Though clearly designed for traveling the ocean, the ships moved up the river steadily. As with much other river traffic moving against the current, the ships had a line out which had been fastened to the harnesses of draft beasts. But where a buffalo or ox might have drawn a raft along, a dozen of them could not have even held the ship in place against the current. Yet the lines did go out, and draft beasts did draw them along, step after plodding step, closer and closer to Kelewan.
Nelesquin read the disbelief on Keerana’s face as the first of the black ships came around a bend in the river. The warrior’s expression had begun to change earlier, into one of puzzlement, as the ground shook with the beasts’ footfalls. Nelesquin had known what to look for, so he’d seen the first beast’s head rising just past the tallest trees. The creature, easily a hundred feet long and half again as tall, had a long neck which made nipping tender leaves from the tallest branches easy.
The Durrani stared, dumbfounded. “Such a beast I have never seen.”
“They were created after you departed.” Nelesquin waved casually toward the dark green creature pulling the ship upriver. “I remembered, belatedly, how difficult Tsatol Deraelkun could be to destroy. I created a few things to aid you, and I shipped them here.”
“But how?” The warrior’s amber eyes slitted. “You could not carry more than one or two of those creatures on the ship. Its appetite must be enormous.”
The ground shook more violently as the creature came closer. Nelesquin’s mount shied, and the Prince roughly reined it back under control. “We fattened them up in Anturasixan, then laced their food with Bloodstar orchid blossoms. The creatures slept, and the three you see here were wakened at the coast. They are docile and easily controlled.”
Nelesquin pointed to the creature’s long back. Between the creature’s shoulder blades sat a Durrani warrior. He manipulated two golden rods that looked to be the size of broom handles. “Those rods are driven down into slots in the vertebrae. The driver controls the beasts that way.”
Keerana nodded, watching, his hands imitating the motions of the driver.
Nelesquin smiled. From curiosity to shock to cunning. He measures the beast for combat. “Magnificent, no?”
“Yes, Master, incredible. I can have my men shape a platform for the back. Archers can shoot from it. Depending upon the fortification, the creature could smash walls, or we can step from its back to the top of a palisade.”
“Oh, no, no, no, Keerana, nothing of the sort. These creatures-which your people have dubbed kasphana — are for pulling wagons and ships. I have others for toppling walls. You shall be amazed.”
“Yes, Master.” Keerana smiled. “Please thank your lady, Nirati, for her part in this. I can see her gentle hand in its shaping.”
“Then your eyes deceive you, Keerana, for Nirati had nothing to do with the kasphana, nor any of the others I have brought. Certainly some of the failures reside in her realm, but not these. They were bred for war and, mercifully, she knows little of that.”
“She is too gentle a creature for war.”
“How very true.” Nelesquin frowned, thinking back to his reincarnation. He had emerged from nothing and had met the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. At least, that is the way he’d felt. There was something about her which seemed to answer his every need. She had been his perfect match.
At least such had been true at that moment.
Then he had met her grandfather, Qiro Anturasi, and recognized in the man’s hatred for the Nine Principalities a commonality. In no time, Nelesquin’s imperial designs and ambitions had been reborn. With Qiro as an ally, shaping an army to fulfill their mutual desire for revenge and justice had been child’s play.
Nelesquin labored under no illusions that he would have to destroy Qiro. He’d known that from the first, of course. Qiro wanted to destroy the nations so he could be raised above all others. Nelesquin knew he was above all others, and a rival was not something the Prince would tolerate.
But Nirati would not take her grandfather’s death well. That was the difference between them, for Nelesquin had helped plot his grandfather’s death.
A light burned in Keerana’s eyes when he mentioned Nirati. The Durrani worshipped her quietly, seeing her as a goddess of peace between battles. Keerana was blessed among his compatriots, for she had smiled upon him. He likely even loved her.
As I do. But Nelesquin hesitated, wondering if he did love her. He certainly had loved her-he remembered that much. The memory of her, her soft body, her bright green eyes, the scent of her perspiration after they had made love; all of these things brought a smile to his face. She was his Queen, no doubt of it, but did he actually love her?
Nelesquin reined his horse around and began to pace the black ships. Nirati had been everything he desired in Anturasixan, but since his return, things had changed. Here he was, on the cusp of victory, reclaiming that which was his by blood and right, and where was she? She had remained with her grandfather, blocked from joining him, no doubt by the old man himself.
And why was it that she would take the detritus of his experiments? What did she do with them? What did she want with them? They were dead ends, much as the Principalities were.
A new thought occurred to him, one he did not much like. She had brothers she loved dearly. And her grandfather was arguably the most powerful man in the world. Were he not so focused on revenge, he might seek to become a god or at least challenge the gods. What if Nirati had meant for Nelesquin to fall in love with her so he would go out, reconquer the Empire, then she would usurp him and establish the Anturasi family as the Imperial line?
That is not possible, is it? But Cyrsa had killed her husband to usurp his throne. It had been done before.
Nelesquin turned in the saddle. “How freely do you trust, Keerana?”
The Durrani’s eyes widened. “You, Master, utterly and completely. You are father to my race. We owe you everything and live to serve.”
“Your fidelity is most appreciated.” Nelesquin gestured and the warrior rode up on his right side. “But among your people, how easily do you trust?”
“Within my clan, Master, trust is complete. There may be rivalries, but this is only the way that we improve ourselves, as per your wishes. Outside of my clan, trust must be earned.”
“If you were given a wife from another clan, would you trust her?”
Keerana frowned. “She becomes one of my clan then, so I must trust her. If she betrayed me, it would benefit neither her nor her clan, for you would punish such treachery, would you not, Master?”
“I would indeed.” Nelesquin smiled. In creating the Durrani he had fashioned the greatest of warriors. Fierce, implacable, arrogant in combat, respectful in repose, they were everything a leader would want. Intelligent, too, for Keerana’s face already betrayed he was thinking more about the question he’d been asked.
“What do you expect of the enemy, Keerana?”
“They will be resourceful, but this will avail them nothing against us.”
“Well said, but Gachin was slain and his army thrown back from Tsatol Deraelkun.”
The warrior’s expression sharpened. “Gachin dismissed the clues to what awaited him as aberrations. The force that broke out from Kelewan later ambushed our troops in the forests, and stood against him at Tsatol Deraelkun. Because they struck from hiding and ran from the siege, he perceived them to be cowards.”
“But you do not?”
“I expect a viper to coil and strike. That it does not fight claw with claw surprises me not at all.” Keerana pointed off to the northwest. “Tsatol Deraelkun is well positioned for defense, and having an able warrior leading troops makes it still more effective. It is an interesting puzzle to be solved.”
Nelesquin smiled as a large, leather-winged, short-legged creature hopped up on the lead ship’s wales. A warrior sat in a saddle fastened where long neck met body, and gold control rods had been inserted into the creature’s spine. The beast threw its triangular head back and shrieked, then launched itself. It swooped low over the river to pick up speed, then beat its wings and rose easily to where it could float on the air currents above the land.