Two Heirs (The Marmoros Trilogy Book 1) (44 page)

“We’ve secured the gates, Cap’n. But there’s only the four of us and Miss Rachel so a few more men might come in handy.”

David gave a chuckle. “Feynor, go get your men up here now. And send a rider back to Jorgen. Tell him to get here at the double. Silent approach is no longer necessary.

“Kemon, when we have more time, you and I are going to have long chat about what you’ve done here tonight. But for now, let’s get those gates open.”

He dismounted and helped Kemon with the heavy bar. They swung the gates back just as the first horsemen arrived at a gallop.

“Where’s Rachel?” Jeren demanded, throwing himself off his horse.

“
In the guardroom
,” a voice said.

David looked up startled as he caught a faint echo of the thought but not the substance of it. A troop of horsemen clattered past him then and with all the movement around him, he could not pin down the source of the thought. He concentrated on listening with his mind but there was nothing more. Whoever the Ystrad heir was, his shielding was extremely tight.

Jeren ran into the guardroom to find an enemy soldier in his undershirt and breeches, tied to a chair in the corner and Rachel calmly binding up a gash in Carl’s shoulder.

“Rachel, are you alright?”

“I’m fine, Jerry, I mean, my lord,” Rachel replied. “I’m fine… honestly.”

“I was so worried about you.”

“I’m fine too. Thank you for asking,” Carl said with a grin. “Thanks for that, miss. I’ll leave you two alone. Well, apart from the sergeant in the corner.”

He went out through the door, chuckling to himself, just as Seb walked in with David right on his heels.

“Well done you two. I’ll get the full story from Kemon later on but you did well today.

“Prince Jeren, I’m putting you in charge of the gate. Doubt if I could get you to go anywhere
else anyway. When Jorgen gets here, have him send his men out along the wall in both directions. Secure the remaining
guardposts and intercept any patrols they come across.”

“Yes, my lord. Where will you be?”

“I’m going up to the top of the town with Feynor. I want to secure this Yanus character and any men he has with him, before they can cause trouble.”

Kemon went with them back to the main square and led the way into the inn. Grimes was standing behind the bar polishing some glasses and looking very pleased with himself. He followed the landlord’s glance down to the end of the room where six guardsmen were sprawled over benches, tables and in one case under the table, all snoring their heads off.

“It appears mine host has been overly generous with his measures tonight,” he remarked.

“What do you mean, overly generous,” Grimes replied. “They’re going to pay for every drink when they wake up.”

Kemon laughed. “Milord, can I introduce ex-captain Grimes, formerly of Duke Theron’s army. Grimes, this is Lord David Held, commander of the Lyenar force.”

The two men shook hands. “What can you tell me about Yanus’ residence?” David asked. “How many entrances and exits?”

“There’s a servants entrance down the passageway to the left which the guards use as well. The front door is on the square as you can see and I know there is an entrance directly connecting the house and the church. Underneath the house there is a maze of cellars, some of which are used as dungeons. There is rumoured to be at least one emergency exit from the cellars but where it comes out, I have no idea.”

David turned to Feynor. “Four men in the church, four men down the side passage. The rest through the front door with us.”

He looked back at Grimes. “How many guards can we expect inside?”

“Two that I know about plus the captain. The rest of the house guards are in here asleep and the others are on the walls looking for you lot.”

They ran across the square and David tried the front door. It was unlocked and opened into a wide hallway with twin staircases curving up to the first floor. There were doors to left and right and passageways behind the stairs presumably leading to the servants’ quarters. They checked the rooms on either side of the hall but they were both empty.

Leaving a couple of men in the servants’ passage, David led the way up one staircase while Feynor took the other. At the top there was a landing that overlooked the hall on three sides. A number of doors opened off the gallery but it was the set of double doors directly opposite the head of the stairs that they went to first. Inside was a large dining room with three occupants who half rose as the doors opened but quickly sank back into their chairs as David’s men spread out around the walls of the room.

One of the men was a soldier in an officer’s uniform while the other two were short and tubby and could easily have been mistaken for twins. Yanus was still wearing his faded velvet suit while Yuris, his half-brother, was dressed in a priest’s robes. Both men had an excessive amount of gold on display around their necks and on their fingers.

“I don’t know who you are,” Yanus spat, “but you’re going to regret this. Kraxis is my cousin and he will hear of this.”

“Yes he will,” David agreed. “I’m sure he’ll find out for himself eventually but I’m not prepared to wait that long. So one of you two is going to have to go to Marmoros and tell cousin Kraxis all about it.”

Chapter 23

There was a buzzing sound inside his head that would not go away, however much he tried to ignore it. With a silent groan he allowed his mind to drift up through the levels of consciousness until he recognised that someone was calling his name.

“Lord David, Lord David. Ah, you’re awake.”

“Good morning, Suzanne. If it is indeed morning wherever you are.”

“Not really. It’s the middle of the first dog watch on board ship here but there have been some developments which Mikael and I both felt you should know about urgently. Please look through my eyes.”

David expanded the mental link and found himself looking at the bridge of a small warship. Directly in front of him was the familiar face of a naval officer in the uniform of a lieutenant commander.

“Say hi to Mikael for me.”

He saw Mikael smile briefly before the field of view swung as Suzanne turned her head to look at the main display screen. In the centre of the screen was a small, sleek intruder class ship of the type favoured by smugglers. It was showing considerable blast damage in the area of its main propulsion units.

“Hey, good job. You caught one of the smugglers. What was he carrying?”

“Unfortunately, we caught him on his return trip and the cargo bay was empty. The pilot would not co-operate and so I
was forced to mind probe him. The cargo he delivered was four Belsian space marines with full equipment and supplies.
The drop-off point was just outside the city of Paelis.
”

“So the Belsi are upping the stakes. Does Khan know about this?”

“He does and he’s furious. He went straight to the Emperor who summoned the Belsian ambassador but they missed him by a matter of hours. Apparently the ambassador has been recalled to Belsi for urgent consultations.
If Khan is furious, the Emperor is incandescent. He’s sent a fast pursuit ship after the ambassador to bring him back and he’s sending a squad of the Imperial Guard to join us on the Cleopatra in case of need.”

“Do we know where that smuggler came from? That type of ship doesn’t usually have an extended range.”

“Twenty light-years, we estimate. Enough to reach at least ten of the nearby star systems. He was flying from a mother ship in one of those systems. I dragged the location out of him but the mother ship was long gone.”

“Are there any other ships in the neighbourhood?”

“Well the Ystrad are here as you’d expect, with what they’re calling a diplomatic mission. We’ve scanned the ship and it’s unarmed. Mikael asked them to stay in high orbit and not approach the planet and they appear to be complying.”

“Okay, what does Khan want me to do?”

“You’re to sit tight where you are. Khan still thinks that you’re closest to tracking down the Ystrad heir. But you remember Roseanne?”

“Of course. She’s a good agent. One of the best.”

“She was doing the same job as you, in one of the other regions. But after your encounter
with Alcanzar, Khan moved her to Paelis to keep an eye on him. Only I’ve lost her. I can’t find her anywhere.”

“Maybe she’s gone deep, with all her shields up.”

“David! She can’t keep me out. Even with her shields up, I should still be able to find her mental signature. There’s nothing there. She’s gone.”

“Do we have any other assets planetside?”

“There were three of you sent in; yourself, Roseanne and Johannsen
.
Johannsen is way over on the far side of the continent but I can ask Khan to move him nearer, if you want.”

“No, don’t do that. If they can take out Roseanne that easily, they’ll chew
Johannsen
up for breakfast. Leave him where he is but alert him to the situation. If I need him, he’s going to have to come fast. But, if the Belsi are starting to cut up rough, you might suggest to Mikael that he moves the Ystrad ambassadors a little closer. When we do eventually find their missing heir, they are going to become a prime target.”

“Okay. There’s one other piece of information that I have for you. And this one is good news.”

“You and Mikael are getting married?”

“He hasn’t asked me yet… David! Behave yourself.”

David felt his cheek redden under the mental equivalent of a slap.

“No, that gem stone you sent up to have analysed. It’s unique. Chemically it’s a potassium feldspar compound related to a cat’s-eye moonstone and with similar telepathic enhancing properties but a hundred times more powerful. The science lab I sent it to, want to keep it and have offered you ten thousand credits for it, uncut. I spoke to some contacts in the gem trade and they said that, if the reports from the lab are accurate, a cut gemstone of that size would be worth upwards of half a million credits. What do you want me to do about it?”

“What exactly do they mean by ‘unique’?”

“Precisely that. There is no recorded occurrence of anything with the same internal structure as this gemstone anywhere in the known galaxy. Apparently it contains a significant proportion of a rare polymorph of rutile, called
anastase which accounts for the extraordinary magnifying effect.”

“All right. Let the lab buy the gemstone on condition that I get a copy of their research on it. I have another stone here and it might be interesting to see if I can find where they come from. Do you have anything else for me?”

“No that’s it, my lord.”

“Then wish Mikael luck with the salvage rights on that little ship. Could be worth a tidy sum. Probably enough to cover the costs of a wedding.
Ow
!”

He felt his other cheek redden from a mental slap as Suzanne broke the contact.

***

David released Yuris and the captain at first light and sent them off to report to Marmoros. He kept Yanus as a hostage, locked securely in the same cell under the residence where they had found Anders and Ruth Meissen the night before. Word of the Meissen’s treatment had already spread and feelings were running high, so he sent a substantial escort to get Yuris safely past the ford where the early risers among the families were already starting to cross. He also instructed the escort to allow the captain a good view of the number of wagons on the far side to ensure that Kraxis would bring his full strength back with him.

Once Yuris and the escort were safely out of sight, David rode down to the ford and tried unsuccessfully to persuade the families who were crossing, to turn back. In the end he ordered Jorgen’s men to block the far side of the ford to prevent any more families from crossing and summoned the full council into session.

The council assembled in the large dining room where they had found Yanus the night before. The table had been cleared of food and Ash had spread out every map he could find of High Falls, Marmoros and the surrounding territory but the scene that greeted David as he walked in, resembled something out of Bedlam. The councillors were all on their feet, leaning over the table and shouting each other down, each trying to make their point by force of volume and ignoring all attempts by Falaise to restore order.

As soon as they saw David in the doorway, the councillors redirected their verbal onslaught in his direction with much finger pointing and arm waving. He held up his hands for silence and when that was not forthcoming, turned his back on them and walked out of the room, closing the double doors behind him. Outside on the landing, he could hear the volume of shouting start to waver as uncertainty crept in and then, gradually reduce to the point where he could hear Falaise calling for order.

He gave them another twenty seconds before opening the doors to go back in. Falaise was standing at the head of the table, glaring at the councillors on both sides.

“I believe the council is ready to hear you now, Lord Held.”

“Thank you, my lady.”

He walked over to stand between her and Jeren. “You want to know why I have stopped the families from crossing the river.”

A level of muttering sprang up again with much nodding of heads. He held up a hand for silence which this time, he was granted.

“It’s very simple. I cannot protect them on this side of the river. You now number over eight hundred wagons. We cannot physically fit that many wagons inside the town walls and I cannot defend them outside the walls. Your combined herds are spread over a huge area of the grasslands across the river. You have more than one hundred children around the herds trying to keep them together. If we bring them across, I cannot protect the herds and more importantly, I cannot protect the children.

“On the other hand, Kraxis has to come down this bank of the river; there are no crossing points further upstream. If your people are on the other side of the river, the only way he can get at them is across the ford. And the ford is something I can defend; I’ve already proved that on a smaller scale.”