CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Cregitzig's campaign did not end with his victory at the Battle of the Plain.
The quarrel between Jedseg and his ageing overlord, Beune, King of the Theigans, had its roots in a dispute over a dowry which the king claimed Jedseg had failed to pay in full following the marriage of Jedseg's daughter to one of his nephews .
The king was further provoked by the raid on Datzcrig's island and the murder of his personal envoy, and presumably of Prince Chaldez, his ward and relative. Cregitzig's task was therefore two-fold: to punish Jedseg for his bad manners, and to seize goods, treasure and slaves (if necessary) to make up for the shortfall in the dowry and cover the costs of the expedition.
After the battle, Cregitzig set about the second part of his mission. He systematically plundered Jedseg's forts and palaces, and then rounded up a hundred islanders to be shipped back to Hyra, the principal island in the Theigan archipelago, to be sold as slaves.
Chaldez's wound prevented him from taking part in any of these proceedings. It was infected and he became so ill that the general's personal physician. in whose care he was put, believed he must die.
Dan was summoned to his bedside. Chaldez was very weak.
"I should like to see Doo," he whispered. "You know where she is. Bring her to me."
Later, during a respite in his delirium, he found her sitting near his bed. He asked: "Shouldn't you be with your husband?"
She smiled at so innocent a question, as though he had not sent for her. "I didn't marry," she said. "After you saw me that day he was taken away to fight. They told me he was killed." She spoke without emotion.
Chaldez grew accustomed to finding Doo beside him. He asked her about the man she was to have married, but she was reluctant to speak of him.
"Will you come with me to Hyra?" he asked her one day.
She knew this was less of a request than a command.
"If it pleases my lord," she said.
He had expected greater enthusiasm. "Surely you don't want to stay here?" he asked.
She looked unsure. "Would you grant me a request?" she asked at last. He nodded.
"May I bring my children?"
He stared at her in astonishment. "Your children?" he repeated. "How many do you have?"
"Only the four."
"Four! But that's not possible . . . "
"They are the children of Keds, the man I was to have married. His wife who bore them died in the plague and I look after them. I bought them here with me when you sent for me. I can't leave them."
"Surely someone else can have them? You owe these people nothing."
Doo looked troubled. There were people who could look after them: Keds had a sister living, and two of his wife's sisters were also alive. But she knew what happened to orphaned children: they would be regarded as cheap labour, and if they survived would be no better than slaves.
Chaldez was still waiting for an answer, and was astonished when she began to weep.
"You're fond of these children?" he asked.
She nodded.

He sighed. "Then they must come with us."
Cregitzig completed his operations some two months after defeating Jedseg; mid-summer was approaching when his fleet sailed.
The vessels carrying slaves set course for King Beune's capital on Hyra. The remainder were to make a detour to enable Cregitzig, as the king's representative, to visit certain chieftains who might have needed reminding that they had a paramount lord who was well able to impose his authority.
Chaldez, fully recovered, travelled with Dan and his cousin Havil on the commander's flagship. And he requested that Doo and the four children should also be found berths on it.
The fleet of 13 ships sailed at dawn, their departure providing a spectacle which Chaldez revelled in; all memories of the ill-fated Serrin were obliterated by his excitement at being under sail again.
Dan took to his cot. Not only did he begin to feel sick almost as soon as he left shore, but The Serrin haunted him so that his physical misery was compounded by the terror of the shipwreck and the pain of his mother's loss. At the time he had cried hardly at all, but inwardly he had suffered moments of intense grief, and they had not been diminished by the passing months and years. And now those last moments of his mother's life, as she lay helplessly on the bucking deck of the doomed Serrin, came back to him again and again. He could not tell if it was anguish that made him wish he was dead, or the unbearable motion of the vessel.
Cregitzig, a large, uncommunicative man, ate his meals alone. Chaldez learned that he was married to one of the king' nieces, but that his status and influence at court were due more to his military genius.
The remainder of the company gathered each evening for a formal meal at which their placings reflected their rank. There were no less than five other members of royalty present, the most senior being one of the king's nephews, an effete little man called Draff.
On the first occasion that they all gathered Dan was absent, as he would be for most of the voyage. Havil and Chaldez were directed to places next to each other. When they were seated Havil remarked: "I see they've given you your due."
Chaldez had no idea what his cousin was implying, and he merely nodded and smiled. The fact that he was nearer the head of the table than was Havil completely escaped his notice.
Dan and Havil were the youngest present, but there were other young men of rank who sat at the table, among them Prince Haz, a great grandson of the king. He was some two years olde than Chaldez, but not as tall. He was in the process of growing a beard, which would eventually obscure his rather weak chin. He laughed unnecessarily heartily at other people's jokes, and it was soon apparent that despite his position he lacked confidence. He and the other young men deferred to the extrovert, egocentric Havil.
Havil dominated much of the conversation at table, and he soon steered it to Doo, whom he repeatedly referred to as Chaldez's "wench," a sobriquet which Chaldez hated, and to which he would have objected if he had felt more sure of himself.
The problem was, how could he convincingly describe his and Doo's relationship? It was not that of a master and servant, and certainly not that of a lord and his lover. He knew instinctively that it was beyond Havil's comprehension, so instead of speaking out he became silent. And when the conversation turned to the campaign against Jedseg he found himself at a disadvantage once again, his wound having kept him out of it. He did try to bring in his own experiences at the Battle of the Plain but was constantly rebuffed, and with each successive failure to impose himself on the conversation he became more tongue-tied and ineffectual. Havil was taking points off him at will, and he knew that their respective performances would be discussed and analysed endlessly.
Sensing his cousin’s disadvantage when the subject of Doo came up, Havil returned to it often.
"You've got yourself a beauty there, cousin," he said. "The court will wonder what kingdom you robbed to get such a one as that!"
The remark caused much amusement. Everyone thought Havil to be brilliant. Initially there had been a degree of unease about his easy triumphs over a higher-ranking relative, but it soon turned into undisguised awe.
Chaldez retorted: "She was kind to me," whereupon Havil gave an exaggerated wink and said: "I once knew a 'wench' who was kind to me. I wish I had her on this boat to be kind to me still!"
The innuendo was lost on Chaldez. "I'm sure Cregitzig would have permitted her to accompany you, if you had asked him. It would have pleased him to have her . . . "
He was prevented from finishing by the laughter which this innocent observation provoked. He smiled foolishly, wondering what he had said that was so amusing.
On another occasion Havil asked in ringing tones: "Have you ever thought, cousin, how alike your wench Doo and that youngest child of hers are. If we hadn't her word for it, I'd have sworn she was its mother."
"I don' think they're at all alike," said Chaldez, his protest but a pathetic reflection of his burning indignation.
"The mouth," Havil pressed on relentlessly, "they have the same wide mouth, don't you think? The first time I saw them together I thought to myself they must be related."
Chaldez shook his head and said: "it's not true."