Chapter 24: A New Tent

I somehow got out of the ring the soldiers had formed over me and went over to Sapphire, sitting by her father. The soldiers followed, watchful.

“Oh Saph, I’m so sorry.”

“You should be!”

“I . . . I am.”

“Are you going to display his body, put his head on a pike?”

“What? No,” that was a gross image, “I expect you’ll take him home and bury him.”

By this time, Barclay’s soldiers were mustered, and his general heading toward me. “Princess Cayce, it seems the, ah, coalition cannot remain intact.”

“And?”

That confused him. He expected something from me. “Well, with the grand magister’s words, it seems as though we are to take the dowager-regent and his late grace back to his castle.”

“That’s perfectly fine. By all means, General.”

“And,” he appeared a little too eager, “the Lady Sapphire?”

“I think it would be best, yes. Lady Sapphire should mourn amongst her family.” That would solve my sleeping arrangements – no more awkward girl’s nights. It seemed this was working out, perhaps a little too smoothly.

“I will see to it, Your Maj, erm, Your Highness.”

Morry was by my side, looking angry and imposing, and doing his best to frighten the other troops by staring down anyone who looked at him. His gaze lingered on each man the Barclay general had brought with him.

“I think you can put your sword away.”

“My sword is enjoying its time out of its sheath.”

“Alright, for sure. Hey!” I grabbed a soldier on his way to do something, “Bring a flagon of ale and some cups if you would, my good sir.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

Turning to Morry, “You could use a few drinks. Maybe some opium.” The rope burns around his wrists were turning to a nasty shade of red, bruising starting to ring the cuts themselves.

“Keep the opium. Not for tonight. The tension might yet boil over.”

We walked a bit away from the Barclay men. They were taking care of the body, some headed off with Sapphire toward our tents. Now former tents. She was probably rounding up her belongings before heading out. It was well past evening, but their contingents were preparing to leave immediately. No better outcome as far as I could see, getting the dowager away from me as quickly as possible.

We retreated to the command tent by the time General Brundle returned. “Your Highness, we’ve secured the facilities you requested. There were some protests over our requisitioning the supply trains, but we quelled those.”

“Have a seat if you like, General,” I said, standing to pour, then hand, him a mug. “Please, continue.”

“Thank you. It appears the Barclay troops are indeed leaving tonight, taking the dowager and your ladies in waiting.” He raised an eyebrow and paused.

I had to get all the info I could, keep this moving, stay in control. Army first, I figured. “What state of affairs does that leave us? What are our numbers?”

“Two-thirds strong. The Barclay regiments numbered some ten thousand troops. One heavy cavalry, one light, three companies of spearmen, one of bowmen and skirmishers.”

Lacking in knowledge as I was, that didn’t do much for me. It meant we were down to around twenty thousand troops. That mattered mainly because of the enemy army. “And how large is the enemy ravaging our lands?”

“Some forty thousand on the other side of the river. Perhaps another twenty or thirty thousand some distance from here.”

“Ah.” I took a drink, set my mug down. “We are badly outnumbered. Recommendations?”

“We’d be hard pressed to win a battle. So, I suggest avoiding one.”

“Ok, this is going to sound stupid,” I braced myself for whatever incredulous looks they’d throw my way, “but who is the enemy? Who are we fighting?”

“The, ah, Ketzles.” He paused at my blank stare, “Begging your pardon. The Ketzillian third army.”

That didn’t help me at all. Well, I got a name. “And they are from?”

The two men exchanged glances. Morry answered, “The west.”

“Right, ok, got it. How big are they? What do they want?”

Morry again, “What all armies want. Pillaging, raping, looting.”

“They’re just a generic army roaming around?”

The general jumped in, “In addition to pillaging, I expect they’re also attempting to expand their borders. The kingdom, your kingdom, is the largest state east of theirs.”

I dropped my head into my hands, “Right, ok, it’s enough that they’re after us. Let’s work this out tomorrow. I’ll need more details about them, their civilization, government, and so on.”

“Civilization?”

“Their state, nation, culture, whatever you want to call it. Let’s return to the matter of where we can go. What about returning to our castle and defending from there?”

“The only way to the castle is through the Ketzillians. And, I apologize for saying this, but the castle has likely fallen by now.”

“I see. I still don’t understand why our armies left it undefended.”

“Not undefended, but undermanned. The king, begging your pardon, thought it, ah, more prudent to attack with as large as possible armies as he could muster.”

“Right. Ok. So, that is that. It appears our best option is retreat perhaps to . . . my cousin’s castle?” Everyone had been mentioning that cousin and never anything nice said about him. But what was his character to me? We needed sanctuary.

“Wait a moment,” I said, slow on the uptake. “We left troops in our castle, short-manned, to die?”

He looked uncomfortable, pausing for a time, then said, “No one thought it would come to this, Your Highness.”

“I see. Apparently, I don’t understand tactics and strategy very well yet because that seems to me a poor idea. But let’s not dwell on that. Give me strategies to get to my cousin’s place.” Also, I thought to myself, if you could tell me his name, that’d be great. Then I wouldn’t have to call him ‘cousin’ because no one does that. Hell, I didn’t even know my last name. If I had one. Maybe people didn’t have them here. Three days, I’ve been here three days.

“We’ll have to use a forced march. We have to stay ahead of the enemy.”

“What about leaving tonight, as the Barclays are doing?”

“It’s tricky. We have more to pack up – the supply train, the smithies – and many of our troops are injured and tired. Duke Bar, pardon me, Traitor Barclay held his men in reserve, placing the brunt of the attack on our troops.”

“And he outright held them behind in camp to use as a police force against our returning soldiers. Yes.” I wondered at that moment whether our troops wanted to fight them. Maybe a little revenge. But that would be unwise, to say the least. “General, how fast can we muster our encampment tomorrow? How fast can we realistically travel with the condition our army is in?”

“We can manage ten hours a day. Wagons for those who can’t walk.”

“What about letting the, ah, footmen ride on the cavalry horses for breaks?”

He pulled his face back, “That’s a-”

“Terrible idea,” said Morry. “Keep the divisions separate. Don’t wear out the horses.”

“Oh?”

“If we’re attacked, you want the cavalry on those horses as quickly as they can.”

“Right, got it. Ok, let’s wake the encampment up before dawn and pack it up. Oh, and General?”

“Yes?”

“Find me some advisors. It can’t be just you and me running this army. I need a council. Let’s see, I would like the Head Nurse, someone from the smithies, the wizard – where is he? – and others you can think of. We’re also going to need more generals it seems.”

He stood, “I will make the arrangements.” At the tent exit, he turned back, saying, “And Princess? I’m glad you survived.”

I stood up, “A pleasure to be here with you gentlemen.” One more sip.

***

I went out, greeted soldiers, watched people running around the camp, readying what they could for tomorrow’s march, watched the last of the Barclay army depart. I thought of poor Sapphire, heading out with the dowager. Not a good outcome, but maybe the best. She was starting to see through me, would have realized I wasn’t her Cayce eventually. Best outcome for me, perhaps.

After washing off the blood, doing my toiletries, I decided not to sleep in the princess’s tent, given recent events, and headed over to the ladies in waiting’s tent. Morry had followed me around the entire time. Still drinking, but definitely watchful. Tread was nowhere to be seen, probably resting after his crucifixion ordeal. I didn’t fault him for that.

“I don’t know, take the bed on the right. I’ll sleep over here.”

He must have been feeling it, because he said, with sprinkles of mirth in his voice, “No better protection than in my bed.”

“Good night, Morry.”

I lay down in the middle bed. There were three and this was closest to him in case something bad happened. And stared at the ceiling. What to do? That’s when I heard light crying, off to my right. I headed over there.

It was Brinley, curled up in a ball and crying into her pillow. Wondering why she hadn’t left, I put my hand on her shoulder, “Hey, Brin, are you ok?”

“Everyone left – whatever’s to become of me?”

“You’ll be ok.” I crawled into bed, pulled her into a hug. She wrapped herself around me like I was her childhood teddy bear. “Why didn’t you go with them?”

“Why would I? The Barclays aren’t my family.”

“Oh.” I needed a directory of names and relationships to work all this out. “Uh, I guess you’ll be coming with me.”

“Where are you going?”

“To my cousin’s.”

“Oh!” She brightened up, “You mean my parent’s place!” And hugged me more tightly. “This is great news. I thought you were going to head straight into battle over your brother’s death and get us all killed.”

“You’re ok, Brin, you’ll be good.”

“I guess that makes me mistress of the bedroom now.”

“I’m thinking of doing away with that position.”

“But how will you-”

“How does head lady in waiting sound?” I really didn’t want this sleeping together thing to become permanent, let alone the using the bathroom together thing.

She ignored my question to ask one of her own, “Cayce, I’m so glad you are taking me home. But what will you do about the Barclays and their nobles now?”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ve just given up your hostages.”

“I’m sorry, what?”

“Giselle, Elmorgan, Sapphire.” She tapped her finger against my chest with each name, adding, “They served at your father’s court as a means to keep the nobles in line. The kingdom unified.”

“Oh, fudge.”

“Fudge?”

“I’m trying to cut down on swearing.”

“And now you are taking me back to my castle! Perhaps you can marry my uncle? With your combined armies, he could retake your lands, then force Barclay into submission. That would set a precedent the other nobles would likely follow. Sapphire might not be happy about that, but at least you didn’t strip the Barclays of power and brand them all traitors.”

“Excuse me, why would I do that?”

She spoke to me like I was utterly stupid, “Uh, because her father, the duke, betrayed the kingdom and plotted to have your entire family killed. Sapphire is very fortunate her family is retaining their status. Your father would have had Barclay quartered, his remains displayed on castle gates of the major cities.”

“Wow, ok.”

“And she and her family would now be serfs. Or slaves. Saph owes you a great deal.”

“I hope she remembers that.”

“It’ll depend on whether the dowager raises an army against you. Well, at least she’s stripped of her mages.”

I was stunned. “Brin, you’ve just explained more to me than anyone has so far.”

“Well, you know all this, too. It’s just hard to work it out yourself, sometimes, what with all this excitement going on. I really think you should marry Uncle Bechalle.”

No chance! But at least I got a name. “We’ll see. I’m not really interested in marriage.”

“You’d make an excellent queen for him. He appreciates strong willed women. And he’d secure the kingdom for you.”

I wasn’t going to argue with her anymore, so I went with sleep, “Good night, Brin. Thank you for explaining all this to me.”

“I’m glad you found me tonight.

“Me, too.”

“Good night.”

I resumed staring at the ceiling while she sunk into sleep on my shoulder, thinking about what she’d said. I guess that made her and I second cousins? She’s the niece of my cousin, or maybe there was more than one cousin, and she was their child. No idea. At least she went to sleep.

My list of problems was growing. Enemy army at my heels and it outnumbers us by three to one. They beat the king and prince in battle, seasoned military veterans who presumably were trained tacticians. What chance did I have against them? My only option was to race to a tyrant’s castle and somehow gain his help while not marrying him.

Yet what really bothered me was the wizard. Such awesome power he held! Why did he serve and not rule? I didn’t know. Worse – he would have known what Brin just explained to me. It was he who kept the dowager and the Barclays in power. Why did he kill the only confessed witness to the plot against the king? No chance Barclay was working alone. With his power, he could have drawn out the conspiracy. Unless he was part of the conspiracy, I couldn’t figure out his angle.

Still, he seemed to protect us, the army, by retaining Barclay’s wizards. And he defended the army’s retreat earlier when he could have simply slipped up, let the enemy destroy us. What did he want?

When could I approach him about my own, more personal problems? Like how I got here and who I had been, who I am.

On top of all that, it turns out I just broke up the kingdom by releasing the only leverage I had over those with standing armies of their own. How quickly would they decide they could take it for themselves? I hoped the lack of support from the kingdom, the lack of togetherness would present problems for them and the dowager.

All these problems kept me awake for a time. Could I turn myself into Joan of Arc? A figure who roused the French to victory by becoming a symbol of the divinity and by carrying their standard into battle. Smiling into the darkness, I thought to myself, perhaps Alexander the Great would become a better fit.