CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

The question of how to deal with Chaldez ranked low in Havil's priorities as he grappled with the proliferating problems of governing a recalcitrant people. He very much regretted that his cousin had survived the initial battle, for, if horseless he had died, there would now be one less consideration to trouble him. But alive he still was, and eventually something would have to be done about him.
Of more immediate concern was the whereabouts of Babra. As long as he lived he would be the inspiration for revolt, the core around which rebellion could form. Being rid of Chaldez was a luxury compared with the necessity of being rid of Babra.
Havil consulted the venerable Taddig on the matter, who advised him to start making use of the Kroyans who had deserted Babra.
"But how can I?" moaned Havil. "I don't even speak their wretched language."
Taddig pointed out, patiently, that many of the ruling families, descended originally from Theigans, still spoke a form of the Theigan language. Indeed, up until Taigram II's time it had been the language of the court and of government.
"There are many here who will support you now that it is apparent that you are the sovereign power. Let them be your friends and then, with their help you will discover where Babra is hiding."
With Havil's consent, Taddig set in motion a process by which those Kroyans who wished to demonstrate their loyalty to their new rulers were enabled to do so, and as he promised, news of Babra soon followed. The defeated king had, it seemed, fled to Felewith, capital of Sair Jisenner, and placed himself under the protection of King Sigmar.
Havil despaired when he heard of it. "That's it!" he grumbled. "We'll never get him now."
"Of course you will," Taddig contradicted him. "Am I not right in thinking that Chaldez was fleeing from Sigmar when he came to Jeggan? They are deadly rivals for the throne of Sair. Offer to give Chaldez to Sigmar in return for Babra."
Havil affected to look horrified: "But Chaldez is my cousin!" he objected.
"And your grandfather's rightful heir. Chaldez is popular. There are people who would support his claim against yours. He can only create difficulties."
Havil gave the appearance of considering this argument. Then he declared: "Taddig, you are right!" And he slapped his elderly counsellor on the back. "We'll get a message to Sigmar at once," then, as an after-thought he added: "We might as well seize Chaldez and make sure he is ours to exchange."
Taddig shook his head. "Chaldez is here in the city, is he not? He suspects nothing, and consider this: where would he go if he did take it into his head to leave? He is as good as your prisoner without even knowing it. Act prematurely in this matter and your cause would not, I think, be advanced. My advice is to proceed with all care, step by step."
Havil shrugged; he was accustomed to following Taddig's advice.

* * * *

The messenger was on his way to Felewith when Doo arrived in Budenrath.
Prince Chaldez, she gathered, had lodgings in the house which Havil had commandeered for his own use, and at the gate she was told that the prince was out riding with Dan. She stood in the rain, waiting, and when at last the two companions rode up she threw back the hood of her cloak and called Chaldez's name. He looked down at her blankly. She laughed: "Chaldez, it's me!"
"Doo!" he exclaimed. At once he was out of his saddle, but he hesitated for a moment before going to her, as though she might prove to be an apparition. He held out his hand and touched her cheek, and then he reached for her right hand, raised it to his lips and kissed it. "I do believe," he exclaimed, "you are a daughter of Arwarnhi!" this being the god whom he believed had delivered him at the Battle of the Plain, and whom he had worshipped ever since. "How is it possible I find you here? I was told today that Taigram has not yet been informed of our victory. Cousin Havil says much has to be done before the kingdom is secure, so if Taigram is still in Jeggan, how did you get here, if the gods did not carry you?"
Doo pressed her finger to his lips. "Is there somewhere we can talk in safety?" she asked.
By now the gates had been opened. The three of them entered the courtyard. "Our chambers are private," said Chaldez. "The walls in this house are thick stone and the doors are of oak. Is that safe enough for you?"
"I hope so," she replied.
Dan and Chaldez had a suite of rooms for their use. Chaldez seated Doo before starting his questioning all over again.
She told him what Ardur had heard about Taigram renouncing his throne in favour of Havil, and she stressed that Taigram obviously had no intention of leaving Jeggan; no preparations had been made for removing his household, and he had not even mentioned Kroya to Deganz, whom he saw every day.
Chaldez gazed at her. "So you travelled here by yourself? You couldn't come with my grandfather so you left the children, the children you love, and came here on your own! You did this for me?"
Dan prevented her from answering. "Havil!" he exclaimed. "Havil is to be king of Kroya? They've cheated you, Chaldez. They've cheated you! By the gods, you've been betrayed! No wonder that devil's excrement wished you dead!"
Chaldez was thoughtful. "Grandfather named Havil as king? But I am his heir . . . Why have they done this?"
"Haz is behind it," asserted Dan. "He wants Havil on the throne so he can rule Kroya by proxy, then he'll divert the kingdom's wealth into his own coffers. We should have seen it! Why was Havil made second-in-command? It should have gone to you. We thought it was a joke, remember? It was no joke. By the gods . . . "
Chaldez looked at Doo, as though for confirmation. She said: "I came here to warn you."
Chaldez stood up. "He did want me dead, and now we know why! We must leave at once. We will go to Eujinni. The king is my friend." He noticed that Doo seemed troubled. "We will all three go," he said. "You will ride with me, Doo. Dan, will you arrange for two good horses to be saddled up? We leave as soon as they are ready."
To avoid creating a spectacle, Doo hurried on foot to the city gates where Dan and Chaldez had arranged to meet her. Chaldez hoisted her up in front of him and they all three passed through the gates and out on to the road which follows the river inland.
No road like it existed in Theigia, Sair or even Eujinni. It was wide and firm, its ruts and potholes constantly repaired so that the ox carts, laden with ingots of tin, gold and silver, should not be delayed unnecessarily as they made their ponderous way from the mines in the hills to the capital.

No such traffic was on the road now, but after they had been riding for a short while they saw approaching them a column of Theigan soldiers. Chaldez whispered to Doo: "Don't worry;" advice that gave no clue, he hoped, to his own mounting anxiety. When the column came abreast of them the commander pulled up his horse across the road.
"By whose authority are you on this road?" he called.
Dan said: "Prince Chaldez has ordered us to conduct this lady to the kingdom of Eujinni."
The commander, a large man with a ferocious expression, scowled. Chaldez began to feel sick with anxiety, but Dan was uncowed. He rode up close and said: "Take me to your superior, immediately. I have letters here," and he tapped the breast of his travelling cloak, "signed by Prince Chaldez himself to his Majesty King Gam of Eujinni, and when your superior has seen them and submitted his report to Prince Chaldez I hope you will have thought of a good reason for delaying us."
The commander moved his horse to one side. Indicating with his thumb, he said: "There's a garrison up the road. The commander will find you lodgings for the night. The gods be with you."
After the patrol had passed, Dan muttered: "Idiot!" and Chaldez, bubbling inside with relief, wanted to laugh, but was afraid he might be overheard.
The three fugitives made good time, and the wooded Buden plain was soon dropping away behind them as the road broached the first low hills of the eastern uplands.
The rain had stopped, and the evening sky was bright and crystal clear; the air on their faces was fresh and sharp. The farther into the hills they went, the more open the countryside became, great swathes of forest having been felled to feed the smelters' ravenous furnaces. Chaldez stared around him with distaste. He thought uneasily of Arwarnhi, god of the forests, and wondered why he had permitted mortal man to wreck such havoc upon his realm.
As the road climbed, it twisted and turned between rocky out-crops, occasionally passing within sight of a lonely homestead crouching beneath a thick turf roof on low earthen walls.
"The next one we come to," shouted Dan, twisting in his saddle, "we commandeer for the night. What do you say?"
"I say we ride on," called Chaldez.
Dan, who was slightly ahead, stopped. When Chaldez and Doo were up with him he said: "We've got to stop for the night; Havil won't even have missed us yet. We'll need food and we'll need sleep, or we'll be good for nothing."
Reluctantly Chaldez agreed.
In a while the landscape on their right changed dramatically, the hillsides being smothered by spreading piles of spoil from near-by mines. And now they came to a village, the houses lying well back from the road and fronted by a wide sward on which oxen lazily grazed among a haphazard scattering of four-wheeled ox-carts, the shafts of some standing up, like giant horns, and others resting on the grass.
A man was standing beside the road, and as the three approached him he called out. Dan looked at Chaldez, and Chaldez shrugged, unable to make out what had been said. He and Dan could both speak Kroyan, Lewvin having used no other language when they were alone with her, but this man's dialect defeated him. The man spoke again, and he clearly expected a response because he began to walk along beside Chaldez's horse, looking up at Chaldez and Doo expectantly.
Dan said, in Theigan: "Why doesn't he leave us alone?"
This remark, in a foreign tongue, was a signal for the man to become excited. He called out to group of people who were standing near the road a little farther ahead, and they at once moved into the road, effectively blocking it. And Chaldez realised that the man beside his horse was now holding its bridle.
The others began to move nearer. Dan and Chaldez exchanged glances. Doo, sitting in front of Chaldez, was shivering with alarm.