Jake: Fort Danryce

Chapter 1

“Jake!”

Nadeen dropped to her knees next to him and clasped his head in her hands, staring into his face.

His eyes were closed, a grimace of pain frozen on his face as blood dripped down his chin.

“Mintran!”

Mintran ran over and squatted down next to her, one hand prying open Jake’s eye for a quick look, the other hand resting on his chest.

Jake was breathing.

“What is it? Nyogtha!?”

“I don’t know… Quickly, help me get him inside!”

“Bring that stretcher over here!” shouted Captain Long, gesturing to two troopers carrying an empty stretcher toward the shattered postern. “Hurry!”

They came running.

“It’s the Commander!”

“What happened?”

“We don’t know… we have to get him to the church!”

As he spoke, Captain Long grabbed the stretcher from their hands and spread it out next to Jake, then looked to Nadeen.

“One… two… and three!”

Together they lifted Jake’s unconscious body onto the stretcher, and grabbed the handles themselves, trotting toward the church with Mintran in close pursuit.

“Captain Beghara, take command!” shouted Nadeen over her shoulder, and Beghara immediately pointed at the stretcher-bearers, standing there with empty hands.

“You. I want you to watch this monstrosity burn. If you see anything move, shout. Loud. Do not get near it.

“And you, go to the kitchen and get oil that burns. A lot of it. Bring it here and turn this thing into fucking ashes! RUN!”

She turned to Aercaptain de Palma, who was still staring at the burning Flayed One.

“Aercaptain, fly down to the river pastures, and get the Horsemaster. I need her back here as soon as possible.”

“Yessir,” he cried, and sprinted for the tower, shouting to his crew as he ran. “We’re up again! Back onboard!”

The airship took off almost immediately, turning and heading toward the river.

She sent Bagatur Khasar and Captain Chinh to assess the damage and get started on putting up some sort of temporary defensive structure.

Beghara looked around, spotted a woman carrying arrows she’d collected from inside the fort.

“You! Ndidi, right?”

“Yes, Captain,” she replied, turning to look at Beghara. She didn’t look as beautiful as usual this time, with blood and dirt smeared over half her face and torso.

“Find all the stable hands, and get every horse either in a stall or roped somewhere, right now. Forget the damn arrows!

“If you need help, commandeer anyone you like. Now, trooper!”

Ndidi dropped the bundle of arrows and ran off toward the stables, shouting for a stable hand.

Beghara turned her attention to the gates. She didn’t expect another attack after that massacre, but they had to be repaired as soon as possible.

Suddenly, Captain Chinh called her over.

“Captain Beghara! We’ve got a little problem here!”

She walked over, wiping the sweat from her forehead. She was exhausted… it had been a long night, and was already turning into a long, hot day.

“Yes, Captain?”

“Take a look outside the postern,” he invited. “Carefully.”

She clambered over the stones half-blocking the postern. The ground outside, once fields of grain and vegetables for the fort, was now a blackened plain, flames lapping twisted, blackened bodies that no longer looked human. Smoke and the stench of oil and roasting meat filled the air. She stepped outside.

“Gods!”

She froze for a second, hand automatically grasping her axe.

“The wyvern!”

Only a few meters away, almost flush with the wall, the injured wyvern lay still, golden eyes open and watching her. Next to its scaly head lay a body, and judging from the red-and-gold scorpion patch on the harness, it was one of the fort’s men.

At first glance she’d thought it was eating the man, but as she looked more closely she saw the wyvern was licking his wounds, lapping the blood.

The man was breathing but looked unconscious.

She thought it was one of Captain Long’s men but didn’t recall his name.

She turned toward the main gate where Ginette, one of Nadeen’s twelve, was working.

“Ginette! Trooper Ginette!”

A head popped over the rampart, looked down.

“Captain?”

“You’re from Daikos, right? Know anything about wyverns?”

She stuck her head out farther and saw the wyvern.

“Yes, Captain!”

The head vanished, and she heard her running along the rampart toward the ladder. Ginette joined her a moment later.

“I was never trained as a wyver-master, but my father was,” she said.

It was an adult, it looked like… the same one that had fallen from the sky during the battle, she realized. It was mostly a grayish-green, with huge bat wings were folded… no, one wing was folded.

The other was stretched out, broken and burnt.

“What’s it doing to that man?”

“That’s Beorhtwig, another Daikos man,” said Ginette. “Don’t know how he got there, but the wyvern’s trying to heal him!”

“Heal him? Can wyverns heal the wounded?”

“No, no. The wyvern licks its own wounds, and will lick the wounds of its… master… Damn! He’s taken Beorhtwig as his master!”

“Master or not, if we don’t do something about that wound he’s gonna die,” said Chinh. “But with that wyvern guarding him…”

“I know the words, but injured and with his master injured… I don’t know if he’ll listen. Bulls are usually less defensive than besses, but…”

“Go tell Mintran, Ginette. I know he’s busy but ask him to come if he can,” ordered Beghara. She turned to Chinh.

“What do you think, Captain? I’d like to kill this fucking beast for what it did to us, myself… but a tame wyvern…”

“Well, the wyvern’s not to blame, and I agree: if we can save the wyvern and the wyver-master both, it would be as good as a second airship!”

Mintran walked up, looking exhausted, his robes covered in blood.

“Alchemist Mintran! You came! How is the Commander?”

“He doesn’t seem to be in any immediate danger, but I still don’t know what’s wrong with him.

“Too many wounded, too many who will never fight again… and now you want me to worry about a wyvern!?”

“I know, Alchemist, I know,” said Beghara. “The wyvern, yes, but first the man. Beorhtwig is one of Captain Long’s men, and seems to have become a wyver-master.

“If we keep the wyvern quiet, can you save him?”

“I have to see him first!” retorted Mintran. He walked forward, ignoring the wyvern entirely, and knelt next to the wounded man. “Looks like the blast threw him against the wall, or hit him with stones from the gate. Head, arm, chest… lots of blood, maybe internal damage, I can’t tell… but he’s breathing all right, and pulse is good… Help me get him to the church where I can see better.”

He slipped one arm under Beorhtwig’s shoulders and tried to lift his torso up a little bit for a better look at the side.

A giant claw swiped forward, the curved backside hitting him in the leg and knocking him down and away from the fallen man.

“Wha…?”

Ginette stepped forward, soothing the wyvern with whispered words and slow strokes on the animal’s muzzle.

Its tongue, long and forked, darted out to test the air, touching Ginette on the arm briefly, and the wyvern gave a huge, moist whuff. The enormous golden eye looked at Mintran once more, and then the claw withdrew, and the beast’s head sank back to the ground.

Mintran could treat his wounded master, but not take him away.

Mintran did what he could, cleansing the wounds and binding them up. He put a splint on the arm just in case there was a fracture in there he couldn’t see. He might have a broken rib or two, he thought, but except for bandaging up his chest there wasn’t too much he could do… didn’t seem to be breathing any blood, though, which was a good sign.

The wyvern watched every move, motionless.

“It doesn’t look injured, except for the wing, of course.”

“No wing means it can’t fly,” said Beghara.

“Not now,” agreed Ginette, “but wyverns can usually regenerate. Wings, legs, tails. With luck he may fly again.”

“I’ve heard that but never believed it…”

“Oh, it’s true, all right,” said Mintran. “But only wyverns, I’m afraid, not people.

“And now if you’ll excuse me, there are wounded waiting, and Captain Ridhi can’t handle them all!”

He trotted back to the church.

“Ginette, put an awning up over Beorhtwig. I want you to check on him—and on this damn wyvern— at least twice a day and make sure they’re OK. Tell me immediately if Beorhtwig wakes, or the wyvern does anything.”

“Yes, Captain,” said Ginette, and clambered back through the postern in search of some fabric.

“So let’s look at the postern, shall we, Captain?”

“It’s pretty well destroyed, Captain Beghara, I’m afraid,” said Chinh. “The gate is totally destroyed, and one of the columns as well. Once we get the debris cleared we can see how the stonework looks; might need to replace a few blocks.”

“Have to get some woodworkers up here from Cadhar…. damn! Cadharna was torched, wasn’t it?

“How bad was the damage when you rode through, Captain?”

“A handful of buildings were burning, mostly smaller ones but I recall I saw one grain storehouse going up. The villagers were putting up a pretty good resistance, but the attackers were more interested in burning and pillaging than in fighting.

“They weren’t expecting us to suddenly appear on their flank. And they paid for it.”

“A few buildings wouldn’t be that bad, but how many people did they kill…? Could you send one of your troopers down there and see? We may have to lend them some people to get things in order. We want to stay in their good graces; in addition to doing a lot of jobs for us, they also have the only tavern!”

“Right away, Captain.”

Chinh nodded and walked off to talk to one of his troopers, a black woman from Parg, maybe, or farther south in Zar or Xura.

Beghara walked over the main gate. It was in even worse shape, with part of the wall gone next to it. They’d have to rebuild the whole thing, she realized.

And if they had to rebuild the whole thing, damned if she wouldn’t build flanking towers, too! And on the postern! Hell, half a dozen towers to length of the wall! They didn’t really need them along the clifftop, since the height of the cliff made it close to impossible for anyone to climb up, but she made a mental note to double-check that later.

They’d need to bring an artificer familiar with castle construction out here, she realized, from Rinar or Ilarnek. Maybe Juan Hernández, Chóng’s new factor in Rinar, could find someone.

A shadow cut across the ground, and she glanced up.

The airship was back already.

The Horsemaster jumped off the airship before it was even fully moored, and vanished into the tower. Beghara knew that Nadeen would be there to fill her in—and the Commander! She wanted to go see what had happened, but had too much to do here, now. It had to wait.

Chapter 2

Beorhtwig opened his eyes and wondered where he was.

He was lying on his back, a sheet of tent fabric stretched above.

How did he get here…?

The battle! Thuba Mleen!

The wyvern!

And after the wyvern, another bomb exploded, and something hit him, and he blacked out for a moment.

And then he saw the wyvern falling, falling out of the sky…

And he wanted to see it, to touch a wyvern, one last time before he died.

He crawled here, he remembered that much.

And he found the wyvern, and crawled to it, and lay down next to it, and…

And now he was lying on his back in a tent.

He struggled up on one elbow, grimacing as pain stabbed through his chest.

Suddenly there was a huge whuff of breath, and a crashing as something moved, and an enormous eye dropped into view not more than an arm’s length away.

A wyvern’s eye!

It watched him for a moment, blinked, then slowly the lid sagged, and the wyvern’s head dropped to the ground, watching him contentedly.

Like a wyvern would watch its master, he thought in confusion. But I’m not a wyver-master!

He gingerly reached out a hand, slowly, watching the wyvern’s reaction.

He’d already lost one finger to a wyvern, and didn’t want to lose another… unless…

He stroked its cheek.

It rumbled in pleasure, acceptance.

It’s tongue, long and forked, darted out to rasp over his hand in greeting.

He sat up, forgetting the pain in his chest, pushing the awning to the side.

He was lying next to a wyvern, an adult bull it looked like….

He stroked it again, and was almost knocked down when the bull butted its head against him, gently.

“I see you’re awake finally,” came a voice from behind him.

It was Ginette, another trooper from Daikos.

“Ginette! What… what am I doing here?”

Ginette laughed.

“You’re lying on the ground next to a wyvern, of course.”

“What happened?”

“We don’t really know… after the battle someone thought to come and see if the wyvern was dead or not, and they found you lying next to it. The wyvern was licking the blood from your wound, and when we tried to get you to the church to try to heal you, the wyvern got angry.”

Beorhtwig felt his chest. It was wrapped in bandages and hurt like the devil when he moved.

“I’ve been here with you since.”

“How long? Since the battle?”

“Three days.”

Beorhtwig looked up at the wyvern again.

Like most wyverns, it was a grayish-green on top, with a light gray underside, blotches of camouflage covering its skin to break up its appearance. One bat wing was folded, the other… the other was burned, broken, stretched out and bent unnaturally.

“Yeah, one wing is gone, I’m afraid,” said Ginette.

“But they can regenerate!”

“Yeah, sometimes. I know some of them have regrown wings in the past. But it’ll be painful to cut off the broken wing, and if the wyvern gets angry… well, it wouldn’t be good to be anywhere near.”

He stroked the wyvern again and received another wet, foul-smelling whuff for his trouble, then contented rumbles from deep inside.

He struggled to his feet, wobbly, and began to gingerly walk along the wyvern, running his hand down its neck, its flank, legs, stroking the outstretched wing, the long tail.

He walked around behind, starting up the other side, and stopped at the burned, twisted wing lying on the ground.

He slowly stretched out his hand, touched it.

The wyvern’s rumbled stopped, then started up again.

He ran his hand over the blackened wing, and the wyvern turned to watch him, huge golden eyes staring quietly.

It must have hurt, but other than that initial pause the wyvern kept rumbling, quietly.

He walked around the wing, stroking the neck, and back to the head, scratching along the jaw and reaching up to scratch between its eyes.

“I can do it,” he said. “It trusts me.”

“You sure about that?” asked Ginette. “It’s not a youngling, and I’d guess it’s already paired by now. Probably quite some years ago, judging by the hunting scars along its legs and belly.”

“I’m sure,” said Beorhtwig. “I’ve dreamt of this for so long…”

He straightened up.

“Flogdreka will need food,” said Beorhtwig.

“Flogdreka? You can’t think of a more original name than that?” laughed Ginette.

“I’ve known his name since I could speak, and now I’ve finally found him… Are there any horse carcasses left from the battle?”

“None, I’m afraid… they were put on the pyre with the dead.”

“Then I must go hunting for deer. Captain Danryce must let me go.”

Ginette slowly shook her head.

“I’m sorry, Trooper Beorhtwig. The Captain’s dead, killed in the same bomb blast that wounded you.”

“…Dead…?”

Ginette nodded.

“We’re rebuilding the fort now, and an awful lot of people were killed or injured. It’ll be a while before anything’s back to normal again.”

“So who do I ask?”

“Captain Serilarinna; it’s her twelve now.”

“So Seri finally made Captain. Good for her! She deserves it, but I wish it hadn’t cost us Captain Danryce.”

Ginette nodded.

“Do you feel well enough to hunt?”

He slowly moved his arms, seeing how much everything hurt.

He gasped, and sat down suddenly.

“No. Not yet,” he said, rubbing his shoulder. “But Flogdreka needs food!”

“They usually only eat once a week, or less…”

“Normally, but he’s injured, and hopefully will regrow a wing… he needs meat, and lots of it.”

“Let me go get the Captain. You can try convincing her yourself.

“You were smashed up against the wall,” she continued. “You should’ve died right then and there, but somehow you dragged yourself all the way out here, and this wyvern kept you alive.

“And I guess you kept him alive, too. He won’t leave your side now.”

Ginette left, leaving Beorhtwig to stroke his wyvern.

She was back in a few minutes with Captain Serilarinna, who was filthy from head to toe with dirt and ash.

“Welcome back to the land of the living, Beorhtwig! We wondered when you’d join us,” she said as she crouched down next to him. “I see you’ve met your new friend here.”

“Sergean… Captain. I just woke up.”

“How’s the ribs?”

“Hurts like a shantak, Captain. Hurts to breathe, hurts to move.”

“Just stay as you are. You’re one of the lucky ones; we lost a lot of good people in that fight.”

“That bad, Captain?”

“Yeah, that bad. Or worse. I never wanted to be Captain over Danny’s dead body…” She paused. “Sorry, I’m not used to being a captain yet.”

They fell silent for a moment.

“So what about this wyvern, then?”

“He needs food… a horse, a cow, even a deer or two.”

“Wyverns only eat every so often, though…”

“Yeah, when they’re healthy. Flogdreka needs a lot right now to regrow that wing.”

“Flogdreka?”

“That’s his name,” explained Beorhtwig. “They can usually regrow injuries like legs, tails, and wings, but they need lots of food to do it.

“…and someone will have to cut off the old one before it’ll work.”

“No way I’m gonna start chopping on a live wyvern!”

“I think Ginette and I can do it. I’ll keep Flogdreka calm long enough for him to chop it free. We’d need a big, heavy axe and a couple of solid hits… those bones are pretty big.”

“If it’s an axe you want, you should ask Captain Beghara,” said Seri. “And she could probably do it in fewer swings, too.”

“Yeah, that sounds good to me, too,” said Ginette. “I saw her swing that axe of hers during the fight. If she’s got the time, she’d be perfect. I’ll help you keep the bull quiet.”

“I can ask the Captain to drop by with her axe,” said Seri, “but you still need someone to go get you some deer or something, right? There’s a hunting party going out tomorrow morning, if you can wait.”

“He really needs to load up on food before we cut that broken wing free,” said Beorhtwig. “Maybe Captain Beghara can help us tomorrow evening, after we get him fed?”

“Assuming they bring back enough deer,” said Seri.

“Anything’ll do, as long as there’s lots of it: sheep, goats, even chickens or fish. Two deer, or a horse or a cow, would be best, but I’ll take what I can get!”

Serilarinna sighed, stood up tiredly.

“OK, let me see what I can do. No promises!”

“Thank you, Captain. You might mention how useful a wyvern would be in the future, if we can save his wing…”

Seri smiled.

“Yes, that had occurred to us, but I don’t think she needs reminding. You know, we’re all a bit busy right now…”

“Sorry, Captain, I just…”

“Yeah, it’s OK, Beorhtwig. Just get better so you can help us put the fort back together again, will ’ya?”

“As soon as I can, Captain, as soon as I can.”

As soon as Serilarinna left, Beorhtwig turned to Ginette.

“Ginette, buddy, can you please, please, get me a bucket of water or two and a new tunic, and help me get cleaned up? Somebody cleaned me up a little while I was out, but…”

“Yeah, that was me. You stink,” agreed Ginette. “Be happy to.”

Chapter 3

“Still hurts like a son of a bitch,” Jake groaned. “You sure somebody didn’t stick me with a knife?”

“Not a scratch,” said Mintran. “It’s something on the inside.”

“Something the Flayed One did to me?”

“I just don’t know, Commander. I doubt it, but I don’t know.”

“Physician Nolan should get here today, Jake,” said Nadeen, “and he may know.”

“I mean, I feel fine except for the knife in my guts,” said Jake. “No fever, no chills, no headache, you say my breathing and pulse are normal… so what is it?”

“If the tea makes it feel a little better, than have some more tea, Commander.”

“Thanks, I will.”

He held out his cup for a refill.

Jake was sitting on a chair in his own quarters. He’d gotten used to the pain, a little, and could walk normally, but every so often a spasm would shudder through his stomach. He’d spit up blood a couple times, too.

“Airship approaching!” came the shout from the bell tower, and there was a sudden flurry of activity as troopers manned the scorpions.

Nadeen stepped outside and shielded her eyes to better see the airship.

“It’s flying the King’s colors,” she said. “A lot smaller than what I expected, though…”

The airship slowed near the cliff wall, revealing itself to the defenders to demonstrate good faith, and was waved closer.

It pulled up abreast of the wall and the crew threw over the hawser, which was quickly looped over a bollard. The gangplank dropped and Chuang came hurrying onto the wall walkway.

“He is in the church?”

“Yes, Master Chuang,” replied Sergeant Petter, waving toward the stairs in the corner. “I’ll take you.”

“No need, I know the way,” snapped Chuang, and scurried down the waiting ladder, leaving the sergeant behind.

It was only a short walk to Jake’s quarters.

“Thank you, Master Chuang, he’s in here,” said Nadeen, showing him in. “Where is Physician Nolan?”

“He will see Jake shortly,” said Chuang. “We have to go meet him.

“Now help me get Jake onto the airship. Just Jake, you, and Mintran.”

He put his arm around Jake’s shoulders and slipped his hand under his armpit.

“Can you walk?”

“Yeah, I can walk. It just hurts real bad every so often,” said Jake, standing.

“OK, let’s go.”

Chuang began walking with Jake. Nadeen held the door open, and told Captain Long to take command.

They walked toward the cliff wall and the waiting airship, and as they walked Nadeen felt a few gusts of wind, blowing leaves and ash into the air.

She looked up…the northwestern sky was getting dark… a black cloud how was growing over the Mohagger Mountains north of the fort.

They boarded the airship, which hauled up the gangplank and cast off immediately, soaring higher and toward the mountains… and that black cloud.

Gusts of wind swept the deck now, and the airship was buffeted back and forth as it approach the storm.

“Hang on!” called the airship’s captain. “Shouldn’t last very long, but hang on tight. We almost never tip over… just hang on. We have to do it this way to hide where you’re going!”

“Where are we going?” asked Jake, shielding his eyes from the rain.

“You’ll see!”

The aercaptain flew straight into the driving rain, flying as close to the wind as he could, working his way deeper and deeper into the cloud, and upwards.

“Almost there!”

True to the captain’s word, the sky began to lighten and the gusts to weaken, and then they broke through the clouds to see a stone wall in front of them!

They continued to rise along the wall, which turned into a stone wharf with an airship docked, building, trees… over there a minaret, some domes… It was huge! This was no airship!

It was a whole city! A city, hidden in the black cloud!

The airship cautiously rose above the surface, then landed flat on the wharf instead of floating next to it.

Physician Nolan was waiting there with another man, someone she’d never met before but seemed to be a Godsworn. And next to him was… the King!

Here! For Jake!

“King Kuranes! I didn’t expect to see you here!” said Jake, stepping off the airship and onto the wharf. “And on Serannian! You brought your whole city with you!”

“Welcome back, Commander. Captain Nadeen, welcome to Serannian, my floating city. I do wish it could have been under better circumstances.”

He escorted them up the marble steps to a large domed building nearby.

Nadeen looked around at the wharf, the park-like scene they were walking through now, with its lush grass and colorful flowers interspersed with status and gazebos.

She noticed that the wharf was dotted with catapults, scorpions, and other weapons of war, as well as winches, at least two airships that she could see, and a host of other things she didn’t have time to see properly.

And they were manned… This city was carrying an army! And hidden in that cloud, it could go almost anywhere undetected!

Inside the building, Nolan was waiting with several others.

“How are you, buddy?” said Nolan, guiding him to a low couch. “Lie down.”

Jake meekly laid down on the couch, and Nolan bent to take Jake’s arm for a quick pulse with one hand while gauging the color of Jake’s eyes.

“Doesn’t look like you have a fever, certainly no cough, no obvious injuries. What color was the blood?”

“Fresh, bright red,” said Nadeen.

“And he spit it up, no coughing, right?”

“No coughing. When he collapsed he was breathing normally.”

Nolan pulled out a cup-like device and held it against Jake’s chest, pressing his own ear to the top. “No congestion I can hear, heart’s fine.”

“No stethoscope?”

“Still working on it; this is an improvement over my ear, though. Shut up and let me listen.”

He listened a little more, then placed his hand on Jake’s stomach, pressing here and there.

Jake flinched.

“That hurt’s, huh? How about here…? And here?

“How long has your stomach hurt?”

“Uh… a month or two, I guess. Been too busy to pay it much attention.”

“OK, I’m pretty sure it’s just a bleeding ulcer, combined with lack of sleep and excessive stress,” said Nolan, sitting back. “You were about ready to collapse anyway, and then the ulcer kicked in to make it even worse. We can get the pain down pretty fast, but healing will take time.”

“Well, I am not sure that it is just an ulcer,” said Chuang. “Not with that Flayed One spending all that time around him!”

“A what…? A Flayed One?”

“I’ll explain in more detail later, Physician, but for now please let us—Healer Dunchanti and myself—take a look at Jake, too.”

“Of course,” said Nolan. He stood and stepped back to give them room.

The other man, the one Nadeen had thought a Godsworn, knelt next to Jake and placed his hand on Jake’s stomach.

“Dunchanti of Panakeia, Commander. I was sent to establish a temple to Panakeia at your fort, but it seems I have work here to finish first.”

Chuang knelt next to him, and also placed his hand on Jake’s stomach.

They closed their eyes and fell silent, motionless.

Their breathing slowed, became shallower, synchronized… and suddenly they opened their eyes, smiling.

“Not a trace!” said Chuang. “As the Physician said, he has a wound in his stomach, which we have treated a bit. It should heal with care, though.”

“Not a trace of what, exactly?” asked Nolan.

“A Flayed One—the Stain of Nyogtha—was somehow disguised as a colt, or perhaps even born as a colt, and was close to Jake many times recently. It was killed, but Jake collapsed at the same time, right as it was next to him.

“We needed to find out if it had somehow infected him… but there is no trace of the foul thing in Jake’s body.”

“It’s just an ulcer, then,” said Jake. “My dad always had ulcers, but I never figured I’d get them.”

“They’re caused by a bacteria called Helicobacter pylori, which is pretty common. For various reasons it suddenly starts eating holes in the lining of your stomach. Stress is a good way to make a minor ulcer a whole lot worse.”

“Had plenty of stress lately, no question about that… so what now? How do I fix it?”

“If I were back at the Project I’d have you fixed up in a few days, but no antibiotics here, so we’re going to have to do this the traditional way.”

“Which is?”

“Less stress, more sleep, no alcohol or tea or dairy products for a while, and eat lots of cabbage.”

“No tea? Tea’s the only thing that’s kept me going these last few weeks!”

“And there you have it!” proclaimed Nolan, throwing his arms up in exasperation. “Stress plus lots of tea. Boom. You’ve been feeding your ulcer well.”

“What’s with the cabbage?”

“It’s an old wives’ remedy, but as it turns out the vitamin C in it really does help people recover,” Nolan said. “Now that Master Chuang and Healer Dunchanti have taken the edge off, we should be able to get it back under control pretty easily, I think.

“Along with cabbage—especially cabbage juice—help yourself to honey and garlic, too.”

Jake closed his eyes.

“Can I at least have a cup of water, doctor?”

“All you want, Jake. Help yourself,” laughed Nolan, handing him one.

Jake looked at it morosely and slugged it down.

“Cabbage juice…”

“I’m sorry we couldn’t get here sooner, Commander,” said King Kuranes, who had been quietly watching from the back of the room. “We left as soon as we got your dragolet, but I’m afraid Serannian is not as nimble as an airship.”

“Looks like you brought half the army, too! Thank you,” said Jake. “I think we managed to get things under control, though, thanks to the raptors and Matriarch Geriel.”

“Your Alchemist mounted a gun spraying thalassion fire on the airship, is that right?”

“Yes. I first thought it might possible right here, in fact, when the Matriarch mentioned lakes of naphtha… and it worked! One wyvern dead, one injured, one fled, and the enemy routed.”

The King nodded slowly.

“But now there is a new weapon of war, and I have no doubt that Thuba Mleen will find a way to duplicate it. The secret of thalassion is very well kept, but his alchemists are as clever as ours… it’s too late to put that genie back in the bottle, I’m afraid.”

“Putting the genie back in the bottle… is that what you and Mistress Mochizuki have been doing?”

“Of course; you didn’t know? Why did you think there were no cannon in the Dreamlands, and so few muskets?”

“You eliminated them all?”

“Hardly,” grimaced the King. “We’ve made sure that most of them explode when used, often killing the alchemists who try to invent them. They have quite a reputation now as unreliable gadgets that often kill the user, and fighters and armies are far less willing to use them.

“It’s a temporary measure, of course. We cannot stop them all, but it’s worked for quite a long time already.”

“…and that’s why you wanted to know so much about what I planned at that meeting…”

“Yes. I have seen firsthand what the Industrial Revolution can do for a society, and to a society, and it is my hope—our hope—that we can find a way to uplift the people without destroying them.”

“And Thuba Mleen? What does he want?”

“To rule,” said Kuranes. “Just that. He has no interest in bettering society, or the lives of the people, except as it relates to his own needs.”

“So how does he stay so powerful, over such an enormous area?”

“Because they think he is the Chosen of the Gods, and promises them eternal life in paradise.”

“And they believe him!?”

Kuranes shrugged.

“Where did he come from?”

“Nobody really knows. It is said he came from the Easternmost reaches of the Dreamlands, but that’s merely the most common rumor of many.”

“Well, wherever he came from, he’s here now and damn near killed us all,” said Jake, shaking his head.

“That will become a bit more difficult,” said the King, “when my reinforcements reach you. They’re on the way, but it’ll be some time until they reach you.”

“Reinforcements?”

“Yes, the heavy twelve we talked about: twelve Zar archers and six raptors. The raptors are well-trained, but still only dumb animals, I’m afraid.”

“Cornelia or one of her nest should be able to control them without difficulty,” said Chuang. “Cornelia is from a different nest, of course, but they know how to manipulate common raptors. Should not be any problem.”

“So that will give us ten raptors, too,” said Nadeen. “Good. Not a full twelve, but raptors are invaluable, especially Cornelia and the other three intelligent ones.”

“When you return to Fort Campbell I’ll also send one of my castle artificers to help you improve the defenses.”

“It’s Fort Danryce now,” said Jake.

“I’m sorry… did Captain Danryce die in the battle?”

“Yes, one of the bombs killed him while he was defending the postern. And others, of course.”

“We have lost an outstanding captain,” said the King. “Over the years Thuba Mleen has taken too many fine men and women from us.”

“It was originally intended to be a monastery,” said Nadeen, “and while it has excellent defenses for a monastery, it needs better walls, towers along the wall and flanking the gates, possibly a moat or palisades, and a few other things.”

“And you shall have them,” said Kuranes. “But for now you must return to Fort Danryce and Serannian continue on its way, or its secret shall be revealed.”

“King Kuranes,” ventured Jake slowly, “I had originally planned on taking my time to build a strong, professional fighting force, but if Thuba Mleen attacks like this I can’t do it the way I planned. I either need more troops at the fort, or I have to stop taking mercenary contracts to earn money, so those troops can be at the fort as needed.

“You have been very generous with gold until now… I hesitate to ask, but if you feel my plan has merit, would it be possible to increase the budget?”

Kuranes laughed.

“Dear Jake, you can have as much as you want, of course. I’ll arrange for it immediately.”

“As much as I want!? That’s a very unusual offer, to say the least…”

“You forget that I dreamed Celephaïs and Serannian into existence. Did you think I wouldn’t take care of a minor point like that at the same time? I meant it quite literally… as much as you want.”

“Good Lord!…. It hadn’t occurred to me just what I’m dealing with here. I mean, I could accept being transported, somehow, to a different world, but to find that you can arbitrarily make stuff…”

“It took me quite some time, too. And practice… Chuang helped me clean up a number of, um, learning experiences, I believe you call them.”

“Can you dream anything?”

“No. At least, I don’t think so. It may be because my mind is too puny, or it may be because it is simply impossible, I don’t know. I can dream almost anything non-living, though…”

“Can you teach me to do it?”

“Chuang and I agree that it can’t be taught, only improved. You’re born with it, or you’re not.”

“And I’m not.”

“Unfortunately, it seems so. As far as we can tell, at any rate.”

“Damn. It would have been quite handy…”

“Yes, it can be. It can also be a source of constant anguish when I discover I cannot create what I must create, and lose something irreplaceable as a result…”

They fell silent for a moment.

Jake stood, rubbing his stomach.

“Thank you, King Kuranes, for your support. For everything.”

“Thank you, Commander. We shall continue this discussion in the near future.”

The King left, and Jake turned to Nolan.

“Thanks, Nolan. Feel free to drop by anytime… free dinner, on the house.”

Nolan laughed.

“I’m too busy to go running around in the hinterlands now,” he said. “Maybe in a couple years.”

“Busy? Doing what?”

“They’ve asked me to set up a medical college together with some other people. Huge project, and guess who gets to make all the decisions? …well, most of the tough ones, anyway…”

“Well, well, well… back in academia, are you? I thought you said you’d never teach again!”

“Yeah, I thought so to, but The Project hasn’t been paying my salary lately, so I thought I’d give it a try. Always wanted to be in charge!”

“I think you’re just the man for the job,” said Jake. “You certainly know your shit, if they’ll just let you do it.”

“It’s proving… challenging. We’re trying to combine my knowledge of how things work with ibn Sina’s older, traditional approach, and the healing powers of Panakeia. Prayer and the laying on of the hands and stuff. But it works!”

“No electronics, no drugs…”

“Nope, but just knowing the details of how a lot of things work turns out to be a game-changer in traditional medicine or faith healing.”

“Well, good luck to you, Nolan.”

Jake hugged the other briefly, and left to the waiting airship.

Nadeen walked by his side, still a bit awed by the scale of the floating city and meeting the King, with Chuang close behind.

“Master Chuang, how long will you stay with us?”

“Just long enough to examine all the horses,” said Chuang, “and take another hard look at that stone block set into the floor of the church.”

“The church is an infirmary right now,” said Jake. “Might be a bit crowded.”

“Master Chuang and I will help take care of that,” said Healer Dunchanti, walking next to Chuang. “I’ll set up a temporary temple to Panakeia there and work with Master Chuang on healing your injured, until I can get a real temple built nearby.”

“I wish you could have come sooner, but you’re more than welcome,” said Jake. “Will a Godsworn of Nath-Horthath be joining us, too? We had planned on setting up a school.”

“He should arrive soon,” said Chuang. “He’s coming from Kadatheron, with a small escort. They don’t have any temples in this area, probably because of the low population, but plan to open a school here, or in Cadharna.”

As they boarded the airship, the captain advised them to go below and brace themselves.

“We’re going to fly out through the storm, too,” he said, “to better hide our tracks. And it’ll be rough.”

They cast off and dropped very rapidly, the deck tilting to about a thirty-degree angle. The whistling of the wind rose, the cabin grew dark, and the airship once again shook and rattled.

The airship’s spine creaked as it bent, and it tipped to the side for an instant, and then suddenly a ray of brilliant sunshine came burning in through the window. Above them the black thunderstorm was scudding southwest toward the sea, and the last few wayward gusts rocked the airship in parting.

They were somewhere in the southern extent of the Mohaggers, thought Jake, studying the profiles of the peaks around them. They were a few hours distant from the fort, and anyone who might have been watching would have been unable to tell just what direction they had come from because of the thunderstorm. And nobody would imagine they’d been inside the eye of the storm!

Jake looked back at the black clouds they were leaving behind… a black thunderstorm, it seemed, but inside…

“I understand it floats because the King wants it to, but what it is made of, Master Chuang?”

“Adamant.”

“I’ve heard of that somewhere, long ago…”

“Adamant is made from an ore only mined on the moon, called adamantite. It can only be refined and worked by magic, because it is infinitely hard and no natural force can affect it.”

“Infinitely? Infinity is a pretty big word, Master Chuang… You really mean that?”

“It’s a magical element, and yes, our theory suggests that it is indeed infinitely hard, infinitely tough, infinitely rigid. If it were only easier to mine and easier to shape, it would be incredibly useful.”

“Infinitely hard,…” said Jake almost to himself. “Fascinating…”

The captain swung the prow around and headed for Fort Danryce.

Chapter 4

A few weeks later Beorhtwig could even run without it hurting much.

The wyvern, Flogdreka, didn’t seem to be in physical pain, even after he and Mintran cut off the burnt wing, but he was a very unhappy wyvern.

He should have been a lot happier when they took his saddle and harness off, but he barely seemed to notice. It was quite big and heavy, since it had to hold the rider safely while the enormous wyvern flew, or dove, or spun in midair. It was similar to a horse saddle, modified to mount securely without interfering with either wings or legs, and of course was considerably larger.

Flogdreka ate sparingly. Wyverns normally only ate two or three times a month, and although he needed a lot more protein to regrow his wing properly, he had eaten only once since plunging to the ground that day.

Mintran and even Horsemaster Turan had checked him out as well as they could, and found nothing wrong. He didn’t seem to have internal injuries, and his wing was regenerating rapidly, but he still refused to get up.

Beorhtwig almost never left his side, and the wyvern had come to trust him completely now. Even when they amputated the wing Flogdreka didn’t move, just closed his eyes and lay there as Beorhtwig scratched his cheek.

Something else was wrong.

He trudged back into the fort to talk to Healer Dunchanti again.

The wall was covered in scaffolding and workers, with a couple of winches set up atop the wall to help lift huge blocks of stone into place. It would be weeks, at least, before it was all done. The new main gate would be double, one on either side of the wall with a killing zone between them.

Work was also under way on the defensive towers: twin towers flanking each of the gates, and a few more spaced around the battlements. Attackers would have a harder time breaking down the gates next time.

The captains had talked about repairing the huge gates on the road up from the grasslands below, but since the last attack had come over the mountains, the general consensus was that it was a waste of time and effort—not to mention they’d have to man it for it to be of any use at all.

There was more interest in building a moat, or even a palisade, on the high side of the fort, where the gates were, but bedrock made a moat impossible. It might be possible to put up a palisade of sharpened stakes, but cutting holes in the rock would take a long time.

The old bell tower had a gong in it now, too, to sound the alarm. Turned out it was much quicker to make a good gong than a good bell.

They’d moved some of the cattle and chickens inside the fort. The livestock was housed as far away from the barracks as possible, but the stench was still pretty strong. Most of the troopers were already used to those odors from their childhoods, but it still wasn’t pleasant.

He had it much easier, staying outside the walls with Flogdreka.

Except that Flogdreka wasn’t recovering mentally, somehow.

Healer Duchanti was in the church, where he had set up a temporary temple of Panakeia and taken over much of the healing, freeing Mintran to return to his alchemy.

“Healer? Do you have a moment?”

Duchanti turned from the bedside where one of his remaining patients lay, smiling.

“Trooper Beorhtwig, of course. How can I help you?”

“It’s about Flogdreka. Again.”

“You’re worried about his wing.”

“No, not really… it seems to be growing back properly. Thank you for keeping an eye on it… I’m worried about his spirit.”

“His spirit?”

“He should be eager to fly, to eat, even to walk around, but he is listless and mostly disinterested in everything.”

“When I checked him the other day he seemed quite healthy, except for the wing of course.”

“Yes, I know. And he eats what I give him, but without actually enjoying it.”

“You know more of wyverns than I, I suspect… what do you think is the problem?”

“I don’t know… if I had to guess I’d say he was sad.”

“Because he can’t fly?”

“I don’t think that’s the problem… or at least, not the root cause. But I can’t imagine what the problem might be, or how to help him.”

“If he were human I’d suspect he was in love!” joked Duchanti.

Beorhtwig’s mouth fell open.

“…in… love… Of course! That’s it, Healer! That’s it!”

“He loves you!?”

“Not me, his mate! The wyvern that fled was his mate! That explains it! He must think she’s dead!”

“Of course… they mate for life,” said Duchanti, nodding. “But she flew back to Thuba Mleen; surely the same as dead as far as your wyvern is concerned.”

Beorhtwig paced the stone floor, thinking furiously.

“He can’t understand speech, of course, so I can’t just tell him. He’d have to see her with his own eyes… but her master is one of Thuba Mleen’s fighters.”

“Sounds like you’ll have to visit Thuba Mleen’s wyvern pens, once the wing is healed,” said the Healer.

“Yes, and somehow free her to rejoin Flogdreka. But how…?”

He was so deep in thought as he left the church he forgot to even thank the Healer.

It would be a while yet before Flogdreka could fly again.

 

* * *

 

Jake, Nadeen, and Captain Long pored over the drawings.

The King’s architect, Artificer Takatora, pulled out another sheet to show how the towers flanking the main gate had overlapping fields of fire, and archers could shoot at attackers without revealing themselves. The new main gate consisted of two gates, both massive and well defended, and the space between them—directly under the wall—was in turn protected by “murder holes” that allowed defenders to fire arrows straight down, or drop rocks or boiling oil on the attackers.

“Even the best defenses will be penetrated unless they are manned,” said Takatora. “These openings—the arrow slits in the battlements and the murder holes here—make it possible to inflict considerable losses on the attacker while preserving your own forces.”

“Once the towers are finished, both the ones flanking the gates and the ones along the wall, I think you’ll be reasonably secure.

“You don’t have to worry about tunnels since you’re on solid rock, and about half your periphery is protected by the height of the cliff.”

“And grenades?” asked Jake.

“Not much we can do to stop grenades,” said Takatora. “Make your walls as massive as possible and train your archers to kill the grenadiers before they get too close.

“I think your biggest worries are having enough people available to defend both gates and wall adequately, and siege. You should boost Captain Nadeen’s troop to at least a heavy twelve, and two full twelves if possible. If you expect attack, three would be even better.”

“That’s a heck of a lot of troopers for such a small fort,” mused Nadeen.

“Yes, but if you need to defend the wall again an attack, a single twelve will be overstretched and overwhelmed. Let alone have enough spare force for a sally to destroy siege machines.”

“There’s plenty of wood out there to build siege machines, that’s for sure,” said Captain Long. “and since they can’t be carried over the mountains, they’d have to build them here. Hopefully our patrols will give us enough warning to take care of them before they become a problem.

“And with Mintran’s thalassion fire we can probably destroy any siege machines that get close to the fort anyway.”

“Even without siege machines, though, all they have to do is stop us from leaving the fort,” said Nadeen. “That’s why I agreed to move the chickens and cows inside, even though they stink.”

“You’re closer to them than I am!” laughed Long.

“Yeah… The whole fort has a distinctly unpleasant smell now, all day,” complained Jake. “I’d hoped the stream through there would help, but it hasn’t yet.”

“The stream is your biggest weak point,” said Takatora. “If they poison your water, or simply divert the stream, your water supply is reduced to that single well.

“And I’m a bit concerned about where that well draws it water from, too, because it might well be the same stream, in which case you’d be left with no water at all.”

“What do you think, Captain?” asked Jake, turning to Captain Long. “We can make more water barrels easily enough, but there are limits to how much water we can store that way, and how long we can store it. I’d be happier if we knew more about that well.”

“It’s never gone dry, even when the stream was a lot smaller last summer. I can ask Captain Ridhi if she’s noticed anything.”

“Any way we can drop some dye or something into the stream and see if it turns up in the well?”

“Sure, but we have no way of knowing where the stream might be connected to the well, or how long it might take for dye to penetrate. Worth trying, though!”

Jake rubbed his chin, looking at the ceiling.

“You know, we never did explore that tunnel under the church,” he mused. “The one with the stone block sealing it off.”

“And after finding those metal plates hidden under the floor I’m not sure I want to!” said Nadeen.

“We never did figure out how the Flayed One got to the horses,” said Jake. “It could have been from there, in which case I’d really like to know more about what’s down there.”

“Tunnel? What tunnel?” asked Takatora.

“Sorry, you’ve probably never seen it,” said Jake. “In the floor of the church there is a large stone block set into the floor, about a meter square, with bolts in the top to lift it with. It’s about half a meter thick, and massive.

“We lifted it up a bit when we first got here, and it was just an empty tunnel.

“We’ve never explored it, but it runs close to the stream, and it was completely dry.”

“And why do you think it might have something to do with the Flayed One?”

“When Councilor Nekhii was here with Matriarch Geriel, he found a book, sort of, hidden in a cavity in the floor. Master Chuang has it now. Apparently it’s very, very old, and has something to do with Nyogtha… we think this monastery was built for the worship of Nyogtha, and that might be why it was destroyed.”

“Interesting,” said Takatora. “A tunnel under the fort, a stream, and a well… worth looking into!”

“I say we do a little exploring,” suggested Nadeen. “I’ve always felt a little uneasy about having a secret door inside the fort; about time we had a look.”

“I’m not much on tunnels,” said Long. “but why not ask Bagatur Khasar? The Ibizim have been using the ancient tunnels for generations… they should have a better idea of how to investigate.”

“Excellent idea,” nodded Jake. “They’re out on patrol today, I think with Seri, but I’ll talk to him about it tonight.”

“Can I see this secret door?” asked Takatora.

“Sure,” said Jake, standing up. “We can go have a look at it right now if you like… the church has been converted into two temporary temples, but now that most of the wounded are gone there shouldn’t be any problem.”

They left the meeting room, walking through the library and into the church. That end was set up as the temple of Panakeia, but the opening in the floor was almost in the center of the building, between the two temples.

Jake noticed that lessons were already under way in the other one, the temple of Nath-Horthath. Rorkaln was helping a group of troopers—he recognized a few of them from Beghara’s twelve—practice reading.

He nodded to the Godsworn, not wanting to interrupt, and pointed to the hooks embedded into the floor. He explained in a quiet voice.

“We ran rope through the hooks, and then through pulleys on the columns there, and there, and on the other side. The pulleys were all gone when we first came here, but I’m pretty sure that’s how they lifted the block, too… the bolts are perfectly positioned to use them, and the damn thing is much too heavy to just lift.”

Takatora looked at the bolts and the pulleys, then studied the block itself.

“This is different stone than the stone used in the building, and in the walls. Is it from the same quarry?”

“I don’t know… the quarry we’re using—the one the village has always used—seems to be the same one used to build the whole fort, but I have no idea where this block came from.”

“Hmm… in any case, I think you’re right about the pulleys… Yes, assuming those bolts were in the columns to start with,” he said, “but I wonder about these bolts here.”

He knelt down on one knee to examine the bolts in the floor stone more closely.

“It’s not clear to me how these bolts were inserted… they obviously don’t pull out, or you wouldn’t have been able to lift the stone, but there’s no sign of cement or anything being used to hold them in place. The rock isn’t cut or split around the bolts; they just emerge from a perfectly sized hole, with no gap at all between the bolt and the rock. Or at least very little gap—maybe it’s just very small and full of dirt, making it almost invisible.

“Even so, it’s incredibly tight…”

“Now that you mention it,” said Jake, “the stone barely made a whisper when we lifted it that time… a very quiet sliding noise, no grinding or scraping at all.”

“Yeah, I remember thinking how strange that was at the time,” agreed Nadeen.

“OK, let’s do it,” said Jake. “I’ll talk to the Bagatur tonight and get it set up. I figure he’ll want some special supplies, too… torches, rope, whatnot…”

“I wish we had some sunstones,” said Captain Long.

“Me, too,” laughed Takatora, “but they’re damn rare and more expensive than I’ll ever be able to afford!”

“What’s a sunstone?”

“The lizardfolk used them to light their caverns,” explained Takatora. “They’re crystal balls maybe about, oh, twenty or thirty centimeters in diameter, pretty heavy. I saw one once in Celephaïs.

“Basically, they absorb any light that falls on them when they’re wet, and emit it again when they’re dry. Normally they emit at the same brilliance they absorbed the light at, and for the same length of time, but if you dampen them—just get them a little wet—you can reduce the output to make it last longer.

“There can’t be more than a couple dozen of them in all of the Dreamlands.”

“Huh, neat! A rechargeable light… and no electronics to get Reed all upset!” enthused Jake. “I want to get one for Mintran to play with, because it opens up a whole lot of possibilities.”

“Like the Artificer said, they’re rare.”

“I know some people,” smiled Jake. “Maybe they can help make it happen.”

“In any case, when you finally open this, tomorrow or whenever, I’d like to be here to get a closer look at the stonework,” said Takatora. “Send someone to tell me and I’ll come running.”

“Easy enough,” nodded Jake. “I will.”

He looked up to see Rorkaln, the Godsworn at the adjacent temple to Nath-Horthath, approaching.

“Godsworn Rorkaln, I hope we didn’t disturb you?”

“Oh, no, Commander, not at all. They concentrate well and are not easily distracted, but I fear some of them will never master literacy.”

“How many is ‘some’?”

“One or two out of every twelve, I’m afraid.”

“That’s better than I’d hoped for,” said Jake. “All officers, sergeant and up, will have to be literate soon… Maybe I haven’t made that clear enough yet?”

“I think everyone knows it by now,” said Sergeant Long. “Just some troopers are happy where they are. They aren’t interested in promotions.”

“That’s fine, too, as long as they don’t get angry because they’re skipped over.”

“If they do Captain Nadeen and I will take care of it.”

“How are your studies coming along, Captain?”

“Captain Long is making excellent progress,” said the Godsworn. “He already knows Ibizim, so the concepts of reading and writing are not foreign to him. All he had to do was learn some new letters and how to spell.”

“Like he says, I’m OK,” grunted Long.

“Excellent.

“Godsworn Rorkaln, how are discussions going with the villagers? For your temple?”

“Well, Commander.

“They are delighted to have schooling, and that a temple will be built here, even a small one. I don’t think there’s really space for it here at the fort, though, and to be honest the temple really shouldn’t be inside a fort anyway. We’re using an empty hut in the village as a school now, but once the temple is built I expect we’ll move the school there.

“You know, the butcher said that since he delivers so much meat here, he was thinking of maybe moving his farm and shop out here, to be closer. He said a few other people he knew had been thinking of the same thing: a few merchants and a few of your hired hands.”

“There’s no room in the fort,” said Jake. “Outside the gates? Or do you mean down on the plain?”

“Down on the plain. Plenty of water, good cropland once it’s plowed, grass for the livestock… if there wasn’t already a village nearby this wouldn’t be a bad place to make one.”

“So we’re going to get our own castle town already, then.”

“Plenty of room for my temple, and for a temple to Panakeia, too.”

“You’re not worried about what might happen if the fort is attacked?”

“The villagers say they used to be, but since half the village got torched the last time anyway, they figure closer to the fort might be better… they can always flee inside for protection.

“About this stone, though… I believe you are discussing raising it, and exploring the tunnel underneath?”

“Yes. I need to make sure this isn’t some secret entrance into the fort. If the stone’s too heavy to raise that’s fine, but it’s a strange thing to have in a church.”

“Master Chuang told me of the book you found here, Commander, and I suspect the church and this door also involve Nyogtha. It might be dangerous to explore.”

“Thuba Mleen makes it dangerous to merely be alive,” replied Jake. “Unless Bagatur Khasar has some objection, we’re going to find out what’s down there.”

“I have found no trace of Nyogtha or any other foul creature here, but underneath… I have no idea what may lurk there.”

“I know, Godsworn, but neither do I, and that’s what bothers me.”

“When do you suppose we might get new glass for these windows, Commander?” he asked, changing the subject.

“Captain Ridhi is having glass made in Ilarnek now. Clear glass, I’m afraid, not fancy stained glass windows.”

“Excellent! We’ll want them in the winter.”

“I have no objection to you—or Healer Dunchanti—replacing them with stained glass of your own, however.”

“At our expense, no doubt,” smiled Rorkaln. “No need, though… these are temporary quarters, until Nath-Horthath’s new temple is completed.”

“As you wish. Fortunately, the weather makes windows unnecessary at this time of year… and by fall they should be installed.

“If you will excuse us, Godsworn, we must return to our work,” Jake said, and they returned to the meeting room.

“Artificer Takatora, if you will forgive me, I must see Alchemist Mintran.”

Captain Long and Nadeen stayed with the Artificer to work out a few more details as Jake walked to Mintran’s laboratory.

“I see you’re keeping busy, Alchemist,” he called as he stepped into the low-ceilinged building.

Mintran looked up from his workbench, covered with bits and pieces of metal, and large spools of wire shining dully.

“Commander!” Mintran started to stand, but Jake waved him back down.

“How are the mechanisms coming along?”

Mintran waved at the tabletop.

“Einar’s copper wire is wonderful. He swaged it down extremely well, and it has very little variation in diameter that I can see. My fingertips hurt.”

Jake grinned.

“Your waterwheel should be up and running in a day or two, and once we get it set up to spool the wire properly, your fingertips will be just fine.

“More importantly, though, what about timers?”

“I think I figured out a way to use the same weight to act as a timer.”

“Excellent! And portability?”

“Oh, it’s easy to carry, but because of that weight it needs to hang from something. You need at least two meters, more if you want a timer, for the necessary force.”

“Damn,” muttered Jake. “What I’d give for some Duracells…”

“Excuse me?”

“Never mind… have you tested any?”

“Just one. It worked, but the sound echoed off the mountains. Everyone was pretty excited for awhile; I don’t think they ever figured it out.”

“When you’re ready just let me know, and I’ll get de Palma to give you a lift to somewhere secluded.”

“You’re really playing with fire here, you know… if this gets into the wrong hands…”

“I know. But I don’t see any other way.”

“Yessir,” nodded Mintran.

“We’ll get the bastard, one way or another. Keep me informed.”

He smiled as he left.

Another plan was beginning to come together.

Chapter 5

“Explore the tunnel?” asked Bagatur Khasar. “That sounds simple enough… we use the tunnels of the lizard people all the time, so tunnels do not frighten us.

“We’re far from the realm of the Ibizim, though, and on the other side of the Mohaggers. I’ve never heard of lizard people statues or tunnels in this area, or indeed anywhere from the Mohaggers to the coast.

“We can be ready to go tomorrow, if you like. My twelve will be delighted to escape Sergeant TiTi’s constant training and lectures.”

Jake laughed.

“Nobody likes training, but it’s really necessary. In addition to improving skills and abilities throughout the company, we’re also discovering some interesting things that we need to address. One trooper was totally deaf, for example, and another has been hiding a bad back for months.

“In any case, yes, if you can be ready by tomorrow that would be excellent. The sooner the better,” said Jake. “You’ll take your sand lizards, too?”

“Yes. They can sense heat, and warn us of things lurking in the darkness where our light does not reach.”

“Torches?”

“Yes, plenty of torches, of course. Food, water, marking paint, rope, a few other things,” said Khasar, counting off on his fingers. “I haven’t explored a new tunnel in years!”

“Well, it probably goes to a temple to Nyogtha… might not be as much fun as you expect,” warned Jake dryly. “Among other things, get some of those fire flasks from Mintran. He’s been making up a couple batches for future use, and they might come in real handy in tight spaces.”

“The thalassion fire? Yes, that could be very useful, thank you.”

“Anything else, ask Captain Ridhi, and tell her to talk to me if there’s a problem.”

“I will, Commander,” said Khasar. “Let me bring my twelve up to speed.”

“Thank you, Bagatur.”

After the Commander left, Bagatur Khasar walked over to their temporary barracks, a collection of tents that served well enough until the new barracks were finished.

He called his twelve together around the fire, and told them that instead of their planned patrol tomorrow, they’d be exploring a tunnel. They were all familiar with tunnels, but they were less enthusiastic when he filled them in on the details, and mentioned Nyogtha.

“Elbek and Narmandakh, to the armory. Get twelve sheafs of arrows, and however more quivers we need. Everyone will carry a quiver, not just the archers.”

“Yes, Bagatur. That’ll be four more quivers, I think. I’ll check.”

“Good. And I want half a dozen grenades, too. You might want to be careful with those. Mönkhbat, Tümen, and, uh, Jochi, go get half a dozen coils of rope, and a week’s worth of food for the sand lizards. We have a little here, but we’ll need more jerky.”

The two lizard handlers left for the storehouse, now located along the eastern wall.

“And Chaghatai, I want you to go find the Alchemist. I want a dozen flasks of thalassion, more if he can spare it. Tell him it’s a request from the Commander, and we’ll give him back whatever we don’t use.”

“Might be a bit dicey to carry back a dozen flasks full of exploding oil, Bagatur…”

“Yeah, might be. Try not to drop any. And take someone with you to help.”

“Monkhbayar! You’re up, woman. Time for a little stroll.”

“Yeah, yeah,” she said, getting up and brushing the dirt off her boots. “There’d better be some ale left when I get back!”

“The rest of you, with me. Captain Ridhi is going to give us a week’s worth of food.”

“How about a little ale, Bagatur?” came a voice from the back.

“Drink it here, Davaajav. No ale for you on a mission ever again!”

They all laughed. Davaajav’s fondness for ale was famous.

“Everyone, make sure your water’s full, too, before we leave tomorrow. Canteens, and a couple skins.”

Everything was ready within an hour, and in spite of the looming threat of Nyogtha, they were happy to be going somewhere and doing something instead of just training and patrolling the same old forest, mountains, and grasslands again and again.

They were up at dawn, as usual, and Ridhi had their breakfasts waiting for them in the mess. They shoveled it in, knowing they’d be living off beans and jerky, plus whatever they could find along the way. They’d bring tea with them, of course—everyone drank tea—but whether they’d find anything to make a fire with or no was anyone’s guess.

The Commander was already in the church, helping Captain Beghara’s twelve get the lifting ropes set. They’d had the night guard shift and were supposed to be off-duty at dawn, but he needed their help getting the block lifted… and until Bagatur Khasar came back again, the open hole would have to be guarded, too.

They lifted the block up slowly, the pulleys managing its enormous weight without difficulty, and after they’d raised it high enough, slid two logs underneath to hold it, allowing the Bagatur and his twelve to drop into the square opening.

The two sand lizards went first, waddling forward, tongues flicking, down the inclined floor into the darkness, followed by the Bagatur, torch in hand.

The rest of the twelve followed suit, and they quickly moved down the tunnel and out of sight.

The tunnel sloped downward from the opening, quickly getting higher and wider. As they walked they examined the tunnel in the light of their torches, revealing smooth, almost featureless walls, floor, and ceiling.

It was clean, naturally. It looked like it hadn’t been used in years, maybe decades. Even the spiders were long-dead in their decaying webs, with nothing to eat. The air was bone-dry.

Just featureless blocks of a whitish stone, fitted together amazingly tightly, with barely a crack showing between them.

“Chaghatai, you agree we’re heading right under the Mohaggers?”

“Yeah, think so, Bagatur. My compass isn’t very reliable down here, but I’d guess about northwest. You?”

“The same. We’ve been walking about an hour, on a steady incline, so we’d be right under the first peaks right about now, I figure.”

“Yup. Air’s still good, though!”

“Anyone else? Notice anything?”

Nobody had, and the sand lizards were acting perfectly normal. Obviously they hadn’t sensed anything except empty tunnel, either.

“I don’t see any reason to keep walking like this,” said the Bagatur. “If there’s aren’t any openings anywhere, we might as well up the pace until we get somewhere.

“Let’s get a move on, people!”

They shifted into a leisurely trot that they could keep up all day if they had to, although the lizards would run out of steam in about an hour of this, even with the coolth of the tunnel.

About fifteen minutes later, Khasar called a halt, and lifted his torch up high.

There was something carved into the wall, vertical lines of characters.

“T’pictyl.”

“Yup. Anyone read T’pictyl?”

The other crowded around.

“I read a little,” said Monkhbayar. “The Matriarch insisted we all get a little practice, and I ended up liking it… let me see.”

The black-haired woman stepped closer to study the carvings, running her eyes down the lines slowly and mumbling to herself.

“This is High T’pictyl, which means no vowels. I can’t figure out some of it, but it looks like a poem of welcome. There’s a lot of flowery language, I think, but it says travelers from distant lands are welcome in peace to this place. The place is named TKN, and since didn’t write the vowels I don’t know how to pronounce that. Takana, maybe?”

“OK, we’ll go with Takana for now. Does it say what Takana is?”

“No… but I’d guess a city, given that they bothered to put this poem here.”

“That doesn’t sound like Nyogtha to me…”

“Me neither,” she agreed. “But it looks like somebody lives here, or did.”

Just beyond the welcome message there was a set of steps, and then the tunnel opened up into a huge cavern, lit by the same faintly blue phosphorescent cave lichen they knew from the tunnels in the Ibizim realm. It was impossible to tell just how large it was because a thin mist concealed the far side, and the ceiling. After the first echo they switched to whispers and stealthy footfalls, hoping to avoid the notice of things they didn’t want to meet.

They snuffed their torches, keeping a few coals so they could relight them in a hurry if they had to.

The white-paved path continued straight ahead, sloping down slightly into the cavern, which seemed to have a shallow, dish-shaped floor. In the distance they could make out what looked like a forest, with open water—a lake, maybe? A graceful minaret soared nearby, glittering darkly in the bluish light.

Low buildings flanked the road they were on, which continued straight into the center of the “city.” The buildings, almost all of the same white stone, rose higher and higher into the distance.  

The low buildings along both sides of the road were all uninhabited as far as they could see. Clumps of vegetation began to appear here and there, some obviously overgrown gardens or parks, and others just random growths.

A shadow passed overhead, and Khasar automatically flinched, looking up to see what it was.

Just a bird swooping by; nothing to worry about.

He could head the chirping and whirring of insects, and in the distance faint birdsong. And water!

They reached an intersection, and stopped in wonder… ahead of them was an overgrown park, overlooked by a gigantic statue of a lizardfolk. It bore no weapons, unlike most statues of the lizard people they had seen, and carried a scroll instead. The statue wore a bare harness with no armor at all, and in spite of the lichen growing on its head and shoulders, looked serene.

“A city of the lizardfolk…” breathed Khasar. “I’ve seen ancient dwellings and small villages in our own tunnels, but never a city of this scale…”

“And deserted, as they all are,” added Chaghatai.

“Bagatur,” called Tümen from the right flank. “My lizard says there’s something over this way.”

“Something moving?”

“I don’t know, but it’s flicking its tongue and banging its tail… it’s excited about something.”

“OK, let’s go have a look,” said the Bagatur. “Spread out and stay alert… just because this place looks deserted doesn’t mean it’s safe.”

Tümen’s sand lizard suddenly darted forward and snapped at something.

“Just a frog,” said Tümen, laughing. “About time for lunch, I think.”

The sand lizard left the road, turning toward what must have been a villa garden, now overgrown with weeds and scraggly trees festooned with vines.

It stopped, testing the air, its tongue flicking in and out rapidly, and the other lizard waddled up to join it. Neither one made any effort to enter, but there was obviously something in there that interested them—or worried them.

“Tsogbayar, hop up on that wall and see what’s in there, would you?”

She clambered up the wall, slowly raising her head and then her body to lie on top. She fitted an arrow to her bowstring but held it in place, string slack.

“I don’t see anything… Just a lot of overgrown weeds and bushes, and a fountain. Nothing moving,” she reported. “Lizards still nervous?”

“Still testing the air,” said Tümen.

“Elbek, get up there with her.”

Elbek, another archer, scrambled up onto the wall on the other side of the gate. Between them they should be able to cover most of the garden.

“Jargal, Davaajav, go with Mönkhbat and her lizard and check out the villa. The rest of you, with me.”

Leaving Tümen and her sand lizard at the gate, Khasar cautiously led them into the garden.

The lizard at the gate stayed where it was, head up, tongue flicking, tail slowly flexing back and forth.

Swords drawn, they advanced through the garden, trying to avoid the thickest weeds as they approached the fountain. Another bird slipped through the air, diving to catch something black and buzzing in its beak before darting off again.

Something rattled; Khasar looked down to see a small skull, maybe a badger or something. He held his hand up, motioning the others to halt, then picked it up are showed it around, questioning the others silently.

Narmandakh nodded and held up two fingers, then used her hands to indicate the size. Small.

Several others shook their heads, but Monkhbayar signed that there was a big one. Big enough to be human? Or one of the lizardfolk?

Khasar indicated his own head, questioning, and Monkhbayar nodded. Human, then.

It wouldn’t be unusual to find a dead animal in an abandoned garden, but at least four?

He signed to move ahead, and then slipped forward again, closer to the fountain.

He could hear the water dripping down the little cliff at the far end of the garden, running down toward the pond and the fountain, but the fountain wasn’t working, of course.

Something strange about that pool, though… there was something funny about the color…

A thin black whip shot up out of the pool, coiling around Narmandakh’s leg and pulling her off her feet in an instant. She fell heavily on one shoulder with a curse, her sword flying from her hand.

Chaghatai was the closest, and leapt to grasp her arm, bracing himself against the pull of that dully glistening black strand.

Narmandakh screamed, and the flesh of her leg began melting away, dissolved by some acid, blood dribbling then spurting as she writhed in agony.

Khasar’s sword flashed, cutting through the black strand and freeing Narmandakh. Chaghatai toppled backwards, pulling her with him away from the pool. Monkhbayar grabbed him with one hand and Narmandakh with the other, dragging both away with all her strength.

The black thing on her leg continued to pulse, spreading up her leg as if it had a life of its own, even though severed from its parent. It thinned into a film covering more and more of her body as her screams lessened and her body grew thinner, until finally she fell silent.

His face twisted in a grimace, teeth bared, Khasar pulled a flask of thalassion fire from his pack and poured it over her body and the black mass, which had already tripled in size.

He dropped a coal from his firebox and stood there even as the flames shot up, the heat crisping the hair on his face.

He watched that black monstrosity wither and crack and burn until it was as dead as she was.

“Now we know what happened to the city,” said Chaghatai dully.

“Nyogtha?”

“Or one of its spawn.”

“If they’re all like that… we can’t burn them all,” said Khasar. “I think we’re done here… any reason to stay?”

“Let’s get out of here,” whispered someone to a grumble of murmurs.

“Bagatur!”

It was Tümen, at the gate.

“More of them coming!”

Khasar ran to the gate to see the road covered with a black tar, rippling turgidly toward them. Both directions… they couldn’t escape through this gate anymore!

“Into the villa, quickly!”

The archers jumped down off the wall, and joined the others as they rushed for the building. Davaajav had just stepped out onto the patio from inside.

“What is it?”

“Later. Back inside, fast!” shouted the Bagatur. “Where are the others?”

“Inside… what is it?”

“The Stain of Nyogtha,” explained Khasar briefly, glancing back into the garden to make sure everyone was into the villa. The first black tendrils were seeping in through the garden gate.

“Straight through and out the front door. Move!”

They raced through the building, past deserted rooms and abandoned, rotting furniture and clothing.

The front gate, once of sturdy wood faced with orichalc and silver, lay decaying on the ground, one gatepost collapsed and covered in moss.

To the right, a river of black pulsed toward them.

They ran left up the empty road, and the blackness pursued, flowing almost as fast as they were running, tiny black tentacles spitting out every so often hoping to catch one of them.

“The minaret!”

Khasar pointed toward the soaring tower, and they changed course.

One of the huge doors, covered with gold and silver plates depicting lizardfolk, was ajar.

They slipped inside.

“Push them shut!”

They lined up along the open door, pushing it with all their might, and it slowly, grudgingly, moved with a complaining screech.

A black tendril seeped in the narrowing crack, questing for flesh.

A small flask arced out of the door, landing on the black film outside and bursting open. A hot coal followed, and with a whump it ignited, flames whipping up to fill the doorway in an instant, and even as that black tendril withered and died the door slammed shut.

Khasar and Jargal dropped the bolt into place, and they all panted, shaking until Chaghatai pointed to the bottom of the door, and they silently watched a small black pool begin to seep under it and into the building.

“Upstairs!”

The Bagatur urged the others up the broad stairs, watching the spreading black puddle with alarm.

“It’ll creep up here eventually,” muttered Monkhbayar.

“Yeah, and now we’re trapped,” agreed Tümen.

“Alright, enough of that,” snapped Khasar. “We need some ideas about how to get out of here.

“Spread out and look around. See if there’s anything useful here.

“Jargal, Davaajav, keep an eye on that staircase and shout if it starts climbing up here.”

There was nothing of much use in any of the rooms, but there was another flight of stairs, up into the minaret.

Khasar and Monkhbayar climbed the stairs, and looked in the first room on the way up… there was a shelf with small balls in a row… he picked one up and hefted it.

Heavy, but not a gem or precious metal. Some sacred object?

“Bagatur!”

A shout from below.

He tossed the ball back on the shelf and stepped back onto the stairs. He carried the only torch, leaving Monkhbayar in the dark for a moment.

“It’s climbing the stairs, Bagatur! Burn it?”

“No, not yet!” he called back, then turned at Monkhbayar’s voice from the room.

“Bagatur, that ball… it’s glowing!”

He ducked back into the room, and the ball was as bright as a torch, the light of the same torch he had carried in his hand! His sweat had activated it!

“Sunstones!”

Monkhbayar stared at them in awe.

“I’ve never seen one before…”

“Grab as many as you can, Monkhbayar,” he ordered, pulling off his own ruck and cramming in one after another.

She followed suit, and between them they packed away several dozen spheres.

“Time to go!”

They descended the stairs again… the blackness was slowly oozing up the staircase toward them.

“Out the window?” suggested Chaghatai. “We don’t have a lot of options…”

“We have enough rope,” agreed Khasar, looking out the window toward the road below. “It looks clear on this side; damn things must all be squeezing in through the door.

“Elbek, you’re the lightest, I think. You first.”

Elbek, one of the archers, nodded and climbed into the window. He dropped the rope out and slithered down.

“Somebody, find a long piece of wood or something to anchor this rope to,” ordered Khasar, “or the last one will have to jump.”

They found a piece of wood that would serve the purpose, and tied the rope to it. It was too long to be pulled through the window easily, and served as an anchor.

“Next! Keep moving!” ordered the Bagatur, waving them on.

“Bagatur! It’s coming round toward us!” came a shout from below.

“Damn!” Khasar thought furiously. “Elbek! Take the rope and climb up that building over there, on the other side of the road. We’ll have to swing over!”

There were three troopers safely down the rope now, but the black film was approaching fast.

Elbek and the others raced for the building, pulling the rope with them.

Elbek handed it up to Jochi, who had jumped up onto the roof, then joined him to help secure the end. It was taut in a minute, and the first trooper began to swing over from the minaret.

The black film swirled below, searching, but it had no eyes.

“The lizards! We can’t leave them!” cried Tümen.

“Can you carry them?”

“I will!” she answered, and draped one over her shoulders, tying its front legs together with her rope so it wouldn’t fall off. She began to swing across the road.

Behind her, Mönkhbat began tying her own sand lizard up the same way.

“Let’s get a move on, people! That black goo isn’t going to wait!”

They swung across, one after another.

The Bagatur was the last one out.

As he swung across hand over hand, he looked down at the pool of blackness rippling below… it hadn’t noticed them yet, apparently, and was still sending tendrils here and there, searching.

His eyes widened… was that?

He swung faster, but his eyes staying fixed on the middle of the blackness, where slowly, one tiny piece at a time, a human head was rising out of the puddle.

The black liquid couldn’t be more than a few centimeters deep at best, but he could already see the forehead, and the face gradually rose out of the slime, tiny tentacles writhing over its surface, building it in cell by cell.

That face… it looked familiar.

The scar over the eye! It was…!

The head rose higher, and the eye sockets and cheekbones appeared, revealing what was unmistakably Narmandakh. Her face was an oily black, eyes pools of dark ink seeking light.

And she would be able to see him!

Hanging by one hand, he yanked out his last flask of thalassion and dropped it, missing the growing head but close enough to splash it with naphtha… and tipped a coal out of his firebox.

The flames shot up so high that he could feel the warmth on his legs, and he hurriedly pulled himself across the rest of the way, until they grabbed his arms and pulled him up.

And not a moment too soon, as the black goo began to seep along the rope from the minaret in relentless pursuit.

Khasar slashed the rope, the severed end dropping into the roadway and the flames.

“Now let’s get the hell out of here!”

They leapt from the roof to the overgrown garden in back of the building, on the side opposite the minaret, and ran for their lives.

“The tunnel is that way,” shouted Khasar, waving off to the right. “If the lizards can’t keep up, leave them!”

They raced down a narrow road flanked on both sides by smaller, lower buildings, heading for the edge of the city and the tunnel out.

“Bagatur! It’s pursuing us!” called Jochi, and Khasar slowed a little to look.

The road behind them was steadily turning black, like a tide coming in. It was moving almost as fast as they were running.

Mönkhbat stopped, turned, and picked up his sand lizard. It had collapsed, obviously winded, tongue hanging out.

“I got you, Tochi! just hang on to me!” he said, draping the lizard over his back, then starting to run again, one hand reaching behind to keep the lizard from slipping off.

“Leave it, Mönkhbat!”

“I can’t! Never!”

They kept running, until Mönkhbat stumbled.

He stretched his hands out to catch himself, but the sand lizard fell free, lying dazed for a moment… and it only took a moment.

The blackness swarmed up one leg, then the body, and the lizard melted away, leaving nothing but a single piteous scream.

“No!”

Mönkhbat froze, still lying on the ground, unable to tear his eyes away from the death of the beloved sand lizard he had raised from an egg.

And the blackness claimed him.

A single tendril crept onto his hand, and he screamed in pain, flailing wildly, trying to shake it off, his hand melting as he watched.

A second tendril grabbed his leg, pulling him down into the shallow liquid, an inky film that spread to quickly cover his body, then face, mercifully blotting out his agony.

“Keep running you idiots!” shouted Khasar. “He’s dead. Go!”

The blackness slowed a bit, as if digesting its latest meal, and they were out of the city, and up the steps into the tunnel itself. They paused only as long as it took to light a torch, then broke into a run again, lighting other torches from the first as they ran.

They continued their mad dash until the tunnel narrowed down, where Khasar halted them. They fell to the tunnel floor, muscles aching, out of breath. Tümen’s sand lizard, which had somehow managed to keep up, collapsed next to them.

“Who has those grenades?” he panted.

Chaghatai, Elbek, and Jochi had two each.

“I’m going to blow the tunnel here, where it’s narrow. Any way we can mount them on the ceiling?”

The tunnel was built of the same white stone, fitted together so carefully it was hard to see the cracks between blocks. Featureless, with no way to hold the grenades in place.

“The lizards’ food!” cried Tümen. “Add a little water and it’s like mud!”

“Will it stick to the ceiling?”

“No, but it’ll hold the grenades in place, and help direct the blast.”

“Quickly! All the food—our own food, too—everything we don’t need. Set the grenades along this wall, here. Short fuse. Stack them, and cover them up to hold them in place.”

They quickly mixed up the lizard food and slopped it onto the grenades, then piled their own food and full waterskins on top.

“It’s reached the steps,” called Jargal. “About time to go.”

“OK, up the tunnel,” ordered the Bagatur. “Chagatai, light it.”

Making sure the fuse was burning, Chagatai followed the others as they ran up the gradual incline of the tunnel, away from the damned city and toward the surface.

The explosion knocked them off their feet, and they felt the ground shake.

Khasar picked himself up and walked back towards the city, holding his torch up high.

“It’s blocked completely, looks like… the whole roof collapsed, and I don’t think the grenades were this close… a whole section of the roof must have caved in.”

The others approached, searching for black liquid seeping under the rockfall.

“Don’t see anything… anyone?”

Nobody did.

“Well,” said the Bagatur, sitting down and watching the barrier, “maybe we’ll just rest a bit.”

Everyone agreed, and a few canteens appeared to be passed around.

Khasar didn’t even raise an eyebrow when it turned out that Davaajav’s was full of wine instead of water.

They sat in silence until one of the torches suddenly fell over, startling everyone and triggering a nervous laugh.

Monkhbayar reached into her ruck and pulled out a brilliant sunstone, setting it down on the ground.

“Torches are pretty smelly, don’t you think?”

They rested for about an hour, and then started the long walk back to the fort.

Chapter 6

Flogdreka’s wing looked healed. It was the same size as the other, and when he stretched it grew taut, veins pulsating with life, as if eager to take to the skies.

After the stretch, though, Flogdreka folded his wings up neatly again and lay his head down, staring at the snows of the distant peaks. He still rumbled, deep inside, when Beorhtwig scratched between his eyes, or scrubbed his scales clean with pine branches.

He sniffed at fresh goat meat, or beef, and sometimes ate a mouthful, as if to humor the wyver-master.

No matter how he tried, Beorhtwig could not break through the wyvern’s apparent depression. Already Flogdreka was alarmingly gaunt, thinned by lack of food and whatever was bothering him. He was unquestionably hot, in spite of the set of bamboo pipes he’d rigged up to redirect part of the stream into a constant flow of cold water run over the wyvern’s body, but not so hot it would make him sick. It must be a mental issue, he was sure.

Running his hand down the wyvern’s flank once again, Beorhtwig made up his mind… today, Flogdreka would fly.

He looked up at the Mohaggers again… there was plenty of snow on the high peaks, and he was sure that if he could just get Flogdreka to get up that high, the freezing air would invigorate him.

First, though, he needed to check something with the aercaptain, de Palma.

The Cavor was still at the fort, probably getting ready to leave on its mapmaking flight for the day, so he walked over to the church, where the airship was still tethered to the belltower. De Palma was still downstairs talking to Captain Ridhi and Valda Sigridsdóttir.

When they were done, he approached the captain.

“Aercaptain de Palma? Do you have a second?”

The sergeant turned.

“Trooper Beorhtwig, of course! We’re just about to leave.”

“I wanted to ask you about the three wyverns that day… I’ve looked at the body, and the one you killed was a male—it had horns and a short, stubby tail—and my wyvern is a male, but did you notice whether the one that got away was male or female?”

“Uh… let me think… everything happened so fast…”

He looked at the ceiling for a moment, then nodded.

“I’m pretty sure it was a female. I don’t know about the horns, but I think the tail was quite long.”

“Pretty sure?”

“Let’s ask the crew; maybe they got a better look.”

He walked over to the stairs into the belltower and called up.

“Hey, Tomás! C’mere a minute!”

“Yo!” came a shout from above, and shortly a crewmember can down.

“Do you recall if the wyvern that got away was a male or a female? I think female, but I’m not sure…”

“Yup, that was a female, alright. Remember, her tail damn near took the pennant off.”

“It did?” exclaimed de Palma. “I never saw that!”

“You were at the helm; I was in the stern.”

“Huh. Glad it missed us! But you’re sure it was a female?”

“Must have been as long as her wings. Yup, female, alright.”

Beorhtwig grinned.

“Thank you, Aercaptain, Trooper Tomás. That’s the best news I’ve had in weeks!”

So that must have been Flogdreka’s mate, he figured… Thuba Mleen couldn’t have that many wyverns around; they weren’t easy to find, or tame.

“One more quick question… you’ve mapped much of the Mohaggers already, right?”

“We’re working outwards, but yes, most of it. We’re staying away from the area around Tsol, and the fortress at Bleth, for safety, though.”

“Have you seen signs of an encampment on any of the snowcaps?”

“An encampment!? Up that high?” He laughed. “Not likely!”

“We did see smoke once, though,” mused Tomás, “up on Mt. Thartis, remember?”

The captain nodded.

“Now that you mention it… we joked about a volcano in the Mohaggers! Never saw it again, but there was something there that one time…”

“Mt. Thartis… thank you.”

“Why did you want to know?”

“I think I’m going to take my wyvern out there for a little visit,” said Beorhtwig. “If I’m right, the one that got away was his mate, and she’s staying up on that peak where it’s nice and cold.”

“It’s cold, all right,” agreed de Palma. “We’ve caught sight of the wyvern a few times, far away, but it’s possible. The Mohaggers are the only place around here with snow…”

“Thank you, Aercaptain. Safe flight!”

“Safe flight, Trooper Beorhtwig.”

Next stop… the kitchen.

“Captain Ridhi,” he called from the doorway. He was smart enough not to walk into her kitchen when they were cooking.

She handed a pot of something to a waiting man and turned to see who it was.

“Trooper Beorhtwig. What is it?”

“I know you’re busy, but I have a favor to ask…”

“Yes, I’m busy. What?”

“Liver. Raw liver. I think the wyvern’s going to die if I can’t get him back into the air, and raw liver should do the trick.”

“Do I look like I have raw liver lying about?” She turned back to her staff, waving her hand at someone to summon them. “They’re slaughtering a cow now; go ask them.”

“Thank you, Captain,” he said, but she was already talking to the woman she’d called over.

The barn, and the yard where they slaughtered cattle and chickens, was at the other end of the fort, on the cliff side. He walked back and found them cutting up the carcass.

“Mind if I take the liver? Captain Ridhi said I should ask you…”

“Sure, help yourself,” said one of the bloody workers. “In that bucket there.”

He did.

It was six, maybe seven kilograms… heavy for him to lug back to the wyvern, but a tiny mouthful for Flogdreka. He’d heard that it was one of the foods they loved more than anything else, though, and it was worth a try. He cut it into small chunks.

He almost whistled as he walked back toward his wyvern, carrying the liver in the wooden bucket he’d borrowed

The postern was all finished, along with its flanking towers. It was open, of course, but two of Nadeen’s twelve were there on guard duty. They had lookouts posted along the walls, and the underbrush had been cut back quite a ways from the fort, so it would be extremely difficult for anyone to approach unseen, especially in daylight. Still, Nadeen made sure guards were posted and alert, and after the recent battle nobody complained.

Flogdreka was still lying there, and looked like he hadn’t moved.

Beorhtwig debated rigging up the saddle, and finally decided not to… he’d do it the old way, looping ropes under the belly and around the wings to hold himself in place. It was more dangerous, of course, but it was a lot faster, and lighter for the wyvern.

Getting Flogdreka to fly again was the most important thing; he could worry about the saddle later.

It was tough getting the ropes under the wyvern’s bulk, but after a few well-aimed kicks the wyvern sighed and moved enough to let him pass the ropes through.

He tied them into position, and clambered up with the covered bucket. Tied himself into position. Opened the bucket and pulled out a piece of liver, waving it in the air and whistling.

Flogdreka’s head turned, and one eye opened to see if he was really holding what it smelled like… it was, and for the first time in weeks, Flogdreka’s tongue snapped out, rasping across his palm and devouring the liver.

“You want more, you have to fly for it,” he said, and threw a piece into the air.

Flogdreka’s neck sprang out, catching the bloody gobbet before it hit the ground. He rose to his feet, shook himself, and twisted his head back to look at Beorhtwig again. Rumbled somewhere deep inside, darted his tongue out a few times to catch the scent, and nuzzled his hand.

Beorhtwig threw another piece into the air, farther away this time.

Flogdreka jumped forward, missing it but snapping it up from the ground instantly.

Beorhtwig kicked his heels, “Fly!”

And the wyvern, well trained by Thuba Mleen, followed his command, running a few paces while his enormous wings beat up and down, throwing Beorhtwig back and forth, until he finally, heavily, soared into the air…

“Yes! Fly, Flogdreka, fly!” he screamed in joy, and threw another piece of liver into the air.

Flogdreka gave a piercing shriek and twisted, snatching it from the air, then folding his wings up and bulleting toward the forest below, only to snap them out with a bang and level off, just skimming the treetops.

He pumped his wings, soaring up, up, until Beorhtwig could see the fort tiny below.

He threw more pieces of liver, and watched Flogdreka come back to life, the freezing air invigorating them both.

The fire was back in his eyes.

“Now, Flogdreka, now we go find your mate!”

He tugged on the reins and kicked his heels, turning the wyvern toward the distant snowcap of Mt. Thartis.

Flogdreka soared, wings outstretched and almost motionless, riding the air currents. The unbelievable silence of the flight—only the whisper of the wind—brought back memories of Beorhtwig’s father, taking him up for rides when he was but a young boy.

And now he was a wyver-master!

Flogdreka shrieked again, and Beorhtwig looked ahead, toward the approaching peak.

Another wyvern was rising to meet them.

Long tail… a female.

Was it Flogdreka’s mate?

It was also carrying a rider, he saw. One of Thuba Mleen’s fighters.

He had no bow, no mail or shield, nothing but his sword…

Flogdreka suddenly broke off, twisting away from the oncoming wyvern. He must have recognized her.

He screamed again, and she answered, but her rider forced her to pursue, coming to the attack.

He had a bow.

The wyverns were almost immune to arrow unless the archer was extremely powerful or lucky, but riders were only human.

Beorhtwig used every trick in the book to hide, lying flat on the wyvern’s back, or twisting to slip down onto its flank, keeping its bulk between himself and the archer.

He had an idea, but would it work…?

The next time the female approached, he stopped Flogdreka from breaking off, and instead twisted him at the last moment, flying up under the other, belly to belly. As he’d hoped, their claws grappled for an instant, either in combat or reliving a memory of their own mating flight, when wyverns would dance across the sky, often linking claws to fly as one, twisting and spiraling through the air.

The lifeline secure about his waist, he leapt for the other wyvern, dagger ready.

He grabbed its saddle cinch, and slashed furiously. Leather cord dropped, cut though, and the cinch began to slip.

He let go, grasping the rope that might save him, ready to die for Flogdreka if he must.

A sudden jerk, searing pain as the rope was yanked through his hands by his own falling weight, and then Flogdreka was there, lifting him up neatly on his back, banking back, and up, and he twisted his head to look at the other wyvern.

The rider, caught unprepared when his saddle was cut loose, was gone, saddle and all… the reins flapped empty in the wind, and the wyvern was pumping her wings, heading straight for them!

Flogdreka spun in the air, somehow, twisting up and over, and they crashed together. Shrieks and screams split the air, and he felt the muscles of Flogdreka’s back tense and bulge.

Were they…?

No!

Talons interlocked, they spun in the air, necks intertwined as they greeted one another, their shrieks gentling down into rumbles and coos.

He pulled gently on the reins, and Flogdreka broke off, gliding in circles that slowly returned to Fort Danryce.

She followed, and a few minutes later all three of them were safe on the fields in front of the fort.

Beorhtwig hopped off, leaving the two of them alone, and ran back to get more liver for the reunited pair: Flogdreka and his mate, who he named Fæger, the fair.

Chapter 7

The meeting room was brightly lit, quite a change from the usual oil lamps… the sunstone Bagatur Khasar had brought back made an enormous difference. Mintran had worked up a cage for it, to make it easier to mount on a wall or ceiling and simultaneously harder to steal.

You could buy a ship or two with one sunstone, and the dozens they’d brought back were top secret for now. Their rarity made them enormously valuable, and Jake didn’t want any to mysteriously disappear.

“We need more information on Bleth,” said Jake, sipping his cabbage juice and grimacing. He wondered if he’d ever be able to chug down a cold ale again.

“Now that all of their wyverns are gone, and it looks like they don’t have another airship, I’ve asked Aercaptain de Palma to swing closer and try to get us some good maps from the air. We really need to see what it looks like on the ground, though… you can hide too many things from aerial observation.

“Speaking of wyverns… Beorhtwig did one hell of a job, Seri, but he’s spending all his time with them now, and you’ve got a hole in your twelve.”

“Yes, I wanted to talk to you about that,” said Captain Serilarinna. “I wouldn’t mind having a wyvern attached to my twelve, but to be honest I don’t really know what I’d use it for, other than scouting. For now I’d rather have a full twelve.”

“It’s a common problem with special weapons… we have one airship and two wyverns, and they’re all basically irreplaceable. If we don’t use them they’re entirely wasted, but if we do use them there’s a chance they may be destroyed, and we couldn’t use them some day when we really needed them.

“As Beorhtwig demonstrated, it’s not impossible to steal a wyvern, either, although everybody tells me it’ll never happen again and shouldn’t have happened in the first place.”

“I would like to let my archers practice shooting from the wyverns, if it’s possible,” said Captain Ekene. The warrior was from Zar, and the contrast between his near-black skin and the bright purple cord wrapped around his pigtail was eye-watering. “We’ve practiced shooting from horseback, but a wyvern would be even faster, and the wings would be constantly in the way. It’ll be a very different challenge.”

Captain Long nodded in agreement.

“It could prove a handy skill,” he said. “If we’d had wyvern-borne archers in the battle they would have been invaluable.”

“We’d have to work up some sort of armor for the wyvern’s belly, though. I’ve heard of such a thing but never seen it,…” mused Nadeen. “We have a couple troopers from Lomar and Zobna, right? I know Ginette is from Daikos… she may know more.”

“Aymeric, in my six, is from Daikos, too. I’ll ask him later.”

“Good. Likewise for the rest of you: see if anyone has any more information,” directed Jake. “And Captain Ekene, I agree, your archers should get training if it’s possible. Still, these wyverns have only been flying with a single rider, and I don’t know how well they can handle the weight of two.”

“Another point to look into,” agreed Ekene. “I’ll talk to Beorhtwig and find out.”

“In any case, Bleth,” said Jake, pulling the conversation back on topic. “I want to know more about it: who’s in command, what forces are based there, what defenses it has, food and water supplies, how and how often it communicates with other units, everything. And we can’t get it from the air.

“So what do we need to scout it properly?”

“We know they’ve got patrols in the Mohaggers, too, so either a very small force that might be able to slip through undetected, or a larger force able to defend itself if it does meet a patrol. We wouldn’t want to run into anything bigger than a patrol, though,” said Seri.

“If you want to stay mobile but still be able to handle patrols, take the raptors,” suggested Captain Chinh. “Now that Mudge has taken over, they’re downright dangerous.”

“Mudge? Who’s Mudge?” asked Bagatur Khasar.

“One of the smart raptors who came with Cornelia,” said Nadeen. “She’s made a new brood of herself and the six raptors that came with the archers, with herself as queen. Between the training they got before and the training she’s put them through since, they can probably take out a scouting patrol by themselves with few or no losses.”

“But pretty much all fighters know how to deal with a raptor, don’t they?” asked the Bagatur.

“Yes, but these aren’t just raptors anymore,” she explained. “They fight as a group, with tactics designed especially for armed opponents. They can do a lot of surprising things under Mudge’s control.”

“Interesting… I had no idea they’d reached that level,” said Khasar. “We train our lizards very well, of course, but I’ve never heard of a lizard giving orders to other lizards…”

“Just imagine what a full twelve of intelligent raptors could do,” said Jake, smiling. “And the best part of it is that we have them all.”

“OK, so raptors, then,” said Seri. “They’d be unlikely to raise an alarm even if they were seen, as long as they are unarmored. Everyone would just assume they were wild.”

“Would they?” asked Nadeen. “I don’t think anyone here at the fort knows we’ve got intelligent raptors, except for us, but you know what they say about secrets.”

Everyone nodded.

“The word will get out eventually, no doubt about it,” admitted Jake. “But even if they do know we’ve got smart raptors, could they do anything about it?”

“They’d certainly change their tactics when fighting,” mused Chinh. “But how?”

Seri shrugged.

“I guess we’ll find out one way or another,” she said. “So assume we take the six—no, seven, with Mudge—raptors with us. They can forage for themselves, so we don’t need to carry any food for them.”

“Why do you keep saying ‘we,’ Captain?” asked Jake with a smile.

“Obviously this is something my twelve would be best at,” she replied with a straight face. “Sergeant TiTi’s been training us for exactly this, stealth recon and whatnot.”

“But we are far more familiar with Thuba Mleen’s fighters,” said Bagatur Khasar. “We’ve been fighting him for years.”

“You’re still down two people, Bagatur,” said Jake, shaking his head. “And I think your twelve needs a little more time to recover and break in new troopers before you’re ready to go back out in the field again.”

“Trooper Yargui will be with us, Bagatur,” said Seri. “We can handle it.”

“So you’re thinking of your full twelve plus the raptors, then?” asked Jake.

“Yes, unless there’s a better idea. Anyone?”

Silence.

“Thuba Mleen’s patrols are almost always between ten and twenty people, usually ten or twelve, and of those only half or maybe two-thirds have any real combat experience. A dozen troopers plus seven raptors should be ample,” she added.

“Why not have the wyverns check out your route in advance, maybe see what surprises might be waiting,” suggested Nadeen. “If nothing else they can get the enemy looking up at the sky and not down at you.”

“Excellent idea, thank you,” said Jake. “And the Cavor might as well do some mapping around there, too… we have to do it eventually, and they might assume the wyverns were just there to protect the airship.”

“Are we really sure they don’t have another airship? Or more wyverns?” asked Long. “Having freedom of the sky would be great, but I just can’t believe Thuba Mleen doesn’t have something we don’t know about.”

“Nobody’s seen anything except that wyvern Beorhtwig brought back… What was its name? Figger or something?”

“Fæger,” said Ridhi. “Apparently it means beautiful in their tongue.”

Jake shrugged.

“Whatever. They’re impressive, but I have trouble classifying anything with scales as beautiful.

“Anyway, we don’t know. We don’t think so, but like you said… Thuba Mleen’s got a lot of resources to draw on.”

“When do you want us to go?”

“As soon as you’re ready. The fort’s coming along nicely, and everyone’s back on standard training and patrol schedules; now’s the time.

“Captain Chinh, work with Captain Serilarinna and make sure the raptors are ready to go.”

“Yes, Commander.”

“What do you think, Seri? Day after tomorrow?”

“That should be fine. I’ll get the word out today and let them play tonight. We’ll be ready.”

“What about Beorhtwig? You don’t really have time to fill his slot with anyone new.”

“I want him flying for support,” said Seri. “I’ll fill up the twelve later, after we get back.”

“Everyone, this stays secret for now. Nobody else knows about this,” nodded Jake. “Anything else?”

Captain Ridhi cleared her throat.

“Just a few updates,” she said. “First of all, that tunnel under the church has been filled in all the way down to where the Bagatur collapsed it. No sign of anything untoward. It’s packed with sand, rocks, and cement now, and even black slime is going to have a tough time getting through all that.”

Khasar clenched his teeth.

“I’ll be checking that regularly in any case, I think. We really need something better than just cement to keep Nyogtha out.”

“Agreed,” said Jake. “We still don’t know if that’s how it got to the horses or not.

“But I don’t know of anything else we can do… Even Godsworn Rorkaln doesn’t have any suggestions. Chuang said he’d do a little research at the library, and look in those metal plates we found.”

“The other big issue is the castle town we’ve got growing here,” she continued. “At first just some of the stable hands and the butcher put up shacks to be closer to the fort, but there have been more and more of them lately, mostly either homes for people working here, or establishments designed to separate troopers from their money.

“And it’s getting out of hand.”

“In what way?”

“I think you’ve all heard the ruckus down there every night, but there have been a few fights already. Nobody stabbed or killed yet, but it’s only a matter of time.

“A small whorehouse has just opened, too, right next to the tavern. There have always been ‘warriors of the evening’ around the fort, but just individuals until now. A whorehouse is a different proposition, so to speak, and comes with its own problems.”

“Doesn’t sound like our problem,” mused Chinh. “Lots of taverns and whorehouses, among other things, in Celephaïs, and we rarely had a problem with them.”

“Exactly. Because there were lots of them, and things had settled down into a regular routine that kept everybody happy without getting the city guard too excited,” said Ridhi. “It’s all new here, and everybody wants that money without understanding now things are supposed to work.”

“It’s getting dirty and smelly down there, too,” added Long. “The stream from the fort is pretty dirty to start with, and by the time it runs through that ‘village,’ if that’s what it is, it’s filthy.”

Nadeen drummed her fingers on the table.

“Is anyone in charge down there yet?”

“I don’t think so,” replied Ridhi. “But it won’t take long for them to start fighting about who runs things.”

“Yeah, that’s what I’m afraid of,” said Nadeen. “If it was a single boss we could just deal with them, but it could get messy until someone wins out.”

“So what are our options? I think we can shut the village down entirely, which will upset a lot of our troopers and make everyone in Cadharna into enemies,” said Jake, counting on his fingers. “We can police the place ourselves, which will make everyone hate us for acting like the guard. We can set up our own boss to run things, which will keep things quiet as long as they make money. Or we can just ignore anything that happens outside these walls.”

 Captain Chinh sipped his tea, staring at the ceiling, and spoke quietly: “You know, we could also build the temples to Nath-Horthath and Panakeia right there. Let the Godsworn make it clear that their Gods would take it as a personal affront if the area were dirty, or dangerous. Cadharna is happy as hell to be getting temples out here, so why not let them worry about it themselves?”

Jake smacked the table with his fist, spilling his cabbage juice.

“That’s a great idea! I love it!”

Ridhi made to call for more juice, but he waved her down.

“Please, don’t. I hate that stuff. I’ll just drink water or something.”

She quieted, and he continued.

“Seriously, I like it. They’ve already been talking to the village Reeve about where to build the temples, and obviously he wants them near the village. I don’t really care about the temples, but I’d like the Healer to be close if possible,” continued Jake.

“If we build the temples here, contributing gold and labor, we can install a decent sewer system at the same time.”

“Celephaïs is a large city, but has an excellent network of sewer tunnels, and another distributing drinking water throughout the city. I don’t know much about them, but they work,” said Chinh. “Even with a village here we’d have a lot fewer people, and we could probably get by with something a lot simpler. And cheaper.”

“Pity Artificer Takatora’s already gone… he would have been the right person to ask about sewers,” said Nadeen. “He got our walls and towers up stronger than I could have ever done.”

“This is something we want to get started on before the any castle town gets settled,” said Jake. “I’ll send a dragolet off to Celephaïs today and ask them to send us an artificer who knows what to do. The Godsworn will design their own temples, but we’ll have to figure out the rest of it: streets, water, sewage—I think the right word is sewerage, not sewage, by the way—guards to keep things under control. Might have to even think about taxes, much as it pains me.”

“…taxes…” signed Chinh. “It always comes down to taxes, doesn’t it?”

“Money talks,” quipped Jake. “In any case, Captain Long? Would you meet with Godsworn Rorkaln and Healer Dunchanti and see if they have any insurmountable objections? If you have to, mention that my support—gold, labor, materials—might be dependent on it. If there’s a problem I’ll join you, but I’d rather keep it as low-key as possible.”

“I’ll get on it right after this meeting.”

“Thank you.”

Captain Chinh coughed.

“Uh, something that’s been bothering me lately on patrol… Every so often we hear a thunderclap coming from the mountains. Not always in the same place, and usually only one. Have the rest of you heard them too?”

“We have,” said Khasar. “Pretty far away so we didn’t pay much attention, though… Reed’s Eye appeared in the sky once, too.”

“Reed again,” grimaced Jake. “I think you should forget about it entirely, and advise your troopers that it’s just distant thunder. Just between you and me, you are not to investigate, not to approach, and if your troopers start asking questions, make it clear it’s far away and irrelevant, is that clear?”

“Quite clear, Commander,” said Chinh, raising an eyebrow.

Khasar pursed his lips but said nothing.

“You don’t have Mintran making bigger bombs or something, do you?” asked Ridhi.

“I give you my word, and Nadeen will confirm, Mintran is not making bombs.”

“He’s telling the truth,” said Nadeen. “Not now, and not before. Grenades, yes, but nothing larger.”

“That’s good enough for me,” said Ridhi.

After they ran through a few more trivial matters the meeting broke up and the captains returned to their twelves.

Jake wrote a letter to Master Chuang explaining the castle town idea and requesting the loan of an artisan skilled in planning and construction, and asked Ridhi to send it off by dragolet. He should get a reply in two days or so.

Captain Serilarinna walked over to the barracks.

Beghara’s twelve was out on patrol, and Nadeen’s up on the wall, but the rest of the company was either here—in the barracks or the adjoining bath and lounge—or down in the brothel.

“Sergeant TiTi!”

He popped out of the lounge at her call.

“Captain?”

“Step outside and go for a walk with me, Sergeant.”

He did, and they walked over toward the stairs to the cliff wall.

Seri nodded to the trooper on guard up on the wall, and he moved away so she could speak with TT privately.

“What’s up, Captain?”

“Pass the word around, Sergeant. We’re going on a long patrol the day after tomorrow. Tell everyone to make ready.”

“Where to?”

“Nobody else knows until we’re out of the fort, Sergeant, but we’re going to go have a look at Bleth. We’ll be taking the raptors with us, and the airship and maybe wyverns will be keeping an eye on things.”

“Bleth! That’s quite a hike.”

“Yes, but hopefully we can get there, see what there is to see, and get out again without being spotted. The raptors will help. And the idea is that the airship and wyvern will get them all looking up at the sky instead of for us.

“Even if it doesn’t work out we should still get some aerial maps of Bleth and the terrain.”

“It’s supposed to be bigger and badder than Fort Danryce.”

“Yep.”

“Probably wouldn’t be a good idea to get into a fight that close to Bleth.”

“Nope.”

“Do we have to keep this need-to-know until we leave? I’d really like to get use the new camo gear if we can.”

“Need to know. But I’ll be putting together a cache of special gear tomorrow, and you’re going to help me lug it up into the Mohaggers. Put the camo in with the rest of it, and we can pick it all up later.

“The troopers will carry their own food and water, just like any long patrol, but what do we need to cache? I’d like to make everyone think this is just another standard patrol, until it’s too late for anyone to let Thuba Mleen know different.”

TT rubbed his hands together.

“Oh boy, this is going to be fun… let me see. Um, camo, of course. Telescopes. Lots of rope, never know when that’ll come in handy. Pitons, probably… Any way we can get hold of a shimmer or two? I know they don’t work too well in the forest, but there are a lot of mountains between here and there when they could be useful. I figure it’d be better to not be seen at all, than just kill ’em all.”

“Me too. I can get some shimmers easily enough. How many camo tarps do you have?”

“Tarps? I think only three or four… I asked them to prioritize the camo clothing.”

“We’ll want those, even if there are only a few.”

“What about a dragolet?”

Seri thought for a moment, then shook her head.

“Too awkward to carry around, and if it ever got free it’d fly back here in an instant,” she said. “You’re thinking of how to get a message out, right?”

“Yep.”

“If we’re going to have people up in the air—wyverns and the airship—I think mirrors should work fine. Not much they can do to help us if we get into a tight spot in any case, but we’d be able to pass short messages.”

“So, assuming we see something important, we’ll need to make copies for everyone to carry, to improve the chances of someone getting the info back to the Commander. Paper and ink.”

“Paper and ink,” Seri agreed. “But that’s light enough I can just pack it myself; we don’t really have to cache it.”

“Right. I think everyone can read and write well enough, except maybe that guy from Pungar Vees, Zubeen. He’s death on wheels with his scimitar but not too imaginative.”

She grunted. “What else?”

“Open fires?”

“Good point. No fires, so no raw meat. Jerky, mashed beans, dry foods we don’t need flame for.”

“Gotcha.”

“I think that’s about it… we won’t know what else we need until we get there. And there will surely be something we wish we’d brought.”

“Always is, Sergeant, always is.”

She pointed to the raptors, now in a large corral down below.

“We’ll be taking the dumb ones under Mudge. You’ve worked with her, right?”

“Yes. I’m not real happy working next to those fangs and claws, but we can get the job done.”

“Good. The raptors are trained, but if Mudge gets killed it’ll be a lot harder to control them. Especially if there’s the smell of blood in the air.”

“I guess we’ll have to not let that happen, then,” said TT.

“Mmm. That’d be nice,” agreed Seri. “By the way, you know anything about these thunderclaps?”

“As far as I know Jake is not working on bombs, and neither in Mintran. And I suspect I’d know if they were trying to make bigger bombs, because they’d probably ask me for help.”

“Hmm, no doubt,” she agreed.

 They walked back down the stairs, TT to the barracks in search of the rest of the twelve, and Seri off to find de Palma and Beorhtwig.

Beorhtwig was in his usual place just outside the postern.

“Trooper, if you have plans for the day after tomorrow, cancel them,” she said.

“Just patrolling the area and getting to know them better,” he said. “What’s up?”

“This is strictly need-to-know for now, but for a week or so the airship will be mapping closer to Bleth, and we’ll want you to be around for back-up.”

He cocked an eyebrow.

“I see… and you are here telling me about it because…?”

“Well, you’re still in my twelve, after all. But yeah, there’s more. We’ll be scouting it out on the ground at the same time. The idea is to get them all looking at you and not us.”

“I haven’t seen any signs of other airships or wyverns, you know.”

“I know; nobody else has, either, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t there.”

“So you want me to kill anything that comes out, then?”

“No, I want you to make sure the wyverns and the airship stay safe. How you do it is up to you, but that’s your first priority. If we get in trouble and you can help us safely, that’d be great, but saving our airpower comes first. And if we’re lucky the airship’ll get us some good maps of the area.”

“Have you talked to Aercaptain de Palma yet?”

“He’s out with Valda, but will be back tonight. I’ll fill him in on the mission then.”

“I’ll need to talk to him, too; make sure we don’t get in each other’s way.”

“You have a signal mirror?”

“Yeah. I’ll try to keep an eye out for any signals you might send, but there’s a lot of forest between here and there, and if Thuba Mleen has any surprises I might get busy real fast.”

“Don’t flash us back unless it’s critical, because it’ll alert the enemy of our presence, too.

“It should take us about a day to circle the lake on the west coast, and another three or four days through the mountains to Bleth. We’ll try to flash you every so often to let you know where we are, but it really depends on what we run into on the way.”

“I’ll be ready, Captain. We’re up flying every day already, and the wyverns love to snap up mouthfuls of mountain snow as they fly past… sort of a game for them.”

“I’ll check back tomorrow, Trooper,” she said and headed back to the main building, and the library.

There were still not very many books, but the selection of area maps was growing steadily as de Palma and Valda kept churning out new ones.

Jake had set up a system to keep track of them all, with a big map of the extended region—from Bleth and Tsol in the north to Rinar in the south, and about as wide—and divided it into a grid of smaller maps identified by letters and numbers. She checked the index map and started pulling out maps showing the west coast of the lake, and the mountains from there to Bleth.

The fringe of forest around the lake was well-mapped, and some of the Mohagger Mountains northward, but there was nothing for the area they’d have to cross to reach Bleth.

She sat down to pore over the maps they did have, checking the route and referencing the big legend hanging on the wall with all the map symbols. Pretty straightforward, at least for the maps they had… marshy ground for a few kilometers in one place, but they should be able to swing uphill to the treeline for that part. That’d expose them to any observers who happened to be in the area but so would struggling through a swamp for a couple hours… She made a mental note to see if anyone had been there before and knew the area, because that might make it possible to travel that section at night, out of sight.

She thought it unlikely, though: certainly no patrols going that far north, risking running into one of Thuba Mleen’s patrols.

They didn’t have enough troopers to easily take that sort of risk.

Still, that made her wonder why the Commander was taking this risk, sending her up there on a scouting mission… was there something else being planned? Or was he just after information?

She shrugged.

Not much she could do about it…Jake’d tell her when he wanted her to know, and he’d been pretty honest with them this far. She trusted him, and she trusted Nadeen—they’d been together a long time in Feng’s company.  

The next day her twelve prepared for a long patrol—at least a week or two, she warned them—while Seri and TT made up the loads of camo gear and a few other things, and backpacked them out to a hiding place in the mountains, with a guard provided by Mudge and the raptors.

They wanted to see how they got along with Mudge, and how she controlled the other raptors, and this would be a good opportunity to find out. They’d worked together a number of times in the fort and nearby, learning to understand each other better, and working on controlling the dumb raptors.

Mudge was smart—really smart—but they kept running into two problems. The first was that Mudge simply didn’t have enough experience to understand what Seri wanted her to do. If she provided a good explanation Mudge would get it, but in a battle there probably wouldn’t be time to explain things that clearly.

The other problem was that Seri wasn’t used to speaking with simple words, complete sentences, and precise grammar, and Mudge sometimes ended up doing something entirely different than what Seri expected simply because she didn’t say it clearly enough.

Between them they’d made good progress resolving both problems, but things still weren’t as good as they’d hoped.

The dumb raptors were well trained, and Mudge kept them under control most of the time, but if there was blood in the air they could forget their training and revert to a hunting pack. Mudge would snap and claw them back into line, but it took time.

Mudge sent three of her team up front, leading the way through the forest and checking for surprises, with herself and the other three surrounding Seri and TT. Tomorrow, when the whole twelve was on the move, there would be three each front and rear, with Mudge roaming around keeping an eye on them. The twelve would have its own front and rear guards, too, of course, but raptors were faster and more likely to detect anyone hiding, and were even farther away from the main party than the usual human guards.

They headed north through the forest, staying reasonably close to the treeline but still hidden.

Nobody wanted to go near the lake if they could avoid it… there hadn’t been any reliable reports of the green moon-creatures who worshipped Bokrug for many years, but the ruins of Ib were still easily visible to the east, reminding visitors of the doom they had brought to drowned Sarnath.

After a couple hours of hiking they deposited the pack near a rock formation they’d marked during earlier patrols, camouflaging it with brush. It only had to stay hidden for one day, and since the raptors said nobody was watching—they’d have to be very close to be able to watch through the dense woods—they were confident it would still be here in the morning.

A quick rest with cold mountain stream water, and then back to Fort Danryce.

Seri noticed that a few of the raptors had red snouts, and Mudge told her they’d had a snack… squirrels.

It would have been nice to bring a deer or two back with them, but they only had hungry raptors and no horses. She decided it would be too complicated to dress the deer here while trying to keep the raptors under control, and abandoned the idea.

They got back to camp around noon.

Seri and TT spent the rest of the day getting the twelve ready for a long patrol.

That evening when the airship returned from its map-making mission, Seri headed off to find Aercaptain de Palma. He was just coming down the bell-tower stairs with Valda.

“Aercaptain de Palma, Mistress Valda. Smooth sailing today?”

The captain looked up.

“Oh, Captain Serilarinna! Yes, thank you, beautiful weather, very clear.”

“Excellent. Your maps are superb, Mistress.”

“Thank you, Captain. It took me a while to get used to the symbols the Commodore wants, but we’re well ahead of schedule now.”

“Good,” said Seri. “Aercaptain, may I speak with you for a moment?”

“Of course,” he replied, and told Valda he’d get back to her later to go over a few things.

After she left for the library, to begin the process of turning her sketches and notes into finished maps, Seri invited the sergeant to walk with her.

The vegetable fields looked quite healthy, and in the early evening nobody was working them. They could talk without fear of being overheard.

“Aercaptain, tomorrow I will be taking my twelve up along the west side of the lake, staying close to the mountain treeline, to the north coast, and then we’re going to cut through the Mohaggers to take a closer look at Bleth. From tomorrow the Commander wants you to begin mapping that area, the mountains north of the lake.

“In addition to making some decent maps of the area, we also hope that Thuba Mleen’s forces will spend their time watching you instead of searching for us. Beorhtwig and the two wyverns will be guarding you as well, although we haven’t seen any new enemy airships or wyverns. With luck they only had that one airship, and we’ve captured or killed all their wyverns.”

“We were very lucky that day, because they weren’t expecting us to have thalassion fire. We caught them by surprise, but that won’t happen again. If they do have more wyverns, or even a well-armed airship, we’ll be in trouble.”

“We know. And if there is any sign of danger you are to withdraw immediately. Your priority is to preserve your airship.”

“What about you?”

“We’ll mirror-flash you when we can to let you know where we are, but don’t respond unless it’s something we need to know. Any flash you make will alert Thuba Mleen that we’re in the mountains, and they’ll come looking.”

“Right. Is this all secret?”

“Yes. As far as anyone else knows we’re just out on a usual long patrol.”

“What about my crew? And Valda Sigridsdóttir?

“They don’t need to know.”

He nodded.

“Anything else?”

“If necessary we might want you to pick us up. I don’t expect it to happen, and I won’t put your airship in danger, but keep it in mind.”

“Your twelve?”

“A little more than twelve.”

“Also secret.”

“Yes, sorry. Need-to-know.”

“How long is the mission?”

“That’ll depend on what happens. It should be four or five days to Bleth, but after that who knows? I’d expect a day or two there and then back again, but I wouldn’t count on it.”

“That’s a pretty big area to map, even if we concentrate on the parts between the Lake of Sarnath and Bleth. Plus which, it’s very rugged terrain with a lot of high peaks, which complicates things. There isn’t much forest, so we can see the terrain fairly clearly, but there are a lot of updrafts and crosswinds that can bounce us around a lot if we’re not careful… we could spend weeks up there and still not finish mapping properly.”

“Excellent! So it won’t be at all unusual for you to be there days in a row!”

“Well, no, but my point is that it’s dangerous.”

“No raptors and no swordfights up where you are, Aercaptain,” said Seri, ignoring his complaint. “From tomorrow, then.”

She left him amid the carrots and walked back to the barracks.

 

* * *

 

They left shortly after dawn, on foot, and headed north along the same route they’d traversed the previous day.

The raptors indicated there was nobody hiding in the trees, and the twelve made good time, reaching the cache in about the same time it had taken Seri and TT the day before.

“We’re going to take a little rest here,” announced Seri, leaning her pack against a tree trunk and walking over to the pile of branches. TT joined her, and together they pulled out the supplies they’d hidden the day before.

“OK, listen up,” she said, pulling out the camo clothing. “We’re going on a long patrol, maybe a week or two, but this one will be a little different. We’re gonna have a look at Bleth.”

There was a murmur of surprise.

“Yeah, I know. Bleth is full of all sorts of bad news, and I want to avoid all of it,” she continued. “We’ve been training in scouting and intelligence gathering, and that’s what we’re going for. I don’t want to even see any of Thuba Mleen’s troops, let alone fight them… our job is to get there, look around long enough to get a good idea of the defenses and what troops are based there, and then get the hell out again.

“That means if we run into some of Thuba Mleen’s troops, they don’t get away. We want to keep this trip our little secret.”

She outlined the route they planned to take.

“From here on out leave as little trace as possible… no trail blazes, no damn fires. That means cold food, and if you get chilly easily now’s the time to find a nice warm buddy to snuggle up with. I hear raptors are a few degrees warmer than people, so you might wanna keep a few pieces of meat to make a friend for those cold nights.”

There was brief chuckling from the twelve.

“The airship and the wyverns will be up over us somewhere, but their mission is to continue mapping, while attracting the attention of enemy forces. We don’t know if they have any more fliers or not, but hopefully if there are any they’ll go bother our airship and not look for us.”

“Can they fly us out if we need it?”

“We have signal mirrors, and in theory it’s possible, but if we need to be flown out in a hurry, it’s probably gonna be too dangerous to land and pick us up… their top priority is staying alive, not rescuing us.”

“Figures…”

“Yeah, I heard you, Zubeen,” said TT. “Suck it up.”

“Trooper Kareem, we’ll be depending on your knowledge of the area around Bleth. We saw the rough maps you drew, of course, but the map is not the terrain.”

“You’re not taking the same route I used, then?”

“No,” she replied. “It’s almost certainly watched. We’ll stay in the forest as long as possible, then cut due north from the north end of the lake. Have to find a new route.”

“Can the airship help with that?”

“They won’t contact us unless it’s an emergency,” she replied. “But we can mirror-flash them, for what it’s worth.

“One more thing… along with the camo tunics, each of you is also getting a telescope, and a pouch with pen and paper. Some of you aren’t very good with writing yet, but our mission is to bring back intelligence on Bleth. Make notes, sketches, everything you see and hear. Hopefully we’ll get a chance to copy all that information and distribute it before we start back, so even if we do get caught in a fight somebody can carry it back to the fort.

“Our top priority is to get that intel. Got it?”

There was a quiet chorus of yeses and nods.

“OK, get your camo on and let’s get moving. We’ll stay in the forest all day today, and hopefully can reach the northern edge before sundown. We’ll camp there and get into the mountains predawn tomorrow.”

She stripped down, put on the camouflaged tunic, and then strapped her battle harness back on. TT noticed that this time she had two bandoleers of throwing knives, instead of the usual one.

“We’ll move in threes. Ndidi, Aashika, you’re with me on point. Yargui, take the second three with Chiemeka and Aymeric. Keep within visual distance of the groups in front and behind you, if you can. If we get split up, head north and wait one night. Hopefully the raptors can find anyone who gets split off. Sergeant TiTi, you’re only a five, so stick together as rearguard. Any questions?”

There were none, and they moved out, Mudge in the front with Seri and the other raptors spread out in a wide arc across their direction of travel.

They were all experienced and made very little noise moving through the woods, especially with a thick carpet of pine needles underfoot. The pine trees had been here, untouched, for centuries, Seri thought, and had choked out most of the underbrush, but fallen trees, ravines cut by mountain streams, boulders of all shapes and sizes, and other diverse obstacles made it difficult to keep to a straight line, and impossible to see very far.

Fortunately, the raptors were taking care of that, she reminded herself.

They were also very quiet, as you would expect from carnivores, but every so often she could hear a quiet snarl or snapping twig as they prowled ahead. That in itself didn’t alarm her, because while they were rare in this region they were not unheard of, and nobody would be especially surprised to see one.

Hopefully they’d be even more surprised when they discovered the raptors were hunting human prey.

A sudden hiss and bark from up ahead alerted her, and she held up her hand to halt, glancing at Mudge to see what it meant.

Mudge’s head was high, body tense. She was listening, and when there was a shriek of fury from that direction, headed off at a run.

Seri saw two other raptors heading in the same direction; they probably all headed that way.

The shrieks rose in volume, and she heard something heavy thrashing about.

“Trooper, stay here. Join up with the sergeant and tell him he is to find a defensible position,” she ordered Yargui, and approached the sound of battle slowly with her two troopers. Ndidi had an arrow nocked and ready, and Aashika Chabra had a knife in each hand. She waved Aashika out to the left, and moved farther to the right, flanking the archer.

Aashika was one of the finest scouts Seri had ever worked with—all the Chabras were superlative scouts, it seemed—but Seri was raised in the jungles of Cydathria. They reached the scene at about the same time, well ahead of Ndidi, and cautiously looked down the slope into the stream.

The raptors were furiously attacking a huge snake, mottled copper and green, but with little effect. The snake’s scales were almost as tough as their talons and fangs, and it showed only a few relatively minor wounds in spite of their efforts. The snake’s head darted out once more and meter-wide jaws closed on a raptor not quite fast enough.

The raptor shrieked again as one fang punched into its chest like a spear, leaving it writhing in agony as the other raptors took advantage of the opening to attack the snake’s head, going for the eyes.

A talon flashed, gouging through the eye and tearing into the lower eyelid, dark red blood spurting from the injury.

The snake’s head twisted up to escape, tail snapping forward to bat the attacking raptors away, and the snake slithered into the earth with incredible speed, leaving hissing, bloody raptors behind.

The raptor it had bitten, presumably the one that had sounded the alarm, was gone.

One raptor gone, more hurt, and they hadn’t even contacted the enemy yet…

Mudge was already gathering the raptors, checking their wounds and trying to calm them down.

Seri gave her a few minutes, then whistled her over for an update.

None of their injuries looked very serious, but a few were in pain and that could mean an internal injury, which might worsen… they’d just have to push on and see.

She walked back to where Sergeant TT was waiting and filled him in, then it was on the move again.

When they formed up again, she put the sergeant in the lead, Yargui in the middle, and took the rearguard slot with her own three. As always, the raptors spread out ahead of them in a wide arc… they’d already successfully warned of one danger on the route, albeit at the cost of one raptor, and she was beginning to trust their senses a bit more now.

She watched them whenever she had the chance. Because they were quite a ways ahead of her she only caught glimpses, but they were prowling normally, with no obvious signs of injury. Mudge seemed to have no worries, although Seri couldn’t read raptor expressions—if they had any.

Around noon, as the temperature and humidity were rising noticeably even here in the forest, Seri figured it was time for a rest.

She whistled to alert Yargui and the Sergeant TT, and dropped her pack on the ground.

“This is a nice, quiet hill… good place to take a rest, eat something,” she said, and sat on the most comfortable-looking rock.

The rest of her twelve joined her, low conversation popping up as they relaxed.

Normally Seri would assign guards, but with the raptors in the surrounding forest she didn’t feel it was needed.  

Mudge and one other raptor squatted down with them, although Seri had no idea why—hoping for a bite of someone’s jerky, perhaps? The others were off in the forest somewhere, probably catching small things to eat. Which was fine with her, because they’d also be checking a pretty broad area for danger.

She motioned TT over to join her.

“Any problems at your end, Sergeant?”

“Nothing yet. Pretty light loads, we’re in the shade, and most of the way is carpeted in pine needles… so far it’s a walk in the park.”

“Good. How you getting along with Mudge?”

“I think OK,” he said, pursing his lips. “A while back she came up with a dead ferret and offered it to me. Looked like a fresh kill.”

“And? You take it?”

“Yeah. I didn’t have a clue what to do, so I just sniffed it and handed it back to her. Don’t know if that was the right thing to do or not, but it seemed to make her happy. Swallowed the whole thing, fur and all, in two bites.”

Seri laughed.

“I think she likes you! Maybe avoid women for a while; don’t want to get her jealous!”

He grimaced.

“She’s a bit too young for me, I’m afraid. Only, what, three or something?”

“Yeah, three I think. Cute, though!”

“I’ll pass, but thanks.”

“You think we’ve hit the halfway mark yet?”

“I’ve been marking paces, but of course it’s mostly guesswork in the forest—we’re always veering one way or the other to get around ravines and stuff—best guess? Yeah, halfway and a little.”

“I agree, and if we keep it up we’ll reach the north edge of the forest in the Hour of the Cock, I think. Pretty much on schedule.”

TT translated in his head… the Hour of the Cock would be a two-hour span centered on 18:00, which was about what he’d figured, too.

“Yup. Barring surprises.”

“I wanted to ask you about Phaeton…”

“Captain?”

“How do you evaluate his skills, Sergeant?”

“He’s quite young, early twenties I think, but an excellent swordsman. Uses both sword and shield very well. Literate. Still overly confident in his youth and skill, though, and until someone beats it out of him he’s likely to make a few bad decisions.”

“Nothing else?”

“You want me to say he makes too much noise, right, Captain?”

“Well, I heard whistling once,” mused Seri, “and once he cursed at something—I think a tree branch must have caught him in the face or something.”

TT sighed.

“Yeah, I know. He’s a lot better than he was, but he still lets his concentration slip sometimes, forgets to watch where he’s walking. Especially on a long hike like this.”

“Is he going to improve?”

“Oh, yes, he certainly is,” nodded TT. “I’ve already had a little talk with him today, and I’ll be having another one shortly. He’s a good man to have in the twelve, Captain, just needs to stop trying to be the best one.”

“See to it, Sergeant,” she said. “See if you can’t get him to shape up before we get to Bleth, huh?”

“Yes, Captain.”

He stood and walked over to where Phaeton was resting. He had already eaten, and was sitting cross-legged on the moss, honing his shortsword.

“Phaeton? Walk with me a minute,” he said, gesturing to the other to join him. They walked away from the others, out of earshot.

“The Captain’s not happy with all the noise you’re making, trooper. You’re good with that sword, but unless you can learn to pay a little fucking attention when you’re supposed to be quiet I’ll transfer you to Nadeen’s twelve and you can guard the fucking cows all day!”

“Yessir,” replied Phaeton, having the presence of mind to at least look down in embarrassment.

“I’ve heard that Thorabon produces some very good fighters. You’re a very good fighter. But we aren’t fucking here to fucking fight, kid! We’re here to get fucking intelligence about Bleth, which is packed with enough fighters to kill us all a dozen times over! And if you keep traipsing along like you’re on a picnic they’re gonna hand you your fucking head!

“If you want to get your damn head chopped off that’s fine with me, but goddammit don’t take the rest of us with you!

“You got anything to say, trooper?”

“I’ll do better, Sergeant.”

“Damn right you’ll do better, or you’ll be walking back to the fort all by your little lonesome.”

“Yessir.”

TT stalked back to the group, the troopers watching him carefully to make sure he wasn’t coming for anyone else. Nobody had heard their conversation, but they all knew what it had been about.

A few minutes later it was time to move out again.

They policed the area, erased the obvious signs of their passage, and set out again, this time with Yargui’s three in the lead, Seri in the middle, and TT bringing up the rear.

The belt of forest around the lake was beginning to thin: the mountains were visible more often to the west, and they could see the waters of the lake every so often in the distance. The belt was thinnest at the northern extent, although still more than enough to shield them from distant observers.

Hours passed, and although they switched positions every so often, and had to change course once in a while to pass some ravine or upthrust of rock, it was quiet.

As the sun slipped behind the mountains, Seri halted.

“Take a break. Trooper Aashika, Sergeant TiTi, look around for a good place to make camp for tonight. The rest of you, don’t get too settled just yet.”

Aashika Chabra and TT slipped off into the trees and everyone else sat down, sipping water or just resting.

“Captain, there’s a stream just over there… noticed it a few minutes ago. OK to go get a refill?”

“Yeah, sure. I saw it, too. I’ll go with you, in fact… cold water would be real nice right now.”

A few other troopers joined them, enjoying ice-cold stream water from the mountains instead of the lukewarm, vinegary water in their canteens.

Seri splashed her face with it, poured a few handfuls over her head, smoothed her hair back.

TT and Aashika Chabra got back at about the same time she did, and agreed that there was an excellent spot just a few minutes’ distant. An outthrust formed a wall on one side, and it was a bit higher than the surrounding area so it wouldn’t flood in the event of rain. It had been good weather all day, but cloudy, and the chance of rain was pretty slim, everyone agreed. Still, never hurt.

It would probably even be safe to light a small fire, said TT, but Seri overruled him. All it took was a little smoke to attract undue attention and get them all killed.

They picked up their gear and moved to the new campsite, a quick walk. It was an excellent choice, but even with the raptors on guard duty, Seri wanted a human guard, too. A schedule was quickly arranged, and the first guard took up his duty while the campsite was being readied.

They didn’t want to leave any traces, so instead of a pit latrine everyone had to troop down to the nearest stream. Running water would take care of the evidence, even for almost a dozen people, and the raptors could take care of themselves.

They lashed camo tarps to convenient trees and set up a shimmer, concealing the campsite even better. While a special incense was lit next to the shimmer, it would blur an area of about a hundred meters in diameter, making it harder to see what was inside. It didn’t work well with moving objects because blurred motion is still visible as motion, but as long as they stayed out of direct sight it would be invaluable.

Seri’s twelve settled down for a dinner of beans, dried meat and fruit. They still had vegetables they’d brought with them, too, and the sound of crunching cucumbers simply couldn’t be muffled.

The last guard woke Seri up at the Hour of the Tiger—about four in the morning. The sky would be lightening soon with the coming dawn, and they hoped to be across the low scrub separating the forest from the mountains by the time the sun came up. They couldn’t hope to hide everywhere, but once they got into the mountains it would be easier than the relatively open stretch above the treeline.

Everyone was up and ready to go within about fifteen minutes. There was no need to rush, but no reason to dawdle, and since they wanted to avoid leaving signs of their presence they hadn’t erected tents in the first place.

Aashika Chabra made one last sweep of the campsite to make sure there were no obvious signs left for the enemy to spot, and then they were on their way.

The clouds had grown thicker during the night, but the eastern sky over the mountains was growing brighter, and they could see clearly enough to make good speed across the open ground. They were heading for a narrow valley leading into the Mohaggers, and their fragmentary information said it offered a path deep into the mountains.

They were safely into the mountains by the time the sun finally rose, a disc of somber orange blurred yet still bright behind the cloud cover. It was cooler today.

A mountain stream flowed through the valley, cutting a deep ravine in places, but it was still relatively easy hiking parallel to it. There were a few scattered trees, old and twisted, lots of scrawny brush, and far more boulders blocking their path.

The raptors spread out to cover the breadth of the valley floor, and the troop followed in what was almost a skirmish line, advancing at roughly the same speed, weaving around obstacles deeper into the Mohagger range.

None of the raptors detected any trace of observers, but of course someone up on a mountainside would be able to see them. They used what cover they could, but with mountains on both sides they were exposed far too often to make Seri or TT happy.

Around noon a gentle rain began to fall.

“The rain will help hide us from watchers, and wash away any tracks we make,” said Seri, “but if it starts to really pour that stream is going to be a problem.”

“Not much vegetation here to soak up rainfall,” agreed TT. “I don’t think we’d get a flash flood, but the water’s gonna rise for sure.”

“OK, let’s get everyone over the north side now, before the flood,” ordered Seri. “Pass the word, Sergeant.”

She called in Mudge and explained the need to pull all the raptors from the south bank. She couldn’t tell how much Mudge understood about floods, but she clearly understood the command, and in short order the entire troop—human and raptor—was on the north side.

There were no tall trees or caves for shelter, so they ate on their feet, trudging on through the steady rain.

It didn’t seem to bother the raptors much, but it slowed Seri’s twelve down considerably.

As visibility dropped Seri pulled the twelve closer together, keeping everyone within sight of each other. The steady, gentle rain continued unabated all morning, finally slacking off to a very fine mist in the early afternoon.

Everybody was completely soaked, but they’d stopped complaining about it, even to themselves, hours ago. The stream was a little deeper and a little more violent than before, but nothing to worry about yet, thought Seri.

The mud was more of a problem. Not only did it seriously slow them down, but troopers were slipping every so often, and eventually somebody might get hurt. Didn’t bother the raptors at all, of course.

She was especially worried about mudslides… they’d crossed a number of older slides already, irregular piles of rock and dirt that had slid down off the mountain’s slopes into the valley. If the rainfall loosened one and it slipped down onto them, it could kill them all in the flash of an eye.

With this weather and this cloud cover, they wouldn’t be able to see the wyverns or the airship, either. Or vice-versa.

By nightfall everyone was exhausted, tired of the wet and covered in mud. Seri collapsed onto a relatively clean rock, slick with rain but at least not muddy, and munched on jerky. A small mountain stream rushed past her, rainwater flowing down off the mountains into the valley.

It was enough to rinse off the mud with, bitterly cold.

With visibility this poor, she’d told everyone to put up tarps or tents to at least keep the rain off. Patches of sky could be seen here and there, and it looked like the weather was clearing up… with luck things would dry out tomorrow.

Chapter 8

Beorhtwig pulled the saddle-harness tight under Flogdreka’s belly, arms straining with the effort… still didn’t fit. Either the wyvern had gotten a lot fatter since yesterday, or he was acting up again.

He didn’t blame, him… he didn’t like flying in the rain, either, and even this light drizzle would make it almost impossible to see anything. If this cloud was thin enough it might be possible to punch through, breaking into the sunlight of the upper air, but even if they did they wouldn’t be able to see anything except the mountaintops. That’d be handy for navigation, but not much else.

Holding the belt as taut as he could with one hand, he punched upwards with the other, smacking home into the wyvern’s abdomen.

With a whuff and a small squeak, Flogdreka surrendered for a second, and that was all the time he needed to pull the saddle-harness and buckle it in place. Once the saddle was cinched around the wyvern’s belly, with belts running to both legs and another around his neck to stop it from sliding off, he was ready to go. He’d put the wyvern’s bridle on first, and didn’t need to carry anything in the panniers.

He clambered up and tied himself to the saddle, feet in the stirrups. Under normal circumstances Flogdreka would take care not to throw him off, but if they had to fight anything could happen—any responsible wyver-master used a lifeline, unlike the previous one who had ridden this wyvern.

Today he’d be flying over the west shore of the lake, and up into the Mohaggers. Aercaptain de Palma should be there, too, with his airship, but it seemed unlikely they’d be able to get much mapmaking done with the rain.

Still, making maps was only part of the reason they were heading up there.

He wondered how Captain Seri was doing in the rain, and thanked his gods once again for getting him out of the muck and onto a wyvern.

He whistled to let Fæger know they were leaving, and slapped Flogdreka’s neck, pulling back on the reins. The wyvern began to run across the fields, huge wings flapping to build up thrust, until it leapt into the air.

He bounced in his saddle as the wings pumped, jaw clamped shut to stop him from biting his own tongue off, and held onto the lifeline with both hands. He glanced to the side to see Fæger coming up behind, pacing them at a safe distance. She wore no trappings, of course, and no rider.

Behind him he could see their footprints in the field, already turning into tiny pools… and somebody had run through the vegetables. Again. Ridhi would chew him out when he got back. Again.

The ground fell away, softening into a greyish blur in the rain, and he guided Flogdreka up into the clouds… yes! The cloud gradually thinned, metamorphosing into billows and wisps floating in the sunlight, with the peaks of the Mohagger Mountains trailing off to the north.

Even as he was enjoying the sudden sunlight, Fæger broke through nearby, soaring into the clear sky like a bird, leaving lines of cloud behind her like trails in the sky, already dissipating back into nothingness. She threw back her head, shrieked her joy at the sun, and circled around Flogdreka, who answered with a shriek of his own, and they flew on northward, abreast.

 

* * *

 

Aercaptain de Palma was also unhappy to be flying in the rain.

It wasn’t a thunderstorm, and there were no sudden gusts to deal with, but the Cavor was sluggish, her sails wet and heavy. He pointed the prow upwards, aiming for the clear sky above the clouds, and watched Fort Danryce slip into gray obscurity below.

“Bridok, you got the hawser?”

Bridok, a heavyset man in his thirties, snapped the hawser to free it from where it had snagged on the opening, then pulled the rest of it aboard, coiled it, and secured it to the railing.

He walked slowly, deliberately, as any experienced crew would on a slippery, inclined deck that might shift at any moment. The deck was dotted with railings and posts, and all three crew—and the Sergeant, of course—were roped to at least one of them constantly, with carabiners. Experienced crew often elected to skip the lifelines above the clouds, where the airship would stabilize and the deck become horizontal once again. Sudden gusts could catch them by surprise, of course, but unlike the earthbound, the crew was at ease in their airborne craft.

After six years captaining the Cavor, Captain de Palma hadn’t lost a crew over the side yet, even during the Battle of Fort Danryce.

Mistress Valda was inside, out of the rain with her paper and pen, no doubt looking down through the solehole at the rain.

Another few minutes and they were out of the cloud and into the air, the morning sunlight brilliant over the undulating sea of cloud below them.

He quickly scanned the horizon—mountain peaks poking through, of course, and over there were those two wyverns, heading north.

Good, so even if nobody could see the ground at least they all managed to get out of the rain.

“Clank, Frija, get the sails unfurled and dried out so this thing stops wallowing about,” he ordered, and Clarthinny (“Clank”) and Frija started untying the sails, letting them fall wetly into place and slowly pulse with the wind.

“Broad reach, we’re heading northwest!”

The wind was blowing to the northeast, and he ordered them swing the boom out almost perpendicular to the airship’s hull. They wouldn’t even have to tack to make good time, and they’d go faster once the sails dried a bit.

The wyverns were far ahead of them now, just dots on the horizon.

He couldn’t see any other dots, so at least there weren’t any other airships or wyverns up here to fight. A nice quiet day would be wonderful. And a dry one!

“Well, since we can’t do much mapping with the rain, Mistress, I guess we’ll have to settle for positioning the peaks today. Hopefully the weather will clear up tomorrow.!”

“Compass headings and triangulation,” Valda nodded. “Where shall we start?”

“Closest one is Redhorn, where they spotted that observation post. Start there?”

“Fine,” she agreed. “If you’ll fly us over there I can get started.”

They were already flying in that direction and Mt. Redhorn was not very far as the crow flies. A few minutes later the airship slowed to a halt about a hundred meters below the top.

“Oh, nice!” exclaimed Clank, reaching out to grab a handful of snow. He balled it up and chucked it at Frija.

It missed, but earned him a quick reprimand from de Palma.

“Save it, you two! If you absolutely need to have a snowball fight, take it back with you and do it at the fort.”

Valda ignored the incident, carefully measuring the headings to all the peaks she could see clearly. She couldn’t measure distance, of course, but her theodolite made it possible to measure the headings to each peak with excellent precision. By repeating the measurements from multiple peaks, she could make a map that placed them all at the proper distances and directions from each other, and that would help enormously when it came time to make detailed maps of the terrain below.

Her theodolite was quite large and heavy, and so had been bolted to the floor of the airship to prevent it from moving—or falling off!

The airship had to be not only moored to the peak, but actually attached to it and immobile, so that the theodolite’s measurements wouldn’t be affected every time the airship bobbed or twisted in the air. This was usually accomplished by hammering pitons into the rock or ice, a job which took considerable physical strength. Bridok and Clank didn’t mind the hammering, but they often had to chip the ice off first, if they felt it wasn’t strong enough to hold the Cavor steady.

She double-checked her work, and then they were ready to go on to the next peak.

The airship repeated the process a dozen times, gradually expanding the area covered, both to improve the accuracy and in hopes that the weather might clear up.

The wyverns flew rings around the airship—literally—and seemed to be having a great time. They would fold their wings and plunge toward a peak, speeding past it at breakneck speed and snatching up a load of snow and ice in their talons, sometimes eating it, usually just letting it fall again. They challenged each other to reach the highest peaks, Flogdreka usually winning, but neither of them could reach the highest ones, soaring far, far above their maximum height. The airship might be able to fly that high, but wyverns needed relatively dense air.

Aercaptain de Palma finally gave up and let Clank and Frija throw snowballs at them, laughing with delight as they snatched them out of the air or batted one with a wing.

If they missed a snowball they would often power-dive after it, wings pumping to catch up to the falling snowball before it slipped out of sight into the clouds, shrieking with delight.

The wyver-master seemed to be having fun, too, but de Palma couldn’t understand how he could stand being thrown around the way he was…the wyverns turned and spun with incredible speed in flight. He was sure he’d be knocked unconscious, or thrown off, in minutes.

In the afternoon the clouds got a little thinner and the ground became faintly visible, but it was still not good enough for map-making.

“OK, let’s call it a day,” said de Palma some time later. “We’re obviously not going to get any detailed mapping done today, and we’re getting pretty close to Bleth. I’d rather approach their fort when the dragons are well-rested, and they’ve been flapping around up here for hours today.

“Mistress, is that OK with you?”

“Just let me finish up this set of measurements, captain, and I’ll be happy to take a rest,” she replied. “It’ll take me a couple hours to get all this down solid, and make sure we don’t have to redo any tomorrow.

“Having the peaks positioned properly will help a lot when I start making the terrain maps, though.”

“Good; glad the day wasn’t a total waste,” said de Palma. “Trooper Bridok, run up the signal flag, if you will. Call that flying maniac over so I can let him know.”

Bridok attached the signal flag indicating they needed to talk, and a few minutes later a wyvern scrunched down onto the ice-covered peak.

Beorhtwig, wearing pants and jacket made of furs, had traces of ice in his beard, but was in high spirits.

“Aercaptain! Beautiful weather, isn’t it?”

“Yes it is, Trooper. Up here, at least… We’re about finished; as soon as we’re done here we’re heading back. If the weather is better tomorrow we’ll get started on more detailed maps, and may work our way closer to Bleth.”

“Sounds good, Aercaptain. Let’s talk about it later, at the fort, and make the final decision in the morn.”

“Excellent. Safe flight, Trooper!”

“Safe flight, Aercaptain!”

Beorhtwig pulled back on the reins and the wyvern pushed off, dropping into space like a stone, and suddenly spreading its wings with a boom hundreds of meters below, then shooting off into the distance, wings outstretched.

“You’ve gotta be crazy to fly one of those things,” said Clank, shaking his head.

“You’ve gotta be crazy to fly,” corrected Valda, checking that her lifeline was still secure. She’d gotten a little more used to flying but still hated it.

Chapter 9

“Come in, Godsworn Rorkaln, Healer Dunchanti, please,” urged Jake, welcoming the two into his home. He often held sensitive meetings there, or highly personal ones.

Captain Chinh was already inside, and Ridhi to personally take care of his guests’ needs.

He ushered them into this living/meeting room, where a low table was surrounded by cushions.

As soon as they sat Ridhi appeared out of the back with chilled tea and something sweet and crunchy to nibble, then promptly vanished into the back again. A fancy dinner would be served later.

Jake had made it a point to meet with them regularly, and had invited them tonight.

“How are the classes coming, Godsworn?”

“Quite well. I think almost everyone is able to read and write, but of course speed varies. Vocabulary also varies quite a bit between people, but I doubt that is terribly important.”

“I think not. Many of our troopers don’t speak common as their first language anyway, and as long as they can read and write simple messages, they should be fine.”

“Good, good… there is one, however…”

“One trooper who can’t?”

“I don’t think he’s a trooper, but yes. Roach.”

“Roach? TT’s trainee… what’s his problem?”

“He is absolutely incapable of reading or writing a single letter. He can copy a letter, and is quite a talented artist, but he has no idea what a letter is, and just copies the shape. It isn’t lack of study; he seems a remarkably intelligent young man. He simply cannot comprehend it.”

“Some sort of mental issue?”

“Well, yes, but he’s not a simpleton or anything. He can solve problems, converse, has unbelievable memory and physical abilities—all sorts of skills. He just cannot understand writing.”

“Have you tried him with other languages? What about numbers?”

“Yes. Same problem. He seems incapable of grasping the concept of written characters. Strange because he has an excellent vocabulary when he chooses to use it.”

“Strange… perhaps ask Master Chuang next time he comes?”

“Yes, I intend to, although I suspect Master Chuang is already aware of it. Roach hasn’t been to class these few days, you know.”

“Really? Strange,” said Jake. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard of such a mental problem before.

“Nor I,” agreed Rokaln.

“Ah! I see our dinner has arrived!”

Ridhi and two of her staff appeared with the meals, along with tea, water, and ale. Jake, of course, stuck with water, but poured cups of ale for his guests.

“Just because I can’t enjoy the ale is no reason for you to refuse it,” he said, handing each of them a cup brimming with cold ale.

He picked up his own water, and held it out.

“To health and prosperity!”

“To health and prosperity!”

They all drank, and Jake promptly refilled their cups.

“This is one of Captain Ridhi’s specialties, and one of my favorites… mutton and vegetables cooked up with rice in a spicy sauce. It really goes best with ale, you know. I envy you!”

They all agreed it was delicious, and did indeed go well with ale.

They talked of various matters, nothing very important, and exchanged a few choice bits of gossip.

“How are your temples coming along?”

“We have been talking with the Reeve quite a bit lately,” said Rokaln. “He has already begun cutting the finest trees in the forest, and will built us both quite lovely wood temples in the traditional style.”

“Don’t see many traditional temples anymore. Most of the major temples are in the cities now, which means stone.”

“Wood is lovely,” said Dunchanti, “but unfortunately has both advantages and disadvantages. I confess that while I love the fragrance of pine, I am not much enamored of insect bites.”

They laughed.

“On the other hand,” said Jake, “I can attest that stonework can get mightily cold in the winter, even if there are fewer insects to bite you. It is a lot safer, though… doesn’t burn. Thuba Mleen’s raiders burned quite a few buildings in Cadharna.”

“There is that,” agreed Rokaln. “All of Nath-Horthath’s main temples are of stone—I believe yours are as well, are they not, Healer Dunchanti?”

“Yes, most.”

“The temple here is just a very small one, newborn you might say, so I cannot object.”

“You know, we plan to build sewage and water conduits in the growing ‘castle town’ below the fort,” mused Jake. “It’s already beginning to stink, and we want to build a good foundation before there are too many people and buildings there.”

“Of stone?”

“Yes, of course. The quarry has plenty of stone, and we’ve brought in a few stonecutters from Kadatheron and Toldees to cut what we need. We’re fixing up the fort already, and thought it would be a good investment. Running water, fountains, a public bath, the works.”

“You expect it to grow into a whole village?”

“As you have no doubt noticed, a number of people from the village have moved out here—villagers who work here in the fort, and people that supply us with all the things we may need, whether it be food, lumber, or arrows, for example.”

“Or women,” added Dunchanti wryly.

“That too,” agreed Jake. “Troopers need to relax, too, and ‘wine, women, and song’ has long been a military tradition.

“I see,” said Rokaln, sipping more ale. “I wonder…”

He trailed off.

“Yes?”

“You know, my colleague and I had talked about the possibility of building the temples of stone instead of wood.”

“We decided it was hopeless for a variety of reasons: time, labor, cost,” explained Dunchanti. “If you are already building water pipes and whatnot below the fort, it would be no great added effort to build the temples there, either.”

“No great effort!?” Jake snorted. “It would be an immense effort, in every sense. You just mentioned time, labor, and cost and it would demand all three, and in abundance!”

“Still,” said Rokaln slowly, “I think it might be worth the investment, having us closer to the fort…”

“You would break me!” complained Jake.

“I think our head temples might be willing to contribute some small amount to the project,” suggested Dunchanti. “Far be it from me to denigrate traditional forest temples, but stone has a certain, um, dignity, don’t you think?”

“Dignity or not, I doubt we could afford it…”

“Let us suggest the matter to our superiors, and let you know their thoughts,” said Rokaln. “And you will consider it as well?”

“I will look into it, but I confess my hopes are none too high.”

“An open mind is all we ask,” said Rokaln, as Dunchanti nodded in agreement.

“The Reeve will be most unhappy, I think,” said Jake.

“I suspect if you suggested the Reeve of such a growing village needed a larger and more gracious home, he would not object to some, uh, assistance to build his own manor with those fine logs he is having brought.”

“You mean gold.”

“Well, yes. Gold may be the root of all evil but it is also undeniably useful in getting things done.”

“And you would, of course, support my suggestion that he should have a finer home,” pressed Jake.

“Oh, of course, of course.”

“I don’t know if I can afford all of this,” said Jake, slowly. “It depends on how the fort defenses are going, and what your head temples say, and what the Reeve says… it would be a massive project for us to undertake.”

“You are skilled at completing big projects, Commander,” said Dunchanti. “As evidenced by the evolution of this monastery.”

Jake nodded but still looked troubled.

“In any case, you’ll be happy to know that in addition to the castle town, we have also begun an orchard just east of the fort. It will take some years to bear fruit, but hopefully we may enjoy the same delicious apples and peaches that one might find in Rinar or Ilarnek.

“We already grow most of our own vegetables, of course, but must rely on the farmers of Cadharna for our grain. In fact, I believe that today is baking day… Captain Ridhi!”

She appeared as if she had been waited to be summoned—and no doubt she had been hovering in the doorway all this time—and raised her eyebrows in query.

“Today is baking day, is it not?”

“Yes, Commander. We’ve been baking since dawn.”

“Would you be so kind as to present my guests with some fresh loaves? They may find it a pleasant change from the bread available in Cadharna.”

“Of course, Commander.”

She vanished out the door, heading for the main building and the bakery.

The Godsworn and the Healer had been staying in Cadharna most of the time, and coming out to the fort as needed. They were also ministering to the needs of the villagers, and had apparently become close friends with the Reeve.

The fort now had about as many people as the village, and considerably more gold. Jake needed to maintain good relations with the Reeve and the rest of the villagers, but he also wanted it to be very clear who controlled things. They were already helping the villagers rebuild after the Battle of Fort Danryce, with labor and materials, and he had no doubt he could get the Reeve to agree to his proposal, one way or another. In fact, he thought to himself, that all went very well. They’re trying to strong-arm me into exactly what I wanted to do in the first place—build their temples right here!

Ridhi was back shortly with dessert—some sort of honey cake—and more tea, plus a fresh-baked loaf of bread for each of them.

 

* * *

 

The next day Jake and Captain Chinh saddled up their horses and rode to Cadharna to see Reeve Lowar.

He was working his fields, as always. This year it looked like he was growing wheat and rye, and leaving several fields fallow for his sheep, goats, and chickens. The Reeve owned no cattle, perhaps because his fields were broken up into relatively small, separate plots. Now that the fort was consuming more meat, no doubt the number of cattle farmers would increase. And more beans, beans, beans!

“Good morning, Reeve!”

“Commander,” he nodded in response. “Captain Chinh, good to see you again.”

Chinh smiled. His troops had saved the village from being destroyed, and no doubt saved the Reeve’s life as well.

“And you, Reeve.”

They dismounted and the Reeve walked over to join them.

“Can I help you with something, Commander?”

“Oh, no, we’re just passing through… checking out a few things out West.”

“Something to worry about?”

“Probably not,” reassured Jake. “We’re thinking of setting up some lookouts to the west and want to see a few possible sites.”

“It’ll be a hot one today, I think…”

“We’re riding! You’re the one doing all the hard work, Reeve!”

Reeve Lowar chuckled.

“I may be Reeve, but the work won’t do itself, you know.”

“You really deserve more recognition for all your hard work, you know… rebuilding the village, keeping all the new residents under control—my apologies for that; the fort has really attracted a lot of people, hadn’t it?—and helping us get the quarry back in good shape.”

“It’s hard, but I do it for the villagers,” said the Reeve, wiping his forehead for a rag. “Nice to be appreciated once in a while.”

“Your assistance is invaluable to the fort in so many ways,” said Chinh. “I’m glad I was able to help you defend the village against Thuba Mleen’s raiders!”

“Yes, thank you for that, Captain.”

“We noticed a lot of new houses and other buildings going up,” said Jake. “I hope you’re building a new house for yourself as well? You really deserve one.”

“No time for such silliness,” said the Reeve. “The village, and the temples.”

“The temples? You are building the temples?” asked Jake, apparently surprised. “I thought the Godsworn would pay to have their temples built.”

“It’s my duty as Reeve to build temples, of course, for the villagers,” said the other. “When they’re done they’ll be grand indeed, made with the finest wood the forest has to offer.”

“You are true to your duty, Reeve, most admirable indeed,” praised Chinh.

“Strange that the head temples, with all their wealth, cannot build their own temples here, though,” mused Jake. “And you certainly deserve a new home for your own family after all you’ve done!”

“My wives have said the same, especially when the roof leaks…”

Jake reached into his tunic and withdrew a small linen bag.

It clinked softly as he chucked it to the Reeve.

“Allow me to contribute a small amount to your new home, Reeve! One must keep one’s wives content or all sorts of problems occur,” he chuckled.

The Reeve deftly caught the bag, hefted it.

“Why, thank you, Commander! Thank you for recognizing my efforts to support the fort!”

He grinned and hefted the bag once more before slipping it into his own tunic.

“Perhaps you are right; a man of my position should have a proper house, one that reflects his importance to the village, and the region.”

“Oh, I agree, Reeve. A manor, to be sure.”

The Reeve’s smile grew even broader.

“But what about the temples?”

“I’m sure the head temples can afford to build new temples without demanding you pay for them, Reeve.”

“Oh, yes. The head temples are richer than I am, to be sure. Down there in the big city and all.”

“Absolutely. Let me talk to the Godsworn and see if I can’t convince them to build the temples themselves,” said Jake. “Forgive us, Reeve Lowar, but we really must be going; we have a long ride ahead of us. Thank you for your excellent advice!”

“Drop by the fort when you get the chance, Reeve!” added Chinh.

They snapped their reins and rode off, unsure if the Reeve, still lost in daydreams, saw them go or not.

As they rode through and beyond the village, Chinh twitched his reins and guided his horse next to Jake’s.

“What was all that about, Commander, if I may ask? You certainly didn’t ride past his fields by accident.”

Jake laughed.

“The temples are being built under the cliff, Captain, not here in the village. And the Reeve has just agreed that it’s an excellent idea.”

“And you’ve already talked this over with Godsworn Rokaln and the Healer, I gather.”

“Of course. And that was the last real problem.”

“They’ll build their own temples?”

“Oh, of course not,” smiled Jake. “I’ll build them, but hopefully they’ll pay for it. And in the process, the new ‘castle town’ springing up below the cliff will gain two beautiful stone temples. Temples, I might add, that the fort will have to protect, which will no doubt require some form of tax…”

Chinh laughed.

“I see the King was not wrong to choose you, Commander. But hopefully you are still the King’s man.”

“Absolutely. The King and I agree on the end goals, although we do have some difference of opinion about how to achieve them.”

“Good. I am, of course, the King’s man through-and-through,” warned Chinh. “So, where to? Are we really off to look at the western extent?”

“Nah. Just a nice ride through the countryside, loop around north and back to the fort. I’ve got too much to do. Besides, setting up lookouts is Beghara’s job. Or Long’s.”

“A beautiful day for a ride, Commander,” agreed Chinh. “Are you familiar with the Otter Rapids, and the small lake just downstream from there? A popular fishing spot, and just a few kilometers down this road, in fact. Excellent roast river fish.”

“Yes, I’ve caught a few there myself. Very nice. Why?”

“Because the last one there buys lunch!” shouted Chinh, and snapped his reins to burst into a gallop.

“Damn you, Chinh!”

 

* * *

 

After lunch—Jake’s treat—they angled up into the mountains to ride past the quarry.

Nobody knew who had actually started the quarry, or cut its rock to build the monastery and a variety of ruins throughout the area, but everyone in the village knew it. It was part of the landscape.

With the rebuilding and improvement of Fort Danryce, plus a few smaller projects in the village, the quarry had come back to life. Stonecutters had been hired from nearby Kadatheron and Toldees, and laborers had showed up to do the work.

The cut stone blocks were transported by ox-drawn wagon to the fort, and rapidly fitted into place in the wall or elsewhere. Work on the fort was almost done now, and the laborers had begun to think of moving on, but once work started on the castle town the quarry would recover.

“Commander Jake! Haven’t seen you here for a while!” said the Stonemaster, a grizzled old man named Buka who had worked many years in the onyx quarries of Inganok. “My stone not to your likin’?”

“Good day, Stonemaster,” replied Jake. “No, your stone is excellent, and the walls and towers almost complete. I wanted to speak with you on something else.”

“Sit,” invited Buka, pointing at some broken bocks nearby that were just right for sitting on. He joined them.

“Two things, actually,” said Jake. “First and most important, I’m planning to build a few things in the little village growing up below the fort. Once the artificer gets here from Celephaïs, he’ll be building a sewage system, a water system with fountains and a public bath, and two temples, for Nath-Horthath and Panakeia.”

The Stonemaster blinked

“Quite a project.”

“Yes it is, and it will need quite a stonemaster to keep it supplied. At a salary commensurate with his skill, of course.”

“Of course. Sure, Commander, I’d be tickled pink,” smiled Buka. “And when is this here artificer type getting’ here?”

“Any day now,” said Chinh. “We’ll bring him out here as soon as possible so the two of you can talk.”

“Fine, fine… I was wonderin’ where t’ go next now your fort’s all pretty,” smiled Buka. “And?”

“Are you familiar with any other quarries in this area? White, very fine-grained rock.”

“White? Nope, don’t recall any… why?”

“Next time you visit the fort ask to see the church floor,” explained Jake. There is a single block of white rock set into the floor, and I’m curious where it might have come from.”

“Ain’t no white rock in the Mohaggers. Leastways, I ain’t never heard of no such thing, and I been working these mountains for a round dozen and more.”

“Interesting… what about marble?”

“Nope, not ’round here. Best place for marble is up in Lomar, ’round Olathoë and such. Most of the marble out here is from the desert quarries in the far east, near the Pool of Night. All under Thuba Mleen’s thumb now.”

“Celephaïs was built with marble, too.”

“Yeah, most of that’s from Lomar; a little from Thran’s quarries. No idea where he got all that pink marble from, though. Beautiful stuff.”

“So if we wanted marble temples we can’t get it around here.”

“Not unless you want to go diggin’ up Sarnath… plenty of marble there, to be sure, but all sunk in the bogs now and guarded by who knows what.”

“There are lots of stories about ‘the doom of Sarnath’,” said Jake. “But have you ever seen any of its fabled marble?”

“I seen stonework said to come from Sarnath, yes I have,” nodded Buka. “Very nice stuff, looked like that old desert marble to me. Hard to say if it came from Sarnath or not. But it was carved something pretty, and had been buried a long, long time. Mighta been Sarnath, mighta been them lizardfolk.”

“The Ibizim, you mean?”

“Nah, Ibizim’re human. The real lizard people, you know, croc snouts and long tails, green scales, the works,” said Buka, waving his hands in emphasis. “The Ibizim just use their tunnels.”

“The lizard people used a lot of marble?”

“Oh, yeah. All sorts of stone, in their tunnels and cities. Story goes they had big quarries underground, but I never seen one. Supposed to be a big lizard city under the Mohaggers somewhere, too.”

“Have you ever been in one of their tunnels?”

“Nope. Up Inganok way you don’t wanna go wanderin’ around in tunnels. Not likely to ever come out again, if you know what I mean.”

“No Ibizim up there, huh?”

“Ibizim are desert folk; not much likin’ for ice and snow.”

“Well, that sucks,” muttered Jake. “I’d hoped to use marble for those temples; impress the hell out of everyone.”

“Well, if it’s fancy rocks you want, why not use chalcedony or malachite or somethin’? Impressive as hell.”

“Malachite’s green, right? Lots of little bubbles and lines and stuff in it?”

“Yeah, that’s the stuff. And chalcedony’s a light blue, most of the time. With or without lines.”

“Think you can quarry enough to make one of each?”

“Chalcedony’s easy: Narath. The mountain quarries between Narath and Zulan-Thek are huge. They supplied Sarnath, too, for that matter… Might be a bit tricky to get it down here easily, since Thuba Mleen’s turf is smack in the middle, but pay the toll and they’d let it through, I imagine.

“Now, malachite… hmm, have to ask around for that one. I seen malachite from Zar and Thalarion, but don’t know if it’s really quarried or just little stuff. Don’t recall ever seeing slabs of it.

“What about carnelian? Chalcedony and malachite are blue, most of the time, but carnelian is in all sort of orange and red. The Hills of Noor have all the carnelian you’d ever need, and cheap, too, because nobody never uses it for nothing ’cept jewelry. You’d need to convince the Ibizim to let you have it, but from what I hear you’re already in with them.

“Hang on a sec… I think I’ve got some here…”

Buka held up the bracelet on his left wrist. Composed of large, multi-colored stone beads, it looked cold and heavy. He flicked through the beads and finally held up one that was a dark red.

“Yup, that’s carnelian… Just look at that beauty shine!”

It was beautiful, a deep red flaming to crimson in the center as the sun shone through.

“Damn, that’s stunning!”

“Do you think you can get the Godsworn to use it, Commander?”

“Only have to convince one of them, Captain; the other can use chalcedony.”

“Actually, they’re both chalcedony,” said Buka. “Pretty much the same rock.”

“Can you get me samples of both, so I can show the Godsworn? They’ve probably seen the rocks already, but nothing like showing the real thing when you want to close the deal.”

“Sure, no problem. You in a hurry?”

“Say, within a week?”

“Easy. I’ll have the boy pick some up next time he’s off to Kadatheron.”

“Thank you, Stonemaster. That’s quite a load off my mind.”

“Happy to help, Commander. You bring that artificer out here now, OK? We’ll get you all the stone you need to make that place pretty.”

After the talk, Jake and Chinh swung north and back east, arriving back at Fort Danryce in the late afternoon.

Chapter 10

She awakened to the warbling and chirping of the birds, and realized it was morning… the sky was already bright to the east, the sun about ready to peek over the mountains.

It looked like it was going to be a beautiful day, Seri thought, until she recalled where they were, and where they were going.

More marching, and directly toward a major concentration of enemy forces: Bleth.

She sat up and looked around the camp, silently: About half her twelve were still sleeping, the rest already getting ready for the day’s march. TT was up on a nearby slope, on guard duty, and Ebubechukwu, one of the archers from Zar, stood watch from another slight rise some distance away, bow at hand.

She walked over to the stream and cupped a handful of water. Runoff from the mountain, it was almost clear, free of the mud and debris no doubt clogging the main stream in the center of the valley. Cold and delicious, it woke her up and reminded her she hadn’t eaten yet.

Munching on a bar of pressed fruit and beans, she walked through the camp kicking the troopers who were still asleep, and up the slope to TT.

“Morning, Sergeant.”

“Captain.”

“Beautiful weather today.”

He grunted.

“They’ll be able to see us miles away.”

“Kilometers, even.”

“Yeah, whatever,” agreed TT. “It’s gonna be a bitch to sneak around today… no rain, damn few trees, and a lot of people to hide.”

“Send the raptors out farther up ahead?”

“I’d really prefer to wait until tonight and move when it’s dark.”

“We’re pretty exposed here already,” said Seri. “We haven’t seen a trace of anyone, but you’re right… they could see us from a long ways away if they were watching, even if we are mostly hidden down next to the stream.”

“I’d say move farther up into the mountains, and wait until dark. This streambed we’re following is getting pretty narrow and I’d expect it to peter out soon anyway, so we might as well get into the rough sooner rather than later.”

“Slow us down quite a bit…”

“Well, yeah, but so would getting killed.”

Seri chuckled.

“I agree with you, actually. It would have been nice to get closer in the rain, but we need cover more than we need to hurry.”

Seri whistled Mudge over.

“We go that way,” she said, pointing between two mountains. It wasn’t high enough to be called a pass, and looked to be blocked by debris and scree, but it was a good place to hide in and was headed in almost the direction they wanted to go. “Scout quietly.”

Mudge nodded and grinned. Or was she just baring her fangs? Hard to tell, thought Seri.

The raptor gave a low shriek and all of a sudden half a dozen more reptilian snouts popped up into view all around the camp. When they were hidden, they were very difficult to spot, their green and brown scales very similar to their muddy surroundings.

She walked back to the camp and put her bedroll back in her pack, along with the few odds and ends she had taken out. She travelled light: most of her pack was food and water, although thus far there had been plenty of nice, cold melt or spring water to drink.

She debated putting her mail shirt in the pack, too. It was heavy and it was going to be a hot day, but if they got into a fight she’d miss it.

She shook her head.

Better put it on and suffer. And make sure everyone else did, too.

“Good morning, Troopers! I hope you all enjoyed your leisurely beauty sleep and are ready for a little exercise? Since the weather cleared and we’re a little too obvious here, we’re going to move up into that ravine and see where it goes. We’ll probably spend the day there and continue on to Bleth at dusk. With luck we’ll get to see the walls tonight, and with even more luck we’ll do it without being spotted.

“So get it all cleaned up, troopers! Pick up your garbage, brush your tracks, and get ready to move out. Yargui, you and Aymeric are the last ones out—I want you to check the entire area and make sure we haven’t left anything obvious.”

“Yes, Captain,” they said in chorus.

“Kareem, Aashika Chabra, the raptors are already scouting out up that way,” she continued, pointing to the ravine continuing deeper into the mountains. “You two take point for now and see what’s waiting for us. If you spot anyone do not engage, unless they spot you—in which case kill them if you can, or get back her if you can’t. Good?”

“Good,” echoed Kareem, as he and Aashika Chabra slipped their rucks on and headed out.

TT and the other guard had rejoined them and they were ready to go shortly.

“Sergeant, set ’em up,” she ordered.

“OK, spread out wide,” said TT. “Make sure you can see each other, and keep your damn eyes open. We really don’t want to be noticed, so stay alert and stay in cover as much as possible. If you see something, whistle first and then investigate.

“Oh, and Kareem mentioned the mountains are full of snakes, too, so might watch where you walk.”

“Move out!” said Seri, and they did.

 

* * *

 

At about the same time, Beorhtwig was just cinching his saddle on Flogdreka.

They hadn’t been able to do much yesterday thanks to the unexpected rainclouds, but the sky was crystal-clear, only a few tiny clouds lurking at the very horizon.

He couldn’t wait to get up there.

He was supposed to wait for de Palma’s airship, but the sun was up and the day was calling. The archer from Captain Ekene’s twelve, an ebon Zarite named Ifechukwu, was already seated and secured on Fæger… she hadn’t been afraid of flying, and had proved to be an excellent shot from the air. She said it was because she had been practicing shooting from galloping horses since she was a babe, but Beorhtwig suspected she was just gifted… he certainly couldn’t make those shots, no matter how good a wyvern-rider he was!

He kicked Flogdreka, and they launched into the sky, Fæger following close as always.

The two wyverns called to each other as they climbed, circling around each other, wingtips almost touching at times. Without his saddle and lifeline, Beorhtwig would have been thrown to death dozens of times, but they were ecstatic flying, and he couldn’t get enough of their antics. He checked up on Ifechukwu every so often, but she seemed to be enjoying the ride, too.

Up, up, until he could make out the blob that was Kadatheron, and beyond it, the Middle Sea. Below him stretched the Lake of Sarnath, neatly enclosed in the curved sweep of the Mohagger Range, and to the northwest lay the almost-hidden valley of Toldees and Mondath, buried deep in the mountains. Father north was the Eastern Desert, a yellow and brown tapestry stretching across half of the horizon. He knew Thuba Mleen’s palace was out there, far beyond Mondath, but it was too small and too far away to be seen from here.

While they saw only the highest peaks of the Mohaggers yesterday, today the entire range clawed high into the heavens, a study in rugged contrast as the eastern side was tinged red by the rising orb of the sun while the west was dark in shadow.

He let the wyverns soar and circle, enjoying the peace and beauty of this silent world as he waited.

A few minutes later he saw the Cavor lift off from the belltower, circling once over the fort and then climbing sharply to join him.

They made rendezvous over the lake, the airship keeping pace with the wyverns as they drifted slowly through the air, almost hovering into a headwind. The Cavor, at an angle to the wind, had no difficulty keeping pace. It had the other five archers of Captain Ekene’s six onboard, under the Captain himself. Nobody thought they’d be needed, but better safe than sorry… and it wouldn’t hurt to give them more experience flying.

“Morning to you, Trooper!”

“And to you, Aercaptain de Palma! A beautiful morning indeed!”

“Today we’ll get our first glimpse of Bleth, I think.”

“Aye, it should be an interesting day,” replied Beorhtwig. “Let us see what they have in the air, shall we?”

They headed north.

Valda was orienting the peak maps she had made the previous day with their position, and when she was set she signaled de Palma to halt the airship. The aercaptain would try to keep it stationary while she sketched in terrain details, and when she was done here they’d move a bit more.

Over the course of the day they’d repeat the process dozens of times, and while it was a bit of a chore to try to hold the airship steady, he and the crew really had very little to do. A deck of cards soon appeared on the foredeck.

Overtly, Beorhtwig was providing protection to the airship. The wyverns would land on a convenient peak when the airship was sufficiently near one, and circle nearby if not. There was a strong updraft on the desert flank of the Mohaggers, as heated air swept upwards along the mountain slopes, and a stiff wind from the east at a higher altitude, so the wyverns could stay up for long periods of time without getting exhausted.

At the same time, though, Beorhtwig was looking for signs of Captain Serilarinna’s twelve, and her raptors. He knew they’d be hiding, but it was difficult to hide from the sky… and besides, he expected them to flash him, too.

Just before they broke for lunch—which would be with the airship moored to a mountain peak and the wyverns sitting nearby—he finally caught the flash of a mirror from a narrow ravine north of the lake.

They were a bit farther north than he’d expected, and the narrowness of the ravine made it hard for them to catch the sunlight while he was in view, but it was unmistakable.

It flashed a few simple codes—no enemy sighted, continuing mission.

He circled once to indicate he’d seen the message, and continued on.

As they were eating lunch, Ifechukwu sat down next to him on the airship’s deck.

“I saw the flash, Trooper, and I saw you signal back… who are you talking to?”

Beorhtwig looked around quickly to make sure nobody was nearby, then leaned over.

“Trooper Ifechukwu, that’s the reason we’re up here, flapping about in circles. I can’t tell you more, and right now the only people up here that know that are you, me, and de Palma, so keep it to yourself.”

“I have to tell my captain,” said Ifechukwu. “You can tell him, too, but I have to tell him what I saw.”

“Dammit! Can’t you wait until… no, of course you can’t. Shit!”

Beorhtwig stood, searched for Aercaptain de Palma, waved him over.

“Go get Captain Ekene and bring him back here. Nobody else!”

Beorhtwig told de Palma briefly what the problem was, and de Palma quickly evicted a few archers who had been sitting in the stern, leaving it entirely empty.

Ekene showed up shortly, his double-curved bow on his back and a cup of tea in one hand.

They squatted down, and Aercaptain de Palma began.

“Captain Ekene, I’m sorry you’ve been kept in the dark until now, but Commodore’s orders. There is a scouting party below, heading north, and our primary mission is to provide air cover for them if needed. Mapping is useful, but it’s not why we’re here.

“We don’t think Thuba Mleen has any more airships or wyverns but we don’t know, and hopefully between your archers and the two wyverns we can take care of anything he does manage to throw at us. We are supposed to attract his attention by mapping the region, and hopefully give the scouting party a better chance at getting a look at Bleth.”

“Bleth! I thought we were getting awfully close to his turf… and there’s a scouting party going in on the ground!”

“And now there are four of us up here who know what’s going on. We can’t afford to let a word of this escape. If you need to, talk to the Commander tonight to check with him, but this has to remain top secret, absolutely nobody else must know,” stressed de Palma.

“We aren’t even allowed to reply to their flashes,” explained Beorhtwig. “I circled to let them know I read the message, but that’s about all I can do… and we circle a lot up here already, to make it harder for Thuba Mleen’s troops to figure out what’s going on.”

“So we might see action today after all…” mused Ekene. “It’s very restful floating around up here, but we’re bored silly.”

“Keep your eyes open, Captain. If they do decide to attack us when we get closer to Bleth, it’ll come quickly, whatever it is.

“You know,” continued de Palma, “I’m pretty sure my crew knows what’s going on, too, even if they don’t know the details. We’ve been together a long time, though, and I’m confident they’ll keep their mouths closed.”

“If your crew has noticed, I think we can assume my archers have noticed, too,” said Ekene. “I knew something was going on… They’re new to flight, but non-observant people just don’t last long in this business.”

Aercaptain de Palma sighed.

“I’m not surprised… we knew we couldn’t keep it secret forever, but I’d hoped it’d last longer than one day!”

Captain Ekene laughed.

“I’m surprised it’s lasted this long, actually… usually all these details are known to the entire fort before the troops even hit the road!”

“You think we should do a full briefing?”

“Anyone who leaks to the enemy is going to leak anyway. We can assume everyone knows there are troops on the ground somewhere down there, even if they don’t know the details… I don’t see that we lose anything by admitting they’re scouting the Mohaggers on foot while we map from the air, and don’t mention Bleth.”

Aercaptain de Palma thought for a moment. Ekene ranked him, but in theory he was in command as captain of the Cavor. He didn’t want to do anything to suggest that Captain Ekene could issue commands onboard, but he also didn’t want to risk making an enemy of him.

“I agree with your suggestion, Captain, thank you,” he said. “Might as well get it over with.”

He stood up and jumped up on top of the deckhouse.

“Everyone, a moment please!”

It was a small ship, and his voice reached everyone easily.

“Since we’re out of the reach of any prying eyes and ears, I’d like to bring you all up to speed on our mission.

“Some of you may have wondered why we need two wyverns and a six of archers to defend an airship mapping the mountains. We are mapping the mountains, yes, but we are working together with people on the ground who are making a survey on foot. And since Thuba Mleen has a whole fort full of troopers up north, on the other side of the mountains, he might decide to come down here and bother us.

“We want those maps, but we also don’t want him killing off the ground party, or destroying our airship… so here you are.”

He paused for a moment.

“We are taking every precaution to avoid drawing Thuba Mleen’s attention to that surveying party. We want him to be about us, and hopefully miss them. Once the mission’s over and we have the maps it won’t matter anymore, but for now this is secret. You don’t talk about it to anybody on the ground, ever.

“Any problems?”

There was a mutter from the assembled crew and archers, but no questions.

“Captain? Did you have something to add?”

Captain Ekene joined him atop the deckhouse.

“I know you’re all getting a little tired of floating around like dandelion fluff, but we might see some action so try to stay awake, will ’ya?”

There was scattered laughter.

“Make sure you know where your lifelines are, too,” added de Palma. “If we get into a fight up the airship is going to really jump around, and there’s nothing we can do for you if you get thrown out. Make sure you have one next to you, or keep it tied on all the time. We don’t always get much warning when there’s an attack up here… no hoofbeats in the clouds.”

More muttering, and de Palma noticed a few archers hurriedly scrambling for ropes, or checking their knotwork.

After lunch they were back at it, marking time while Valda worked on her sketches.

“I’ll have to have a little talk with the Commander, I think,” said Ekene to de Palma. “I understand your position, but he really should have told me what’s going on in the first place.”

“I thought you should know but…”

Ekene held up a hand.

“Don’t worry, not your fault. I’ve been in the same position. More to the point, though, Beorhtwig confirmed they’re OK?”

“The Commander forbade us from answering except in emergencies, but they said they’re still on mission, and haven’t encountered any enemies yet.”

“Where are they?”

Aercaptain de Palma walked over to Valda’s table, waited until she was looking over the railing at the ground, and quickly tapped a spot on the map.

“He got the signal from here.”

Ekene nodded.

“Hard place to get out of, if push comes to shove.”

“If necessary I can help pull them out, but my priority is to preserve the airship, I’m afraid… could get awkward.”

“We’ll just have to make sure Thuba Mleen never notices them, then!”

“It’d be nice if he never noticed us, either…” muttered de Palma. “On that note, Clank is keeping watch through the solehole; would you like to post one of your archers there?”

“I’m not used to airships, and keep forgetting that this isn’t like a boat. You can see—and shoot—from the bottom, of course.”

“A lot of people can’t handle looking straight down from an airship. Takes practice.”

“I’ll cycle my people through there one at a time and see how they take it. Good idea.”

 

* * *

 

The ravine gradually rose, getting narrower and steeper as it climbed, until finally it petered out entirely. Just ahead a fold of the mountain crossed their path, a two-meter rise blocking their way.

Seri scrabbled up the steep rock face, pulling herself up to the top for a better look.

“There’s a similar ravine stretching out this way,” she called back to the others. “Looks pretty much the same.”

“What’ll we do about the raptors?” called TT.

Seri dropped down, dusted her hands off.

“Yargui, Aashika Chabra… get over there and see if there’s anything waiting for us on the other side. Don’t go too far, and don’t be seen!

“Kareem, you ever been in this region before?”

“No, Captain. When I entered the mountains at all it was always on the known routes.”

“I guess that’s good news… maybe they won’t be expecting us.”

She turned to TT.

“Any dead trees or something we can use to make a step for the raptors?”

“Sorry, just brush around here… I think we’d have to backtrack all the way to the stream again to find anything that big.”

“OK, the raptors are, what, maybe thirty kilos or so? We’ll just lift them up.”

“Mudge!”

The raptor came trotting over.

“Mudge, do I need muzzles?”

Mudge shook her head no.

“No biting or clawing!”

Mudge smiled, or maybe bared her teeth—it was hard to tell which.

With Yargui and Aashika Chabra scouting up ahead her six was down to herself and three troopers, and there were six raptors to get over the hump. Mudge wouldn’t bite anyone, but she was less certain about the five dumb ones… they were all friendly in camp when they wanted a piece of your dinner, but animals could react violently to all sorts of things, and she didn’t want to lose a trooper to one of her own raptors!

“Mudge, I want you on top of the wall for now,” she said, and picked the raptor up. She was about the size and weight of a Great Dane: heavy and awkward to carry, but not impossible.

She raised Mudge over her head, pushing her up the rock wall while Mudge scrabbled her feet, until finally she managed to pull herself to the top.

Seri turned around and stepped out of the way so Aymeric, a Daikosian swordsman in her six, could lift up another raptor.

Mudge hissed once when one of the raptors began wriggling, but other than that there were no problems, and everyone—raptors and human both—was over the hump within a short period of time.

Seri looked ahead, down the slope. It gradually grew into a ravine as tiny rivulets from the mountains drained into it. She couldn’t see very far as it twisted and turned through the rocks, but she imagined it grew into a larger stream later, probably draining into the Eastern Desert somewhere.

Aashika Chabra came walking back.

“It looks all clear up ahead, Captain… no sign of anyone we can see, although yesterday’s rain could have washed away a lot. Yargui’s gone on a bit farther.”

“OK, let’s get it on,” ordered Seri. “Mudge, scout front!”

Mudge snarled at her raptors and they click-clacked off over the rock, downstream.

Seri and Aashika in the lead, they followed the raptors, often clambering over boulders or squeezing between them. It would have been a great place for an ambush except that there was no place to hide on the mountainsides above them.

Seri kept looking anyway, expecting to see a flight of arrows or the flash of a sword.

A raptor shriek brought her attention back to the front.

“Back! All of you, get back!”

It was Yargui, shouting at the raptors.

Seri dashed forward, jumping over and on rocks, risking a fall in her hurry.

“Sergeant! Advance under cover!”

TT hunched down, a habit left over from when he faced rifles, and scuttled forward to the cover of an overhang.

“Keep under cover, and move up!” he called to the rest of the twelve. “Archers, if you see it, shoot it!”

Seri skidded to a halt, almost stepping on a raptor.

There was a half-circle of raptors eyeing a rock lizard

Yargui was sprawled on the ground next to it, facing the raptors with her arm outstretched, palm out to command them to halt.

Mudge was standing between the raptors and Yargui, rumbling softly to herself, head snapping back and forth as she tried to look at everyone at once.

“What happened, trooper?”

“A rock lizard, Captain. It was fighting that snake,” she explained, pointing at two halves of a huge snake lying on the ground. Obviously she’d chopped it in half.

“The lizard only got bitten once, and the snake was getting ready to crush it when I got here.”

“It’s just a lizard, Yargui,” said Seri, sheathing her sword. “I know you miss your sand lizard, but it’s fine back at the fort.”

“Sorry, Captain, should’ve been clearer… This isn’t a wild lizard.”

She stuck one finger under the leather collar around the lizard’s neck and lifted it up a bit.

“A pet lizard, out here!?”

“It’s a rock lizard, Captain. Pretty much like my sand lizard, but lives in the mountains instead of the desert. And I think it’s a hunting lizard.”

The raptors hissed and jumped again, suddenly rearranging themselves to face the mountainside.

Seri looked up to see a man sitting on the naked rock slope, looking down at them. He was dressed in what looked like rags, the colors of the rock around them and ragged to break up his profile.

“My lizard,” he said.

“Mudge, pull the raptors back,” commanded Seri, stepping forward, hands empty.

Behind her, TT signaled the archers to nock arrows and stand ready.

“Who are you?”

“Lonagon of Y’barra.”

“Y’barra—the Mountain People!” breathed Yargui.

“Talk to me, Yargui,” said Seri. “Who are the Mountain People?”

“They’re Ibizim, just like me. That’s why we both have lizards. They’ve always lived in the mountains, and we in the desert.”

“They have nothing to do with Thuba Mleen?”

“I don’t…”

“We are of the mountains, and have naught to do with the Emperor of the Sands. We see his troops, but they never see us.”

“Yet you showed yourself to us now.”

“You saved my rock lizard, and I would have her back.”

Seri stepped well back, gesturing TT and the others to fall back as well.

“Mudge, pull those raptors back, dammit!”

Mudge snarled and they grudgingly shuffled backwards, obviously hoping for an invitation to attack the lizard. Or eat it?

“We shall not stand in your way. Our enemy is Thuba Mleen, not the Mountain People.”

The other half ran, half hopped down the mountainside, his soft-booted feet making almost no sound, and walked over to the injured rock lizard.

He bowed to Yargui.

“Yargui of the Copper Beetle,” she said and stepped back. He squatted down next to the lizard, his hand on its head for a moment, turned.

“Captain Serilarinna, thank you.”

“You know my name!?”

“We’ve been following you since you left the Lake of Sarnath,” the other said. “I was too busy trying to stay out of your way to protect my rock lizard.”

“You said ‘we’?”

The other whistled, and Seri’s twelve shrank closer together as half a dozen rock-colored figures suddenly appeared around them. They must have been hiding in plain view all this time.

“We can conceal our smell, but not perfectly, and raptors can still sense us if they get too close… Your raptors kept us on the move constantly.”

“Yes, they’re well-trained,” said Seri, without going into detail. “Take your lizard, and go in peace.”

He nodded, and, picking up his injured pet, draped it over his shoulders.

“We shall leave a marker for you up ahead; turn east there and you will find an unwatched trail to Snakescale, and you can see Bleth from there. We of Y’barra always pay our debts.”

And they were gone.

“Well, that was interesting…” said TT, breaking the silence.

“Yargui, what else do you know about these people?” asked Seri.

“They’re just Ibizim… I mean, they’re not special, they just live in the mountains and we live in the desert.

“Some of the Ibizim in my Home traded with them, but I don’t know the details. Like I said, this is the first time I’ve ever met anyone from there.”

“So they’re not allies of Thuba Mleen?”

“If they were I’d certainly have heard about it!,” she denied. “No, they’re just cousins, basically, who live somewhere else. As far as I know.”

“Interesting. And they are invisible here in the mountains…” mused Seri. “They live underground?”

“I think they live in the same protected valleys as we do, but I know they also use tunnels. I don’t know if that is the same Sunless Road we use, or tunnels they constructed themselves, though.”

“What’s Snakescale?”

“Must be a mountain. Never heard of it, but we don’t know the names of most of these mountains.”

“Well, we’ll find out. He’s gone now—they’re all gone,” said Seri. “And if they did leave us a marker up ahead that’ll be great. Move out!”

One of the raptors stayed to investigate the dead snake until Mudge nipped his flank, and they headed downstream, followed by Serilarinna, Yargui, and Aashika, and then the rest of the twelve, with TT bringing up the rear.

The stream running down the ravine was flush with rainwater, and in places there was still plenty of mud left to make going tough. Low bushes grew here and there, giving them something to hang onto when they slipped, but Seri was worried that every slip was leaving a mark that Thuba Mleen’s men could spot too easily. Hopefully there’d be more rain later to wash it all off.

About an hour later Yargui held up her hand, signaling Seri and Aashika to stop.

She pointed to a slope on their right, a clear incline of time-polished rock.

Right in the middle of the otherwise-empty rock face was a seashell… a perfectly normal seashell. Half of a scallop, in fact.

“That’s it?”

“Yes, Captain. There’s no reason for a seashell to be here in the mountains this far from the sea, and it certainly would have washed away in the rain last night.”

Seri looked up the slope, searching for anything out of the ordinary… a couple boulders, some fresh scree, a scrawny bush…. not much.

“You see anything?”

“No, but let me go have a look,” said Aashika, scrambling up the rock to grab hold of the bush, then transfer to the boulder. She slipped around behind it.

“There’s an opening here, Captain,” she shouted. “I’m going to have a quick look.”

“Yargui, is this the shortcut he mentioned? Get up there and stay with her.”

Yargui climbed the rock face, quickly slipping behind the same boulder.

A minute passed… two, then three.

Yargui popped out from behind the boulder again.

“This is it, Captain. It’s a short passage, well, half a tunnel really, opening up into another streambed, just on the other side. Only a few meters long.”

Seri climbed up for herself, gripping Yargui’s outstretched hand to cross the final stretch and grab onto the boulder. There was a narrow gap behind the boulder, wide enough for one person to walk, leading into a passage.

The passage, obviously widened in places, was only a few meters long. The foot of the mountain, stretched out like a giant tree root gradually vanishing into the earth, had been eaten away from the other side by the mountain stream there, leaving it only a few meters thick in this exact spot.

The roof of the passage opened first to the sky, and the wall gradually dropped until it was gone, and she was standing in an almost spherical pothole, cut into the flesh of the peak by millennia of mountain floods.

In front of her was another ravine, running almost north-south: the secret way Lonagon had mentioned. To the north—the direction they wanted to go—it sloped upwards.

She stepped back where the rest were waiting.

“Sergeant TiTi, we’re going through, one at a time. Throw me a rope and I’ll give you something easier to hold onto.”

TT pulled a rope out of his pack and threw it up to her.

Seri caught it deftly and handed it to Yargui.

“Help them up, Yargui. I’m going through.”

She went back into the passage, joining Aashika on the other side as Yargui wrapped the rope around her waist and sat down on the rock floor, bracing herself against the boulder with her feet. She threw the other end of the rope back down to the Sergeant, and the rest of the twelve started climbing up.

The raptors, unable to grasp the rope with any strength, scrambled up, trusting the talons on their feet to hold the rope enough to get them to the top. Most of them made it on the first try; one took three.

TT was the last one up.

“Don’t forget the shell, Sergeant!” called Yargui. “No point in leaving a marker for them to find.”

He snatched it up and pushed it into his wallet, then walked up the slope while pulling himself on the rope.

He helped Yargui up, and they went on through the passage, into the next valley.

 

* * *

 

“There they are!” called de Palma. “They just crossed over into that narrow valley, there.”

He pointed to the shadowed valley below, running almost north-south.

“Good eyes!” praised Captain Ekene, holding up a hand to shade his own eyes. “I’d never spot them from this height if you hadn’t pointed them out.”

“It’s hard to tell from here, but it looks like that valley runs pretty much straight north toward Bleth, then peters out… The shadows suggest that’s a pretty flat area, but it’s hard to tell without dropping down a bit lower. Which I’d rather not do.”

He turned to Bridok.

“Can you flash the wyverns? Let them know?”

“I’ll try!”

Bridok grabbed a signaling mirror and walked toward the stern, searching for a spot where he could reflect the sunlight to Beorhtwig. He found one, and tried a few flashes.

They had only agreed on a very few codes, and this one was simple: We found them.

Beorhtwig flashed back a simple OK, but didn’t change course. They didn’t want Thuba Mleen’s troops to suspect they were interested in some particular area in the mountains.

Bleth was visible in the distance, a sand-colored pile of walls and towers. They couldn’t see any of the defenders from here, but there was no doubt they were there, watching.

Aercaptain de Palma watched Seri’s twelve and the raptors advance up the cleft, and while it was impossible to tell which blob was a person and which was a raptor, there was one blob too few… they’d already had a casualty.

 The stream grew thinner and thinner as it rose, until finally the party emerged onto a relatively flat area. They were quite close to Bleth now, as the crow flies.

He left the airship to the practiced hands of Bridock and concentrated on Seri’s twelve.

They had no place to hide now, but it didn’t look like Bleth had anything up in the air…

 

* * *

 

“I hate being exposed like this,” grumbled TT. “Not a rock or a tree in sight… we’re sitting ducks if they come at us with an airship or whatever.”

“Relax, Sergeant,” said Seri. “There’s nothing we can do about it except trust Lonagon. They said it was not being watched.

“Right now I’m more worried about where we go from here… we must be pretty close to Bleth, but I really don’t want to be spotted by anyone on the ground, either.”

“For now, I suggest we just keep on,” advised Yargui. “Lonagon said this route would work, and he had little reason to lie.”

“Agreed,” nodded Seri. “For now we keep on moving north.

“Aashika, you and Sergeant TiTi take point. Mudge, spread out wider on the flanks; I don’t want to be surprised up here.”

They continued to advance. Ahead of them, the rock shelf they were traversing gradually slanted upward and grew into another peak. It wasn’t one of the tallest ones, but it looked a lot more rugged than most, ragged from some ancient catastrophe that had ravaged its once-symmetrical form. It was a surprisingly thin mountain, and almost perfectly triangular in shape.”

“That must be Snakescale,” guessed Yargui.

As they got closer they could see signs of more recent avalanches, rocks and scree scattered in piles, some not yet weathered by the elements.

“So where do we go from here?” wondered Seri aloud, searching the debris in front of her, and the rising mountain.

“Captain!”

It was Aashika Chabra, pointing to the ground near where she stood.

A seashell lay there, and beyond it a narrow gap between two boulders lay in shadow.

“Another marker,” said Seri. “This must be it.

“Sergeant, you and Aashika check it out.”

TT led the way, vanishing into the shadow silently, Aashika close behind.

“Take a break,” said Seri. “Try to stay in shadow if you can… I don’t think Bleth has anything up in the air, but you never know.”

A few minutes later Aashika returned.

“This is it, Captain… There’s one place that’s a little tricky, but at the end is an ideal place to observe Bleth. Sarge’s there now.”

“Lead me, trooper. Yargui! You’re in charge until either Sergeant TiTi or I get back. Stay out of sight.”

“Yes, Captain.”

Seri followed Aashika between the two boulders, placing one hand on the adjacent rocks every so often as her boots slipped. The path twisted and turned, and in one place, as Aashika has said, there was a sheer drop-off on one side that forced them to carefully slide their feet across a narrow ledge, gripping the rock wall with their fingertips, to reach safety.

On the other side there was a small, low space, wide enough for only four or five people, surrounded by fallen rock… and looking down almost directly at Bleth.

She could see all of the close side, and most of the rest except where it was hidden by towers or the central keep. More than enough to make a very complete map, and figure out just what forces were based there.

It was perfect.

“Trooper, run a rope across that sheer drop, and then go back and tell Yargui we’re gonna be here for a while. Oh, and tell her to signal the airship that we’re in position.”

“Yessir,” said Aashika, and she scuttled back into the darkness.

“We’re in shadow here,” said TT, “so no worry about the sun glinting off our telescopes. I’ve been sketching the fort.”

He showed her the sheet he’d been working on.

“Haven’t seen any movement yet, but when they change the guard we’ll get a pretty good idea of what’s down there.”

“Good. Anything up in the air?”

“Haven’t seen anything yet.”

Seri lifted her own telescope to her eye and began examining Bleth in detail.

“Looks like a triple gate. Towers on both flanks, and above. Murder holes for sure.”

“Hmm, I think so, too,” said TT. “There’s a postern over there on the far right, see it? No flanking tower, but something big above. Probably a defense.”

“Sergeant, you are not so familiar with our fortifications yet. I’d like you to go back and take command of the twelve and the raptors—find somewhere safe to set up camp—and have Kareem and Yargui come here.”

“Why them?”

“Kareem’s been inside and can help explain things; Yargui knows how forts are built. She’s been around quite a bit.”

“Right,” nodded TT. “Here’s what I’ve got so far, and my paper. Good luck!”

“Oh, and Sergeant… make a good map and sketches of how to find this place again. I don’t want to leave that seashell, but I suspect we’ll be back here again.”

“Yessir.”

He slipped away, leaving Seri alone in the outlook.

A few minutes later Kareem and Yargui joined her there.

 

* * *

 

“I can’t see where they’ve gone, but that flash says they’re in position and OK, so I guess they found a safe place,” said de Palma.

“That open area they crossed is pretty close to Bleth… They must’ve circled that mountain somehow.”

“Can’t tell from here, Captain, but no doubt. Maybe time to swing a bit closer?”

“I wouldn’t mind a closer look at Bleth myself, Aercaptain.”

Captain Ekene turned back toward the deck, shouting “Archers! We’re going to swing a bit closer to Bleth, so have those arrows handy! And check your damn lifelines! We’re keeping our distance, but don’t know what they might throw at us.”

“Mistress Valda, I don’t want to spend too much time close to the fort, but I’m going to fly through the area once just to see what it looks like in more detail. You won’t have time to make sketches, and depending what they do we may have to leave quickly.

“If they do nothing—which is what I think will happen, since they don’t seem to have airships or wyverns—then we can come back for a more leisurely visit later.”

“Thank you, Aercaptain,” she replied. “I’ll just make a quick sketch, then, of the major points, and hopefully we can fill it in later.”

“Bridok, Frija! Make sure the sails are free… if something happens I’ll want to get out of here fast.

“Clank? Stay on the solehole, but watch yourself. If things get tight, button ’er up.”

“Aye sir,” came a muffled affirmative from below. One of the archers was down there with him, too.

Captain de Palma steered the airship toward the sand-colored fort far below. The two wyverns were circling nearby, ready to pounce on any threat with their superior speed.

They approached slowly, de Palma tacking into the wind. It meant the airship was moving far more slowly than usual, as it was advancing partially against the wind, but it also meant they could flee much, much faster by just adjusting the sails, and letting the wind blow them on their way.

Captain Ekene held his telescope to his eye, examining the fort’s defenses.

“Wow, that’s a thick wall… must be maybe, five meters? And probably twice that high. Towers all around, but I can’t tell how high from here.”

“Look at the length of a shadow, and compare it to the length of a man’s shadow,” advised de Palma. “You can make a pretty good guess that way.”

“Oh, right… that’s handy,” muttered Ekene, swinging his telescope back and forth.

“Mistress? You getting this?”

Valda was also looking down, sketching the terrain furiously.

Ekene doubted she even heard him, and let it ride. She was busy.

“Captain! Port bow low!” came a cry from Bridok.

He looked and saw a host of black dots issuing from one of the buildings in the fort. Flying dots.

Not big enough to be wyverns, or airships… but what…?

Suddenly a shadow swooped down from above: Beorhtwig.

“Eagles! It’s eagles! Get out of here!”

He turned his wyvern and they raced for the mountains, wings pumping full speed. Eagles could fly higher and faster than wyverns, and while the wyvern was far larger, a flock of eagles could tear it apart.

Eagles could tear him apart, too.

He threw the tiller over, shouting “Hard to port! Full sail! Get above them!”

The boom swung across the deck, sails snapping as they caught the wind full-on, and the ship jerked.

The boom rammed into one of Ekene’s archers, raptly watching the approaching eagles, knocking the breath out of him, and over the rail.

“Ewelike! Hang on!” shouted Captain Ekene, running over to grab the man’s lifeline. He started hauling him up, but the airship’s acceleration and the fallen man’s own gyrations made it difficult.

The eagles, dozens of them, attacked.

Screeching eagles, flurries of wings, twanging bows, shouts, screams… it was chaos.

The airship tilted up as it turned back over the Mohaggers, the deck a steep slope. Most of the archers slid across it, held only by their lifelines until they managed to grab hold of a railing or wall.

“Everyone into the cabin!” shouted de Palma. “Go, go, go!”

He joined Frija, shield on one arm to defend against the eagles and batter them when he had a chance, helping the archers make it to safety. Once they reached a railing they were able to drag themselves into the cabin.

With the exception of Ewelike, the man who’d been knocked overboard.

Captain Ekene finally managed to pull him back onto the deck as Bridok defending both of them with sword and shield, feet hooked into the airship’s railing to stop him from slipping.

Ewelike was unconscious, bow gone and quiver empty, his arms and face covered in blood. The eagles had attacked him viciously until they realized he was unconscious.

Brodok and Ekene grabbed him by his legs and dragged him to the cabin hatch, where de Palma helped pull him inside.

The hatch slammed shut, and the airship kept rising higher and higher as the eagles raged outside. With no-one to attack, they flew angry circles around the airship, screeching their displeasure until, finally, the airship flew higher than they could.

Regretfully, they drifted down from the heights, well above the highest of the Mohagger peaks, to return to their nests at Bleth.

They waited a little longer, and then carefully opened the cabin door.

The deck looked empty… he stepped out.

There was a scream of avian anger from behind him, and he dropped to the deck just in time as a huge eagle dove at him. It must have been hanging onto the cabin, or the boom, unable to fly but determined to wait him out.

It would have worked, too, except that it couldn’t keep its mouth shut and gave him the second’s warning he needed to evade, and thrust.

He missed the body of the eagle, slashing into its wing instead, but the eagle missed him.

Catching his breath, he checked the rest of the airship for more hidden threat, and found none.

The eagle, wing broken or cut, had spiraled out of control into the depths of the Mohaggers far below.

He sheathed his sword, returned the airship to an even keel, and headed south again, back toward Fort Danryce.

Ewelike was badly injured, one arm almost in ribbons, and everyone else had suffered from the eagles’ talons and beaks, not to mention bumps and scrapes as the airship maneuvered. Two of the archers had lost their bows, almost unthinkable for an archer.

The wyverns were nowhere to be seen.

 

* * *

 

After giving his shouted warning, Beorhtwig turned sharply, and kicked Flogdreka. “Fly, boy, fly! The eagles are coming!”

Flogdreka, understanding Beorhtwig’s urgency, or perhaps having seen the oncoming eagles, folded his wings up close to his body, stretched his neck out, and dove at full speed toward the Mohaggers. Beorhtwig leaned forward, grasping the harness with both hands and pressing his face to the wyvern’s neck.

Eagles could dive as fast as wyverns, but they started sooner, and higher… with luck they could get to safety. He caught a glimpse of Fæger: she was doing the same thing, diving as fast as she could after Flogdreka, but the archer riding her back was struggling to hang on, holding the harness with one hand and her bow with the other.

He hurriedly shifted his shield to cover his back, and then there was nothing he could do but hang on, and put his trust in the wyverns.

Flogdreka flashed past a peak almost close enough to touch, banking into a narrow gap between two more, always heading south. They were much lower now than before, weaving between the peaks and ridges with breathtaking speed.

The wyvern moved his very wingtips by microscopic amounts, and at their speed it was enough to control their direction, but in the denser air their speed was dropping fast.

Suddenly Flogdreka’s wings flared out, beating up and down, whishing and booming through the air. With each stroke his body leapt up in the air a bit, then down again.

Flying was more difficult now at the lower altitude, with more obstacles to avoid, and Beorhtwig risked another glance behind.

No sign of Fæger, but the pursuing eagles were closing fast.

He turned so that he was mounted in the saddle, feet in the stirrups, but facing backward—toward the attacking birds.

He swung, missed. An eagle swooped toward his head, talons out to catch an eye, and he ducked just in time, sword thrusting upward for his first kill even as another eagle raked across his exposed side, cutting deep.

He tried to turn, swinging blindly, and missed again.

An eagle was flying next to Flogdreka’s head, trying to tear his eyes out! They were being swarmed; there were too many of them…

The wyvern’s head suddenly darted up and to the side, mighty jaws closing on the eagle with a crunch and a final squawk.

More eagles were tearing at Flogdreka’s belly, his wings, his neck… a cloud of birds circling them in search of blood.

Hopelessly, he swung and swung again, toppling attacker after attacker out of the sky, until…

A black shape hurtled through his field of vision, dropping from above to dive past Flogdreka close enough to touch, smashing through the eagles to leave them fluttering and whirling through the air with broken wings.

Fæger!

She had dived down from above, using her speed and bulk to smash the birds away.

There was a boom from below as Fæger extended her wings, catching the air just short of the mountain face, and beating to rejoin them as they fled south.

The archer was still hanging on, both hands gripping the harness tightly, bow long gone. He couldn’t see her face, but at least she wasn’t covered in blood like he was.

The eagles, over half of their number dead, or fallen to the ground, circled and screamed in rage, unwilling to approach again, and eventually fell behind. The Lake of Sarnath appeared below them, and beyond it, still far, lay Fort Danryce.

Once the eagles stopped their pursuit, the wyverns eased off, exhausted by their flight, beating their wings as little as possible while taking advantage of the denser air near the lake’s surface. By the time they reached the lake’s far shore both wyverns were wobbling with exhaustion, wingtips touching the water now and again, only to be lifted again by sheer willpower driving them up and onward.

They made a bouncy landing on the muddy shore, still far from the fort, and collapsed.

He cut himself loose and tore his tunic in half, wrapping the cloth tightly around his side to stop the bleeding. He looked over at Fæger, and saw Ifechukwu painfully slide off, collapsing to the sand. She looked as exhausted as he felt.

Let the eagles come, he thought. I’m done.

And they slept.

Chapter 11

“Airship approaching!” came the shout from the bell tower, and Captain Nadeen shaded her eyes to get a better look.

It was flying the red-and-gold scorpion pennant, so it was probably de Palma.

She turned to watch how the fort guards reacted, and was gratified to see them moving into defensive positions and getting ready, just in case the airship wasn’t who they thought it was.

As it drew closer and drew to a stop near the cliff wall, she could clearly see Aercaptain de Palma and Captain Ekene. She could also see that they were wounded, as were the archers, and the airship’s sails and pennant were slashed and torn.

She ran down the walkway to the cliff wall to greet them, arriving just as the guards caught the hawsers and moored the airship. The crew threw over the gangplank rope, and the wall guards pulled the gangplank over the gap. It was built like a suspension bridge, with planks for a floor, hanging from a cable above.

“Eagle attack,” said Captain Ekene shortly. “We’ve got to get the injured to the Healer right now.”

Nadeen called to her troopers.

“Dhaval, go warn Healer Dunchanti we’ve got injured coming, and ask Captain Ridhi to get some water boiled.

“Maiza, Erdene, get over there and see if anyone needs help.

“The rest of you, back to your stations! You’re on guard, troopers!”

She walked toward the stern.

“Aercaptain de Palma! Are you alright?”

He was sitting deck, looking blankly at the torn sails.

“I’m fine, Captain… just, uh, catching my breath. Wasn’t sure we’d make it back.”

“What happened?”

“Somehow, Thuba Mleen’s got trained eagles. A whole flock of them attacked us.”

“But you fought them off.”

“Not really. We can fly higher than they can, and I just got above them. They would have torn the airship into pieces if they’d had a chance.”

“What about Beorhtwig?”

“Beorhtwig!”

He shot to his feet, suddenly recalling the wyverns.

“They were chasing him, too! And the eagles can fly higher than they can! Maybe faster, too.

“I caught a glimpse of Flogdreka diving into the Mohaggers, but I don’t know what happened after that.”

“Damn! You have any idea where to look? We have to know what happened to them!”

“Mountains, forest, the lake… they could be anywhere.”

“Can you search from the air?”

“It’s the only way, but… not yet. I need to get new sails up.”

“Tell me what you need, and I’ll get it.”

“We have new sails onboard, but Bridok and Frija are both hurt. We’ll need help getting them raised right.”

Nadeen shouted down into the fort, where people had begun to gather, helping the wounded to the church where Healer Dunchanti waited.

“Get Captain Long! We need help up here!”

Captain Long’s twelve were back at the fort after a two-day patrol. In theory they could relax and do as they pleased today, but this had priority.

She figured most of them were still here, with probably fewer than half slipping off to Cadharna—or the growing castle town below—for more exciting R&R.

“I’m already here, Captain,” came his growl from the wall behind her. “My twelve’ll be here in a minute, those who aren’t off drinking or whoring.”

“The airship is mostly undamaged,” explained de Palma, “but the sails are badly torn, and they’ll rip even more if they catch the wind. We have to take them down for repair, and raise new ones.”

“How do you do that?” asked Long. “I’m happier on the desert than the sea…”

“I’ll show you, and the crew can crack the whip,” said Nadeen. “Aercaptain, show me where you keep the new ones and I’ll get things moving.”

He struggled to get up off the deck, and Nadeen grasped his arm to help.

“This way, Captain.”

He stepped back into the cabin and down into the hull.

“Careful, don’t step on the eagle,” he said, pointing to a bloody heap of feathers near the ladder. “One thought it could get in the solehole before we closed it. It got in, all right, but Clank took care of it.

“The sails are here, all the way in the back.

“We’ll have to open the topside cargo hatch to get them out, though. Long and heavy.”

He pointed out the sailcloth rolls, and the large hatch above. A spare mast was lashed to the other side, balancing the sails.

“And once we get the sails out of here we’ll have to balance that mast somehow… easiest thing to do would be to put the torn sails here for now, and worry about cleaning it all up later.”

“How long’s this gonna take?” asked Long.

“A full crew can do the whole thing in about an hour,” said de Palma, “but I think maybe three hours or so this time, no offense.”

“None taken,” laughed Long. “Let’s get to it.”

They began untying the ropes holding the sails in place.

“Clank? You up there?”

“Right here, Cap,” came Clank’s shout from the deck.

“Get the cargo hatch open, will you? Gonna get the sails out.”

“Yessir,” came the muffled response, and clattering footsteps sounded on the hatch above their heads. “Captain Long? There’s a bunch of your troopers here… where do you want ’em?”

“Send two down here,” called Long, “and put the rest of ’em to work up there.”

“Yessir. OK, you heard the man. You and you, downstairs,” continued Clank. “The rest of you help me get this damn hatch open!”

With Captain Long’s assistance, Aercaptain de Palma and the crew—even Bridok, who had a bandage wrapped around his head—managed to get the job done in only about two hours. Captain Ekene’s archers were gone, to see the Healer or just to rest, but Captain Long insisted on staying onboard when the Cavor took off again in search of the wyverns.

“They were flying due south when I last saw them,” said de Palma, “which would mean they cut right across the Lake of Sarnath, probably right near the gray rock of Akurion and drowned Sarnath. Depending on how hard the eagles pressed them, though, they could have ended up anywhere, even in Ib.”

“Rather not go to Ib or Sarnath if I can avoid it,” said Long. “Can wyverns swim?”

The other man shrugged.

“Hey, Harald!” called Long, “You’re from Daikos, right? Can wyverns swim?”

A youngish trooper with a long sword and a shield looked back from the railing, where he had been watching the scenery float by underneath.

“Swim, sir? No, not swim, but they float,” he explained. “If they get tired they can rest on the water, and take off again later. They can’t handle heavy seas, though, no waves.”

Long nodded and waved him off again.

“There’s an awful lot of ground to search,” said de Palma. “I’m going to head over the Akurion rock to start, and then north from there. Maybe trace the lake shore once.

“If we stay high enough we’ll be able to see quite a distance. Until dusk, anyway. Clear weather.”

“Sergeant Chen!”

A wiry, middle-aged woman trotted over.

“Get everyone spread out along the railings. We’re looking for the wyverns; might be on land or sea. Anyone sees anything, call it out.

“And keep an eye on the skies, too, in case those eagles come calling!”

“Yessir!”

She trotted off, getting the rest of Long’s twelve spaced out around the deck.

“You want me to send one down to the solehole?”

“No, Frija’s got it. A lot of troopers get upset looking straight down; she’ll handle it.”

The airship was quite high now, offering a view of the lake shore and the surrounding forest, with Akurion rock a bit farther away. The broad marshland hid Sarnath, and Ib was too far to see clearly.

The airship paused as troopers examined the shore and nearby fields for any signs of the wyverns.

“No sign of them, it looks like,” said de Palma. “OK, let’s head across the lake, then.”

“The wyverns can float, but Beorhtwig would prefer solid ground, I’m sure,” said Long. “How ’bout we check the shore in little farther, first?”

“OK with me,” agreed de Palma, turning west to bring them closer to Fort Danryce.

A few minutes later there was excitement at the prow.

“I think I see them!” called one of Long’s troopers, pointing. “There!”

Captain Long ran over to look for himself, pulling out his telescope.

“Aercaptain de Palma! That’s them all right!” he called. “Looks like they’re all sleeping… or hurt.”

The airship banked and turned, dropping rapidly. Long’s troopers slid along the deck, unprepared for the sudden tilt, grasping their lifelines with a new urgency.

The airship floated down to the ground, touching down on the beach with a whisper, and Captain Long leapt over the railing, followed by most of his twelve.

“Trooper! Trooper Beorhtwig!”

He knelt next to the fallen man.

“He’s got a bad wound in his side, looks like. Bandage is soaked with blood.”

“The archer’s pretty torn up, too,” added one of the troopers looking at the woman. “Both arms, neck, one leg… damn, those eagles don’t mess around!”

“Aercaptain de Palma! We have to get these two back to the fort!

“You, and you, and you three… get Beorhtwig and the archer—anyone know what her name is?— onto the airship now.

“Harald, you know anything about wyverns?”

“Never a wyver-master, but yeah, worked for a man who was.”

“Sergeant Chen! Stay here. I want your six to take care of the wyverns for now. Ask Harald what to do. I’ll be back later today with supplies, and hopefully someone who knows how to fix them up.”

Chen nodded.

“Talk to me, trooper!” she ordered Harald in her high-pitched, nasal voice. She might look and sound like a middle-aged shrew of a housewife, but the troopers in her six knew what she was capable of.

“Stop the bleeding, wash and cover the wounds to keep them clean, plenty of fresh water to drink, and kill a couple deer or something to get the healing started.”

“Good lad. You get started on fixing them up. Tell Calchas and Mahud what you need. Kassandros, you and Yafeu with me; we’re going hunting.”

Soon the airship lifted with Beorhtwig and the injured archer onboard, by which time Sergeant Chen had vanished into the woods and Harald was cleansing Flogdreka’s injuries.

 

* * *

 

“Airship approaching!”

The guard was expecting the Cavor to be back soon, but they manned the scorpions anyway. They knew Captain Nadeen would tear them new ones if they didn’t treat this like every other airship.

Fortunately, it was the Cavor, and Nadeen found nothing to complain about in their response.

She was far more worried about Beorhtwig and the archer, Ifechukwu. Normally Aercaptain de Palma would moor it in the air off the tower, or along the cliff wall, but he was in a hurry this time. He set it down on the parade ground a bit harder than he’d planned, but the flat bottom should be fine. He hoped.

Captain Long leapt to the ground and ran into the infirmary.

“Healer! Healer Dunchanti!”

The Healer came running.

“They got attacked by eagles. Talons and beaks, it looks like,” explained Long, pointing to the airship.

The crew had the ladder in place now.

“Wait,” called Dunchanti. “Let me see them first!”

He climbed up the ladder with Long close behind, and squatted down next to Beorhtwig. Placing his hand on the injured man’s side, he closed his eyes for a moment, then jumped up to squat down next to the archer.

“The eagle torn up his side pretty bad, but his organs—intestines, lungs—are OK, it looks like. The archer’s dead, I’m afraid… blood loss.”

“Dead…! But she was alive only a few minutes when we picked her up!”

“Too many wounds, too deep. Nothing you could have done to save her, and unless I get to Beorhtwig right now he may follow.

“Quickly, get him to the infirmary!”

“The wyverns are injured, too, Healer… I’ve got my people washing and bandaging their wounds now, but… I know nothing of wyverns.”

“Wyverns are tough, Captain. Keep ’em clean and well-fed; they’ll be fine.

“Now get out of my way… Beorhtwig needs me right now.”

He rushed off after the stretcher-bearers, vanishing into the infirmary.

“Dammit!” spat Long. “Kassandros, you get to the barracks. Find Ginette. She knows something about healing wyverns. Yafeu, hit the mess hall and see if she’s there. Same thing. I’m off to check with the Commander and Captain Nadeen.”

He turned to de Palma.

“Aercaptain, can you handle one more trip out to the lake and back? Just to drop us and some more supplies.”

“Of course, Captain. You need help getting set?”

“Thank you, yes. If you could send someone to see Captain Ridhi, and get supplies for my twelve for one day.”

“Only one?”

“Only one. I’m going to have the rest sent out by horse, so we can get back here easily… I think your airship might be busy for a while.”

The captain nodded. “Clank! You hear all that?”

“Yessir.”

“Captain Long, you’ll handle the horses and other supplies?”

“I’ll talk to the Commander about it,” replied Long. “Thanks.”

“Well, what are you waiting for?” de Palma demanded of Clank. “Off with you, man!”

Clank ran off toward the kitchen.

Captain Long turned to go in search of the Commander, and saw him walking toward them.

“Captain, I was in the library. What happened?”

Long filled him in quickly, explaining that he was heading back to the wyverns as soon as the supplies were ready.

“I’m only taking enough for a day, and need to have another week’s worth brought out by horse. We can set up a hunting schedule there, and if we have horses we can stay in touch with you easily. It’s only about two, maybe three hours tops.”

“On the shore, west of Akurion, right?”

“I’d guess about two klicks west; we can just see it in the distance. In any case, on the shore, so we’ll be easy to find.”

“I’ll take care of it. Captain Chinh is patrolling the grassland tomorrow, and I’ll just have him escort your stuff there first. Have to get a new patrol schedule drawn up, though, if your twelve is going to be stuck there for a week…”

“Sorry, Commander. With Captain Serilarinna where she is, and now us stuck up on the lake, you’re going to be short-handed for a while…”

“Do you know what Seri’s situation is? Anything?”

“Nothing… Beorhtwig is unconscious, and de Palma says they were on station but invisible to him.”

“Eagles, huh?” mused Jake. “And you say Seri’s people were down in the rocks… that’s sounds safer than flying around with eagles attacking, but I wish we had more information… Damn!

“Alright, get back to the wyverns. If there’s anyone here that knows anything about healing them, take them with you—I’ll tell whoever needs to know. And your supplies will be there by noon tomorrow.”

“Thank you, Commander. We’ll keep you informed.”

“Go, Captain. You have things to do,” ordered Jake. “Aercaptain de Palma! You have a minute?”

Jake clambered up the ladder, meeting the sergeant at the top.

“Of course, Commander… We’re just waiting for Captain Long to finish, and then we’re off again.”

“Can you tell me what happened?”

“Not much to tell, really… We had a flash from Captain Serilarinna that said they were in position and watching, but we couldn’t see them at all. They were on a mountain overlooking Bleth, but the last we saw of them they were on the far side from the fort. I don’t know how they got around to the near side; the flash was from the far side.

“After we got the flash we drifted a little closer to Bleth so we could get a better look straight down, instead of from an angle, and I guess we got too close because they released a flock of trained—I assume trained; maybe they were just hungry and pissed—eagles at us. Beorhtwig gave us a little warning, but they were right on us. Must have been three, four dozen, I’d guess.

“I can fly higher than eagles so I put the airship into a steep climb and got everyone into the cabin. And since eagles can fly higher and faster than Beorhtwig, he had no choice but to dive and try to shake them off.

“He and the wyverns are still alive so I guess it worked. Archer’s dead, though.”

“But you don’t know if they attacked Captain Serilarinna or not?”

“We were too busy trying to get away, sorry.”

“Damn damn damn!” snapped Jake. “I hope they’re OK.

“Aercaptain, your airship is torn up pretty badly, too, and you’re injured. How long do you think it’ll be until you’re ready to go back out?”

De Palma thought for a moment.

“We can make a short run any time, I think, but ship and crew both need two days of rest, I think. I want the Healer to take a look at our injuries when he gets a chance, but Trooper Ewelike was hurt the worst.”

“Ewelike?”

“One of Captain Ekene’s archers. He’s already in the infirmary.”

Jake nodded.

“The sails need to be secured properly and the whole ship needs to be checked for damage, but the eagles didn’t get a chance to do too much damage… they tore the sails to ribbons, but couldn’t do much to the ship herself in such a short time. Have to check it all, though.”

“Thank you, Aercaptain. Oh, here’s Captain Long.”

Nadeen was walking next to him.

“Commander, one of my troopers named Ginette is from Daikos, and her father was a wyver-master. She has experience in healing them.”

“Good. Any problem cutting her loose for a week or so? To help Captain Long and the wyverns?”

“Of course not. She’s in Sergeant Petter’s six, up on the wall right now. I’ll get her.”

She walked over to the postern and called up to the guards on duty above.

“Tell Trooper Ginette to report to me immediately!”

“Yessir!” came the reply from the wall, and one of the guards ran off toward the corner scorpion.

Ginette, a thirtyish-looking woman with her long, brown hair hanging in a single braid behind, came running.

“Captain?”

“You’ve some experience with healing wyverns, right?”

“Yessir. But only on the farm.”

“Our wyverns are both down and need help. Go get your ruck; you’re temporarily re-assigned to Captain Long. You need anything from the Healer, or the Alchemist?”

“Uh, what sort of injuries?”

“They got into a fight with a bunch of eagles,” explained Long.

“Talons and beaks, so no poison… Yeah, I need to talk to the Alchemist.”

“Go. If you need help grab someone. Double-time!”

She left at a run.

“How are Beorhtwig and the archer doing?”

“The Healer’s still working, but he said they’re probably safe,” said Nadeen. “Ewelike might lose an eye, looks like. Ekene’s staying with him.”

Kassandros showed up next, followed almost immediately by Clank with two of Ridhi’s people in tow. Kassandros had no luck at the barracks, but Clank brought gear and supplies for the twelve.

“Enough for two days at least,” he said. “Last longer if we get any hunting done. Captain Ridhi’s putting together the rest now.”

“Good. Captain Chinh can take that out in the morning,” said Long. “Get those supplies onboard.”

Clank popped open a hatch built into the sloping side of the airship and began loading.

“Did you see Yafeu?” asked Long.

“No sir. Want me to go look?”

“No, it’s good, trooper. Take five,” ordered Long.

Ginette returned with Yafeu and Captain Ridhi.

“No problem getting everything ready,” said Ridhi, “but I’m afraid nobody knows anything about wyverns. Have you checked with the Bagatur?”

“Damn! No, I haven’t,” said Long. “Still… Ibizim lizards are not wyverns. I wonder how much they could help.”

“Worth asking,” said Jake. “Khasar’s out on patrol. When he gets back tonight I’ll find out, and if they have anyone who might help I’ll send them out with Chinh in the morning. Good?”

“Good. Thanks.”

A few minutes later they were ready to go.

Long’s troopers, Aercaptain de Palma and his crew, and Trooper Ginette from Nadeen’s twelve climbed aboard and the airship rose into the sky.

 

* * *

 

“How are they, Healer?”

“Stable for now, Commander,” replied Healer Dunchanti. “Beorhtwig is once again a remarkably lucky man… it looks like he’ll be walking wounded for a few weeks, but should heal.”

“And the archer, Ewelike?”

“If the rot doesn’t set in he should wake up soon, but I think he’ll be blind in one eye.”

“The rest of the archers managed to get into the cabin quickly, and have only minor injuries,” said Captain Ekene, “but Ewelike fell overboard. Got savaged pretty badly.”

“Lucky thing he had his lifeline.”

“If he survives…” said Ekene.

“Sorry to hear you lost the archer with Beorhtwig.”

“Thank you. Her name was Ifechukwu, and she was a magnificent archer. Still only about twenty, I believe… a waste.”

“Something else to add to Thuba Mleen’s bill,” said Jake quietly. “And we’ll collect soon enough.”

A few of Ridhi’s staff were working alongside Dunchanti’s acolytes, cleansing and binding wounds. The Healer himself worked on wounds that looked unusually deep, or serious, but Ewelike and Beorhtwig occupied most of his time.

Most of the injured had already left, back to the barracks to rest or the kitchen to beg for handouts.

Nadeen showed up a little later, and found him sitting on a bench in the church, looking blankly at one of the new glass windows. She stood behind him, massaging his shoulders.

“What do you suppose the stained glass windows showed, originally?” he asked.

She cocked her head, following his gaze.

“We still don’t know who built this church, do we? I mean, pretty clearly the last people to use it before us were some sort of Nyogtha worshippers, but did they build it?”

“Hmm. And the church is connected to that underground city. The lizard people built it, and that tunnel. My guess is that this church was built long before Nyogtha came… but surely it wasn’t a church!”

“It wasn’t?”

“They had a whole city down there, why bother to dig a tunnel all the way up here and just build a little church? Something doesn’t add up.”

Her massaging hands paused.

“It does seem a little strange, doesn’t it? Hadn’t really thought about it before…”

Jake stood up suddenly, and called to Dunchanti.

“Healer, I have to go, but send a runner to me if anything changes.”

“Of course, Commander. Your quarters?”

“Yes.”

“Nadeen, can you leave the guard to Sergeant Petter and join me? Or later?”

“Let me tell Petter to take over, and I’ll be there in a few minutes,” she said. “He should be on the cliff wall.”

Just as she was about to leave the infirmary a shout came from the main gate: “Riders approaching!”

Nadeen and Jake trotted to the main gate, which was open as usual. The guards had already dropped the counterbalanced pole that served as a simple gate during the day. It wasn’t designed to prevent entry in times of war, but it stopped anyone from riding through easily. Once the gate guards had checked, they’d lift the pole and let the visitors ride through the gate, under the wall. The wall itself had two massive defensive gates—heavy wood covered by steel plate—but they were normally left open.

It was a party of five. One of them, an older warrior by his looks, dismounted to approach the gate while the others waited on horseback. His longsword was sheathed, of course.

“Mikhail Stepanchikov, sergeant of Celephaïs, escorting Artificer Muzaffer of Celephaïs and his assistants.”

“Sergeant Stepanchikov, Artificer Muzaffer, I am Jake, Commander of Fort Danryce,” he said, stepping forward to greet Stepanchikov with the standard wristshake.

The others dismounted as Jake came toward them.

“Muzaffer of Celephaïs,” said the architect, a gray-haired man with glasses and a paunch. “And my assistants, Sefika and Fron,” he added, waving his hand at the black-haired woman standing next to him, and the freckled, red-haired man behind her.

“Jake of Penglai,” he introduced himself, then turned to the fourth rider, a young man standing at the rear. He had a cutlass at his side and a crossbow on the saddle, Jake noticed.

“Talib of Xura.”

Jake greeted him, and waved the party through the main gate.

“Artificer, we’ve been expecting you. You must be tired from your journey.”

He led around the church, past the armory, to the barracks.

“The barracks are here; a room has been put aside for you. The bath is at your service, and Horsemaster Turan will take care of your steeds. The mess hall is over there,” he said, pointing, “and the kitchen is at your service.”

“Sergeant Stepanchikov, will you be staying?”

“The trooper and I would leave in the morn,” replied the other. “The King’s business awaits.”

“I guarantee the safety of the Artificer and his assistant,” promised Jake. “I will have Captain Ridhi provide you with trail food in the morning.”

“Thank you, Commander.”

Jake turned to the artificer.

“After you have bathed and eaten, please have Captain Ridhi show you to the library, where you can find maps of the fort and immediate region, as well as paper and quill. I will join you there.”

The artificer grunted and entered the barracks, followed by his two assistants.

Jake walked back to his residence, juggling priorities in his head.

The artificer—here for the sewerage and water supplies of the “castle town” below the cliff, and the two temples, had arrived at a most inconvenient time. His wyverns were injured, maybe badly; a number of his troopers were dead, injured, or otherwise unavailable; Seri was in enemy territory, out of touch, and possibly attacked by the same eagles that savaged the wyverns and the airship.

And even if the wyverns recovered, his only wyver-master was lying unconscious, in Healer Dunchanti’s hands.

Back at his residence-cum-office, he picked up the chunks of carnelian and chalcedony that Stonemaster Buka had given him. The carnelian was dull orange at one end and bright crimson at the other, while the chalcedony was a light, almost transparent blue. Buka said he’d look into supply, but didn’t expect too much trouble getting the necessary blocks for the temples. Transport would take a lot of time and trouble: carts drawn by either horses or deinos, which meant improving the roads between the fort and the quarries.

They would be impressive temples, though, especially if accented by less-exotic stone in gray or black, he thought. He’d leave the design up to Muzaffer and the Godsworn, within reason… after all, the King and the temples were paying for most of it between them.

He did want them done as soon as reasonable, though, done and functional, even if minor work continued longer. Hell, they could keep fiddling forever if they liked, as far as he was concerned!

But he wanted them open now.

“They are beautiful, aren’t they?” said Nadeen as she entered. “Have you told the artificer about them yet?”

“No, he’s cleaning up,” said Jake. “I asked him to join me in the library once he’s refreshed. Him, you, Ridhi… anyone else?”

“The Godsworn?”

“I was thinking we should put that off a bit… I want to be sure the architect and I see eye-to-eye first, and then I can let him get started talking to Dunchanti and Rorkaln. They’ll need totally different temples, and having them in two ‘different but equally beautiful’ colors will hopefully keep fights to a minimum.”

“The Healer will want an infirmary, and Rorkaln a school, but other than that they’ll be pretty much the same, won’t they?”

“I think so, but I have no idea what they might demand other than the usual living quarters and kitchen and whatnot. Could get complicated.”

“The Temple of Nath-Horthath in Celephaïs doesn’t have anything unusual that I’ve seen, but it’s enormous. Could have lots of stuff hidden away. And I know they’ve got rooms underground, too.”

“Never been in a temple to Panakeia?”

“Not really,” said Nadeen. “I’ve taken wounded there but never paid much attention to what’s inside… I was more concerned with the troopers.”

Jake nodded. He’d done the same countless times, in this world and that.

“When are you going to tell the artificer about your real plans?”

“I’m not sure I will,” said Jake. “Let’s keep that just between us for now… it won’t affect his drawings any.”

Nadeen nodded.

“I’m really wondering if Seri needs help right now… still no word on her twelve.”

“She’ll be fine,…” said Nadeen “The eagles were after the airship and the wyverns, not her.”

“You hope.”

“Yeah, I hope. And so do you,” she agreed. “She’s fine.”

“Well, let’s go talk to this artificer. Chuang said he’s the perfect man for the job, but I’m not Chuang.”

Nadeen smiled. “No, you most certainly are not.”

They walked over to the main building, and instead of using an entrance closer to the library, where they were to meet Muzaffer, Jake walked through the bakery, picking up a fresh-baked roll as he passed. Ridhi wasn’t there, which was probably the only reason he thought he could get away with it, but the baker looked similarly unimpressed. Not much he could say to the commander, though.

“Can’t beat fresh-baked bread, buttered or not,” he said. “Want a bite?”

“Smells delicious, but no. I don’t want Ridhi jumping me.”

Jake laughed and swallowed the evidence as he stuck his head into the kitchen.

“Captain Ridhi here?”

“No, Commander. She’s in the infirmary. Shall I call her?”

“No, but please ask her to join us in the library at her convenience.”

“Yessir.”

“Thank you. And we’ll need a big pot of tea, at least for six, please,” he said, and turned to go into the atrium, eyeing another roll wistfully as he passed. They went along the covered walkway to the library. It was still empty.

The library had few real books, but did boast an enormous scroll rack full of rolled maps. On one wall was a large map of the surrounding region, ruled off into a grid that helped locate detailed area maps.

Jake pulled out the detailed maps of the fort and the area below the cliff, as well as rough maps of the area stretching from Fort Danryce to Cadharna.

A small table in the corner held Valda’s mapmaking supplies. Jake helped himself to a few sheets of paper and a few pieces of red and black chalk. From his wallet he carefully took out a long, thin rod, holding it up for a closer look.

“What did you call that?” asked Nadeen. “A pencil?”

“Yup. It’s just clay and graphite; the hard part was finding graphite! Chóng took care of that for us, but of course won’t tell me where he got it. This is still a prototype from Mintran, and I thought I’d let the artificer try it out. He’s used to chalk, but the pencil lets him draw much thinner, cleaner lines.

“This one’s still a bit wobbly, though… need to match the lead and the wood better.”

“Why didn’t the King or someone make this long ago?”

“No idea… maybe he prefers pen and ink. Ink’s more permanent, for sure, but for notes and messages pencils are much better. Easier to use, too: no ink!”

Ridhi came in carrying a tray with a large teapot and half a dozen cups.

“Commander, Captain Nadeen. I came as soon as I could,” she apologized, setting the tray down and taking a seat.

“No apology needed, Ridhi. How are they?”

“Stable. Healer Dunchanti is with them almost all the time; has my kitchen boiling water for him right now.”

“Which reminds me,” said Jake. “Nadeen, we have to get that still built. Not only for alcohol, but for water, too!”

“We’re still waiting on tubing from Einar, but the mail has priority. You want to change that?”

“No, get the mail jackets done first. Especially now with our air force out of action.”

“I agree. We’ve gotten along with quills this long; a little longer won’t hurt.”

“Can I have one of those, too?” asked Ridhi. “I think it’d be pretty useful. Ink and chalk are great, but can also be very awkward.”

“Sure,” smiled Jake, and pulled another one out of his wallet. “Careful, they still break easily. Next batch’ll be a lot better.”

“Commander, Artificer Muzaffer,” came a voice from the door.

The artificer and his assistants stepped into the library, and Jake gestured them to chairs at the table.

Nadeen poured the tea and handed the cups out.

“We call it the library, but it’s really just a map room,” explained Jake, waving at the scrolls lining the wall. “We’re making detailed maps of the entire region—the region up there in that big map.”

“The grid corresponds to more detailed maps?” asked Muzaffer, sipping his tea.

“Yes, precisely.”

“Much the same way we handle architectural drawings,” nodded the artificer. “Very sensible.”

Jake pulled over the maps of the fort and immediate region.

“You’ve already seen a little of the area on foot, and of course you’ll be able to see it all yourself at any time, but I thought a short chat with these maps might be a good way to start. No mosquitoes.”

“I’ve been bitten so many times I don’t even notice them anymore,” said Muzaffer. “Poor Sefika is still tender, though.”

He adjusted his glasses and turned the map to be able to read the notations more easily, as Sefika craned her neck closer to see.

“Hmm, hmm… I see the fort has changed quite a bit since this map was made,” he said. “I heard about the battle. You were very lucky.”

“Yes, we were,” agreed Jake. “All in all, though, I think we came out of it better than they did. And the towers will make it much harder to attack next time. We wanted to dig a moat, maybe put up a palisade, but the fort was deliberately built on rock, probably to prevent tunneling. We’d have to either expand the fort quite a bit, moving the outer wall to around here so we have enough dirt to dig in, or spend an awful lot of time cutting holes into the bedrock.”

“Hmm, hmm. Yes, and a larger fort would in turn demand more defensive men and fortifications. Are you expecting a new attack?”

“Not really, but nobody knows what Thuba Mleen may do. And he certainly doesn’t like us,” chuckled Jake. “Not after what we did to him the first time.”

“I recognized the style of the main gate,” said the artificer. “That’s Takatora’s work, is it not?”

“It is. He worked with us for some time after the attack, not only on the gates and towers.”

“But not me.”

Jake tensed. Maybe this artificer wasn’t going to be that easy to work with after all.

“Master Chuang recommended you as the best architect for the growing town, stressing that you would be the ideal choice since we can start from the bottom up. If we start now we can not only build sewerage and water supply, but lay out the entire town properly… he said you were the only artificer he know who could handle such a complex task.”

That should do it. I wish Chuang had warned me he needed careful handling, though.

Muzaffer pushed his glasses up on his nose again.

“Hmph. Yes, I am. Of course Chuang knows that.”

“I would be honored if you would share your suggestions for improving the fort’s defenses, Artificer, but that can wait until after the town design has been completed. It is growing daily, and if we don’t start soon I fear we may not be able to build it properly. It would be a waste to have to abandon parts of your design because someone has built a shack there…”

“Of course, of course,” he muttered. “Let me see these maps now…”

He studied the maps, conversing with Sefika and Fron in low tones before turning to Jake again.

“This stream… where does it come from? The Mohagger Mountains, I assume?”

“Yes, one of several. It eventually flows into the River Mnar. We don’t know where the source of the well is, though.”

“This map shows another one here, and another here,” said Muzaffer, tapping the map. “Are these different streams?”

“Yes, they all come from the mountains, but they merge farther downstream, in the grassland.”

“We’ll need all three. And it should be high enough that gravity will keep the water moving though the town, which means north of the fort. You’ll need at least one cistern. It has to provide drinking water, water for the baths, and also keep the sewage moving. That’s a lot of water, even if you do only expect a grand dozen or so.”

“We have no idea what this town may grow into,” said Ridhi. “A dozen dozens is a minimum; it could be several times larger, especially once the temples are completed.”

“The more people you have living here, the larger the town will be, and the more water you’ll need,” explained the artificer. “Any more streams or rivers you can tap?”

“There are many streams issuing from the mountains,” said Nadeen. “Let us check to see how easy it might be to use them.”

“Good. You mentioned temples.”

“Yes,” said Jake, and pointed to the rock samples. “My stonemaster suggested these for the two temples, but we need to discuss this with the Godsworn—”

“These are fine,” snapped Muzaffer. “No need to seek their approval.”

“I… uh, perhaps we should…”

“One of blue chalcedony, one of red carnelian. Very pretty.”

“Yes, and I was thinking that an accent of—”

“I’m the architect, Commander. I’ll handle the design.”

“Yes, of course. Subject to my approval, Artificer Muzaffer.”

“Your approval!? You would judge my work!?”

“This is my fort and my town, Artificer. I will judge your work, and you will consult me on design issues, or you will not design anything at all. Are we clear?”

Jake’s voice was calm and his pose relaxed, but his eyes held steady even as Muzaffer shifted his eyes in search of escape.

“Artificer, are we clear?”

“…Yes, Commander,” finally came the muttered acquiescence.

“Thank you, Artificer Muzaffer,” said Jake. He took a sheet of paper and picked up his pencil to jot down some notes about the water supply. “How much water do you believe we require?”

The Artificer was staring at Jake’s hand.

“What is that? Is looks like a stilus…”

Jake looked at the pencil in surprise.

“Why, yes. We call it a pencil. We’re just starting to make them…”

“May I see it?”

He held out his hand.

“Sure, here,” said Jake, handing over the pencil and some paper.

“Careful, that’s a prototype and still fragile. The next bunch will be much stronger.”

Muzaffer ignored him, sketching lines and arcs on the paper. He pressed a little too hard and the lead snapped off. He stared at it, a frown on his face.

Jake pulled out his dagger and held his hand out for the pencil.

“Let me sharpen it.”

Taking it from the artificer, he quickly sharpened the end and handed it back.

“This is wonderful!”

“Keep it,” said Jake, although it was pretty clear that the architect had claimed it already. “So, we need to bring the streams together on higher ground somewhere. A dam? A reservoir?”

“A dam would give you much more flexibility,” said Muzaffer. “but also takes considerably more time to construct properly. This close to the mountains I suspect you don’t have much trouble with flooding… do you? Or has this area below the cliffs ever been flooded?”

“Not to my knowledge, no,” said Jake. “I can check with the Reeve of Cadharna on that.”

He made a note.

“Do you require a defensive wall around the town?”

“Only a simple one, I think… Thuba Mleen is after us, not the town, and we cannot fortify it enough to actually protect it from his attack. A wall for wild beasts and thieves should be sufficient; if necessary the townspeople would take refuge here.”

“Let us look at the land tomorrow and see,” said the artificer. “Have the Godsworn brought in now, if you would. I’ll call you if I need you.”

Jake exchanged looks with Nadeen and Ridhi.

This architect was going to be a pain to work with, it seemed.

Chapter 12

“So what’s the story with all those birds we saw?” wondered Seri. “Looked like a black cloud flying up from Bleth.”

“Those eagles?” said Kareem. “They have a big bird coop over there on the east side—that building with the reddish roof—but we never knew what was inside. All very hush-hush.”

“So, what, they just escaped?”

“They were after something,” said Yargui. “They were in a flock, which eagles never do, and headed in the same direction. I think they went after the airship, or the wyverns.”

“We wouldn’t have been able to see them from here, anyway, but they’re supposed to be around here somewhere,” mused Seri. “So instead of a new airship or wyverns Thuba Mleen has a bunch of trained eagles… Think they’re intelligent?”

“I hope not! Angry eagles are dangerous enough when they’re just birds; an intelligent one would be even more deadly!”

“And he’s got flocks of them… I hope our air force was alright up there!”

“Nothing we can do about it here,” said Seri. “Just keep watching the fort.”

Over the last day they’d gained a considerable amount of information about the fort: not only detailed maps of the areas they could see plus what Kareem remembered, but also information on how many troopers came and went, guard rotation schedules, a food delivery, and more. Another couple days and they’d have a very good understanding of what was down there, and be able to come up with a plan to defeat it.

Nobody expected trained eagles, though, and they were still worried about being spotted from the air.

 “Damn, Thuba Mleen is smart. Or tricky. Or whatever. First he steals an airship, then gets a pair of wyverns, and hides a Flayed One inside a horse, and now trained eagles!

“What else does he have up his sleeve?”

“I was never called to the palace, but the rumors are pretty wild,” said Kareem. “Some of them were pretty hard to believe, like pet dholes and shantaks. I figured they were all just wild talk, but after that Flayed One I’m beginning to wonder…”

“And we’re not getting much intel from the King, either… I think he gets more from us!”

Kareem nodded.

“Gold runs uphill, shit rolls down.”

Seri laughed.

“Truth, truth!”

Suddenly she straightened up, and shifted her telescope.

“There, the west gate… something’s coming out of the main building.”

Kareem turned his own telescope as directed, scanning.

“Looks like some sort of carriage, or at least a cart with a roof.”

“Team of four horses, though, which is pretty unusual for a cart… it’s something heavy, or valuable.”

“Too hard to see much from above like this… wish we could get lower.”

“I don’t think it’s possible,” said Seri. “And the closer we got, the more likely they’d be to spot us. I’d rather not get a flock of eagles up my ass, thank you very much.”

“Mmm,” agreed Kareem, still studying the growing column below. “More troopers, on horseback. I think it must be something valuable, then. Or someone.”

“They’re forming up now… looks like the guard is two full twelves, plus that carriage and three, no four, other horses near the carriage. Any ideas?”

“With a guard of twenty-four troopers I’d guess it’s one of Thuba Mleen’s lieutenants, but it’s impossible to tell from here.”

“Where’s he off to?”

“The palace, I’d guess, but could be almost anywhere, really. Bleth isn’t their only fort.”

“Can you make out the pennant on the carriage?”

“Nah, too far and not enough wind… whatever it is, it’s got a lot of purple, though.”

“Purple? Means nothing to me.”

“Me, neither… don’t recall seeing any with purple when I was there.”

“I’ll make a note and we’ll just have to ask the Commander when we get back.”

They watched the column pass through the gate, and vanish down the road to the north. To Thuba Mleen’s palace? Or into the wastes of the Eastern Desert, where the Emperor of the Sands held sway?

They had no way of knowing.

There was a scuffle behind them and they turned to see Yargui coming back from the camp. She was due to relieve Kareem.

They filled Yargui in on the column that had just left, and then Kareem slipped back to the camp, a few hundred meters away in a well-hidden location, leaving Yargui in his place. Her eyesight was exceptional but unfortunately the purple pennant was long gone.

 

* * *

 

The Cavor drifted down to the shore, landing without a whisper.

Captain Long shook his head—de Palma was an incredible pilot.

Sergeant Chen walked over to greet him as Long stepped down, followed by his men with the supplies.

“Captain. We’ve got a rough camp set up, and should have weather tarps over the wyverns shortly. No problems, sir.”

“Good work, Sergeant, thank you,” said Long. “Trooper Ginette is on loan from Captain Nadeen’s twelve. She’s from Daikos and might be able to help. Trooper, go on. If you need help, ask the Sergeant or myself.”

Ginette nodded, and trotted to the closet wyvern, Fæger.

The wyvern was awake but lying very still. Trooper Harald had apparently finished his work on Flogdreka already, and had started working on Fæger

“Ginette of Daikos, from Captain Nadeen’s twelve,” she introduced herself. “Clean water?”

“Harald of Daikos. Of course; boiled and cooled. They’re boiling more now, but we really need a bigger pot.”

“I brought one; it’s on the airship. Let me get it set up. Be right back.”

She ran back to the Cavor and shouted up to the crew.

“Throw down that cauldron, Trooper Clank!”

“In a minute,” came his reply from above, followed by thumping footsteps.

He stuck his head out over the railing.

“Heavy little thing, isn’t it?”

He lifted it over the railing and let it drop to the dirt below with a thump.

It was cast iron, a half-sphere some forty centimeters in diameter, black handle to lift or hang it by, and three stubby legs.

“Whatcha need the pot for?” he asked.

“Boiling water,” she answered. “Lots of water”

She grasped the pot with both hands, grunting as she lifted it, and carried it toward Long’s camp and the fire.

One of Long’s troopers saw her coming and walked over to meet her.

“Yafeu of Zar,” he said, stretching out a hand to take some of the weight.

“Ginette of Daikos. To the fire, trooper.”

They set it down close to the fire, where a smaller cookpot was steaming away already.

“You’ll need a stronger support for that thing,” said Yafeu. “We’ve got some poles cut already for the tarps; let me go get a few.”

“Thank you, trooper. It’ll be a lot heavier once we fill it up, so nice, thick poles. Or I can go cut some.”

“No problem,” he smiled, turning to the other troopers. “We’ll take care of it.”

“Would you? I’ve gotta get back to the wyverns…”

“Yeah, go,” he said. “Hey, Mahud, Kassandros! Gimme a hand, would ya?”

Two men looked up at their names.

“Gotta get a trestle set up for this baby,” explained Yafeu, pointing at the cauldron. “Gonna need some pretty thick poles.”

Mahud looked at the cauldron and shook his head.

“Dumb fuck. Just tie three of those together and they’ll be fine.”

Yafeu looked where the other man was pointing.

“Well, yeah, I guess they will,” he agreed. “Still upset because I roll dice better than you, huh?”

“I’ll win it back tonight, no problem. I don’t get upset when morons have a lucky streak.”

“Hah! You wish!”

“Maybe you guys can help me get those poles lashed up and stop squabbling?” asked Kassandros. “Might as well be married to each other, the way you go at it. Neither one of you can roll worth a damn anyway…”

“And fuck you too, Kassandros!” laughed Mahud, picking up a cut pole and checking it for strength. “This one’ll do fine. You got one?”

“Yup, here’s two.”

“And three,” said Yafeu. “Hold ’em and I’ll lash ’em up.”

They had the poles lashed into a single, solid length shortly.

“Now have to get two trestles built. Where’s that axe?”

Yafeu pointed over to where the wood-cutter’s axe was resting against a pile of firewood. “Whaddya think, one-and-a-half, two meters? Half in the ground.”

“Yeah, should be fine,” agreed Mahud. “Why didn’t anyone bring a saw?”

“Bitch, bitch, bitch,” sniped Kassandros, punching the other in the shoulder. “If you had any muscle this sort of thing wouldn’t bother you.”

They had the trestles built and the cauldron hanging over the fire shortly. After that, filling it with water was a simple matter.

Ginette and Harald, meanwhile, continued to clean Fæger’s wounds. There was very little dirt in them, but there was no way of telling what might have been on the eagles talons and beaks.

“Look at this!” gasped Ginette, reaching out to pick up something shiny from a wound. “It’s a steel… What in the…? It’s a steel sheath, for the eagle’s talons!”

Half covered in blood, the steel sheath was about eight centimeters long, with a knife-like cutting edge and a needle-sharp point.

Harald whistled.

“Damn! Never seen one of those before… no wonder the wyverns are so cut up!”

Ginette poured a little water on the sheath, rinsing it cleaner.

“I think the Captain needs to see this, too. Later.”

She dropped it in her pocket and they got back to washing out the wounds.

“Look at this slash!” said Harald as he washed blood away from Fæger’s thigh. “Must be at least thirty centimeters long, and looks deep.”

“Wow, that’s ugly! Can she still move her leg?”

“Can’t tell… she hasn’t tried to move anything much since I’ve been here,” he replied. “It’s in a bad place; might have cut a tendon.”

“I think she needs stitches…”

“Mmm. Me too. You ever stitched wyvern-hide before?”

“A few times. It’s hard work.”

“I saw someone doing it once. They needed an awl and mallet to punch with.”

“Must not have known what he was doing,” said Ginette. “If you pull a scale it’s a lot easier. Still hard work, but you can usually punch through with just a sharp point. Never seen a wyvern with hide that needed an awl!”

Harald stepped back, waving her forward.

“She’s all yours. I’ll just watch this one.”

Ginette finished washing the wound and examined it more closely.

“If she doesn’t use this leg for a while I think just a couple stitches is enough. Won’t hold under her weight, but if she lets it heal for a few days it should work.

“I brought a set of pliers to pull the scales, but we’ll need some leather lacing for the stitch.”

“I don’t have any, but somebody’s always got some. Comes in handy.”

“Go ahead; I’ll work on the other wounds for now.”

Harald turned to look around the camp.

“Sergeant! Sergeant Chen!”

“What, trooper?” came the high-pitched answer. “I’m a bit busy right now.”

“Leather lacing, Sarge. We have to sew one up.”

“Check my ruck. Right side bottom pocket.”

“Thanks, Sarge.”

“And don’t use it all!”

“I’ll be sure to tell Trooper Ginette, Sarge.”

The sergeant nodded and turned back to getting the overhead tarps set up.

Harald found her ruck and opened the bottom right pocket, pulling out a coil of leather cord.

“Ginette, got the cord, but it’s pretty thick… whatcha think?”

She looked at it, picking it up for a closer look.

“I’d be happier with real braided cord, but this’ll have to do. It’s a little bigger than what I use to use, but I think if we cut this down anymore it’d be too weak to hold the wound closed.”

“No way this’d be strong enough if we cut it narrower,” agreed Harald, “but isn’t braided cord even bigger?”

“Not if it’s braided right,” said Ginette. “Anyway, let’s do this.”

She used her pliers to work eight scales free, slowly rocking them back and forth and gradually loosening them before finally pulling them out.

She took a packet from her wallet, and removed two small balls of something, which she rubbed into the wound.

“Medicine?”

“Snake Tears. It’s a mixture of honey, ginger and a few other things. Helps prevent infection,” she said, taking out her dagger.

“Ah. Isn’t the wyvern gonna get angry if you stab it?”

“Nah,” said Ginette. “She knows we’re trying to help her.”

She twisted her dagger to make the first hole, and pushed one end of the cord through.

Leaving it hanging, she opened the second hole on the other side of the wound.

“OK, I need you to push the wound up from the bottom while I make the stitch. We’ll pull it tighter later, but give it a little pressure now while I run the cord through.”

Harald squatted down next to the wyvern and put his hands on the animal’s flank, then pushed up with steady force, holding the wound almost closed.

Ginette bent over him, quickly punching more holes and lacing the cord through loosely.

“Now we have to try to get the wound closed all the way. You push and I’ll pull the cord tighter.”

“Go ahead,” he said with a grunt, pushing up with all his strength.

The wound was completely closed, and Ginette quickly adjusted the leather cord, pulling it tighter and then tying it tightly.

“That’s good for now,” she said, breathing heavily. “It’ll need some tightening later, though.”

The stitch was ugly, but the wound was shut.

They moved onto the next one. The wyvern was a gigantic beast, and it would take them hours to finish.

“Remind me never to let you stitch me up, Trooper.”

Ginette turned to see Captain Long examining her work.

“Sorry, sir… best I could do here.”

“It’ll do, it’ll do fine. Good work, you two.”

The Captain walked around the wyverns, checking their wounds.

“A couple of those look pretty deep,” he said. “You think they’re OK?”

“Can’t tell yet, Captain,” answered Harald. “At least they’re all clean, and two bad ones are stitched up, but we’ll just have to wait and see.”

“They’re gonna need fresh meat pretty soon,” added Ginette. “When’s the hunting party getting back?”

“When they’ve got something,” said Long. “Don’t think they’re many people in this region; should be plenty of game left. They’ll be back soon.”

“We’re about done here. If they recover, it should be within a couple days.”

“And if they don’t?”

“If it takes longer than that they might never recover,” said Ginette. “We’ve treated their wounds, and with plenty of fresh meat and clean water they should be able to fly again with a few days. Their wings aren’t torn that badly, and should heal without any problem.

“Is there a hurry?”

“Yeah,” said Long, looking up at the gibbous moon in the evening sky. “It’s gonna be a full moon in a few days, and I do not want to be on the shores of this lake during a full moon.”

“Ah!” Harald suddenly realized what the captain was talking about. “The Doom of Sarnath!”

“Yep. I don’t know if those moon-creatures still come here, and I don’t want to find out, but if the water starts rising and that rock out there—Akurion—starts slipping into the lake, I want to know about it real fast.”

“You know, Captain,” said Ginette, “their chances would be even better if Trooper Beorhtwig were here, injured or not. He’s their wyver-master, not me, and they know it.”

“The Healer said he’s not in good shape…”

“It’s worth a try, Captain,” urged Harald. “It could make a big difference.”

The Captain nodded.

“OK, I’ll send someone back with Aercaptain de Palma, and we’ll see what Healer Dunchanti says.”

 

* * *

 

“Even with laborers hired from the cities, and deinos for construction, it’s still going to take years, you know,” said Nadeen. “You already know what you want, but even after Muzaffer makes the drawings and we start work, it’ll take time.”

“I know,” said Jake. “A couple years, at least… and it’ll take longer to grow to what we really want. But if we’re going to stay here, the fort is going to grow, and that collection of shacks is going to grow with us. Unless we start it off right, right now, it’s always going to be a disgusting, dangerous cesspit.”

Nadeen laughed.

“Perhaps you should avoid that description when talking to the Godsworn, Jake. They’re planning on putting their glorious temples there, after all.”

“Yeah, I guess, but they’ve seen what it looks like. My biggest problem is getting them to see what it can be, someday. Even the parts I can tell them about now.”

He leafed through his sketches, sighed at how terrible an artist he was. He knew what those scratchings represented, but it would be tough selling the idea to anyone else…his artistic renderings would impress nobody.

He picked up a sketch he’d made of the city main gate, and held it directly under the sunstone for better illumination. The lines were clearly visible, but so were the places where he’d made mistakes and tried to erase something.

Nadeen was quiet for a moment.

“I’ve heard of something called a memory stick,” she said. “I’ve never seen one, but Chuang is supposed to have one.”

“Yeah, I’ve know what a memory stick is… but… wait a sec! How come you know anything about computers?”

“About what? Compu… compu-what?”

“Computers. Memory sticks. You just said Chuang has a memory stick.”

“Uh, yeah, he does. What’s a computer?”

“Something’s off here… what’s a memory stick?”

“You know what a shimmer is, right?”

“Yeah, it smears the view, helps hide stuff.”

“Right. Works on a limited area, and only when the incense is burning.”

“OK. And?”

“A memory stick is sort of like that, but instead of hiding things it shows images while the incense is lit.”

“Shows images? What kind of images?”

“I don’t know the details, but I’ve heard that Chuang’s memory stick has a complete map of Celephaïs, including all the underground passages, and the Palace itself.”

“And you can see this map?”

“So they say. It’s all drawn in smoke, apparently, but you can see everything very clearly.”

“Hmm, hmm… How did he record the map onto the memory stick?”

“No idea,” said Nadeen, shrugging. “But I’ve heard the same thing many times. I doubt it’s just a rumor.”

“So you think we could put Muzaffer’s drawings into the memory stick, and show the Godsworn—and the Reeve—what it’ll all look like.”

“Yeah. Better than paper drawings.”

“For sure,” said Jake, thinking. “Chuang is supposed to be coming again soon. Let’s ask him then about it.”

“OK. But what’s a computer?”

“A machine from my realm. It, uh, can do mathematics, and make images. Not much use here, though, since Reed obliterates anything that uses electricity.”

“Is it better than mathematicians or artists?”

“Not better, just faster. A lot faster,” said Jake.

“You know how to build one?”

“Build one!? Me? Not a chance! I wouldn’t have the faintest idea of how to do it.”

“Magic, huh?”

“Yeah, magic,” shrugged Jake.

“Commander? Beghara.”

“Yes, come in, Captain.”

She walked into Jake’s living room—now doubling as a meeting room—and nodded to Nadeen.

“You wanted to see me, Commander?”

“Yes, thank you. Please, sit.”

After she’d taken a seat and Nadeen had poured them all cups of tea, Jake explained why he’d called her.

“Our airship is damaged, both wyverns are out of action, maybe permanently, we’ve got a few troopers out wounded, and Captain Serilarinna is unaccounted for.”

“When’s she expected back?”

“If all’s well, it should be within a few days. Whenever she feels she has enough info on Bleth.”

“And you’re worried that the eagles attacked them, too…”

“Can you take your twelve up into the mountains and see if you can find anything? She had planned to skirt the lake to the north end, then up into the mountains, but we don’t have good maps of that area yet.

“Here’s what we’ve got,” he added, pushing two maps over to her for a look.

She pulled them closer and scanned them.

“Not very helpful… might as well write ‘Here there be monsters’ on them!”

“Sorry. That’s why Mistress Valda’s been working on it. She’s in the library now, making the latest maps, and I want you to go talk to her and get a good look at her sketches. Apparently she has a pretty good idea of where they were just before the attack. I’ll go tell her you’re coming.”

“When do you want me to leave?”

“As soon as you’re ready, but your safety comes first. I want to know what’s happened to Seri and her twelve, I need you to come back safely with or without that information.”

“Yessir, I’ll get on it.”

Captain Beghara left Jake’s quarters and headed for the officers’ quarters, in the central building. She entered the building through the mess hall, and stuck her head into the adjoining room.

“Sergeant Pouyan here?”

“Nope, he’s off at the bath, I think,” came a voice from the back.

“Thanks.”

She ducked back out and stepped back into the yard again. She’d walked right past the bath a minute ago, and hadn’t thought to check inside.

“Sergeant Pouyan? You in there?”

“Yessir, Captain!” came a shout from the bath. “Be right out!”

“Orders to move out, Sergeant. Get a move on it.”

There was a hurried splashing on the other side and a few minutes later Sergeant Pouyan emerged, adjusting his belt.

“Where to, Captain?”

“We’re off to see what happened to Captain Serilarinna. If we can find her.”

“Did something happen?”

“Nobody knows, that’s why we’re going. Come with me to the library; Valda’s got some new maps that might be useful.”

They walked to the library where Valda was transferring her sketches and notes to more precise maps.

“Mistress Valda? The Commander said I should look at your most recent maps—the ones you’re working on now.”

“Yes, he told me you were coming. The Mohagger range.”

“The Mohaggers!?” breathed Pouyan. “Is that where we’re going?”

“I need to see the region around the north end of the Lake of Sarnath,” said Captain Beghara. “What can you show me?”

“I’m working on them now,” said Valda, waving at a large sheet of paper with outlines sketched in with charcoal, and a number of inked contour lines. “Here’s the Lake.”

“And this is…?” asked Beghara, tapping the fort’s position.

“Yes, that’s Bleth.”

“And where did you last see Captain Serilarinna?”

Valda looked at Sergeant Pouyan.

“Is it alright to discuss this, Captain? The Sergeant…”

“It’s fine. He needs to know where we’re going.”

“Yessir,…” she said, and turned the map so Beghara could read it more easily. “Aercaptain de Palma said they entered the mountains about here, and traveled north. I don’t know what route they took, but we last got a flash from them here.”

“That’s damn close to Bleth.”

“Yes, Captain. It’s on the other side of this mountain, but pretty close. There must be a route over it.”

“Why do you say over?”

“There’s not much point to coming this close to Bleth if they have to go all the way around the mountain… if that were the case, they would have headed that way from the start.”

“Good point,” agreed Beghara.

“What are they doing up there?” asked Pouyan.

“Scouting. The idea was that they’d go and get out again without being seen.”

“Is that what happened to the airship? All the activity all of a sudden?”

“The airship and wyverns were drawing their attention, with the idea that they wouldn’t be looking at the mountain too closely. Eagles attacked the air force; we don’t know what happened to Captain Sarilarinna’s twelve.”

“And that’s our mission.”

“We’re not supposed to fight anyone, either… just see if we can find out what’s happened. If we’re lucky, nothing.”

“And if we’re not?”

“You might have to earn your pay.”

He pursed his lips, staring at the map.

“That’s a lot of mountains…”

“Captain?”

Beghara turned at the voice to see Captain Chinh in the doorway.

“The Commander just told me you’re heading north,” said Chinh “We’re leaving in the morning with supplies for Captain Long, and can give you a ride to the Lake.”

“That’d be a big help,” said Beghara. “I was thinking we wouldn’t be able to take our mounts into the mountains, and wondered if we’d have to leg it all the way.”

Captain Chinh smiled.

“No problem. I’m taking spare mounts to leave with Captain Long anyway, you can just ride them.”

“Great, thanks. When are you leaving?”

“Hour of the Hare. Just after dawn.”

“We’ll be there,” she promised. “Thank you.”

Chinh left, and Beghara and Pouyan turned back to studying the map.

“How did they get there?” asked the sergeant. “They must have walked up this stream—here—from the lake, but that stream doesn’t connect to where they were spotted. They had to cross a ridgeline somewhere—here, maybe, or here.”

“I don’t know, Sergeant. I guess we’ll find out, though.”

Beghara started to roll up the map.

“Hey, you can’t take that! It’s my only copy!” protested Valda.

“Sorry, I need it,” said Beghara.

“No! I’ll make a copy for you by tonight. You can’t have it!”

“I’m a Captain, you know…”

“Captain Beghara, I will make a copy for you by tonight. You cannot have that. Sir.”

Beghara laughed.

“Spunky woman, aren’t you?”

She handed the half-rolled map back to Valda.

“I like a woman who doesn’t back down. Keep it. And thank you for the copy.”

She turned to Pouyan.

“Let’s go, Sergeant. We’ve got some preparations to take care of.”

“Have to find the troops and get them ready, too. Some’ll be down in town.”

“Yeah. Drunk or worse… You hit the town; I’ll go talk to the Horsemaster and Ridhi.”

Pouyan left for the thriving “castle town” at the foot of the cliff and Beghara walked over to the kitchen.

“Captain Ridhi?”

“Yes, Captain?” said Ridhi, sitting at her desk in the corner and checking some paperwork.

“The Commander wants me to go find Seri. We’ll ride out with Chinh in the morning, and cut north from the lake on foot. Say, four, no let’s make it five, days for the twelve.”

“By when?”

“We leave tomorrow at dawn.”

“I wish you’d given me more time to prepare, but the Commander does things when he needs to… OK, it’ll be here by dawn. Need anything else?”

“Nothing in particular,” said Beghara. “I’m going to do my best to avoid getting into a fight, so just our usual gear should be fine. I’ll want a couple coils of rope, though.”

“You know where it is. But bring it back, will you? Seri already took a few and we have to buy that stuff somewhere.”

“Thanks, Ridhi,” said Beghara, and left for the stables.

Horsemaster Turan was down in the grasslands with the herd, but one of her assistants, Miníbram of Ilarnek, was currying one of the broodmares.

“Captain Chinh has already told us you need twelve tomorrow morning, Captain, but I’ll make sure they’re saddled and ready for you,” he said. “These are just for riding to the lake and back, right? Not battle-trained?”

“That’s right… just getting us to the lake a little quicker,” replied Beghara. “And when we get there we’ll hand them over to Captain Long.”

“Shouldn’t be a problem, but I’ll tell the Horsemaster at once and get you confirmation.”

“Thank you, Master Miníbram.”

As she left she heard him telling one of the boys working in the stable to take a message to the Horsemaster, and get her reply at once. The boy would ride one of the horses down to join the herd—bareback, no doubt—and she should have here answer within an hour.

Next stop: the barracks.

A few of her twelve were there, lounging, and she let them know they would be leaving at dawn on a scouting mission, expected to last four or five days.

“Pass the word around, too… The Sergeant is down in town now. Is anyone over in Cadharna?”

“I think Nurbolat said he was going there, Cap,” spoke up one of the others. “And Borislaw is down with the herd, as always.”

“Damn, I’d forgotten that… I should have had Miníbram tell him, too,” said Beghara. “Well, he’ll be back later, and I can catch him then.

“So, anyone want to ride to Cadharna for me?”

“Yeah, sure, I’ll go if you like,” said Biming, standing to strap on his sword belt. “Tobacco’s too expensive down in town; Cadharna’s still cheap. Anyone else you need me to tell?”

“I don’t know yet… OK, who’s here?”

They ran through the roster, discovering that in addition to Nurbolat and Borislaw, three others were unaccounted for.

“Find Sergeant Pouyan before you go, and see who he’s located. And if anyone’s left, we’ll need to find them. After you check Cadharna, report back here as soon as you can.”

“After I buy my tobacco?”

“Yeah, after you buy your tobacco,” agreed Beghara. “The rest of you, get prepped. Captain Ridhi will provide a few days’ grub, but we’ll probably end up living off the land for a while, so plan accordingly. If you need something tell me or ask Captain Ridhi.

“Where’re we going, Captain?”

“We’re going to take a ride over to the lake, and then a little hike from there,” she replied. “I’ll fill you in on the way.”

“This doesn’t sound like a combat mission.”

“Well, it’s not supposed to be, but you never know when you might be expected to earn your pay.”

By dawn the next day everyone and everything was ready to go, and they joined up with Captain Chinh’s twelve outside the main gate.

Chinh also had some packhorses for the supplies, so the total was more than two twelves.

“I’ll take the lead, you on rear, OK?”

“Sure,” agreed Beghara. “We should be there in the early afternoon, I figure, barring surprises.”

“Don’t worry,” smiled Chinh. “If there are any surprises we’ll take care of them for you.”

“I’m quite happy to let you take point, Captain. Always liked picnics.”

“Sergeant!” called Chinh to his second, Sergeant Sefu. “Move out!”

Beghara held up her hand to hold her own twelve in place until Chinh’s horses were trotting down the road from the fort to the plains, then waved them forward.

“Sergeant Pouyan, you’re on the tail for now,” she called. “We’ll swap later, say, the Hour of the Retreating Snake?”

“Yes, Captain. And a beautiful day for a picnic it is!”

The morning passed without incident, and once they entered the grassland they made good time. In the late morning, as Captain Begahara fell back to replace Sergeant Pouyan as rearguard, the airship passed overhead.

“Looks like it’s heading to the same place,” said Beghara, shading her eyes for a better view. “Wonder if something else has happened…”

“If it was something important they’d tell us,” said Pouyan.

“And the wyverns are Captain Chinh’s problem anyway, not ours,” she agreed.

After a rest for lunch and to let the horses rest, they passed their horses to Chinh, who would take them onto the lakeside encampment for Captain Long, and set out on foot, north.

“OK, listen up everyone,” said Beghara. “You’ve all heard about the eagle attack. What you don’t know—probably—is that the airship and the wyverns were up there to draw Thuba Mleen’s attention away from Captain Serilarinna, who’s been scouting Bleth.

“We know the eagles attacked our air force, but we don’t know what happened to Captain Serilarinna’s twelve. That’s what we’re here to find out. We know they went north through the forest to the north end of the lake, and then they entered the mountains somewhere, moving up toward Bleth.

“The airship confirmed their position shortly before the eagles attacked, but we don’t know exactly how they got there or where they are now. Or if they’re alright.

“We don’t think they’ve got any airships or wyverns, but we know they’ve got eagles, so stay in the woods as much as possible. And if anyone sees any sign of Captain Serilarinna’s twelve, speak up!

“Sergeant, I’ll take point again.”

 

* * *

 

“They’ve been on the same schedule for a few days now,” said Seri. “I don’t see much point in hanging around any longer… we’re running out of food, too.”

“Not much hunting in the mountains here,” agreed TiTi. “A few ibex, but they’re better at mountain-climbing than we are. And we really don’t want Thuba Mleen to notice us.”

“Let’s plan on starting back at dusk, then. Pass the word back to the rest.”

“Yessir,” he said, and crouched back to the passage to the other side of the mountain. “I think they’ll be happy to get moving again.”

Seri kept her telescope focused on the fort below, constantly checking for changes.

The sketches they’d made of the fort had been refined multiple times until they were confident of their accuracy.

Bleth would be a tough nut to crack.

It was significantly larger than Fort Danryce, with higher, thicker walls, a much wider cleared space outside the walls well-covered by scorpions and other machines, dry moat and palisade outside the wall, and worst of all: a garrison of at least two grand dozens… In TiTi’s mind that meant twice one hundred and forty-four, or about three hundred men.

Even assuming he could field every last trooper, Jake could only count on seven twelves and half a dozen wyverns—against at least twenty-four twelves in a highly defensible fort.

Not good odds. Not good at all.

They could probably use Thuba Mleen’s own strategy against him, dropping bombs from the air, except even if the walls were down there was still too much of a disparity in the number of troopers on each side. And those eagles, whatever they did, didn’t bode well for their air force… nobody had seen the wyverns or the airship since then, and it was possible they’d been chased away. Or killed.

They still had no idea who had been escorted from the fort earlier, the mysterious person with the purple pennant. Probably a lieutenant, they agreed, but there was no way of telling.

There were also a few structures in the fort that they couldn’t identify. Kareem had never been allowed into the “off-limits” area of the fort, the central keep with its own walls and defenses. They knew about the eagle coop now, but there could still be some surprises in the others.

Seri thought they had about as much as they were going to get, though, and there was no point in pushing their luck too far. The Ibizim of Y’barra had given them the perfect place to observe the fort from, but even hidden in the shadows here somebody would notice them eventually. Or some eagle.

She stayed with Kareem, watching, for another hour.

“I think we’re done,” she said, putting her telescope away and rising to a crouch. She’d tried to stand up straight a few times, and after a few collisions with the low ceiling had finally learned.

“Pack it up and go?” asked Kareem.

“Yup, let’s go home.”

It felt good to stretch her legs again as she emerged from the passage on the other side of the mountain. The sun was already beginning to slip down toward the horizon, lengthening shadows—and making them even more obvious from the sky.

They returned to camp, keeping to the shadows as much as possible.

There was no sign of their air force—airship or wyverns—and no eagles that they could see.

“Let me see that sketch of the area again, Sergeant,” she asked. “I want to be sure we can locate this lookout again if we have to.”

TT took an oilskin packet out of his ruck, and pulled out one sheet.

“We don’t want to mark the entrance itself, for obvious reasons, so there are a few obvious landmarks, like that pointed rock over there and the three potholes in a triangle over there. I think it’s more than enough, as long as they know how to get to this valley.

“We scouted out the valley, just to get a better idea of where we are… turns out it has only one exit, which is over a cliff about a kilometer east of Bleth. I’d be tough to climb from down there, but probably not impossible. And the only other access is the hidden passage we used, the first one the Ibizim showed us.”

He pulled out a second sketch.

“Here’s the sketch we made of how to locate that passage.”

Seri looked it over.

“It looks good, but I want to have a second look when we get to the other side. If we can.”

“Nobody’s seen anything up there,” said TT, eyes flicking up to the sky. “No airships, no eagles, damn near nothing at all except clouds.”

“I don’t think we have to be scared of the clouds,” grinned Seri. “But let’s hope our luck holds.”

“If Mistress Valda managed to make maps of this area, we can probably combine these sketches with her maps to make the route absolutely clear.”

“If,” said Seri. “I’m a little worried we haven’t seen airship or wyvern since…”

“Everyone is. We’ll all be happy to get more distance between us and Bleth.”

“OK, we’ll move out as soon as the shadows provide enough cover on the passage to the next valley. Just to be sure, in case there’s something up there we don’t know about.”

TT squinted at the western horizon.

“Hmm. Another ten, fifteen minutes? About that.”

“Yeah, I think so. Check everyone, will you?” asked Seri. “I’ve got a little business to attend to.”

She walked off behind a nearby rock, out of sight for a minute while TT talked to each trooper, and checked the camp to see if they’d left anything stupid behind. They couldn’t erase every sign of their presence, but they wanted to make it look like a hunter had passed through, not a scouting party. If it rained that’d take care of it.

A short while later Seri gave the word to move out, taking the lead herself.

The raptors were a bit on edge, probably because they hadn’t been able to hunt anything but a few small lizards. They’d take care of that as soon as they got back to the forest.

The entrance to the passage was obvious from this side, and she sent three of the raptors through first, waiting a minute and listening to hear if they were fighting anything.

Just some quiet snorting and claw-scrapes; obviously nothing to worry about.

The valley on the other side was a bit brighter, the sun still peeking over the western mountains here. It should be gone entirely in only a few minutes, she thought.

She pulled out the second sketch TT had given her, and quickly compared it to the mountainside. More local landmarks, good rendering of the mountain’s profile, excellent.

She thought it would do just fine.

She folded it back up and handed it to TT to put away.

Everyone knew the way back to Fort Danryce. It was a long march, but hopefully they’d complete it without running into a giant snake this time. Or Thuba Mleen’s troops.

They marched for about three hours, raptors spread out in front, until it got too dark to continue safely, and then stopped for the night. No campsite this time, just sleeping in the rough. At least it wasn’t raining.

They were up and marching by the Hour of the Hare, when the sun finally crested the range to the east.

Now some distance from Bleth, and heading away from it toward the Lake of Sarnath and distant Fort Danryce, she felt a little safer continuing the march in daylight. They still hadn’t seen anything unexpected in the sky, and while she wasn’t happy about the idea of trying to fight off eagles, she grew more confident as the day progressed.

The raptors were happier, too, as the streams became larger and the underbrush grew thicker. They were happiest when they could snack on the road, and there were more and more snacks to be found.

“Captain! Captain Serilarinna!”

The shout came from halfway up the mountainside, well ahead of her. She didn’t recognize the voice.

The raptors immediately trotted toward it, and Seri’s twelve shifted to face a possible threat.

“Captain! It’s Roach, from Fort Danryce! Call off your raptors; I’m coming down.”

A small figure stood up on the slope, then slid down toward her.

She hurriedly waved to Mudge to hold the raptors in position… there was only one person, and it did indeed look like Roach.

“Sergeant, you see anyone?”

“Nope. Not a sign. That’s Roach, though.”

“Look out for archers. I’m going to meet him.”

TT turned to the others.

“OK, spread out and find some cover. The only way anyone can ambush us here is with arrows, so keep an eye on the slopes!”

As Seri advanced to meet Roach the rest found boulders or scrubby trees for cover.

“How did you find us, Roach?”

“I’ve been trailing you since you left, Captain, but that’s not important,” he said, and continued speaking over her surprise. “Captain Beghara is nearby, searching for you, and about to be ambushed. You are in position to attack the ambushing force from behind, but we have to hurry.”

“You…? What? You’ve been trailing us…? Captain Beghara?”

She sputtered for a second, then turned back toward her troops.

“Sergeant! Up here!”

TT came running.

“Captain?”

“Listen to this, TiTi, tell me what you think.”

Roach ran through it again.

“I trust Roach, Captain. We can talk about the details later, but if he says Captain Beghara’s in danger, I’d say go.”

“Did you know Roach was following us?”

“Nope. Commander told me he was staying there.”

“Hmph. Roach, how many raptors did we start with?”

“Seven. You lost one in the woods in the battle with the snake.”

Seri nodded.

“If you know that, you’ve been with us all the way.

“Sergeant, it’s time to earn your pay. Roach, can the raptors get there, too?”

“Yes. They’ll have a tough time in one place where there’s only smooth rock, but they should manage. About ten minutes from here. We’ll be coming in from the north end of a valley, and Captain Beghara is advancing from the south. Thuba Mleen’s troop is in the middle.”

“How many?”

“I counted a full twelve, mostly archers.”

“So they plan to shoot first, and then clean up the rest with swordwork… good, if they’re archers and looking the other way the raptors should be able to give them quite a surprise.”

She turned to TT.

“Get everyone up to speed on the plan, and let’s get moving. I have to get the raptors ready.”

She waved Mudge over and explained the plan. She wanted the raptors to attack, but she also needed them to wait until her twelve was in position so they everyone could attack at once.

Shock value.

Roach double-timed them down the valley, and then over a shallow rise into the adjacent one, where another stream surrounded by bushes and small trees ran down the middle.

“They are about one kilometer downstream,” explained Roach, “hiding in a fairly thick patch of scrub. There was no lookout in this direction when I checked.”

“And how far away is Captain Beghara?”

“They should be here in under half an hour; no sooner than fifteen minutes or so.”

“And how do you know all this?”

“I’ve been scouting the area all day.”

“That’s a few kilometers ahead of us, and in the mountains.”

“Yeah, I’m pretty fast.”

She just looked at him.

“Sergeant, you heard him. I want to hit those troops in no more than fifteen minutes, ten if we can.”

“We’ll make some noise if we’re running, especially in this terrain,” he objected.

“Roach, can you get me a better idea of when the Captain will get there?”

“Not in time, sorry.”

“Damn. OK, I want you to move out ahead and stop us when we get within five hundred meters of the enemy. We’ll approach quietly from there. Go!”

Roach left at a lope, vanishing from sight in only a few seconds.

“OK, let’s get a move on, people!”

She waved to the twelve and the raptors, and they began moving downstream at a good clip, much faster than marching but slow enough to be safe through broken rock and brush.

Roach was waiting, and when they saw him they slowed down abruptly.

Thuba Mleen’s troops were up ahead of them somewhere, and they needed to keep the element of surprise.

She gestured to Mudge to take the lead, and the raptors slipped on ahead. They could run with their necks bent down, making it almost impossible to see them over the short scrub growing around the stream.

Seri followed, sword out. She checked her throwing knives to be sure the belt was in position.

A chorus of shouts erupted from a small grove up ahead: Shouts of alarm, screams of pain, growing and snapping raptors, a bowstring…

And they burst through the trees on top of the enemy, ambushing the ambushers. The raptors had already downed several troopers, at the loss of one of their own, and the battle had broken down into individual combats.

Thuba Mleen’s troop had been planning to start the ambush with a flight of arrows, picking off as many of Beghara’s fighters as possible, then immediately rush in to finish the job with sword and axe. As a result, most of them were holding bows and arrows, not swords, and that cost them dearly when the raptors and Seri’s twelve burst out of the underbrush behind them, at close quarters.

Seri took one enemy out with a throwing knife to the shoulder while she was still running toward them, which was enough for the attacking raptor to make the kill. Between the raptors and the sudden attack by her twelve, the enemy had no chance… in under a minute they were dead or sitting on the ground, unarmed and bleeding.

“Sergeant, go stand in the road and make sure Beghara sees you.”

He raced to the other side of the trees, hands held high, shouting “Captain Beghara! Captain! Coming out!”

Seri turned her attention to the captives.

“Who’s in charge here?”

One of the wounded men spoke up as he wrapped a rag around his bleeding arm.

“Nobody. Damn raptors killed Sarge first.”

“And you are?”

“Rayyan of Thuba Mleen.”

“Do you yield?”

“I do.”

She asked each of the prisoners if they yielded. Five of the twelve still lived, four of them wounded and one of those—his guts open to the air—likely to die shortly. They all yielded.

“Well, well, well… strange place to run into a friend, eh, Seri?”

She turned.

Beghara had come.

“Hi, Beghara… we were in the neighborhood and thought we’d say hello.”

Captain Beghara looked around.

“Quite a party… glad you were nearby.”

“Thanks to Roach,” said TT.

“Roach?”

“He warned us of the ambush, and led us here in time to stop it,” explained Seri. “They would have cut you down with bows first.”

“Weren’t supposed to be any of Thuba Mleen’s men out here…”

“Apparently nobody told them that.”

Beghara turned to the wounder prisoner.

“Why were you here?”

“Just scouting, like always. Corwalla over there saw you coming and we set up an ambush. Yours was better.” He spat.

“You know, Thuba Mleen hasn’t been having too much luck against Scorpius Company lately,” drawled Beghara.

“What the fuck is that?”

Beghara leaned in close, face only a hand’s breadth away from his.

“We’re Scorpius, and we’ll cut you down every time you stick your head up.”

She turned back to Seri.

“So? What do we do with them?”

“What’ll it be, Trooper? Give your bond and you’re free to go, but never again raise arms against Scorpius Company.”

“There can be no bond!” shouted the other, leaping to his feet and pulling a dagger from his tunic. “Thuba Mleen! For the Emperor!”

At his shout all five men attacked, even the severely wounded one, pulling daggers or grappling with nearby troopers to grab a weapon.

Captain Beghara stepped backward, her huge axe flashing around flat as she did, chopping into Rayyan’s waist and cutting half-way through with a spray of blood, a scream, and he was knocked sideways to collapse in a broken pile on the ground.

Beghara looked up—all five of their prisoners were down, dead or dying. Surging from their positions seated on the ground, they had been unable to even pose a serious threat to their guards, standing ready.

They all chose death over surrender.

Beghara shook her head, and reached over to a nearby corpse, tearing off the man’s tunic to wipe her axe clean.

“So stupid… I would have taken his bond, all of them… what a waste.”

Seri sheathed her own sword, thin and light in contrast to Beghara’s massive axe.

“They all chose death,” she said. “Their fealty to the Emperor of the Sands is… unbelievable. It is no dishonor to lose in battle! No need to die for it!”

She turned to her twelve.

“Anyone wounded? Anyone missing?”

She and Beghara checked both their twelves: a few cuts and bruises, one slice to a shoulder that looked bad, but nothing out of the ordinary for a quick fight, and better than usual.

One of the raptors had fallen, a dagger blade straight through its mouth and up into its brain… the raptor’s fangs had closed, though, biting off the hand that held the dagger. She and her killer died together.

The raptors, excited by the smell of blood, were getting restless. They had already been hungry, and Seri knew Mudge wouldn’t be able to control them much longer.

“We have to leave, now,” she said, then turned to her troop. “Take what you want and leave the rest for the raptors. Hurry!”

She knelt over the corpse of the sergeant, taking his wallet and checking his tunic for papers. There was nothing, and she let it drop to the ground again, walking away downstream without a backward glance.

She heard footsteps behind her as both twelves followed, and then the scrabble of claws on rock, and the grunting and squealing of the raptors as they argued over choice selections. The sounds of tearing flesh and bones shattering into fragments.

The terrifying sounds of raptors, feeding.

Chapter 13

“Thank you, Artificer,” said Jake, nodding his head. “We looked over your proposal and were very impressed. An excellent first draft.”

“First draft!?” sputtered Muzaffer, pushing his glasses up his nose once again. “That is a masterpiece of design, complete and glorious!”

“Yes, it is a spectacular design in every way, we agree,” soothed Jake, silently regretting agreeing to work with this architect. “We wondered if it wasn’t a bit too grand for such a small, indeed as-yet non-existent town such as this… we are, after all, a tiny fort in the middle of the wilderness, and not on any trade routes, or even near any. The Lake of Sarnath will ensure that we have few visitors, I think, and the beautiful city you have shown us here would be a waste amid the cornfields and herds of cattle and horses surrounding us.

“For example, I note that your market is enormous, but for the foreseeable future the only market we are likely to need is collecting food from the local region for sale to the fort. Cadharna already offers an excellent marketplace that serves the people well, and building a second one here would only serve to weaken both.

“Or this defensive wall, for example… it is indeed a strong defense, and would withstand attack or siege far better than even the fort, but as you’ve drawn it, it encloses an area far larger than the reasonable area of the town for the foreseeable future. We lack the troops that would be needed to defend fortifications of that size. Surely, if we are to build six-meter walls at all it would be better to build them around the fort than the town!

“If the fort falls, an enemy would be able to bombard the town from atop the cliff regardless of walls or other defenses.”

“Well, I can see that this masterpiece would be wasted here in the country as we are… nobody would come to see its beauty! You’re quite correct… I shall save this design for a more sophisticated site, perhaps at the crossroads of two or three major trading routes.

“You obviously lack the background to appreciate the genius of this design, though, if you feel my masterpiece should be slashed to tiny pieces. It would destroy the delicate balance of my genius. Like all peasants, you cannot see past the end of your nose.”

Jake motioned to Nadeen to stay still as she started to argue.

Muzaffer stood up abruptly.

“I believe we are done here,” he stated, and stalked toward the door. “We will be leaving in the morning; please arrange for my travel to Pungar Vees.”

“Of course, Artificer,” smiled Jake. “I will be happy to.”

His two assistants, Sefika and Fron, rose with him. The young man, Fron, followed the artificer to the door, but stopped when she saw that Sekifa had not moved.

“Sefika?”

“I will not be accompanying Artificer Muzaffer,” she said quietly.

“You’re staying here?”

“Yes. You are now first assistant.”

Fron smiled, bared his teeth, spun and trotted after his master without another word. He was delighted.

Sefika stood silently, staring at the empty doorway.

“Please, sit, Mistress Sefika,” invited Nadeen.

After a pause, she did, and turned to face Jake.

“And now I work for you, Commander.”

“Welcome to Scorpius Company, Artificer Sefika.”

“…thank you… I… Did you just call me ‘artificer’?”

“Yes, I did. And you are.”

“But I have not completed my apprenticeship!”

“Ah, but you have, Artificer. You are now a journeyman, by Royal Grant,” said Jake, picking up a small scroll and untying the purple ribbon holding it tight.

He handed it to her, and she unrolled it slowly, hands trembling.

The simple sheet of parchment had a few short lines written on it in ink, followed by a huge and decorative signature, and a seal of red wax bearing the impression of King Kuranes.

She held it unrolled on the table, staring at it in disbelief as a tear rolled down her cheek.

“I… You asked the King… Thank you, Commander!”

Jake smiled, nodded.

“You have been a pleasure to work with, Artificer. When you mentioned you would be willing to work with us instead of for us, it was the least we could do.”

“But won’t Artificer Muzaffer contest this?”

“Against King Kuranes?” laughed Nadeen. “I doubt he would be so foolish.”

“That’s… that’s quite a relief,” she said, with a small, tinny laugh. “I was a nervous wreck.”

“You’re one of us now, Artificer,” said Nadeen softly.

“Thank you. Thank you, Commander!”

“Maybe some hot tea would be good?” wondered Jake aloud. “Captain Ridhi!”

Ridhi must have been waiting right outside the door because she was there, with a fresh pot of steaming hot tea and new cups, as soon as he called.

She poured the cups herself, handing the first one to Sefika.

“Welcome, Artificer.”

Sefika took it gingerly, more from a sense of wonder than because it was hot.

“Thank you.”

After the fresh tea was distributed and the used cups cleaned up, Jake brought the meeting back on track.

“I’m glad you’re here to help. Artificer Muzaffer is no doubt an excellent architect, but it was obvious that he had little understanding of what we needed, or wanted. And he had no interest in listening to our suggestions.”

“I see you have kept a set of plans…”

“Of course. Much of his work is excellent: waterworks, sewerage, public baths—although they need to be scaled down a bit in both quality and quantity—housing, the guard, temples… he is a talented architect, but he never seemed to grasp the fact that this is really a just a town yet, at best, with perhaps one or two thousand people at most.”

“So this is my first job, then?”

“Yes. The waterworks and the broad layout are the most important parts. The temples will need to be OKed by the Godsworn, but they’ve already seen the initial sketches, and the samples. Once the stonework is done, pretty much everything else is built on top and can be changed later without too much problem. Keep in mind that we may want to expand in the future, and make sure that we can do it without having to rebuild what we already have.”

“I think you’re oversimplifying the problem, but I understand what you want.”

She pulled the general layout over, and pointed to the marketplace.

“This marketplace, for example. It’s enormous, but there are no trade routes here, or even very near. The closest cities are two days’ travel, at least, and have little interest in the goods we might provide.

“I think it would be more reasonable to assume something on the scale of the market in Cadharna, albeit a little better organized.”

“Absolutely,” agreed Jake. “With room to grow.”

He tapped the temple complex, a walled area with the two temples inside.

“The temples are also far too large. No doubt the Godsworn would be delighted, but they’d have to bring in a lot more people to run temples of that size, and that’d probably boost the population a good deal. After a couple years I think we’d be a city for real, not a village.”

“Agreed,” said Nadeen. “The Godsworn are paying for most of the temple costs, but even so… these are enormous! We could build something far more modest, and it would still be a vast improvement over the wooden temples they’re building in Cadharna. Probably as good or better than most temples in the cities, for that matter, because we can build it from scratch.

“Suppose we make this… and this… and here… all future expansions, and just start with these sections?” suggested Sefika, pointing to the drawings as she spoke. “We can leave the land empty for now, or just make it a garden, and let the temples build them later if they want to.”

“I like it!” said Nadeen. “And if we give the entire temple complex its own wall, we won’t have to care too much what they build in there… putting it off a few years is a great idea. If the town grows as we think it will—and Fort Danryce with it—then it’ll make sense to go ahead with the temple expansions, and if not…”

“If not it would mean we have other problems,” said Jake. “Or we’re dead.”

“You said you’d ask Chuang about a memory stick, so we could show the Godsworn pictures of the temples instead of architectural drawings,” said Nadeen.

“Still plan to.”

“So, do you want to show them the drawings piecemeal as Sefina makes them, and maybe the images later? Or wait until we can do it all at once?”

Jake pursed his lips.

“…not sure which would be better,…” he said. “If they can understand the drawings, the sooner the better, so we can get their feedback and ideas soonest, but I don’t want to get them all upset, either.”

Sefina scrabbled through the drawings, searching.

“Wait a sec…”

She pulled out the drawing of the temples.

“Yes, as I thought… neither of these has underground rooms, only connections to the waterworks. If they don’t need anything underground then we can change the temple design pretty easily. Have to make foundations, of course, but that’s about all.

“There’s no real need to fix the temple design right now.”

“You’re right! We can put it off until much later, and it might take a year or so to get the underlying stonework done anyway. But I will ask them how they feel about drawings, and if they’re happy, then we can get them started on finalizing their temples, and start collecting all the fancy rocks.

“Let’s make new drawings first, though, to indicate the parts we plan to build now, and the possible additions for later. I don’t want them to decide to build a massive temple complex right from the start!”

“Understood, Commander. I’ll get some more paper,” said Sefina.

 

* * *

 

The Horsemaster bent down low over the horse’s neck as it galloped, enjoying the smooth ripple of muscles, the breeze on her face, the warm musk of her steed’s sweat.

She could hear the other horses following, spreading out into a narrow wedge trailing the leader like the wake of a boat.

“Good, Meatball, good! Now tell Thunder to cut in from the other side,” she whispered into his ear. “Thunder, go!”

The horse cried out, a strange combination of whinny and grunt, and Horsemaster Turan lifted her head to see the other column of horses, led by a young, pitch-black stallion, turn towards them, racing to meet them on the wide plain.

Between them was a twelve of archers, bows taut with arrows ready to fire at the oncoming stampede.

The thunder of the horse’s hooves grew louder as the two columns approached each other, finally coming into arrow range.

The archers aimed, held position, waiting for their targets to close…

and the charging horses broke off abruptly, veering right to encircle the archers, gradually slowing down until they came to a trot, a walk, halting to whinny and snort in suppressed excitement.

“Very impressive, Horsemaster!” called Captain Ekene, waving his archers to lower their bows. “If I hadn’t been expecting it we would have been terrified. I think I was terrified even so!”

“You have no pikes, Captain,” she laughed. “These horses would have ridden right over you!”

“I think you underestimate the power of our bows,” he replied. “We could reach the horses with many shafts before you got this far.”

“Yes, but even if you get lucky and manage to hit one of my steeds, it’s still charging right at you… and when eight hundred or a thousand kilograms of horse hits your line, dead or alive, it’s going to make a hole.”

“Oh, it would have cost us, to be sure, but I think it would have cost your horses more,” he said. “Good practice for my archers, though! It’s not every day they get to survive a cavalry charge unscathed.”

“And good for my horses, too… they have followed my orders to attack, and not suffered an injury. Now to feed them and reinforce the lesson.”

She slid down off of Meatball—a chestnut stallion—and pulled an apple out of her bag.

He nuzzled her, whickering softly as he reached for the fruit.

She held it out on the palm of her hand, scratching his cheek with the other.

“You did well, Meatball. Thank you,” she said quietly. “Now let me feed everyone else, you greedy boy!”

He bounced his head up and down, baring his teeth. His idea of laughter, she knew.

She walked through the herd, patting and praising all of the horses one by one, helping them relax after the excitement of the charge.

Only Meatball and Thunder were intelligent enough to teach complex commands—on the level of a good sheepdog—but the rest were young, active horses full of curiosity and humor. And as far as horses went, pretty smart, too.

The breeding program was proving to be a success, much as they had hoped. She and Master Chuang had worked on the broodmares and their offspring together, Chuang working his magic on the yet-unborn and she raising the colts with love and training. No, not training: education!

Meatball and Thunder were the first two, and ready to go to work. And there were seven younger colts following in their footsteps, with more on the way.

Pity about Storm… he had seemed perfect in every way, and then that black slime… she shuddered.

Master Chuang was expected shortly, and they planned to make the final decisions together: to release the two stallions to battle service, or to keep them close at hand to lead the herd, and serve as teachers for the younger ones.

The two still hadn’t claimed leadership of the herd—obviously only one stallion could be leader, and they’d have to work it out themselves—and neither one had attracted the attention of the alpha mare yet, either. She expected herd structure to change dramatically within a month or two, at the latest, as they gained confidence and began to compete with each other, and with the current herd leader, an older but “dumb” stallion named Cloud.

She wasn’t worried about the outcome; it was unlikely any of the horses would be seriously injured in the process, and it really made little difference whether Meatball or Thunder ended up on top. Personally she thought it would be Meatball, but she had no experience with what intelligent horses might do.

Neither did anyone else.

It might be better to split them into two herds, and run them in different areas of the grassland… she’d have to see what Master Chuang thought. With all the horses they’d been sending out with the twelves, the herds were not as large as she would have liked, and she thought she’d rather keep them all together for now.

The only question was whether Meatball and Thunder could work together with each other after one of them became herd leader.

“Captain, I’m going to take the horses down to the river now. Tomorrow I hope we can try that hunt-and-seek exercise we talked about.”

“Have a good swim, Horsemaster!” called Captain Ekene. “We’ll meet you at the main gate at the Hour of the Advancing Dragon, or down here at the Standing Stone at the Hour of the Dragon.”

“The Standing Stone is best for me, I think… I want to get the horses warmed up a bit before we start.”

“See you then,” he nodded.

The Standing Stone was an ancient monument erected in the grasslands untold centuries ago. Nobody knew who had erected it, or why, and the glyphs inscribed on its black granite surface were almost entirely weathered to illegibility.

It was visible from quite a distance, however, standing tall over the shallow hills and lush grasses of the plains. It was an ideal place to meet, and one of the few fixed locations in the grasslands.

She decided to ride Thunder this time, and checked the harness and girth before stepping up into the saddle. She had planned to get one of the twelves riding them, getting the horses used to riders and reins, but with all the troops out of the fort on one mission or another they were stretched awfully thin.

Captain Ekene would be heading back to the fort shortly to relieve Captain Nadeen’s twelve on fort guard duty.

Hopefully they’d be back soon—Chinh should be back today, after delivering supplies to Captain Long and wyverns, and Serilarinna or Beghara could be back anytime, in fact, but it was still unclear just where they were.

She’d just have to keep training them herself for now, until there were some troopers to help with the next stages of training. Borislaw of Eudoxia, the lancer now in Beghara’s twelve, had been enormously helpful, but he was off on a mission with Captain Beghara… In theory her twelve was to be cavalry, but unless they were here at the fort long enough to actually train together—which would take time—it’d never happen.

The river was an old one, one of the many tributaries feeding into the mighty Mnar. While young and wild closer to the mountains, it slowed and tired as it wended its way through the grasslands, twisting and looping down toward the River Mnar, and the sea.

The horses loved this spot, where the river widened into almost a lake, with a gentle, rock-strewn bank that sloped down to the deeper, colder water farther in.

She let them race, splash, graze on the clumps of grass and flowers spouting through the rocky ground, and drink their fill. It would be more drills later, but for now she wanted them to enjoy themselves.

 

* * *

 

“Party on the road!”

The shout rang out from the cliff wall where it overlooked the ruined slope gate. The roadway curving up the slope from the plain to the fort had once been blocked by a massive gate and walls, guarding against enemies from the grassland, but it was in ruins now. Nobody knew whether it had been toppled by enemies or merely fallen to the passing of time, but Jake had decided there was no point in trying to rebuild it with so few troops.

Nadeen’s twelve, on guard duty most of the time these days, had noticed the approaching party when it was still quite far out, but as it got closer they were able to identify captains Beghara and Seri.

“It’s Captain Beghara and Captain Serilarinna,” announced the guard to Nadeen as she came running. “Looks like both twelves are all there… and one extra? Damn raptors won’t stop running around, though; can’t count them properly. More than four, though.”

Nadeen took out her own telescope.

Yes, that was Beghara, and Seri, and there was TiTi.

She didn’t even see anyone limping, hard as that was to believe after the way the Beorhtwig and the airship had been cut up.

“Notify the Commander,” she ordered, and then leaned over so she could see the main gate. “Captains Beghara and Serilarinna coming through!”

The two guards at the main gate raised the counterbalanced pole that served as barrier during the day, and pushed the villager arguing with one of Ridhi’s people about the price of spinach out of the way.

Nadeen climbed down the ladder and walked over to greet them.

“Beghara! Seri! Welcome back! And not a trooper lost!”

“Not a single one,” smiled Seri. “We did lose two raptors, though… and of course we have injured.”

“But everyone’s walking,” added Beghara, “in spite of the fact that Seri smashed her way through an ambush for us.”

“An ambush!?”

“We took care of it, thanks to Roach.”

“Roach? Why was Roach with you?”

“Yeah, good question… he says we need to ask the Commander about that, and I intend to,” said Seri.

She turned to her twelve.

“Dismissed, everyone. Hit the barracks, the bath, and the bar.

“Sergeant, I want you with me. You and the Commander are going to tell me what’s going on.”

“Captain? You coming?”

Nadeen shook her head. “No, I just left Jake a little while ago… My twelve is on duty now and I need to be here with them. I’ll catch up later.”

“Ale tonight?”

“Done,” agreed Beghara. “Seri? You too?”

“Sure, I’m in,” said Seri. “Girls’ night!”

Laughing, they walked to Jake’s quarters.

He was waiting at the door.

“Good to see you all back safe,” he said. “We can do this later this afternoon after you clean up, if you like.”

“No, I’d rather do it as soon as possible, while everything’s still fresh,” said Seri.

“Good, I was hoping you’d say that,” he said, ushering them in. “Captain Ridhi! Tea all around!”

He led them into the meeting room.

Seri dropped a sheaf of paper onto the table: sketches of the fort, and other details.

“We were worried that the eagles had gotten you, too, Seri,” he said.

“They didn’t even see us,” said Seri. “Beghara told me what happened to Beorhtwig and wyverns. And Captain Ekene’s archers: one dead, one badly injured!”

“Beorhtwig’s out with the wyverns now, in spite of his injuries. Captain Long says they won’t eat anything unless he’s with them, and the Healer said it’d probably be alright. The airship flew him out the other day—the same day you left, in fact, Beghara.”

“So that’s what it was doing,” she said. “It flew right past us; we wondered why, since Captain Chinh was taking all the supplies there already.”

“Aercaptain de Palma and his crew are getting some well-deserved rest now… they did a magnificent job, and need time to recover. The airship needs repairs, too.

“So what happened to you?”

Seri gave a detailed commentary of their journey, mentioning the giant snake in passing and concentrating most on the Ibizim they had encountered—Lonagon of Y’barra—and Bleth itself. Together with TT and Kareem, she explained all the drawings, adding details of various things they’d noticed or guessed.

They’d already written down much of their observations, and Jake was writing everything down as they spoke now… his new pencils seemed to be working well.

“Well, we knew Bleth was big already,” he sighed, “but I would have been happier if it weren’t quite this big. That’s a hell of a lot more than we can handle…

“So what about these Ibizim? I thought they were just in the desert?”

“We talked to Yargui about that,” said Seri. “They’re the same people, just they ended up living in the mountains instead. The language and traditions are all the same; they are allies, of course. She has no idea where Y’barra might be, except that it’s somewhere in the Mohaggers, and probably half underground like the desert Ibizim.”

“So there’re tunnels under the Mohagger Mountains, too?”

“I’d guess so,” said Beghara. “We know there’s an underground city down there, and the Bagatur said it must have had quite a population before Nyogtha came. If they bothered to dig a tunnel here, makes sense they’ve got tunnels in other places, too.

“I asked Nurbolat—the Ibizim in my twelve—if he knew anything more and he said no.”

“Just like in the desert,” mused Jake. “Except that those tunnels were mostly unused, except for animals, whereas the tunnel Bagatur Khasar explored was used by Nyogtha… and maybe they all are, out here.

“The Bagatur is on patrol out through Cadharna and the southern tip of the range; should be back this evening. I think we need to talk to him for some more information.“

“Why didn’t you bring Trooper Kareem? He knows the fort better than anyone, right?”

“I thought it might be better to keep this between us, for now.”

“This?”

“Commander, what was Roach doing there?”

Jake laughed.

“Surprised you, did he?”

“To say the least… so you knew about it?”

“Oh, yes. I didn’t tell TT, though, or anyone else… only people that knew were Roach, Nadeen, and me.”

“Why?”

“He asked me. He said he could follow any of my captains without being seen, and bring back a full report. So I told him to prove it.

“Judging from your surprise, and the fact that he detected and prevented the ambush, I’d say he succeeded.”

“Oh, yes, he certainly did. And since he was there at the same time, he may have seen things that we didn’t note, and I’d advise debriefing him as well.”

“I fully intend to, and I’ll also meet with Roach and TT separately to discuss other matters.”

“Good,” said Seri. “He damn sure surprised the hell out of me, and everyone in my twelve, too. We didn’t spot any sign that we were being observed, and even worse, neither did the raptors! We’ve sort of been lured into thinking that they would be the perfect watchdogs, but clearly they aren’t.”

“Yeah, that occurred to me, too,” said Beghara. “We really need to debrief the raptors, except of course that we can’t because we can’t communicate fully. At the very least, though, we must talk to Roach and find out how he did it, and how to prevent it in the future.”

“Or if it can’t be prevented, well, we need to know that, too,” commented Jake. “Good point.

“OK, let’s do that in the morning, then. Say, Hour of the Snake? I want to see Roach, you two, Kareem… who else?”

“I’d like to hear what Mudge has to say, but that’s just not very effective.”

“You know, we really need someone with experience raising and training raptors. Cornelia, Mudge and the other two can understand us, which is enormously helpful. But we can’t understand them hardly at all. If we could really communicate it would be incredibly useful.”

“The Zarites are known for their bows and their raptors… I think we should have Captain Ekene join us tomorrow, and ask him to bring someone who really understands raptors. If there is anyone.”

“Can we talk about Mudge in front of Kareem and Roach?

“Good point. I suspect everyone already knows, one way or another, but we might as well try,” said Jake. “So we talk about Bleth and how he avoided the raptors first, with Ekene, and then we can talk about communicating with Mudge later.”

“Well, can we really get any useful information from her? Or Cornelia?”

“Let me talk to Ekene today, and see what he thinks. If he says we should bring Mudge in, I will,” decided Jake. “So, the full debrief on Bleth and Roach at the Hour of the Snake, and then a meeting on communicating with Mudge at the Hour of the Horse.

“OK, what else?”

“We never did find out who left Bleth. The mysterious purple pennant,” said Seri.

“Pity you couldn’t see more of it,” said Beghara. “Means nothing to me, though.”

“Put the word out to the troops and see if anyone has a clue. Even a rumor would be a start. Be sure not to mention where we saw it, of course… that stays secret.”

“That it for now?”

“I think so. I’m done,” said Seri.

“Me too,” agreed Beghara.

“OK, thank you all.

“I’ll see you back here tomorrow morning, then,” nodded Jake. “Would one of you arrange to have Captain Ekene drop by at his convenience?”

“I’ll tell him,” said Beghara. “I have to talk to him about something anyway.”

 

* * *

 

Bagatur Khasar returned to Fort Danryce shortly after sunset, approach through the darkening sky slowly and noisily to alert the guards. His twelve was on foot, and dead tired after a two-day patrol through forest and mountain terrain.

He was accompanied by four unknown people—two women, two men— and took pains to escort with respect. He guided them to the meeting room, requesting refreshments for his guests, and sent one of his troopers to fetch the Commander.

Jake arrived in minutes.

“Bagatur Khasar, welcome back,” he said, entering the room to see the Bagatur and the four visitors seated comfortably, with untouched tea and fruit in front of them.

“Commander,” replied Khasar. “Allow me to introduce Matriarch Biwashaa.”

The eldest of the four visitors nodded her head: “Biwashaa of Y’barra.”

“Jake of Penglai. Welcome, Matriarch.”

He carefully poured a cup of fresh spring water, and holding it with the fingertips of both hands, passed it to the Matriarch. She accepted it, holding the cup the same way, and drank.

Jake repeated the ceremony for each of the four Ibizim, naming himself and receiving their namings in turn.

Once the ceremony was done he could relax, talk freely, and invite them to enjoy the tea and fruit. Nadeen entered and joined them. He’d already waived the usual pricking test, to make sure they weren’t Flayed Ones.

“This is the first time that any of Y’barra have visited Fort Danryce,” he said.

“The fort, yes,” answered the Matriarch, “but not the first time to be on these grounds… the Ibizim came here long ago, once, in anger.”

“Ah. The Ibizim, then, destroyed the monastery?”

“Yes. And its hideous masters.”

“You speak of Nyogtha.”

“We do not mouth that name. Yes, the Haunter of the Red Abyss, and its Stain. We purged them, and thought the monastery abandoned for good.”

“It is no longer a monastery, as you have seen.”

“We watched you come, and worried that the Haunter’s minions had returned, but your actions proved you were not a worshipper. You survived Thuba Mleen’s attack, and defeated even a Flayed One. The deciding factor was the presence of Ibizim among your troops.”

“What deciding factor?”

“Whether to actively work with you or not.”

“I see,” said Jake, taking a sip of tea to give himself time to think. “And since you’re here, I see you have decided we are trustworthy.”

“We have.”

“I noticed that you introduced yourself as Matriarch Biwashaa of Y’barra… May I ask, do you represent Y’barra, or all of the Ibizim of the Mohagger Mountains?”

“I believe you have met Matriarch Geriel of the Ibizim of the Desert, Commander, have you not?”

“I have.”

“I represent Y’barra, but all of the Ibizim of the Mohagger Mountains have agreed with me. Y’barra is closest to your fort, and situated roughly between it and Bleth.”

“Where, I wonder?”

“Wonder away,” she laughed. “We hold our secrets close.”

“When you speak of the Mohaggers, what extent do you mean?”

“The entire range from Drinen and Tsun in the east to Poltarnees and Arvle Woondery in the west.”

“You are already working with the King.”

“We have been for many years, as I believe Matriarch Geriel explained.”

It was Jake’s turn to laugh.

“It seems Matriarch Geriel has been talking about me.”

“I was tasked with judging how far we should go in that cooperation, Commander. And after recent events, including the unexpected encounter between one of your Ibizim troopers and Lonagon of Y’barra, it was clear that we may walk this path together.”

“I thank you for your trust, Matriarch. Your knowledge of the mountains, and of Thuba Mleen’s forces, will be invaluable.”

She nodded.

“How do you suggest we proceed?” asked Jake.

“Perhaps it would be a good idea to ask for her assistance in detailing our maps,” suggested the Bagatur. “The Matriarch knows every aspect of these mountains, and would vastly improve them.”

“An excellent idea, thank you.”

“I agree,” said the Matriarch. “I will arrange for an experienced hunter to come tomorrow, to work with your mapmaker.”

“Thank you, Matriarch. That would be wonderful. And what can we do for the Ibizim in return?”

“There is one thing, actually, that I have been pressed to ask,” she replied. “Your fort continues to grow, as does the village below the cliff, but hunting in the mountains has increased dramatically as a result. Too many of our ibexes are being killed.

“You have easy access to the lush plains of the Mnar; we would ask that you raise your own cattle and sheep there, and leave the mountains to us.”

“A reasonable request, Matriarch. I can promise that my troops will no longer hunt in the mountains, but it will be more difficult to restrain the people of Cadharna.”

“Cadharna was never a problem in the past, and is unlikely to become one. The situation has changed because of your garrison.”

“You have my word.”

“Thank you.”

They fell quiet for a moment, sipping their tea.

“You have a sunstone,” said the Matriarch, looking at the sunstone in its container, casting bright sunlight over the meeting room table.

“We do. The Bagatur brought it back, at great cost.”

“Back? Back from where?”

“You didn’t know? The tunnel? The Haunter?”

“Tunnel? What tunnel?”

Jake turned to Bagatur Khasar.

“Bagatur, maybe you should take over. Tell her what happened.”

The Bagatur told her of their exploration of the tunnel, and what they had discovered—the underground city, built by the lizard people but abandoned to the black slime of Nyogtha, their sacrifice and escape, the sunstones, and the final filling-in of the tunnel.

“So there was a tunnel after all,…” said the Matriarch finally. “The tales told of a tunnel, but there was no mention of it being found, or destroyed. And you have done both.

“The city… tell me of the city!”

The Bagatur described it in detail, still beautiful even abandoned by its builders for so long, overgrown and wild: the ornate buildings, the statuary, the spacious estates and parks.

“Truly, that is the Home of the Shining Star… we once lived there, generations ago… long after the Children of the Night left my people lived there, until the Stain came. Nobody I know of has ever seen it, although many have tried to find it. The tunnels are forgotten, or destroyed—as you destroyed yours.

“Once they were protected by star-stones, but as the star-stones were destroyed or stolen, the tunnels became too dangerous to use, and were lost. How many star-stones do you possess?”

“How many what? Star-stones?” Jake was at a loss.

“The five-pointed star-stones of Mnar! Carved from a rough, gray stone in various sizes, they are marked with the hieroglyphs of the Elder Gods, and protect against the dholes, the Voormis, the Tcho-Tcho, and other foul creatures.”

“Star-stones,…” mused Jake. “Bagatur Khasar, why didn’t you mention them?”

“They are so rare, almost legendary… I didn’t…”

“The Bagatur has probably never seen one,” said the Matriarch. “Could we but find the ancient quarry of Mnar we could, perhaps, fashion more, but the quarry itself has been lost to time.”

“So a star-stone would keep Flayed Ones out of the fort?”

“Oh, yes. And much more.”

“I think I’ll have a chat with Chuang next time he comes,” said Jake “And maybe Chóng, too.”

“They are very rare,” advised the Matriarch, “and expensive.

“In these times sunstones are also so very rare and expensive,” she said, looking at the radiant globe. “The luminous lichen makes it possible to see in Xinaián, but do not provide enough light for our crops to thrive. Sunstones bring all the energy of the sun to our caverns.”

“Captain Nadeen, would you bring six sunstones for the Matriarch?” asked Jake.

“Six! You have six more sunstones!?” gasped the Matriarch.

“The Bagatur brought back many, and I would be pleased if you would accept half a dozen as a sign of our friendship.”

“A priceless gift indeed! Not only your friendship, but six sunstones would be enough to buy a kingdom!”

“I have a King,” replied Jake, “and no need of a kingdom. I could use a star-stone, though… do you think that someone might trade one for a sunstone?”

“Quite possibly. If you can find someone with a star-stone who is willing part with it…”

A portion of the sunstones were kept in Jake’s quarters, and it only took Nadeen a few minutes to bring them back.

She handed them to Jake in a reed basket, who in turn presented offered it to the Matriarch.

“In thanks for your friendship, and in the hope that these may contribute to the continued prosperity of the Ibizim.”

“We accept your friendship and your gift with our deepest thanks,” replied Matriarch Biwashaa. “In return, let me offer you some information you may find useful.

“Bagatur, I believe you are familiar with the peak called Foxnose?”

“Yes, I am.”

“I think, if you approach carefully, you will find a detachment of Thuba Mleen’s troops on the eastern flank, in a small grove. They’re scouting the region, looking for a good place to set up a new observation post.”

“Mount Foxnose,” thought Khasar aloud. “If I’m not mistaken, there is only one direct route from there to the fort, although there are other routes that are far longer. How many are they? And do you know when they expect to move?”

“A six. They will move in the deepest part of the night, at the Hour of Advancing Tiger.”

The Bagatur turned to Jake.

“Commander, with your permission I would like to make ready for them. My twelve is just back from patrol, but we saw no action. They’re ready.”

Jake considered whether it would be better to send Khasar or another captain, but decided it would be best to show confidence in his Ibizim.

“Take care of it, Bagatur. Use horses to reach the vicinity.”

He turned to the Matriarch.

“Matriarch, may I ask one of your guards to accompany them, to make sure they reach the right spot in time?”

“Of course. Taluaat, guide them there, and back again if they require it. Return to Y’barra after.”

The younger male guard nodded.

“I am at your command, Bagatur,” he said, “but will require the loan of a horse if I am to accompany you.”

“Bagatur Khasar, provide Trooper Taluaat with a horse when you ride. Go.”

He left with the Matriarch’s man.

“I believe we shall also take our leave, Commander,” said the Matriarch. “There is yet much to discuss, but perhaps those discussions should involve other people not present today.”

“Indeed,” agreed Jake. “We look forward to them.

“Allow me to provide an escort…”

“That will not be necessary,” said the Matriarch, cutting him off. “Merely lead us outside your walls; that will be sufficient.”

“As you wish, Matriarch,” acquiesced Jake, and stood.

“In that case, allow me to escort you to the main gate.”

Shortly after the Matriarch and her two guards left the fort, the Bagatur’s twelve trotted through on horseback, together with the Ibizim trooper.

“Good luck, Bagatur,” called Jake.

“We don’t need luck,” smiled Khasar. “We are Ibizim!”

 

* * *

 

Beorhtwig leaned on his cane. One of Sergeant Long’s troopers had made it for him from a handy sapling with a useful bend in it, and it fit him perfectly. They’d even whittled a sort of wyvern-like shape into the knob on top, although you had to use your imagination to see it.

His side still hurt every time he breathed, let alone tried to walk.

He hobbled over to Flogdreka and collapsed next to his head.

One eye opened to see who it was, and closed again as he stroked the wyvern’s head.

He took a chunk of fresh deer liver from his bag and waved it under the wyvern’s nose, rewarded with a quiet rumble from somewhere deep inside. The wyvern’s maw gaped wide, and he threw it in, gratified to see it vanish in an instant.

“Eat, Flogdreka, eat and get better.”

He turned to face Fæger, who had awoken and was watching his hands closely, waiting for more delicious liver to appear.

He pulled out another chunk and lobbed it to her. She caught it neatly, and made it vanish as quickly as Flogdreka had swallowed his.

“So are you two going to eat a proper meal now, or do I have to keep feeding you liver all day?”

Flogdreka gave a low grumble of displeasure and Fæger just closed her eyes; if there was no more liver she might as well go back to sleep.

“Can you slit it open down the belly, and bring it over here?” he called to Kassandros. “Better yet, drag it over and cut it here, so we don’t lose any blood.”

Kassandros, one of Long’s young troopers, grabbed the fresh-killed deer the hunting party had just brought in, calling to the other guard.

“Hey, Mahud! Gimme a hand here, will ’ya? Carcass is damn heavy.”

The other stood, brushing the dirt off his tunic.

“What’s a matter, Kassandros? Too heavy for you?”

“Fuck you, Mahud. Any time you wanna wrestle just speak right up.”

“Bah, wrestling. Young pups like you always think wrestling proves something.”

“Younger than you, true, although that wouldn’t be too tough seeing how old you are.”

“Yeah, yeah,” said the other, taking the other leg. “Ready?”

They dragged the doe over close to Fæger, and turned the carcass so the belly faced her.

“That’s good, yeah. Right in her face. Give her something delicious to look at.”

As Beorhtwig asked, they dragged it up to within an arm’s reach of the wyvern’s nose. Kassandros pulled his dagger, punching it through the deer’s hide, then using both hands to saw up the belly, blood and guts spurting out of the wound.

Fæger’s head moved suddenly, and Kassandros jumped back, almost losing his balance.

“It’s OK, she won’t bite you,” laughed Ginette, silently observing the wyverns. “Not on purpose, anyway.”

“Thanks, that’s very comforting.”

Fæger’s jaw closed gingerly on the doe’s rear leg, and slowly, ever so slowly, pulled it closer. The wyvern sniffed the blood, and then her head snapped forward, jaws snapped shut, and half the deer was gone. She crunched bone once, twice, three times, swallowed noisily, and gobbled down the rest of the deer in another snap, half throwing it up into the air to fit it into her mouth better.

The deer was gone, only bloody earth left to show where it had lain… it couldn’t have taken more than a minute.

“Maybe I’ll just keep away from that thing, if it’s alright with you,…” said Kassandros slowly. “You sure it doesn’t eat people?”

“No worries. They just nibble here and there, maybe a finger at a time,” said Beorhtwig. “Quite friendly.”

“Yeah, sure… you want another deer for the other one, too?”

“Oh, please, thanks, that’d be great.”

As Kassandros slowly backed away from Fæger, Beorhtwig collapsed on the ground next to her, leaning against her enormous head, and patted her on the cheek. She flicked her tongue out, long, thick, and forked, and licked his arm.

“Finally, I think they’re on the road to recovery,” said Ginette. “I was worried there for awhile.”

“Yeah, me too,” replied Beorhtwig. “Thank you for getting them to let me out here.”

“I don’t think they’d have pulled through without you. They just refused everything. Maybe they thought you were dead.”

“Not dead, thank goodness, but not very lively right now, either.”

“I think maybe they saved your life as much as you saved theirs.”

He laughed.

“Could be! C’mere, Ginette, let me introduce you to Fæger properly.”

* * *

Jake opened his eyes.

The room was black, only the faintest glow visible through the window, the light of the oil lamp burning near the kitchen dozens of meters distant. The moon was almost full, but there was heavy cloud cover, and most of the fort would be pitch black.

What had wakened him?

He listened, not moving.

He could sense Nadeen next to him, and her breathing was as quiet as his—she wasn’t sleeping, either. She must have sensed the same thing that had awakened up.

He slowly moved his left hand toward her, creeping until it encountered her own. Fingers touched, pressed.

Yes, she was awake and alert, too.

There! He heard the faintest rustle of cloth, the swish of something through the air, a muffled grunt of surprise… or pain.

Ever so quietly he rose from the futon, grasping his sword with one hand and his Glock in the other. He saw Nadeen moving in the darkness out of the corner of his eye.

They didn’t bother getting dressed.

They’d talked about this possibility, and Nadeen knew what to do. She reached into the box next to the door and pulled out something, glanced at Jake, raised an eyebrow.

He nodded.

She kicked the door open, rolled out what was in her hand, and leapt out with Jake.

The sunstone, removed from the water that kept it dormant, rolled across the dirt. As it dried off it began to shine brighter and brighter until it shone with all the brilliance of the noonday sun, revealing four black-clad bodies, splashes of blood, swords and daggers… and a fifth black-clad figure staring at them in surprise, kneeling on one leg while wrapping a bandage around her arm.

It was Ridhi Chabra.

She slowly stood, looking at Jake steadily.

Keeping his eyes and the pistol trained on her, he waved Nadeen forward with his sword.

“Disarm her and bring her inside.”

Nadeen, her own sword out, approached cautiously as Ridhi pulled the bandage tight with her other hand and her teeth, then held her good hand up, palm out and fingers splayed to show she was unarmed.

“Turn around. Slowly,” commanded Nadeen, staying out of reach. “Drop that bag.”

Ridhi did as ordered, pulling the strap of the bag over her head and dropping it on the ground.

“Step away from the bag, in that direction,” said Nadeen, gesturing with her free hand. “Now strip.”

Ridhi was wearing a tight-fitting black tunic and pants, belted tightly to her body. With her good hand she carefully loosened her belt and let it drop to the ground, pulled open her tunic. Using only the one hand she managed to tear off her clothes, finally letting them fall atop the belt.

Other than a small pouch hanging from her neck she was naked.

“The pouch. Drop it.”

She pulled the cord over her head and let the pouch drop.

“Commander? What’s the problem?”

It was a voice from one of the guards on the wall, the night watch.

“No problem, trooper!” called back Jake. “Just checking on something…”

He lowered his voice again.

“OK, we are all going inside my quarters now. I am going to back up slowly, and you are going to come after me. Do not move suddenly, and do not approach me, or Nadeen. I will shoot you.

“Nadeen, follow her in. Keep your distance, and pick up the sunstone on the way.”

He took a step backwards, and the two women followed in a slow-step dance.

Inside, he waved her to a chair—one of the few chairs in the room, generally only used by older visitors who had trouble getting up off the floor—and told her to sit. Nadeen placed the sunstone in the pan on the center table, half-filled with water to reduce the radiance to a reasonable level, then bound Ridhi to the chair with leather cord.

Jake kept the pistol aimed at Ridhi’s face the whole time.

Once their prisoner was safely bound, he laid the pistol down on the table and sat next to it.

“Who’s the guard captain tonight, Nadeen?”

“Captain Beghara.”

“Call to the guard and have her come here.”

Nadeen stuck her head out of the door and called up to the night watch to summon Beghara, then returned to stand behind Ridhi, sword still unsheathed.

It was a small fort: she came running in under a minute, sliding to a stop when she saw the bodies in front of Jake’s quarters.

“Commander?”

“In here, Captain,” he called.

She stepped inside, axe in hand, and stopped again when she saw Ridhi Chabra tied to the chair.

“Would you drag those bodies inside for a minute? And then we can talk.”

Beghara nodded and carefully leaned her axe against the wall, just outside the door. It took her only a few minutes to drag the corpses inside, one in each hand, two trips plus a third trip to pick up the abandoned weapons and one left-over hand.

“Now, then,” said Jake. “Suppose you tell us just what’s going on here, Ridhi Chabra.”

“They were assassins sent to kill you. I killed them first.”

“You’re all dressed in black; how do I know you’re not an assassin, too?”

“Compare the clothing. They’re amateurs.”

“Suggesting that you are not,” said Jake, picking up his pistol again. He stepped carefully around the room to get a closer look at the bodies, and her discarded clothing.

“There is elastic in your clothing,” he said, stretching it with his fingers.

Next to him, Beghara quickly checked the four bodies, then held up the hand of one of the men. It was missing the ring finger.

“They’re all missing their ring fingers,” she said. “Thuba Mleen’s fanatics.”

The most fervent of Thuba Mleen’s followers, those who swore their lives to him and believed him a god, cut off their own fingers to demonstrate their faith. Most chose the ring finger, as losing it had the least effect on their grip when holding a weapon.

“You still have all your fingers, Ridhi.”

“Yes. I’m not one of his people. I killed them to protect you, and Nadeen.”

Jake sat down on the table again.

“You’re answering very promptly for a spy…”

“I think I can be prompt and honest, or dead.”

“I think you’re right. So tell me, why are you wandering around outside my quarters in the middle of the night protecting us?”

“I’ve been protecting every night,” she said.

“Hmm. And here I thought you were wounded and unable to walk without limping.”

She sighed.

“My limp is long healed,” she admitted.

“And?”

Ridhi’s silence stretched for a long minute, until

“…and I work for Mistress Mochizuki.”

“Do you normally reveal that to people you spy on?” Jake’s voice was very quiet, conversational.

Ridhi shook her head.

“If you believe I work for Thuba Mleen I am dead; if you believe I work for the Mistress I may live, but only if I convince you that I am not an enemy.”

“Nadeen?”

“Collecting information is what Mochizuki does. I figured she had a spy here. Probably more than one.”

“Captain Beghara?”

“Me, too. Wonder where her loyalties lie, though…”

“Good point,” agreed Jake. “So how long have you been spying for Mochizuki?”

“After I joined Captain Feng’s twelve… And afterwards, when I was recovering in Thace, I was approached again. They promised me that you’d keep me on.”

“She promised you that I would keep you on!?”

Sputtering, Jake tried to recall where the idea had come from to employ Ridhi Chabra. He hadn’t even begun thinking about the future back then, really… he and Nadeen were just doing what Chóng told them to.

Had Chóng suggested it? He didn’t think anyone had suggested anything, but… then why could Mochizuki promise Ridhi employment?

He’d have to talk to Nadeen about that later, in private. She’d helped him develop his plans.

“Are you the only spy here?”

Ridhi shrugged, winced in pain from her wounded arm.

“As far as I know. I thought Roach might approach me with some message, but he never has. And I’ve never seen anyone else.”

“So if not Roach, then who does bring you messages? And carry them?”

“I don’t know. There’s an empty hole in a tree near Cadharna, and we exchange messages that way. But I was told to never watch to see who else uses it, and I never have.”

“What about Aashika Chabra, in Seri’s twelve? She’s what, your sister? Is she a spy too?”

“She’s my cousin, and no, she does not. As far as I know.”

Jake thought for a moment.

“Captain Beghara, have someone wake Seri, and bring her here. Find out where Aashika Chabra is and have her brought here unarmed and under guard. Use Seri’s twelve if you need them.”

Beghara trotted out the door. Jake could hear her calling one of the night watch.

He turned back to Ridhi.

“So what are we going to do with you, Ridhi… I see three possibilities: kill you, throw you out, or pretend nothing happened.

“I think I need a drink, and I’d like to put some clothes on. Nadeen, you watch her a minute?”

“No problem, Jake. She’s not going anywhere.”

Jake grunted and put on tunic and sandals, keeping well away from Ridhi and making sure his Glock was close at hand at all times.

“OK, go get dressed, Nadeen,” he said, strapping on his leather holster.

“Commander?”

It was Serilarinna, at the door.

“Come in, Seri,” he invited. “We have a little problem you need to know about.”

Stepping inside, Seri halted when she saw Ridhi bound to the chair.

“Beghara didn’t tell you anything?”

“No, only to report to you at once…”

“Well, Ridhi here says she killed those assassins over there, and is one of Mochizuki’s spies.”

Seri looked at the piled bodies, then back to Jake.

“And her cousin is in my twelve,” she said finally.

“Yes. Aashika Chabra will be here shortly. Ridhi says she doesn’t know of any other of Mochizuki’s spies here, and that her cousin is not a spy.”

“As far as I know,” interjected Ridhi quietly.

“As far as she knows,” echoed Jake. “Get you some tea?”

Seri remained standing, looking at Ridhi with a frown.

“No thanks.”

Jake poured one for himself and another for Nadeen, who had hurriedly dressed and rejoined them.

Jake heard footsteps outside the door again, and turned to see Beghara and trooper Girardus escort Aashika Chabra into the room.

She stopped in surprise.

“Cousin Ridhi! What…?”

“Be quiet. Stand still,” commanded Jake, picking up his pistol again. “Trooper! Find Sergeant TT and have him report to me immediately, at my command. He is to wait outside. You will not tell him or anyone of anything you have seen or heard here today.”

Girardus, still taking in the unexpected scene in the Commander’s quarters, nodded and left.

“Beghara, strip and search her.”

“Ridhi, you are to remain silent. If you speak without my permission I will put a bullet through your leg,” said Jake. “Nadeen, strip and search her.”

Nadeen, sword at ready but not directly threatening—Jake’s pistol was fearsome enough—stepped over to Aashika and held out her hand.

“Your tunic, please.”

Bewildered and surrounded, Aashika slipped off her tunic and stood there, hiding herself.

“Any blood or other signs that she was in that fight?”

Nadeen signed to the woman to turn in place, staying out of Jake’s line of fire.

“None.”

“OK, she can get dressed again,” said Jake, and she did.

There was a knock on the door. It was Captain Ekene.

“Seems to be a lot of activity here tonight,” he said. “May I?”

“Enter,” replied Jake, waving him in. “Any other captains at the fort now?”

“No. Captains Long and Chinh are at the lake, and the Bagatur left on a raid.”

“Sit there, Trooper,” continued Jake to Aashika, pointing at a second chair.

Aashika sat, eyes wide.

“Trooper Aashika, tell us exactly where you were for the last three hours. In detail.”

“I… I was in the barracks, Commander. Sleeping! Just sleeping!”

“Was anyone with you?”

“No, of course not!”

“Who was in your room with you?”

“Just Yargui. Ndidi should have been, but she was, um, with a friend.”

“Captain Ekene, trooper Yargui is an Ibizim. Please question her as to Aashika’s whereabouts for the last three hours, and get back to me.”

“Yessir,” he snapped, and stepped out.

Jake turned back to Aashika.

“We will check your story, Aashika,” he said, “and if you have lied you will be executed. If you are telling the truth, however, there is something you should hear.

“Tell us everything again, Ridhi,” he ordered.

He listened carefully to see if her story changed at all, but it didn’t.

“Trooper Aashika, you’ve heard your cousin’s story. What say you?”

“I… I know nothing of this!” she said, shaking her head. “Ridhi left Shiroora Shan eight years before me; I know nothing of the Kingfishers.”

Jake cocked his head, looking into her eyes.

“I’m tempted to believe you, Trooper Aashika,” he said. “You know, I don’t think it’s a violation of bond to have two masters, but I’m pretty sure you have to tell them. And I’m also pretty sure that the punishment for failing to do so is death.”

Aashika nodded.

“So I’m going to ask you once. Have you given bond to Mochizuki, Thuba Mleen, or anyone else other than me?”

“Only you and Captain Beghara, Commander. No one else.”

“What do the rest of you think?” asked Jake, looking up at the assembled captains.

“Commander, Sergeant TiTi’s here,” broke in Beghara.

Jake walked over to the door and opened it to look outside.

He spoke through the crack in the door, holding it so that TT could not see inside his quarters at all.

“Sergeant, I want you to find Roach and bring him here immediately. Unarmed, if possible. Halt outside these quarters and call.”

“At once, Commander,” he replied, and trotted off toward the stables where Roach usually slept.

“So, we will know more in a few minutes,” said Jake. “Captain Serilarinna, Trooper Aashika is in your twelve. Do you have any questions for her?”

“Not yet, Commander. You asked the important one.”

Jake poured himself more water.

“More tea, anyone? Ridhi, do you want some tea?”

Silent, she just shook her head.

Nadeen refilled her cup, and everyone relaxed a bit, taking a breather.

Captain Ekene was the first one back.

“Trooper Yargui was sleeping, and until Captain Beghara burst into their quarters can’t confirm where Trooper Aashika might have been. She said that she usually wakes up when anyone enters or leaves the room, though, and believes her roommate was also asleep.”

“And you believe her?”

“I do.”

“Thank you, Captain. I’m waiting for Sergeant TT to bring Roach in for a chat; want to hear what he has to say. Tea?”

About five minutes later, TT called from outside.

“Commander? I’m here with Roach.”

“Seri, would you handle it?” asked Jake. “I don’t want to leave the room.”

Seilarinna stepped outside. They could hear her voice clearly.

“Thank you, Sergeant. Roach, we need to search you, and ask you some questions. Disarm.”

“I only have my dagger,” said Roach.

“Put it down. And your bag. Sergeant, wait here. Roach, inside please.”

The door opened and Roach stepped through.

“Come in, Roach,” invited Jake. “You are familiar with my Glock, I believe. You are very fast; my pistol is much faster.”

Roach’s eyes flicked around the room, memorizing every detail in an instant.

“Strip, please,” ordered Jake, lifting the Glock slightly.

Roach silently complied, dropping the only piece of clothing he was wearing, a simple dhoti around his waist. He stood, at ease, and pointed to the thin wire wrapped around one leg near the crotch, almost invisible. He turned to show that his gymnast’s body had nothing else to hide. No tattoos, all his fingers, and a few scars Jake hadn’t seen before.

“Thank you. Put the wire down, too, then get dressed, and sit there,” he directed. “Tell us, in detail, exactly where you have been for the last three hours.”

“I have been assisting the Horsemaster with a birth all night,” Roach said without hesitation. “The foal did not turn properly, and its hind feet were visible. We—the Horsemaster, two of her assistants, and myself—worked to assist with the birth. We saved the life of the broodmare.”

“But not the foal?”

“The foal was dead at birth.”

“I see… Have TT check that, would you?”

Seri, standing closest to the door, stepped outside to order Sergeant TT to ask the Horsemaster what Roach had been doing all night, and confirm the location and condition of the broodmare and the dead foal.

“I doubt that you’re lying,” said Jake, “because we can check your story so easily.

“You are here for training, but are bonded to Mistress Mochizuki.”

“Yes.”

“Are you aware of any of her agents here at the fort?”

“No, but I have no doubt that they are present. She is everywhere.”

“Do you believe that Captain Ridhi could be one of her agents?”

“It is possible, yes. I’ve seen no evidence of it, however.”

“And Trooper Aashika?”

“Less likely, but still possible.”

“Why do you say less likely?”

“Captain Ridhi is usually here at the fort, and so able to follow all developments here. Trooper Aashika often leaves on patrol and could be killed in combat at any time.”

Jake nodded.

“You’re pretty smart. Mistress Mochizuki teach you that?”

“No, Sergeant TiTi.”

“Hmph. He teach you how to answer questions, too?”

“Yessir.”

“Hmph,” he repeated. “What were your instructions for your time here at the fort?”

“Only to better understand what you—excuse me, what everyone at the fort does.”

“You corrected yourself. Why?”

“I realized that you could misinterpret my usage of the word ‘you’ to suggest I meant you personally, rather than everyone at the fort.”

“How long will you be here?”

“Until I am told to go, by either Sergeant TiTi or Mistress Mochizuki.”

“And you don’t know when this will happen?”

“No.”

“You may leave, Roach. You are forbidden to speak of what you have seen or heard here.”

Roach left.

“I believe Roach is telling the truth, although perhaps not the whole truth,” said Beghara. “He is known to be a Kingfisher-in-training, and for that reason alone already a suspect—which means he is not an effective spy.”

“I agree,” said Jake. “Anyone else?”

“I doubt he’s involved,” nodded Nadeen, as did the others.

“OK, Nadeen, I want a dragolet to Celephaïs immediately after we’re done here. Roach’s training here is done, and I want him transferred out immediately. And say that we have captured a spy and require an urgent meeting. Don’t mention Ridhi or anyone else by name, though.

“Next question: What to do with Trooper Aashika. Seri?”

“She’s my trooper. I’ll watch her until we hear back from the Mistress.”

Jake glanced at the others; there were no objections.

“She is to be accompanied at all times, Captain Serilarinna. As soon as Sergeant TT returns, he is to escort her back to the barracks, and stay with her there until you relieve him.

“And now we wait for the Sergeant.”

Jake brooded, staring at Ridhi with a frown.

“You know, Ridhi, I’m a bit surprised that you didn’t just tell me that you were a Kingfisher,” he said. “I’ve figured she had spies here keeping an eye on us, but we’re all on the same side. Aren’t we? The King’s side?”

“Yes,” replied Ridhi with a sigh.

“Have there been other assassins?”

“Yes. Once before an assassin was waiting in your bath one night. I killed her with a throwing knife.”

“What did you do with the body?”

“Stripped it, cut it up, and fed it to the hogs.”

“What hogs? The swine down in the village?”

“Yes. There are now about a dozen swine there now.”

“The pork you prepare for meals?”

“Yes. I invited the farmer to move closer—he used to be in Cadharna—so that it would be easier to buy from him.”

“Doesn’t bother you to feed a corpse to the pigs and then eat the pork?”

She shrugged.

“It’s just pig by then. Same as any other pig.”

TT knocked on the door.

“I spoke with the Horsemaster, and she confirms Roach’s version of events, Commander.”

“Good, thank you, Sergeant TT.

“Please escort Trooper Aashika back to her room at the barracks, and make sure she stays in it until relieved by Captain Serilarinna.”

“Yessir.”

“Trooper Aashika, you may go. Do not speak of anything you have seen or heard this night,” warned Jake.

“Yessir.”

Aashika and TT returned to the barracks.

The Commander looked at the assembled captains: Nadeen, Beghara, Serilarinna, Ekene, and of course Ridhi.

“We don’t have a jail,” he said to nobody in particular. “I’d like to hear what Mistress Mochizuki has to say, but I don’t want her running around until then.

“Chain her up? What do you think?”

“I am usually in favor of killing spies immediately, but in this case it looks like she hasn’t broken bond, and that she killed four assassins,” said Seri. “I’d like to see what the Mistress says, too. Anklet and chain.”

Beghara grunted assent.

“I agree,” said Ekene. “She doesn’t look like one of Thuba Mleen’s troops, and those four do look like Thuba Mleen’s assassins. But what is she spying on? You report to the King regularly, and surely the Mistress has access to all those.”

“Interesting point,” said Jake. “Tell us, Ridhi… what’s your mission? To be sure I tell the King everything? What?”

“I am to report on everything that happens,” explained Ridhi. “In particular, she wanted me to report immediately on any developments involving firearms, gunpowder, or explosives.”

“Oh, she did, did she?” smiled Jake. “And what did you tell her about our developments?”

“That you have improved the range and accuracy of muskets significantly by using a new steel alloy for the barrel, putting a spiral groove in the inside to spin the round, and are now working on something called cartridges.”

“Did she ever instruct you to interfere with one of our projects?”

“No, Commander.”

“Do you have any poisons, Ridhi? With you, in your quarters, in the kitchen, anywhere?”

“No, but…”

“But what?”

“I do know how to make poison from various plants and mushrooms available in the local area,” she explained. “I have never made any here at the fort.”

“When did you send your last report?”

“Yesterday.”

“And what was in it?”

Ridhi hesitated.

“What, Ridhi? Something you can’t tell us?”

“I… I reported on your meeting with Matriarch Biwashaa of Y’barra, and the growing cooperation between you. And…”

“And?”

“…and I reported that Nadeen is with child…”

“What!?” Jake shot up off his bench, pistol in his hand but forgotten, looking at Nadeen.

“Is this true?”

“It is true,” mumbled Nadeen, looking at the floor. “I wanted to wait before telling you.”

“That’s great news!” shouted Jake. “That’s wonderful! You should have told me as soon as you knew!”

Beghara coughed.

“Commander, Captain Ridhi…”

Jake dropped Nadeen’s hand and turned back to Ridhi.

“Fuck it,” he said. “Yeah, anklet and chain. Sorry, Ridhi, but I just can’t take the chance… It all depends what the Mistress says.

“Captain Serilarinna, would you escort her to the Armorer and take care of it? Ridhi, if you are quiet I will make sure you are well cared for; if you cause trouble you will be treated like a captured spy. Understood?”

“Yes, Commander.”

“I think I’ll have to keep her in the storehouse for now, with a guard,” said Seri. “Everyone will know soon enough, but I’ll announce she’s sick with something contagious. Maybe that’ll work for a few days.”

“Thank you. Uh, let her get dressed again, too. Nadeen, would you give her some of your clothes for now? I don’t want to give her clothes back: there might be more wire or something hidden in them.”

Nadeen left the room for a moment and returned immediately with a simple cotton tunic.

“This should do fine. And I don’t need it back.”

She handed it to Ridhi, who quickly slipped it on.

“And now, if you all don’t mind,” continued Jake, “Nadeen and I have a few things to talk about. We’ll continue tomorrow.”

The four captains—three of them surrounding Ridhi—left.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were pregnant, Nadeen?”

“It is still early, Jake, and I may yet lose the baby. I didn’t want to get your hopes up…”

He pulled her close.

“You were pretty hot last night… sex doesn’t worry you, with the baby?”

“Not yet,” she smiled. “I need the exercise.”

He led her back to the futon and sat down with her.

“I’ll ask Nolan to come out and have a look at you, just to be sure,” he said, holding up a hand to stop her objection. “I know, you’re a healthy, independent woman and you don’t want anyone’s help. But let him check you out, please. Just for me.”

“If you insist,” she muttered, grimacing.

“Maybe we should think about accelerating our plan… the idea was to have a lot more up and running before you got pregnant, so you wouldn’t have as much on your plate.”

“I can handle it, Jake. And it won’t hurt to have the child see how things are changing. Help him grow into the role.”

“You’re sure it’s a ‘him’?”

She smiled.

“Hey, you’re the one who said you wanted a prince… I’m fine with either!”

“And we’ll have to find someone to take over your twelve. Your heavy twelve, I should say, now that you’ve been increased to eighteen. I’ve been thinking we really need to boost the garrison to two full twelves, at least… If we hadn’t had reinforcements the last time, Thuba Mleen would’ve killed us all.”

“I’m still captain!” she snapped.

“I know, I know, but someone will have to be in charge while you’re having the baby, when the time comes, and we need to start thinking about it now.

“What do you think of your Sergeant Petter?”

“He’s a very good Sergeant, competent and efficient, doesn’t mind getting his hands dirty, gets along with his troops great, all of that. But he’s just not as imaginative as he should be. Give him a specific task or goal and he’ll get it done it if it’s humanly possible, but he’s too predictable.

“If I promote anyone over him, though, he’ll be pretty angry. I would suggest either making him captain of one twelve and putting a new captain in charge of a second twelve, or leaving him as one of two sergeants under a new captain.”

“You think he’s better as a sergeant than a captain?”

“Yes, I do. He’s a good man to have handling garrison.”

“So either make him one captain and find a second for the new twelve, or leave him sergeant and find a new sergeant and a new captain both. Any preference?”

“I haven’t really thought about much yet. Captain Long’s sergeant—Sergeant Chen—is very good and would make a great captain, I’ve thought.

“I don’t think we can touch anyone in the Bagatur’s twelve, or Chinh’s troop, which is too bad. After that, um, Maiza in my twelve would make a good sergeant. Ginette would also make a good sergeant, I think. She knows wyverns, which could be useful, but she’s pretty young—I’d prefer someone with more experience under their belt.”

“I’m downright impressed with Yargui. She’s supposed to be a liaison from the Ibizim, but I think she would be perfect as sergeant, or captain,” said Jake. “What do you think of her?”

“Oh, definitely, but she’s Ibizim. I figured it would be impossible.”

“Maybe, maybe not. Let me talk to her, and the Matriarch—maybe the Bagatur—and see. I’m thinking Petter and Yargui as sergeants under Chen, as acting captain until you’re back on your feet.”

“We’ll need a wet nurse, too,” said Nadeen quietly. “When the time comes.”

“Maybe you should just lie back down and catch up on your sleep, since we were rousted out of bed in the middle of the night.”

“And you?”

“Of course,” he said, and snuggled down beside her.

Chapter 14

Jake was up at dawn, as usual, but was only just in time to greet the Bagatur returning to the fort. The ambush had been successful, with his force suffering only one walking wounded while killing or capturing all six of the enemy. He returned with four prisoners, two of them wounded, and the bodies of the other two.

They held the four outside the fort walls, under guard, while Bagatur Khasar came to speak with Jake.

“They walked right into it,” he laughed. “Only six of them and no scout! Just waltzing down the trail like they were on a picnic!”

“Excellent! You sent the Ibizim scout back home?”

“He left as soon as we were in position; didn’t even stay for the fun part,” said Khasar. “I think there were more Ibizim around, though… I heard a lot of bird whistles later.”

“So now we have eyes in the mountains. I had been wondering if we needed to build an advance outpost to watch the trails, but I guess we don’t need to know.

“They know the mountains far better than we do.”

“Thank you, Commander, for working with them. I am an Ibizim of the Desert, but they are Ibizim, too. I will get word to Matriarch Geriel of your decision, although I suspect she will find out through other channels even faster.”

“What do you mean, ‘they are Ibizim, too’? You make it sound like they are somehow different.”

“You don’t know? The Ibizim of the Desert and the Ibizim of the Mountain were once the same people, but have been separated now for generations. We share a common tongue and traditions, of course, but we have been growing apart for a long time. Once brothers, perhaps, and now cousins.”

“So Matriarch Gerial is only the Matriarch of the Desert Ibizim?”

“That’s right. The Matriarch of the Ibizim of the Mountain is a woman called Tara. The two Matriarchs do meet on occasion, I know, although I have never seen Matriarch Tara. I imagine they cooperate in many ways; I know we have extensive trade with each other.”

“No, I never knew,” said Jake. “I shall have to meet this Matriarch Tara one day. Perhaps Matriarch Biwashaa can arrange it one day.”

“People can wait months for an audience with the Matriarch,” warned the Bagatur.

“I met Matriarch Geriel with no wait at all, and spent a few days in idle conversation on the airship with her.”

Khasar shook his head.

“I could never…”

Jake laughed.

“I guess I have the advantage over you, Bagatur… I’m from a different world entirely, and never learned how to be scared of kings and matriarchs. It hasn’t gotten me killed yet!”

They walked through the main gate to look at the prisoners.

“So what are we going to do with them? The last batch yielded and then attacked Seri’s twelve. Got killed for it, too.

“You think these four can be believed if they give bond?”

“Three of them—those two there, and the one with the head wound lying down—are trustworthy, I think. No tattoos, no missing fingers, and quite willing to give up instead of fighting to the death.

“The fourth one… I don’t know. He seems to have all his fingers, but he spent all his time coming here studying everyone and everything. I think he’s still studying you and the fort right now.

“Seems more interested in collecting intelligence than giving bond, is my take.”

“If he gives bond, can he be trusted to keep it? Or do people ever break bond here?”

“Of course there are people who break bond, but they’re all either dead or legends,” replied Khasar. “Soldiers, even mercenaries, kill oath-breakers on sight, because if it became common then all captives would be slaughtered. And everyone loses at least one battle.”

“Ah, so that’s how it works. I wondered how you could trust someone’s bond so lightly here.”

He walked over to the captives.

“I am Jake of Penglai.

“You were sent to spy on us, and failed. You failed because you always fail when you try to fight us. Thuba Mleen’s attempt to kill me in the desert of Thace failed. Your attack on this fort failed, and you lost your airship and your wyverns both. And then your attack on our airship and wyverns failed.

“The Bagatur tells me you are good soldiers, though, and I hate to waste good soldiers. You have yielded, and now I ask if you will give bond to me, and swear an oath never to attack this fort or its troops ever again.

“If you so swear you will be free to go. Or, if you wish, we will consider hiring you.

“What say you?”

There was silence for a moment, and then “What if we refuse to give bond?”

“You die.”

“That’s not much of a choice, is it?”

“Would you prefer a life of slavery?”

“Death to slavery!”

“And so it is. Will you give bond or no?”

The wounded man lifted his head, half-hidden by the bloodstained rag around it.

“Nariman of Pungar-Vees. I give bond to Jake of Penglai.”

“Tauret of Khem. I give bond,” said the sole woman.

The other two men were silent.

“You two are welcome. Master Nariman is be taken to the infirmary and treated. Mistress Tauret, you are free to go.”

“I would join Scorpius Company, Commander,” she said as two of Khasar’s troopers helped the wounded man to his feet and led him off to the church.

“Bagatur, she is in your care,” said Jake. “I will abide by your decision in the matter.”

“Yessir. Mistress Nariman, I believe you were using a scimitar? Trooper Tsogbayar, give her back her weapon, and take her to the yard. I want you and Trooper Tümen to find out if she’s good enough for Scorpius.”

“Yessir,” said the two women, both Ibizim troopers in Khasar’s twelve, and led her away.

“And what about you two?” asked Khasar. “You have not given bond, or refused it.”

“Must we decide now?”

Jake thought for a moment.

“I suppose not, although it doesn’t strike me as a complicated decision… Bagatur, chain them up and let them ferment. Food and water, of course. Take them to the Armory for chains, and then put them in the stables for now. Make sure they are far away from each other, and they’ll need guards.”

“Yes, Commander,” replied the Bagatur, and ordered his men to escort the pair to the armory for chains.

“We’re really going to need a jail if this keeps up,” muttered Jake. “First Ridhi and now this….”

“It usually isn’t a problem,” agreed Khasar. “As you said, it is not a difficult decision, although each makes their own choice in the matter.”

“If you were to be captured by Thuba Mleen, Bagatur, which would you choose?”

“Death.”

“You didn’t hesitate.”

“I made my decision long ago, Commander, as I believe all my troops have.”

“Well, good job, Bagatur Khasar, and welcome back.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to get ready for the meeting with Captain Ekene about the raptors. And get some breakfast!”

“We haven’t eaten yet either, Commander. Or slept, for that matter.”

“Were you on a duty roster today?”

“No sir. We got back yesterday and were to have the day free. Lucky thing, too, because now I can get some sleep.”

“Get your troops settled, and arrange guards on our new guests with Nadeen.”

“Yessir.”

Jake header back to his quarters, only to be stopped by one of the Armorer’s assistants.

“Commander? One of the prisoners is asking to speak with you.”

He turned and headed for the low building that served as both smithery and armory, and saw that one of the captives had already been fitted with shackles and was being led off to the stables. That meant the man who wanted to speak with him was the one Bagatur Khasar had thought most unlikely to swear bond.

The Armorer, Einar Ibrahimson, had just closed the lock on the shackles, making it difficult to walk and impossible to run. In the stables, the end of the chain would be secured to a bolt in the wall, preventing the captive from escaping.

“You have something to say?”

The man motioned him closer.

Jake, suspicious of the man’s motive, stepped a bit closer and stopped well out of the man’s reach.

“If you can’t trust me, at least ask the smith to step out of earshot,” said the captive.

Einar raised his eyebrows.

“The shackle’s on, all you have to do now is bolt the chain to the wall. I think I need some air.”

He grabbed the captive’s guard by the arm and pulled him out of the smithery, leaving Jake and the prisoner alone.

“OK, we’re alone. What?”

“You have to kill me.”

Jake was taken aback.

“You could have asked that when the Bagatur captured you. Why take all the trouble to drag me here and get shackled first?”

“No, no, I don’t mean actually kill me. You have to say you’ve killed me, and let me go.”

“And why would I do that?”

“Because I’m a spy of Queen Caila of Perinthia and not one of Thuba Mleen’s troopers at all. I am sworn to the Queen and will willingly die for her, if you must, but would vastly prefer to live, and continue to serve her. I am Guillaume of Perinthia.”

“And why should I believe you?”

“You shouldn’t, of course. But if you ask the Queen, or Commander Jean of her Guard, I think you will find that I speak truth.”

“Perinthia is a long way from here; we have no dragolet to fly there.”

“But you can get messages to her via Celephaïs, or even Counselor Chuang when he visits next week.”

“You know he is coming next week?”

“Of course! Thuba Mleen has his own spies.”

“What else does Thuba Mleen have? Does he have an airship?”

“After your little surprise last time? No, I doubt it,” replied Guillaume. “If you will guarantee my safety until you receive confirmation from the Queen I will be happy to provide you with more information on Bleth, and Thuba Mleen.”

“And why must I make it look like I killed you?”

“If I’m dead then Thuba Mleen will stop looking for me, and the Queen can send me somewhere else—perhaps Lhosk, or Xura—until people forget what I look like.”

“I will guarantee your safety until I hear from the Queen,” said Jake. “Until then, though, you will remain shackled and under guard.”

“Thank you, Commander. If you keep me far away from Tanawat—the other captive—I can tell you what I know.”

Jake studied the other, thinking of how this could possibly be a trap. The man could be lying, but what could he gain from it? If the Queen denied knowing him he’d be killed. It was possible he was just trying to inject false intelligence and confuse him, of course, but he’d still be dead.

Unless… was it possible that the Queen herself was allied with Thuba Mleen? That would make a little sense, at least. And he knew next to nothing about Perinthia, or Queen Caila.

“I’ll think on it,” he said, finally. “Until then don’t go anywhere.”

“Ha ha, very funny,” countered Guillaume, rattling his chain.

Jake walked back to his quarters. Nadeen was already gone, up on the wall somewhere with the guard. Captain Ekene would be here soon to talk about raptors, but first he needed to write a message to Chuang in Celephaïs.

Today Captain Chinh was supposed to return to the fort, too, which would give them a little more manpower—they were stretched pretty thin, with Sergeant Long and the wyverns off at the lake.

He wrote a long letter to Chuang, and coded it using the copy of De Generibus Artium Magicarum Anglorum by Sutton-Grove that Chuang had given him—along with a stack of other largely useless books on magic and monsters. Chuang advised him that anyone looking at his library of “dark books” would laugh and dismiss him as a rank amateur. Which he was, of course, but the books were on his shelf for use in coding messages, not for reference. His messages would be easy to break if anyone had the same edition of the same book, but without it they were almost unbreakable. The book cipher.

He’d glanced through the book a little, and in spite of being written in 18^th-century English found he could read most of it. It was incredibly boring.

His letter detailed the capture of “Guillaume of Perinthia” and his strange request. He asked Chuang to help him verify the man’s claims through Queen Caila, and asked Chuang direct how trustworthy the Queen was: any chance she was allied with Thuba Mleen?

He rolled the message up and sealed it into a waterproof oilskin pouch, and walked it over to the stables to hand to Horsemaster Turan personally. They still hadn’t built a special hutch for the dragolets, and Turan was still stuck with taking care of them.

He really needed to get that built one of these days…

* * *

Captain Long scratched his side again.

Something had bitten him, and whatever it was must be living in his bedroll, he figured. Second morning in a row he’d woken up with a big, red splotch on his body. Damn thing itched for hours, too, yesterday.

Normally he wash it or smoke it or something, or maybe just buy a new one, but he really didn’t have that luxury out here.

This was a field camp, and a very rough one at that. The waters of the Lake of Sarnath were as gray and turgid as always, and that peculiar smell—it reminded him of wet dog—permeated everything even with the sun out.

They couldn’t see the ruins of drowned Sarnath from here, but the gray rock of Akurion was plainly visible offshore. Devoid of vegetation, it was grayish-green, covered in lichen and fungus.

Captain Chinh walked over to greet him.

“Another quiet night,” he said. “except for something jumping around out in the water. Never could see what it was, but it made a hell of a big splash every time.”

“You’re probably better off not being able to see it,” said Long. “I don’t like being here at all, and even less at night.”

“And tomorrow night is a full moon.”

“Yeah, I know. I hope the wyverns are a little better because I really need to get everyone moved away from the lake today. Or at least get started today, so we aren’t here for the full moon.”

“You ever see any of Bokrug’s spawn?”

“Never, and don’t intend to,” spit Long. “I’m not much on big green moon-creatures.”

“Mmm. Me neither,” agreed Chinh. “You need help getting things moving?”

“Nah, we’re OK. My twelve can take care of itself, and if the wyverns can’t walk I don’t think we can move them anyway. We’d need to build a whole damn road and move ’em on rollers, I think.”

“Heavy beasts… I’m still surprised something that big can fly, to be honest.”

“Shantaks are even bigger.”

“Never seen one up close. You?”

“Nope. I think you’d be dead if you had…”

“Hmph,” said Chinh. “Well, you’re in charge now. We’re out of here and back to Fort Danryce.”

“Thanks for the supplies, Captain. Safe journey.”

“Safe journey, Captain.”

Chinh walked off to get his own twelve in order, finishing up preparations to return to the fort. The horses they’d brought—the ones Captain Beghara had used on her mission north—were now Captain Long’s problem.

“Listen up, everyone,” called Long. “Captain Chinh’s headed back to the fort, and today we have to get moved back from the lake. It’ll be a full moon tomorrow night, and I do not want to be stuck here when that happens.

“Sergeant Chen has already found a good spot, with water—clean, fresh water!—and green grass, and I can’t fucking wait to get away from this lake.

“The problem is the wyverns. If they can fly even a little it would be great, because the new camp is only a few klicks from here. If not, I want to get them started walking. We might have to rough it tonight if we can’t get them there, but whatever happens we are not going to spend tonight here, so get your gear together and kiss your froggy friends goodbye.

“Captain Chen, would you get it all ready? I’m off to talk to our wyvern-master.”

“I’ve got it, Cap’n,” responded Chen. “We’ll be ready before they are.”

As Captain Long walked over toward Beorhtwig and the wyverns, he heard Sergeant Chen shouting at one the troopers who was still lounging on their bedroll.

“Trooper Beorhtwig!”

“Morning, Captain.”

“How are the wyverns this morning?”

“They seem a little better… finally ate a good meal yesterday, a whole deer each, with a few rabbits for dessert. If they keep that up they should be healed soon.”

“And you?”

“I can ride,” said the other. “Still hurts like a son of a bitch, but I can ride.”

“Can they fly a few klicks?”

“Fly… I don’t know. If they were up in the air already they could stay up there without too much trouble, but getting up off the ground takes an awful lot of effort. Wounded as they are…”

“Yeah, I was afraid you’d say that,” scowled Long. “Can they walk?”

“A couple kilometers!? Not in one march, that’s for sure. They aren’t really designed to walk, you know.”

“We have to get away from here. Tomorrow’s the full moon and we can’t be here then… Just look at Sarnath!”

“I saw something yesterday… out there… crawling over the tumbled blocks,” said Beorhtwig quietly. “Not sure what it was, but I’d rather not stay here myself.”

He turned to Ginette.

“What do you think, Ginette? I think they can walk if we take it slow and let them rest. But no flying, not yet.”

“No, no way they can fly yet. They’d tear something open for sure. They should be able to walk without too much pain, though… most of their injuries are to their bodies, especially the neck, and not the legs.”

Beorhtwig turned back to Captain Long. “OK, let’s try it. When do you want to get started?”

“Depends on you, really… we’re only here for you and the wyverns,” said Long. “If you’re going to need a lot of breaks maybe you should start early and plan on resting every thirty minutes or whatever. I don’t think we need to try flying, yet, but depending on how things go today we might need to fly a short distance tomorrow to get away to safety.”

“Will it really be that dangerous tomorrow?”

Captain Long just waved at the lake and the scattered ruins of Sarnath poking up through the dark water here and there.

“Yeah, I get it,” said Beorhtwig. “Let me grab some food and see if these two’ll eat anything, and then we’ll start. Where are we going?”

“Call me when you’re ready and I’ll get you a guide. Thanks.”

He turned to the troopers looking after the wyverns. “Kassandros, Mahud, Trooper Ginette… Make sure he has whatever he needs, and if you don’t have it come ask me. Getting the wyver-master and these wyverns to safety is our top priority.”

“Yessir,” they replied in unison, and turned to their tasks.

Long returned to the main camp to get his own gear in order as Beorhtwig talked to his charges.

“And how are you two today? You feeling better? Had a big meal yesterday, didn’t you?”

There was no reply, of course, but Flogdreka batted him playfully with the side of his head, and he could hear Fæger rumbling contentedly behind him.

“We have to do a little walking today, Flogdreka. You up for it? Fæger, how about you?”

Fæger was nuzzling Ginette, who had discovered that she loved getting scratched between the eyes.

“Hey, Mahud! We have any more fresh deer?”

“You must be kidding!” came the response. “You know how heavy those carcasses are? And then your little friends there scarf them down in ten seconds… I might be able to shoot some rabbits or squirrels for you, but not a deer. Not right now.”

“Yeah, I figured as much… Well, wyverns usually don’t eat all that often anyway,” said Beorhtwig. “Maybe we’ll see something nice and juicy on the way, huh Flogdreka?”

“We’re really ready to start anytime, Mahud,” he said. “They’re as rested now as they’ll ever be, and the day’s still cool. I’d like to get started as soon as possible.”

“We’re all traveling light here… the Cap’n’s prob’ly ready, too. I’ll go see.”

He talked to Captain Long and shortly thereafter Yafeu, the Zarite archer, walked over with a string of horses.

“I rode with Sergeant Chen when we found the new site. I can lead you there,” he said. “The rest of the twelve will follow your lead… I think we’ll be a lot faster on horse than your wyverns.”

“Thanks, Yafeu,” said Beorhtwig, climbing to his feet. “Which one’s mine?”

“I’m riding the chestnut; my stuff’s already strapped on. Pick whichever one you like.”

Beorhtwig grabbed the nearest one, a white mare with splatters of black across her flanks, and threw his bedroll and ruck over here rump, lashing them down securely.

“One of you guys give me a hand up? Still hurts like a bitch.”

“Yeah, sure,” said Kassandros, and laced his hands together into a step. “Up you go!”

“Thanks.”

He trotted over to the wyverns.

“OK, you lazybones! Up on your feet! Time to get a little exercise!”

Grunting and wheezing the two wyverns slowly stood. With two enormously powerful legs and a thick armored tail, they stood taller than the mounted man.

They balanced on the tripod thus formed, their wings moving and unfolding a little bit as they got used to standing again.

“Does it hurt anywhere?” he asked.

Flogdreka threw his head up and gave a long growl of displeasure, but Fæger just kept moving her feet up and down in place, one at a time, as if checking they still worked.

“So I guess that means you’re good to go, then.”

Beorhtwig twitched his reins and his mount began walking away from the lakeshore.

“Come on you lazies! You’ll get fat if you don’t exercise once in a while!”

Ponderously, Flogdreka waddled after him, grumbling deep in his belly and obviously not in the mood to walk right now, while Ginette and Fæger traipsed ahead having a wonderful time.

He might be grumbling, thought Beorhtwig, but I see he stepped over the fire neatly. Not in that much pain, then…

* * *

Captain Ekene brought one of his troopers with him, a woman named Kosarachi. Jake figured she must be in the late thirties, maybe forties. As with most of the Zarite women troopers he’d seen, her hair was cropped short.

“Trooper Kosarachi has worked with raptors all her life, as I said before,” he explained. “I mean, almost all Zarites have raptors for hunting or battle, but her family breeds and trains them.”

“Jake of Penglai,” he said, waving her to a stool.

“Kosarachi of Begama of Zar.”

A strong woman, he thought. Average face, average build, but she was perfectly at ease talking to her commander. She looked competent and confident.

“The family business?”

“Yes. We’ve been breeding raptors for generations; probably one of the oldest families in the trade in Zar,” she replied.

“Begama raptors are widely recognized as one of the best breeds,” added Ekene. “They’re generally smart, and always very well trained.”

“Why didn’t you bring your own raptors with you when you came, Captain?”

“Master Chuang suggested that we not, because we needed to bring some raptors for you. I think he wanted us to concentrate on learning your methods rather than worrying about our raptors.

“When we return to Zar we’ll start integrating your ideas with our own. To be honest I feel pretty exposed out on patrol without a brood ranging out ahead of me.”

“Trooper Kosarachi, you are here today because the Captain believes you know how to keep your mouth shut,” said Jake. “We need to talk about some things that are not common knowledge, and I need to know you can keep them quiet. It will all leak out eventually—you’ve probably figured it out yourself already—but for now, you don’t talk about this with anyone.”

“I can keep it to myself, Commander.”

“You’ve seen our raptors in action, right?”

“The raptors we brought? Yessir, several times.”

“And what did you think after you saw them here?”

“They are being controlled far more effectively than I’ve ever seen. But it can’t be training because we trained them.”

“No, it isn’t training,” explained Jake. “Mudge and a few other raptors are smart, probably as smart as people, and the smart ones can control the other raptors. We don’t know if they have their own language, but they can understand a lot of common speech.

“There are still problems, though: they lack knowledge of what people do and how we do it, and that interferes with their understanding. Most of all, we can’t understand them when they bring us intelligence. There are a few gestures that we understand, things like enemies and rough distances, but we need far more.

“We need to be able to talk to them.”

“And you want me to help with that?”

“Yes. Captain Ekene has already agreed to release you, if you’re willing to take the job.”

“So I wouldn’t be in the Captain’s twelve anymore? Would I still be a warrior for the High Chief?”

“I’d need to discuss that with the High Chief,” broke in Ekene, “but I don’t see any reason why you couldn’t be assigned to work with the Commander and retain your status.”

“You would be a sergeant, with two troopers under you to start. If necessary you can add more people in the future. Special quarters near the raptors, special meat ration, and anything else you can convince me you need.”

“Well. This is all quite… unexpected,…” she said. “I mean, I noticed there was something off about your raptors, and there have always been stories about smart beasts, but… They can understand us, you say?”

“Short, direct sentences. Simple words, simple grammar, no idioms or abbreviations. Yeah, they understand it just fine.

“Captain Serilarinna just returned after a combat mission using the raptors, and can provide details on what worked and what didn’t.

“The best thing would be to work with Mudge and the others yourself, though.”

“And the goal is to find a way to understand them, right?”

“And to make sure they understand us. It’s not always easy to use clear, simple language, especially in the heat of a battle. We need better communication both ways.”

“Where did they come from? I mean, my raptors were smart, too, but that was smart enough to play fetch or bring back an arrow-shot bird or something. Nothing even close to communication.”

“I wouldn’t worry about that, trooper,” advised Jake. “We have four now, and will get more in the future. That’s enough.”

“Well, wherever they came from, people there might have some ideas, too.”

“Apparently they haven’t come up with anything that works very well, either. Sure, they are some human-raptor pairs that seem to understand each other very well, but unless we can come up with a way for any trooper to communicate with any raptor, they’ll never be the success we need.”

Kosarachi turned to her captain.

“Captain, you’re OK with all this? I swore an oath to the High Chief, and it feels… strange.”

“I am. I understand how you feel, but if there is such a thing as a smart raptor, I want Zar to be involved. And right now, that means you.”

She fell silent for a moment.

“Commander, I accept.”

“Thank you, Sergeant Kosarachi,” grinned Jake. “I was hoping you would.”

He poured more tea for his guests, and water for himself.

“Now, we’re housing the raptors outside the fort walls for now, in a stable just inside the trees north of the fort. Cornelia didn’t raise any objections that we could see, but the very first thing I need you to do is find out if they need anything. I want to keep them happy and make it clear that we are their fellow warriors, not their masters or whatever.

“I don’t understand them, and I don’t know how well they understand me, and I need to be sure that we understand each other well enough to cooperate fully.”

“And restrictions on how to approach this?”

“Try not to interfere with the rest of the fort, and try not to get anyone killed. If you’re unsure check with me first, or Captain Nadeen. If you need meat check with the kitchen staff; I’ll tell them.”

“Yessir.”

“Go get your gear from the barracks, Sergeant, and go meet your new friends. Get back to me tomorrow with some initial ideas about who you want for assistants, and what else you might need. Good?

“Yessir,” she replied, standing. “I’ll check in with the Captain tonight and let him know how things are going.”

“Excellent. Don’t hesitate to come talk to me!”

She nodded and left.

“Made your own tea this morning?”

Jake grimaced.

“I’m happy someone killed those assassins,” said Jake, “but would have been happier if things had turned out differently.”

“You sent the dragolet already?”

“Yeah, to Chuang in Celephaïs. I have no idea how long it’ll take to get a response from Mochizuki, though. Or even where she might be, for that matter. Hopefully Chuang will prioritize it.”

“So who’s in charge of the kitchen now?”

“Her second was a woman named Portrisha. She’s a herbalist from Cadharna, but turned out to be a hell of a good manager. Works here now, and except for sticking weird leaves and shit into people’s tea every so often does a good job.

“Nadeen told her she’s in charge now until ‘Ridhi recovers from her sickness’.”

“Are you sure she’s safe?”

“No, but she was born in Cadharna and has been here ever since, long before I ever got here. Nadeen’s keeping a close eye on her anyway, but I doubt she’s involved.”

“Hope you’re right,” said Ekene. “Everyone knows Mochizuki has spies everywhere, but it’s still a shock when you find one in your home. Especially when you trusted her.”

“Mmm, yeah,” mumbled Jake, then “How are you doing with the horses?”

“We’ve played defense for about a dozen charges, and the horses are outstanding. The Horsemaster is not the best tactician I’ve seen, but she can control the herd flawlessly.

“If it were for real I think they’d lose half a dozen horses to my arrows, but we’d be virtually destroyed. If we had pikes we could defend ourselves much better, but then we wouldn’t be Zarite archers.

“There’s no end to it, of course. If the horses were combined with an infantry force the equation is much different, too.”

“But it sounds like you’re quite impressed with them.”

“Oh, yes,” agreed Ekene. “Unquestionably. They are a new weapon for the battlefield, and even though pikes help against a cavalry charge, smart horses is a whole new dimension, and it’ll mean new tactical options for the commander.”

“They should be even more useful when the whole herd is intelligent, not just the alphas.”

“For sure. In addition to learning how to control them and building up the horses’ confidence, this is also building up my troop’s confidence. Most of them have never been on the receiving end of a cavalry charge before, and now they ‘survived’ a dozen of them.

“They all know it’s not the real thing, since the horses veer off at the last minute, but getting used to seeing a thousand kilograms of angry horse charging at you is a good investment. They won’t freeze if it ever happens for real.”

“I’ve never been in a cavalry charge myself…”

“I have. Scared the shit out of me,” said Ekene. “I was a fresh recruit, positioned off to the side, and was lucky. Real lucky, in fact, since surviving that charge and managing to get a few arrows off got me promoted to acting sergeant for a few days, since so many of the troop were dead or injured. Guess I must have impressed someone because they came back to me and made it official a few months later.”

“You should get together with Trooper Borislaw. He’s the Eudoxian lancer in Captain Beghara’s twelve, out here to get a look at how we do things, and I know he’s been working with the Horsemaster. In fact, it wouldn’t hurt for all of you to get a better understanding of cavalry tactics. Wouldn’t hurt me, either—where I come from, ‘cavalry’ means we ride tracks—ASLAVs or Bushmasters or what have you.”

“Tracks? Bushmasters?”

“Sorry. Armored carts, machines, with big guns. My pistol fires 9-mm rounds, but the ASLAV has a dual 25-mm gun. Almost three times larger, and firing like two hundred rounds a minute. Range of two, three kilometers.

“Horses are not used on the battlefield anymore,” he ended bleakly.

“Two or three kilometers!?” gasped Ekene. “That’s… That’s… That’s insane! You can’t have a battle at that distance! That’s slaughter!”

“Things change,” shrugged Jake. “When your enemy has the same weapons, people adapt, and find new ways to kill and not be killed.

“I prefer your style of war… fewer civilian casualties.”

“There are no nations in the Dreamlands, except maybe Thuba Mleen’s Empire of the Sands, so the only armies belong to individual cities, and actions tend to be pretty small. There have been a few times when a city has been besieged, though, and any siege can be real hard on the inhabitants. And the whole region around the city.”

“Believe me when I say even that is better than where I came from,” said Jake. “They have weapons that can…”

He broke off abruptly.

“It’s a different realm. Let it be.”

Ekene, obviously curious to hear what Jake was about to say, pursed his lips but didn’t ask. If the commander says to drop it, a wise captain drops it.

“We’re growing with phenomenal speed,” said Jake, changing the subject. “We’ve got a whole pile of projects underway, including trooper and officer training; smart raptors and horses; improved firearms, optics, and compasses; safer ways to store and use thalassion fire; the new town we’re building; aerial mapping; improving the literacy rate, so much more… and TT and I keep coming up with new things we need to do but just do not have time for.”

“Why?”

Jake stopped and stared at Ekene.

“Why? What do you mean, ‘Why’?”

“The Dreamlands has existed forever, and will no doubt continue to do so. Why do you need to change it so?”

“Why do I…? Change it…? I… Because Thuba Mleen is trying to conquer the Dreamlands, killing everyone who opposes him, and I have to stop him!”

“What would your ASLAVs and Bushmasters do to the Dreamlands, if they were here?”

“With one ASLAV and ammo I could take down Thuba Mleen and all his men in a few weeks.”

“And then what? He ensures that his people have enough food and water, even in times of famine or drought, keeping the caravans moving. Will you continue providing them?”

“So what, you suggest we just let him run rampant?”

“Of course not! But perhaps he is not as wholly evil as you seem to think.”

“The Ibizim seem to share my views.”

“Thuba Mleen is probably Ibizim.”

“He’s what? Ibizim! How is that…?”

“I don’t think anybody really knows, but I’ve heard that the Ibizim and Thuba Mleen both came to the Dreamlands at the same time. The story goes that they were once a single nation, and when they realized they were in a new realm, Thuba Mleen determined to conquer it as he had his own world. Some of his people followed him, but others felt a new realm should mean a new beginning, and broke off to become the Ibizim today.”

“How long ago was this?”

Ekene shrugged.

“This is the Dreamlands. Who knows? Ancient history.”

Jake rotated his empty water cup on the table between his fingertips, around, around, making a tiny scratching noise.

“I’ve never heard that before…” he said finally. “It does explain why the Ibizim and the Emperor of the Sands seem to be primarily fighting each other in the desert, instead of heading for more productive lands.

“You ever hear any rumors about where Thuba Mleen came from?”

“Some say Wakeworld, some say the Eastern reaches, but that’s not much help.”

“Nobody named Thuba Mleen in Wakeworld that I know of. Not under that name, anyway… and if he was as successful a warrior there as he is here, I’d know.

“I’ll ask Nolan and the others if they have any ideas, next time I see them.”

“Master Chuang might know. Or the King.”

“They might, but they never even told me about this Ibizim connection… The Bagatur never mentioned it, either.”

“Would you, if he were one of your people?”

“Well, no, probably not,” agreed Jake. “Well, to get back on subject here, Kosarachi’s going to leave a hole in your twelve for a while. Do you want to get someone to fill it?”

“How long do you expect?”

“I don’t really know, but unless she’s a miracle worker a couple weeks, minimum. Probably a couple months, I’d guess.”

“That’s a long time for Sergeant Kachiside to operate with only five instead of six. Let me talk to him, but as Captain I know I’d want to plug that hole if it’s going to be weeks or more.”

“I figured you would. Are there any good prospects out there?”

There was usually a number of new faces down in Cadharna, or the castle town, hoping to be employed by Scorpius Company. They’d been building a reputation for themselves, and stories of how they defeated Thuba Mleen’s attack and highly exaggerated descriptions of Jake’s pistol only heightened the interest.

Most of them were not good candidates, but the Company always had a hole that needed filling, and every so often the right person for the job would show up and be hired. Paying troopers regularly was a major mark in their favor.

“There are, in fact, but they aren’t from Zar… A good archer is a good archer no matter where they come from, but my twelve is sworn to the High Chief and I can’t just sign people on my own.

“There are a few good troopers at the Zar mission in Rinar, though, and I’ll see if any of them want to give up the city life for an exciting country adventure.”

“Think they will?”

“If they prefer the city life they’re not the sort of person I’d want in my twelve,” laughed Ekene.

“You’re only supposed to be here for another month or so, right? TT’s training program will be done, and then you’re off again to wherever.”

“That was the intent, but to be honest I’ve already asked to stay on here… you’re revolutionizing war, and we can learn so much here. Not to mention see some action.”

“I have no objection, certainly. In fact, I’d been wondering if you might be willing to make it semi-permanent, and maybe even bump it up to a heavy twelve.”

“Another six archers—seven, counting Kosarachi’s replacement? It’ll take me some time to find that many good people, and integrate them properly. Need a new sergeant, too… Is this something you want me to look into for real?”

Jake nodded.

“Yes. Yet another expansion, and we’ll probably need more barracks and a bigger kitchen and six other things if this keeps up, but we also need more archers.

“When do you think you can be set?”

“Depends on how easy it is to find people,” mused Ekene. “I think I’d be better off hiring in Zar than looking here. Long ways from here, so it’ll take weeks at least.”

“Good. That’ll give me time to get set up. Do it.”

“Yessir, I’ll get started on it right away.”

“Thank you, Captain.

“I’m going to call another captains’ meeting for tomorrow, by the way. Working lunch.”

“I’ll be here.”

“Good. Captain Chinh will be back today, and Captain Long will be here for the meeting, too.”

“Haven’t had a full meeting for some time.”

“Won’t be full tomorrow, either, Captain.”

Ekene nodded, face suddenly grim as he recalled Ridhi.

“No word yet from Celephaïs?”

“Hardly. Be another couple days at the soonest.”

“It’s hard to believe that Ridhi…”

“Yeah, but we’re stuck with it even if we don’t like it.”

Jake stood.

“Well, thank you for coming, Captain Ekene. Keep me informed on the heavy twelve.”

“I will, sir.”

Ekene left.

* * *

The wyverns made almost two kilometers before they halted for the last time. Another kilometer or so and they would have reached the new campsite, but they were obviously exhausted, and so were Beorhtwig and Ginette. They’d stopped about a dozen times to let the beasts rest: they were obviously in pain but struggling along because their master—Beorhtwig—asked it of them.

“We can finish it tomorrow,” he said. “It means camping here tonight, but I don’t imagine we’ll have any trouble with cats once they notice the wyverns.”

“Hardly! Any predator that sees a wyvern is going to head the other way very quickly, or end up dinner!” laughed Ginette. “You think it’s worth setting up a tent?”

“I’m beat,” he said. “How about just a tarp overhead?”

“Works for me,” she agreed. “Hey, Kassandros! We’re just gonna put up a tarp and stay right here. You guys staying, or going on to the new camp?”

“We were just talking about it,” he replied. “We’re gonna go to the camp now and let them know, but come back here later to share guard duty with you tonight. You’re gonna be already until then?”

“Yeah, we’re fine, Kassandros. Thanks,” said Beorhtwig. “See if you can bring us back one of those ducks they shot, would you? I could really go for some roast duck with my beans.”

“Will do. Might be a couple hours. We’ll be back by sunset, though,” replied the other, and rode on with Mahud.

Beorhtwig walked around Flogdreka, carefully checking his healing wounds.

The exercise had loosened a few of the stitches, but nothing serious. He slathered more ointment over the wounds to keep the bugs off and make sure they didn’t get infected, and looked over to Ginette.

She was almost finished checking Fæger.

“Flogdreka’s all good.” he called. “Just a few loose stitches, and he’s dead tired. You need the ointment?”

“No, I’ve got some,” she replied. “Fæger’s about the same, but I think she probably could’ve walked all the way… She’s being pretty protective.”

“They’re a mated pair, so I’m not surprised.”

“How’d you manage to end up with both of them? I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anyone doing that, except in the stories.”

He explained how it had happened. Ginette hadn’t seen most of it, being too busy defending the wall near the front gate, and nobody had seen the aerial combat when he stole Fæger.

“I wondered why you still have so many fingers,” she said. “Wondered if maybe Flogdreka had bitten off something else…”

He laughed.

“No, I’d be a bit upset at that. I’m all in one piece still, but a lot of me hurts.”

“Let me take a look at your injury, too,” she said. “Plenty of ointment left.”

“Thank you. It’s hard for me to see properly,” he said, stripping off his harness and pulling open his tunic. He had a cloth wrapped around his abdomen, keeping the poultice in place over the wound.

Ginette helped him remove it, and carefully lifted off the poultice.

She looked at the wound closely, placing the palm of her hand on his side near the injury and pressing.

“That hurt?”

“Not really. Doesn’t look inflamed now, either.”

“I think it’s healing up nicely,” she said. “Let me wash off the old stuff and put on some more.”

She poured drinking water over the injury, wiping off the majority of the ointment. The wound was healing clean, it looked like. She pushed and prodded a little to confirm it didn’t hurt much, then applied fresh ointment, and wrapped the cloth around Beorhtwig’s body again.

“Maybe I’d better check if that other appendage is still OK, too. Wanna make sure Flogdreka didn’t bite it off,” she said, sliding her hand down his side and between his legs.

“Hey! That’s…”

His protestations were smothered by Ginette’s lips, and shortly they confirmed that the injury to his side didn’t hurt very much even when he exercised.

Later they lay side by side, surrounded by snoring wyverns, watching the sky slowly dim with approaching dusk.

“I think Fæger really likes you,” he said, tracing a finger down the profile of her cheek. “You haven’t been feeding her fingers or anything, have you?”

“Still have all ten,” she said, and proceeding to prove it by drumming her fingertips over his bare chest. “I dunno, I guess we just fit. She always seems to love it when I scratch her.”

“Or you always know just where it itches. Were you ever a wyver-master?”

“Hardly!” she laughed. “Still have all my fingers, remember? But my pa was a wyver-master, and I pretty much grew up playing with Jamat. Jamat’s his wyvern. Pa was missing two fingers, but he never talked about what happened to the other one.

“Anyway, I used to take care of Jamat all the time, and she’d fly me around. I spent all my spare time with her.”

“You know, I’m pretty much out of Captain Seri’s twelve now. I’m the Scorpius wyvern-master, and it looks like I won’t be going back. With two wyverns, though, I’m gonna need someone to help me…”

“Are you offering me a job?”

“I’m sorry,” he laughed, hugging her close, “I thought that’s why you seduced me!”

“Seduced you!?” she laughed, pushing his down and straddling him. “I was just attending to your injury! And you took advantage of me!”

“You mind if I do it again?” he asked, reaching up.

“I used to hate officers who did this to their troopers,” she said, “but somehow it doesn’t seem to bother me too much anymore. Yes, do it!”

By the time Kassandros and Mahud returned they were both asleep.

“Well, looks like they’re getting along just fine, doesn’t it?” chuckled Mahud, glancing at their naked bodies, glistening reddish in the sunset.

“Doesn’t look like we’ll get much help on guard duty tonight, though,” agreed Kassandros. “Lucky bastard.”

They woke to the aroma of roasting duck, and sheepishly joined the other two troopers at the campfire.

“The wyverns are just snoring away, aren’t they?” said Mahud. “Must be pretty tired after that walk.”

“They’re built for flying, not walking,” said Beorhtwig. “But they made it this far in spite of their injuries. We’ll make it the rest of the way tomorrow without any problem, I’m sure.”

“It’s not far at all,” said Kassandros. “We really didn’t need the horses to come back here; could’a walked it in about the same time.”

“Good. Tomorrow we can enjoy a real tent, then.”

Kassandros and Majud exchanged glances.

Ginette coughed into the silence. “You know, the wyverns are only supposed to live in the north, where it’s cold… That’s what I was always told, anyway. And there aren’t many wyverns down here, if any, except this pair. And the one that died.”

“It isn’t really tropical around here, but it sure isn’t glacier country, either,” agreed Beorhtwig, wiping his mouth on the back of his hand. “I was wondering about that myself, then things got busy and I forgot all about it.”

“So where did Thuba Mleen get them? How come they’re not dead of the heat?”

“And if he found them somewhere, are there more of them?”

“But how can we… Of course! Once the wyverns are healed, we should be able to get them to fly back ‘home,’ wherever home is,” cried Ginette.

“What if that’s Bleth, or worse, Thuba Mleen’s palace?”

“Would they fly back there?”

“We don’t have any idea how they were treated there,” said Beorhtwig. “There aren’t any scars like that on their bodies, but who knows? Maybe he fed them fresh liver every day!”

“Did they show any interest in Bleth before you got attacked?”

“None. And Fæger showed no loyalty to her rider before I killed him.”

“Stupid man. How can you fly a wyvern and not attach your lifeline?”

“Well, he paid for it. But they came after me from the top of Mt. Thartis. And I heard that someone had seen smoke from high up on the mountain… I wonder if they were being kept there?”

“Thartis is snow-capped all year… plenty cold enough for wyverns!”

“I think once they’re better, I’ll fly up that way and have a look… want to see if they’ve been using it since, too. If they don’t have any more wyverns or airships, nobody should have been there since the battle at the fort.”

“You thinking of using it yourself?”

“Why not? Thuba Mleen can’t use it if he can’t fly, and these two would love the cold, I’m sure.”

“But that still doesn’t explain why they can withstand the heat down here,…” said Ginette. “Um… when you go, can I go with you?”

“Fine with me, as long as Captain Nadeen says OK.”

“I’ll convince her,” she said. “And besides, I think Fæger likes me.”

“She does, doesn’t she? She doesn’t let many people get up close and scratch her like that…”

“I wonder if it’s because we’re… you know…”

“But we weren’t, before.”

“Maybe because I’ve been taking care of you all? Or maybe she just knew it before we did.”

“Maybe,” he agreed. “Have you ever tried mounting her?”

“You mean, up in the saddle? No, never!”

“Let’s try it. There’s still enough light… Bareback, too much trouble to put the saddle on.”

He walked over to the wyvern and patted her on the neck.

“How about it, Fæger? You in the mood?”

Ginette joined him, stretching out her hand slowly.

A huge forked tongue rasped across her outstretched palm—Fæger obviously liked her.

“OK, up you go!” said Beorhtwig, interlacing his fingers to form a step.

She stepped up, leaning against the wyvern’s flank, and scrambled to her back, pulling herself up by the wyvern’s dorsal spines. They weren’t very big, but they were hard, bony, and more than strong enough to support her. The saddle was designed to protect the rider from the spines, and without the saddle she really couldn’t sit atop Fæger very easily.

Instead, she lay down along the wyvern’s back, one arm and one leg hanging onto the spines, her head tight against its scaly back.

“Well, I’ll be damned…” breathed Beorhtwig. “She’s purring!”

* * *

“Bagatur? You have a minute?”

“Of course, Commander,” he said, tapping the dottle out and dropping the pipe into its pouch. He was never without pipe and tobacco, but, strangely, rarely smoked. “I was just admiring the sunset.”

Jake sat down on the wall next to him, looking out over the road up from the grassland toward the sunset. The sun has already dropped below the Mohaggers but the sky was still streaked with red and orange.

“I was talking with Captain Ekene earlier, about the raptors, and he said something that I wanted to talk to you about.”

“Oh?”

“He said that Thuba Mleen was an Ibizim.”

Khasar was silent.

“You ever hear anything like that, Khasar?”

“It could be true,” admitted the Bagatur slowly. “Or almost true. It’s not something we like to talk about.

“We Ibizim have always lived here on the eastern continent. The lands known as the Eastern Desert were once green forests and plains, and the Ibizim lived mostly in peace. Thuba Mleen came here from somewhere, else, some say Wakeworld, some say the East, and lived among us.

“But now you’re enemies.”

“Yes. Something happened. It is said that he tried to make himself ruler, killing matriarchs and building his own army. There was civil war as factions fought, and many died. Our forests and plains were destroyed by some magic, leaving only the sere desert.

“We—my Ibizim—fled, hiding in Xinaián, the Sunless Roads of the Children of the Night. Others fled to the mountains, hiding in their crags and gorges. Thuba Mleen hunted us for years, until we reached a stalemate of sorts, and began his program of conquest, razing and looting cities that did not pay his price.

“We purchased peace by paying a ransom, a tax, to Thuba Mleen, but never trusted that our compact would hold. And over the years he has gradually raised that tax until it threatens our very existence, and our choice is to fight or wither away.

“We know the Sunless Roads, but we cannot withstand his forces, and must strike from the shadows. Revealing ourselves to him might mean the destruction of yet another Home, the death of so many of my people.”

“Where did he come from?”

“Wakeworld, I thought, but nobody knows.”

“I don’t know the name Thuba Mleen from my realm. Certainly no famous conqueror or ruler!”

“I have heard that he was once a god.”

Jake snorted.

“Yeah, well, I’m not much of a believer in gods. Magic, yeah, I’ve seen it with my own eyes, but gods? Nah.”

“Matriarch Geriel would know, I imagine, if she will tell you.”

“She never mentioned it, either. The Matriarch knows the facts of the matter?”

“Oh, certainly. She was there.”

“There? What do you mean, ‘there’?”

“She was one of the matriarchs who survived Thuba Mleen’s attacks, and fled with her people.”

“Just how long ago was all this?”

“Generations upon generations… I think about three grand dozen of years.”

Jake did the calculations in his head. A grand dozen was one hundred and forty-four, so three of those would be almost… five centuries!

Which meant that the Matriarch was at least five hundred years old, maybe a hell of lot older.

He stood, looking out at the dark red sky.

“Thank you, Bagatur Khasar, for being honest with me.”

“Always, Commander, always.”

* * *

Captain Long arrived at Fort Danryce early the following morning, and promptly reported to Jake.

“The wyverns seem to be recovering well,” he said, after sitting down and accepting a cup of tea. “Yesterday we managed about two kilometers from the lake, on foot, and my troop is getting the wyverns over the last kilometer now. The new camp is ready and waiting, but of course it’s only temporary, too.”

“Can they fly?”

“Trooper Beorhtwig says it would strain their wounds. Too dangerous yet. Trooper Ginette, on loan from Captain Nadeen’s twelve, agrees with him. They, um, seem to be extremely close to each other… I think there’s going to be a problem there.”

“Is someone jealous about it? Or do you just mean in general?”

“In general, as far as I know, but I’d like to check with Captain Nadeen or her sergeant to make sure there isn’t anything I need to know.”

“Is she needed?”

“I think so. The wyverns trust her, and eat from her hand. One of the them—the bess—even let her climb up on her back. The bull doesn’t seem to mind her, either.”

“What do you suggest?”

“Trooper Beorhtwig has been on an indefinitely extended leave from Seri’s twelve, and she must be getting pretty tired of that. He’s obviously the best man for to handle the wyverns.

“Have you thought of making it permanent? Transferring him out of Seri’s troop officially, and setting him up as his own command? Maybe even as a sergeant?”

“It had crossed my mind but it didn’t seem to be an urgent issue… sort of got forgotten.”

“Might be a good time to consider it. And transfer this Trooper Ginette to the same unit.”

“One from Nadeen’s twelve, one from Seri’s twelve… a wyvern brigade!”

“Or possibly an air force, if you want to think about integrating the airship, too.”

“The airship is on loan from the King. As is the crew.”

“Another indefinitely extended temporary position,” countered Long. “I wonder if the King would object to transferring it to you officially.”

Jake pursed his lips.

“I know there are other airships, airships not owned by the King. Factor Chóng mentioned it to me once; I think he has been asking the King for one himself.

“Master Chuang is expected here next week; I’ll ask him about it. For now, though, I like the idea of making Beorhtwig and the wyverns independent. With this Ginette, if you feel appropriate. I’ll have to check with Nadeen and Seri, of course, but I suspect they’ll be happy to plug the holes in their troops.

“When do you expect the wyverns will be ready to fly again?”

“I can’t say for sure, Commander, but based on what I’ve seen so far I’d guess another week or so. They recover phenomenally quickly.”

“Good, good.”

“I must leave now. The full moon is tonight, and while the new camp is well away from the lake, I want to be there just in case.”

“Need anything?”

“Alright if I take a keg of ale?”

“Help yourself!” waved Jake.

i>

* * *

Captain Long got back to the camp in the late afternoon, and was welcomed back with a round of cheering as everyone saw the keg of ale strapped to his saddle.

It was still a rough camp, but since they didn’t expect to be attacked out here in the uninhabited grasslands, they’d been able to spend more effort on making it comfortable instead of making it defensible. There were still two troopers on guard, of course, but they also had a proper firepit and latrine.

“The Commander suggested we might enjoy this since we’re stuck out here in the wilds,” he said as he dismounted. “There’s not enough to get drunk with unless one of you pigs takes the whole thing, but there’ll be a cupful for each!”

“Always nice when a captain thinks of his troops,” said Sergeant Chen. “Pity you didn’t bring a couple kegs, but this’ll do just fine.”

“I should’ve asked Captain Ridhi for more,” said Long. “Come to think of it, she wasn’t there. Portrisha was giving out all the orders and looked angry… She told me to help myself to one.”

“Probably off buying turnips or something… whatever, as long as you got it!”

Long set the keg down and started walking through the camp, inspecting the defenses, minimal as they were.

“You expecting trouble?”

“Not really, Sergeant Chen, but we’re still too close to the lake for my comfort… I don’t know what happens on the night of the full moon, and don’t know what those moon creatures look like or do, but I find it very disconcerting that nobody else knows, either.”

“Disconcerting? Why?”

“The Lake of Sarnath should attract people: it’s got water, fish, maybe even sunken treasure. And I’m sure lots of people have come looking. So why isn’t there anyone alive who knows what happens during the full moon?”

Chen chewed that over for minute.

“Yeah. Maybe I’ll add another trooper to the guard tonight…”

The two of them checked the perimeter, altering the troopers to the possible dangers of the night, and making a few changes to the perimeter.

They also stopped to check on the wyverns, of course, which is why they were out here in the first place.

“Any problems from the march?”

“Not that we’ve noticed, Captain,” said Beorhtwig. “They seem largely unchanged, and since they ate well yesterday they’re probably just going to sleep all day and night.”

“Must be nice… eat and sleep all you want,” muttered Chen.

“I’m sure it is,” agreed Ginette, “but of course you also have to fight off a couple dozen eagles every so often.”

“Yeah, there is that…”

“Let me know if anything changes, Trooper. We don’t know what to expect tonight, so be careful.”

“Yessir,” nodded Beorhtwig.

“What do you think, Chen?” asked the captain as they walked back toward the firepit. “Anything I need to know?”

“We’re all good, Captain. The troops are acting like they’re on holiday, but they’re keeping their weapons sharp and at hand.”

Long nodded.

“What’s for dinner tonight?”

“Wild pig,” smiled Chen. “They wanted to argue with the hunting party.”

“Not too used to hunters, then.”

“Nope. Maybe all the smart ones took off when we arrived.”

“Smart, dumb, whatever… roast pig all tastes the same.”

The moon was already rising in the west, hanging enormous over the Mohaggers, and as sunset approached it was framed by reddish clouds. Blood red, thought Long, but kept the thought to himself.

As it began to grow darker, Beorhtwig approached.

“Captain, the wyverns are acting strange. They keep raising their heads and sniffing the air. They don’t look scared, I don’t think, but they’re nervous about something, or scent something unknown.”

“This happen before?”

“Not like this! Both of them are acting strange.”

“What do you think?”

“No idea; I’ve never seen them get this agitated before… and they’ve seen a full moon before, many times.”

“But they’ve never been on the shores of the Lake of Sarnath for a full moon,” mused Captain Long. “Sergeant Chen! We might be in for an interesting night… you and your six get some sleep, and I’ll handle guard duty with mine.

“Keep your weapons at hand.”

“Yessir,” said Chen, and went to spread the word.

Long turned back to Beorhtwig.

“You need anything from me?”

“Not now,” answered the other, “but no way of telling where this is going.”

“Keep me informed.”

“Yessir, I will.”

Captain Long walked over to the fire and doused it. It wasn’t so cold they couldn’t do without a fire, and the light would make them visible for kilometers to anything looking down. Like a ship from the moon.

A few hours later the moon was at zenith, glaring down on the campsite with harsh, silver light that sapped color from everything, painting the world in black and grey.

“Captain!”

It was Yafeu, the Zarite archer, known for his phenomenal eyesight.

“Some sort of mist is rising from the lake,” he called. “And there’s something up in the sky.”

Long looked up.

He couldn’t see anything, but suddenly he noticed the stars winking out: something black was moving across the heavens, hiding their light. He followed the blackness as it traveled across his field of view, flying toward the increasingly dense mists from the lake. They couldn’t see the lake at night, of course, or even the rock of Akurion that soared up out of the waters in daylight, but the mist was making it hard to see anything to the north at all, even the distant mountains and the night horizon.

A long, whistling shriek cut the night. The wyverns!

He ran toward them. Both wyverns on their feet, shuffling, wings folding and unfolding, heads sniffing the air.

Beorhtwig and Ginette were there, trying to calm them down.

“What is it?”

“Something in the sky!” shouted Ginette. “They’re getting angry at something!”

Chen’s six was up now, awakened by the noise. He’d been about to wake them anyway.

The blackness vanished into the mist, and Long strained his ears to hear what was happening.

He heard nothing. No, wait… there was something, just at the edge of his hearing… Singing? Crying? A high, shrill sound, drilling into his skull.

He shook his head to clear it, and the keening sliced into his thoughts, drowning them in a a jumble of light and sound and taste, sensations jumbled together in a maelstrom.

He couldn’t think, he couldn’t…

His feet! He was walking, shuffling toward the lake!

He tried to stop, but his body wouldn’t obey him.

It belonged to the moon creatures, calling him to them.

He strained, struggled, helplessly, until… another shriek cut through the fog in his brain.

The wyverns!

They shrieked again and again, driving the fog back, louder than the singing from the lake, giving him time to think.

He looked around.

Two or three troopers, the ones closest to the wyverns, were still, shaking their heads and trying to recover, but the rest shuffled north, toward the lake, mouth hanging open, hands drooping at their sides with weapons forgotten, eyes bulging, twitching left and right in search of escape, helpless.

“Rope! Use rope and tie their legs together!” he shouted to everyone, and tackled the nearest dazed trooper, knocking her over and quickly tying her ankles together with his rope belt. “Beorhtwig, Ginette! Bring the wyverns up, closer!”

He had no time to see what they did, and ran toward the next trooper. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Mahud, who had been near the wyverns, knock over another trooper and tie him up.

He heard stamping behind him. The wyverns were coming, shrieking as they came, driving the hideous song farther and farther away, and as they approached, more and more of the troopers stopped, suddenly in control of their bodies, collapsing where they stood.

He counted… his troopers, plus Beorhtwig and Ginette. Two missing. Who was missing?

Erden and Nafiz, both young swordsmen who had been on guard that night.

“Can you see anyone still walking?” he shouted, and the troopers who could turned to look into the tall grass, swaying back and forth in the breeze.

There was no one in sight.

About half an hour later the wyverns grew still, fell silent, and the sounds of the grassland at night filled the air. The insects, the frogs, a bird… the high-pitched piping of the moon creatures was gone.

And with it went Erden and Nafiz, gone without a trace.

* * *

“TT, got a sec?”

“Yeah, what’s up, Jake?”

“Walk with me a second, will you?”

TT fell in beside Jake as he walked down the vegetable field. It was after the evening meal, and the full moon painted the world in black and white. There was no one around to hear them.

“Nadeen and I have been talking,” he started. “Our plans have changed, now that she’s pregnant.”

“Yeah, I figured you had plans you hadn’t told us about. And getting pregnant changes a lot of things.”

“It wasn’t supposed to happen until some other things were done,” said Jake. “And it means we have to accelerate some things.”

“Like?”

“You’ve been a good friend to me, TT, and not just because we’re two guys from our world stuck here.”

“Yeah, I think we’re solid.”

Jake stopped.

“Can I ask you to look after Nadeen if anything happens to me?”

“Jake, you didn’t even have to ask,” said TT, sticking his hand out and clapping Jake on the shoulder with the other. “Of course I will, but let’s hope it never comes to that.”

“Thank you, TT. I hope it doesn’t, too, but you never know… After a few problems are cleaned up, there’ll be a lot of changes around here, and you’ll be right in the middle of all of them. I don’t want to go into details just yet—it’s just me and Nadeen right now—but maybe this will convince you I really trust you.”

He pulled two small, heavy items out of a bag and handed them over.

“That messenger from Chóng gave them to me yesterday. Took him a hell of a long time to find them. Or get them.”

“Holy shit, Jake! Two boxes!”

“.40-cal ammo, factory-fresh for your convenience.”

“A hundred rounds. Damn!”

“Now aren’t you glad you kept that pistol clean?”

“Jake, I… thanks, Jake. I owe you.”

“Consider it payment for services rendered, TT. And an advance, if needed.”

“Will do, Commander. Are there more where these came from?”

“Chóng said probably not, but I asked him to keep looking. Got some for myself, too. 9 mil.”

“Good. Let’s see those fuckers try another attack now. Might come as quite a surprise.”

Jake chuckled.

“As long as they don’t have any of their own,” he warned. “Chóng warned me that firearms have been showing up here and there. He says they’re doing what they can to buy, steal, or destroy them, but it’s an uphill battle.”

“But they trust us?”

“I think so. For now at least. And we have to keep it that way.”

“You plan on getting more for the captains, or the troops?”

“Not now. Maybe later,” said Jake. “I think that would piss the King right off, and considering all the things he says he did, I don’t want to piss off the King anytime soon. Or Mochizuki.”

“Yeah, good move.”

“Keep it to yourself, TT.”

“I will, Jake. And thanks for trusting me.”

“Good night, TT.”

“Good night, sir.”

Jake walked back to his quarters and joined Nadeen on the futons.

He reached down to lay his hand on her abdomen.

“You can’t feel anything yet, you silly man,” said Nadeen, placing her hand atop his.

“I know. But I like it here,” he said, circling her navel with his fingertip.

The bright moon shone in the window, illuminating the room and their futons.

“I talked to TT, and gave him the ammo,” he said. “He’s with us, but I asked him to wait until later for the whole story.”

“He doesn’t mind trusting us blind?”

“He’s a Marine. They always work blind; he’s used to it.”

“I trust your judgment,” she said, and snuggled closer.

* * *

The gong was sounding the alarm, and the fort boiled up like a beehive under attack.

Nadeen was first out the door, shouting for an update as she ran toward the wall, and Jake dashed after her only to skid to a stop.

The trooper in front of him was standing still, looking up.

He looked up, in the same direction.

Something huge.

Was it a bird? A wyvern?

God, it was enormous!

There was a man riding it, and if he was Jake’s height, that thing must be the size of a house!

Huge wings stretching out, gray scales flashing in the sun, a head that looked more like a horse than a bird… what the fuck?

“A shantak!” breathed the guard standing next to him. “We’re doomed!”

The aerial nightmare drew its wings in, pointing its hippocephalic head at the fort, and dove towards them.