The Black Robe (The Sword and the Spell) (11 page)

The other big difference was the food. Any wild animal worth eating had retreated from the advancing army and even the skilled huntsmen, who had been sent out every day, returned empty handed. He had, of course, ensured that he would have the first choice of any food which was found in the farms and villages that his men pillaged and ransacked as they passed by gutting the first two soldiers who had failed to give him his due.

He had fared better with the women though, his men always ensuring there were one or two held ready for him to rut with whenever it took his fancy. They were peasants though and for the last two days he had been reduced to using whores as the inhabitants retreated from his army carrying everything they could with them, including their daughters. If that wasn’t bad enough he had been riding for days without a break, and despite sleeping on his feather mattress, which was carried in one of the supply wagons, he was sore and aching in every muscle.

It annoyed him that his companions were not suffering as much as he was. Sadrin sat to his right, two paces behind, which was right and proper, his shoulders slumped and a scowl on his face. He had considered letting the boy go to the Enclave and have his revenge on the High Master, as he had promised, but he was far too valuable to be allowed to run around the countryside unguarded. So far he had only used his magic for minor things like clearing his tent of vermin but when they encountered Borman’s army he would be much more useful.

On his other side sat Pellum who looked about as unhappy and as resentful as a man could get. At first he had been overwhelmingly grateful that his brother was coming to Vinmore’s rescue, but as the army had marched through the rich countryside leaving a swathe of destruction behind them, he had become more and more sullen. It was, perhaps, understandable. The whole point of asking his brother for help had been to prevent the invading armies from using Vinmore as a battlefield and destroying its precious vines and orchards. So far the poorly disciplined army from Essenland had done more damage than the two invading armies put together were ever likely to do.

Things had been difficult from the very beginning of this enterprise. He had intended to lead six thousand men into Vinmore, but despite conscription of the fighting age men of Essenland, he had only been able to raise an army of half that size. Supplies had been equally difficult to muster; like the men they seemed to disappear the moment that Quim and Dorba and their enforcers appeared in the villages. They had, of course, followed his orders and made some examples. Between them they had burnt several villages to the ground and hung all the inhabitants, but he’d had to put a stop to that.

As much as he hated to admit it, his fat, pompous father had been right; a king needed his peasants to work the land and in his case to mine the silver, fill the army and populate the whore houses. Whilst burning their villages to make an example was acceptable, killing them off at the rate his minions were managing to do was not a clever idea. If they continued at the rate they were going he would have no peasants to rule by the end of the following summer.

Vorgret stood in his stirrups trying to ease his aching backside and grumbled irritably to himself. He had led the army out of Vorglave in early morning sunshine and the weather had stayed reasonable all the way until they had come within sight of the North Forest. Then the rain had started and hadn’t stopped since. Pellum hadn’t been much help either informing him that at the western edge of the forest it could rain for days without stopping.

He really wasn’t interested in knowing that it was the rain which made the forest so lush and the fruit trees so productive. So far all it had done for him was to soak him through and bog down the rear wagons in the mud churned up by three thousand horses. He had hoped that once he turned south east and came level with Alewinder, the rain would stop, but it didn’t, and rain was now seeping beneath his collar and trickling down his back.

The king pulled his horse to a halt and peered eastwards where dark clouds hung heavily as if they were just waiting for him to ride their way before they dropped their load of rain on him. To the north the sky looked brighter, and whilst it might have been wishful thinking he thought he caught a glimpse of Alewinder’s famous towers. The two armies he rode to meet were at least three days’ ride away whilst he could be in Alewinder before dark. He considered the alternatives carefully; did he really want to ride for three days in the rain and then fight a battle over something which was nothing to do with him, or were there easier pickings closer at hand? Of course, if he decided not to fight then Borman would still have his woman and that irked him no end but she was only a woman and that was nothing compared to a kingdom.

It wasn’t a difficult decision. He turned in his saddle and gave Pellum a nasty smile. “I’ve had a change of plan brother. I have had enough of riding through the rain and the mud just to help you when Alewinder is so much closer, and I can take it for myself without the trouble of fighting your battles.”

The look on Pellum’s face changed rapidly from resentment to shock. “You can’t do that! The kingdom’s mine; you already have a kingdom!”

Vorgret shrugged. “I know but I have decided I want to be like Borman and have two kingdoms instead of one and as I am here with an army I think Vinmore will do quite nicely.”

Now Pellum looked really alarmed. He had always disliked his brother, who he thought should have been drowned at birth. He was cunning and crude and everything which Pellum despised, but when Vorgret said he was going to take something that belonged to his younger brother he knew he meant it. He had been bullied by Vorgret all his life. This time though he was going to fight for what was his.

“You can’t take my kingdom from me! What will I do?”

Vorgret laughed. “Nothing, but I will be generous, little brother. I will let you and your incestuous bitch go and live in exile with our father. It will make a nice, cosy family group.”

“I will not allow it!” shouted Pellum.

He pulled his sword so fast that Vorgret could do nothing to defend himself as Pellum leaned from the saddle to slash downwards, aiming the blade between his brother’s head and shoulder. The blow would have sliced through his neck and into his chest killing him instantly had his sword not stopped a hand span from the king’s neck, vibrating as if the blade had hit a solid wall. He gave a small squeak of surprise, and then slowly toppled off his horse backwards dropping the sword before he landed in the mud. Vorgret looked down at his brother as he lay quite still with his eyes wide open and a vacant grin on his face, and then back at Sadrin who looked no different than normal except for his raised hand with its extended fingers

“You could have killed him for me,” said Vorgret in a perfectly calm voice.

Sadrin shrugged. “I could, but he is your brother, and in any case he might prove useful in getting us into Alewinder without having to fight our way in.”

It was Vorgret’s turn to shrug. “I don’t really care; Alewinder was always going to be mine one way or another.” Ignoring his magician he turned his horse north and led the way leaving his guards to drag Pellum out of the mud.

*

Swordmaster Dilor stood on the battlements and watched the distant dust cloud grow larger. It was a sight that he thought he would never see and it filled his heart and mind with pain at the knowledge of what was going to happen to beautiful, peaceful Vinmore when the lovely city of Alewinder fell. Unlike the queen or the inhabitants of the city he had seen the horror of an invading army, the rape and death, pillage and destruction. Of course some commanders kept tight control of their men but even so some atrocities always occurred.

He had led an invading army once but thankfully that was in the wild lands across the Great Southern Ocean and not in the six kingdoms. Commander Gadrin and he had joint command and had made it clear to the foreign troops that any wrongdoing against the people of the city they were about to take would result in their execution. They had executed over five hundred men and hung their mutilated bodies in the city squares and streets before the rest of the army understood that they were serious about their threat.

The six kingdoms were different of course, more civilised and disciplined and touched by the gentle hand of the Goddess. It was one of the reasons that he and Gadrin had returned to the six kingdoms; to ensure that lawless bands of sell swords and rampaging armies would never destroy the land or terrorise the people and so far they had been successful. There had been problems during the early days of his service to Vinmore, when rebellion and insurrection had swept the kingdoms but that had been elsewhere and had never disturbed the peace of the kingdom he guarded.

It was said that the kingdoms had a pact with the Goddess so that Vinmore, with its ancient vines and orchards, would never feel the hand of war, but he didn’t believe that. As far as he was concerned the reason Vinmore had remained safe from the avaricious eyes of the other kingdoms was because he ensured its security. For twenty summers he had served as commander of Vinmore’s forces, although for appearances sake, he had always been known as the Swordmaster.

He had trained its army and deployed them on the kingdom’s borders so that the other kingdoms knew that Vinmore could protect itself, but they never once disturbed the daily lives of the vintners and orchard men, brewers and farmers. As well as guarding the borders, the army trained the militia and every man and woman in the kingdom used to practice each seven day with sword and bow. Then there was the Royal Guard, the elite force that protected Alewinder and the royal household which he had trained personally.

For twenty summers he had kept Vinmore safe and peaceful and now the army had gone and along with it the peace. Perhaps he should have argued harder with the queen when she ordered the army to be disbanded, the militia stood down and the Royal Guard halved in number. However, she was a difficult person to argue with and, just maybe, the years of peace and tranquillity had made him soft. His latest argument with the queen over the stupidity of inviting Essenland’s army onto Vinmore’s soil had been the loudest and longest argument yet and he was surprised that he still held his position of commander and wasn’t locked in a dark cell somewhere with chains on his hands and feet.

At first, when Essenland’s army had just crossed their border, he thought the queen might have known best and it was he who was over cautious. He was right though. It was only days before the reports started coming in about villages being destroyed, maturing vintages being guzzled and ancient orchards being burnt for firewood. The queen could have taken some action then, but she hadn’t summoned him to hear his advice, and he hadn’t sought an audience to give it. He regretted that now; he might have been able to do something to keep Essenland’s army marching in the right direction but it was too late, King Vorgret was coming to Alewinder with his army behind him, and there was very little he could do about it.

If he couldn’t stop Vorgret entering Alewinder he could, at least, lessen the death and destruction which his army would bring with him. For days he’d had the Royal Guard quietly spreading messages that if Alewinder was invaded then the people should put up no resistance but give the soldiers from Essenland anything they asked for. It galled him to act the coward but he knew from experience that the harder an army had to fight for their prize, the more they took in retribution. His words had caused some panic and a few of Alewinder’s more wealthy citizens had closed their houses in the city and had left for their country estates. They were the foolish ones who thought they would be safe in their estate houses protected by a dozen or so retainers. Once Alewinder fell the rich estates would be Vorgret’s next target.

Surprisingly the queen had said nothing to counter the rumours which were sweeping the city and he guessed that she still held to the belief that Vorgret was here to support her and not to take her throne. She could be right of course, in which case he would look a fool and would be forced to resign. It wouldn’t take too much forcing; he’d had about as much as he could take of her and her consort, and had already written to Commander Gadrin about a possible position on his staff. Failing that he thought he might travel south to Shipside and see if he could be of service to his old master, King Steppen.

So lost was he in his own thoughts that he didn’t notice the arrival of Squad Leader Barrin until he stood in front of him and saluted. Dilor returned the salute and smiled to himself; he liked Barrin, he was a good junior officer, one of those trained by the Cadetmaster before the queen had dismissed him. He would be a good senior officer too when he became older, that’s if he lived through the next few days.

“Sir, I have been sent to report that the Queen is preparing to ride out and meet King Vorgret and Prince Pellum.”

“Damn!” muttered Dilor under his breath but just loud enough for Barrin to hear. “Doesn’t she know how dangerous that is?”

“Apparently not, sir, as she intends to go with just four maids in attendance.”

“What she intends and what’s going to happen are two different things.” He thought about it for a moment, working out troop deployments in his mind. “Tell the senior officer I want first troop armed and mounted and ready for trouble. They will join me as the Queen’s escort. Also tell him that I want the rest of the Royal Guard mounted and outside the city walls as backup in case anything goes wrong.”

“Yes, Sir.” Barrin saluted and turned away to carry out his orders.

“Oh, and Barrin. I want you to take three men you trust with your life, take the place of the four maids and be ready to act if the queen is threatened. If my nephew could be amongst them I would be much obliged. If anything happens you are to take the queen to a place of safety. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Swordmaster.”

Barrin saluted again and hurried away whilst Dilor watched him leave. The boy had courage and knew how to use his initiative; he just hoped that he needed neither in the day to come. He turned his attention back to the approaching army which could be seen quite clearly now. They looked a rag-tag and disorderly bunch riding in a mass rather than in orderly lines. As far as he could make out there didn’t appear to be any lancers or bowmen, which would be an advantage if it came to a fight and his men had to hold a line. In the front he could just make out Pellum, slumped on his horse like a sack of flour roots and beside him was King Vorgret.