surely in Ryoto, plotting with theChikara Inkai. As Gracchus said, there would be no better time for Vespasian to kill theJin’Sai than now, hopefully before the Vigors mystics could imbue Tristan’s blood with spells that might match his own…
“Here we are,” Lucius announced, returning Vespasian to the issue at hand. “What say you, my liege? It goes well, don’t you think?”
The scene before them was amazing in its scope and efficiency. No other force on earth could accomplish so much so fast, Vespasian realized as he watched his legionnaires and mystics go about their unique labors.
Like the many other staging areas dotting the valley, this one was supervised by a tribune. Vespasian knew Antonius Tertia well, as they had served together on many campaigns. As the Lead Tribune of the Thirty-third Legion, Antonius had acquired a fearsome battle reputation, and like Lucius he was a legendary womanizer. Tall and broad, he wore a great red beard. Like the other legionnaires toiling under the hot Shashidan sun, he had stripped down to his waist, and his bare skin shone with the sweat of his labors. As the trio approached he did not look up, involved as he was in recording the latest tallies in a beeswax diptych.
Vespasian smiled. “Are you so greedy to collect Shashidan gold that you have no words for an old friend?” he chided the tribune.
Looking up from his book, Antonius smiled back and gave the three visitors a perfect salute.
“Indeed not, my liege!” he said robustly. “Your visit is an honor!”
After paying his respects to the empress and Lucius, Antonius gestured toward the amazing sight. “Impressive, is it not?” he asked. “All of this gold, ours for the taking!”
As the legionnaires harvested the gold by hand from the riverbeds and mountainsides, it was loaded onto horse-drawn carts. The six-horse teams then drew the gold toward larger wagons. The larger wagons measured ten meters long by five meters wide and were built of stout Rustannican oak with iron-braced floors. When filled to the brim, each cart carried about ten tons of pure gold. Then each cart was pulled by a team of six great beasts into the azure portal located at each staging area, where it was sent by way of the craft to Ellistium. There the cart was unloaded, and it and its beasts were returned to the valley by tribune mystics under the command of Flavius Maximus, Vespasian’s choice as Imperator Tempitatus.
Suddenly Vespasian heard a great noise and turned to look. The Bedevilers seem unusually ill-tempered today, he thought. Smiling, he watched the great beasts that stood harnessed to the larger carts, impatiently waiting as the carts were filled.
Bedevilers were massive creatures that had been conjured by thePon Q’tar to serve a variety of wartime purposes. Standing ten meters tall, each creature stood upon four huge cloven hooves. Their powerful legs allowed them to run swiftly if need be and to move great loads. They possessed dark, shaggy bodies that were stout and powerful, and they had thick, bull-like necks. Their wide heads were also bovine in nature, with long black horns and dark eyes set far apart. Another long, sharp horn meant for stabbing enemy troops and throwing them into the air extended from either side of the beasts’ pink snouts.
Bulls were revered in Rustannica for their strength, loyalty, and fertility, and sacrificing one to the Vagaries was considered a sacred rite. It was for those same qualities that thePon Q’tar chose bulls as the template for these creatures that served the mighty legions so well. Each Bedeviler carried a roofed wooden platform strapped to its wide back. Each platform could accommodate ten legionnaires or mystic tribunes at one time. Huge leather bridles adorned the Bedevilers’ heads, the reins leading back to the legionnaire controlling the great beast from the protection of the roofed platform.
Vespasian smiled as he watched the nearest team of Bedevilers snort and paw at the ground while they waited for their cart to be loaded. They could be impatient, ill-tempered beasts and quite difficult to control. Each Bedeviler had one mystic master who oversaw its training and use, and several lesser legionnaires who saw to its care and feeding. Aside from being the perfect beasts of burden, Bedevilers also provided excellent platforms from which legionnaires could hurl azure bolts or use the craft to shoot perfectly aimed arrows.
Their tough hides nearly impervious to any weapon other than one born of the craft, the beasts had been known to charge through Shashidan forces with abandon, causing havoc and crushing katsugai mosota by the scores in their wakes, thereby earning their names. If needed, they could be relied on to mow down trees as they cleared pathways for Vespasian’s foot soldiers. They were highly valuable tools of war and perfectly suited to the task of hauling the captured Shashidan gold toward the waiting portals. As he stood watching them, for the thousandth time Vespasian found himself glad that they were not servants of the Shashidan cohorts.
Again opening the diptych, Vespasian took another glance at the gold tally inscribed at the bottom of the single beeswax page. His legions had been at the task for but one day and half of the next, but the tonnage was already huge, most of it safely in Ellistium’s coffers and loyally guarded by Flavius Maximus and his home legions. Balancing his nation’s pecuniary needs against the greater objective, Vespasian made a fateful decision. He handed the diptych back to Lucius.
“I will permit the legionnaires to harvest gold for the rest of today and all of tomorrow,” Vespasian told Lucius. “When dawn rises the day after next, I want this entire army ready to move. Whatever gold has been sent home by then will simply have to suffice.”
“As you order, my liege,” Lucius answered. He gave his friend and emperor a wry smile. “May the First Tribune inquire as to our new destination?”
Vespasian thought somberly for a moment before answering.
“Order thePon Q’tar to prepare portal calculations that will transport our army onto the flat plains south of here, near where the Alarik again divides,” Vespasian answered. “From there we advance on Ryoto. The attack will be risky, but there might never again come such an excellent chance to kill all the Shashidan leaders and theJin’Sai at the same time.”
As Vespasian’s eyes again scanned the snowy peaks that so worried him, his expression darkened further.
“My heart tells me that Tristan is plotting with theInkai, ” he said softly. “Since the days that we were born, our meeting was meant to be. Let us finally make it so.”
CHAPTER XLVI
PULLING HER STRONG WINGS THROUGH THE EVENINGair, Sigrid soared eastward high above Eutracia. The night was clear, allowing her an excellent view of the ground below. Perhaps more than any other Minion, she was the one most eager to begin this fight. More important, she considered it her personal mission to ensure that Valda and the twenty-eight other members of the Night Witch patrol she once commanded had not died in vain. Our revenge will be sweet, she thought as her dark eyes scanned the Sippora River slipping by beneath her.
Despite her broken arm, soon after she reported back from the slaughter in Tanglewood she had begged Traax for command of another Night Witch group. Traax had agreed heartily, adding that although her group had perished, no one considered her personally responsible for the defeat. In fact, her service and bravery had been exemplary, he said. It was because of these qualities that she had been given the honor of leading this vastly important war party through the night. Although her fellow Minions saw her as a hero, Sigrid did not share that opinion. For her, this new command was a rare opportunity to redeem her honor, and she would sooner die than waste it.
Looking rearward, she saw her twenty-nine new Night Witches steadfastly following her. Rather than accept command of an established group, Sigrid had requested only Minion females whose specialized Night Witch training was still incomplete, so that she might mold them to her liking. After Traax granted her request, Sigrid hand-picked the twenty-nine who would become hers. Despite her injured arm, Sigrid had been training these women since the Tanglewood slaughter, and they were ready to serve. Sigrid had learned much from that fight, and in some ways her new group was superior to the one she lost. Their new war cry “Remember Tanglewood!” was heard each time her group took to the skies and went on patrol.
Show yourself, Khristos, she thought as the cool evening air rushed past her face. This time you will not find my warriors to be such easy prey.
Half the entire Minion force followed her lead, six of them carrying a litter bearing Shailiha, Faegan, and Traax. Determined never to make the same mistake again, Shailiha ordered that Aeolus, Duvessa, Sister Adrian,
