The Thousand Cities ttot-3
Page 42
«By the God,» Abivard murmured. He'd had that notion years before but hadn't thought it really could be done. If Sharbaraz had done it…
Tzikas' right hand started to shape Phos' sun-sign, then checked itself. The renegade murmured, «By the God,» too. Abivard for once was not disgusted at his hypocrisy. He was too busy staring at Sharbaraz King of Kings. For once he'd been wrong about his sovereign.
Sharbaraz said, «Aye, two years ago I sent them forth. They had to traverse the mountains and valleys of Erzerum without revealing their mission to the petty princes there who might have betrayed us to Videssos. They had to travel over the Pardrayan steppe all around the Videssian Sea, giving the Videssian outpost on the northern shore there a wide berth. They could not sail over the Videssian Sea to Kubrat, for we have no ships capable of such a journey.» He nodded to Abivard. «We now more fully appreciate your remarks on the subject.»
One of the ambassadors—the taller and older of the two—said, «We shall have ships. The Kubratoi hollow out great tree trunks and mount masts and sails on them. With these single-trunk ships they have raided the Videssian coast again and again, doing no small damage to our common foe.»
«Piran has the right of it,» Sharbaraz said, letting Abivard learn who was who. «Brother-in-law of mine, when the campaigning season begins this coming spring, you shall lead a great host of the men of Makuran through the Videssian westlands to Across, where all our previous efforts were halted. Under Etzilios, the Kubratoi shall come down and besiege the city by land. And—»
«And—» Abivard committed the enormity of interrupting the King of Kings, «—and their one-trunk ships will ferry over our men and the siege gear to force a breach in the wall and capture the enemy's capital.»
«Just so.» Sharbaraz was so pleased with himself, he overlooked the interruption.
Abivard bowed low. «Majesty,» he said with more sincerity in his voice than he had used in complimenting the King of Kings for some years, «this is a splendid conception. You honor me by letting me help bring it to reality.»
«Just so,» Sharbaraz said again. Abivard let out a small mental sigh. That the King of Kings had come up with a good idea did not keep him from remaining as full of himself as he'd grown in his years on the throne, even if it did give him better reason than usual for his pride.
«You have given me my role to play, Majesty, and I am proud to play it, as I told you,» Abivard said. He turned toward Tzikas. «You have not said what the Videssian's role is to be or why he should have one.» If the God was kind, he might yet be rid of Tzikas.
All Sharbaraz said was, «He will be useful to you.» That left Tzikas to speak for himself, which he did in his lisping Videssian accent: «I tell you, Abivard son of Godarz, as I long ago told Sharbaraz King of Kings, may his days be long and his realm increase, that I know a secret way into Videssos the city once your men get over the Cattle Crossing and reach the wall. I did not think what I knew was worth much, because I did not think you could cross to the city. The King of Kings remembered, though, for which I thank him.» He, too, bowed to Sharbaraz. «What is this secret way into Videssos the city?» Abivard asked. Tzikas smiled. «I will tell you—when it is time for you to send men through it into the city.»
«All right,» Abivard said, his voice mild. He saw a hint of surprise, almost of disappointment, on the Videssian renegade's face. Expecting me to threaten and bluster, were you? Abivard thought Maybe the torturers could find a way to pull what Tzikas knew out of him. But maybe not; the renegade was nothing if not resourceful and might well contrive to kill himself without yielding his secret.
In the end, though, it wouldn't matter. Before Tus and Piran had returned to Mashiz, Sharbaraz had shown every sign of being willing, if not downright eager, to be rid of Tzikas, secret or no secret. Now, with the King of Kings' plan unfolding, what Tzikas knew—or what Tzikas said he knew, which might not be the same thing—took on new value.
But suppose everything went exactly as Tzikas hoped. Suppose, thanks to his knowledge of the wall and whatever weak points it had, the Makuraners got into Videssos the city. Suppose he was the hero of the moment.
Abivard smiled at the renegade. Suppose all that came true. It would not profit Tzikas for long. Abivard was as sure of that as he was of light at noon, dark at midnight. Once Tzikas' usefulness was over, he would disappear. Sharbaraz would never name him puppet Avtokrator of the Videssians, not when he couldn't be counted on to stay a puppet.
So let him have his moment now. Why not? It wouldn't last. Sharbaraz said, «Now you see why we could permit no unseemly brawling between the two of you. Both of you are vital to our plans, and we should have been most aggrieved at having to go forward with only one. Until Videssos the city should fall, you are indispensable to us.»
«I will do my best to live up to the trust you've placed in me,» Tzikas answered, bowing once more to the King of Kings. Yes, Abivard judged, the renegade made a formidable courtier, and his command of the Makuraner language was excellent. It was not, however, perfect. Sharbaraz had said that Tzikas—and Abivard, too, for that matter—was indispensable until Videssos the city fell. He had not said a word about anyone's indispensability after Videssos the city fell. Abivard had noticed that. Tzikas, by all appearances, had not.
Yeliif reappeared between Abivard and Tzikas. One moment he was not there, the next he was. He was no mean courtier in his own right, arriving at the instant when Sharbaraz dismissed them. As protocol required, Abivard and Tzikas prostrated themselves once more. For the first time in some years Abivard felt he was giving the prostration to a man who deserved such an honor.
After he and Tzikas rose, they backed away from the King of Kings till they could with propriety turn and walk away from his presence. The beautiful eunuch stayed between them. Abivard wondered if that was to ensure that the two of them didn't start fighting again no matter what instructions they'd had from Sharbaraz.
At the entrance to the throne room another eunuch took charge of Tzikas and led him away, presumably toward whatever chambers he had been allotted. Yeliif accompanied Abivard back to his own suite of rooms. «Now perhaps you understand and admit the King of Kings has a grander notion of things as they are and things as they should be than your limited imagination can encompass,» Yeliif said.
«He certainly had one splendid idea there,» Abivard said, which sounded like agreement but wasn't quite. He suppressed a sigh. With all the courtiers telling Sharbaraz how clever he was, the King of Kings would get—indeed, no doubt had long since gotten—the idea that all his thoughts were brilliant merely because he was the one who'd had them. That might help Sharbaraz follow through on a genuinely good notion like the one he'd had here but would make him pursue his follies with equal vigor.
«His wisdom approaches that of the God,» the beautiful eunuch declared. Abivard didn't say anything to that. Sharbaraz was liable to have himself worshiped in place of the God if he kept hearing flattery like that Abivard wondered what Dhegmussa would have to say about such a claim. He wondered if the Mobedhan Mobedh would have the spine to say anything at all.
When he got back to the rooms where he and his family were staying, he found Roshnani, as he'd expected, waiting impatiently to hear what news he'd brought. He gave that news to her, crediting the King of Kings for the scheme he'd developed. Roshnani listened with her usual sharp attention and asked several equally sharp questions. After Abivard had answered them all, she paid Sharbaraz the highest compliment Abivard had heard from her in years: «I wouldn't have believed he had it in him.»
Abivard greeted Romezan with a handclasp. «Good to see you,» he said. «Good to see anyone who's ever gone out into the field and has some idea of what fighting is all about.»
«Not many like that around the court, as I know better than I'd like,» Romezan answered. He paced up and down the central room of Abivard's suite like a trapped animal. «That's why I'd rather be out in the field if I had any choice about it.»
«Tura
n won't let the army fall into the Void while you're away from it,» Abivard answered, «and I need your help working out exactly how to put the King of Kings' plan into effect.»
«What exactly is the King of Kings' plan?» Romezan asked. «I've heard there is such a thing, but that's about all.»
When Abivard told him, Romezan stopped pacing and listened intently. When Abivard was through, the noble from the Seven Clans whistled once, a low, prolonged note. Abivard nodded. «That's how I felt the first time I heard it, too,» he said.
Romezan stared at him. «Do you mean to tell me you had nothing to do with this plan?» Abivard, truthfully enough, denied everything; even if he had once had the same idea, Sharbaraz was the one who'd made it real, or as real as it was thus far. Romezan whistled again. «Well, if he really did think of it all by his lonesome, more power to him. Splendid notion. Kills any number of birds with one stone.»
«I was thinking the same thing,» Abivard said. '"What worries me is timing the attack and coordinating it with the Kubratoi to make sure they're doing their part when we come calling. They can't take Videssos the city by themselves; I'm sure of that. And we can't take it if we can't get to it. Working together, though—»
«Oh, aye, I see what you're saying,» Romezan told him. «These are all the little things the King of Kings won't have bothered worrying about. They're also the sorts of things that make a plan go wrong if nobody bothers to think of them. And if that happens, it's not the fault of the King of Kings. It's the fault of whoever was in charge of the campaign.»
«Something like that, yes.» Abivard pointed to the walls and ceiling to remind Romezan that privacy was an illusion in the palace. Romezan tossed his head imperiously as if to answer that he did not care. Abivard went on, «We also want to make sure Maniakes is away from Videssos the city when we attack it preferably bogged down fighting in the land of the Thousand Cities the way he has been the last couple of years.»
«Aye, that would be good,» Romezan agreed. «But if we don't move for Videssos the city till he's moved against us, that cuts down the time we'll have to try to take the place.»
«I know,» Abivard said unhappily. «Anything that makes one thing better has a way of making something else worse.»
«True enough, true enough,» Romezan said. «Well, that's life. And you're right that we'd be better off waiting for Maniakes to be out of Videssos the city and far away before we try to take it; if he's leading the defense, it's the same as giving the Videssians an extra few thousand men. I've fought him often enough now that I don't want to do it again.»
«He is troublesome,» Abivard said, knowing what an understatement that was. He laughed nervously. «I wonder if he has a secret plan of his own, too, one that will let him take Mashiz. If he holds our capital while we capture his, can we trade them back when the war is over?»
«You're full of jolly notions today, aren't you?» Romezan said, but then he added, «I do see what you're saying, so don't get me wrong about that. If we figure out everything we're going to do but nothing of what Maniakes is liable to try, we end up in trouble.»
«Maniakes is liable to try almost anything, worse luck for us,» Abivard answered. «We thought we had him penned away from the westlands for good till he ran around us by sea.»
«Still doesn't seem right,» Romezan grumbled. Like most other Makuraner officers, he had trouble taking the sea seriously, even though, had it not been there, every elaborate scheme to capture Videssos the city would have been unnecessary. Then, thoughtfully, he went on, «What are they like? The Kubratoi, I mean.»
«How should I know?» Abivard answered almost indignantly. «I've never dealt with them, either. If we're going to ally with them, though, we probably could do worse than asking the ambassadors who made the arrangements in the first place.»
«That's sensible,» Romezan said, approval in his voice. He set a finger by the side of his nose. «Or, of course, we could always ask Tzikas.»
«Ho, ho!» Abivard said. «You are a funny fellow.» Both men laughed. Neither seemed much amused.
«We shall tell you whatever we can,» Piran said. Beside him Tus nodded. Both men sipped wine and ate roasted pistachios from a silver bowl a servant had brought them.
«The most important question is, What are they worth in a brawl?» Romezan said. «You've seen 'em; we haven't. By the God, I can't tell you three things about 'em.»
Romezan's mind reached no farther than the battlefield, but Abivard had longer mental vision: «What are they like? If they make a bargain, will they keep it?»
Piran snorted «They're just one band of cows in the huge Khamorth herd that stretches from the Degird River across the great Pardrayan plain to the Astris River and beyond—which means any one of 'em would sell his own grandmother to the village butcher if he thought her carcass would fetch two arkets.»
«Sounds like all the Khamorth I've ever known,» Romezan agreed.
Tus held up a finger like a village schoolmaster. «But,» he said, «against Videssos they will keep a bargain.»
«If they're of the Khamorth strain, they're liable to betray anyone for any reason or for no reason at all,» Abivard said.
«Were they fighting another clan of Khamorth, you would be right,» Tus said. «But Etzilios hates Maniakes for having beaten him and fears he will beat him again. With a choice between Videssos and Makuran, he will be a faithful ally for us.»
«Nothing like fear to keep an alliance healthy,» Romezan observed.
«If I were khagan of Kubrat—and the God be praised I'm not, nor likely to be—I'd look for allies against Videssos, too,» Abivard said. «The Videssians have long memories, and their neighbors had better remember it.»
«You sound as if you might mean us, not just the Kubratoi and the other barbarous nations of the farthermost east,» Piran said.
«Of course I mean us,» Abivard exploded. «Maniakes has spent the past two years trying to tear down the land of the Thousand Cities one mud brick at a time. He hasn't been doing that for his own amusement; he's been doing it to pay us back for having taken the westlands away from Videssos. If we can cut off the head by taking Videssos the city, the body—the Empire of Videssos—will die. If we can't, our grandchildren will be trying to figure out how to keep the Videssians from taking back everything Sharbaraz has won in his wars.»
«That is why the King of Kings sent us on our long, hard journey,» Tus said. «He agrees with you, lord, that we must uproot the Empire to keep it from growing back and troubling us again in later days.»
«Will the Kubratoi horsemen and single-trunk ships be enough toward helping us get done what needs doing?» Abivard asked.
Piran said, «Their soldiers are much like Khamorth anywhere. They have a lot of warriors because the grazing is good south of the Astris. A few of their fighting men wear mail shirts in place of boiled leather. Some are loot from the Videssians; some are made by smiths there.»
«What about the ships?» Romezan asked, beating Abivard to the question.
«I'm no sailor—» Piran began.
Abivard broke in: «What Makuraner is?»
«—but they looked to me as if they'd be dangerous. They carry a mast and a leather sail to mount on it, and they can hold a lot of warriors.»
«That sounds like what we need to do the job, right enough,» Romezan said, eyes kindling with excitement.
Abivard hoped he was right. Along with catapults and siege towers, ships were a projection of the mechanical arts into the art of war. In all such things the Videssians were uncommonly good.
How he had resented those spider-striding galleys that had held him away from Videssos the city! He hadn't thought he could hate ships more than he'd hated those galleys. Now, though, after ships had let Maniakes bypass the Makuraner-held Videssian westlands and bring the war to the land of the Thousand Cities, he wondered where his greater antipathy lay.
«If we have ships to put their ships out of action—» He frowned. «Have the Kubratoi met the Videssians o
n the sea in these single-trunk ships?»
«We saw no such fights,» Piran said. «Etzilios was at peace with Videssos while we were in Kubrat, you understand, not wanting to make Maniakes worry about him.»
«I do understand.» Abivard nodded. «Maniakes needs to think all's quiet behind him. He needs to invade the land of the Thousand Cities again, in fact. The farther he is from the capital when we launch our attack, the better off we'll be. If the God is kind, we'll be in Videssos the city before he can get back.» He smiled wolfishly. «I wonder what he'll do then.»
Harking back to his original question, Tus said, «Etzilios assured us, boasting and vaunting about what his people have done, that their ships had stood up against the Videssians in times past.»
«I know they were raiding the Videssian coast when we were in Across,» Romezan said. «They could hardly have done that if their ships didn't measure up, now, could they?»
«I suppose not,» Abivard said. The wolfish smile remained «The Videssians did have some other things to worry about then, though.»
«Aye, so they did.» Romezan's smile was more nearly reminiscent than lupine. «We scared them then. When we come back, we'll do more than scare them. Scaring people is for children. Winning wars is a man's proper sport.»
«Well said!» Piran exclaimed. «The Kubratoi, like most nomads, would phrase that a little differently: they would say fighting wars is a man's proper sport. They will make allies worth having.»
Allies worth betraying, Abivard thought. If all went well, if the Kubratoi and the Makuraners together took Videssos the city and extinguished the ancient Empire of Videssos, how long before they started quarreling over the bones of the carcass? Not long, Abivard was sure: Makuran had always had nomads on the frontier and never had had any use for them.
Something else occurred to him. To Romezan he said, «We'll be taking the part of the field army you brought out of Videssos to the land of the Thousand Cities, not so?»