In Treachery Forged (The Law of Swords) (41 page)

“Maybe until tomorrow,” he said. “We just have to wait one more day, and then we’ll be able to leave the ship. At least for a while – I’m planning to go to the Borden Isles. That’s a longer trip, you know....”

“I’ll come with you,” she said. “I’m not leaving your side.”

“I thought that would be your answer,” Maelgyn replied. “But I had to give you the option.”

They had no privacy, but that was all right. They stayed together the whole day and well into the night, simply holding each other for comfort until they dropped off to sleep.

Fire!
screamed in Maelgyn’s mind, waking him up from one of the best sleeps he’d ever had at sea. He opened his eyes, still hearing the screams of Sekhar, to see a piece of flaming debris just barely missing him to land three feet away.

Relax,
he thought to the
schlipf. I’ll get us away from the fire, but you need to stop screaming.

Our greatest weakness,
Sekhar thought.
Fire. Get us away, get us away!

“Euleilla,” he said calmly, though he didn’t exactly feel calm. “You need to wake up. Now.”

He felt the magic spike indicating her waking awareness of the world. “Maelgyn?”

“Something’s wrong. We need to move, and fast.”

“What’s going on?”

“The ship’s on fire, but beyond that I don’t know,” he admitted. “Sekhar’s terrified, burning cinders are falling from the sky, and it’s still dark out. But right now, we need to worry about the fire not more than five feet from us....”

“We’re on a ship,” she answered, sounding more frightened than he would have expected of her. “Where do we go?”

“Somewhere that isn’t burning, and somewhere out of the way of the soldiers fighting the fire,” he answered wryly, helping her to her feet. “Come on, it looks like the foredeck’s clear.”

Moving along carefully, and trying to avoid the sailors running around trying to fight the fire while just as confused as they were, Maelgyn and Euleilla slowly made their way to the bow of the ship. The captain was organizing fire parties, but Rudel looked lost, just standing there. Maelgyn lead the two of them over to the Admiral.

“What happened?” he asked the experienced sailor.

“We’re just outside of Largo harbor,” Rudel explained. “The Oden fleet – all of it – just destroyed itself. Explosions, big ones, sending flaming debris everywhere. We’ve already lost six ships to the flames, and almost thirty others are still fighting fires – including this one. Debris is still falling, starting more fires as we work... god only knows what’s going on in the harbor itself.”

Maelgyn was horrified. “We suspected the surrender was a ruse, but this....”

“I know,” Rudel snapped. “And I should have thought of it – but I believed the Oden people were too honorable to try something like this.”

“Maybe the ships weren’t really controlled by Oden,” Euleilla suggested softly.

Rudel looked at her for a moment, before huffing and looking over the side at the water. “It’s times like this I wish I weren’t an Admiral. There’s nothing I can do, right now – all I can do is sit and let the captains and seamen do their job. I can’t even organize the fire parties because that’s the captain’s job. All I can do is look back and see what mistakes I made.”

Maelgyn sighed. This was a horrible disaster, but then he’d already braced himself to serious losses such as this long before the mission started. In fact, this unusual tactic his enemies employed resulted in fewer casualties than he expected from this battle. “Well, it’s over, anyway. The Oden navy is mostly gone, and there’s no way for a single port to rebuild faster than the dozens of ports in Svieda can.”

“What was the point?” Euleilla asked.

“What?” her husband asked. “The point of what?”

“Of their attack,” she asked. “Of this... firebombing. All the people on those ships died... and they failed to take out more than a dozen ships in the process. So what was the point of this act?”

“Honor,” Rudel suggested.

“No,” Euleilla disagreed, shaking her head. “That doesn’t make sense. If they were doing something for honor, they wouldn’t do it under a flag of truce, would they?”

“The point,” Maelgyn sighed. “The point is to weaken us as much as possible, so that a later attack may be more effective. If they were truly the Oden sailors, then I might agree with you, Admiral, but I’ve pretty much decided that these people must not have been from Oden. The false surrender and flag of truce, the deal with the Merfolk, and... well, let’s just say, everything about this sounds completely unlike what you’ve told us about the Oden people. Even if one or two of Oden’s commanders approved of it, they would have faced mutinies for attempting such an action under flag of truce. Oden’s men were not running those ships, I’m sure of it.”

“It may have been an assassination attempt. Or they could have been trying to stop your armies. They could know you are here, and they could know that the infantry of Sopan is with you. If so, it means that someone knew our plans with enough advance warning to set this up,” Rudel said. Then he shrugged. “Regardless, while there are a few more blockading fleets to deal with, the naval part of this war is effectively over. And my fleet never even saw any real action.”

“Perhaps not,” Maelgyn said. “But the navy will still be needed to help win this war. I’m going to head over to the Borden Isles once I’ve reunited my army and sent it marching towards the front. I’ll give you a more complete brief when we enter Largo harbor. I’ll also need to go and talk to any Borden Isle refugees who I can still find among the living. Re-opening the agreement with the Golden Dragons of Borden Isle is a major priority in this war.”

“The Dragons? Why?” Rudel asked. “The most aid they’ve ever agreed to offer anyone is to fight other Dragons.”

“Exactly,” Maelgyn replied. “Sho’Curlas has been training some Black Dragons... possibly over fifty of them.”

Rudel’s eyes widened. “F... fifty?”

“When I signed the treaty to bring Mar’Tok and Caseificio into Svieda, the Dwarves and Nekoji gave me a lot of intelligence on their activities. Our survival may hinge on re-establishing the alliance with the Golden Dragons. Invading the Borden Isles is pointless, though. We know what it’s like fighting them, and at best it would take years to successfully complete a reconquest of the islands. We don’t have the time for that, and with the current war against Sho’Curlas we don’t have the manpower. So, we went with a somewhat less ambitious plan. When I get to Borden Isle, I intend to talk to the Golden Dragons and see if we can negotiate the return of their protection. There may be an opportunity to reclaim the islands, as well, but that’s secondary.”

“Unquestionably,” Rudel agreed. “So, you need a single ship to make a clandestine trip through hostile waters, huh? You’re going to need a good captain for that.”

“Any suggestions?”

“Well, Captain Pikob knows the waters better than anyone else I know of...” the Admiral considered.

“What about you?” Maelgyn asked.

There was a momentary sense of surprise on the old man’s face before he shook his head negatively. “I’m an Admiral, your highness,” he said. “And besides, I don’t know the waters that well—”

“My foster father will join us,” Euleilla suggested. “I’m sure of it. And he knows those waters better than anyone.”

“It’s been more than half a century—”

“He doesn’t forget,” she insisted.

“Well... I suppose. But like I said, I’m an Admiral. I command fleets, not ships....”

“What, you forget how to captain the moment you’re promoted to flag rank?” Maelgyn snorted.

“Of course not!” Rudel exclaimed. “But I don’t have a ship, and—”

“You’ll have one. I need someone I know and can trust on a mission this critical.”

Rudel looked at Maelgyn hopelessly for a moment before finally nodding. “I would love to command a ship one last time. It would be an honor to accept this role in your mission, your highness. Thank you.”

“Thank me when we’re back in Svieda with an army of Golden Dragons at our side,” Maelgyn snorted. “Now, let’s go meet the locals…”

Sword Prince Wybert braced himself on the rails of the deck of the
Greyholden
, the trireme Maelgyn had selected for the journey to the Borden Isles. They made a slight detour before this all important mission – up one of the Largo River tributaries, all the way to Rocky Run. Wybert once felt as much at home at sea as on land, but since losing his legs – and gaining only a pair of wooden pegs to replace them with – his sense of balance was completely off. He had been seasick several times already, and wasn’t exactly happy at being on the ship... especially since this was just a short jaunt up a river to pick up some extra passengers. Euleilla sympathized with him, but there wasn’t really anything she could do. Besides, she was having her own problems with the ship.

“Tell me again,” Wybert grumbled, swallowing tightly. “Just why are we heading over to some small town practically in the middle of nowhere when we should be heading south, toward the Borden Isles?”

“Because this ‘small town practically in the middle of nowhere’ is where my foster father, Admiral Ruznak, lives,” Euleilla laughed. “And Admiral Ruznak’s knowledge of the waters around the Borden Isles is unique among your population.” This was the fifth time he’d asked the same question, and the fifth time she’d given the same answer.

“Right,” Wybert snorted. “Look, dearie, I think you’re a great wife for my cousin and all, despite your lack of noble upbringing and the rather... unusual method by which that marriage began. I know some of our other relatives might be a bit upset about that, but I’m not. However, I sincerely wish Maelgyn had met you somewhere else so he wouldn’t have been so tempted to go pick this Ruznak up. Your foster father will be a great asset, I’m sure, but getting him takes a lot of time—”

“I know,” Euleilla replied at the point where he’d always stopped every other time he’d said that same speech.

“—and I.... Sorry to be so blunt, milady, but I doubt he’ll live through the journey. He’s, what, ninety-seven years old right now?”

That was unexpected, and the thought tore through her heart horribly. However, from the moment she started her journey with Maelgyn, she had suspected that if she ever saw her foster father again it would be only to say goodbye as he passed away on his deathbed.

“At least this way I’ll see him again before he dies,” she said. “I thought I’d said my final goodbyes to him, already, but I’m so glad to see him one last time.”

Wybert sighed. “Yes, well... I suppose I can see that. Still, I hate this boat trip.”

“You are not alone in that,” Euleilla agreed, grimacing. “You, however, will be taking command of the armies at Rocky Run and leading them overland to Happaso. I, on the other hand, will be staying on the ship for several more weeks while we head on over to the Borden Isles.”

“You have my sympathies,” Wybert laughed, then swallowed loudly and clutched his stomach. “Ulp! Maybe I’d better not laugh. You know, for someone who’s seasick, you sure haven’t thrown up much.”

“I’m not really seasick,” Euleilla admitted. “I just... don’t function well on boats.”

“The foster-daughter of the famous Admiral Ruznak, not good on boats? That’s almost more of a scandal than your marriage,” Wybert joked.

“Just almost?” Maelgyn’s voice broke in, echoing Wybert’s humorous tone. Euleilla felt his arms go around her from behind – he had been doing that a lot lately. She had to admit she enjoyed the attention.

“Hello, Maelgyn. Where’ve you been?” Wybert asked.

“With Admiral Rudel. We’ll be pulling into port in about ten minutes – if you can avoid getting sick again for that long, you’ll be in the clear.”

Wybert sighed. “Yeah. And then I’ll be in charge of an army of Dwarven wolf-riders and Nekoji infantry.”

“You can ride cavalry-style despite those two twigs you’re standing on, right?” Maelgyn asked.

“Of course!”

“Good,” Maelgyn laughed. “Nekoji ‘march’ at about the same speed as a cavalry officer rides a horse, and wolf-riders are even faster. You’ll need to ride to keep up.”

“I can’t believe I’m getting myself into this. I’m taking charge of a host of people whose fighting style is completely foreign to me, yet you’re putting
my
armies under the command of
your
regent,” Wybert snorted. No-one took his protest seriously, as it had largely been his suggestion to put Valfarn in command.

“If it makes you feel any better,” Maelgyn said, “You’ll have plenty of time to train with them and learn how they operate.” What he didn’t say was that, after a long discussion with El’Athras, he had decided to put Wybert in a position where other soldiers would be able to teach the peg-legged Sword Prince the difference between naval tactics and land tactics.

“For all the good it will do us,” Wybert sighed. “What good is a mere sixty thousand or so people or so in a battle between millions?”

Wybert would be taking command of his own province’s division of cavalry, the Dwarven Wolfriders, and the Nekoji infantry to the front. The remaining Dwarves would wait in Rocky Run for Maelgyn’s army coming from Sopan.