Chapter 23
Tidings and Portents
Gottestag, Gotland
Maus stood at Hecate's side in the Small Council chamber as she took her morning brief. Unless she had other business, it was her custom to hold councils twice a day, after the morning and evening sacrifices respectively. When Maus was in Gottestag, he would accompany her as his bodyguard. Ostensibly, as one of her generals, he had reason to attend as a proper council member, but he never saw himself as more than a simple soldier. He never had much of a head for strategy or politics. He was like an arrow. Point him in the direction of the enemy and loose. However, Hecate wanted him to be her King and that was not a role for a simple soldier or a loose arrow.
Besides the viceroys and vicereines ruling in Hecate's stead in the conquered kingdoms, there was a representative in court for each of those kingdoms on the council who would relay news from their territories. For Criemus, that representative was Duke Helmfried. Just looking at him made Maus' fingers yearn for the hilt of his sword. It may well have been that a word from him would be all it would take for Hecate to have Duke Helmfried locked up in an iron chest filled with rats to see who would win the contest of sating their hunger first, but while Maus may not have had much of a head for politics, he knew that taking such action against the Queen's most loyal man in Criemus would not only unsettle her hold in that kingdom but in the others as well. A Duke was not an easy man to kill if you were wary of the consequences.
As much as Maus distrusted the man and personally disliked him, he was undeniably loyal to the Queen, even if it was only for the sake of his own greed and ambition. Maus knew that Hecate was no fool. She could see the man for what he was, and so long as he was useful to her, he would continue to be used, and so all her knight could do was suffer his presence.
At the moment, it was not Duke Helmfried but rather Count Gundomar of Dumanus who was giving the Queen his report. Count Gundomar represented Bergeny in the Small Council. Unlike Duke Helmfried, he showed no signs of trying to present himself as a suitor for Hecate, so for that alone, Maus held him in higher regard.
"My Queen, I am afraid that I have ill tidings," Count Gundomar said.
Hecate motioned for him to continue and the ill-at-ease Count dabbed his forehead with his handkerchief before doing so.
"Some three weeks ago, there was a band collecting tribute in Milon that failed to report back. The chiliarch Gunrok personally investigated and found that the band had been slain to the last. He has been scouring the land in search of those responsible, but nothing has been found. Since then, there has been no word from a band led by the kentarch Grommwè."
"And you suspect the same people are responsible?" Hecate asked.
"We fear so, my Queen," Count Gundomar replied. "And what is more, Kentarch Grommwè's band was lost near the eastern border of Milon."
"Where was the first band lost?"
"In the west, in Hirschsee, my Queen."
"So what you fear is that armed rebels are moving eastward, possibly even crossing into Gotland?"
Count Gundomar wiped his forehead again.
"Yes, my Queen..."
"And do you think these rebels would find aid and comfort in these lands?"
Duke Bernhardt of Lakenstadt, the representative of Gotland, was quick to speak up, saying, "My Queen, we had had nine years to root anyone who would oppose your reign."
"But have you succeeded?" Hecate asked.
The Duke could not easily answer her and Duke Helmfried was quick to exploit the opening.
"If my Queen would require it, her loyal servants will flock to your call. If you but say the word, I could raise ten thousand men in a week's time."
Duke Bernhardt slammed his hands on the table and shouted, "I will not have your Crieman dogs tramping through our lands!"
Duke Helmfried simply smiled and replied, "'Our lands', my lord? Gotland, Criemus, it is all our Queen's lands, unless you have something else in mind."
"I will not have you impugn my loyalty!" Duke Bernhardt snapped back.
"Enough!" Maus barked.
The collected lords glared at him for intervening, but none of them would dare to speak against the Queen's favorite in her presence.
"We have two taxei in Gotland at the moment," Hecate said. "Send them out to find these enemies, if they are to be found."
"But, my Queen," Duke Bernhardt said, "the winter solstice festivities are close at hand. Who will defend the capital?"
"Between the Palace Guard and the City Guard, it will suffice," Hecate said. "Let us put this matter to rest quickly. I will not have some brigands nor the rumors of brigands spoil our holy day. In fact, send word to all the governors to increase their patrols. How large were these bands that were lost?"
"Each were an enomotia of some two and thirty, my Queen," Count Gundomar said. "It is common for patrols and the collection of tribute."
"Two and thirty is not challenge enough for these enemies, it would seem. Have our men march out by kentarchy. That should give them something to chew on."
"My Queen, is it wise to scatter our armies so at a time such as this?" Duke Bernhardt asked. "If our enemies are moving against us, would it not be wiser to concentrate our forces so that we might strike them down?"
"Are we to wait for our enemies to come to us while we huddle in our walls?" Hecate asked. "Are we to let them run rampant in the countryside, stirring up the smallfolk with vain dreams that would dash to pieces everything we have been trying to build?"
"Indeed so, my Queen," Duke Helmfried said. "We must show the people our strength. When they see our warriors out in force, none will dare to rise up. These, these brigands, whoever they may be, whatever treachery they used against those two ill-fated bands, it will not avail them this time. Fates be willing, we will see them offered up among the solstice sacrifices."
Duke Bernhardt scowled at being outmaneuvered by Duke Helmfried's sycophancy, but his cautious nature did not play well for public displays. Of course, if Duke Helmfried thought his shameless flattery could ingratiate himself to the Queen so easily, he did not understand her in the slightest. Maus held his tongue, though. If she wanted to silence a worm like the Duke, she could do so effortlessly. She had her uses for such a creature and all Maus could do was trust her wisdom on the matter.
In this case, she used the Duke's words as an excuse to end the council, saying, "Then make it so. You are dismissed."
Some of the lords looked like they still had something they wanted to say, but they would not linger once dismissed. They rose from their seats, bowed and filed out of the chamber.
Although Maus had not moved from where he stood, Hecate said, "You, however, are not dismissed, beloved, and I will not have you going out with your men. I want you to remain by my side."
"As you command, my Queen," Maus replied, bowing his head.
"I do not command it. I wish it."
"Your wish is my command, my Queen."
Hecate chuckled softly to herself.
"How like you to answer so. Oh, would that I could just sweep away those buzzing flies with a swipe of my hand."
She swatted at the air to emphasize the point.
"If you wish it, you can make it so, my Queen," Maus said.
Hecate held up her hand, seeking for him to take it, which he did. She then drew his hand to her cheek and held it there as she replied, "If only it were so simple, beloved. You do not ease childbirth by killing the midwife. I am giving birth to something new and for now, I need the old order, but once it is accomplished, I may well let the old order pass away."
Maus did not have a head for politics, so he could not even begin to imagine what sort of future Hecate might have in mind. Perhaps it could be something better. He did not have to think on it long, though, as Hecate then asked him a question that played more to his strengths.
"What do you make of this disturbance in Milon, beloved?"
"Bergeny is not yet wholly subdued, my Queen," Maus said. "Still the Princes of Noviodum and Jonne continue in their resistance, but without Skadia to shield them from the north, they must know that they will not endure through the spring campaign, so they are trying to weaken our hold on the Bergenian heartland."
"Do you think it can make a difference or is it nothing more than a vain effort?"
"A vain effort. They may slow our advance from the east, perhaps force us to commit more men to pacifying the countryside, but they do not have the men to prevent us from marching on Lindenberg and ending this war once and for all."
Maus paused as a thought occurred to him.
"Unless..."
"Unless what, beloved?" Hecate asked.
"The order you just gave, my Queen, like Chiliarch Gunrok before you... What if it is playing right into the enemy's hands? Our forces are scattered about on a wild goose chase while here you are left vulnerable. It does not have to be a large force, just one skilled and dedicated in purpose. In fact, a small force would be better. It would be the same as when..."
"The same as when?"
"The same as when you were brought back into this world, my Queen. Your Empusae had taken Queen Adelheidis to be the sacrifice for the ritual that called you back. The King would have sent a whole company of knights, indeed all his army to get her back, but Master Tancred--the Court Sorcerer, that is--counselled sending only few. There were not even twenty of us who went."
"But the effort failed."
"Not by much, my Queen, and if those who learned from that experience are behind this..."
Hecate did not seem so concerned as she said, "Then as now, I have you, beloved, and that will make all the difference."
Hecate's confidence in him did nothing to ease Maus' unease, though. If the Far-seer still lived and he had another vision to guide the ones Maus once called companions, he could imagine them braving a hundred leagues of enemy territory all for a chance to cut off the head of the serpent before the spring campaign began. It was a desperate gambit to be sure, but it was their last best hope of turning the tide of the war.
Hecate had already transcended death once, but as far as Maus knew, Loreley's body was still quite mortal. If men of the caliber of the Five Champions, armed with the full knowledge of the ins and outs of the castle, were to slip into the capital...
Maus could not keep his fears to himself and said, "I do not know if I alone have the strength to protect you, my Queen."
"But you are not alone, beloved," Hecate replied. "You have a hundred of my best men here and twelvescore more in the city."
"I only hope it will be enough," Maus said, but his doubts remained.
