The Warrior's Tale (61 page)

I stood just at the top of the companionway that led to the main cabin's topdeck. Just behind and beside me were Cholla Yi, Corais, Xia, Gamelan and Admiral Bhzana. Behind them were my Guardswomen.

We'd come
out of the cabin's ruins silentl
y, making no announcement, and stood, waiting. Slowly we were noticed, and the buzz of low conversation died. I let the silence build and build until it was intolerable. There was nothing but the whine of the wind as it increased in speed, and the wash of the waves against the galley's sides.

'The Sarzana defeated us today,' I said. 'And we ran from him like fish flee the shark pack. Are we to return to Konya with that on our souls? Are we going home to tell our loved ones what cowards we were, and for them to prepare to face all of The Sarzana's terror?'

'What else?' It was a voice from the rear. There was a clatter of agreement. Once more I let the words die away into the wind.

'What else? We're going back to Ticino!' I said. 'The battle's only begun.'

'When?' This was an officer in the front row I didn't recognize. 'How long will it take to get reinforcements up from Konya? A month? Two months?'

'We're going back tomorrow. Tomorrow at night,' I said. 'That's impossible!' That came from Admiral Bornu. 'Nothing is impossible,' I said.

'To blazes with you,' he said, and bounded halfway up the companionway and turned to face the other captains. 'We were beaten badly this day, beaten by wizardry and the force of arms! There's no way for us to recover, not now, not as outnumbered as we are! This whole damned campaign was doomed! It never should've been fought! We should've waited for The Sarzana to get closer to Konya and then defeated him on our own grounds, in our own waters!'

I heard agreement building.

'Or maybe,' I said, *you think we should have just surrendered without fighting at all?' Now there was dead silence.

'Maybe, we could've struck some kind of arrangement,' Bornu said, nearly mumbling. 'Maybe if we'd gone to The Sarzana and offered—'

'Offered what?' I said. 'Your daughters? Your wives? Your gold? You couldn't have offered your honour, since by your words you possess none!'

Bornu's hand
was on his sword. I heard a rustl
e from behind me, and knew Locris or another bowwoman was reaching for her quiver. I moved one step closer down the companionway. 'Now, Admiral,' I said,
^l
now
you reach for your blade, after letting it rust in its scabbard all day?'

'This is quite mad,' he said, but moved his hand off the weapon's grip-

'Is it? Listen, you men. Listen to that wind. Isn't it stronger than it was an hou
r, two hours ago? Do you reall
y think The Sarzana and his familiar, the Archon, are done with us? Now that they've got us on the open seas, weak of will, bleak of mind and heart, don't you think they'll cast a tempest against us? Do any of you believe they intend for us to return home so we can stand against them once more? If any of you do,
that
I term madness!

'Not that it matters what you believe. You are soldiers and sailors. You swore an oath to defend Konya with your lives. The only ones among you who've kept their oath, who still have their honour, lie back on the stern, sewn into canvas sails with a coin in their mouth and a bit of pig iron at their feet to carry them down into the depths.

'The rest of you? What do
you
think of yourselves? How many of you fled the
battle
with never a shaft being fired, with never a spear being cast? Now, I call on you to obey me. We will attack The Sarzana once more. And this time we'll destroy him!'

'O
bey you?' Bornu sneered. 'An outl
ander? A woman?'

I turned to Xia. She stepped forward.

'I am Princess Xia Kanara,' she said. 'My father sits on the Council of Purity. I claim to speak for him. Are there any of you who will dispute that claim?'

'You're a child,' Bornu said. 'I swore no oath to obey you.'

'But obey me you shall. And I command you to follow the orders to be given by Captain Rali Antero, who was hand-picked by the Council as the one who best knows how to destroy The Sarzana. It is to all our shame this expedition wasn't put in her charge from the beginning.'

I was impressed - I'd told Xia some of what I hoped she'd say if the occasion came up, but not this last.

Bornu began to say something, but before he could Admiral Bhzana was beside Xia.

'Admiral,' he said. 'Both women are right. This is a day of infamy, and we must make recompense. I know I am not your superior in the naval lists, but you must obey Princess Xia and Captain Antero.'

‘I
am Admiral Nepean Bornu, a landed baron,' the other man replied, 'and my family has served Konya for generations. I have a duty as well, and my duty is to take my ships safely home, where they may help protect Konya in the final
battle
to come. For me to follow the orders of you, my junior; this foreign sorceress who may well be in league with The Sarzana himself and who brought this evil on our lands; and this strip
ling who's besotted with the outl
ander
...
no. I refuse.'

'I order you once again, Admiral,' Xia said, her voice hard beyond her years.

'And I have my duty, a greater duty.'

'Princess,' I said. 'I myself vowed to serve your Council to bring down The Sarzana. I must tell you this man's words constitute treason.'

There were low outcries from the officers, and I saw heads turn towards the device I'd had erected earlier.

'Not merely treason, but
high treason?
I continued, 'since he also spoke against the commands of the Council of Purity.'

'Treason you call it, and treason it is,' Xia said.

Bornu looked around wildly. Before he could move, or anyone come to his aid, I said, 'Sergeant Ismet!'

My women went down the companionway as if they were attacking lionesses, swords whipping out, spears at the rise and arrows nocking. Ismet and Dacis had Bornu by the arms before his own sword could come out. The officers on deck were shouting now, and I saw the glitter of weapons.

'Sergeant! Hang him!'

Bornu shrieked, and struggled, but could do nothing. In a moment he was dragged to the top of the companionway and to my device. It was a gibbet, a simple gallows I'd had constructed aboard our own galley, moved to Bhzana's flagship and remounted. The rope went around his neck, hanging slackly down to his knees then up to the crossbar, its long knot set just behind his left ear.

I turned to Princess Xia. Her lips set in a firm, thin line.

'Execute the traitor,' she said.

Sergeant Ismet swung the gibbet on its axis, and Bornu was sent stumbling out and down, off the deck and falling. The rope came tight and over the wind's snarl I could hear the sound of his neck snapping. The body flipflopped, then hung limply from the rope's end. Now there was complete stillness.

'I condemned Admiral Bornu as a traitor,' I said. 'I further condemn as traitors all who disobey or disagree with the orders I have issued and am going to issue, and they will face the same penalty.

'You
will
obey me,' and I let the steel show, 'or by the heavens I will decimate every ship's crew and then we'll go back into
battle
with bodies dangling from every yard if it is needed!'

I didn't give them time to recover.

'Now, I want all division and element captains in Admiral Bhzana's cabin immediately, and I'll give you orders to pass along to the others.'

I said no more, but strode back into the shadows, and I heard the others behind me. I may've sounded like iron, but inside I felt my stomach turn. I'd dealt with fear and panic before, but never from so many. And while I'd ordered the law many times, up to and including the final penalty, even on one occasion sending a murderous Guardswoman who'd terribly shamed us to the city for sacrifice in the Kissing of the Stones as expiation, I'd never ordered anyone sent to their death out of hand, with no court, no recourse, no appeal.

But I saw then, and see now, nothing else that could've been done. When
battle
is on the cusp, there cannot be any debate nor hesitation, and any weakness must
be cut out as swiftl
y as a poisoned dart, or everything will die.

I note my Scribe is intent on his writing, and doesn't raise his head to meet my eyes. This is yet another part of war that isn't talked about by anyone, especially by those who wish to forget killing is the heart of the matter, not
battle
songs, banners, parades or armour gleaming in a summer sun. Remember what I said, Scribe, and tell this to your sons and daughters before you allow them to run laughing into the recruiter's embrace.

I was just as stern to the division officers when I gave my orders, although I did give them an explanation, mentioning, and this was the truth, that I'd checked with the shipmaster Oirot, and he'd confirmed that storms in these waters at this time of year were unheard of.

With Bornu's body now unseen, the officers
had time to consider. Reluctantl
y, they agreed with me, that it was most unlikely The Sarzana wouldn't attempt to finish us with magic, and that we were as unlikely to escape as if his fleet were still hounding us.

'Of course,' one said, 'we could always split up and make for home ship by ship, which would really give that bastard a chance to pick us off one by one.'

While a bit of understanding hung in the air, I presented my plan. Tomorrow I would send representatives to each ship, and give the
battle
plan. Late in the afternoon, we would set sail back to Ticino and sail past the portal cities after full dark, which would mean we'd close on the fleet anchored in the roadstead near Ticino around midnight.

'A night attack,' one officer said, and scowled. 'My men aren't used to fighting in the dark.'

'Do you think The Sarzana's are?'

The officer smiled a bit, and shook his head.

'The advantage is always on the side of he who strikes first,' I said. 'Isn't that true? Isn't the day carried by the boldest?'

'What about magic?' another one said. 'My ships held, until they saw those gods-blasted covered ships of theirs, and the ships behind them crewed by the dead.'

I said neither the
turtle
ships nor The Sarzana's magics would be as effective, their surprise gone. There would be Orissan magic cast before our attack began, magic that would shatter their spells like thin ice on a pond.

I gave them a flurry of other orders, to make sure the other ship's officers understood the overall plan, to make sure their ships were repaired as best they could, and most importandy to feed the sailors and rest them in watches. At dawn, the division officers should attempt to reassemble those surviving ships belonging to their elements and stand by for orders.

All this was important, of course, but I wanted the Konyans to be so busy no one would have time to let cowardice creep into his heart again. I further told them that our Orissan galleys had been given special orders - to sail guard around the assembled fleet, and ensure no one attempted to flee. 'I won't,' I said, 'even bother putting up a gallows if I seize such a ship but will send all its crew down to the sea demons unburied so their ghosts will never rest.'

I dismissed them and the others.

The Konyans summoned their boats that lay just off Bhzana's ship, and, one by one, disappeared into the night. There were many looks cast back at the dangling corpse of Admiral Bornu.

I waited until the last was gone, then started down the boarding ladder to our longboat. Admiral Bhzana asked me for a private moment, and I stepped away.

'They'll obey now,' he said firmly. 'And so will I.'

I looked at him, very long, very hard. But I made no answer as I went down into my boat.

Aboard our own ship, I knew there would be no rest for the remainder of the night for any of us, least of all me. This was the second night I'd go sleepless, so I'd have to force myself to get at least two hours or so of rest during the day, or I'd be as worthless as a toy dagger in
battle
.

My first tasks weren't those of a war leader, but of an Evocator. First I had to divert that storm that was building that'd most likely strike during the night. But that was where the surprises began.

'W
e can't cast a spell that directl
y,' Gamelan said.

'Why? I know he's got great powers, greater than ours, but it seems—'

'You don't realize?' Gamelan said, his voice showing surprise. 'Realize what?'

'I thought you knew, and that was where your idea to strike back came from. The Archon believes you dead.'

'What? How? Why?' I must've sounded as dumb as I did the first time my watch commander told me my unchecked sentry had taken the opportunity to let two winesellers into the compound after taking and drinking a full gallon as her share.