Surrender to the Will of the Night - By Glen Cook Page 0,174

to hire coasters. Hecht wanted to get his plunder into Imperial territory as fast as possible. The nearest friendly country lay across the Vieran Sea.

Clej Sedlakova approached Hecht the second afternoon. “What’ll we do with all these Deves, boss?”

“You don’t think we should just leave them naked in the rain?”

Head shake.

“Why not?”

“They’ll just start over. Maybe here, maybe somewhere else. But right now they figure you’re gonna kill them so they can’t.”

“And you think they’ve got the right idea?”

“Just don’t ask me to do it. I’m not that hard.”

“Be a serious waste of talent and knowledge. Let’s take them with us. We can lock them up in Hochwasser. They can pursue their trade in service to the Empire.”

“Make slaves of them?”

“Forced labor. My father would find that delicious.”

Sedlakova showed confusion. “Sir?”

“Nothing. Identify the most valuable people. Have Vircondelet take them away as soon as he can.”

“Yes, sir.” Sedlakova’s relief was obvious.

Why had the man not believed that they would be left naked and starving?

Hecht reflected briefly on the legacy left him by Redfearn Bechter. Had there been more to that than just Grade Drocker’s journal? If so, he could not figure it out. And Drocker had not been the sort to indulge himself with deep puzzles and riddles.

* * *

The Empress, accompanied by fewer than a hundred companions and guards, arrived as Sedlakova went to deal with the prisoners. She did not look comfortable. Hecht thought she was sick and putting on a bold face. He ran to greet her, stifling the protests she was sure to have heard a hundred times, already. She was here. He would have to pretend to be pleased.

Katrin made no effort not to be noticed. “I want Monestacheus Deleanu to know that this was my adventure, not a rogue action by my Commander of the Righteous. God’s enemies cannot be allowed to arm themselves with these horrible weapons.”

Then greed flashed. Her thinking included the savings this meant for the Imperial treasury.

The presence of the Empress only added to the chaos.

* * *

The Commander of the Righteous received a summons to the Imperial Presence the evening of the day following her arrival. The lifeguard who brought the message told him the Empress expected him to dine with her. He should dress accordingly.

That meant a hurried bath and a change to his other clothes. He traveled light in the field, seldom dressing better than his soldiers.

He grumbled because this might cause a delay in leaving.

He was ready to go, having accomplished his mission.

The Empress had taken the quarters of the directors. Living rough. She did not mind, though she had only two distraught young women to manage her needs, leaving much to her lifeguards. Who, Hecht noted, went about their business grimly.

Protecting this impulsive Empress might be more difficult than had been protecting the Captain-General. Katrin had no real need to go dangerous places. She did not have to be difficult. But she did feel compelled to be her father’s daughter.

Katrin was not in a good mood. “Is that the best you have to wear? You look like one of your foot soldiers.”

“It is, I fear, Your Grace. I did not anticipate a need for anything better.”

Katrin dropped it. “This went well. What next?”

“Back to Hochwasser and Alten Weinberg. Then steady training and planning for next year. For now, we should send an advance party to the Holy Lands. What we know now isn’t much more than rumor.”

Katrin had established herself behind the bulwark of a large, rude table. She remained there, unmoving, occasional flickers of discomfort darkening her features. She was, for sure, not well.

One of her lifeguards brought a chair, placed it opposite her. She indicated that Hecht should sit.

She began to talk the business of crusade and empire but seemed vaguely distracted.

The first course arrived, something local that Hecht neither recognized nor appreciated. It was a dough ball filled with shredded meat, unfamiliar spices, and strange chopped vegetables. The Empress observed, “Their people weren’t big on luxuries. Especially food.”

Hecht caught a whiff of coffee. It made him sit up straight and look toward the doorway whence the server lifeguard had entered and departed.

Katrin managed a smile. “Some things are too marvelous to give up, however much I don’t mind living rough.”

The coffee arrived with what turned out to be both the main and final course, a roast slab of unidentifiable beast the attending lifeguard divided according to status rather than capacity.

Hecht tied in, ate slowly, talked planning, and hoped the disappearance of the