Two Kingdoms 51 - Dragons

[DoctorM]

TWO KINGDOMS 51 - DRAGONS

This is the fifty-first part of an AU construction about a Gwynedd where the duel at Kelson Haldane's coronation went very differently indeed. We are now three years into the Gwynedd Wars-- Charissa's new kingdom at Valoret against the Haldanes in the south and the kingdom of Torenth in the east. This episode follows some time after "Dancers" and "Borders", and occurs perhaps at the same time as "Diplomacy". As always, comments and suggestions are very much appreciated.

****

Michael Gordon points over to one of the bodies. He looks back at Christian. "That one's yours," he says. "Your colours on the arrow."

Behind him, Christian draws in a breath. There's a dead Torenthi face-down just off the trail, and there are three rings— two black, one gold —painted on the arrow in the man's back. The dead man is an Eistenmarcker, one of Wencit's northlander auxiliaries. Christian makes a face. Wencit has been throwing his auxiliaries at the defenders all across Gwernach. There are a lot of expendable northlanders dead a long way from home.

Michael Gordon kneels down by a body. "There's another one over there," he says. He's pointing at a body sprawled by the trees. "That one's yours, too. Lucky you."

"Lucky me," Christian says. He's got his bow unstrung on his back in its case, but his hand is on the hilt of his kinzhal.  He walks over and kicks a sword away from the dead man's hand.

"Eistenmarcker knives," Michael Gordon says. He's holding up a little sheath knife from the northlander. "These are good. Small but useful. They carry them everywhere. You want one?"

Christian shrugs. "Why not? Maybe I'll get a couple. Bring one home for Cara. Bring one for young Brendan Coris, too." He's looking at the dead man's armour and considering.

Michael Gordon tilts his head and looks back at his cousin. "You don't like this as much as you used to, do you?"

Christian prods at another body with his boot. The arrow in this one has blue rings on it— Tolan Horse colours.  He shrugs. "Maybe not."

"Back when we were young, you'd have done an ambush and then put a blood cross on your forehead— dead man's blood and all that."

Christian shakes his head. "I'm too old for that."

"You're not thirty. Don't start pretending that you're old."

"We've been doing this a dozen years now. I'm starting to like being a courtier more than being light-horse. These days, I like being Charissa's eyes and ears  and pushing paper. I like being Queen's Remembrancer more than I ever liked being a sell-sword."

Michael Gordon laughs. "I know you better than anybody but your woman and the Grey Death. You can be a courtier or you can end up lecturing about History at some school, but you're meant to be light-horse. You won't give this up."

"Kheldour. Gordon." That's Murdo FitzEwan coming out of the trees with a crossbow slung on his back and a fierce grin on his face.

Christian looks over at him. "FitzEwan."

Murdo is the brother of the Baron Rheljan— Count Rheljan, now —and the defense had been Murdo's to command. He nods at the dead. "Not a bad morning."

"Not bad at all." 

Murdo's looking at Christian's troopers going over the dead and gathering up the Eistenmarcker ponies. "All of them northlanders?"

"All of them so far," Christian says. "What about yours?"

Murdo shrugs. "Jandrich men. Netterhavens by their colours. Nobody from Beldouria or Torenthaly. Wencit's holding back his heavies. This lot— they ran straight into us, and nobody gets by my Dragons like that."

Michael Gordon looks up and makes a face. "Dragons."

"Dragons," Murdo laughs. "My people— my Rheljan Dragons. You know— like dragons. Dragons are big lizards, but they have wings and they fly. My people, they're mounted infantry. They ride to a battle, then they fight on foot with crossbows. Nobody gets past them once they're set up. They'll knock down anything, even a pack of heavies in full armour." He points off to the west. "They're my Dragons, and they're why Wencit doesn't get his bridge today."

There are Torenthi dead strewn all along the edge of the trail. The Torenthi had come through the village and pushed by the Gwernach levies there. They'd been past the little cluster of houses on their way to the bridge when they'd run into trouble— meaning Murdo and his Dragons and a wall of crossbow bolts.

This lot had tried to come around the defenders down a narrow forest path and had run headlong into flights from arrows from the tree line.

There'd been two dozen Tolan archers there in the trees, plus another dozen Falcon Horse, all waiting with bows for the northlanders. Christian is almost sorry for them. The Torenthi flanking maneuver had been given no thought at all, and they'd done everything wrong when the ambush began. They'd milled about in the little clearing, looking for the archers and trying to assemble a counter-attack. The rule was always: Never stop in an ambush. Ride  hard, ride through it. That was the first thing you learned as light cavalry—  always keep moving. Most of the flanking party had died here, and the handful survivors had pelted off back up the road.

A few stocky northlander ponies are ambling back down to the village with empty saddles. A couple of the ponies are snorting at the smell of blood. There in the trees more dismounted archers in Tolan and Falkenberg-Kheldour colours are coming out into the open, still with their bows.

"True enough," Christian says. "I'm a horse archer; we've got range and speed on you. But there's no way in hell I'd ever get in front of a crossbow line." There's usually little enough love lost between crossbowmen and horse-archers— that's an old, old rivalry —but Rheljan has sent Murdo and a hundred of his Dragons to fight in Gwernach for the Shadow Queen, and there's no way Christian is going to show anything but clear respect. 

Christian pulls one of the sheath knives from the Eistenmarcker's belt. It's a small thing, maybe four, four and a half inches for the blade. He holds it up for Murdo. "What do you think? I'll bring it home to young Coris."

Murdo is grinning. "He'll like it. Never known a boy his age that didn't like knives. Anyway, over here, these are your kills. Anything you find, it's yours. Those Jandrich bastards over with the Dragons— we get the better loot."

Christian is considering the body. Mail shirt with half-sleeves, a simple acorn helmet with leather eye protectors. Dead eyes are staring out through the holes in the leather strips.  He nods to his cousin and sweeps a hand over the path and the clearing. "Get the armour," he says. "Give it to the Gwernachers. It's cheap, but they can use it. Same with any swords, same with the ponies. Tell our people they can go through the bodies. Any documents go to me. This lot here, there's not one of them will have more than a couple of copper coins on them, but I don't want any quarrels between Tolan Horse and our people. There won't be anything here worth an argument."

"Kheldour," Murdo says. "Where do you think Wencit's heavies are? We've been putting arrows in northlanders for weeks, but I haven't seen a single real Torenthi, alive or dead."

Christian shakes his head. "Gwernach is mostly like this. Long, narrow east-west valleys, lots of  fast, deep rivers carving through. Wencit is shoving his northlanders down them. He wants the bridges, but he doesn't have enough heavies. His heavies, his Royal Torenthi, he's saving those."

"You know that how?"

"Wencit made his name fighting out east. That's where he's fought all his life. This isn't his kind of country.  He's got a serious rebellion behind him in Torenth, and he's still got to take Cardosa. Marley's people are in Cardosa, and so are some of our own heavies.  He's going to let his auxiliaries do the work here. He'll save his Royals for Cardosa."

Michael Gordon gets to his feet. He's looking at Murdo. "Nobody at Beldour gives a damn about northlanders. He starts losing heavies and Royals, well, people will care. Torenthi lords will start to care. People will start thinking that family and friends wouldn't be dying— dying for Gwernach, and nobody cares about Gwernach but Wencit —if Duke Lionel was running things in Beldour. Gwernach's all about vanity for Wencit, anyway." He nods to Christian. "Am I right?"

Christian steps past the dead northlander. "You're not wrong. I mean, it's not just vanity— Gwernach's the way to get to Cardosa. But he's not good at this kind of terrain. He doesn't want to take losses to his heavies— you've got the reasons right —but his northlanders aren't going to take and hold Gwernach. They aren't going to take all the bridges, and they sure as hell aren't going to take the bigger towns."

Murdo threads his way through Eistenmarcker dead and peers past the Falcon and Tolan men dragging bodies into a pile. "I've got a dozen or so Dragons down at the bridge with maybe thirty Gwernachers. You think they'll try for the bridge again?"

Christian comes up next to him. "No, they won't. Big bridge, but a really narrow road and a long drop. There's a stone guardhouse on either end. Put some carts in as barricades, your crossbows and some locals with bows and pikes can keep what's left of the northlanders off."

Murdo laughs. "My brother told me about you. He says you know everything about everything. I asked in the village about the bridge. They say it's old, old— that the Red Crests built it back in Rûmi days. Is that true?"

"Your brother's wrong. I know maps, and I know history. Anything else, you need to ask Aurelian. Or maybe ask Bishop Brechlin. Still— the bridge. It's old enough. Good stonework. Made for armies. Maybe not Red Crests, though. They didn't come up here much. Maybe Byzanti. They were up here for a while."

"Red Crests and Byzanti— did they have crossbows?"

"Not that I've ever ever read. When the first Festils came west, crossbows were new. They don't go back to Rûmi days."

Murdo looks sidelong at Christian. "My brother's not wrong about you. You're the smart one— smart enough to talk him into declaring for the Shadow Queen."

Christian gives him a long look back. "I think Wencit and Kelson Haldane both helped do that."

"You talked Richard into standing in front of the whole court and saying we were Deryni after my family spent a long time keeping that private."

Christian shrugs.  "The Queen wanted that. We're not going to have any hidden Deryni in the nobility, let alone at court. Does it bother you, being open?"

Murdo spreads his hands. "Damned if I know yet. I'm Deryni, but I don't know a tenth of what my brother and my niece do about being one. Me, I'm a second son who likes crossbows and wants the Torenthi kept way east of the mountains. They're effing carrion crows, the Torenthi. They'd tear Rheljan to pieces."

"I was born in Tolan," Christian says. "I mean, you know that. I spoke Torenthi about half the time when I was a boy.  I grew up in Tolan and the Marluk and at Beldour and Arjenol." He's saying that in Darija, in Moorish.

Murdo half-smiles.  "I know all that," he says. "You're not Torenthi, but I don't know what you are. Just some kind of eastern. I mean, I'm not holding it against you, being from Tolan. I'm damned well not holding that against the Queen." He's speaking in Darija, too. "I know how to speak Moorish, Kheldour. So does my brother. So does my niece. I know we don't get to have secrets anymore. Whatever you and the Queen are, though, you're helping us fight the Torenthi. I'm a second son. If we win, maybe I'll end up with my own title."

"Maybe so. Truvorsk is big enough, even with Marley's eye on it." He's watching his troopers stacking bodies. "Your brother's a good man. He's a good soldier. He'll be one of the Queen's generals. I like him. I like young Brendan, too."

"My niece, now. Young Brendan's mother. Richenda wouldn't mind seeing you flayed alive." He looks hard at Christian. "She thinks you'll turn young Brendan to serving the Dark. But she wouldn't do anything stupid. She wouldn't risk the family. She knows she can't. I need to say that."

Christian draws in a breath and nods. "I know that. I think what it is isn't so much that she thinks I'm a monster, it's that she can't say what she feels about Marley and the way he treats her. She's afraid Brendan will turn into Marley. She can't say what she thinks about Bran Coris. I make a good replacement target."

Murdo grins at that. "That's far, far too complicated for a second son, Kheldour. But you might be right. You're the smart one. But my brother and I are loyal to the Queen now. I needed to say that to you. You're the Shadow Queen's eyes and ears; I know that much. For everything else, I just need to know where I take my people to fight Wencit next."

"The Cardosa roads," Christian says. "He started out with about four and a half thousand men. He's still got a lot of them. If he's willing to commit his Royals, he has a real chance to get to Cardosa, even if he can't take any of the towns in these valleys. That's what I'm worried about. We need you on the Cardosa roads."

"Mezyan," Murdo says. "Good. That's easy enough."

Christian slowly nods. "You can be more than one thing at a time, Murdo. Loyal to your brother, loyal to the Queen, loyal to your men. You can be Deryni and a second son. You can fight the Torenthi and fight for Rheljan. The Queen and I, we need men who can be more than one thing at a time. Horsemen with crossbows, a big lizard with wings— we need dragons to fight this war. We need you to be one."

[Jerusha]

First you give me Aurelian, now dragons (if only in name).  I am content.

[DoctorM]

First you give me Aurelian, now dragons (if only in name).  I am content.

I'm glad to be of assistance!

[DerynifanK]

I love the discussion of battles and tactics and strategy. You do them so well. And I like Christian and his cousin. This is really interesting and maybe provides an idea of how Torenth ends up divided into several smaller kingdoms. I have to say I like some of Charissa's ideas about governing. I wonder if Gwynedd will end up as two separate kingdoms, one ruled by The Haldanes and one by Charissa.

[DoctorM]

I love the discussion of battles and tactics and strategy. You do them so well. And I like Christian and his cousin. This is really interesting and maybe provides an idea of how Torenth ends up divided into several smaller kingdoms. I have to say I like some of Charissa's ideas about governing. I wonder if Gwynedd will end up as two separate kingdoms, one ruled by The Haldanes and one by Charissa.

I think that it's very possible that both Torenth and Gwynedd will end up divided, at least for a couple of generations, and that the divisions themselves may end up re-arranged.

Christian and his cousins and friends do talk shop. This is what they've been taught to do and be all their lives. In Christian's case, it's been the family trade since the Festils were overthrown. In some ways he's thinking about a new role for himself, especially  now that he's about to be thirty.

[DerynifanK]

I'm a little confused. In the Kelson books Baron Fitzewan had three children and Murdo was the oldest, then Richenda, then William. Was this Murdo Richard's brother and Richard's oldest son named for him? That's how Richenda would be his niece. I feel sorry for her; she really gets the short end of the stick in your AU.

[DoctorM]

I'm a little confused. In the Kelson books Baron Fitzewan had three children and Murdo was the oldest, then Richenda, then William. Was this Murdo Richard's brother and Richard's oldest son named for him? That's how Richenda would be his niece. I feel sorry for her; she really gets the short end of the stick in your AU.

Yes-- my Murdo is Richard FitzEwan's brother and Richenda's uncle. I think I first mentioned him in "Dancers".

So far, Richenda has had a bad time in my AU. I think may be time soon to bring her to center-stage for a bit.