Chapter 25: A big mistake

 

 

Ajax lifted himself higher on the back of his horse to get a better view of the valley below. Dawn just broke over the sea beyond, casting beams down onto the scattered tents of the horse people – several tribes he had never seen before, mingling with those with whom he was more familiar, a gathering that had already left its bloody mark across his people’s settlements, and promised to bring war into Amlor itself, more warriors with more horses than any Ajax had seen or perhaps any other of the defenders of Land Gate for generations.

From the right, the captain of his legion rode towards him, armor glinting in the harsh sun, the sweat obvious his face, as it had been on the others taking the long hard ride from Land Gate to reach here. The captain was breathless when he arrived, as if he had run, not ridden.

“Everything is in place, Lord,” the captain said. “Few of these savages will escape.”

Fire showed in the captain’s eyes, a rage stirred up by visions of slaughtered settlers, and the smoldering remains of villages and farms they had once occupied.

Most of the Captain’s troop wore the same look, as did many of those who had stood guard on Land Gate for long time, having seen the worst of the savage’s attacks, merciless killings of innocents over desire to control the land.

Ajax hated them deep in his heart, not having his brother’s love of foreign things. He hated them because they posed a constant threat to Amlor, but perhaps he also hated them because they existed at all, always there on the edge of eye sight, always carrying on their backs some alien sensibility he didn’t understand or care to.

For time beyond count, the riders of these ranges had existed here, hunted here, made their pilgrimages here from the distant south. These tribes revered the open spaces as if each breath of wind was the breath of a god, and they hated anything that violated this space, disturbed the natural rhythm of the land, caused the herds of animals the tribes hunted to deviate from long predictable routes, causing the tribes to have to go further, search harder and sometimes lack the food they needed later to survive the long winters.

But these were not Ajax’s problems. His people needed the land as much as the horse people did, fertile land from which might spring crops impossible in the rocky soil of Amlor itself, a bread basket on which the kingdom could feed.

Why did the savages refuse to share? Certainly, they had more than enough land?

Ely told Ajax more than once about the sacred rituals, and how important a role the wide ranges played in the survival of those people, and that they would do anything, commit an atrocity to preserve their right to control that land, and as recent events showed, this was clearly true.

Ajax understood he could not stand by and allow any culture to do what it had done to the villages, the pillaging, the slaughter of innocents, and that those farmers and others relied on him and his troop to enact vengeance.

Many of his men – who lived their lives along the narrow stretch of Land Gate and in the remote heights of its mountains – were nearly as savage as these tripes, willing to do unto the savages as ruthlessly as the savages did to them.

These men of Land Gate were sometimes as ruthless to the villager as the natives were, demanding payment in women, goods and other things in order to provide protection.

Nearly all the villagers tolerated these demands. They understood on the frontier, they needed men like these soldiers, warriors who would not shy away from doing what was necessary to keep the natives away, or as one villager once told Ajax, “We know some of your men are sons of bitches. But they are our sons of bitches.”

“When do you expect to launch the attack?” the captain asked.

“Just before dawn,” Ajax said. “Most will be sleeping.”

“Women and children, too,” the captain said without emotion.

“Yes,” Ajax said. “There were women and children in our villages were there not?”

“Yes, Lord,” the captain said.

“Then, if we are to teach these savages a lesson, it must be a hard lesson,” Ajax said. “This can’t be a gentle lesson. We must hit as hard as we were hit to make them understand the cost they must pay when they strike at us.”

But both men knew this was more than merely tit for tat. They only way to permanently stop the attacks was to wage a war not only on the warriors, but those who fed and clothed and healed the warriors, and if this took annihilating a race, then so be it.

“Our riders will come in from the rising sun,” the captain said. “The savages will try to flee. But we have ground troops waiting on those sides. Very few will escape.”

“Let some flee,” Ajax said, getting an odd look from his captain, the look making Ajax laugh, “We want some survivors to take back the tale of our wrath, to make sure others know how terrible we can be when we are provoked.”

“Aye, Lord,” the captain said, then stirred his horse to carry Ajax’s command, to strike at dawn.

 

***********

 

Ely dosed on the bed when the clank of metal came, followed by the whisper of the wizard’s robes. Brisk steps brought Blyord into the room. He looked angry or concerned, while at the same time, seemed to want to conceal this.

He looked impatient, and seemed to need to disguise this as well, glancing back into the hall, before looking at Ely.

“Why am I still here like a prisoner?” Ely asked.

“It’s the king’s wish,” Blyord said. “Your brother is missing or out beyond where anyone can reach him, and the king does not want both heirs to the throne exposed.”

“So, I am a prisoner,” Ely said, bitterly.’

“For the moment,” the wizard said, again looking distracted, as if waiting for something or counting off something in his head.

Ely got the feeling the wizard deliberately stalled and may well have conspired with the King to make him a prisoner – the twisted designs of the wizard always beyond an ordinary man’s understanding. But he clearly had something going on that required Ely to remain or at best to be delayed.

“What is this old man up to?” Ely wondered, trying to look straight into the wizard’s eyes, but the wizard’s gaze eluded him.

“You said Ajax is missing?” Ely asked.

“There has been significant trouble with the natives near Land Gate, and from what reports we could get, Prince Ajax went out to deal with the situation, and has not yet reported back.”

“Deal with it?” Ely said. “You mean he’s out murdering more of the horse people.”

“Murder is a strong word,” Blyord said. “As I told you, the horse people have been riled up, most likely by Htam. Things are bad out there.”

“I suspected as much,” Ely said. “My dreams have been dark indeed.”

“Dreams?” the wizard said, his gaze focusing directly on Ely for the first time, his gray eyes looking deeply concerned. “What were they about?”

Ely briefly described them, each vision increasing the wizard’s grim expression, and caused him to pace the small chamber.

“These are not good tidings,” the wizard said. “They are part of a message I believe your Queen is sending you.”

“She has the gift,” Ely admitted. “But I can make little sense of such a message. Can you?”

 Blyord continued to pace, his robes sweeping around him like cloud.

“Not precisely,” he said. “But I suspect I have made a grave mistake.”

“In what way?”

“It seems if I read this message accurately, the sword must go south after all,” the wizard said, stopping to stare back at Ely. “And you must be the one to bring it south.”

“Then that’s what I’ll do,” Ely said, rising, turning one way then the other until he saw his suit of armor in the corner.

“Not so easily done,” the wizard said. “It seems that’s where I made my mistake. I have sent a messenger to Ajax to have him stop you.”

Ely frowned; his dark eyes framed by his tanned face.

“Then you suspected I would try to take it, despite my father’s warnings?”

“I knew you would try,” the wizard said. “Now you must, only I’m doubly guilty in that I advised the king to keep you here.”

“No one can keep me if I wish to go,” Ely said defiantly, then with a sigh, “But these are my kinsmen and I have no desire to spill their blood. Another way must be devised.”

“Indeed,” the wizard said. “For things in the south are far worse than even you might imagine.”

“How can they be worse?” Ely asked. “Htam marches north and leaves a trail of destruction.”

The wizard peered at Ely in the dim light, despite his worry, his gaze also showed great affection for the prince, and great concern.

“If I read your lover’s message right, there is a greater evil here than just a powerful army,” the wizard said, moving across the room to the window, staring out at the haze. “Long have I searched for news or Rahm. He – of all since Suna herself – may well be the greatest evil this world has ever faced.”

“Rahm?” Ely said. “You have never spoken of him before. Who is he? Another god?”

“No, he is of my kind,” Blyord said. “He has spent eons creating evil in this world and I have spent much time and energy trying to undo what he has done.”

“Of your kind?” Ely asked.

“Some call us star wizards,” Blyord said. “Only a few of us survived. “Unlike the rest of us, he wanted to shape this world and create a vision of his own, perverse, dangerous, playing god when he was never a god. I have searched for signs of him, but he always managed to elude me, and eluded me for so long that I dared hope he had perished or was cast into the dungeons of the Dales with those other purveyors of evil cast down during the Wars of Enchantment.”

“You think differently now?” Ely said. “Nowhere in my dream did I hear his name.”

“Nor would you,” the wizard said. “But your lover’s father’s ghost coming into your head with warnings of the Dales suggests a greater power at work.”

“Perhaps it is the priest of Htam,” Ely said. “Long has rumor claimed they seek to restore Suna to life.”

“Those tampering fools know too little to do that for themselves,” the wizard said. “But with the aid of some greater power, they have the potential to do more damage than even they might contemplate.”

“With the help of this wizard called Rahm?” Ely asked.

“I would suspect so,” the wizard said. “And Rahm would need the great sword to make this happen. Which means it is not safe where it is.”

“But I thought you said it was unsafe to bring the blade south,” Ely said.

“Indeed, I did,” the wizard said, moving away from the window again, “Indeed, I did. But things have changed, and you will not merely be bringing the sword south, you will be wielding it – you must become the warrior you were born to be.”

“How can I if the king has me locked up here?” Ely said.

“Then, we must somehow get you out of here, and you must get to the sword before Ajax does.”

“Ajax couldn’t stop me in a fair fight between us,” Ely said.

“If what I suspect is true, it won’t be the same Ajax you knew growing up,” the wizard said. “And I suspect, his is the hand Rahm and the priests might use to get their sword.”

 

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