Portals of Infinity: Book Four: The Sea of Grass (10 page)

"Come here," I said, and she got up and came over. I pulled her onto my lap and gave her another hug. "I care about you, Goth, and I want to know what you did while I was gone, and how things are going for you. But you have to understand that I have important work to do, so I can't be here all the time. But that doesn't mean I don't care, and it doesn't mean that Jezza's family doesn't care either.

"So, tell me what I missed while I was gone?"

Goth started off slowly at first, but it wasn't long until she was about as enthusiastic as Baron had been, just with a better vocabulary, and more focus.

She did like Sara, Mara, and Mara's younger sister Val. She was a little afraid of Jezza, because he was a pretty big male, and I think his slightly gruff manner maybe reminded her of her time back at that inn. But she liked him too.

She was learning how to read, she was learning the history of Hiland, and she was learning how to cook. She had chores to do around the house, but so did everyone else, and once a week Jeeza and Mara would take them all out for treats, and she liked that a lot too.

I think it took her an hour to run down, maybe two. I asked her questions, and asked about how she felt about everything that had happened since I saw her last.

"So, if I take you back to Jezza's house, will you stay there this time?"

"I, I missed you, Will."

I nodded, "I missed you, and I'll visit, but I'm only going to be here a week, I have to do some things for Rachel and Feliogustus again."

"It's not fair," she grumbled.

I laughed; I wondered how many times I'd tortured my own parents with that logic.

"It's very fair, Goth, you have people who care for you, and who like you."

"But why do you have to go away so soon? You just got back!"

"Because I have a job to do, and that job is important. People count on me doing that job; it keeps them safe and secure. And right now, I have to travel far away to help people who need my help, and protect us from our enemies. Okay?"

Goth sighed, "Okay."

"Good girl," and I gave her a kiss on the forehead. "Now how about I take you back to Jezza's house.

Goth sighed, but nodded. "Okay."

I gave her a hug and set her on her feet and got up. Rachel wasn't in the room anymore; she had gotten up after listening to Goth for about a half hour.

I grabbed one of the maids, "Tell Rachel that I'll be back in a little while, I'm just taking Goth home."

The maid nodded and I took Goth's hand. "Okay, let's get you home."

"So how did it go?" Rachel asked when I returned home and proceeded to drag her off to the bedroom.

"Well, I made her apologize of course, and they were very understanding. They know she has been through some bad things. Jeeza told her that next time, he would be happy to bring her here, to see if I was back, so no one would worry if something bad had happened."

Rachel smiled, "Good. Now where were we?"

I purred and kissed her on the neck, while pulling her close.

"Oh, yes, right about there," She purred.

Nine

Hiland City

I spent the next several days consulting with General Holse, the stable master, the officers in charge of the cavalry, and Rigel on the current state of his intelligence. I also spent quite a bit of time down at Fel's temple as well, and not just to see Narasamman and our children. Though I made sure I did that as well, I talked with Fel, and I talked a little with Fordessa, asking if her priests could provide any further information on the slave caravans that were headed to Barassa to help bolster our scouting.

Considering what Tantrus had tried to set her up for, I hoped she would be rather willing to help. It was payback after all, though I had no idea how widespread her own clerics were in those areas. But the traveling minstrels were becoming popular, and a fair deal of them were her followers, so again, I had my hopes.

Of course, the night before we were getting ready to leave, Rachel and I had an argument. Rachel told me she was coming along, and I, of course, said no.

"It isn't safe out there, hon! We'll be close to Barassa's border! The temptation for them to attack would be huge!"

Rachel looked at me, and I could see the queen in her eyes.

"William, it is not close enough that they could attack without a great deal of warning. I'm not planning on riding out on any raids. However these people are becoming friends, fast friends, and allies. They would be a wonderful addition to my kingdom if they should ever decide to join, and if they don't, well I want to make sure that they're such good friends of ours that they would never think of joining with somebody else."

"But it won't be safe!" I growled.

"I'm the
queen
, William!" she growled right back. "Do you understand what that means? I have duties and responsibilities just as
you
have! I need to do this,
me
, the queen. The only thing that will leave a lasting impression on them is if I show up, riding a wolat, paying my respects to their customs, and showing them I can hunt just as well as they do.  And you
know
it!"

I growled and stomped around the room. She was right of course, she was always right. Rachel knew her job, and she knew just how important the Mowoks would be to her kingdom. Especially if they joined with someone else.

But it's hard to bring logic into the discussion when it's the love of your life you are talking to.

"I won't allow it," I growled.

"I'm ordering you as your queen," she growled back.

"I don't care!"

She looked at me, and I could see she was thinking, and suddenly I got worried.

She smiled and sat on the bed, "Come to bed, love," she said in her most seductive tone. I sighed and sat down next to her.

"What are you plotting," I asked.

"What makes you think that?" She smiled sweetly.

"Rachel, please, you're my wife. Just tell me what you're thinking."

"Oh, it's so simple, dear, I'll just kill you in your sleep, and then the day before you re-incarnate I'll lead the expedition out of town. By the time you catch up with us, well it would be pointless to try and send me back. Assuming you could of course."

I could feel the blood drain from my face. "You would do that?"

"Will, love, there are two things you need to accept. The first is that I'm a queen, and I will get my way. The second is that I love you, you stupid idiot, and I'd like to spend some time with my husband other than just when he's able to be here at home! I am no simple woman, I am not defenseless. And if you don't start to understand my power, then I will use it on you, until you do!"

She glared at me a moment, then sighed.

I sighed myself and slid across the bed and put my arms around her. "You win."

She looked surprised, "I do?"

"Yes, I don't want to wake up dead in Fel's bar, I'm afraid if you do it once, you'll have no problems doing it again, and trust me, dying
hurts
. Plus, I'm afraid of what it would do to our marriage. You can come, you can do all the things you think you need to, and once you're done, I'll bring you back here myself. Agreed?"

Rachel purred and kissed me, "Thank you, hon, killing you would have really been hard on me. Even though I know you would come back."

We took all of the cavalry with us when we left, General Holse, Rigel, and Rachel, all felt that it was less likely to raise an issue with any spies that Barassa might have in our lands if it looked like these were just the normal troops accompanying the queen on a tour of her new lands. Further, it would not be as apparent to any observers when we left a good number of cavalry behind after visiting Tradeson. General Holse also thought it would be a good exercise for them all to ride around the kingdom and spend some time on the road.

The officer in charge of the cavalry was Second Carso, who I knew from my adventures in Tradeson. Apparently he thought it was better to be on the wolat, than on the ground facing them, though he claimed it was my interest in them that made him decide to join. Whatever the case, he was an excellent rider, and seemed to have a very good understanding of the tactics you could employ with mounted soldiers.

"The biggest reason I wanted to go," He told me as we rode along, he was riding on my right and Rachel was riding on my left in the middle of the row, with two more riders to her left. "If so, I can learn the Mowok's tactics. They've been doing this a lot longer than I have, I'm sure they can teach me a lot."

I nodded, "Their use of the spear is impressive. Don't know why they haven't adopted the bow however."

"Lack of materials," Rachel said, making us both look over.

"Really?" I asked.

Rachel nodded, "There aren't a lot of hardwood trees on the plains, so there isn't enough material to make a lot of bows, or arrows. The spears they use are almost all softwood, that's why they need the metal spearheads that we trade to them."

Second Carso nodded, "Makes sense. Guess I'll need to raid the arrow supplies at Rivervail."

"How many did you pack?" I asked curious.

"About two hundred per soldier. Think I'll see about doubling that."

"That's all?" I asked.

Second Carso nodded, "We're only going to act as raiders, so after we drive the merchants off, we should be able to recover most of our arrows, as well as liberate any we find on the caravans."

He learned forward to look past me at Rachel, "How are you doing, Your Highness?" He asked politely, "Enjoying the ride?"

"Immensely," She purred, "I don't get to spend enough time with my husband of late, and I do want to see more of my kingdom. As well as be seen in it. I've only been to Rivervail a few times since we won it. And I've never been to Tradeson at all."

"Well, once the summer castle is finished at Rivervail, you can travel there more often," I said smiling at her. "I'm not sure what to do about Tradeson however."

"Do they know you're coming?" Second Carso asked.

"Rivervail? Yes," Rachel said.

"What about Tradeson?"

"No," I said softly. "I didn't want them to know she was coming. What they don't know, they can't tell anyone."

Second Carso nodded, "I suspect they're going to be
very
surprised."

I nodded and Rachel laughed. I had to smile when she did that. I moved my wolat a bit closer to hers and leaned over to give her a hug and a kiss. I may not have wanted her to come along, but I was happy that she was here. I really hadn't been spending enough time with her lately.

We rode as far as Midway that day, and spent the evening in the barracks there, with Rachel and me staying in one of the officers' quarters. There was an inn there now as well, but the officers' quarters were safer, and probably just as nice.

The day after that we made it to Rivervail and we spent two days there as Rachel took the time to inspect the city, and be seen by the people.

Some of the women I suspect didn't care much for her, being as it was her army that had conquered the city and their country. Of course those women undoubtedly liked me even less, as I was the one who had killed their king, destroyed their religion, and slaughtered their men.

I sighed as I thought about that.

"What's wrong, hon?" Rachel asked quietly.

"Just thinking about what I did to this place," I told her.

"Well, don't," She growled softly. "They started it, they deserved it, and taking their city made it very clear to all of the other kingdoms that we Hilanders are not to be taken lightly. The city-states to the south of us have all turned their attentions elsewhere since then, because they know we're just looking for an excuse to expand now.

"The decrease in raiding and the increase in safety for the kingdom was worth it."

"What are you going to do about those places anyways?"  I asked her. There were a number of small city-states spread out to the south up in the mountains. The mountains were a pretty impressive barrier, and no one was sure what was on the other side of them, though there was one large city-state well up into them. Hiland was fairly well south of the equator, about equal to the northeast or the Pacific Northwest back home. By the time you got past those mountains, I suspected you were in an area that would be equal to northern Canada.

Rachel shrugged, "I'm thinking of taking a couple of the closer ones if they misbehave ever again, otherwise try to open up trade and see if maybe we can exert enough pressure over time to co-opt them."

"Like with Kethel and Tradeson?"

"Not quite, they're not as friendly as those places were, lots of outlaw types, lots of problems. I think we'd have to get some sort of established order going on in those places first."

"And how are you planning on doing that?" I asked curious.

Rachel smiled and leaned against me, "Not a clue." She paused a moment, "Yet. But I'll think of something eventually."

I nodded and put an arm around her.

"So what are we going to do when we get to Tradeson?" She asked.

"Take up a nice section of the city and kill anyone who gets near you," I purred smiling.

Rachel kicked me in the shin. "You are not going to terrorize my subjects. I'm saving that for my enemies!"

"But how am I supposed to practice?" I said trying to look innocent.

"Don't use that look on
me
, I know better!" She laughed.

I laughed along with her, it was nice having Rachel with me, she was always interesting, very smart, and I loved her a lot.

"So, what are we
really
going to do when we get to Tradeson?" She asked smiling at me.

"I suspect you're about to tell me," I sighed, still smiling.

"Better." She laughed. "I want to meet with the city council, the Duke, and my new nobility."

"Haven't you already met with them?"

"Yes, but only when they come to visit me. Now I get to see how they act when they're at home."

I nodded to that.

"I also want to visit both Feliogustus's temple and Fordessa's temple, tour the city, and get a general idea of how my people there feel about me."

"Don't you already know?" I asked curious.

Rachel shook her head. "They say I'm loved there, but they've never met me or even seen me there. In Hiland city everyone knows me, I grew up there and I was very accessible while I grew up, and am still easy to see now. But out here? These people," she motioned to the locals around us, "don't care much for me because of the war."

"The women you mean, the men are a different story," I corrected her.

She gave a wry grin and nodded, "True. I am thinking that once the new castle is built here for me, that I will spend a few months here every summer, and travel the outlying lands. I need for these people to see me; they need to remember that they have a queen, and what she looks like, and who she is.

"They need to be brought into the fold."

"That could be dangerous," I warned her.

Rachel nodded, "Yes, but being a monarch is a dangerous job that few retire from. I want to make sure that Baron has a reliable base to rule from when he finally ascends to the crown."

"He's only four, hon, that will be a few decades."

"All the more reason to get started now then," She replied giving me a serious look. "It takes a lifetime to instill the kind of loyalty I want to see in my citizens. While many of the older ones in these new lands I will never fully win over, there are however the young and the unborn however I can and will. When the will of a nation is strong, William, it can withstand any threat, any danger. When it is weak, it becomes easy prey to predators, both inside and out."

I thought about that. From what little I knew of wars in my own world's history, and from what I had learned from Josh years back, morale was always a key factor, and believing in your country and your leaders was a key element to that. If the people didn't believe in their leaders, if they didn't love their country, then they either wouldn't fight, or at least they wouldn't fight well.