The Lady in the White Tower
By
UCSBdad
Disclaimer: I own neither towers nor castles. Rating: K Time: In an AU future, or perhaps an AU past.
"My grandfather came to the Empire from Norren. The land there is poor and the winters are long and cold and dark. As a younger son he would never inherit his father's land, which was barely sufficient for a small family, so he went south. At that time, the Empire wished to place military settlers along the borders with the eastern barbarians. Anyone with some degree of military skill would be given land that his family could keep only if every generation soldiered for the Empire."
"After two years, the County Militia Regiment was called up in part."
"Why in part?" Kate asked.
"So, some men could remain behind to till the soil and feed the Empire's army, and so that every man who went would have the best horses, the best armor and the best weapons that the regiment as a whole had. They called up a company of foot archers, a company of spearmen, and a troop of light horse. My grandfather was elected the captain of the troop. He was a good leader and his troop fought well. When he came back, he married the woman who had the farm next to his. She had been given a farm as compensation for her husband who had died in the service of the Empire. The Empire realized that without women on the frontier, there would not be much in the way of future generations of soldiers."
"Was it a love match, or just a business arrangement?"
"Both. Gran and Gramp loved each other to the end. She died a month after him. They had been together for over fifty years and we knew she belonged with him."
"Gramp was called up with his troop twice more. In between, he recruited more men from Norren to come to the frontier and serve with him. The Empire decided to make him and his troop full time troops, scouting for any sign of the barbarians. Eventually, he had two troops of horse, one of which he led and the other led by my father. By the time I was old enough to join my father, he commanded the Norren Heavy Cavalry Regiment, half armored cavalrymen and half horse archers."
"But how did you become a baron?"
"I led my regiment at the battle of Snakkery River. I was on the left wing with half of the army's cavalry which as commanded by Lord Demming. However, he was too drunk to command anything, or perhaps he only pretended to be drunk in hopes that the barbarians would overwhelm the center where the Emperor was and kill him, allowing Demming to win the battle and have his troops proclaim him Emperor."
"But, I saw an opening. With no authority at all, I ordered the whole of our left-wing cavalry to attack. We overran their light cavalry and light infantry. Their whole army began to fall apart. But, it was rather embarrassing that the nobility of the Empire had stood back and let a commoner win the battle. I was quickly made a baron so that faith in the Empire's noble commanders wouldn't be shaken. The real nobility, whose families had been nobles for many generations saw me as nothing but a jumped-up half-barbarian. And they let me know it."
"Was that why the Emperor disbanded your regiment?" She asked.
"Probably not. The Emperor fears any competent, ambitious leader whose troops will follow him no matter what. Not that I ever had any ambitions to mount the Imperial throne."
"His loss and my gain, the foolish man."
Castle left Lady Kate, but they promised each other that they would see each other soon. Which they did.
They crossed the Ershtabula River two days after that on rafts and boats. One horse archer had gotten drunk, fell overboard and drowned. Five other men were injured in the crossing, but all would recover. Three horses panicked and jumped off the rafts they were on and swam away. Oddly enough the three horses caught up with the regiment days later with another, unknown, horse with them.
But, after a week, they were faced with another confrontation.
"Damn it to hell." Cried Long Jehan. "It's the damned Tischetti. Usually, they range far south from here. And they're a greedy lot."
"There are only twenty or so of them." Castle said.
"That you can see." Long Jehan replied. "There are more about, you can be sure. Perhaps a thousand, perhaps less, but a thousand at the most."
"Can we fight them?" Esposito asked, loosening his sword in its scabbard.
"Yes and no. Every one of them will have a horse and at least one spare. If you charge them, they'll scatter and avoid your soldiers. If you break up into smaller groups to chase each band down, they'll gather together and overwhelm your small groups. If you keep together, they'll hang on your flanks and rear, attacking you whenever they can. They know this country better than we do. They'll sneak in at night and steal horses. They're great ones for horse theft.
"You should go see how much they want." Castle said.
The Tischetti were greedy and arrogant. To begin with they demanded that Long Jehan get off of his horse and kneel before them while he negotiated. Then he was told there would be no negotiations, Long Jehan's people would pay what the Tischetti asked for or else.
Long Jehan came back to where Rick, Kate, Esposito and the rest of Rick's officers were.
"It could be worse. They want a hundred horses and they'll pick which horses they take. And they want two hundred steel swords and five hundred steel lance points. But the bad part is that they want Lady Kate's six redheaded servants for slaves."
"No." Lady Kate said. "Absolutely not. They can have more horses and more steel weapons, but no slaves. Not one."
"I agree." Castle said.
"They won't accept it. They've told me that, and I know they mean it."
"Then I'll have to make their chief an offer he can't refuse."
"What do you mean?" Castle asked.
"I'll offer to become his slave if he'll fight me in single combat. He'll become my slave and accept half the horses and weapons if he loses."
"No, Lady Kate." Esposito cried. "Let me fight him."
"Kate, I don't like the idea at all. I suggest…" But before Castle was through, Lady Kate had ridden off with Long Jehan.
Castle had to hold back Esposito. "Get the regiment ready. If this doesn't go well, we'll attack." When Esposito looked as if he'd ride after Lady Kate, Castle barked. "That's an order Ensign Esposito, unless you think someone else should carry our banner."
Esposito turned and rode away.
Lady Kate and Long Jehan rode back.
"Good news, Chief Vantere has agreed to fight me. And, better news, since he doesn't want to take the chance of injuring or killing such a beautiful slave, he's going to fight with a lasso."
"What will you use?" Castle asked.
"This." Kate pulled out the foot long wooden wand he'd last seen in the fight in the slums of the capitol.
"My Lady," Long Jehan spoke up. "Please, take Baron Castle's sword, at least."
"Thank you, but I'll be fine." Then she turned her mount and rode slowly towards Chief Vantere.
The chief, on the other hand, screamed and spurred his horse straight at Kate. He pulled out his lasso and twirled it over his head, preparing to pull Kate from her saddle. But, as the loop of the lasso grew larger, it suddenly dropped over Vantere's head and tightened about his body. In fact, the lasso kept winding its way round him so that his arms were pinned to his sides and his legs were pinned to the saddle. As Kate rode by him, she reached out and lightly brushed her wand over the horse's chest and Vantere's body. The horse slowed down and then slowly collapsed. Both the horse and Vantere were unconscious.
Lady Kate turned and bowed slightly to the stunned Tischetti. Then she gently stroked the horse's head until it awoke, and led the horse and the still unconscious Vantere back.
When Vantere woke up, he was manacled hand and foot. Lady Kate spoke to him.
"You are now my slave. Since I don't approve of slavery, I will not put you to work, nor will I beat you. When we have done our business with you and your tribe, I will release you. If you plan anything unpleasant after I release you, please remember how you came to be sitting before me completely shackled. You have seen a very small part of my powers. Do not make me use greater powers. You would spend eternity regretting it."
The chief said nothing, but did try to crawl away from Kate.
After that, the Tischetti came in to collect their horses and weapons. Unusually, for the Tischetti, they made no attempt to pick out the best horses, or weapons. They just grabbed what was nearest to them and rode off.
Later that afternoon, Long Jehan came to talk to Castle and Kate.
"We'll be leaving here with more horses than we came with. And more food as well."
"How is that?" Castle asked.
"To be the chief of the Tischetti you must be tough and smart. Vantere lost a fight to a woman and a mighty sorceress. Losing to a woman shows he's not that tough and choosing to fight a sorceress shows he's not that smart. As in the Empire, there are always those who think they could lead better than whoever happens to be at the top. Groups of Tischetti have been coming in to trade horses and food for weapons. As far from the seacoast as the Tischetti are, they don't get many Imperial traders coming out here with steel weapons and the tribes that do have steel weapons won't trade to them since they don't want the Tischetti raiding them with good weapons. There are at least three factions that are after Vantere and his own supporters say he can't be blamed for not knowing Lady Kate was a powerful sorceress. We'll have a four way civil war here in a few days. It's good we'll be moving on."
"Very good." Lady Kate said. "But it makes me sad that there will be bloodshed on account of me."
"Don't be sad." Said Long Jehan. "Vantere already had enemies enough. If the civil war didn't start because of today, it would have started over something else. Different people would have died at different times for different reasons, but the end result would be the same. And, I've been told by some Tischetti that they intended to set up in again twenty miles and demand more horses, weapons and slaves. They would have kept at it until we either had no horses and weapons left or we fought them. You stopped a small war here, Lady Kate."
She nodded. "I suppose I can feel better about that."
The sun set and cooking fires were started all over camp. People were just starting to enjoy a peaceful dinner when a scream broke the air.
It came from near Kate's wagons, so she, Castle, Esposito and Long Jehan ran there. They found a young Tischetti sprawled on the ground with one of the redheads standing over him. The man was trying to pull himself away from the girl, but was only using one arm and one leg was dragging behind him. He was yelling something in his own language and a half a dozen young Tischetti were yelling back.
"What are they yelling?" Kate demanded.
Long Jehan Laughed. "The man on the ground says he was attacked by a huge monster. He's obviously too embarrassed to admit that a girl half his size did that to him. His friends, who doubtlessly intended to enjoy the girl once he was done with her, are agreeing with him, sarcastically. He says the monster was very tall. They agree, saying the monster was at least five feet tall. He says the monster was huge, and they agree. Two are arguing loudly as to whether the monster was one hundred pounds or a hundred and five. The one on the ground says the monster was as strong as ten men. The others are agreeing, saying the monster tore a whole leaf off of a tree with one swipe of its mighty paw.
TBC