Around the fire the women's faces were grim, though in the best of times there was little that even firelight could do to soften these faces. These were the noncoms and lower ranked officers of King Saldeg's mercenary legions and their experience lent a hardness to their features that even near darkness couldn't alter.
The scars, eye patches and missing teeth didn't help either.
Feric the magician sat silently among them, gauging their mood and worrying about Terion, his lover and friend. He glanced across the fire at her. Alone in this company, her face was untouched by war and very little by harsh weather. Her friends envied her for it, teasing that she kept Feric around to slide her best scars below her collarbone, for her body bore some spectacular ones.
Feric didn't mind the teasing; he was happy that they'd finally accepted his presence. And relieved—the incessant beatings were getting hard to take. Once Terion had to trounce ten different women in a week. That was in the beginning though; now they were accepted as partners. Of course, it didn't hurt that he was a good camp cook and knew an excellent anti-rust spell, as well as how to revoke it at any distance.
As if she sensed his gaze, Terion looked up at him, and though she couldn't bring herself to smile, her expression softened, then she looked back into the fire. She could at best be called striking, but to him her face was fairer than dawn in the vale of Darden. It grieved him to see her so sad.
The women shifted and someone spoke in tones of awe and horror.
"Branded."
"Marked with a coward's shame," another growled.
They shifted again and their eyes met and dropped around the circle. The silence became more charged still. Feric waited, but at last could stand the silence no more.
"What do you do when you're branded?" he asked.
Beside him Lieutenant Belta threw her grog into the fire, causing the flames to dip and hiss before flaring as the alcohol burned. She turned to him and her blond head seemed as big as a lion's.
"Do you fight for your name?" she asked him. "Is that what you mean?" She turned away and spat in disgust.
"Would that the Captain could," Terion said quietly. "But she ran. We all saw it."
"And we all saw you save the day."
The women looked round at the speaker. Prince Ennit strolled toward the fire, his richly embroidered velvet cloak held close around him, though the night was mild. Behind him, Peria, his sorceress and some said his lover, lingered in the shadows. She was a slender woman dressed in black, with almond-shaped dark eyes and hip-length black hair worn free.
Feric caught Peria's eye and nodded. She returned his nod—professional courtesy.
Terion stood and the others rose in belated courtesy.
"I only did my duty, highness," she said grudgingly. Ennit was a peacock and every soldier in the army looked down on him, for all his royal blood and fighting ability.
"What a pity that Captain Avia did not," the prince sneered.
The very air grew stiff and Peria moved forward a step. Ennit raised his hand and she stopped, then he made a throwaway gesture.
"But it is enough for my royal father and myself that you"—he gestured at the warrior women around the fire—"and your troops performed as they should. In fact he proposes to give you a small bonus, Lieutenant, for your efforts today." He paused, smiling.
"Thank you, highness," Terion said, her voice choked.
Never doubting that her voice was choked with gratitude, rather than fury and shame, the prince smiled. Again he made that throwaway gesture.
"But be seated, ladies," he said smoothly. "I did not mean to interrupt your rest." Then he became solemn. "Unfortunately I have come with bad news as well." The prince looked down and bit his lip as he paused, then looked up, but met no one's eyes. "Though I have tried to intercede with my royal father he will not rescind his judgement." He blinked rapidly, as though fighting a tear. "Avia is to be branded."
No one spoke, but shoulders dropped and heads were hung around the fire.
"The one concession I could wring from him was that the brand will be in a hidden place. Most likely one of her buttocks."
Terion looked up at him, her face shocked. Then she looked away. It was better than being branded on the face. But the humiliation!
That this should happen to Avia Iron Breast, so named because she actually had one (an exquisitely modeled prosthesis that covered an early wound).
The reason she'd had it made, she'd told Terion, was because she'd gotten tired of being accused of being "some war-god's Amazon doxy." Even though it was the wrong breast. Steel would have worked as well, and might have been lighter but didn't sound as good as Iron Breast. Gold or silver would have made her too much of a target, and "Avia Tin Tit" was right out.
Terion almost smiled to remember the Captain's amusement when Feric shyly offered his anti-rust spell while trying to avoid the word "breast" and her honest pleasure at not having rust stains streaking her muscled torso after every battle.
Terion sighed.
This was the end of the Captain's military career. You couldn't go back from something like this. They'd all seen her running, white-faced and screaming, from the foe. Terion had managed to keep the company from breaking in confusion. But this was the end of the company as she'd known it.
As though hearing her thought Prince Ennit said off-handedly, "As Avia is to be banished, my father has given me command of your company, ladies." He smiled, and the smile mocked them. "Lieutenant Terion will be my second."
"Sir," Terion said, rising, "I'm not senior enough."
"You're too modest, Lieutenant. My decision is made." Ennit cast a glance over the company, nodded once and with a swirl of his elegant cloak, swaggered off.
Peria turned to follow the prince, then paused. Her dark eyes looked at this woman and that, lingering longest on Terion. Then her glance flicked to Feric. He nodded to her, his expression cool, she lowered her eyes and nodded back, then melted into the darkness.
Belta spat into the fire and cursed. "I hate that snake," she growled.
"Peria? Why?" Terion asked.
"She's dangerous!" the blond woman said.
"Not really," Feric said, tossing another stick onto the fire. "She's not even close to being as powerful as I am, and I wouldn't describe myself as dangerous."
Surprised, Terion tipped her head. "She acts like she's dangerous."
"Well, of course," Feric said. "If his nibs didn't think she was a powerful magicker he wouldn't keep her around."
"So she's a liar!" Belta snarled, glaring.
Feric blinked at her ferocity.
"If she's not powerful how does she do her spells?" Terion asked. "And how do you know she's not as strong as you are?" Her tone of voice accused him of engaging in some sort of magical pissing match.
"Her mother told me about her. You remember Sita Goldenhair?"
"That's her mother?" Terion couldn't believe it, Sita Goldenhair looked like a dewy twenty-year-old.
Feric smiled and nodded. "But then, she is a powerful sorceress. She sends a mix of pre-packaged spells to Peria several times a year that only need a little push to activate. Peria is well up to that."
"She's a cheat!" Belta shouted.
"Maybe," Terion said mildly. "But do you really want Ennit to have a powerful sorceress at his side?"
Belta grunted, looking unhappy, but undecided.
Terion shook her head. "It must be a great disappointment to Sita for her daughter to be so much less powerful than she is."
"It's more of a disappointment to her that her daughter is in love with the prince," Feric said, stirring the fire.
"Just when did you and the lovely Goldenhair have time to do all this gossiping?" Teri asked, eyes narrowed.
Feric smiled and blew her a kiss. "After she'd finished testing me and before you returned from getting your shield fixed."
Terion's answering grunt was lost in Belta's increasingly angry rumblings. "She can't do what she makes out she can do. She's taking the prince's coin under false pretenses! She's a thief!" This last was shouted directly into Feric's astonished face.
He wiped off the spittle and somewhat testily asked, "Why are you being like this?"
Looking shamefaced, Belta looked away. "I was born in this land," she muttered. "So I guess you could say Ennit is my prince."
"So how do you feel about your prince taking over the Captain's company?" Terion asked.
"Frankly, not good," Belta admitted. "Especially now his sorceress turns out not to be worth spit."
As they walked back to their tent Terion suddenly grabbed Feric's shoulder, pulling him to a stop.
"Feric, I need to talk to the Captain," she whispered.
"I don't think that's possible," he said, looking puzzled. "But I suppose you could try."
She grinned and leaned closer. "We could."
Feric pulled back, looking alarmed. He studied her face.
"What are you asking me to do, Teri? Put them to sleep? With my lack of control and unpredictable power surges it could be for the rest of their lives!"
"Keep your voice down," she said patiently. "I was thinking more along the lines of a bribe."
"Oh," he said, somewhat abashed. Feric kept charge of their funds for the most part. He clutched the communal purse thoughtfully. "I could put a spell on the money to make them think it's more than enough," he suggested.
"Whatever," Teri said. "C'mon." She tugged him towards the Captain's tent, where Avia was being held prisoner.
As Terion lifted the flap of the tent she regretted the bribe. From the looks on their faces, she suspected the guards would have let them in gratis. But there wasn't a guard in existence who would say "no" to free money. At least not in this world.
The Captain stood as Terion bowed her head and tapped her left shoulder with her fist in salute. As she raised her head, Teri saw that the Captain wore manacles, and gasped.
Avia smiled ruefully. "After my trial, his majesty said that a coward in the habit of running might attempt to escape justice. And so he added these to complicate things."
Terion took a deep breath and let it out in a rush. "Captain, you are not a coward. You've been my hero since before I took up the sword. In fact it was your example that inspired me to do so." She shook her head. "Something is wrong here."
The Captain sat and gestured to a stool. When Terion was seated she looked her lieutenant in the eye. "I've never had cause to think myself a coward," she said. "There have been times when I was afraid, but I've always managed to fight in spite of it." She shook her head, and her eyes were troubled. "Not this time, though. I controlled it for a time, but it grew and grew until it overwhelmed me." Avia spread her calloused hands. "But why? We weren't facing anything I hadn't met a hundred times before. Why should ordinary soldiers so terrify me?"
"That bothers me, too, Captain," Teri said, her eyes hard. "Did you feel anything strange just before it happened? Did you hear, or see, or smell anything out of the ordinary? Did you eat or drink anything unusual before the battle?"
"Like the other captains under the prince's command, I breakfasted with his highness. I ate and drank what everyone else did." Avia brushed her hair back and hit herself in the nose with the chain attached to her manacle. "Ow. At first I thought I must have been hit in the head because suddenly everything was so different. And it was painful in a way. But afterwards there wasn't any sign of a wound." She hung her head, spread her hands. "Now I feel strange, like recovering strength after being wounded. But I'm not wounded, merely ashamed."
Reaching out, Terion clapped the Captain on the shoulder, startling her out of her mood.
"There's something strange going on here, Captain. And I mean to get to the bottom of it. Hopefully before they mark you and Ennit takes over our unit."
"What?" The Captain leapt to her feet. "That popinjay . . . !" She stopped herself before she could say anything else that might be indiscreet and stood panting with outrage.
"He told us tonight," Terion said. "But surely if you're no longer our commander, our contract is void and must be renegotiated. Right?"
Avia pointed to a richly carved chest on her camp desk. "The contracts are in there. Bring it to me, Lieutenant."
Teri did so and the Captain rifled through the box until she found what she wanted. After reading for a while she shook her head in disbelief, pointing at the paper in her hand.
"I would never have signed this," she said. Avia flung the contract aside and let rip a stream of impressive oaths.
Catching the paper as it flew, Teri paused to be impressed by what she was hearing. The Captain had a way with words. Then she started to read the offending passage.
In the event of Captain Avia Iron Breast's death or desertion, Prince Ennit will assume direct command of her company.
"We're a free company," she said to the Captain. "Even if you did sign it, this article is surely illegal."
Avia gave her a pitying look. "Try explaining that to the king. Especially since he dotes on Ennit."
Frowning, Teri considered the problem. "He's ordered me to be his second."
The Captain raised a brow at that. "Don't get me wrong, Lieutenant, you're good, and you have considerable potential, but you're not ready for that post yet."
"I know it, ma'am," Terion assured her. "But he wouldn't listen."
"And that, too, strikes you as strange." An odd expression came over the Captain's face and she touched her chest just over her heart. She shook her head. "Fear again, but for you this time. Beware of him, Lieutenant, he's a twisty one."
"Then I have your permission to look into the matter?" Terion asked.
"And my blessing. But be careful, be very careful."
Terion crept closer to the prince's tent, senses stretched to their considerable limits, intent on discovering something that might aid her in helping the Captain. If caught she intended to claim that she was checking security. The words "standard procedure" were balanced on her lips.
She moved toward the sound of murmuring voices.
"My lord, it is too soon!" Peria's voice said. She sounded distressed.
"But I can feel it going, draining out of me. Can't you stop it? Can't you do anything?" Ennit sounded on the verge of panic.
Teri cut a tiny slit in the tent's fabric and peeked in. The prince strode back and forth, his face peevish and filmed with sweat. Peria watched him with her heart in her eyes and her hands outstretched.
"Please, my lord, calm yourself. This worry weakens you and dissipates the effects of the spell."
Ennit spun on his heel and glared murderously. "Are you saying that this is my fault?"
Peria bowed her head. "No, my prince, not at all. I merely meant that it is an effect of the spell."
"Then fix the spell!" Ennit screeched.
The young sorceress flinched but stood her ground. "Once the spell is cast, my lord, it cannot be altered."
He stalked toward her like a cat about to ruin some mouse's day. "Then fix the spell so that when it is cast the effect is permanent. Don't you understand that I can't bear feeling this way?" His hands reached out to her, pleading.
Peria went to him and laid her head on his shoulder, while his arms enfolded her. Her expression spoke of love, his of impatience.
"Why won't you help me?" he asked, looking bored, sounding desperate.
With a gasp Peria pulled back and looked up into his handsome face, now appropriately displaying sorrow and yearning. "I am trying, my lord. But to change a spell takes time and experimentation." She bit her lip. "It may also harm the donor."
He pushed her away. "I don't care about the donor! My concern is my future! What my royal father would say if he knew! These are the things that concern me."
"That is why we must select the donors more carefully," the sorceress insisted.
"I think that I am selecting the perfect donors," Ennit said haughtily.
Taking a deep breath Peria tried again. "But someone as prominent as the lady . . ."
"Lady! Call that horse a lady!" He laughed harshly. Ennit loomed over his sorceress. "She's a mercenary captain and hardly worthy of being called a woman, let alone a lady. She deserves everything she's going to get, and more besides." He clenched and unclenched his fists. "I shouldn't be second to that . . . female in any way. Nor to the next one I've selected!"
"As to that one," Peria said, looking nervous but determined, "she's a friend of my mother's."
"What do I care?" Ennit said with a laugh.
"My point," the sorceress said carefully, "is that I don't wish to offend my mother. And I assure you, my lord, neither do you."
He glared at her and his breathing deepened. Outside the tent Terion expected him to hit her and wondered if she dare interfere.
"I beg you to choose someone else," Peria said, clasping her hands before her.
Slowly Prince Ennit smiled. "No," he said and turned away. Then he glanced over his shoulder. "You may go. But send in Lita, you know, the little blonde." He turned away again, with a smirk on his face.
The look on Peria's face was downright scary.
I don't think I'd want to be little Lita at this point, Terion thought. The poor kid's gonna come down with munga-twat at the very least. She rose and moved carefully away from the tent, filled with misgivings.
Even though he matched her brisk walking pace, it was taking Feric awhile to catch up to her mentally. He looked at her, his mouth slightly open, with all the intelligence of a stunned cow. Terion sighed. You could get Feric on his feet and moving, but actually waking him up was a lot more difficult. Maybe she was being too indirect.
"I think they intend to do something to me tomorrow during the battle," she said, breaking the problem down to its simplest elements.
"Wha?" he mumbled.
His eyes seemed to be moving randomly and Teri considered slapping him but just couldn't bring herself to do it. It wasn't his fault he was a sound sleeper.
"I want you beside me during the battle tomorrow."
That got his attention. In fact he immediately seemed taller because his hair stood on end. Then he chuckled.
"You're joking," he said, waving a hand dismissively. "For a moment there I thought you were serious." He put his arm around her brawny shoulders.
"I am," she said.
"Heh heh," he replied. They walked on in silence for a moment, then his steps slowed. He turned to smile at her, the smile somewhat desperate.
"I am," she repeated. His hand squeezed her shoulder almost painfully tight. "Ric, you're supposed to pinch yourself to see if you're dreaming," she said somewhat testily. "And you're not."
He spread both hands on his chest, his eyes huge. "But . . . I'm . . . You're . . . I . . . You know . . ." After a moment he gave in to his shock and waved his hands, shaking his head, mouth open, not even attempting to speak.
"I need you beside me to protect me from Peria's spell."
"Couldn't I stand beside Peria?" he asked. He nodded quickly as though that would make her agree.
"Since she's usually beside the king's magician, who stands beside the king himself, I'd have to say, um, no." Terion put her hand on his shoulder. "I will protect you, even as you protect me." She leaned in to give him a kiss.
"I don't have armor!" he said, pointing a finger gleefully.
"We're with an army, sweetheart. Armor won't be a problem, believe me." Teri put her arm around his shoulder and walked him back to bed.
"We're a female company," Terion explained, amused at Feric's protesting the breast cups on his breast plate. "I would never have a male squire. And flat-chested you look like what you are—a man."
"I should hope so," he muttered.
"No one will know but you and me," she assured him. "If nothing happens then you just slip away, and if anything does happen," Teri shrugged, "same thing, I guess."
"I must warn you," Feric said, nervously plucking at his mail, "the iron in this may inhibit my abilities."
Terion jammed his helmet on his head, then lifted the visor and smiled. "When you're focused, my dear, nothing inhibits you." She kissed him lightly and slammed the visor shut, grinning at the sound of protest he made. Then she turned to her duties, trusting Feric to stay by her shoulder.
She'd gotten out of eating with the prince by saying she'd been up for hours and had already breakfasted. But there'd been no way to avoid the toast Ennit had offered.
"To the king, and victory!" he shouted. She'd even had to drink the whole draught as his eyes were on her the whole time. Sure as the goddess made little green men, Ennit was planning to attack her somehow.
She mounted Captain Avia's restive bay and Feric got on Terion's grey, "mounted" being far too elegant a description for what he managed. The grey snorted in disgust. Ennit pranced up to them on a huge black stallion that made the two smaller horses wicker nervously.
Nice to know we're all in agreement about this pair, Teri thought. Which was that they were better looking than behaved and dangerous in an attack-you-from-ambush-for-no-reason sort of way.
"Who is this?" Ennit demanded, indicating the well-disguised Feric.
"My squire, your highness," she said.
I need you beside me, she'd insisted last night and he'd finally stopped his protests. Now, in the face of the prince's suspicious looks, surely he could see that she was right. Terion hoped it would make up for the bronzed bumps on his chest.
Feric kept his horse just behind Terion's and between her and the prince.
Ennit glanced over his shoulder at him and there was no mistaking the irritation that shone in his eyes.
"Have your squire move back," the prince snapped. "Has she no sense? My stallion dislikes being followed so closely."
Terion waved a hand and Feric fell back slightly, while she widened the space between herself and the prince. When they reached their positions at the head of the mercenary companies, Ennit turned to Feric again.
"Get back!" he snapped. "I won't have you crowding me!"
Feric glanced at Terion, even as he obeyed, certain that whatever Ennit planned was going to happen soon.
I should be watching Peria, he thought anxiously. Not cluttering up the battlefield like this. He suspected that everything was in place, or almost so, requiring only that slight nudge of power from the sorceress.
Feric looked around and spotted the royal party on a slight rise in the ground behind them. The young sorceress was easily distinguished by her black clothing amid the brilliant colors of the courtiers. A glance at the prince showed that he was looking in the same direction. Peria raised her hand and Ennit reached out to touch Terion's shoulder.
Feric spun his arm in a great circle as though winding up and throwing a ball. There was a flash of light and the scent of ozone and a very soft, grinding sound—as of something very heavy slicing into the ground.
The prince's gloved hand bounced against something invisible and he pulled back his hand. Terion reached out cautiously and tapped her gauntleted finger against the barrier. Then she looked into Ennit's astonished eyes.
Before either of them could speak the enemy came rushing towards them, banners flying, men and women screaming their war cries and waving their weapons with feral abandon in a way that loosened Feric's bowels quite dangerously. Ennit turned toward the foe and his body bowed as though he'd been hit hard in the stomach. He backed his stallion, looking desperately around him.
"My lord?" Terion said. "What are your orders?" Her voice was cool and calm, and behind them the mercenaries held their lines, all of them looking toward the prince. "Shall I order the attack, or do we await them here?"
Ennit backed his horse still further making a sound like a very furtive steam kettle. Without saying anything he turned and fled through the ranks.
Terion splayed her hand on the invisible, but very solid, barrier that had formed between her and the prince and turned to smile at Feric. "Perhaps you should follow his highness and make sure he comes to no harm," she suggested, with a little swing of her head that told him to slip out of his well-endowed breast plate before he did so.
Feric managed a realistic salute before he turned and rode off even more swiftly than the prince had. Behind him the armies clashed together with the sound of a massive hammer hitting metal. Oh, goddess, he prayed, spare me and I'll do something wonderful for you. I'm too scared right now to know what, but it'll be good, I promise.
He looked behind and pulled his horse to a halt as he was far enough from the fighting to be out of danger. Slipping out of his gauntlets he quickly removed and flung away the objectionable armor. Then he rode after the prince, visible now only as a cloud of dust. He saw a troop of the king's guard enter that cloud and, by the time he rode up, the prince's stallion had been halted and surrounded.
"What are you doing here?" the sergeant of the guard demanded of Feric, his hand on his sword.
"Lieutenant Terion told me to make sure the prince came to no harm," Feric answered.
"The prince himself has seen to that," the sergeant growled.
"She also suggests taking the sorceress Peria into custody. She suspects there was something going on between them that warrants investigation." Feric was proud of that statement, it sounded downright official.
King Saldeg sat his throne in a posture of dejection as his herald explained to Captain Avia how the prince had coerced his sorceress into casting a spell that transferred all of her courage, temporarily, to Ennit.
Ennit, standing to one side with his hands tied behind his back, had tears running down his cheeks by the time the story was finished.
"Please believe me, Captain," he cried, "I never meant you any harm."
Avia raised an eyebrow. "No? You raged about my cowardice and demanded that I be severely punished—branded and banished. You have humiliated me before my own company and nearly ruined my reputation. If that's your idea of doing me no harm, sir, I shudder to think what would have happened if you did mean to injure me."
Saldeg raised his hand wearily. "Because you have been so insulted by my son," he said, "and reminding you that even as he is punished he is my son and heir, I ask what you would have us do with him?"
Conscious of the honor the king was offering her, Avia bowed. "Your majesty, I shall paraphrase the prince. I do not demand that he be punished in public, but I do insist that I be the one to wield the brand."
"NO!" Ennit screamed. "Father, no!"
The king winced at his son's outburst. "Take him away," he said in disgust, refusing to look at the prince, his cheeks red with shame.
"Further," Avia said over Ennit's receding screams and pleas, "Peria the sorceress should be banished from your kingdom and delivered into her mother's care."
With a whimper the sorceress took a step back, only to bump into the guard behind her.
"Done," growled Saldeg. He didn't speak again until the sorceress had been whisked away. "I find there is no joy in empire building if my heir cannot hold what I've won," he grumbled. "I should like to appoint you my envoy, Captain Avia, and sue my neighbors for peace."
Terion tapped the invisible barrier, then tsked! in wonder. "What's it made of?" she asked Feric.
"Air," he said.
Her brows shot up. "Air! Well, there's a wonder. Solid air. Can you get rid of it?"
He blushed and shook his head. "I've a feeling it will dissipate over time, though."
She stretched her hand over her head as far as she could and still found the barrier.
"I believe it's circular in shape," Feric said. "I visualized a round shield when I made it."
Terion chuckled. "Good thing we had you in that power-inhibiting armor," she said. "Otherwise this shield might be dividing the world."
"Brrr!" Feric said and shuddered dramatically.
Terion grinned and put her arm around his shoulder. "Well, my contract's up, sweetheart. We're plump in the pocket. Time we paid some attention to your needs. What say we try to find you a mentor, eh?"
With a sigh Feric shrugged. "I don't know, Teri. Everyone we've asked had either got an apprentice or says I'm too old to teach."
"Don't be discouraged, love. Someone, somewhere, has to realize we can't just leave you to your own devices. We'll be a package deal. You as apprentice and cook, me as a guard; surely someone will take us on. Didn't Goldenhair give you some names?"
"Yes, but you won't like them. Sylvia the Sybarite, Loreli the Lovely, Amber the Amorous."
"You're making those up."
"I'm not, I swear!" He held up his hand and crossed his heart.
"Sylvia the Sybarite? I don't think so."
"Goldenhair apprenticed with her. She's real."
"Hunh," Teri said. "Loreli the Lovely doesn't sound so bad. We'll try her."
He smiled fondly at her. "That's what I thought."
"Besides," Terion said, giving him a squeeze, "there's not a sorcerer born who can't be handled with a sword through their guts."
"Teri!" He pulled away from her. "I swear that's why some sorcerers have refused me."
"What?"
"You! You kind of glower and project I'm-going-to-kill-you vibrations at them. Magicians are very sensitive to vibrations."
"You're making that up."
"I'm not! You do! it's real."
They'd had this argument before, and they kept it up in an amiable way as they packed and as they rode away into the summer afternoon. Until Terion capped it with, "If she makes a move on you, I'm going to knock her teeth out."
Which so endeared her to Feric that he let her win.