Demons of the Dancing Gods (39 page)

by a dozen spread-out infantrymen armed with powerful

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DEMONS OF THE DANCING GODS

JACK L. CHALKER

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crossbows. They met no resistance nor saw any sign of life,

except an occasional bird and butterfly, as they advanced on

the town. When they reached the first of the buildings, the

cavalry stopped, and the infantry fanned out both to scout and

to protect the mounted men. Only then did they proceed into

the town.

It took them almost forty minutes to do a thorough search,

but after the first quarter hour, they were pretty sure that no

one remained behind. It was, in many ways, an eerie sight.

Although a few things were missing in one place or another,

there were still half-eaten meals on dinner tables and halfconsumed

tankards at the inn. All food and fires were cold,

yet there was the distinct feeling among the men that the town's

hasty abandonment could not have occurred earlier than the

previous afternoon or early evening. In fact, dinner had clearly

been at least in preparation when the alarm came. The captain

ordered one of his men back to inform the Baron.

"I don't like this," the General noted. "It has a bad feel to

it."

"It was your plan, remember," the Baron responded, knowing

that the truth of the statement would make very little difference

now.

The army marched into the town and quickly secured it,

while the bulk of the infantry was told to establish safe perimeters

to guard against an attack from the rear and to seal off

any breakout.

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Detaching a hundred and fifty battle-hardened cavalry from

the main unit, the Baron and the General rode on down the

road toward the dark towers of Terindell.

"Could they have all retreated inside the castle?" the Baron

speculated.

"It's possible," the General responded, "even probable, if

it were just the people who were missing. But they took their

livestock and pets as well when they went, and that I don't

like. The wind is right from the castle now. Such a crowd of

people and animals should make an awful racket, yet I hear

nothing save the birds."

They came around the bend to the castle gates and stopped.

The gates were wide open. Inside, they could see no sign of

a living thing.

Another patrol was dispatched, moving forward with agonizing

slowness. Finally it reached the gates and halted for a

moment. The officer in the front turned back to his leaders and

gave a massive shrug.

"I'm going forward," the General told the Baron. "Stay here

and wait for my signal." He rode confidently ahead, soon

reaching the forward patrol. He stopped then, his huge, oddly

cast helmet, which concealed every bit of his features, looking

this way and that, as if giving some sort of impossible inspection

of every stone. Finally he eased his horse across the bridge

and entered the outer castle, the patrol nervously following.

They passed through into the inner castle and then into the

beautifully manicured inner courtyard and looked around.

Nothing stirred.

"There is no life here except the usual parasitic animals,"

the General told the patrol. "No ambush. Nothing. Signal the

Baron to come in and have guards posted on outer and inner

gates."

The patrol quickly did as it was instructed, and the Baron

moved forward and joined the General. They dismounted together

and walked over to the simple, two-storey block building

at the far end of the courtyard. On the door was a large scroll,

held with two heavy nails. The Baron took it down, unrolled

it, and read it with mounting anger and frustration.

"My dear Baron:

"Welcome to Castle Terindell. I hope that you and the boys

won't make too much of a mess of it, since it's a very nice

castle in a "wonderful location. You can safely put up your

troops here and be comfortable about it, as I will have no need

for it in the immediate future. You should have no difficulty

in defending it, as there is no enemy army anywhere nearby.

"I must thank you, though, for that brilliant infiltration plan.

I admit that my military education is sadly lacking, and I would

never have thought of it on my own. Of course, you must have

realized that moving such large forces, even in small groups

over a long period, would inevitably attract somebody's attention,

and it did. When I saw just how ingenious the whole

thing was, I embraced the plot wholeheartedly.

"It should be immediately obvious to one of your talents

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and intellect that it is far easier to move such forces downriver

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JACK L. CHALKER

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than up, and far faster. It therefore occurred to me that if you

really wanted this place so much, it would be absurdly easy to

swap. By the time you read this, Esmerada will be disposed

of and Witchwood will be under my domain, but I suppose

you expected that. However, at almost the same time, my forces

will have seized control of the roads and river routes between

Zhafqua and the Khafdis, giving us effective mastery of all

Zhimbombe except for Morikay itself, which is totally besieged

and cut off.

"In the meantime, my agents in and around your three armies

have the ability and means to poison meats, fish, fowl, and

water selectively, by nonmagical means. As long as your armies

remain in and occupy the places they took today, all will be

well; but should you take to the march, you will find the

pickings slim. I'm afraid, too, that our effective blockade of

the Dancing Gods at the River of Sighs has already captured

more than a third of your fleet. The rest can not come up,

while those that you have are trapped, as we sank a number

of old ships in the main channel of the Rossignol after your

supply boats passed and I'm afraid there isn't enough draft left

to allow travel. Feel free to start removing my obstacles, but

we sank a tasty cargo with them, so you'll find the river monsters

rather dense, shall we say? And, naturally, I'm saving

some other surprises so as not to spoil your fun.

"The civilian populations you now hold have all been given

an effective poison antidote, but they remain your hostages, of

course. I might remind you, though, that your attack on Sachalin

has brought an additional and formidable sorcerer into the

fight against you, so ifyo« leave, you'll give our brother free

rein to trample your army with all sorts of delightful scourges.

"I believe I have given you only one way out, and I shall

be delighted to meet you in some neutral place to settle this.

Bring your friend, too. Otherwise, have a nice day. Love and

kisses, Throckmorton P. Ruddygore."

The Baron shivered in cold fury, then handed the scroll to

the General, who read it without any visible reaction.

"Now what?" the Baron asked him.

"Well, I would say that we certainly underestimated the

man," the General responded. "From a military standpoint,

he's got us cold. He is quite right that it is far easier to enter

a place than to leave it. We can't even depend on treaty to

keep the waterways open, since nothing says he cannot blockade

his own lands. We could certainly consolidate our forces

into a formidable army, but we would then face a fighting

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retreat of over a thousand miles. There are harsh and difficult

measures that could be taken, of course, including the wholesale

elimination of the civilian population, one bit at a time,

attempting to force terms, but we don't have enough force to

hold this vast north country well enough to keep the majority

from fleeing to the wilds and waging an endless guerrilla action.

In any such war of attrition, the carnage would be horrible,

and we would lose."

"We could always retreat inland through Marquewood under

a pledge of safe passage," the Baron suggested hopefully. "They

would go for it, I think, just to eliminate the devastation we

could cause."

"To what end, though? Ruddygore would be under no such

constraints. It would be the Valley of Decision all over again,

with all the elements in the enemy's favor."

"I suppose. Damn Ruddygore! He's thwarted us at every

turn! Only my slow subversion by means of the books you

imported from Earth through Hell has shown any measurable

effect, and that will take decades, perhaps, to have any real

impact!"

"He cannot take Kaladon now. Morikay may be besieged,

but its seat of power is safe. The Council will be shocked

enough by Ruddygore's audacity in eliminating Esmerada. They

will not be kindly disposed to helping him topple yet another

member. Even his friends will be feeling their own necks by

now."

"True, but Kaladon is loyal to me only because he sees me

as the way to expand his power. If he is in fact besieged, he

knows that we have lost another round. I hardly think he will

welcome me with open arms, or, if he does, with empty ones.

No, if we are to recover from this, it must be as Ruddygore

himself suggests. If I can eliminate the fat man, I can turn

things around immediately. Then he has an unsupported army

in the south, while we control a strong series of bases here.

Eliminate Ruddygore and we win. Anything less and we lose.

It's as simple as that."

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"I concur. However, do you think he can be defeated? You

faced him once in the Valley of Decision and fought to a draw.

It was my analysis at that time that you would both have died,

had the engagement not been broken off."

The Baron chuckled. "You are worried about my health?

Kaladon would probably be more to your liking."

"Kaladon is as surely mine in the end as you are; but, unlike

you, he wishes no meeting with Hell until forced to do so. He

is a good schemer, but he is vain and egomaniacal in the

extreme, without the intellect to control what he would have.

Politically, the surviving Council members would move to fill

the weakness. As I said, our fortunes are linked, and I believe

that you are right. Where will you fight him?"

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"No question there. I have the means to bring him to Wolf

Island in a hurry, for I have two of his most favored agents

there and a third certainly lurking nearby. I meet him there,

on familiar ground to me, with hostages who just might distract

him." He thought a moment. "Have the Bentar dispatch messages

by their birds to the other units to secure and hold their

positions but not advance until further orders come from you

or me. Our unit here will take Ruddygore's suggestion and

enjoy the comforts of this castle and the town. We will return

to Wolf Island to prepare for the arrival of our fat friend. 'Love

and kisses' indeed!"

The General laughed. "You must admit the man has real

style and flair. Come! We will tend to the business that needs

to be done, then fly to Wolf Island. With any luck, you can

be home by midnight. Then we shall prepare to decide this

thing."

CHAPTER 15

A FALLING-OUT BETWEEN

OLD FRIENDS

Never give a sorcerer an even break.

—Rules, VI, 307(a)

IT WAS WELL PAST MIDNIGHT WHEN ESMILIO BOQUILLAS

swooped down on the familiar shores of Wolf Island once more.

He could see at once from the air that things had changed, and

he didn't like it. In his flight back, he had diverted to check

on the progress of Valisandra's southern expeditionary forces

and he hadn't liked what he'd seen there at all. The border

with Marquewood was now a very open one, with that nation's

army pouring in behind the protection of the Valisandran advance

parties, and the nearest really effective troops the Barony

had were in Leander. The bulk of the regular and mercenary

forces of Zhimbombe not involved in the north had apparently

fought well, but had finally been forced to retreat to secure

defensive positions within the city limits of Morikay. The majority

of the forces south of the Khafdis could not be spared,

or the region would rise in revolt behind them.

In other words, the Barony was in deep trouble.

And now, he saw, even Wolf Island was not secure. The

castle he had left virtually shut down now blazed with light

and warmth, with smoke coming from the two main chimneys.

There was, in fact, a boat docked just down the island from

the cliff side, a boat such as he'd never seen before, and decorated

with strange writing and symbols. It looked large enough

to have transported a small army, but the signs of such a force

in and around the castle were absent. He was pretty sure whose

boat it was and what was waiting for him. He was more or