Michael Stackpole - When Dragons Rage

His servant greeted him with breakfast, which Will took at the table near the hearth. The servant built up a fire, for Will’s sense of cold had returned, and even a hot bath did not get rid of it. While bathing, Will dared not let himself think of Sayce, lest his body betray his feelings in the presence of the servant, but choosing not to think of her guaranteed he could think of nothing but, and specifically her joining him in the tub of hot water.

Though he had previously considered it a curse, the sense of cold helped him because it cooled his ardor and concealed all visible evidence of it. He emerged from the tub and dried himself off, then dressed as quickly and warmly as he could.

The servant had anticipated his needs and had set his clothes to warming before the fire. Will pulled them on and smiled. Fastening his belt around his middle, he fished a gold coin from the pouch and tossed it to the youth. “Thank you.”

The young man, who likely was four years older than Will, caught the coin and stared at it. “Oh, my lord, thank you.”

“You are most welcome.” Will smiled and tied the mask onto his right shoulder. “I believe I’m ready to go.”

“Yes, my lord, very good.” The servant bowed. “It will be my pleasure now to conduct you to the king.”

Alexia smiled as Will was led into the small antechamber where the company had been assembled. “Good, we are complete.” The thief blushed as he looked around the dark, stone-walled room. “Were you waiting on me?”

Resolute grumbled and shifted on a rough-hewn bench against a wall. “We’ve all been waiting, but this is to be expected when the king receiving us has his nation under siege. But even that, I suppose, is nothing compared to what kept you waiting.”

“I overslept.” Will lowered his voice and his eyes, but his blush faded instead of rising, so Alexia assumed he was lying. “Nobody told me we would be summoned.”

Crow smiled and clapped Will across the back. “We were all tired. We’ve been on the road for a long time. A soft, warm bed was quite welcome.”

Alyx nodded in agreement. “Besides, we’ve spent the time discussing how we can help here.”

Before she could elucidate, the door opened behind her. A man in the livery of the King’s Guards smiled. Alexia didn’t see any rank insignia on the uniform, but the grey in his beard, the scars on his hands, and the numerous ribbons decorating his black-and-midnight-blue mask suggested he’d been around long enough to have attained the highest of rankings. “If you will follow me, please.”

Alexia led the way, wearing dun leathers with the Okrans winged horse rampant on her left breast. She’d been given a lacy white courtesy mask, which she had donned. Crow, who followed her, had not put on a mask, nor had Resolute, Lombo, or Qwc. Kerrigan had been given a mask of black lace, whereas white had been given to Peri, Bok, and Dranae. Will’s mask rode on his upper right arm.

Their guide took them down a corridor, then up a staircase that doubled back and opened into a broad, shallow, rectangular room with a relatively low ceiling. They entered through one of the long walls, opposite a large hearth. On either side of it were set two other doors, both closed, and murals covered the walls. The rest of the walls had maps on them and had been furnished with a number of long flat tables that contained tactical models of areas in Muroso.

Alexia was well acquainted with such models. She’d studied them in Gyrvirgul while working out tactical variations on battles from the past. More recently, General Adrogans had used similar models in plotting out his Okrannel campaign. Each table had small wooden blocks on it to represent troops, each emblazoned with a paint scheme that identified the unit.

Attending these tables and the maps on the walls were mages. Each bore a slate that she assumed was an arcanslata . Somewhere in the field, other mages were scouting the enemy and sending information back to Caledo and King Bowmar. Provided the information was reliable, the reports gave the Murosans a great tactical advantage over the enemy.

“Your Majesty, here are your guests.”

Alexia had followed the guide’s glance to a particular table and expected one of the grizzled, older men to greet them, but instead a tall slender man dressed in the black robe and mask of a mage reacted to the news. His crisp gait made short work of the distance separating them. Close up Alexia could see several strands of white in his thick black hair and beard, but otherwise he seemed more Prince Murfin’s match in age. I could easily have taken them for brothers . What surprised her was that, for as long as she could recall, the king of Muroso had been Bowmar, and the man before her hardly looked of an age to be Sayce’s father, much less father to Princess Dayley or Prince Murfin.

She’d also not expected him to be a mage. She’d heard stories of his being a masterful tactician and had even studied a couple of minor battles he’d waged when one of his dukes had rebelled and tried to join Saporicia. He had showed a good sense of territory and deployment of troops. For that reason she had assumed he was a warrior, but clearly this was not the case.

“I am pleased to meet you all.” The king smiled easily and his dark eyes did seem to reflect his smile. Not completely, but enough that Alexia did not feel wholly uneasy. “There will be a ball, of course, at which we shall all be formally introduced, but I know well who all of you are. I apologize for how you were brought here, but I do not regret your presence. You have arrived at a most critical time.”

He turned from them, then beckoned them on with the wave of a hand.

They followed him to one of the sand tables. It depicted a city by a river. Aurolani forces outnumbered Murosan units three to one, and the Aurolani had already taken the city. The Murosan troops were strung out on the road leading south and some undecorated blocks had been used to represent refugees.

“This is the city of Porjal. A cousin of mine ruled over it, but now he is dead. Two of his sons have likewise perished, and a third is wounded and being evacuated. His eldest daughter is leading the rearguard action as the refugees are evacuating west to Nawal and beyond. You all know how difficult a march that will be, especially in this weather.”

Alexia nodded. “I am sorry for your loss, Highness.”

“You are most kind, Princess Alexia. When I have the time I shall mourn their deaths, as well as that of my city. What concerns me most, now, is what the destruction of Porjal portends.” Bowmar folded his arms over his chest. “Dragonels are the key to all this, of course. We met them as we would normally do. Our mages fought theirs, killing a number, losing some ourselves. Despite warnings, however, my cousin took great comfort in Porjal’s walls. Spells had been worked to reinforce them. They did take a harder pounding than Lurrü in Sebcia, but the walls fell nonetheless. My cousin had promised me a month; I got a week.”

Crow nodded at the table. “How current are the positions?”

“Those positions came in at dawn. We should be receiving another report soon, by noon at the latest. If we hear nothing, we have to assume signal-mages are being lost. The slaughter would be incalculable.”

Alexia studied the situation closely. Muroso’s terrain consisted largely of rolling hills that sloped west toward the ocean, then rose again toward the Saporician Highlands and southeast toward Bokagul. Forests dotted the countryside, which made it more defensible than flat, bare plains. Even so, that the Aurolani were used to winter neutralized that advantage and created hardships for Murosan troops.

The majority of the population existed along the seacoast, save for those who lived in Caledo and, a bit farther south, in the city of Zamsina. The roads from Oriosa and Saporicia ran through Zamsina before heading north to Caledo and then out west to the coast. Coming in toward the capital they’d skirted the city and picked up the north road halfway between Caledo and Zamsina.