Glen Cook - Surrender to the will of the night

Though she was not behaving well the old man seemed more pleased than troubled. “You keep making the point. I heard it. Now say something useful.”

“We need to make sure there’s no way they can get out without them doing what we want. Meaning all the damned doors better be locked before we open the way. Meaning we have to use up all of whatever magic still exists here. Meaning we have to send the Aelen Kofer home so the Old Ones can’t bully them into engineering their escape into the middle world. I might even borrow some of Gisors’s toys in case we have to enforce an attitude adjustment.”

Februaren grinned. “Darling girl! I think we’ve found our Twelfth Unknown. Clever, that. And I do see your point. Gentlemen. My student has, again, made a powerful argument. We dare leave nothing to chance. We won’t be conjuring everynight demons.”

Eyeing Heris, Ferris Renfrow observed, “The overconfident sorcerer has become a clich?. There’s a reason things become clich?s.”

Heris showed him a thin smile. Remarkable. She said, “Iron Eyes. We can adjust to this. With Aelen Kofer help. Come talk to me.” She headed back toward the rainbow bridge.

Cloven Februaren watched. He glowed with pride. He muttered, “She’s coming along just fine.” Then, “Boys, how about we explore this dump while we’re waiting?” 34. Commander of the Righteous: Raiders and Invaders The move into the Eastern Empire by the Commander of the Righteous was a complete surprise. The immediate reaction to the news, everywhere, was that people up there on the frontier were in error and unduly alarmist.

Hagan Brokke and Clej Sedlakova led mounted infantry in swift dashes to isolate the Krulik and Sneigon works. Carava de Bos and Rivademar Vircondelet got the opportunity to demonstrate that Titus Consent’s faith in them was not misplaced. They roamed the wilderness around the establishment, romancing the locals, then the mercenaries protecting the manufactory.

The Commander of the Righteous reached the sprawl of smelters, foundries, timber ricks, and charcoal kilns five days after launching the incursion. There was no resistance.

Carava de Bos brought out the managers. Hecht had spoken to some of the same men after the destruction of their Brothen enterprise. They had pledged to restrict sales of their product to the Patriarchal forces.

Hecht ignored their pleas. “De Bos. Do you have an inventory?”

“I don’t have enough fingers, sir.”

“What?”

“Sorry, sir. A poor joke. It’s incomplete. There’s so much firepowder we may not be able to haul it all away. That could be true for the weapons, too. I’ve found nearly sixty finished pieces already. They’d just started to make deliveries.”

“Then we got here in time.”

“We did, sir. Shall we start pulling things down?”

“Yes. And don’t waste time. Sooner or later someone from the Eastern Empire will decide that something has to be done.”

Hecht spent hours touring, inspecting, and being amazed. Krulik and Sneigon had performed prodigies here.

Locals helped with the demolition. Hecht let them take whatever they wanted, excepting only weapons, firepowder, and the belongings of guards who had stood with the raiders. Everyone else would be bare naked but alive when the Righteous left.

Titus Consent chose not to show himself. He needed fashion no more enmities amongst the Devedians. Instead, he headed downriver to Liume to hire coasters. Hecht wanted to get his plunder into Imperial territory as fast as possible. The nearest friendly country lay across the Vieran Sea.

Clej Sedlakova approached Hecht the second afternoon. “What’ll we do with all these Deves, boss?”

“You don’t think we should just leave them naked in the rain?”

Head shake.

“Why not?”

“They’ll just start over. Maybe here, maybe somewhere else. But right now they figure you’re gonna kill them so they can’t.”

“And you think they’ve got the right idea?”

“Just don’t ask me to do it. I’m not that hard.”

“Be a serious waste of talent and knowledge. Let’s take them with us. We can lock them up in Hochwasser. They can pursue their trade in service to the Empire.”

“Make slaves of them?”

“Forced labor. My father would find that delicious.”

Sedlakova showed confusion. “Sir?”

“Nothing. Identify the most valuable people. Have Vircondelet take them away as soon as he can.”

“Yes, sir.” Sedlakova’s relief was obvious.

Why had the man not believed that they would be left naked and starving?

Hecht reflected briefly on the legacy left him by Redfearn Bechter. Had there been more to that than just Grade Drocker’s journal? If so, he could not figure it out. And Drocker had not been the sort to indulge himself with deep puzzles and riddles.

The Empress, accompanied by fewer than a hundred companions and guards, arrived as Sedlakova went to deal with the prisoners. She did not look comfortable. Hecht thought she was sick and putting on a bold face. He ran to greet her, stifling the protests she was sure to have heard a hundred times, already. She was here. He would have to pretend to be pleased.

Katrin made no effort not to be noticed. “I want Monestacheus Deleanu to know that this was my adventure, not a rogue action by my Commander of the Righteous. God’s enemies cannot be allowed to arm themselves with these horrible weapons.”

Then greed flashed. Her thinking included the savings this meant for the Imperial treasury.

The presence of the Empress only added to the chaos.

The Commander of the Righteous received a summons to the Imperial Presence the evening of the day following her arrival. The lifeguard who brought the message told him the Empress expected him to dine with her. He should dress accordingly.

That meant a hurried bath and a change to his other clothes. He traveled light in the field, seldom dressing better than his soldiers.

He grumbled because this might cause a delay in leaving.

He was ready to go, having accomplished his mission.

The Empress had taken the quarters of the directors. Living rough. She did not mind, though she had only two distraught young women to manage her needs, leaving much to her lifeguards. Who, Hecht noted, went about their business grimly.

Protecting this impulsive Empress might be more difficult than had been protecting the Captain-General. Katrin had no real need to go dangerous places. She did not have to be difficult. But she did feel compelled to be her father’s daughter.

Katrin was not in a good mood. “Is that the best you have to wear? You look like one of your foot soldiers.”

“It is, I fear, Your Grace. I did not anticipate a need for anything better.”

Katrin dropped it. “This went well. What next?”

“Back to Hochwasser and Alten Weinberg. Then steady training and planning for next year. For now, we should send an advance party to the Holy Lands. What we know now isn’t much more than rumor.”

Katrin had established herself behind the bulwark of a large, rude table. She remained there, unmoving, occasional flickers of discomfort darkening her features. She was, for sure, not well.

One of her lifeguards brought a chair, placed it opposite her. She indicated that Hecht should sit.

She began to talk the business of crusade and empire but seemed vaguely distracted.

The first course arrived, something local that Hecht neither recognized nor appreciated. It was a dough ball filled with shredded meat, unfamiliar spices, and strange chopped vegetables. The Empress observed, “Their people weren’t big on luxuries. Especially food.”

Hecht caught a whiff of coffee. It made him sit up straight and look toward the doorway whence the server lifeguard had entered and departed.