Great Kings' War Page 13

  "Hos-Bletha, at the other end of the eastern seaboard, is nominally neutral, but would probably interrupt its neutrality in ways friendly to Styphon's House if they have an opportunity to do so. Mostly the Blethans are too far away to have much of a say in next spring's campaign," summarized Ptosphes. "I say, 'if' because the nomads and wild tribes from the Sea of Grass are said to be stirring, even moving eastward. Small blame to them, if it is true the Mexicotal are moving north on Xiphlon."

  "Small blame, indeed," Rylla echoed.

  The Mexicotal held here-and-now Mexico as far south as Yucatán and bore a grisly resemblance to the Aztecs, complete with a fondness for human sacrifice. The semi-desert country of northern Mexico and Texas and its savage tribes had kept the Mexicotal away from the Kingdom of Xiphlon in here-and-now Louisiana, Mississippi and east Texas—at least, until now.

  "That may also keep the Zarthani Knights at home," Ptosphes added. "I will count it as a gift from Dralm if it happens."

  The Holy Order of the Zarthani Knights were here-and-now cousins of the old Crusading orders and had protected the western frontiers of Hos-Bletha and Hos-Ktemnos from Sastragathi nomads and tribal uprisings for centuries. Kalvan didn't know a great deal about them, but as heavy cavalry they might be somewhat handicapped in broken country, particularly against Hostigi pikemen and mobile artillery.

  What Hos-Ktemnos would send depended upon the movements of the nomads and upon whether the Knights came north. "King Cleitharses would at least send mercenaries in his pay and money to the Harphaxi Princes he trusted to spend it wisely."

  "If Cleitharses can find any who are fools enough to trust him," Sarrask put in.

  "They'd be no greater fools than you, willing to fight Kalvan for a pittance and a chance to marry off your—daughter," Prince Balthames said, referring to the origins of his arranged marriage to Sarrask's daughter.

  For a moment it looked as if Sarrask was going to reply by drawing his sword. Kalvan made another mental note: stop those two from behaving like Kilkenny cats, and sit on Princess Amnita if necessary since she's behind it.

  One of Skranga's agents in Beshta had heard rumors that Amnita had claimed a false pregnancy, fingering one of Balthames consorts as the father. Balthames had ordered accused cavalry officer murdered, only to learn afterward that Amnita was not pregnant. In front of witnesses, Balthames had wept copious tears and promised to end her next pregnancy with his rapier. One of Sarrask's spies had informed the Prince of Sask of the threat to his daughter; in return, he'd promised to "geld the little bung-hole boy with my mustache trimmer if he injures my little girl!" in front of the Beshtan ambassador.

  An open fight between Sarrask and his son-in-law would inevitably involve Beshta, which contained the most invasion routes both into and out of Hos-Harphax. The last thing Hos-Hostigos needed was for Balthar to become a turncoat and play havoc with the invasion plans.

  "If he feels safe enough, Great King Cleitharses may even send some of the Sacred Squares of Hos-Ktemnos," Prince Tythanes of Kyblos said. Kyblos was the southernmost princedom in Hos-Hostigos and closest to Hos-Ktemnos. "Some of us will be greeting Ormaz in Regwarn, Caverns of the Dead if that happens."

  Kalvan saw no reason to disagree, even to cheer up all the glum faces around the table. The Sacred Squares of Hos-Ktemnos were universally regarded as the finest infantry in the world. They reminded him of the Old Spanish tercios, but with better firearms; they didn't use sword-and-buckler men so a Sacred Square was four hundred musketeers and four hundred billmen. They even had something like a divisional system with a Great Square of three Sacred Squares, five hundred cavalry and anywhere from four to ten light guns. Then there was the Holy Square, comprised of the three Sacred Squares of Ktemnos—the only Princedom in Hos-Ktemnos to have more than one Sacred Square. As far as Kalvan was concerned, the Sacred Squares of Hos-Ktemnos could stay home with his blessing, as well as Dralm's!

  Hos-Agrys was the biggest and most dangerous question mark. It was the closest, it could do the most damage if it chose to intervene, and in Ptosphes and Kalvan's opinion it probably would.

  To be sure, the evidence was conflicting. On the one hand no fanatically pro-Styphon monarch could sit firmly on his throne when two out of three of the Agrysi Princedoms were ruled by Princes favoring Allfather Dralm—and in many cases openly hostile to Styphon's House. On the other hand Great King Demistophon was the heir to a long tradition of Agrys hostility to Hos-Zygros; it was possible he would unfriendly to Hos-Hostigos merely because King Sopharar was not.

  Chief Klestreus added, "Personally, Demistophon is hot-tempered and prone to strong, even insulting language. His sharp tongue has made him enemies within Hos-Agrys and without. However, Demistophon is not prone to hold grudges and prefers to be on good terms with everyone. When that isn't possible, he will choose what looks to be the winning side."

  "To anyone not knowing we have Kalvan's wisdom and Dralm's Blessing fighting for us, that must look like Styphon's House," Ptosphes said. "Demistophon has an army twice that of Kaiphranos the Timid and the wealth to hire as many mercenaries as Styphon's House will let any one man contribute to their cause."

  That was a point Kalvan wanted driven home. Styphon's House might do battle mostly by proxy, careful not to alarm the kings and princes too much. They'd even been more careful not to let any one ally claim too large a share of the victory. The Archpriests were not about to defeat Kalvan only to make one of the other Great Kings an equally dangerous adversary. Not now with the Fireseed Mystery bandied about on every street corner in the Five Kingdoms.

  So it would be a complicated and uneasy alliance marching against Hos-Hostigos, with even troop deployments likely to be affected by politics. That was fine with Kalvan. Hadn't Napoleon himself once said he preferred to make war against allies?

  Of course, there was one way of taking Hos-Agrys out of the picture. If those unknown Agrys western princes were really interested in revolting, and a little help could tip them over the edge, King Demistophon's temper might do the rest. Of course, Demistophon might eventually want to take vengeance on Hos-Hostigos, but "eventually" might not mean this year. Also, if by some chance King Sopharar of Hos-Zygros could be persuaded that Demistophon's army moving so far west to suppress the rebels was somehow an a threat to him...

  Very neat. Except that some of those western princes of Hos-Agrys had claims on Zygrosi lands too, or at least said they had. If they seized those lands, and even worse, if they insisted Hos-Hostigos recognize the seizure in return for their support against Styphon's House, then Great King Sopharar would be persuaded that it was Hos-Hostigos threatening him. If that happened...

  Too many 'ifs,' Kalvan decided, and too little solid evidence. Not even the names of those princes! File the whole question of raising a rebellion against Demistophon and get back to the business at hand.

  Kalvan discovered that while he'd been speculating the discussion had turned to the best strategy. Ptosphes was arguing for the southern strategy, for meeting what was coming at them from Hos-Harphax, that Kalvan and Rylla had worked out in their bedchamber.

  "An army in Beshta is close to Harphax City, which is the best way of making Kaiphranos fidget. It will be on the flank of any army coming through Arklos or Dazour. If our cavalry knows its business, we'll have warning in time to cut off either advance."

  And if the cavalry didn't know its business, they were all dead—much deader than Lee's hopes of victory at Gettysburg, killed because Jeb Stuart forgot that he was supposed to scout before anything else.

  "What about two advances, one along each possible route?" Prince Balthar of Beshta asked his cadaverous face growing even longer. Balthar wore a food-stained black robe and wooden peasant clogs. He looked exactly like what he was: the Ebenezer Scrooge of the here-and-now princes, and the butt of ribald songs and jokes throughout the Five Kingdoms. Last year he'd been happy enough to loot the vaults of Styphon's temples in Beshta but was now beginning to regret letting greed overcom
e his usual foot-dragging paranoia.

  "Then each force will be weaker than our united army," Ptosphes replied. "We will fight them one at a time and smash them both."

  "And if they come through Nostor?" Balthar squeaked. "Or what if the Army of Hos-Agrys moves far to the west, then rides into Hos-Hostigos? What of Nyklos and Sask then?"

  Sarrask of Sask snorted. "If they come through Nostor, half of them will starve and Prince Pheblon can knock the rest of in the head. Sorry, Pheblon, from what I've heard a mule crossing Nostor would starve unless he carried his own rations."

  Pheblon's bleak expression was all the reply anyone needed.

  "As for the advance all around Yirtta's potato patch, to come from the west—Balthar, do you think we're fighting fools who will try to reach a man's brain by the way of their arse hole?"

  The only man who didn't laugh was Balthar, and Kalvan didn't entirely blame him for not seeing the humor of the situation. In last year's war his lands had escaped the fighting; this year, no matter how he wriggled, Beshta seemed to be the main battleground.

  They didn't discuss taking the offensive, but Kalvan didn't worry. An army in the south with good scouting on either flank could be as offensive as it wanted to be against what had to be the objective: the Styphoni army. An offensive movement before the enemy's plans became clear could only be aimed at real estate, and there was only one piece of real estate whose capture would be decisive—Harphax City itself. Unfortunately, there was no way the Hostigi were going to be equipped to storm and besiege a city of two hundred thousand residents.

  They did discuss garrisoning the forts in Beshta, Tarr-Veblos and Tarr-Locra, and southeastern Sask so the Hostigi could start raiding and scouting as soon as the roads dried.

  Balthar's face grew even longer, if possible, but he'd noticed Rylla's eye on him and kept his mouth shut. That was further reason for putting reliable garrisons into Beshta as soon as possible—to keep an eye on Balthar. There were rumors (note: have Skranga and Klestreus investigate independently) that Beshta had been buying grain in Hos-Harphax. If Balthar had been paying for it in information...

  The Council ended by appointing Duke Harmakros Captain-General of the Army of Observation and they christened the garrisons. He was to be based at Tarr-Locra and Kalvan showed Harmakros and the Council his design for rebuilding it into a star fort. Then it turned into a party, with only tough venison, potatoes, succotash, salt pork and rabbit stew, but plenty of wine. Kalvan kept wishing for bourbon, but also held his cup out every time a servant passed by, and they came by every time they saw it empty. He was in the middle of his tenth cup and a long dissertation on the difference between an enemy's capabilities and his intentions, when Rylla squeezed his hand.

  "Kalvan, I think it's time we were to bed," she whispered into his ear.

  "Bed?" He realized he'd spoken louder than he'd intended and tried unsuccessfully to lower his voice. "I'm not sleepy, but—"

  "I know that you idiot! Do you think I'd ask you to come to bed if I want to sleep?" She pinched him on the ear and kissed the side of his neck.

  Kalvan felt his face turning the same color as the wine and started to swear, then heard the stifled laughter all around him and saw Ptosphes nodding slowly to Rylla.

  Kalvan kissed Rylla, then led her toward the door. Not quite so stifled laughter followed them out.

  Score one for Rylla! In a week it would be all over the Great Kingdom that the King and Queen were still like lovers on their wedding night. Who couldn't think that was a good omen and proof that there was nothing to worry about in the spring campaign?

  On-the-job training in kingship might be hard on a king's subjects; with teachers like Rylla, it wasn't so bad for the king.

  II

  Danar Sirna found herself a seat in the section reserved for the Kalvan Study Team in the University Presentation Hall. Today was the last of Scholar Danthor Dras' lectures on Kalvan's Time-Line. The Chancellor of Dhergabar University in his usual natty charcoal-gray tunic stood to one side. Half a dozen newsies, including Yandar Yadd, and several she didn't recognize, fussed at the technicians working the lights and recorders.

  She searched for the distinctive profile of Danthor Dras, Scholar Emeritus, Chairman of the University Department of Outtime History and supreme authority on Fourth Level Aryan-Transpacific, Styphon's House Subsector. But he was nowhere in sight. No doubt the time for a properly dramatic entrance hadn't arrived. Sirna's former husband had taught her about those, even if he'd only called himself a politician...

  Enough of that, she told herself firmly. She tried to find a seat as close to the front as possible. I spent twelve years in the Outtime History Department and never saw Danthor once until appointed to the Kalvan Study Team. She shook herself mentally. Enough complaining, already! You won't have to worry about University politics and faculty game playing for five long years. It's time to get ready a new life—an outtime life on a barbaric world!

  Sirna sat down next to a striking woman with unusually blond hair. She wondered if the woman was an adopted prole until she turned, then Sirna recognized the familiar profile of Baltov Eldra, the First Kalvan Study Team's Historian and member of the Second Team.

  While she was debating whether or not to strike up a conversation, Eldra said, "Hello. My name is Eldra. What's yours?"

  "Danar Sirna."

  They touched hands in greeting.

  "You must be a new member of the Team."

  "I am. How did you know?"

  Eldra laughed a pleasant chiming. "You're one of the few around here who doesn't look like a stuffed shirt."

  "A what shirt?"

  "Stuffed shirt. A colloquial expression from a semi-civilized Fourth Level time-line. It means someone who's overflowing with himself, or stuffed into his shirt."

  "Oh. I should have guessed. What was it like on Kalvan's Time-Line."

  "Fascinating—if you don't mind no hot and cold running water, no decent heating, food that's either undone or burned—"

  "I have that every time I try to cook for myself," Sirna said. They both laughed. "What about King Kalvan? What's he really like?"

  Eldra sighed. "He's handsome, regal, charismatic, brilliant—just about everything you could want in a man."

  "It sounds as if you got to—well, know him rather well..."

  Eldra shook her head. "Not that I didn't want to, but Queen Rylla's a she-wolf protecting her cubs when it comes to her husband! Furthermore, Kalvan's Time-Line is like most Indo-Aryan descendant cultures—a strong paternalistic moral tradition, with virgin icons and sub-legal houses of prostitution. Any woman with healthy, natural urges who doesn't sublimate them to marriage and motherhood is considered a harlot. Unless you find a lover on the Team—and I wouldn't recommend that—be prepared for a long, lonely five years."

  "It wouldn't be the first time," Sirna said. She hadn't had a relationship with a man since her marriage foundered.

  The sudden appearance of Danthor Dras ended their conversation. Today he had his long silver locks combed dramatically back in great waves. As he greeted acquaintances among the newsies, his voice was low and gravelly, never missing a dramatic emphasis or pause.

  He probably keeps his hair long so he doesn't have to resort to implants or wigs when he's back on Aryan-Transpacific...

  After an overlong introduction by the University Chancellor, the Scholar strode to the podium. "Usually my Outtime Preparation Seminars are not so well attended, at least by non-students not seeking credit." He paused for the expected wave of laughter, then continued, "After several centuries of promoting Outtime Historical studies, I'm gratified by this sudden surge of public interest—even if it was brought about by the bumbling of the Paratime Police."

  Both the newsies and the University people applauded.

  "I hope you don't mind a little repetition, class, but I'd like to frame this talk so the public doesn't get the wrong idea about what we're doing here." He paused to wink at a clot of newsies who smi
rked like old friends hearing a familiar story. Like most of the professor and politicians of her acquaintance, newsies held the public in smug contempt.

  Danthor continued, "Kalvan's Time-Line is of special importance to paratemporal studies, because we can pinpoint the precise moment that Kalvan's Time-Line split off from the parent Styphon's House subsector. Usually we do not spot the creation of a new time-line for months, years or even decades. The discovery of the Kalvan Time-Line is a unique event in Home Time Line history.

  "What makes Kalvan's Time-Line even more important is that it is limited to a single time-line. This means the University can place the time-line under detailed surveillance, comparing any changes with the five adjacent time-lines we have chosen as controls. I do not believe it is possible to overstate the importance of this discovery. At the least, it should revolutionize our understanding of Paratemporal processes and social change. If the 'Kalvan Effect' makes long-term social and technological changes on Kalvan's Time-Line, we will be very close to the day when we can prune, graft and trim outtime societies to our own specifications by the selected introduction of 'gifted' individuals. The end result will be an enormous increase in the outtime resources that can be safely brought to Home Time Line and our Fifth Level Industrial and Service Sectors as well as greater protection of the Paratime Secret."

  To say nothing of giving University historians and sociologists more control over outtime activities, thought Sirna. The University had been fighting the Paratime Police for that for over a millennium. Remembering some of the faculty dinners she had attended, she questioned whether the academics would do as well overseeing Paratime as the Paratime Police had done over the past ten thousand years.

  She frowned. That was a heretical thought for a future faculty member and a supporter of the Opposition Party. Maybe her bad marriage had soured more than just her outlook on men; it was probably just as well she would soon be too busy to worry about such things.