Down Styphon!, page 31
part #8 of Kalvan Series
Kalvan laughed. “You’re wiser than I am, Skranga. I wouldn’t wish this job on my worst enemy. Maybe Rylla didn’t make such a bad choice after all.”
“I’ll be off then, Your Majesty, to see to the questioning of the Harphaxi officers. What about Great King Geblon?”
Kalvan paused, stroking his goatee. “Good question. I’m afraid Geblon’s going to cause us some problems when he learns he’s been deposed. That’ll put Great King Phidestros in a bind as well. Why don’t you sound him out and see where he’s at?”
Skranga nodded. “Yes, Your Majesty.”
II
Chief Skranga left headquarters with a heavy load of worries on his mind, first among them was what to do with Great King Geblon. Outside Hostigi HQ he untied his horse, a black stallion, from the hitching post and called over Chief Petty-Captain Gycules, who was waiting outside. “Gycules, come with me.”
“Yes, sir,” the big man replied. They had to wait half a candle, until a horse large enough to carry Gycules was found in the stable, before he got up on his horse.
Several of Skrangas guardsmen started to mount up, but he ordered them to stay put. He wanted to talk with Gycules in private.
As soon as they reached the open road, he said, “I have a delicate mission for you to undertake.”
The big man nodded.
He was one of the few men Skranga trusted to not only keep his mouth shut, but do exactly as ordered. And one of the few men big enough to do the job. Halgoth was another, but he tended to talk too much when he had a snoot full.
“Where are we going, Chief?”
“To Vyklos farm, outside of Dytha Town, where were holding the Harphaxi officers.”
“What are we going to do there?” he asked.
“I’m going to question some of the officers, but I have a special assignment for you.”
The big man nodded again.
“It looks like Great King Geblon did us no favor by surrendering and it appears that his continued existence threatens the delicate balance between the various great kingdoms.”
Gycules was no fool. “You mean he might be angry when he finds out he’s been dethroned and his wife and her baby were beheaded.”
This was top secret news but he wasn’t surprised that the Chief Petty-Officer was acquainted with it. There was little that went on in the camp that Gycules did not know about.
“Exactly,” Skranga replied.
“You want me to terminate the problem, Chief?”
“Right. However, I want you to make it look like a suicide. We’ve been keeping Geblon inside a room in the barn to isolate him from his bodyguards and commanders who are billeted in the farmhouse.”
Gycules nodded.
“I want you to hang him in the barn from a timber with his own belt, but leave no marks.”
“Can do,” the big man said.
“Good,” Skranga replied.
At the barn, Skranga ordered his men to bring Geblon into the back room. He wasn’t surprised to see that the former Great King was disheveled in appearance and in an unhappy frame of mind. However, he was pleased to note that he was unmarked; some of his agents could be a bit overzealous at times in following their duties.
“Who are you?” Geblon demanded.
“I’m Duke Skranga, Chief of Hostigi Intelligence. I have a few questions to ask.”
“Ask away,” he threw out, with a look of disdain marring his countenance.
Skranga got right up in his face. “First of all, you’re the one who surrendered, not me. So quit with the act. I’m in charge, you’re not! Understood?”
Geblon nodded.
“Good. Now, I’ve got a few questions to ask. First, what is the general state of morale inside Balph?”
“Poor,” Geblon replied. “The constant bombardment is taking a toll. However, most of those inside are determined to fight to the death. They know there is no alternative to death at Kalvan’s hands and they plan to take as many Hostigi to Regwarn with them as they can.”
That was not unexpected. “How are the city’s stores holding out?”
“Good. There’s plenty to eat, even though the warehouses at the docks were destroyed. The walls will be down long before the city’s foodstuffs run out.”
Kalvan wasn’t going to be happy with that bit of intelligence.
“What about the Innermost Circle?”
Geblon barked out a laugh. “They’re soiling their yellow robes in fear. If there was a safe place they could go, they all would have fled Balph long ago.”
“Is there anything else you can tell me?” Skranga asked.
Geblon shook his head. “I have a question. How are my wife and daughter?”
Skranga shook his head. “They are both dead. The Harphax City fathers had them both beheaded when they spotted Great Queen Rylla and her army.”
The Great King let out an inhuman howl. Then started to pull out his hair until Skranga ordered his men to stop him. He needed the corpse in good condition if they were going to sell the suicide story to Kalvan. Besides, from the look on Geblon’s face he’d be doing him a favor, as well as Great King Kalvan. The last thing Kalvan needed was an angry, vengeance seeking Phidestros coming south to avenge his old friend.
III
Styphon’s Voice Anaxthenes sat in his chair staring down at his red robe of primacy. I wonder how much longer I'll be wearing this? This was the first time he’d actually considered that he might lose his seat and his life. Even here, deep within the Golden Temple of Styphon’s House, he could hear the infernal thunder of the Hostigi guns. Already, they had blasted a gap large enough to give entrance to their army. Why were they still blasting away?
He looked up at Grand Commander Grythos with a sneer. Not for the first time, he actually missed Grand Master Soton. “Please explain to me how some six thousand Harphaxi soldiers evacuated the city right before your eyes?”
Grythos looked thoroughly cowed. “Your Divinity, I hadn’t expected the Harphaxi to surrender to Kalvan! Maybe we should have told Geblon about his wife’s decapitation. It might have put some starch into his breeches.”
“It’s too late for that. I thought Styphon’s Own Guard was there to ensure the Harphaxi stayed in line?”
The Grand Commander held out his hands and shook them angrily. “I thought the boil-brained Harphaxi would attempt to retreat, not surrender in front of Kalvan’s cannons! I didn’t think they had that much courage. Once the guardsmen realized they were surrendering, they attacked, but it was already too late. They only killed twelve hundred or so.”
“Will Kalvan be able to use them?”
“I don’t believe so, Your Divinity. The Harphaxi Army is made-up of the worst-trained bunch of soldiers I’ve ever encountered. From their training and demeanor, you would never guess that their commander had worked under Captain-General Phidestros, one of the greatest captains of our time. Unless Kalvan uses them as fresh fish, they will probably remain under guard.”
“They have hurt us in other ways. Many of the Ktemnoi soldiers are asking to retire.”
“Ha!” Grythos laughed. “Kalvan will not be so gentle with the Ktemnoi. His Uncle Wolf sent us a message this morning stating that anyone who leaves the city walls will be killed. The Daemon plans to bring Styphon’s House down for all time.”
“Was that smart?”
“I don’t believe so; it forces our allies to realize they are fighting to the death and that there will be no escape through surrender.”
“Why would Kalvan encourage our soldiers not to yield?”
“Because he doesn’t want any of us to escape. It’s a war to the death.”
IV
Chief Skranga arrived at headquarters shortly after the rising sun. Kalvan was surprised to note the deep look of concern that showed on his face as he came through the door. “Has there been a breakout?” he asked.
“No, Your Majesty. The Styphoni curs are still trapped within the walls of Balph. But I do carry bad news.”
“Out with it, man!” Kalvan demanded.
“I was halfway here, when a courier came with news that Great King Geblon took his own life sometime during the night.”
“Geblon’s dead! Did you see for yourself?”
“Yes, Your Majesty. I turned around and returned to Vyklos Farm immediately. Geblon had been held inside the barn alone in order to keep him from conspiring with the other ranking Harphaxi princes and nobles. It appears that during the night he used his belt to hang himself from one of the joists.”
“But why? How did he appear when you questioned him?”
“Great King Geblon was despondent, Your Majesty, very upset. After questioning him about conditions inside Balph, I took the liberty to tell him about the death of his wife and daughter—that may have been my mistake....”
“Don’t beat yourself up about it, Skranga,” Kalvan said, he knew that Geblon would have found out soon enough; gossip was the only thing faster than the speed of light. “You couldn’t have known that he would kill himself. Besides, he had to learn about it sooner or later. Better coming from you than from barroom gossip.”
“True, but he took the news badly, breaking down and sobbing. I should have ordered one of my men to hold watch over him.”
“No,” Kalvan said, shaking his head. “Maybe it’s better this way. He’ll no longer be a wedge between Great King Phidestros and myself. I fear Geblon might have blamed me or Rylla for his family’s demise and wanted revenge.”
Skranga nodded, thinking, which is why I had him killed. “Sire, what do you want me to do with the body?”
Kalvan paused to fire up his pipe. After he had it drawing well, he said, “First, notify Duke Kyblannos. He will want to examine the body personally; they were good friends and comrades. When he’s finished, have it pickled. I’m sure his old commander will want to examine his body for himself. We’ll send it back with Kyblannos to Zygros City with the first of the treasure ships.”
“It shall be done, Your Majesty.”
“If Kyblannos has any questions, bring him to me.”
“Yes, Sire.”
“Now, what did you learn from the Harphaxi you questioned about conditions inside Balph?”
“As we expected, Your Majesty, morale is bad. The night and day bombardment has taken its toll. Both low- and high-born are suffering. The archpriests are as squirrely as rats trapped in a chamber pot! The soldiers promise to sell their lives dearly. They know there is no escape.”
THIRTY-SEVEN
I
The gap in the walls of Balph was now wide enough they could run several companies through it side by side. Kalvan looked over at Captain-General Halmoth. “It’s time to take the war to the enemy.”
Halmoth agreed, but with one caveat. “You must stay here, Your Majesty. It’s going to be a building to building, house to house fight, the worst kind. Too dangerous for senior commanders, like us. Instead, we’ll have to send in the youngsters.”
“Dralm-damnit!” Kalvan said in response. Despite his disappointment, he knew that Halmoth was right. As much as he was bored with the siege, he could no longer throw himself into the thick of the fight; not with all his responsibilities. Another problem with being the indispensable man.
“Besides, Your Majesty, it’s not going to be much fun rooting out the Styphoni troops.” He pointed to the crumbled and fallen nearby buildings. Every once in a while a shot rang out and Alkides would return fire with one of the eight-pounders.
To Kalvan this section of the city looked similar to pictures he’d seen of Berlin after the German surrender. “It’s unfortunate that most of Balph’s buildings are made of stone rather than wood.”
Halmoth snorted. “That would have been too easy. We could have burnt them out a moon-half ago. This was the richest city in the Five Kingdoms; although, no one would make that claim now.”
They had seized a king’s ransom of loot and valuable treasures in the outskirts of Balph where the upperpriests had lived in their summer mansions. They’d even taken tens of thousands of prisoners, mostly the elderly, along with women and children. Many were former residents of Balph who’d been evicted before their arrival, when Styphon’s Voice had evacuated the city of all nonessential personnel; the rest were former servants and their families. Kalvan had everyone but the men of military age released and sent on their way to Ktemnos City as displaced persons. Let Great King Lukthos support them, Kalvan had decided. He hoped they ate him out of house and home; it might make Lukthos think twice about coming to Balph’s rescue.
“Colonel Leukestros is going to lead the attack,” Halmoth said. “He’ll have ten companies of infantry”
“What happens if they run into a large force?” Kalvan asked.
“They’ll pull back immediately and attempt to draw them within range of our guns.”
“Not much of a plan,” Kalvan said. Still, he’d always known that at some point they were going to have to take the fight to the enemy.
Halmoth shrugged. “Short of starving them out over the next five or six seasons, this is as good as anything I can come up with, Sire.”
II
Colonel Leukestros hunched down behind a chimney stub, knocked down to the height of a man. A score or more of Styphoni marksmen were holed up in the upper stories of a nearby building, which was pockmarked with bullet holes but otherwise structurally sound. The company’s riflemen had the Styphoni pinned down, but hadn’t been able to eliminate the marksmen, even though they were using muskets. Despite the disadvantages of accurately aiming a smoothbore, some of them were pretty deadly shooters. The six men he’d lost to their fire could attest to that.
He raised his rifle to cover one of the windows where most of the shots were coming from, then turned to the sergeant in charge of the sappers. “Can your men get a few bombs inside that building? Enough to bring it down?”
The Sergeant replied, “Sure, sir, if you can give us adequate cover.”
“I’ll do my best.”
“Fire by squads,” he ordered. The first volley blasted the windows while the sappers ran with their leather-cased bombs to the opening that had once been a doorway. Despite the Hostigi fire, several of the Styphoni got off shots and two of the sappers went down. Leukestros fired at one marksman who was dangling down from one of the windows trying for a better shot. His bullet struck the gunman right between the shoulder blades; he slumped down, almost falling out the window.
By the time the third squad volleyed, the sappers were inside the building lighting their fuses. The tricky part would come when they left the building.
“I think we stung ’em,” his sergeant said.
“Good. Now, let’s keep them inside while our men return.”
Suddenly the remaining six sappers ran out of the building. At the same time, his men opened fire on all the exposed building positions. Their volleys kept most of the Styphoni inside the building, but they lost another sapper.
WHOOMP!
The bottom story collapsed and in slow-motion the entire building fell in on itself in a billow of smoke, killing most of those still inside. As soon as the gray and white cloud cleared, Leukestros ordered his men forward. There's got to be a better way to take this Dralm-damned city than this, he thought to himself.
III
Her herald announced King Chartiphon, and Great Queen Rylla ordered, “Bid him enter.”
She was using one of the many large chambers in the Harphaxi palace as her own presence room, trying not to upstage Great King Sarrask who was busy establishing himself as the new great king of Hos-Harphax.
Chartiphon entered, holding a scroll and an I-told-you-so look on his face. She felt her stomach drop; it had to be a letter from Kalvan. She noticed the seal was unbroken and hoped that boded well. She was still uneasy about how her husband would take her enthronement of Sarrask as great king of Hos-Harphax.
“Your Majesty, this dispatch from Great King Kalvan just arrived from Balph.”
In her last missive, she had offered her army in aid of crushing the Styphoni Holy City. Not that Kalvan needed her help, but so they could spend time together. It had been over two seasons since they’d parted and she missed him terribly.
Chartiphon passed her the scroll and she used her small blade to break the seal.
My Darling Wife,
I was surprised by your elevation of Prince Sarrask to the Iron Throne of Hos-Harphax and immediately thought of a dozen objections. Then I attempted to view the chaotic situation in Harphax from your view, and realized that you have made a sound selection since there is no Harphaxi house in that kingdom we can trust or depend upon. Most have either sold out to Styphon's House or have been coerced into cooperation with that most heinous of temples. So, upon further reflection, I realized that you had made an excellent choice since no one is more loyal and faithful to our reign than Sarrask, formerly Prince of Sask.
Rylla exhaled deeply. She had been holding her breath since Kalvan’s letter had arrived, but hadn’t realized it. She looked up at Chartiphon and saw a puzzled expression on his face. She read him the appropriate passage and watched as his face went through several changes.
“Ah, ah,” he sputtered.
She promised herself not to gloat and began to read the rest of the letter.
While I would very much enjoy your company and miss you more than words can deliver, we have more than enough soldiers here in Hos-Ktemnos to put Styphon's House out of business—for good. A better use of your time and resources, in my opinion, would be for you and Great King Sarrask to visit each of the Harphaxi princedoms and find replacements for all of the current princes. In this way, the two of you will guarantee their loyalty to both the Harphaxi and Hostigi thrones as well as find the best men for the job. Plus, it will give you both the opportunity to learn about Sarrask's future subjects, both the good and the bad. He has not always been a good judge of character; so, if you see him making an error of judgment, please correct him gently and patiently.
