The Crimson League (The Herezoth Trilogy) (57 page)

“Do you know what I miss?” he said. “Decent food. Hell, even a variety of bad food would be an improvement. We just eat the same crappy food day after day. These things here do have their advantages, though.” He picked up the loaf of bread. “This, for instance. It’s so hard that by tomorrow we can bash in Zalski’s head with it.”

“Here here!” said Neslan.

When Bennie took it upon herself to join the levity, and even Hayden cracked a smile, Kora could not stand the strain. She meant to wait until everyone had eaten, but she said above the laughter, “Zalski has the book.”

No one understood her over the noise. “What was that?” said Neslan.

“Zalski has the book.”

Laskenay dropped her glass; it rolled to the other side of the clearing. Lanokas swore, while Bendelof coughed so as not to choke on a throat full of half-chewed fruit. “My God,” she said, “that’s not funny, Kora.”

“I’m not joking.”

“You have to be,” Bennie insisted. “How could Zalski get his hands on…?”

Kora related her midnight conference with Petroc. She watched the enthusiasm, the hope, drain by degrees from every face, even that of Lanokas. She had never seen him look so gray: not when he shattered his leg in the Hall of Sorcery, not when his brother died…. Never.

Laskenay spoke in a deadened voice. “This changes everything.”

Bennie sounded like a lost child. “What do we do? Where do we go? We can’t go after him now, not when he’ll torture…. When he’ll find out…. Who was it you stayed with in Podrar, Kora?”

“On that first visit? Ter Jute’s wife, Nani.”

“She’ll have an infant now. And she, she’s not the only one with a family. Most have families. We can’t risk this.”

Lanokas said, “We have to risk it. We can’t evade Zalski forever. Striking first gives us the only advantage we can hope for. We’ll just have to warn as many people as we can.”

“We can push the date back a week,” said Neslan. “We’ve supplies enough to manage that.”

Laskenay said, “We’ll always find reasons to postpone. If we start that trend…. Besides, there’s the militia to consider.”

“What about Petroc?” asked Kora.

“He’ll join us,” said Lanokas. “I’m no more thrilled about the prospect than you are, but let’s face it, we need him. We need six of him.” Lanokas swore again under his breath.

“I’ll go get him,” Kora volunteered.

* * *

“So that was Zalski’s motive in hunting Hansrelto’s book.” Petroc, reclining in the League’s makeshift camp, had just listened to Laskenay explain everything, including the assault plan. “You certainly let things deteriorate, didn’t you?”

Lanokas glared at him. “We had help.”

“There are no more of you? What about the blonde girl?”

“Malzin killed her ages ago,” said Kora. “At least, it feels like ages.”

“A shame.” Petroc drummed his fingers. “She had a fighter’s pluck.” He cast a disparaging look over Bennie, comparing her to Kansten. The girl flushed with shame. “Listen,” he said, “I’ll do what I can. Frankly, you’re all doomed, and at the point when all’s lost, I intend to save myself. Transport out.”

Lanokas put out his hand. “Whatever you’re willing to give, we accept.”
             

The League did not waste a moment. Thanks to Petroc, they had to rework a major portion of their plan, with the result that, after days of fruitless pleading, Kora would join Laskenay after all in going after Zalski. No victory had ever felt more hollow. Petroc would take over Kora’s defensive role in the courtyard, from whence, when he chose, he could remove himself via magic. The sorcerer slept at the Hall, but came daily to the clearing and spent the greater part of every hour making everyone ill at ease. Between the greater intensity of the fear, now that the
Librette
was Zalski’s, and Petroc harping on every deficiency in their strategy, Kora was lucky if she slept three hours a night, lucky if she slept at all. She began to wish, and earnestly, that Petroc had kept the book’s disappearance to himself.

With six days to the attack and two hours before her scheduled watch, Kora woke from one of her nightmares. This time Lanokas, walking up to Wheatfield, found himself surrounded by black uniforms, then riddled with arrows. The guards had taken Kora alive, and she watched him die, watched as Zalski appeared before her with two stones and a black-covered book, felt him force a ruby in her sweaty palm and fuse her fist….

Coming to her senses, Kora unclenched her perspiring hands and left the tent. She was not, of course, at Wheatfield, but outside Partsvale. Bennie held guard duty, and a dagger against her wrist, the second of which she dropped when she saw Kora’s frozen expression of horror. The redhead shook with guilt, and admitted in a whisper, “I’m a coward. I’m not brave enough to go into hiding, and not brave enough to attack him, not when he’s got that spell. I’m not even brave enough to kill myself. All night I’ve been trying to find the nerve, and every time I almost do, I think of Zacry, how he looked up to me.

“I don’t know why I think of him. I don’t know what’s happened to me, but I, I keep wishing you hadn’t rescued me, even though with the book, that means Zalski would have killed me and found you, all of you. Even though it means Zac would still be in that tower. I can’t cry anymore. I haven’t cried in ages, not since Ranler died, and I used to cry all the time when I was alone. I’ve been telling myself I have to avenge him, and Kansten, but that’s bull, it’s bullshit, what can I do for Ranler? For anyone? I’m not a warrior. Lanokas taught me to fight with a sword, but how long would I honestly last against the guard? Five minutes? That never used to bother me, but I’m different now. I’ve changed. It’s not like I’m physically weaker than I used to be. Something’s changed me. I don’t know what it was, but it took away the best part of me, and I can’t go on without that. Kora, I can’t.”

Kora’s shock dissipated, though gradually. She pulled the girl away from the tents, from the dagger, to the clearing’s edge. “Bendelof Esper, you listen to me: no part of you is missing. Zalski didn’t take your faith. That’s the one part of you that’s untouchable. I don’t care how they tried, he and Malzin couldn’t steal it. I know they couldn’t. You’ve always understood that someone has to stand up to them, to be the Giver’s Instrument. That if you didn’t, no one else would.

“It’s not fair it has to be us. That’s what you’ve recognized, and it’s true, it isn’t fair, but realizing that didn’t destroy your faith. You still see that someone has to fight. Bennie, that’s why you think of Zac. He made his stand. He told Zalski to go hang himself, isn’t that how he put it? Zac made his stand, and so did you.”

“When? When did I do anything useful? When I nearly got killed that day Sedder died? When Zalski captured me because I was sleeping?”

Kora hardened her voice, not to come across as impatient or judgmental—though she feared she might—but rather as resolute, as determined. “When did you stand firm? When you refused to betray us to save yourself. You could have, easily. Zalski told you so flat-out. Your faith gave you strength to refuse him, and I’m telling you, the faith’s still there. If it wasn’t, you’d have gone ahead and slit your wrists. What else could have stopped you? Nothing, that’s what. The Giver’s law forbids suicide, am I right?”

To sound utterly confident might dispel Bennie’s doubts a bit, that was Kora’s gut feeling, and it proved accurate. The redhead nodded, slowly at first, surprised by Kora’s vehemence. Then a tear slid down her face, and she grew more sure of herself. Another tear came, then a river, as though a dam had broken behind her eyes. “I’m crying,” she said, almost laughing with joy to discover she could. “I’m crying again.” Kora held her and let her weep.  Bennie could not stem the flood. “You’re right, it isn’t fair. It’s just not fair! It shouldn’t be us.”

“At least none of us is alone. We’re together, and we’ll fight together ‘til the end. That’s what Lanokas told me. All of us, I swear that to you.”

“All right. All right, I…. Kora, what was I trying to do? I wasn’t thinking, and I’m sorry. I’m so sorry! God forgive me, I’m just so scared! I don’t have magic like you or Laskenay. I can’t defend
myself that way. I’m not a man, so
I don’
t have physical strength like men
do. Everyone else, you have a chance, but I can’t fathom how I might live.”

“We’ll all defend each other, that’s how. It’s the only way anyone might survive. Lanokas is strong: he’ll also be a prime target, perhaps
the
prime target. I’m a sorceress, sure, but Zalski’s more powerful, and guess who I go after?”

“You wanted that.”

“I did. I did, and I was a fool. At least Laskenay won’t face him alone now, there’s that. You do have a point, though: you’ll be the only woman there who can’t use magic. I’ve been so caught up in my own worries I never gave you a thought. None of us did. Bennie, you don’t have to do this. You can take your chances on the run. What isn’t an option is that dagger. You deserve more than that.”

“I know. I know I do, we all do, that’s why I….” Bennie summoned her strength. “That’s why I can’t desert you all. We have to defend each other, right? Well, when I think about it, Hayden doesn’t have much more experience with a sword than I do. It’s a shame there’s not a post for him to shoot from.”

“So you’re staying? You’re sure? No more fingering your weapons?”

“None of that. Kora, I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t tell the others.”

“I won’t breathe a word,” Kora promised. “What you need to do is focus on yourself. Refind that peace that used to come when you remembered our small wins: the people we helped, the ways the Giver used you as an Instrument. You’ve done so much for my brother alone!”

“Thank you,” Bennie whispered. “I’ll try, I will. I haven’t been able to think of those people lately. It’s made me jealous. Sick.”

“Because they’re not here,” said Kora. Bennie stayed up with her through second watch. Concentrating on guard duty, Kora glanced every now and then at her companion, who with no sign of bitterness stared at a tree and remembered who knew what adventure from months gone by. Slowly, perhaps, but clearly nonetheless, Bendelof was coming to terms with what awaited. That was a task each must accomplish alone, in his or her own way. Kora found peace through her brother’s safety, and Laskenay, she imagined, through reuniting with her son. Perhaps Lanokas took strength in what he once told Kora outside Wheatfield, that it was not death that mattered, but how one judged one’s life. Neslan had his poetry, and Hayden, well….

Hayden was a bit of a mystery. Kora suspected, though, that he had made up his mind to prove his value and his work ethic. The past few days, he had trained unceasingly.

* * *

No one felt prepared when the chosen day arrived. How could they, with the multitude of variables they simply could not control—and never would be able to, should they put off the assault for a year? The League was as ready as it could ever be, that was plain. Its members refused to let themselves seek excuses, which would be far too easy to find.

Laskenay, like her fellow nobles and Hayden, dressed as though to hunt, just as Kora remembered her the first time they had met in the woods, when she mistook Zalski’s sister for a man. The only difference was no cap. Kora herself, and Bendelof, dressed like the others; it was the first and last time Kora had worn men’s clothing for League business. Hayden made breakfast, cut up all the overripe fruit no one had eaten, but not even he took one bite. “This is it,” he said. “This really is it.”

Neslan clapped a hand on his shoulder. “One final mission. Just think: by nightfall we’ll restore order to the kingdom.”

“We’ll restore the king,” Kora whispered. As the last syllable left her mouth, tasting bitter, acerbic, Petroc appeared before her, transporting from the Hall. It was time to be off.

Kora’s mouth dropped when she transported to Wheatfield: fifty men waited there, all armed, all trained, waiting to join the Leaguesmen. The number included seven soldiers. “Who’s a father?” Lanokas asked.

A captain was the father of three. “My wife’s pregnant with our first,” said a militiaman, who was maybe twenty-five. All in all, eight or nine said they had children.

Lanokas told them, “I can’t accept your help, and I can’t explain why, though I wish I could, sincerely. You deserve the explanation. I don’t take men like you for granted, but your place is with your families, your sons and daughters. Your wives don’t need to be widows. Go back to them.”

Every father obeyed; a few shook the hands of friends they were leaving behind, and they headed back to Fontferry. Their absence left the League with just over forty men. Lanokas briefed them as to the battle plan, and though some looked shocked, particularly the militia, not one took advantage of the chance the prince offered to back out. While they readied themselves to transport to the Palace courtyard, Laskenay scouted the conditions. “It’s about what we expected,” she said when she returned.

“How many?” Lanokas asked.

“Fifteen.” After Bendelof’s escape, Zalski had increased the number of guards outside his palace.

The volunteers separated into groups. Kora would transport the Leaguesmen first, and Petroc, so that he could return to the barn to bring more men. Laskenay would take the soldiers. The first convoys gathered in tight circles around their respective sorceress; Kora shut her eyes, trying not to feel her heartbeat.