from day to day, without having to worry about the schemes of men.
He reached out to touch her hair. “Trella, we don’t have to stay here.
We can still leave anytime. There are other villages, other lands, and we’ve enough gold.” When she said nothing, he went on. “Isn’t that better than staying here and risking all, fighting the barbarians and whatever will come afterward?”
“You must choose for both of us. My choice is already made, and I will follow you as long as you want me.”
Esk kar had a flash of insight. Trella would accept a lesser existence as his woman, traveling the roads in search of a new life, if that were all he could offer.
He sighed. “We’ll stay, and we’ll fight. Now, tell me what I must do.”
“I’ve watched you closely, Esk kar, and I’ve learned much from you. But now it’s time to make new plans. The men are training well. The wall grows every day, and your commanders have settled into their roles. Watching you train, I see you’ve improved your strength and skills. Now we should show Orak a different captain of the guard.”
“And how will we do that, wife?”
“I think you should leave Orak for a while. I have thought much about this.” She sat up and poured more water into his glass.
“Which of your commanders is the most important to you right now?” she asked.
“Sisuthros is the most important. He has the quickest wits, and I’ve given him the most responsibility.”
“No, I think not. I say Bantor is the most important because he deals every day with a multitude of people, and he can speak for you to them.
Also, he’s slower of thought, and he knows that you’ve been patient with him, so he is the most loyal. But you’ll lose that loyalty if you don’t spend more time with him and make sure he gets the respect he deserves.”
“You may be right about his loyalty, although I would have chosen Gatus as the most loyal.”
“Gatus is a good man, and like an uncle to me, but now he merely trains the men, and there are many here who could do that. Think of Jalen, who wants only to fight and will be loyal to you if you let him gain his victories.”
Esk kar considered her words, seeing his men in a different light. “And Sisuthros? What of him?”
“Sisuthros is the most dangerous to you because he’s the one the Families will turn to when they want you removed. Already Corio and some of the others are more comfortable with him than you. And that is something we must change. Remember, he hasn’t killed any of them, nor does he travel about Orak with armed guards. And remember, too, that thoughts of Drigo’s fate are never far from their minds. Sisuthros has spoken to Caldor at least once that I know of. So when you leave, you should take Sisuthros with you.”
“How do you know so much about Sisuthros and Corio and their affairs?”
“For the last month, I’ve met each day with dozens of women, slaves as well as wives and daughters. I’ve given copper coins to those in need and befriended others. Because of you, there is respect for me, and now they come to me for advice or assistance or just to talk. Women are everywhere, and men like Caldor don’t even notice them. For those who bring me information, there’s a copper coin or whatever they need. Many of our servants have given me good information or have access to those who talk too much. These and others are helping me gather all the secrets men think their women don’t hear or are too stupid to understand. Between all of them, I hear many things, and soon there will be little that goes on in Orak that doesn’t come to my ears.”
Trella had been spending his gold, but he had more than enough for his needs. And she spoke the truth. Men did talk in front of women as if they were deaf and dumb. He’d done so himself numerous times. Well, he would talk carelessly no more, lest his own words come back to haunt him.
“And these… women… report all they hear to you?”
“Yes, they spy on their husbands and lovers. Most men talk too freely in their lovemaking, as well you know.”
Spy. A new word to deal with, and Esk kar thought about what it meant.
A gatherer of information, of secrets others did not wish you to know.
Such knowledge could certainly be useful. “And you’ll continue to get this information?”
“Yes, and more. But I’ll need much more of your gold, Esk kar.”
His twenty gold coins per month was about to vanish. He stroked her neck, thinking that his attitude toward gold had certainly changed in the last few months. Now it was just a means to an end. “Take what you need, Trella. What else must I hear before I can sleep?”
They spoke long into the night. When he disagreed or questioned her, he listened carefully to her reasons until there was agreement or at least understanding between them.
And so they whispered, watching the moon rise and fall, watching the lamp burn itself out, well into the morning hours, Trella challenging not only his thoughts but his very way of thinking. One thought, however, he kept to himself. When the time was right, young Caldor would die. That put a smile on his lips before they both drifted off into a deep and sound sleep.
The next morning Esk kar trained as usual with the latest batch of recruits. His natural fighting ability, enhanced by months of exercise and good food, now allowed him to teach as well as to train with the recruits.
Nevertheless he often received as good as he gave. For some of the new men, “recruit” meant only that they hadn’t been trained as Gatus wanted, not that they weren’t experienced fighters. So Esk kar observed different styles of swordplay and had already picked up several new techniques.
Today luck favored him. No new bruises pained his body. Tired and dirty, he joined the men as they washed up, before moving on to the next part of the training. Esk kar guided the recruits through the lanes, out the river gate, and to the archery range on the north side. The bow remained the most important part of the training in Esk kar’s mind-the only weapon that could give villagers a chance against the barbarians.
Esk kar and Gatus discussed this training often, and both were determined that by the time the barbarians arrived, every man would be an exceptional marksman. The soldiers needed not only to become proficient with the bow, but to master the shooting techniques Gatus developed specifically for use from the wall.
As Esk kar and his troop arrived they found a large crowd at the range.
Soldiers made up most of the throng, but enough idle villagers, men and women alike, joined them, bringing a frown to Esk kar’s face. Villagers and soldiers should be at their assigned duties, not wasting time watching archery practice.
His anger grew as he pushed through the crowd, the recruits following him. The crowd roared as he reached the firing line, and Esk kar saw Totomes pointing downrange with his bow. Another roar went up. He watched Totomes’s son Mitrac draw his bow and launch a shaft at the farthest target.
The spectators voiced their approval with another cheer, even before the boy tending the targets signaled a hit to the center of the mark.
Esk kar stood there, as impressed as any, while Narquil loosed his arrow at the same mark. When the boy had finished shooting, Totomes and his sons moved back twenty paces and began again. The master bowman and his sons already stood well past the maximum range at which the most experienced archers practiced. Gatus, standing on the edge of the crowd, noticed Esk kar and joined him.
“Morning, Captain. You should’ve gotten here sooner. This Totomes and his boys have been putting on quite a show. They’ve hardly missed the mark at any range. Forno says he’s never seen anything like it.”
Forno, the senior archer among Esk kar’s men, had slain Naxos’s man.
Forno led the archery training for the recruits. “So they’re marksmen. But can they teach their skill to others?”
Gatus rubbed his beard as the crowd shouted approval at another hit.
“Forno thinks so. He’s already been given some tips by Totomes, who even let him draw his own bow, though only at close range.”
No archer ever wanted to break another man’s bow by trying to hit a distant mark. It said much for Forno that Totomes had allowed him to try his weapon. Another round of shafts were delivered, and again the crowd backed up another twenty paces. Totomes caught sight of Esk kar standing there and nodded.
By now the distance stretched over three hundred paces, and even the butts behind the targets looked small indeed. Despite the distance, Totomes’s arrows reached them easily enough, with only a slight arc. Forno walked over to join his captain and Gatus, shaking his head in disbelief.
