Free Sovereign by Simon Brown

had left dirty footprints all the way into the throne room. 'I have been looking forward to a bath,' he admitted.
    'Then you shall have one.' I will give you and your lieutenants rooms in the palace. We can talk again after you have rested.'
    'Your Majesty is most generous,' he said, bowing to her for the second time, and started to withdraw.
    'You will have rested by tonight,' she added lightly.
    'Fully,' he replied, and matched her smile.

CHAPTER 6
     
    The harbour was burning. Thick plumes of greasy smoke pillowed into the air. Ships blazed at their moorings, their masts crumbled and collapsed, their sheets sparkled, torn remnants of their sails whipped like beacons in the wind before going out. Charcoaled bodies bobbed with the currents under the docks, washed up on Kolby's Beach with barrels and other flotsam, smelled like rotten crackling. Seabirds wheeled overhead before diving on carcasses to feast as they never had before. In the middle of the harbour a single warship, flames shooting along its whole length, started to roll, slowly at first, but as the water sluiced over its side and then into its hold it quickly keeled over, its bow pointing slightly in the air. For a moment it looked as if it might hold, but then it slid beneath the water, stern first, and disappeared. An explosion of bubbles broke the surface and then nothing was left of its passing, not even a corpse.
    Lynan could not look away from the destruction around him. In a terrible way it was beautiful. The harbour glowed with colour, the clouds of smoke above seemed to shine with it, the air itself shimmered. He could smell burning wood and tar and canvas, and underneath all that the sweet smell of burning bodies.
    The sound of it was a giant's sigh, like something great coming to rest.
    A Red Hand galloped up to Lynan and bowed. 'Your Majesty, Queen Korigan reports that the city is secure. The fighting in the palace has been quelled. There is no other resistance.'
    Lynan nodded, relieved. The massacre at Fort Typerta had changed Salokan's attitude and he had cooperated ever since, ordering the surrender of every town and hamlet in his Kingdom. Only here at the capital, where there were other noble families, had the first real resistance been met. As it turned out there were two main rivals to Salokan, each led by a cousin; one took the palace and the other the fortified harbour, each hoping their stand would rally resistance against Lynan and at the same time rally support for their claim to the throne. Neither occurred. Indeed, the remnants of the Haxus army had followed Salokan who was still king, after all, and been used to root out the rebels in both locations. When some noble refugees had tried to escape by ship, Lynan ordered fire arrows to destroy it and every other vessel at dock. The ensuing firestorm had turned the harbour into a pyre for the Kingdom of Haxus.
    Ager came beside him. 'There is nothing more to be done here. We can leave a detachment to make sure no one else tries escaping by water.'
    'All the ships are gone,' Lynan said distantly, still staring at the flames. He felt something inside him recoil at the sight of fire, but he forced himself to watch.
    'More ships can come,' Ager pointed out.
    Lynan nodded. 'You take care of it. I will go to the palace.'
    'Your Majesty.'' someone shouted near the water's edge. Lynan saw one of the Haxus soldiers who had helped destroy the harbour's fortifications holding a dripping, bedraggled looking man by the collar of a torn and scorched jerkin. The man's skin was cut and scalded.
    'Who is he?' Lynan asked.
    'I recognise him,' said another Haxus soldier. 'He is the son of Count Vasiliy.'
    'The nobleman who held the harbour against us?' Lynan asked.
    'The same.'
    The prisoner lifted his face and looked around, obviously dazed. Lynan regarded him for a moment, then said to the soldier holding him: 'Kill him.' The soldier nodded, drew a short sword and stabbed the son of Count Vasiliy through the