Michael Stackpole - At the Queen_s command

He recognized, instantly, that his three conclusions amounted to the same thing: the balance of power in Mystria had shifted. While New Tharyngia had proved as wealthy a colony as Mystria, its smaller population and corresponding diminution of military power had curbed Tharyngian adventurism. More power, especially with du Malphias in charge of it, pointed to great trouble ahead.

Of course, anything wrought through magick could also be unmade by it. A spell could light brimstone afire. Another spell, applied quickly enough, could extinguish that fire. Granted, the mage would have to touch the fire to make the magick work-getting burned in the process-but the fire would go out. Touching a magickally enhanced soldier would likewise constitute a severe danger.

But iron is an anathema to all magick.

The Prince turned and snatched up the journal. He flipped halfway through, to where the pages became blank, and started making notes. He jotted a crude diagram and did some calculations. Then another idea popped into his head and he made another drawing.

He pushed his chair back and grabbed a measuring string. Looping it about his neck, he darted from his study and down across the lawn toward the wurmrest.

He never quite got there.

Nathaniel Woods waved from the shore as he pulled the canoe up. Kamiskwa jumped from the back and helped haul the canoe free of the water. Nathaniel produced a satchel and held it out to the Prince.

Vlad accepted it. "Where is Captain Strake? Is he?"

Nathaniel snarled. "He's alive, or I'll be killing him next I see him. These here are his journals. If you have some food, drink, and a place we can sleep for a bit, we'll be heading back for him."

The Prince nodded, relieved a bit, but still anxious. "Come with me, gentlemen. I shall see to your needs. You will tell me everything."

Their story matched the letters up to and including the Deleon message. After they had escaped the Ryngians, that being a harrowing adventure in and of itself, they'd traveled directly to Saint Luke. They left Makepeace Bone there to be mended, then hurried directly to the Prince. A journey that had taken Jean Deleon two months, they had accomplished in five weeks and looked every bit as lean and exhausted as one might expect.

Nathaniel sliced an apple in half. "We would not have left Captain Strake, but it was an order. We had agreed. He said the journals was what you needed."

"My friends, this is the fourth time you've mentioned that order. I understand your anger and anguish, but your actions have not dishonored you in the least. I think more of you now, knowing what you have done, than I did before a feat I would have believed, until this moment, well nigh impossible."

The Prince rested his hand on the journals. "I will spend the night examining these journals and, in the morning…"

Nathaniel shook his head. "We'll be gone by then."

"You cannot go, Mr. Woods."

"All due respect being yours, Highness, I ain't one of your subjects to be ordered about."

"Precisely, Mr. Woods, which is why I need you here. The both of you." Prince Vlad looked from one man to the other. "Captain Strake was right. What you have uncovered is of more importance than you can even begin to imagine. What you have seen is critical if du Malphias is to be stopped. With your help I will construct a complete set of maps. We will work up plans and demands for troops. If that fortress stands, none of us are safe. Not Mystrians, not the Shedashee."

"I ain't leaving Captain Strake out there."

"Nathaniel, please." The Prince pressed his hands flat to the table. "If Captain Strake is alive, he is likely in du Malphias' custody. If dead, I fear he is as well. If alive, he will be held as a prisoner or shot. In Temperance and just up the coast at Truth Bay, there are two Ryngian agents. I shall order their apprehension and draft a letter to Guy du Malphias offering a prisoner exchange. This is the best chance Owen has."

Kamiskwa nodded. "Owen was shot in the leg. It needs time to heal. He could not escape for at least a month. And if they took his leg…"

Nathaniel hammered a fist against the table. "I know. I know. You're both right. Don't mean I like it."

"Nathaniel, had you been shot, you would have ordered him away. You don't like his having fallen and your still being alive."

"Ain't the first time I shouldered that burden, Highness. Don't need another ghost behind me." Nathaniel sighed. "Would you be letting me take that note to du Malphias?"

"I need you here. I'll send Jean Deleon." Vlad turned to Kamiskwa. "Prince Kamiskwa, how would the Confederation react if it is proved that du Malphias is creating wendigo?"

"It is enough that they hold Aodaga. If my father were to call for warriors, two hundred would answer. Many with guns, more with arrows and warclubs."

"That would be wonderful. I will have to raise what militia forces I can by next spring."

Nathaniel glowered again. "We leave Owen there over the winter, we ain't never getting him back."

"Please, Nathaniel, if du Malphias is raising the dead, we have more pressing problems. We need to know everything about his creatures. We have to know how to kill them."

"You shoot them." Nathaniel smiled. "It worked on Ilsavont."

"Yes, but why did it work? Was he bleeding? Did you hit a vital organ? Did you explode his heart? Did you shoot him in the head?"

Nathaniel looked at Kamiskwa, then back. "Caught him just above his paunch. Don't recall too much blood."

"And there was no sign of what had killed the one that possessed the journal, correct?"

Kamiskwa shook his head. "It looked as if he just lay down and died."

"These, gentlemen, are the things we need to know. We need to know how to kill them. Yes, you burned Ilsavont's head. This is good. But we do not know if the shot just rendered him unconscious and if he would have revived, or if your shot put him down."

The hunter smiled. "Onliest way to find this all out, Highness. You need you some specimens."

"Eventually, yes; and you'll have that job, Nathaniel. What I need first is your knowledge. I will go through these journals and the maps. I will need you to verify the maps, then I shall build a miniature." Vlad remembered the idea he'd just scratched into his journal. "Yes, I shall also need you to test something else. Perhaps not tomorrow, but soon, very soon."

"We will do that, Highness, but you'll be having to work with Kamiskwa tomorrow. And I'll need the lend of a horse."

"For?"

Nathaniel glanced down at a bone-strewn plate. "I reckon someone needs to ride into Temperance and tell the Frosts what happened. Since I know the blame will be settling on me, I might as well deliver the news."

Vlad slowly nodded. "Yes, of course. I should have thought of them first. I shall write a note. If you would deliver it for me, I should be most grateful."

"As you wish, Highness."

The Prince himself showed his guests to their quarters. He gave them rooms facing south with doors that opened onto a balcony. From previous experience he expected they would choose to sleep out there under the stars rather than in the beds.

He returned to his laboratory and began his study of the maps. Owen Strake had done a wonderful job, indicating heights and slopes as best possible, even sketching in little men to act as a scale. The Prince meticulously measured and transferred information from the journals to a larger sheet. With every wall and obstacle he increased the number of men that would be required to reduce the fort. He also increased his estimates of casualties.

At the end he made the final calculations and his stomach soured. So many dead, and that is just if we are truly facing what I see here.

He shook his head.

With du Malphias in charge, hidden horrors awaited. No man laying siege to that fortress would escape unharmed.