn’t sure if mentioning the behemoth would win me or lose me points. In the end, I figure to tell the truth. Lying always got me into more trouble.

Krut chuckled.

“So you are clever in battle, no?”

I nodded, “We were badly outnumbered. To fight them straight up would have been stupid.”

“Straight up?” he wondered, not understanding the term. I guess it didn’t translate right.

“Face to face,” I clarified. “Man on man. My companions and I were just five, and the Mists were many thousands. So we used a machine of destruction and I commandeered it to pummel their army.”

The council was awash in talk for a moment and Krut turned back, as if gauging the room.

“And when you and your companions left the field,” he continued, “you were victorious, and the Mists were defeated, no?”

I looked over at Drovani, who dared a tiny smile and shook his head so I wouldn’t look at him anymore. I now understood his strategy with the Council of Warlords; he had Thel and Krut question me, challenge me, as they were his allies, and by having them lead the inquisition, he would quell the factions that were more strongly against me.

I tried to hide the smile. “Yes. They were beaten.”

Krut studied me, just as Thel had, but the conclusion was the same. “I, too, withdraw all objections.”

He returned to his seat.

“Any others wish to voice their objections?” Aryani said, with more than a little venom dripping in her question.

None of the warlords spoke, instead waiting their turns to recant, one-by-one, their prior objections, until a tall Vershani entered the rear of the chamber.

“Forgive my tardiness,” the newcomer said, coming forward and bowing to Aryani. “We were too close to Dethema when the call came and the winds were not favorable on our return voyage.”

He was taller than any Vershani in the room, than any I had seen, and handsome, muscled, with skin so dark it was almost onyx and a shock of long, white hair that hung freely almost to his waist. His armor was simple, just a chest piece of ornate chain mail cut to reveal his powerful arms and a protective codpiece and skirt that left his legs unencumbered. He wore no extravagant adornments save for long a vermillion cape fringed with golden tassels and an amulet on his chest much like mine, only far more intricate and decorated.

Once Aryani acknowledged him, he rose from his low bow and saluted a few of the warlords, shaking hands with an older fellow who stood near the front.

“Am I too late?” he asked, a broad smile on his face, drawing laughter from everyone save Drovani, who looked as though the Mist Army had reformed and was about to board us. He pursed his lips and stared straight at me.

“We are never too late to listen to you, great Kendralis Daikhan,” one of the warlords said, revealing the newcomer’s name.

“Ah, then we are fortunate.” He walked forward and bowed, once more ignoring me entirely, despite the fact that I was standing but a few feet from him. “My lady,” he continued. “I will sit and wait for your acknowledgement. Again, please accept my sincerest apologies for my tardiness.”

“You are our guest, Kendralis Daikhan,” she said. “In fact, if you have come to speak, now would be most appropriate.”

He rose, nodding as he played with one of the tassels on his cape.

“I thank you, my goddess, and object to this abomination being allowed among our number,” Kendralis said matter-of-factly, waving his hand dismissively in my direction his only gesture to even acknowledge me. “I object to the questionable practices of Lord Drovani, resorting to deception and piracy to return you to us, and I more importantly object to a philosophy of cowardice that is so dangerous, my brothers, that I fear it might doom us to defeat before we have even begun in earnest.”

About half the room hissed and sneered, while the rest sat quiet, and here was where the negotiations were about to start.

“I will deal with all three issues in order. First, this creature,” he said, still not bothering to look at me. “We are asking our army to follow a (here the translation spell failed, so I heard the actual word) CREHTESH, something that has never occurred in the fifty thousand year history of our people. Since the Elders arrived on the land of Gomas. Edelfel and Hassic, Thomar and Loudas. Names of great heroes of ages past, and we spit on their legacy, urinate on their graves, and forsake their everlasting spirits in the world that is to come, and for what? To satisfy the seditious ways of a contemptuous little man, and his cadre of revolutionaries!”

More of the room joined in shouting him down, some going so far as to stand and make challenges, but Kendralis Daikhan paid them no attention.

“Look at it,” he continued, turning finally and looking at me. He was unfazed by my murderous glare. “It is a monstrosity. We should throw it into the leather harness of a (another word that failed) kovalz and watch it fight filenzek beasts and thorimn cats at the Circus of Aderna. Cheer as they rip the flesh from its bones. But no, Drovani and his ilk would have us go to war with this creature at our vanguard, to stand ten paces before the great flag of our clan. To represent the spirit of the great goddess,” he paused, bowing at Aryani dramatically.

I did nothing, watching Drovani closely. He didn’t know what to do either, so I waited for his cue while my patience remained. Patience that was being consumed like oxygen in a fire.

“It smells like a Czentoc,” Kendralis continued, drawing some laughter. “It is hairy like a Threnoc. Yes, let’s make it the First Paladin. Go, Czentoc, lead our armies,” he said, shoving me along with a brusque push. “Go and defeat the combined clans! Oh, wait,” he said, suddenly serious. “I understand the plan now. How brilliant, Drovani. You wish to kill them with laughter. I almost thought you a fool, but no, it is a brilliant plan.”

Drovani looked like he might charge the newcomer, but without his weapons, he was at a great disadvantage against the much larger man. Then I got an idea.