Crusade - James Lowder [123]
It was Alusair's turn to pause, for she wondered where she should lead the questioning. Two of the dwarven guards started to build a fire to chase off the growing twilight, distracting the princess for a moment. When she turned back to Batu, she found him studying her.
"Would the honorable princess be so kind as to answer one question for me?" he asked through the mage. The princess nodded, and the general bowed slightly. When he looked up at Alusair, his eyes were dark and his expression grim. "What do you plan to do with me?"
"We are civilized, Batu Khan," Alusair replied without pause. "You will be our prisoner until the end of the war. You will be taken from the fighting and kept from harm."
That answer seemed to displease Batu Min Ho. The general sank into contemplation for a moment, then said something so softly that the wizard wasn't sure he heard it correctly. The comment wasn't meant for anyone else, but the general had noted, "Then there will be no more illustrious battles for me." He bowed stiffly to the princess and asked to be allowed to rest.
The discussion obviously over, Alusair ordered the four dwarven guards to escort Batu to the Alliance's camp at the rear of the battle lines. The khan and the dwarves had not gone more than a dozen steps from the princess when a scuffle broke out.
"Look out, Lugh!" a guard shouted in Dwarvish.
The clash of steel on steel rang out as Alusair rushed toward the fight. Batu Min Ho, a short dwarven blade in his hand, stood over a fallen guard. The three other dwarves circled him warily, their swords held out in front of them.
Drawing her own blade, the princess stepped toward the Tuigan commander.
Batu met Alusair's gaze, and a curious smile worked across his lips. After a feint to drive the dwarves back, the general held the sword's point to his stomach. He softly repeated three names-Wu, Yo, and Ji-and fell forward.
Batu didn't even cry out as the bright steel pierced through his armor and impaled him.
Other dwarves, hefting their silver-bladed pikes, were now charging toward the disturbance. The khan's original guards, still holding their swords, examined the general's body to see if he were truly dead. Satisfied that the suicide had been successful, they left the body where it lay and turned their attention to their fallen comrade.
The ever-efficient dwarves swiftly carried the dead guard away to be interred in the communal cairn they were building, and Alusair looked up from Batu Min Ho's corpse. The khan's strange, final words ran through her mind over and over again, and she wondered who or what he had called for in his final moment. In fact, the death took such command of her thoughts that the princess didn't realize she had walked far into the Alliance's lines until she was hundreds of yards from the flank.
She found Farl talking quietly to a dark-haired man clad in a muddied skyblue tunic and hose. Where the color stood out on this man's clothes, it presented a stark contrast to the other soldiers' dark tunics or their leather or steel armor. Both men bowed formally when Alusair came near. "Any word of my father?" she asked.
The blue-clad man bowed again, an act that tossed his ponytail over his shoulder. "Your Highness, I am Thom Reaverson, the king's bard and royal historian. I just came from His Highness. The clerics have healed the arrow wound, but he is still unconscious."
"That's not what I hoped to hear," the princess replied, "but it's certainly not the worst news I've had today." The bard smiled warmly at her, and Alusair found herself returning the gesture. "Could you go back to my father's side and keep me apprised?" she asked after a moment.
"Of course," Thom said. "I'll look for you near the Cormyrian standard, Your Highness." He hurried off at a jog