In Treachery Forged (The Law of Swords) (25 page)

The effort cost him a tremendous amount of energy, however, and Maelgyn was tiring fast. He realized that his best bet was to help Wangdu regain control of the battle, and then return it into the Elf’s hands. Splitting his effort between the attacking Dwarves at the door and the remaining Dwarves on the right flank, he tried to give the Elf enough time to re-establish his defenses.

It was proving too much for him, however, and he started to feel himself get lightheaded. Help arrived in the nick of time as Euleilla, obviously reawakened by Tur’Ba as per his instructions, began to ease the burden of holding the door away from him. No longer having to divide his attention in two places, he concentrated on the Dwarves who had already broken through.

Maelgyn found himself too weakened to effectively magic them away. Instead he resolved to use cruder methods, and drew his sword. Only able to slightly enhance his normal strength and speed in his exhausted state, he nevertheless rushed forward to battle the angry Dwarves at close range. Aiding Wangdu to the best of his abilities, Maelgyn worked towards disarming the Dwarves and then using the flat of his blade to knock them out. The “knock them out” part of the plan wasn’t going so well – another testament to Dwarven physique – but at least he was able to disarm several of them without killing them.

He heard a soft twang, and saw to his surprise one Dwarf fall at his side, clutching at an arrow in his arm. Several other Dwarves, also surprised by the sudden appearance of an archer, also backed off behind the line of vines Wangdu was regrowing while Euleilla held the other Dwarves off... but many still remained. And of those that still remained, all of them were carrying the bronze armor and lodestones of the Dwarven military. These were the people who Maelgyn knew he really had to watch out for: These were the professional soldiers. In his weakened state, he was going to have serious difficulties with them, and he knew it. However, the sudden appearance of arrows into the conflict left both sides at a standoff, assessing the situation.

El’Ba, bow in hand and arrow notched, came to stand at Maelgyn’s side. “Lower your weapons,” he cried. “Your clan lords stand in rebellion and will be named traitors if you do not surrender!”

The leading soldier snorted. “The only traitor among the clan lords is El’Athras, sir. He sold our kingdom for the price of a human whore, and we’ll have none of that.”

“Is that what you think?” El’Ba snapped back. “I’ll have you know, boy, that El’Athras would have allied us with any power he felt was strong enough to support us, Human, Nekoji, Dwarven, even Elven. And do you want to know why?”

“Not really,” the soldier answered. “I’m unlikely to believe the propaganda and lies told me by an Athras sympathizer. It is quite apparent that you have El’Athras’
Human
lover sheltered here, and her mere presence stinks.”

“Fine,” El’Ba snorted. “Then believe your own reasoning, instead. Be honest – are we capable of fighting Sho’Curlas alone?”

The soldier looked at El’Ba as if he’d gone crazy. “Sho’Curlas? What does that have to do with anything?”

“Because the alliance was made in order to survive Sho’Curlas’ plans for conquering us all, you idiot!” El’Ba snorted. “The doctor has had nothing to do with it. El’Athras has been trying to negotiate a merger between our kingdom and other surrounding powers for years – since long before he even
met
the human woman! Hell, you know the clan chiefs have been complaining about his plans for seven years, now. She hasn’t been in the city for more than five! Ever ask yourself why?”

The lead soldier looked a little stunned at that revelation, but continued to argue. “It doesn’t matter why he did it. Athras has sold our country to another. That is treachery!”

“Yes,” Maelgyn said, intervening. “I suppose you could say he ‘sold’ it, if you insist on discussing our treaty as a mere business deal like you Dwarves are apt to do. He sold it to me. And at a heavy price, too. Do you want to know what price I’m paying?” The Dwarf just snorted, more angered than calmed by his matter-of-fact admission. It was a calculated risk to explain away the treaty as if he had “bought” Mar’Tok, which would confirm some of the Dwarves worst fears, but it would be easier to make a Dwarf understand everyone’s motives if he put it in more commercial terms. “The price is – your lands become the equal of my own. Your people gain my protection. And together, we’ll work towards preserving the autonomy of Dwarven and Nekoji people. If we were wiped out, Sho’Curlas would storm your country and take it by force. Your only choice in that event would be to either join us on less favorable terms, when it was too late to do you any good, or to join another major power like Oregal.”

“An alliance would have been one thing,” another Dwarf snarled. “But Athras went too far!”

“No, he didn’t,” El’Ba stated slowly. “To be blunt, the Humans are becoming the only independent force left among the races of the world. The Elves are dying out, the Nekoji have been driven from their homelands and are being hunted for their fur, the Dragons have never been plentiful, and we... we cannot face any of the others alone in a modern war. Horse-mounted cavalry has doomed us, as has our pride. We can no longer even defend the caves properly without a proper guild of axemen.

“Just look at this battle, here. My son and I have done almost nothing, but three humans and an Elf are holding off hundreds of our own. We have spent hundreds of years readying our kind for battling them, but even at our best it’s not enough.

“My friend... the time has come when we Dwarves must accept the fact we cannot exert any influence on the world by force of arms alone.”

“But as a part of Svieda, you can,” Maelgyn added. “Mar’Tok has been made a County in Svieda, in most respects the equal of any of the duchies... which means you will have a say in the affairs of the third largest nation in the world. And Mar’Tok? It will retain autonomy, just as all of the other provinces of the kingdom do. You Dwarves will have just as much of a say in anything that happens here as you always have, maybe more of one. All that joining our kingdom means in the long run is that you allow safe passage through your kingdom for all Sviedans – which you do anyway, or used to; that you agree to a common defense with Svieda – which is the only way either of us can possibly survive the coming wars; and that you gain a voice in our national government. If you waited until the Sho’Curlas conquered you instead, all you could look forward to would be a lifetime of slavery.”

The Dwarven soldier looked to be trying to muster up new arguments, better ones, but it quickly became clear he wouldn’t have time to do so as the rioters at his rear started dispersing.

“The guard!” came the call, alerting those still inside the inn that El’Athras’ men had finally arrived. “The guard! Get the hell out of here! The guard’s arrived”

The men Maelgyn and El’Ba had been debating with ran off without another word, bypassing the now-dead vines Wangdu had formed and out the door. In only a couple of minutes, El’Athras and his personal guard replaced them, marching into the common room with a definite look of concern on their faces.

“Key?” El’Athras called. Or at least, that’s what Maelgyn thought he was saying.

“Here, Athy,” Wodtke said, leaving the protection of the tabletop barricade to run over to him and embrace him. “Right on time. I don’t know how much longer we could have held those idiots.”

“Now, now,” El’Athras rebuked lightheartedly. “They’re hard-headed money grubbing louts, it’s true, but that’s because they’re Dwarves –
not
because they’re idiots.” He turned to Maelgyn. “And you – I thought I told you to not let anybody know who you were!”

“Sorry about that,” the Sword apologized wryly, shrugging his shoulders. “I did the best I could. It was just a case of bad timing, I fear.”

“Well, no matter,” the Dwarven lord sighed. “It just gave my men a little rehearsal before we go to war.”

Chapter 16

Maelgyn was a bit surprised at how quickly everything fell into place following the riot. He, Euleilla, Dr. Wodtke, and El’Ba’s family were “invited” to room at El’Athras’ mansion until an appropriate force could be assembled to escort them all to Svieda. El’Ba and his wife declined the opportunity, but Tur’Ba joined them, as did Wangdu in the end.

El’Athras summoned the Dwarven infantry to keep peace in the streets, and they quickly ended the riots. El’Pless and the other former Merchant Princes of the Mar’Tok Council formally censured El’Athras in the wake of the treaty Maelgyn had signed, but that had little effect as far as Maelgyn could see. Possibly it meant more to a Dwarf, but none of the ones he’d talked to could sufficiently explain why this mattered. In the end, Maelgyn merely shrugged and decided to let internal Dwarven politics remain a mystery only the Dwarves themselves could understand, and settled down to enjoy his lodgings.

A couple of days later, the arrest and trial of certain clan heads involved in the riot quickly bolstered the strength of El’Athras’ political reach. The verdict was sealed when a soldier – the same soldier who had been debating with El’Ba and Maelgyn during the end of the riot – came forth to testify to something most Dwarves already knew. He and several other guardsmen, he had said, were encouraged not just to join the riots, but to spark them. Accusations of treason were leveled at many: At El’Athras, at the clan heads, even at the guardsman who presented his testimony. The end result, Maelgyn learned, was that the censure El’Pless had organized against El’Athras was rendered politically meaningless.

Euleilla took most of their time in El’Athras’ mansion to rest and recover. The remnants of the plague in her system and the stress of using so much magic in battle had her on the verge of collapse.

Doctor Wodtke had examined Euleilla and confirmed that there was no relapse of the plague. Nonetheless, Euleilla was bedridden for days from the magical stress. Even Maelgyn was rendered ill from the excessive use of his magic, and he hadn’t strained as much as she had. Maelgyn only needed one night of rest before he had recovered, and afterwards hovered around Euleilla nervously, seeing to her needs. He was frequently called upon to deal with one aspect or another of Sviedan law that needed clarifying to help the Dwarves adjust to their new government, and sometimes Euleilla herself would insist he leave her alone when his overabundant attentions started to get on her nerves, but whenever he was allowed he was by her side.

He was starting to get annoyed at the frequent demands on his time by the Dwarven lawmakers. Eventually he promised to send an envoy from Sopan who could answer all of the Dwarves’ legal questions, but he was still called upon to help the Dwarves establish an ‘interim government’ to rule until all of the legal requirements set forth by Sviedan Law could be met. As that interim government would likely become a legitimate government once they were certain of Sviedan law, they continued harassing him for his input.

But finally, three days after he drove the rioters away from El’Ba’s inn and saved its residents, El’Athras called him into his office to discuss more important matters.

“How’s your wife?” El’Athras began abruptly after the guards had announced his name and escorted Maelgyn into the Dwarf lord’s office.

“Fine,” Maelgyn replied questioningly. He had not expected the usually blunt Dwarf to engage in small talk.

“Does ‘fine’ mean well enough to travel?”

“You would be better off asking Wodtke her opinion, but I believe so,” Maelgyn answered hesitantly.

“Good. Then we’ve got to discuss our travel plans.”

“
Our
travel plans?”

“Yes,” El’Athras said, nodding. “You
are
trying to make it to Sopan Province, are you not?”

Maelgyn nodded uncertainly. “Yes....”

“That’s what I thought,” the Dwarven lord said, then turned his attention to some papers on his desk. “We’ve signed a treaty with you that binds our nations together, and I feel it is our duty to help you win your war with the Sho’Curlas. Which means supplying you with equipment, goods, arms, engineers, funding, and whatever military force I can assemble.”

Maelgyn coughed uncomfortably, almost embarrassed with the need to bring in that sort of help from his new allies. “Thank you, I appreciate that. Some of the details will have to be sorted out later, of course. “

Ignoring him, El’Athras continued, “The riots will force us to leave a large portion of our infantry at home; they’ll be needed to keep the public in line. I doubt this will be a great loss, however, as your average Dwarven infantry is badly outmatched against an organized human army. However, many other components are ready to move, and move we shall.”

“Well,” Maelgyn sighed in frustration, “I suppose a review of what you have available will be useful when the time comes to deploy them.”

El’Athras shoved a paper into Maelgyn’s hands. “Here’s a breakdown of our current forces, but you’ll need me to summarize a few things. Our forces are organized slightly differently from your own: Humans, since the ancient days when the first Human kingdom of Poros wrote the standards, tend to work in groups of five – a squadron of men is five strong, a platoon is five squadrons, a company is five platoons, a battalion is five companies, a regiment is five battalions, and a division is five regiments. We divide ourselves into units of ten, but we have fewer organizational tiers. We have ten Dwarves in a platoon, ten platoons in a company, ten companies in a battalion, and ten battalions in a division. We also have an additional battalion of specialists in each division: Medics, combat engineers, logistics officers, and so forth. That comes to about eleven thousand Dwarves per division, compared to about 15,000 men in the Sviedan equivalent. We have six divisions of infantry, which all total are about equal in numbers to the armies of a typical Sviedan province, but our infantry is unlikely to be of vital importance in this war. It is the other units you’re most likely to be interested in.