Chapter 14
Uneasy Allies
Castle Titan, Konge Province, Titan
"'The enemy of my enemy is my enemy.' 'The friend of my friend is my friend.' There are many who live by these axioms, but reality is rarely so simple. To blindly take them for truth is to invite the blade of the friend of a friend who is in fact your enemy."
-Excerpt from the assorted writings of Mark the Guardian
The Gladians were granted a couple days of rest at the castle before they would have to set out once more on the punitive expedition to the south. Preparations began at daybreak and while the men were assembling, the leaders met to review their strategy. All members of the Council of Dukes present at the castle joined the Archduke, along with the Captain-General of the Ducal Hird and his vice-captain; while Mark, Sonia and Sir Emerich represented the Gladian contingent. Once Mark and the others were seated, the captains of the mercenary companies hired by the Archduke were permitted to enter.
Mark did not have a particularly high opinion of the mercenary profession. It was an ill thing to make war your living and coin your loyalty, but it was better than levying the common folk who had neither the training nor the inclination for warfare. However, Mark's acceptance of the mercenaries as a necessary evil was challenged when he saw who one of the mercenary captains was.
"Well, if it isn't the great Lord Mark the Guardian," the mercenary captain said in a mocking voice.
The man's name was about all Mark could say at first with any civility.
"Einar Ulfson."
Einar Ulfson was one of Randwulf's Five Generals, the only one to have escaped the King's justice after the fall of Darkwall. The years had clearly taken a toll on him. He embraced his Northman roots and sported a scraggly beard that was streaked with grey. There was a ragged scarred patch on the side of his head where he had apparently lost a piece of his scalp and a long scar on the other side that ran from jawbone to just short of his eye. The scar twisted as he scowled at the sight of Mark.
Sonia's hand went for the hilt of her sword. Mark rested his hand on hers to keep her from acting on her intent.
Without pulling her hand back, Sonia said, "So you turned sellsword, did you?"
"A man has to make a living," Einar replied, "milady, is it?"
Sonia gritted her teeth and said, "I don't know how much I trust one of Randwulf's dogs to fight beside me."
Resting his hand on the hilt of his own sword, Einar said, "And I don't think Heartseeker here will be able to tell the difference between those rebel swine and you traitors."
Mark found himself in the unenviable position of playing peacemaker. He did not have the same bitter hatred of Randwulf's men that Sonia did, but there was no love lost either. Now was not the time for personal feelings to interfere, however.
"Captain Ulfson," Mark said, keeping a level voice, "you are under contract to the Archduke, yes?"
"That's right," Einar replied curtly.
"And you intend to uphold that contract?"
Einar shrugged.
"A mercenary's got nothing if he gets a reputation for breaking contract and the Archduke's the only one with the money to pay."
"Then I trust you and your men will put aside old grudges for the sake of your honor," Mark said. "We did not come to Titan looking for you or any other follower of Randwulf who escaped judgment. Whatever crimes you have committed, if you do not pay for them in this world, you will do so in the next."
Einar grinned and said, "I can live with that, milord."
No sooner had that been settled than a new problem presented itself. Another one of the mercenary captains—likely an Ardovan or a Lucchesian by the looks of him—slammed his hands down on the table and shouted, "Signore Arciduca, what is the meaning of this!? Why is a thrice-damned Templar here?"
So he was Ardovan. It had been nearly forty years since Ardova came into conflict with Antioch during the Zealots' War. The wounds were still fresh for some, it would seem.
Although the Archduke struck Mark as the sort who was averse to conflict, clearly he felt some sense of responsibility as the mercenaries' patron and intervened.
"Captain Boscano, please," he said weakly, using about as much courage as he could muster.
Perhaps if he had been more forceful, it would have given Captain Boscano pause. Instead he bullishly drove forward.
"I will not stand for this!" he fumed. "My Victors will not fight alongside these devils!"
And so it was once again up to Mark to play peacemaker. He kept his voice level, dealing with Captain Boscano in much the same way he had with Einar only moments earlier.
"Captain Boscano, is it? You must be an Ardovan. Captain, you are a mercenary. You are not in Ardova. Here you answer not to the Principe but to your patron the Archduke. Am I wrong?"
Captain Alcimenes conspicuously cleared his throat and said, "Might we proceed?"
Like a petulant child, Captain Boscano looked away from Mark. This seemed to amuse Einar and it was laughable that someone who was once a mortal foe on the battlefield treated Mark less as an enemy than this man.
Mark folded his hands and nodded for Captain Alcimenes to continue as he would.
"It is about a four days' march from here to Solstice, the nearer of the two cities taken by the rebels," Captain Alcimenes said, pointing to the map spread out on the table with the vine staff that was one of the symbols of his office. "We do not know the rebels' true strength. They may well number in the thousands, but few of them would be trained warriors and likely the only proper weapons they have were looted from the men of the garrison they slaughtered."
There were shatranj pieces on the map, three footsoldiers surrounding a knight, with the king following behind.
"Captain Boscano's Victors will have the honor of the van," Captain Alcimenes said, "with Captain Einar's Wolf-feeders taking the right wing and Captain Bragi's Shield-breakers on the left. Lord Mark and his Gladians will form the center of the formation while the Ducal Hird assumes the rearguard."
"Mighty safe so long as they don't come 'round the back," Sonia muttered.
The Captain-General ignored her. As she was speaking in Everardian, he would not know what she was saying, but surely he could guess.
"I doubt the rebels will be bold enough to meet us in force," he continued, "so we must clear the city, house-to-house, then hunt them in the surrounding countryside before moving on to Solstice and doing the same there."
"Do they not have city walls?" Sonia asked.
Again, she spoke in Everardian, so Mark had to repeat her question in Latin for the sake of the others.
"Equinox and Solstice have no walls," Captain Alcimenes explained. "The cities of seers were believe to be protected by magic. Clearly that was not the case."
"Or else the Furies have stronger magic," Einar suggested. "Like them gods of theirs."
Captain Alcimenes paid the notion no heed, saying, "Just do what you are being paid to do. Before we march on the city, we are to offer quarter to any who would surrender. Once the fighting begins, though, there is to be no quarter. All who take up arms or aid those who take up arms are to be put to death as traitors."
Mark had no intention of permitting the men under his command to commit indiscriminate slaughter, but he would not dispute Captain Alcimenes lest they fall to disarray before the expedition even set its first step out of the castle. He looked to Sonia, who nodded in acknowledgement. She knew what he meant to do.
"House-to-house..." Sonia said, mostly to herself. "That's gonna be messy. If we're supposed to kill 'em all anyway, why don't we just burn the damn cities to the ground."
Unlike most of the rest of the assembled members, Einar of course could understand what she was saying and laughed.
"You would've made a fine Marauder, milady. A pity we didn't find you sooner."
Sonia scowled at first, then her lips twisted into a bitter grin as she replied, "Maybe that would've been a good thing. I would've had a chance to stick my blade in the usurper's black heart."
Mark recalled that Randwulf's men were indeed hunting for Sonia during the early years of Randwulf's reign. When she performed the Rite of Succession to inherit the title of Defender, all the other Elemental Knights in the world knew, to of course include Randwulf himself. Sonia's swordmaster, a kinsman of hers, sacrificed himself to throw off the hunt. What would it have been like if the newly awakened Sonia had fallen prey to her pursuers? She hated Randwulf for his hand in the death of her father and the ruin of her household, but if the warlock Shadowblight worked his dark arts on her... The thought of a corrupted Sonia serving as Randwulf's right hand made Mark feel ill.
"Might I be allowed to finish without any further interruption?" Captain Alcimenes asked.
"What else do you have for us, Sir Captain?" Mark asked, trying to draw attention away from Sonia.
"I wanted to add that the cities and the surrounding lands are to be retaken with as little damage as possible. We will suffer no plunder. Any man who is caught plundering will be tried as a thief and duly punished. Be sure your men know this."
Mark had already warned his men against plunder, but it could not hurt to remind them before they set out.
"The finer points of our strategy will have to wait until we see the enemy for ourselves," Captain Alcimenes continued. He looked to the Archduke and asked him, "Is there anything else, Your Grace?"
"I trust you and your men to avail yourselves well out on the battlefield," the Archduke said. "Let us put an end to all this swiftly. We depart within the hour. You are dismissed."
The assembly rose and exchanged courtesies. The mercenary captains withdrew first, followed by the Gladians.
As they were making their way to the forecourt, without turning back to look at Mark and the others, Einar said, "I have to wonder what sort of men Gladius can muster. I can't imagine the Drunken Prince commanding an army to match the Marauders. A land of lily-livered cravens, Gladius."
"Insult His Late Majesty and our motherland and I will have you answer for it, you hireling dog," Sir Emerich growled.
Einar stopped and turned around.
"His 'Late' Majesty," he said, savoring the words. "His Late Majesty... So he's dead then. What'd he do, drink himself into an early grave?"
Mark certainly had no intention of telling him what happened to Edward and hoped that Sir Emerich would have the sense to keep quiet about it as well, but apparently their faces gave it away.
"No, not drink," he said. "It was those snakes in Corinth, wasn't it?" He grinned, showing off some missing teeth among his other injuries from the past several years. "So, what, they reign now?"
"Gladius is ruled by His Majesty King Edric, you dog," Sir Emerich said.
"Edric? His boy, I take it. Little pup on a string."
Einar pantomimed tugging on the string. He was closer to the truth than he realized. Then again, maybe he knew all too well about the machinations of the patricians from his days serving Randwulf.
It was Sir Emerich's own fault for allowing himself to be baited, but he only continued to fall for it further. He took a threatening step forward.
"I warned you..."
Mark got between them. He put his hand on Sir Emerich's chest, gently but firmly pushing him back. He then turned to Einar and said, "Move along, Einar Ulfson."
Einar continued to grin and replied, "I'm close to the mark... Lord Mark."
Rather than press against Mark, Einar withdrew, but not without a parting shot.
"Watch your backs out there, milord, milady, Sir Knight. I may be professional enough to suffer the likes of you for the sake of my contract, but I've got a lot of old Marauders, sons of men who are dead 'cause of you. Can't make any guarantees about them."
Though it would have been better to not bandy words with him at all, Mark was surprised to find himself being the one with a retort.
"You watch your own, Einar Ulfson. The old grudges are entirely mutual. If your men were to do anything that would get them mistaken for the rebels, the blood will be on their own heads."
Einar only laughed and continued on his way. Captain Boscano looked over his shoulder briefly to glare at Mark.
"This is gonna be a long trip," Sonia grumbled.
"We mustn't rise to his provocations," Mark said. "He has far less to lose than we do and he knows it."
"Were it not for his contract with the Archduke, I would see the King's justice done to him," Sir Emerich said.
"I'm glad you recognize the limits of the King's jurisdiction," Mark replied. "We don't need to be adding to the Archduke's troubles."
He walked a little farther before continuing, "Still, we shouldn't take Einar's warning lightly. Let's put the King's men on the flanks with Eagle and Stormtree supporting them. There will be no dealings with the mercenaries, especially our camp followers. We will surround the baggage train on the march and keep it under double guard."
"Yes, milord," Sir Emerich replied.
"How long you think it'll take before we get trouble?" Sonia asked.
"I pray we can at least make it through the first night," Mark said.
"It's that sense of hope of yours that gives hope to others," Sonia said drily.
When they arrived in the forecourt, the men were still assembling. The three mercenary companies, the Gladian contingent and the Ducal Hird were giving each other as wide a berth as the space would permit.
Seeing the full strength of the expedition, however, Sonia was not impressed.
"This is it? Our number are nearly equal."
"It would seem His Majesty was more generous than he realized," Mark said.
As they got closer to the head of the formation, the squires brought their horses to them. Once mounted, Mark waited for the men to be fully assembled before addressing them.
"Gladians, countrymen, we have travelled far to come to this foreign land. Long ago, the united armies of humanity gathered in this very place to defeat the menace that threatened the world of Men. By comparison, our task is a light one, but we cannot take it lightly.
"You remember the destruction at the abbey. That is what these rebels are capable of. They will do worse still if they are allowed to run loose any longer. We are not going to permit them to harm anyone else. These people, their lives and their lands, we will make safe with our sweat, our blood and our tears. You did not ask for this, but I expect you all to give your full measure... for your honor... and the honor of our homeland. Hail Gladius! Hail the King!"
The men shouted in reply, "Hail Gladius! Hail the King!"
Not to be outdone, the mercenary captains rallied their men, then Captain Alcimenes roused the Hirdmen to raise their voices. Mark did not mean for it to become a contest, but the men treated it as such and so hundreds of men were shouting for all they were worth until someone decided to put an end to it by sounding the horns that signalled the start of the march.
Spirits seemed high as they made their way out the gates. They would need every ounce of that vigor in the trials to come.