Hi, everybody!
Sorry about the delay between posts! I was obsessively working on my latest complete novel, Iron Witch (Part 1), which is basically a TG steampunk wizard school (think Harry Potter) novel. It's available on my Patreon right now ($2 will get you access)! I haven't decided whether it will make its way to ScribbleHub or if I'll post it to Amazon, but it will be a while in either case. The link below is to my official announcement of the project, which includes all of Chapter 1 for your perusal. The full novel is available to Patrons.
https://www.patreon.com/posts/update-special-49706067
All my best,
Ovid
50. Basic Baron Business
It was mid-afternoon when they spotted Terrian's encampment. They'd set up on the outskirts of a mid-sized town of several thousand, presumably so the commanders and captains could overnight in luxury, as they often did. Val counted hundreds of tents in a neat circle, but the soldiers were already forming up past the camp and readying themselves for battle - the earl's army wasn't exactly hidden, marching along the ridge. That was part of the point, since almost half of the army had taken another route to enter through the valley pass two miles to the northwest.
The earl and his commanders surveyed the forming ranks and discussed strategy, passing a monocular back and forth between them as they tried to figure out which unit was which and assess the enemy's capability.
"Once they've mustered, there will be close to a thousand fighters in that army," Zollen said. "That's near enough to our number."
"We've got the advantage, though," Tobbin said. "Our heavy bolts have the high ground, so we've got range, we've got more horses, decent battle-mages, and two fronts to attack from. We can beat them decisively…"
"Aye, we'll kill half theirs before they rout and only lose a quarter of ours… but it'll be a bloody business. Plus, there's the matter of having to hang the traitors after we round their captains up. Bloody hells…" he made a little prayer to Koster, the god of battle and soldiers, rubbing a ruby ring emblazoned with the bloody rose of war ad he prayed. "I thought today was going to be a good day, but it looks like we've got a slaughter to attend to."
"Do we have to fight them?" Val asked.
All eyes were on her - a dozen seasoned military men with almost two hundred years of command between them (plus Ette, who had his own sort of expertise) looking at the thirteen-year-old Val with a mixture of humor and pique. Earl Zollen rode up to Val, offering an avuncular smile with altogether too much condescension. Val wasn't stupid, even if she wasn't a military commander, nor was she a naïve lordling with idealistic tutors who thought everybody could just get along.
"Yes, dear, we've got to fight them. Otherwise, we'll just find ourselves fighting the same soldiers in less favorable circumstances in a few weeks' time. We'll send somebody to offer them terms now - but stubborn lords rarely negotiate. I'll eat my spurs if we don't wind up fighting them."
Val nodded. "If you're sending somebody, then I volunteer. I think I've got some terms that the baron can't possibly turn down."
Suddenly, the earl was a lot less mirthful. "What 'terms', Val?"
"I'm going to challenge that boy to a fight."
Ette chuckled. "That just might work. You'll get his goat sure enough… but bring Levin with you. If he knows it's you, Terrian isn't likely to be happy and we can't have them knowing you're a mage."
Zollen chewed at his beard, glancing back and forth between Ette and Val. Their pennants whipped in the wind as Terrian's soldiers set ranks in the valley below them.
"Fine,” the earl said. “I take it you know what you're doing. And, if not, I take no responsibility for Val's safety in the hands of that venal twit of a man-child. May the gods be with you, Val.”
+++++
Niko kissed Val for good luck and the earl offered Val his ruby ring to wear for the duration of her negotiation. In addition to being good luck, it would identify her as acting on behalf of the earl. He'd worn the ring on his pinkie, but Val had to slip it over her thumb. That's how big and stubby Earl Zollen's fingers were. She took a deep breath and rode into the valley.
Levin rode beside her in his distinctive battle-mage getup, with the hardened mail armor, detailed in blue and gray and with a golden ducal crest upon the cap and cloak. As always, Val wore her good hardened jacket and breeches. She'd replaced her battle-mage's cloak with a regular cavalry one, though they looked similar enough. In the valley below, a thousand pairs of eyes were upon them, watching the two horses approach. Some of those eyes had magnifying lenses in front of them, and at least one of them recognized Val. This became pretty clear when a small contingent of the marksmen began to fire at them.
Shooting a messenger sent to parlay was a pretty egregious breach of battle etiquette. Val thought it a bit silly that there was a such thing as battle etiquette to begin with, but soldiers took it pretty seriously. Even if there was a ninety percent chance of the messenger getting slaughtered in the coming battle, it was absolutely against the rules to shoot or even threaten to deliberately harm an emissary from the opposing side. Some of the soldiers in rank shouted at Terrian's bolt-casters to cease fire, and Baron Terrian kept shouting back that they absolutely would fire if they didn't want disciplinary action against them.
Levin raised his hand to cast a barrier, holding it for seven seconds. Val did likewise five seconds later - that way, there was a two-second overlap and they would never be without a barrier. The bolts slowed, dropping straight down and cracking into the ground, or else skimming over the top of the shield or doing a complete turnaround and arcing back, all depending on the angle of collision with the invisible barrier. From Terrian's side, it would look like Levin was doing all the magic, since he was the only one engaging in theatrical hand-waving, but really they both had to switch back and forth, or else they'd quickly get worn out.
Two hundred fifty yards. Two hundred. One hundred fifty. When Val lifted her yellow flag of parley above the magical barrier, a big black bolt ripped a hole right through it. She and Levin cast their shields - seven seconds on, five seconds off, timing it to his hand motions, which were mostly for show. Now, they could hear Terrian shouting at his cavalry commander to charge the attacking force.
"Milord, nobody is attacking! They're here to negotiate!" his commander said.
"I don't care! Charge!" Terrian shouted back.
"Then tell your soldiers to stop firing, baron! You cannot do both!"
Eventually, when Val and Levin were about a hundred yards away, the bolts stopped zipping and six men on horseback galloped out to meet them. Val cast a magic net as gently has she could - even at a relatively easy gallop, horses tended to get badly injured when their momentum was suddenly sapped by magical netting. Two of the men were thrown clean off their horses, and one horse tumbled to the ground with a whinny of pain. Val cringed, mostly for the horse. She didn't manipulate the net further - she could easily have done far more.
"Please tell Baron Terrian that we've got an offer that will see all sides satisfied at the outcome. Otherwise, we can just signal to the earl to begin our attack."
The earl, of course, wouldn't start an attack right away. The second half of the Port Rumm 1st Regiment would need twenty or thirty minutes to sneak close enough to be the second front of their assault. Val and Levin were all alone against Terrian's thousand soldiers at the moment. They might be able to gallop away, but it would be a lot harder to defend against incoming bolts, so it was very risky.
One of the riders re-mounted his confused horse, rubbing at his wrist. "We'll try to get him to talk to you…"
Val and Levin trotted up within fifty yards of Terrian's unit - twenty riders on horseback and several times more on foot with pikes and axes. At the urging of his second-in-command, Terrian grumbled and snapped and sighed and rode out to meet Val. Terrian glowered at Val, scowling so dramatically that Val nearly laughed in his face.
"Unless Zollen is prepared to give me my earldom back, I have no interest in discussing terms…"
"You're not getting your earldom back. Not today," Val said. "We've got numbers and elevation over you. The earl wants to crush you, but I've convinced him that it would be too bloody."
"You convinced Zollen?" Terrian barked out a laugh. "They must be pretty desperate."
"Here are the terms: you duel me in unarmed combat. If I win, then you renounce your earlship, your captains pledge loyalty to Zollen, and we put all this nonsense behind us. If you win, then I become your prisoner and you and your soldiers can ride into Bolearic territory unopposed. The earl's forces will not attack or hinder you. In both cases, nobody dies today."
Terrian snorted. "Ridiculous…"
"What are they offering?" one of the other captains called from back at the enemy lines.
Terrian's lieutenant called back: "This little girl says if Terrian can beat her, Zollen's army will let us go and they won't fight us!"
"And if he loses?"
"I'm not going to bloody lose!" Terrian snapped. "This is absurd!"
Val cocked her head. "So you accept?" She called it loud enough that some of the soldiers could hear it back on the enemy lines.
"I am not risking my earldom in some stupid fighting contest with a common girl…" Terrian said back.
"My lord, you've got forty or fifty pounds on this girl. As you often point out, you trained with Sir Andrat. It would be foolish not to accept this challenge," his lieutenant muttered.
"I am not fighting this girl over my birthright!" Terrian shouted.
There was mumbling and grumbling in the ranks - even Terrian's captains didn't like being served up like mincemeat simply because their young lord couldn't be bothered to fight a girl several years younger and significantly smaller than him.
"Fight her!" one of the men called out.
"Yeah! Fight the wench!"
"Fight! Her! Fight! Her! Fight! Her!" The chant rose up through the ranks until hundreds of soldiers shouted it out to the thump of spears butts and the tromp of heavy boots. "Fight! Her! Fight! Her!"
"Fine!" Terrian shouted. "Fine! I'll fight the bloody girl! I'll grind her bleeding face into the mud! And then I'll have words with you for forcing me into this!" He scowled at his lieutenant, who accepted the threat with aplomb. Val didn't imagine threats of reprisal from Baron Terrian were all that unusual.
+++++
The eight of them remained in front of Terrian's poised army - Terrian, his lieutenant, Val, and Levin. And their horses, obviously. Horses basically counted as people… they had personality, at least. Tulip looked at Val and made a little grunt - she could pick up Val's anxiety and didn't know what to make of it. The hundreds upon hundreds of men and women with deadly weapons didn't bother Tulip in the least - she'd ridden with human soldiers plenty of times before and, in her experience, they were usually on the same side as her.
"Well?" Terrian said. "I thought you wanted to fight?"
Val had to wonder how little attention young Lord Terrian had paid to Sir Andrat's lessons. It was painfully common among amateur fighters to let the other fighter make the first move, the mistaken notion being that you would adapt your own style and response to counter. But this almost always gave the advantage to the attacker, who picked whichever technique she was best at. In Val's case, with somebody taller and stronger than you with longer reach, the best technique was anything that avoided standing toe to toe and exchanging blows.
She approached him at a quick prowl. Terrian circled around. Val circled more quickly. He spun. He lunged with a punch but badly missed. They grappled for half a second, and then Val pulled him backward over her hip, twisting at the last moment to plant Terrian on his back with herself leaning on top. She spotted the glint of something metal - a blade - and she quickly rolled off and skipped away, the blade slashing through the air where she'd just been.
"Our terms were a duel in unarmed combat!" Val shouted.
Terrian grinned and advanced, dagger at the ready. "Imagine my surprise, then, when I pulled this knife off of your person - I suppose you don't consider this a weapon, so neither do I…"
"That is not mine. The sheath is right on your hip!" Val spat.
"How clever to have planted it on me while we grappled!" Terrian laughed.
"You are a coward and a fool!" Val shouted.
Terrian closed the distance, jabbing and slashing. She glanced back to Levin for an instance, thinking to call for a knife of her own… Levin winced. Val ducked. The blade whizzed right over her head. Terrian's blade was ornate, with golden runes lightly etched into the blade. It was probably enchanted and, if he'd had a mage activate the enchantment before the upcoming battle with the earl's forces, it might well pierce Val's hardened leather. She couldn't rely on her armor protecting her.
He lunged at her again, and she grappled with his arm, bending it back before he flailed wildly with the blade. As she drew back, he kicked her right in the stomach. Val was armored there, but the force knocked her right on her butt, and Terrian leapt right onto her there, driving the dagger down. Down toward her face, pressing with his body weight, the blade drawing closer…
Val grunted and barely redirected it - Terrian didn't know how to use his position on top and Val managed to clamber around to his back, taking his neck for an easy choke… and up came the blade toward Val's eye. She was forced to roll away and spring back to her feet. Terrian staggered to his knees, slashing the knife back and forth. Val timed her kick just when his blade arm was across his body and preparing for the return swing. The knife clattered away and, as Terrian scrambled to retrieve it, Val rushed over and stomped on his hand. When he swung his other hand to punch her, she caught his arm. And, in the second it took for Terrian to realize Val had him trapped, she kicked him in the face as hard as she could. As he yelped in pain, a tooth went flying. Val pushed him onto his back and knelt on his chest, leaning her weight in when he tried to scramble back up. Blood oozed from his mouth, and at least two teeth were missing - too bad bastards like him usually ended up getting potions to heal the souvenirs of their disgrace.
"Do you yield?" Val shouted.
"Get off me! Get the bloody hell off of me!" Terrian shouted.
Val rolled to her feet and strolled over to Terrian's knife - it was enchanted… and a very nice knife to boot. She slid it into her own sheath and stowed her old dagger in Tulip's saddle pouch. Violet blinked at her expectantly… perhaps with a bit of annoyance - she didn't care to see Val almost killed by a sniveling, cheating lordling. Val called over her shoulder: "You heard him yield - he demanded that I get off him and I did. I could have killed him there, but I'll be satisfied with this very nice knife and the fulfillment of your promise. Renounce the earldom, Terrian."
Terrian staggered to his feet and spat blood. "Never! It's mine! It's my birthright!"
"You agreed to our terms - and, even though you broke your word once, everybody assembled here witnessed our pact. I kept up my side, and you will observe your side."
"You forced me into it, you common bitch! You ruined my family!" He turned to his lieutenant. "I'll have my revenge! Sword! Hand me my sword!"
"I cannot do that, sir," the lieutenant stated. "You gave your word in front of all of us and we're honor-bound to see that the terms are carried out."
"I! Am! Your! Earl! You are mine to command, and you will obey!"
One of Terrian's captains rode forward. "You renounced your leadership when you renounced your earldom, Lord Terrian - please, just ride off with your men and whatever remaining dignity you have."
"What dignity I have? Vincruvix, do you have any idea what legacy my family has? When yours were farming with stone tools in the mud, my ancestors ruled a whole kingdom!"
"Aye, and how far that line has fallen since then, Lord Terrian. But I'll do my mud-wallowing forebears proud and hold myself to the agreement you made. Please, I urge you…"
"No!" Terrian was sobbing now. He threw a wild punch that didn't even connect with the captain's horse. "This is mine! This land is mine, god damnit!"
"Now do you see?" Val said. She turned to the onlooking soldiers. "I said it before and I stand by my words - this lordling isn't fit to lead a herd of goats! You've all fallen into a common error of loyal men - it's easier to be loyal to what you've been loyal to since forever than to admit that things have changed and get on the right side of things. But I'm offering that now - for all of the captains and commanders here, if you ride with me up to the ridge and pledge your loyalty to Earl Zollen, not only will he grant you clemency, there will be nothing to grant clemency for. No blood has been spilled other than Terrian's and no lives have been lost. What do you think?"
Another captain rode forward. "What do we call you, young lady?"
"I'm Valkyrie Valicent-Vinzenno. I'm one of the earl's battle-witches."
"Well, battle-witch Valkyrie, I would be proud to ride with you. You've reminded me what honor looks like - a very brave young woman saving more lives in a day than most of us will in our lifetimes. And I suggest that the rest of you remember that history is watching us today."
+++++
Every last one of Terrian's captains and commanders - many of them lords, ladies, and knights, rode with Val and Levin back up the ridge, thirty of them in all, each leading anything from thirty to sixty men still in the valley below. She rode them right up to Earl Zollen and informed him of the deal she'd struck. And, if the earl was nonplussed about Val taking such initiative, he didn't say anything about it. The first thing he asked, after extracting loyalty oaths to the duchess first and then to himself from the captains, was:
"And Baron Terrian agreed to these concessions with his own mouth?"
Val shrugged. "Not exactly. He agreed to the terms of the duel, but afterward… after he cheated and tried to stab me with a bloody knife… after I kicked him in his damn face… he said he'd been pressured into it and refused to concede."
Zollen nodded gravely. "In that case, there's been no formal concession and these good men and woman have each surrendered individually and of their own accord. The baron is still in open rebellion and has refused to accept what sound like very favorable demands." He turned to the thirty commanders who'd just sworn their oath. "As officers of the duchy, I charge you with retrieving that treasonous whelp and bringing him to me to face his punishment."
"Yes, earl!" one of them said, and about a quarter of their number galloped back down into the valley to retrieve Terrian, who was no doubt still trying to get his captain-less men to follow his orders.
It didn't work – some of them may have made a show about listening to him, but nobody was willing to die over a boy who’d been humiliated and dishonored in a clear-cut duel. With no further fighting, the captains rode back to their camp returned about ten minutes later with a bound Baron Terrian, whom they deposited at the feet of the earl. With a great groan, Zollen dismounted his horse and pulled Terrian to his feet.
"You have no army and are yourself captured, Terrian. As we're currently in a state of war, it's my grave duty to inform you that the barony of Leistundvar Valley is captured and you are relieved of your station. I care not where you go, but the valley is no longer yours to administer and no further houses are beholden to you. Until the duchess appoints a baron, the bannermen and bannerwomen of the valley report to me. As for who that new baron might be… Val, you seem to be the hero of the day. How would you like to be a baroness?"
Val's mind reeled… her? A baroness? And, in the back of her mind, part of her rebelled - no. No. She wouldn't accept any titles. Not until she was queen, whenever that happened. Maybe in many years. Still, she wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth…
"I think I'm a bit young to rule a barony. But maybe Ette and Ginn… er… my parents? The Vinzennos? I think they'd be a very good baron and baroness."
"I agree," Zollen said – and perhaps that had been his plan all along. He turned toward Ette. "The duchess will have to approve, of course, but I can't imagine her objecting. What do you say, Baron Vinzenno?”
“I…” Ette’s shock quickly faded. “I think I like the sound of it.”
“Good, because this barony is an absolute mess. Now… I'm bloody famished and it's a four hour ride home, so I suggest we get going."
"Before or after you eat your spurs?" Val asked. And, if anybody thought the earl might be offended, his uproarious laughter told them otherwise.
OvidLemma
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-Ovid
Hi, everybody!
Sorry about the delay between posts! I was obsessively working on my latest complete novel, Iron Witch (Part 1), which is basically a TG steampunk wizard school (think Harry Potter) novel. It's available on my Patreon right now ($2 will get you access)! I haven't decided whether it will make its way to ScribbleHub or if I'll post it to Amazon, but it will be a while in either case. The link below is to my official announcement of the project, which includes all of Chapter 1 for your perusal. The full novel is available to Patrons.
https://www.patreon.com/posts/update-special-49706067
All my best,
Ovid
50. Basic Baron Business
It was mid-afternoon when they spotted Terrian's encampment. They'd set up on the outskirts of a mid-sized town of several thousand, presumably so the commanders and captains could overnight in luxury, as they often did. Val counted hundreds of tents in a neat circle, but the soldiers were already forming up past the camp and readying themselves for battle - the earl's army wasn't exactly hidden, marching along the ridge. That was part of the point, since almost half of the army had taken another route to enter through the valley pass two miles to the northwest.
The earl and his commanders surveyed the forming ranks and discussed strategy, passing a monocular back and forth between them as they tried to figure out which unit was which and assess the enemy's capability.
"Once they've mustered, there will be close to a thousand fighters in that army," Zollen said. "That's near enough to our number."
"We've got the advantage, though," Tobbin said. "Our heavy bolts have the high ground, so we've got range, we've got more horses, decent battle-mages, and two fronts to attack from. We can beat them decisively…"
"Aye, we'll kill half theirs before they rout and only lose a quarter of ours… but it'll be a bloody business. Plus, there's the matter of having to hang the traitors after we round their captains up. Bloody hells…" he made a little prayer to Koster, the god of battle and soldiers, rubbing a ruby ring emblazoned with the bloody rose of war ad he prayed. "I thought today was going to be a good day, but it looks like we've got a slaughter to attend to."
"Do we have to fight them?" Val asked.
All eyes were on her - a dozen seasoned military men with almost two hundred years of command between them (plus Ette, who had his own sort of expertise) looking at the thirteen-year-old Val with a mixture of humor and pique. Earl Zollen rode up to Val, offering an avuncular smile with altogether too much condescension. Val wasn't stupid, even if she wasn't a military commander, nor was she a naïve lordling with idealistic tutors who thought everybody could just get along.
"Yes, dear, we've got to fight them. Otherwise, we'll just find ourselves fighting the same soldiers in less favorable circumstances in a few weeks' time. We'll send somebody to offer them terms now - but stubborn lords rarely negotiate. I'll eat my spurs if we don't wind up fighting them."
Val nodded. "If you're sending somebody, then I volunteer. I think I've got some terms that the baron can't possibly turn down."
Suddenly, the earl was a lot less mirthful. "What 'terms', Val?"
"I'm going to challenge that boy to a fight."
Ette chuckled. "That just might work. You'll get his goat sure enough… but bring Levin with you. If he knows it's you, Terrian isn't likely to be happy and we can't have them knowing you're a mage."
Zollen chewed at his beard, glancing back and forth between Ette and Val. Their pennants whipped in the wind as Terrian's soldiers set ranks in the valley below them.
"Fine,” the earl said. “I take it you know what you're doing. And, if not, I take no responsibility for Val's safety in the hands of that venal twit of a man-child. May the gods be with you, Val.”
+++++
Niko kissed Val for good luck and the earl offered Val his ruby ring to wear for the duration of her negotiation. In addition to being good luck, it would identify her as acting on behalf of the earl. He'd worn the ring on his pinkie, but Val had to slip it over her thumb. That's how big and stubby Earl Zollen's fingers were. She took a deep breath and rode into the valley.
Levin rode beside her in his distinctive battle-mage getup, with the hardened mail armor, detailed in blue and gray and with a golden ducal crest upon the cap and cloak. As always, Val wore her good hardened jacket and breeches. She'd replaced her battle-mage's cloak with a regular cavalry one, though they looked similar enough. In the valley below, a thousand pairs of eyes were upon them, watching the two horses approach. Some of those eyes had magnifying lenses in front of them, and at least one of them recognized Val. This became pretty clear when a small contingent of the marksmen began to fire at them.
Shooting a messenger sent to parlay was a pretty egregious breach of battle etiquette. Val thought it a bit silly that there was a such thing as battle etiquette to begin with, but soldiers took it pretty seriously. Even if there was a ninety percent chance of the messenger getting slaughtered in the coming battle, it was absolutely against the rules to shoot or even threaten to deliberately harm an emissary from the opposing side. Some of the soldiers in rank shouted at Terrian's bolt-casters to cease fire, and Baron Terrian kept shouting back that they absolutely would fire if they didn't want disciplinary action against them.
Levin raised his hand to cast a barrier, holding it for seven seconds. Val did likewise five seconds later - that way, there was a two-second overlap and they would never be without a barrier. The bolts slowed, dropping straight down and cracking into the ground, or else skimming over the top of the shield or doing a complete turnaround and arcing back, all depending on the angle of collision with the invisible barrier. From Terrian's side, it would look like Levin was doing all the magic, since he was the only one engaging in theatrical hand-waving, but really they both had to switch back and forth, or else they'd quickly get worn out.
Two hundred fifty yards. Two hundred. One hundred fifty. When Val lifted her yellow flag of parley above the magical barrier, a big black bolt ripped a hole right through it. She and Levin cast their shields - seven seconds on, five seconds off, timing it to his hand motions, which were mostly for show. Now, they could hear Terrian shouting at his cavalry commander to charge the attacking force.
"Milord, nobody is attacking! They're here to negotiate!" his commander said.
"I don't care! Charge!" Terrian shouted back.
"Then tell your soldiers to stop firing, baron! You cannot do both!"
Eventually, when Val and Levin were about a hundred yards away, the bolts stopped zipping and six men on horseback galloped out to meet them. Val cast a magic net as gently has she could - even at a relatively easy gallop, horses tended to get badly injured when their momentum was suddenly sapped by magical netting. Two of the men were thrown clean off their horses, and one horse tumbled to the ground with a whinny of pain. Val cringed, mostly for the horse. She didn't manipulate the net further - she could easily have done far more.
"Please tell Baron Terrian that we've got an offer that will see all sides satisfied at the outcome. Otherwise, we can just signal to the earl to begin our attack."
The earl, of course, wouldn't start an attack right away. The second half of the Port Rumm 1st Regiment would need twenty or thirty minutes to sneak close enough to be the second front of their assault. Val and Levin were all alone against Terrian's thousand soldiers at the moment. They might be able to gallop away, but it would be a lot harder to defend against incoming bolts, so it was very risky.
One of the riders re-mounted his confused horse, rubbing at his wrist. "We'll try to get him to talk to you…"
Val and Levin trotted up within fifty yards of Terrian's unit - twenty riders on horseback and several times more on foot with pikes and axes. At the urging of his second-in-command, Terrian grumbled and snapped and sighed and rode out to meet Val. Terrian glowered at Val, scowling so dramatically that Val nearly laughed in his face.
"Unless Zollen is prepared to give me my earldom back, I have no interest in discussing terms…"
"You're not getting your earldom back. Not today," Val said. "We've got numbers and elevation over you. The earl wants to crush you, but I've convinced him that it would be too bloody."
"You convinced Zollen?" Terrian barked out a laugh. "They must be pretty desperate."
"Here are the terms: you duel me in unarmed combat. If I win, then you renounce your earlship, your captains pledge loyalty to Zollen, and we put all this nonsense behind us. If you win, then I become your prisoner and you and your soldiers can ride into Bolearic territory unopposed. The earl's forces will not attack or hinder you. In both cases, nobody dies today."
Terrian snorted. "Ridiculous…"
"What are they offering?" one of the other captains called from back at the enemy lines.
Terrian's lieutenant called back: "This little girl says if Terrian can beat her, Zollen's army will let us go and they won't fight us!"
"And if he loses?"
"I'm not going to bloody lose!" Terrian snapped. "This is absurd!"
Val cocked her head. "So you accept?" She called it loud enough that some of the soldiers could hear it back on the enemy lines.
"I am not risking my earldom in some stupid fighting contest with a common girl…" Terrian said back.
"My lord, you've got forty or fifty pounds on this girl. As you often point out, you trained with Sir Andrat. It would be foolish not to accept this challenge," his lieutenant muttered.
"I am not fighting this girl over my birthright!" Terrian shouted.
There was mumbling and grumbling in the ranks - even Terrian's captains didn't like being served up like mincemeat simply because their young lord couldn't be bothered to fight a girl several years younger and significantly smaller than him.
"Fight her!" one of the men called out.
"Yeah! Fight the wench!"
"Fight! Her! Fight! Her! Fight! Her!" The chant rose up through the ranks until hundreds of soldiers shouted it out to the thump of spears butts and the tromp of heavy boots. "Fight! Her! Fight! Her!"
"Fine!" Terrian shouted. "Fine! I'll fight the bloody girl! I'll grind her bleeding face into the mud! And then I'll have words with you for forcing me into this!" He scowled at his lieutenant, who accepted the threat with aplomb. Val didn't imagine threats of reprisal from Baron Terrian were all that unusual.
+++++
The eight of them remained in front of Terrian's poised army - Terrian, his lieutenant, Val, and Levin. And their horses, obviously. Horses basically counted as people… they had personality, at least. Tulip looked at Val and made a little grunt - she could pick up Val's anxiety and didn't know what to make of it. The hundreds upon hundreds of men and women with deadly weapons didn't bother Tulip in the least - she'd ridden with human soldiers plenty of times before and, in her experience, they were usually on the same side as her.
"Well?" Terrian said. "I thought you wanted to fight?"
Val had to wonder how little attention young Lord Terrian had paid to Sir Andrat's lessons. It was painfully common among amateur fighters to let the other fighter make the first move, the mistaken notion being that you would adapt your own style and response to counter. But this almost always gave the advantage to the attacker, who picked whichever technique she was best at. In Val's case, with somebody taller and stronger than you with longer reach, the best technique was anything that avoided standing toe to toe and exchanging blows.
She approached him at a quick prowl. Terrian circled around. Val circled more quickly. He spun. He lunged with a punch but badly missed. They grappled for half a second, and then Val pulled him backward over her hip, twisting at the last moment to plant Terrian on his back with herself leaning on top. She spotted the glint of something metal - a blade - and she quickly rolled off and skipped away, the blade slashing through the air where she'd just been.
"Our terms were a duel in unarmed combat!" Val shouted.
Terrian grinned and advanced, dagger at the ready. "Imagine my surprise, then, when I pulled this knife off of your person - I suppose you don't consider this a weapon, so neither do I…"
"That is not mine. The sheath is right on your hip!" Val spat.
"How clever to have planted it on me while we grappled!" Terrian laughed.
"You are a coward and a fool!" Val shouted.
Terrian closed the distance, jabbing and slashing. She glanced back to Levin for an instance, thinking to call for a knife of her own… Levin winced. Val ducked. The blade whizzed right over her head. Terrian's blade was ornate, with golden runes lightly etched into the blade. It was probably enchanted and, if he'd had a mage activate the enchantment before the upcoming battle with the earl's forces, it might well pierce Val's hardened leather. She couldn't rely on her armor protecting her.
He lunged at her again, and she grappled with his arm, bending it back before he flailed wildly with the blade. As she drew back, he kicked her right in the stomach. Val was armored there, but the force knocked her right on her butt, and Terrian leapt right onto her there, driving the dagger down. Down toward her face, pressing with his body weight, the blade drawing closer…
Val grunted and barely redirected it - Terrian didn't know how to use his position on top and Val managed to clamber around to his back, taking his neck for an easy choke… and up came the blade toward Val's eye. She was forced to roll away and spring back to her feet. Terrian staggered to his knees, slashing the knife back and forth. Val timed her kick just when his blade arm was across his body and preparing for the return swing. The knife clattered away and, as Terrian scrambled to retrieve it, Val rushed over and stomped on his hand. When he swung his other hand to punch her, she caught his arm. And, in the second it took for Terrian to realize Val had him trapped, she kicked him in the face as hard as she could. As he yelped in pain, a tooth went flying. Val pushed him onto his back and knelt on his chest, leaning her weight in when he tried to scramble back up. Blood oozed from his mouth, and at least two teeth were missing - too bad bastards like him usually ended up getting potions to heal the souvenirs of their disgrace.
"Do you yield?" Val shouted.
"Get off me! Get the bloody hell off of me!" Terrian shouted.
Val rolled to her feet and strolled over to Terrian's knife - it was enchanted… and a very nice knife to boot. She slid it into her own sheath and stowed her old dagger in Tulip's saddle pouch. Violet blinked at her expectantly… perhaps with a bit of annoyance - she didn't care to see Val almost killed by a sniveling, cheating lordling. Val called over her shoulder: "You heard him yield - he demanded that I get off him and I did. I could have killed him there, but I'll be satisfied with this very nice knife and the fulfillment of your promise. Renounce the earldom, Terrian."
Terrian staggered to his feet and spat blood. "Never! It's mine! It's my birthright!"
"You agreed to our terms - and, even though you broke your word once, everybody assembled here witnessed our pact. I kept up my side, and you will observe your side."
"You forced me into it, you common bitch! You ruined my family!" He turned to his lieutenant. "I'll have my revenge! Sword! Hand me my sword!"
"I cannot do that, sir," the lieutenant stated. "You gave your word in front of all of us and we're honor-bound to see that the terms are carried out."
"I! Am! Your! Earl! You are mine to command, and you will obey!"
One of Terrian's captains rode forward. "You renounced your leadership when you renounced your earldom, Lord Terrian - please, just ride off with your men and whatever remaining dignity you have."
"What dignity I have? Vincruvix, do you have any idea what legacy my family has? When yours were farming with stone tools in the mud, my ancestors ruled a whole kingdom!"
"Aye, and how far that line has fallen since then, Lord Terrian. But I'll do my mud-wallowing forebears proud and hold myself to the agreement you made. Please, I urge you…"
"No!" Terrian was sobbing now. He threw a wild punch that didn't even connect with the captain's horse. "This is mine! This land is mine, god damnit!"
"Now do you see?" Val said. She turned to the onlooking soldiers. "I said it before and I stand by my words - this lordling isn't fit to lead a herd of goats! You've all fallen into a common error of loyal men - it's easier to be loyal to what you've been loyal to since forever than to admit that things have changed and get on the right side of things. But I'm offering that now - for all of the captains and commanders here, if you ride with me up to the ridge and pledge your loyalty to Earl Zollen, not only will he grant you clemency, there will be nothing to grant clemency for. No blood has been spilled other than Terrian's and no lives have been lost. What do you think?"
Another captain rode forward. "What do we call you, young lady?"
"I'm Valkyrie Valicent-Vinzenno. I'm one of the earl's battle-witches."
"Well, battle-witch Valkyrie, I would be proud to ride with you. You've reminded me what honor looks like - a very brave young woman saving more lives in a day than most of us will in our lifetimes. And I suggest that the rest of you remember that history is watching us today."
+++++
Every last one of Terrian's captains and commanders - many of them lords, ladies, and knights, rode with Val and Levin back up the ridge, thirty of them in all, each leading anything from thirty to sixty men still in the valley below. She rode them right up to Earl Zollen and informed him of the deal she'd struck. And, if the earl was nonplussed about Val taking such initiative, he didn't say anything about it. The first thing he asked, after extracting loyalty oaths to the duchess first and then to himself from the captains, was:
"And Baron Terrian agreed to these concessions with his own mouth?"
Val shrugged. "Not exactly. He agreed to the terms of the duel, but afterward… after he cheated and tried to stab me with a bloody knife… after I kicked him in his damn face… he said he'd been pressured into it and refused to concede."
Zollen nodded gravely. "In that case, there's been no formal concession and these good men and woman have each surrendered individually and of their own accord. The baron is still in open rebellion and has refused to accept what sound like very favorable demands." He turned to the thirty commanders who'd just sworn their oath. "As officers of the duchy, I charge you with retrieving that treasonous whelp and bringing him to me to face his punishment."
"Yes, earl!" one of them said, and about a quarter of their number galloped back down into the valley to retrieve Terrian, who was no doubt still trying to get his captain-less men to follow his orders.
It didn't work – some of them may have made a show about listening to him, but nobody was willing to die over a boy who’d been humiliated and dishonored in a clear-cut duel. With no further fighting, the captains rode back to their camp returned about ten minutes later with a bound Baron Terrian, whom they deposited at the feet of the earl. With a great groan, Zollen dismounted his horse and pulled Terrian to his feet.
"You have no army and are yourself captured, Terrian. As we're currently in a state of war, it's my grave duty to inform you that the barony of Leistundvar Valley is captured and you are relieved of your station. I care not where you go, but the valley is no longer yours to administer and no further houses are beholden to you. Until the duchess appoints a baron, the bannermen and bannerwomen of the valley report to me. As for who that new baron might be… Val, you seem to be the hero of the day. How would you like to be a baroness?"
Val's mind reeled… her? A baroness? And, in the back of her mind, part of her rebelled - no. No. She wouldn't accept any titles. Not until she was queen, whenever that happened. Maybe in many years. Still, she wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth…
"I think I'm a bit young to rule a barony. But maybe Ette and Ginn… er… my parents? The Vinzennos? I think they'd be a very good baron and baroness."
"I agree," Zollen said – and perhaps that had been his plan all along. He turned toward Ette. "The duchess will have to approve, of course, but I can't imagine her objecting. What do you say, Baron Vinzenno?”
“I…” Ette’s shock quickly faded. “I think I like the sound of it.”
“Good, because this barony is an absolute mess. Now… I'm bloody famished and it's a four hour ride home, so I suggest we get going."
"Before or after you eat your spurs?" Val asked. And, if anybody thought the earl might be offended, his uproarious laughter told them otherwise.
OvidLemma
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