Book 5, Chapter 23: Luncheon
We did not stop for lunch on the same hill as we did the first time, but a new hill. Like the big man said, have to make better memories to replace the old ones. The midday sun warm, grass waving in the wind, my birds fluttering around the tree line and foxes unseen.
“Why do you think the Laemacians attacked?”
“I’d guess they’ve heard news of the battle at Breadamont.”
I picked up a cup of ale, took a sip. Just a sip, definitely not heading into a drunken haze the rest of the day, “That seems very quick.”
“Well, we made it here in about the same time. Messengers would have taken more horses to switch off riding so they could move faster, would take fewer breaks and would ride longer. They’d make it between one to three days faster than we did.”
“Oh. And they probably wouldn’t run into a dryad.”
“Dryad?” asked Tread. “What was that like?”
“You don’t want to know,” said Morry.
“I mean, did she take you into her home?” Something about Tread’s voice sounded particularly late teenage boy like. Eager, hopeful, a touch of desperate.
“No. Mostly she just sat on his lap and kissed him.”
“Wow! You got to kiss a dryad! Was she pretty?”
Morry grunted and stuffed something into his mouth.
“It was more like sexual assault, Tread.” He looked perplexed. “Against his will. She used magic on him.”
“Still! A dryad. They’re said to be the most beautiful women around. I can’t imagine.”
“I wonder, are they women? Are they human? I wonder why they steal another species’ males.”
“Well,” Tread’s eyes lit up, “most of the stories say-”
“Princess, how do you plan on dealing with the Laemacian emperor?”
“That’s not really fair, you know. Changing the topic from something you’re uncomfortable with to something I’m uncomfortable with.” I took a gulp of ale and the silence made me fill it. “Ok. Yeah. I don’t know. Hafthon wants me to, well, you know. Kill them all.”
“Only you, it seems, stands between them and the destruction of the kingdom.”
“You don’t think Carlisele’s forces can hold?”
“Hmm. Maybe if he had heavy cavalry with full plate and a few crossbow regiments. But I doubt he was able to muster very many after we left. We did take the master smiths with us.”
“Only ours!” Why did I get defensive? The earls were all plotting against me back then. I took my army’s smiths with us when we rode out to restart the weapon and armor producing once we retook my family castle. “Yeah, that didn’t exactly work out. I feel like a moron now.”
“The smiths survived, as they weren’t in the army. Most likely, Brundle has them set up in the castle and producing.”
“Oh. I hope so. You’re probably right. Tread, was the earl able to make more weapons?”
“Few, ma’am. I’m afraid Earl Carlisele was reluctant to make the soldiers craft their own weapons, as you did. He said to hire more apprentices. But when I informed him that our coffers were stretched too thin, he made me a messenger.”
“Damn.” Yeah, I told myself, I did the right thing by exalting Hafthon.
“My lady, did you say . . . did Morry just say that you could destroy their army yourself?”
“No, he didn’t.”
“Yes, I did.”
“No, that’s not what you meant.”
“It’s what I meant.”
Without thinking, I facepalmed. “I guess I’m going to try talking to him. Remind him that Serce agreed to peace if I’d visit after the summer was over.”
“Princess, I don’t think walking up to his army, asking for an audience, and reminding him of his ambassador’s agreement is going to do you any good. He’s already marched his army here.”
“Yeah, I get it. If only we could have gotten the dryad on our side. She could have taken him into her tree for twenty years and this wouldn’t be an issue!”
“I wish I’d seen the dryad,” said Tread.
The big man leaned forward, “This is a man who has killed all your relatives and demanded you marry him, to legitimize his claim, on the threat of war. You need a better plan.”
“What do you think I should do?”
“Burn his army to the ground.”
“Along with Hafthon,” my throat tightened, and I felt it in my eyes, but refused to give in, “why aren’t you listening to me?”
“Princess, of all the people I can imagine with a deity’s power, you are the one I’d choose to have it.”
I gave him a double take.
“You’re the least likely to abuse it. You’ve ever showed that-”
“And then what? Burn a couple hundred thousand men to ash and then take over as empress?”
“That would definitely secure your kingdom’s border with Laemacia.”
“Morry.” I shook my head. “You want me to become this world’s . . . Sorry, I mean history’s biggest mass murderer? Do you know what you’re asking?”
“It’s not murder in war.”
“It isn’t any better. The only choice with ultimate power over people’s lives is never to invoke it.”
“They marched into your lands to subjugate your people. By doing nothing, you will be allowing your men to die. Hundreds of thousands. And your lands to be pillaged, your women and children subjects worse. Do you have a plan to stop them that doesn’t involve killing?”
“No. Damnit.” I stood up, stared off into the horizon, “I’m losing on every front in every way. Nothing I do works. I can’t seem to stop the people in my kingdom from being killed. And taken. For what? The greed of rulers. But here I am, with the powers of a god and I have to tell you, maybe you’re right. It is becoming really, really hard not to use them. They call to me, Morry. They want me to release the power! The rage! Maybe I should destroy his army. If I can stop there, with his men only, then only I have to pay the consequences. But if I can’t, well, spring is, as you said, a time of renewal.”
Tread looked down at his plate.
Morry, not smiling, nodded. “Perhaps we should put on your armor, so the soldiers at the castle recognize you.”
“Fuck the armor.”
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