The Crimson Campaign

Tamas heard a noise in the chapel beneath the tower. The large main door opened and closed again. A moment later, a set of footsteps rang on the stone stairs. Tamas brushed his fingers along the grip of one pistol and then took a powder charge between his fingers. He opened it carefully, only taking the tiniest pinch, and sprinkled the black powder on his tongue.

Just enough to keep him going. To fend off exhaustion and sharpen his eyes. Not enough for him to risk going powder blind.

He hoped.

Hailona ascended the belfry steps and joined Tamas at the top, where he stood beside the enormous bronze bell. He tipped his hat to her.

“Halley,” he said.

“Tamas.”

They stood in silence for several minutes.

Tamas stole a glance at her once or twice. He’d been unfair in his first assessment last night. She was still a regal woman. Stately, her back straight, arms held just so in a way that said she was equally comfortable in a silk gown worth more than a soldier makes in a year and in the plain brown wool that she wore now.

It wasn’t that she had aged poorly. She had just aged.

They all had, he reflected. He himself, Hailona, Gavril. She’d been the governor of Alvation for almost three decades. She’d ruled beside her first husband for twenty years, then alone at the king’s bequest for another ten. That was more than enough to age a woman beyond her years.

“You never came back,” she said suddenly.

“Halley…”

She spoke over him. “I never really expected you to. I don’t blame you. Not terribly, anyway. I see now what your goals were, what has driven you the last fifteen years. I can’t say I agree with them, but I understand, at least.”

Tamas had had dozens of lovers over the few years immediately after Erika died.

He only regretted one of them.

“You caused me a lot of pain after you left,” Hailona went on, “when I still thought you might come back for me. You came and stayed for a few months, and then disappeared. But… I want you to know something. I want you to know that you made me feel amazing in those few weeks. Like a woman who could stand up against the world. That in my long life, only two men made me feel that way: you and my first husband.”

“Your second husband…”

Hailona gave a choked laugh. Tamas glanced out of the corner of his eye to find that her face was red and she held a handkerchief to her mouth. “My husband is a coward. Pit, I can’t even say his name.” She sighed, leaning against a column beside the bell. “I respect him. He’s one of the finest merchants in southern Deliv, but he’s also one of the biggest cowards in southern Deliv. I do not love him.”

Tamas stared out into the pouring rain and pondered the unsaid words. She didn’t love her husband — but she loved Tamas. He swallowed a lump in his throat.

He cleared his throat. “I’m sorry, Halley. For what it’s worth. I’m sorry.”

“You’re sorry…” She laughed again. It came out a half sob.

Tamas felt his heart being torn in two. This woman beside him was a powerful creature. She could stand up beside Lady Winceslav among the best women to seek his hand in marriage, before the world found out just how bitter of an old widower he really was.

Hailona smoothed the front of her dress and visibly calmed herself. “I met the general of the Kez army when they first arrived,” she said, her tone suddenly businesslike.

“They took us by surprise. Marched in, pretending to be Adrans. He gathered all the nobility together at the governor’s mansion that first night. Told us we were prisoners in the city. He had an impeccable Adran accent. Spoke Deliv equally well. Not a trace of Kez. I was convinced, at first.

“Then I started thinking. I knew you. From Sabon’s letters I guessed he had great influence in your decision making. Neither of you would ever attack Deliv. Then I thought maybe one of your generals had gone mad. Gone rogue. This general — he seems a madman. Dangerous and deadly.”

“Did you see his hands?” Tamas interrupted softly.

Hailona frowned. “No. He kept them tucked away beneath his coat. I thought it strange, now that you mention it, but didn’t give it a second glance.”

“He doesn’t have any,” Tamas said.

“No hands?” Hailona seemed taken aback. “I feel like I would have heard of a Kez general with no hands.”

“It was a… recent development,” Tamas said. “And he’s not a general. He’s a Privileged.”

“How could a Privileged have no… oh.” She stared at him in silence for several moments. “You took them, didn’t you?” Another long pause. “You hate Privileged so much?”

“I hate him so much.” Tamas tried to keep the emotion out of his voice. He wasn’t successful. “Duke Nikslaus was the one who arrested and beheaded Erika, and then brought me her… her…”

He felt her hand touch his shoulder gently. He squeezed his eyes shut. Felt the tears swelling within them. He would never forgive himself for failing Erika.

“Tamas,” Hailona said.

He cleared his throat. “Was Sabon really disowned?”