reason to live.
Greyfel s halted at the extreme range of the short bow favored by the Marena Dimura. He laid flights of arrows into the ambush area. Shrieks and curses responded.
The frustrated ambushers rose to loose their own shafts.
That made the Itaskians’ work easier.
Those ambushers stil able to do so ran.
The Itaskians found eight wounded men. They recovered their arrows, left seven dead to their more fortunate brothers. They took one youth along for questioning. His wound was not life-threatening. He was not nearly as tough as he imagined.
Watching Babeltausque booby-trap corpses, Greyfel s said, “Sorcerer, I’m developing a whole new appreciation of you. I may give you al of my bastard sisters.”
“Mayenne wil be sufficient, Your Grace.” Then greed reared up. “Though Jondel e would make Mayenne a fine companion.”
Greyfel s laughed. “Wicked man. But be cautious with Jondel e. She is insane.”
The party smashed three more ambushes. Babeltausque’s stock soared. Years of maltreatment and disdain went by the wayside. Soldiers tended to give respect to those who saved their asses.
Babeltausque was no empire destroyer but he was handy on the kil ing ground. That carried plenty of weight with the sloggers.
The prisoner was worthless. He had no idea why the forest people were active again. He did what his father told him.
The Itaskians left him alive but in horrible pain. Whoever tried to help would regret his empathy. Babeltausque included a nasty booby trap.
...
Twelve days. Stil no sign of Josiah. And no word from Wolf. Things were fal ing apart. Gales’s disappearance had shaken the garrison. He had been more important than Inger had imagined. Once they suspected that the Colonel was not coming back the native garrison began to evaporate. Changes for the worse were evident daily.
Those regiments that had remained loyal soon became paper tigers.
The vanishing soldiers were not shifting al egiance.
They were just leaving.
Inger had no reliable intel igence about what was going on outside Vorgreberg. It did seem that the pretender’s soldiers were deserting, too.
The nobility began abandoning Vorgreberg, finding excuses to return to their holdings. They did not want to get crushed in the coming col apse.
Inger knew she needed to make a show of strength. But she had none to show. Her enemies had brought her to the brink by walking away or by ignoring her.
Then came the six deserters from Damhorst, four of them injured. They had lost one on the way. They had hurt the bandits back.
Bandits. There had been no banditry when Bragi was king.
The lead sergeant informed Inger that, “The Duke and a bigger band are behind us. He means to disguise himself as an archer. The sorcerer wil be with him.”
“Whitcomb Innsman, isn’t it?”
“Your Majesty’s memory is excel ent. It’s been years.”
“It is good. This time, though, I was told before you came in.
I need to know my cousin’s real situation. What did he leave behind? Can he count on help if I ambush him?” That startled the soldier. Evidently no one had considered the possibility that she would try to turn things around herself.
Excel ent.
“Innsman, your situation won’t improve much here.”
“It’l be better than it was.” He described increasingly erratic and ugly behavior by the Duke. Nothing was ever his fault.
He was not wel , and had become a monster toward those Kaveliners within his power. He abused their younger teen daughters.
“Surely you exaggerate.”
She knew that was true, though. It was no secret inside the family.
“Believe what you please, Majesty.”
“Forget it. Find yourselves places in the barracks. And ask Dr. Wachtel to treat your injuries. He has plenty of time.” Inger rested her head in her hands. It just got worse. She was doomed. She had only a handful of men, too few to succeed here and not enough to manage an escape. While Dane kept on making sure that Itaskians were hated as much as possible.
This kingdom was insane. It turned good people bad and bad people worse. It ate them al . Then it sucked in more.
General Liakopulos may have demonstrated a burst of genius by escaping. If he was not lying in a shal ow grave somewhere.
This was al Michael Trebilcock’s fault.
She had no evidence. Not so much as a rumor. But she was ready to bet her soul that Trebilcock was out there tugging strings.
There was some comfort in being able to blame an invisible external devil for al one’s woes.
...
A blunted arrow struck Dane of Greyfel s’ helmet as his purported deserters entered Castle Krief. The soldiers laid down their arms before their Duke finished col apsing. They had no skin in the game.
Babeltausque revealed himself immediately. He had failed to detect the ambush. Inger’s men had not given it away. There would be no sweet Mayenne cunny now.
There might be no getting back home at al .
Babeltausque did not need to indulge in the formal, scientific astrology necessary to predict the future. With Greyfel s imprisoned, the man’s fol owing would disappear.
His fever dream was dead. Once this news escaped Kavelin the Greyfel s family would cease to matter in political equations.
Babeltausque, hands bound, feared there would be no live Itaskians in Kavelin come New Years.
Chaos would take complete charge.
...
Inger intercepted the sorcerer before he could be shoved into a cel . “Remove his gag, please.”
The soldiers were her last Wesson loyalists. They knew what Babeltausque was. They thought Inger touched for not having him kil ed right away. But they fol owed instructions.
Inger looked Babeltausque in the eye. “You know how grim my situation is. Our situation, if you include Dane.” The sorcerer nodded.
“Can you abandon him? Can you come over to me?” Babeltausque nodded repeatedly.
“Unless you’re better than I think we’re likely to get run out of Kavelin. If we’re lucky. If they let us go. You’d have to explain yourself back home.”
“As would you.”
“I no longer care. I’m not ready to run yet, though. I have a little fight left. I’d have more than a little if I had your help.” The sorcerer nodded some more.
“I’l work you harder than Dane ever did. You’l be a lot more than a pet astrologer.”
Babeltausque went slightly grey. “At last. An opportunity to make use of my talents.”
The soldiers snickered.
Inger said, “Turn him loose.”
They did so with obvious reluctance.
She told them, “If he becomes a problem you can say you told me so while you’re roasting him. Sorcerer.
