Children of Chaos

waved and was ignored. The sky seemed oppressively big, out here on the plain.

'And the lady Tiu chose to die with her husband?'

'That she did. She drove the chariot and brandished a sword so that they would treat her like a combatant. Knowing what Stralg's horde did to women.'

'Why? Surely even Stralg would not dare touch a Daughter of Veslih!'

'She said it'd be best for the city, because Stralg would never trust her and she couldn't trust him. Nils tried to tell her she was wrong and he couldn't do it! Saw him standin' there with tears running into his beard and he couldn't tell her she was wrong. So they went off together. But they had Kruthruk assign one man to guard Ingeld until the new overlord took over the city.'

Ah! 'How old was Ingeld?'

'Sixteen.' Guthlag sighed.

So did Benard. He couldn't imagine Ingeld at sixteen, for he kept seeing her as she had been six years ago, when they were lovers.

'Kruthruk picked me,' Guthlag said, 'oldest man in the host. Talkin' makes me thirsty.'

Benard reined in again. The night battle outside the walls had been a massacre, they said. He hadn't known about Kosord's Werists fighting on both sides and slaughtering one another, but he could believe it. After that, even, the citizenry had tried to contest Stralg's entry, leading to riots, retaliation, and the bloodshed Tiu had died to avert.

'Drive on!' Guthlag belched and wiped his mouth.

Benard remembered the brake, whapped the onagers. 'How much defending did you have to do?'

'Enough.' Such modesty was unheard of in a Werist.

'The rioters broke into the palace, didn't they?'

'Faugh! The rioters were just extrinsics with spears. I splattered some gobs of flesh around an' after that the rest stayed well back. But Stralg's warbeasts was more serious. I took out three of them before their packleader got there and called them off. When Stralg himself arrived, I was still blockin' the door, still in battleform, all reekin' of gore. He had Horold in tow. Told me he wanted to talk to Ingeld, an' she came out.'

The lady had seen much trouble in her life, but that interview must have been one of the worst moments. She had never told Benard this. He had not even been born then. It was shocking to realize all the things that the world had gotten up to before he was there to see.

'This was the jade stair?'

'Naw, the west door.'

Benard tried to conjure up the scene. He knew the passage well enough ... narrow and straight, about fifteen steps ... he counted them in his memory and there were fourteen ... darkness, rushlights flaming and smoking, making shadows dance. Much blood, Stralg and his men crammed in at the bottom, perhaps a few bodies... Ingeld defiant at the top and the monstrous Guthlag-thing crouching beside her. Or looming over her—it would not be wise to ask the man to describe his warbeast. Bleeding...

Guthlag growled. 'Stralg said she could marry his brother and swear to be loyal, else he'd give her to the troops, which was it to be?'

'So she accepted the handsome Horold?'

'No. Ah, you'd have been proud of her, lad! She laid out some terms of her own. One of them was that I be spared. So I was. Stralg himself said I'd earned that.'

'Praise indeed!'

Guthlag sighed nostalgically for what must have been the greatest moment of his life. 'Ah, the Fist's a Hero's Hero. 'Member you asked about battleform? Well, here's your answer: Yes, we can put it on anytime we want, but snot allowed. Man changes form without orders, he's headin' for a load of what your friend the Pimple's goin' through right now. And, my lad, changing's not something done lightly. It hurts! All your joints grind, your bones bend. A man needs to be mad to go through with it. Or really scared. Doesn't matter which in a real fight, because them already changed will turn on shirkers, so when the leaders form, we all form.'

'What other terms did Ingeld demand for her marriage?'

'Hard to say.' Guthlag scratched busily. 'In battleform, anything more'n simple words gets pretty tricky. Lost a lot of blood, too. An' I was trying to watch half a dozen Werists, wondering what to do if they all came up the stairs at me at once. So I didn't get much of it. Something to do with sons ... And her husband was to go free.'

'Her what?' Benard squealed, causing the onagers' long ears to pivot in alarm. The old man's chuckle told him he'd reacted as required.

'So wash it to you if lady was married before, my lad?'

'Nothing.' He glanced at Guthlag and saw that his denial did not convince. How many people knew or suspected that he'd once been Ingeld's lover? 'What was his name?'

'Ardial Berkson. A Speaker, o' course. Nars's chosen heir.'

'How long had they been married?' Had she had any say in her father's choice? Had she loved him?

' 'Bout a sixday. He was standin' on other side of her, cool as bronze. Anyway, when Stralg balked at something, she said, 'Packleader, kill me.' I was packleader of the red, then, see?'

'No! Oh, no, that's too much! I've known I've swallowed a lot of whoppers in my time, but that one chokes me.'

'Watch your teeth, boy,' Guthlag growled. 'I'm telling you Mayn's truth. We had it agreed. I was to kill her rather than see her taken alive. That wasn't the final code word, though.'