“I hate this,” he said.
“Me too. The ships are heading in fast. Sardelsan colours flying proud too.”
Paole could barely make out the ships, but Gil could probably count the number of men on the decks, and even describe them. Below them, Yveni and the governor walked their horses gingerly along the sand. Neither mount could be worked hard, but all that mattered was how they looked. Luna with her bay coat and pretty blond mane, and the black stallion beside her, both curried and brushed until their coats shone, made an impressive sight in the afternoon sun.
“How long?” Paole asked.
“Not that long. The wind’s with them and they’re coming in at speed. They have to disembark. Forty minutes at most, I’d say.”
Paole wished they’d given him a few more minutes alone with Yveni, if that was the case. The lad had been tight as a bow, though not when Paole had finished with him.
“What are you grinning about?” Gil asked.
“Nothing. Just something Yveni uh…did.”
Gil raised an eyebrow. “Oh yes? In the governor’s office?”
“My lips are sealed.”
“Uh-huh. You and he sorted out your little differences?”
“Getting there.” He nudged Gil less than gently in the ribs. “You’re a bit of an interfering sod, though.”
“Been doing that since the boy was seven. You can’t expect me to stop now. Come on, come on, you bastards.”
From the seaward side, the incoming soldiers would see nothing but the seawall and on the beach, Yveni and the others. The Uemiriens hid behind the wall or the fort. Unless Yveni told the Sardelsans, they should have no idea what was waiting for them. “Are you sure you shouldn’t be down with the men throwing your bombs?”
“I couldn’t make myself throw anything while he’s out there.”
Gil grunted as his eyes continued their watch on the ships. “I doubt I could give the order to fire either. Fortunately it’s not up to me.”
“We’re a fine pair, aren’t we.”
“Yes, indeed. Now, Sofia, she’d launch the catapult herself. My wife’s the tough one. Gods, I hope she’s all right.”
“They’re bound to be.”
They fell silent, waiting, watching and hoping. The wind blew Yveni’s flag out and made it stand proud. Paole hoped it would make the right impression. Everything depended on that.
“They’re weighing anchor,” Yveni said to Raul.
“Good. I wish we’d waited a bit. It’s so damn hot.”
“I know. But they would have been able to see the beach with their telescopes for some time. We had to be here.”
“We could have set up stuffed dummies.”
“Yes, we could. Not long now though.”
“I hope they get here before I need a piss. I’m an old man, Your Grace. They could be more considerate.”
Yveni smiled. “I’ll tell them that, if they give me a chance to speak.”
“I don’t know how you can be so calm. I’m three times your age and my knees are shaking.”
“Mine too. I, uh, had help to relax. A massage.” He hoped he didn’t betray that understatement in his tone.
“Now why didn’t I think of that? Next time I put my life in danger, I’ll remember it.”
“Very good, Your Excellency. They’re launching boats, see?”
“They haven’t fired their cannon. Is that a good sign or not?”
Privately, Yveni thought it signified very little. “Of course it’s a good sign. This will work, I feel it in my bones.”
He almost believed himself too.
“Here they come,” Paole muttered. “No one’s fired a weapon.”
“The ships are out of range and their rifles won’t be accurate from a moving boat. But I’m not seeing anyone aiming. Rifles at the ready, yes, but not at shoulders.” Gil leaned forward. “There’s a man…by the gods, it’s Commander Markov!”
“Recognise anyone yet?” Raul murmured.
“No, they’re too far away.” Yveni wished he could communicate with Gil who surely could see faces now. “Men, come to attention.”
The escort straightened up with a muted crunch of weapons and leather. Not long now.
“Good news?”
“It should be.” Gil bit his lip. “I’ve been away for so long though, and Konsatin’s an evil bastard.”
“So’s Yveni when he puts his mind to it.”
Gil let out a short startled laugh. “Aye, he is. My money’s on our boy.”
The boats landed on the beach and soldiers swarmed out of them. Yveni steadied Luna and held the flag proudly in place. When the soldiers halted fifty metres from their position, he shouted to them. “I am Yveni, vicont of Sardelsa, son of the late Grand Duc Arkady, heir to the line of Elaini and the ducal throne. I order you to stay your attack!”
“What’s happening?” Paole demanded, cursing his ungifted eyes.
Gil’s voice had dropped almost to a whisper, as if afraid he might somehow influence what he observed. “Yveni’s talking. Markov’s coming closer, men behind him readying weapons—”
“What? No, they can’t—”
Gil grabbed his arm. “Wait, wait, they’re not aiming them. Yveni’s rolled up his sleeve—he’s showing them the tattoo. Markov’s kneeling. They’re all kneeling!” He turned to Paole. “He’s paying homage! It worked!”
Paole sagged weak-kneed, staring at the distant shore and the miracle that only one stubborn brat of an ex-slave could have pulled off. Would have even tried to pull off. Gil slung his arm around his shoulders and hugged him as the other men in the watchtower cheered. The sound spread, building in intensity, a wave of sound running all the way behind the sea wall. Paole turned and looked down in the courtyard where Governor Leandro stood. He waved. “It worked!”
The governor waved back, and even from here, Paole could see his grin. “Damn that Yveni. He has amazing luck.”
Gil laughed as he shook his head. “So did his father. Runs in the family.”
The sound of the cheering men behind the sea wall greatly startled Markov and his officers. Yveni took satisfaction in how thoroughly they’d planned the surprise, even if it would now not be needed.
“Your Grace, I never thought to see you alive again.”
“You have no idea how happy I am to see you also, Commander. Please stand. May I introduce the representative of the governors of Horches, Governor Raul?”
Markov bowed. “Your Excellency.”
“Greetings, Commander,” Raul replied in clear if accented Tueler. “You and a select group of your officers are welcome, if you’ll surrender your weapons while enjoying our hospitality, but I must ask you to send the rest of your men back to the ships.”
“I’ll arrange it. We came to take revenge on your country for the death of our beloved vicont. I’d say we’ve had a wasted journey.”
“Not at all, Commander,” Yveni said. “We’ll wait for you to speak to your men.”
Raul coughed a little. “Commander, you’ll understand that any approach from the ships without permission will be treated as hostile.”
Markov bowed again. “Only reasonable, Your Excellency. Your Grace, please excuse me while I give the orders.”
Yveni waited until Markov was out of earshot before whispering sidelong to his companion, “Well, that was easy.”
“Gods.” Raul mopped his brow with a handkerchief. “You’re very bad for my heart, young man. You know him?”
“Very well. He gave me a paddling when I was five years old for waving a sword around and nearly cutting my hand off. I’ve almost forgiven him.”
Raul grinned. “I don’t think he’ll try it now. I suppose we better think about where we’re going to put all these damn Sardelsans, eh?”
“You know, I don’t think you’ll find too many people upset to have that problem, Your Excellency.”
Paole and Gil had to fight with the cheering crowds pouring into the fort and the square outside it. The wardens and governors did their best to clear a space for Yveni and his companions to enter the fort, but as he and Governor Raul appeared from inside the tunnel, the noise of shouts and whistles and general elation made the ears of their mounts lay back, and the two men struggled to control them.
“Gods, they’ll make the horses panic. Let me through!” Gil bellowed. “Let me through, damn it.”
Paole pushed through behind him, his size brooking no argument from the ecstatic crowd. Gil reached Yveni and called something up at him, while holding hard onto Luna’s reins and keeping her calm. Yveni nodded and dismounted, and a few seconds later, with Paole’s help, so did the governor.
“Let’s take them through to the stables,” Gil said. “Or there’ll be harm done to man and beast.”
Paole only had time for a quick smile at Yveni who grinned back, before Paole tugged on the old stallion’s reins and led him away from the clamour.
The thick walls of the inner courtyard cut off much of the sound, to the relief of the horses who were on the verge of panic by the time they reached the stables. Gil petted and stroked Luna, praising and soothing her. Paole did the same with the somewhat more sedate black stallion, and led him to a stall, spreading hay into his crib and pouring water into a bucket for him.
“We may as well wait here,” Gil said once Luna was reunited with her foal, and Mathias was suckling happily. “We’ll never get a look in.”
“Aye. No hurry now, though I should tell Ferdi the news.”
“I think you’ll find Ferdi already knows. That man has a spy network that would make the Karvin king jealous. No, take your ease, man. You’ve earned it, and so have I. Gods, what a bloody day.”
He collapsed onto a hay bale and wiped his face with his hand, showing all of his forty-nine years in the lines of his face. Paole sat too, his legs suddenly weak. He had a future. They all did. Every time he accepted the possibility of death, damn Yveni came along and saved him. All of them.
“The lad leads a charmed life,” he muttered.
“He’s had his share of ill-luck too. But this is definitely a blessing in disguise. It’s the breakthrough we’ve been waiting for, you realise. If he can swing it, Markov can help him return to Sardelsa and gain the throne.”
“What? You think so?” Paole stared blankly. The possibility hadn’t even entered his head. “Are there enough soldiers? And will they bear arms against their own people?”
“Those are the unknown factors, of course. But this is the best chance he’s had since he left Sardelsa, and the best chance he might ever have.”
Paole felt suddenly sick. Of course Yveni had to go. But Paole couldn’t go with him. Yveni had his destiny to fulfil, an inconvenient fact they had both ignored over the last few frenetic days. Nothing had changed, in fact. Only the opportunity.
“I’m glad if it is,” he said firmly. “He’d make a very good ruler.”
“Yes, he would. I always thought that.” Gil glanced at him shrewdly. “It won’t change how he feels about you.”
“I never thought it would.” Paole would
not
talk about this with Gil before he talked to Yveni, or before there was any reason to. And if Yveni had to leave, then that was that.
He wasn’t allowed to mope for long. One of the governor’s servants came looking for them soon after. “Their Excellencies’ compliments, sirs, and would you both care to come inside and meet the new arrivals?”
Gil climbed slowly to his feet. “I would, definitely. How about you, Master Paole?”
“I think I could be persuaded, Master Gil.”
Yveni did his best to be polite and listen to the congratulations of the city’s more prominent citizens, but what he really wanted was Gil and Paole to hurry up so he could meet Markov in private session and learn what was happening back home. He needed Gil there because the man was his lieutenant in fact if not in law, and Paole, he wanted there because…well, because he did.
Ah, there they were. He tugged on Leandro’s sleeve. “Your Excellency, if we could withdraw?”
Governor Leandro called for attention. “Good people, today we have great cause for rejoicing, but your governors still have work to do. Please, continue your celebrations, but excuse His Grace Yveni and me.”