The Redemption of Althalus (44 page)

“We’ll provide the weapons, Chief Gweti.” Althalus stepped in.

“But—” Gweti started to protest.

“We’re renting bodies, Gweti, not the cheap swords in your storehouse.”

“What about their boots?” Gweti asked almost desperately. “It’s a long way down to the low country, and my men are certain to wear out their boots along the way.”

“I’ll take care of that, too. Quit trying to swindle me, Gweti. You’re out of your class. Did you want to talk about how much you plan to pay us for the rations your men are going to eat along the way?”

“That’s absurd!” Gweti’s eyes bulged.

“They’re
your
men, Gweti. Feeding them is
your
responsibility, not mine. If half of them starve to death, that’s your problem. Those are the terms, Gweti. I’ll pay so much per man per day, and I’ll trade you the rations for the weapons and boots and we’ll call it even.”

“That isn’t fair!” Gweti protested.

“Life’s that way sometimes. Make up your mind, Gweti. If an even trade doesn’t suit you, I’ll go see Chief Delur, and you can go back to fondling those pennies. Quickly, Gweti. I’m a little pressed for time just now.”

Eliar set the keg down on Gweti’s table, opened it, and took out a handful of gold coins.

“You’re not being very—” Gweti began to protest. He broke off suddenly as Eliar let the tinkling gold coins dribble out of his hand back into the keg.

“Done?” Althalus demanded bluntly.

“All right, you thief,” Gweti snarled. “We have an agreement.”

“How long will it take to gather your clansmen?”

“They’re already here, Chamberlain Althalus. I’ll order them to march just as soon as you pay me. I want one month in advance.”

“Don’t be silly. One week.”

“Totally unacceptable!”

“Pick up the keg, Eliar,” Althalus said. “Let’s go see Chief Delur.”

“All right, all right,” Gweti said. “Don’t get excited. One week it is.”

“Always a pleasure doing business with you, Chief Gweti,” Althalus smirked. “Pay him, Eliar, and let’s get started. Arya Andine doesn’t like to be kept waiting.”

“You’re running me ragged, Althalus,” Eliar complained when they were all back in the House a few hours later. “This jumping back and forth between Everywhere and Everywhen has got me stretched so thin that light’s starting to shine right through me.”

“Just do what he tells you to do, Eliar,” Sergeant Khalor ordered, “and stop feeling sorry for yourself.” He looked at Chief Gweti’s wooden-faced, kilted clansmen plodding along the corridor. “They look about half asleep,” he observed.

“At least half,” Althalus agreed. “Their minds are busy, though. Right now they think they’re marching through the mountains of Kagwher. They’re out of touch with real time. In the last half hour or so they believe they’ve set up camp about a dozen times. They’ll be in Wekti before the day’s out, but they’ll be positive they’ve been marching for a month or more. Stay with them for now. Bark a few orders now and then so they know you’re here. Stay away from the north wing of the House, though. Chief Delur’s men are going to be roaming up and down the corridors there within the next hour.”

“How are you managing to keep this all straight?”

“It
is
a little complicated, Khalor, but I’m a professional swindler, so I’m used to complications.” Althalus chuckled.

“What’s so funny?” Khalor asked.

“Gher was right. I’m paying Gweti and the other Chiefs for the time that passes where
they
are, and the House deletes all the time they’d normally spend marching through the mountains. I think Gweti’s going to be terribly disappointed when I return his men to him after only a couple of weeks have passed.”

“You’ve got the soul of a thief, Althalus,” Khalor accused.

“Why, thank you, Sergeant.”

“It wasn’t intended to be a compliment.”

“That sort of depends on your point of view. All right, Eliar, let’s go back to last week again. I’ve got some special plans for Smeugor and Tauri.”

“Oh?”

“I want them to be totally out of any possible contact with Ghend, so I think I’ll insist that they lead their men personally instead of just turning the job over to some Captain. I want those two right under my thumb.”

Althalus was close to exhaustion by the time he and Eliar had managed to get all the clans of Arum to the House, and he collapsed into his chair at the dinner table. “I could sleep for a week,” he declared.

“Probably not,” Dweia disagreed. “I’d guess a day and a half at most. Don’t try to deceive us, Althie. You’re having the time of your life.”

“It
is
sort of fun,” he admitted. “I haven’t really done anything all that strenuous today, but I’ve been to so many places that it’s all a blur. I’ve hit eight clans of Arum since sunrise, and I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve passed through the House.”

“There’s one thing left that we need to settle, Althalus,” Andine said. “If you think that Leitha and I are going to just sit here twiddling our thumbs while you menfolk are out there playing, you’d better think again.
Next
time you go out, we
are
going with you.”

“Oh no, you’re not,” he told her. “I’m
not
going to put you two in that kind of danger from
both
sides.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It has to do with that ‘boy-people and girl-people’ business. I’ve been hiring soldiers, not choir boys, and soldiers tend to be
very
direct when they want something. You and Leitha’d probably be in more danger from the Arums than you’d be from the Ansus.”

“Why don’t you let me take care of this, Althalus?” Dweia suggested. “Eat your supper and then get some sleep. You’ve got another busy day ahead of you tomorrow.”

The voice of the spirit of darkness wailed, wailed, and the echo of its wailing lay dark and heavy on the rolling lands of the Ansus.

In the valley below, men did war upon each other with stones. Sharp were the stones, and bright was the blood, and it filled the heart of Pekhal with delight to see the blood.

And behold, stern-faced Gelta, Queen of the Night, did mount the hill astride her midnight horse. And her ax of stone did weep, weep the blood of her fallen foes.

“They flee!” The Queen of Night exulted. “All do flee before me, my beastlike comrade. And so it shall be always, always. No man of humankind dares face my wrath.”

“Thou art my true sister, Queen of Night!” bestial Pekhal spake. “For it seemeth me that the taste of blood is as sweet upon
thy
tongue as it is upon mine. We will feast this night upon the flesh of our foes, and the night shall be filled with our rejoicing.”

“And whither shall we go upon the morrow, brother mine?” the scarfaced Queen of Night demanded in her harsh voice. “All of Ansu is mine, mine, and which land or city shall next fall beneath mine invincible will?”

“Direct thy wrath most keenly at that city men call holy,” spake bestial Pekhal, “and fill thy belly with exultation, for behold, I shall stretch forth mine hand into time yet to come, and I shall arm thee and all thine hosts with weapons of wonder. Cast aside thy weapons of stone, Queen of Night, for I shall arm thee and thine with steel, and Awes shall cast aside Deiwos at thy command, and they shall instead bow down to thee and to me and to our Master, Ghend; and behold, the temples of Deiwos shall ring with praise of Daeva, and the altars thereof shall run red with sweet, sweet blood!”

“Awes
will
be mine, dear brother,” the Queen of Night gloated in savage ecstasy. “Deiwos shall be cast out, and Daeva shall reign supreme over all the world!”

And the despairing wail rose above the plain in an exultant shriek, and the heart of the Queen of Night was full, full.

C H A P T E R     T W E N T Y - T H R E E

T
hey were subdued the following morning at breakfast. “Did we all have the same dream again?” Gher asked Dweia in a shuddering voice.

She nodded.

“I thought so,” the boy said. “There was that howling noise off in the distance. It didn’t really happen that way, did it? What I mean is, when those two were talking to each other way back then, that wasn’t the way things
really
went. They were changing things, weren’t they?”

“They didn’t like the way things turned out, so they went back and altered them,” Dweia replied. “Gelta was never able to conquer all of Ansu, and she didn’t even know Pekhal until much later.”

Pale blond Leitha’s face was filled with horror.

“What is it, dear?” Andine asked her in a concerned voice. “That little meeting wasn’t very nice, but . . .” She hesitated.

“Their conversation only touched the surface, Andine. What was going on in their minds was far, far worse.”

“You can
do
that?” Bheid exclaimed. “They were just an illusion. Could you actually
hear
the thoughts of illusions?”

“It was impossible
not
to hear them, Bheid,” she told him in a sick voice. “Pekhal and Gelta are worse than animals. That dreadful slaughter filled them both with unspeakable lust.”

“I wouldn’t pursue that, Leitha,” Dweia said quite firmly. “Push what you heard away. It was only a dream, after all, and it was probably directed at
you
even more than at the rest of us.”

“Me?”

“Ghend knows who you are and what you can do, Leitha. That little performance was probably for
your
benefit. Ghend was trying to show you something so hideous that you’d be afraid ever to use your gift again. Steel your heart, Leitha. This probably won’t be the last time he’ll try it. He’s afraid of you, so he’ll do everything he possibly can to keep you from doing what you’re supposed to do.”

“There
is
something we should think about,” Althalus said.

“Oh? What was that?” Dweia asked.

“Ghend’s probably been working on his invasion for quite some time, wouldn’t you say?”

“Obviously.”

“Then he’s almost certainly got people in the court of the Natus of Wekti and in the Temple of Kherdhos who work for him, hasn’t he?”

“I’m sure he has.”

“Then Andine was right. She and Leitha almost have to go with us to Wekti.”

“Absolutely out of the question,” Bheid declared. “It’s too dangerous.”

“We can protect them, Bheid,” Althalus told him. “My point was that we need to have Leitha in Keiwon. I
have
to know who Ghend’s people are there.”

“If we’re so worried about taking girl people with us, why not just dress them in boy-people clothes?” Gher suggested.

“Gher,” Andine said gently. “Girl people don’t
look
exactly like boy people. We have slightly different shapes.” She drew in a deep breath to make her point. “You see what I mean?” she suggested, making a vague gesture at the front of her dress.

Gher blushed bright red. “Oh,” he said. “Well, wouldn’t looser clothes sort of . . .” He floundered, blushing even more brightly.

Andine giggled wickedly.

“That’s not nice, dear,” Leitha scolded. Then she looked at Eliar. “Chief Albron has servants, hasn’t he?” she asked.

“I wouldn’t exactly call them servants,” Eliar replied. “He’s got stable boys who take care of his horses, and there are people in his kitchen who carry food to him and like that. He takes care of most of the things he wants done by himself.”

“The people in Wekti wouldn’t know about that, though, would they?”

“Probably not, no.”

“Then they wouldn’t know that Albron doesn’t have servants in the usual sense, would they?”

“I doubt it.”

Leitha looked Andine up and down. “Would you please stand up for a moment, dear?” she asked.

Andine rose. “What are we doing here, Leitha?”

“You’re very small, aren’t you?” Leitha pursed her lips.

“That isn’t
my
fault.”

“Would you go stand beside her, Gher?” Leitha requested.

“Yes ma’am, if you want me to.” Gher rose and went around the table to Andine.

“I sort of thought they might be about the same size,” Leitha said. “If we dressed them in identical clothes and hid Andine’s hair under some kind of cap—”

“You mean dress up like page boys?” Andine asked. “Could we get away with that, Althalus?”

“It
might
work,” he replied, “particularly if Albron took a few other liveried retainers with him to Wekti. I’ll speak with Yeudon about suitable quarters. Those retainers wouldn’t be soldiers, so they wouldn’t be going up to the trenches with their Chief. We’ll be able to conceal Leitha in that group, and she should be able to locate any turncoats.”

“Are you going to be a page boy, too, Leitha?” Andine asked her friend.

“I’m taller than you and Gher, dear,” Leitha replied. “I’d have a little trouble passing as a ten-year-old.” She stroked her face speculatively. “How do you think I’d look if I wore a false beard?” she asked them.

Bheid howled with laughter, and Leitha turned on him, her eyes flashing angrily. “Stop that!” she snapped at him.

“There’s something else we’ll need to attend to before you all leave for Keiwon,” Dweia said thoughtfully.

“Aren’t you going with us, Em?” Althalus asked.

“I think it might be better if I stayed here. I can keep an eye on our enemies from the window and let you know if they’re planning any surprises.”

“That window’s a long way from Wekti, Em.”

“It was a long way from Deika that night Kweso’s dogs were chasing you, pet, and I didn’t have any trouble seeing what was happening. The window’s where I
want
it to be, Althalus. Come and see for yourself.” She rose and led him to the window.

The mountains of Kagwher weren’t there anymore, and Althalus found himself looking down at rolling grassland. “Is that Wekti?” he asked.

“Northern Wekti, yes—up near the Ansu frontier. This is probably in the general vicinity of where we’ll be fighting the battle. Now then, Sergeant Khalor will be commanding our forces during the battle, and I think we’ll want him here instead of down there on the ground. He’ll be able to see better, for one thing, but there’s a far more important reason.”