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  THEY SAILED NORTH and east up the wide grey Talabec, winding slowly through farmland toward Talabheim, the City of Gardens, an independent city-state buried deep within the dark forests of Talabecland. Reiner looked forward to seeing it, for it was one of the Empire's marvels, a city built entirely inside an enormous crater, the walls of which were said to be impenetrable.

  The riverboats passed green pastures and brown fields in which gaunt peasants ploughed under the stalks of this year's crop to make mulch for next spring's planting. The earth was fresh in many a country graveyard as well, for it had been a hard year in the Empire. Many farmers' sons had come home from Archaon's invasion in coffins if they came home at all. And there had been famine even while the wheat ripened on the stalk, for much of last year's grain had been sent north to feed the armies, and the farmers of the north whose farms had been burned by the invaders had come south and turned to banditry, stealing the rest.

  Reiner, Franka and Jergen were kept busy all day, acting as Manfred's servants, while the count held council with Teclis and the other members of the legation in his stateroom. Late in the afternoon, at the point the river entered the Great Forest, Manfred ordered the boats to land and the servants to make camp. No one thought less of him for this caution. Greater armies had disappeared without a trace under the thick canopy of the old forest, and even the river was not safe as it wound between the looming trees. As it was they would be within it for five days and nights before they reached Talabheim. There was no need to press their luck by passing a sixth night in its shadows.

  Manfred had a great tent erected in a fallow field, and dined with the other leaders. Reiner and Jergen were dismissed and joined their comrades around a campfire, where Reiner was at last able to meet the new recruits. Only Franka, who was kept busy serving Manfred pheasant and wine, was not in attendance.

  Pavel and Hals had already become friends - or at least amiable sparring partners - with the big redheaded groom, exchanging cheery insults with him as they spooned stew out of the pot as Gert chuckled appreciatively beside them.

  'One Talabecman is worth ten Ostlandmen,' the redbeard was saying.

  'In a pissing contest mayhap,' said Hals. 'The only thing the Talabecland pike ever successfully defended was a brewery, and they surrendered after the beer ran out.'

  'Ha!' countered redbeard. 'The only thing Ostland pikemen defend is their sheep, and only if they're faithful.'

  Reiner laughed. 'Hals, who is this fiery fellow you war with?'

  Hals looked around, and it hurt Reiner to see the mistrust that crossed the pikeman's face when he saw who addressed him. 'Er, aye, captain,' he said. 'This is Augustus Kolbein, of Talabheim. He's one of us. Kolbein, this is Captain Hetzau, our leader.'

  Augustus nodded and touched his forelock with a hand like a ham. 'A pleasure I'm sure, captain,' he said. 'Though I can't say I'm happy with the terms of service.'

  'Nor are any of us, pike,' said Reiner. 'And while I'm pleased to have so strong a soldier with us, I am sorry you had the misfortune to be pressed into our cursed company. But, come, tell us how you fell foul of the Empire.'

  Augustus grinned, making his beard bristle even more. 'Ah well, it's entirely my own fault, captain. Y'see I have a temper fiery as my hair, and there was a Reiklander captain of sword at a tavern in Altdorf, some nose-in-the-air jagger - er, beggin' yer pardon, m'lord,' he said, colouring suddenly.

  'Never mind,' said Reiner. 'Don't care for the type myself. Go on.'

  'Aye, sir. Well, he were badmouthing Talabecland something terrible, saying we was all drunks and yokels and that we, er, performed unnatural acts with trees and the like, and I was taking it well enough. We Talabeclanders have thick skins about that nonsense. But then he had to go and say things about the countess, calling her a Taalist whore who rutted with filthy woodsmen and I don't know what else. Well, I saw red and the next thing I know I'm in the brig and the latchkey is telling me I broke the delicate little thing's neck and spooned out one of his eyes with me thumb.' Augustus shrugged. 'I've no doubt I did, but spit me if I recall it.'

  Reiner nodded. 'Maiming a superior officer. Aye, there's no doubt you belong with us. Though again, I am sorry you've come to such a pass.'

  The pikeman shrugged. 'Better this than the noose.'

  Reiner grunted. 'You may come to change your mind about that.'

  The others looked away.

  Reiner turned to the big, moonfaced youth who sat next to Augustus. 'And you, lad,' Reiner said. 'What's your tale? Are you a killer of men, an eater of children? We've had all kinds with us over time, so fear not that you will shock us.'

  'Thank you, captain sir,' said the boy in a high, nasal voice, 'Thank you. My name is Rumpolt Hafner, and it's an honour to serve under you, m'lord.' He ducked his head. 'Er I, I'm sorry to say I'm not much of a villain, though I will try my best not to disappoint you. And, er, I would certainly do murder if I met again the rotten blackguards who brought me to this.'

  'You cannot disappoint me if you do your best and put your trust in me as I put my trust in you.' said Reiner. It sounded false as he said it, and Hals and Pavel shot him sharp looks over the fire as it sank in. He was glad Franka wasn't there. 'But tell your tale and we shall judge how much a villain you are.'

  Rumpolt's lower lip stuck out. 'I still don't know why mine was a hanging offence. All I've done is steal a banner. It was a dare. I'd just joined Lord Loefler's handgunners in Stockhausen. There was another company there who were Loefler's rivals, Lord Gruenstad's Men, and my sergeant and his comrades said if I truly wished to be one of their company, I must perform a brave deed against them.'

  Hals and Pavel smirked.

  Rumpolt clenched his fists. 'They told me I must steal Lord Gruenstad's banner and stand it in the camp privy! How was I to know taking a banner is considered stealing the Emperor's property?'

  'It ain't just that, lad,' said Gert, his hands crossed over his heavy belly. "Tis a company's honour. They defend it with their lives on the battlefield. You think they'd take kindly to some wet-behind-the-ears booby sticking it in a midden?'

  'But I didn't know!' moaned Rumpolt. 'And when I was caught, and told the captain that the sergeant and his fellows had put me up to it, the villains denied knowing anything about it.' His looked around at them pleadingly. 'Surely you can see I've been wronged?'

  Pavel, Hals and Augustus looked away, disgusted. Reiner heard Augustus mumble, 'How could he not know?' and Pavel reply, 'It ain't a question of knowing.' Jergen as usual said nothing, and the other two new Blackhearts, the shy 'surgeon' and his hawk-faced assistant didn't seem to care.

  'Well lad.' said Reiner, soothingly, 'never mind. There's more than one of us who claims he's innocent, so you're in good company. Welcome to you.'

  'Thank you, captain.' said Rumpolt. 'I'll do my best. I swear it.'

  Reiner turned next to the wispy-haired young man in the surgeon's robes. 'And you, physician, what is your name?'

  The fellow jumped at being spoken to. 'Er, my name is Darius Balthus-Rossen. Of Nuln, originally.' 'You haven't the look of a soldier,' said Reiner. 'Surely Manfred didn't recruit you from the brig.'

  'No, m'lord. He found me in the Altdorf city jail.' He shivered. 'An hour before my hanging.'

  'And why were you to be hanged?' asked Reiner.

  The young man hesitated, glancing around uncertainly.

  Reiner sighed. 'We are a company of convicts and lost men, lad. You cannot be more evil than some we have called comrade.'

  The scholar shrugged, splaying his hands. 'I am nothing, a student of plants and the mysteries of life's natural processes. I haven't killed or maimed anyone, or stolen anything, or betrayed the Empire. I'm not a villain at all, really.'

  'You must have done something,' said Reiner, dryly. 'They were going to hang you, after all.'

  Darius hesitated for so long Reiner thought he wasn't going to speak at all. 'I... I was found in possession of a forbidden book.'

  'What sor
t of book?' asked Reiner, though he already had an idea.

  'Er, ah, it was nothing. Nothing. A treatise on the medical uses of certain, er, unusual plants.'

  'Then why was it forbidden?'

  'Because,' said the scholar, suddenly angry, 'my learned professors are blind, hidebound, incurious demagogues who have no interest in learning anything they don't already know. How can the world's knowledge expand if one is forbidden to try new things?' He clutched his thin hands into fists. 'An experiment isn't an experiment if it's been done before. We know so little of how the world works, why plants and animals grow, how the winds of magic twist that growth, how they twist us. The "wise men" are too afraid of the unknown. How-'

  'Magic,' said Reiner, interrupting him. 'So, you are a witch then?'

  Darius looked up and saw the others staring at him uneasily. 'No,' he said. 'No, I am a scholar.'

  'A scholar of magic,' Reiner pressed.

  The young man sighed. 'You see? Fear of the unknown. Had I been a baby eater, you would have shrugged and welcomed me, but because I have studied the arcane, no matter how academically, I am a pariah.'

  'But are ye a witch?' asked Hals, menacingly.

  Darius's shoulders slumped. 'No. No, I am not. Though of course you won't believe me now. I am a man of theory. I have less practical knowledge of the art than a village wise woman. I certainly can't hex you, if that is what concerns you.'

  Hals and Pavel made the sign of the hammer, Gert spat over his shoulder.

  Reiner coughed. 'Then why are you here? Manfred certainly didn't take you out of the Altdorf jail for your knowledge of plants.'

  Darius shrugged again. 'The count told me that I was to see to your wounds. I have some small knowledge of physicking. My father was a surgeon. I can set a bone and patch a wound.' He looked down at his surgeon's robes with a weak smile. 'I seem the only man here whose garments are not a disguise.'

  There was silence around the fire. It was clear the others didn't believe him.

  Reiner didn't either. If Manfred had wanted a surgeon, he could easily have found one in a military brig who had battlefield experience. Darius had clearly been chosen for another reason. 'Well,' he said at last, 'it seems you have shocked us after all. But give me your word that you will keep your witching to yourself and I will welcome you. And I ask the rest of you,' he said, glancing around, 'to let the lad prove himself by his actions, like you have with all our other comrades.'

  Darius sighed. 'I am not a witch. But nevertheless I give my word.'

  'Can you magic the poison from our blood?' asked Rumpolt.

  Reiner's heart lurched. Out of the mouths of babes! He hadn't thought of that. By Sigmar, if it was true!

  Darius laughed. 'If I could, would I be here, enduring this interrogation?'

  Reiner sighed. How foolish a thing hope was. Manfred would never choose a witch with so much skill. He turned to Darius's hawk-faced assistant, who was throwing twigs into the fire.

  'And you, friend,' Reiner said with as much cheer as he could muster. 'Have you any dark secrets to share? Or at least a name?'

  The man looked up with weary contempt. 'I ain't your friend, jagger. Nor friend to any of ye.' he said, his eyes darting to the others. 'Dieter Neff's my name. I'm here because 'twas a less certain death than the noose. And I'll be gone soon as I sort beating this poison, so there's no reason for how-de-dos and telling tales.'

  'Dieter Neff!' said Reiner, with a laugh. 'I know of you. You're the "Shadow of Elgrinstrasse", the "Prince of Murder", with a hundred notches on your belt. I saw you once in Stossi's Place when I used to skin the marks there.'

  'A hundred and seventeen notches.' said Dieter.

  'So they caught you at last.' said Reiner.

  'Never.' Dieter sneered. 'I was sold out by an employer who didn't care to pay when I done the job.' He threw another twig on the fire. 'He'll get his...'

  Reiner waited for Neff to elaborate, but the man just stared into the fire. Reiner sighed. 'Well, if Master Neff won't speak, I can certainly tell you what I know. He is the best thief and assassin in Altdorf, known for getting into and out of places other men cannot. He once stabbed a man to death in the middle of Lord von Toelinger's annual banquet in full view of ten score armed knights and got out unscathed.'

  Dieter barked a laugh, though he didn't look up. 'Y'don't know the half of it, jagger. The burgher I killed was the man who hired me. And I didn't kill him.'

  'Eh?' said Rumpolt. 'What do you mean?'

  Dieter paused, and Reiner could see he was weighing his contempt for his audience against his desire to brag. 'Berk was a wool merchant named Echert.' he said at last. 'Owed a lot of dangerous people money, so he decides the best thing to do is die. So he hires me to fake killing him and make it look good.' He shrugged. 'Not my usual line, but I like a challenge, so I worked it out. Told him to go to that banquet, then jumped him during the fish course. Cut him up something horrid, but no stab wounds. Screamed very life-like too, 'cause I hadn't said I was going to bleed him. Then I tells him to lie still, and his servants run in and drag him out before anyone gets a close eye on him. Worked like a charm. He was off to Marienburg in a closed coach before they'd given up searching for me.'

  Darius snorted. 'This Echert better hope we all die then, for you've betrayed his secret to us.'

  Dieter's eyes blazed. 'I ain't never betrayed a client. Echert's dead. Died of the lover's pox two months after he ran, stupid berk. All that money he paid me, wasted.'

  Pavel, Hals and Augustus laughed. Darius shrugged. Jergen stared off into the darkness beyond the fire.

  'Well,' said Reiner. 'While you may not intend to stay with us long, Master Neff, you may find the riddle of Manfred's poison harder to crack than you expect, so welcome. We are glad to have a man of your skills with us.'

  'I take care of my own skin,' said Dieter. 'The rest of ye can fend for yourselves.'

  Reiner sighed. 'Then you likely will be taking care of your own skin, for no one else will be eager to do it. Carry on, lads. I've done my bit.' He sat back and took a mouthful of stew, then swallowed hastily as he had a thought. 'Er, one last thing.'

  The others looked up.

  'I tell you now so there's no trouble later,' Reiner said. 'One of our number is a woman.'

  'What?' said Rumpolt, looking around at the others.

  Reiner laughed. 'Not these ruffians. Our archer, who plays page to Manfred at the moment. We have kept her secret, and so shall you.'

  'An archer?' asked Augustus, dismayed. 'She's a soldier?'

  'Aye. A better one than some men I've known,' said Reiner. 'But hear me. If you get any ideas, forget them. The man who hurts her answers to me.'

  'And me,' said Hals and Pavel in unison.

  'And me,' said Jergen.

  The new men looked at the others curiously, but nodded.

  As Reiner returned to his stew he heard Augustus murmuring unhappily to Hals and Pavel.

  'I know it ain't right,' said Hals. 'But she won't listen.'

  'And she can shoot,' added Pavel.

  Jergen spoke in Reiner's ear. 'Someone watches us.'

  Reiner looked around. 'Who? Where?'

  'I know not,' said Jergen. He nodded toward the river, in the blackness beyond Manfred's camp. 'But they are there.'

  Reiner stared in the direction the swordsman had indicated. He could see nothing. He shivered.

  THREE

  The City of Gardens

  AFTER FIVE DAYS sailing up the river, while every eye swept the banks for furtive shadows, Manfred's boats, on the morning of the sixth day, rounded a bend and Reiner saw the towering crater that was Talabheim's impregnable natural defence. It was an awe-inspiring sight, rising hundreds of feet above the carpet of trees, and of so wide a circumference that the wall didn't appear to curve. It stretched like an endless cliff into the distance in both directions.

  Augustus beamed from the rail. 'Taal's fortress.'

  'Taal's drinking cup, more like,' said H
als, laughing.

  Augustus chuckled good-naturedly.

  An hour later, oar-boats guided them to slips among the docks of Taalagad, Talabheim's port, a weathered little town huddled in the shadow of the crater wall. It was a damp, dingy place that seemed to consist of nothing but warehouses and taverns. The taverns were crowded, but the warehouses were deserted, for trade appeared to have come to a standstill. Piles of crates and barrels and burlap sacks sat under tarpaulins on docks and around the tariff houses, unclaimed.

  The lords and their retinues disembarked and made themselves presentable while word of the legation's arrival was sent into Talabheim. Reiner looked up at the crater, which filled nearly all his vision. A road zigzagged a third of the way up it to a huge fortified gate, the entrance to Talabheim's fabled Wizard's Way, so called for the rumour that it had been cut by sorcery, not human labour.

  After a long wait, a company in the red and white of the Talabheim City Guard made their way down the road, pikes glinting, to the docks. They looked tired and haggard, like men too long at the front of some great war. With them was a long-bearded ancient in rich robes and a velvet cap. He bowed low to Manfred.

  'Greetings, Count Valdenheim,' he said. 'I am Lord Dalvern Neubalten, the countess's herald. I welcome you to Talabheim on behalf of her Excellency and her court.'

  'You are most gracious, Lord Neubalten,' said Manfred, bowing in turn. 'We thank her for her courtesy on behalf of her emperor, Karl-Franz.'

  'Thank you, count,' said Neubalten. 'The countess has been informed of the reason for your visit, and grants Lord Teclis and your legation leave to enter the city. She asks, however, that you instruct your companies to hold here in Taalagad until you have met with her. I will escort you to her when you are ready.'

  'Certainly,' said Manfred, bowing again. He withdrew to speak with Lord Schott and the others.

  'Leave our companies outside?' asked Lord Schott. 'In this flea pit? Does she mistrust us?'

  'She insults us if so,' said Grand Master Raichskell. 'We are sent by Karl-Franz himself.'