Bloodstone - Power of Youth (Book 3) (10 page)

Chapter Twelve

~

T
he duke had cobbled parts of the road
to South Keep, as it was called by the two men, Colonels Hesting and Pillar. The buildup of mud and debris from winter hadn’t been cleared off yet and that actually made the ride somewhat smoother, or so they told Anchor. He didn’t know if he believed them or not.

He visited a healer with power at Pillar’s insistence in every village so that by the end of their first week on the road, he felt well enough to ride. Along with their supplies, Anchor had shared the back of the cart with a smelly crate of birds.

“I thank you for purchasing this fine horse,” Anchor said as they moved out of the village of Rallio’s Lake. “Another ten days, you say? As much as I love to see birds on the wing, this constant clucking, cooing and chirping nearly rivals the smell of these foul little things.”

Hesting laughed. “I know you love your little companions.”

The two men looked at Anchor and laughed at the same time.

“We’re close enough that it’s time to tell you. Run off, if you are of a mind,” Pillar said. “Duke Jellas told us not to stop you, if you did.”

“Not that we’d blame you, but there are some undercurrents in the dukedom.” Hesting rubbed the back of his neck. “The situation is complicated at the keep.”

“The commander isn’t Duke Jellas’s man, is he?” Anchor said. He suspected that Chancellor Eberlo to be ‘complicating’ things.  He had never warmed to the man the times he had met him.

“Eberlo’s,” Pillars said. “The Duke’s Chancellor has his own circle of confidants. The duke doesn’t want Gensler to end up like the Red Kingdom. The birds are for you. We will house them in River Red, the village that serves South Keep. If you or one of our other key men run into anything suspicious, send a bird from the village. We can’t vouch for where the birds at the keep might end up. That assumes that you are a Duke’s man.”

“Whom else would I be for?” Anchor said and nodded at the pair. “Consider me squarely on the Duke’s side.” If nothing else than as a supporter of the man who provided Sallia with sanctuary. He wouldn’t mind the mental exercise. Life at King Billeas’s court wasn’t altogether smooth and Unca liked it that way. In fact, the king sought his counsel in war and peace, until the end. Anchor’s stomach soured as it always did when remembering his fatal mistake, allowing Histron to take over the castle. He wouldn’t let that happen to the Duke of Gensler.

~

The trio rounded a bend and on the other side of a vale stood the South Keep on a knob that stood higher than the surrounding land. Anchor noticed a number of guard towers with flat, crenelated tops rising above walls that might have been fifteen paces high.

“Even a moat?”

Hesting laughed. “That’s the Red River winding in a channel around most of the hill. The water is red from the red soil that lines its banks further north in Happly.”

Of course. The Red River ran right through the Red Kingdom. If one wanted to invade the heartland, a force could follow the river right the way through to Grianne Port, far to the south. At Foxhome, the Red River turned wide and lazy and only ran with a tinge of red in the late spring.

“And how do we cross such a formidable barrier…” Anchor said, “and keep our feet dry?

“A bridge spans both the river and the diverted channel that makes up the moat. How else do you think the villagers get to their jobs?” Pillar said with a chuckle. “Take away the bridges and the keep—”

“The keep would be even more defensible.” Anchor finished Pillar’s thought.

Hesting nodded. “Never been taken, Anchor, in the three hundred years it has sat there. We have business in the village before heading to the keep.”

Anchor had never heard of South Keep before, but then it didn’t exactly sit on the border with the Red Kingdom, but three or four leagues to the north, close to the Happly road, yet far enough from the actual boundary line not to generate any issues between Gensler and The Red Kingdom. “Did you know the Duke of Happly is stirring?”

“We heard,” Pillar said. “That’s why it’s a good idea for posting an independent party.”

Anchor smiled and nodded. “I must admit that I’m better thought of as independent. If anything, I’m on the side of the late King Billeas, being a true Red Kingdom man.”

“Precisely what Duke Jellas wants. We’ll spend the next week to ensure you are adequately welcomed and then we will be gone. The Duke wants the border forts manned again and that begins as soon as you are in place.”

“I’m glad he feels the need, now that Duke Histron has so casually violated your southern border at Five Mills and Everwet.”

Anchor’s comment put an end to their discussion as they made their way to River Red to drop off the birds before proceeding to the keep.

~

Gensler maintained the keep as a cornerstone in its southeastern defenses. In an earlier time, perhaps a baron or another duke might have held court in such a large keep, but as Anchor walked through the gray-stoned courtyard, the stark architecture and decorations spoke to him of armies and not of nobles. Uniformed stable boys helped them off of their horses and took the horses and wagon to a two-story stable. Anchor could see straw bales through large open doors. Yardarms above the doors brought straw stored on the upper story down to the horse stalls.

Hesting and Pillar took him through thick ironbound oak doors into the primary structure. After passing through a large foyer and past the open double doors twice the size of a man that opened to a large common room, his escorts led him up a flight of stars. No marble faced pillars. No marble stairs. Black iron railing lined the wide stairway to a second floor. Torches supplemented what little light broke into the keep itself through arrow slits and narrow windows.

They stopped at a door flanked by two guards, who stood up straighter when they approached.

“Colonel’s Hesting and Pillar to see Captain Travelwell,” Pillar said.

A guard knocked and entered Travelwell’s office. The guard emerged. “Go right in,” he said holding the door open for them.

Travelwell stood. Anchor admired the captain’s fitness. He had the look of command, but Anchor also noted a wariness in his eyes as he looked at the two Colonels.

“Colonel Hesting and Colonel Pillar. Pillar, congratulations on your promotion. I hadn’t heard.”

But what had Travelwell heard? As the three exchanged introductory pleasantries, Travelwell’s wariness increased. Anchor knew he couldn’t trust the man.

“This is Anchor. He has performed a service to the Duke and to the surviving heir of the Red Kingdom. Duke Jellas has offered him the post of Strategic Adjutant reporting directly to you.”

“Directly to the Duke, you mean,” Travelwell said rather bluntly. “I won’t have him in my command.” The captain narrowed his eyes and peered at Anchor. “Too young to have any kind of experience I could use.”

“I’m sorry, Travelwell, but you don’t have a choice,” Hesting said. “Here are his orders, signed by Duke Jellas himself.” Hesting tossed a large envelope on the captain’s desk and handed another to Anchor. “And your orders, Sub-Captain Anchor.”

A commission? Anchor pursed his lips. He didn’t want to formally be in another country’s service, but after seeing Travelwell’s reaction, an official standing in the keep might be his only way to survive. This ‘favor’ by the duke might be more dangerous than fighting Histron’s guards. He had already accepted and he vowed that he would make the most of it, including weapons training as soon as he was physically able.

He only hoped that enough of the soldiers in the keep were loyal to the duke or he was well and truly lost. A question seemed to have been asked while Anchor thought. Travelwell said something that Anchor didn’t catch. “I beg your pardon, sir Captain?” Anchor said.

Travelwell furrowed his brow. “You need to listen better, sub-captain, if you are to survive at South Keep.”

Listen and stay alert, thought Anchor.

“What have you done?” the captain said.

“I used to work for King Billeas at Foxhome, under the Court Wizard, Unca. He was the king’s chief advisor. I have formulated battle plans, set strategies to put down revolts in various cities and towns, reviewed fortifications and provided my own personal insight as I toured the kingdom.”

“In other words, a toady and a spy,” Travelwell said. “Are you Histron’s man?” It seemed the captain probed to see if Anchor might be an ally.

‘Hardly. I wouldn’t be in Gensler if I were. I recently helped rescue a fine lady about to be kidnapped and returned to my former land.”

“A turncoat, then.”

“If you mean, do I oppose the usurpation of the kingdom? Then yes, I’m a turncoat. I was at Foxhome castle that night and barely escaped with my life. The king and queen did not.”

“You knew the princess then?”

“What call would the princess have to notice a young man such as I?”

“She’s a young woman.”

“You don’t know Princess Sallia, then. She was willful, headstrong, and arrogant. She had only one real interest, herself.”

“Any you risked your life to save her in Everwet, if I heard correctly?”

“I pledged to serve the royal family and she is all that remains of the royal family. As to the identity of the lady that I tried to save, she claimed to be a decoy. What reason is there to doubt her?”

Hesting turned to Anchor. “You didn’t tell us of your background on the way here.”

“See? A charlatan.” Travelwell said.

“I don’t remember you asking, Colonel Hesting. I did tell you of my trip to Happly Keep and the information that I gleaned while there. I did much the same for King Billeas. I also made plain to you both that I am a Red Kingdom man, first and foremost, with my allegiance to the royal family, not to Duke Histron.”

“Anchor is absolutely correct. He’s yours, Travelwell,” Hesting said. “We’ve traveled together for some days and he’s no charlatan, of that I am certain. I have a feel for military men, and Anchor is genuine.”

Anchor nearly winced at the statement. He’d never would think of himself as a military person. He knew strategy and history, but he had no knowledge of how to conduct himself at a military base.

Pillar rose from his chair. “We’ll get him settled. You can introduce him to your officers tonight. We’ll be staying for a few days and inspect the keep as long as we’re here.”

Travelwell scowled and scribbled instructions on a scrap of paper. “Take this to the orderly in the foyer. Your quarters and sub-captain Anchor’s. Now if you will excuse me.”

Hesting stared at Travelwell, who kept his eyes on the paperwork on his desk. “Of course, Captain.” Hesting nodded at Pillar and Anchor followed him out the door.

Once out of earshot of the guards, Hesting stopped. “Anchor, your orders give you permission to take over the keep on the Duke’s authority any time you feel it necessary. I would have run Travelwell through with my sword just now if I had any sense. Such insubordination.”

Pillar nodded.

“You trust me more than him? We’ve—”

“We’ve just spent two weeks on the road with you. I can judge the character of a man in that period of time. You’ll find it a challenge, but consider it an order to prepare to run the keep while you serve Travelwell. Come, let’s see what kind of quarters Travelwell has assigned you.”

~

Anchor’s shoulder began to ache as he continued to spar with one of the keep’s soldiers. The healers did a wonder on his injury and now he just grit his teeth and practiced through the pain at certain movements. Travelwell rarely called him in for assistance and that gave Anchor more time to investigate the state of the men.

His daily sparring allowed him to more discretely assess the loyalties of the soldiers. The keep held three hundred rankers and about twenty officers. He estimated that twenty percent of the soldiers were personally loyal to Travelwell, but from what he could tell, the officer corps split fifty-fifty. Those were easier to gauge. Travelwell’s men kept to themselves. At most meals in the officers’ mess, he could almost draw a line between the two. Anchor had tried to sit with the Travelwell group, but had been frozen out.

With no specified duties, Anchor stood at the top of the ramparts looking south towards the Red Kingdom. A loyal lieutenant stood with him.