Book 5: Chapter 18: Lesh

Book 5: Chapter 18: Lesh

“So, you have a full-on town going, huh? Thousands of humans?” Victor had spent a good hour giving Olivia a very rough overview of his adventures and foibles on Fanwath and a few short sentences summarizing his time on Zaafor. After he’d explained the Writ of Conquest and his plans with the Untamed Marches, Olivia had shared quite a lot with him about First Landing, the human colony, and some of the hurdles they’d overcome.

“Thousands of humans, thousands of other species who have taken on citizenship, and, if my theories and hopes bear fruit, we may have another hundred thousand fertilized embryos in orbit. I’m of the opinion that the System teleported us down here but left the Pilgrim-9 alone. Theoretically, it would have achieved orbit with the autopilot program.”

“So, you all are building a ship to go up there?”

“Not exactly, but I have some theories about Morgan’s void attunement. He’s the one I told you about, my friend with an advanced bloodline. He can create portals, as I explained, and he has some feats that give him resistance to the void; in fact, he gains bonuses . . .” she paused and frowned, shaking her head as if irritated with herself. “I’m getting lost on a silly tangent; it’s all theory right now. What’s important to me is that you seem to believe the Ridonne Empire is corrupt.”

“Yeah, I’d say it’s pretty damn definite by now. Wouldn’t you say, Valla?”

“It seems we’re placing our trust in your discretion, Olivia Bennet,” Valla said, frowning at Victor.

“I’ll be discreet.” Olivia nodded, looking steadily into Valla’s eyes as though she wanted her to see into her, to recognize that she wasn’t being duplicitous.

“I won’t speak openly about my family’s stance on the Empire, but I will say that I don’t disagree with what Victor just said. He and I recently survived an assassination attempt, and it’s rather evident that the Empire has designs against us. Victor’s role with the army my mother has raised is crucial in our attempt to circumvent the corruption that grows unchecked in the nobility.” Valla paused, looked around the little room as if confirming they were alone, and added, “This conquest will allow us to secure a foothold outside the Empire’s control. A place from which to gather our strength and defend. A place where we can burn out corruption before it buries its roots.”

“I’m suddenly very worried about Morgan. As I mentioned, he was traveling to Tharcray to attempt to treat with the Empire. It sounds like he was walking into a snake pit.” Olivia’s face was pensive, her hands clutched together on the lap of her elegant robes.

“They’re sneaky assholes,” Victor said, attempting to put her at ease, “but they aren’t usually the kind who’ll stab you in the face. They’ll probably give him a lot of agreements, talk a bunch of bullshit, and then, when they think the time’s right, they’ll move against the colony. I mean, that’s the way things have gone with the nobles I’ve dealt with.”

“He’s not wrong.” Valla sighed, shaking her head, caught between wanting to agree with Victor and not precisely approving of his words. “Why not join the conquest? Bring the humans to the Marches!”

“Shit! Not a bad idea, Olivia. You guys are kind of hanging out on a ledge by yourselves out there . . .”

“It’s not that easy.” Olivia started to count on her fingers, “We have children, for one. We have people with livelihoods—people who have worked day and night for years now to build up the town, their businesses, their contacts with neighboring settlements.” She gave up on counting on her fingers and set her hand on her lap. “If we sent a significant fighting force with you, it would leave those who aren’t so inclined rather open to attack. No, I don’t think it will work.” Before Victor could say anything, she added, “I’ll present it to the council, along with your warning about the Ridonne. Still, if we do join you, it will more likely be after you’ve finished your, um, conquest.”

“Right. After we’ve done all the work.” Victor made a dismissive sound, almost a tsk, that he hadn’t done in a long time. He looked away from Olivia and started to stand, ready to dismiss her, to move on with the things he found important.

“That’s not fair, Victor,” Valla interjected. “You only just told her about this. Do you really expect a whole settlement to drop everything they’ve been working for and march into war for the possibility of a better place to settle?”

“Nah, I guess not.” Victor halted his sudden urge to stand and looked at Olivia’s face. He saw how it had fallen in response to his comment and felt a little ashamed. Despite Valla’s words, Olivia still looked upset, so he added, “Listen, I’m not holding anything against you. I didn’t come here looking for help, and I’m still not. You know what a Farscribe book is?”

“Yes . . .”

“Let’s buy a set, and we can keep in touch. If you run into trouble with the Empire, or if we run into a problem, maybe we can help each other out.”

“That’s a great idea, Victor!” Olivia said, her face lighting up, and then she opened her mouth and leaped to her feet. “Oh my gosh! I forgot something! Morgan’s tower! It has teleportation gateways. We could set up a link between it and your new settlement if, no, when your campaign is successful.”

“Oh, yeah,” Victor nodded, seeing Valla’s contemplative look. “Sure, that would be cool.”

“Olivia?” Valla said, holding up a hand to forestall Victor’s next words.

“Yes?”The debut release of this chapter happened at Ñòv€l-B1n.

“I almost forgot, but we met a friend of yours at Fainhallow.”

“Oh shit! That’s right . . .” Victor nodded emphatically.

“A Ghelli woman named Adaida.” While she spoke, Valla produced the rolled-up parchment Adaida had given her for Olivia. “She seemed rather distraught, upset about something that happened between you two. She asked if I’d give you this Farscribe parchment; it jogged my memory when Victor mentioned the Farscribe book.”

Olivia’s expression had fallen from eager, excited interest to something that looked a lot like guilt and sadness to Victor. She gingerly reached forward and took the parchment, still wrapped in a lovely lavender ribbon, tied in a big, looping bow with curled ends. She looked at it for a few seconds, and Victor thought he saw moisture in her eyes before she made it disappear and said, “Thank you. Can we go and buy the books now? You’ve kind of ignited something in me. I feel stressed about the colony and my responsibilities. No, that’s not fair.” She shook her head, taking a moment to gather her thoughts. “I was feeling that way before I came to this meeting. Still, I’d like to get back to First Landing to check on things, and I’d like to look into Lord ap’Gravin. I promise I’ll write to you about what I find.”

“How could I forget, love? Tell me, what must you do?”

“Simply slay a man. I’ll have to travel off-world, but I’m sure I can gain permission when I explain the quest. I’ll need to leave now, though. The trip to Garspire will take nearly a week.” He frowned, then added, “Well, I don’t see a time limit on the quest . . .”

“Still, best not to tarry.” Yassa was on her feet now, naked and wonderful, but she stooped to gather up her skirts, continuing to speak, “What if the System offers the quest to others? Perhaps this man has angered it. You could be competing with hunters from other worlds.”

“Gods! You’re right, love! What am I without you? I must make haste!” Lesh leaped to his feet and snatched up the handle of his great cudgel, Belagog, the Bone Cracker. The black, metallic handle was warm in his hand, flowing between his fingers to allow for a better grip. The weapon was clever and eager to fight, and Lesh always felt a grin pulling his lips back from his long, white teeth when he hoisted the two-meter rod of star metal and allowed his eyes to fall on the hundreds of diamond-hard spikes along its length. “We have work to do, blood brother,” he said to the cudgel.

#

Victor sat atop Thistle’s back, riding at a steady, easy trot away from Persi Gables. Valla and Uvu kept pace, the big cat occasionally chuffing loudly and groaning, even purring; he was clearly thrilled to see his mistress. Thistle had been well taken care of, fed, brushed, and exercised daily, but Victor couldn’t ride him comfortably without reducing his form; the beast was big and strong but not meant to be carrying a half-titan, for that was what Victor had come to consider his natural state.

“You’re a good boy, and I missed you, but I might have to send you to live with your sister soon. I won’t stand to see someone else take you.”

“It’s true,” Valla said, her tone carefully neutral. “He’s a great mount, but you can’t ride him into battle. You must be at your full strength when we’re in the field.”

“Yeah. What am I going to do? Get one of those elephant birds?”

Valla snorted with laughter and said, “You mean a bundii? That would be quite a sight! I’ve never seen one mounted, but if anyone could do it . . .” her words were lost in another fit of giggles; she was apparently rather vividly imagining Victor attempting to ride one of the elephant-sized ostriches.

“Well? Seriously! What can I ride?”

“A thunderak, perhaps? Those are the giant . . .”

“Lizards, yeah, yeah. No thanks. I think I’ll take a trip into the spirit plane. I learned a lot when I made Tes’s spell in my pathways. I told you a little about the feat I gained, but I think I’m just scratching the surface. What if I used some of the principles that make her spell so potent on one of my other spells, say the one that lets me find and create totems from my spirit? The way I envision it, I think it might allow me to gain more totems; maybe I can find one that I could ride—I saw a Mustang in there once.”

“A Mustang?”

“A kind of horse.” Victor chuckled and hurriedly added, “Which is a kind of mount from my world. They’re like vidanii, I guess, but without the horns. Maybe prettier, too. I guess horses are known for being clever and spirited, but Thistle’s pretty clever, aren’t you, boy?” Victor patted the course reddish fur of the animal’s neck, and he shivered, shaking his head and snorting.

“If you could truly do that, summon a totem you could ride, that would be ideal.” Valla tugged on Uvu’s reins, pulling him a little closer so she didn’t have to shout, and added, “You don’t want to try to train a thunderak!”

“Hey,” Victor said, changing the subject, “What did you think of Olivia?”

“Your cousin?” Valla grinned at him slyly, and Victor had to wonder for a moment what she was getting at. Was she trying to point out to him that he had some family again? He supposed that was nice. Olivia had seemed like someone he could grow to like—smart, ambitious, pleasant, and he’d enjoyed how she’d spoken in threatening undertones about ap’Gravin. Yeah, he decided, he could grow to like having a cousin like her.

“Well, not a first cousin. But, yeah, I take your point. What did you think of her?”

“She’s very talented, according to the professors at Fainhallow. I know, I know, that’s not what you’re asking me. I liked her. I hope she can produce the results she promised. I hope ap’Gravin won’t present her with too much trouble.”

“We’ll find out,” Victor said, shrugging. “We’ve got Farscribe books now, so at least she’ll be able to update me.” He clicked his tongue and twitched his reins, urging Thistle to move a little faster, and as Valla and Uvu surged to keep up, he said, “We’re going to be marching in a couple of days! Feels like ages since Rellia first spoke to me about the Untamed Marches. I’m nervous but also pumped as hell. How about you? Are you excited?”

“I am, but also apprehensive. I know you’ve been in plenty of fights, and you know how ugly combat can be, but it’s different on the scale of armies. It’s different when those you’re responsible for start to die. I hope you’re ready for it.”

Victor didn’t answer her, and his grin faded as a storm brewed behind his eyes. Abstractly, he’d thought about the army clashing with whatever sorts of enemies would be waiting in the Untamed Marches. He’d thought about fighting with ambushers from the Empire, but he hadn’t really thought about what it would be like if he, as he tended to do, came out on top, but a bunch of his soldiers died. Right now, the soldiers were mostly faceless to him, a mob of willing fighters, but how would it feel when he stood on the battlefield with them and they started to fall?

Impulsively he asked Valla, “Who’s the best military brain in our legion? Who’s going to be coming up with tactics? I know I’m in charge, but who should I be listening to for advice? Other than you, I mean.”

“Rellia has a keen mind for strategy, as does Lam, but Borrius is a military genius. Get him away from Rellia to hear him speak frankly, though; his desire to please her can make him agree to stupid things.”

“Good advice, Primus. Thank you. Now, try to keep up!” With that, Victor urged Thistle into a gallop, and he howled as the wind began to sing in his ears.