The New World (12 page)

“Within my clan, Master, trust is complete. There may be rivalries, but this is only the way that we improve ourselves, as per your wishes. Outside of my clan, trust must be earned.”

“If you were given a wife from another clan, would you trust her?”

Keerana frowned. “She becomes one of my clan then, so I must trust her. If she betrayed me, it would benefit neither her nor her clan, for you would punish such treachery, would you not, Master?”

“I would indeed.” Nelesquin smiled. In creating the Durrani he had fashioned the greatest of warriors. Fierce, implacable, arrogant in combat, respectful in repose, they were everything a leader would want. Intelligent, too, for Keerana’s face already betrayed he was thinking more about the question he’d been asked.

“What do you expect of the enemy, Keerana?”

“They will be resourceful, but this will avail them nothing against us.”

“Well said, but Gachin was slain and his army thrown back from Tsatol Deraelkun.”

The warrior’s expression sharpened. “Gachin dismissed the clues to what awaited him as aberrations. The force that broke out from Kelewan later ambushed our troops in the forests, and stood against him at Tsatol Deraelkun. Because they struck from hiding and ran from the siege, he perceived them to be cowards.”

“But you do not?”

“I expect a viper to coil and strike. That it does not fight claw with claw surprises me not at all.” Keerana pointed off to the northwest. “Tsatol Deraelkun is well positioned for defense, and having an able warrior leading troops makes it still more effective. It is an interesting puzzle to be solved.”

Nelesquin smiled as a large, leather-winged, short-legged creature hopped up on the lead ship’s wales. A warrior sat in a saddle fastened where long neck met body, and gold control rods had been inserted into the creature’s spine. The beast threw its triangular head back and shrieked, then launched itself. It swooped low over the river to pick up speed, then beat its wings and rose easily to where it could float on the air currents above the land.

Nelesquin pointed to the flying beast. “That is a
jarandaki
, and I mean it for use in scouting. I supposed a couple of archers could be put in a saddle on its back, but they would have to master shooting while in a swoop.”

Keerana recovered himself and nodded. “It would not do for them to shoot the
jarandaki
in the wing.”

“No, not at all. The nice thing about them is that they will provide perspective on a battle. Had Gachin had a scout up on one, he would have known of the ambush that took his troops.”

“It is possible, Master, but even with that knowledge, he might not have reacted correctly.” Keerana bowed his head. “Those who fight beneath the Ram Crest are often given to vainglorious displays. Gachin might have dismissed the threat, or assigned a subordinate to deal with it.”

Nelesquin regarded his warlord closely. “You would not make such a mistake?”

“I could not, Master. I do not serve myself; I serve you. To fall prey to such an ambush would be an abrogation of my duty. My service to you is paramount.”

“Have you determined your strategy for taking Tsatol Deraelkun?”

“My plans shall be revised to account for the wonders aboard the ships, Master, but I have studied the matter and have worked out a strategy.” His eyes became keen. “To win Tsatol Deraelkun’s wall one must attack strongly at a single point. Relentless pounding will win through at least the first set of walls.”

“But if you attack that way, you allow your enemy to slip a force out to harass your flanks.”

“So I cannot allow myself to be flanked.” The warrior gestured toward the black ships on the river. “I will deploy my forces in depth. An attack against my flank will be repulsed by an attack against the enemy’s flank. With the
jarandaki
, signaling between units will be much easier and more direct. If the rider carries a flag aloft, he will be able to communicate information between the units.”

Nelesquin clapped his hands. “Brilliant. Your attack must be relentless and swift.”

“I beg your pardon, Master, but it is likely to be one or the other.”

The Prince frowned. “Enlighten me.”

“The line between swift and haste is thin. So is the line between relentless and obdurate. To move fast is to surrender flexibility. Relentlessness can become stubborn support for strategies that are not effective. I would not waste your troops, Master, in an effort unworthy of you and incapable of victory.”

“Yet is there not a chance that by remaining too flexible you will refuse to push at a time when one more effort would carry the day?”

Keerana’s expression hardened. “A coward might, Master.”

Nelesquin nodded approvingly. “And you are no coward. Good. And flexibility means you will employ my gift to you in the proper way.”

“Have no fear, Master, Tsatol Deraelkun shall fall. It is your will, and I am the instrument of your will.”

“Exactly.”

The two horsemen headed off into the forest, letting the
kasphani
draw the ships toward Kelewan. They passed through a vale and crested a low hill. Nelesquin reined back quickly, while the Durrani rode forward and interposed himself between the cloaked figure which revealed itself on the road and the Prince.

Nelesquin snarled. “Why do you play at this game, Kaerinus? I find you lurking, and Keerana is again prepared to kill you.”

The sorcerer smiled and turned toward them, holding out a hand. A black-and-emerald butterfly clung to one finger. Kaerinus smiled, then puffed breath at it. The insect took flight and quickly vanished in the branches above.

“It is not out of disrespect, Prince Nelesquin, but urgency.” The
vanyesh
shrugged. “I have spent so much time away that I sometimes forget Imperial manners. Wonderful creatures you have there. I pray the winged ones do not eat my butterflies.”

“They prefer somewhat bigger prey.” Nelesquin rode around Keerana. “What is so urgent?”

“Do you recall, my Prince, Mount Shanfa in Moryth?”

“You know I do.” Nelesquin glanced back at Keerana. “It was a nasty place, dark and dismal, a stone thorn shoved up through the world’s flesh. Virisken Soshir spent much time there.”

“I recall the place from my brief campaign in the Five Princes.” Keerana nodded slowly. “This tells me much of value.”

“Good.” Nelesquin returned his attention to Kaerinus. “What of that place? I’d sooner forget it than remember.”

“Then you are in luck, my Prince.” Kaerinus pointed to the south. “There have been reports. The mountain is
gone
.”

Chapter 13

T
he army that came to destroy Tsatol Deraelkun was not what I had expected. I was not foolish enough to imagine that my half brother would bring the same army he had led ages ago when we fought a mock battle for our father’s pleasure. Of course, our father had not bothered to watch. Even if he had, he’d not have noticed how Nelesquin and I strove against each other.

We’d not come to hate one another yet.

I stood at a tower window with Count Derael seated in his wheeled chair beside me. “I believe you are right, my lord—the hammer-headed ape creatures are meant to hurl stones as a catapult might. The other long-armed ones are climbers. The bony shield around their necks covers their shoulders as they scale the walls.”

His voice did not waver despite the tremor running through his limbs. “They’re very pale and have no eyes to speak of. They must operate by scent. We can deal with that.”

I glanced down at him. “I imagine they will scent-mark the walls. Something hurled.”

He turned his face up at me, surprise flashing there for a heartbeat before his general fatigue returned his face to impassiveness. “Did you not notice the little white things, over there, on the left in the shadow of the woods?”

I looked. “I’d taken them for sheep, my lord, though they have the body of spiders.”

“Yes, and their wool is spun webbing, ready for deployment. Given how the climbers are segregated from the woolspiders, but keep sniffing when the breeze blows across, I suspect the climbers eat them.” Count Derael inhaled laboriously. “The woolspiders will be sent against us. When we kill them, their ichor will mark the battlements and perhaps even drive the climbers into a frenzy.”

“And then the
kwajiin
come.” I slowly shook my head. The invaders had assembled nine thousand warriors and had their entire force arrayed against the southeastern corner of the fortress. A conventional army would have found that approach difficult. The only suitable staging area for siege machines was at the edge of their range and below the castle’s ground level. While they could still hit the walls, it would take a long time to bring them down, and then the troops would have to race uphill to engage the defenders.

“Do you see any tunneling beasts, Master Soshir?”

“No, but that does not surprise me, either.” I crossed my arms. “Nelesquin had no great love of tunnels after we scoured a Viruk labyrinth of pirates. He was lost for a time, and once we had destroyed the pirates, he wanted nothing more to do with tunnels.”

“And yet, because this prejudice is known to you, I must assume he has worked against it.” The man’s eyes burned intensely. “This complicates the defense of our home.”

“It cannot stand.”

“This I know, Master Soshir.” He twitched a hand to the right, and the gesture seemed to exhaust him. “If you could turn me to the maps.”

I dutifully turned the chair and rolled him across the round room to where maps had been hung on the opposite wall. Diagrams of every level had been drawn in great details and marked with sigils and signs I could not decipher.

“I have my engineers opening the false columns below. We will light fires in them. They will bring fire to key stones. You know what happens to granite when it is heated, yes?”

“It can powder.”

“Exactly. Within an hour or two this fortress will collapse. With any luck, it will take the bulk of the invaders with it.”

I nodded. “A couple of hours is enough to get everyone clear. We’ve already stationed the First Naleni Dragons and the Keru in the mountains to hold the gaps as we evacuate. The messages we’ve sent to Moriande should bring more troops. We’ll live to fight another day.”

“You may, Master Soshir, but this is my last battle.”

I crouched and laid a hand on his. His flesh was cold, but I still felt life in him. “This is not your final battle. The previous times the walls have fallen did not signal the end of the Derael family. You might think, had you not become ill, this place would never fall. You could have held it—through the first assault and the second. Perhaps a third. But all the Mystics Empress Cyrsa led into the Wastes could not stop Nelesquin from taking this fortress. Just as he brought his invaders and his living siege machines, he would bring more and more terrible creatures. Losing this fortress is not defeat, but surrendering because of its loss
is
.”

The man hung his head for a moment. “You do not understand how it is, Master Soshir. I
am
Fortress Derael. My weakness is its weakness. We die together. There is no dissuading me from this.”

Another voice, a young man’s voice, broke in from the doorway. “I shall not dissuade you, Count Derael. I
order
you to evacuate.”

The count did not look up. “You honor me, Prince Iekariwynal, but that is an order with which I cannot comply.”

The young Virine prince strode into the room in white armor with a red bear rampant crest on the breastplate. “You are my champion, Count Derael, and I need you. I will not have you die here.”

“But I am useless in your service.”

“No. I heard Master Tolo lecture his troops on the way about how it was more important to make the enemy worry about death than it was to kill them. These
kwajiin
know no fear, but they can learn it. Your very survival will inspire fear. Your knowledge will be the seed of their defeat.”

“Better the two of you conspire to defeat the enemy than convincing me of my worth.”

But before either of us could comment, a horn blew from the battlements outside. I ran to the window and the Prince wheeled his champion forward. There, in the distance, came a massive beast with a pavilion on its back. The creature plodded along slowly, but such was its size that it closed the distance swiftly. This made it easy for me to read the pennants flying above the pavilion.

“Nelesquin has arrived.”

The Prince pointed. “Look there.”

Evil looking bat-birds drifted along over the treetops, then climbed and began to circle like vultures. “They have archers on their backs.”

“So they do, Highness.” The count’s eyes narrowed. “This changes things. He will begin the assault now.”

“I know. Perhaps I can slow him down.”

The count caught the hem of my sleeve. “You will not commit the foolishness you accuse me of, will you?”

“We’ll both live to continue this discussion later, my lord.” I squeezed his shoulder then left the tower. I crossed the inner courtyard, passed through a sally port which was closed behind me, then mounted the battlements on the outer wall. Though I wore no armor, the tiger-hunting crest in orange on a black robe would be easy enough for my brother to spot.

The creature bearing the pavilion stopped and lowered its head to the ground. Two figures emerged from the tent, walked past the driver, and along the beast’s neck. Nelesquin leaped to the ground from the snout while his companion floated down. As they came forward, a company of the Steel Bear archers mounted the battlements to either side of me.

I waved their bows down. “We’ll trade words, not arrows.”

Nelesquin strode forward casually. He picked his way carefully across the battlefield. New grasses had sprung up, but there was no mistaking the white of bones and the black of blood-fed earth. The confidence on his face brought back fleeting glimpses of our previous meeting at Tsatol Deraelkun, back before we had become mortal enemies.

He opened his arms wide in welcome. “I had been told you lived, brother, though I already knew it in my heart.”