by Steven Brust
It was one of the most pleasant days I've ever had.
The next morning we watched as a cavalry troop rode in and set up camp near ours, and, shortly thereafter, we saw the movement of more of our infantry. I recognized Aliera riding a light-colored, spotted horse alongside the infantry column; I wondered if she knew how much those who marched beside her hated the dust she was kicking up. They made camp to the west of us.
Things changed with the new arrivals. Nothing drastic, yet it was unmistakable. There was a bit more snap to everyone's motion, and a little more saluting here and there, as if to look good in front of the conscripts. There was no fraternizing between corps, either.
Late in the afternoon, word spread through the camp that Sethra Lavode had arrived; Aelburr claimed to have seen her. Shortly after the evening "meal" a young-looking Dragonlord I didn't recognize arrived at our tent and said I was to follow him. Virt shot me a look. I shrugged, collected Loiosh from one of his scavenging expeditions, and followed.
We went through the camp and into the camp of the conscripts. I tried to spot the differences between their camp and ours, but there just wasn't all that much; except, of course, that these were mostly Teckla rather than Dragons and there were certainly a great many more of them. But they had the same sort of campstools we were using, and the bits of conversation I caught seemed about the same, the expressions on their faces were no different from those in our camp. Make of that what you will.
At the far edge was a large pavilion tent, and it was to there my nameless escort directed me. I clapped and heard Sethra's voice telling me to enter. I did and was directed to a chair between Morrolan and Aliera—not a terribly comfortable position, by the way—with Sethra and the Necromancer sitting across from me. I had obviously interrupted some sort of discussion: Aliera had a look as if she were about to froth and spit; Sethra's brow was furrowed; and Morrolan kept making glances at his cousin as if she were an unidentified creature that had appeared in his soup. The Necromancer seemed only barely present; I wondered where her thoughts were while suspecting I was glad not to know.
"Well, Vlad," said Morrolan after I was sitting and drinking bad wine. "How are you enjoying the life of a soldier?"
I shrugged. "Loiosh likes it more than I do."
"I've heard," said Morrolan, "that he has been adopted by your company as mascot."
"Yeah. He's insufferably smug about it."
"Hey now, Boss. That's not fair."
"Truth isn't, Loiosh."
Sethra said, "You've done some good work, I am told."
"Sure," I said. "For what it's worth."
"I think it was worth something," said Morrolan.
"Maybe," I said. "I don't know. I don't have enough of an idea of how our little company fits in with everything else that's been happening."
"You saved some lives in your company," said Morrolan.
"Okay," I said. "But none of those battles were decisive."
"The next one will be," said Sethra.
I digested that. "You're ready, then?"
"I hope so," said Sethra. "But, more important, Fornia is. He has to make a stand somewhere, and this location has symbolic importance. He won't be able to pass it up."
"Symbolic importance," I repeated.
Sethra gave me a half smile. "Don't start," she said. "It also has a great deal of strategic importance; as far as he can tell, we're backed up against the mountain, and—"
"As far as he can tell?"
"We have lines of retreat, Vlad. Northward. Let me worry about that part of it."
"Sorry."
"In any case, this will be a good place for him to win a battle. He'll fight here. He has to. From here, I can push straight into the heart of his realm. Besides, if he can hold us for a few days, he has another division coming up."
"He does?"
"He sent his third division all the way around the other side of Chengri to cut me off from my base of supplies."
"That doesn't sound good."
"Well, if we're stuck here for three or four days it won't be good. You'll start getting hungry. But I don't plan on being stuck that long; I plan on pushing through him while I have the advantage of numbers. He knows that. He'll fight here."
"I believe you," I said. "What exactly do you want of me?"
"What we want," said Morrolan, "or, rather, what I want, is exactly what you said you wouldn't do, way back when this all started. I want you to get that sword from Fornia."
"Funny about that," I said. "I'd just been thinking the same thing."
"I still don't like it," said Aliera, evidently continuing a discussion I'd missed the beginning of. "If we're going to do that, why not go all the way? Hire a thief and just be done with it."
"For one thing," said Sethra, "we don't know any thieves."
"Vlad can put us in touch with one."
"And for another," said Morrolan, "that wouldn't accomplish what I want. I don't just want the sword. I have a perfectly good sword." Here he touched the hilt of Blackwand. "I want it taken from him."
"You want him humiliated," said Aliera.
"Call it defeated," said Morrolan. "And defeated at every level. Both militarily and by losing the very item that caused the war."
"If you defeat him," I said, just to be argumentative, "won't he have to give it up?"
"Military defeat," said Sethra, "is not an all-or-nothing proposition. I believe we can hand his army a major defeat. That doesn't mean he'll be powerless, and it doesn't mean he can be compelled to surrender all of his forces. To do that would require a far greater campaign than this one, more costly in every way, riskier, and with the danger of Imperial intervention."
"We've been talking it over for some time," said Morrolan. "And we cannot leave him in possession of the artifact, so we must take it. Once we've taken it, we cannot leave him unbloodied, or he'll try to take it back. So we have to get it from him and, at the same time, bloody his nose."
"And you want me to do the getting."
"If you'd like."
"I'd like. How do you suggest I go about it? I suspect sneaking into his tent at night is going to be trickier than the other stuff I've been doing, and, really, I'm not a thief by profession or training."
"No," said Morrolan. "And that wouldn't do what we want anyway. We need it removed from him during the battle."
"Excuse me? Why?"
"Because I don't know any way to get it after the battle. He isn't going to leave himself vulnerable; he'll retreat, probably return home, and at that point we would have to hire a thief to get it."
"That may not be a bad idea," I said.
"I don't employ thieves," said Morrolan.
"Didn't you just ask me to steal something?"
"To remove it from him in the middle of a battle, yes. We do not countenance assassination either, but making targets of senior officers while in combat is not only proper but recommended."
"Too nice a distinction for me, Morrolan. I'm just a hardworking Jhereg. But what about before the battle?"
"If you do that, there won't be a battle, Vlad. He'll pull back, re-form, and launch his own campaign to get it back from me, maybe years from now."
I shook my head. "How am I supposed to go after the thing while we're fighting? How will I even find him, much less the whole question of getting to him."
Sethra spoke up. "For one thing, we're going to position your company in such a way that you'll be as close as possible to his command center."
I wondered how Virt would feel if she knew how her general was deciding on the order of battle. I resolved not to tell her.
I said, "I still don't see how I'm supposed to get out of a pitched battle, all the way to their command post, find Fornia, and extract the weapon from him."
Aliera said, "I don't either. I think the whole idea is idiotic."
"As for getting the weapon from him," said Morrolan. "As I said a moment ago, making targets of senior officers is an accepted tactic."
/> "Oh. So now you want me to kill him?"
"If necessary."
I shook my head. "If I'd wanted to kill him, Morrolan, I would simply have done so. Days ago. It isn't clear to me—"
"You won't be alone," he put in.
"I won't?"
"If you require assistance, we can supply you with as many subordinates as you wish."
"That," I said, "may make a difference."
"Boss, are you nuts?"
"Some people think so, Loiosh."
"Add me to the list. You can't—"
"Maybe I can, Loiosh." Aloud I said, "How much time do I have to think it over?"
"I don't know," said Sethra. "Fornia is bringing up troops all the time. Of course, so are we, and faster. Right now, delay works in our favor, so I would expect them to begin the attack soon."
"What does 'soon' mean?"
"Probably tomorrow morning."
"Yeah, that's soon."
"Tell me your decision through Captain Cropper," said Morrolan. "Just give him the message to give to me, don't reach me psychically; I want this going through proper channels."
"Why, for the love of the Gods?"
"Because that's how it's done."
"All right," I said. I stood up. "Have a good council."
"Do you need a guide back?" said Morrolan.
"No, thanks."
I left the tent. It had become dark and cold; I should have brought a cloak. Loiosh guided me back, and I was glad to find the fire; it felt like home.
"Well," said Virt. "Did you see her?"
"Sethra? Yes."
"And?"
"There will most likely be a battle tomorrow. A big one."
"Did you get another mission?" said Napper.
"An interesting question," I said. "I'm not certain."
"Well, if you need anyone—"
"Noted. Thanks."
Virt said, "Battle tomorrow, hm?"
"So it seems."
"We don't have any bulwarks built up."
"Yes."
"So either we're spearheading an attack or we're bait."
"Or both," I said. "I suspect both."
Virt shook her head. Aelburr sat there stirring the fire and not talking.
Virt said, "So, what's she like?"
"I don't know," I said. "I've never met any other vampires to compare her to. Excuse me, I'm going to take a walk."
"Don't go too far," said Virt. "We're in imminent, and up for picket duty in half an hour."
"Half an hour," I repeated. "I'll be there."
I stayed within the pickets and walked around the perimeter of the camp. I tried to focus on the decision I had to make, but the fact is I've never been good at just thinking about things, so I didn't get anywhere except around in a circle; my thoughts kept drifting over my recent experiences: fights, and marches, and sitting around fires. I didn't come to any conclusions about those, either, and then half an hour was up and I returned to our tent, where I collected Aelburr, Napper, and my heavy cloak, and we went off to picket duty, where we were not allowed to speak, which pleased me.
Picket duty passed without incident, and I passed the time without reaching any conclusions. Then I went to bed and got a few hours of sleep. The next day we were woken up appallingly early, even for the army, and ordered to move our camp a hundred yards closer to the Wall and a little north to the top of a small hill. Virt said, "The other option, of course, was that there was no point in having us erect defenses for a position we weren't expected to hold."
She seemed much cheered by the idea until Aelburr said, "Then why aren't we putting up defenses here?"
"Maybe we'll move again," she said, straining her eyes to the north, where we could make out plenty of activity but couldn't identify it yet.
Virt pointed to the hollow to our left and said, "Two spear phalanxes."
"Which means?"
"It means we aren't defending a flank. That's good, if you value a long life."
"Then I'm glad."
"On the other hand, if we're attacking, we may be sent against their flank."
So we finally got breakfast. I chewed a couple of biscuits, washed them down with water, and followed the company colors until I found the Captain, staring at the enemy through a telescope and talking to Crown. He looked at me when I approached and said, "Yes?"
"Morrolan asked me a question last night. He said I was to give you the answer to relay back to him."
He stared down at me and scowled, evidently not entirely pleased with being a messenger for a Jhereg. "Very well," he said. "What is it?"
"Tell him I said yes."
The Captain opened his mouth, closed it, nodded abruptly, turned to Crown, and said, "See to it the Lord Morrolan gets the message."
"Yes, sir," said Crown. He saluted and set off to find a messenger. The Captain returned his attention to the enemy. Just because I felt like it, I saluted before returning to my squadron.
I kept thinking that I could put it all together if I were smarter. Whatever Fornia was up to should have been subject to deduction, but I couldn't figure it out. Of course, I was aware that figuring it out might not turn out to be useful; just because you know what someone is doing doesn't necessarily mean you can stop him. That was Sethra's attitude; her approach to this battle was straightforward, and fundamentally without deception, and it seemed to be working—at least to judge by the fact that a press of Morrolan's troops, including himself and Aliera, were pushing their way toward Fornia's command position.
On the other hand, the Eastern mercenaries, though retreating, had not yet broken. Nothing was yet decided, except that a large number of people had died here, and more were going to.
As I studied Fornia's face, I saw him concentrate briefly, and an instant later a mass of cavalry appeared in a long row over the lip of the hill behind us, about a hundred yards distant.
I watched, suddenly and temporarily oblivious to my own situation. The column rode down the hill, in no apparent hurry. I tried to estimate their numbers, but I'm not very good at that. At least several hundred, though, maybe a thousand, and as they drew closer I saw they carried spears.
As they came closer they spread out into a single line, and I couldn't help but admire the way they went about it; neat and precise, they formed up to charge into Morrolan's forces. I risked a glance at Morrolan, and saw him, now a bit back from the fighting, talking to someone and pointing at them.
"Watch closely," said Fornia. "Now it gets interesting."
I kept watching, and saw, behind the cavalry, a mass of infantry reach the top of the hill and begin marching down.
In military terms, Fornia had "committed his reserves." In my terms, things were going to get even uglier. I'd have done something if there had been anything to do. I admit I even gave another thought to trying to take Fornia down, but his personal guard had failed to be distracted by the battle; they were still watching me.
The decisive moment was approaching; not the best time for me to be indecisive.
Fornia said, "Are you prepared to hear my terms, then?"
"No," I said. "I don't have the authority to accept them."
He chuckled. "That doesn't make you the ideal negotiator, then."
"The negotiator will be arriving shortly, if you'd lower your teleport blocks—"
He laughed. "Don't count on that, Jhereg."
"It isn't a trick," I said.
"Oh, I believe that. It's much too crude to be a trick. But I have no intention of opening myself up to accidents. If your negotiator wants to show up, he can do it the hard way."
I was trying to formulate a response when Daymar appeared, either blasting through the teleport block or coming in around it; I don't know enough about either sorcery or psychics to tell you how he did it. But there he was, floating, cross-legged, about six inches off the ground.
"All right," I told Fornia. "The hard way, then."
There was an instant where I wasn't certain if they were going
to strike us both down, but they were well trained, and they waited for the order. The order didn't come.
I suddenly felt Daymar's presence in my mind. It was shocking, and not entirely pleasant. For one thing, I'm not used to people I hardly know being able to communicate with me psychically; for another, well, imagine being gently picked up by a relative stranger who you can tell could crush your body with one hand if he wanted to. Sure, I said gently, but he's still a stranger, and he could still crush you. As I said, I did not terribly care for the sensation.
"What do you want?" he asked in a sort of psychic whisper—as if he were being very careful not to burn my brain out.
I said, "That fellow, him. That's Fornia."
"Well?"
"I want to know what he's up to."
"Certainly," he said, as if I'd asked him to pass me the tray of sweetmeats. Just how good was he, I wondered. I mean, his mind was strong, and he'd clearly trained it, but was he good enough to pull the information I wanted out of Fornia's mind? Well, he'd pulled information out of Kragar's mind.
Thinking of Kragar makes me, in retrospect, realize just how far away from my own world I was. He had picked exactly the wrong moment to get in touch with me, and then I never heard back from him until I thought of it, days later, when we were positioned to make a charge or await one in front of the Wall. I had suddenly thought of it, then, and gotten in touch with him.
"Kragar? It's me."
"Howdy, Vlad. How's the army life?"
"You should know."
"I tried to warn you."
"For the most part I hate it," I told him, "but then people try to kill me and I really hate it."
"It wasn't the trying to kill me part I didn't like, it was all the rest of it."
"I can sympathize with that. What was it you wanted?"
"A guy wants to open up a new game in our territory."
"A guy? What guy?"
"Don't know him. Jhereg, seems small time. He's willing to give us our usual cut, and he's willing to provide his own protection, but I didn't know if that would be too many games for the area."