He stumbled forward, tripping over a body he discovered was Grigor Orneo, the first mate of the Orlando. The mate's belly was slashed open, his guts spilling out on the black sand like a fresh string of sausages. Blinded by the smoke, and by tears of terror and desperation, Eryk moved through the battle, jostled aside by the combatants, pushed and shoved as he made his way toward the only familiar face in the crowd.

"Prince Kirsh!"

Kirshov was in the thick of the fighting near the sh.o.r.e, and was battling his way forward, cutting through his foes with devastating effectiveness. The Guardsmen beside him were no less efficient as theycut a swathe through what was left of the Baenlander resistance.

"Prince Kirsh!" Eryk yelled. He tripped again and hauled himself up, his mission to reach Kirsh the only thing he cared about.

Hearing his name called, Kirsh looked around, but did not notice Eryk in the melee. The prince turned his attention back to another sailor from the Orlando, deflecting the man's blow almost instinctively before slashing him across his bare chest on the return swing.

"Prince Kirsh!" Eryk sobbed, thinking he would never reach him. Kirshov Latanya had become a beacon of hope for Eryk, the only thing he was certain of in a world suddenly gone mad. In his mind, Kirsh was his salvation; his only chance of deliverance from this nightmare.

"Prince Kirsh!" he cried desperately, as another Baenlander fell. The body landed on top of him, hurling him to the ground. The dead man's staring eyes looked out from a shocked and lifeless face. It belonged to Holen Baker, the boy who always won at stingball.

"Eryk?"

He looked up to find Kirshov Latanya, blood splattered and panting heavily, standing over him.

"G.o.ddess, boy! What are you doing here?"

Eryk burst into tears. Kirsh dragged Holen Baker's body off him and pulled Eryk to his feet.

"Can I thurrender now, Printh Kirsh? Pleath..." he begged.

"I think you'd better, Eryk," Kirsh agreed with a hint of a smile. "Are you hurt?"

"I don't think so."

Kirsh glanced back toward the longboats. "Go and wait for me by the boats."

Eryk nodded willingly and moved to obey, but he found his way blocked. While Kirsh had been talking to him, a few of the remaining Baenlanders had been able to work their way between Kirsh and his Dhevynian Guardsmen.

Eryk's fleeting moment of relief withered as he looked around. More than a dozen Baenlanders surrounded them, with only one thing on their minds: the murder of Kirshov Latanya and anybody foolish enough to be standing by his side.

Chapter 24.

Kirsh realized the danger even sooner than Eryk. He glanced back over his shoulder, but in his surprise at finding Eryk in the midst of this carnage, he had lost touch with the rest of his men.

It was a stupid and fatal mistake.

The Baenlanders hesitated once they had him surrounded, perhaps a little stunned by the importance of their quarry. Behind him, Alexin and the rest of the Guardsmen were busy with their own battles, and the rest of the Senetians were fighting with Sergey farther along the beach. There was another wave of longboats heading for the sh.o.r.e, but they had orders to make for the village, and were headed away from where Kirsh stood, trapped and surrounded.

It took him only a few seconds to take all of this in. He turned and faced the pirates defiantly.

"Who's going to try to take me on first, then?" he yelled, brandishing his sword. It was a gamble, butKirsh knew there was no way he would survive a concerted attack. His only chance lay in challenging these men to single combat. He could take them one at a time. Of that, he was certain.

"Think we're idiots, do you, Latanya?" one of the men replied. He was a small man in his midforties, but much better dressed than Kirsh expected of a pirate. "There's no chance for honor here, your highness. Still, we're not unreasonable men. You've got about five seconds to say a prayer to your imaginary G.o.ddess before we send you to meet her. Actually, we'll be sending you off to find out she doesn't exist, now that I think about it. There's a happy thought."

"Cap'n Falstov..." Eryk begged, wiping away his tears as he stepped forward. "Please don't hurt him..."

The pirate looked at Eryk for a moment and shook his head. "You're as bad as that treacherous b.a.s.t.a.r.d who brought you here," he spat. "You've chosen who you stand with, boy. Now you can die with your Senetian friend."

"Leave the boy out of this," Kirsh warned.

"If he's big enough to hold a sword, he's big enough to wield it," the pirate replied, "Take 'em, lads.

And don't leave any pieces bigger than my fist."

They charged all at once. Kirsh's only defense was to swing his sword in a wide arc, hoping his swiftly moving blade would be enough to discourage them from coming any closer. Eryk hampered his ability to move, waving his sword around wildly. But his unpredictability made him dangerous and the sailors gave him a wide berth. Kirsh beat back one attacker only to find him replaced by another, then another. He stepped back and crashed into Eryk, both of them tumbling to the ground. As he fell, he noticed the Queen's Guard were closer. He cried out, hoping to catch their attention.

Alexin looked up at the cry, took in the situation with a glance... and hesitated.

It was the last thing Kirsh saw before the pirates closed in on him. He stabbed at them wildly, but there were too many of them and Eryk lay beneath him squirming and screaming.

He saw the blade that would end his life coming for him as if the world had suddenly slowed down.

Every little detail burned into his brain: the blood-splattered sword, the rotten-toothed grin of the man who wielded it, the hate-filled faces looming over him, even the position of the second sun, which burned bright and uncaring in a sky almost too blue to be real...

And then the man collapsed on top of him with a dagger protruding from his throat, and the screams of bloodthirsty triumph turned to screams of despair, as Alexin and the Guardsmen cut their way through to him and Kirsh realized he wasn't going to die today after all.

Eventually, they wore down the pirates by the sheer weight of numbers. As each ship in Kirsh's fleet disgorged its fighting men, the pirates were beaten back a little more. The battle was all over within an hour. Corpses littered the beach. Those left living were stripped of their weapons and placed under guard near the remains of the burning village.

"There's barely a woman or child among them," Sergey pointed out, as Kirsh inspected the prisoners. "The village was empty."

"Where have they gone?"

Sergey shrugged. "More to the point would be when, your highness. If they left before we reached the Bandera Straits, they could be anywhere on Ranadon by now."

"You agree with Dirk, then?" Kirsh asked with a scowl. "You think they were tipped off by someone in Senet?""It wouldn't be the first time we've had to weed out Dhevynian sympathizers in Senet, your highness. A vocal minority at home believe Senet shouldn't involve itself in the affairs of other nations.

The rebels often find fertile ground for their propaganda among them."

"I want them found, Sergey, and dealt with."

Sergey nodded and then added, a little hesitantly, "There is another possibility you may not have considered, your highness."

"What's that?"

"You have fifty-odd Queen's Guardsmen who knew about this. Perhaps one of them betrayed us?"

"Are you speculating on the possibility or accusing someone, Sergey?"

The captain glanced over to where Alexin and his men were guarding the prisoners. "Your guard captain is Reithan Seranov's cousin, your highness. And you know what they say about blood being thicker than water..."

"He's one of Alenor's most trusted captains," Kirshov pointed out, shaking his head. "Besides, I served with him for two years in the guard. I think I'd know if he was a rebel sympathizer." Kirsh did not add there was a time when that's exactly what he had thought. But any lingering suspicions he might have had about the captain's loyalty were banished when Alexin came to his rescue. If he was in league with the Baenlanders, he could have rid Dhevyn of her regent and struck a body blow to Senet, simply by not lifting a finger to aid him.

"Well, you know him better than I, sire."

"But you don't like Alexin, do you, Sergey?"

"I think he's a pompous fool," Sergey agreed pleasantly. "But he's useful in a fight, I'll give him that much." The captain glanced at the prisoners again with a frown. "Who did you want to start with?"

Kirsh studied the sullen, defiant faces of the prisoners. They were hard men, all of them. It was going to be a long and laborious process breaking them one by one. And even then, Kirsh would have no way of establishing the veracity of their information.

"We'll start with Eryk," he announced.

Sergey frowned. "That half-wit who almost got you killed? What useful information would he have?"

"Not much, probably, but what little he knows will be the truth, and he'll tell me willingly. That's worth a dozen confessions of dubious value gained by torture."

Sergey shook his head with a sigh. "You've been spending too much time around Dirk Provin, Kirsh. You're starting to think like him."

"Perhaps you should spend more time with Alexin and the Queen's Guard, Captain," Kirsh retorted coldly. "You might learn something about the correct way to address your prince."

The captain bowed apologetically. "I beg your pardon, sire. I'll bring the boy to you."

"Not here," Kirsh said. "I don't want him intimidated by the prisoners. Bring him up to the house.

And then I want you to search it and report to me when you're done."

Without waiting for Sergey to acknowledge the order, Kirsh walked away and headed for what had once been the home of the notorious heretic Johan Thorn.

Kirsh waited for Eryk, sitting on the wooden steps leading up to the house. A cursory search had proved the house empty, but Kirsh wanted to speak to Eryk before he proceeded any further.Still looking shaken and confused, Eryk was delivered by a Guardsman to the foot of the stairs.

Kirsh dismissed the guard and indicated Eryk should come and sit beside him. The boy complied willingly, taking a seat beside Kirsh on the steps with a weary sigh.

"Well, you've certainly had your share of adventures since I saw you last, haven't you, young Eryk?"

"I didn't mean to," the boy a.s.sured him apologetically. "It just all seemed to... you know... just happen."

"Dirk's on board my ship, did you know that?"

Eryk's face lit up. "Is he? Can I see him, Prince Kirsh? Is he all right? They say he did such awful things around here, but if you're still his friend, then he's not a bad person, is he?"

"Dirk's not a bad person," Kirsh promised the poor boy, thinking the lie justifiable. "He's been helping us because Misha was kidnapped."

"Prince Misha looked pretty sick when they brought him on board the Orlando," Eryk confirmed.

"But Tia looked after him. He looked much better before he left Mil."

"Do you know where he went?"

Eryk shook his head. "n.o.body does. One day they were just gone."

"Who is 'they'?"

"Prince Misha, and Tia and Reithan and Mellie. And Master Helgin."

"Helgin? The old physician from Elcast?"

The boy nodded. "I think he was looking after Prince Misha."

It was something of a relief to realize the Baenlanders had sent a physician along to care for his brother. On the other hand, it indicated they had long-term plans for him, which wasn't good at all.

"Where are the rest of the villagers, Eryk?"

"Some of them left on the Makuan," he said with a shrug. "The others... well, I don't really know for certain. n.o.body tells me anything, especially not since I tried to kiss Mellie. They all hate me here."

Kirsh smiled, thinking Eryk's world was still defined by his own limited experiences. He had no concept of the broader picture. He judged the Baenlanders not by their rhetoric or the value of their cause, but by the fact that he had obviously gotten in trouble for kissing some girl. "Well, you need fear them no longer, Eryk. I'll have you sent back to the ship, and you can see Dirk again and then when we get back to Avacas, we can decide what to do with you."

"Do you think I could be Dirk's servant again, Prince Kirsh? I used to be really good at that."

"We'll see."

Eryk smiled tentatively and climbed to his feet. "I'm glad you came, Prince Kirsh."

Kirsh couldn't help but smile. "You'd have to be the only one in the Baenlands who thinks that, Eryk."

Chapter 25.

Taking a chance on the fact that the ordinary sailors on the Tsarina would not know of Kirsh'sorders to remain on the ship, Dirk ordered a dinghy lowered once the battle was fully under way. He guessed it unlikely he would be missed for a while. As he rowed across the bay, smoke drifted across the water from the burning pirate ship, hanging in silent drifts like a fog. He did not head to the settlement where the fighting was going on, but to the small beach leading up to Neris's cave.

Dirk beached the boat and then scrambled up the goat track to the rocky plateau. Once he had climbed above the smoke, he could see the whole bay below him, and the destruction Kirsh was wreaking on it, laid out before him like a board game.

Neris was waiting for him when he arrived, perched on the precipice above the ledge where he had so often threatened suicide in the past.

"h.e.l.lo, Neris," Dirk said, shading his eyes against the second sun as he looked up.

"You've really gone and done it this time, haven't you?" Neris remarked. "Impressive entrance, by the way."

"Well, I thought you might appreciate the show."

Neris chuckled insanely, and then suddenly his grin vanished. "I'm no longer the Deathbringer. That t.i.tle is yours now."

"Come down from there, Neris."

The madman shook his head. "No. I don't think so. I think this time I'm really going to have to jump."