Raymond E. Feist - The Serpentwar Saga

The man next to him answered, ‘What? You’re an oracle now?’

De Loungville led them to the area surrounding the brokers’ tent, where he found a knot of terrified brokers standing outside their own tent. He pushed past and entered.

A low wooden desk was used by the brokers, and behind it sat a large man in fine armor, well cared for but obviously used often. His feet rested on the polished wood, mud scattering all over the documents still upon them. He looked little different from the other soldiers in camp except that he was older, perhaps older than Praji and Vaja, the oldest men in Calis’s company. But rather than of age, his aura was that of a man of profound experience. He calmly looked at de Loungville and his companions as they entered, and nodded to another soldier who stood behind him. Both wore an emerald green armband on their left arm, but otherwise they wore no distinctive markings or uniform.

De Loungville stopped and said, ‘Well then, what fool blows a call to quarters?’

‘I have no idea,’ said the old soldier. ‘I certainly didn’t want to cause this much commotion.’

‘Are you the Emerald Queen’s agent?’

The man said, ‘I am General Gapi. I’m no one’s “agent.” I’m here to inform you of your choices.’

Erik sensed something in this man he had seen in a few others—the Prince of Krondor, Duke James, and Calis upon occasion. It was a sureness of command, an expectation that orders would be followed without debate, and Erik decided that this man’s title was no mercenary vanity. This man commanded an army.

De Loungville put his hands on his hips and said, ‘Oh, and what choices are those?’

‘You can serve the Emerald Queen or you can die.’

With a slight gesture of his head, de Loungville instructed the men around him to spread out. Erik stepped to his right, until he stood opposite the single soldier in the tent behind Gapi. De Loungville said, ‘Usually I get paid to fight. But your tone makes me think I might be willing to forgo payment this one time.’

Gapi sighed. ‘Break the peace of the camp at risk, Captain.’

‘I’m no Captain,’ said de Loungville. ‘I am a sergeant. My Captain sent me down to see what the fuss was.’

‘The fuss, as you call it,’ answered Gapi, ‘is the consternation of men too stupid to realize they have no choice. So you don’t hear a garbled version of what was said here an hour ago, I’ll repeat this so you can tell your Captain.

‘All companies of mercenaries mustering in this valley must swear fealty to the Emerald Queen. We begin our campaign downriver against Lanada in a month’s time.

‘If you attempt to leave to take service with Our Lady’s enemies, you will be hunted down and killed.’

‘And who’s doing this hunting and killing?’ asked de Loungville.

With an easy smile, Gapi said, ‘The thirty thousand soldiers who are now surrounding this pleasant little valley.’

De Loungville turned and glanced outside the tent. He searched the ridges above the valley and saw movement, a glint of light upon metal or a flicker of shadow, but enough to tell him that a sizable force was ringing the valley. Letting out an exasperated sound, he said, ‘We wondered what was taking you so long to reach here. We didn’t think you’d be coming in force.’

‘Carry word to your Captain. You have no choice.’

Looking at the General, de Loungville seemed about to say something. Then he just nodded and motioned for the others to follow him.

They were silent until they were away from the main camp, when Erik said, ‘You look bothered. Sergeant. I thought the purpose was to join this army.’

‘I don’t like it when the other side changes the rules,’ said de Loungville. ‘Around here you pay a man to fight. I think we may be getting sucked deeper into the sand than we thought.

‘Besides,’ he added, ‘when I’m going to get buggered, I like to be asked nicely first. It annoys me when I’m not.’

Roo pointed.

In the distance, fire marked a skirmish. True to his word, General Gapi attacked any band seeking to leave to the south. A few captains were stiff-backed enough to try to smash their way through the encircling army, and they were met with the full weight of those soldiers already in better positions and dug in.

The valley might have made a pleasant enough place for the rendezvous, but as a place from which to launch an attack it had little to recommend it. Since it was narrow and steep to the north and south, the only possible means of escape was through the eastern end, the way Vaja and his companions had come, which he reported as being treacherous hills with unforgiving trails for those taking a wrong turn. Still, some smaller bands attempted to leave this way.

Others moved out as did Calis’s Crimson Eagles, either to serve and take whatever recompense might be forthcoming through looting or other rewards, or to steal away at some future opportunity. Everywhere Erik looked he saw unhappy men. De Loungville wasn’t the only one feeling buggered without leave.

Those who obeyed General Gapi’s orders mustered in columns at the lowest end of the river, just before it joined with the larger Vedra. A bridge, long burned out in some forgotten war, marked the place, and a series of ferries had been established to provide transport from north to south on the east side of the Vedra or from east to west below the nameless tributary.

Calis’s company was among the last to reach the ferry, having quartered higher up in the valley than most, and as a result they were afforded a longer opportunity to sit and watch than those who came before. Men, and a few women, from every corner of Novindus were moving across the river, crossing to join those, like Calis’s, already on the south bank.

A man wearing a green armband rode up and said, ‘What company?’

De Loungville pointed at Calis, who sat next to him on the left, and said, ‘Calis’s Crimson Eagles, from the City of the Serpent River.’

The man frowned, looking at Calis. ‘From the siege at Hamsa?’

Calis nodded.

The man grinned and there was nothing friendly in the expression. ‘I almost had you, you slippery bastard. But you went east to the Jeshandi, and by the time my company doubled back, you were into the steppes.’ He looked hard at Calis. ‘Had I known you were of the long-lived I would have headed east straight away. A lot of your kind with the Jeshandi.’

He took out a parchment and a charcoal stick, made some marks, and said, ‘But Our Lady accepts all who come to her, so we’re on the same side now.’ He waved toward the south. ‘Make your way downriver about a mile. Find the Master of the Camp there and report in. In a few days you’ll get orders. Until then the rules of the camp are simple: any fighting, and you’re killed. We’re all brothers now, under the banner of the Emerald Queen, so any man who starts trouble goes to the stake. I don’t recommend it; I’ve seen some men twitch for an hour or longer.’

He didn’t ask if the order was understood, simply putting heels to his horse and riding off toward the next company.

‘That was simple,’ said Praji, who sat on Calis’s left.

Calis said, ‘Let’s find this Master of the Camp and report in. We might as well get situated as quickly as possible.’ He nodded at Praji and Vaja, who peeled off from the company without comment.

‘What’s that?’ asked Erik quietly.

Foster, who was riding next to Erik, said, ‘Keep your mouth shut.’

But Nakor laughed. ‘With all the confusion, it’s easy to get separated from one’s own company. It may take Praji and Vaja days to find out where we’re camped. They’ll have lots of time to hear many things.’