Novel 2. Royal Justice

— It makes sense, — Lady Maria added with respect in her voice. The Duchess of Elvarth's protector shifted her gaze from one army to the other. — In a war against the Empire, such a plan would be reckless. But the rebels can't field battalions of pikemen, they haven't had time to build fortifications, and they have no artillery of their own.

Actually, between the mounted vigilantes and the camp of the baronial army Armando noticed something resembling an artillery battery, but above the baskets of earth there were not mighty cast-iron bombards, but wooden throwing machines and carriages of tiny salute cannons. All that the disgruntled barons had secretly obtained. The royal army had so far kept well beyond the firing range of this junk.

— But if the Queen was counting on the effect of surprise, why does she not attack? — De Gorazzo inquired.

— Because Donna Minerva warned her about the mines, I suppose, — the white-skinned lady touched her palm to the hilt of her sword and looked at Armando. — Now we must disarm them before the barons realise and prepare to fight properly.

— Yes, — nodded de Gorazzo, who had recovered from his first surprise. — Come.

The hill they were looking for was a little to the east. According to the prisoner's words, the command post of the outsiders was hidden in the middle of the inner slope — not too visible, and a decent view of the valley. There should have been only a few people there — armed guards guarded the missile batteries, and the post's attendants relied more on good camouflage.

— And beware of the boody traps, — Giovanni added at the last interrogation. — They are also mines, they put them around important places... just in case.

— And why didn't your tell me about them sooner? — Armando arched an eyebrow derisively.

— Well... I didn't think you'd drag me with you, — the stranger admitted, averting his gaze.

The group approached the camouflaged alien post from the direction of the rebel positions. The aliens were in the least danger from here, but they were still cautious: at some point Gotech, who was walking first, stopped, gestured for his comrades to stop. He knelt down on one knee and pointed his hook at something on the ground. Armando looked closely and saw a thin black thread stretched between the bushes. It was easy to miss in the grass.

— Boody trap, — nodded the prisoner, who had been sullenly silent until now. — If you hit it, it'll explode.

— It's trickier still. — The Southern giant grinned unkindly. — Over there, someone cut a piece of soil and grass with a knife, and then put it back, see?

— No, — Armando shook his head.

— I see, — Lady Maria nodded.

— When you step over a thread, you're bound to step on it. I'm sure nothing good will happen as a result.

From here they advanced with caution. The captive was gagged with a secure gag, so that he might be able to warn his kin by shouting. As they ducked and crawled between the innumerable traps, the group came close to the place indicated by Giovanni on the map. De Gorazzo was once again glad that his friend was an experienced soldier who had seen so much in war. With only a general knowledge of the traps set by strangers, Gotech had found and avoided them without difficulty. He was the first to spot the command post itself.

— Look, they're well settled, — the giant grumbled, trying not to disturb the white-flowered bush under which he had lain down.

The post was a large circular pit, covered on three sides with bags of earth and a kind of fishing net. But the net was green, made of thick flat ropes, to which were fastened scraps of green cloth. Surprisingly, the hole covered with this net was completely lost among the grass and bushes. Above the bags were some kind of tubes, probably optical devices like telescopes. A couple of massive devices, also covered with netting, stood to the side, each with four thick wheels. It must have been some kind of transport, brought by the strangers from the homeworld along with their weapons. Finally, the last "decoration" of the enemy positions were two men in shaggy capes, huddled higher up the slope. On their knees the guards held long guns of intricate design. One of them had his attention fixed on the valley, the other was watching the top of the hill, which was the only reason why they had not noticed the enemies so close. Probably the strangers were relying on their traps to protect their flanks.

— So, our plan? — De Gorazzo asked in a whisper.

— Give me an arrow enchanted with air, and I'll deal with the guards, Don, — Lady Maria said quietly as well.

— Are you alone?

— Aliens aren't as dangerous when you take them by surprise. And they're only good in close combat when the enemy doesn't have a sword.

— Then the post itself is for us, — Gotech nodded.

Taking a crossbow from the giant and an arrow from de Gorazzo, the girl crawled back and disappeared into the grass. The bailiffs held their breath. For ten minutes nothing happened. Suddenly there was a deafening rumble over the valley, like a mighty clap of thunder over the horizon. Startled, Armando and Gotech looked round. Far behind the camp of the baron's troops, a thick column of smoke was rising into the clouds. "The captain made it," Armando realised. Almost at the same instant, battle horns blared in the east. A solid mass of the royal cavalry moved out, surging across the valley in a wave.

The guards in their shaggy cloaks were not indifferent, either; they stirred, turned their heads at the noise, and rose from their seats. A crossbow arrow from the thicket took them by surprise. With a rustling sound, it swept between the strangers and sank into the ground of the slope. And it exploded without a flash. There was just a pop, a tight wave of air that pushed the guards into their backs, lifted them into the air, and toppled them to the ground. Without waiting for them to regain their senses, Lady Maria, hiding in the grass, sprang from her seat, instantly found herself near the nearest enemy, and drove the blade of her sword between his shoulder blades. Armando didn't look any further — he sent a second arrow, a fiery one, straight into the sack fortification. The third explosion in a minute sent up clods of earth and a cloud of smoke, just as the young bailiff had hoped. Even if the aliens inside the command centre were waiting for an attack, the black clouds obscured their view in the right direction for a couple of heartbeats.

— Let's go! — Gotech, no longer lurking, shouted in a full voice. He jumped up with his battle-axe in his hand and leapt forward. Armando hurried after him, unsheathing his sword. By the time he had swung over the sacks and rolled into the pit, one of the strangers was already lying on the floor with his skull cracked open. The second and last was frantically trying to unbuckle a leather pouch on his belt — probably with some kind of weapon. Without further ado, De Gorazzo stabbed him in the back with his grandfather's sword. He exhaled, looking around. There were only two folding chairs and three low wooden tables, more like wide benches. On the tables were objects whose purpose was not always obvious. There was an ordinary clay mug, and next to it a flat black box with strange levers sticking out of it.

— Are you all right? — Lady Maria asked, peering under the camouflage netting on the other side of the hole. She was still clutching the bloody sword in her hand.

— Yes, it went like clockwork. — Armando frowned. — Lady, are you hurt?

The left sleeve of the pale girl's jacket appeared torn, the fabric around the gash seemed damp.

— It was nothing, just a knife scratch. — The Guardswoman shook her head. — I'll take a look around, and you take the prisoner.

Armando hurried back. The royal cavalry were still at a trot, but they could gallop at any moment. Cutting with his sword the rope with which Messire Giovanni was tied to the bush, the bailiff pulled the gag from his mouth and dragged him by the scruff of his neck to the pit. He did not resist, but sniffed and shuddered. In the pit of the command post the prisoner trembled like an aspen leaf in the wind. The corpses on the earthen floor attracted his gaze like a magnet to an iron needle.

— What, your friends? — Armando asked angrily.

— Yes... no... colleagues. — The stranger sobbed as if about to cry, but instead he suddenly stopped shaking. — What do you want from me?

— How do we activate the minefield? Right now.

— I'll... I'll tell you. Let me see.

Messire Giovanni squeezed past Lady Maria to the table that held the most instruments. Muttering something under his breath, he bent over them.

— Don't touch anything yourself! — warned Gotech.

— Yes... of course. — The stranger jerked his fingers away from the black metal boxes... and suddenly grabbed the orange cylinder that lay between them. Before anyone could do anything, Giovanni twisted the cylinder as if twisting the neck of a goose.

— Sh-u-u-uf! — A ball of bright scarlet flame burst out of the cylinder, broke through the camouflage netting, soared upwards and burst into a shower of red sparks.

Lady Maria, who had hesitated only a moment, knocked the dangerous object out of the stranger's hands, and Gotech, with a single swing of his axe, blew his head from his shoulders. He spat on the body that had fallen at his feet:

— Bastard!

— I thought it was brave, — the lady disagreed. She picked up the smoking cylinder from the floor to throw it out of the pit.

— I'll get the horses, lady, — the giant black man ignored Maria's words and turned to her. — And you and Armando... think of something. Before we have guests.

— What can we think of? — De Gorazzo asked, confused, when he and the pale girl were alone-except for the piled-up corpses.

— Anything, — Lady Maria said quietly, leaning over the instrument from which the late Messire Giovanni had pushed her away. — I can't make out anything. All the inscriptions on this machinery are combinations of letters with no meaning. I'm sure they're abbreviations and symbols I just don't know.

— And?

— Logic would have to be involved. — The girl stretched her fingers, pulled up her long, thick brown leather gloves. — These boxes on the left table are a radio station, we've seen them before. On the right one there's no equipment at all, just some papers... So it's this thing with the levers. This one, it's in the middle, it's easier to work with than the others. It's probably the most important. There's ten levers and one button.

The Lady Guardian moved one lever on the black box from the lower position to the upper position. Nothing happened. The girl returned the lever to the down position, then abruptly flicked all ten up. And slew nothing. Armando bit his lip. Failure, however, did not deter Maria. She pressed the button. Then flicked the levers back up and pressed again. Then jammed the button with her finger and moved all the levers up again.

The ground shook. From the pit of the control post, the official and the girl could not see the results of their work, but they could hear them perfectly well — it rumbled much closer than when Captain Valria had blown up the missile battery. Crawling out of the hole, Armando stood on the bags of earth and put the palm of his hand over his eyes. The Black Brooks Valley was cut in two by a band of smoke as wide as a river. The royal cavalry, which had not reached the minefield in time, stopped its advance like water against a rock. But now, out of the centre of the formation came a single tiny figure — black, on a black horse, barely distinguishable from this distance. De Gorazzo had no doubt that it was Queen Octavia. The rider in black galloped along the front rank, accompanied by a standard-bearer, and the cavalrymen, as if they had broken through an invisible barrier, surged forward again, gradually changing from trot to gallop. There was also confusion in the rebel camp, but it was shorter. When they realised that the trap had failed, the barons sent their squads into a counter-attack so that they could gather speed before the inevitable clash with the enemy. But the two waves of cavalrymen were not as interesting to Armando as the large troop galloping towards him. It was close enough that it had clearly moved out as soon as it saw the scarlet signal fire over the steep hill. A group of riders had separated from the royal army, but they were much later in reaching the hill.

— Gotech, hurry up, — the young bailiff said through clenched teeth.

The desert giant didn't let him down — in a couple of minutes he showed up on his war stallion, leading three horses.

— Let's go back the same way, — the giant said briefly as his companions climbed into the saddles. — There's no time to look for traps from other directions.

— But that's... back, back towards the enemy, — Armando muttered.

— What, are there options? You see how many traps there are on the west side? You think there's less on the east side?

It took a few more minutes to get out of the field of boody traps and underground mines around the deserted command post. In the meantime the two armies in the valley had almost converged, and the squad moving up the hill was close enough for Armando to make out the faces of the soldiers. They had not yet seen the riders on the slope, but they would not have to wait long.

— We can't get over the hills in time. — Gotech clenched the bridle in his huge fist. — We must go down and move under the protection of the croyal forces. Hope, the queen has warned at least one of them about us... At least the officers....

— We won't be able to leave together, — Armando corrected him. He looked at the girl. — Lady Maria, your knowledge of the alien language is too important now that we have no prisoner. Take the spare horse, get the papers from the command post, and ride to the rendezvous point. We'll ride to the army and distract the pursuit.

— Don Armando. — The white-haired Elvartian rewarded the bailiff with a pale but sincere smile. — I wish I could stay with you, but you are right. I hope we meet again, and not as enemies.

She spurred her horse and led it along the slope. The bailiffs led their horses down to the bottom of the hill.

— You've become a chivalry knight? — Gotech grinned.

— Let the Imperials be with the Imperials. You and I are better at this, — Armando replied, grinning wryly as well. He wouldn't have said why he'd sent the guardswoman away. However, if de Gorazzo had any sympathy for any of the Imperials, it was for the polite and sincere white-skinned lady. Who had probably just saved his queen.

The bailiffs were spotted when they reached the base of the hill. The rebel troop was already galloping, so it could not accelerate any further, but it had changed direction, heading straight for Armando and Gotyeh. The front riders lowered their lances.