Lawrence Watt-Evans - Relics of War

“Kill him how ?”

Tesk did that odd shoulder bob that Garander knew was his equivalent of turning up an empty hand. “I do not know.” He looked down at Ishta, and his face darkened. “Ishta should not see this,” he said.

“I’m not a baby,” Ishta protested.

“You are not a baby,” Tesk agreed, “but you are still a child. If the sorcerer breaks the protection, it will be ugly and bloody.”

“I’ve watched Father slaughter hogs,” Ishta answered.

“A hog is not a man,” Tesk said.

“Come on,” Garander said, putting a hand on Ishta’s shoulder. “Let’s go inside. It’s getting chilly.”

She shook off his hand. “No!” she insisted. “I want to see what happens to Tesk!”

“You said maybe nothing will happen,” Grondar said.

Again, Tesk’s shoulders bobbed. “Perhaps nothing will. But there is a reason your people know so little of Northern sorcery.”

“How interesting!” Lady Shasha exclaimed. “So you cannot live among other people, and no one else can use your magic?”

“That is true,” Tesk replied.

“It’s as if the magicians who created you wanted to make you worthless to anyone else.”

“They did,” the shatra said. “They did not want capturing one of us, alive or dead, to be of any value to your side.”

“But you aren’t of any possible value to their side now,” the Ethsharite said. “Their side doesn’t exist anymore.”

“Then I am of no value to anyone,” Tesk said. “You have come here for nothing.”

Lady Shasha gave a sort of half-nod, but before she could say anything more Ishta said, “What about the mizagars?”

Velnira, the baron, and Lady Shasha all looked at her. “ What mizagars?” Velnira asked.

“Those mizagars,” Tesk said, pointing at the woods to the northeast.

Garander turned, as did most of the others, and saw dark shapes emerging from the forest.

They were hideous, unnatural things, standing between three and four feet high, with legs that projected out to the side and then bent downward, so that their bellies were almost touching the ground. They did not seem to have necks; their heads were just extensions of their long, barrel-shaped bodies. Their eyes were so small as to be effectively invisible at this distance, while their mouths were huge, practically splitting their heads in half. Their skins were black, and they remained partly under the shadows of the trees, so that it was very hard to make out any further details.

There were four of them, by Garander’s count.

“They obey my orders,” Tesk said. “I told them to come here today to show you another reason you should leave me alone where I am. For twenty years I have kept them from attacking farmers or travelers. If you force me to leave, I cannot restrain them.”

“We can kill mizagars,” Lord Dakkar said.

“I am sure you can,” Tesk agreed. “But I save you the trouble.”

“Tesk,” Lady Shasha said, turning her attention from the mizagars back to the shatra , “what do you want?”

Tesk seemed puzzled by the question. “I do not want anything from you or your master.”

“That’s not what I asked,” she said. “What is it you do want? Why do you stay here? You could have stayed hidden in the wilderness forever, if you wanted to, but you didn’t. Why?”

Tesk stared at her for a moment, and just when Garander thought he was not going to answer at all, he said, “I was lonely.”

Lady Shasha nodded, as if she had expected that response, but it was Lord Dakkar who spoke next. “I can get you women,” he said.

Tesk’s mouth quirked in a half-smile. “I do not want women,” he replied.

“But you just said…”

“I want companionship, not female bodies.” Tesk straightened up. “I want to live as I always have, but to visit with friends sometimes. That is all I want.”

“Well, we want you to help us learn about Northern magic,” Lord Dakkar said. “We can see to it that no one bothers you if you do that.”

“No, you can’t,” Lady Shasha interrupted. “You can’t keep everyone away if they’re determined.”

Lord Dakkar turned to her angrily. “We can do better than you can! This is our territory, not part of your hegemony.”

“You are permitted to think yourselves independent because the overlords of Ethshar were reluctant to shed Ethsharitic blood in the years immediately after the war, but if you provoke them sufficiently, I assure you that they are capable of reasserting their authority.”

“Are you threatening me?” The baron’s hand was on the hilt of his sword.

“I am warning you, and all your so-called fellow barons, that the patience of the overlords is not infinite,” Lady Shasha calmly replied. “Lord Edaran already thinks it was a mistake to allow you so much freedom, but up until now Lord Azrad and Lord Gor have restrained him. They are old men, and long since tired of fighting, but do not assume they cannot be roused to anger. And who knows what their heirs may say, when the time comes?”

“Wait a minute,” Garander said. “Are you threatening a war ?”

“If that’s what it takes to establish the Hegemony’s authority,” Lady Shasha replied.

“You wouldn’t take our land without a fight,” Lord Dakkar growled.

“It isn’t your land in the first place!” Lady Shasha snapped. “Ask Grondar!”

“This is my farm,” Grondar said, “but I…I think we’re Sardironese here.”

“There’s no such thing as ‘Sardironese’ outside the walls of Sardiron,” Lady Shasha told him. “This is all Ethsharitic territory. All the World outside Old Ethshar rightfully belongs to the Hegemony.”

“Not any more!” the baron shouted.

“You’d fight a war over Tesk?” Garander asked, astonished.

“I’ll fight a war if that’s what it takes to keep the overlords out!”

“Lord Edaran is prepared to fight if that’s what it takes to restore order to the northern territories,” Lady Shasha said.

“That’s crazy!” Garander said. “Father’s told me about the war-you can’t seriously want to go through that again, and fighting amongst ourselves. We’re all descended from Ethshar, no matter what we are now.”

“Tesk isn’t,” Ishta said.

“But the rest of us all are!” Garander said.

“Now that the Northerners are gone, maybe it’s time to straighten out the enemies among those who claim to be our own people,” Velnira said.

“But you don’t need to,” Garander said. “There’s nothing worth fighting a war over!”

“That is not for a mere farm boy to decide,” Lord Dakkar said.

“But this is about Tesk , isn’t it?”

“He’s just the excuse, son,” Grondar said.

“What?” Grondar had had so little to say that Garander had almost forgotten he was there. Now he turned to look at his father.

Grondar held up a hand. “We’ll talk later,” he said.

“But…”

Grondar shook his head, and Garander subsided, but now it was Tesk’s turn to speak. “You both say you have come to bargain for the magic I hold, yes?”

“That’s right,” Lady Shasha replied.

“You understand now that I cannot use your money or live in your cities, and that I cannot simply give you my equipment or teach you how to make more.”

“I understand you say that,” Lord Dakkar answered.

“Perhaps we should take time to reconsider our positions,” Tesk said. “I will try to think of what I want that you can give me, and how I might be useful to you. You can think of what you want of me that I can give, and what you can offer me, what promises you can make to persuade me. We will meet here again in a few hours’ time-at dusk, perhaps?-to resume negotiations.”