Magician’s End (42 page)

Jim knew it would take skilful management to avoid riots, looting, and wholesale bloodshed during the occupation. He worked through a very crowded section of the city near the southern gate and passed a strange assortment of onlookers. There were very old men, and very young boys, but no one between the ages of fifteen and fifty. The women were gathered in clutches, whispering, as if afraid of being overheard. He realized that a day or two after he and Franciezka had met in this city, some sort of muster must have been called, as there wasn’t a man of fighting age not in uniform to be seen. That didn’t mean the city was safe from violence; old men and young women could run rampant through the streets just as easily as a mob of drunken men. There was likelihood of a full-scale rebellion.

Jim reached the barracks and asked for directions to the captain’s location. He found the office and an orderly announced him.

‘Yes?’ said the captain impatiently.

‘I just arrived on a Roldemish cutter, Captain.’ Jim handed over a parchment and waited.

The captain read it and his entire manner changed. ‘My lord,’ he said, handing it back. It was a carte blanche Jim had written himself, signed by his grandfather and bearing the duke’s seal.

‘How stands Salador?’

‘As you no doubt saw,’ the captain rose from behind his desk, ‘the city is verging on insurrection and riot. I’ve given orders that should riot erupt, my men are to pull back to this garrison.’

‘Wise,’ said Jim.

‘How can I be of aid, my lord?’

‘I need a horse.’

‘A moment,’ said the captain. He picked up quill and leaned over to pen an order, signed it, and handed it to Jim. ‘Take your pick at the stable, though I would appreciate it if you’d pass over the big grey gelding; that’s my horse.’ He smiled.

‘I’ll find another,’ said Jim. ‘Tell me, have you encountered a lady of Roldem here?’

‘Not to my knowledge,’ said the captain. ‘A specific lady, I take it.’

‘Very,’ said Jim, thinking Franciezka must have found a way out of the city. Had she been in hiding when Bas-Tyra had arrived, she would surely have made herself known to the duke.

A shout from outside caused both men to go to the door. A guardsman ran up and said, ‘Captain, we have sight of a large column of dust from the north.’

‘That can’t be good,’ said the captain.

‘Perhaps not bad, either,’ said Jim. ‘May I join you?’

Given the rank of this mysterious traveller and the carte blanche he carried, the captain realized asking permission was simply good manners, but he appreciated it and nodded.

Both men climbed the steps to the city walls and moved to the northern tower. From the roof they peered northward.

‘It’s a big company,’ said Captain Ronsard.

As they watched, the cloud of dust grew larger.

One of the lookouts said, ‘It’s a bleeding army, sir.’

‘What banner?’

‘Can’t see yet, Captain.’

Time dragged on and Jim waited. If things had gone according to plan in Silden, there was little threat. But if things hadn’t gone as planned, the approaching force could prove disastrous for Prince Edward and the Kingdom.

Finally the lookout said, ‘They fly no standards, but they’re wearing Salador colours, Captain!’

Jim asked, ‘Who rides in the van?’

‘No officers I can see, sir. Their horse are on the flank, riding at a walk, keeping pace with the infantry.’

‘Good,’ said Jim. He turned to Captain Ronsard and said, ‘I expect you’ll find a captain, lieutenant, or perhaps even a sergeant in command of that army. But if there’s one nobleman left I’ll be surprised.’

‘I’m not sure I take your meaning, sir.’

‘That’s the army of Salador come home, without the duke.’

‘Is Duke Arthur dead, you think?’

‘More likely trying to find a way to ride around Bas-Tyra and seek asylum with Chadwick of Ran.’ Jim headed toward the stairs. ‘I’ll take that horse now, just in case whoever’s in charge of that army isn’t in a good mood. But if I’m right, you’ll need to accept a lot of paroles for the rest of this day. Promise them whatever it takes, but start with back-pay. Tear apart Duke Arthur’s apartments – he thought he was coming back, so I expect much of his personal wealth is secreted there somewhere, likely a treasure room next to his own quarters, or somewhere in the lower dungeon. Make sure those men are disarmed, fed, given something to drink – not too much – and paid, and you’ll have little trouble. And you might even put some of them to work guarding their own city.’

‘I’m not sure any of this makes sense, my lord,’ said Ronsard, but Jim had vanished down into the tower. The captain returned his attention to the approaching army. ‘As soon as that nobleman is out of the gates, I want them closed until we find out what this is all about.’

‘Sir,’ said a nearby sentry, and he followed Jim down the steps.

All eyes on the wall watched as the army of Salador slowly returned home.

Jim rode without incident for two days. He had circled wide of the approaching army from the north, but rode close enough that he judged they’d be little trouble for Captain Ronsard and his garrison. From the look of them they were tired of fighting and just wanted to go home. The absence of mercenaries told Jim as much as he needed to know: Silden had withstood attack and the army of Salador had withdrawn. If he survived the rest of this coming war he’d read the reports and sift through the details later, but he knew that when this was over, an officer in Silden’s army – Knight-Marshall Geoffrey du Gale – should be sought out and personally thanked. Jim had left him in a very bad situation and it appeared he had made the best of it.

The villages along the line of march between the coast and the Fields of Albalyn were deserted, as Jim had expected them to be. Villagers had an inbuilt sense of when trouble was headed their way and usually found places to be other than in front of approaching armies. The woods to the north and south of the highway would be speckled with camps and makeshift villages. These people had long experience of putting up a wattle-and-daub hut in short order. Some of the camps might even turn into permanent settlements.

The road from Salador intersected the road from Malac’s Cross, a point accepted as the de facto line separating the Eastern and Western Realms of the Kingdom. Jim circled south and west around that particular intersection, as Oliver had no doubt put a company there, protecting his beachhead. He paused and stared up the road. In the matter of a few weeks, Prince Oliver and his army would be marching down this road to about where Jim sat his horse. Within a week after that, he would march over a rise and see a sweeping vista of fields, freshly harvested and now empty, dominated at the north by a rising tor. On that tor rested an ancient fortress, a single keep abandoned centuries ago, but once the first Kingdom fortification in what would become the Western Realm. The Tower of Albalyn, which gave its name to the fields below.

There Oliver would be looking up at a deceptively long rise: he would have to charge his men uphill at Prince Edward’s entrenched army. If all went according to plan, the battle would be over in a day, with Oliver crushing himself against Edward’s position.

At least that was Jim’s plan, and his hope.

And Jim Dasher was enough of a realist to know that nothing ever goes as planned.

He rode on.

Jim spied the sentries along the ridgeline east of the fields and rode slowly to the two guards stationed along the highway. He waved casually and when he reached them, one said, ‘Your business?’

Without speaking, Jim handed down his warrant of passage and the guard looked at it and handed it to his companion. Jim realized neither could read and said, ‘Message for Prince Edward from the Duke of Rillanon.’

Alone, he was hardly a threat to Prince Edward, who was surrounded by several thousand soldiers, so they waved him along. He rode at a slow trot, his eyes travelling over the terrain. There were a dozen features that caught his eye, small deviations from the maps that had him recalculating a possible battle strategy. He stopped: there was a tent full of generals, marshals, dukes, and a prince to conduct this battle. There was unlikely to be anything he noticed that they had missed.

When he reached the lines, a captain who could read glanced at his document, waved him through and pointed out the prince’s pavilion. There, a lackey took his mount and he entered. Several familiar faces greeted him as he approached Prince Edward and bowed. ‘Highness.’

‘Lord Jamison,’ said the prince. ‘I hope you bring good news.’

‘As good as can be had in a war. Oliver follows the trail we left him, like a dog after a rabbit.’ He removed his gauntlets and took an offered cup of wine. ‘Good,’ he said after taking a drink. He looked around the room, nodding greetings to all.

The Dukes of Yabon, Darkmoor, Bas-Tyra, Krondor, Durony’s Vale, Sutherland, Silden, and Crydee were attending the prince, as were the other court officers. Jim noticed his cousin Richard standing next to the Duke of Krondor and nodded to him. He didn’t particularly like his cousin, but he respected him and was surprised to discover he was here. A dozen commanders were awaiting word of Oliver’s army approaching from the east, and reviewing plans to anticipate every contingency.

Jim turned to Prince Edward. ‘I left Salador three days ago, after I had followed Oliver’s fleet towards their beachhead. They did as anticipated and landed directly east of the Western Highway.’

‘How soon?’

‘If he doesn’t lag or piss around too much, two weeks, three at the outside. He’s got seasick horses, men who’ve been barracked a long time: he probably needs to forage and establish his scouts and skirmishers. Most importantly, he has to set up his base for his line of march. He’s got to unload a lot of cargo and be ready to resupply if this turns into a long campaign.’

‘How many men?’ asked the Duke of Darkmoor.

‘Silden cost him most of the western mercenaries,’ said Jim with a smile. ‘They didn’t like fighting and not getting paid. And he’s lost Salador, which is close to two thousand men. But he’s got all of Maladon and Simrick, eastern mercenaries, and Dolth, Euper, Tiburn, Timons, and Romney marching with him.’

‘What of Ran?’ asked Edward. ‘Chadwick made a deal with Oliver, correct?’

‘All our intelligence says that was so,’ Jim answered. ‘Chadwick is not with Oliver, but that doesn’t mean he’s not causing mischief somewhere.’

‘Without Chadwick’s army, we can crush them,’ said the Duke of Yabon.

‘My Lord of Crydee,’ Edward said, ‘you have that same look your father got when he had something to say, but didn’t want to say it.’

Hal had been quietly standing to one side, being the youngest duke in the tent, but he frowned deeply at Edward’s remarks. Then, looking a little self-conscious, he stepped up to the maps and put the battlefield map on top of the one Jim used. ‘If I were Prince Oliver, I wouldn’t be marching up that highway as expected, but waiting, taking my time, perhaps sending some patrols west to keep you worried.’

‘Why?’ asked the prince.

‘To stall for time,’ answered Jim Dasher. He looked at Hal. ‘You expect Chadwick of Ran to arrive, don’t you?’

‘Not by ship,’ said Hal. ‘If Chadwick set off as soon as he made his agreement with Oliver, steady and easy, not punishing his men with twenty miles a day, but half that, he’d be about here.’

Again the shuffling of maps, with Hal’s finger stabbing the town of Sloop. ‘Lord Romney had already left to take up position with Oliver, so Chadwick can move his entire army without anyone except some farmers noticing him cutting through the south end of that duchy. Then he continues down the old logging highway from Sloop along the edge of the Dimwood, to Sethanon.’

‘And drops in behind us once the fighting starts,’ said the prince. ‘No one has ever accused old Chad of being a fool, and if he comes in that way …’ He shook his head.

Jim closed his eyes. ‘I didn’t see that.’

‘You can’t see everything,’ said a female voice from the shadows in the corner of the tent.

Jim’s expression went from one of deep concern to a broad smile as he said without looking, ‘I am pleased my lady reached the prince untroubled.’

Lady Franciezka laughed. ‘Oh, there was a bit of trouble, but nothing too difficult.’ She moved to Jim’s side and added, ‘The politics of your nation is currently such that I think young Lord Henry is correct. For if both Prince Edward and Oliver were to fall in battle …’

Jim cringed at missing something so obvious. ‘Chadwick calls for truce, both sides have no one to support, the war ends, and he’s …’

‘Left the sole legitimate claimant to the throne, and in command of the field,’ finished Edward. ‘Montgomery wouldn’t dare to challenge his claim, even with your grandfather’s backing,’ he added, looking at Jim. Then he looked at Hal for a long moment, but the young duke said nothing.

‘How do we deal with this?’ asked the Duke of Yabon.

Hal said, ‘If I take enough men to Sethanon and wait, I can slow him enough that by the time he gets here the battle will have been decided. Or, even if not, he won’t be a deciding factor.’

‘How many men do you need?’ asked Edward.

‘I can make do with my men from Crydee and,’ he looked at the Duke of Yabon, ‘another garrison.’

‘Take LaMut,’ said the Duke of Yabon. ‘The Wolves are the best soldiers I have in my duchy.’ He grinned at Prince Edward. ‘Most of them had Tsurani ancestors. You know what a bunch of tough little bastards they were.’

‘When do you leave?’ Edward asked.

Hal studied the map. ‘If Jim’s predictions about Oliver’s movements are accurate, we have plenty of time. Ten days to reach Sethanon …’ He calculated. ‘That gives me enough time to rebuild the castle there,’ he said with a grin.

‘Hardly,’ said Jim, sharing the humour, ‘but certainly you have enough time to build a fortification he can’t afford to leave at his rear.’

‘Good,’ said Prince Edward. ‘You’ll confer with us on your preparations and we’ll ensure all is ready when it’s time for you to depart. Who acts as your adjutant?’

‘My brother, Martin,’ said Hal. Martin and Brendan were waiting in the Crydee ducal pavilion, the very same used by their father in years past. Brendan had arrived courtesy of Ruffio and had been catching up on the situation there after informing the Prince of Krondor about the events in the Grey Tower Mountains. ‘And I’d like to drag Ty Hawkins along.’