Марк Ньютон - Drakenfeld

Tibus shook her head. ‘In that case, we must send an army to the gates of Tryum and demand that Licintius present himself before his own Senate. Showing that Lacanta is alive – and more importantly showing to the people of the city that she is alive – will hopefully be enough of a combined threat so that he gives in to our demands. It will be a humiliation for him. We leave first thing in the morning. We will send word immediately to drum up auxiliaries from Theran and Maristan to accompany whatever we can send up from Free State. We’ll not need more than two thousand soldiers – we’re not starting a war. At least not yet.’

My eyes widened at the reality of bringing the Sun Legion to the gates of my home city. ‘What if Licintius doesn’t give himself up?’

Tibus gave me a big grin. ‘He will when Tryum’s cut off and under siege,’ she said. ‘There’s nothing like a starving populace to make a king come to his senses.’ She turned to one side and called back, ‘Let it be known widely that Lucan Drakenfeld’s work has shown excellence, and guts, the likes I’ve not seen for a good long while. More of this, please.’

Commissioner Tibus stood up with a groan and placed a palm on her lower back, rubbing it vigorously. ‘But may Polla bless us – we are about to bugger with Vispasia’s political fabric and unleash Polla knows what devilry onto the continent if we’re not careful. Hopefully only just a little blood will be spilled if Detrata can be left to settle its own affairs. Makes the job rather unpleasant otherwise.’

Tibus marched to the door and the others rose to follow, but she paused in the doorway. ‘Now then, young Drakenfeld – I take it Callimar’s soldiers haven’t yet scoffed all the food?’

It took a little over a week to muster the necessary forces to march on Tryum. During that time we ate and drank, pillaging the stores in nearby villages and gathering the rations brought up from the boats. Commissioner Tibus and Callimar took it upon themselves to plan the assault on Tryum, and questioned me on its potential points of weakness.

‘It’s difficult,’ I replied. ‘There are a good number of loyal and patriotic soldiers based there, and the walls are high, wide and engineered to withstand an attack.’ Though I was momentarily relieved not to have the responsibility of decision-making, I felt that I wanted to argue against the siege: to negotiate, to find a non-violent solution to the whole matter. ‘It does not seem fair that a city will suffer because of the lust of two people.’

‘It’s about more than that,’ Tibus declared. ‘It is about punishing a king who has deceived his own people. If the people suffer, too, then they’ll blame the king. Anyway, such a man is not fit for rule, though that decision is for Tryum to decide for itself – all we need to do is help that along. Besides, worry not, Drakenfeld. Hopefully it won’t come to that. I’ve already sent agents into the city to see about bribing members of the King’s Legion. Loyalty to gold is often stronger than that to a royal.’

The officials who came with her seemed to have little to say on the matter. Though apparently soulless and without much in the way of personalities of their own, they were adroit planners and would consult Tibus on every point of the forthcoming military operation, as well as hypothesizing over the political consequences. Letters and riders were dispatched with surprising regularity.

I merely contented myself with taking it in turns with Leana to watch over Lacanta, who now seemed to have accepted her fate. When there were just the two of us, she would talk quite openly: when others were around, she kept her thoughts to herself.

Eventually the time came for us to move out. Two small, barred wagons had been brought for Lacanta and her eunuchs, though she had one vehicle to herself. These mobile gaols were cushioned inside, and possessed a roof, so they were not entirely humiliating. It was, however, a world away from what she would have been used to as a royal. Once they had been marched to the top of the slope, the eunuchs were crammed into the other carriage. The huge trail of Sun Chamber officials, soldiers and prisoners eventually rolled up the hill and started on the long journey towards Tryum.

Two thousand soldiers marching towards my home city was a breathtaking sight. Through the dry grasslands that stretched for miles around the city, a handful of Sun Legion soldiers marched alongside auxiliaries from the neighbouring countries, following the line of aqueducts. Maristanian troops, it seemed, were only too keen to lend a hand in humiliating their ancient rivals.

Cavalry, spearmen, archers, engineers, siege towers and artillery troops armed with both stones and bolts, were all united under the banner of the Sun Chamber, a faming sun emblazoned on black cloth. Dredging up a cloud of dust, this slow tide of violence trickled across the landscape. The sky remained cloudless all day.

‘This is all your doing.’ Commissioner Tibus rode up next to me to admire the view, munching on an apple.

I opened my mouth to say something, but I didn’t know how to reply.

‘I was joking, Drakenfeld,’ she added. ‘Well, partially anyway. It takes one Sun Chamber officer to bring a common thief to justice, but it takes an army to force a king to submit, such is the nature of power. Two thousand soldiers is not that many, but we need to show the likes of Licintius that we mean business. If he protests, like he did with our initial envoys, we can always summon more. We’ll tell him that.’

‘Have our agents been at all successful inside the city?’

‘We’ve not heard back from them, so we must assume otherwise. Our envoys were turfed out without being given a proper hearing – that’s a slap in the face to the Sun Chamber right there. Licintius knows the law, oh yes. He knows what to expect.’ Tibus threw away the core of the apple and turned away.

Merchants – those who had not heard the news or noise of an advancing army – scattered from the roads to the city, drawing their horses across farmland at a rapid pace. A few people lingered to watch what was going on, unaware that their home city was about to be under siege. The gates to Tryum were closed and soldiers were lining the walls to the city. Behind us, the camp was being set up for a long stay.

Meanwhile, all the rest of us could do was wait.

A night passed while we waited for messengers to continue back and forth, for diplomacy to have its opportunity. The messengers had been perfectly clear: the king was to surrender himself for questioning on behalf of the Sun Chamber’s highest authority. The Senate would take charge of affairs for the matter to be resolved. Whether or not Licintius passed this message on to the Senate was another matter.

Day came again, and traders or travellers who wanted to flee the city were driven from the city’s gates without repercussion. Tryum was sealed. Small packs of cavalry rode around the city enforcing the blockade. Entry was forbidden by order of the Sun Chamber and it was at this point that Commissioner Tibus informed me that the river route towards the sea would shortly be blocked, too. All of this was to add pressure: to force Licintius to open the gates to the city and hand himself in.

Later, wondering vaguely how long it would take for a city to starve, an idea came to me. I rode over to find Commissioner Tibus, who was in her leather command tent along with Callimar, and I made a proposition to them.

The three of us walked back out to the viewpoint, looking down on Tryum.