Two Heirs (The Marmoros Trilogy Book 1) (34 page)

“I will tell him what happened. He will understand and he will follow you through the city.”

“And that, my lord, brings me precisely to the point I wish to discuss. You will not permit Duke Henry’s men passage through the city in order to pursue us into Keldis.”

“Why not? I will have no choice.”

“We all have choices, my lord. We have upset Duke Henry, I admit. Through no fault of our own, I might add. But we are still on good terms with Duke Theron of Keldis. However, Duke Theron is not on very good terms with Duke Henry and will certainly be upset if a substantial force of Duke Henry’s men start rampaging around inside Keldis. He will undoubtedly want to know how they crossed the Staden and who let them through. You see the dilemma here?”

Maxten sat there looking very unhappy for a few seconds. “If I don’t allow Duke Henry’s men to follow you, he will be upset with me. If I do allow them to follow you, Duke Theron will be upset with me.”

“There you see. You’ve got it,” Jeren exclaimed. “You’re not as dim as everybody told me. Now, what about the consequences? If Duke Henry cannot follow us through the city, what is he going to do? Violate the High King’s charter and attack Highport? I don’t think so. On the other hand, if you do allow Duke Henry’s forces through, what is Duke Theron going to do? Firstly he is going to drive the invading force out, back through the city with probably very unfortunate consequences for your citizens and businesses. Secondly, he is going to want to protect his border since you are obviously unable to do it for him. So which one is the greater threat to Highport and to yourself?”

Maxten hesitated. “Uh, Duke Theron?”

“Excellent. That wasn’t too hard was it? Now we are moving through your beautiful city just as fast as we can and hopefully with a minimum of disruption. But I want to hear you now, give orders to the good Captain Walbend here that, as soon as Duke Henry’s men come into view, the gates are to be shut and they are not to be allowed entry.”

Maxten swallowed hard before speaking. “Captain, you have heard the discussion here. Duke Henry’s men are not to be allowed entry to the city. Those are my orders.”

“Yes, my lord.”

“Good,” Jeren continued. “Now if you would just instruct Master Benson here to return my mother’s necklace, then our business is almost complete.”

“That necklace was a gift from the Lady Falaise,” Maxten squeaked. “You can’t ask for it back.”

“No, actually the necklace was offered in exchange for the original gift of the ruby. As you still have the ruby in your possession, the exchange has not been accepted and so the necklace is still ours. Master Benson, if you please.”

With a half-smile on his face, Benson drew the necklace from his belt pouch and walked over to present it to Falaise. On the way back, he passed Jeren and paused for a moment.

“I was told that I should be here this morning to meet you, Prince Jeren, and see for myself what you’re made of. I have to say, your highness, it has been a privilege and I wish you every fortune in what you are attempting.”

Chapter 18

Across the remainder of the city, the military clean-up operation went smoothly. As Feynor had suggested, most of the opposition occurred in the palace compound, securing the guardsmen’s barracks. Bruises were plentiful on both sides but there were only a couple of nasty gashes that required to be stitched. The guards at both the Keldis and Westron gates were taken totally by surprise and surrendered without a fight as did the guards at the river inflows. Feynor had all the guardsmen rounded up and brought to the barracks where they could be watched more easily. The head count was short by two until he remembered the pair of unfortunates who had been left tied up in the
guardpost
on the wharves. There were some ribald comments from the other guardsmen as the two were brought in wearing only their underclothes and he smilingly ordered his men to return their uniforms to them.

Feynor had left a strong contingent of men at the Paelis gate to keep it secure and posted two men to each of the other gates to replace the city guards as a precaution against nasty surprises. Meanwhile, Ash stayed with the leading wagons as they crossed the city and cheers erupted from the wagons behind him as he led the way out through the Keldis gate into what they hoped was going to be neutral territory.

Inside the palace, Jeren called for refreshments, ordered a table and chairs to be brought into the audience chamber and settled down for an afternoon’s chat with Maxten. Falaise, who was by now, thoroughly disgusted by the lecherous glances of the High Warden, accompanied David as he went to address the occupants of the antechamber. They found them huddled together in one corner of the room, under the watchful eye of a couple of Jorgen’s red cloaks.

“My name is Lord Held, military commander of the Lyenar army and this is Lady Falaise, Queen Regent of the Lyenar. Please accept our apology and that of Prince Jeren, for this minor inconvenience and any distress we may have caused. There is, however, no reason for any alarm. We only wish to pass through your city and we have now secured the High Warden’s agreement to do so.”

There were a few smiles on the faces of the merchants at that and David continued.

“We very much regret the disruption to your normal business that will be caused by the high volume of traffic passing through your streets but that is only temporary and we will be gone by the end of the day. Unfortunately the High Warden will be occupied for the remainder of the afternoon and there will be no further audience granted today. And so I see no reason to detain you further. You are all free to go.”

“And our weapons?” one of the merchants asked.

“Let me ask you this,” David replied. “If I keep these weapons, do you have more stored at your house?”

Some of the merchants looked at each other before one of them shrugged. “Well yes, of course.”

“Then there is no point in my retaining them, is there? Please collect them as you leave.”

The red cloaks stood aside as there was a collective move towards the weapons table and David turned to find Walbend watching him curiously.

“Military commander, eh. I thought there was more to you than a Herald of Arms. Will you tell me how you took the gate so easily?”

“If I tell you that, will you do something for me?”

“That depends on what it is. I am a serving soldier and I am loyal to my lord, whatever his faults. I will perform my duty here.”

David considered his response for a second and then quickly relayed the details of the night’s operations, leaving out only the involvement of Master Benson.

“I see,” Walbend said thoughtfully.
“It seems I shall have to review the patrol frequency on the walls and I shall definitely have to look at the river inflows again. Thank you. Now, what is it you want from me?”

“You heard the arguments that Prince Jeren put forward just now. It would be a disaster for everybody and especially for this city, if Duke Henry’s men are allowed through into Keldis. The High Warden has given you orders to prevent that from happening. Unfortunately, the man is a cushion; he takes the shape of whoever sat on him last. If Duke Henry makes enough noise, he may countermand those orders. You, and the members of the city council must persuade him not to do that. Take him through the arguments again and remind him of the consequences. Will you do that?”

“I will certainly try because I personally find the arguments quite convincing. But if Lord Maxten does change the orders, I shall have to obey.”

“Fair enough. Now Lady Falaise and I have to go and make the same request to Master Benson.”

***

The scouts arrived at the Paelis gate at mid-afternoon and coincidentally within two minutes of each other. Feynor, who was back at the gate, directed them to the palace where they found David deep in conversation with the merchant, Master Benson. He looked up as they entered the room and hastily excused himself.

“I was hoping not to see you men until tomorrow,” he said. “Report.”

The scouts from the Stadenbridge trail reported first. “It’s as you suspected, my lord. The main force from Stadenbridge stayed on the trail with the wagons, rather than follow the horsemen across country. They knew we had to head for Highport and they’ll be here tomorrow morning. Not necessarily first thing but certainly by mid-morning.”

“How many men?”

“Close to eighty foot and four supply wagons. Only the officers and two scouts are mounted.”

“That’s more than we originally thought. They must have picked up the stragglers from that first unit we attacked.

“Ok, what’s the situation on the Paelis road?”

“Sixty men coming fast, milord. Seriously fast. They’re pushing their horses to the limit. They won’t be in any state to fight a battle when they get here but they can still do some serious damage to the tail of the column.”

“And how soon will they get here?”

“They’re about three hours behind, milord. We had to punish the horses to stay that far ahead of them but they’ll be here before nightfall.”

“Ok, well done. Grab some food and report to Feynor at the Paelis gate. Tell him exactly what you’ve just told me.”

“What can I do, David?” Falaise asked. “I really would prefer not to go back in there with that odious little man.”

“I think Jeren has the situation well under control
in there,” David smiled. “You look absolutely radiant today, Falaise and I am truly sorry that you had to stand there and be ogled in
such a disgusting manner. There’s nothing more you can do here for now. What I would like you to do is to take the coach and force your way to the head of the column. Take charge there and send Ash and his men back to me.”

“That I can certainly do. It will be nice to smell some fresh air.”

They walked out to the coach together and David spotted Jaks and Izzy, lounging on the steps outside.

“Ok you two. Over here,” he called as he handed Falaise up into the coach.

“Find Bern and Jorgen for me and tell them I want to see them now. And be sharp about it.”

Falaise had obviously spoken to the coachmen as the horses were whipped up and the coach headed for the street gates at a fast trot. David went back inside to find Walbend.

“Captain, if I release, say, four of your men, can you assign them to the Westron and Keldis gates to relieve my own men?”

This time it was Walbend’s turn to consider a response. “I take it that Duke Henry is arriving somewhat sooner than expected. No matter, let me make you an offer. The High Warden has issued me with new orders as you know; orders that are unlikely to be countermanded for today at least. If you will allow me to address my men, I will inform them of the new orders and we will stand alongside you on the city walls. I will not take my men beyond the city walls but we will defend the gates.”

David looked Walbend straight in the eye and then extended a hand. Walbend clasped it forearm to forearm;
two soldiers from different sides, temporarily united in a common cause. They walked round together towards the barracks as Bern and Jorgen came running up.

“I’m releasing Captain Walbend’s men,” David told them. “They are going to help defend the gates. We are going out to find the end of the column and see what we can do to speed them up. The horsemen from Paelis will be here before nightfall. We may have to fight a
rearguard
action to get everybody in. Get your men together and meet me at the Paelis gate.”

***

They found the herds bringing up the rear of the column, still being marshalled by the children with a couple of Ash’s men to keep an eye on them.

“Ok, get these herds moving now,” David ordered. “Get them up alongside the wagons and keep them moving. If we lose one or two animals along the way then let them go. I would prefer not to lose any but we can afford to lose animals. We can’t afford to lose any of the children.”

Behind the herds, they found a spot where the highroad narrowed slightly and the woods came close to the edge on either side. David ordered a couple of trees to be felled across the road to block it. They then placed their remaining supply of caltrops in the woods to either side of the fallen trees at the spots where the horsemen were likely to go around the blockage.

Inside the city, Walbend had used his authority to close all the shops and businesses along the thoroughfare from the gate to the river and cleared the street of all civilians so that the wagons could come in through the gate at speed and keep going at the same pace all the way to the square. The bridge over the river was still a chokepoint however, and the square was rapidly turning into a large wagon park.

The whole column was moving faster now and the men at the gates started to divert some of the smaller wagons down the narrower side streets to relieve the pressure on the main thoroughfare. At the increased pace it only took a little over an hour before the end of the column reached the edge of the cleared area around the city and came in sight of the walls.

The scouts that David had left behind to watch the blockage on the highroad, reported in a few minutes later.

“They’re about half an hour behind, milord. The trees on the road didn’t really slow them up,
they just rode straight into the woods to go around the blockage. But when they lost two horses to the caltrops, they suddenly became a lot more cautious. I think they lost a rider in the woods as well but the rest of them got through and are still pushing on.”

“Okay listen up,” David shouted. “Slow the wagons down now and get the herds and the children into the city. Scatter the animals down the side streets if you have to; we can round them up later.

“Jorgen form a spear wall across the road behind the last wagon. Bern put your archers there behind the spearmen. The rest of you chase those herds into the city.”

They nearly made it. All of the animals and children were safely inside the walls and there were only three wagons still on the road when the horsemen appeared at the tree line. The wagon masters whipped up their horses but there was such a press of animals and wagons ahead of them that they could do little to improve their progress.