Surrender to the Will of the Night (51 page)

She left her sedan demanding, “Why couldn’t you show me this in Franz-Benneroust Plaza?”

“The danger, Your Grace. You’ll understand in a minute.”

“I hired you. I suppose I have to trust you. So do it! While I’m still well enough to care.” She began to needle Helspeth.

Hecht left the review stand. Rhuk and Prosek awaited him. Titus Consent joined them. Consent murmured, “I keep reminding myself that I didn’t believe her when she told us she was pregnant.”

“Meaning?”

“That now she might really be badly sick.”

“I thought that was obvious. She’s been going downhill since the baby came.”

“Not quite true, boss.”

Hecht had been about to give the order to fire. He lowered his right hand. “Explain.”

“Near as my guys can tell, she made a turn for the better when we started dogging the folks on Drear’s list. I consider that suggestive.”

“She’s had help getting sick?”

“That would be my guess.”

Hecht pretended to study the field. He had detailed twelve falcons and four heavier pieces for the demonstration. They stood in line abreast. The falcons pointed toward a hundred rude scarecrows made up to look like advancing infantrymen, at ranges up to a hundred yards. Clej Sedlakova and Buhle Smolens had found enough junk armor to partially equip each scarecrow.

Amongst the scarecrows there were bales of straw.

Two larger targets had been prepared, too. Both were derelict stone buildings proved up for the occasion.

Hecht gave the signal. The falcons popped off in succession, left to right.

Most of the scarecrows went down. Several nearer straw bales scattered downrange.

Rhuk and Prosek let the smoke clear, then fired the four squat, almost bowl-shaped weapons they called mortars. Each spoke with a deep rumble. Sixty-pound stones arced through the air, easy for the eye to follow. Three of four landed on the lesser stone structure, demolishing it.

The smoke cleared off again. Kait Rhuk lighted a powder train laid to be obvious to the observer. Sparkle and smoke raced toward the larger stone structure.

A corner and one side came apart. The sound arrived a second later, like a kick in the stomach. Smaller debris fell within yards of the reviewing stand.

Hecht went over. “Your Grace, if you will, I’d like you to examine the weapons and what they did to their targets, close-up.”

The Empress’s entire party seemed dumbfounded. That would be because of the noise and smoke. An effect that did not remain intimidating long, he knew.

Katrin nodded. “I’m impressed, so far.” She rose, refusing help, and made her way slowly to the firing line. Drago Prosek, flustered, explained the two types of falcon, muzzle-charged and fast fire, and the mortars. “Which we called that because they kind of look like an apothecary’s mortar.”

Hecht guided Katrin to the target area. “We used stones in the falcon loads today. Pebbles are free. In battle we’d want to use metal shot because it’s more effective.”

The old armor had not stood up to the stone shot, out to about eighty yards.

Katrin said, “Archers could do as much damage, couldn’t they? And they’d be cheaper.”

“Cheaper, perhaps. But trained soldiers aren’t at great risk from archers. Falcon shot, though, will rip right through shields and hauberks. And you need to take into account that these weapons are already obsolete where we’re headed. Krulik and Sneigon are making them bigger and more reliable and are manufacturing better firepowder. And they’re letting Indala order as many as he can afford.”

Katrin made her way slowly back to the fast fire falcons, cast to Kait Rhuk’s design. “I don’t believe your Krulik and Sneigon have anything like this. Do they?”

“No, Your Grace. Kait?”

Rhuk showed the Empress how the preloaded pots went into a breech in the rear of the tube. Turned a few inches, a protruding knob moved into a slot and held the pot in place. A touchhole in the pot needed charging with a dram of firepowder. A falcon supported by a dozen pots and an experienced crew could fire four or five times as fast as the crew of a front-loading weapon.

The Empress was appropriately impressed. But Rhuk held Hecht back when Katrin decided to move on. “Don’t try to sell her on the fast firers. I’m not going to have any more made.”

“What? Why not? They were a stroke of genius.”

“The pot needs to seat into the breech perfectly. The founders can’t cast them with enough precision. We can’t get them to line up right. Which isn’t a huge problem if we’re shooting gravel but metal warshot can hang up and damage the weapon. Solid shot can hang up enough for the pot to explode. The weapons would have a very short life under field conditions.”

Hecht sighed. This was an old story. The human mind could invent things that human hands could not make work. “I understand. But don’t give up on the idea completely.” He hurried to overtake the Empress.

Katrin went straight to her sedan. She had had all the activity she could take. She told her Commander of the Righteous, “I’m inclined to turn you loose. Next planning session bring your best assessment of the weapons makers. We may have to alter our strategy. Meanwhile, I’ll be flooding the Eastern Empire with embassies this summer. Maybe they can do some good.”

“As you will, so shall it be, Your Grace.”

***

“How do you think it went, boss?” Prosek asked. He had not yet recovered from having to speak to the Empress directly.

“Relax, Drago. She’s as human as you are. Just more dangerous. And a little crazier. I think we did well. She got what we wanted her to get.”

Prosek muttered something.

“What?”

“I just said them two women are too damned smart.”

“You could be right.”

***

Helspeth said, “You’re going to get what you want.” She sipped coffee, looked at Hecht over the rim of her cup. “From my sister.”

“Really?” In a teasing tone that surprised him more than it did the Princess Apparent.

“I could tell what you were thinking. Wicked man.”

“Ouch! Then I’d better kill you before you tell somebody.”

“Smart aleck.”

“Can’t help it. I get distracted.”

Helspeth smiled a small smile.

Hecht said, “And I’m as happy as I’ve ever been. Life is good. I have a job I like, working for somebody who is interested and supportive. If a little scary sometimes. What more could I ask?”

“Ask? Maybe nothing. Want? I could make a suggestion but these old cows might hear.”

There did appear to be an extra ration of chaperones.

“Well, yes. There’s something that would be nice.”

Helspeth said, “She isn’t a little scary, she’s very scary. Almost enough to make me hope they find some fool prince who wants to carry me off. To safety. For as long as Katrin hangs on.”

Was that a hint of something hidden but important?

Helspeth leaned in to whisper, “The Council Advisory has sent a delegation to Castauriga. Very secret. To get Jaime to come back. Katrin doesn’t know. Yet. She’ll figure it out.”

Hecht had not known. Titus had missed that.

Numerous delegations had departed Alten Weinberg in recent weeks. Several of Algres Drear’s suspects had been posted to one or another. Almost, Hecht thought, as if the person handing out the appointments had a good idea which of her subjects might be most useful farthest from town.

Helspeth said, “It’s risky. No telling what Katrin will do if Jaime flat refuses to see her again.”

“I hear rumors that she’s not well.”

“Rumors? You saw her the other day. Did she look healthy?”

“No.”

“No is right. Her physicians keep looking grim. At the same time, a lot of people who are never nice to me have been stricken kind.”

“Good. Have the physicians told you anything?”

“Not really. They thought she was being poisoned. Caches of arsenic and belladonna were found in the Winterhall kitchen. The cooks disavowed any knowledge. They didn’t seem to be lying. There’s no sorcerer available who can backtrack and identify the culprit.” And that villain would have been busy covering trail.

“I wondered. Because of how she looked. But she started improving.”

“Because of you.”

“What?”

“People notice things, Piper. Like you having your men tag along behind half the nobles in the city. Things like thugs who try to discourage your men ending up thoroughly discouraged themselves.”

“Really?” He had not known about that. But he did not need to know. “The people being followed are supposed to notice. The idea is to encourage them to behave.”

“They’re encouraged. Katrin’s health started improving right away. So much that she noticed and worked it out for herself. So she started handing out ambassadorships to people you seemed not to trust.”

“It’s all working out, then.”

“Except that she’s still sick in her head and heart. In her soul and her body. A lot of people think she’ll die even if she isn’t being poisoned.”

“Which they thought about your brother.”

“And Lothar died.”

“But years later than even the optimists were betting. Your sister does still have something to live for. Her crusade.”

“Her mad expedition that she hopes will make her more famous than Hansel Blackboots.”

“Is that how you see it?”

“Don’t you?”

“No. I believe her. She’s so sincere it’s terrifying. When you consider where her determination might take us. What it might cost the world.”

“You puzzle me, Piper. Truly. I’d expect you to be a butcher. The nature of your profession. But you do care about the harm you do. Maybe that’s what … No. That’s animal. It started the first time I saw you. Anyway, my father cared, too. A great deal.”

“Cared but didn’t let caring keep him from doing what needed doing.”

“Nor will you.”

“No. I won’t.”

“You showed that in the Connec.”

“I hope the world understands the points I was trying to make. But I doubt it. Most people can’t get anything more subtle than a hammer between the eyes.”

Helspeth poured fresh coffee. She contrived to touch him several times as she did.

Several women noticed. None seemed to care.

Hecht wondered if there might not be a faction hoping a liaison developed. That could take Helspeth off the marriage market for a decade at least. Once a woman reached a certain age she was no longer expected to be an innocent maiden. Especially if she came equipped with a handsome dowry.

What could be more handsome than an entire empire?

***

To the pleasure of some and the despair of others the Empress regained her color and strength and energy, if not her full grasp on reality. She became bold. She braved the streets with a handful of lifeguards. She looked fortune in the teeth and sneered. She passed many of her more tedious duties to her sister and spent her time watching the troops train, both those assembling at Hochwasser and her own Righteous, as she now styled Piper Hecht’s force. Which she authorized to increase their numbers twice over the course of just two weeks.

She bestowed the incomes of several of her grander holdings upon the Righteous, having seen little waste and less corruption there.

There being no stemming the flood of money, Hecht armed Buhle Smolens with an additional mission and the power to enforce it.

Temptation toward corruption would be growing. Hecht made it absolutely clear that graft and corruption would not be tolerated. Not even where local custom made it acceptable.

He did not find these sins morally abhorrent, just detrimental to the image and reputation he wanted to create for himself and the Righteous.

The Remayne Pass to Firaldia was not yet open when the Righteous moved out, intent on circling the Jagos to the east. The mission was to begin preparing the country in that direction for next year’s passage of armies.

Those looked likely to be bigger than hitherto hoped. The Empress would send priests to preach the crusade in Arnhand, Santerin, Direcia, and all the lesser principalities of the west.

With permission from the Eastern Emperor quartermaster companies would move into foreign territories to scout out the best routes overland.

Dozens of Imperial knights and nobles invited themselves along. Hecht thought they wanted to keep an eye on him more than they meant to contribute anything to the cause.

The Empress invited herself, as well.

The woman was in pursuit of her childhood. She brought out the armor she wore when she and her sister followed Johannes south for the Calziran Crusade. That armor was much looser on the older Katrin.

The Empress seemed happy. Her health continued to improve. Reports from the people who had gone to Castauriga were encouraging.

Hecht found them suspect. Those people could not have traveled that far, worked their way into the presence of a disinterested King Jaime, then have had time to get a messenger back to Katrin, all the way to Glimpsz.

The lands through which the Commander and his troops passed were strange and mostly wilderness. The farther the Righteous marched the more palpable the presence of the Night became. In the nebulous region between empires the Instrumentalities had a presence sensible even at high noon.

It was a presence aware of and intimidated by the passage of the Godslayer.

The Godslayer had his firepowder weapons travel charged with godshot. Men with slow matches paced them, always ready should the Night do something unfriendly.

Heris would not explain but during widely separated, brief visits did promise that big things were happening elsewhere. Eventually, the Night would notice. He needed to stay alert. The Night’s ire might turn his way.

After each whispering visit Hecht wondered again what she and Februaren and the revenant were doing. He had only the vaguest notion. His cynical side suggested that they were up to no good and were hiding the details because he would take it in the neck if their scheme went sour.

***

There was no defined, formal frontier between the Grail Empire and the Eastern Empire. That remained in dispute, always. East and west were, instead, separated by a myriad of minuscule principalities informally attached to one empire or the other, usually by the claims of the respective Emperors. Though they paid tribute these states were independent in the minds of their princes, who never proclaimed that independence lest they spark a response by bruising an imperial ego.