Gods Of Blood And Fire (Book 1) (5 page)

As he approached, Cain could see Talorn already armored and on his horse riding the rings. The Prince was a little jealous of his friend’s horsemanship abilities. The big white stallion Talorn rode followed his commands like he could read the knight’s mind. The rings were a test of accuracy; Lord Blackthorn the younger was a master at it, very seldom failing to put his lance through the ring. Talorn was the best knight in Bandara; he had won tournament after tournament. King Aaron had always said Talorn had been born to be a knight. His friend’s skill was something he and his father agreed on.

Talorn saw the Prince and dismounted. His armor shining in the sun, polished to a high sheen just like the Knights of Tyro. Talorn took off his great helm and handed it to his squire. The young Lord shook out his long, blonde curly locks and walked over and clasped his Prince’s hand. Cain smiled his friend’s famous golden hair and good looks, which made many of the women in Bandara swoon. They all wanted the handsome and strong Lord Blackthorn to favor them with his attention. He could easily have his pick of any woman in Bandara. The problem was that, as proficient and skilled with arms and horses as Talorn was, he was equally awkward and uncomfortable with women. It was a secret Talorn had only shared with Cain.

“Highness, you have finally arrived. I thought sure your fear of my abilities had kept you at the palace.” The young Knight dismounted and stood tall, grinning at his Prince with that well-known smile. Cain gave him a friendly push.

“We will see who’s afraid of whom when the day is done, you arrogant ass.”

“It’s not arrogance, Highness, when one speaks the truth.” Both men laughed. “Let us begin, get my armor off the horse and help me get ready, Verkan, you will act as my squire today,” Cain yelled to one of his bodyguards.

“I will be waiting for you in the lists, Highness.”

“Damn you, Talorn, its Cain here, stop with the ‘Your Highness’ foolishness. We’ve known each other since we were children.”

“I was practicing for when you’re King,” Talon said, grinning as he walked back to his horse. “Beside I haven’t seen you for a long time. I didn’t know how big your ego had gotten,” the knight called over his shoulder.

***

Sweat ran down Cain’s face, making him look like he had been out in the rain. His hair was wet with it, and he was hot. The day had grown warmer, and the great helm he wore had been suffocating. Talorn and the Prince had made ten passes. Cain had lost all of them, and Talorn had unhorsed him four times. Cain wanted to be angry with his friend but he couldn’t be. He had to admire the knight’s uncanny skill. Talorn was unbeatable; it was as simple as that. Trying to defeat him was like trying to defeat a storm.

Talorn came out of one of the tournament grounds out buildings carrying two large goblets of wine. He was trying not to smile as he handed one to the Prince. Cain drained half of it in one swallow.

“I needed that,” the Prince said.

“You’re getting better every time we joust, my Prince. I fear before long it will be my ass that is lying in the dust.”

Cain shook his head. “No, my friend, you are a true wonder. You are too good to ever be beaten by anyone, myself included. When I take the throne there will be no doubt I will choose you as my champion. That is, if you will accept of course.”

Talorn squatted down and took a drink of his wine. “I would like that very much, if I have the time.”

“What do you mean, if you have the time?” Cain said almost insulted.

“There are some things I would like to talk to you about along those lines Cain.”

“Along what lines … what do you mean?”

Talorn finished off his goblet and stood up. “Things that need to be done after you are crowned.”

Cain wondered what Talorn had to say that made the knight lose his usual jocularity and become so serious.

“Tell me now, damn it,” Cain said feigning outrage. “You know I hate waiting for anything.”

Talorn turned to the Prince. “I will after you try to best me with a sword.”

Cain smiled and threw up his hands. “Okay, if you want me to wait, I’ll wait.”

Talorn put his arm around the Prince and started walking him back out to the tournament field.

Cain stopped and looked at his friend. “Now, I don’t want to be to beaten up. I have important meetings with several of the council members later today, so take it easy on me.”

“I will make sure you can walk into the council chamber, Highness—but as far as taking it easy on you, I don’t think that would be prudent a King of Bandara should be as good a warrior as he is a statesman.”

Cain smiled. “Very true, my friend, but the King should also not be so battered that he can’t attend his meetings.”

Talorn rubbed his hands together and looked at his Prince. “I will see what I can do, Highness.”

Cain was pleased with the sword practice. He didn’t ever defeat Talorn, but he held his own this time and managed to get in a few strikes of his own. The two men had removed their armor and now sat on one of the public benches in their shirts and breeches cooling off in the spring breeze.

The stadium looked even bigger empty, Cain thought; the King had built large sets of benches all around the field for his people to watch the tournaments. It was similar to the design of the Grand Stadium in Tyro but not quite as large or ornate.

“You fought well today, Cain,” Talon said.

Cain rubbed his shoulder where one of Talorn’s harder blows had landed. “I spent too much of my time reading books in Tyro, I have gotten a little slower with my defense.”

Talorn gazed out to the empty field. “I know is wrong, but sometimes I wish for war. It’s the only way to test a man’s true skill and courage.”

“Nonsense,” Cain said pointing to the field. “The tournaments offer the same thing and you have proven your courage and skill countless times, there is no need to wage war only to affirm the same thing.” The Prince slapped Talorn on the back. “Have you turned into a war-monger since I’ve been gone?”

The knight gave him a halfhearted grin. “The two are not the same, my Prince, the men you face on this field are only trying to beat you, not kill you. Death can only come by chance and then in only rare cases. Without the fear of death, tournaments are just a game. Battle is the true test.”

Talorn took a deep breath. “Last year, I fought in some border skirmishes with the Abberdonians.”

Cain sat straight up. “Has King Havalon grown so bold he dared to cross into Bandara?”

“He has grown that bold, my Prince, with cause, the Bandaran army is not what it was when you left four years ago.” Cain shook his head in contempt; he knew who was responsible for that.

Talorn continued. “That’s why my father had me lead a company of his personal knights against some of the Abberdonian light cavalry. We clashed with them on three separate occasions before we drove them back across the border. It has been the only time in my life I knew fear, now the tournaments leave me unfulfilled. I yearn to lead an entire army into battle.” Talorn looked Cain directly in the eye. “I assure you, my friend, the tournament field and the battlefield are quite different. Once you’ve tasted the quickening of combat tournaments become … insignificant.”

Cain took a deep breath and leaned back on the bench stretching his already stiffening muscles; it had been too long since some of them had been used. “I suppose you’re right, the two are different. At least you gave the Abberdonians a good taste of Bandaran steel. I’m sure it will be a long time before King Havalon attacks our border again.”

“I don’t think he will need to attack again,” Talorn said. The Prince’s eyes narrowed. “What aren’t you telling me?”

The two men sat in silence for a moment. Talorn seemed nervous and that was odd for the young knight, he was usually very confident almost to the point of being annoying. The Prince decided to give his friend a moment; the knight was obviously wrestling with whatever he had to say.

“Cain, I am sorry to hear about your father. Bishop Lyfair told me at evening mass he thinks the King has only a short time left.”

Cain said nothing about Talorn’s abrupt jump to his father’s health. “Yes, the healers told me he is getting worse by the day. It’s very upsetting to me that my father is dying, but—and I don’t mean this to sound harsh—it might not be a bad thing for Bandara.”

Talorn nodded his head and let out a long sigh. “That is what I wanted to speak with you about. I didn’t know how to approach the subject without giving offence.”

“You give offence? Talorn, we’re old friends. Speak your mind, I have always valued your opinion.”

“It’s not my opinion I want to give you, its information. You haven’t been back long, so I don’t know what you’ve been told and what you haven’t.”

Cain leaned up in his seat; he was becoming very interested in what Talorn had to say. His spies inside the palace had little to report of late. It was very curious that Talorn had information he didn’t. Then again Talorn’s father was first seat on his father’s council, making him the highest ranking noble in the Kingdom, and Lord Blackthorn was known to be a crafty man, Cain was sure Blackthorn had several spies of his own lurking in the palace.

“I haven’t been told much of anything, just that Father is on his death bed and the Kingdom is not doing well monetarily.”

Talorn gave an ironic chuckle. “Not doing well? Then you know nothing of the military problem or the debt?”

Cain shook his head. “What’s wrong with the army? No one has said anything to me, and I have heard nothing about a debt.”

The knight cleared his throat. “The Kingdom is broke; my Prince, the army has not been paid in months, their morale gets worse by the day. In the last year alone we have lost a quarter of our strength. Our military is what has kept Kingdoms like Abberdon and Illair out of Bandara. Now that the army is losing its size and its will, we are being eyed by our neighbors like a new year’s goose. I fear that’s not the worst of it, my Prince. Six months ago, your father borrowed two million gold crowns from the Abberdonians.

Cain was stunned, how could his own father be so stupid? “We will simply give the gold back and tell Havalon we don’t need it.”

“The gold is gone already, been spent paying servants and for the upkeep of the city. Bandara is bankrupt, my friend, and my father told me it will be only a matter of time until King Havalon pressed for payment of the loan. On our honor as a sovereign state, we have to pay it back—if not in gold then Havalon will demand his payment in land—our northern holdings—it is what he has always wanted anyway.”

Cain felt sick, how could this have happened? His father should know that of all people King Havalon couldn’t be trusted. The Abberdonians had disputed the northern border since Cain was a child.

Talorn brushed his yellow locks back from his noble face. “My father went to the King and begged him to raise the tax on the commoners and the merchants, so the money could be raised to settle the debt. The King refused, he said he would not have his people robbed to pay the debt. He demanded the nobles pay it from their coffers. You know what their answer was to that. They feel they aren’t getting their fair share now.”

Cain stood and leaned against the bench in front of him, squeezing it until his knuckles turned white. “He has indebted us to Abberdon? He knows Havalon has always wanted Bandara. He would have invaded long ago if he felt he could win a war with us. Only the size of our army and Ansellus Fox kept them out. My father managed to anger General Fox until he went into self-imposed exile all those years ago, his mishandling of the Kingdom’s coin has weakened our military until our foes see us as a prize ripe for the taking. Now you tell me my father has seen fit to use part of the realm as collateral on a debt to that bastard Havalon? How do you borrow money from someone you know to be an enemy?” Cain bowed his head in shame. “My father is going to die and leave me with an empty treasury and enemies at my throat.” He grabbed Talorn by the shoulders and pulled him up to face him. “What the hell am I to do, Talorn? Will I be known as the King who lost Bandara?”

The knight gently pulled Cain’s hands from his shoulders. “Not if I can help it, Highness. My father and I have thought of a way we can help you once you’re crowned that is. Will you hear the proposition?”

“Of course, my father may be a fool, but I am not.” Cain knew that the Blackthorn’s were one of the richest families in Bandara and possessed a small personal army, and William Blackthorn was a wolf in the council chamber outwitting his political opponents time and time again. If anyone could find a way out of this mess, the old Lord could.

Talorn put his arm around the Prince’s shoulders and began to walk him away from the stables and any unwanted listeners. “Well then, Highness, here is what my father and I were thinking. My father has more or less retired. He has given me control of Braxton bluff and wants me to take his seat on the high council. He still gives me advice when I need it, but I am now the Lord of Southern Bandara. That puts me in a position to help you in more ways than one.”

“Why did William retire?” Cain asked.

The knight chuckled. “He said he was getting too old and senile to run the council, and he wanted to enjoy the years he had left doing the things he liked to do. I believe his health is poor, although he denies it. Don’t worry he plans to help us as much as we need him to.”