Crusader

“Not much pomp for such auspicious circumstances,” J’anda said once the ceremony was concluded-which was announced by Odau Genner muttering to himself as he left the throne room, still red-faced and looking to be much out of sorts. “I would have expected more.”

“He killed the last King,” Cyrus said, looking at Longwell, who sat upon the throne with his fingers templed in front of him in a way that evoked a memory of Alaric at the table in the Council Chambers, “and they’re about to send every man they have into a war that’s likely to claim a high number, if not all of them. If they fail, their homeland will fall.” Cyrus cast J’anda a glance. “I’m surprised he got as much pomp as he did; I would have thought it would have been dispensed with in favor of riding out as quickly as possible.”

They rode out two days later, down the great man-made hill that Vernadam rested on. It was pleasant enough, Cyrus thought, a fall day back home by the weather, and yet near winter for the calendar. Reikonos must have had their first snow by now. The autumn will have brought storms along the plains near Sanctuary. Yet here I am, in this cool place. He rode quietly down the first switchback, relaxed upon the back of Windrider.

Part of the way down the next curve, Samwen Longwell came alongside him, his crown shining. “Here we go,” he said, no mirth in him, and nearly enough to no life as to be indistinguishable.

“Here we go,” Cyrus agreed. “You’re about to look on your lands as a King for the first time; I would try to put some sort of happy face on for your subjects, considering that with what we are up against, yours will likely be the one that they look to. Whether they take hope or sorrow from your countenance is entirely up to you, my friend, but a King seems more … disposed … to one rather than the other.”

Longwell did not answer him for a moment, as if pondering. “You are right, of course. But how do I … how do I shed this misery that falls on me?” His face contorted as Cyrus watched. “I think of what I did, and I weep for my soul; I am unworthy to stand before my ancestors after death, now. What I have done is the horror of all horrors.”

“Listen to me,” Cyrus said, and pulled Windrider’s reins so he stopped. “What you did is save your Kingdom. What you did was make the hardest choice of anyone I’ve ever met. He wouldn’t step aside, and you knew it. You made a sacrifice that few would have made-”

“You would have made it,” Longwell said, turning to look straight ahead. “In my place, I believe you would have done the same.” He flicked his gaze back to Cyrus, as though he were looking for approval. “You have had the courage to do things I would not have thought possible before.”

“There’s a far distance,” Cyrus said, “between standing on a bridge and knowing you’ll die and having to sacrifice the person you care for most in the world.” A flash ran through Cyrus’s mind-of the Fields of Paxis in the Realm of Death, of the rotting grass, and steps in the distance, of a god as tall as a building, of his threat and the movement of his hand, stirring toward Vara, her head bowed. “I couldn’t do what you did. I didn’t … do what you did. Thank the gods that you were the man in the place now, Samwen, because you made the choice I couldn’t, and hopefully your choice will redeem mine.”

They were quiet, then, on the way down the rest of the hill, Longwell seeming to try and reconcile the thoughts he’d been given. When they reached the bottom, the townsfolk were already turned out, and they saw a monarch who waved at them with pride, with confidence, and not a single hint-to Cyrus’s practiced eye, anyhow-of any threads of doubt.

Chapter 77

Vara

Day 141 of the Siege of Sanctuary

“The good news is that our plan is working,” Ryin said, his hushed voice still seeming to echo in the quiet Council Chambers. “The bad news is that our plan is working but not as well as we might have hoped.”

Alaric was a still statue-it might as well have been one in his chair for as little as he moved, Vara thought. His expression was dark, as though carved from stone, and he appeared not only weary but less expressive than usual. “Explain it to us.”

Ryin sighed. “I’ve run sorties from the nearby portals to scout convoys passing through the Plains of Perdamun. Their sentries have finally reached the point in the last week where it is no longer safe to hit them with a raiding party. I’m observing escorts of five hundred to a thousand soldiers marching along with each convoy, larger convoys now than there used to be, and spellcasters intermixed with them. I suspect they’re also using wizards and druids to teleport some of the richer convoys directly, even though that’s likely to tie up considerable amounts of their resources. Our raiding days have come to an end is what I’m telling you.” He looked around the table. “In addition, there appears to be no appreciable change in the numbers of the horde that surrounds us. All we’ve managed to do is pull more dark elves into the Plains of Perdamun.”

Alaric’s eyes flashed back and forth, assimilating this. “Vara?” he asked. “Have you heard anything from your sister?”

“Only to echo that the battle lines around Reikonos remain quiet,” Vara said, finding the words most disagreeable. “The only good news is that the humans are preparing for a major offensive in the coming weeks, after the New Year passes and the Winter Solstice has gone by. Perhaps that will relieve some of the pressure around us?”

“I have doubts about that,” Alaric breathed, as though he meant for them not to hear it. “The line remains unchanged for the elves as well, bottled up behind the River Perda, staring at their foes across the water. The bridges between Termina and Santir remain a ‘No Man’s Land,’ and I have my suspicions that King Danay will not find the courage to change that anytime soon, given his …” Alaric sighed, “… personnel challenges.”

“You mean the fact that any elven soldier killed can’t possibly be replaced?” Vaste asked-with his usual flair for the annoying, Vara thought.

“Yes,” Alaric said without a trace of amusement, “that was what I was referring to. Unless Danay finds himself in possession of a rather extreme amount of pluck, I wonder that they will prosecute this war further, putting themselves on the line to dubious purpose for the humans. Vengeance for Termina would seem to be his only motivation for going forward.”

“But if the Confederation and the Kingdom don’t work together,” Erith said, shaking her head, “it seems that the Sovereignty will eventually break them both.”

“Probably not the elves,” Vara said quietly. “Oh, they’ll glare at the dark elves across the river, certainly, but now that their army is massed, the Sovereign will have a devil of a time putting his troops across the Perda, and Danay knows that. The rest of Arkaria could well burn, and the Elven Kingdom would be able to sit apart from them, quite safe, all things considered, and simply wait out the war.”

“Until they all grew old and infirm and the Sovereign could simply march over the bridge and take the entire Kingdom without any sort of fight that didn’t involve a cane being smacked over someone’s head,” Vaste said.

“Yes,” Vara replied acidly. “Until then. But as that is several thousand years off, I very much doubt that is something we shall have to ponder too deeply in the immediate future.”

Alaric was unmoved, again, quiet for a piece. “The humans wait too long, then. By the time the Sovereign strengthens his grip here, in the Plains of Perdamun, he’ll have all the supplies he needs to deal a final, crushing blow to Reikonos. Without Reikonos, it seems likely that the Riverlands and Northlands will fragment and argue amongst themselves. At best, they could rally, but they would have a hard time defending against the dark elven onslaught. There are simply too few good spots to mount a defense of the Northlands or Riverlands. If Reikonos falls, so too does the best chance to face the dark elves in a decisive battle that could turn them back.”

“Except here,” Vara said, turning their heads. She shrugged when they looked at her. “A hundred thousand at least surrounding us, another fifty thousand or more spread out around the plains; that is no small host, and its loss or breaking would likely hamper the Sovereign’s war efforts.”

“Oh yes,” Vaste said, “his mysterious and seemingly unlimited army. How many soldiers does he have, anyway? Anyone?”

“At least one more,” Erith said with a smile. “He has more than anyone has been able to predict thus far. Who knows how many he has in reserve? One thing I can tell you …” She hesitated. “I probably shouldn’t, but