The Grand Crusade (31 page)

“It is still a puzzle.”

Phfas shook his head, then laid a hand on Adrogans’ knee. “Even you stop thinking of the Zhusk asmen. This war is a man war. The Zhusk do notlikeany

other men. We see them as foes, but they are stillmen. If we abandon our kindred to the Aurolani, we are not men.“

Adrogans dropped his right hand to Phfas’ left. “I beg your pardon, Uncle. You are right. I had stopped thinking of you as men.”

“It is a common affliction

among men.” The shaman traced a finger along the long line of people struggling through the valley. “All of them are far from home. None of them haveyrun. If they go on, so do we.”

The scouts located a good place to camp before the eight-mile mark, and Adrogans called for an early halt to let men and beasts rest. He wondered if his association with Pain had blinded him to the hardships his people were feeling, so the early rest and some extra rations buoyed spirits.

Duranlaun, a Gyrkyme warhawk, reported to Adrogans just after the sun had gone down. “My scouts have ranged far ahead of the column. By footfall you have four more days before you leave the mountains.”

Adrogans nodded and rolled out a map on which he had been tracking the army’s advance. “We’ll be coming out into foothills that have some drainage heading east, but nothing navigable. What have you seen beyond the mountains?”

The Gyrkyme tapped a talon about an inch from the mountains at a point near a delta that indicated a river that originated in the Boreal mountains of Aurolan. “There is a large settlement here. It is built over the ruins of a city. It does not seem that old, but has some fortifications built up. Log palisades, some earthworks; nothing substantial.”

“Do you think we can take it without dragonels?”

“Possible. I will send more people out there and we will bring back plans as best as we can draw them.”

“How far away are the Nalisk Mountain Rangers?”

“A day.”

“Good. I’ll have orders ready for you in the morning to take to them. I will want them to reconnoiter.” Adrogans scratched at his beard stubble. “Anything remarkable?”

The Gyrkyme blinked large amber eyes. “A road to the east. It is a muddy track, but sufficiently well traveled to be free of snow. There are barges at the encampment, but they are iced in the river.”

“So, whatever is being shipped is desired so much to the east that they’re hauling in the winter, not willing to wait for the barges to get free. Have your people search the delta for a place where the barge cargo can be loaded on ships.” The general thought for a moment. “It has to be lumber. If they were mining ore, they would refine it there and ship it out. We’d see the smoke from the foundry and forges.”

Duranlaun nodded. “The forests are being harvested. For the palisades, certainly, and fuel, but more.”

Adrogans nodded. If they were harvesting lumber, it was probably going for shipbuilding. That idea sent a thrill through him. “Also track what they’re bringing back in. They have to be doing something to feed the people.”

“As you wish, General.”

The Gyrkyme saluted. Adrogans returned it, then the winged warrior departed the tent.

Adrogans stared at the map. Seven hundred and twenty miles separated him from Sebcia, if he marched all the way through the Ghost March, past Fortress Draconis and down along the route Princess Alexia had taken to Oriosa. At his present rate of travel it would take him three months to complete the journey— and that only if there was no fighting to slow him down. Realistically, he’d be contested every inch of the way, and Chytrine might hit him with a force so powerful that his entire army would be wiped out.

That had always been part of the calculation. While locating and destroying an invasion fleet was his immediate mission, doing all he could to force Chytrine to devote troops to deal with him came in a very strong second. It would be all but impossible for his troops to reach Sebcia and play any part in the war against Chytrine there unless they used ships, sailing past Vorquellyn to Sebcia.

Unfortunately, that bit of strategy was out of the question, but the sea might have its uses. As it stood, his supply line was hideously stretched through the mountains. Any supplies coming for him in Svarskya could be diverted to the Ghost March. Taking this first town and using it as a supply base would be vital. Once he did that, the push east would be a bit easier. He’d also have a haven to retreat to—and, from there, withdrawing into the mountains was also possible. Adrogans tapped his own finger to the map where the Gyrkyme had placed the town. “I don’t know what your name is, but you will be famous. You will be the first victory in the Ghost March campaign, and your fame will live on long after I am dead.”

Though she had not been invited to the meeting, nor was Isaura barred from it. Her mother’ssullanciriassembled in the fortress’ Grand Hall. Morning light slanted in through frosted windows, lengthening and thinning the shadows of the creatures her mother had created to serve her. Isaura knew those of the south feared her mother’s generals, and some did make her uneasy, but she never had seen them as the nightmare beasts others did.

Isaura had not come to the meeting to see them, however, but to see her mother. In the week since she had been introduced to the Oromise, Isaura had seen virtually nothing of her mother. The lack of contact concerned her primarily because her mother had not quite been herself. Having a spell cast on her via one of the DragonCrown fragments clearly surprised and angered her, and Isaura had feared that her further reaction would carry her deeper into the paranoia the spell had inspired.

Watching her mother sweep into the room quickly dispelled that notion. Chytrine had chosen to shape herself with the same proportions as an elf, though she did overtop Quiarsca by an inch or two. Moreover, the empress had layered thick muscle on that slender frame, much as some Vorquelves did, and a gentle blue tracery of arcane symbols decorated the pale flesh of her arms.

Her arms and face were the only skin that showed. Chytrine wore a gown of drearbeast leather, tan and supple save where fur trimmed it around the waist, collar, and hem. The garment had to be heavy, but she moved effortlessly in it. Her golden hair remained loose, falling to cover her bare shoulders, for the gown had no sleeves. She wore no weaponry, but there was no hint of vulnerability about her either.

The empress took her place at the curve of a horseshoe-shaped table. “You have all pleased me with your efforts. Anarus, despite some setbacks, the

conquest of Muroso has been splendid. I expect your performance will continue to shine under the direction of Nefrai-kesh, for he will now command my army of the east.“

The lupinesullancirinodded, then snarled in Nefrai-kesh’s direction. Part of the snarl came from his being subordinated to the othersullanciri, especially since Nefrai-kesh had lost Okrannel. Still, Nefrai-kesh had been the first of Chytrine’s newsullanciriand her most faithful, so his being elevated could have surprised no one.

Isaura suspected more of the snarl was for Nekaamü, who hung on Nefrai-kesh like a cat-skin cloak, purring and caressing. The king of thesullancirisomehow ignored her, but he couldn’t have found her antics unpleasant. With the flick of a hand he could have tossed her off. That her actions were annoying Anarus was apparent, and for some reason Nefrai-kesh wanted him distracted, but Isaura could not imagine why.

Her mother continued. “Our war with the south progresses very well—so well that our resources can be shifted and our drive focused. Nekaamü, you will proceed south to where preparations have been laid on to launch an amphibious assault. The fleet is massing in the Ghost March, larger than you have ever commanded before. Nefrai-kesh will direct your assault to where it shall do the most good, but you must be prepared to move inside two months.”

The feline piratesullancirilicked at Nefrai-kesh’s right cheek. “I will do anything you bid me, my lord.”

Nefrai-kesh raised his hand, scratched behind her ear, then let his hand slip down to take hold of her throat. “Of course you will, and you will succeed, or die trying.”

Thesullanciritried to mew, but it came out broken before he relaxed his grip.

Chytrine slowly smiled and Isaura felt herself smiling, too. Her mother’s

serenity had returned, and with it a clarity that made Isaura feel secure. She still

recalled that her mother thought someone would betray her, but now she hoped

that was just because of the spell. /don’t want to be the one who betrays her.

The empress nodded toward Ferxigo, the urZrethisullanciriat the end of the table opposite Myrall’mara. “You have dealt with your assignment splendidly, so I am entrusting to you the defense of Aurolan. To aid you will be Hlucri and my daughter, Isaura.”

Isaura gasped and Chytrine looked up at her. “What is it, daughter? Did you think I would send you into the field with my troops?”

“No, Mother, I had not thought that far. What surprises me is that you think we are in jeopardy.”

Nefrai-kesh nodded solemnly. “Aurolan is not an easy place to threaten, but to assume we are invulnerable is to leave us open. It is doubtful that the south can muster a force sufficient to attack and destroy our homeland while holding off our armies. Still, they are clever, and could well try to repeat the folly of the past. We must guard against that.”

MyralPmara—luminous, tall, and slender—hissed almost silently. “It will be Resolute.”

The sulfur-coloredsullancirishrugged her shoulders and shifted her shape enough that she sprouted a brush of short white hair on her skull. “He has failed to destroy Aurolan for over a century. He will fail again.”

Nefrai-kesh shook his head. “As formidable as Resolute may be, he is not the true threat. Markus Adrogans is.”

Anarus growled loudly. “You should have smashed him at Svarskya.”

Chytrine slapped a hand flat on the table, with a crack like ice snapping. “The Okrannel campaign was conducted as per my directive. Adrogans will bear watching, but his own people will watch him, too. He will be leashed. But Adrogans is not your concern. You, Anarus, will consolidate Muroso, then you will wait. Tythsai will be responsible for operations in Saporicia, and you will perform as Nefrai-kesh directs.”

The wolf-man bared his fangs. “For what shall I wait, Mistress?”

Chytrine smiled easily. “Prince Erlestoke will be leading an army into Oriosa, to come behind our lines to attack us. It is my intention to destroy that army. You will be the instrument of its destruction, then you will press on back through Oriosa and strike at Narriz.”

Anarus let a growl rumble from his throat. “Forgive me, Empress, but that strategy is obvious. They will be prepared for us. If Princess Alexia pushes into Muroso, my supply lines will be cut.”

“There are many things which are obvious, Anarus, and so we intend them to be.” The Aurolani Empress pressed her hands together in an attitude of prayer. “The southerners are given to believe a certain set of dreams will come true, and they will not. Their beliefs will lead them into a trap, which will break the back of their army. Saporicia will be lost; they will panic. And they will lose sight of the obvious.

“At Vael it was pointed out that my armies march forth and take nations even though those nations have nothing to do with the recovery of the DragonCrown. They see me as being bent on domination while the true questisto recover all the pieces of the DragonCrown. They think I wish to do this in order to command dragons to destroy them, and it will be useful for that, yes. But it is useful for so much more.”

She looked around the room, stopping briefly to survey Isaura, where she sat back away from the table. “It is not to conquer the world for the sake of its possession that I wage this war, but to restore the world to the peace it once knew. Such peace cannot exist in the face of grave injustice, and re-creating the Crown will allow me to provide justice. Then all will be well with the world.

“As you know, where our troops go, we search for the DragonCrown fragments. Our magick in that regard has been inefficient, but a spell used to locate me has showed me a new way to search for things. As you are out acquitting your duties, so I shall be here, shaping that spell into another that will show us

all of the fragments, including the key fragment, wherever orwheneverit is. As long as the south is fighting for its life, it will be distracted enough not to oppose us in any serious sense, so we shall succeed.“

The empress glanced to her left at the elvensullanciriseated there. Of all her mother’s servants, Quiarsca looked the most unchanged. Golden hair cascaded down to her waist, and the gown she wore tucked tight at her slender waist. Even the bit of color to her skin did not look out of the ordinary, but the same could not be said of her eyes. They looked to be hollow holes in her skull, not as if they had been torn out, but as if they were invisible orbs.

“Your work, Quiarsca, has progressed very well. Thekryalnirihave been a valued addition to our forces. Your new project has proven even more successful. You found it satisfactory, Ferxigo?”

“Yes, Mistress, as I have reported, most satisfactory.”

“Excellent. Please continue.”

The elf nodded, then raised her face in Chytrine’s direction. “In light of the news from the south, do you wish more work to be done on opening thecorüesdat Saslynnae?”

“No. You will guard it, of course, but waste no more energy there. It has defied us for a long time, and will continue to do so.”

Isaura raised a hand. “Mother, I am certain I could open it.”

“Are you, child?”

She nodded. Though several years had passed since the ritual that bound her to Vorquellyn, Isaura could still feel the connection to the island. When the binding had been successful, she had immediately been drawn toward thecorüesd. She’d had a sense of sanctuary, and that surprised her, since the place had long been described as a place of enemy power.

“It would yield to me, Mother.”

“I am pleased to hear that, Isaura, and I do believe you, but I shall not risk you there. You are now truly the heir to my realm and my secrets, so to you falls the unenviable task of waiting here to fulfill my destiny, should the worst happen.” Chytrine smiled. “Besides, child, our enemies are coming to open it for us. I should not deprive them of that honor.”