Book 5, Chapter 28: The Last Good Time
Morry, his big hand on Tread’s back as they both looked into the fire, talking about how to cook the meat or how high the fire should be or other important boy stuff, it didn’t matter, the two of them together, during this dark and moonless night, brought me joy.
“What’ll you have, Cayce? Wine, ale?”
“Oh, either way. You know, the wine when I dined with Saph was good. At the Barclay castle, I mean. It was good wine. I don’t know why I thought of that now. The night before, Saph and I and Morry, we had a nice time drinking what she’d brought. Damn.”
Brin placed her hand on my arm, “I’m sad she’s gone, too. But let’s not dwell on the past tonight.” Elbow bent, the girl held her fist up high, “For tomorrow we ride into battle!”
I laughed, “How did you think up that?” Not quite true, the scouts had returned. We would catch up to Carlisele’s encampment at the pass, by noon tomorrow.
Brin busied herself finding four mugs, “I figured some levity might be good for tonight.”
“If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink. For tomorrow we die.”
She paused, “That’s unduly morbid. Where’d you get that phrase?”
“Oh, from an old mythology text. Uh, maybe I read it in the cathedral.”
“If the dead are not raised?”
“Uhm, that religion, it, ah, their deity brings the dead back to life.” I shuddered away unwanted feelings. Thinking about other deities always made me a bit off. Jealousy? Disgust? I wondered if I’d ever know.
“I like mine better.”
“You know,” I took Brin by the arm, turned her toward the boys, “if it is our last night on the planet, shouldn’t you confess your feelings for Tread?”
She blushed, “Uhm.”
“Brin! Come on, don’t be shy you bad girl.”
She untangled herself from me, blush not fading at all, “It’s impolite to start drinking before everyone’s got their cups.” Brin walked over to Tread and Morry, passing them a mug each. She then moved over to a pack, pulled out a wine jug, and poured for each of us. “Wine, I’m thinking.”
The big man looked into the depths of his cup, “To start with, anyways.”
“Morry, perhaps we shouldn’t drink so much. We have lots of work to do tomorrow.”
“I’d gladly have your ability to drink, Princess.”
“What shall we cheers to?”
Tread held up his mug. “To enduring peace and safety and the end of invading armies.”
I cocked my head at him. “Tread?”
Morry raised his cup, “To Tread! And the end of invading armies.”
We girls sipped, Morry drank and Tread gulped. As I tasted the wine, I wondered if Tread had been reading the books from the castle, because he sure didn’t speak like that before. Maybe to impress Brin, perhaps to educate himself. Either way, it seemed to be working and I found myself proud of him.
Morry began setting up a spit, Tread salting the meat.
Brin, smiling, put her hand on my arm, leading me away, “It’s too bad none of your suitors are here, Cayce. You could confess your feelings to one of them.”
“I’m rather glad that none of them are here.”
“None, hey?” She pointedly looked over at Morry.
“What are you talking about?”
“Cayce . . .”
“You can’t be serious! Besides, I’m way too young for him! Well . . .” this body is, anyways. I felt decidedly older, who knows how much, maybe even older than the big man himself, but all those memories were lost or locked away and this body seemed to be taking over. “He must think of me as a child.”
“I don’t know how you run a kingdom being so light in the head.”
“Not very well, apparently. Probably few people in history have lost a kingdom so quickly.”
“You’re nearly sixteen, Cayce. Time to consider marriage. And he’d treat you well, very well. Look how he dotes on you.”
“I thought you’d told me to marry only for power, to cement my power.”
“Well, you removed most of the available power holders in the kingdom. I guess you’re left with Laemacia.”
“Otholos. Yeah. It’s with him I’ll be discussing nuptials. But, Brin, the thought sickens me.”
“With luck, you’ll kill him in the next few days.”
“Jesus!”
“Not you personally, I mean, but the battle.”
“I haven’t even met the guy. But, yeah, I guess that’s the outcome we’re all hoping for.”
“Unless he brought the army here as a romantic gesture. To show you his power and woo you off your feet!”
I suddenly had visions of a massive wedding party, our armies dancing in sync and singing Bollywood pop songs. Colored sheets would drop from the sky as Otholos twirled me around. “Not, uh, the worst outcome. Better than a global apocalypse.” I waved my cup around, “Though I can’t be entirely sure.”
“You are so strange sometimes. I’m joking. You aren’t going to marry him.”
The grass, so green in the daytime, nearly dark as coal now. “It may save everyone’s life.”
Shifting toward me, she ran her hand on my face. “No, it won’t. He’ll take you as a prize and take the kingdom anyways. Unless father surrenders the army to him and our soldiers accept that, but I just can’t see that happening. Otholos wouldn’t trust men of our kingdom armed. If he wipes out our armies, then only women and boys are left, and he’ll think that a much more acceptable outcome.”
“Yeah. That wouldn’t be good.”
“It would be all manner of suck.”
I spit out my drink, laughing.
“What?”
“Nothing. That was hilarious. The phrase, you got it wrong.”
“Anyways, I’m trying to bring your mood up. You were gloomy all day.”
“All day?”
“And you’re far too young for all this brooding, Cayce. Tell me,” she smiled, “is it Maitlan you’re holding out for?”
“What? He’s barely out of childhood!”
“You did kiss him.”
“He kissed me.”
“Not the story you told me in the baths.”
“Gods, that’s not how it went. Both of us, well, neither of us could believe we were alive. It just happened! Can we please discuss something else?”
“You made him duke and, like, king in waiting or king-regent or something. That,” she tilted her head, “speaks volumes.”
I facepalmed. “Oh my god. I did not think of it like that. He was the only available noble around! I needed someone in charge.”
“You’re blushing like crazy.”
“Has to be the wine.” I lifted the glass to my lips, tilted it back and finished it off.
“So, what did you and the big man get up to on your walk?”
***
Morry and I walked back to our campfire, after having visited the master smith. It didn’t take long for him to work out how to build a quick and dirty catapult. It was basically a seesaw: heavy weight on one end, basket or something to hold what you wanted to throw on the other. Perpendicular brace, a log would be easiest, in the middle to abruptly stop the seesaw’s motion and fling something nasty out of the bucket at the enemy.
“The longer out the enemy is, the better we can prepare our defenses. The more catapults we can build, the better.”
“That all depends, Princess, on whether their mages departed, too. If not-”
“Yeah.” If not, I’d have to resort to my magic and that would be dangerous for those nearby. “We’ll find that out within a few minutes of the battle starting.”
We walked in silence a while.
“Have you had a chance to read more of Etienne’s journal?”
“What? Oh. Yeah. It’s mostly about his investigations, magic, that sort of thing. Nothing about the last spell he cast. Ruminations about the carvings in my back. No definitive answers, nothing that really helps me.”
“I’m wondering more about what he wrote about the temple he directed you to go to.”
“Right. Not a lot. He thought that the answers to his questions lie there. And, presumably, answers for mine, too.”
“Princess?”
“Alright, yeah. There’s this part of the journal where he refers to the temple as a prison.”
“He’s sending you to a prison?”
“Well, the language, it’s vague on the exact meaning. It seems to mean, ‘prison of knowledge’ or ‘prison of the mind.’ Prison of knowledge, I don’t know, could mean a library or archive of some sort. Reading into it, Etienne seems to think that if I can solve the prison, I’ll learn what I need to know. But he didn’t write down what to do or anything.”
“A prison. What if this place you are going to doesn’t have answers?”
“Damn, I don’t know. Then, I’ll have to face the mages. I guess I will regardless, but I was hoping to learn more first about . . .” I nearly bit my tongue to stop my mouth from blurting out ‘why I’m here, who I am’ and somehow thought up, “my powers, how to use them. With the Laemacians here, I might not even make it to the temple. It’s further north than here, yeah?”
“Perhaps four, five days by horseback by my guess. Further into the mountains.”
“Honestly, Morry, I don’t think I’m going to see that temple. There are only two outcomes, it seems, ahead of me. Convincing the emperor not to attack, which means I’ll be off to his capital as a new bride,” I stared at the ground while we walked. Our campfire lay just ahead, “Or a battle we’re unlikely to win.”
“If you’ll allow me to play the part of Rand for a moment-”
“Rand?”
“Devil’s advocate.”
“Alright.”
“We could, you and I, skirt this army and seek out the temple. You’d have to trust Carlisele with defense, though. It might be easier for just the two of us to reach it if we can avoid scouting parties.”
“It would be safer for everyone, especially if the mages show up.”
“The army will be safer with you there if he has mages.”
“Only if I can kill them first. And not, you know, everyone else. But it’s not that. The kingdom is my responsibility. All these people.” I moved closer, put my hand on his arm, “And you, and the army, the only reason I’m alive. It wouldn’t be right to leave when our last intact army is about to face its greatest threat. I have to try to stop Otholos.”
“I worry that you’ll just be giving yourself to him and he’ll take the kingdom anyway.”
“Will you be able to stop his army with the new ballistae? If they work, I mean.”
“If we can block the pass, if he doesn’t have mages, if those weapons can kill rhinos, if Carlisele has enough ranged regiments, then maybe.”
“That’s a lot of ifs.”
“If you don’t use your magic, Princess, these are what we have to work with.”
“That’s what you have to work with.”
“Yes.”
Brin’s higher pitched laughter from ahead of us mixing in with the slightly deeper pitch from Tread. “Though this journey we make is bleak, I think Brin and Tread are enjoying themselves.”
“Enough dreary talk. I tucked some of that whiskey into my packhorse. Let’s have a little before you toss it all away.”
“Really? Do you think that’s a good idea tonight?”
“No better time than tonight.”
He headed off to the packhorses, I took a seat by the fire, Brin and Tread were suddenly quiet. “Oh, don’t let me interrupt you two.”
“Uhm, what’d the smith say?”
“He understood my idea. We’re going to need crews cutting down trees and such when we get to the encampment. Lots to build. If only I had two capable organizers nearby. Hey, I’ve got an idea!”
Brin gave me a wry smile. “Anything to keep me busy, huh?”
“What else are you going to do in an army encampment?”
“I can help, too! It won’t take much. Having lunch prepared, enough carts to continuously move wood to the encampment, ale for the laborers.”
“Looks like you got this, Tread. If you need anything else, you can always ask Lady Brin here. She certainly won’t be busy.”
“I’ll probably be dividing my time between calming father down and untangling your hair.”
“Why will he need calming down?”
“Well,” she looked at Tread, “you countermanded his orders about his messenger boy here, are taking the castle’s smiths to the frontlines and have turned them all into weapon smiths – the saddle makers are certainly going to complain – didn’t bring an army and, oh, you gave the duchy to Hafthon.”
“Ah.”
“Yeah, ah.”
“Perhaps this will ease your worries, Lady Brin,” Morry handed her a cup of whiskey which I knew to be far too much.
“You’d better add water to that!”
“I’ll stick with wine. Cayce, you want your awful drink?” She held it toward me. The big man passed Tread a cup, poured his own and sat down.
“Uh, sure.” And just like that, whiskey was now in my hands. “Hey! You want to see something neat?”
“She means interesting.”
“Right, interesting. Why we are going to fling whiskey barrels at soldiers if the chance arises.” I took a mouthful of the harsh liquid, then pursed my lips and blew toward the fire. Flash! A cloud of flame billowed upward.
“Whoa! It’s like a faster burning tallow.”
“Tallow? It’s totally different.”
“No wonder it burns going down.” Morry held his cup in front of his face, proudly considering the liquid within.
“Yeah, I’m hoping this will dissuade their soldiers a bit. I feel kinda dumb, though. The stuff we had tossed out, the heads and tails, would have burned just as well and then we wouldn’t be wasting all this.”
“My lady,” Tread said, “if you remember we repurposed those, uh parts, to use in the hospitals. For cleaning their equipment.”
“Right. Damn. We might have to send a messenger back for it.”
“The priests will have brought some with their medical equipment.”
“I don’t really want to be stripping our field hospitals.” I shook my head slightly, “We’ll make do.”
***
“Hmm,” said Morry, getting my attention from the fire we’d been staring into, “if the pass is narrow enough, the rise to it steep enough, and we can build flat areas for our ranged, and if they don’t have mages, we might just be able to hold.”
I held my mug up, my third this night, “Was it the whiskey that convinced you?”
“That’ll be a sight in battle! But, no, Princess. The crossbows and ballistae mainly. If they,” he pointed his thumb toward the smith’s tents, “can build enough catapults. Especially if the enemy is downhill. I don’t see how they can fight an uphill battle against such weapons. It’s a pity we don’t have more.”
“I should have introduced them with the crossbows. But we had mages then. And, yeah, that’s why . . .” I let that sentence die because I was going to say, ‘this world doesn’t have siege weapons.’ Mages replaced heavy artillery here.
“No sense in regretting the past. We’ll have to doublecheck the maps, make sure there aren’t any other easy passageways through the mountain range. Their scouts will be searching, no doubt.”
“We haven’t seen any thus far.”
“Something that gladdens me. Are you going to send Lady Brin home tomorrow?”
“I don’t think she’ll listen to me. Besides, they’re enjoying themselves.”
“It’s their last night without the supervision of Brin’s parents.”
“Oh.”
“A pity she doesn’t see a knight in the same way she sees an earl.”
“Huh. You know . . . I wonder. This is our last night, isn’t it? Or one of our last nights, depending on when their army arrives. I mean, potentially. If we’re defeated, well, that’s obvious. If I have to marry the guy, or if something happens to me, then Tread’ll remain a messenger boy.”
“We’d best see that nothing happens to you.” He gave a pointed stare.
“Right. Yeah, so this may be my last chance.” Setting my drink down, I stood.
“To do what exactly?”
“Something I’ve been thinking about for a long while.” Turning to the couple sitting just out of earshot, I called out, “Brin! Tread!”
They turned around. “Is something wrong, Princess?”
“Can you come over here for a bit. Whoops! Morry, pass me my sword, former sword that is, would you? Tread, yeah, just a moment. Then I’ll need you to kneel.”
“What, ah, for?”
“Cayce, you can’t be serious! What are you doing?” Brin’s hand went to her mouth.
Morry stood up, took the sword up from the ground, and passed it to me. “If you’re doing what I think you’re doing, we should probably get the captain of Hafthon’s cavalry out here.” He had an odd, amused expression on his face.
***
“Captain Horne, Lady Brin and General Morrentz, you are here as witnesses. Because of the service Sir Tread has given to the kingdom, he will now receive his due. Tread, would you be so kind as to kneel?”
A little stunned, he slowly went down on one knee.
“Do you swear to protect the rights of the innocent, to grow your lands to the best of your ability and to always support your liege lord or, uh, lady in my case, and the kingdom?”
“Yes, my lady. I will always support you.”
A smile broke out on my face. I put the sword on his left shoulder, “In the name of your kingdom,” his right, “your honor,” and his left again, “and your princess, I name you Earl Tread,” and I couldn’t help myself and broke into a large smile, “Rise, Earl Tread. You have the right to own land and hold a military. The lands north of Breadamont and south of Yohstone are yours and your family’s in perpetuity.”
It took him a moment. He stared at me in disbelief, an errant tear ran down his face which, when it passed his cheek, he quickly wiped off. “My . . . my lady.”
“An earldom?” Brin asked, hand on her hip, “He gets to skip over lord, baron and count?”
“Oh, were those supposed to be in order?”
The captain looked both unamused and baffled. He nodded his head perfunctorily, “Congratulations, my lord,” and raised his cup, slight shake of his head, sipped.
The big man said, “An earldom,” then walked over to the new earl, giving him a pat on the shoulder, “Lord Tread, congratulations!”
Brin went and stood in front of Tread. “Well, now,” she nodded, “don’t go thinking you can properly court me yet. You will need to secure your lands first. And build a proper castle. Not a fortified manor.”
He looked from her to me. “Princess, my lady, did you say I could have an army?”
***
Morry and I stood just outside of the fire, staring at the stars, when he spoke, “Forget what Carlisele is going to say about Hafthon, I can’t imagine his face when he learns that his messenger boy is now an earl. An earl.”
“I’ve been thinking about exalting him for a while now. At first, you know, just to piss off the other earls. But also, to irk Brin.” He gave me a look. “I mean, not now. Now she’s probably happy. But remember back at the first encampment, the division between commoner and noble was all too strong for her.”
“The division is all too real for most people, Princess. She’s matured since then. It seems so long ago now.”
“Yeah.” I took a sip, but only a sip. “We really need to mix this with more water.”
“Perhaps.”
“Well, I don’t, but you mortals do.” I sipped carefully, deciding not to gulp overproof spirits, even though I could. The last time I tried that, it sent me into an endless coughing fit. Ah, screw it, “To Lord Tread!” Took a nice draw from the cup. Didn’t even cough!
“Lord Tread.” The big man actually sipped, probably because of that thing we call memory. “You’re going to have to help him build that castle, you know. And provide troops. He’s not going to just attract them on his own. Plus, explain this all to, well, all your other earls.”
“I mostly have dukes now.”
“Dukes, then.”
“Morry, did you want an earldom? I can give you one, you know. Or a dukedom. It’s just . . .”
“Just?”
“I like having you around. And if you had a dukedom, you’d have to go be there. Instead of, you know, with me.”
***
The last thing I remember, other than the world spinning, was the big man’s arms gently laying me into my bed, lifting my head to push a pillow under, placing the blankets atop my body, a soft kiss on my forehead.
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