Chapter 4: Meetings

The scout was breathless, riding a thoroughly lathered horse. Captain Legios of the High King's Heavy Weapons Company took the man's salute.

"Captain! There's a carriage about two miles ahead, heading north. There are about three hundred of the God-King's cavalry chasing them, a couple of miles or so further back."

The man looked back south, where the dust clouds were clearly visible.

Legios didn't hesitate, but instead swung to his newest lieutenant. "Lieutenant Smyla, go with Big and do what he tells you. Big, set up now, hasty defense, range of a mile. I want every man not involved with setting up ready to fire a rifle volley into the air."

Big Mortar started barking orders, and the column of four hundred men exploded into action.

"We're on our side of the treaty boundary, Captain," Short told Legios.

"Meaning we could fire into them. I know. Still, I would like to avoid massacring a bunch of the God-King's soldiers if I can. Short, I want you to command the riflemen, please."

Short nodded, scanning south for himself. Then he turned and started barking more orders to get the men set and ready.

Before he went to join the riflemen, Short waved at the approaching dust clouds, the carriage now clearly visible. "I don't like this, sir. It smells of a trap!"

"Why do you say that, Lieutenant?"

"That's a noble's carriage. Fine for the city and the like, but the odds are it'll break before it gets here. There's no way those soldiers could have chased it here."

"Do you believe the carriage is more of a threat than the cavalry in pursuit?" Legios asked snidely.

"Of course not. But I'll be curious to hear the story of those in the carriage, assuming they live long enough to tell it."

The carriage was now a little more than a mile off, bumping down the road, the cavalry in pursuit seemed to have gained a bit; they'd be up in a less than a finger-width.

"Action front, range a mile. I want a single rifle volley, fired high. Have the men reload at once. If we have to shoot again, shoot to kill." Short saluted and ran to take his position.

Legios took a few more heartbeats to get set in his own mind. Slightly more than half his men were on the mortar teams. Still, a hundred and fifty rifles fired into the air would, hopefully, give the oncoming soldiers pause. They were, after all, invading the Kingdom of Hostigos, the Duchy of Mexico. The last time they did that, a million and a half of their fellows had died.

He walked his horse back slowly behind the lines of riflemen and turned back to face the oncoming soldiers.

The carriage was now a few hundred yards away. The thunder of hooves of the eight horses pulling it was loud, as well as the bangs and thumps as it hit rocks and bumps.

Legios raised his arm. "On my signal, ready!"

Men lifted their rifles and aimed them skywards. "Fire!"

The volley was a single crash, as solid as an officer could wish. The carriage veered a little, heading now for their position, slightly off the road. Legios grimaced, hoping it wasn't going to make him jump for safety. That wouldn't look very soldierly!

He lifted his eyes to the oncoming soldiers. They hadn't slowed; they hadn't shown any reaction to the volley at all.

"Big, commence!" he called loudly.

Getting a line of sixty mortars to fire on time was much more difficult than getting a hundred and fifty riflemen to follow orders. Still, the fountains of dirt, the barking cracks and yellow flame centers, the towering gouts of dirt, while not together, were close enough to all at once to check the advance.

His riflemen had finished reloading and were now on one knee, aiming a level volley.

In the distance, not quite a mile, trumpets called and the headlong charge stopped in a huge swirl of dust.

With a sinking feeling Legios saw that the swirl of dust was drifting his way. Oh wonderful! Any soldier with an ounce of crazy initiative would see that and see an opportunity to attack out of the dust.

"Steady! Mortar men, prepare to defend yourselves! Fire only on my command!" Legios ordered.

The carriage pulled past him and stopped at a barricade of soldiers and horses that blocked the road a little further north.

Legios spared the coach just a single glance, and then turned back, studying what little he could see as the pall of dust moved over them.

The dust cloud was, Galzar be praised, breaking up. Legios forced himself to sit still on his horse, watching as the dust dissipated. Beyond, the soldiers of the God-King were lined up in serried ranks. Even as he watched, three men rode forward, rifles held reversed.

Both of the Mortar Brothers came up. Big spoke first. "The carriage is a noble woman and her daughter. She says they are fleeing for their lives; they say that there's a new king in Tenosh."

Legios knew that intelligence was important and thus, he had to keep the women safe. "Are there any servants with them?"

"No, just the two woman. The younger was driving the team. Captain, those horses are all but dead. I'm not sure how they made it this far. The carriage is a wreck; it should have fallen apart miles ago."

"Get Sergeant Hollar up, he'll ride forward with me. Tell those women this is their lucky day!"

The sergeant appeared, and, as always, he appeared eager to beard death. Twice Legios had asked the man flat out why he courted death. Twice he'd answered that he followed where Legios led. Legios was sure the man had a death wish. On the other hand, he could speak and understand Mexicotal, the language of their enemies and was as fine a soldier as any man could be.

The two of them rode toward the God-King's soldiers. Legios smiled to himself. You were supposed to match parley party sizes. In theory if you outnumbered them, you were trying to overawe them, and if you were fewer, you were supposed to be making fun of them.

Normally Legios would have stopped a few feet from the soldiers of the God-King and wait for them to move up. This time he continued past them for a hundred yards before stopping.

The God-King's commander was livid when he finally faced Legios, having had to back track. "Give us those women!" he demanded.

"No," Legios told him. "You are trespassing. Turn around and go back the way you came. These are the lands of the High King and you may not pass."

"Just how many men are you willing to spend for two faithless women, soldier?"

"I am Captain Legios, of the High King's Heavy Weapons Company. Perhaps you've heard of us? To close with us you'll have to gallop through a mile of mortar fire. I have sixty mortars -- we can fire a dozen rounds each in that time. Many, many times more shells than you have soldiers. My mortar men are famous for their accuracy. Then you would have another hundred and fifty mounted infantry to overcome, already in cover.

"Your men would get one volley, Captain, against men in cover. My men, sir, about four to your one by then, would get three shots off before you closed with them. Except of course, none of your men would be alive, none of you would reach our position. Perhaps I might lose one or two men, perhaps not.

"Turn around, Captain and leave. Or die here, with your men."

"One day we'll be back."

Legios laughed. "What, another couple of years?"

The man spat in Legios' face, turned and rode his horse away, followed by the other two.

Legios wiped the spittle from his face with a bandana, then stayed sitting in rifle range as the God-King's soldiers turned around and started south. The last few of them were buried once more in the cloud of dust, drifting north once again.

Sergeant Hollar laughed. "I liked what you told him, sir!"

"I don't think he did. Let's get back, Sergeant."

He had a hasty conference with his lieutenants. "They are withdrawing," Legios told them. "Nonetheless, we'll remain in a defensive position until we're sure they're south of the boundary." Legios nodded to his head scout. "Signal me what their intentions are."

"Yes, sir. I would have earlier, except the sun..."

"Yeah," Legios agreed. The sun wasn't always in a good place for mirror communications. Late in the afternoon was a bad time for it, with enemies to the south.

The man vanished into the desert.

"Big? What have we got?"

"You're going to need to talk to them, sir. It sounds like there's been a revolt in Tenosh."

Legios lifted an eyebrow. That would interest the High King and Duke Tuck. It was still a mental effort for Legios to keep his allegiances straight. He was oath and honor bound to the High King, but detached to serve Duke Tuck, helping to train his mortar soldiers. Half of his time was spent at Tecpan, training Lady Judy's soldiers. It made his head spin sometimes, thinking about it!

Big Mortar wasn't more forthcoming, so Legios rode towards the rear, where the women were. A canvas fly had been erected and the two women were resting on chairs at a table that had been set up in the shade.

Legios stopped when he saw them. Both of them had their faces elaborately painted in the henna-dye that the Mexicotal used. Two kinds of people had faces painted like that. The Mexicotal, loyal to the High King, spitting in the face of the former God-King on the eve of battle. And subjects of the God-King, about to ascend a pyramid, where a priest would remove their still-beating hearts and offer them up as a prayer to their blood-thirsty gods.

Legios spent a few heartbeats trying to get past the paint; it wasn't truly possible. The woman was older, perhaps in her forties, with the black hair and black eyes of the Mexicotal. She wasn't fat like most of the noblewomen of the God-King, but it was clear she'd been a mother. Her lips were full; her nose had an impressive break.

The girl was younger, perhaps twenty summers, but otherwise a twin of her mother, although she was much thinner.

"Are they still advancing?" the older woman asked.

"No, they are withdrawing."

"You're sure?"

"I'm sure, ma'am. We'll watch them until they are south of the treaty boundary, but we won't interfere with them."

Legios paused. "I am Captain Legios of the Heavy Weapons Company."

"I am Talu. My husband was a noble in Tenosh and this is my daughter, Maya. After the God-King was killed, my husband's star was in ascendancy, as he backed the daughter-in-law of the God-King. I swear, my husband's goal, as was that of most of the nobles, was to maintain order and stability in the realm.

"Less than a moon ago, Xyl, a soldier, and a cousin of the God-King, spoke to the Council of Nobles, telling them that the Elder Gods had deserted us, that the days of the God-Kings, priests and sacrifices were over and that we had to overthrow the old ways.

"I guess he had already talked to those men, because they acclaimed him King. Not God-King, but just the King, King of the Olmecha. Anyone who didn't swear immediate loyalty to him was killed. Not killed on the pyramid, you understand, but taken out in the town square and shot. My husband died there, one of those who wouldn't swear to the usurper.

"My daughter and I talked long into the night, knowing they'd come for us in the first light of dawn. Loyal servants prepared my carriage and urged us to flee.

"We thought we'd gotten away free. But last night our last servant went into a village to buy food and didn't return. My daughter and I -- we respect the old Gods. We expected to die, so we painted our faces as those about to meet their Gods should." She closed her eyes and a tear leaked down her cheek.

"Our courage failed. We fled when they came for us," the daughter interjected.

Big Mortar laughed. "Girl, it sounds more like an attack of common sense."

The young girl looked at Legios. "Are we truly safe?"

"As safe as I can make you," he told her.

For the first time Legios noticed that she was rather pretty, if you looked past the paint. Breasts... well, she was one of the locals and they didn't wear anything above the waist except during ceremonies. Her breasts drew his gaze, no matter how often he tried to look elsewhere. Her mother was heavier, but she had a stately grace that bespoke her nobility; her breasts weren't bad, either.

"How much do you know about this new king?" Legios asked, trying to distract himself.

"He was a soldier; of all of those at Three Hills he was our only general who came back with any honor. He commanded the artillery, from the first day to the last when he fought our enemies. When he could fight no longer, he destroyed what remained of his guns and made his way to Zimapan, where he took command.

"When the people there rose up in favor of your king, General Xyl organized a fighting retreat of the surviving soldiers. After the old God-King signed the truce, he disobeyed his orders and tried to retake Zimapan.

"After the God-King was killed, General Xyl became the head of the army. I have no knowledge of his plots, but he must have plotted well. Many of the nobles and all of the army went over to him at once. They fed the priests to the mobs, along with the loyal nobles. Not even a moon-quarter and it was over. We survived by staying ahead of the news."

Legios looked at Big Mortar who nodded. "You write it up, Captain, I'll get the signalman ready to go. Duke Tuck is going to want to talk to these two in Xipototec as soon as we can get them there."

Legios turned to the two women and smiled as politely as he could. "All those who flee from the south are welcome in the lands of the High King and they are most welcome in the lands of Duke Tuck of Xipototec and Mexico. I'll send some soldiers with you and you can gather your things from your carriage and we'll make up a wagon for you. I'll send you to Duke Tuck right away; I'm sure he'll want to hear everything you have to say."

The mother and daughter traded glances. Talu spoke up. "Captain, we're used to our carriage. If we may, we'll just keep it."

"Ma'am, it's all beat up. It's a special miracle of Dralm that it lasted as long as it did. We're nearly eighty miles south and east of Xipototec, and I doubt if your carriage would last the first dozen of those miles. It is no trouble, I assure you. We can put some blankets down for padding, like we do for our wounded. It's quite comfortable."

"Well, until it breaks, we'd prefer to keep our carriage," the older woman insisted. "It's a family heirloom, you understand. It belonged to my grandmother."

Short Mortar tugged at Legios' arm and waved a little distance off. Legios excused himself and went to listen to the lieutenant.

"Sir, meaning no offense, but it's pretty clear that there's more heirlooms in that carriage than what she's saying. I mean if you had an entire night to prepare to leave, I imagine you'd come away with something that might ease your way when you get wherever it is you're going, right?"

Legios nodded, surprised he hadn't realized that himself. But when you don't have any money to speak of, money isn't the first thing you think about. He couldn't very well ask them to leave the carriage with him. While he trusted himself, and his soldiers were some of the best in Hostigos, he doubted if they were all that loyal, not if someone dumped a treasure in their laps.

"Who should go to Xipototec with them? You or your brother?" Legios asked.

Short smiled. "My brother, the newly married man, sir."

"Well, get with him and detail off a hundred men to go north with him; have him take some wagons. Get one ready as I said, pack some extra boxes and crates. When they stop for the night, or if the carriage finally collapses, tell your brother to erect a screen around the women and their carriage, and then have their possessions loaded into the wagon.

"At night have him set sentries on their wagon, older and steadier soldiers, in at least threes." Legios sighed. "Have them searched when they come off guard duty."

Short grimaced. "That isn't going to be very popular."

"No, but there will be no way to hide what those women have. You get those wagons ready. I've got a message to write to the Duke, then we'll get them moving."

Short Mortar saluted and went calling for the logistos lieutenant.

Legios wrote a terse paragraph with the important points. He spent another few heartbeats checking it, and then gave it to the signal sergeant for transmission.

He had time to return to the women and reassure them that he was an honorable man and would do everything to keep their "heirlooms" safe, before the signal sergeant returned.

"The Duke says it's a good plan. He wants us to stay at the boundary for another three days, then return to Xipototec."

Legios acknowledged and then returned to the women.

"I'm pleased to have met you, Lady Talu, Lady Maya. Have a safe trip."

It was really hard to keep his mind on anything else besides the daughter's breasts.

The escort column formed and headed north. The rest of them shook down into their own column and continued on south.

Just before sundown the scouts were back. "They continued past the boundary, Captain. We watched them travel for a half dozen miles where they stopped to make camp, just as darkness started to fall."

Legios judged the terrain and the sun, just touching the horizon. There was no way he could reach the boundary before the sun was completely down. It wasn't worth the trouble to push hard if they were supposed to be here for a couple of days. "Keep a close watch on them, particularly if they try something tricky tonight."

The Mexicotal scout was one of the better ones and he laughed. "We won't be that lucky!"

The camp for the night had to be done with extra care. The horses and wagons went into a ravine, while the men had to prepare fighting positions in the desert. They might be some of the best fighting men in Hostigos, but they could also complain just as well or better than anyone else.

Midmorning the next day they reached the wash that was the treaty boundary. Technically the High King claimed the southern bank, because that was as far south as Lord Tuck had fought, and beaten, soldiers of the God-King, but they weren't supposed to cross it, not even the scouts.

The scouts reported that the column appeared to be undiminished and was continuing southwards. At least his soldiers had less to complain about, as soldiers had been in this position frequently over the last two years and there were fighting positions and shelters already built. Of course, that meant that they were free to complain about the boredom of border patrolling. The Heavy Weapons Company was very good at whatever it did!

Judy Bondi, Countess of Tecpan, nodded as regally as she could to those gathered at the long table where the Council of Tecpan sat in session.

"Please, be seated," she intoned.

Most of the men at the table sat with alacrity. Only one other woman was present, and that was her friend, Lydia Valenzuela, who wasn't seated at the table, but at a desk a few feet away, pen in hand and a stack of paper in front of her.

Judy smiled at Lydia, who grinned back. By rights, Lydia should be sitting at the main table too, as she was officially the Secretary of the Council of Tecpan, but the men in the room had enough problem with one woman at the table, and still had serious doubts about her position at the head of the table. Still, Lydia sat waiting for her Countess, while everyone else stood. A small thing, but powerfully symbolic.

Lydia had suggested some things and Judy had gotten in the spirit of it, and before her friend and mentor, Lord Tuck, Duke of Mexico, could intervene, a bunch of new words had entered the Mexicotal language. It was half a schoolgirl joke on their mentor, half serious. They had needed those new words!

Judy looked down the long table at the assembled faces. "Lord Gamelin is traveling to Zimapan, to meet with Grand Marshal Harmakros," she told those assembled. "He is at least a moon-quarter or more from reaching the Grand Marshal's headquarters. Duke Tuck, however, will be here shortly after High Sun tomorrow. The purpose of this meeting is to make sure that everything is ready for the Duke's visit."

She gestured to the man that sat at her left hand.

"Alcalde Kiliwia, please, if you would, have the announcements to the people been made?"

"Yes, Countess. We have declared the day after High Sun tomorrow to be a holiday, so there should be quite a few people turn out to applaud the Duke of Mexico."

Judy nodded, hiding her smile. Alcalde had been Lydia's choice for a title; it meant "mayor" in Spanish, but Spanish was a language that existed back home, wherever that was. Spanish didn't exist here and now. But, since there had never been a person with the particular duties the Alcalde had before, no one had objected to a title none of them had ever heard before.

Before the war, a noble of the God-King had ruled Tecpan; more or less the equivalent of a Count, and the title was passed to the noble's heirs. There had been about fifty-five thousand people living in and around Tecpan back then. Now it was closer to a hundred and fifty thousand.

At first she and her new husband, Count Gamelin of Trygath, ruled by military fiat. Even then it was clear that some of the local citizens had to be involved in the governing of the city and its environs, and they'd talked to people and eventually chosen two dozen men and half a dozen women to be on the first city council.

After six moons, the council had voted on a new council, defining positions and selecting people to fill them. Judy had been upset when the men promptly voted all the women off, but she'd had no choice but to acquiesce, because she was the one who'd set the rules.

She smiled politely as the Alcalde went on speaking about the various preparations made for the Duke's visit, including places the Duke would be taken to show off what had been accomplished in the six moons since his last visit.

She had a little surprise for the Council of Tecpan. She had set the rules, and they served for two years or, if she wished, she could dissolve the Council and call a new election. She, Gamelin, Tuck and Tanda Havra had discussed it, and they decided that barring extraordinary circumstances, she should let the two-year term of the Council run out.

It was quite clear that the Council members didn't understand the new voting rules, but it was all there, written down for the people of Tecpan to read the words of the "Constitution." It said, "All Citizens of Tecpan may vote in each election."

The men of the Council still thought like men had when they'd been under the rule of the God-King, where there hadn't been very many citizens. For one thing, none of them dreamed that High King Kalvan included women as citizens... even if the High King regularly spoke of it, proclaimed it and rewarded women as he did men. After all, Judy herself stood at the head of the Council table and that, if nothing else, should remind them of the rules.

Judy and Lydia had been working with women's groups, doing small things to improve conditions for everyone in general, but women in particular. One very popular thing was the "Woman's Investment Association" which was something Tuck had read about in a book. Small groups of women got together and joined their money together and invested it, in livestock, or some simple business.