About an hour later Maia, dozing on her bed, was roused by knocking on the outer door. Looking out the window, with Randronoth at her elbow, she was startled to see none other than Brero, dishevelled and covered with sweat and dust, gesticulating and talking earnestly with old Jarvil and Randronoth's two soldiers.
Randronoth drew her back into the room. "Who's that?"
"It's Brero!" she answered, staring. "My soldier as used to look after me. He was one of those as went off with Durakkon three days ago-"
"With DurakkonT •
"Yes; against Fornis. Randro, something bad must have happened!"
Randronoth reflected a moment, staring down at the floor. Then he said, "Let him in," and led the way downstairs.
82: BRERO'S RETURN
Brero, when he came into the parlor, was obviously close to exhaustion. His eyes were bloodshot and his sweat had left long, grimy streaks in the dust clinging to his face. He seemed scarcely able to stand as he saluted them with a dirty, bound-up hand across his chest.
Maia pointed to a chair. "Sit down, Brero. Ogma!" (for the girl, sensing bad news, was peering in at the door) "bring some wine!"
"Water for me, saiyett, if it's all the same to you," said Brero, coughing. "I-I'll pull myself together in a minute. I'm right done up and that's the truth."
When the water was brought he drank almost a pint without stopping, drew breath for a few seconds and then drank again.
"You've hurt your hand," said Maia.
"It's nothing. I'm sorry, saiyett; my feet are that dirty- your floor."
"Oh, never mind about that. You'd better have a bath, Brero, and we'll find you some fresh clothes."
"Thank you, saiyett: but first of all I think you'd best hear what I've got to say-you and this gentleman-"
"This is Lord Randronoth, governor of Lapan."
"I'm sorry, my lord." He tried to rise to his feet: Randronoth motioned to him to sit down,again. "You'd better hear it at once. The High Baron's dead. Queen Fornis-"
"Durakkon-dead?" cried Randronoth. "Are you sure?"
"I saw it with my own eyes, my lord. I'll tell you the way of it."
"Yes, quickly," said Randronoth.
"I'll be as quick as I can, my lord, for tell you the truth, I believe the Serrelinda may be in danger."
"Go on," said Randronoth. He shut the door.
"As you know, my lord, we left here three days ago. I saw the High Baron more than once during the march. He didn't strike any of us as acting like himself; not like a man in his normal senses, so to speak. Seemed like he was in a kind of daze. Well, once, for instance, when we were crossing some roughish ground on the plain, he tripped and fell; and if you'll believe me, saiyett, he never tried to get up on his own account; just lay there until two of the officers helped him back to his feet. There was some of the lads was saying in so many words that he must 'a been bewitched. And yet at night-both nights-when we'd pitched camp, he come round and spoke to everyone as kind and pleasant as you please. Of course, he was always very well-liked, you know, saiyett, was the High Baron-"
"Get on with it!" said Randronoth. "What happened?"
"Yes, of course; my lord; I'm sorry. Excuse me, I'm that dry." He drank copiously once more and then continued.
"It was yesterday morning, still fairly early-maybe three hours after sunrise-when one of our patrols came back to say that the Palteshis were only two or three miles off. We were marching in four columns, side by side, it being very open country, like, out on the plain, as you'll know, my lord, and it just so happened that I was quite close to Lord Kerith-a-Thrain and the High Baron when the patrol came in, so I could hear what they were saying. 'Within an hour, I'd guess, my lord,' the officer said. "They're in no sort of order-strung out all over the place-but I'd say they might be about twice as many as what we are.'
" 'But what about their quality?" asks Lord Kerith-a-Thrain. 'How did they strike you?'
" 'No sort of quality at all, my lord, most of 'em,' says the patrol captain. 'There's a iew look all right, but half
of them's no more soldiers than what they're musicians.'
"So with that Lord Kerith-a-Thrain gives the order to halt and form line, with our two wings sloping back. That's what's generally done for a defensive fight, you see, saiyett, if there's a risk of outflanking-"
"Will you get on and come to the point?" said Ran-dronoth.
"I'm sorry, my lord. So after a little we saw their dust and then they came in sight. Well, you've told me to be quick, so I won't say more than that the patrol captain was right. There certainly were a lot of them, but just louts for the most part: just an armed mob. They was all yelling and shouting and no sort of order to them. They stopped about a quarter of a mile away from us, just as they were, in their different crowds and companies, all over the place. I could see Queen Fornis; there was no mistaking her. She was right in the center, with a crowd of Palteshi officers, and she was armed just the same as they were.
"And then, before Lord Kerith-a-Thrain had had time to speak to him, the High Baron-I heard him very plain- he said 'Keep the men here, Kerith, I'm going out to talk to her about my son. I shan't need to take anyone with me.'
"Well, then, Lord Kerith, he tried to argue, my lord, but I won't waste your time with that. In the end the High Baron walked out between the two armies all by himself, and we saw him go up to the queen, and the two of them was talking and then they disappeared together-back through the enemy's line, I mean.
"Well, we was stood there a goodish time and then at last the High Baron came out and walked back to us: and he said to Lord Kerith-a-Thrain, 'She's promised to release my son. She's asked that we divide into two parts, as a sign of good faith-one here and one over there.' So Lord Kerith-a-Thrain said, 'I don't like that, my lord,' but the High Baron said, 'I want my son out of her hands: she's sworn by Frella-Tiltheh to do us no harm. Do as I say.'
"Well, so then he went back, my lord, and Lord Kerith-a-Thrain broke us into two lines, facing inwards, I suppose about three or four hundred yards apart. And we stood watching while the queen and her Palteshi officers led their army forward between us. The High Baron was walking beside her, and a young man as must have been his son, I suppose.
"And then, my lord, when they'd got fairly in between our two lines, the queen suddenly called out, and the men who were with her-four or five of them-they turned and set upon the High Baron and the young man and cut them down, and the queen stood and watched them do it.
"When Lord Kerith-a-Thrain saw that, he called out to attack them and so we did. But there weren't enough of us, you see. I'm certain we could have held off any sort of attack they might have made on us, but we simply hadn't got the numbers to make an attack ourselves-specially split in two like we were. There wasn't the co-ordination, like, you see, and most of the lads were that shaken by what they'd seen-well, there was something uncanny about it, my lord; hundreds standing watching and the High Baron going along that quiet and trusting-almost like he was a kind of sacrifice, as you might say. I can see it now, and the queen standing over his body on the ground. We was going in all anyhow and-and-well, it didn't work out, my lord, that's all.
"I never seen the end of it, because Lord Kerith-a-Thrain told one of our tryzatts to send two men back to Bekla at once with the news. So me and a mate of mine, Crevin, was told to get back here as quick as we could. I won't say I was sorry to be picked, either. Tell you the truth, I was glad to get out of it. We've never stopped, Crevin and me, for well over twenty-four hours. I'm all in and that's a fact."
"Where's Crevin now?" asked Randronoth sharply.
"Gone to the Barons' Palace, my lord, to report to Lord Eud-Ecachlon."