The Fireseed Wars

"Dralm be praised!" Rylla exclaimed. "Do we have enough time to get a substitute back to Glarth?"

"I believe so. Captain Ranthos swore an oath to me that he will kill any Styphoni that reaches the Duke's mansion before we do. He's a hard man, but he holds to his word."

"Then we have a chance to get our candidate into Glarth…" Rylla tried to think of an alternate choice, but only one candidate popped up in her mind-Aspasthar. Yet, the boy was her last link to Harmakros. What would Kalvan do? she asked herself.

She called for her Lady-in-Waiting and ordered, "Have Commandant Aspasthar brought to my chamber at once!"

She hurried off and Rylla took this opportunity to relay to Lysia the state of the Grand Host's siege and how Sarrask of Sask had defeated King Theovacar and sent him packing. She was just finishing one of Kalvan's letters about the fall of Greffa when her Lady-in-Waiting returned with Aspasthar.

"Your Majesty," he said, standing at attention.

Aspasthar looked so young; Rylla felt as if her heart was going to break. She hated the idea of sending this young lad into the middle of the Styphoni caldron. However, it was such a brilliant plan, if it came to success, that she had no choice but to go forward. Succinctly, she filled him in on the situation in Hos-Agrys, promising herself that if Aspasthar had the slightest reservation she'd find someone else-she had no idea who it would be, but someone would turn up.

Aspasthar looked as happy as a boy who'd just found a golden crown on a cobblestone street. "Your Majesty, I volunteer. I've always known that one day I would get an opportunity to pay Styphon's House back for what they did to Hostigos and to my father. The gods have blessed me with this opportunity!"

Against this youthful fervor, Rylla didn't stand a chance. He reminded her too much of her own younger self.

"Then, Aspasthar, you must gather your kit and prepare to leave at once."

"I can be ready in a candle, Your Majesty!"

Rylla smiled, turning to Lysia. "How long before your ship can sail?"

"It's a smuggling vessel. I told the Captain to wait at Ulrym and that I would see that his hold was filled with twenty casks of Ermut's Best. Is that possible?"

"That is agreeable. Plus, if he can get you back to Glarth Port quicker than the journey here, I'll give him a purse of gold for every day he saves. This opportunity is beyond price!"

"That will spur him and his crew. Thank you, Your Majesty."

Rylla turned to the boy. "Aspasthar, I don't want you to be in Styphoni hands by yourself. Pick three boys from the Military Academy that would be good companions in a fight and know how to sew up their lips."

Aspasthar looked as if he were about to jump up and down with excitement. "I know just the boys! This is going to be an adventure to end all adventures. Thank you, thank you, Your Majesty!"

The poor boy doesn't know the half of it, Rylla thought to herself, as she watched him skip away with Baroness Lysia. She felt her eyes begin to tear, as she wondered what she would have done had Aspasthar been her boy: Would she have sent her son off into the enemy's lair in the hopes that one day he would be in a position to help the Throne? It was a good question and one to which she didn't have the answer. Harmakros, forgive me. Allfather Dralm, please keep watch over young Aspasthar! Please, do not let him come to harm.

II

The buckskin-clad scout, his arms waving, galloped into the clearing, reining his horse in at the last moment in a spatter of flying dirt clods and lather. "The Styphoni are about two marches away, sir!"

The poor horse was bellowing so hard for air that the scout could barely be heard over his labored breathing. Grand-Captain Ranthos used the distraction to organize his thoughts. If the substitute boy was coming from Thagnor, he wouldn't be here-unless the Goddess Lytris flew him herself!- for another quarter moon at the earliest. They had already made one attack to slow the Styphoni, but they were as determined to reach the village of Salis as the Hostigi were to keep them out. There was only one choice-attack!

Of course, they had to win or the Styphoni would go to the Duke's manor and find it deserted, the boy gone and everyone else. It would be best to defeat the enemy, and leave a few survivors to inform Grand Master Soton that his plan had gone awry. Then, Soton would probably send an army to capture Dementros.

This would give the Hostigi possession of the heir to the Agrysi dynasty. It would also give them time to put Queen Rylla's candidate for the Throne of Light into the manor. If this had been a First Level operation, Ranthos would have used hypno-mech conditioning to have the villagers support their story. Instead, they had looted and burnt the village, chasing the villagers away. Duke Mnestros had played the role of kindly bandit leader, protecting the villagers from harm and encouraging them to go to Glarth Town.

"Captain Reme, form ranks. We will fight them here."