The Warlord Chapter 7

WARLORD Chapter 7

Hyacinth had to be the first destination. Peony was there. Until she was safe with us (okay,

relatively

safe), I was going to worry.

I ran to to 'my' chamber. Time was now of the essence. Peony knew that, so she didn't waste even a moment on formal greetings or unnecessary questions.

- "You've begun?" she said.

- "Yes."

She immediately sent Nosey and Pudge to find the garrison commander, a half-Hadyk named Faldor. He was a tiny little fellow, not quite 4'10". Because of his diminutive size, Rona had never given him a chance at a real command. Of course he wasn't going to be a warrior, but he was intelligent enough. It was a waste of potential talent. Even now, he was only a substitute garrison commander because all of the family members were at Caladium.

He was astonished when I asked him to hand over command of the garrison to Luth.

- "Luth?"

- "Yes. I need you to come with me. Haste is essential."

We also collected Kien and Rima, the blind half-Hadyk. Boloda filled them in, privately, as quickly as possible. The end result was that both immediately chose to join my growing little family. I adopted them without a moment's hesitation. If Boloda and Peony vouched for them, that was good enough for me. It also gave my plan one more small advantage.

Luth stayed in Hyacinth, but immediately went to work. Armene had to wait, alone, in the Portal Room. I had briefed her extensively on what to do. The rest of us, including Peony, Faldor, Kien and Rima, went through the Portal to Flax.

- "Hurry." I told Wantrao.

He dashed off. In the meantime, I sent for the substitute garrison commander, another undervalued half Hadyk named Vanea. She was surprised when I asked her to hand over command of the garrison to Kien. But I was the Warlord, so she complied.

Boloda briefed Kien, while I went to find Wantrao. We met outside the Dining Room, where he was helping a heavy-set woman walk toward us.

- "Mother." he said. "This is Daniel. The Warlord."

Kamla Hadyk had once been a fine-looking woman. She was reputed to have been prettier than her sisters, Rona and Keratsa. But she lacked Rona's political acumen, her ruthlessness, and her drive. Kamla was proud, and too unintelligent to realize how stupid she really was. Her repeated attempts to interfere in family strategy led Rona to essentially exile her to Flax.

Her marriage to Murari (once a Shorr) produced Malusha, but her husband's philandering was too constant to ignore. She got her revenge by taking a peon to her bed - and produced Wantrao.

She was ostracized by the entire family. Her lonely life became even more desolate. She had already lost her spouse; now she lost her daughter as well. Her maternal instincts dried up completely.

But it was no part of my plan to let her stay here. Though it was possible, or even likely that she wouldn't cause trouble, I wasn't willing to leave it to chance. She came with us, through the Portal, to Ivy. Kien stayed in Flax, for the moment, with a task to accomplish. Wantrao began his lonely vigil in the Portal room.

- "Ivy." I said.

Yet another substitute garrison commander was summoned, and ordered to hand over command to Inzhay. This one was named Evtey.

- "But... I received no warning of this." said Evtey.

- "Obviously. That's why I came in person. Inzhay is the garrison commander until I decide otherwise."

- "If you say so, Warlord."

I had Faldor, Vanea and Evtey locked up - and Kamla with them.

- "It's only temporary." I told them.

Then I returned to the Portal Room. Inzhay was already on his way to carry out my orders. Boloda would be the one to remain in the Portal Room.

"You know what to do?" I asked, unnecessarily.

- "That's six." she said. "The day I need to be told something seven times is the day I'll fall on my sword. On your way, Warlord."

With Peony, Kisel, and Rima, I went through the Portal

- "Jacaranda."

The Portal Room was empty. I went to stand next to the Touchstone. I needed to take several deep breaths. I was so nervous that I thought I was about to hyperventilate.

I put my hand on the Touchstone.

Nothing happened.

- "I am Daniel Graham." I said, with my hand still on the stone.

Nothing happened. But Peony only nodded, and encouraged me to continue.

- "I claim this Touchstone for the Grahams." I said.

Suddenly, there was a gong sound, similar to the noise that signalled the beginning and end of a Turn. A voice came out of the Touchstone.

- "

Do you wish to declare war, Daniel Graham?

"

- "I do. I declare war on the Hadyks. On Rona Hadyk."

Now there was a loud, booming gong. It shook the room. Peony actually covered her ears. The voice spoke again.

- "

The Grahams have declared war on the Hadyks

."

Once more I put my hand on the stone. "I claim Jacaranda for the Grahams."

The control panel on the Touchstone changed colour. The symbols had been blue. Now they turned green. Dark green.

I whirled around. The heavy curtain in front of the alcove was now green as well. The tapestry above the door, which had once been purple, and then blue, was green as well. The flames which wreathed the Portal itself were now tinged with green.

- "Green?"

- "Your tunic." said Peony, pointing at my T-shirt. "And your eyes." she added.

I'd just taken Jacaranda from the Hadyks. They would have heard the booming gong in Caladium. They had to have heard the announcement that I was at war with them. But what could they know of my whereabouts? Or who was with me? As far as they knew, I was still outside Caladium, with the army. With

their

army.

- "Wish me luck." I said, to Peony. I quickly stepped over to the Portal.

- "Hyacinth." I said.

I passed easily through the shimmering gateway, into a very familiar Portal room.

- "It worked!" shouted Armene.

***

It had worked. In one stroke, we'd declared war on the Hadyks and taken four of their cities. My only regret was that I hadn't had a few more loyal confederates. As it was, I'd taken a risk inviting Inzhay and Virdyan to join us.

I needed two trustworthy allies to capture a city. At Hyacinth, Luth had taken command of the garrison, and marched them out of the castle, so that no one could interfere with our plan.

- "I heard the gong." said Armene. "Then the declaration of war - that sent a chill up my spine, I'll tell you. And then I claimed the Touchstone. It worked - just as you said. Everything turned green. Why green, though?"

- "For my shirt."

At Flax, Kien had marched out with the garrison, leaving Wantrao alone in the Portal room. At Ivy, Inzhay moved the troops, while Boloda guarded and then claimed the Touchstone. Armene, Wantrao and Boloda were among the best fighters I knew of. If, by some freakish, epic piece of bad luck, one or more members of the Hadyk family had come through the Portal while I was still laying the groundwork, they had a chance of driving them back - unless, of course, Malusha was among them, or they arrived in large numbers.

Flax was ours, as well. Wantrao grinned at me as I stepped through. He actually took my hand in his, and clapped me on the back with his other hand. Of course, there was no one else present to see this display of emotion - he'd be able to deny it had ever happened.

- "Green?" he said. "Why green?"

- "For my eyes, according to Peony."

- "Huh. Better than baby-cack brown, for your hair."

- "Thanks."

Ivy was ours as well. Boloda was safely in control of the Touchstone, so I was able to pass through the Portal.

We had four cities! It was a monumental coup.

But it was even bigger than that: at this very moment, Jashi and Sudha would be taking command of the thousands of troops who were linked to these four Touchstones.

The Hadyk family were, as far as I knew, still inside Caladium castle, probably trying to understand what had just happened. When they got around to using the Portal, they would find that they were unable to travel to Flax, Hyacinth, Ivy or Jacaranda. Those cities were now enemy territory for them.

And their troops belonged to us.

Back in Hyacinth, the soldiers of the garrison now had green trim on their armour and equipment, and quite a few (including Nosey) sported green hair. I had the beginnings of a Punk Rock army.

I was elated, but also exhausted. Back home, before all of this started, I don't think I would have been capable of this kind of effort. It wasn't that I was in better physical shape; I'd only spent a grand total of about twenty days in the Decapolis. But it was the mental effort that would have been most daunting. Mind over matter sounds easy enough, until you're in pain - constant pain, that makes concentration difficult and saps the will.

Why are we doing this? The body asks the question. Why don't we slow down, or better yet, stop for a rest? Maybe a nice nap. Anything would be better than this pain.

The difference, I suppose, is having a cause worth suffering hardship and pain for. Taking risks and facing danger for. My companions were relying on me. So was Peony. Peony, who'd now hugged me twice. Who knew the colour of my eyes.

Late that evening, we heard the loud gong. Turn Four was over.

***

My apartment felt colourless. Lifeless. It was probably a good idea, though, to see if my 'real' life was still stable. I checked my computer, expecting to find that work had piled up during my absence. Oddly enough, it hadn't.

There were only two files to deal with. It took only fifteen minutes to dispose of the first; the second took a little over an hour.

Now I was free to reflect on what I'd done, and what was to come. I pulled out my map.

Even the next day, I didn't regret the outcome of the coup. It had gone pretty much exactly as planned, even if the situation on the map wasn't ideal.

Our four cities hugged the eastern edge of the page, all the way from top (Ivy) to bottom (Flax). It would be difficult to defend. Ivy could be attacked from Goldenrod and Eglantine; Flax could be reached from Dahlia. In fact, three of the four Graham production centres were threatened from Goldenrod.

Conversely, though, Goldenrod was vulnerable to all three of those cities. And the Hadyks were going to have their hands full. They held Caladium, which could be easily reached by the Balabans and the Morcars. Worse yet, they were heavily outnumbered by the enemy coalition, and now by us.

I had, briefly, considered taking Dahlia instead of Ivy. That would have left us a better concentration of cities, closer together, able to offer each other support. But that was where Deondra's son and daughter and the other Hadyk children were. I had no wish to begin my coup by taking children hostage. Most important of all, though, was the fact that Jashi's flanking force was attuned to the Touchstone at Ivy.

And, as it stood now, Dahlia was a useful buffer between the Grahams and the Balabans. It might be possible to arrange a truce of some kind with the Morcars and the Balabans; after all, their quarrel was with Rona Hadyk - not me.

Perhaps not too soon, though. The Grahams wouldn't really be safe until we had at least five production centres, and some kind of advantage or at least parity in numbers.

That led me to think of the coming Turn, and of the many decisions that fell to be made. One was the question of Kamla Hadyk. What would Wantrao want for his mother? What did she herself want?

I'd also imprisoned Faldor, Vanea, and Evtey - three half-Hadyks who'd done me no harm, but that I was not prepared to trust in a crisis. Not yet, anyway. They'd be released, of course. Might it be possible to win them over?

The Graham family was still quite small. We didn't have half-Grahams to call on, either. We were going to need more officers. Where could I find them?

Would illegitimate children from the other families be interested in joining us? There had to be a few who were in the same boat as Wantrao, or Kisel, or Boloda: unwanted or unappreciated. How to reach out to them? On that note, I had to remember to ask Inzhay to contact Virdyan, now that we had cities, and an army.

I'd promised to find jobs for Kien and Rima. I could certainly make Kien a garrison commander, or have him lead reinforcements after the next builds. But what kind of work could I give to a blind woman, in a society like theirs? I did a couple of internet searches, looking for ideas. And then, naturally, I thought of something completely different.

I also devoted some time to considering the question of governance. I didn't want to be an autocrat like Rona Hadyk, ruling arbitrarily. But I'd suffered through enough staff and committee meetings to be leery of anything too democratic, either.

Then there was the issue of the peons. I'd struck a blow for the half-Hadyks; they were already 'people', as far as I was concerned, but now they believed it too. What could be done for the peons?

Was there a way to end the cycle of wars? If the Grahams could reach a point like the Hadyks had (ever so briefly), controlling seven of the ten cities, would that be enough? The other families would be in no position to challenge us, unless we turned on each other.

And how could I prevent that, without becoming a worse tyrant than Rona?

***

I'd laid out fresh clothes for myself before going to bed: clean track pants and socks, and the only other green t-shirt I owned. Unfortunately, it said 'Kiss me, I'm Irish'; I would have to cover that up somehow.

I woke in my familiar chamber in Hyacinth, but something was odd. Out of place. It took me a moment to realize that Peony was sleeping on the foot of my bed.

I'll admit that I watched her sleep for a little while.

My attempt to slide out of bed without disturbing her failed. She stirred, and her eyelids fluttered. Then she opened her eyes, and saw me.

- "Oh!" she said.

- "Good morning, Peony. Have you been there long?"

- "No, I... I'm sorry, Dan. I wanted to make sure that I was the first to speak you this morning. It's very important."

- "Alright. What is it?"

She lowered her head. "You have to send me away."

- "What? Why would I do that?"

- "Because I'm a danger to you."

I shook my head. "That doesn't make sense."

- "It's true, though. Dan, I... I still belong to the Hadyks. They ordered me to help you, but they could just as easily order me to betray you."

- "How?"

- "I don't know. They could... command me to spy on you. Force me to reveal your secrets."

- "Wouldn't they have to be physically present to do that?"

- "Well..."

- "And I don't really have any secrets." I said. "If you like, we won't tell you our secret plans. If we make secret plans."

- "You're not taking me seriously."

- "I am. But I'm not letting you go, Peony. You belong with us. You're part of this family, too."

- "Peons don't have families." she said.

- "You do."

She didn't have an answer to that.

"Besides," I said, "aren't you connected to the Touchstone? If one of the other families had captured Hyacinth, wouldn't you belong to them?"

For some strange reason, she hadn't considered that possibility.

- "So... I belong to you."

- "No." I said. "You don't 'belong' to anyone, Peony. Except yourself."

I went to breakfast in the dining room. Then I took Wantrao with me, and went through the Portal to Ivy.

- "It's your choice." I told him. "I mean, she has a choice, too. But I'll respect your decision."

He went off to meet with his mother.

I went in person to release Faldor, Vanea and Evtey. I apologized, and led them to the dining room. While they ate, I explained what I'd done, and why I'd done it.

- "What makes you so sure that the Hadyks were going to betray you? And why would the Hadyks even want to do such a thing?" asked Evtey.

- "Lady Rona came to the conclusion that the war was basically won. She didn't need me any more, and she didn't want to honour her promise to me."

- "What promise?"

- "That I was to marry Lady Stephanie."

Evtey started to laugh, but swiftly caught herself when she saw my face. "Oh - you're serious. I thought that was a joke."

- "You've started your own family?" said Faldor, diplomatically changing the subject. "I didn't know that was even possible."

- "It is." I named all of the members of the family.

- "Those are the only ones who would join you?" said Evtey, with a hint of scorn in her voice. I was beginning to dislike her.

- "They were the only ones I asked." I decided not to mention Virdyan, for fear that Evtey would rat him out. "I didn't contact any of you because I didn't know you well enough. But if you're interested, we'd be happy to have you join us."

- "As full family members?" said Faldor. "Not halfs?"

- "There aren't going to be any half-Grahams. Any child of ours, regardless of their parentage, will be a Graham just as much as the rest of us."

- "You're serious?" asked Vanea.

- "Very much so."

I left them to finish their breakfast, and went to check on Wantrao. I hadn't planned on eavesdropping, and fortunately didn't have to. They had come to a decision.

- "She wants to go back to the Hadyks." he said. "They treat her with contempt, but they're her family. We're all complete strangers to her. Even me. She doesn't really know me at all."

- "I'm sorry, Wantrao."

- "Don't be. At least I have a family now."

- "Yes, you do."

- "Thank you for giving her a choice, though. I appreciate it."

I left the castle, going out to the courtyard, where I met with the senior unit commanders. There were fifteen of them, so I didn't get to do much more than learn their names (temporarily, of course - I was probably going to forget most of them) and shake their hands. It might have been just my imagination, but I thought that they seemed to be genuinely pleased to be part of the Graham army.

When I went back to the dining room, I could hear Evtey's voice down the hall.

- "Outcasts! Rejects! That's all he could convince to join him!" she said.

- "I would hardly call Sudha and Armene rejects." said Faldor.

- "Or Inzhay." added Vanea. "And Jashi may be connected to you-know-who, but she's never said an unkind word to any of us."

- "Don't be stupid." said Evtey. "Who ever heard of a Graham?"

- "It's an ancient clan." I said, as I walked into the room. "Our motto is 'Ne Oublie', which means 'Do not forget'. That applies to friends as well as enemies."

Evtey looked mildly embarrassed.

"I take it that you aren't interested in my offer." I said. "In that case, I wonder if you would honour a simple request. Would you be willing to escort Lady Kamla back to Hadyk territory? I will provide horses and food, plus a small escort."

- "You'd let us go?"

- "Yes."

- "Lord Daniel?" said Faldor. "I think I'd like to join your family - if the offer still stands."

- "We'd be happy to have you."

Vanea was still on the fence. "I know it's asking a great deal, but could I have a little more time... to consider it?"

- "All the time you need." I said. "As long as you don't mind being under guard until you decide one way or the other." I wasn't going to have her wandering around unsupervised, able to take over a Touchstone.

- "Thank you, Lord."

- "Just Daniel."

***

The family strategy meeting, held in the Map Room at Hyacinth, was actually fun. It might have been because we hadn't been together as a group long enough to develop any serious rivalries or deep animosity. It didn't hurt, either, that there were no major disagreements over our plans for Turn Five.

Jashi and Sudha were still over a day away, marching back from Caladium with what I hoped would be our field army. But Wantrao and Armene were present, along with Inzhay. Boloda and Kisel, Luth, Kien, and even blind Rima joined us. I introduced Faldor, whom they all knew (though not all that well). They welcomed him warmly. We needed all the help we could get.