Jon Sprunk - Shadow's master

Josey had heard of that territory, but knew almost nothing about it. “Where are you going with these men, Lord Therbold? You're armed as if for battle.”

“I am going to defend my lands, Highness,” he replied without hesitation.

Josey's borrowed horse pranced in a circle, and she had to turn around to keep facing the lord. “Defend them from whom, my lord?”

“It is a private matter, Highness. I would prefer to deal with it on my own.”

Josey clamped her legs around the horse and jerked the reins sharply to get it to stand still, but with little effect. “Like you and your ilk have dealt with the local villagers? I have seen the devastation wrought by your private little war, my lord. I aim to put an end to it. Now tell me. Who were you going to fight?”

Lord Therbold's mouth twitched, and Josey thought he wasn't going to answer, but then he said, “Count Sarrow of Farridon. His men have been pillaging our eastern border since last spring. Two days ago we received a message from Hafsax, one of my larger fiefs, that Sarrow was moving there in force. My son took a party of men to prevent this, but I haven't had word from him since.”

Josey took a deep breath. Her anger was dwindling, against her will. “And you are going to find your son, my lord?”

“I am, Highness. By the grace of the Prophet.”

“Stand up, Lord Therbold. How far is Hafsax?”

The man climbed to his feet. “Three leagues from here, Highness. As the crow flies.”

Josey nodded to Captain Drathan. “We will accompany Lord Therbold on his mission. Send someone back to the lord general for additional men. And have Master Hirsch come with them.”

While the captain selected a messenger, Lord Therbold and his men remounted with Josey's permission. Therbold looked unsure, but surrounded by her bodyguard, he didn't have much choice in the matter. If he's lying to me…

“Lead the way, my lord,” she said, and flinched at the steel in her own voice.

With a bark to his retainers, the nobleman kicked his steed and took off through the cold mud. They rode for the better part of a candlemark, over countryside that became rougher and hillier as they progressed. The road was little more than a dirt path riddled with ruts and frozen puddles. Josey shifted back and forth trying to find a comfortable position in this saddle, but it was proving a futile endeavor. The borrowed seat was killing her.

“Are you aware,” she said to Lord Therbold, who had deigned to ride beside her, though he hardly spoke at all, “that my army has been traveling through your lands for more than a sennight?”

“From what I've heard, Highness, it isn't much of an army.”

Ouch. “Perhaps not, my lord. But it is a sad day when an empress is not welcomed by her vassals when she arrives in their dominion.”

He bent his stiff neck. “My apologies, Highness. If I have been remiss in my hospitality, pray excuse me.”

“Of course. Tell me about your grievance with Count Sarrow. What started this feud?”

“Sarrow is a swine. He thinks he can intimidate me into rolling back our border from its traditional placement, but I will not yield. And so he provokes me at his pleasure, by which I mean constantly.”

“Why Hafsax? What is its significance?”

Lord Therbold glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. “As I said, it is one of my larger holdings in the east. It provides much-needed wheat and corn, and wool that I trade in exchange for the things my lands require.”

“That's it? It has no strategic value?”

“Highness, I don't know what you're-”

“I find it difficult to believe that this Count Sarrow would risk open conflict over corn and wool.”

The nobleman rode silently, looking straight ahead. Josey waited, but he said no more. She was about to ask about his son in the hopes of getting him to lower his guard when a shout from the front of the party reached back to them. Josey peered ahead to see what was going on. Clouds of black smoke rose from over the next rise.

Lord Therbold put on his helmet. “That would be Hafsax. Men of Kistol, to me!”

As the nobleman rode off with his soldiers, Captain Drathan ordered four soldiers to remain with Josey. He didn't give her time to argue before he slammed down his visor and galloped forward, kicking up clods of mud. Josey urged her steed to pick up the pace as well.

She reached the top of the rise, and a patchwork of fields lay before her, at the end of which was a small village. The wattle-and-daub homes huddled together on the banks of a wide stream. Smoke poured from a couple of thatch roofs as men on horseback rode around the village brandishing torches and weapons. A group of villagers stood behind crude barricades-overturned wagons and household furniture. She didn't see any bodies. Thank heavens. Perhaps we're not too late.

“Majesty?” Captain Drathan asked.

Josey considered the situation. “Separate the two sides, Captain. I want a barrier between the soldiers and the village.”

Whatever he thought of her plan, Drathan kept it to himself as he saluted and led her soldiers down toward the conflict. Lord Therbold, meanwhile, had taken his men straight for the village. Josey almost called her guards back. If Therbold did something foolish, this entire situation could explode. But she held her tongue.

Most of the villagers possessed little in the way of weaponry-just farm tools and sticks-but one man wore a shirt of steel scales and carried a sword as he ran back and forth between the barricades wherever Count Sarrow's men advanced. More fires were set, but there was no clash of arms. For the time being, the lone swordsman was holding off the attackers. Shouts arose from Sarrow's men as her bodyguard approached. For one awful moment, Josey thought a real battle would erupt, but then the attackers withdrew to a large field on the far side of the hamlet. Josey breathed easier when Captain Drathan set up a defensive position around the homes. By that time, Therbold and his men had been permitted inside the barricades.

Josey urged her horse down the hill. Captain Drathan rode out to meet her on the trampled field. “I was going to send a detachment to escort you, Majesty.”

“I was quite safe, Captain. Do you think we can enter the village?”

“I would suggest sending an envoy first. To ascertain their intentions.”

“Ascertain their…?” Josey shook her head. “Captain, they are my subjects. I can clearly see them from here. All I'm suggesting is that we talk with them.”

Captain Drathan made a tight smile. “As you wish, Majesty. But I believe that imperial law states that the townships under a lord's control are considered his property, above and beyond the Crown. In effect, you would need Lord Therbold's permission to enter.”

Josey fought the urge to growl something obscene. “Fine, Captain. Please send a delegation to the village to ask if we may enter. And while you are at it, remind them that their situation could deteriorate quickly if we simply withdrew our presence to, say, over that hill.”

“Aye, Majesty. With pleasure.”

She stopped the captain with a raised hand before he could ride away. “And send someone to the other side, too. Find out who is in charge and tell them I want to see them. Right away.”

Captain Drathan saluted and hurried away. Josey brushed a gloved hand down her chest and over her skirt, both of which were spattered in tiny dots of mud. They're never going to come out.

After several minutes, while she sat on her horse like a grimy statue, a pair of her bodyguards came over and informed her that permission to enter had been given.

“Have we heard a reply from the other force yet?” she asked.