Antiagon Fire

71

On Mardi, the weather held, as did the wind, but Captain Sario remained distant, although by Meredi afternoon, his occasional comments and responses to Quaeryt were less clipped and almost pleasant at times. Quaeryt found himself pacing the deck on the sterncastle, searching for sails and listening, but all that the lookout had sighted were two fishing vessels and a beaten-up Ferran trader with what Sario called a “bastard rig.” He was again able to hold full shields, if not for so long as he would have liked, and his headache had vanished, as had the intermittent flashes that had disrupted his eyesight.

“You always pace like that, Commander?” asked the captain.

“Not when I’m riding,” returned Quaeryt with a smile, not that he felt like smiling, worrying as he did about Vaelora and Eleventh Regiment and what had likely happened to Ephra, Kephria, and possibly Geusyn.

Sario frowned, then opened his mouth, as if to speak, then closed it as the lookout called from above.

“Sail ho! Antiagon warship, flying a battle ensign.”

Sario looked to Quaeryt. “You want a closing course again?”

“If you would.”

Once the captain called out the orders to the helmsman, he turned to Quaeryt. “Are you going to sink this one, too?” asked Sario.

“If we can. It’s likely to have another imager aboard and Antiagon Fire.”

“Why? Haven’t you won?”

“Not until Aliaro’s imagers are all dead.”

“That won’t bring your wife back.”

“No … it won’t, and I can hope she’s survived … but I also have to answer to her brother. What would you do?”

“You don’t think he’d be reasonable?”

“After his older sister died in Liantiago and Aliaro barely acknowledged it?” asked Quaeryt dryly. “Or the dead daughter she tried to give birth to?”

“Oh…” Sario’s voice dropped off for a moment. “You’re close to him.”

“At times.” When he wishes it. “He tries to be fair, and from what I’ve seen of the other rulers in Lydar, he does a much better job of it.”

“Even those in Khel?”

“The High Council seems fair enough, but after the Red Death and the Bovarian depredations, Khel is too weak to stand alone. Bhayar has offered terms to the High Council. They’re considering them.”

“What sort of terms?” asked Sario warily.

“He’s trying to work out a way to let the Council handle local matters while having the same laws and tariffs as in all the rest of Lydar.” Strictly speaking, that wasn’t quite true. That was what Quaeryt and Vaelora were working toward.

“Why do they get more favorable terms?”

“Well … they didn’t attack Telaryn the way Kharst did, and they didn’t send troops to support Kharst against Telaryn, and they didn’t attack Telaryn ships that weren’t bothering them … among other things.”

“Are those things true?”

“Every last one of them. We fought Antiagon troopers and their Antiagon Fire when we marched up the Aluse to take Variana. When the Montagne was carrying Bhayar’s sister to Khel as an envoy, Antiagon warships attacked.”

“That was not wise,” temporized Sario, “but…”

“Should we have invaded and destroyed much of Liantiago on that basis?” Quaeryt offered a sad smile and a shrug. “We did it not because of those provocations but because those provocations indicated that there would always be fights and conflicts so long as Antiago and Telaryn were separate.”

“The worst of acts are often justified by the best of reasons.”

“They are,” agreed Quaeryt. “Sometimes those reasons are right. Sometimes they are wrong. We often live to see where they were wrong. We seldom live to see where they were right.” He turned and ordered, image-projecting his voice, “Undercaptains on deck!”

As usual, Zhelan was the first to appear. “Another Antiagon, sir?”

“That’s what the lookout reports-flying a battle ensign.”

“You think they’ll attack?”

“If we raise a concealment. If we don’t, they’ll likely try to board, and I’d rather not deal with them at close quarters. Imaging isn’t terribly effective against cannon.” Quaeryt paused. Was that the reason why the Antiagon ships were so effective? Cannon at long range, and imaging and Antiagon Fire up close? It certainly fit in with the pattern of power he’d observed in Antiago-demand absolute obedience and destroy anyone who failed to obey. And that pattern made sense, in a way, for a land that was not all that wealthy.

“Sir?” pressed Zhelan.

“Sorry. I was thinking.” Quaeryt glanced around as the undercaptains formed up.

When they were all there, including Elsior, he began to speak. “There’s another Antiagon warship headed toward us … flying a battle ensign. We’ll handle this in the same way as we did the last one. Just stand by for the moment.”

“Yes, sir.”

When the Antiagon was still barely visible from the deck, Quaeryt turned. “A concealment shield, if you would, Horan.”

“Yes, sir.”

Quaeryt had decided to see how the Antiagon responded to the concealment and the shields before making a final decision as to what to do with the warship. So he-and the captain and the imager undercaptains-watched and waited.

As in the case of the other Antiagon warships, the oncoming vessel continued directly toward the Zephyr until only a few hundred yards separated them. At that point, the ship began to turn to bring its guns to bear, and a huge fireball exploded against Horan’s shields, with such force that the undercaptain staggered, even though his shields were linked to the Zephyr itself.

“Lhandor! Shields!”

“Yes, sir! Shields in place.”

“Horan … release your shields. Khalis, image away the stem of the Antiagon. Now!”

Almost simultaneously, the first seven or eight yards of the attacker’s bow vanished, and another massive fireball flared against Lhandor’s shields.

As the stricken vessel nosed into the swells and shuddered to a halt, without a single gun firing, thankfully, Quaeryt imaged out a chunk of the hull midships. He didn’t even feel light-headed.

Another firebolt, far smaller than the first or second, splashed against Lhandor’s shields.

Then Quaeryt could see crew members jumping off the waterlogged vessel. Some were caught in midair as the ship exploded with such violence that debris rained down from Lhandor’s shields, and the Pharsi undercaptain turned pale.

Quaeryt immediately extended his own shields. “Lhandor … you can release shields.” He just hoped he didn’t have to weather another explosion, but he continued to hold the shields, even as he began to feel light-headed, until he was certain that there were no hidden survivors who might be imagers.

Belatedly, he also realized why the Antiagons tended to attack without quarter-with all that they carried, they were also more than vulnerable, unless they could force another ship to surrender by pounding it with guns from a distance. But why didn’t anyone consider that?

The answer was strangely obvious when he thought about it. Neither Bovaria nor Telaryn, nor Tilbor, when it had been ruled by the Khanar, had ever built a fleet because they were not trading powers, and the High Council of Khel probably hadn’t had the resources to do so.

“Imagers. Stand down.”

After another quint passed with no sign of other vessels, Quaeryt dismissed the undercaptains.

“Do you think we’ll see more Antiagons?” asked Zhelan.

“I have no idea,” Quaeryt admitted. “Over the past months, we’ve taken care of more than a few warships, but I have no idea how many the autarchs had. Once we get to Kephria, I hope we won’t have to worry about that anymore.”

“Someone will,” predicted Zhelan.

“For a while. What exactly will they do? I doubt they usually carry imagers, and they’ll eventually have to port somewhere. If every port in Lydar belongs to Bhayar…”

“They’ll surrender or become pirates.”

“Most of those left will likely surrender, especially if Bhayar grants them a pardon if they serve him.” And he should, since he really doesn’t have a fleet.

“You think he should?”

“We’re not hunting down defeated Bovarian troopers or Antiagon troopers. I don’t see the difference, and he’ll get some serviceable warships.”

“It might work,” Zhelan grudged, before easing away from Quaeryt.

After several moments Sario eased closer to the commander. “The captains of those ships, they would like to remain captains. They will hear what you have done here. If Lord Bhayar grants a pardon, most will serve him.”

“I would hope so.” Quaeryt was hoping that Bhayar would follow his advice, or that he’d suggest something along those lines without Quaeryt even mentioning it … and that the Antiagon captains would do as Sario predicted.

“Did you notice, Captain, that we did nothing until we were attacked?” Quaeryt asked gently.

“I saw that.” Sario shook his head. “Why did they do that?”

“Because they know that we are a threat to everything they believe in.” Quaeryt gestured to the undercaptains. “In Liantiago, imagers live in buildings lined with metal. Each imager is apprenticed to an older imager, and they never left those buildings except to enforce the will of the Autarch. My undercaptains have a few more rules than the other undercaptains, but they have been able to do what the others do.” And you’re fighting as much to keep those comparative freedoms as for Bhayar.

“But will they have those freedoms once Lord Bhayar rules all?”

“That is part of what we seek, and the way I have tried to train them makes that far more likely.”

For a long moment the captain did not speak. Finally, he said, “Then you are the one that Aliaro should have feared, not Lord Bhayar.”

Quaeryt shook his head. “Without Lord Bhayar, this would not have happened.”

“From what I have seen and from what my crew has overheard, without you Lord Bhayar would not be feared and Rex Kharst would rule much of Lydar.”

Quaeryt laughed softly. “All things great or terrible come from more than one man, or even one group of men, no matter what the scholars say or write.” And the only question is whether Bhayar remembers this … except that it’s your job-and Vaelora’s-to make him remember. He tried not to think about how things would be if something had happened to her.

Before long, he was again pacing the deck and looking to the northeast, as if his glances and pacing could speed the Zephyr even more swiftly toward a destination he feared for as much as he hoped to see before long.