Gunpowder God (61 page)

It wasn’t until the Host was attacked from behind that Soton had lost his head and acted out of anger rather than military judgment.

Prince Kyphanes had held a reserve force of several thousand troopers outside Meligos City with orders to attack when the Host was committed to taking the city. Of course, such a small force did not have a chance to do more than kill men and divert the course of the siege, but they had accomplished that, and then some. The unexpected attack had cost the Host several thousand casualties.

As a result, Soton had set the wolves of war free in Meligos City. He’d told his mercenaries and the Holy Warriors of Styphon to sack and loot Meligos to their heart’s content. And they had done so with a vengeance…. At first, they’d been after loot and women, but then when some of the city folk had fought back, it had inflamed their blood lust and desire for revenge. Styphon’s Warriors had killed every man and woman they could find on the streets, sparing no one, while the mercenaries looted and burned all the shops and buildings. Former Archpriest Roxthar would have been proud of their
work
.

Soton was not; he felt as if he’d had the mother of all hangovers. And it wasn’t letting up. The pounding in his head was like some Ruthani drumbeat.

He used his arm to wave over Horse Master Sarmoth, then pointed down at the burning city. From their vantage point it appeared the entire city was engulfed in flames. “Do you see this waste, this blasphemy that I have inspired?”

Sarmoth nodded, wisely not saying anything.

“It is because I allowed myself to be overcome with anger: anger because I am where I am not needed, anger because of the harm I have been forced to place upon these people because their leader is a traitor, anger because I’m tired and worn-out. Pay heed to my words so that one day you do not repeat my actions here.”

“Yes, Grand Master.”

Soton pointed at the younger man. “You have not sprung from my loins, but in heart and spirit, you are my son.”

Sarmoth lowered his head. “I am overwhelmed, and flattered. I will try to live up to your teaching, sire.”

“Good. We have a few more small towns to take here in Meligos, but I do not foresee any difficulties. Word of our actions here will spread far and away. Next, we will move on Orchon and conquer it, from there we will go south to Varthon Town and Eubros Town. When they are ours, it will finalize our suzerainty of Hos-Agrys. From then on, it will be up to Prince-Elect Grythos to hold onto the lands we have purchased with our blood.”

“Yes, sir. But what about Kelos? Are we going to leave it in Great King Phidestros’ realm?”

Soton took a deep breath. “It saddens and troubles me to see the Bastard Prince raise himself onto the seat of one of the Five Great Kingdom’s Thrones. I would gain satisfaction from taking the Princedom of Kelos from his hands and delivering it to Grythos. However, Styphon’s Voice gave those lands to Great King Eudocles, regardless of how short his reign was, and they are no longer properly part of the Kingdom of Hos-Agrys. I will leave it to some other captain-general to right this wrong. It is my wish to be clear of the blighted land as soon as the last remaining town in Glarth is sacked or surrendered.”

It was a beautiful June, or as the locals called it, “Moon of Strawberries,” in Thagnor and Kalvan was busy writing a letter to King Verkan in Greffa City. He had the windows enlarged in his private chamber, at the top of the keep of Tarr-Thagnor, and the sun was streaming into the room. He was still not very accomplished at drawing the Urgothi runes, but he was slowly getting better. They were similar to the runic characters used in Hostigos, but different in number and design. However, stumbling along on his own was better than having a scribe, no matter how trusted, write his letters for him. The locals’ idea of gossip was a lot looser and more forgiving than Kalvan’s.

The situation in the Upper Middle Kingdoms, as he was explaining in the letter, had settled into a stalemate between King Theovacar of Grefftscharr and himself. Vinaldos’ spies reported that Theovacar was busy trying to replace the ships he lost in last year’s battle. He was also trying to build his own fireseed mills, and there he wasn’t doing too well. Gunpowder was dangerous stuff to work with, especially when it came to caking and powdering, and untutored hands were causing a lot of explosions. Also, Theovacar was having problems getting his crossbowmen to make the switch from crossbows to arquebuses. These problems could only be worked out over time and that was to Kalvan’s advantage, if he used that time wisely.

Although, Theovacar was playing agent provocateur by providing financing and arms to Dorg, inviting them into Lyros in an attempt to weaken Kalvan’s hold on the territories south of Nos-Hostigos. The latest news was that the Order of Zarthani Knights was also involved, sending both troops and foodstuffs into Dorg.

I’m not happy with the current regime, if you can call that bunch of cutthroats holding power in Lyros a regime, but I certainly prefer them to a puppet state financed by Styphon’s House and supported by Dorg and Grefftscharr. It’s still early enough in the year to send a good-sized force into Lyros and try to stabilize the situation. The problem is my subjects are enjoying their first year of relative peace since my arrival in Hostigos Town and I’d hate to start another war based solely on rumors and troop movements
.

I’ll just have to wait and see how things shake out. I may leave it up to King Chartiphon, who is much closer to the area in contention, and therefore more directly affected by events in Lyros and Dorg. By the way, Chartiphon’s new wife is expecting and should be giving birth any day. We hope that it is a boy so that it will provide a clear line of succession in Rathon should anything happen to Chartiphon. While he is in remarkably good shape for a man his age, he is still approaching sixty winters of age and will not be with us forever
.

On to other matters, Duke Hestophes is still blaming himself for the mess that he left behind in Hos-Agrys, although, in truth, there was little more to be done there. The League of Dralm, despite winters of warnings and other signs of the Temple’s expansionist intentions, did little to prepare for the Host’s invasion. Certainly, they neither possessed the men nor the will to stop the Host of Styphon’s Deliverance. If Hestophes had stayed, he most certainly would have thrown his troops away for nothing. At this point, the only army with a fighting chance against the Host would be the Army of Nos-Hostigos and I would not surrender the safety of my own realm for those who refused to come to our rescue when the Styphoni were fighting in Hos-Hostigos
.

Grand Master Soton is currently ripping through the opposing League princedoms with fire and sword and leaving nothing but ruins behind him. Any town or castle that refuses terms is torn down to the ground and the defenders killed or taken prisoner. All the League princedoms will soon have new Princes, as will several of the Union princedoms, since some of them were killed or captured at the Battle of Varthon Town
.

I know I should be the better man and forgive the League of Dralm for not coming to Our aid in Hos-Hostigos, but a part of me believes they are receiving their just desserts
.

Still, with Archpriest Roxthar dead and his Investigation at an end, the affected princedoms should recover in a decade or two
.

Not all of the Great Kingdoms were solidly in the gunpowder theocracy’s grip: Hos-Harphax was a complete question mark. The latest news was that Prince Geblon, one of Phidestros’ former captain-generals, had married Great Queen Lavena and was now Great King of Hos-Harphax. Some rumors in Harphax City said the claimant was supported by Prince Phidestros, while others reported that the two men had broken their ties. All in all, a real mare’s nest.

It was times like this that he wished Duke Skranga would return from Hos-Bletha. Skranga was a bit of a wild man and often strayed off the reservation, but he did deliver excellent intelligence. Well, one thing was certain, Skranga’s teams’ activities in Hos-Bletha had kept the Kingdom almost completely out of the Fireseed Wars and, since the Great King of Hos-Bletha was owned and run by Styphon’s House, that was no bad thing.

What Kalvan couldn’t figure out was why Phidestros had turned on Great King Lysandros? He wasn’t sure what was in it for Phidestros; he had been Lysandros’ fair-haired boy and had the largest holdings in the Five Kingdoms, including much of what had once been Hos-Hostigos. Instead of welcoming the status quo, Phidestros had first elevated Lysandros’ nephew, Selestros, as Great King-Elect.
Why not himself?

Prince Phidestros could have declared himself Great King and no one in Hos-Harphax could have stopped him. He wouldn’t have been the first ambitious general to promote himself to the office of Great King, either here or back on otherwhen.

Of course, much of what happened in Hos-Harphax, after Lysandros’ death, was Phidestros’ response to the kidnapping of his pregnant wife. He’d given in to Styphon’s Voice’s demands and beheaded Great King-Elect Selestros. That Kalvan could understand; he would have done the same thing to save Rylla.

Of course, the real surprise—to everyone, and not just to him—was Phidestros marching up into Hos-Zygros and enthroning himself on the Ivory Throne. Very few people had known, and he numbered himself among that group, that Phidestros was related by blood to former Great King Sopharar and was Eudocles’ bastard son.

Now, Phidestros was not only a Kingmaker, but a Great King. He was now the only man in the Six Kingdoms who had an army good enough and large enough to actually defeat Styphon’s House in detail, if not in the main. Phidestros was certainly, with Soton tied up in Hos-Agrys, in a position to storm and sack Balph next spring, should he so desire.

He began to write again:

I’m not sure exactly what Prince Phidestros is up to since he elevated Prince Geblon as Great King of Hos-Harphax, then moved into Hos-Zygros and made himself Great King after exiling his father, the Regicide. I can’t help but wonder, does Phidestros have some long-range ambition that supersedes being Great King of Hos-Zygros? If so, that could be problematic for us. It might even mean to achieve his goals that Phidestros might overlook what happened to Princess Arminta and ally himself with Styphon’s House sometime in the future
.

Or is it possible, that to gain revenge, Phidestros might be willing to join with Us in a crusade to end Styphon’s House On Earth once and for all? He reminds me greatly of some famous mercenary captains of my own home in the Cold Lands and I believe that in the long run Phidestros may be more dangerous to the future of the realm than Styphon’s House itself
.

Kalvan paused to rest his hand. Writing the Urgothi runes was hard work and unnatural to his hand. One of these days he was going to have to introduce the Roman alphabet. Legions of future school children would thank him, if he did.

There’s still a large number of my subjects, Rylla being the most prominent, who
wish
demand, at all costs, to return to Hos-Hostigos, despite the wasteland that the Investigation left behind when they departed. Now that the ruling dynasty of Hos-Harphax has been settled, their remonstrations have grown louder than ever. They fear that Great King Geblon will soon grant lands and territories to his friends and cronies and that they will resettle the former princedoms of Hos-Hostigos, making it more difficult to re-conquer
.

Of course, at the moment, these lands are, for the most part, leaderless and abandoned. The Return to Hostigos Party are firm in their belief that this is the time to return before Geblon establishes his control over the princes of Hos-Harphax and while Prince Phidestros is otherwise occupied in Hos-Zygros. Due to the recent changes in Hos-Harphax, I fear our Harphax City spy ring is completely out of the loop…
.

My belief is that we are better off here in Nos-Hostigos where our enemies are far less powerful and Styphon’s House is not a neighbor. I had hoped, with the introduction of the fireseed formula, not only to break the Temple’s monopoly on fireseed but to sow the seeds of its destruction. This policy was successful, for the most part, until Supreme Priest Sesklos’ death and the ascension of Archpriest Anaxthenes as Styphon’s Own Voice. Now, the Temple has gained Hos-Agrys as a fiefdom, with Hos-Harphax and Hos-Ktemnos held by former allies. At the moment, Styphon’s House appears stronger than ever
.

The most important question facing the future of Nos-Hostigos is whether or not Prince Phidestros is still in the Temple’s pocket. Or does he have a master plan of his own that disregards Styphon’s House? If Phidestros joins forces again with Styphon’s House, as he did when he led the invasion of Hos-Hostigos, we may never be able to return to our former home
.

On the other hand, I do believe we can hold out in Thagnor for several winters against the combined might of Styphon’s House, Prince Phidestros and King Theovacar. However, it would be a most difficult time for all parties involved and the victor of such a war might not fare much better than the losers
.

Kalvan picked up his quill pen and paused for a few moments.

Enough politics, both Rylla and the children are doing well. Little Ptosphes is growing faster than the milkweed. Rylla, as you might expect, is still resisting setting down roots here in Thagnor. She still dreams of returning to Hostigos. Although, I fear there’s not much remaining
—
other than the good earth
—
of the Hostigos she recalls so vividly. Not after Roxthar’s minions killed and tortured those of our subjects too stubborn or old to leave and the Host’s troops and mercenaries stole everything that was not rooted or nailed to the ground. Nor, I’m sure, has it been aided by two winters of mismanagement by her cousin (dare I call him Prince) Sthentros the Traitor
.

I fear that if we do return to our former Kingdom, which for the reasons given previously is unlikely, it will be to a land not much more inhabitable than the barrens of the Great Desert
.