The Storm's Own Son (Book 2) (15 page)

He found the bottle, spread some of the oil along his shaft, and thrust himself against her hips. She arched back, pressing her bottom against him, and he entered her there. She made moaning, ecstatic screams and pushed back against him as he thrust in her again and again. She put her own hand between her legs, fingers inside, and her juices drenched the already soaked bed. She released over and over until he moaned with the ecstasy of her around him. Then he released again, slamming her hips into the bed as he thrust.

He pulled out, held her for a while,
then cleaned himself with water and soap from the basin. He felt himself ready, yet again, but looked at her body, still bearing faint signs of hurt, and thought she was spent. He climbed back onto the bed and held her close in his arms. She sighed happily.

They lay there a long time.

At last she whispered, sleepily, "I am yours... "

In answer, he gripped her tightly, and put his teeth gently to her neck.

She shivered, quietly sighed, and then drifted off to sleep.

As she slept, he looked absently at the battered skin of his own body. He was still, and always, healing. Some of his oldest scars were gone entirely now, with not even faint lines left at places where his bleeding flesh had opened in tatters.  Newer ones had taken their places, but were already fading.

Only two remained, seemingly permanent. The first was the long scar on his face from the Ferox, only one of all they'd given him, but the one that marked the moment where he'd truly embraced his nature. The other was the seared scar left by Akallas the Leopard's glyph sword. In a way, it stood as warning and reminder that his was not the only magic or power in the world.

And yet, his was a force in the world. Even before the transformation he was experiencing, he'd never been sick, no illness of any kind in his life. It was clear the curious vitality he'd just experienced with Liriel was related to his inhumanly fast and thorough healing. He remembered his earlier musings whether his lifelong intensity with women, the sheer number of lovers he'd sought and had, was connected as well. If so, what did it all mean?

Magic and his power. Desire, conquest and the woman sleeping beside him. Beyond it all, the mystery and threat of the Prophet. Much to think about, and more to do. He felt far from sleepy or sated, but he held Liriel gently in his arms until dawn, and the work and struggle that awaited him.

1
2. Dictator

Talaos strode into the council hall of Avrosa. Behind him were his Madmen. His Wolves stood guard in the great hall behind, and none had been allowed to enter without his permission. In the council hall, Avrosan workers had just finished putting certain changes in place.

At the back of the room, in the space where he'd guarded Sanctari's body, a very old square carpet had been brought from storage and unrolled. It was in the dark gray of Avrosa, with a large silver wreath in the center, and a silver border design of clouds and thunderbolts.

On that carpet, in the center of the wreath, was a large, dark gray-painted, silver-inlayed chair of particular design. It had crossed legs, carved in knotwork, a high back with a wreath and thunderbolts in the center, and a square seat with a knotwork border. The chair was designed to be folded and transported on campaign. Talaos knew that it was the chair of the office of Dictator of Avrosa, and it had not been used in nearly thirty-five years.

Talaos walked to a place just in front of the chair,
then he turned around.  The Madmen formed a half circle behind and around the wreath at the center of the carpet, facing into the room.

With him as well came two Avrosans, the strong, dark-featured Tribune Nerio, and taller, fairer Tribune Sevri. They wore breastplates, greaves,
vambraces, crested helmets and dark gray tunics and cloaks as officers of Avrosa. Each bore a long mace of a particular design; Nerio's that of a torch, with a repeating pattern of wreaths and balanced scales at the base of the flames, Sevri's was in the form of a storm cloud with radiating thunderbolts up toward the cap.

Talaos knew that the maces, separately symbolizing the civil and military authority of Avrosa, were normally held by attendants standing at either end of the half-circular council table. Today, they would stand before him, in front of the carpet, at his right and left hands.

Now came a delegation of leading Avrosans with lean, solemn General Megaras and elderly Akaros at their head.  Behind them came a number of aides and assistants. The Avrosans saluted him, arms across chests, and he returned the salute.

"We await your command," said Akaros.

Talaos motioned to an aide, and a group of assistants carrying chests.

"Step forward, Akaros," said Talaos.

The old man did so.

The aide brought a golden laurel wreath circlet, the diadem of a city councilor, and presented it to Talaos.  He in turn then placed it on
Akaro's head.

"Akaros, for the duration of the crisis, I appoint you a Patrician of Avrosa."

Akaros made a half-bow, and took a place standing at a chair of the council table, to Talaos's right. Then Talaos repeated the ceremony with six of the leading citizens, four men and two women, all with some combination of recommendation from Akaros, Megaras, and Liriel.

Talaos next commissioned another fifteen officers as captains in the new Avrosan army, and these took places standing in front of row seats at the left side of the room, to his own right. Behind the officers, the remaining civilian leaders and a selection of other citizens filled the remaining seats on that side. Liriel was among them.

Next, Talaos walked to the central seat of the council table, where Sanctari had sat, and placed his short blade on the table before it. He then returned to the carpet, crossed it, and took his seat as dictator of Avrosa. The Avrosans followed, taking their own seats. Eight of the fifteen places at the council table were now claimed.

Talaos raised his right hand, and spoke, "Citizens of Avrosa, now we will await the delegation from the allied army."

Shortly afterward, his Wolves admitted the next group of visitors.

Kurvan strode in with his axe strapped to his back, and a pair of
hillmen flanking him. He surveyed the room intently with narrowed eyes. Aro was next, looking watchful and alert. Tescani beside him, had something faintly resembling a smile on his face. Mordvan, with them, looked amazed. Lurios, now commander of the Aledri troops, was reflective and solemn. Drevan, standing for Megasi, seemed ready to burst with energy and enthusiasm.

Then followed a large body of other officers, and last of all, Adriko, ambling in casually with a catlike smile and a hint of well-kept secrets in his eyes. Talaos, from his chair, raised them a hand in greeting.

Kurvan put his massive hands to his broad belt and laughed, a huge growling guffawing sound, louder than Talaos had ever heard him laugh.

"Got to say it didn't seem real until now!" he chuckled. "Still, this is some good news. Talaos, how many do you think you can muster from Avrosa?"

"Fifteen companies of regulars, and roughly a thousand militia," replied Talaos.

"With most of those militia already armed and ready, if last night was any guide."

In answer, Talaos merely smiled.

Kurvan took his old place at the council table, and sat down comfortably. The other allied commanders, whether permanent or temporary, did the same. Kurvan and Tescani, Aro for his league, Mordvan for Teroia, Drevan for Megasi, and Lurios for Aledri. Dromno's place was left empty. The row seats at the right of the room, to Talaos's left hand, were full of allied
officers, and large numbers of aides and assistants crowded in the hall behind. Adriko lounged with a knowing smile.

The allied commanders half-turned in their chairs to face Talaos. At one point or another, all of them but Kurvan glanced at the short sword on the table.

Aro spoke, "I think we have two orders of business needing quick resolution. The first is to find a replacement for Dromno, and the second is to elect a senior commander."

There were nods of agreement among the commanders.

"I suggest we reverse the order of those, and elect a senior commander first," said Talaos, "With me holding a seat representing both Avrosa and myself, we have seven, which will prevent any evenly split decisions."

Again nods.

"This is a good time to remind everyone that despite the changes, our problems from yesterday haven't vanished. Kurvan, you and Aro lead forces that were enemies before the current war. Among the remaining more experienced leaders, that leaves Tescani."

"No. Not me," said the mercenary warlord, coolly.

The mention of Tescani had prompted doubtful looks from around the room, but Tescani's quick refusal had promptly quelled them. Talaos knew Tescani's ruthless reputation, and the long history that had built it. He'd also known how Tescani would reply. But, it had needed to be said. This had to be done right. Talaos continued.

"I suggest that the three most experienced commanders form a kind of leadership group, a triumvirate to coordinate the army.  We'll still need a senior commander though, and that should be someone who has support across the army.
Someone who can be a unifying force, while relying on the experience of the leadership group."

Interested expressions passed around the room, as people began to guess his meaning.

"Therefore," said Talaos, "I propose myself."

"I second
, " said Tescani without any change in expression.

Kurvan growled, and Aro studied Talaos carefully.

"Yes, for Talaos," said Drevan, his friend since the battle of the pass. Lurios, another brother-in-arms from the pass, quickly voted yes as well. Mordvan, who Talaos had won over after Sanctari's assassination, was next, and also voted yes.

Kurvan, made a sort rolling chuckle, then spoke, "Well, mad as it is, at this point I don't have any better ideas. Anyway, you've already got five votes. I make it six.
That said, I'm starting to think the only one in the army who sized you up right from the start was Tescani."

Whether Tescani considered that a compliment or not, he gave no reaction.

Aro looked at them all with what seemed to Talaos like a kind of amazement on his mobile, alert face and in his intelligent eyes. After a moment, he spoke. "If anyone had suggested to me a few months ago that a new mercenary recruit from the Republic would shortly be elected senior commander of this army, I would have thought it a bad joke. Now, here we are."

Nearly everyone in the room waited and watched.

Then Aro turned to Talaos, "I hope you realize that we now have a younger and less experienced command group than any army of this size in Hunyos in recent history. Are you serious about delegating most of the practical operation of the army to the three of us?"

"Yes," replied Talaos, "but remembering that in the field, final strategic authority will be unified under me just as it was with Sanctari."

Aro looked at him sharply, then nodded, "All right, then I vote yes, because any more disunity will be the death of us."

"Seven to none in favor!" laughed Kurvan. "Talaos it is!"

All the military officers in the room, allied or Avrosan, rose to salute Talaos. He rose from his chair, returned it, then sat again.

"Now gentlemen," Talaos said, "before we consider Dromno's replacement, I think we have a larger related problem. Dromno was deep in service to the Living Prophet, and that faith was behind both the assassination of General Sanctari, and the effort to remove me."

Looks passed around the room.

Talaos continued, "I have seen reports on Sanctari's successful opposition to the building of a House of the Prophet in Teroia, and I needn't remind you that Sanctari was my most powerful protector in the wake of my actions against the Prophet during the taking of the city.

"Dromno would have hoped to use the subsequent chaos to back Nissas, who was at least tolerant of the Prophet's faith, as senior commander, and with him form a faction. We've already seen the ties Dromno had with his fellow followers of the Prophet in Avrosa. My friends in Avrosa have made it clear the Prophet's people would have supported Avrosa joining our alliance under those very different circumstances, and under their control.

"What all of this means is that a coup was attempted, with Sanctari's murder as the
trigger. Dromno, a follower of the Living Prophet, was behind that murder, but the actual assassin was an agent of the Prophet himself.  This reveals something that should worry us all. It reveals that the Living Prophet is not so neutral in this war after all.

"It reveals that while the Living Prophet has followers on both of what we think of as the sides in this war, he and his followers have been playing both sides to their advantage. I have been reading, gentlemen. Reading the Prophet's own history of the
Eastlands, and how very similar things happened in what were once many realms, but are now under his rule.

"However unclear it may have been, what was happening right here, in Avrosa, was the first example of what was to come. There are many who gave their loyalty to something other than their city, and we have seen the results. In the name of that other loyalty, the laws of Avrosa have been violated and hundreds of its citizens murdered. That other loyalty is a philosophy or faith that in reality serves as the mask for control and conquest by a foreign power."

Talaos saw a great variety of expressions on the faces before him. The Avrosans in the room, selected on the very basis of their opposition to the Prophet, looked eager and expectant. Some of the alliance officers seemed to agree or approve of his words, others were clearly skeptical, and a few had guarded faces.

"Therefore," said Talaos, in tones of command, "for the protection of my city of Avrosa, and by the authority it has entrusted to me as dictator, I declare the faith of the Living Prophet banned within its walls and in all territory under its governance. All followers of the Prophet are hereby given twelve hours to depart the city with such possessions as they can carry, but no weapons. Any found here after that will be forcibly exiled, or if they resist with arms, slain."

Joyous expressions appeared on the faces of the Avrosans, some mingled with an edge of vengefulness. 

Tescani, face unreadable, rose to speak. His graveled voice was low, "You realize, Talaos, that you don't have direct authority to impose that on the allied army without a vote."

"Yes," replied Talaos.

The
warlord continued, "So I propose we vote to enact the same ban in the army."

Aro looked at Tescani sharply. "I second, but didn't you support letting the Prophet's people set up a field hospital and a House of the Prophet in our camp?"

Tescani, without noticeable reaction in his face, replied, "That would have saved us a lot of gold, and we didn't know what their game was then. Now, let's vote."

The commanders were in favor, and again unanimous.

There was a great deal of quiet discussion among the officers in the row seats. Dromno's one surviving tribune from the League of Padra, and one of that league's captains, silently left the room, as did a cavalry captain of Aledri.

"As you see," said Talaos as he watched them leave. He raised his hand for emphasis, the room grew quiet and he continued, "Discussions with the remaining officers of the League of
Padra may take some time. The most recent reports are that the enemy will likely arrive this evening. In the short term, I propose we place the league troops under General Aro's command."