“He won’t tell me anything confidential.”
“Do it anyway. I want to know what they have that we don’t.”
Stoddard said, “Very well. Maybe it will allow us to suspend our bombardments.”
“What do you mean? The attack on Wilmington was a total success. Our casualties were minimal, and the vampires withdrew. And haven’t returned. These damn vampires are worthless. There’s no fight in them once we show them we mean business.” Clark ran his hand over the map of the Atlantic coast. “What I see here is a successful strategy. We have Savannah, Charleston, and now Wilmington. We can start bringing in materiel for the strike west to link up with the Gulf Army. We’ll bombard Richmond next. Hell, by April we’ll be in Washington, DC.”
Stoddard said hesitantly, “We took Savannah and Charleston without using gas. We could have tried that in Wilmington too, sir. As I suggested.”
The senator waved his hand at Stoddard’s comment. “If you have something to say, Major, spit it out.”
The images of burning civilians, of a small doll clutched in little dead hands, filled Stoddard’s head. Families huddled together in terror, not of vampires, but of human weapons.
He said, “Sir, have you seen any of the civilians here?”
“Civilians? There aren’t any civilians.”
The major replied forcefully, “The herds, sir. It’s not that simple. I was in one of their houses. There was a family. They had preserved food. The child had a toy.” He set the doll onto the map.
Senator Clark drew on his cigar with a cold stare. “Major, I know you took some hard shots during the assault. Do you need more time to recover? I can send you back to St. Augustine to rest for a week or two. We aren’t moving on Richmond for a month or more.”
“I’m fine. I’m just saying…” Stoddard paused, knowing he was preparing to enter dangerous ground. This was the subject that smashed the senator’s marriage to Empress Adele. Well, this and a complete discontinuity of personalities.
Clark added with quiet prescience, “You need to think hard about your next words, Major.”
“Sir, with all due respect, I know common wisdom has always been that the Cape Fear signaled the end of the frontier, and the beginning of vampire territory. But these people here are not animals. They may have been poor and oppressed, peasants really, but they are humans.”
“I never expected this.” The senator’s hands tightened into fists, and Stoddard actually thought his commander would strike him. “I raised you up from nothing. Put you one step from the center of power in the American Republic. And this is how you repay me?”
“Senator, I’m not trying to defy you, but it is my job to advise you. I would be doing you a disservice if I didn’t speak my mind.”
“When has it ever been your job to advise me? Your entire job consists of doing what I say. And I say there are no humans here!”
The major tightened his mouth in an angry slash. “I disagree, sir. I feel I must tell you that, in my opinion, we have caused the deaths of many thousands of human beings here in Wilmington.”
Clark breathed out harshly. “And if we did, what of it? This is a war, Major. You expect me to take this continent away from those monsters without killing a few people? Please, advise me about that.” Before Stoddard could respond, the senator swept the doll off the table. “Maybe you need to join up with the Equatorians and take orders from that girl. She intends to win a war without killing anybody. Perhaps you would enjoy a life of tea parties in Alexandria and endless chitchat. I’m not sure there’s a place for you in my army.”
“It isn’t your army, Senator. It is the American army, and I’m an American. My constitutional oath requires that I speak.”
“Don’t you dare cite the Constitution to me! My father helped rewrite the Constitution!”
Stoddard felt himself separating from his rank. He was losing any sense of concern for the future; he no longer saw himself as the adjutant to Senator Clark. He was just a soldier who had played a role in killing a little girl who died clutching a doll.
“Senator,” he announced in a clear voice, “I intend to write a memorandum to the War Committee detailing my observations here and expressing my opinion about the human population in the old United States. I will state in unequivocal language that I feel our current tactic of deploying poison gas to destroy the vampires’ food supply is tantamount to genocide, and beneath the morality of a civilized nation.”
Clark studied the glowing tip of his cigar with apparent disregard for Stoddard’s warning. “Are you really going to destroy your career over what you saw in one house? Major, I’m ordering you to take a few days in St. Augustine, or even Havana if you wish.” He laid an awkwardly kind hand on the major’s shoulder. “I can’t let you make a mistake like this. Take some time. Get your head right. Then we’ll fly to Equatoria to get everything back on track. I need you there, Major. Your connection with their commanding officer will be invaluable. And don’t worry, this conversation stays in this room.”
“It isn’t just one house, sir. We have to rethink our opinions about the north. We believe there are free humans in Charleston, but not here? It doesn’t make sense. I read Empress Adele’s reports of her time in the north—”
“Dammit!” Clark slammed his hand on the table. “Listen to me! This is a direct order. You will not write any memo to the War Committee. I’ve been getting notes from Panama City talking about politicians trying to outlaw the use of gas on the herds. There are even protests against the way I’m fighting the war. Against me! So I’m telling you that you will keep your damned mouth shut! You will take a week in Havana. And then we will discuss your future on my staff.”
“I resign from your staff, sir.”
Clark’s mouth opened in the first look of surprise that Stoddard had ever seen from him. The senator seemed torn by whether he was unsure he had heard the major’s words correctly, or if such words even existed. It was disconcerting to Stoddard to see the great man in a state of confusion. It even angered him that the senator could show such feeble emotions. Fortunately, the faltering of the bearded Achilles didn’t last long.
“I’ll break you,” the senator growled. “You’ll be lucky to muck stalls for the Seventh Cavalry in Tampico when I’m done with you.”
“I would welcome that, sir.”
“I should kill you here, you insufferable traitor. I knew those Equatorians had ruined you. Now you’re no better an officer than your friend, Colonel Anhalt.”
“High praise.”
“Get out.” Clark turned away from him. “If I ever see you again, I’ll kill you.”
Stoddard spun on his heel and strode away. He felt sad, not frightened or wary of the future. He was content with his choices; his steps were lightened and his wounds no longer burned so hot. No matter what happened, he had taken the right path.
The major stopped at the door and turned to face Clark’s back. He saluted, unseen, to the promise the man had shown and now, he feared, wasted.
“YOU’VE BROUGHT THIS on yourself,” General Anhalt said over the din of the rattling elevator cage.
Mamoru didn’t respond, staring straight ahead. He and Anhalt and four White Guardsmen stood facing the door. The wrought-iron elevator rose fitfully past an endless brick wall as it churned up the center of the great tower of Pharos One.
Anhalt didn’t turn his head. “Her Majesty regrets that she is unable to see you off. Despite all that has happened, she wishes me to convey her best wishes and sincere gratitude for all you did for her and her family.”
The samurai was apparently unmoved. His crimson robe fluttered in the wind pouring down the shaft.
The sirdar produced a heavy envelope with imperial seals. “This is an official edict of persona non grata. As well as a secret proclamation signed by Empress Adele the First confining you to imprisonment for the remainder of your life. You are to be taken to Jahannam Prison, a facility reserved for imperial enemies of the highest ord
er. You shall be its only current inhabitant, but your accommodations will be hospitable, even luxurious by some standards.” Mamoru’s hands were chained behind his back, so Anhalt replaced the letters into his own tunic. “Your fate will be tucked into your luggage.”
The general clasped his hands behind his back, content to see the rest of this duty done in silence. He took no pleasure in it. He’d never had much contact with Mamoru over the years, and had never completely trusted him. However, the teacher had fed an intellectual curiosity in the empress that no one else could. She needed challenges to be happy, and the samurai priest had always provided that. This betrayal by her beloved Mamoru could’ve been a crushing blow, but Adele’s all-encompassing duty as empress kept her aloft.
Still, Anhalt feared for Adele. He was typically far away at the front, Greyfriar was frequently gone, and now Mamoru was banished. He would stay in Alexandria until the spring offensive began, but the days when he could remain by her side were over. There was no one to block the fierce winds that were sweeping around her.
The elevator cage jerked to a rough stop and Anhalt yanked back the gate. He stepped out into near gale-force winds that blasted the mooring platform atop Pharos One, the highest airship tower in Alexandria.
Beyond saluting soldiers, across the hundred yards of concrete, looming above the busy mooring crew, was an Equatorian frigate lashed close to the tower. The hull of the ship was a dull brown and grey, but the aluminum cage around the dirigible sparkled with the sun of a painfully blue sky. Mobs of teamsters lugged cargo over multiple gangplanks. A spiderweb of hoses hung from the ship’s dirigible as buoyancy gases were pumped in. Anhalt strode toward the airship with Mamoru and the White Guard behind. A parade of reports met him as he passed.
“The prisoner’s quarters are ready, Sirdar.”
“Khyber is scheduled to make way in two hours, Sirdar.”
“The prisoner’s baggage is stowed, Sirdar.”
Anhalt acknowledged each announcement until he reached a gangplank where a naval lieutenant waited. They exchanged salutes, and the young naval officer looked past Anhalt to study Mamoru. The sirdar produced multiple envelopes that flapped in the wind, threatening to escape into space.
“These are your orders, Lieutenant,” Anhalt said loudly, “regarding the disposition of the prisoner.”
The officer in his dress blue uniform with gold piping took the papers delicately in white-gloved hands, noting the highest imperial seal on the heavy paper. His nasal voice was not suited to the occasion. “I relieve you of your prisoner, sir.”
“I stand relieved.” Anhalt turned for a final word with his one-time ally. “This is good-bye then. We shall never meet again.”
“No, we shan’t.” Mamoru kicked back and struck one of the White Guard in the face and, in a single motion, slammed his foot into another man’s head. There was a hard snap. Then he leapt into air, striking out with both legs, spinning in the air, smashing two soldiers aside. He was so fast he could barely be seen, and he didn’t stop moving.
Anhalt’s saber was barely clear of the scabbard when the samurai cracked a foot into the general’s knee. As Anhalt staggered, Mamoru jumped and brought his chained hands under the soles of his feet. He had hardly touched the concrete again before he pulled a soldier’s sword free. With foot planted, he brought the saber against the sirdar’s chest. Anhalt reared back violently, off-balance, trying to gain distance from the deadly blade. He felt pressure pass along the front of his uniform jacket, and then a strong hand fell across his neck with a foot against his shin, tumbling him to the ground. He rolled off his right hip, trying for his revolver. A flash of red robe passed and slammed into the lieutenant, who had barely time to blink since the attack began. The young man toppled helplessly over the rail of the gangplank and off the tower.
“Mamoru! Stop!” Anhalt shouted, tasting his own blood in his mouth. He struggled onto one knee, fumbling with his holster flap.
The samurai raced along the gangplank onto Khyber. Sailors looked in surprise or scattered wildly as the saber blade came at them. Mamoru hurdled a pile of cargo waiting to be stowed in the forecastle. When he landed, he kept going at a full run. He leapt, one foot touching the rail, and then catapulted over the far side. His crimson robes were beautiful against the blue sky for a second, and then he was gone.
Anhalt’s boot steps thudded on the wooden gangplank. He bowled onto the ship, shoving stunned airmen aside as he stumbled across the deck, shouting, “Make way! Make way!” He reached the spot where Mamoru had jumped and leaned over the rail, revolver in hand.
He saw nothing below but the dark waters of the Mediterranean with white edges of foam where it merged with the shore.
“He jumped from Pharos One?” Adele could barely form the question because it was so incredible, so unspeakable. Her hands crunched the paperwork she had been reading in the Privy Council chamber.
“I fear so, Your Majesty.” General Anhalt stood at rigid attention. Beads of sweat rolled down his brow, and a thin line of blood stained his new tunic. “He killed two men and wounded four more.”
The empress put a hand to her face. “I can’t believe it. My God.”
Anhalt said, “There are those who suggest it was ritual suicide.”
Adele waved dismissively. “Could he have survived the fall?”
The general replied in a strained voice, “Normally I’d say it was impossible. However, Mamoru is not normal. We searched the shoreline and the harbor, and found nothing.”
Adele rose from her private desk and took Anhalt by the arm with a loving rebuke. “Sit down, General, please. You’re wounded.”
“Not at all, Your Majesty.” But he allowed himself to be guided to her chair. “I regret my failure to—”
“Stop it,” Adele barked. “I should have had him wrapped in chains and locked in a trunk. Oh, even that probably wouldn’t have been enough. Mamoru is one of the most skilled fighters I’ve ever seen. A regiment couldn’t have stopped him. You’re lucky to be alive.”
“What of you, Your Majesty? What if he is alive? We must bolster your security.”
Nearby, Captain Shirazi shifted slightly on his feet with a creak of leather boots.
The empress went to the window, the train of her gown hissing over the floor. She looked out on the garden where she and Mamoru used to study together. She watched the white blurs that were flowers tossing in the twilight breeze.
“General,” she said, “I’ve been kidnapped, stabbed, and blown up. And that’s just in the last calendar year. There’s only so much security can do. If Mamoru’s alive and he wants to find me, he will. He could be watching me even as we speak. He knows the palace inside and out.” If Mamoru was alive, she feared more for Gareth’s welfare than hers. Fortunately, Gareth was far away in the relative safety of Europe.
Adele ached for Gareth. She valued his steady judgment and brilliant counterpoints in this crisis. But more, she wanted to sense the steel shadow of his presence beside her. She wanted the touch of his hand.
Anhalt pushed to his feet and moved to her side with a hand on his pistol. “Does Mamoru have any confederates here? Where would he go to hide?”
The empress said, “Sir Godfrey Randolph.”
“The surgeon who operated on you?”
“Yes. He and Mamoru are close friends. Direct the Home Secretary to dispatch police to watch Sir Godfrey’s home in Giza. Follow him, should he venture out. Give it several days. Then, if nothing happens, have him brought here so I may talk to him.”
“Yes, Your Majesty. What of that woman who was with Mamoru when Flay attacked the palace last year?”
“I don’t know who she is. Mamoru has a vast network, but I learned no more about it than my father did. Perhaps Sir Godfrey will know something, although I doubt he’d tell. We’ll handle the situation here. You have other concerns. Do you have your ship?”
Anhalt slipped a surreptitious eye toward Captain Shirazi, who stood at attention. Eventu
ally, the general replied, “There are difficulties, Majesty. The Undead attack on Gibraltar last year nearly halved our fleet. Recent action has taken several of the best candidates. I wanted HMS Mysore, but she went down near Graz last week. Others are damaged. And any ship I remove from action will cost air support for men who need it. An operational ironclad would be best, but that is out of the question. But don’t worry, I’ll find a suitable candidate for the mission.”
“Time grows short, General.” Her fear for Gareth being left unsupported in the north made the comment more biting than she intended.
The general merely said, “I understand, Your Majesty.”
There was a knock at the door, and she called out to enter. Her secretary appeared in the door looking officious, with an army officer in the corridor behind. “Your Majesty, there is an urgent message for the sirdar.”
Adele motioned the young soldier in. He tried to march ahead with military aloofness, but his eyes were wide. He stared at the empress and at her sanctum. General Anhalt appeared in front of him like a statue stained with blood.
Anhalt slipped a finger under the flap of the envelope and drew out the single sheet of close typing. As he read, his shoulders dropped and his eyes closed.
Adele came to him with concern. “What is it, General?”
“Rotherford’s position at St. Etienne has been overrun. His corps is in full retreat with massive casualties reported.”
“Dear God. How?” Adele’s thoughts went from worry about Gareth beyond the bloody frontier to the endless train of young men slogging through the mud, huddling in the endless night, terrified of death.
“Fresh packs. Apparently, a huge reinforcement of vampires kept up an attack for three days without pause.” Anhalt rubbed his brow and retrieved his khaki helmet with its scarab badge. “Barely a month from Greyfriar’s deadline, the new moon after the equinox. This dispatch is a week old at best.”
“Did Field Marshal Rotherford survive?”
The general scanned the sheet again and nodded. “Unfortunately, yes.”
Kingmakers, The (Vampire Empire Book 3) Page 25