Lord of Blood, page 16
“Never mind,” said Jamnar. “We have the stungun and hunter’s mind, and that can solve many problems. What kind of men are imprisoned here?”
“Athandur’s enemies, and men awaiting his justice. Ha! Yes! Free them with your stungun and confuse the guards, eh?”
Jamnar nodded. “Let us be at it, then. You came down that way, right?”
Kasul returned the nod abstractedly, staring at the slumped jailor with a kind of fascination. “I… I never thought about getting outside!”
“And you wanted me to kill him! Come along!”
They went along the corridor, Jamnar pausing at each cell door to blast it open.
But three of every four were empty, and half of the men they did find within refused to leave their cells, fearing, as one of them said in a croaking voice, that it was a trick of Athandur’s.
After turning several corners and climbing two flights of stone stairs upwards, they had accumulated six men willing to try to leave with them, but, thoroughly unhappy, Kasul said, “It’s no use. I’ve lost track of the way. All I remember is that there must be at least three or four more flights upward. But there were turns and corridors.”
They turned another corner. “There is a stairway,” said Jamnar. “Come along, and…”
A squad of ten men appeared at the head of the stairs, and one, catching sight of the freed prisoners, raised a great shouting.
The guards began running down the stairs at them, drawing swords and yelling ferociously.
Jamnar raised the stungun, hastily lowered it and changed the setting to ‘stun,’ then raised it again and pressed the firing stud.
The sizzling snap lashed out, and the guards began falling.
As the last one tumbled slackly onto the stairs, he exhaled, realizing it had happened so quickly he had taken only one breath.
“Now we’re in trouble,” said Kasul. “The alarm has been raised.”
The other prisoners looked at the stungun and the guards in a kind of horrified amazement.
Jamnar patted the stungun. “The past has been raised, too. Up the stairs, quickly!”
At the top of the stairs a barred window overlooked a courtyard. The daylight glare again almost blinded Jamnar, who had barely gotten used to the torchlit corridors. The six others had to be helped to move in the right directions, since each had been in darkness for months.
“Oh,” said Kasul in a low tone. “That’s another thing I forgot.”
“What?” said Jamnar patiently.
“I came up two flights when I first came in. We weren’t as far below the surface as I had thought.”
“How did you ever become a master thief?”
Kasul said, with a kind of mock indignation, “Did I ever claim to be a master thief? I’m reasonably competent, and I don’t get caught, which is very important. But there are no doubt a great many who know more about it than I. It’s only an avocation with me, after all.”
Around the corner some ten meters in front of them a pair of guards came running. They halted, seeing the men at the window, then shouted back the way they had come, “This way—escapees!”
Jamnar laughed and slapped Kasul on the back. “Now I know which way to go! Come on!”
Kasul stood slack jawed as Jamnar began running—toward the oncoming guards, stunning them as he ran. “But, but more are going to come that way!” he shouted to Jamnar. “We must go back another way!”
Jamnar reached the intersecting corridor and began firing down it. Moments later he called to Kasul, “Come along. We can get out, wherever they come from. Do you think still that this is a toy?”
Kasul gulped and followed Jamnar, and the others followed reluctantly.
Two more ten-man squads came at them in the next corridor, only to fall before the stungun.
“I recognize this ramp!” Kasul said suddenly. “Two flights down these stairs to the main entranceway, round the corner from the great square!”
The stungun flashed out here and there as they ran down the stairs; and then they were in a large anteroom. The far side consisted of the outer gates of the prison. The large anteroom was deserted. “They’ve closed the gates and all gone here and there in answer to the alarms,” said Kasul. “You’ll have to burn your way through that gate, if you can. Nobody’s going to open it for us.”
Jamnar changed the setting on his stungun and ran for the gate. Great iron staples held a series of gigantic bolts in slots that fastened the outward-swinging gates.
He aimed the stungun at the point where the two doors met, fired, and ran the beam slowly down the center, cutting through the heavy bolts.
The beam cut through the bottom one at last, and the gates shuddered slightly. Jamnar threw his shoulder against the open side. Kasul and the others joined him, and slowly the ponderous door swung further outward, until they could just slip out.
There came a distant series of loud cheers, as from an immense multitude.
“It is another festival day,” said Kasul. “The king makes a proclamation at high noon.”
The eight men threw their backs into closing the gate behind them, while people harried through the avenue in front of the prison, toward the central square. But none bothered to notice the damage to the gates.
A wide flight of stairs led downward to street-level; they walked slowly, calmly, down. Jamnar glanced across at a high wall running along the far side of the avenue; on the wall was a great vertical slash carved by the stungun.
Jamnar pointed at it, and Kasul shook his head with a wry grimace.
“I’m not used to it myself,” admitted Jamnar.
The six men they had freed were looking hesitantly about, still squinting against the glare. “You should have a fair chance of escaping,” Jamnar told them, “unless the king holds your bloodmarks.”
The men began drifting away, mingling with the crowds, while moving away from the prison and the square.
Jamnar walked slowly along with Kasul. “Leave your weapon on the blast setting, friend Valzar,” Kasul advised. “If our luck should happen to thin out, we’ll need every edge we can get.”
Jamnar adjusted the setting. “That is why I am changing it back to stun,” he said. “I have a feeling I could destroy the entire city with this—which I do not think would be wise.”
Kasul shrugged. “It has been like a dream anyway. Might as well bring it all crashing down about our ears, eh?”
There was a gigantic roaring from the crowd.
“The king has just proclaimed either war, or peace,” added Kasul with a grin. “The question is, what is there for us to do in his realm after this morning?”
Jamnar realized he had lost hunter’s mind, and halted in silence to calm himself again.
Then he smiled at Kasul. “Perhaps that depends on whether he has proclaimed war or peace?”
Kasul cocked his head at the sky. “The king said he would speak at midday, and it is not yet that time. Perhaps the crowd but cheers some announcement of additional festivities. I have heard such tales of them in the past few days since we returned, that make me wish I were a commoner of Khaldiriam. The king wisely spends of his new treasure on pleasing his people.”
Jamnar looked thoughtfully at his stungun. “I do not believe I have used half an hour’s worth of the power.” He smiled at Kasul with a new grim satisfaction. “And it is supposed to last for thirty seven hours of constant use. They must have fought like demons, not men, in the days of this weapon.”
He shook his head with annoyance. He had fallen out of hunter’s mind again. Kasul seemed to get him thinking of a dozen different matters at the same time, which invariably wrenched him out of the clarity of hunter’s mind.
“Let us be on our way,” said Kasul, quite nervously now. “We have been standing here by the prison far too long.”
“You are right; the guards will be awakening. Well, then, let us take that street round the square. Perhaps we can get near enough to the palace steps to hear him when the king appears.”
“You are speaking in jest,” said Kasul; but his voice showed his uncertainty.
“We must know what the king plans, eh? And perhaps it would not be best for the Flanage, should Larger Khaldir embark on another war.”
“You plan to stop it, then?” Kasul asked sarcastically.
“I plan to let even the Lord of Blood have his say—first.”
Jamnar smiled grimly once more, and Kasul shut his eyes for a moment.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
“See, who stands beside the king!” said Kasul. “Not only Vithunvar of the Watchers, but Chobu of the Shielders. What a strange policy he must have decided upon! ”
Kasul had taken them to the back of a villa fronting on the square, and now they stood on a small balcony peering over tightly-packed commoners, and ranks of Free Companions surrounding the king. They had entered and moved through the villa with ease, since the villa’s owners were all observing the occasion from another balcony.
At a gesture of the king’s, the chamberlains, resplendent in their black, silver-worked cloaks, raised their arms commandingly.
Slowly, the great throngs of people fell silent, voices dying away even past murmurs, that the king’s words might not be missed.
“I see only four of Athandur’s eleven companies here today,” said Jamnar. “Is mine here? Who commands it?”
“There are but four; the others are awaiting new orders, and today is expected to be the day they are given. Ghradhur commands Valzar’s Company—and has not yet had its name changed to his. The men are distressed at your continued absence, for the king has not yet announced your imprisonment, nor its justification.”
The four Free Companies were formed in a square around the king’s dais, where the Bloodjewel Throne glittered like a frozen flame. Beyond the soldiers were the people of Khaldiriam, some thirty thousand, in every kind of festive garb.
“My people!” King Athandur called stridently. “Are these not the days of prosperity I promised you?”
There came an immense roar of approval from the throngs.
“Endless weeks of festivities,” said Kasul sardonically. “Of course they approve.”
Jamnar nodded, intent on the king’s words.
“These days of good fortune shall continue! Yea, they shall continue—though you must know now that East and West Tharet have taken upon themselves the heavy burden of alliance with Belcamnaron and Telmarnar. The intent of this alliance is to force us to yield up Ruldoun and Chaitor Zun. If we do not, they will all attack us.”
A great awed sigh now swept over the multitudes.
Kasul whistled tonelessly. “That should make them pause for thought! Telmarnar alone is as mighty as Belcamnaron and the Tharets together. It is not a prospect that should cheer these helpless citizens!”
The king stood silent for a time, and the crowd murmurings subsided once more.
“Do not fear! For, this morning, the companies of my armies in the east, west, and south have received orders to proceed southwards to crush the Tharets! Until this has been completed, these companies here today shall, this evening, proceed westward to protect Chaitor Zun and Ruldoun. When the Tharets have been conquered, the combined army will attack Belcamnaron and drive King Yarizun westwards into the merciful embrace of his cousins of Telmarnar.”
Now the king paused again, breathing heavily with the effort of making his voice ring through the plaza; but the crowd waited in silence as if paralyzed by the enormity of the king’s statements.
“I have ordered this, solely because our enemies will not deal honorably and evenhandedly with us. Know you, and know all others, that I had made no plans to attack those who did not plan to attack us. I carry no guilt for that which now is to occur.
“But there are those who wonder at my actions no more than at my words, that I should explain my actions to my people. It is not the custom for monarchs to sue for understanding.
“Yet I am a man, no less than any of you. At some time I shall die—and whether I then journey mindlessly into the howling chaos beyond, as some say, or whether I shall vanish away utterly, as others insist, or whether I return or find myself in hell or heaven, know you this: I have done what I can to make my kingdom happier than it was before.” Once more he paused for breath.
“I have heard fearful whispers bruited about, that I am the dreadful avatar of Rokhul the Black himself, that notable scourge who wasted so much of the Flanage in his day. Yet I say to you I am not Rokhul, for he brought his people to the sword and doom by calling them to fight against the peoples he strove to conquer.
“You, my people, live in peace, though in the midst of wars. Why? Because of the Free Companies I have hired to keep us from the angry swords of enemies—and know you now that when my army attacks Belcamnaron and moves thereafter to Telmarnar, it will contain fifteen Free Companies! Such a force has not been seen in the Flanage since Rokhul armed his land, twice a hundred years ago!
“Think you we shall be victorious?
“Think you we shall then prosper as never before?
“Think you we shall have such festivals as these for days, weeks, months, and years to come?
“What then of dangers, what then of hatreds and fears? We shall be the happy land, and be a joyful folk for the emulation of all the Flanage!”
Surging, roaring cheers burst from the crowds as King Athandur stood with arms out-flung, his face sweating with exertion but warmly smiling.
“His father was not a popular ruler,” mused Kasul with a wry grin. “I think he has found the way to surpass him!”
Jamnar frowned in puzzlement. “Do you think he believes what he says? Does he think he can build a land of contented peace upon the wreckages of such war?”
Kasul looked oddly at him. “Moralize as you wish, my friend. Yet he may well succeed. It will cost many lives, but soldiers’ lives are paid for in their hire. And he has fifteen companies! Though some are newly-formed and little-skilled, it is surely twice the combined strength of his opposites. Contentment? I do not know. But it will not fail because Athandur’s will failed, I am certain of that.”
“And then? Will there not be more wars after, and more fear? Will his enemies, those that still live, be less fearful of him? Will he and his people think themselves more loved?”
“Do you think they will care?” Kasul’s smile was bitter. “There will be wars enough to keep me and all my companions hard at work for years to come! Should Athandur conquer the Tharets and defeat the armies of Belcamnaron and Telmarnar, Telmarnar will surely ally the remainder of its strength with Septaphesh and Adranarpha before Athandur’s armies reach Telmarnar. Old Akanar’s power will at last be roused, even if somewhat crippled. A Rokhul to his soldiers he remains.”
“Enough!” Jamnar’s voice was soft, his face expressionless.
The crowd’s cheering had somewhat died away, but the king stood back toward his throne, as if to say he would speak no more; and so the hubbub of confused noise continued.
Of a sudden, Jamnar leaped up onto the balcony’s railing, sent a crackling stunbolt upwards, and shouted, “Enough!” at full voice into the plaza.
Seeing him, Athandur moved back against his throne in staggered astonishment, but the crowd’s attention was not yet taken.
Jamnar pressed the firing stud again and left it down; and as the crackling beam continued to pour skyward, the people fell rapidly silent and stared at him.
“Enough!” cried Jamnar again, and released the firing stud.
“Well, you have their attention,” Kasul observed wryly. “What are you going to do with it?”
Jamnar laughed aloud, filled with a sudden dark surge of joy he could not name.
“Valzar of the Northlands says your war has gone on long enough!” he called to the king, and the crowd muttered in vast astonishment.
The king laughed openly. “Not yet!” he shouted back. “I do not know how you escaped my prison, but it will matter little, after all, since you were so foolish as to show yourself again.”
Athandur turned and called an order to the captain on his left, commanding the company nearest Jamnar’s balcony.
The captain turned when the orders were done, looked toward Jamnar again, hesitated, then went to his men and began issuing his own orders. It was Turtunnull.
Fifty men broke away from the captain’s company and began making their way through the crowd toward Jamnar. The crowd surged restlessly and tried to get away from the soldiers.
“Order them to halt, your highness,” called Jamnar. “There is no need to prolong this.”
King Athandur stood by his throne with a crooked smile on his face, and said nothing further.
The fifty soldiers came to a space already cleared by the rapidly parting crowd, and moved forward at a trot toward the balcony.
“You know he will not,” said Kasul, urgently. “Use your weapon!”
“Very well,” said Jamnar, and he raised the stungun and fired it at King Athandur.
He cursed and dropped out of hunter’s mind; he had missed the king. Vithunvar fell with a strangled gasp, but the king threw himself behind the Bloodjewel Throne, disappearing from Jamnar’s view.
There was a collective moan of horror and excitement from the crowd.
The lieutenant in charge of the fifty men glanced upward at Jamnar with ashen face, but he and his men kept moving forward resolutely.
Jamnar looked down at them, took a deep breath, regained hunter’s mind, and began playing the stungun beams over them.
In seconds, all fifty lay motionless on the paves.
In frantic agitation the crowd nearest this ghastly scene of apparent slaughter tried to push backwards and away; but the confused, surging press of the multitudes made this almost impossible. Moans of anguish now arose.
King Athandur still could not be seen behind the throne, but he was calling orders, and courtiers were darting to the four companies.
Jamnar dropped lightly off onto the balcony while Kasul ducked back inside the villa, and Jamnar kept his arms behind him; presently a flight of arrows arched upwards and down at them both.
