seeing you again, on a purely personal level of course, but like the rest of us, he’s anxious for news too.”
“I’ve plenty of that, but I must find Sathina first and bring her with me.”
Kiva smiled. “She’s in there already. Our scouts saw you a couple of hours ago down in the valley, so she’s had plenty of time to get ready.”
A moment later they were across the open space and entering the heavy stone building adorned with flags. Two men wearing chain mail over green tunics snapped to attention on either side of the door, their spears bearing the raven flag. Caerdin gave them a nod as the two entered.
Inside would’ve seemed chaos to anyone else, but this was a chaos that had been organised by Sarios and every person moving in the building had a purpose and a destination. No goods, personnel or space was wasted in Hadrus. The crowd of clerks moved around like a human sea, parting respectfully as they reached the General and the Prefect. A looming figure appeared from the flow and slapped his hands heavily down on Tythias’ shoulders.
“Tythias, you old goat. You made it then?”
The bulky figure of Athas presented a cataract around which the stream of life flowed. Tythias grinned at him. “A few minor scrapes… nothing else.”
Kiva ushered them both through a door on the left and into a large room with a huge wooden table in the centre, upon which were spread maps, diagrams, lists and books. The mercenaries who’d escaped from Isera with the prisoners had since become the command party of the army at Hadrus and Mercurias and Brendan stood in their full paraphernalia with wolf-pelt cloaks and bearing the insignia of captains. Waiting for the new arrival alongside them was Sathina in a new, stunning blue dress and behind her stood Marco, still pale and thin, but alive and smiling. And of course Darius. If the change in Kiva had been gradual during the time they’d been in Hadrus, the change in the young prisoner from Isera had been almost instant. Even en route, before they’d reached their haven, Athas had been at work with the island’s blacksmiths every time the column had stopped for the night. The result had been armour of the old Imperial style, with a decorative breastplate etched with images of heroic deeds and mythical figures, greaves and vambraces of embossed bronze and protective edged leather straps on the shoulders and thighs. He looked every inch the living embodiment of the ancient glorious statues of victorious Emperors and, despite his new status, he wore the pelt shoulder cloak of the Wolves to honour those men who’d given their lives for his. There had been no physical change in the young man. He’d not changed his hair or shaved off his beard and yet, despite this he seemed every inch the Emperor to the men at Hadrus. He had only to walk out into the square and people would fall to their knees — a trait, as Darius had confided in the general, that was beginning to annoy him. Strangely there had been no need for ceremony; Kiva had discussed it with Sarios and on the second morning of the journey they had gathered everyone together and announced their intention to defy Velutio and put a new Emperor on the throne. Darius had stepped forward with them, dressed in his old hunting leathers and the islanders and mercenaries had uniformly bowed without comment. Perhaps Sarios had primed them, but more likely their faith and trust in their leaders left them in no doubt that this was the right course. There would certainly be no love lost for Velutio. Every man present had either fought him or been imprisoned by him.
And there he stood, the Emperor in waiting with his commanders. Kiva smiled once more at the sight as he walked around the table and took his place beside his new lord.
Without the prompting he’d needed from Kiva only a month before, Darius leaned forward and placed his hands firmly on the edge of the table as he addressed Tythias.
“What news, Prefect?”
The one armed, one eyed ex mercenary, though every bit the proper soldier, was in company with whom he was tremendously close and grinned widely at the Emperor to be.
“Kiva’s been teaching you to be far too formal, highness.”
Darius smiled. “Got to practice, Tythias. I keep forgetting when I’m outside. One of the weavers saw me beheading weeds with a stick yesterday and the general here grilled me for hours over it.”
Ignoring the scowl that crossed Caerdin’s face, Tythias leaned back against the wall.
“There’s good news and there’s bad news, gentlemen. On the good side, I found Filus and Sithis and their units. They were already heading back toward Velutio; apparently things are getting a little hairy out west. Alongside the other units we were looking for, we hooked up with a couple of the lords who still favour you, so there should be six or seven thousand men arriving in the next few days, and about three hundred of them are veteran units we know well. The rest are just guards and men at arms for the lords, but they’re at least partially trained, if not tested. Some of them are cavalry and we’ve got a couple of units of archers.” He sighed. “Other Lords we saw were non-committal though. They’re no great lovers of Velutio, but they’re not about to stand up against him while our army remains up here, hidden in the mountains. I think a show of arms down on the plains would bring a number of other lords flocking to the banner, but I can’t say I blame them for wanting to protect their land where they are now.”
Kiva nodded thoughtfully. “And the bad news?”
“The bad news,” Tythias replied, drawing a deep breath, “is that Velutio’s heard about you now. He knows Caerdin and the Wolves are supporting what he calls a ‘pretender-Emperor’ and he’s offering a rather large reward for news of the army’s location. A number of the lords that might have swung our way are remaining resolutely his. He’s threatening people you see?”
Kiva growled. “That man is nothing but bad news.”
“Worse than that to some” Tythias said sadly. “We’d been to see Lord Palio and he was busy marshalling his men to march to Hadrus when Velutio turned up on his doorstep. He crucified every fifth man and, when Palio wouldn’t give him our location, had him quartered and then burned in his own courtyard. We were there at the time. That Sabian may be Velutio’s but damn I wish he was working for us. We’d left them involved in a battle out to the west when we went to Palio, but still they almost beat us there. How he managed that I’ll never know.”
“Sabian crucified and burned people?” Darius’ voice quavered. “I can’t believe that.”
Tythias shook his head sadly. “He didn’t give the orders, but he didn’t walk away from it either. He’s Velutio’s chief officer and he’s deep in his job now. Just be grateful he’s out west and not over here.”
The table fell silent for a moment until Kiva cleared his throat. “Well, if we get seven thousand in a few days, we’ve got just less than two here already. We’ve got a small unit at Munda watching the place and every now and then a unit looking for us appears there. With those odd stragglers we should number around ten thousand in a few weeks when we’re ready to start moving. It’s not too bad, but it could be better. Velutio’s got twice that without calling up all his various allies, so I reckon he can count on outnumbering us around three to one at least. The only thing we’ve got going for us is the fact that all our people are fighting for a cause, while theirs are fighting because they have to. I need more information on the makeup of their forces and their plans before I can come up with any kind of coherent strategy.”
He leaned forward and focused on Tythias. “Are any of the allies coming to join us the sort we can send in amongst them to spy for us?”
Tythias shook his head. “We avoided anyone of dubious loyalty and all the various independents are waiting to see what happens. I’m afraid you’ll have to wait on Prince Ashar and his men for any more info. It’s a bit of a bastard. We’ve watched his army in several engagements, but we’ve always had to stay a bit out of the way. The moment we’re noticed, we’re screwed.”
Kiva nodded and turned to Darius. “I think we need to make a point. I need to be here to oversee things with Sarios and, to be honest, being in the saddle at the moment is incredibly uncomfortable to me. I think, though, that we need you and a colour party to go out and visit a few of these fence-sitters. Next time the Prefect rides out, you need to take Athas and Brendan and a hundred of the best men and go with them.”
Darius blinked and Tythias started making opposing motions with his hands, but Kiva leaned further forward and pointed. “You’re going to
He turned to Sathina. “I’m sorry, and I know you’ve been looking forward to seeing Tythias again, but this is too important and at least he’s not going to be heading into disputed areas this time.”
Sathina nodded placidly. ”General, I’m as much a part of this now as any of your men. I’d be stupid to let my personal feelings get in the way.”
The general and the innkeeper’s girl watched each other for the moment and then both nodded, but Tythias
