Sovereign

But, as always, he had done nothing.

Not cowardice, he told himself. Just common sense. The guards would cut him down without thinking. Him, their own constable. But it was that bitch they loved.

'I am sorry, Dejanus,' she had said. She even sounded apologetic.

'It was Orkid's idea, wasn't it?' he had said.

'No, he was against it.'

Sure he was, he had thought. Sure he was against it.

She must have seen the doubt on his face. 'Isn't that right, Harnan?'

The secretary had nodded. 'I heard him say so.'

'This is my decision, Dejanus. No one else's.'

That was when he had wanted to kill them both. Rage filled him up and he could do nothing about it. He thought he was going to burst a blood vessel.

'Who will command the Great Army?' he had managed to ask.

Areava had looked surprised. 'You are its commander, Dejanus. That will never change.'

'But I am not good enough for the committee.'

'That is not what I said,' Areava blurted, and he could sense her growing anger then; his own seemed to diminish before it. 'I said you were not temperamentally suited to the committee. That is a different thing altogether.'

A cool night breeze brushed against his face and he was back in the inn room with a bottle of something or another and an aging whore. He felt the swelling in his lower lip. For an aging whore she could sure put up a fight. Why had she done that? Why did everyone want to get in his way? What had he done to any of them?

Ikanus moaned a third time, the sound almost a rattle.

She should not have hit him. That was a bad thing to do. It had made him angry all over again, as if he was right back in Areava's chambers and being humiliated.

'I am not temperamentally suited,' he mumbled.

Dejanus got out of the bed and dressed, finished drinking the contents of the bottle. He leaned over and shook Ikanus to wake her. She did not move. He turned her over. Blood, sticky and black in the dark, covered her face.

'You shouldn't have hit me,' he said, his voice almost gentle. He shook her again, but still she did not wake.

He put a hand under her jaw and felt for a pulse, then stood back in haste. For a fleeting moment he felt sorry for her, then anger.

What in God's name was he going to do with her body?

CHAPTER 17

It had been a long and exhausting ride for the knights of the Twenty Houses. They had charged through the remains of Daavis's north gate, losing many riders in the rubble and to Chett arrows, then east as fast and as far as their horses could carry them. It would not be long before Lynan or some other Chett commander sent a detachment after them, and they wanted to put as much distance as they could between them and the city. They rode through the night until the moon was high up, then dismounted and buried their armour to lighten their load. They rested for two hours then continued on, eventually meeting again with the Barda River. Morning found them nearly fifteen leagues from Daavis, and Galen risked letting them rest again.

'But no fires,' he told them. 'No need to let the Chetts know our exact location.'

While the others slept, he tended Charion. The ride had caused her constant pain, and he was worried one of her broken ribs may have damaged a lung or some other organ. He laid her down carefully on the ground and gave her some water. She sipped at it gratefully, then hovered between unconsciousness and a state of delirious half-sleep. He knew she needed to rest, but they could not afford to stay so close to the fallen city.

At any moment he expected to hear the war cries of charging Chetts and a storm of their deadly arrows.

Before noon they were riding again, following the Barda east, pushing their mounts to the limit. In the late afternoon the Barda swung southeast. Galen ordered another brief rest, then on again into the night. In the early hours of the third day of their flight he allowed several hours rest, feeling safer now that they were approaching the province of Chandra—King Tomar's territory, Nonetheless, he kept a watch going, and sent scouts ahead to see if they could find a Chandra outpost or detachment,

The longer break did Charion some good. She spoke a few words with Galen and ate a little dried meat. She was still vague enough not to worry about Galen showing Magmed the bruising and asking for his opinion.

'A good colour,' Magmed said. 'It is going yellow, purple mainly on the edges. She is healing.'

Galen agreed, and with that and the lack of any pursuit so far started to relax. As soon as he did exhaustion felled him and he slumped, asleep, by Charion's side. Magmed undid his own cloak and put it across both of them.

For the next two days they continued to follow the Barda, stopping only long enough to rest the horses, then left the river behind as they moved directly east towards Sparro. Not long afterwards they met their first patrol from Chandra. Ten light cavalry intercepted their course. There were some hurried explanations and the patrol galloped off for reinforcements in case the Chetts were not far behind. At least, that is what the patrol leader told Galen.

'There are no Chetts behind us,' Magmed said to Galen. 'If they had followed us that closely we'd all be dead by now.'

Galen agreed. 'Perhaps the reinforcements are not for the Chetts but for us.'

'Since when is King Tomar suspicious of knights from Kendra?'

'Maybe not Kendra,' Galen replied, and nodded towards Charion, half asleep in her saddle. 'She is queen of Hume, Chandra's traditional enemy for centuries before union with the Kingdom.'

'But the whole Kingdom is at war!' Magmed protested. 'Surely these petty rivalries are put aside now?'

Galen shrugged. 'Some hatreds are too old to put aside so easily.'

'We must stop,' Charion said weakly and reined in.

Galen copied immediately, letting the knights flow around them. 'What are you doing?' he asked.

'This is Chandra.'

'Yes. We're two, maybe three, days ride from Sparro.'

'I cannot go there.'

'You must go there. Once safe in Sparro you can raise an army to take back your city.'

Charion wobbled in the saddle. Galen took her arm to steady her.

'You don't understand,' she said. 'I cannot ask Chandra for help. The cost to Hume would be too high.'

'Too high?' Galen sputtered. 'You've lost Daavis! What higher price could you possibly pay?'

'I will win back my capital without the help of Tomar. I will rally my own people.'

'You can't do that from Chandra—'

'Exactly. I must return to Hume. There are towns and villages north of the Barda where I can find refuge and start gathering an army together.'

'But we are already in Chandra,' he pleaded. 'You can stay in Sparro long enough to recover, surely?'

She shook her head. 'I said you didn't understand. I will go no further with you.'

Galen grimaced. For a fleeting moment he considered forcing Charion to come with him, but besides being fraught with political difficulties he knew it could fatally damage their friendship.

Friendship? We love each other. At least, I love her.

Yet his own duty was clear. He had at his command the remnants of the knights of the Twenty Houses, and they would be needed to defend Kendra itself if Chandra should fall. Even now Areava might be calling together a new army, and she would need the knights to lead them, His cavalry was the single remaining unit in Grenda Lear with any experience of fighting Lynan and his army. He could not deprive Areava of all that was worth to the Kingdom.

Magmed returned. 'What is the hold-up? Does the queen need someone to ride with her?'

'This queen will never share her saddle with another,' Charion was able to mutter.