The Lords Of The Crimson River

Chapter 20

The news of King Fedron's invasion nearly drove out of Blade's mind another question he'd been asking himself. The man shouting from the walls of Castle Muras had hinted that the Faissans knew the invaders were coming and the route they were using. Was this so? If it was, how did they learn? Blade considered the possibility of spies among Duke Cyron's men. It was an ugly thought.

He had no chance to mention it until breakfast the next morning. All they had was salt beef boiled with something like rotten horseradish, but he was too hungry to care. When his stomach was quiet, he raised the question with Alsin and Chenosh. He was glad Duke Padro had gone to bed, or he couldn't have spoken so freely. Padro could be trusted, but what about all his men?

«None of the four Dukes we fought would have hired spies in Cyron's household beforehand,» said Alsin. «Padro and Raskod were too lazy. Garon trusted us, although he did not like us. Duke Klaman trusted no one, but preferred to rely on the strength of his walls and fighting Lords. He would have considered it cowardly to waste money on spies.»

Blade hoped Alsin's judgment of their four opponents was correct, but even if it was, that didn't eliminate the danger. «There are Orric's friends, and there may be others who have some grievance against Cyron we can't even guess. Could any of them have given the information to Klaman, just out of hatred of Cyron?»

Alsin and Chenosh seemed ready to fall asleep in their chairs. They'd been driving themselves as hard as Blade, and he hadn't slept for thirty-six hours. «I realize we'll have to ask a few questions around Castle Muras,» Blade added gently. «But I think those questions ought to be asked as soon as possible.» He poured out some more wine for the other men, but none for himself. If he drank another cup, he too was going to be ready to doze off. «Now, Chenosh, tell me how you and Duke Padro came to our rescue.»

Chenosh seemed to wake up at the chance to tell of his day's fighting. «It was really Duke Padro's idea,» he began. «As soon as we heard where the Faissan horses were, he came to me. He said he knew of a sandbar in the river within easy bowshot of the horses. With the river this low, the water would be only knee-deep at most. If we crossed the river at the nearest ford, we could move down the far bank. Then it would be an easy swim to the bar.»

«How did he know of the bar?» said Alsin.

Chenosh grinned. «He said he'd once had a lover from among the Lords of Klaman's household. They used to meet on the sandbar.»

So the archers and a handful of Gualdar's Lords slipped across the river and marched south. Alsin kept a stony-faced silence as Chenosh told of this. Blade knew he must have argued with the young Lord, trying to persuade him against risking his life in such a gamble, but stopped short of provoking a quarrel.

«We came to the place nearest the sandbar. We only had to swim about fifty paces. Most of our men could do that. Those who couldn't, held on to the leather bags of oiled fire wads. They floated well. The archers greased their bows beforehand, and put their bowstrings in their caps.»

They'd reached the sandbar without any difficulty, without even being noticed by the Faissans. «All their eyes seemed turned toward you and your men, Blade. So the archers strung their bows, and each took aim at a horse. Padro and I gave strict orders that they should do this. Archers are unlordly, and some are lawless as well. Then they started shooting, and the rest you saw and heard for yourself.»

Blade nodded. «You and Padro saved us, and perhaps the whole battle. Well done, both of you.»

«Yes,» said Alsin. «But you and Padro defied me. Also, you might have driven the Faissans back into Castle Muras if Blade hadn't seen so quickly what he had to do. You needn't think you're ready for a place in the front of the battle just because of today's work.»

Chenosh looked angry. Blade headed him off by asking Alsin for an account of his day's work. The Marshal was as proud of his work as Chenosh was of his, and took much longer to tell about it. Blade was particularly interested to learn that the Feathered Ones were no use in a battle of this size. Only the combat-trained ones had been taken along, and most of these either went mad and attacked their own people or simply ran off and disappeared, when they weren't trampled to death under the horses' hooves. Alsin was annoyed at this but not much surprised-he saw no reason to assume that a battle with more than a thousand Lords in it would be anything like a battle with no more than two hundred. Blade was glad to know Alsin was thinking ahead this way.

By the time Alsin was finished, Blade was barely awake enough to congratulate him. He was never sure quite how he made his way to the bed, where he slept right through the rest of the day.

Alsin immediately began to try to determine how Duke Klaman had learned of the approach of Nainan's army. He questioned scores of men, imprisoned dozens, and even tortured a few. All he could learn was what he and Blade already knew.

«I begin to think that whoever knew the answers has slipped through our fingers,» he said after three days. «Perhaps he is dead, or perhaps he has fled beyond our reach.»

«Or perhaps he is refusing to answer even in the face of torture, because he knows he'll be rewarded,» said Blade grimly.

«Who would reward him?»

«King Fedron,» said Blade. «He at least must have laid his plans sometime ago. I think those plans included putting spies among the Dukes of the land he hopes to conquer.»

Alsin looked uneasy. «Blade, I think you are starting at shadows.»

«Do you? Well, you may think that if you wish, but guard your back while you do so. Meanwhile, Duke Cyron will have returned to Nainan by now. I'm going to ride back to Castle Ranit and lay this matter before him. I want to see if he says I am starting at shadows.»

Cyron didn't think Blade was starting at shadows. He also didn't think there was much to be done about it, even if Blade was right.

«I am not being careless or foolish, either,» he added. «So do not say that I am, at least until you have heard me out.» Under other circumstances, Blade would have been amused to see the old Duke justifying himself to the «outland» Lord. Obviously Blade was now an ally, even a trusted adviser, and not a pawn.

«We could not hunt down those enemies easily, perhaps not at all. Certainly we could not hunt them down without searching each of the four Duchies we have won to our cause. Such a search would cost time and gold, spread terror, and shed blood. It could make enemies where they did not exist before. In the end, matters might become worse rather than better.»

Blade had to admit the wisdom of that argument, but wasn't going to give up. «At least take some care for yourself and Miera. I think you should pull at least part of the army back from Castle Muras to guard Castle Ranit,»

«We have enough men here to hold Ranit against any surprise attack,» Cyron replied. «If King Fedron sends an army against us, there will be more than enough warning of its coming. Until then, it is better to keep our Lords gathered at Muras, in one place, under one Captain, ready to move as one body.»

That also made a certain amount of sense, but not enough for Blade. He still thought Cyron was running foolish risks. He didn't say that, though, for fear that Cyron would think he was asking him to appear cowardly. Then the Duke would turn a completely deaf ear to his arguments on everything, for days or even weeks.

Blade decided instead to try working on Cyron through Miera.

He found her nearly as deaf to what he considered reason as her grandfather. It didn't help matters that she was also pregnant.

«If you did not put the child into me on our wedding night, it could not have been many nights afterward,» she said with a giggle. «I do not know if I should hope your loins remain so strong or not. If they do, there will be many fine children to rebuild the House of Nainan. But I should have to bear all of them. I know I should rejoice in the idea like a proper woman, but-«

Blade ran a hand down her bare back and gently patted her buttocks. «You're as proper a woman as any man could wish, and if I asked for more, I'd be a fool.» Why should she look forward to bearing me seven or eight children, then dying in childbirth at the age of thirty?

«Let us take the children one at a time, as the Fathers send them to us. Let us also finish talking about what I asked you. Will you help your grandfather understand that Castle Ranit is too weakly defended?»

«Too weakly for your peace of mind, perhaps. But if it is strong enough for my grandfather, he will not change his mind. Not even if I asked him, and I will not.»

Blade sat up with a jerk. «Why? Miera, this is-«

«It is nothing less than my lordly duty, to avoid seeming weak and fearful. I must do this, or I could be marking our child. Would you have him grow up a coward because I could not sleep without guards outside my door? You do not understand how such things look, through a woman's eyes.» She laid her head against his chest so that her silky red hair brushed his stomach.

«No.» said Blade with a sigh. «I suppose I do not.» Nor do I understand as much about what it is to be «lordly» as I thought I did.

Miera moved against him, more insistently. He decided it was time to forget about lurking dangers, at least for tonight.

If Blade couldn't save Cyron and Miera from their own stubbornness, he was determined to save Cheeky. So the Feathered One was perched on the saddle in front of him the next morning as he rode over the drawbridge. Miera waved her scarf to him from the keep window, then he gave his mount its head.

Alsin had set up a system of relay posts running all the way from Castle Ranit to the borders of the Duchy of Faissa. By changing horses at each post, a strong rider could cover what was normally a five-day ride in a single day. Blade compromised, changing horses about halfway. He spent the night at an inn, and reached Castle Muras about midafternoon of the next day.

He knew something was wrong almost the moment he rode through the gate. Each man he passed looked intently at him, then quickly looked away, as if afraid Blade would read his face. In the stable it was the same. He also saw a totally exhausted horse with Cyron's brand on it, standing in the stall next to his.

«Would someone please tell me what happened?» he snapped. «Has my face turned purple or something?» He spoke sharply, to drive away the cold doubts clutching at him.

No one answered. Everyone seemed more reluctant than before to meet his eyes. Then he saw a familiar figure silhouetted against the door of the stable. Chenosh stepped forward, and Blade saw that his eyes were red and his face drawn and gray. The doubts were suddenly even more chilling.

«Chenosh, what-?»

«Blade-my grandfather is dead. Murdered. It was yesterday morning, shortly after you left Nainan. A messenger from the castle rode straight through to get here with the news.»

«What about Miera?»

«She-she fought the murderer. She-she's hurt, and may not live.»

Blade's legs held him up as far as a bench by the door. Then he sat down and swallowed hard. «All right, Chenosh. Tell me.»

«It was yesterday morning…»