Storm over Vallia Read Online Free PDF Page A

They could not stand up to a face to face set-piece battle. Not while they were now, having sustained casualties, at a worse ratio than one to three. When the reinforcements marched and flew in, why, then, with the blessing of Opaz and the strength and cunning of Vox, they’d knock Vodun Alloran’s teeth down his throat.
    And his two whip-tailed Katakis with him, too...
    “We must preserve the Phalanx intact,” said Drak, stating the essential and the obvious. “Without them at Swanton’s Bay we would have been destroyed.”
    “Aye, jis.”
    “Get the kervaxes moving at first light and withdraw the entire Phalanx force to the east. We will need light infantry for ambush work, and light cavalry.”
    They talked on for a space, settling details, then at Drak’s suggestion, they retired to try to sleep for what was left of the night. The rain continued. The sky was a mere black platter pressing down on the land. Leone Starhammer lingered.
    “Jis?”
    “Yes, Leone?”
    “The queen — I fear she will take this news ill.”
    “She will have to be told, I suppose...”
    “Jiktar Shirl the Elegant fell today—”
    “I am desolated! I did not know.”
    “A stray varter bolt pierced her through the throat, above the corselet rim. She died in my arms.” Leone’s hard plain face revealed no outward emotion; Drak was not deceived.
    “She was handmaid to the queen; but she kept on pestering to go with the army and be a Jikai Vuvushi. In the end the queen relented and gave her assent. Shirl the Elegant was very dear to the queen.”
    “I see. Then she will have to know. I give thanks to Opaz that the queen stays in Vondium.”
    Leone stared at him, and the slight movement of her right eyebrow was of enormous significance.
    “I believe the queen would dearly love to be with the army, to march with her regiment of Jikai Vuvushis, to be with the man she — the prince she—”
    “All right, Leone. I know, you know, the whole damned world of Kregen knows Queen Lushfymi of Lome wants to marry me. Well, I am not so sure.”
    “May I say, prince, that it would be a splendid match? Lome is a very rich country, and Pandahem is allied to us now, after the wars, and—”
    “Allied to us! By Vox, Leone! You saw that fresh damned army come shrieking off the beaches! They were from Pandahem. They were Pandaheem. I wouldn’t be surprised if there weren’t more than a few men from Lome among ’em!”
    “Majister!”
    “Aye, and a few girls, too!”
    “Jis — you do me dishonor — I cannot—”
    Before Drak had time to spit out that he didn’t really mean what he said in the heat of angry resentment, Leone fled from the room. Drak swore. He swept the maps off the table, then he kicked the table leg, then he swore some more.
    Women!
    The trouble was, ever since Queen Lush — at once he mentally corrected himself. He ought to refer to her as Queen Lushfymi, although she was generally known as Queen Lush. She’d come to Vallia to marry the old emperor, Drak’s grandfather, and when he had been killed, Queen Lush, after some fraught experiences with sorcery, had decided her best bet would be to marry the Prince Majister. One day Prince Drak would be the emperor.
    Well, and so he would, if his father had his way. Drak refused even to think about all that. He had a campaign to run and Vodun Alloran, the damned traitor, to whack. Time enough later to think of marrying.
    And then — of course! — he could not stop himself thinking of Silda.
    Daughter of his father’s boon companion, Seg Segutorio, the finest Bowman of Loh in the world of Kregen, Silda Segutoria troubled Drak in ways he just couldn’t fathom. He knew she loved him. She had risked her life, willingly offering it up, to save him from death. She was marvelous, wonderful, impetuous, quicksilver, and damned devious, too, like all the women who were members of the famous if secret sorority the Sisters of the Rose.
    Into the bargain he knew that Seg Segutorio,