Part 15 (1/2)

O s.h.i.+ng, Lang, and Tran watched the commandos disappear. O s.h.i.+ng still s.h.i.+vered with the strain of a recently completed sorcery. Mist and the Captal certainly would be diverted.

”Why're we here, Tran?” he whispered.

”Destiny, Tam. There's no escape. We must be what we must be. How many of us like it? Even forest hunters ask the same question.”

O s.h.i.+ng met Wu's eye. Lord Wu was in disguise. He wore no mask. His expression was taut, pallid, frightened.

Lang whispered, ”Friend Wu is spooked.” Lang took tremendous pleasure in seeing the mighty discomfited, perhaps because it brought them nearer his own insignificance. ”That thing you called up.... He wasn't looking for that.””The Gosik of Aubuchon? I was just showing off.”

”You scared the skirts off him,” Tran said. ”He's having second thoughts about us.”

Wu was frightened. Not even the Princes Thaumaturge, at the height of their Power, had dared call that devil from its h.e.l.l. And, though O s.h.i.+ng hadn't gone quite that far himself, he had opened a portal through which the monster could cast a shadow of itself, a doorway through which it might burst if O s.h.i.+ng's Power weren't sufficient to confine it.

Wu wasn't certain whether O s.h.i.+ng had overestimated himself or was genuinely able to control the devil. Either way, he had trouble. If the Gosik broke loose, the world would become its plaything. If O s.h.i.+ng truly commanded it, the Dragon Prince was more powerful than anyone had suspected, and had trained himself quietly and well. Those who intended using him might find the tables turning.

Worse, the youth was winning allegiances outside the Tervola. He was popular with the Aspirants. This sudden Power might tempt him to replace Tervola with Aspirants he trusted.

But it was too late to change plans. Rectifications had to wait till Mist had been destroyed.

Wu felt like a man who bent to catch a king snake and discovered that he had hold of a cobra.

News filtered back. Mist had been completely surprised. Only a handful of supporters, all westerners, were with her. Tran's commandos were occupying Maisak. The woman would be theirs soon.

The same promises were still coming through two days later. The lives of Tervola had been lost, and the survivors kept saying, ”Soon”.

”This'll never end,” Tam told Lang while awaiting their turn to transfer. ”She'll get away. Just like we always did. There must be a reason.”

Tran had been sitting silently, lost in thought. ”May I hazard a guess?”

”Go ahead.”

”I think there're other plots afoot. One catches things here and there if one listens.”

”They'd let her get away?”

”Maybe. I'm not sure. She's smart and strong. Whatever, there's something happening. We'd best guard our backs.”

O s.h.i.+ng would remember that later, when Wu brought Lord Chin to swear fealty.

Tam remembered escaping Mist's hunter almost miraculously. He graciously accepted Chin's oath, then became thoughtful. Tran was right.

He told Tran and Lang to be observant. No conspiracy could operate without leaving some tracks.

The battle at Baxendala upset everyone.

The preliminaries proceeded favorably enough. Chin a.s.sumed tactical command, quickly drove the westerners into their defense works. Then he had no choice but frontal attack. n.o.body worried. The westerners were a mixed lot, from a half-dozen states,politically enmired, commanded by a man with little large-scale experience, and already had shown poorly against the legions. They would punch through.

The battle, as s.h.i.+nsan's did, opened with a wizards' skirmish. O s.h.i.+ng, emboldened by Wu's reaction earlier, conjured the Gosik himself....

A bent old man, high above the battlefield, became enraged. This wasn't in his plan. He took steps, knowing the result might delay his ends.

But O s.h.i.+ng was becoming dangerous. He was outside the control of Ehelebe-in- s.h.i.+nsan....

He ended the efficacy of the Power, using his Pole of Power, which had the form of a gold medallion.

The cessation of the Power rattled O s.h.i.+ng. His Tervola were dismayed. Never had they known the Power to fail.

”We retain our advantages,” Chin argued. ”They're still weak and disunited. We'll slaughter them.” His confidence was absolute.

Chin's prediction seemed valid initially. The westerners were stubborn, but no match for the legions. Their lines crumbled....

Yet Tam couldn't shake a premonition of disaster.

Tran felt it too. And acted. He ordered O s.h.i.+ng's bodyguard to be ready.

Then it happened. Western knights exploded from a flank long thought secured by local allies. They hit the reserve legion before anyone realized they weren't friendly.

The soldiers of s.h.i.+nsan had never encountered knights. They stood and fought, and died, as they had been taught-to little real purpose.

Chin panicked. It communicated itself to O s.h.i.+ng.

”Stand fast!” Tran begged. ”It'll cost, but we'll hold. They won't break.”

n.o.body listened. Not even the youth who had vowed to respect Tran's advice above all others'.

The hors.e.m.e.n turned on the legions clearing Ragnarson's defense works. Chin and Wu cried disaster.

Tran cajoled and bullied enough to prevent a rout.

That night O s.h.i.+ng ordered a withdrawal.

”What?” Tran demanded. ”Where to?”

”Maisak. We'll retain control of the pa.s.s, transfer more men through, resume the offensive.” He parroted Chin. ”The Imperial Standard will reman here.” His lips were taut. He hated that sacrifice. The legion would be lost if reinforcements didn't arrive in time.

”Stand here,” Tran urged again.

”We're beaten.”

Tran gave up. When O s.h.i.+ng's ear went deaf there was no point in talking on.

Maisak greeted them with arrows instead of paeans for its overlord.The King Without a Throne had gotten there first.

Chin blew up. Never had soldiers of s.h.i.+nsan been so humiliated.

”Attack!” he shrieked. ”Kill them all!”